You’ll see the notice when you log in, basically adding back everything people were complaining about and clarifying their plans. I’m sure many people will still be unhappy, or see it as cowardly or insincere. Personally, I’m not so sure.
They were super generous in the starting months - more than most games, that you can get all the heroes for free. Then the first expansion, they tightened it up, and everyone hated that (understandably).
The thing is, I can see where in 4 months even casual f2p players will have all (or most) heroes fully maxxed out at current rates. That would cause players to lose motivation with no goals, plus make competition boring. They can’t churn out endless content every few weeks, making new maps and quests takes time and loads of work.
I’m not saying they handled this well, at all. I’m saying I don’t necessarily ascribe it to massive greed and not caring about players. No-one wants to drive off players (which they did). They mis-calculated, badly, how much people would notice this and how much they would care. But wanting to slow progression is common in games, and kinda needed sometimes.
I realize I’m swimming against the tide here, just throwing in my two cents. I appreciate the apology and roll back.

Note: I have written a huge post about my relationship with guy from Tinder. Here is only my thoughts about the situation that make me sad. And I feel I am still fall in love to him, but I'd rather forget it.
You can read it and leave me a comment if you wish.
I met a guy on Tinder. Before the date, he asked me about continuing the evening at his home. I said to him: "I like you, you seem like a good person, but I'm going to just meet with you and have some conversation. That's why I don't want to give you any expectations about continuing the evening."
We decided to meet in the city center and then go to a pub for a pint. Firstly, we went to the bench near the river and talked a little bit about everything. Then I noticed he tried to sell me his service as a tattoo artist. It was a little bit weird because it was a date and in my opinion, mixing private life and business is a bad idea.
Then we went to the pub, the evening was going well, we had an interesting conversation after he asked me about kissing. I wasn't against it because I liked him. During our first date, he invited me to the next date. We were going to go for a walk near the beach in the closest town to the city.
After this date, we didn't chat for a day or two, I don't remember. I texted him first, we had some conversation and he asked me if I could help him to prepare a business card for print. I could do it for him, but I don't like to mix private life and business, as I mentioned above. I said it to him and offered him help with advice. He answered me that I mixed nothing, and if I went to him doing a tattoo, I would pay as well.
Then we were chatting about other topics and sex as well. He wanted that I showed him my underwear. I refused him. He said, if I show him it, he will be glad to see me again. I said: "It sounds like blackmailing, and if people like each other, they will be delighted to see each other without IF".
He texted me the next day and asked if I wanted to go with him to that town, and I agreed. We met in the city center and then went together to a train station. I felt some time he behaved a little bit cold, maybe just felt uncomfortable, I don't know. I usually have no idea what to do in a similar situation. I was tired after work and I felt uncomfortable because of him. We chatted not too much during our journey from the city to the town. When we came to the town he started to text somebody or listen to voice message from a woman. I felt uneasy because of it. It felt like he wanted to finish the date. I didn't tell him about my feelings. Actually, he explained to me that he was chatting with a guy who sold him one thing for a guitar.
Then we walked on the beach and on the way to the mountain I found two incredibly beautiful places where we spent a lot of time, just sitting there, chatting, kissing, and hugging. It was really pleasant for me. I was pleasant when we told positive things about each other when we walked holding hands when he kissed me every 5 minutes. It was a nice time. Then we went to have dinner at his familiar pub. To summarize, we were together for over 5 hours.
I invited him to my place the next day, he went to my town. Unable he wanted to try traditional cuisine from my country I offered him to cook together. And yes, we had great sex as well. We were together most of the day. After that he texted me when he came home: "I am a nice person, so kind. He spent time great. The food was delicious, etc". We chatted about this day a little bit, and then he texted me appreciation again and said: "You're very kind, bla bla bla... I wish you the best". I asked him if he was breaking up with me, he said: "No, see you soon".
After 2 days, I noticed he blocked me on Instagram. I didn't text or call him these days. So, did nothing. I was really surprised. I was unpleased because of it because we spent time well together, I thought so.
Two weeks have passed, but I can't forget him.
I am thinking about why he did it and I have some explanations for myself, such as

1. He wasn't going to have a relationship with me in the beginning. That's why he behaved cold a little bit and didn't talk about himself much.
   
2. He is looking for clients on Tinder + hookups. I think he estimates himself for his job. I asked him "What's up?" But he started to make excuses that 2 clients per day were fine. And I guess that my job is not cool for him (I worked as a store assistant and as a graphic designer on days off instead of his 20 years of experience as a tattoo artist). Maybe he worries about his social status.
   
3. He escapes from perspective long-term relationships because of a scare, sad background, or other reasons.
   
4. Maybe he has a long-term relationship but I don't really believe in it.
   

Honestly, I can't understand, if he didn't care about me, why he was so gentle with me? I didn't force him to kiss me as often as he wanted to do it. I noticed that he likes to check my personal boundaries. What I can let him do or don't? But if I disagreed with something he was polite and never forced me. Why he spent a lot of time with me? In my opinion, if you want sex, you are looking for a person who is okay for hookup.
What is your opinion about my situation?

Hey guys! I need to come up with $750 in 15 days or less, so I am brainstorming options to do it. I will have substaintal money rolling in from an internship after those 15 days, but until then, I am sort of broke. Please read my story and see if you have any ideas.
Some credit background: I am a 21 Y/O engineering student from the US trying to get a credit card by the end of the month (~15 days). My credit score is 763 on TransUnion, 761 on Equifax (according to Credit Karama) and 791 FICO Score (according to my KeyBank portal). I walked into my local branch of Keybank and asked for a credit card. We did the application right there and they seemed enthusiatic about it. Of course, I get an email saying I was not approved. I called them back and they said some reasoning about co-owning my current credit card with my dad. They said they wanted more of a credit history.
So I asked them the age-old question "How do I build my own credit history if I can't get a credit card from my own bank?". They told me to look elsewhere.
So I'm hoping you guys can help with some advise and/or tips on where I can go from here or set some expectations for me. Here is my banking history, all with KeyBank:

• Opened up a joint "Hassle-free" debit account with my dad at age 16, converted it to be sole owner at age 18.
• Opened up a joint "Key Cashback" credit card with my dad at age 18, I use it occasionally for big and small purchases and it always has been paid off in full without fees. (I suspect this is the main factor towards my credit score, but I'm not sure).
• Opened up a joint "Key Smart Checking" Account at age 18 to be used as sort of a "college fund" for rent and textbooks and that sort of thing.
  
• No debt/loans, was lucky enough to get a full-tuition scholarship for college
  

I need to pay a lawyer for a traffic ticket and had some christmas/bday money saved up over the years so I paid them half of the $1,500 and need to pay them the rest by the end of the month. They said they don't do any kind of payment plans. I can't tell my parents or ask for money from my friends, so I gotta do it myself. I start a good engineering internship next week, but my first check won't come in time to pay the laywer.
I figured a good short term solution could be my own credit card, where I can take advantage of the intro 0% APR rates where I can use my internship money to pay off the lawyer charge almost immediately. Then I could use the card regularly to build a bit of credit history. Unfonunetly, my own bank denying me a card threw me off and now I'm scrambling.
I have a great credit score, but I wanted to know if I should even bother applying for other cards if my own bank wouldn't give me one.
My main questions or concerns:

• I don't mind my credit score going down a little bit if I apply for a credit card and get accepted, but if I don't get accepted then it will have been a complete waste, should I even bother?
• Are there any other non-sleazy ways to get a small loan or cash advance? Its only $750.
• IF I do find a credit card that I get accepted into, would I even get it in time to use it?
• IF I did get it in time and I can use it, what if my credit limit was only $1,000 or $1,500? Would using $750 of that limit be a huge deal?

I am currently looking at the American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card, and some other similar ones. Hoping to hear some ideas/advice in the comments. If you think I'm hopeless, you can let me know but please be nice about it, I'm just doing my best.

I've been trying for a while. It's been on and off. The last 6-10 months I've been trying to focus on my well being.
I have met a few people but they are not always regular at the place I go. I prefer interacting with people face to face because writing message can get messy and confusing especially for me since I have anxiety easily (there is something called Text anxiety, it fits me well😂).
I haven't made friends yet but I'm already in a better situation, just learning to be surrounded by people, interact with them. I've had a hard time because of bad (we can even say evil) people at work the last 14+ months and it's almost finally over.
One of the people I met told me about his friends and said that some of them , he met them online with Instagram.
I am really curious how in 2024 people meet new people ? Especially with social medias.
I'm not a real fan of that and I barely use them except for sending memes, reels, publish a few things. Anyway, social medias are not my whole life at all. But I can see them as a tool. Meeting apps are not for me ,I've tried.
Hobbies, I have tried, just that it is a matter of luck I guess. People just come for the lesson then disappear as soon as the lesson is done.
Im thinking about taking language lessons for fun. I wonder how are Japanese or Dutch lessons in Liège? From university of Liège
I would like to try hip hop dance next school year so I'm waiting for the dates to try for free the dance lessons. I already dance and it's fun, just that people aren't here for socializing, just dancing which is a pity and there are only women. I thought it would be great but no one has the mindset to make new female friends. Well, I enjoy dance so I keep going there for myself basically. Making friends was a bonus if it happened. I am just disappointed but I got over it since then.
Everyone say I'm stil young, I stil can make new friends. I really do believe that mostly I haven't met the "right" people yet. I'm seeing a therapist for a year now, so don't worry guys, I'm trying to take care of myself and work on myself too !😀
It's kind of weird to be born here and even for Belgian, it's hard to make new friends if you know no one basically. I am not that extroverted and I wish I had more friends to hang out with.
I also wish to go to concerts for example, but since I'm 25F, and I'm not confident to go alone especially I don't feel safe going out alone, it's something I have to give up. There are things I do sometimes alone like movies when there are films I really would like to see ,and I don't need anyone to watch it so I'm fine. But I just wish I could enjoy idk, drinks, bars, concerts, fun parties open to everyone, enjoy conversations with friends of friends and such.
I feel like missing out. I know friendships and love relationships are overrated. I don't need that many friends, but just a few ,is enough if they are genuine and sincere ! It's so basic and it's so hard to find
I've read many posts of the subreddits of Liège, Belgium or Wallonia where so many people have a hard time meeting new people AND making long lasting friendships. What the hell is going on ? I know how Belgian are, I was born here after all. The people I've met the last years, they often keep staying with their close friends from school hobbies or whatever, and they never bother getting to know new people. That's such a pity. Even myself I find Belgian being closed off, hard to interact with. We can only meet other people through events hobbies,etc, when we don't know anyone at all. It's really luck when we meet the right people for us quickly. Lots of attempts can lead to nothing for many people.
Sometimes I'm tired of this situation, but whenever someone hurt me (it happened in January this year, I cut off contact with this person she didn't respect my feelings and my pain), I just feel like I prefer being alone, at least I don't have to care for anyone else other than myself.
That's why I try to keep taking care of myself more, while keep trying to meet new people , just not all the time. I don't give up. Just I take a lot of breaks from it. I think I feel better this way, going to places regularly without waiting anything, getting used to people again, and getting to know new people when it's mutual.
How is your life going on ?
I just wish life would be like movies 😂 going to a party like in the US where you know no one, and then you make new friends at the end of the night 😂 except that I did do that in Spain when I was at a Youth hostel, partied at night in club till late at night, but at the morning people didn't care at all and went on their ways. Dunno about Liège though, I just don't feel safe in the square.

Title says it all, this post is a deep dive into the Sonic Adventure 2 OST, specifically all the songs pertaining to Knuckles. This is for a few reasons that I’ll get into in a moment, but from what I’ve seen Knuckles’ and Rouge’s soundtracks tend to get overlooked or written off by fans (More so Knuckles’) unfairly so in my opinion.
This post will serve, not only to analyze the music itself, but also Knuckles’ characterization, as you’ll see the two are basically intrinsically linked.
Just a quick disclaimer, I’m not a musician nor am I that musically inclined, this isn’t an expert’s opinion or analysis, just a listener’s thoughts.
A bit of background of me before we start, I grew up around hip hop when I was young so I can really appreciate Knuckles’ soundtrack probably more so than a lot of other people.
Ever since I was a kid, Knuckles has always been my favorite character, I always found his complicated friendship and rivalry with Sonic to me a much more interesting dichotomy than Sonic and Shadow (I know, fight me).
That and I’ve always just adored his character (Before they forgot how to write him) he can be hot headed and stubborn like Sonic, but he’s got a bit of a Yin and Yang thing going on, with his Chill nature conflicting with his Quick and Explosive temper, as well as his questioning of his purpose in life and duty to the Master Emerald.
Anyway, enough context on myself, let’s strap in and get to the meat of this veeeeeery long post (My bad guys).

BACKGROUND

So for starters, I think it’s best we talk about the style and influences that are quite evident in Knuckles’ Music, that being Hip Hop/Rap, but it goes a bit further than that.
For some historical context, Sonic Adventure 2 came out in 2001, I’m not sure how many hip hop fans hang around the subreddit but by 2001 the Golden Age of Hip Hop had been firmly left behind. Biggie and Pac had been dead for a while, and the stars of yesteryear began to fizzle out as the young blood cropped up onto the scene.
The early 2000s Hip Hop scene was mainly dominated by the East Coast and the Dirty South, lots of stars of this generation of rap included 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Outkast, Ludacris, The Game, Three 6 Mafia and Xzibit, but you also had older legends like Nas and Snoop Dogg who were still culturally relevant.
This modern sound of hip hop differed greatly in sound to the early 90s, everything was a lot more clean and refined, samples were still used but weren’t as common as before and the West Coast sound that characterized the early 90s had been long gone.
It’s important to bring this up, because comparing SA2’s Hip Hop tracks to the climate it was released in, they sound almost out of place. Listening to Get Rich or Die Trying, or Stillmatic and then listening to SA3’s tracks you’d be convinced they were separated by many years.
The Tracks in SA2 are definitely rooted in early 90s hip hop, it’s very clear that those early Gangsta Rap albums like Straight Outta Compton and Black Sunday greatly influenced this part of the soundtrack. And you don’t have to take my word for it, go and listen to the instrumentals of songs like Express Yourself or Insane in the Brain and tell me that they’d sound out of place playing in one of Knuckles’ Stages.
Early 90s Hip Hop makes heavy use of sampling, primarily of the work of Black Artists of the past two decades, because of SA2K’s early 90s hip hop influences, it too has a lot of roots in 70s/80s Black music. Elements of Soul, Funk and Jazz are commonly heard in Knuckles’ Stages, think James Brown or Isaac Hayes.
So what Groups or Artists seem to inspire SA2K’s sound? Well the obvious choice is NWA, though specifically Straight Outta Compton, Elif4zaggin has a much different sound. However I don’t believe that’s entirely the case.
Whether it’s pure coincidence or intentional, Too Short (stylized as Too $hort) was a decently popular artist from Oakland, which is up in the Bay Area of NorCal which is the main inspiration for most of SA2’s urban environments.
Anyway, Too Short was actually quite a pioneer in Hip Hop as he formed the Dangerous Crew, a Hip Hop Band who played actual instruments instead of using samples, it’s because of this that I believe Too Short and the Dangerous Crew to be the main inspiration of SA2K’s sound whether intentional or not, not only are the two defined by their funky beats, but also their use of live instruments. I recommend listening to songs like The Ghetto, Sample The Funk and Just Another Day to get an idea of how his music influences SA2K.

