Two word phrases

hey friends! got a lil problem i’m hoping someone with more experience can help me figure out. i bought a panasonic wj-mx30 off ebay about two months afo. i grabbed a box of BNC to composite adaptors on amazon because i’m rocking with a VHS player and a couple CRTs. the mixer itself is in great condition, everything works like it should. i played around with it for a couple weeks then put it away since it was taking up a bit of space.
i brought it out the other day to mess around with, and it was a nightmare. nothing seemed to want to cooperate with each other. if i plugged the VHS player directly into the TV, it would work no problem. but if i plugged the VHS player into the input on the mixer, it would not show up on the TV when plugging the mixer’s output into the TV. i tried several different TVs, all 5 of my different composite cables, same issue. at one point i did get everything to communicate correctly after an hour of playing around with it. i fiddled with the power cord of the VHS player which suddenly made everything work. the next day when i went to turn everything back on, same problem, and playing with the VHS cord didn’t do anything. haven’t gotten everything to work again since
here are a few more relevant things:

• i live in an old house with not many wall outlets, so i’m currently rocking with a surge protector and a regular extension cord with 3 outlets plugged into two different wall outlets on opposite sides of my living room
• the VHS player was new in box when i got it last year and hasn’t been used much
• running a cable from an output port to an input port on the mixer itself always works perfectly and instantly
• all of my RCA cables are old, BUT they worked no problem the first time i messed around with it
• some of the adaptors feel loose when plugged into the BNC ports. like the composite cables don’t want to stay inside them. i’ve never used adaptors for electronics before so idk if that’s normal. sometimes messing around with taking the adaptors off and putting them back on helps the connection feel more secure, but doesn’t affect the issue with the signal
• i tried a camcorder plugged directly into the TV and into the mixer and out to the TV, and in both instances, with all the cords, the signal was pretty weak. i had to really fiddle with my composite cables to get a decent image

i’m leaning toward this being either a cable issue or a power issue, but i don’t understand why i would suddenly have so much trouble using all of the exact same equipment i used the first time around. should i purchase some brand new composite cables and see if that fixes the issue? or should i track down some s-video to composite adaptors and try those ports instead? all of my TVs have composite line-in ports and the coax type port in for antennas in the back. i already have so many god damn cables in my house that i just don’t want to buy a bunch more only to discover it’s not a cable-related issue
i’m pretty new at all this and can’t seem to find the right words to get any assistance from google, so i’m hoping y’all can point me in the right direction!! thanks in advance

So here we are, on the last page. Indulge my ramblings.
It's been one hell of a ride, managing to devour the ten big books in what is a little over a year I think at this point. To say it took me for a ride is an understatement. I haven't been invested in an actual book series for a while now, few standalone novels here and there, but nothing like this.
I don't think I posted my detailed thought on DoD, perhaps it was for the best. Because I truly see it as but a half of a book. While in the past some malazan books picked up right after others, DG and MOI continue directly after GoTM, HOC continues on to DG. It was never with such immediacy. TCG starting second after DoD, heck starting before its end, because we see Cotillion take hold of Lostara.
I had gotten used to a certain pace within these books. Book 1 would be a sort of overture, we see new characters, we see old characters, a cast is assembled. Book 2 expands on the main plot of the book, what will this all be about, plans are set in motion. Book 3, the plans mature, we see a convergance on the horizon. Book 4, we get a convergance. The roller coaster has reached the highest point and goes into free fall.
DoD essentially gets us to the end of Book 2, a midway finale, we have met all the players, we know what the plan is. We are moving towards it.
It was a hard read, because the cast was just overflowing. Usually I praise SE for those small scenes, of the soldiers shooting the shit as they march, between fights and all that. I still like them, but was getting overwhelmed with just how many we were getting. I had to take out my notebook again to keep track of the squads and command structure.
It is a bit of a blur compared to TCG, kalyth, the snake, the shake, the ghosts, tool, toc, torrent, trade guild, grey helms, queen abastral, her daughter, tavore, ublala etc.
The snake being the most jarring and confusing element, it took by far the longest to get used to it and wrap my brain around it properly. Similar to the ghosts.
What left me the most angry and annoyed was olar ethils meddling between Toc and Tool. There are plenty of hateable and evil bastards in the series, individuals it is fun to hate. Olar was not one, she felt like a nuissance. Toc and Tool not getting an ounce of bloody mercy left me very jaded. But I will get into more on that later.
I think I will just jump to TCG.
I did not know what to expect as an ending. I have been disappointed plenty of times. It is no small feat to cap off 14 000 pages of such a rich, complicated and elaborate world. I had no illusion that everything will be neat and tidy, a happily ever after. This not that kind of story.
Steven Erickson did do the series justice. That is the best way I think I can phrase it. It was not what I expected, it was not what I wanted for some characters. But I cannot disagree or see it ending other way.
Those who have followed my rantings while reading will know of my disagreement witht the idea "THE STORY IS ABOUT HOPE". Considering the amount of failure, misery, cruelty and a whole lot more the story dumps on to some characters. My opinion has changed, not fully, but it has. It was not due to the final scene with them defending with the crippled god. It was due to Torrent.
I was so invested in him. He felt so human so mortal, yet despite it all. He kept going. That moment when Olar confronts the guild, mappo and the rest, when they all stand uselessly pissing themselves as she demands the kids. Torrent is the only one to stand up, to go with her. I truly lost a lot of respect for Mappo then.
We don't know what happens to Torrent. He gets the killshot on the witch bitch, then falls down a fissure. I read that line, hoping that he survives. Until someone says otherwise I will keep hoping.
Another character is Cotillion, the most human god of all. I can hardly recognise him from the start of GOTM.....
TCG felt to me what "Return of the king" felt to some of my friends. From the andii kneeling to the shake in respect for holding out, to Korlat and WJ. "And wait he will", that had me straight up bawling for several minutes
Regarding our favourite Trell...when he met with Calm, I knew how it would end. From how clumsily he handled himself to the exhaustion, he never stood a chance. Ublala could have never arrived on time, for he was meant to take up that torch, like so many before him. "I remembered something", there is that feeling again. Hope.
Tavore...tavore....how far she has come.
I hated her, I hated her so much. From DG all the way to TBH. All the politics, betrayal and bullshit leaving me expecting she was just like Surly or Rel. Boy was I wrong. "I lost her", of all the things expected, it was not that. It all came crashing down with just those three words when she met Ganoes. All her weight, all she did. It made sense.
Yedan's last stand and death hurt, but in the same way Rake's did. It was not in vain, they both died for the cause they believed in. They won.
Now.....tool, toc and hetan. This is going to be controversial. I was aware of something bad happening in DoD, that much was hinted by several sources. It was horrific, but didn't have the same impact some of past horrors did. I find it hard to explain, but what made it worse was....her coming back like nothing happened.
I might be reading it in the wrong way. Ressurection in any fantasy series is a dangerous can of worms, the moment an author uses it, he has to start making up excuses for why it cannot be done every time. Malazan handled it by showing just how nasty the cost is. Rhulad being driven more insane every time he came back, escapees from Hood's realm looking like zombies etc.. Even Hedge reuniting with Fiddler, it is endlessly fraught and warped their relationship.
I like that Tool got a happy ending, but her just coming back like that. It felt cheap and made me resent we couldn't get other characters back the same way. The whole Tool and Toc thing just got me angry and not in a fun way.
I could go on and on, but I needed to get this lot off my chest first.
This series changed me and the way I appreciate stories/characters. There is not a single person in malazan you can point to who is fully good or evil (except the liosan and assail, fuccccccckkkkkkkk them). Humans are messy, despite the best of intent, the world will not let us be good, nor is it easy to be good. We do stuff that seemingly contradicts what we stand for, what we value, knowing the immediate pain it will cause, but holding out hope it will be worth it in the long run.
I am far from done with Malazan. Novels of the malazan empire are next on my reading list. But I will be taking a bit of a break to reset. There is a real danger of getting fatigued with the series, the worst hitting right during DoD.
So yeah....cool book series...

