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Not sure how successful I'll be seeing as this is reddit but screw it, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. I'm hopeful to find someone who'll become obsessed and addicted as I am with them. I know I know that isn't the healthiest but damn if it doesn't feel amazing having that. I'm a hopeless romantic who falls too fast and easily so please be in this for the long haul. I'm tired of getting used or ghosted. If it matters to you when we get to that point I'm a dom by nature. My interests and hobbies include watching tv/movies/basketball and wrestling, reading when the mood strikes, occasionally playing video games on my switch, listening to music and going on walks. I'm an introvert by nature so if you're the type who expects full blown essays as replies we won't work and you'll hate me. My replies can come across short and to the point but that doesn't mean I don't care or I'm bored. It's just how I converse. I do have discord if we click since reddit sucks for notifications and messaging. Please feel free to reach out if any of this resonates with you.

"Good afternoon Ms. Lopez." I say, warmly greeting an elderly Cuban woman in her sixties. She smiles sweetly at me as she asks me if I am the chef behind today's food, in Spanish. I smile and nod at her, and she excitedly begins to chatter in Spanish, telling me the latest chisme regarding the latest romantic escapades occurring in her son's life.
I lightly place some ham on the sandwich I'm preparing for her as she excitedly gossips with me. I cleverly practice my active listening skills, while occasionally chiming in to let her know that I am actively aware of what she's saying. The woman is one of the last people to arrive during today's meal hour. She seems to operate on a sense of punctuality that is uniquely hers, almost like a force of nature. I almost admire it, if I'm being honest. My fellow volunteers look at me and smile as they sense the passive patience I radiate in this minor interaction.
The day has been one of the more chill ones in the soup kitchen, especially since I started actively championing the place. At our most busy we've served hundreds of families in a single day, and today we've served a few dozen. There's something quite nice about this moment of normalcy. I wonder if I sometimes took this level of mundanity for granted during this jump...
To be fair to myself a part of me is almost acting like I'm guaranteed to send myself to some apocalyptic hellscape and that's just not happening. I'm almost guaranteed to go to a place more dangerous than "9-5; a white-collar simulator", but I'm picking my next destination and after the decade of serenity I've had here I've got no reason to act like a dumbass and jeopardize my odds of long-term success in this career by sending myself to a death trap. Ms. Lopez smiles as she walks away, clearly believing she's shared vital chisme with me. To be fair, she did share gossip plenty of people would find juicy, but since I'm not some gossip I was the wrong audience for her words.
My fellow volunteers look at me and glance at my phone with curious looks. I pick up the thing and see that I've been missing an exhilarating conversation in our group chat. I skim the thing, my perfected memory allowing me to instantly catch up with the conversation the small gaggle of brave volunteers who kindly donate our weekend hours have been having before I begin to text the group back.
The rest of the day passes by in a blur. We wait for the people who've come for a meal to finish their food up and then we get to cleaning. After that we do a few sweeps of the parts of the church we've used before going our separate ways. I make my way home, and I do some light meal-prepping as well as practice a few more of my skills. At this point in my stay I've perfected my routine and could do it in my sleep... If I ever slept that is. In the entire time I've been in this setting I don't believe I've slept once. That is a nice feeling, since it means I never wasted an hour of my time, much less six.
The work week is a bit of a slog, since I am eagerly anticipating the news regarding my final promotion. I was never the sort to believe that time felt longer when you were excited about something, or dreading it, but in the time since I came to this setting I've gradually become a believer in such ideas even if they still feel a bit silly. Nonetheless. I diligently work through the week, keep my team on track, and when Friday rolls around I get the news I've waited for.
Thanks to "Gamer's Mind" I am able to keep my face even as the office's general supervisor explains this news to me and not outwardly express my excitement, but internally I am more excited than I've been about anything since I first entered this world. This news means that I'll be getting right around $3,000 dollars every two weeks just for existing! This means that in future jumps working will be optional unless I get really greedy, which frees me up to decide what I want to do in most modern settings. In medieval settings this amount of money could be even more vital, though at the same time such a thing could just... not matter, since in such a setting I could easily just avoid civilization, but this money will certainly liberate me from a lot of the struggles of wasting vast swathes of a jump at a job I don't want.
At the time that I was being told the good news I almost began to cry. Thank goodness for Gamer's Mind, I guess.
Nine years ago I was down on my luck and down to my last dollars when I got the job offer that led me here and this news means that I am free from such things. The freedom and power that comes with making enough to get by, especially passively, is awe-inspiring, and it's quite difficult for me to find the words to express how excited it makes me feel even days after it. I spend... close to a week passively smiling and being just ambiently happy, as I begin to integrate a new set of responsibilities into my work life.
During this time my decision to fix the coffee machine in the office break-room by hand after it almost burns a colleague results in me getting a new class; "Handyman" and the initial ability I receive is a simple one that bolsters my agility a touch, agility being my attribute tied to fine motor skills. I skillfully use this class to actually fix various things by hand, and I begin to steadily accrue various maintenance skills. In days I gain class levels, and with each class level I am able to repair things faster, more cheaply, and eventually my ability to fix matures into an ability to improve things, which I instinctively know will lead to some shenanigans down the line. Before I know it days have turned into weeks, which age and turn into months. My skills with leadership and motivation have continued to improve and I lead my team with my full focus and skillful decision-making. Before I know it I am in the final leg of the final stretch of my first jump.
I've been here for 119 months. Nine years and eleven months. It's actually been... even longer than that. I'm at the beginning of the final week of my stay here, and my hands idly clean a dish as I passively listen to Pastor Charlie, one of the few guest pastors the church has invited in years deliver a sermon. He has the congregants enraptured and eating out of the palm of his hand as he speaks about a miracle that "Our Lord" once performed. His voice is a pleasant distraction and one of my twin trains of thought listens and takes notes on how the man delivers his sermon. Physically I seem to be engrossed in the man's sermon when someone, one of the church's assistants, taps on my shoulder and gestures for me to walk over to the pastor's office. I stealthy get up, activating "Rogue" and make my way out of the serving area adjacent to the kitchen. I relax a touch when I'm in the long hallway leading me to Tyler's, Pastor Rhodes's, office.
As I walk down the humble hallway I feel a strange sense of finality wash over me. There's something uncommonly... real about this trek. I feel more solid, more whole than I have in a while, and I suspect that it's because this is my last time in this soup kitchen, this church. I won't be returning here, at least not for a while, and that's sad. It's not the saddest thing that's ever happened to me, but it is kind of a bummer and I allow myself to feel a touch of real, genuine sadness at the sobering realization that when I leave this place I'll be leaving for a long time.
I eventually put that thought away, shelving it and compartmentalizing my thoughts so I can focus on better, happier things. My enhanced senses allow me to spot things like faint cracks too thin for normal humans to spot, and as I walk past them I cast my handy spell on them. I watch as the walls of the hallway repair themselves and I smile, sensing the powerful potential of the spell at my fingertips. I reach the office of the man I've spent plenty of weekends working alongside, and under, and I smile, even internally, when he looks up and spots me. He greets me with a smile and motions for me to sit down. When I do what he asks, he immediately begins to speak.
"Lucas, I apologize for calling out to you but I wanted to check in. Today you seemed... Out of it." The man exclaims, and judging from the way my heart jumps in my chest I realize that some people are just.... more intuitive than others. My acting skill gets a nice little load of experience when I mask my reaction to his words and let out a small, natural sounding laugh in response to his question.
"Tyler," I begin, causing the man to wince. I'm an atheist, or at least I was pre-chain, now... well, now I'm a lot more curious about religion than I was before. I'm not sure if gods exist, but I sure as shit know the supernatural does and I'm not in the business of denying what I can see. I've made my vague religious position clear to the man long ago so he insists I call him "Tyler" which I've personally always found a bit awkward, but there's something a little funny about how it disarms him so cleanly during this interaction. "I'm doing... Okay. I AM bummed I won't be here next week." I state, calmly. This causes my friend's eyes to widen in surprise.
"You're missing a week? I'm sure some of our regulars will be disappointed. Is everything alright?" The man asks. His question is so sincere, so genuine that it's mildly disarming.
I'm... not a nice person. I'm far from mean, sure, but I've come to accept that there's a core of kindness in some people, even in many people, and I am not someone who has that core, that central, unconscious, guiding light that moves them towards kindness with the ease and naturalness of a heartbeat. At my core rests something else, something I don't know if I can articulate in just a few words.
I wouldn't say I'm mean or anything like that but I'm far more cynical than a lot of the people I've met are. In this world, especially, it seems like a lot of people are just decent at heart and I suspect that that was and is the case in the world I was born on as well. Tyler is one of the people I've met whose central guiding light seems to be centered around decency and kindness and I think in any world the man could find himself in he'd strive to be kind. It's almost like interacting with a real version of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons...
"I'm okay. I'm gonna be doing other stuff, and I normally prioritize the soup kitchen over my work or social life," I state, and this isn't a flex it's simply a very true statement. Tyler hears the remark and smiles faintly. "But I've been asked to help out with other stuff from friends who wouldn't ask if it wasn't something they really felt they could handle alone. I'm just gonna miss one weekend, and then I'll be back." I remark, and Tyler smiles at me.
"Okay Lucas. If you need any help you'd ask, right?" Tyler asks, and I consider the question. This is only somewhat an act, as I don't know if I'd ask for help if I needed it. I ultimately nod at the man and I can sense a touch of sadness as he studies my response, which I don't love but I also don't really feel right lying anymore than is necessary. The man makes some small talk and I quickly breeze through it. In minutes I am back in the kitchen with the others. And minutes after that I am cleaning with my fellow volunteers. Almost before I know it I'm stepping out of the church after we've cleaned out the kitchen. I glance at it one last time before I make my way home.
The next few days pass by in a blur, with only two minor oddities; the first being that I ask Hannah to come out with me on Friday night. I have got to see if I can stomach the idea of any sort of romance in a jump, and this is a consequence free way for me to do something along those lines. The second oddity is that I spend nearly all of my money purchasing... well, everything. Every night after work I go to various stores and spend the money that I really haven't needed all that much until now, purchasing things like weapons, food, and especially books. I buy boatloads of books, both ready and willing to use up something I won't be able to take with me into future jumps anyway in exchange for stuff I CAN take with me, thanks to the fiat-backed power of an infinite inventory.
The work week is, aside from what I do after work every night, pretty normal but Friday itself is weirdly solemn. The day passes by as quickly as any other day has, filled with minor encounters with glitches, and a few more annoyances with my small number of drawbacks but when five rolls around I clock out one last time and give the office a final look. I am weirdly slow when it comes to getting up and leaving my cubicle, in fact I'm actually one of the last office workers to leave the office but as I step out of the building I experience another burst of gratitude to Gamer's Mind, which keeps me from acting odd or even tearing up as I glance back at the place I've spent thousands of hours in.
I allow myself a beat to... honestly, grieve. I tell myself that it's okay to have feelings about leaving, even if those feelings are big and weird and are not the most fun. Nonetheless I don't linger here, at my place of employment, I have other things I both need and want to do. I use my inventory and change into a pretty casual outfit before I begin a brief walk. _________________________________________________________________________
​The park beside the office building is a rare example of a pristine location in the city. It is filled with natural greenery, and at the moment a stunningly pretty redhead glances at her phone waiting for someone to pop into view.
The redhead is wearing a pleasant looking dress and a jacket, as the weather is just beginning to take the seasonal turn towards the unpleasant. It's still warm enough that the clothes are mostly unnecessary but as she waits for her friend, a young man who has finally gotten the courage to ask her out on something vaguely approximating a date, she appreciates the wisdom of her decision to wear the slightly warmer than necessary clothes.
Her "date", mostly in her eyes though he is aware of her feelings and a part of him feels some happiness in the idea that this is a date, enters the park and spots her before she spots him. He reaches into his inventory and he retrieves something, a nice little bouquet he purchased earlier today and safely stored away. The flowers, prettily packed and all, appear as he walks towards the young woman.
Lucas is testing the waters here. He isn't testing the waters with Hannah specifically, but rather what it feels like to go on a date as a jumper. He has long had strange feelings about this, but he knows that he is going to leave tomorrow and so he wants to see if he can enjoy a date as a jumper, so he is doing a scientific experiment even if he feels... less than great about some aspects of all of this.
"Hannah!" Lucas says, calling out to one of his first, in fact one of his only, real friends in this world. The redhead excitedly turns and spots her longtime friend, waving at him and waving him over. She spots the bouquet and lets out a delighted sounding laugh, and when Lucas hears it the smile that alights his features is heartwarming.
In his day to day life some facets of Lucas's charisma-heavy build only rarely surface in ways that matter and his looks tends to be one such thing He is attractive enough that his looks can captivate and reside in one's imagination for a while after they first meet him, but right now, this early on along his chain his looks are only enough to make people have schoolgirl crushes on him and people can and do get used to his looks after a while. Still, in some moments this is enough to color the impression he makes on people. Right now, in a romantic context, his supernatural attractiveness is enough to change the sort of impression he makes on someone.
The handsome actor reaches his friend and sits down next to her. He hands her the flowers and for a moment a strange serenity washes over the two as they enjoy each other's company. Lucas looks inward and he realizes that he genuinely, well and truly, likes this moment. Hannah looks at him and eventually asks an important question.
"Lucas... how am I gonna hold these flowers?" She asks, and this makes him smile. He is quick to offer her a response.
"I'll take them when we get going but I saw them and I thought of you. I felt like I'd regret it if I didn't give you these." He says, and there is an odd, for him, level of sincerity and genuineness in his voice that makes Hannah giggle girlishly. Lucas right now is relying on his perk-enhanced instincts and the charisma he has honed through social encounters for the last decade, and he's enjoying how it feels.
Both of the figures on the "Date", though neither of them officially dubbed it that, enjoy the moment. Their passive delight and infatuation create an envy-inducing atmosphere of closeness and quiet joy that radiates outward. The park is nearly abandoned so there is no one to witness this moment other than Lucas's benefactor, and Lucas is simply at peace.
Eventually he lightly touches Hannah's hand, and asks her if she'd like to go and get dinner before they go to the movie they agreed on going to watch earlier this week. Hannah agrees, handing Lucas the bouquet and he, to her surprise, puts it in the bag he has on his person. When she asks if that will squish or hurt the flowers Lucas tells her, with a bizarre amount of confidence, that it won't. She eventually accepts this, having learned to trust that Lucas knows what he is doing, and the two of them begin a short walk to a mall they both know well.