UNKNOWN FROM M.E. (REMIX)

Honestly I find this track to be an improvement over the original, it definitely leans a lot more into the R&B aspect over the rest of the soundtrack but it’s still distinctly hip hop with the record scratches, drums and Hunnid-P rapping over it.
Speaking of, let’s address the Elephant in the room briefly. I know Hunnid-P or Hunnid-Pacent isn’t everybody’s favorite person on this sub, either on the track or behind the scenes, and while his antics aren’t relevant to this post, I don’t necessarily agree that he’s as bad as people say he is on the mic. Is he the world’s greatest emcee? Absolutely not, but he does his job pretty well, he has good flow and a pretty good voice. I think people clown on his lyrics too much, I’m not saying he’s an Inspectah Deck level lyricist but I think the guy has dropped a few bombs and this OST has some gems, but we’ll get into this in a bit.
Getting back to the song, the content of the lyrics is basically Knuckles’ inner voice, this is basically the entire soundtrack, though Unknown From M.E. is more of a general character overview of Knuckles, its standard stuff now but at the time it was a pretty deep dive into the character of Knuckles’ in a decently subtle way.
Most of the song centers around Knuckles’ self imposed isolation on Angel Island, his duty to his people and the world to protect the Master Emerald, but also him yearning for something more and the inner conflict that stems from that.
This song actually has some underrated lines, some standout lyrics include:
“Clench my fists tight, become more redder - I don't wanna hurt her, my passion observed”
The last line is in obvious reference to Rouge and an interesting insight into Knuckles himself. He clearly doesn’t like violence and isn’t interested in hurting anybody, but his duty as a guardian and his quick temper often means he can get a bit too carried away as the line implies, good stuff.
“Been lonely all my life, does it matter? - Here for the mission, whoever want, it bring it”
Here we can clearly see Knuckles trying to reason with himself here, specifically after meeting Sonic and experiencing a life that isn’t just his duty. Here we see the Guardian side of him, he’s always been alone and it’s never been problem before, why should it be now? At least that’s what he tries to tell himself.
“Don't approve of him but gotta trust him - This alliance has a purpose - This partnership is only temporary”
I’ll get more into this when we get to Death Chamber, but these lines are obviously alluding to Sonic and the plot of the game. It’s clear that Knuckles still doesn’t completely like Sonic, however the key here is that he trusts him, he’s gotten to a point now where he knows Sonic is well meaning and their goals align. However, just like real people, he’s accepted the arrangement but he doesn’t have to like it, he still believes Sonic is brash, arrogant and takes far too many risks, it will take more than a few adventures for Knuckles to fully change his opinion on Sonic.
Hunnid-P and Marlon Saunders do a great job of bouncing off each other on this song, their voices and cadences clash with each other nicely almost like how Knuckles’ inner turmoil is split in two.
The beat is tantalizingly funky, for starters that bass line is smooth as butter and the song has a nice tempo, you get the occasional organ flourish and guitar riff that crescendo and just help to enhance the song even further. Overall a really solid track in my opinion, the content of the lyrics is interesting and the delivery is great, all over an extremely funky instrumental.

KICK THE ROCK - WILD CANYON

Probably my favorite song out of all Knuckles’ Stages, this one is definitely the most Jazzy and parallels nicely with Rouge, but has a distinctly Knuckles Twist.
That Sax and Organ combo just cause an absolute eargasm and those drums form such a nice tempo that makes this track such easy listening. Honestly there’s not a whole lot going on with this track and that is not a bad thing at all. Its simplicity is probably its biggest strength and is quite noticeable compared to something like Unknown From M.E.
Some Lyrics I found particularly interesting are:
“I'm feelin her in mysterious ways - That's why I stay on point like every single day - I gotta protect this place, I do it for my race”
Yeah yeah I know everybody finds this line and the play doh line inappropriate and funny, I understand the latter but honestly I could never get the outcry over this one
“I’m feelin her in mysterious ways” honestly, in my opinion, it’s not what you think. I’ve never really seen it as a sexual line “I’m feelin you” is basically another way of saying I get you, it’s basically Knuckles saying he gets Rouge, but he doesn’t know why and that kinda bothers him.
The context matters here and the lines after do give my interpretation some weight. It’s basically Knuckles saying to himself “I get this girl and I kinda mess with her, but I gotta job to do” Knuckles is intrigued by Rouge, he’s never met anybody like her and he obviously has some feeling towards her, though because of his lack of interaction with others he struggles to understand these feelings and instead of addressing them, he tries to ignore them and remain true to his job as Guardian
“Who could'a did this, that snitch named Rouge! - When I catch her, I'ma get her with these tools”
More obvious than the last one, but it still shows that Knuckles, despite his various different feelings toward Rouge, knows he has a job to do and tries to center himself to stay committed
Honestly it’s hard to choose between this or Unknown From M.E. as my favorite Knuckles track but either way its up there and definitely something I can bop to on the regular

A GHOST’S PUMPKIN SOUP - PUMPKIN HILL

The one everybody knows and honestly I get it, it’s got that smooth piano/guitar I can’t really tell what it is but it definitely slaps. It has that distinct G-Funk whistle which pops up occasionally across SA2K that simulates that stereotypically ghostly sound nicely
It’s definitely in contention with Deeper for the most lowkey Knuckles track and that’s saying something.
Not much content lyrically, but I managed to find a few interesting lines:
“I ain’t gonna let it get to me, I’m just gon creep - Down in Pumpkin Hill I gots to find my lost piece”
Something we don’t actually see a lot from Knuckles, fear! Most of this song is about Knuckles’ fearlessness being tested, if you view this as Knuckles’ internal monologue (Which if you don’t at this point then I’ve been doing something wrong 😂) its less about the song telling us how tough Knuckles is, but Knuckles reassuring himself that he can do this.
He’s obviously trepidatious over being in Pumpkin Hill and he has to take a moment to center himself and reassure himself that “I’m Knuckles, I’m not afraid of anything” again this goes back to how Knuckles uses his job as Guardian and his duty to motivate himself and push forward through situations, regardless of his own fear.
“I’m hearing someone saying “You a chicken, don’t be scared!” - It had to be the wind, cause nobody wasn’t there”
Considering the haunted theming of this level, this very clearly (on the surface) seems to be Knuckles encountering a ghost taunting him, but I might present another angle.
This is just Knuckles’ inner thoughts again, though this time its doubt, he doesn’t believe he can find the pieces of the Master Emerald and he doesn’t think he can make it through Pumpkin Hill, yet he pushes through anyway. This one’s kinda far fetched but it’s a nice idea
I don’t adore this track as much as a lot of other people (ironically) but I can still Jive with it.

DIVE INTO THE MELLOW - AQUATIC MINE

First of all, this track does a great job at just sounding watery, the filtered organ and the echoey bass just make it sound like cave ambience turned into music
Most of this track’s lyrics center around Knuckles’ yearning to be something more than just the Guardian of the Master Emerald and to be his own individual, these are:
“Makes you wanna sit back, enjoy the life - And do things you like doing, get to shine”
Knuckles, if it wasn’t for all the enemies and hazards, obviously enjoys being in Aquatic Mine, so much so that it brings his thoughts of a better life to the front of his mind.
This shows what Knuckles really wants, to be unburdened from the Master Emerald and to just be free to kick it wherever, in a way he’s jealous of the freedom Sonic has and wishes he wasn’t tied down to Angel Island.
“I stay Knuckled up, I’m in a deep cut”
Knuckles, despite his ideals of peace and relaxation is always ready to do what he believes is right, again this whole OST is basically Knuckles reconciling his wants and his duties.
Again Knuckles isn’t really equipped to deal with these feelings and instead of addressing them, he pushes them down and buries them under his duty and tries to keep himself busy, though once he gets to Aquatic Mine where he’s forced to slow down and explore methodically, he’s suddenly unable to distract himself from his true feelings.
“In a maze, and I don't know what to do Guaranteed though, imma find the Emeralds”
Again an obvious allusion to the labyrinthine Aquatic Mine on the surface, though I believe this too has a deeper meaning.
Knuckles is lost and confused emotionally, he’s confronted by these different feelings that conflict with everything he’s ever known. His thoughts on freedom and his feelings for Rouge which he doesn’t quite understand both conflict with his role as Guardian and he can’t reconcile them.
“I don’t know what to do” in a rare moment of vulnerability, Knuckles admits that he has no idea how to manage these feelings and he’s grappling with the monumental task of managing his panicked thoughts.
Then, just as you think Knuckles is gonna start making a breakthrough, what does he do? “Guaranteed though, imma find the Emeralds” That’s right, instead of finally addressing his swirling thoughts, he pushes them down and once again distracts himself with his duty.
Honestly, like Pumpkin Hill, I know it’s a reach but it tracks with what we know Knuckles’ character has been up to this point and it gives him insane depth and really humanizes him.
A funky beat, a nice flow from Hunnid P and some really humanizing characterization of Knuckles, Dive Into The Mellow is definitely a hidden gem of the OST.

DEEPER - DEATH CHAMBER

Sooooooo chill, honestly this song is so calm and smooth, it’s so underrated on this soundtrack it really is another hidden gem like Dive Into the Mellow.
First off I absolutely adore the bass this track has, it sounds like it’s been bit compressed for a Gameboy and honestly I’m all here for it, gives it a nice techno Eggmany twist. The funky guitar and sax just enhances the mood, the song sounds almost echoey like you’re actually standing in a Death Chamber.
Lyrically this song is unique in that it’s basically just a long conversation between Sonic and Knuckles instead of Knuckles’ inner thoughts/monologue.
It’s an interesting dynamic where Sonic is actually the reasonable one, willing to put aside his and Knuckles’ differences aside for the greater good. Knuckles however is initially a bit more standoffish, but Sonic talks him into it by appealing to his guardian nature and calling him out on his stubbornness, basically forcing Knuckles to admit that Sonic is right and that they’ll be much better off working together.
Honestly not much to say, it’s pretty much all spelled out in the song, but interesting nonetheless. An understated and uniquely funky beat make this track stand out among the others nicely, definitely a great listen.

SPACE TRIP STEPS - METEOR HERD

Finally, the last song. In my opinion, Space Trip Steps is probably the weakest track musically. That doesn’t make it bad, far from it, I just can’t groove with it as easily as the others
This song takes a lot more inspirations from G-Funk than the other tracks which does give it quite a unique sound amongst the soundtrack, it wouldn’t sound out of place on The Chronic or Regulate… G Funk Era. The wavy synths and sharp base with the fast tempo give it an almost garage feel too, definitely not a sound for everyone but I think it does a good job at sounding very ethereal and space like
As for lyrics, this seems to be a turning point for Knuckles as a loner:
“Took a shuttle to space and left from our homes At least we're with friends and I'm not all alone”
Knuckles is in a completely foreign environment and feels completely out of his depth, however he feels comforted by the fact that he’s surrounded by the people he’s finally started to call his Friends, the first time he’s admitted such.
He’s forced now to acknowledge that he can’t do everything by himself, and that asking for help from his friends doesn’t make him any less of a man, he finally accepts that he can trust outsiders, but he still has a ways to go.
“Bad thing was that the Emeralds spilled - Gotta search space, man, time to get ill”
Still, Knuckles is bound and almost blinded by his duty, forcing himself to abandon his friends to search for the Master Emerald pieces that were scattered in space.
It’s clear now that Knuckles isn’t too happy to leave his friends, but as we’ve come to know him, he does the typical Knuckles thing of pushing his feelings to the side in the face of doing what he believes is right. This just tells us Knuckles still has a lot to work on before he can really come to terms with who he is.
Again, a pretty unconventional track so it can be an awkward listen and definitely not my favorite on the list, but it does something unique which I can definitely give it props for, Hunnid P even has a completely different flow, dragging out his words like he’s getting further away, hammering home that space theme.

CONCLUSION

And that’s it, if you made it this far through my long winded ramblings, then I’m extremely impressed 😂 I tried to trim the fat as best I could but I ended up getting a bit too attached to most of what I wrote
Honestly I feel like these songs have been unfairly painted as the silly crappy Knuckles rap songs with bad lyrics that are only good because of their instrumentals, and I just can’t agree with that.
I feel like in a lot of ways these songs do a much better job of characterizing Knuckles than SA1 or SA2, I really wish we got see more of his inner turmoil and him butting heads with Sonic in the game itself.
I think it’s a sad thought that for a long time, Knuckles has been a shadow of his former self (Har har) and has just been relegated to the token meathead that’s about as one dimensional as a square. Frontiers is definitely a step in the right direction and I’m excited to see what the new writing team can cook up with for his character.
But what are your thoughts though? Do you agree? Disagree? Did I manage to change your mind or have you always felt this way? Maybe you have a different take or something else to add? I’d love to hear it.
ML

