Was on Instagram this morning and saw a little cute hammy that was pretty old, checked the comments: fatal mistake. Why are people so okay with killing small mammals? Some people straight up admit to doing it and are proud? There's horrible, gruesome ways in which hamsters may die, oftentimes due to negligence or bad care, but why would it ever be a fun, quirky story to tell? And the ones that died because their owners didn't know better. "Mine died because its friend/ sibling killed it" they aren't supposed to be housed together in most circumstances. "Mine died randomly after spilling water all over itself on a car trip" possible hypothermia or temperature shifts. "Mine just randomly died" There's so many genetic issues with pets from pet stores people don't know about too. Your hamster didn't die randomly because it's stupid and so fragile it's own reflection could end it, but likely because it came from a lineage of hamsters that were bred in mass, with poor conditions or care for genetics or issues associatied. I was ignorant like this as a kid, had 3 betta fish die because of bad pet store advice and it was horrible. It made me sad, made my parents sad, but now information is more available than ever. It's just one click away. (I have had betta fish live over 2 years now too, with proper care) Yet people are so ignorant.. and I have no issues with the ones that get advice and are quick to change their ways, in fact I'm proud of them, but some don't. They abuse their pets and why? This is so much bigger than hamsters too. It's mice, it's birds, it's turtles, it's cats, dogs, and even wild animals. I have had a dog since I was a kid and only now am I learning about dog behavior and how to interpret it. So many dogs seen as being cute or playful are actually stressed out. Their warnings get ignored and then they bite. Then they're a "bad dog", who bit out of nowhere. It stuck with me how little we understand about these creatures. We expect them to understand our "language", without understanding theirs. And don't get me started on giving pets to kids. It's vital that we teach children to respect animals and small animals should have never been seen as kid's pets. My cousin loves to pet my hamster, but he never touches it without me present to hold her. That's cause he's 3 y/o going 4. His hands are too forceful if I don't hold them and I know that if he had picked my hamster up he'd drop her or hurt her. I was no different at his age. If I had a hamster instead of fish when I was 6 they would've definitely died too. Kids aren't ready to be responsible for another living being, and rodents, fish and birds shouldn't ever have to be subjected to the mercy of a child. Where parents see a lesson about responsability, animals are trying to live and survive in an already stressful environment often with people that know nothing about their proper care. They can't speak, and their stress behaviors are often overlooked as fun little quirks and activities (monkey baring and cage biting/ chewing for example) It just makes me sad and hopeless that there are so many people who'd rather be ignorant, or straight up hurt animals for fun. I love hamsters, my current girl is my longest living one and I love her silliness. Honestly, it's very rewarding to have a happy small animal. I think people forget small animals are just as alive as we are. Thanks for reading so far if you have, this is a lot. I'm sorry for huge rant. And I hope it's rule-abiding. If anyone wants to add to it or share a silly hamster picture to make up for all the sad hamsters out there you're welcome to do so! <3

I (16F) dated this guy for about a year. We broke up because I found that he had a burner Snapchat account that he used to cheat on me for like 4 months. When I met him, he literally only listened to weird SoundCloud rap and phonk and judged me a lot for liking things like metal, alternative fashion, playing the guitar, and stuff of that nature. He would say stuff like “you’re kinda…interesting, but I fw it. I like goth girls.” It’s that insufferable stuff any slightly alternative girl hears from guys. Before me, he only dated white straight-haired blonde girls who wear lululemon and play softball and stuff. Im Latina with dark brown curly hair and have always been bullied by the types of girls he likes. Ofc he cheated on me with those types of girls too. Now that we’re not together, he stole my entire Identity. He’s an elitist obscure metal fan who calls girls who listen to deftones posers and plays the bass and guitar. What pisses me off the most is he’s actually kind of good at it, but his “original” songs lowkey sound exactly like other songs I know he likes. Now he’s playing guitar for random SoundCloud rappers in Baltimore and is picking up stoner girls. Guys don’t even take me seriously when I say I play guitar and yet he only picked it up because of me and gets a lot of attention for it. I hate when guys do stuff like this.

Hey fellow redditors,
Was given an offer from SMU then suddenly NUS offered me as well, so I am in a dilemma on which one I should pick. Been scrolling through tons of NUS/SMU comparison for the past few weeks but still am unsure because both have their own pros and cons.
Since I have a relevant diploma and wish to have a career in high finance in future, can any NUS or SMU peeps or anyone else, advice me which is better for a high finance career and why?
Thanks GUYS and GIRLS!!

A fanfiction of The Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/u19xpa/the_nature_of_predators/
Previous Prologue Next
Memory Transcription Subject: Slanek, Venlil Space Corps
Date [standardized Earth time]: August 21, 2136
Walking into the lab, we were welcomed by a Pokemon that looked oddly familiar to me, a pink creature with predatory eyes and small wings that looked completely vestigial. It wasn’t until I saw the Human inspecting a large screen embedded in the wall that I recognised them. Lilith and Sara, who were among the first Terrans to have visited Venlil Prime. Lilith, whose species was the ‘Clefable’ if I remember correctly, gestured for the three of us to come further into the lab.
“Hello there, thank you for coming so soon after settling in! It seems a lot of Venlil are quite excited to do the Infinity Energy tests.”
I give a slightly nervous ear flick in response.
“I uh, really just wanted to get this over and done with.”
“Right, well in that case you’ll be glad to know that this takes no time at all. It’ll be over before you know it, and you’ll have your exchange partners beside you through the whole process.”
I look up at Marcel and Felix, who both give me further reassuring glances. Marcel seems a little nervous though, awkwardly standing just in front of the door and obviously having no idea what he should be doing. As the Clefable leads me over to a chair and gestures for me to take a seat, she passes over a piece of paper and a pen.
“This is the consent form, please read it out completely and carefully before writing your basic information and signature.”
Lilith then bounds away to converse with Sara, who is still looking at the large screen teeming with strange writing and graphs. As I read through the consent form, I only grow more worried.
‘Permanent Infinity Energy infusion.’
‘Monitored for remainder of Space Corps service.’
‘Possibility of previously unknown side effects.’
I look over to Marcel and Felix, beckoning them over with a wave of my tail. Marcel kneels down beside the chair, bringing the three of us to roughly eye level as Felix rests on his shoulder.
“Sorry, but can you two just… stay close? This seems a bit more intense than I was expecting.”
Felix nods furiously, followed by Marcel giving a small, closed mouth smile.
“Of course, we’ll be right here.”
“After this is over, we can all get some food from the cafeteria. A nice salad or something, alright?”
The Human’s suggestion sounds nice, and my tail sways in agreement. I sign the form after reading through it a second time, and Lilith soon comes over to collect it. As she does so, I see Sara walking over with some wires and wool clips. She places them on a nearby table before turning to finally address me.
“Hello Mr Slanek, sorry for the wait. It’s just, the data we’ve gathered so far from the other Venlil is beyond fascinating. It's an amazing opportunity to investigate how life not native to Earth reacts with Infinity Energy and uh… you probably don’t care, sorry.”
With a lightly red hue showing in her cheeks, she grabs the wires and clips, and gets started on attaching them to various points on my body. From my knees to my paws, snout, ears, stomach, chest, tail… almost everywhere, really. This all only makes my nerves grow even more.
“Now, just as a warning, this will probably hurt a bit. It’s only for a moment though, and it just means that everything is working.”
As Sara attaches the last clip to the wool on my back, she walks back over to large screen on the opposite wall, which I am surprised to find now displays a wireframe model of myself. I notice my paws are beginning to shake slightly, and I turn towards my exchange partners, hoping to find solace. Not so long ago, I would never have even fathomed the idea of looking to predators for comfort, but now…
I reach out a shaking paw towards them. After hesitating for a moment, a look of surprise coming over his face, Marcel reaches out and takes hold of it. Felix scurries down the Human’s arm and places his own small paw on top of mine as Marcel gives it a gentle squeeze.
Turning back to the rest of the lab, Sara is swiping her hand to rotate the wireframe model of my body, while Lilith is retrieving something from a large, formerly locked box nearby. She pulls out a small yellow crystal, and walks back over to me. Sara sidles up beside her partner, and double checks the wire clips one last time as the Clefable holds out the crystal to me.
“This is a revive, which will inject Infinity Energy directly into you. Make sure you hold onto it tight, ok?”
I take a deep breath, giving Marcel’s hand and Felix’s paw a gentle squeeze as I do so.
“Understood.”
I reach out with my other paw, and grab onto the revive. For a moment, nothing happens, but then the revive begins to glow. I shut my eyes tight against the blinding light, and tighten my grip on the crystal. A strange sensation, like waves of pressure, emanate from where the revive touches my paw. Through my arm, across my chest, up my neck and down my navel un-
“BRAKH!”
I cry out as pain suddenly engulfs my snout and legs. A loud beeping noise comes from the clips attached to them, which I silently pray means that everything is working as it should. It feels like my legs are trying to rip themselves apart at the knees, and I understand instantly why I’m sat down for this. My snout too lights up, as if on fire without the heat, forcing me to grit my teeth until my jaw starts hurting as well from the preassure alone. I tighten my grip on both the revive and my partners. I feel weight shifting, and Felix’s paw disappears. Not a moment later, something warm and fuzzy jumps up onto the chair beside me, reaching up to rest a paw on my shoulder.
“It’s alright, we’re right here.”
I go to wrap my tail around him, only to find something strange. My tail has gone numb. The mixture of sensations, from numbness to pain, continues for a little while. As the revive breaks down into grey dust, I can finally open my eyes and unclench my teeth. Steadily, the searing pain fades, leaving my tail numb and my snout and legs sore. I breathe deeply again, and I turn my attention to Felix and Marcel. I retrieve my paw from Marcel’s grip and Felix hops back down from the chair. The Human reaches over to lightly pat me on the back.
“There we go, all over now. You did great, Slanek.”
“Th-thanks.”
Lilith comes over and begins detaching the clips from my wool, while Sara is already tapping away at the screen, the wireframe model of my body now looking very different than it was before. The majority of it is now coloured a stark white, although notably my snout and legs are a dimmer shade of muted grey. The only splash of actual colour is in my tail, the entire limb a vivid purple, most intense at the tip. After inspecting it for a moment, Sara turns back around to address me.
“Thank you for coming, Mr Slanek. The full results of this test will be sent to your holopad shortly, but I’ll give you the most important information now.”
Sara taps the screen a few times, and labels written in Venscript appear as a key for the colours.
White – Mixed
Violet – Poison
Grey – Unknown
“Your results are consistent with what we’ve seen in all the other Venlil that have been tested so far. Most of your body contain a mixture of all Types of IE, similar to Humans. Different Venlil seem to have the Poison IE concentrate in different areas of the body, I’ve seen it in arms, abdomen, throat, wool and elsewhere. For you it’s in the tail, which so far seems fairly common. The grey zones are the most interesting, as they’re in the same areas for each and every Venlil; the snout and legs. Combine that with how this energy isn’t quite Normal but also not Typeless, not to mention it’s almost complete lack of reactivity to external or internal stimuli… it will certainly be an area of research I'll happily dive into soon.”
As Sara explains the results of the test, Marcel helps me to stand up again. At first, I’m a little unsteady as my legs still feel slightly odd, but leaning on his arm helps. The numb feeling in my tail slowly fades, and I experimentally shake it back and forth a few times. There is… Poison in it? It doesn’t feel any different, at least at the moment. After Lilith and Sara once again thank me for my cooperation, the three of us are ushered out of the lab, left standing together in the hallway as another mini herd files in after us. I turn to look up at my companions, a slight bloom making its way onto my face.
“Hey, uh, sorry for what happened in there. To predators it’s probably a show of weakness to need someone sticking nearby but-”
“Okay, we’re nipping that ‘weakness’ shit in the bud right now.”
Felix’s surprising angry voice catches me off guard, and for a second I’m worried that I said something to make him mad. I realise that, in a way, I had… but not for the reason I thought.
“Needing a friend ain’t weakness, Slanek. Just look at Marc and I!”
Marcel smiles at the Buizel, before turning his gaze back down at me. His predatory gaze seems stern, and yet somehow friendly, despite that being essentially oxymoronic.
“Slanek, if I’ve learned anything from my time in the military, it’s that ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ are meaningless words in isolation. People can only reach their full potential when they have others lifting them up, whether they be a Human or Pokemon. I doubt Venlil are any different.”
Something flashes through my mind, a memory that Marcel's words invoked. Of course. One of the first pieces of Terran media I saw after First Contact; 'The Power of Us'. Felix nods along excitedly, jumping down from the Human's shoulder to be a bit closer to my level.
“Never call yourself weak again, alright? Marcel and I were already growing stronger with just the two of us, but now we have a brand-new friend? The three of us together will be unstoppable!”
Marcel snickers slightly.
“Not really the angle I was going for, but sure. Anyway, that packet of chips wasn't nearly enough. Like I said earlier, let’s go grab something from the cafeteria, alright?”
Seemingly immediately forgetting the previous topic, Felix’s eyes light up and his tails whir into action.
“Oh! I hope they have Wacan berries!”
As Felix rapidly ascends back up onto Marcel’s shoulder, my own tail begins to sway back and forth again. The predators’ kind words lifted my spirits and cast aside the embarrassment I had felt, spurring me to happily step forwards and follow the Human’s lead towards the station’s cafeteria.
As we made our way through the halls, I paid more attention to the various pairs and trios we passed. The Venlil all ranged from bubbling with excitement, a spring in their step as they walked joyfully beside their partners, to barely containing their fear, shaking slightly as they stuck close to the walls and avoided looking at most of the more predatory looking Pokemon. I wasn’t at either extreme, though I was leaning towards the former. I strode beside Marcel with contentment, mentally thanking my past self for signing up for the program. I was nervous to meet them at first, but it took almost no time at all for me to recognise the friends I had already been speaking to over text for whole herds of paws at this point.
When we reached the cafeteria, the place was already alive with many Terrans and Venlil. Some sat just with their exchange partners, while others gathered into larger herds, with the countless conversations happening between them melding together with the clinking of cutlery. Even out here on this station, with by far the strangest creatures in the Universe, the sound of people enjoying each other’s company was oh so familiar.
The three of us collected our meals and decided just to sit by ourselves, eventually finding a spot near a rather short Venlil sitting with a large, purple serpentine Pokemon that was presumably their partner. As Marcel and I set our meals down on the table, Felix quickly grabs a pastry from Marcel’s tray.
“I call dibs on the Wacan muffin!”
