Sleep apnea-gulf war

Ember by N-Fusion Interactive

2016.09.02 21:08 billymeetssloth Ember by N-Fusion Interactive

The official Reddit community dedicated to N-Fusion Interactive's RPG, Ember. Welcome to Domus!
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2014.05.09 17:32 Konrad4th Stannis The Mantis

A subreddit dedicated to gathering evidence that Stannis Baratheon, the one true king of Westeros, is in fact a gigantic praying mantis in disguise.
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2016.02.03 07:09 Qualidea Code

This is a subreddit for fans of the Qualidea Code Franchise, or Qualidea Project.
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2024.05.16 16:28 P_0_VV Camping in Skeleton Park

Part 1

The official story is that I hit my head. According to the lawyer I wasn't lucid enough to be a reliable witness, and honestly, I'm starting to believe that might be the truth. It's certainly easier to accept that everything was all just some nightmare.
But if my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and those fuck-heads didn’t have anything to do with my friend’s disappearance, then there truly is no explanation for what happened.
My therapist and parents both agree. The best way to preserve my sanity is to chalk it all up to my imagination. But I see understanding in their eyes when I recount the events. They want to believe me, I know it. That alone is enough to fuel my doubt.

School had begun that September with mourning. I only knew the guy who passed away by face and name. It had happened a month after his graduation, and two months before his first year at Cornell.
During the intercom-ordered moment of silence, I looked out through the classroom. Some were bored, some cried. Many shifted in their seats and were glancing around, like myself, counting every second till the awkwardness would end.
It ended sooner than we thought when a kid with sports goggles a size too big bouncing on his face slammed the door open, obliviously clarifying his attendance.
I'm embarrassed to say that this kid, Aiden, was the only friend I had made in high school until this point. I have a hard time introducing myself to others, but being friends with a prepubescent outcast wasn't making that any easier.
After middle school, my family moved to the small village we live in now. It was a brainless choice because my Mom had found better work, my Dad wanted to be closer to his aging parents, and I desperately wanted out of my old school.
Aiden was the first kid to introduce himself when I transferred last year. I realized he was the token 'weird kid' way too late to make it into any social circles. I know it sounds like I'm a shit friend, but that's the way our relationship turned out. Sure, we told our parents and teachers we were friends, but in reality, it was more a tolerance than friendship.
After all, we didn't have anyone else.
For once, I was thankful for Aiden's lack of awareness. It gave me something to focus on instead of the depressing silence strangling the room.
After realizing his mistake, he whispered an apology, sat down, and pulled out an insect encyclopedia from his book bag. What a nerd.
I distracted myself by reading the book from over his shoulder, and before I knew it, lights were turned back on and class began in earnest.

I was able to learn what had happened by eavesdropping on hallway gossip between my classes.
Eight kids, six seniors and two juniors, had found a cave in a region of forest known as Skeleton Park. With that discovery, they decided to add spelunking to their pre-graduation bucket list.
Skeleton Park is the setting of countless local ghost stories, which made it a hot spot for rebellious teen antics. Kids would do everything there: party, drink, smoke, fuck, and everything in between. They even crawled around in caves apparently.
When I first moved, I was a skeptic with no intent of exploring the woods. But one creepy phenomenon always unnerved me. For some reason, animals completely avoided the area.
I initially dismissed this as fiction, like all the other folk tales, until I started walking my dog, Paddy, along the town's bike trail.
The trail runs parallel to the remains of a stone wall outlining Skeleton Park. The first couple of times I walked along it, I didn't notice anything peculiar. But after my Dad first told me about the rumors, I became aware that the area was unnaturally silent. No birds chirped in the trees, no flies buzzing, and no rustling from rodents or any other animals.
Even more surreal, on several occasions I saw deer stop at the wall and walk along it instead of passing through the area. It was like there was an invisible border they refused to cross.
With this context, I'm sure you can understand the reaction of the locals when eight kids entered, and only seven escaped two days later, traumatized and bruised.
Honestly, I was surprised to not have heard about the event over the summer, closer to when it happened. Even more strange though, was how unwilling Aiden was to talk about the incident.
He was the kind of kid who had a strong opinion about everything. On top of that, he was constantly bringing up horror movies, or Creepypastas he had found online. But when I asked his opinion on this summer's events during recess, he only shrugged. Despite the nonchalant response, the look on his face told me that it bothered him. So I didn’t press, and let the subject go.
At the time I'd guessed that he might've had some connection to the kid that went missing. In a way, he did.

After an exhausting day of attempts from teachers to console their students with speeches, candy, and exceptional lenience, I was ready to go home.
I expected to find Aidan at the usual spot by the bike racks, where we met each day to walk home. Instead, there was an audience next to the bikes, forming a ring around two disheveled figures.
The flying fists and shouting could only mean one thing, so I kept my distance. Then I heard Aidan yell center, “Fucker!’ and saw a glimpse of his face spitting from a bloody mouth onto the other fighter.
Even though his back was to me, I could tell Aidan’s opponent was easily 5 inches, and 60 pounds heavier than my friend.
Teachers didn’t arrive to break up the fight before the two were on the ground, Aidan mounted with arms up, desperately trying to block blows.
A whistle was blown, and people began running away as my math teacher desperately tried to pry the football player off of Aidan.
He fought back the grown man and was finally pulled away when two more adults rushed to help. The boy was screaming at Aiden with carnal rage.
"You're a fucking liar! How dare you, I'm going to fucking kill you if I ever see you again!"
Aidan was still screaming too, but backed away willingly.
"I'm telling the truth dumbass! You were trespassing! You should be lucky we didn't press charges!"
Aiden looked bad but waved the teachers off whenever they asked if he was OK. Blood poured from his forehead, mouth, and nose. He had at least one black eye.
The other guy, I learned from the crowd, was one of the two juniors who had gone to the cave. He didn't have as many cuts or bruises but was supporting his weight on one leg and his friend's shoulder. Multiple teachers forced him into a chair while they waited for a nurse to arrive.
While the crowd control was distracted, Aiden sneaked over to me and whispered that we needed to get out of there. A couple of minutes later, the two of us were walking home like nothing had ever happened.
It took me a while before I dared to ask Aiden for the full story. He didn't even let me finish my question, which let me know he was more or less his usual self.
"My family inherited the property everyone calls Skeleton Park. It's not haunted, it's not toxic, it's not the home of a satanic sex cult; it's just a piece of forest that's been in my family for a couple of generations."
He spat a dribble of red onto the sidewalk, and I realized I'd never seen Aiden get violent before. We had our share of bullying this past year, but he would always shrug it off and laugh. He wouldn't even try to fight back. We would just get pushed around a bit, and he'd make a quip afterward about the guys' weight or smell.
"Every summer, my dad and I drive around the perimeter putting up trespassing signs, and every year they get ripped down. We get police calls once a month during the summer that somebody came limping out of there with a broken arm or leg, and they have the balls to demand we do something about it. It's not our fault nobody follows the law around here. It's the fucking woods, and it's our private property. What the hell are we even supposed to do?"
To be honest, I hadn't even considered Skeleton Park could've been private property. Though I believed everything Aiden said, I had never seen any signs along the border wall. Embarrassed from being one of those trespassers, I looked away and stayed silent as Aiden continued.
"The area is just too big. There are too many places to enter, and there's no way to block it all off. Though it's not like that'll stop anybody. I feel bad that somebody died, but I'm also a little bit thankful. Maybe now, people will think twice before messing around out there."
We walked in silence until reaching the junction where we would have to part ways. I was tired and wanted to head home, but I also was worried that Aiden would be jumped by some of the seniors if he was alone. It had happened before, and his earlier brawl could've been seen as a declaration of war.
Instead of voicing these concerns, however, I asked if he wanted to play video games at his house. He was surprised by the request but agreed.
I was on edge with every passing car, and every blind turn, but thankfully we weren’t attacked. After a couple more minutes of walking, we made it to Aiden’s house. His Dad was outside watering the garden. He turned, noticing our approach in the corner of his eye, but his planned greeting died in his mouth when he saw the dried blood coating Aiden’s face.
"Holy Shit! what did you do this time?" he exclaimed, running over to inspect his son’s injuries. "Oh, hey Brian," he added, smiling briefly at me before returning to his analysis.
Mr. Eriks was cool for a dad. Aiden never had a bad thing to say about him, and the way he handled everything that happened in the following months would only increase my admiration for him. He'd raised Aiden by himself, and I would've considered him a second friend if he wasn't 40 years older than me.
After determining the damage wasn't all that bad: a cut on Aidan's forehead and lip producing most of the blood, the three of us went inside.
Aiden went upstairs to take a shower, and his dad privately thanked me for walking him home. It didn’t take long for me to cave, and ask Mr. Eriks about the park.
"Yeah, we do own it," he answered while preparing snacks for Aiden and me. " My wife, Aiden's mom, inherited it before she passed away, and then it was signed over to me. To be honest, I don't know too much about it, and she didn't either. We just used it to go camping there sometimes, back before Aiden was born. Now we go together because it reminds us of her."
"Did you ever run into people up there, when you're camping?"
"Yeah, though not in the fall and winter when we usually go. I have the police's local number on speed dial for when it happens. Usually, it's just teens though. Kids tend to run away as soon as they see an adult with a flashlight. Paranormal or not, they know they're not supposed to be there- You staying with us for dinner Brian?"
At this point, I was too curious about the truth of Skeleton Park to leave, so I nodded and said I just needed to check with my parents.
After a phone call with my mom, some pizza rolls, and a couple of rounds of Fortnite, the afternoon stress had mostly faded away.
Me and Aidan were sitting in his room, scrolling Netflix for a slasher film to watch, when I finally asked what I'd been dying to know the entire afternoon.
"So, why was that guy saying you're a liar?"
Aiden chuckled at the question.
"He refused to believe my family owned the property his friend died on."
"Why did you even say anything? You know that just makes them want to beat you up more, right?"
"I'm tired of everybody using our land like a public park, I'm tired of picking up condoms left by people I go to school with, and I'm tired of keeping quiet about it. I tried explaining it to people in middle school. Our first project in fifth grade was a presentation about something important to us, I did mine about the park. Nobody believed me, and it got me socially exiled for the next four years. "
I ignored the urge to explain that there was probably more to his social exile than a get-to-know-you presentation from four years ago.
"That's fair I guess," I said instead. "You're dad says you go camping there."
"Yeah, on three-day weekends, and sometimes longer on breaks. Mostly in the fall and winter when there are less trespassers."
"You don't find it creepy camping there? Even without the trespassers?"
"You mean because of the silence?" Aiden smiled and looked over at me. "Yeah, the rumor about the animals is true as far as I can tell. Sure. It's kind of weird, but in winter it's kind of beautiful too. After a blizzard, there's nothing to disturb the snow, and it's kinda like the whole forest has gone to sleep. With the snow and no animals, it can get so quiet that you hear your own heart beating."
He looked off past me with a feeling of nostalgia, but all I felt was chills.
"I can take you if you want," Aiden added. "I'll have to ask my dad, but I think it would be fun to have another person camp with us."
"I'll think about it," was my way of declining without saying no.
Aiden just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Offer still stands if you ever change your mind."
Much to my annoyance, we weren’t even able to finish the movie. My Mom called, saying she was outside to pick me up an hour into our viewing of The Blair Witch Project.
I went to bed wondering how anyone could feel safe camping in a place like that. After contemplating taking Aidan up on his offer, I concluded there could be nothing that would make me spend the night there. Ironically, it would be less than a week before I changed my mind.

Three days later, I was walking Paddy along our usual route when she stopped and looked up at something beyond the stone wall, into Skeleton Park. She stood like a statue, eyes wide and fixated on some invisible thing.
I tried tugging the leash, pulling out a treat, begging, and making all kinds of sounds, but she just stood there. Paddy was a six-year-old golden retriever who easily weighed as much as I did, so I couldn't do much more than wait for her to move.
Suddenly, she began barking wildly at the air.
I tried approaching, but she growled at me, a sound I had never heard from her before, and I was forced to back away.
Before I could even process what was happening. She leaped over the wall and ran at full speed into the woods. It all happened so quickly that I had no time to tighten my grip on the leash.
She sprinted straight into the woods, and I chased after her, but I didn't make it far without tripping on a root hidden among the leaves. My knee was split open by something as I fell, and it took all my strength, fighting past the shock, to get back up. After recovering, I looked in all directions, but couldn't see Paddy anymore. I could only hear the tossing of leaves and branches in the distance.
Then there was nothing. Not a single sound. I'm not sure why I didn't question the sudden silence back then. It wasn't the gradual fade into silence you would expect from something running away. It was as if somebody had just hit a mute button on everything but the wind through the trees.
I don't know, maybe I'm misremembering the details.
Patty's disappearance doesn't matter anyway. We never found her, and dogs don’t live for twenty years, so at this point, we never will.
After taking a moment to recover from the shock, I limped home crying and told my parents what had happened. My Dad called the police because it was the only thing we could think of, but all they did was apologize and recommend we put up posters.
They couldn't do anything even if they wanted to. After all, she ran onto private property.
After that, the last thing I could think to do was call Aiden. His dad promised they could search the park that night, and he also offered to take me for an extended search the following weekend in case they didn’t find anything.
Of course, they didn't find her, just half of a leash wrapped around a branch. At least, that's what my parents told me the Eriks had found, they never actually let me see it.
A day before the trip, the Forecast started predicting snow: Saturday night into Sunday, eight inches, wet.
I probably should've given up then. Instead, I told Aiden this would probably be my only chance to find Paddy, insisting she wouldn't survive in the snow. After making sure with his dad, we continued with the plan and headed out after school Friday night.

While it hurts keeping this story in, reliving the memories is almost as painful. So I'm going to take a break writing for now and continue in a day or two. If anyone has a scientific explanation for why animals were avoiding that area, or for my dog's behavior, please let me know.
Thanks for reading, B
Part 1
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2024.05.16 15:49 haygurlhay123 “This Time, I Will Never Let You Go”: Cloud’s Mission and the Hidden Purpose of the Remake Trilogy - Literary and Musical Analysis of FFVII - Part 4

(continuation of part 3)
Since Fatal Calling is all about Cloud facing his past and his origins, Tifa’s musical theme is most appropriate for the ending cutscene. For all of these reasons, Tifa’s theme is absolutely appropriate for the conclusion of Fatal Calling. It makes a lot of sense then that once Cloud has finished revisiting the past and vanishes with the crystal to find his Promised Land, Tifa’s theme stops and Aerith’s theme begins.
There’s a lot to be said about Sephiroth in Fatal Calling. Sephiroth feeds off of despair, and deems Palamecia’s suffering inadequate: he seeks a much greater source of power than this realm. He states that Palamecia isn’t “the world that was promised to [him]”, referencing his desire to become the god of his core world of FFVII:
“Sephiroth: Melding with the planet, I will cease to exist as I am now only to be reborn as a ‘god’ to rule over every soul” (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 25).
Sephiroth’s line “Now, let us return [Cloud]. Back to the Promised Land” reveals he wants to return to their shared core world of FFVII, like we established in our review of the Remake timelines theory (see section “I. a) vii.”). Sephiroth wants to go back to FFVII and modify the OG timeline to achieve his evil goals. This is his ideal scenario, his place of complete happiness: his desired Promised Land. Fatal Calling is setting up Sephiroth’s plans for Remake. In fact, the after-credits scene wherein Sephiroth stands in Nibelheim as it burns confirms his return to the FFVII OG timeline.
However, he isn’t the only one returning. Now that Cloud has revisited his past in Fatal Calling, he’s ready to reach his Promised Land. After Sephiroth’s after-credits scene, the OG FFVII title and logo turn into the FFVII Remake title and logo, indicating a shift: we are now officially in the Remakeera or world. Cloud and Sephiroth disappeared at the end of Fatal Calling, and now the game is telling us where they’ve gone. Combined with Hamaguchi’s recommendation that players complete the collaboration event before playing Remake, I think this is a solid indication that the Cloud and Sephiroth we see in this collaboration event are those we encounter in the Remake world. Once the switch to Remake occurs, Aerith’s theme returns. This communicates that she is indeed —as we’ve proven countless times already— Cloud’s Promised Land. But it also conveys her importance to the story of Remake. Scenario writer Nojima confirmed this:
“Aerith's the most important character in the remake so we paid special attention to her lines” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 744).
Aerith was already important to OG, so what could’ve motivated Nojima to state her importance to Remake? Could it be that she’s even more important in the latter than she was in the former? In what way?
That was the collaboration! Before we move on from MFF x FFVII Remake entirely though, let’s glean some more relevant information from some of the collaboration’s promotional material and special features.
III. e) iii. Promotional Material and Special Features
Two particular pieces of promotional material for this collaboration stick out to me as extremely relevant. The first is a promotion for a new summons batch in the Mobius FF game, created in honor of the collaboration.
MFF x FFVII Remake Summons Batch Cloud Promo
The summons batch contains three FFVII Remake-themed cards, including a Cloud card. As you can see, this promo reads “Who awaits in the Promised Land?” under Cloud’s picture.
The second is a promotion of an Aerith and summons and an Aerith Job Card (in MFF, Job Cards allow a character to embody an archetype or another character, giving them certain physical traits, clothing, weapons and abilities):
MFF x FFVII Remake Aerith Summons and Job Card Promo
I couldn’t find this picture in English, but the text relevant to us translates to:
“Midgar's Flower Vendor Summons
‘I'm searching for you. I want to meet… you.’
The witch protects the planet, imbues it with power, and leads to the Promised Land.”
A few things here. First, Aerith is referenced by name, and we see a picture of her in her famous praying pose. Secondly, both Cloud and Aerith’s images are attached to the notion of the Promised Land. Cloud’s card asks who awaits there, and Aerith’s evokes a guiding role, as though in response. Thirdly, both Cloud and Aerith are attached to the notion of searching: Cloud searches for the Promised Land and whomever awaits there, and Aerith searches for Cloud’s true self. Speaking of which, the promo also includes parts of Aerith’s famous gondola date quote from OG:
“Aeris: I'm searching for you.
Cloud: …?
Aeris: I want to meet you.
Cloud: But I'm right here.
Aeris: I know, I know... what I mean is... I want to meet... you” (disk 1 chapter 24).
In case you’re wondering about the lady in Aerith’s clothes on the left-hand side, that’s Meia, a character in MFF. She is the “witch” being referred to in the promotional material. She’s often called the Azure Witch. Meia is wearing Aerith’s clothes because a Meia-type Job Card called “Flower Girl of Midgar” was created in honor of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration:
MFF x FFVII Remake \"Flower Girl of Midgar\" Job Card
There’s even an Aerith outfit you can have Echo wear, and it appears with Wol’s Cloud outfit in the promotional picture:
MFF x FFVII Remake Echo's Aerith Outfit and Wol's Cloud Outfit
To be fair, Tifa also appears in one of these summons promos. However, unlike Aerith’s, her appearance doesn’t reference the Promised Land or her version of the gondola date. She is not presented in connection to Cloud at all. On top of that, while the Aerith and Cloud outfits are promoted together, Tifa is paired with Vincent in the promotional image:
MFF x FFVII Remake Summons Promo Tifa and Vincent
This is hardly indicative of Cloti content in the event collaboration or in Remake.
III. e) iv. Cloud’s Promised Land
All in all, the collaboration tells the story of Cloud searching for his Promised Land, just as post-OG Cloud has been shown doing for years and years of canon SE content. Cloud is searching for Aerith in the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration, just like he was in FFT and DFF, and just like he was shown doing in the 30th FF Anniversary Exposition. This is nothing new. However, the collaboration informs us that this mission to be reunited with Aerith is what leads Cloud to enter the world of Remake.
Echo noted that people obtain the Promised Land they deserve rather than the one they want. What does Cloud deserve? I believe the answer is: another chance at saving Aerith.
Cloud needs to start over, from the top. He needs to go back to the very moment he and Avalanche arrived at mako reactor 1 to bomb it. He needs to return to the beginning of the OG game. He needs a redo, a fix-it, another shot at happiness; a remake.