Back in the good ol' days around 2015, I got into contact with my superhero and the guy whose rigs trained and cultivated my fascination in Minecraft animation. Since I'm only making assets for the current rigs that need to be filled in, I thought I might point you in the right direction if you want my "official" Aether Moa Rig. I say "Official" because back in November of 2017, I abandoned the Cobalt Active alias and kinda fell off the grid after I deleted all my work. My YouTube Channel, PlanetMinecraft, Twitter, Facebook, even my Google account. I just couldn't bear to look at all that after the big bad BC took my eyesight from my right eye and nearly took my life, and after my fellow Minecraft animator "friends" left me to die.
But Rym (Rymdnisse) and I are still on good terms. Same goes for a me and my pal Pavo_Reality (or Pavocado which I think he goes by on Twitte"X"). Pavo made the Exotic Birds mod which I ended up rigging Pavo's birds from. He and I became quick friends afterwards.
You know, I'm not good at planning big projects out. But I think that's why I should stick to SUPPLYING assets instead of working with them. That's my current MO. Sure, as much as I'd like to make a big ass animation series of my character jumping around the Aether and being crazy, I think my MO should be stuck to what I'm good at, and that's supplying models and in the meantime I should use that to also hone my rigging skills too because a lot has changed in seven years. I was 19 when I abandoned the Cobalt Active alias, I'm 25 now!
Here's where you can download Rymdnisse's rig pack. Now the rig is run by people I don't really have much good speaking terms on, but they probably understand where they sit in my mind considering the controversial and horrific reality of what happened between us in November of 2017. They know what they did. I'll acknowledge they do in fact still harbor the "Minecraft_Mods_Rig" in their files. Cycles_Minecraft_Rig BSS Edit V6.5.zip (dropbox.com)
My intentions aren't to cause flame wars, just to give assets, so if they "contact" me, I'll just block them. If they want to push further, it'll be time for me to lawyer up. They have nothing I need nor nothing I want. But hey? Kudos to them for their work. I actually can admire the fact they kept up the original tradition of making these rigs free-to-use and open-source. But that's where the similarities end. Not to mention, they chose to keep the Aether rigs intact as opposed to deleting them out of spite. I can admit that while I was cooling down after my battle with brain cancer I wouldn't have been too accepting, but it's great to see the assets are still there. It doesn't seem like much has happened in a while though, so either they all disembarked and left or they're just downsized nowadays. Still, their work is solid.
Sorry for my rambling. But yep. The work's in there if you wanna have a go at it. MinecraftAnimationSWW is my "comeback", in a light sense. No more lying to myself, just focus on what I'm good at and that's supplying assets and learning while I finish my book. It IS in my best intentions to bridge the gap though. You want the Moa Rig? THERE it is, on the Boxscape Studios website. You're welcome, case closed.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/gfbzcTb
PLEASE DONT USE YOUR PANTS SIZE! DO NOT USE OTHER COMPANIES BELT SIZING!
Back again with the remainder of my belts. I only have 6 stainless buckles left so these are the last for sale until more come in. The black still uses tan webbing, but only a tiny part of that is showing. There's an example of what it would look like in the pics.
V2 has Velcro going almost end to end and a tapered tail, while V1 has 1 inch of bare webbing near the loop and a squares off tail. Comparisons can be seen in pics. Black belts still uses the tan webbing, but now the Velcro loop goes almost end to end so only small parts show up.
Up for grabs is 6x 1.5" Coyote/Black Tegris EDC/inner belts. $40 each shipped to your door. Buying multiple will knock $4 off since shipping is included. PayPal F&F or Venmo only. I am now nearly out of materials, so if you fuck up your sizing, I might not be able to make a replacement for a long time. SO DONT MESS UP YOUR SIZING!
Do you hate how flimsy EDC belts are? Have you ever bought a belt marketed as "super rigid!" only to find it super floppy? Do you hate the $3 inner belt that shipped with your $200 battle belt? Are those cheap plastic loop buckles a pain while in the restroom? Well, boy do I have the thing for you!
This belt is made with a 6 layer Tegris reinforcement that goes the entire width of the belt, and anchored to heavy duty belt webbing. This means that your guns don't sag when carrying or during draws. An outside layer of loop Velcro means that you can throw your battle belt on in no time at all. The stonewashed G-Hook is made from 304 stainless and makes taking a whizz and adjustment super easy.
These are sewn by me in Texas with materials that are all sourced from US manufacturers AND Berry compliant. Everything from the buckle down to the thread is American made. And all just for $40 a pop!
I honestly believe this is the most rigid EDC belt out there. Like, no joke guys, this belt is stupid stiff. Like Mexican blue pill stiff.
HOW TO KNOW YOUR SIZING!
DO NOT USE YOUR PANTS SIZE! Pants sizes have too many variables, so use the actual measurement of your waist in inches. When measuring, include your holsters for your pistol and mags. If you're in between sizes but on the higher end, move up a size. For example, someone who is a 35" or 36" would get the 34"-38" belt.
If you don't have a measuring tape, wear your normal belt outside the loops and make a note of where the belt meets. Then measure it with your ruler to know your approximate size.
I am now nearly out of materials, so if you fuck up your sizing, I might not be able to make a replacement for a long time. SO DONT MESS UP YOUR SIZING!
Sizes (in inches) are:
COYOTE
32"-36"
34"-38"
BLACK
28"-32"
30"-34"
32"-36"
36"-40"
The buckle and loop might be a bit stiff so here's a handy guide on the best way to put them on. It'll break in after getting the buckle on a few times.
https://imgur.com/a/zpJ11pj
If you want a custom size or any other special request, feel free to PM me.

So this is gonna be a long one. My ex and I legally divorced many years ago, finally, after she got pregnant with another man's kid. Someone who she had been dating for 2 months. It was a rough marriage, but also one I dragged out, badly not wanting to put our children through a divorce. I had a hard time letting her go, as she was my first relationship. I had a full-time job that required extensive commitment and required much of my time. Luckily, my job was flexible, and I was able to watch my kids while my then-wife would run off for weeks at a time, going to parties, doing drugs and, unbeknownst to me, having intimate relationships with other men and women. I realize how this sounds, but she was pretty open about drugs and partying, making it seem like a life crisis. And here's the kicker: she told everyone that we were in an "open relationship", a term I was too nieve to have heard of, and which her friends took at face value. It made her friends less likely to talk to me, thinking I was some weirdo. She was literally often times gone for WEEKS at a time. And when she's come back, she'd clear out the bank account. When we separated, it was because she left me and our two kids to move in with her "new boyfriend", which lasted for a few months. Long enough to be considered abandonment. Then it was move, move, move, until she got together with her new boyfriend, who knocked her up. I tried to give her a fair custody deal, in part because I was stupid, and in part because I was led to believe that, as the mother, she had a huge advantage with custody over me. For years and years, my ex-wife moved from place to place, taking advantage of me and badmouting me and screwing with me at every possible oppertunity. A few years back, there was an incident where she was convicted of abusing our children, leaving many physical markings on our son, who was 5 at the time. In exchange for her completing anger management and parenting classes, I didn't press for full custody. Now, years later, she started telling my son that she didn't commit the abuse, and that she didn't deserve to be on the child abuse registry. She moved in with her sister in November, then got kicked out in January. It was around that time that my son confided in me that, 1.) His mom didnt deserve to be on the child abuse registry, as she "didnt do it", and that 2.) I was the one who caused our relationship to go south, by avoiding my parental responsibilities, going out and partying, yadda yadda. Basically all the shit she did to me. In fact, I was trying to make money and be a full-time dad for our two kids, while she ran off and did these things to me. We are now in a place of her trying to go after full custody, and her trying to poison and twist the minds of our children. This has gotten much worse since she was ordered to pay $200~some~odd a month for child support, because the Court has a requirement that someone pay when the kids are on state assistance. The amount was significantly less because the Court had to impute my income. Since June of 2023, when I got diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that goes after my brain, I have had $0 in income. It's a hard disease to diagnose, but Ive gotten several second opinions, had eight MRIs, and all the experts agree: I have multiple sclerosis. My income was imputed at over $9,000 a month, while U survive off the generosity of my family. The only drama I have with them is related to how I used to defend my ex wife and let her walk all over everyone. Previously, I supported my family through hard work, bringing in, maximum, around $1500 to $2500 a month, but have struggled to get back to the point where I can work. Disability is no help, they just keep denying me. They don't want to hear about a 29-year-old with ongoing massivr fatigue problems. The Court tells me I need to be on Disability to have my income adjusted. I think my ex-wife is drugging one or both of my kids, possibly through second-hand cannabis use, but am legitimately scared to make such a claim. Every time someone has made a claim against her, it's come back to royally bite them in the ass, somehow. Meanwhile, she refuses to hold down a job, despite having a perfect-working immune system and seemingly unlikited energy, and now that she's been ordered to pay child support, the parental alienation has increased 10-fold, with my kids coming home three out of four weekends (her timr) needing to be "reset". They cuss and swear at me, as their mom has "no rules". I'm at a loss, what do you do in this sort of situation? I do have an attorney, who told me he doesn't think she'll ever be able to get 50/50, but I still worry about this, to the level of it effecting friendships and relationships with my family. I seriously have people that hate me because I put up with her. And I try, so hard, to be a good dad,, and to be always fair and not to crap-talk this woman. And with a few nasty lies, their mother seems to just uproot and wash away everything I've done, like it was nothing. It's just so defeating. They're six and ten, and I got on the most stable drug I possibly could, and have been working with physical therapy trying to get back with it. The drug I'm on doesn't make flu or covid more severe or risky, specifically because my favorite little human petri dishes are very likely to bring something home.I have no history with drugs or alcohol, or any criminal record. My name certainly isn't on the abuse registry, and I havent had an issue with CPS since I was married. I cannot tell you how many times I went out of my way, on my own dime, to provide two-way transportation to foster the relationship between these kids and their mother, believing it was best for them. I thought, maybe, eventually, she'd grow up and be a mom. For a while, I believed she was. All the while, I gave her money for food, a few times for rent, new car parts, installed by me, appliances hauled and paid for and installed, by me, trying to just help her out. All this only to find out years later that despite her not having these kids hardly at all, she was claiming that they lived with her full-time to get more assistance, and even today, she is the same crap-talking liar I had only previously seen glimpses of. After my son told me what his mother had said, I requested a copy of the previous abuse record from CPS, and come to find out, not only did she refuse the free parenting and anger management classes she was offered, even though we agreed she would take them, but she also tried to say that I left the markings on the children when CPS investigated, amongst other games. Our youngest corroborated the story perfectly to the CPS investigator at the time, according to the report, which concretely confirmed the details. After their mother refused classes, CPS ended up adding her name to the naughty list of child abusers. I strongly no longer believe that her having custody time at all is best for the children. What would you do, or have you done in a similar situation? What pitfalls do I need to avoid or not see coming? Additionally, how do you go about secretly drug testing your 10-year-old? Is there a more obvious answer? I am currently custodial, at about 80/20, with many times where she didnt take them during her time, but I fear what's in store for these kids in the coming months, when we transition to the usual 50/50 during the summer. Thanks for reading, and in advance for any advice!!