Marcel has selected some sort of soup for himself, while I chose a simple bunt leaf salad, although my serving seemed to have some sort of fruit in it that I didn’t recognise. I prodded the yellow chunks around, trying to determine if I had gotten some underripe juicefruit or something, catching Marcel’s attention.
“That’s Shuca berry. Not really my thing, but it’s decently popular.”
“Oh, it’s an Earth fruit?”
“Yep, looks like the kitchen’s experimenting with mixing cuisines. This soup is… surprisingly spicy.”
Looking up at the Human, I find that his face has turned a slight reddish hue, the flush no doubt signifying that he was struggling. A quick peek at the contents of his meal provides an answer, making me whistle slightly in laughter.
“Ah, that would be firefruit. Fitting name, isn’t it?”
“Fuck, you can say that again.”
As I watch my Human partner gulp down his glass of water, I pick up a few bunt leaves along with a small chunk of the Shuca berry and pop them in my mouth. The yellow fruit goes well with the bunt leaves, providing a mild but nice sweetness with the slightest kick of spice. Though, obviously not nearly as much as Marcel’s firefruit. The Human soon excuses himself to refill his water, Felix throwing a teasing quip his way between bites of the muffin.
“Fire Type doesn’t suit you, Marc!”
While trying to stifle my laughter at my friend’s misfortune, a slightly alarmed, raspy voice coming from my right catches my attention.
“Ssssevik, are you alright?”
Turning to my right, I find the large serpent Pokemon sitting nearby looking at her Venlil partner with concern. He is holding a paw over his stomach and groaning slightly.
“Y-yeah Arbok, I’m fi-fi -hurk-”
He gives a horrible sound somewhere between a burp and a retch, grabbing the attention of a few other people around us.
“Wassss it the berriesss?”
“N-no it’s -hurk- I think is the Pois- -hurk-“
Thinking quickly, one of the nearby Humans passes the Venlil a plastic bag. He accepts it and tries to thank them, only for his attempt to be interrupted by more retching. Just as he seems to lose control of his meal completely, he cries out.
“Gastro Acid!”
Instead of the typically yellowy green, the Venlil expels a thick, deep purple fluid into the bag. After a single powerful heave, the Venlil looks back up, seemingly slightly dizzy. A moment later, a sizzling sound can be heard coming from the bag, the bottom of which soon breaks. The acidic substance spills onto the floor, having corroded through the plastic like it was nothing. For a while, nobody makes a sound, nor barely moves. Venlil, Human and Pokemon alike in our little section of the cafeteria are all staring at the poor little Venlil who in turn has his eyes glued onto the now useless plastic bag. As for the purple acid, it soon fizzles away into nothing, leaving the floor spotless with no evidence that it ever existed.
The sound of approaching footsteps makes me turn around with a slight jump, finding Marcel returning with a new glass of water. His eyes dart first to the silent crowd, then to the small Venlil, then finally to me and Felix.
“Uh, did I miss something?”
Previous Prologue Next
~~~~~~~

NoPokedex

Humans - Typeless
Gojid - Steel/Rock

• Sovlin: Metal Claw & Rollout

Venlil - Normal /Poison

• Kam: ??? & Poison Jab
• Slanek: ??? & ???

Arxur - Dragon/???

• Isif: Dragon Pulse & ???

Tilfish - Bug/Dark
Zurulian - ???/???
Farsul - ???/???
Kolshian - ???/???
Yotul - ???/???
Mazic - ???/???
Dossur - ???/???
Sivkit - ???/???
Krakotl - Flying/???
Harchen - ???/???
Duertan - Flying/???
Thafki - Wate???
Sulean - ???/???
Iftali - ???/???
Drezjin - Flying/???
Jaur - ???/???
Letian - ???/???
Leshee - ???/???
Yulpa - ???/???

This story was written and emailed to me by an anonymous source. And it’s one of the craziest most bizarre stories I’ve ever read. Ever! 😆 Enjoy the read. It’s long and ridiculously wild. ☘️ Also, in advance, no one can use this story. These stories are written and emailed to me for me to turn into a Video Narrative for my YouTube & TikTok channels. But I would like to share their tales as reading material as well. Thank you for understanding.
I hope you enjoy. 🫶
Story by - “Alex” & “Shane”
Okay so…
I went on vacation to Ireland with my brother last year. And had the most wildest experience of my life there.
Or should I say, we both had the most…wildest experience.
But More so me. And to Tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ll ever go back again after what happened.
As a matter of fact, no, I won’t go back.
So, it’s a Sunday night and it was pretty much our last day of vacationing.
My older brother Shane, wanted to go out… And I’m quoting him - “let’s get fuckin wasted tonight!”
So… We’re on vacation right? Why not? We had rented an Airbnb for the week, we had a rental car - we had a great week so far and we were having…
A proper vacation.
He was already dressed up and ready to go. I wanted to take a quick shower and shave so I told him to head out and I’d call him when I was ready for him to pick me up.
He says cool. He leaves, and I jump in the shower. He’s the one that knows the hot spots in Ireland better than I do. I mean, this was my first time ever coming here. So…
I take a shower, shave, and I get dressed. As I’m about to call my brother, the front door to our Airbnb opens up.
And Its my brother with two bad ass Irish women! They both jump on the couch and they’re laughing their asses off and my brother is just standing there looking at me with a sly grin on his face.
He looks over at the ladies and says - “Give me a minute please” walks over to me, puts his arm over my shoulder and walks me to the bathroom. He then whips out a bag of mushrooms and smiles. Ya know… The psychedelic kind.
I look down at the bag and I shake my head.
He says to me - “come on bro. We got two hotties out there who are trippin and they want to party. Don’t be a flake. This is our last night. Let’s make it special.”
I don’t like disappointing my brother but I was kind of hesitant.
I opened the bathroom door and take a look at these gorgeous women who were both sitting upright now and both looking at me as I opened the door. Both smiling. I smiled back. Closed the door… I looked at my brother and said - “Alright dood fuck it! Let’s do it!”
He gives me a huge hug, kisses me on the forehead, pours me a handful of shrooms and does the same for himself.
We both looked at each other to see who would go first. He counted to three and down the hatch they went. But they were the most unpleasant tasting mushrooms I’ve ever eaten in my life. They were disgusting.
I ran to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of juice because I was having a hard time chewing these nasty things.
But my brother Shane? No, he’s a pro. You give that guy a barrel of hay and he’ll eat it faster than a horse. The guy can eat anything.
40 minutes go by and I’m still straight as a pin. However, my brother on the other hand? He’s already trippin.
I think he had already taken some beforehand.
But in the next 10 minutes… These shrooms hit me like a ton of bricks! It was like this intense wave of cool and hot went completely through my body.
And I’ve taken mushrooms quite a few times but have never felt anything like this before. It was so sudden!
And I feel fantastic!
The next hour went by so fast because we were having so much fun! And these Irish girls? Man… I had the sexiest one! A beautiful Redhead by the name of Katrina.
She was kind of short though. About 5’1” maybe? But good things come in small packages, right? Well, not really. And you’ll know why soon enough.
I don’t recall anything else that happened for the rest of the night after my brother left with the other girl. And before I continue with the rest of the story. My brother’s name is really not Shane. And the redhead girl I was with is not named Katrina.
You see I had to make up these names to protect me and my brother. Because what happened during the rest of the night? I don’t remember. But also, I’ll never forget either.
Okay so, let's get back to the story…
I do remember my brother leaving with… Let's just call her Gloria, Katrina’s friend? And me and Katrina, the redhead, stood behind. I do remember us making out in the bathroom together, but…Everything else after that? There’s nothing there. Nothing. I don’t recall anything from that point forward no matter how badly I try to remember.
This is what my brother told me he witnessed as he arrived back at the Airbnb five hours later with Gloria.
And until this day, I still don’t want to believe this happened. But according to my brother…
It truly did happen.
My brother is going to write this part of the story because he’s the one that has this locked in his memory for life. And for the sake of the story, my name will be Alex.
Here is my brother Shane’s point of view - his perspective on what he witnessed that crazy night. Wow man… This is so fucking nuts. So buckle up and be prepared. I understand you don’t know who I am, but I swear, I’m not a bad person. Okay.

• “Shane’s” story on what he witnessed.

Yeah so, I guess I’m Shane now. Unreal…
Okay. Here we go. Meat and potatoes.
We arrive back at the Airbnb and I see Alex outside in the front of the house wearing only socks and he’s running around on top of the grass like an animal yanking out handfuls of grass from underneath him.
I look at Gloria and we’re both baffled at what we just saw.
First thing I said was - “Oh yeah! This dood is off his rocker right about now - as I parked the car.
We both hop out of the car and walk up to the front door. I slide the key into the door, it unlocks, but there’s a chair behind the door and it’s tipped over blocking the entry way and only leaving enough space for a crack. We both awkwardly look at one another and as I’m about to call out for my brother, I hear someone sprinting towards the door and bang!
The fuckin idiot shuts the door on us.
I then knock on the door softly because It’s almost 1 in the morning as I don’t want to make too much noise. God only knows what this kid has been doing since me and Gloria left.
After I knock on the door a few times, I hear the chair getting pushed to the side and my brother slightly opens the door. I take a peek inside, and his nose is broken, lips are bubbled up and his left eye is completely shut, black and blue and swollen.
He then drops to his knees, and begins crying but no sound is coming out of him! You know… Like when you get smacked by your parents when you’re a kid and it shocks the soul of you? Yeah, that kind of cry.
I don’t react to what he’s doing to not scare the shit out of Gloria, because she’s right beside me. So I push the door open and tell Gloria to hang on a second and shut the door and lock it.
I pick his busted ass up and sit him on the couch. I look around the house and it’s in complete shambles. Our clothes are everywhere, there’s food all over the fuckin walls. It was chaotic. And my brother is now sitting up breathing frantically.
I ask him - “what in the fuck happened?”
He looks at me. Face looking like he got into a boxing match with Rocky Marciano and whispers to me.
“Dood… There’s a leprechaun in the bathroom.”
“A fuckin what now?” - I said with the most bewildered look on my face. I mean I must have… I wish I would have taken a picture of my face at that very moment. I should have taken pictures of everything so this idiot could see the havoc he wreaked on that night.
My imbecile brother continues - “I’m telling you. There’s a fuckin leprechaun in the fuckin bathroom and this little lucky charms motherfucker won’t tell me where he hid the gold!”
“A leprechaun in the bathroom. What the fuck happened to you?” I said as I felt my blood beginning to boil.
The Imbecile then says - “Don’t worry. Don’t worry! I hogtied that little bitch and stuffed my underwear in its mouth. It’s in the bathtub. But don’t go in there. Don’t go in there. This thing fucked me up!”
And now I can hear someone fumbling in the bathroom moaning very softly. I looked at my brother and said - “What in the fuck did you do Alex?”
He replies - “I’m telling you. It’s a fucking leprechaun.”
“Okay. Okay.” - I said. “Stay right here and just, don’t move. Don’t do anything. Just keep still.
His eyes were so huge and dilated. He was so fuckin high. He had heartbeat pulses pumping from the top of his head.
I rushed back over to the front door and told Gloria that my brother got into a fight with a couple of guys at a pub while me and her were out and that her friend Katrina left because she got scared. She told me that was the first time she met that girl tonight so she really didn’t care and shrugged it off. Which was a huge relief to me. I told her thank you for a wonderful night. She understood. W said our goodbyes. I shut the door. And now… What the fuck is in the bathroom? Or better yet, who, is in the bathroom? Because let’s face it. This motherfucker did not find and fight with a leprechaun tonight. No way. There’s just no fuckin way.
I rush over to the bathroom and my brother leaps at my legs, and he’s holding onto me for dear life, begging me!
He says - “Please don’t untie it! It’s got magical powers! PLEASE!!!
Now, at this very moment? I am sort of hesitant about opening the bathroom door. But I snap out of it and open it. What the fuck. A leprechaun? No, I don’t think so.
I open the door…
“Holy shit.” - I said while covering my hands with my mouth. The floor was smeared in blood as if someone was dragged, leading to the huge cast iron tub. Smeared bloody handprints were all over the tub. And now I hear the faint moan coming from the tub. My legs are shaking and feel like they’re ready to give out on me. I was scared shitless.
“What did my brother do? Who is in that bathtub? I pray to God Katrina isn’t in there right now.” - I said to myself completely freaked out.
I slowly walk up to the bathtub…
And sure enough, there is a hogtied person lying in it with my brother's underwear stuffed in their mouth with a ripped t-shirt tied around their head and mouth, but… It’s not Katrina.
It’s a little person. You know, a dwarf? And… He’s literally dressed up in a leprechaun costume…
And how, on God's green earth did he end up here?
He has no idea I’m standing above him. I reach down to begin untying him but he begins squirming and screaming. I told him to relax and that I was here to help him.
And then My imbecile brother Alex, rushes into the bathroom and tackles me down. Stands up and begins shouting at this poor bastard hogtied in the tub - “Tell me where it is you greedy little fuck! Tell me!!!
I jumped to my feet and slapped my brother back to his childhood. Grabbed him by the throat, tripped him and threw him to the ground and said - “are you fuckin crazy? Do you want to go to prison for kidnapping? What in the fuck is the matter with you? You dumb fuck!!”
He then looks up at me with this pessimistic look on his face and says - “It’s a fucking leprechaun dood. A leprechaun.”
I was absolutely dumbfounded and furious at this point. I have this stranger in my Airbnb rental, hogtied and gagged and squirming and screaming and my brother thinks that he’s a leprechaun…
I can’t make this shit up.
He was so fucking high on those mushrooms. He was absolutely convinced that this man was a leprechaun. So… I had to play the game.
It was the only way to help this poor son of a bitch that my brother had kidnapped and hogtied in our Airbnb rental.
I calmly whispered and told him to please leave the bathroom so I could interrogate the leprechaun and find out where he was hiding the pot of gold.
My brother slowly stood up to his feet, face busted up, his cock and balls all shriveled and tight, looked at the man dressed up as a leprechaun, smiled at him with an evil grin and just, walked away…
And as he walked away, I told him to go and please put some clothes on, lay down in bed, and that I would handle the leprechaun. That I, would find out where the gold was hidden…
And that’s all I’m saying. I’m giving the computer back to my dumbass of a brother to finish off whatever else he wants to write.

• Back to “Alex”

Pretty outlandish right? I know. I know. You must think that I’m bat shit crazy huh? Okay so, to make the rest of this long story short, my brother Shane never told me what he did with the poor guy I hogtied and, well… i don’t remember how this guy came to be in my possession. I really don’t.
