Fun persuasive speeches

Hello, sorry if I'm posting in the wrong thread but I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't know if I'm reading the situation wrong/if I'm the crazy exaggerator so here I wanted an outside opinion.
For context, me and my sister were raised by my single mom, who is also an immigrant. My sister has classified my mom as a narcissist and an abuser, and I would definitely agree that she has narcissistic tendencies, they're pretty much in line with the "immigrant parent" experience and although the abuse has lessened with age.
My sister was pretty much the scapegoat and I was the golden child 80% of the time; the only time I was "the problem" was when social issues were involved as I was very much autistic+ADD and had no idea how to relate to others, so I was bullied and blamed for it. My sister has ADHD and was terrible at school, which is where a lot of my mom's anger towards her came from. She's very bitter about the majority of our childhood, which I understand; there are things that happened that I will also simply never recover from, even with therapy.
My sister is bubbly, charismatic, and very empathetic. I can't stress that enough; everyone loves her. She's friends with random people in our neighborhood, she talks to and befriends homeless people, and is training to be a social worker. She has many close friends and talks to them all day and night. Our relationship was pretty rocky when we were kids, and I can't say that we're as close as some siblings are, but I always thought our relationship was okay. My mom would sometimes complain that we were against her, but I think she was just frustrated that we wouldn't turn on each other easily. However, I did start to notice a few things about my sisters behavior that is concerning me.

• She has a victim complex/hard time doing anything important by herself, but only when I'm available to help/do it for her.

I think this is a consequence of her never being trusted to do things as a child, but I thought she would attempt to get better with age. Nope. She would ask me to fill out her student loan and passport forms, saying that she was scared to get things wrong. When I would try to get her to do it herself, she would get upset with me and call me selfish. She says that this is because she feels that she is not smart enough to do anything bc of her childhood; fair, but she's 22 now, so I think she should try to help herself out and try to build confidence. She now pays her friends to fill out forms for her; one of them is actually being paid to apply for graduate programs for her. Any mention of this makes her talk about how badly she was treated as a kid and how its lead to her being so scared of doing anything, so OF COURSE she needs help 24/7.
But at the same time, she goes out of her way to help other people with their paperwork; she even helped a coworker get into grant/loan program for university, and that paperwork was 10 times harder than what she has to fill out. It's very confusing, it makes me feel like she does these things so people like her.

• She hates responsibility.
  I feel like this is her being self aware that she's sort of useless. For example; she doesn't have a credit card, and just uses my moms/mine and pays us back at the end of the month. Recently, I asked her to stop using my credit card since she kept forgetting to pay me the right amount. She also had this habit of using my card as a form of revenge against me if I forgot to pick up her things during my grocery run (she can't drive). She would also threaten to use my card if I didn't do things for her (she said it was a joke, but it rubbed me the wrong way). Anyway, she got upset and said she needed my card for emergencies. I asked why she didn't just apply for a credit card. She said she was unsure if she would be responsible enough to manage a credit cards and make payments on time. But...she felt comfortable using MY card? The one that I have to manage and make sure payments are made on time? I explained how worrisome that was and she just told me I was crazy and controlling.
  

This has also steeped into how she approaches things like deadlines. She missed a deadline for a grant she really needed (twice) and spent an entire week emailing the grant team asking them to accept her application, and then emailing their bosses when they refused. Whenever she's rejected from graduate programs she's always confused and says she should've gotten in, even though there are some clear deficits in her applications.

• She is always telling me how bad of a person I am when I don't do as she says. Like, morally.

A good example I can think of is that she asked me to chip in $23 for her friends birthday; I was confused why I had to pay since the girl wasn't MY friend. My sister argued that since I had talked to her and liked her, this made us friends, and friends contribute to birthdays. She also said if I backed out then she would have to split my part over other people who I would consider to be my friends and that those friends were in tight financial situations, so I would be a shitty person for making them pay extra. I still refused to pay; this really had nothing to do with me. She just looked at me and said that she was surprised that I was such a shitty person. There are similar stories to this; whenever she wants me to do something and I refuse, she makes me out to be a horrible person. Not in a yelling/screaming way; she just comments "oh, never knew you were that shitty" and keeps it up for however long it is until I do the thing she asked for. for some reason I never really saw them as weird until I brought it up with some friends and they said that was messed up.

• She makes fun of/belittles me in front of her friends constantly, but gets upset when I do it back.

^pretty self explanatory. a lot of my sisters friends really like me; I think they see me as a big sister, and a lot of them are in similar situations/career paths as me. They're all very nice. My sister and I are very snarky towards each other, but she is especially mean to me in front of her friends. I'm not 100% sure what she says either; she tries her best to make sure I'm not around much when she's talking to her friends, going out of her way to make sure to exclude me from any plans she makes even when her friends want me to come. She also enjoys rubbing the fact she has friends/plans that I can't join in my face. I'm usually quite busy so it doesn't bother me much, but I have noticed it. she also tends to try and be mean to me in front of them as a joke, but if I snap back I can tell that she gets upset about it. She's asked me to not call her things like stupid in front of her friends (fair, she can be super sensitive about that), but has told many of them about my ASD without my permission (she only asked when they let it slip that they knew). So that's weird.

• she is always switching up the narrative.

this is the thing that makes me feel INSANE. she is always telling me how horrible she has it at home and how much our mom hates her, and how I will never understand how it feels to be her so it's unfair when I call her out on things like not doing chores (like she does to me) because she will always be scolded more harshly than I will be. that's fine, a little grace is fine, but then she'll just outright lie about how "great" she is. For example, in the summer my mother was gone, so we split the chores in the house. I work a lot on weekdays, so she was to take care of general upkeep, and I would do the heavy chores (taking laundry to the laundromat, cooking in bulk for the week, mopping and vacuuming the apartment) on the weekend. I noticed that she would often not be the best at this, but as long as I could fix it on the weekend it was fine. But if I ever messed up, she would be merciless; she refused to wash the dishes for a whole week because I couldn't do them on Sunday since I had extra errands to run that weekend. I brought this up to her and she said we split the chores and that was that. I pointed out that she wasn't keeping her end of the bargain either, but she told me she was simply too busy to keep up with all the work she was being given and that the chore split was unfair anyway. I didn't really know how to deal with that so I dropped it.

• She sets boundaries, but I can't.

There are more issues but I will leave it at this one for last. She has always been very vocal about setting boundaries with me and my mom. For example, we can't give her chores last minute or it messes up her schedule (even if she's doing nothing). She's also really big on talking issues out, but usually the talk just keeps going until we agree with whatever she's saying. Personally, I am the type of person who gets really short and petty when I'm angry, so its not a good idea to talk to me. She will INSIST on talking to me even when I want to shut the conversation down and say my refusal to talk is just proof that she's right and I'm wrong. But if I talk, the conversation will just repeat itself until she gets the answer she wants out of me. She's very good with therapy-speech as well; to be honest, she always sounds condescending when she argues with me or my mom even though she says I'm just projecting. I could be, but I don't hear it when she's arguing with her friends or in online classes.
I'm probably being very one sided here, but whenever I think about some of these issues it just reminds me of my mom in a way. I've survived my mom by just nodding along and waiting for the storm to blow over, but my sisters actions are much more annoying to me for some reason. If anyone has any input it would be appreciated. I don't want to think I'm living with 2 narcissists; maybe I'm actually the problem. because of my ASD I find it very hard to communicate my feelings and I tend to shut up or become very mean and short at random times. I try my best but I do need to work on using my words and making sure they can't be used against me.

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How does she keep tricking me into thinking we could have an involved relationship? I mean damn she's really good. It's insane how someone could be so detached from reality. Like holy shit she has literally no idea how other people see her. Honestly I'm glad she's been giving me the same speech i've been getting since I was 13 just to remind me of the reality I live in. There is no hope. I am completely on my own. I cannot rely on her and there is no point in trying to make her proud or care about what she thinks or share my issues with her. None of it matters. It'll only hurt me. It's truly insane how she doesn't realize the times in life I do the best is when she is the least involved. I mean she really thinks she helps me.
She traumatized me into having the issues I have and has never ever taken accountability for them. They are used against me, thrown in my face, made fun of, minimized, and I just have to take it. But god forbid I ever, EVER remind her what caused them. I hate this so fucking much and I just want it to stop.
Why does letting go of someone who consistently hurts you so hard?
Thanks for reading my rambles. I'm just exhausted.

i have been keeping a list of recurring jokes / inside jokes in the office and i have a lot, things i think the writers had as inside jokes, and i knowww i'm missing bunch. please contribute!
here's what i have so far: im listing the joke and then (the episodes). sorry my formatting is all over the place it's a working document

1. Jim hurting Phyllis w soccer ball: 5:22 dream team -the convict (3:9)
   
2. cotton swab hurts Andy: The incentive ep where he gets a butt tattoo (8:2) Cafe disco when Kelly is gonna pierce his ear (5:27)
   
3. Oscar and the hardwood floors : -when dwight shoots the floor (7:24) -when they do the espresso tasting and redo the office (9:11)
   
4. “Stay out of this you” -season 3 michael scott and Andy sales episode -early season Halloween michael has a cutout of himself -s4 EP 8 - money part 2 —- 2:51
   
5. Naming types of clothes -(3:22): in Victoria’s Secret michael keeps asking angela if e wants a t back or a .... -(3:3) when Dwight goes behind Michael’s back and talks to jan and asks if she got a teddy camisole t back - the coup
   
6. upturned broom w a bucket for a head - instead of new boss, Stanley (beach day!) (3:24) Old vacuum cleaner that’s broken for manager - Pam on dwight in the coup (3:3)
   
7. Do you need us for any of this?” JIM to michael in an office meeting —- crime aid when hes describing how the Springsteen tickets seem too good to be true And “a head of an egret, with the body of a...””-- fun run
   
8. Kevin & Dwight with fireworks End of the ___ EP Right before Pam & Jim’s wedding - Kevin asks about the fireworks
   
9. Dwight giving rousing communism speech season 6:3 - when Jim is the manager and they’re putting beans on everyone’s faces and dwight tries to get everyone to rise up When he’s public speaking giving the award (2:17)
   
10. “Why are you limping” michael in season 6 EP 9 - michael limps after the slap Andy in where dwight shoots the floor and his ear is ringing (7:24)
    
11. Also Kelly piercing Andy’s ear? Cafe disco & niagra? kelly andy dance-off AND ear pierce? (5:27) /// (6:4)
    
12. YouTube being an entity that can film things Product recall: “and then YouTube gets a hold of it” s3 EP 21 The roast of michael scott - make sure youtube comes down to tape this (5:15)
    
13. actually letting the air out of the tires to get people’s attention. -dwight to Phyllis - 5:5 -michael to everyone (3:20)
    
14. michael saying something a lot to make people think it: 6:16 - he keeps saying manager to get jo to make him manager ???; when he's flirting w the bar manager when she's coming in to buy a printer he keeps saying ____ to make her think sex ?
    
15. Michael falling asleep unexpectedly in the car Pam & Jim’s wedding EP #1 - driving dwight (6:4) When Daryl is drivin holly to Nashua and he screams “was I saying anything interesting?” Not really (5:6)
    
16. Who is it michael? Who is it? Who? Who?” - Pam to michael. the lover (6:7) “Where dwight? Where?” It seems like you already know where —- Oscar to dwight (5:12)
    
17. Jim : I just need more time “I can stop this, I just need a week, maybe two” 6 : 9 double date Also Jim: after their honeymoon trying to get Pam to not go into Michael’s office with the gift. Can I think about it over the weekend? (6:7)
    
18. “I NEED COMPLETE SILENCE!!!” Andy doing DDR : s6 EP 17 -8:10 D’Angelo doing his juggling routine - (7:23)
    
19. Kevin sitting on you will kill you the delivery part 2: s6 EP 18 —- I don’t want anyone to die “just don’t let him sit on you” EP where michael is santa / Jesus (6:13)
    
20. michael talking about stevie wonder -benihana christmas "are you telling me stevie wonder doesnt love his wife because he doesn't know what she looks like?" (s3:11) when he burns his foot - would you have left stevie wonder? no we love stevie wonder (2:12)
    
21. michael not sleeping in a hotel room: 6:5 niagra - dwight has a room 5:8 business trip - the concierge sleeps in the room
    
22. "i'm not like you pam" angela to pam - 3:13 erin to pam - michael's last dundies (7:21)
    
23. pam's mom and michael (4:14) "who are you writing" your mom michael dates her mom
    
24. pam being obsessed w new chairs (4:14) chair model the surplus
    
25. i was just walking by your desk -andy about dwight in 3:13 ~23 minutes -also when jim gives pm the house "i got peepers like an eagle"
    

So, today I did a bond reduction motion. I made all my normal bond arguments, but I also brought up the PC determination. I found some case law that adds an element to exhibition of sexual organs. It needs to be done with “lust or for sexual gratification.” My guy was peeing by his car.
I bring my cases. They are valid. The judge says “well they are 20-30 years old. Do you have anything current?” I said not in front of me, but the cases are still valid. The state Supreme Court case they cite is still good. The judge then spends 10-15 minutes reading cases at the bench. State doesn’t do anything really. The judge finds a 2024 case with completely different facts (that also mentions the element I brought up) and the judge said “well I’m not sure the cases you have are valid so I don’t find the argument persuasive.
Like… is that operating as a state advocate? She didn’t check to see if my cases were valid. She was looking up cases to prove me wrong. Can judges do this? I… this makes the job not even fun. She just tried to find cases to rule against me. Isn’t that the states job?

