Here is a quick compilation of recent Hinge changes and issues.
Top Photo
Hinge is rolling out the Top Photo feature to various locations. Note that if the Top Photo option is available for you, it is toggled on by default. You won't notice the photos shuffling when you view your own profile in the edit section. When you see the same people's profile on discover shuffling their photos constantly, it's because of Top Photo
Hinge however does not state whether or not Top Photo also applies to profiles on your Likes and Match lists. As far as I can tell, Top Photo does not apply to profiles on those lists.
Written Prompts character limit bug
There is a bug where you can't write anymore words in the written prompts without hitting the character limit. The simple work around is to write your prompts in a notes app on your phone, then copy and paste it onto Hinge. If you notice whatever you wrote is cut off by Hinge, it means your written prompt is too long and hit the character limit.
"Nearby" option removed from discover
On the latest UI update, Hinge removed the "Nearby" filter option (as well as the "Compatible" option), with only "Active today" and "New here" available. "Compatible" is now the default option when nothing is chosen. Note, this is only applicable to people with Hinge+ or X.
Hinge Support confirmed that the "Nearby" option was removed on purpose as they are testing this new UI. The important word here is that this is a supposedly a test, so there could be a possibility that Hinge could reverse the change. Hinge wants people to instead have quicker access to preferences in order to filter profiles better. (The three options given are Age, Height, and Dating Intentions.) If you want to see profiles closer to you, Hinge says to manually update the distance preference.
If you liked the "Nearby" option and don't like the fact Hinge removed this option, I suggest filing a support ticket and give them this feedback.
Hidden Words
Hinge added the Hidden Words feature back in April. It seems however, on social media many many people are misinformed as to how this feature actually works.
Hidden Words does not filter out profiles on discover or likes without comments. All it does is filter out specific words if someone sends a comment with their like/rose that contain those words. For example: if you added "pineapple on pizza", it won't filter out any profiles with those words included. Only if someone sent a like that included the comment 'pineapple on pizza" will the Hidden Words filter block that profile from showing up on your Likes list and notifications and instead will move it onto the Hidden Likes list.
So don't bother adding all the cliches you hate seeing on Hinge since it won't do anything to prevent you from seeing them unless they happen to send a comment including those specific phrases. You may instead inadvertently block a well meaning profile who happened to said the wrong words in their comments.
Relationship Type filter
Don't forget that there's a Relationship Type filter now available for most users, and more importantly it is a FREE filter. If you don't want any non-monogamy/poly/ENM people, or only want to seek those types, you can filter them now.
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Personally I have ideas for both if they decided to do a reboot I'd have the first 2 seasons combined into 1 as Season 1 was just finding its footing and its only in season 2 we start seeing the starting if a linear plotline like with the key the caves etc...
So I'd have season 1 end where season 2 ends combine a few essential plotlines into episodes and whatnot have the twister situation/ending for season 1 be the mid-season finale.
I'd also introduce Lois a lot earlier I'd have her be introduced maybe not episode 1 let them build up the essential characters like Clark, Jonathan, Martha, Chloe, Pete, Lex and Lionel and anyone else.
Then start an episode set in Metropolis woth Lois being the rebellious teenage daughter doing a petty crime like Graffiti or Shop lifting then running from the cops only to get caught and her father is called in and as punishment sends her to live with her Cousin this episode could be episode 5 or maybe even 6 or if you really pushed it maybe episode 14 after the resolution of the mid-season finale.
We could have episodes of Lois resisting falling into the comfort of the Small Town vibe but eventually after hanging out with Clark, Chloe, and Pete at the torch she gets roped into writing for the Torch and starts her on her journey from rebellious daughter to Ace Reporter.
She amd Clark are Chloe's feet on the ground, Pete acts as her in with the football players on something amd she acts as the info gatherer and hacker.
I think it would also set up Chloe's "Death" really well in season 4 so Lois can have been investigating since her supposed death and despite the general getting in her way she keeps digging and suddenly Clark shows up again and strange things start happening again and together after he regains his memory he helps her.
I would also have Lana and Clark get together a lot sooner or if not I'd wrap up their relationship sooner like have her leave that video like she does in the original series or actually kill her off eother one so that Clark and Lois can build their relationship it almost felt like thr Clark and Lana show by how long they dragged their relationship on for.
One other addition to this hyperthetical reboot I'd do is have Clark wear his Superman Suit a lot sooner and get him the ability to fly I probably would've had that ability after his rebirth like in the original series when he goes searching for the stones in Season 4 Episode 1 as Kal-El even after he regains his true self I'd have Clark gain the ability to fly.
That's all I can think that I'd change of the reboot maybe have more people find out his secret sooner as the amount of times he tip toes around goes to tell people butbthen changes his mind was really annoying so maybe tell Pete in Season 1 instead of Season 2.
Have Clark tell Chloe and Lois instead of then figuring it out. I'd also have while he hides the truth about his abilities from Lex I'd have that he does give certain truths like the fact he can read the symbols and whatnot he could even come up with lies like how he spent the time between season 3 and 4 studying the writinfs and discovered a pattern and now he can read the symbols.
Or something like that but now for my idea if they ever revived the series ckntinueing where they left off.
Depending ifnthey decided to do another season or make it a movie depends first off I'd have them make the comics canon for those who don't know they did a season 11 comic series a lot of shows did this back in the day as a way to keep the series going without the budget or slot for another season Charmed is another who did this.
But in the Season 11 Comics they also brought in some of the more iconic characters like Batman so ifnit was a sequel season I'd have them turn the comics into episodes maybe expanding them a bit to make them full episodes but I'd have the main antagonist be Darkside and have the final episodes be like a Smallville Version of the movie Justice League War.
I'd also have the actual character appear not be like a weird smoke cloud and have him looking for the Anti-Life Equation like he does in most versions if the character.
If it was a sequel movie I'd probably do the same thing only skim past unimportant plotpoints to build the new Justice League team with Oliver obviously but then bring Barry Allen and we learn that when Bart ran away from home he didn't realise he travelled back in time.
But yeah these are just some of my ideas how would you do things if you were given the power to revive Smallville and hownwould you go about it Reboot or Sequel?

So long story short, i have had a chat ban for a few days now which is alright i know i was a bit harsh on someone on region chat so i can pay time for my mistakes for doing so. Idk how long chatbans usually last a week or maybe more so i was willing to wait and just let people slide lol bcs i shouldn't be passive aggressive.
So i was playing warframe everyday after my chatban that occurred a few days ago and i was trading on Warframe.Market to get my arcanes, it states nowhere that i can't trade or anything Whilst having a chat ban or else i would've had a tradeban aswell. So today i was doing some missions buying some arcanes then sitting afk in my orbiter and a few hours later i got disconnected and it says Account suspended due to EULA violation until 2035 i have no clue what i have done after the chatban and i wonder if i traded with anyone that were blacklisted in trading due to refunds. I haven't done or said anything to any of the traders on the market other than ty and I'll leave a +1 review for helping me out even if im chatbanned.
I did send an appeal to DE but after reading so many stories im afraid that after so many years reaching MR33 will get tossed to trash with their copy paste message of an answer. Any ideas on what i should do? I get the chatban but mid chat ban after a few days to get Account Banned aswell? I haven't really been doing anything wrong im also on console so no 3rd party programs no nothing.

I copied and pasted what a random said to me on a reply I made in ask women about being treated badly by ppl and he said it was bc of my looks when I wasn't even the poster I curiously asked how and this is what he said
Thank you for taking the feedback well and asking for some clarification!
That is generally my impression from the pictures, of someone who's a bit of the way into chemo (pale/wan skin, thin hair, somewhat gaunt appearance). None of them in isolation are all that bad, but there's something about the way they all come together.
Perhaps if one of them improved, the rest wouldn't be amplified so much. I'd suggest starting with the hair. Save up and splurge a bit on a stylist. Tell them your goals - that you're coming to them to help you design a look and haircare plan to give your hair volume and compliment your regular appearance (wear typical clothes and makeup). Take all-around pictures of the cut immediately after, and then use those pics to guide your regular hairdresser.
My read on your paragraph is that you're in a bit of denial and reaching to justify how people treat you. Most people are about their appearance.
It's extremely well established that people treat attractive people better.
Yes, you're right, the extremely unattractive/frail/etc, but it comes from a different driver in the mind.
In between the two extremes, there's an uncanny valley type effect. Someone moderately ugly will be treated worse than someone extremely ugly.
Maybe it is something in your demeanor, speech, whatever. If you want to do a video call, I can give you feedback on that.

1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games (ex: resolution, FPS, settings) or programs you will be using.

I would like to play some sim racing games on a Quest 3. AC, ACC and possibly iRacing. I also plan on playing regular games like Rocket League, Cyberpunk and Hell Divers 2.

2. What is your maximum PRE-TAX budget before rebates and shipping?

I would like to keep it under 2000$. Could go up to 2200$.

3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

ASAP.

4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ex: toweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

I'll get a windows key. Just bought this case so no case needed: https://www.newegg.ca/black-sama-sv-01-atx-mid-towep/2AM-009W-00063

5. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? How old are they? Brands and models are appreciated.

I already have my mouse, monitor and keyboard. Monitor is Acer XG270HU I have an external soundcard. Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

6. Will you be overclocking (ex: CPU/GPU/RAM)? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?

If needed.

7. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, VR, VirtualLink, tensor cores, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

Not really

8. Do you have any specific case preferences (ex: mITX/mATX/mid-towefull-tower sizes, styles, colours, window or not, LED lighting, etc.), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

Mid tower is already chosen. I would like an AIO cooler.

9. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? Note: some post-secondary students can get Windows 10 for free.

Will get a key.

10. Will you be upgrading this PC in the future (ie: will you swap out better parts later on or will you build an entirely new tower later)? If so, when?

If possible. Not necessary.

11. Do you have a brand preference? (ex: AMD/Intel for CPUs, AMD/NVIDIA for video cards, etc)

Currently, I was aiming for a 4070 super with a 7800X3D and DDR5 6000 CL30 ram. But I think it's getting a bit out of budget.

12. What are the specs of your old PC / laptop? Do you want to see if it can be upgraded instead? If so, paste its build from PCPartPicker here.

It's quite old.

13. Extra info or particulars:

Thank you!

• Spawn system is unbearable after extended play time. Half of the game is just deathmatch fighting at spawn in which kind of defeats the purpose of an open world style game. Please add many other spawn points with a wider range on the sides of maps or make a dynamic spawn system that detects other player proximity and moves your spawn based on range so there is at least a buffer of room to get away. I know this is hard to do on farm based on the map size but currently this spawn system is going to turn off a lot of players since the game is built around hardcore loss of gear.
• Initial recoil bounce of guns should be removed/reworked. This was already hated in tarkov for years and makes semi auto guns really unviable compared to full auto. Please change this to be a more consistent curve of recoil instead of just a barrel bounce. Think Counter-Strike but more realistic based on attachments, etc.
• Jumping and shooting with full accuracy (super manning corners) needs to be nerfed. This is especially bad with scavs who have zero reason to lose anything and can still melt your legs/face with stock guns. I do enjoy the more arcadey movement but please don't make this into a call of duty 360 noscope type of game. If your feet are off of the ground your gun recoil should be double in my opinion. Easy fix.
• Full auto spread needs increased (lazer hipfire is bad FPS design). Currently full auto guns are way too strong in terms of being able to just hipfire horizontally and not really aim the gun. I do not want the goofy solutions that tarkov did like durability and jamming to make full auto not so dominant. Just make the recoil realistic in terms of the first few shots are accurate where aiming and then if you continue full auto the cone spreads. This is a known design that works in just about every single FPS game. Keep the realistic ballistics of course but also make the recoil patterns realistic as well. If you want an FPS shooter that is skill based than the player should be controlling the recoil not some arbitrary system. The current design just promotes cheesing as players will shoot the first 2-3 shots prefire into the corner of a wall knowing by the time they strafe out the recoil is "fixed" and they laser. It is just bad design overall for a game that wants tactical realism.
• Scav detection radius is absurd. I am not sure if it changes based on your player level but after hitting level 30 scavs see me from EVERYWHERE. I am talking like a 150m radius if I am anywhere near them I am spotted. They very often comm and rush at me from behind cover or non line of sight where they really should have no idea of my exact location other than general footsteps. Sniper scavs on valley are just as bad and I have been hit through trees at like 300m out just randomly moving through cover. Either please reduce the detection radius or make thier shots a bit less accurate. Sniper scav will basically kill you by shot 3 if you do not have hard cover or some serious armor. I have even multiple times (im taking like every other raid) will see a scav in the distance just straight rushing at my location when I have not fired a shot or given any target inidcator and I will just watch them path right up to me like a magnet. Its both immersion breaking and annoying as hell.
• Scav tanking expensive ammo. This one drives me insane. If you want to make scavs be stronger by increasing health pools than please make some kind of visual change to thier clothing to look armored, especially the face. They dont actually have to have lootable gear obviously to keep the loot balance but there is nothing more immersion breaking or frustrating than shooting a scav with a baseball cap in the face and they just flinch and run off. This is one of the worst design aspects of tarkov and how BSG uses hp pools to balance the boss/AI and it kills me to see it copied in ABI. Please ask the art team to do some kind of pass even making the scavs have ghetto looking armor like something out of the game Rust to keep with the lore feel.
• Higher tier 6-7 7.62x54R does same TTK hits as lvl 5 making the cost pointless in many hours of sniping with a mosin. So basically T5 ammo costs roughly $1k. It on average will two shot body a naked and three shot a geared player with L4+ armor. Headshots are one hit kill. T6 and T7 mosin ammo again from my extensive tesing does the exact same damage counts in terms of hits. So you are paying an extra $1k per round to get the same bullet DPS. Of course yes these rounds will shine vs level6+ armor players but I do not think any ammo worth $1k+ per round should take more than two body shots for L4 armor players. There are a few exceptions to this but I have used mosin on Valley for multiple 10+ hour sessions and something is weird with the 7.62x54R T6 and T7 ammo class.
• Shoulder swap for weapons to left peek. This is an easy addition and honestly should be in any tactical FPS game that requires CQB fighting. Please add this for a huge quality of life.
• Option in player list that can be enabled so whatever team mate gets the killing blow can only loot that body who they killed locking out the rest of the team. This would greatly help with players not wanting to join random squads and get thier stuff taken after putting in the hard work of securing the kill. Not a perfect solution but would greatly help stopping thieves. Yes would players try to "last hit" to steal your loot? Sure. Would this system work 10x better than currently just watching a teammate rat your gear? Absolutely. Again make this a selecable option in the lobby so party leaders can choose and everyone wins. You don't want that option just don't enable it.
• Allow ANY keyboard key to be rebound. Many of us use custom key binds that are shared across multiple game titles and having to "relearn" the keys for this game because certain keys like ALT can not be bound to crouch for example makes the player controller feel really bad. A normal person is not going to just unlearn 15+ years of gaming keyboard binds and so every time there is a panicked firefight I naturally revert to the expected keys and it gets me killed. Super annoying and again very basic fix to allow those keys to be rebound.