The only thing my brother Shane told me was that he ungagged him, untied him, and that he was extremely pissed off. And that he had compensated him for his troubles.
Man, I felt so horrible. I felt so horrible…
What I do remember though is waking up that following afternoon with my face all fucked up. Dehydrated with a tremendous splitting headache. I had no clue as to why I looked and felt the way I did. It was terrifying.
All of our luggage was packed and my brother was just sitting there, legs crossed and his arms folded.
Hey man… Take it from me. Don’t do fuckin drugs.
Regards, “Alex” & “Shane”
Disclaimer- This story may not be used for anything other than reading, sharing your thoughts and enjoying it. It is now protected by the United States Library of Congress/Copyright Office. Thank you. ☘️

I think, I think, it was an R.L Stein book, or maybe a similar author.
Basically the plot is a girl runs away from home after she finds her boyfriend laid up with her best friend and picks up two hitchhikers; a man and a woman. She's telling her story and they're telling a story of another tragic couple (which IIRC turned out to actually be them but different names). But it turns out she didn't actually run away from home she'd actually attempted....to ride the sewerslide, if you will, and was in some form of Purgatory?
I don't know but it's been driving me nuts for days and there is SO. MANY. R.L Stein books.

❌ Scheana— Nope, she has targeted Scheana since the very beginning. Even when Scheana tried to make it work and Gretchen Weiners her way into her and Stassi's clique in Season 5 by doing exactly what they told Scheana to act like and do, Katie still treated her like garbage and continued to bully her and hasn't let up since.
❌ Stassi - As soon as Stassi left the show and moved to NYC, she was dead to Katie. Then she tried to gatekeep Stassi coming back into the group and even got Schwartz to give her 'a talking to' because she knew she could never go up against Stassi or have the aptitude to tell her case.
Now, she says she and Stassi are friends and 'doing different things now,’ but Stassi even publicly said a couple of weeks ago that she's friends with Lala, isn't going to jump in and defend anyone on VPR, and doesn't watch the show but does watch The Valley 😉.
❌ Lala—No, when Lala was the only coattail to ride and was living a wealthy life with a moderately successful brand, Katie got really close to her. As soon as Scandoval happened, she dropped Lala like a ton of bricks and glued herself to Ariana as her Bobblehead. Then, she spent the entire season 11 gaslighting Lala for having a couple of opinions and asking some questions about her new Bestie when she asked the same questions herself before the Cameras were up!
❌ Ariana—Started a friendship with her, then tried to force Kristen back on her, excluded Ariana as a bridesmaid, and got mad at Schwartz for picking her as a groomswoman. Bullied her, with Stassi calling her a 'skinny, cool girl.' Rage texted her about the pulse pride incident and said she was the reason why Katie and Schwartz fought. For most of the series, concern trolled and inserted herself into Ariana's and Tom's relationship and businesses.
Then, as we saw, as soon as Scandoval hits, she pretends to be her best friend, then she talks shit about her to Lala, including mentioning an embarrassing business secret (Late rent, which P.S makes me believe Sandoval told the truth about her unpaid mortgages and bills) and jeopardizing all the PR work they've done around the 'there's no problem here' PR strategy with the opening of 'SAH,’ and then doesn't even warn Ariana that this happened.
Ariana acts like she doesn't care about it now because who will get rid of a free Minion? Their friend Lindsay Hubbard learned that the hard way with Danielle on Summer House.
❌ James - Nothing to defend James for, but they were never friends, and everything we see now is just James sucking up to her to have a place on the cast so that he can continue to be abusive to Women in broad daylight while on the show and getting a pass from the fanbase since he supports their favs. I don't think he and Katie have ever hung out outside the show or show events. It's an alliance, an 'us vs them' friendship of convenience, rather than a friendship based on anything.
❌ Schwartz—and I add this one because she has entertained a post-divorce friendship with him these last two seasons. She starts this friendship by giving him a dumb, immature ultimatum about not dating in the friend group and spends the entire season 10 bullying any woman he even glances at when she isn't even friends with Raquel and Jo so it doesn't break the rule, and she was already moving on herself and sleeping with people and broke her own dumb rule anyway a couple of months after with Schwartz's friend Max when season 11 was filming
Not to mention constantly putting him down, having her mom bully him for IDK moving on when she was the one who asked for a divorce anyway? Then she blames him in the press and confessionals for Sandoval's actions and turns the fanbase's hatred towards him every chance she gets, even though he has been nothing but supportive of her post-divorce journey and Sandoval should have never put that burden on his best friend and business partner.
❌ Kristen—Nope, nope, nope. This is another ‘us vs. them' friendship when it’s convenient for Katie. She never had Kristen's back against Stassi, concern-trolled her relationships, pushed her out of the wine business, and obviously doesn't think highly of her recently saying about Jo, 'If you're Kristen Doute's crazy friend, that says a lot about you.' and she's been entirely silent about Kristen confirming James hit her...I don't know why Kristen still supports her; it's obviously one-sided and always has been.
❌ Raquel—She never even tried to be nice to her in her earlier seasons. Even when Raquel apologized, distanced herself from James, and tried to be nice to Katie, she excluded her from events or invited her to events just to bully her. Even pre-kiss and pre-Sandoval, she was mean to her and made faces the whole Vegas trip.
So the answer is a big fat N.O. The 'loyalty' is all lip service and image. She hasn't had a single consistent, long-lasting friendship on the show. If Ariana does leave the show, she'll be on an island; they'll probably have to give Kristina Kelly a main role so she has someone to film with.
‘It’s me, I’m the problem’ should be her tagline.

The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be interesting for people who do not know the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them. The article contains several anecdotes – either from real history or from beliefs that exist in the real world, and suggestions on how they can be related to the Cthulhu mythology. So read about:

• Sea Peoples, bane of ancient civilizations,
• a forgotten Eldritch abomination from Greek mythology,
• Jan Twardowski, the first man on the Moon,
• mathematicians and physicists who wanted to know the structure of reality and lost their minds,
• one of the most mysterious characters from the Bible and a dark, occult ritual that underlies monotheism.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples
Ancient, super-advanced, fallen civilizations are one of the favorite motifs of fantasy. And truth be told, something similar happened in real history. Of course, in reality, the fallen civilizations did not have sci-fi supertechnology at their disposal, but their collapse still led to great destabilization. We are talking about the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples, which took place at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Sea Peoples are mobile and warlike groups of people of unknown origin. They caused the collapse of several advanced cultures, including: Mycenaean and Hittite. Only the Egyptians managed to defeat them in a great battle. Well, the material for Lovecraftian inspiration is obvious. A mysterious army, coming out of nowhere, called the „Sea Peoples”, leading to the fall of the most powerful human civilizations at that time? Let us add that, according to some historians, the descendants of the Sea Peoples destroyed by the Egyptians were the Philistines. Yes, the same Philistines, one of whose main deities was the well-known Dagon to Lovecraftomaniacs… Deep Ones say hello. Let us also add that, according to Egyptian records, the tribes of the Sea Peoples had names such as Ekvesh, Teresh, Lucki, Sherden, Shekelesh, Tekel and Peleset. Sounds suitably dark, blasphemous and filthy? If we want to dig deeper, one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt was Akhenaten – yes, that heretic who tried to replace the worship of traditional Egyptian gods with the religion of the Aten and who is very much liked by conspiracy theorists. Let’s add to the mix that Middle Eastern cultures had quite a negative attitude towards the sea as such. Babylonian Marduk had to defeat the giant monsters of Chaos – Apsu and Tiamat, personifications of fresh and salt waters, respectively. The Bible also contains traces of the myth about the fight between Yahweh and Leviathan, and the Book of Revelation, describing the new, ideal world, emphasizes that „I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Let’s assume that the players are researchers of an antiquity – historians, archaeologists, etc. They conduct research on the Sea Peoples. Of course, as common sense dictates, they assume that these were human warriors. However, as time goes on, more and more evidence appears that they were not completely human again, and the evidence of their monstrosity becomes increasingly difficult to put down to the demonization that Egyptian chroniclers used against their enemies… It becomes clear that an onslaught of inhuman and semi-human monsters came from the sea. , trying to conquer the world of that time. Moreover, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, this species did not become extinct, but instead of open conquest it switched to cautious infiltration. Perhaps the Deep Ones have spies in academia who are tasked with eliminating historians who find the trail of truth…
Oh, one more interesting fact connecting the history of the Sea Peoples with Lovecraft. Well, as we know, HPL liked to use the term „Cyclopean” for huge, monumental buildings. At least he didn’t come up with it himself. Well, when the later (and at first more primitive) inhabitants, the Dorians, saw the ruins of destroyed castles left by the Mycenaean culture, they came to the conclusion that such huge buildings could not have been built by human hands, so they were probably the work of mythical giants – cyclopes.
Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination
Modern works drawing on Greek mythology usually make Hades (completely senseless) or Kronos (a little more) the Big Bad, but they forget about Zeus’s greatest enemy – Typhon. After defeating the titans and then the gigants, the Olympian gods had to face the main boss on the way to dominating the world – Typhon. Here is an example of its description: It was larger than the largest mountains, its head touched the stars. When he stretched out his hands, one reached the eastern ends of the world and the other reached the western ends. Instead of fingers, he had a hundred dragon heads. From the waist down he had a tangle of vipers (yay, tentacles!) and wings at his shoulders. His eyes were shooting out flames. In other versions of the myth, Typhon was a flying, hundred-headed dragon. In any case – appearance and stature worthy of the Great Old One. Typhon attacked Olympus, and all the gods except Zeus fled in panic. The supreme god took up the fight… and lost it. Only in the second duel did he manage to defeat Typhon, but not kill him – he only imprisoned him, hitting him with Etna. In the sense of a mountain. A volcano – and volcanic activity is the result of Typhon’s anger, trying to break free. Typhon equaled the lord of heaven not only in strength, but in fertility. His wife was Echidna, about whom Hesiod wrote: „She also gave birth to another creature, invincible, huge, unlike neither men nor immortal gods, in a hollow cave – the divine violent Echidna, half a sharp-eyed young girl, with beautiful cheeks, half a huge snake, a great and powerful, spotted, cruel – in the depths of the holy land. This pair spawned many, if not most, of the monsters found in Greek mythology. Their offspring were very diverse and strange, as befits the spawn of enemies of the divine order, including: – Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who never slept and guarded the apples that gave immortality, – Cerberus – we all know the dog guarding the gates of hell… but not all of us know that, according to some accounts, it had not three heads, but as many as 50, it was also covered with scales, and it had a snake by its tail… so what does this have to do with a dog? – Scylla – this lady inherited the most from the human, beautiful part of Echidna… at least initially, but eventually, as a result of various perturbations, she turned from a beautiful nymph to her siblings, becoming a six-headed sea beast, so hideous, according to Homer, that even the gods could not stand sight of her – she dwelt in a cave, from where she opened her mouth to devour the crews of ships, – Gorgons – I mean, those ladies with snake hair, not monstrous bulls. Medusa was one of them – the story that Athena turned her priestess into a monster as punishment for being raped by Poseidon is an invention of later poets, – Lernaean Hydra – a multi-headed monster with many reptilian or human heads. In place of each severed head, two others grew, and in addition, the main head was completely immortal – therefore, after chopping off the mortal heads, Heracles had to burn the stumps and bury the immortal, still hissing head underground. Hydra’s breath was poisonous. – various other creatures, such as the Sphinx, the dog Ortus, the Nemean Lion or the Chimera. Each of these descendants has the potential to be portrayed as an Eldritch abomination in its own right. To be precise – according to some accounts, the father of these creatures (and Echidna herself) was Typhon, but a monstrous, ancient (older than Poseidon) sea god, Phorcys. How to use Typhon? Well, Typhon clearly has the potential to be a Great Old One, imprisoned by… Nodens? Some other Elder God? Weak gods of humanity? Maybe his cult is trying to free him from Etna? What if he succeeds? What might distinguish Typhon from many other Great Old Ones? I would recommend focusing on his monster progenitor aspect – if he manages to reunite with Echidna, they will immediately start spawning various blasphemous beasts in series.
Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon
Jan (John) Twardowski, the hero of the legend, a Polish nobleman who allegedly sold his soul to the devil and became a sorcerer. Probably a historical figure, according to legend he lived in the 16th century and became famous for summoning the spirit of the deceased queen for King Sigismund Augustus. The ghost allegedly appeared in the mirror. This mirror is still kept in the church in Węgrów. According to legend, when the terms of the pact were fulfilled, devils came to kidnap Twardowski to hell. Interestingly, instead of taking the sorcerer’s soul after death, the most material demons appeared and grabbed Twardowski in order to kidnap him bodily, alive… and instead of heading towards the underground, which in legends is considered the traditional place of residence of demons and damned souls, they began to carry away up with him. At some point, Twardowski started singing religious songs, which caused the demons to escape, leaving him on the Moon, where he is said to have stayed ever since. Could the “demons” actually be extraterrestrials? Maybe mi-go? Maybe Twardowski was their agent and obtained secret knowledge and technology from them that gave him the fame of a sorcerer? As part of his studies, did he acquire knowledge of a system of sounds („religious songs”) that was able to drive away his masters when they decided that his usefulness on Earth had ended and it was time to transport him to a space base where he would be transformed into a brain in jar? Or was transportation to the Moon part of the deal from the beginning? Oh, one more interesting fact – according to legends, Twardowski used to use a rooster as a horse, which he enlarged with his magic. It’s easy to imagine an abomination that, in the eyes of laymen, might have resembled a large rooster… Examples of scenario hooks: – Twardowski’s secret mirror is still in the church in Węgrów. The local priest thinks it is just other „pagan” superstitions, but in fact it is a tool enabling contact with cosmic beings and higher realities. It may prove useful to players if they convince the priest to give it back or simply steal it. – Players are looking for Twardowski’s notes to gain knowledge about the „song” thanks to which he drove away mi-go (or other creatures that became the prototype of the „devils” from the legend). The so-called Twardowski’s „School” or „Cathedral” was located in a quarry near Kraków. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the church of St. Józef, a cave showing traces of alchemical experiments was discovered… And it was destroyed. But perhaps there is a second, secret laboratory under the cave that escaped destruction? And there lie Twardowski’s secrets… And again, potential obstacles may be placed by the local parish priest. But not only him. Maybe Twardowski’s legendary „rooster” lies dormant in the laboratory and was left by the sorcerer as a guard? – players are astronauts on the Moon. However, it turns out that someone lives here, someone who was not detected by previous expeditions and probes. Will Twardowski prove to be an ally in the fight against cosmic horrors? Or maybe their agent, or an independent villain? If he survived this long on the Moon thanks to blasphemous secrets, it’s possible that he had little humanity left…
The rest of the text is avalaible (of course, for free) here: https://adeptusrpg.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/some-lovecraftian-inspiration-form-real-life-and-beliefs/

Before I even start I'm going to say that I think this is a very unpopular opinion. I'm expecting the vast majority of the interactions on this post to be downvotes. Honestly, I don't mind, I want to make this post to see how the community feels about this topic because while I've seen some complaints I have not seen any discussions about it, and I wanted to do it before the event disappeared. With the semester finally over I have enough time to do a lot more stuff including making this post.
