DC Next Proudly Presents:

The Linear Men

Issue Twenty:Family Reunion
Written by Dwright5252
Edited by Predaplant

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The Waverider
When she was growing up, Deirdre Harkness often thought about how things might’ve been different in her household if she had an older brother to take the brunt of her father’s attention. How her path through life could have been vastly different, her rap sheet a little more… non-existent.
Now that such a brother seemingly existed, albeit from another Earth altogether, she was starting to realize that maybe she was fine being an only child.
“Listen, this’ll go a lot faster if you stop being so obtuse, Deirdre,” Owen Mercer scowled, twirling one of his razor-sharp boomerangs deftly between his fingers as he paced the deck of the Waverider. Deirdre sat in the hot seat, the Linear Men staring at her on one side while her current and former romantic partners stood on the other. The multiversal children of Digger Harkness faced off in the middle, neither seeming to want to give any inch in their argument.
“Look, I’m just sayin’ I’d be able to find my friends better without some drongo stealing my schtick,” she responded casually, moving to take a boomerang of her own from her bandolier before remembering the new time cops had confiscated all her weapons. “Surely Jenny Sparks has someone better to send along.”
Was she being difficult? Absolutely. Was this petty argument preventing her from saving her missing teammates? Undoubtedly.
Did she want to take this pretender down a peg? You know it.
“Perhaps we can arrive at some kind of accord, beloved,” Ystin interjected, placing a hand on Deirdre’s shoulder. “I understand how jarring seeing this knave must be, but our comrades in arms are lost to time. Other priorities must take precedence.”
Sighing deeply, Deirdre fell back into the chair behind her, irked that this modified timeline removed all the progress she’d made in molding the chair to fit her form. She could see Liri wince at the force she had used to enter the chair, and felt a little bad about that.
God, she could be selfish sometimes.
“Fine. Fine, I’ll be a good sheila now. What is your plan, oh fearless brother o’ mine?” She felt the tension in the room let up slightly, and Ystin gave her a grateful smile.
Owen pulled out another boomerang of his and started pressing the buttons on it. A projection appeared, seemingly the timeline they were currently in. Biting back her instincts to make fun of her brother’s projecto-rang, she sat back and listened as he began to point at the timeline. “As you can see, this is the current stream that we’re in. You can see these discolorations,” he explained, pointing at the shades of red appearing in the mostly blue timeline, “that indicate the anomalies you’re normally after. Sure, they aren’t the best thing to have appear, but it’s within the Time Masters’ range of acceptable aberrations. From what Deirdre is saying, the kind of anomaly we’re looking for with this situation, with one team seemingly erased from time and another fully resurrected, should be lighting this up like a Christmas tree. That massive of a ripple effect from those changes would unmoor us into the Bleed, never to return.”
“But we’re clearly still here,” Rip Hunter said, scowling. “So you’re saying she’s full of it.”
“Not necessarily,” Owen replied, and Deirdre felt a slight pang in her chest as her brother came to her defense. He dialed in another setting and another hologram appeared, this time showing various circles floating around the timestream. “What do you know about time bubbles?”
Michael raised his hand, ever the teacher’s pet, apparently. “They’re basically pocket dimensions separated out from the timestream. The Time Masters use them sometimes to isolate threats to the stream or conduct experiments.”
“Gold star to you,” Owen said, and Deirdre rolled her eyes as Michael beamed. She missed Booster so much. “Yes, exactly that. So let’s say that these bubbles,” he circled a majority of them, “were made and accounted for. We’re left with a good dozen unsanctioned by the Time Masters.”
Deirdre’s hopes started to pick up before Rip dashed them. “But that’s also within parameters for a timestream. Nature abhors a vacuum and makes time bubbles naturally to fill in any blank spaces that appear. You’re grasping at straws.”
Owen turned toward the captain of the Waverider. “I’m sorry, did you want to run this presentation? I can go back to the Authority and leave y’all to your issues if you want.”
Before Rip could respond, Liri stepped in. “Rip, let the poor boy explain. You’re being an asshole.”
Deirdre blinked, surprised at Liri’s interjection. The AI she knew would never put the captain in his place like that. And even more shocking, she saw Rip pull back and motion for Owen to continue, clearly chastened by his crewmate.
Miracles did happen.
“You’re correct, the other bubbles not highlighted are indeed naturally occurring.” Owen pointed at them and expanded them. “But someone with enough access and know-how can commandeer these time bubbles and manipulate them for their own uses.”
Matthew Rider raised his hand. “So you’re saying our missing people could be inside these bubbles? But what about the damage to the timeline from removing them in the first place?”
“Good question. Like I said, this level of fuckery to the order of things should’ve made things completely unravel. That being said, it is possible for someone with a high degree of chronal knowledge and access to do it. It’d be damn risky, as one mistake could spell disaster. But… it's becoming more and more evident that whatever’s responsible for this isn’t an amateur.” Owen pulled up a blank file now, a glaring DATA NOT FOUND flashing in front of them. “You say you all saw Walker Gabriel vanish, and still have memories of him. He’s not in our databases anymore, and there’s not even a void left behind where he should be. This thing took him out and plastered over the timestream to remove any trace.”
Silence fell on the group as the idea of what they were up against sunk in. Deirdre pondered who or what could hate them enough to do something like this.
“So what’re our next steps?” Liri asked, typing away furiously at her datapad. “Should we search these time bubbles for our missing teammates?”
Deirdre smiled sadly as she heard Liri refer to her friends as teammates. This version didn’t even know these people, didn’t have any definitive proof that they even existed, and yet she took them in her heart as part of the team.
Owen shook his head. “That would take too long, and might tip off whatever’s doing this to our plan. We need more manpower for the search and a way to narrow down the field.” Roxy Rocket, who’d spent the entire conversation vlogging the control room with her camera, piped in. “Sciency stuff isn’t really my bag, but could you maybe look for people that interacted with these folks and trace them that way? Use their memories to bridge the gap or whatever?”
To Deirdre, it sounded like the kind of stupid thing that just might work. “I know someone that might be able to help us with that, and I can get some people together we could use.”
Hub City, Illinois
Something was wrong, of that Violet was certain.
Their journey had led them across the globe when they’d felt it happen, felt the universe attempting to steal another memory from them. Violet fought against the overwhelming vibrations that tried to steal the memory of their friend from them, using their powers to shield their mind and their heart. It took everything they had, rendering Violet unconscious for a day. But when they awoke, they still remembered Michael Jon Carter, Booster Gold. The first person in Violet’s memory that tried to help them.
It felt fitting, going from trying to discover their past to helping bring their friend back from oblivion.
The problem was, nothing was working.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daniel Carter asserted, shifting on his crutches as he tried to close the door on Violet. They held their hand out to stop it, and felt fear trickle through Daniel’s aura.
“I do not mean to startle you, I am just trying to find some answers,” Violet explained, backing away from the door to give Daniel some space. “I know it sounds strange, but I am telling you only the truth.”
“Look, I wish you luck in… this whole thing you’ve got going,” Daniel said, “but I don’t have a clue about any future relatives of mine, whatever the hell that means. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for a job interview.”
This time, Violet allowed him to slam the door in their face. It was no use. It seemed anyone they’d attempted to contact didn’t have any memories of their friend. Violet knew that if they could only use their aura to show Daniel the true way of things…
But no. That would be a trespass they were hesitant to employ. There had to be a way to bring Michael back without hurting anyone. They would find it, they were sure of it. “Well, if it isn’t the most colorful person I know,” a familiar voice said from behind them. Violet turned around to see Deirdre Harkness approaching them from across the street. Unconsciously adjusting their hijab, Violet ran towards their former teammate and enveloped her in a tight hug.
“You are truly a sight for sore eyes, Deirdre,” Violet said, tears running down their face as they took in their old friend’s presence. “I could really use a friendly ear at the moment. I feel as if I have gone insane.”
Deirdre pulled back from the hug to look Violet in the eye. After a moment of searching, she smiled. “You remember, don’t you?”
Violet’s eyes widened in shock and joy. “Tell me you are not humoring me. You truly remember our friend?”
A wave of relief washed over Violet, and it was all they could do to keep their aura in check as Deirdre spoke. “Not only do I remember Booster and Rip and the others, but I think I have a way to get them back.”
Radiance, Pennsylvania
Living in a mansion wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. For instance, the amount of upkeep required to keep it from becoming a dusty mountain of sadness was just completely unrealistic for one person to do. That meant hiring people to help maintain the grounds, sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms and bedrooms.
Mitch Shelley was not a fan of people.
“No, I said not to make the topiary look like a Soder Cola can,” Mitch insisted to his groundskeeper, an older man whose proximity to loud saws all his life made him hard of hearing. “It looks corny as fuck.”
The old man shook his head. “I think it looks fine, sir. Plus I know your corporate sponsors will appreciate it for that gala you’re holding next week.”
Goddammit. Mitch had been dreading that stupid party ever since he’d been asked to host it in honor of his latest sponsorship campaign for the Soder Cola company. Sure, he wasn’t too involved with the planning (at least, when he could dodge the phone calls and house visits of the party planner he’d hired) but it still took up way too much of his time. That wasn’t to mention the fact that he had to attend the thing.
In a suit.
Ugh.
“Maybe you’re right. Thanks, Joe,” Mitch said, handing the groundskeeper a generous tip. Joe was probably the most down-to-earth of his employees, and he wanted to make sure he was taken care of. Joe shook his hand appreciatively and walked out the door, brushing past a red haired woman dressed garishly in some sort of costume.
“You’re a week early for the gala, darlin’,” Mitch said, waving her away as he tried to escape to his theater room. “I’m sure whatever skill you have will be enough to entertain the suits coming to this shindig.”
“Har de har, asshole,” the woman said, her Australian accent giving him pause. What was an Aussie doing in Pennsylvania? “I’m actually here for Resurrection Man. Need his help.”
Mitch sighed, “Look, I’m sure whatever cat’s stuck in a tree will get itself out. If this is about Lazarus, tell that fucker he can come and face me himself rather than sending his new sidekick.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Look, I know you. You’re a wild horse that can’t be reined in. You need adventure in your life, and I’m here to offer it. Ever time traveled before?”
Mitch stopped on the steps. “In a manner of speaking. What did you have in mind?” Maybe he’d hear this woman out. If anything it might last long enough to get him out of this fucking party.
Opal City
“Stargazer tipline, how can we help?” Jack Knight was surprised when the old phone line started to ring. Courtney had been right; most people used the app to ask for help. He’d almost forgotten the tipline was a thing, and it had startled him into dropping his tools as he worked on another upgrade to the Star Staff. His father’s laboratory made the ringing sound like it was coming from all over, so he’d almost missed the call when he couldn’t find the phone buried under all the schematics.
“Hello Starman, long time fan, first time caller,” a voice said from the receiver, the accent telling him this wasn’t an Opal citizen. “Need your assistance in a caper.” He was tempted to hang up the phone; no doubt this was some kind of crank call. “What’re the details of this… caper, ma’am?” He’d humor her for a little bit. Jennifer and Courtney had been on his case about crunch culture and making sure to take breaks, so maybe this could count as his allotted rest period.
“First off, I think I’m younger than you, so shove off with your ma’am,” the woman huffed. “Second, this isn’t a joke. Why don’t you come out of your little work shed and see what I mean.”
The line clicked, and Jack looked at the phone in confusion. What a weird call. There was no way anyone knew where he was at the moment, so he chalked it up to someone having a laugh at his expense. As he picked up his blowtorch to continue his welding, the intercom buzzed.
“Jack, can you please come up here and tell these yahoos to get their spaceship out of my backyard before they wreck my azaleas?” Jack heard his father’s voice resonate through the speaker. He jumped up to look at the outside cameras, and sure enough, there floated a spaceship of some sort.
He pulled out his phone and texted into the All Star Group Chat. “Hey, gang. Might need to be out of the city for a bit on a mission. I’ll keep you posted.”

Parkers first real cartridge converter fountain pen, first introduced in 1960, the Parker 45 was the start of modern fountain pens. The popularity of this system made its way into all following Parker fountain pens such as the Parker 75 and even late Parker 61s and some Parker 51s.
The plastics on these pens are softer than the Parker 51 but allowed Parker to use injection molding to save money. The Parker 45 was made all the way up to 2008 and can be found in dozens of different colors and different designs (some more expensive than others).
The one for sale today is one in a traditional Navy Grey color and in great condition. There are no deep scratches in the plastic and the plastic has not been damaged to the point where the finish looks matte. It actually is pretty shiny. The nib on this pen is your reliable F SS nib unit, which is stiff and smooth (another kind of SS, ha). The pen will come with the vintage Parker squeeze converter.
No brassing or damage on the cap ring and no damage to the metal cap.
The pencil here might actually be the highlight. You don't see too many of these pencils out in the wild. I am not sure why but I guess the pencil and the ballpoints were never as popular as the fountain pens. In any case this pen comes with the matching pencil which works. The pencil is a twist pencil and take #9 lead. The pencil is also in great condition but I do see one small nick on the pencil itself that you can see with a loupe.
A set in this condition doesn't come along very often. Take a look for yourselves in this photo set!
Verification - https://imgur.com/a/q3Eh4Xn
SHIPPING INCLUDED IN CONUS - $45

The single best thing you can do with a new puppy is teach them to sit for their food until you give them the "ok" to move.
Not only are you already teaching them their first two commands, sit and ok (as a release word), but more importantly, they're learning how to learn. They're learning that you're the boss, that commands are commands and not suggestions, and that listening to you leads to rewards. They're learning to be a respectful citizen of your home, a member of your family, a life partner and best friend and not just a wild animal that lives in your house eating your food and acting like a lunatic.
They're learning that being a hyperactive little psychopath gets them nothing, while being calm, still, and attentive in the face of temptation -- whether that's food, attention, scritches, sniffing other dogs, chasing squirrels, etc. -- is the actual way to get what they want. This discipline goes far beyond meal time; you're setting the foundation for your partnership and how you communicate and interact with each other for the next decade or more. Your pup is genetically hardwired to want to please you, but they don't automatically know how. You have to activate and mold this instinct. This is where you start teaching them.
It should also go without saying that having a dog that will reliably sit and stay immediately on command is both a safety feature for them and a potential headache/heartbreak saver for you as well.
You can start this almost immediately after they come home with you -- I give them a week or so to get over the shock and adjust to their new surroundings but a 9 or 10 week old can absolutely learn this in less than a week, and from there you can increase the timing to really teach them steadiness.

I am not a flashy guy and like a more subtle look that is still clean looking. Are their any good apparel brands that fit this mold? Seems most are bright colors and wild patterns that I just can’t get into. Don’t mind some subtle patterns but the bright colors are not my style.

I got Buffalo Wild Wings delivered and the carrots and celery on the side were visibly covered in mold. I wanted to complain to both 1) express that I’m annoyed and 2) hope BWW stops sending out molded food. But my concern is that if I complain, ubereats will just give me a $2 (or whatever small amount) credit and the driver will be out that amount. Is that how it works? Who eats the cost of credits after a customer complaints?

PayPal Goods & Services — Coming from a pet, smoke and mold free home. Shipping will start at $5 and tracking number will be provided once shipped. Usage shown in pics. No swaps, just looking to clear out my collection. verification
KALEIDOS
Flower Punk Eyeshadow Palette - $40
The Escape Pod Palette - $40
Angelica Nyqvist Collab Palette - $40
NATASHA DENONA
Safari Palette - $65
Circo Loco Palette - $65
Glam Face & Eye Palette ‘Dark’ - $30
HUDA BEAUTY
Naughty Nude Eyeshadow Palette - $40
Wild Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette ‘Jaguar’ - $16
Nude Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette ‘Rich’ - $16
Haze Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette ‘Khaki’ - $16
ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS
Amrezy Palette - $16
Jackie Aina Palette - $25
VISEART
Boheme Dream Eyeshadow Palette - $ 35
Minxette Étendu Eyeshadow Palette - $19
Dark Edit Eyeshadow Palette - $19
Theory II ‘Minx’ Eyeshadow Palette - $20
Theory VII ‘Siren’ Eyeshadow Palette - $20
DANESSA MYRICKS BEAUTY
ColorFix Foils ‘Parade’ - $7
ColorFix Foils ‘Blossom’ - $7
ColorFix Foils ‘Mermaid’ - $7
ColorFix Cream Color ‘Royalty’ - $7
MELT COSMETICS // HONEST BEAUTY // RARE BEAUTY
Digital Dust Highlight ‘Phoenix’ - $17
Digital Dust Highlight ‘Pink Moon’ - $17
Crème Cheek + Lip Color ‘Coral Peach’ - $7
Stay Vulnerable Melting Cream Blush ‘Nearly Berry’ - $10
Z-PALETTE
Orange Large - $5
Black Large - $5
Black Extra Large - $7
Pink Large Ulta Logo - $5

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⚠️ WARNING: Maasverse Spoilers—Proceed with Caution ⚠️

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Part 1: Characters and Courts
Part 2: World Map, Items, Terms & Other - YOU ARE HERE
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If this is the first post you've landed on, see Part 1 above for an introductory explanation to this two part post.

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https://preview.redd.it/tblspn7am90d1.png?width=832&format=png&auto=webp&s=0e1c5d11b53736e3ac49b29e6734dba821f44e4e

UK + IRELAND

PRYTHIAN

A combination of Prydain, the old Welsh name for Britain, and Brython, which translates to “Ancient Britons” from Welsh.

