So long story short... together almost 10 years no problems before like this. We've never done anything like this before together. My partner and i had a 3 way with someone we know. Our connection was through grief (my best friends widow/gf, he passed away a year before the encounter) we trauma bonded and we all agreed to try this with each other. Things did not go well, she reciprocated with my partner but not fully as discussed and then pulled back after and said they specifically said they weren't really into that. We triple checked everything in texts back and forth and that was not what they said to us. Leaving my partner unfulfilled and hurt. During the year after that talk about our encounter became a regular thing. Despite both of us at separate times telling each other we should stop that kind of talk. It didn't happen and we both kept doing it. We don't see each other much on a daily as we live the high five life because of family. I have a problem with hypersexuality and one day got drunk and asked if it was OK to have relations with that person again. My partner has had reservations about this person the entire time. I ignored that and my partner texted us both that it was fine and they would love for us to play. We did the deed and after I didn't pursue that person again. It was not a great encounter and very bad.... The other person asked again to do it and neither us responded about doing it again. A month later my partner asked to branch out and do things with other people. At first I said absolutely not and then later said it was fine but didn't want to know. This went back and forth in my head and after trying to get in my head and give the approval I just couldn't anymore and said I just can't. I tried so hard to give back what I've been given really I did. It seemed fair and deserving. My partner confronted me about having an affair with that person cause we would text alot (bs and nothing related to hooking up again) but we had a long discussion and I finally said that I couldn't go through with it cause during sex I would go there and imagine them with another person and would lose it. I have been in a ltr with my previous partner of 14 years with a couple of people that were a constant the entire time. My partner said they were jealous that I had that and because of our age difference I did have a while life before them with a spouse and kid.
But they said there was no one else and then a week later they came home late after we've been texting all night and I went to bed. I was in a bad place and hating myself and was reassured that I was perfect and exactly what they want and they don't want me to change and stop being who I am. I saw my partner in the shower because I woke up to use the restroom and they said hey baby. I felt the vibe and knew something was not right. I couldn't go to sleep so I left and went to work a few hours early.......I decided to be that person and look at phone and texts records on our account and saw there was almost 200 texts back and forth between them and another person in two days. I knew exactly who it was (the person before me) I confronted the same morning when they woke up to do the daily with our family. At first they denied then quickly admitted to cheating. I lost my shit at the betrayal and left work and power drank. It's been several months and we've talked about each other's side on shit about how we both felt and it's not easy at all. I left them feeling like they were not enough and I needed more. Hypersexuality is a problem for me. And my porn addiction hasn't gotten any better (worse). I feel totally betrayed and cannot believe at times most of what they say about the other person or even how much they love me and want to make this work. They are actively doing their best to show me. For lack of better words my partner wanted to get back at me and even the playing field. Alot of the time they are crying hating the person they became and talked shit about. We've had a few friends do this kind of shit. I'm trying to seek help for my shit but with our family lives I cannot get to a support group with family commitments. It's created a huge ripple in our lives and idk..... it's there anyone who's dealt with this kind of thing? Yes I am prepared for the comments and fully accept responsibility for my actions. This is/ was until recently the longest I've ever been with someone and only one person so I am new to monogamy and totally shat on it. My partner has never had a real relationship before either. We've been talking non stop and are opening up to each other about things we've not discussed like personal depression and anxiety. I'm trying and they're trying but it's the downward out of control moments when it's really hard.

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My foil card has a shooting start symbol over the bottom left. I can't find anything about it online.

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Here. And I’d like to start by noticing that Steve Sailer is obviously Delicious Taco’s dad. Having said this.
Good episode. Lots of engagement which I suppose is a net positive for all involved. Obviously a lot of the injury stems from a distortion. The episode’s content fantasized and in fantasy warped into something constituting a threat (no, an outright assault) to the listener’s person. One can simply listen to the episode and see that some (in fact the bulk) of the negative responses are from people reacting to some spectral absent-presence rather than to what is actually being said over the course of the 2 hour long episode. The voices and the discourse have instead been shaped into sonic receptacle containing the reflection of something wildly ugly. Injuriously ugly.
Past few days have been brutal. Found myself doom-viewing the main sub, should know better at this age. Feels like I’ve been transmogrified into an absurd and wretched thing. Must've transgressed against a gnome or something. Fascinating to think about.
I would like nothing more than to shame you.
Miami Summer is a killer. Urine is blood-orange. And my mother deserves better sons.
Why would A&D do this?
Witnessing the rankest comments. In bygone age I’d found them tolerable. Having imagined them delivered by high society homosexual. A damned dandy; chubby, sinister, and flamboyant. Capri on a stick limply held between index and middle fingers, twirling wrist ash’ing on expensive Persian rug. The blurry ghosts of his mother and the kid brother who drowned in the pond all those years ago glaring at him from far-off corner. Clearing throat he launches into sing-song slander head peeling back cackling at his own wickedness. Vile and venomous but charming. Instead what we get is 30+ year old mentally-ill men. Men whose Twitter activity has atrophied their cock and balls. Genitals withering away like the Worker's State, in its place a gasping cloaca, worry not I can clock em from miles away. The odious cloaca-havers are soon joined by ruined drug-addled children and the other women. They talk about A&D in disgusting ways. This is unfair and nasty. I confess to being angry. Sweating blood-specked kerosene. Let the scent fill up the empty air between us. My wrath singeing those overgrown nose hairs.
Of the two I think Anna is the one that inspires the harshest parasocial spite. So much so that I’d recommend she take some protective measures against evil eye and tongue. Maybe take baths with hyssop herb, rose water perfume, and holy water.
It’s as if Anna Khachiyan is a Giant Floating Vagina with teeth and a noticeable overbite. Viewed from another angle it transforms into a Madonna encircled by cherubim. Perhaps we are cruel to Anna in order to be kind to our mothers.
All very pre-Oedipal.
Had to step back and parse it out. Anna draws a comparison between herself and Sailer while also asking him a great question,
07:12-07:49
Anna: “I started reading it during the pandemic because it was the pandemic. I was pregnant and bored and I really relate to you as a person who everyone thinks is like evil and monstrous on the internet, but is actually like quite agreeable and mild mannered in real life. And I was going to ask you this question last, but I may as well just ask it now. How do you feel about your new found popularity? And especially, how do you feel about the fact that you have been effectively adopted by or identified with the hard right?”
The first part of the above extract, the sympathetic recognition, brings to mind a bit of 20th century Hermetic theory concerning harmful thought-forms. Our unconscious self-destructive impulses animating the fantasy-phantasm of the other. Inhabiting their shape. Gaining a degree of autonomy. This artificial entity is vampiric by default, provoking what the Czech magician Franz Bardon calls a "magical persecutory complex"... He goes into detail about such entities in Step VI of his seminal work, Initiation into Hermetics. Describing different types of artificial elementals and phantasms along with details on how to consciously go about creating and dissipating them. One of those artificial psychic entities, the one that concerns us, he calls the schemata. Bardon details two variants, one connected with paranoid persecutory fantasies and the other with erotic obsession. The first type comes about when someone who is “easily excitable, easily influenced or self-important” (Narcissist?) has a run in with another person who has, to put it mildly, a memorable visage and dark personality. The schemata is born from the phantasm modeled after this demonic-looking disagreeable person. The victim begins to attribute all kinds of minor inconveniences to the influence of the ugly person. Deludes themselves into thinking that the ugly/disagreeable person is a powerful black magician. Everything appears to reinforce their paranoid delusions. The schema grows in power feeding off the anxieties of their creatohost. The person might end up committing suicide. This was the persecutory schemas desire, having achieved its goal Bardon notes, “how great is the shock when such a spirit realizes on the mental plane that he has committed a very successful magical suicide. What a bitter disappointment! The demonic looking person, however, has no idea what happened; he was actually only the means to an end.”
God gave us eyes so that we might notice things.
The way I see it:
Being social animals the subject of our fantasy, of our fixations, is the fantasy of the other. What makes the human Human is not that we desire but rather that we desire the desire of the other. An excess desire. We fantasize about what the other is fantasizing and enjoying. Our fantasy of the fantasy of the other is the outlines a fundamental lack within our person, a negativity. Experienced as a splitting of consciousness. Intuiting this lack, becoming aware of it, and attempting to articulate it, we are self-consciousness. This negativity or void is in psychoanalytic terms, the unconscious. We likewise intuit that there had once been some original state. One without lack and contradiction. A state of fullness, without the division between self and object. A harmonious whole. A pure consciousness or as Freud refers to it in Civilization and its Discontents an oceanic feeling. The Original Desire, one that is authentically my own, which was not the desire of the other but which unites our desires in itself. This desire is the extinction of all desires.
The eye that perceives the lovely is at once the eye that perceives what I lack. Perceiving this lack, which explains my present condition, I covet. This is an evil eye. The lover’s gaze is of the same type as the infirm or pathic gaze. Reminded of Zizek’s formulation of one of Hegel’s insights, “Evil resides in the very gaze which perceives Evil all around itself" itself a variation of Meister Eckhart’s “the eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.” The recognition of evil, the ability to see and judge evil, stems from our ability to recognize disparity. This disparity is already present within our own person, the split-consciousness. The feeling cognized, the awareness of our condition as beings separated from the whole. The clairvoyance of the tyrant and the philosopher.
Suppose that psychopathology is born from our inability to recognize an image as an image.
I intuit something more in this person, something they’re hiding. It can’t just be envy, no. It has to be because I can feel that this thing they’re hiding is sinister. It can’t just be that I feel animosity towards this person, no. It has to be because this person is evil and not just an isolated evil but rather a symptom of a much larger evil. An evil that is responsible for all the suffering in the World, for why my World isn’t the way it should be. It can’t just be attraction, no. It has to be that I intuit something more in this person, something hidden, that I must destroy in order to go on living.
If vile shit comes to mind (as vile things often do, especially when one is immersed in ambient algorithmically-summoned vileness, namely outrage and atrocity porn) they won't affirm it to themselves or try to justify or rationalize it or present it as a rational political stance. And they don’t abstract this particular form of vileness into the primary lens through which they view and interpret cultural phenomena. Unreflexive racial animosity is ugly and fetid. We’re capable of recognizing it, feeling it, as something pathological. We’re also capable of laughing at it. Laughing at ourselves. Look at what our ladies have to say about Stuart Seldowitz (the dude who went viral harassing a halal street vendor) in I’ll Be Missinger. “He sucks,” “he’s a loser,” “he’s obviously sick,” and that he gives the impression of someone who lives alone, will die alone, and will be found weeks or even months after the fact.
Perhaps Red Scare is special in how it manages to elicit absurd, wildly inappropriate responses from listeners. Vulgar and revelatory was it? Steve Sailer elicits a similar response and has become an expert in turning said absurd reactions to his advantage. Generally the cooler-head in any given exchange. While the other person shouts obscenities at a ghost, smashing fists against the post, looking crazy, like a proper hysteric. Sailer breaks the fourth-wall, making eye-contact with the would-be noticer, with a little shake of the head, a little chuckle, a little shrug… “you’re noticing right? See what I have to put up with? Imagine these people defining my legacy.” Still he seems to take it with the good humor of an uncle who will still call you on your birthday, despite your drunken outburst during holiday get-together he will admit to not having resisted the temptation to provoke you, it use to be fun, recall all the cool bands I introduced you too? We use to be best buds, “do you really think anything I’ve said merits this sort of response? Honestly?”
Has to be a cheap trick. A technique employed by an old trickster in decades long honing of craft. Maybe not. Maybe what we see is precisely what we get. Most of the very upsetting things being jokes sincerely intended to lighten the mood. Steve Sailer doesn’t care about the particular political orientation of his audience. He just cares that he has an audience. Grateful for the fans he has. Nonetheless happy that they’re not seething malcontent racists. Even if one disagrees with the methodology, the heuristic, the conclusions. That’s secondary, perhaps even tertiary to the recognition sought. His craftsmanship as a writer.
Why I loved his conflict with Will Stancil. Stancil inspired a lot of pondering for me. Putting things in place…
01:29:22-01:29:28
Anna: “You come for the race science and stay for the prose-styling and vivid story-telling.”
In trying to survive as a writer exiled from Mainstream Conservative media (ConInc) during the Bush Jr years. In fact, correct me if I’m wrong but the cancelation that actually impacted Steve Sailer, setting him down the path we find him in, was brought about not by blue-haired hall monitor millennial leftists but by his “fellow” Conservatives. I imagine that he just went with whoever was willing to take him adapting to the editorial standards and audience sensibilities of the publications willing to provide him succor. Not charity mind you but an ability to engage in his own little labor of love.
Read some Sailer. Might get into that later. But that’s the initial impression I got from Steve. Would be utterly mortified if memorialized as a Racialist Ideologue rather than as an entertaining and thought-provoking journalist. Think I also benefited from seeing how he’s actually received by people who are navigating through (or in certain cases, are mired in) the marginal “Hard Right”-spaces or the Rightwing Digital Ghetto. End up realizing that he isn’t hateful, that what you see is precisely what you get, that he privileges craft over ideology, that his reception and exile from Neocon dominated media outlets (remember these are the people gushing ecstatic over the US invasion of Iraq, manufacturing consent for our adventures in the Middle East) was exceedingly unfair but that he nonetheless managed to persevere. And that he really never goes beyond Norm McDonald in terms of his sardonic wit or The Boondocks animated series in terms of his criticisms. His normality is a great source of stability and comfort for his readers; “noticing” and speculating about these topics doesn’t necessarily lead to one becoming a seething racist.
Returning for a moment to Will Stancil, this was what he inspired:
As the last man standing I spend countless hours immersed in detailed fantasies about the coming apocalypse and my enemy's bliss. A dumb and wicked happiness proportional to my suffering. Easy to imagine other people happy. Hearts unbroken. Unburdened, hydrated, sexually satisfied, debt-free, lucky, successful in all business endeavors. Brute, jezebel, schemer, parasite, rival, betrayer... the whole lot of them thriving. Frolicking in my mind's eye. When the time comes I won't forget that they were happy while...others...suffered.
Find that trying to void your mind of all thought or sit perfectly still for 10 minutes. End up feeling like something requires much less energy from us than nothing. Causes coalescing. Conspiring, to what ends?
You see. The very same principle appears to be at work here. Same pathological base that undergirds genuine racial or ethnic animosity. Fantasizing about the other’s enjoyment and being unable to distinguish between the persecutory Phantasm and the actual human being whose shape it appropriates.
Had a friend recommend forgetting. Forgetting is a dialectical exercise, first you have to acknowledge the thing living rent free in your head and acknowledge its origins... then you have to take the steps to stop feeding it. Letting the thought-form dissolve. Let it be put to rest. Reminded of the practice Orthodox Christian contemplatives call Nepsis.
Other approaches as well, acknowledging the presence of anima veiled in shadow.
But listen…
The podcasts I consume, are a reflection of me as a person. Being what I associate and consume. What does it say about me in particular? Reveal about me? That they should have Steve Sailer on the pod. Settling down. Perhaps some responses could be understood in this light. That a Sailer episode reflects poorly on the listener. Constituting a great betrayal of the love and energy and time I have dedicated over the years to you.
I’m not a racist.
Show me your likes on Twitter and I’ll tell you who you are. The most punitive and brutal god. The idea of the AI nu-god being this, utilizing that standard, is horrifying. Show me your likes on Twitter and I’ll tell you who you are, everything you are, and whether or not you qualify to live.
Shamed, I quietly remove the upvote I gave to the hysterical person and the downvote I gave to him.
Hysteria like a yawn is an empathic contagion.
Back to Anna it’s not because she’s ugly and it sucks that she might nurse this delusion. I actually think Anna is really pretty. Rather I think it’s because she’s a mom. She registers as a maternal figure. That’s one of the reasons I think people respond to her the way they do. As stated earlier. We are cruel to Anna in order to forgive our moms.
[To be continued: Wherein I say horrible things that should never be said to the people I claim to love. Will also interrogate Sailor Socialism]