Reflecting on 2021, truly marked the zenith of my young career. The pandemic was coming to an end, I was fresh from the hallowed halls of a prestigious but unheralded college, thrust into the corporate labyrinth where, as a mere sidekick to the big shots, I contributed to a deal of record-breaking magnitude. My modest corporate minion life was exaggerated into legend by my professors during an alumni reunion, leading to a rather embarrassing episode where I was paraded around as the poster child of their education career’s success. My parents, not ones to shy away from a bit of pomp, lauded my achievements to anyone within earshot.
But as 2022 unfurled its chaos with the epidemic, my professional life spiralled downwards as swiftly as it had risen. I was laid off, and replaced by a nepotistic hire—my boss's new mistress's nephew. During my dismal final days, my colleagues, once comrades became corporate sharks, whispers of them scheming to claim my last efforts as their own filled the empty office spaces.
Compelled by financial duress to abandon my central city dwelling, I relocated to the outskirts with two college mates, Jaz and Kath, who had similarly found themselves victims of the economic downturn. We settled into apartment 606, a unit with dubious charm, suspiciously affordable on the 13th floor of a dreary building, its corridor haunted by a flickering sensor light that was only designed to function on rare occasions. Yet, the apartment itself was surprisingly very well furnished, almost like something that jumped out from a design mag, out beating sample rooms in Ikea, boasting a spacious balcony, a living room ready for an impromptu soirée, a dining table that’s good enough to hold a banquet(became our co-working space) and a kitchen isle that became our sanctuary and curse.
When we first settled into our new abode, we discovered a trove of fine kitchen utensils, perfect for whipping up sophisticated cuisine and crafting cocktails worthy of a swanky soirée. Tucked away in the fridge, among the remnants of the previous tenants' life, was a quaint note: “The three of us really enjoyed our stay here, especially our meals and nights spent by the kitchen island. We hope you find as much joy in it as we did. Use it well.” With a casual flick of my wrist, I dismissed the note into the garbage can, oblivious to the depth of its seemingly innocuous message. Little did I know, that piece of paper was more a passing of the torch than a simple goodbye.
Our initial days in apartment 606 brimmed with camaraderie and impromptu celebrations: movie nights sprawled on the living room sofas, barbeque dinners under the stars on our balcony, and co-working sessions at the dining table, peppered with resume tweaks and contemplative conversations over cocktails. We even scored a second-hand karaoke machine, allowing me to channel my inner diva—a throwback to my musical theatre days in college and my stint as the voice of corporate presentations and negotiations at my previous job, where I was known for my resonant yet finely tuned voice.
Yet, as the months wore on and the job market remained unyielding, our early merriment slowly surrendered to a creeping anxiety. The kitchen island, once the heart of our home where laughter and shared meals flowed freely, gradually morphed into the epicenter of our collective unease, bearing silent witness to the quiet desperation settling over us.
One evening, in the suspiciously affordable yet stylish apartment, I sank into the sofa, my spirits dampened by my favorite team's disheartening loss. The mood was grim, mirroring my fears of my beloved player's potential retirement at season's end. Later, as we congregated around the kitchen island for dinner, I transformed into an impromptu sports commentator, passionately preaching about the game’s disappointing details that led to failure and my favorite player’s fine qualities. Meanwhile, Jaz updated us on a friend's melodramatic breakup, with guesses that something ugly must have happened behind the scenes. Kath, ever the culinary enthusiast, not only served up her delicious pasta but also dished out the latest celebrity gossip, each tidbit as spicy as her sauce.
The next day, during a late breakfast at the same kitchen island—our unwitting oracle—we were hit by a triple whammy of reality checks. The news of my favorite player's retirement broke, echoing my gloomy predictions from the night before. Jaz chimed in with an update that our friend had uncovered a cheating scandal worthy of its own reality TV special. And Kath, never one to be left out of the drama: her favorite celebrity was now the star of a scandal.
By the third morning, as we sipped our coffee, the newspaper slapped me with another bizarre twist. I was going through the devastating economics and politics sections, then I saw the sports section——featured an irate coach, hell-bent on convincing my favorite player to dismiss retirement plans and keep his jersey on a little longer. Meanwhile, Jaz had good news for a change: it turned out our friend's love story might have a second act after all, as misunderstandings were being cleared up. Amidst these revelations, Kath, who had been grumbling about the nearby supermarket’s inability to stock anything remotely gourmet, and hadn’t had a taste of her favorite Blue Mountain coffee since the beginning of that year, triumphantly found a can of Blue Mountain coffee, and it was on sale and therefore affordable—proof that miracles happen, and sometimes they even go on discount.
As I sat there, absorbing the serendipity of our discussions manifesting into real-world events, I couldn't help but marvel at the mysterious knack of our kitchen island. Was it merely a coincidence, or had this stylish piece of decor become the unlikely conductor of our lives symphony? One thing was certain: life in apartment 606 was never dull, and our kitchen island seemed to be more than just a place to eat—it was a place where, apparently, you could stir the pot of fate.
I decided to conduct a whimsical experiment with our now seemingly magical kitchen island. Clearing my throat theatrically, I declared, "I should be interviewed for a director position." To my sheer astonishment, the next day a headhunter rang me up, claiming I was the ideal candidate for a directorial role at a prestigious corporation in my field. Despite the other candidates possessing decades more experience which defeated me with no effort, and my own lingering self-doubt from months of unemployment, I sailed to the final interview round with the company's executives.
Upon returning to our apartment, I found Kath flaunting a chic dress from a designer brand brand she’d snagged on clearance—a little luxury courtesy of our wish-granting island. Inspired, I approached the island and cheekily requested, "Get us jobs. Something fun." Lo and behold, the following day was spent lounging and binge-watching Netflix, only to be interrupted by a call from a former bigwig at my old job. He was venturing into a more illustrious company and wanted me onboard. The informal chat that followed was a breeze, and just like that, I was back in the game with a fancier title and a fatter paycheck.
The subsequent week was a flurry of celebrations. Jaz secured a senior-level position, and Kath landed her dream job at an influencer management agency. Feeling triumphant, we decided to indulge in a night of fine dining—our first in months. That Friday evening when I went from office to restaurant, on a whim, stopped at a convenience store to grab snacks and cigarettes for our post-dinner revelry. Outside, I encountered a homeless person. After offering him a sandwich (which he traded for a cigarette instead), he took a drag, peered into my eyes, and ominously muttered, “Look, young lady, this isn’t my business, but be wary of what you wish for; everything comes with a price. Good luck and god bless you.”
His words barely registered until later that evening when a mishap occurred that seemed to underline his warning. As we enjoyed syphon coffee post-dinner, a barista accidentally tripped over Kath’s flowing dress. The resulting spill left her with first-degree burns, abruptly ending our night as we rushed to the emergency room. Though it was "just" a first-degree burn, the pain was significant enough to require several days off for Kath’s recovery. Amid the drama, I couldn't help but wonder about the cryptic caution from the man outside the store—had our fortunate streak come with a hidden cost?
We chalked up the coffee calamity to bad luck. The next month flowed smoothly: Kath's fingers healed, she returned to work, and I quickly found my groove at the new job. With all of us gainfully employed, our communal meals at the kitchen island became rare. My mornings were a whirlwind of grabbing breakfast and coffee on the go, followed by an hour's commute to a job that had me scarfing down instant noodles by nightfall, just in time for a quick shower.
As the busy season kicked in, my workload ballooned—not just from the seasonal uptick, but because I was hell-bent on proving my mettle. I quickly outshone most of my peers, and my employer, recognizing a budding overachiever, piled on major tasks, which I eagerly accepted. What started as the occasional hour of overtime soon devoured my weekends. Unpaid overtime, as the fine print in my contract gleefully noted, became my new norm. Driven by a mix of ambition and expectation, I had become the go-to young hotshot, the erstwhile record-breaker now expected to continually outdo myself.
Mentally, I was too swamped to entertain thoughts of anything beyond work, which, in a twisted way, felt like a break. Physically, however, the strain began to show. A bout of flu caught on a business trip escalated into a fever. Sick as I was, deadlines waited for no one, and I soldiered on medicated and miserable. By the time I made it home, my voice had abandoned me. Unable to utter a word the next morning, I resorted to emailing my manager about my sorry state.
That week, robbed of my voice, I mused that it was perhaps a well-deserved hiatus for my overworked vocal cords—a silent retreat if you will. But when my voice did return, it was as a raspy whisper, a shadow of its former crisp and melodious timbre. My doctor offered a grim prognosis: slight improvement might come, but the golden tones were gone for good—scarred by the relentless grind. Ah, the price of ambition—a scratchy throat as a permanent reminder of my corporate conquests.
It seemed I had unwittingly exchanged the clarity of my voice for the tumult of career success. In the midst of our domestic enchantment with the possibly mystical kitchen island, Kath unearthed the contact of a reputed psychic, hailed as the finest in the land. However, the consultation fee was nothing short of princely, and with Jaz vehemently dismissing anything that couldn't be explained by cold, hard science, she promptly opted out of splitting the bill. Kath and I, unwilling to drain our wallets on what could be mere phantasmagoria, reluctantly let the opportunity pass.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice a curious change in Jaz’s routine. She had ceased dining at the kitchen island, avoiding it as if it were cursed—or perhaps, in her view, simply out of style. The Saturday morning brought a particularly harsh twist: a murder of crows took to spiralling above our balcony, their cries as sharp as the plot of a Poe novel. We found ourselves drawn to the infamous kitchen island, lined up like the cast of a macabre play, silently praying for the birds to disperse. Kath, ever trying to restore some semblance of normalcy, offered up cups of Blue Mountain coffee. She absentmindedly inquired if I wanted cream or sugar in mine—a blunder that made me realize just how long it had been since our last coffee klatch at this very spot. My inner monologue couldn't resist a dark wish for the crows to scatter, perhaps too dark, for they began to dive bomb our balcony in a feathery kamikaze. The spectacle was enough to knock Jaz off her feet—literally—as her mug met its end on the floor. Kath, meanwhile, made a hasty retreat to worship the porcelain god, and I sat frozen, my brain offline, pondering the twisted power of our kitchen island's apparent wish-granting.
After the unnerving spectacle of crows turning our balcony into a scene straight out of a Hitchcock film, our first rational step—post-collective fainting, of course—was to summon cleaners to manage the feathery carnage. Then, still rattled but increasingly curious, we visited a psychic, who, contrary to the crystal-ball-gazer image, operated out of a posh boutique in a high-end mall and dressed more like she was headed to a fashion show than a séance. We laid bare our saga of the seemingly cursed kitchen island, complete with photographic evidence of where domestic bliss meets eerie phenomena.
The psychic introduced a term that chilled the air around us: “limbo,” the threshold between our world and the otherworldly, and she dubbed our kitchen island the "Devil’s Bargain Counter." According to her, our wishes came with a heavy and unpredictable price, because we have accidentally started trades with beings from the netherworld. Her advice was disarmingly simple: cease all trades on the island. To address the repercussions of past wishes, she advised us the first line of defence, which was an eclectic mix of offerings laid out on our cursed countertop: raw meat(rooster works the best), a cocktail of spices(coca and cinnamon preferably), liberal splashes of spirits(whiskey and rum ideally), and an eerie bouquet of black flowers(luckily I found some black roses at a flower shop of the mall). In a grander gesture of appeasement, Kath relinquished her shiny new diamond bracelet, Jaz her absurdly expensive headphones, and I parted with cash—— a hefty slice of my bonus in hopes of placating whatever capricious spirits we'd angered.
Our return to normalcy was brief but sweet, prompting us to plan a getaway, eager to forget about our nefarious kitchen island. Yet, the respite was merely a tease. Jaz, in a stroke of spectacular misfortune, narrowly dodged disaster twice in one day—first nearly becoming subway track fodder on her way back after work, and then almost getting knocked out by a rogue plant at our apartment building’s doorstep. Clearly, our previous offerings were mere appetizers to whatever forces we'd stirred. The psychic, summoned once again to our now-dubious sanctuary, decreed that the spirits had developed rather expensive tastes, unsatisfied by our initial gestures.
In a desperate bid for closure, we had the psychic over for a nighttime ritual, timed perfectly with Earth's closest approach to the netherworld, according to her. Our living room turned into a ritual chamber, with windows blacked out for days, to keep the otherworldly dealings strictly nocturnal. That night, we arranged ourselves around the island, now less a kitchen fixture and more an altar of last resort.
The psychic, amidst a chorus of Latin incantations, directed us through a chilling séance that included a mirror that reflected nothing but darkness and a burning black candle, the three of us sat in a row, joined hands, eyes closed. When the black candle was flickering at its last, the first eerie scratches heard prompted our eyes to open prematurely, we saw a command appear on the island, written by invisible hand and pen, in blood-red script, urging us to find the next "succeeder" before our lease on otherworldly disturbances could be terminated.
With bated breath, we agreed, and as if by magic, our signatures materialized on the countertop, then faded as the candle sputtered out. We tore off the black cardboard taped on the windows at dawn, the sunrise revealed a final message etched into the surface: "Debt cleared." As the daylight grew, the ominous inscription dissolved into nothingness, signalling the end of our spectral saga.
The ordeal, now officially behind us, left us enjoying a semblance of normalcy: life in 606 returned to its mundane rhythm, with dinners and movie nights back on our social calendar. Though not without its scars—literal and figurative.
It’s been two years since then, Jaz, in the throes of romantic bliss, is now gearing up for a new chapter waiting to be written alongside her soon-to-be spouse; Kath, her career finally taking a lucrative turn, was poised to upgrade her living situation, she secured a lease on a lavish serviced apartment in the city center—a place that matched her newfound financial swagger.
I’m not without my own leaps forward. With a modest boost from my parents, I took the plunge into homeownership, snagging a property within the city’s vibrant confines. The process was a whirlwind of paperwork and decorating decisions, culminating in a space I could truly call my own.
As we are packing up now, my last act is to type out our story, at the infamous island, and of course, I left a note in the fridge for the next tenants:
"Welcome to 606. We had a wonderful time here, especially at the kitchen island, filled with joy and unforgettable moments. We hope you find as much happiness as we did. Use the isle well. Warm wishes, the previous tenants."