IV. The Hidden Plot Point: Mission Theory

a) Thesis
Here lies the heart of my theory. My dear Cleriths, Sephiroth isn’t the only one who travelled back in time to undo destiny and create a reality where things go his way: Remake is also —I would even say primarily— Cloud’s chance to free Aerith from her fate, save her life and secure his shot at happiness with her. That’s why he experiences MOTFs in Remake: he’s done FFVII before and now he’s back, although with only fragments of his memories from OG, to save Aerith. That’s why his triggers all involve Aerith: he doesn’t consciously remember anything from OG, but his grief over Aerith is so strong that it rises from his subconsciousness at the slightest trigger.
In Remake, Cloud remembers some but not all elements of the OG timeline (MOTFs), and it appears he only remembers the most important things: all his MOTFs revolve around Aerith and her fate. Our theory explains why Aerith triggers Cloud’s MOTFs in Remake quite perfectly: he traveled back in time to prevent Aerith’s death from happening. Remake Cloud remembers Aerith because, well, he knows her from OG. Post-OG Cloud has returned to the past to save Aerith, resulting in Remake. This is why seeing her in Remake triggers visions and memories of things that haven’t happened yet in Remake, but have already happened to post-OG Cloud. He recognizes her face on Loveless in Remake because seeing her face again is the whole reason he entered Remake in the first place. His visions of her death when they meet once more at the church, the spike of anxiety and grief as he watches her walk away from him, the constriction in his chest when she talks about doing everything in her power to help the planet… all of it, it’s all his memories of OG being jogged by things related to her death. What he’s forgotten from the OG timeline emerges in flashes of pain, images, memory and emotion. Remember that the language the devs used to describe these instances where Cloud reacts to Aerith in this way is always about “remembering” or “recognizing”; Cloud has to have seen Aerith, known Aerith, loved Aerith, lost Aerith and felt the pain of living without Aerith before in order to recognize and remember these feelings. Think about it: this is the only thing that can explain Cloud’s extremely selective MOTFs and the fact that he has MOTFs at all.
The Remake trilogy is all about Cloud and Sephiroth stepping into the ring one more time, both ready to risk it all to get what they lost in the OG timeline. Sephiroth is hungry for destruction and godhood, while Cloud stands determined to save the love of his life. Fighting for their respective goals, the fated enemies enter a new battle in Remake, one to end the war, both needing to win this time after losing so horribly in OG. Now, it’s all or nothing. Sephiroth vying for the planet, and Cloud reaching out for Aerith.
Cloud’s back with a quest, one he can’t fail— it’s the most secret and important plot point of all. I call this the “Mission Theory”.
IV. b) Mission Theory Logistics
There are a few things that remain vague, so I’m going to use this section of the analysis to speculate on the logistics of my theory. We know very little about the hows of the timeline and multiverse shenanigans, so I’m going to hypothesize. However, this analysis is about the whys: so if you’re not interested in mechanical speculation on the logistics of time travel and multiverses, you can totally disregard this section and skip to section “V.”.
IV. b) i. Cloud the Time-Traveler?
It’s unclear whether Remake is the result of post-OG Cloud going back in time to try his hand at the OG timeline again, or the result of post-OG Cloud somehow informing OG Cloud that he must save Aerith this time around. It’s vague in the same way that we aren’t sure if Remake Aerith is post-OG Aerith or if she’s been informed by post-OG Aerith via her connection to the Lifestream as a Cetra. Though it doesn’t much matter how Cloud has memories of Aerith’s death in Remake, I personally think that Remake Cloud is a time-traveling post-OG Cloud. My explanation as to why might be a little confusing, so again, feel free to skip to section “V.”.
One must be able to communicate with the Lifestream in order to obtain knowledge of the future. This access can only be granted to the Cetra or to the souls of the deceased that compose the Lifestream itself. Since Cloud is not a Cetra, he cannot commune with the Lifestream while he is alive, meaning a deceased post-OG Cloud would not have been able to communicate his memories of the OG plot-line with a living OG Cloud. Therefore, the only way Remake Cloud could have knowledge of the future (manifested as MOTFs) would be that Remake Cloud is inhabited by his post-OG consciousness. Effectively, this is time-traveling.
Then comes the question of how Cloud was able to time-travel at all. I have what I consider a pretty solid hypothesis. The most interesting thing about the realm of Palamecia is that every FF character that’s ever appeared in the realm for a cameo died in their core world beforehand (spoilers for FFI, FFV, FFVI, FFX, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXV incoming). These characters include Tidus (FFX), Lightning (FFXIII), Garland (FFI), Sephiroth (FFVII), Gilgamesh (FFV), Vargas (FFVI), Gabranth (FFXII) and Ultros (FFXV). My interpretation of Palamecia serves at least partly as a directory for deceased souls that can’t simply fade. For instance, FFX’s Tidus actually came back to life to be with his love>! Yuna !! FFX!<. Of course, MFF x>! FFX !!FFX!< and FFX-2, just like MFF x FFVII Remake came out between FFVII OG and FFVII. And similarly to Fatal Calling, the ending cutscene of MFF x>! FFX !!Next thing you know, FFX-2 comes out and shows Tidus returning to Yuna and their core world in an optional cutscene.!< The MFF x>! FFX !! Tidus !Remake.
IV. b) ii. Post-OG Cloud’s Amnesia
If we consider that Remake Cloud is a time-travelling post-OG Cloud who’s returned to the start of the OG timeline, we encounter another logistical problem: why doesn’t Cloud remember everything or most things from the OG plot-line in Remake, like Sephiroth and Remake Aerith do? After all, aren’t the three of them in the same time-travelling boat? Why isn’t Cloud as lucid on the matter as the two others? Didn’t the post-OG Cloud in Fatal Calling face his past and origins? Shouldn’t that mean Cloud would remember all that stuff in Remake from the start?
In OG, the true Cloud’s memories are repressed by both his false persona and Jenova. The latter’s memetic abilities are able to block Cloud’s memories of the past from emerging and conflicting with his SOLDIER persona. For instance, in both OG and Remake, Cloud is unable to hear Aerith tell him Zack’s name in Evergreen Park: Jenova blocks it out. I think this is a similar situation: post-OG Cloud’s consciousness carries memories things that Jenova doesn’t want Cloud to know, so she pushes down on them. On top of that, after travelling through different worlds and back through the Lifestream for who knows how long, post-OG Cloud’s consciousness must be quite weak. We know how good Cloud is at repressing, so it makes total sense to me that post-OG Cloud’s consciousness would be trapped or suppressed somewhere deep in Remake Cloud’s subconsciousness. After all, it’s not like this whole time-travelling-consciousness thing is normal for a mind to experience. It’s no wonder Remake Cloud doesn’t consciously remember how things go in OG. However, post-OG Cloud’s love and grief for Aerith are so strong that memories related to her can occasionally pierce through to his Remake consciousness and Jenova’s barriers, resulting in his MOTFs. His pain and love for her are definitely permanent and strong enough:

“A young woman descended from the Ancients who will forever be engraved in [Cloud’s] heart” (Dirge of Cerberus, Japanese manual, Aerith’s character description).
“I believe for those who formerly traveled with her as comrades and for the viewers, each carries their own feelings and love for Aerith. In this story, Cloud also carries his own undying feelings for Aerith, even to this very day… Its relation with the church scene is… Yup. I’ll leave this part to your imagination. (laughs)” (Nomura interview on Advent Children “Designer’s Note” in *Famitsu PS2!*magazine, October 24th issue).

So you see, Remake Cloud’s mind is a little more complicated than OG Cloud’s mind. Everything is still the same in Remake as in OG, but with the added complication that his future self is hidden in his subconscious mind, probably trying to get out.
There is actually pretty good evidence of this. I’m sure you’re aware that whenever Jenova is trying to hide something from Cloud or altering his memory and/or perception, the screen glitches green with an audio cue (34:15-34:29, 1:15:30-1:15:41 and 1:17:14-1:17:29). Guess what? These Jenova audiovisual cues also occur during the MOTFs (ie: MOTF 3 2:58-3:07 and MOTF 4 0:29-0:42). Whenever post-OG Cloud’s consciousness encounters anything that reminds it of losing Aerith, the strength of its pain helps it push memories of Aerith to the surface so that RemakeCloud can consciously see them. Remake Cloud then experiences sensations and/or visions, all from his future self’s memories as they rise to the surface, propelled by grief. Jenova can’t allow Remake Cloud to fully recover his post-OG memory, so in order to shut down the process, its cells jump in to repress the MOTFs: this results in the classic Jenova audiovisual cues. The only time Jenova doesn’t bother to fight against a MOTF is the sixth, as it is quite weak: no visions occur, only a tight sensation in his chest.
IV. b) iii. Eclipse Contact and Cloud’s Memories of Reactor 1
There is one problem I have trouble decoding. In Eclipse Contact, Cloud tells Wol and Echo that the last thing he remembers is the run-up to his arrival at mako reactor 1 (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 1). Recall that usually, people summoned to Palamecia have no memories of their world of origin and lives before that point at all. So then why is it that upon being summoned to Palamecia, Cloud recalls the events that took place right before the start of the OG game? This strikes me as highly relevant since this is the exact point in time where post-OG Cloud’s consciousness needs to be transported to in order for Remake to begin, but I haven’t been able to figure out a solid hypothesis on what it could mean. My best guess is that this is the devs’ way of signalling to us that the events of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration occur before the very beginning of post-OG Cloud’s second try at the OG timeline (Remake).
Now that I’ve shown you how I’ve come to form my Mission Theory and we’ve done some pesky housekeeping, let’s connect some dots, shall we? It’s time to really get into it and see if any of my wild speculation tracks with content from the Remake trilogy so far.
V. Musical Evidence
What about the music of the game? Any hints there? Let’s try to see if we can find support for the Mission Theory in the music made for the Remake trilogy thus far!
As a preface to my musical evidence analysis, I want to insist on something: the story guys tell the soundtrack guys everything. In a high-quality production such as Remake, people who make music for audiovisual media are told everything in advance. They need to know the secrets of every little scene, because their job is to depict whatever is happening through music.
Therefore, if the Mission Theory is true, then there has to be musical evidence for it.
V. a) Preface: The Basics of the FFVII OST
There’s a lot of evidence in the music of the Remake trilogy that we have to address, but before we get into it, I do have to give you the basics of the FFVII soundscape! For the easiest experience, I suggest you keep a tab open for every link I provide for you until the music analysis is over, because we will be hopping from one musical theme to another and then back again.
V. a) i. The World Theme: Cloud’s Troubled Identity
The world theme of FFVII is a perfect example of how musicians working on an OST have to know the secrets of a story as they compose for it. On top of representing the FFVII world as a whole, it doubles as Cloud’s character theme… except that isn’t exactly right. You see, this piece does indeed contain Cloud’s true theme, but Sephiroth and Jenova’s musical motifs also contaminate it. This, of course, symbolizes how Cloud experiences identity sabotage because of these two antagonists. The result is that globally, the world theme does indeed represent Cloud’s character, but it isn’t exclusively Cloud’s in the same way that Cloud’s mind isn’t exclusively his. It’s brilliant storytelling through musical motifs, and evidently requires Uematsu to know in advance that Sephiroth manipulates Cloud’s identity in the story.
For future reference, let’s isolate Cloud’s true theme from Jenova and Sephiroth’s influence.
V. a) i. 1) Sephiroth: Dissonance and Semi-Tone Motif
I’m sure you know Sephiroth’s infamous theme: “One-Winged Angel”. The first motif we need to know is Sephiroth’s threatening, repetitive dissonance motif, which plays all throughout the piece (plays solo at 0:00 to 0:04). The second motif is what I call the semi-tone motif. “One-Winged Angel” has a ton of minor 2nd intervals, which is what we call the relationship between two notes that are only a semi-tone apart. You might recognize the minor 2nd interval in the foreboding Jaws theme. Just like in Jaws, the minor 2nd interval or semi-tone is commonly used to indicate an impending, life-threatening danger, a monster, predator, evil, or insanity; suits Sephiroth quite nicely!
V. a) i. 2) Jenova: Parasite Motif
The track “J-E-N-O-V-A” contains many competing melodies and has generated many variations of those melodies —almost like clones— that all represent aspects of the alien’s character. The main Jenova motif is simply a descending, two-octaves-long, arpeggiated mb6 chord (eight notes total). I’ve played it for you here. Sometimes, this motif is altered to form variations. For instance, in “Listen to the Cries of the Planet”, a variation of Jenova’s main motif is created by changing the order of the notes and reducing the number of notes to only six (0:00-0:03), however, it remains an arpeggiated mb6 chord. Regardless of the alteration, if you hear an arpeggiated mb6 chord, it means Jenova is creeping close by or that its influence is at work.
The variation of the mb6 arpeggiated chord that concerns us alters Jenova’s main theme so it ascends from the tonic to the b6 note and descends back to the tonic, then ending on the lower dominant for a total of eight notes. I’ve played it for you here. I call this variation the “parasite motif”, because it is often heard when Cloud is being controlled by Jenova. For instance, it plays when Cloud loses himself and becomes unusually violent in Rebirth’s chapter 13 (17:25-18:34), signalling to us that Jenova is in control. It is also the main motif of the track “Who… Am I?”, which evidently symbolizes Jenova’s fuelling of Cloud’s identity crisis— though here, the parasite motif is shortened to its six first notes.
V. a) i. 3) Cloud’s True Self
Now that we can recognize Sephiroth and Jenova’s motifs, let’s return to the world theme to isolate Cloud’s true self. Cloud’s true theme can be heard from 0:51 to 3:48. It consists of a section A (0:51-1:54), followed by a section B (1:54-2:41), and then returns to section A (2:41-3:48).
After Cloud’s true theme concludes however, it seems he experiences a psychic interference: doubt and confusion weave through the world theme (3:48-4:09), representing an instability in his identity. I call this interruption of Cloud’s true theme the “interference section”. It symbolizes a moment of psychic interference or weakness within Cloud that Sephiroth and Jenova take advantage of to take control of Cloud.
The end of the interference section introduces Jenova’s parasite motif. It slithers in (4:09), later joined by Sephiroth’s dissonance motif (4:16): Cloud’s mind and identity are being hijacked by the two antagonists in service of their evil plans.
They torment Cloud, dominating his mind until he manages to free himself: section A of Cloud’s true theme begins playing again (6:06), closing the loop of the theme.
Based on this musical storytelling, if you already knew the character motifs going into OG, you might’ve suspected something odd was going on with Cloud’s identity, and that Jenova and Sephiroth were involved. All this to say that whatever music is playing at any given time can give us hints as to what is going on. That’s the power and significance of a good soundtrack. Trust me when I say that with Uematsu and his team, we’re in excellent hands. And remember: the story guys tell the soundtrack guys everything.
V. a) ii. Aerith’s Theme
Another base we have to cover before checking out the Remake soundtrack is Aerith’s theme. I’m sure everyone here is familiar with it, but I insist that you refresh your memory. It consists of a section A (0:00-0:34), a section B (0:34-1:13) and a section C (1:13-2:00), concluding with a repeat of section A.
V. a) iii. Motifs and Timing in FFVII OSTs
I’m going to analyze pieces in great detail, which people who haven’t studied or paid attention to soundtracks may find strange. To prevent anyone from making the mistake of thinking that I’m reading too much into things, I want to emphasize that the music that plays during the Remaketrilogy’s cutscenes is carefully timed, composed and arranged to match the events in the cutscenes, as they are provided in advance to the musicians. Composers pay lots of attention to whatever is going on onscreen so they can include the corresponding musical motifs as accompaniment at the exact right moments, always striving to get the timing perfect. I’m not exaggerating the effort and minutia involved in soundtrack composition and arrangement. Here are just a few sound staff comments from the “Material 4: Soundtrack” section of the FFVII Remake Material Ultimania to prove it:
“[To] make sure players really feel the weight of the moment, we worked hard on getting the tempo and the entry timing of each instrument exactly right. In particular, that big ‘boom’ that sounds almost like a meteor crashing down was fine-tuned to match the timing of the logo's appearance. I remember this was a real sticking point for us, because if the boom's timing was even slightly off, the effect would be completely different. We […] had to sequence [each and every sound] to play at exactly the right moment” (Shotaro Shima on track “Midgar, City of Mako”, page 229).
&
“I was originally told to keep this piece to under two minutes, but it ended up being over six minutes long, in order to match the flow of the cutscene. I arranged the track while watching the latest CG visuals that had been rendered for the scene” (Naoyuki Honzawa on track “Smash ‘Em, Rip ‘Em”, page 309).
&
“This is the track that plays during the tour of Shinra’s different divisions. The movie shown in the Visual Entertainment Hall describes the history of the Ancients (0:25 onward in the soundtrack version), and I wanted to create a musical link to them as well, so I made use of the chord progression from ‘Aerith’s Theme’ [D(I)-Am(Vm)-D(I).] [This simple sequence of moving from major to minor and back again creates a really mysterious air. Then, during the section where the movie recounts the history of the construction of the Shinra Building (1:47 onward in the soundtrack version), I quoted a section of the Shinra theme” (Yasunori Nishiki on track “Stewards of the Planet”, page 313).

V. b) The Remake OST
Now that you’re ready, it’s time to verify the Mission Theory’s validity with Remake’s music.
V. b) i. MOTF 6 Music
We were able to explain Remake Cloud’s MOTFs with the Mission Theory, and it just so happens that the music that plays during the scene of MOTF 6 is unique to Remake. This gives us the perfect opportunity: we should analyze the piece that plays as it occurs to evaluate the legitimacy of our theory on the Remake trilogy, using all the motifs we uncovered in section “V. a)”.
First, a refresher on the scene and on our theory’s interpretation of it. The party is gathered in Aerith and Ifalna’s old room at Shinra HQ. Here is how the scene is described by the VA script notes:
“The Whispers once again close in [on Aerith], but Aerith refuses to stop speaking this time.
Aerith: Listen to me. […] Shinra isn’t the enemy. They were the ones who set things in motion, but our true foe is someone else.
At that moment, the spectacle of Meteor they saw in the Visual Entertainment Hall comes into Cloud and the others’ heads.
Aerith: Somehow, some way, I want to help— all of you… the planet…
For some reason, Cloud feels his chest constrict tightly” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Aerith Speaks”).
Indeed, right after Aerith says she wants to help the planet any way she can, Cloud looks down at his chest with a frown and a quiet grunt (7:46-7:54). According to the Mission Theory, this tightness in Cloud’s chest can be explained as an emergence of post-OG Cloud’s grief, triggered by the slightest allusion to Aerith’s sacrifice.
The piece that plays during this scene is called “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”. It is one of many variations of Aerith’s iconic theme arranged for Remake. However, Cloud’s theme is just as prominent in the piece— if not, more.
V. b) i. 1) The Fate Motif
Before we interpret “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”, I need to introduce you to one more motif that crops up in the piece. There is a windy motif that appears (from 1:45 onwards) and it is unaccounted for, despite how it’s clearly meant to represent something. I’ve become certain that this wind noise symbolizes fate, and I’ll tell you why.
In the MOTF 6 scene, just after Nanaki explains how he gained knowledge of the Whispers via contact with Aerith (7:23), they emerge and begin swirling aggressively around Aerith (7:26). Her hair and dress blow and ripple in the resulting wind. From this very moment onward “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” (3:00), a string section (bowed instruments in the violin family) that deliberately emphasizes the airy sound of the bow crossing the strings enters, creating a windy effect that adds to the already present wind noise (that started at 1:45). As the Whispers progressively become even more aggressive onscreen, both the wind SFX of the cutscene and the wind noise in the piece get louder and louder. Because of the timing of its appearance and crescendo in the cutscene, I’m certain the wind noise is meant to represent the restrictive flow of fate; it only makes sense, given that destiny is a current —or a wind— that cannot be broken, and Aerith is like a helpless petal in fate’s carefully planned storm. Of course, it’s also quite significant that the Whispers make a windy noise as they fly. You can hear it every time they’re onscreen, like when they first appear to Cloud in chapter 2 of Remake (17:45-18:20), or when the White Whispers hold Cloud back from chasing after Aerith during Rebirth’s Sleeping Forest scene in chapter 14 (28:43-29:45). You can also hear the wind sounds in other Whisper-related tracks, such as “Whorl of Whispers” (clearly audible at 2:50-3:05), as well as “A Death Not Ordained by Fate” (clearly audible at 2:56-3:18). Therefore, I’ll call these wind noises the “fate motif”.
V. b) ii. 2) Interpreting “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”
In part 1 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” (0:00-1:45), Aerith’s theme and Cloud’s true theme play simultaneously, their respective phrases fitting perfectly together, interweaving peacefully and softly. It sounds like the two of them are chatting, dancing bashfully yet contently and in perfect sync, glad to be exactly where they’re meant to be as their themes sing together in harmony (soft piano). Part 1 of this piece is about Cloud and Aerith becoming important to one another as they discover their soulmate bond.
Unfortunately that contentment doesn’t last. In part 2 (1:45-3:00), Cloud experiences a moment of psychic vulnerability (world theme’s interference section). Fate lurks (fate motif enters quietly). His instability forces our couple’s sweet dance to a halt, and Aerith’s theme must retreat as Cloud’s confusion takes center stage. Sephiroth torments and taunts him (semi-tone played by strings, 2:03-2:10), taking advantage of Cloud’s psychic interference to plunge him into darkness (world theme’s interference section ends, low cello enters, 2:18): Cloud temporarily becomes a darker version of himself as evil corrupts him (piano plays section A phrases 1 and 2 of Cloud’s true theme in minor, 2:18-2:53). Jenova finally reveals itself and promptly exits, releasing Cloud’s mind from its grasp (seven first notes of parasite motif played twice on piano 2:53-3:00). Cloud is free, but the damage has been done: his dance with Aerith has long been interrupted, and she is gone. Part 2 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud being manipulated in service of Sephiroth and Jenova’s evil plan, interrupting his interaction with Aerith.
Part 3 (3:00-3:33) kicks off the mechanisms of a tragic fate (strings section joins fate motif, 3:00). Both anxious that she’s disappeared from his side and terrified of the darkness he just discovered inside him (in part 2), Cloud fearfully calls out for Aerith (phrase 1 of Cloud’s true theme’s section A, timid and hesitant piano, 3:04-3:15). Before his psychic interference began (start of part 2), Cloud’s voice was accompanied by Aerith’s as they grew closer and closer (their character themes mingling in part 1)… but now, Aerith isn’t answering his call, and he cannot find her (Aerith’s theme doesn’t to join Cloud’s anymore).
Anxious, Cloud tries calling out for Aerith a second time (section A phrase 2 of Cloud’s true theme’s, 3:19-3:31), searching for her in the hopes that they can continue their dance, but even now, Aerith does not respond. She’s gone (Aerith’s theme remains absent). Destiny keeps Aerith away from Cloud (fate motif gently crescendos). Part 3 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud’s separation from Aerith, his search for her, and the fear and anxiousness he feels when he realizes he cannot find her.
And then, part 4 begins with a sweet, gentle voice, calling out from the blackened horizon: it’s Aerith (section B phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, soft piano, 3:33-3:45). Cloud finally hears her respond to his pleas: he’s found her. Fate begins howling in protest, doubling its efforts to keep Cloud and Aerith apart (fate motif crescendos noticeably in reaction to Aerith’s theme, 3:45). You can just picture Cloud running toward Aerith, struggling against the current of destiny to try and close the distance between them. Aerith tries calling out for Cloud a second time, (section B phrase 2 of Aerith’s theme, 3:40-3:43), but the Whispers only swirl around her more ferociously, taking her away in the uncompromising current of fate (fate motif continues to crescendo). Aerith tries again (section B phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, 3:47-3:49). It sounds like she’s saying “Cloud, I’m over here, come find me!”
Fate doesn’t take too kindly to her defying it. Cloud and Aerith are not supposed to be together; it can’t be, it won’t. She’s destined to die to save the planet, and he’s destined to remain hollow forevermore. I can picture Cloud breaking into a sprint at the sound of her voice, running countercurrent to the flow of destiny— but the winds are so loud, fate’s demands are so strong, and the Whispers are shrieking in defense of destiny now. Aerith’s voice emerges for the fourth time (first three notes of section B phrase 3 of Aerith’s theme, 3:54 to 3:56). Fate screams louder, louder (steep crescendo of fate motif, 3:59-4:02). In a desperate hail Mary, Aerith shouts out one more time, as though throwing her hand out toward Cloud’s extended fingers (section C phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, louder and more insistent, cutting through the fate motif as it crescendos sharply, 4:00-4:06). Part 4 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud and Aerith desperately trying to defy fate in order to be together. And then, it all stops: fate has seemingly quieted Aerith (4:04-4:08)…
Part 5 (4:08-4:27) begins with Cloud jumping, launching himself off the ground with all his strength (Cloud’s true theme section A phrase 2, first 5 notes, melody starting on the note E5 and ascending) as Aerith plummets toward the ground in a fatal fall (Aerith’s theme section C phrase 1, melody starting on the note E6 and descending, the last note altered)— he successfully catches her in mid-air (both Cloud’s ascending melody and Aerith’s descending melody meet in the middle of the octave, first uniting on B5, and then ending on A5). I’ve recreated the melodies for you here so you can hear this reunion more clearly. If you consider that the airy strings in this piece represent fate, which I do, the fact that they follow Cloud and Aerith’s themes in part 5 signifies that they are now in control of their own destinies, and successfully making it their fate to reunite.
To be completely frank, I did not realize until right now writing this that Cloud unites with Aerith in part 5, even though his theme is right there. I’m so excited to share this part with you.
We hear Aerith once more, her voice quietly trailing off into the silence (phrase 4 of section C of Aerith’s theme) with no conclusion (phrase 5 normally follows phrase 4 to conclude Aerith’s theme, but is absent here). Part 5 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” suggests that Cloud will save Aerith and that the couple will change their fate, but also conveys an uncertain and open-ended quality.
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2024.05.16 15:24 FakeElectionMaker I bought a new phone and its version of Reddit does not allow users to upload multiple images in a single post, so I will post the wikibox of Belgium occupied by fascist France.