Throwaway account because I don’t want this story getting back to me lol.
I've been on/off with a girl I met in college for 2.5 years. Currently a recent college grad and she will finish her undergrad in August. For context, I have generalized anxiety, OCD, and depression while she has borderline personality disorder, generalized anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
Long story short, she emotionally cheated on me, lied to me about another guy and her values, and manipulated me into staying with her for about half a year in late 2021 and early 2022. We were apart for half a year, then one of my friends told me to give her another chance and I did. We were on/off during this whole time and after because of the guy she was emotionally cheating on me with. She’s pretty great most of the time but has recently had random periods of being terrible.
During our time apart, she wasn't with anyone sexually or emotionally. She went on a date or two but that was all. I pursued other girls, but nothing happened.
Fast forward to January of this year, l've endured a lot of disrespect, childishness, and immaturity from her. l've basically had to show her how to be respectful in a relationship and be a decent person (she asked me to, and those are her words) despite the fact that she has been in two relationships before me and I had been in none before her.
She broke up with me in late January because I wasn't being as affectionate with her as I was during our honeymoon phase. She has borderline personality disorder (she was diagnosed in February of this year) and was having an emotional episode where her feelings overwhelmed her. Later she admitted this and said I wasn't actually doing anything worth leaving over, but that she simply wanted me to say I would touch her more rather than accepting her breaking up with me.
The day after we broke up, she began talking to a guy who hit on her last summer (I didn't know about it at the time). At the same time, she was texting me telling me she wanted to take back the breakup. I caved in after a week only to find out she met up with the guy five days after our breakup. I took her back anyway, but said she should think about it first. She said she didn't need to.
A day later, she told me she was excited about the other guy and couldn't stop thinking about him. I told her I didn't want to talk anymore. Two days later, I tried to win her back and she said she felt the same way when I told her I loved her. She said nothing happened with the other guy three times when I asked before eventually admitting that she gave him head.
I agreed to put the past behind us and gave her another chance anyway. However, over the next month, she admitted she couldn't stop thinking about the other guy and said I deserved better. She wanted to break up and while I did fight for her, I eventually just let her go.
We talked about wanting to stay together over the next day, and I eventually called her drunk saying I loved her. She said she felt the same way. I asked her if she had sex with the guy and she said that while she wasn't planning on it at the time, she impulsively decided to that morning after she started talking to him and he asked to come over.
She has reiterated over and over that that she didn't like him anymore when she did it, but that she didn't want to be alone and was being impulsive like she usually is. Also that she was excited about having sex with someone new after 2.5 years. She made him stop halfway through doing the deed and he cut ties with her after that. She said it was because she wasn't over me and started dissociating.
We've been trying to work things out. She's going to therapy for her BPD and trying to fix things with me, but everything she did hurts. She's been showering me with attention and gifts and promises to do better like she normally does after she messes up. She said she would stop the lying and betrayal, but I found out a couple of days ago that she's been lying about when she began texting the guy again after we broke up most recently. Instead of texting him the next day, she texted him less than a couple of hours after the breakup. No telling what else she's lying about.
My question is, how do I leave? She's my first love and I know she isn't a good person, but every time I try to leave, she just worms her way back into my life.
TL;DR: Ex/Situationship cheated emotionally, then a couple of years later left me for another guy twice and came back after having sex with him. She's my first love, first relationship, and many of my firsts. She is a great girlfriend most of the time but when she isn't, she's the worst. How do I leave and stay strong enough not to take her back? Or is there any way this can work out?

I like the way he offers a target when the rest of the team can find him - and I'm not just talking about his assist on Sunday. Rodriguez provided a respectable threat at the back post in the two games before, or at least I thought so.
He didn't provide the immediate game-changing, force-multipying threat I'd hoped he would, but I'm also open to believing that he'll find his feet and, whether the current roster figures it out or it takes some new players for Portland to start clicking again, that Rodriguez will return for a solid sophomore season....sophomore is a fun word....
Thoughts? Notes?

