All you wonderful ladies of reddit. How would you react if your boyfriend/husband revealed to you that he has fantasies about dressing up? I've read few threads about crossdressing in the bedroom but that's not exactly my forte. I'd be more interested in getting to dress up in a magnificent flowing ball gown and to even dance the night away with a loving partner. I'm imagining like a full fairy tale princess dress.
Few questions reguarding it (feel free to skip any)

1. How would you react to your partner revealing this?
   
2. How long into an ongoing relationship would you consider it "too late" to reveal this without feeling cheated or possibly deceived by him hiding this from you
   
3. Would you be open to helping him fulfill his dream? Whether yourself or by proxy.
   
4. Would this be a dealbreaker for you in the relationship?
   
5. Would this effect your perception if him? Seeing him as "less of a man" than before?
   

TLDR: Guy friend / boyfriend / husband wants to dress up in as a princess in a ball gown, how do you react?
Edit 1: Fixed spelling :P

Hey peeps,
Wanna get some advice..
Had a little comp with some friends - we all just got back into Yugioh again.
I opted for a Rescue/Fire king deck.
MONSTER CARDS 3 Fire King High Avatar Kirin 3 Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring 2 Rescue-ACE Turbulence 2 Rescue-ACE Hydrant 3 Rescue-ACE Impulse 2 Rescue-ACE Preventer 1 Rescue-ACE Air Lifter 1 Sacred Fire King Garunix 1 Fire King Avatar Barong 1 Rescue-ACE Fire Engine 2 Legendary Fire King Ponix
SPELL CARDS 1 One for One 1 Called by the Grave 1 ALERT! 1 Reinforcement of the Army 1 Fire King Island 1 Circle of the Fire Kings 3 EMERGENCY! 1 Rescue-ACE HQ 2 Fire King Sanctuary 2 Pot of Prosperity 1 RESCUE!
TRAP CARDS (11 cards) 3 Infinite Impermanence 1 CONTAIN! 1 EXTINGUISH!
EXTRA DECK 1 Topologic Bomber Dragon 1 Proxy F Magician 1 Unchained Abomination 1 Knightmare Unicorn 1 Ip Masquerena 1 Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames 1 Hiita the Fire Charmer, Ablaze 1 Salamangreat Almiraj 2 Decode Talker Heatsoul 2 Garunix Eternity, Hyang of the Fire Kings 1 Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder 1 Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star 1 Underworld Goddess of the Closed World
Okay so i did some practising on Nexus and I was doing okay…
I played against Earthbound/Red Dragon Archfiend deck, a Ashened deck and a Salamangreat deck…
I got destroyed - I dunno if I am just ass or it was just a poor match up.
Should i just practise with what I have? get a new deck? (suggestions?)
Thanks in advance for the advice.

Hey everyone! Any felow MTG?commander fans here? We had a customer request a full custom MLP_inspired commander proxy deck. It's been super popular so figured I'd share it with the community here: https://theproxyforge.com/product/mtg-proxy-ready-to-play-commander-deck-rtp-princess-twilight-sparkle/
Let me know what you all think! Have a great day!

Assuming that kurulus osman is currently in 1300's we see that alaeddin and gonca, orhan and elcim get married in open. They even dance openly in wedding.
Cut to 1430's in Mehmet Fetihler Sultani we see mehmed ii marrying gulsah hatun, the karamanoglu princess and bride was wearing veil as presence of non-mehram people was there.
Again seen in MC and MC:Kosem 1530's and 1600's, the bride and groom are not even present and are behind a wall when their wedding is being performed by qazis and proxies.
Did the ottoman get more conservative with time or was it just historically inaccurate things shown?
Not even these wedding things, in KO women are fighting for the tribes and by 1400's they are bound in harem and barred from even taking political decisions.

It's a difficult job but the S.T.A.F.F. bots gotta do it.
Previous part: 4.
Wow, I can't believe I've posted two "Prove it!" at the same time! I'm never doing that again if I can help it. It was just unfortunate that both posts spoiled the other somewhat and required a thorough explanation that couldn't fit both in one post. Anyway, I couldn't start this part as soon as I wanted to because of life calling among other things, but now, we can get back to digging deeper into the soil of mysteries of Help Wanted 2. Sidenote: why does reddit keep messing up my links!
For those new to this series or who have lost which part or place they're on, check out The Jonsie Burrows: Help Wanted 2: Tables of contents to find where you want to go! If you haven't seen any of my stuff before then...
Hello, this is something you might have missed in Help Wanted 2.
Previously Post Interesting things:

1. Our main character, HW Jeremy, Cassie's dad, is already wearing the Security Mask before we even start the game. This means Glitchtrap has access to his mind and body. As for what that entails...
2. Help Wanted 2's AMask-on version of the FNAF6 Pizzaria might be based on Micheal's canonical look for it near the end of Pizzaria Simulator.
3. After completing each minigame, a party hat, plate, and cup will appear on the table next to you. Whose party are we attending as a guest?
4. The protagonist of Help Wanted 2 is HW Jeremy, discovered through the color blue items which are prominent in the game and used for his name and shirt in Ruin. Jeremy was a former employee of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental and may have been present during the events of Sister Location.
5. In the First Aid minigame of Help Wanted 2, the "GET WELL SOON!" drawings depict Baby's life as seen through Vanny's eyes, hinting towards the game's secret ending. These drawings also reveal that Baby's data card from Sister Location was inside Helpy in Pizzeria Simulator and survived the fire. As a result, her programming was eventually absorbed into the Pizzaplex's Network, leading to her appearance in Help Wanted 2.

Now back to our unregularly scheduled series!
​
You returned to the restaurant again and the time was still 12 a.m., business as usual.
Wasting no time and eager to see what new tasks awaited, you clicked on the Staff Only folder once again. Oh? Something amiss immediately grabbed your attention when you gazed at the files within the folder.
The file was unlocked, but it lacked a task-specific icon and name. The icon was that of a white broken file with a red dot with a white x on the right corner with its file name being a mismatch of letters in a long string.
As you glance continuously at the broken file, you notice that its icon has gradually changed colors. From a stark white to becoming an inverted purple. You've seen a broken file icon before, but never one that changed colors. But before your thoughts about it can wander far, the icon was altered again.
It didn't change into a new color, nor did it revert back to white. Instead, it gained a new element. The flickering, glitchy face of a purple bunny man.
​
Okay! I guess this is as good as any to start speculating on what's Glitchtrap whole deal is within Help Wanted 2. Now, I've mentioned this in Part 2.5 way back when, and I'm sure most have forgotten it already, so I'll repeat some of it here.
Glitchtrap in this game is not fractured as he was in the original Help Wanted, he is fully formed and complete. That means that after the Burn It All Down ending in Security Breach, his code wasn't affected by the collapsing of the underground and his time with the Tangle.
So what exactly is Glitchtrap's plan when it comes to Help Wanted 2 if what we're doing is not restoring him? This question is something I still don't have an answer to.
Vanny's plan, and in turn Moon's, seems crystal clear to me.
Subtlely trick our protagonist under Glitchtrap's nose to get Glitchtrap's essence and bring it to her to be disposed of so she can take over.
This tells me that Glitchtrap, while not fractured, is greatly weakened after Security Breach. Both in terms of power over the network and most importantly, influence over his followers.
But during the time of Ruin, things changed. Vanny and the Daycare Attendant are following Glitchtrap's orders and plan again and while anonymous, Glitchtrap communicates with Cassie and significantly influences her throughout the DLC.
So between now and Ruin, whatever made it safe for Vanny and Moon to try and attempt to overthrow Glitchtrap has been fixed. All thanks to yours truly, HW Jeremy.
So in Help Wanted 2, if we're not affecting Glitchtrap, we must be affecting the place that Glitchtrap is in, the Pizzaplex's network. That's Glitchtrap's end goal in Help Wanted 2, to fix something in the network.
Let's not forget what Ruin informed us about the state of the Pizzaplex's network when Cassie gets there. The majority of it is on security lockdown since the building's pause in deconstruction and demolition.
While this lockdown doesn't prevent people from physically moving or interacting with things in the Pizzaplex, it does prevent digital entities such as Glitchtrap from influencing those things.
But that's why Cassie's there in Ruin, to turn off that security lockdown, increasing Glitchtrap's power and releasing the Mimic. But what about Help Wanted 2? The security lockdown should be still up, so Jeremy has to be doing something else to the Network. And I think this broken file icon is giving us a clue about it.
Remember, what we see may not be.
Help Wanted 2, as we perceive it to be, is not true. It's not a set of minigames meant to be played in-universe by people. In fact, at no point in Help Wanted 2 so far, has it referred to itself as a game.
It never says anything about its development, the reason for its existence, or that it's a sequel to another game. The very first thing we see after we start this game is not an introduction video like its predecessor did, but instead an orientation video for a new employee.
It's not a tongue-in-cheek video for customers buying a game, but a genuine one meant for new employees, giving them a taste of what it's like to work at Fazbear Entertainment.
Help Wanted 2, the game is a lie. Its minigames are a lie. Maybe not fully as First Aid does inform us that it is meant to prepare employees for the real event, but it's not entirely truthful either.
Jeremy, and us by proxy, may see it as a game but it's not actually what it is. Surprisingly, Helpi helpfully helps us understand what we're actually doing and tells us exactly what these minigames are.
They. are. tasks.
What? You don't get it? Then let me help you out. You need to change the context of what tasks are. Tasks can indeed mean assignments or missions, but putting the word in a different subject gives you an entirely different meaning than previously.
So when I'm talking about tasks here, I'm actually referring to tasks in the definition of computers.
Now, I'll admit, when it comes to computers, my knowledge about them is only slightly above average, but that's what Google is for! So based on a hunch I had about the word "tasks" and searching for any relations to computers since we're on a computer in-game. I found something interesting about "tasks" in a computer sense.
I'll try to summarize it as best as I can to save space. A task is a set of program instructions loaded into memory.
Now computer memory is something I do know of as that refers to RAM or Random-access memory, and is basically information storage. So having bigger RAM in your computer means having bigger storage for your computer to process any information it receives.
However, program instructions are new to me too, but from what I understand it's simply a set of programming instructions that are performed as a part of a plan as a part of a code. Basically, a very specific instruction that a program follows to the exact detail so it can function.
So let's put this all in the context of Help Wanted 2 and what Jeremy is currently doing. Jeremy is standing at a computer (Both in the AR world and the real one, I might add.) and clicking on a bunch of programs in what we all perceive as minigames.
Now, let's think this through.
These minigames or program instructions are not executing themselves or following their instructions properly anymore, considering that most minigames are locked and to beat Help Wanted 2 you must unlock and complete all of them. (I believe, you need to complete all of them for both endings, I haven't checked.)
Maybe the code of these programs got corrupted, changed, or altered in some way by Glitchtrap downloading himself into Burntrap, along with the sudden collapse of the Pizzaplex, and the eventual security lockdown of the network. Leaving the programs unable to fulfill their instructions.
So this is where Jeremy comes into play. He can come in and correct the altered coding of the programs and manually restore them to their previous state to follow instructions. So when we complete these minigames, we're actually repairing the programming instructions. Which then opens up the next set of minigames or instructions that are in error.
It explains why he's wearing the Security Mask before we start the game, he needs to directly fix and interact with programs that help run the Pizzaplex's network.
This also explains why Vanny's not doing all this herself in Help Wanted 2. Right now, Glitchtrap is at his lowest since the original Help Wanted. There's not much he could do to Vanny now that he's kinda trapped in this lockdown network and maybe trapped in his Burntrap body too, now that I think about it.
But the point is, this is a rare opportunity for her to get out from under Glitchtrap's thumb permanently. But she can't go deeply into the network herself because that means being under Glitchtraps watchful eye, and if he suspects that she's going after him, he could just hide anyway to get to his code or just deal with her since her mind is going to be integrated into the network he's in.
So her best chance is what we see play out in the game. Using Jeremy as a sort of proxy to get to Glitchtrap and keeping her true ambitions hidden from both of them.
Yet, what are these program instructions really in Help Wanted 2? That, I'm not too sure about, nor am I sure how to uncover that.
However, what a computer task is, that being a set of program instructions loaded into memory does segway well into something I've been meaning to talk about for a while now since my "Princess Quest not canon Prove It!" post. I very briefly mentioned the need to talk about this in my "Jeremy Prove It!" post too.
And that is the importance of memories. But which definition am I referring to, computer's or the mind's? To be honest, I think that both definitions of the word fit this game or even this new era. As I'm starting to believe in this game we are diving into Glitchtrap's memories.
And more than that, he's been connecting the past games and the memories of the past to the Pizzaplex's network too.
FazFact: I literally just got done watching Tetrabit's video on Help Wanted 2's cut content because I was on a small break from writing this and forgot that I wanted to see that entire video, and oh joy! Does the cut content tell me I just absolutely nailed this and am on the right track!
But like before with my "Prove it!" posts, I'm not going to use the cut content as evidence for anything, mostly that the idea for it was there.
Now before my small break, I was talking about the idea of Help Wanted 2 being Jeremy diving into Glitchtrap's memories. How did I get to this conclusion?
Well, it has to do with a strange occurrence in the Princess Quest games, specifically, the third one that can be found in Security Breach and Ruin. It's something I've seen people talk about but never too deeply, both back when Security Breach was released and especially now.
And that's the curious case of Chica the chicken.
I'm gonna be real with you all, I totally forgot about her appearance in Princess Quest 3 for a long time. And even when I went looking for clues in the Princess Quest games to figure out some things in Ruin, I still didn't think much about her.
But now, that I've got my attention refocused on the Glitchtrap's Network again, and that I've come to the realization that memories are playing a bigger role in the new era, her reappearance in Princess Quest raises quite a few eyebrows and questions.
Why is she here and why only her.
She is the only other animatronic to appear in these Princess Quest games besides Grimm Foxy, and Moon (I think he counts too?). She's the only animatronic besides Moon that's not from the PQ games and the only animatronic that's from the past era. And most important of all, why FNAF 1 Chica?
Now, you could argue that this could be Whithered Chica but I'll just point out that Whithered has a distinct lack of black eyebrows that FNAF 1 Chica has. You could then argue that's it a restored Whithered Chica and at that point, we could argue back and forth on what she would've looked like and reach no conclusion because we have no idea what Scott intended for her to look like.
So until there's some grand reveal in the future, we can only go with the closest matching Chica and that is FNAF 1 Chica.
Back to our question, why that Chica? I'm not absolutely sure why, but I do have an idea.
If we're taking a look at the timeline, not too deeply! FNAF 1 Chica would've been the last version of Chica that Sussie was haunting before being dismantled by William Afton and melted down along with the others and placed into the Funtimes which then turns into Molten Freddy and Scrap Baby.
Unless that whole melted thing = Funtimes is not actually true, I should probably go look at that again to refresh my memory of it. But I believe there's canon evidence for that in Henry's {CONNECTION TERMINATED} dialogue and Candy Cadet's story. I'm not sure about Scrap Baby though.
Either way, FNAF 1 Chica is the last time she was whole and haunted by Sussie.
And Sussie plays a quiet but important role in the FNAF series. She was the first, the witness, she had seen everything. And that's our clue for why she's appearing in Princess Quest 3. She's watching.
She is still watching events unfold before her in the new era.
Dear readers, I'm sure some of you don't like what I'm suggesting with this. But I think it's about time that we all admit that the FNAF 6 fire didn't go as planned by Henry.
Something had survived that fire. I have an idea as to what, but I want to wait until the final Fazer Blast Minigame to talk about it. But just like Circus Baby's data card, it must've been a small piece of something containing the original fives' spirit. And just like Circus Baby, it was absorbed by Glitchtrap and is now in the Pizzaplex's Network.
But what does this have to do with Glitchtrap and his memories? Well, I don't believe that Glitchtrap is all that he appears to be. At least from the perspective of being a reborn William Afton.
I believe I talked about this before in one of my "Prove it!" about him, but Glitchtrap is not entirely replicating William Afton in his design. Subtley, tear stains are coming down his eyes, and drool leaking from his mouth. These design choices are a hint to the fact that Glitchtrap is really an offspring of The Mimic. Something that we meet in Ruin and are introduced to in the TalesBook.
The Mimic is a machine that can imitate and learn from anything it observes. It is important to note that Glitchtrap is not The Mimic, but rather a Mimic. And this is not to say Willian Afton has no influence over Glitchtrap, as his choice of appearance speaks on that alone.
But let's bring back this to FNAF 1 Chica. If Glitchtrap can learn what he observes then what about those unfortunate souls that still cling to the real world? What about their memories?
Help Wanted, Security Breach, Ruin, and Help Wanted 2, have one oddly placed thread running through them. That's the constant reference to the original Five Nights At Freddy's.
In particular the original core three animatronics
Help Wanted's entire lobby is a reference to that game and one of its endings has us stuffed in Freddy on stage, not to mention the cut Showtime event for that game. Security Breach's Rock Star Row has a stage dedicated to OG Bonnie, Freddy, and Chica. Ruin is an outlier, but Steel Wool had one of the earlier versions of the ending to that DLC, which had Cassie walk past a room that held the OG Bonnie, Freddy, and Chica.
And now here where we are in Help Wanted 2, and what do we see in the "GAME WON!" that's so out of place among everything. The iconic "CELEBRATE!" poster from FNAF1. Yes, I finally bringing that back up!
Something more is going on here with FNAF1, Glitchtrap, and the new era. I feel like I'm onto something but I'm just not there yet. The original animatronics, the six children, and Glitchtrap, what does it mean?
Yet, for now, we're going to have to put a pin on this train of thought and continue on with the game. I didn't mean for this to go on for so long.
But just keep in mind that the network holds the key to a lot of things and that lingering memories of the past are playing a role in this game and a bigger role in the new era.
​
What glitchy file meant would have to be discovered later as right now, it looks like Fizzy Faz Night 1 is the only task available to you right now inside the Staff Only folder.
Clicking on its icon, which happened to be three cans consisting of Sodaroni, Pink Lemonade Fizzy Faz, and the Exotic Beverage, made the pop-up window appear. It read, "Lucky you! A position recently opened at the Fizzy Faz Warehouse." (I wonder if this is a real place in the pizzaplex?)
With a click of the TUTORIAL button and a blink of darkness, you were in the void with instructions on what to do in this game floating right in front of you. "Make the correct order and send it up to the delivery unit. " "Use the cameras to see if the S.T.A.F.F. Bots are working."
Sounds simple enough to you as you'd press the START button and was blinded by darkness once again.
You were in a small room with a small window to view what seemed like a factory outside your room. Two monitors were in front of you on the white l-shaped table, the tall one on your left and the short one on your right, and were separated by a button control panel. A red button sat in front of the short monitor and looked like it was to be used in case of some emergency. On the edge of the table was the Fazbear Entertainment logo.
To your left were what looked like soda dispensers on the short end of the l-shaped table and a clipboard that had paper attached to it with some pictograms on it. That's something you want to look at after getting a sense of your surroundings.
To your front right was a doorway with a green exit sign above and further right was the end of the room with a 7-tier shelf full of boxes, a cabinet, a fire escape poster for your area, and a first aid medical wall station against the brick wall.
To the right of that is (Ugh! Why must this game be so dark!) what might be an open locker in the right corner, and from there was a printer-looking machine, a wall-mounted shelf with books, and a Marionette plushie that makes up of the rest of the right side of the room.
(Huh, that's neat. I think this is the first time that a Marionette plushie has appeared outside of a game corner area in these new-era games. I wonder why Steel Wool decided to place it here? Could there be something significant here in this minigame concerning the Marionette or something related to it? Hmm...)
Right behind you and taking up the rest of the room was a massive control panel. It had multiple monitors that ran its entire length and all of them displayed a red Fazbear Entertainment logo that occasionally spun in synchronization.
Although you could only make out a lone chair in this dim area behind you, the sheer number of buttons and dial knobs that this control panel had, led you to believe more people would've sat at this panel. But there was one thing that gave you pause when glancing at this control panel.
It was the oddly placed work tools that sat in the middle of it. A yellow cordless power drill was on the left and a large wrench was on the right. What were they doing here? Although this was a warehouse that appeared like it would've needed the periodical maintenance to keep everything running smoothing, it doesn't explain why someone would have just left these tools here on a control panel.
Did they have to leave quickly and have no time to put them away? Was it an emergency or something else?
​
Hmm, could this be a clue to something? Anyway, I'm curious about where this place is in Security Breach, so maybe I'll find something there. I believe I know where this place is.
Okay, I've found the general area! It's that place you appear in after going through the vent next to Salad & Sides after getting the Monty Mystery Mix from behind Bonnie Bowling Alley. However, I can't find the exact area where we are in Help Wanted 2.
This is possibly, the absolute worst area to find a video of! Some people take the alternate path to compact Chica and completely miss this area, while others just go straight to the next area without exploring much and I can't just type this area name into youtube either because nobody has a video that is exclusively about this area!
But thank God that Steel Wool put a gift box in this area because I was able to find, well... something. I can't exactly say it's the same room because it looks completely different from how it's depicted in Help Wanted 2. Actually... I take that back. What in the world?
The objects present in this room are identical to what is shown in Help Wanted 2. From the shelf and first aid station to what I originally thought was an opened locker but was actually a steel door. To the big business printer and the Marionette plushie I never knew was there in Security Breach, it's all the same, except for a few loose wires, the fire escape poster, and a completely different front and left area. Even the work tools are there in the exact same place!
This is the same room! But why is it so different?
Okay, I going to have to take some screenshots or make a gif so you all can see what I'm seeing here as I can't possibly describe just how different yet similar the room is. Well, I could, but it will be really long and confusing.
So here we have Help Wanted 2's version of this space, and here we have Security Breach's. Take as much time as you need to compare the two.
That front area in Help Wanted 2 is just another massive control panel in Security Breach. That glass window panel we look through to see the vats and S.T.A.F.F. bots is not there in Security Breach but its opening is still there and blocked by a wall and the left side of the room is completely different in both versions.
I know what you're thinking, doesn't this mean it's simply a different room? That's the thing, this is the only room in this area that's even remotely close to what we're standing in in Help Wanted 2. All the other rooms are either the security rooms or the office rooms. And the fact we can find the exact same objects in the exact same place between these two versions, means they have to be the same room.
So is Help Wanted 2 showing us a past version of this area? No. We have to remember that we are currently wearing the "Security Mask" and that Jeremy's mind is integrated into the network of the Pizzaplex and is looking at everything through the lens of the AR world.
And just like in the Daycare Attendant's room in Ruin, the mask just shows an altered version of his room, not necessarily a past version of it.
So what this tells me, is that Jeremy is in this area right. now. In fact, this is very solid evidence for the idea that Jeremy is physically moving to the many areas of the Pizzaplex during Help Wanted 2 when he clicks on these programs.
And right now, Jeremy is in the Pizzaplex's Mixing Room!
Hmm... This gives me another thought. Most of the areas that we visit in Help Wanted 2 are areas we don't see in Ruin. I wonder if those same areas we visit have similarities between them and the AR world of them. That's something to look into later. Back to the game!
​
"You are here."
A masculine voice said, spooking you from your sight-seeing and causing you to turn back to the right side of the room. It was a S.T.A.F.F bot with a yellow safety helmet and pad in its left hand. It's probably a bad look on you if you're getting too engrossed in looking at your surroundings if a S.T.A.F.F. bot managed to sneak up on you.
Fizz Bot held out its pad with words on screen. Taking a closer look at it, it seemed to be a worker's waiver. "Sign here. Start work," the bot said insistingly to you.
Well, you're not going to sign anything unless you read it first. (I'm not going to type this out... I don't have to right?... I'm going to have to type this all out, am I? Wait, we have technology! Have this screenshot instead!)
After thoroughly reading and understanding what the waiver said, you tap the on-screen button on Fizz Bot's pad, causing him to roll away and out of the room and into the Mixing Room. After that, you grabbed the clipboard and got a better look at the sheet of paper that was attached to it.
It was the order instructions numbered 1 - 3, telling you how the dispensers and monitors work and that the red button was for the waiting S.T.A.F.F. bot workers. At least that's what you thought that 3rd instruction meant.
You put the clipboard down and out of the way once you heard Fizz Bot speak up again from somewhere that you couldn't pay attention to as the tall monitor suddenly turned on its display.
"New job. Instructions. Use container. Collect necessary ingredients. Make Fizzy Faz syrup." Grabbing the container from the opening of the tall monitor, you immediately began following the dispensing order on its screen.
"Convenience. Order display necessary ingredients."
You placed the now-filled container back into the opening in the tall monitor as that was your best guess on where it needed to go. But it didn't do anything. Now what?
"Fill ingredients." You were way ahead Fizz Bot there. Maybe you needed to place the container somewhere else?
"Next two ready. Placed in delivery unit. Press "Smile" button." Oh, that's why those two things lit up beneath the monitor. One button on the left was the simplistic image of a smiling Freddy while the other button was that of a trash can.
You pressed the smiling Freddy and heard the noise of the syrup mixture being sucked out of it
"If error mistake, press "Trash" button. Dump bad ingredients down drain. This is both a waste of company time and money."
You feel that you've got the potential rhythm down for how this is going to be for your time being here. You quickly flick through the camera on the other monitor to see all of the camera angles you have available to you just as soon as the container has returned, waiting to be filled again for the next order.
One camera, was not like the others as it showed you what seemed to be an area filled with trash. It must be the Sewers. (I didn't expect to see or mention this place again so soon. Then again, we are right near the trash compactor that leads Gregory there in Security Breach.)
"Be warned. Dumping ingredients down drain may attract unwanted pests." was Fizz Bot's last advice before you dive into work. You were ready for anything.
(FazFact: From Tetrabits cut content video of this game, Steel Wool did at one point, plan for the Tangle to appear in the Fizzy Faz minigames. To be honest, the Sewers are the one place I can imagine finding the Tangle before Security Breach.
As I mentioned in my Prototype "Prove It!" post, the Pizzaplex sewer system is massive. Big enough for The Tangle to fit in quite comfortably. Which is why I'm surprised we never find it down there in the none of the games.
Although having it appear in Help Wanted 2 as a part of the minigames did bring up some interesting questions. Like is it, in any sort of way, connected to a network? Or is it running purely on agony and is independent of the network?
Having it appear is not that big of a deal as a fully-detailed digital replica of Vanny appears in Help Wanted 2 too. It all just ties back into the idea that the network has data on everything that has been connected to it or was recorded into it by Glitchtrap. And since we first encountered The Tangled near the FNAF6 pizzeria and Burntrap's boss arena which has Vanny's bed in it.
Both Glithtrap and Vanny are very aware of The Tangle's existence already.)
What happened next... was kinda short and chill. You did what the order needed you, which as it turn out, wasn't a lot. You began to wonder if there was some job like this out there in the real world, that could give you the same perks as this one. Clock in, do a couple of orders and clock out. Sounds like the dream job to you. Though it depends on the pay...
"Return and work." Fizz Bot interrupted your internal debate on payment. "Save time tomorrow." Was the last thing you heard before darkness retrieved you and you were in the "GAME WON!" void again. Greeted by sounds of celebratory yells and screams.
With a press of a button, you retrieve your prize from the claw machine, which is in the form of a cardboard box filled with plastic balls. A Discount Ball Pit doesn't sound like the greatest idea ever when regarding physical health and safety.
You press the "RETURN TO HUB" button as your vision fades to black, thoughts wondering if the rest of the Fizzy Faz nights will be this easy as well where the last lingering comfort before you disappear from the void.
​
Oh joy, where have I been! Was I on some impromptu vacation? Did I have an emergency? Was I lazy and bored of doing a deep dive on Help Wanted 2? None of the above! Unfortunately for regular readers of this and me, I got sick shortly after my first two Prove It!" posts. As you can tell by me not mentioning it at the beginning of this post, it was during the time of me writing this too!
So, unfortunately, I couldn't write this while I was sick. Well I could, but it wouldn't have any interesting thoughts or findings about the game. Just a boring play-by-play as it was hard to think while sick. But I'm mostly recovered now, so on with the show! Continue on to Part 6!

