What if a little, very little, part of Don blamed Ray for have waited Connie's shipment to put his plan in motion. What if he wondered why didn't Ray do it at the previous one? He tries to reason himself, thinking that two months wouldn't have been enough (they had more time between Connie and Ray), that it still wound't be fair for this kid shipped before Connie, but this little part of him poison his mind and he can't stop to wonder:"why couldn't he start his plan soonner".
Ray has not need to know that, because he blames himself enough like that about it. Even if he knows that he couldn't have done more. He still needed a reward to finish his anti-trackers thing, he couldn't have set his plan in motion during the previous shipment.
At a point, they probably spoke geniunely about it together. Because keeping that for themself isn't good aniyway.
I fully subscribe to them talking this out during their search for the Seven Walls with the many months they spend trekking around together (and this is why I can never forgive Shirai for that timeskip; all the bonding moments I was robbed of seeing </3)
Also very serendipitous that @sepiamestus wrote a one-shot titled Beautiful (and a little sad) featuring this topic, although the trigger is Ray asking Don if he blames him instead of the other way around.
A wonderful showcase not only of Don’s nuances and quirks, but also his cordial nature and how he seamlessly integrates the former into the latter, perfectly displaying his aptitude in assessing people’s emotional needs and acumen in easing them toward where they need to be in a way that comes to him as naturally as breathing. Very easy to hear his voice in this with the dialogue.
There is acknowledgment of the anger Don still feels regarding the subject, which is very reasonable given everything that's happened and that he's ten.
But it's acknowledged only after Don has established the intrinsic value of Ray as a person and beloved member of his family, in addition to creating a safe atmosphere where it's clear he's open and receptive to everything Ray has to say and is feeling by getting him to open up about a topic he's knowledgeable about and interested in before transitioning them back to the main topic at hand. He's able to easily discern how the subject has been plaguing Ray’s mind for months, so to immediately start off by expounding upon the full breadth of his complicated array of emotions regarding Conny's death would be in bad form. By establishing that sense of safety and trust, Don is able to honestly talk about his own feelings with a reassurance Ray can genuinely believe: that nothing Don says is meant to be accusatory. Excellent display of his emotional intelligence.
And how that leads into this 𝕆𝕌𝔾ℍ; the beautiful poignancy of ending the main scene with this and how it acts as foreshadowing to Ray’s declaration in chapter 119 to Norman and everyone else present in the room, with Don being an important factor in helping him reach that point.
Love a boy beaten down by circumstances beyond his control resulting in such a thorough self-loathing and sense of helplessness being treated with such gentle kindness and being afforded the time to heal at his own pace. <3
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when we think about it, Isabella spent hours to make little Berny for Conny's birthday when she knew at this point that Conny would be shipped one month after this birthday
(she know who will be shipped in the three/four months to come, except if one of these kids made a spectacular progresses suddently, then… this kid is saved for a while i guess).
She spent hours to create a toy that was going to be cherished for only four weeks. and she probably did that for a lot of kids who has the same mont of time than Conny, some had probably more and some had maybe less.
She loves so much her kids and wants them to be happy so much.
For Ray she literally managed to obtain a cool watch that he still uses at almost 12 (and maybe he took it in the escape). He took care of it, he didn't use it for create the anti-trackers device, so he enjoyed the gift.
I dunno exactly how far in advance Isabella knew Conny was gonna be the next one to be shipped out (though she had to be aware it was only a matter of time since her her test scores were pretty low), so the fact Isabella went through all that trouble to make something for her is very sweet indeed. I say "trouble," but with Isabella being so skilled with everything, I can imagine she made Little Bunny fairly quickly.
I also love that Isabella decided to make Little Bunny from scratch rather than just order a bunny plush like all the other objects she gifted Ray as it gives that extra personal touch which really shows how deep her love is for these kids.
When ya say cool watch, are you referring to the pocket watch Ray often used during his time Grace Field? I.. never thought that it would've been another one of his gifts he received from acting as Isabella's watch dog. How did I never think of that..? I mean, it would make sense, yeah? Where else would he even get one if not from Isabella herself? I doubt one was conveniently lying around the house for him to take. Oh, I like this idea very much. (y'all, is this confirmed to be true anywhere about how/when he got the pocket watch??)
About whether or not he took it with him post-escape, I wondered the exact same thing and thankfully I was awarded with an answer during ch61. Unfortunately, I'm slow with realizing that these are two completely different watches, as the one he used at GF didn't open like this one apparently does. Sigh..
