#call masking india

[tanlakarix]

How a Voice API Improves Customer Experience with Karix

What Exactly Is a Voice API? What Are Its Strengths?

Voice APIs are adaptable technologies that can help your firm provide a more engaging and conversational client experience. Rather than having to build out a best-in-class global telecommunications network to support sophisticated voice calling features from scratch, your developers can use the built-in, enterprise-grade features of a voice API to quickly create voice applications or embed voice functionality into your company’s existing digital channels, such as your website or app. An API is also cost-effective because it allows you to pay just for the phone calls you use.

While speech APIs allow voice calling in the same way as traditional corporate and consumer phone systems did, their possibilities are not nearly as limited. This communication technology is adaptable and extensible, allowing you to tailor it to your specific needs. For example, you can leverage speech APIs to build an AI virtual assistant that provides helpful voice-enabled customer care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even while human employees are busy serving other customers or fast asleep. Customers who prefer to speak with a human can do so considerably faster because a virtual voice assistant reduces the total amount of incoming customer care calls.

You can also utilise a voice API to integrate voice right into your website and app, offering users a handy way to communicate with you at the exact moment your brand is on their mind. This in-app speech capability may also be integrated into your contact centre, providing critical call context to your agents so they already understand what the consumer is calling about without having to ask them to repeat vital information, which customers despise. Voice APIs can also perform real-time sentiment analysis, identifying whether a customer is becoming frustrated and allowing your firm to address their concerns before escalating their conversation. Your contact centre team can also evaluate these metrics on a regular basis to find areas for development and to constantly improve the customer experience.

What Are the CX Benefits of a Voice API?

Voice APIs can assist you in better identifying and serving your customers, ensuring that their problems are recognised and addressed. By recording contextual information, your human customer experience specialists can determine who is calling and why they are calling, regardless of whether the call came in through your website, app, or another channel. This contextual communication enables your team to customise each encounter with each customer, saving orientation time and speeding up resolution time. It also allows for real dialogues that put your customers at ease and increase their pleasure.

The automatic speech recognition characteristics of voice APIs provide your consumers with simple self-service alternatives, allowing them to perform tasks such as placing orders or validating their identities using their own voices rather than waiting on hold for a human. Furthermore, this feature supports over 120 languages, allowing for rapid service and an intuitive, comfortable experience for customers all around the world.

Many customers value privacy, and it should be a given as part of the customer experience you provide them. The in-app voice function allows users to connect from app to app and by phone without giving their phone numbers, improving privacy, and avoiding off-platform transactions. Finally, voice quality is critical to make all these experiences dependable. As a result, voice APIs feature high-quality voice quality to provide the highest calling quality for your applications. This is crucial because, as we’ll see, even the most innovative and forward-thinking customer experience approach will fail if voice quality isn’t outstanding and consistent.

How Voice Quality Affects the Customer Experience

Voice quality plays a crucial role in shaping the customer experience when interacting with companies like Karix. Here’s how voice quality can impact the customer experience:

Clarity and intelligibility: A high-quality voice ensures that the customer can clearly understand the information being conveyed. Crystal-clear audio eliminates misunderstandings, reduces frustration, and enhances overall communication effectiveness.

Professionalism and credibility: A clear and professional voice conveys a sense of credibility and expertise. When customers perceive the voice quality as high, they are more likely to trust the information being provided and have a positive impression of the company.

Emotional connection: Voice quality can evoke emotions in customers. A warm, friendly, and engaging voice tone can create a positive emotional connection and foster a sense of trust, empathy, and personalization. On the other hand, poor voice quality may create a negative emotional experience and lead to customer dissatisfaction.

Effective communication: Effective communication requires not only the right words but also the right tone and cadence. Voice quality influences the ability to deliver messages effectively, ensuring that the intended meaning and sentiment are conveyed accurately. It helps in conveying empathy, addressing concerns, and resolving issues promptly, leading to better customer satisfaction.

Brand perception: Voice quality contributes to the overall brand perception. A consistent and high-quality voice across various touchpoints, such as IVR systems, customer support calls, and recorded messages, reflects positively on the company. It enhances the brand image and contributes to a positive customer perception of the company’s professionalism and attention to detail.

Customer retention and loyalty: A positive customer experience, including good voice quality, can significantly impact customer retention and loyalty. Customers are more likely to return to a company that provides an excellent experience, and a pleasant voice quality can be a distinguishing factor that sets a company apart from its competitors.

Overall, ensuring high voice quality in customer interactions is essential for creating positive experiences, building trust, and fostering long-term customer relationships. Karix and other companies should prioritise voice quality to enhance customer satisfaction and maximise the value of their customer interactions.

What an Improving Call Quality Benefits the Business

Have you ever called a company, heard the connection go through, and then heard a crackling sound on the line that made understanding what was being said difficult? Or have you ever called a customer service number and begun telling a polite employee what you needed, only to be abruptly disconnected? Then you already know how bad call quality might seem. When you can’t hear your counterpart on the phone, you’re instantly at a disadvantage in acquiring the assistance you require. And if your call is suddenly disconnected, you’ll have to decide whether you want to restart from scratch.

Customers are often frustrated by these common voice quality difficulties. If people can’t have a meaningful discussion with you using one of the approaches, they find most human and natural, they won’t believe your customer service is helpful or responsive. They may even question whether your company loves the client experience enough to invest in its success. If your customers have these perceptions after a call, you may forfeit the opportunity to gain not only their business but also their referrals to other potential customers.

Companies cannot afford to allow poor quality derail the consumer experience. According to Karix’s research, the consumer loyalty tipping point is approaching faster than ever. If people continually encounter frustrating interactions when speaking (or, in this example, attempting to contact) with a business or service provider, 52 percent of poll respondents indicate they are very likely to cease buying from or utilising its services. When faced with communication dead ends, 46 percent of clients will do the same.

How a Voice API Improves Call Quality

Communications APIs can assist businesses in addressing these issues with mobile, landline, and VoIP call quality. An API voice call can provide the quality of service that clients demand if it has access to a carrier-grade network and worldwide connection to tier 1 carriers. Voice APIs from a reputable partner with direct peering connections to all major carriers in the United States eliminate intermediaries and further improve voice quality.

Furthermore, even during busy periods or as the organisation grows, speech APIs can reliably deliver these quality-of-service benefits at scale. These performance enhancements enable your company to increase contact centre quality, ensuring that your clients never have a shaky or unreliable connection when they call you. As a result, when they Connect with your customer service team, and everyone involved will be able to focus on what matters most: the needs of the customer.

Because speech APIs frequently need little code, your company may quickly integrate these capabilities into your app, website, and other digital presences rather than having to create them from the ground up or wait for expensive circuits to be constructed. This adaptable technology can coexist with telephony systems as needed, and because you only pay for what you use, it’s a low-cost approach to start incorporating more sophisticated and dependable calling capabilities into your client experience.

A voice API allows for innovation in ways that traditional voice calling cannot, such as exchanging contextual information that personalises the user experience and makes it more conversational. According to Zendesk’s recent survey, more than 90% of corporate executives and managers recognise that their organisations will have to do so.

Improve Your Customer Experience with a Voice API.

Customers want to talk to you, especially if you use speech technologies. At the same time, they have never had higher expectations for an exceptional customer experience. When speaking with you, customers prefer a genuine and comfortable discourse over a transactional relationship. It may seem obvious, but good communication makes the difference between whether they are satisfied and willing to do business with you again. A breakdown in call quality or a disorganised, impersonal dialogue can have an immediate impact on client sentiment. Voice APIs provide the meaningful conversations your customers anticipate, even in ways they never imagined. Voice APIs are far more than just a way to deliver a phone conversation; they are a strategic asset for improving your customer experience.

For More Info: https://www.karix.com/products/voice-solutions/

[sffgtrhyjhmnzdt]

The Power of Engagement: Leveraging Missed Call Message Services

One such method that has gained significant traction in recent years is leveraging missed call message services. Often underestimated, missed call number alert solutions in the USA hold immense potential for businesses looking to enhance their engagement strategies and connect with their target audience in meaningful ways.

Understanding Missed Call Message Services

Missed call message services involve a simple yet powerful concept: allowing users to communicate with a business by giving a missed call to a designated number. In return, they receive an automated response, typically in the form of an SMS or callback, providing them with the information they seek or prompting them to take further action. This approach capitalizes on the widespread use of mobile phones and the convenience of missed calls, particularly in regions with limited internet connectivity or low smartphone penetration.

The Benefits of Missed Call Message Services

Accessibility: Missed call message services offer a convenient communication channel accessible to a wide range of users, including those with basic mobile phones or limited internet access.

Instant Feedback: By leveraging missed call message service providers in India, businesses can quickly gauge customer interest or satisfaction levels, enabling them to tailor their offerings and address customer needs more effectively.

Lead Generation: Missed call campaigns can serve as powerful lead generation tools, allowing businesses to capture customer information and follow up with targeted marketing efforts.

Engagement and Interaction: Missed call message services provide in the USA a platform for businesses to engage with their audience in real-time, fostering two-way communication and building stronger relationships.

Leveraging Missed Call Message Services for Engagement

Interactive Campaigns: Create interactive campaigns that encourage users to initiate contact through missed calls in exchange for exclusive offers, discounts, or information.

Lead Capture and Qualification: Develop lead capture strategies that leverage missed call message service to collect prospect information and qualify leads based on their level of interest or engagement.

Missed Call Software Providers and Service Solutions

Explore the landscape of missed call software providers and service solutions tailored for businesses, highlighting their features, capabilities, and benefits for enhancing engagement and communication strategies.

Missed call service providers in India represent a valuable tool for businesses seeking to enhance their engagement efforts and connect with their audience on a deeper level. By leveraging the accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and instant feedback capabilities of missed calls, businesses can foster meaningful interactions, drive customer satisfaction, and ultimately, propel growth. With the right strategies and approach, the power of engagement through missed call message services is within reach for businesses of all sizes and industries.

[astrobiscuits]

Astro obs part 9

🐌 The planets in your 12th house indicate your sleeping style:

Sun in 12th house - their sleep schedule is extremely messed up; for them, daylight hours = nighttime hours and vice versa, so they have trouble being themselves during the day; their true self comes out at night

Moon in 12th house - goes to sleep very late; full moons have a special effect on these people; their intuition is more clear at night; as kids, they probably slept a lot with their mother

Mercury in 12th house - loves texting/calling people late at night; they might journal their thoughts before sleep because they overthink a lot and it helps to clear their mind or maybe they just like to relax by reading a book at night

Venus in 12th house - cares a lot about getting their "beauty sleep"; sleeps with sleep masks on, buys expensive bed lingerie, skincare night routine might be very important; loves sleeping in general lmao

Mars in 12th house - enjoys working out before going to sleep, can go to sleep angry because they tend to get into conflict more at night than during the day

I have Uranus in 12th house and i can be both a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper, depending on where i am. For example, when i'm traveling, during the first night i wake up several times, but from the second night on i sleep like a baby lmao. Another thing would be that i can't sleep in a quiet car but i don't have any problem sleeping during a thunderstorm

🐌 Mars in fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sag) and Mars in 3rd house individuals love riding motorbikess

🐌 While Mars in 9th house peeps would probably love to go on a world tour on their motorbike. The sign ruling their 9th house represents the countries they would love to visit (i'm aware that some of these can only be visited by plane, take it with a grain of salt): 

♈ in 9th house: Ireland, Poland, Japan, Zimbabwe

♉ in 9th house: Cuba, Paraguay, South Africa, East Timor

♊ in 9th house: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Montenegro

♋ in 9th house: Canada, USA, Bahamas, Argentina, Slovenia, Madagascar

♌ in 9th house: Hawaii, France, Italy, The Netherlands, India, South Korea, Peru, Bolivia

♍ in 9th house: Switzerland, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Vietnam

♎ in 9th house: Belgium, Portugal, China, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho

♏ in 9th house: Panama, Spain, Turkey, Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE), Palestine, Lebanon

♐ in 9th house: Finland, Lithuania, Romania, Tanzania, Thailand

♑ in 9th house: UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, Camerun

♒ in 9th house: Greece, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka

♓ in 9th house: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritius, Saint Lucia

🐌 I have a feeling Pisces Suns like to spend their time in a garage lmao. Mostly because their opposing sign, Virgo, would hate to spend time in a garage due to how dirty it can get.