Before I say this though you should know

• This isn't because I don't like the game. This is literally the best game I've ever played IMO, and I've been playing since the first hour of launch. I play for hours every day and have almost every nikke (Isabel come home :/ )

-This isn't about money as I have a bunch of it, and have even bought multiple Gacha skins in the past. I have the vast majority of skins (missing a few) to put into perspective how much I spend.
-I love Shift Up, and they're quickly becoming my favorite game company, but I hate how they did this.
-This isn't about hate or anything like that I just wanted to express my opinion and see the communities collective idea of it.
-I have no problem with Gacha skins, if this was handled differently I would have been the first to pick up both skins.
The reason I'm making this post is to talk about the new skins in the game, and how I find them to be greedy, and also how they should not have been released that way.
I'm trying to say that the skins that have recently been released are pretty scummy and I feel the game could go in a bad direction this way. Let me explain why I think this.
I was originally going to get both the Marian skin and the crown skin until I learned some stuff about the Marian skin which is the one I have the bigger problem with. Why release a new permanent canonical look for the story as a gacha skin!?
I've played Gacha games since I was around twelve, and I'm 22 years old now in College and I've never seen something like this. I've never seen a company lock a new canonical look for a major character behind a paywall like this. I've played well over 60 or so Gacha in the past 10 years, and out of all of those I've never seen a company lock a new canon look behind something like this.
Every time a character gets a new appearance from a power-up or something similar they ALWAYS do one of two things. They either put it as a new unit that you summon for, or they make it a farmable skin. DO NOT get me wrong I was never expecting this to be a free skin, NEVER, but I was kind of expecting Marian to be a new unit you could summon for.
I've never seen a company lock a major character's new look behind a paywall because they know how scummy it would be. Imagine if HSR made DH:IL a PAYWALLED SKIN instead of a new separate unit, That would be scummy right? THAT'S WHY THEY DIDN'T DO IT! I could name way more than this, but I feel like HSR is the biggest gacha rn, so it's a good example. It's greedy and honestly is the reason I'm skipping Marian's skin. I'm not skipping it for myself, but for the people that don't want to spend that much on the game, or can't spend that much because of circumstances. Some people now can't get the new canonical story look for their girl because of this decision and will be stuck with an old appearance that is outdated, and they'll never be able to get the new story appearance because of this. :/
When I first saw the crown skin in the story it pissed me off even more because I thought it would also be a permanent skin that'll be used in future stories from now on, but with the hard mode ending, I was thankfully proven wrong. Still that skin makes ZERO sense. The Naked King doesn't even use a lance to attack, so why even make it a skin? It makes no sense from a lore or story perspective, and I feel like this is another case of greed. They made a character with no clothes and knew that people were down bad enough to go crazy for it and spend like there was no tomorrow. It would have made WAY more sense to make this a separate unit since she doesn't even use a weapon as the naked king. :/
Gripes with Marian's skin

• In my decade of playing MANY other Gacha I've never seen a company make a major character's new Canonical story appearance locked behind a paywall, and it's infuriating how I don't see anyone talking about it. It screws over some people, Gatekeeping them from getting the new Canonical appearance.

Gripes with the new Crown skin

• It Makes no sense from a Lore perspective. Why put this as a skin over the crown that uses a lance when the naked king just uses her hands to kill? It screams greed and I don't want to support that. It would have made much more sense to be an alternate unit

These are the reasons I'm upset and honestly why I'm hoping this will never happen again. (I don't like skipping such good skins XD)
Anyway, It's like 4 am here and I gtg to sleep. I'll check the post in the morning, but again this is not to spread hate. I just wanted to see the community's opinion on these things.

Before I even start I'm going to say that I think this is a very unpopular opinion. I'm expecting the vast majority of the interactions on this post to be downvotes. Honestly, I don't mind, I want to make this post to see how the community feels about this topic because while I've seen some complaints I have not seen any discussions about it, and I wanted to do it before the event disappeared. With the semester finally over I have enough time to do a lot more stuff including making this post.
Before I say this though you should know

• This isn't because I don't like the game. This is literally the best game I've ever played IMO, and I've been playing since the first hour of launch. I play for hours every day and have almost every nikke (Isabel come home :/ )

-This isn't about money as I have a bunch of it, and have even bought multiple Gacha skins in the past. I have the vast majority of skins (missing a few) to put into perspective how much I spend.
-I love Shift Up, and they're quickly becoming my favorite game company, but I hate how they did this.
-This isn't about hate or anything like that I just wanted to express my opinion and see the communities collective idea of it.
-I have no problem with Gacha skins, if this was handled differently I would have been the first to pick up both skins.
The reason I'm making this post is to talk about the new skins in the game, and how I find them to be greedy, and also how they should not have been released that way.
I'm trying to say that the skins that have recently been released are pretty scummy and I feel the game could go in a bad direction this way. Let me explain why I think this.
I was originally going to get both the Marian skin and the crown skin until I learned some stuff about the Marian skin which is the one I have the bigger problem with. Why release a new permanent canonical look for the story as a gacha skin!?
I've played Gacha games since I was around twelve, and I'm 22 years old now in College and I've never seen something like this. I've never seen a company lock a new canonical look for a major character behind a paywall like this. I've played well over 60 or so Gacha in the past 10 years, and out of all of those I've never seen a company lock a new canon look behind something like this.
Every time a character gets a new appearance from a power-up or something similar they ALWAYS do one of two things. They either put it as a new unit that you summon for, or they make it a farmable skin. DO NOT get me wrong I was never expecting this to be a free skin, NEVER, but I was kind of expecting Marian to be a new unit you could summon for.
I've never seen a company lock a major character's new look behind a paywall because they know how scummy it would be. Imagine if HSR made DH:IL a PAYWALLED SKIN instead of a new separate unit, That would be scummy right? THAT'S WHY THEY DIDN'T DO IT! I could name way more than this, but I feel like HSR is the biggest gacha rn, so it's a good example. It's greedy and honestly is the reason I'm skipping Marian's skin. I'm not skipping it for myself, but for the people that don't want to spend that much on the game, or can't spend that much because of circumstances. Some people now can't get the new canonical story look for their girl because of this decision and will be stuck with an old appearance that is outdated, and they'll never be able to get the new story appearance because of this. :/
When I first saw the crown skin in the story it pissed me off even more because I thought it would also be a permanent skin that'll be used in future stories from now on, but with the hard mode ending, I was thankfully proven wrong. Still that skin makes ZERO sense. The Naked King doesn't even use a lance to attack, so why even make it a skin? It makes no sense from a lore or story perspective, and I feel like this is another case of greed. They made a character with no clothes and knew that people were down bad enough to go crazy for it and spend like there was no tomorrow. It would have made WAY more sense to make this a separate unit since she doesn't even use a weapon as the naked king. :/
Gripes with Marian's skin

• In my decade of playing MANY other Gacha I've never seen a company make a major character's new Canonical story appearance locked behind a paywall, and it's infuriating how I don't see anyone talking about it. It screws over some people, Gatekeeping them from getting the new Canonical appearance.

Gripes with the new Crown skin

• It Makes no sense from a Lore perspective. Why put this as a skin over the crown that uses a lance when the naked king just uses her hands to kill? It screams greed and I don't want to support that. It would have made much more sense to be an alternate unit

These are the reasons I'm upset and honestly why I'm hoping this will never happen again. (I don't like skipping such good skins XD)
Anyway, It's like 4 am here and I gtg to sleep. I'll check the post in the morning, but again this is not to spread hate. I just wanted to see the community's opinion on these things.

I weirdly miss that one friend I had in high-school that was extremely toxic to me and overall just not a good friend. I can't explain why I miss her, or if i even miss her in general or if it's just the nostalgia but it has made me pretty sad those past few weeks because I can't stop thinking about everything we went through together.
For some context, we met in high-school and were extremely close. Our friendship was quite unusual as I was the weird kid and she was the beautiful & tall popular girl and gave a bit of a mean-girl vibe. We did not share a lot in common but somehow we got along super well, or I thought so. It took me years to realize that I was in fact just desperate for some kindness coming from 'popular' kids as I was always getting picked on by them.
We were inseparable : she taught me how to be more feminine, how to dress better and because of the huge influence she had on me, I started to like the same things as her. I did a 360° on my life and went from the weird kid to the pretty and slightly popular girl (and to be honest I loved the attention I was getting). However, I do remember she kept me around like a dog in some way and subtly belittled me all the time but I never payed to much attention.
When we graduated and started uni (both at the same one for our first year), she had a flat (she was super rich and could afford to live alone at 18) where she invited me very often. We had tons of sleepovers.
However, she was in a toxic relationship that ended pretty badly at that time and she became extremely underweight. I was there to help her and came to her flat to cook for her every two days, clean her flat for her (as she was depressed and didn't do anything) and overall took care of her like a mother for 4 months straight. She never thanked me for it, but I did not do all this to be thanked, for me it was normal to help a friend in need.
When she got better, that's when she began having a toxic attitude towards me and our friendship completely changed. She constantly picked on me for my appearance, giving me backhanded compliments such as 'ugh I'm so obese (she was still very skinny, like a top model), I wish my fattness looked good like it does on you', 'You eat so much, I could never ! I would love to be like you and not care about weight !' etc. The thing is, she KNEW I was struggling with body image and viewed myself as overweight although I was also skinny, I'm just very short with a large lower-body (hips) that can sometimes give the illusion that I'm on the thicker side.
She also started to weirdly shame me for casually dating and having hookups (I grew up in a strict household and never had a boyfriend. I did casually date and flirt with guys once I got to uni and regularly slept with one (1) guy but she still slutshamed me about it). She became religious out of the blues and constantly shamed me for 'messing around' with a guy whom I'm not even in a relationship with. It hurted me quite and even when I told her it hurted my feelings she kept on going.
I had a messy relationship with a second guy the second year of uni and it ended very badly. I got very very depressed for weeks and didn't even go to uni anymore, just like how she was with her own toxic ex. Needless to say she was not there for me, not even once. In truth, she even ghosted my messages and only checked up on me to help her on a project for her own uni-course (I did law, she did business). When I accepted to help her through Facetime, she badmouthed how lazy and ridiculous I was and how it was 'gross and lame' to be sad like that. I later (1 year later) learned through my ex when he contacted me to apologizes once and for all that she hooked up with him while I was depressed and that she talked mad sht about me to him while the were cuddling after hooking up. He even sent me the snapchat-memories they took together at dinner that night and I was baffled.
When I got back on my feet and got back to school, I learned how she talked about my private sex-life to all of our common friends and even to her own male friends. She told them everything I ever did, who I slept with throughout my whole life (which was just 3 guys but apparently for her it was enormous) and basically created me a slut-'reputation'. I never understood why and was to ashamed to confront her about it. I acted like none of it affected me when in reality it almost sent me over the edge and made me suicidal.
And when I tried to talk to new guys (for friendship or for flirting), she would always somehow find a way to talk to them too and continue to nourrish that sluttish reputation she created around me, which obviously made the guys uninterested or worst, more interested but for the wrong reasons.
Then covid came and I moved to another city. Thankfully, because of covid I never had to go back in person to school and graduated online !!! I never saw her again and took the opportunity to cut things off completely. I 'broke up' our friendship two years ago by simply stopping initiating conversation with her on social media and declining her latest offer to come spend the night at her house. It felt liberating.
But now... I do have some nostalgia about the '''good''' moments we had together but I also keep reliving all the sadness and shame she made me feel throughout the years. I miss her, or I miss the illusion of a friendship we had, I don't know. I just feel so sad. I had the urge to contact her again to rekindle but I knows it's the worst idea ever and I won't ever do it but idk, i'm just so sad.

I've always had a crush on Grethel, ever since we met in freshman year. He was smart, funny, kind, and handsome. He was also the half-brother of """Josh Gogh""(not his real name)"", the famous actor. Grethel never bragged about it, though. He was humble and down-to-earth, unlike his celebrity sibling.
We became good friends over the years, sharing classes, hobbies, and secrets. We also worked part-time at the same bookstore, where we would chat and joke around during our shifts. Sometimes, I would catch him looking at me with a soft smile, and I would feel my heart skip a beat.
But I never told him how I felt. I was too afraid to ruin our friendship, or to be rejected. I didn't think he would ever see me as more than a friend. After all, he was the half-brother of an actor. He could have any girl he wanted.
Grethel lived with his mom and his younger brother in a modest house near our school and workplace, while I lived in a distant suburb. Whenever we had a long break between classes or shifts, he would invite me to his place to hang out. He said it was more convenient and comfortable than staying at the library or the cafeteria.
I always accepted his invitation, secretly hoping to spend more time with him. His house was cozy and warm, with family photos and souvenirs on the walls. He had a couch, a TV, a fridge, and a microwave in the living room, and a bunk bed, a desk, and a closet in his bedroom. He also had a spare room, where his brother Josh would stay whenever he visited.
Grethel and I had an awkward friendship at first, but we soon became closer. He would tease me, make me laugh, and share his thoughts and feelings with me. He would also play video games with me, or watch movies with me, or cook for me. He was the best friend I ever had, and I wished he was more.
One day, he asked me if I wanted to go to his brother's movie premiere with him. He said he had two tickets, and he didn't want to go alone. He said it would be fun, and we could hang out afterwards. I agreed, feeling a surge of excitement and nervousness.
I spent hours getting ready, trying to look my best. I wore a simple but elegant dress, and did my hair and makeup. I hoped he would notice me, and maybe feel something for me.
He picked me up in his car, and he looked stunning. He wore a black suit and a tie, and his hair was styled. He smiled when he saw me, and complimented me on my appearance. He said I looked beautiful. I felt my cheeks flush, and thanked him.
We drove to the theater, where we were greeted by a crowd of fans and paparazzi. Grethel held my hand as we walked through the chaos, and I felt a thrill of being with him. He led me to the red carpet, where his brother was waiting.
