Just purchased a Gold Certified 2022 RAV4 yesterday. Unfortunately, after coming home and leaving the car parked for about an hour and a half, I left to run an errand and could smell cigarette smoke. The previous owner must have been a smoker, unless one of the service workers who took it for a test drive had a smoke, but I'm pretty sure dealerships are very strict about not smoking. It's still a possibility so not ruling that out since I didn't really notice the smell on the test drive on Wednesday.
I didn't notice the smell when I went on the test drive on Wednesday, it has been in the high 90s this week and the AC was already blasting when we got in the car. I didn't get to pick up my car until today because they had just received it and still needed to complete the 160 point check to have it registered as Gold Certified.
I did kind of notice a strong odor today, but I thought it was possibly a cleaner that they used to clean the car to get it ready for me. But like I said earlier after coming home and then leaving again to run an errand I could smell cigarette odor.
Just pretty disappointed that I am experiencing this considering the fact that I am spending a lot money on this car and put more than 50% down on it. I didn't leave with the car on Wednesday after the test drive and paying a down payment since they still needed time to complete the 160 point check, do an oil change, replace the air filter, tire alignment, etc. They had 2 1/2 days to deal with the odor or like I said maybe a service worker had a smoke in it since I test drove it on Wednesday...?
I am planning on calling to speak to the service manager tomorrow morning so I just want to have a better idea on what to expect and have a better understanding so I prepare what to say.
Service workers- What is the protocol that you all follow when you receive a trade in from a smoker? Is there a typical cleaning procedure you do? Thinking it could benefit from a steam cleaning. I read a few previous post in the subreddit about a couple of treatments people have done on their own. For example, using a hydroxyl generator, cleaning the evaporator box with BG Frigi-Clean, an ozone treatment, etc. So might need a combination of the two to fully get the smell out of the carpets and seats.
Car owners - Has anyone experienced this and what did the dealership do?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post and have any advice given!

Me again. If you were handling this note, how would set up the main note and/or cross-references?

Our recent family Bible reading has been Psalms, so we'd recently read Psalm 2 when I started back into Hebrews, and recognized it in Hebrews 1. (That one is an obvious reference -- it's clearly quoting.) But then it's also quoted in Revelation. So there's an obvious tie between Psalm 2 & Hebrews one and an obvious tie between Psalm 2 and Revelation...I forget which chapter offhand. But what's less immediately obvious unless you happen to be reading them at right about the same time is that there is, then, a connection between Hebrews and Revelation.
Hebrews is talking about Jesus ruling the nations with a rod of iron...and Revelation is talking about His passing that authority on to us.

The majority of the time a note has an obvious hierarchy of importance, where even if there's another significant relevant idea, the primary idea is clear. But this doesn't seem to have an obvious hierarchy. I have places to put notes on Psalms, and on Hebrews, and on Revelation, and this seems to be equally about all of them.
So in a situation like this, how do you decide where to put the initial note?

I’ve tried no poo on and off over the years. It has never worked for me, but I always seem to try again.
I have hard water, which I suspect may be one of my main issues. (Yes, I’ve read all the info on hard water here.) I am not able to afford a water softener or a shower filter, and I’ve tried all the suggested concoctions. Powders, teas, vinegars, soap nuts, etc., plus the multiple comb and BBB suggestions. Nothing has worked. And, I’ve given it months and months at a time.
My question…Is it a real thing that your scalp stops producing oils when it is not being stripped out by shampoo? I have not experienced that, at all. And, I’ve done no poo for months at a time. Are there any scientific studies proving this is a real thing?
I think I’m just an oily person. My skin has never not been oily, and I’m in my 40’s, despite trying all the things and even going water only on my face. My face still shines like a teenager, no matter what I do. Not a single change in the oiliness. My hair is also oily by the evening no matter what I do.
I have been to the doctor and had bloodwork done. There isn’t anything wrong. Doctors have just said it’s genetic. I’ve even went dairy and gluten free, due to a completely separate medical issue. I basically eat nothing but a plant based diet now because it’s too difficult to figure out dairy and gluten free options, if it’s not fruit, veggies, or plant based protein options. No changes in any of the oiliness, for hair or skin, and the diet change has been for almost a full year, so diet is not a factor.
Is no poo just a lost cause for me? I do not know what else to do. My hair looks bad with or without shampoo, but definitely more frizzy with shampoo. I just feel looking frizzy is more professional looking for work than looking greasy is.
Any advice, besides reading the hard water info, or making a new, time consuming concoction just to wash my hair, as I’ve already done all of those things? Is this just not for me?

My story begins me as a little 7 year old boy. The year is 1994.
As a young child. I played with G.I Joe's and barbie dolls. I wpuld undress them and swap clothes on each one. I would put the G.I Joe in the barbie car and put Barbie in the G.I Joe jeep.
I had a fascination with horses and western stuff as any other young boy of the 1990s. Would always watch western starring Clint Eastwood with dad. I was always a mommas boy, eventually spending nights on the couch watching Allie Mcbeal and episodes of E.R starring George Clooney among others. I spent a lot of time with my mother. Really just ignoring the macho stuff with my dad who was a coach of my brother's hockey team.
I used to run around alot with friends among the condominiums, where we once lived. My childhood was sparwling with freedom of movement and wonder and imagination. I truly enjoyed the connections I made and friends along the way.
Around the age of 7, I made a friend. Her name was Maddy (not using real names). He father was Canadian and she spent weekends with him because Maddies Parents were recently divorced. I remember Maddies room being so vibrant in color, pinks, oranges, reds everywhere.
Maddie and I would hang out a lot, and me hanging around her father also. The three of us used to trek up to the community pool and I would bask in the sun, while also doing belle flops from failed cannonballs.
One of the greatest things I developed as a child was my imagination. Granted it's no surprise children develop alot mentally around this time. Such wonder, beauty and possibilities in the world we see or so we should.
I would say one of the biggest things that stood out was my ability to fantasize about worlds. To see the world I created in my mind. The plastic Lego blocks and sets I would build had a major development in this I imagine. I was always working with my hands "making" something.
Anyways, I would always imagine fantastical worlds. Worlds filled with dinosaurs, cars and bright colors, vibrant colors.
As time pressed on, I would venture into Maddies room when she was away with her mother. Often times I would find myself in Maddies father condo while he went out for grocery shopping. This was the 1990s and young kids could be left alone in an unlocked apartment.
I had free reign over Maddies Room, and I ventured into her wardrobe. She mad the most colorful dresses and outfits to see. So naturally I try on some of her dresses to boot.
I found this particular red dress enticing. I couldn't quite understand what I felt when I wore that red dress and, and immediately upon Maddies father coming home from the grocery store, I promptly took the dress off.
From that time on, I'm convinced Maddies dad did see me wear it, but didn't tell my father. I was scared.
My family had been going through family therapy and I was declared ok by the psychiatrist to be ok. A little Welbutrin went a long way I supposed.
A few things wpuld shortly happen that would solidfy my femininity for the rest of my life (and I'm glad it did despite the circumstances I was put in)
A while later after that summer had passed, I remember an overflow of overcast skies. Now in my mind at the time, this meant Halloween and shortly thereafter Christmas was near by. It was a pleasant feeling I felt in the air, just like the cool pool warer around my skin on a hot day.
There were to gay gentleman that lived above us. (To this day, I'm convinced these memories are represses) because the life of me I cannot recall most details.
Anyways, they were always so nice to me and I enjoyed their company. They spoke to me in such a kindness I could not hold back and embraced thier hospitality. I would eat dinner up there sometimes and watch TV sometimes. So one night in particular I remember going up there and seeing them. They were both so kind and welcoming.
This is where it gets fuzzy. Like the order of operations we later learned in school, it is as follows.
I remember walking up to thier condo. I remember hanging out on thier bed. They were both laying on thier bed side by side. Then the rest is blank. I wake up on the bed, many hours later and felt a little funny. Again, these men were so kind, as I child I didn't know what to think, if I did any thinking at all.
The following day, a mysterious brown wallet with 400 dollars was dropped outside my small bedroom window. I brought the wallet up to them but they denied it being thier wallet, and told me that I could keep it.
My dad was enthused I "found" the money, but I never told him where it came from.
Shortly after this, I feel something changed inside me. I felt at ease, maybe it was a release of tension, I honestly could not explain it.
Same-sex experiences were rampant in my childhood, and to be honest it took me years to understand it's method of solidifying my effinate nature. I was not only sexually exploited by two homosexual men, but also from a mentally challenged man in his 30s. The entire neighborhood found out that I A.B (not using real names) and I were not the only ones that were abused sexually.
Since that experience wit the two gentleman above my parents condo, my path as a transgirl (many years later) would come to fruition.
I tried on Maddies dresses more, and eventually, I stop because Maddies father dead on sees me and I freak out. I remember the cold eyes in his face. The look of disappointment. I was shamed. The feeling inside me was pushed down so far that I forget out about it. I quashed it perhaps.
Later in high-school, I began to talk to Juan (not using real names). I flirt with him and and made plans to see him. He was a beautiful young boy just as I was I imagine. I never had problems getting girls. Every girl in high school that I showed interest in, I would make love to and kiss. So many different kinds of girls, beautiful girls.
Anyways I feel like I'm losing my steam here lol.
I became part of the LGBT club on campus. Meeting different people and making great friends. I think what I failed to notice is maybe people thought I was bi sexual, but made no inclination to prove people right about that assumption. I was told by a dear friend that she saw the true person I was and not to be afraid to be that person. It never hit me what she meant by that, but I suppose this in reference to her ability to read a person's true character.
Time would go by and and I would get married and have a daughter. I was married for 15 years. Through us growing part and much trauma later, the marriage ended. After some soul searching and thinking in my echo chamber, I came across transsexuals.
There was a huge stigma against them and not much was known. I saw photos of them and how beautiful they were and didn't know how they became to be that way. I was just blown away that an individual could become a beautiful woman.
It wasn't until after I found out about HRT in the 2020s that I cross analyzed myself. How a person can come to a conclusion about thier body, mind and spirit is still beyond me but only the fact that "it felt right" for me.
I remember myself wearing those dresses at age 7 and I'm sad i wasn't able to further explore that part about myself but since now I have the means and motivation, I will become the woman I was meant to be.
Thanks for reading. If I piqued an interest. Feel free to comment.
Note: my apologies for endless typos, this was written as I was remembering and had a "grove" going.

