I 28m just got back into the dating game after a few years. I was able to connect with a girl 30f on bumble who was also getting back into dating. We hit it off and shared a lot in common. We both had big anxiety problems, but another thing to connect on. We started seeing each other more and more and spending time together a lot. Being open and really felt like a real connection.
Red flags - this girl, was a little…damaged/ unstable. (high anxiety and depression. Anxious ticks, self confidence issues.) but I could relate to these things, and we shared a lot to help grow. We did ALOT of texting in the beginning. Extreme infatuation took hold on both sides.

1. She would always bring up ex boyfriend (but with her axieties and depression this just felt like growing past the pain. That’s even what the sharing was described as.)
   
2. She set the pace FAST. Talking about marriage, kids, taking trips together all within the first 3-4 dates. (I liked this since it was what I was looking for)
   
3. She initiated sex early on, and even said I love you when we had sex for the first time. when trying to make a move for a 3rd time, she said she wanted to take things slower. (This I understood and respected as we were getting a little too excited.)
   
4. I invited her to meet my family after a 5 dates or so, but with how the connection felt it felt right. I told her she didn’t have to if she wasn’t comfortable, but even something like this was a big anxious trip for her. She ended up meeting them, and went well.
   
5. We became exclusive boyfriend and girlfriend after a week or 2. Cute nicknames and such, which ended up slowing down.
   
6. Texing slowed down, but I always liked to send a good morning text, or goodnight message and check in on her. (Responses became shorter, and more..cold and I could tell something was changing, but refused to see it. )
   
7. Physical touch / kisses slowed down, and I would love these things. Cuddles holding hands. Grabbing a kiss.
   
8. We would hangout 3-4 days a week, and usually i initiated the hangout. I was very excited to see this girl, as everything up to the slow down made it feel this was. I kept the original feelings strong.
   
9. Had a conversation about where we were physically/sexually the weekend before the break up, and if we still felt good about the relationship. (I did this as a productive growing conversation. There was no mention of loss of interest or anything. But at this point I knew it definitely existed, just didn’t want to see it.)
   

She ended up breaking it off, due to her not being ready, and our anxieties not vibing. She said comparability wasn’t there. Said she wasn’t feeling it for a couple weeks, and this was when she was asking to plan trips and have me meet her family. It was chill break up, and as with the whole relationship went in with deep understanding. Said we could be friends still, but who doesn’t say that. She got caught up in the moment of it all
Idk. I just been beating myself up over a 2 month relationship, that felt AMAZING. Like the one amazing. I feel I may have came off too strong, asked to hangout too much, being too lovey, and open with things we talked about, like fears of a relationship and anxieties. There was never a conversation that stated we were doing anything besides sex too fast. but that’s how this bar was set. I didn’t pick up on the slow downs too well, or just wanted to not to see them I guess. I really liked this girl. Maybe I got caught up in the moment of it and didn’t provide enough space. I just keep mulling over in my brain all the things I did wrong and how if I played it differently, things would be different. Just almost that my personality is too much and I won’t be able to be loved. My roommates said I should have to change any of these above aspects about me, and the true person will love me for how I am.
I just wanted to vent and get advice. Hopefully my list of red flags will provide someone with some insight on things to watch out for and not get too attached. It’s not well put in the post but connection was real strong to start, and I was really feeling the feeling she was putting out. that’s why I just feel like I must have done something wrong down the line.
Sorry if this post is everywhere and doesn’t convey thing too well. Just want to hear from you all if you had similar experiences etc.

Who the hell did I marry?!!!
This is a long one but please read because I’m going insane!!!
The things I’ve seen, my mouth can not even begin to explain it !!
Please go through my last posts to see how I got here!
So my soon to be ex wants to reconcile after cheating with multiple people, he sent me the password to his phone for the 2nd time in our 6yrs of being married, the first time he gave it to me was when I found out about his cheating and lies last year, and that was his way of regaining my trust back! … he changed it that same day!, I tried it that same night and it didn’t work.
Our marriage went downhill from there, he took many trips to go cheat and lied that it was work, etc etc! .. BACK TO YESTERDAY ! he gave me the password to his phone again as part of his reconciliation tactics like he didn’t already do that before, this time he promised it won’t change, we’ve been separated for months, he spends the weekend with us at my place, I found that was easier for our daughter and honestly he refuses to keep her at his, always making excuses, when he sent me the password I acted totally uninterested and honestly I want to be done with this detective life, it’s emotionally draining and takes away my sleep and peace of mind, but something told me to go through it and I found very weird things I can’t explain !!! But I will try..

1. He cheated multiple times when he was deployed, when he came home I just knew in my guts! So I went through his laptop, there was a folder named after a girl, who I quickly found online because I’m pretty good at piecing things together, I thought okay this is who he cheated with this time, this folder contained erotic videos and pictures of the same girl, she was on only🪭 as well, the thing about yesterdays discovery that SHOCKED ME is that, I went to his IG and found all his other profiles connected to that account, one of it was the name of the girl and I logged in using that profile instead of the profile I know and follow, there were a total of 4 IG accounts, when I logged into hers, it had her user name which is her nickname then her maybe preferred name, so I thought maybe she logged in using his phone when they were together? But! The content in the account was his though, not the girls pictures, but photos of some trips we took together(not pictures of us) just buildings and places and funny videos etc, BUT, there’s a linktree that took me to multiple links including her only🪭, twitter, and snap chart, when I clicked on the twitter account, it took me to an account with a completely different girls pictures but the user name was his!!!!! As in his @… was his name that everyone knows him as, then the preferred name was a completely strange name(girls name) so now it’s not making sense at all.(Mind you, I’ve seen this females real account before! And what it looks like, it looks like what only🪭 IGs looks like!)
2. On twitter he was posting girl #2 pictures and writing very normal captions, BUT all his reposts were 🌽 related, very very erotic posts of women, like the kind that twitter blurs and says sensitive until you click on it to open, he was also reposting posts of girl #1 who’s actual profile took me to girl #2, see how it’s not making sense? WAIT FOR IT!
3. On Snapchat, he logged out ofcus cus he cleaned up realllll good before giving me the password, he logged out of things and passworded apps he didn’t want me to go into, so ofcus there’s girl #3 !!!!!!! On Snapchat, I logged in and most of the friends lists were men, messages were cleaned, etc, through Snapchat I found a number and a name in the name, phone number section, name is very popular female name, avatar is female avatar, I tried looking it up on google, dint find anything, the area code of the number says countries name (which is one of the countries he went to cheat!) says it’s a landline, I logged out.
4. Went to messenger etc, all archives were empty! Google search history had 🌽 site ofcus! Reddit account was all 🌽 community, very very bad stuff! I WISH I WAS MAKING THIS UP! I took photos of everything!

I always knew my soon to be ex had a sx addiction, in fact I told his mom and have told him because of the kind of things he would do to me! And the things he’s done throughout our marriage! BUT I really don’t understand what all these means! Is he promoting these women? Is he pretending to be them online? WHY? he travels to the normal countries with high sx type situation, “for work” I thought it was just his cheating but this seems so different! PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS BECAUSE I DONT! I’m scared for my child if this means what I think it means !! I’ve contacted a lawyer and waiting for an appointment to make informed decisions, already took many steps to make the D happen. HELP ME PLS, I need advice, non of my family members knows about this, I feel so alone, my head hurts! I feel like my chest is on fire literally!

Until my (35f) breakup with my partner (39m) of 5 years and some odd months I’d only ever been on Reddit when Google kicked me over here. Since the breakup (March 31st of this year) and since our last contact (a very short phone call that ended with me hanging up on April 8th) I’ve been on here pretty much every day. I wouldn’t call it “lurking” per se, more like desperately searching for a post that could be my ex writing under a different username than the one I know about. I am aware of how fucking insane that sounds and all I have to say about it is that it is what it is and grief manifests itself in all kinds of crazy ways. I try not to judge people based off whatever they felt they needed to do in that moment to survive whatever it was they were going through. Regardless, I’ve seen the phrase “pain shopping” or “shopping for pain” being thrown around here and there in reference to checking an ex’s social media and I liked it. Probably because I do it frequently. I don’t know if I am a masochist or if I just hate myself or what but I am apparently always in desperate need of some kind of fodder to make myself feel even worse. I should mention the breakup was not good, it was pretty fucking terrible. I don’t know if he still loved me in the end but to this day I still love him. But he was right when he said we weren’t good for each other, that this wasn’t going to work. I can’t forgive him for some of the things he did, mostly because they are unforgivable and not because I don’t want to forgive him. And while I do not speak for other people as a rule of thumb, I would guess that it’s the same for him about me. Plus the repercussions of the break up had real world consequences for me in regards to housing, relocation, finances, etc. But back to the point, I went pain shopping and I fucking found the mother load. He has an online dating profile. There is no picture, no location, just his name and his age and a username that was a dead giveaway it’s him (it’s his oldest daughters nickname which is kinda weird for a couple different reasons one of them being that she doesn’t speak to him, hasn’t for years and has no desire to). I found it because he started following the dating sites IG account so he clearly wasn’t trying to hide it. Funny thing is that his Fb still says “in a relationship” with our anniversary date and he still has a TikTok of us that we made last summer up on his page. Both of our families know that we broke up just because of how the breakup went down and the aftermath of it so idk why he hasn’t changed that shit but thinks it’s ok to go make a dating profile. Idk. I’m just pissed and upset and I only had myself to blame and I have no one to really talk to about it so I thought i’d talk to strangers on the internet. I am sure that this will also end well for me (haha). Sorry for the long post, was just trying to provide enough vague context.

Hi, I am developer with limited knowledge of python. Over the past 2 years I have used it for personal projects and fun (OCR and database requests) and I use it in the deeplearningAI course which I began about 2 months ago.
In the past 2 days I have created a webscraper to collect some data in real time and output these information with a discord bot. It’s working well, but I would like to do save all these data for further studies.
So, here it is my noob question: How should I create a dataset? The information stored in my data rows will be: GameTypology, playerNickname, time of game start, total weekly points.
What I plan to do with the dataset? I would like to see how many games certain players play, what time of the day the play the most, analize what time are more trafficked, what days are more trafficked and so on..