My main concern right now is that these types of changes I have listed have taken tarkov YEARS to update. So what I do not want to happen is players having to camp the ABI patch notes for another 2-3 years just to get back those quality of life changes missing in this game that tarkov now has resolved. I do expect ABI to be much more efficient with the patch releases but none the less for someone who has played tarkov for many years some of these changes feel like "starting over with an old version" waiting for the same fixes that already exist in tarkov. They copied a lot of the bad design aspects of tarkov along with the good in my opinion.
At the end of the day this game is fantastic and really blends the casual and tactical mix to hit a wide audience. If you do not currently have beta access please do understand watching the game really does not do it justice. You have to play it to feel all of the small quality of life changes that make this title rival tarkov. I personally could care less if the game is copied or not. They did it better and BSG had 6 years to get thier act together. Someone like myself has been praying for this exact mix of extraction for a long time now. As long as the monetization does not impede the hardcore looting aspect AKA buying gear than I think this game will be just fine for the long run. Good luck out there!

So, I actually tried asking this question over in AskMen and it actually got taken down because I violated one of their rules- so I'd thought I would ask this question here because I want to hear the opinions of other LGBT people as an LGBT person myself because I feel like I have never really gotten an answer- so I'm just gonna copy and paste what I wanted to ask over there onto here, and I want to hear some of you guys' takes on this topic:
So, I'm a bisexual cis man- more specifically I'm Achillean, which is under the bi umbrella, meaning I am attracted to men (cis and trans) and masculine-presenting/transmasc non-binary people (AMAB/AFAB non-binary people who identify with masculinity and may medically transition to appear more masculine, but without identifying as a man). But for intensive purposes, I'm just bi who's attracted to men and masc non-binary people. That's it.
Seeing the whole discourse on "can men be friends with women?" as an LGBT outsider looking in must be so fucking sad- because my bi ass over here is just wondering: "Wait, if men can't be friends with women because they just wanna sleep with each other secretly in the back of their heads, then how can bi or pan people make friends with the gender(s) they're attracted to? How are LGB people friends then? How the fuck am I, a bisexual man, able to be friends with a man or non-binary people without wanting to sleep with them?". Like, can I not be friends with any man? I can't be friends with any man without wanting to sleep with them? Or any non-binary person? I can't be friends with anyone of the genders I'm attracted to without wanting to f*ck them? Really? My best friend of almost 8 years, since middle school, is an asexual cis man and I never had any feelings for him beyond just being like he's my brother. Never. I've never had any sort of a crush on him. Like, he's not ugly, but I just don't find him sexually or romantically attractive. He's not bad-looking, but that's it. He's just a friend. He's like my brother. But also, I feel like bi men who are attracted to women can be friends with women without wanting to f*ck all of them. Like, where do bi or pansexual people fit into all of this? Or what about queer people or people who are attracted to more than one gender identity at large?
So, I just thought I wanted to ask all the straight men of Reddit: If straight men and women can't be friends because one of them will end up wanting to f*ck the other, then how are us bisexuals supposed to have any friends? Can bisexuals be close, best friends with each other? With the gender(s) they are attracted to? Can bi men be friends with men, women, or nonbinary people without falling in love? What about bi men who are attracted to the binary genders- men and women- they can't be friends with either of them? Or what about bi men who are attracted to women and non-binary people? Or hell, on that note, what about pansexual people? Or polysexual people? They can't be friends with ANYONE, or anyone who is of the gender(s) they are attracted to? Can pansexual people make friends? Or what about gay men, can they be best friends with the other men? No one says that gay men can't be best friends with other gay men? Same-sex attracted people can be friends with people of the same sex without ever wanting to f*ck or date them? Does the same hold for lesbians?
Does the same apply to trans men? Can trans men and trans women be close, best friends with each other? Or is it just WOMEN in particular that men/male-aligned people can't be friends with? If that's the case: can bi, pan, or polysexual men be friends with women? Why is it JUST straight men can't be friends with women, but no one thinks that bi or pansexual men can't be friends with women? Bi and pan men don't have a problem being close friends with women without wanting to sleep with them, they seem totally fine. LGB men in particular can be best friends with the gender(s) that they're attracted to, so why is it so hard for straight men? I can be friends with men without wanting to f*ck every guy friend that I have ever had.
You know what, how is anyone in the LGBT+ community friends with anyone? Do you think we're all just f*cking each other, that we don't have a SINGLE friend that we've never f*cked, ever? That just seems kinda sad.
Also, where do non-binary people fit into all of this? What about AMAB non-binary people, who don't medically transition but just don't identify as men, they have a sexuality too. AMAB non-binary people can't be friends with women if they're attracted to women? How do they work?
Also, why is it just that straight women can be friends with straight men without falling in love, but not the other way around? Are you seriously telling me that you CAN NOT for the life of you be friends with any woman without just falling in love with them? If so, why do you think that men fall in love with their female friends much more than women fall in love with their male friends? Why is it easier for women to be close friends with men without wanting to sleep with them than it is the other way around for men?
I just feel so confused over the whole men-women friends discourse because where the fuck do we LGBT people exist in this convo? Like, I feel like LGBT people over here are just chilling and we're not arguing over if gay men can be friends with other gay men. Of course, the LGBT community is not perfect by any means, but do you guys actually believe that YOU PERSONALLY can't be friends with any women?
Sorry for the blurge. I just needed to rant because I feel like no one can answer this question.

That was more than I planned on typing. So this is a post, instead of a comment.
Chris, I understand that you are here reading thighs that are posted. That should be obvious to everyone, it's the primary place to talk about it on Reddit, and well, you mention Reddit as a source. So let me start off by saying, I sympathize with you here. This would be horrible to be at the center of. Even after reading what you wrote and gaining understanding of what you experience has been like, I don’t think my imagination could even be capable of truly picturing what this must be like for you. I'm so sorry you have had to go through this.
I liked your piece. I agree with you on a lot of what you said. I’ve seen posts here that are insane Qanon shit. I mean there was one about matching symbols to tarot cards and the freemason ???????
Yeah all you full blown K-anon fuckers, abuse alleging fuckers, AND ESPECIALY all yall motherfuckers who wont shut the fuck up with the canine shit need to listen, or shits not gonna be ok. Yo ya hear me?
As the butterfly said, SHUT THE FUCK UP! (I’ll be honest, I'm not sure if that is actually a real quote, but it very well could be right? Hey sounds believable enough so I'll just s—
NO. I remember. I am conflicted. As all things are.
As you fuckers should remember too. You might be conflicted to reach but you must, stop, and think.
What if these walls could talk?
Well they would say things like, I AM A SUPER HOTEL FOR THE RICH. DO YOU REALLY THINK THE 1% OF THE WORLD, WOULDN’T LOVE HAVING THE LUXURY OF BRINGING THEIR DOG WITH THEM? AND IT'S TAKEN CARE OF FOR YOU PROBABLY AS WELL? WELL SHTI THAT SOUNDS LIKE A FUCKING GOOD IDEA THAT CAN ATTRACT MORE OF THE 1%
I AM TELLING YOU THE IDEA OF BEING ABLE TO AFFORD TAKING YOUR DOG WITH YOU IS SIMPLY A LUXURY.ONE THAT 99% OF US SIMPLY DON'T HAVE.
So remember. SHUT THE FUCK UP!
UNLESS YOU HAVE A CONCRETE THEORY (YOU MOST LIKELY DO NOT) THAN STOP and on that stop consider…
How can I ask this as a question?
And then consider again, well how can I disprove that question.
And if you to yourself, “ehh well yeah that is a good argument buuuuuuuuuut”
Then you are making accusations at that point.
DO NOT MAKE WILD ACCUSATIONS.
THIS IS A HIGHLY SENSITIVE MATTER AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH.
DO NOT GO MESSAGING, FOLLOWING, OR INTERACTING WITH THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS.
Ok, sorry about the all caps there, been wanting to say that but hey, sleep deprivation. :)
I guess Chris, I just want you to know I hope this all blows over soon and you don't have to deal with this anymore. But I do ask that you hear me out. Please, at least just this one time.
And the same goes for any of you I might have annoyed, pissed off, or confused by this pont. And yeah you might only experience more of those emotions after reading this, I am super sleep deprived after all. And it doesn't really matter, all that matters is that you hear my case with an open heart and mind.
For me, this has to be the largest amalgamation of human thought converging suddenly onto a single point. This has been truly an incredible mass social event. Even more so for me, since you know, I do fit the stereotype of a KendrickLamar lurker incredibly well at times.
And yes a massive event like this does bring with it a lot of people who are not equipped to handle the temptation of rampant speculation.
For especially in moments such as this. It becomes so easy to think or even maybe hope? That you might have at least caught a glimpse of.. Something? Yeah, there's probably the vapors of… something…. there… right?
And it becomes so easy for the vapor to plant its roots in your mind. Because only then could you nurture the roots so they embed deeply and grow into a mighty tree that produced the most amazing fruit you have ever seen.
I mean can you imagine? Me, out of everyone in the world? I am really the first person to make this connection that no one else has had? And then I can spread this gift with everyone nearly instantly?
Well shit, who wouldn’t take a bite of the forbidden fruit then?
I mean fuck, I probably did overstep my boundries in my lust.
Sex.
But I tasted the fruit. Well, at least… I think I did.. but does it matter? Whatever it was, it felt amazing.
But why am I rambling on about fruit like some kind of scholar trapped in a realm of infinite knowledge?
I should be talking about this beef, this truly legendary beef. So let me stake my final piece.
The truth is some people really are looking into this simply because they find this to be insane. I mean, DAMN!
Someone is out here claiming they have a way to blackmail Drake.
AND this happens right after multiple of the greatest diss tracks of all time!?
I mean are you kidding? Who isn't going to see this and get a bit curious?
Especially if you are a terminally online white guy under 40.
But what do we do? What is the solution?
Well it feels kind of obvious to me.
First site needs to have a team of moderators who are able to shift and handle large influxes of volume. Reddit you will have to eventually pay your moderators. I mean shoutout to the mods of the subreddits involved, I feel yall did as well as you could. Even if you did take down a post of mine…But yall cant do it alone. Nah, Reddit you will have to start paying moderators one day. I mean how many more Boston bombings and EbonyPrinces can you handle before it really starts eating into share prices?
But that does bring me to my second pont. A space with as much potential as this needs to be guided and directed in the correct way. Unfortunately that sounds really hard to figure out as you have to factor in developing procedures that quickly adapt to sudden spikes of both helpful and harmful lines of thinking, and because of the whole no sleep thing and it's not my job. No, it's the job of the rich people running social websites to safeguard against events like this. Unless Reddit wants it to be my job, then I would love to talk. (wow very reddit of me, as is all of this, probably…)
So yeah, thank you to anyone who reads this. I think I’ll check if any updates have happened while I wrote this for the past two hours and then unplug, relax and sleep. I think that is what Kdot would want right now for me and for a lot of you.
I wanted to end it with a verse here but couldn't think of anything and I know, Im yapin.

With what happened with the Red picks for Ligue 1 and the NickRtfm siutation I have been thinking of all the things that need to change in this game. This game is infuriating. The amount of things that need to change in this game is actually astronomical. I'm gonna do my best to lay out all the problems I see and some solutions even if they are not be perfect.
1.SERVERS
For a company that boasts about making 1.5 billion in revenue the servers are actually terrible. The amount of DCs I have had while playing champs or rivals is unbelievable. Fix your servers. Understand that at content time the player base count will increase dramatically and account for that.
2.People quitting 0-0, 1-1 etc
Why are you not awarded a win when someone quits at the start of the game makes no sense to me. Especially when it's halfway through a game and they are doing it just to spite the other player. I've heard that they might not do this due to multiple reasons. If this is the case then only add it to CHAMPS at least
3.Corner glitches
The fact I have to 2nd man press and bring my player up short every time so that Roberto Carlos or whoever else has playstyle + whipped cross doesn't cross a ball in and some 6ft CB with aerial+ is dunking on my 5ft RB/LB is crazyyy. If it's not this it's another powershot corner BS tactic. Sort this AI out and do something to stop this OP tactic. Its too consistent and abused.

1. Menus

Why is it I press R1 or L1 too quick the game freaks out and I have to restart it. Who coded this game where it is guaranteed to happen every day. I will have to restart my game every day multiple times.

1. Pack weight

This has to be the scumiest ones of all. When EA put 100% guarantee on getting a TOTS or whatever promo. Why is it always the same 5 players worth 50k or less. I'd like to see the real chance of you packing the million + players. I honestly think that it's based on how much they are worth on the market exactly why you never see extinct players like CR7 or Mbappe. I'd rather see 0.000001% chance of packing Mbappe then see 100% guaranteed. Its too predatory that these packs are worth the price of full fledged games.

1. Draft

What a boring game mode. The same thing for the past 8 years. What's the point going 4-0 if the best of my rewards are gonna be an 83 rated fodder player 90 % of the time. Make it more then 4 games. Make the rewards better. Incentivize players to actually wanna play this gamemode instead of ignoring this mode and just copy and pasting it every year.

1. Rivals

I don't mind this gamemode with the recent change to rewards but the disparity in skill level with elite division makes no sense. I have played actual demons in div 3 and I have played some bots who seem like it's their first time playing in Elite Div. It doesn't matter what div you are in because it's gonna be win some lose some which is fine but I would hope it would be more consistent. I love the skill rating in Elite division but why is this limited to just Elite. Add it to all divisions. If I lose to someone better then me then I'm gonna be less inclined to say its DDA or luck.
7.5 Milestones rewards
How lazy can EA be. Honestly it's actually bewildering that they think it's acceptable to give us a tifo to get us to play games. What happened to rewarding people for playing their game instead of giving us 99% of the player base wont touch.

1. Tifos/Season rewards

I DONT CARE ABOUT TIFOS. SPEND LESS TIME PAYING ARTISTS AND SPEND THAT ON YOUR GAME! How hard is it to put 500 fifa points in the rewards tab. Every other game with a battle pass system can give it out im pretty sure it won't hurt your pockets EA. And the levels of packs that are in season pass are abysmal. All this grind for every 10 levels to get something of value. Surely you can boost these packs this far into the game cycle. Not like I'm gonna pack anything of value with how shocking pack weight is anyway...

1. ICON SBCS ROULETTE.

I don't need to pack another Winter wildcard icon worth nothing that I'd rather put into the exchange then play 1 second with in any game mode... I get that they don't want everyone running around with TOTY Ronaldo but at least make it worthwhile with limiting the bad player pool.

1. FC PRO

It's actually disgusting how much EA forcefeed this dead eSports down our throats just so they have people watching them so their advertisements are happy they have someone watching. If they didn't put packs in to get people to watch I'm sure half or even more would dissappear. Make the gameplay more enjoyable and people would happily watch.

1. SBC grind/Quality of Life

This is how I know EA just don't care or are too lazy to add any quality of life improvements. I have to give props to paleta the guy who made paletools. It basically has everything needed that EA should have added. And if he can do it on his own then why can't EA. In Madden AN EA GAME BTW you can filter through ratings. Why can't we do that in this game? JUST ASK THEM HOW THEY DID IT. I know it's probably different dev teams but they aren't gonna lose any money if you ask and if its a matter of coding it from the beginning then maybe it needs a revamp instead of a copy/paste.
-Duplicates. Add a button that let's me automatically put duplicates into an SBC. Searching through this dysfunctional menu to add a player is so tedious.
-Add a settings menu to see when you complete an objective in game. You have it visible when you play moments. Surely you can add a feature to turn this on and off during a game. Makes objectives so much easier. There are probably other quality of life improvements I am missing but I'm sure people in the comments can add a few.
This is from a fc24 player that is just tired of not having a good product of a game. To charge 70-100 pounds or dollars just to buy this game is a massive slap in the face. I haven't given many solutions to these problems but I know there are many so something can definitely be done. If you guys wants any change then boycott buying fc points. Hurt them where they will feel it the mosts. Their pockets. Then maybe some change will happen.