🐌As a 7th house Sun who's been in love for almost a year now (haha, are we surprised, ofcours not; i'm not even in a relationship with him but ugh we're so perfect for each other), i realised that Sun in 7th house people tend to behave differently with their partner when they're in a healthy relationship vs when they're in a toxic one

Sun in 7th house in:

♈ Aries in a healthy relationship: empowers their partner, knows how to balance me time vs us time in a healthy manner, encourages their partner to take safe risks

♈ Aries in an unhealthy relationship: impulsive, impatient, selfish, dismisses their partner's feelings, often controlled by rage, prone to abusing their partner

♉ Taurus in a healthy relationship: veryyy generous (their love language is gift giving), accommodating to their partner's wants and needs, cooks for their partner

♉ Taurus in an unhealthy relationship: stubborn af, hard to please, focused more on the material gain from their partner rather than the love they share

♊ Gemini in a healthy relationship: curious, always lightens the mood of their partner by cracking up tons of jokes or telling them funny stories, knows that communication is key to everything so they're not afraid to discuss serious topics, teaches their partner a lot of random stuff

♊ Gemini in an unhealthy relationship: superficial, doesn't have a problem moving on from their partner to another person in a matter of seconds, if they're still in school/college, then they prioritize studying over their partner

♋ Cancer in a healthy relationship: nurturing, knows how to balance babying their partner vs being babied by their partner, emotionally vulnerable, feels safe enough to present their partner to their family early on in the relationship

♋ Cancer in a unhealthy relationship: if they don't trust their partner, they tend to become emotionally closed off to hide their deep sadness; defensive, but if their partner attackes them, then they'll hide, worries excessively, avoids presenting their partner to their family

♌ Leo in a healthy relationship: treats their partner like the king/queen they are, keeps their ego in check so it doesn't interfere with the relationship, if they've got artistic talents (music, acting, art etc.), they'll show their love for their partner by performing in front of them

♌ Leo in an unhealthy relationship: egocentric, shows off their partner/relationship too much out of pride, often feels entitled in the relationship and wants to be put on a pedestal by their partner

♍ Virgo in a healthy relationship: selfless to a healthy degree, remembers every lil detail from every casual conversations with their partner just to please them, remembers every important date and plans ahead for it, takes care of their partner when they're sick

♍ Virgo in a unhealthy relationship: critical, overfixates on past hurts and mistakes that their partner made in the relationship (often times their partner doesn't even remember those things because they're usually not that serious), loves their pets more than their partner

♎ Libra in a healthy relationship: romantic, charismatic, truly values their partner and the relationship with them, acts fair in the relationship, teaches their partner lovingly about the importance of honesty, truth and a healthy give and take dynamic in a relationship

♎ Libra in an unhealthy relationship: doesn't prioritize the relationship; instead, they flirt with others despite being in a relationship, emotionally detached, cold and calculated in their current relationship

♏ Scorpio in a healthy relationship: loyal, loves their partner deeply and intensely, but without suffocating them, keeps their partner's secrets like they're a locked safe box with no public access

♏ Scorpio in an unhealthy relationship: obsessive, manipulative, seeks to dominate their partner, displays stalkish behaviour in the relationship, liar

♐ Sagittarius in a healthy relationship: exposes their partner to various cultures, belief systems and philosophies to expand their mind and form their own opinion on certain topics, loves freely but is still able to maintain a long-term relationship, improves their partner's mood, usually brings an element of surprise and excitement to the relationship

♐ Sagittarius in an unhealthy relationship: travels in order to avoid dealing with their partner, parties a bit too much, doesn't take the relationship seriously

♑ Capricorn in a healthy relationship: loves their partner in a mature, serious and secure manner, doesn't shy away from improving their partner's social status and/or career if they can, discusses plans for the future (getting married, having kids, adopting pets, buying a house) with their partner early on in the relationship, they make time for their partner, despite the fact that they're busy most of the time

♑ Capricorn in an unhealthy relationship: displays no emotions or physical affection in the relationship, has a hard time communicating their thoughts with their partner, settles in a relationship for the wrong reasons (money/kids/safety/"i'm getting old and i need to have my life established"), prioritizes work/career over their partner

♒ Aquarius in a healthy relationship: flexible, makes their partner's dreams and aspirations come true (whether they're related to the relationship or not), has got a very open-minded attitude towards their partner's opinions, lifestyle and identity, takes the time to become friends firsts with their future partner because they value a relationship built on solid foundation (often times their partner is also their best friend), knows how to balance couple time vs time with friends

♒ Aquarius in an unhealthy relationship: displays wishy-washy behaviour, emotionally detached, prioritizes their friends over their partner, seeks online validation from strangers and acquaintances to fulfill their needs

♓ Pisces in a healthy relationship: sensitive to their partner's emotions, knows how to balance wearing their heart on their sleeve vs hiding their emotions in unfavourable circumstances, always honest with their partner

♓ Pisces in an unhealthy relationship: prone to drown their relationship problems and sorrows in alcohol, drugs and meds for mental health issues, runs away from problems instead of dealing with them with their partner, displays dishonesty to a fault, prone to self-sabotage

[futzfuck]

HEAVY SPOILERS FOR MONKEY MAN!!!! GO WATCH THE MOVIE IF YOU HAVENT ITS REALLY GOOD DAMMIT!!!!!!!

Anyway

I think an overlooked bit in Monkey Man is how bleach is used as imagery and association. Bleach is often use is to remove stains from clothes/surfaces, disinfect things, and just generally clean stuff. I think this plays a lot into the revenge narrative central to the film, as well as offering a comparison/contrast to the villians’ methods of “removing India’s scars”

When the Kid first shows his hands he says they look that way from bleach and chemicals and calls them his CV. Now, without the mention of bleach this scene is still impactful within context, bc the Kid is indirectly saying that his life is defined by his trauma and the death of his mother (and maybe even his inability to save her). Hands are also a reoccurring symbol throughout the film in an of themselves. But back to bleach. I think mentioning bleach is important bc it depicts bleach as corrosive and something higher ups don’t want to engage in. “Give me the job no one wants to do, and ill do it.” No one at Kings wants what the Kid wants, and no one there is willing to cleanse the city and the establishment of its own corruption.

There’s also the fact that Kid’s pseudonym comes from the brand of bleach he uses at his job. By naming himself after the bleach he uses, Kid associates himself with an aggressive way of cleansing, which is kinda the whole message of Monkey Man as a narrative. It’s telling that the closest thing to a conventional name we have for the Kid just reinforces his purpose within the story.

Finally, the Kid bleaches his monkey mask before he goes to Kings for the final act. I think this is symbolic of him stripping away his persona of “Kong” that he used as a fighter from the mask, replacing it with the identity of Hanuman he has come to inhabit. The lighter fur looks more like the fur Hanuman is shown to have throughout the movie, both in the children’s book and the puppet in the stage play. It could also symbolize the Kid “cleansing his mind” of what remains from before he was saved by the hijras, and fully embracing his purpose.

Am i thinking about this way to much? Obviously but i don’t care bc its fun lol. Love this movie.

[violetthekiller]

do you care to make a tz pda timeline for us 🫣

let’s see if i can do this off the top of my head lol

2nd July 2021: Car make out pics

August ‘21: TZ attend a friends wedding and are seen holding hands, leaning on each other and having a little kiss in the background of videos. 1 HD pic of them leaning heads

1st September ‘21: My MJ post

October ‘21: Dune 😍 post

25th November ‘21: Naaaa Stop it 😍 post

November-December ‘21: NWH press with many pda moments in interviews and at photo calls

14th Dec ‘21: NWH Premiere. Mask cheek kiss after the premiere and cross body hand hold when leaving the after party

January 2022: Pap pics in London with Z holding Toms waist. pics of the two at a pub looking loved up are posted by locals

15th February ‘22: Valentines Date in NY. Papped arriving at and leaving the restaurant holding hands/holding onto each other.

18th Feb ‘22: NY Uncharted Screening. Arrive and leave holding hands

C. 20th Feb ‘22: TZ attend a Rangers ice hockey game and spend the whole time canoodling

April-September ‘22: TZ weekends in Boston, NY and Budapest while filming TCR, Challengers and Dune. pics almost every weekend of the two in the cities holding hands and having dinner dates

1st June ‘22: The one who makes me the happiest post

C. 2nd October ‘22: Louvre Date in Paris. TZ looking loved up and koalaing the entire time

15th December ‘22: TZ visit Zs old school in Oakland and we see bodyguard Tom in action

C. 12th-18th December ‘22: TZ in Bay Area. multiple pda pics supposed ‘my butterfly’ story

January 2023: Carribean vaycay

14th February ‘23: Valentine’s day date in Monaco

March-May ‘23: LondonDaya pt.1 with Richmond Park pics beginning

C. 30th March-4th April: TZ in India. some blurry pda pics

28th April ‘23: Usher Concert

2nd May ‘23: TZ in Malibu having lunch and leaning on each other

5th May ‘23: Warriors game. Arm stroke, embarrassed Tom and more

16th May ‘23: TZ in Venice. Cheek kiss and hand up shirt pics

20th May ‘23: More Venice pics of the two leaving lunch holding hands

1st June ‘23: Zs birthday post for Tom

18th June ‘23: Ass grab pics in London

27th June ‘23: Beyonce Warsaw and Love on Top video

21st July ‘23: Escalator pda in John Lewis

3rd August ‘23: Brothers Trust event. TZ holding hands whilst taking pics with guests

Summer ‘23: More London days pics at lunch etc.

