Looking for a book (Tagalog or English) or a film, (in any language) where the story is kind of like Pambihirang Harana or Sabi-sabi by Cesca.
Lyrics for Pambihirang Harana:
Kunwari ay 'di ko alam
Ang iyong nararamdaman
Sabihin na lang 'di ko narinig
Ang mga usap-usapan
Magbibingi-bingihan muna ako
Dahil mahirap ang umasa sa hindi sigurado
'Wag mag-alala, 'di ko sasabihin
Naiintindihan ko kung hindi mo maamin
Lyrics for Sabi-sabi:
Usap-usapan na naman tayong dal'wa
Meron na namang kumalat na balita
Sabi-sabi ng ating mga kaibigan
Iba daw ang pagtingin ko sa'yo
Parang ewan lang, 'di ba?
Puro bola ang mapapala natin sa kanila
'Sensya na alam kong nakakailang
'Di bale wala 'kong gusto sa'yo

A read a Story along time ago and i forgot the Title Its about a ex husband and his ex wife, the ex husband still has feelings for his ex wife who is a now a model after they divorced, his now chasing his "ex" wife so they can be together again. I remember a scene where the "ex" wife has a photo shoot on the beach with a guy partner but the ex husband was there and he doesn't want his "ex" wife to be with someone else so i think he paid someone to change the partner of his ex wife, but he wants the new partner to be him instead so the ex wife had no choice but to partner with him since she has a busy schedule, mind you the husband is a business man not a model but they both slayed the photo shoot. That's the only scene that stuck to my head because it was so cute. I think the story is taglish( tagalog and English)

For context I grew up in the middle east and grew up mainly speaking English. And I am well aware of my privilege.. I have stayed in the Philippines for vacation throughout the years and I can speak Tagalog fluently di naman ako conyo. I had to go back here to finish my tertiary education (and trust me I'm leaving as soon as that's over)
Okay eto na ung kwento. I was walking down an alley around Pasay and this is near where I live, its a squatter area that I have to pass by, and I do know most people here because my cousins and aunts live around here and my parents being OFW's they're also known around here and everyone tries to suck up to them every time they go on vacation (which is another thing I hate). So that also means I am also quite known in the area.
As I was walking I had friends who called me from abroad and that meant I had to speak in English to them, and the call seemed urgent so I took it. As I was walking and talking English at the same time I walked passed a bunch of teenagers probably around 14-16 and me minding my own business and pre occupied I didn't really mind them. Right after I walked by one of them said in a loud voice "Andito ka na sa pinas pa English-English ka pa". And that made my blood boil. I really hate this part of our country and culture.
Usually, I don't care about how people look or judge me I know I definitely don't fit in this God forsaken area. I pray for our youth here jesus. I did confront him but I feel like that's a different story I already made my point.

Hey! I’m glad you checked this post :)
I’m looking for someone who’d like to talk about meaningful stuff and discuss everything about life with me. A few things about me:

• I’m an INFP. This means that I’m extremely empathetic and highly emotionally intelligent. Need a good listener? I got you.
• I’m a working professional, and I’ll be studying at UP soon. But don’t worry, I can manage my time!
• I love watching films, series, listening to music, going to concerts, traveling, and singing.
• I like it when someone is smarter than me. If you’re all nerdy about stuff, please educate me. I love learning new things.
• Hopeless romantic here. Expect lots of sweet and romantic stuff.
• I do lots of volunteering. I have donated most of my income to people in need and dedicated my hours in teaching homeless children, helping abandoned elderly people, and planting trees.
• I’m a writer so please expect that I like writing descriptive and lengthy messages sometimes haha.
• I love romanticizing life. I enjoy knowing strangers, making a random person smile, and making myself happy.
• I love art, science, history, documentaries, dark humor, fictional stories, and anything that is really interesting.

What I’m looking for:

• Someone who is between 25-30.
• An INFP/INFJ and someone who is also empathetic.
• Prefers D i s c o r d calls over chat and is willing to have work and sleep calls with me.
• A good listener and extremely observant.
• Overall, a great human being and someone who will respect my boundaries.
• Someone who prefers speaking in English than Tagalog (sorry mas sanay lang talaga ako).

I can tell you more about myself if you’re interested in someone who loves to talk!
P.S. Let’s romanticize life together and be nerdy about LOTR, GOT, Big Bang Theory, and Monty Python (!!!)
P.P.S. I will only reply if someone puts an effort in their intro/message to me :)

Hi folks! Loved the book despite Tagalog not being my first language. I had to check definitions online every several sentences LOL. Thing is, a lot of the words didn't have literal translations and I feel were used as slang or in very specific contexts that you'd only understand if you're either a native Tagalog speaker or have been immersed with people who speak that way. And a lot of times, the sentence construction only made sense after grouping some words together as I read them (which is not on the author, but on my limitation as someone not used to reading Tagalog).
Anyway, long story short is there were key plot points that I feel I didn't fully get. There were also references and narrative points I definitely didn't get but am willing to letting go of na since it would take too much effort to go through them one by one haha.
Spoilers ahead so stop reading here if you haven't finished the book and are still planning to read!
Some questions:

• Why did Marquez/the police accept Ali as a swap for Maxwell? Maxwell could have at least helped them score/push more drugs. Was Ali intended as primarily a plaything for them? And why was Maxwell singled out among all those people they arrested at that party?
• The whole Ali-in-exchange-for-the-bag of money deal was so confusing to me.
  • Who exactly had Ali and eventually brought her to Watsons? Was it Cedes' people or Marquez's people or Sarge's people?
  • Who left the bag of money for Rey to pick up? Why didn't Cedes just have her own people get the money?
  • Why was Cedes still keen on getting her husband back when she wanted him killed in the first place?

Dear Brave Redditors of BusinessPH that started a business!
As previously announced, to support those who took the first step in braving the difficult world of entrepreneurship, we moderators would like to help boost their business!

We are inviting everybody willing to share their beginning and how they faced their early challenges in business.

As an incentive, those who would share their stories are encouraged to include the links to their website/social media. Hopefully, with your compelling business story, readers will visit and support your business.
As a bonus, we are planning to give those who would participate a user flair, "verified entrepreneur" or "verified business owner" (open for suggestions).
Hopefully, this weekly discussion will grow and be the go to post if you are considering starting a business. Please share your experience/struggles/questions/advices!
​
P. S. Pwede mag kwento ng tagalog or english. Kung san ka komportable. You do you!

I just finished my first draft of my shorts story it's 7000+ words written in English language but my grammar is trash. So I'll try to re write it into my mother tongue. (with deep vocabularies)
So my question is is it better to publish a story with an english language but with fkup grammar or publish a story with your mother tongue language? (Tagalog) Mostly trending story I see is written in Taglish.
also I'm new to Wattpad, is it allowed to publish a story that contains taking your own lfe?
[edit] I already changed it to english and I already published the First chapter.

Saw a post in fb where the immigrant IO is asking absurd questions and making unnecessary comments and faces.
here is a snipit of her post:
• "Nganong ikaw manjud ang ipadala unsa diay imong nahuman?"Tagalog: “Bakit ikaw ipapadala? Ano ba natapos mo?• "Nganong duha ka adlaw ang confernce unya upat ka gabie ang gibook sa inyong company?" (To which I answered, I also meet clients) And she said, "Ha? Ikaw jud? ikaw jud mu meet ug clients?”Tagalog: Dalawang araw and conference tapos apat na araw binook ng company? And sinagot ko na mag-me-meet ako ng client. Sabi niya “Ikaw talaga ang ipapadala?”•"Nganong wala mani compensation imong COE?" With a side comment of "Gibang-an kas Immigration?"Tagalog: Bakit walang nakalagay na compensation sa COE mo?•Conference niya nay pakapin laag? (Since I'm there, tell me why not?)Tagalog: Conference tapos may kasamang leisure, ha?•Nana kay J1 visa man lagi, wala nalang jud ka nagpadayun sa America – and when I said, "My life and my family is in the Philippines mam, okay na akong kinabuhi diri" She made face as if she cringed and does not believe me.Tagalog: May J1 Visa kana bat hindi ka nalang talaga nag Amerika? But the one thing that sounded so impossible, and she made this remarks as she handed over my passport."Basin ig uli nimo ha nakadagit nakag afam, morena raba ka", and I said "Naa koy uyab diri sa Pinas mam uy"– so she shoo me away while making faces.Tagalog: Baka pag-uwi mo may nabingwit ka nang afam ha, morena ka pa naman. Kahit sinabi kong mag bf ako.
I have heard different posts about immigration and it's just the same story again and again. They seem to judge without reason and make inappropriate unnecesary remarks. It seems it's either they want to be given some money so that you can pass or just insecure to anyone going abroad. I believe not all Immigration Officer are like this but can't we strengten our IO people could be missing opportunities, vacations etc. because of them being unnecesarily strict. I mean it's been going for years this incompetent employees should long been fired and not given a job in the govt.
or If you are if you are an IO please enlighten us why this is happening