Hi, i am not completely sure if this is an abusive situation but i feel i may get the support or advice i need here. I know my parents are sometimes emotionally abusive but i don’t know if this is one of them. I want to know if my feelings are normal.
My dad has been making me feel very uncomfortable. Some of the smaller things are how he still talks and jokes to me like i am a kid, he talks about my sister very negatively, and he apologizes for things but never does anything to fix them, words (sorry, love you, thank you, proud of you) have no meaning anymore.
I have two situations that made me very upset. First one is really uncomfortable to write out so i will copy/paste it from old notes. i went to practice driving and he had to go the bathroom and didn’t tell me until it was too late. This could have been avoided. He emptied his starbucks cup and did bathroom while i sat next to him. he said “don’t look sweetie” like he was talking to a kid and i just felt so uncomfortable. I feel really gross typing this out. We were in an empty space while practicing but then he took us to a public neighborhood area for this.
Usually i can freely talk to my therapist about anything but that one got stuck and i couldn’t tell her for a while. I felt so gross.
The second upsetting situation was when he forcefully made me sit in his lap. I don’t really remember it even though it was only a week ago but i do know i resisted at some point but he is too strong for me. I talked to my therapist about this and she had me realize how big my consent issues are. I was too scared to say no or resist any further. I was frozen. He called me his baby daughter (i’m 19) and this happened in front of my mom who seems ok with it.
Being touched makes me so uncomfortable and he should know this. He has said “i know you don’t like hugs but i have to” and then hugs me without me moving. The other day i kinda told him i didn’t like hugs so hopefully this stops in the future. It is terrifying to confront him.
Today i was going through the old passwords saved on my device to delete the ones that don’t belong to me (our family used to share an account) and i found accounts to websites.. with his username. I know this is normal and i shouldn’t be uncomfortable (<—i just caught myself saying things my dad says)
My parents treat me like a kid (im 19) and resent my sister (16) because she doesn’t tolerate their abuse. She is somehow able to say “i love you” to them but i can’t say it comfortably.
I would really appreciate if someone could tell me if it is normal to be so uncomfortable. i have such a hard time existing in my house. I feel so weak.

With what happened with the Red picks for Ligue 1 and the NickRtfm siutation I have been thinking of all the things that need to change in this game. This game is infuriating. The amount of things that need to change in this game is actually astronomical. I'm gonna do my best to lay out all the problems I see and some solutions even if they are not be perfect.
1.SERVERS
For a company that boasts about making 1.5 billion in revenue the servers are actually terrible. The amount of DCs I have had while playing champs or rivals is unbelievable. Fix your servers. Understand that at content time the player base count will increase dramatically and account for that.
2.People quitting 0-0, 1-1 etc
Why are you not awarded a win when someone quits at the start of the game makes no sense to me. Especially when it's halfway through a game and they are doing it just to spite the other player. I've heard that they might not do this due to multiple reasons. If this is the case then only add it to CHAMPS at least
3.Corner glitches
The fact I have to 2nd man press and bring my player up short every time so that Roberto Carlos or whoever else has playstyle + whipped cross doesn't cross a ball in and some 6ft CB with aerial+ is dunking on my 5ft RB/LB is crazyyy. If it's not this it's another powershot corner BS tactic. Sort this AI out and do something to stop this OP tactic. Its too consistent and abused.

1. Menus

Why is it I press R1 or L1 too quick the game freaks out and I have to restart it. Who coded this game where it is guaranteed to happen every day. I will have to restart my game every day multiple times.

1. Pack weight

This has to be the scumiest ones of all. When EA put 100% guarantee on getting a TOTS or whatever promo. Why is it always the same 5 players worth 50k or less. I'd like to see the real chance of you packing the million + players. I honestly think that it's based on how much they are worth on the market exactly why you never see extinct players like CR7 or Mbappe. I'd rather see 0.000001% chance of packing Mbappe then see 100% guaranteed. Its too predatory that these packs are worth the price of full fledged games.

1. Draft

What a boring game mode. The same thing for the past 8 years. What's the point going 4-0 if the best of my rewards are gonna be an 83 rated fodder player 90 % of the time. Make it more then 4 games. Make the rewards better. Incentivize players to actually wanna play this gamemode instead of ignoring this mode and just copy and pasting it every year.

1. Rivals

I don't mind this gamemode with the recent change to rewards but the disparity in skill level with elite division makes no sense. I have played actual demons in div 3 and I have played some bots who seem like it's their first time playing in Elite Div. It doesn't matter what div you are in because it's gonna be win some lose some which is fine but I would hope it would be more consistent. I love the skill rating in Elite division but why is this limited to just Elite. Add it to all divisions. If I lose to someone better then me then I'm gonna be less inclined to say its DDA or luck.
7.5 Milestones rewards
How lazy can EA be. Honestly it's actually bewildering that they think it's acceptable to give us a tifo to get us to play games. What happened to rewarding people for playing their game instead of giving us 99% of the player base wont touch.

1. Tifos/Season rewards

I DONT CARE ABOUT TIFOS. SPEND LESS TIME PAYING ARTISTS AND SPEND THAT ON YOUR GAME! How hard is it to put 500 fifa points in the rewards tab. Every other game with a battle pass system can give it out im pretty sure it won't hurt your pockets EA. And the levels of packs that are in season pass are abysmal. All this grind for every 10 levels to get something of value. Surely you can boost these packs this far into the game cycle. Not like I'm gonna pack anything of value with how shocking pack weight is anyway...

1. ICON SBCS ROULETTE.

I don't need to pack another Winter wildcard icon worth nothing that I'd rather put into the exchange then play 1 second with in any game mode... I get that they don't want everyone running around with TOTY Ronaldo but at least make it worthwhile with limiting the bad player pool.

1. FC PRO

It's actually disgusting how much EA forcefeed this dead eSports down our throats just so they have people watching them so their advertisements are happy they have someone watching. If they didn't put packs in to get people to watch I'm sure half or even more would dissappear. Make the gameplay more enjoyable and people would happily watch.

1. SBC grind/Quality of Life

This is how I know EA just don't care or are too lazy to add any quality of life improvements. I have to give props to paleta the guy who made paletools. It basically has everything needed that EA should have added. And if he can do it on his own then why can't EA. In Madden AN EA GAME BTW you can filter through ratings. Why can't we do that in this game? JUST ASK THEM HOW THEY DID IT. I know it's probably different dev teams but they aren't gonna lose any money if you ask and if its a matter of coding it from the beginning then maybe it needs a revamp instead of a copy/paste.
-Duplicates. Add a button that let's me automatically put duplicates into an SBC. Searching through this dysfunctional menu to add a player is so tedious.
-Add a settings menu to see when you complete an objective in game. You have it visible when you play moments. Surely you can add a feature to turn this on and off during a game. Makes objectives so much easier. There are probably other quality of life improvements I am missing but I'm sure people in the comments can add a few.
This is from a fc24 player that is just tired of not having a good product of a game. To charge 70-100 pounds or dollars just to buy this game is a massive slap in the face. I haven't given many solutions to these problems but I know there are many so something can definitely be done. If you guys wants any change then boycott buying fc points. Hurt them where they will feel it the mosts. Their pockets. Then maybe some change will happen.

Throwaway for above reason.
A few months ago, I took a new job with a new retail store opening in my area and was hired on as a third key. Everything started out ok when the schedule was 8-4 M-F, however, after the store actually opened and the schedule changed to opening/closing and weekend shifts - all of a sudden there was an issue with the assistant manager wanting to close.
For background information, I am a single, mid-20s single woman without children. The assistant manager came to me one afternoon asking to switch her one closing shift the upcoming week with my opening shift that day because closing shifts “make her tired” and she also referenced the fact that she is a mother, and that she needs to “get home to get kid, otherwise her husband has to take off work.”
I refused to switch shifts with her and honestly made up a reason as to why I couldn’t, even though I shouldn’t have felt like I needed to. I then went and reported this to the store manager, because she also disclosed to me that she claimed that she was told in her interview she would “never have to take a closing shift.” I presented this to the store manager and basically told him he needed to handle it, because I felt uncomfortable to have someone in a supervisor position come to me and ask me in a pressuring way to switch shifts.
The store manager was perfectly understandable of this, and he did speak to the assistant manager about it. However, she quickly figured out who spoke to him about it as I was the only one she had asked to switch shifts with. This then started some pretty extreme retaliation.
Despite being told not to talk to me one on one, the next day after being spoken to by the store manager, the assistant manager approached me and asked to speak privately in the office, without a witness. She approached me somewhat aggressively, and I had an uncomfortable feeling about this conversation. I agreed to talk to her there, however, on the way, I began recording the conversation on my phone. I live in a one-party recording state.
During this conversation, the assistant manager started the conversation by asking multiple times if “we can just keep this conversation a total secret, just between you and me” and then violated open door policy by telling me that I was incorrect to go to the store manager, that she “didn’t mean anything by asking to switch shifts” and if I was uncomfortable, I should have come and talked to her instead of going to my direct supervisor (the store manager). During the course of the conversation, I counted over 4 times that she said “next time don’t talk to SM name, just come talk to me” and told me I should be understanding to the fact that “she’s a mother” and why she wouldn’t want to close. It was a very uncomfortable and unprofessional conversation overall.
I of course reported this almost immediately to the store manager and showed him the recording. He agreed this was fully out of line and spoke to the assistant manager again asking why she approached me when specifically told not to. Not knowing the conversation was recorded, the assistant manager proceeded to lie and say she just “wanted to smooth things over” and made up a completely different narrative that what actually happened. She outright denied ever telling me I could not report anything to the store manager.
After this is when the retaliation started to come out in full swing. One of my job responsibilities is to visually merchandise the store. The next day when I came in for my shift, the assistant manager was tearing down and completely resetting a floor set I had just done the day prior. I asked very plainly “what are you doing?” And she immediately told me “I am not going to deal with your attitude today and I will send you home right now.” This was 20 minutes after I arrived for an 8 hour shift.
I walked away and went to the back office and interrupted the store manager who was in a district zoom meeting at the time and let him know the assistant manager was threatening to send me home. He left the meeting and then proceeded to “mediate” on the sales floor the rest of the day, as the assistant manager did not act out of pocket when under the direct supervision of the store manager.
Another notable incident was an act of attempted physical violence before the assistant manager was fired. I was in the back stock room with the inventory manager when the assistant manager, who was pushing a large rack on wheels of very heavy merchandise (I can’t be too specific as to what the merchandise was as I’m scared it may give away where I work, but this rack would have weighed 350+ lbs easily) burst through the back stock room swinging doors without warning into my direct path. I jumped out of the way with mere seconds to spare or I would have been run over and definitely injured at the speed she was going and yelled out “excuse me!” To try and illicit a response, just in case she did not see me there.
I got no response. No apology, no excuse me, just dead pan silence as she then stared at me as she went by. It felt VERY intentional. She even dropped off the merchandise at the back of the room, turned around and walked out without ever saying a word to me. The inventory manager even rushed over to me and asked if I was alright because she could see how aggressive it was.
The next incident involved the assistant manager threatening insubordination against me, and this is when I felt like she was using language to try and write me up for something. Over the weekend, the store manager (and NOT the assistant manager) completed a new visual set as directed by corporate. Since I was not present for it, I have been previously instructed by the store manager that if I feel there is a better option to fit the set to the corporate visual standard, I have the full power to make those changes behind him. This is because he prefers to set the floor set from the beginning himself and then let me go behind and tweak his work to “make it perfect.”
Since I was previously instructed to do this, when I came into work after the set had been changed, I then proceeded to “tweak” it. My honest contributions were changing the pants on one mannequin, swapping a necklace on another mannequin, and setting a hat shelf for a group of hats that were not set on the floor at all. While setting the hats, I was told that I immediately needed to stop what I was doing because “this floor set has already been set, so you changing it right now is insubordination.” I am smart enough to recognize when she adopted new vocabulary often seen in write ups that she was probably working on one. It was at this point I finally decided enough was enough, and I called HR.
The HR rep was very understanding and listened to my complaints. I do realize HR is there to protect the company more than anything, but with the hostile work environment she was creating I felt like she was a big liability to have on their hands. I complained about hostile work environment, retaliation, harassment, and discrimination because I was made to feel as if I should close because I’m childless. She told me she would investigate my claims and then report back.
To make a long story short, my suspicions were correct and the assistant manager has created an entire write up for my “attitude”that conveniently started the day after I told the store manager about the “private” conversation she had with me in the managers office. It took about a week from when I reported it, but HR did fire her for retaliation. I did not find out about the write up she had written until after she was fired.
There were a couple incidents in the week when HR was investigating her like her calling the district manager because I took our register money to the bank to get change as instructed by the store manager. She skipped calling the store manager entirely and just went straight to the district manager and attempted to make it seem as if I was stealing. The other incident involved her yelling in my face loudly at the register in front of multiple customers and calling me a liar because I corrected her on a work policy.
Once she was fired, she immediately started calling my personal cell phone multiple times. I did not answer. She then sent me a string of multiple threatening texts messages and also tried to say that my recording of our conversation was illegal (again, we live in a one-party recording state). She had a printed out copy of the law and I think is honestly dense enough to not understand that I am the one party to the recorded conversation, therefore making the recording not illegal. I told her to never text me again, and she then proceeded to get violent and threaten to fight me if I ever saw her again and call me multiple curse words. I decided to block her number, hoping that she’d move on.
The HR rep called to tell me they had “closed their investigation” and I’d be notified of the findings on my next shift, however I told the rep that I knew she was fired because she was calling me and sending me threatening text messages. IMO, the rep started to act indifferent and told me to “report it to my local authorities if I felt uncomfortable”
Now, over the past two weeks there has been an anonymous number calling the store asking to speak with me. I have yet to pick up one of these calls, however one of my coworkers did tell the person the first time that I was there. They asked to speak with me, and then when put on hold they immediately hung up. I was nervous she may try to show up, but nothing happened that I know of that night. I chalked it up to maybe it was just an actual customer.
However, today an anonymous number called again asking to speak with someone with my first name. We have two people who work there with my first name, so when my coworker asked “which one?” The anonymous caller immediately said my last name and described my physical features to a T. My coworker told the caller I wasn’t working that day, and they asked when I would return. She told them she doesn’t know the schedule so she can’t say, and then the caller hung up.
I have NEVER shared my last name with a customer, EVER and anyone who knows me well enough to know that information would just call my cell phone and definitely not from a blocked number. I have a strong suspicion this is her, although I’m extremely nervous as to why she would keep calling after it’s been weeks since she’s been fired.
What can I do to protect myself? Am I entitled to protection from my employer given the circumstances around her termination? Does this qualify for some kind of protective order? I genuinely do not feel safe going to work right now. I do not feel like I’ve been protected enough. I understand times are hard and the job market is tough, but she put herself in a position to be fired. The state of the economy makes me nervous that she may feel as if she doesn’t have anything to lose now.
TLDR: my assistant manager was fired for retaliation against me and is now threatening me and has physically harassed me in the past and is probably calling under a blocked number to get my work schedule.