Article Text:
If there is one man in Britain who embodies the way our politics have changed, and continue to change after October 7, it is Akhmed Yakoob, the independent candidate for Birmingham Ladywood.
Yakoob is a 36-year-old defence solicitor who wears black Prada trainers, a glittering diamond watch, tinted gold-framed sunglasses and Gareth Southgate-like waistcoats. He has 195,000 followers on TikTok, a platform he understands more intuitively than 99 per cent of the politicians in this country. He speaks in clipped, brutal epigrams that sound like they are only ever a few seconds away from going viral on social media. He calls the Prophet Muhammad his biggest political influence. Offline he campaigns on the street, inside takeaways and from the cream leather seat of a shining black Mercedes S-Class Saloon. The word “genocide” is never far from Yakoob’s mouth.
This year, standing on a pro-Gaza, anti-Labour platform, he racked up almost 70,000 votes in the West Midlands mayoral election, mainly from deprived inner city wards in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency he is now trying to wrest from Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary. Labour’s Richard Parker narrowly won the mayoral election, taking 225,590 votes, 1,508 more than the Conservatives’ Andy Street. Yakoob’s presence in the race made it much closer. Though he came third, securing 20 per cent of the vote gave him substance and a political base. Yakoob is furious about the war in Gaza.
He prints “For Gaza” on all his leaflets. He says the war is why he entered politics. He knows it represents a key dividing line with Labour, even as the party prepares to make new commitments to a peace process, if not unilateral support for a Palestinian state, in its manifesto next week. But there is nothing Labour can say or promise to bring back some Muslim voters now.
The same fury Yakoob feels is the basis for other independent challenges to Labour across Birmingham. In Edgbaston, Dr Ammar Waraich, a neurologist and former Harvard Fulbright scholar, is trying to topple Preet Kaur Gill, the Labour candidate. Waraich says he quit the party, as many other Muslims did, when Sir Keir Starmer told LBC on October 11 that Israel “had the right” to withhold water and power from Gaza. In Selly Oak, Kamel Hawwash, a civil engineering professor at the University of Birmingham and a former head of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, is running against the shadow veterans minister Steve McCabe.
Both seats, like those in former mill towns (Rochdale, Blackburn) and inner city areas (Ilford North, Leicester East) across the country where independents believe they have a chance of embarrassing the Labour Party, have significant Muslim populations. At May’s local elections, an analysis by Sky News found that in areas with a Muslim population above 20 per cent Starmer’s party lost 17.9 points from their vote share.
A targeted Labour fightback in Muslim areas, including focus groups and internal polling, began in January. This week the LabourList site published a list of the party’s “battleground areas”: 250 constituencies into which the party is funnelling significant resources, part of a campaign to win a healthy parliamentary majority. But the party is also directing activists to 22 seats where the party already has a large majority. It looks like a rearguard action. Several of these areas have a higher-than-average Muslim population.
Muslims make up 43 per cent of the electorate in Birmingham Ladywood, according to the Muslim Vote, a group that is trying to cohere Muslim voters behind pro-Gaza candidates. Mahmood has been the MP here since 2010, taking the seat from Clare Short, the former New Labour minister who resigned two months after the Iraq war began in March 2003. Short, as Yakoob is today, was a persistent critic of Labour’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
After refusing to serve in the shadow cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn, Mahmood became an early backer of the influential Starmerite think tank Labour Together and a key figure in Starmer’s plans for government. Based on the results of the 2019 general election, when Mahmood won 79 per cent of the vote, Ladywood should be one of the safest Labour seats in the country.
Boundary changes introduced this year complicate that picture. Alum Rock, an inner-city area that has a 93.6 per cent ethnic minority population, will become part of Ladywood. When you spend a day canvassing with Yakoob you begin to see why this might be a much trickier contest for Labour than anyone would have predicted a year ago. Ladywood is now one of the party’s “battleground areas”. Yakoob’s team believes that activists are being brought into the constituency because locals are refusing to campaign for Mahmood because of her abstention on a motion calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war last November. Labour call this claim “absolute nonsense”. The independent candidates share ideas and strategies. They often campaign together.
“Everybody was saying to me ‘Labour machinery this, Labour machinery that,’” Yakoob says from the front seat of the Mercedes, which is being tailed by a pair of black German sedans filled with his volunteers, mostly young men wearing Asos suits.
“So what? I don’t really care about the machinery. Can they buy the love of people? No.” Yakoob smiles broadly. He jabs a hand out, as if he were standing at a podium addressing the entire city.
“They can spend millions but they can’t take the love of the people for me out of their hearts. That’s what they can’t take.”
His family are from Azad Kashmir, a region in the disputed territory controlled by Pakistan. His father came to Britain in the 1970s, worked as a milk salesman, then retired to Pakistan. Yakoob was born in the City Hospital on Dudley Road in 1988. He has four brothers, four sisters and four children. He tells his life story and gritty legal anecdotes on podcasts and through his 30-second, self-consciously aspirational social media videos.
Rags to riches is the vibe. He used to own a fleet of supercars, including a Rolls-Royce and a Lamborghini. The cars have since been jettisoned; Yakoob says he has “grown out of them”. Politics is taking over his life. His flashy, brash populist style makes Yakoob the closest thing politically adrift British Muslims have to Nigel Farage. He has been endorsed by George Galloway.
Yakoob is under investigation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority after he used social media to promote a false claim of racism against a teacher last month. Yakoob later deleted the posts and issued a statement saying that he would not make any comment until the outcome of the investigation.
Yakoob disrupts things wherever he goes. Handing out leaflets near a primary school on Wednesday afternoon, crowds swirl around him. Women in hijabs tell him they love him. Countless pictures are taken. People practically throw their children at him. Yakoob switches between Urdu patter and his drawling, lispy Brummie English. “Inshallah,” he says whenever these parents tell him “next time you will win”.
The afternoon before, Yakoob was campaigning at the gates of the nearby Rockwood Academy. It used to be known as Park View School. In 2014, Park View was at the heart of an inquiry into discredited allegations of a plot to oust some Birmingham head teachers and make their schools adhere to more conservative Islamic principles. The so-called Trojan Horse scandal remains a sore issue locally. By campaigning outside the school, Yakoob is picking at a scab.
“I don’t know why he does it,” said one teacher who didn’t want to be named. “Why kids?” When Yakoob appeared outside the school, hundreds of children tried to take selfies with him. That evening at a packed meeting at a Bangladeshi restaurant, Yakoob calls for a public inquiry into the Trojan Horse affair. The room shakes with applause.
Along Green Lane, a squeezed road on a dumpy street where cars are parked at every angle and Palestinian flags are tied to the lamp posts, Yakoob literally stops traffic. Drivers slow down to yell and shout their support at him. He runs haphazardly towards them brandishing leaflets coloured with the black, green and red of the Palestinian flag. It’s a total macho circus act, pure street politics. “Everyone knows me,” he says.
A little girl walks up to Yakoob with her mother, who does not speak English very well. “Give us a good reason to vote for you.” Yakoob gets down on his haunches. He is face to face with the girl. He calls her “little sister”.
“None of our MPs spoke about Gaza.” He says this very slowly and patiently, so she can understand him. “There was a vote in the House of Commons and our MP for Ladywood … she actually abstained from voting.” The girl is satisfied with this. She leads her mother away, taking a leaflet to go.
There are local issues here. The roads sweat with traffic and pollution. Uncollected rubbish, stinking in the mild June weather, is piled up near abandoned, shattered pubs. People complain about potholes and rat infestations. More than half the children in the constituency, 54.6 per cent, are living in poverty, according to End Child Poverty — the highest rate of any constituency in the country.
Later one man, an elderly solicitor, tells me Alum Rock is a ghetto, and Mahmood should be ashamed of it. Yakoob’s team claims Mahmood cannot campaign there, such is the anger towards her. They also say a senior figure from one of Mahmood’s previous campaigns has defected to Yakoob. Both claims are, again, “absolute nonsense”, a Labour spokesperson says.
Mahmood says she is “delighted” to be Labour’s candidate in Birmingham Ladywood, “the city my family has called home since my parents first arrived from rural Kashmir”.
When we visit the 20-tent pro-Gaza encampment that sprouts from the ground in the middle of Aston University with Yakoob, one student, a bearded 20-year-old who did not wish to be named, was unequivocal: “Power must be taken away from the Labour Party.”
That evening, senior figures from the Bengali community gather to address Yakoob in the upstairs room of a Bangladeshi restaurant on Coventry Road. The room looks like it has been decorated for a wedding reception — which is somewhat eerie, because no women are present.
A succession of bigwigs are introduced. This brother runs a printing business. That brother is a mufti, an Islamic jurist. They are serious men, and they feel deeply betrayed by the Labour Party that their families have voted for since they came to Britain.
One man recalls his father’s friendship with Lord Hattersley, who was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook from 1964 to 1997. He says he will never vote for Labour again after Gaza. “They have hurt us so much.” His voice is grave. I watch as speaker after speaker effectively pledges allegiance to Yakoob. These men are planning for the long term.
“We are all here until we die,” says one. “So we need to make sure we make a playing field for our next generation.”
Is Yakoob that next generation? Victory over Mahmood would probably be the biggest shock of this election. It remains unlikely, but it is not unthinkable. His campaign is more fascinating for what it represents than what it might achieve. It is amateurish, not professional, and built on charisma not data. He wants the approval of TikTok, not the BBC. Akhmed Yakoob might just be a curiosity. Or he could be the first sign of a truly new sectarian politics in Britain.

This came from a literal newgen who started like 4 weeks ago, now im gonna quickly say why i rated each of them where they are.
“I want to move here”

1. Valentine - Honestly Valentine looks like a really nice place to live in, not the best (or cleanest), but it definetly isn’t like Van Horn level bad.
   
2. Strawberry - Same with Valentine, looks nice and despite it lacking a few things, it is not somewhere i would not wanna stay in.
   

“Lots of nice folk” (the cat. prob dosent make sense)

1. Blackwater - Despite only being accesible in the epilouge without glitching/exploiting, Blackwater seems like a good place to live in (after 1898-99 preferably). Also it has many shops and buildings so for the most part i dont need to travel far away for things.
   “Mid, i’m indifferent”
   
2. Rhodes - Rhodes is not the best, nor worst. I can barely see myself enjoying it ALL the time. The story missions there imo was kinda boring compared to some other ones. It’s probably the town i would most want to live in, in Lemoyne tho.
   
3. Saint Denis - Honestly, i would not have the most fun in Saint Denis. It is a big city, and it has many amentities, however that dosent save it from its current issues, and thus i really dont wanna live there unless its my only option.
   

“I would not live here”

1. Annesburg - No thank you. Living in a mining town at the edge of the state would not be what i want, it has barely anything and it gives me trauma from Chapter VI 😭. It is better than some others tho (barely).
   
2. Tumbleweed - Even tough i love the wild western vibe Tumbleweed has, i can’t realistically see myself living there. It is small, has barely anything so i would have to go REALLY far to get some things.
   

“Sh!t”

1. Lagras - Noooo. Living in a isolated, swampy depressed village would not make it, like i would rather just move to already bad Saint Denis rather than stay in Lagras. By far my least favorite Lemoyne town.
   
2. Van Horn - A literal ghetto imo. The area is depressed, and despite being right at the water, which just makes a town slightly better, does not save Van Horn for me.
   
3. Armadillo - For me, Armadillo is an area i barely visit. It is a ghost town and despite having atleast some things, it does not help. But unlike Tumbleweed it is closer to the rest of the map.
   