Okay so now I'm gonna ramble about something that's been on my mind recently due to me comparing some season two scenes to recent manga chapters, but the watch in the second season's OP has to be Ray's, yea?
The tracking devices Isabella & Krone use are silver, not to mention that we get a clear shot of Ray's during s1ep1. It also doesn't open up like the one used during the trip to Goldy Pond.
Of course what caught my eye are the several tiny scratches on the pocket watch seen in the Identity OP. Had I not gone back to check the first episode just now, I would've imagine the scratches could've been from the stick he used during ch181.5 or something, but since that event of him destroying his tracker takes place before the anime starts, that obviously can't be true. His extra chapter released way after season one anyways and he wasn't even shown using the pocket watch then either. This moment only came to mind because of how precise he timed Isabella's arrival.
Perhaps the damage is just there for dramatic effect. I dunno, just a random thought I've been wondering about. Oh, and the anime pocket watch also doesn't include the chain it has in the manga. I can't complain about that detail though since it's so minor and would've been an extra, unnecessary thing to animate.
I know the question started off with Conny and I just went on a whole Ray tangent and for that I apologize, especially considering it was Conny's birthday, aahaha. Well, I'm posting this a couple minutes late in that case but I was close!
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I am recently reading something about the promised Netherlands ...?
What does they mean in relation to the new chapters of Black Butler.
I just thought to ask you, because you know so much about the fandom. So ... Thank you 🖤💜
Hi “Cassie” ;). You probably are thinking of the manga/anime The Promised Neverland (PN). The manga ended and the anime took a diff story than the manga after season 1, and I have not finished either, though I have read most of the manga and seen season 1, and that’s enough to draw parallels to the current kuro sub arc with Snake and Finny at FOL Orphanage. (I keep wanting to call it FML, fuck my life, lol, since we don’t know what it stands for yet.)
[spoilers for kuro and ch 1-2 of promised neverland, tw for minor gore, child death, body horror below]
The premise of PN is this: in some distant future, we meet a group of orphans happily living in an orphanage where they’re raised by a main caregiver “mom” and an assistant. The children are educated and graded strictly to make them “the best of the best” and supposedly give them a better chance of being adopted.
But by chance, the heroine of the story happens to witness what really happens when someone is “adopted.” The reality is their whole world is a lie. Humans are not the dominant species anymore, monsters are. And monsters love (require) human meals.
The orphanages were established as a way of raising humans in a way that would create the best meat, especially the brain, which is the prized part. The plot basically involves them escaping and trying to safely make it to the secret underground human settlement, and eventually to try and free the whole world from this cruel cycle.
It’s a very good manga and I do recommend it.
But perhaps now you can understand why people are drawing comparisons. The orphanage, the fledgling day with its ominous overtones, the way the caregivers look…
And ofc Jenny/Ginny. She looks and even has a similar name to Conny, the girl who is first killed in PN. They’re both “failures” and they’re both “fledged” early. I wonder if Snake or Finny will witness what really happens to her…
I hope that answers your question! If not feel free to send another ask.
[tumblr kept unsaving my changes so I hope you got to see the correct complete post with the screens]
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You know, at the beginning of the story, Connie says that she has probably a total bad score to the exams "like always". If she had very bad (or the worse) results since a while, then his shippement days was decided for a while, since she has been shipped two weeks after her birthday. And Isabella knews who will be the next shippement three or four months before it happens. She knew that Connie was the next. She knew, when Connie reached 6, that she had only 2 weeks to live. And then, she took the time to make a plushie for Connie's birthday. And Little Bunny isn't a little plushie, it is kinda big. Isabella created a big toy for a kid who was going to enjoy it for only 15 days.
She wanted to make her happy, to give her joy for the little time that she still had. She wanted Connie to live those days in happiness. And i'm sure that she did that for any kids who was going to be shipped. (a lot of kids receive a gift for their 6 years old, the goods as the bads but maybe it's for cover why the bad scores kids has spoiled this famous day)
It's the biggest proof that she loves all her kids (even Ray, even if she has more mixed feelings toward him). She can't do anything to save them or she would be the next dinner and with no garantee that the woman who will replace her will be as loving then her. She is as much captive than the kids (even more, because she knows and she has the cheap in her heart.)
She had to see them die every time. Clearly she is still here after Connie's death so she has witnessed everything. She has seen so much of her kids diying while being unable to protect them because nothing could have been do, except make their too short lifes as much happy than possible.