First Previous
Dr. Dask caught herself lost in thought for what was not the first time that day. The humans were definitely up to something. She paced around her room on the outer-rim of the Lunar facility - built after the previous orbital station was deemed irredeemably outdated by modern standards.
If she’d learned anything in her 20 Earth years studying the people on the blue planet, it’s that they didn’t seem to go without a major war for very long. There were, of course, smaller conflicts and skirmishes all across the planet, as had become routine, but this extended ‘peace’, which had lasted her whole career by this point, must have meant something was off.
Some of her xenosociologist peers theorized that the humans must have, at last, realized how pointless their model of constant bloodbath is, and adopted the ‘civilized’ model of war, as indicated by the increase in their industrial capacities as well as the strengthening of their militaries despite the times of peace. Surely, her fellow scientists argued, this meant that the weapons are starting to be used as a tool of intimidation, rather than destruction and death.
The scientist thought the idea of a “civilized model of war” stupid and inherently contradictory, alas, those assertions were not the main issue she had with their theory. If humans did have a sudden realisation about the horrors they were committing on a daily basis, why were there still so many conflicts all around the world?
Not only that, but the weapons they were testing didn’t seem to be for the sole purpose of shock and awe. Of particular note was when she caught a glimpse of an artillery gun, a weapon designed to launch high-speed projectiles upwards and relying on the planet’s high gravity to bring them down into enemy lines, launching what seemed to be a regular projectile, until it fell on the ground and, rather than exploding, released a large amount of yellow-brownish gas, which surely couldn’t scare the most cowardly of Bannids, let alone a human. She did not know what the purpose of it was, but it definitely unsettled her.
Regardless, almost all of their developments seemed to be about killing each other, but better, and even the most impractical of technologies, namely “zeppelins”, as the humans called the hulking, and very flammable, masses floating above their cities, were being weaponized in one way or the other, for a purpose still shrouded in Dr. Dask’s eyes.
“Ms. Dask?” asked a meek voice, entering her room as she was still pacing around, deep in thought, “The scientists currently stationed at the observatory seem to think large amounts of troops are mobilizing, ma’am, you may want to see this.”
That pulled the scientist right out of her mental state, and heading to the observatory as fast as she could walk before it would be considered a full-blown run. “Thank you, Reylek” she said, directed at the Junior Scientist that was struggling to keep up behind her “This may be the answer I’ve been seeking for so long, we may find what they’ve been doing for all these years” she said, finally finding herself in the confines of the observatory room.
The researcher tried to keep her excitement in check. Whatever was happening, she thought, would definitely involve the deaths of thousands of sapients, as was so terribly common when human militaries got involved with something. She watched, in unabashed curiosity, as armies made of tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of humans marched across the land, wielding the deadliest and most advanced weapons they had so far been able to grasp.
This was, by far, the largest armies she had ever seen. There were records of larger ones being deployed, sure, but being able to personally witness the sheer scale of such a war was truly astounding. They were still only in the mobilization phase, however, and as such the Dr. furiously took some notes and headed to the cafeteria for dinner, which had an extravagant window giving a beautiful view of Earth. The decommissioned space station also had one, and, when the new Lunar base was inaugurated, the older scientists felt quite salty about losing their favourite lookout spot and demanded that a new one be built.
By the end of the month (human calendar), however, her cautioned curiosity had already been turned into sheer terror. Fighting had broken out all across the world, the brutality of the newly developed weapons unmatched by anything she or any of her older colleagues had ever witnessed. Some of the proponents of the human enlightenment theory had locked themselves in their rooms, not being able to bear the sorrow of knowing that they could not have been any more wrong if they tried.
This continued on for untold days and weeks, casualties piling up on every side of the conflict, both soldier and civilian, in enough numbers to collapse any reasonable alien society. The humans, however, fought on, seemingly unphased.
After a few months, as the fighting still raged on from the thickest of jungles to the hottest of deserts, the main front, in the continent containing the nations who first started the war, seemed to come to a standstill. Dask, now significantly more disheveled than she was those sweet months ago before such a massively important event broke out, felt a glimmer of hope. Surely this stalemate would mean the beginning of negotiations, and a possible end to what could only be described as the worst conflict anyone in the outpost had ever witnessed.
The scientist and her colleagues were watching as both sides dug long, sinuous corridors across a field. This, she thought, would force them into peace. No army, not even a human one, would want to get stuck in such an unwinnable situation, where neither side can reliably attack each other without catastrophic losses on both sides.
The group gawked. Some of the humans along the battlefield had suddenly stopped fighting, even climbing into disputed territory, seemingly mingling with those who were their enemies just a few hours prior. This was, as Dask noted, shocked, probably the most human behaviour she’d ever seen. From a senseless bloodbath to camaraderie and care almost instantly. It further fueled her hopes of a peaceful resolution in the end, as clearly such a display of friendship together with the hopelessness of their military positions would be enough to make both sides come to their senses.
Later reports would note that this truce may have had something to do with the end of the Solar year, an occasion celebrated by nearly all humans for as far as Commonwealth records go. The armistice, though, did not last long. By the next day it may as well have never happened, much to the chagrin of the researchers, still hanging onto the slim hope that this would end soon, if not by collaboration then by hopelessness alone.
That, however, was not the case. It had been roughly 5 (human calendar) months since the seemingly random act of peace. Hundreds of thousands more had died, and at this point Dask believed the humans couldn’t actually grasp the scale of what they were doing, especially given how mysterious the actual reasons for the war still were to her. What unfathomable offense had been made for it to spark such slaughter? She did not have the answers, all she knew is that the humans did not seem at all inclined to back down.
By this point, their weapons were only one of the many sources of death and sorrow in this war. Disease ran rampant, with no proper medical facilities on the frontlines, and a lack of supplies meant that several thousands simply starved to death, not a single bullet needing to be fired to cause their demise.
The mood on the research team was somber. The war had been dragging on, and Dr. Dask wondered just how many sleepless nights were yet to come, for she couldn’t truly rest while such terrible acts were taking place so close by. The silver lining, if you could call it that, is that she’d grown somewhat jaded to human warfare, and it did not make her as nauseated as it should, and as it did in the past. Until the shells hit.
As Dask watched, projectiles came down from the sky on a human trench, though, unlike the explosions she’d grown accustomed to, they simply released large amounts of a brownish-yellow gas, which she remembered seeing all those months ago, being tested. Once it dissipated enough to see through, she understood its true purpose, and immediately wished she hadn't. Hundreds of humans, twitching, coughing, vomiting, their skins burnt despite the absence of fire, some of them eerily still, choked out by the gas that had displaced the air on the long dirt corridors.
She stared, in shock, as the other side began charging, putting on masks that deprived them of all human features and walking into the dying lines, immune to the effects of the deadly gas. They mercilessly killed anyone and everyone wearing the wrong uniform, even those already on the floor. She thought about that in contrast to that serene night in which they mingled, it was hardly believable that they were of the same species, let alone the same people altogether.
Vomit filled the observatory. The other researchers, like Dr. Dask herself, thought they were used to human antics at this point, but their ingenuity when it comes to cruelty once again proved to be unrivaled. Most others left the room, leaving the dirty work to the cleaning bots. The Dr. did not vomit, if for no other reason than that she had not yet eaten, and as such physically could not do so. She also returned to her room, no longer feeling even the remotest scientific curiosity to watch such a terrible event unfold.
Over the next several years. The war dragged on and on, mountains upon mountains of bodies piling up,the count in the millions by now, civilians included. The clothes were stripped from the dead, washed anew and given to a young, excited recruit, just for them to meet the same fate, and repeat the cycle once more. Morale among the researchers was at an all time low, many choosing to no longer accompany the fighting as closely, and some retiring from the facility entirely.
The humans, of course, did not care much for the emotions of aliens they didn’t even know the existence of, and as such only got more and more creative with their machinations, from flying machines strapped with bombs and guns, to a brand new vehicle named the “tank”, which was, by all means, a marvel of engineering for their civilization, albeit prone to constant breakdowns. All that to fuel a war which Dr. Dask was still unsure as to the cause.
Dr. Dask herself, albeit far worse-for-wear than she had been before this, kept going. While the overwhelming cruelty was evident, she could not simply ignore the random glimmers offered by the various and random acts of kindness she had seen across the war. From the truce on that night, to a random soldier helping an injured enemy combatant, to humans risking their own life and walking into the line of fire to rescue their comrades.
That’s why, when the day of the Armistice finally came, she was one of the few left from the original team still there to witness it, and, as soldiers disbanded and went home, she could only look across the cafeteria window and into the blue marble above, wondering if this troubled species could ever truly achieve peace and step into the galactic stage as new allies, rather than pariahs.

Author's Note: The masses have once again spoken. I hope you don't mind a slightly more well informed perspective this time, as I can only come up with so many excuses to force an unwitting alien to witness the horrors of war. Definitely a more somber chapter too, which I find rather appropriate for WWI. Once again this turned far larger than I originally intended and I do apologise to those who wanted a detailed, more entertaining reaction to tanks and such, though I felt like it simply would not fit properly into this particular narrative. Finally, feedback and corrections for random inaccuracies are welcome as always. Enjoy!

Absolute horrid story. I watched the whole game when it released on youtube around 4 years ago and now i finally played it for myself and beat the game a few weeks ago. I swear this was the most cringy worst game i’ve played in my entire life. Nearly every character is a midget now and they’re called “tinks” now. What was randy pichford thinking? Did he have a wet dream about what borderlands 3 should be and came up with midgets for every single boss? I bet the guy watched a ton of midget porn and had a fetish for that crap. It’s like he had a wet dream and wrote “midgets and streamers” as the main game’s objective on a piece of paper and told the entire game management team to go crazy. Lmao..
I bet he hired just about anybody to work on this awful game.
Here are some of my gripes.
All of enemies in the game are unserious and goofy now. Unlike how borderlands 1 you actually took enemies and bosses serious and they came off as deadly and badass. Now it’s like you’re against mentally challenged babies. Remember how scared and anxious you were to fight sledge in bl1? Yeah now you’re fighting against a midget baby boss that goes down in 10 shots.
Are you telling me every planet has psychos and just about the same enemies? Why couldn’t they have designed more enemies for each planet to make it feel unique. It makes the game’s world feel unauthentic. Like psychos should only be on pandora because how would they even get to space? Like what.
The new psycho design is a joke. I liked bl1’s design better when they were crazy coal miners who lost their jobs and went crazy. Now they’re just troy and tyreen’s puppets who try and imitate bl1’s psychos. Wtf happened to bruisers now? They felt intimidating in bl1 and 2 and now they’re just goofies with shotguns.
Why when we travel to new planets for the first time do we automatically appear with our shuttle crashed? No cutscene or anything of us landing? It’s just flat out lazy. Even the shuttles are in areas where it would be impossible to actually land. The planet previews are laughable and it’s lazy game design.
The vault bosses were mediocre and uninteresting compared to bl1 and 2. It’s like you’re fighting a dlc boss instead of an actual vault monster. I killed each vault monster in 3 minutes. A waste of what could’ve been something interesting. In the pre sequel’s ending you felt hyped for bl3 to come out because there were going to be all these cool vaults you could find. I didn’t feel an ounce of that when i played bl3. Every single vault has the same exact layout. It’s like the dev team were too lazy to even design something interesting. None of the vaults have good loot either. It’s laughable.
Don’t even get me started on how they made typhon deleon. He’s goofy, short, and fat and you can’t take him serious at all. This was a good moment to make a memorable character that was mentioned and hyped up in all 3 games but they ruined it all. Randy pitchford would rather have a midget fat guy that sounds like danny devito as the first vault hunter. Lmao.. This guy’s fetish went too far. ☠️
The calypso twins being typhon deleon’s kids makes no sense. They would be rich and already have all they wanted but instead they wrote them as bratty ungrateful kids who want world domination. Like what? You can’t takes these villains serious at all.
What in the hell were they thinking for the eridian homeworld planet? Remember how cool and awesome it was going to the vault in the end of bl1 and seeing the eridians. Now there’s none of that and it’s like you’re fighting kung fu fighters instead. The entire level’s design is so boring, bland, and uninteresting. Literally all they did was put two floating cubes in the middle of the map then copy and pasted the same structures all throughout the maps. Lmao.. such a waste of what could have been a cool planet to visit.
The dialogue in this game was horrible. It’s like nonstop jokes where you can’t even take anything serious. Every character is goofy and poorly portrayed. They were trying too hard to make the game funny.
When a main character dies they get a 30 second memorial talk and the game moves on. Also they made tannis a siren. LOL
Every single side mission felt like you were playing a torture simulator that got increasingly more annoying every time.
The only time i felt like the game was alright was the 1-2 missions we get to play that have mordecai, brick, and tiny tina. I liked that they made brick and mordecai look kinda like they did in bl1.
The part where you go to the jacobs estate and get to the jacobs ceo’s room it’s like why are there books everywhere? Isn’t this the guy the one who made jacob’s corporation and designed awesome guns? The one mentioned all of bl1 and 2? That guy? Why is his room filled with books and beer kegs? Shouldn’t there be guns hanging on the walls or something.. That’s awful game and character design.
Why didn’t they let us revisit fyrestone or some of the old locations from bl1 and 2? That would’ve been awesome but they would rather design new variations of midgets lmao.
Oh and the worst of all is the voice and gun sounds menu. Why didn’t they add a custom gun sound option that you could turn down? My ears were bleeding half the time from how loud the guns are (especially that acid legendary gun) and i spent half of my gameplay turning the volume up and down constantly trying to find a good level to where my ears wouldn’t explode and i could still hear the game. I literally had a ear ache. The technical vehicle’s engine sound was so loud i never used it half the time, and i only used the bike wheel vehicle for how badly loud it was. Also Ellie’s voice is so loud and obnoxious.
I bought the Ultimate Edition too with every single add on and dlc and you couldn’t get me to even try to ever play this game again. Lmao.
I played that mission of claptrap’s videogame and i said nope, i’m fucking done. That was the most annoying shit i had to sit through in a video game.
I already know the dlc would suck ass just like the main game. I can pass on the brain rot. No thanks. The last borderlands game i’ll probably play is tales from the borderlands 1. That’s even if i ever try it.
Borderlands as a whole is finished. The movie trailer was god awfully laughable. Randy pitchford is paying the price for his midget fetish.
I probably missed some stuff and might make a part 2 but there’s my 2 cents on this game.

Here are some questions to assist with Step Two- Characterization:
Certainly! Here's a series of questions to aid writers in the characterization step of their story:

1. Character Basics:

• Who are the main characters in your story, and what are their names, ages, and backgrounds?
  
• What are the essential traits that define each character's personality?
  

1. Motivations and Goals:

• What drives each character? What are their primary motivations and goals?
  
• How do these motivations align or conflict with the central theme or conflict of the story?
  

1. Backstories and Histories:

• What significant events have shaped each character's past?
  
• How do these past experiences influence their current perspectives, fears, and desires?
  