So The Phantom was exactly what it meant to be ... a fun retro romp in the spirit of Indiana Jones and Errol Flynn. Set in 1938, it established the mythos well, and set up a potential child to carry on the legacy from father to son.
And the 1986 cartoon Defenders of the Earth already did a King Features crossover universe as animated, but that was really a Flash Gordon team show more than anything else.
Well, this 1996 movie is now coming up on 30 years old, which is pretty much a proper time for something based on that son while still including Billy Zane as the father.
Set in 1968, Kit Walker's son Kyle Walker has been the Phantom for 5 years now while his father is gracefully pushing 60 years old and enjoying his retirement in Mod London with Diana, and setting up logistics to support his son in the service of MI-6 under agent X-9 (basically a comic version of Bond created by the great Dashiell Hammett in the 1940s). Getting Pierce Brosnan to play such a senior spy would be awesome, but I'd settle for Timothy Dalton.
The first film should try to hit the following points:

1. A strange conspiracy surrounding fantastical weapons being smuggled to the soviets out of the Congo
2. The disappearance of Kyle Walker, pulling a still healthy Kit out of retirement to do a "too old for this shit" adventure into the jungle with X-9.
3. The discovery of Prince Thun (Flash Gordon character) in the jungle, as a prisoner of those smuggling the energy weapons.
4. After rescuing Prince Thun, who has translator tech so he can communicate, Thun tells them everything. That this portal is to Mongo, from where their emperor Ming spreads his influence across planets via like-minded proxies, in this case, the Soviets. Currently, 20 planets suffer under his reign, and Thun is part of the resistance.
5. They manage to shut down the portal, but Thun is trapped on Earth.
6. Kyle Walker awakens on Mongo in a cell.

So victory, plus a setup.
The 2nd film would start with war correspondent Dale Arden bringing these same high-tech weapons to Dr. Zarkov for analysis, who quickly confirms they are not of Earth design or materials, despite it looking exactly like an AK-47, as it shoots energy bolts. The weapon was found in Vietnam on the battlefield by Warrant Officer Alex Gordon (callsign Flash, helicopter pilot) of the US Army, as one of the few survivors of an assault on a forward airbase. She was embedded with his unit and saw the horrors that this weapon wrought upon the base and the team there, with only a half dozen men taking out almost the entire base of personnel. Only Gordon and Pvt. Bailey (yes, Beetle Bailey, just a wink) survived as they got to a helicopter to gain air superiority over the 6 men.
This film will be Arden and Zarkov trying to track down the source of the weapons, and X-9 will get wind of what they're doing and find them.
X-9 will realize that this is a completely new weapon ... no longer looking alien like all the weapons from the pipeline they previously shut down, and leading them to search for the new weapons pipeline. The problem is that every aspect of the pipeline is behind enemy lines, somewhere in Asia, as interplanetary portals don't need physical infrastructure.
X-9 has an idea. An old friend named Mandrake who has previously helped with non-physical threats. Mandrake's mystical powers should be capable of finding the portal, which is located in Cambodia. But he's hesitant to tell US authorities about this, as he's afraid of how these extraterrestrial weapons could change the power dynamics on Earth. So he pulls together a small team, Phantom, Thun, Mandrake, Zarkov, and Arden, to shut down the Cambodian portal in a war zone.
This does not go as planned. Mandrake's powers go haywire in the presence of the portal, rendering him not only useless but in need of medical attention. They have to go in close, and find themselves facing a squad of winged men who have an obvious tactical superiority over them, but using weapons from Mongo the earth team holds their own for a while, until another squad arrives from Mongo, but this time it's Thun's people.
Upon seeing this, Prince Thun rises from cover and roars to his people, and tells them that the resistance is here and now, and to lay down their arms.
They shut down the portal, and Thun's people tell the hawk people to stand down as well, but they refuse as King Vultan has sworn allegiance to the Emperor, and they fight to the last.
Having shut down the portal, Zarkov can finally get to work. He determines the mechanism was obviously brought here from off-world, and Phantom tracks it back to a ship landed in the Cambodian jungle. Zarkov starts to figure out how it works, and learns that it can portal to any planet within the Empire by creating a tesseract and folding space so that the points are adjacent.
So now they have alien weapons, a portal, and a spaceship that appears to have some sort of tesseract drive for long distance travel, which basically creates a portal right in front of the ship for it to fly through.
And a decision is made by the group. They will take the fight to Ming on Mongo, by strengthening the resistance at first, until they can figure out how to do something better.
Close on a reminder that Kyle Walker is still on Mongo, sharing a cell with Prince Barin.
Third film: Finally, a Flash Gordon movie.
Agent X-9 gets Alex Gordon assigned as their Army advisor by General Halftrack (yeah, another Beetle Bailey reference, I'd say sue me but it's the same IP holder). They need to keep the circle tight for now, and Gordon knows something is up.
The team will first go to Thun's world as a launching point, as they have a small squad of his men with them and the humans can be passed off as prisoners. The decision is made to go by portal while one of Thun's men stays behind to teach humans how to use the ship.
The team is Gordon, Zarkov, Arden, and Kit Walker. X-9 stays behind to coordinate, and Mandrake won't go as he's unsure how portal travel will impact him, or if his magics will work on other worlds.
The arrive and learn their "prisoner" deception was unnecessary. Thun's world is decimated, likely in response to his acts of rebellion. The skies are filled with King Voltan's armies that are loyal to Ming, and they quickly realize that there is nothing to be gained by staying on Thun's planet. They quickly turn around and reset the portal to Earth to regroup and come up with a new plan, but they are noticed and damage from the battle changes the settings to Ming's court, where they are immediately surrounded.
They are brought before Princess Aura, who summarily executes all of Thun's men to punish him for his rebellion. And then, she notices the man in the purple suit, and said she has another one just like him in the dungeon who has been quite troublesome for them. It's at this point that Phantom learns his son is on Mongo, to which he demands to see his son. Which she obliges by putting them all in the dungeon for later interrogation.
Barin and Thun, the leaders of two resistance movements, finally meet in the dungeon. Both of their kingdoms are decimated, and they have nothing to fight for but revenge. The Phantoms are reunited, but they have no hope as they have no way to escape.
At which point, Dale produces her concealed derringer that the weapon scanner missed as it's not an energy weapon. It's only 2 shots, but it's something to start with. She gives it to Flash, and they manage to break out and steal a small drop ship, which Gordon notes has a very similar layout to the helicopters he flies.
And that's when Zarkov starts to put it together. Ming has been grooming Earth since the 1300s, (Ming Dynasty, anyone?) pushing their development along by encouraging conflict and slipping in technological advances. Mongo has been heading towards environmental disaster for centuries, and Ming long ago identified that Earth was the perfect planet to replace Mongo, but it was too populated, so he encouraged wars to weaken the planet, but the humans were just to willing to set down arms and make peace for that plan to ever work. Mongo has less than 20 years left, and the energy weapons are the tool to accelerate the slaughter, as the nations of Earth have chosen not to use the nuclear weapons to obliterate the populations. Humans breed faster than anticipated, and are depleting the resources he wanted the planet for, so a mass extinction event that does not destroy the environment is what Ming needs.
A decision needs to be made; do they find a way to return to Earth to warn them, or do they try to stop the threat here on Mongo? Well, they actually make the rational decision to run home and warn Earth as they're just a handful of people; while Barin and Thun previously had armies, those are gone now. The 7 of them against a planet when they have no strategy, they all agree, means telling Earth is more important.
Their plan is as basic as can be; use the drop ship to fly into one of Ming's ports and steal a jump ship to return to Earth, with Thun and Barin. Just land as close to a ship as they can and make a run for it. This simple plan, of course, meets with resistance as they are spotted and start taking fire. Kit Walker holds his ground to defend the others and dies in battle defending them as they rush into the ship, only to be confronted by Imperial Guards.
While they manage to take out the guards, they discover that the ship they are trying to steal is Princess Aura's royal yacht, and she is aboard. They take her prisoner and jump back to Earth.
Cut to a military briefing room, with everyone there except Kyle Walker. They are briefing Gen. Halftrack, who has no choice to believe them as Thun is there, as well as several alien prisoners who were the Imperial guards from several different species.
But the next day, Halftrack tell him that he has orders to not act on this. Apparently, the US has been getting advancements from Ming's people all along, just like everyone else, and they don't want to give up the advantages they are being given. In fact, he has orders to return Princess Aura to Mongo via the portal in Chicago, left over from the Manhattan project.
Gen. Halftrack then gives Gordon an honorable discharge with a wink and tells him that he can't tell civilians not to fight back against Mongo.
That's the first 3, I think.

