after the raven has had its say

𑣲Purplefinch, Zha Lisu's birthday weave

“I find myself compulsive wanting to draw closer to you, touch you, bite you, ruin you, destroy you…”

“However, don’t be afraid.”

“Charlie could never bear to hurt you. The worst thing that I could do to you is… Give you a kiss like I just did.”

if you've ever watched a movie with your film buff friend and chatted about it afterwards, that friend might have pulled hours more of conversation out of the same 90 minutes of screentime, and wondered how the fuck they did that - it's not raw intelligence, it's a skill that's been honed. And I learned a lot about film from talking to friends who knew about film, and reading critique by film scholars

literature works exactly the same. so if you want to get more out of your reading, there are things you can do to train that. Find a book or short story you think you've got a pretty good grasp on, preferably from a widely read & respected author like Ursula K Le Guin or Ray Bradbury (if you're new at this don't swing for the Toni Morrison or the Samuel Beckett yet unless you feel very comfortable with the complexity of the text - the point is to develop a complicated new skill on good foundations). Then go to JSTOR, create a free account, and look up criticism on the story you've chosen. Find something that looks readable to you and at least somewhat interesting. Read that article, and look at what that writer got out of the same story you've read that you didn't get. Do you see the critic's points? Did they teach you something about the text? Go reread that story and see if the criticism has changed how you read it. Are you seeing more? Are you thinking about the implications of a line that you hadn't noticed before? Does the story feel richer now?

you don't have to read more deeply if you don't want to (but i'd recommend it, i genuinely think it makes you a better person)

if you want to learn to read more deeply, the resources are out there. try to find critical literature (that is, academic writing that analyzes the text) on works your familiar with so you can get a sense for how to do that analysis too

learning to deep read literature can help you deep read many areas of your life

7 wouldn’t “never look back” they probably would just be hung up on MC forever but never reconnect with them. Very much "one that got away vibes."

In my head the tour is the only way MC and Seven would ever reconnect at this point in their lives.

Other than that I’d say like maybe when they’re 40 or something they see each other again in passing but I'm firm in my belief that the tour is the only reason MC and Seven interact again. A tour is the one event I feel needs to be remain constant in their story!