I would like to preface this with the fact that i DO think Kenzie is winning. Before yall come for me! Bc i realise any opinion thats not backing up Kenzie winning or supports anyone else winning is “bad edgic” according to yall. But anyways
I wanna explore more of Kenzies flaws and red flags! Just because we only see constant posts about how she is obviously the winner etc etc.
More OTT mean girl vibes than Dee imo in the premerge with Bhanu Jess and Jelinsky. Sloppy obvious social game seen by Q and Tiff (showcased in a neg light by the edit as they highlight them all seeing thru her and it makes her a target). Also even Bhanu sorta gives low-key NSPV - but Bhanu is all over the place i get it. And he does crown her the mermaid dragon of the season.
What are yall talking about? Montage with dodo music and clowns her (literally not needed to be included at all. The edit goes out of its way to dunk on her)
“One of you cant win, you will not get the votes at the end” in jeffs speech. When he says these words it pans on to kenzie. I saw someone spin this as to alluding to her winning.. but like if u watch that scene IMO its actually showing why kenzie wont win and get votes at the end and will lose to a siga member. As siga gets pans of gelling. If she wins i think this was more of a throw us off the scent thing rather than tryin to hint she WINS.
Yanu and their consistant theme of being Losers + tiffany in ep 2. “We are LOSERS” with an immediate pan to kenzie struggle to make a fire
Kenzie saying she needs to blindside tiff for her resume - then NOT getting to do that and losing credit.
Kenzie saying she wants Q out and hes still there
Kenzie saying Venus is my new number 1 and that the boys (ben and charlie) dont wanna boot Q bc they may become bigger targets, but she doesnt wanna boot venus bc thatd apply to her- then proceeds to boot Venus despite the edit suggesting shed vote Q.
Kenzie talking about how Charlie is Marias jester and underestimating him (whilst the edit explicitly backs up and tells us that Charlie is NOT marias jester, in fact the edit highlights all season how if anything Charlie is equals or making the decisions, and also the edit props up charlie and goes out of its way to highlights how he isnt her jester and that he is intentional in his gameplay and wants maria to get sole credit so shes a target etc etc. ). Whether thats good or bad for charlie is another story, but its still not great for Kenzie to be shown to be so wrong on her read of charlies game and its a theme she has in multiple different eps. She is plain wrong and the edit doesnt hide that fact. In fact it has her being wrong directly after we see scenes contradicting her statements. So the viewer is thinking shes getting played.
Kenzie getting DODO music whilst talking about how poor Venus is at idol searching (a scene coming directly after V finds the idol and says shes pretending to look- therefore highlighting her fooling/outplaying Kenzie) - people say kenzie is redeemed by saying “i guess she may have already found the idol and is bamboozling us all”. - but she contradicts that save immediately by saying “but i think shes just waiting for someone whos close to her to find it”. So she is definitely being bamboozled.
Kenzie also doesnt really have her relationships with Hunter established we are just told shes apparently his number 1 last minute.
The big 6 alliance- we hear kenzie find out about it from Q (she doesnt comment on it) she says “yeh i heard about the 6” implying she found out already about it, yet we still got no mention on the 6 and how she felt about it and being left out, if she was concerned or not about it, etc etc… Charlie we did hear talk about it and accurately immediately call it out for what it was. And yes he was sorta being inducted but it was clearly over by the time that happened really.
Kenzie has no backstory package, not even 1 single outside of the game photo (shes the ONLY player left (in thef10 even) not to and this is despite having had chances already to put it in too) - the emotional blue eye scene, her opening confessional , any time she mentioned her career, her ben panic attack scene. - Charlie and Q had photos. Liz maria and Ben all had full on backstorys. -
When compared to other woman winners - shes insanely overexposed in the edit.
When u look at her game- she actually hasnt gotten THAT much better of a resume or game than Ben or Liz. Its worse than Q Charlie and Maria on paper (outside of pure social) And shes missed the chance for a big move and instead lost numbers in 3 consecutive tribals. Kenzie herself has stated that you need to make a big move - which she keeps failing to do alike jake owen. She wanted Q but begrudgingly accepted Hunter vote, she wanted Q but got blindsided and it was Tiff, she wanted Maria-> then Q but begrudgingly voted Venus. All 3 were numbers that were loyal to her, and she didnt really want out but got them out, having no agency 3 straight votes. And wasnt in the 6 which was the main storyline for the early merge votes.
She has a eerily similar to Jake Owen and Carolyn edit when u really think about it - who all got underdog themes.
also Kenzie is plain wrong a lot… i just rewatched ep 3 and found yet another time shes straight up wrong.. when Bhanu gets back to camp after the journey, he lies to Yanu and says “i chose the white rock” - this is then immediately followed by a confessional of Kenzie falling for his lie saying “of course in typical yanu fashion he gets nothing (correct ik) which works for us because we didnt want him to have anything, he drew the white rock (false, kenzie has fallen for the lie) he doesnt have anything, great for the plan but it is also just hilarious that once again yanu loses another thing (okay sorta correct) and gives something else to the other tribes (false and wrong again). This is yet another really small thing but damn these sorts of wrong things are really adding up. Why gove kenzie that confessional? Contrast that with Tiff basically saying the more on point thing of “the real tea is what did he give up, bc i know damn sure he was over there spilling the tea” and she doesnt have anything falling for his Lie, And then Q doesn't comment on it in confessional, but has a scene where he questions Bhanu if he got the white rock and Bhanu reveals no he didnt and indeed he lost his vote. It again put right after we show bhanu not getting the white rock and the other tribes not getting anything - so even though logically kenzie is just narrating from what she knows, and technically yanu person did lose out, shes still completely wrong about what happened and as a viewer ur inclined to think “thats not what happened” as shes talking. Just this actually has happened quite a lot.
I sound like a Kenzie hater. but end of the day i can still see all of Kenzies upside and Charlies downside and marias danger. I know that a lot of these flaws can be possibly justified or overlooked with all the good stuff - but they still are possible red flags and theres quite a few of them still.. so i think its still worth noting and keeping in mind. Since everyone is constantly pointing out the smaller red flags for a Charlie and a Maria. Just food for thought. Bc if anyone thinks kenzie could be set up for a FTC loss they get roasted on here. I personally do lean towards her winning ftc but the set up is there for both.
I think she takes out Q at least bc the setup for both her (threat mermaid dragon etc) and Charlie (i need to get Q out, Q needs to go asap) has been made. Plus Maria slipped in Q for one more vote, Ben and Liz both have setup for wanting Q gone. Its gotta happen soon! But its entirely possible thats what the mermaid dragon and shes a dangerous threat story arc was leading to.. her being part of tiffany and Q going (her idea the tiff blindside, her making moves on Q). Rather than her necessarily winning.
Ill also point out for those who believe that Charlie wasnt as relevent early on and that he has a poor social game - i just rewatched ep 1-5, skipping thru the nami tribe scenes and challenges and unimportant confessionals (BHANU drama) and BOY do Charlie and Kenzie both get sooo much attention. We hear from both so much. Its kinda clear that kenzie is the main Yanu (sorry Q) and Charlie is the main siga (sorry maria and Ben). But charlie gets so many social related scenes which highlight his social bonds and has the edit backing it up with positive SPV about him from other players. Jeff always talks to charlie and the camera pans are always panning to both Charlie and Kenzie throughout the premerge. Just a little fun thing i noticed.

I don't really know how to do this but I suppose it would be fitting to start with the fact that ever since I was a young kid people around me always thought I was weird, I move weird, I have a speech impediment and I clap my wrists (not my hands, my wrists) when I'm happy or excited, normal stuff for a 5 year old but when it continues for 10 more years it seem a little less like normal stuff. I remember that when I was around 8 my brother once asked me something along the lines of, "Why can't you just be a normal kid?" It hurt my feelings and I cried but he apologized and I doubt if he even remembers it, ironically it was this same brother who first suggested I may be neurodivergent when I was around 11. He told me, "Maybe you have ADHD." Once again my feelings were hurt because I didn't really know anything about it and just assumed it was bad, a few weeks or months later he told me the same thing but with Autism. Once again my feelings were hurt but even more this time because every thought I had about Autism back then was super inaccurate.
Like 5 months ago, I found out one of my online buddies who I met because we had the same special interests had ADHD and Aspergers, this reminded me of the fact that my brother (now majoring in psychology) had made comments about me possibly being on the spectrum. Now, not even like a week ago, I found another one of my online buddies was autistic. I started telling them about how my mom and brother suspect that I have autism and they responded with, "I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I found out you were autistic because you talk like so autistic." (Paraphrased),
Now, while I do also want a diagnosis I have various fears about getting one. For one, every kid at my school seem to think that Autism and intellectual disability are the same thing so if I were to get diagnosed and people at my school found out I would probably be made fun of by my fellow students for being disabled. Secondly, I am worried about my work opportunities, I've heard that in several countries it is still virtually impossible for autistic adults to find work. Third, I am worried about school staff babying me, it's better than bullying, I guess. But still it doesn't sound fun, I was already being babied in middle school for my speech impediment.
I also feel obligated to mention that speaking funny, walking funny, and clapping my wrists aren't my only behavioral patterns that may be observed as neurodivergent. I also have various special interests that I obsess over such as history and Frank Zappa, I also tend to repeat phrases I hear in songs or movies and I also pace back in fourth essentially every day in 1st period.
P.S. Sorry for any spelling mistakes I may have made and if I didn't use the right subreddit.