That was all, i probably got info wrong but yeah. 🤗

Ichika: Cecilia, Charlotte, Laura, Tatenashi, Kanzashi…..this girl right here is Riho Ryuunosuke, but we like to call her “Red Cross”, she’s a childhood friend of me, Houki, and Rin, and with that I hope you can get along with her!
Red Cross: Hi! (waves hand at everyone)
Charlotte: It’s nice to meet you!
Tatenashi: Hey there!
Kanzashi: Hello!
Houki: It’s good to see you again Red Cross!
Rin: Yeah, I missed you, you scamp!
Cecilia: Wait…..why do you call her “Red Cross”?
Laura: Yes….it is a peculiar name….
Ichika: Oh! You see…..when we were growing up together along with our other childhood friends back home, Red Cross always wanted to become a doctor since she was a little kid, and since we sometimes called each other by nicknames back then we ended up calling her “Red Cross” after the Red Cross Hospital!
Cecilia: Ohhh! I see!
Ichika: Yeah! She preformed a ton of amazing medical stuff back then!
Charlotte: Well that’s nice and- Wait what?!
Ichika: Huh? What is it Charlotte?
Charlotte: “Back then”? You said she preformed medical stuff back then, but back then was when you were kids!
Houki: Oh, no he’s not joking Charlotte, Red Cross did in fact do a lot of medical work as a child.
The Girls (besides Houki, Rin, & Red Cross): WHAT?!
Rin: Yeaaaah…..Red Cross would just test her medical skills on us whenever we got injured or hurt, and even though it was risky to let a child do medical work on another child, Red Cross was smart and studied her craft and thus knew what to do……even if some things she did to us were a bit unconventional if not kind of illegal. With that being said, she was basically the doctor of our childhood gang.
Kanzashi: B-B-But why not just go to a doctor when you’re injured or sick?! It would have been much safer!
Ichika: Guys, the stuff that me, Houki, Rin, and the rest did as children resulted in things that you would never believe in your lives, and so we got injured A LOT, and because we didn’t want to pay medical bills, make Chifuyu-nee angry, or owe Tabane any favors we just tested our luck with Red Cross’ medical knowledge after we first met her as kids.
Laura: But wouldn’t professionals be able to cure and treat injuries better than a toddler can?
Red Cross: Have professionals in the medical industry have been able to successfully sew back on a sliced off hand with a yarn needle?
Tatenashi: ……….mi scusi what now?
Ichika: Houki.
Rin: Houki.
Red Cross: Houki.
Houki (in a nostalgic tone): I still remember that gang fight that had me fight someone while my right hand got sliced off by a machete. Ahhh! Good times.
The Girls (besides Houki, Rin, & Red Cross): ……………..
Kanzashi (stunned): It impresses me how built different and batsh*t crazy your childhood friend group was, Ichika.
Rin: You can say that again, I did some absolutely WILD black air force activity while I was in elementary!
Ichika: and Houki had a rivalry with her sister’s sentient robotic drone!
Houki: Hey! I’ll have you know that me and Vanguard 1 are good- no, GREAT friends now!
Kanzashi: While it’s interesting to find out what Houki’s rivalry with a drone-
Houki: He has a name, and it’s “Vanguard 1”.
Kanzashi: ……rivalry with Vanguard 1 is all about…..I really want to know something about what you do, Red Cross!
Red Cross: And that is?
Kanzashi: What’s your secret to your skills?
Red Cross: Morphine.
Kanzashi: ……what?
Red Cross: Morphine, I use it in all my surgical based operations!
Tatenashi: Isn’t morphine an opioid, and aren’t opioids and especially morphine very harmful and addictive in high amounts?!
Red Cross: It was the only kind of anesthetic type of thing that I had, also on an unrelated note please don’t tell anyone about my past committing medical malpractice, I’m working to get into medical school and I don’t want to be arrested by the police before I graduate from high school.
Cecilia (to Ichika, Houki, & Rin): HOW ARE YOU THREE STILL ALIVE?! AS WELL AS ALL OF YOUR OTHER FRIENDS!?
Ichika: Us and our friends’ bodies work differently than most people. Think of the Straw Hat Pirates from “One Piece”, and especially that one seen where Luffy and Brook heal their bones by drinking milk, and yes Red Cross is technically our version of Chopper.
Cecilia: I’m sorry what?
Ichika: I probably am fine due to the fact that I’m an artificial human and I already have an extreme addiction to caffeine.
Houki: I’m part demon.
Rin: I’m part dragon.
Red Cross: And I’m like Maomao from “The Apothecary Diaries” on the fact that I test so much stuff on myself that I’m basically immune to most things.
Tatenashi: What about Dan, Ran, and Mitarai?
Ichika, Houki, Rin, & Red Cross: (looks at each other) They’re just weird.
Kanzashi: I am questioning the laws, physics, and logic of how society and this very world works.
(Note: Red Cross is based on the YouTube video, “When your teammate requires HEALING in a game” by “Hoot”. Also even though this is just a funny story with fictional characters and stuff, I’m still going to say this, “Morphine can cause addiction and can be a gateway to more harmful substances, so don’t do and say no to drugs.”)

The Horus Heresy Book 21: Fear to Tread by James Swallow
Good gods, we finally meet the Blood Angels. Was it worth the wait? Well, it's a resounding yes from us. This is a portrait of a legion struggling with secrets and having it used against them. The noble Sanguinius is heartbroken by the Red Thirst and having to deal with his poor mad sons, and this is used against him to pull him into a trap. The discussions with Horus before the Heresy are a good look at who both of them were before all the bitter infighting. This set up heightens the betrayal, as before Horus fell he and Sanguinius were close. Horus realises his pure brother cannot fall to chaos, so sends him away to perish.
“With the whip still coiled about its neck, the Angel dragged the spitting, wounded fiend to the lip of the pit in the middle of the chamber, then lifted it up so he could look it in the face. The daemon cackled through its pain, convulsing as it tried to shake free. ‘I will take your skull yet.’ The primarch’s eyes flashed with a powerful hatred. ‘If you truly do hail from the realm that men once called hell,’ he intoned, ‘when you return there, tell your kindred it was Sanguinius who threw you back.’ With a grunt of effort, the Angel took hold of the beast and shoved it over the spiked edge.
Ka’Bandha’s curses echoed all the way down, before it finally vanished, shrieking, into the warp-flames.”
The Blood Angels are shown here in a completely different light to the other legions we have met so far. They fall to the Red Thirst for quite an extended part of this story so we get berserkers from the Blood Angels before we truly get them from the World Eaters. They slaughter everyone they can get their teeth on and are truly repentant for it at the end of the book, with the Flesh Tearer feeling distraught over what he did to their allies (doesnt stop them from doing it in the future though). Erebus’ plan could have easily worked to bring the Blood Angels to Khorne and you can see why Angron is second choice over the beautiful Hawk Boy.
Synopsis
Before the Heresy, Sanguinius and the Blood Angels have a slight issue. Sometimes, they go crazy and get turned into blood fueled mindless killers. During a campaign against xenos known as the Nephelim, who feed off religious adoration, Horus learns of this Red Thirst and talks with Sanguinius. He is scared, fearing the Emperor will destroy the Blood Angels for this genetic abnormality (something Emperor has done before)....This brings Horus and Sanguinius closer together.
During the Heresy, following a campaign against the Orks, Horus contacts Sanguinuis, talks with him face to face using a psyker and asks him about the Emperor and the Great Crusade. One question later and Horus sends him off to walk into a trap that will destroy the Blood Angels. He claims the Nephelim have returned and the entire Blood Angel legion are required to deal with them.To sweeten the deal, he tells Sanguinius the Nephelim have a machine that can cure the Blood Angels of their affliction.
The Word Bearers and Space Wolves are along for the ride and have secret agendas they plan on completing. The Blood Angels head to the Cignus cluster and find a giant burning eight pointed star and everyone dead. Just being in the vicinity causes a wave of suicides among the mortal crew of their ships. A veil descends around the system, preventing any contact outside the system. The Blood Angels are alone.
A squad is sent to investigate a planet and the mission goes wrong (the pilot goes mad on the way down, they get attacked by the city itself).
Horus summons the Bloodthirster, Ka’Bandha, and tells him to murder Sanguinius, rather than corrupt him, which is Erebus’ plan.
A few survivors are eventually found and tell the Blood Angels about what happened and are attacked by Daemonettes. A Keeper of Secrets emerges on the flagship and tells Sanguinius it is the mastemistress of the planet. Sanguinuis vows to murder it. Sanguinius is told that it seems likely that Horus put them in this trap and almost kills the marine that suggests it. The Space Wolves tell Sanguinius that they are there to deal with the threat of rebellion, in the form of the use of psychic powers by the Librarius. Sanguinius acknowledges the possibility of rebellion and goes to kill the enemy….
Sanguinius fights the Bloodthirster and the fight goes badly. The final blow kills 500 marines at once, knocks out Sanguinius and puts all of the Blood Angels deep into the Red Thirst. The Sanguinary Guard transport Sanguinius back to the flagship and call a full retreat, but the bloodlust is too strong. The legion succumbs to the other Legion genetic defect, The Black Rage, and the dive headfirst into a full on BLOOD ORGY attacking everything.
The Librarians realise they are hamstringing themselves and take part in a psychic process to wake Sanguinuis. He is not happy and destroys the Bloodthirster with perhaps the coolest one liner we have had. But the bloodlust in the legion is too strong and a Blood Angel sacrifices himself to become the Red Angel and save the legion. The veil is removed and the Blood Angels are able to shake themselves off and leave the system (trying not to look at each other or mention why there seems to be a lot less mortal legion serfs on their ships or wiping blood off their mouths). They received word of the Isstvan V massacre and run into an Ultramarine fleet.
In possibly the most satisfying epilogue, Erebus decides to berate Horus for his failure and gets his face cut off. Horus does not care about the will of the Gods, only his own plans.
Review:
This is a brilliant book and brings a lot of ideas into the Heresy that are vital parts of 40k, especially for the Blood Angels. The Red Thirst, The Black Rage, the Sanginor ability to fuse with warp entities, pariahs and the daemons of the Gods are all here and in full display. Slaanesh and Khorne are working together to bring down and corrupt Sanguinius, although you get the feeling that Slaanesh was never going to have him, with the Bloodthirster somehow managing to output the Keeper of Secrets running things in the system. The Blood Angels as a legion are fascinating. The Blood Angels are not perfect but they are trying hard to be good. They display strong genetic defects that should render them removed from conflict by the Emperor. But their noble cause, and angelic primarch ensure they never fall too far into a parody, and instead are haunted knights trying to fight themselves and the enemy for the good of the universe.
We get an interesting look at Chaos in this book. A Slaaneshi psychic is openly working for the Word Bearers, but no one recognises what she truly is and what her power entails. A world is turned into a living weapon and a symbol of the power of chaos. An entire star system is trapped from the rest of the galaxy. The whole population is turned into a fortress of bones.
Whilst it lacks the constant creeping dread of Know No Fear, this is a spectacular book and I can fully understand why the Blood Angels are so many people’s favourites after reading this one. They are the noble angels (and also murderous, barely kept in check butchers ready to go mad at a moment's notice.) The Blood Angels face horrors that drive men mad and manage to survive and carry on.
The ending fully wants you to know what is happening next in the series, so unsurprisingly we are going to have a bunch of short stories next that are completely unrelated to this book…
Score: 9.5/10 - a wonderful look at this mostly ignored legion so far that hits hard and shows how horrific Chaos can be. Full on cosmic horror versus a literal angel and his army of angels. It is glorious stuff. It just lacks the focus and creeping dread that “Know No Fear” had.
Cover: It's a warrior angel fighting a devil as the sky explodes around them. If this was an Iron Maiden album cover, it could not be any more metal.
Heresy Watch:
How close were the Blood Angels to falling? If not for the World Eaters they may have been something for Khorne to pursue. Erebus is no longer the favoured of the Gods, having accomplished his purpose, Horus no longer needs to listen to him and demonstrates it in quite a clear way. Horus is concerned that Sanginius would be a better leader than he is, if he falls to Chaos.
Legion Watch/Number of Book(s):
Dark Angels: 5
: 2
Emperor’s Children: 8
Iron Warriors: 5
White Scars: 3
Space Wolves: 5
Imperial Fists: 8
Night Lords: 4
Blood Angels: 2
Iron Hands: 4
: 2
World Eaters: 9
Ultramarines: 7
Death Guard: 4
Thousand Sons: 5
Sons of Horus: 9
Word Bearers: 11
Salamanders: 2
Raven Guard: 4
Alpha Legion: 6
The Emperor: 7
We finally have Blood Angels! They were worth the wait. They are now on a par with the Salamanders.
Tropes Watch:
Are we the baddies?: 36 The Flesh Tearer. That is not a nickname a “good guy” gets. By the end of the story, he (along with his men) murdered the Space Wolf observers and the legion response seems to just be to sweep it under the carpet. The whole “drinking the blood of my enemies” feels a bit ‘not very good guys’. Sanguinius talks to Horus through a naked Slaaneshi psyker, learns this is not the Emperor’s technology and basically shrugs and is fine with it.
It's definitely not gay: 20 “The ornate doors of the primarch’s quarters opened and Raldoron stepped through, his eyes falling on Sanguinius before anything else. His liege lord wore his duty armour, gold and white platinum with a bronze mail cloak that lay draped over his folded wings. It was not as ornate as the high artificer armour he would wear into combat, but still it seemed barely able to contain the full radiance of the primarch. Raldoron had once heard one of the remembrancers say that Sanguinius shone like a star carved into the shape of a man, and he could not fault that description.” The Blood Angels really love their father. Everyone who sees him seems quite overcome by his magnificence.
How not to parent 101: 25 Sanguinius prepares to attack one of his sons for daring to claim Horus lied to them, whilst they are stuck in a trap that Horus sent them into.
Erebus!!!: 19 Oh we get a proper appearance for Erebus and some actual pleasure as he decides he can berate the Warmaster following the failure of his plan. The slimy little scumbag decides he doesn't need to be nice anymore, shouts at a Chaos powered Horus and gets his face ripped off for it. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. There is a scene where Erebus goes and sees Fabius Bile and you legitimately feel bad that Space Megele has to deal with him…. Berus the High Warden earns an honorary Erebus award, being an absolute git throughout the story until his noble sacrifice (read: falling off a Land Raider to kill daemonettes).
Does this remind you of anything?: 37 Chaos corruption led to the creation of concentration camps. Possibly the most grim dark thing so far. I cannot help but feel that a lot of Khorne apologists will blame it on Slaanesh and “Khorne only wants honourable kills” but also the Blood Father “cares not from where the blood flows”. Comment below which chaos god you blame for the camps. When Sanguinius kicks the Bloodthirster over the edge does he is either channelling Gandalf or Leonedius and we are not sure which….
Idiot Ball: 24 Horus just happened to come across a planet with technology to cure a super specific legion genetic defect. How exactly did the xeno’s manage to cure this? And the planet is really far away from everyone? A likely story. Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