Going forward: * Stories involving Solar Girl, the Solarian, and Moonshine will only be canonical if they're published under the Pick-n-Μix Comix label. Same goes for almost everything else, but I've had a special thorn in my side dealing with all the pre-Pick-n-Mix stuff and what I want to do with it in regards to what is or isn't part of the overall canon and continuity, so it's important to point this part out first now that I've figured it out. * The content once belonging to the story-cycles of Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl is now going to be under the Lethericon Books label, which means they're non-canonical to everything in the current stable. * Everything under Lethericon Books is going to be a different format than the Pick-n-Mix Comix stuff. I wrote a lot of different, sometimes slower-paced and less adventurous stuff before I started finalizing the format I wanted for the main continuity and they've been in a really weird limbo of canon, but now they're under this label because that's what it's for. This'll be slower-paced, literary, chapter-by-chapter, less-focused, often very introspective, experimental storylines and extra stuff that are related to the main canon but are not themselves canonical; so, AUs like the Comix universe (a coming-of-age story I've been working on now and then where Grace and Gallo are in high school together — obviously completely incompatible with current canon, for a number of reasons), older stories like Supergirls In The Spotlight that don't fit current formatting standards for what is now the canonical works of Pick-n-Mix (and, at least in that one's case, is reprinted from much older work anyway, so nothing new in regards to new content there), and literary or prose outings (like copies of Certain Kinds Of Sadness and The Lethericon). * (For reference, those last two are just older, introspective art pieces I worked on a long time ago and have no real other place to go — I might put them up for pay at some point, but I just don't know. In any case, Certain Kinds is a bunch of super pretentious "poetry" a different version of me I knew once wrote a long time ago, while The Lethericon is the basis for the imprint's name — a dictionary and glossary of neologisms and new words I made up, and occasionally still contribute to sometimes, and their associated definitions and intended usages. So, just fun, meaningless artsy pieces; nothing related to the Pick-n-Mix adventures, but at a more ruminatory period in my life, it felt worthwhile to explore those things.)
Some additional notes: * I know who Moonshine is now! This has been another thorn in the development of workable Solar Girl stories since the very first iteration of Supergirls In The Spotlight, because I wanted Moonshine to be Solar Girl's best friend and sidekick but the dynamic and civilian identities I made for her never caught on and it kept changing with every new draft of the storyline, so often that I never had one single, consistent origin and identity for her. But, I've been developing stories for the Pick-n-Mix core for Solarian/Solar Girl continuity — an ongoing called Solarian Comix, which I'll talk about momentarily, or in its own post — and things have aligned so that the new, 100% canonical version is more or less set in stone now. * As expected, this was one of the reasons I decided to pull prior storyline outings out of canon entirely and render Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl non-canon. The version of Moonshine in those stories was Caitlin Deckard, a friend of Sarah Gardner's from school, the daughter of a previous generation's superheroes (who are nonexistent in the current Pick-n-Mix canon), and she's a very difficult, emotionally-troubled character — but I've since incorporated a version of Moonshine into the Pick-n-Mix version of Inglenook's history as a major operator during the canonical 'Lonum Wars, after which she moves to Spotlight City and eventually teams up with Solar Girl — meaning, of course, that not only are Inglenook and Spotlight City connected, but that Moonshine has to be much older than Solar Girl by default now and that I have a fairly solid timeline to connect events in Spotlight City too, referencing back to crossover events where their world connects to Inglenook and the Other Realms. * This was the final deciding factor in decanonizing the previous Solar Girl stuff. Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl are set on Earth, which doesn't exist in the Other Realms. I'm very adamant about this; which meant, of course, that any canonical crossovers between Inglenook stories and those Solar Girl stories are functionally impossible. I tried to do a storyline in New Adventures to fix this — the whole series was meant to connect Supergirls into current continuity, actually — but it just didn't work because of the fundamental origins of the setting. So, they had to go.
So, current canon: * Everything under the Pick-n-Mix label is canon. Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl are not. One version is set in the fictional Spotlight City on Earth in 2012 and 2024; the canonical version (that is, the version that slots in with everything else I'm building in the unified Pick-n-Mix universe, which mostly serves to adapt and standardize all this stuff into one overarching canon specifically for this reason and purpose) is a completely isolated, standalone city. * This version of Spotlight City is floating through space, kind of like the space colony of Terra Venture in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy or the colony of Solaris in Jason X (which we never see the surface of, but we might remember its iconic destruction when Jason causes the archaeological ship Grendel to crash into it and destroy the whole thing). I first tried to do this concept with the new storylines in The New Adventures, where the 2012 version of Spotlight City had been shunted into space by Status Quo during the break in between series (and would've ended up crashing into the Other Realms at some point after Meanwhile's reset of the universe, while the new, rebooted, Earth-based version kept on ticking, ideally), but again, that stuff is non-canon now. * I don't know why the Pick-n-Mix version is in space yet, but it will be plot relevant and it will be explored, either in Solarian Comix or a different title meant to explore it. Every Other Realm has its own gimmick, though, so they all have funky origins and they're all tied together; New Galatée from a serial I'm working on called Milk was created when folks from the Inglish nation of Galatée decided to live without association to the Kingdom and left for a brand new realm, for instance. * This means fun stuff like Spotlight City gets brand new historical stuff and its own worldbuilding now! And there can be one solid timeline, one central set of origin stories that are absolutely canon (since that also changed for each draft of the story I've been working on, especially for Solar Girl and Moonshine), and lots of crossovers between realms without being too confusing or introducing multiversal counterparts or anything. (EG, the Solarian can now appear in Inglenook sometimes, and Dr Connector and Captain Mytho can show up in Spotlight City, and it'll all be pretty much continuous and canonical, no worries, easy as. Simple.)
Final notes about the Pick-n-Mix stuff: * Moonshine is Sarah's friend, still, but she's older. They're not in the same age bracket anymore, but kind of split the difference and cover both brackets previous versions have straddled. Here, Sarah (who is still Solar Girl, although not the first Solar Girl) is a high schooler attending New Dawn High School; Moonshine is Margaret Deckard, who works as a janitor at New Dawn and is in her late 30s, meaning Solarian Comix is set sometime in the late 80s, at the very least. (Note: this is the Inglenook version of the 80s, not ours. Timelines across the Other Realms are usually in sync, unless I need them not to be, and there are some aesthetic similarities, but Inglenook and the Other Realms are still fantasy worlds, so it's a brand new 80s and not ours.) Margaret and Sarah are kind of the weirdos at the school, obviously, and Sarah likes Margaret's vibe so she ended up befriending her and they have a weird friendship. At the start of their timeline, Margaret is not Moonshine — but, she was. * Before coming to Spotlight City, Margaret lived and grew up in the Kingdom of Inglenook. Urban fantasy, magic, superheroes, all that fun stuff. From 1968 to 1972, Inglenook got involved in the realm of Carillon, a parallel world home to the corvics (crow-people) and a store of scale oil that was useful to the Silvani people. Inglenook established the colony Oiltown there under Queen Charlotte's purview, but eventually it was discovered that the oil they were drilling had been infected by a nearly-indestructible black goo called the Black Regard, forcing Inglenook's hand. Things erupted, and the 'Lonum Wars started — lots of heroes and members of the Royal Protectorate participated, either by choice or by draft. Jack Scorcher of the Legendeers (although not at that time) was one of them; Margaret Deckard, operating under the name Moonshine, was another. * During this time frame, Moonshine was partners with Nightwalk, a shadow caster who died during the war, leaving Margaret deeply traumatized, along with everything else that happened. Once the war was over, she sought to retire from operations as a masked persona, especially given what she was involved in while she was in Carillon, and so eventually moved to Spotlight City to put everything behind her. * No one knew her in Spotlight City, so she's just Margaret Deckard now. But, in the first few origin stories as depicted in Solarian Comix, her friendship with Sarah Gardner puts this retirement at risk — Sarah becomes the new Sunbearer, Solar Girl, and accidentally creates her foil and initial arch-nemesis, Socialighter, from a rival girl at school. Their fight drags Margaret into things, and Sarah eventually discovers her friend's secret history while cleaning up Margaret's attic. Finally, they're able to be spun off into the title Solar Girl & Moonshine, obviously set in the same continuity — I'm still working out the focal details and central storyline gimmicks for it, but it should be focused heavily on this stuff, and on exploring Moonshine's history in Inglenook especially — and things continue and carry on from there. * (This "found in the attic" storyline was brought in from one of the many possible origins for Solar Girl, incidentally; where the idea was, she'd find a box including the solar crystals, the suit, and the pixie Flare in her mother's apartment, discover her mother either was supposed to be Solar Girl, and take up the identity herself. But, now it's transplanted onto Moonshine because of Sarah's current canonical origin, and Margaret is the one who takes up her old identity. Only at Sarah's urging, and in a moment of desperation against a new enemy threatening the city, though. Of course.)
What is Solarian Comix? And what other titles are being worked on? * Solarian Comix is one of the many ongoing titles I'm developing for Pick-n-Mix Comix, a line of serials adapting all my content and intellectual property into one solid canon, for easy digestion and continuity purposes. They're all in the format of issue-by-issue comic titles — sometimes miniseries, sometimes ongoings, sometimes graphic novels, etc. This one is all about Spotlight City, one of the Other Realms floating through space, protected by an artificial sun that gives the Sunbearers their power. The previous Sunbearer was the Solarian; the current one is Solar Girl. Solarian Comix is something of an anthology that jumps throughout the city's timeline, telling stories in recurring features about the Solarian, Solar Girl, and other characters and heroes throughout the city's history, since there's so much content to cover. Regular features include The Sensational Solar Girl, focusing on Solar Girl's rise to power; Silver-Age Solarian, focusing on the Solarian in Spotlight City's "Silver Age" (likely lasting from the 40s to the late 70s or so); and a bunch of other headliners, such as features centered around the realm-hopping witch Hexcellence, the living glitch Glitchboard, the light-manipulating Emerald Flash and Mock Mirage, and so on. * Related titles currently include Solar Girl & Moonshine, Solar Girl: Meanwhile, and Glitchboard: Tales From The Geistmaschine, which are standalone and aren't published in the chapters and pages of Solarian Comix, but do spin off from them.
Other titles being worked on for Pick-n-Mix include: * Dr Connector, a solo-based ongoing title about my science hero, Dr Connector. The first arc is in progress, titled "Dr Connector Meets The Freedom Beyond", and centers around Dr Connector and the Legendeers discovering the Other Realm known as the Freelands. * Solemn Graces, an adaptation of my pre-Pick-n-Mix novella series of the same name, featuring the detective and witch Grace Morgan discovering the town of Grimstead, which here is called Grimshaw (for plot-relevant reasons), and deciding to get pulled into events there for a while. Each issue is a multi-chapter story, with the first issue in progress, depicting Grace's first several days in Grimshaw — her discovery of the place, her fight with the Spring-Heeled Ripper, her meeting with Gallo Belgrave, and more. It comes as it comes, so it'll be finished at some point, and there are obviously a hundred more and then some storylines planned for future issues, so it'll keep me writing for quite a while. * Help! The Monsters Are Lost Here Too. The period is part of the title, yes. This one's a dungeon-crawler isekai-style story about the new character of Jaden Crofter, who becomes trapped in the Bridgery, a liminal and parallel dungeon world, and discovers that — not only is it filled with weird, strange monsters beyond the imagination — but that it's also trapping the monsters there just like him. So, pretty simple. He teams up with a knight from another world called Sydney Storm, and they get the heck out of there. Not much of it is written currently, but there are some worldbuilding notes and potential excerpts available if you like getting an eye into the behind-the-scenes writing and development process for serials like this. * Idyllville Mysteries, which is largely being reworked into Idyllville Mystery Theater, was an early attempt at an ongoing. This one was an anthology that told short vignettes about the city of Idyllville in Inglenook, and was originally exclusive to redditserials here on Reddit (posted using a corporate account I might continue using for Pick-n-Mix stuff, but maybe not). It's still archived on AO3, but because it doesn't fit current formatting standards, it's being heavily retooled and the original ongoing is basically cancelled. Some useful bits of plot details in those tales, though, and writing it helped me work through some stuff at the time while I was writing it, so I wouldn't be here if I hadn't been there. Thought it was worth mentioning, at least.
Those are the ones that have content available already, but as you can tell — there's so much more going on for the Pick-n-Mix universe, and so much more to come.