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 2,150,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
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...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
On the southern side of the Fortress of Retribution, well off the plateau of the upper city, a massive stadium stands erected; none other than the same stadium where Beelzebub's Inquisition was held, along with the other traitors to humanity.
But today, that stadium has been reworked to fit its new purpose as a venue for the Great Debate. More than 300,000 seats have been erected inside the arena's center, all facing the upper platform where the VIPs have opted to sit. Additionally, large amounts of space have been erected along the back and side walls for even more seating, allowing a total capacity of 500,000 people to fit in its interior.
Outside, people congregate en-masse as well, watching the event via giant screens mounted along the exterior. These screens project images of the VIP booth as well as the crowd of 500,000 to show off audience reactions while the debate progresses.
Three million humans remain in the Milky Way, but even among the relatively tiny number of demons that have allied themselves to humanity, their populations still total in the hundreds of millions. The Hells of Isolation and Lust alone dwarf humanity tens of times over, to say nothing of all the monsters aligned with humanity's interests.
While the totality of demonkind is not particularly amenable to humanity's interests, even two or three percent of their species is still an unfathomably large number, given the fact trillions of demons live inside the Labyrinth and across various worlds of the Milky Way.
At its apex, Earth held a population of twenty billion humans. For each life-bearing world the demons control, they easily have that many members of their species living there, if not far more. 100,000 years of expansion efforts by the Broodmothers, and the fact that demons do not die of old age, has allowed their population to balloon to a ridiculous extent.
However, a pointed decision was still made by Phoebe Hiro and Neil Adams both. Aside from a few exceptions involving the VIP lounge, only humans would be allowed inside the inner area of the Southern Stadium. Given the outsized impact this debate would have on humanity, it seems only prudent to both to have the most important members of their species represented, with many human nobles and lords taking the central seats. As former controllers of tribes and kingdoms that were once beholden to the demons, they all wield small but significant pockets of influence among their subjects, past and present alike.
Brunhilda, leader of the Felorians, is one such example of these people. Given that the Felorians have become a significant powerhouse in humanity's military, she ends up nabbing a seat inside the VIP booth. Others also join her, such as General Magnus Chadwick, Fairy Princess Melia, Emperor Belial, and several other allied Emperors from the Hells of Isolation and Lust.
But for the otherwise 'ordinary' human leaders, those who ruled over small and medium sized tribes and kingdoms, they have to make due with being seated inside the central arena. They will have no say in the outcome of today's debate.
Along with the notable VIPs, Phoebe sits just behind the primary microphone platform, with Belial on her left. Neil sits on the opposite side, with Linda conspicuously seated beside him as well. Interestingly, she wears a beautiful blue dress with a slit that goes up her right leg, revealing her tantalizing thighs. This dress was actually chosen for her by Neil himself, who picked it to make her appear as beautiful as possible on this momentous day.
As the time to begin approaches, Linda maintains her cool and smiles prettily for the cameras, but inside she feels uneasy, as she is quite worried about how today's events could play out.
"I hope you know what you're doing..." Linda says softly.
"Just smile for the cameras." Neil says. "I may need your help later. I hope you're alright with standing in front of a crowd."
"I'm a soldier, not a politician..." Linda whispers back.
"Good soldiers follow orders." Neil says, nudging her side with a cheeky elbow.
The people in the crowd talk loudly among themselves as the beginning of the Great Debate approaches. Their voices form an incomprehensible throng, a dull roar that makes one's ears ring if they try to listen for any individual words. The louder the roar becomes, the louder people have to talk just to hear their adjacent neighbor, compounding the situation and making it worse.
However, within seconds, the roar dies down, and all the humans fall utterly silent. Atop the VIP seating area, a tall and powerful Minotaur steps forward and slaps his chest as he takes hold of the microphone.
"Greetings, humans, monsters, and demons alike. I am Yamir of Clan Ironhorn, head of Yamir Food Industries. As a neutral third party, I have been chosen to moderate today's debate between our two debaters, Commander Neil Adams, leader of the Human Military Force, and Phoebe Hiro, pre-eminent inventor of mankind's technologies, as well as the wife of the First Wordsmith."
He pauses to sweep his eyes across the massive crowd, but doesn't so much as flinch from the pressure.
"Today is a momentous occasion." Yamir continues, lifting his hand and making a small gesture with it. "Humanity stands at a flashpoint, a decision that will affect it for generations to come. When I was a young bull, I was rejected by my clan and sent to live in exile. By chance, I became enslaved to the creature known as Bahamut, and following her death I pledged myself to her slayers, Kar the King of Monsters, as well as his cute sidekick, the Wordsmith Jason Hiro."
"In recent years, the Wordsmith has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism. His failures to use his power proactively meant humanity's defenses were inadequate at defending itself during the invasion of Stormbringer. Millions died as a result of Emperor Ose's machinations, along with the deaths caused by Duke Beelzebub's bodily detonation. Of late, the movements of Emperor Diablo have caused waves of fear to spread among the common folks. With humanity possessing just three million survivors, can they possibly hope to compete in a galactic battlefield where Plagues, Aliens, and Demons all wish to feast upon their bodies and souls?"
Yamir keeps his tone even, focusing purely on the known facts while issuing no direct opinions of his own. His words, thought somewhat alarming, instead comfort the crowd, assuring them that their fears are being heard and responded to. Above all else, everyone wants to believe that they won't leave this debate feeling as if the bigger picture is being overlooked in favor of petty squabbles and disputes.
"A choice emerges." Yamir continues. "Continue to keep humanity together in order to focus our power, or split it in half between Tarus II and the world of Maiura. Should humans who have no love for demons be forced to live among their former tormentors? Should humans who hold no ill will be forced to live with those they consider traumatized bigots? Or is there perhaps a compromise the two sides could follow that would allow them to move past their disputes and harmonize their intents? Perhaps when split apart, humans will fracture and weaken, but together you may become unbreakable?"
"I am unwilling to answer that question for myself. So, in the spirit of the Great Debate, I shall now turn the microphone over to the first speaker, Commander Neil Adams. After flipping a coin before coming on stage, it was determined that he would be the first to speak, and thus set the tone for today's meeting. For the rules of the debate, when one side is speaking, the other side must remain silent. There will be two rounds of back-and-forth arguing before the two leaders will be allowed to cross-examine one another more directly."
Yamir slowly turns around to gesture toward Neil Adams.
"Commander Adams. Your turn begins now. You have fifteen minutes to state your opening argument."
Neil Adams stands up from his chair and smiles. He glances behind himself for a moment at his fellow humans, as well as a few of the monsters and demons, including Belial, who have taken up seats not far from himself. He doesn't say anything to them, then walks forward and politely takes the microphone from Yamir.
"Thank you, Brother Yamir." Neil says, as he waits a few moments for the Minotaur to return to his chair and take a seat. Then Neil turns to face the audience.
"Brothers and sisters, comrades in arms, my fellow humans and our allied monsters alike. We have all lived through strange and unexpected times over the past six years, for better and for worse. Great tragedies follow behind uplifting feats of human martial prowess every week, it sometimes seems."
The deliberate omission of demons from Neil's introduction doesn't take anyone by surprise. Belial stifles the urge to glare at his back, despite hating the way he always snubs her.
He projects a warm smile outward, making himself appear extra friendly to the audience.
"I love humanity. I love my fellow humans, male and female, black, white, and all the other colors. But I won't lie... I fear for the future we are careening toward. Humanity is anchored to a single orb inside the vast cosmos. Had that vile archfiend Mephisto gone mad, he might have launched an attack that slaughtered all of us in an instant. Cosmic Entities that make Mephisto look like a harmless puppy abound, especially among the Volgrim, and all it would take is one of them having a particularly bad day to kill us all in one fell swoop."
Neil closes his eyes and sighs softly.
"Humanity possesses unimaginable potential. We believe ourselves to be short-lived, fragile, and over-reliant on our technology. But the truth is, our species is the most adaptable in the Milky Way, capable of overcoming any adversary given enough time. Sadly, time is what we lack the most. We have entered the war against the Plague far too late. It has spent nearly 100,000 years spreading across our galaxy, and in that time it has grown to become immensely powerful."
"But while the Plague may be the enemy of all life in our galaxy, and humanity's current highest priority, what will come afterward if we should manage to eradicate this blood-hungry parasite from our domain? Do you believe the war will stop there? Of course not. We will still have the Volgrim to deal with... and then the demons."
Neil's smile disappears. He rests his free hand on his hip and stands up a little straighter.
"Demonkind is humanity's greatest enemy. Not the Plague, and not the Volgrim. Don't get me wrong, the Plague is our most formidable foe at the moment, and the Volgrim possess plenty of power to quash humanity as we stand today, but no enemy has shown the same level of ruthlessness toward us as the demons have. No enemy wants to enslave us and feast on our souls to the same degree that they do."
Neil raises a finger in warning. "Demons gleefully live in our midst. They are spreading among our people. Succubi and incubi sleep with humans wantonly. Grunts and Lords seek to teach our children their demonic ways, appearing as 'guest speakers' in their schools. They say they are on our side, but how can that be the case when their entire species remained silent in the face of 100,000 years of atrocities?"
"Some would point out that half a million demons fought on our side during Operation Stormbringer. But I ask... so what?"
"What is half a million demons in the grand scheme of things? Their population numbers in the trillions! Don't you find it more likely these bloodskins are simply biding their time, snuggling up to us to reap the benefits of quick ascension via the Belial Booster and other such amenities while waiting for Diablo to amass enough power that he will be able to behead our leadership in one fell swoop?"
Neil's 'kindly leader' appearance fades away, replaced instead with a dismissive sneer.
"The truth is, these demons are not our allies. Use your heads! Even if the ones who align themselves with us now are 'truly' aligned with our interests, they don't represent a fraction of one percent of demonkind's total population. And can we really believe in their alliances? When the going gets tough, can we truly expect them to stay on our side? Or will they stealthily abandon us to return to Diablo's beck and call?"
He pauses.
"Maybe you think I'm being too dramatic. After all, they already took a risk by staying with us during Stormbringer, and even now, as Diablo has risen to power. But surely, if you look deep within yourselves, you can see the truth. These demons ALREADY betrayed their own kind to 'side with us'! If they can commit one betrayal, does it not seem perfectly plausible that they might do so again?!"
...
Neil's words cut deep. His face projects across various screens inside and outside the Southern Stadium, as well as across all of Tarus II's main city. Pubs and houses project the speech inside, where humans, monsters, and demons can listen to his words in real time.
"That bastard..." One demon hisses to his friends. "This is how he really sees us! I knew that Neil cunt wasn't a fan of demons, but I didn't think he'd stoop to such a level!"
Among those demons are a few Grunts and Lords from the Hells of Isolation and Lust.
"Neil Adams doesn't represent all humans." One of the incubi says. "We won't know until the debate ends how humanity as a whole truly feels."
"We know devil-damned well how the human military feels." The first Grunt snaps back. "They aren't ignorant to Neil's true thoughts. His words represent them and plenty of other secret sympathizers. Damn! I fought in Stormbringer and lost several friends to Ose, but now I have my loyalty questioned! I joined the humans because I felt they had been mistreated for millennia, but I didn't have any power to help them, yet now I'm starting to wonder if I made the right choice at all!"
The incubi slowly nods before confessing, "I'm... having second thoughts as well."
...
Elsewhere, at the Horned Maître, several humans consisting of not only soldiers but also civilians sit at a group table on the lowest floor, watching the proceedings.
"It's like I told you all." One female commando says. "The demons already betrayed their own kind. What makes you think they won't betray us next?"
"I never thought of it that way." One of the civilian men, a common laborer, says softly. He takes a slow drink of his beer and frowns. "Traitors once, traitors always. Doesn't that mean any demons who join us can't be trusted?"
"Exactly." The female soldier replies. "Once a traitor, always a traitor. Plus, demons could only ever evolve through devouring souls, up until the invention of the Belial Booster. That means Commoner Demons who have eaten one soul have committed an act of murder, while Grunts have killed at least five. This isn't even mentioning Lords and the rest above them! Can we really trust that Belial?! She's an Emperor! Think of how many human souls she must have eaten in her past. She's a worse mass murderer than Beelzebub was before that piece of garbage exploded himself!"
The expressions of everyone at the table turn unsightly as they think about this particular revelation.
"Not a bad point..." The man from before mutters.
...
Neil Adams continues to speak for several minutes before finally closing out his opening argument.
"Let me clarify one final point," he says toward the end. "I do not want to step on the heads of those demons who have sacrificed for humanity's cause. Emperor Belial, for instance, has healed countless humans. She has performed a great service on behalf of humanity, and she joined us from very early on when we needed help the most."
He lets his words linger for a moment.
"But just because good demons like her exist does not mean that I can ever trust them! Especially Belial, a shapeshifter who can adopt any form. Do we truly know who this 100,000 year old demon is? Do we truly know if we can trust her motivations? Who is to say that she was not secretly dispatched to surveil us by Diablo from the very beginning? Perhaps her ultimate motivation is not as benign as she has made it seem. Who is to say that one day I might not end up dead, incinerated by Beelzebub while a facsimile of myself trots out onto this very stage and declares subservience to Diablo?! A shapeshifter of such immense power could certainly do such a thing!"
Behind Neil, Belial's eyes ignite with rage. She balls her hands into fists and even has the urge to stand up, but Phoebe quickly squeezes her arm, looks at her friend, and shakes her head.
Belial stifles her hatred and lowers her eyes, silently shaking as she tries to ignore Neil's incendiary remarks.
As for Neil, he pauses for a moment, perhaps hoping to get a stronger reaction out of Belial. Since she doesn't say anything, he opts to finish his closing remarks.
"I want humanity to split in half, not because I hate the demons, but because I can never allow myself to trust them. Be very wary of these wily creatures, my fellow humans. They may show us kindness now, but allowing them to live and mingle amongst our most vulnerable citizens will someday lead to a terrible tragedy! Moving humanity to Maiura will allow us to maintain a central base of human power while allowing the gullible few who believe they are safe among these creatures to live out their fantasies until the demons no longer have any use for them."
Neil bows his head, then turns and flashes an insidious smile toward his opponent.
"I have said what must be said. Now I shall give up the floor to my fellow debater, Miss Phoebe Hiro!"
Phoebe smiles back at Neil, but the undersides of her eyes flicker for half a moment as she stifles a sense of nausea toward his performance. Even without being able to hear what any humans on Tarus II are saying, she can tell that Neil's opening remarks were extremely effective, targeting the fears of the populace while closing off several avenues of discussion she hoped to breach.
The Wordsmith's Wife rises to her feet, then rubs her lightly pregnant belly as she slowly approaches the stand.
Neil Adams sits next to his beautiful companion, Linda Hurent, and rests his hand on hers lovingly.
"What did you think?" He mouths to her softly.
"It was an effective speech." Linda says neutrally, smiling weakly at him. "But... attacking Belial like that? Samantha is one of humanity's closest friends..."
Neil continues to smile, but he snorts through his nose at Linda's words. "Closest friend? Indeed. That is why it is important to set the stage and break people's wills. They must not let their hearts be deceived by that wretched succubus. She is the greatest danger to humanity of all..."
He pauses, before adding one last point. "Remember how well Mara deceived you? She was a villain, in the end, excused only because of Jason's soft ways. Don't let your thoughts become uneven, love."
Linda pauses. Her smile becomes a faint frown as she remembers how she felt when she learned Mara slaughtered a ship full of civilians, including thousands of children.
"Mmm. Mara..." She says to herself.
...
All of Neil and Linda's words happen too quickly and silently for Phoebe to overhear them as she approaches the stand and starts to speak, but the same is not true of Belial. With her Emperor-level hearing, she easily picks out Neil and Linda's conversation, stifling yet another urge to scowl hatefully at the small-minded bastard seated off to her right.
Phoebe clears her throat as she takes the mic in her hands, then she begins to address humanity.
"Unlike Neil, my address is not only to humanity's human soldiers and monster allies, but its demonic friends as well, most especially including my closest friend, Samantha."
Phoebe lightly gestures toward Belial behind her, deliberately choosing to use Belial's preferred name instead of her demonic one.
"Before I rebut any of Neil's broader points, let me take a moment to tell all of you about what Samantha has done to uplift humanity, the sacrifices she has made, and the pain she has endured..."
...
While Phoebe begins her first counter to Neil's introductory speech, Jason Hiro continues to reside within Chrona, watching the proceedings in slow-motion as they play out.
For him, yet another three years have passed. Kar and Blinker's children have reached young adolescence, all of them approaching their eighth birthdays. The Psions have settled down even more, and some have begun making the smallest of strides toward advancing their Psionic Seeds, thought they still have many many years left before they will be able to successfully do so.
As for Jason, he spends a few days mulling over Neil's speech as it slowly plays out in realspace, but he also makes a great effort to view dozens, if not hundreds of random people across Tarus II surreptitiously. He spies on humans, monsters, and demons alike, all to analyze their thoughts on the Great Debate as it plays out.
"The people aren't happy." Jason says softly, as he listens to the chatter of some troopers and civilians inside the Horned Maître. "Neil is scaremongering like a politician, but his words... they're affecting the minds of a lot of people. He also has his troops strategically placed to influence public opinion. He put a lot of thought into all of this."
Rebecca and Fiona stand beside Jason, also watching the monitors.
"You probably don't want to hear this," Rebecca says, "but I find myself agreeing with a lot of what Neil is saying, even if for entirely different reasons. The demons you've happily invited into your ranks pose a massive security risk. You have no idea if they truly stopped working for Diablo, or if he might be playing the long game. Placing the entire population of humanity on one world leaves you vulnerable to a single Cosmic Incident. If Diablo decided he wanted to eliminate humanity, he could pay a terrible price and ruin the power of the Archdemon by attacking Tarus II's population centers. The Akashic Backlash might destroy the Archdemon form, but he could also simply demand one of his proxy Deities do the deed instead."
"The biggest problem humanity faces is its low population." Fiona adds. "Three million humans is nothing at all. We don't have the time to mass-reproduce. Only if humans moved inside of a time dilation realm would they be able to explode in number."
"But doing so would mean they could never leave if the dilation is too high," Jason says. "Not unless we can find a more universal method for people to travel from higher to lower dilations."
The Wordsmith lowers his eyes as he falls deeper into thought.
"Can't have all the humans stay on Tarus II. Splitting the population in half would cause a massive schism between those who don't mind demons and those who hate them. Time dilation... need a way to mass reproduce... damn. The solution isn't going to be simple."
"We still have time to formulate a plan." Rebecca says. "Let's see what Phoebe has to say. Perhaps the words of humanity's most beloved woman will soften their hearts."
Jason frowns.
But what if softening their hearts isn't the right play? What if Neil, despite being such a bigot, actually has the right idea after all...?
Next Part