Hi all, I have recently returned to OSRS. I am really into PvM, I maxed in rs3 and have killed every boss there many times and was part of a pvm clan and I helped organise and run bingo events etc and its something I am really missing.
Are there any clans currently recruiting that run semi-regular events and have a generally friendly vibe?
My ign is BinWizard, combat stats are all around the 90s and I have done some solo ToA 150s and quite a lot of other bosses here in osrs and also just got my quest cape.
Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. Might also be worth mentioning that I am UK based!

Findom is Femdom. It's practiced offline, in the real world, in relationships all over the world. If anyone did like five seconds of actual research into BDSM, they'd know this.
Anyone I see ask about doing Findom in real life, or dating a sub, I am going to assume is:

1. Literally a minor, or
   
2. Has led an incredibly sheltered life, or
   
3. Can't conceive that woman would want to be dominant in their personal relationships, or
   
4. Think sub men are stereotypes of weak losers.
   If #4 is the case, check your baggage at the door, because that's an offensive stereotype and by that logic, submissive women are also weak losers. If you think it's different because gender, congratulations, you've drank the toxic masculinity Kool Aid and shouldn't be practicing a kink that requires subverting outdated and ignorant social/cultural beliefs in a safe and healthy manner.
   

Back to Findom. Findom is under the umbrella of Femdom. It's been around thousands of years. Fake Dommes on TikTok grifting their shitty guides didn't invent it three years ago.
While I'm at it, whoever told you it's money for just existing is full of something brown and stinky. It's never been that. It never will be that. If you've received "money for nothing," consider that you're simply a product they silently consumed, like renting a movie. A pornographic movie specifically, because no one spends money without getting anything in return. Their return was using you as a masturbatory aid (even if not literally). Or in some cases, masochism or self destructive behavior. But they still used you. And I'm not saying that's wrong, but y'all need to understand the reality of it, that this is what you've signed up for. As so many of us have been saying, Findom is sex work, and you're a product on the porn market.
When Findom is practiced as part of a real life D/s relationship, that aspect isn't there. It's no different than any other relationship. There's give and take and love and chores and bills all that. D/s is a kinky layer on top of a vanilla foundation. It's not the same as online (and so, so much more rewarding).
Online can be rewarding as well when you find someone you get on well with. I have some great conversations with my subs. I have many subs that I'm simply just friends with. I have a great community of other Dommes. I made that happen by treating everyone equally. By being social and friendly. My Twitter has zero bait posters and zero drama. If that's all you're finding, it's 100% on you. Get a better people picker and stop following the people who tweet shallow, tired Findom cliches. There's no shortage of experiences Dommes with engaging, intelligent content.
One last thing... where did this notion that Reddit has better subs come from? They're the same men. Findom doesn't change from one platform to the other. Men aren't "better quality" one place vs another. There's not a single social platform that won't have entitled men, incels, and scammers. So bury that notion or you're just going to be disappointed. If anything, Reddit has more entitled men because it's chock full of free porn. Muskrat has made adult content harder to find on Twitter, whereas Reddit has all the curated, free porn by the millions, easily searched and found, with literally zero barrier to entry. I would bet my savings account that there's far more minors on Reddit also. Now personally, I file that under "not my circus, not my monkeys," but if you're uncomfortable with minors seeing your ass in their feed, then just keep in mind... they absolutely are. You can't advertise on any social platform without that being a reality.

Hello everyone!
First of all, English is not my mother language, so bear with me.
I'm going to drop the exploration mechanics that the book suggests because neither my players nor me are enjoying them no more. I think it slows the pace of the game for us. So, I'm going to take a Critical Role approach and make my players roll a d20 and if the result is 5 or lower, a random encounter takes place. I want to have at least one weather option and a non-combat option. But my question is: what interesting enemies can I have prepared for them to fight? They are an abjuration wizard, a moon circle druid and a drakewarden ranger. They are all lvl 5 (and have been for a while now) because we started the campaign at lvl 3 after doing phandelver's mine. I say this because I want some challenging monsters with interesting mechanics (I hate stationery combats where you surround the enemy and take turns to hit him). They are going to mostly travel by boat.
(You can answer both in English or in Spanish)
Thanks to everyone in advance!!