HYBERN

A riff of Hibernia, the Classical Latin name for Ireland.

​
Artist of Prythian map: P-dulcis on redbubble

ADDITIONAL EUROPEAN-PARALLEL LOCATIONS

ILLYRIA

The Ancient Greeks used the term Illyria to define a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. The numerous peoples who populated those areas were known collectively as the Illyrians. The region itself is quite mountainous.

THE MIDDLE

May refer to the Midlands, the central part of England, though geographically the Prythian map places the Middle central to Prythian, not central to England; with the Prythian inclusion of Scotland, the Middle on Prythian maps is located further north than the actual Midlands of England.

UNDER THE MOUNTAIN

A potential nod to the Schiehallion, a cone-shaped mountain often referred to as the center of Scotland. It's name comes from the Gaelic Sìth Chailleann, meaning "fairy hill of the Caledonians." On the southwestern side of the mountain is said to lie the well-concealed Uamh Tom a' Mhòr-fhir, a cave serving as an entrance to the underworld.
Note: As the Schiehallion lies in the middle of Scotland (the Night Court) and not the middle of mainland UK (Prythian), the Sciehallion could instead be representative of Ramiel.

THE WESTERN ISLES

May refer to the Outer Hebrides, also known as the Western Isles, which is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. They are also sometimes known as Innse Gall, a Gaelic term meaning "islands of the foreigners/strangers" which was originally used by mainland Highlanders when the islands were ruled by the Norse.
ACOTAR role: The Prison is located in the Western Isles.

THE PRISON

Though located in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland rather than the Outer, the Prison may be a nod to Beinn Shiantaidh, which is Scottish Gaelic for "holy mountain." It is located on the western side of the Island of Jura and is the second highest peak of the Paps of Jura.
Fun fact: Pap is of Old Norse origin and means breast.

VALLAHAN

Valhalla is the hall of slain warriors in Norse mythology, located in Asgard, where those who die in combat live in peace under the leadership of the god, Odin. They are said to dwell in Valhalla until the events of Ragnarök, where they will then march out to fight in aid of Odin against the jötnar, a type of being in Germanic mythology.
ACOTAR role: A faerie territory located in the northwest portion of the Continent.

ADRIATA

The Adriatic Sea is located in Southern Europe and separates the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. It contains more than 1,300 islands.

BOG OF OORID

The Oorid Lough is a freshwater lake in the west of Ireland.

CRETEA

Crete is the largest and southernmost island in Greece.
ACOTAR role: Where Miryam and Drakon's people lived following the War.

LAPPLUND

Lapland is a geographic region in Northern Fennoscandia which covers much of the Nordic countries. It is also a province of Sweden and the largest region of Finland.
ACOTAR role: Where the Cauldron was hidden.

ITICA

Ithaca is an island featured in the Odyssey and was the island home of Odysseus. It is also a real island in Greece. The Kathara Monastery is located in Ithaca.
ACOTAR role: Itica is one of three temples where the feet of the Cauldron were hidden.

MONTESERE

Montserrat is a mountain range near Barcelona.
ACOTAR role: Montesere is a fae territory located in the Continent's NW and is considered generally wealthy. They allied with the loyalists in the War.

RAVENNIA

Ravenna is located in Northern Italy and was the capital of the Western Roman Empire.
ACOTAR role: Ravenna is a fae territory on the Continent and allied with the Loyalists during the War.

DUNMERE

Dunmere is a hamlet in Cornwall, England.
ACOTAR role: Dunmere is a town located within the Night Court, between Velaris and the sea.

NEVA

The Neva is the fourth-largest river in Europe and is located in northwestern Russia.
ACOTAR role: One of the largest human cities on the Continent and is where the Archeron sisters' father travels to trade.

SCYTHIA

The Scythians were an ancient Eastern Iranic equestrian nomadic people who migrated from Central Asia to the steppes of modern-day Ukraine and Southern Russia.
ACOTAR role: One of the territories of the human lands on the Continent, ruled by Queen Vassa. They are said to be a horse loving people.

ROSEHALL

Rosehall is the name of a remote hamlet in the Scottish Highlands.
Fun fact: The 2nd Duke of Westminster acquired the Rosehall estate and his mistress at the time, Coco Chanel, redecorated the interior to her own liking. Winston Churchill, a close friend of the Duke, also visited the estate.
ACOTAR role: Mentioned in ACOFAS and is theorized to be the place where Azriel's mother resides.

AFRICA-PARALLEL LOCATIONS

THE BLACK LAND

Black Land translates from Kemet, a popular ancient name for Egypt, which is derived from the color of the fertile black soil along the cultivated area of the Nile valley.
ACOTAR role: A region of the continent where human slaves were ruled over by a High Fae queen. Miryam and Drakon joined the mortals in the War and freed Miryam's people by crossing the desert and eventually the sea.

THE ERYTHRIAN SEA

The Erythraean Sea, originally an Ancient Greek geographical designation, has been used as a name for the Red Sea which lies between Africa and Asia.
ACOTAR role: Drakon used his magic to split the Erythian Sea.

ASIA-PARALLEL LOCATIONS

XIAN

Xi'an is the the most populous city in Northwest China snd the second most popular tourist destination in China.
ACOTAR role: A Fae territory on the Continent that allied with the Loyalists during the War. A large majority of the Dawn Court is made of Fae from Xian, including Thesan's mother. Feyre remarks that Amren may have molded her mortal body after their peoples.

BHARAT

Bhārat is one of the two principal official short names for the Republic of India.
ACOTAR role: The Archerons lost their fortune when their father's ships sank on the way to Bharat.

RASK

May refer to Rask, a city in Iran, that serves as both capital of its county and district.
ACOTAR role: A Fae territory on the Continent and allied with the Loyalists during the War.

ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS

VELARIS

Possibly derived from the Latin vēlo, meaning "to veil, cover, wrap" along with "to hide, conceal" and "to clothe in." Could also derive from the Latin vēlum, meaning "to veil, curtain" and also indicates a tarpaulin acting as cover for outdoor spaces.

THE WALL

No singular reference, but the presence of a wall separating one race from another, often humans from mythical beings, is rife throughout history, mythology, and fantasy.
One from each category that has loose ties to ACOTAR: (1) Hadrian's Wall, ie the Roman Wall, a defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia. It spanned from coast to coast, cutting across the entire width of Northern England. (2) In Norse mythology, the Master Builder asking for the hand of the goddess Freyja as payment for constructing a wall around Asgard to defend the gods. (3) The English village of Wall in Neil Gaiman's Stardust, named after the wall separating the land of Faerie from the mortal realm, highly guarded and cautioned against for mortals seeking to pass through.

THE MOONSTONE PALACE

Romans linked moonstone to the moon goddess Diana (goddess of wild animals and the hunt) and Ancient Greeks linked it to their lunar deities Artemis, Hecate, and Selene.

SIDRA RIVER

Sidra is a name of Latin origin and means "Goddess of the stars" or "like a star."

RAMIEL

Ramiel is a fallen Watcher, a type of Biblical angel, one of the 20 Watchers that rebelled against God by mating with mortal women, therefore creating the Nephilim (Shadowhunters, anyone?). Ramiel means "God has thundered." Ramiel is sometimes conflated with Remiel, also known as Jeremiel, meaning "God shall have mercy," as is listed as one of the seven Holy Angels. He is the archangel of hope and is responsible for divine visions and guiding the souls of the faithful into Heaven.

POOL OF STARLIGHT

No plausible connection found, though there is a famous pool in Greek mythology—a pool Mnemosyne presided over in Hades, counterpart to the river Lethe. Dead souls would drink from Lethe to wipe their past lives from remembrance when reincarnated. Those who drank from Mnemosyne's pool remembered and halted their transmigration of the soul.

ATHELWOOD

Ethel (also aethel) is an Old English word meaning "noble." Athelwood can mean "noblewood."
ACOTAR role: Morrigan's estate located in the Night Court.

GOLLIAN MOUNTAINS

Göll is one of the named Valkyries from Norse mythology. Her name means "tumult," or "noise, battle."
ACOTAR role: Where the Valkyries were slain during the War.

MYRMIDONS

In Ancient Greek mythology, the Myrmidons were an Ancient Greek tribe. In the Iliad, they are the soldiers commanded by Achilles. Myrmidon has also come to mean "a follower or subordinate of a powerful person, typically one who is unscrupulous or carries out orders unquestioningly."
ACOTAR role: A set of mountains serving as the border between the Day Court and the Night Court from which the Illyrians migrated.

CESERA

No direct reference found, but may allude to Caesarea, the name of numerous cities and locations throughout the Roman Empire.
ACOTAR role: One of three temples where the feet of the Cauldron were hidden.

SANGRAVAH

No direct reference found (and I lost my mind searching for one). Closest I came to was the similarly sounding Angharad, a feminine Welsh name, long associated with Welsh royalty, history, and myth, including Arthurian legend.
ACOTAR role: One of three temples where the feet of the Cauldron were hidden.

GREENFIELD VILLAGE

No direct connection found, though Greenfield is the name of several villages of England.
ACOTAR role: A neighboring village to where Feyre grew up and where Isaac Hale's wife is from.

WINDHAVEN CAMP

No connection found, though a separate Windhaven also appears in Tower of Dawn in the TOG series. Altun—Windhaven being the rough translation—is located in a three-peaked mountain range and is the home of Sartaq's hearth-mother and family.
Fun fact: Windhaven is the name of a science-fiction novel by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle following a group of humans who crash-landed on a foreign planet and learned to craft their own wings out of the spaceship wreckage.

THE WOLF'S DEN

No connection found, BUT fun fact: there is a named Wolf's Den castle in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series (aka Game of Thrones) that now serves as a prison. "All the days were much the same inside the Wolf's Den, and any change was usually for the worse." A Dance with Dragons, Ch 29
ACOTAR role: The name of the worst tavern in Velaris that Nesta is known to frequent.

SILVERSPRING CREEK

No plausible connection found, BUT fun fact: "Silver Springs" is a song written by Stevie Nicks, performed by Fleetwood Mac, and is so strongly ACOTAR-coded even my non-loving playlist-to-book self can't deny it. If you want more bread crumbles that SJM is a Stevie Nicks fan, "Rhiannon" and it's lyric origins have potential ties to the Rhiannon of TOG.
You could be my silver spring
Blue-green colors flashin'
I would be your only dream
Your shinin' autumn ocean crashin'
Time cas t a spell on you,
but you won't forget me
I know I could have loved you
But you would not let me
ACOTAR role: Silverspring Creek is a stream running through Feyre's human village, near where she hunted rabbits.

STRYGA'S CASTLE

No direct reference found, but due to Stryga/the Weaver resembling a female demon akin to a vampire in Slavic mythology (see the Monster section above), it is possible Stryga's former home, before she was confined to her cottage, is reminiscent of Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula and the Transylvanian Castle complete with three vampiric sister brides who entice men with their beauty and charm before proceeding to feed upon them.

The Night Sky

ARKTOS

Arktos, also written Arctus, means "bear" in Ancient Greek. Arktos was a centaur who fought against the Lapith spearmen. The Arktos Megale (aka Ursa Major, the Great Bear) is one of the original 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy who drew on earlier works by Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian astronomers.
ACOTAR role: One of the three regarded holy stars (the furthest left star) of the Illyrians and serves as part of the symbol for the Night Court. The echelon of Arktosian is reserved for Illyrians who survive the Blood Right but fail to reach Ramiel.

CARYNTH

May refer to Corinth, an ancient city that was one of the largest and most important of Greece, or Carinthia, the southernmost Austrian state in the Eastern Alps, noted for its mountains and lakes.
ACOTAR role: One of the three regarded holy stars (the middle star) of the Illyrians and serves as part of the symbol for the Night Court. The echelon of Carynthian is reserved for Illyrians who scale the summit of Ramiel during the Blood Rite and are considered elite warriors.

ORISTES

Orestes (also spelled Orestes) means "stands on a mountain" and he is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and myths concerning his madness and purification.
ACOTAR role: One of the three regarded holy stars (the furthest right star) of the Illyrians and serves as part of the symbol for the Night Court. The echelon of Oristian is reserved for Illyrians who make it to the Ramiel during the Blood Rite but don't reach the top.

Locations not listed: A slew of various more minor locations have not been listed, including the Four Market Squares of Velaris, certain cottages and houses, and even the Ironcrest Illyrian war-camp.
​
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THE CAULDRON

There are many magical cauldrons present in various mythologies, one being the Pair Dadeni in Welsh mythology, a magical cauldron able to resurrect the dead, and the coire ansic of Irish mythology, the cauldron of the chief god of the Tuatha Dé Danann, which never ran empty.

TRUTH-TELLER

Possibly inspired by Fragarach, an Irish mythological sword known as "The Whisperer" or "The Answerer." It was the sword of Nuada, the first high king; it was said that no one could tell a lie with Fragarach at their throat and that the sword inflicting wounds from which no one could recover.

THE HARP

May refer to the uaithne, the magical harp of the Dagda, the chief god of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish mythology. It could control men's emotions and change the seasons.

THE MASK

In Egyptian culture, death masks were designed to guide the spirits of those mummified into the next world.

THE UNKNOWN 4th TROVE ITEM

Seen in a vision by Nesta via Lathys, which we now know to be the Horn, and may refer to the Gjallarhorn of Norse mythology, the sound of which is said to herald the beginning of Ragnarok.

ATARAXIA

Ataraxia, in Ancient Greek philosophy, was a state of calmness untroubled by mental or emotional disquiet, ie tranquility of the mind. It was considered the ideal mental state for soldiers entering battle.
ACOTAR Role: Nesta's Made sword.

GWYDION

Gwydion is a name meaning "born of the trees" and is the given name of Gwydion fab Dôn, a magician, hero, and trickster of Welsh mythology. Caer Wydion, the castle of Gwydion, was the traditional Welsh name for the Milky Way.
ACOTAR role: The Starsword and twin to Truth-Teller.

NARBEN

No direct reference found, though narben in German means "scar."
ACOTAR role: A lost sword from the Dread Trove.

OUROBOROS MIRROR

The ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a serpent or a dragon eating its own tale, first present in ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition, the term itself deriving from Ancient Greek. It has been used frequently and extensively throughout fantasy literature. It often symbolizes the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

BOOK OF BREATHINGS

The Books of Breathing are a set of ancient Egyptian funerary texts that are intended to enable those deceased to continue their existence in the afterlife. It is a simplified form of the Book of the Dead.

VERITAS ORB

Veritas is of Latin origin meaning "truth." It is the name for the Roman virtue of truthfulness and in Roman mythology, Veritas is the Goddess of Truth. Universities and colleges such as Harvard use the term veritas as their motto.

SYMPHONIA

Symphonia is Greek in origin and was used to denote a variety of musical instruments.

AMARANTHA'S NECKLACE AND RING (JURIAN'S FINGER AND EYE)

Jurian's finger bone and eye, kept by Amarantha, are reminiscent of relics and reliquaries, often religious in nature. Relics typically consist of the physical remains or personal affects of a saint and the reliquary is the container that holds them.

FAEBANE

Possibly inspired by wolfsbane (aka aconite or monkshood), a poisonous flower ancient Greeks would poison arrows and bait with to hunt wolves. It is lethal and often fatal and is an oft-used plant and poison within the fantasy genre.
Fun fact: In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet himself was killed with an aconite-laced blade.

​
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DAEMATI

Potentially a combination of the Greek word dae (to give) and the concept of mati, labeled as "the evil eye" in Greek classical antiquity. Daemati may effectively mean "to give the evil eye."

THE WEAVER'S SONG

The Weaver's song, sung when Feyre was stealing Rhysand's ring from her cottage, is similar to "The Twa Sisters," a traditional murder ballad dating back to mid 17th century England. It tells of two sisters who travel down to a body of water where the older one pushes the younger one in. A harp or a fiddle is then made out of the murdered sister's body, which plays itself and sings about her murder.