1. Strengths and Weaknesses:

• What are the strengths or special abilities of each character?
  
• Do the characters have vulnerabilities or weaknesses that they must confront?
  

1. Internal Conflicts:

• What internal conflicts do your characters grapple with?
  
• How do these internal struggles contribute to the overall character development?
  

1. External Conflicts:

• What external conflicts or obstacles do your characters face in the story?
  
• How do these external challenges drive character growth and shape their relationships?
  

1. Relationship Dynamics:

• How do characters interact with each other?
  Are there significant relationships (e.g., friendships, romances, conflicts)?
  
• What dynamics exist within groups of characters, and how do these relationships evolve?
  

1. Character Arcs:

• What transformation or growth do you envision for each character by the end of the story?
  
• How do the characters' arcs contribute to the overarching themes of the narrative?
  

1. Unique Traits or Quirks:

• What unique traits, quirks, or habits distinguish each character?
  
• How do these individual characteristics contribute to the richness of the characterizations?
  

1. Character Relationships with the Setting:

- How do your characters interact with the story's setting or world? - Does the setting play a significant role in shaping characters' identities or influencing their choices? 

1. Symbolic Elements:

- Are there symbolic elements associated with each character? (e.g., objects, colors, motifs) - How do these symbols enhance the depth of your characters and their roles in the story? 

1. Character Desires and Conflicts:

- What do your characters desire most in the world? - How do these desires lead to conflicts with others or within themselves? 

1. Evolution of Relationships:

- How do relationships between characters evolve over the course of the story? - Are there key moments or events that significantly impact these relationships? 

1. Contrasts and Parallels:

- Are there intentional contrasts or parallels between characters? - How do these comparisons contribute to the overall narrative or thematic elements? 

1. Character Dialogue and Voice:

- What distinct voices or speech patterns do your characters have? - How does each character's way of speaking contribute to their individuality? 

1. Cultural or Historical Influences:

- How do cultural or historical influences shape your characters' beliefs, values, or behaviors? - Are there specific cultural or historical elements that contribute to the diversity of your characterizations? 

1. Interests and Hobbies:

- What interests, hobbies, or skills do your characters possess? - How do these additional layers contribute to their overall personalities and interactions? 

1. Character Foils:

- Are there characters who serve as foils to one another? - How does the presence of foils enhance the contrast and complexity of your characterizations? 

1. Reader Empathy:

- How do you ensure readers connect with and empathize with your characters? - Are there specific traits or experiences that make your characters relatable? 

1. Character Consistency:

- How do you maintain consistency in your characters' behaviors and reactions? - Are there character traits or developments that require extra attention to ensure continuity? 

These questions aim to guide writers in developing well-rounded and compelling characters, fostering a deeper understanding of each individual's role within the narrative.

The garage door shut with a groan behind us, closing us in the gloom of the single bulb hanging over the car.
Mother took a drag off her cigarette and sighed as she exhaled, the smoke filled the cabin of the Ford and stung my eyes.
“You really disappointed me today, Julianne," she tapped her cigarette in the ashtray below the dash, "you embarrassed me in front of the other mothers at the Ice Cream Social, shoveling down seconds and thirds like a pig. I thought I raised you better than that.”
She took another drag, daintily holding the cigarette between her perfectly manicured fingers.
“I'm going to have to tell your brother about this," she continued, “he'll have to come up with a punishment fit for a pig."
I felt my stomach drop. My kid brother, Thomas, was only six, but could be exceptionally cruel. Mother seemed to encourage him and was deferring to him more and more frequently for how the house was run, especially concerning my upbringing.
"Mother, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm sorry I was a pig and ate so much ice cream. I promise I won't do it again, I'll never eat any ice cream again," I was pleading with stone, unyielding.
“Hush your mouth. Go to your room and wait for Thomas," she put out the cigarette and got out of the car, I had no choice but to follow.
It felt like walking to the gallows as I stepped inside the house and headed towards the stairs to go to my room. Thomas had grown fond recently of physical punishment, he obviously delighted in Mother whipping me with a belt or, recently, Mother had allowed him to start beating me with a wooden spoon. He would squeal and giggle like a normal child watching bubbles in the wind while I screamed. I was dreading whatever was going to happen tonight, I chastised myself for eating that ice cream, I should have known she would show up. My sins were always laid bare.
Down the hall, I could hear Thomas watching television in the den. I only got to watch TV for half an hour on Saturday morning and new episodes of Happy Days with Mother and Thomas. Thomas got to watch all the TV he wanted. He could listen to the radio and turntable as much as he wanted, as loud as he wanted. Thomas had an entire room just for his toys.
I entered my bedroom, it was a space I occupied, but it didn't feel like mine. Mother kept it spartan, white walls and white bedspread. A crucifix over the bed and a painting of Jesus over the door. I had my desk and chair and a dresser with some of the porcelain dolls Daddy gave me before he died that Mother let me keep. That was it.
I placed my book bag down and sat on my bed, waiting for Thomas. It was a while, sitting there with nothing but my own thoughts and staring at the open door. I felt humiliated, I was almost thirteen and my entire life was dictated by my brother. Mother kept the house in constant lockdown to keep Thomas a secret. No outsiders were allowed in. I couldn't have friends because she was afraid I would mention him or sneak a friend in to gawk at my brother and tease him for being different.
I would never make fun of him, I was terrified of him. Terrified of what he was and what he was becoming.
Eventually I heard his heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and I felt my heart start beating faster and my palms began to sweat. I kneaded my skirt in my hands, trying to calm myself and dry my palms. His slow arrhythmic footsteps came down the hall and I watched him as he entered the room.
I couldn't help but internally recoil at his appearance, even though I'd known him since he was born, I could never adjust to how unnatural he appeared. Thomas had been born at home and had never seen a doctor, but he was obviously unwell.
He was six years old and was barely over two feet tall, but very squat and wide. His skin was thick and gray, the whites of his beady eyes were yellow and his hair was wispy and white like an old man's, spreading out like a halo around his gargoyle face. A slight odor of decomposition hung about him, it reminded me faintly of garbage cans on a hot summer day. I hated when Mother made me help him with a bath, his skin felt like old brittle leather that flaked onto my clothes in gray flecks. His body was dense like concrete, I could barely lift him into the tub. Picking him up forced his hair into my face where that smell of rot would fill my nose, causing me to gag, silently, so as not to offend him and draw any ire from him or Mother.
Today, Thomas was wearing bib overalls with a red and green striped sweater underneath, reminding me of a grotesque doll.
“Mama says you acted like a piggy today at the ice cream social,” he spoke up to me in his unsettlingly high pitched, yet raspy voice, like a child that smoked as much as Mother, "you need to come down for dinner right now for your punishment for embarrassing Mama."
He turned and walked back down the stairs and I had no choice but to follow his toddling form downstairs to the dining table. We entered the kitchen and the table was placed with two settings. Mother was already seated and Thomas clambered up into his booster seat at his normal spot next to Mother. She took a drag off her cigarette and motioned vaguely to the floor without even looking at me.
Neatly situated on the linoleum was my dinner, not on a plate, but directly on the floor. A pork chop, scoop of mashed potatoes, and a small pile of peas. No utensils, either.
Thomas giggled with glee upon seeing my face.
“You have Mama's permission now to eat like a piggy, now. No hands! Piggies just use their face!” He stood up in his chair and reached out for Mother’s ash tray and flung it out over my meal, peppering my dinner with cigarette ash and butts.
"Oops! Piggies don't mind trash though, do they, Mama?” he giggled and the sound filled me with rage.
"No, they don't,” Mother replied coolly while maneuvering her ashtray back in place and carefully putting out her cigarette before saying prayer.
As angry as I was, I got down on my hands and knees and did my best at eating what I could without using my hands. I knew if I refused, it would be far worse. The whole meal, Thomas made pig noises and would reach down and poke me with his fork, making comments about what a fat piggy I was and how he wished he could roast and eat me. I doubted Mother would even object if he actually did kill me and eat me.
Gagging my way through another bite of ashy pork chop, I felt a warm splat over my head and heard Thomas giggling. I reached up and felt he had dumped mashed potatoes into my hair.
Choking down tears, I asked Mother if I could clean the floor and bathe. She rolled her eyes and excused me to clear the table for them as well while she changed Thomas into his pajamas. Picking him up, she walked out of the room and Thomas stuck his putrid little purple tongue out at me before they made it out the kitchen door.
I silently cried while I cleared the table and washed the dinner dishes. Tears splashed down as I mopped up the mess from my food on the floor. I hated how awful Thomas was. I hated how they treated me. Ever since Daddy died and Thomas showed up, I was their punching bag. I missed Daddy so much.
Mother was kinder then, too. She was still severe, but Dad kept her tempered. After he died, there was a change that came over her. I was only six, so I didn't remember her too much from before, but I did remember her gushing on and on when she was pregnant with Thomas. How the baby was a gift from Our Heavenly Father, that it was going to complete our broken family.
My sixth birthday happened right after Daddy died and I remember sitting on the patio crying while the house was full of people after the funeral, normally he would have gotten me a new doll and a chocolate bar, instead I was forgotten. No doll. No chocolate. Just funeral potatoes and a house full of cigarette smoke from the adults.
Nobody remembered. The closest thing I got was my dad's sister, Aunt Judy, sitting next to me on the patio step for a few minutes of comfortable silence before giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I don't think she knew her brother was memorialized on my birthday. Next year, Thomas was born the day before my birthday, so it was completely eclipsed as Mother had just birthed her new love into the world…
I stopped mid mop as a lightbulb finally went off. I had never put much thought into the dates before.
Thomas was born a full year after Daddy died. He couldn't be his dad. Who was Thomas’ actual father?
Washing mashed potatoes out of my hair that evening, I ran over and over the timeline. No matter how I parsed it out, Thomas was only my half brother. Going to bed that night, I kept myself awake, going over and over again to make sure. I couldn't remember any men being around at that time, but that didn't mean much. Adults can easily hide things from children. Tension began throbbing through my head and I felt queasy. Mother had always known all of my secrets, able to sniff them out like a bloodhound out or using Thomas to spy. Now I had one of Mother's secrets and I didn't know what to do with it.
First I wanted to confirm it, but it would mean snooping, which was difficult in a house that was rarely left empty. I would have to try finding Mother's calendar book or journal to see if she mentioned any dates or men.
But when could I attempt such a daring maneuver? Thomas hardly left the house. As proud as Mother was of him, she was very cognizant and protective of his differences and didn't want to draw attention to herself or Thomas like that. Mother herself had few social engagements throughout the week and mostly stayed home to watch her golden child.
I finally decided I would take the risk and fake sick on Tuesday, grocery day, so I could stay home from school while she went shopping. All Thomas did all day was watch TV downstairs, so that should give me about an hour to look through her room for clues. I decided to tuck my head down, try to behave as best as I could to avoid their wrath, and wait for Tuesday.
That weekend limped along agonizingly slow. Thomas was in a fine mood and was constantly seeking out a reason to poke me, punch me, slap me… he'd laugh while calling me a piggy with his off-putting wide mouth. I tried to mostly stay in my room and it seemed like neither of them cared.
School on Monday was a relief, but my anxiety ramped up. The consequences would be dire if Mother caught on that I was faking sick to stay home. I didn't even want to imagine how off the leash she'd let my half-brother become in his punishment for that level of insubordination.
I stayed up all night, my stomach was in knots, but I was committed to my plan. Throughout the night, I screamed as hard as I could into my pillow. Screamed until my throat was raw and I could barely talk. It felt cathartic in a way. When it was close to school time, I put on my heaviest flannel pajamas and began doing jumping jacks until my face was flushed and my scalp was soaked with sweat.
Looking in the bathroom mirror before heading down to talk to Mother, I thought I looked pretty convincing, my skin was flushed and sweaty, my eyes had circles under them from lack of sleep, and my voice croaked like a frog.
Heading downstairs, Mother was already feeding Thomas breakfast. I hesitantly stepped into the kitchen and stood there awkwardly for a second, pawing with my pajamas to keep my nerves steady until she noticed my presence and looked up.
“Why aren't you dressed, Julianne?"
"I don't feel well. My throat hurts and my tummy hurts.” My voice graveled out more than I was expecting, I really had hurt my throat.
She strode over to me and placed a cool hand on my sweaty brow.
"You do feel warm. Take an aspirin from the medicine cabinet and go lay back down. I'll check on you later," with that she turned back and walked over to Thomas, who was frozen in place, glaring at me over a forkful of scrambled eggs. The sharp glint of malice in his beady eyes made me shiver before I shuffled out of the kitchen.
I laid in bed, trying my best to look miserable until I eventually heard the faint sound of the television playing in the den as Thomas settled in for his normal daytime routine and the garage door opened as Mother headed to the grocery store. I bounded out of bed and watched the car back out of our driveway and head up the street.
My heart began to pound as I tiptoed down the hall to Mother's bedroom, a place I rarely even caught a glimpse of, let alone entered. I very slowly opened the door, taking great care to not make any noise to alert Thomas downstairs that I was out of bed.
Creeping into the butter yellow room, I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my skull, this was the naughtiest thing I had ever done by far. I stepped onto the rug to help disguise my footsteps and slowly made my way past the brass bed and towards her desk. My hands shook as I opened the top drawer, I pawed through rapidly and found nothing. I checked the next drawer down and again found nothing of interest, just stationary and envelopes.
Finally, the bottom drawer was what I was looking for, a stack of journals from the past decade. I flipped through, trying to find entries relevant to when Daddy died and who Mother slept with afterwards.
I've never fully recovered from what I read.
July 6, 1968
Edgar died today. Car accident. I cannot believe this is real. My light, my life, my anchor... Dr. Benson gave me a sedative at the hospital and I feel so tired. So very, very tired. Why has my Lord forsaken me so?
July 9, 1968
I feel like I am in a very bad dream, I feel numb and disconnected. All the consolation and pity from everyone makes me feel sick. After the memorial, it took everything in me to not break dishes and to scream at everyone to get out of my house. Julianne was moping about crying and I wanted to throw her out, too.
If I hadn't seen my dear Edgar's body in the hospital and held his urn in my own hands, I wouldn't believe he was really gone. I still don't entirely believe it.
I have prayed to God every night asking him to show me why he took my husband from me and I have gotten no answer.
I skimmed over the next few months, as it was more or less similar sentiments repeated night after night. I finally got to an entry that caught my eye.
September 17, 1968
My battle with my faith has been fraught the past few months, but Hallelujah! I feel I can see the Lord again in all his glory and might, for he has given me a way to reconnect to my Edgar!
I was thinking about the night Julianne was born, right in this very home, it was a difficult birth and she struggled to breathe at first. Ingrid, my midwife, made a comment to me that if the baby had failed to wake up on her own, that Ingrid had ways to make sure she would have made it.
I remember asking if it was a medical methodology and she made it clear to me that in certain circumstances, it was a mystical property she used to bring the air of life into a struggling baby's lungs. She gently alluded to being a practicing member of the dark arts. At the time, I felt quite scandalized to have someone like that in my God fearing home. Now I see her as the answer to my prayers! My angel!
On a whim, I called her and asked if she still practiced such techniques. She hesitantly confirmed that she did. I asked, if she could turn breath into the lungs of a child without, could she turn breath into a child that did not exist? Could she magick into existence another child of my beloved Edgar? She told me she had to do some research and she'd be back in touch.
Ingrid just called back after a few hours and said there was a spell she found, but it was dangerous and might have unpleasant results. I said, yes, of course! I trust my Lord and I believe he sent this woman of blessed magick to me for this purpose.
She says we will have to do it soon, in a few days during the new moon. She has a potion to brew, but it is happening! Praise God!
September 23, 1968
The ceremony was last night, and Ingrid believes it was a success, but we will have to wait. It did not take long, only an hour or two. Ingrid lit my bedroom with many beeswax candles and she had me drink a thick and bitter tea that caused me to become quite relaxed and foggy.
From my inner thigh, she cut me and collected my blood in a chalice, with which she mixed quite a lot of Edgar's ashes and other ingredients which I could not glean from my supine position and groggy wits. Ingrid began to chant, calling upon a higher power, as I pleaded with my Lord to let this work. To give me any piece of my Edgar back. She came to the bed and worked the paste between my legs into my womanly chamber, which was very uncomfortable, but manageable with the numbing effects of the tea.
She continued to sit with me and chant, her hand placed over my womb, until she decided at which time it was complete. She left and I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up this morning, I felt quite uncomfortable, my body ached and when I used the restroom, a yellow fluid like pus poured out of me, but no sign of any ashes or blood, which gives me hope it was absorbed into my womb.
November 3, 1968
Praise be to our Lord, Ingrid just confirmed for me that I am with child, I had been hoping so, I had not gotten my cycle in October, but I wasn't sure if that was because of the discharge like pus that was still coming. She told me that was common with this spell and a side effect that would stop after the baby came.
I feel like I am floating on air, for the first time since Edgar left, I feel-
I suddenly became very aware of the feeling of eyes on the back of my head. I had become too engrossed in what was written before me and I had lost track of my surroundings. Very slowly, I turned around and my heart began pounding again as I saw Thomas standing in the doorway holding his wooden spoon in one hand. How had I not heard him?
He pointed at me with his empty hand and screamed, just a pure guttural screech from somewhere deep inside his disgusting little body. He charged at me from across the room, his horrible feet thumping solidly along the rug. He began beating my legs ruthlessly with the spoon, causing my legs to buckle. I crashed down to my knees in front of him, and he began lashing at my face, pulling my hair with one hand while wailing away at my head with the spoon.
I had dropped the journal I was holding and was desperately trying to get a hand on the spoon or push him away. All I could hear was him screaming. My arms flailed and I reached around on Mother's desk and grabbed onto the first thing I found and sank it into Thomas’ neck.
The end of Mother's gold letter opener protruded under his jaw. He went silent and he looked at me with utter shock. He dropped the spoon and collapsed on the ground, clutching at his neck as his thick black blood oozed out from his wound, letting out a stupendous odor of rot that filled the room. He didn't really say anything or make any noise. He just twitched for a moment and I saw his eyes glaze over.
In shock, I stood over his little body for a moment and I watched as he seemed to mummify in just a few minutes, like an ash person from Pompeii dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. Even his blood that looked like shiny oil a second ago became like potting soil on Mother's rug. Reaching out to touch his hand, it crumbled away like sand.
Panic ran through me like a rabbit caught in a snare. Not knowing what to do, I ran. I ran down the hall, changed my clothes, put an extra change of clothes in my backpack and the last doll Daddy had ever given me and I ran. Mother would absolutely never forgive me and I was genuinely afraid she would kill me in retaliation for taking her beloved Thomas away from her. Her precious gift from God. My feet flew over the pavement and took me away from that house.
I called my Aunt Judy from a payphone outside the five & dime, and told her Mother had kicked me out and asked if I could stay with her. She had always had a strained relationship with my mother and it didn't take much convincing that she had kicked out her “only” child. Only Mother, Ingrid, and I ever knew about Thomas.
She gave me a home and took care of me. She never beat me or humiliated me. Even with her love, I was far from okay. For years I would close my eyes and hear Thomas scream, then the sudden silence. I'd see him fumbling at his neck and turning to ash. But I would also remember all the ways he would hurt me and how bad he was becoming. I could never talk to anyone about it, especially not the silent relief I felt I refused to admit to myself. Over time, however, Thomas' screams became a whisper and his silence faded into dust in my mind.
I moved on with my life. I went to college and became a photojournalist, getting to travel the world and watch history unfold. By choice, I never married, but was quite blessed with many beautiful friendships for companionship over the decades. I found balance in my life and a sense of happiness, if not peace. I never could quite stomach mashed potatoes again, though, they always taste ashy to me.
Mother never made any attempts to reach out to me or find me, at least that I'm aware of. Ten years ago, I was contacted by a hospital and they said my mother had been admitted earlier after falling and was about to pass, so she must have kept some tabs on me to know my phone number for her emergency contacts. Apparently she had collapsed in the driveway and a neighbor called an ambulance. I got there and her only words to me were, “take care of him," as she placed a locket in my hand. I opened the locket, Jesus was on one side, Thomas on the other. I didn't say anything to her, just held her frail old hand with nicotine stained nails until she passed in the night. My mother was gone and I felt nothing except a vague sense of relief.
When I got to her house, it was like a time capsule. Other than a newer television, it was just like it was when I'd fled so many years ago. The smell of tobacco smoke hung like incense in the air. It felt oppressive, like a tomb.
I wandered the house in a bit of a daze. The one place I didn't want to go was upstairs. I didn't want to see my old room, or Thomas' room, or Mother's. Putting it off, I went to fix myself some supper, realizing I hadn't eaten in almost a day. I took a pause when I opened the fridge and saw a baby bottle on a shelf. Silently praying she had been babysitting for a neighbor, I fixed myself some toast with sardines and sat eating in the den watching TV. It had been almost forty years and it still felt rebellious not eating at the table and watching TV without permission.
My eyes grew heavy and I finally mustered up the gumption to head upstairs to go to bed. The stairs creaked in a familiar way under my feet and I was taken back to the feeling of dread hearing either Mother or Thomas climbing up. My old room was at the top of the stairs, I saw the door was nailed shut and had rambling quotes about Judas copied from the Bible in my mother's handwriting taped to the door. I sighed gently and turned from the door to head down the hallway, deciding Mother's room was probably the best place to sleep.
I passed by Thomas’ toy room and I heard a murmur from the room. I stopped, curiosity got the best of me and I entered. In Thomas' old toy room was a crib with joyful clown sheets. Dread swelled up inside me as I heard more murmurs and saw the sheets move. Approaching slowly, I peaked under the sheet and gasped.
Tucked inside was what looked like a baby gargoyle, gray and papery looking. Pus leaked out of its milky, bulbous eyes. I pulled back the blanket and saw it had no legs and its arms bent back, like wings on a bird. It was wearing just a cloth diaper, overflowing with tarry looking stool that took my breath away with its pungency, it smelled like Thomas’ blood, but somehow worse. My heart broke for this poor creature, Lord only knows how many years it has been in this crib suffering from its unholy existence.
So this is who Mother had wanted me to take care of…
Not knowing what else to do, I gently scooped him up. Like Thomas, he was shockingly heavy for how small his body was. Placing him on the changing table, I cleaned him and rewrapped his bottom in a clean diaper cloth. It was difficult, he fussed tremendously, crying and flopping around as much as his flipper-like arms would allow. I tried wiping off his oozing eyes and he snapped his mouth, which I saw was full of disturbingly square yellow teeth, trying to bite me. I carried him to the kitchen and rocked him while I heated up his bottle and he became furious with me, almost barking like a dog when my hand would get near his face.
He settled a bit as he fed, but he would still sometimes suddenly spit out the bottle and attempt to bite me. I laid him back in his crib, this abomination in a clown sheet, and I walked down the hall to Mother's room letting out a long sigh.
Combing through my mother's journals in the early hours of the morning, it looked like she tried the ceremony again shortly after Thomas died, but she either lacked Ingrid’s help or didn't have enough of my father's ashes left. Something went terribly wrong. She was vaguer than she had been about Thomas’ conception, but I suspect she had used some of Thomas' remains. The resulting birth she named Isaac.
Mother's journals told a sad tale of her and Isaac's suffering. She never mentioned me, but lamented the loss of Thomas and Dad relentlessly. She was hyper protective of Isaac, as that was all she had left. If her world had been small before, it became microscopic after he entered her life, requiring nearly constant care. According to Mother, he was blind and colicky, sometimes going years at a time without sleeping through the night. She had breast fed him for years, but she had to stop after he grew teeth and began biting her intentionally and feeding on her blood.
I spent a lot of time over the next few days pondering what to do. I had to get her estate in order, she had left me the house, in an obvious attempt to get me to continue caretaking for Isaac, but I didn't want it. I had my own cozy home an hour away from here, filled with happy memories and my possessions acquired traveling the world. Mother's home had a heavy energy I couldn't shake. Her and Thomas were both gone, but the memories of the scoldings and beatings hung in every corner, like cobwebs that would never sweep away.
So, I fed Isaac and kept him clean and tried to keep him company, although he seemed to hate me passionately. I took care of him, all the while thinking about what I was going to do. After a week, I felt resolute in what had to be done.
Gathering up all of Mother's journals in a tote, I made my way to Isaac and picked him up and carried everything to the living room.
The ancient logs in the fireplace meant for display ignited instantly. One by one, I fed the journals into the fire, burning away years of my mother's consuming sorrow. Isaac fussed and moaned next to me the entire time. When the last pages shimmered away into lacy ash, I took a throw pillow off the couch and gently cradled Isaac in my other arm. It didn't take long before he stopped struggling and I felt his little body relax after decades of suffering.
I gently wrapped up a bundle in a clown sheet and placed it in the fire. It burned furiously, like the paper in my mother's journals, and was soon gone. Nothing but ashes and embers.
“Don't worry, Mother,” I said purely for my own sake, "I took care of Isaac for you."
And finally, I felt at peace.