The story was written by a Filipino author. So it's a mix of English and Tagalog.
The POV focuses on the Male lead. I remember that he had a long time girlfriend which he really loves so when the girl decided to break up with him, the reason being he's poor I think? I can't remember if the Male lead is in college or he's working. But he was really devastated when that happened. He went to abroad. I think he became a famous race car driver or he became a famous mechanical engineer of racing cars I think it's between those. He had like a not serious relationship with a girl during that time. He went back to the Philippines, I'm not sure tho if he wanted revenge to see how his ex would react seeing as how he became successful. He didn't end up with the ex but ended up with the second girl. I'm not really sure if all of this information is correct but if anyone knows the story please help me 🥺

A hypothetical story from one of your students
I don't know if this school reads our evaluations on our professors because if it does, she would have been fired/suspended by now.
So let me just give you a hypothetical story in the most legal way I could think of.
Let's say there is a hypothetical student named kung fu kenny, and i will be telling his hypothetical story in a first person point of view.
Let's start
There is a university called University A, where professor B is working, let's call her Ms.B. a little background for ms. B Professor B came from university C, where all of the 15 students she taught passed the board exams. Inshort she has 100% passing rate. Sounds good right? But here is the thing, Ms. B don't just have 15 students, she has 250 students on the first year, as the academic year goes on those students have been dropping out/shifting to other courses/or just stops studying because they failed ms. B's subject.
Moving on today's date. Ms. B is now working at university A, where she had 100 first year students on the first semester, the numbers was cut in half and we are down to 50 as the prelims of second semester almost half of us failed (we are down at 25) and thinking about shifting to other schools or course, even though those decisions were tentative here is one thing I can assure you, those numbers are not exaggerated. And I kid you not, she never thought us well and made it so hard for us to pass.
The reason why I'm telling you this hypothetical story is i wanted to ask you one (1) question.

1. Is she a good teacher?

If I would answer that, my answer would be NO. "Teachers are the cure to ignorance" but what she did was just removing the "ignorants" from her program. I wouldn't blame her if she tried teaching those students. But no, kung fu kenny claimed that she didn't taught them well. From my opinion it looks like she failed those students so that they will be removed from the program and by the end of the course, those naturally intelligent students would pass the board exams and she would receive a high. That's why I can't call her a "good teacher" because she never taught those students a thing.
Chapter MXVIIEMELANG Arguments
One could argue that college is "survival of the fittest" and that would be correct. IF THE PROFESSOR IS TEACHING. Let's not forget that the reason why students enrolled is that they wanted to learn. But if this professor won't teach a thing then those students would fail and only those who know the subject would pass. And those students who will fail would never get a chance to learn. You are not a good teacher, you just have good students who passed that exams you keep talking about.
In tagalog na medyo bastos.
Baka kasi sabihin niyong normal sa collge yan kasi survival of the fittest. Normal lang yon kung nagtuturo tong matanda pero hindi eh. Survival of the marunong na sa lahat tong ginagawa nito ni mam. Di naman nagtuturo tapos ieexpect na makapasa sa letcheng exam niyang napagka haba haba. Ni hindi mo manlang bigyan ng chance matuto o masanay yung studyante bago mo ibagsak. Di ka naman magaling sadyang magaling nalang yung natira sa section mo kaya nakapasa sa exam.
To continue the story. Kung fu kenny (the hypothetical subject) wrote an open letter to ms. B and to all the professors out there, which states:
Dear ms B.
Imagine how many parents cried because their sons and daughters cannot continue college because of you. Imagine the potential careers you destroyed just to protect your ratings.
I understand that we are the one who makes our grades. But that's the only thing we can do. You have the choice to make the exam difficult or make it easier, you have the choice to give us those 7 chapter assignments and cover to cover quizzes or not. How can we make good grades if you won't give us a good playing field? Atleast make this battle for accountancy worth fighting for.
In tagalog na medyo bastos Naiintindihan ko na kami ang gumagawa ng grades namin. Pero sana naiintindihan mo rin na ikaw ang nagawa ng exam. Gustuhin man naming gawing 100 yang exam mo hindi namin magawa, Sobrang hirap mong magpaexam eh binabasa mo lang naman. Sayang oras namin promise kung nag pa free time ka nalang tapos nag pa self study baka di kita sinisisi kung bakit ako bagsak, kasi sakin yung accountability non mali ko lahat yon, eh ikaw????? WALA di mapigilan yang bunganga mo kakaratrat ng debits and credits at cover to cover mo kala mo naman ang angas mo sa paningin namin.
Kung fu kenny's offer. I know how you work. Remove the weakest link and let the good ones dominate the board exams. But you are removing us too early, give us a chance to learn and to grow. And by the time we are at third year we might realize that this course is not for us, that's the time we will shift, and we won't stain your beloved record.
Inshort pautang ng grades, kami na magkukusang aalis pag hindi parin namin kaya sa third year namin
PS. inaantok nabtalaga ako, sorry sa wrong grahams
Pwede niyo irepost or use it against your profs or kunin yung idea
Pero i would like the credits given to thedollarsign

Mayap a oras pu kekongan! Im a Kapampangan oneng mebiasa kung manialitang kapampangan for 2 years, kanita i only grew up speaking tagalog and english at home & school ania istung ating mag-question kaku or engage conversation kaku keng Kapampangan, makibat ku keng tagalog. But that is a different story ngeni since biasa nakupu mangapampangan.
Is there any Kapampangan literature available out there? One of the reasons is to diversify my kapampangan vocabulary. Ania potang kasabi kulapu deng kabarkada ku pu misan ating pung salita na eku familiar or balu ke ing salita oneng ali ke balu ing kabaldugan na. Pa-comment namu pu, dacal pung salamat!

So I'm down to my last 3 sessions in driving school, so far every instructor has commented that I'm eligible to take a real license already.
Funny ngaun pa lang talaga ako mag aaral mag drive...despite having owned a couple of vehicles already...
Pero down to the story, I was practicing along the semi uphill roads in Makati. It is a maneuver where I used the hand brakes instead of the foot brake to keep the car from sliding backwards while I prepare the clutch and the gas to move forward.
Medyo awkward at first pero mas safe sya na approach pag steep ang kalsada during a full stop ... Anyway na kuwa ko nmn agad after ilang tries...
Btw manual pinag aaralan ko since I'm sure mapapa drive din ako Ng iBang sasakyan if NASA probinsya ako...di eto issue sa mga automatic na sasakyan...
Ang laftrip na part?? Dahil sobrang init at traffic, which is good if nag dadriving lessons ka Kasi need mo ma experience ang bumper to bumper Na traffic...
may mga kamote na nag super Saiyan kaka busina sakin Kasi di Sila maka singit... Eh ako nmn na super chill Kasi swerte ko bagong vios Pina drive sakin at ang lakas Ng Aircon... Nag pa inosente at tinodo ko kabagalan tas dinikit ko pa sa mga bus pra Wala Sila ma singitan...
Im practicing my spacing din Kasi, trying to test the limits on how much space I can squeeze.
On top of that, nag practice din ako Ng changing lane(in bumper to bumper traffic hahah)
At nag iistop agad sa yellow light kahit maaga pa.. just to stir more shit.. hahaha
Ung instructor ko was just vibing and chilling while keeping his foot brake on standby...tamang kwentuhan lang kami...
But that all changed when the kamote nation attacked...
May naka singit na Isang kamote Kasi habang naka full stop sa red light. super pilit singit nya Kasi halos mag tukod na sya sa paa nya...
Nung katabi nya na Ang front seats namin, narinig namin ni instructor ang pag mumura nya sakin saying " Bobo wag ka na mag drive"
Napatawa na lang ako, Wala eh, laking dota sa compshop so sesame street na lang Yan sakin.
No bigdeal nmn, kaya ka nga nag bayad Ng driving school para makapag drive ka with an expert with their own brakes on the passenger seat on a car with big signs saying "keep distance, student driver"
But my instructor was having none of it.
Sinampal nya ang busina, binaba ang bintana at pinag mumura ang kamote hahahahaa...
"Bobo ka? Nakikita mong driving school eto?? "
"Ayan oh" sabay hampas sa painted label sign saying "student driver, keep distance"
"nakakabasa ka ba??? Lagyan ko Yan Tagalog at bisaya sa susunod na pintura".
"Tangina mo, Ikaw etong nag lalane cut tas mag mamarunong ka pa!".
Wala naman response at sinara na ni instructor ang bintana. Nag deadmahan na Lang kami Ng kamote Hanggang nag green light at nauna na siya.
Pinang uusapan nalang namin ni DI about yun Pero naabutan nnmn namin sya sa osmena.
Nung Nakita sya ni DI sinabihan nya ako Ng "boss, tabihan mo nga un may hihirit lang ako"
So binilisan ko Ang takbo para makalapit kami Kay kamote ... Obedient submissive student here lmao hahaha
Nung nakatabi na namin habang umaandar, binaba ni instructor uli ang bintana at sumigaw.
"Kamote!!! may voucher ako pang 50%off kesa dumaan ka pa sa fixer mag driving lessons ka na din"
At aun, nag tawanan na lang kami Hanggang matapos ang session hahaha.
Review ko Kay DI?? 10/10 sa customer service hahahah

First post here on Reddit.
Hey, Wattpaders. I've been reading different stories on Wattpad since 2013, I guess. I'm from Philippines by the way.
Mostly, I've been reading romance and mystery/thriller books with a little bit of spice. Most of the books I read were written in Tagalog.
Recently I've been reading some stuffs from author named watchingoverme. I haven't read all of his works yet but so far I've been finding myself getting torn every time I read his characters. Like I don't know who to root for because they all seem negative to me.
That's why I want to ask some feedback if you feel the same way towards his characters. I love the plots that I've read so far. It's just that the characters aren't rootable, at least to me.
Will appreciate your feedback.