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WaveOfWire Edits :D
- - - - -
Harrison’s vision was still foggy from waking up, several blinks failing to clear the tears from his drawn-out yawn. He just escaped the encompassing embrace of his four-armed guardian, leaving their shared bed for the bathroom, where he would have to say goodbye to his beard. If he was going to travel out of the settlement, a proper seal on his gas mask was a must.
It was a shame. The slow buildup of the hair over the last month or so was a representation of his growth in a way, building up alongside his experiences in this hellhole, be they life-threatening or informative. It was almost like wiping the slate clean, even if cutting some chin scruff didn’t really change anything at all—he’d never be able to forget anything he had seen here for as long as he lived.
And there was no telling how long that’d be.
The engineer sighed, splashing the lukewarm barracks water into his face from one of the many wall-attached sinks, allowing him to fully open his eyes and size up the damage done to his favorite black blood-and-sweat-stained t-shirt. It always stayed in good condition with washing and fabricator repairs, but somehow Shar’s talons always found a way to make small holes in it. She wasn’t trying to, but with the way she fully wrapped her arms around him, the tips of her sharp fingers sometimes ended up poking into the fabric and causing some cuts.
It was such a small issue that he never considered bringing it up to her. Plus, she’d probably do her whole guilty talon-tapping thing with puppy eyes and all… He shook his head, letting the stray beads of water on his face drip into the sink.
His palm ran across his beard while his other hand reached for the razor. There wasn’t any shaving cream or the like, but he’d make do. At least he had one of the proper tools for the job. He went into the task, the blade driving through his scruff, slopping off wide areas of his hair from jaw to chin for a few seconds before it was interrupted.
A short ‘woosh’ of the entrance caught his attention.
“Aww, you’re shavin’ it off?” Tracy commented dejectedly through a yawn, the lazy drawl reinforcing the fact that she just woke up. “Th’ beard was sorta growin’ on me.”
He eyed her through the mirror, his voice coming out in a dull tone. “Yeah. I feel the same.”
She squinted under the bright bathroom lights, rubbing an eye with her wrist as she walked up to the sink beside him and started her own morning routine. “Mmm… Womp womp. Why though?”
“Need it to get a gas mask seal,” he stated flatly, focusing on the task at hand.
The technician stopped momentarily, the gears turning in her head before she gave him a downcast frown. “You’re still set on going for the vehicle bay? You know we can just send some long-range drones out there, right?”
His short exhale echoed throughout the tiled room. The engineer closed his eyes, already mentally withdrawn from the conversation. They've had this discussion twice now. “It’s to be better prepared for any chemical, biological, or radiological surprises that might come up—not just for the excursion. Even more importantly, there’s no guarantee the module is in perfect shape. If I’m there in person, I’ll have the means to get through anything for those blueprints. Plus, it should only be four days, so the only issues we have are my beard and finding a way to protect the Malkrin from the radiation while we’re out.”
Tracy looked like she wanted to say something back, but bit her lip and cast her eyes down at the sink in front of her, twisting the knob before mumbling a quiet response. “I don’t think you need to protect them from radiation at all…”
“Hmm?”
She stared at him meekly, his dismissal of her worries having clearly dampened her mood. Guilt tugged at the back of his mind before her words further caught his interest. “I think they’re immune… or resistant or something. Radiation immunity is the whole reason they were sent here. You’ve added up the pieces together too, right?”
He stared down at her, running a hand through his hair with tired exasperation depressing his voice. “Tracy, I’ve been trying my hardest to just make it another day on this God-forsaken planet, not dig into their religion. So, no. I have not spent the time to add up the pieces. Enlighten me, please.”
“…S-Sorry. I just, you know, get a lot of time to think when working on drones, and Cera has been drawing all kinds of representations of these things.” Tracy paused, gesturing toward the engineer. “Okay, so you remember the whole backstory for why the Malkrin are on the mainland in the first place?”
“Pseudo-eugenics?” he commented dryly.
“Yeah.” She nodded, a sense of excitement leaking into her voice. “And what were the parameters of banishing someone?”
“Not getting sick from a rock.”
She eyed him feverishly, brows raised with a sudden zeal. “Aaaaand that rock represented the Sky Goddess’ wrath, which did what?”
“Uhhh…” He looked upward in thought, recalling his conversation with the paladin. “I think Shar mentioned nausea, vomiting, blisters, skin melting… off…” He froze, the pieces forming. “Wait, you don’t think…”
“I do. Those symptoms could mean a lot of things, but the anomaly field was the real kicker. You know that Shar just straight up didn’t have any lingering radiation effects or anything while you were nearly put… six feet under…” Her voice quieted momentarily, the speed of her speech outpacing her train of thought. “Sorry. Um… so, I was gonna say that she, uh, I mean the scanner mentioned she had damage from ‘alpha particles’ on her skin, but nothing else happened to her organs or anything.”
Harrison squinted at her for a moment, mouth slightly opened and prepared to give some alternative reasoning besides ‘immunity.’ Maybe her armor protected her from it? No… she didn’t even have full protection, radiation would have certainly gotten around her eyes or snout. What about her height? What if… No.
He didn’t just want to believe that somehow the Malkrin could just evade a force of nature, but he didn’t have any way of proving or disproving it on hand… Well, no humane way of testing it.
“I… guess?” the engineer grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Even then, they still need armor and gas masks. The worst part of the radiation isn’t even the ionizing part. It’s the trace elements that get into your lungs and decay there. So it doesn’t hurt to use some CBRN filters.”
“Fair… but it’s interesting, isn’t it?” Tracy beamed. “Like, what kind of evolutionary factors lead to radiation immunity? Why do only some of the Malkrin have it and others don’t?”
The only real cause of radiation he could think of would be a massive nuclear proliferation of some sort. Maybe the anomalies? He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the lingering thoughts away. “I wouldn’t know. You could always ask Sebas to bring up some papers about it or generate some theories when you get the chance.”
“I probably will at some point… Maybe while I’m working.” She poked him in the bicep. “You’re still helping me with the mule, right?”
He bobbed his head, loose beard hairs itching up his chin. “Sure am. Gimme a bit to shave and test the fifty-cal ammo, then I’ll be free to assist.”
“Kay Kay.” The tradeswoman smiled and returned to the sink, washing her face.
- - - - -
“What the hell did you do to your shield?” a stunned Harrison asked the paladin, his face scrunching up in concern… and confusion.
Sharky proudly held up her once grungy orange shield with a smile, looking at its new… paint job? “Artificer Tracy has s—n to imbue my bulwark with the crest of the Sky Goddess herself! Observe the b—utiful wings that cover it!”
The engineer had just got back from setting up and overseeing the automated mule’s first excursion to the mine and back. It was a grueling task, requiring him to reset its pathing several times before it was able to make a round trip without input. Now, the maroon-skinned Malkrin in front of him had apparently gotten her massive aegis laser imprinted with crossing wings in the two hours or so he’d been gone. The areas between the black feather decals were colored with white and blue paints, contrasting with the new dark gray background.
A small weight was placed on his shoulder, Tracy’s forearm suddenly appearing atop it despite her being nearly a foot shorter than him. She beamed, staring up at him with all-too-proud eyes. “The scout regiment symbol looks good on it, right? Cera helped me with the laser engraving.”
“I…” His brows raised in perplexity. “The scout regiment?”
She shrugged, watching the paladin observe her shield from all sorts of different angles underneath the workshop’s light fixtures. “From an anime I used to watch. Men and women who were sent out to battle against massive titans for the greater good of the last settlement of humanity. Somewhat fitting, and fuckin’ awesome on her big-ass shield! Matches the bird’s wings on her armor too.”
He loudly sighed. “You wasted materials on imprinting wings on Shar’s shield? Really?”
“Hey!” Her brows furrowed into faux-annoyance, a smug grin betraying it. “It’s not a waste if you were never gonna use the paint we had on hand. Plus, we’ve got energy to spare with all the wind turbines and power cells you’ve been printing out.”
“Those paints probably could have been used for important designations… or something…” he grumbled.
“Doesn’t matter.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyway, want me to put some scary teeth or something on that big ‘ol fist-sized muzzle break on your shotgun?”
“No?” he took an incredulous step away from her, letting her arm fall off his shoulder and to her side.
“It’s okay to admit you’re jealous of Shar’s awesome decals, bro,” Tracy teased, her smugness growing tenfold. “No need to get defensive.”
He groaned, figuring there wasn’t a point in staying to bicker with the tradeswoman, leaving the two vanity-focused females to their devices. He still had to figure out how to fabricate armor and gas masks for the Malkrin and himself.
“Hey! Where ya goin?” the technician called out, clearly disappointed that he hadn’t indulged in her taunts.
“Work.”
Short taps against the hard floor sounded out as she caught up to him. She leaned forward and curiously looked up at him as she walked, holding her hands behind the small of her back. “What kind? Can I help?”
“Just need to take some measurements and compare options. Right… Speaking of which.” He turned around and cupped his palms around his mouth. “Hey Shar! Get over here, I need your help!”
The addressed Malkrin perked up, snapping out of the small haze of admiring her new shield and happily making her way toward him. She stood at attention, her tail oscillating side to side. “What n—d do you have of me?”
“Just a quick task,” he briefed her, grabbing some measuring tape from his desk… that Tracy had decided was her new chair. He sighed and turned his attention back to the paladin. “Can I bother you to lean down for a few seconds while I take some measurements?”
“Of course. Pl—se, take your time.” She stepped forward and kneeled, her head brought down to his height. Her face wore that simple content look he was growing all too accustomed to by now—slightly vibrating frills, a little curl upward of her lips, and warmly glowing eyes.
He wasted no time getting to work, noting down the various distances around her jaws, snout, eyes, and ears, already piecing together how he could cobble together some gas mask designs to fit the dimensions. She sat there quietly, sometimes leaning into the accidental head scratches adorably. It contrasted heavily with the cold-sweat-inducing layers of razor-sharp teeth within her muzzle as he measured the angle her maw opened at, bringing an idle curiosity prodded his mind.
“Say, Shar, do your teeth grow back if they fall out?” he poked, absently observing the dozens of triangular bone protrusions in her mouth as he held the underside of her jaw.
“They do,” she confirmed, the way she was able to speak despite not moving her mouth still messing with his head. “Do y—rs not?”
“Nope. Only once.”
She attempted to tilt her head, but quickly returned it when it left the embrace of his palm. “Only once?”
He nodded. “Yeah, sometime a few years after birth. They’re replaced with the teeth I have now. Don’t get any new ones, so we gotta take care of ‘em.”
“Birth?” The Malkrin’s eyes widened. “You were not cr—ted as you are now?”
A shock of stress poured down his spine like a bucket of ice water, raising the hairs on his back. Fuck. How did he let that slip? He was supposed to have just appeared from the sky to her, right…? He was doing so well for so long in keeping that in. God, had he really gotten so comfortable with the paladin that he simply forgot what he was to her? His teeth clenched, a huff of air escaping his nostrils as he lightly shook his head. It was a bit too late to backtrack. It could be explained vaguely and brushed off, right?
“Yeah. I was born,” he affirmed flatly. His hand dropped away from Shar’s muzzle, her head falling an inch or two before she registered that she couldn’t keep leaning into his touch. “That’s it for measurements, so you’re free to leave.”
A frown carved through her small smile. “I… See… F—give me if I have brought up someth—g improper.”
His exhalation burned through his frustration at himself, his hand running through his hair to wash away the spike of anxiety. “You’re fine. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Th-Then I shall take my leave,” the massive alien stated softly.
He nodded, feeling a little regretful for pushing the kindhearted Malkrin away as he shuffled back to his desk. Tracy was still sitting atop it, giving him a disappointed reaction with low brows, forcing a pointed reaction from him. “What?”
The technician took a long inhale before shrugging. “Nothin’.”
“…Alright.”
The rolling chair squeaked lightly as he rested himself, his hands already going through the motions of opening the computer and the blueprint folders. There were plenty of tabs open of sensors and motor assemblies he hadn’t closed from the previous night. That wasn’t even mentioning the pile of notes he had on proper radio-protective methods, their corners bent from his frequent flipping through them.
“Soooo…” The short black-haired woman leaned forward from her perch atop the only clear part of his desk. “Can I help you with your ‘comparing options’ work, mister busyman?”
“Sure…” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, raising a brow. “How much do you know about armor?”
- - - - -
“No way. The back support is a must, so you can have extra plating over your shoulders and chest.” Tracy pointed out from her seat beside Harrison’s, all but forcing him to pause his Malkrin gas mask designing to give her argument his full attention.
He calmly took his hands off the mouse and keyboard. “A back support needs leg assistants, which means I’ll need to have at least a fifteen pound battery pack somewhere. Those kinds of exosuits are either all in or not at all. You can go full armor and engine, or lightweight protection and simple limb support.”
“So you’re just gonna go out there with normal armor? Just run-of-the-mill plates and gear? Those fucking things would go through that shit like butter! I know we can’t make synthetic muscle yet, but at least consider wearing something a bit more. Please. Even Sharky has heavy armor!”
Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose, his brows furrowed. “Do I look like a several-hundred kilogram monster of pure muscle to you? I’m more than willing to put on a few extra kilos for protection, but I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons of putting on more armor rather than more equipment. I’d rather fifty pounds of magazines and ammo than fifty pounds of armor. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah yeah… You and your storage space…” she mumbled, swiping through a few more images on her data pad when a familiar Mars-pattern suit showed up, catching his eye.
“Hey, wait, pull that one up…”
She rotated the tablet for him to see a little better—despite already being shoulder-to-shoulder with him. “This one? What’s so special about it?”
He analyzed the few pieces of equipment on screen, noting the rusty-orange and tan color scheme, the old Martian-American flag attached to its breastplate, and the iconic quad-nod integrated helmet. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “That’s… We have that in our blueprints?”
She raised a brow, clearly confused. “Whaddya mean?”
“That’s an Orbital Drop Ranger’s standard kit,” he stated slowly, a simmering sense of awe bubbling up—why the hell was it in their blueprints folder? “It was used during the Sino-Venusian incursion of southern Mars. It still has the Old Earth American flag embedded into it, so you know it’s pre twenty-two-hundred C.E.”
“Oh shit… Pre-St.Loual’s construction? This is ancient, then, huh? Would it be any good?” She leaned in closer to him, eying the tablet further.
“Does it have the assembly view of the armored pieces?”
“Mmhmm.” She tapped a few icons, showing an isometric, exploded view of all the parts and their individual components.
It was a piece of history alright. The armor was produced just about the time when Mars was connecting their orbital stations and ground colonies to work in tandem, allowing for specialized forces to be trained in space and launched anywhere across the planet from drop pods in mere minutes, leading to common nickname of ‘Minutemen’ given to the troopers. The suits were expertly designed to withstand the harsh environments of Mars and give the soldiers the ability to engage with enemy combatants for several days before extraction, though the adept units usually completed their objectives within twenty-four hours of their landing.
The helmet was very angular and blended in with the expected rocky terrain of Mars, each component taking on a sloped frontal design with rectangular prisms flowing behind—radio, breathing apparatus, and vision modules all sharing a sleek, yet bulky look in their own right. It reminded him of some in-atmosphere ships, with the overhanging visor above the quad-nod viewport being the only non-aerodynamic pieces.
The chest and legs were a bit different, following the design of late twenty-second-century operators with tan lightweight rigs, and ammunition pouches alongside armored plates that ran from the shoulders to wrists in segments. There was a rusty-orange undersuit beneath it all for the purpose of keeping air in, which required some sturdy polymer structures to ensure it didn’t rip. Then, of course, there were the classic shock-absorbing leg supports. They weren’t too far off what Tracy was asking about earlier, but these ones didn’t provide any assistance in moving with any motors—just straight-up structural reinforcements.
Hell, the blueprints on screen even had the mag-grip gloves used to scale domes, buildings, and satellites alike. There was no doubt that the Orbital Drop Rangers had some of the coolest equipment on Mars, especially considering that it was the last to keep the ‘operator’ look… It was such a shame the government decided the orb-like helmets and rounded bubble armors were more effective.
“Hey, you know what?” he asked the technician, a shot of excitement in his voice. “This might actually work out as a suitable armor replacement.”
She perked up, her brows raised. “Oh? Actually?”
He shrugged, trying to play off the smirk plastered on his face. “Wouldn’t need a horrible amount of changes to work for our purposes. Just need to remove the oxygen converter on the back and put a gas mask replacement in the front portion of the helmet. Plus, we could probably get rid of the airtight aspect and just keep the undersuit for scratch protection. And, most importantly, it’s radio-protective.”
“Meets all your criteria, then?” She tapped through some UI interfaces, sending the armor assembly to Harrison’s monitor, which he accepted quickly.
“Sure does.” He readily clicked through the different parts and systems to differentiate what needed to be kept. “We have the resources for it, and all it needs is a layer of cadmium plus a few replacements. Definitely doesn’t need the heads-up display since there’s nothing for it to interact with either, so that’ll save on print time and materials too. Shame I cut up the beard… the Orbital Drop Rangers were allowed to have some cool ones.”
The tradeswoman scooted in even closer, practically resting her chin on his shoulder and watching him sift through the working parts. “Yeah, rest in peace, beard. Still, your armor situation is solved. What about the Malkrin?”
“I’ll be working on their gas masks, then I was thinking I’d use another one of your modeled armors for their protection since they’ve helped Shar a hell of a lot. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Mmmmm…” She looked up in thought, a smile forming along her cheeks. “You know, until we can make them any real power armor, I was thinking just some regular phobos-pattern armor. Could color ‘em based on their skin too.”
“Phobos-pattern armor?” he hummed to himself, clicking through the folder to find it. It was just as bulky as Shar’s armor, except it appeared a good bit smoother, with more rounded edges compared to her horns-and-spike-lined gauntlets and pauldrons. The blue suit Tracy was proposing didn’t have the four-armed protection compared to the chaos version, but it certainly had the same thickness of its metal plates. “Looks like it’d work pretty well. Does it have any electric components or anything?”
“No…” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Not so good with designing that stuff in the modeling program I did the WarHarberd stuff in. Could add in more sophisticated leg support or whatever if you gave me time, but for now it’s just maneuverable slabs of alloy.”
“I think that’s all we need for the time being.” He shrugged. “I just don’t want the others to be vulnerable to getting cut up by the little spider-crab grunts.”
“As long as it works for what we need, then.” Her elbow poked into his arm. “Here, how about I take care of that armor stuff while you finish up the gas masks? They need the extra arm slots too, yeah?”
“I’d actually appreciate that a lot.” He offered her a back-palm fist bump, to which she eagerly took, taking on a grin that he mirrored. “Thanks, Trace.”
“Don’t mention it. I wish work was always just doing my hobbies like this.”
\= = = = =
A grand pylon of metal construction taller than the mightiest female’s frills stood atop the beach. Blue-scaled surfaces extended near the foot of the tower, gathering the power of the sun itself. The lattice layering upon their sides hid the weaving wires and Goddess-blessed machinery. A staff the same as Shar’khee’s peeked from its top, the glass eye on its side given a wide view of the sandy environment it resided on, the defense it now provided becoming absolute. The aura it exuded as a creature of pure metal was awe-inspiring, its mere presence a showing of Harrison’s might and domain.
No abhorrent would dare step foot upon the meadow’s rolling hills, for such a mistake would ensure their immediate execution for encroaching upon his settlement—the ‘fifty-cal-e-bur’ bullet is not one to rend any beast with only simple injuries, especially with three hundred of them available at once.
The maroon-skinned paladin treaded up the hill, having completed her task of setting up the last turret. The craftsman, the juvenile, and the lumberjack had also assisted with its setup, pulling their weight in both mind and muscles to piece the components together. They completed a few others around the modules already, but this one was done without the star-sents’ oversight. The four Malkrin had practiced and learned enough to be entrusted with such.
The idea of Harrison having enough confidence in them sparked much conviction in the group, each of them more than eager to prove him right—none more so than Shar’khee herself, of course.
She finally returned to the workshop, the sun’s last rays pressing into the back of her head and frills as she crouched beneath the doorway, a small gnawing hunger for dinner digging within her stomach. The cacophony of machines soon reached her ears, the sounds of their efforts almost working in tandem with the strange melodic music playing from an unseen source above her.
Tracy was in her corner, working on new beings of metal as always. The bright lights above were turned off in favor of smaller, warmer emplacements atop her surrounding circle of desks. A hard worker, that star-sent was, though both of them were like that, the paladin supposed. Their kind was certainly intent on keeping their hands busy.
Shar’khee passed through the snakes of machines, finding her way to Harrison’s desk with an increasingly strong sway in her tail. He was working with a black object with light gray accents. It appeared to be partially flexible, yet firm in other places—notably, a large glass fixture on one side of it. There was very little she could make out about its purpose, but with the delicate touches he applied, it appeared to be quite important.
Her tongue clicked twice, garnering the attention of the Creator. He paused his work, swiveling his chair to face her and revealing a long blue-leaf jutting from his mouth. Her male appeared quite tired, but his voice did not show it.
“Oh, Shar, what’s up? Did y’all need any help with the last turret?”
She shook her head. “We do not n—d such, for it is completed. Would you care to join me for din—r? The rest of the settlem—t is enjoying their meals as of now. ”
He raised his brows before looking back at the myriad of notes, tools, and materials atop his cluttered desk. “Well, I’m kinda busy, but…” His jaw rolled around in contemplation. “Here. Let’s just test this thing real quick.”
Her head tilted. “What sh—l we be testing?”
“Your gas mask… er, well, a Malkrin gas mask. Kneel down real quick, I’ll run ya through putting it on.” He stepped off his chair and grabbed the equipment, uncomfortably rotating his shoulders. How long was he sitting on that chair? The male approached her and she did as requested. “I had the sewist help me with some of the design. Never considered you guys would ever wear hats.”
She nodded. “It is unh—lthy for one to have their frills touched by the sun for so long. Adequate shade is a must, and trees are not so p—valent along farm land.”
“Mmhmm. Shame this is just a mask… Alright, this might be a bit uncomfortable, but it’ll do the job.”
He stepped forward and slipped the black apparel onto her snout, pushing it over her face until it pressed against the sides of her head. A cool material rubbed against her skin, locking her into its embrace. It was encapsulating, surrounding her wholly.
Her breaths strengthened as she allowed the mask to cover her, a short shock of nervousness riding down her spine. She was only now registering how vulnerable she was, allowing him to possibly suffocate her… but she stayed put, keeping her four palms rested within her lap as he continued to apply the straps around her ears. She would allow it. She trusted him with her life. She would not falter.
The cords around the back of her head were tight, a few of which went along both sides of her frills, pushing up against their sides. He kept going, ensuring a ‘seal,’ but it was getting much too—
Pop.
A lightning bolt of pain rolled throughout the top of her head, sending her reeling. It stung for the briefest of moments, but its effects rebounded through her entire body, short sparks pulsing from its origin. She felt nothing but its agonizing hold for several more moments as the rest of her body caught up.
When her eyes opened once more, she found herself on the floor and staring at the ceiling. The star-sent rushed to her side, appearing to ask many questions while looking over her head, but all she heard was a piercing ring and the gruff vocalization he made whenever he shared his intent. No words reached her mind, only the now faint phantom pains from where her frills met her skull. It put everything in a haze, her eyes barely settling on her dearest’s, despite how nauseous she had become.
His deft hands quickly worked to loosen the straps, practically ripping them off until his voice suddenly reached her, like breaching the surface of the water. His voice was deep, attempting to be calculating, yet despite his calmly created stoic demeanor… she could feel his panic, his sheer worry almost flooding her senses through practiced medical queries. She slowly sat up on the floor, holding herself with two arms while the other pair quelled the kneeling male, assuring him that she was alright with their weight resting atop his shoulders.
“I am well, dearest Harrison. Do not fret for me. The straps were simply too tight.”
His anxious breaths barely slowed, narrowly allowing for his exclamation. “Too tight? Shar, you practically blacked out!”
“Too tight upon my frills, I mean. There was a pain there for a few moments, but it has passed,” she returned calmly, softly kneading his stiff shoulders with the joints of her digits.
He exhaled sharply, matching her gaze with regret in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Shar. I should’ve known. I was just trying to see how…” He paused, resting his palm atop her forearm. “Nevermind. I just… Are you alright? Should I get you to the med bay for a quick scan?”
“I do not believe that to be necessary, no.”
His guard finally fell. “If… If you say so. Guess I have to redo the straps then. Definitely gotta make sure they’re not pressing on your frills like that.”
She smiled, appreciating his dedication. “Would you like my assistance?”
“As long as you don’t have anything else to do.” He shrugged, his shoulders barely moving upward against her massaging hands.
“There is no greater wish of mine than to be by your side,” she stated warmly.
He was frozen, the soft ministrations of his digits along her arm slowly stopping in contrast to the red flush growing from his cheeks to his ears. The crack of a smirk on his face finally with a short, heart-warming chuckle brought the statue back to life after a few moments. “You know… that’s probably the sweetest thing I’ve heard for years.”
Her brows raised in subtle surprise at his response. “It… was not intended to be such… However… you are more than welcome. You must understand by now that I am speaking only the truth.”
The two of them sat there in relative silence amongst the desks and machines; her half laying on the ground with her hands on his shoulder, and him on his knees by her side, a singular hand running up and down her comparatively large forearm. She felt… weak, in a way. A vibrating sensation rummaged through her stomach, attempting to pull her muscles and nerves astray.
It was warm, just like his palm, each motion of his hand sending lightning through her skin. The upward curl of her lips into her cheeks was suddenly an insurmountable force, incapable of being put down by a thousand females. There was a tear within her to either look away or… close the distance, and she suddenly found looking anywhere but his curious green eyes to be a waste of her time.
Her talons wrapped further around his shoulders and his back, ever so slightly bringing him into her embrace—
“A-HEM.” A voice cut the moment down to its knees. “The fuck happened here?” Tracy’s swift interjection caused the paladin to flinch backwards, allowing her to see that Harrison’s other hand had been hovering right beneath her snout. The female star-sent wore a furrowed brow and crossed arms, looking down at them. “I heard a crash and came over. Are you two alright?”
Harrison cleared his throat, ever-so-subtly scooting away from the paladin. “Uh, yeah. Shar fell because, um, I tied the gas mask a lil’ too tight.”
The artificer wore an expression that told of her disbelief. “She fell because of the gas mask?”
“It was something with her frills.” The male returned with a shrug, picking himself off the floor before offering the paladin a hand up.
She took it, despite not requiring it, and wiped off some loose dust from her pants. The three of them quickly returned to work soon after, with both her and the black-haired star-sent joining Harrison in his quest to produce the gas mask. She was much less… What did the Creator call it? Bubbly? Yes, that was it. She was much less bubbly than usual, sometimes sending a cold yet emotionless glare toward Shar’khee… Nevertheless, the two females offered input on the design and applied help where they could, eventually creating the final piece of equipment.
Tracy commented on its looks, apparently drawing inspiration from the Leviathan itself, as she believed it to be like that of a ‘Sea Dragon’s.’ The maw-covering portion held two cylindrical canisters on the adjacent sides, the bottom portion being capable of distention, so that the user’s mouth may open somewhat. Its motion created what the female star-sent believed to be ‘the coolest teeth design on a mask’ she’d ever seen with how the separation formed alternating triangles.
The monster-like appearance was furthered by her own frills and horns that peeked out from behind the mask. That was not even mentioning the see-through visor that formed a malicious glare of sharp brows. The paladin looked through a hand-held mirror, finding it difficult to disagree with the look. She could imagine the horror on a fisherwoman’s face as such a terrifying creature approached from the depths.
And yet, despite its nightmarish visage, it was apparel designed to save lives, not take them—much unlike the unassuming metal rods that spewed fire with a mere flick of a lever. Curious indeed. The star-sents were seemingly never out of surprises. They even spoke of grand robots and firearms larger than Shar’khee herself as possible future projects.
Only time could tell what machinations of alloy would be birthed from their hands.
- - - - -
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Next time on Total Drama Anomaly Island - Under The Milky Way