31 female, 5’7, 145 pounds. For the last two weeks I haven’t been able to eat. Every time I eat I get shortness of breath, trouble breathing through my nose, tight throat, trouble swallowing, heart palpitations like a real pounding heart with fast pace, chest pressure, chest pains, stomach pains. I’ve only been able to have an ensure plus 350 calories and a baby food 80 calories, that’s just in the last two days. The 10 days before that I haven’t eaten anything. I just need some advice, I’m afraid to eat because of the ton of symptoms I get.

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4K Talk to Me $6
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4K Zach Snyder's Justice League $7
I accept PayPal FF, Zelle, Venmo, FB Pay and Cash App
I accept PayPal FF, Zelle, Venmo, FB pay and Cashapp, and Amazon gift card

I’m an incoming PGY-1 (psych) dating a soon to be PGY-2 (anesthesia). We have been dating for 2.5 years, friends for 2 years prior (met in med school).
The past year has been extremely taxing, both on my partner and our relationship. I see him oscillating between exhaustion, burn out, and depression. He feels too fatigued to try to create social connections in the program or maintain them from home. He tried a counseling session once where he felt the therapist was dismissive and didn’t try to reschedule. He keeps saying he will call a psychiatrist but often gets out after their office is closed.
I feel constantly emotionally put off. Aside from our FaceTimes for a few minutes every night — often consisting of rants of patients from the day or exhaustion cutting them short- it’s hard to find intentional conversation or activity time. We try to schedule monthly check ins to discuss the relationship, a conversation question each night to connect briefly, etc but usually they’re skipped.
He keeps saying I don’t understand the extent of the exhaustion, and that is true to some extent of course. It breaks my heart to see him this way. He’s put on weight which has resulted in poor self esteem, he says he needs to study and workout and meal prep but can never find the time or energy to do any of those things. I just don’t understand what I’m supposed to do. We’re in our mid 20s, and I feel like I’m clinging onto this relationship in hopes that it will become better in attending-hood. It’s just a long wait with no guarantee. I feel like I barely know this version of him. I want to know if I should stay in this relationship or if it will always be this way, but it feels impossible to evaluate.
Should we try taking a break? Couples therapy? Break up? That hurts me to think about but this feeling is all consuming.

