E-invite bachelorette party invitations | | A snapshot into whats its like to date Ava Max according to her personality type! + Fun Facts about Ava!

According to many posts and interviews by Ava Max, she has identified herself with the Aquarius personality type, now while I do not personally believe in Astrology (as i see it used wayyy to often for discrimination plus its problematic with the concept of freewill) I thought it would be fun to give you all a snapshot into what it would be like to date Ava according to the typical personality traits associated with an Aquarius (with bonus facts about Ava)! Sound fun? I thought so!

An Aquarius will be loyal unto the end and does not love just anyone! As such they expect complete loyalty, mutual respect and honesty in return. If you are looking for a casual hookup, fling, or an open-relationship an Aquarius will drop you in an instant! A downside to an Aquarius is they can be very trusting, believing others to be as honest and good as they are, and as such tend to be taken advantage of.

Fun fact: Ava Max was in a SEVEN-YEAR relationship. She also broke up with two partners for gaslighting and cheating on her, something which broke her heart. (Viall Files and Rolling Stones Interviews)

An Aquarius is passionate and fun! If you are looking for someone romantic, spontaneous, dominant, charming and unpredictable an Aquarius is right for you!

Fun Fact: Ava Max prefers to date the quiet, introverted and nerdy type of personality - and as such looks for someone whose nature contrasts and compliments her own. (Viall Files Interview)

An Aquarius is attentive to their lovepartner, however in return they also require a partner who they can not only trust, but someone they are safe to express anything and everything in their soul. To date an Aquarius means to be their friend first.

Fun Fact: Ava Max and Cirkut dated shortly after meeting, and though they broke off the relationship they have remained friends and close collaborators ever since. (AmoMama website - interview)

An Aquarius is drawn to vulnerability and deep-feeling/emotionally intelligent and mature people. An emotional connection is the most important thing to them. Alongside this they are analytical, clever and smart - and thus make for great communicators (honesty, smart, and deep feeling).

Fun Fact: Ava Max LOVES interior design and it is her favorite hobby besides singing/dancing - if you want something to talk to her about, this is a great place to start! (Maxwell Zoom and Viall Files interviews)

While an Aquarius is a passionate and loyal lover, they need their space and freedom, as this is a very free-spirited type of personality. If you are a controlling, clingy, or dominant person this relationship will not work out at all.

Fun Fact: Ava Max is a prominent advocate of the duality in us all and is a huge believer in embracing ones dualistic nature and identity - something very prevalent in her lyrics especially in her Heaven and Hell album. (Multiple interviews including Genius)

While an Aquarius is deep feeling and passionate, they can be aloof and have the ability to retreat into themselves and disconnect - especially during tension. As such, while highly emotional people, they do not prefer drama and may be emotionally detached at times.

Fun Fact: Ava Max is not this way at all actually (at least most of the time), and is very deep-feeling, outspoken, filled with many different sides and dualism within her feelings. (Idolator interview)

An Aquarius is an easy-going, creative, quirky, open-minded inspiring, wild, out-of the box, crazy and eccentric. If you are looking for someone plain and stable this relationship is not right for you. Their nature is very artistic, adventurous, and action focused. As such they tend to be unpredictable and inconsistent - so be prepared for that.

Fun Fact: When Amanda Koci (Ava) was young she catfished her brother as a prank (she loves pranks). So she came up with the name Ava and messaged her brother online for a month pretending to be some girl dating him online (putting an image of some model as her online picture). She then invited brother outside, revealing the truth that he had gotten pranked (he was pissed). That is how she came up with the name Ava and has used it ever since. True story! (Apple podcast - link below in comments)

An Aquarius is all about honesty, sincerity, and will always show their real-self. As such they cannot stand dishonest people. Their love language can vary by person but generally they value honesty and respect - when they say something, they mean it.

Fun Fact: Ava Max's love language is quality time as such touring can be hard on her as she is taken away from her partner. She will not go over two weeks without spending quality time with the person she is with. (Viall Files Interview)

An Aquarius is a friendly and bold personality. One will most likely will make the first move and can be very flirtatious. However this makes them impulsive - which can cause problems.

Fun Fact: Ava Max has never been in a relationship or hookup where she didnt make the first move! (Viall Files Interview)

While an Aquarius can be fun, spontaneous and wild - they are also very private and can even be solitary. As such to win their heart a person truly has to click with them.

Fun Fact: While Ava Max has a very public, bold and extroverted persona she is internally very shy, private and prefers to separate her Ava Max persona from her true Amanda Koci self - hence the difficulties finding information on her private life. (Multiple interviews including the Rolling Stone and Viall Files)

An Aquarius is a caring, loyal, and honest personality. As such they tend to be humanitarian and altruistic.

Fun Fact: Ava Max has a very caring heart, major issues for her include LGBTQIA+ rights (with her preforming at the human rights campaign in 2023), personal identity, empowerment and women's rights. She wants to inspire, uplift and empower people. (Bandwagon interview)

An Aquarius is DOMINANT and fiercely independent. As such they are uncompromising in who they are (hence the traits of being spontaneous, honest, wild, and free-spirited). As such they work best with either a submissive type of person or a person who is similarly confident in who they are but will not try to control or cage them. If you are dating an Aquarius they need a partner to support them in life, not a dominant person to try to control their nature.

Fun Fact: Ava Max's song Not Your Barbie Girl is the perfect example showing what type of woman she is.

Finally, The heart of an Aquarius is freedom of self and expression, they each are truly a UNIQUE soul. As such they are bold, determined and ambitious and have their bar set high for both life and relationships!

Fun Fact: Ava Max has been competing in music competitions since she was 8 years old and worked non-stop at trying to become a singer, even moving to LA when she was only 14, and returning there when she was 17. She has gone through extreme bullying, rejection, sexual harassment, poverty, betrayal and emotional hardship to achieve her dreams.
I hope you all enjoyed learning about Ava Max's personality type. As far her personality type according to 16 personalities she seems to be an ambivert with her Ava persona being extroverted and her Amanda persona being introverted. She also also extremely feeling (something prevalent in her music) alongside being very intuitive, being able to sense the nature of a person from their eyes (the widows to the soul) as she shared in her vial files interview. Finally she appears to be a mix between judging and perceiving - as she has signs of both traits. As such she is an (E/I NF J/P) - with the first and forth factors being pretty balanced.

In my my 20's I found a group of friends to hang out with on occasion. I wasn't too close with many of them, but it was a nice groups of sociable people. We all lived far apart, so typically it was limited to a party at someone's house like 4-5 times a year.
This one guy I've seen a few times shows up to a party with his new wife and he yells at me "So do I kick your ass now or do I kick your ass later?" He's saying it playfully, but I'm still confused.
I just kind of give him a funny look and say "Um, okay... what the hell?" He snaps back "You didn't come to my wedding!" Giving the same look I say "Okay... didn't know you got married, and I wasn't invited, but congrats, bud!"
He stops and now he's looking all confused. "What, aren't you John?" I look at him and say "Nope!" He goes silent, his face drops, and then just says "Oh..."
I try to play into the joke and say "Hey, wait, you're saying you didn't invite me?!" which was a bad idea. This guy is thoroughly embarrassed in front of his new wife.
I spoke to someone else in the group of friends years later, and found out that while all of us had our own good friends outside of the group, this guy didn't. He also got divorced about a year later, not sure why, and I never asked.

For a large part of my life I’ve felt sort of alone. I could have fun with my classmates, with my group mates, my colleagues, but I feel like there have never been someone that I can call a friend, someone that I talk to in person consistently, someone that I trust, someone that I discuss personal things with, etc. and for who I reciprocate with these things.
My quality of life improved greatly when I graduated and got my first job, but for half a year I barely socialised. Then I found an amazing community with people of my age, we play board games, go to some active events, we even travel sometimes. I have fun with them, but still no friends.
There are some people that I like more than others, and it seems to be mutual, but we don’t hang out outside of the community. But I’ve found some people that I actually spent some time with outside of the community. I know some of them since July, some since December, we started to occasionally hang out in February.
We played board games on our own twice, we traveled once to do some skiing, we went to the club twice, and there were somewhat personal conversations with one guy(let’s call him A) on our way home, but there were also some moments that upset me.

it’s the smallest of these things, but in the context of the other things, I also included this one. We had our own chat for our trip. Then it sort of died. One day, after an event in the original community, one guy(let’s call him B) from that group invited me to play board games. I went with them and had a great fun. Soon I realized that after the trip, they had a group chat that I wasn’t invited to. The best thing I could hope for is that it was created on the day when they decided to go to a club, and I was invited, but I had other plans, so maybe that’s why they didn’t invite me then, which is not a problem since I went to play board games with them on the next day. It annoyed me a bit that when I texted another guy(let him be C), he seemed to reply quickly, but when I asked if he could add me to the chat, he took some time to read and reply.
They planned to go travel abroad, I heard them talking in person how they should schedule their trips to hang for some time, they wanted to mostly go on their own trips but meet for a day or two (in our group there are also couples, B and C have girlfriends, so they wanted to mostly have time to themselves and then A traveled abroad too). When I later asked in the chat, who goes there when, so I could meet you travel and meet you there too, they were at first very vague (« Oh we don’t know, we all depart at different dates »), but then at least B had the honesty to kind of reject me, and tell me that they needed to travel in their group, and then once we’re closer to each other, maybe I could go with them some other time. This really puzzled and annoyed me, because I didn’t want to be a liability and I wanted to travel on my own and then meet them like A did and also, there’s another guy in the group, D, who seemed to join them at the last minute, I was with them when we heard the news, they were surprised because from what we know about him he probably couldn’t afford it. And to be honest, I can’t either without saving some money in advance, although I could’ve used my credit card, but I wouldn’t have gone anyway since I probably couldn’t have gotten the days off at my job, which kind of makes the rejection feel pointless. One day, when they were still abroad, I for the first time did NOT have fun at the board game that I love the most, expecially when I play it with these guys, then when I returned home I saw them having fun abroad in Instagram stories and in my bad mood that really hurt me for a night.
Recently C celebrated his birthday, I kind of heard about planning it a few times that I hang out with them. I wasn’t invited to the party.