I bought a new phone and its version of Reddit does not allow users to upload multiple images in a single post, so I will post the wikibox of Belgium occupied by fascist France.
The Rexist-VNV government faced widespread resistance almost immediately after coming to power, since the Flemish populace did not identify with the Catholic and Walloon-based Rex.
This led to three French infantry divisions being earmarked to Flanders, hurting France in the colonial theaters it was fighting in. However, they did use Belgium as a springboard from which to invade the Netherlands, and the Low Countries in general to bomb the UK.
Léon Degrelle abandoned Catholic rethoric and used Christian messaging instead, proclaiming himself a Christ-like messiah sent to save Belgium, and blaming the Jews and liberal politicians for the country's weakness. He sought to create an economy based on class collaboration, but the Jacqueries planned to economically control their puppet states, and this prevented Degrelle from carrying out any changes to the Belgian economy other than gearing it to help the French war effort.
France had also simultaneously invaded the Belgian Congo, but it never captured all of the vast colony due to rainforest terrain and French soldiers dying from diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness. At the territorial peak of French conquests, they only controlled close to half of the Belgian Congo.
In March 1946, when the tables had turned against France, Jacques Dutroux sent French forces to directly occupy Belgium and impose a Flemish de jure puppet government instead of a Walloonian one. By this time, much of prewar Belgium was under control of the Resistance and all French territory in Africa lost. During WWII, the French Army and collaborationist and security forces committed widespread massacres of Jews, Roma, Protestants and political opponents, with Jacquerie¹ war crimes being estimated to have a total death toll of 200,000.
¹ = The followers and regime of the clerical fascist Action nationale party are known as Jacqueries, a nickname given by the press that they eventually reclaimed and attained widespread usage.
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2024.05.16 14:49 ya-boi-benny Respect Dmitri Smerdyakov, the Chameleon (Marvel, 616)

The famous baseballer, Jackie Robinson, he once said: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” I could not agree more. That is why I try to make as much impact on my faces’ lives as possible. After all, they have done so much for me. It is the least I can do. Unlike them, I need not fear what people think of me. So I can be brave where they are weak. For I will just be someone else tomorrow.
Born in Russia to the Grand Duke Nikolai Kravinoff, Dmitri Nikolaievich Smerdyakov was treated like trash by his noble father and his working class mother. Young Dmitri was approached one day by Gustav Fiers, who was impressed by the boy's impressions and paid for a trip to Karl Fiers academy. There, Dmitri would learn to master the arts of disguise, vocal impression and infiltration, becoming the Chameleon upon his graduation.
He'd move to America and use his talents to pull off high-scale burglary, working for any group that could afford his fee, including the Communist party, Hydra or the Green Goblin. His elicit activity brought him into conflict with the Hulk, Iron Man and most often Spider-Man, all of whom had to act with great caution when the Chameleon was in town. After all, which one of them could tell if that unassuming civilian or their own ally was preparing to stab them in the back?
Dmitri has some mental hangups over his time with the Kravinoffs. He’s managed to repress the memories and considered himself good friends with his half-brother Kraven. In reality, he was more like a whipping boy and slave to the Hunter, and when he has to wrestle with those feelings, he can mentally revert to that scared little boy with no strong sense of identity or independence. But when he’s able to move past these feelings, the Chameleon has proved himself as a powerful, manipulative force, finding his place as temporary Crime Master of New York and member of the Sinister Six.
Scaling
Notes
During one of Dmitri’s mental breaks, he began to believe that he was his deceased half-brother, Kraven the Hunter. So exact was the Chameleon’s performance that he moved and fought with the hunter’s skill and agility. This was an extreme fringe case and there are no other examples of a disguise altering Chameleon's capabilities like this. Physical and skill-related feats from this period will be marked with [KH].
Hover over a feat to see which issue it's from.

Physicals

General
Strength
Unarmed Striking
Striking with Weapons
Grip
Other
Durability
Scaling with Spider-Man
Scaling to Others
Blunt Force
Gunfire
Vehicle Crashes
Other
Agility

Skill

Impersonation
General
Voices
Limits
Combat
Other

Disguises

Realistic Masks
Malleable Flesh
Other Methods

Weapons

Non-Lethal
Guns
Injectables
Other
Lethal
Guns
Injectables
Other

Other Equipment

Field Gear
Base Installations
Other

Miscellaneous

Monica Rappaccini: I apologize for the delay in initial payment, but we first had to verify your identity. A.I.M.’s intel had been that the Chameleon was dead- or in an insane asylum.
Chameleon: Yes, well. That would be exactly what I wanted you to think. Faded into the background, imperceptible… that’s where a Chameleon is most comfortable… and where I shall now return.
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2024.05.16 14:46 IlumiNoc Demonic dream

Hi,
I wrote this yesterday, and initially didn't want to post, but so many are in trouble, that I figured it might help some.
I've had another demonic dream, that get me an idea of what's going on behind the scenery. Normally I remember the details of dreams well, but these, are kind-of through a veil, and I just remember the 'feel' of them. Several days prior and after I didn't not have any meaningful dreams, just chaotic flashbacks. Some year ago, before Sweden joined NATO, I'd have dream of Goat, the one from the satanic pentagram, rallying sleepy norse people to war.
Around yesterday's dream, the sleep was not restful - I'm tired, and I've got a ton of shit going on, but I am doing what I can do - keep developing the cone of probable futures.
Anyway, in the dream, I found myself driving at night, and in the next scene, I was entering, undercover, into some large, highrise office building... walking past many office-ridden souls, events, and other distractions, and found myself somehow in a middle of some large demonic ritual, with the same 'feel' to it, as the previous one. The thing is, that a lot of famous people were in it. You know, the faces you've seen on TV. They didn't even know where they are... and what are they taking part in.
I don't rember what I did, but my mind was focused on disrupt the ritual. Something went wrong, and there was some upheaval, and everyone, including myself, left.. But wow, I was tired as heck when I woke up.
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2024.05.16 14:35 Ok_Breakfast7700 My room has always been haunted, but recently it's started getting worse

So I'm pretty sure my room is haunted. Not my whole house, just specifically my room. I'm the only one who has ever experienced anything out of the ordinary, so it seems like the ghost or entity in question is pretty choosy.
Now I don't really care that much about this, or rather I didn't. Ever since I was a kid I've been more of an "aghh, monsters!" than an "aghh, ghosts!" kinda guy. They just never really scared me, and I've been convinced of the haunted nature of my room for so many years now that it's literally just regular a part of my life.
The events that have led me to believe this started right after we moved, I was about twelve at the time, and they've always been fairly tame. It started out as just a weird tapping. It has this weird, almost musical rhythm to it that just made it seem a little too natural to be easily ignored. The first few times I heard this I was INCREDIBLY freaked out and I would turn on my bedside lamp as fast as possible and sit on my bed, scanning the room for any movement. I'd crawl to the edges of the bed to look all around my room and then, after steeling myself internally, quickly throw my head upside down to check under the bed. Always nothing.
But this would do pretty much nothing to make me feel better. The immediate fear of "there is something in my room" sort of transmuted into a more ambiguous "I don't understand what is happening". This would become an uncomfortable nagging feeling in my head as I would try to settle back down to sleep, and I always got the distinct impression that I was being toyed with. Like whatever was there enjoyed watching me go through this ritual every time.
This was further reinforced by the fact that the tapping NEVER occurs when the lights are on. Only when they're off, and really only in those first few minutes after you turn the lights off and before your eyes have a chance to adjust. The room just becomes pitch black darkness and every scary image you'd ever seen in your short life would burn itself into your eyes and appear wherever you looked in the black void. That is always when the noise would happen.
So I would hear the noise, do my room checking routine, eventually settle back in to bed, turn off the light.....and then repeat it all again. It scared me so much that more often than not in those early days I would end up sitting up on my bed with the light on and my back against the wall until eventually I would be so exhausted I would fall asleep.
But that got old, so I started trying to figure it once and for all. After I'd hear it I'd turn the light on, as before, but then I would turn it back off and wait with my hand on the switch. Once I heard it again I would turn the light back on. The longer I left the light off for, the louder and more intense the noise would become and I would hear it move around the room. It would start in different places all the time, but when it moved it would always make it's way to the end of my bed, on the side I always slept on, and then start to come up towards me. Eventually it would come up right next to my head, becoming almost ridiculously loud. I would always turn the light on then. I wasn't curious enough to see what would happen.The instant the room was illuminated, the noise would stop. Every single time.
I also discovered that if I made noise, like talking or slamming my hand off the bed, it would stop. I found this comforting at first, like it was scared of me, or maybe just actually a rather polite ghost, but soon a thought formed in my mind, one that would crop back up whenever I would find myself being a little bit afraid of the noise again. "It's waiting until I'm asleep."
This was all very scary at the start but after a while had gone by and I hadn't been killed or possessed I just sort of got over it, and that's how it's been for years now. The noise sometimes happens, I usually just smack the bed or tell it to shut up, and that's that, no big deal. I believe that the room is haunted, but it really doesn't matter that much.
Until recently. There had actually been quite a long stretch where I hadn't heard the noise at all and it hadn't really left my mind, but I never actively thought about it. So when this started happening it struck me more than it had in a long while. My girlfriend was staying over, and she's one of those blessed people who falls asleep easily and is incredibly hard to wake up, so as per usual she fell asleep way before I did. This was all normal and I lay there for a while trying to fall asleep, until suddenly something changed.
A feeling of fear and unease seeped into me. The darkness around me went from being warm and comforting to cold and menacing. I found myself tensing up and focusing my eyes intently on different spots around the room. All of sudden the noise started again, but different than before. Before it had been quick and somewhat playful. Now it was much slower and undoubtedly sinister, like a war drum.
My eyes came to rest on one spot, as if something had drawn them there, and then, the darkness coallesced into a moving shape. It was like water a droplet of water fall into a puddle in slow motion. It rose slowly, becoming thinner in the center the higher it went, until it stopped completely. I stared at in a confused state of fear for a moment before it filled into into the shape of person, long and gaunt.
From the darkness of it's face two eyes glowed slowly to life like those energy saving light bulbs. They were a blinding white, with a vague warm orange aura around their edges. It's gaze was fixed on me and never in my life had I felt such a primal terror. I felt as though I were caught in a Web, watching the spider creep towards me in slow motion.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my head into my girlfriend's back. I was literally shaking with fear, but like I said, she's a heavy sleeper, so she didn't wake up and I was left quaking in the dark, expecting to feel a hand fall on me at any moment.
But it never did, and at some point I actually managed to fall asleep. I didn't mention anything the next day because I wanted to convince myself it was a dream, and I pretty much managed to pull that off. That is, until, the next night.
Much the same as the first night, I felt that uneasy feeling and, in the hopes of avoiding what had happened before, squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could. I kept them shut for a long time, until eventually I decided that I should face my fears and look. Show myself that I was freaking myself out because of a dream I'd had. I saw the room as it was supposed to look, could just about make out the features of the space with my eyes adjusted to the dark, and I saw that the space where the thing had been the night before was empty. I relaxed for about a quarter of a second before the same strange motion began. The second I saw that I shut my eyes and I didn't open them until I eventually fell asleep.
The next night I didn't even attempt to face my fears. As soon as that feeling settled over me I closed my eyes for the rest of the night, which took all of my willpower.
And that brings me to today, when I'm writing this. I'm not sure what this thing is or what's going on. Is it even the same presence I've always suspected in my room? Is it something else? Perhaps someone else might know, and I'd almost be content with that. So far this thing hasn't actually DONE anything, maybe he's just a bit of a nosy guy. I really want to believe this, but I can't really bring myself to, and there's another problem.
My girlfriend is leaving today, and I'm terrified of what might happen when I go to sleep tonight. I want to just stay up, but I know I can't stay awake indefinitely. I need a solution, or at least some advice. If there's anyone that can offer something like that, please share it.
At this time of year where I live, the sun doesn't set until late, about 10 or 11. I still have a good few hours until then. I suppose I should try to enjoy it while I can.
submitted by Ok_Breakfast7700 to nosleep [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 14:32 Francis46n2WSB You know what...

You know what...
I'm kinda bummed to not have bought any at $10.
I'm kinda sad that I had to stop buying in 2022 for personal reasons.
I'm kinda salty for having put 100k and not having the luck to time it better.
I'm kinda pissed to have had my holdings breach under 25k.
But now I'm glad...
That they went after Einfachmann so blatantly.
That they needed to buy massive amounts of calls to pump the price.
That we were $40 away from ATH at one point.
That they reminded me of the good old days of excitement and bad sleep over the volatility.
I don't even give a fuck why they did it.
I'm just glad that I'll be able to buy at decent prices because I still hold positions at $374 from January 21 and at $40 from February 21, and many more in between. I never once sold any of my 2400 shares all bought before the split.
Thank you whoever you are for reigniting the flames. My diamonds were getting cold and indifferent.
To war.
submitted by Francis46n2WSB to Superstonk [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 13:43 lolnoideaa Colic? 5 day old, ftm - beyond stressed

Brought baby home 2 days ago. He was rough between 11pm-3am first day home with constant screaming. Last night was the worst thing I’ve experienced and if he has colic, idk what I’m going to do. He screamed bloody murder from about 11PM-430am while I tried to soothe and feed him. It’s like he just wanted to war to eat and he seemed to be getting a lot. I finally got him to latch and my milk came in, but I did formula to substitute and did it last night to see if that worked. We left him in the bassinet after hours of trying to soothe with 1 blaring sound machines and he screamed himself to sleep. It’s currently almost 8am, I’m so tired, I feel sick, and I’m scared for what is to come…idk if I can handle this daily..even when he’s quiet, I close my eyes and still hear screaming…where do I start
submitted by lolnoideaa to Colic [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 12:30 FappidyDat [H] TF2 Keys & PayPal [W] Humble Bundle Games (Also Games From Past Bundles), Bad Rats

Notes:
 
I pay with the following:
TF2 & PayPal
 
I BUY HB Games with TF2 with PayPal Currently Active Humble Bundle?
7 Days to Die 0.8 TF2 $1.56 PP -
A Little To The Left 2.1 TF2 $3.98 PP -
Alien: Isolation 1.5 TF2 $2.93 PP -
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 1.4 TF2 $2.69 PP -
Arma 3 4.2 TF2 $7.95 PP -
Assetto Corsa Ultimate Edition 1.9 TF2 $3.56 PP -
Automobilista 2 1.6 TF2 $3.03 PP -
BIOMUTANT 1.4 TF2 $2.75 PP -
BROFORCE 0.8 TF2 $1.46 PP -
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition 0.8 TF2 $1.43 PP -
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition 0.8 TF2 $1.44 PP -
Barony 2.6 TF2 $4.9 PP -
Barotrauma 3.8 TF2 $7.26 PP -
Batman - The Telltale Series 1.3 TF2 $2.43 PP -
Batman Arkham Collection 1.1 TF2 $2.08 PP -
Batman: Arkham Origins 0.6 TF2 $1.21 PP -
Batman™: Arkham Knight Premium Edition 1.0 TF2 $1.83 PP -
Bayonetta 0.7 TF2 $1.34 PP -
Beyond Two Souls 1.7 TF2 $3.31 PP -
Blasphemous 1.4 TF2 $2.69 PP -
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night 0.5 TF2 $0.91 PP -
Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition 4.9 TF2 $9.36 PP -
Borderlands 3 3.1 TF2 $5.88 PP -
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection 3.0 TF2 $5.73 PP -
Builder Simulator 0.4 TF2 $0.78 PP -
Celeste 0.8 TF2 $1.57 PP -
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition 0.9 TF2 $1.78 PP -
Cities: Skylines 2.2 TF2 $4.18 PP -
Code Vein 1.2 TF2 $2.26 PP -
Conan Exiles 2.5 TF2 $4.79 PP -
Contractors 2.9 TF2 $5.56 PP -
Control Ultimate Edition 2.6 TF2 $4.85 PP -
Crusader Kings III 4.4 TF2 $8.38 PP -
DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin 4.8 TF2 $9.15 PP -
DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT 4.4 TF2 $8.34 PP -
DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 2.3 TF2 $4.44 PP -
Dark Souls III 7.2 TF2 $13.74 PP -
Dark Souls III: Deluxe Edition 9.9 TF2 $18.86 PP -
DayZ 10.6 TF2 $20.07 PP -
Dead Island - Definitive Edition 0.8 TF2 $1.52 PP -
Dead Island Definitive Collection 0.9 TF2 $1.72 PP -
Dead Island Riptide Definitive Edition 0.7 TF2 $1.24 PP -
Dead by Daylight 3.1 TF2 $5.97 PP -
Deep Rock Galactic 3.0 TF2 $5.62 PP -
Destiny 2: Beyond Light 1.0 TF2 $1.85 PP -
Destiny 2: Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack 1.3 TF2 $2.47 PP -
Destiny 2: Forsaken Pack 1.0 TF2 $1.9 PP -
Destiny 2: Lightfall 4.0 TF2 $7.55 PP -
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep 1.0 TF2 $1.93 PP -
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen 2.0 TF2 $3.85 PP -
Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed 0.7 TF2 $1.4 PP -
Devil May Cry HD Collection 1.8 TF2 $3.45 PP -
Devil May Cry® 4 Special Edition 1.4 TF2 $2.74 PP -
DiRT Rally 0.8 TF2 $1.51 PP -
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut 1.6 TF2 $2.95 PP -
Doom Eternal 2.2 TF2 $4.17 PP -
Dragon Ball FighterZ 2.0 TF2 $3.79 PP -
Dragons Dogma - Dark Arisen 0.9 TF2 $1.77 PP -
Dungeon Defenders 3.0 TF2 $5.78 PP -
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5 4.3 TF2 $8.2 PP -
ELEX II 0.8 TF2 $1.57 PP -
Europa Universalis IV 3.2 TF2 $6.16 PP -
Expeditions: Rome 0.5 TF2 $0.89 PP -
FTL: Faster Than Light 0.7 TF2 $1.41 PP -
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game 0.4 TF2 $0.81 PP -
Farming Simulator 19 2.2 TF2 $4.23 PP -
For The King 0.5 TF2 $0.92 PP -
Forager 0.8 TF2 $1.58 PP -
Frostpunk 0.8 TF2 $1.51 PP -
GRID 2 1.9 TF2 $3.66 PP -
Gang Beasts 2.6 TF2 $4.97 PP -
Gas Station Simulator 3.1 TF2 $5.8 PP -
Generation Zero® 0.7 TF2 $1.36 PP -
Ghostwire Tokyo 1.4 TF2 $2.69 PP -
Goat Simulator 0.4 TF2 $0.8 PP -
Golf It! 1.8 TF2 $3.42 PP -
Gotham Knights 1.5 TF2 $2.83 PP -
Graveyard Keeper 0.5 TF2 $0.9 PP -
Grim Dawn 2.5 TF2 $4.66 PP -
Hell Let Loose 7.1 TF2 $13.47 PP -
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 1.4 TF2 $2.69 PP -
Hitman Absolution 0.4 TF2 $0.79 PP -
Hollow Knight 3.4 TF2 $6.43 PP -
Homeworld Remastered Collection 0.4 TF2 $0.78 PP -
Hotline Miami 0.5 TF2 $0.87 PP -
House Flipper 2.0 TF2 $3.89 PP -
Injustice 2 Legendary Edition 0.6 TF2 $1.2 PP -
Into the Radius VR 2.9 TF2 $5.5 PP -
Jurassic World Evolution 2 2.7 TF2 $5.19 PP -
Just Cause 3 XXL Edition 1.4 TF2 $2.63 PP -
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes 1.7 TF2 $3.16 PP -
Kerbal Space Program 1.1 TF2 $2.07 PP -
Killing Floor 2 0.6 TF2 $1.14 PP -
Kingdom: Two Crowns 1.5 TF2 $2.94 PP -
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 - Deluxe Edition 0.9 TF2 $1.77 PP -
LEGO Star Wars : The Complete Saga 0.6 TF2 $1.17 PP -
LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 0.6 TF2 $1.22 PP -
LEGO® City Undercover 0.7 TF2 $1.3 PP -
LEGO® Jurassic World™ 0.8 TF2 $1.57 PP -
Lethal League Blaze 1.8 TF2 $3.44 PP -
Life is Strange 2 Complete Season 1.4 TF2 $2.72 PP -
Life is Strange: True Colors 1.5 TF2 $2.82 PP -
Little Nightmares 1.1 TF2 $2.06 PP -
Loop Hero 0.8 TF2 $1.44 PP -
METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN 3.3 TF2 $6.31 PP -
METAL GEAR SOLID V: The Definitive Experience 3.5 TF2 $6.61 PP -
Mad Max 0.7 TF2 $1.3 PP -
Mafia: Definitive Edition 2.4 TF2 $4.56 PP -
Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition 4.7 TF2 $8.87 PP -
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries 2.6 TF2 $4.89 PP -
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 Deluxe Edition 1.3 TF2 $2.4 PP -
Metro 2033 Redux 0.5 TF2 $0.92 PP -
Metro Exodus 1.3 TF2 $2.47 PP -
Metro Redux Bundle 0.7 TF2 $1.25 PP -
Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ Definitive Edition 0.9 TF2 $1.65 PP -
Midnight Ghost Hunt 0.8 TF2 $1.45 PP -
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne 3.5 TF2 Refer To My Other Thread $6.73 PP Refer To My Other Thread Monster Hunter: World & Rise Saga Bundle
Monster Hunter: World 2.0 TF2 Refer To My Other Thread $3.87 PP Refer To My Other Thread Monster Hunter: World & Rise Saga Bundle
Mordhau 1.9 TF2 $3.6 PP -
Mortal Kombat XL 0.6 TF2 $1.13 PP -
Mortal Shell 0.5 TF2 $0.97 PP -
NASCAR Heat 5 - Ultimate Edition 0.4 TF2 $0.75 PP -
NBA 2K23 5.3 TF2 $10.16 PP -
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 2.2 TF2 $4.18 PP -
Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Striker 0.9 TF2 $1.76 PP -
Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition 2.7 TF2 $5.18 PP -
Nobody Saves the World 0.5 TF2 $0.95 PP -
Northgard 2.4 TF2 $4.5 PP -
Orcs Must Die! 3 1.6 TF2 $3.01 PP -
Outlast 2 0.9 TF2 $1.68 PP -
Overcooked! 2 1.2 TF2 $2.3 PP -
PC Building Simulator 0.6 TF2 $1.14 PP -
PGA TOUR 2K21 0.9 TF2 $1.8 PP -
Plague Inc: Evolved 1.9 TF2 $3.56 PP -
Planet Coaster 2.4 TF2 $4.59 PP -
Planet Zoo 2.5 TF2 $4.75 PP -
PlateUp! 1.0 TF2 $1.85 PP -
Prison Architect 2.7 TF2 $5.14 PP -
Project Wingman 1.5 TF2 $2.94 PP -
RESIDENT EVIL 3 2.0 TF2 $3.76 PP -
Rain World 0.9 TF2 $1.78 PP -
Remnant: From the Ashes - Complete Edition 2.5 TF2 $4.69 PP -
Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition 1.0 TF2 $1.83 PP -
Resident Evil 5 GOLD Edition 1.1 TF2 $2.04 PP -
Resident Evil 6 1.3 TF2 $2.46 PP -
Resident Evil® 5 1.7 TF2 $3.18 PP -
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam 0.5 TF2 $0.9 PP -
Road 96 0.5 TF2 $1.02 PP -
SCUM 4.7 TF2 $8.86 PP -
STAR WARS® THE FORCE UNLEASHED II 0.6 TF2 $1.11 PP -
STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™ 0.5 TF2 $0.91 PP -
Satisfactory 5.0 TF2 $9.55 PP -
Scorn 0.8 TF2 $1.49 PP -
Sid Meier's Civilization VI 1.2 TF2 $2.33 PP -
Slay the Spire 2.5 TF2 $4.79 PP -
Sleeping Dogs™ Definitive Edition 1.0 TF2 $1.95 PP -
Slime Rancher 1.1 TF2 $2.11 PP -
Sniper Elite 4 1.0 TF2 $1.96 PP -
Space Engineers 2.6 TF2 $4.91 PP -
Spec Ops: The Line 4.3 TF2 $8.21 PP -
SpeedRunners 0.4 TF2 $0.82 PP -
Spintires: MudRunner 1.0 TF2 $1.85 PP -
Squad 6.7 TF2 $12.77 PP -
Star Wars Republic Commando™ 0.4 TF2 $0.82 PP -
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 0.4 TF2 $0.71 PP -
Star Wars® Empire at War™: Gold Pack 0.6 TF2 $1.09 PP -
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition 4.9 TF2 $9.37 PP -
Stellaris 3.3 TF2 $6.25 PP -
Stellaris: Federations 2.7 TF2 $5.11 PP -
Streets of Rogue 0.5 TF2 $0.91 PP -
Subnautica 5.3 TF2 $10.08 PP -
Sunset Overdrive 0.8 TF2 $1.52 PP -
TEKKEN 7 1.9 TF2 $3.56 PP -
The Ascent 0.6 TF2 $1.18 PP -
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes 1.3 TF2 $2.42 PP -
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan 2.2 TF2 $4.21 PP -
The Escapists 2 1.0 TF2 Refer To My Other Thread $1.89 PP Refer To My Other Thread Team17: From Gold Greens to Battle Scenes Bundle
The Jackbox Party Pack 3 2.3 TF2 $4.45 PP -
The Jackbox Party Pack 5 2.3 TF2 $4.33 PP -
The Jackbox Party Pack 7 3.6 TF2 $6.81 PP -
The LEGO® Movie Videogame 0.4 TF2 $0.73 PP -
The Mortuary Assistant 3.9 TF2 $7.41 PP -
The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition 2.7 TF2 $5.1 PP -
The Quarry Deluxe Edition 2.7 TF2 $5.21 PP -
The Universim 3.0 TF2 $5.78 PP -
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier 0.7 TF2 $1.42 PP -
The Walking Dead: Season Two 0.4 TF2 $0.79 PP -
The Walking Dead: The Final Season 1.2 TF2 $2.25 PP -
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series 3.4 TF2 $6.41 PP -
The Witness 0.8 TF2 $1.58 PP -
The Wolf Among Us 1.3 TF2 $2.53 PP -
Total War SHOGUN 2 Collection 1.8 TF2 $3.48 PP -
Total War: Attila 1.6 TF2 $3.12 PP -
Total War: Napoleon - Definitive Edition 1.6 TF2 $3.05 PP -
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition 2.5 TF2 $4.68 PP -
Total War™: WARHAMMER® 3.1 TF2 $5.96 PP -
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator 1.7 TF2 $3.23 PP -
Trailmakers 0.7 TF2 $1.37 PP -
Tropico 6 1.6 TF2 $3.03 PP -
Two Point Campus 1.0 TF2 $1.83 PP -
Ultimate Chicken Horse 1.6 TF2 $2.96 PP -
Unpacking 0.9 TF2 $1.8 PP -
Unrailed! 0.9 TF2 $1.74 PP -
VTOL VR 4.6 TF2 $8.76 PP -
Victoria 3 1.4 TF2 $2.72 PP -
Viscera Cleanup Detail 1.4 TF2 $2.74 PP -
WRATH: Aeon of Ruin 0.7 TF2 $1.33 PP -
WWE 2K23 6.7 TF2 $12.75 PP -
Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War III 2.2 TF2 $4.17 PP -
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters 1.9 TF2 $3.6 PP -
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Master Collection 1.7 TF2 $3.28 PP -
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 0.7 TF2 $1.41 PP -
Wasteland 3 1.8 TF2 $3.46 PP -
Witch It 1.4 TF2 $2.65 PP -
Worms Armageddon 0.4 TF2 $0.84 PP -
Yakuza 0 3.1 TF2 $5.82 PP -
Yakuza 4 Remastered 0.5 TF2 $0.86 PP -
Zombie Army 4: Dead War 1.1 TF2 $2.02 PP -
rFactor 2 0.6 TF2 $1.11 PP -
 