I'm just a college student who's done his semester and without being able to go to campus I don't talk to as many people as I used to. So I've been looking for long-term friends but I wouldn't mind a chat or short-term either.
I'm really into skateboarding but I'm pretty new to it, I'm trying to learn quickly tho. I've also been into photography lately, I've been super busy doing photoshoots for people so if i don't respond its likely that. I'm also into basketball, working out, and gaming. A own a lot of games probably over 500+ but I mostly play shooters, I own a ps5 and switch so I can play almost every game. I'm a big basketball guy, and I work out frequently too. I'm also open to a lot of hobbies and fashion is also something I'm passionate about.
I could yap more im sure but if you're interested in talking just pm me

I'm attempting to find a website that I remember using in Middle School in the United States between the approximate years of 2007 and 2013. It was a website that hosted multiple education games under the website's theme, which was an american city with skyscrapers at night (or had a dark blue theme overall). The games were designed with a set line of recurring characters that appeared in the games, and were consistent throughout the website's games.
Here's the information as I remember it:

• (Very Confident) The website was stylized very similarly to the show cyberchase when it comes to the characters. The characters were angular and flat-toned, and had similar proprtions. Most of the characters were also teenagers.
• (Very Confident) The website's name was similar to "Mathcity" namewise. The website's name ended in "City/Citi" from what I remember, and the first word was attached to "City/Citi" without any spacing or hyphen. Pretty sure it was between 5-8 characters long not including any .com added to the address.
• (Somewhat Confident) The website was formatted where the top banner of the page had a circular logo in the top left that read the website's name, with three-ish skyscraper buildings in the backdrop of the circle, coloured either a dark blue or a purple, and possibly other colors. The website feels like it had dark blue themes and borders.
• (Slightly Unsure) Of the characters on the website I remember, there are three big ones, a female with blonde hair, a kid that wore a red T-Shirt, and a short kid in a baseball hat flipped brim back. Very likely that I'm confusing these with cyberchase characters, but might be worth investigating.
• (Slightly Unsure) I believe the website was under a .com domain, but that's just a guess.
• (No Idea) I do not remember details on the games, and the ideas I do come up with are so generic that it wouldn't be of much use. The best ones I got are "Ice Cream Game" and "Basketball Game". I cannot remember the math used for the games other than division, multiplication, and so forth.
• (Other Useful Info) I remember using the Kewala's Typing Adventure game around the same time as the "MathCity" website, but it's unlikely that it was also a physical disc software.

I've thought about switching things up for tonight's script and decided to make it an M4F one! I guess this kinda flows into the lore of my previous three scripts, with this being a sequel to the third one. Hope you enjoy it! As always, my script is free to use without monetization, just crediting me under my YT Handle @"AkitaScripts" is all!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Synopsis: You and your boyfriend have been together for about a week. You just had your first date a few days ago, and the two of you have discussed not to tell anyone. However, your classmates are beginning to notice your relationship with him, with some jealous students making fun of it. Eventually, it becomes too much for you, and you end up in detention after a fight in the hallways. As you exit the school, you find your boyfriend waiting outside in the rain…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(The school is nearly empty, and the rain is pouring outside the walls. All of the students except you have already left. As you walk out through the quiet hallways, you hear the janitor mopping the floor, rumbling about his job.)
[faint dialogue from the Janitor]
(You barely pay attention to whatever the janitor said as you reach into your backpack, only to find nothing but your books and supplies. You forgot your umbrella back at home. You put on your hood and push open the doors, the gates of freedom letting out a loud creak. You point your head down to the ground and begin to walk outside, feeling the rain hit your head. Suddenly, you stop feeling the raindrops, and you look up to see your boyfriend, the VA, close to you with an umbrella.)
VA: Hey.
(You lock eye contact with him with gloomy pupils.)
[short pause]
VA: I heard about what happened from Jalen… and I’m sorry you had to-
(You suddenly wrap the VA in your arms, interrupting him. Tears begin to roll down your face and onto his shoulder as you start crying.)
VA: Hey, hey… it’s okay… it’s okay.. (holds you close to him with one of his arms, and kisses you)
[pause]
VA: Hey… look at me.
(You raise your head up from his shoulder, looking him in the eyes.)
VA: It’s going to be okay… hey, you wanna go sit down somewhere? We shouldn’t be standing out in the open.
[pause]
VA: Alright, follow me, and stay close to me.
[short pause]
(You and the VA walk in silence for a few minutes to a nearby pavilion. After a few minutes, You gently shake his arm to get his attention.)
VA: Mhm? (looks at you)
[pause]
VA: Did he tell me anything?[pause]
VA: Well, other than you landing in detention, Jalen didn’t say much. I just got the news an hour ago, before our last class ended. So, I just waited out there. I didn’t know how long detention would last.
[pause]
VA: Well… I was gonna wait by the doors, but that janitor kicked me out. He said he still needed to quote-unquote “clean the corners”.
[pause]
VA: Yeah, he’s quite grumpy. Anyways, we’re here.
(The two of you walk to one of the tables in the pavilion. As you sit down, the VA sits down next to you.)
VA: So… (puts down his umbrella on the wooden table) are you still okay, or do you need some time?
[pause]
VA: Alright… take your time telling me what happened. (wraps his arms around you and gently moves closer)
[pause]
VA: Yeah… we did decide on not telling anyone about our relationship until we were ready. And yes, I know that everyone else figured it out already.
[pause]
VA: So… lemme get this sorted out: Maddison and her group of friends found out and made fun of our relationship..?
[pause]
VA: And did they start making fun of you today, or has this happened before?
[pause]
VA: This started yesterday?
[pause]
VA: Alright, so… after a day of them making fun of you, what exactly happened that landed you in detention?
[pause]
VA: (surprised) You slapped her in the face?!
(You don’t say anything, but you look away from him and dig your head into his chest, nodding afterwards in confirmation. The VA holds you even closer in comfort.)
VA: Hey.. again, it’s okay.
[pause]
(You let go of him. Stressed and upset, you explain how you’re not okay, as you begin to cry again. The VA hugs you again to calm you down.)VA: Hey, hey, listen to me… listen to me… there’s no need to be upset about what you did. Even though there were better options, you were in the right to do that. Not that I would recommend doing it again as an option, but if you have issues like this, just come talk to me… okay?
(You look up at him and nod.)
VA: Alright then. (takes off your hood and gently combs through your hair)
(As he comes through your hair, you ask him a question.)
[pause]
VA: Why did they do it?
[pause]
VA: Well.. first off, why do you think they did it?
[pause]
VA: You think they just wanted to make fun of you for that?
[pause]
VA: Okay… I might know why they made fun of you for dating someone.
[pause]
VA: What do I mean? Well.. lemme explain. So, before you and I met a few months ago, I used to be friends with Maddison. Sure, I was never romantically interested in her, but she’d used to always flirt with me at times. Now, I don’t know if she did like me the same way you do, but she could also just be jealous.
[pause]
VA: Well, think about it: have you ever even seen Maddison date anyone?
[pause]
VA: No, right? That’s because she never has dated anyone.
[pause]
VA: Now, you also have to take into the fact she’s friends with Joe. And as we both knew, Joe liked you in a… eeh… certain way.
[pause]
VA: And he knows that you and I are dating, so he’s jealous.
[pause]
VA: No, Joe probably isn’t just jealous of how you’re dating someone else. He’s jealous that you’re dating someone else.
[pause]
VA: No, it’s not the same way as what I just said. Joe’s jealous because someone has something special in their relationship that he doesn’t.
[pause]
VA: He doesn’t have you.
[pause]
VA: Look, every relationship is different. Whether it’s a dominant one, flirtatious, or even toxic… hopefully that doesn’t happen… Joe and other people don’t have you as their girlfriend.
[pause]
VA: Lemme also tell you something: I knew this person named Stephen, and he was dating this girl named Val. His friends found out, and they were jealous and constantly made fun of him. It got so out of hand that he was pressured to break up with Val.
[pause]VA: Look, you and I can tell them to stop making fun of our relationship. But if they’re gonna continue doing it, don’t break up like with what Stephen did. Don’t be pressured to listen to the mockery. Don’t listen to them. Move on, and walk forward, and just ignore them. I know it can be challenging, and I have been in those shoes before, but it’s okay to feel this way. You have me to take care of you, to cuddle you in times like this, and to make sure that you’re okay. I’ll be here every step of the way. If you need to hold my hand, don’t hesitate. I’m here for you, babe. And it’s all gonna be okay.
(The VA plays with your hair, and kisses you. You look up to him and kiss him in return.)
[pause]
VA: I love you too.
(You snuggle in closer to the VA, feeling his warmth and his beating heart. Eventually, the rain slowly stops.)
VA: Hey, the rain stopped.
(You look around to see the birds fly in to sing. You lean in to kiss the VA.)
[pause]
VA: You’re welcome, babe. Now come on, we gotta get back home. (begins to put his dry umbrella away in his bag)
[pause]
VA: Yeah sure, we can get some food on the way home. (he picks you up in his arms and helps you off from the table) Any ideas?
[pause]
VA: Yeah sure… ramen sounds good.
(As you and the VA walk away holding hands, the birds continue to chirp as the scene fades, ending the episode.)
THE END

I was previously a runner so in order for me to get my heart rate into the higher zones i have to go what i consider scary fast, because i never realized how fast they rip lol. People have told me the bike is a pos not to mention it's hot pink and I'm a guy, I'm just really short so it fits me, I might paint it but I kinda think it's funny the looks i get as a bearded little man on a girl's bike from 1991. and I actually really love the way it rides i tuned it up i just need some new tires but can't figure out the size on my own.