We really enjoy our time together, we joke a lot, I joke a lot, I guess I had developed a decent sense of humour out of loneliness and desire for attention in high school. When I play that game with these guys I become the most unhinged in a good way, sometimes my jokes are cringe, actually mostly with them, when I filter less the jokes that come to my mind, sometimes they are hilarious, sometimes they actually analyze them and tell that with a different delivery some of them would be funny. In any case, I never insult anyone, or maybe I just think this way, who knows.
We may be different, A and B work(ed) in sales, C seems to have started his own business, when we don’t joke around, they talk about economy, business, geopolitics, investments a lot, I am a software developer and I don’t know much about these things, I guess I read the Big Short and wasted 200$ in sum over the few times I tried forex trading and I read a lot about it. But then D, who kind of worked in sales but not really to the same scale and knows nothing about those topics either seems to be closer to the group, he was invited to the party and he traveled abroad with them too. So it’s not exactly the difference in interests and level of some success.
I don’t know how to become closer to them, how to finally have somebody I can call friends and actually should I? Maybe if they were my people, it wouldn’t be this complicated, but then who do I have left if they are the closest thing to my friends?
Maybe someday I could get a chance to talk with A about all of that, or maybe even specifically text him to hang out and talk in a bar or something to find out what is wrong. If that’s the right thing to do then how do I do it to not seem weak, or to not make them feel guilty? Or can I just text him about it?

👋Hello and welcome to Fermium MC Survival! (support for 1.20-6) 😶‍🌫️If you want to hop on straight and see what the buzz is about here is the IP: ➥ play.fermium-mc.fun ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ ➡️We are small but friendly server community of around 10 players reaching out to you to invite you to join us on our adventures! ➡️We offer extensive amount of features so be sure to read them all as we tackle some things that players want but have to use mods, for example ChestSort which sorts your chests/inventory. ➡️Or want to filter your hoppers and make amazing sorting systems? Filtered hoppers got you covered! ➡️We also have our own Tool Leveling system where tools level up and get enchants naturally (you can still enchant them of course) but eventually they over power normal enchants and go beyond vanilla limits. ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ Interested? Our server offers next features: ➖ Upgradable spawners ➖ Upgradable hoppers ➖ Filtered hoppers ➖ Custom ores (based on terraria) ➖ Custom weapons, armor and tools ➖ Custom items (ex: world expander) ➖ Custom models (ex: furniture) ➖ Infinite blocks (builders love those) ➖ Inv backups (up to 50 per player) ➖ Item recycle (recycle your items) ➖ Tool leveling ➖ Chest sort ➖ Temp fly ➖ Land claims ➖ Quests ➖ Daily quests ➖ Backpacks ➖ Bank ➖ Server map ➖ Builder wands ➖ Sell wands ➖ Chat games ➖ Custom currency ➖ Rotating shop ➖ Jobs ➖ Player warps ➖ Ranks ➖ Shopkeepers ➖ Vote party ➖ Quarries ➖ Skills ➖ Races ❔Did this tickle your pickle? ➡️If so join us at: ➥ play.fermium-mc.fun

Q&A session with LifeByKing on discord.
Will we be able to change the wall height in build mode at the start of early access?

Yes, you will

For jobs uniform, are the same uniforms applied to everyone or can we set different uniforms per job title?

Yes Uniforms can be set for different roles within a job and per title!

Can we have the ability own more than one lot

Not at the start of Early Access. We're definitely exploring 'real estate management' part of the game. We recognize builders are a huge part of the life sim community and tying in building to gameplay is a key goal.

Is there plan for separated sexual and romantic orientation?

At the start of Early Access, we do seperate gender from body type.
We currently do not separate sexual from romantic but this is a good suggestion we will look at during Early Access.

What kinds of social events can we expect on the launch of early access?

Through the in-game mobile phone, you can set up Birthday Parties, Weddings, House Parties, Housewarming, Beach Party, etc. You can also arrange to go on Dates.

Will LBY support terrain editors like Atlas or Gaia for world making?

We will be evaluating even more region-editing during Early Access. That decision will be informed by the roll out of region-to-region travel.

I noticed in a video that lots can overlap to some extent. How far can we push this? Can we make it look like buildings are touching each other?

Yes, we have some experiments internally with terrace housing. Much more on this during Early Access.

Would be possible to have different wall thickness in a build mode?

You can add objects or trim to the walls, but the wall thickness is a great suggestion. Pls add that to ⁠requests

Are there plans for a fleshed-out criminal career?

Potentially. This is under discussion.

Will it be possible to increase multiple skills at once, either through quests or performing activities?

Yes , you can easily script additional skill gains for any interaction.

With painting/drawing skill do will characters be able to draw and paint images that you put in the game(asking if we are able to add png or jpg images in)?

At the start of Early Access, you can have a character take a picture (using the in-game phone camera) and then have them paint that picture using an easel and hang that painting on your wall.
RE: Ability for you to add png / jpg images - this is likely possible via mods.

Can we change the Delivery Van?

Currently, no. But that should be an easy thing for us to add to the modding list during Early Access. Good suggestion, thank you!

Can the character we are currently playing, be invited to a wedding by a character we are currently not playing, so that we can attend as a guest?

Yes! You can even setup a wedding for a story and play each character by right clicking on them any time if you wish. Combine this will entering your own dialog live as you play and you can make an entire unique wedding experience/ story.

In regards to the demographic creator, will it be possible to set a demographic as joinable or not joinable? What I mean is, if you have a demographic of say goths or vampires (or some kind of social group), it would make sense for it to be possible for a character to become part of that demographic through gameplay....on the other hand if the demographic is say a Latino demographic, it wouldn't make sense for characters to be able to join that demographic through gameplay.

It's not currently possible, though that may be possible through "Traits" which you can set as rewards for quests.
This wouldn't change their appearance, but it would be able to add other things like Needs adjustments.

Is the team thinking of adding free placement for tattoos, beauty marks,piercings,etc.?

You can freely move a tattoo placement within their specific "body region" like torso = all over the torso, arms = all over the arms, beauty marks all over the face.

A friend of mine invited to a level 6 party consisting of a shephard druid, a redemption paladin, a fiend warlock and a bladesinger wizard. Initially, I wanted to play a fully martial character to off set the party of casters/half casters but am open to anything. The two builds I am currently considering would are ss/cbe battle master or an armorer artificer for thunder gauntlets but all suggestions are welcome. These are both new subclasses to me so I’d be excited to play either one. DM is pretty flexible and is even willing to let be drop the sharpshooter feat if I wanted to use darts re-flavored as playing cards a la Gambit. Thanks!
Ps the campaign is set in Baldur’s Gate with a homebrewed story.