I finished Morrowind + DLC and I figure this is a good way to end my time and share what I learned. I'm sure there's some I forget or didn't find. Feel free to share.
Have to add this one. 100 Jump 1 second. No slow fall. 100 or 120 (no damage) acrobatics.
I think there's the easy examples. Fortify Intelligence and make Intelligence potions. Drink Intelligence potions. Make more Intelligence potions. Then start making other potions. 125% reflect. Fortify attribute potions. Levitation + Speed. I kind of hate admitting this, but after I was done having fun with super potions, I still used Feather potions and detect enchantment for the rest of the game.
A subcategory is Fortify Fatigue. Most of Morrowind's formulas factory in fatigue so once you fortify fatigue by x5 your maximum and beyond things get crazy. Your jumps get bigger. You move faster. Every attack hits. Every attack against you misses. Every persuasion check works. Once it gets high enough merchants will starting giving you things for 1 gold and trainers will train you for 1.
Then there's calm person. A calmed person will let you do almost anything to them. Drain Personality + Luck. Drain Merchantile for even cheaper training/trading.
Fortify Skill in general. 100% enchanting chance (granted the base formula is unfair even at 100 int, 100 enchant). More effective potions without even requiring Int looping. Turn any trainer into a master trainer with a +60 fort skill on touch.
Drain Attribute. No humanoid can even be a challenge with this. Drain Strength 100 over 1 second stops them from moving. Drain Agility makes ever hit work and knock them down. Drain Intelligence disables any mage. Drain Personality + Luck makes them basically give you money. I never found huge use for Drain Skill, other than drain mercantile for cheap training + trading.
Chameleon. Once you get enough agility, you can start doing almost anything to anyone with 100% chameleon. Stealing obviously. Enemies don't know how to fight back and run away. You can mess with guilds and even cast spells on them without risking expulsion. Even something as small as 20% chameleon lets you easily sneak up on enemies for x4 sneak attacks. Makes assassination easy. Each instance stacks so a 80 chameleon with amulet of shadows and a 20 chameleon lets you access 100 chameleon easy.
Enchanting in General. 100 weakness to magic 1 sec + 100 drain health over 2 seconds in 50 ft is easily accessible once you get a fortify attribute spell. 100 drain strength over 50 ft too. Whatever custom spell lets you take out the 20 cliff racers chasing you. Let's you punch well above your weight when your damage is low or your skill level for magic schools are low. There's also constant enchantments that can more than double your strength, give you 100% chameleon (maybe too strong to be fun), 100% sanctuary, etc. With enchanting it takes some restraint not to make yourself too powerful.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dead in the next 24 hours.
Whether that's the Costella family, or whatever this is, I'm not sure.
The police are taking forever, and part of me knows they're either refusing to believe me, or RC got them too.
I'm holed up on our school bus, so I've got nothing better to do.
I want to tell you about my team.
We met in our sophomore year.
Strangers standing outside the club room.
Levi was the freckled brunette who wouldn't stop talking about Game of Thrones.
Sunny, a pretty redhead, told him to shut up.
Tom, a sandy blonde, nodding his head to music corked in his ears.
I just wanted to be part of a club, and get away from my overbearing mother.
I won't say it was a perfect start. Our school was lacking in funding, so anyone could join, which made us more of a Quiz Club. I had some serious anxiety, so I stayed on the sidelines for a while, watching, rather than taking part.
It's not like we actually talked to each other initially. The first few weeks, we played Jeopardy, and attempted to find more members to cement us as an official Academic Decathlon club.
Unfortunately, though, it was just the four of us.
Which made it extremely hard for us to be taken seriously.
According to Google, Academic Decathlon teams were made up of nine members, placed by their GPA.
Our principal laughed at us, but he did let us become official.
Which was out of pity, I assumed.
The club was assembled, and we started meeting up after school.
Sort of.
Sunny barely showed up, and Levi didn't take anything seriously, preferring to spend the time telling us about his weird family turf-war.
Our principal dumped us in a tiny classroom with a resident rat living under the floorboards.
There was barely enough room to move, and the four of us crammed together for three hours was less than appealing.
Still, though, I wanted to be part of a club.
I had grown up with parents who were obsessed with board games, so I was pretty good at general knowledge questions. Our club room was too small for anything else but three desks (Sunny and I shared one) and a whiteboard we had to shove through the door.
But, again, we didn't start as an Academic club.
It was more akin to Story Time Club.
Arriving late on my third day, armed with quiz cards from home, I found Tom and Sunny completely mesmerised by Levi’s storytelling skills, drowned in shadow.
They didn't even turn the lights on.
I strictly remember squeezing next to Sunny, and hearing the words, “But there was so much blood all over the floor, and my Mom told me to go upstairs and hide under the bed…”
Sitting in front of them was Levi, perched on a desk, his legs swinging, a whiteboard marker between his teeth.
Sometimes he'd get up, and illustrate parts of his story.
It sucked that his drawings were all stick people.
I won't go into full details of his life, but Levi grew up as part of a family who had… interesting methods of making a living. I had seen the guy’s father multiple times when we hung out at his place, and, yeah, my friend’s family definitely had Soprano vibes.
Levi’s Draw My Life was nothing to do with the club, but it did bring us closer.
Even if, at that point, I was considering leaving.
But it's not like it was easy to walk away from these guys. It's like finding your soulmates. Levi wasn't the only one with an interesting life. Sunny Lang was an ex kpop trainee, who was kicked out for being too fat, which led her to develop a severe eating disorder, and a hatred for her own body.
Sunny explained her family were originally from Boston, her mother growing up in Korea.
She signed up for an idol agency focusing on creating a new girl group, and had gotten all the way to the final stages, before being kicked for her weight. Sunny told us her story with a smile, though there was a hollowness in her eyes I couldn't ignore. The other girls were judgemental bullies, and the idol diet and brutal regime almost killed her.
Sunny lived in a tiny apartment with 9 girls, who would tear each other apart for a chance to debut. Sunny said all the other girls debuted, and when we (not so patiently) asked for names, she shrugged, admitting she signed an NDA that prevented her spilling the beans.
What she did say, was the K-pop idol is a product, not a person– and are made and moulded into a product.
She had zero interest in throwing her humanity away to become a manufactured doll.
So, one of us was the son of an underground family, and the other was an ex idol.
Tom was an aspiring horror writer with a famous older step-brother.
His story times were usually, That one time I went to the Met Gala.
When it was my turn to reveal my story, I told them the only interesting thing about me.
I could smell when something bad was going to happen.
They laughed, but I was being serious.
When I was a kid, I smelled my mother’s brain tumor.
I remember it smelled like curdled milk.
I asked Mom why her head smelled of mouldy milk, and Mom laughed and said it was her shampoo.
It was actually a grade two tumor growing inside her brain.
Thankfully, the tumour was found quickly and removed.
Growing older, I became sensitive to smell. The little girl choking on the bus smelled of singed wood, and the old man crossing the road stunk of gasoline.
In the fourth grade, my classmate Alex Castor smelled of lemons all morning.
I sat behind him, choking on the stink all the way through class.
Ever since I met him, Alex had always smelled… off.
It was a distinct smell I could never understand, and as the days and months and years went by, that smell morphed into a subtle orangey musk that was so strong I had to cover my mouth and nose. Then, he smelled like lemons.
During Recess, I watched Alex fall off of the jungle gym, straight onto his head.
Alex Castor was dead before the paramedics arrived, my panicked teacher attempting CPR when his brains were leaking out of his ears.
The school claimed it was an accident, but Alex would have been fine if the jungle gym wasn't built on solid concrete.
I told my team members this, and Levi was sceptical.
“You can smell bad things?” He said, his lips curved around his milkshake straw. In the early days, we hung out in the local bar. It's not like we were allowed inside, but Levi could get us in anywhere.
I was squeezed between Tom and Sunny, while Levi took the seat opposite us. I couldn't help noticing our waitress was insisting on free milkshake refills, her frantic eyes glued to Levi.
I had zero idea why. Levi Costella was about as intimidating as a fruit fly.
Wearing a white shirt with a popped collar, a leather jacket thrown over the top, Levi was giving rebellious Harvard student, rather than son of a crime family.
Leaning forward, he raised a brow, clearly not believing me.
“So, you're like a stink psychic?”
I shrugged, sipping my own shake.
“Sure.”
I wasn't planning on telling him the club room smelled off on our first day.
Once we actually started the club, Levi surprised us as the smartest member, and getting to know him further, I came to the realization his family were infamous in our town.
However, his parents hid it well. Lucy and Michael Costella were the owners of a popular ramen store in our town, hiding under the facade of two successful business owners. The Costella’s were an attractive family.
Lucy was a sophisticated brunette with a lipstick smile, Michael, a handsome fluffy haired man who looked like he modelled glasses.
The two were fiercely protective over their youngest son, not so casually reminding us behind grinning smiles, that if anything happened to Levi, we would automatically be involved in the family.
I mean, they did laugh and say, “We’re joking! Look at your little faces!” when Sunny went deathly pale. But there was definitely truth behind their words.
Being Levi’s friend was… challenging at first.
Tom and I were in his room studying for finals, and an alarm went off, flooding Levi’s room in red light.
I had zero idea where it was coming from, but it locked all the doors and windows, forcing the Costella residence into temporary lockdown. Levi didn't seem fazed, casually mentioning his parents were taking care of it.
He had a whiteboard set up in his room, and was standing in front of it, cramming all of our textbook notes into one easily digestible drawing.
Levi wasn't just smart.
He was Ivy League smart, so we had struck gold with him.
His family were questionable, and yes, sometimes I did fear for my life, but as the more time we spent at his house, the Costella household became a second home. We got used to the alarms.
I just brought along ear plugs.
I wish I was writing this post about Levi’s family, and sure, they are a factor in what is going on right now, but I want to preface this by saying the events below involve the 2024 scholastic decathlon final in our town with the school’s listed:
Starbrook High School.
Ratcliffe High School.
Please note, the incident that took place last night was immediately covered up, and all phone footage was destroyed. Our town is mostly out of the way, and does not show up on Google searches.
We also have our own version of the academic decathlon, which is a more town-level competition, due to lacking funds. The four of us were desperate to start competing with our schools.
So, we started taking things a little more seriously.
We got a coach.
Mr Hanes, who was hesitant at first.
In his words, “You will hate me as your coach.”
He started by recruiting more members, announcing, “If you want to be taken seriously as an actual club, then I'll be taking the reins from now on.”
He did, and with our teachers guidance (and sometimes brutal honesty), we reached a level where we could start competing with other school’s in town. Now, none of us knew this, but Mr Hanes was obsessed with winning.
So, club meetings were twisted into two hour study sessions with no talking, followed by Mr Hanes Jeaprody, which was Jeaprody, without the actual fun.
We were quizzed multiple times, answer cards and practise questions quite literally thrown directly in our faces.
I hate to admit this (I really hate to admit this) but Mr Hanes’s tactics worked. Sure, we had been mildly brainwashed by our slightly unhinged coach, but with Levi Costella, we destroyed our competitors. Like I said, our town held their own version of the academic scholastic decathlon, but it was pretty much the same, with some changes.
Ten subjects. Language and Literature, Math, Social Science, Economics, Art, Music, Interview, Speech, and Essay.
Unlike the official Decathlon, ours was more like a game show, with the ability to be knocked out if a team member answers a question wrong. Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins. Team meet ups were either tests, study sessions, or quizzing each other.
Which leads me to last night.
The finals were held in the reigning champions, Ratcliffe High School’s, auditorium.
And we were about to win our town’s Scholastic Decathlon 2024 Championships.
Well…I was knocked out in the music section. Standing next to my coach who I was sure was going to asphyxiate from excitement, I could smell the sudden potent stink of lemon. I tried to ignore it at first, but the more questions my team were answering correctly, the smell got worse, suffocating my senses.
This wasn't just lemon. The stink was like a burning, singing smell trickling into my nose and the back of my throat.
It was stronger than what Alex smelled like.
This was suffocating, drowning my thoughts.
“Are you okay, Cassandra?”
Mr Hanes nudged me when a Ratcliffe girl was struggling to answer a question, only for Sunny to jump in with the answer. “You look quite pale.”
I nodded, forcing a smile.
My gaze was on the Ratcliffe coach, a scary looking blonde woman, whispering in one of her student’s ears.
The Ratcliffe kid freaked me out. He was way too tall, dark blonde hair, and bulging eyes I swear were not blinking.
His gaze was glued to Levi, who wore a smug grin.
There was a smaller girl next to the Ratcliffe kid, a Macbook balanced on her knee. Every so often, he leaned into her, the two of them in deep conversation.
“I'm just nervous.”
I jumped when Ratcliffe scored a point, their side erupting into cheers.
During the break, we had a mini team meeting.
Sunny rushed to the bathroom to freshen up, and I noticed a Ratcliffe girl with a bouncing ponytail following her.
Ignoring our coach’s speech, I joined the two girls in the corridor, that lemony scent hanging thick in the air.
I caught them in an awkward position.
The Ratcliffe girl had her fingers pinched between the material of Sunny’s dark blue shirt bearing our school’s name.
Sunny looked confused, her lips parted like she was going to yell.
Ponytail dropped her hand, suddenly, with a nervous laugh. “Oh! I'm so, so, sorry,” she gushed. “You had, like, the biggest spider crawling on your back.”
Sunny caught my eye, shooting me a reassuring smile.
“Thanks.” She made sure to keep her distance. “Uh, where's your bathroom?”
The Ratcliffe girl nodded down the hallway. “It's just down there. I'm going there too if you want me to show you?”
Sunny motioned for me to go back to the auditorium. “Uh, sure! That'd be great!”
I did try to follow them, only for Sunny to cough loudly.
I took the hint, reluctantly heading back into the auditorium.
My team was hyping each other up, Levi in the centre, sweating through his team shirt. He ran a trembling hand through his hair. “I can't do this,” He groaned. “Ratcliffe High is known to play dirty, man. They're unbeatable.”
“In what way do they play dirty?” I asked, joining them.
Levi gulped down water, shrugging.
“I dunno! They're already trying to distract me with the stink eye.” The boy narrowed his eyes at a grinning Ratcliffe kid who, after noticing our stares, jumped to his feet, waving at us.
“Hey guys!”
“That's Harry Cartwright, the son of the Cartwright family who tried to kill my parents in the third grade.” Levi mockingly waved back. “As you can see, their kid is a fucking sociopath.”
Huh. I wasn't expecting the smiley kid to be the mobster’s son.
Harry Cartwright was not what I expected.
Unlike his team members, he was the only one in casual clothing, a short sleeved white shirt and jeans, a pair of sunglasses perched on top of his head.
Tom went pale.
“Fuck.” He hissed. “He’s one of you? Then those bastards will have a reason to play dirty, right?”
Levi shrugged, averting his gaze. It was the first time I saw his eyes darken, like he was subtly telling the boy to back off.
“The Cartwright’s have been trying to buy our land for a while,” he muttered. “I wouldn't put it past them to use the Decathlon as a way to attack.”
“Attack?!” April, another member of our team, hissed. “Like, attack attack?”
Mr Hanes grabbed the boy, resting his hands on Levi’s shoulders. “Ignore them,” he said. “Hey. Look at me.”
Levi did, raising a brow.
“You're losing that spark in your eye, young man.”
“Spark?”
Our coach nodded. “Look at me, kid.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “I am looking at you, Mr Hanes.”
The man was shaking. I was guessing his whole career (or coaching career) was on the line.
“They know they're losing, Mr Costella.”
Hanes shook the boy, squeezing his shoulders. “You are being positive and Ratcliffe doesn't like that. They want you to be nervous. They want to make you second guess yourself and lose confidence. Don't let them get into your head.” he smiled, giving the boy a playful shove. “Kick their asses.”
“Exactly!”
I didn't realize Sunny was back from the bathroom.
The faint smell of lemons had followed her. I noticed a wet patch on her shirt collar, though she was quick to smile at me, admitting she'd spilled water down herself. Sunny wrapped her arms around Levi, squeezing him into a hug.
She hung on for a little too long, Tom dragging her away with a laugh. “Good luck, all right?” she backed away, ruffling his hair. “We’ve got this!”
When I hugged Levi good luck too, I had to resist covering my nose.
The smell of lemon was unbearable, just like fourth grade Alex.
But it wasn't as potent as earlier.
I vaguely remembered the smell starting to fade once Alex’s body was being carted away on a stretcher.
Following my captain through the crowd, I was right. The smell was less suffocating. Before he went back to the stage, I grabbed the back of his shirt.
The material was soaking wet.
“How are you so wet?” I said, swiping my hands on my shirt.
“Huh?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. Do you remember what I told you in sophomore year?”
Levi settled me with a confident, but nervous smile. “Thaaaat you're scared of clowns?”
“No. I mean the boy who smelled of lemons.” I gritted out.
Levi surprised me with a laugh. “What are you talking about?”
Something ice cold trickled down my spine.
Levi did know what I was talking about. He brought up my stink sense a day earlier in front of his parents, and I had to cover his mouth to shut him up.
Leaning close, I whispered in his ear. “You stink of rotten lemons.”
He nodded slowly, pulling away. “Uh… thanks?”
I bit back a hiss of frustration. “No, you don't understand what I'm saying–”
“Starbrooke High School,” The host announced. “Can all members please return to the stage.”
Levi held up his hand for a high five.
“Can we do this later?” He winked. “I'm kinda busy carrying this spelling-bee on my back right now.”
I nodded shakily, high fiving him, and letting him jump back onto the stage.
Before his words hit like a tidal wave, ice cold water slammed into me.
Spelling Bee?
Slowly making my way back to the stands, Levi’s mistake was circling around my head. He did win a spelling bee, but that was in middle school.
Thankfully, the smell of lemons was gone when I returned to my seat.
Mr Hanes handed me a soda. “Chill out, Cassandera, it's just a game.”
He could talk. The guy was on his fifth coffee.
Mr Hanes was not chilled out in the slightest.
Surprisingly, the event went well. I was half expecting my team to be crushed by the rafters, or caught in a blaze started in the crowd. But we were doing well. No, we were winning.
Reaching the climaxing round, Sunny choked against a smug Ratcliffe boy, joining me on the sidelines.
Levi answered the next question with a confident smile.
We were winning, but Ratcliffe could still catch up with a miracle.
The second to last question was to Ratcliffe, and it was general knowledge.
”Where on the human body would one find the *orbit?*
I knew the answer, and so did Levi, his lips breaking out into a smile when the Ratcliffe boy was hesitating, eyes wide.
Our school’s buzzer went off, Levi slamming his hand down.
Bzzz!
The host turned to our team. “Starbrooke, can I have your answer?”
Levi nodded, shooting our team a victory grin.
“It's…!“ He opened his mouth to answer, his jaw slackening suddenly.
The boy’s shoulders slumped.
“Uh… “
“Um…”
“Huhhhhh…”
Levi inclined his head, blinking, his eyes glazing over. There was a sudden, hollow vacancy that sent chills down my spine. It was like someone had reached into his skull, and yanked out his brain, leaving a shell in his place.
To my confusion, our team captain frowned at his buzzer like he'd never seen one before. He pressed it, exploding into child-like giggles.
Bzzz!
The audience laughed along nervously.
Tom nudged me. “What the fuck is he doing?”
Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz!
Levi’s entire body was slumped, his hand slamming down on the buzzer.
I caught something pooling down his chin.
“Is he… drooling?” I whispered.
Mr Hanes looked mildly horrified. “Has he been drinking?
“Levi?” Tom spluttered. “Drinking?!"
Whatever we were watching, however, was definitely influenced by… something.
Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzz!
“Young man, that is not a toy!”
The host wasn't amused. “Starbrooke High School, I need an answer from you,” He nodded to Levi, who was pressing the buzzer, his smile growing.
“Once again,” The host backed away, like Levi was contagious. “Where on the human body would one find the Orbit?”
Levi cocked his head, lips parted.
His gaze found the overhead lights, and he winced, his lips curling into a frown.
“Starbrooke High School!”
Levi jumped, tipping his head back and blowing a raspberry. “Palm tree?”
The audience laughed, and I started feeling nauseous.
Across from us, I could see the twist of a smirk on the Ratcliffe coach’s lips.
Bzzz! Levi slammed the buzzer again giggling.
“Starbrooke High School, if your team member continues to act like this, I will be forced to disqualify all members.”
Our captain stopped, gaze glued to the host, his hand creeping towards the buzzer, like it was a big red button.
The audience loved it, laughing like they were watching a sitcom.
“He wouldn't.” Tom whisper-shrieked.
The auditorium was silent for a moment, awaiting Starbrooke’s response.
Levi stuck out his tongue, slamming his hand down.
Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz–
When Tom dragged Levi away from his podium, a Ratcliffe girl hit her buzzer.
“Starbrooke High School, you are disqualified,” the host announced. “Ratcliffe High School, do you have an answer?”
It was Ponytail who nodded with a grin.
“The answer is the eye socket! The Orbit is part of the eye socket!”
“That is the correct answer.” The host was distracted, his eyes glued to Levi.
“Ratcliffe High School wins.”
Levi jumped when the Ratcliffe wide erupted into cheers.
His eyes were wide, clinging onto the buzzer for comfort.
Next to me, our coach looked like he was going to faint.
I barely noticed Ratcliffe’s victory, too busy watching our team captain, who was Harvard bound, tipping his head back and smiling at the ceiling like a new-born baby. Tom dragged the stumbling boy over to me, his mouth twisted.
“This was Ratcliffe, right?” He hissed, shaking our captain, who was struggling, squirming in his grip.
“Did they put something in his drink?!” He prodded Levi. “Hey! What did they do to you?!”
Still, though, drugging his drink didn't make sense.
Levi never left the auditorium, and kept his water bottle with him the whole time.
How did they even manage to slip something into his drink in the first place?
Did I smell our competitors drugging him?
Sure, intentionally inebriating my teammate was morally wrong and illegal, but why could I smell lemon?
“I doubt it was Ratcliffe.” Sunny squeezed next to me. “I've been watching them. They're harmless.”
“Then how the fuck do we explain this to his parents?!” Tom whispered, grappling with Levi, who was fighting to get back to the buzzer.
When Tom let go of him, he dropped onto the floor, crawling over to his podium. It was like watching a child.
Who was determined to piss off the adults.
Levi jumped back to instead feet, his gaze was glued to the host, a smile curved on his lips, when he slammed the buzzer again.
Bzzz!
“Someone, please remove the Starbrooke boy from the stage!”
I was embarrassed, our whole team ducking our heads as our captain was forcibly removed from the podium.
Mr Hanes grabbed Levi, pulling him off of the stage.
I expected our coach to be mad at him, but I think the teacher was more worried, a phone pressed to his ear while he forced the boy into a sitting position.
No, I don't think it's influence from alcohol, I could hear his conversation.
Levi kept trying to get up, mesmerised by the buzzer. The teacher was firm but gentle. “Hey. Sit down, all right? Keep still.” He went back to his phone call, gently prying Levi’s eyes open.
From what I can see, there's nothing wrong. He's just kind of…
Mr Hanes swiped his own hands on his jeans. ... wet?
Team Ratcliffe came over to rub it in our faces, though I was still tuned into our coach’s hissed whispering.
Water? No, I don't think it's water. It smells… no, I haven't told his parents…
“You guys did awesome!” Ponytail's voice was sugary sweet. Too sugary.
She held the 2024 trophy, bearing a satisfied smile. I noticed the Ratcliffe members were surrounding Harry, like guards.
“Better luck next time, okay?” She held out her hand, her eyes twinkling.
“No hard feelings?”
“Control your dog.” Harry said, amused eyes flicking to Levi, who was once again sprinting back to the fucking buzzer. His eyes had visibly darkened, lips curled into a triumphant smile.
Harry Cartwright was watching Mr Hanes chase our team captain like it was his own personal entertainment.
I had to look away before I died of second hand embarrassment.
“What did you put in his drink?” Tom demanded. “Weed? Edibles?” the boy attempted to shove Harry, only to be pushed back. “What the fuck did you do to him?”
Harry’s smile didn't waver. “Like I said. Control your mut.”
When the Ratcliffe team walked away, our red faced coach struggling with Levi, who was behaving progressively more erratically, informed us we were longer welcome inside the school.
Tom suggested calling an ambulance, but our coach was hesitant.
We all knew who Levi’s family were.
On the way out, Tom matched my stride. He was frowning at our team captain struggling to walk.
The way he was acting was already eyebrow raising.
But walking at an angle and being unable to stand up straight was worrying.
“I don't think they drugged his drink.” Tom muttered.
We pushed through the doors out of the school, and I revelled in the cool night air grazing my cheek. “If they did, he would be acting out of it, right? So, what's the deal with him acting like–”
“A child.” I finished for him.
“Yeah.” Tom leaned closer. “Do you think this has something to do with their turf war?”
I slapped at a bug creeping across my cheek.
Levi fell over again, this time bursting into giggles.
“Almost definitely.”
Levi was right about Ratcliffe playing dirty. I didn't realize how dirty until we were on the losers bus home. Levi was in the seat next to me, and the kid hadn't moved since we left Ratcliffe, his eyes wide, lips pulled into a dazed grin.
Bzzz!
The noise startled me from slumber. I was drooling, my head pressed against the window. Outside, the sky was pitch dark, and squinting through the glass, I couldn't get a bearing on where we were. I thought I was hearing things, but when I sat up, I heard it again.
Bzzz!
It was close.
Leaning over the boy, I glimpsed a smear of scarlet on his headrest.
I choked on my next words.
“Tom.”
Tom was in front of me, listening to music.
He didn't reply, his head of dark blonde curls nodding to the beat.
“Levi.” I managed to get out. I prodded him, and his head lolled into his shoulder. “Hey. Can you… sit up?”
Bzzz! Bzzz!
When the boy didn't move, I gently grabbed his shoulders and pulled him forward myself, something contracting in my stomach.
I don't know how long it takes for your mind to fully register something, but my body was already reacting.
Levi’s seat was infested with bugs, eating their way through the upholstery. I was aware of my body moving back. I threw up, instantly, screaming into my hand.
The back of my best friend's skull resembled a deflated soccer ball, what was left of his brain leaking from his skull where a swarm of skittering bugs chewed their way through brain tissue, metallic legs scratching the curved, pearly white of the base if his skull.
Levi’s head hung, his body flopping into mine.
But his eyes were still open, lips still stretched into a smile.
Blood ran in thick rivulets from his nose and ears.
Bzzz!
I could see them, black writhing dots alive in his eyes, wriggling movement under his skin.
“Tom!”
I jumped up, stumbling into the aisle, my stomach heaving.
And it was only when I was on my knees, swiping bile from my lips, when I realized the others weren't reacting.
Tom wasn't moving.
I pulled an Airpod out of his ear, a long, slithering string of pink attached to the end.
There was a stray bug skittering across his hand, his face starting to twitch and writhe.
Moving back, I checked myself over, my hands shaking.
Head.
Shoulders.
Hair.
Clawing through it, my breath was stuck in my throat.
Arms.
Legs.
Feet.
Mr Hanes was slumped against the window, a reddish froth bubbling from his mouth.
Sunny.
I started towards the back of the bus, but all I had to see was her bowed head, half of her skull chewed through.
Sunny was in a far more deteriorated state, her face had been ripped through, a skeletal smile glinting in the dim.
The thick black smear on the window next to her was moving.
When I screamed for the driver to stop the bus, he ignored me.
If anything, he stamped on the gas.
I moved forward to shake him, before glimpsing a bug creeping down his face.
Calling 911, the operator laughed at me.
“Bugs are eating your friends.” He said. “Do you know the penalty for calling with bullshit pranks?”
The bus didn't stop, so I stayed at the front, while the bugs took over the back, eating through my teammates.
After four hours, I risked leaning over the seat next to Tom to check on Levi.
They were eating him.
Chewing all the way through skin, muscle and bone.
I tried to stop the bus, but the driver’s hands were tightly wrapped around the wheel.
Another hour, and blood was seeping down the aisle, crawling with bugs.
Levi was gone, and in his place, a buzzing skittering pile of bugs, that I thought were going to move to a second victim, maybe burrowing into the seats.
But, no.
These things began to tremble, replicating.
Building.
Slowly, nothing became static, and static became muscle.
Then bone.
Then flesh.
When a body began to slowly form, moulded from the dead boy, I stumbled back.
These things weren't eating Levi Costella.
They were rewriting him.
…
Edit: I'm still on the bus. I'm 99.9% sure that I'm infected with whatever this thing is. I can't stop fucking itching.
I keep picking them off me but they won't stop. This bus isn't going to stop until I'm like the others.
…
Edit 2:
I can feel them chewing into my skull. They're in my ears. I keep spitting them out. Please, someone get them off of me. Help me. I don't want to die at 17.
Edit 3:
Still alive. Still breathing. Maybe they're leaving me alone????? I think I'm okay. There is a pile of bugs at my feet, but they're crawling off of me.
Edit 4:
Levi really wants to go home. Like, he just told me he REALLY wants to go home. He's got a gift for his parents.
~~Edit 5 :) ~~
Levi is next to me right now, an odd smile on his face.
The bugs are not finished building him yet, but he'll be ready soon.
We will be ready soon.
Your son says hello! He is a wonderful boy, is he not?
Mr and Mrs Costella, I cannot wait for you to meet him.
He is our greatest achievement, and rest assured, you will give us what we want.
Warm regards.
The Cartwright's.