be me; ex LizarDM
be also me; Adonis Valintellis (Tiefling Paladin), Thalia Milakos (Human Ranger) and Zaahir Kehmet (Earth Genasi Wizard)
the soldier stifled a yawn as he patrolled the sandy beaches of Kalikos
clouds hid the island from the moon’s spectral glow, casting the land into darkness and turning the often silver seas black as coal
his shift had been a long one and just as boring as expected
where once his mind had been sharp and alert, it now lingered on thoughts of a cold drink and a warm bed
his eyes scanned the shore superficially, passing over the same stones and grassy knolls he’d seen a hundred times before
on any other night, he may have noticed the discrepancies in the shoreline
the new rock that appeared almost boat-like on second glance
but alas, his mind was a thousand miles away, and the javelin hit him without warning
the soldier collapsed to his knees, gasping for air like a fish on land
his armour had spared him from the worst of the damage, but the javelin had done its job
stunned and winded, he was rendered defenceless against the four figures that emerged from the darkness
a thought crossed his mind to sound the alarm; but his limbs refused to move and his lungs pleaded for breath
one member of the pack split from the rest. A stout dwarf with a full beard and a grim expression
they approached the helpless man, drawing a sharply curved short sword from their belt
the soldier tried to move
tried to yell
but the dwarf closed the distance between them and cut his throat, putting a violent end to his struggles
wiping the blood clean from his weapon, Oryk hauled the body behind cover before jogging to catch up with his companions
the Order of the Twins moved like shadows in the night. Their passage muffled by the spells woven about their feet
that said, their infiltration still proved easier than expected
skirting the edges of the island, the party avoided common paths and watchful eyes; slipping between gaps in the meagre defences they encountered
their route took them just below the peak of the island; where a lavish home stared out across the ocean
in the distance, tiny twinkling lights just barely outlined the Athosi mainland
the house itself was lit up like a beacon in the night, and roaming globules of fire identified the few guards on rotation. Six or seven at most
less than a third of what they had anticipated
counting their blessings, the small band of adventurers navigated the narrow pathways around the house and approached the island’s southern side, where a lonely dirt road wound its way towards a grove of trees
they moved swiftly and silently through the long grass that grew on either side, but they needn’t have bothered
the road was unguarded, and the entrance to the grove lay bare
“this is too easy,” Cyrene whispered; fidgeting nervously with an iron band around her wrist. “Where are the rest of the guards?”
she, like the rest of her companions, had a dishevelled look to her appearance
a thinness to her features that implied more than a couple missed meals
Oryk shot her a stern look, and the half orc immediately shut her mouth
turning his gaze to the two half elves to his rear, he was answered with obedient silence
Maia had always been thin, but now she was practically gaunt
her eyes carried a weight, and an ugly scar split her lip on the left side
Iris, her sister, had once identified herself with long curly hair
now, it was cut short, and crudely so. As if done with an altogether uncaring hand
both twins wore the same iron band as Cyrene around their left wrist
a thin piece of metal that coiled around their limb like a snake
with a commanding wave of his hand, Oryk led the party through the grove’s northern entrance and into the trees beyond
moving like ghosts between the thin trunks and shallow underbrush, the group made good progress before they heard the sudden snap of a twig in the darkness
Oryk raised a fist and the advance came to an abrupt stop, scanning their surroundings with tense expressions
a series of soft whispers drifted between the trees, accompanied by the rustling of leaves and groaning of branches
the dwarven fighter drew his sica and his companions complied, unsheathing their weapons in response
they began to spot lithe, feminine figures peering out at them from behind the trees. Staring at the strangers with bright, emerald eyes
the women had skin like mottled bark, and hair that plumed about them like foliage
“dryads,” Cyrene declared, lowering her rhomphaia with the faintest hint of relief
Iris and Maia exchanged a look before lowering their own weapons, albeit keeping them close at hand
Oryk, however, raised his short sword threateningly, and pointed it at the nearest nature spirit
“get back in your trees and stay there. Interfere, and we will not hesitate to kill you”
the dryad in question retreated, but the others stood their ground as a frantic whispering filled the trees around them
something dangerous glimmered in Oryk’s eyes, and his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sica
“NOW!” he suddenly bellowed, his voice deep and commanding
the drayds scattered into the trees, leaving a myriad of foul curses and even fouler odours in their wake
Oryk gave a satisfied grunt and turned to leave, only to nearly walk into the dryad that now stood in his way
a spirit with speckled, ashy skin and a stern, stubborn expression
Oryk approached them with his weapon raised
“get out of my way,” he growled. “I won’t ask a third time”
the dryad stared down at him like a disapproving adult would a petulant child, and when it spoke, it did so with a voice like wind through a canopy
“if you were wise, you would return to your masters. You will not find what you seek here”
its eyes lifted to the party, as if directing its words to them
with a snarl, Oryk swiped at the dryad, only to be met by a cloud of pollen and stinging nettles
cursing aloud between bouts of frantic coughing, the dwarf fled the swarm and started rubbing his eyes, which had already begun streaming with tears
muttering under her breath, Cyrene approached his side and laid a hand on his shoulder
“come now, let me see”
lowering his hands to his side, Oryk turned to face her with a grimace, his eyes puffy and red
“Archons above, Oryk,” Cyrene cursed. “You should know better than to taunt a dryad”
as the words left her mouth, the band on her wrist suddenly tightened and the half orc gave a small yelp of pain
glaring at her through bloodshot eyes, Oryk gave the cleric a venomous look
“and you should know better than to speak out of line”
Cyrene’s hands fumbled at the metal around her wrist, refusing to meet the dwarf’s cruel gaze
the cuff continued to coil and squeeze; writhing like a living being as Cyrene frantically whispered a foreign chant beneath her breath
the words seemed to appease the magic item, and it loosened its grip in response
witnessing this cruel display of discipline, the twins began unconsciously massaging the band around their own wrists; as if reminiscing on a similar experience
shaking the pain from her arm, Cyrene set to work curing Oryk’s ailment, uttering a slew of healing spells
with his eyesight restored, Oryk sheathed his weapon and pushed past Cyrene, wandering into the trees
with little other choice other than to follow, the group set off after him
the party walked for some time before a sound other than buzzing insects and murmured curses reached their ears
a low, rumbling that echoed through the trees. Like a dull droning that came in ebbs and flows
once more the group came to a stop, and before Oryk could even turn to look towards the twins, they had already begun to move
creeping forward with the lightest of footsteps, Maia and Iris stealthily approached the sound, deftly avoiding any stray branches or betraying stones
the droning grew louder and louder, until the pair had stopped just shy of its source
peering around a trunk with sharp blue eyes, Maia scanned what lay ahead
the trees parted around an ancient oak, its roots deep and its branches tall
a hollow sat about half way up the trunk. A small opening just wide enough to put a hand or two inside
but the tree was not so interesting as what lay beneath
coiled around the trunk was a creature with a long, serpentine body
its scales, green and flecked with brown, were hard and interlocked like shields in a phalanx
its head, immense and filled with razor sharp teeth, lay curled just below the hollow of the tree
the low rumbling emanated from the monster’s chest, as it uttered a long, prolonged snore
Maia’s jaw tightened and her eyes flitted over to her sister
Iris’ face had gone pale, and her hand had instinctively dropped to grab at the empty sheath on her belt
a prize taken by their employer
the twins locked eyes, and shared a moment of profound fear
wetting her suddenly very dry lips, Maia gestured back towards the trees and Iris nodded in silent agreement
the two stealthily retreated, keeping their footsteps light all the way back to their comrades
Oryk almost jumped when the twins materialised beside him, emerging from the darkness without warning
“well?” he hissed, his voice rising above the droning snores. “What did you find?”
Iris frantically gestured for the dwarf to quiet down, as Maia shot a terrified glance back in the direction of the oak tree
only when they heard the low droning of the monster’s snores did the pair relax enough to answer
“dragon”
the word held in the air like a curse
Cyrene’s eyes widened, and had it not been for the band on her wrist, she most certainly would have uttered a prayer
even Oryk’s permanently affixed scowl faded as the blood drained from his face
when he finally spoke, he did so with no semblance of his usual condescension
“...how big?”
“8 meters,” Iris answered. “No more than 12”
Oryk nodded, his brow knitting together as he dropped into a crouch
“a juvenile,” he thought aloud. “Hasn’t reached full adulthood. Scorch marks?”
“none that we could see”
“good. Then either it’s too young to breathe fire, or it spits poison”
his eyes narrowed to points as he mulled things over in his head
the group kept quiet, forced to listen to the distant, droning snores as their leader considered their options
after a long stretch of time, Oryk took a sharp inhale and straightened his posture
“it’s asleep?”
his eyes shifted to Maia, and the half elf tensed
“we think so but…”
“we don’t know for certain,” Iris quickly interrupted. “We’ve never encountered a dragon before. We should call off the mission and come back more prepared”
a deadly silence fell over the group as the dwarf went still
“call off the mission?” he repeated
his voice was calm, but the words held a distinct edge to them
like the blade of a meticulously sharpened knife
“and since when did you make the calls in this party?”
Maia shot her sister a look, and Iris lowered her eyes
“never,” she answered
“that’s right. Never,” Oryk reiterated, holding the half elf in his steely gaze. “We do things my way, as we always have”
Iris’ clamped her mouth shut and the dwarvish fighter turned to look at his other companions
“unless you have all forgotten what awaits us if we fail? What will happen if we come back empty handed?”
he was met with silence and a slow shake of Cyrene’s head
“failure isn’t an option,” he continued. “If the drakon is asleep, we need to act now”
his gaze shifted to Maia
“so can you do what I need you to?”
the half elf swallowed and tried to slow her racing heartbeat
“I think so,” she meekly answered
“good. The rest of us will wait in position. We’ll flank the tree from three sides and-”
“-I’ll do it,” Iris suddenly interjected
Oryk’s teeth flashed in a grimace before he turned to face her
“I’ll retrieve the objective,” Iris clarified, meeting the dwarf’s gaze
“Maia is quieter,” Oryk bluntly retorted. “She stands a better chance of getting to the tree than you do”
“but with my magic-”
“-your magic that we need for the escape,” he interrupted. “We have a plan, stick to it”
he turned back to the front and began drawing out a rough plan in the dirt with his sica
“-while Maia sneaks in, we hold here to provide support. Once we have what we came for, we leave back through the northern exit”
Iris’ eye twitched, and Maia reached out to drop a hand on her sister’s arm
“Iris-” she quietly started
but her warning went unheeded, and Iris spoke up again
“what’s the point of saving my magic if we don’t get what we came for?” she argued
Oryk spun with a stormy expression, pointing his blade to her chest
“because I said so!” he snapped. “And you will do what you’re told!”
he may have stood half a head shorter than Iris, but in that moment, Oryk felt like a giant, and in the silence of the trees, his voice sounded like a clap of thunder
Iris’ face paled and Oryk realised what he had done
instinctively, the party held their breath; anticipating a monstrous roar, or the crash of falling trees
but after a few tense seconds, all they heard was the rhythmic rumbling of distant snores
the group letting out a collective sigh of relief that cut through the tension like a knife
tension that returned the moment Oryk opened his mouth
“do you want to be sent across the Chronaean?” he hissed. “Do you want to leave your sister alone?”
Iris’ eyes shifted to Cyrene, searching for some glimmer of support
instead, the half orc looked away, leaving the half elf to face their leader alone
“of course I don’t,” Iris mumbled
“exactly,” Oryk spat. “Stay in line, do what you’re told, and keep your mouth shut”
he turned to Maia with an expression that encouraged absolute obedience
“get the objective, and get out. Nod if you understand”
Maia gave a slight jerk of her head
“good. Now get moving”
the dwarf stormed off into the trees, and Cyrene quickly shot up to follow him
Maia and Iris exchanged a look of resignation before joining their trusted comrades