The world was a boozy whirl of lights and sounds. Images, broken and fragmented, came and went. Voices, laughter, screaming. The ground pitched like the deck of a tempest-tossed ship, and he felt heavy, as though the ground were pulling him to it. C’mere, Dommy. He fell, lay on the pavement, and pushed himself up again, staggering like a drunk on his way home. His head spun, his body ached, and things seemed blurry, like half-formed images glimpsed underwater.
It was the light blue hour before dawn and Dom was…somewhere. He should have recognized the stores and street signs around him, but he didn’t. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and a sense of confusion gripped him so strongly that he was beginning to panic. Where was he? What happened?
The world spun away again and the next thing he knew, he was lying in a heap of garbage bags, used needles, and rubbish. He came awake with a jerk and sat up so fast that a bolt of pain jammed into his skull. He winced and pressed his hand to his forehead. He felt hot, clammy.
Something was seriously wrong.
Somehow he got to his feet again and started walking. The sun was up now and the streets were filled with people. They all sneered in disgust as he passed, and he wrapped his arms around his chest like a baby comforting itself. He was getting cold. His muscles were sore. Tears streamed down his face and he wanted to cry.
Going on instinct alone, Dom made his way back home and climbed the steps to his apartment. Exhaustion swept over him and he sagged against the door as he dug in his pocket for the keys. They shook in his hand and he had to focus really hard to get the key into the lock.
Inside, he collapsed onto the couch and his eyelids instantly drooped. He was so weary that he couldn’t lift his head, couldn’t form a single coherent thought. Dom felt himself starting to sink, and snapped his eyes open with a start. Something in his soul told him that if he slept, he would die.
He couldn’t help it, though. He was falling, tumbling, hands reaching up from hell to grab him. His eyes fluttered closed again and the world started to go dark, his heart slamming in fear. He tried to fight, but the pull of darkness was too strong, too alluring. Why was he fighting? Why not just…give up? Hadn’t he thought of killing himself before? Didn’t he hate his life and himself? What was there to fight for? A wife? Kids? A community that loved and respected him? Shit, affordable groceries?
No.
There was nothing.
He had nothing and was nothing.
A sense of peace blossomed from the darkness, and suddenly death didn’t seem so scary. In fact, it was warm…inviting.
It was life that was cold and hateful. Not death.
Death accepted you no matter who you were. It didn’t reject you…it didn’t ignore you. If you sought it, you would find it, and if you embraced it, it would embrace you.
With that thought in mind, Dom gave up.
And died.
***
Bruce Kenner, captain of the 5th Albany precinct, sat behind his desk on the morning of June 28 and lazily leafed through a stack of files as he sipped from a mug of coffee. A roughly built man with a dark goatee and graying blonde hair, he looked more like a small town southern sheriff than a low level public works functionary. In fact, he tended to act like it too. He liked to hunt, fish, and drink beer on his off time. Albany wasn’t a big city, but it was big enough that you never got a fucking break. Run here, run there, arrest this asshole, investigate that asshole. By the time Friday rolled around, he was so ready for the peace and tranquility of a fishing trip he could taste it.
Already this Monday morning, he was looking forward to another one.
Over the weekend, three kids went missing in the Pine Hills and Washington Park area, bringing the total for that summer up to eight. All were teenagers, all were troubled. Most were boys, but two were girls.
Troubled kids run away all the time. They might be gone a few days, sulking at a friend’s house over something their father or mother did, but they’d eventually come home. None of these kids had come back yet and from what he knew, a few of them weren’t the runaway types. They were shits at school and caused problems, but they had no reason to up and leave. Hell, Bruce himself raised hell as a kid, but he always found his way back home, even if he spent the previous night dying in a field from Mad Dogg 20/20 poisoning.
One or two kids going missing…okay, it happens. Eight? Over a span of four weeks?
Yeah, something was wrong here.
But what?
There was nothing on any of these kids. No one saw them, no one knew anything - one minute they were here, the next they weren’t. What could he or anyone else do with that?. The public broke cops’ balls all the time, but if you don’t have evidence, you don’t have evidence. What do you want? Door to door searches? Roadblocks? Dogs and helicopters? Yeah, then when you actually do it, they cry fascism. Guess I’ll just use my Spidey Senses.
Bruce wished he had spidey senses. He wanted to find these kids as much as anyone, and he was starting to get pissed off that he couldn’t. He took another sip from his mug and read on. The latest kids to go missing were three boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
They were all white, all thin (except for one). If there was a serial killer in town - and Bruce hoped to fuck there wasn’t - he had a type. What, black kids aren’t good enough to kill, cannibalize, and wear like a skin suit? They should charge him with a hate crime for discrimination.
That way he’d actually stay locked up.
The door opened and Vanessa Rodregiez, his deputy, came in. A tall, shapely Hispanic woman with dark eyes and a mouth poised always on the edge of a smile, she wore her black hair in a ponytail that would look stern and severe on anyone else, but on her, looked childlike. She was twenty-seven and had been on the force for three years, but you could be forgiven for thinking her much younger. “Bright and early, I see,” she said with a grin.
Bruce grumbled.
Vanessa held down the fort during the graveyard shift, acting to the night as he acted to the day. She was young and full of energy, which clashed with Bruce, who was old and just wanted to be left alone. Despite their differences, Bruce loved her like a kid sister…an annoying kid sister he wanted to throat punch sometimes.
“You missed all the fun last night,” she said and parked her butt on the edge of Bruce’s desk. He glared at her, but she ignored him.
“Good,” he said. Then: “What happened?”
“Big fight outside of Club Vlad,” she said. “It looked like a WorldStar video.”
For a moment, Bruce was lost. “Club what?”
“Club Vlad,” Vanessa said. “Where the Fuze Box used to be.”
Ah, right. The Fuze Box was an Albany landmark, a night club for punks…or goths…or someone. Certainly not for Bruce Kenner. It was small, dingy, and always had people in black waiting outside. On Friday and Saturday nights, it blasted strange music with lyrics about fighting The Man. Kids had been fighting the Man since before Bruce was even born and they hadn’t beaten him yet. Kudos to them for still trying.
Last year, The Fuze Box closed down and someone else bought it. It reopened last month and looked more or less the same: Posers, shitty music, and spiked hair. So much spiked hair. “Place is still a pain in the ass,” Bruce said.
“Yep,” Vanessa chirped. “It doesn’t know what it wants to be now. One minute they play nightcore, the next EDM. It’s all over the place.”
Bruce raised a quizzical brow.
“Not that I’ve ever been there in my free time,” Vanessa said in a tone that suggested she had,
Bruce gave a judgemental hum.
“Anyway,” Vanessa went on, “you see we have some new missing persons?”
Sighing, Bruce sat back in his chair. “Yeah. I did.”
“People are starting to ask questions,” Vanessa warned.
That brought a terse smile to Bruce’s weathered face. “Maybe they’ll solve it then.”
“Ha, fat chance,” Vanessa said. She got up and stretched. “Anyway, I’m bushed. Here’s my…” she trailed off and looked at her empty hands. “Damn, where’s my report? I just had it?” She turned in a confused circle as if she might be able to spot her report making a break for it. “Huh,” she said. She left the office and came back a moment later holding a folder. “Found it,” she grinned.
Bruce just looked at her.
“Um…here it is.”
He didn’t take it.
Her smile faltered. She carefully sat it on top of the files Bruce was looking at.
And his hands.
“I’ll just leave that right here.” She patted it for good measure.
“Thank you,” Bruce said.
“Okay. Night.”
“Goodnight,” Bruce said as she left through a shaft of morning sunlight. Alone, Bruce sat her report aside and went back to the missing kids. This case was giving him a headache and it wasn’t even nine. With a deep sigh, he slumped back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the armrests.
Was it Saturday yet?
He could really use a fishing trip.
***
Dom came awake in the cold purple twilight with a shocked gasp like a man coming up seconds before drowning. His eyes strained from his sweaty face and his mouth hung slack, twisted in a gruesome parody of The Scream. His mind was muddled, murky - he didn’t know where he was or even who he was, but he knew this,.
He couldn’t breathe.
He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but his lungs did not fill with air. A great, unseen weight seemed to bear down on his chest, and panic gripped him. He tried to move, but his arms refused to heed his brain’s command. The weight seemed heavier, all over, crushing him like a bug. Confusion filled him and he started to pant.
Without warning, his bowels and bladder loosened, and horrible wetness filled his pants. He tried to sit up, but his body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. His chest rose and fell with the frantic labor of his breath, but his lungs remained inert. A cry of fear bubbled up inside of him, but escaped his mouth only as a breathy groan.
A bust of adrenaline shot through him and he tried to stand, but succeeded only in falling off the couch instead, landing face first against the cold tile floor. He felt his nose crunch, but the pain was muted.
Dom thought he lost consciousness after that, but wasn’t sure. His next memory was of shivering so violently that his teeth clacked together. A phantom chill - perhaps from the floor - had settled into his bones, and was colder than he had ever been in his life, colder even than the time he fell into a snowbank and got lost when he was two. Shudders racked his body, and though he tried to turn over, he was too fucking heavy. It was like every muscle in his body had turned to dead weight. Fragmented thoughts swirled in his head, faint colors in the dark, but he couldn’t put any of them together.
With great effort, he managed to push himself slightly up, but a wave of lightheadedness crashed over him and he lowered his head once more. He stopped trying and simply lay there. Shortly, his eyes began to burn and he realized that he wasn’t blinking. Jesus Christ, he wasn’t blinking.
For some strange reason, that brought a fresh bout of panic. He started to hyperventilate, but his lungs still wouldn’t work. He wasn’t blinking…he wasn’t breathing…what was happening to him?
A whimper burst from his throat and he started to cry.
He must have cried himself to sleep, because he woke sometime later to the most intense headache he’d ever had. It felt like something was eating his brain from the inside out. He was sore all over, and could feel his muscles twitching, as though a thousand living things were burrowing through his body. A cramp shot down his right leg, and the toes of his left foot curled involuntarily. Slowly, his jaw clenched closed, and the muscles in his neck began to strain…then to burn. His panic turned to terror, and Dom wiggled across the floor like a worm, his limbs screaming in red agony and his brain filling with heat. He somehow wound up on his right side, and his arms curled slowly up to his chest, crossing at the wrists like a mummy. He tried to pull them apart, but the slightest movement sent waves of excruciating pain cutting through his body. His knees began to draw up to his stomach, and his fingers clenched tightly.
Cramps and spasms attacked every muscle in his body. He screamed through his teeth and shook, resembling a man in the electric chair as 40,000 volts of justice coursed through him. The pain grew gradually, getting worse and worse as minutes ticked by like hours. Higher, higher, higher - he clenched his eyes closed and shrieked as it became unbearable. Disjointed thoughts flashed through his mind - prayers, threats, curses, Jesus fucking…FUCK.
What was happening? God, what was happening to him? Was it fentanyl? He’d seen videos of people high on fentanyl, and they leaned in weird positions. He didn’t do drugs but maybe he ingested it somehow.
His panic may have returned if all of his muscles hadn’t picked that moment to contract as one. His eyes bulged from their sockets and his jaw unclenched just enough for him to utter a high. Agonized scream that echoed through his empty apartment like thunder.
A human being can only take so much before giving out. When the pain reached a crescendo, and Dom mercifully sank into consciousness once more. The sun rose and cascaded through the apartment’s sole window, falling over his huddled form. Slowly, it tracked across the sky before setting again. As the last rays disappeared behind the horizon, Dom’s eyes opened. The pain of the night before was blessedly gone, replaced by a feeling of numbness - the cool ash after the hot fire. His thoughts were slow and thick like molasses, but he could actually think again. Nightmare memories flooded back to him, but he wasn’t sure they were real. He was lying on his side, his arms wrapped around his chest as if for warmth, and his teeth lightly chattered against the icy chill. He was so cold that he didn’t want to move, but he couldn’t stay here forever. He needed help. He needed…
A shower.
Yeah, a hot shower. That would warm him up.
Gritting his teeth, he slowly sat up, ready for a burst of pain.
But none came.
He did, however, feel heavy. Getting to his feet, he stumbled and nearly fell, catching himself against the counter. His limbs had no feeling. It’s like they weren’t even there. Head hung, Dom tried to catch his breath, but it felt like he wasn’t breathing at all. His eyelids drooped closed and he felt like he was going to fall down. Summoning all the might he could, he shuffled into the bathroom with the stiff gait of an old man. He snapped the light on, and cold, white brilliance filled the space, blinding him.
Leaning heavily against the sink, he gripped the cold porcelain. Suddenly, he was afraid of looking into the mirror. He was sure that whatever reflection he saw, it would be of something else, something monstrous.
Dom lifted his head and faced the glass.
His heart shrank.
The man in the mirror was him but different. His skin was white as milk, lacking all color whatsoever save for the ugly purple patch on the left side. IResembling a giant bruise, it started at the temple and extended down to the slope of his neck, disappearing beneath his T-shirt. He gingerly lifted the shirt, and moaned when he saw that his entire left side was discolored, the purple edged with a puffy shade of pink. His sallow skin clung tight to his ribcage, and his hip bones stuck out so much it looked painful. Back in the mirror, his cheeks were sunken, hollow, and his eyes were a hazy, dishwater gray. His skull seemed bigger, his hair longer. Dom wanted to whip his head away from the phantom before him, to never see it again, but he was transfixed.
There was no way that thing was -
Dom looked away, cutting that thought off before it could finish.
A shower.
He needed a shower.
Slowly, stiffly, Dom undressed, peeling off his shirt and his soiled pants. He dropped them in a heap on the floor and stepped under the spray. He could feel the water pounding against him, but it provided no heat. It was neither hot nor cold. It was simply there.
Dom pressed his head to the slick shower wall and stood there for a long time. He was spent, tired, and fried - he had no more emotions left to give. He got out after a little while, dried off, and put on a clean pair of shorts. He settled into bed and lay there with his hands folded over his chest and his eyes open. They felt gritty, dry. His stomach felt bloated, gassy. He was drowsy now, the weight of the past two days (or was it two weeks?) coming down on him all at once. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He was still asleep - but aware - when the knocking on his door started the next morning. Time was funny in this state of being, fast and jerky but also slow and echoing. Keys rattled the knob turned. The landlord came in with a cop. They saw him on the bed, laid out like a corpse for a viewing, and the cop radioed in a code 35. Soon, cops were all around him, making noise and touching things. He had the vague sense of discomfort and embarrassment at the intrusion. A baling man in a suit stood over him, a cop who looked like a redneck beside him. “He didn’t die here,” the medical examiner said.
The cop looked at him questioningly. Dom caught the name KENNER on his name tag.
“See this?” the M.E. said and gestured to Dom’s face. “That’s livor mortis. When you die, your blood pools at the lowest point. If you’re on your left side, for example, it pools on the left.”
Kenner looked at Dom and then back to the M.E. “Someone moved him?”
“Looks like it,” the M.E. said.
“When did he die?”
The M.E. examined Dom as though he were nothing more than a side of beef. “At a glance? Three days. I won’t have a better answer until I open him up.”
Dom was still awake when they put him into a body bag and zipped it up. He felt a stirring of fear beneath the cold numbness, but he was too tired to worry about it now.
Later, he thought.
He would panic later.
For now, Dom slept.