Hello! im a believer of Jesus, I'm currently living with my parents who are Roman Catholics, they have been Roman Catholics their whole life as well as all my relatives. I live in the Philippines which is mostly Roman Catholic in religion, and in the Philippines, I live where almost everyone is Roman Catholic and only some are Christians. I always wanted to be a Christian not a Roman Catholic because I often times question their beliefs and their tradition. I saw that they pray to statues of mary, Jesus that is in the cross, or the saints. A Tradition that my family does is praying for 9 days the whole rosary and a tagalog prayer for Santa Cruz in front of a miniature statue of mary, mary and joseph while carrying Baby Jesus and a fairly large cross. Today is the 8th day and I shared a video in messenger family gc (I do not know why we have a gc, probably my doing when i was 8) I shared a video about why the rosary is not biblical. I think my father got angry and called me from my room while I'm reading the bible in my phone and screamed at me from the living room the reason for the video and why i posted it (By the way, it is normal for us to scream at our house for attention because we have no doors in the rooms so we can hear ourselves on any position on the house). I probably approached it wrongly because i have a weak mentality even though I'm a man, I got there and I thought I can tell them something that may change their mind but no, it went down very very badly. My father questioned me about it and said to me that we are Catholics (Roman Catholics) and I must not entertain these video because they say it is antichrist, yes, they thought a video of a preacher is of the antichrist, and I started to think to myself, "Do they not know anything? Why did my mother said that it is from the antichrist to say the rosary is not biblical? the truth is it is never in the bible or mentioned in the bible the "Coronation of Mary" or the "Ascension of Mary" because I know only 2 people ascended into heaven and never tasted death. Then my they said to me to not to post these videos, and I was confused a little there because I did not post these, I shared this to the gc. Then my mother said to me that one time when her father is alive, a guy with other religion other than roman catholic or something came to them he would pull out his machete. Then my father said to me that I will be a catholic because they are catholics and I want to say something to them but I didn't because anger and a sudden sadness filled me. And I cried for no reason, then my mother ask me if they went too soft on me or I have a problem ( Because I never questioned them before and this is the first time I questioned them about belief, and I speculated that they believed that Roman Catholicsm is the only true religion because of the way they reacted) and at this point I want to cry or scream in anger and I accidentally let my anger in and started grumbling a prayer that they may know the truth and may they be forgiven because I think I heard them saying something I that is offensive but I have forgotten about it. My father saw this and thought I am disrespecting them by grumbling something under my breath because when I was a kid I commonly grumbled if I want to say something to them angrily (They did not know that I decided to change and try to do what is written in the bible and start believing Jesus. This decision Is 2 years ago and I'm impress that its been so long that I have tried following the bible and never they notice the difference) and my father let me speak but I got scared because usually when my father do this I thought of it as an aggression or a punishment. This point I broke down and cried (still praying under my breath) and they can't understand anything about me or what I said even though I'm their son. And at this I just took my phone and start reading again The book of Revelation since its where I am before. I have forgotten the rest of the story because im too much at that point. The reason That I Shared it to them at the first place is that I thought it is not biblical to pray rosary because I looked on its contents and I never saw the main points of the Litany where it is said about Coronation or Ascension of Mary and I want to see if my parents and my sister will be willing to understand it or be offended by it. To those who read this far I thank you and please tell me if It is correct for me to try tell them the first place ( My parents are very, VERY devoted to Mary like I think they are Believed her More than they believe the gospel and the salvation given by Christ and I think to the point where they believed praying to Mary will save them. I put this that it may add more info)

Yeah, there’s the Duterte family, but I think it’s highly possible that they are already “training” others to run in our local elections.
Just watched Alice Guo’s vlog. She speaks as if she formally learned Tagalog just recently. She doesn’t even sound like a Kapampangan at all. Kapampangans who speak Tagalog have a certain tone. Tapos yung vlog niya sobrang scripted ng interactions niya. V propaganda ang dating.
Possible rin na from now on, they’ll train someone who looks and talks more like a Filipino.
Funny, everything reminds me of Bag Man on Netflix which is based on a true story in a local town in the Ph.

I'm (24m) a college working student and having trouble with having a short fuse, I've been a working student since I was in 11th grade and throughout my entire journey of being a working student, I've experienced different peoples with different attitudes, but instead of getting used to it, my patience becomes shorter and shorter throughout the years to the point that I've experienced some melt downs (raging in isolation), and now as a graduating student, I am now working with my aunt's small business to support my basic needs as a student. Now you see, we have a neighboring recruitment company of construction workers that are being deployed wherever they are needed (mostly from different province and most are not tagalog people), I have huge respect for any kind of hard working people but boy these kind of workers are always making my blood boil, since I'm a 5'11 (which is tall enough in the Philippines), Some of them will look at me with disdain intentionally or they would deliberately shortchange payment just to provoke me, and in all my years of running our store, there have been occasions when I've ended up fighting some of our customers because of their actions, another issue is sometimes I find myself staring into nothingness, nothing but bad thoughts and . But after all those arguments with different people, I've always have this realization that all of those trouble could've avoided if I've been more patient and most of the reasons are not really that big of a deal, my relatives also noticed my short temper and told me that I need to be more patient because this will not only affect my relationship with our neighboring people, but also to my future jobs, I know I need to change this attitude but its easier said than done, I'm always easy to trigger and even a small discomfort will definitely upset me and throw me on a bad mood most of the day. ...
this kind of issue is not only affecting my relative's business but also my relationship with my friends, I know some of you will suggest to seek professional help but having an appointment will definitely cost money and I don't have the budget nor the time to do so, so to all that have similar anger management issues, I will appreciate and gladly hear your stories and how did y'all overcome it