Maia stood in position by the edge of the clearing, mentally projecting her path to and from the hollow
it was a simple job, really
dart across the open ground
jump up to the low branch on the left side
climb over to the main trunk
grab the objective
and do it all again
simple
if it weren’t for the dragon in the way
Maia's heart began to pound in her chest until she felt a hand fall gently across her arm
she turned, meeting Iris' concerned gaze
“you don’t have to do this,” her sister whispered; practically breathing the words into Maia’s ear
“yes I do,” Maia answered, keeping her voice just as quiet. “You heard Oryk. We can’t go back empty handed”
“f*ck Oryk,” Iris cursed. “We’re only here because of him”
in spite of herself, a grim smile lifted the corner of Maia’s lips
it was a rare thing to hear Iris curse
“we could run, you know. Make a break for the mainland”
Maia’s smile dropped in an instant
“Iris, no”
“why not?” Iris replied earnestly. “We can make it. I know we can”
“they’ll catch us. And even if they don’t, what then? We’ve got nowhere to hide. No friends to help us. We’d be on our own”
“we’ve been alone before. We survived, didn’t we?”
Iris’ words were hopeful, but they couldn’t hide the desperation beneath
when Maia didn’t seem convinced, Iris took her sister’s face into her hands
“please don’t do this. I can’t lose you”
Maia’s eyes softened, and she placed her hands atop Iris’
“that’s why I have to do this”
she took a deep breath and tried to put on a half convincing smile
“you don’t have to worry about me. I’ve got this. I promise”
Iris’ thumb traced the scar across her sister’s lip
“I’m older. It’s my job to worry about you”
a frown fell across Maia’s face
“older by 10 minutes”
“and I’ll never let you forget it”
Iris pulled her sister into a tight hug
“don’t you dare get yourself caught”
“when have I ever?”
the two reluctantly parted, and Iris held her sister at an arm’s length
“remember. Once you have it-”
“-run like the Hounds of Chaon are after me”
a smile touched Iris’ lips, and the shadows rose up to swallow her
when they parted, the monk was gone
inhaling a slow, shaky breath, Maia composed herself, and refocused on the tree
30ft to the centre
branch on the left side
over the dragon
down to the hollow
reverse and get out
she exhaled slowly, letting the shake fade from her breath
she had this
Maia broke from the tree line, moving in a swift but stealthy manner
every step carefully laid. Every movement intentional
the dragon’s snores rumbled like thunder, growing louder with each step
before she knew it, she was beneath the low branch
taking a quick stutter step to gain momentum, she threw herself upwards, catching the branch with both hands
thankfully, the branch held firm, and Maia swung her legs up and around it
shimmying along inch by inch, she drew closer to the trunk itself, inadvertently holding her breath as she passed over the sleeping body of the dragon
its breath reeked up close. Like spoiled fruit and vinegar
it took all her strength not to gag
before she knew it, she was at the trunk of the tree and at the next step of her plan
hoisting herself up to a crouched position, she flattened her body against the side of the trunk and began sliding her foot along its length
eventually, she found a suitable foothold and began clambering across to a more central position
the hollow was just beneath her now
and beneath that, the massive head of the dragon
this close, she realised just how easily such a creature could snap her up
with her small frame, she’d be gone in one or two bites
pushing such morbid thoughts out of her mind, she leaned down until her head and arm were low enough to reach inside the hollow
her lungs were beginning to burn from holding her breath for so long, but she dared not exhale
she wasn't sure how good a dragon's senses were, but she wasn't keen to find out either
reaching her arm into the hollow, her fingers touched loose leaves and knotted wood
she pushed a little deeper, searching for any sign of her prize
something cold
something metal
but instead, she felt the hard back of the hollow
frowning, she pressed again, but still felt only the rear of the hollow
had she somehow missed it?
her fingers scrambled around, but continued to feel only wood and leaves
her lungs were really burning now, and she could feel her face flushing with colour from being upside down
regardless, she removed her arm and leaned her head down further, trying to peer inside
in the black gloom of a moonless night, a human wouldn’t have been able to see a thing
but even with her enhanced elvish sight, Maia was granted only the slightest advantage
just enough to make out the shape of the interior and the contents within
dried leaves
knotted wood
a couple insect husks
and nothing else
sure she had somehow made a mistake, she looked again and again
but with each scan, the truth became undeniable
“you will not find what you seek, here”
the dryad’s words echoed in Maia’s head, and with a cold sense of dread, she realised that the spirit hadn’t been speaking rhetorically
the amulet wasn’t here
and with that realisation, Maia’s lungs could hold on no longer
her breath escaped all at once, her awkward position driving the air out in an undignified huff
she clamped a hand over her mouth, but the damage had been done
she had made a sound, however small, and already her breath was mixing with the cool air
time slowed to a crawl as the dragon’s snores came to a stop
she watched in terror as its head, mere inches below her, began to stir
its nostrils flared; drawing breath with a deep, rasping inhale, and its eyes rolled in their sockets
the dragon’s jaws cracked open, revealing a black, forked tongue and rows of fetid teeth
rancid breath assaulted Maia’s senses, making her stomach turn and her head spin
she waited for the creature to open its eyes
to see the tiny morsel dangling helplessly above it
but they never did
to her greatest relief, the dragon remained asleep and blissfully unaware of her presence
relief swiftly turned to dismay, however, as the dragon proceeded to shift; its scales rippling like water across its long, serpentine body
the tree shook violently as the monster scraped against its surface, shearing away bark and causing branches to groan and sway
wrapping her arms around whatever she could find, Maia clung desperately as the shaking threatened to throw her loose
after what felt like an eternity, the vibrations mercifully ended, and the dragon returned to its snoring
but even after the tree had long fallen still, Maia found herself unable move; as if every single muscle in her body had frozen solid
in a moment of clarity, she realised that her hand had found her dagger in the chaos, and that the weapon was now clutched in an iron grip at her side
she almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation
as if a dagger would keep her safe if the dragon had actually awoken
nonetheless, she kept it in her hand, unwilling to relinquish the one defence she had
lifting her gaze to scan the surrounding treeline, she spotted the pale faces of her companions waiting in position. Intently following her progress with their eyes
Iris looked just as high sprung as she was. All but ready to throw herself into the open in order to save her sister
Maia silently prayed that her twin could keep her composure for just a little longer
wetting her incredibly dry lips, the rogue began scaling the tree; taking care to avoid any of the small twigs and leaves that had been shaken loose by the dragon’s shifting
upon reaching her chosen branch she paused, taking a moment to slow her racing heart beat
in spite of everything telling her otherwise, she needed to calm down
stress would lead to mistakes
and mistakes would lead to her death
feeling her muscles relax ever so slightly, Maia continued, stretching her body out to reach the low branch
her feet found purchase, and the rogue began creeping along its length
a few more steps and she’d be home free
“Maia!”
a single word
muffled and distorted, and yet agonisingly loud
Maia’s eyes dropped to the bronze surface of her dagger and saw a young woman’s face staring back at her, their eyes grey and piercing
there was a flash of familiarity in the half elf’s mind, but in that moment, she could barely recall her own name
a million thoughts raced through her mind as her heart pounded like a drum in her ears
one thought, however, screamed louder than the rest
run
Maia’s feet moved before the thought had even finished forming, propelling her from the branch a split second before it detonated into an explosion of jagged splinters
she hit the ground hard, feeling something give in her shoulder
she didn’t have time to dwell on it, as an earth shattering roar tore the world asunder
her feet were under her in an instant, and she broke into a sprint, not daring to look behind her
she knew that if she turned, all she would see is a flash of green scales and a mouth full of fangs closing in to end her life
the air began to reek of rotten fruit and then a body collided with her, throwing her aside
a cloud of noxious fumes ripped through the space she had just occupied, causing grass to shrivel and trees to wither
she felt hands on her arms and shoulders, and then Iris was yelling at her, hauling her to her feet amidst pained racking coughs
they didn’t have time to stop, barrelling through the trees in a mad dash to get away
as furious roars filled the air behind them, Iris stumbled through the underbrush, her legs unsteady beneath her
Maia looped an arm under her shoulder, and now the twins were supporting each other in a tangle of limbs
minutes passed. Or maybe just seconds. And then the two broke from the tree line onto an open road
sea winds rushed up to meet them, and Iris' legs fully gave out as she began greedily sucking in gasps of fresh air
“come on!” Maia urged, trying to drag her sister to her feet
but Iris was of no use now, her eyes bulging and her face flushed with colour
something ripped its way out of the underbrush and Maia turned sharply, instinctively raising the dagger that was still clutched in a death grip
instead of the dragon she was expecting, she found Cyrene and her rhomphaia, halfway through a cut that would have cleaved her in two
recognising each other at the same time, the pair lowered their weapons and turned to the wheezing half elf at their feet
concern flashing across her face, Cyrene dropped to her knees in preparation to cast a spell
before she could begin, however, Oryk emerged from the grove, blood splattered across his hands
“we don’t have time for that. Get her up!”
he raced past them, leading the charge back towards the beach
with a grunt of exertion, Cyrene lifted Iris into her arms like a baby, shoving her rhomphaia into Maia's hands
keeping a wary eye on her sister, Maia followed the half orc as she began jogging after their leader
as they ran, Oryk settled into pace beside Maia, shooting her a questioning look between grunts of breath
“do you have it?”
the half elf's shoulders fell, and she quietly shook her head
“it wasn’t there”
Oryk’s face turned a dark shade of red, and a vein bulged in his head
“what do you mean it wasn’t there?!”
“the amulet is gone. We missed it”
a stream of vile curses flowed from Oryk’s lips, and Maia wisely chose to keep her eyes forward and mouth shut
they reached the beach in record time, and Cyrene carefully laid Iris down into their waiting boat
as Oryk and Maia began pushing the vessel into the rolling surf, the dwarf gave her a hateful glare
“hells spare you when they find out we failed”
“we...haven’t...failed...yet”
Oryk turned his ire on Iris, who lay curled across the edge of the boat trying her best to suck in what air she could
“we...know...where...its...going,” she continued between strained, wheezing breaths. “We...still...have...time...”
leaping into the boat with a splash of water, Oryk waited just long enough for his companions to get in before heaving away with the oars
“we’d better. For all our sakes”
he sliced through the water with powerful strokes, driving them into deeper and darker waters
Maia slunk down beside Iris, taking her sister’s hand into her own
Iris dropped her head onto Maia’s shoulder, and the twins watched as the shores of Kalikos drifted further and further away

First Post: https://www.reddit.com/CradledDnDStories/comments/x8zwpv/athos_1_a_new_world_of_opportunity/
Last Post: https://www.reddit.com/CradledDnDStories/comments/1b2taqi/athos_35_mirror_mirro
Next Post:

I will never blame anyone else for my offense but myself, I chose to go against my morals and beliefs and contribute to the trauma and abuse of others, I genuinely do not think I deserve forgiveness. All the horrible things that have happened to me as a result have been earned. That being said my parents and brother don't deserve the hell I've put them through and I am greatful they still are even here for me. I don't know if I can ever really pay them back for the damage I've caused, I guess that's one thing that's been motivating me to keep going, is just paying back those who have stood by me through out this. I believe I am a horrible person and I've tried to change that thought again and again to no avail. There's many days where I've prayed to god even though I'm not religious, to just make me disappear, keep me from ever existingotr just reset my life. I don't know who I am, I don't understand why I did what I did even after reflecting on it in therapy and somb. I feel like it would have been better if the police just shot me when they raided my place. I've always been a failure and a anxious mess, I had very little friends through out life and never even dated and I'm in my mid 20s. I let opportunities pass me by over and over again. Even being in sports and after school activities I never felt connected to anyone, I always felt on edge and paranoid and I didn't understand why. Those feeling led to me to coping with porn and using it excessively and isolating by playing video games as well. I had one best friend in my life and I've since moved away from where I used to live. I see no light at the end of the tunnel and I feel like a dead man walking, like I shouldn't be alive, just a disgusting irredeemable being who is forcing himself to keep going. I cannot fix myself I have no clue what to do anymore and I just want to curl up in ball and rot away.