I am very, very close to making a final decision and going with the 812. Yes, I understand that this is an aston forum, but I hope I can get opinions.
I do not really care about the screen in the dbs. I think people make a huge deal about it. I do not really like the looks of the db12 compare to the dbs.
What I want is a wild car. A car that puts a smile on my face. I think the dbs is miles better looking than the 812, I love how it looks top down or as a coupe, and the fact that I can get people for a short drive means a lot to me. I also think that my wife is only 5'6, so having her move forward and putting someone behind her is not a huge deal.
I do NOT like how big the car is, how heavy it is , and then my heart is being stolen by looks.
I think the 812 gts is horrific looking with the top down or up and destroys the car. I think the aston looks great top down.
I think it's also insane to think potentially in my young 40s I can have any of these cars.
Or, is the best choice the 488 spider?

Can we wear basketball shorts as a CSA? I know it says shorts but doesn’t specify and I forgot to ask lol

Intro: Man, what a day. Well, it’s all over now. Time to just relax on the couch and unwind… Wait, why is the doorbell ringing? Who could that be? And are you getting… deja vu?
Summary: Listener allows Speaker inside and they spend a little time together before Speaker reveals that she is a vampire, as well as a few other things. She then drinks some of Listener’s blood and leaves.
Go ahead and monetize, it's fine. Word count is about 1600.
If you fill this or plan to fill this, please notify me. Please don't make edits without asking first.
Line breaks represent the listener talking or space where no one talks and should be short pauses, words within {brackets} represent the speaker’s tone or sfx. At ellipses, the speaker trails off, and at dashes, she is either cut off abruptly by the listener or by herself.
Author’s Note: All right, the last Feather script, I’m finally caught up. Sorry this took so long to get out, I promise I didn’t want it to be this late, but hey! It’s here now, and I hope y’all enjoy.
If you want to read this somewhere other than Reddit, it's also here.
​
​
{doorbell sfx}
{door opens sfx} {stressed} Hi. Hello there. Good day. Well, good evening, I guess. Or good night, the sun’s already down. How are you doing today?
No wait please don’t close the door- I promise I’m not trying to sell you something! Look, it’s me. It’s {insert name here}. Your neighbor. You recognize me, right? We met at that Fourth of July party last year?
Yeah, yeah, I know, been a while. My job basically forces me to be nocturnal, otherwise I promise I’d be less non-existent. I’m not completely anti-social, I just… sleep while everyone else is doing things.
{apologetic} I- yeah, okay, so. Ohh, this is gonna sound terrible. This is gonna sound bad.
…Can I stay the night here? Look, normally I’d never ask this, because we don’t even know each other, obviously, but I accidentally locked myself out of my house, and I don’t know anyone else on the street either, and, well, I remembered you being friendly that time that we did meet, and it’s really cold out and I don’t want to try to sleep in my car, and-
{hopeful} You… you will?
{relieved} Oh, thank you. I’ll come up with a way to pay you back, I promise.
{hesitant} You’re sure I can come in? I mean, you still don’t really know me, and you’re inviting me into your house. You’re okay with that?
{relieved} Thank you. I promise, I don’t need much. I already ate, and I can just sleep on the couch. I don’t want to cause you any bother.
{happy} Oh, wow, it’s warm in here. I never expect it to be this warm. Uh, when I go over to other people’s places. My house and the building I work at are always freezing, so this is nice. Feels like a place I can just relax, y’know?
Wha- huh? {dismissive} No, no, it’s fine. I’ll call a locksmith in the morning, and hell, worst comes to worst, I’ll break a window. I just needed someplace where I wouldn’t freeze to death while I waited. Which, thank you again for providing.
{serious} I mean, yeah. You saw the weather report, right? Not the nicest out tonight. I don’t think I would’ve gotten frostbite, but it wouldn’t have been fun to find out.
{confused} My hands? Why…?
Oh, they can’t be that cold, right?
{hesitant} Uh… not very long? Maybe only an hour? Because first I was trying to get inside, and then I was working up the courage to knock because I didn’t want to bother you, and-
{placating} What- oh, no, come on, you don’t have to do that. I promise, I’m fine just being in here, I already feel much better-
{taken aback} That’s a very large blanket.
Okay, two of them feels excessive, I-
All right, fine. Many blankets are fine.
No, no, I said I already ate, I’m not hungry, I- {interested} did you say hot chocolate? Well. Maybe I could have a little.
Wow, that was fast. Did you already have the water boiling?
Mmm! This is delicious, what brand is it?
I should’ve guessed. Homemade is always better, especially when it’s made in a home as nice as this.
Well, if you really want me to eat something, do you maybe still have any of that peach cobbler? That was- what?
{scrambling} Oh, I mean- well, uh, I- {sigh} {sad} Damn. Guess I got a little too comfy there, didn’t I? And I was really looking forward to the movie you were going to suggest…
{reasonable} All right, no, calm down, I promise I can explain, just- {disappointed} ugh. This isn’t going to work.
{magically resonant} Still.
{fond} That’s better. No freaking out tonight, okay?
Here, come on, let’s sit you down. Put those blankets on you. Does that feel nice? I know you can’t answer, but I’m going to assume that feels nice.
{sigh} What am I going to do with you?
I really am sorry about this, I promise it’s not how I wanted the night to go. It’s just hard to stay on my guard about things like that when I’m here. This place relaxes me, you feel more like home than anywhere I’ve ever lived has. My tongue tends to slip. I’m sure you understand.
Ah, I should explain. I suppose I don’t have to, you won’t remember anyway, but you do deserve to know what’s happening. I come over here… rather a lot. I always use some variant of the “poor, lost innocent” act, and it works every time. You let me in, and you start trying to take care of me, and you’re always so protective and sweet… it’s nice. The first few times, I was annoyed. I thought your kindness was just weakness, or worse, that you were only being kind because you wanted something. I didn’t even realize how hypocritical I was being, can you believe that? But it’s true. It took more weeks than I’d like to admit to realize how good it felt, having you want to take care of me. Once I did, I started coming by more often, staying longer, trying to get to know you better in the time that we had. I started looking forward to getting to take a load off with you more and more, too. It’s gotten to the point where staying with you is the brightest spot in my week. This house has become my little home-away-from-home, my sanctuary from all my problems. And you’re what makes it that, so thank you.
Oy, all of that, and you’re probably more confused than when I started. I suppose I’ve danced around the relevant point. {hesitant} I- uh. Well, I’m- Well, there’s no easy way to say it. I’m a vampire, and at the end of every night, I feed on you and remove your memories of me.
{reassuring} No, no, keep calm. I can feel your heart rate increasing, there’s no need for it to. I’m not here to hurt you, I promise. I haven’t hurt you any time before, and I don’t plan to start now. I would never.
I’m only here for a tiny bit of blood, just a taste, really. You won’t even notice the loss. Well, okay, you might notice it a little. You’ll probably feel kind of weak in the morning, but the marks will have faded away completely, and the bite won’t even hurt. We’ve done this dozens of times by now, and I promise, the worst you’ve felt is a little woozy.
I think it’ll even feel good. You’ve definitely seemed happy with the feeling before.
{sad, tired} Oh, don’t look at me like that! You think I want it to be like this? I hate having to pretend not to know you, not to love…
I hate it, almost as much as I hate the lack of recognition in your eyes when you see me. I want you to know me. To light up when you see me. But this is the way it has to be.
{yearning} I’ve thought about coming to you under other pretenses… introducing myself, maybe starting a real relationship. I could take care of you after every feeding instead of abandoning you, like I want to so badly. I could spend more time in your refuge from the chaos of the world, and give you someone to share it with. I think we’d both be happy… but it’s not that simple, is it? Every day takes us farther from our first meeting, makes it harder to introduce myself, and every memory we make makes me more likely to out myself, as we saw earlier. Besides, I’ve gotten used to this. I like being able to treat you as a safe place, without having to put any burdens on you. And God knows, dating a vampire - hell, just being friends with one - comes with burdens… You deserve better than that. I still want to be a part of your life, one day, and to have you be a part of mine, but it can’t happen today. I can’t do that to you today.
{resolve} All I can do is enjoy the time I can steal with you, and watch over you from afar. Stop anyone else from destroying this little sanctuary of ours. Keep you safe from… interlopers. But there’s no need to discuss them. Not now.
{disappointed sigh} I really was looking forward to spending time with you tonight. Maybe you would’ve even finally asked me to cuddle… A shame it has to be cut short.
{amused} Well, not such a shame. Titans, you smell good. Reminds me of why I wanted your blood in the first place, it might be the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. Another reason I like coming here so much, probably.
{placating} All right, now just hold still… I mean, I know you can’t do much else, but please try to relax. This will only hurt for a moment.
{vampire feeding} {You can make this sound realistic, with slurping and the occasional moan, or you can just make it sound like someone drinking from a Caprisun. One of the above will be funnier.}
{satisfied} Ahh, that was wonderful. Do you think you’re feeling all right, after that? I- {sad} oh. You can’t answer, can you? I could - I really should - unfreeze you. Listen to what you have to say about… all of this. Maybe you’d be okay with it? Maybe you’d even… accept me? But no. What if you told me to leave and never come back? I don’t think I’m brave enough for that. I can’t lose this… I can’t lose you, even if watching you forget me is almost the same.
I am sorry about this. I say that every time, and it never stops being true. I don’t want to do this to you. But it’s the way it has to be. {sigh} {quiet} Maybe if I keep telling myself that, it’ll start feeling true…
{magically resonant} Forget.
Sleep.
{tender} Good night, love. I’ll see you again soon.