Josh Gogh looked just like he did on the screen, only more handsome. He had a charming smile and a confident posture. He hugged Grethel, and then turned to me. He looked me over, and raised his eyebrows.
"Who's this?" he asked Grethel, with a hint of curiosity.
"This is my friend, Marie," Grethel introduced me. "She's my classmate and co-worker. We came here together."
"Friend, huh?" Josh said, looking at our intertwined hands. "Well, nice to meet you, Marie. You're very pretty. Are you a fan of my movies?"
I nodded, feeling a bit starstruck. "Yes, I am. I've seen all of them. You're a great actor."
"Thank you. That's very kind of you to say. You have good taste," he said, flashing a smile. "Well, I hope you enjoy the show. Come on, Grethel. Let's go inside. The movie is about to start."
He pulled Grethel away, leaving me behind. I followed them, feeling a bit awkward. I wondered what Josh meant by his words. Was he flirting with me? Did he like me? Did he know about my feelings for Grethel?
We entered the theater, where we were seated in the front row. Grethel sat next to me, and Josh sat next to him. The lights dimmed, and the movie began. It was a thriller, and it was intense. Josh was the star, and he stole every scene. The audience gasped and clapped, and I joined them.
But I couldn't help but glance at Grethel, who was watching the movie with a serious expression. He didn't gasp or clap, even at the most shocking moments. He seemed distant and distracted, as if he was thinking about something else.
I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but I didn't want to disturb him. I decided to wait until the movie was over, and then talk to him. Maybe he would open up to me, and maybe I would find the courage to confess my feelings.
But as the movie ended, and the credits rolled, Josh stood up and grabbed Grethel's arm. He said he had to go to the after-party, and he wanted Grethel to come with him. He said he had something important to tell him, something that would change his life.
He didn't even look at me, or say goodbye. He just dragged Grethel out of the theater, leaving me alone. I felt a pang of hurt and confusion, wondering what Josh had to say to Grethel, and why he didn't care about me.
I got up, and walked out of the theater. I looked for Grethel's car, but I couldn't find it. I realized he had left with Josh, and he had forgotten about me. I felt tears sting my eyes, and I cursed myself for being so stupid.
I hailed a taxi, and gave the driver my address. I sat in the back seat, feeling miserable and hopeless. I wondered if Grethel would ever call me, or text me, or apologize. I wondered if he would ever know how I felt, or if he felt the same.
I wondered if I would ever see him again.
I remembered the last time I saw him, before the premiere. It was the day before, and we had a long break between our classes. He invited me to his place, as usual. I agreed, as usual.
We went to his house, and he made us some sandwiches. We ate them in the living room, while watching a sitcom on TV. We laughed at the jokes, and commented on the characters. We were having a good time, as usual.
Then he suggested we play some video games. He said he had a new game that he wanted to try. I agreed, as usual. We went to his bedroom, where he had his console and his TV. He turned on the game, and handed me a controller.
We played for a while, and it was fun. The game was a racing game, and we competed against each other. He was better than me, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed his company, as usual.
Then I felt tired, and I yawned. He noticed, and asked me if I wanted to take a nap. He said I could use his bed, and he would use the couch. I agreed, as usual.
He gave me a pillow and a blanket, and told me to make myself comfortable. He said he would wake me up when it was time to go. I thanked him, and lay down on his bed. He left the room, and closed the door.
I closed my eyes, and breathed in his scent. His bed smelled like him, and it made me feel warm and cozy. I cuddled with his pillow, and imagined it was him. I fell asleep, as usual.
I woke up, and opened my eyes. I saw him, and I smiled. He was lying on the lower bunk, playing video games. He didn't notice me, and he was focused on the screen. He looked cute, and I felt happy.
I got up, and climbed down from the upper bunk. I walked over to him, and tapped his shoulder. He turned around, and saw me. He smiled, and paused the game.
"Hey, sleepyhead. How was your nap?" he asked me.
"It was good. Thanks for letting me use your bed," I said.
"No problem. You looked tired. Did you have a good dream?" he asked.
I nodded, and lied. "Yeah, I did."
I didn't tell him that I dreamed of him. I didn't tell him that I loved him. I didn't tell him that I wanted to be more than friends.
I didn't tell him, as usual. ```

Platform(s): Nintendo DS
Genre: Horror
Estimated year of release: Early 2010's
Graphics/art style: Gloomy/Dark, 2D, Top-Down, Pixelated. It sorta similar to this random game I found while searching called My Big Sister
Notable characters: I think I remember a girl that resembles Sadako from The Ring, not entirely sure
Notable gameplay mechanics: I'm pretty sure you were getting chased around by some monster girl on a variety of maps. I think I remember that maps consisting entirely of 90 degree turns. You had to pick up items while trying to escape some way.
Other details: I feel like I remember a loud scream of a woman that plays throughout the game, and might have also played when you started the game. I'm pretty sure there was loud music that played when you were getting chased. The only map I can remember was a hedge maze.
Edit: I just remembered that I'm pretty sure there was a crowbar involved that you had to use to open a grate in the ground. And also colored keycards might have been involved.

Ok here's the deal.. and this is 150% TRUTH!! I was shopping at Gabe's clothing store as I got to the VERY back corner of the store to the clearance shoe section, I saw a pocket book sitting in the floor beside the bench where ya try on shoes, so I obviously glance around to look for a woman near by and saw NOBODY. The next thing I did was bend down pick it up and sat it in the front of my buggy right beside my purse, and I then did like I thought any decent person would without hesitation, I turned and started walking to the VERY front of the store where ALL their employees were standing at the registers, which are lined across the front of store. I didn't look shady, I wasn't acting nervous, and was not trying to sprint to the door! I walked normal heck even stopped for a second and looked at a few more items as I walked to the front. I was simply trying to make my way to an employee of Gabe's so i could give them the pocket book and inform them someone had left it back the shoe section probably trying on shoes and sat it in the floor when they sat on that bench I spoke of, and left the purse sitting in the floor. I am seen clear as day on the stores camera doing EXACTLY like I have described to you all. Here's where my world goes all to hell though.. Before I could even get to an employee or the registers, two officers came in and walked straight to me (still don't understand how) and they treated me like a dang criminal not letting me even tell them I was on the way to give it to the employees at the registers, they were very mean and cuffed me right there in front of everyone, then dumped my purse out, for what reason I have no clue, then of course found nothing illegal considering I am not a criminal, and they made me leave the buggy and walked me outside. We got out there and it's dark but i over hear them talking to the owner of the purse that I tried to turn in so nobody would take it. I didn't know this at first because I never looked in her purse but she had like 600.00 and a bunch of change and credit cards. She laid everything on the hood of the car made sure all was there, oh she also had a prescription for xanax in her purse, so she counted them and they were all there. She then looked over at me and thanked me so much and apoligized the cops were doing me like they were. So that alone says I DID NOT STEAL ANYTHING RIGHT? Huh, you would think.. well she got to go home and get out of the cold, while now the cops have me standing at the hood of the police car and they are going through my purse again. WHY!!! The lady just jumped for joy while thanking me for trying to turn her bag in and therefore protecting all her money and meds, so what the hell were they doing that to me again! I had my own money and its ironic but I also had my prescription for xanax. Kinda crazy ya know it lol! Anyway, I had nothing at all illegal and as I have mentioned I STOLE NOTHING AND WOULD YOU NOT THINK THAT THE COPS SHOULD KNOW THAT BY THIS POINT? I was starting to think they would take the cuffs off any minute now, but instead they shove me into the back of the cop car!!! FOR FREAKING WHAT!? I HAD NOT COMMITTED A DANG CRIME OR EVEN CAME CLOSE TO BREAKING THE LAW!!! Of course I start crying not because I am sad or scared but I was PISSED AT THAT POINT! To make it even worse, I had my 22 year old applehead chihuahua with me and I begged them to let him just sit there for like 15 min max it was Oct. so not too hot, and my fiance was going to hurry and pick him up with my car, they would not even do that for me.Instead they took him to the freaking pound!!! And even when I bonded out I had to leave my baby in there all night long. Just don't forget, I HAD NOT BROKEN A SINGLE LAW AND WAS PUT THROUGH ALL THIS CRAP! So to shorten this up sorry my fiance had to leave his job and spend 300 bucks to bond me out from being arrested for what!!! Hell the bondsman didn't know why i was even there! They left me sitting in booking probably because it was all bs, and made no sense! I had never ever been in any trouble my whole life. I just finished the medical billing and coding program through Penn Foster, and I was sick when I finally found out what they were trying to charge me with.. THEFT UNDER 1000.00 AND SIMPLE POSSESSION/CASUAL EXCHANGE!!!! Is that not so messed up? I didn't steal anything so how the hell can they do this to me and a dang drug charge! I AM BEING CHARGED WITH THE POSSESSION FOR THE PRESCRIPTION THE STRANGER LADY HAD IN HER FREAKING PURSE WTF and IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW CASUAL EXCHANGE IS A DRUG DEAL!!! HOW THE HELL IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? So now we are out the 300 bucks, 2500.00 for a lawyer that has not talked to me once outside of court, and court costs that will be outrageous! WHAT REALLY RIPS MY HEART OUT IS IF I CAN'T BEAT THESE BOGUS CHARGES ON JUNE 10 IT WILL SCREW ME OUT OF MY BRAND NEW CAREER THAT WAS ABOUT TO START. I WON'T GET A JOB IN THE MEDICAL FIELD WITH A THEFT AND DRUG CHARGE. This is all true not blown out of proportion at all and it is so unfair. My step dad is a cop in that county and my mother works for the sheriff himself who is best friends with my step dad and they don't like me and make my life hard every chance they can. So of course mother got into my business which should not be allowed and ran straight to my son, who I had finally started rebuilding a relationship with which made her mad, she told him I stole from someone and made a drug deal so he has not spoken to me since october and will not let me come to my only childs graduation this year and get to see my baby boy walk across the stage all because my mother ran her mouth to my child. I need advice on if and how I can maybe sue them for defamation or slander and get order of protection because this has went on for over ten years with her. She has broken laws etc and used the fact that step dad is a cop and they have went on motorcycle rides to Sturgis etc with the one and only judge who happens to be over EVERY case I have went through because of them. They took my little girl before we were even discharged from the hospital and she forged my name on the birth certificate. I can go on for days and have paper documents to prove every single thing I just don't know what to do about it. Most importantly I NEED HELP OR ADVICE VERY BADLY ABOUT THE POLICE TRYING TO STICK ME WITH COMPLETELY BULL CRAP CHARGES THAT WILL END MY CAREER BEFORE I EVEN GET TO BEGIN AND ALL THE HARD WORK IN SCHOOL WILL BE FOR NOTHING. I AM ALL TO HELL. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME
S

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Chapter 15: For What You’ve Tamed
“We’ve come a long way, Vikri. Let’s finish your story,” Rayner said as he sat down in the same chair, crossing his legs in the same way.; small consistencies that made the task of talking about my past seem a little more routine. “I understand you lost someone important to you that day.”
I shifted slightly where I sat. “Yeah,” I answered coarsely. I grabbed at the poncho hanging over my shoulders. I remembered what it felt like in my dreams. Radiant warmth always seemed to emanate from it. Not necessarily the poncho itself, but Tenga’s memory. I realized that as long as I had those, then he was still here in a way. I’d much rather have him here than his memory though.
Rayner nodded. “I know what that’s like,” he said in a near whisper.
I shook my head. “It’s not just that I lost him. I…I failed,” I rasped. “I could’ve saved him. Maybe if I’d gone back I could’ve gotten the equipment before the fire did. I was too afraid.”
Rayner nodded slowly. “And now you feel responsible.”
I remained silent as I clutched my tail on the couch beside me. Rayner already knew the answer. He pursed his lips. “Yeah…I know exactly how that feels.”
I looked up at him. For the first time, his eyes weren’t on me, but on the adjacent wall as he seemed to ponder something. “You think about all the things you could have done differently. Things that are so obvious in hindsight,” he sighed and adjusted his glasses. “If only it were that clear in the moment.” He looked up at me, clasping his hands together. “So walk me through what happened.”
I could still vividly remember the moment Tenga got shot. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. So quickly in fact, that it even took Tenga a moment to realize there was a hole in his torso. Minutes of continuous tension shattered with a hail of gunfire lasting less than a second. The echoes continued to howl through the mountains long after the bodies met the snow. My friend was fatally wounded, the snow around him dyed bright red with his blood. And I had to leave him.
The entire time I was in the belly of the federation destroyer with danger lurking around every corner, all I wanted to do was to get this done as quickly as possible and get back to him. I was enraged that they’d done this to him and to billions just like him.
“Tenga was all I thought about the entire time,” I croaked. “And I…I was willing to kill everyone onboard to get back to him, even if there was no way I ever could. I… did things I could never have imagined myself doing even just days ago. I tore a chunk out of my leg just to be able to get to the Krakotl pinning me down with a crowbar.” I inhaled deeply, staring down at my reflection in the water, recalling my bloodshot eyes in the reflection of the ship's monitor. The grimly colorful bloodstains in my fur from several different species.
Rayner nodded. “It was a desperate situation. Many don’t see themselves doing things like that until they’re put in a situation where it's necessary. A situation where it's do or die. No one can fault you for that, especially not with all that depended on you.”
“I guess I just…It’s just worrying knowing that there’s a part of me capable of that.”
The doctor tapped his pen on his notepad as he seemed to think for a moment. “Do you worry that you may have violent outbursts?”
I scoffed. “Well, the events of a few days ago provided good grounds for worry.”
Rayner nodded. “Aggression is common for PTSD victims. It can be difficult to manage intense emotions when your mind is already dealing with so much.
I shook my head. “That’s not the person I want to be.”
Rayner nodded. “I know Vikri. That’s why it's so crucial for you to talk about this stuff. The less all of this weighs on you, the better you’ll be able to control those emotions when they arise.”
He finished writing on his notepad before taking off his glasses and leaning forward slightly. “So what happened to Tenga?”
The question made my heart sink. My mind went quiet. The second hand of time sounded like the footsteps of a giant marching toward…something. My body seemed to go cold and numb. “He died…” I croaked, staring down at the table. That was the first time I’d admitted that to myself verbally in such a direct way. “And I tried so hard,” I choked, tears now streaming down my face. “I did everything in my power to save him. I even put Querek’s life in danger.”