Yeah imma put this in here for fun :)
Names/Titles:
Fumetsu, Bhairab Bēcaina, The Great Asura of Death and Destruction, The immortal, King of Hearts (named by the Perfected Army of Christ).
Age: 1100-200 years
Appearance:
A Sorcerer of unknown origin. His skin tone is a light tan. Despite being 300+ years old, he looks barely a day above 28. He has black short hair and wears a folded sleeved button up everywhere he goes, even in battle. The shirt is stained in blood and his own flesh. When seen by people he constantly looks covered in blood.
Personality:
Bhairab is considered highly sadistic, sociopathic, hedonistic and extremely selfish. He often has large episodes of vanity where he brags to his opponent about how many women and children he has killed. Additionally while he is not killing weak sorcerers and curse spirits he often spends time with his harem. He is also very cunning and manipulative. Capable of tricking even high level foreign Jujutsu agents into giving him valuable information.
Despite this he does have some sort of admiration of humanity. In one fight with an unknown sorcerer, he clearly stated that he is powerful because he can choose to kill. That the reason humans are superior to anything else is because they can choose to ignore their desires or not. He simply chose to follow Kenjaku because he believes that the world he’ll create would be interesting to live in.
Backstory:
A foreign Agent of Kenjaku and notorious curse user. He is considered a key part of his contingency plan if Kenjaku were to die fighting. Not much is known about his origins. Only that he awakened from the mountains as a child; alone. He didn't know how much time had passed, it was so cold that he couldn't feel anything, he could only see the gray sky and snow raining down on his face. He couldn’t even describe the color.
Moving his eyes around he could see two figures approaching him. Both were talking in some foreign language. Just as they were talking, the child had one thought in him, hunger. He tried to walk up to the figures but a snap in his leg was felt, resulting in him falling in front of the figures. They laid flat on the floor and left him. He raises his head up to look at the figures moving away. He still felt hopeful. Believing they would come but they never did. This happened every single time. As time passed more snow enveloped him to which he became invisible to anyone who passed through the mountain. Despite being unable to stand, he could at least hear the voices of those who would rest near him.
At first these were just more foreign voices, but he would eventually understand. He would understand people's conversations, descriptions and dying breaths. A thought would appear in mind as he was trapped in the snow. It said live. He woke up from the snow and proceeded to walk down the mountain. Despite the severe conditions he never wavered, when he spotted a climber. His thought was that he needed clothes so he grabbed the man and gouged his eyes out before stripping him naked and leaving him to die out in the cold. He continued forward until he stopped by a village gate.
The people looked at him with fear. All they said was Fumetsu when looking at him. He didn’t really care, only looking for a place to sleep in. It was when he was surrounded by town guards that he realized he wasn't welcomed here so he grabbed a guards spear and went to it. The result was a bloodbath. With the entire village destroyed in the process. That was the origin of the man that would try his hardest to destroy jujutsu society. Helping Kenjaku further his plot by infiltrating and weakening foreign barriers outside of japan. He is infamous for his ability in Jujutsu and being considered one of the greatest threats to the Perfected Army of Christ, Jagtånder and the Ainu Jujutsu Society. Having multiple encounters with all three of these organizations and repelling some of their smaller forces on some occasions. For each of these organizations, when it is believed that Fumetsu is dead, he seems to appear in a different location, always starting something.
Curse Technique:
The Precepts of Bhairab: The user's atoms are able to contain the user's consciousness. The user can manipulate their atoms with curse energy. This manipulation is not limited to converting elements, creating compounds or creating chemical reactions as long as it is his atoms that he manipulates. This allows the user the potential to manipulate their own body by the atomic level. They can also manipulate objects their body touches though this does take time at around 10 - 15 seconds.
Extension Techniques:
Precept of Protection:
Fumetsu condenses the atoms that compose his skin. Hardening his skin in the process. This makes him highly resilient but reduces his mobility.
Precept of Life:
Fumetsu focuses all his curse energy to multiply his atoms and fully regenerate himself in 3 seconds. Any sort of damage that is done to his body can be fully healed, as long as he has curse energy.
Precept of Insight:
Fumetsu turns any sort of converted material around him into highly complex organs such as eyes, ears, limbs and more. Allowing him to either have extrasensory perception, a better physical constitution or an increased output of curse energy.
Precept of Preparation:
Fumetsu forms any of his converted atoms in nitroglycerin and heats them, leaving only so much to be used as projectiles. Basically creating a pipe bomb out of his flesh. Any projectiles that manage to hit the opponent will slowly begin to convert them. If not removed (Either via amputation or RCT) or reinforced with CE in the next 15 seconds Fumetsu can control and manipulate their bodies.
Precept of Feigned Humility:
A full reworking of his body to create a biological masterpiece for sorcery. Has eyes now on his arms and back. His back muscles constantly contort to produce hand signs and he has mouths on his palms and right chest constantly chanting curses. His perception has greatly increased as he now has a full 360 degree vision and senses even the small vibrations in the air. All his physical attributes have also increased by 250%. However his most notable feature is his increase in CE output by 180%.
Maximum Technique, Broken Precept of Destruction:
By slowly converting the air around him he can create a hydrogen blast that is shown to decimate entire cities. Requires around 2-5 minutes to charge up.
Weakness:

• Curse Energy reinforcement is often effective against being assimilated into him.
• Is killable during curse technique burnout.
• Advanced Reverse Curse Technique can reverse the assimilation.

Binding Vows:
Undying Domain: Through not only forfeiting the barrier but also reducing the radius of the domain’s radius to 3 metres and making it so that the domain is unable to overwhelm anyone elses his domain’s sure hit effects will still be ongoing. This is shown especially during domain clashes. Where the opponent's domain’s effect is cancelled but the user's domain sure hit is still in place. Meaning that if the opponent tries to approach the user in spite of any other external conditions they will now be under the sure hit effect.
Domain Expansion, Eighth Precept of Bhairab: Beautiful Naraka of the Asura
This domain initially depicts several buddhist statues accompanying a black barrier with Fumetsu at the center. Sorcerers are often fooled into believing that he is simply casting a curtain as Fumetsu often says the incantation in a foreign language. When anything is within the domain their atoms are instantly converted to Fumetsu’s atoms, making them susceptible to his manipulation.
The current undying domain does not have this. Instead it is a pure atomisation field destroying anything that comes within a 3 meter radius.

I’m a 20 year old transgender woman, I transitioned at 15, I look, act, feel, sound, and everyone believes I am a “woman”. I’m not bragging or “tooting”but I am very attractive I get compliments in public, flooded with compliments on apps, I’m fairly short, and have a decent sense of style (I am now tooting my own horn). I should feel lucky I should feel grateful, I should feel good, but everything hurts. I hate myself so much it’s unreal, nothing makes me feel happy not even the compliments not even love. My life would be so much easier if I was just normal, nothing I’ve experienced has been normal or okay. I’d do anything to trade places with anyone, I prayed for it as a child and I pray for it now. Everything is painful, I can’t even look in the mirror with out my appearance changing infront of my own eyes, or my eyes going directly to my pelvis and hating myself even more. i cqnt even move past hating myself to be loved by my boyfriend wiyh out sabotaging it all. ive started to pick at him and its unfair, the shame and guilt i hold when we go dates is overwhelming, he won’t even reach for my hand in public and I know he feels shame too, yet he gets off to the idea of me being different. I’m a walking fetish and it makes me sick, the idea of being fetishized has made me despise having sex. The idea of my boyfriend getting of to the fact that none of his family, friends or even his roommate know that I am trans hurts, I don’t want them to know but I’d rather not know he’s getting off to my pain and discomfort at my expense. Believing my only hope for a stable life being through only fans is awful, I’m convinced it’s my only option for some type of salvation, at least if I take control of the fetishizing then will I have power and I guess I’ll have money. Then maybe I can try and heal myself with a surgery that could lessen the suffering and pain I feel already. Sex has become a nothing, sometimes I enjoy it but sometimes im doing it to my others happy, so that I feel wanted and validated and APPRECIATED. The feeling of being touched makes me shifted out of my body, I feel like I’m in a porn video, poked, pounded, sucked, licked, kissed nothing feels good anymore but it’s the only time I feel valued. Everything makes me sick and disgusting, the feeling of being touched and acting like it feels good is draining all for the pursuit of love, affection, touch, and validation. I can’t tell if it’s underlying trauma? Maybe something happened as a child? Or maybe I just can’t help but to dissociate. The heart ache I have when I think about me being a normal person male or female, nothing can take that away. Suggesting I should de transition isn’t realistic, I have breasts that would require extensive weight loss or even surgery, even with weight loss I’d still have loose skin I’d have to remove. Detransitioning would cause more pain then I already have, whether you believe being trans is real or not is beyond, I’ve made my bed and I’m happy to a point about how I look but I will never be fulfilled as a person. I’m stuck with the biological FACT that I am male who was born with a cursed brain. Therapy has never helped I went through multiple years of therapy to even begin my transition none of which helped only proved that I am an ill individual who’s suffering from a very severe case of gender dysphoria. I tried to mutilate my body as a child (no damage done). I wish for one thing that people take away from this is that being trans is PAINFUL transitioning IS PAINFUL, and even more painful to go back and live as your biological sex. An analogy I read compared it to a walking through a door that tortures you as you walk in but tortures you again if not worse then before. I wish to be treated as a HUMAN BEING not a sexual object, an animal, subhuman, or as if we don’t matter. I feel pain and I know pain and I deserve to be heard, seen, and loved.
(I apologize for my grammar errors, mistakes, and incoherent ramblings jumping from thought to thought, I’m not very intelligent I’m just expressing feelings to whoever reads this and it’s very late and I can’t sleep )