New fan, been a big fan since 2022, yes… when MOAC became popular but I had heard and enjoyed them casually 2019 onwards, I have a few questions.
1) why does Tobias speak in multiple accents? I’m aware he’s a Swede originally, and I can’t imagine how tricky it is to balance his naturally Americanized but still sort of Swedish accent with the Italian accent he uses as the papa characters. It’s very fitting, and very impressive that he can snap into character and stay like that for an entire show!
2) how did people differentiate the ghouls before the new more steampunk style masks? I look back at the devil no mouth silver masks and think wow we have it a lot easier telling who is who now, with things like Sodo’s white horns, Swiss having his teeth always showing 😂, phantoms black guitar etc. how did you older fans tell who is who?
3) ghouls nickname origins?? I know Swiss is because he is a multi-instrumentalist on stage, as in vocalist and guitarist- much like a Swiss knife has many functions. The other band members I have no clue, would love to know the origins (ghoulettes too :>)
4) I’ve never seen them live and would KILL to, can someone describe the atmosphere of the rituals? They look absolutely insane (just booked tickets for the film to go see with my boyfriend :D)
5) is each papa the son of the previous? As in papa Nihil is the oldest, then I, II, Terzo then cardinal? Love the whole sort of passing the mic on to the next in line plot.
6) What is the specific genre? I’ve described it as goth rock, metal, almost gospel in some parts, emo? My friend said the vocals are very much MCR but I think they’re very unique, 80s rock inspiration, very performative on Stage. Love them very much
Hope this itches the scratch to some long time ghost fans who want to get all their knowledge on the band out love u guys 😭🙏