Going forward: * Stories involving Solar Girl, the Solarian, and Moonshine will only be canonical if they're published under the Pick-n-Μix Comix label. Same goes for almost everything else, but I've had a special thorn in my side dealing with all the pre-Pick-n-Mix stuff and what I want to do with it in regards to what is or isn't part of the overall canon and continuity, so it's important to point this part out first now that I've figured it out. * The content once belonging to the story-cycles of Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl is now going to be under the Lethericon Books label, which means they're non-canonical to everything in the current stable. * Everything under Lethericon Books is going to be a different format than the Pick-n-Mix Comix stuff. I wrote a lot of different, sometimes slower-paced and less adventurous stuff before I started finalizing the format I wanted for the main continuity and they've been in a really weird limbo of canon, but now they're under this label because that's what it's for. This'll be slower-paced, literary, chapter-by-chapter, less-focused, often very introspective, experimental storylines and extra stuff that are related to the main canon but are not themselves canonical; so, AUs like the Comix universe (a coming-of-age story I've been working on now and then where Grace and Gallo are in high school together — obviously completely incompatible with current canon, for a number of reasons), older stories like Supergirls In The Spotlight that don't fit current formatting standards for what is now the canonical works of Pick-n-Mix (and, at least in that one's case, is reprinted from much older work anyway, so nothing new in regards to new content there), and literary or prose outings (like copies of Certain Kinds Of Sadness and The Lethericon). * (For reference, those last two are just older, introspective art pieces I worked on a long time ago and have no real other place to go — I might put them up for pay at some point, but I just don't know. In any case, Certain Kinds is a bunch of super pretentious "poetry" a different version of me I knew once wrote a long time ago, while The Lethericon is the basis for the imprint's name — a dictionary and glossary of neologisms and new words I made up, and occasionally still contribute to sometimes, and their associated definitions and intended usages. So, just fun, meaningless artsy pieces; nothing related to the Pick-n-Mix adventures, but at a more ruminatory period in my life, it felt worthwhile to explore those things.)
Some additional notes: * I know who Moonshine is now! This has been another thorn in the development of workable Solar Girl stories since the very first iteration of Supergirls In The Spotlight, because I wanted Moonshine to be Solar Girl's best friend and sidekick but the dynamic and civilian identities I made for her never caught on and it kept changing with every new draft of the storyline, so often that I never had one single, consistent origin and identity for her. But, I've been developing stories for the Pick-n-Mix core for Solarian/Solar Girl continuity — an ongoing called Solarian Comix, which I'll talk about momentarily, or in its own post — and things have aligned so that the new, 100% canonical version is more or less set in stone now. * As expected, this was one of the reasons I decided to pull prior storyline outings out of canon entirely and render Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl non-canon. The version of Moonshine in those stories was Caitlin Deckard, a friend of Sarah Gardner's from school, the daughter of a previous generation's superheroes (who are nonexistent in the current Pick-n-Mix canon), and she's a very difficult, emotionally-troubled character — but I've since incorporated a version of Moonshine into the Pick-n-Mix version of Inglenook's history as a major operator during the canonical 'Lonum Wars, after which she moves to Spotlight City and eventually teams up with Solar Girl — meaning, of course, that not only are Inglenook and Spotlight City connected, but that Moonshine has to be much older than Solar Girl by default now and that I have a fairly solid timeline to connect events in Spotlight City too, referencing back to crossover events where their world connects to Inglenook and the Other Realms. * This was the final deciding factor in decanonizing the previous Solar Girl stuff. Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl are set on Earth, which doesn't exist in the Other Realms. I'm very adamant about this; which meant, of course, that any canonical crossovers between Inglenook stories and those Solar Girl stories are functionally impossible. I tried to do a storyline in New Adventures to fix this — the whole series was meant to connect Supergirls into current continuity, actually — but it just didn't work because of the fundamental origins of the setting. So, they had to go.
So, current canon: * Everything under the Pick-n-Mix label is canon. Supergirls In The Spotlight and The New Adventures Of Solar Girl are not. One version is set in the fictional Spotlight City on Earth in 2012 and 2024; the canonical version (that is, the version that slots in with everything else I'm building in the unified Pick-n-Mix universe, which mostly serves to adapt and standardize all this stuff into one overarching canon specifically for this reason and purpose) is a completely isolated, standalone city. * This version of Spotlight City is floating through space, kind of like the space colony of Terra Venture in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy or the colony of Solaris in Jason X (which we never see the surface of, but we might remember its iconic destruction when Jason causes the archaeological ship Grendel to crash into it and destroy the whole thing). I first tried to do this concept with the new storylines in The New Adventures, where the 2012 version of Spotlight City had been shunted into space by Status Quo during the break in between series (and would've ended up crashing into the Other Realms at some point after Meanwhile's reset of the universe, while the new, rebooted, Earth-based version kept on ticking, ideally), but again, that stuff is non-canon now. * I don't know why the Pick-n-Mix version is in space yet, but it will be plot relevant and it will be explored, either in Solarian Comix or a different title meant to explore it. Every Other Realm has its own gimmick, though, so they all have funky origins and they're all tied together; New Galatée from a serial I'm working on called Milk was created when folks from the Inglish nation of Galatée decided to live without association to the Kingdom and left for a brand new realm, for instance. * This means fun stuff like Spotlight City gets brand new historical stuff and its own worldbuilding now! And there can be one solid timeline, one central set of origin stories that are absolutely canon (since that also changed for each draft of the story I've been working on, especially for Solar Girl and Moonshine), and lots of crossovers between realms without being too confusing or introducing multiversal counterparts or anything. (EG, the Solarian can now appear in Inglenook sometimes, and Dr Connector and Captain Mytho can show up in Spotlight City, and it'll all be pretty much continuous and canonical, no worries, easy as. Simple.)
Final notes about the Pick-n-Mix stuff: * Moonshine is Sarah's friend, still, but she's older. They're not in the same age bracket anymore, but kind of split the difference and cover both brackets previous versions have straddled. Here, Sarah (who is still Solar Girl, although not the first Solar Girl) is a high schooler attending New Dawn High School; Moonshine is Margaret Deckard, who works as a janitor at New Dawn and is in her late 30s, meaning Solarian Comix is set sometime in the late 80s, at the very least. (Note: this is the Inglenook version of the 80s, not ours. Timelines across the Other Realms are usually in sync, unless I need them not to be, and there are some aesthetic similarities, but Inglenook and the Other Realms are still fantasy worlds, so it's a brand new 80s and not ours.) Margaret and Sarah are kind of the weirdos at the school, obviously, and Sarah likes Margaret's vibe so she ended up befriending her and they have a weird friendship. At the start of their timeline, Margaret is not Moonshine — but, she was. * Before coming to Spotlight City, Margaret lived and grew up in the Kingdom of Inglenook. Urban fantasy, magic, superheroes, all that fun stuff. From 1968 to 1972, Inglenook got involved in the realm of Carillon, a parallel world home to the corvics (crow-people) and a store of scale oil that was useful to the Silvani people. Inglenook established the colony Oiltown there under Queen Charlotte's purview, but eventually it was discovered that the oil they were drilling had been infected by a nearly-indestructible black goo called the Black Regard, forcing Inglenook's hand. Things erupted, and the 'Lonum Wars started — lots of heroes and members of the Royal Protectorate participated, either by choice or by draft. Jack Scorcher of the Legendeers (although not at that time) was one of them; Margaret Deckard, operating under the name Moonshine, was another. * During this time frame, Moonshine was partners with Nightwalk, a shadow caster who died during the war, leaving Margaret deeply traumatized, along with everything else that happened. Once the war was over, she sought to retire from operations as a masked persona, especially given what she was involved in while she was in Carillon, and so eventually moved to Spotlight City to put everything behind her. * No one knew her in Spotlight City, so she's just Margaret Deckard now. But, in the first few origin stories as depicted in Solarian Comix, her friendship with Sarah Gardner puts this retirement at risk — Sarah becomes the new Sunbearer, Solar Girl, and accidentally creates her foil and initial arch-nemesis, Socialighter, from a rival girl at school. Their fight drags Margaret into things, and Sarah eventually discovers her friend's secret history while cleaning up Margaret's attic. Finally, they're able to be spun off into the title Solar Girl & Moonshine, obviously set in the same continuity — I'm still working out the focal details and central storyline gimmicks for it, but it should be focused heavily on this stuff, and on exploring Moonshine's history in Inglenook especially — and things continue and carry on from there. * (This "found in the attic" storyline was brought in from one of the many possible origins for Solar Girl, incidentally; where the idea was, she'd find a box including the solar crystals, the suit, and the pixie Flare in her mother's apartment, discover her mother either was supposed to be Solar Girl, and take up the identity herself. But, now it's transplanted onto Moonshine because of Sarah's current canonical origin, and Margaret is the one who takes up her old identity. Only at Sarah's urging, and in a moment of desperation against a new enemy threatening the city, though. Of course.)
What is Solarian Comix? And what other titles are being worked on? * Solarian Comix is one of the many ongoing titles I'm developing for Pick-n-Mix Comix, a line of serials adapting all my content and intellectual property into one solid canon, for easy digestion and continuity purposes. They're all in the format of issue-by-issue comic titles — sometimes miniseries, sometimes ongoings, sometimes graphic novels, etc. This one is all about Spotlight City, one of the Other Realms floating through space, protected by an artificial sun that gives the Sunbearers their power. The previous Sunbearer was the Solarian; the current one is Solar Girl. Solarian Comix is something of an anthology that jumps throughout the city's timeline, telling stories in recurring features about the Solarian, Solar Girl, and other characters and heroes throughout the city's history, since there's so much content to cover. Regular features include The Sensational Solar Girl, focusing on Solar Girl's rise to power; Silver-Age Solarian, focusing on the Solarian in Spotlight City's "Silver Age" (likely lasting from the 40s to the late 70s or so); and a bunch of other headliners, such as features centered around the realm-hopping witch Hexcellence, the living glitch Glitchboard, the light-manipulating Emerald Flash and Mock Mirage, and so on. * Related titles currently include Solar Girl & Moonshine, Solar Girl: Meanwhile, and Glitchboard: Tales From The Geistmaschine, which are standalone and aren't published in the chapters and pages of Solarian Comix, but do spin off from them.
Other titles being worked on for Pick-n-Mix include: * Dr Connector, a solo-based ongoing title about my science hero, Dr Connector. The first arc is in progress, titled "Dr Connector Meets The Freedom Beyond", and centers around Dr Connector and the Legendeers discovering the Other Realm known as the Freelands. * Solemn Graces, an adaptation of my pre-Pick-n-Mix novella series of the same name, featuring the detective and witch Grace Morgan discovering the town of Grimstead, which here is called Grimshaw (for plot-relevant reasons), and deciding to get pulled into events there for a while. Each issue is a multi-chapter story, with the first issue in progress, depicting Grace's first several days in Grimshaw — her discovery of the place, her fight with the Spring-Heeled Ripper, her meeting with Gallo Belgrave, and more. It comes as it comes, so it'll be finished at some point, and there are obviously a hundred more and then some storylines planned for future issues, so it'll keep me writing for quite a while. * Help! The Monsters Are Lost Here Too. The period is part of the title, yes. This one's a dungeon-crawler isekai-style story about the new character of Jaden Crofter, who becomes trapped in the Bridgery, a liminal and parallel dungeon world, and discovers that — not only is it filled with weird, strange monsters beyond the imagination — but that it's also trapping the monsters there just like him. So, pretty simple. He teams up with a knight from another world called Sydney Storm, and they get the heck out of there. Not much of it is written currently, but there are some worldbuilding notes and potential excerpts available if you like getting an eye into the behind-the-scenes writing and development process for serials like this. * Idyllville Mysteries, which is largely being reworked into Idyllville Mystery Theater, was an early attempt at an ongoing. This one was an anthology that told short vignettes about the city of Idyllville in Inglenook, and was originally exclusive to redditserials here on Reddit (posted using a corporate account I might continue using for Pick-n-Mix stuff, but maybe not). It's still archived on AO3, but because it doesn't fit current formatting standards, it's being heavily retooled and the original ongoing is basically cancelled. Some useful bits of plot details in those tales, though, and writing it helped me work through some stuff at the time while I was writing it, so I wouldn't be here if I hadn't been there. Thought it was worth mentioning, at least.
Those are the ones that have content available already, but as you can tell — there's so much more going on for the Pick-n-Mix universe, and so much more to come.