(I'm sure that she was suffering with the idea to shipp the Full Score Trio soon (very soon for Ray, some months for Norman and in a little more of half a year for Emma), even Ray, and she was probably in denial about her son)
I think that Norman and Emma were too betrayed and angry to really understand that her affection was geniune and real. It's only thank to the distance, during 2 years, that they were able to think about it. For Ray, i think that a part of him knew that she really loved them but still sees her as the ones who sacrified his siblings. A part of him must have been in denial for a while about it too (like mother, like son).
The distance was good for everyone. The kids were able to understand that Isabella loved them for real, Ray was able to be willing to forgive her and eventually start over (realizing that he loved her too), Isabella realized that she loved her son.
And then came that asshole demon
Obnoxious pedantry but Conny's birthday is the third of September (@just-like-playing-tag put together an invaluable birthday chart here. September is one of the busier months with five birthdays in it.) So she had a bit more time with Little Bunny, but it's negligible in the grand scheme of things. There were two years' worth of low scores sealing her fate.
Based on that, this answer in the mystic code book, and all the toys we see in her hidden office in chapter 17/S1 episode 6, it's a safe bet she either made or had gifts delivered from headquarters for each of the children. The demons wouldn't question it as an easily justifiable and paltry expense to further cultivate a positive environment for the children's development, and with them not caring what became of the presents afterward even if a child packed it with them in their suitcase when they were shipped out, Isabella could keep them as mementos of all the children she raised.
It's the biggest proof that she loves all her kids
This I think depends on an individual's definition of love though, and whether Isabella could truly, fully love her children in such an oppressive framework.
(S1 Episode 8 | S1 Episode 10)
I will always come back to and obsess over the sequences of Isabella silently smiling as Ray struggles against her before locking him in Krone's old room and Ray looking completely disillusioned and despondent as Isabella walks off and smirks that they added into the anime. No one else is around who would be cognizant enough to notice. She doesn't have to put up an act to maintain a sense of calm and normalcy for anyone.
Yet here she is, quietly relishing in having seemingly defeated the children's plan to upset the status quo and her lifestyle. It's entirely for herself.
During this era of the story, she loves the children in her charge, but only to the point that they don’t inconvenience her; only to the point where they don’t impede her goal of survival ("longer than anyone"). It's impossible to live under such an oppressive, violent, monotonous, stagnating system and not have it fundamentally alter your perception of the world around you and how you interact with it to some degree. She even makes the distinction herself in one of her most memorable quotes.
(Chapter 37)
To love them normally, as opposed to the love that would always be tainted as long as it was within the confines of the farm system where she justified walking at least sixty children to their deaths over the course of her tenure to maintain her sense of cognitive dissonance.
To quote @nullaby, who phrases it very poignantly in this post:
for as much as isabella did love her kids, as nice as it would’ve been to just raise them all like a normal mother should, the backbone of her character journey &. ultimate redemption was laid out plain and clear right to ray’s face that everything, including his birth, was all just collateral damage of isabella’s desire to survive in this world as according to the demon’s rules, longer than most ever could, and find some sort of meaning to all this sacrifice in the only option that’d ever been available to cattle like them. the tragedy is that the prioritizing of her own position trumps that love of a mother more times that it ever didn’t, and that’s the mom that ray was left with.
(Chapter 7 | Chapter 16)
Even if she found herself slipping into the illusion that had been crafted throughout the rest of the day, on days where there were no shipments and everything was fine, maybe even great, every night she would be reminded of reality. That she was ultimately a pawn. A caged, useful dog, if you want to have what she says to Ray in chapter 24/S1 episode 8 be her projecting her self-loathing of what she's stooped to onto him (and then going further, making his affirmation of his humanity in choosing his death an incensed retort back at her as much as the demons).
Ray is the living, breathing reminder of one of the worst acts of violence the farm system inflected on her. For a six years, she may have been able to push aside any memories and thoughts of the child she bore, but on his sixth birthday (his false birthday; if she doesn't think of it in the moment, then surely afterward when they're celebrating it at the house), he "robbed Isabella of that easy, blissful delusion," to again quote nullaby. Such potent, aggrieved anger mixed with relishing her dominance over him bleeding into her tone and body language and tinging the framework of this scene; I really love how Cloverworks adapted it with their budgetary constraints.
I think that Norman and Emma were too betrayed and angry to really understand that her affection was genuine and real. It's only thank to the distance, during 2 years, that they were able to think about it. For Ray, i think that a part of him knew that she really loved them but still sees her as the ones who sacrificed his siblings. A part of him must have been in denial for a while about it too (like mother, like son).
The distance was good for everyone. The kids were able to understand that Isabella loved them for real, Ray was able to be willing to forgive her and eventually start over (realizing that he loved her too), Isabella realized that she loved her son.