-----------------
To revisit Part 1: Characters & Courts, click HERE

I felt myself getting a little heated in today's CASA group discussions about "trauma." For every 10 times you'll hear that word, "resilience" will come up maybe once. I think most of us are aware of how arm-chairy and buzzworthy trauma and therapy have become. It's one of the latest cultural trends that facilitate a fluidity to presumed-more-informed conversation, without the practice of developing finer lines of understanding and distinction.
On the basis of your invocation of "trauma" you can rush to provide "help" and "services" and begin blaming an incredible amount of "mental health issues" or "unresolved childhoods." It's literally the cliche of a freshman's behavior after enrolling in their first college psychology course on blast. They've already invoked unsubstantiated pseudo-science and pop-culture explicitly not psychology as tools to provide frameworks for understanding your families. When someone infers substance abuse from a story just because the accusation was levied or any kind of drug was referenced at any level, their conclusions or assumptions go unchecked. It's predictably baking a recipe for an unnecessary mess on top of whatever the family is going through.
You can feel the tension every time you speak in "checking" ways. This happens to me routinely. One of the presenters spoke to the biased and incomplete ways that foster parents or aggravated family members might speak to the nature of the case or anyone's character. I pointed out that case managers can leave out details and massage stories to fit their ends as well. That got ignored and we moved right along. It's a real concern, and you need to know how to protect your relationship with someone who might be specifically directed to undermine your effort to advocate with the evidence.
But it doesn't feel "pleasant" or "decent" when you "want to believe the best" about your colleagues. Is it less true? Absolutely not. I was literally forced into that position from predatory supervisors and watched dipshit coworkers skip along those disingenuous lines without hesitation. Anecdotes fawning over better-inclined and capable FCMs do nothing to erase that.
So I started thinking about "discomfort" broadly. Another concept that's been wholesale abused. We needed to be way too on guard for what or whether we said might be a "micro aggression" or would cause someone to feel "unsafe" or "uncomfortable." Again, our pop psychology and propensity to overstate the noisiest out-ragers, made it so critical thinking and doubt became sinful in and of themselves. Facts don't matter in that space. "Being heard" is afforded only if you're claiming victimhood, but then, only victimhood of a certain type. The own-goal that is reactionary politics when you forgo any genuine attempt at taking someone's, almost certainly mostly irrational but nonetheless real, concern seriously is the ongoing consequence we get to suffer.
I think the more you practice observing conversational patterns, word choices, and trends, you can start to see previously "abstract" things considerably more acutely. One thing I notice is a propensity for "moving right along." I don't care what the topic is, there's a "normal" pace and pater that is preferred. Violate that, and it's time to move on. Point out the failings of the people you're supposed to trust most or even ingratiate yourself to? Let's move right along into the next module, as we all know there's nothing much more to say about that.
Another pattern I notice is the "taken aback pause." It's not precisely a reaction to being "offended," but it's a stark enough detail or way of relaying information that who you're speaking with was not prepared to engage that intensely. If they're quick, it'll be a brink-of-condescending acknowledgement before moving-right-along, or if they're not quick, it'll be a placating obfuscating of what you said to "even things out."Again, these are imprecise norms of conversational behavior around the particulars of one culture at one point in time, but they're real and of consequence whether or not you can see them.
When we use the word "bias," we let ourselves off the hook on the myriad ways it manifests. We let "bias" obscure in the opposite way that we let "trauma" obscure. Trauma is abused to over-explain what should be considered a necessary series of responses or consequences. Bias is abused to overlook how deeply it colors your propensity to engage that over-explaining behavior. You are biased, first and foremost, to your subjective experience of reality. In my experience, almost no one is that clued into their own flow of experience. Even the ones that are, or are showing the most growth and evidence, struggle, and will struggle indefinitely. This includes myself.
That's the point, though. You need the struggle to keep your wits about you. You need appropriate stressors against the things that will help you grow and incorporate. By definition, norms put that insistence to the side so we can all find a baseline mutual understanding to move right along down. The more cliched you sound, if you don't have a reflex to pause and pull back, the more you're training yourself to believe and act on "just whatever it is you say." You're a circular and totalitarian monster by default.
Add to that, you may not have any real ability or willingness to recognize how many cliches you truly are under the spell of. This is what the unironic attempts around discussions of "privilege" do a generally miserable job of explaining. We all have privileges up and down hierarchies and competencies and dozens of other metrics we fluidly transition through all day. None are necessarily going to jar you awake or indicate there's anything worth examining on their own. Your cohort speaks your language. Your education taught you the "right" things. Your hobbies and interests conform to a person of your state and stature. "It's just how things are done."
This provokes people's insecurity as a standing state of a lack of readiness. When you poke people, you'll find they don't have "real" reasons for their behavior, beliefs, or words. It's all been handed to them. They're a series of unconscious forces they're more or less molding to because that's how our brains work. Your brain doesn't care what it forms a pattern around, just that it can do so. There's survival reasons for this, as well as a story of basic capacities to function regardless of the nature of the environment that's all-but certain to otherwise kill you if you can't figure it out.
I, routinely, provoke that insecurity. I've learned to show considerably less ambivalence about the person after they've been provoked, but it happens just as an ongoing and predictable course of my practice. This is my practice. I analyze. I pull back. I try to identify and speak to patterns, even if they're abstract, but certainly concrete enough for me to anticipate them and work with or around them. I know what kind of response I need built into what I can reliably anticipate is going to be yours. I know how to piss off and get ignored by "the internet," and I know how to illicit a thousand likes. What's important to me is that I'm speaking as closely to my real perspective or agenda as possible, and not being driven by an elusive brain chemical game subject to the mercy of algorithms or inarticulate desires to unhealthily fit in.
I want to fit in, but with an ever-winnowing type of person. I want to be less-wrong in the information I share, but not at the expense of someone's capacity to hear it or learn from it if I can't be bothered to temper how I say it. I want to grow in my capacity to accept people, but not at the expense of their obligation to better account for and relay their own experience. I've been told my whole life that I'm not allowed to expect the same things from other people as I might of myself. I think this is fundamentally wrong and condescending. I think I should maintain the expectation while doing everything in my power to reduce the barriers to any one person getting to whatever heights you think I've managed or been born with.
Here again, we stay lost. How do you remove barriers you can't see or might even be dispositionally against even acknowledging can exist altogether? How many "boot straps" types can even be bothered to acknowledge the impact of the villages they're living in? How many "deeply empathic" people would entertain pairing their sensibilities to the word "toxic" under any circumstance? It's pretty easy, now, for me to see when my forthright manner acts as too blunt an instrument. Can you see where your baseline disposition and sympathies cloud your judgment and capacity to act more accountably?
I feel like "accountable" itself is poorly understood. Just count! Count the disquieting contradictory thought. Count the intensity, frequency, and severity of the feelings. Count the attempts to mitigate or times you recognized forgoing to do so. Accountability doesn't mean wildly wielding an axe to bring down dramatic consequences upon everything and everyone that wasn't noticed until now. It's just asking yourself, over and over again, what can I control about this situation? What can I act on that speaks to my values and perception?
Let's take the real world example of me and Byron. I can't control his perception of what he thought he was doing in service to the kid. I can't control his awareness of any creeping mental health issues that might have arisen. I can't control whether or not he responds affirmatively to my new boundaries. I could control telling him what those boundaries were altogether, so I did. I can affirm that I'm only going to communicate along the lines that hopefully help the boundary conditions get met before I'm willing to get more colloquial or back to friendly. I can respect that he told me our friendship is "invaluable." I can't truthfully say I think we'd be using that word in a mutually understood way until I see practical, tangible effects upon my life that counteract where I feel I am as a direct result of my expression of friendship getting grossly taken advantage of.
Until then, I'll treat him like I would any client. Show me. I'll patiently-enough nod along, provide whatever perspective or reframe that I can, and remain open to demonstrated behavior changes. I don't have to throw myself back into his fire. If I'm going to claim a desire to protect and maintain genuine friendships or care for those in my life, I'm not going to treat myself with the ambivalence I see others suffer from themselves every day.
I choose that level of discomfort. I only mildly complain today, as it's gotten dramatically better, about doing things alone and never having anyone to hang out with. Byron was my go-to spot for killing time or hanging out. Not once in my free time have I said, "You know, fuck my boundary, let's hang out there!" How could I look myself in the mirror? How could I advocate for you establishing better boundaries with people in your life? How could I ignore what I would characterize as gleeful and willful defiance of doing "better" than playing out battered-wife excuse making? I will not play-act friendship with someone who can't be bothered to work as hard on themselves or in service to me as I've been for them. That's not the kind of friend I am, so it's not the one I'll let back in lightly.
What's normal, though? No matter how bad someone fucks you, forgive and pretend to forget, right? They're "family." Life's too short. It is what it is. They didn't mean to or weren't aware. That's not who they were in the past. Holding grudges is unhealthy. Your insecurities around being isolated or alone betray you. Your obligation to play along and appease your mutual network takes over. Whether any real healing or mutual understanding comes into the equation is perfectly mute because we need to just move right along and "love each other."
I watch that dance justify literally every conceivable level of atrocity. It is the exact same self-servicing motivatedly ignorant pattern. From your god's behavior right on down through your secret satisfaction and smirk at punishing your pet a little too aggressively just that one time. What you don't account for counts on you to carry out its consequences. And you are, every day, in big and small ways, and it's predictable and fixable, but only with stuff like this. You have to own it. You have to "yes, and" like it's an improv class. You have to perpetually entertain the thought that you are a misguided monster, but that fact doesn't have to dictate your behavior going forward nor need to illicit some special amount of stress or talking in circles.
Then you might have a prayer of genuinely helping anything, because you see how you're otherwise fucking it up within yourself. You can resist the insistence to move past meaningful details. You can point to specific repeatable demonstrations of your values. You can see other people responding to your confidence of relatable recognizable capacity, and not the shadow game of peacocking virtue signaling and mantra echoing.
I will spend thousands of dollars, use all my tools, and spend every waking hour I have trying to help. I think most people I've met would say the same thing. Who is actually doing so? And in service to whom? Do you trust what drives them? Do you see equitable put in get out dynamics? Or is it codepedence? Or insecurity? Or some noble story of infinite sacrifice and unconditional love?
I'm willing to set the conditions because I expect better than what's normal of and for myself. Were circumstances reversed, I wouldn't treat you as I've been treated, and most importantly, have the demonstrated behavior from myself to trust. I've spent the time and money. I've opened the conversations. I've challenged the mismanaged powers and privileges. I've risen to the challenge of creating circumstances that inch me closer to what I actually want or think is better versus what's expected of me. It never ends. Every second you pretend otherwise, you disappear, and I have to fit your abstract abdication into my specific constructs.

I have had chronic hives for 2 months now. My doctor told me to take two Allegra a day for two weeks then back to one but I missed a dose and now have wild hives… has anyone found a natural remedy that cured their hives? I can’t afford to go to the allergist (although I did go 10 years ago and found out I’m allergic to mold, cats, and birch) and my doctor said most cases of hives have no clear cause. I will try anything to stop itching! Please let me know what has worked for you!

First: https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/14vo5lb/troublemakers_deaths_pity/
*previous:* https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1cnuyl1/troublemakers_the_son_of_witch_and_warrio
......
Drake tossed the last shovelful of soil over his shoulder, looking over the massive circular bunker elevator that had been buried beneath rubble and dirt. Destrier and Caz were consulting the map for any kind of clue as to how it could be opened up. Cassius and Remin both kept an eye on Charlotte and the younger of the two was playing patty-cake with the small woman. Drake paused for a moment, looking at the display with an odd trembling in his heart. It was clear charlotte was at least a teenager, but she acted like a small child, her wide eyed wonder evident in the freely smiling face and glittering eyes as she happily patted her hands against Cassius'. His stomach roiled and he almost doubled over as he spit out a mouthful of bile that sizzled on the ground ominously. Truth be told, since he'd been thrown into that strange void he'd felt sick, the tingling, electrical power in his veins only intensifying even as he dug out the massive hundred foot in diameter elevator. Chucking the shovel to the side halfheartedly, he looked up at the tree of hung corpses as the shovel clanged against a wall several paces away. His heart began to pound angrily and the feeling of nausea and static intensified exponentially, He doubled over and vomited, a pink slurry of blood and oatmeal splattering on the ground. He fell to one knee as the edges of his vision darkened for a moment, an overwhelming weakness turning his limbs to lead. Cassius appeared at his side, a look of fearful concern on his face as he went to grab Drake by the shoulders.
Drake didn't understand where the knowledge came from, but Cassius absolutely could not touch him. Drake shoved a hand out, launching Cassius back a few feet where he landed on his back. Sitting up, Drake saw the rapidly cooling red-hot handprint on the chest of his nano-mesh Gambeson at the same time Cassius did. They shared a look of startled panic and realization before Drake slumped forward, his last thought before the void took him was one of confusion.
"What's happening to me?!"
...
Charlotte saw the man named Drake tumble forward after shoving his friend, Heat mirage rising off his prone back as the soil around him began to melt into magma. She hurried to her feet when the old man in lamellar held her back, a look of confusion and fear on his face.
"Why aren't you helping him?!"
She cried trying to push past the old man's iron strength. Her hand still smudged with soot where the man currently laying in a puddle of molten soil had reattached her finger like magic. The man looked down at her, anxiously shouting.
"Do you not see the godsdamned lava?! I don't think we can even get close!"
Charlotte stopped pushing, a feeling of stark impotency falling like a pall over her mind as the ground bubbled around Drake's still form. She didn't know much about her new world, but she knew that man was a good one, and seeing him lay lifeless and still made her skin crawl with the desire to help. But then she heard a sound that chilled her to the bone.
The dull thrum of propulsor engines reached her over the wind and she whipped around to scan the sky. She could see them against the soft brown midday sky, dark shapes that hurtled through the air like birds of prey. She could see them now in her mind, loaded to the gills with Spec ops and bio-engineered soldiers, Artillery class emitters charged to full, engines thrumming under a full combat load of rockets and bombs. Charlotte wildly looked around, spotting a mostly intact, low forge building she shouted.
"If you want to live get inside!!!!"
The woman and large black man who'd been pouring over the maps looked up confusedly as Charlotte began shoving Remin towards the building. The panic she felt made her nerves burn with the need to run, but she couldn't abandon them she couldn't just let the-
An earplitting screech came from inside her skull forcing her to her knees as she clutched the aching sides of her head, a horrifyingly familiar voice speaking to her from within her very being.
"Ooooooooh Sylva my dear?~ Did my little cuckoo lose her collar?~ Ah, no matter, would you kindly clear the landing area for the buzzards?~"
Her arms fell limp as her viewpoint shrank away, leaving her floating in the darkness as she saw her body move of its own accord. Drawing a long bayonet from the thigh scabbard on the old man's leg and driving it right between his ribs, the blade expertly slipping between lamellar plates. She wanted to scream as the old man jolted back, clutching at where the knife had slipped through his armor, falling to the ground as she rotated to face the other three. Her hair swayed in front of her face, the dark brown draining upwards, leaving it a stark silver with a purple stripe. The hum of the buzzards was only growing louder as she reached for the small of her back, clawing at the veil between her body and her as a pen-flare came into view, pointed at the sky.
She silently screamed as a purple flair rose into the sky, the cold void swallowing her like it had all those years ago.
...
Nothingness surrounded Drake, a deep, endless, colorless world devoid of meaning or substance. But he wasn't alone here, something moved within the emptiness, pure, flavorless power roiling off it like the heat of his village's forge.
And it was angry.
He could feel it as it beheld him with a sort of bestial curiosity born out of its anger. Invisible tendrils snaked into his body like hot pieces of iron, molding themselves around his bones and sinews like it was searching for something. Crawling through his veins and into his heart, making him feel as though he was burning alive. His heart seized and stopped bringing a cold stillness to his body. But he didn't die as the tendrils slowly withdrew, heart pounding back to life like a bright orange flame had been ignited in his chest. The thing's viewpoint changed, looking down on him from above as it touched the glowing sigil over his heart with that same rageful curiosity, then a tendril of power touched the scythe on his wrist with something akin to fondness. He could feel hard crystalline bands forming around his fingers as the thing rumbled with amusement, the feeling of molten iron filling his body before fading as each band slowly reached completion. Then it hurled him ass over head through a wooden door.
Death jumped out of his chair, falling hard without his prosthetics and careful not to spill the yellowish water inside the odd glassware in his slender hand. The two stared at each other with similar levels of bewilderment as Drake rubbed his face before looking at the set of ten obsidian bands that encircled the base of each finger and thumb.
"How in the fuck did you get here?"
Death asked calmly, stump-walking back to his chair and taking a long burbling pull from the glassware in his hand.
Drake clambered into one of the smoky chairs death had casually summoned.
"I... uh... I got thrown through your door by... something... I don't exactly know what. It seemed... angry at me, though."
Death looked up with a blank expression, oily smoke rising from his nostrils as he said.
"Beg pardon? what do you mean you don't exactly know what did it? wait..."
A look of concern etched itself into Death's face as he grabbed one of Drakes hands, looking at the black rings with ever widening eyes. Slowly he made eye contact with Drake, holding up the jewelry bedecked hand urgently.
"Do you even know what these are?!?!"
Drake shook his head.
"Obviously fuckin not."
Death took a deep breath, taking a long burbling hit from the piece of glassware with palpable stress as he set Drakes hand down, letting his chosen look at the rings curiously and experimentally take one off. The moment the pinky ring stopped touching his flesh Death leapt back exclaiming.
"Jesus fucking christ kid!! Put it back on! put it back on!"
Drake slipped the ring back on, he'd felt a small boost to his energy but hadn't noticed anything that would elicit such a reaction from the harvester of souls.
"Who's Jesus christ?"
Drake asked as Death took another calming breath before replying.
"Probably one of the most famous demigods known to humankind, but that isn't important..."
Death folded his hands and leaned across the desk with a twitching eyelid.
"What is important, is how you managed to acquire ten heart of the umbra crystals for rings. I can count on one hand the amount of people who have acquired exactly one of these rings."
Drake looked at the dull black crystal rings curiously.
"Do they give me extra power?"
Death shook his head, slowly revealing an arm encased in the black bands.
"Quite the opposite... They typically completely restrain your power so you don't burn up and turn into a walking, talking nuclear weapon. And they're specifically given to those who have touched the Umbra and survived, typically just experiencing the primordial soup that makes reality results in a cataclysmic leap in power... but even then... it's only ever been one ring. Three humans have owned one of these rings, Archibald Sunshine, Roxanne Richards, and Bagelious Braveheart. How the Bagel god's chosen got one I'm at a loss. But of those three, One died using the power the ring held back, The other lives inside a mechanical body locked away from her powers permanently, and Bagelius? he's... He's just unhinged."
Drake gazed at his hands, the rings glittering dully in the flickering firelight. He held them up curiously.
"So... what does it mean if I have ten?"
Death took another deep breath, letting it out in an exasperated sigh. He didn't look drake in the eye as he stared at a wall.
"I... I don't know... If I had to guess..."
Death looked at Drake with no small amount of curiosity and fear for his life.
"You didn't just survive the umbra... You fought it... and lived to tell the tale... I don't even think you're human anymore Drake..."
Drake furrowed his brow, clenching and relaxing his fist, feeling the rings click together.
"Then what am I?"
Death shook his head before simply stating.
"Something I and those before me, have never seen..."
He looked into Drakes eyes, a soft glimmer in the endless, silvery pools as he rolled his sleeve back down to hide the bands around his own arm.
"You defy every law and command of the universe, just by existing."
Drake slowly nodded before standing back up.
"That explains why conquest looked so afraid. Bitch kidnapped my soul and tried to fight me on her own turf and still lost."
"Im sorry..."
Drake glanced over at Death's coldly calm words, the primordial exploding with power as he roared.
"She did WHAT!?!?!"
Drake looked at death with wide eyes, shocked at the sudden outburst, the primordial literally steaming with rampant power as he clicked his legs on. Drake was about to step through the door and back to his body when death stopped him with a snarled.
"No, you're coming with me. I need to know what she's playing at... and what better way than to bring the one person she's actually afraid of."
...
Caz had barely taken a running step towards Charlotte, blindsided by the sudden betrayal as the small woman lifted a pen flare to the sky and launched it with a Pop! Snatching her Huntress she broke it open, cocking the striker and slamming a fresh flechette into the electrically insulated chamber. A massive shadow loomed over her and she froze in her tracks, looking up at the massive metal machine as it hovered over the ruined village, her heart pounding in her throat as dark silhouettes leapt from the sides of the propulsor driven aircraft. They landed hard on the ground, Grey, patterned armor shifting to blend in with the bombed out village as their cold visors regarded her emotionlessly. Caz drew a bead on the first one, about to fire when the cold steel of a bayonet was pressed against her throat from behind. She'd forgotten about charlotte. A soft chuckle came from within the group of organized soldiers and they parted to reveal a geknosian in similar but far more ornate armor. Golden medals bedecking every available surface including a fabric crotch flap weighed down with stamped precious metals. They pulled an ornately forged helmet from their head, a dark grin on the general's face as he looked around at the general disarray the five troublemakers found themselves in.
Cassius held a chest seal to the wet gash between Remin's ribs. The old man looking pale and shaky as he weekly held his shotgun in the general direction of the soldiers. Destrier slowly folded up the map and tucked it into the pouch at the small of his back, dark eyes gliding studiously over the Geknosian forces. Caz adjusted her crosshair onto the General and felt the bayonet press harder against her throat.
"Drop it... Bitch~"
The small woman holding the knife cooed. Caz snarled and threw her Huntress to the ground, raising her hands in surrender as the blade of the bayonet relaxed against her throat. She wanted to spare Drake a glance, but she dared not turn her head lest she slit her own throat on the keen blade of Remin's long bayonet. The Geknosian General sauntered forward, attempting to take her chin in his hand.
"ARRRGH!"
The General cried out, leaping back as a burst of cold frost froze his war gauntlet into a brick of ice. Caz's eyes lit up as she backed into Charlotte, the woman crying out in pain and jerking the blade away as a brick of frosted ice formed around her chest. The Geknosian general grabbed for the blaster pistol at his hip and she kicked him in the chest, freezing his chestplate and sending him reeling back in shock. She got a glimpse of Destrier sprinting to Remin and Cassius's side, helping Drag the old man into the low forge building as Caz dove for her Huntress. A heavy armored boot slammed into her mask, throwing her disorientingly on her side even as the boot froze over. Caz slowly got back to her feet as the soldiers bore their guns down on her, wiping the blood from her split lip through her mask, she growled, glancing back at Drake's still form, the ground around him having cooled and solidified into hard stone. Charlotte slowly joined the generals side, the frost around her chest quickly melting as she leaned in to whisper in the general's ear, eliciting a smile.
"Thank you Sylva, the information is much appreciated. A little cuckoo bird tells me that you all came here looking for the human bunker. How pitiful you don't have an access remote, like this one?"
The general held out a hand, a piece of blocky, olive drab green plastic falling into his outstretched, thawing palm. Clicking a button, nothing happened and he purred.
"But, alas we're at an impasse, for only someone of human genome may access the bunkers... oh wait~"
He held the remote out to Charlotte, Who stared at it blankly, eyes glimmering dully for a second. Then they dulled again as she looked up at Caz with an odd expression.
The remote sailed through the air and Caz instinctually caught it as Charlotte monotonely stated.
"Run, Keep it away from them."
Caz didn't need to be told twice as she turned on her heel and sprinted through a small alleyway between two buildings that leaned on each other, blaster bolts ablating the stony surfaces in puffs of loud smoke and blinding flashes. Grabbing the hook at her belt, she threw it and slung herself onto the crumbling rooftops, one of the metal buzzards turning where it hovered in the air to focus a glowing emitter on her. She leapt off the crumbling rooftop just as the powerful laser ablated the spot she'd just been standing with a blinding flash and a pressure wave that launched her much farther through the air than she intended. The last thing she saw before blacking out was a crumbling wall rushing at her as she fell face first towards it, clutching the remote to her chest.
......
Part 106: https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1cr3pct/troublemakers_adrenaline_is_a_superpower_in_itself/