To all Lasallians there, this is thuria; the one being accused of running a server that promotes an unsafe environment. First of all, these admins you mention of which is iloveapex and thuria are not underaged and we don't work with students that come from DLSU SHS. We don't promote doxxing on the server; a fact which can be proven by our members. About you mentioning the server becoming unsafe and us blaming it on users who chat on the server, we do not promote such acts. Yes, though I do admit that I have said questionable things on the server, that issue lies within me only and not in the server or anybody in the server. We, in no way, shape or form, promote this kind of behavior. As for countless incidents you've mentioned, such as allowing friends of the admins to pose as other students using their offer letter, identity theft, bullying, below the belt jokes, and other forms of immature behavior, this could not be farther from the truth.
The first thing that happened on the server was the Chae incident; that thrust the server into chaos. Chae has given herself up and acknowledged her mistake and left the server for good. As for older students being allowed in the server. Yes, we allow them to reside in our server as they serve as seniors who lend their experiences to guide the incoming ID 124s. I apologize for the questionable things I have said, and I very well admit I made those jokes, but that doesn't mean we employ and promote these kinds of behaviors.
"Primary-Ad5145", Mr./Ms. Anonymous, we have never threatened people in the server, you should stop spreading misinformation. We encourage everybody to cover their respective QR codes, application numbers, full names, and any other important information during the verification process in order to maintain the privacy of our members. We do not distribute or save the offer letters you have shown us as we know this goes against someone's privacy. As for you mentioning other members who are friends with admins posing as someone they are not. We have received proof from that very person that she is an actual student. Most of us on the server are aware he/she is an ID123 and this incident has only happened once although some people edit their nicknames to silly ID numbers for fun, as expected from a community server with a comfy and welcoming environment. As for you mentioning threats. I have no clue as to what you may be referring to, as there have been no such incidents. Though we are open to entertaining the accusation if you can provide proof of it even happening, only then will we provide a proper response, appropriate to the severity of the case. As for the verification system we provide, I have proof that another server employs the same process of verification as we do; though unlike theirs, we encourage everyone to hide their important personal information for the sake of their privacy. It must also be noted for transparency’s sake, that we recently had an incident involving a group of people bullying someone, and yes, we responded to their misdemeanor by administering appropriate punishments for their infraction in a quick and timely manner; a testament to our goal of creating an inclusive and fun environment for our fellow ID 124s As all the false allegations you claimed have now been explained, this is my final verdict. I don’t know where some of these false allegations are coming from, and you’re the one coming out making damaging claims. I also apologize in advance for the questionable things I've said on the server, but I assure you, I don't engage in such behaviors and are purely only words. I will change for good if this attitude is very concerning to most people.
We in no way promote harmful behaviors inside our server. If you have raised this concern to SDFO, we are willing and prepared to cooperate and explain everything that has happened in detail in order to reach a just conclusion.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Would really like some advice.This will turn into a ramble, so I will basically sum it up. Just looking for a bit of advice on what to do here. I, 18F and my 20M boyfriend have been together on and off for about 3 years now. Recently he’s been reconnecting with an old female friend. This is not the issue. This woman has been saving his snapchats, trying to hang out with him, and he has been feeding into it. I’ve talked to him twice now about how uncomfortable it makes me that she is clearly trying to make the friendship into something more. He texts her good morning every day, and she saves it into the chats. For a bit of extra context, I literally live with him. We got our first place together a few weeks ago. I am not sure whether I would be TA if I were to break up with him over this. It seems silly, however the reason we have been “on and off” is because of things like this. He will break up, be with the other woman for a few months, and come back to me saying I’m the one he wants. Am I missing something here? We have been together since I was 14, and I really do love him. Just looking for some advice thanks.
Edit: here are some quotes from the snapchats I have seen
“Here soon I could probably do next weekend, I have plans this weekend”
“I would love to see you karaoking”
“Good morningggg”
“Oooh I can help you with that”
“Don’t worry I will”
“:)))”
These are in opposite order to how I have them saved, these are all “snaps” that she has saved in their chats. Her display name is also a “cute nickname” Think of, Hannah banana or sally Wally. I do not want to put her name out, as he is a Reddit lurker. Am I just reading too much into this? Or am I not reading far enough. A third option would be to just ignore this and move on with my life. Currently packing some stuff and putting it in my car while he sleeps.