I felt the heat. I could feel cold water dripping from my paws as the burning ship melted the frost accumulating in my fur. I remembered the terrifying hopelessness that gripped me as I gripped Querek and pushed him into the snow. He tried to sacrifice himself for Tenga. What if I had let him? Would it have even worked? Could Tenga accept that?
I recalled the story to Rayner, battling to keep my composure. “I…I watched him die,” I choked. “And I was furious. Reese had to pull me off of him. I wanted to do…something, anything, but…he told them not to bring him back. I think he…” I winced at the thought of him considering this. “I think he’d rather have died sacrificing himself over…going rabid.”
Silence perforated the room for what felt like several long minutes. Rayner sat with his legs crossed, his hand propped up against his mouth. He seemed to become lost in thought for a moment before speaking. “I know how that guilt feels,” he admitted quietly.
I looked at him, somewhat surprised. “You do?”
Rayner nodded, rubbing his hands together. “My son,” he said plainly, taking a long pause before he continued. “He and Jesse were very close as kids. Practically brothers.” He tapped on his clipboard with his pen. “I was…not so available in those days. I was a very different man than I am now. I was still in school. I was always busy, always stressed. I hadn't even considered becoming a therapist. I was deadset on becoming a neurosurgeon.” He scoffed at himself, his head gently shaking back and forth as his gaze grew distant. His delivery lacked that matter-of-fact candor I was so used to by now. He was much quieter; less animated. His eye contact was sporadic and he never stopped fidgeting with his pen. Everything about him seemed suddenly mired in an emotion that was difficult to read. That was when I saw everything we'd done over the past few days for what it really was. Rayner wasn't invincible. He never claimed to be. He was hurt; I could hear it in his voice. He wasn't a person reaching down into the mud and yanking me out by the nape of the neck. He was man covered in mud himself. He wasn't an untouchable hero. Merely a guide.
He continued as that realization struck me. “I loved him as much as a father could. But I was so busy that…well I wasn't there as much as I'd like to have been. That put a big strain on our relationship.” He removed his glasses and wiped the lenses a few times before he continued. “One night we got into an argument. He’d just gotten his license. He had an old beat-up car I'd bought him for his birthday,” he chuffed. “A teen’s first car is always…eccentric. Thought it was a great deal at the time.” He sighed and nodded slightly before continuing. “He left the house enraged, speeding down the road. After a few miles, he lost control, swerved off the road, and hit a tree head-on. The airbag never deployed. The car crumpled like a soda can.”
I stared at him, speechless as he concluded in a near-whisper. “He was declared dead at the scene.”
The room felt hollow for a few long seconds. I searched for a reply but couldn't fathom the right words to say. Fortunately, Rayner didn't stay silent for long. “Like you, I blamed myself for a long…long time.” He sighed. “And it nearly destroyed me.”
I stared at the floor, fidgeting with my tail. “How did you…overcome that?”
“Well it didn't happen overnight,” he replied, flashing a brief smile. “It takes time but, at some point, you have to carry on living. You have to continue loving.” His eyes creased slightly as he looked down at his own hands. “You have to keep loving,” he repeated in a low whisper.
Loud silence claimed the room again as his words sank in. He was right. It was either accept what happened or live like this forever. Looking at it that pragmatically, the choice seemed easy. Emotions are never so logical though. It wasn’t as if he relieved himself of that burden either, it was obvious he still carried it. It just…didn’t weigh as much now. Not because it got lighter, but because he got stronger. I eased into speaking again. “I…I'm sorry. About your son.”
Rayner nodded. “I'm sorry about your friend.”
We both stewed in silence for a minute before Rayner spoke up. “We’ll send you home today.”
“You…really think I’m ready?”
Rayner nodded slowly. “I think so. The medication seems to be working, you haven’t had any breakdowns since you’ve been here. You’ve gotten much better at discussing these things. I think you’re equipped to face this now.”
“...I’m afraid,” I croaked.
“Of what?” Rayner asked, leaning forward
“Of…seeing Lucky again. I'm doubting whether I even should. I was never prepared to be her master. I’m just a danger to her.”
“Vikri,” Rayner exhaled and leaned forward. “You made a mistake. We all do. But you have a responsibility to her. You should at least see her and face that mistake, or you’ll never have closure. What you decide after that is your choice, but I don’t think it’ll be as bad as you think.”
“I hope so,” I sighed.
Rayner clicked his pen and set his notepad aside. “We’ve made you some medication to take home, same stuff you've been taking. The plan is to keep lowering the dosage until you’re sleeping without it. We’ve made you some sheets with all the daily doses on them and when to take each one. It’s enough to last you two weeks, then once they’re out, you’ll come back here for another session, then if you need it, we’ll get you more and keep weaning you off them.”
He leaned forward, emphasizing his next words. “And I cannot recommend enough that you go to Jesse’s support group in between our meetings. Those will help you tremendously, I’m sure of it.”
I nodded. “I have his number. I’ll…I’ll give it a shot.”
“You won't regret it,” Rayner assured me. “Jesse was in the same chair as you not too long ago for similar reasons. He has knowledge from first-hand experience. I can vouch for him, he’s a great guy.” He inhaled. “Well, is there anything else Vikri? We won’t be seeing each other again for a while, so if there’s anything else, now’s the time to talk about it.”
I thought for a second. We’d covered almost everything. I’d never discussed those days in so much detail. It felt like being submerged in icy water. It was miserable at first, but over time it became easier, even comfortable. I’d relived so much pain over the last three days, but here at the end of the whole story, It felt less like a nightmare, and more like reality. “No, I don’t think so,” I finally replied.
“Then I’ll clear you to go home. Andrea is here, she’ll give you a ride, I’m sure. Here.” He reached over and handed me a small business card. “That has all my contact information on it. I’m usually here in my office until late at night, so feel free to call if you need anything. If the sedative gives you any issues at all, any side effects, make sure to call and let me know. We followed the recipe to a tee, but it’s wise to be cautious.”
A familiar silence flooded the room as Rayner and I seemed to, for the first time, have nothing left to say. Finally, the doctor spoke. “See you in two weeks, Vikri.”
///////////////////////////////
Golden strands of light danced between the digits of my paw as I moved it in front of the brilliant summer sun. An intense beacon of warmth floating in a sky as blue as Earth’s oceans. The rumble of Andy’s car occupied the air as we cruised down the highway. Vivri was sound asleep in the backseat. The gentle white noise and vibration seemed to knock her out cold. I watched the sunrays dance as I waved my paw in front of me, before turning it around. Several spots on my paw still had obvious scars. I even still had burn scars from the electrical systems aboard the crumbling Cardinal.
I curled my paw closed into a fist and rested my head against it, watching the lush, green mountains pass by in the distance. After three days I was set loose into the world once again, hopefully better armed than I was before. Even after all the weight I doffed from my shoulders in Rayner’s office, a crushing mass still rested on my chest. Lucky.
The weight only became heavier as the car slowed, and rounded a corner into the parking lot of a large animal hospital. Andy gently brought the car to a stop in a parking space in front of the entrance. Occasionally people would walk in and out with their pets, many of which were dogs on leashes.
Vivri stirred awake after we stopped. “Oh…We’re here,” she muttered nervously. “There’s…a lot more animals here than I was expecting.”
Andy chuckled. “It’s an animal hospital girl, there’s gonna be all kinds of critters here.”
I turned around to face her. “You don’t have to go in there. You and Andy can wait here.”
Andy scoffed. “You might wanna tell Rayner they screwed up those meds, ‘cause you’re delusional if you think I’m letting you go in there by yourself.”
“Well I don’t want her to be alone out here,” I argued.
“I’ll go in, just…stay close, please?” Vivri interjected.
I looked back at her, ears tilted. She was dead serious. I sighed and shook my head. “This is gonna be a disaster,” I groaned.
Andy opened her door. “I’ll wait with her in the lobby, you go talk to the vets. It’ll be fine.”
I looked back at Vivri one last time as Andy stepped out. “Alright, just stay away from the cats.” I opened my door and began stepping out into the summer air.
“C-cats?”
“Small felines. They're demons with mind control,” I replied just before closing the door.
Vivri scrambled out of the car and followed right on my heels. “Well don’t just leave me!” she squeaked.
I laughed. “I’m kidding. Well, mostly.”
Walking into the building, I realized that Lucky had been in a very similar place as me over the past three days. The lobby felt eerily similar to the one at the medical center. Everything went silent as Vivri and I walked in. Immediately I could feel dozens of eyes on us. Vivri hid close behind me as Andy gestured for me to follow her to the desk.
I doubted any of the humans there meant any harm, but dozens of binocular eyes snapping onto her in an instant had Vivri more unsettled than she already was. It didn’t help that several dogs were either on leashes or in carriers in the lobby, which were no doubt just as curious. I grabbed Viv’s paw. “They don't see many Venlil,” I whispered. “Just ignore them.”
I approached the desk with Vivri still hiding behind me. “E-excuse me?” I stuttered. The woman at the desk looked up, clearly caught off guard by two venlil standing before her. “O-oh! Excuse me, you must be Lucky’s owner, right?”
“Yeah. Vikri.” I could feel Vivri shivering behind me.
“I’ll let Doctor Gavin know you’re here.”
“Thanks,” I muttered before turning to Vivri. “Are you sure about this?” I whispered.
“Of course! It’s just for a few minutes, right?” Her body language gave an entirely different answer. She seemed like she might faint at any moment.
I looked up at Andy. “Keep her close, would you?”
Andy wrapped her arms over Viv’s shoulders. “Of course. I’ll keep little Vivi safe from all the big, bad puppy dogs and mean kitties,” she said in baby speak, twisting her side to side. She giggled. “We’ll be fine.” Her tone suddenly shifted as she locked eyes with me. “Will you?”
I stood there in silence for a moment. This entire time my heart felt unbearably heavy. Standing there, I felt nauseous. So much so that I made it a point to know exactly where the bathroom was when I walked in. The weight on my chest made breathing a laborious task. I heaved in a deep breath. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in there but…I have to do this. For both of us.”
Andy exhaled and nodded, seemingly just as nervous for me. Right on cue, the door at the back of the room opened with a heavy click. “Vikri?” a male voice called out. An older gentleman in burgundy scrubs surveyed the room. It didn’t take long for him to find me. He nodded toward me as he adjusted his glasses. “Right this way, please.”
“We’ll be right here,” Andy whispered, her hands still resting around Viv’s shoulders, who agreed with a tail flick.
I nodded and walked toward the man, leaving the cozy waiting room behind, and entering a long, sterile hallway. The doctor’s shoes clicked against the tile as he walked just in front of me. The weight bearing down on my chest only got heavier with each step. After a few agonizing seconds, the man finally spoke up as he stopped outside a door. “I’m Doctor Gavin,” he said breathily, extending a hand. “I performed Lucky’s surgery.”
I took his hand with my paw, which he could no doubt tell was trembling by this point. “Vikri,” I choked. “S-so…How is she?”
“She’s good,” Gavin answered in a higher pitch. “She’s recovering remarkably fast. Really lived up to her name.” He opened the door and stepped through into a kennel area as he continued. “The bullet hit one of her ribs and shattered. A couple of fragments pierced her lung, one of them was just inches from her heart. There’re still a few very small ones lodged in her tissue, but we’d be doing more harm than good by trying to remove them. They shouldn’t cause any issues and come out on their own after some time, but we’ll keep track of them with x-rays.”
As he spoke we passed by kennels, some empty, some with dogs that barked or jumped up on the cage as we passed. I scoured each one for Lucky, my dread building with each one we passed. Suddenly, the doctor stopped in front of me. He inhaled deeply. “I should mention…Given the…circumstances of how she got these injuries, me and some staff will stay with you just in case she becomes aggressive. That’s not to say that I think she will,” he added hastily, “she’s been great with everyone here but…you know, just to be safe.”
“I get it,” I breathed. It made sense. If Lucky attacked me, it would be far more deadly than it would be for a human. And I was confident even a human wouldn’t last long against a half-wolf her size. Fittingly, a group of four humans were gathered at the end of the hallway, catchers in hand.
Time seemed to slow as I approached the pen. The staff members all looked over at me with the same anxious expression. I felt like a prisoner walking toward my judgment, and that perhaps it was me that belonged behind these cages. I swallowed and took a long, slow breath as Gavin opened the gate. He walked in ahead of me. “Hey there big girl,” he said in a chipper tone. I heard the familiar thumping of Lucky’s tail against the floor. Gavin chuckled to himself as the remaining four staff calmly and quietly filed into the pen. Once they were all inside, the final human leaned around the corner, looked me in the eyes for a long second, and nodded once.
A new reality awaited around that corner. My sentence was about to be read. It felt so cripplingly helpless; wanting so desperately to finally be reunited with my best friend, yet trembling at the thought of rounding a corner to run face-first into the consequences of my actions. I steeled myself one last time. I nodded back at the catcher and took slow, deliberate steps toward him. I finally rounded the corner, and for the first time since the incident, I saw Lucky.
She lay on a large, fabric bed, with food and water bowls close by. Her right front leg was bound in a cast, tied up close to her body. A large patch of fur had been shaved away around her chest and halfway up her neck. She seemed thinner than I remembered. It reminded me of the scared, hungry pup I’d met so long ago.
Her eyes tracked onto mine instantly, and I felt an ache that defied all imagination. The same gaze that would send almost any other Venlil scrambling down the hallway instead gripped some inner part of me in a cold, numb stasis. I couldn’t move. Part of me wanted to run to her and spill out how sorry I was. Another wanted to curl up on the floor right there and sob, returning to that familiar numbness that seemed akin to the ancient enemy of life itself. The cold. That bitterness that pierced through fur, through flesh, through bones, and any ideal held by the naive child that sat next to Tenga’s corpse that day. It ran through until there was nothing left.
Then, I felt a warmth as if someone had draped a blanket over me. I gripped my poncho around my shoulders, grabbing it tightly. I made a quiet promise to myself there and then. Not a promise to my sister, or my parents, or Andrea. Me. I wouldn’t lie down in the cold. Never again. One more hill.
“Hey Lucky,” I said, my voice coarse and breaking every syllable.
The silence was abruptly broken as Lucky, though seemingly frail, shot to her feet. Everyone in the room shifted, prepared for the worst. I didn’t dare move, but I could feel my heart pounding in my legs, my body preparing to bolt. The staff watched her carefully, their grip slightly tightened around their polls. Lucky made no sounds, only stared at me, her nostrils flaring as she gathered my scent. Her right front leg was useless, immobilized against her body. She shifted her footing to steady herself. Then I saw something that replaced fear with tears. She was shaking like a leaf, never taking her eyes off me. She could care less about the others. She was scared. Of me.