I do agree that being free of the suffocating environment of Grace Field would give everyone different perspectives on their relationship with their mother, with Emma being the most understanding of Isabella's circumstances and accepting her in her totality; the kindness and love she was always capable of just as much as the violence and cruelties she inflicted to maintain the status quo.
For Norman, the utter chaos his nervous system was in as he was walking to the gate, fully believing he was about to die only to be handed off to another cage and subjected to experiments as his mother sent him off with one last gentle hug, would heighten his senses and emotions and in turn make this a visceral core memory for him.
(S2 Episode 8)
He undoubtedly dwelled on it during his fifteen months at Lambda, grappling with coming to logically understanding her circumstances more over time with that distance, his stark morality, and, no matter how much he might try to squash down his feelings to avoid confronting his own vulnerability during such a precarious period, how deeply her betrayal hurt him. I don't know if he'd ever be able to fully let that go, even if his immediate reaction to her death was one of sadness due to how sudden it was and being robbed of the chance to see what kind of relationship with her would be possible.
Similar to Norman, Ray can logically understand her circumstances, and I do believe deep down there was a part of him that desperately desired a normal, loving relationship with her, as much as he also tried to squash it down. It's part of why he's so confident she wouldn't throw him away, why he looks so devastated when she cuts him off,
(S1 Episode 5 | S1 Episode 8)
I was doing a good job. To you, I’m…
(Even after all this time…you still can't find it in your heart to love me as the child you gave birth to. | Chapter 181.1)
and why even after all of that pain and loss, he still hums the lullaby she sang to him in the womb as a way of consoling himself before his attempted suicide (because it's the only way he believes he can atone for what he's done).
Ray's vast library of knowledge comes from his research. His memory is one of his most powerful assets; his blessing and his burden. Isabella had proven time and time again to him that she was willing to sacrifice children for her own survival.
And yet there was still some selfish part of him that hoped maybe, just maybe, she would have carved out a little niche in her heart for him after spending all that time together, after sharing the burden of the secret of the house with him, after finding out about their shared blood. That all of that had to mean something to her.
But tragically all they shared engendered a unique ire toward him instead, born from a deep self-loathing that, once she replaced her own mother as Grandma, she allowed herself to reflect upon more thoroughly and came to deeply regret.
(TPN Light Novel 2: Moms’ Song of Remembrance - “The Starry Sky and Leslie’s List” Chapter 9; Isabella being an unreliable narrator and forcing a mental wedge between her and Ray as both a child in her charge in general and specifically as her biological son. She "held no particular maternal feelings for Ray" being as much a denial of any love for him as being a moment where she tries to place herself above the petty anger and resentment she has for him | Chapter 181.3; the framing of the bottom right panel confirming she did view all the birthday gifts she gave her children as treasures)
The damage was done though, between that and losing Norman, one of the two most precious people in his life he spent six years bearing the pain of loneliness and sorrow for. Even with Norman proving to be alive, like him I think it would be hard for Ray to untangle logically, pragmatically understanding Isabella's circumstances from the abuse he endured.
(Chapter 169; the conflicting feelings he held for her even two years after escaping Grace Field)
People aren't their trauma, but it would be disingenuous to say it didn't shape him. A learned response and association with her etched into his mind that I don't believe would be shed so easily. He wasn't by Isabella's side as she made her two-year journey of redemption as Grandma. He only saw the final result weighed against years of memories of her calculating iron woman persona, of every happy one his siblings had tinged with the knowledge that she would eventually set them up for slaughter.
(Chapter 174)
To quote nullaby for a third time:
there’s a whole big thing about late story isabella, how she interprets ray’s address as forgiveness, but . . . it’s maybe just more speaking to how their worst qualities are the ones that they share. not as much a “ you’re my mom and i forgive you ” as it is a “ i get it, i’m there too, it doesn’t matter anymore anyway, stop feeling sorry for yourself ” and it just. tapers off into something impersonal, something more like just a person speaking to a person than a son to his mother.
He can acknowledge the love she held for her children, acknowledge that she changed and wanted to do better by them, but that doesn't equate to reconciliation and letting go of all those painful memories at the drop of a hat.
(Chapter 177 | Sunny's post)
The mental scars she left on him would be with him for years—potentially forever—and had she lived I don’t think he’d ever have a relationship with her in the way Emma might, but in that moment, he desperately wished for just the opportunity to try, even if it ended in failure or an impasse. And yet again fate left him without any say or control in the situation to determine his own path of healing.
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