The following records will ship via USPS w/ Tracking Information. International inquiries welcome. Discounts are considered if multiple items are being bundled. Easy to work with; if you have any questions, shoot me a chat / DM!
Free shipping for any orders over $100.
Shipping is $5, regardless of how many LPs are purchased.
311 - Greatest Hits 2x LP - $25.00
Alexisonfire - Dog’s Blood - $20.00
ALL - Mass Nerder - $20.00
Angels & Airwaves - Lifeforms (Sealed, Clear w/ Black Mint and Orange Splatter) - $20.00
Bad Brains - The Youth Are Getting Restless: Live 1987 (Clear w/ Yellow) - $20.00
Better Lovers - God Made Me an Animal - $20.00
Black Flag - Everything Went Black - $20.00
Black Flag - I Can See You - $20.00
Black Flag - TV Party - $20.00
Bright Eyes - A Companion to Collection of Songs 95-97 (Gold Vinyl) - $15.00
Bright Eyes - A Companion to Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (Gold Vinyl) - $15.00
Bright Eyes - A Companion to Fevers and Mirrors (Gold Vinyl) - $15.00
Bright Eyes - A Companion to I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning (Gold Vinyl) - $15.00
Bright Eyes - A Companion to Letting Off The Happiness (Gold Vinyl) - $15.00
Bright Eyes - A Companion to LIFTED (Gold Vinyl) - $15.00
Bright Eyes - There is No Beginning to the Story - $10.00
CHVRCHES - Under the Tide 12” Single (Yellow Vinyl) - $15.00
Circa Survive - Two Dreams - $20.00
Code Orange - Underneath (Clear) - $25.00
Cute is What We Aim For - The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch - $15.00
Dashboard Confessional - All The Truth That I Can Tell - $15.00
Dashboard Confessional - Crooked Shadows - $15.00
Dikembe - Mediumship - $25.00
Drug Church - Cheer - $20.00
Drug Church - Hygiene - $20.00
Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust (Gold) - $15.00
Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave (Silver) - $25.00
Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold - $20.00
Foo Fighters - Live in Toronto - 1996 - $20.00
Henry Rollins (Live) - Joe Cole is God - $20.00
Henry Rollins and the Hard Ons - Let There Be Rock - $20.00
Jawbreaker - Bivouac - $25.00
Jay Z - In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 - $20.00
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation - $10.00
Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour (Clear) - $15.00
La Dispute - Panorama - $20.00
Laura Jane Grace - Stay Alive - $20.00
Los Crudos - 1991 - 1995: Los Primeros Gritos - $15.00
Los Crudos - Canciones Para Liberar Nuestras Fronteras - $20.00
Los Crudos - Discografía 2x LP - $25.00
Los Crudos - Spitboy - $20.00
Metallica - 72 Seasons (2x LP Black) - $15.00
Minus The Bear - Acoustics II (Tri Color) - $25.00
Minus The Bear - Lost Loves (Clear) - $20.00
New Found Glory - Forever & Ever x Infinity (Green) - $15.00
New Found Glory - Makes Me Sick - Deluxe - $20.00
New Found Glory - Resurrection: Deluxe Edition 2x LP - $20.00
Norah Jones - Chasing Pirates EP - $10.00
Notorious B.I.G - Ready to Die (Silver, 2x LP) - $25.00
NOFX - Ribbed (Red / Black) - $25.00
OST - A Charlie Brown Christmas Vince Guaraldi Trio - $20.00
OST - Almost Famous - $20.00
OST - Eddie Murphy 1982 Comedy Special - $15.00
OST - E.T (Music By John Williams)
OST - Footloose (Magenta) - $15.00
OST - Home Alone Christmas - $20.00
OST - Lost in Translation - $20.00
OST - Music from the X-Files (Glow in the Dark Vinyl) - $20.00
OST - Space Jam (Red / Black 2x LP) - $20.00
OST - Stand & Deliver - $25.00
OST - Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $20.00
OST - Watchmen Vol. 1 (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) - $20.00
OST - Watchmen Vol. 3 Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) - $20.00
Outkast - Ghetto Musik (12” Single) - $10.00
Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (Silver) - $20.00
PUP - The Unraveling of PUP - $20.00
Prince - Sign o’ the Times (Clear w/ White Swirl) - $20.00
Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Mettal EP - $15.00
Senses Fail - Hell is in Your Head - $15.00
Senses Fail - Pull The Thorns From Your Hear - $15.00
Silversun Pickups - Physical Thrills (2x LP Purple Vinyl, Indie Store Exclusive) - $20.00
Simple Creatures - Strange Love (White / Black Vinyl) - $20.00
Snail Mail - Valentine (Gold) - $15.00
Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders - Bet the Money - $20.00
Tegan & Sara - Live at Zia Records (Record Store Day) - $15.00
Tegan & Sara - The Con X (Covers) - $15.00
Tegan & Sara - Tonight In The Dark We’re Seeing Colors (Record Store Day) - $15.00
The Cars - Panorama (Green) - $15.00
The Format - Interventions + Lullabies (Yellow / Blue) - $25.00
The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show (Yellow / Red) - $20.00
The Killers - Pressure Machine - $15.00
The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes (12” Single) - $20.00
The Pretenders - Learning to Crawl - $10.00
The Pretenders - The Pretenders - $10.00
The Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me (Outtakes and Alternatives) - $25.00
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (Orange) - $25.00
The Subways - All Or Nothing (Orange) - $15.00
Van Halen - Van Halen 2 - $15.00
Weezer - The Black Album (Clear / Black) - $20.00

I will be adopting the sweetest girl soon! Her name is currently Venus, and while pretty it’s not for me and I don’t feel it suits her. She is a 2 year old seal point Siamese cat.
I originally wanted something feminine and classic, and had narrowed it down to

• Rose
  
• Colette
  
• Evangeline
  
• Lucy
  

Lucy was my top pick, but unfortunately one of my soon to be roommate’s names is Luci and I believe it would be awkward. My next pick was Colette, which I am still leaning towards.
Now, I had an idea today and it definitely leans more towards being a typical pet name. I love the rain, storms, things like that. It’s my favourite weather. The cat has gorgeous blue eyes, and I think Raindrop would be a perfect name for her. I would mostly just be calling her Rain, and possibly Puddles lol as nicknames. Raindrop would be her official full name though, I think it’s adorable.
What do you guys think?
EDIT: cat tax

Hey all,
First time poster and new dad here. My son is 10 months old; my wife and I decided to move back to my home state (Indiana) due to a financial reasons and needing some family help raising our son. We are moving from Colorado where the housing and cost of living is too much.
My Father was never supportive with our move. He didn’t show up the day we left the state and now 5 years later, for some reason, I thought he would be excited for us moving back. There was a point in the pregnancy where he said “oh so now I’m going to be the 2nd grandpa.” And when I told him we were moving back and how excited we were I expected him to be as well. He said, “who’s going to help you move in when you get here, I’m might be able to come but do you have help?” I told him we had movers and he was glad. Is it silly for me to expect him to be happier that we will literally live 7 minutes away?
My dad is a huge MAGA guy and is an ex-cop. I’ve worked for 4 years at a dispensary, worked my way up from budtender to assistant manager of the #1 busiest location in all of Colorado. To me, it’s more than a “weed job” but to him it’s “not acceptable for you to be smoking pot around my grandson.” Which, I never have but he doesn’t believe me, whatever.
I haven’t heard from him in months, so I call him up today and tell him how I just got my hunter’s educational certificate and I figured because he likes to fish that he would be down to pick up hunting and want to bond with me. But instead he trashes me about it and says “why you doing that, you don’t know anything about hunting.” And then proceeds to tell me “it’s not even required to have hunter’s education in Indiana (yes it is). I’m always trying to be positive and happy but it seems impossible with him.
It’s hard because becoming a father has made me realize a lot about my upbringing and I cannot understand how a father could act like this to his son. I’ve been tormented, bullied, belittled, and at times physically abused by this man but I’m still trying to be the better person and I think he resents me for it. Like I’m trying to one up him and I think it’s intimidating him.
I just don’t know what to do. I want him to have a relationship with his grandson, but he’s been rude to my wife (calling her Ann when her name is Annie). He was glaring at her on Easter when we flew out to see them and meet their grandson for the first time. He’s came to our place in Colorado and first thing he says is some stupid Trump shit knowing my wife’s a democrat. He made fun of my art, made fun of my guitar playing hobby, and almost fought me the day before Christmas because I said “Dad, this is Fort Collins, not south side of Chicago. The air bnb my mom picked out wasn’t “good enough and ghetto”. It’s like everything anyone does is never good enough. I know I have to just tune him out, but I’m afraid of shit getting worse when we finally make the move.
What can I do?