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submitted by FappidyDat to indiegameswap [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 12:01 RainbowGlitterChaos I don’t think Rhaenyra would make a good ruler

Okay, so, I don’t want to insult anyone’s opinion. This is just how I see it.
First, I don’t really think it was completely legal to make Rhaenyra heir. Or smart in any way. (That’s on Viserys, though.) Like, Rhaenys was not made heir by Jaehaerys I who was seen as THE ultimate ruler. Even though in the end it was the lords who decided that Viserys was to be king, Jaehaerys never considered the female line as heirs in any way. So, Viserys was only able to become King because of the sexist society and the laws stating at least between the lines that women can’t inherit. Which means that by Viserys making his daughter his heir - despite having a brother who should be preferred looking at the past and the general mindset of Westeros - he basically disregarded his own claim to the throne. If a woman is to be put before a brother if she is in the more direct line to the throne, then Viserys has no business ruling! He should have anticipated that the lords would not all merrily accept this after a majority of them voted for him and not Rhaenys who actually had more of a claim to the throne. I’m not even sure if it was entirely legal to make Rhaenyra heir - the laws basically go „women can’t inherit“ in Westeros, as far as I know. That’s the main difference between Westeros and Dorne, after all. So, if Rhaenyra was supposed to be the heir, she and her father should have worked on the laws. I get the „rule of exceptionalism“ and everything, but that’s about marriage. Inheritance is a more general subject - and they never made any effort to change the laws of inheritance. (***Spoiler: later in the book Rhaenyra even goes on to disregard a woman’s claim to her inheritance in favour of a little brother and still expects this woman to be loyal to her!***) So, Rhaenyra basically says that the rules that apply to everyone do not apply to her. And Westeros barely accepted this with the marriages but eventually those in favour of incest had dragons and those not in favour of incest didn’t have them. But in a war against her own family she can’t intimidate them with her dragon - her enemies have their own dragons. She never tried to empower other women either - Laena was older than Laenor. Therefore, she should have been the heir to Driftmark. With her death, this claim should have transferred to Baela. Instead, Rhaenyra insists on her son being the rightful heir to Driftmark even though she must know how most of the Velaryons think about that and how this looks to the realm („yay, I get to inherit everything even though I’m a woman! But you’re still going to be put aside for men. lol, sorry“). It would literally make no difference if she just married Lucerys to Baela and then she would still have Driftmark, just with a more legal reasoning that actually helps her position!
Then, her decision on who to make her lover. I get, you can’t decide who you fall in love with. But as a future ruler she should have controlled herself. Found a way to conceive children with Laenor or take a lover who looked at least a little bit like him - at least after Jacaerys was born. It was obvious that he was not Valyrian. She should have realised that it was not very smart to have MORE children with the person who didn’t look even remotely like her husband! And she could have made more of an effort to keep him away. Yes, he wanted to be with his children. Yes, they were in love or something. But this whole charade was not only dangerous to them - they endangered their children, Laenor and the whole realm and at least Rhaenyra must have known that! It was unfair to the children to put them in this position!
She hid away on Dragonstone. Her children didn’t have it easy. (And am I the only one who thinks Aegon shouldn’t have been the only one being called out for bullying Aemond? Even if it wasn’t their idea, Jace and Luke still participated. They laughed at Aemonds pain. And even years later there was still ridicule there!) Their father and step-father had just died. People called them bastards. As a mother it was right to take them out of that situation. As a future ruler it was pretty stupid, if you ask me. What did she think would happen if she reacted to the rumours about her children by hiding them? What did she think would happen to the rumours once she ascended the throne - that everyone would forget about them? That the people calling Jace „bastard“ would stop, as soon as he was the heir? I’m sorry, but that was really stupid! Also, hiding there, so the realm never sees her and other people do the ruling while her father decays slowly? Not the smartest move in my book.
She marries Daemon. Call them in love or whatever, first: their relationship always rubbed me the wrong way. Even if we forget about the incest-part, he was way older than her. He was handbook-grooming her. And even if he didn’t and they really loved each other or something - her father made her heir for two reasons: he felt guilty because of Aemma (as he should) and he really didn’t want Daemon as the next king. Nobody wanted Daemon as the next king. Her kin in the vale? Oh yeah, he straight-up murdered his wife there! (Also: why did Alicent „betray“ her by being married to her father even though she was groomed and forced into that position, but Daemon marrying Laena was okay? And it was not cool of Rhaenyra to openly flirt with Daemon on her wedding to someone else? And going out with him and trying to sleep with him while a lot of people could see?) A lot of stupid decisions here! And her argument is always „if I were a man it wouldn’t matter!“ And that’s true! And it’s unfair that it is that way, but it is. In Westeros women and men are judged differently. She just doesn’t understand that. She thinks that the fact that she’s a woman shouldn’t change anything (which it shouldn’t, but it does!) is enough to get away with anything. But there are different rules for men and women. And she never tries to change these rules. She just tries to tell the others that these rules shouldn’t apply to her for… reasons. Anyway, Daemon was everybody’s last choice for king. He was supposed to be kept far away from the throne. So, to Rhaenyra, the logical conclusion is to… marry him so he will be her consort once she’s queen. Yeah, sure.
Her children with Daemon. She finally gets Valyrian-looking children and names them after Targaryen-kings. The older one even after the conquerer. (And her half-brother, and that was just unnecessarily petty and a ruler should be many things, but petty is definitely not one of them!) If the war hadn’t been about her and she somehow would have become queen unopposed, the next war would have been between her sons: Jacaerys against Aegon. (Bastard against trueborn, people would say. Daemon would definitely turn against Jace to put his own blood on the throne.)
She just expects everything to work out! The lords swore allegiance to her. So, certainly, they will be loyal to her. Nevermind that oaths have never been broken or were lies in the first place (what was that about your mother and you being a virgin, Rhaenyra?), everybody has to follow her because… why again? Because Viserys said so? Sorry Rhaenyra, but kings have been opposed in the past. Especially those making demands their lords deemed unreasonable. You were on dragonstone for years. You were never involved in ruling the realm (and really, what did Viserys even think? He made her heir and never tried to involve her in anything!) or being close to the smallfolk. You believe being a Targaryen makes you better and everything. That’s not how you win loyalty. They don’t owe you their loyalty, you have to earn it!
She is not fair. Again, as a human being, as a mother, she was right in protecting her son that night on driftmark. Luke was a child and Aemonds eye had been an accident and even if not, she loved him and protected him. Good mothering. Bad being heir. Hear me out: She should have at least listened to Aemonds side of the story! He was ten. He had just lost his eye. He had claimed a dragon after having been bullied for not having one for probably years. And he was her brother. And she called for him to be tortured. She didn’t back down when she realised that her father would do it. She called Alicent self-righteous when Alicent really was, at least in my opinion, a really very lonely, very hurt and very desperate person who had finally reached their breaking point. She made sure that everybody remembered of that night that Alicent cut her, not that Aemonds eye was literally cut out or that she called for his torture or that she slept with her uncle on his wife’s funeral. She made the Greens out to be the bad guys and while they were not good, neither were Rhaenyra and her allies.
She makes herself the victim. Some self-pity is okay sometimes. But Rhaenyra makes everything about her. Everything is a personal slight. Who is not on her side unquestioning is a traitor and evil because she is a saint and perfect and the victim of all the evil people in the world! I get where she’s coming from. She lost her mother and so many siblings in so dramatic ways and her father was most of her childhood not a very good father. But she is not the Center of the world. She is not the only one who suffers in any way or the only one who deserves to be angry or wish for „justice“. But she thinks she is. She never once tries to understand other people or talk to them. Her best friend who is still a child just like her is marrying her father? I guess that is the worst of all betrayals. Nevermind that her best friend is like sixteen when her first child is born and Rhaenyra manages to forgive her father eventually but not the best friend who never wanted to be queen and tried to explain it to her? All in all, she is incredibly self-Centered and, well, growing up as a doted upon princess will do that to you, but it is not a quality that bodes well for the realm she wishes to rule over.
All in all, even without the war with her half-siblings, I doubt that Rhaenyra would have made a good ruler.
Also, I don’t really see her as that feminist or an empowering character. As is said, she only wants equality for herself, other women can be oppressed, whatever. Instead of probing those believing her to be unfit to rule wrong, she behaves like a petulant child and insults them or hides from them or goes to her father so that he can deal with them. She makes stupid decision after stupid decision without learning from them or accepting their consequences. She just feels entitled to everything she wants, no matter the danger she puts others in or the pain she causes. And I just don’t get her. When I watched HotD I of course first rooted for her - go, queen! But then I realised she is completely unrealistic! And I know, so are the dragons, but I don’t really see a woman in her position being the way she is. She is not a feminist icon or anything because she is like a modern (very bratty) woman put into a medieval world told to defeat the patriarchy! I think most of us would be more like Alicent in Westeros or Sansa Stark if we take the abusive parent out of the equation. We would listen to what we had been taught all our lives! We would follow the rules set for women or at least understand that we couldn’t ignore them entirely expecting them to just vanish because we didn’t like them! And that’s what made me not really like her - she is privileged. She was never raped or assaulted (like, say, Alicent). Her father had his flaws but he loved and at least tried to support her (unlike, say, Alicent). Her husbands both treated her with love and care (unlike, say, Alicent). Her children were written with actual shades and as good people instead of soulless monsters (why did they write Aegon that way? The only reason I could think of is to make Rhaenyra look even more like a saint saving Westeros from her inherently evil brother). She was old enough to consent ansage actually wanted her children instead of being forced to have them while she was still a child herself (unlike, say, Alicent). She had a whole support network being there for her and defending her interests (unlike, say, Alicent who only had her manipulative father…). And it’s good for her that she’s so privileged! But she’s aware of her privilege and actively uses it to gain advantages and hurt those she believes have wronged her. She’s aware of her privilege and still wants to be the poor victim.
I don’t hate Rhaenyra. She is an interesting character. But I don’t like her. She wasn’t even written well, I think - she’s the heroine even though I don’t find much heroic about her, and we’re just supposed to accept that and love her, at least that’s how I saw the show when I watched it.
I can’t see her as a good ruler in any way. „Maegor with tits“ might be a little harsh, but not that far off. She could have been awesome - overcoming the patriarchy, trying to find peace in her family and realising she has to fight her half-siblings, learning to rule, fighting stereotypes and discrimination, trying to find a balance between her personal luck and the greater good for the realm… she could have, at the very least, tried to change the laws to help more women. She could have accepted Baela as heir to driftmark or at least thought about it. But she never did. She never apologised for her own misdeeds (for example to Rhaenys who believes that she murdered Laenor and who she never gave much to believe differently) or tried to grow as a person. She just decided that she was perfect and the rest of the world had to change for her but she wouldn’t work for it (say, by empowering other women. This way it looks like she just wants power no matter what’s right or just and that, I’d say, is something she has in common with Maegor).
I’m sorry this is so long and I apologise if I insulted anyone or something, that was not my intention! I just had to get this off my chest finally and, just to be clear, this is my opinion. I’m aware that people think differently and that’s totally okay! I just wanted to express my thoughts on this.
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2024.05.16 11:01 schamppu DevBlog #37: Wave 2.5, new website released, statistics, roadmap, Syrenthia progress

DevBlog #37: Wave 2.5, new website released, statistics, roadmap, Syrenthia progress
Maxchill made a cool animation for WalkScape!
Hello WalkScapers! We have a lot to cover this time, so let's walk jump right into it!

Wave 2.5

Wave 2.5 will be open between June 1st and June 15th. All supporters before June 15th 12:00:00 UTC will gain access to the game starting June 1st, or whenever you support during this time period. As usual, link your Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee (BMaC) to the WalkScape Portal. We are also planning to rework our integration with these platforms before Wave 2.5 starts. In the past, players had to wait up to 2 hours for their support to be recognized and beta access given, but we are hoping to provide a better experience by improving how this works. We will communicate when this goes live and would appreciate any reports on the new system.
You can support the game at Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee.

Why not Wave 3?

We plan to stick to our original plan regarding the features we want to include in Wave 3. However, it seems this is taking more time than originally anticipated due to the prolonged struggle with fixing the Android pedometer.
I feel uncomfortable about delaying access for those who've supported our development efforts after Wave 2 until the completion of Wave 3. It doesn't seem fair, so we'll compromise by introducing "Wave 2.5", where only supporters will gain access in a shorter time frame than our usual waves.
Once again, my personal thanks go out to everyone who has been supporting us. We may have more of these "intermittent" waves when necessary. Thank you, and I hope you'll enjoy the game starting on June 1st ❤️

New website and roadmap

Brand new WalkScape website!
Our new developer, Myzozoz, has been hard at work, and our redesigned WalkScape website has been released with just a few things to improve further.
Check it out!
The new website has a new look that is now similar to how the game looks and feels. Also, it has some awesome new features:
  • You can see when the next wave is coming right at the top.
  • You can see the newest development posts from Portal.
  • You can see live updating stats about the game. I am personally super hyped about this, and the stats currently include a few fun things from the game plus daily updating steps gained by all of our players in a monthly chart.
  • A press kit, trailer video, and more.
And most importantly: NEW ROADMAP
In the roadmap, we're including what’s happened in the past, and also giving updated info on what’s happening next. We’ll try to keep this one updated as much as possible. I hope you like it!

Pedometer updates

So, we just released +242 earlier this week, and the great thing is that things are starting to look very stable once more in terms of the Android pedometer.
Just as a recap of why we went through a lot of hoops to improve it:
  • The original pedometer for Android in the 1st Wave lost your step count when your phone updated/rebooted. This was not ideal, so I needed to come up with something that could retain your step count even when the phone restarts.
  • The new pedometer retained your step count through reboots by introducing a background process for WalkScape that saves the count even while the game isn’t active. This, however, introduced a battery drain problem, especially on Pixel devices.
  • I optimized the background process as much as possible, which reduced the battery consumption back to being negligible. By optimizing it, new edge case issues were introduced that weren’t caught in our internal testing due to our limited amount of devices.
  • I started to fix these edge cases, and thanks to everyone reporting weird behavior. It’s great that we have so many devices in Closed Beta, as with your reports I managed to start tackling issues. This process was more or less whack-a-mole.
  • With +242, we’ve now reached a point where we haven’t heard any serious issues apart from a few that I’ll cover below.
First off, this was a significant challenge from a development standpoint. Google's documentation on achieving this functionality without relying on their services (Google Fit or Health Connect) is… unclear. The fact that each manufacturer and Android version has different permissions and limitations with background processes made the development even more complex.
If you're still experiencing issues with the pedometer not counting steps while in the background, these issues seem to almost universally relate to the permissions you've granted to WalkScape. Currently, I don’t have the time to make the game smart enough to prompt you to enable certain settings depending on your manufacturer and Android version, as that would require a significant amount of work.
Common troubleshooting steps for background step counting, depending on your manufacturer and Android version, are (some of these may not be available/listed depending on your phone):
  • Enable Autostart permission for WalkScape.
  • Grant permission for WalkScape to run in the background.
  • Turn off disabling permissions from WalkScape when it's in the background.
  • In your system settings, try placing WalkScape in "Background usage limits" into "never auto sleeping apps".
  • Try enabling notifications. You can disable the mandatory sticky notification from WalkScape in notification channels, it's listed there as "WalkScape sticky notification (disable this)". All other notifications from WalkScape are opt-in and customizable through in-game settings, this one comes from Android.
  • Try enabling "Unrestricted Battery Optimization" in app settings.
If you've encountered an issue that required special settings to get the background steps working, it would greatly assist me if you could provide information about your device, Android version, and the settings that resolved the issue. This will help ensure that new players are notified of these permissions, eliminating the need for troubleshooting.
You can DM me this information on Reddit, send it to contact@walkscape.app, or DM any of our mods on Discord. Including screenshots from the settings would be even more helpful! Thank you ❤️

Syrenthia progress

A new bank is coming to the game!
A new bank is coming to the game!
Now that the pedometer is mostly stable again, I've been able to resume where I left off, and we've made some progress.
In the past couple of weeks, I've been adding buffs and abilities to the game. They aren't fully complete yet, but the remaining tasks are mostly UI work.
New icons to display item keywords in the game!
Buffs & Consumables
Buffs are primarily temporary attributes that come from consumables. They can occasionally be gained from other sources too.
Your character can have one active food and one active potion being consumed at the same time (potions will be introduced later with Alchemy). This restriction is necessary to maintain balance.
When you're engaged in an activity and you have consumables in your inventory, you'll be able to select one to be consumed from your inventory while performing the activity. If your activity stops, the items that weren't consumed will not be wasted and will remain in your inventory for later use.
The UI for all of this is still being designed and developed, but I'll share it when it's presentable. We're trying to find the best possible compromise where the UI will be easy to understand and quick to use, while also minimizing the chance of accidentally consuming items. This is why selecting items for use during an activity would be best, as it ensures that the player intentionally wants to consume their items.
Abilities
This hasn't been covered in any previous dev blog!
Abilities are what we call actions you can perform in the game that have some sort of cooldown. The Syrenthia update will include some items utilizing this, mainly this very interesting item here:
What do you think it does?
Some items, and possibly other things later on, can offer you abilities to use instead of or in addition to their typical attributes. When you have an item with an ability, these and their cooldowns will be displayed in a new view in the game. You can also use these abilities from that view, triggering their effect and starting the cooldown.
Cooldowns can be based on real-world time, steps, and actions. For example, using an ability might have a cooldown of 10,000 steps until you can trigger it again.
Items containing abilities will be very rare and unique, and we want to keep them so that they don't add too much unnecessary complexity. If they have time-based cooldowns, they won't make you open the game every hour to min-max stuff.
Both buffs and abilities will be going live with Syrenthia, and I'll share more screenshots of them as the UI gets finalized. Feedback on these is always very welcome!

Statistics from the game

Floursifter did some data crunching, and also provided a lot of statistics from your progress so far!
Floursifter: It's been 10 weeks (a week after wave 2 launch) since we've been tracking tons of data from the game, and I have lots of fun things to share. Thanks for all the hard work, we've done over 1.5 billion steps together as testers! Thanks for everyone who gave some ideas in the general channel for how to improve this for the future. We're excited that there will be a pipeline to show these live stats on the new website very soon!
Total Steps 1.505 BILLION steps
  • Activities: 952 million
  • Traveling: 168 million
  • Crafting: 358 million
Most Stepped Activities
  • Iron Ore: 66 million
  • Litter Looting: 53 million
  • Coal: 52 million
  • Oak Tree: 46 million
Most Completed Activities
  • Iron Ore: 1.56 million
  • Birch Trees: 1.42 million
  • Mine copper ore: 1.26 million
Rarest Items From Chests
  • Candlehat: 23
  • Hat with a Feather: 30
  • Recipe Book: 30
  • Forester's Boots: 34
Rarest Items From Activities
  • Rabbit Foot: 31
  • Shrimp Ring: 40
  • Mountaineering Guidebook: 43
  • Eberhart Corkscrew: 49
Rarest Collectibles
  • Blue Lotus Butterfly: 27
  • 99-Year Old Wine: 28
  • Ancient Ankh: 29
  • Old War Sword: 41
Glacier Foraging Highest Steppers
  • Malik: 1.38 million (what an inspiration!)
  • Jarski: 1.13 million
  • Selvaria: 727k
  • Josuphz: 636k
  • Stilton: 618k
Rarest Recipe
  • Craft a basic fishing rod: 82k
Chests Dropped
  • Mining: 28347
  • Woodcutting: 27563
  • Agility: 22903
  • Carpentry: 18710
  • Smithing: 17787
  • Foraging: 15095
  • Cooking: 10505
  • Crafting: 8632
  • Fishing: 8391
  • Sunken: 1338

Until next time

Phew, this was once again a very lengthy development blog post, and I’m glad you made it this far! There were a lot of things to share, and I hope you liked it.
In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be working fully on new gameplay features, and I won’t be focusing on pedometer stuff for the time being unless there’s something critical. From the feedback so far, it sounds like the majority of the issues have been resolved now.
We’ll see each other again in two weeks, and until then - happy walking and stay hydrated! I’m excited for Wave 2.5, as many new people will be able to start playing.
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2024.05.16 09:00 Mizzno [H] Games [W] Cornucopia, Headbangers: Rhythm Royale, art of rally, Games (Listed Below), Steam Gift Cards

N.B.: I'm mainly looking for the games listed in the title and at the bottom of the thread. Feel free to post other offers, but if I haven't responded to your comment(s) by my next posting, I likely wasn't able to find a trade that interested me.