25th-26th August ‘23: TZ in Oakland. Basketball game with multiple story posts from Z and plenty of pda

1st September ‘23: My Birthday Girl post

4th September ‘23: Beyoncé LA

1st October ‘23: TZ in Paris. Tom buys Z a vintage Piaget watch whilst she leans on his shoulder

5th October ‘23: TZ visit Battersea dogs and cats home and Tom posts SoftDaya on his grid

8th October ‘23: TZ walking in Richmond park canoodling and playing with a dog. Hand kiss from Tom

16th October ‘23: TZ visit Hampton Caught and we get the beautiful shadow pic

12th November ‘23: video of TZ signing NWH posters for TBT and getting all competitive

14th December ‘23: TZ visit a children’s hospital and look super cute whilst taking photos and videos with the patients

22nd December ‘23: Theatre trip. holding hands in the audience

24th January 2024: Tom posts Z at the Schiaparelli show on his story with a video of her to Cupids Chokehold by Gym Class Hero’s stating that it was made for him

15th February ‘24: Dune Part 2 Premiere in London. TZ leave the after party together

18th March ‘24: TZ at Indian Wells. holding hands whilst walking round and Hypeman Tom

10th April ‘24: Challengers Premiere London. TZ have a little kiss in the screening

12th April ‘24: TZ looking giddy af in a car in London. One of the greatest TZ photos ever

28th April ‘24: Tom posts the Challengers Poster on insta

7th May ‘24: Tom posts Z at the Met Gala

10th May ‘24: TZ on a lunch date in London

23rd May ‘24: Z attends the Opening Night of R&J and the two leave the theatre hand in hand with Z snapping a pic of Tom in the car as he gets in

4th June ‘24: Selfie of tz at the R&J after party with their heads squished together

And scene.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/06/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; New Events calendar; A Safe Space Ship Event; Watch Parties; Reminders; Cast & Crew Sightings; Clowning; OLD SPICE!; Stats!; Market Research?; Articles; Personal Update; Love Notes; Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika

== New Events Calendar from SaveOFMDCrew! ==

More events happening throughout the week! Tumblr Post

Tomorrow is Cosplay Day! Show off your cosplay and OFMD-Inspired outfits with the hashtags: #WearFineThingsWell!

= New Upcoming Event: A Safe Space Ship! =

Sunday, February 11th - Star of India in San Diego, CA! Museum Hrs: 10 am - 5 PM 1/2 Price Tickets!

== Watch Parties ==

Today's WWDITS watch party went great!

Lots of people had fun pointing out our lovely characters from the show (Mads, Taika, Rhys)

It actually went so well the SaveOFMDCrew twitter got banned! It's back though! If you can, please be sure to follow their backup account in case it happens again.

== Reminders! ==

Muppet Treasure Island - Feb 7th 2024 4PM EST, 1PM PST, 9 PM GMT

Watch Party Hashtags:

#MuppetPirates

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

This was technically the 5th, but I don't think the excitement happened mostly today so I'm gonna throw it in! So Chaos Dad popped his head out yesterday just long enough to like Samba's BTS post on twitter and then also Samba and Rhys' little exchange.

And of course that triggered clowning since anytime Chaos Dad pops in we don our clown shoes. Thank you to @merryfinches for catching some of the discourse!

== Old Spice! ==

Well well well, we're back to polite menacing brands until they respond to us!

Looks like another Astroglide is starting up, the Crew is out there matching deodorants to characters. Thanks to @brainfugk for calling it out!

== Stats! Stats! Stats! ==

So close fam! Let's keep pushing that UK viewership if you have the time/spoons!

= Market Research Campaign about OFMD Potentially Going On? =

There's some speculation around the market research company YouGov potentially conducting research on OFMD. There's a big thread. Why is this important? Well this company works with streamers to measure viewership data, and if OFMD is in there...and someone's interested, that could be a good sign.

Some folks signed up, and if you're interested in doing so too, you can here.

== Articles ==

Some fun articles tonight, including Hard Drive again!

Joke Article: HBO Max Unveils Ominous New “Don’t Get Too Attached” Category

Our Flag Means Death and 9 Other Best TV Shows and Movies About Pirates

Our Flags Means Death fans get TV licence just to watch pirate show

== Personal Update ==

Some of you have heard, I got the COVID so I may be in and out over the next several days, I'm still trying to make sure I get to recaps though so don't worry! I'll let you know if I can't. Remember to mask up if you can and stay hydrated out there luvs!

== Love Notes ==

Alright lovelies. We've run out of Rhys videos for a few days so you're back to me being irritatingly loving at you! I saw this today on The Latest Kate's instagram and it reminded me of a few things I wanted to say. My brain is a bit covid-fogged so apologies if it's a bit wibbly wobbly.

We all struggle with so many little and big things in our lives. Whether it's mental health, self esteem, a physical ailment, love, lonliness, self-identity, family, friends, world conflicts, or anything, I could go on and on.

I know sometimes it feels like you are pushing so hard and you start making so much progress-- and then something, big or little stalls everything and you feel like you're having to start from scratch again.

I just want to send you a gentle reminder that progress isn't always linear. Just because you have lost momentum doesn't mean you've lost your progress. Every single situation is a learning opportunity and every time you run into a new hurdle, you learn from the last one.

You are wonderfully intelligent, kind, precious, complex people and no matter what you're dealing with, no matter how small or how big, you are moving forward and making headway bits at a time. Remember to be kind to yourself and don't beat yourself up for bad days.

We are so proud of you lovelies, remember that.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Tonight's gifs are courtesy of the glorious, brilliant, talented, ever-enabling @celluloidbroomcloset from her post over here.

Ok, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Goodnight all! <3

[aspoonofsugar]

Blake Belladonna's Design

This is a quick appreciation of our Cat Girl's design. Its objective is to offer a short analysis by incorporating elements of other metas. Ideally, the end result will be something similar to Yang's post. Finally, this is the final piece of my mid-summer Blake meta spree :) So, enjoy!

JUST ANOTHER CAT GIRL?

Blake's design plays with the idea of "cat girl". Cat girls are common in anime and mangas, but are often overly sexualized. In particular, cat ears are usually presented as an overly cute trait and sometimes a fetish.

RWBY takes this idea and subverts it in 2 ways.

Blake's ears are initially hidden, so that her affinity with cats gets highlighted through other aesthetical elements:

Gambol Shroud's ribbon resembles a cat's tail and it being a whip may reference the infamous cat o' nine tails

She decorates her eyes with cat eye makeup

She is able to make copies of herself, which get jokingly referred to as copycats

In Mistral she wears leg boots, which bring to mind Puss in Boots

In Atlas she wears a catsuit

Blake's cat trait becomes a core part of her identity, which is explored on a double level:

It represents her faunus heritage, which makes her different from humans and discriminated

It is a symbol of Blake's troubled past and of her involvement with the White Fang

So, Blake covers her cat ears to run from both society and herself. Just like a scaredy cat ;)

As you see, with some limitations and worldbuilding, Blake manages to be a cat girl with much depth to her. Still, there is more to her cat design.

FROM CALICO TO TUXEDO

Let's juxtapose Blake's initial concept art with her final design:

What changes is the cat used as the main inspiration.

In the initial concept art it is the calico cat (tricolor cat):

In the final character design it is the tuxedo cat (bicolor cat):

Why the change? Let's explain it by highlighting one similarity (1) and one difference (2) between the two kitties.

1- Both cats are called after a type of cloth:

Calico is a fabric, which originates in India (the set of the Jungle Book - Blake's secondary allusion) and is famous for its colorful printed patterns. I wouldn't be surprised if Blake's clothes in the concept art were meant to be calico made.

Tuxedo is a formal wear, which consists of a black suit over a white shirt and a bow tie. Well, Blake's final design is a revisitation of the traditional tuxedo with a shorter jacket and a bow worn in the hair, instead than as a tie.

The idea of "cloth" is heavily used in Blake's design, which may be one of the reasons why the tuxedo is eventually chosen. This kitty, thus, offers a pretty poignant metaphor.

It all starts with Gambol Shroud, where shroud means a piece of cloth that conceals or protects:

Here come two thoughts:

Blake's bow is her shroud which is why it resembles her weapon’s ribbon (same color and similar material). The bow is the ears, while the ribbon is the tail. Together they complement Blake’s cat design.

Some tuxedo cats are called tuxedo masks because it is as if a black mask covers their whole faces. It is easy to see how this concept fits Blake, who conceals herself thanks to a little piece of fabric.

Basically, Blakes's bow is her tuxedo tie, which is worn as a mask.

2- The two cats differ when it comes to their color:

The calico is a tricolor cat, which is mostly known as having a white coat with some orange and black patches

The tuxedo is a bicolor cat, which has white and black fur

These two color patterns are another reason why Blake has been characterized as a tuxedo instead than a calico. As a matter of fact the black and white dychotomy fits our beautiful faunus girl more.

WHITE AND BLACK = BEAUTY AND BEAST

In old English, Blake's name means both black and white. As a result, she is linked to both colors, which tie with her light and shadow motif:

Blake is associated to the twilight because it is where light and shadow meet. What's more, her musical theme is built on this duality. She starts in the shadows and climbs her way up towards the light.

Well, Light and Shadow are linked to two Jungian Archetypes:

The Light is the persona, so what is shown to others

The Shadow is what is repressed, so the hidden parts

And these two archetypes are explored in The Beauty and The Beast:

The Beauty is the light - she is beautiful, lovable and accepted

The Beast is the shadow - he is ferocious, scary and misunderstood

So, Blake's own allusion can be read as the integration of beauty and beast, light and shadow, so that a new unit (a new individual) is born. This is also Blake's arc in a nutshell. She starts as a shadow because she hides herself, but with time she steps into the light and shows the world who she is.

In other words, Blake's Beauty and Beast allusion is referenced in her appearence not only in her nature as a faunus, but in her color scheme too. She is both beauty and beast, light and shadow, white and black.

This is also why these two colors are incorporated in respectively Sun and Ilia.

Sun is white, as he leads Blake towards the light:

Ilia is black, as she forces Blake to face her own shadows:

Through them Blake integrates her shadows and stops hiding:

This is why her design changes in Mistral in two notables ways:

She gives up her bow once and for all

She wears a white jacket over a black top

These two details mirror Blake's inner journey. She learns to show herself more, so her ears get to be out in the open and the light (white) surfaces. In Beacon, instead, the ears are concealed and Blake is wrapped in shadows (black).

Ironically, this means Blake's design loses the core traits of her tuxedo cat inspiration. As a matter of fact she has no bow tie anymore and the color pattern is inverted, which doesn't work. Why this choice? It is because Blake is going from Beast (black + cat) to Beauty (white + individual). Symbolically, this happens as she shows her faunus trait more openly:

She grows more beautiful (human) as she openly embraces her beast side (cat).

GOLD, BLUE AND PURPLE = HOT, COLD AND JUST RIGHT

The shift from calico to tuxedo brings some consequences to Blake and Yang's complementary designs.

Let's compare the bees exploratory ideas:

As people have noticed, Blake and Yang are aesthetically and symbolically linked since early on.

Here, we have:

Blake with one gold eye and one blue eye

Yang with a blue bandana

This chromatic choice ties into Yang's allusion and design. As a matter of fact our Goldilocks uses colors to represent the too hot, too cold and just right. Specifically:

red/orange is the too hot

blue/green is the too cold

purple (blue + red) is the just right

So, in the picture above Yang's looks play with the dychotomy between too hot and too cold. This same duality is mirrored in Blake:

She is both too hot (gold eye) and too cold (blue eye)

She wears much gold in general (Yang's main color)

The idea is clear. Blake is Yang's hot and cold. In particular, she brings some needed blue in Yang's life. She helps Goldilocks cool down and become more balanced. Similarly, Blake proudly wears Yang's golden tones, as she has to grow more like her Golden Beauty.

So, how have these ideas evolved in Blake’s final design?

Blake has gained a strong association with purple, which makes her Yang's just right

Blake's color scheme has ditched gold in favor of silver, which makes her and Yang complementary

Blake's link to purple is interesting because this color calls back to her family and to the surname Belladonna (beautiful woman in Italian). In other words, it is connected to both Ghira's legacy and her Beauty side. So, it is not a surprise that Blake grows more purple in each arc:

She is slowly blooming into Yang's just right by reconciling with her legacy and by becoming a person worthy of our golden girl.