Welcome to the seventh season of Battle Scene UHC: The All Stars Season!This is our biggest season ever and the second of two back-to-back special seasons featuring returners from our first 6 seasons!
Battle Scene is a recorded round organised by Broseph and Psykl0ne, for the All Stars season, we invited back our returning winners, community voted favourites and most impactful players from the previous 6 seasons to fight it out in one big UHC.
Each season of Battle Scene utilises the gamemodes: Anonymous, Split Spawn and Mumble, as well as the players being unaware who else is in the game.
As with S6, the teams were created using LAFS+, meaning players teamed with the first person they found in the world, without it announcing to the other players when a team was formed.
Every season of Battle Scene will take place in a unique world with different terrain. The terrain this season was Chunk Biomes, with the added twists of Dead Biomes and Moved 0,0. We also had gamemodes that represented the first 6 seasons of Battle Scene: S1- CutClean S2- Dex Balance+ S3- Zombie Apocalypse S4- Naked and Afraid S5- Permakill S6- Bleeding Sweets / Siphon (Additional gamemodes were Hastey Boys & Timber) Scenario Info Here
Prologue
Episode Links

Players	Links
Upholding Legacy
Austronomical (S1/S2)	Episode 6 + 7
~~TheSlimeBrother~~ (S4)	Dead
Pandas
~~_Fost_~~ (S5)	Dead
~~Kelawesome~~ (S3)	Dead
W Rizz
~~azoof~~ (S1)	Dead
PresidentFleb (S2)	Episode 6 + 7
Lycoris Turmoil
~~Fcrm~~ (S2)	Dead
~~Jayzize~~ (NEW)	Dead
Social Gaming
Bobbytheturtle (S1)	Episode 6 + 7
Dj8ninja (NEW)	Late
Kitty & Puppy
~~AnUncreativeCat~~ (S1)	Dead
~~PupperKun~~ (NEW)	Dead
Fortnite Duo
acadiacore (NEW)	Episode 7
EvanDeadlySins (NEW)	Episode 7
Feels Like Trust UHC S2
brinkwhy (S5)	Episode 7
strategy (NEW)	Highlights
Chill Users
~~_carn~~ (S4/RA)	Dead
ColdBacon (S1)	Episode 7
Don't Die First
~~aalaan~~ (S1/S2)	Dead
~~lexicuhl~~ (S2)	Dead
The Best Gingers
~~Brodator~~ (NEW)	Dead
~~ThePeridotKnight~~ (S2/S3)	Dead
Socially Desirable Undesirables
~~CipherKai~~ (S4/S5)	Dead
~~Vynil~~ (S3/RA)	Dead
AUGH
~~benidk~~ (S3)	Dead
~~stupidsylvia~~ (NEW)	Dead
Solos
~~_pbo~~ (S3)	Dead
~~Aybel~~ (S4)	Dead
~~Drkrai~~ (S5/RA)	Dead
Gleoss (NEW)	Lost Footage
~~nsket~~ (S5)	Dead
Spectator
Psykl0ne	Episode 7

Credits!

Organisation: Broseph & Psykl0ne
Coding: LeonTG
Host: DJoee (Arctic)
Mumble: shwilliuhm
[Intro](COMING SOON): Psykl0ne
Logo: Psykl0ne

((posting this on behalf of my DM))
Calling All Brave Adventurers!
I'm an experienced Dungeon Master, seasoned in guiding parties through realms of wonder in multiple multi-year campaigns, and I'm gearing up for another epic saga! I invite you to join "To the World's End," a campaign set against the backdrop of the sprawling, mystical world of Fraeir. If you're after an adventure that fuses dark mysteries, comedic twists, and mystical wonders, and if you relish roleplay intertwined with exploration and combat, keep reading!
About the Campaign:
"To the World's End" will thrust you into the heart of Fraeir, a land where magic permeates every rock and river. But as the shadow of war grows with the ascension of the Shadow Empress, your group of adventurers, part of a guild on the brink of dissolution, embarks on a desperate quest that promises to be more than you bargained for—spiraling into a vast, perilous saga that could change the very fabric of the world.
This campaign promises to be profoundly character-driven, focusing on the rich backstories, motivations, and evolutions of each character. Brace yourself for a mix of intense combat, intricate puzzles, and rich role-playing scenarios.
Key Features:

Vivid, Detailed World: Explore Fraeir, a realm where areas of high magic brim with mystical energy, and lands of low magic are riddled with shadows and laughter.
Evolving Storyline: Your choices have weight. The decisions your party makes will profoundly impact the world and its inhabitants, swaying the balance of power and the destiny of Fraeir.
Diverse Characters and Encounters: Meet a variety of allies and foes, each with deep histories and hidden motives, as you traverse enchanted woods, ancient ruins, and cities teetering on the brink of war.