Intro: Man, what a day. Well, it’s all over now. Time to just relax on the couch and unwind… Wait, why is the doorbell ringing? Who could that be? And are you getting… deja vu?
Summary: Listener allows Speaker inside and they spend a little time together before Speaker reveals that she is a vampire, as well as a few other things. She then drinks some of Listener’s blood and leaves.
Go ahead and monetize, it's fine. Word count is about 1600.
If you fill this or plan to fill this, please notify me. Please don't make edits without asking first.
Line breaks represent the listener talking or space where no one talks and should be short pauses, words within {brackets} represent the speaker’s tone or sfx. At ellipses, the speaker trails off, and at dashes, she is either cut off abruptly by the listener or by herself.
Author’s Note: All right, the last Feather script, I’m finally caught up. Sorry this took so long to get out, I promise I didn’t want it to be this late, but hey! It’s here now, and I hope y’all enjoy.
If you want to read this somewhere other than Reddit, it's also here.
​
​
{doorbell sfx}
{door opens sfx} {stressed} Hi. Hello there. Good day. Well, good evening, I guess. Or good night, the sun’s already down. How are you doing today?
No wait please don’t close the door- I promise I’m not trying to sell you something! Look, it’s me. It’s {insert name here}. Your neighbor. You recognize me, right? We met at that Fourth of July party last year?
Yeah, yeah, I know, been a while. My job basically forces me to be nocturnal, otherwise I promise I’d be less non-existent. I’m not completely anti-social, I just… sleep while everyone else is doing things.
{apologetic} I- yeah, okay, so. Ohh, this is gonna sound terrible. This is gonna sound bad.
…Can I stay the night here? Look, normally I’d never ask this, because we don’t even know each other, obviously, but I accidentally locked myself out of my house, and I don’t know anyone else on the street either, and, well, I remembered you being friendly that time that we did meet, and it’s really cold out and I don’t want to try to sleep in my car, and-
{hopeful} You… you will?
{relieved} Oh, thank you. I’ll come up with a way to pay you back, I promise.
{hesitant} You’re sure I can come in? I mean, you still don’t really know me, and you’re inviting me into your house. You’re okay with that?
{relieved} Thank you. I promise, I don’t need much. I already ate, and I can just sleep on the couch. I don’t want to cause you any bother.
{happy} Oh, wow, it’s warm in here. I never expect it to be this warm. Uh, when I go over to other people’s places. My house and the building I work at are always freezing, so this is nice. Feels like a place I can just relax, y’know?
Wha- huh? {dismissive} No, no, it’s fine. I’ll call a locksmith in the morning, and hell, worst comes to worst, I’ll break a window. I just needed someplace where I wouldn’t freeze to death while I waited. Which, thank you again for providing.
{serious} I mean, yeah. You saw the weather report, right? Not the nicest out tonight. I don’t think I would’ve gotten frostbite, but it wouldn’t have been fun to find out.
{confused} My hands? Why…?
Oh, they can’t be that cold, right?
{hesitant} Uh… not very long? Maybe only an hour? Because first I was trying to get inside, and then I was working up the courage to knock because I didn’t want to bother you, and-
{placating} What- oh, no, come on, you don’t have to do that. I promise, I’m fine just being in here, I already feel much better-
{taken aback} That’s a very large blanket.
Okay, two of them feels excessive, I-
All right, fine. Many blankets are fine.
No, no, I said I already ate, I’m not hungry, I- {interested} did you say hot chocolate? Well. Maybe I could have a little.
Wow, that was fast. Did you already have the water boiling?
Mmm! This is delicious, what brand is it?
I should’ve guessed. Homemade is always better, especially when it’s made in a home as nice as this.
Well, if you really want me to eat something, do you maybe still have any of that peach cobbler? That was- what?
{scrambling} Oh, I mean- well, uh, I- {sigh} {sad} Damn. Guess I got a little too comfy there, didn’t I? And I was really looking forward to the movie you were going to suggest…
{reasonable} All right, no, calm down, I promise I can explain, just- {disappointed} ugh. This isn’t going to work.
{magically resonant} Still.
{fond} That’s better. No freaking out tonight, okay?
Here, come on, let’s sit you down. Put those blankets on you. Does that feel nice? I know you can’t answer, but I’m going to assume that feels nice.
{sigh} What am I going to do with you?
I really am sorry about this, I promise it’s not how I wanted the night to go. It’s just hard to stay on my guard about things like that when I’m here. This place relaxes me, you feel more like home than anywhere I’ve ever lived has. My tongue tends to slip. I’m sure you understand.
Ah, I should explain. I suppose I don’t have to, you won’t remember anyway, but you do deserve to know what’s happening. I come over here… rather a lot. I always use some variant of the “poor, lost innocent” act, and it works every time. You let me in, and you start trying to take care of me, and you’re always so protective and sweet… it’s nice. The first few times, I was annoyed. I thought your kindness was just weakness, or worse, that you were only being kind because you wanted something. I didn’t even realize how hypocritical I was being, can you believe that? But it’s true. It took more weeks than I’d like to admit to realize how good it felt, having you want to take care of me. Once I did, I started coming by more often, staying longer, trying to get to know you better in the time that we had. I started looking forward to getting to take a load off with you more and more, too. It’s gotten to the point where staying with you is the brightest spot in my week. This house has become my little home-away-from-home, my sanctuary from all my problems. And you’re what makes it that, so thank you.
Oy, all of that, and you’re probably more confused than when I started. I suppose I’ve danced around the relevant point. {hesitant} I- uh. Well, I’m- Well, there’s no easy way to say it. I’m a vampire, and at the end of every night, I feed on you and remove your memories of me.
{reassuring} No, no, keep calm. I can feel your heart rate increasing, there’s no need for it to. I’m not here to hurt you, I promise. I haven’t hurt you any time before, and I don’t plan to start now. I would never.
I’m only here for a tiny bit of blood, just a taste, really. You won’t even notice the loss. Well, okay, you might notice it a little. You’ll probably feel kind of weak in the morning, but the marks will have faded away completely, and the bite won’t even hurt. We’ve done this dozens of times by now, and I promise, the worst you’ve felt is a little woozy.
I think it’ll even feel good. You’ve definitely seemed happy with the feeling before.
{sad, tired} Oh, don’t look at me like that! You think I want it to be like this? I hate having to pretend not to know you, not to love…
I hate it, almost as much as I hate the lack of recognition in your eyes when you see me. I want you to know me. To light up when you see me. But this is the way it has to be.
{yearning} I’ve thought about coming to you under other pretenses… introducing myself, maybe starting a real relationship. I could take care of you after every feeding instead of abandoning you, like I want to so badly. I could spend more time in your refuge from the chaos of the world, and give you someone to share it with. I think we’d both be happy… but it’s not that simple, is it? Every day takes us farther from our first meeting, makes it harder to introduce myself, and every memory we make makes me more likely to out myself, as we saw earlier. Besides, I’ve gotten used to this. I like being able to treat you as a safe place, without having to put any burdens on you. And God knows, dating a vampire - hell, just being friends with one - comes with burdens… You deserve better than that. I still want to be a part of your life, one day, and to have you be a part of mine, but it can’t happen today. I can’t do that to you today.
{resolve} All I can do is enjoy the time I can steal with you, and watch over you from afar. Stop anyone else from destroying this little sanctuary of ours. Keep you safe from… interlopers. But there’s no need to discuss them. Not now.
{disappointed sigh} I really was looking forward to spending time with you tonight. Maybe you would’ve even finally asked me to cuddle… A shame it has to be cut short.
{amused} Well, not such a shame. Titans, you smell good. Reminds me of why I wanted your blood in the first place, it might be the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. Another reason I like coming here so much, probably.
{placating} All right, now just hold still… I mean, I know you can’t do much else, but please try to relax. This will only hurt for a moment.
{vampire feeding} {You can make this sound realistic, with slurping and the occasional moan, or you can just make it sound like someone drinking from a Caprisun. One of the above will be funnier.}
{satisfied} Ahh, that was wonderful. Do you think you’re feeling all right, after that? I- {sad} oh. You can’t answer, can you? I could - I really should - unfreeze you. Listen to what you have to say about… all of this. Maybe you’d be okay with it? Maybe you’d even… accept me? But no. What if you told me to leave and never come back? I don’t think I’m brave enough for that. I can’t lose this… I can’t lose you, even if watching you forget me is almost the same.
I am sorry about this. I say that every time, and it never stops being true. I don’t want to do this to you. But it’s the way it has to be. {sigh} {quiet} Maybe if I keep telling myself that, it’ll start feeling true…
{magically resonant} Forget.
Sleep.
{tender} Good night, love. I’ll see you again soon.