This transformation is highlighted also by Blake integrating some gold into her:

In both her Vale and Atlas's designs Blake is linked to silver, so that she can complete Yang's gold. Still, in Mistral she has some gold details because this is the arc where she integrates her missing parts. This integration ends with Adam's death and Blake's rebirth:

So, Blake's design tells a story of inner growth, which leads her to stand beside Yang as an equal:

Blake: She's not protecting me, Adam. And I'm not protecting her. We're protecting each other.

This theme is important for Blake's Cat Girl archetype. Cat Girls, thus, are often reduced to love interests, but Blake's arc is a deconstruction of this idea. What would happen if the male partner of a Cat Girl is abusive? Blake explores this concept and tells a story of liberation and development, which ends with a reconstruction of the trope. Our Cat Girl ends up in a happy relationship, but not as a shallow prize. Rather as a winner.

BEASTS, LIONS AND WOLVES

In conclusion, Blake's design alludes to the Beauty and Beast on three levels:

Society= Blake is both human (beauty) and animal (beast)

Couple = Blake and Yang are drawn as complementary

Individual = Blake is both white (light) and black (shadow)

Still, this is not the only fairy tale our Cat Girl ties into thanks to her animal features. Here come three examples.

Blake is Bagheera's daughter and a small panther (a cat) in the Jungle Book

Blake is a Scaredy Cat to Lioneheart's Cowardly Lion. Except that of course the cat is braver than the lion

Blake is Ruby's black beast in team RWBY's LRRH team allusion

This last reference is foreshadowed since Red Like Roses:

Black the beast descends from shadows.

After all, the Beowolves appear when Blake's line comes up.

Moreover, Blake's secondary allusions all come together to strongly link our Black Shadow to wolves. In the Jungle Book, Mowgli is raised by wolves, just like Blake grows up in the White Fang. The name of the group itself calls back to wolves, as it references the title of Jack London's book about a half-dog half-wolf, who fights to be accepted by humans.

Finally, it turns out Blake is not the only Cat, who turns out to be a Wolf:

In short, Blake's design lets her freely move between allusions and references. Not only that, but it is crafted to add depth and thematic resonance to her character and her arc. Not bad for just another Cat Girl, uh?

[luckshmi]

Ayurvedic Secrets to Radiant Skin: Understanding Your Dosha and Simple Homemade Skincare

In the pursuit of healthy, glowing skin, many of us seek solutions in expensive creams, serums, and treatments. But what if the key to vibrant skin lies in ancient wisdom that's been practiced for centuries?

Welcome to the world of Ayurveda, where the holistic approach to skincare goes beyond topical treatments to address the root causes of skin imbalances.

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda, often called the "science of life," is an ancient healing system that originated in India thousands of years ago. At its core is the belief that our well-being is intricately connected to the balance of three fundamental energies known as doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.

Understanding Your Dosha:

Each person is born with a unique combination of these doshas, which influence not only our physical characteristics but also our mental and emotional tendencies. By identifying your dominant dosha, you can tailor your skincare routine to address specific skin concerns effectively.

Vata Dosha: If you have Vata-dominant skin, you may notice tendencies toward dryness, flakiness, and sensitivity. Vata skin often feels parched and is prone to premature aging. To nurture Vata skin, focus on moisturizing and nourishing practices.

Skincare Routine: Massage your skin with warm sesame oil to deeply moisturize and improve circulation. Use gentle, hydrating cleansers and rich, emollient creams to lock in moisture.

Homemade Recipe: Create a hydrating face mask by mixing mashed avocado with honey and a few drops of almond oil. Leave it on for 15 minutes before rinsing with warm water.

Pitta Dosha: Pitta-dominant skin tends to be sensitive, prone to redness, inflammation, and occasional breakouts. Excessive heat and stress can exacerbate Pitta imbalances, leading to increased oiliness and irritation.

Skincare Routine: Opt for cooling and soothing ingredients like cucumber, aloe vera, and sandalwood. Use gentle, non-abrasive cleansers and avoid harsh exfoliants that can aggravate inflammation.

Homemade Recipe: Make a calming face pack by mixing sandalwood powder with rose water and a pinch of turmeric. Apply it to clean skin, leave it on for 15 minutes, then rinse with cool water.

Kapha Dosha: Kapha-dominant skin tends to be oily, prone to congestion, and enlarged pores. Kapha imbalances can result in dullness, blackheads, and a lack of vitality.

Skincare Routine: Focus on purifying and detoxifying practices to balance excess oil and congestion. Use gentle, oil-balancing cleansers and lightweight, non-comedogenic moisturizers.

Homemade Recipe: Create an invigorating scrub by mixing ground oats with yogurt and a pinch of turmeric. Gently massage it onto damp skin in circular motions, then rinse with lukewarm water.

General Ayurvedic Skincare Tips: In addition to dosha-specific practices, there are some general principles of Ayurvedic skincare that benefit all skin types:

Practice Abhyanga, or self-massage with warm oil, to promote relaxation and improve circulation.

Drink herbal teas like chamomile or tulsi to reduce internal inflammation and support overall well-being.

Maintain a balanced lifestyle with adequate sleep, regular exercise, and stress management to promote skin health from the inside out.

Ayurveda offers a holistic approach to skincare that emphasizes harmony between mind, body, and spirit. By understanding your dosha and incorporating simple, homemade remedies into your skincare routine, you can unlock the secrets to radiant and healthy skin naturally. Remember, consistency and mindfulness are key to achieving lasting results. So, embrace the wisdom of Ayurveda and let your inner glow shine through!

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need further guidance on your Ayurvedic skincare journey.

[petermorwood]

Follow-up, as promised...

Further to this post, I went rummaging.

My stars, it turns out we've got some serious goodies at the back of the cupboard.

They've all been here long enough that @dduane and I will eat well this next week or so, but the first of them, mentioned often by Dracula Daily...

...“We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. (Cluj) Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale (AFAIK, fictional) I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (mem. get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called “paprika hendl” and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians.”

...is this one.

This is a standard bung-it-in-the-microwave ready meal (3 mins / 700w, wait 3 mins, eat) but there's no reason why it can't be prettied up a bit.

Taste report: the flavour was creamy, buttery, paprika-y, and entirely pleasant (if there were more of these I would scoff them) and the Nockerl (mini dumplings) were properly al dente and excellent, but it was by no means "thirsty", by which I assume spicy-hot. Okay, it wasn't labelled as such, but it was even milder than any Paprikahendl I've eaten in a restaurant.

I suspect that, like most ready-meals of this kind, including curries and chili-con-carne, its spice level has been dialled down to Avoid Shocking The Customers, though TBH most German / Austrian dishes labelled Scharf, Feurig or Würzig (all meaning spicy or hot) have been lacking in the oomph department, at least for me. (Some haven't, which is always a pleasant surprise.)

I'm going to make my own Paprikahendl in the next while because I got some sweet and hot paprikas from Polonez in Dublin, and right now, DD is in the process of making Paprikaente, based on several Paprikahendl recipes and a couple of duck breasts found at the back of the freezer. I don't know if that's authentic or not, but it smells great and I don't care. :->

*****

I've suggested in another post why Jonathan Harker found this dish "thirsty".

It wasn't because he he had a wimpy English palate unaccustomed to spicy food - the Edwardian era was familiar with fiery curries from Raj India, and even featured cayenne pepper as a table condiment, complete with its own caddy and (often devil-topped) spoon...

My opinion was that Paprikahendl (Austrian) / Paprikás csirke (Hungarian) was a peasant dish, with the main part of the meal a big dish of noodles or dumplings. Those would be perked up with a sauce based on some elderly chicken which had stopped laying, well-spiced so a little could flavour a lot.

Those noodles have lots of names - nockerln on the packet I posted, also nokoldel, csipetke, spaetzle, tarhhonya and so on - and were what filled people up, with the meat accompaniment more of a relish or seasoning. In the same way, for instance, Yorkshire Pudding used to be served with gravy as a first course, so the second course of meat would go further.

Rice / bread / couscous/ pasta / mian / potatoes / fufu / polenta etc. did the same; many of these are served alongside rich, spicy, buttery etc. dishes and are now suggested as fire extinguishers for "over-hot" foods because the proportions of bland vs rich / spicy have shifted.

Back when, dinner would have been lots of name-the-regional-bland carbohydrate, along with a little bit of over-hot (or -garlicked or -herby or -smoked-bacon / sausagey) protein, which might have tasted excessive alone but would have given flavour to all that bland.

*****

Side-note: it's another possible reason, besides conspicuous consumption, for lots of spice in (rich people's) medieval dishes; in winter and spring, all that spice would have made smoked / salted / dried meat more interesting.

The business of "spices masked bad meat" is rubbish, and originated as recently as 1939 thanks to historian J.C. Drummond, who didn't know what "green" meant in food context. Green cheese = fresh cheese, green meat = un-aged meat.

Drummond assumed a recipe to change the flavour of "green venison" was to cover that it had gone off. It was in fact meant to tenderise it as if hung a few days in the cold store, but "medieval people were primitive" has always been more acceptable pop history than "medieval people were pretty smart".

*****

Harker, eating the chicken-and-sauce as The Meal (Stoker doesn't mention accompaniments or Bulk Carbs like noodles, spaetzle, etc. so you'll have to trust me), would have been like someone taking a swig of hot sauce or chomp of chilli pickle and then declaring the entire meal over-spiced or "thirsty", unaware of the proper proportions of What Goes With What.

A hotter, spicier, "thirstier" Paprikahendl would definitely go with a big mound of these little noodles, so I plan to see - and taste - how it'll work.

And how it'll look, too. :->

[dionysianivy]

Dionysus - The Night Prowler 🍷🏺

Also known as: Bacchus

Dionysus is popularly called the God of Wine, however that classification doesn’t begin to do him justice as this powerful deity is so much more than that:

• Dionysus presides over Mysteries of birth, life, death, and resurrection

• He is the spirit of untamed wilderness and irrepressible male procreative energy, intoxication, shamanism, magic, joy, hallucinations, madness, and sexual healing.

He was the last of the twelve deities incorporated into the Olympian pantheon and so is usually classified as a “Greek god,” but his original homeland is believed to be Thrace: modern Bulgaria and Romania both claim to be his birthplace. Dionysus was accepted as an Olympian by the fifth century BCE but was known to the Greeks since at least the end of the Bronze Age.

Dionysus was originally served only by women. His female devotees were known as Maenads (Greece) or Bacchanals (Rome). Although men served him, too, women were leaders and initiators in the Dionysian rites, and certain rites were reserved for women. Ecstatic veneration was integral to his rites. To resist his call was to risk madness. Dionysus presides over the orgeia, literally “rites performed in the forest,” from which the modern word orgy derives. His devotees danced themselves into trances:they danced until they tranced.

Dionysus was twice born, first as the child of Zeus and his daughter, Persephone. Zeus named him Zagreus and designated him his heir over all his other children. Jealous Titans kidnapped Zagreus, ripped him to pieces, and ate him, except for his heart, which Athena rescued. Livid Zeus reduced the Titans to ashes and formed humans from these ashes, thus all people share in Dionysus’ (Zagreus') essence.