Schedule and Platform:
Our adventures will unfold twice a month on Discord, with character sheets and resources managed through DnD Beyond. Sessions are scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday evenings, adjusting to fit the group's availability.
Seeking Adventurers Who Are:

Passionate about collaborative storytelling and character development.
Respectful to fellow players and dedicated to maintaining a positive gaming atmosphere.
Keen on being part of a thrilling and enjoyable game environment.
All experience levels are welcome.
Given that I am 22, I am looking for players who are 18+.

Open to All Roles and Classes: Bring your creativity! I'm excited to help weave your unique character into the fabric of Fraeir.
How to Join:
If "To the World's End" sounds like your next big adventure, please fill out this application form, and I'll reach out via Discord:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsWp_YketJEdgv_sHaZHA7WvqafcLhXJhGxw0cK-pizi3H9A/viewform?usp=sf_link
Embark with us on this grand journey—to the very brink of the world and into the heart of adventure!

I had a friend I knew since we were 10, lets call her Raya. Me and her have been pretty close, or I thought. We would always hang out, do things together, etc. but we had a pretty bad fall out recently because I couldn’t tell her everything I wanted to say.
Starting from the beginning, Raya moved into a flat pretty close to mine because it was close to her college. I took that as a great opportunity to hang out with her more because we were already so close. So i start inviting her over to mine, inviting her to outings, and to parties i went to.
We were mostly fine, up until my birthday party. I was in a sad mood because a lot of my friends weren’t able to attend, and Raya wasn’t exactly helping me in any way either. She was just talking a lot and not letting us get a word in. She would constantly interrupt whatever I was gonna say and it was really discouraging for me. When things like that happen I tend to go nonverbal. While at the party me and another one of my friends were talking about how low our pay is and how we could barely afford rent and stuff. And Raya decided to butt in and brag about how much she made at her current job, and how she was able to pay her parents bills. It made me really upset because I started comparing myself to her. I was taking a break year and working full time so it made me feel like a failure because how was she able to do all that on top of juggling school. And months later I confronted her about it, she said she was trying to make me feel better by letting me know she had my back. But I still don’t understand how that even correlates to what she said. She also had to ask my boyfriend what to get me for my birthday, which I felt hurt by because she’s known me since elementary school.
Another incident was at a party I invited her to she kept flirting w my boyfriend’s friend. She had a pretty bad record with guys, and she tends to dump them at the drop of a hat. Neither me and my boyfriend wanted that for his friend so we told her to cut it out. But, a week later we go to another party and she does the same thing. And she did it at every party I invited her to, even when she started dating someone else. I wish I had her boyfriends social so I could have told him, but I didn’t.
I eventually confronted her about all those things, and her first response wasn’t an apology or acknowledgment that she did wrong. It was that she was autistic (i did know this beforehand), and had a hard time understanding social queues. I also told her that i felt our relationship was very much one sided, and how I felt like she knew nothing about me and how I always had to make plans with her and how she never texted me first. I felt like she didn’t care about me and was using me for the things I did for her. She said she had no idea i felt that way and would like to start over with me to get closer. I was hesitant but i eventually said yes.
The next month was fine, we hung out and she even initiated it a couple times. But as time went on I kinda realized if she really cared about me she would’ve already been doing those things. She got a new boyfriend and was gushing about how well she knew him and how she’s getting him a super personal gift and it planted that seed in my head. I don’t want to be treated like her boyfriend lets make that clear. But all the basic things she knew about him like his birthday and his job, it made me realize she didn’t even know those things about me.
I hosted another party later that month and I invited her one last time. It was already cemented in my head I wasn’t going to be friends with her anymore after that. So party starts and she does her Raya thing. Constantly talking over people, bragging about this that and the third, and whatever else. It was really annoying me and I was kinda drunk at that time. She told me, in a way i think she thought was funny, ‘haha im so drunk i got your boyfriend and his friend mixed up’ and I just thought ‘ugh i want her to leave’. And for context boyfriend and his friend are both black but thats where the similarities end. So i was like ‘They look nothing alike what are you racist or something?’ And it sobered both of us up. I knew she was upset and pretty soon after she left.
I apologized the next morning and she was like ‘I need time to think on it’. We didn’t speak for a month and then she texts me out of the blue ‘its fine, i forgive you. But dont do that again’. So I thought it would be another reset. I invited her for a girls night with my other friend, but my other friend couldn’t show up so I tell Raya ‘hey other friend cant come, but youre still free to come right?’ And she was like ‘Uh no i have an exam to study for’ even though she initially agreed to come when my other friend was gonna come.
I decided then and there I didn’t want her in my life anymore so I invited over Raya to my house one last time and told her I didn’t wanna be her friend anymore. And she gets so mad, she leaves and goes home and sends me paragraphs about how friendship isn’t about how much you know about a person but being there for them. And how I never acknowledged her autism and how I always treated her like shit and how I was the same girl i was in high school (i wasnt the nicest then i can admit).
But my issue was, i know autistic people need to be told things very directly but I told Raya countless times before I wasn’t raised in an environment where i could freely say what I feel, it was literally the reason I was in therapy (and she knew i was going too). And i also tended to get overwhelmed by my emotions and go nonverbal. But I guess she also decided to not remember that about me. I could have done it better, i could have been nicer, and i could have told her that we just weren’t compatible as friends anymore. I wish I hadn’t said what I said at the last party. And i hate how our friendship crashed and burned so quick. She was so important to me, but it’s better for the both of us to not be friends anymore I think. But I cant help but think I couldve done better.