On the southern side of the Fortress of Retribution, well off the plateau of the upper city, a massive stadium stands erected; none other than the same stadium where Beelzebub's Inquisition was held, along with the other traitors to humanity.
But today, that stadium has been reworked to fit its new purpose as a venue for the Great Debate. More than 300,000 seats have been erected inside the arena's center, all facing the upper platform where the VIPs have opted to sit. Additionally, large amounts of space have been erected along the back and side walls for even more seating, allowing a total capacity of 500,000 people to fit in its interior.
Outside, people congregate en-masse as well, watching the event via giant screens mounted along the exterior. These screens project images of the VIP booth as well as the crowd of 500,000 to show off audience reactions while the debate progresses.
Three million humans remain in the Milky Way, but even among the relatively tiny number of demons that have allied themselves to humanity, their populations still total in the hundreds of millions. The Hells of Isolation and Lust alone dwarf humanity tens of times over, to say nothing of all the monsters aligned with humanity's interests.
While the totality of demonkind is not particularly amenable to humanity's interests, even two or three percent of their species is still an unfathomably large number, given the fact trillions of demons live inside the Labyrinth and across various worlds of the Milky Way.
At its apex, Earth held a population of twenty billion humans. For each life-bearing world the demons control, they easily have that many members of their species living there, if not far more. 100,000 years of expansion efforts by the Broodmothers, and the fact that demons do not die of old age, has allowed their population to balloon to a ridiculous extent.
However, a pointed decision was still made by Phoebe Hiro and Neil Adams both. Aside from a few exceptions involving the VIP lounge, only humans would be allowed inside the inner area of the Southern Stadium. Given the outsized impact this debate would have on humanity, it seems only prudent to both to have the most important members of their species represented, with many human nobles and lords taking the central seats. As former controllers of tribes and kingdoms that were once beholden to the demons, they all wield small but significant pockets of influence among their subjects, past and present alike.
Brunhilda, leader of the Felorians, is one such example of these people. Given that the Felorians have become a significant powerhouse in humanity's military, she ends up nabbing a seat inside the VIP booth. Others also join her, such as General Magnus Chadwick, Fairy Princess Melia, Emperor Belial, and several other allied Emperors from the Hells of Isolation and Lust.
But for the otherwise 'ordinary' human leaders, those who ruled over small and medium sized tribes and kingdoms, they have to make due with being seated inside the central arena. They will have no say in the outcome of today's debate.
Along with the notable VIPs, Phoebe sits just behind the primary microphone platform, with Belial on her left. Neil sits on the opposite side, with Linda conspicuously seated beside him as well. Interestingly, she wears a beautiful blue dress with a slit that goes up her right leg, revealing her tantalizing thighs. This dress was actually chosen for her by Neil himself, who picked it to make her appear as beautiful as possible on this momentous day.
As the time to begin approaches, Linda maintains her cool and smiles prettily for the cameras, but inside she feels uneasy, as she is quite worried about how today's events could play out.
"I hope you know what you're doing..." Linda says softly.
"Just smile for the cameras." Neil says. "I may need your help later. I hope you're alright with standing in front of a crowd."
"I'm a soldier, not a politician..." Linda whispers back.
"Good soldiers follow orders." Neil says, nudging her side with a cheeky elbow.
The people in the crowd talk loudly among themselves as the beginning of the Great Debate approaches. Their voices form an incomprehensible throng, a dull roar that makes one's ears ring if they try to listen for any individual words. The louder the roar becomes, the louder people have to talk just to hear their adjacent neighbor, compounding the situation and making it worse.
However, within seconds, the roar dies down, and all the humans fall utterly silent. Atop the VIP seating area, a tall and powerful Minotaur steps forward and slaps his chest as he takes hold of the microphone.
"Greetings, humans, monsters, and demons alike. I am Yamir of Clan Ironhorn, head of Yamir Food Industries. As a neutral third party, I have been chosen to moderate today's debate between our two debaters, Commander Neil Adams, leader of the Human Military Force, and Phoebe Hiro, pre-eminent inventor of mankind's technologies, as well as the wife of the First Wordsmith."
He pauses to sweep his eyes across the massive crowd, but doesn't so much as flinch from the pressure.
"Today is a momentous occasion." Yamir continues, lifting his hand and making a small gesture with it. "Humanity stands at a flashpoint, a decision that will affect it for generations to come. When I was a young bull, I was rejected by my clan and sent to live in exile. By chance, I became enslaved to the creature known as Bahamut, and following her death I pledged myself to her slayers, Kar the King of Monsters, as well as his cute sidekick, the Wordsmith Jason Hiro."
"In recent years, the Wordsmith has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism. His failures to use his power proactively meant humanity's defenses were inadequate at defending itself during the invasion of Stormbringer. Millions died as a result of Emperor Ose's machinations, along with the deaths caused by Duke Beelzebub's bodily detonation. Of late, the movements of Emperor Diablo have caused waves of fear to spread among the common folks. With humanity possessing just three million survivors, can they possibly hope to compete in a galactic battlefield where Plagues, Aliens, and Demons all wish to feast upon their bodies and souls?"
Yamir keeps his tone even, focusing purely on the known facts while issuing no direct opinions of his own. His words, thought somewhat alarming, instead comfort the crowd, assuring them that their fears are being heard and responded to. Above all else, everyone wants to believe that they won't leave this debate feeling as if the bigger picture is being overlooked in favor of petty squabbles and disputes.
"A choice emerges." Yamir continues. "Continue to keep humanity together in order to focus our power, or split it in half between Tarus II and the world of Maiura. Should humans who have no love for demons be forced to live among their former tormentors? Should humans who hold no ill will be forced to live with those they consider traumatized bigots? Or is there perhaps a compromise the two sides could follow that would allow them to move past their disputes and harmonize their intents? Perhaps when split apart, humans will fracture and weaken, but together you may become unbreakable?"
"I am unwilling to answer that question for myself. So, in the spirit of the Great Debate, I shall now turn the microphone over to the first speaker, Commander Neil Adams. After flipping a coin before coming on stage, it was determined that he would be the first to speak, and thus set the tone for today's meeting. For the rules of the debate, when one side is speaking, the other side must remain silent. There will be two rounds of back-and-forth arguing before the two leaders will be allowed to cross-examine one another more directly."
Yamir slowly turns around to gesture toward Neil Adams.
"Commander Adams. Your turn begins now. You have fifteen minutes to state your opening argument."
Neil Adams stands up from his chair and smiles. He glances behind himself for a moment at his fellow humans, as well as a few of the monsters and demons, including Belial, who have taken up seats not far from himself. He doesn't say anything to them, then walks forward and politely takes the microphone from Yamir.
"Thank you, Brother Yamir." Neil says, as he waits a few moments for the Minotaur to return to his chair and take a seat. Then Neil turns to face the audience.
"Brothers and sisters, comrades in arms, my fellow humans and our allied monsters alike. We have all lived through strange and unexpected times over the past six years, for better and for worse. Great tragedies follow behind uplifting feats of human martial prowess every week, it sometimes seems."
The deliberate omission of demons from Neil's introduction doesn't take anyone by surprise. Belial stifles the urge to glare at his back, despite hating the way he always snubs her.
He projects a warm smile outward, making himself appear extra friendly to the audience.
"I love humanity. I love my fellow humans, male and female, black, white, and all the other colors. But I won't lie... I fear for the future we are careening toward. Humanity is anchored to a single orb inside the vast cosmos. Had that vile archfiend Mephisto gone mad, he might have launched an attack that slaughtered all of us in an instant. Cosmic Entities that make Mephisto look like a harmless puppy abound, especially among the Volgrim, and all it would take is one of them having a particularly bad day to kill us all in one fell swoop."
Neil closes his eyes and sighs softly.
"Humanity possesses unimaginable potential. We believe ourselves to be short-lived, fragile, and over-reliant on our technology. But the truth is, our species is the most adaptable in the Milky Way, capable of overcoming any adversary given enough time. Sadly, time is what we lack the most. We have entered the war against the Plague far too late. It has spent nearly 100,000 years spreading across our galaxy, and in that time it has grown to become immensely powerful."
"But while the Plague may be the enemy of all life in our galaxy, and humanity's current highest priority, what will come afterward if we should manage to eradicate this blood-hungry parasite from our domain? Do you believe the war will stop there? Of course not. We will still have the Volgrim to deal with... and then the demons."
Neil's smile disappears. He rests his free hand on his hip and stands up a little straighter.
"Demonkind is humanity's greatest enemy. Not the Plague, and not the Volgrim. Don't get me wrong, the Plague is our most formidable foe at the moment, and the Volgrim possess plenty of power to quash humanity as we stand today, but no enemy has shown the same level of ruthlessness toward us as the demons have. No enemy wants to enslave us and feast on our souls to the same degree that they do."
Neil raises a finger in warning. "Demons gleefully live in our midst. They are spreading among our people. Succubi and incubi sleep with humans wantonly. Grunts and Lords seek to teach our children their demonic ways, appearing as 'guest speakers' in their schools. They say they are on our side, but how can that be the case when their entire species remained silent in the face of 100,000 years of atrocities?"
"Some would point out that half a million demons fought on our side during Operation Stormbringer. But I ask... so what?"
"What is half a million demons in the grand scheme of things? Their population numbers in the trillions! Don't you find it more likely these bloodskins are simply biding their time, snuggling up to us to reap the benefits of quick ascension via the Belial Booster and other such amenities while waiting for Diablo to amass enough power that he will be able to behead our leadership in one fell swoop?"
Neil's 'kindly leader' appearance fades away, replaced instead with a dismissive sneer.
"The truth is, these demons are not our allies. Use your heads! Even if the ones who align themselves with us now are 'truly' aligned with our interests, they don't represent a fraction of one percent of demonkind's total population. And can we really believe in their alliances? When the going gets tough, can we truly expect them to stay on our side? Or will they stealthily abandon us to return to Diablo's beck and call?"
He pauses.
"Maybe you think I'm being too dramatic. After all, they already took a risk by staying with us during Stormbringer, and even now, as Diablo has risen to power. But surely, if you look deep within yourselves, you can see the truth. These demons ALREADY betrayed their own kind to 'side with us'! If they can commit one betrayal, does it not seem perfectly plausible that they might do so again?!"
...
Neil's words cut deep. His face projects across various screens inside and outside the Southern Stadium, as well as across all of Tarus II's main city. Pubs and houses project the speech inside, where humans, monsters, and demons can listen to his words in real time.
"That bastard..." One demon hisses to his friends. "This is how he really sees us! I knew that Neil cunt wasn't a fan of demons, but I didn't think he'd stoop to such a level!"
Among those demons are a few Grunts and Lords from the Hells of Isolation and Lust.
"Neil Adams doesn't represent all humans." One of the incubi says. "We won't know until the debate ends how humanity as a whole truly feels."
"We know devil-damned well how the human military feels." The first Grunt snaps back. "They aren't ignorant to Neil's true thoughts. His words represent them and plenty of other secret sympathizers. Damn! I fought in Stormbringer and lost several friends to Ose, but now I have my loyalty questioned! I joined the humans because I felt they had been mistreated for millennia, but I didn't have any power to help them, yet now I'm starting to wonder if I made the right choice at all!"
The incubi slowly nods before confessing, "I'm... having second thoughts as well."
...
Elsewhere, at the Horned Maître, several humans consisting of not only soldiers but also civilians sit at a group table on the lowest floor, watching the proceedings.
"It's like I told you all." One female commando says. "The demons already betrayed their own kind. What makes you think they won't betray us next?"
"I never thought of it that way." One of the civilian men, a common laborer, says softly. He takes a slow drink of his beer and frowns. "Traitors once, traitors always. Doesn't that mean any demons who join us can't be trusted?"
"Exactly." The female soldier replies. "Once a traitor, always a traitor. Plus, demons could only ever evolve through devouring souls, up until the invention of the Belial Booster. That means Commoner Demons who have eaten one soul have committed an act of murder, while Grunts have killed at least five. This isn't even mentioning Lords and the rest above them! Can we really trust that Belial?! She's an Emperor! Think of how many human souls she must have eaten in her past. She's a worse mass murderer than Beelzebub was before that piece of garbage exploded himself!"
The expressions of everyone at the table turn unsightly as they think about this particular revelation.
"Not a bad point..." The man from before mutters.
...
Neil Adams continues to speak for several minutes before finally closing out his opening argument.
"Let me clarify one final point," he says toward the end. "I do not want to step on the heads of those demons who have sacrificed for humanity's cause. Emperor Belial, for instance, has healed countless humans. She has performed a great service on behalf of humanity, and she joined us from very early on when we needed help the most."
He lets his words linger for a moment.
"But just because good demons like her exist does not mean that I can ever trust them! Especially Belial, a shapeshifter who can adopt any form. Do we truly know who this 100,000 year old demon is? Do we truly know if we can trust her motivations? Who is to say that she was not secretly dispatched to surveil us by Diablo from the very beginning? Perhaps her ultimate motivation is not as benign as she has made it seem. Who is to say that one day I might not end up dead, incinerated by Beelzebub while a facsimile of myself trots out onto this very stage and declares subservience to Diablo?! A shapeshifter of such immense power could certainly do such a thing!"
Behind Neil, Belial's eyes ignite with rage. She balls her hands into fists and even has the urge to stand up, but Phoebe quickly squeezes her arm, looks at her friend, and shakes her head.
Belial stifles her hatred and lowers her eyes, silently shaking as she tries to ignore Neil's incendiary remarks.
As for Neil, he pauses for a moment, perhaps hoping to get a stronger reaction out of Belial. Since she doesn't say anything, he opts to finish his closing remarks.
"I want humanity to split in half, not because I hate the demons, but because I can never allow myself to trust them. Be very wary of these wily creatures, my fellow humans. They may show us kindness now, but allowing them to live and mingle amongst our most vulnerable citizens will someday lead to a terrible tragedy! Moving humanity to Maiura will allow us to maintain a central base of human power while allowing the gullible few who believe they are safe among these creatures to live out their fantasies until the demons no longer have any use for them."
Neil bows his head, then turns and flashes an insidious smile toward his opponent.
"I have said what must be said. Now I shall give up the floor to my fellow debater, Miss Phoebe Hiro!"
Phoebe smiles back at Neil, but the undersides of her eyes flicker for half a moment as she stifles a sense of nausea toward his performance. Even without being able to hear what any humans on Tarus II are saying, she can tell that Neil's opening remarks were extremely effective, targeting the fears of the populace while closing off several avenues of discussion she hoped to breach.
The Wordsmith's Wife rises to her feet, then rubs her lightly pregnant belly as she slowly approaches the stand.
Neil Adams sits next to his beautiful companion, Linda Hurent, and rests his hand on hers lovingly.
"What did you think?" He mouths to her softly.
"It was an effective speech." Linda says neutrally, smiling weakly at him. "But... attacking Belial like that? Samantha is one of humanity's closest friends..."
Neil continues to smile, but he snorts through his nose at Linda's words. "Closest friend? Indeed. That is why it is important to set the stage and break people's wills. They must not let their hearts be deceived by that wretched succubus. She is the greatest danger to humanity of all..."
He pauses, before adding one last point. "Remember how well Mara deceived you? She was a villain, in the end, excused only because of Jason's soft ways. Don't let your thoughts become uneven, love."
Linda pauses. Her smile becomes a faint frown as she remembers how she felt when she learned Mara slaughtered a ship full of civilians, including thousands of children.
"Mmm. Mara..." She says to herself.
...
All of Neil and Linda's words happen too quickly and silently for Phoebe to overhear them as she approaches the stand and starts to speak, but the same is not true of Belial. With her Emperor-level hearing, she easily picks out Neil and Linda's conversation, stifling yet another urge to scowl hatefully at the small-minded bastard seated off to her right.
Phoebe clears her throat as she takes the mic in her hands, then she begins to address humanity.
"Unlike Neil, my address is not only to humanity's human soldiers and monster allies, but its demonic friends as well, most especially including my closest friend, Samantha."
Phoebe lightly gestures toward Belial behind her, deliberately choosing to use Belial's preferred name instead of her demonic one.
"Before I rebut any of Neil's broader points, let me take a moment to tell all of you about what Samantha has done to uplift humanity, the sacrifices she has made, and the pain she has endured..."
...
While Phoebe begins her first counter to Neil's introductory speech, Jason Hiro continues to reside within Chrona, watching the proceedings in slow-motion as they play out.
For him, yet another three years have passed. Kar and Blinker's children have reached young adolescence, all of them approaching their eighth birthdays. The Psions have settled down even more, and some have begun making the smallest of strides toward advancing their Psionic Seeds, thought they still have many many years left before they will be able to successfully do so.
As for Jason, he spends a few days mulling over Neil's speech as it slowly plays out in realspace, but he also makes a great effort to view dozens, if not hundreds of random people across Tarus II surreptitiously. He spies on humans, monsters, and demons alike, all to analyze their thoughts on the Great Debate as it plays out.
"The people aren't happy." Jason says softly, as he listens to the chatter of some troopers and civilians inside the Horned Maître. "Neil is scaremongering like a politician, but his words... they're affecting the minds of a lot of people. He also has his troops strategically placed to influence public opinion. He put a lot of thought into all of this."
Rebecca and Fiona stand beside Jason, also watching the monitors.
"You probably don't want to hear this," Rebecca says, "but I find myself agreeing with a lot of what Neil is saying, even if for entirely different reasons. The demons you've happily invited into your ranks pose a massive security risk. You have no idea if they truly stopped working for Diablo, or if he might be playing the long game. Placing the entire population of humanity on one world leaves you vulnerable to a single Cosmic Incident. If Diablo decided he wanted to eliminate humanity, he could pay a terrible price and ruin the power of the Archdemon by attacking Tarus II's population centers. The Akashic Backlash might destroy the Archdemon form, but he could also simply demand one of his proxy Deities do the deed instead."
"The biggest problem humanity faces is its low population." Fiona adds. "Three million humans is nothing at all. We don't have the time to mass-reproduce. Only if humans moved inside of a time dilation realm would they be able to explode in number."
"But doing so would mean they could never leave if the dilation is too high," Jason says. "Not unless we can find a more universal method for people to travel from higher to lower dilations."
The Wordsmith lowers his eyes as he falls deeper into thought.
"Can't have all the humans stay on Tarus II. Splitting the population in half would cause a massive schism between those who don't mind demons and those who hate them. Time dilation... need a way to mass reproduce... damn. The solution isn't going to be simple."
"We still have time to formulate a plan." Rebecca says. "Let's see what Phoebe has to say. Perhaps the words of humanity's most beloved woman will soften their hearts."
Jason frowns.
But what if softening their hearts isn't the right play? What if Neil, despite being such a bigot, actually has the right idea after all...?