Zeus brewed a love potion from Zagreus’ heart and fed it to Princess Semele. She conceived Dionysus but died before giving birth. Zeus rescued the unborn child, removing him from his mother’s body and sewing him up in his own thigh to incubate until ripe and ready to be born. Dionysus was then hidden away for his own safety; he grew up in the wilderness of Thrace, nursed by goats. Dionysus was persecuted. Various spirits attempted to prevent him from achieving full power, most notably Hera, who struck him mad. Kybele healed and then initiated him. Reaching maturity, Dionysus led a caravan through Egypt, the Levantine Coast, Asia, and India, accompanied by a parade of Maenads, satyrs, and panthers. Wherever Dionysus traveled he taught people assorted agricultural and artisanal arts, especially viniculture, the creation of wine, and overcoming military opposition, when necessary.

Dionysus is not a fighter and does not usually harm anyone directly. Instead, he strikes them temporarily insane so that they harm themselves, sometimes fatally. Dionysus also liberates from madness and heals mental illness. Among the punishment he inflicts may be alcoholism. If propitiated, he can heal and relieve this ailment, too.

In addition to wine, Dionysus is associated with opium and mushrooms. His festivals featured nocturnal processions with music and masked, costumed revelers. These processions may be understood as armies of spirits, animals, musicians, and women exulting in their sexuality. Dionysus has dominion over all theatrical and dance performances. He is the patron of actors. He was invoked before all performances and presided over drama competitions.

source: The Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods, and Goddesses by Judika Illes

[tanlakarix]

Improve customer interactions using voice solutions.

The COVID-19 outbreak has certainly put enterprise customer service to the test. The dramatic increase in the demand for customer-service teams to operate around the clock has caused some businesses to question their dependability, efficiency, and quality of service. During the epidemic, customer service was one of the hardest hit departments. Consumer needs and behaviors have shifted, and time is of the essence.

Because of the high volume of calls, the consumer faces numerous uncertainties. Long wait times, inaccurate agent transfers, and call prioritization are becoming commonplace. Customers leave calls and are dissatisfied because of an agent’s query-handling efficiency.

Contact centers and enterprise voice are both becoming more important in providing an omnichannel experience. Contact centers can handle a wide range of communications. It offers technical support through in-app chat or video, but the infrastructure costs far more than enterprise voice solutions. Enterprise voice solutions, on the other hand, can integrate with APIs that help streamline development. One of the most common issues consumers have is having to wait a long time for answers to their questions, but with a corporate voice solution IVR, all simple questions can be answered by a pre-recorded informative voice bot that can answer client questions with a few key presses. If a customer decides to continue the chat, he or she can hit a key to speak with a live agent. This will result in cost savings and increased productivity because only high-end inquiries will be handled by a live agent and a platform that can be coupled with CRM will be required.

Customers who try to communicate with businesses are likely to wish to do it in more than one language. Multilingual communication fosters cultural understanding and is regarded as an efficient method of conducting business. Multilingualism becomes critical when businesses desire to develop globally or reach domestic or rural consumers. To target each region, voice campaigns must be in the local language. As the familiarity and comfort factor rise, the consumer is more inclined to purchase things from a salesman who speaks the regional language.

Here are some examples of how voice services might supplement your current services and communication channels.

Enterprise voice products such as IVR, missed calls, outbound dialers, and click2call are critical in the early stages of customer engagement. These goods provide numerous tremendous benefits to both customers and businesses. These advantages include fast voice connectivity with comprehensive call control, which reduces operational expenses while improving cross-channel communications for your apps and services.

Personalized IVR and outbound dialer to promote interesting offers, as well as for feedback and surveys:

Karix Mobile worked with a leading e-commerce company to improve consumer contacts through the use of tailored Interactive Virtual Response (IVR) and outbound dialers. The client desired a combination of both communication methods that were coupled with analytics for sales reviews. When new promotional offers are announced, OBD calls are placed to their target clients to engage them in discussions about their purchasing needs. The corporation sees an increase in sales and collects data that demonstrates sales statistics. To supplement the OBD service, a multilingual IVR was also deployed based on customer preferences to handle any queries or provide feedback.

To improve operational efficiency, use voice OTP as a failover option.

Another classic case of Karix Mobile collaborating with a real estate consultancy: The purpose was to improve its two-factor authentication by using voice OTP if an SMS OTP was not delivered. It was vital for the client to ensure that critical communications reached the end user on time. The OTP is requested through a phone call as recorded voice, which prohibits copying. It is simple to set up because it can be customized with an AI-powered voice.

Confirmation of cash-on-delivery via missed call:

Logistics organizations and their delivery teams frequently want order certainty. This includes whether the customer confirms the order, whether it is canceled, whether they are available at the designated time and whether the order is dispatched on time. The logistics company worked with Karix Mobile to receive timely confirmations via missed calls. When parcels are shipped using cash-on-delivery, they must now make missed calls to the given number after the parcel is successfully delivered.

Payment reminders that increase the likelihood of recovery:

Recovery of late payments can be a time-consuming operation. The world’s leading financial services company partnered with Karix Mobile to send payment reminders via inbound calls. Financial organizations profit from decreased costs and higher payment rates. Payment reminder links can be embedded in WhatsApp Business Solutions by agents.

At quiet airports, voice calls reminders and updates are used to notify passengers of their boarding gate and time:

One of the world’s top five airlines cooperated with Karix Mobile to improve customer happiness through voice call reminders and updates. When the airports are silent, they use voice calls to transmit notifications if there is an emergency announcement or if there is a need to update passengers about changes in boarding gates or time.

IVR and call patching are simple solutions for dealing with high call volumes.

During the epidemic, only a few banks had extremely high call volumes. In such cases, an IVR solution can assist in resolving the issue and allow banks to manage them more efficiently. An IVR can answer the most frequently asked inquiries and resolve typical consumer issues. Account information, investment portfolio updates, and status, loan-related questions such as application, disbursement status, new passbook request, product information, and so on can be quickly resolved. To ensure customer satisfaction, the IVR can connect the call to an agent using the call patching capability if the customer needs additional assistance.

Businesses can use Click2Call to provide their customers with a consistent experience.

The popularity of click-to-call has grown in lockstep with the proliferation of mobile phones. Click-to-call buttons can be beneficial in chatbot applications, websites, and applications. An online pharmacy employed Karix Mobile’s contact management tool to improve client satisfaction. They can reach a bigger audience and save time by not having to dial a new number each time. Customers may obtain medications, schedule lab tests, get doctor consultations, and much more via phone.

End Thoughts

Because employees are increasingly working remotely, enterprise voice solutions help ensure business continuity and seamless communications. In addition to massage services, brands are increasingly thinking about IVR calls, outbound calls, missed calls, and click-to-call services to supplement their existing communication channels. The effective usage of enterprise voice and company organization will prevent customer loss during these trying times.

For More Info: Voice Solutions - Karix

[terminatorbuns]

Frye is the new Marina: Exploring Frye and Minority Anxiety (An essay by @Terminatorbuns)

I'm gonna preface this with something very important: Frye is best girl. Fight me, I write lore essays. I wrote that other essay on Deep Cut and I've continued to obsess over them since, especially on Frye, who's been an extremely interesting character for me to analyze.

We know Frye, she's the chipper Inkling idol partner to the more sophisticated Octoling Shiver. There's obvious parallels to be made with the previous idol group, Off the Hook, since Frye is like the energetic Pearl and Shiver is like the cool Marina. And uhh .. that's probably all there is to it, essay's over, everyone go home.

No but seriously, what I want to share instead today is the personal, alternative interpretation I arrived at after obsessively overthinking the situation since release. It's not fully supported by canon, but this is a reading of Frye constructed from the most subtle lore details a Frye-obsessed lore nerd could find, and I hope to at least highlight some lore elements the community might have missed. I want to demonstrate the layers upon layers of complexity that can be read into Frye as a character, and why I care so fucking much.

Frye isn't the new Pearl, she was the new MARINA this whole time and it took me months to see it. Yes, it has absolutely everything to do with their skin color. Splatoon's world is designed with real life racial diversity in mind and, intentionally or not, are also influenced by real life racial dynamics in turn. Like Marina, the analysis of Frye absolutely OPENS UP if we examine her through the lens of her real life racial status, we start to infer stuff about her motivations, her fears, her secret needs and wants, EVERYTHING is on the table. Good news for Shiver fans, I can't talk about Frye without digging into her relationship with Shiver (platonic or otherwise) so that's going to happen too. We need to talk about our precious brown baby.

1. Frye the Minority

To state the obvious, Frye's ethnicity is South Asian, probably India. The Splatoon world doesn't really have a Squid India in it but it's clear what her real life inspirations are. She's very brown, she wears Aladdin pants and mango chutney on her head. She's got a snake charmer flute thing going on and all her musical motifs are played with South Asian instruments. It's a bit on the nose.

Thing is, Splatsville is a Japanese city in design. Splatsville is called Bankara city in Japanese, it's named after a literal Japanese fashion movement and the visual design elements of Splatsville are reminiscent of a rural Japanese city. Splatsville takes little visual inspiration from South Asia, and that makes sense since Splatoon is made by Japanese devs who would be most familiar with Japan.

The consequence of this is that Frye stands out as a uniquely brown-coded person in a world where nobody else looks like her. Not even playable inklings with dark skin look like her, what with her teeth and her pointy mask and her big forehead. It's worth noting that the Octoling narrative in Splatoon 2 takes inspiration from the experience of Black Americans, and the dark skinned Octolings of Inkopolis are mostly coded black, not South Asian. Even if the racial identities of squids don't necessarily match real world racial identities, Frye is recognizably a minority both visually and culturally in-universe. This is reminiscent of Marina, who was one of the only visible Octolings in Inkopolis until playable Octolings were formally implemented.

It's worth noting now that Shiver, in contrast, fits in perfectly: she's a traditionally attractive Japanese girl (we're talking about fem Shiver right now, bear with me) in a Japanese city. Even though Octolings should be an in-universe minority, and even though she too has somewhat unconventional features, the idea that she's a minority just doesn't track visually. We'll circle back to this and discuss why it doesn't really work for her character narratively either.

2. Frye the Villain

I've covered this in my previous essay but Frye is a stage villain by trade, and her style of performance is inspired by Kabuki. The Japanese inspiration makes sense, even though she's an ethnic minority her sunken scrolls suggests that her family is well established in the region, meaning they immigrated a long time ago and Frye's grown up in Splatsville. Frye is a Japanese national with roots in South Asian culture, it's understandable that she has adopted mannerisms of both cultures.

But like, why a villain? And what's the deal with Marina also representing Team Villain in the heroes vs villains Splatfest? I was wondering if there was a connection there until it hit me, Frye's TOO BROWN to apply for hero roles. In real life, the Japanese entertainment industry famously has problems with colorism and racial representation. Even darker skinned Japanese people have trouble landing gigs as leading heroes because the industry favors light skin, and Frye is both very brown and not conventionally attractive by Japanese standards. Film industries in the West have very similar problems with colorism so it's a recognizable problem to western audiences, also. Frye's career choice as a professional villain is informed by the fact that people like her literally cannot land jobs as heroes.

That's not to say Frye resents her role, Frye loves being a villain. Her poses are dynamic, her speeches are charismatic, she's at her happiest when she is playing an antagonist. If you look at her blasting off with her smoke bomb, she has the happiest smile on in direct contrast to Shiver who's comically losing her shit. Thing is, Frye identifies with the underdog villains who never win, because Frye herself struggles in an industry that does not favor her. This also explains her sympathies for the underprivileged, and why she's made it a personal mission to raise money for the poor. Looking back at Splatoon 2, Marina was sympathetic to villains for the same reasons, as an Octoling (and as a black person) that was villainized by the society she lives in.