My 11yo son recently started playing AAU basketball after playing rec league for years. He’s very skilled and a very smart player but not as quick yet as other kids his age.
A kid on an opposing team posted a short video to Instagram of himself “breaking” my son’s ankles and with a caption and hashtag. My son just tripped moving laterally to keep up with the kid. There was no real offensive move — no crossover, etc. — by the kid and my son popped right back up and helped force him to pass.
Of course, one of his friends found it and showed it to him, and he was devastated. Kid has 125 followers, and my son doesn’t know him. I know it’s just some random kid posting a video that few will see and fewer will care about. But my son doesn’t see it that way.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? What did you find helped your kid? I have a lot of issues with this generally, from letting a 12yo have an Instagram to YouTube and Instagram accounts showing videos of little kids getting “burned” playing sports to the kid’s AAU program’s Instagram commenting on the post (they’re a “faith and basketball” program, whatever that means … definitely not acting with humility). Basketball is something my son loves and is good at, and it makes him happy. I just hate to see him down like this.

I'm just a college student who's done his semester and without being able to go to campus I don't talk to as many people as I used to. So I've been looking for long-term friends but I wouldn't mind a chat or short-term either.
I'm really into skateboarding but I'm pretty new to it, I'm trying to learn quickly tho. I've also been into photography lately, I've been super busy doing photoshoots for people so if i don't respond its likely that. I'm also into basketball, working out, and gaming. A own a lot of games probably over 500+ but I mostly play shooters, I own a ps5 and switch so I can play almost every game. I'm a big basketball guy, and I work out frequently too. I'm also open to a lot of hobbies and fashion is also something I'm passionate about.
I could yap more im sure but if you're interested in talking just pm me or add my tag
bl00dz13 (Those are zeros)