Beginnings. Illustrious. Vivacious. Monstrous. Scintillating. Star-Studded. Nautical. Creeping. Vainglorious. Luminous. Villainous. Venerable. Exuberant. Esteemed. Legendary…. Epic. Wonderful, Briliant, Victorious, Foundational, Iconic!!! Champions. Sixteen of them. One prize. One Ultimate Champion. Who will beat all other winners and become the ultimate winner themselves? As we get ready to close the curtain one last time on Bunny’s Big Brother, let’s find out who is the Shining Star of our champion cast in Bunny’s Pokémon Big Brother CHAMPION ROYALE!
Season Finale: CHAMPION ROYALE!!!
Meet the Cast:
Season 1 – Lance the Escavalier
Season 2 – Carlos the Pangoro
Season 3 – Nickels the Nickit
Season 4 – Xio the Meowscarada
Season 5 – Selene the Lampent
Season 6 – Candy the Wigglytuff
Season 7 – Splaatz the Stunfisk
Season 8 – Dirk the Kricketune
Season 9 – Echo the Arctibax
Season 10 – Mobee the Bewear
Season 11 – Professor Bane the Crobat
Season 12 – Lisette the Solrock
Season 13 – Maeva the Chimeco
Season 14 – Dayley-Jane the Dewgong
Season 15 – DJ Volt Switch the Emolga
Season 16 – Benedict the Chespin
Intro: We are reporting live at the site of Bunny’s Pokémon Big Brother Finale House! The crowd is thick and loud as fans from all over are excited to watch the sixteen champions enter the house LIVE! We stand in Poketopia, home of the Battle Revolution! The Shining Neon Colloseum, in a penthouse suite in the grand city is where the final bout will begin! Here come the Legendary Sixteen right now!!!! Lance the original winner is so stunning in his armor! Carlos has evolved and looks much tougher. Nickels is strutting in conifdent as ever next to Xio, who looks completely unphased by all of the winners around her! Selene fits right in with the bright lights. Looks like Candy is evolved as well and—OH—she tripped over Splaatz. That’s embarrassing and you can tell she isn’t happy even if she’s putting on a smile. Dirk and Echo are next, both eyeing up the competition already. Echo being evolved now already ups his threat level. Mobee gets an uproarious cheer from the crowd! And WOW the Professor gracefully glides over the crowd! He really did escape capture back in Mazda’s Season. Lisette seems to be meditating and Maeva is pumping herself up. She looks a bit snooty now that we know how she really is but we are eager to see how she plays. Dayley-Jane gets another huge cheer from the crowd. She really is a lovable gal ain’t she? DJ clicks a track on the DJ booth to keep one last song playing but then hops out to join the entourage. She’s still keeping up her day job too, so inspiring! Finally, Benedict walks up. Unlike the others, he looks somber. Wonder what his deal is? Oh well, let’s watch them all compete in the bright stadium for the first HOH!
First HOH: In this bright lights HOH, the houseguests all race to complete a task, with the first to complete it knocking someone out of the running. In the first heat, Maeva clears first and knocks out Bane because he came in second and is a huge comp threat. In the next round, Echo wins and takes out Maeva, who just won. Splaatz wins round three by accident and takes out Day, who was big on his original season. Candy wins next and takes out Nickels. Xio takes out DJ, followed by Benedict winning and immediately knocking Xio out. Candy wins again and takes out Dirk. Echo then wins again to take out Candy before she gets too much momentum. Carlos wins and takes out Lance, Mobee then wins and takes out Carlos, Benedict then wins and takes out Mobee! Splaatz wins again and takes out Selene as she is hiding in the background. Lisette wins the next round to take out Benedict. In the final three, Echo wins again and takes out Lisette, as she did a good job hiding til then. In Splaatz versus Echo, the fish surprisingly keeps up with the dragon and at the last second, takes over?!?!?! Splaatz is the first HOH!
Week 1: Splaatz is very confused how he won that last round but Echo comes up and congratulates him. The two get along well and Splaatz works up the courage to ask to be in an alliance, which the dragon happily agrees. Bane goes to Candy to tell her that the villains need to stick together, she agrees and they grab Maeva. She is initially reluctant, not trusting Bane, but she agrees eventually. Mobee goes to monitor the living room like before and DJ flies up to him. They end up chatting and realize they enjoy each other. At the nomination ceremony, Splaatz has decided to put up DJ and Dirk, saying how he doesn’t want to make too much waves and this seems to be the way to do it best. Dirk is unamused and DJ is frightened. Echo gets suspicious of Bane and shares his thoughts with Nickels, they pull in Carlos to form an anti-villain alliance. Benedict eavesdrops and plans his next move. He goes up to Nickels and makes up how Dirk must be playing the villain this time, because he is acting weird. Nickels considers his approach but ultimately decides to trust him as an alliance member. At the veto, Carlos, Echo, and Mobee all play but it comes down to Carlos and Splaatz. Splaatz ends up winning again but while actually trying and is exuberant! DJ pleads with him but he ultimately keeps his noms the same.
After the veto ceremony, Benedict tells DJ to do as he says and trust him, as Gigi did. She agrees and starts buttering up to the villains. She gets Candy to be even nicer to the house and apologize to Splaatz. She also helps Bane create a new game. Meanwhile, Benedict starts prodding Dirk and Day, causing them to be at odds with each other. Dirk eventually snaps and lashes out at Day, shocking everyone. Maeva can tell something fishy is happening but rolls with it since it is week one. At the eviction ceremony in the glittering colosseum, the two nominees tell why they should stay. Dirk is more bitter while DJ stays heartfelt, convincing everyone but a suspicious Maeva. In the end, by a vote of 12 to 1… Dirk, you have been evicted.
Week 2: The next HOH is a high flying roulette-themed obstacle course, based off of the Neon Colosseum’s roulette rules. DJ and Mobee work together to get to the end but Nickels keeps up with them. In the final stretch, Mobee sees Nickels catching up and throws DJ, giving her just enough of an edge to win the HOH! Nickels and Maeva both approach DJ to tell her their suspicions on Benedict’s behavior. At first, they fight, but realizing they have the same goal causes them to cut it out long enough to tell her. DJ is reluctant but Maeva reminds her how he betrayed Gigi and she is firm. Benedict and Carlos become the nominees. Day, Echo, and Maeva play in the veto and Echo actually manages to come out on top over Day. Echo talks with Nickels about saving Carlos but she is hesitant, telling him that Carlos makes a good pawn next to benedict because everyone likes Carlos. He ends up not using it. During the week, Benedict begins making breakfast early, irritating his roommate Carlos and causing him to be grumpier. Xio confronts Benedict for this, telling him he is purposefully making Carlos mad and it’s brutal. He tells her he doesn’t understand the problem if Carlos doesn’t like breakfast. She sneers but doesn’t have a comeback. The next day, Benedict holds a house meeting. He apologizes if he’s been rubbing people the wrong way but he is just trying to fit in since he is newer. Lisette says that everyone should give him a chance, which the villains, Selene, and Mobee agree with. Echo, Carlos, Nickels, and Maeva are all hesitant. At the eviction ceremony, Carlos is grumpy and bitter and doesn’t do much to defend himself. Benedict, again apologizes. In a 9 to 3 vote… Carlos is evicted.
Week 3: Several house membets are completely shocked by Carlos going home, including HOH DJ and his two allies, Nickels and Echo. Also surprised is Xio. The next HOH is an endurance comp called the floor is lava based off of the Lava Colosseum! Mobee, Splaatz, and Xio are the last three remaining. Knowing she was on the outs of the last vote, Xio fights hard to survive, fighting her pain. Splaatz eventually drops and Mobee remains with Xio. Eventually, Mobee drops and Xio wins! Xio already knows her noms. She puts up Benedict next to Selene, as she was one of the people vouching for him last round. Benedict chooses to stay back and not make too much of a scene this round, lest he blow up his cover. Meanwhile, DJ and Mobee plan how to move forward. Maeva is listening in to this convo and realizes how close they are. At the veto, a mental comp, Selene ends up winning by a landslide, saving herself. Maeva rushes to Xio about the DJ and Mobee situation, and points out how Mobee is a comp threat as well. Xio decides Mobee is a good replacement, as he is likeable and a good pawn next to Benedict. Mobee holds a house meeting and cries during it, thinking he was doing so much better at being friendly this time. Maeva calls him out for his crocodile tears and argues that he is putting on an act. Lisette calls out Maeva for being so harsh and chastises her for being such a villain. Maeva asks her if she is planning on voting for him to stay and she is silent, but says that shouldn’t matter. Maeva retorts and says it’s not jury so jury management doesn’t exist yet. At the eviction, Mobee is shaking next to a smug Benedict. Benedict’s speech touches on how Mobee doesn’t seem ready for the big leagues. The bear gets up angrily and almost picks up Benedict, shocking everyone. He stops himself and realizes what he did. The vote comes in and by a vote of 8 to 3, Mobee, you have been evicted.
Week 4: The next HOH begins as they houseguests must ascend a glimmering rock wall, themed after the Crystal colosseum. Day and Maeva take an early lead but are caught up by falling rocks. Lisette closes the gap and eventually surpasses Maeva. Day and Lisette race for the end and… Lisette win! Lisette in her HOH room ponders about who to put up and ally with. She turns to Xio, Day, and Selene as her allies. The Witch’s Coven, as they call themselves, wants to shift the focus, as Benedict is doing too well at not going home. Instead, Lisette targets Maeva, who is playing sneaky, as well as Benedict’s ally, Echo. Bane laughs at Maeva being on the block and she is enraged with him. He says “it doesn’t matter since it’s not jury yet.” Having her own words turned on her, Maeva storms out and swears she will get revenge on him and Candy. At the POV, the witches’ coven is playing with three members and Xio ends up winning! She chooses to keep the nominations the same. Splaatz goes to Lance to tell him how much it means to be there with one of his heros, but Lance mishears him and calls him out for calling him a rude name. The two get in a petty argument where Lance’s bad hearing keeps making things worse. Meanwhile, Maeva tries to get the vote off of her by spreading anti-Benedict propaganda around the house. Day has a change of heart about this and wants to vote out Echo, even while her alliance is targeting Maeva. Benedict, aware his name is still out there, pleads to DJ not to vote out his ally. At the eviction, Maeva thinks she has done enough work but the vote comes out and is a 5 to 5. The Coven is shocked, one of their own must have flipped. But Lisette gets to break the tie, and is all too happy to evict her target, Maeva.
Week 5: The next HOH is themed after the Sunset colosseum, and sees the houseguests racing to stack piles of rubble. Echo, DJ, and Xio make the highest stack but DJ’s crumbles before the time limit. Both wanting to take control, Echo and Xio try really hard to build the highest. The timer buzzes aaaand Echo is the winner! Benedict instinctively high fives Echo and celebrates with him. Later, Nickels is peeved that Echo is so publicly working with Benedict. Echo tells her she had the opportunity to have a good ally but she chose to burn that bridge and that’s her fault. Offended, she tells him to make that alliance with Benedict work out but she won’t be part of it. Echo is saddened, but doesn’t want to put Nickels up. Instead, he shifts the target to former villains, with Bane being the target and Selene going up next to him. Xio cheers that Selene could be going home, making the Lamp angry at her, since they were supposed to be working together. Benedict goes on to win the veto and vows to Echo not to use it. However, at the veto ceremony, he uses it to save Selene, shocking everyone as he winks at Xio. Echo then solidifies this by putting Xio up. Selene goes to her to tell her she is sorry for their misunderstanding but they work together. Candy turns to Lisette and tells her she is tired of working with Bane and if she helps her get the Professor out this week, she will work with her. Lisette agrees, knowing everyone wants Bane out anyways. At the eviction, Xio seemingly patches things up with everyone. The vote comes in, by a unanimous vote… Bane, you are evicted.
Double Eviction: Surprise! The Jury starts tonight and the next HOH is beginning right now with one more person leaving! A quiz colosseum is held in the Sunset colloseum, with one miss causing someone to be out of the running. It comes down to DJ, Nickels, and Lisette. But Lisette gets the last question right and the other two miss, with Lisette winning her second HOH. Lisette puts up Nickels and Day. Nickels because she is playing a lowkey game but making waves in the Benedict situation. Day because she wavered on her vote for Benedict. She doesn’t put down Benedict as he is good for drama and polarizing the house, which is good for her game. Nickels wins the veto and takes herself off. Lisette decides to put up Splaatz, because she is worried he will fumble his way to the end. Most people seem to share this idea except for Echo, who wants to wotk with Splaatz. The vote comes in. By a vote of 7 to 1… Splaatz, you have been evicted and will be moving into the jury house.
Week 6: The Next HOH begins as a race through the mysterious mansion in the courtyard colosseum. No one can tell where anyone is but Candy comes out first and wins! As HOH, Candy calls in Benedict. She tells him he has been playing a sloppy and obvious villain game and he is gonna get evicted too soon if he doesn’t simmer down and get some real allies. He is shocked and admits he just wants to win. She says they all do and the least they can do is help each other. She says she will help him if he keeps causing more chaos and also gets DJ on their side. He agrees and talks to DJ. The squirrel is hesitant but decides it would be a great way of getting revenge on Benedict if she gets the chance. Candy puts up Lance as the pawn next to her target, Xio, who has been against Benedict’s chaos this whole game. DJ goes on to win the veto and chooses to not give Candy any suspicion by not using it. Meanwhile, the witches coven fractures, with Day not agreeing with Lisette and Xio feeling not supported on the block by Selene. DJ infiltrates this meeting after storms out, telling them about Xio being the real target but she has a plan to keep her without drawing suspicion if they can get Day to play nice. Xio borrows an item from Lisette and breaks it. Lisette then goes to “rant” to Day, who is being nice with her, thinking they both will vote Xio. Echo, meanwhile, confirms his alliance with Benedict, and feels like he is finally gaining more traction. But the house takes this the wrong way. At the eviction, the vote comes in, and by a vote of 4 to 3… Lance, you have been evicted.
Week 7: The next HOH begins, a waterfall diving competition, based off of the Waterfall Colosseum. Whoever makes the biggest splash wins! With her natural watery prowess, Day dives in and wins the HOH! Day is approached in the HOH by Candy and Benedict, who ask her to work with them. DJ sees whats happening and goes back to Lisette and Selene. The two talk and realize that they can’t beat Benedict’s control of the house by just going against him, but they have to work with him. So the three of DJ, Lisette, and Selene enter the HOH “accidentally” and propose the six will control the house. They say they want Echo to go on the block, as he is getting too good at the comps. Benedict is hesitant but Candy nudges him, as secretly this will be great for her game. He agrees and tells Day he won’t be mad if this happens. Echo goes up next to Nickels. The two former allies face off in the veto, both bitterly making jabs at the other for turning on them. It comes down to just the two nominees and… Echo edges her out, winning the veto. Echo saves himself and puts the power in Day’s hands to put up a replacement. Her choice is the person not in her alliance who has made affronts to her, Xio. Lisette has the whole house do tarot readings to ease the tension which goes down well. Lisette gets the Sun, a symbol of positivity and creativity. Benedict draws the Moon, symbolizing Illusion and inner conflict. He shudders when the white moon of the card turns red in his hands. Echo draws the Fool, a card of new beginnings but also endings. Selene draws death, the card of change in the game. Nickels draws the Hermit, a card of isolation and reflection. Candy draws the Lovers, with the card representing connections and pairs, symbolizing her manipulation of Benedict. Day draws Strength, a card of inner strength and Willpower. Xio draws the Tower, representing sudden downfall and incredible sudden changes. She shudders and uses the moment to apologize to everyone, saying she wants to be a beacon of hope but got lost. The house receives this well. Benedict considers flipping to Xio because of her show of faith being bad but Candy reminds him that Xio is on the bottom of the pecking order on that side, likely meaning they don’t even have to take her out. He relents and the eviction goes through. The vote comes in and by a vote of 5 to 1, Nickels you have been evicted.
Week 8: The Next HOH begins in the Sunny Park colosseum, with contestants having to hunt for pellets and use them to knock out targets. DJ and Echo prove the most adept but in a last second victory, Echo wins. Benedict goes to Echo in the HOH but Echo has realized too late that Benedict is working with everybody, even causing him to turn on Nickels. Benedict doesn’t try to hide his smug smirk as he agrees and walks out, daring him to put him on the block. He feels this must be hiding something and starts asking around the house for their opinions. Xio reveals the existence of the Witches Coven, and how they have been together for weeks, including saving her last week. Knowing of this alliance, Echo saves Xio and puts up Selene and Day. At the veto, Selene wins. Selene approaches Echo, telling him she knows of someone playing both sides, revealing DJ trying to play double agent. After she pulls herself off the block, DJ goes up as the replacement. Candy works on ingratiating herself with the outsiders in Xio and Echo, trying to forge paths ahead. But is unsuccessful at breaking Echo. Echo is accosted by DJ for putting her up over Benedict. He asks her to say why she was double crossing and she says its because she was trying to sabotage Benedict. If anything, Day, Selene, and Lisette should be the real double agents. Echo goes to rage to Selene for how she tricked him but she swears it was the truth completely, and he chose to believe it in a negative light, not her. Day joins the fight and lashes out at Xio and Selene for being the reason she is on the block. Lisette stays out of it, knowing the time to jump ship is coming up. At the eviction, Dj and DayJay give their pleas, but the votes are tallied. By a unanimous vote… Dayley-Jane, you have been evicted.
Double Eviction!!: Second double eviction because you know we gotta! The HOH starts with a lightning round of dodgeball on wooden poles. Selene is knocked out first. Then DJ gets knocked out by Candy. Lisette falls off on her own. Xio goes after Benedict but is taken out by Candy. Then Candy expertly dodges and takes out Benedict, winning the HOH. She nominates the two people who are on the bottom of the pecking order, Echo and Xio. The veto plays out with Benedict winning. Echo pleads for Benedict to help him out, as they were friends. Benedict doesn’t even look him in the eye as he chooses to not play the veto. Echo pleads to the voters to let him keep playing and he will take out Benedict, but Lisette and Selene have basically already jumped ship and moved on. The vote comes in, and by a vote of 4 to 0… Echo, you have been evicted.
Week 9: With Six houseguests remaining, they are taken to the Gateway colosseum to have mock Pokemon battles. In the first round, Xio beats Lisette and Selene beats DJ, with Benedict drawing a spot in the top 3. In a first to win two times in a row scenario, Selene beats both and comes out victorious. Selene and Lisette decide that they have to cut ties and work with the more devious players to have a better shot at the end. Selene puts up DJ and Xio, with DJ being the target. Benedict is alone in his room when he hallucinates more blood on his paws. He shouts and Xio comes in to see whats up. She helps him calm down and he realizes he is down a bad path. She helps him calm down and he thanks her, even with him harassing her all game she still helped him. Candy witnesses the two help each other out and is beyond irritated, she goes to Selene, who is still iffy on Xio, to warn her. At the veto, Candy wins it. She takes off DJ and Selene spitefully puts up Benedict, who trembles going to the block. Lisette confronts Selene for making such a rushed decision, as the goal was to keep Benedict and his threat around longer. At the eviction, Benedict argues that he has realizes how the game has changed him and he wants to prove how he changed. Lisette doesn’t believe him but DJ seems to be enamored. The vote comes in, and by a vote of 2 to 1… Xio you have been evicted.
Week 10: Five stars remain and there are five points in the Stars of the Main Street colosseum, where the houseguests go to do a full BPBB quiz! Lisette misses one question and gets behind as the other get ahead. It comes down to a tie-breaker between Dj and Benedict and the winner is… DJ! Benedict goes to apologize to DJ for real and she forgives him, happy to see his true self back again. She feels played by Selene and Candy so they go on the block. Lisette is still suspicious of Benedict and starts watching him for suspicious activity, noticing him look at his paws a lot. She decides to talk to him with the ruse of working together. At the veto, DJ wins again and claims her game, choosing not to use the veto. Realizing the danger they are in, Selene and Candy go to their respective closest allies, Benedict and Lisette. The two touch base with Benedict telling Lisette he is fine voting Candy with her, as he doesn’t want to force DJ to have to break a tie. At the eviction, the votes are read and by a vote of 2 to 0… Selene, you have been evicted. Benedict looks over at Lisette with a shocked look, realizing she caught on to him.
Week 10: As the final HOH starts, the houseguest are in the Stargazer colosseum for an epic triathlon of quizzes, endurance, and races. In the first part, Benedict pulls ahead, with Lisette on his tail. He falls behind in part two, giving Lisette and Candy a chance to catch him. The three are neck and neck in part three but Lisette comes out on top! Benedict goes to Lisette on her HOH to grovel but she stops him, saying she misheard the vote last week and though the vote was for Selene anyways so its good he didn’t make poor DJ break the tie. He feels reassured and goes back out. Lisette puts up DJ and Candy as the nominees. Lisette reassures DJ about how Benedict likes her and she wouldn’t go home. Benedict touches base with Lisette, claiming that he knows DJ has too much social traction and needs to go next because of this. On his way out, Candy enters the room and chats with Lisette. She says that the noms should stay the same so DJ can be evicted for sure this week. Lisette doesn’t trust her and tells her to her face she is no better than Benedict, but is powerless without him. The two stare each other down. At the veto, Lisette wins it, and Benedict sighs a sigh of relief. But Lisette shocks everyone by saving Candy and puts up Benedict. Lisette calls him out for faking his turnaround to play with everyone’s emotions. He breaks down, claiming his intense want, no, NEED to win the game. He can’t get it out of his head and it burdens him with the thoughts of betrayal, including the allies he betrayed this season, with Nickels, Echo, and even Xio who showed him so much kindness leaving because of him. DJ is in tears and even Candy can’t watch. Afterwards, Benedict goes to his only real ally, Candy. He begs her for advice on how to get out of this, as she helped him so much. She looks him in the eye as she tells him that he did this to himself. At the eviction, Candy gets the sole vote to evict and casts it to evict, Benedict.
The Reunion: Folks we are live again right outside the Neon Colosseum for the Finale of Bunny’s Pokémon Big Brother Champion Royale! Our Sixteen winners have been whittled down to three and it is not what we expected at all! In a house where everyone wants to be the biggest truck on the highway, we have three mid-sized sedans who have slipped through the gaps and swept their way to the end. DJ VOLT SWITCH, Elesa’s iconic Emolga who created the jams we are listening to even right now! She plays up her social game very well with honesty and loyalty, but is no slouch in the competitions. Though she has been left out of some secrets in the game, she was well=liked in the house and leveraged her position between alliances to get information! Sweet Candy the Wigglytuff who played Sickly Sweet last but downright Sick this time. She got in close with all of the villains but managed to be the cherry flavored licorice that was easier to manage. She avoided detection aligning with big villain Benedict and hiding behind the scenes of his chaos, even almost controlling his moves at points. The Sunstone herself, LISETTE the Solrock, who foresaw victory once, but is this a double reading? Lisette bided her time throughout the game, getting whatever information she could and waiting to play it until the time was right. She was at the center of multiple alliances but always stayed just far enough away from the drama that no one was even targeting her. The Sun? No Lisette is after The World!
Joining us on stage now are the 9 jurors! Starting with Splaatz—Ope watch your step, you gotta be careful or else you’ll trip. Here comes Lance the OG! Though he is old he is still our knight in shining armor. Nickels struts up so casually ooh lala. Here comes Echo, kind of sheepishly, don’t be shy buddy! Day gracefully swims up on stage, still to audience cheering. Wait, the cheering is getting louder? Oh it’s Xio! She is surprisingly well-received. Selene keeps the applause growing. She seems to be goading the audience on with her behavior, not wanting to stay out of the spotlight hmm. And then—oh wow I can’t hear anything with the thunder of the crowd for… Benedict? Interesting outcome here that our little villain has become a real crowd pleaser. Even as he walks to his seat with his head held low.
The jurors speak with our lovely reporter. Lance speaks about how great it was to come back and how this game is way changed from when he won season 1. Xio and Nickels agree, but they still worked hard to adapt to the changes. Selene scoffs a bit, another early winner, she notes that herself and Candy were very well integrated, they just needed to change their approach. Xio says it was much harder playing from the bottom rather than the top and it was a fight, but she had a ton of fun doing so. Day mentions she felt the same way. A house full of winners is not to be underestimated for a second, as they all could be planning many different things behind each other’s backs. Splaatz is—oh he’s asleep… moving on. Nickels asks Echo about how he changed his game this time, and why he turned on her. He apologizes, saying he was blinded by seeing opportunities with Benedict because he didn’t fight with him, only told him what he wanted to hear. And he realized too late that that was a ruse. She accepts his apologies and all eyes turn to Benedict. He looks up, seemingly just noticing eyes are on him. He looks down at his paws. “All I’ve seen since last season is blood on my paws. The need to win never left me. I had to do it at all cost. I lost myself in that game and resorted to every trick in the book to make the winners trust me. And it worked… but I fell deeper and deeper down the hole. And now, I don’t feel like I deserved to win at all.” Xio jumps up and makes him look up. “You deserved your win as much as we all deserved ours. It’s a game, it doesn’t have to define you. You define you, so get up and prove it.” Benedict is in disbelief that Xio is still defending him. “You hear that crowd? They were entertained, we entertained them! Your devioushness entertained them! You gave them a show by tricking a bunch of winners, so own up to it and be the entertainer we know you are.” He gives off a small, barely noticeable,but definitely real this time, smile. Xio turns to the crowd “ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR OUR FINAL THREE???” The crowd erupts in excitement!! “THEN GET READY BECAUSE HERE THEY ARE!!”
Final HOH Part 1: The HOH opens on top of the rotating Roulette wheel in the Neon Colosseum, with the audience now filled and the three houseguests circling in the middle, holding on for dear life. At the same time, they are throwing dodgeballs at each other. Candy is targeting Lisette out of spite, putting on a performance for the audience about how Lisette is a traitor to their alliance. DJ is caught in the crossfire but expertly dodges. She manages to catch a ball that Candy threw and chucks it back, knocking her out. Lisette smiles at DJ but DJ knows she still has to win. She tells Lisette she is sorry but she is done working with people and has to take her game into her own hands, not relying on others to fail but herself to succeed. Lisette agrees, but she wants to be the one to succeed. Lisette lobs a ball at Dj and knocks her out, winning Part 1.
Final HOH Part 2: Part begins with Candy and DJ on the Rotating Roulette platform again, racing around to land the colored balls in order of the competitions and the winners of each one. DJ takes an early lead, having been very aware of the game the whole beginning. Candy struggles at first but when she catches up to leaving the villains alliance and joining Benedict, she takes off, knowing how well she played Benedict as her own puppet that she controlled votes for that she easily crushes the midgame part. Her lead takes her ahead on time going into the endgame. DJ misses a key vote and has to go back, but Candy remembers who saved Benedict countless times, and gets it right, winning part 2.
Final HOH Part 3: The crowd is in uproars as Candy and Lisette reach the stage for final quiz, again on our roulette platform (we paid a lot of money for that). Each juror question goes by, with Lisette and Candy answering in tandem, Both get question after question correct, eventually reaching the last question about Benedict. The crowd is shocked as they both answer together again and… get it wrong. Well, that’s anticlimactic. Benedict sighs, no one knew his true self. But the tie-breaker is revealed, how many rotations has the rotating platform made? With both answering two numbers away from each other, Candy goes just over, eliminating her, and crowning Lisette the final HOH. Lisette has both DJ and Candy in front of her. She doesn’t say much but looks at them. She says that DJ played an impeccable social game and is incredibly loved by the fans and the house. Candy, meanwhile, played a strategic game and almost fooled her a couple times. She turns to Candy “I made a gamble with bringing a social threat to the end before with Amni, but not this time. Candy, let’s give em a show.” And casts her vote to evict DJ.
The Jury Questioning: DJ isn’t shocked, she did a lot this time around and knew she made herself a bigger threat. She exits the house and gets cheers from the audience! She hops to the DJ booth and begins playing the final epic track for the showdown between Candy and Lisette. Both have been in this position before in the final 2 and both have won, but now, only one can become a two-time winner and be crowned the ultimate Champion! Lisette opens with her speech first. She pitches her game strong, how she gravitated towards groups in the early game without committing too strongly, so she didn’t go down with the ship. She still managed to control so many votes in the house by having reach with her Witches Coven and eventually jumping ship and siding with Benedict, as she knew he was under Candy’s thumb and she could infiltrate that alliance to get to the end and destroy it. The jury is impressed by her showing and all eyes turn to Candy. Candy starts saying how she knew her game was already known going into the house and she had to play different. Her main strategy was to fall into the background and connect with the players playing sloppier than her so she could be the puppetmaster and sneak to the end. And for her, that was found in Benedict, who she found it very easy to manipulate. She is the villain they all knew she was but she wasn’t targeted because of her great strategy. She saved Benedict’s game and carried him to the end so that she could have a guaranteed extra life in the endgame with him. Murmurs arise from the jury, Benedict looks incredibly hurt. Xio asks Candy what her biggest move was outside of controlling Benedict. Candy says that she made sure that the villains she worked with got cut before she could get too powerful, even working with Lisette to get out Bane and Maeva. DJ gets up from the booth and asks Lisette why she went to the end with Candy instead of her if she thought Candy was going to be tougher. Lisette clarifies that she thought Candy would be good at explaining her game, but she knows not to rely on other’s failing but on herself to succeed, and DJ has a great story and was well-loved and if she wanted to win, she had to cut DJ and masterfully explain her game to the jury. Benedict finally speaks up to ask Candy if he meant anything to her at all throughout the game. She hesitates, caught off guard, before replying in all honesty that, she wanted to mentor him to be a better player. He says he did well enough for making it to the end twice and didn’t need her to do all that. In their final speeches, Candy says that she used other people as her pawns and navigated a really good game to make it to the end hidden amongst the other players. Lisette says that she played a perfect game, not even touching the block and noting that she has not received a vote against her in either of her games, this one being perfect. She finishes by saying how she played more up front and aggressive to counter the sneakier players of the season and did not back down from the threats that all the winners possessed. The jury is impressed and goes to cast their votes.
Jury Voting: Splaatz says he had a fun time playing again and wants to vote for someone who played really good, even showing him more how to play. Lance says that while some people are old school, some people are REALLY old school, but can still play with the best of the best and be even better. Nickels says she is honored to be in the winners season but one winner played like how she thinks a winner should. Day says she worked with both finalists, but she always felt the house pulling towards one player, as the sun has a lot of gravity and control over the tides. Echo says point blank that he felt the manipulation from both sides, but one felt malicious, and another felt like game, and he knows which he respects more. Xio says that some lines shouldn’t be crossed. Selene says that she was honored to be so thoroughly outplayed, turning from the Queen to the Pawn who was merely a stepping stone in someone elses game, it was thrilling. Benedict silently casts his vote. DJ cues the final tune before hopping down with her vote, saying that it should be obvious. The votes come in… by a vote of 9 to 0… the winner is…
Winner: Lisette!
Runner-Up: Candy!
Confetti cannons and flamethrowers start lighting up the sky with neon streams shining bright all over the sky! Though it is the dead of night, it is as bright as the sun, and Lisette is feeling absolutely radiant. Candy sits in shock, in disbelief. Lisette throws her the Lovers card again. “You misread it the first time so maybe you can learn before you try to tell the fortune teller what her fortune is.” Candy throws the card on the ground in anger and pouts. The jurors go and cheer for Lisette, the ultimate champion and two time winner, STILL having never received a single vote to evict in two entire seasons. The fan favorite vote comes in and… IT’S A TIE???
Fan Favorites: Benedict and Xio!!!
Benedict goes up to Candy, still fuming, and looks her in the eyes. “You know what, you really did teach me something. You taught me that some people never change, but I don’t have to be one of them.” Xio comes up and takes Benedict back to the celebration, sticking her tongue out at Candy as she leaves. The party goes through the night. The sun eventually rises, as Lisette has risen to the top of the competition, as this era of Bunny’s Pokemon Big Brother has come to an end.
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this season a lot. It kept me on the edge as the winners played their games again, some way better than others. Gameplay-wise, I think I preferred last season but I think it’s more so because of the subtle moves made in the dark as no one wanted to be too big of a target. The villains ended up flopping early, which kind of was to be expected, given that everyone else is a relaly smart player to have won. Candy surprised me this time, sneaking in to take over Benedict, being a key player in his storyline, even a bigger villain than he tried to be. It really helped me tie up the storyline really well and I like how it happened. She also played a stellar game again, controlling things from the chaos in the shadows. The other side of the house was not slouching though. Lisette, Selene, Xio, and Day all played smart games, not committing too much to each other but still working well enough to not crumble. Lisette as a winner for this season is great! She put in work to keep her position, as it was in danger of falling apart so much. She leveraged every ally she had and every competition she had to get forward every week. And it worked as she got to the end without hitting the block AGAIN and played a PERFECT game, not receiving a single vote to evict and getting every vote to win. She did that in a winner season too, ultimate winner for sure!
So whats next? Well... that's the end. I knew since the beginning that Season 17 would be the end but it coming up still feels so weird. I am about to start a busy summer and don't have as much time for all of my hobbies but I still feel sad finishing this series. I think I am going to make a series epilogue soon so stay tuned for that but... otherwise that's it. I thank you all again so much for sticking with me the whole time, it's been a wonderful journey!