Alright, so long time member of reddit since the good old days, first time posting. So this morning, while attempting to unlock a phone linked to my live in girlfriend, ended up in one of what looked like many message threads that involved what most would describe as a honeypot(not sure if this is the correct terminology) essentially what looked to me like ~10 different threads with men going back and forth flirting very sexually, with the first one finding the most explicit of the content, full nudes of her, as well as plenty of non naked pictures sent to these males, most of which I have to assume that she has indeed met in person, due to the fact that she often will disappear with my vehicle to go to the casino(she never tells me this, always excuses that she is actually not at the casino, generally lying pretty badly as I am not stupid and have been in a relationship with a frequent cheater before.) Full disclosure, it is not like I completely made a real stand against this type of thing, and in fact before at one point I was complicit and gave her a picture that I had received from a female that was essentially an ass shot with lace panties on. This fact had made me I guess just assume that the boundary was set that I would most likely not be ok with this type of thing happening with real pictures of her, although that conversation was not really ever had. So now while I am a firm believer of the fact where if you feel the need to go through your significant others phone at all, the two of you should not be together in the first place. Therefore in the multiple years we have been together (admittedly, the relationship was fairly casual at some points, and some people had referred to her as my dog watcher in the past. Even I was someone who made some comments in this vein but this was many years ago now.) Generally it would go in a cycle of becoming more serious, then her doing something such as taking the car to get groceries, but disappearing for days. This fact being a serious red flag and not to mention that I basically have PTSD from my previous ex taking my vehicle to go have sex with and seemingly short(?) relationships with other dudes, which I had most definitely disclosed to her many, many times, which was a fact that was most definitely ignored, and had zero effect on her actions. It would seem a lot of the time that when things would get more serious between us, shortly after there would be something in which I would feel as a betrayal, and once again things would become more casual. That being said, I am certainly guilty of talking to other females, such as my ex, during these times. So, all of these facts, leads me to today, where I am feeling like this should be the much needed end to a series of events filled with a lack of honesty, and a general disregard on her side for my boundaries, that I have made sure to communicate. She is of course taking the stance that since I knew that she got money from guys, that I should have basically known and put two and two together. While I had definitely kept that thought in my mind, I was basically just trying to trust her and thinking that maybe she is just really good at talking, or maybe using other girls pics like the time I gave her the pic to get money from the one guy. Now, as for physical interactions, it is up in the air as I was pretty disgusted by what I saw and didn't feel like reading every word in every thread in order to see if anything physical had actually happened. There had been a recent attempt by an old acquaintance of mine to basically come onto her in I assume his car at the casino and she said she denied him completely, and that was at least corroborated by a mutual friend that I had ask the guy in a way that he wouldn't lie. On top of all of this, she has been without a job for ~6 months now and money is very tight. The money she got from these guys has in no way been disclosed to me or shared with me, while as I am currently a full time student (wasted 7 years of my life homeless and using drugs, currently recovering addict, same as her, except when we started living together she was still using.) . I was wanting to kick her out and move on when she began disappearing with my vehicle, just due to the fact that I communicated so many times what my ex had done, and how this would affect me. Basically to this day I have to more or less physically keep the car keys from her, or else she will disappear to the casino. So, my fellow redditors, is this a dumpster fire that should have ended years ago like I truly believe, or was the fact that she had gotten money from guys in the past and I was "ok" with it (with her definitely knowing that I would never be okay with her doing anything with them, just never specifically talked about the sending of explicit pics that are actually her.) She says the pics are like 5 years old and is taking the stance that that makes it better in some way and that she has never cheated on me. Sorry about the long and complicated backstory, and we have been more or less together for 4 years now.
TL:DR Girlfriend who I knew received money from males, turns out was sending nudes and overall going way further than I know for a fact that she knew I would not be okay with this, at all, this also being proven by the fact that in a similar past situation, I gave her a picture I had received in the past of a different girl, to satiate the guy, to receive money.
Also sorry about the formatting and kind of just vomit of text, my headspace is not great right now as I have also been up all night working on homework, to then now find this all in the early morning. Thanks in advance reddit. As a user of this site since its infancy, I decided that you scholarly gentlemen would be able to diagnose this situation much better than I would. Should this be over, as I truly believe, or have I just been naive and have too high of expectations?

So a couple of weeks ago my ex reappeared in my life. It has completely thrown my life into hell. I am married and have been for going on 10 years. I am a stay-at-home parent of 5 children, one of whom is nonverbal autistic. I have been in burnout mode for probably the past 5 years. As soon as this guy pops back into my life it's like I have woken up! I realize that I am not getting the attention from my husband that I need. This is something I have brought up multiple times in the past year. I have been telling my husband I need more physical touch, more help around the house, more attention.
My husband is great and I love him more than anything. He works 40 hours and has a lot going on at work. Once he gets off work he comes home and gets straight on the game or goes takes a 30-minutes shit. He rarely helps clean up around the house and when he does it is like he wants a standing ovation. He will do things with the kids on the weekends like fishing or yard work. He only wants to do things that he likes when he is off and that's kind of another issue. He only wants to do things that he likes with me. I even have a recent little example. I convinced him to download and play words with friends with me. We played two games and last night he told me he doesn't want to play anymore because I won them both. It isn't fun to him. He asks me to play video games with him which I do sometimes. I get tired of them after a while because it isn't me he just wants to play with it is his friends as well.
The physical touch thing has been an issue for a while. He hasn't ever been too affectionate. It was okay when I was younger and the kids were constantly overstimulating me. I did not want to be cuddled which I am sure other parents can relate with this. Well, now our youngest two are 5 and aren't constantly hanging all over me and I want to feel loved by my husband. He doesn't make out which whatever no biggie. I usually have weed breath so it's whatever. But daaang when he hugs me he does it with a side arm and it is not like a squeeze. It is like something you would give to your sister. I even told him the other day that I want to be hugged or cuddled like if you don't hold on tight enough I might float away. I shit you not this man tried to crush my ribs the next time we hugged. I am just so confused.
I do not know what to do or how to tell him I need more. I love my husband and would never want to go without him but I am so sad that I am not getting the affection I need to feel loved. What should I do to get it across that I need this because I am feeling lonely and not loved?
I am also worried that I am making nothing out of this and am overreacting because all these past memories with my Ex have come up. I only talked to the ex on FB twice. The last time I talked to him he told me we couldn't talk anymore because it was too hard because he was still in love with me. I instantly blocked him and told my husband about it the next day. I would have told him that day but we got into a little fight about how lonely I was feeling.