Edit: as of April 18, the source link now returns a 404 unavailable error. Looks like OK Magazine either deleted it or republished the story on another url. If they republished it, I can't find it--if you can, please comment below. Story originally published April 15, looks like OK Mag pulled it between 24 to 48 hours later. See, this is why I copy-paste these articles, here, in case stuff like this happens.
This "redbrick annexe" (annex for Americans) could be like a garage or a storage outbuilding? Anybody know?
Beyond the spin that the building "is integral to Kate's journey" and it will be a "haven," I'm not sure what this is about. Are they moving Kate into some small brick structure? Article says Kate "can comfortably navigate the complexities of treatment" in this place. If she's going to be in it full-time, that's interesting.
Source https://www.ok.co.uk/royal/william-kate-adelaide-cottage-royal-32578524 (N.B. site may return a "Page unavailable: Sorry, we can't serve this content to the country you're visiting from" error, depending on the country you're in. VPN or web proxy browser can solve this problem)

Inside Prince William and Kate Middleton's surprise plans to upgrade home into 'sanctuary' amid cancer recovery
EXCLUSIVE: The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to be drawing up plans to renovate and extend a redbrick annexe next to their Adelaide Cottage home, according to sources
By Nathan Kay & Rebecca Russell, Royal Reporter
The Prince and Princess of Wales are said to be considering plans to renovate and extend a redbrick annexe next to their Adelaide Cottage home in Windsor.
The family - who moved to the Berkshire estate towards the end of summer in 2022 - currently split their time between the four bedroom cottage and their beloved Anmer Hall retreat on the Sandringham Estate.
While Adelaide Cottage provides the perfect location thanks to its proximity to Lambrook School where Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are students, sources say the family are looking at plans to extend a currently empty annexe to aid in the princess' recovery.
This decision, however, is said to not be without complications as the source explains that the Prince of Wales is "conscious of public scrutiny" about royal spending habits and is taking a measured approach about how to personally cover the costs.
“They [William and Kate] absolutely adore Adelaide Cottage, but it just about fits the entire family, whereas Anmer Hall is much larger with extensive grounds,” the source said. “Adelaide Cottage is being used as a term time property while the children are at school nearby and Anmer Hall is for long weekends and holidays.”
The source reveals that plans will eventually get underway to renovate and extend a dilapidated redbrick annexe at Adelaide Cottage, transforming it into a haven tailored to the needs of the Wales family and their staff.
While those plans are on hold at the moment while the Princess of Wales recovers, they are said to be quietly simmering in the background, waiting for the right time to be implemented.
“Nobody knows that there is quite a spacious red-brick annexe building that’s not being used next door to Adelaide Cottage,” the source said.
“It’s currently inhabitable and needs extensive renovation works if it were to be used. Discussions have been ongoing for a while about using the property as part of the overall cottage grounds, but it’s just about finding the right time to kick the project off.”
Sources say that the necessity for space transcends luxury – it is integral to Kate's journey towards wellness, where she can comfortably navigate the complexities of treatment.
Anmer Hall is currently the favoured choice due to its size and privacy. The Wales family are very conscious of the criticism they have received about the use of public money in the past and are therefore contemplating covering the renovation costs of the Adelaide Cottage annexe themselves.
“William is very conscious of the public scrutiny over the Royal Family’s spending habits, so he is looking at the best way to cover any renovation costs,” the source said. “It’s a project that’s very much been put on the back burner for now due to the family’s unfortunate position, but it will be looked at again when the time is right.”
OK! has contacted Kensington Palace for comment.
Adelaide Cottage underwent major renovations in 2015 and has some seriously elaborate decorations. According to reports, the master bedroom at the cottage reportedly has a ceiling covered with gilded dolphins and a rope decoration.
Following Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018, there were brief suggestions that the cottage would be their new Windsor home. It was said that the couple liked how private the cottage was and how close it was to London.
The location of the home is also very convenient for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis as they are students at nearby Lambrook School.

There's a map layout here of Adelaide Cottage in relation to Windsor Castle. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/377598750003373983/
Edit: a Spanish journalist in January reported that "a hospital is practically being set up" at Kate's home KateMiddletonMissing/comments/1c5horx/the_original_and_complete_january_reporting_about/
Edit 2: the report now is that Kate will be in a little pink cottage.
Source https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/518345/kate-middleton-adelaide-cottage-major-flaw-cold/

Princess Kate's secluded pink cottage has a major flaw
The Princess of Wales' candy pink cottage shared with her husband and children has a chilling issue...
by Georgia Brown
25 Apr 2024, 12:00 BST
When the Prince and Princess of Wales traded Kensington Palace for their candy pink Windsor property, little did they know the Grade-II listed 'Adelaide Cottage' would later become a sanctuary of seclusion while the Princess recovers from cancer.
The Wales family's four-bedroom home on the Windsor estate is remarkably modest in comparison to their former 20-room, four-storey address at Apartment 1A, which housed nine royal staff members when William and Kate were residents.
With no room for live-in staff, a wall of towering hedges and 655 acres of the Crown Estate's royal park on its doorstep, Adelaide Cottage seemed like a private and peaceful place for Princess Kate to undertake a course of preventive chemotherapy.
Former BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole seems to think the family home is in fact not the best place for the Princess to be recovering, however.
Michael told GB News the family home was "absolutely not an ideal place" for recovery from surgery, and cited a description of the property once written by Rosemary Townsend.
"She wrote in her memoir that it was the coldest place she'd ever encountered in the whole of her life. So maybe not the best place to start feeling better, particularly in this quite cold winter that we're enjoying at the moment," he added.
Both after surgery and during chemotherapy, the body's immune system is weakened, making simple bodily tasks like regulating body temperature far more difficult. Cold exposure also leads to spikes in cortisol (the stress hormone) which can significantly slow wound healing.
Spending an extended period of time in colder conditions may also reduce the immune response, making it harder for the body to fight off germs.
According to Historic England, the public body that cares for England's historic buildings and places, the cottage's main bedroom is thankfully equipped with a "good marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace," which could provide the Princess with an extra dose of warmth on particularly cold days.
The property has no doubt been equipped with central heating since its foundations were laid in the 1800s, though even heating in particularly old and draughty properties can do little to guard against the chill.
The Princess has kept a low profile since announcing her health struggles in a heartbreaking video shared in March.

Edit: I would like to add that however you cope with having BPD is your business; my issue comes with people w/o BPD trying to act like this disorder is all love and clinginess and pretty cries without any of the hell that comes along with it and saying stuff like “I want a girl/guy with BPD. That being said by saying things like this around people who don’t understand the true gravity of this disorder you are directly contributing to the problem.
Like actually.. do people not understand that this is NOT something you want to deal with either firsthand or by proxy?? I don’t get it. I’ve had so many people in my life leave me because I’m too much, I come close to offing myself at least twice a month, I’ve struggled with addiction for most of my life, and I had to endure some intense childhood trauma just to become the “beautiful princess” that I am today. I’m lucky enough to have a s/o that is patient, understanding, and compassionate and a more internalized/quiet manifestation of borderline symptoms, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me personally. I don’t believe we “love more” than the average person. We have such an undefined, fluctuating, often negative sense of self that we leach onto our favorite person and give them the love we should be giving to ourselves. It’s not “quirky sensitive manic pixie dream girl” it’s “if I don’t have constant support and fight every single moment of my life I’ll probably die before my 40’s”.
My point is there’s nothing beautiful or regal about having BPD, and I genuinely don’t get why people are acting like it’s some cute quirky sister to autism (which is a WHOLE other fetishization issue I don’t have the experience to speak upon). Idk, maybe I’m too chronically online but like, I’d like to understand the psychology of it all.

https://imgur.com/a/jblZcZ2
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Introduction
Orisla is an island at the center of perhaps the greatest colonial empire in the world. Orislan culture varies considerably across regions and class divides, but can be divided into three broad groups: Aristocrats, merchants/industrialists, and the lower classes.
Recreation
For the old-money aristocrats, great emphasis is placed on pageantry and family history, largely in an effort to differentiate themselves from merchants and industrialists. Exclusive cliques meet for weekly supper clubs or balls, often in villas away from the cities. Betting on horse races is a popular pastime, and duels are a common way to settle disputes. In all things, the aristocrats attempt to display lineage, with traditional dress often feature distinct family crests.
For the new-money merchants and industrialists, entertainment is often more focused on high-class city life. Museums and public menageries, both relatively new developments, are frequented. In a mockery of the balls held by aristocrats, wealthy city dwellers often throw masquerade balls, where one’s mask symbolizes that their blood or family is irrelevant. Lawsuits tend to be preferred to dueling as a mean to settle disputes.
For the lower classes, recreation is hindered by long hours in factory shifts or farming. However when time allows, masses gather for puppet shows (sometimes with quicksteel puppets) and circuses. Betting on cockfights and card games is also popular. However some in the lower classes devote their limited time to protests, sometimes violent ones, rather than recreation.
All Orislans gather for the annual Imperial Exhibition in Tylosa, which includes art, food, and spectacles from across the empire.
Food
Orislan cuisine draws both on Orisla’s rich interior farmland and its vast colonial empire. A staple ingredient is the potato, which can make up the majority of the food consumed by many lower class Orislans. While they can be as simple as baked potatoes, dishes can be as elaborate as sliced potatoes layered in butter and thin air-filled potato fries with dipping sauce. Among the upper class there is a culture of supper clubs, with various dishes and ingredients cycling in and out of style, often becoming fads. Lower class delicacies include sausage made with meant and grains, pulled pork with applesauce, and honeyoat bread.
Gender and Marriage
In Orislan culture great emphasis is placed on faithful marriage and traditional gender roles. Much of this is due to the influence of the Faith of Lucism; Due to childbirth, women are regarded as closer to Asha, the creator god. However this belief manifests in stricter societal standards and harsher enforcement on norms for women in an effort to safeguard their virtues. Great emphasis is placed on chastity, conservative styles, and domestic life, especially among the upper class. The sole exception to these restrictions are for women who show great talent at quicksmithing, who tend to be funneled into the Shrouded Sisters, an all-female order of Lucist warriors and missionaries. Among the nobility there is a cultural inclination to marry only fellow noble families out of fear of the growing power of industrialists.
Government
Orisla is a constitutional monarchy. The current ruler is King Clarence II, a jovial, illustrious man whose greatest passions are following the faith of Luscism and doting on his daughter Princess Concista, who is far more hawkish. The powers of the King are checked by the three legislative houses, each of which is identical in powers but has a different method of entree aimed at different populations. These are The House of Lions (nobles), the House of Wolves (merchants and industrialists), and the House of Rams (commoners). Issues dominating the political scene at present include discontent among factory workers, the issue of slavery in Devoni and Ordivia, and the ongoing proxy conflicts with Kwind.
Religion
Orisla is the world’s only predominately Lucist nation. The power that organized religion has in the nation has varied over time, falling dramatically after the Tenth Century Crisis (which was largely caused by an Archlunarch), but rising in recent years with growing industrialization. The faith has always been important regardless of the era. In the countryside the local hallow is at the center of the local community, and the Archallow in Tylosa is a national landmark. Lucism’s emphasis on building and the sacred nature of creation and structure lend themselves extremely well to factory work, and the government increasingly relies upon the faith to try to keep workers under control despite poor protections and hazardous conditions.
Empire
Orisla operates a traditional colonial empire, and Orislans tend to be chauvinistic. Among the elite, prejudice has been elevated to an art form, often musing about supposed immutable characteristics of different races. They see themselves as having earned their empire through superior blood, with Orislans standing atop a hierarchy of the peoples of the world that is ordered roughly clockwise along the supercontinent; The rest of Eoci is just below Orisla, Haepi and Tolmika after them, then the Ceramise and Samosani, followed by the Devonise and Oridivians. The Neksut are particularly reviled, mostly for religious reasons, and are seen as nothing more than savages. For the commoners toiling in factories or on farms, prejudice allows them to feel above other races even as they struggle with their own woes. Such attitudes are borne out in the horrific treatment of the people’s of Orisla’s empire, including but not limited to salve plantations in Ordivia and religious persecution in Haepi.