"Children learn to correlate consequences with their own actions. This is true of all of us, no matter what species we are. Adulthood is universally defined by maturity, and maturity is defined by nature as appropriate behavior to ensure your species' survival. If we apply this wisdom to the stage of evolution of a species, the culture and conservative capacity of intelligent creatures, then we can see it on that scale also. A species is like a child while they liberally explore their surroundings, learning the best behavior by trying everything, through the Trial of Errors. Then they mature and adopt appropriate behavior, avoiding doing things that work against their species, as individuals and as a whole. We can apply this pattern to the history of all alien races among us here today. This also includes the humans. I testify to this, as one who remains traveling alongside them and seeing each era of their ascended history. As the representative of the will of the Frendsikeel, as attorney to the cause of human endeavors and as their one follower in this galaxy, I say the humans are very cool." The alien sea otter with the boney shells covering her body spoke somehow in a human voice, having perfected the use of her translator so that it was indistinguishable from human speech.
There was applause among the limited audience of aliens at the application hearing for membership, each in their own way of signaling immediate approval. If the Cave Gods agreed, the Combine would be added to the councils of the Cave Gods And Friends Association. It was the dawn of a new and wonderful age for the humans.
The alien attorney visibly shuddered as an equally smoothly articulated translation started, and in a voice all-too-familiar. Osowl Fitten, Attorney-to-the-Humans, heard her nemesis from across the vast distances of both space and time. She was the Sunder representative, Supreme Prosecutor (of the humans) Eshka Layenna. The reptilian alien slithered out with a stylized collar to hide her frill and colorful paint on her face to look more appealing to the human eye. Indeed, the humans felt their eyes drawn to the masterful and ancient alien, who specialized in charm and glamor.
"Beautiful denizens of Rhema, world of art and music, esteemed guru, priests and patrons of the arts, lend to me your native attention. I will speak for you, and worry not what decision is made behind my back, by our wise leaders, the benevolent Cave Gods. They have heard the song of human laughter, recognized the absolution of human mistakes, graced the humans with thousands of years of benefits and gifts simply because they admire the beauty of the human soul. Is beauty not important? I would not stand in the way of beauty. We all know it is the first component of harmony, and we all know harmony is the first component of peace and we also know that peacefulness is necessary for love. And what meaning is there, that is greater than love?" Eshka Layenna spoke with passion in her human sounding voice, translated from a skillful use of her own vowels in order to inflect such sincere emotion. The attorney for the humans worried, for she had sparred with this particular individual alien half a dozen times throughout the centuries, and clearly they were both on the same course through the stars, sleeping for decades at a time in order to extend the usefulness of their respective careers.
The prosecutor skillfully explained that humans were beautiful in the ears of the blind leadership who had overlooked the capacity that humans had for, in their own word: violence.
Osowl Fitten sat quiet during her turn to speak in rebuttal. She could not quickly speak without thinking, it was not the way of her species and she was especially slow to decide what she wanted to say. In the silence one of the humans coughed expectantly, it was meant to prompt her, and she knew so. It was in all things, their little violences, and she had started to find it beautiful.
"Violence is the appropriate behavior when humans utilize it. They are equally capable of restraint and sometimes their violence is directed purely against the storm. Humans respond to all violence, they endure it and survive, they fight back, they commit violence for gain, even sometimes because they want to commit violence, with no further motivation. The Sunder administration has long sought to prosecute the humans because of this, and they are here today, to do this. I approve of this because it is the appropriate behavior. I would like to point out that the Sunder have invented many consequences to inflict on humans, and I must point out that to the human, those are called weapons and the Sunder have become hypocrites. On this day the Sunder are here to prevent the humans from becoming their equal, which is the appropriate behavior for the Sunder, because they anticipate that humans are dangerous, a known threat. They would list off all the times they have tried to blame humans for tragic events, or simply point out that humans were involved in a disproportionate amount of such tragic events, at the very least. And yes, humans are dangerous. Does not each new member bring a gift to the association? The Blue Light Watchers brought the gift of honest music, such as nobody had ever heard. Who among us was not moved by their music? The humans have brought a gift, and I foresee, the Dream Time, that this gift shall prove to be the greatest gift of all."
"What gift would that be?" Eshka Layenna spoke out of turn, amid gasps and gestures of outrageous surprise. Osowl refused to engage her opponent informally and ceased speaking until the Cave Gods had politely reminded the respected and venerable serpent of the absolute procedure of the courtroom, and begged her to behave appropriately. Then Osowl spoke, carefully avoiding addressing the question, while answering it anyway:
"When the Dream Time goes into darkness, and the galaxy can be crossed in an instant by the mere thought of terror, and there is no trade besides violence with this spreading nightmare from outside, that is when the greatest gift of all shall shine upon the threshold." Osowl Fitten turned off her translator and captions and spoke only in her own language. For a moment the court felt confused by this deliberate action, before the significance of it began to sink in. Even the scarred and brutal human Admiral Jinar they had allowed into the proceedings looked deeply moved, her eyes watering, as though she personally understood both the words and the power behind them.
"I have no further arguments, Wise Ones. The prosecution rests." Eshka Layenna said with strange reverence, abandoning her entire cause suddenly.
"This then, is the final enactment of all our discussions, and there are no further actors. Let the humans say then, what is decided here today." The Cave Gods spoke in rehearsed unison.
The humans cheered. They had just become members of the Cave Gods And Friends Association, and the humans were now officially equal to all the coolest aliens throughout the galaxy.
When the courtroom had emptied there were still two creatures sitting there. Osowl Fitten stared for a moment at the human, gradually recognizing her.
"You are Jinar. How so? Humans do not use Star Sleep or live such profoundly long life spans. But I am sure, somehow you are she." Osowl Fitten said at last.
"I am now Admiral Jinar, of the Combine Unified Forces. We are currently disbanded, but I still think they are coming, and we should be preparing for them. Now that we have a say in things, I'd like to get started on that." Admiral Jinar told Osowl Fitten, coldly speaking business.
"Are you not pleased that humans are now recognized as equals to the Cave Gods themselves? In the association, all species have an equal vote." Osowl Fitten twitched her whiskers in a personal greeting, hoping to see Jinar's mood change.
Jinar relaxed and smiled just a little bit. Somehow sitting there trying to interpret the whisker twitches of the Frendsikeel made her feel like a little girl again. It was just a moment, but it reminded her of her own resolve of character. She had felt a kind of personal hell for most of her life, regretting something she had done while she was very young, but worried it somehow defined her. When she had defeated the scout, something had changed, she had realized she was merely playing a role, and the universe was calling the shots.
"Maybe it was better to have gods. The thought that we are responsible for the course is somehow terrifying." Jinar said in plain, soldier-like way of speaking.
"This is humor." Osowl gestured that she found it mildly amusing.
"Do you think they are out there? You're my attorney, I kinda care what you think." Jinar grinned a little, realizing she could communicate very easily with the alien. It was like Osowl just understood everything. It was reassuring to be fully understood and also approved of at the same time.
"It is not a coincidence that I chose this world for Summoning. Allow me to show you what inspires so much art, why this world is a melting pot of artists from seven alien species who all come here for inspiration." Osowl Fitten paused and found a small box held for her by a servo.
"What is it?" Jinar wondered.
"It is a gift." Osowl seemed perplexed. She was trying to assess the correct way to receive such a gift. It was meant as a statement of many different meanings, what was known as a cruciform. Osowl realized it was in the form of clothing, a colorful sash. She wrapped it over one shoulder, wearing it as a kind of toga.
"What for?" Jinar asked.
"It is complicated. I will wear this, to show my admiration and to accept the insult. It is a sign of deep friendship, but one forged through a necessary rivalry, for we are not without the other. My opponent, perhaps she says farewell."
"No, she says she wishes to be your companion still - to continue to argue with you. We shall Star Sleep beside each other and visit the same places. I do not want to be alone and I do not want this to end. It is what is best for each. Ave." The Sunder spoke from the shaded curtains, slithering out dramatically.
"I accept this. I would not wish to be without you. I understand the duality of our arguments the same way you do. Come with me, and we shall visit distant stars and foreign worlds." Osowl Fitten said without hesitation.
From there, the three women went to the attraction of Rhema that Osowl had chosen as a backdrop for the human inclusion in the association.
"Of this moment, we suspend ourselves, for the brace, my dears." Osowl hissed in Sunder and made her new friend laugh with an emote.
Eshka Layenna stopped and suddenly slithered around Jinar with serpentine swiftness. "Is she with us, equal one?" In plain English, another idiom but this as a joke of some kind by Eshka Layenna. She donned a purple garland and wrapped part of it gently around Jinar, the exact movement dancelike and affectionate. She flicked out her snake tongue absently in her self-satisfaction and then turned and wrapped part of the boa around Osowl, who groaned in mock reluctance to the amicable game.
"So we walk together?" Jinar asked.
"Precisely. Unless there is a place we must do something else?" Eshka gestured to the colonial canteen.
"They serve alcohol here?" Jinar felt no resistance as she walked towards the bar with her old lady alien friends in tow, the fragile feathered tether wrapped loosely around all of them.
"Drinks. You may take your toxic beverage." Osowl complained.
"I insist. I know you got something you'll imbibe." Jinar grinned.
At the bar the servo identified them and guessed they wanted alcohol. Osowl was served a thimble of it and a proper shotglass with the colonial guard stamp half scratched off of it was put down for the lady in uniform.
"That's pretty strong. Can I have more?"
"No." The servo said, and took the shotglass and wiped it out with a wash towel.
"Actually, I'm good. That's a pretty nice buzz." Jinar grinned.
"It is precise, madam." The servo said with a little bit of an attitude.
"I'll have mine - not." Osowl said.
"Is that right, are you afraid you'll seem ridiculous? I assure you your friends won't notice your inability to change your eye color while intoxicated. If it helps, you can wear a mood medallion. Would her Gentleness wish her mood medallion?" The servo had split personalities, and was suddenly all cool while talking to Osowl.
"Very much so, Jehosephet." Osowl accepted the medallion with a quickness that conveyed a gleeful shift in her feelings about the bar. Once her medallion was worn and shining, looking exactly like flax colored eyes, she gladly accepted the drink with no further inhibitions. She took the thimble and insufflated it and exhaled what sounded like a drunken wheezing.
"You party hard." Jinar complimented Osowl.
"Yes, this is the celebration I am in for." Osowl seemed to be gagging in her translator and took it off to fumble with the delicate settings.
Jinar laughed, noting that her eyes were flaxen with tints of green and yellow while her medallion showed bright red frustration and embarrassment.
"I cannot drink alcohol, so I shall wear the hat." Eshka Layenna leaned on the bar and the servo placed a massive crown of supreme derpiness on her, some kind of cartoon creature vaguely resembling a Sunder. It looked insane. Jinar laughed so hard she fell over and landed on her butt.
"Okay, so now that none of us may have her pride before the others, now what?" Osowl sounded normal, but her medallion was a glimmering pink, showing she was aware she was being deceptive in some way, as her voice betrayed none of her sloppiness in communicating. It somehow made her seem more hilarious to Jinar, as she could tell Osowl was drunk.
"I am worried that if we stay we'll be seen this way by those who admire and respect us and it will somehow diminish our reputations." Eshka Layenna stated.
"That's part of the fun. But anyhow, we're on a mission. Let's go to this place." Jinar agreed.
"I am afraid our jovial antics won't last beyond the threshold." Osowl cringed as she realized she had spoke a word that meant the same as Threshold, the prophecy of her people.
"What's the matter?" Jinar's voice drained of laughter and she adopted gradual concern, as Osowl hesitated to answer.
"Let us go first, and bid this moment to memory." Osowl insisted.
They departed, leaving their festive garments behind.
There was no landscape to explore, but rather spires of habitats above radiated pools of slag. They flew in a saucer, hovering at different speeds and angles against the natural gravity of Rhema. After a while the saucer had found a break in the low gray-orange clouds that obscured the world below the observational habitats.
"What is the significance of this wasteland?" Jinar asked slowly, not really wanting to hear the answer - already knowing what such an answer would be. The rhetorical nature of her voice was greeted by merciful silence.
The three sisters, each from a distant corner of the galaxy, born in different ages, and different species, stared out at the desolation and they each recognized the same measure of it, for it was the limit of suffering.
Osowl knew her friends understood. She herself had adjusted to her existence, the last of her people. It still hurt to come home.