After many years of TTC (we're 34F and 33M), 3 years of IVF, 3 egg retrievals (with a total of only 3 embryos obtained at the end) and one failed transfer, I think I saw a line for the first time in my life... I uploaded the pictures here : https://www.reddit.com/TFABLinePorn/s/TDEeJ1NNN0
I'm still in complete disbelief, yesterday morning (5dp5dt) I took a test and was negative, I took another one in the PM just to confirm it was the end and start coping with the loss of another embryo, and this was the result. I'm still in complete disbelief, I cried a bit when I saw the lines but with my fiancee we still haven't allowed ourselves to use any word like "positive" or "pregnant, we haven't allowed ourselveves to think we saw something at all. In fact maybe it is too soon... And we want to be cautious and avoid a huge fat disappointment.
I've been having sore boobs and a lot of heartburn/reflux since the transfer.
This morning (6dp5dt) I haven't taken another test because I woke up super early to go to the airport for a business travel (yay, more stress to add to the whole process).
My betas are next Monday, what should I do and check until then?
I know I shouldn't even have done any at home test in the first place if I follow the advice of my clinic, but this community has helped me a lot with my anxiety and I trust some of you more than the nurses at the clinic! Thank you 💕

Good evening nerds, after perusing last week’s thread about synergies with Jace Reawakened, I wanted to try to start a more in-depth discussion of the archetype that I think might best leverage his abilities: Blue Moon. While the most obvious place for Jace is slotting into the Mystmin-style Dimir Lurrus control shell (and that’s probably just stronger overall regardless of synergy), I think there are some clear benefits to going in another direction, namely: 3MV sorcery-speed value spells to leverage the plot ability, more situational spells to leverage the loot ability, and snap/bolt to leverage the ult.
Before we get too far in, I should note that I don’t have a meaningful match history to show off here. Results have been mediocre as I’ve tweaked toward this current iteration, and I haven’t tested exhaustively enough to thoroughly map out all the matchups. With that being said, it’s a fairly fun deck to play, and I think it might have enough general quality to be somewhat competitive with a refined list and play. With the disclaimer out of the way, let’s get into the deck:
Jace + plot targets:

• 2-3x [[Jace Reawakened]] - this is the real development in tech for this deck, and it synergizes very well with the rest of the cards that you already want to be playing
• 2-3x [[Blood Moon]] - The namesake of the deck. Fairly strong against domain, which seems decently represented in the meta. Plotting this on turn 4 is pretty late to fully cripple your opponent, but restricting them to one spell per turn is still useful when holding up interaction.
• 3-4x [[Fae of Wishes]] - Obviously a spicy inclusion, but it’s just such a juicy plot target it’s hard to pass up. Also a good blocker in a pinch, and it turns on Flame of Anor. More discussion on wishboard options to follow.
• 2-3x [[Fable of the Mirror-Breaker]] - Fable is everything you want in a generic plot target: great value for cost, not reliant on instant speed (unlike Archmage’s Charm), excellent with snapcaster, treasures can occasionally let you Blood Moon on otherwise sketchy lands
• 2-4x [[Flame of Anor]] - similar to Fable, this hits the spot as a plot target: plays well at instant speed but isn’t reliant on it, gives you great value to recover from a slow start, and synergizes with both of your creatures

Interaction:

• 4x [[Lightning Bolt]] - Generically great removal, and can occasionally close out the game with a Jace ult. Would prefer to run more if possible
• 4x [[Mana Drain]] - No question, best counter in the format. Your plot targets (and Lorien) tend to make great mana sinks for this as well.
• 2-4x [[Spell Pierce]] - Obviously seeing quite a bit of play in such a fast format. Your favorite card against SnT, Natural Order, Minsc, and the like.
• 2-3x [[Stifle]] - Another spicy inclusion. This spell probably isn’t good enough for the format in general, however it does play uniquely well with Blood Moon. First of all, it supports attacking your opponent’s mana base, and stone-raining an early fetch can make an otherwise middling Blood Moon excellent. Once Blood Moon is on the battlefield, Stifle helps defend it against outs like Boseiju, Otawara, or Leyline Binding.
• 1-2 [[Stern Scolding]] - Bowmasters bad, ergo scolding good. Also incidentally hits many non-bowmasters.

Other:

• 2-4x [[Snapcaster Mage]] - Fairly slow card for such a fast format, but that is somewhat mitigated by biasing toward 1MV interaction. Works great with Fable and Flame of Anor.
• 3-4x [[Brainstorm]] - On the upside, find what you need when you need it. On the downside… bowmasters. Probably worthwhile, but I could see trimming here depending on the meta.
• 2-3x [[Lorien Revealed]] - Like a tapped fetch, but more resilient to Blood Moon and synergizes well with snap and mana drain
• ~20 lands - Fairly standard mix of fetches & island duals, heavy on islands to support the Blood Moon. Probably worth running an [[Otawara]] and a [[Mystic Sanctuary]], possibly worth mixing in an additional sanctuary and/or [[Hall of the Storm Giants]] depending on how much you want to tempt fate.

Sideboard:

• Tier 1 wish targets - [[Roiling Vortex]], [[Pithing Needle]], [[Surgical Extraction]], [[Unlicensed Hearse]] - nothing too surprising here
• Tier 2 wish targets - [[Test of Talents]], [[Gaea’s Blessing]], [[Tormod’s Crypt]], [[Brotherhood’s End]], additional Blood Moon - additional support for common scenarios, or options for rarer scenarios. Note that you can put Blessing into your deck with Brainstorm when needed
• Generic advantage cards - this is where the wishboard has felt fairly disappointing to be honest. You really want something disgusting like a Valki to close things out, but I’m just not seeing it. I think [[Narset, Parter of Veils]] may be the best option to push a game from even to ahead, but it’s a bit situational and lackluster. [[Search for Azcanta]] is another cheap option, but very slow. [[Chandra, Torch of Defiance]] is a classic for this slot, but it seems to play poorly with the blue pips and instant speeds among the rest of the deck. It could also be that an additional fable is the best option.
• Normal sideboard cards - [[Molten Impact]] and [[Aether Gust]] as general interaction, probably some additional copies of wish targets for depending on the metagame

Other cards under consideration:

• Other generic control spells - Archmage’s Charm is fairly bad while plotted and very risky with Blood Moon. Counterspell might be good enough as hard counter #5. Expressive Iteration is great value, but I’m not sure it outcompetes the other value cards already included. Dig Through Time might be worthwhile as a 1-of.
• Delirium package - most blue moon decks I’ve seen have been running this, but I feel like it may just take up too much room for what you get. You don’t get the most out of DRC like a more graveyard-focused or aggressive deck would, bauble is a no-go with vortex (and you don’t have a Lurrus to recur it), and heat can largely be replaced by flame of anor.
• [[Tishana’s Tidebinder]] - This is probably the best fit that I don’t already have locked for the main deck. It’s a wizard, it supports the stifle/moon plan, and it’s great with a fable that sticks. The biggest downside is that it’s expensive, and it doesn’t interact particularly well with Jace, but it might be good enough regardless.
• [[Vendilion Clique]] - Another flash threat option similar to Tidebinder. V clique is also a wizard, it plots better than tidebinder does, and it’s fantastic with Narset if you can get there, but on the downside it doesn’t work with fable.
• [[Fury]] - coming soon, this seems like it will slot in very nicely. Helps keep the board free of bowmasters, and it works rather nicely with fable, either early game as pitch fodder or late game with reflection.
• [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] - a classic rage inducer when paired with a turn 2 Blood Moon, but honestly doesn’t seem to have a great place in the meta. Decent against SnT, but it seems like every other meta deck has T1 removal, blockers, or both. You also don’t really have enough other must-remove threats to make it backbreaking in the lategame, nor play few enough creatures to expect zero removal in post-sideboard games.
• 3rd color splash - Jund can get away with it with Jegantha, both as limitation on pip requirements and as a safety valve when color screwed. Jund this ain’t, with several 2x blue pip spells and only fable treasures to bail you out. With that being said, there are some interesting options if you’re feeling bold.
  • In Temur, you have great midrange cards like Jarsyl (incidentally a wizard) and Oko (wishable). You also have Veil as interaction, and several options to shore up your enchantment removal. Going more exotic, reclamation exists, and [[bramble familiar]] gets a steep discount with Jace.
  • Jeskai also has some potential. [[Deputy of Detention]] and [[Reflector Mage]] are both wizards as well as excellent reflection targets. T3f is a solid wish option, and you have veto/swords/fragment if you want additional interaction options.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I’d love to hear about any experiences y’all have had with blue moon in the current timeless meta, as well as any suggestions for adjustments to the deck.

Your 30'^s! A magical place where you find yourself sandwiched between feeling like a seasoned wizard of life and a confused apprentice at the same time.
You’ve finally mastered the art of not caring about what others think, only to start worrying about what your plants think of you. You’re old enough to remember the thrill of getting mail, yet young enough to be annoyed by anything that’s not an email or a text.
You start to realize that ‘adulting’ is a myth, and everyone is just winging it. You’re not old, but you’re not young either. You’re in the prime time of life where you can appreciate a wild night out, but also cherish the joy of canceling plans to stay in with a good book.
So, are we old in our 30s? Nah, we’re just getting started. We’re at the perfect age where wisdom and energy intersect. So here’s to the 30s - not quite vintage, definitely not expired, just a fine blend of youthful exuberance and mature sophistication. Cheers!

Desire is no problem. Craving -- i.e., when desire becomes grasping -- is a problem.
And according to the guiding precepts, there is no proscription against sexual activity in itself (except for monastics). It's misuse of sex that is seen as unwholesome.

You need to understand that the entire Path of Buddhism is predicated on waking up from dream-like delusion of self, and selves, and subject (I, my, me) versus object (the presumed external world which the self is presumably 'missing' and needing, or at the mercy of). The point of mental discipline is to stop making an illusory world out of illusory concepts -- our relation to which causes all suffering -- and instead to rest in reality.
This is the basis of all Buddhist ethics. There is no ethical decree given from above by an authority figure; it is all functional, all in service of waking up and dispelling suffering.