Frye brings her cultural identity into her performance, where she incorporates traditional South Asian dance and snake/eel charming into her fighting style. She takes her heritage seriously too: where Frye comes off as a clown elsewhere, she's deadly serious when using her culturally inspired techniques in a fight. The fact that she has named choreography for each phase of her fight is proof enough of that. Deep Cut's boss fight theme also opens with South Asian instruments and they are the most prominent thematic element throughout, highlighting the fact that villainy is Frye's domain of expertise, not Shiver's. Frye sees both villainy and her cultural background as core parts of her identity and expresses herself with a combination of both.

3. Frye the loner

Thinking back to Splatoon 2, Marina and Pearl had a very clear extrovert vs Introvert dynamic: Pearl likes networking and building musical connections, and Marina is shy and prefers to hole up in a comfy chair and write music all day. We do in fact see this again in Deep Cut, except Shiver is the extrovert who flourishes in front of an audience or a camera. She's eager to play tableturf with agent 3 because she just likes social interaction and competition. The Anarchy Splatcast version of the Deep Cut theme instead features Japanese instruments, signaling that newscasting in front of a camera is Shiver's area of expertise. Shiver's design and mannerisms also visually invoke that of a Geisha, who are professional entertainers trained in hospitality.

You see where I'm going with this, I hope. In a wild fucking twist, the cheerful energetic Frye is secretly an INTROVERT. Frye's area of expertise is the desert wastelands, she's at her most comfortable when there's almost nobody around. She's happy to be on camera with her friends but she also squirms in her seat, being not completely comfortable. Her go-to stress reliever is fighting salmonids who do not speak, and Shiver tells us that Frye runs away from the group during a Salmon Run shift to fight the bosses. Also, Frye's villain specialty isn't well suited to making friends when she kinda attacks strangers on sight.

Frye's tableturf habits are most revealing because she does not make eye contact with Agent 3 sitting across a table from 3. Frye's zoned out thinking about Big Man and Shiver, her closest friends and the people she's most comfortable around. In the news room Frye's attention is also focused on her friends and rarely makes eye contact with the camera. Without her friends nearby, Frye can actually get a bit lost in a social setting.

This reminds us of Marina who's also shy around people, except Marina's anxieties come from being a literal enemy of the state. Marina actually has quite a few contacts in the Octoling community despite being nervous around Inklings for good reasons. Frye has habits that ACTIVELY avoid people, and currently we're not sure she has ANY friends outside of Deep Cut. There's likely a racial aspect to this, of course, the same cultural biases that prevent Frye from playing hero roles are also likely affecting her ability to connect with new people, and it's not a big stretch to guess how it affects her personal habits. Frye doesn't have Shiver's conventionally good looks, she makes a poor first impression as a pointy big headed brown girl in a Japanese-coded world. This might feel a bit familiar as we've seen a similar process play out in real life since Shiver was a lot more well received at launch and Frye took more time to grow on the fandom.

4. Marina and minority excellence

So we've established some similarities between Frye and Marina in that they are likely both introverts affected by racial anxieties, but it's also worth discussing the ways in which they differ. I feel that Frye and Marina take two different approaches to address their racial anxieties, and this accounts for their very different personalities as characters.

Marina represents a picture perfect image of black excellence on an Octopus. She's a prodigy composer that knows every fucking black music style and a genius engineer and she can even draw manga; girl works three jobs. Marina's approach to her minority status is to work hard to be an exceptional representative of her people in the hopes that it will help them be accepted in Inkling society. She's determined to be presentable to the degree that she will hide some parts of her past (although those parts involved a lot of weapons engineering so maybe it's for the best that she's not proud of that). Also, and this is a very lukewarm take, Marina is hot.

Frye has to take a different approach out of necessity, because Frye is not a genius. As talented as she is, Frye is a more average person with anxieties and flaws that she can't hide, and she doesn't have the talent to excel in multiple fields of expertise or the patience to learn how to present herself in polite society. Rather, Frye channels her flaws into her art: her violent tendencies and her social anxieties both inform her villain performance, giving her a distinct edge and charisma that suits her chosen art form. In Japanese, Frye also speaks with distinct country bumpkin mannerisms which are also associated with low societal status. Thing is, Frye embodies Splatoon 3's theme of Chaos as a non-conformist: she can't succeed by conforming to polite societal standards, so she chooses to promote her own, rough around the edges style as a viable art form.

I'm fascinated with this particular interpretation of Frye, whether or not it was intentional by the original designers at Nintendo, because of how much depth it gives Frye's personality. Not only that, but this version of Frye also creates some interesting implications for her contrasting partner, Shiver.

5. Making sense of Shiver

Shiver's role in Splatoon 3 is rather mysterious when you think about it. Our previous understanding was that Octolings was an oppressed racial underclass that come from the military dictatorship in Octo Canyon and have only been integrated into Inkling society for 2-4 years. And yet, Shiver's family history goes back pretty far with very specific artistic traditions that they've preserved, and she has distinctly different visual features than the Octolings of Octo Canyon. I should also point out that the systematic oppression of Octolings draws heavy parallels to the experiences of Black people in America and Japan, and Shiver is… very not black.

Shiver doesn't really work as an Octoling from Octo Canyon, but she also doesn't have to. The Splatlands is a new region with new history and racial politics, Shiver starts making more sense if we assume that she's been in Splatsville this whole time, and her family simply wasn't living under DJ Octavio's rule. If Shiver's history isn't tied to the Octo Canyon narrative, then we have some very interesting angles to explore through the lens of her IRL racial identity as a Japanese girl and how that effects her design and personality. If we follow this line of logic to its conclusion, we'll start to understand how Shiver is actually the new Pearl.

Shiver as a character design is defined by privilege, or at least, the ILLUSION of privilege (more on this later). She's conventionally attractive by Japanese standards in a Japanese setting, so she has the natural advantages of being a member of the racial majority where Frye does not. Shiver's Japanese dialogue speaks in a very formal theatrical tongue which is… fucking weird admittedly but also a clear allusion to high social status, in the same way people use Shakespearen English to sound fancy as shit. Shiver has the looks and mannerisms of a highly presentable racial default Japanese entertainer and she takes advantage of that to achieve her personal goals.

Shiver's goal is to be on TV. Shiver is Deep Cut's newsroom specialist, she wants to be on camera and to be seen by everyone, she's a little obsessive about attention really. Shiver knows her looks are naturally appealing and wants to be in a format where people can see her face, and she uses stage makeup to accentuate her strengths. This is in direct contrast to Frye who prefers stage performance for smaller, curated audience's, and even then Frye uses a mask to hide her face in battle.

This is where Shiver's relationship with Frye starts to resemble Pearl and Marina. Shiver is perfectly aware of her natural advantages as a fair skinned person and has extended that privilege to include her dark skinned partner. This is similar to the same that light skinned Pearl makes it a mission to promote Marina as a minority artist (Pearl's privilege in this case being mountains of money rather than attractiveness). Even though TV is not Frye's specialty, Shiver insists that Frye (and Big Man) be included because Shiver thinks they deserve a spotlight.

That being said, Shiver's style of partnership differs greatly from Pearl. Pearl has a partner with confidence problems, so Pearl takes a very hands on approach to push Marina to seek out new artistic styles and opportunities because Marina is directionless without guidance. Pearl has high expectations for Marina because Marina is a prodigy who will rise to meet those expectations, and Marina appreciates Pearl's involvement greatly. Marina in turn helps Pearl with her destructive vocals, they fill in each other's weaknesses while working towards a similar goal.

In contrast Shiver takes a hands off approach to Frye. Both Shiver and Frye are confident entertainers in different fields of expertise and do not need external motivation, so they do not need to push each other in the same way Pearl and Marina do. What they instead do for each other is provide safe spaces to participate in each other's art forms without judgment: Frye comes to the TV studio despite being awkward on camera, and Shiver gets to play a villain despite being clumsy and manic on stage. Big Man gets to show up to both despite having little ability in either field.

6. Shiver x Frye

I'm not saying Shiver and Frye have to be a romantic couple, they form an excellent platonic duo dynamic that is just as narratively valuable to the world of Splatoon. I would never be so crass as to suggest that Shiver and Frye should kiss passionately on the mouth. But like, with the information we now have we can dive a little deeper and make some educated guesses on the inner workings of this particular pairing.

Shiver and Frye directly influence each other's personalities, each member of the duo changes when the other is around. Frye becomes softer around Shiver: Frye on her own is tough from a life informed by adversity, she's focused and takes losses with dignity. However, Shiver is using her personal privileges as a light skinned, presentable Japanese girl as a shield for Frye's racial disadvantages to get Frye TV opportunities that Frye would not have had access to alone, and I think Frye appreciates the protection. Frye feels safe enough around Shiver to let her guard down, she feels less pressure to be strong and competent and has an opportunity to be goofier and more vulnerable. This is the Frye we see most often on screen.

Shiver becomes edgier around Frye: Shiver gets to play a villain when treasure hunting with Frye, And we discover that her villain performance is BUCK WILD. This is the second layer of Shiver's personality that I've only alluded to so far, but it's very important to discuss what Shiver gets out of her relationship with Frye.

Shiver's character is about presentation; she has gone to great lengths to learn the behaviors of a traditionally feminine, high class entertainer. She's polite to a fault and extremely particular about her movements both on TV and on a dance stage. There's no reason to believe this is a facade, Shiver has put so much energy into her act that it's more likely that this is Shiver's idealized self, the image she actually wants to present to the world.

What is simultaneously true is that Shiver DOESN'T perfectly conform to her own idealized self image. There's a messier side to Shiver's personality that she tries very hard to hide: she's competitive, petty, and vindictive under specific circumstances, all traditionally unfeminine traits. She's not doing a great job at hiding them either, these traits are part of her personality and slip out despite her best efforts. It's important to consider that Shiver likely also grew up in Splatsville, making her a country girl too with the same rough rural upbringing as Frye. This just makes her attempt to present as high-class even funnier.

My personal interpretation of the dynamic of Frye's relationship to Shiver is that Frye accepts all of Shiver's messier personality traits, enjoys them, even. Frye is a deliquent that stands for conflict and non-conformity to begin with, so Frye offers a safe space where Shiver can both embrace her messier side and be celebrated for it. Shiver can take nasty verbal jabs at Frye and Frye will fire back cheerfully. This is why Shiver is so wild as a villain, the repressed parts of her personality comes out in full display when she's in a space with only Frye and Big Man, and Frye in particular seems to know all of Shiver's secrets to a level that Big Man does not. This way, Shiver feels no need to erase the messier parts of her personality, she simply saves it for the people she trusts. And Frye is the person Shiver trusts the most.

7. Shiver's Gender

I saved this for last because we have little evidential support for it in canon, but the Shiver character analysis really isn't complete without it. Up to this point I have referred to Shiver with She/Her pronouns because that is Nintendo NA's current official stance on the matter (I'm going to keep doing it for consistency but I really don't feel strongly about this), and my analysis is written with the assumption that Shiver is a cisgendered woman. BUT. I actually see no reason that an alternative interpretation cannot be true.