For sale (for Steam Gift Cards or gifted Steam Wallet balance):



For trade:
*signifies that a game is tentatively up for trade, assuming I buy the bundle








































































































WANT:



IGS Rep Page: https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/ti26nz/mizznos_igs_rep_page/
submitted by Mizzno to indiegameswap [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 08:45 VoidKiller826 Wonder Women #50 - Revelations, Part 1

Wonder Women

Issue Fifty
Written by u/VoidKiller826
Edited by u/Predaplant
Arc: Revelations
*************************************************************
Greetings, people of Gateway City. This is your new peacekeeper speaking. You might know me as the White Magician, a rather crude name, but I will accept it considering Man’s World's lack of creativity. However, you may also call me Circe, and I am here with an important message that your news station will deliver for all to hear.
SCYTHE is no more: their HQ is under my and the Red Centipedes’ command. The Commander and his soldiers are dead and buried, as you all wished to happen. I was more than happy to oblige you if it meant depriving your stupid President of her next chance for reelection. Any survivors of the prison break are being hunted down by the people they locked in cages, who are more than happy to round them up as they once had been themselves.
But none of that’s important, for this recording is only to be heard by one person: Olympos, Wonder Girl, or whatever the fuck new title name you want to be called. This message is for you: You are to surrender yourself to me here in SCYTHE HQ in the next five hours, and in turn, I will not destroy this piss-end of a city. If you fail, I promise you, I will make Coast City look like a picnic by the time I finish with Gateway.
That cow you call Wonder Woman is dead, and I will make sure everyone else will follow her if you don’t comply with my request.
Your mentor learned a valuable lesson when she tested my patience.
*************************************************************
Spears Apartment - Gateway City:
[...President Cale has announced the complete closure of all access to Gateway City following the prison break that occurred in SCYTHE’s holding facility hours ago,] said Cassandra Arnold from GateNews, the city’s main news station. [We still have an unconfirmed number of escapees following the message sent by the White Magician, but the President has assured GateNews a solution will be found.]
Vanessa Kapatelis watched the TV in dismay. Pacing back and forth in the Spears duplex apartment, she had the TV on to pass the time while Ares worked on helping Helena and Cassandra upstairs.
“Here,” Vanessa turned away from the TV to see Tanya Spears handing her a bottle of water. “Something for you to drink.”
“Thank you,” Vanessa accepted the bottle. “I would prefer a beer, but this will make do.”
“My mom has her wine collection in a locked cabinet,” Tanya noted, pointing at the kitchen. “She doesn’t know that I know that, but I can get you a bottle?”
Vanessa chuckled. “Thanks, but I don’t want a girl your age to be walking around with alcohol or to get you in trouble with your mom.” She twisted the bottle cap and slowly drank. “I needed that… it feels like I’ve been dry for months.”
“It’s actually been 3 hours,” Tanya said, sitting on the sofa and opening her tablet to look over the internet. “I hope what she said wasn’t true… about Wonder Woman not being around…”
Taking a seat by her side, Vanessa saw that Tanya was reading through the report on what happened to SCYTHE. The escaped convicts had taken control of the SCYTHE headquarters and equipment after killing many of the agents that had stood in their way.
Seeing the photo of SCYTHE HQ burning angered her. That place should represent the absolute shield of Gateway. Now, it had come under the control of the convicts that they were supposed to stop because of Aeeta Branwen. A name that had made her happy now belonged to a stranger who had lied to her all this time.
Memories of their most intimate moments came flooding back: their first conversation, their first date, their kiss, and the morning after their date in her apartment. It was a moment when she thought she could finally stop grieving and move on from what happened to Coast City. And now, that had been disintegrated into oblivion.
In anger, she crushed the bottle with her hand, spraying water all over the table and the floor.
“Shit!” Vanessa stood up, finally realizing her mistake. “I am sorry!”
“Oh, it's fine!” Tanya ran to the kitchen to grab some paper towels. “It’s just water.”
“I know it’s just…” Taking the paper towel, the two began wiping the floor and the table. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“I’ll bet with everything that happened,” said Tanya, giving Vanessa a supportive smile. “Your friends are getting hurt, and you can’t do anything but watch. It would piss anyone off. I know it did with me when the RedCent guys invaded EE Tower.”
“Yeah…” Vanessa sat back on the sofa. “But this… I not only possibly lost many friends, but I was betrayed by someone I loved, someone who I thought was the one for me…” she said, distraught, as tears ran down her face.
Tanya, without saying anything more, hugged Vanessa closely. Despite them knowing each other for only a few hours, Tanya knew that Vanessa was in pain. Watching her loved ones being hurt by someone that she trusted must have been a hard truth to accept.
The doors upstairs opening and closing caught the two’s attention. Looking up, they saw Somya Spears descending, looking exhausted, like she had gone ten rounds in the ring. As she reached the ground floor, Tanya ran up to her mother, hugged her close, and guided her to the nearest chair to rest.
“Is everything alright, mom?” Tanya asked, worried.
“Yeah… just felt that I might take that long overdue vacation…” Somya answered, leaning against the soft chair with a tired sigh. “Maybe we’ll go to Paris like you wanted, Tanya…”
More steps followed, and Ares, or Mars as he insisted to be called, followed Somya, pulling his folded-up sleeves back. Unlike Somya, he didn’t seem any different from when he went upstairs to help the Sandsmarks, but the few strands of hair on his face told a different story.
“How are they?” Vanessa asked, walking up to the former God of War. “Are they ok?”
Ares turned to Vanessa. “The girl has a lot of heart, far too stubborn to let a beating keep her down.” He said with praise, impressed with the former Wonder Girl’s willpower. “Her Sumerian blood will help her heal in only a few days, but it won’t help her mental wounds after I told her the news about her mother.”
Vanessa had a lot of questions about what he had said, especially the word Sumerian; perhaps Cassie was not simply half-Olympian. However, she focused on the most important detail in his explanation. “What happened with Helena?” She asked in a worried tone. “Is she-”
“She is alive,” Ares said, but his expression shifted, frowning, making her nervous. “Physically, she will recover, she has only a few cuts and bruises. Even a human like her can heal those.”
“But?”
“But it's the spell Circe struck her with. It is unlike anything I’ve seen because it is of her creation,” Ares explained, and Vanessa ground her teeth together when she heard the name belonging to the stranger who hurt her and her loved ones. “Whatever she used, it is affecting her very soul, slowly killing her.”
“Like a virus?” Vanessa asked, and Ares nodded. “Magic can do that?”
“It does,” Ares answered. “Magic can create a nuclear bomb if the user has the patience for it. And Circe is a master at it, one of the very best and most gifted witches on the planet, so making something like this would be as easy as making a cake for her.”
Magic had never been SCYTHE’s priority, but the Commander still made them study anything related to the subject in case they had to face it. Vanessa had never expected to see it at this scale.
“Can you break it?” Vanessa asked. “Find a way to break the curse from Helena’s soul?”
Ares took a deep breath, pocketing his hands. “It’s too complex to break. I will admit Magic is not my strongest suit, but even if you bring in someone knowledgeable, it would be a while for them to break her creation,” he explained. “You need someone at her level of knowledge when it comes to magic, and I am not the best person to face her in that department.”
“Then we call for a specialist, anyone, really,” Vanessa said in desperation. “If this is like a virus, a curse, then we bring a surgeon to cut it out! Maybe Cassie can use her Justice Legion connection, or maybe you can call someone for a favor.”
Vanessa's desperation was clear. She was willing to call for the Justice Legion, the very people she swore to go against for their vigilantism, if it meant saving Helena Sandsmark, her promise be damned.
“The spell is growing far too rapidly. By the time you find someone, it will be far too late,” Ares said solemnly. “The only person in the world who can break the spell without any problem or fear of failsafe is Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. She was Circe’s mentor, and she taught her everything she could about magic. No matter how complex it is, Hecate would understand it.”
“She can help us?”
Ares shook his head. “No, she has no interest in helping the world unless it is connected to her directly, and even then, dealing with her is the worst-case scenario because there is a chance she’ll side with Circe before she even thinks of helping us.”
“So what now?” Vanessa asked, sounding defeated. “Just let Helena die? Let Cassie suffer? Let Circe win?!” she shouted angrily, finally addressing Circe by name. All of this explanation from Ares told her one thing: that the Witch had them beat, and they couldn’t do anything about it.
Ares didn’t react to her outburst, while the Spears looked worried. Tanya, for her part, tried to walk up to calm Vanessa, but the War God raised his hand to stop her, shaking his head and giving her the silent sign to let Vanessa be.
“There is one way: it will be quicker if we act fast enough, but it would take everything from all of us for it to happen,” Ares said, beginning his explanation. “There is a chain link connecting the spell, from the spell caster to Circe. This means it can be broken if we force Circe to release the chain connecting her to Helena…” he explained, letting his words be understood by the occupants in the room before finishing with one last note. “Killing Circe would also break the binding if she didn’t leave any contingencies.”
Vanessa gritted her teeth. “So we have to make her break the spell, and hopefully she doesn’t screw us over… or we kill her, and hopefully she still doesn’t screw us over even in death?” she asked, and Ares nodded. “What kind of person is willing to put in all that work? Just for revenge? On Diana, who is long gone?”
Ares shrugged and turned to the Spears, his gaze focused on Tanya, his daughter. Someone whom he never thought he would meet again was facing him, without knowledge of their blood relations.
“Possibly,” Ares answered, taking a step back. “But if there is one thing I know for sure, Circe does not put these kinds of bindings without any reason. Whatever that reason is involves Cassandra Sandsmark and whether she will choose to make Circe break the spell or kill her, tainting her forever.”
Silence came to the room, letting Ares’s words sink in for all occupants, which might have been the same words he said to the Sandsmarks.
*************************************************************
The room of Somya Spears was quiet, with the only sound being the breathing of Helena Sandsmark lying on the bed sleeping. The room was spacious, with an expensive queen-sized bed as expected from an interim CEO of one the largest companies in the world.
Seated a few feet away on a chair was Cassandra Sandsmark, dressed in fresh clothes given to her by Somya after throwing off the bloody tattered ones she had arrived in. Watching her mother closely, Cassandra’s mind was racing, especially after what Ares told her about the curse Circe placed on her mother, slowly destroying her soul bit by bit until she was nothing but a husk.
“Dammit!” In anger at their situation, she crushed the armchair, tearing its arm off like it was made of paper. If she was stronger, faster, and had the heart for it, she would have stopped the Witch, stopped her from hurting her city, the people of SCYTHE, and those caught in the crossfire, stopped her from hurting her mother…
She buried her face into her hands, tears running down her eyes as she despaired. Everything she worked on after Coast City evaporated was ground up under a very powerful enemy out for revenge.
Considering Circe’s ultimatum, her city could well be gone by the time this was over.
“Artemis… please be safe…” she whispered. She had nearly had a panic attack when she heard the news of the Amazon heading to SCYTHE HQ to stop the prison break, and then… nothing. No matter how many times she dialed her phone, there was no one answering, and she feared for the worst.
She heard her mother coughing, and Cassandra was quickly by her side. “Mom!” she called for her, holding her hand.
“Cassandra?...” Her mother said her name weakly. Her skin was becoming paler, a clear sign that the curse spell was working. “Are you… ok?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Cassandra answered, covering the bandages hidden inside her clothes. “We’re safe. You’re safe.” she said, tightening both her hands around her mothers.
“Did you… break something?” She asked, looking at the chair behind her. “You shouldn’t be… doing that… we are guests…”
Cassandra laughed, her tears falling away. “Sorry… it’s just… it’s been a hell of a week…”
Helena touched her daughter’s cheek, noticing the bandage on it. “You’re… hurt…”
“It’s alright, Mom. Just a few bruises,” Cassandra assured. “You shouldn’t worry, you know I can take it…”
“I am your… mother, Cassandra,” Helena said, facing her daughter. “Demi-God or not… I will always be worried… scared for my little girl.”
Cassandra’s tears came back. Seeing her mother remain strong despite everything made her happy, and she was terrified of losing her.
“So… my soul is cursed?” Helena asked.
“You heard all that?”
“Can’t not… with all the swearing…” Helena noted, giving her daughter a small smile. “You shouldn’t swear at people, Cassandra, especially those who are trying to help.”
“I know, I know,” Cassandra said. She had gone off on Ares after he explained what happened to her mother, and she might have overreacted when she put all her anger on the former War God. “It’s just… I don’t want to lose you… not while we can fix this.”
Helena sat up on her bed, fully facing her daughter. “Which is why… I don’t want you to make the wrong choice.”
“I won’t,” Cassandra said with a low tone. “I will make Circe free you from this curse-”
“No, Cassandra,” Helena grabbed both of Cassandra’s hands with hers. “That is not what I meant…”
Cassandra raised her brows, confused. “Mom?”
“I heard everything… from Circe’s spell… how it works… and how it can be broken…” Helena said, shocking Cassandra. “I know you already decided what you feel you have to do.”
Cassandra didn’t answer, avoiding her mother’s disapproving gaze accusing her. Ares said the quickest way to break the binding and the spell was either by forcing Circe to break it herself or by killing her, severing the connection.
But if what Circe said was true, that Diana decided to kill her instead of making her surrender like everyone else who faced her, that means there was no chance the Witch would submit willingly. She would rather die than give the satisfaction of admitting defeat.
Which left only one solution where she could save her mother.
Helena sighed, knowing what decision her daughter might have made. She held her hand tightly and changed the subject. “I have to tell you something…”
“No, mom. You’re not giving me the ‘Dying Speech’, not while there is a chance we can save you-”
“It’s about your father,” Helena cut her off, shutting Cassandra up. “Your real father…”
Cassandra remembered Circe calling her Daughter of Enlil, not Zeus. Ares said he was a friend of her father, which confused her because Ares hated Zeus, so it wouldn’t make sense that he would help out even if they were his siblings.
Enlil…” Cassandra said the name aloud, and Helena’s eyes widened, her breath hitching when she heard the name. “Circe… she called me Daughter of Enlil… Child of the Sky...”
Helena took a deep breath, bringing her daughter closer. “Yes… that is true…” she began. “You are not Zeus’s daughter, Cassandra, nor you are an Olympian in any way… but you are in fact… Sumerian… Mesopotamian,” The elder Sandsmark brought her youngest closer and spoke carefully, as if worried that someone might hear them. “Your father is Enlil, the Sumerian God of Wind… and he was the kindest man I have ever known…”
From then on, Helena explained Cassandra’s origins as carefully as possible, pushing on even while the spell affected her. She explained how she met Enlil, a man with golden hair similar to Cassandra’s, who introduced himself as an expert in Mesopotamian history during an expedition in Iraq. They had become rivals at first due to their clashing personalities, but how that developed into respect, to eventually falling in love after a very lengthy adventure that sounded like the plot of The Mummy.
And that love resulted in Cassandra’s birth. He helped raise her with Helena for the first year and a half before he disappeared because he had Olympian enemies and had to leave them to keep them safe.
While she explained all this, Cassandra’s mind went to another piece of critical information. Her father’s true identity had never been the most important thing for her. But what made it important was what Circe told her about Diana’s true reason for coming to Gateway City. It wasn’t just settling in a ‘piss-end of a city’ the more she taught about it, the more she realized the terrifying truth behind her mentor’s reasoning for coming to the city.
Diana was sent to find Cassandra, a Sumerian Demi-God, the Olympians greatest enemy since the Titans, and eliminate her. The prophecy of the Godkiller that they had feared might have come from Cassandra, but all it did was start a long, personal, and bloody war between two women because of the gods' demands for blood.
And now, she, Artemis, and Gateway City suffered the consequences. Even after Diana’s death, Circe would not let her hatred for what had happened to her go, and if it meant destroying her mentor’s legacy, she would do it.
‘Diana…’ Cassandra thought in sadness.
*************************************************************
SCYTHE Sub Base - Industrial District:
“I am not sure how you were able to do it, but you somehow found an ever more depressing place than that HQ of yours. It makes the cell you put us in look like a five-star hotel room,” said one Pamela Isley, formerly Poison Ivy, seated in the middle of a large room behind a large table. Around her were what was left of the SCYTHE agents they had saved during the escape, all working to get the makeshift base they had hidden up and running.
Alexei Abramovici, the Bloodcrow of SCYTHE, glared at the former supervillain, not happy with her comment. He turned to one of his men and began barking orders, “You! Get the goddamn Black Room working! We are running blind here!”
‘Worker drones even without their Commander.’ Pamela looked on unimpressed at the agents. She had never been that sympathetic to the plight of cops getting killed, especially militarized ones. The once mighty and feared peacekeepers of Gateway, who went to war against all the crime syndicates and the Red Centipedes, were now a mere little squad that won’t be able to protect a mini-mart, let alone every escaped convict under the command of the White Magician.
“Man… the signal here sucks!” complained Miguel Barragan by her side, raising his phone and trying to catch any kind of signal. “Could barely talk to my boyfriend when I called him, and can’t connect to the internet,” he complained. He tried once again to call but he couldn’t find a signal. “Useless brick…”
“We are underground in a bunker previously owned by Neo-Nazis, Barragan,” Pamela noted. From what she had heard, this used to be an old RedCent hideout that SCYTHE took over after the war, using it as a smaller base in case of emergency. “Not receiving any signal is part of the appeal of the place.”
“Bunker, huh…” Miguel chuckled. The name Bunker reminded him of the super name that he picked out; the more time passed, the more convinced he was that it was the right one.
Pamela gave a confused look at his expression and shrugged it off. Turning to her right, she saw the silent Emily Sung staring off into the distance. Unlike Barragan, Emily had other matters on her mind. Whatever she sensed or saw back at SCYTHE HQ freaked her out, like seeing something she shouldn’t.
Just as Pamela was about to ask her how she was feeling, a knock on the large blast doors echoed around the base, loud enough for all to hear. Quickly, everyone felt tense, and the SCYTHE agents covered the door as Alexei signaled them to aim their weapons. After the news of the escaped convicts taking control of SCYTHE HQ and their equipment and weaponry, the agents knew that they were being haunted now by the convicts looking for revenge, so they were not taking any chances.
“Would you mind opening the door!” A familiar voice said behind the door, a voice Pamela recognized right away. “I have a bloody Amazon here, and I would like her off my fur!”
“Barbara?” Pamela realized.
“Minerva? As in the Cheetah?” Alexei asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “She could be working with them, with the White Magician.”
“She isn’t,” Pamela answered, glaring at the SCYTHE soldier for the accusation. “She would never ally with the psychos you had under lock and key.”
Alexei scoffed. “That woman got a cemetery filled with people who say otherwise, and she hurt the mother of someone I know.”
Before the two could argue, Miguel stood up and decided to take action. He extended his hand, forming a large arm construct from it, and grabbed the handle of the blast door. With one pull, he opened it wide. Barbara entered. Her feline form made some of the SCYTHE agents tense, and weapons were still trained on her.
“Quite the welcoming committee…” she noted in sarcasm. “Now, would you be dears and get this woman some help?” She adjusted the unconscious and bloody Artemis on her back. Her blood covered Barbara’s fur.
“Medic!” Alexei called for an agent nearby before turning to Miguel. “And you, don’t use your freaky powers until I order you to do so.”
“Sorry tin man, I don’t speak fascist,” Miguel responded with a smirk, and Alexei glared at him.
The medic quickly came to Barbara and guided her to a nearby makeshift hospital room, which had a bed and various equipment to help the SCYTHE wounded. Barbara went in haste, and gently, with the help of the medic, they placed the injured Amazon on the bed, her blood soaking the white sheets red.
“How the hell did you even find us?” Alexei asked as he and the others entered. “I made sure I covered all our steps.”
“You did,” Barbara noted, stepping back to let the medic check on Artemis. She turned to Alexei and pointed at her nose. “But one of you has a very special pheromone that I can smell for miles,” she said with a smile as she turned her gaze to Pamela. “Still with those rose scents around you.”
The redhead smiled. “Maybe it’s that mark you left on me.”
“More than you think, Pammy.”
“Christ…” the medic gasped, catching everyone’s attention. “How is she still alive? And how long has she been like this?” He asked, examining the injured Amazon.
Her armor was wholly wrecked, beyond repair. Her headpiece was half broken, and the gauntlets and braces on her arms and legs were dented and unusable. Her injuries were severe: open wounds, slash marks, and burn marks were all over her body, and judging from blows on her armor, she might have had a few broken bones as well.
“Didn’t bother to look at the time with some of the grunts that were sent after us,” Barbara answered, leaning on a nearby chair as fatigue finally set in for her. “But these Amazons are too stubborn to die, and I know that from experience…”
The number of times Barbara thought she had beaten Diana only for the Amazon to get back up and beat her back was many, and it frustrated the woman to no end, but now she couldn’t help but be in awe at the resilience of these warriors.
“Her Amazon gifts will heal her,” Barbara noted. “But I am not sure how long it will take…”
“I doubt it will take more than a few days at least…” the medic noted, bringing out some bandages and wrapping them around her arms. “She will need a miracle to even walk out of here on her own two feet.”
“Uhmm…” Everyone in the room turned to Emily Sung, who stood by the doorway. “I… I think I can help her heal faster.”
Barbara and the medic gave her an odd look. To better explain it, Emily brought her hands together, and a small flame began to form from her palm. However, they weren’t bright orange flames; they were blue flames, and they didn’t feel any heat from them.
“I developed this technique while training,” said Emily. “It's a fire spell that doesn’t burn, but it heals people. I first used it on Miguel when he hurt his hands, and it was instantaneous,” she explained, and Miguel showed his fully healed hand as if he was demonstrating it. “But this will be the first time I will heal someone with this severe of injuries…”
Pamela and Barbara looked at the blue flames with wide eyes. In Pamela’s case, she was told that Emily had powers, and from Miguel’s description, she had the power of all the elements. However, seeing it firsthand and feeling it from just that tiny flame made her sense there was power behind it, warmth, like the sun.
“Do it,” Barbara said, taking a step back. “At this point, if we need magic to get her back into the fight, we better get to it before we lose her for real.” She turned to the shocked medic. This was the first time he would ever see magic in play. “And you, guide her in whatever wounds need to be healed.”
The medic nodded. It was better than nothing. With his guidance and Miguel’s support by her side, Emily went to work to heal Wonder Woman, who was in a state of life and death if they didn’t work fast enough, all while Circe and her crew were out there terrorizing the city.
“What’s the news out there?” Alexei asked after the three left the infirmary room. “We are in the dark here, and I couldn’t radio in anyone with the pieces of junk we got. Not even my brother, who was trying to get as many agents as possible.”
“Brother?” Barbara asked before she realized who his brother was. Her expression became solemn. She remembered the Warhammer who stayed behind to slow Circe and her crew, giving Barbara a chance to escape with Artemis on her back. “The guy with the Hammer…”
Alexei furrowed his brows, noticing the change in her expression. “What happened to my brother?”
Barbara took a deep breath and began explaining everything that had happened: the White Magician’s true identity, her taking over SCYTHE HQ, her ultimatum to Wonder Girl, and finally, Anatoly Abromivici’s sacrifice to save them.
*************************************************************
Somewhere in Gateway…
With the loss of SCYTHE and their headquarters, the surviving agents didn’t have the necessary support from the intel agents in the Black Room to fight off against the newly revived Red Centipedes, now grown more powerful with the help of the escaped convicts, more than happy to exact revenge.
With the bridges closed off, SCYTHE’s weakened state, and Wonder Woman being presumed dead, the city had been thrown into chaos. Streets filled with criminals and looters taking full advantage of what had happened, stealing anything from everyone across the island.
Red Centipedes roamed the streets with military trucks, taken from SCYTHE after their HQ had fallen to the White Magician’s control, making full use of their hardware to hunt down any surviving agent, delivering the message that they were the new peacekeepers of Gateway.
“Let me go!”
A woman, a worker from Taco Whiz, was being dragged from the streets by a group of RedCent grunts. Taken into a nearby corner, the RedCent dropped the worker on the dirty ground. Their eyes had terrible intentions behind them.
“Come on, man,” one RedCent grunt said from behind to his buddy. “We are supposed to find those SCYTHE fuckers, not mess around.”
“You’re serious?” The buddy looked at his friend like he was crazy. “We’ve been locked for months in SCYTHE’s cells; we can have a few minutes of fun.”
“Please! Don’t do this!” The woman screamed, tears falling from her eyes, afraid of what they would do to her. She tried to stand up and run away but was quickly pushed back down on the pavement.
The RedCent approached the woman, who crawled away from them in fear. “Come on, girl, I just need to release all this stress after being locked up for so long!” He proclaimed, giving the woman a leery look before turning to his buddy. “Hey man, I can share! Maybe we can get someone else from the street-”
The RedCent stopped speaking, catching his breath for a moment after he saw his buddy lying on the ground face first, knocked out cold. Looking up, his eyes widened in shock when he saw the person standing before him. “You’re… you were supposed to be dead?!”
Covered in heavy bandages and wrecked NIGHT armor, and carrying a mace in his hand and a pissed-off look on his face, Commander Hector Hall stood before the RedCent grunt like a dark spectre coming back to life. Kicking the knocked-out buddy aside, the Commander looked between the grunt and the terrified woman before he hardened his glare at the RedCent.
“Stay back!” The RedCent grunt aimed his weapon, hands shaking in fear. “I said stay the fuck back-”
In a moment, Hall moved at such a speed he looked like a blur, cutting the distance between the two. With one swing of his mace, he smacked him squarely on the head, sending him to the ground.
Hall turned to the woman he saved, who looked at him in horror. “Go… get to safety…”
Without another word, the woman ran toward the exit and into the streets, away from the alley. Now alone with the two RedCents, Hall grabbed the knocked-out buddy and woke him up, making the man see the bandaged-up Hall looking down at him with hateful eyes.
“You… I want you to send your boss a message…” Hall began, making him face the Commander. “Tell the White Magician, Circe, that I am declaring war on her and on anyone who stands by her side.” He turned and walked up to the other grunt, who was crawling away from the Commander in fear, grabbing his bleeding head. He begged for his life, but Hall ignored his pleas. “And this, this is for my men that you Centipedes have killed…
He lifted his bloody mace and brought it down like a hammer on the begging Red Centipede as his buddy looked on in horror. He lifted it up once more to reveal the man’s head was crushed like a watermelon.
Commander Hector Hall was still alive, and as long as he was still breathing, SCYTHE would remain standing to fight against all threats against Gateway City.
*************************************************************