I recently repotted a wild canna lily from our backyard and was wondering if there’s any tips for keeping them indoors? Is it possible? I already have a problem with mold in my house, so humidity isn’t a concern lol…
Also, any tips for keeping insects under control on the leaves/plant itself (not soil)? I’m concerned about aphids and mites but everything I’m reading online is conflicting (soapy water is safe/not safe, etc)

I need to know, and this is a throwaway for reasons that will soon be clear. I cannot risk my family or classmates finding this post, although my parents will recognize this easily.
The reason I ask is because I want to mention two situations very quickly while I have time. On Christmas, after opening presents, my dad came back home in a bad mood and called me to clean the dog, and I shouted "Yeah?" when called like ALWAYS before. He demanded "Yes, dad" and when I questioned why, he got mad and pulled me, and I shouted "Merry Christmas" sarcasticly as I found the situation hilarious in some twisted way. He then took all my devices and demanded an apology, and when I pointed out the randomness, he said he tolerated the disrespect all this time. He said just because its Jesus's birthday doesn't mean anything special, which is absolutely wild to me (This may be personal but I believe Jesus is the one taking care of me in these situations)
I spent the day sleeping, going on one device they secretly forgot to confiscate, and doing chores, and eventually my dad said I was not allowed to sleep until I apologized. I pulled an all nighter two weeks before for a school project, and considering I got 18 hours of sleep that day, I agreed. My mother forced me to apologize at like one in the morning as I was gonna get hit if I didn't, and my dad reminded me that we aren't equals and that I better listen. I was also prohibited from going bowling with my friends three days later, but at least I got my stuff back that day, although I find myself dreading Christmas this year. On the bright side, I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up until five in the morning online on that device watching YouTube and scrolling Twitter and Reddit, which is a very fond memory of mine now given the peace and quiet. But was I justified or should I have apologized?
That in combination with the events of 2023 after I turned 15 absolutely destroyed my mental health, so yesterday (May 11) I didn't want my 16th birthday to be celebrated. I never shared this reason because previous attempts failed miserably, as they are the type of people who can NEVER accept they are in the wrong, although I told my parents I didn't want anything the week before, but I was told I had to given that I was leaving soon. My parents came in at midnight singing Happy Birthday but I wasn't having it, so I asked them to leave me alone and said I didn't like the singing. Not even three minutes after I turn 16 my dad slaps the back of my head sending me to the floor, saying I made mom breakdown crying, taking all my devices and saying I was grounded indefinitely, and to immediately brush my teeth and go to sleep.
As I was going to bed, he called me a narcissist and said he has two years to fix me. I find it ironic given three days ago they admitted in an argument that they were trying to mold me according to THEIR values, and painted themselves as victims of me, my teenage brain, and outside influence like the internet and school. He demanded to be called sir (I KNOW he got that idea from Young Sheldon as he seemed to enjoy that scene like a kid watching Cocomelon, and he said in near verbatim what was said on the show) and to not speak so I don't "spew more hate," and to clean my room.
So today several 100+ day streaks on Snapchat died, and I assume they found my private messages of me venting to my best friend as privacy is a privilege and not a right, and I am lucky I am allowed to close my door, so I probably am stuck on this device again for a while, unless it is confiscated too (they will recognize me if they see this post)
I was not allowed to attend a mandatory orientation for my summer job, so unless I go on the 24th I am done. They always hold things like that and friend gatherings over my head while talking about how they are so much better than their parents. I also gotta hope nobody misses me or brings up my birthday, as now I am dreading 17 and lying when asked how my birthday was. I am also not allowed to sleep until I am granted permission each night.
I don't plan on caring much for mother's day, and if I still am for whatever reason faced with a cake as promised it will take all my self control not to yeet it off the table. I wanna know if I'm a bad person, they are, or the three of us are.
And also, when I grow up I wanna travel on my birthday and Christmas on my own to make up for lost time. If I am innocent, got any suggestions? God bless you all, and if my parents are reading, I am bound to escape one day.

I need to know, and this is a throwaway for reasons that will soon be clear. I cannot risk my family or classmates finding this post, although my parents will recognize this easily.
The reason I ask is because I want to mention two situations very quickly while I have time. On Christmas, after opening presents, my dad came back home in a bad mood and called me to clean the dog, and I shouted "Yeah?" when called like ALWAYS before. He demanded "Yes, dad" and when I questioned why, he got mad and pulled me, and I shouted "Merry Christmas" sarcasticly as I found the situation hilarious in some twisted way. He then took all my devices and demanded an apology, and when I pointed out the randomness, he said he tolerated the disrespect all this time. He said just because its Jesus's birthday doesn't mean anything special, which is absolutely wild to me (This may be personal but I believe Jesus is the one taking care of me in these situations)
I spent the day sleeping, going on one device they secretly forgot to confiscate, and doing chores, and eventually my dad said I was not allowed to sleep until I apologized. I pulled an all nighter two weeks before for a school project, and considering I got 18 hours of sleep that day, I agreed. My mother forced me to apologize at like one in the morning as I was gonna get hit if I didn't, and my dad reminded me that we aren't equals and that I better listen. I was also prohibited from going bowling with my friends three days later, but at least I got my stuff back that day, although I find myself dreading Christmas this year. On the bright side, I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up until five in the morning online on that device watching YouTube and scrolling Twitter and Reddit, which is a very fond memory of mine now given the peace and quiet. But was I justified or should I have apologized?
That in combination with the events of 2023 after I turned 15 absolutely destroyed my mental health, so yesterday (May 11) I didn't want my 16th birthday to be celebrated. I never shared this reason because previous attempts failed miserably, as they are the type of people who can NEVER accept they are in the wrong, although I told my parents I didn't want anything the week before, but I was told I had to given that I was leaving soon. My parents came in at midnight singing Happy Birthday but I wasn't having it, so I asked them to leave me alone and said I didn't like the singing. Not even three minutes after I turn 16 my dad slaps the back of my head sending me to the floor, saying I made mom breakdown crying, taking all my devices and saying I was grounded indefinitely, and to immediately brush my teeth and go to sleep.
As I was going to bed, he called me a narcissist and said he has two years to fix me. I find it ironic given three days ago they admitted in an argument that they were trying to mold me according to THEIR values, and painted themselves as victims of me, my teenage brain, and outside influence like the internet and school. He demanded to be called sir (I KNOW he got that idea from Young Sheldon as he seemed to enjoy that scene like a kid watching Cocomelon, and he said in near verbatim what was said on the show) and to not speak so I don't "spew more hate," and to clean my room.
So today several 100+ day streaks on Snapchat died, and I assume they found my private messages of me venting to my best friend as privacy is a privilege and not a right, and I am lucky I am allowed to close my door, so I probably am stuck on this device again for a while, unless it is confiscated too (they will recognize me if they see this post)
I was not allowed to attend a mandatory orientation for my summer job, so unless I go on the 24th I am done. They always hold things like that and friend gatherings over my head while talking about how they are so much better than their parents. I also gotta hope nobody misses me or brings up my birthday, as now I am dreading 17 and lying when asked how my birthday was. I am also not allowed to sleep until I am granted permission each night.
I don't plan on caring much for mother's day, and if I still am for whatever reason faced with a cake as promised it will take all my self control not to yeet it off the table. I wanna know if I'm a bad person, they are, or the three of us are.
And also, when I grow up I wanna travel on my birthday and Christmas on my own to make up for lost time. If I am innocent, got any suggestions? God bless you all, and if my parents are reading, I am bound to escape one day.

I’ve been catching up with the franchise. Played as a kid through Gen 2, then didn’t touch a new one till I started my little retrospective a couple months ago. Here are my thoughts so far (I’m halfway through Platinum btw)

• FireRed/LeafGreen are an EXCELLENT (re)intro into the series. If you’re an older fan returning to the series then FRLG are pretty damn close to what your nostalgia of Gen 1 & 2 probably is.
  
• Emerald is the best Pokemon game I’ve ever played. Took everything great about Gen 3 and made it better. Though it did start one trend I’m not fond of…though that boulder is only being nudged here.
  
• Halfway through Platinum, it’s a good game but it just ain’t clicking with me like Gen 3 did. I’m mainly playing this to see if Cynthia lives up to the hype but if I’m being real with ya’ll…if it wasn’t for her hype I’d have already cut the playthrough short and moved onto to HGSS. It’s not that bad but I can see the pacing and linearity problems starting to set in.
  

What I do genuinely love about both Kanto & Honen is that once you get past their second gyms, the world is wide open to ya. You can explore like crazy and more or less take whatever path you want. Yes, there’s an “intended path” but you can work around it if you want. If ya really wanted to you could fight Koga before Surge…you shouldn’t but ya could.
Sinnoh feels less free in that regard, mostly because of map and dungeon design. The caves don’t feel like unexplored wild lands. They’re more like guided tourist paths. It’s next to impossible to get lost in them. Also the forests don’t feel like forests but more like long hallways with shrubbery…which they always were but I guess Gen 3 was just better at hiding that fact.
All in all the immersion just isn’t the same. I got 100% into MY characters’ journeys in FireRed & Emerald but it just ain’t the same. By midgame, Aaron the Traveler (FireRed) had found his stride as an explorer, aerial specialist, and started cooking up his dream of becoming a gym leader. Nikki (Emerald) had hit a wall named Brawly that molded her into grass/fighting specialist and bonded with Flannery over their gym leader daddy issues. Quentin (platinum)…eh? I don’t know what can say about him. I guess he has a crush on Dawn and is MASSIVELY annoyed by Barry. Umm…he names his Pokemon after Tarantino movie characters (Mr Pink the Crobat, Mia the Lopunny, Calvin Candy the Garchomp, Hans the Jew Hunter Landa the Haunter, Jengo the Empoleon, and Jules the Luxray are stealing this show btw).
Hopefully you can tell how much of my own story I can tell between the lines but I feel like Platinum just hasn’t allowed me to do that. I feel much less like I’m on MY journey and more like I’m just walking towards Cynthia. I’m falling into the grey middle where the player is neither my own nor a generic pre-written character. A lot of that are the characters surrounding mine.
Dawn is a lot of nothing outside of being a cute girl. Barry isn’t my rival…he’s my sugar high little brother who won’t slow down or shut up. I won’t pretend that Elm had much character either but Prof. Oak & Birch at least had clear identities. Rowan is an old man…and nothing else. But where I’m feeling that the worst has to be the gym leaders.
Yeah I know nostalgia is part of it; but Brock, Misty, Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni are burnt into my memory. I legitimately love Brawly & Flannery. Winona and Norman are in my head because of our battles, and Juan will forever be an R Kelly creep with a bunch of beautiful young women locked in his frozen basement (which since I was playing as a girl, it made the prospect of losing to him existentially terrifying!) legitimately the only Sinnoh gym leader I can remember (and I beat the fighting one like an hour ago) is Fantina. None of the battles have been challenging (note: Calvin has just sat in the box) and Fantina is only memorable because how Hans nearly solo’d her entire gym.
Team galactic thus far has just been pretentious team rocket. They’re not threatening in anyway…though I suppose Mars has given me the best battle of the game so far. (Not a high bar btw). At least Team Rocket was charmingly inept, Magma was confidently insane, and Aqua was delightfully stupid. Sure as well wasn’t intimidated by them but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed. I suppose I’d rather be entertained by silly villains than bored by bland ones.
I guess I’ll keep playing because I need a Houndoom named Vincent Vega and some sword Pokemon has to be the Bride…and I can’t let a Garchomp go to waste (though I might be rooting for Cynthia to beat him 🤣). Though I don’t think I’d ever pickup another Sinnoh game if this is the definitive “best one”.