I finally got my Tian Xia World Guide book, and yes, it was an absolute joy.
For someone with a Filipino background, you're used to never showing up in anything Asian. The Americanized-Once-Hispanized-Not-Hispanized culture, can be a bit confusing for a younger person, but I did have the privilege of growing up with a few old myths and stories. And what my friends and family couldn't impart on me, I searched it out in college - through research papers, old Spanish missionary reports on JSTOR, antiquated books at the college library, martial art classes, and etc..
So, there were a lot of things that made me excited in this section, based on everything I've gathered over the years. Just some things I wanted to share, but maybe others caught onto things that resonated with them:
-Baku: the monstrous creature that awoke, eating countless sea dragons, and causing the the Lunar Dragon to flee (taking the Moon away) is a fantastical inspiration based on the Bakunawa (the crocodile-like dragon from the Philippines that ate the moon).
-Anito: Spirits of the Philippines - nature, ancestors, gods, and tiny idols. For those familiar, you can think of them as Kami. There are many various stories about them, but they were also part of traditional worship (which is hard to find since everyone is mostly Christian, or Muslim for Southerners). I don't know a lot of stories, but I'm excited to to use them in-game! Can be a Witch's patron (like Wilding Steward/Faith's Flamekeeper), a Summoner's eidolon (like Beast), a Sorcerer's bloodline (Elemental/Nymph), a Nature Domain Cleric/Champion's deity, or the Druid's Order.
-Mt. Shibotai is a mixture of many things. The numerous rice terraces made me think of the Banaue Rice Terraces. It is an amazing view (unfortunately it was foggy when I visited, so it was cold and not very visible).
-Magkasintahan: The story of Mt. Shibotai erupting from the powerful love between the lovers Tiago and Sambac, made me think of the story Mt. Mayon and the starcrossed lovers Princess Malaya and Prince Wagayon (a mountain named after the lovers). Magkasintahan I think is used for gf/bf, but means lovers. In Filipino stories, it’s common to explain landmarks or things as the anitos/gods transforming people after their death into those things. There’s a story on the origin of the Mango tree being from a beautiful woman who passed, and her beauty is the reason why the mango is so beautiful and sweet (even though there’s a different story where Bathala, a great god, presides over a debate where the plants are trying to figure out where they belong and should grow in the Philippines).
-Mt. Shibotai Pottery and Minkai Trade: This is a reference to the Japanese merchant Ruzon Suzukoemon, who imported Filipino pottery to Japan in the 16th century. The pots happened to be great for storing tea. He gained the name Ruzon from his lucrative trading with Luzon (North Philippines), which is also where a lot of Mt. Shibotai is based on.
-Ilutakami: The residents of Mt. Shibotai, but there was interesting note that caught my attention. They mentioned they would chew a specific nut that would stain their teeth black - this is a reference to the Betel Nut which was chewed and would do the same thing across SEA.
But more importantly: Kami in Tagalog is the pronoun "we", but it doesn't include the person you're talking to. Tayo is also "we", but including the person you're talking to. I found some papers on Luzon's mountain region - Cordilleras Mountains (which seems to be what Mt. Shibotai is based on) and Iluta means "people of the earth". Similar to other tribal naming convetions such as Ibanag is "i-bannag" meaning "people of the river". Ilutakami means "We [are] the People of the Earth" and was what folks called themselves up in that area. Which makes sense as they're mountain people, not coastal people and they are blessed by the rich fertile lands from Mt. Shibotai. As someone who's parents also came from the mountains, this is such a cool detail! Also the beadwork of the Ilutakami seem inspired by the actual clothing of the area too, my dad got some of his traditional garb from our relatives and ya...it's beautiful! (And another dumb trivia: the English word boondocks and boonies come from the Tagalog word bundok meaning ‘mountain’, acquired during the Philippine-American War.)
-Geometric Tattoos: Not particularly unique to the Philippines in Island Southeast Asia, but it was a prevalent thing. So, great detail!
-Sarangay: water-buffalo minotaur men, we'll be getting them in Tian Xia: Character Guide. Datu/Lakan are Filipino words for ruleleadechieftain. I love that Datu Mangapit (a transgender male) is a Sarangay. Being a datu and being transgender is code that Mangapit is both a leader, but also a wise (and spiritually-attuned) man. But funnily, his name Mangapit means “to stick to something”, which ties well with his stubborn personality. Original Filipino names can usually be traced to actual meanings. I knew a person who’s last name was “Bulaklak”, which means “Flower”. Which isn’t really surprising as I had supervisor named “Lafleur”.
-A Day in Minata: The section mentions that when crossing plants/foliage, you should say "excuse me” or “pardon me” to the anito, so you don’t anger them.
“Tabi tabi po!" - is the actual phrase, “excuse me, (respectfully)!” In the Province areas (so outside Manila), while going through the forests, you would say this to politely placate the dwende (means dwarf, but was a earth/mound-like anito that could be stepped on) not to get angry and curse you. A friend of mine who grew up in the province was always scared of the Dwende. “Po” is a respectful word you add at the end of the sentence to show respect, commonly for older folks, so something you would add when speaking to the anito. It’s commonly used for elder folks, but I used it on my grandmother once and she yelled at me saying, “I’m not that old!”
Also, martial arts: if you're lucky enough to meet someone else who knows some, you can casually play/practice with each other.
And about dancing: the fan lady on the 2nd page reminds me of the Princess (the two fans) from the Singkil dance. It’s a beautiful performance from Mindanao and absolutely worth watching on YouTube. Some performances REALLY go all out.
-Lambanog: Literally an alcoholic coconut drink. I've personally never got a chance to try it. Or maybe I did? I don't know. When I visited the Philippines, I just remember getting really drunk from San Miguels and any other alcoholic drink my titos (uncles) kept handing me.
-Katigulangan Holiday: In Minata, it's all about celebrating ancestors and heroes of the past, reenacting stories. I think Katigulangan is "ancestors" in Cebuano (Central Philippines, the Visayas). So that's neat! (My family are non-Tagalog northerners, so I'm fully sure if I read the dictionary right). But I visited relatives (also during All Saint's Week), so sharing stories of familly is really big.
-Tusked Cyclops: Only mentioned once, but that's the Ngisngis.
-Shamans and Being Transgender : I love how being transgender is celebrated, because that was a thing! Babaylan (Filipino shamans) could be 3rd gendered (or transgender). Being able to tread the line between male and female made Babaylan's able to have an insight and wisdom that made them in-tune with the spiritual world and communicating with anito. They were keepers of knowledge, doctors and healers, but also combatants against curses and evil spiritual forces. I love that this was placed in here! The Animist class fits perfectly for playing a Minatan Shaman (Babaylan). I want to do a story about a Minatan Animist (Babaylan) and Witch (Magkukulam) who were enemies, but became friends to use their powers together to protect their communities.
-Maringalan: The image and description is pretty typical of common depictions of pre-Hispanic Philippines, though also similar to other places in Island Southeast Asia. It definitely seems to be the catch-all for coastal Filipinos. Particularly, it's mentioned that they're "river people", which is what Tagalog means (from 'taga-ilog' meaning "people of the river") and is a way to distinguish the water-based Maringalan from the mountain Ilutakami. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "Maringal" is Tagalog for being "respected/rich/splendid", so I'm guessing "Maringalan" is implied to mean "Respected/Noble/Magnificent"? I really love that as a name for a people group.
Also, it’s mentioned that the Maringalan use a single-edged greatsword. I’m guessing this supposed to reference the Kampilan as a weapon and images showing Lapu-Lapu (a famous Cebuano chief known for killing Magellan) wielding a blade 2H style. Not a greatsword, but I love the fantasy!
-Nisama: A beautiful depiction of Muslim Southeast Asia (such as Mindanao, South Philippines) with the hijab/coverings and some general wonderful things about the south. Another linguistic question: I don't think Nisama is either Filipino or Indonesian, but taken by the Muslim inspiration, is it actually an Arabic word? I've seen some things suggesting it could mean "dream" or "breeze", alluding to the dream-like beauty of Indonesia and Mindanao? But could also be referring to the sailor-life of the Nisama and the connection to wind? If anyone forgot, Talim from Soul Calibur is a wind-shaman...and she's also Filipino.
-Nisama Guns: Gunpowder and cannon-smiths existed in the Philippines before the Europeans arrived thanks to the Mongol failed invasion of Java. Panday Pira was a famous cannon smith in Northern Philippines. Playing as Minatan Gunslingers (Way of Vanguard or Pistolero) would be super cool! And interestingly, despite Valash Raj being a large trade partner with Minata, it is said they have a lack of Gunslingers, which I think is based on how Malaysia didn’t produce guns, but imported from Java (Indonesia).
I didn’t expect the 3 groups would be based off real language, but I love it, because there is real meaning behind those words.
-Danak, the Blood Witch and Manananggal: Woooo! I honestly thought they were retconning the "problematic" description of Minata from the old days, but instead, they connected it back in, in a way that fits very well! The Manananggal were monstrous creatures that looked like people (usually beautiful women), they split at the waist at night time with bat wings to hunt people to eat. The tanggal are a various bunch of monsters from these types of superstitious stories I've heard (and have had nightmares of). Anyway, Danak being a half-Manananggal (with her clan of halfs) eating people) is a great way to tie in where the "horror stories" of Minata might've come from. There was a movie called Aswang (aswang is a vampire-like creature...so...not the same), which is actually about the Manananggal that still scares my mom to this day when she thinks of it. (It's also a reason she's scared of bats). I also grew up on the story of the Greedy Boy Bindoy who learns to be a better person after being eaten by an aswang.
As an added thing, a way to fight the manananggal is to find its lower half when it’s hunting, place salt (at least I was told it was salt, but stories get mixed up) on it. When the top half returns, it can’t rejoin, and when the sun rises, it’ll be destroyed. This is shown the Manananggal stat block on taking damage when in sunlight.
Anyway, ya, it's wild being able to see familiar things in a fantasy game. I'm used to Filipinos being all over America, but being generally unknown about. And I've never had any other Asian-American try to ask me about anything Filipino. So, being able to see these things being used as inspiration for fantasy in a major TTRPG...gives me feelings I'm not used to!
Much love to the writers and major thanks to them, for this wondrous joy!
Edit: As a little recommended reading, the book "Authentic, but not Exotic" was a nice read that helped me to understand the unique place and identity of the Philippines. The one thing I found was that being Filipino doesn't have to be about being exotic like Japanese Samurai/Geisha/Ninjas, the temples of Cambodia, or the rich history of Indonesia. Being Filipino is a lot about being somewhat familiar to anyone you meet so that they always feel like they're at home, no matter how different they might be from you. Just like traveling in Minata - you can be sure to find a welcoming home away from home.
-Also, are the Tau Nui amd Taumatan Empire supposed to be Aotearoa (New Zealand)? If so, that’s amazing! They sound like it with the fortified villages, flax garbs, top knot hair, and circular face tattoos being a reference to Māori. culture. Fortifications a reference to the pa (hill forts) used against the British. Ari/ariki are the leaders/chiefs (in Māori). I love this because the Austronesian were said to have come from Taiwan, through the Philippines, and into the rest of ISEA and the Pacific. It’s one of the things that connects Malay people (Malaysia/Indonesia/Philippines) to the rest of the Pacific (Micronesia/Melanesia/Polynesia) due to similar base words. For example, the word for 5 is similar across languages (lima/rima) or eyes (mata). Instead, Taumata (Austronesians and the Lapitan Culture) instead starts in Rendah Pulu! It’s a neat twist and I love it!
-Karagatan District, Wanshou: Karagatan means “ocean” in Tagalog, so this is Numijaan’s “Ocean District” and on the West Side of the Xidao Gulf. Not much recognized, but I think it’s super cool that Wanshou is a blend of China, Japan, and Philippines coastal culture. Being ruled by a Merfolk is supercool!
-Valash Raj: Valash Raj is a place where the Philippines Hindic history can fit alongside that of Indonesia and Malaysia. The Visayan (Central Philippines) rulers commonly used the title rajah. There’s a specific city called Kutaban, (Kutaban can mean “cut/notch” in Tagalog) and could refer to how it’s a city carved into a kaiju’s vertebra. It seems to be a mixture of Indonesia and Philippines together, celebrating the Hindic Kingdoms. For example, Sujana Mahad is a Lizardfolk with a new heritage based on Filipino crocodile (Buwaya means crocodile in Tagalog, but is also the basis of Filipino dragons). I just think it’s cool because the Philippines is extremely diverse and also shared cultural connections with the rest of Southeast Asia. The area around ancient Manila (Tondo) had some contact with Ancient Java.
-Boats: The Karakoa is a Filipino outrigger boat. They were much larger than other Filipino ships and was used in transporting troops.