So the tainted mental activity that produces the illusion of a 'me' and an external world inevitably leads to craving, grasping, and suffering, like a wheel that turns around and around endlessly.
Craving that persists with regard to a particular object or theme is known as lust. There are many remedies for lust.
First off all, just following the Path in a good course of training will settle the mind and even the energy. Much of our personal suffering and many of our dysfunctional tendencies arise because our energy (in ancient terms named 'inner winds') is inflamed and irregular. A balanced lifestyle and good training in meditation, ethical behavior, and wisdom smooth out the practitioner's energy and establish calmness and stability. The upshot is that one doesn't crave the things one craved before, and turns instead toward noble aims and aspirations, the causes of happiness.
Śamatha (acquiescence/calmness/concentration) meditation is especially regarded as a cure for all kinds of sensual attachment. This is because it diminishes the mental activity that creates the illusion of subject-object separation and its accompanying habitual patterns of attachment. When the mind settles, there is less 'going out' toward supposed external objects.
There are also specific remedies for sexual attachment, including contemplating the constituent parts of a body and/or the many unpleasant aspects of a body -- blood, pus, oil, urine, feces, odor, shedding skin, and so on. Related contemplations consider aging and decay.
These practices are effective because typically the lustful person is fixating on a very limited and idealized version of the supposedly desirable person: they see only momentary physical beauty or preferentially selected qualities, not the whole reality. The contemplations establish what a body really is (which is far from gloriously pleasant). And one can imagine that seeing the entire life span of the object of desire -- seeing hehim as germ cells, a fetus, an infant, a toddler, a child, and adolescent, an adult, an elderly person, a withered aged dying person, a heap of dust and bones -- can dispel the illusion of perfect desirability that characterizes lust.
[Additional note: there's a text in which the Buddha helps Ananda overcome fixation on a woman by bestowing such a vision upon him, of the woman in time-lapse, quickly moving through all stages of her life. Perhaps our scriptural experts will provide a citation here.]
Some of the most important and influential means of bringing the mind under control (not rigid control, but stability and functionality) have to do with lifestyle. There are many teachings that don't appear in books, and which you get through human contact and actually living the lifestyle along with others.
Regulating diet, sleep, physical movement and rest account for possibly half or more of the spiritual accomplishments and personal transformations sought by practitioners. If you just eat right, your efforts are already tremendously supported.
Avoiding overly dulling or stimulating foods (like too much meat & dairy, and certainly sugars, oily foods, processed foods, overly spicy foods), avoiding overeating, and avoiding alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and recreational drugs go a long way to settling the fiery, eruptive energy that easily becomes sexual craving.
Certain specific foods are discouraged or, within specific practices, prohibited because they directly block the practice. Some of these are strongly aphrodisiac foods, others are known to block the energy flow being cultivated.
Sleeping the right amount at the right time evens, calms, and uplifts the energy. Best is to be asleep at least an hour before midnight (by the sun, not by the clock which can change with daylight savings time), and to wake and rise before the first light of dawn. No surprise: this follows the schedule of temples and practice centers. And having too little sleep, though not ideal, is better for the subtle energy than too much sleep. Having too little sleep harms the body, but having too much sleep harms the energy and spirit.
Physical movement is also extremely important for health at all levels, and for spiritual practice. Physical practice is another aspect of authentic Buddhism that is not (and perhaps cannot be) conveyed in books, blogs, and videos; but it's incredibly effective in bringing forth a natural, rooted stability of mind. Prostrations practice, vigorous physical work, and whole-body-and-breath physical activities and exercise are effective upon sexual craving on a number of fronts (grounding, energy flow, outlet, contentment), but they also greatly support meditation and mental training.
And finally (but far from the last benefit available), the influence of a teacher and practice community can't be overstated. Being in the presence of those who maintain the true view helps your own wavering, wandering, attaching mind come under control and move toward the true view itself. Being with people who are clear about their values, and whose discipline arises naturally from wisdom (rather than being imposed tyrannical by an ideology), helps one learn how to become clear and disciplined.
To a great extent, cravings and addictions are cured by replacing them with wholesome and more satisfying and fulfilling aspirations and behaviors, and by replacing the triggering environment with a more healthy one.
Addiction is not always best addressed by wrestling with it directly, as that can become another trigger, causing recurrent cycles of repression and acting out. Objectification is a root problem; so be careful of making a personal issue into an object of fixation. A good course of training will help teach you where to place your attention and effort. It's like the story of the two wolves: the one that grows is the one you feed (with your attention). "You become that which you place before you."
We don't learn how to live by amassing concepts; we learn how to live by being in the presence of true humans.
And if we establish the karmic causes for being in the presence of an enlightened teacher, the influence on our life is unimaginably beneficial.

In my campaign I require all players to have their own session zero that are multiple solo sessions until they get to lvl 3-4..at which point all the players meet each other and continue the campaign as normal. The session zero is usually centered around that persons class and background. (My campaign setting is in "late renaissance era".)
I do this to give each player a unique experience and account of events that are happening in the campaign. It also allows that player to have their own unique slice of the pie in the world. Each session zero is intertwined in some fashion. (this took a lot of work) I am currently wrapping up player 2s session zero.
Player 5 chose a sorcerer, so I have created ISAK (Institute for Sorcery and Arcane Knowledge) They will spend much of their session zero here.
I have already created the school...its layout, its 30+ instructors (all sorcerers).. the courses...the quests,, student loans...(sigh) but it suddenly occurred to me that sorcerers don't "learn" magic...they are born with it....how much do I really need to change? How much do sorcerers really know about their innate magic?
I would imagine the sorcerer school would run much differently than the wizard school because nobody chooses to be a sorcerer (well mechanically they do...but lore wise they don't). For one...i think the classes would be smaller...I feel like it would be focused on teaching its students how to control their powers, courses on the different metamagic types, general studies would include the 8 schools of magic, advanced studies would depend on the sorcerers subclass (I allow all subclasses). Does this make sense or am I missing anything?
Sorcerers "pick" their subclass at lvl 1 so I imagine that each subclass would have its own "Prerequisite Courses".
Does anyone have any good suggestions on how I can make the sorcerer academy fall in line with the lore? I understand mechanically they learn spells at every level...but how would that work lore wise if the spells are innate to each individual? I would appreciate any creative advice/suggestions anyone can give me.
To sum it up...What exactly would a school that exclusively taught sorcerers look like? How would it differ from a school that taught exclusively wizards?
The school has to exist because one of the professors and the school has already been tied into player 7s session zero.
I am very aware that as the DM I can make up anything for this to "work"...but I am not doing that...it has to fit in with the lore. Lore is an important part of the campaign. The Lore is sacred......
I allow any race in my campaign but I require each player to take a lore test on whatever race they choose (other than human). If they fail they do not get to play as that race and default to human. 2 of my players failed their test and are now playing as a human. I try to hold myself to the same standard in staying true to the lore....the sorcerer school must fit in within the lore of sorcerers...absolutely no exceptions.
edit: Let me clarify about the test...I gave them all 5 bonus questions...used a 10 point grading scale..it was a 25 question multiple choice......and even gave them each the video I would be basing the test on. I don't feel bad at all that they failed as I gave them every opportunity to pass. I even gave players who scored 100+ 3 unique traits to choose from as incentive to study. Which 2 other players achieved. I did offer the 2 that failed a chance to retake (without the chance of getting unique traits)...they accepted that they failed and were happy to play as human. Here is an example of one of the tests.
What is a unique feature of the orcish language, according to D&D lore
A: It has no written form.
B: Its based on musical tones.
C: Its Elvish in reverse
D: Its a pidgin of Elvish and Dwarvish.
How are Ogrillons typically produced, according to D&D lore.
A: Through experimentation by powerful wizards seeking to create hybrid soldiers.
B: From the union of a female orc and a male ogre, combining the traits of both species
C: By a curse placed on orcs and ogres by a vengeful diety, resulting in their offspring being ogrillons.
D: Through the use of ancient artifacts that can fuse creatures of different species into a new form.
Seems hard...but my Half-Orc player killed his test...scored 103..because he studied and put time into developing his character. Note: not all questions are this difficult.
Now look what my Aasimar players test looked like...that he failed miserably.
Which is the following is not a typical feature of an Aasimars appearance?
A: Halo
B: Wings
C: Tail
D: Silver or Golden eyes
He got this wrong...and most of the others...
I dont see it as restrictive...I put a lot of time and effort integrating a players character into my world...the very least they can do..is learn about the race they are playing.

For Smoker, I think his theme should waver between imposing and bombastic, and gentle and heroic based on the context he’s in. And weirdly enough… I think a foghorn should be incorporated into the more bombastic moments? Not entirely sure how, but I just think it would fit the character.
For Chopper, you gotta go with those Christmas vibes to ensure a part of him is connected to his roots. Some nice sleigh bells during the more mellow moments, some winter-ey uplifting whimsy during the basic action scenes, and… well I hear he can go pretty berserk later in the series, so if they make it that far, corrupting it into some loud scary track would be cool.
Vivi is obvious. She needs a deep voiced singing lady. She needs the duduk. The oud. The drums. During her most triumphant moments, it should sound like she’s fighting a Molduga in Breath of the Wild. Just all in on the Egyptian vibes.
Bon Clay is difficult, because her aesthetic is kinda all over the place. Maybe he could have a sort of shifting and chaotic sound. Some ballet, some EDM, some… idk, opera? Maybe shift to the sound of another character’s tracks when shapeshifting? That’d be cool.
Ace is tough cuz I haven’t read far enough for him to get a ton of screen time. Mariachi maybe? Rock? One of those two if I had to guess.
And Crocodile… you know you gotta go all in on those casino vibes. A peppy piano, a killer sax, and the ability to go from smooth and suave to grimy and sinister easily.