This has turned into an insane situation. The forum won’t let me post any pictures of our conversation, which is upsetting, but this has gone haywire.
About a month and a half ago, my dog died. I posted on redditgetsdrawnbadly for some silly drawings. I haven’t really posted much, but I’ve seen people do that and it seems to make them feel better. Her death was so sudden, I miss her so much. Anyways, this user commented on the post about how she did a watercolor painting and would do another to make me smile. I was overjoyed and offered another photo to make her painting easier. She messaged me a picture of the paintings and I was so happy! She looked like her old chunky self. The user then told me she’d send them to me if I wanted them, for free or “pay/tip what you can, when you receive them”. I gave her an address she could send them to. She said she’d send them off later that day and send me a tracking number. My last message was asking for her Venmo or cashapp since I didn’t mind compensating her well ($150. I am off well enough and wanted to pay her back for her kindness). No response. For one full month, I texted her every week or so asking for an update on the URL. Just a “hey, any update?” Or “Hello?”. No response. I thought I got scammed, and was worried about my safety (gave someone my address, which is my own fault) so I checked her account to see if she had been active. She was very active! That made me upset, so when I saw she commented on someone’s post about “making pet portraits and sending them off as a ‘pay what you want’ “ I fumed. I responded to her comment and basically said “This isn't true. They'll do it but never send it to you and will ghost you when you ask for any updates. They drew my dog who passed away and ghosted me after I gave them my address. Don't waste your time like I did.”
That must have set her off. She messaged me back immediately saying her cat died and she couldn’t send my package because of it. I told her I didn’t need the package sent right away, I just wanted communication. Even a simple, “hey, I’m busy rn I’ll get to you when I can” would’ve soothed my anxiety. Apparently, I’m a terrible person. I was calm and collected in my response to her, but she twisted it around and said “Sorry my cat suddenly you have ruined my Mother's Day I'm bawling. I only tried to do something nice and I got slandered all over. I hope you get it. If I die suddenly soon and you hear about it on Reddit, I hope you know you contributed to it.” (Exact copy and paste)
I suggested seeking professional help. I couldn’t block her because I unblocked her yesterday to respond to her comment. Now I’m waiting for 9pm tonight to block her again.
She has sent people to harass me and call me a scammer. Saying I’m “scamming for free paintings”. All I did was ask for silly doodles!! She then said “she never even paid postage”in a comment about me, which is ironic considering she told me in DMs that I didn’t need to pay a dime (like I said above, I was going to compensate her when I received the paintings, but we never made it that far. I never even got her info). She messaged me saying she’ll escalate this situation if I don’t apologize for slandering her and to never “cross a witch”. Then she said I’ve ruined her health and she’s dealing with cancer and I’ve ruined her spark for drawing because of how much I “slandered” her with my “lies”.
I just want to know where I went wrong here. I wish she’d block me so this can be over. She is blowing up my phone with her friends harassing me, all because I responded to her public comment. Her last text to me was “Guess u decided to FAAFO. Good luck!” I want this over. She’s going to paint me in a terrible light and I’m exhausted from arguing with people online.
So Reddit, please tell me- AITA?