Introduction
Orisla is an island at the center of perhaps the greatest colonial empire in the world. Orislan culture varies considerably across regions and class divides, but can be divided into three broad groups: Aristocrats, merchants/industrialists, and the lower classes.
Recreation
For the old-money aristocrats, great emphasis is placed on pageantry and family history, largely in an effort to differentiate themselves from merchants and industrialists. Exclusive cliques meet for weekly supper clubs or balls, often in villas away from the cities. Betting on horse races is a popular pastime, and duels are a common way to settle disputes. In all things, the aristocrats attempt to display lineage, with traditional dress often feature distinct family crests.
For the new-money merchants and industrialists, entertainment is often more focused on high-class city life. Museums and public menageries, both relatively new developments, are frequented. In a mockery of the balls held by aristocrats, wealthy city dwellers often throw masquerade balls, where one’s mask symbolizes that their blood or family is irrelevant. Lawsuits tend to be preferred to dueling as a mean to settle disputes.
For the lower classes, recreation is hindered by long hours in factory shifts or farming. However when time allows, masses gather for puppet shows (sometimes with quicksteel puppets) and circuses. Betting on cockfights and card games is also popular. However some in the lower classes devote their limited time to protests, sometimes violent ones, rather than recreation.
All Orislans gather for the annual Imperial Exhibition in Tylosa, which includes art, food, and spectacles from across the empire.
Food
Orislan cuisine draws both on Orisla’s rich interior farmland and its vast colonial empire. A staple ingredient is the potato, which can make up the majority of the food consumed by many lower class Orislans. While they can be as simple as baked potatoes, dishes can be as elaborate as sliced potatoes layered in butter and thin air-filled potato fries with dipping sauce. Among the upper class there is a culture of supper clubs, with various dishes and ingredients cycling in and out of style, often becoming fads. Lower class delicacies include sausage made with meant and grains, pulled pork with applesauce, and honeyoat bread.
Gender and Marriage
In Orislan culture great emphasis is placed on faithful marriage and traditional gender roles. Much of this is due to the influence of the Faith of Lucism; Due to childbirth, women are regarded as closer to Asha, the creator god. However this belief manifests in stricter societal standards and harsher enforcement on norms for women in an effort to safeguard their virtues. Great emphasis is placed on chastity, conservative styles, and domestic life, especially among the upper class. The sole exception to these restrictions are for women who show great talent at quicksmithing, who tend to be funneled into the Shrouded Sisters, an all-female order of Lucist warriors and missionaries. Among the nobility there is a cultural inclination to marry only fellow noble families out of fear of the growing power of industrialists.
Government
Orisla is a constitutional monarchy. The current ruler is King Clarence II, a jovial, illustrious man whose greatest passions are following the faith of Luscism and doting on his daughter Princess Concista, who is far more hawkish. The powers of the King are checked by the three legislative houses, each of which is identical in powers but has a different method of entree aimed at different populations. These are The House of Lions (nobles), the House of Wolves (merchants and industrialists), and the House of Rams (commoners). Issues dominating the political scene at present include discontent among factory workers, the issue of slavery in Devoni and Ordivia, and the ongoing proxy conflicts with Kwind.
Religion
Orisla is the world’s only predominately Lucist nation. The power that organized religion has in the nation has varied over time, falling dramatically after the Tenth Century Crisis (which was largely caused by an Archlunarch), but rising in recent years with growing industrialization. The faith has always been important regardless of the era. In the countryside the local hallow is at the center of the local community, and the Archallow in Tylosa is a national landmark. Lucism’s emphasis on building and the sacred nature of creation and structure lend themselves extremely well to factory work, and the government increasingly relies upon the faith to try to keep workers under control despite poor protections and hazardous conditions.
Empire
Orisla operates a traditional colonial empire, and Orislans tend to be chauvinistic. Among the elite, prejudice has been elevated to an art form, often musing about supposed immutable characteristics of different races. They see themselves as having earned their empire through superior blood, with Orislans standing atop a hierarchy of the peoples of the world that is ordered roughly clockwise along the supercontinent; The rest of Eoci is just below Orisla, Haepi and Tolmika after them, then the Ceramise and Samosani, followed by the Devonise and Oridivians. The Neksut are particularly reviled, mostly for religious reasons, and are seen as nothing more than savages. For the commoners toiling in factories or on farms, prejudice allows them to feel above other races even as they struggle with their own woes. Such attitudes are borne out in the horrific treatment of the people’s of Orisla’s empire, including but not limited to salve plantations in Ordivia and religious persecution in Haepi.

This is the note from author, opening blurb, and first chapter.
Trigger warnings for stuff related to crimes. If you've seen Law and Order SVU, then you've seen worse than I have written here.
TT;MD (C) “Note from Author”
The ideas on which this stories is founded, has been supposed by GK Chesterton and some of the mythological writers of Oxford as not of an unreasonable nature. I shall not challenge the imagination of such faith. Yet, even in assuming this work to be based on my own amusement, I do not consider myself as merely weaving a series of foolish delusions.
TT;MD (C) Episode #0: “The Curtain Opens”
This is a true story from a time yet to pass.
There are some evils so wretched, deeds so vile, that discerning the sin from the sinner is a meaningless task. For those foul incarnations of diabolical ends, what can be accomplished by the act we know as forgiveness? Perhaps forgiveness exists for the forgiver, not the forgiven. It may be naught more than our own souls cleansing the demons within, so that others might be spared our demons find new hosts, continuing the cycle onward. Even if this is true, should justice be ignored in favor of forgiveness? Never, for justice and forgiveness are both necessary domains of good, mutually so. Each existing to rectify the world, and each to face a separate way that evil takes hold of mortals.
Our tale takes place on the world of Yble in year 1212 of the Theshire Calender.
On Yble, there lived two separate species above the beasts that roamed the fields and the seas. The first were humans, no different from most races of human throughout the splintered realities. The second, living along the humans of Yble, were the manifest, a race of inconsistent form.
The humans of this far off star were accustomed to a phenomenon, brought about by a connection to a strange substance found occasionally in the cosmic winds. This exotic substance is known locally as Null Ether. The unconscious minds of humans would catalyze with it, and so the first race of humans birthed the second race known, the manifests, who were known as beings of the mind.
On the continent of Latta, there was the nation of Artella. It was a cultural melting pot and the most powerful country in the world. On the northeast coast of Artella was the port city of New Tossut. This large city, disconnected from the mainland and surrounded by industry, was a city of both the past and the future. It suffered from the ills of disparity between the powerful and weak. New Tossut is the stage of this tale.
All the myths of this world warned them of what was to come. If they had listened, would anything have changed?
The rabbit nears Yble, and will soon arrive
TT;MD (C) #1: “Tinman and Fairy”
The city of New Tossut was a place dirtied not only by filth, but by evil. Two days ago, the graying corpse of a missing teen was found floating on the waters past the pier. Three days before that, a small laundromat business owner was found with his neck tied to a flag pole. With each day, new people found torment that would forever ruin their lives. Such human wreckage was locally under the jurisdiction the territory of the New Tossut Police Department. Within the police were an investigative group designed to deal with crimes that were focused on manifests. With larger sharks to harpoon, this section of the department was left to rot, and only had one active agent, privately contracted.
A knock slammed loudly upon the office door. The eyes of the young man were crusted over as he rolled out from atop a bed of folders. He felt a tug on his right arm pull him hard as his eyes were cleaned by a wet rag. His dark brown hair was pulled aside and he heard the sound of scissors cutting his unevenly shaved beard.
He woke to see something sparkling in front of him. “Who is it?”
A drumroll from nowhere was heard briefly. “Sir Cantsfeld, at your service.”
The Breen accent was something Rep hated, because he constantly heard it from this manifest of his sister. The fact that musical cues would accompany the annoying voice on rare occasions only made Cantsfeld more annoying.
The groggy man saw a small brown plush bear grabbing some deodorant from a small box and groaned angrily. “If you wake me again, I will make you into She'escha's chew toy. Why did Lanille send you?”
The bear closed the box of toiletries and walked away towards the mail slot. “Rep, it is because she cares enough to get you ready for work.”
The man sighed. “There is actually work today?”
Sir Cantsfeld squeezed out the mail slot, and peeked back through. “Yes, and someone will visit shortly.”
He waited until the small plush toy manifest had left and angrily muttered. “The chief can kiss my ass.”
The bear's head stuck back through the slot. “I shall not tell my adorable princess that you speak such words of her.”
Rep readied a cup of scalding hot coffee in a desperate attempt to wake faster. By the time he had finally poured his cup, he heard the tapping of the small ursine manifest at the base of his door. He took a sip from his cup and felt his energy perk up as he let his visitors in. The handle turned and a young boy with short dark brown hair walked in.
The boy reached up as if demanding a hug. “Mister Tinman? I came for help.”
Rep glared at the young child. “What is your name? How old are you? Where are your parents? Why are you here?”
The boy shrugged. “I don't know any of those, but I am supposed to ask for help.”
The young man could not fathom why such a child would be sent to him, and he briefly imagined a plan to escape before surrendering to the fact that he would be forced to help this child. “What do you need help with?"
The child looked away in shame. “My sister is sick and somebody stole her friend.”
Rep was apathetic. “Is your sister's friend a manifest?”
The kid nodded silently. “Please, Mayla does not have much time.”
The detective groaned. “Fine. I will help. Where does your sister live?”
The boy set down his backpack and pulled out his notebook. On the cover was an address.
Rep threw on his coat, grabbed his suitcase of tools, and he left his office with the eyes of every other police officer staring at him with bitter looks of contempt. The walk to the elevator was an awkward trudge he was used to, so the walk to the home of the victim felt shorter. Even so, his previous apartment was in that area, and it reminded him that he might come in contact with people he used to know, which disgusted him. The buildings were the same awful puke green color they were in his memories, as was common with underfunded public housing in the area.
A couple of drunk teens pulled alongside Rep and one tossed a bottle at him. They muttered things in their drunkenness. The child poked at Rep, who looked down furiously.
Rep took a deep breath. “What?”
The child looked up expectantly. “What does 'tinman' mean?”
He rolled his eyes and applied pressure to where he assumed the migraine would strike first. “You called me it earlier, but you don't know what it means?" Rep looked down at the child with disdain. “It is a bad word. Don't use it.”
The boy grumbled. “At least tell me what it means.”
Rep seethed with frustrations, but used what little self control he had left to keep calm. “The word is a term that points out that our badges are made of tin. It also is a reference to an old play called 'The Tinman and the Fairy', a fantasy story about a violent heartless machine who is granted a manifest in the form of a fairy who is loving and helpful. When people call those in my position a Tinman, most often they are referencing that tale. They pretend officers are all cold bloodthirsty automatons even though we protect them. They’re ungrateful savages.”
“Oh!” The child jumped with joy. “I know that one! It has a happy ending where the fairy helps be a...?” The child paused to recall the tale. “The fairy, Conchless, helped him become a good person! So maybe you just need someone to remind you to be a good person.”
Rep put his hand on the head of the child tightly, withholding his rage in favor of intimidation. “First of all, you completely missed the point of what I said. Second, that happy ending is from the animated movie they made for dumb children and the uncivilized. The true dark ending from the book starts with Tinman choosing to be a heartless monster who lives only to spill the blood of others, building an altar of evil from flesh and bone to summon an evil god that will devour the world. Fairy tried hard to help him as his conscience, but Conchless failed. When the Tinman lifted his sword against a family who lives in the stone trees of the enchanted woods, Fairy pleads for him to stop, but in the end, Fairy kills Tinman to save the innocent lives.”
The child's eyes began to swell with liquid. “So Tinman was a bad guy in the books even at the end? That's so mean! At least Fairy gets to be good. She finds new friends away from the bad Tinman.”
Rep laughed and patted the child mockingly on the head. “You stupid kid. Fairy dies at the end. When someone dies, their manifest dies as well. Fairy stopped Tinman to save that family, and did so at the cost of her own life.”
The boy kept crying and wailing loudly, so Rep continued to pull him by his hand to their destination. Taking him into the apartment complex and up the stairs they climbed to find the apartment on the third floor.
Rep was frustrated with the child, but regretted his harshness, sighing. “I am sorry I told you that. I was a jerk. Let’s solve this missing manifest case so everyone can be happy.”
The boy stopped sniffling and puffed his chest out. “Okay, I’ll be my best.”
The investigator sighed in relief and the child used his key to open the apartment door. Rep followed him in. The smell of mildew and spoiled food struck Rep's nostrils immediately. Even in the worst of the slums, the only time he ever experienced such a tainted scent was near a corpse. In this tiny apartment, a woman with no hair was still on the couch in a hospital gown.
Rep groaned. “It seems your sister is dead. The body is pristine, so the smell isn't her.”
She coughed and looked around, startling the investigator, who briefly stepped back in shock.
The boy walked up to the woman. “I brought him.”
The woman looked about towards Rep and spoke with a weak voice. “Tools.” She paused to take a deep breath. “Did you bring your tools?” Her voice was slow, and Rep looked at her with suspicion as she explained. “You need to do the Kendahl dowsing and proxy verification.”
Rep opened his briefcase and pulled out two sealed bags. “You sure are familiar with the very specific types of equipment we use, despite their rarity.”
The child looked on with curiosity. “What’s that do?”
He opened the first bag which had a small box with a copper coil.
Being too busy to be rude, Rep explained as he assembled the device. “It is used to detect manifests. I will spare you the techno babble. I was expecting to go on a manhunt for a manifest, not look for it in the walls.”
He flipped the switch on and it began to hum. As he pointed it to himself, the hum became a low tone. He pointed it to the woman and the tone flickered a bit at a high tone before becoming a similarly low tone. Rep noticed that his tool was briefly close to the boy, and then moved it towards the young lad to hear the tone make a squealing sound.
Rep sighed. “This boy is your imaginary friend. I came here for nothing.”
She reached her hand to his. “No. Do the proxy verification.”
The investigator groaned as he placed the tool back in the bag and pulled out another. This different tool was a cord with a plate on each end and a small box in the middle of the line. He pulled out the first end and placed it on the woman's forehead. Then he grabbed the other end and placed it into the child’s hands.
Rep flipped the switch on the box. “No response. You are not kidding. So who does this manifest pretending to be your little brother belong too?” He reached over to the sensor plate on her head and he heard a high pitched hum. “What?” He checked the readings and made sure he was using it properly. “This child is my manifest?”
The woman began convulsing and then grew still, but jolted with a deep gasp, allowing her to steady her breathing. “I will be gone soon. When you get back, your sister will ask you how this case went. Tell her that it was just a confused drug addict. When you do, she will say 'it always is, we get two hundred cases like this each year'. When she says that, you will know that you can trust me, and that your sister is being spied on and cannot speak the truth. You cannot talk to anyone about what you know, even the people trying to help you. Just be thankful about those who actually help you in secret, and be wary of those who speak answers because you must never ask questions about this.” She turned towards the boy. “I am sorry I cannot help you anymore, Rep. I hope your answers will make you happy.”
The investigator was perturbed. “What answers?”
The boy held the woman's hand. “Thank you so much. I will never forget you. I will be good and do what you asked. I promise.”
The woman nodded at the child. She then shivered, shook, and died.
Rep looked down upon her and tried to wake her. “How did you have my manifest? Why did you call him by my name?”
The boy reached out. “I thought you knew. You made me, right?”
The investigator grabbed the boy's hand crushingly tight. “This case now belongs to the city morgue. I am done here.”
The adult Rep pulled the child manifest Rep along and the boy looked back with a deep longing while they left the apartment. They were both somber and quiet as they walked back to the station, where a woman stood outside in casual wear with a brown wool cap. She had the dark skin of Rafcad descent, but hair was marked by a contrasting yellow dye job. These opposites were immediately recognized by Rep; this was his adopted sister, Lanille, leaving for her lunch break. With the air fogging from her breath, Rep noticed how cold it was; he had forgotten it was late in the fall as he did not feel the cold so much.
Most people in the precinct claimed to be annoyed at the familial bond between these adopted siblings, not only from the conflict of interest it perhaps posed, but also from the fact they were polar opposites. Different personalities, different races with him being of Breen descent, and most significantly, the fights that erupted from their clashing natures. The same people complaining secretly found their fights entertaining.
Rep thought about their normal interactions which often ended with shouting matches in front of their peers. However, he had been humbled by the current case.
Rep approached her slowly. “Turns out that case was pointless. It was a confused drug addict.”
Lanille cracked a tiny smile and bit her lip. “It always is, so sad. I think we get about two hundred cases just like this each year.”
The words were not identical, but Rep recognized them as the coded response foretold by the woman in the apartment. “See you in the station when your lunch break is over.”
She nodded. “I am glad to see your manifest came back home. We were so worried about him. Don't go back on the clock until you get some lunch, okay. It's cold and you should catch up with Kid Rep. Your manifest is a human type that requires food, so maybe you should go try that nice new fast food joint across the street.”
The investigator groaned. “Fine.”
The restaurant sold what was commonly referred to as 'fatrounds'. It was a combination dish of rising popularity in the last three decades. The preparation of the dish involved the dough being wrapped around a meat patty, cheese, vegetables, condiments, and other materials. The bun would be baked and expand in a small oven fitted for it, which caused the bread to expand to the form of the container, sealing in the various items used as ingredients like a stuffed dinner roll. There was not enough room for it to fully expand within the sealed oven. The special sealed baking box had a special vent which allowed air out but not the expanding dough; this caused the bun to be very dense while absorbing the moisture and some flavor from the ingredients it contained.
Kid Rep ran up to the restaurant counter. “Two beefcheese fats with crisped pork.”
Rep angrily followed after the child taking his order, but then halted, because he realized that the order was exactly what he wanted, and Kid Rep had the same tastes. He was in peace as they waited for their order to be filled, and upon receiving their food, took a seat at the corner near the television.
The television in the restaurant blared with a news story. “We interrupt your regular programming for breaking news. Violence has broken out in Southern Karshna this week, as a small militia group attacked the Karshna royal family. Hundreds are dead, and the status of the royal family is currently unknown. With increasing fears that Artella will become involved in the foreign war, the Ministry of Makarfa issued a warning against our involvement.”
Kid Rep looked at the television with sadness. “All the news is bad news.”
Rep sighed. “No news is good news.”
Since the boy took much longer to eat his own fatround, the investigator put down the remaining half of his own and took his time, concentrating heavily upon the news. During this moment of distraction, the boy took a tiny vile of a fine black powder from his pocket and emptied it into the remaining half of Rep's fatround. After the news ended, Rep finished his meal and headed off with the manifest mirror of himself.
This is Buzbine, coming live from New Tossut Rumors! The lines are abuzz with rumors of the supernatural! Let's see who our first caller is! And.... it's Miss Canney Dellins in our home city. Canney, tell me what rumors are abuzz!
I've been doing some college work, and reading up on the works of Jepphire Kendahl. Are you aware how important his work was? I had no idea!
Now that's the excitement of someone who has seen the truth! Kendahl most definitely is the most underrated inventor in the last century! Haha! I get a couple callers each month asking about stuff related to something called Kendahl Space, but I still don't get it, Canney!
It's so weird, but with all the stories of people hurting and developing manifests, so much of his claims add up. The idea that manifests are pulled by null ether from another dimension sounds ridiculous, but his work created dowsing, proxy tests, and the science behind those ray guns that some cops used to kill violent manifests.
I agree, and those casters are way better than the guns, believe me. I heard that personal type manifests fill up a hole left by pain, so killing the manifest causes mental damage to their human creator. The fact that killing a manifest with a NEC doesn't cause psychological problems is seen as proof of them being sent back to Kendahl Space, but I really want to know what's on that other side. If only we could yank the doors open and see the real truth!
Just be glad that Proxy Verification doesn't go by it's original name. It was quite the mouthful.
Oh? What was it?
They called it the Null Ether Static Circuit Sensor, and then started calling it Nessy for short, until they realized they needed others to know what it did, which is why they changed it. They called Kendahl Dowsing something even more ludicrous, but I couldn't remember all he words to it.
Hah! I'm gonna have to look into that after the show! Before all that, let's see what Jepry is up to on line two! Jepry, tell us about that weirdo old man ghost on the streets asking you to kill him!