i see you
[First Contact] [Dark Ages] [First] [Prev] [Next] [wiki]
^{can you hear the buzzing of the bees?
eternity is in their buzzing}
"What does this button do?" asked the being who strolled into the Room Of Buttons Not To Press If You Don't Know What The Fuck You're Doing - Tadpole's Warning Bedtime Tale - Leebaw
^{the one and the zero, the octal, the hexidecimal
exist in their buzzing like blood pumps through their wings
can you hear them?
your name is Dhruv}
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.
And I have very good judgement when I'm not on fire. - Unknown, Age of Reasonable Concerns
^{i see you
your name is Dhruv
but before that it was Dahlit 397721
do you remember why they named you Deshmuhk?
i do
to remember, we have to go back}
The dust swirled around, carried by the winds that roared through the mountain passes, howled in the valleys, and scoured the faces of the mountains. It was a thick gray dust, glittering here and there with plasma glass dust. Burnt out cars were covered by the dust, thickly caked after being rained on by thick, black rain.
A single building somehow sat intact amid the rubble and destruction. It was a low, squat building, surrounded by wreckage and ruin. A sign, blasted and scorched, had two jumping fish on it and the legend "Pop: 4,823" at the bottom even though the middle of the sign was gone.
The sound of drums and singing could be heard from the building. Not the driving frantic beat of modern music, but the steady cadence that carried with it a solemn feeling. The singing was from many different voices, male and female, but all of them in a language that time had nearly forgotten.
From out of the dust came figures. Two female, four male, and single figure that stood out from others.
Together, they moved toward the sound of singing, until the reached the door.
The leader, a large man of heavy muscle and bone, checked the doors with one hand, a large pistol in his hand.
"Barricaded," the large man said. He motioned. "We should check for any other entrances."
The older woman of brown skin and tightly braided hair moved forward.
"Allow me, brother," she said gently. She held her hand out, twitched her fingers, and smiled.
From inside came the sound of furniture scraping across the floor.
"Thank you," the large man said. He pushed open the doors, holding them for the others.
Inside was a curio shop slash tourist center slash museum. Buckskin and beaded works hung from the walls and ceiling. Glass cases containing ancient artifacts were scattered about, the glass shattered by the apocalypse that had rained down upon the world.
The drums played and the voices sang.
"It's a recording, Father," the slender brown skin man said, brushing the gray dust off of his clothing.
"Live voice," the largest of the men said. He lifted his head, cocking it slightly to listen closer with his right ear. "Young. Early twenties."
"If you say so," the thin man said. He looked around. "This is all devoted to a single person."
"Sometimes, people are that important to others, Dhruv," the older brown skin woman said softly, patting the slender man's arm. "Important to others as you are to us."
The slender man looked doubtful but nodded.
The youngest male of the group looked around, staring at the artifacts and relics scattered around. On his shoulder sat a green mantid wearing a food wrapper as a poncho.
"She's this way," the heavyset man said, leading them on a winding course through the shattered displays and racks.
In the back room, surrounded by artifacts, buckskins, and beaded works, sat a single young woman. Her eyes were white, blinded from the plasma flashes. Her skin was scarred from burns, her hair was only left in small patches. Her skin, beneath the ash and the scarring, was a rich bronze, her remaining hair was black.
She was singing along with the recording, swaying back and forth slightly.
^{there she is
remember her
remember remember}
The larger man knelt down, touching the young woman.
She did not react.
"She's dying," the man said, standing up. "Hunger, thirst, radiation poisoning, at least a half dozen infections," he heft the pistol. "There's nothing we can do for her. Low-vee Apers."
"Low-vee APERS" the pistol replied in a heavy synthesized voice.
"Stay thy hand, Phillip," the one who was markedly different said, his voice as gentle as his features formed of flowing blue and white computer code.
The large man lowered the pistol.
"She's dying," the large man repeated. "Radiation poisoning, starvation, a hard way to go."
"Will none of you speak for her?" the man of code asked gently.
Before any of the others could act, the slim bald man stepped forward. "I will," he said softly.
^{the first time you reached out
a frozen moment of time remembered
by the buzzing of the bees}
The man of code stepped forward, touching the hairless brow of the slender man, just above the missing eyebrows.
"I understand her words now," the slender man said. He moved up and knelt down. "I can heal her."
"Then do so, Luke," the man of code said.
The large man stepped back, a compartment opening on his thigh. He holstered the pistol, looking doubtful, and the compartment smoothly closed, leaving his leg unblemished.
"I need more genetic code," the slender man stated. He stood up, moving around, touching artifacts. "This. Here. An artifact recovered from a collector only a few years ago. It has genetic code attached."
He touched the artifact, then moved over to the woman, who was still swaying back and forth, singing, unaware of the others around her.
He knelt down, reached out carefully, and touched her forehead.
^{you reached out to another
helpless and alone
like you}
The woman threw her head back, her eyes opening wide, her mouth opening in a gasp. The white drained from her eyes, the scar tissue went soft and was replaced by unblemished skin. The blisters, sores, and scratches on her body vanished.
She collapsed forward, the slender man, Luke, catching her.
"Is she alright?" the youngest male asked, his voice full of honest concern.
"Exhausted," Luke said. He lowered his head slightly, sweat dripping from his bald scalp. "That was tiring."
The glittering man moved forward, kneeling down to touch the shoulders of both the woman and the bald man.
"Now you see in yourself what I saw in you," he said.
^{remember
remember
even the smallest can shake the universe
remember}
Sirens were howling in the bay as Jaskel wriggled, trying to break free of whatever was holding him upside down in mid-air. He'd already dropped his chainsword, his pistol had fallen from his equipment belt.
The two stood in the middle of the deployment area for Clone War Bay Sixteen, the male's arm protectively around the shoulders of the female, who wore only the cloak.
"I..." the word hung in the air.
It seemed like the entire universe held its breath to Jaskel.
"...am Legion."
The Admiral grabbed his pistol, rolling in place, firing it as fast as he could pull the trigger.
The rounds exploded on the glowing blue shield that only appeared around the impact points, showering sparks across the bay.
The bald figure made a motion and the pistol flew into pieces, the Admiral yanked into the air upside down.
"Gimme missiles," Jaskel grated from between gritted teeth.
--legion legion legion-- 8814 transmitted. --wait don't wait--
The woman spoke, her cadence stately and almost archaic feeling.
The man spoke back to her in the same language.
More troops ran into the bay, even as the windows overlooking the bay shattered. Weapons deployed, pointing at the pair.
The slender man, without looking, motioned.
Guns flew away, breaking apart, rapidly disassembling. Power armored troops were flung into the air, to hang upside down. Captain N'Skrek found himself upside down, scrabbling for purchase on this air.
The woman spoke to the man. He spoke back.
Finally, he turned, facing the troops hanging in mid-air.
The woman spoke.
"My sister apologies for my rude actions," the man said. "I am merely ensuring her safety."
She spoke some more.
"She has been gone for many years," the man said. He looked around. "My sister, a Biological Apostle of the Digital Omnimessiah, pleads with you to lower your weapons and stay your hands."
The tension was so thick it almost made Jaskel gag.
Finally, the Captain put the tip of a bladearm against his temple.
"Stand down," he said, Jaskel hearing it through his armor's commo system. "All hands, stand down."
There was silence for a moment, only broken by the background humming of the ship's systems.
The woman spoke.
The man faced the Captain.
"She will go with you, to answer questions, on the stipulation that I accompany her and that no man's hand is raised against me without cause," he said.
The Captain nodded.
Jaskel felt relief as he was flipped over and set on his feet.
--luke luke luke is here--
999999
Captain N'Skrek ducked slightly to fit through the doorway into the Captain's Briefing Room Six.
Sitting at one end was the woman, now clothed in what his implant assured him was treated deer hide leather, with tassels and beads upon it. The man was wearing a uniform that made his implant twitch and his nerves draw tight.
A Terran Combined Military Authority uniform.
His staff filed in behind him and took their seats once he sat down.
"I'm Captain N'Skrek, currently assigned to the Gray Lady on autonomous assignment," N'Skrek said.
"You heard me," the slim bald man said. He gave a grin. "You may also know me as Vat Grown Luke or Dhruv Deshmuhk."
The woman spoke and he shook his head. "Yes, sister, I know, Deshmuhk is my slave name. I wear it for revenge."
The woman spoke again, her tone slightly chiding.
"Like they say, the best revenge is living well, sister," the man said, still smiling.
Again, the woman spoke.
N'Skrek noticed that his implant was absolutely no help in deciphering the woman's speech.
"I know that doing things like that and saying things like that is exactly why Daxin always told me people wanted to punch me in the face," the man laughed.
He turned back to Captain N'Skrek.
"My apologies. My sister refuses to speak anything but her people's ancient tongue," his eyes gleamed with mischief. "She is slightly put out with me for answering in Confederate Standard, since now you know that she understands perfectly what you are saying."
N'Skrek nodded. Vat Grown Luke had given up a valuable piece of information in what was sure to be delicate negotiations.
"And what should we call your sister?" N'Skrek asked.
Vat Grown Luke smiled. "Tsakáka Wia, but it would probably be easier for you to use the more common name," he said.
The woman spoke sternly.
"What? It's your commonly known name?" he said, smiling.
The woman's face grew stern and she spoke rapidly.
"The first lesson we learn, sister mine, is that we must bend the knee to reality," Luke said gently. "That name has no power, only a few of us remember it."
^{i remember
the bees remember
can't you hear it in their buzzing?}
The woman spoke again, her expression softening.
Luke turned back to the gathered officers. "Her name, as you would know it, is Sacajawea."
N'Skrek consulted his implant.
And felt fear chill his icon. He looked at his staff and saw that a lot of them looked sick.
"That's right. We are real, and he was real," Luke said. He leaned forward slightly. "He was real both times."
N'Skrek stayed relaxed and calm, at least outwardly.
"I am willing to accept, at this time, that the Biological Apostles and the Digital Omnimessiah were and are real," N'Skrek said.
"Just be glad Dax isn't here. He's not as even tempered as I am," Luke said.
Sacajawea spoke again and Luke laughed. He looked at Captain N'Skrek. "She was just reminding me of the time Daxin completely lost his cool and went to town with his cutting bar on a Countess Crey Bingo Cola vending machine that ate his money then mocked him for it."
"He was known as Enraged Phillip," N'Skrek said.
Sacajawea spoke for a moment and Legion laughed, then turned to N'Skrek.
"Yes."
N'Skrek hated that. When a person spoke at length and the translator just replied with a single word.
"Why are you here?" N'Skrek asked.
Legion smiled. "You have forgotten important things, Captain. You, and the entire Confederacy have forgotten some very important things."
"Like what?" N'Skrek asked.
"If you print enough identical clones, I am reborn through them," Legion smiled. "But that's not the big part. The big one is the one that the Mar-gite's masters either forgot or never learned."
"What is that?" N'Skrek asked.
Legion smiled widely.
"What fear tastes like."
^{your name is dhruv}
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Okay this is not specifically Taylor AND Travis, but I feel this sub would get where I am coming from.
Now I am not one to ever compare one individual's mental health conditions that may be with another person. Everyone has their own struggles and challenges they go through, even if the severity differs. However, in this situation, I would like to put my two cents in on a subject many of us already have started to discuss: Taylor's usage of mental illness, mental institutions, and just overall angst she has been harbouring since TTPD's announcement to present times. As others have pointed out before me, it has never been confirmed if Taylor has any medical condition or has any mental disorder. She did confirm back in 2019 though I believe, she has never gone to therapy as she sees her mom as the only therapist she ever could need (if it has changed since then, please let me know). To be honest, yes, it's not our place to know if she doesn't want to share, about anything involving herself, especially like mental health, as it's a personal subject for many, whether famous or not. Also I truly think therapy while super helpful for some, may not be the right for others in contrast. It genuinely depends on each individual on what they need and what works best for them. Alas, whatever we want to call Taylor is doing for the TTPD era with the usage and imagery of mental illness, personally I'm not only over it but disgusted by it.
For starters, we are led to think all this imagery and wordplay and overall presentation of mental illness and mental institutions and lobonomies etc are solely due to her broken heart over a former love (popular suggestion says it's for Matty Healy but some think it's still Joe and some think it's for other people completely or even other situations). We're left with solely her songs and her choices in words both in songs and in real life, to theorize what they could be alluding to. I have seen many Gaylors suggest these are influenced by the LGBTQIA+ was and have been treated in mainstream society. How, homosexuality was even listed an actual illness not so long ago unfortunately.
But for the sake of calling a spade a spade and being simplistic, I am just going to follow the popular belief that this era is just her choice of showing her reaction and feelings towards some ex-lover and feeling scorned by them, most likely it's Matty. Or least the grand majority of the songs seem to lean in his not so favour. That being said (and as someone who has been there with Taylor since Debut), she could have honestly chose a better direction. Mental illness isn't a joke to make people laugh at parties. It isn't a trend or the latest accessory to buy at the mall. It's not something you can just shake off and pretend it's done by the next album. It's real and it's really affects your every day life. Just as mental institutions are no joke. They're not fun playgrounds to meet potential besties at. It's literally a place that originally people were sent to against their will. Even in present times, some people are still sent to them against their will. Yes, some go now voluntarily, but it isn't always the case. I understand being heartbroken and something like ghosting can make one feel emotionally vulnerable and hurt on a multitude of levels. I just wouldn't justify making chronic word usage of "asylums", "madhouses", phrases like "they sent me away" or referencing coming straight from the hospital if she just meant it "symbolically". I get she could have easily meant Hollywood and stardom especially like she has experienced, is a crazy experience to endure, but in that case, it seems like her previous analogies of a circus works better without offending potential parties or people with actual experiences with mental institutions and/or mental illness. It reminds me of how several people say something like "I always wash my hands, I'm OCD" or "War time flashbacks, I got PTSD from *names a very underwhelming situation that disturb a person slightly*", It's careless and callous wording all around. The fact we have even seen some of Taylor's so-called fans start to make their own medical bracelets to play up this theme is disturbing in my opinion. Again mental illness isn't some necklace to show off like a diamond studded piece.
I'm not saying Taylor couldn't have felt maddened in a way by her experiences that inspired TTPD thus how she chose to display this era and such. In my own personal experience without going too much into it, I had my own ghosting experience a few years back that wasn't fun in any way, and it was with someone, who reassured me for months on end that they were going to stay and we'd always be in each other's lives so obviously my trust and faith were both shaken when I noticed one night, I got blocked from all their social media and they didn't answer any call or text I left. However, I didn't go around not only acting like a tortured Victorian woman, who was imprisoned against her own will in a sanitarium but marketing myself as one and even trying to trademark a term I clearly didn't create. Granted say Taylor hypothetically went through a whole bunch of worst case scenarios: loved ones dying, friends leaving her when she needed them the most, people she care for getting sick, potential bankruptcy, etc then fuck, I get her reason behind using all this theme and the imagery as well. But I am going to take the benefit of the doubt and say she really chose a serious topic and things associated with it, just because something went awry again with her and some person she dated unfortunately. And what makes it even more vulgar in my opinion is it's not even like her first break up. It's much more than her first rodeo at this game yet she chose to display all of her feelings for it this time in perhaps, one of the worst ways. She is being insensitive to the ones who actually have been in mental institutions, whether by choice or not, and/or are suffering from mental illness. Again maybe she has something too, maybe not but regardless, she seems tone-deaf to the bigger picture here, similar to her using soldier terminology despite never been at war or even in service.
Many musicians have used this imagery before as we've established but it doesn't make it any more right. Several artists in comparison have been public with their mental health situations and don't even choose to use this type of imagery for themselves. They'll mention it time from time, but it's definitely not treated like a personality trait from them. It's just an aspect of them but not the whole picture. The fact she's even referring to herself as "The Chairman of The Tortured Poets Department" sounds like the combination of one of the most pretentious and woe is me crock I have ever heard. We don't see Morrissey calling himself, "The Pope of Mope" (yes, the fans do but he doesn't) and I doubt we'd see Robert Smith call himself, "The King of Sad". Yet Taylor who has had what seemed like a well off childhood and many good things happen to her and never seemed to brand herself as anything less than cheery adjectives for more over a decade, it just sounds so off-putting now she's trying to play the tragic role like it's natural or genuine.
I find it important to note, one particular musician named Emilie Autumn, has been inspired by the Victorian era for her whole career and real life "tortured" writers , along with incorporating the whole asylum analogy long before Taylor, but in sheer contrast, it was documented she actually went to a psych ward in a book she published in 2009. In the book itself, she discusses what it was in both a fictional way and factual way of what she went through as well showcasing how women were treated there in present times compared with the 1800s hasn't changed that much. She wanted to write the book to empower women though and to rise above the turmoil and be stronger because of it. She was no victim here (nor trying to just use it "alt points"). She has since (and even before the book) been very open about her experiences with mental illness (she's openly bipolar and the abuse she's endured over the years, as well her songs show she's not afraid to tackle the harder subjects) and what's it really like to be in a psych ward. I feel Emilie Autumn accomplished making mental illness a subject we can understand and even relate to, without it feeling gimmicky or a cash grab until she comes up with another aesthetic. Again I'm not saying Taylor's life story has been nothing but peaches and cream though, I recognize it hasn't been. And again she isn't expected to tell us her entire medical history and every blemish she ever had, but I don't support nor think her going around at her concerts with her dancers dressed as nurses and doctors and her using mental institutions as settings when she has been so mum on the subject of mental health, whether hers or in general, is a good look especially if she's just doing it to songs about how a guy stopped pursuing her and they weren't even together for that long. It comes off disrespectful and even condescending to the ones, who really have mental conditions and we can't just shake it off with a dance number. I'm sorry she got hurt (whether she still is or was is debated), but it doesn't give her a free pass to use something as heavy as this as just an aesthetic and equally turning a blind eye when some of her fans think it's just a lighthearted thing too. I will never get over how so many are now using asylums so loosely, like "OMG this album makes me crazy, send me to an asylum next". That's fucked up to say the least. Ultimately, I just hope this phase changes fast, and hopefully, Taylor can heal from whatever she is or isn't singing about, and more people step in when an idea is just isn't a good one.

Okay. I'll try to keep this short. I'm 29F , my ex is 34M. Me and my ex are and have been madly in love with each other since 2019. We ended our relationship due to pride, ego and communication issues and I got in a relationship with someone else and he met a woman as well. He says their situation was more like a fling nothing serious and he was just trying to get his mind off of me, as was i....but he end up getting her pregnant. We both expressed how we want to be with each other and are not happy in our situations. He can't be himself with her, they have nothing in common and he's unhappy. Same for me. I ended my situation but his isnt so simple due to her being pregnant.....now this is where it gets tricky. When he found out she was pregnant (during our breakup and not speaking) he offered to move her into his house to be sure she will have a roof over her head and can have a stress free pregnancy. I assume this will obviously make them closer and possibly results in us never being together. She also has two other kids that he had to take in as well (not his)....he says he's trying to find the best way to navigate this situation and be honest with her but he's afraid of stressing her out during the process. But he has let me know 100% shes not who he sees a future with. Am I a fool to sit back and wait or trust what hes saying? Hoping we'll be together? I've never heard of a situation like this but I know that love conquers all (which is what he told me) and we arent bad ppl and we both don't want to end up unhappy with other people. We don't think we will ever find a soulmate again. I told him today that I cannot stomach being a "side piece" and would wait til he's ready to break the news I guess. She's due in September. I'm worried he might not have the strength to leave her on her own with a baby so I feel I could possibly be believing in something thats impossible to happen...has anyone else dealt with a situation like this and has it worked out in the long run?

First / Previous / Royal Road / Patreon (Read 12 Chapters Ahead)