Paradox, Viciate, and Lorenzo continued on their descent into the castle to the Well of Wisdom. A sacred place bestowed on the Alphaverse since its creation. A well that possess the most valuable wisdom from across the Megaverse. Paradox had his group stop in one of the chambers for he assumed his prisoners will be awaking from the poison soon. He then had his chains wrap around King Alexander, Venessa, Cross, Tray, Selena, Malissa, Lucrest, Leoped, and Phonix. Viciate deployed several drones that aimed their weapons at the chained prisoners with Paradox standing resolute holding the Matrix of Eternity in his hands. The prisoners eventually woke up one by one and were greeted by crude words and jeers directed towards them. The chains that bound them prevented them from utilizing their powers to break their bonds and even if they did, the bullets from the drones will prove extremely lethal to their weakened state. Paradox ordered the prisoners to be placed in a line on their knees as he snapped his fingers which summoned imps and more infernal warriors to act as guards. King Alexander, "You can't restore the Matrix in the Well of Wisdom, it will shred you to pieces." Paradox smugly, "Maybe, but that's why I'll have each of you go in for me and see who can withstand the Well." Malissa, "He's going to sacrifice us! Where is Joan? Did she escape?" Paradox, "Oh I believe Tray knows the answer to that." Everyone turned wondering where Tray could be until he finally spoke, the others were shock at his new appearance for he appeared otherworldly to them. Tray did not lift his eyes towards the group, but rather hung his head low. Paradox's eyes beamed with sadistic delight as he spoke, "I guess one can say your sister is now very OPEN MINDED!" It took a few seconds for this joke to register in the minds of the prisoners, but when it did, all of them violently shook the chains in order to be free. "Go ahead use all your powers to break those chains, it only transfers your power levels into my soul. Lockjaw was right, all of you are complete fools in underestimating these accursed chains!"
He grabbed Phonix as his victim but stopped when what seemed to be an earthquake began to shake the foundations of the castle. The earthquake only intensified the longer it went, Venessa, "Does anyone else hear bass boosted music?" In a spectacular explosion of dazzling lights and rifts across space and time, Diamond's glowing body appeared in a giant hole in one of the castle's walls while blaring Hit Me Baby One More Time. Everyone was left speechless when they saw Diamond, believing it to be a ghost. "PARADOX!!!!!" In terror Paradox began to back away, "Impossible, I scarred you for life! HOW ARE YOU EVEN STRONGER THAN BEFORE?!" "It is not for you to know the circumstances that brought me here before you today. Regardless I am back. AND THIS TIME THERE IS NO POWER IN THE MEGAVERSE OR THE NETHERWORLD THAT IS GOING TO STOP ME!" Paradox ordered Lorenzo, Viciate, and the rest of his minions to dispose of Diamond as he journeys deeper to the Well of Wisdom. Viciate used his powers to generate clones of his allies as he slowly approached Diamond. Observing this, Diamond began to smile, "How about I even those odds." After finishing his sentence, 20 identical clones of Diamond manifested themselves behind him. Unlike other clones or copies, these 20 were able to act independently as a collective hive mind. The original Diamond attacked Viciate head on while the duplicates attacked the other clones and others attempted to free the prisoners. Viciate attempted in drawing his sword to strike Diamond in an exposed position, but Diamond's intense senses was able to prevent Viciate from using his sword. In a matter of seconds, Diamond punched Viciate to a bloody mess before leaving him stuck on one of the walls.
His abilities alerted him of several imps closing on his position, and in a swift motion, Diamond created a new Sword of Light, which was far longer and sharper to simultaneously decapitate all of the imps that circled around him. While watching all of this unfold before her very eyes, Selena could not help but smile at seeing Diamond restored to his former self, "He's back." A clone of Diamond randomly appeared next to her, "Nice to know I'm no longer on house arrest." The clone was able to free Selena from her chains and started to free the rest of the prisoners. After freeing them, he gave the group a new set of orders, "I may not know all of you, but focus your abilities in taking down those devilish warriors over there. I'll handle Paradox." The clone soon vanished alongside the other copies leaving only the original Diamond left. Just when Diamond started to follow Paradox's trail, Lorenzo used his acidic whip to suspend Diamond in place. Lorenzo was successful in his attack and used this advantage to expel fatal toxins into Diamond's lungs. "Ugh. Dude, you got some serious oral hygiene problems. Here take a mint!" Lorenzo's mouth was open due to him being stunned seeing his foe unphased with his lethal toxin. The supposed mint landed on his tongue, which resulted in a strong electrical shock being sent all over his body causing him to black out. "Nice whip though, I'm for real going to take this for my collection." Diamond bent over and collected the whip before resuming on his mission to destroy Paradox. Paradox was nearly at the entrance of the Well, but felt his body frozen in place, no matter how hard he tried to move. He finally realized he was frozen by Diamond's soul manipulation, yet when he made this realization, Diamond was already floating horizontally whispering into Paradox's audio receptor, "I think I am going to show off my newfound abilities."
Paradox tried to slice Diamond with a chain along his back, but Diamond vanished before he could land a hit. He reappeared behind him and with a simple flick, Diamond sent Paradox crashing through the castle's walls and ceilings. Paradox regained his stance as he morphed into Astros as he stopped a punch from Diamond which sent shockwaves, shattering any neighboring glass. Paradox kicked Diamond at his shin before hitting him with brute force across his face. He summersaulted backwards a few yards as he morphed into the Ice King. He then summoned several frozen daggers and sharp projectiles as he sent them flying towards Diamond at light speed. Diamond noticed the projectiles flying towards him as he achieved speeds that made time around him slow down several seconds. It was if things were occurring to him at a quarter speed, so with a wave of his arm, he took control of the projectiles and had them float around him before resuming time and sending them back to Paradox. Paradox moaned loudly as the projectiles lodged themselves in tight crevasses of his body and interfering with some of the vital mechanisms. The two teleported away from the castle into the depths of the grand city where they continued their battle. Paradox changed into Shen the disgraced Shogun as he desperately tried to slice off Diamond's limbs and head. Diamond casually dodged each attack with ease he summoned the Sword of Light which has grown longer and sharper to reflect his reunion with the Light. The two blades collided with each other, but Paradox was no match for Diamond's swordsman skills.
Diamond noticed Paradox's right arm malfunctioning from one of the ice projectiles and taking advantage of this weakness, he punched Paradox repeatedly in the chest before kicking him to the floor. He then created a revolver from his nanites and fired four bullets consecutively into his weak spot. He knew his bullets succeeded in wounding his opponent, for the sound of loose air began to hiss from broken wires and Paradox's arm glitching by morphing into many different appearances before changing back to its default appearance. Diamond smiled smugly as he released that Paradox was truly terrified in that moment, "Where has your self-confidence gone? Are those appearances not making you comfortable in your mechanical body?" "SHUT UP!" Paradox then changed into Mecha-Diamond as he was able to grab Diamond by his throat and threw him into multiple buildings. The two eventually landed on top of a commuter train before Diamond could free himself. Diamond sliced his opponent's arm to free himself and used his thrusters to fly backwards as he observed Paradox's body shifting gears to re-forge the missing arm. While in the form of Mecha-Diamond, Paradox had four mechanical tentacles grow out of him, which resulted in Diamond activating his suit to grow tentacles of his own. The two opponents had their tentacles wrap around each other as they fired their blasters at each other. Diamond tried to create two clones of himself, but Paradox's tentacles grabbed him and tossed him into one of the train carts as the civilians screamed in terror. He gradually regained consciousness as he prepared to find Paradox, but for a long minute, he could not sense Paradox. It was not until a lady screamed of a large spider approaching them from the other end when Diamond released it is Paradox crawling on all fours with great speed. Paradox shifted back to full height in a most grotesque fashion as his body spun in different ways before his head shifted back to its normal size. Diamond yelled at the passengers to run to the other cart as he dealt with Paradox. While the passengers fled, two extra mechanical arms began to form on Paradox's appearance of Mecha-Diamond as all four of arms ignited red plasma blades. "Attack Diamond!" The four arms began to spin in opposite directions of his body in quick movements as he rapidly approached Diamond that it was impossible to strike him above or behind.
Confused on what his next move should be, Diamond noticed parts of Paradox's chest plate were loose as it was glitching in and out. Out of options, Diamond swung at Paradox which he swiftly blocked with the four blades, but Diamond was able to have his nanotech grow on Paradox's arms as he then had the nanites send an electric shock on the foreign host, which granted him an opening in tearing off the chest plate and firing two blasts from his repulsers into Paradox's chest. This stunned Paradox as Diamond charged at him and began to tear all the vital wires, buttons, and controls that operated Paradox's mechanical body. Paradox's voice box became affected as it began to shift into different tones and voices as he tried to speak, "No, I will.....not.....be bested a.....second......time." Paradox was able to gain control of his arms as he threw Diamond out of the train cart out into the city's skyline. Diamond was able to shoot a grapple around Paradox's legs as he pulled both of them out into the air as his body began to glow golden with pure Light. Paradox descended towards him with chains around his body as he prepared to strike fatal blows on Diamond's body. Diamond closed his eyes as he extended his right arm while having his fingers form a finger gun. He whispered silently with firm conviction, "Through the power of Heaven's Light all things are possible......grant me the power to send this foul demon of a man back to the infernal depths where he belongs." Diamond then fired a large blast of pure Light towards Paradox as his enemy screamed in anger, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The power caused from this blast was so strong and hot that it started to melt the metal on Paradox's body and causing any remaining circuits to fry.
Diamond floated towards the ground as he stared at a ball of fire fall towards the ground as it created a large crater. He stepped forward and saw Paradox's mangled body as his soul still held possession of it. Paradox was still able to manipulate his body to change into whoever he chooses, and as a last resort he changed to Diamond's mother. "Trevor.......how could you do this.....to me......your own mother.......after all your father and I have done for you this is how you repay us?" "Quit your bull you pathetic character of a soul. If I had the power to judge you in the afterlife, I would create a separate place for sadistic manipulators such as yourself so all you scoundrels can do nothing more than hurt yourselves for your sins!" Diamond then used his power to lift Paradox in the air and was about to crush his body and seal his soul permanently, but as he did so a blazing portal appeared as a pitch-black arm reached out and snatched Paradox before Diamond had time to react. Dumbfounded, Diamond de-activated his suit and left his Light form in order to process what happened. Realizing there was nothing else to do he traveled back to the castle. When he arrived, he saw how the group of heroes easily defeated all of the devilish creatures and were tossing all the dead bodies into a giant pile. Only one thing concerned him, the fact Lorenzo and Viciate's bodies were both missing from the battle. He reasoned they managed to escape, but with the injuries they sustained, it would be a long while before they would show themselves again. After making this assumption, Diamond's family greeted him with open arms and hugs, yet even Diamond did not recognize Tray's new body. Tray had to explain his entire story again to Diamond so he would understand why he looked like "A living glowstick." Hearing Tray's story about Joan made Diamond sorrowful and offered to help in making sure Joan's body receives a proper burial. King Alexander and Diamond hastily organized the funeral and gave Joan's family time to grieve and remember their youngest member that was stolen from them.