https://www.reddit.com/GriefSupport/comments/1bykm11/anaia/
https://www.reddit.com/GriefSupport/comments/1bxzqi4/siste
About a month ago, I posted two separate posts on this subreddit about my younger sister, Anaia, who passed away on March 17th, 2024. In one post I gave photos, and in the other I wrote about her addiction, but I don't think I've really talked about myself.
It has been nearly two months since my little sister passed away, and I wouldn't describe it as grueling or depressing, just unusual. On April 22nd, it was confirmed to my family that Anaia died as a result of fentanyl toxicity, which was the reason I always assumed but to have it confirmed was very depressing. Yesterday, I went to my grandmother's house and there were a few copies of Anaia's death certificate, in the onset interval to death section, I said minutes. When talking to my mother (me and my parents talk all the time, my dad sits in my room and plays games while we talk about Anaia or something random, and me and my mother will talk about random things as well as Anaia too.), she told me her perspective of that morning. Long story short, around 11:45AM, I woke up to my mother screaming my sister's name and she soon realized she was unresponsive, me and my father woke up soon after and I called 911, and that's the short version. I assumed my sister was in her covers sleeping and fentanyl overrid her system, but no, my mom told me that when she walked into Anaia's room, she was laid flat out on top of all of her covers, arms outstretched to the side. Learning that was a major shock to me, and I'll explain why.
Sure, Anaia's death was nearly instant. But hearing the details of what my mom said really drove him that once it happened, it didn't matter whether we went into there at the right time or later, there was likely nothing that could've been done. From my understanding, it was almost as if she was up one second and collapsed the next. There was dried vomit on clothes next to her bed, making me assume that after vomiting, she just collapsed instantly after and died. After calling 911, my mother demanded out of fear for me to help her perform CPR, and I didn't hesitate to do so. But, anyone in that situation could tell, with no details given, that there was nothing that could've been done. The typical signs of a deceased body were very present, and even I (doing the mouth resuscitation) knew that if I felt no air coming back onto me, and touching her neck didn't give a pulse, I quickly understood that this was it, like there was nothing me or my parents could've done. When the paramedics arrived at 12 exactly, it took them a minute or two for them to tell us that there was nothing to be done, and ultimately, Anaia had died long, long before we got to her. They said roughly 6-8 hours, meaning at the earliest 3am, and at the latest 5am. It's a disheartening fact for him, and even my father expressed to me too a few nights ago, but we wished that at least there was a chance for us to get to her beforehand. Maybe if he and I or my mom went into her room for no real reason in the middle of the night, we would've been able to save her. What really struck me when my dad was telling me that was him acknowledging that while he and my mom were watching TV, he couldn't bare to imagine that simultaneously Anaia was dying. I felt the same way, I was awake around 3-3:30AM, and if she died during that time, I was totally unaware scrolling through my phone.
I wish that there was something to be done. During her time alive, and when she started doing street dealt percocets, I warned her about fentanyl, and ultimately I wish she had heeded my warning and stayed off them when she did quit in December. I'm a sociable person, and I'm one of those people that have a wide different variety of groups and friends I hang out with, and I may not be in extracurricular activities but even those that are popular in my school know me. As a result of being so sociable, I know people that do drugs, and only a set few who do percocets, one of my closest friends used to be a heavy percocet user and I used to tell her as much as I did my sister to quit. My friend and my sister quit, but one returned and one didn't. One is still here, and one is not. It doesn't matter how many people I told not to do percocets, of course I would've wanted my sister to be the one to really listen to me. But ultimately, the person I wanted to save the most didn't make it. I've saved others, but with my sister, it almost made my words feel like nothing after she died. No matter however many times I told her to please find something less dangerous and more beneficial, to not risk her life, she kept using and lost her life. Said friend and two other friends of my sister (I know both of them) were also at some point active percocet users, and they told me that they felt it like it should've been them, seeing my mother made them see that that could've been their parents, their siblings, their friends and relatives, etc. I told them bluntly that it in fact could've been them in Anaia's position, I told them that just because Anaia's clock stopping running doesn't mean there's has to, they can avoid being in her position. Then it got me thinking, there's plenty of other people who overdose on purpose, who overdose 9 times, who overdose and suffer long term effects like paralyzation, but still remain. Anaia overdosed once, and that was the final time. I believe in God and Jesus but I'm not a preacher, I believe and keep it pushing but I'm not religiously based. I believe in the concept of everyone having a time and a date, but sometimes I find myself questioning that if that's the case, are we just here to live a predetermined fate that we have no control over? At the end of the day, was I meant to go through this? Thinking like that plagues my mind, but I settle for it being her time to go, as seeing other drug users made me wonder what they may be here to prove on earth that Anaia could not. I don't like questioning others' lives and why they get to live longer, that's not me, and I'm glad they've been granted more chances, it just sucks my sister wasn't granted that chance in the grand scheme of things. Predetermined or not, there was so much she could've lived for, but I believe there's a reason time can't be reversed, and there's many unexplained miracles that somehow eases me into thinking that I shouldn't throw myself into a hole of questioning why she didn't get a chance, and just accepting that her race ended earlier than mine. I believe things happen for a reason, it's an insensitive statement depending on the situation, but things happen for people to learn and grow from them, but no one really knows why. I've just had to come to the conclusion hat my sister is okay, she's safe, and I have no reason to continue to question her life and worry about her if she's not here with me anymore, you feel?
From a brother perspective, it sucks. It feels somewhat lonely, to live and breathe as an only child. I've become accustomed to being an older brother to a younger sister, but I turned 16 without her, and that's how it'll be for the rest of my life. At her visitation on March 30th, I didn't cry, but seeing her body just made me shake my head. She looked very nice, the funeral home did an amazing job, but it hit me that this was really her. There were distinct things I saw that she had in life that made me come to that conclusion that that was what was left my little sister, and at the funeral + burial the next day, watching her being lowered into the ground left my head empty. No thoughts, she watching as her casket covered in a white sheet was lowered into the ground, and that'd be it. I grew up with this person, and now I have to look down on this person and go through life without this amazing person. I never imagine something like this happening, especially not like this. I always wanted to die first because I was older, a thought I feared ever since I was a child. That didn't get to happen, and milestones man. She'll never get to graduate the year after me, never get to have that lovely relationship with that special one that she always wanted, she never got to be an aunt, a mom, nothing. One day, I hope to have children and I will tell them about Anaia, but do I wish they'd have been able to meet her if that time came. Everyday, I walk past her room, sometimes I go in there and sometimes I don't. Two weeks after her death, her mattress was taken out by me and my dad's friend, up until a few weeks ago, her room was left scattered the way it was when she died minus the mattress, and now, everything has been cleaned up. It's empty, and the emptiness is another reality check. I'll never see Anaia again, and in the potential next life I believe I will, but the fact I can't now is a hard concept to grasp. No more walking to the bus stop, no more barging into her room or vice versa, no more waiting forever for her to complete her makeup, no more random room hangouts, no more of her asking me to flash a light for her Instagram pictures for an excruciating ten minutes, none of them. Her physical presence is gone, I come home everyday and instantly the thought of her being gone hits me. Riding in the car with my parents, being at school, going out, it doesn't feel the same knowing in the back of my head she's gone, no matter how much fun I have. Regardless, I've returned to normal life, matter of fact, I started going to school every day instantly after the funeral, and during the two weeks of March 17th-March 31st, I showed up to school here and there. It didn't take a toll to do so, because I've accepted that though Anaia died, I'm still alive? I don't stop when she does, that'll have more of an effect. Life still goes on, time doesn't stop for no one no matter how much I may want it to. I honestly sit my current happiness at like a 6.5-7, higher than one may expect. I still have my parents, my friends, and all of my relatives, an important chunk is just missing but I still have my people. I only feel alone in the sibling aspect, but in reality, people make me happy everyday and still continue to. I joke how I've always joked, people have said I look much better than how I did initially, there's notable sadness on my face, but I look happier. If that's true, then I hope it stays that way. I still go out to these afterschool events, outside friend hangous, they bring joy. I just miss my sister 25/8, but I've learned to appreciate life just a little bit more now. If she's okay, I'm okay.
Lastly, I wanted to mention dreams. People say they have dreams of deceased loved ones all the time, I personally haven't yet, would like to, but until then that hasn't been the case. I'm not talking dreams with the person in them, I mean direct communication dreams. My mother has had two, my dad's friend has had one, and my close friend mentioned earlier has had one, but the one that sticks out the most is my little cousin's dream. My mom has a younger sister herself and in 2018, she had her first child, his nickname is JP. During 2021-2022, me and Anaia lived with my grandmother due to losing our apartment (our parents stayed separately at a grouphome my dad worked at, they work for my grandmother's company), and my aunt as well as JP stayed with my grandma. JP essentially became me and Anaia's little brother that we didn't have, and vice versa for him, he sees me and Anaia has his older siblings. Seeing him seem so heartbroken after Anaia died was very sad, as you can see written on this five-year-old's face that Anaia was someone who truly mattered to him and he was so sad about it. However, in his dream, Anaia came to him and told him she loved all of us, that she regretted not seeing him grow older, and that what happened to her was an accident. The part that got me was that Anaia told him that where she was was beautiful, he asked to see it, and she told him he couldn't see it yet. Kids just don't make things like that up in my opinion, and he worded it very detailed for a kindergartener, and JP is at the age where his words don't conflict with other things he's said, he's consistent with it and he tells me the same thing he told me the first time when I ask him here and then. He can see it one day, but he can't see it, not yet. What that tells me is that if life is so hard, death must be so beautiful afterwards, and that there is an afterlife. Even if I believed in a separate religion, or if my current religion isn't the truth, I will always believe in an afterlife. I refuse to believe that this world is it, and kids just don't pull stuff out their butt in a serious situation. I believe him. If that's the case, then I'll gladly wait. It doesn't matter how many people die during my lifetime, whatever remains of it, and how many new people I might meet in my life. If my hope of living to elder age and I meet someone and create a family, and even if said wife and or children die before me if that plan does happen, there's only one person I wish to greet me. I hear that people see a loved one before they die, and I hope Anaia is the one that comes to see me when it's all over. Forever, no matter who else passes before me, Anaia's will stay the worst, the most impactful, and that's a strong statement to make but I'm sure of that. I have plenty of goals I have for myself, but my end goal once the others are done is to get past 70, pass peacefully, and have my sister wait for me there. I hope that wouldn't be much to ask for.
That's it.

🍇.+ introduction +.🍇

i know i mostly give a lot of informative based shifting posts and i absolutely love doing that, however, i also genuinely find shifting to be one of my main hobbies. and so, i decided to take it upon myself to write about and share with all of you my drs. some fandom, some based within this dr, and some all over the place!
i will include scripts, relationships, personality, time, and duration. i do have some that i plan but have not yet shifted to however i am only including the ones i have shifted to as the ones i would like to shift to are just wishful thinking and not me actively trying to shift there. though, i may make a separate post about drs that i desire to shift to one day.
this post will be also talking about drs that i shifted to in the past as well going in chronological order.
side note; when i talk about time spent in dr, i mean how long i spent in it in total. when i use a date like xxxx-xxxx**, i am talking about in this time period. how long it was since i had scripted and focused on this dr for. there will be plenty of overlap here.

๋࣭ ୨🪞୧ ๋࣭ waiting room ๋࣭ ୨🪞୧ ๋࣭

november 2021 - now (with a two year break in between)
time spent in dr; six months
i honestly don't use this dr as much since my forest dr is much more nicer to relax in. i never used my waiting room for its original purpose. my waiting room was small with multiple doors surrounding it. it was more cozy though some would consider it claustrophobic.
the waiting room itself was my bedroom. for context, my bedroom has a walk in closet. inside that walk in closet is my dr. inside that closet is my waiting room where it is not a closet. honestly, idk why i didn't just permashift there but i find the process of shifting to be very relaxing for me as well haha.
it still has my other drs that i used to shift to but don't anymore. i just don't open the doors to it cuz i'm too focused on two of them. one that i don't even shift to the waiting room to and one that i do shift to it.
i shifted here using the raven method the first time and later the adhd method.

𓍢ִ໋🎧♫⋆｡ k-pop dr 𓍢ִ໋🎧♫⋆｡

december 2021 - october 2022
time spent in dr; five years
i have talked about this dr of mine before in a couple of comments and i think maybe a post. i haven't really blabbed about all of it. i remember about it just as a memory. i never dreamed in that reality though simply because it is hard for me to dream in this reality too and i never cared to script in 'i can dream in this reality.' however, now i make it a point to add that in.
i did not spend five years straight. it would make me too disoriented. i shifted to it consistently for a total of five years.
my k-pop group was pretty small tbh. at least compared to other groups i listen to. i scripted that i would not know who was in my group and i would find out after auditions and meeting them for the first time. we had five members and it was pretty average. it was not crazy popular but it wasn't very small either. it was one of the most successful of our record company though.
we were a mixed gender k-pop group. meaning some girls, two guys, and me, agender nonbinary. each member had a separate persona. i will give a quick run down of each member, their persona, and my relationship with them. though i was close with all of them. it's just that i was closer with some more than others.
♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡♫⋆｡
we had me, i suppose you can call me tato since that was the name i had in that dr. i was known as the nerdy one. the smart one who would info dump and talk very formally while most of the members talked casual. i was mostly a dancer but also was good back up vocals.
my best friend was the pessimistic black cat of the group. i knew her from training and we grew close since then. i give her a five out of five on the closeness scale. her name was ga-young. she is a tan skinned korean girl. she was dancer and singer.
the bubbly girl. she sometimes acted bratty for the sake of cuteness. the cute bubbly girl was used interchangeably for her. she's very sweet both on and off stage. all of the group members were. she probably had the highest social media following due to her aesthetic photos and content. all of them looked like they belonged on pinterest. she was also makeup savvy and had a lot of skin care so got many promos and sponsorships from that. her name was banyen and she was an international idol from thailand!
then we have the soft girl of the group. her name was jae-eun. she was pretty short and kinda chubby but very shy and soft spoken. she was main singer and rapper.
the tough boy. his name was shik. shik is a sweet heart off stage. one of the rappers and dancers. he was actually pretty soft outside of his persona.
the jokester. another boy of the group. he was half black half korean. i found him to be very nice. he did struggle in the industry in the beginning but his mother had connections made through networking that allowed him to make it into the group. he hopes to have a solo career one day under a bigger company. his name is hwan. he was one of the main dancers and main vocals.
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some basics of this dr are that stalkers, sasaengs, diet culture, and general toxicity in k-pop do not exist. i do not wish to deal with the drama and struggles of that and hate to see other idols go through it. i did not want for my friends to go through the same as well. he did not get one however across the five years though. i scripted that i spoke korean and english.
also those were the only things i ever scripted about this dr. i wanted it to be as exciting as possible so everything was left up to chance.
i shifted to this reality using the adhd method.

🌊˚.༄ h2o dr 🌊˚.༄

july 2022 - october 2022
time spent in dr; seven months
i don't often see people write down, talk about, or script this dr. this was my very first fandom drs. even though k-pop itself is a fandom, i personally would not consider it a fandom based dr since it does not belong to any specific group, just the general industry of it.
i got the idea for this reality because i was in a summery mood at the time and binge watched this show and mako mermaids with my cousin on his birthday. we watched this show together and i came up with the idea lol. after that, i kept it going for a little bit longer in my dr until i kinda forgot about it. i was honestly too tired switching between this dr and my k-pop dr and another dr on top of this and decided to take a break with this one. i may revisit it. i still have the script in a google doc.
my merfolk power was substanciakinesis. this granted me the ability to harden water almost as if it was like glass or crystallized. it would be strong, sturdy, and indestructible. if i so choose, i can let it revert back to water after a bit, or keep it crystal like forever.
a bit of a con about this reality was that it was actually pretty annoying. that and having to keep such a secret. i did have some lore to it however. it is a coming of age thing when someone in the family turns thirteen. i shifted to when i was thirteen and did the ceremony then shifted again the next time to when i was seventeen to eighteen as that was my age at the time. i had a single dad that i lived with and one ten year old sister who was later fourteen in the story. she was really sweet and honestly i miss her.
i will say though that the powers made it worth it. the ability to breathe underwater is honestly so cool and such a strange sensation. like you don't take notice on how strange a sensation it is to breathe air either until you've breathed underwater in a dr where you can.
i also shifted to this reality using the adhd method.

˗ˏˋ꒰ 📝 ꒱ hogwarts dr ˗ˏˋ꒰ 📝 ꒱

february 2022 - february 2022
time spent in dr; one week
i wasn't even a fan of harry potter haha. i just shifted there because everyone else was and i decided 'hey, why not?' and such.
to decide what house i would script myself into and get sorted in, i went onto a buzzfeed quiz of which house i was. i got ravenclaw and therefore, i was a ravenclaw. i didn't associate myself with the cast too much aside from the teachers and professors because i kinda had to there. the food was pretty good though even if it was kinda out there. it was fun while it lasted but honestly it felt so crowded and overwhelming to me and i'm unsure why. i guess because of the classes that i had to take.
i only shifted there once.
i shifted to this reality using my waiting room.