The overall art community has already figured out that there's a VERY potent TRANS narrative that can be told with Shiver. Shiver's narrative is about presenting as a traditional cisgendered girl while struggling with all the ways she does not conform to tradition, but there's an entirely new layer of meaning to this if Shiver is not, in fact, cisgendered in some way. There's a lot of visual information that initially led the community to this interpretation, Shiver's features are more androgynous than feminine, she wears a Sarashi wrap that has cultural connotations of being a binder, and she has a half shaved punk hair cut which is traditionally considered to be very unfeminine. Shiver's art form itself is gendered, as she has the design elements of a Geisha which is a feminine job, but the gender she presents on the job doesn't have to match her personal gender identity: drag queens exist, for example. I'd also like to point out that historically, there were in fact, MALE geishas that went by the title of Taikomochi, they are just less common in modern days.

In practice, Shiver's gender expression is so complicated that ANY interpretation is viable. Not only that but the various trans interpretations have VERY interesting implications. This would recontextualize Shiver's advantages not as majority privilege, but PASSING privilege, or the ability to LOOK heteronormative while not actually being that. It adds a lot of meaning to Shiver's focus on presentation, and her desire to be validated by a lot of people on TV.

Additionally, this would reinforce the idea that Shiver needs an outlet to address her gender nonconformity off screen, and trusted, accepting friends to keep her secrets while she perfects her preferred forms of gender expression. It's the exact sort of thing that would draw her to the delinquent Frye who has no respect for tradition, and who would encourage Shiver to embrace the most literal interpretation of "be gay, do crimes". It would connect Frye and Shiver as two parallel interpretations of minority anxiety in the same game: one who passes for "normal" and one who does not, and how differently they see the world. And that's… kinda beautiful?

At this point I don't have the relevant personal experience to dive any deeper into possible trans interpretations of Shiver, I think there are other artists with more relevant backgrounds that are already exploring this topic. Just know that I've seen the art that depicts Shiver with top surgery scars and they are my favorite.

8. Conclusion

Deep Cut's only been out three months and I've already written this much about their lore, good lord. I'm an artist who works on Splatoon fan fiction so the story and themes of Splatoon matter a lot to me as they influence the direction of my work, but my god, does Deep Cut give me a lot to work with. Some of this will have to be retracted as we learn more about Deep Cut's lore, there's lots of ways Nintendo can introduce canon to contradict my take, and that's fine GIVE US THE LORE. Regardless I plan to be making more Deep Cut fan content in the future and I really wanted to share the information that my future work will be based on.

[monstersinthecosmos]

okay I think we should take inventory of what we learned about Marius's house.

In fact, the impression was one of comfortable messiness.

(i think the tiktok kids started calling ADHD clutter clustering or something LMAO marius de romanus cluster girlie i guess. thanks i hate it)

Here's some stuff that Marius had on his island!!!!!!!

stone benches

a lighted oil lamp on a stand

a pair of heavy wooden doors

a sarcophagus with a plain lid, cleanly fashioned out of diorite

The lid plated in iron and contained

a golden mask, its features carefully molded, attached to a hood made up of layered plates of hammered gold.

a pair of leather gloves covered completely in tinier more delicate gold plates like scales.

a large folded blanket of the softest red wool with one side sewn with larger gold plates

Magnificent Grecian urns on pedestals in the corridors

great bronze statues from the Orient

exquisite plants at every window and terrace open to the sky.

Gorgeous rugs from India, Persia, China c

giant stuffed beasts mounted in lifelike attitudes-

--the brown bear,

--the lion,

--the tiger,

--even the elephant standing in his own immense chamber,

--lizards as big as dragons,

--birds of prey clutching dried branches made to look like the limbs of real trees.

brilliantly colored murals covering every surface from floor to ceiling

a dark vibrant painting of the sunburnt Arabian desert complete with an exquisitely detailed caravan of camels and turbaned merchants moving over the sand

a jungle warming with delicately rendered tropical blossoms, vines, carefully drawn leaves

creatures everywhere in the texture of the jungle-

--insects,

--birds,

--worms in the soil-

too many monkeys in the jungle,

too many bugs crawling on the leaves.

thousands of tiny insects in one painting of a summer sky.

a large gallery walled on either side by painted men and women staring at me

Figures from all ages these were-

--bedouins,

--Egyptians,

--Greeks and Romans,

--knights in armor,

--peasants

--kings

--queens.

--Renaissance people in doublets and leggings,

--the Sun King with his massive mane of curls,

--people of our own age.

droplets of water clinging to a cape,

the cut on the side of a face,

the spider half-crushed beneath a polished leather boot.

a library, blazing with light.

Walls and walls of books and

rolled manuscripts,

giant glistening world globes in their wooden cradles,

busts of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses,

great sprawling maps.

Newspapers in all languages lay in stacks on tables.

Fossils,

mummified hands,

exotic shells.

bouquets of dried flowers,

figurines and fragments of old sculpture,

alabaster jars covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs.

comfortable chairs with footstools,

candelabra or oil lamps.

a forest of cages.

birds of all sizes and colors

monkeys

baboons,

Potted plants crowded against the cages-

--ferns and

--banana trees,

--cabbage roses,

--moonflower,

--jasmine,

--other sweetly fragrant nighttime vines.

purple and white orchids,

waxed flowers that trapped insects in their maw,

little trees groaning with peaches and lemons and pears.

a hall of sculptures equal to any gallery in the Vatican museum.

adjoining chambers full of paintings,

Oriental furnishings,

mechanical toys.

fine rosewood paneling with framed mirrors rising to the ceiling.

painted chests,

upholstered chairs,

dark and lush landscapes,

porcelain clocks.

A small collection of books in the glass-doored bookcases,

a newspaper of recent date lying on a small table beside a brocaded winged chair.

the stone terrace. where banks of white lilies and red roses gave off their powerful perfume.

a pair of winged chairs that faced each other

a dozen or so candelabra and sconces on the paneled walls.

brocade cushions

[kepnerandavery]

My favourite quotes from When He Was Wicked..

1. “Francesca turned to Michael, her eyes startlingly blue, even in the candlelight. Or maybe it was just that he knew how blue they were. He seemed to dream in blue these days. Francesca blue, the colour ought to be called.”

This is the first moment that makes you realize just how deep Michael’s love for Francesca is ❤️

2. “When she smiled at him he couldn’t say no. And he certainly wasn’t strong enough to deny himself an hour in her presence. Because her presence was all he was ever going to get. There would never be a kiss, never a meaningful glance or touch. There would be no whispered words of love, no moans of passion. All he could have was her smile and her company, and path. All he could have was her smile and her company, and pathetic idiot that he was, he was willing to take it.”

Sigh.. My poor child. I wish I could give him a hug and tell him he’s going to get everything he deserves (soon-ish) 😅

3. “He turned and looked at her, his strange, silvery eyes catching hers with an intensity she knew he didn’t often allow to rise to the fore. “And then it was gone, and he was himself again”

Little does she know, that the Michael that she thought she saw here for a second is his real self. It’s just that he’s pretending to be someone else in front of her to mask his feelings 😢

4. “Francesca?” he gasped. “Frannie, Frannie, what is—”

When he called her “Frannie” for the first time, my heart exploded ❤️ I also noticed that he only calls her that in "somewhat" serious situations 😭

5. “She was still there, and she was still the Countess of Kilmartin, and even if he was the earl, with no questions attached to the title, she wouldn’t be his countess, and he just didn’t know if he could take the irony of it.”

My man really had to go through all seven stages of grief about three times over before she fell for him huh? 😢

6. “He didn’t try to finish the sentence for her. She wished he had; for years she wished he had, because maybe then he would have said the wrong thing, and maybe then she wouldn’t have leaned into him, and maybe then she wouldn’t have allowed him to hold her.”

I feel like this moment is so important for them both. It’s the first time where they stepped out of the familiarity of their relationship, and failed to figure out who they were to each other. And that’s pretty good news, for Michael. Down the road, I mean, cause right now, it really sucks 😂

7. “He was a brave man; he’d proven that countless times, on and off the battlefield. But he was an honest man, too, honest enough to admit that the prospect of facing Francesca was terrifying in a way that no French battlefield or toothy tiger could ever be.”

Ahhhaa 😭

8. “Do you have any idea how long it takes for mail to reach London from India?” “Five months,” she answered promptly. “Four, if the winds are kind.”

Are we really gonna gloss over the fact that she knows this? 😏 Frannie, you’re not coming across as indifferent as you’d like to seem 😂

9. “He’d needed her to step away, to move out of his reach. She was going to have to set the boundaries. Because he wasn’t sure he’d prove up to the task.”

Sighh.. I can’t understand how he kept all of his feelings to himself for six years 😢

10. “There was something different about her, something entirely unexpected. Something that shook him down to his very soul. It was a sense about her—all in his mind, really, but no less devastating. There was an air of availability, a horrible, torturous knowledge that John was gone, really, truly gone, and the only thing stopping Michael from reaching out and touching her was his own conscience. It was almost funny. Almost.”

God, Micheal really is an angel when it comes to her. The fact that he doesn’t even ponder the possibility of a relationship with her is just so.. 😭

11. “You, my lord, need a wife. Immediately.” “Oh, really? And why is that?” “Because in your present state, you are clearly a danger to unmarried women everywhere.”

Is he a danger to other woman, or to you Francesca? I’m pretty sure it’s the latter 😋

12. “She had remembered how he took it—milk, no sugar. For some reason this pleased him immensely.”

Gahhhh 🥰 Small victories for him 😊

13. “But soon. You’re not getting any younger. Michael just stared at her in shock. “I can’t imagine permitting anyone else to speak to me in such a manner.”

Haha 😂 He’s such a sweetheart, and no one can convince me otherwise

14. “And then of course there was the small matter of his skin crawling, which was his general reaction to the thought of Francesca with another man.”

How much more could he take? 💔

15. “He was Michael. He was… well, it seemed difficult precisely to define what he was to her, but they had an unbreakable bond, they two, and it seemed that four years and thousands of miles had done little to diminish it.”

YES!!! 🙌

16. “And even in those early days following John’s death, when she’d hated him for leaving her, even when she’d been so angry with him that she wanted to cry—she had taken some comfort in the knowledge that he was alive and well, and would return to her in an instant, if ever she asked it of him.”

Micheal was living with a broken heart in India, but little does he know that half the work to make her fall for him has already been put in by his past self 😋 All he had to do was be himself 🥰

17. “She reached out and took his hand. “We will get through this,” she said. He nodded, and then he closed his eyes. But just when she thought he was asleep, he whispered, “It’s better with you here.”

Sighhh ❤️

18. “He had never seen her wake up, he realised. He wasn’t certain why he found that so strange; it wasn’t as if he’d been privy to many of her private moments before. Maybe it was because in all of his daydreams, in all of his fantasies, he’d never quite pictured this—the low rumbling from deep in her throat as she shifted position, the small sigh of sound when she yawned, or even the delicate ballet of her eyelids as they fluttered open. She was beautiful. He’d known that, of course, had known that for years, but never before had he felt it quite so profoundly, quite so deeply in his bones.”

Michael Stirling deserves the entire world, and this is precisely why. No one could ever love her as much as he does 😭😭

19. “It was something in the way she moved. Something in the way she breathed. Something in the way she merely was. And he didn’t think he was ever going to get over it.”

And I will never get over how he feels about her 😫

20. “I have no wish to hear about your amorous exploits,” Francesca said stiffly. “Funny, you used to ask about them all the time.” He paused, watching her squirm. “What was it you always asked me?” “I don’t—” “Tell me something wicked” he said, using his best trying-to-sound-as-if-he’d-just-thought-of-it voice, when of course he never forgot anything she said to him.”