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/sadhusbandry and u/sadhusbandry2 posting in AITAH
Concluded as per OOP
1 update - Medium
Original - 6th February 2024
Update - 11th May 2024
​
AITAH for wanting to leave my wife because she had a "go bag"??
​
My wife and I have been together for 5 years now, we have a 2 years old and we were planning to expand our family. I decided to tidy up my wife's closet because there was a mold problem in garage and I decided to inspect the whole house. There I found a gym bag with clothes, some dry fruits, some tampons and like $1000. I asked my wife about it and her face suddenly lost its color.
At first she told me that it was just an emergency bag in case we are hit by earthquake or something. I asked her why did she hid it from me then?? After a bit of back and forth, she sheepishly confessed that its a go bag. Basically women who need to flee their abusers are told to keep a go bag with all essential supplies like money and clothes and stuff. I asked her why exactly does she ever feel the need to do this. I have never even talked to her in loud voice, we barely have arguments, why does she thinks that I am gonna become an abuser.
She said she is not saying I am an abuser, she just wanted to do it for the peace of her mind. I dont buy her excuse, I dont think she trust me. Otherwise she wouldnt have to go so far. I took some days to mull it over and I have come to conclusion that I cant be with a woman who cant trust me and who see me as a abuser.
I asked her for separation and told her that I cant be with a woman who does not trust me. I believe that trust is foundation of relationship and if she doesnt trust me then its better we part ways. Now she is making excuses that she read too many "mommy forums" and let herself influenced by them.
She showed me the forums where they discuss "go bags" and how every women should have one. I get the logic but I cant stay with a woman who does not trust me to know that she never needed to do such a thing.
I agreed to take more time to think about it but I think divorce will let her find a man she trusts not to be an abuser, because she does not trust me.
​
AITAH??
EDIT I am taking a break, will read and reply to good faith comments later
I would like to address common things here
Statistics should not be applied to individual cases. This kind of thinking lead to racial profiling of African Americans by unfair law enforcement. Statistics does not dictate individuals and I believe that every individual has the right to not be seen as a part of group and have statistics applied to them blindly
No she does not have history of abusive relationship.
"sounds like" is not carte blanche to accuse anyone of anything. "Dingo ate my Baby" woman was also convicted because she sounded like a murderer and its a shame that you guys feel so at ease of doing something so disgusting.
A relationship without trust is no relationship
​
Comments
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HarshDuality
I actively encouraged my wife to keep her own bank account when we got together. I want her to have her own money. If she wanted to keep a go bag I would proudly embrace the life goal of making sure she never needed to use it.
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joe-lefty500
OP should consider a less drastic course of action. Marriage counseling certainly. I get his reaction— loss of trust— but because there’s a small child involved, going nuclear is going too far
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mikekel58
I was with my wife for almost 10 years before she let go of all her escape plans. I never took it personally. Some women take a long time to feel safe. To me it is understandable. Women in general are more vulnerable to physical violence.
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Cloberella
Don't forget that he (who I'm 90% sure is white), tried to pull the race card by likening his situation to how racism negatively effects POCs, over and over again. Like, holy tone deaf fuck.
​
GlassHouses987
https://www.reddit.com/TooAfraidToAsk/s/WE7mubgNKC
Yall he made a different post cause he didn’t like the way this one was going.
*Editor's note - post cannot be retrieved, but the comments are equally scathing (below)
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Gullible_Elephant_38
“She’s getting advice from mom forums, why should she listen to them instead of trusting me. Anyways, let me see what Reddit has to say about this”
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findingems
“I can’t believe she thinks I’d hurt her. So I’m gonna hurt her.”
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Weary-Ad-9218
For anyone who needs context on the OPs question, he posted on AITAH and didn't like people telling him he is the AH. He came to this board to try and find people to tell him he is right. On the other board he described his wonderful marriage. He found a go bag in his wife's closet and then decided he was going to divorce her over it. When people didn't immediately jump to his defense, he became rude and cursed out other commenters. His behavior basically showed exactly why his wife needed a go bag.
​
**Judgement - YTA*\*
​
Update - 3 months later
​
I made a post 3 months ago but it was removed before I deleted my account. It has been cross-posted literally everywhere that I think you guys will have no problem finding it if you are interested.
After I made my first post, I decided to officially ask for divorce. She did not take it well. She cried and refused to eat food for two days until I filled the house with candy bars. She hasnt pulled that kind of stunt after that thankfully.
For past 3 months I have to endure her crying, begging me to change my mind. She promised to never make a "go bag" again. Honestly the previous post has been eye opening to me. People here called me an abuser when I never did anything to abusive. I read every comment posted here, on other subreddits, and it seems like people will call me abuser no matter what. Some people even made up stories to paint me in bad light.
It seems that general sentiment is that its okay to mistrust men because statistics and if he complains about it, he is potentially an abuser. Why is it wrong to want to be trusted by your own wife? If I made her get rid of her "go bag", I am as good as an abuser in all of your eyes. It seems like I will be painted as an abuser unless proven otherwise. I just dont know how to prove a negative, its not like I can wear a camera all the time.
Initially my feelings were very hurt but now I am realizing the gravity of situation I am in. I just cant risk my future on a wife who does not trust me because her mere act of making a go bag was used by people here to paint me as an abuser. They said that she must have reason to make a "go bag".
How was it my fault that she read some blogs and decided to do it. I never did anything and yet people are just gonna accuse me even if I didnt do anything. You guys dont care what the truth is so what am I even supposed to do? My only choice is to leave.
I have finally moved out yesterday and I am pushing forward with divorce. I would like things to be amicable but my wife is still hellbent on stopping the divorce so that is a pipe dream for now. I am hoping when divorce becomes real, she will accept the reality.
​
Comments
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Dipshitistan
I'm not sure basing a divorce on Reddit opinions is the best life choice.
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yaoikat
What do you mean? Reddit lets u become a lawyer after scrolling for 5 hours or getting a comment with 500 plus likes
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djseanstyles
It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong. If you personally feel like you can't be with someone any longer for any reason, and that there is no changing your mind, the best thing to do for both parties is for you to end it. But if/when you decide you made a mistake, don't expect the other party to owe you their time and attention.
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MakeUpAName93
Me and my husband spoke about the original post, I told him I had one for me and our daughter, he just asked can I help him prepare one… a few weeks later a house caught fire down in our town and those people had go bags, they grabbed them on the way out the fire so wasn’t left as destitute… there are a lot reasons why having a go bag is handy, I thought everyone had one until I spoke to my husband and read the comments in the first post!
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Cipher-IX
Men should have go bags as well. This isn't something that's exclusive to one sex.
A go bag should be viewed as an emergency bag. If you live in an area prone to acts of God (flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc), you should have one tailored to each person in the household.
Creating a go bag, for any reason, doesn't have to mean you lack trust in your partner. It's literally a bag designed to aid in an emergency. A man or woman being physically, mentally, or emotionally abused is an emergency. It is, quite literally, that simple.
Individuals and relationships are wholly unique and personal. How often do you hear stories of people's partners flipping like a switch deep into a relationship? It happens all the time, and people who have experienced this first hand should absolutely be able to have a little emergency bag.
People are complex, grey creatures. Creating an emergency bag and having inherent trust in your partner and their future self can be mutually exclusive for some, and it can't be for others. We each experience life differently.
Relationships require two votes. If a partner doesn't agree with another making a go bag, finds it violates trust, and it causes an issue, then there's a single solution:
You aren't compatible.
That's it.
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Digital_Disimpaction
Lol, blaming us for going forward with your divorce is some wild ass shit lol. If you want to divorce her just divorce her, don't blame random internet strangers for your choices.
​
I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

Penny's Pursuit week 222 featuring Fila-mint: "Adjust-mint"
Duration: from the 12th May to the 19th May 2024
Rift event: 804
Zombies at Level 1, Level 4, Level 7.
Perks: Heavy Watering, Jalapeño Popper, Score Boost, Traffic Jam, Sun Bean Zombies, Triple-Boost Tile, Boss Buster
Number of Perk lvls: 63
N.B: This PP event is a new set if levels again, but all 5 levels are reruns from previous events.
LEVEL 1: Last stand + Timed lvl in PP Playground
Lvl reference: #71
Objective: Plan your defense and survive for 2.5min
Bonus objectives: - Protect the endangered plants - Protect the endangered plants + Ash zombies 45 times - Protect the endangered plants + Ash zombies 65 times
Zombies: Ancient Rome (basic, Imp, Healer, Medusa, Zcorpion, Gladiator Garg)
General: Caesar
Restricted plants: sun producers, Power Mints, Iceberg Lettuce, Puff-shroom, Melon-pult, Stallia
Features: - Carts: 3 tiles on C5 and 5 tiles on C4 with both electric blueberry on it - 2 Electric Blueberries as endangered plants
Amount of sun: 2450/2250/2000
Roaming zombies: Roman Imp (1 to 20 at max)
Plant food zombie: none
Zombie Rate: - On Hot, Roman Imps can switch with Healer or Roman basic with a 1:1:1 ratio - On Extra-hot, Roman Imp can switch with Roman basic, Healer or Medusa with a 1:1:1:1 ratio
Note: - Easy lvl you can pick whatever you want, zombies aren't too strong and are a bit slow to come - Best perk: Triple-Boost Tile paired with Electric aoe plants such as Electric Peel or Electric Peashooter or Jalapeño Popper but be careful cause you wanna ash plants without burning them - Mid perk: Sun Bean Zombies if you wanna plant more plants through the lvl but it doesn't seem necessary or Heavy Watering if you plan on using free/low cost plants and want to reduce their recharge cooldown - Bad perks: Traffic Jam
LEVEL 2: Last Stand lvl in WW Playground
Lvl reference: #30
Objective: Survive 1 wave
Bonus objectives: - Never have more than 10 plants - Don't let the zombies trample the flowers + Never have more than 10 plants - Don't let the zombies trample the flowers + Never have more than 10 plants
Zombies: Wild West (basic, cone, bucket, Chicken Wrangler, Prospector, Pianist), Ancient Rome (basic, Centurion, Imp, Shield, Healer), Weasel Hoarder
Restricted plants: sun producers, Power Mints, Iceberg Lettuce, Puff-shroom, Melon-pult, Stallia
Starting sun: 2000/1800/1550
Starting pf: 0
Features: - Carts: 2 tiles on C1-L4/5 and on C4-L1/2; 3 tiles on C2-L1/2/3 and on C3-L3/4/5 - Flowers on C3-4 on Hot and on C4-5 on Extra-hot
Roaming zombies: Pianist, Healer
Plant food zombie: 1 random one
Zombie Rate: - On Mild: - basic have a 50% chance to switch with Imps - Coneheads have a 50% chance to switch with basic - Chicken Wranglers have a 50% chance to switch with Roman Shield - On Hot: - basic can switch with Imp and Conehead with a 1:1:1 ratio - Coneheads can switch with basic or Buckethead with a 1:1:1 ratio - Chicken Wranglers can switch with Weasel Hoarders, Roman Shield or Rodeo Garg with a 2:2:2:1 ratio - On Extra-hot: - basic can switch with Conehead or Buckethead with a 1:1:1 ratio - Coneheads can switch Buckethead or Centurion with a 1:1:1 ratio - Chicken Wranglers can switch with Weasel Hoarders or Rodeo Garg with a 5:5:1 ratio
Note: - This lvl seems easy, but if you don't take imppear or Hypno-shroom or a root plant like spikeweed, spikerock, iceweed you might get overwhelmed by Chickens and Weasels. - You should also pick instant-kill plants with a fast recharge like eon or eov or even Heath Seeker - Best perk: Jalapeño Popper or Triple-Boost Tile - Mid perk: Heavy Watering - Bad perks: Traffic Jam and Sun Bean Zombies
LEVEL 3: Classic lvl in PP Playground
Objective: Survive 4 waves
Bonus objectives: - Reach 350k - Reach 850k + Apply Sap to Zombies 75 times - Reach 1M + Apply Sap to Zombies 100 times
Zombies: Ancient Rome (basic, cone, bucket, Shield, Imp, Zcorpion, Gladiator Garg), ZCorp (basic, cone, bucket, Consultant), Turquoise Skull, Ra
Features: - Sandstorms appear regularly with various zombies (basic or Gargs) - 3 FF power tiles: C1-L3 and C6-L1/5
Plant food zombies: - 1 between waves 2 and 3 - 1 between waves 3 and 4
Zombie Setup: - 1 Gladiator Garg between waves 1 and 2 - 1 Garg on wave 2, and another one comes in Sandstorms - 5 Zcorpion on wave 3 - 3 Gargs between waves 3 and 4 - 2 Gargs on wave 4
Note: - This lvl seems hard but if you take Spear-mint and sbr along Sap Fling, it's quite easy. If you want to get max points, use pf on sbr or bring imppear. - They wrongfully selected available perks: 'Score Boost' perk is not available but you've got a score objective which is dumb cause it's the only lvl where this perk is usable.
LEVEL 4: Timed lvl with Conveyor in DA Playground
Lvl reference: #74
Objective: Survive for 3min
Bonus objectives: - Destroy 1 Caesar - Destroy 1 Caesar + Chill Zombies 50 times - Destroy 1 Caesar + Chill Zombies 60 times
Zombies: Ancient Rome (basic, cone, bucket, Centurion, Shield, Imp, Healer, Gladiator Garg), Dark Ages (King, Knight, Garg)
General: Caesar
Features: Tombstones, normal ones and with pf
Plants: 10 Citron, 12-15 Red Stinger, 2-3 Ghost Pepper, 1 Hurrikale
Plant food zombie: a few ones
Note: - Hard lvl both to succeed and to complete bonus objectives on Hot and Extra-hot. It's almost impossible to destroy 1 Caesar on Hot and Extra-hot if you don't have high mastery lvl Citron and Red Stinger. - Also how could you chill 50 zombies with only 1 Hurrikale coming every 25s - Best perk: Boss Buster or Triple-Boost Tile. Both perks can help you destroy Caesar as well as destroy zombies - Mid perk: Jalapeño Popper, quite useful to deal with Caesar or strong zombies such as Gargs or Centurions but you might wanna hold it off cause you'd want to chill those zombies first - Useless perks: Traffic Jam and Score Boost. The first one is useless as always while the Score Boost perk isn't effective in this lvl cause there's no score objective.
LEVEL 5: Conveyor lvl in MD Playground
Lvl reference: #171
Objective: Survive 2 waves
Bonus objectives: - Fill a horizontal row with plants (9) - Fill a horizontal row with plants (9) + Don't let the zombies trample the flowers - Fill a horizontal row with plants (9) + Don't let the zombies trample the flowers
Zombies: Wild West (basic, Conehead, Buckethead, Carthead, Bull Rider), Far Future (Bug Bot Imp, Robo Cone, Disco-tron 3000), ZCorp (basic, Conehead, Buckethead), Octo zombie
Plants given: 2 Melon-pults, 2 Wallnuts, as many Pea Pods, 1 Appease-mint + 1 Arma-mint every 35s after wave 1, 2 Hurrikales
Features: - Carts: 5 tiles on C1 & C7; 4 tiles on C4-L2/3/4/5; 3 tiles: C2-L2/3/4, C3-L3/4/5, C5-L1/2/3; 2 tiles on C6-L1/2 & C6-L4/5 - MD Graves on the free tiles - Flowers on C3/4 on Hot, on C5/6 on Extra-Hot
Plant food zombies: - 1 basic in Group A - 1 Carthead in Group D - 1 Buckethead in Group E - 1 Bull Rider in Group F just after wave 1 - 1 Octo zombie in Group H - 1 Octo zombie in Group K just before wave 2
Zombie Setup: - 1 Conehead - Group A: 3 basic - Group B: 3 basic, 1 Conehead, 1 Bug Bot Imp - Group C: 2 Bucketheads, 1 Conehead, 1 basic - Group D: 1 Robo Cone, 1 Carthead, 1 Conehead, 1 basic - Group E: 1 Robo Cone, 1 Buckethead, 2 Coneheads, 1 basic - Wave 1: 3 Robo Cones, 1 Disco-tron 3000, 3 Coneheads, 5 basic, 1 Buckethead, 1 Bug Bot Imp - Group F: 2 Robo Cones, 1 Bull Rider, 2 basic, 1 Conehead - Group G: 4 Bucketheads, 2 Coneheads, 1 basic, 1 Bull Rider, 1 Bug Bot Imp - Group H: 2 Coneheads, 1 Buckethead, 1 Robo Cone, 1 Octo zombie - Group I: 5 Bucketheads, 1 Conehead, 1 basic, 1 Bull Rider - Group J: 2 Robo Cone, 3 Coneheads, 1 Bug Bot Imp, 1 Bull Rider - Group K: 4 Robo Cones, 1 Octo zombie, 3 Coneheads, 1 Bug Bot Imp - Last wave: 6 Robo Cones, 1 Disco-tron 3000, 6 Bucketheads, 5 Coneheads, 5 Bug Bot Imps, 2 basic
Note: - quite hard lvl both to defeat all zombies and pass bonus objectives - Tips: Plant Melon-pults on the 5-tile Carts, Pea Pods on 3 and 4-tile ones, the 2 Wallnuts on the 2-tile carts. - Best perk: Triple-Boost Tile or Jalapeño Popper. Both perks are great but due to the lack of plants with a strong pf action you better use the Jalapeño Popper perk to defeat zombies easily. - Bad perk: Traffic Jam - The "Fill row" objective is very easy to perform while the other one is quite hard and needs some micro-management when planting Pea Pods and moving Wallnuts. I chose the Jalapeño Popper perk to succeed both objectives, use your Hurrikales as soon as needed, they recycle pretty fast.
ZOMBOSS LEVEL: Zombot Aerostatic Gondola [Setup 3]
Locked plant: Fila-mint
Rewards: 10 seeds, 15 seeds, 20 seeds for Fila-mint 5-7 gems per attempt
Zomboss Health: 5, 6, 7
Plant slots: 7, 6, 5
Amount of sun: 2050, 1850, 1875
Zombies: Lost City (Bugs, relic hunter), ZCorp (basic, cone, bucket, Consultant, Headoffice Impgarg)
Plant food zombies: a few ones (5 or 6)
Features: - 5 Gold tiles forming a plus on C5-L3 - Dave's mold colonies on C7-8-9 except C9-L2/3/4 being replaced with flames tiles.
Some strats: - the usual Pea Vine, Torch and any other plants, would suggest Appease-mint - the old strat for this Zomboss: Pokra, Pumpkin, Spear-mint and Reinforce-mint. But I'll admit, it's not as useful as before, was able to get to the bonus phase at 1:30 on Extra-hot. Can replace reinforce-mint by blover. - best strat: hbl, TG and Enforce-mint. Bring whatever plant you like, it works (except summoners Cf. Note). This strat can work whether you got TG or not. But if you have TG and not hbl, it can works but not always, did not try it. - TG, Wasabi Whip, Pyre Vine and Enforce-mint. - BB, Pea Vine, appease-mint, any other plant. - Sbr, Pea Vine, Dandelion and Appease-mint. Sbr to stop Zcorpion. - BB, Pea Vine, Appease-mint, any other plant. - Sbr, 3P, Pea Vine and hbl. - Pokra, sbr, Laser Bean, - WW, Snap Pea, Enforce-mint, TG - Ice-shroom, Wintermint, Power Vine, Solar Sage - Electric Peashooter, Power Vine, Lightning Reed, Fila-mint, Shine Vine
Note: - Plants summoners aren't great in this Zomboss lvl: Zoybean Pod and Turkey-pult especially, cause once Zomboss jumps to another location, your Zomboids or Turkeys will continue their path to the end of the board and will trigger Flame traps burning all your plants on that lane. - Blover can be a really great asset for early players or just if you have no idea of which plant to choose.
P.S: - very interesting event with many issues encounters but with great rewards for everyone - Best lvl to farm perks: lvl 1 or lvl 2 - Best lvl to farm ZPS: lvl 2 or lvl 3 - Lvl to avoid: lvl 5 - Check previous and upcoming PP events, lvl and potw, as well as Arena Tournament infos: - Come join our PvZ 2 Discord server: - I'll see you next week for PP week 223 featuring a reinforce plant, able to heal the plant on the right once it suffered damage: >!Aloe!<