First Previous Wiki
Penny gazed at the quartet of Elders. They were all wearing the merchandise she remembered from the last Judgment, which was exceedingly awkward. Mainly because they were wearing shirts with her face on them. But it was also oddly endearing, in a way. Until now, she hadn't seen too many Elders that were on her side.
Elders that weren't just Kashaunta or the familiar faces she already knew, like Spentha or Rho and Sai, actually showing appreciation of her, felt odd. Even if these ones went a little too far in it.
"You're even more beautiful in person, Liberator," one said.
"Uh, thanks. I appreciate that. I'm glad that you all like me. Rho and Sai told me that you all are interested in something I can give you?"
"Yeah. Maybe a short interview? We won't be like that airhead reporter. We'll ask the good questions."
"Yep, we will."
"Right then," Penny said. "Well, I'm glad to meet you."
"Thank you. Now that we're here, we'd like to know how you plan on taking care of the gang leaders."
"Well, presumably by imprisoning them. I don't think they deserve to die, even if others do. I'll leave that decision up to Justicar and his various judges in the criminal system."
Penny didn't like having to lie blatantly. She wanted to kill the slavers quite brutally, but doing that was a bad idea right now. Saying it also was a bad idea, for a similar reason. And Justicar's system was worryingly preferential to Elders, from what she'd looked up after the meeting with Pundacrawla.
"Aren't you worried that the Judges won't give proper justice?"
"I trust Justicar to do everything that is necessary."
Another lie. Justicar would do whatever he could to maintain his image. Hopefully, that wouldn't be at the cost of the Alliance's very existence.
"Got it. By the way, what's it like being human? Walking on only two legs. It seems kind of unstable. Do you fall a lot?"
A genuine curiosity from them was another breath of fresh air. It was the kind of question a quadruped would definitely ask, which put her more at ease about the nature of what they were trying to do. Even more than their evident support of her, with all the merch they were wearing. Penny felt a smile crack at the corners of her lips, unbidden.
"Not really. We can use our arms to steady ourselves pretty well. Obviously it's not as easy to balance on our two legs as it is with your four, but it's still good enough. In fact, the sprinters in the Olympics use all four limbs, since running as fast as possible also requires pumping our arms. As for what it's like to be human, it's hard to describe. For many of us, it will feel colder or warmer than Sprilnav would feel in the same temperatures, due to thinner skin. Our eyesight is more frontal than yours, given our lack of snouts, so our blindspots are a lot bigger. Our feet require shoes for rough ground, and we heal slower than you by around 20%. We can't really clack our jaws to the scale that you can, though we can make them meet."
Penny bared her teeth, showing as she opened and closed her mouth. It was nice to be able to talk about things like this.
"The Olympics?" one of them asked.
"It's a competition about athletics," Penny said. "Running, jumping, throwing, diving, swimming, skiing, snowboarding, and a lot of sports. There's specific divisions, too. Like how there's a 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash, and even an 800 meter dash for those with high levels of psychic energy. Though really, psychic energy and genetic editing have been messing with the events for a while now. And there's a Winter, Summer, and Space Olympics, each with different sorts of events. They move from city to city, though the Space Olympics are pretty much always on either Luna, Ceres, or Mercury. There's a lot more information out there on various events, but it's an old cultural practice revered by the entire species. Even more so since Phoebe's increased the prize pools for everyone."
"How does your species handle space in general? I know that you guys did things way differently before First Contact."
"We did. Mining companies kept tight control on all asteroid mining, while nations controlled planets like Earth and Mars and large planetary bodies like Luna. Supposedly, a few people planned for a cloud city on Venus, but we couldn't risk having such a vulnerable population because they'd have to rely on giant balloons to survive. That would probably be the least secure way to live, given the existence of rogue organizations and all that.
As for spaceships, most of them since we really colonized Luna come equipped with spacesuit bays, zero gravity water and food packs, oxygen tanks, emergency seats, specialized anti-micrometeorite hulls, and radiation shielding. A lot of the older military ships also were equipped with big radiators until World War Three, when it all became masses of drone warfare, with the big ships kept mainly for cargo and lanes where mass drone control was impossible.
Once the Vinarii came and we got shields, we started building big again. After all, it provided a huge number of jobs, and in the post-war economies, especially with VIs in place, a lot of people needed work. But we still go and do asteroid and moon mining, star lifting, and energy gathering. We built an orbital ring around Mercury, the closest planet to Sol, to help with all of that. It doubles as a production hub, too. Now, it's all in more systems and with a lot more friends."
"Speaking of aliens, what theory does your people have on why so many creatures resemble one another? Our jaws are adapted for hard shelled creatures, and we're told that many planets have oddly similar variations of those."
"Crabs."
She guessed what they were getting at.
It is odd, isn't it? Nilnacrawla observed.
Perhaps that is another one of the Source's whims, Penny thought.
Maybe.
A few of the Elders made exclamations of shock.
"You even have a word for them that directly translates!"
Penny chuckled. "Yeah, carcinization is a bit of a meme in the science community. But I've heard the most mainstream theories since the First Contact are that the Source itself is uncreative. It has a certain template of creatures which it largely doesn't alter, though it can take in inputs from beings close to it, perhaps even influencing them."
"Influencing them?"
"Yes. Modern depictions of wendigoes, folkloric creatures from North America, a continent on Earth, are shockingly similar to the Knowers in appearance. The internet depictions of them in particular like to emphasize canine qualities, and often show them with skulls visible directly, and with dark brown or black fur. Recent depictions, as in the past 300 years, differ from their original appearances quite significantly, with the canine characteristics in particular being enhanced.
We have sorted through all known images of these creatures and found roughly 80% similarity with the Knowers and tens of thousands of images that are literally exactly the same as Knowers. The ones we searched all came before World War Three, far before even the First Contact with the Vinarii, much less the Knowers who were entirely underground at the time due to the radiation of their home star. We believe that the Source managed to influence this facet of human culture with the actual existence of a real creature.
Other examples exist, like how the Trikkec look very similar to Komodo Dragons, Vinarii look very similar to insects known as a mantis, and the Acuarfar look exactly like insects known as wasps with the single exception of their furry snouts and green instead of yellow markings. The Sprilnav species itself shares high amounts of similarity with a fictional species known as Elites in early 2000s culture, particularly with your jaws, though you all have red skin instead of grey or brown.
The Junyli, Dreedeen, and the wanderers are the main species without high amounts of appearance in our cultures at some point. This correlates with the idea of the Source being the influencer, as their predecessors all were used to fight it. Many species of the galaxy look like parts of our culture or Earth's creatures. The proximity of these examples makes this far more suspicious than if they were across the galaxy.
But since they existed first, the only answer must be that the Source brought the influence to us first and planted the ideas in our heads. As for the ones which look like Earth creatures, all of them are old enough evolutionary branches that copying from them to Earth makes more sense. Though the references centering around the early 2000s is quite odd, it is also roughly when the internet came into wide existence, so it is also possible the Source gave the ideas a push so they would propagate, for an unknown reason. Like if it seeded the ideas that propagated across the early global network Humanity used."
"Hmm. Fascinating. We've seen evidence of the 'seeding' process among some historical nations near the galactic region of Earth before. So the Source re-uses and alters depictions of life and also life itself?"
"Maybe," Penny said. "Unless the Source is more directly tied to life than we think. There's a conceptual Death, but no conceptual Life. Isn't that odd?"
"Conceptual Life died in the Source war."
How did that really work, though? Penny asked Nilnacrawla.
Imagine a conceptual being. A few of the Progenitors, as well as Narvravarana, went up to try to harvest its power. It refused, and Narvravarana used its unique abilities to try and force the deal.
Why was your civilization like this?
Excess and greed, partly. But we couldn't really do much more expansion. Vertical expansion also had its limits if we wanted to remain relevant for the remaining lifespan of the universe. So Narvravarana, along with a few of the greatest rulers and leaders of Sprilnav society, started looking to other dimensional planes. They figured it was best not to let the problem get too much worse. Or at least, that is what they say. I believe it was to harvest more resources to use against our surrounding enemies.
You didn't have any allies? Penny asked.
At that time, all the powers of the universe were enemies. All the allies eventually merged through millions of years of normalization. We happened to get on the universal stage the earliest, so other civilizations we encountered had little choice but to surrender their independence. Some fought, others didn't, but the outcome was the same.
That seems terrible.
It was, though the other universal civilizations were no better. Some of them just exterminated all alien life they found that couldn't fight back. In that sense, the pre-war Sprilnav civilization was one of the greatest, and that's why I fought for them. Obviously, I'm biased in that regard, though.
Thanks for telling me, father.
No problem, Penny.
She refocused back on the conversation at hand.
"But a thing cannot be alive if it dies. The concept of life doesn't work that way. So maybe the Source just... took in the concept of life? Or absorbed it into whatever psychic energy really is, considering that it's responsible for all of our existence?"
"That's so crazy it might actually be true," one of the Elders said. "You're incredible, Penny."
"Uh, thanks. You're all pretty great too." Her eyes drifted to the images of herself on their clothing. She couldn't really help it.
"I have a question for you."
"Yes?"
"Do you know what I'm fighting for?"
"I assume since you're asking it here, you don't just want a one word answer," an Elder said. "I would say yes, and for the liberation of the Sprilnav from the stain of slavery. Though going deeper into your history, you have also fought for other species, either in wars or just generally moving around. It does look aimless, mostly, since the galaxy's so big. But I'm sure you've got a way through that."
"In some way. Part of why I'm here isn't just about my people. It was at first, I admit that. But as I have lived here, on Justicar, for days and weeks, I've seen you less as alien. It makes it easier for sympathy and easier to break out of simple mindsets. So far, there are many problems, but there are distinct pieces. The first is that many people want to uphold slavery. I'm not sure why, but they do. It isn't profitable, and it isn't moral. Robots are cheaper in every way, and don't need food or water.
That means it's illogical or emotional. So I could try and solve the problem with violence alone, but it won't be addressing the cause, only the symptoms. I need to get to the heart of the matter. And I think it has to do with Elders' memories and the gradual woes they have accumulated going through life. I don't want to tear that away or drug them into believing they're fine. I want to find a way to outlet that productively. The second part I have identified is scale. The galaxy is enormous, and your species is incredibly numerous. I could fight planet by planet for the rest of my life, and liberation would still be difficult.
That also means I'd need a better way of doing things. Maybe an economic or political incentive. Emotional reasons will not work permanently, nor will logic, since we are in this situation. I have found several ways to address this. Sadly, since the gangs are likely monitoring this feed, I can't just outright say my strategy. All I can ask you all to do is to believe. Believe that I have a solution, and that I and those who stand with me are working on it. Believe in me because I believe in you."
None of the Elders questioned or ridiculed her words. Most of it was because they were fans of her. But one of them, an Elder named Rahautiti, had a distinct glint in his eye. Their gazes met only momentarily, but Penny could tell he knew.
And so she appeared in the mindscape, even as they concluded the interview, which would be the first of many. It was a ploy to just talk about human culture and ideals a bit more, to get it out there. Because the hivemind's theory was correct.
In the universe, ideas had power. That power could be weaponized against those who previously stood to gain. The first part of it was the image: Nova as an unbeatable bastion. Lecalicus as the Beast, a monster capable of star-crushing rage. Twilight as... whatever she did. Penny wasn't really familiar with the Progenitor's image too much, and the various names, like the Silent Night or the Smiling Darkness, were just so unbelievably edgy she cringed every time she recalled them.
But Rahautiti understood so she moved her mindscape avatar to see him.
"Hello again, Penny. I am no threat."
"I know. I'm glad that your group is led by someone as capable as you, as well as the other groups you dabble within."
"Who discovered it?"
"Phoebe. You met with Ezeonwha, and the android wanted to ensure you weren't a way for Yasihaut to kill him."
"Yeah. We did get approached about that, actually. We're supposed to kill Ezeonwha when you walk into the Judgment hall. Of course, we won't do this, and she won't be able to retaliate against us easily while there."