I felt myself fall off a ledge in a sensation I’d become all too familiar with over the last few weeks. Tears streamed down my face, my breath hitching as I brought my paws up to my face. I fell to my knees, the presence of the staff had become irrelevant. “I’m…I’m sorry,” I exhaled between gasps. “I’m so sorry.”
So there it was. My new reality. It wasn’t what I’d hoped for, but it was what I expected. I didn’t know what I’d do then, and I didn’t know now. Could I go on without Lucky? She was the one fortress in the turbulent seas of my broken mind. She was the one I could always count on. The one that I knew would always be there, no matter what. Now I was convinced she was terrified of me.
I sat there a shattered mess for a long moment, tumbling off that cliff and reaching out for anything to catch myself, but found nothing but jagged stones. I felt a hand on my shoulder, Doctor Gavin attempting to comfort me, I assumed. Until I felt something touch my knee. I looked up, thrown out of the spiral abruptly. Lucky was now just in front of me, licking my leg. I froze, confused. She gently laid down, careful of her bandaged leg as she rested her head on my leg, looking up at me. That was the same leg she’d broken months ago. Finally, I got it. “I hurt you, and you still loved me.”
A wave of relief rushed through me and I looked down at her, eyes glossy with tears. I bent down and rested my head against hers. I laughed, though it sounded more like a sob. For the first time in days, I felt whole again.
Lucky still loved me.
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First up your ethics don't matter but I'm partial to fanatic authoritarian personally, second ethic REALLY doesn't matter but xenophile, militarist, xenophobe and pacifist are all hot contenders.
Second of all you're gonna wanna be Overtuned. Start with Thrifty + the new Commercial Genius overtuned trait. You're gonna wanna stay quite small early and if you can spawn in a secluded cluster with one chokepoint, GOOD, because the early game is all about staying small and quiet and minding your own business.
Now I know what you're thinking, Merchant Guilds, right? No, you're gonna need a lot of stability for what comes next, and you're gonna be swimming in nobles before you know it - It's thematic with the ascension you're going to go for, so for stylepoints, influencing draw weights and stability, go Aristocratic Elite and whatever second civic you like - I go Oppressive Autocracy because I'm a fucking gremlin.
Early game, unity rush, homeworld is half labs, half administrative offices, grab a trade world and a factory world. Civilian Economy, obviously, and buy your minerals and rely on space mining/arc furnaces as best you can. Go Marketplace of Ideas instead of the usual Consumer Benefits, so you can grab cybernetic as fast as humanly possible and immediately grind it out and rush Imperial Chipset advanced authority at the end. Once you've got cybernetic all done you can switch to consumer benefits and reform that factory world into a sorely needed forge world.
Now immediately engineer your species to be as short-lived as possible. Grab all three -30 year lifespan traits and focus on border defense as you cook. Set the game to very fast and remain inwardly focused while you blitz through as many governor rulers as possible - Aristocratic Elite and Imperial government will give you a high weight for your heirs to be governors, which is what you want, but even if you roll 'bad' and get a scientist or commander, the permanent buffs from them are still great and you'll wanna catch 'em all eventually. You can't lose!
Grab as many mechanical pop trait points as you can and just keep diminishing the life expectancy of your squabbling noble houses so they don't even have time to plot against eachother, they barely have time to make a decree before they're toast.
Rush orbital rings and get a noble estate on every ring and before you know it you'll have 6-8 nobles on your worlds + 2 politicians + whatever other ruler adding buildings you might have provide.
Once you've sufficiently stacked your chipset, engineer your burned out species into something actually effective and start buying those lifespan techs that you're probably sorely behind on.
Congrats, you're now free to reform your civics into whatever you want, pick great traits and reformat your empire into something sensible, but with +25% resources from all jobs, +25% research speed and +25% damage on ships.
Can it be abused better? More minmaxy? Sure. Cook up a more minmaxed rush variant of this, I'll be over here in my tophat and monocle laughing all the way to the bank, only to die in transit.
This post brought to you by the Stellaris Nobility.

Edit: What Prompted me to ask what other people think, is that other teachers I have asked, have shared a similar experience. Very frustrated with adult students unable to perform basic musical tasks.
I am a music teacher. I love my job apart from one thing. Teaching adults. Seeing full grown adult human beings with full time jobs, degrees, and somehow unable to count to 4 in even intervals... Makes my skin crawl.
For some context, I'm not some prodigy musician. I'm fuckin average AT BEST. I play guitar, bass, drums, keys, vox, and can work a recording/live sound booth. I have solid fundamentals with no issues, and a decent grasp around music theory essentials. Overall I have largely taught myself pretty much all my instruments. In the beginning I learned guitar by just watching guitar covers on youtube and copying them. Before you could slow down videos I would bandicam them and slow it down in windows movie maker. Learned by hand. I hated tabs, and had no issue learning things like smoke on the water, or tnt, or welcome to paradise from one of my older cousins. So my 10 year old brain said that youtube was definitely the most efficient route. Anyway fast forward a couple years my parents said I earned lessons (I had quit most of my other vocations they provided), and I had proved I could stick with a hobby. Learned how to solo, improv with logic, write songs even. Fun time, but at no point was it ever difficult. Yes it took time, that doesn't mean it was difficult to me. I never felt very frustrated, and there was never a moment I didn't understand what was going on. As opposed to every other area of my childhood like school; guitar and rock music was the only thing that naturally made complete and total sense the entire way thorough.
Now for my actual point; I do not understand how in some cases, after 20-50 years, someone could possibly be unable to clap their hands to an 80 bpm metronome. Unable to keep track of the frets when they have markers for every odd number. Going to blank spaces when I say frets like 5 or 7. Going to the completely opposite end of the guitar, and looking at me confused. It seriously baffles me. And I get it yes these people are paying me I should be grateful, but after a certain point... They have such a disconnection to music and art as a whole, that I no longer believe that everyone is capable of playing music. These adult students, feel like some of the dumbest people on the planet that I've ever met. They are completely incapable of even operating the instrument, to a capacity that would even allow them to learn. In some cases, like as if they've never even heard the song they know all the words to, and requested to learn on guitar or drums etc. It's like these people have no ears. I have always been of the opinion music is very primal. To me music, rhythm especially, sounds like english. I don't need to learn it, I've been hearing it so much since birth that I speak it. Every TV show, commercial, public school music class. To me music was literally, "let's just bang on shit and see what it sounds like." And then automatically realizing "oh nice if I put it in a pattern and play it an even number of times it's music, sweet." Yeah did I have to improve technique, learn how to make the sounds I was hearing over time, etc? Well yeah of course, but it was never hard. Each new technique, chord, what have you was a breeze. Maybe because music was so prevalent in the house? But then I remember, these people are also mentioning how important rock music was to the family home when they grew up. Now I'm back to square one. What could possibly be the difference between my dumbass, who failed algebra twice, and the dude working a 6 figure job twice my age?
I keep these opinions to myself, and have no struggles keeping private thoughts private in the moment. I am always positive with them, and never mention that I am floored by their inability to complete the task. I always put emphasis that if they don't understand something; it's on me to find a different angle to explain it. I have 3 adult students who do have their heads screwed on straight when it comes to this stuff. And they are able to learn to play. But at a certain point I don't know if I can help you, if it's going to take over a month to learn to clap your damn hands to the song you listen to every day.
I'm sorry if I sound like an asshole, but this is frustrating to no end. I even feel bad, these people have no chance at being able to play, and are still paying me. Taking it super slow, easy songs, seven nation army, smoke on the water, taylor swift, katy perry, whole notes, fucking whole notes?????? We can only go through this basic stuff so many times, and I think I've exhausted every method of explaining 4/4 and how to use your fingers one at a time. I don't know what to tell these people anymore.
Sidenote: The younglings are a different story because sometimes the parents force their kids to go when the kids aren't even interested. That's really no problem. I always focus on making it about music as a fun art form to consume and think about. Basic songs, no expectations, talking about music history, band recommendation's. The kids that are interested have no issue picking it up. Some are like the adults, where they can't keep a beat to save their life, but since they are young I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt they can still figure it out.

(Throw away cause I know she has a Reddit even if she never uses it.) This is gonna make me look like an absolutely horrible friend, but I haven’t been able to get it off my mind and need to dump it somewhere. Some backstory I (21F) did a seasonal job in a national park in 2021. I had just graduated hs, and didn’t want to start college in covid, but still wanted to try living alone, and I love the outdoors. I picked the national park I did because I have familial ties there. My mom and 2 of my aunts did summer jobs there when they were my age, we do a summer family reunion there every yeaevery other year, and my mom has joked about wanting her ashes spread there. My experience was mixed. I loved living there and living away from my parents, but the people I met there kinda fucking sucked. My roommate was chill, but my coworkers where mean, and I didnt really make any friends there, as well as getting homesick frequently. I loved my season and would maybe do it again, but it had it’s ups and downs. After my season, i made really close friends with 2 girls, we’ll say Jackie and Chloe. Jackie moved away last year and came back a few months ago, but the friendship hasn’t been the same since. Before Jackie moved away, I planned a camping trip to the park I worked at, to show them around and get to show it off a little bit. My friends loved the park, and it was a great trip. A little after the trip, and Chloe starts picking my brain about my time there. I tell her all about it. Then in January she tells me she applied and got a job in the same park, in the same location and department as I did 3 years ago. And I’m incredibly jealous and angry.
Why? 1st, Chloe knows nothing about the park, and only picked it because I had shown it to her. She still says multiple important names in the park wrong, even though I’ve tried correcting her. She has family in other parts of the state, closer to other parks, but never looked into working there even after I recommended them to her.
2nd. I cant go. I thought about joining her for months after knowing she applied, and decided I couldn’t go. I have since started college (including summer school to make up for the gap years) and cant drop everything to go. I also founded and run a community group and know that if I left, no one else would be available to run it.
I know I dont own the park, I dont own the experience of summer park jobs. I know this makes me a terrible friend, hence why I dont say this to her. But she has no connection to the park whatsoever, and I dont want her to come back thinking we’re the same and that she gets to have a connection to a place that genuinely means a lot to me. I dont want her copying my experience, and worse, having a better experience than I did. And it sucks knowing my irresponsible friend gets to galavant around, while I’m stuck being a responsible adult. She tends to be more outgoing than me, and it makes me angry that she’s likely gonna have a great time using all the advice I gave her (when she would listen to it) while I had to figure it all out alone. She’s also one of my only friends, and knowing how things with Jackie turned out, I’m afraid the friendship’s gonna absolutely die over the summer and once she gets back it wont be the same. The really really mean part of me wants her to not be able to cut it out there and come home early.
Tldr: my friend is doing the exact same job and summer experience I did 3 years ago, and I feel like she’s just copying my whole thing.

I got a bit busy with life, so this is a bit later than usual. As usual, spoilers are ahead, so read at your own risk.
We're finally at the last episode of season 1. I'll admit that it's my least favorite. The animation and audio are rough, the pacing is slow, and generally, the show was still trying to figure out what it wants to be. I will say, that this episode is my favorite of season 1. Anyways, we open with Strawberry leading us to Honey Pie's going away party. She's hyping up her vacation plans, eating all the treats the humans made her, and promising to bring marshmallows for everyone. Then we get the song where she continues hyping up her plans. I love how passive aggressive the song gets as it goes. They're obviously fed up with Honey and want her to get going. But then, as soon as she leaves, she injures her leg and can't go on her trip. She's forced to stay on Strawberry's couch. Honey is an absolute drama queen. Strawberry and crew try to take good care of her, but Honey is constantly complaining. Strawberry calls her out, but that doesn’t really stop her. Her friends threaten to leave, but then Strawberry has an idea that they need to entertain Honey, and that she's only complaining bc she's bored. (Side note: Strawberry is reeeeallly patient here. I'm not sure most people would be this patient, but then again, Strawberry is not like most people). Then Huck remembers there's a magician performing nearby, and he gets the idea to catch him. My headcanon is that he was mainly using the magician as an excuse to leave. Then, we get the musical number about imagination, which is cute. After that, the girls brainstorm activities, but Honey shoots them all down. Meanwhile, Huck falls off his skateboard en route to find the magician (which, side note: in real life, that fall would have hurt really bad). Honey reminisces on times she was bored, which are stories she's told the humans a million times. That gives Strawberry an idea to tell stories. Strawberry tells her story about ending a drought by getting a cloud to cry tears of joy, featuring a gopher with a weird voice and a bird that sounds like Rainbow Sherbet (same voice actress?). When I first rewatched that scene with the cloud, it unlocked that core memory of watching this episode as a little girl. Also, that magic creek where you can wish for different beverages would be so epic to have in real life. Anyways, after that, we go into the third musical number, which is an earworm. Honey admits that she knocked puppet shows until she tried them, and so Orange does one about a dream she had. Then we cut to Huck in the city trying to find the magician, but a gingerbread man breaks the news that he was too late. Then, Huck sees the box of magic supplies. After that, we're back at Strawberry's house, and Orange just finished her puppet show. Similar to the pilot, her time to shine gets cut tragically short, since we don't get the rest of her story. Anyway, Ginger tells the story of when she ran out of chocolate chips. We find out that she is an emotional eater (relatable, lmao), when a chocolate bunny told her not to eat the furniture. Then, said bunny leads her to a pot of chocolate coins at the end of a rainbow. Since Ginger didn't know about this pot of gold, I have to wonder, how did she acquire chocolate chips before? Then, Angel Cake tells the story of how she improvised when she ran out of food coloring. At first she tried to pick rose petals, blueberries, and grass to dye her white icing (which would be considered unsanitary in the real world), but the texture is all wrong. Then, she finds Spongecake forest, and now that's where she gets her food coloring. This story has a similar vibe to Ginger's where she's run out of an ingredient, but Angel's story doesn't have the plothole that Ginger's had. I got the sense that Angel didn't have time to go acquire food coloring the way she normally does, and that's why she went exploring, as opposed to Ginger, who made a false assumption about where she could find what she was looking for. Anyway, Apple is insistent on hearing more stories (so that she doesn't have to go to bed), and so Honey tells one of her own. Then Strawberry checks outside (maybe she had a strange feeling?), and finds Huck practicing tricks in the bushes. He comes clean that he couldn't get the magician, and Strawberry reassures him. I feel like this is one of those scenes that Struckleberry shippers point to, since they're alone and it is a sweet moment. I'm not the biggest Struckleberry shipper. Aside from the fact that they are kids, I don't like the idea that the token boy just ends up with the leading lady. If I were to ship him with anyone, it would be Orange, since I've seen some moments between them in multiple episodes. Anyway, enough about ships, Huck attempts a card trick, but fails. At the girls' insistence, he tries another trick. He asks if anyone has a hat, to which Orange hands him the magician hat (ironic considering every human except Orange was wearing a hat). The trick is successful. Soon after, Honey realizes that her leg is better. The next day, she leaves for her trip, but it turns out, she's sick and can't go. This time, she's more accepting of her reality, since she's learned to look on the bright side, just like Strawberry was telling her earlier. Then we get the last song, which sums up the lesson that Honey has learned. As I said, this is my favorite season 1 episode. It still has some of the issues that season 1 eps have, but it has a lot of good qualities too.