While the mourners were conversing with themselves, the king wanted to lead Diamond through the many rooms and wings of the enchanting castle. He wanted to show Diamond the inner secrets and history of this castle, so he very discretely led him down a flight of stairs into an older section of the castle where even most of the king's court were not allowed to enter. The two stepped through two enormous emerald doors and continued on through the darkness. The king ignited a turquoise flame from his hands and led Diamond to a large wall. King Alexander, "Stare at these murals Diamond. Notice the story they tell." Diamond stared at the murals and paintings on the wall trying to understand the history behind them. He saw what appeared to be angels directing two races. To the right were humans with their leader baring a resemblance to Alexander with folded hands in prayer as their eyes gazed at the Heavenly specters, in addition it appeared that swords and shields were descending towards them. To the left were the ancient race of Enders who also had their gaze towards Heaven, but descending towards their hands were scrolls with quills, signifying their role to write and document. At the front of the line of Enders stood none other than Ranfus, although significantly younger. Diamond continued down the wall as the next scene involved the leaders of the humans and enders being coronated with the two leaders' hands being locked in agreement. The next scene depicted what was either a battle or war where many humans and enders were dead, brough to their demise by rebellious humans. It depicted how after the battle Ranfus took the remaining enders away to a place that could supervise the entire Megaverse free from human interaction. The last scene showed the battle worn king of the humans siting on his throne with a tear in his left eye, while his right side remained stoic. His left arm pointed downwards to a decree while his right arm pointed upwards with a grand castle and city floating in the palm of his hand. "The Enders used to dwell with you?" "Indeed, for you see, the king in those murals is actually my great-grandfather. Time goes by very slowly for us here, not only that but we tend to live for thousands of years. Originally, after the first man and woman were created and fell into sin, we were created in the aftermath of that event. We bear the same weaknesses as other humans after the fall, but we were created to protect the Enders, who would document the shifting tide of Creation across the Megaverse. Our special duty connected us more in tune with the messengers of Heaven and we strived to live up to our mission of acting as the second example for the Megaverse, the Main Omniverse being the first. Yet, a few of the humans of my great-grandfather's time were seduced by the powers of evil for the many fallen angels, now turned demons, preyed upon their fallen status and sparked division between human and ender. Eventually a genocide broke out where rogue humans wanted the power of the Enders to themselves and would slaughter anyone who opposed them. My great-grandfather and Ranfus ultimately triumphed, but the damage had been done for the Enders no longer trusted us and collectively agreed humans everywhere were unpredictable and destructive. Ranfus left this Omniverse with the survivors of his race, thus leaving us as the sole inhabitants of this realm. From the ashes of the old kingdom, my great-grandfather led the creation of a new one as you can see here, but the reason why his left side is sad is the fact he did not kill the leaders of the rebellion. He did not want to take their lives, so instead he banished them to the wildness of the Megaverse. After casting them out of this Omniverse, he placed a ban where no one will be able to enter or leave. Using his divine gifts, he was able to practically make it seem like this Omniverse was erased and could not be discoverable unless him or another king wills its borders to open up once again."
"And what happened to the exiled ones?" "Most of them died across the Megaverse but their main leader, Mek'el continued following the path of evil and grew stronger in the powers of darkness. This granted him an unnatural talent of cheating death, but when an event in Omniverse 63,745 occurred when that Omniverse's Celestial had an offspring with that Omniverse's name for an angel, Mek'el sensed the potential of such an offspring." "Hold on, that's the Omniverse the Megaverse Council and I had named Evangelion. Yeah, those creatures they call angels are definitely not real angels, but you mean to tell me that this Mek'el influenced The Devourer?" "No, Mek'el BECAME The Devourer. He transferred his soul into the newborn soul of the deadly offspring, completely fusing with the new soul. In response to this, my great-grandfather on his deathbed, ordered my grandfather to create a device that could end Mek'el once and for all. That device was the Matrix of Eternity. It was hastily crafted before my grandfather sent it to Omniverse 63,745 hoping it could destroy Mek'el there. Unfortunately, it did not fulfill its original purpose due to Mek'el fully becoming The Devourer and traveled across the Megaverse eating the Core of whatever Omniverse he entered. His travels would take a long time to reach his next destination, but nothing could stop him. The Matrix continued to grow with wisdom in Omniverse 63,745 before an apparition of an Ender ordered a singular person to send the Matrix in the direction of the Main Omniverse. Eventually, the Matrix landed in your Omniverse, but was kept hidden for a long time with only glimpses and rumors of such a treasure of untold power being passed on from dimension to dimension. Finally at last, you found it in 2021 just as The Devourer arrived in your Omniverse. Little did you know, but upon his defeat when you unleashed the power of the Matrix, it sent shockwaves across the Megaverse. Myself along with my people celebrated when we felt the destruction of The Devourer, finally knowing a dark piece of our history has been put to rest." "When I traveled to Omniverse 63,745 last summer, it was promoted that they created the Matrix of Eternity." "Their leaders simply changed the story and wiped our part out of their history books, for the select few who told you it was their ancestors that created it are not at fault. For they too believe this error, this is simply a mistake on their ancestor's part and nothing more. Come along now, let's head back up a few stairs back to where there was an intersection, there is more I need to show you."
The king led Diamond to a room with many floating orbs that had different colors symbolizing a different Omniverse. "I am aware that you and the Megaverse Council have a broad idea to all the soldiers at the disposal of our enemy. But I want to show you some specific souls that are.......unique. The person known as The Ageless managed to recruit several corrupted versions of the strongest beings in your Omniverse's hierarchy. Among them consist of a fallen Omniversal Tribunal, Protectors, Insanity Trio, Bad Time Trio, many alternate timeline versions of you, and other powerful individuals from the Megaverse. The Ageless and Demonic Council calls this elite group the Bad End Friends. King Alexander brings forth an orb that displays the souls of those fallen humans. This reveals the true thoughts of their soul and what their soul really says." Diamond leaned forward to hear the cries of their souls and was surprised to hear their souls cry out in unison. "We just wanted to heal but now our nightmares are real, and we'll never wake up for we're torn apart! We want freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" Diamond could not believe what he heard, for it caused him to step back to avoid their cries. "Secondly, I want to briefly touch on the Ageless' story. Thousands of years ago lived a man born with unnatural gifts, he could enter into violent places and leave with minor bruises. He was able to kill the celestials in his world with his mere hands and crude weapons. Yet, he was not satisfied, he wanted more power and more entities to kill, for he enjoyed the bloodlust. This led to him being sought out by the fallen Seraphim now named Black Hat. He offered him more power and an entire place beyond his imagination to live the rest of his days as a butcher. The man agreed and henceforth became an unwavering servant directly to Black Hat. Eventually, he earned a reputation by parading himself as a savior wearing polished white and gold armor, in order to win the trust of many defenders who protected their native Omniverse. Once he won their complete trust and learned their secrets and fears, it would be too late for that Omniverse. For it would be a matter of time before complete carnage would be unleashed on all the helpless souls in that Omniverse. Thus, he was given the title Harbinger of the End.......a human who is an undisputed champion in gladiator battles with a mind to match his muscles.......a man always youthful, laughing at the hands of time........The Ageless."
"The last thing I want to reveal to you is the location of our enemy's base. The Megaverse Council has discovered it and that is Omniverse 6,666,666. That Omniverse had so many events that ran parallel with your Omniverse it was almost an exact copy. However, before your Omniverse was assaulted by Black Hat's forces in 2021, they won a resounding battle in that Omniverse. Everything that could have gone wrong in that final battle, did indeed go wrong." King Alexander used his powers to generate a vision of that fateful day. The scene pans to a bloodied and defeated Diamond with a shattered Sword of the Omniverse with Black Hat towering over him. The two listened intently when Black Hat spoke, "The Initiative has fallen. Its members......lost. You have been deceived......betrayed.........purged." The vision hovers over countless bodies of Initiative members that had died in the battle with some of their corpses disfigured and mutilated they were unidentifiable. "I can feel you are scared of judgement day. You led millions of souls to their grave. Your lukewarm faith shaken due to your pleas and petitions being ignored. So, I offer you a choice. Join us and postpone the judgement day, have all the pleasures of the world handed back to you, and avoid living the life as a failure!" The defeated Diamond raised his teary eyes and spoke, "I......accept!" The crowd around him chuckled as Black Hat stepped away with Alastor taking his place, "It's a deal!" The defeated Diamond shook his hand and became controlled and a vessel for Alastor until his original body could be restored. After this moment a large echo of thunder echoes across the battlefield with a bright light shining in the distance. The Ageless, "What is that?" Black Hat, "The veil of the Main Omniverse has been lifted. We are no longer kept out! We must seize this opportunity before it's too late." Ageless remain here with Alastor's vessel." "Why?" "If things go sour for me and my forces in the Main Omniverse, I want us to still have a strong foothold here in the Megaverse. This Omniverse will be perfect. I will be taking half of our forces with me." "What of the few people who survived this battle, should I find them and use them as prisoners and entertainment?" Black Hat had a sadistic smile, "There are no survivors!" The vision then played the sounds of screams with Diamond begging Alexander to end the vision. "That's enough! I cannot watch nor listen to this vision anymore! Please end this nightmare!"