Wonder Women Vol 3.

Previous Issue <> Next Issue
submitted by VoidKiller826 to DCNext [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 08:03 Straight_Random_2211 Could Kong have killed Godzilla if he kept punching him on the head while Godzilla was passed out after being knocked out in GxK (the novel confirmed Godzilla was knocked out)?

Could Kong have killed Godzilla if he kept punching him on the head while Godzilla was passed out after being knocked out in GxK (the novel confirmed Godzilla was knocked out)?
As we saw in the GxK movie, Kong likely knocked out Godzilla for a brief moment (the novel of GxK confirmed it was an actual knockout, putting Godzilla to sleep for a longer time than what is shown in the movie). Could Kong have completely defeated or even killed Godzilla if he kept punching while Godzilla was asleep, assuming they were fighting to the death?
In the movie, Kong doesn’t fight to the death because he wants to make a friend/ally with Godzilla. Meanwhile, Godzilla is completely aggressive towards Kong (or any other ape) and likely wants to fight him to the death. This aggression stems from Godzilla’s past war with Skar King and his ape army, and another ancient incident where a giant ape similar to Kong had beaten and forced the younger Godzilla out of his old territory.
What if Kong also wanted to fight to the death? After knocking out Godzilla, he could have continued punching him—perhaps 30 more times to the head while Godzilla was asleep. This might have killed Godzilla. Although I still think Godzilla is significantly stronger, he received an attack from Kong's new weapon, the Beast Glove, which he should have dodged if he had known how strong it was. The Beast Glove is supposed to be much stronger than Kong’s axe because it is made with Mechagodzilla's technology, and Mechagodzilla gave a hell of a beating to both weakened Kong and weakened Godzilla in GvK.
If this movie scene were a death battle, it’s likely that Kong could have killed Godzilla since the novel confirms Godzilla was knocked out, asleep, and defenseless. Instead, Kong stops attacking and tries to drag Godzilla to the Hollow Earth. Do you agree that Kong could have killed Godzilla if he had kept punching while Godzilla was passed out?
submitted by Straight_Random_2211 to Monsterverse [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:38 Mountain_Counter929 Making Aliens based off every pokemon type combination (Fighting)

Fighting/Normal: OHKO (One Punch Man but instead of one effortless punch it’s a touch of death combo he has to )
Species: Mugen
Planet: Sonof
Appearance
Powers and Abilities
Weaknesses/Drawback
Species/Planet Fact: The Mugen started as semi-organic creations by a long dead civilization who sought to try experiments designing different types of warriors. Eventually the planet will be inhabited by foreign researchers. These researchers have been working on enhancing them with various effects to increase their capabilities, and give them more movement and combat options. But during testing it was discovered that watching the Mugen fight with or without enhancements is incredibly entertaining resulting and a strong source of combat study. This discovery redirected their experiments being used for sports instead of warfare even preventing what would’ve been an interplanetary war by turning it into a competitive sport, exploding the planet in popularity. During this explosion there was the discovery of a single fight between two Mugen that have went on for centuries before the first immigration and has been fiercely protected from interruptions since its discovery.
Fighting/Grass: Doungwun Nemetrix predator of the Chunwin (See Kung book in Grass Types)
Appearance
Hunting Method
Planet/Species Fact: Despite the Doungwun seemingly biologically engineered to beat Cunwin on one to one combat, countering their various techniques. They rather take less ‘honorable’ tactics whenever possible. In populated areas they’d quickly overwhelm their prey with high numbers and quickly attack before the Chunwin gets a chance to swing. If there are aren’t any others nearby it’ll try to ambush its prey from hard to reach angles in the air. Only when it’s alone and has caught the attention of its prey, will it attach itself and engage its prey in close range combat. Most Chunwin societies simply use traps, or other tools to protect themselves from these predators. But a predator that chooses to engage in a one on one duel is more respected and results in a more respected death (for either one). So some Chunwin warriors leave themselves open to solo Doungwun attacks as some form of test.
Fighting/Fire: Racaln the Nemetrix predator of the Clabestro (See Firing Squad in Fire types)
Appearance
Hunting Method
Planet/Species Fact: Racaln only prey on the Clabestro when they’re split up and small. They don’t do any harm when they’re merged on one bigger body. But since most Clabestro combat (which happens very often) has them in their small split up forms. This makes it common for Racalns to be collected from the wild or bred in captivity to be utilized as excellent traps, and denying area. This practice would also be used as a mark to safeguard places from violence, to prevent Clabestro from splitting to engage in combat. This practice has spread to official gatherings like courts and diplomatic meetings.
Fighting/Water: Ultimate Slush (See Original in Water Types)
Appearance
Powers/Ability
Weaknesses/Drawbacks:
Fighting/Elctric: Ultimate Fightning Rod (See Web Work in Electric Types)
Appearance
Powers/Ability
Weaknesses/Drawbacks:
Fighting/Flying: Ultimate Fight and Flight (See original in Flying Types)
Appearance
Powers/Ability
Weaknesses/Drawbacks:
Fighting/Ice: Giengar Nemetrix predator of the Ashe (See Burrzerker in Ice Types)
Appearance
Hunting Method
Planet/Species Fact: Giengar are omnivores. In cold seasons they eat large predators with their primarily skill of inducing hallucinations that tire out its target before having its body frozen over for it to consume with its teeth designed to crush frozen objects. They gain this power by consuming mushrooms from warmer, jungle biomes that contain spores which has a similar effect to targets that breathe them in (though less concentrated and ends with less fatalities). Giengars are immune to these spores so during the warmer seasons they migrate to the jungle to consume high amounts of these mushrooms to expel their spores in large concentrations during hunting season. Normal Ashe that occupy these jungles stay away from the dangerous arctic biomes the Giengars hunt in, so to them the Giengar are seen as harmless. Since even if the Giengars try to use the spores against them, the conditions aren’t lethal and the lack of the Ashe’s adrenaline won’t inhibit their ability to recognize their condition and react accordingly instead of wasting their energy fighting.
Fighting/Ground: Ultimate Mudripper (See Original in Ground Types)
Appearance
Powers/Ability
Weaknesses/Drawbacks:
Fighting/Rock: Ovivine Nemetrix predator of the Sabter (See Mountain Goat in Fighting Types)
Appearance
Hunting Method
Planet/Species Fact: While Ovivine can talk and mimic sentient emotions its only purpose is to gain the trust of prey as a mere predatory mechanism, their brains aren’t capable of deeper introspective thought or sentience when alone. Sabter are worn of the Ovivine though largely they are seen as myth with how very few sightings they are and how little the Ovivine are actually active due to their slow metabolism. Ovivines cover their prey on the floor and slowly consume it whilst morphing its body to appear as a mere lump of ground covered in grass, which is another factor into how little they’re seen. Occasionally they encounter some Sabter who are very much aware of them, and their tricks so in those cases they simply push them off the cliff side. Though this method relies on the element of surprise since their physical strength is much weaker than the average Sayter.
Fighting/Bug: Ultimate Float Stinger (See Original in Bug Types)
Appearance
Powers/Ability
Weaknesses/Drawbacks:
Fighting/Psychic: Muscle Memory (Alien Taskmaster)
Species: Reffox
Planet: Arbeitar
Appearance
Powers and Abilities
Weaknesses
Planet/Species Fact: Due to the fact that all Reffox are all physically the same and that any unique skill that are developed is quickly assimilated by one another. Reffox populations share a yearning for a sense of identity. So many Reffox head off to other cultures/planets to use their learned skills to be able to make an identity of themselves, whether it be an athlete a performer, a warrior, a hero, or in some cases a criminal or ruler. This feeling is felt through all Reffox and when two of them meet, they silently agree to not show their skills to each other to keep their identity. Though if they do want to share they return to Arbeitar to tell their stories or inspire new skills for the next generation who would tell their story.
Fighting/Poison: Biolence (Fist of the North Star Powered by drugs, and can weaponize their own explosions )
Species: Gomane Planet: Omawoshindyu
Appearance
Powers and Abilities
Weaknesses
Planet/Species Fact: Eons ago a large vapor of toxic alien pollutants was mysterious dropped on Omawoshindyu mutating all inhabitants and killing off massive amounts of life, however life stiff have adapted and eventually evolved resulting in the modern Gomanes. By the time their own society has formed, the pollutants have been absorbed into the earth or dissipated from the atmosphere allowing fertile greener life to grow. Ironically most of Gomane society promotes healthy activity like proper diet in exercise, for it allows them to control their cyst development more effectively even when there sped up, which they use in hunting and combat sports. However crime activity is still noticeable involving addiction, violence, and gang activity. Mostly originating in highly polluted/deserted wastelands. As various poisons are being produced and mines
Fighting/Ghost: Body-structor (Havik from MK1 with hints of Water Law from One Piece)
Species: Rankensain
Planet: Taxodoom
Appearance
Powers and Abilities
Weaknesses:
Planet/Species Fact: Body parts are the Rankensains main currency. While most body parts are gathered from hunted animals on their world. Rankenstains have developed interplanetary transportation to gather valuable alien body parts. Often by nefarious methods like warfare, grave robbing, or even homicide, making them a disdained and feared species across multiple planets. There are labs made to create clones of existing limbs to replace active hunting to remove the need for travel, but with how often exploration is used and how slow the cloning process is, Rankensains still commonly hunt aliens for their limbs as part of a darker slightly underground culture. To get around their negative reputation, Rankensains would remove their own brains and implant them into other bodies to disguise themselves.
Fighting/Dragon: Medisnake (Combat Snake with Street Fighter Chi abilities)
Species: Ansatryu
Planet: Chakrenin
Appearance:
Powers/Abilities:
Weaknesses
Planet/Species Fact: Initially Ansartyu were seen as pets of another more human-like species called the Shotogun and as intelligent as their owners. However, eventually the Shotogun would discover their ability to tap into their own personal well of the same chi-like energy and start practicing it for various means. However back then only a handful of masters would be able use it, and only at a very basic level. Until one Shotogun prince discovered that his treasured Ansatryu was able to tap into and unlock further levels of mastery. With this knowledge the prince learned from his Ansatryu and developed a closer bond with it, even teaching his pet higher levels of intelligence as he was taught further mastery of chi. Later he would teach others how to learn from their Ansatryu and his own Ansatryu will give intelligence to others of his species, leading to the point where Ansatryu are now partners living in the same world as the Shotogun in relative harmony.
Fighting/Steel: Weapon Blaster (Tank Knight with hand guns that shoots bladed weapons) Species: Arthmo
Planet: Palawar
Appearance
Powers and Abilities
Weaknesse
Species/Planet Fact: Arthmo is an artificial species created from a combination of alchemy and engineering by a master at both, commissioned by a great king. They were meant to be used as weapons of warfare and even companions. However an enemy army raided the kingdom, and killed both the lord and creator after the first Arthmo woke up. So the lab was well hidden so the Arthmo followed the instructions of its creator and created more of it, and slaying the enemy army. Now they defend the remaining members of their kingdom to allow it to rebuild. However, rumor has it that a surviving enemy found the original Arthmo lab.
Fighting/Dark: Spotshot
Species: Dalmate
Planet: Cerberence
Appearance
Powers/Abilities:
Weaknesses/Drawbacks
Species/Planet Fact: The spotted biological materials that generate the Dalmate’s projectile “spots”, is a shared trait amongst a handful of different Cereberence animal species and even some plant life. Those species has a spot of a different color that was meant harm all other species/subspecie for predation or predator avoidance. Other species that don’t have this projectile ability do have spotted patterns on them to warn predators, or even create similar marks on objects to protect territory by intimidation.To weaponize their own “spots” Dalmate tribes would farm different animals and use them in different methods that changes their spot markings to battle other tribes with their own spot slinging skills to prevent it from being simply absorbed into its targets body.
Fighting/Fairy: Best-O Change-O (Magical Girl/Boy Recruiting Bunny)
Species: Usegin
Planet: Lunakessho
Appearance
Powers/Abilities
Weaknesses
Planet/Species Fact: Lunakessho is a magical planet where all the inhabitants would practice magic, protected by an order of Usegin knights. However dark forces used by villains and monsters would arise practicing this dark magic and almost threatened to corrupt the universe. The Usegin order managed to fight them off but with a threat on that kind of scale and some remaining presence of their enemies they decided to seal of the planet into another realm. However, now there is an occult group mages summoned the order on various points of different moons using a ritual that was meant to be used in case they’re needed. While the Usegin heroes did manage to get involved in their traditional hero work. They’ve learned too late that this ritual will eventually corrupt them once all the full rituals is complete, and they’re powerless to stop them. So they now go to various planets and recruit and train other magical warriors to stop them when the time comes.
submitted by Mountain_Counter929 to Ben10 [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:31 RationalSchizo812020 Kanye and Kendrick vs Drake and The Diddler: A Conspiracy

Written 5/8/2024- updates attached below

I tried posting this on kendrick almost a week ago and it got no response, I messaged the mods to ask about Karma restrictions or account age requirements and they never replied. I made a new account and it was the same issue, but I found out last night I wasn’t fully banned, so I figured I’d throw it up and see if anyone finds it valuable. It’s written for people who have no prior knowledge of the rap game/music business. I don’t have to go as hard on obscuring names this time. One of the influencers I mentioned in my last post is known for doxxing and threatening violence against people who mention the many contradictions in their stories. (Sorry for any typos/mistakes I want to go to bed.)
Origins
I believe the current Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef is either completely or partially fabricated by certain industry leaders or the parties involved in an effort to distract from something bigger going down behind the scenes. If you were an influential label owner facing major accusations, and you needed to deflect media attention from yourself, recreating one of the most defining moments in rap history during the social media era would be a way to do it. It also wouldn’t hurt that two of the biggest rappers in the world were already sending shots at each other in their music for years prior. The public consensus is they are simply two famous rappers who hate each other and fighting over the spot for the top like in the 90’s. Only people who were directly involved could paint a more cohesive picture of the whole story. Even when all the cards drop, there is a good chance the average person won’t be able to find direct sources on their own and will continue to support their favorite artists and dismiss any evidence of their crimes like the drizzy subreddit or Ak fans.

As I said the beef between Kendrick and Drake has been brewing in the background for years, with both rappers sending shots and sneak dissing each other over the course of at least 8 years. The most agreed upon origin story is the first diss was the 2016 Big Sean and Kendrick collaboration, “Control,” and Drake responded with, “The Language”. Things stayed relatively lighthearted for a while and both were intentionally vague for many years. Before I go deep into the Kendrick and Drake stuff, it’s really important to examine some of Drake’s prior beefs because they add a ton of context to my theory. In my opinion Kendrick and Co. started scheming all of this some time around Mid 2020-Mid 2022, well after the whole Pusha T beef had transitioned into the Kanye beef.

What exactly started the beef is debatable, but at the time many attributed it to rumors of Drake pursuing Ye’s ex Amber Rose. Unfortunately the timeline isn’t 100 percent clear, and if I included every detail this would be at least 200+ pages so I’ll stick with the important stuff. The ultimate outcome of the Pusha T battle in 2018 was the revelation of Drake’s son Adidon that he had previously been hiding from the world along with getting Ye directly involved in the beef.

Here are some more examples of Drake antagonizing Ye and of him trying to use women as pawns to get material for his diss tracks. The Drake line, “Yeah, I probably go link to Yeezy, I need me some Jesus, but as soon as I start confessin' my sins, he wouldn't believe us," could be a reference to sleeping with Kim Kardashian, trying to double down on his threats to harm him or his family, or it could be a double entendre. Another example is using the name Kiki in another song, which was apparently one of Kim’s nicknames. Some other possible examples include the theories he may have tried the same thing with Kendrick’s wife Whitney around 2020-2021 in an attempt to use as ammo against Kendrick, which I’ll go into later. I don’t listen to much of either artist's music, but there are probably many of other examples in Drake’s catalogue that I’m leaving out. There is also his song Omerta released in 2019, which I'll go into below.

“Your baby mother call me when she lonely My tailor see me twice a week, he like my homie Forever grateful, forever thankful Diamond necklace, but she wears it on her ankle”

(Probably referring to Kim Kardashian since she had a few pictures with her wearing diamond ankle bracelets and was trying to make it into a trend.

“I plan to buy your most personal belongings when they up for auction”

(There were various rumors floating around for a while that Drake was blackmailing Ye with something and he was fighting to keep it from the public. I thought about it and this line might be referencing a sex tape with Kim or her little sister who me was very touch before she turned 18. In 2022 there was a whole storyline on Kim’s show where Ye flies to LA to prevent her second sex tape from being released.)

West Hollywood, know my presence is menacing
Cosa Nostra, shady dealings
Racketeering, the syndicate got they hand in plenty things The things that we've done to protect the name are unsettling But no regrets, though, the name'll echo Years later, none greater
Death to a coward and a traitor, that's just in my nature, yeah
(Drake and Ye both frequented the Delilah Nightclub located in West Hollywood and lived closeby on the same street for a while.)
"I don't carry cash 'cause the money is digital
It's the American Expresser, the debt collector"

(Sounds a lot more like it could be crypto to launder or send large amounts of ill gotten gains. It started becoming mainstream around them)

"Last year, niggas really feel like they rode on me
Last year, niggas got hot 'cause they told on me
I'm 'bout to call the bluff of anybody the fold on me"

These lines stood out because they could be referring to Ye telling the public about Drake's alleged threats a couple months before the songs release. This happened not long after the release of Sicko mode which was towards the end of 2018 as well. Ye was discussing the incident on Twitter and reached out to Drake and Travis to talk to him in private. In the next set of tweets Kanye publicly accused Drake of threatening him and his family in a major way. Surprisingly Ye seemed genuinely scared and amongst his, “crazy rants,” some of the stuff he said makes a ton of sense in hindsight. This also the beginning of his second serious public struggles with Bipolar disorder after being committed in 2016 shortly after an on stage rant where he calls out Jay Z for selling out and says he's afraid he might kill him.. As someone who shares the same diagnosis, I have a pretty good understanding of mania and psychosis and firmly believe that it's important not to write people off right away due to their mental illness. Some of my most thoughtful, creative, and productive periods were inspired by mania. Industry bigwigs have also been using mental illness to discredit influential black celebrities and visionaries going back decades, but it really picked up in the 80’s.

Dave Chappelle has gone into this a lot in the past and claims he experienced something similar before he quit show business and dipped to Africa. Their stories have a lot of interesting parallels if you’re familiar or curious. I remember he actually visited Ye at his house in Wyoming after he was reported to have had a, "mental breakdown," during his presidential run in 2020 thus marking his third breakown in six years.. The reason I put it in quotes is because it happened right after he publicly accused Kim of cheating and delivered his legendary speech on abortion. Dave went as far as going on live tv and telling the public he wasn’t crazy, he was just really struggling because he was the only one at the time fighting against the narrative, which can often be a suicide mission or a ticket to obscurity. These are three examples of someone speaking up and being deemed crazy, two years later came the nazi stuff and I'm sure we'll have plenty in store for 2024.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the very common pattern of artists dying or having their careers destroyed either after they try to leave their label or threaten to reveal industry secrets. A few more interesting industry connections I made in my research include the connections between:

T.U.G. records and J Cole's independent label Dreamville are both managed by Interscope Records, whose parent company is Universal Music Group.

Universal Music Group also hac Drake's label OvO label as well as Ye and Kendrick's old labels on their roster before they left to form their own independent labels in 2022 (around the same time the disses between Kendrick and Drake started escalating). Finally Bad Boy Records, which is owned by Diddy, and Motown Records who own Diddy's other R&B label Love Records, are also both owned by Universal. This means every label I mention is currently or was previously owned by Universal Music Group.