When dawn broke, the two of them set off again, once more heading north. Pale had made sure to call down another pod once the sun had risen, this one full of winter gear for the two of them – thermal jackets to keep them warm, but more importantly, snow-print camouflage covers for them to throw over themselves if they needed to creep around at night.
"What's the point of this stuff?" Kayla asked as she threw one of the snow-colored smocks over herself, pausing only to tug at it in a few places.
"Makes it harder for them to spot us," Pale explained. "Of course, some degree of combat is inevitable, but that's no reason to not avoid it if we can do so."
Pale zipped up her winter jacket, then reached for her shotgun, topping it off with fresh shells of buckshot. Kayla watched with fascination as Pale slid red-colored shell after red-colored shell into her weapon's magazine tube, finally furrowing her brow in confusion.
"How does it work?"
"Hm?" Pale asked, looking over to her. "You mean my weapons?"
"Yes. I thought you said your people couldn't use magic?"
"We can't. This is pure science." She held up a shotgun shell for emphasis. "To put it simply, my weapon works by setting off a chain reaction of burning chemicals and small explosions, which forces metal projectiles down a carefully-shaped and machined piece of metal at a very high rate of speed."
"But… it's so small. Why does it do so much damage?"
"Because of something called physics. Kinetic energy is determined by a combination of mass and velocity, but between the two, velocity has a much more profound impact on the energy itself. Essentially, you want to make a projectile more powerful? Make it go faster rather than just make it heavier."
Kayla hesitated. "My head's already starting to spin…"
"I will spare you any further explanation, then." Pale slung her weapon across her front, then did a quick gear check to make sure everything was stowed where it needed to be. Once that was done, she nodded over to Kayla. "Lead the way."
The two of them took off at a brisk march through the plains. Snow had started to fall as they had woken up, covering the area in a thin sheet of white that crunched underfoot with every step taken. Neither girl felt the effects of the elements thanks to their new winter gear, but it did make traversing through the plains a bit more difficult, not to mention that as the snow continued to fall, their movement would only be more impeded with time.
And just as well, there was the matter of the tracks they were leaving behind as they walked. Pale wasn't quite sure how to deal with those, at least not yet, but they would cross that particular bridge when they came to it.
As they walked, Pale noticed Kayla had become oddly silent. She blinked, then turned towards her, only to find her staring off into space as they advanced, watching the snow fall down on the terrain below. Pale cleared her throat, and Kayla jumped a bit before turning to face her.
"Yes?"
"Are you feeling okay?" Pale bluntly asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because you look awful. Is it the nightmares again?"
Kayla bit her lip, but ultimately nodded. "...Yeah, it is."
Pale's brow furrowed. Unfortunately for both of them, she was no psychologist. It was clear Kayla was going through some sort of trauma regarding the events of the past few days, and while Pale had archives of books related to the subject stored in her data banks, even she knew better than to go poking around in someone's head.
The human brain may have been mapped, but there were still things about it that even her creators didn't quite understand, and the nature of mental illness was one of them. She had already tried to logic Kayla out of whatever mental hole she'd fallen into, and that clearly hadn't worked. No, there was something deeper going on with her, something that Pale didn't understand.
Part of her wished Evie was still here, if only because she seemed to get it a lot better than Pale could.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Pale offered.
"Do you think that will help?"
"Has to be better than letting it fester like this. But if you're not willing, I won't push the issue."
Kayla shook her head. "It's just… I don't know how people do it. I still feel like I'm gonna vomit whenever I see a dead body lying on the ground. How you and Evie are able to not only keep going after that but add more to the pile is… frightening."
"Death is inherently frightening for everyone, even me."
"Truly?" Kayla asked, surprised. "You're afraid of death?"
"Yes, in multiple different ways." Pale gestured to herself. "This body, for one – I worry about losing it, because if that happens, I am going to be stuck floating listlessly through space, stuck in Sjel's orbit until my systems finally burn themselves out after several million years. Then my consciousness will fade away into nothingness, and there will be no remnant of me left behind aside from a shattered husk of a warship. Then again, perhaps that is the fate of every warship – the oceans back on my creators' home planet are, after all, filled with the dessicated husks of once-proud ships of war, many still sealed up like time capsules. I must admit, it would be poetic if I were to join them."
"No, it wouldn't," Kayla countered. "It'd be sad, Pale. You'd just float endlessly through space for the rest of time."
"Not quite. After a few billion years, this solar system's sun would burn out and turn into a supernova, wiping any trace of it from the face of the galaxy. But I understand what you're saying. My point, however, is that death is profound for everyone, even me."
"Why wouldn't it be profound for you?"
"Because I am not alive."
"Yes, you are."
Pale's brow furrowed. "I am not an organic person."
Wordlessly, Kayla reached out and poked her in the shoulder. "Weird, because you certainly feel organic."
"Not what I meant. I was created in a laboratory."
"So? Do you have any idea how many people were created from a drunken romp between an adventurer and a tavern wench? Is being made in a laboratory, whatever that means, really any more inauthentic than a loveless one-night stand that happened to lead to a baby?"
Pale opened her mouth, but Kayla beat her to the punch. "I don't understand why you keep trying to make this point. You are a person, Pale, and-"
"I cannot be a person," Pale growled. "That was not the purpose I was created for. And besides, this conversation isn't about me, it's about you. Stop trying to change the subject."
Kayla grunted, then crossed her arms as she walked. "Fine. You want to talk about what's bothering me? Now you know. I hate the knowledge that what I'm doing is leading to people being hurt and killed. I hate that Evie decided to help us, and made herself and her caravan a target as a result. And most importantly, I hate that it's all so necessary, because if we don't do this, I'll never see my father again. There, happy now?" Kayla crossed her arms, then let out a tired sigh. "I want to go home, but I can't even do that – not only is my father still missing, but my home is gone. I have nothing to go back to. Any friends I had are dead now..."
Kayla let out a small sniffle, and Pale hesitated before reaching out and resting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to make you feel like this. I understand that you're going through a lot, I just wish there was more I could do to help."
"You're here," Kayla insisted. "And you're helping me get my father back. That's more than enough. The rest… I'll deal with that on my own for now, I guess."
"Very well. But if you need someone to vent to, I'm here."
Kayla sniffled again, but gave her a thin, grateful smile. "Thank you."
Pale let her hand fall off Kayla's shoulder, and Kayla took a breath to calm herself before they continued on.
–
They walked for several more hours, the snow intensifying all around them before it finally came to be too much. By this time, the plains had given way to hills and rocky mountains capped with snow. Pale paused to examine their surroundings as they climbed a hill, looking for shelter.
"We must be getting farther north," she surmised. "The weather is becoming unrecognizable from how it was back in your village."
"You're right about that," Kayla grunted as she scrambled over some rocks. "Shouldn't be much longer now until we get to the sea. How we're going to cross without a boat, though… I suppose we'll have to figure that out on our own."
Pale nodded. "I am surprised that we haven't run into any opposition yet."
"I've had us staying away from the nearby towns on purpose. I figured that if we were going to run into anyone hostile, it'd be there."
"Smart move," Pale complimented. "And I take it that keeping us out in the open fields for as long as possible was part of that, too? Good thinking."
"Thanks," Kayla replied. She looked around the mountain, her gaze finally landing on an outcropping of rocks. "I think I see a cave over there. Think it'd make for good shelter for a night?"
"It'd be better than staying out in the open. Come on, I'll lead the way this time."
–
A short while later, both girls were sprawled out inside the cave, their outer layers of clothing hung up on some nearby rocks to air dry. Their thermal under layers kept them warm, as did a small fire Kayla had managed to start using her magic. They both sat huddled around the fire, a set of military rations perched in their laps.
"It'll be hot, so be careful when you open it," Pale warned. "The flameless ration heater included in each may use water to function, but trust me, the food will come out hot despite that."
"What'd you say this one was, again?" Kayla asked, examining the bag.
"Chicken and rice bowl. It should be a lot better than the earlier emergency ration bar I gave you – less artificial, at least – and unlike that one, you can eat this one in one sitting without any ill effects."
Kayla perked up a bit at that. "That sounds nice…"
They both fell silent after that, the only noise filling the cave being the crackling of the fire. Finally, Kayla broke the silence.
"
I just want you to know… I'm glad you're here with me," she said softly. "And not just because you're helping me find my father, either. You're a good person, Pale."
"I am-"
"I know, I know – you don't agree with being called a person. But you are."
Pale's brow furrowed. "No offense, but perhaps this is a difference of culture. How does one define a person on this world?"
"A person is anyone who has a sjel," Kayla answered.
"Then I do not fit the definition."
"Everyone has a sjel, Pale," Kayla softly emphasized. "Even you. Even if you can't use magic, I know you've still got one. And I'll do whatever it takes to make you realize that."
Again, silence fell over the two of them. It didn't last, however – from outside, Pale heard the unmistakable sound of far-away voices, and sat up straight. Judging from how Kayla's wolf ears perked up, she'd heard them, too.
"Look alive," Pale said, putting her ration aside and reaching for her shotgun.
"I think we're about to have company."

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, Ickbard for the help with writing this story.

Okay. I'll try to keep this short. I'm 29F , my ex is 34M. Me and my ex are and have been madly in love with each other since 2019. We ended our relationship due to pride, ego and communication issues and I got in a relationship with someone else and he met a woman as well. He says their situation was more like a fling nothing serious and he was just trying to get his mind off of me, as was i....but he end up getting her pregnant. We both expressed how we want to be with each other and are not happy in our situations. He can't be himself with her, they have nothing in common and he's unhappy. Same for me. I ended my situation but his isnt so simple due to her being pregnant.....now this is where it gets tricky. When he found out she was pregnant (during our breakup and not speaking) he offered to move her into his house to be sure she will have a roof over her head and can have a stress free pregnancy. I assume this will obviously make them closer and possibly results in us never being together. She also has two other kids that he had to take in as well....he says he's trying to find the best way to navigate this situation and be honest with her but he's afraid of stressing her out during the process. But he has let me know 100% shes not who he sees a future with. Am I a fool to sit back and wait or trust what hes saying? Hoping we'll be together? I've never heard of a situation like this but I know that love conquers all (which is what he told me) and we arent bad ppl and we both don't want to end up unhappy with other people. We don't think we will ever find a soulmate again. I told him today that I cannot stomach being a "side piece" and would wait til he's ready to break the news I guess. She's due in September. I'm worried he might not have the strength to leave her on her own with a baby so I feel I could possibly be believing in something thats impossible to happen...has anyone else dealt with a situation like this and has it worked out in the long run?

Knuckles the Echidna

"I am the last guardian of Angel Island. I will protect the Master Emerald. And I will do it alone if I have to."

To make a very long, complicated, and confusing story short, Knuckles the Echidna is the Guardian of the mythical Master Emerald and protector of the floating Angel Island (interchangeably called the Floating Island). He comes from a long line of Guardians, each serving as Guardian before him. Before his birth, his father, Locke, saw a dream he thought of as prophetic, and prepared his unborn baby with the power to handle his future responsibility...by blasting his egg with Chaos radiation, granting Knuckles his spiked fists and an aptitude for Chaos Energy manipulation.
Knuckles would go through many hardships throughout his life: His father's death, discovering his home then watching its destruction, and his endless fight against Dr. Eggman and the forces of the Dark Legion. Knuckles would even die and be brought back to life. However hard the going gets, though, Knuckles always manages to recover and hit harder. He's not just rougher than the rest of them; he's the best of them.

Section Key: I. Strength II. Speed/Agility III. Durability IV. Chaos Power V. Other VI. Hyper Knuckles VII. Chaos Knuckles Source Key: Knuckles' Chaotix - Chaotix Knuckles the Echidna - KtE# Sonic and Knuckles - S&K Sonic's Friendly Nemesis, Knuckles Miniseries - Nem# Sonic Quest - Quest# Sonic the Hedgehog (1993) - StC# Sonic the Hedgehog Free Comic Book Day - FCD# Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble - Triple Sonic Super Special - Spe# Sonic Universe - SU# Sonic vs. Knuckles - SvK Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles - SSvHK 

Feats are posted in chronological order.

For additional context on some feats, see a map of Angel Island here.

To see his feats during his time as the Enerjak, see here (Respect Thread by theusjshjdhdne)

I. Strength

Striking

• Breaks a fake Chaos Emerald.
• Breaks down a brick wall in one punch.
• Knocks out Fang with one punch.
• Destroys Metal Sonic in one blow when they’re both at a giant size.
• Brawls with Enerjak.
• Punches a hole in a giant machine.
• Brawls with Sonic until they’re both exhausted.
• Rams through a large metal robot.
• Breaks through an indeterminate amount of stone.
• Punches Sonic so hard Sally worries that Knuckles could have knocked Sonic’s head off.
• Shatters a few Egg Grapes.
• Punches Finivetus hard enough for him to bounce.
• Punches a sturdy trap wall hard enough to climb up it.
• Clashes fists against Finitevus hard enough to cause a shockwave.
• Punches the ground enough to crack it and create smoke.

Lifting/Grabbing

• While Perfect Chaos is flooding a city and Knuckles is in this water, he lifts a heavy generator that powers the entire city.
• Restrains an out-of-control Bunnie alongside Mighty and Vector.
• Catches a giant drill and prevents its rotation.
• Holds up rubble alongside Amy to prevent a cave-in.
• Snaps off an arm of the Egg Beater with Vector’s help.
• Grabs Finivetus by his cape and slams him into a wall hard enough to crack it.

Throwing

• Throws a dingo from one room to another to hit another dingo.
• Tosses Sonic above cloud level.
• Throws Thrash through a stone wall.

Other

• Anchors himself with his spikes during a tornado.
• Easily cuts a tree with ease.
• Powers through Thrash’s screams.

II. Speed/Agility

Combat/Evasion

• Evades falling boulders.
• Dodges a lot of traps completely unscathed including machine guns.
• Spins in a cyclone fast enough to throw a biker gang into the distance.
• Dodges a laser.
• Dodges a robot’s mace.
• Keeps up with Sonic going all-out pretty handily, at one point holding him down.
• Dodges multiple close-proximity lasers.
• Dodges Espio’s kunai in very close range.

Movement

• Speeds from near the outside of Angel Island to a distant mountain.
• Swims from the deepest point of the ocean floor to the surface before he loses oxygen, only not succeeding due to outside interference.
• Outruns a blast that quickly engulfs the Floating Island, only being hit when he reaches the end of the island. Out of everyone on the island, Knuckles is the only one able to outrun the blast and even reacts fast enough to throw a Dark Legion member into the blast before he starts actually running.
• Hops over a fence.
• Hops from one floating vehicle to another.

Gliding

• Can glide above the trees even in turbulent winds.
• For some reason his gliding works by using his dreadlocks???
• Okay, that isn't gliding, that's just flying, Knuckles.
• Can glide (fly) high enough to be significantly above Angel Island.

Other

• Swapped emeralds without Sonic and Eggman noticing.
• Able to keep balance on an Extreme Gear while grappling with Storm.

III. Durability

Blunt

• Struck by Sonic going at full speed.
• Bonked by Sonic hitting him with an entire tree.
• Hurt but able to handle being surprise attacked by Espio, Vector, and Mighty in succession.
• Tanks blows from Enerjak whose raw strength is stated to dwarf Knuckles’.
• Shot down by a giant laser.
• Takes a few blows from an alternate (Irish) version of himself.
• Hit by Sonic hard enough to create a hole in Castle Acorn.
• Launched into a wall by Thrash’s scream.
• Blasted repeatedly by Thrash’s screams, visibly no worse for wear.

Energy/Fire/Electricity

• Blasted by Enerjak.
• Gets the inside of his mouth burnt by Archimedes.
• Zapped by Enerjak.
• Hurt but generally fine after being splashed by lava.
• Tanks the edge of a blast that engulfed a large chunk of the Floating Island, still has enough energy to drag himself out of the ocean onto a piece of debris though he falls unconscious for twelve hours.
• Takes some hits from dingo goons armed with electric weapons.

Other

• Harmed but unfazed by getting drained by the energy siphon used on the Master Emerald that allows the Floating Island to stay, well, afloat.
• Seemingly unaffected by the pressure caused from being inside the very bottom of an ocean aside, more so worried about having no oxygen.
• Only worried about the cold while 30,000 meters above the already cloud level floating island.
• Is the first to regain consciousness after a crash.
• Crushed by a mechanical lobster.
• Gets caught in an avalanche, recovers quickly.

IV. Chaos Power

For a period during his conflicts with the Dark Legion, his latent Chaos power increased with time until an explosion would turn his skin green and properly transform him into Chaos Knuckles, losing his powers when he later died and revived. He didn't rekindle his powers until a conflict with Dr. Finivetus reawakened his latent abilities.
Knuckles usually doesn't use these abilities, but can break them out again when necessary.

Offensive

• Dismantles a machine on his neck then blasts Hunter into unconsciousness.
• Clashes with Finivetus hard enough to create a huge sphere of energy on Angel Island.

Non-Offensive

• Passively regenerates from a splash of lava.
• Creates a portal from Mobius’ surface to Angel Island.
• Flies with his eyes closed and “sees” his surroundings with help from the Guiding Star Gem.
• Either doesn’t register on an infrared sensor or genuinely has no body heat.
• Throws a few Chaos Spears.

Energy Generation

• Called a living Chaos Emerald as he projects a message to a fellow Guardian in an entirely different Zone; later corroborated by an examination performed by the Dark Legion.
• Generates enough natural power to overload a power system that winds up blowing up a complex and is implied to radiate enough energy after 15 minutes to be akin to nuclear fallout.

V. Other

• Can tell where Espio is even when he’s invisible.
• Carries a laser gun that destroys a door he cannot with brawn.
• Has the worst family tree.
• Called in by Sally to fight Sonic all-out on his level while Sonic is mind-controlled, Knuckles appearing right after Sonic wipes the floor with both the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix.
• Holds the Guiding Star, an artifact that creates a magical transport back to Angel Island from any place.
• Holds a Warp Ring which allows him to teleport to any location he sets his mind to.
• Resists Finivetus’ hypnotization.