I think people are overreacting about this. Its understandable to feel disappointed and sad that your bias had few lines but lets think logically about this.
We have to keep in mind Gehlee has only been slowly learning korean and getting better at dancing. People are judging this too much for a song cover, that from what I've heard they'd only practiced for two days. A small mistake in pronunciation changes the meaning of a word, especially since they were singing live according to a twitter user that was there. From this its easy to understand why Gehlee has only one line. Fans are jumping the gun saying the Filo members are being treated unfairly and even adding Elisia, when she literally has the third most lines on the album.
Fans and especially solo stans need to think about this more and think logically, y'all want things to be just instant. Better reserve your judgements when the next comeback comes, when that comes and Gehlee has learned korean better we can carefully judge if she is being given less lines.

Eivor is a bit of a strange protagonist.
She’s basically flawless and without blame. She’s brash and bold, proud and unashamed — brave and wise far beyond her years, yet able to be soft and compassionate when not brandishing spears. She’s got a knack for leadership, a strong moral compass and an even stronger muscular system with which to enact justice.
And she’s got bars?
As someone not deeply versed in medieval European histories, imagine my shock and confusion upon discovering that Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla included rap battling.
My first experience with Flyting had me asking so many questions about what I just witnessed that I couldn’t wait to begin Googling. I figured flyting probably was historically accurate, but if that’s the case, then what else can it tells us about the medieval warrior and about Eivor’s characterization?
I set off to find out.
--
Wikipedia and howstuffworks combined gave me a robust definition of flyting.
A ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. Examples of flyting are found throughout Scots, Ancient, Medieval and Modern Celtic, Old English, Middle English and Norse literature involving both historical and mythological figures. The exchanges would become extremely provocative, often involving accusations of cowardice or sexual perversion.
The idea behind flyting was to influence public opinion of the participants and raise both of their profiles. And each participant wanted to make himself look better than the other, even if they were friendly.
Not only that, but flyting’s also the first recorded use of shit as an insult. That right there is worth this whole essay and then some.
--
I came away from those definitions with some small Euphoria, as they reinforce what I already expected from Ubisoft — historically accurate and (arguably) immersive side activities grounded in realism.
Unfortunately, none of the flyting foes that Eivor faces in this fantasy are founded in any real-world flyters. I was particularly frustrated when I realized Fergal the Faceless and Borghild the Alewife’s Bane were fictional features, not real historical fiends of rhythm and rhyme.
Two of Eivor’s syntax competitors are “real” in some sense, however.
In Norse mythos, Odin, Thor, Loki, Freyja and more would handle their Family Matters over a flyte from time to time, dueling wits and words as competition and entertainment.
In fact, one flyte we do see in game — Odin as he flytes over the river with Thor in the Asgard Arc — is likely a reference to a real medieval Norse poem; The Hárbarðsljóð.
In it, Thor jaunts back to Asgard after a journey in Jötunheim. He comes to a junction in which he must jump a large river, and thus hunts down a ferryman to shepherd him across. The ferryman, Hárbarðr, is Odin in disguise. He then begins to diss guys.
Ahem. ‘Guys’ being Thor, obviously.
First, Odin drops a yo-mama joke:

Of thy morning feats art thou proud, but the future thou knowest not wholly; Doleful thine home-coming is: thy mother, me thinks, is dead.

He keeps going, taking more shots than a First Person Shooter, this time saying Thor dresses like a girl:

Three good dwellings methinks, thou hast not; Barefoot thou standest and wearest a beggar’s dress; Not even hose dost thou have.

Thor says watch your mouth before I clap back:

Ill for thee comes thy keenness of tongue, if the water I choose to wade; Louder, I ween, than a wolf thou cryest, if a blow of my hammer thou hast.

Odin replies by saying Thor’s wife is fucking another dude:

Sif has a lover at home, and him shouldst thou meet; More fitting it were on him to put forth thy strength.

The version we play out in game isn’t identical to the real-world poem, but carries some similarities; Thor’s threatening to cross the river to fight Odin as well as his boasting of slaying giants are present in each.
Ratatosk is the only other ‘real’ flyting enemy in Valhalla. While Odin doesn’t flyte with Ratatosk in Norse myth to my knowledge, the flyting against the squirrel is thematically accurate, at least.
Ratatosk’s purpose is to scramble up and down Yggdrasil, scurrying spoken messages from the eagle that sits at its peaks to the snake that slithers at its base. The nature of Ratatosk’s messages is in line with the act of flyting — the mischievous rodent carries falsehoods and aggressive statements to stir up drama and distrust between bird and serpent.
Flyting took place not only in poems and folklore, but in town squares and royal court. It was a facet of medieval life and social interaction. This weaving of prose then, in this time period, seemingly was just about as much of an admired skill as the swinging of a sword. It’s no wonder our unbreakable warrior Eivor is so proficient with word.
--
Like, really proficient with word.
I mean, I know it’s me choosing the dialogue options, but sheesh, is there anything she can’t do?
Actually, Eivor’s expertise in flyting is strange to me. It feels random and unearned — out of character, even. It comes more unexpectedly than Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us.
It probably only feels out of character, however, due to our modern understanding of proficiency with words versus proficiency with might. Our current interpretation of verbal ability compared to physical ability would perceive verbal ability as the ‘softer’ of the two skillsets. Physical strength is typically interpreted as tough and more dominant. You don’t expect to see an MMA fighter composing poetry, do you? The qualities that modern thought attributes to writing and physicality don’t mesh.
But in reality — and historically accurately in Valhalla — medieval warriors weren’t just blind berserkers. They were actually artists, poets and writers.
We’ve already demonstrated how Odin and Thor — Norse myth’s most famous warriors — carried out flyting. Thus, medieval Vikings would’ve surely done the same. Beyond Vikings though, the Illiad contains instances of public, ritualized abuse. Taunting songs are present in Inuit culture while Arabic poetry contains a form of flyting called naqa’id. Further, Japanese Samurai were known to be frequent composers of haiku, while Japanese culture also gave birth to Haikai, poetry in which vulgar satire and puns were wielded.
This historical accuracy ends up eliminating the randomness of Eivor’s flyting ability. Despite her verbal finesse feeling unearned, we can surmise historically that Eivor has practiced the wielding of words plenty in her life before we take over as the player. She’s dedicated time to this.
Now that we know why she has it, we can take a closer look at what it does for her.
--
So, Eivor can rap. She can match you with her axe or she can match you with her words. She’s just about unbeatable.
Her mastery of words demonstrates on some level that she’s not all Push Ups and might is right. She’s not all bruiser and bluster, burn and berserk. She’s an appreciator of the finer things — the more abstract, mental skills that require brain power, deftness and finesse.
This duality of strength and genius rounds out Eivor into a deeper, richer, more admirable character. More than just raw muscle in pursuit of glory, Eivor’s mastery of verse demonstrates her prioritizing not just her body, but her mind.
And it goes a long way for her.
Eivor can use her prowess with prose to progress past pointless plot points throughout Valhalla’s plethora of arcs and missions. It’s just a stat check in the end, but with enough practice flyting and enough charisma gained, Eivor unlocks new dialogue options that bend the world around her to her will.
Witch hunters in Eurvicscire on the brink of terrorizing Moira can be dispersed verbally rather than brawled or killed. There’s an entire riddle-solving fetch quest in Wincestre that can be skipped completely by telling King Aelfred’s abbot fuck off (figuratively). Eivor’s sharpening of her mind protects her body, saves her time, and allows her to frictionlessly fell her endeavors.
Her articulate advances don’t just alter her into admirability, they allow her to influence people and progression. With semantics from her mouth and twists from her tongue, Eivor can have her way whenever she wishes. In a game this large, I’m only left longing that the opportunity to make use of this charisma wasn’t relegated to niches.
Regardless, if medieval England is butter, Eivor’s tongue is the hot knife that behooves her move through her subduing more smoothly.
It all just goes to show that ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ flyte is right.

