A Little Bit Of The Unexpected

God, the understanding that you need to pay for your choices and there is no free lunch, but that it’s still worth it!

He is perfect because he wants this and she is perfect because she won’t let him.

This is amazing!!!! She wants to be his equal. Not a hindrance but a help. And she accepts everything about him including the fact that he became the ruler after being forced to kill his father. She will match him step for step and like - he has never been loved and accepted this utterly and I don’t think many people have.

The crux of their argument. But the thing is, she wins this argument as she wins every single one because unlike Rong Hao who went against everything the one he loved stood for and wanted because what he wanted for her mattered more to him, DFQC will always let Orchid do what she wants however it hurts him because that is what true love really is - putting the one you love above self.

!!!!! I did not realize until this moment that the cave is where his father put him. Which!!! The hell!!! He put a child into the worst torture in their world. Over and over and over. And he’s the only one who survived ever which (a) what on earth was wrong with his horrific father? (b) despite those horrific odds he still ultimately lets Orchid proceed. He never ever takes a choice away from her, even such a horrific one, because he knows what it’s like to have your choices taken away.

The explicit parallels she draws between them. She will never be lesser, not even in capacity to withstand suffering.

Screaming!!! Screaming!!!!

And the answer is yes he can. Even though he went through this exact hell as a child so he knows what it feels like.

But the theme of being responsible for your choices continues and continues. She gets medicine from his brother that would prevent DFQC feeling her pain (and I love that she thought of it) and I love that the brother panics because it was all done out of misguided love for his older brother but the whole point of the narrative is we accept all consequences for our actions and choices.

john_cena_are_you_sure_about_that.gif

“The time of hot chocolaty mornings and toasty marshmallow evenings.”

Throughout the early pandemic, the CDC and WHO insisted that COVID was spread through droplets, not through aerosols, insisting that to be considered 'airborne' it had to travel on particles 5 microns or smaller. Anything larger was a 'droplet', which would fall quickly and stick to surfaces, explaining the emphasis on social distancing and surface sanitation.

Aerosol scientist and infectious disease researcher Lindsey Marr, along with others such as atmospheric physicist Lidia Morawska, argued that made no sense. Depending on temperature, humidity, ventilation, etc much larger could easily travel large distances through the air. They presented evidence like choir practice superspreader events, which droplets couldn't explain. The WHO shut them down, insisting on the 5-micron fulcrum.

Marr wanted to find out where everyone was getting the 5 micron number, because everything quoted it like fact. She communicated with Hong Kong indoor-air researcher Yuguo Li who had come to similar conclusions. With the help of grad student Katie Randall's forensic approach to research, they eventually tracked down where the number came from:

Tuberculosis.

In experiments from the 40's and 50's, only guinea pigs who had been exposed to aerosolized TB particles 5 microns or smaller contracted the disease. The problem is, tuberculosis is SUPER PICKY. If It doesn't get all the way through your respiratory system into your lungs, it doesn't cause an infection.

The 5-micron limit has been applied to every disease since, but no other respiratory infection is that picky. If enough viral particles of COVID, or the flu, or the common cold lands anywhere in your respiratory system it can get a foothold.