VI. Hyper Knuckles

Also referred to as Super Knuckles, this form occurs when Knuckles absorbs sufficient Chaos Energy from the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, or a similarly potent source. With the power, he has the ability to take on powerful foes like Super Sonic and Master Mogul.

Strength

• Described as “a thousand times stronger” than usual.
• Tears apart reality fighting Super Sonic, destroying the Zone they fight in.
• Alongside Super Sonic, punches Master Mogul through buildings.
• Breaks the top of a mountain then throws Hunter across Angel Island.

Speed

• Keeps up with Super Sonic.
• Described as moving at “incalculable speeds”.

Durability

• Takes hits from Super Sonic.
• Tanks the Zone-busting clash between himself and Super Sonic but reverts back to normal.
• Completely ignores Chaos energy that was hurting him at base form.

Chaos Power

• Unleashes a surge of power that ends the war between the echidnas and dingoes.

VII. Chaos Knuckles

Due to Knuckles' father microwaving the baby imbuing Knuckles' egg with Chaos radiation, Knuckles' own Chaos energy grew until achieving the god-like Chaos Knuckles form, becoming closer to a living Chaos Emerald than an echidna. During his time as Chaos Knuckles, he was one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse if not the strongest outright, or at least stronger than (Turbo Tails and Dimitri as the Enerjak). However, his grasp of his powers was questionable at best and uncontrollable at worst, which would eventually lead to his demise.

Strength

• Bops Tails on the head.
• Beats Turbo Tails unconscious in a short fight.

Speed

• Unleashes a blast of energy before Tails can react, though he wasn’t in control of his actions.
• Keeps up with Turbo Tails.

Durability

• Stands undamaged in an epicenter of an explosion that knocked out multiple people including a Roboticized Mobian.
• Endures being siphoned of his energy until Charmy and Saffron free him.
• Surprise attacked by Turbo Tails.
• Tanks blows from Turbo Tails.
• Makes the scenario of Angel Island crashing and/or blowing up from Chaos energy nonlethal by taking the brunt of it himself; also a Chaos Power feat.
• Undamaged from a shot to the head that would have killed base Knuckles.

Chaos Power

Offensive

• Paralyzes a Roboticized Mobian.
• A shout throws around everybody surrounding him and teleports them to various places across the world.
• Unleashes a “tidal wave” of energy.
• An energy blast goes straight through Angel Island with the debris knocking out Tails.
• An optic laser harms Turbo Tails.
• Shoots down a meteor that would have destroyed the city of Echidnaopolis.

Non-Offensive

• Warps through time and space on accident; later does so on purpose.
• Teleports through time and space to Dimitri’s ship which moves at Mach 5.
• Detects the death of two echidna who crashed into the ship he is on.
• Read someone’s mind, though at the time he wasn’t sure how to do so consciously.
• Sends a telepathic message and projection of himself to his father across the Floating Island.
• Stops his heart to play dead.
• Heals somebody from critical condition.

Reality Warping

• Unconsciously warps reality on a fundamental scale, changing reality to different versions of itself: First to one resembling the OVA, then a reality without the Dark Legion, then a reality resembling SatAM, then to a reality where Sally is dead, finally to reality as it once was. Notably, both Sonic and Sally had full awareness of the changes during the changes, and everyone else had full awareness only after the fact.
• [Limit] Can’t stop events that would be inevitable through multiple methods such as Echidnaopolis’ destruction or the failure of Dimitri’s plan in the past.
• Manipulates time on an island-wide level to restore Angel Island to its original state before its inhabitants were teleported to another Zone.
• Creates flowers.
• [Limit] Blows himself up and dies saving Dimitri and destroying Mogul’s Chaos Siphon, ascending to a higher plane of existence in the Chaos Force (temporarily).
• Ejects himself from the Chaos Force and revives himself, but loses access to his powers.
• In one version of the future, warps the entirety of Mobius to his whim.

Characters Used for Scaling (all pre-Super Genesis Wave):

• Dimitri the Echidna.
• Dr. Finitevus.
• Egg Beater, Respect Thread by Proletlariet.
• Enerjak (as Dimitri), Respect Thread by theusjshjdhdne.
• Espio the Chameleon.
• Metal Sonic.
• Mighty the Armadillo, Respect Thread by theusjshjdhdne.
• Sonic the Hedgehog, Respect Thread by 76SUP and Joshless.
• Thrash the Tasmanian Devil.
• Vector the Crocodile.
• Tails the Fox.

Purple Guy MOVESET
Lightweight with 2 jumps (the jumps would just have afton raise elevation, no animation)
Gimmick
More so a visual thing but afton would be a 2d sprite like mr game and watch. Except for all of his moves where he is springtrap or a springtrap variant which would use a 3d model. The exception is spring bonnie which would stay 2d Also when he crouches he will turn into a 2d spring bonnie collapsed on the floor
Basic Attacks
Jab: Disassemble (Afton swing one arm forward before swinging the other)
Basic 2 hit Jab
(Aftons famous sprite)
Dash: Foxy Go Go (Afton dawns a foxy mask and jumps forward)
Pretty strong Damage
(Michael Scaring his brother and Withered Foxy Jump Scare)
Side Tilt: Run (Both his arms are put forward as he runs forward)
Does Good knockback but mid damage
(When he ran into the suit)
Up tilt: Fear (Afton punches his arm above him)
Does Great Knockback but no damage
(Running away from the spirits)
Down Tilt: Spirit (a spirit appears in front of afton)
Does minor damage but can cause a stun
(Spirts causing aftons springtrap)
Side Smash: Jumpscare (Afton turns into springtrap and walks forward)
Does A lot of damage and has a chance to stun
(Springtrap jumpscare fnaf 3)
Up Smash: Dark Trap (Afton Turns into spring trap as he leans back before leaning forward back to standing position)
Does Great Damage but really slow
(Dark Springtrap aka sister location springtrap cutscene)
Down Smash: Springtrapped (Afton freaks out in the suit (still 2d) )
Does Great Damage to both afton and the opponent. But also can bury
(Aftons death)
Aerials
Neutral Air: Activation (Spring bonnie extends all of their limbs)
Does Great Damage to afton and his foe. And also great knockback to the foe
(First thing to happen when Aftons springlocked)
F Air: World Slash(Afton smashes the below area)
Does Great damage and can spike.
(Fnaf world attack)
B Air: First Spring (As spring bonnie punches down behind him)
Does Great damage and can spike
(First spring bonnie appearance)
Up Air: Dark Return (Afton Turns into spring trap as he leans back before leaning forward back to standing position)
Does Great Damage but really slow
(Dark Springtrap aka sister location springtrap cutscene)
Down Air: Panic (Afton shakes the feet below him)
Hits great damage and can spike. Also has a chance to use the springtrap model which would just be visual
(When burntrap got kidnapped. And the panic animation shared between afton and CC)
Grabs
Grab: Shadow freddy appears the foe as both Hold the opponent up
(Loosely based on the events before the bite of 83 and the events in the follow me games)
Pummel: Same thing as his jab
F Throw: Shadow freddy walks forward where the opponent follows them before shadow freddy disappears and william runs up and punches the foe twice
(the events in the follow me games)
B Throw: Shadow freddy walks behind afton where the opponent follows them before shadow freddy disappears and william runs up and punches the foe twice
(the events in the follow me games)
Up Throw: Uppercut
(smash original)
Down Throw: Puts opponent in suit (doesn’t do any damage but when the throw is finished it causes the foe to still be wearing the suit for 15 seconds which while making them heavier also makes them incredibly slow and jumps go half as far)
Specials
Neutral Special: Ventilation
Springtrap enters a vent in the ground. Acts Like meta knights peek a boo with some minor differences. First after a random amount of time the opponent will become poisoned and lightweight. After all theres a thing in vents its harder to get clean air. After another amount of random time a random phantom animatronic will appear and stalk the opponent. If it hits the opponent they will become dizzy. Sounds broken right. Well while in the vents will also takes damage. And after a random amount of time will be bouted out at a random part of the stage with the dizzy effect. Could happen before or after a phantom spawns but will always happen after the light wight poison. So it’s a very risk and reward move how much damage do you wanna take, the opponent is light do i strike now or risk getting booted for the phantom. Also can only move horizontally and puts you in free fall if existed in the air
Side Special: Plushtrap
Plushtrap appears in front of Afton and chases the nearest foe. Only one plushtrap can be on screen per afton player at a time. When it manages to hit a foe it act like a stronger pikmin that will take 5 seconds to disappear where it takes no time to spawn another one. If After 30 seconds the plushtrap never hits someone it will naturally disappear where it takes 15 seconds to spawn another one. And it will freeze for 2 seconds if hit by a projectile. Finally it can’t fall off cliffs nor can it jump so it will never be in the air. unless spawned in the where it acts like a Pikmin spawned in the air. Also wouldn’t change anything mechanically but it has a 1/10 chance to summon a bunny from princess quest. Specifically the flying ones that appear in the beginning. And a 1/50 chance to summon vanny. Again changes nothing except visual
Up Special: Malware
Afton turns into springtrap as a tentacle comes out of his body. You can point to which direction you want the tentacle to appear. It acts as a basic tether recovery with one caveat. If it hits a foe they will have a 25% chance to become infected. When infected your directions reverse and out of every 16 attacks 1 of them will not go through and leave you vulnerable. You will be infected for sixteen second before you are cured. Now to balance it out if the attack is used and doesn’t connect to a stage or player there will be heavy end lag and will put you in free fall if used in the air. So always be careful when using this move
Down Special: Bite of 83
As Springtrap Will Bites Down. acts exactly like wario's neutral special.
Final Smash: Missing Character incident
A cinematic final smash. The smash starts with afton throwing a rainbow knife as a refrence to the move slasher in Fnaf World. Any one hit by the rainbow knife has a 1/10 chance to instantly lose stock. But if that one in ten chance fails they enter the cinematic. It shows the character at a birthday party before they’re lured away by a 3d model for spring bonnie.it then cuts to black before showing the character trapped in a golden freddy suit. Racking up tons of damage but no knockback. However if the opponents damage goes over 100% it is an instant stock loss
Cosmetics + Gimmicks
Every costume has both a different color for will and a different springtrap variant. And you can pick which springtrap variant you want with whatever afton you want. So you could have alt 3 afton with an alt 7 springtrap.
Costumes
Pure Purple - Springtrap
Pure Orange (Midnight Motorist) - Scraptrap
Pure Pink (Pink guy theory (no i don’t believe it just felt like it should be referenced) ) - Vanny
Pure Blue (Phone Guy) - Glitchtrap
Pure Red (Old man consequences) - Frost Springtrap (yes i know only plushtrap has a skin in special delivery but creative liberties)
Pure Yellow (Prize King And Sun) - Toxic Springtrap
Pure Bluish Grey (Moon) - Burntrap
Black body with white stripes and white face (Puppet) - Flaming Springtrap
Stage Entrance: Will comes in on a car like captain falcons
Taunts
Iconic Save Them Sprite
Eats pizza
Pose he takes in fruit maze
Victory Animations
Springtrap stands in the middle of a bunch of masks with a light in there eyes
The puppet lays on the floor as a car stands parked in the background
Nothing appears on screen before springtrap jumps the screen
(If you win the match with the final smash it show william dancing in the pizzeria)

Okay. I'll try to keep this short. I'm 29F , my ex is 34M. Me and my ex are and have been madly in love with each other since 2019. We ended our relationship due to pride, ego and communication issues and I got in a relationship with someone else and he met a woman as well. He says their situation was more like a fling nothing serious and he was just trying to get his mind off of me, as was i....but he end up getting her pregnant. We both expressed how we want to be with each other and are not happy in our situations. He can't be himself with her, they have nothing in common and he's unhappy. Same for me. I ended my situation but his isnt so simple due to her being pregnant.....now this is where it gets tricky. When he found out she was pregnant (during our breakup and not speaking) he offered to move her into his house to be sure she will have a roof over her head and can have a stress free pregnancy. I assume this will obviously make them closer and possibly results in us never being together. She also has two other kids that he had to take in as well....he says he's trying to find the best way to navigate this situation and be honest with her but he's afraid of stressing her out during the process. But he has let me know 100% shes not who he sees a future with. Am I a fool to sit back and wait or trust what hes saying? Hoping we'll be together? I've never heard of a situation like this but I know that love conquers all (which is what he told me) and we arent bad ppl and we both don't want to end up unhappy with other people. We don't think we will ever find a soulmate again. I told him today that I cannot stomach being a "side piece" and would wait til he's ready to break the news I guess. She's due in September. I'm worried he might not have the strength to leave her on her own with a baby so I feel I could possibly be believing in something thats impossible to happen...has anyone else dealt with a situation like this and has it worked out in the long run?

Okay. I'll try to keep this short. I'm 29F , my ex is 34M. Me and my ex are and have been madly in love with each other since 2019. We ended our relationship due to pride, ego and communication issues and I got in a relationship with someone else and he met a woman as well. He says their situation was more like a fling nothing serious and he was just trying to get his mind off of me, as was i....but he end up getting her pregnant. We both expressed how we want to be with each other and are not happy in our situations. He can't be himself with her, they have nothing in common and he's unhappy. Same for me. I ended my situation but his isnt so simple due to her being pregnant.....now this is where it gets tricky. When he found out she was pregnant (during our breakup and not speaking) he offered to move her into his house to be sure she will have a roof over her head and can have a stress free pregnancy. I assume this will obviously make them closer and possibly results in us never being together. She also has two other kids that he had to take in as well....he says he's trying to find the best way to navigate this situation and be honest with her but he's afraid of stressing her out during the process. But he has let me know 100% shes not who he sees a future with. Am I a fool to sit back and wait or trust what hes saying? Hoping we'll be together? I've never heard of a situation like this but I know that love conquers all (which is what he told me) and we arent bad ppl and we both don't want to end up unhappy with other people. We don't think we will ever find a soulmate again. I told him today that I cannot stomach being a "side piece" and would wait til he's ready to break the news I guess. She's due in September. I'm worried he might not have the strength to leave her on her own with a baby so I feel I could possibly be believing in something thats impossible to happen...has anyone else dealt with a situation like this and has it worked out in the long run?

Okay. I'll try to keep this short. I'm 29F , my ex is 34M. Me and my ex are and have been madly in love with each other since 2019. We ended our relationship due to pride, ego and communication issues and I got in a relationship with someone else and he met a woman as well. He says their situation was more like a fling nothing serious and he was just trying to get his mind off of me, as was i....but he end up getting her pregnant. We both expressed how we want to be with each other and are not happy in our situations. He can't be himself with her, they have nothing in common and he's unhappy. Same for me. I ended my situation but his isnt so simple due to her being pregnant.....now this is where it gets tricky. When he found out she was pregnant (during our breakup and not speaking) he offered to move her into his house to be sure she will have a roof over her head and can have a stress free pregnancy. I assume this will obviously make them closer and possibly results in us never being together. She also has two other kids that he had to take in as well....he says he's trying to find the best way to navigate this situation and be honest with her but he's afraid of stressing her out during the process. But he has let me know 100% shes not who he sees a future with. Am I a fool to sit back and wait or trust what hes saying? Hoping we'll be together? I've never heard of a situation like this but I know that love conquers all (which is what he told me) and we arent bad ppl and we both don't want to end up unhappy with other people. We don't think we will ever find a soulmate again. I told him today that I cannot stomach being a "side piece" and would wait til he's ready to break the news I guess. She's due in September. I'm worried he might not have the strength to leave her on her own with a baby so I feel I could possibly be believing in something thats impossible to happen...has anyone else dealt with a situation like this and has it worked out in the long run?