The Late Mme. Blavatsky―A Sketch of Her Career
By William Quan Judge
A WOMAN who, for one reason or another, has kept the world―first her little child world and afterward two hemispheres―talking of her, disputing about her, defending or assailing her character and motives, joining her enterprise or opposing it might and main, and in her death being as much telegraphed about between two continents as an emperor, must have been a remarkable person. Such was Mme. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, born under the power of the holy Tzar, in the family of the Hahns, descended on one side from the famous crusader, Count Rottenstern, who added Hahn, a cock, to his name because that bird saved his life from a wily Saracen who had come into his tent to murder him.
Hardly any circumstance or epoch in Mme. Blavatsky's career was prosaic. She chose to be born into this life at Ekaterinoslaw, Russia, in the year 1831, when coffins and desolation were everywhere from the plague of cholera. The child was so delicate that the family decided upon immediate baptism under the rites of the Greek Catholic Church. This was in itself not common, but the ceremony was―under the luck that ever was with Helena―more remarkable and startling still. At this ceremony all the relatives are present and stand holding lighted candles. As one was absent a young child, aunt of the infant Helena, was made proxy for the absentee, and given a candle like the rest. Tired out by the effort, this young proxy sank down to the floor unnoticed by the others, and, just as the sponsors were renouncing the evil one on the babe's behalf, by three times spitting on the floor, the sitting witness with her candle accidentally set fire to the robes of the officiating priest, and instantly there was a small conflagration, in which many of those present were seriously burned. Thus amid the scourge of death in the land was Mme. Blavatsky ushered into our world, and in the flames baptized by the priests of a Church whose fallacious dogmas she did much in her life to expose.
She was connected with the rulers of Russia. Speaking in 1881, her uncle, Gen. Fadeef, joint Councillor of State of Russia, said that, as daughter of Col. Peter Hahn, she was grand-daughter of Gen. Alexis Hahn von Rottenstern Hahn of old Mecklenburg stock, settled in Russia, and on her mother's side daughter of Héléne Fadeef and grand-daughter of Princess Helena Dolgorouky. Her maternal ancestors were of the oldest families in Russia and direct descendants of the Prince or Grand Duke Rurik, the first ruler of Russia. Several ladies of the family belonged to the imperial house, becoming Czarinas by marriage. One of them, a Dolgorouky, married the grandfather of Peter the Great, and another was betrothed to Czar Peter II. Through these connections it naturally resulted that Mme. Blavatsky was acquainted personally with many noble Russians. In Paris I met three princes of Russia and one well-known General, who told of her youth and the wonderful things related about her then; and in Germany I met the Prince Emile de Wittgenstein of one of the many Russo-German families, and himself cousin to the Empress of Russia and aide-de-camp to the Czar, who told me that he was an old family friend of hers, who heard much about her in early years, but, to his regret, had never had the fortune to see her again after a brief visit made with her father to his house. But he joined her famous Theosophical Society by correspondence, and wrote, after the war with Turkey, that he had been told in a letter from her that no hurt would come to him during the campaign, and such turned out to be the fact.
As a child she was the wonder of the neighborhood and the terror of the simpler serfs. Russia teems with superstitions and omens, and as Helena was born on the seventh month and between the 30th and 31st day, she was supposed by the nurses and servants to have powers and virtues possessed by no one else. And these supposed powers made her the cynosure of all in her early youth. She was allowed liberties given none others, and as soon as she could understand she was given by her nurses the chief part in a mystic Russian ceremony performed about the house and grounds on the 30th of July with the object of propitiating the house demon. The education she got was fragmentary, and in itself so inadequate as to be one more cause among many for the belief of her friends in later life that she was endowed with abnormal psychic powers, or else in verity assisted by those unseen beings who she asserted were her helpers and who were men living on the earth, but possessed of developed senses that laughed at time and space. In girlhood she was bound by no restraint of conventionality, but rode any Cossack horse in a man's saddle, and later on spent a long time with her father with his regiment in the field, where, with her sister, she became the pet of the soldiers. In 1844, when 14, her father took her to London and Paris, where some progress was made in music, and before 1848 she returned home.
Her marriage in 1848 to Gen. Nicephore Blavatsky, the Governor of Erivan in the Caucasus, gave her the name of Blavatsky, borne till her death. This marriage, like all other events in her life, was full of pyrotechnics. Her abrupt style had led her female friends to say that she could not make the old Blavatsky marry her, and out of sheer bravado she declared she could, and sure enough, he did propose and was accepted. Then the awful fact obtruded itself on Helena's mind that this could not―in Russia―be undone. They were married, but the affair was signalized by Mme. Blavatsky's breaking a candlestick over his head and precipitately leaving the house, never to see him again. After her determination was evident, her father assisted her in a life of travel which began from that date, and not until 1858 did she return to Russia. Meanwhile her steps led her to America in 1851, to Canada, to New Orleans, to Mexico, off to India, and back again in 1853 to the United States. Then her relatives lost sight of her once more until 1858, when her coming back was like other events in her history. It was a wintry night, and a wedding party was on at the home in Russia. Guests had arrived, and suddenly, interrupting the meal, the bell rang violently, and there, unannounced, was Mme. Blavatsky at the door.
From this point the family and many friends testify, both by letter and by articles in the Rebus, a well-known journal in Russia, and in other papers, a constant series of marvels wholly unexplainable on the theory of jugglery was constantly occurring. They were of such a character that hundreds of friends from great distances were constantly visiting the house to see the wonderful Mme. Blavatsky. Many were incredulous, many believed it was magic, and others started charges of fraud. The superstitious Gooriel and Mingrelian nobility came in crowds and talked incessantly after, calling her a magician. They came to see the marvels others reported, to see her sitting quietly reading while tables and chairs moved of themselves and low raps in every direction seemed to reply to questions. Among many testified to was one done for her brother, who doubted her powers. A small chess table stood on the floor. Very light―a child could lift it and a man break it. One asked if Mme. Blavatsky could fasten it by will to the floor. She then said to examine it, and they found it loose. After that, and being some distance off, she said, "Try it again." They then found that no power of theirs could stir it, and her brother supposing from his great strength that this "trick" could easily be exposed, embraced the little table and shook and pulled it without effect, except to make it groan and creak. So with wall and furniture rapping, objects moving, messages about distant happenings arriving by aerial port, the whole family and neighborhood were in a constant state of excitement. Mme. Blavatsky said herself that this was a period when she was letting her psychic forces play, and learning fully to understand and control them.
But the spirit of unrest came freshly again, and she started out once more to find, as she wrote to me, "the men and women whom I want to prepare for the work of a great philosophical and ethical movement that I expect to start in a later time." Going to Spezzia in a Greek vessel, the usual display of natural circumstances took place, and the boat was blown up by an explosion of gunpowder in the cargo. Only a few of those on board were saved, she among them. This led her to Cairo, in Egypt, where, in 1871, she started a society with the object of investigating spiritualism so as to expose its fallacies, if any, and to put its facts on a firm, scientific, and reasonable basis, if possible. But it only lasted fourteen days, and she wrote about it then: "It is a heap of ruins―majestic, but as suggestive as those of the Pharoahs' tombs."
It was, however, in the United States that she really began the work that has made her name well known in Europe, Asia, and America; made her notorious in the eyes of those who dislike all reformers, but great and famous for those who say her works have benefited them. Prior to 1875 she was again investigating the claims of spiritualism in this country, and wrote home then analyzing it, declaring false its assertion that the dead were heard from, and showing that, on the other hand, the phenomena exhibited a great psycho-physiological change going on here, which, if allowed to go on in our present merely material civilization, would bring about great disaster, morally and physically.
Then in 1875, in New York, she started the Theosophical Society, aided by Col. H. S. Olcott and others, declaring its objects to be the making of a nucleus for a universal brotherhood, the study of ancient and other religions and sciences, and the investigation of the psychical and recondite laws affecting man and nature. There certainly was no selfish object in this, nor any desire to raise money. She was in receipt of funds from sources in Russia and other places until they were cut off by reason of her becoming an American citizen, and also because her unremunerated labors for the society prevented her doing literary work on Russian magazines, where all her writings would be taken eagerly. As soon as the Theosophical Society was started she said to the writer that a book had to be written for its use. Isis Unveiled was then begun, and unremittingly she worked at it night and day until the moment when a publisher was secured for it.
Meanwhile crowds of visitors were constantly calling at her rooms in Irving Place, later in Thirty-fourth street, and last in Forty-seventh street and Eighth avenue. The newspapers were full of her supposed powers or of laughter at the possibilities in man that she and her society asserted. A prominent New York daily wrote of her thus:

A woman of as remarkable characteristics as Cagliostro himself, and one who is every day as differently judged by different people as the renowned Count was in his day. By those who know her slightly she is called a charlatan; better acquaintance made you think she was learned; and those who were intimate with her were either carried away with belief in her power or completely puzzled.

Isis Unveiled attracted wide attention, and all the New York papers reviewed it, each saying that it exhibited immense research. The strange part of this is, as I and many others can testify as eyewitnesses to the production of the book, that the writer had no library in which to make researches and possessed no notes of investigation or reading previously done. All was written straight out of hand. And yet it is full of references to books in the British Museum and other great libraries, and every reference is correct. Either, then, we have, as to that book, a woman who was capable of storing in her memory a mass of facts, dates, numbers, titles, and subjects such as no other human being ever was capable of, or her claim to help from unseen beings is just.
In 1878, Isis Unveiled having been published, Mme. Blavatsky informed her friends that she must go to India and start there the same movement of the Theosophical Society. So in December of that year she and Col. Olcott and two more went out to India, stopping at London for a while. Arriving in Bombay, they found three or four Hindoos to meet them who had heard from afar of the matter. A place was hired in the native part of the town, and soon she and Col. Olcott started the Theosophist, a magazine that became at once well known there and was widely bought in the West.
There in Bombay and later in Adyar, Madras, Mme. Blavatsky worked day after day in all seasons, editing her magazine and carrying on an immense correspondence with people in every part of the world interested in theosophy, and also daily disputing and discussing with learned Hindoos who constantly called. Phenomena occurred there also very often, and later the society for discovering nothing about the psychic world investigated these, and came to the conclusion that this woman of no fortune, who was never before publicly heard of in India, had managed, in some way they could not explain, to get up a vast conspiracy that ramified all over India, including men of all ranks, by means of which she was enabled to produce pretended phenomena. I give this conclusion as one adopted by many. For any one who knew her and who knows India, with its hundreds of different languages, none of which she knew, the conclusion is absurd. The Hindoos believed in her, said always that she could explain to them their own scriptures and philosophies where the Brahmins had lost or concealed the key, and that by her efforts and the work of the society founded through her, India's young men were being saved from the blank materialism which is the only religion the West can ever give a Hindoo.
In 1887 Mme. Blavatsky returned to England, and there started another theosophical magazine, called Lucifer, and immediately stirred up the movement in Europe. Day and night there, as in New York and India, she wrote and spoke, incessantly corresponding with people everywhere, editing Lucifer, and making more books for her beloved society, and never possessed of means, never getting from the world at large anything save abuse wholly undeserved. The Key to Theosophy was written in London, and also The Secret Doctrine, which is the great text book for Theosophists. The Voice of the Silence was written there too, and is meant for devotional Theosophists. Writing, writing, writing from morn till night was her fate here. Yet, although scandalized and abused here as elsewhere, she made many devoted friends, for there never was anything half way in her history. Those who met her or heard of her were always either staunch friends or bitter enemies.
The Secret Doctrine led to the coming into the society of Mrs. Annie Besant, and then Mme. Blavatsky began to say that her labors were coming to an end, for here was a woman who had the courage of the ancient reformers and who would help carry on the movement in England unflinchingly. The Secret Doctrine was sent to Mr. Stead of the Pall Mall Gazette to review, but none of his usual reviewers felt equal to it and he asked Mrs. Besant if she could review it. She accepted the task, reviewed, and then wanted an introduction to the writer. Soon after that she joined the society, first fully investigating Mme. Blavatsky's character, and threw in her entire forces with the Theosophists. Then a permanent London headquarters was started and still exists. And there Mme. Blavatsky passed away, with the knowledge that the society she had striven so hard for at any cost was at last an entity able to struggle for itself.
In her dying moment she showed that her life had been spent for an idea, with full consciousness that in the eyes of the world it was Utopian, but in her own necessary for the race. She implored her friends not to allow her then ending incarnation to become a failure by the failure of the movement started and carried on with so much of suffering. She never in all her life made money or asked for it. Venal writers and spiteful men and women have said she strove to get money from so-called dupes, but all her intimate friends know that over and over again she has refused money; that always she has had friends who would give her all they had if she would take it, but she never took any nor asked it. On the other hand, her philosophy and her high ideals have caused others to try to help all those in need. Impelled by such incentive, one rich Theosophist gave her $5,000 to found a working girls' club at Bow, in London, and one day, after Mrs. Besant had made the arrangements for the house and the rest, Mme. Blavatsky, although sick and old, went down there herself and opened the club in the name of the society.
The aim and object of her life were to strike off the shackles forged by priestcraft for the mind of man. She wished all men to know that they are God in fact, and that as men they must bear the burden of their own sins, for no one else can do it. Hence she brought forward to the West the old Eastern doctrines of karma and reincarnation. Under the first, the law of justice, she said each must answer for himself, and under the second make answer on the earth where all his acts were done. She also desired that science should be brought back to the true ground where life and intelligence are admitted to be within and acting on and through every atom in the universe. Hence her object was to make religion scientific and science religious, so that the dogmatism of each might disappear.
Her life since 1875 was spent in the unremitting endeavor to draw within the Theosophical Society those who could work unselfishly to propagate an ethics and philosophy tending to realize the brotherhood of man by showing the real unity and essential non-separateness of every being. And her books were written with the declared object of furnishing the material for intellectual and scientific progress on those lines. The theory of man's origin, powers, and destiny brought forward by her, drawn from ancient Indian sources, places us upon a higher pedestal that that given by either religion or science, for it gives to each the possibility of developing the godlike powers within and of at last becoming a co-worker with nature.
As every one must die at last, we will not say that her demise was a loss; but if she had not lived and done what she did humanity would not have had the impulse and the ideas toward the good which it was her mission to give and to proclaim. And there are today scores, nay, hundreds, of devout, earnest men and women intent on purifying their own lives and sweetening the lives of others, who trace their hopes and aspirations to the wisdom-religion revived in the West through her efforts, and who gratefully avow that their dearest possessions are the result of her toilsome and self-sacrificing life. If they, in turn, live aright and do good, they will be but illustrating the doctrine which she daily taught and hourly practised.
New York Sun, Sept. 26, 1892

Mushi-shi 1,2
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Ao no exorcist
Golden Boy
Great Teacher Onizuka
Aldnoah.Zero 1,2
Kingdom
Parasyte The Maxim
Monster
Tokyo Ghoul 1,2
Sword Art Online
Xam'd: Lost Memories
Busou Renkin
Berserk
Jyu Oh Sei
Blue Gender
Level E
RahXephon
Planetes
Psycho Pass 1,2
Kakumeiki Valvrave 1
Space Adventure Cobra
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha 1
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Macross Frontier
Pandora Hearts
Bakemonogatari
Tron: Uprising
K
Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor
Welcome to the N.H.K.
Shingeki no Kyojin
Tytania
Cowboy Bebop
Break Blade
Noragami 1
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Tower of Druaga 1,2
Spice And wolf 1,2
Isekai no seikishi monogatari
Trigun
Claymore
Durarara!! 1
Getbackers
H.O.T.D.
Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto
Dogs: Bullets & Carnage OVA
Afro Samurai
Glass Fleet
Armor Hunter Mellowlink
Armored Trooper Votoms
Golgo 13
Golgo 13 Queen Bee
Vandread
Death Note
No Game No Life
Suisei no Gargantia
Highschool DxD 1,2
Code Geass 1,2
Guilty Crown
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin
C - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
Gunparade March
Avatar: The last airbender
Darker than black 1,2
Guin Saga
Scrapped Princess
Utawarerumono
Demon King Daimao
Viper's Creed
Heroic Age
Tears to Tiara
Asu no yoichi
Paranoia Agent
Shirogane no Ishi: Argevollen
Deadman Wonderland
Tales of the abyss
Valkyria Chronicles
Chrome shelled regios
Innocent venus
Code: Breaker
IS: Infinite Stratos
Amatsuki
Ergo Proxy
Campione
Hagure yuusha no estetica
Dakara boku wa h ga dekinai
Phantom: Requiem for a phantom
Wolf's rain
Samurai Champloo
Hellsing
Hellsing Ultimate
Full metal panic 1,2,3
Stein's gate
Sekirei 1,2
Kaze no stigma
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 1,2
86
Vinland Saga
Darling in the Franxx
Eminence in Shadow
Gate
Golden kamuy
I realize not all these are seinen

tl;dr: I did well, had fun, everyone was friendly, and Lizards are awesome. Fantasy is back, baby!