The world was a boozy whirl of lights and sounds. Images, broken and fragmented, came and went. Voices, laughter, screaming. The ground pitched like the deck of a tempest-tossed ship, and he felt heavy, as though the ground were pulling him to it. C’mere, Dommy. He fell, lay on the pavement, and pushed himself up again, staggering like a drunk on his way home. His head spun, his body ached, and things seemed blurry, like half-formed images glimpsed underwater.
It was the light blue hour before dawn and Dom was…somewhere. He should have recognized the stores and street signs around him, but he didn’t. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and a sense of confusion gripped him so strongly that he was beginning to panic. Where was he? What happened?
The world spun away again and the next thing he knew, he was lying in a heap of garbage bags, used needles, and rubbish. He came awake with a jerk and sat up so fast that a bolt of pain jammed into his skull. He winced and pressed his hand to his forehead. He felt hot, clammy.
Something was seriously wrong.
Somehow he got to his feet again and started walking. The sun was up now and the streets were filled with people. They all sneered in disgust as he passed, and he wrapped his arms around his chest like a baby comforting itself. He was getting cold. His muscles were sore. Tears streamed down his face and he wanted to cry.
Going on instinct alone, Dom made his way back home and climbed the steps to his apartment. Exhaustion swept over him and he sagged against the door as he dug in his pocket for the keys. They shook in his hand and he had to focus really hard to get the key into the lock.
Inside, he collapsed onto the couch and his eyelids instantly drooped. He was so weary that he couldn’t lift his head, couldn’t form a single coherent thought. Dom felt himself starting to sink, and snapped his eyes open with a start. Something in his soul told him that if he slept, he would die.
He couldn’t help it, though. He was falling, tumbling, hands reaching up from hell to grab him. His eyes fluttered closed again and the world started to go dark, his heart slamming in fear. He tried to fight, but the pull of darkness was too strong, too alluring. Why was he fighting? Why not just…give up? Hadn’t he thought of killing himself before? Didn’t he hate his life and himself? What was there to fight for? A wife? Kids? A community that loved and respected him? Shit, affordable groceries?
No.
There was nothing.
He had nothing and was nothing.
A sense of peace blossomed from the darkness, and suddenly death didn’t seem so scary. In fact, it was warm…inviting.
It was life that was cold and hateful. Not death.
Death accepted you no matter who you were. It didn’t reject you…it didn’t ignore you. If you sought it, you would find it, and if you embraced it, it would embrace you.
With that thought in mind, Dom gave up.
And died.
***
Bruce Kenner, captain of the 5th Albany precinct, sat behind his desk on the morning of June 28 and lazily leafed through a stack of files as he sipped from a mug of coffee. A roughly built man with a dark goatee and graying blonde hair, he looked more like a small town southern sheriff than a low level public works functionary. In fact, he tended to act like it too. He liked to hunt, fish, and drink beer on his off time. Albany wasn’t a big city, but it was big enough that you never got a fucking break. Run here, run there, arrest this asshole, investigate that asshole. By the time Friday rolled around, he was so ready for the peace and tranquility of a fishing trip he could taste it.
Already this Monday morning, he was looking forward to another one.
Over the weekend, three kids went missing in the Pine Hills and Washington Park area, bringing the total for that summer up to eight. All were teenagers, all were troubled. Most were boys, but two were girls.
Troubled kids run away all the time. They might be gone a few days, sulking at a friend’s house over something their father or mother did, but they’d eventually come home. None of these kids had come back yet and from what he knew, a few of them weren’t the runaway types. They were shits at school and caused problems, but they had no reason to up and leave. Hell, Bruce himself raised hell as a kid, but he always found his way back home, even if he spent the previous night dying in a field from Mad Dogg 20/20 poisoning.
One or two kids going missing…okay, it happens. Eight? Over a span of four weeks?
Yeah, something was wrong here.
But what?
There was nothing on any of these kids. No one saw them, no one knew anything - one minute they were here, the next they weren’t. What could he or anyone else do with that?. The public broke cops’ balls all the time, but if you don’t have evidence, you don’t have evidence. What do you want? Door to door searches? Roadblocks? Dogs and helicopters? Yeah, then when you actually do it, they cry fascism. Guess I’ll just use my Spidey Senses.
Bruce wished he had spidey senses. He wanted to find these kids as much as anyone, and he was starting to get pissed off that he couldn’t. He took another sip from his mug and read on. The latest kids to go missing were three boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
They were all white, all thin (except for one). If there was a serial killer in town - and Bruce hoped to fuck there wasn’t - he had a type. What, black kids aren’t good enough to kill, cannibalize, and wear like a skin suit? They should charge him with a hate crime for discrimination.
That way he’d actually stay locked up.
The door opened and Vanessa Rodregiez, his deputy, came in. A tall, shapely Hispanic woman with dark eyes and a mouth poised always on the edge of a smile, she wore her black hair in a ponytail that would look stern and severe on anyone else, but on her, looked childlike. She was twenty-seven and had been on the force for three years, but you could be forgiven for thinking her much younger. “Bright and early, I see,” she said with a grin.
Bruce grumbled.
Vanessa held down the fort during the graveyard shift, acting to the night as he acted to the day. She was young and full of energy, which clashed with Bruce, who was old and just wanted to be left alone. Despite their differences, Bruce loved her like a kid sister…an annoying kid sister he wanted to throat punch sometimes.
“You missed all the fun last night,” she said and parked her butt on the edge of Bruce’s desk. He glared at her, but she ignored him.
“Good,” he said. Then: “What happened?”
“Big fight outside of Club Vlad,” she said. “It looked like a WorldStar video.”
For a moment, Bruce was lost. “Club what?”
“Club Vlad,” Vanessa said. “Where the Fuze Box used to be.”
Ah, right. The Fuze Box was an Albany landmark, a night club for punks…or goths…or someone. Certainly not for Bruce Kenner. It was small, dingy, and always had people in black waiting outside. On Friday and Saturday nights, it blasted strange music with lyrics about fighting The Man. Kids had been fighting the Man since before Bruce was even born and they hadn’t beaten him yet. Kudos to them for still trying.
Last year, The Fuze Box closed down and someone else bought it. It reopened last month and looked more or less the same: Posers, shitty music, and spiked hair. So much spiked hair. “Place is still a pain in the ass,” Bruce said.
“Yep,” Vanessa chirped. “It doesn’t know what it wants to be now. One minute they play nightcore, the next EDM. It’s all over the place.”
Bruce raised a quizzical brow.
“Not that I’ve ever been there in my free time,” Vanessa said in a tone that suggested she had,
Bruce gave a judgemental hum.
“Anyway,” Vanessa went on, “you see we have some new missing persons?”
Sighing, Bruce sat back in his chair. “Yeah. I did.”
“People are starting to ask questions,” Vanessa warned.
That brought a terse smile to Bruce’s weathered face. “Maybe they’ll solve it then.”
“Ha, fat chance,” Vanessa said. She got up and stretched. “Anyway, I’m bushed. Here’s my…” she trailed off and looked at her empty hands. “Damn, where’s my report? I just had it?” She turned in a confused circle as if she might be able to spot her report making a break for it. “Huh,” she said. She left the office and came back a moment later holding a folder. “Found it,” she grinned.
Bruce just looked at her.
“Um…here it is.”
He didn’t take it.
Her smile faltered. She carefully sat it on top of the files Bruce was looking at.
And his hands.
“I’ll just leave that right here.” She patted it for good measure.
“Thank you,” Bruce said.
“Okay. Night.”
“Goodnight,” Bruce said as she left through a shaft of morning sunlight. Alone, Bruce sat her report aside and went back to the missing kids. This case was giving him a headache and it wasn’t even nine. With a deep sigh, he slumped back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the armrests.
Was it Saturday yet?
He could really use a fishing trip.
***
Dom came awake in the cold purple twilight with a shocked gasp like a man coming up seconds before drowning. His eyes strained from his sweaty face and his mouth hung slack, twisted in a gruesome parody of The Scream. His mind was muddled, murky - he didn’t know where he was or even who he was, but he knew this,.
He couldn’t breathe.
He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but his lungs did not fill with air. A great, unseen weight seemed to bear down on his chest, and panic gripped him. He tried to move, but his arms refused to heed his brain’s command. The weight seemed heavier, all over, crushing him like a bug. Confusion filled him and he started to pant.
Without warning, his bowels and bladder loosened, and horrible wetness filled his pants. He tried to sit up, but his body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. His chest rose and fell with the frantic labor of his breath, but his lungs remained inert. A cry of fear bubbled up inside of him, but escaped his mouth only as a breathy groan.
A bust of adrenaline shot through him and he tried to stand, but succeeded only in falling off the couch instead, landing face first against the cold tile floor. He felt his nose crunch, but the pain was muted.
Dom thought he lost consciousness after that, but wasn’t sure. His next memory was of shivering so violently that his teeth clacked together. A phantom chill - perhaps from the floor - had settled into his bones, and was colder than he had ever been in his life, colder even than the time he fell into a snowbank and got lost when he was two. Shudders racked his body, and though he tried to turn over, he was too fucking heavy. It was like every muscle in his body had turned to dead weight. Fragmented thoughts swirled in his head, faint colors in the dark, but he couldn’t put any of them together.
With great effort, he managed to push himself slightly up, but a wave of lightheadedness crashed over him and he lowered his head once more. He stopped trying and simply lay there. Shortly, his eyes began to burn and he realized that he wasn’t blinking. Jesus Christ, he wasn’t blinking.
For some strange reason, that brought a fresh bout of panic. He started to hyperventilate, but his lungs still wouldn’t work. He wasn’t blinking…he wasn’t breathing…what was happening to him?
A whimper burst from his throat and he started to cry.
He must have cried himself to sleep, because he woke sometime later to the most intense headache he’d ever had. It felt like something was eating his brain from the inside out. He was sore all over, and could feel his muscles twitching, as though a thousand living things were burrowing through his body. A cramp shot down his right leg, and the toes of his left foot curled involuntarily. Slowly, his jaw clenched closed, and the muscles in his neck began to strain…then to burn. His panic turned to terror, and Dom wiggled across the floor like a worm, his limbs screaming in red agony and his brain filling with heat. He somehow wound up on his right side, and his arms curled slowly up to his chest, crossing at the wrists like a mummy. He tried to pull them apart, but the slightest movement sent waves of excruciating pain cutting through his body. His knees began to draw up to his stomach, and his fingers clenched tightly.
Cramps and spasms attacked every muscle in his body. He screamed through his teeth and shook, resembling a man in the electric chair as 40,000 volts of justice coursed through him. The pain grew gradually, getting worse and worse as minutes ticked by like hours. Higher, higher, higher - he clenched his eyes closed and shrieked as it became unbearable. Disjointed thoughts flashed through his mind - prayers, threats, curses, Jesus fucking…FUCK.
What was happening? God, what was happening to him? Was it fentanyl? He’d seen videos of people high on fentanyl, and they leaned in weird positions. He didn’t do drugs but maybe he ingested it somehow.
His panic may have returned if all of his muscles hadn’t picked that moment to contract as one. His eyes bulged from their sockets and his jaw unclenched just enough for him to utter a high. Agonized scream that echoed through his empty apartment like thunder.
A human being can only take so much before giving out. When the pain reached a crescendo, and Dom mercifully sank into consciousness once more. The sun rose and cascaded through the apartment’s sole window, falling over his huddled form. Slowly, it tracked across the sky before setting again. As the last rays disappeared behind the horizon, Dom’s eyes opened. The pain of the night before was blessedly gone, replaced by a feeling of numbness - the cool ash after the hot fire. His thoughts were slow and thick like molasses, but he could actually think again. Nightmare memories flooded back to him, but he wasn’t sure they were real. He was lying on his side, his arms wrapped around his chest as if for warmth, and his teeth lightly chattered against the icy chill. He was so cold that he didn’t want to move, but he couldn’t stay here forever. He needed help. He needed…
A shower.
Yeah, a hot shower. That would warm him up.
Gritting his teeth, he slowly sat up, ready for a burst of pain.
But none came.
He did, however, feel heavy. Getting to his feet, he stumbled and nearly fell, catching himself against the counter. His limbs had no feeling. It’s like they weren’t even there. Head hung, Dom tried to catch his breath, but it felt like he wasn’t breathing at all. His eyelids drooped closed and he felt like he was going to fall down. Summoning all the might he could, he shuffled into the bathroom with the stiff gait of an old man. He snapped the light on, and cold, white brilliance filled the space, blinding him.
Leaning heavily against the sink, he gripped the cold porcelain. Suddenly, he was afraid of looking into the mirror. He was sure that whatever reflection he saw, it would be of something else, something monstrous.
Dom lifted his head and faced the glass.
His heart shrank.
The man in the mirror was him but different. His skin was white as milk, lacking all color whatsoever save for the ugly purple patch on the left side. IResembling a giant bruise, it started at the temple and extended down to the slope of his neck, disappearing beneath his T-shirt. He gingerly lifted the shirt, and moaned when he saw that his entire left side was discolored, the purple edged with a puffy shade of pink. His sallow skin clung tight to his ribcage, and his hip bones stuck out so much it looked painful. Back in the mirror, his cheeks were sunken, hollow, and his eyes were a hazy, dishwater gray. His skull seemed bigger, his hair longer. Dom wanted to whip his head away from the phantom before him, to never see it again, but he was transfixed.
There was no way that thing was -
Dom looked away, cutting that thought off before it could finish.
A shower.
He needed a shower.
Slowly, stiffly, Dom undressed, peeling off his shirt and his soiled pants. He dropped them in a heap on the floor and stepped under the spray. He could feel the water pounding against him, but it provided no heat. It was neither hot nor cold. It was simply there.
Dom pressed his head to the slick shower wall and stood there for a long time. He was spent, tired, and fried - he had no more emotions left to give. He got out after a little while, dried off, and put on a clean pair of shorts. He settled into bed and lay there with his hands folded over his chest and his eyes open. They felt gritty, dry. His stomach felt bloated, gassy. He was drowsy now, the weight of the past two days (or was it two weeks?) coming down on him all at once. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He was still asleep - but aware - when the knocking on his door started the next morning. Time was funny in this state of being, fast and jerky but also slow and echoing. Keys rattled the knob turned. The landlord came in with a cop. They saw him on the bed, laid out like a corpse for a viewing, and the cop radioed in a code 35. Soon, cops were all around him, making noise and touching things. He had the vague sense of discomfort and embarrassment at the intrusion. A baling man in a suit stood over him, a cop who looked like a redneck beside him. “He didn’t die here,” the medical examiner said.
The cop looked at him questioningly. Dom caught the name KENNER on his name tag.
“See this?” the M.E. said and gestured to Dom’s face. “That’s livor mortis. When you die, your blood pools at the lowest point. If you’re on your left side, for example, it pools on the left.”
Kenner looked at Dom and then back to the M.E. “Someone moved him?”
“Looks like it,” the M.E. said.
“When did he die?”
The M.E. examined Dom as though he were nothing more than a side of beef. “At a glance? Three days. I won’t have a better answer until I open him up.”
Dom was still awake when they put him into a body bag and zipped it up. He felt a stirring of fear beneath the cold numbness, but he was too tired to worry about it now.
Later, he thought.
He would panic later.
For now, Dom slept.