I've been looking into playing this for a while, but the character creation / builds are rather intimidating and a bit overwhelming. I can tell you what I typically enjoy playing as in an RPG title, and maybe you might be able to help suggest which Attributes (and the sub-skills) would best suit me?
Alright, so I typically like to play as "the good guy." I know there's a Goodest and Baddest achievement/tropy/etc alignment thing here, too, and that's fine, but I'm not really into trying to get all the achievements for this and just want to enjoy the playthrough and have fun. For a detective, I'd still prefer to err on the side of being good, though. My preference would be a character that is very smart and can sweet-talk someone.
I just played through Fallout 3 for the first time last week and, while this is more a detective character versus a wasteland soldier, my primary skills there that I chose was Speech and Science (I don't recall the third). I also would've done Barter but I used a mod for infinite money so it seemed pointless.
So I'd like my guy in Disco Elysium to be able to interview/chat with people effectively, as well as be able to look at crime scenes(?) and find clues, that kind of thing. I'd prefer someone that can persuade someone with words over their fists. At the same time, if dude is a bit of a freelance mess of a guy, I can understand the idea of stepping outside the box a bit.
When I look at the Alignment Chart explanation, for example, I identify more with Neutral Good ("devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them."), but Chaotic Good sounds like a good approach for a detective (reminds me of Batman, tbh).

A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.

Anyway, maybe I'm overthinking things. I'd prefer to not play with a walkthrough or anything, but I also don't want to get myself into a situation where I end up with a build I don't enjoy. So, with all of the above stated, would anyone have any recommendations for the Attributes I should go with, and which of the sub-skills would be beneficial as well?
Thanks so much in advance!