I'm a bisexual woman and from the beginning I met him and thought he was gay however he always refers to himself as straight. I always knew that this guy had had an experience with a boy we met thanks to a friend of ours and everything was ok, I said welp "it was something he would do to experiment and that's it". No biggie since this experience was before we met. So we started dating, and everything is so good he asks me to be his girlfriend and I say yes. After a while I found out that he made out not only with this guy but that he made out with several, including trans girls in different situations (at parties, at work, etc.), he used to have a Grindr account, and although he denies it to me I believe that he fucked with the first boy I talk about since they had several encounters in which supposedly this boy went down on him only. I got to see the conversation on IG with this boy and, apart from treating him with words like "baby boy, cutie, little prince" etc., my boyfriend was also like the horniest of the two and I doubt that the other boy, being a bottom had refused to get into it.
At first we had good sex and several times a day since we don't live together, but lately he's finding it more and more difficult to get a hard on. I also discovered that he really likes anal play (yes, in his anus), but not only he loves when I lick it or finger play but he has a dildo, a plug and they both go in very easily. I pegged him too and he loved it. We have been together for 3 months and we play like this at least once a month. I did not like it that much but I have always been open to experimenting and also make him feel pleased.
It's hard for me to cum and he has told me that this frustrates him. I have explained to him since I come from having relationship and sex with women he needs more foreplay or for example, I like him to give me oral sex better before penetration and not after and at first he remembers but then he seems to forget the things I like and since he having hard time to get an erection when he gets it he only wants to get inside me as fast as he can to try to cum. This has caused us trouble and I think we are going to break up.
He seems to have a hard time getting erections with me lately but then he masturbastes to bisexual porn 🤷🏼 and probably also gay porn but will not admit it. What do you think?

So we run an electrical recycling & refurbishing company, our primary customers are businesses, we target businesses and dont really want anything to do with domestic.
Our google ads have been the primary inbound for the past 3-4 years of running. We've always made little tweaks or had periods where the ads break.. Ive watched a few youtube videos and make a few changes and we go back to normal.
Since the beginning of March/April things have just died! ill give you an over-run of what campaings we're running:
1 Campain which has 4 ad groups Each ad-group setup around various phrase match and exact match keyphrases pointing to adverts with that exact terminology which then push the user to a landing page with that exact word. With 4 different keyphrases (maybe around 10 per adgroup) Compiled from our highest converting key phrases over the past 24 months with the highest bid, most of the time we're top of the page according to auction insights! (which contradicts the below!)
We have a second campaign which is our main one we have used for months setup the exact same way above, here are some points.
Campaign type - Search Campaign budget (across both ) - £60-£80 per day. Bid Type - Enhanced CPC (Manual set to qualify for the minimum bid) Tried conversions but got 0 impressions for some unknown reason ? Audience - Set to Professional Services Target only Schedule - We reduce it by 50% on a daily basis to keep the bids on the keywords down.
The prices of the clicks for some of the keywords which were around £5-6 a month ago are now £15-£20 which simply isn't viable for us but if this is why we arent getting the conversions then we'll have to see!
The problem we've always had is targeting B2B customers as we could get a domestic customer wanting to recycle a TV filling in our form, live chat or giving us a call and it costing us £25 for the enquiry. Currently we're getting around 20 clicks a day and maxing out budget with 0 leads or enquiries.
At witts end with it currently and any advice at all would be appreciated!