As many people know, the 2nd Tumbleton was a giant mess of material that is nearing fanfiction levels of writing favoring the Blacks, but I wanted to break down some things that really irk or make my brain hurt thinking over them as I am re-reading the text. Hope I can make a few people laugh also, tried my best.
The battle starts in the black of night, where Addam arrives with his army of spawned in men that we are told he convinced to join him through talk-no-jutsu. We are told Addam set afire hundreds of tents full of men asleep. He then set his flames onto the town of Tumbleton, we are told the few shops, homes and Septs that were spared in the sack were engulfed in dragonfire by Addam. The book completely just glosses over how this kid just nuked a town for no reason after spending pages describing how awful the greens were for doing the same thing, anyway lol.
Ulf was knocked into a coma dream, that we are to assume he was put in by Benjicot's sharingan, nothing could wake him up. Hugh made his way to the stables, while waiting for his men to get his armor, Jon Roxton kills him to make sure he can't mount his dragon and kill Addam?????? Roxton really got hit hard by George with the brainless juice here because you can't put 2 and 2 together that maybe killing a valuable rider in the midst of an ambush is a really bad idea.
We are then told next that Daeron was killed by either two randoms or his tent. His dragon never even attempted to acknowledge its rider's death or the danger he was in. Tessarion kinda forgot about strong dragon & dragonrider bonds, feeling emotions, pain etc. So Addam's fire barrage kills Daeron. We are then told that Tessarion decides to now finally stop forgetting and kill the dragon who just killed her rider, so she attacks Seasmoke. Then George starts writing dragon pornfic about Tessarion deciding to have a mating dance with her rider's killer lol?????????
Vermithor then rose to put a stop to this cringe George was writing. The text then goes on to wank Addam more telling us how brave and awesome he is by deciding to face Vermithor, so he blindsides Vermithor, mid fight we get a Blackwood mention, George cant help himself. Vermithor beats and is about to kill Seasmoke when Tessarion decides she never really cared about Daeron in the first place, and decides to help her rider's murderer, the reason is unclear, it could have been the dragon porn? it could have been Addam's anime powers? maybe it was the Blackwood aura? Anyway Tessarion steps in saves Seasmoke's ass for some reason, then they fight for a bit, Seasmoke gets his head ripped off, Tessarion crawled away and Vermithor died from his wounds. Tessarion then gets killed by a Blackwood because George had to get one last Blackwood wank in.
The battle concludes when Benjicot grabs Addam's body and carries him away like a dramatic anime moment. We are told he got the privilege to rest at Raventree hall for a couple years till he later gets entombed in Hull with a stone engraved with the word LOYAL.
Daeron's body conveniently disappears, no body or funeral is ever held for him. His own men really gave zero shits about what happened to him. His own kin back in Oldtown forgot he existed and befriend his killer's brother. His brother Aegon was the only one who really cared that he died, ordered a giant statue made for him, that never got completed.
To conclude the breakdown of the 2nd Battle of Tumbleton, we had a 16 year old boy with anime protagonist talk-no-jutsu powers lead an army 4000 strong, of fish people I am to assume? against an army that was originally 20k, probably down to 15k by then, utterly defeated them, killed the Prince in charge, nuked the town, set the camps ablaze, participated in some dragon mating dance, attacked an angry Vermithor, befriended the dragon of the prince he killed, died from crush in the dragon 2v1, got the honor to be carried by a Blackwood. Then a Blackwood killed a dragon because this was necessary. Unwin Peake then decides to kill the last rider they have, decides he never really cared about helping his king and took the remaining thousands of men and marched home. We don't know where Daeron's body went, maybe he became the Night King? Alicent never mentions her son's death after and none of his kin do either. So we are to assume Lyonel never really cared for Daeron also. Oh yeah and the Hightowers kinda forgot they lost their Valyrian sword Vigilance @ Tumbleton when Hobert died.

My [26F] boyfriends [30M] kinks make me uncomfortable. Does this mean we are not compatible and should probably break up? Btw we’ve been together for 4 years and he’s the only relationship I’ve had.
My boyfriend has a kink for women in clothing and public play. It feels weird to say, but he likes it when girls are in skimpy clothing, in a bikini and doing anything sexy in public. Most of the porn he looks at is women on the beach clothed or unclothed.
This has resulted in me feeling uncomfortable going to places like the beach with him. A lot of girls wear thongs to the beach and this is a big kink of his. I definitely have some insecurity from other things he has done; he messaged nsfw and non nsfw posters on Reddit in the past trying to get attention from them, he has admitted that he does look at girls on the beach and other things.
I love going to the beach, but I feel weird being there while he ogles other women. I always wear a thong when going to the beach, so him being right next to me and looking at other girls makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable and unattractive. I have talked about it in the past and it doesn't seem like he is able to stop himself from looking. Is it time to admit that we just are not compatible and move on.

GPT-4o is available for all free users so the question arises. Do you really need PRO subscription now?
I want to find out by comparing the models on 3 different tasks.

Task 1: Summarize

Prompt: Summarize article from URL: https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o and provide key takeways.

Spoiler: GPT-4o wins this round
GPT-4o Response
OpenAI introduces GPT-4o ("o" for "omni"), a multimodal model that processes text, audio, and images, offering real-time responses and improved multilingual support. GPT-4o is faster, cheaper, and more versatile than its predecessors, excelling in vision and audio tasks. It integrates safety features and undergoes rigorous evaluations. Initially available in text and image modes, with audio and video capabilities to follow, GPT-4o aims to enhance human-computer interactions.
Key Takeaways:

1. Multimodal capabilities (text, audio, image).
2. Real-time processing.
3. Improved multilingual performance.
4. Faster and more cost-effective.
5. Enhanced safety and rigorous evaluations.
6. Gradual rollout of features.

For more details, visit OpenAI's announcement.
GPT-4 Response
The article introduces OpenAI's new flagship model, GPT-4o, which stands for "omni." This model integrates text, audio, and image inputs and outputs for a more fluid human-computer interaction. It boasts improvements in language processing, especially for non-English languages, enhanced audio and vision understanding, and better performance metrics while being faster and more cost-effective. GPT-4o combines these functionalities in one model, unlike previous versions that used separate models for different tasks, offering quicker response times and more contextual interactions. It is currently being rolled out, with plans to gradually introduce more features and capabilities.

Task 2: Brainstorming

Prompt: Summarize article from URL: https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o and provide key takeways.

Spoiler: It's a tie
GPT-4o Response

1. Holographic Personal Assistants: Develop AI-driven holographic assistants that provide real-time, immersive support for both personal and professional tasks.
2. Eco-Interactive Art Installations: Create eco-friendly public art installations that generate energy through interactions with viewers, blending sustainability with creativity.
3. Augmented Reality Storytelling Parks: Design theme parks where visitors experience stories through augmented reality, blending physical environments with digital narratives for immersive adventures.

GPT-4 Response

1. Virtual Reality Time Travel Agency: A service that provides hyper-realistic virtual reality experiences allowing customers to "visit" any historical event or era.
2. Personalized Dream Streaming: A platform that records, analyzes, and allows users to share or revisit their dreams in high-definition video.
3. AI-Curated Life Paths: An AI-driven service that analyzes a person's talents, passions, and life data to suggest personalized, optimal career and life choices.

Task 3: Creative Writing

Prompt: Write humorous email to my boss explaining why I'm not coming to work today.

Spoiler: GPT-4 wins this round
GPT-4o Response
Dear [Boss's Name],
I hope this email finds you in good spirits and free from any surprise mythical creature invasions. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that I won't be able to make it to work today due to an unexpected and rather unusual circumstance.
As I was getting ready to leave for the office this morning, I encountered a particularly tenacious unicorn in my backyard. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Unicorns don't exist!" But believe me, this one was very real, very sparkly, and very insistent on staying put.
Despite my best efforts to coax it away with promises of rainbows and magical meadows, the unicorn refused to budge. It seems it has taken a liking to my garden gnomes, which is both adorable and problematic. The local authorities and animal control were no help, as they understandably don't have a protocol for unicorn-related incidents.
As a result, I'm currently in negotiations with a local wizard who specializes in mythical creature relocations. He assures me that he can safely transport the unicorn to a more appropriate habitat, but it will take most of the day to complete the spell.
I apologize for any inconvenience my absence may cause and assure you that I will be back at my desk as soon as this magical situation is resolved. In the meantime, I will be available by phone and email if you need anything urgent (assuming the unicorn doesn't eat my Wi-Fi router).
Thank you for your understanding and patience with this rather fantastical predicament.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
P.S. If you hear rumors of a rainbow appearing over my neighborhood, don't be alarmed. It's just the unicorn's farewell gesture. 🌈
GPT-4 Response
Hi [Boss's Name],
I hope this message finds you well—or at least better than I am currently faring. I regret to inform you that I am unable to make it to the office today due to a highly unusual and unexpected situation. This morning, as I was preparing to brave the perilous journey to work, I stumbled upon a daunting challenge... a jigsaw puzzle!
You see, last night, I made the mistake of saying, "How hard can it be?" while looking at this 5000-piece enigma. Little did I know, it took this as a personal challenge. I’ve been recruited by the pieces themselves, which have conspired to keep me at home until the entire landscape is meticulously pieced together. They have taken my cat as a hostage, who, as I type, is comfortably sleeping atop the partially completed puzzle.
Despite my best efforts, every attempt to leave has been thwarted by another piece mysteriously fitting into place, compelling me to continue. It’s a vicious cycle, but someone has to solve it, and that someone appears to be me.
On a more serious note, the real culprit of my absence is a stubborn cold that has decided to visit me without an invitation. I thought it best to keep my germs confined to the puzzle battlefield, rather than share them with the team.
I will be checking my emails regularly in between my bouts with the puzzle (and my sneezes), so I should be reachable for any urgent matters. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Wishing you a less eventful day at the office!
Best regards,
[Your Name]

Summary

GPT-4o: Good for simple tasks. It's also much faster than GPT-4. It looks like a really good replacement of GPT-3.5
GPT-4: Still better option for complex tasks that require multiple steps.
PS: IF you want to see me doing more experiments like this: join my ChatGPT newsletter

Was reviewing large attachments and came across a couple that I have no idea where or who they came from. One is of someone playing with an Ak47 and the other one is of some stuff hooked up to a laptop and an iPhone which someone is scrolling through showing graphic porn. I’m wondering if this was a mistaken airdrop from someone or …. A bit unnerving. Is it possible that I now have malware or whatever from clicking on these in settings- storage- view large attachments ? Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask

We ended our last session with the party's Barbarian getting kidnapped, (impressive, I know).
The Barbarian is trapped in a cage that's magically shut. I want the party to have to use some teamwork to open the cage, so I'm trying to come up with something that the tiny gnome wizard can do that needs (or is greatly assisted by), the help of the party's goliath fighter.
The best I have so far is that... maybe the cage is on wheels, and the Fighter needs to push it into a certain place to begin the ritual, or needs to move it multiple times throughout the ritual?
The cage itself would be like a zoo cage that is supposed to display monstrosities for the public's entertainment.
The Barbarian was teleported into the cage via some magic, but the cage bars any teleportation in/out except through the exact crystal used to teleporte the Barbarian in with.
Any ideas DMs of Reddit?

We ended our last session with the party's Barbarian getting kidnapped, (impressive, I know).
The Barbarian is trapped in a cage that's magically shut. I want the party to have to use some teamwork to open the cage, so I'm trying to come up with something that the tiny gnome wizard can do that needs (or is greatly assisted by), the help of the party's goliath fighter.
The best I have so far is that... maybe the cage is on wheels, and the Fighter needs to push it into a certain place to begin the ritual, or needs to move it multiple times throughout the ritual?
The cage itself would be like a zoo cage that is supposed to display monstrosities for the public's entertainment.
The Barbarian was teleported into the cage via some magic, but the cage bars any teleportation in/out except through the exact crystal used to teleporte the Barbarian in with.
Any ideas DMs of Reddit?