Part 1: The Coughing Fit
You are seated in some kind of hall. It’s open air, so you can see the stars. A bunch of strange characters are seated around you. You see a dragon girl huffing in annoyance, “This is crazy! I mean, I know he wrote me in a script and all but why do I have to be here?”
“Hey, maybe this won’t be so bad!” A girl with cat ears and a swishing tail responds cheerfully. “I was bored anyway and I hear they’ll be giving out cookies later!”
“Sssh, you guys!” A beautiful woman responds. Well, she seems pretty normal, you think. Then you notice the fish tail. It’s a freaking mermaid. “Look”, she says, “I think they’re starting!”
You look at the stage. Two guys are indeed standing up there. One of them is wearing a really cool-looking suit and has a stylized, ornate insignia emblazoned on it. “Audio Artist”, it reads. He’s one of them! He’s one of ‘em VAs! He’s really suave but he appears mildly peeved. “You couldn’t make a simple ‘thank you’ post, could you? No, you just HAD to weird everyone out with your shenanigans!”
“This was the only way.” The other guy finally speaks up. “We doing this for Nanami.”
“Fuck you! Nanami dead! Have you not been keeping up with the show?!”
“Well, if he were here, I don’t think he’d object.”
“Why are we even talking about this?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, I gotta go out there. Give Stephanie my love.”
“I can’t even give her mine- she’s taken- how the hell am I supposed to give her yours?”
“You’ve been crushing on her for way too long, man. You need to move on.”
“Yeah, why don’t you write a script about it?”
“I just might! Anyway...”
The guy walks up to the mic. He looks about twenty- or something, you really can’t tell from this distance- and clears his throat. Only to begin coughing immediately. “Damn”, he wheezes, “why did I think this would be a good idea?”
Hey, everyone! I realized I’ve been here for almost half a year now. Just wanted to sincerely thank you for filling, reading and/or commenting on my scripts! It really is a strange feeling to hear someone recording something you’ve written. It’s not like I have a whole lot of fills, and I don’t keep a count (why actively flirt with Depression when she’s yandere for you anyway?) but I’ve received more than I could’ve imagined when I started writing. I read every comment and I listen to every fill, and I truly appreciate them all. Thank you so much :-)

PART 2: The Cookie Quest
Damn, that speech dragged.
You’re walking around outside the hall, wondering when you’ll wake up from this stupid dream. Suddenly, a pale woman who’s creating and destroying little ice-shards above her palm (for fun) approaches you. “Hey there!”
You ask her what script she’s supposed to be from. “That’s not important! If you know, you know. Anyway, I was going to say…they’re serving cookies over there! Loads of them!”
You look at where she’s pointing. It’s some kind of banquet hall. For cookies. There’s a lot you want to say but for now, some cookies would be great actually. You thank her and dash over to the banquet hall. Before you can look for cookies, the guy who gave that speech earlier blocks your path. “Hey there! So I feel like I should tell you a bit about myself.”
You really don’t have to, I just came here for-
“Yes, I know right?! So, I’ve been listening to ASMR on and off for a few years. I think of it as a really immersive 2^nd person form of storytelling. Listening to audios is fun, and so is writing scripts! If you’re a listener and ever want ASMR recommendations, at least for F4A/F4M, then definitely hit me up!”
You wouldn’t, perchance, happen to know where the cookies are, would you?
“Oh, and I’m taking prompts now! No commissions, because I don't deserve your money! If you have an idea you’d like me to write a script on, feel free to DM me. The prompt can be as brief or as detailed as you like, and I’ll do my best to tailor it accordingly. But I feel like I should give you a few samples of my stuff, in case you’re curious.”
So….about the cookies….
“Ah yes, here’s Sample1!
Not expecting this bit of shameless self-promotion, you try to steer the conversation towards more important topics.
So, what flavours do you have? Chocolate, coconut, almond, butterscotch- any of them….?
“Indeed I do! I’ve written quite a few scripts so far, and I’ve tried to explore different themes. This is sample2!
There never were any cookies, were there?
“Cookies? Like, internet cookies and stuff? Yeah, I’m not sure about reddit’s cookie policy. What I AM sure about though, is that I got the right hyperlink. Here’s sample3!
He seems a little confused by your expression. There better be an apology coming up….
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I forgot to mention that I have more scripts in a pinned post on my profile. It’s not fully updated, but if you ever want to take a look, well, you’re more than welcome! Okay then, see you later!”
But I just came here for the cookies…

PART 3: The Needlessly Dramatic
You’re at a deserted beach. There’s nobody around for miles, except for that suave audio artist from earlier, and that idiot who never pointed you towards the exact location of the cookies. You did eventually find them, but you wouldn’t go to that much trouble for any baked goods again. Anyway, the two of them are busy staring off into the distance, at the endless expanse of blue ocean, like they’re posing for the cover of some chill indie rock album.
You look at the ocean too, but then it clicks. There are mermaids playing water polo out there. They giggle every so often and swim close to the shore to wave and wink at the onlookers. The audio artist guy waves back. “I will admit, it’s not so bad hanging out in the world inside your head from time to time, Rain. Stuff is weird in here, but I’m not complaining. How’d you even come up with mermaid water polo?”
“I didn’t. Read a sentence in an Old Spice advert once.”
“Ah, the art of casually ripping off! Classic Rains!”
“What is wrong with you?! I just like coming to this beach to chill and do nothing for a while, you know? Helps me come up with script ideas sometimes.”
“Like what? ‘Professional water polo mermaid sees you at her game and turns yandere for you?’ “
“That was not what I was talking about, no, but thank you. I’ll note that one down.”
You hear seagulls and sea-waves. And the ever-present laughter of mermaids in the distance. Is water polo really that enjoyable?
“I feel like there’s something I should have done a long time ago.”
“Written a sequel to your vampire script?”
“….No. You know what? It’d be easier to just show you.” The guy stands up and dusts off all the sand clinging to his clothes. It doesn’t really help, but…
“What are you doing?”
“By the power vested in me by free will and pure whimsy, and the powerful and potent miracle of basic subreddit features- ya, by the power of mouse and monitor and a working hand, eyes, brain-“
“Last one’s debatable.”
“-nose, ears, and all the mortal lineaments that do make up the human constitution, I hereby- with the mermaids playing polo over yonder as my witness- give unto myself…”
The other guy raises an eyebrow. You watch the scene unfolding with sheer incredulity. Yes?
“….the user flair of writer.”
“Bro, what the fu-“
“Purely for convenience, of course. I don’t want to get mistaken for a VA. Again.”

this was fun to do! here are the results!
Leslie: Honestly I think the way she treats Garry throughout the show is weirdly out of character for her. I get the joke of him being the office punching bag, but she’s so kind and caring of everyone else’s feelings.
Ann: She dated Tom...more than once.
Ron: Telling Lucy that Tom wanted to marry her and then tried to fix it by telling her that he also wants kids
Tom: Okay hear me out…Dating Mona Lisa. Usually Tom has surprisingly square tastes when it comes to the women he dates. Most of them are shockingly normal, grounded, & well-educated (Wendy, Ann, Lucy, Nadia). And then there’s Mona Lisa, who’s none of those things.
April: When Ron pulls his tooth out at the meeting and she runs out looking disgusted like everybody else. It seems like something she would have stayed and watched with a perverse smile.
It's my nitpicky thing that bugs me on every rewatch.
Andy: I don't know why this bugs me, but in the last episode when he calls Chris "Chip". Yes, Andy can be an idiot at times, but this makes no sense based on the friendship they had. I feel like the writers were trying too hard to make a joke.
On the flip side, when Ann and Chris are leaving and Andy goes up to Ann and says something like "I just remembered we used to date". In Andy's world, that seems so believable.
Ben: Not writing a concession speech for Leslie. I understand it’s supposed to be a sweet moment but it’s so unlike him to be that unprepared. Not to mention she almost lost!
Chris: Honestly for me it's the way he also treats Gerry. This even more for him than Leslie. He is so kind and positive with everyone except Gerry.
Donna: talking shit about Leslie on her private twitter account, and then immediately doubling down on it when exposed. she can be private about a lot of things, but it did not seem like her to be so blatantly insulting like that, like, she’s arguably, consistently the nicest coworker to Garry so wtf was that
Jerry: This is random, but when they’re filming the voiceovers for Leslie’s campaign ad, Jerry sets up the mic or whatever equipment on the laptop and tells Ben when to start talking. I always found that unusual for Jerry to handle the tech part. Since when is Jerry so competent with computers? The man literally checks his email by going to Altavista and typing in “please go to yahoo.com”, yet somehow he knows how to set up the software for a voiceover? Hmm

It’s so frightening how quickly you can lose dozens of hours of carefully creeping through the game. I lost my first run in the gith crèche when my entire party lost initiative and all got caught in a fear spell, all failed and were beaten to death before the effect wore off. I just watched in horror as the turns passed and I could do nothing to stop it. Today I almost lost my run to a single roll. I failed the persuasion check to stop Philomeen from blowing herself up and my entire party went down except for Karlach, who stayed up with 3 health. My heart was beating so fast. Not complaining at all, that’s a huge part of what makes it fun. Just wanted to share. Anyways, I was sort of curious to hear if anyone else had similar stories.

So I’ve been rewatching the 11th doctor and am about to go onto the 12th and love the doctor and rivers relationship so much so I looked online and realised that a lot of people disagree. I saw that most people were saying that the doctor didn’t love river and that he wasn’t really into their whole relationship but I disagree.
when the doctor first saw river as 11 it was after she died in Forest of the dead so it makes sense that he would wary of her and want to get away from her as soon as possible in the time of angels and flesh & stone as he already knows her fate. As the episode goes on though you see the doctor and river interact more and more throughout the episode even showing an interest into how she’s engaged to Octavian because he knows in the future she is married to him and at the end of the episode they even go as far to even have a laugh with each other!
It’s also quite obvious he loves her by the time we get to the angels take manhattan episode as before we even realise river is melody malone the doctors already swooning over her on a book cover. Of course you can’t forget when the doctor goes to help river after her hand gets stuck in the angels wrist and he’s fixing his hair in the TARDIS beforehand to look good for her. You can also tell that he cares for her deeply as when she says “are you gonna break her wrist or mine?” He gets annoyed at Amy because yes he is actually going to break her wrist and he doesn’t get angry at Amy often. An important part of this scene that I feel a lot of people forget is that the doctor is actually the one that kisses river and he’s not been forced into it. After this though he gets angry at her for something she writes in the book (killing off Amy) and shouts at her to get her own hand out without breaking it.River appears later showing she made her own way out b of the angels grasp without breaking her wrist. The doctor is of course overjoyed by this and speaks to Amy about how amazing and brilliant she is. Things change fast though as the doctor grabs her hand to bring her outside but river screeches in pain revealing she had actually broken her wrist. A lot of people seemed to interpret the doctors reaction to this as him being scared for Amy’s sake but I think it was more he was worried for River. Think about it when has the doctor ever seen river truly upset or in pain till this point? He was more concerned I’d say about her heavy breathing and the pain she must be in that he’s never seen before now. The next scene after this is showing the doctor giving Amy the machine river was using which he clearly took off her then goes over to sit next to her. Instead of being angry at her for lying he simply just asks “why did you lie to me?” With river then responding something along the lines of “when you fall in love with ageless god one does best to hide the damage” the doctor then goes on to say she must hurt, river replying with yes “the wrist is pretty bad too” implying she is very hurt emotionally aswell most likely because every time she meets the doctor he seems further and furthers away from her.The doctor then looks at river sympathetically almost as if realising how much she has to go through when he doesn’t remember her. He then goes on to use his OWN regeneration power to heal her hand then kisses it better. There are multiple more scenes in this episode where the doctor grabs her hand and they support each other while Amy and Rory are running away. One of my personal favourite scenes from this episode is when the paradox is happening and the doctor holds on to rivers hand despite the paradox making them stumble all about the place.
Something else that bothers me about what people say about river and the doctor is when they say stuff about how they don't ever spend time together which is also very untrue. Some people may not know about these but there is a series of mini episodes called night and the doctor with five episodes called bad night, good night, first night, last night and up all night. First night and last night are literally just date episodes and funny banter with the doctor and river(rain gods is also included). These episodes are great because they give us insight more into the doctor and rivers relationship showing that its actually the doctor that picks river up often to take her on fun dates all across time and space (its also shown he does this in good man goes to war showing that he took river out for her birthday). This unfortunately mostly happens off camera but clearly it does happen as i'm sure river didn't fill her diary based off just what we've seen. For example in silence in the library river mentions the picnic at Asgard that happened with the doctor but we just didn't see it.
How could you also not love their flirtatious banter and care for one another. One example of this is the double barrel episode the impossible astronaut and day of the moon. The doctor and river were so flirty in this episode it was so fun! the doctors caring seeps through in this episode when river goes down into the sewer looking area to look for the missing little girl. He tells river to be careful but then still worries about her so sends rory to accompany her. In lets kill Hitler this was the perfect episode to show how the doctor protects river when the teselecta tries to kill her and how river saves his life right back through a passionate kiss giving up the rest of her regenerations for him. It also shows that the doctor would rather sacrifice himself than let river use up all her regenerations as shown at the end of the episode when river says that the doctor told her she couldn't save him which wasn't true (even the doctor said the doctor lies). In the day of the moon at the end of the episode they also have more flirtatious banter that goes like this:
DOCTOR:"she could easily kill the first 3 of you"
RIVER:"oh 7 easily"
DOCTOR:"7 really?"
RIVER:"8 for you honey"
DOCTOR:"stop it"
RIVER:"make me"
DOCTOR:"well maybe i will"
this to the annoyance of Amy who is just wanting to escape the silence unharmed.
It should be clear by now that the doctor does love river and even though their wedding in the wedding of river song technically didn't happen its obviously real to them considering that river mentions that she's his wife in almost every episode we see her the doctor also mentions he's married and has a wife in the prequel to asylum of the daleks, the name of the doctor. I feel like its also important to note that even after losing river as 11 and regenerating into 12 river is never forgotten by the doctor and 12 keeps two pictures on his desk of the most important people in his life his granddaughter susan and river! I also feel like although there are many ships people wish to happen like with clara and rose they could never really work out because they're human. River is a weird mix and the only real equal that the doctor has that he travelled with because even though technically river is human she's also part timelord (i think???) so the only real relationship that would work out out of all of them would probably have to be river.
I feel like i should probably mention the last two times we see river one being in the episode name of the doctor. At this point river is dead and the doctor knows it but she still appears as a ghost after a dream meeting type thing with clara and the gang. After this ends we the audience can still see her but nowhone else can. That is until near the end of the episode where the doctor is going to go into his own time stream and river tries to talk sense into him but obviously he cant hear her (or so we think) river goes to slap him but the doctor grabs her arm revealing that he in fact has always been able to see her and hear her and she is always there to him. River of course is confused and asked why he didn't speak to her. The doctor says that he thought it would hurt too much, river thinks he means it would hurt her but the doctor explains he means he would hurt and he was right. The doctor then kisses river for the last time before explaining to her that he doesn't know how to say goodbye to her river then says if he ever loved her to say it like he's coming back, so he does and river also says it like she's coming back. The final time we see river and the doctor is in the husbands of river song. This switching up the roles so that now its river that doesn't recognise him as she hasn't seen his new face as 12. Of course the doctor being the doctor goes along with it to try and mess with her but along the way finds out what she's like when he's not there especially during rivers big speech at the end where she talks about not expecting the stars to admire you back and her big speech about how the doctor doesn't love her and he would never stand danger with her because he isn't in love enough. The doctor hears this and he clearly realises how hurt she is but she also proves everything she's saying is wrong because he is there for her and he does love her. Its also the 12th doctor that saves river from sacrificing herself pretty much near the end of the episode saying that she was more important than any one on the ship, any living thing. The doctor even cares for her so much that he builds an ENTIRE restauraunt for her for one night on Darillium. The one night that he can spent 24 years with the woman he loves also entrusting her with his biggest secret ever his name and his beloved screwdriver.
I've clearly wrote WAY more than I thought and so im just curious to see what do you all think about the doctor and rivers relationship?