Alexander ended the vision as the two were brought back to reality. Alexander spoke with sympathy to Diamond, "I did not show you that vision to torture you. I revealed it, because you need to understand exactly what to expect from our enemy and take deep root in your faith." "Why did the pleas and petitions of that Diamond go unanswered?" "Truthfully, that Diamond did not pray for deliverance, he instead wanted more glory and praise. When he was in public and prayed, it was for show, and he was not sincere in the words he said. Even at the last moment, he received a message from Heaven begging him to repent from his prideful ways and deliverance would come. Yet, in that last moment, he refused with his soul saying no it has to be my way and I do not want to change the life I am living and that's final. It was his fault no Heavenly aid came, now he has no one else to blame other than himself for his misdeeds and wickedness." Diamond's body had a series of goosebumps when King Alexander finished speaking. He always wondered what would have happened in the final battle for his Omniverse if there was no intervention, now he wished for this catastrophic example to leave his mind.
After this event, King Alexander led Diamond to a sacred place called the Veil of the Celestial Plane to speak with his angelic friends. Along the way, King Alexander explained to Diamond the difference between True Balance and Perfection. How True Balance is the perfect imperfect form of Perfection, because as mortal creatures that are finite with flaws no person alive can reach True Perfection. He explained how demons fear True Balance and how the demons only focus on temporal goals not eternal, for all that awaits them in eternity is eternal punishment. (This is a footnote, because at the end of this post in the comment section I will share the entire conversation in greater detail, for some reason the Sub-Reddit automatic rules count it as a rating post no matter how hard I rephrased the dialogue. Very weird that happened because it never happened before, but hopefully I will be able to share that conversation in full under this post, because it took a lot of effort in composing the dialogue.)
Filled with courage and zeal from their conversation, Diamond entered into the Veil and soon found himself in a vast empty white plain where numerous figures of light floated around him before manifesting themselves as angelic beings. He observed how each of the nine choirs of angels were present. "The Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. All present here at this very moment." A Seraphim spoke up, "Why do you wish to commune with us?" "I am here seeking advice from my Heavenly friends in these trying times. I'm sure all of you are very much aware and can sense in the Celestial Cosmic Plane that the forces of evil are growing ever so powerful. I can feel it within my being that soon a final confrontation may happen." Saint Michael the Archangel, "You already possess all that you need. You know the prayers for deliverance and aid. Furthermore, you know how your enemy thinks." "With all due respect, this time it is different. Different than the way it was for the fate of the Main Omnvierse. This....is the fate of the Megaverse....of everything that had exist, currently exists and will exist. Please there must be some advice all of you may be able to bestow upon me." A Virtue floated towards Diamond's soul to speak, "These particular demons feast on fear, chaos, and revenge. They want nothing more than to see the righteous fall, yet their common weakness is the sin of pride." Uriel intervened, "Pride, that ancient sin which was the sole root that led a third of our former brothers and sisters into disobedience. Fully rejecting the True Love of the Father and willingly following the arrogance of the fallen light bearer, who now brings darkness and death to everyone." Azrael quickly followed up with Uriel's statement, "When they fell from grace, they still retained their position and powers. Now with their leaders nearly having their bodies restored before their fall, through the power of The Seed, they are more of a threat to the Natural Order."
Diamond came to a sudden realization, "With Cloaked Shadow having control of the Dark and shadows in general, does that mean he was a Power before he fell?" The choirs nodded as Diamond responded with his hands near his mouth deep in thought. "I see, well if pride is their weakness than surely arrogance is a key factor in their personalities. Perhaps if the Matrix of Eternity is re-loaded with the knowledge accessible from the Alphaverse, it could overwhelm them." A Cherub, "Yes! The knowledge from the Alphaverse can restore the Matrix and used to harm the demons!" Saint Gabriel the Archangel, "Do not be afraid in this next step in your journey, Trevor. Since the fall of man, the Devil and his minions have actively been at war with mankind, searching for ways to snatch souls from Heaven. Yet, in the history of not only the Megaverse, but your own world, you know that God conquers all, even in the darkest times. From the persecution of the early Christians under the rule of the Mad Emperor Nero, deadly heresies, scandals, political and religious wars, the French Revolution, Napoleon Wars, Russian Revolution, Mexican Revolution, World Wars, down to the present. The demons worked through man to not only bring ruin to the face of the Earth, but to attack the Church. However, both the Earth and the Church have endured and will continue to endure until the end of time when God will come in all His splendor and glory and reward the just while punishing the wicked. For they will receive their reward." A Throne, "There is one more thing that will surely turn the tide of the war, but only as a last resort." Diamond, "What is it? Please share." A Seraphim, "The hypothesis of you being able to fuse with your friends Ben Tennyson and Xavier is true. If Xavier is fully in tune with his scarab and enter into his phase known as Sacred and Tennyson into Alien X, you three will become the singular most powerful entity in the entire Megaverse." Saint Michael the Archangel, "Be warned for this should only be used as a complete last resort. For there can be no going back when you three become a singular entity. There might be potential for you three to separate from this final form, but if there is, it will be certain death for no mortal can yield that much power. Arise young warrior, take courage, and have total faith on the Lord, He will hear your prayers. Remember we are at your side and every warrior in the final battle will have their guardian angel with them at all times."
The Heavenly beings once again became balls of bright light, which slowly blinded Diamond before he awoke from his vision back in his own body just before the Veil of the Celestial Plane. King Alexander stared at Diamond before helping him to his feet. Diamond, "I know what I must do. I must re-load the Matrix in the Well of the Megaverse." Alexander, "That's suicide. For you to be exposed to so much power and knowledge, it will vaporize you." "Believe me, it will work. Just help me recover the pieces of the Matrix and I will reforge it with the nanotech from my suit." Diamond sprinted with great haste through all the flights of stairs Alexander had them take, back to where the pieces of the Matrix laid. He had Alexander hold the pieces together in their proper position as the nanotech from his suit crawled around the broken pieces and fused the Matrix back together again. During this time the other heroes caught up to Diamond and Alexander and decided to watch as Diamond would enter the Well of the Megaverse. King Alexander led the group to the entrance of the Well where everyone wished him good luck. Diamond transformed into his Light form and entered the Well. This form allowed him to withstand the pressure around him as he opened the Matrix to collect wisdom from all corners of the Megaverse both the good and bad. When he did this, thousands of images and lifetimes flashed in his mind causing him to scream, in order to avoid his mind from overloading he constantly switched to different forms and phases every 30 seconds. Everyone waited anxiously outside after hearing Diamond's screams and began to fear for the worst, but just when their hope wavered, a silhouette started to walk towards them. From the depths of the Well emerged Diamond holding the restored Matrix of Eternity firmly in his right hand. King Alexander, "Welcome back Diamond!" "Thanks. With the Matrix restored and the new alliance your Omniverse has made with the Megaverse Council, hope for our victory has reached an all-time high." The heroes only stayed for a few more hours at the Alphaverse before returning back to the base of the Megaverse Council. Upon arrival, the Council members were stunned to see the return of their leader, and with swift orders, Diamond once again regained leadership of the Megaverse Council.
Epilogue
In a desolate place with abandoned buildings in Omniverse 3. "Volxi, can you head downstairs into our storage to bring some refreshment to our party?" "You got it sis!" Volxi entered into one of the chambers to find a spare stash of spiked beverages but was startled when she heard a voice echo in the darkness. "Time's running out Vol." She leaned over to view where the voice was coming from until her eyes landed on a glowing dark green warrior. She gasped as she recognized it was her old friend from Omniverse 8. "Cayden what happened to you?" "That name no longer has any meaning for me." "You look so different. Your skin is green and your eyes black. You look like......" "A ghost? Phantom? Condemned Soul?! Truly a miserable fate I have fallen into. Given a body constantly degenerating and repairing itself, allowing me to phase between matter but how painful it is feeling my cells destroy themselves before regenerating and repeating the process all over again." "Is this a dream?" "No." "I thought not, if it was there would be something to replenish my throat." Cayden hands Volxi a bottle. "Thanks mate. I still have a cup on me. Here it's on the house." Cayden took a long sip before speaking. "We haven't seen each other since the destruction of your people's original home. A lot has happened since then. Last year a terrible event plagued the Megaverse and I tried to stop it. I made my own device that enabled me to visit other Omniverses. I could sense something sinister causing many Omniverses to die. I took my weapons and went to who I thought was responsible. That man was so strong and talented, he mortally wounded me without taking our fight seriously. I thought at that moment when I laid dying that I would give anything to get a second chance at life. To see my friends and family again. My requests were answered by a figure in black business attire and a top hat."
Volxi groaned for she knew who he was referring to while Cayden continued on with his speech. "I accepted his offer and became what you see before you. The only part that was positive is in our contract, I managed to still own partial control of my soul. Perhaps it is through this partial ownership that causes me to experience great pains and desperately seek liberation." "And you came back to your friend for aid huh?" "No, I came as a messenger." Volxi stared at him with concern. "You struck a deal with him too, Volxi. A deal before your home, the ninth Omniverse was destroyed, causing you and all the survivors to wander throughout the Megaverse." "I forgot all about that deal. It can't happen this soon, he did not even stay true to his promise." "Is that really a surprise?" "DANG IT! Alright I'll wager my way out of it. I always do." "You can't talk to yourself out of this one!" "How long do I have Cayden?" Cayden stepped close to Volxi where he was only a few inches away from her face. "That name has no meaning for me, I'm The Shameful now. You have only a few hours. He will send his terrible leviathan to drag you, your sister, and this entire Omniverse along with you! Already his army sets their eyes on this world, drawn by ravenous hunger, by the one who bears the crimson scar." The Shameful laid his hand on a piece of Volxi's face that was not covered by cybernetics. "Make peace with your losses and may it only be a swift end and not a contract of servitude. Alas, he always comes to collect what is his." In that moment The Shameful vanished from her sight and without a moment to lose, she started running back upstairs into the settlement screaming for everyone to pack their things and prepare to leave. Her sister, Val stopped her, "Did you fall down the stairs giving you that slash across your face? What's coming after us?" Volxi stared deep into her sister's soul, "We need to run as far as we can and get our people to safety before it's too late." From a few hundred yards away The Ageless stood waiting for the perfect time to strike with Maestro Zorro summoning the nightmarish Leviathan.