Tagging it as a spoiler for those who have yet to play Collar x Malice -Unlimited-!
This was a big write up I did years ago after playing the game that took hours of studying and breaking down small details/symbolism. Not sure if anyone else noticed this, I thought it was pretty cool. It may just be my own speculation on Adonis’ character designs, but CxM is my all time favourite otome game that it makes ME wanna become a detective 😂 Let's dive in!
https://preview.redd.it/geq6n345dg5d1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed8ae0e6d6fe744b63eb912fa10486ba46f9d81a
https://preview.redd.it/tebbxjs5dg5d1.jpg?width=1088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=026844d87ba30cf361780773bc5baa8320d96b05
Mikuni Rei #1: His number is 1 and on his front shirt logo, in my opinion, looks like the earth at first glance. Symbolizing that we only have “one world”. The clip on his cloak looks like a morning star. What I think of first when morning star is mentioned is “Satan/Lucifer”. (Although I’m not religious so my speculation is probably incorrect). But morning star is mentioned in the bible for both “Satan” and “Jesus”. He plays the role as a savior or destroyer of the ideal world he believes in.
**Adding! A Tumblr user commented that to them, instead of the earth, his shirt symbol looks like a moon instead. Which definitely makes more sense! “The moon has 2 faces/sides, just as Mikuni does. An Adonis member and the son of the prime minister.”
Credulity: a tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true, especially on minimal or uncertain evidence.
https://preview.redd.it/0ofw16l9dg5d1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=260c674a63bc2399826f05722e0655efc5e8af3f
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Sanjou Keisuke #2: At first he was the only one where I couldn’t find a logo for “2″. But I noticed the two symbol on his shirt and it looks like a magatama. Which of course is similar to what we know, “Yin and Yang”. Good and evil. Sun and moon. Sanjou was an ex cop who swore to law and protect. Then eventually joined Adonis to destroy. He’s shown to waver between the two sides. His shirt also has a lion dog image (or Japanese Komainu) which are creatures symbolized as protective guardians.
Corruption: dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
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Uno Suzune #3: Her number is 3 and she’s wearing embellishments that symbolize a 3 leaf clover. Faith, hope and love. After her tragic past events, she desires those the most.
Craving: a powerful desire for something.
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Uno Shion #4: As Suzune’s twin brother, he also has a clover as his symbol but it’s a 4 leaf clover instead. Which adds “luck” to faith, hope and love. It’s seen on his hat, jacket and necklace. Coincidentally, the number “4″ is “shi” in Japanese, which also means death. Suzune also refers to him as “SHI-chan” for a nickname. There is an idiom, “to be (or to live) in a clover” which means to live a carefree life of ease, comfort and prosperity. Something that the Uno siblings have always dreamed of.
Dependence: the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else.
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Souda Manabu #5: Souda has a 5 pointed star as a badge on his jacket. Also a star clip on his ponytail. The badge also says in English, “Oppose force with force.” Stars are represented as protective symbols and divine force. Souda is constantly referring to himself as “God” and is revealed to be protective/caring of his comrades in game. His keyword is loneliness, obviously for the fact that he has no one. Shunned by society, with only the “friends” in the digital world he seeks out to fill that void.
Loneliness: sadness because one has no friends or company.
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Sugawara Rika #6: She has 6 pointed snowflake embellishments on her hair and coat. Snowflakes are symbols of rebirth and purity. Her keyword is fear from trauma of men and her stalker.
Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
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Sera Akito #7: His number is represented by the dice logo on his sweater. If you add all the numbers together: 1, 3, 5= 9. For 9 Executors. But only the 3 and 4 of the circles are more bold opposed to the 2 faded baby blue ones. So add that and you get 7. The number 7 is associated with luck and a dice symbolizes “Fate”. A roll can determine for you to achieve your destiny or it could make you descend further away from the goal. It will show whether you go to the “white route” or “black route”. Sera is shown to constantly hesitate between his path of good and evil and “You” decide his “Fate”.
Sin: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
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Kobayashi Hanako #8: Hana’s number 8 is shown on the 8 edged ribbon of her sweater. As well as the compass symbols on the sweater and stockings. A compass is means for “guidance”. Hana is a troubled girl who relies on Isshiki and his music to “point her in the right direction”. It’s said many times that his music helps people through troubled times and that they could relate to it. Rather than Zero, she regards Isshiki as her true hope and “Savior” which caused her to become obsessed with him.
Partiality: unfair bias in favor of one thing or person compared with another; favouritism.
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Ogata Tomoki #9: Ogata’s number is 9 and is shown on his coat in the form of a fox. A “kitsune” in Asian culture is known to have 9 tails. He also says to Hoshino that he’s aware he has small eyes (which are often closed in the game). Kitsune have small, narrowed eyes and a cunning smile. His hair is also almost light blonde/silver in colour. They are known to be wise/intelligent but vengeful. A classic tale of the kitsune is when it disguises itself to have a lovefamily. Until it’s true nature is revealed and is forced to leave the spouse and children, mirroring Ogata’s background.
Greed: intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.
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Saeki Yuzuru #0: Saeki doesn’t seem to have anything on him to indicate his number because of course he IS “Zero”. Null, nothing. It may also be why his outfit is very simple too. However, his personal symbol seems to be the anemone flower. It’s shown on his chain, gun and cloak. None of the other Adonis members wears this. I even checked Kurose Shu’s cloak and he doesn’t have the design. The chain at his shirt collar is also a morning star (refer to Mikuni). Even Hoshino referred to Saeki as “like the Devil”. Anemone flowers are typically considered as bad luck and ill tidings. But of course the most famous connection it has is to Adonis, the Greek figure. (The organization name isn’t a coincidence!)
The origin of the flower was when Aphrodite wept over the body of her mortal lover, Adonis. The gods killed him over jealousy of their affair. While Aphrodite was crying, Adonis shed blood on the anemones that came from her tears and stained them red. In Christianity, red anemones symbolized the blood that Christ shed on the Crucifixion. Going back to the star at his collar; Lucifer is the Latin name for the morning star. Which is actually not even a star but, the planet Venus. Venus, the Roman goddess is equivalent to Aphrodite.
The flowers can also have positive meaning. Hoshino is constantly surrounded by purple or white anemones when together with the main love interests. Because those colours symbolizes “sincerity” and “protection from evil”. Red is Saeki’s colour, which means: death or forsaken love. The origin story about love and loss forever marked the anemone flower and made it a symbol of sadness in love. If Saeki had a keyword, I’d say it would be-
Forsaken: abandoned or deserted.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk of delusions. Saeki/Hoshino is Adonis/Aphrodite don’t change my mind lmao

Throwaway account
I feel like a fraud
For context, I was born female and was raised that way. Since I was a young child roughly 8+ I’ve responded positively to any pronouns (he/they/she/it) as long as my mind could justify it was Me the person was asking for or about.
I’ve gone by Male (FtM) from roughly 2015 (I was 14 then) onwards until recently in 2020 when I began to question everything again and had settled for Non-binary (Agender in particular) after talking with long time (online) friends.
Some things to note being my mother is “accepting” as long as its not Me. I’ve been through the motions of confessing how I felt in roughly 2017 and had gained what I thought was acceptance however later turned out to be a series of unpleasant events that lead me to shutting up entirely about any preferences, interests or anything I would have trusted her with before.
To avoid problems as I live at home for specific reasons I kept wearing feminine things and kept my hair long as she claimed it was “much better” and I “should keep it that way” among many other things I’ve done to simply be a good child that isn’t a burden to my family.
Context aside, this is where my main issue is.
I’ve been content with the labels of Agender (They/It) for a while but recently I’ve begun to think more again. In a shortened list, for the sake of my sanity...
—I’ve noticed I never stopped accepting being called He/Him or Male, I never corrected anyone, only mentioning being Agender when explicitly asked.
—A few friends I’ve made recently (6-7 months) have said they always saw me as a guy and have simply just been treating me as such even though they’ve heard my voice (online friends), know vaguely what I look like and one of them understands I was born female (I confided in them during a particularly hard monthly issue I wasn’t sure I’d make it thru without a visit to the hospital)
—I’ve remembered a few times in the past I’ve dated people who explicitly preferred men and accepted me as such (Yes they knew everything) and how it made me feel good that others with a clear preference accepted me as a part of that preference.
—I do not wear any binders however, I tend to wear feminine clothing for lack of options, my hair is long and in general one look at me would suggest female. But I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea of anyone seeing me as female and often feel myself cringe in disgust when I hear someone referring to me as She. I just don’t like it in any way at all.
—One of my online friends has called me various names and nicknames before in joking flirtatious ways (We both find it funny and no harm is done by it) and he has before, called me a “good boy” which at the time made me laugh at him, but later I felt confused that I had felt okay with it and even wanted to hear that again, not explicitly said by him but as a general term.
—Some of my other friends praise my artwork occasionally as Good or I’m Good, but I can feel the distinct difference. I liked it because I was called a Boy. It’s never just “oh cool, praise” but the distinction that made me feel different.
I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel more FtM than I ever have but I feel as if my choice has to be Agender, that I’m just too feminine, I’m also still comfortable with being Agender and I simply do not fit into FtM spaces and I do not want to make anyone else feel uncomfortable.
If anyone came to me with this issue I’d make sure they knew it was okay to feel, and they were valid and allowed to feel that way. But because it’s me, because I’m so sick of lies and unsureness in my life, I want a comfortable label for myself that I know is just who I am. I want certainty but it feels impossible to get.
I feel like a fake and like I’m invading other peoples spaces because I’m just not like them. I really don’t know how to feel or what to do and what labels I'm even allowed to have. I want to be comfortable and happy with myself, but doing that is a giant question mark for me. Does anyone have any suggestions? Advice? Literally anything, I’m so tired of not knowing even where to begin. Is it too much to ask how I would be viewed by you, reader? Where am I even allowed to be...

I (21 F) cut off communication with my (39 F) mother, (56 M) Stepfather and my (18 M and 17 M) brothers. I was born with a disability, this didn’t really affect much until I was 3 when I lost the ability to walk, I was then in and out of hospital for years. Things had always been very tense between my Dad, Stepmum, Mum and Stepdad when in hospital I lost a toy my Stepdad gave me we never found out what happened but this caused a big argument, my stepdad threatened to follow my Stepmum who is a nurse home and unalive her with some of his friends, the police where called and of course he talked his was out of any charges. When I got out of hospital my dad and stepmum tried to take them to court and get custody of me but failed, during this time my youngest brother was born and my mother was very sick and in hospital a lot and that is how this all started. I was responsible for a 1 year old while the newborn was being cared for constantly by my stepdad (here’s the tea, the youngest doesn’t even look like his kid, he looks very similar to my stepdads brother) my mum was then diagnosed with epilepsy and had a lot of seizures and almost didn’t make it, this was brought up a lot when I was diagnosed with depression. When I was 6 I spoke to a boy I knew from school, this caused me to be locked in my room, I was then forgotten and spent 2 days with nothing but a bag of chocolate my friend gave me for Christmas. My stepdad would always say he wasn’t my father so he couldn’t hit me but he would lost his temper and hit my most of the time with something or he would break their bong and make me clean it up because “it was My fault” this then caused my youngest brother to hit me when he got mad this resulted in multiple concussions and bruises that I would have to make excuses for. My mum hit me one time because i couldn’t tie my shoe sadly it was school picture day she then told everyone including my dad that I fell and hit my face on the wheel of my wheelchair. I moved in with my dad finally when I was 11 and it was the best day of my life, I only had to see my mum and stepdad on holidays. After they moved away the guilt trips got worse and more frequent, I was a straight A student in high school because reading and writing had been my escape so I focused on homework and for one I had someone to sit there and help me with the work.
I went a few more years being told I was ugly and fat and being called the nickname they had for me “the burden” it made me feel worthless and like it would be better for everyone if I was not around anymore which started my unaliving attempts. During year 12 I was doing my HSCs and under a lot of stress so I sent my mum a message talking about how I was feeling she then didn’t talk to me for 3 years and told my whole family that I was a brat and hurt her feelings which caused a lot of them not to talk to me. We started talking again a year ago and I thought it would be a good time to try to talk to her again about my childhood, she didn’t respond but I received messages from my youngest brother calling me names and saying I’m the reason the family is messed up, he asked why I was being such a B word to his mum, i didn’t tell him because i don’t want him to know what happened since he has a good relationship with his mum and dad. I miss them all very much but I feel I have been hurt too much
Am I the asshole for cutting them out of my life?

i started my New Horizons island back in 2020 which was before i fully came out as non binary and changed my name, but now my character still has the old name and i hate seeing it :(
only one or two of my villagers don’t have a nickname for me, but i still see my deadname when i get mail, when i talk to any non-villager NPC, (tom, isabelle, harvey, etc) and it’s what shows up on my passport and stuff. is there a way i can fully change it?
i don’t want to reset my island because i don’t want to lose my villagers or saved patterns. if there’s a way to delete my character and start over i would be happy to do that, but if the only way i can change my character is to completely reset then i’ll just keep it as is