Comment your thoughts below!

This is gonna be a long one because I have so much shit to say and keeping it all in makes me wanna hurt myself. I don't even know how to lay this all but here it goes. I'm in love with a married woman that has told me she loves me too, but I fear is just using me for sex and attention due to her marital issues.
Me and C (25F) met at work around 9 months and she was actually my boss before I left the job. I had just started working again after suffering from long covid, and even now am not completely better and mainly deal with the neuro-psychiatric symptoms such as bouts of psychosis, anhedonia, severe depression, night terrors, tinnitus, genital numbness and loss of libido, aphantasia, etc. Prior to this I had already been diagnosed with bipolar, ADHD, and mild autism, but was able to manage these things throughout my life with a healthy lifestyle. By the time I met her though, I was not and still am not stable in the slightest, and you'll realize why this is important.
When I first arrived back at work I immediately met C (25F) as she was the new director at the daycare I had gotten rehired at after being away for many months due to school, and she was the one who rehired me. I thought she was nice at first and acknowledged that she was attractive, but that was the extent of my thoughts on her. She's a married woman with 3 kids. My sickness and mental issues could not fathom the idea of dating, much less initiating anything with a married woman, which is something I wouldn't even fathom to do prior to my sickness. At this point I had spent the previous 6 months or so in isolation, away from my friends, having left school, and fighting to not kill myself everyday because of how bad my condition felt. So yeah, dating and people in general wasn't really something I cared to do.
Anyways, as I started working more I realized how much I'd changed since pre-covid me and how difficult things were now. I'd get fatigued easily, have mental fog, and the worst of it was panic attacks from the over-stimulation working around kids. My coworkers would get annoyed at me and my mistakes, as I didn't tell anyone about my condition outside of that I'd gotten very sick in the past, so me and them would argue and get into it. It felt like hell going to work so one night I flat out tried to quit and told the manager there I couldn't do it anymore and was leaving. She called C who showed up and pulled me aside to talk outside. I then proceeded to break down and explained to her every last detail of my condition and all of what I was experiencing, without holding anything back. Instead of agreeing that I was unfit to work however, she actually listened for a long time and offered input that was actually helpful. She told me she could start scheduling me more with her, and that way if I got overwhelmed at work she understands my situation and could give me some leeway, not expect so much of me. I appreciated that a lot and agreed to stay on as long as she didn't expect me to be great or anything.
From there on out, me and C became close friends. She started texting me more right after that night, and we started working a lot more together. We talked a lot and she made me feel comfortable, but she also flirted a fuckton even before I opened up to her about my issues. Well, I thought that's something she'd stop after I told her about my broken dick and slew of other issues that could warrant me being put in a mental asylum, but she didn't. She just picked it up even more. I also thought for a while she was bored and wanted to play around with me since I clearly wasn't looking to get into anything, so eventually I just started returning the energy and flirting back. Fuck it is what I said to myself.
Well, after work one night I was walking her to her car and gave her a hug goodbye, and this is when she leaned into kiss me. This was 5 months ago. It actually felt really good because I hadn't been with a girl since my ex before I got sick, a good 8 or 9 months prior to this happening, but I was also like what the fuck. I questioned her on it and was like hey don't you have a husband and she was like yeah but I needed to kiss you idk why. I was like ok I won't tell anyone but yeah lets just chill and not do all that yk. Well it obviously didn't stop there because she started texting me even more and we ended up kissing again, and again, and again. I felt guilty everytime but I couldn't help myself. I presented the most broken version of myself to her and somehow she was still attracted and made me feel comfortable which is something I'd been missing. No one in my life validated my illness or showed me the slightest of empathy except for her. So safe to say she reeled me in with my own vulnerability, as I know a healthy version of myself wouldn't have allowed this to go on. I started thinking about her constantly and couldn't stop obsessing.
The guilt of it happening ate up at me, but the fear of me getting attached to someone whos married and could never reciprocate what I wanted and needed from a partner ate up at me even more. I wanted to break the attachment, so at the end of February I quit the job and said i was moving onto another gig. After this me and C didn't contact each other for sometime, but she called me after a week asking to hang out. If I'm being honest, I'd been missing her badly that whole week and straight up felt like a drug addict going through withdrawal. I couldn't help myself and agreed. From there, i started going over to her place while her husband would work overnight to have sex and chill. My dick was starting work more at this point, and even though I couldn't feel much pleasure there i could get erect again, so I took advantage with her. She's told me she loves me and acts cool and all but the mental stress of this is causing me is crazy. Like I'm actually thinking so irrationally I don't know what to do.
At first I was cool with going with the flow but now I hate being the side nigga. I'm jealous of her husband and hate that she has to contact me in secrecy. I hate that i can only see her at night after dark. I hate that she tells me she loves but I don't really believe her. I hate that she told me shes getting a divorce after explaining to me all her marital issues and I don't believe her. I hate that I don't really trust anything she says because she's cheating on her husband. I hate that I got so attached. I hate that my perception of her is completely broken now because she's cheating and I'm the one helping her do it. I hate that she goes out on the weekends in a group of friends with her husband and I'm not there with her. I hate that I'm honestly being fuckin played and taken advantage of because I'm weak rn and am too much of a pussy to end it because I fell in love. I hate damn near everything about the situation except for holding her and being with her. Should I tell her all of this? Should I just end it? Should I tell her husband to get rid of the guilt and let her deal with the fallout? I genuinely don't fuckin know anymore.

“Well…..frak.”
Those were the only words Corporal James Diogenes could think of to describe his current situation. Behind him, he watched as his comrades turning tail and running away.
“Cowards. Cowards one and all.”
He spit into the dirt towards his former allies then turned towards the other part of his problem.
Xenos. A large army of Xenos, one that was far more disciplined and had far more bodies than command had assumed. He couldn’t remember what they were called or even remember the name of the planet he was on. He couldn’t care for either topic. He wasn’t surprised that the Intel he and his colleagues had been fed was wrong, it often was, but never to this degree. The enemy outnumbered the imperial army forces at least 7 to 1 if not far more. Their tactics were similar to those employed by the imperial army but their population meant they could do more tactical maneuvers, on more fronts, at the same time.
Why the imperial navy didn’t annihilate those armies from orbit, James would never understand. Given his current situation he most likely wouldn’t get a chance to ask. He checked the magazine on his auto-gun, the rifle being rather old by the standards of the current imperial army but its age held up as it punched through most body armor he came across.
“…..Frak.”
He cursed again as he inspected the magazine. Three, maybe four rounds left before he was out? He looked over his shoulder and sighed. The cowards took the ammo with them along with any other supplies they could carry, leaving an empty trench and a few rows of rusty flay-wire.
And James but he chose to stay behind.
A low chuckle escaped him as that thought came to mind. He shook his head as he took his spot in the trench. He wouldn’t win this fight, he was sure of it, but by Terra and in the Emperor’s name he would make them bleed. He would make them hurt.
The few rounds he had in his magazine were gone in no times at all. Four enemies laying in the dust and being trampled by their friends was proof of that. He smiled grimly as he watched his enemies march towards him. They had all bowed their heads slightly, seemingly expecting more shots. That got him laughing. A few bullets and a whole army was shaking before him. He wondered if this is what the primarchs, the emperors daughters, felt like whenever they were on crusade.
He tossed his empty rifle to the side. His smile grew as he held his knife, gripping it tightly as he watched the advancing line of xeno scum. The leather of his glove strained as his hidden knuckles grew white from how tightly he gripped his knife. He considered for a moment what he’d do when the enemy came into the trench. He knew he would fight and die, but he wondered how many of them he’d kill before they took him down.
He reached back behind him, grabbing the Krak grenade he had attached to his belt. He held it tightly and used the middle finger of his knife hand to pull the pin. He held close, holding the striker lever down to ensure it wouldn’t go off until he let go of it. Then he waited.
The world closed in. Darkness tinted the edge of his vision as he watched his enemy march ever closer. Nothing existed save for him and the enemy. He knew what this was. Adrenaline, anticipation, and fear all coming together to activate his fight-or-flight response. He whole body felt charged and he had to stop himself from jumping out of the trench and running…..where? He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t guarantee his body wouldn’t turn tail and follow the rest of the imperial army back to the transports.
He adjusted his cap, scratched his bearded cheek and continued to watch. Watch and wait. That was all he could do now. His breathing grew heavy and erratic, his teeth barred, and a low growl escaped him.
The marching stopped.
He stared and waited.
A ploy? A chance to surrender maybe? Were they simply calling in artillery on his position?
That last thought stopped him. Artillery. Would they call artillery or an orbital strike or some other long distance attack on his position?
No. No, no, no, no they wouldn’t escape him that easy.
He scowled and climbed out of the trench, charging the Xenos line with a roar. The knife was raised over his head, holding it in an upside down fashion, as he sprinted towards his enemy. He refused to die to some cowardly artillery strike, he absolutely refused to be turned into a red smear on some backwater planet that no one would ever remember or care about.
The enemy….ran. They ran! He laughed as he chased after them. It didn’t make sense and he didn’t care. He couldn’t care, he was beyond caring.
“Get back here you throne damned bastards! GET THE FRAK BACK HERE!”
He slowed down long enough to toss the Krak grenade, laughing loudly when he saw it go off and take a handful of Xenos down.
The blood….was blood always so beautiful?
He continued running after the enemy before he stopped again. He stopped running cause something had stopped him. He didn’t understand, his legs were still under him, he was still alive, he could still fight!
“Kraking, bastard, filthy xenos, kill you all-“
“Shut up.”
He stopped talking, the voice snapping him out of…..whatever that was. He regained control and realized why he stopped running. Something had picked him up. He stared down at the ground only to realize how high he was above it.
“Hnngh, let go of me.”
He turned towards whatever was holding him only for his eyes to grow wide.
There stood….a woman. A very big woman with metallic dreadlocks poking out of her skull, her armor exposing skin and flesh in the fashion of a gladiator of old. He stared at him with a raised eyebrow and a silent growl as a twitch of pain or anger made her right eye close for a half second.
“Excuse me….heh….corporal.”
She said his rank as if it was an insult, even going as far as spitting on the ground after she said it. She held up by the back of his flak vest like he was little more than a lost puppy. She treated him like he wasn’t worth even talking to and that he was some stupid grunt who was simply in the way.
Space marines raced past both of them, ignoring them in favor of chasing after the retreating Xenos. They….were gonna steal his glory.
“Let me go damn you, the fights over there!”
The woman laughed loudly. Her head held back as her laughter echoed over the battlefield. A part of him thought her laughter was the most horrific and beautiful sound he ever heard, but it was overshadowed by his growing rage.
“You wouldn’t do-hnngghh-do anything to those alien freaks by yourself. Go home boy. Run with the rest of your fri-“
He swiped at her and smiled widely when he saw a small, paper thin cut open up on her cheek. A small trickle of blood dribbled down her skin as her smile disappeared. Her free hand came up and wiped at the cut. She studied the small swipe of blood on her finger. The cut was nothing, it wouldn’t even scar and she had lost far more blood then this in the blood pits. But something about this man taking a swipe at her, daring to cut her, daring to even consider killing or harming her…..
She smiled widely and put the man on her shoulder.
“You. I like you. You’re mine now little man.”
He tried to jump off but she held firm and turned away from the battle. Her sons would handle the fight. He roared on her shoulder and struggled against her grip, his rage growing as he did everything he could to get into the fight and kill. He wanted to, no needed to spill blood. He needed to kill, he needed to make them bleed.
But this goddess in bronze wouldn’t let him. She walked away and set him down in a space marine Rhino. He didn’t know her, he didn’t know why she took him, and he didn’t care. Instead he sighed and hung his head as he lit a iho stick.
“Don’t worry Corporal, there will be more glory to be had.”
He stared at her. His eyes were bloodshot, his body covered in dust and he felt exhausted.
“Hnngh…frakking….throne damn you….”
She smiled widely at that and pulled the trigger on her chainaxe. She then turned towards the driver.
“On second thought, hmm let’s go. I wanna see what you got little corporal.”
He smiled at that and stood up, popping his neck. He exhaustion was forgotten for the time being as the thought of killing those damned Xenos got his blood pumping and made him want to move.
“By the way.”
The giantess spoke as the rear hatch opened, revealing the same battlefield he had just left.
“My name is Atalanta.”
Please note: I’m not a writer and this whole story came to me while I was in a shower and from my lack of artistic skill. Sorry if it’s trash.

I would like to preface this by saying I don't hate women, blame them for my circumstances, or anything like that. I understand that the common denominator in my lack of success isn't the women and that it is me.
I was very self-conscious (I was overweight, had gynecomastia, etc) growing up and well into my late twenties, early 30’s and I allowed me anxiety to rule me. I’ve never had a gf, had casualhoomups/fwb, kissed, held hands or really experienced any type of physical intimacy with a woman beyond hugging. At age 32, I lost 96lbs, have been hitting the gym religiously every day, picked up kickboxing, got a job, went back to school and earned an associates degree (currently working on bachelors) got surgery for my gynecomastia, force myself to talk to women regularly, updated my wardrobe, and have been consuming content in my free time to better understand dating dynamics and women. I’m not listing these accomplishments to brag, but to show that I am putting serious effort into becoming a suitable partner someone would be proud to date. I have been at this for two years and two months now and have found no success. I don't have “game” and just face constant rejection. If I get a girls number, it goes nowhere after I initiate and try to set dates up. I've been on a couple, but I have never received a second date. I try to speak to women ranging from 25~38 and I'm not super picky about looks as long as they are at least my looks equivalent( (I consider myself a 5-6, which is ”average “ by my personal standard), so I don't believe that my preferences are all that unreasonable either
I feel absolutely horrible despite the incredible progress I have made in my life over the past two years. I wish I understood why I'm so undesirable. The loneliness is almost unbearable.