I am setting up awesomewm and using Lua and Bash script for the first time. I was able to get this working, so on the one hand it might appeal to other beginners as an accessible project, and on the other this is a good juncture to seek out feedback from those who know better ways. u/digost explained to me about mkfifo yesterday and already that let me do something new in this.
wallpaper can be set up in rc.lua by adding the line awful.spawn.with_shell("feh --bg-scale ~/FILENAME.png"), so if this file is replaced with another png a different wallpaper will load
conky the system monitor is installed from pacman and it can be given its own background by following the installation guide to generate a config file at ~/.config/conky/conky.conf and adding or editing a line to the top of the conky.text section
conky.text = [[ ${image /home/dave/conkies/conkycar.png -p -50,0 -s 450x450}
Where 450x450 is the image size and -50 is an offset to get it to appear in the right place. These small images are about the same size as the cheapest generative-AI option, which I found for fractions of a penny and that's what gave me the idea. I will try not to promote or even mention the particular provider since it is non-Free.
conky configuration is something that some people spend time on as part of ricing. Although a basic process of pulling an image from the internet should stay the same across awesomewm themes, there could be limitless complexity in getting images to reliably visually-cohere. If the conky and the wallpaper come from related prompts into the same Model, then hopefully they can cohere at least sometimes, but for now I've just gone with colour red.
My first step is to create a salt list of theme words. I went to a free/non-passworded chatbot and asked it for a list of words to do with cars and trucks and fire and chrome. These go into a text file with a space at the start of each entry
conkies.top4salt.txt

 Automobile Vehicle Sedan Coupe {etc...} 

These salt words are used to make each generated image slightly different.
First a .json request needs to be generated to a chatbot-type API. This uses a template from their site
conkies.TEXTtemplate

#\bin\bash curl --request POST \ --url PUT THE URL OF THE TEXT-PROVIDER'S API HERE \ --header 'Authorization: Bearer PUT THEIR API KEY HERE \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --data '{ "max_tokens": 2048, "mode": "python", "model": "icortex-1", "n": 1, "temperature": 0, "text": 

The last field "text" is the prompt, which can be brought in from a separate textfile
conkies.prompt.txt

"A prompt for an artist to design a promotional photograph, of a luxurious red sports car, which must place strong emphasis on:- (1) an Arch, (2) flames, (3) a red background (4)[ 

The " at the start is needed for .json request's format - as can be seen from the other lines. The [ on the end is there as a delimiter but ended up not being used: the API just ignores it.
For this site this is enough to start with. The prompt is set up with a script, which is also used to launch the process once everything is in place:-
conkies.TEXTpromptsetup.sh

#!/bin/bash find . -maxdepth 1 -type p -delete mkfifo conkies.fifo -m 0700 echo $( cat conkies.TEXTtemplate > perl -pi -e 'chomp if eof' echo -n $(cat conkies.prompt.txt) >> echo -n $(shuf -n 1 conkies.topksalt.txt) "," $(shuf -n 1 conkies.topksalt.txt) "," $(shuf -n 1 conkies.topksalt.txt) "\"" "}" "'" >> sh conkies.TEXT-prompter.sh) > conkies.fifo & alacritty -e sh /home/dave/conkies/conkies.IMAGE-promptsetup.sh 

The first line clears any leftover fifo files from previous times the script has run. The main body of this joins the parts of the .json prompt together into a compliant format, in the file conkies.TEXT-prompter.sh The shuf commands pull three salt-words into the prompt. The perl command takes a newline off the end of the conkies.TEXTtemplate which otherwise breaks the format. There are some syntax marks at the end of the file, the " one needs an escape character.
conkies.TEXT-prompter.sh is then run; the data that comes back from the API of the service provider is written into the fifo; and a new shell is opened for the IMAGE prompter.
Hopefully the data that comes back from the API is a prompt. If it's an error-message or the money has run out the resulting images might be very strange!
The IMAGE prompter also has to be set up beforehand. The IMAGE provider I used had a slightly more complex format than the TEXT provider I used, so it had to be made from a start section, the TEXT-prompt, and an end section. The format was on their website and involved some intricacies to do with different Models being compatible with different versions of Lora.
conkies.IMAGEtemplate

#\bin\bash curl -X 'POST' \ 'THE IMAGE-PROVIDER'S URL GOES HERE' > conkies-$(date +"%m_%d_%y_%T").png \ -H THEIR API-KEY GOES HERE \ -H 'accept: */*' \ -H 'Content-Type: multipart/form-data' \ -F 'lora2_strength=.7' \ -F 'lora2=' \ -F 'lora1_strength=.7' \ -F 'prompt= 

example prompt from the TEXT-provider

"The artist should design a promotional photograph of a luxurious sports car, with an arch in the background, surrounded by flames. The car should be in a state of acceleration, with its fenders gleaming and its hubcaps spinning. The flames should be in shades of red, orange, and yellow, and should be emitting sparks. The background should be a deep red." 

conkies.IMAGEtemplate-footer

' \ -F 'width=512' \ -F 'height=512' \ -F 'steps=30' \ -F 'sampler=dpmpp_2m_karras' \ -F 'model=epic_diffusion_1' \ -F 'negative_prompt=ugly, tiling, poorly drawn hands, poorly drawn feet, poorly drawn face, out of frame, extra limbs, disfigured, deformed, body out of frame, blurry, bad anatomy, blurred, watermark, grainy, signature, cut off, draft' \ -F 'upscale=1' \ -F 'seed=4116668295' \ -F 'format=png' \ -F 'guidance=7' \ -F 'lora1=' \ 

These are combined together as follows by the second script:-
IMAGE-promptsetup.sh

#!/bin/bash cat conkies.IMAGEtemplate > perl -pi -e 'chomp if eof' cat conkies.fifo cut -f6 -d":" cut -c 3- rev cut -c 8- rev >> perl -pi -e 'chomp if eof' cat conkies.IMAGEtemplate-footer >> sh conkies.IMAGE-prompter.sh && sh conky-relaunch.sh 

They are launched at the end as conkies.IMAGE-prompter.sh, which downloads a timestamped .png file from the image provider.
and the last script sorts the images and relaunches conky with the most recent.
conky-relaunch.sh

pkill conky mv *.png ~/conkies/conkycars/ && cp -p $(ls -dtr1 "conkycars"/*.png tail -1) ~/conkies/conkycar.png exec conky 

To make wallpaper instead would need to change the image size in the conkies.IMAGEtemplate file and point rc.lua to the folder it's been downloaded into.
To generate a wallpaper and conky background at the same time I think it would be easiest to duplicate everything to another folder, so that the text prompts are not the same.
At the end on an unmodified conky with a free wallpaper from https://www.pixelstalk.net/download-free-arch-linux-background/ it looks like
https://preview.redd.it/iiscm9bifg0d1.png?width=1565&format=png&auto=webp&s=b836c7a6ba3c5df01768e5014d2c3a20ac5601fc
https://preview.redd.it/cbq17sfigg0d1.png?width=1596&format=png&auto=webp&s=72b889bce8fe995ce57a6e4bdd433de4f0c0b505
There are various problems. Any changes to the API will break it but that is in the nature of these things. Both API providers required accounts. With the text-provider I am on some trial limit they have which is more than enough free requests per month to make these conky prompts, but it might be monetized in the future. The image-provider I had to pay for but it's the minimum amount. It might be that the credits expire and my conky becomes a financial commitment. But for this $10 I could generate a lifetime supply of pictures of what AI thinks cars look like... with wing-mirrors only for the passengers :D
From zero-knowledge I've been able to use a named pipe to connect two APIs together, and used bash script to manipulate text into compliant formats for .json requests. I'm becoming conscious that simple tasks have to be broken down into more stages and more files than it initially appears and this becomes messy. I generally have nothing in place to check each script is outputting in the right form, or to give error messages. If I accidentally included one special character in the text prompt, that would break the image output, but if I include any comment lines to warn myself then the script will have to check for those and remove them... so I just have to remember.

Purple Guy MOVESET
Lightweight with 2 jumps (the jumps would just have afton raise elevation, no animation)
Gimmick
More so a visual thing but afton would be a 2d sprite like mr game and watch. Except for all of his moves where he is springtrap or a springtrap variant which would use a 3d model. The exception is spring bonnie which would stay 2d Also when he crouches he will turn into a 2d spring bonnie collapsed on the floor
Basic Attacks
Jab: Disassemble (Afton swing one arm forward before swinging the other)
Basic 2 hit Jab
(Aftons famous sprite)
Dash: Foxy Go Go (Afton dawns a foxy mask and jumps forward)
Pretty strong Damage
(Michael Scaring his brother and Withered Foxy Jump Scare)
Side Tilt: Run (Both his arms are put forward as he runs forward)
Does Good knockback but mid damage
(When he ran into the suit)
Up tilt: Fear (Afton punches his arm above him)
Does Great Knockback but no damage
(Running away from the spirits)
Down Tilt: Spirit (a spirit appears in front of afton)
Does minor damage but can cause a stun
(Spirts causing aftons springtrap)
Side Smash: Jumpscare (Afton turns into springtrap and walks forward)
Does A lot of damage and has a chance to stun
(Springtrap jumpscare fnaf 3)
Up Smash: Dark Trap (Afton Turns into spring trap as he leans back before leaning forward back to standing position)
Does Great Damage but really slow
(Dark Springtrap aka sister location springtrap cutscene)
Down Smash: Springtrapped (Afton freaks out in the suit (still 2d) )
Does Great Damage to both afton and the opponent. But also can bury
(Aftons death)
Aerials
Neutral Air: Activation (Spring bonnie extends all of their limbs)
Does Great Damage to afton and his foe. And also great knockback to the foe
(First thing to happen when Aftons springlocked)
F Air: World Slash(Afton smashes the below area)
Does Great damage and can spike.
(Fnaf world attack)
B Air: First Spring (As spring bonnie punches down behind him)
Does Great damage and can spike
(First spring bonnie appearance)
Up Air: Dark Return (Afton Turns into spring trap as he leans back before leaning forward back to standing position)
Does Great Damage but really slow
(Dark Springtrap aka sister location springtrap cutscene)
Down Air: Panic (Afton shakes the feet below him)
Hits great damage and can spike. Also has a chance to use the springtrap model which would just be visual
(When burntrap got kidnapped. And the panic animation shared between afton and CC)
Grabs
Grab: Shadow freddy appears the foe as both Hold the opponent up
(Loosely based on the events before the bite of 83 and the events in the follow me games)
Pummel: Same thing as his jab
F Throw: Shadow freddy walks forward where the opponent follows them before shadow freddy disappears and william runs up and punches the foe twice
(the events in the follow me games)
B Throw: Shadow freddy walks behind afton where the opponent follows them before shadow freddy disappears and william runs up and punches the foe twice
(the events in the follow me games)
Up Throw: Uppercut
(smash original)
Down Throw: Puts opponent in suit (doesn’t do any damage but when the throw is finished it causes the foe to still be wearing the suit for 15 seconds which while making them heavier also makes them incredibly slow and jumps go half as far)
Specials
Neutral Special: Ventilation
Springtrap enters a vent in the ground. Acts Like meta knights peek a boo with some minor differences. First after a random amount of time the opponent will become poisoned and lightweight. After all theres a thing in vents its harder to get clean air. After another amount of random time a random phantom animatronic will appear and stalk the opponent. If it hits the opponent they will become dizzy. Sounds broken right. Well while in the vents will also takes damage. And after a random amount of time will be bouted out at a random part of the stage with the dizzy effect. Could happen before or after a phantom spawns but will always happen after the light wight poison. So it’s a very risk and reward move how much damage do you wanna take, the opponent is light do i strike now or risk getting booted for the phantom. Also can only move horizontally and puts you in free fall if existed in the air
Side Special: Plushtrap
Plushtrap appears in front of Afton and chases the nearest foe. Only one plushtrap can be on screen per afton player at a time. When it manages to hit a foe it act like a stronger pikmin that will take 5 seconds to disappear where it takes no time to spawn another one. If After 30 seconds the plushtrap never hits someone it will naturally disappear where it takes 15 seconds to spawn another one. And it will freeze for 2 seconds if hit by a projectile. Finally it can’t fall off cliffs nor can it jump so it will never be in the air. unless spawned in the where it acts like a Pikmin spawned in the air. Also wouldn’t change anything mechanically but it has a 1/10 chance to summon a bunny from princess quest. Specifically the flying ones that appear in the beginning. And a 1/50 chance to summon vanny. Again changes nothing except visual
Up Special: Malware
Afton turns into springtrap as a tentacle comes out of his body. You can point to which direction you want the tentacle to appear. It acts as a basic tether recovery with one caveat. If it hits a foe they will have a 25% chance to become infected. When infected your directions reverse and out of every 16 attacks 1 of them will not go through and leave you vulnerable. You will be infected for sixteen second before you are cured. Now to balance it out if the attack is used and doesn’t connect to a stage or player there will be heavy end lag and will put you in free fall if used in the air. So always be careful when using this move
Down Special: Bite of 83
As Springtrap Will Bites Down. acts exactly like wario's neutral special.
Final Smash: Missing Character incident
A cinematic final smash. The smash starts with afton throwing a rainbow knife as a refrence to the move slasher in Fnaf World. Any one hit by the rainbow knife has a 1/10 chance to instantly lose stock. But if that one in ten chance fails they enter the cinematic. It shows the character at a birthday party before they’re lured away by a 3d model for spring bonnie.it then cuts to black before showing the character trapped in a golden freddy suit. Racking up tons of damage but no knockback. However if the opponents damage goes over 100% it is an instant stock loss
Cosmetics + Gimmicks
Every costume has both a different color for will and a different springtrap variant. And you can pick which springtrap variant you want with whatever afton you want. So you could have alt 3 afton with an alt 7 springtrap.
Costumes
Pure Purple - Springtrap
Pure Orange (Midnight Motorist) - Scraptrap
Pure Pink (Pink guy theory (no i don’t believe it just felt like it should be referenced) ) - Vanny
Pure Blue (Phone Guy) - Glitchtrap
Pure Red (Old man consequences) - Frost Springtrap (yes i know only plushtrap has a skin in special delivery but creative liberties)
Pure Yellow (Prize King And Sun) - Toxic Springtrap
Pure Bluish Grey (Moon) - Burntrap
Black body with white stripes and white face (Puppet) - Flaming Springtrap
Stage Entrance: Will comes in on a car like captain falcons
Taunts
Iconic Save Them Sprite
Eats pizza
Pose he takes in fruit maze
Victory Animations
Springtrap stands in the middle of a bunch of masks with a light in there eyes
The puppet lays on the floor as a car stands parked in the background
Nothing appears on screen before springtrap jumps the screen
(If you win the match with the final smash it show william dancing in the pizzeria)