are their any other (non CH/IF) properties that contain Neptunia references?
(Excluding cross-overs)

My 2014 X3 is getting up there in age and mileage. So far, knock on wood, it’s given me 0 problems at all, except for my rear taillight but in my province as long as the brake light works it’s fine so I don’t feel like replacing it...
I give it to my mechanic every 7500 km and he changes oil and tops up transmission fluid (i think that’s what he tops up lol). I have not done any replacements except for the cabin filters and tires ever. Is there anything I should be wary about? For context, if needed, 99% city driving, I live in a metro city with no highways, if I get the chance to pull it I will probably do it but not often.
Also a side question, is 7500km too long between oil changes? My mechanic also writes a date (I think 4-6 months?) to when I should come again but I seldom follow that as it takes me about 9 months to get to 7500km. Should I be giving it to him more often?

I just did the quest where we killed Altan and at the end, Ichi came and said that "people know what we did" and "people fear that the Ghost will come for them next". What does this refer to? I don't understand what the line we crossed could possibly be. We killed a whole band of slave traders and people look at us with disgust? The only thing I can think of is that we killed the Black Wolf which claimed that Altan forced him, but even that is a stretch in my eyes as he did that for years.
Also another note, Altan said that we killed our own people. I assume that it is connected to the first part, but who did we kill that is seen as our own? Any help in understanding this would be appreciated!

