ok, now I'm invested in Kritika x Sudhyodana before he turned into the sleeper.

so i was just being me and thinking of a few cute head cannons for a ship that defiantly ends up in disaster and then i started thinking.

Aru resembles both of her parents but her personality resembles Sudhyodana's.

before you look away hear me out-

for sudhyodana the personality i give him is goofy but can turn deadly in a second. and if you look at Aru, she has the same personality. and both her father and Aru have a way with words. we've seen how Aru slips her way out of tough situations by bluffing. and my evidence for sudhyodana is the scene where he tricks that school committee so that he can advance in his studies by making them think they were poisoned. and they both long for a "family" Aru in the first book, and sudhyodana before Kritika.(i think)

and for Kritika, Aru probably resembles her a lot, i don't know why, i just do. also the on eyebrow raise? it's something that both of them do. i don't know where I'm going with this one, bear with me.

oh, this could also tie into how Kritika seems to be disconnected from Aru and how she doesn't seem ready to tell Aru the full scope of it all. i don't think she wants to explain what sudhyodana has done, in front of someone so like him. and, if Aru reminds Kritika of sudhyodana. it makes sense she'd kind of avoid her?? (although i don't support what she did with leaving her daughter alone, the poor bby probably had abandonment issues)

ok, another idea, aru can probably imitate her mother when she wants to be heard. my idea of who krithika is, is that she can make herself be heard.

actually, thats the one thing the shah family is very good at. that, and moral greyness.

Aru: vajra helps a lot, and there's a tone in her voice that tells you to listen to her or you will die. it's demonstrated many times in the book.

krithika: she was a single mom, probably exhausted, traveling the world to get her husband back, if she didn't learn to speak up, would she have survived?

sudhyodana: orphan, he has a way with words and can act very intimidating when needed, and speaking of being an orphanage, he wanted to be seen, to have a family, the orphanage helping with none of them. speaking up had to have become a skill

anyway, enjoy an unclear analysis- it's bad- sani