The argument shouldn’t be about whether Ariana should have talked to Tom. Instead, it comes down to when should the fourth wall break in the lifetime of a reality show and how deeply to break it. When do let the tail wag the dog? Hear me out.
When I started watching Vanderpump (post-Sandoval), the line I heard over and over is how this is one of the best reality shows of all time because it follows an already existing group of friends. This makes it particularly authentic. Well - as has been discussed in other posts - in an authentic group of friends - when a partner of nine years has an affair with their partner’s close friend, it is fair that the person cheated on would not want to be around the ex in social situation. This played out in previous seasons (e.g., Tom not having Kristen invited to trips Stassi, not filming with Jax). Authenticity does not mean talking to bad people who hurt you no matter what the circumstance. Authenticity can mean setting healthy boundaries as a way of coping with a traumatic breakup.
However, one could argue that VPR hit a breaking point where the tail wags the dog. The show has become a group of friends creating a reality show together where the show drives the cast’s behavior—rather than a reality show based on a group of friends, where the cast’s behavior drives the show, as in earlier seasons.
There are two key issues with this tail-wag tipping point in Season 11 and production fumbled navigating them.
1) If we buy into this premise, production and the cast needed to be more thoughtful about when they break the fourth wall and how. The authenticity was lost this season because Blahblah, Schmeana and Broke came up with fake reasons for why they were interacting with Tom. We all saw through it. Only in the final moments were the cast honest that they want Ariana and Tom to talk for the sake of the show. Maybe the season would have been more interesting if we followed them freaking out about the state of Vanderpump. If we heard how they think Tom is trash but they can’t handle the idea of Vanderpump ending. Being torn between their values and their jobs. I am not advocating for this, but these are some examples to consider of “where it the line” and how do we effectively break the tail-wag / fourth wall transition without ruining the show.
2) Not everyone was operating under the “we are here for the show” premise rather than the original “the show is here for us” framework. Ariana, Katie and James were operating under the initial premise (show following friends), with Laundry, ItsaboutMeana and Broccoli leaning into keeping the show alive for the show’s sake.
Production did not consider this tipping point with enough nuance nor set up the cast/show to navigate it effectively. For example, if production believed a Tom-Ariana conversation was essential, they should have put it into the contract. Then Ariana could make the choice of whether to join the show. Instead, she chose to follow her contract and her values.
In sum: The “it’s an ensemble cast” argument doesn't cut it. The ensemble exists for a reason. They were friends. The friend group falls apart, the ensemble should change. Unless we take the tipping point into account, in which case a more thoughtful approach is needed for the show to continue. Production and those who flipped on their friends/cast mates really dropped the ball. Ariana followed her contract and her morals. Wider questions for the reality industry, especially with social media, the fourth wall, and shows that hit a tail-wag tipping point, require exploration.
Personally, I appreciated Ariana’s authenticity and not letting the Scumdavol squad + production manipulate the audience. But that’s just me. I'm also not enjoying people criticizing Ariana for production's sloppy job.

Married for 7 years; together for 10; divorced for 5. There was serial infidelity on her part; three people that I know of (and I suspect - without exaggeration - dozens more). On top of that, my ex-wife was extremely skilled at gaslighting me in my situation. And after the divorce, it came to light that a woman who was our neighbor at the time (I invited her to move into our building) helped cover up and actually encouraged her affairs.
The last few years have been up and down, but mostly up. Lots of good has come out of the situation. In particular this year was a good year so far.
Then yesterday I got a double whammy. In the morning, a girl I met on a dating app messaged saying she didn't want to continue speaking since I was divorced and she wanted to be with someone who had never been married. A bit of a gut punch, but fine. At least she told me now.
Then across social media, it came to my attention that the former neighbor remarried over the weekend. I've blocked many people from my life at that time, but a picture still popped on my feed from someone who was at the wedding. And there was my ex wife, ex neighbor, and ex friends all rejoicing and celebrating.
So in one day, I was told how broken I was for being divorced... then had to see those who broke me celebrating a new marriage at a party over the weekend.
Sent me into a tailspin the last 24 hours. So much pain has been brought up, and I find myself spiraling in a way I haven't in over a year.

My best friend has continually dated since she was in middle school, there hasn’t been a time since then that she hasn’t been with it at least talking to a guy. This isn’t coming from a place of judgement, but more so to give some backstory. I think everyone is wired differently, some people value being in a relationship and put that on top and others may not even be inclined to be in one at all. But her last relationship was rocky, it lasted almost four years and she told me when I helped her move out of their place when they broke up- “I want you to hold me accountable, I need to be alone for a while and think that I want to try being happy single”. After a few weeks she started snapping guys that we went to school with or mutual friends with a flirty undertone. I think that’s healthy for one because all these men are single and she deserves to have a little attention and two because she gets attached so easily maybe it could be “exposure” therapy in a way because these men weren’t dating her or hanging out with her at this time so I figured it was a great way for her to talk to guys without getting attached. That was until Brett, she snapped him for about a week. They made plans and he never followed through, she told me she had already started to develop feelings for him.
I also get attached easily. And I’m a different side of the coin, I haven’t been in a relationship for 5 years because my last one was exhausting and mentally debilitating. The last date I went on I fell really hard fast, because I was desperate for love and it was so unhealthy, I recognized my toxic actions and took a huge step back from dating. I know that I’m scared to be with anyone. I’m communicating this because I really do my best to be open, understanding and empathic to her plight. The last thing I want to do is shame her, or make her feel unheard.
This leads me to Josh, Josh and I have known each other for years. My best friend, Josh and I have ran in the same circles since highschool. I would consider him a good acquaintance and friend, the kind of friend that you b.s with at parties or mutual hangouts but aren’t necessarily close.
Josh asked me a couple years ago to go out for drinks, a date was hinted at. At this point I had been seeing someone for a couple months, it wasn’t necessarily inclusive yet but I didn’t feel right going and honestly I thought it was a great way out of denying the date because I honestly did not feel the same way toward Josh. I wasn’t surprised because I knew he had liked me in the past, but i conveyed my situation to him, appreciated his friendship but I had to decline the invitation. He took it like a champ and it wasn’t an issue. I know that you are the company that you keep, although Josh is a “friend” and we have great banter, I keep him at arms length for multiple reasons. One being he is misogynistic, I know that it’s not exactly high moral ground but as long as he’s not being an absolute pig, I excuse it because we’re not very close. And the handful of times he has said stuff about women that makes me uncomfortable enough to call him out, I do.
I had told my best friend about this when it happened and she almost seemed jealous, but it wasn’t a “oh someone asked you out, that’s cool” kind of jealousy. She had been unhappy in her relationship at this time for a while so I genuinely believe it was more so an envy to do with not being able to have the freedom to go on a date or talk to other men in that aspect.
About 4 months ago I got a text from her saying “so Josh asked me out for drinks”. My stomach dropped a bit, her being an anxious attachment type and him having so much toxic masculinity. I was immediately worried about how this will play out. But for context, I have not said anything inherently bad about him around her or the relationship that they have so far because however it plays out I don’t want him to to think I’m the bad guy and put seeds in her head or hypothetically isolate her from me.
He hasn’t put a label on their relationship the past 4 months, she’s been persistent in communicating that she wants one. The past 3 months she’s been staying at his place almost every night. She tells me this is the best she’s ever been treated. But I think that’s only the lover girl in her talking because I think he’s been manipulating her to an extent.
She told me that he’s been picking at her appearance, she has peach fuzz above her lip (as we ALL do!) and at dinner the other night she said he kept bringing up laser hair surgery and when she got defensive, he picked up on it and she told him why. He brushed it off and kind of doubled down.
There’s been more than a handful of things like that, but this next one is 90% of the reason that I’m making this post.
Last weekend they were laying in bed after sex and he was holding her, he said verbatim “I’m not as sexually attracted to you as I wish I was”.
What the hell??
She immediately pushed off of him and started crying. They went to a concert later, and the rest of the night he kept calling her pretty but she just didn’t want to hear it.
Now she’s been really insecure about herself since then, I think he was negging her. I went on here to look for advice, because we have so many mutual friends I’m cautious about what I say because of the principle of it. I don’t want her to think that I’m judging her. I just hate how he’s treating her in this entire thing. A chauvinistic pig.
P.s. I approached the comment about holding her accountable multiple times in the beginning but at a certain point I felt that she was adult and has to come to these decisions by herself. I’m still going to be there for her and tell her my honest opinion when she asks, but I realize I need to do it in the right way or it may do more harm than good.
P.s.s I wrote this on my work break so I’m sorry for any story confusion