I need to know, and this is a throwaway for reasons that will soon be clear. I cannot risk my family or classmates finding this post
The reason I ask is because I want to mention two situations very quickly while I have time. On Christmas, after opening presents, my dad came back home in a bad mood and called me to clean the dog, and I shouted "Yeah?" when called like ALWAYS before. He demanded "Yes, dad" and when I questioned why, he got mad and pulled me, and I shouted "Merry Christmas" sarcasticly as I found the situation hilarious in some twisted way. He then took all my devices and demanded an apology, and when I pointed out the randomness, he said he tolerated the disrespect all this time. He said just because its Jesus's birthday doesn't mean anything special, which is absolutely wild to me (This may be personal but I believe Jesus is the one taking care of me in these situations)
I spent the day sleeping, going on one device they secretly forgot to confiscate, and doing chores, and eventually my dad said I was not allowed to sleep until I apologized. I pulled an all nighter two weeks before for a school project, and considering I got 18 hours of sleep that day, I agreed. My mother forced me to apologize at like one in the morning as I was gonna get hit if I didn't, and my dad reminded me that we aren't equals and that I better listen. I was also prohibited from going bowling with my friends three days later, but at least I got my stuff back that day, although I find myself dreading Christmas this year. On the bright side, I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up until five in the morning online on that device watching YouTube and scrolling Twitter and Reddit, which is a very fond memory of mine now given the peace and quiet. But was I justified or should I have apologized?
That in combination with the events of 2023 after I turned 15 absolutely destroyed my mental health, so yesterday (May 11) I didn't want my 16th birthday to be celebrated. I never shared this reason because previous attempts failed miserably, as they are the type of people who can NEVER accept they are in the wrong, although I told my parents I didn't want anything the week before, but I was told I had to given that I was leaving soon. My parents came in at midnight singing Happy Birthday but I wasn't having it, so I asked them to leave me alone and said I didn't like the singing. Not even three minutes after I turn 16 my dad slaps the back of my head sending me to the floor, saying I made mom breakdown crying, taking all my devices and saying I was grounded indefinitely, and to immediately brush my teeth and go to sleep.
As I was going to bed, he called me a narcissist and said he has two years to fix me. I find it ironic given three days ago they admitted in an argument that they were trying to mold me according to THEIR values, and painted themselves as victims of me, my teenage brain, and outside influence like the internet and school. He demanded to be called sir (I KNOW he got that idea from Young Sheldon as he seemed to enjoy that scene like a kid watching Cocomelon, and he said in near verbatim what was said on the show) and to not speak so I don't "spew more hate," and to clean my room.
So today several 100+ day streaks on Snapchat died, and I assume they found my private messages of me venting to my best friend as privacy is a privilege and not a right, and I am lucky I am allowed to close my door, so I probably am stuck on this device again for a while, unless it is confiscated too (they will recognize me if they see this post)
I was not allowed to attend a mandatory orientation for my summer job, so unless I go on the 24th I am done. They always hold things like that and friend gatherings over my head while talking about how they are so much better than their parents. I also gotta hope nobody misses me or brings up my birthday, as now I am dreading 17 and lying when asked how my birthday was. I am also not allowed to sleep until I am granted permission each night.
I don't plan on caring much for mother's day, and if I still am for whatever reason faced with a cake as promised it will take all my self control not to yeet it off the table. I wanna know if I'm a bad person, they are, or the three of us are.
And also, when I grow up I wanna travel on my birthday and Christmas on my own to make up for lost time. If I am innocent, got any suggestions? God bless you all, and if my parents are reading, I am bound to escape one day.

A bit early since I won't easily be able to post it tomorrow.
Note: Practice is available one day early (Sunday. The new tournament starts tomorrow on Monday). Enter the Arena leaderboard first so that the game "knows" your current league, then enter Practice. If you don’t do this the zombies will be much weaker (Soil level probably) compared to real Arena for your league and your strategy will not work as well as you think it will.

Special streak rewards: #5 Fila-mint family piñata.
Fila-mint family (11+1 plants): Lightning Reed, Citron, E.M. Peach, Magnifying Grass, Electric Blueberry, Electric Currant, Electric Peashooter, Electrici-tea, Ultomato, Power-vine, Bzzz Button, Electric Peel
Note: Fila-mint “seeds” are also included in the piñata. Fila-mint still needs to be unlocked for 100 mints no matter how many seeds you collect for it.
Note: Electric Peel in not included in the piñata.

Locked plant: Electric Peel – New Wiki Page, Old Wiki Page
Sun: 2000 at the start. Note: Sun drops will be a little faster than normal. On top of that, 450 sun will drop with every second Zombie Wave. A sun producer is probably not necessary.
Plant Food: 3 at the start. Note: No more will drop during the match.
Time: 3:00.

Buffz: Reinforce-mint (+100%), Spear-mint (+100%), Fila-mint (+100%)
Bruisez: None
Ineffective: None

Banned: Thyme Warp
Zombies: Wild West (Cowboy, Conehead, Buckethead, Cart Head, Prospector, Chicken Wrangler, Poncho, Piano, Bull, Gargantuar)

Starting Lawn:
Dave’s mold colonies filling C7-9
Five Blue Power Tiles on C2 R1-5

Zombot War Wagon
Summons Wild West Zombies, fires missiles, charges forward destroying plants and zombies on 2 lanes.
How to counter Zombot charge by
There is a health bar with a base score and a number in a circle in the lower right corner. The number in the circle is the level of your Zombot. Level 1 = 10,000 score, Level 2 = 20,000, etc. It's kind of two numbers for the same thing.
You get the score when you deplete the health bar. In Jade you get 5x the base score shown in the health bar. I’m not sure if the actual Zombot health increases per level, or stays flat.
Don't think about losing your plants (there are penalties in Arena matches, read Battlez/Arena FAQ, link below). Most scores come from Zombot and its level is not influenced by penalties. Also, if you do a lot of damage then Zombot gets interrupted before doing anything and you can avoid all the extra summoned zombies.

Possible BOT Layouts:
[Electric Peel, Citron, Dartichoke, Explode-o-nut, Electric Peashooter, Sunflower],
[Electric Peel, Fila-mint, Power Lily, Lightning Reed, Heath Seeker, Solar Sage],
[Electric Peel, Power-vine, Reinforce-mint, Endurian, Chard Guard, Gold Bloom]

Minimum info about your strategy: league, plant levels/mastery and score. Or you can post screenshot with the score. Otherwise it's hard to understand whether your strategy will work for other players with different plant levels/mastery and in different leagues.
Useful links: Battlez/Arena FAQ, Mastery and Buffz&Bruisez explained, Costume watch, PvZ2 level creator, PvZ2 Discord, Info on possible future rewards by : piñata party, special/premium piñata, Arena/Penny, etc. - link.
This is (almost) a copy of the Gumnut Zomboss tournament which ran in May, 2020.
The few differences are:

1. The starting sun was 1850 in the Gumnut tourney. It’s 2000 now.
2. This tourney adds a dynamic difficulty module that swaps out zombies for more/stronger zombies as you go up in Zombie Difficulty Level (See the Arena FAQ for a description of ZDL).
3. In the zombie wave manager, there’s a “WaveSpendingPointIncrement” parameter that’s set to 75 in this tourney. It was set to 200 in the Gumnut tourney.
4. Also in the zombie wave manager, there’s a “WaveSpendingPoints” parameter that’s set to 0 in this tourney. It was set to 100 in the Gumnut tourney.

I don’t know exactly how these last two changes will affect the tourney.
Here’s u/Tigerol’s post from the original tourney. In that post you can find strategies that people used then. They should still be valid in this tourney despite the differences. Just keep in mind that it ran before some of the newer OP seediums (e.g. Pea-vine, Stickybomb Rice) were introduced to the game.

While he’s unfortunately retired from doing PvZ2 videos, here are some strategy videos from the Gumnut tourney by kGame on YouTube. They should still be valid (with the same caveat about it being run prior to the introduction of many of the new meta plants):
Level 3 Free Plants (11M): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6oaKvX1Bsc
Mid Level Free Plants #1 (13.6M): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrMGETvRTl8
Mid Level Free Plants #2 (17.3M): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mnylir_UKw
Mid Level Plants (including Power Lily) (20.3M): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPgd9VH3y_I

Good luck with your attempts!

I am 110% Fiona to the point I feel like the producers have stalked my life and I've never met more of a real life Fiona or real life Shameless family in my life (at least not yet!)
I had to take care of my seven younger siblings (I was the oldest of 8) from the time I was six years old. My mom was severely bipolar and dad was extremely physically abusive (for example throwing us down stairways, kicking pregnant mom in the stomach, giving us black eyes and broken bones, punching and kicking us with full force on a daily basis for little to no reason etc) and then abandoned the family a few years ago.
Our family dynamics were so complex there's no way I could explain it all here in a few paragraphs, but Shameless is the only show I've EVER seen in my life that even remotely relates to the amount of chaos my family went through/still goes through on a daily basis.
I missed out on so much because I decided to put everyone before myself. It caused a lot of resentment, and younger siblings started to take advantage of me. And then started disrespecting the fck out of me and expecting things and acting totally entitled to my time, money, energy, etc, while I was completely suffering and no one noticed or cared. It got so bad I ended up forming a serious opiate pill addiction to cope with everything.
I had siblings who were terminally ill and literally laying on the floor dying, addicted to hard drugs, became prostitutes, drug dealers, gang members, etc. And I did EVERYTHING in my power to help/stop them. I took care of my sick mom and my schizophrenic/hallucinating brother and anorexic little sister who had heart failure. I spent every single penny to my name to try to get them treatments that could possibly save their lives. I worked 4 jobs and was in school at the same time. I sent my brother to Mexico for an alternative healing treatment which costed me 10s of thousands of dollars and I tried my best to renovate a new room for him to return to...
They all ended up dying anyway, just last year, literally one after another - My mom, then 3 months later, my sister, then 3 months later, my brother. I didn't leave any of their sides until they were dead...Despite the insanity, we were all so close I knew for sure once my mom died that some of us would go with her and unfortunately, I was right...
Whenever anything goes wrong, people find ways to blame me or put me in the middle of it even though I've been the one there for them the entire time doing everything in my power to prevent these things from happening to begin with.
My youngest sister (Debbie to a T) went absolutely insane OVERNIGHT (it seemed) and purposely got pregnant at 19 with a random homeless pimp/drug dealer she met on the street and even after I offered her an amazing life in a great house, she chose to cut off the entire family and just disappear after making dozens of death threats to all of us and doing thousands of dollars of damage to all of our cars, houses, property, sentimental items, etc etc. She slandered all of our names publicly and tried to have us arrested and killed multiple times.
She's been in and out of jail and mental hospitals, and I have no idea where she is now but she claimed to have killed several people by shooting them in gang violence situations and by drugging them. She became totally evil, and I'm still terrified for my life and hope she never comes back. I purchased 7 security cameras for my new house and car.
Our original family home was SO bad off, but we lived in it FOREVER, literally until last year when it finally had to be demolished due to code enforcement kicking us out.
It was filled with black mold, rats, roaches, holes in the floors, walls, ceilings, broken windows, glass all over the floor, hoarded piles of trash, people sleeping on the floor all cramped, raccoons, random cats, possums and all kinds of wild animals would just run in and out of the house due to some areas having no walls and how big the holes were. NOTHING in the house worked properly. Sometimes, I'd have to sneak into a random gym or hotel to take showers, use a working toilet, etc.
We had nowhere to live after that, so we all stayed in a hotel where there were shootings, drug deals, and pimps fighting in the parking lot daily.
Then, finally, last year, I saved up and got us a really nice big rental place, and all my remaining younger brothers and 1 sister live with me, and I'm still parenting them...
We've been discussing how I need to step back and take a break and live my own life, so I had them agree to all pay equal rent in order to move in and to help pay bills and get groceries etc.
Things are very slowly improving in some ways, but the "parenting" unfortunately never ends. I had to bail one of them out of jail just LAST WEEK when they got arrested OUT OF STATE...making matters way worse...
Things were so bad at our old house for the longest time, every single time I'd drive around the corner my heart would start pounding and I'd be internally praying, "PLEASE don't let there be cop cars, firetrucks, EMTs, CPS, or FBI outside, someone overdosing or dead, house on fire, etc" and any time there WASN'T one of those things going on, I'd feel a small moment of relief but still scared to see what I'd find inside each day...
I'm 34 years old now, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and another degree in art. I feel like I've never been able to fully focus on myself, I've never had anyone older to look up to, I'll never know that nurturing feeling that the rest of my siblings get to feel from me. It causes me to enter into toxic relationships with men twice my age because I guess I want to feel taken care of for once in my life and I just want to be "the younger one" for a change.....
I've always been extremely naturally athletic, but my dad banned me from sports and the gym "because I'm a girl." But I was finally able to join a combat sport 2 years ago; I'm getting pretty good at it now, beating guys twice my size. I have over 15 trophies/medals so far, and it's given me something to focus on. It's one of the only things that helps me get out of bed. My coach completely took me under his wing and I've been entering national competitions lately.
Anyway, ideally, I'd like to find the energy to get back to working on my art and get into a gallery soon. 💖🙏 I used to have pretty good success selling my art here and there but all of this stuff that happened over the past few decades just absolutely drained me to death.
I've never been to therapy in my life and at this point I just have to work on my extreme debilitating fatigue and exhaustion, PTSD, severe anxiety, insomnia, etc. And find a way to stop constantly putting everyone before myself.
Once I get past those things, I hope to be able to help more people and change the world through artwork with positive messages and using my psychology skills to help counsel others and improve their lives too. 🙏💖💖💖💖💖

White mold appeared about a month into my wild black berry wine, curious if it’s salvageable? Saw something online that says it could be flowers, but that’s a lot of flowers lol. Pls help