Ye tried for years to get out of his contract with Defjam, which happens to be ran by Jay Z who is known to be a close associate of Diddy. Jay would always used his money and power to fight against it. Ye even spoke out publicly on a few occasions, including when he said Jay Z was trying to kill him during one of his concerts. My theory is after years of getting nowhere and having his reputation skewered, in 2022 Ye finally said, "Fuck it," and dropped all the anti- Semetic stuff intentionally in a successful attempt to force his label to into using their morality clause, which requires labels to drop an artist if they're accused of any major controversy that could hurt the label’s profits. For the fourth time in four years the media reported he was having a breakdown. Even though they tried to punish him by cutting off all of his sources of income and freezing his accounts he still managed to bounce back pretty quickly. It was often reported how much he was losing, but it rarely discussed how he still was filthy rich in spite of the retrictions. His label wanted to discourage other artists from trying the same thing. My theory is he might have bought Kim or Kylie's alleged sex tape and used it for his own leverage. For Kendrick, his transition to his independent label ApLang went a lot smoother, but he had to split ownership of his new label with the previous manager owner Dave Free. Sadly it's still difficult for new or more niche artists to establish themselves without the some help.

He may be a lot of things but Ye isn’t dumb just because he has a mood disorder and the guys at the top know this, which is why I think he has really played up his diagnosis when it benefitted him. He’s still one of the most talented musicians in the game and I really think he sees his bipolar like a superpower as he says. It’s like his own invisibility cloak. He can go off his meds for a little, make an album after staying up for 72 hours, go on a “psychotic” twitter rant dropping facts throughout, then start up again once he makes enough news headlines. I think it’s worth noting the first divorce rumors in 2020 coincided with Ye’s abortion speech during his presidential run and the cheating accusations. that led to him dropping out and moving to Wyoming, and a couple months ago in February 2024 he was committed again.

The point I’m making is bipolar is complex, but pretty manageable especially if you have a ton of money to find meds that work for you and a good doctor and can keep substance abuse and stress at a manageable level. I think Ye is smart enough to know this, but it’s just safer for him to really play up the mental issues in the media. He’s proven he can literally say whatever he wants after getting cancelled and the average person is just going to write it off as psycho babble. While bias in health care is a sad fact of society, if you can use it to your advantage I say go for it. It might’ve just kept the microscope off of him long enough to plan his attack.

Ye v. Drake: Quotes of 2018
(Start of the beef, drake threats, and suspicion towards Kardashian family. )

“ It’s not about rap. It’s about family. We have to be close as a family and never let these people infiltrate just for radio spins”

“We need to show the world that people can talk without people ending up dead or in jail.”

”This is a man speaking to a man that has been placed in the program to fuck with Kanye West head and set me up“

”See when you care about your family you don’t let no man push you to do nothing that could risk your freedom“

These first four tweets by Ye were all in reference to perceived threats made by Drake after their beef escalated circa 2018. He began speaking on the industry and talking more about his psych hospital commitment two years prior and how he thought they were going to kill him. It's pretty obvious how the whole thing was planned by the sketchy doctor who called it in and his physical trainer who has a ton of connections to weird shit involving his celebrity clients.

I found interesting that Ye might not have been the first major league rapper whose life Drake threatened. During a similar period of mental illness the up and coming rapper XXXtentacion accused Drake of stealing his flow and dissed him a few times. Not long after he made a post online saying if he dies, it was Drake who did it. There are tons of conspiracies online, but none of the evidence is strong enough to draw a definitive connection. Also while it maybe be coincidental, Kendrick’s latest album Mr Morale also painted the picture that Kendrick was dealing with some serious personal issues. Some lines throughout the album may have been used to bait Drake into escalating, but it wasn’t until The Weekend, Future, and Metro Booming dropped, “We Don’t Trust You,” then Drake and J. Cole dropped, “First Person Shooter,” which was followed a couple days later with, “Like That,” where Kendrick started the chain of events that has led us to today.

Kanye vs. Drake: Quotes of 2020

Summary: Ye runs for president and gets suppressed for saying what very well could be the truth and was immediately deemed insane by the media. Kim did a couple interviews and everything he said was immediatly false. There is almost guarenteed to be some sketchy shit going down revolving her and her family. Ye was absolutely terrified of her keeping the kids away from him and it seems like there are still efforts being made to this day to paint a certain image of him for ulterior motives.

Below are six more quotes from a fan taking a deep dive into his 2020 tweets courtesy of u/ thehatstore42069 on Yeezy
”NORTHY I AM GOING TO WAR AND PUTTING MY LIFE ON THE LINE AND IF I AM MURDERED DON’T EVER LET WHITE MEDIA TELL YOU I WASNT A GOOD MAN,” West, 43, wrote in the tweet, adding, “WHEN PEOPLE THREATEN TO TAKE YOU OUT OF MY LIFE JUST KNOW I LOVE YOU”

"I need a public apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately... I'm Nat Turner... I'm fighting for us."

"the utmost respect for all brothers" and said "we need to link and respect each other... no more dissing each other on labels we don't own"

"Ye is constantly trying to tell people that his family does not have his or his kids best interests at heart. He goes on to list others, linking them together with the thinking emoji. These people include rap artist Drake and Larsa Pippen, wife of Scottie Pippe. Kim K is goddaughter to Pippen's daughter, showing how close the families actually are. All of these families that associate with Ye through Kardashian connections, as well as Drake, have been accused of the same thing Kris has. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these people have mixed race children that are groomed from a young age to fuck around with celebrities so the parents can remain famous. Drake on numerous occasions has been accused of grooming girls and then getting handsy on their 18th birthday.”

“These labels want their artists to make them money and they dont care about anything else. When Kanye says things like this in an attempt to expose him, the first thing they wanna do is drug him up and put him back in the studio.”
“Righteous indignation is typically a reactive emotion of anger over mistreatment, insult, or malice of another. It is akin to what is called the sense of injustice. This is how they keep the black man down. Keep people outraged about trivial things and distract them from the real issues in the world. The real problems in the industry. If you tell people enough times that they are unequal or discriminated against they start to believe it. Drug them when they step out of line and toss them aside when the checks run out. Ye is realizing he is pawn in a bigger game, and now that he has all these roots in the game such as Yeezy or the Gap or his music, too many people cant risk (Afford) a Ye who speaks his mind.”
(End of quotes)

Amongst the twitter rant, Ye warned about the predatory nature of record deals and discussed trying to get out of his own deal, and said again how his life may be in danger if it wasn’t already and was doing anything he could to protect his kids. The most fascinating part to me though is the public call to arms he made to Drake, J Cole, and Kendrick on twitter. After inviting them to all link up, he said, “It’s time to get free, we will not argue amongst each other while some guy we don’t know in Europe is getting paid and putting that money in a hedge fund.” I believe if Ye was able to pull off this meeting, there is an ever so slight chance that all four artists might be working together to take down a greater enemy. Weirdly there have been times throughout the last couple years where these supposed enemies were photographed together being friendly or praise each other in interviews, then out of no where the disses would start flying again.

To wrap things up I want to share my a few of my theories about the Drake/Kanye beef

A. Everything is exactly as it seems and the beef is over. Ye let his mental illness ruin his life and career so Drake simply picked another target after Ye stopped putting out disses. All of these connections are just a coincidence and all of this was choreographed to boost Drake and Kendrick’s music sales and possibly distract people from the Diddy trial and possibly the complicated geopolitical issues currently facing the U.S.

C. There is also the possibility that all four rappers are in cahoots and Drake’s dirt isn’t as extreme as people are theorizing, at least in comparison to the rest of the business. This could explain why everything has played out like a movie and how they were able to predict each other’s moves so well. This could either mean they’re all just trying to boost their sales or they’re all trying to take down the “slave masters,” as Ye calls them, and change the dynamic of the music industry in favor of the artist.

D. They may be trying to help their friends in the industry who are being abused or in shitty contracts. I know a lot of famous rappers have done a lot of collaborations with Jhene Aiko and Anderson Paak, who were both signed to T.U.G. records which I mentioned above in the connections to Universal Music Group. Considering they are both frequent collaborators with all of the artists involved on both sides, it’s not unlikely they may have played some part in influencing the takedown.

T.U.G was started by Chris Stokes with his partner Ketrina Askew. Back in the early to mid 90’s were gaining popularity attracting lots of young up and coming talent. They often collaborated with Diddy and his associates. In the 2000’s Raz B from the boy band B2K claimed he was molested by Stokes and his friend Marques Houston, then quickly retracted his claims. Years later he came forward again and said we was bribed into silence and that the rest of the victims were bribed with hush money and had another singer corroborate his story and they came forward together to level the accusations. After some of his former B2K members made fun of him for his claims and accused it of being a shakedown, Raz B revealed Stokes and Houston had preyed a lot of the children associated with the label including at least one of the former bandmates and paid them off.

I thought it was worth noting that the second whistleblower named Quindon Tarver died young in a car crash after mentioning his abuse again a few years prior. He seems to have left the industry not long after the incidents occurred and has few credits to his name. To this day Raz B is still trying to get his justice, while Stokes and his partner Askew, who was also involved in the abuse are still running the label to this day. Askew also has a ton of lawsuits, accusing her of using shady tactics to try to foreclose on houses. (Don’t quote me if a lawyer wants to take a look just google her full name), and has been tied to a ton of LLCs, similar to Drake. This is a good example of a shitty record deal, but I'm sure they have countless other friends in the industry who have even worse. While they were never convicted even Chris Stokes' wife confirmed it to be true.

E. The theory I personally think fits the narrative best and is the most realistic conspiracy is that Kendrick and possibly J. Cole went to the meeting, but not Drake due to his close relationship with Lucian Grange, the president of Drake’s label. Silence often speaks louder than words and this could explain why Kendrick was so ruthless and put so much effort into finding dirt on Drake. Ye, Cole, and Kendrick co-writing would be like the rap allstar team and if J. Cole wasn’t involved, it would also answer the question of whether or not he baited Drake into the battle by asking him to feature. I don’t think Drake is really their primary target though, which would explain letting him off easy. Compared to his bosses and their bosses he’s a small fish. If you take the big guys down you stand a better chance of landing a bigger blow on their operation.

Another really interesting connection is Kendrick and Ye were both signed under Universal Music Group and they both got out of their deals around couple months apart in 2022. As we speak U.M.G’s CEO Lucian Grange, who is often acccused of giving Drake special treatment, is facing charges related to sex trafficking by no other than P Diddy. This could very well explain the timing of it all. The craziest timeline would be Diddy masterminding all of this and using his connections to get it done and all the allegations are bullshit. The guy does seem pretty confident all things considered and constantly posts himself in his Batman costume which could mean he’s a vigilante.

It seems like there's a slight religious angle as well. (Ye and Diddy are both very vocal advocates of Christianity and Drake and Lucian Grange are both Jewish.) Obviously this is a reach, but they’ve been saying rap music was specifically promoted by mostly white label owners in the 80’s to help in the ongoing effort to expedite the systematic oppression of those living in black neighborhoods and the destruction of their family systems. Apparently it was an intentional decision to heavily promote rappers that promoted the very things that were destroying their neighborhoods. (So people know I'm and atheist and have zero agenda, I just thought it was interesting, please stay away from anything antisemitic. War is wrong on both sides.)

*** If my favorite theory is true, there is a possibility the Kendrick and Ye are going after Drake due to their mutual disdain for him and because he’s got a ton of power to dominate the charts and hog the radio airtime like Meek Mill and OG Maco claimed years ago. Even him dropping a record the same day as you could really fuck your album sales up. I’m also sure some of the many rumors throughout the years have had a least some truth and he will most likely snitch to avoid cell block one. I think that Drake could have been instructed to instigate this whole mess in order to draw attention away from the UMG charges brought about by Diddy. Or on the other hand it could be that Kendrick, Ye, and possibly Cole, may have had intel that Drake was going to be involved in the Diddy trial and are just gonna let the receipts show themselves. It might not have been the original plan, but they’ve already accomplished their mission of humiliating him, assuring he couldn’t use his influence to slide through the cracks, and taking over the throne.

Please take everything I say with a grain of salt I have no connection to this world or lifestyle. Regardless I believe all of the knowledge above does a pretty solid job at painting a picture of what may have let up to this and what may have been the source.
——————————-
More details found the last couple days…

Drake and Diddy Connections+Coincidences

Drake- In the P Diddy wig video from 2016 he talks about going to party with Drake, Cash, and The Weeknd in Toronto. Drake is also one of Birdman’s protégées who is known for being a predator and is rumored to have used label artists to lure young women.

Travis Scott- Interview where he comes out and says Diddy tried to lure him. Still has a long history of associating with him, video of him running from Diddy, his connection to Ruby Rose while underage.

Tim Westwood- Diddy had connections with sex offender Tim Westwood who also inspired the Drake song, “Westwood”. They also both were victims of drive by shootings along with The Weekend and they were all facing some type of allegations.

T.I.- Also has been associate with Diddy through the years, in 2021 his kid died and 11 women can forward at the same time to accuse him and his wife of drugging and assaulting them. Clearly someone wanted to fuck his life up. Possibly due to him getting arrested so many times for wild shit and people wondering how he continued to get away with it shining a light on how powerful industry lawyers are. He also had recently talked about having a gynecologist check to see if his daughter is still a Virgin, which sounds like it could have been an industrty secret. Could have been because he worried about someone trying to take advantage of her to get to him? Regardless that shit is fucking insane.

50 Cent- Has been saying pretty much the same thing as Travis Scott and has trolled Diddy for most of his career. It came out that his wife was a sex worker who was possibly recruited Diddy to help ruin his career. It sort of worked, which raises the question if 50 Cent is the only victim.

Ray J- Him and his sister worked with T.U.G. records when they were very young. Chris Stokes in the nineties who had connections with Diddy. He has been involved in a lot of sex scandals and allegedly may have played a part in Whitney Houston's death. (Which is also allegedly connected to Michael Jackson's death and both were deemed suspicious and happened during their final tours when their masters (song rights), became more valuable than their lives. Sony Records and Tommy Motolla, who also abused Mariah Carey when she was trying to start her career. These are just a few of the alleged examples of labels taking out musicians when they were worth more dead, another is the signing of high risk artists and requiring them to get life insurance so they can profit beyond releasing all their posthumous records. Also the ever so common story of the rising star artist that die at 21 after their first album or two.

He also partied with Diddy in Vegas with along Floyd Mayweather and a bunch of other famous industry people and athletes.

Tory Lanez- Tons of blackmail, also was signed by Interscope under UMG. got sent to prison for ten years after trying to leave his label. Also history of SA and and other allegations of violence towards women.

French Montana- On Diddy's label, close with Rick and Khaled, tons of drug and sexual assault allegations, also dated a Kardashian. Generally grimy.

DJ Khaled- Diddy said he could get anything in Miami, either referring to drugs or women, could explain his connections and lack of any notable talent. (New update, he was one of the first to promote Chris Alvarez’s instagram not long after he turned 18).

Rick Ross- Diddy said some weird shit about him and licked his lips and kissed him at a show. Ross is also signed to Bad Boy under Diddy. He ended up getting involved in the current feud and spamming social media nonstop dissing and threatening Drake.

A lot of the back and forth was both of them threatening to release dirt on each other. One strange coincidence I found was Drake recently trolled Ross about the 20 million dollar renovation to his home on Star island, where Diddy is currently residing. It’s rumored back in the day that P Diddy was caught in a room full of rich guys on ecstasy possibly at the beginning stages of a gay orgy. Drake also mentioned in the same tweets about Rick Ross that Birdman owned a house on the island and asked Rick Ross why he didn’t help him out.

Considering Ross is so sketchy and Drake claims the house isn’t that big, that’s a ridiculous amount of money. He may be covering up evidence, or creating tunnels in his house to escape if shit pops off and Drake might know what’s good. Interestingly enough Ross is very close with French Montana and also signed to Bad. He said his beef was related to something involving French, and Drake’s tweet popped up the same day the info came out concerning the Chris Alvarez stuff.

The famous line from U.O.E.N.O.

Meek Mill- “OG Maco called himself defending his friend Quentin Miller by substantiating the ghostwriting claims and agreeing with Meek. He hit up Twitter saying, "Some of us been knew. Meek just put it in the air. Sucks to have to compete with 6 n****s and get compared to”

Meek mill also had a short beef with Drake, some disses included lines referring to TI’s homie pissing on Drake at the movie theater, which is also interesting considering the current case against him. He also dropped a line saying Diddy almost got a domestic charge when he smacked Drake, which could either be saying that Drake is like a woman, or saying he was Drake’s boyfriend/sugar daddy.
( If you made it to the end comment with the number 8)
I thought it was interesting how the beef just kind of disappeared and even Meek said it didn’t seem genuine. Considering the allegations against Meek in the Diddy trial, and his rumored affair with Kim contributing to ending Kanye’s marriage, Meek Mill definitely did some dirt on him.

“Niggas frauds I told the truth, don't ask me shit
All this industry fake enemy and rap shit”

“Money make a sucker that told look trill again”

One of the many chapters in Drake's history in which he is seen paying his way out of trouble and starting beefs randomly.
“Now when that shit went down with Chris, you wrote a check”
This line is referring to Chris brown beef, another beef that was lost to time. All I can remember off the top was someone throwing a champagne bottle at the other’s entourage.

Ty Dolla $ign- Huge feature artist, close with Ye. Grew up in the industry and talks about growing up on the road and being in the studio with his dad and Rick James who was should have already been in prison for life for dragging, torturing, and S assaulting multiple women and children throughout his career and was himself a victim of the industry. May be part of Ye's motivation, considering their recent close working relationship.
The end.
Courtesy of,
The Randomest Moniker
submitted by RationalSchizo812020 to DarkKenny [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:14 Contactunderground “THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!” This is the message of a brief video created from NASA satellite imagery.

“THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!”
Joseph Burkes MD
I was a contact team coordinator for the CE-5 Initiative in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1998. “She is alive. She is awake and She loves us.” is the message that I received during of a kind of channeling experience that I had back in 1994 at Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico. It was an occurrence that Linda Irwin of the Unseen World radio show called a "contact download.”

I was meditating 600 feet underground. It just an hour before closing time. I sat alone in a small amphitheater cut into the rock face. With no expectations of results, I decided to reach out with my mind and try to contact with what I imagine is Earth Mother. She is called Gaia by many.

Soon two beings appeared in my mind's eye. Dressed in the garb of medieval pilgrims, I was informed that I could not interface with her directly, but through them a link could be established.

What followed was an "awake dream" that was so poignant because it combined striking visual imagery in full color with emotion and thought. The message that I “received” was as follows:
The Earth is like a beautiful woman, alive and awake and conscious of her reproductive power. Her love for all of her children, plants, animals, including us is profound. But humankind is now experienced by her as if we were a kind of pest. The rivers and oceans, her life’s blood, the mountains her skin and the forests her fur, are infested with a blight called man.

So, a cleansing has been called for and this brings her sadness. Brief images of devastation flashed through my mind during the download. Like a forest animal that rubs against a tree or dives into a lake to cleanse her fur, I saw earthquakes smashing cities, and walls of water, tsunamis, hitting the coasts.

But like a mother preparing to give birth, volcanic islands rose from the ocean floor to make new land, new homes for more of her beloved creatures.

I appreciate the work of those who created this brief YouTube video that still gives me pause to remember a strange bittersweet experience from three decades ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlqjz9OEhk0

Additional Remarks:
Back in the 1980s I was part of a movement of scientists and physicians that studied the possible effects of an all-out-nuclear war in which thousands of megatons of TNT equivalent explosives might be detonated over our cities.

Hundreds of millions would be killed immediately and billions more from what is called "Nuclear Winter." That dreaded event would result as the ashes of burned cities blocked out the sun. Our calculations, however, indicated that in the southern hemisphere there would be many survivors. Civilization as we know it would end, but human life most certainly would go on.

We cannot destroy the Earth. Perhaps it is an expression of our limitless pride that makes us think that we can. As suggested by my "contact download" her capacity to generate new life is boundless.

Many contact experiencers, while in communication with what we imagine are extraterrestrials, describe being shown images of terrible environmental destruction. This type of encounter conveys the impression that the "aliens" (my wife Yael calls them "the whatevers" as she is not very interested in these matters) really do care about the fate of our planet.

I suggest that we are getting important wake up calls about the need to become better stewards of this jewel of a planet. Sometimes the message comes from medical doctors like my colleagues in The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Sometimes the warnings come from those "little grey guys with wrap around eyes" that enter our minds with what have been called inconvenient truths.


Comments:
Name deleted: I had a similar contact experience. On 12/12/12, I lay down to meditate, which I always do, before sleep. On this particular night, which was associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar, I immediately began to get a "download" of images. It was as if there was a slide show going on in my mind's eye. Image after image of nuclear holocaust, natural disasters, death and destruction. These images were interspersed with images of mathematical formulas...none of which I recognized consciously. Pages and pages of mathematical formulas. This went on all night long and I didn't get a wink of sleep. The following night, the same went on as soon as I closed my eyes to meditate. This time I began to telepath questions to whomever or whatever was sending me the downloaded images. The answers I got were: 1. That I was being shown images of past and possible futures, 2. That our earth and our species is in peril if we continue on this path of self-destruction, and 3. I asked about the math and was told..."Don't worry. You now have it and will understand it when you need it." This experience was a profound and "otherworldly" awakening for me, one that led me to begin exploring my relationship both with the earth on a deeper level, and also my connections with the RAHMA mission.

Joseph Burkes Thank you for sharing your personal contact experiences. I too had a download that involved mathematical equations that I couldn't understand other than they had to do with determinants of the contact drama and interactions between human action and a masterplan to open up our planet to peaceful contact with UFO intelligence.

submitted by Contactunderground to HighStrangeness [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:13 Contactunderground “THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!” This is the message of a brief video created from NASA satellite imagery.

“THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!”
This is the message of a brief video created from NASA satellite imagery.
Joseph Burkes MD
I was a contact team coordinator for the CE-5 Initiative in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1998. “She is alive. She is awake and She loves us.” is the message that I received during of a kind of channeling experience that I had back in 1994 at Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico. It was an occurrence that Linda Irwin of the Unseen World radio show called a "contact download.”

I was meditating 600 feet underground. It just an hour before closing time. I sat alone in a small amphitheater cut into the rock face. With no expectations of results, I decided to reach out with my mind and try to contact with what I imagine is Earth Mother. She is called Gaia by many.

Soon two beings appeared in my mind's eye. Dressed in the garb of medieval pilgrims, I was informed that I could not interface with her directly, but through them a link could be established.

What followed was an "awake dream" that was so poignant because it combined striking visual imagery in full color with emotion and thought. The message that I “received” was as follows:
The Earth is like a beautiful woman, alive and awake and conscious of her reproductive power. Her love for all of her children, plants, animals, including us is profound. But humankind is now experienced by her as if we were a kind of pest. The rivers and oceans, her life’s blood, the mountains her skin and the forests her fur, are infested with a blight called man.

So, a cleansing has been called for and this brings her sadness. Brief images of devastation flashed through my mind during the download. Like a forest animal that rubs against a tree or dives into a lake to cleanse her fur, I saw earthquakes smashing cities, and walls of water, tsunamis, hitting the coasts.

But like a mother preparing to give birth, volcanic islands rose from the ocean floor to make new land, new homes for more of her beloved creatures.

I appreciate the work of those who created this brief YouTube video that still gives me pause to remember a strange bittersweet experience from three decades ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlqjz9OEhk0

Additional Remarks:
Back in the 1980s I was part of a movement of scientists and physicians that studied the possible effects of an all-out-nuclear war in which thousands of megatons of TNT equivalent explosives might be detonated over our cities.