I went to the Philippines for the first time last year. I went with my mom, grandmother, my uncle, aunt, and 3 cousins. My mom and Lola (grandmother) were complaining the entire time. Especially my mom. She kept complaining about the small house that we were living in (my aunts sister let us stay there). She complained about the amount of people, how hot it was, how bad she wanted to go home, etc. Her and my Lola were constantly talking about how small the rooms were and how they wanted to get a hotel.
One night, they leave me at the house and go get their nails done or something. The family was singing karaoke in the living room, and the kids were playing with me. All of a sudden, I started to feel very anxious (I have social anxiety) and felt very afraid. I don’t speak Tagalog, so I was also self conscious about that. I had a panic attack and that’s when my mom and Lola showed up. I never cry in front of my mother but I couldn’t help myself. She ‘comforted’ me and told me we will get a hotel. She assumed that’s why I was crying, even though that’s not what I said. I told her not to tell anyone I cried.
Fast forward, we are back in the US. She tells her whole family I cried in the Philippines, begging her to take me to a hotel. Apparently the reason why is because the tabo showers were too much for me and I didn’t like the cold water. Total bullshit by the way. I didn’t mind any of it. I told them that she has it all wrong and that she was complaining the whole time. They just laugh it off. Idk, it just pisses me off that she makes up stories about me, making me look like a spoiled brat, when in fact she was the spoiled brat. She was acting very entitled and bitchy the whole trip. I will never go to the Philippines with her ever again. It really hurt me the most when she told everyone I cried. It was very sensitive for me because my mental health is nothing to joke about. She doesn’t even believe in that so I guess it’s whatever. Wish I had a more caring mother who didnt make up shit about me to get laughs out of her family.

Dear Brave Redditors of BusinessPH that started a business!
As previously announced, to support those who took the first step in braving the difficult world of entrepreneurship, we moderators would like to help boost their business!

We are inviting everybody willing to share their beginning and how they faced their early challenges in business.

As an incentive, those who would share their stories are encouraged to include the links to their website/social media. Hopefully, with your compelling business story, readers will visit and support your business.
As a bonus, we are planning to give those who would participate a user flair, "verified entrepreneur" or "verified business owner" (open for suggestions).
Hopefully, this weekly discussion will grow and be the go to post if you are considering starting a business. Please share your experience/struggles/questions/advices!
​
P. S. Pwede mag kwento ng tagalog or english. Kung san ka komportable. You do you!

Hi! As the title suggests, you'd have to get the resources/info for the news story from an interview conducted by our professor. (About Employee Compensation Commission) The video in question is in pure Tagalog.
I just need a script lengthy enough to be made into a maximum of a 3-minute news story. Medium can either be English or Tagalog (Tagalog preferred).
I'm guessing this will be a 1-hour task (~30mins to watch the vid ~10 mins to buffer and digest the interview ~20mins to write the actual news story).
Please hit me up with your offers!