First / Previous
The hairs on Leon’s neck rose as the snap of power brushed against him. Before he can focus anymore on the sensation, however, he catches Erik’s sword in a bind before it lands a clean blow against him. There is a twitch in the Shade’s eyebrow that told Leon that Erik sensed the same thing, but their eyes focus almost immediately. Neither one could afford to lose concentration in a confrontation like this.
The dance continued.
Leon flicked his wrist, sending a surge of Ether into his sword. The burst of energy knocked Erik’s sword astray, but as the Black Cloak tries to exploit the created opening with a Fang in his opposite hand, it is caught by the Shade’s forearm. The attack only leaves a scratch on the surface of Erik’s skin, and before Leon can react his legs are kicked from under him from a sweep of Erik’s leg, his opponent then follows the blow with a flick of his cragged blade at the Black Cloak’s head. Leon twisted his hand, catching the blow with his sword, but the lack of leverage from his imbalanced stance becomes apparent as the attack knocks him off of his feet. His back slammed against the tree behind him, and he could do nothing as he slid against it and onto the ground. However, Erik does not pursue
The Shade instead jumped back to avoid multiple bolts of Aether launched from Ren. The projectiles struck where Erik’s feet were, and when their opponent made his temporary retreat the Cleric stepped in front of Leon. The Black Cloak stood to his feet and joined his companion at his side.
“You felt it too, right?” Ren muttered towards him.
Leon nodded.
“It wasn’t Aria as far as I could tell, but we can’t allow whatever is happening to her to continue,” Ren said.
Leon eyed Erik in the distance. The Shade’s eyes studied them as he paced back and forth, but he did not press the attack. A tension was building in the air, ready to burst at any moment.
“I’ll handle him,” the Black Cloak said.
Ren cut him an uncertain look, “Are you certain?”
“No,” Leon admitted, “but we are scarce on options,” he let his Fang dissipate and switched his stance, keeping one hand free while he held his sword in a neutral guard, “when I give the signal, unleash as much as you can then run.”
The Cleric nodded, but said nothing.
Leon leaned in, closing his mind to all else but his opponent. He would not best the Shade with power alone, that much was clear. He hoped technique would make up the difference.
Erik struck first.
The Shade kicked off the ground, the Ether running through him granting him a speed that Leon could barely follow with his eyes. Ren was quicker to react, unleashing a large wave of golden light as he thrust his staff in front of him. Leon followed the surge of power close behind.
“Go!” he yelled, hoping that his companion was already on his way towards the others.
Erik crossed his arms as the wave of energy struck him, but the force behind it knocked the Shade off of his feet. Leon focused his Ether at his legs, feeling his heart drum against his chest as he let the energy burst when he kicked the ground. The earth cracked beneath his feet, and the Black Cloak leapt to Erik’s side. The Shade was unable to get his feet under him before Leon struck, but intercepted the attack with his arm. The Black Cloak’s blade bit into his arm, leaving only a shallow cut before Leon leaned into the attack, slamming Erik into the ground. Before the Shade could recover, a Fang of golden light appeared above Leon’s head and flung itself towards Erik like an arrow.
He twisted his body to avoid a direct hit, but hissed as the Fang left a glancing blow at his side. Leon pressed the assault, his sword swinging down in a relentless tide of steel that Erik could only manage to barely deflect with his cragged blade. Between each attack, a Fang slipped through Erik’s defenses just enough to leave another cut across his skin. Blood trickled down from each wound, spotting the Shade’s clothes in a deep red, and Leon could now see Erik’s eyes starting to widen; he searched for an opening to the onslaught.
One Leon never intended to give.
Finding his rhythm, the Black Cloak produced another Fang in his free hand and sped the assault. The Core at his center grew hotter with each new Fang that Leon produced, a fire that was spreading slowly across the entirety of his body. He grit his teeth and pressed the attack, raining his blows against Erik’s blade as the Shade kept avoiding any debilitating blows. Growling, Leon forced Ether into his sword and hit the Shade’s stone blade at its side. It landed with a burst of golden light, knocking the cragged sword to the side. Leon thrusted with the Fang in his opposite hand, aiming towards the Shade’s chest, but before the attack landed Erik slammed his foot against the Black Cloak’s chest.
A burst of energy escaped from Erik’s foot as his heel dug into Leon’s breastplate, giving nothing away aside from the air bursting around the blow itself. The Black Cloak was kicked into the air, but before he was knocked away he drove the Fang into Erik’s thigh. The Shade roared in pain as the sword of gilded energy pierced through the leg and out the otherside, but still managed to kick Leon back enough to be able to get to his feet. The Fang faded from Erik’s thigh, but he moved with a clear limp as he tried to create more distance between him and Leon. His cuts already started to heal, but there was a sluggishness to his movements now.
Leon leapt back into the fray, feeling as if pins were stabbing him all over as he drew upon his Core once more. He pushed the feeling to the back of his mind as Erik caught his blade in a bind with his own. The Black Cloak pushed the exchange down and cleaved into the Shade’s exposed arm with a Fang from his opposite hand. Erik roared as it cut deep into his skin, forcing the locked weapons back up. As he felt his blade rise, Leon maintained the bind until the swords reached the level of his chest, allowing the Shade to generate the momentum of the movement. Before Erik could take advantage of this, however, Leon shifted his arm and manipulated the bind upwards, exposing the Shade’s chest. The Black Cloak’s Fang struck again, giving Erik a gash across his chest. His opponent tried to break the engagement, but his movements were still hindered by the still healing wound on his thigh, and Leon fell into another rhythm as he pressed the assault.
His sword served as his guard, catching Erik’s swings before they could reach their apex and creating openings that he could strike at with his Fang. While the Shade was able to block most strikes with his arm, it was becoming increasingly clear that his Ether was starting to run thin. Leon’s attacks would cut deeper with each strike, forcing Erik to eventually switch to avoiding them entirely, which pressed him on the back foot. The fire that seared through Leon was dulled by the rush of battle, but even then he could tell that his limits had been reached and long surpassed. Still, he pressed on.
The Black Cloak pressued Erik back into a tree, keeping his strikes constant to force the Shade to keep his guard up. Any attempts to slow down Leon were met with failure as he started to once again slip Fangs between each strike. The Fang he grasped felt like lead, and his sword even heavier with that, but each new cut across Erik’s body only spurred him to carry on. The Shade attempted to kick Leon away, but the Black Cloak countered by slamming his elbow into his opponent’s shin, knocking the leg back down. The battle high kept darkness from encroaching upon his vision, but he could feel the Fang in his hand start to grow unstable.
His Ether was nearly spent.
Erik moved to resume his guard, the cracks across his cragged sword clear to see. Gritting his teeth, Leon brought the Fang back and forced the last of his Ether into it, setting its flickering form ablaze with golden light. He struck the rocky sword and let the blade of the Fang burst, shattering Leon’s weapon. It's shrapnel bounced off of the Black Cloak’s armor, but scratched across Erik’s skin as he tried to cover himself with his arms. Leon slipped a fist between his opponent’s defenses, striking him in the jaw and sending him stumbling to the side. In his battle driven rush the Black Cloak felt the impulse to drive the sword into Erik’s side, but he stopped himself. Instead, he dropped the blade and grasped the sealing cuffs attached to his waist.
Before the Shade could recover, Leon grabbed his wrist and clasped one of the cuffs around it. The effect is felt instantly as Erik falls to one knee, the Ether that sustained him withered to embers. The Shade swung his fist at Leon in a desperate attempt to repel him, but his hand was instead caught by the Black Cloak as he clasped the second cuff around his wrist. His abilities fully sealed, Erik fell to the ground.
Leon loomed over his defeated opponent, chest heaving as he took breaths that refused to fill his lungs. Though the Shade was mired in countless cuts, the constant rush of Ether that Erik maintained throughout the fight reduced their damage to surface level only. Such use of power most likely contributed to Leon’s opponent burning through it so quickly. Had the Shade been properly equipped, the outcome of the battle would have been far different.
Erik looked up at him, eyes still resolute even in defeat, “Mercy? From a hound?”
“We have questions,” Leon responded, “And you’re going to give us answers.”
He struck the Shade across his jaw, and Erik fell limp against the forest floor. Leon knelt down next to his opponent and pulled a small length of rope from his waist before binding Erik’s legs with it. The moment that he tightened the knot, his fatigue struck all at once.
The Black Cloak fell back, feeling the trembles that started from his fingers and toes, trailing up his limbs until the entirety of his body started to shake. He tried to move in such a state, but his legs refused to obey. The twitch in his fingers told him that he retained some measure of mobility, but it took all of his will to lift them and pull back his hood. As his helmet faded, the cold air stabbed at his exposed, sweat covered skin like daggers. He grew confused as the chill felt more like a steady burn, but could only attribute that to the stress that he’d subjected his body to during the battle. He’d held so many advantages in that exchange, and still he was reduced to his. He was weak.
Just as he’d always been.
A memory of Astraeus flashes into his mind. His brother stood strong, stance immaculate as he readied himself against an unknown opponent. Rather than push the image away, Leon embraced it and closed his eyes. He calmed his breathing, and after a few moments could feel some feeling in his legs start to return. All of him still shook, but he regained just enough strength to push himself to his feet. With a final deep breath, he pulled his hood back over his head.
The fight was not over.
___
Leaf could only watch as the storm unfolded in front of him. Jahora stood firm, the light the newly formed Aetheric ring around her head flaring with a brilliant white light as the Mage forms a glyph of red energy in her hands. Cora, who still maintained a hold on his restraints, raised the arm of hers that was not clasped by a sealing cuff, forming a barrier of rock and energy in front of her. It proved to be a futile gesture, for as Jahora’s fireball struck the shield it shattered, the force of the explosion knocking Cora back into a tree.
The rocks that dug into Leaf’s skin fell as the Shade hit the ground. With his restraints gone, the archer caught himself on his feet and picked up his shortsword. He moved to aid Jahora, but as he took a step a wave of fatigue struck him, forcing him to his knee. His Ether was already nearly spent by the time the others arrived, and it was only through sheer stubbornness that he’d been able to force anymore out of his Core during the fight and in trying to break the crushing hold of Cora’s restraints. Now though, he could feel knives stabbing at him across his body, a backlash of pushing himself too far.
Yet he knew it wasn’t far enough.
Jahora readied another spell, the glyph in her hands a pale blue as Aether surged around her. Cora pushed herself to her feet, the manic look in her eyes only growing as she glared at the Mage.
“You will not take her from me…” the Shade muttered. Even with her abilities partially sealed, the ground at her heels started to crack as yellow Aether hummed around her feet.
Jahora said nothing and gathered more power into her spell.
“You will not take her!”
Cora slammed her heel into the forest floor, sending a wave of earthen spikes towards Jahora. The Mage remained steady as she unleashed her spell, countering the tide of earth with a surge of ice. The spells collide, kicking up a cloud of frost and dirt as they shattered against each other. Jahora pulled her hand back as the ice faded, her fingers blazing with red Aether as she pulled the little heat that was in the air into her fingers, molding it into a glyph at the back of her palm. Another symbol formed in her free hand at the same time, this one made of a deeper blue energy.
Before the dust settled, a series of yellow flashes burst through. Jahora lifted the blue glyph in front of her, projecting a barrier that deflected the rocks that crashed against her. The form of Cora started to become more visible, but she’d long revealed her position from the wild screams she let out with every new spell. There was a desperation to the Shade’s voice, one that Leaf could not understand.
One that Jahora did not care to listen to.
The Mage pressed forward, maintaining her barrier as she twisted its position with small flicks of her wrist. Between each projectile blocked, she swept the hand holding the red glyph forward, generating small bolts of fire that struck the bits of earth that Cora raised in a desperate defense, slowly reducing it to dust as the Shade was too manic to move. Jahora continued her steady advance, but Leaf could see the tremble that took hold over her hands. Though the boons of the Third Circle appeared to have granted her spells increased control and power, it did nothing to resolve the fact that the Mage had spent all her strength and more in the battle prior.
Leaf grit his teeth and pushed himself to his feet. Each step he took felt as if he were carrying a mountain as his back, but he continued to press on. He looked towards the side, seeing that Elly had started to stir, but was in no shape to assist. His eyes fell to Helbram, not knowing if it was instinct or consciousness that made the man dig his fingers into the ground, clawing himself slowly towards Cora. Finally, his gaze drifted to Aria, who remained suspended in the air, the woman of ice’s fingers digging deeper into the seal at her back. Ren was now at the girl’s side, the Cleric shimmering with golden energy as he fed the light into the seal. There was a newfound sheen trailing down Aria’s cheeks.
Tears that had frozen against her skin.
Leaf growled and slammed his fist into his leg. The dull rush of pain pulsed through them, but they did not become any easier to move. Jahora continued to advance upon Cora, but though the Shade was steadily losing ground the Mage’s own steps had started to slow. The archer struck his legs repeatedly, practically throwing his feet in front of him as he forced himself into a charge. Pain filled every one of his senses as a rush overtook him, and everything turned into a blur as he continued to run towards the battling spellcasters.
Cora flung another stone at Jahora, who deflected it and countered with a bolt of fire. The spell struck the Shade in her chest, slamming her back into the tree, but as she fell Cora drove her hand into the cracked earth. A pulse of yellow Aether surged through the fractured ground, trailing towards Jahora. The Mage dropped her spells and started to gather yellow Aether of her own into her hands, but before a spell could form the energy sputtered and she fell to a knee. Cora’s spell condensed at Jahora’s feet.
And Leaf rammed into the Mage in desperation.
His companion is knocked to the side as they collide, the archer taking her place in her stead. As Cora’s spell completed, the ground under him exploded, knocking him into the air as he felt the weight of a sledgehammer strike into his side. His strength left him as he struck the ground, barely able to keep a hold on his consciousness. He saw Jahora looking towards him, but before the Mage could show any concern he summoned all he had to yell.
“Go!”
Jahora nodded and pushed herself to her feet, a glyph of green Aether forming at her back. Before Cora could ready another spell, the Mage finished the cast of her own, unleashing a burst of wind that threw her forward. Jahora crossed her arms as she struck Cora in the stomach, doubling the Shade over. Before she had to recover, the Mage took hold of the loose end of the sealing cuffs and clasped it over Cora's once free wrist.
The Shade fell to her knees right after, putting her at eye level with Jahora. She bored a hateful look into the Mage as Jahora gathered green energy into the small glyph at her hand.
“Monsters, all of you,” the Shade spat, “trying to take a daughter away from her mother.”
Jahora opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. Any anger that burned in the Mage’s eyes faded to pity as she looked upon Cora.
“Do not give me that look!” the Shade screamed, “I saw the hate in your eyes just moments before. I know what you truly wish to do.”
Jahora raised her spell towards Cora, “You are not wrong. A large part of me wishes to do nothing more than snuff out your life, but I won’t.”
She casted her spell, triggering a blast of air that knocked the Shade’s head back into the tree. Cora goes still and falls to the ground, unconscious.
“There is a child present.”
___
Leon emerged from the trees, dragging an unconscious Erik behind him. As he entered the clearing he left the Shade on the ground and continued to walk forward. Every part of him wished for him to stop, but he couldn’t, not until he knew that everything was dealt with. The distant part of the clearing was a broken mess of shattered earth and ice, and amongst the rubble he could see Helbram and his companions littered throughout.
Elly had started to push herself up, blood trailing down her face as her eyes blinked away her once unconscious state. Helbram himself appeared to still be moving, though just barely as he scraped himself along the ground. Leaf lay further amongst the rubble, leaned against a jagged piece of rock as he clutched his side. Jahora stood not too far off from him.
An unconscious Cora at her side.
Relief started to flood through him, but stopped as his gaze drifted towards Aria, towards the remaining Shade.
The frost coated every part of the girl’s exposed skin, which had grown even paler since he first saw her. Her hair was also a more stark white, and a faint, wispy blue glow bleeding from her eyes. Though she displayed no emotion on her vacant face, tears trailed down and froze against her cheeks.
Just like Astraeus had looked all those years ago.
Leon shook his head, looking towards the icy woman that hovered behind Aria. Beyond her physical beauty, there was little else that he could tell about the frozen figure, all except the fingers that pressed against the seal at Aria’s back. A crack had spread across all symbols of the gods that lined the glyph, all except for the Eye of Velendel, which was due to Ren’s current efforts.
The Cleric forced a torrent of Aether into the seal, but it showed no signs of repairing itself. It was all that his companion could do to prevent it from breaking further, and Leon knew that striking at the figure formed behind Aria would result in nothing.
It hadn’t with Astraeus.
He looked at the girl, saw the sadness that was frozen across her face, saw the same as he did all those years ago when he gazed into his brother’s eyes.
And drew his sword.
First / Previous
Author's note: Just gonna keep the commentary to a minimum until things are concluded. I was going to try and finish everything with this chapter, but there are way too many threads I want to make sure have the time they deserve, so I expanded on events here instead. More is still to come! We're not off this ride yet folks.
The arc is now officially finished on my Patreon, and I’m going to be taking a break next week to cool down. I’ll be back soon enough, till next time everyone!
If you wish to read ahead and gain access to the audiobook version of this story, consider supporting me on Patreon (https://patreon.com/criticalscribe). If you want to leave a donation, here is my Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/criticalscribe).