The fact that he tries so hard to pretend like he doesn’t care about her too much 😭 Also I love that he’s slowly starting his to let down his guard and use his charm on her 😏

21. “I knew there was a reason I loved you so well,” he said dryly. “One really needn’t worry about falling into the sin of vanity with you about.”

Look at him, casually throwing in the world “love” concealed in a joke. I see you Michael 🥺

22. “Where’s that new earl of yours?” My, she was blunt. “He’s not my earl,” Francesca pointed out. “Well, he’s more yours than anyone else’s.”

Lady Danbury knows best. Come on, Francesca! We know this!! It’s best not to argue with her, and go along with whatever she says 😂

23. “It was like a sickness with him, a sixth sense. He couldn’t be in a room with Francesca and not know where she was. It had been like this since the moment they’d met, and the only thing that made it bearable was that she hadn’t a clue.”

I just.. 😭😭

24. “A man would have to be a fool not to want to marry you.”

Oh my god. My child, I can’t even be mad at him for not telling her how he feels because of how respectful he is 😢

25. “Michael snorted with disgust. Anyone who took the time to really look at Francesca’s eyes would have realised that they were quite their own colour. As if the sky could even compare.”

Haha, what an adorable lovesick puppy 🥰

26. “How did you know I was in the garden?” she inquired. He didn’t say anything. Or maybe he would have done, just not quickly enough to suit her. “Were you watching me?” she asked.His lips curved, not quite into a smile, not even into the beginnings of a smile. “I’m always watching you,” he said grimly.”

Damnn 😏 This, right here is the moment that we all knew it was about to go down. There will be no more facades from this point forward. We’re about to witness the charming, smooth-talking Michael Stirling in all of his glory 😍

27. “Good God, he was staring at her toes. Her toes. What had his life come to?”

*screams internally* 🤣

28. “Now that it had finally happened, now that he had tasted perfection, he was in more agony than ever before. Now he knew exactly what he was missing; he understood with painful clarity just what it was that would never be his.”

Oh god. Someone get this man a whiskey, or a hug, and maybe a therapist 😢

29. “You do realize, Kilmartin,” Colin said, his voice so soft it was almost chilling, “that there is no reason you can’t marry her. None at all. Except, of course,” he added, almost as an afterthought, “the reasons you manufacture for yourself.” Michael felt something tearing in his chest. His heart, probably, but he was growing so used to the feeling it was a wonder he still noticed it.”

Colin Bridgerton, what a godsend. I honestly don’t know why he bothered with becoming a writer when we all know that matchmaking/counseling is what he was born to do 💁‍♀️😂

30. “He might not ever have all of her—her heart, he knew, would never be his—but he’d have most of her, and that would be enough.” “It was certainly more than he had now. And even half of Francesca—Well, that would be ecstasy. Wouldn’t it?”

He’s waaaay too good for this world. Am I biased? Maybe. Do I care? Not one bit 😋

31. “I will give you children,” he said softly. “Or at least, I will try.”

Ohhh GOD 😭❤️

32. “Who would have thought, after all his years of bad behavior, that he’d emerge such a hopeless romantic?”

Pstttt. As if he hasn’t been a hopeless romantic since the day he met her 😂

33. “There was nothing she valued more than a cool and clear head, and Michael had managed to steal that from her with a single kiss. And then he’d done more. So much more. She was never going to be the same. She was never going to be sane.

“You look distressed,” he said. She wanted to strangle him. He cocked his head and smiled. She wanted to kiss him.”

Haha. Cuties 🥰🥰

34. “Dream of me,” he said softly.”

Aww ❤️ I’d be very surprised if she was able to dream of anyone else 😋

35. “He told her about India, and she told him of her childhood. She gave him her opinions about political matters, and he actually listened. And he told her devilish jokes that men were never supposed to tell women, and women certainly weren’t supposed to enjoy. And then, once the bed had stopped shaking with her mirth, his mouth would find hers, a smile embedded on his lips. “I love your laughter,” he would murmur, and his hands would curl her to him. She’d sigh, still giggling, and they’d begin their passion anew.”

This is my favorite part of the book. It sums up their relationship to a single paragraph, and it’s just so beautiful ❤️❤️

36. “Why? It’s because I love you, damn me to hell. Because I’ve always loved you. Because I loved you when you were with John, and I loved you when I was in India, and God only knows I don’t deserve you, but I love you, anyway.”

Oh god, finally! I can’t get over how he told himself that he was never going to tell her any of this, but he just absolutely had to do it when he thought he was going to lose her forever. It’s so tragic 💔

37. “If this is to end, you will have to do it. You will have to walk away, Francesca. Because now… after everything… I’m just not strong enough to say goodbye.”

If my future boyfriend isn’t even remotely anything like him, I don’t want him. Who cares if it’s irrational? From now on, Michael Stirling is the gold standard of men 😭

38. “Six bloody years, all lost in a single moment. All because he’d thought he might actually have the right to feel happy.”

*screams* You do deserve to be happy!! 😫

39. “I don’t care if you’re barren,” he said, his voice hot against her ear. “I don’t care if you deliver a litter of puppies.”

I can’t. How can he be this.... perfect? 😭

40. “His heart had always skipped a beat when he saw her across a crowded room. Anything more, and he didn’t think the organ could take the strain.”

Sighhhh 🥺 I swear, the number of times I sighed while reading this book is striking 😅

41. “It’s not nothing,” he murmured. “When it’s you, and when it’s me, it’s never nothing.”

Oh my god ❤️

42. “This thing between them, this bond—it wasn’t just passion, and it wasn’t wicked. It was love, and it was divine.”

Hallelujah!!! 🥳

43. “She didn’t have to love him. But she did have to feel free. Free to be happy. Because if she wasn’t happy… Well, that would kill him. He could live without her love, but not without her happiness.”

He’s so damn perfect. It’s almost infuriating. Almost! Does Julia Quinn actually think that we won’t be stupid enough to look for this in the real world? Because I will. I am certainly just that dumb 😅

44. “You have to say it,” he said. “If you feel it, then you have to say it. I’m a greedy bastard, and I want it all.”

YESS ❤️

45. “For the rest of my life,” he vowed, “I will love you. For the rest of my life. I promise you. I will lay down my life for you. I will honor and cherish you.”

What a perfect ending to a beautiful book. I was rooting for him since the first chapter. He finally got his happy ending 😇 And Francesca deserves every bit of his love 🥰

[vintagerpg]

Children of Fear (2020) is another hefty bit of proof that Chaosium of any era has a talent for massive RPG campaigns, whether elder gods are involved or not. As it happens, this Call of Cthulhu campaign doesn’t have to involve the Cthulhu Mythos at all. The main threat comes from the titular children of fear, who wish to see the gates of Agartha unlocked and the King of Fear released to unmake reality. This COULD be a face of the mythos (and there are mi-go and white apes here and there in the campaign) but it draws inspiration on non-mythos subjects like Vajrayana Buddhism, Theosophy, the fiction of Lord Bulwer-Lytton and Journey to the West.

The saga begins in Peking, where the investigators become entangled with a lama who senses the gates of Agartha are opening. In order to slam them shut again, he enlists the players to help him find the necessary artifacts that will power a ritual to save reality. To do this, they travel through China, India and Tibet, encountering wonders and wickedness both supernatural and mundane.

At 400 pages, it is quite the accomplishment by author Lynne Hardy (who, incidentally, wrote one of my favorite CoC one-shots, Scritch Scratch) — painstakingly researched, gorgeous (I love the inclusion of paintings by theosophist Nicholas Roerich) and terrible in turns (oh boy there is some deeply uncomfortable subject matter in here, including cannibalism, ritual murder and a variety of sexual situations). In terms of scope and complexity, it might be a bigger undertaking than Masks of Nyarlathotep. There are several places when reading the adventure where I paused and wondered if I could handle it (and the book isn’t quite flawless — there could be more support for GMs built in and some of the hooks that pull the story long seem wobbly as is). Still, daunting or not, an exciting effort in an unusual direction. Having read this, I’m very keen to see Hardy’s next project from Chaosium, Rivers of London.

[priestessame]

Sumeru Men during Ganesh Chaturthi.

♥♥♥Okayy this might be a little too niche but for that 1% desi genshin fans pspsppspspps. ♥♥♥

A/N: Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival we celebrate in india, where we bring an idol of the popular hindu deity Ganesh home.

﹆ꕤ⊹Desi Sumeru Head cannons: Ganesh Chaturthi special.﹆ꕤ⊹

.. ♥Kaveh, Al Haitham, Cyno, Wanderer, Tighnari ft. Kaeya ♥ ..

Kaveh Head of decorations. Art child of the house forced into becoming the head designer for the festival. The entire responsibility of the decoration is pushed onto him, whether he's okay with it or not. By the end of it he'll be sitting on the ground with flower garlands and fairy lights around his neck. STRESSEDDD, he has to get the space ready before they actually bring the Ganpati idol home and right now nothing is sticking to the wall, the lights look ugly and Al Haitham is getting on his last nerve. 

Cyno SELLOTAPE MAN, bro cannot be trusted with anything other than cutting small pieces of sticky tape and holding them ready for kaveh. He might even start sticking them on Scara's hat so that they're easier to peel.  He has a little shop of every type of sticky tape available- the double sided one, masking tape, the yellow coloured one for the light arrangements and the clear see-through ones, whatever you want. Will offer bad jokes with every piece. Also primarily here for the spiced milk.  

Tighnari The environmentalist that goes on about how they should use eco- friendly decorations and ban polystyrene but does nothing to actually help. Will bring all the raw material for the flower and fruit arrangement and that's his only contribution. The rest of the time he'll play music and and give Kaveh bad advice. Also the kind to get modak edibles for the gang so they're all high as hell during the ceremony. The kind of soft launch his s/o to his fam by inviting them to the festival. 

Wanderer The non-native that's experiencing it for the first time. Let's be honest, his mom forced him to be here. He could not give a flying fuck about what the festival is and why its celebrated. But apparently its important to socialize, so fine he'll show up. He's given the huge bundle of fairy lights, pulled straight out of the attic so he can sit in a corner untangling them while the others conceptualise the decorations. Eventually has to work with the sellotape man. His hands hurt from holding the lights up because kaveh can't make up his mind on where they look good. The wires are old so might get electrocuted accidently. Also complains about the noise pollution outside, then dances his ass off during Visarjan, after eating Tighnari's edible. Al Haitham The critic. Exists solely to shit on all of Kaveh's ideas. He'll lounge around the room, not involving himself in anything, but the moment Kaveh assembling things he'll point out everything he's doing wrong. Will give random pointers until Kaveh rips his hair out. 100% will start fighting. "WHY ARE YOU HERE THEN? JUST WHY ARE YOU HERE? GO HOME" "I'm here because you're incompetent." ♥ "Yeah, that is not going to hold."  "Stfu Al Haitham, I'm the architect here, you think i don't know how these things work? I know what materials work with what kind-  The entire decoration crashes down on him the moment he says this, its 3am in the morning and kaveh is on the verge of tears.  "Told you so."  ♥ Kaeya The one NRI cousin that lives abroad and cries on Instagram over how much they miss the festival. Will dress up regardless to take pictures, attempt to make the sweets on their own and video call their fam all the time. Somehow finds an university club, or local desi community that celebrates the festival in that country and spams on socials.

bwhahahaah this was so much fun to write, i was actually imagining them as me and my cousins.