CAST:( Me 40F MY HUSBAND 43M daughter 20F son 20M daughter 16F son 9M daughter 10F daughter 6F DAUGHTER 4F SON 4M SON 6 MONTH )(DAD 60M)( BROTHER 43M SIL 42F NEPHEW 16M NIECE 18F NEPHEW 10M NIECE 9F) (SISTER 30F NIECE 18F).
TO GIVE NAMES:( ME40F ASIA )(MY HUSBAND 43M DEREK)(MY BROTHER43M JACEK)(MY SISTER 30F AGA )(MY DAD 60M DAREK)(MY SIL 42F ALICIA)(MY DAUGHTER 20F MAYA )(MY SON 20M ADRIEN)(MY DAUGHTER 16F)(MY SON 9M PATRICK)(MY DAUGHTER 10F SIENNA)(MY DAUGHTER 6F MARIA)(MY DAUGHTER 4F MELODY)(MY SON 4M LIAM)(MY SON 6 MONTH OLDM MICHELE)(MY NEPHEW 16M SAUL)(MY NIECE FROM SIL 18F MIE)(MY NEPHEW 10M ROBERT)(MY NIECE 9F SARAH)(MY NIECE FROM MY SISTER 18F MAY) ALL REAL NAMES I HAVE A PERMIT.
TO STAR THINGS OF I RAISED BY A SINGLE FATHER WITH TWO MORE KIDS ONE OF WICH I LOVE AND ONE THAT I HATED MY DAD WAS A DRUNK WE WERE LOWER MIDDLE CLASS MY DAD WAS ABUSIVE TOWARDS ME AND MY SISTER BUT NOT TO JACEK AKA THE GOLDEN CHILD ME THE FORGOTTEN ONE AND AGA THE SCAPE GOAT.
WHEN I WAS 16 JACEK WAS 19 TREW A PARTY WHEN DAD WAS OUT OF TOWN ONE OF THE MEN IN HIS FRIEND GROUP LIKED ME BUT I KEPT REJECTING HIM AGA WAS AT A CLASSMATES HOUSE FOR A SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT THE FRIEND BROUGHT HANDCUFS AND A GAG TO THE PARTY HE SAID TO JACEK HE WAS GOING TO THE BATHROOM HE ACTUALLY WENT INTO MY ROOM WHERE I WAS SLEEPING HE GAGED ME AND HANCUFED ME TO MY BED HE WOKE ME UP AND R@PED ME JACEK CAME TO CHEK ON HIM HE SAW WHAT HE WAS DOING AND JUST WALKED AWAY.
A WEEK LATER MY DAD CAME BACK HOME AND WE WENT TO THE DOCTOR BUCAUSE JACEK TOLD MY DAD HE JUST WANTED TO KNOW SOME THING THEN WE FOUND OUT I WAS PREGNANT MY DAD WAS SUPER RELIGIOUS SO HE MARIED ME OF TO JACEK S FRIEND I HAD THE BABY I WAS IN A ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP FOR 3 YEARS THEN I MET MY NOW HUSBAND DEREK AND WE HAD $EX THEN I WAS PREGNANT WITH HIS KID I MARRIED DEREK AFTER I FINISHED MY DIVORCE WITH JACEK S FRIEND I GOT OUR KIDS.
AFTER WE INVESTED IN TO A SMALL BUSINESS TO CUT IT SHORT IN 2 YEARS WE WERE BILLIONAIRES WE BOUGHT A SMALL HOUSE NEAR THE LAKE AND KEPT INVESTING IN OUR BUSINESS 5 YEARS LATER WE WERE VERY NEAR A TRILLION EURO THEN WE HAD OUR 4TH CHILD SIENNA 1 YEAR LATER WE HAD ANOTHER CHILD PATRICK WE MOVED TO A BIGGER HOUSE AND HAD ANOTHER CHILD 4 YEARS LATER AFTER ANOTHER 2 YEARS WE HAD TWINS MELODY AND LIAM .
6 MONTHS AGO I HAD ANOTHER ONE MICHELE.
WE WERE VERY HAPPY WE BOUGHT A 4 STORY IN A NICE HIGHER CLASS AREA WERE BILLIONAIRES RECENTLY I WAS SLEEPING AND I GOT A MESSAGE FROM MY SISTER THAT SHE GOT EVICTED I SAID THAT SHE CAN STAY IN OUR HOME UNTIL SHE CAN FIND A NEW PLACE.
MY NIECES BIRTHDAY WAS COMING UP SO WE I GOT HER A CAR NOTHING TOO FANCY JUST A HONDA 360 SHE WAS SO EXITED MY 20 YEAR OLD TWINS DRIVE FERRARIS.
MY ENTITLED SIDE OF THE FAMILY SOME HOW FOUND OUR WE WERE RICH AND NOW ARE TREATHINING US TO GIVE THEM MONEY .
MY OLDEST DAUGHTER IS GETTING MARRIED AND WE HAD AN AGREEMENT THAT I WILL PAY AND PLAN HER WEDDING WITH HER.
SO WE DECIDED TO HAVE AN ALL EXCLUSIVE WEDDING IN THE BAHAMAS THE CEREMONY WILL BE AT THE BEACH THE MEAL WILL BE AT THE HOTEL BIG PARTY ROOM AND THE PARTY WILL BE THERE TO WE WILL PAY FOR EVERITHING FROM THE FLOGHT TO THE HOTEL UP TO YOUR EXPENCESS.
NOW MY FATHER AND BROTHERS SIDE OF THE FAMILY ARE DEMANDING THAT THEY BE INVITED AND FOR MY NEPHEW TO PROPOSE AT HER WEDDING.
WHAT SHOULD I DO.

My fiancé and I attended a party this past Saturday and ended up inviting another women home us and had a threesome. I was black drunk and most the details a very blurry, but I do remember some of the threesome including the imagine of my fiancé having sex with this other woman which is now permanently burned into my memory. We only recently got engaged a few weeks back, and I have been on Cloud9 since, but after this past weekend I feel like that all got thrown away, and like our relationship will never be the same. I feel like I can’t blame him since it feels like my fault that I agreed to the threesome even though I was blackout for most of it, and only remember some of it. Our relationship now doesn’t feel the same anymore and I am experiencing the worst regret I ever have, because my brain keep replaying it over and over again. My anxiety and the hurt I feel is so overwhelming there are parts of me that no longer feel safe in my most important relationship. He recounted some of what happened and commented on the fact that I was falling over for some of it, including falling off the bed, which makes me feel like he obviously recognized that I was very drunk, and a selfish part of me wishes he questioned if I was too drunk and whether I could actually consent to having that experience, or to him having sex with another woman in front of me…luckily we have couples therapy later this week, since there is a lot to unpack here… more than I can even fit into this post. Wishing none of this ever happened, and so badly wishing I never got that drunk…. Everything just feels like my fault and if I hadn’t drank so much, I would have never agreed to the threesome. I feel like I’m mourning the loss of being excited for the future with my fiancé. Thank you for letting me dump my feelings here.

Hi all! My cousin is getting married and I'm MOH. My aunt (her mom) and I are a little confused as to the etiquettecy of throwing the bridal shower. The bride and groom would like a coed shower and the invite list is around 100 people. I've only attended smaller, non co-ed showers so not sure how to navigate this? Who is typically responsible for the cost of food, venue, and drinks for a large co ed shower? A couple members of the groom's family has offered to "sponsor" the shower. What is the proper etiquette of asking them to contribute? Should we get quotes first and divide the costs evenly? With it being such a large party would it be acceptable to ask the guests to pay for food and drink (if it's at a brewery, etc). Any input would be very helpful. Thanks a bunch :)
EDIT: We're located in the US. The shower will be in Florida.