Update on the 2013 3.6L avenger i picked up that had a slew of codes on it, including misfires, low oil pressure, and pcm codes.
I tore it down and found blown rockers for cyl6, as well as wear on the camshaft in both spots. I’ll be replacing all rockers on the left side of engine, plus a new exhaust camshaft. Obviously all gaskets for every seal broken.
Since I’ve already got it down, I’m going to replace the spark plugs, the coils, and fuel injectors while I’m at it because it’s at 130k with no known previous replacements.
Im replacing oil filter and doing an oil change, coolant will be flushed and new(had to drain anyway to get the valve cover off).
What else should I be looking at checking or replacing since I’ve already got seals broken?

Hello,
The Trinity is undoubtedly one of the favorite subjects for other churches to criticize the Witnesses about. The reason for this is relatively well known. In most churches, the Trinity is preached repetitively over decades without most people even understanding what it means theologically.
When they encounter the Witnesses who tell them that Jesus is not God (which is actually incorrect since, according to Witness teaching, Jesus is a lesser god, just not Jehovah), quick negative judgments are often made, and the topic is dismissed.
Of course, there are also people, even here in this sub, who are so pissed off at the Witnesses that they support the Trinity just because the Witnesses do not.
So, here are the biblical and historical facts:
The Trinity, in neither word nor meaning, is in the Bible. There is simply not a single verse that states something like: "God is one and consists of three persons who are equal to themselves and also God."
Nowhere.
Mind you, everything else, such as the fact that Jesus descended from David and exactly how with every single ancestor, and that he is the Messiah are all written into it. All of that and many other side notes are interestingly all in the Bible.
But something as "important" as the Trinity? Seriously?
What Trinitarians use as "arguments" is cherry-picking. They piece together their doctrine throughout the entire book.
Is that wrong? No, but it can just as easily be used against them.
Someone says: John 10:30 "I and the Father are one."
I say: John 14:28 "The Father is greater than I."
Someone else says: John 14:9 "Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father."
I say: John 5:30 "I (Jesus) can do nothing on my own."
We could play this "game" for years. It makes no sense. Almost every verse can be interpreted differently, in a way that contradicts the interpretations of others.
"Yes, but John 1:1!!!1111!!!111"
There's a whole article on Wikipedia that clearly states that both Jesus is „God", „a god," and "of divine nature" can be translated simultaneously.
That argument doesn't work.
The Trinity prevailed because the Arians lost politically at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Why? Because they wanted to honor Jesus by deifying him but didn't want to break with the Jewish traditions of the Father. After that, Trinitarian Bible scholars translated their Bible - usually quite correctly - in a way that leads more towards Trinitarian thinking. And that cycle repeats until today.
Fact is: 1 ≠ 3.
God is not irrational or contradictory. The Trinity is.
Anyone who seriously believes that a God would truthfully reveal himself to his people by claiming on the one hand that he is immortal because he is eternal but on the other hand that he can be killed by the cross and rise again, I can't help.
And yes, when Trinitarians say that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man always and everywhere, even a kindergarten child understands that God the Father must also be mortal because he shares his essence with the Son and is somehow also separated from him.
And that's just one of many examples of what happens when you try to connect the properties of an imperfect created being - a human - with those of an almighty creator God.
There are even more examples, like why Jesus doesn't know when the end times will occur and refers to the Father, who supposedly "knows more" than he does in this context. But it is literally the same God refering to himself is it not, eh ?
And yes, I have intentionally shortened the discussion of the Trinity for simple reasons because I don't feel like writing 200 pages about something that doesn't make sense anyway.
It just doesn't work. Period.
By the way, the argument "You can't fully understand God" doesn't apply either.
If I couldn't understand God at all, I couldn't get to know him. Ergo, Christianity would be a huge farce.
I can certainly admit that as an imperfect being, I understand God imperfectly. That's not hard. I know 100% what it's like to be here and now in this place at this time.
Maybe I can remember yesterday and maybe think about tomorrow.
But only God can be everywhere fully, at every place and every time, and that 100%, and I can't, and that's why God is almighty and not me.
That's logical and can also be presented that way. After all, the Bible itself says that God is the origin of time; otherwise, the statement that he is the Alpha and Omega wouldn't make any sense.
So yes, God is logical, 100%, and the Trinity is illogical and therefore, by definition, not a suitable description of God.
So, what are the alternatives? I see three different fitting models that I'd like to discuss with you.

1. Arianism

No, the Witnesses are not Arians, but they are closer to Arius' thoughts than to the Trinity.
If God is an Arian element, then it is fire, and heat and light are its products. The products depend on the fire but not vice versa.

1. Modalism

This concerns some charismatic Pentecostal churches. Here, the element of God is like water, and its states - solid, gas, and liquid - are completely separate states that the element - God - can take on.

1. Mormons and Nestorians

Both are Trinitarian "heresies" and the only ways to save this nonsensical Trinity.
Nestorians reject the hypostatic union and postulate the existence of two separate existences of Jesus Christ - Human Jesus and Jesus the God.
Mormons argue differently in that all three beings (FatheSon/Spirit) are completely separate and only act together "socially." That is, they reject the intrinsic Trinity but not the ecumenical one outwardly.

. I have a 2018 Kia optima S. The engine is bad and I burn oil very very fast. About every 500-600 miles I need to add oil. The dipstick will be at the very bottom. Do I need to do regular oil changes still for the filter and such? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Basically my group can't meet up for a while and i've been itching to practice my world building; Isekai is my favorite genre of anime and thought it could tell a neat story. It'll be play by post and can take the form of whatever story you are looking to tell. Overpowered main character from another world summoned as a hero, Evil character who wants world domination, normal guy in a new world with a cheat skill, etc. We can theory craft on that later.
We'll use 5e dnd as the chassis for the system, just as a gauge of what you can and cant do; with Massive leniencies given for the stories sake. The goal is to tell a cool story; Combat will be minimum if at all; and it will be Theatre of the mind for the game; i can give some reference images if needed.
We will do a basic Session 0 to draw boundaries and lines not to cross. If you are interested Comment your Discord Username and what kind of story you want to tell down below. Thanks for your time. <3