"Thank you for your honesty, Elder," Penny said. "It seems I'm in your debt."
"Nonsense. 2,839. That is the number of children I have had. 2,626. That is the number of children of mine which were enslaved. The remaining 213 died in unrelated incidents, with nearly half of those involving slavers killing them. I remember all of their names, and all of their faces, Penny. I want all the slavers in this universe dead."
"I cannot achieve that."
"You cannot," Rahautiti agreed. "Not with my help or even that of Kashaunta and Lecalicus. And certainly not right now. I have not lived this long to be incapable of compromise or patchwork solutions. You show great promise. I understand your aversion to killing and the circumstantial reason why you are not doing so now. I will not grow upset if you do not resume killing when the Judgment ends. Nor do I harbor a grudge against you for the speeding space entity you left outside the room to avoid uncomfortable publicity. You are incredibly young.
A sliver of a life. But you are strong, and you are mature. That sliver of your lifespan already outshines all I could do with a trillion more years, Penny. You are right in that this isn't something you can punch your way through. Trauma is part of why slavery still exists, despite it being a wholly unjust reason for the Elders to make such a sport of it. I am sure you know the story of the war, with a great hero in your head and Kashaunta at your side. My line of work is what I started to help you. Every thought about you being the Liberator, every eye that glances on you freeing slaves, helps you to gather conceptual energy. My talent happens to be great enough to sense the Pact of Blades you have, as well. If you want, I can teach you how to hide the mark on your soul and your mind."
"I would like that, yes," Penny said. "And thank you for being so reasonable. I will ask Kashaunta to protect you from what consequences come for refusing the offer on Ezeonwha."
"There are going to be attacks on him, you know. Him and your ship."
Penny felt an odd feeling in her soul. Cardi's power flared around him, and she squinted at the sky. She just barely saw a sliver of a tentacle. Most would have mistaken it for a normal speeding space entity. But here? On Justicar, with Exile obviously not being the cause?
Only one being would cause that. Fate.
Given the subject of their conversation, it was obvious what was going on.
Penny tapped Rahautiti's jaw, adding a thin mark of conceptual power so she could easily find him again. She focused on the conceptual mark she'd left on Ezeonwha. A twinge of conceptual energy came from it. It was accompanied by various impressions, like fear, pain, and acceptance.
"I have to go," Penny said. "I will be back later. Displace."
She appeared next to the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office but not next to Ezeonwha. It was carnage everywhere she looked.
"Champion!" an unknown Elder yelled. "I am Elder Na-"
Her rising fury surged, and it took all she had not to dismember him. The distant thought of the Judgment stayed her hands, though only just.
Penny's fist collided with the Elder's jaw at twice the speed of sound. A piece of his jaws flew free. Bone fragments hit the ground behind him. Hundreds of soldiers fired on her, and she slammed them to the ground with pure will. Penny tore their guns away and sent them each to pummel the Elder in front of her with as much brutality as she could. His powerful armor wasn't as capable of defense against physical attacks as it was against her psychic energy, and so he fell.
"You... cannot save him," the Elder spat. Fields of psychic suppression fell upon her, reducing her power.
"Manipulation through Determination," Penny growled. "De-"
No! Nilnacrawla said. Do not kill him! Not yet!
"What goes up will go down."
Air hardened around the Elder and accelerated rapidly.
The Elder smashed into the shield five miles above with a speed just slow enough that he wouldn't die. He fell from it and then hit it again at a more modest speed. He'd bounce on that until the Guides came to get him.
But Penny had another target. One she had to save instead of attack.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
High Judge Tassidonia awoke to the sound of explosions. He grabbed his swords, his main gun, and the personal shield he reserved for only the most dire occasions. The sky was erupting in war all around him, and buildings were already falling nearby. The spires of skyscrapers rained down upon the entrances to the Underground, crushing thousands of fleeing Sprilnav under their wide impacts.
His implant identified members of the gangs nearby, making their way to his home.
"Retribution Cycle!" Tassidonia cried. A hidden door opened, and he boarded a small hovercraft that sported a high amount of defensive and offensive technology, a gift from Justicar for dealing with all that he had related to the Judgment. Only this time, he wouldn't be on the next one. But already, the destruction was spreading.
Micro-missiles rained upon friend and foe alike. Several detonated against the layered shields. The mounted turrets on the side of his hoverbike shot lasers into the enemies his implant identified.
"Elder Tassidonia!" an Elder cried nearby. "For the crime of defying the will of-"
Tassidonia called his fury to bear. He rammed his mind into the enemy Elder, disorienting her. She reeled, about to attack, when a thick laser smashed into her chest. It pushed her against the wall, and Tassidonia kept the pressure up until her body melted. He listened to her screams impassively, occasionally sending blasts from his gun at the gangs when their members started to stray too close.
The thick red beam did its work within twenty pulses. His swords began to float beside him, keeping pace as he sped away from his home. The entire apartment complex shuddered and began to lean, its foundation being destroyed by some effect below. Tassidonia abandoned it with only minor regret. He'd known this moment would come. Everything he needed was already with him.
He linked into the Guide network, directing squadrons to attack the breaches he'd identified. Orbital strikes fell upon them in quick succession. Thick beams of light pierced through the lower planetary shields from orbital platforms, their guns honing in on Justicar's enemies. Tassidonia's implant was linked to the grid as well. So when he eyed buildings occupied with too many gang members, orbital strikes fell on them a few pulses later.
Fire and plasma rained all around him. Explosions and smoke blossomed all around him. More missiles fell from his hovercraft. A fighter ship appeared beside him, its simple stealth revealing itself to his eyes. Tassidonia waited for the pilot chamber to open, and his craft stowed itself behind him when he got in. It was fully equipped, so soon, Tassidonia was in full control of a weapon of war.
His first order of business was detecting the gangs' most fortified areas. He peppered those bases in shield-weakening mines, followed by bunker-buster missiles. Several anti-air turrets hit him, but his shields prevented them from taking him down. He dropped three high-end Butcher Androids into the fray of the largest battles.
One of the adjacent fighter wings in the separate shield sector dropped a nuke. At that moment, Tassidonia made a decision.
Whatever insanity was going on right now wasn't worth staying here on his own. He turned his ship upward, narrowly avoiding nearly fifty missiles shot from another gang fortress, which was really just the lower floors of a supermarket. Thick slabs of concrete were being set up by androids and slaves from the Underground. All he could do was watch from above and attempt to mark those that might be a problem.
Justicar's Grand Fleet was moving in, though only the carriers and their escorts were doing anything of any scale. The armies were mobilizing, and it seemed that war had finally broken out. Justicar, while isolated due to the Judgment, would have to win a war that threatened to topple his rule entirely.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Ezeonwha woke when the walls around him shuddered.
An earthquake?
Groggily, he activated the lights in the room. Phoebe's android was charging in the wall. Her limbs swayed with the motion. The walls shuddered again, and the lights went out. Thin, tiny cracks spread in the walls, increasing his worry factors massively. His implant notified him that this wasn't a dream. Distant screams reached his ears, and he went to the window.
Hordes of Sprilnav were running on the ground, tripping over each other to escape. He heard the thump of footsteps approaching from outside. The android activated, standing up.
"Move away from the doo-"
An explosion tossed him across the room. A Sprilnav carrying some sort of mouth weapon faded into view for a moment, smoke recalibrating the stealth field. And then he was gone. Phoebe smashed into the Sprilnav, her fists pummeling the assassin faster than Ezeonwha could comprehend.
Phoebe's arms turned into swords, and she stabbed the Sprilnav at least fifty times in a single pulse. She turned to grab him, but before she reached him, a second explosion sent him flying out of the now-shattered window.
The massive skyscraper loomed large, and he saw the ground beneath it ripple. Dull thumps sounded from below, and large, circular caverns opened beneath the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office. The whole building started to list forward, and Ezeonwha frantically activated his emergency personal shield as he started falling faster and faster. A bullet hit the shield. And then a second one. Gunshots echoed out in the distance, and he saw other Sprilnav falling from broken windows in the falling skyscraper. Gunfire erupted on the streets as Guides engaged a growing army of attackers bubbling up from basements of shops and businesses.
He saw spurts of blood exit the Sprilnav nearest him, bullets tearing holes through the woman's body. Piercing screams surrounded him, a terrible chorus that reminded him of the worst wars he'd fought in. But here, his training could do nothing. She was already dead, and he knew that he was the target of this whole attack. His eyes watered, and Ezeonwha felt so powerless. So useless.
A Corrector emerged from the side of the tilting skyscraper, eyes fixed on Ezeonwha. Then he looked down. Somehow, Ezeonwha knew when the orders had been sent. He knew that it was Astipra in the distance, a jetpack on his shoulders burning a thick flame beneath him.
Astipra looked back at the building and flew toward it. Ezeonwha felt the wind rushing past the shield as pressure. Astipra, far above, vaporized falling chunks of the skyscraper with blasts from his arm cannons. He pressed back against the skyscraper, the jetpack going into overdrive. The metal bent inward, and the groaning and twisting structure continued its fall. Blasts of light from Astipra again vaporized the set of falling chunks.
"Penny," he said. It was almost a prayer, really. His desperate mind was scrambling for whatever it could get. "Please, save me!"
He didn't know if she could hear him. Logically, it was impossible. And in a battle such as this, unlikely as well. Rippling explosions erupted across the facade of the falling skyscraper as rockets struck it. More explosions bloomed as lasers from distant police vehicles, Guides, and Astipra destroyed more of the fast-flying missiles and rockets. They pounded on the world around him, a horde of madness threatening to break his brain. He could feel the wind and gravity equalize as he reached terminal velocity.
And all he could see was the world descending into war around him. The 102nd Visitor Welcome Office continued to slump and lean against Astipra's best efforts. More bullets hit Ezeonwha's personal shield, and peppered the Guides moving over to save him. Air ambulances were shot from the sky. Even small fighter crafts were shot down by powerful ground lasers. EMPs thumped, disabling all the higher functions of his implant before he could think to use it.
A much larger explosion bloomed out, and Ezeonwha followed the rocket's trail to an Elder on the ground, standing in the wreckage surrounding a sudden tunnel opening. The Elder stared at him in glee, and he lined up another shot. Two Guides fell upon the Elder, who flew up using a jetpack to cut them in half with his sword. A hard light hologram lifted a large gun, pointing at Ezeonwha as he fell.
His eyes widened. Ezeonwha did everything he could. He angled his legs and arms. He pushed at the air. He even hefted the meager psychic energy he had, struggling with all his soul to escape the death he could feel was coming to him.
Guides swarmed beyond the shield appearing, while gang soldiers died by the hundreds to carpet bombing. Personal shields sprang up to block the explosions, and the Elder had survived. A thick red laser cut one of the fighters in half from the smoke. Above him, the collapsing facade of the skyscraper consumed Astipra entirely, though large gouts of plasma and thick explosions emerged from within. He could survive if it fell upon him, but Ezonwha could not.
Penny materialized far below, closer to the field of battle. A sweeping wave of gang members began disappearing. A bullet smashed into her head and her stomach, detonating in bright explosions. A personal shield flared and disappeared. Missiles and lasers slammed into Penny by the thousands as psychic energy gathered. A constant roll of words fell from her tongue, but without his implant, they were not translated.
Missiles crumbled into dust. Lasers impacted raw space in front of Penny before bending down and back to their origins, destroying automated turrets. Bullets still hit Penny and the Guides by the thousands, firing too quickly and densely for her to entirely block. But the large ordnance from the gangs continued to work against them.
Penny looked around, confusion evident on her face. But amidst the thousands of wounded and dead Sprilnav falling from the broken windows, Ezeonwha was hidden too well.
Shattering glass could be constantly heard, and he could feel the distant screams in his soul. A bullet smashed into his personal shield again, disabling it. A pulse later, he lost feeling in his legs.
He tried to reach out to her mind, but the war in the mindscape was equally intense. Too many Elders and Guides battling it out along with various suppression artifacts made it all impossible. He could sense Penny's influence, but couldn't directly reach her.
He let out a breath, knowing it to be the final one.
I'm sorry, Penny, Ezeonwha thought.
I wish you luck in the Judgment, and I am sorry I caused this to happen to you.
Penny finally appeared in front of him, eyes wide-
Blood erupted. A searing pain in his head told him his implant had just shorted out. And in the mindscape, he saw a mental attack heading for him, its brutal power evident. He closed his eyes.