Hundreds of millions would be killed immediately and billions more from what is called "Nuclear Winter." That dreaded event would result as the ashes of burned cities blocked out the sun. Our calculations, however, indicated that in the southern hemisphere there would be many survivors. Civilization as we know it would end, but human life most certainly would go on.

We cannot destroy the Earth. Perhaps it is an expression of our limitless pride that makes us think that we can. As suggested by my "contact download" her capacity to generate new life is boundless.

Many contact experiencers, while in communication with what we imagine are extraterrestrials, describe being shown images of terrible environmental destruction. This type of encounter conveys the impression that the "aliens" (my wife Yael calls them "the whatevers" as she is not very interested in these matters) really do care about the fate of our planet.

I suggest that we are getting important wake up calls about the need to become better stewards of this jewel of a planet. Sometimes the message comes from medical doctors like my colleagues in The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Sometimes the warnings come from those "little grey guys with wrap around eyes" that enter our minds with what have been called inconvenient truths.


Comments:
Name deleted: I had a similar contact experience. On 12/12/12, I lay down to meditate, which I always do, before sleep. On this particular night, which was associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar, I immediately began to get a "download" of images. It was as if there was a slide show going on in my mind's eye. Image after image of nuclear holocaust, natural disasters, death and destruction. These images were interspersed with images of mathematical formulas...none of which I recognized consciously. Pages and pages of mathematical formulas. This went on all night long and I didn't get a wink of sleep. The following night, the same went on as soon as I closed my eyes to meditate. This time I began to telepath questions to whomever or whatever was sending me the downloaded images. The answers I got were: 1. That I was being shown images of past and possible futures, 2. That our earth and our species is in peril if we continue on this path of self-destruction, and 3. I asked about the math and was told..."Don't worry. You now have it and will understand it when you need it." This experience was a profound and "otherworldly" awakening for me, one that led me to begin exploring my relationship both with the earth on a deeper level, and also my connections with the RAHMA mission.

Joseph Burkes Thank you for sharing your personal contact experiences. I too had a download that involved mathematical equations that I couldn't understand other than they had to do with determinants of the contact drama and interactions between human action and a masterplan to open up our planet to peaceful contact with UFO intelligence.

submitted by Contactunderground to Experiencers [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:11 Contactunderground “THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!” This is the message of a brief video created from NASA satellite imagery.

“THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!”
Joseph Burkes MD
I was a contact team coordinator for the CE-5 Initiative in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1998. “She is alive. She is awake and She loves us.” is the message that I received during of a kind of channeling experience that I had back in 1994 at Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico. It was an occurrence that Linda Irwin of the Unseen World radio show called a "contact download.”

I was meditating 600 feet underground. It just an hour before closing time. I sat alone in a small amphitheater cut into the rock face. With no expectations of results, I decided to reach out with my mind and try to contact with what I imagine is Earth Mother. She is called Gaia by many.

Soon two beings appeared in my mind's eye. Dressed in the garb of medieval pilgrims, I was informed that I could not interface with her directly, but through them a link could be established.

What followed was an "awake dream" that was so poignant because it combined striking visual imagery in full color with emotion and thought. The message that I “received” was as follows:
The Earth is like a beautiful woman, alive and awake and conscious of her reproductive power. Her love for all of her children, plants, animals, including us is profound. But humankind is now experienced by her as if we were a kind of pest. The rivers and oceans, her life’s blood, the mountains her skin and the forests her fur, are infested with a blight called man.

So, a cleansing has been called for and this brings her sadness. Brief images of devastation flashed through my mind during the download. Like a forest animal that rubs against a tree or dives into a lake to cleanse her fur, I saw earthquakes smashing cities, and walls of water, tsunamis, hitting the coasts.

But like a mother preparing to give birth, volcanic islands rose from the ocean floor to make new land, new homes for more of her beloved creatures.

I appreciate the work of those who created this brief YouTube video that still gives me pause to remember a strange bittersweet experience from three decades ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlqjz9OEhk0

Additional Remarks:
Back in the 1980s I was part of a movement of scientists and physicians that studied the possible effects of an all-out-nuclear war in which thousands of megatons of TNT equivalent explosives might be detonated over our cities.

Hundreds of millions would be killed immediately and billions more from what is called "Nuclear Winter." That dreaded event would result as the ashes of burned cities blocked out the sun. Our calculations, however, indicated that in the southern hemisphere there would be many survivors. Civilization as we know it would end, but human life most certainly would go on.

We cannot destroy the Earth. Perhaps it is an expression of our limitless pride that makes us think that we can. As suggested by my "contact download" her capacity to generate new life is boundless.

Many contact experiencers, while in communication with what we imagine are extraterrestrials, describe being shown images of terrible environmental destruction. This type of encounter conveys the impression that the "aliens" (my wife Yael calls them "the whatevers" as she is not very interested in these matters) really do care about the fate of our planet.

I suggest that we are getting important wake up calls about the need to become better stewards of this jewel of a planet. Sometimes the message comes from medical doctors like my colleagues in The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Sometimes the warnings come from those "little grey guys with wrap around eyes" that enter our minds with what have been called inconvenient truths.


Comments:
Name deleted: I had a similar contact experience. On 12/12/12, I lay down to meditate, which I always do, before sleep. On this particular night, which was associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar, I immediately began to get a "download" of images. It was as if there was a slide show going on in my mind's eye. Image after image of nuclear holocaust, natural disasters, death and destruction. These images were interspersed with images of mathematical formulas...none of which I recognized consciously. Pages and pages of mathematical formulas. This went on all night long and I didn't get a wink of sleep. The following night, the same went on as soon as I closed my eyes to meditate. This time I began to telepath questions to whomever or whatever was sending me the downloaded images. The answers I got were: 1. That I was being shown images of past and possible futures, 2. That our earth and our species is in peril if we continue on this path of self-destruction, and 3. I asked about the math and was told..."Don't worry. You now have it and will understand it when you need it." This experience was a profound and "otherworldly" awakening for me, one that led me to begin exploring my relationship both with the earth on a deeper level, and also my connections with the RAHMA mission.

Joseph Burkes Thank you for sharing your personal contact experiences. I too had a download that involved mathematical equations that I couldn't understand other than they had to do with determinants of the contact drama and interactions between human action and a masterplan to open up our planet to peaceful contact with UFO intelligence.

submitted by Contactunderground to ContactUnderground [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:10 Contactunderground “THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!” This is the message of a brief video created from NASA satellite imagery.

“THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!”
Joseph Burkes MD 2018
I was a contact team coordinator for the CE-5 Initiative in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1998. “She is alive. She is awake and She loves us.” is the message that I received during of a kind of channeling experience that I had back in 1994 at Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico. It was an occurrence that Linda Irwin of the Unseen World radio show called a "contact download.”

I was meditating 600 feet underground. It just an hour before closing time. I sat alone in a small amphitheater cut into the rock face. With no expectations of results, I decided to reach out with my mind and try to contact with what I imagine is Earth Mother. She is called Gaia by many.

Soon two beings appeared in my mind's eye. Dressed in the garb of medieval pilgrims, I was informed that I could not interface with her directly, but through them a link could be established.

What followed was an "awake dream" that was so poignant because it combined striking visual imagery in full color with emotion and thought. The message that I “received” was as follows:
The Earth is like a beautiful woman, alive and awake and conscious of her reproductive power. Her love for all of her children, plants, animals, including us is profound. But humankind is now experienced by her as if we were a kind of pest. The rivers and oceans, her life’s blood, the mountains her skin and the forests her fur, are infested with a blight called man.

So, a cleansing has been called for and this brings her sadness. Brief images of devastation flashed through my mind during the download. Like a forest animal that rubs against a tree or dives into a lake to cleanse her fur, I saw earthquakes smashing cities, and walls of water, tsunamis, hitting the coasts.

But like a mother preparing to give birth, volcanic islands rose from the ocean floor to make new land, new homes for more of her beloved creatures.

I appreciate the work of those who created this brief YouTube video that still gives me pause to remember a strange bittersweet experience from three decades ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlqjz9OEhk0

Additional Remarks:
Back in the 1980s I was part of a movement of scientists and physicians that studied the possible effects of an all-out-nuclear war in which thousands of megatons of TNT equivalent explosives might be detonated over our cities.

Hundreds of millions would be killed immediately and billions more from what is called "Nuclear Winter." That dreaded event would result as the ashes of burned cities blocked out the sun. Our calculations, however, indicated that in the southern hemisphere there would be many survivors. Civilization as we know it would end, but human life most certainly would go on.

We cannot destroy the Earth. Perhaps it is an expression of our limitless pride that makes us think that we can. As suggested by my "contact download" her capacity to generate new life is boundless.

Many contact experiencers, while in communication with what we imagine are extraterrestrials, describe being shown images of terrible environmental destruction. This type of encounter conveys the impression that the "aliens" (my wife Yael calls them "the whatevers" as she is not very interested in these matters) really do care about the fate of our planet.

I suggest that we are getting important wake up calls about the need to become better stewards of this jewel of a planet. Sometimes the message comes from medical doctors like my colleagues in The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Sometimes the warnings come from those "little grey guys with wrap around eyes" that enter our minds with what have been called inconvenient truths.


Comments:
Name deleted: I had a similar contact experience. On 12/12/12, I lay down to meditate, which I always do, before sleep. On this particular night, which was associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar, I immediately began to get a "download" of images. It was as if there was a slide show going on in my mind's eye. Image after image of nuclear holocaust, natural disasters, death and destruction. These images were interspersed with images of mathematical formulas...none of which I recognized consciously. Pages and pages of mathematical formulas. This went on all night long and I didn't get a wink of sleep. The following night, the same went on as soon as I closed my eyes to meditate. This time I began to telepath questions to whomever or whatever was sending me the downloaded images. The answers I got were: 1. That I was being shown images of past and possible futures, 2. That our earth and our species is in peril if we continue on this path of self-destruction, and 3. I asked about the math and was told..."Don't worry. You now have it and will understand it when you need it." This experience was a profound and "otherworldly" awakening for me, one that led me to begin exploring my relationship both with the earth on a deeper level, and also my connections with the RAHMA mission.

Joseph Burkes Thank you for sharing your personal contact experiences. I too had a download that involved mathematical equations that I couldn't understand other than they had to do with determinants of the contact drama and interactions between human action and a masterplan to open up our planet to peaceful contact with UFO intelligence.

submitted by Contactunderground to CE5 [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:08 Contactunderground “THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!” This is the message of a brief video created from NASA satellite imagery.

“THE EARTH - A LIVING CREATURE!”
Joseph Burkes MD 2018
I was a contact team coordinator for the CE-5 Initiative in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1998. “She is alive. She is awake and She loves us.” is the message that I received during of a kind of channeling experience that I had back in 1994 at Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico. It was an occurrence that Linda Irwin of the Unseen World radio show called a "contact download.”

I was meditating 600 feet underground. It just an hour before closing time. I sat alone in a small amphitheater cut into the rock face. With no expectations of results, I decided to reach out with my mind and try to contact with what I imagine is Earth Mother. She is called Gaia by many.

Soon two beings appeared in my mind's eye. Dressed in the garb of medieval pilgrims, I was informed that I could not interface with her directly, but through them a link could be established.

What followed was an "awake dream" that was so poignant because it combined striking visual imagery in full color with emotion and thought. The message that I “received” was as follows:
The Earth is like a beautiful woman, alive and awake and conscious of her reproductive power. Her love for all of her children, plants, animals, including us is profound. But humankind is now experienced by her as if we were a kind of pest. The rivers and oceans, her life’s blood, the mountains her skin and the forests her fur, are infested with a blight called man.

So, a cleansing has been called for and this brings her sadness. Brief images of devastation flashed through my mind during the download. Like a forest animal that rubs against a tree or dives into a lake to cleanse her fur, I saw earthquakes smashing cities, and walls of water, tsunamis, hitting the coasts.

But like a mother preparing to give birth, volcanic islands rose from the ocean floor to make new land, new homes for more of her beloved creatures.

I appreciate the work of those who created this brief YouTube video that still gives me pause to remember a strange bittersweet experience from three decades ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlqjz9OEhk0

Additional Remarks:
Back in the 1980s I was part of a movement of scientists and physicians that studied the possible effects of an all-out-nuclear war in which thousands of megatons of TNT equivalent explosives might be detonated over our cities.

Hundreds of millions would be killed immediately and billions more from what is called "Nuclear Winter." That dreaded event would result as the ashes of burned cities blocked out the sun. Our calculations, however, indicated that in the southern hemisphere there would be many survivors. Civilization as we know it would end, but human life most certainly would go on.

We cannot destroy the Earth. Perhaps it is an expression of our limitless pride that makes us think that we can. As suggested by my "contact download" her capacity to generate new life is boundless.

Many contact experiencers, while in communication with what we imagine are extraterrestrials, describe being shown images of terrible environmental destruction. This type of encounter conveys the impression that the "aliens" (my wife Yael calls them "the whatevers" as she is not very interested in these matters) really do care about the fate of our planet.

I suggest that we are getting important wake up calls about the need to become better stewards of this jewel of a planet. Sometimes the message comes from medical doctors like my colleagues in The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Sometimes the warnings come from those "little grey guys with wrap around eyes" that enter our minds with what have been called inconvenient truths.


Comments:
Name deleted: I had a similar contact experience. On 12/12/12, I lay down to meditate, which I always do, before sleep. On this particular night, which was associated with the end of the Mayan Calendar, I immediately began to get a "download" of images. It was as if there was a slide show going on in my mind's eye. Image after image of nuclear holocaust, natural disasters, death and destruction. These images were interspersed with images of mathematical formulas...none of which I recognized consciously. Pages and pages of mathematical formulas. This went on all night long and I didn't get a wink of sleep. The following night, the same went on as soon as I closed my eyes to meditate. This time I began to telepath questions to whomever or whatever was sending me the downloaded images. The answers I got were: 1. That I was being shown images of past and possible futures, 2. That our earth and our species is in peril if we continue on this path of self-destruction, and 3. I asked about the math and was told..."Don't worry. You now have it and will understand it when you need it." This experience was a profound and "otherworldly" awakening for me, one that led me to begin exploring my relationship both with the earth on a deeper level, and also my connections with the RAHMA mission.

Joseph Burkes Thank you for sharing your personal contact experiences. I too had a download that involved mathematical equations that I couldn't understand other than they had to do with determinants of the contact drama and interactions between human action and a masterplan to open up our planet to peaceful contact with UFO intelligence.

submitted by Contactunderground to AnomalousEvidence [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:07 Erwinblackthorn The Time Vortex of Video Production

After much consideration, and planning, I am going to return to video production. When I began making videos on a weekly or monthly basis, I had plenty of free time due to the big coof. This was me learning things like scheduling, editing, how to make the microphone work, and I learned plenty through trial and error. There is a dramatic difference between my first videos and my recent ones because of this learning experience. But as I learned about how to make videos, I learned that I was wasting my time with them.
A LOT of time.
Whatever you’re thinking is a time waste for a video is not really it, unless you’ve been there and done that. During that time, I ruined my sleep schedule and would even pass up on small money opportunities, all because I thought my Youtube videos would send me into stardom. Plant a seed, watch it grow, that sort of thing. But, looking at my numbers, it was the exact opposite. Each video coming out, utilizing the keywords and subject matter as a reason to click, was essentially a false sense of activity.
Working on other people’s channels created even more false cases of activity, which created a false sense of justifying why I’m putting labor into something.
Like most artists, I was gaslighting myself into thinking that the time spent into a project was going to translate into a future income from something else. We always see these videos where it seems zero effort was put into it and it goes viral, not realizing that years of failing and group efforts were required to reach those results. And even then, a youtube video existing doesn’t cause a person to instantly gain money from that existence. I have a friend who made a viral video and he didn’t get anything from millions of views, because there was nothing to monetize. I have another friend who made a viral video, trying to recreate the magic, and nothing came of it after a year or two of trying.
Not only is it hard to receive results, but the amount of time it takes to attempt is ridiculous. I didn’t time myself, but if I knew how many hours were sunk into each video, I would probably pull out my balls in anger. The process of each video was a mess of:
  1. Writing down a script (takes more than an hour to write an hour of script)
  2. Recording the audio (takes more than an hour to record an hour)
  3. Editing the audio (takes about double the time of whatever its recorded)
  4. Making the thumbnail
  5. Making the avatar
  6. Collecting images
  7. Collecting video clips
  8. Making images and clips
  9. Editing through clips that are too long
  10. Adding sound effects
  11. Finding and adding music
  12. Waiting for it to render (usually this is where I go to do other things)
  13. Rendering it AGAIN through handbrake so it’s a smaller file (quicker than waiting for uploading a multi GB file)
  14. Uploading it across youtube, bitchute, and rumble
I don’t want to make this sound like I’m complaining, but this is the bare minimum effort that goes into a youtube video, not mentioning the details of how things are edited or the issues with troubleshooting. A lot of what ate up my time was realizing when things aren’t working way too late, such as how GIFs don’t register well and they slow down a larger project. Or better yet, how a large project slows down to a crawl and you have to render multiple segments separately in order to keep things running smoothly. My files, as organized as I tried to keep them, were unorganized as hell because I would set them up during production instead of before production. Then by the end of it, there would be something wrong that I would have to edit, remove, I forgot something, something vanished between saves, or even corrupted files because I moved something and didn’t realize it was part of something else.
Video editing is utter hell in the beginning, but it gets better after you look after your process and actually organize everything well.
I spent a night the other week changing up all of my files. I put them on my desktop, where I can easily access them, and away from my downloads. This is important because your downloads can be bogged down with anything you download, and eventually it becomes a massive mess of pictures, videos, game patches, or whatever else you’re downloading; all getting in the way of your actual project. You want your files to be files within files, and each file is marked clearly for its purpose and its direction. I had a million songs splayed out in different areas and couldn’t remember where they were, of course when I wanted them, all because they would get trapped in piles of other things I downloaded for later.
My file finding time is now only limited by the slowness of my computer acquiring it.
Audio began as a mess of me going through each line to make sure there was no extra noise, and having to fix anything that was too quiet or not full enough. Turns out I was making my audio way too maximized and wasting a lot of time on stuff that people wouldn’t even recognize as an issue. Now my audio mixing is done through OBS, already set up as a particular compression and volume that will stay in the acceptable range, with noise removal already set up.
My audio recording/editing time is closer to how long it takes to speak.
Developing each chapter card, clipping them together, having to find the font, typing everything out. These, along with getting sound effects working, took up too much time. What I did is make a plan to prepare all of these first, before anything else is added to the video, so that I know how many chapters there are. They don’t take that long to render, because of how short they are, and it takes way less time to do that than to shift gears at the end of the production day. Shifting gears every couple of minutes, that was wasting too much time, which is now changed to doing one specific task each session.
My “switching” time is removed, thus saving time.
Music was added in the beginning, as one of the first things. This was wrong to do, because of how many times I would want a clip where the music continues through it, only to realize that this continuation forced me to keep a massive background of editing history, which slows everything down through production. Adding music as the last bit, and after rendering, will save me minutes for every time I boot up the video editor, which saves hours over time when I’m going to have to go back and forth on video editing. My lifestyle only gives me an hour or two at a time to sit in front of the computer, and so editing will require less wait time for the process to warm up.
My rendering time will increase(as I go to do other things), but my waiting time will decrease.
Through my new process, I am also considering a different view of each video type. Recently, I saw a video about how kindle books are categorized between low, mid, and high content; related to how much effort it takes to make each one. My previous attempts were to, essentially, make high effort content as consistently as possible, which was going to be draining when these were events that came and went. Current news like Lindsay Ellis being stupid or DSP looking like a fool on Sidescrollers are incredibly time sensitive, which is why so many people stream these “news reports” instead of making high effort videos about them. And even if it was a long term type of video, we have to question if it REQUIRES that much effort to begin with.
My plans for the future are to measure how long I take with each session, what I get done, track down percentages, and measure what the longest steps are. Figuring out what’s causing a hold-up is the best way to prevent hold-ups, in the same way city builders (should) keep track of what’s causing traffic jams. Too many traffic jams? Get rid of cars or open more lanes. Keeping track of things is going to take minutes to save hours, which is something I should have practiced more on doing through my practicing year.
Videos are done with marketing in mind, because I don’t plan to make money from them. My “branding” is storytelling, art, art-related lolcows, and I guess that pesky culture war. People begged me to go fully political, but I think political is a step below philosophical, which is where I would rather go. I would rather explain the psychology and aesthetics of media, instead of repeating myself as to how offensive or woke something is. Yes, I make fun of Lindsay for being woke, but I explain why she is and where it comes from, which is something more important than some kind of drama farming that grifters do.
I would rather be a source of information than a pointless attack dog for someone above me, which is why I try to separate myself from the people who do such nonsense. I’m not with these movements, I don’t care to promote people I don’t care about, I’m not going to go easy on people just because “we’re on the same side”. Everyone gets made fun of or nobody gets made fun of, and I’m year of monkey, bitch. This monkey wants bananas and youtube is not going to supply any. But it supplies plenty of vines to swing around from, as I Donkey Kong my way from topic to topic.
Like anything else in life, videos need to be worth my time, meaning their expense needs to be dropped dramatically. Hour long, multi-hour long, these were excruciatingly hard to do. The next goal is to make sure everything is kept around 30min long, unless it’s going to be a bi-yearly 1 hour long video that will be the highlight of the year, which is where full book analysis videos come into play. The scripts for everything else will be written down as articles, with the better of the articles being made into low content videos.
Podcast style will be for low effort, being made weekly.
A new style will be for mid effort, which is where 30min of history or explanation is presented with video clips, being made monthly. Video game clips will be placed around here as well, unless they can be made bi-weekly.
And the classic, me in my room with my ASS computer, will be for the high content, for subjects that take far too long to make on a monthly basis.
This planning is still in the works, it’s an effort to create a strategy and a schedule for everything. The goal would be to place an hour a day per video, creating steps for each video, and using each other as progress reports for the bigger ones. It will be like placing smaller squares into bigger squares until the biggest square is complete, allowing me to visually determine my progress across such a subject. This is also a way for me to appear more productive, because content will be constantly coming out on a clear schedule. Only bad side about it is that this means 3 hours of my day are used for videos, and this won’t be possible for every day until content creation is my main job.
Before I can have this be a thing, it will be a slow, preemptive creation process, with smaller projects being made as my “short stories”, to then determine if I’m ready for a bigger “novel” of a project. And that’s how I have to approach video editing: the same way I would with storytelling. No more determining that length means better, or more time means more results. Now I’m going to obey the market, go for what’s expected of me, and react to feedback. If something doesn’t work, or doesn’t make a dent, I try something else.
I think that’s why people get mad at me, when they see that I am trying something else all the time. This is normal, but I’m told that I’m “an interloper” or “will never win” because I willingly give up on things that don’t work. Sorry, losers, but being unorganized and wasting my life is not worth it. I like money, and I like vaginas. If I wanted to be poor and wasting my life, I would have kept slamming my head against a wall and failing like most of what indie does.
And yes, the OPC reviews will be translated into videos, as well as my own short stories. I began as a crackpasta narrator, after all. I was thinking of putting a lot of radio drama production into my narrations, but I would want to keep them low effort until they start attracting all of the attention from their titles. A lot of people try to narrate their stories and they don’t make a spark anywhere with them. But as time goes on, and I get more videos under my belt, I could easily narrate for others, create a network, and get things going. It’s not that hard to get things working once you know what you’re doing.
The main time waste that we all fall for is chaotic activity and the lack of planning.
submitted by Erwinblackthorn to TDLH [link] [comments]


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