Lor’Vah had been sitting with Kah’Sin for a few minutes when the door-chime rang. They had just gotten back from lunch with ‘Ri, and were sitting together as they watched Teh’Lana playing a game on a datapad, while they listened to some [music](https://www.youtube.com/live/oN-IAwhSxGY?si=i_GByP5G5rOS1AJ5) from Earth that was quite soothing. It had been a few days of travel so far, as the human government didn’t want to make public knowledge of their teleportation technology just yet. And while she *did* wish to be able to walk on solid land again - the time on ‘Sanctuary’, as Kyle called it, not being quite enough time - she was happier being able to spend time with *both* of her daughters. ‘Ri had had to get back to work, so they didn’t know who this was, though only a couple people came to mind as to who could be visiting them.
Kah’Sin called out for the computer to open the comms, and they were confirmed in their first guess: it was Kyle, asking to speak with them. Considering that he’d waited *specifically* until he was sure that ‘Ri wouldn’t be there, they shared a knowing glance before Kah’Sin bid him enter. As soon as the door opened, Teh’Lana looked over, and smiled.
“Kyle!” She exclaimed excitedly; she had really taken a shine to him in the past few days, and she was pleased to see him treating her the way she might expect any big brother to.
“Hey, ‘Lana; what’cha doin?” he asked good-naturedly.
“I’m playin, *game*!”
“*Cool*,” he proclaimed, “Are you winnin’?”
“Uh’huh!” She was all smiles.
“*Alright*,” he encouraged her, “Well, I gotta talk to your Mama and Papa, okay?”
“Okay,” she replied happily; Kyle smiled, and reached down to lovingly stroke her hair as he passed, sitting down in the chair opposite them on the couch where they sat.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” she asked politely, to which Kyle shook his head.
“No, thank you,” he replied, “I’m good…” He trailed off for a moment, looking almost lost; they stayed quiet, allowing him to collect his thoughts.
“*Well*,” he began again, “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, ‘Ri and I have become pretty close…”
“We *have*,” Kah’Sin replied evenly, with a hint of humor to his voice, “And are we to presume that you’ve come to ask for our permission to ask our daughter to marry you?”
Kyle looked up with a bit more sharpness to his demeanor than what he’d shown so far.
“*No*,” he replied with slightly more force, before continuing, “I mean… Not that I don’t value your opinion, but when it comes to our relationship, I don’t believe it’s up to you to decide if she had the chance to choose for herself. Which isn’t to say that I honestly believe that she’d choose me over *y’all*, but I’m also not here for you to tell me whether I can or can’t ask her in the first place… *However*,” he continued, “What I *am* here to ask for is y’all’s *blessing*, which would mean the *wor*-,” he stopped himself with a thoughtful expression on his face, then continued, “... more than *all the worlds I currently own* to me.”
She looked at her husband, who looked at her steadily, almost emotionlessly; then he turned back to Kyle.
“*Good*,” he replied with a smile, watching Kyle deflate in relief and confusion, “Because my blessing *is* - in fact - something that I *can* give. I’ve never been too partial to those old customs: it’s not my place to give my daughter permission to be married, the same as it wasn’t *her* father’s right to tell me I couldn’t marry *his* daughter.” At this, Kah’Sin gave her a light squeeze, causing her to slap him playfully on the shoulder; her father hadn’t approved of their union, but she hadn’t cared about that, and had run away with Kah’Sin to elope.
“So long as you can make my daughter happy,” he continued, “Then I can get behind your union… *Now*,” he clapped his hands together, rubbing them excitedly, “I’m guessing that if you’ve come *this* far, that you’ve already gotten the tiara?”
Smiling almost conspiratorially, Kyle held his hands together, palms up - as they had seen *numerous* times by this point - and a small, flat, black box appeared in his hands. Balancing it on one hand, he used the other to open the lid, and she was so transfixed by what she saw, she actually forgot to breathe for a few wing-beats.
“Good *goddess*, man,” Kah’Sin managed to choke out, “Did you cut open the *void* to make this?”
He was right to exclaim as such, seeing as that’s literally what she appeared to be looking at: a tiara - *circlet*, really, but whether it connected all the way around or not, when it came to ‘engagement pieces’, for the women it was always referred to as ‘tiara’, for the men it was ‘circlet’ - that was made from the inky blackness of the void, complete with tiny stars twinkling in and out of existence, depending on the angle it was viewed from.
“*Yeah*,” Kyle replied in a good-natured, joking manner, “But lemme tell you: coaxing that big star so close to the surface was a *real* chore.”
“I can *imagine*,” Kah’Sin replied, to which they all had a small laugh; Kyle continued,
“It’s actually made from the skull plate of the first Texas dragon I killed; with the help of my team, of course,” they had seen the video, and simply nodded, “The black hole diamonds I got as a reward for returning the pendant,” they nodded once more, “And then I used the kath’loo’s Gift to turn it so black that it absorbs 100% of the light that hits it; I turned the bone behind the diamond dust - and the larger one in the center - silver to reflect the light, because they were barely visible with how much light was being absorbed by the background. Refraction can only go so far, it seems… So: what d’you think?”
She had noticed that his natural accent of ‘informal’ words tended to heighten when he was nervous, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what he could be nervous about: with something like *this*, even the most homophobic of individuals would accept his marriage proposal with no hesitation. Forget the fact that this could *easily* buy an occupied planet, the sheer *beauty* alone would be enough to entrance any being who laid eyes on it; she had the vague notion that this is what the other races - except the insectoids, and the humans, it appeared - felt when looking at a drahk’mihn.
It was Kah’Sin who drove that point home,
“I think that if she doesn’t marry you, that *we* would be *happy* to.”
She laughed lightly, playfully pushing his shoulder; polygamy wasn’t uncommon in drahk’mihn culture, but neither of them had ever expressed an interest in it before. He smiled at her, then looked back at Kyle.
“I think you’ve outdone the greatest artists of *any* species, Kyle, and I think she’ll love it.”
“I second that,” she added in; at that moment, Teh’Lana came around the side of Kyle’s chair.
“*Oooohhhh*,” she said in an awestruck voice, looking at the tiara, “*Pretty!*”
“I know,” Kyle replied, smiling, “It’s for your sister, but it’s a surprise, so we gotta keep it a secret. *Shh*.” He put his finger to his lips as he made the ‘shushing’ noise, a motion that Teh’Lana copied, laughing a little afterwards.
Kyle showed them how the sides unclasped in order to be able to wrap around her horns, and informed them that he planned on asking her when they had reached the station. After sitting and talking for a while, he took his leave - not before Teh’Lana insisted on giving him a hug, of course - and they were left alone to discuss this new development in their lives.

Just as Kyle was about to push the button to announce his presence, a voice came out over the speaker,
“Come in, Kyle.”
He was only surprised for about a second, before smiling, realizing that he shouldn’t be; he stuck out his tongue at the camera over the door controls, then motioned for the door to open.
“You can use him to tell you when someone’s at the door,” he said to the Captain as said door closed behind him, “But you won’t have him *open* it for me?”
“Well,” she replied as she sat in her chair behind her desk, looking up from a monitor in front of her, “He’s not a *servant*; he told me you were there, I didn’t *ask* him to.”
Golden usually kept his drahk’mihn body in a series of internal passageways, so that he could transport it wherever he needed to at a moment’s notice; these he had installed himself just recently, tapping into the nanoforges on the ship to reconfigure his internals. His body currently wasn’t in the room, but in the body or not, he still had access to the ship’s security systems; along with every *other* system, as well, of course.
“So,” the Captain began, turning the monitor off, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“*Well*,” he began, taking the seat across from her, “So, I’ve been *thinking*, and - *all by myself*, with *no* outside influence - I’ve decided that on planets with a pre-rating of ‘8’ or higher, then I should bring extra security personnel with me. I’m sure only *one* person would be needed…”
She smiled knowingly.
“Come up with this idea all on your own, huh?” she asked, a sly note in her voice.
“*Oh yeah*,” he replied, smiling, “All by myself; no other help required…”
Her smile widened, and she leaned back, lacing her fingers together.
“Well,” she replied easily, “*You’re* the boss; got any candidates in mind?”
His own smile widened as he said,
“*Well*, I was thinking of talking about it with ‘Ri, see if she wants to take the job; I *will* - of course - approve her pay raise from ship-based officer, to planet-based.”
“*Of course*,” she replied with a smile, “Is there anything else I should be apprised of?”
He thought for a moment, then something came to him.
“Yeah, we’re gonna make a change in our sh’edule; I was gonna tell you once we reached the station, but now’s as good a time as any. I found a planet in the files that Kai’Ren got at a private auction between exploration company owners: the Federation auctions off the rights to First Contact with species that the probes discover, and this planet has *two*. Kai’Ren spent up pretty much all the money he had to buy it - which is probably why he tried stealing those systems from me - but he was apparently trying to gather up the money to be able to send a team in with full hazmat gear, considering that the viral/bacterial aggression is at a Level 11. Me, ‘Ri, ‘n Cheshire’ll be fine as we are, but the rest of the team will need an upgrade to their immune systems if they wanna come with us. They can get that done in the med bay; I don’t trust my control over the kath’loo’s Gift enough to be able to perfectly alter someone else’s biology like that.”
She nodded in understanding, then spoke up,
“Sounds like a plan; what information do we have on the sapient species?”
So he took the time to detail out everything he’d learned about the two races that shared the planet, but never interacted with each other because of their biologies. One was a serpentine race that - obviously - couldn’t withstand the colder temperatures of the planet’s winters; which lasted for an entire Earth year, from fall through winter, and another year for the warmer seasons.
The other race was another large primate, and they lived up in the mountains until the winter ‘months’, when they were able to migrate down, and replenish their stocks of herd animals. These were actually more advanced than the serpentine race, as there were pictures of their villages being lit up at nights with what was clearly not ‘natural’ light. The probe had needed to go out to the ocean to enter the atmosphere to not risk being noticed by the inhabitants, doing a scan on the microbial life of the planet.
After they were finished, it was about time for him to go catch dinner with ‘Ri and her family, so he bid the Captain goodnight, and left her office. The rest of the night passed smoothly, and all that was left was for them to enjoy the rest of the trip back to the station.

Par’Lo was an old sehr’chtahb, the once-black rings around his eyes now a dull gray, while the fur on his body was pretty much all white. There was no real use for his Gift to mold metal and other minerals to his will in owning a run-down old bar in a backwaters space station that could more accurately be described as a ‘hideout’ on most days. Not that any criminal outfit actually *ran* this place, but everyone here knew to keep their heads down, and mouths shut. Business owners like himself relied on the service of anyone who came their way - having their *own* reasons to be skirting the center of the Federation, as it were - so discretion was a virtue in keeping a business running. He was just lucky enough to have been able to acquire this bar: it wasn’t much, but it was the only one around for weeks in subspace.
They *did* still receive transmissions from the Federation this far out - they weren’t an *actual* crime center, so they weren’t really *trying* to stay off the Federations ‘radar’ - so he had a screen playing in the corner of the bar for a break in the monotony. As he was pouring another drink to a vell’prah at the bar, a special broadcast came across the screen, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.
It appeared to be a message from the suun’mahs, the subject of which being the newest species introduced to the Federation, these ‘humans’ that they were sponsoring in their Uplifting. Humans - it appeared - were relatively close to gaining FTL capabilities, so their process was shorter than most others in the Federation. The suun’mahs scientists had been there every step of the way, making sure the humans understood each new concept, and how to apply it to their everyday lives before moving on to the next, more complicated subject.
The suun’mahs representative then announced that there was a special message that the humans had sent out, more than *500* of their years prior. And it was quite the message, indeed; it was over a Standard hour by itself, though the gravity of it made the time seem to pass by mostly unnoticed. It wasn’t much, by the standards of what might be sent during diplomatic exchanges, except that it had been created long before digital media existed in any reliable capacity; so they had transcribed it on a golden disk, using the technology they possessed at the time to encode their message, for all to see.
They saw pictures of humans, from all walks of life, doing all manner of activities. They heard the sounds of nature, animals and seismic events, storms and the gentle breeze in the grass. They saw - and heard a translated reading of - a message of text sent out with the images and sounds, a message of hope and good will, extending a hand of friendship to galactic neighbors they had no proof even existed, in the *hopes* that they weren’t hostile. And yet they had risked that, in order to confirm that they weren’t alone in the universe.
This was followed by a quick montage of Ambassador Redding’s exploits in the Federation, so far. It showed him meeting his team his first day on the ship, and of him finding the miu’alfar being harrassed, saving her from her attackers, and scaring them easily. It showed him almost being impaled by a gal’guin who could apparently hurl insults at someone about their race, but couldn’t take even a single one aimed at his own. As the human on the screen spun around with a resounding crunching noise, he heard a slight chuckle from the gal’guin sitting at the bar; he looked over with a surprised look on his face.
The gal’guin simply twitched his antenna in a way that he knew to be the equivalent to a shrug in other species, nonchalantly saying,
“I’ve never heard that one before,” he replied, obviously referencing the human insulting his species for *having* a Gift, “Rather impressive, actually; especially considering the *source*.” He gave a conceding shrug, and turned back to the monitor just in time to see the suun’mahs come back on screen, a solemn expression on his face.
“We have to inform you at this moment that we are coming to some rather… *sensitive* material, and if you have young children in the room - or for those with a sensitive constitution - we are putting up a timer on-screen depicting the length of the following series of clips, which will be translated into your local time measurement. The graphic material will - of course - be censored, however it is *still* shocking to witness, even as is. Viewer discretion is advised.”
And with that, it cut to a shot of the human Ambassador, but obviously *before* he became the ambassador. He was in a cage with a large feline to one side of him, and a large canine to another. Over the length of the montage, it was evident that he was ‘taming’ the creatures - the cervine creature to the other remaining side seemed too skittish to get near the predators - to the point that each would eventually walk over to the spot where their cages interacted with his, him being in the corner of his own, stroking and scratching both at the same time in a manner that seemed just as relaxing to the human as it would most definitely be for any creature underneath those dexterous fingers. Sure, there were clips interspersed of the mahn’ewe doing their experiments, taking excessive amounts of biomatter from him, but the focus was obviously on his relationship with the animals, and how obviously natural it was for his kind.
Which made it all the more worse when the part he knew in the back of his mind *must* come finally did; many of the animals had been disappearing from the cages around him along the montage, and it was obvious what the mahn’ewe were doing. But one day they came to take *both* of the animals he had bonded with, and his rage at the fact was a sight to behold. He didn’t seem to notice the pain as he threw himself into the bars, screaming insults at the mahn’ewe, all of whom simply laughed at him as they took the animals out. And then it was the slow wait for them to expire, getting more and more sickly by the clip, with the human becoming equally distraught apace of their sickness.
Then came the day when they died, the canine first, and then the feline, while he slept; though, he seemed to notice immediately as soon as his body showed signs of waking up. At the laughter of the mahn’ewe, he leapt up in a fury that made his previous outburst look like a child’s temper tantrum, devolving to the point that he wasn’t even speaking actual words, just deranged screaming of a wounded animal that was scared and angry, knowing it was facing its death. Then one of the mahn’ewe made the mistake of thinking the human wasn’t paying attention, and went to poke him in the side with one of the long poles they were all carrying; at which point the human latched onto it faster than the eye could see, pulling the mahn’ewe into the bars, and impaling one of the ones in the canine’s cage, the blunt end piercing straight through the small alien like it was sharpened to a fine point.
It wasn’t that that made the mahn’ewe stop laughing, nor the obvious sounds of bones shattering under the larger primate’s vice-like grip; it was when there were obviously no more bones to break in the smaller alien’s neck, and he tore it completely off of its shoulders. The shoulders up were heavily blurred out a couple seconds before the actual act happened - along with the sound being completely cut - but it was obvious what had happened; especially when he threw the pieces of the body at the remaining mahn’ewe before him. Finally silenced - and obviously fearful - they actually flinched when he launched himself at the bars again; they hurriedly retrieved all the bodies, and got the hells out of the hold.
This was confirmed by the suun’mahs to be what led the mahn’ewe to rank them as a Class 12 aggressor species, and to be confirmed by the humans as being, quote: an ‘understandable reaction to the given circumstances’. From there it cut to the first planet that he had been stationed to, after a brief explanation that he had received help from a razum’yilahnfor the trauma he endured in his time spent aboard the mahn’ewe ship.
They saw him jump in front of a comparatively small - but no less ferocious - feline to save his team, and they saw his first interaction with the natives of that planet, most notably the incident where he first met their domesticated canines. It was actually surprisingly heartwarming to watch, especially after the scene with the canine and feline in the mahn’ewe ship. Then - rather amusingly, garnering a new kind of respect from the patrons in his bar - they saw him ingest some berry that the plant-people of that planet grew on themselves, after which he was *obviously* intoxicated, his inhibitions seemingly going out the airlock a few minutes after eating it.
On to the second planet, where a new side of the human was shown, with him and his pup - that had been gifted to him by the hamad’ruid, which was the loophole that was needed for anyone to bring a new animal off planet without first knowing how removing it would affect the environment - running happily through the trees, the razum’yilahn from his team wrapped around his neck and torso, providing her the heat she needed to survive on their mission, and providing *him* the Gift of telekinesis, which would be helpful in case he was attacked by a wild animal, or met another sapient race.
The third planet was pretty uneventful, apparently, seeing as all that was shown was a few clips demonstrating that the tension that had been evident between him and the vell’prah leading the group had obviously been resolved somehow, and obviously sometime on the ride between planets. What was more interesting was his experience aboard the space station the ship he was on stopped at.
First was a bit of clips showing him being escorted around the station by an official-looking suun’mahs, stopping at a tailor’s first; where the human got a look of terror on his face as soon as he saw the shop owner, running off and later confirming to the suun’mahs with him that he was arachnophobic. He refused the offer to go elsewhere however, stating that now that he was dealing with *sapient* beings, he needed to get over his fears, going back to the shop to be fitted for a new wardrobe. And he managed to make it through the measurements, though it was obvious that he was on edge the entire time.
Next they went to a lovely drahk’mihn’s makeup shop, where he bought some eyeshadow and lipstick - and paid to have her apply it for him - along with dying one side of the little bit of hair humans seemed to have only on their heads, as well. After that was done, and they had retrieved his clothes from the shop, the suun’mahs began to escort him to the section of the station where the hotels were located.
Along the way, they met up with a group of humans who had been part of the initial ‘testing’ of having their species working in Federation jobs, all of whom had - understandably - chosen to work with their ambassador. However, they revealed to the Ambassador that they had found a missing child, who turned out to be none other than a gal’guin, too young to be expected to understand Federation Standard. And in an act that displayed that he didn’t hold what had happened on the ship against their species as a whole, he stood on the railing of the walkway - another human doing the same at his back - and yelled out *quite* loudly, stating that they had found a lost child, asking if anyone was looking for them; and before he could finish, a pair of gal’guin came flying over, anxiety etched in their every movement.