Full version

Overview

I went to a 1250 point tournament last Saturday (March 9), first tournament I went to after all the years in and out of 40K/Fantasy since 2001. It was a one day tournament, in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA at Family Time Games. Overall, I placed 2nd in the tournament with my Lizardmen list (I will include my list at the bottom). It was three games which I won all of them (2 of them convincingly) and missed first place by one secondary point - which I should have had because I realized after re-reading the bonus points that I cheated myself out of a bonus point in the end by not counting it. My opponent would have given it to me too as he was a great sport, so I should have tied for 1st place. I did get a smaller prize though for 2nd.
Overall, I had a blast playing. It was great to be in a room from 10am to 6:30pm with a ton of great guys (unsurprisingly, all male contestants not that I have anything against female ones and I generally try to welcome everyone). Every opponent I played against was great with only one slight point of contention with my first opponent due to a miscommunication which we rectified quickly. I would play with all of my opponents again in casual or tournament play. It was great to chew the fat in between a couple of the games.

My Results

Some notes on the format of the tournament and my overall results: the event was newcomer friendly. You could bring legacy armies (of course), there was no painting requirement (just a painting prize for best newly painted unit as voted on by your peers), rule of three was enforced, and there was a best sportsmanlike award based on your opponents votes plus your general score. There were 22 contestants in the tournament. There were three games with 15/10/5 battle points based on who won or tied, with different secondary bonus points for each match. Victory battle points were determined by kill points. For bonus points, first match had one point per challenge won, second match had one point for each quarter you had the most unit strength, with a minimum of five as the threshold, (I had three quarters but counted only two because I thought you had to have the quarter completely uncontested... my bad), and the third match had three points to the player with the most unit strength within 12" of the middle point of the battlefield. So I got zero, two, and three bonus points respectively in my matches plus the 45 points for winning all three games totally 50 points overall. I was one of two players who won all three games (there may have been one or two more but I am unsure). Unsure if my painted unit got any votes or what my sportsmanlike score was, but all three players seem to be jovial in their losses (particularly the last two) and we chatted and connected quite a bit. I got an invitation to join a Facebook group message afterwards meant for meetup of local games. I live in the north suburbs of Indianapolis, so going to any of the north side games stores is fine.

Organization of Lists and Tournament

I was surprised I did as well as I did, but I did spend a lot of time making my army list - which we had to submit the Thursday before online. I used New Recruit for making my lists and it is the best app currently to make Warhammer The Old World army lists.
The TOs used Best Coast Pairings as an app for organization. The TOs have been playing Fantasy even after End Times died, so they were very familiar with how tournaments are to be run, how to handle prizes, and had a good relationship with the store. I personally have mixed feelings with the owner of the store, but I am happy he has been supportive of Warhammer The Old World and been allowing us to play games locally.

Match Details

Match 1 - Dwarfs
All three games I got first turn which helped. I was playing against a mix of "small arms" shooting, and tough "anvil" units style Dwarf army. There were no War Machines, engineers, runesmiths, and flyers. The army had two units of Rangers and two units of Iron Drakes for shooting. Iron Drakes were somewhat troublesome for my two monsters (a Bastiladon and Ancient Stegadon), but I survived and eventually wiped out three of the four ranged units by turn three. In fact, I lost no units, none of my units, were below 25%, and I lost no standards. At first, I was concerned about the Dwarfs all having magic resistance, but MR does not affect conveyance, enchantments, and magic vortexes. Since I had a Slaan and Lore of Necromancy, I was able to get off two vortexes: Spiritual Vortex and Monsoon, which provided annoyance for the Dwarfs, and Spectral Steed on my Saurus. Suddenly the Dwarfs panicked and even broke a couple of time. Also, my Bastiladon pushed off a unit of Rangers off the board edge due to them giving ground. But, the real stars of the show were my Skinks and Chameleons. Mass poison on cheap skirmishing scouts is a deadly combination, especially in a low point tournament like this. They wiped out a unit of fleeing Warriors, a unit of Iron Drakes, and a unit of Rangers between the two of them. The Skinks were especially useful. In fact, both units at least doubled their points in kills in all three games. After four rounds, I won convincingly and gave up 0 points except one secondary since I lost a challenge.
Match 2 - Empire
He had an interesting list: a lord on Demigryph (proxied with the Kislev Polar Bear minis which still looks cool), a 10 strong unit of Knights, a priest on a cart, a mortar, skirmishing bowmen, and a Steam Tank. I'm surprised that was all there was. Skinks took out the bowmen and the Bastiladon to wipe out the Mortar in turns 1. The Chameleons and Bastiladon wiped out the Knights with shooting (standing and shooting with Chameleons is death to cavalry). My Stegadon was charged by his hero and killed the remaining wounds of the hero. And his Steam Tank was stuck in combat almost forever with my Stegadon. My Slaan did Slaan things and kept out of combat casting vortexes. In all three games, my Slaan cast Spectral Steed on turn one on my Saurus Warriors and they never lost it in any game. Neither player one or two could deal with Ethereal on my Slaan or my Warriors. We played four rounds before my opponent conceded early. He killed one unit of Chameleons, and I killed everything except for his Steam Tank which was locked in forever combat.
Match 3 - Warriors of Chaos (Slaanesh)
I was on one of three top tables of people who won their first two games. This was the most difficult game for sure. Chaos powers on his Daemon "Princess" and his BSB were cumulative and strong. Only time my flying, ethereal Saurus Warriors were wiped out in any match (on turn 5). My Skinks survived to the end, but my Chameleons and Ancient Stegadon died. But I wiped out everything of his except for his Daemon Princess and his Heavy Chariot. On the last round, his Daemon was down to one wound so he flew to the corner to survive my Bastiladon and Slaan's magic missiles as he was out of charge range. All three games, I did not roll for Unquiet Spirits which is the best magic missile in the game, in my opinion. It would have really helped in this game in particular. His Demon Princess had a 4+/4+/5+ and Fly(9) which was annoying (but only 4 wounds thankfully). Also, all of his Warriors had enscrolled weapons so they were always a threat against my Slaan and Spectral Steed Saurus Warriors due to having automatic magic attacks. What helped him as well was that he had a level 2 wizard in the Daemon Princess (who most of the time stuck around the center in various combats). Having a level 2 wizard in that bubble was always a threat to my spell casting and magic missiles. It also allowed him to get off a couple of spells early on (one that caused Frenzy and Hatred which killed my Stegadon). However, Skinks, Chameleons, one Bastiladon combat, and magic missiles slaughtered the Hounds and Warriors in fairly short order. My opponent did roll fairly high most of the time. He made a lot of 5+/6+ saves consistently (well above average) which kept the Daemon Princess and Chariot alive. He did not really whiff much that wasn't going to whiff at all. My rolling was fairly average on the whole in this game and the whole tournament. Definitely missed a few Fireballs and Solar Engine casts. My Slaan did have some inopportune missed magic, especially in the final game. Overall, I won by 140 kill points (and barely squeaked out the win as 100 kill points differential was the draw threshold), and I gained all 3 available bonus points.

My Conclusions

My Army List
Lizardmen are strong because they do all the strong things in this game in both quality and quantity: magic is solid especially with Slaan access to Necromancy, magic missiles galore, mass poison, skirmishing, and tough heavy infantry that can take a licking and keep on ticking. I was always very mobile (except for my Bastiladon). If I were to make any changes, I may take out the Stegadon for another Bastiladon, give my Slaan a Lore Familiar, and beef up my Saurus Warriors unit. I'm glad I went with the Stegadon over Cold One Riders and was happy with the extra Ruby Ring of Ruin over the Lore Familiar despite me not getting Unquiet Spirits once. Monsoon is weak, but what it is great at is removing mobility for the enemy. It prevents key charges due to blocking line of sight and removes small arms fire from the equation if it moves correctly over key units like it did to the Iron Drakes in the first game. The Skinks and Chameleons were the stars of the show and the Slaan was clutch. What makes the Slaan so good is that it has so many abilities that all work as the ultimate support unit: leadership 9, BSB, Ethereal power (which does not take up magic items slot), lore of Necromancy, Fly (8), and Large Target. All perfect for a mid-range support/magic unit. Not once did it go into combat and it only lost one wound in all three games to miscast. Also, because it is Fly and cannot join units, the big blast miscast only hit and wounded him. And five wounds is very strong for both unit strength and soaking miscasts (because you only ever lose one wound in each miscast). Large Target allowed him to cast all over the place and Ethereal prevented small arms fire from hitting his fat ass. This is certainly a list I want to build off of for bigger lists.
The Meta
Linehammer was not a thing at all. I was the most Monsterhammer person there (with two monsters one being a Behemoth), so take that as you will. Skirmishing units (especially if they Scout) are stupidly strong. Poison, especially mass poison, is very strong. In general, my early thoughts are that mobile units are king. Having the ability to out maneuver your opponent will win you the game more often than not. That could be skirmishing, cavalry, chariots, monsters with big movements, flying, etc. More importantly than all of that though is that every unit has to have a distinct role on the battlefield: what is each unit doing for you and how do you maximize that? Oh and magic defense is critical: you need a means to defend against magic or else the opponent will have a field day against you. Magic is not critical in pure damage output (but some magic missile help). Magic is critical in changing the game state. Dwarfs may have great leadership, but a key Spiritual Vortex and a Spirit Leech suddenly changes them to turn a strength into average (especially when Terror causing units charge them). Speaking of which, leadership is very important now. Not just for panic and break tests, but restraining, marching, certain spells, and other secondary actions. Debuffing or buffing leadership is really key for most armies. However, my experience is limited and biased from the eyes of a Lizardmen player, so take it all with a grain of salt.
The Community
I going to spend a few paragraphs on a mini-rant. When The Old World was being announced and starting to pick up steam last summer and fall, I was looking into Age of Sigmar again. I Joined their subreddit and several Facebook groups, picked up some Nighthaunt and a couple of rulebooks. I thought they looked cool (the AoS Black Coach is probably my favorite GW model ever). But all I heard from those groups I joined, without any provocation from myself, was that Fantasy players were just a bunch of "grognards", "old fogies", AoS was the serious tournament game, and AoS was the enlightened group of decent gamers who were "based" and "cool."
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I have found that Fantasy/TOW players are generally more direct in their disagreements about what they like or dislike in a game while AoS players were more passive aggressive in my experience often resorting to ad hominen attacks (I know I am discussing character but that is the subject of this rant and warrants discussion). AoS players I found to pretend to be inclusive, but are actually filled with some of the most exclusive people in reality. The AoS community loves to talk about inclusivity, kindness, and respect. Obviously, not every AoS gamer is like this, but I was not impressed with my experiences in person and online.
I sold my AoS stuff when TOW release was finally announced in January. I was not going to play a lesser game when I knew a richer game experience that I would like more was coming into the market that was far more interesting in both lore and mechanics. Figuratively, I didn't want to eat fast food when I could eat a steak. Yes, the AoS minis are beautiful, and I used them for my Lizardmen, but those sculpts could have easily been in Fantasy/TOW if GW wanted them to be.
I think it is pretty telling about a community when WarhammerFantasy allows discussions and disagreements about AoS, Fantasy, and TOW and only filters out the most egregious attacks while ageofsigmar has shut down ALL discussion of TOW completely (you aren't allowed to mention its existence). The Warhammer The Old World Facebook group also allows more discussions than not. AoS groups, in my experience, have kicked out anybody they didn't like for any reason for the past 8.5 years which is why I never returned to the hobby since Fantasy's End Times despite me trying out AoS with friends and strangers a few times (to be clear, I've never been "kicked out"). Fantasy and TOW communities can take scrutiny, but AoS community can't? I think the proof is in the pudding.
And yes, Fantasy and TOW players skew on the older side, and I see that only as a positive. I like spending time with people older than me in general. I tend to find them more mature and chill. I run a board game group, one of the largest in the Indianapolis area (Hamilton County Board Games on Facebook), and the vast majority of our regular members who come to weekly game nights are at least between 40 and 70 (I'm in my 30's and one of the youngest members).
That said, I think there is still value in AoS. I think it is a great gateway skirmish game for getting into tabletop miniatures wargaming, and the miniatures look great (like my Seraphon filled Lizardmen). And for some people, that is what they will stick to. It is just not for me.
End mini-rant.
I've had the most fun hobbying, list building, chatting, painting, and playing of tabletop miniature games in the last 2 months than I have in all of my hobbying since 2001 when I first started 40K as a teenager. The Old World has brought some joy in my life now that I'm a Dad in my 30's. It is a hobby that allows me creativity (especially since GW has so little support for this game), allows me to meet interesting new people, and have a rich, deep, tactical, strategic experience with games that stick in my head for days, but also easily works around my young family and work schedule.
This game is excellent for tournament play, and I think every army is viable.
Every person I talked to was friendly and excited to be there. Everyone was gracious in how they played, and everyone I interacted with made an effort to get things right, even if it negatively affected them (so did I). In the end, no one person was winning because of a rules lawyering moment and no one mentioned anything negative to me in any of their games in such a way.
This tournament was a fun way to spend a Saturday. I won't be able to join the next Long Beards tournament in Indianapolis as it is too close to my upcoming third baby's birth (due date is literally the week after the tournament). That said, I spent yesterday (Sunday) afternoon looking up ideas to paint my Bastiladon, and I'm eager to have a fully painted 2000 point army at the tournament I play in next. I am also thinking about how to paint my Bretonnians which I want to get to the table soon. My goal is by the end of 2024 to have two 2000 point armies painted up: Lizardmen and Bretonnians. I do eventually want to have a Dwarf, High Elf, Wood Elf, Ogre Kingdoms, and Vampire Counts armies as well (maybe Tomb Kings too), and my own modular terrain set in my house. Alas, time and money are both precious.
Folks, not everything with TOW is what we all wanted, but Warhammer Fantasy is truly back. There are a lot of people who love this game, love people, and want to have fun. Go out and have some fun.

Army List

Lizardmen - Lizardmen March Tourney 2 - [1250pts]
# Main Force [1250pts]
## Characters [400pts]
Slann Mage-Priests [400pts]:
• 1x Slann Mage-Priest [400pts]: Hand Weapon, Battle Standard Bearer, General, Higher State Of Mind, Wizard Level 4, Necromancy, Ruby Ring of Ruin
​
## Core [316pts]
Saurus Warriors [231pts]: Thrusting Spear
• 14x Saurus Warrior [14pts]: Hand Weapon, Heavy Armour, Shield
• 1x Spawn Leader [7pts]
• 1x Standard Bearer [7pts]
• 1x Musician [7pts]
Skink Skirmishers [85pts]: Scouts
• 15x Skink [5pts]: Hand Weapon, Light Armour, Javelins and Shields
​
## Special [279pts]
Bastiladon [180pts]: Thunderous bludgeon, Solar Engine, 4x Skink Crew, Hand Weapon, Javelin and Shield
Chameleon Skinks [99pts]:
• 9x Chameleon Skink [11pts]: Blowpipe, Hand Weapon, Light Armour
​
## Rare [255pts]
Ancient Stegadon [255pts]: 5x Skink Crew, Hand Weapon, Javelin and Shield, Great horns, Engine of the Gods