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TTK and New Skills - How I accidentally became an alien war hero 5/?
Walking down the sleek gray hallway, our shoe clicks echoed around us, and the looming doors at the end of the long hallway called to me. For what is behind those doors will change my and my friend's lives forever. All it takes is one shot, and if you hit it, you can change the world.
As we walked, the doors hissed open, revealing behind them a large room full of computers, wires, screens, desks, and dozens of Oranis. The sheer scope of the room was daunting; countless screens read data from feeds, and a couple of Oranis had a desk that played footage of battles, and they were taking notes and screenshots of specific parts. I saw that most of them were reviewing the battle that got me into this whole mess.
The captain was looking at me knowingly. He had a small smirk on his face as he spoke, “Here is the main control room for all our ROMS units. We watch and review countless battles to keep furthering our knowledge and make it easier and better for our troops. As you can see right now, almost all of our staff is focused on one specific battle that we recently recorded.” He gestured to the desks spread around us, showing multiple angles of one unit standing alone amongst a sea of dead bugs.
“Holy shit, are those the types of guys we are going against?” Gene whispered to me, but the captain overheard it.
“No, this was actually your friend Bee.” Without elaborating, he turned back around and continued walking through the room. All of my friends did a double-take and looked at me. I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck with my hand.
“That was you?” John said with a wide grin on his face
“Yeah, it was.” I averted my gaze to look at the ground. I don't know why I was embarrassed, but I instinctively looked away from their eyes.
“Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised,” Sali laughed, “Only Bee would do all of that unnecessary movement. He's just dashing around for fun!” She pointed to a screen that showed my first attempts with the grapple as I tested out different ideas I had. Basically, it looked like I was just running around like a kid in a candy store.
“Hey!” I shot back, “I was testing the limits, okay?”
“Yea, yea, everyone knows that you like your movement shooters.”
I huffed and turned back to the front of our group, following the captain to another set of doors that had a big text plate that read:
ROMS UNIT BAYS 1-6
As we got closer, the doors automatically slid open, revealing a heptagonal room, a station in the middle that had screens corresponding to five doors that were separated by each wall of the heptagon. There was a big wall in the center behind the control station that had a wall of monitors for viewing and a semicircle of six chairs around it. Each door had a number on it from one to six, with the door we came through showing an exit sign instead. Every door had a fancy access terminal and a large screen that had many high-tech-looking data collection graphs. There was a familiar-looking calico-patterned Orani in the center of the room, and I remembered his name, Koi, the head of engineering.
“Hey, everyone!” he chirped, enthusiastically waving to us. “So these are our new test subjects, huh?” His eyes narrowed on us but lingered on Vera.
“T-test subjects?” Tobi squeaked out from behind me.
“Oh hush, Koi,” I turned to Tobi, “he's just messing with you. All they're doing is recording our matches.” Koi huffed in response, putting his paws on his hips
“Wish we could do more than that, but someone said it would scare them off.” He glared at the captain
“And I was right.” The captain gestured towards the worried faces of my friends.
“Oh, don't look so scared! It was just going to be some vitals and brain scans!”
“Koi, stop before you turn them all away.” The captain shot a hard glare at him, making his ears fold backward. The captain turned toward my friends and reassured them that none of that would be happening.
“Nothing will be done without your consent. If any of you aren't comfortable with anything, don't hesitate to let us know so we can fix it.” The captain's voice was soft but stern, and Tobi visibly relaxed at his reassurances.
“This where the fancy VR setups are?” Gene asked while looking around at the numbered doors.
“Yes,” the captain replied, “each of you has been assigned a room and a respective ROMS system. They are all identical as of now, but if you are to stay with us after this, we will make modifications that are personalized to each one of you.” Everyone's face lit up at the prospects. They were finally about to see what they had been dragged up here for.
“So what rooms are everyone's?” John asked, practically bouncing in anticipation.
The captain looked towards Koi, and he brought up a list of our names and faces. They had taken them when we were screened at the checkpoints. He rattled off each of our assigned rooms, “Bee, room 1. Sali, room 2. Vera, room 3. Gene, room 4. John, room 5. And Tobi, room 6.”
John and Gene whooped and ran for their respective doors before stopping short, realizing they had no idea how to get in. The captain gave a huff of amusement and told Koi to aid John and Radi to aid Gene. As they went over, the captain cleared his throat and addressed all of us.
“You each will be given a rundown of how our ROMS system works. You will all be separated until the testing ends, not to allow anyone to gain an advantage over another by watching them before their battle. John, Koi will aid you. Gene, Radi. Vera, Rosi. Sali, Kious. And finally, Tobi, Zedd. Bee, you already know how the system works, so I will ask you to get ready on your own if that is okay.” I nodded and walked over to my assigned door. The pad in front of me was similar to the one that was at our private quarters. “My team will guide each of you through the basics, and I will watch it here at the control station. I will be hooking each of you up to your respective opponents after you are situated and ready. Once you have finished, no matter the outcome, I will ask you to come out and, if others are still in their duel, to wait and watch.”
Each of us nodded as we moved to our respective doors, each of us–except me–followed by our designated Orani. Doors started to hiss open as we each learned how to operate them, which was incredibly simple. Put your hand on it. Bam, Open. Crazy right?
I turned around to look at my friends, seeing they were doing the same.
“Yall ready?” I asked with a smirk
“Hell yea!” Gene whooped
“Let's fuck some shit up.” John gave me finger guns
“Da.” Vera said simply
“Putangina, I was born ready.” Sail rolled her shoulders as she spoke in Tagalog under her breath, catching Kious off guard at what the translator was probably picking up.
Tobi gave a wordless nod; his posture was stiff, but I could tell he was excited.
“Kill 'em dead!” I yelled at all of them
“Make me!” all my friends responded at the same time while laughing. It was an inside joke from way back when we first formed our little group. Some might say it's embarrassing, but it reminds us all why we are friends. Those first times we all played together when we were younger, I always said ‘Kill em dead’ whenever I was rooting for someone or was wishing them good luck. I did it so often that it apparently got annoying enough for them to start saying ‘make me’ every time I said it to them. It caught on, and now it's our little good luck phrase that we always say to each other.
This little ritual caused each Orani to look very confused, but we all stepped inside our rooms before any of them could inquire further. We stepped through our respective doors, and the mechanical whir and a soft click signaled that the room was sealed. The next moments that will define our lives have officially started.
I took a deep breath, readying myself for what was about to come. The room was the same as the one I had snuck into a large wall monitor that spanned from floor to ceiling and an exo-suit-like device with a headset you put on hanging from the top of it. It felt almost exactly like the last time, except now I was prepared and had brought a tool with me that ensured my victory.
My earbuds.
Putting them in a queued up my favorite playlist. Paradise City started to play and, with a quick breath, started for the remote operation interface (that's what the fancy techs called it), aka. ROI. I was giggling like a madman as I suited up, my body practically vibrating with excitement to be back in the unit and reck some shit. Well, now it is time.
GENE: ROOM-04
After I got over the awesomeness of the technology in front of me, Lieutenant Radi gave me the rundown of how to get inside and operate the exo-suit-looking contraption. I only half paid attention to his explanation as I was more focused on the kick-ass headset that acted like an AR and VR system together. After he helped me navigate through the calibration phase, which involved moving my arms and legs around a bit, the next screen popped up.
This screen would mark the most important decision of my life; this would dictate my time on this mortal plane, and if I chose wrong, it would haunt me forever. The words bore into my soul;
Enter Name.
I looked at those two words for an embarrassingly long time. I faintly heard the door swish open and close behind me. I assumed Radi had left, leaving just me and the text. I could always go with my tried and true: 2Gud4U. This felt wrong in this context, though; it was an actual system I would be controlling, and this name defined it. I wanted a real name for this mech, one that told people I was controlling it. I wanted something like Bee’s one with my name somewhere.
I ruminated for an indeterminate amount of time. If I took any longer, one of the Orani would probably come in to make a welfare check. I wanted it to be memorable but not so serious that it would be cringey. Or I could lean into the cringe of anonymous usernames just like the days of old—aka, two years ago. Then it hit me.
GENOME_KLR
Heh. Perfect.
A fancy logo flashed across my screen, and a blank box appeared in front of me.
TUTORIAL Y/N?
Huh, Bee wasnt kidding. It really was like a game. Well, let's go then.
***
Holy shit, this was the coolest thing ever.
A giant mech, and cool as guns and a fucking plasma sword? I gotta find out some way for them to make a green one. Or blue. Actually purple.
The tutorial was fairly bare bones and gave a rundown on how to move and what weapons I had at my disposal. There was a minigun-looking thing, a railcanon-looking thing, a lightsaber-chainsaw-looking thing, And a grapple-looking thing. There were a lot of things and stuff that looked like them.
The system was fairly easy to understand, and the movement mechanics weren't that hard to get used to. There was some input lag, more of the fact that the mech was massive and, therefore heavy, which made it hard to start and stop. Static buzzed in my ear, cutting me out of my ‘training’ aka swinging my arms around wildly, getting used to the weight.
“Hello, can you hear me, uhh…GENOME_KLR?” A familiar voice trailed off while reading my magnificent name.
“Yea, loud n’ clear,” I responded cheerfully.
“Uh, okay, this is Lieutenant Radi. I am letting you know we are ready to start the mock battle. Are you ready?”
“Ready as I'll ever be, I guess.”
“Okay, we’ll, send you through. You’ll be patched through to the unit being used in your spar. It will be immobile until both sides are ready, and the moment you can start moving will be announced by a countdown. You are free to do whatever you see fit to disable the other mech. The fighting will not stop until one side is left unable to continue. Do you understand?”
So basic 1v1 stuff. “Yeah, question: is everything in the tutorial available to me in the fight? I mean the weapons n’ stuff.” I quickly added
“Yes, all equipment is the same through every unit, and you will have full access to them during the mock battle. Any other questions?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, patching you through. Good luck…Gene,” He said pointedly.
“What, not a fan of the cool name?” Before I could get a response, my entire world went black. The fancy logo was back, and they were asking me to please wait. A couple of seconds later, my surroundings changed. It was a pretty spartan arena, just a big circular metal wall that went up about a story from what I could tell. It seemed like the same size as that one famous thing in Rome. Basically, it was big. The floor was some sort of black sand-like substance from what I could make out. Looked kinda like that stuff they put in playgrounds that were rubbery and very easy for kids to swallow.