Hello! I wanted to share my analysis on how Cloud & Aerith represent the Ancient Greek legend of Orpheus & Eurydice, one of the most well known tragic love stories. There have been many different variations of this story from Hadestown to Moulin Rouge. I will reference the broadway show Hadestown a lot, because I’m a huge fan of the show and it represents Orpheus & Eurydice’s story very well. With this analysis, I’m going in with the belief that Hollow and No Promises to Keep are Cloud and Aerith’s songs that are about each other, who those songs are about is a whole different argument, but to ME, it’s obvious who they’re about and I’m using them to push this analysis further.
In the Greek legend, Orpheus & Eurydice fell in love, and one day Eurydice died from the bite of a viper. Orpheus was so ruined by grief that he traveled to the underworld itself to find Eurydice and bring her back. Orpheus sang about his love for Eurydice to Hades and Persephone, who were so moved by it that Hades gave him the opportunity to bring Eurydice out of the underworld, he just has to take the long walk out of the underworld with Eurydice behind him, and he cannot look back at her the entire walk until they are out of the underworld, or else she will be sent back down. Towards the end of their walk, Orpheus is worried that Hades had tricked him because he could not hear Eurydice behind him. He loves her so much that he is driven mad by the fear and doubt that enter his mind. So much so that he ends up looking back at her, and she is sent back to the underworld.
Now for the comparison to Cloud and Aerith. Obviously, we see their relationship become a precious and cherished thing, until Aerith is suddenly killed.
Now Cloud is not a singer or a poet, but he does have a song in the Remake. This song is heavily theorized to be about Aerith, and makes the most sense to be about her. It describes how lost and hollow he feels without her, which is so unbelievably Orpheus of him. In the lines;
“Bloody and bruised Brought to my knees When beaten down When broken up You would appear, Reach out to me, Heal every wound, And make me whole”
It makes me think of a scene in Hadestown, where Orpheus gets beaten up while in the underworld trying to get Eurydice back. Persephone is inspired by Orpheus’ determination to get Eurydice back, she keeps him going even when he’s beaten down.
Throughout Hollow, he says a lot of words like “Guide me to you” “I’ll never let you go”. He still wants to find her somehow after feeling so empty from her death. Again, very Orpheus.
Let’s look at the lyrics for Wait for me that Orpheus sings in Hadestown;
“Wait for me, I’m coming Wait, I’m coming with you Wait for me, I’m coming too I’m coming too”
Before Aerith even dies, she is kidnapped by Shinra, and Cloud makes it his personal mission to go get her back. After she is kidnapped in Remake, he has a vision of her, where he tells her, “I’m coming for you” In Rebirth, after she “dies” he tells her “I’ve got this” in English, but in the Japanese version, guess what he really says?
“Wait for me”
There’s also the Loveless play in Rebirth, where Cloud and Aerith play Alphreid and Rosa, whose story is very reminiscent of their real story. (I’m aware of how Rosa’s part can also be played by Tifa and Yuffie, but the story of this play fits Cloud and Aerith the most, as well as Rosa’s character fits Aerith the most. I could go into more evidence as to why the whole gold saucer section and Loveless play is very Aerith-leaning even while its player-choice but that is besides the point)
There is a line that Alphreid tells Rosa;
“You needn’t promise that you’ll wait. For I know that I will find you here”
Key words: Wait and Find
In Hadestown, Eurydice sings a song called Flowers. And guess who in FF7 is a flower girl? Aerith. The song ups about how Eurydice regrets becoming a worker for Hades (in this version she is very poor and hungry, and Hades convinced her to sell her soul for the safety of it all) but she misses the world above and remembers Orpheus and her happiness with him in the fields of flowers. Aside from the obvious flower connection, this almost makes me think of how while Aerith had a responsibility in dying and saving the world, she may have regrets since all she wants is to be happy with Cloud (we see her wishes on her dream date with him, spending time with him is how she wishes her life would be without the burden) and in the Advent Children script, when Cloud rides his motorcycle by a field of flowers where her ghost is standing and watching over him, it describes her feeling lonely.
Another thing to note, in Hadestown, a flower is used a symbol for the whole show. Most notably for this analysis, Orpheus uses it as a reminder of her as he travels to the underworld and tries to give it back when they REUNITE. And guess what happens when Cloud and Aerith meet? She gives him a flower that represent REUNION of lovers.
In Aerith’s song, No Promises to Keep, Aerith describes this burden while also saying lines like,
“Till the day that we meet again Where or when? I wish I could say But believe know that you'll find me“
Also:
“Take my hand And believe We can be Together evermore”
And don’t forget:
“Still I hope someday you'll come and find me“
This just screams Eurydice waiting for Orpheus in the underworld, knowing he’ll come find her. Shes saying, come and find me, while he’s saying, guide me to you. Pair that with how Cloud keeps saying Orpheus lines like “Wait for me” and “I’m coming for you”
In the original FF7, Cloud gets a glimpse of Aerith after the final battle, and that’s when he says:
“the Promised Land... I think I can meet her...there.”
Now we don’t have a clear answer as to what exactly the Promised Land is. Since Aerith is dead at this point when Cloud says this, it makes you wonder if it’s related to where you go when you die, or maybe just where Aerith goes since she is a Cetra. Regardless, she is still dead and Cloud still wants to find her, much like Orpheus when Eurydice dies.
In the Advent Children film that takes place two years after Aerith dies, Cloud himself is dying from geostigma, and sadly enough, is pushing away his friends, accepting death rather than fighting it, seemingly searching for Aerith amongst it all with how he sleeps in her church. Orpheus was known to have never been the same after Eurydice died, completely swallowed up with grief until he had the idea to see her again in the underworld.
Another interesting detail in AC, when he has visions of her, Cloud cannot look at Aerith because of his guilt until the very end where he decides to keep living on.
In the FF7 Remake, it takes a little different approach than the original FF7 did. There are multiversal aspects that have made people question if Aerith’s fate is final this time. Since we don’t know how Part 3 of the trilogy will play out, some of this is theorizing. But what I believe is that there was a new timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, it’s not the current timeline that Cloud and the rest of the party are in, but Cloud knows of this other timeline where Aerith is alive because he is the only one that can see into that timeline.
No Promises to Keep plays when they part at the very end of the game, the same song that talks about how she wants him to come and find her, just like he did when she was kidnapped by Shinra. This makes me wonder if maybe he will try to cross between different worlds (much like Orpheus with the underworld) to try and get her back. If this will be successful or not, we will see, he is Orpheus after all.
I am one that does not mind either way if Aerith lives or dies by the end of this new trilogy. Simply because the tragedy of their romance was already great, it would be emphasized even more with this hope that maybe we can get her back. Getting that hope then getting the same result is very reminiscent of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I will say I am hopeful that Cloud can defy fate and get his Eurydice back, I would love to see them happy together by the end.
And that is the end of my analysis, Cloud and Aerith’s romance were always my favorite not just because of their great dynamic but their story represents a beautiful ancient Greek Tragedy that shows how much a man can love a woman.