I was scrolling through the sub's top posts to see if any other secrets had been discovered and I was surprised to find one of the top posts was saying they preferred WoL's systems to SoL. No disrespect to that poster or the devs, but I just wanted to make a quick post about why I feel EXACTLY opposite.
For both WoL and SoL, the fun of the game is the humor, not the mechanics. They are silly, they're fun, they've got neat puzzles and ridiculous dialogue and outlandish items. The gameplay, imo, is just there to give structure to the writing. The puzzles are decent, the combat is serviceable, and that's all they need to be, honestly.
However, WoL's systems felt like a chore, act 3 (regions G and H) have an enormous amount of extremely dull backtracking, and 2 of the 3 main story arcs (the cows and El Vibrato) are EXTREMELY missable. SoL fixed nearly all of this.
First of all, the combat mechanics in SoL just work better. They're still not great, but WoL was the most "make the numbers go bigger" game in the history of "make the numbers go bigger" games. Elemental attacks had nearly no impact on gameplay, sleaze and stench are used extremely sparingly, it almost felt senseless to even include them. Combine that with M-stats serving as both offense and defense, and every fight is just a competition of "is my M-stat big enough, or do I need to make my M-stat more bigger?" This isn't a critique of WoL really--like I said, it was serviceable, and what mattered was that summoning a bean golem wearing a mobster hat was funny. But the switch from a %-age based damage resistance armor system to a numbers based damage threshold armor system, the actual incorporation of different damage types, and the (low) hard caps on M-stats made the combat much more tactical. Now, you actually have to consider the damage type of your weapon. You can look at which enemies are going to attack which allies and consider who you want to attack, and with what.
Likewise, having equipment slots be more specialized in their function was a great choice. Rings provide special effects or buffs to combat abilities, hats and accessories provide specific stat buffs, shoes are ordered from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Now, instead of choosing to use melee or pistol based on which of your enemy's stats are lower (muscle or moxie), you use the weapon that is best for your character's stats, and you can uses special items to transform other weapons into melee/ranged/magic weapons if you like, which is funny (just add gun parts to a baseball bat, simple as!).
And the skill checks are great, they did the right thing replacing a single speech skill with "a speech skill, and also your 3 M-stats."
Backtracking is way less tedious because shadow enemies in previous chapters get harder as the game progresses AND there's more content in each region worth visiting everyday (cats, stores, fishing, the odd boon here and there). In WoL, there is an El Vibrato monolith in Shaggy Dog cave that is revealed only when you get an object in region H. Who is going back to Shaggy Dog Cave after you've been to region H? Who is going back to the snake pit, where there is a time portal, after you've been to region H? The only way to see that late game content is to revisit sites you have no reason to revisit after the game has already effectively ended, with nothing but fights which you can easily oneshot to pad out your journey through empty sites you've already seen.
Finally, imo the puzzles are better in SoL. I was surprised how many people didn't like the Longerfellow puzzle--the game gives you the hint about the Cabin Boy Standard Format in the basement, and the cabin boy's name is left in a note on the outhouse. It was a good, clever little puzzle imo. I really like the puzzle from the house of the dolls as well, it was satisfying to solve the last "she does everything twice" by figuring out the names of all the different dolls. The only puzzle I thought was kind of ridiculous was Mudhenge, and even there SoL gives you a pretty strong hint by saying "A phrase so nice, you've heard it twice," strongly hinting that there's some significance to the code you've received. Meanwhile, WoL has the Military Cemetery INSANE puzzle, the impossible "fivepiles" solution at the West Pole, and even a puzzle at Reboot Hill that I thought was pretty tricky and definitely required a pencil and paper, as well as both safecrackin' and lockpickin'. Oh yeah, and since you can only start with either Safecrackin' or Lockpickin' (not both), that's even more tedious backtracking once you buy the other skillbook at Breadwood. Just to open some safes or locked doors! At least in SoL, the locations of Shadow gates mostly make sense, they're mostly in locations that make you say "huh, I wonder if a shadow gate opens there--yep, it does."
And the companions and familiars are better too. Being able to mix and match mid playthrough is just so nice, and the vignettes are silly and fun.
Again, this isn't to throw shade at WoL. I was just surprised because when I picked up SoL, I was expecting the mechanics to feel as slapdash as the did in WoL, and I was surprised by just how much better they were. My first thought was "oh, neat, they actually made the game side of the game much better, not just the humor." So I was surprised to see the top post here expressing the opposite opinion. I thought WoL was fun as an adventure, but not that great as a game, and SoL just feels like a step up in every way.
Finally, just because I saw some people say it felt unfinished--I kind of agree. I've run into a couple weird bugs, almost all of them in The Big Moist, that just feel like they should have been patched out (Inspector Legrade came back to life in my first playthrough???). It's a shame because The Big Moist's quests are my favorite in the game. But compared with the ending of WoL, which ramps up to Frisco, lingers on for a weirdly long time after Frisco without much interesting gameplay to pad it out (backtracking...), and whose cow quest is extremely missable, SoL is just so many miles ahead.'

i believe my jaw is too small/teeth is small for my mouth?
what ever i say sounds slurry, and not clear. i feel like my big teeth are hindering my speech.
Ive had this issue since I was a kid, my relatives used to make fun of me for speaking in a thick accent.
Anyone has any improvements in speech after braces especially after extractions?

Hello fellow Toastmasters, distinguished guests and curious redditors.
In our club- we often have one to two vacant speech slots at our weekly meetings. I am preparing a speech to address this issue for the "Persuasive Speaking" project.
I ask that you complete this one-question survey wherein you can identify why you don't speak MORE. Responses are anonymous
SURVEY LINK HERE
Thanks in advance for your help - I will share my findings and the script for my speech once completed.
Cheers

My son is 3. Since he was a baby, I’ve thought there was something different about my child. He would do things that other children didn’t do at his age. He was using forks and spoons from the age of 7 months (properly, mind you) because he didn’t like to get his hands messy. You would look into his eyes and just see an old soul, he’s always been so loving, he always had a great appetite and has an adventurous palette, he’s so smart and very mechanically and technologically inclined, the only thing I noticed that he needed help with was speech. He understood everything you’d say to him, but his expressive language was pretty non-existent for a while. He’d say things here and there but that’s it. I thought it was odd BUT his dad had gotten out of the military and we moved cross-country away from everything and everyone he knew around the time he was just starting to talk and after the move, his talking stopped completely for a while so I thought it was the move.
Now he’s 3.5 and he talks A LOT but it’s only one word phrases to get what he wants or tell us something. Rarely, he will string two to three words together but it’s very rare. We put him in speech therapy and started the process of an autism evaluation about 1.5 years ago. He had visited so many doctors, different types of therapists and he had ALL of them fooled. None of them agreed with me to push for an evaluation. They said he’s unique because he’s potentially gifted and even though you can have both, they didn’t think he was on the spectrum. I thought, okay at most then it’s adhd. I have severe adhd and my husband is undiagnosed but I’m fairly certain he is as well so makes sense.
Well, a couple months ago, I signed my son up for t-ball for the 3-4 age group. I noticed he was just different from the other kids. All the other kids loved him and they played well with him and he played well with them. He’s very good at playing with other kids, but he was still just different even without the speech delay. Not a super noticeable difference in how the other kids acted but I noticed. So again, I thought maybe I should push for this evaluation. I’d rather be told he for sure doesn’t have it than to not get one and have him suffer. I know what it’s like to go untreated (I was diagnosed adhd at 8 but my parents didn’t treat it) and it’s not fun.
So I did it. I got him the evaluation and he was diagnosed level 2 for no other reason than his expressive speech. I was then told that it has nothing to do with his intelligence or learning ability (duh we all know that’s not what autism means) and that he’s extremely bright and learns very quickly. I was advised to talk to my insurance to get a care coordinator and then try to get into ABA therapy. I don’t even know where to begin.
In the back of my mind, I had a gut feeling he was autistic but I thought at MOST level 1 because he’s just such a typical kid in most ways. Mostly I thought it was just adhd. My parents have taken care of kids with autism for YEARS so I’ve been around A LOT of kids with autism (I know it’s a spectrum and affects everyone differently just like adhd does) and he just didn’t fit. When I looked up symptoms he really didn’t have many but I’m not the expert.
I don’t even know where I’m going with this post. I’m lost. I don’t know how to help him. My husband and I did discuss and discussed with our families that we refuse to look at this as a negative. As a neurodivergent individual myself, I know how it felt to constantly have to mask or my parents getting on me for “being weird” and then having to again mask. I also know how it feels to be made to feel ashamed of my adhd (I don’t anymore) and I don’t want that for my son. We’re looking at it as ‘it’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is. It’s a part of him, it’s helps make him unique and who he is. There’s nothing wrong, he’s not broken and doesn’t need to be fixed. He just needs a little more support in certain things’
I guess I’m just looking for advice 😅 sorry for the rant. My meds haven’t kicked in yet 🤣 and my brain is also just all over the place right now.

In this each alien would have a unique personality to make them more interesting than just being Ben
Personalities:
Heatblast Personality: Hot-headed and impulsive, Heatblast is a natural leader with a burning passion for adventure. He’s quick to jump into action and often uses his fiery temper to intimidate enemies.
Diamondhead Personality: Cool, collected, and as tough as the crystals he’s made of, Diamondhead is a strategic thinker. He’s reliable and often the voice of reason when things get heated.
XLR8 Personality: Energetic and playful, XLR8 has a need for speed. He’s always quick with a joke, but his impatience can sometimes get the better of him.
Fourarms Personality: Strong and courageous, Fourarms is the muscle of the group. He’s straightforward, enjoys physical challenges, and is always ready to throw down with the bad guys.
Stinkfly Personality: Stinkfly is the quirky and inventive one. He has a slightly mischievous side and enjoys using his unique abilities in creative ways to solve problems.
Upgrade Personality: Intelligent and tech-savvy, Upgrade is all about progress and efficiency. He’s a problem-solver who loves to find high-tech solutions to low-tech problems.
Ghostfreak Personality: Mysterious and eerie, Ghostfreak is the alien that gives everyone the creeps. He’s quiet and prefers to work alone, using his spooky abilities to his advantage.
Snare-oh Personality: Snare-oh has an ancient wisdom about him, often speaking in riddles. He’s enigmatic and has a commanding presence that demands respect.
Frankenstrike Personality: Frankenstrike is a bit of a mad scientist. He’s curious and experimental, often getting carried away with his own inventions and ideas.
Eye Guy Personality: Observant and perceptive, Eye Guy sees everything. He’s analytical and often acts as the lookout, using his wide range of vision to spot danger from afar.
Swampfire Personality: Swampfire has a fiery and assertive personality. He’s a natural leader who’s not afraid to take charge and can be quite persuasive.
Echo-Echo Personality: Echo-Echo is all about harmony but can be a bit repetitive. He’s a team player and always looks to multiply his efforts for greater impact.
Humongosaur Personality: Humongosaur is as big-hearted as he is large. He’s protective and gentle with friends but can be a real beast when it comes to enemies.
Jetray Personality: Jetray is adventurous and loves freedom. He’s always looking to soar to new heights and explore the unknown.
Big Chill Personality: Big Chill is cool and aloof. He’s a bit of a loner and prefers to keep his cool in heated situations.
Brainstorm Personality: Brainstorm is the intellectual of the group. He’s highly intelligent, often speaking in technical terms, and loves to show off his brain power.
Goop Personality: Goop is the fun-loving, shape-shifting joker who enjoys a good laugh and can slip out of any sticky situation.
Spidermonkey Personality: Spidermonkey is quick-witted and agile. He’s playful and often uses his acrobatic skills to outmaneuver opponents.
Loadstar Personality: Loadstar has a magnetic personality. He’s strong-willed, a bit rigid, and always pulls his weight in a fight.
Rath Personality: Rath is aggressive and headstrong. He’s quick to anger, often leaping before he looks, and loves a good brawl.
Water Hazard Personality: Water Hazard is calm and fluid in his approach. He’s adaptable and can keep his cool under pressure, often using his wit to navigate tricky situations.
Ampfibian Personality: Ampfibian is electrifying and energetic. He’s quick-thinking and always charged up for action, often shocking others with his lively antics.
Armodrillo Personality: Armodrillo is down-to-earth and straightforward. He’s dependable and strong, with a no-nonsense attitude that makes him a rock-solid ally.
NRG Personality: NRG is intense and radiates confidence. He’s always at the center of the action, glowing with a powerful presence that can’t be ignored.
Terraspin Personality: Terraspin is gentle and breezy. He’s a pacifist at heart and prefers to use his abilities to protect others rather than for aggression.
Clockwork Personality: Clockwork is methodical and timeless. He’s wise beyond his years and often speaks in a manner that reflects his ancient wisdom.
Jury Rigg Personality: Jury Rigg is mischievous and inventive. He loves to tinker and fix things, although sometimes he causes more chaos in the process.
Chamalien Personality: Chamalien is stealthy and elusive. He’s a master of disguise who values his privacy and often keeps to himself, revealing his true colors only when necessary.
Feedback Personality: Feedback is energetic and always buzzing with excitement. He’s quick to react and loves to absorb new experiences, often acting as the group’s live wire.
Bloxx Personality: Bloxx is playful and creative, always thinking outside the box. He’s a problem-solver who enjoys building solutions as much as he loves dismantling obstacles.
Ball Weevil Personality: Ball Weevil is fun-loving and carefree. He’s the type who rolls with the punches and bounces back from any situation with a smile.
Pesky Dust Personality: Pesky Dust is whimsical and a bit of a trickster. He enjoys lulling enemies into a false sense of security before springing his traps.
Atomix Personality: Atomix is powerful and has a commanding presence. He’s a bit of a show-off and enjoys demonstrating his immense power, often with dramatic flair.
Gutrot Personality: Gutrot is a bit of a mad chemist, always mixing up new concoctions. He’s clever and resourceful, with a dry sense of humor that can leave others gasping.
Whampire Personality: Whampire is mysterious and charismatic. He’s a smooth talker with a magnetic charm that can be both alluring and intimidating.
Shocksquash Personality: Shocksquash is electrifying and a bit unpredictable. He’s full of energy and always ready to jump into action, often shocking his teammates with his spontaneity.
Wildmutt Personality: Wildmutt is primal and instinct-driven, often acting on intuition rather than thought. He’s fiercely loyal to his allies and can be quite playful when not in battle.
Grey Matter Personality: Grey Matter is the intellectual powerhouse, always thinking several steps ahead. He’s analytical, a bit of a know-it-all, and enjoys solving complex problems.
Ripjaws Personality: Ripjaws has a dual nature, being both fierce and adaptable. He’s at home in the water but can be a bit out of his element on land, showing a more vulnerable side.
Cannonbolt Personality: Cannonbolt is straightforward and a bit of a rolling stone. He’s got a strong sense of humor and loves to barrel into action without hesitation.
Wildvine Personality: Wildvine is a nature-loving, free spirit. He’s resourceful and has a growth mindset, always looking to branch out and try new things.
Spitter Personality: Spitter is a bit of a jokester, often using his unique abilities to play pranks. He’s good-natured and doesn’t take life too seriously.
Buzzshock Personality: Buzzshock is energetic and always buzzing around. He’s got an electric personality and can be a bit shocking with his puns.
Blitzwolfer Personality: Blitzwolfer is the lone wolf with a haunting presence. He’s fiercely independent but has a howling sense of loyalty to his pack.
Upchuck Personality: Upchuck is insatiably curious and a bit of a glutton. He’s always eager to bite off more than he can chew, both literally and figuratively.
Ditto Personality: Ditto is all about togetherness and teamwork. He’s sociable, often talking to himself (or his clones), and enjoys being part of a group.
Waybig Personality: Waybig is gentle and kind-hearted, despite his enormous size. He’s aware of his strength and strives to use it responsibly.
Arctiguana Personality: Arctiguana is cool under pressure and has a frosty demeanor. He’s slow to warm up to others but is incredibly reliable once he does.
Chromastone Personality: Chromastone is calm and collected, often acting as a mediator. He’s resilient and shines brightest when protecting his allies.
Alien X Personality: Alien X is enigmatic and omnipotent, often seeming distant due to his immense power. He’s deliberate in his actions, which can be both a blessing and a burden to his team.
Nanomech Personality: Nanomech is inquisitive and resourceful, always looking to explore and adapt. He’s a bit of an underdog but uses his size to his advantage.
Fasttrack Personality: Fasttrack is competitive and loves a good challenge. He’s always on the move and has a playful rivalry with other speedsters.
Eatle Personality: Eatle has an insatiable appetite for both food and adventure. He’s robust and reliable, often the cornerstone of his team.
Gravattack Personality: Gravattack is grounded and possesses a strong sense of duty. He’s a force to be reckoned with and takes his role as a protector seriously.
Crashhopper Personality: Crashhopper is energetic and bouncy, with a spring in his step. He’s always ready to leap into action and enjoys making an entrance.
Walkatrout Personality: Walkatrout is the underdog with a can-do attitude. He’s often underestimated, which he uses to his advantage.
Molestache Personality: Molestache is dapper and a bit of a gentleman. He’s quirky and uses his unique style to stand out from the crowd.
The Worst Personality: The Worst is self-deprecating but surprisingly resilient. He’s the alien everyone counts out, only to be surprised by his tenacity.
Kickin Hawk Personality: Kickin Hawk is fierce and martial-minded. He’s all about honor and discipline, with a side of fiery combat spirit.
Toepick Personality: Toepick is creepy and enjoys the fear he instills in others. Despite his unsettling demeanor, he’s an invaluable asset in psychological warfare.
Astrodactyl Personality: Astrodactyl is adventurous and loves the thrill of flight. He’s a bit of a show-off and enjoys swooping in to save the day.
Bullfrag Personality: Bullfrag is confident and a bit of a smooth talker. He’s strong and tough but has a softer side that he shows to his allies.