At the far end of the arena, I saw another mech. It was also standing there motionless, waiting for the go-ahead to start trying to kill each other. I sat there for a bit, twiddling my thumbs while waiting for something to happen. A moment later, a feminine robotic came through the speakers.
Battle start in 10. 9. 8-
In the middle of my vision, numbers flashed along with the countdown. “Well, hello Cortana.” I muttered to myself after hearing the voice.
I took in a deep breath while watching the numbers climb down closer and closer to zero. It was now or never. Let's see how good these Orani soldiers are. I really hope I don't get my ass kicked. I mean, I had like twenty minutes to get used to this, and these guys probably went through months of training, so if I did get my ass kicked–my inner panic ramblings were cut off by a loud airhorn-like blare followed by my mech coming to life. Before I could get my bearing, the other mech was already reaching over its back to grab a weapon.
Shit. I was probably gonna lose this quick draw because they got a head start. The only thing is they weren't moving while he did it. As soon as I got my head back on, I ran right while also grabbing the rifle. I could see his choice of weapon as the minigun crested over the back of their mech.
My theory was correct then. I assumed they would reach for the weapon with a fast TTK (time to kill). They probably were cocky and assumed I would go for the same thing, opting for the easier weapon of the two ranged ones we were equipped with. I'd probably do the same if I were them. Some rando that never touched this system before was probably gonna go for the big gun that shot lotsa’ bullets. Probably planned to outspeed me at the start and just spray me down before I could do the same to them.
Jokes on them because I know a weapon with an even faster TTK, an instant one at that. I hope.
While the minigun was probably the smart choice here, I opted for the hard-hitting rifle, which was a lot harder to hit things with. In theory, if I could hit one well-placed shot at either their gun arm or cockpit, I would take them out of commission instantly.
The whirring of their minigun was drowned out by the volley of plasma flying at me. I had just gotten the rifle over my back and was getting ready to aim when I had to divert that plan to keep running. The fire trailed behind me as they tried to keep up with my running. They seemed slow at tracking me, and I put it to the input lag, which works for me.
I was quickly running out of space; the edge of the arena was closing in, and if I started to run diagonally to avoid crashing into it, the volley would catch up to me as I slowed down to shift directions. So, instead, I had to kill them before that happened. Going into a dead sprint, I tried to put as much distance between me and the trailing fire. When I thought it was enough, I swung both arms forward and jumped as far as I could while twisting my body to aim my rifle at the stationary mech.
I had a very small window of time to aim and fire before I became a metal heap on the ground riddled with bullet holes. Time seemed to slow for me as I swung the rifle forward. I wouldn't have time to stop the momentum of the gun to steady it and then shoot, so I had to time it, so as it passed by my target, I needed to pull the trigger at the right time to land my shot. As the massive arm swung around, the reticle appeared in my field of vision. It was wobbling about and was going faster than I would've liked it to. As its trajectory neared my target, all my focus went into a small cone in front of me; everything else went quiet, and my heartbeat thrummed in my ears.
Now!
A beam of plasma left my gun and soared through the arena. Right before I hit the ground, I saw the bolt of red-hot energy hit the cockpit dead center. The mech went rigid, and then my vision jostled as I hit the ground hard. Due to the weird floor material, no cinematic dust kicked up to obscure my vision, giving me a tense moment of not knowing whether it worked or not.
Nope. I just saw it crumple to the floor and lie in an undignified heap, just like me.
I cackled to myself and raised my arms in victory, “Haha! Did you see that!” I pointed both arms to the downed mech. “Twenty minutes, and I'm hitting trick shots!” I whooped and hollered, but my victories were cut off by the screen going black once again.
The same familiar voice came through the intercom: “Congratulations, Gene. You are the victor. Total time elapsed: 19.34 seconds. You may disengage from the ROI and exit the bay.” Radis said monotonically.
“Damn right, I am! Did you guys record that? I need to brag about it!” No response came, and I huffed. They had to have recorded that, right? That was the whole point of this. Yeah, they got it.
I stripped off the helmet and stepped out from the contraption. I hopped down from the raised center of the room and made my way to the door. Once it opened, I was met by a group of partially stunned faces but got a round of applause from the Orani. I gave an exaggerated bow and then walked to the little viewing area they had set up.
I looked around and saw I was the only one out so far. “No one else done yet?” I asked the group.
The little calico-patterned Orani looked up from the screens he was working on and flashed me a big smile, without using teeth though. “Nope, you were the first one to start and finish. We are going through all of you one at a time in a random order, we want to focus on each battle fully.” He gestured towards the monitors next to him. There were six in all, showing the others still in the training range, messing around just like I had. There was too much going on at the same time to really get a good look at what was happening. “You finished spectacularly fast, though.”
The big black-furred Orani gave a booming laugh, “Ha! Setla was fuming! She was all like, ‘That was a fluke. There's no way anyone could hit that!’” She turned to me and let out a huff, “Thanks, Gene, that was great.”
I gave her a wicked grin, “No prob, Bob.” She gave me a confused look with a head tilt that was adorable to see on a massive panther-woman but didn't press.
“Whos up next then?” I asked the calico.
“We have S4LL0S, aka Sali, in room two.” He sounded quizzical at her chosen name. I laughed to myself. She still used the same Gamertag after all this time. Her favorite duke of hell, Sallos. I don't know how much I bought that. I think she chose it because it was close to her name. Had to admit it was a good name. Knowing her and her demonic knickknacks and books, it worked. Not to mention the full-sized summoning circle she painted on her bedroom floor. All the Oranis were now looking at the screens with rapt intention, and so following their gazes, I looked to see how Sali would do.
SALI (S4LL0S): ROOM-02
Shit, shit, shit.
That's a lot of bullets, and they are all flying at me and hitting me. Lights flashed through the cabin as plasma fire dinged off the armored cockpit but started to tear away at the metal limbs of my mech. I drew up my own minigun, aiming to fire back. I moved left, trying to get the sustained fire off of me.
My right arm was basically done as my lapse in focus at the start had cost me, though I don't think I'll need it. The other mech was just sitting there aimed down at me, with no evasive maneuvers or specifically directed fire to push me into a corner. While running, I aimed up my own gattling and shot off bursts of fire. The thing overheated when I was in the tutorial, so I wanted to space out my shots to keep up my time as much as possible. I was banking on the fact that the other mech would have to stop shooting to let it cool.
My returned fire was effective, and the mech stopped its torrential downpour of plasma. I skidded to a stop and turned to face the other mech fully. I raised my gun, and it started whirring as it started up. The other mech realized its position and started to take off in a slow gate. Weird, wonder if the overheating affects the main body, too; they are moving way too slowly for it to be unaffected. The Spinnup completed, and a volley of plasma flew towards my target. From personal experience that happened about ten seconds ago, I knew aiming for the cockpit was a no-go, so instead, I directed all my fire onto the arm holding the minigun. At first, my shots went wide. I hadn't accounted for the slight delay in the finer movements, but soon, all my shots hit, and bits of metal and wires started flying.
I stopped my onslaught after a few good seconds of sustained fire. When I got a good look at the damage, my mouth smirked up into an evil smile. The right arm was shorn off at the elbow joint, and the frayed metal and wires were strewn about on the floor with the now broken minigun. I would have taken my time to give an evil laugh and march slowly and menacingly over to finish the job, but they reached for their rifle with their still working hand. Forgot that we have two arms. Before they could get their weapon over their back, I rained more fire at them, effectively shearing off the other arm at the shoulder.
Now, the mech just sat there, unable to fight back. They tried to stand up, but I dashed over and put my foot on the cockpit, pining the mech to the floor. Considering my options, I went with the most brutal one I could think of. With a mad cackle, I shoved the barrel of my minigun into the cockpit and unloaded. I kept shooting until it overheated and stopped on its own, then did it again, cackling like a demon all the while.
After it was over, I took a deep breath and looked at the carnage. Molten steel and glass dripped down the massive hole where there was once a cockpit. Both arms were taken off, and my foot pinned the now-lifeless mech to the floor. Yeah, I'd say that was a win.
A voice crackled in my ear, one I recognized as the Lieutenant. “C-Congratulations, Sali.” His voice stuttered, but he quickly reimagined his composure. “You are the victor. Total time elapsed: 1 minute and 6.66 seconds. You may disengage from the ROI and exit the bay.”
When I removed the headset and walked out of the room, I was still on the high of my very necessary brutal win. I looked at the group of Oranis congregated around a wall of monitors and saw some fear in their faces. Hehe, that's just the start, kitties. Gene was sitting down among a semicircle of chairs facing the monitors. As I saw them replay my fight, he whooped for me as I got closer.
“Just as brutal as always, even scared these big lugs a bit,” He said, gesturing to the Oranis.
“It was unnecessarily barbaric,” Kious, the lithe white one, scoffed.
I spun around and gave him my best devilish grin. “Oh, it was very necessary.” I took his small flinch backward as a win and plopped myself down next to Gene.
It was just Gene and me. I was about to ask where everyone else was when the calico, Koi–I think it was–cleared his throat. “Now patching through, JUNKR, aka John, room five.” He looked up to the wall of monitors, and I followed his gaze. Let's see how Mr.Cold-and-Calculating does.
JOHN (JUNKR): ROOM-05
From my limited testing in the tutorial/practice range, the minigun takes approximately 12.50 seconds to overheat, then a further 10 seconds to cool back down enough to shoot. Further shooting without letting it cool will make it overheat much more quickly. Not enough testing to get specific times.
The rifle takes three consecutive shots to overheat. I didn't have enough time to see how long in between shots would make it so there was no overheating. The grappling hook had no use on flat areas, though I think Bee or Vera could find A way around that. I do not have their skills of ‘winging it.’
No clue how effective any of these weapons are against the suits, so I'm gonna have to tank some hits to find out and then plan my best course of action around that. Baring, I just get one tapped. I'm willing to take the risk. While the weapons do seem fancy, the armor looks fancier. It really has no bearing on how tough it is, but I'm just going with my gut. Only if I see they pick the mini gun, I have a feeling that rifle would rip through me like paper.
Well, time to put my money where my mouth was. When we both gained control of our mechs, I saw them reach for the minigun, so I stayed in position and readied myself for the oncoming fire. The minigun spun up, and after the one second it took to warm up, it fired its plasma volley.