Hey guys, I’m nearing the end of a fic that’s 111,000 words so far. I’ve never written anything that long, and I’ve definitely never posted anything that long.
I’m wondering the best way to post to get more people to see it. Am I better off posting the whole thing at once, or posting a chapter or two on a set schedule? The whole fic will be done before I post any of it either way.
Also, I don’t know if it matters, but the subject matter is very dark. So maybe it’s not good to bombard people with that every week

I literally have no one else to vent to so I'm gonna write this here. Well pretty much the title. I'm from India and here in college all branches have common subjects. So the first years are divided randomly into sections instead of their core branches/disciplines. We were in the same section. We randomly met and became friends. Then we became close friends. It was the first time someone showed so much affection to me. The way we spent hours together daily. The way she would skip over to the empty seat beside me before it was taken. Then we were seperated by our branches, meaning other than one common class, we didn't have any classes together. But we only grew stronger. We dated for almost 2 years. Reached levels of intimacy to the point there really wasn't any private space between us. And comes another guy, let's call him "S", into the picture. One day she tells me that S likes her and she gets uncomfortable from the attention she gets from him. I say I want to confront him but she keeps me from doing so as S is a dear friend to her. I didn't think much about it as she was someone I trusted with my life. I should point out that the 2 years we were together, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. We went through many fights and arguments. Ig she got closer to S during these times. Come April, we had our college fest. On the final night of fest we snuck out and went over to the less populated areas of the campus and made out. Then we spent about an hour with my head on her lap talking about things. I was sure this was it. The turning point from which everything would only get better. How fucking wrong I was. 3 days later I get a call from her, which by itself felt weird cause 90% of the time I initiated the calls, and she tells me S kissed her. I was dumbstruck. We kept talking and ultimately I asked her to make a choice between him and me. Ig most of you would have seen this coming (I didn't but no surprise there) but she chose to end things with me then and there. The entirety of the time between Jan to April, she must've told me she loved me atleast 10 times. And then she does this. To make it worse we had our finals that week itself. Needless to say I fucked it up, probably gonna fail a few subjects. But me being the weak pathetic fuck I am, kept begging her to talk things out and meet atleast once. Today (May) she says she might start a relationship with him. I'm honestly surprised beyond what I can described with words. It's like the girl I loved and treasured with my life died and there was an imposter in her stead. Because the girl I knew wouldn't break up with someone over text. She wouldn't act like this and she definitely wouldn't date someone else after saying "I love you" to someone within one month. This is honestly gut wrenching and I don't know if I'll ever date again.
Thank you for spending time out your life to listen to my little tragedy.
TLDR: My gf of two years dumped me and is looking to get into her next relationship within one month of the breakup

Hi all, just thought I'd record a couple of observations from dreams last night that you might find interesting. These were normal sleeping dreams, but I had lucid awareness and was 'going with the flow' to see where it led.
(I find this approach far more productive and interesting than trying to reject or hijack the dream and force my limited human will on it, because I don't believe dreams are random at all, and I have a theory that building 'trust' with the dream mechanism lets you dig further and further into dream-data while retaining lucid awareness.
Imagine you had access to an amazing library full of useful information and great ideas, but you stopped reading halfway through the first paragraph of each book because you had conditioned yourself to reject any hint of 'illusion'. You either drop the book to your feet or you start inserting words of your own because they are amusing to you, and you feel like you've mastered the illusion. But the book, even a work of fiction, is just a medium of communication. This is what we're doing when we reject every dream; we're shutting down a data stream, and we don't know what information it might have contained. So practice lucid awareness while treating the dream as a conversation and see what happens.)
Last night's observations were both about water:
Observation one, the night sky: I found myself among pale rolling sand dunes, looking at a dramatic night sky. The whole sky was heaving and moving in waves. Fat and colourful stars rippled and danced in bright clouds and glowing dust-lanes. I saw meteors streak across the sky, leaving trails of agitated stars in their wake. Then I realised they weren't meteors at all, I was looking at small swimming or sailing things far above me. I was looking at the surface of an ocean (or a puddle, who knows) from below. What had seemed like a chaotic universe was just light being bent by a much closer surface.
Observation two, the belching alien crab: back in something like my bedroom, but I'm underwater and my TV unit has been replaced by what looks like a living alien crab mounted to some kind of display case. It has a ghost-white disc-shaped body with a huge mouth of what look like yellow feathers, and two long narrow pincers that look like something a surgeon might use for keyhole surgery. Instead of legs it just seems to be encrusted on to this ornate wooden box with a concrete of tiny barnacles.
Then I have this instinct to feed the thing, and I happen to have a small dark crab in my hand. I move it within reach and it does the rest, taking it in its pincers and feeding the crab into a crushing mouth hidden behind the feathers. The mouth-feathers narrow and curl inwards. Then there's a crunch and a slow billowing explosion of what might have been crab-blood, and the next thing I notice is the smell, it's an intense metallic stink (people who say you can't smell/taste/feel pain in dreams just haven't experienced it themselves.) I didn't want to know what the full force of that smell was going to be like when the wavefront really hit me, so I moved towards my bedroom window to open it, then I had the thought--
--wait, that'll let all the water out--
--then I realised, of course, there was no water in the first place, because I'm not an aquatic creature and my bedroom isn't usually filled to the ceiling with water. With that realisation I felt the water turn to air around me, there was a transition that lasted about two seconds. The billowing blood went through the same transition, turning to a kind of mist!
For me, both of these dreams were about the nature of dream-perception itself.

i think this is my first time writing long-ass paragraph post on reddit, so yeah here's my story
i was raised muslim in a country that is full of muslims ofc. one day my parents forced me to enroll to a islamic junior boarding school but i have no friends there and they are even bullying me for my life choices after graduation. after graduating from junior high school, i decided to consult a psychiatrist and i got diagnosed having bipolar disorder.
i moved to a public high school at 11th grade and make some two close friends. BUT AGAIN, i posted an instagram story of a celebrity taking off her hijab, my close friend INSULTS ME AND CALLING ME NAMES AND SHOWING HER TRUE COLORS FOR BEING RACIST!!!! WHAT KIND OF PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS GLORYFYING BIGOTRY!!! the sad thing is even my teacher who is muslim won't defending me and badmouths me in front of my mom when my mom got called to a school conselor because of my content uploaded in social media!!
religious pressures make me wanna kill myself!!! i wanna move to another country but financial things preventing me from doing that ughh. pls what should i do?? i have cut all contact but their words haunted me sm!!