☄. *. ⋆ alien dr ☄. *. ⋆

march 2022 - april 2022
time spent in dr; three months
this was the last dr i shifted to before my shifting break. it was a pretty fun one. my main ability was anti gravity. alien me in this dr is slightly humanoid. in most of my drs, i look like how i look in this reality here but for this one, i looked much more different and dressed even more different. it was a cultural based clothes for the home planet i was from. think kinda star wars based but not a star wars inspired reality.
in my dr, i had antennas which basically acted as eyes to see from 360 degrees. hair isn't hair but made from a liquidy slime of bright neons. the neons change colors depending on emotions.
though i did spent quite a while in this reality, i don't have too much to say about it. this is because the most i can say is just different greetings, food, and general culture from aliens than humans. it's from another galaxy and obviously planet. and life span on this planet is much longer. we are more durable than humans.
when an alien passes away, their energy becomes one with the stars, turning into star dust and watching over their people.
i shifted to this reality using my waiting room.

💥✧࿐ mha/bnha dr 💥 ✧࿐

april 2024 - now
time spent in dr; twelve days
this was my first shift i did since my two year break! well, technically it was my waiting room but i used my waiting room to shift here immediately after and spent a week there.
i plan on going back to it but not much of my script was done to it yet. i prefer to be spontaneous in my scripting and just choose to cover the basics. i don't even script future upcoming events.
i'll be honest, it was a bit trippy having this as my first animated dr ever. if felt so real but the lines surrounding my hands made it all feel crazy. i think next time i will try realistic instead, haha.
my quirk in this reality is prediction. i can predict the actions and attacks of my opponent. think of it like the attacks in the video game undertale. a warning sign shows up for certain attacks that alerts the player to move out of the way.
one of my friends in this dr's quirk is extensions. her nails can grow into sharp nail extensions that cut like steel.
i am in the hero class of class 3a along with the big three. we spend a lot of time together. i am closer with nijere since she's the most friendly of them.
i shifted to this reality using my waiting room which i shifted from using the astral projection method.

⋆｡ﾟ🌖 wolfblood dr 🌖 ﾟ｡⋆

april 2024 - now
time spent in dr; eight months four months each shift
wolfblood is an english/british teen drama live action series about what are essentially werewolves known as wolfbloods. a wolfblood is born human and looks human up until a certain age and moon. once they reach that age, their blood changes and they become a wolf. they can then interchange between wolf and human however they please except on a full moon. unless of course it is a blood moon. on a blood moon, a wolfblood looks the exact same except their mind transforms.
there's no unique feature of a wolfblood. they can be any race, religion, etc. the thing that holds them all together is being a wolfblood. in my dr.
in my dr, i looked the exact same as here. i came from a small family of wolfbloods. i decided to take my family in my h2o reality and put them here as well. it has a similar coming of age theme. at a certain age, a wolfblood transforms just as in my h2o dr, once you are a certain age, you can go and become a merfolk. in this dr, i lived in england my entire life there and attend the same school as the main cast. however, i am not friends with the main cast nor enemies.
i can sense something is up with them as they act weird in class but can't put my finger on it. i scripted it so i was unaware of the identities on my peers.

‧₊˚🌿 forest dr ‧₊˚🌿

april 2024 - now
time spent in dr; two months
copying this from a previous post here, don't mind me.
'so a bit about my dr that i am shifting to. it is not any fandom related dr but instead an alternate reality where i live in the forest in an advanced tree house. think of the houses in trees type. i spend a lot of time there meditating, practicing spells, and spending time with the animals there but especially wolves. i still have internet connection but irl i don't live close to nature so this is just perfect for me. i'm happy in both this reality and my dr. i switch between the two whenever i feel like it.'
i also shifted to this one first astral projecting. but now i just meditate until i shift. when i shift, i am also in the same meditating position as well. i wanted this to instead be connected to my waiting room, to become a sort of escapism for myself. just in a different way.
you can see the posts i made about the outfits that i wear in this dr here if you want! you can also see more of my outfits in that reality here as well. :)
i shifted to this reality using my meditation method.

⋆🔗 ˚⟡˖ ࣪ conclusion ⋆ ˚⟡˖ ࣪🔗

this is all i have for today! i hope you enjoyed it. perhaps this gave you all motivation or some scripting and reality ideas. i may have forgotten some things to include and add. apologies if some stuff didn't make sense. i hope you enjoyed the read though!
i will say this as well and leave you off with some general scripting ideas
: ̗̀➛ you cannot die
: ̗̀➛ you cannot get hurt
: ̗̀➛ you always get a good night sleep
: ̗̀➛ if you have chronic illnesses like me, you can script that your chronic illnesses are more manageable or you simply just don't have it.
that is all i have for now and happy shifting! ᥫ᭡

I finally published for the first time. Not the first time I've finished a novel, but certainly the first time I have actively published one .. one that I've been a little proud of. I know it's a long process to get noticed, or even start to see some traction in sales & downloads, but how do you go about promoting your novel? I feel like I'm stuck. 😕
Beginning of chapter one below - if anyone would like to provide feedback that would be lovely. 🙂
[2,310] It began like a surreal haze, a fever dream dancing with unknown figures swirling around her like a languid tornado, their movements seemingly slowed by some unseen force as she awoke to a world spinning out of her control. She found herself surrounded by strangers who moved like spectres in a dream, fragmented flashes who assaulted her consciousness - a woman gently pressing a cloth to her throbbing head, another offering sips of water while she coughed and struggled to swallow, a man peering down at her with a furrowed brow, and a mysterious figure lingering in the doorway with an unsettling glint of desire in his eyes.
The room buzzed with a quiet urgency as they hovered around her, their faces etched with concern and something else she couldn't quite place - an undercurrent of tension that seemed to pulse in time with her own racing heart. These disjointed images flitted in and out, creating a mosaic of fragmented reality. Awake, her body throbbed with pain; asleep, she plunged into a black abyss, time slipping away unnoticed. Each awakening brought the desire for oblivion as her mind plunged back into the depths of darkness.
Beth jolted upright, startled by the sharp bang of a car backfiring. A cry of pain escaped her lips as she attempted to sit up, her back and legs resisting her will. A woman, the same from her fleeting visions, hurried into the room with a damp cloth and a glass of water.
"Easy now," the woman spoke gently, her mild Spanish accent adding warmth to her sharp words as she pressed the cloth to Beth's forehead and helped her sit up, "you're weak, rushing won't do you any favours. The sooner you regain strength, the sooner you can move."
A man, the one with the odd expression in her visions, appeared in the doorway once again; "and the sooner we can leave this place, I'm sick of it." He grumbled, striding away with urgency and frustration. His steps were heavy and fraught with agitation, each one seeming to leave a deep imprint on the ground beneath him. His grumbling was like distant thunder, punctuated by the clenching of his jaw and the tightening of his fists.
"Don't mind my brother," the woman interjected sharply, "it's not you - he hates everyone." Hate, Beth pondered, wondering what she might have done to earn his disdain.
"Are you hungry?" The woman stood, walking to the other side of the room to adjust another pillow behind Beth's back. Beth nodded; "I'll get you some soup."
Left alone, Beth surveyed the room - beige walls, a shattered TV, torn brown curtains. She squinted at the notepad on the side table, revealing the branding - Mill Village Motel Eatonville. The coffee pod machine at the room's far end, covered in dust, hinted at a neglected past.
"You're awake," startled, Beth turned to find the man with the furrowed brow at the door - tall and dark, with piercing brown eyes, he appeared softer now, "how are you feeling?" Beth managed a brief smile before adjusting herself, wincing in pain. He rushed to offer a hand, and she took his arm to shift as he adjusted the pillow.
"Want to give walking a try?" The man's warm, brown eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled down at her, his features etched with concern, his furrowed brow now smooth and his brown eyes sparkled with an unfamiliar kindness.
She shook her head, and the woman returned with soup and water; "she needs to eat before attempting to walk, Austin," she said, setting the tray before Beth.
"Then we'll try again tomorrow," Austin expressed, heading towards the door, "the sooner we leave, the better - we've been here for too long." His footsteps echoed with determination and authority, less frustrated than the other man's but equally resolute.
"I apologise if it's cold. Heating options are limited here. Need a hand?" The woman offered. Beth shook her head, the pounding of her headache resonating through her body.
"Well I'll leave you to it then. Shout out if you need anything, if you can talk at all." Beth glanced down at her bowl of soup, parting her lips as if to speak, but no words escaped. A deep sigh escaped from the woman's mouth as she turned and left the room, leaving Beth alone with her cold, untouched meal. The silence in the room was deafening, broken only by the sound of muffed chatter outside.
The days stretched longer as Beth's need for rest diminished. Boredom and confusion settled in, intensifying as the people from her visions became tangible presences, moving in and out of her room. They attended to her needs but seldom engaged in conversation. At night, their muffled voices in the adjoining room became a distant comfort, and the faint echoes of their arguments a source of intrigue.
"We need to leave," a frustrated male voice pierced through the thin walls, "we have to head further south before winter traps us with little supplies and an extra mouth to feed - considering you're all so intent on keeping this girl alive."
"This woman," a familiar female voice retorted, likely the one who had been caring for her, "needed help - I distinctly remember a time when I wasn't doing well and needed it too."
"You're my sister, of course, I wasn't going to leave you behind."
"I'm not talking about you, Luis," she yelled, "I'm talking about before you came back from Minnesota and found me."
"Why can't we just leave her here with some supplies and a gun. Why do we need to bring her with us?"
"Jesus Christ Luis we're not leaving her here alone and you two can have it out later," intervened another man, "but Luis is right - we need to leave before the snow settles in."
The argument faded into muffled voices again, and Beth strained to catch the words exchanged between the trio. A knock at the door startled her.
"May I come in?" A young girl, the same from her visions, had opened the door quietly without her even noticing. "I thought the yelling might have woken you." Beth nodded, maintaining her silence.
"I'm Chantelle." Her soft Southern accent flowed like a gentle breeze through a cornfield. She pulled up a chair beside the bed. "Luis can get into it with everybody, but he means well. Well, no, that's a lie. I don't know why I said that. He's a dick."
"I gathered," Beth whispered and laughed a little, suddenly overtaken by a violent cough.
Chantelle rushed to hand her water; "so, you do speak. From the way Austin and Val were sayin' it, it sounded like you were mute. I thought, you couldn't be deaf because you've been nodding and smiling like a dang puppet."
Beth laughed and took another sip; "I didn't really have anything worth saying until now. No one has bothered to make conversation."
"Your accent, where are you from?" Chantelle sat down on the wooden chair, her long dark hair cascading down her back in gentle curls. Her bright brown eyes sparkled with kindness as she looked towards Beth.
"Australia," Beth paused, realising she hadn't thought about home for a while, "I'm from Australia," she repeated.
Chantelle pulled out a deck of cards; "well, I figured you might be bored and needed a little human interaction that didn't make you feel like you were in a hospital."
Beth's eyes lit up, and Chantelle smiled; "what do you want to play?"
— — —
"What do you think you are doing?" Austin stormed into the motel room.
"We're leaving. Today," Luis' words cut through the air.
"The van's still in bad shape, and we won't survive this winter on foot." Austin's arms were folded tightly across his chest, the muscles in his biceps and forearms bulging with tension. His jaw was clenched, and his brows furrowed in frustration.
"Then fix the damn van!" Luis yelled, the sound piercing through the walls and resonating outside the motel room for others to hear the heated exchange.
"Oh, sorry, I'll just take it down the road to the mechanic, shall I?" Austin raised a quizzical eyebrow, smirking at his friend. The men paused their argument, exchanging laughter.
"Luis, what's going on with you?" Austin softened his tone, taking a seat on the other bed. "We've been friends since high school, grew up together, served in the army together. This isn't you."
"I don't know, man." Luis sat on the other bed, facing his friend, his face buried in his hands. He rubbed his face hard, threw his head back, and sighed heavily. "This just isn't—" he paused.
"Isn't what?"
"Isn't life." Luis gestured around the room.
"We'll get to the coast, find a boat, just like we planned." There was a slight taste of bitterness in the air, as if Austin's mild frustration was tangible.
"And then what?"
"Do the best we can," Austin stood up, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, "we all have our dark moments, brother. You helped me get through mine, I'll help you get through yours."
Austin walked out of the motel room into the crisp morning air. The atmosphere was fresh, with a subtle scent of dew and grass. The sweet aroma of winter's imminent arrival filled the air, mingling with the faint scent of burning oil from their broken down van across the parking lot.
"Ben thinks he can fix the van by tomorrow. He found the parts we need on the other side of town." Val caught Austin as he had walked outside.
"He went scouting alone?" Austin looked across the lot at Ben, deep into the hood of the black church van they had found a while back.
Chantelle bounded up before she could answer; "Beth seems much better today. She's eatin' and drinkin' more. I think she could try walkin' today."
"Beth?" Val and Austin remarked in unison.
"Mmm, she speaks - she might have a lot more to say if either of you bothered to converse with her instead of just talkin' to her." She walked off towards Ben, a light air in her hopeful stride.
— — —
Austin found Beth sitting on the edge of her bed, her feet bare and dangling idly over the side. Her toes were curled, squeezing them tightly as she wiggled them back and forth. Her face was tense with concentration as she tried to alleviate the tingling sensation in her feet.
"Beth." His voice was soothing and calming, his words spoken with a gentle tone as he tried to ease Beth's discomfort.
"Chantelle?" She looked up at him, as he nodded, smiling gently. "She's a good kid." She smiled and looked back at her toes.
"Do you want to try walking today?" He walked towards the chair on the other side of the room and sat down as it creaked underneath the weight of him.
"The sooner I can walk, the sooner you can get out of here." She said with a sarcastic air, mocking Luis.
"The sooner we can get out of here." He repeated sarcastically with a smile, a light spread of jest washing over him as he joined her in mocking his friend.
"Your friend Luis seems to be very against bringing me along with you." She looked back at him.
"I'm not in the business of leaving people behind. Especially in Washington in the middle of October," he sat forward, leaning his elbows on his knees, "you wouldn't survive the winter."
"Then maybe you should have just left me to die." She turned her body to face him abruptly. He opened his mouth to speak, but she interjected before he could respond.
"Why did you help me? You don't know me, why did you even bother?"
"Like I said, Beth," he stood up, his wistful tone switching back to cold and dry, "I'm not in the business of leaving people behind." He walked over to her slowly.
"I've lost too many people. I've watched people kill others over a can of soup. I've seen friends leave friends behind to save themselves," he sat down on the end of her bed, "I don't leave people behind."
His brown eyes cut through his words like a thunderstorm. She looked at his face, tired and weathered from sleepless nights with one eye open to ensure his group's safety. She pegged him as their leader - strong and determined with clear military training.
"What happened to you?" She asked softly.
"What happened to you?" He countered; "I refuse to believe you survived a pandemic alone for six months in a foreign country."
She said nothing and looked back at her feet. They sat in silence for a while before he stood up and headed for the door.
"We're leaving the day after tomorrow. We need to head south before it's too cold, and we don't know how long the van or the car will last, so part of that might be on foot."
"I'll try walking today." Beth nodded obediently.
"I'll send Val and Chantelle in to help you." He replied, his voice maintaining the cold cadency.
"Thank you." She smiled, wriggling her toes as the numbness started to dissipate. Before he could leave, she looked up at him again.
"Austin?" He stopped at the door and turned to her. "I know you've all done a lot for me, including putting your friendship with Luis on the line, so thank you. But I have a favour to ask," her voice grew quiet, "before we leave."
"What is it?" He asked sternly at her audacity to ask for another favour.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He noticed her green eyes glisten with the added layer of acridity and the change in her demeanour; "before we leave, I need you to help me bury my husband."