Warning sounds and red lights flashed through the cabin. I forced myself to stay there for at least a second to gauge the damage the plasma bolts would cause. Looking at the damage from the hud, I saw that the limbs were taking significantly more damage than the chaise. Basically, I could take some hits but no sustained damage. My limbs aren't as fortified as my main body, so I shouldn't use my arms to try to shield myself. I dashed to the side whilst pulling out my rifle. The hail of bullets lagged behind my movement for a moment, allowing me enough time to get my footing. I wouldn't have time to return fire, so I focused purely on evading, waiting out the clock so the minigun would overheat.
I ran zigzags as much as I could. The weight of the legs made it more difficult to make precise movements. The terrain, thankfully, was very rough, making it so the feet of my mech didn't slip. I was nearing the wall and needed to change my direction of momentum. This would slow me down significantly, allowing for their volley to reach me. My internal clock told me they had about 3 more seconds until they needed to stop firing.
Nearing the wall, I started to slow down to run diagonally instead of perpendicular to the enemy mech, which allowed them to reach me, and warning sounds flashed as shots peppered my mech. I swung my body around to get my limb with the rifle behind me so it wasnt damaged.
2 more seconds
A bright red light lit up my hud as the system told me I had lost power to my left arm. Well, shit.
1 second.
My countdown was correct, and before they could do any more damage, their gun overheated and stopped shooting. They almost seemed surprised by this, as if they hadn't known how long they could keep up the sustained fire. That was a dumb mistake on their part, but it was good for me, though.
I took my sweet time aiming my rifle at their gun arm, which was now reaching back to switch out weapons, but before they could even reach behind, I blew the arm off with a single shot. The severed arm and gun crashed to the floor in a heap, leaving them defenseless. Aming dead center of their mech, I took my time lining up the shot to hit where a person would be if they were in it. I assumed that was where the power and telemetry would hopefully be, making it a kill shot.
The rifle fired and blasted a hole into the center of the chaise, making the mech crumple to the floor next to its severed arm, falling face-first into the ground.
I let out a deep breath. Not my cleanest win, but I wanted to know the capabilities and limits of the technology, and hey, it worked out.
The lieutenant's voice came through the coms system, “Congratulations, John. You are the victor. Total time elapsed: 39.98 seconds. You may disengage from the ROI and exit the bay.”
Walking out of the bay, the Oranis congratulated me. As I walked towards the wall of screens, the captain called my name. “John, may I ask why you stood still at the very start, not trying to move out of the way of incoming fire or firing back?”
“Oh, that? I was seeing how much damage the plasma fire would do to see how much wiggle room I had in terms of taking hits. It was the simplest and easiest way I could think of because I couldn't test it while in the tutorial. Though I was able to get the other weapon parameters while in there, so I knew when they would stop shooting.”
“You already knew the time it took for the minigun to overheat?” He said, surprised.
“Yea, it's a need-to-know thing going into a fight like that. Knowledge is power here, and I had none, so I worked with what I could and devised a plan around that. I took a risk of getting hit, but it gave me good information that I could use. It was a necessary sacrifice. While I wouldn't have done it normally, I needed to know what I was working with.”
“So you fled whilst waiting for the gun to overheat, then made a counterattack.” he hummed to himself. “Impressive.”
I shrugged. “Not really, kinda basic stuff, if I'm being honest. It was strange that my opponent wasnt aware of the amount of time they could keep sustained fire. It was the same as in my testing, around 12 seconds.”
Gene scoffed from his chair. “Yep, that's John. Always overanalyzing every game we play so he can be optimal,” saying optimal with air quotes around it.
I huffed and turned to him. “I'm not mechanically skilled like you guys. I need to play to my strengths, and it just so happens that I'm good at creating strategies. Unlike you guys, just Leroy Jenkins-ing it in every time.” I muttered the last part to myself while I plopped down into my chair. They explained that we were all going one at a time, and once I sat down, Koi announced the next person up.
“Now patching through V3X, aka Vera, room five.”
Huh, she was still using that same Gamertag. I don't think she ever changed it once. Something to do with her being ‘vexed’ her entire childhood. Personally, I think it fits her well.
VERA (V3X): ROOM-03
Big guns were heavy, swords were not.
As I had figured out in the little practice range, I could disengage the magnetic locks that held the weapons on the back plate of the mech.
I assumed these soldiers were well versed in ranged vs. ranged combat, so I doubt they would expect me to forgo both of my ranged weapons instead of opting for the close-combat sword. So that is what I would do; once the countdown was done, I would drop both guns, take a page out of my little brother's book, and use the grappling hook to pull myself forward faster while equipping my sword.
I was not as talented with movement shooters as Bee was, but I was the one who introduced them to him, so I could do a simple forward pull even if I had never done a ‘real’ one before this.
Once the countdown finished, I dropped the guns and shot the grapple forward into the ground. The material wasnt the best to use as an anchor point, and I didn't get as much speed from my initial pull, but it was enough to throw my enemy off.
I pulled my sword out with my free arm as I did this, having it on and ready by the time I made my mad dash toward the other mech. One thing I did not expect was for them to use both arms to grab both long-range weapons.
This was a good counter to what I was doing under the circumstances; you don't need to aim as well if I'm right in front of you. It was going to be a close call on who was ready to strike first; both of their arms came down just as I got in range to swing the sword.
In a second, I slashed through their left arm, holding the minigun, shearing the arm from the elbow joint in a smooth motion. While I did this, their mech rocked back from the force of my cutting it and fired a shot that was meant for the cockpit but ended up going straight through my left arm, making it unusable as it disconnected all feedback to the arm.
Not wanting to take any more damage from the rifle, I swung my arm around while dashing back just in case they were able to get off another shot. I aimed to break the rifle instead of going in further to disable their arm. They would have had time if I tried to close the distance and swing around to hit it.
In one fluid motion, I shot back and slashed my arm down, cleaving the end of the rifle off, disabling it. I backed off, making space so I could assess the damages. Now, we were at an impasse. Both of us only had one functional arm left and one weapon.
I grinned. This was going to be a good old sword fight.
The other mech realized this and grabbed for their own sword, and we took stock of another as I prowled around them, waiting for an opening. They stood still, just turning in place to follow my movements, which was a bad idea. I walked around so their back against the closest wall and sprung forward. I gave a downward diagonal slash that was a lot wider than I wanted it to be. The weight of the arms made it harder to get precise movements.
They brought their sword up barely in time to block mine. The power in our suits was the same, so I couldn't just keep pushing, hoping I could power through their block. We stood like that for a moment, both swords fizzling and scraping against each other.
Instead of backing off and re-engaging, which would have given me the same result, I released the magnetic hold on the sword and flipped my hand so the sword was in an ice-pick grip. As their blade overpowered mine after switching grips, I guided it past me, letting it follow the body of the sword and then pushing it away, allowing me full access past their defense.
In one fluid motion, I brought my arm down and geared up for a deadly upward slash. The plasma sword cut through the steel and composites like butter and went clean through the center of the mech, splitting it from groin to head. My arm was raised in the air where it stopped. I watched the two halves fall to the ground on either side of me and smiled in victory.
A voice came through my cabin: “Congratulations, Vera. You are the victor. The total time elapsed was 1 minute, 48.32 seconds. You may disengage from the ROI and exit the bay.”
I grunted in confirmation and made my way out into the main room, the Oranis congratulated me on my victory as I sat down. I nodded to them as I passed while the little calico one explained who we would see next.
“Now patching through T0RVA, aka Tobi, room six.”
TOBI (T0RVA): ROOM-06
Was this how they were going to test our skills? It was going to be a glorified quick draw. Whoever shoots first wins. With the power in that rifle, it would be the easiest way to win, granted, if you could aim it.
I could aim it.
It took a second to get used to the weight of it, but after that, it was simple enough: point and shoot just like every other rifle in any game. This was going to be quick. How would they determine all of our skills from this? It's just who can pull the trigger faster. Maybe that's all they wanted.
The countdown ended, and I flung my arm back, grabbing the rifle, while the other mech seemed to do the same. I tunnel-visioned and focused completely on getting this shot off as fast as I could. I wouldn't wait for the aim to stabilize, and I would fire as I moved it to reduce the time to shoot.
The rifle crested over the back of my mech and swung into view; it came down fast, but I could still hit the shot. As it passed down in front of me, I held my breath and waited for the perfect time.
Now.
The shot sailed across the room and hit the dead center of the cockpit, dropping the mech before it could even reach its weapon.
Well, that was easy. They hadn't even grabbed their weapon yet, so maybe I overestimated them.
I stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen. A second later, a voice came through the speakers. “Uh, congratulations, Tobi. You are the victor. The total time elapsed,” the voice paused for a moment. “1.43 seconds…You may disengage from the ROI and exit the bay.”
I nodded to myself and walked out of the bay to a sea of surprised Orani and human faces, well, except Vera. I looked through all of them, confused about what was so surprising about what happened. I assumed all of their battles were about what had happened in mine, maybe slower, but still just a glorified quick draw.
“What?” I asked
“Damn Tobes!” Gene spoke up first, “Helluva quickdraw and mad precise shot, good shit.”
“Isn't that what you guys did, too?”
Sali gave a bark of laughter, “Nah, Tobes, you ended it before it even started; it took me over a minute to finish mine.”
“Really?” I asked. “I mean, we were just supposed to put the other mech out of commission, and what I did was the simplest thing to do that.”
Sali just laughed and dismissed me while Gene gave me a shrug and turned back to the screens. Koi, after gaining his composure, explained that I was the second to last one and we would all watch how the final fight went. Judging by the lack of a certain person, it would be Bees.
I sat down in my spot and focused my gaze on the wall of monitors. If anyone would do something super unnecessary and flashy, it would be Bee, and it would be fun to watch, at least.
“Now patching through BK3, aka Bee, room six.”
I laughed inwardly. He just took his old gamer tag and took the first part of each word/number. It would be like him to stick to his old one. It was always some variation of that old saying ‘bee's knees.’ I like this one, though; it is short, simple, and unique, just like Bee.
Let's see what skills he showed that made these Orani hire him and bring us up here.
OP: Ty for reading, this one got long quick, and I wanted to get it out, thank you for all your support in the comments I loving reading your reactions and feedback. I am currently in my first semester of college and midterms just passed but Ive been a bit swamped with work. I will deff keep posting more of this story but it might be a week or two between updates for now. Im shooting for a once a week at the moment. Ty all for being patient and hope you like this chapter :)