two words... server issues

As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

i noticed as we flew through the sky, on our way to regroup with Lobelia's group, that in this dragon form drew in energy as i flew, maybe in a way to maintain the form, this was too new for me to know at this time. it didn't take long to reach the spot to regroup with Lobelia, but when we arrived, we didn't see anyone around the area. i decided to come in for a landing, since i figured we might have arrived a bit early and i didn't want to cause a panic in this form in case someone else came along. as i was landing, i suddenly felt a rumbling through the ground, questioning if this was a quake or something else. it didn't take long to get my answer since a mere moment later we saw a huge explosion off in the distance. i had an uneasy feeling about this, as i turned my head to look at Clint, Bruno, and Vince, whom all had the same feeling. with no words exchanged, i took back to the sky and headed in the direction of the explosion, hoping that this wouldn't be a repeat of my village. while we were still approaching the area, we saw a green light fired into the air roughly where we were heading. Clint yelled out to me, letting me know that was a distress flare the elf group used during their share travels following me to Dragonus. i started to pick up speed, as the group tighten their grips, to try to get to them sooner. when we arrived over head, we looked down on a field full of beasts, monsters, and demons. what once was an unknown future has finally come to a head and we had no other choice but to engage the enemies.
as we flew over the battlefield, i started to fire off different elemental dragon blasts to thin out the enemy groupings and help find where Lobelia's group was exactly located. they fired off another distress flare spell, allowing me to lock on to their location, at which time Clint's group heard me speak for the first time in this form. "do you trust me?", to which they each nodded, "then release your grip and follow me", to with they did. at this moment, i released the dragon form, sending us all into a free fall toward the ground. Vince started to cast every buff he could think of as we fell on the party, while Bruno, Clint, and i drew our weapons for battle. i focus energy into one of my hands and with a swing of my arm, i enveloped the group in wind barriers. just before we were about to make impact, i went into a drive-bomb stance, while charging as many elements as i could into my weapon. upon impact, my weapon blew apart, unleashing the elements and weapon fragments through the area, causing massive explosions, wiping out hundreds of enemies at once. Clint, Bruno, and Vince came in a mere moment later, causing shock waves around the area, sending enemies flying. i quickly pulled out two swords to duel-wield, has we started to fight our way through the hoards of enemies, making our way over to Lobelia's group. Clint's group went to fortify Lobelia's group, while i continued to thin the ranks in front of us, unleashing everything i learned during my training. Vince and a few of the elves cast various team buff abilities on me, as the others aided from behind, guessing worried that one of my new skills might catch them by accident. Lobelia took advantage of some strong winds approaching and caused the wind to form a few tornadoes on the battlefield with air magic. something inside told me what i should do, almost as if by memory, i combined together ground and fire elements and slammed the spell into the ground toward one of the tornadoes. followed by shooting off water and ice spells into another, then finishing by firing off a lightning dragon blast down the center of the field, taking out numerous enemies before hit another one of the tornadoes. the ground started to rumble as it split open and lava strayed out, heading toward the first tornadoes, opening a volcanic eruption underneath, forming a magma twister. the water and ice struck the next one, forming high speed ice tornado. the lightning hit another one, whipping it around until it became a voltaic twister. these three ripped through the battlefield, wiping out hoards of enemies by the second, until all three smashed together causing a huge explosion over the entire battlefield. we all quickly took cover, as everything came raining down, wiping everything out. as the dust started to settle, we all regrouped, everyone absolutely stunned by what just happened. when we could finally see the field again, we saw that there was still someone standing out in the middle of the battlefield. the lone survivor yelled out at us "you'll have to do better then that to kill me", just then realizing, he seemed to be a high ranked demon.
the demon stood there, staring us down, waiting for one of us to make a move. we debilitated if we should spread the group back out some, so that we wouldn't be seen as a single target for the demon. i told the group that i would go in for the attack to hold his attention and they should provide back up and support when they saw an opening. i stepped forward out of the group and started to walk toward the demon, as it started to smirk back at me. after i got enough distance between me and the group, i did a quick flap of my wings to shoot myself forward at the demon and start the battle. the demon readied for contact, as a mere moment later we made first contact of battle. in a flash the battle begin with us blasting around the battlefield, firing off attacks and spells nearly faster then the eye can see. everyone else took any small opportunity they saw to try and aid with buffs, spells, and attacks. the demon seemed annoyed by the interference to our battle and start to fire off attacks back at the others any chance he got. this battle continued as a stalemate for half a day, which the demon took any opportunity when we locked in a clash to taunt me. it would says things each time such as "this world is already going to be destroyed", "you all don't stand a chance", "you really think you can save them", and more of the like. it wouldn't be long before the demon started to put it's words into action, as a few of the elves shot off infused arrows at it when they saw an opening, just for the demon to catch them mid flight and redirect the arrows back at them, sending the arrows straight through their skulls and killing half the elves in Lobelia's group. this threw the groups into a panic, which caused them to act rashly in an attempt to take out the demon. Lobelia and Vince stayed back casting buffs and heals on the remaining people, while the remaining few elves, Clint and Bruno jumped into the battle in an attempt to end this. before i could stop them, they charged in for the attack and i needed to try my best to stop the demon from getting them as well. the battle intensified as we attacked from all sides in an attempt to overwhelm the demon and hopefully turn the fight in our favor. it seemed to be working as we seemed to be slowly damaging it, that is until i realized my attacks were the only few that actually doing damage. the demon suddenly smirked again and i quickly yelled out for them to get back, but by this point it was too late. as Clint went in for a swift strike, the demon caught his sword arm, ripping it out at the shoulder socket, and plunging his sword through his head. the few elves followed shortly after when the demon ripped one in half while skewering two more with it's tail, before smashing another's head in with a headbutt and the last one being sent flying with a kick to the chest and splattering on the ground upon impact. i had already moved in to try and stop him, but kept getting knocked back, as it's focus was on the other people here. Bruno went in for an attack as the demon was dealing with me and managed to chop off one of it's wings before it turned around and grabbed Bruno by the neck. before i could stop it, the demon plunged it's other hand straight through Bruno's armor and chest, ripping his heart out. before tossing Bruno's body aside, the demon took the sword from Bruno's hands and threw it in a spinning motion toward Vince, slicing him in two. before it could do anything to Lobelia, i fired off a full elemental dragon breath, blasting a giant hole through the demon. as i stood over the demon, readying to kill him, i asked if he had anything to say before i ended him. the ground started to rumble and quack as he said to us, "you fools, it's already too late, i was but a distraction. your world falls now!". i chopped off it's head as we hear explosions in the distance and the ground starts in split open and crumble. after all that had happened, everything we went through, and losing all but me and Lobelia, was this truly the end for us?