I'm 51 and have rarely had in-person friendship interactions. My Mom is partially to blame because she said "Wait to be invited" but I was never cool enough or interesting enough in High School or Grade School to have people calling me to see how I'm doing or invite me to go places. College wasn't as bad but I still never got invited. I was bullied more in 7th grade in a small school, so most people wouldn't know about it transitioning to a larger High School, so I feel my lack of trust in some people plays a big factor.
I had one friend since 20 but he's been flakey, takes too long to get ready for an event like a car show that there's never been enough time to browse and I would feel rushed. There's more drama with him that's irrelevant to my situation but I've stopped replying to him. He never made an effort to drive 30 minutes or so to see me when I was married. And when in relationships and was married my partner didn't typically have a girl's night out, as it was usually us with or without her friends.
I learned young that being funny and making people laughed really helps, but I have yet to see true results. My Dad told me to treat others as I would myself, and to put others ahead of myself to go around in life, but all that's done as hold me back as I have yet to see lasting results. I read an article on Lifehacker a decade ago about how to make friends in your 30's and one of the suggestions was Meetup.com, which did help as I made acquaintances and did meet others at events, but I understand people change.
My gf of 10 years knows my struggles, so she encouraged me to get out when I have a chance at meeting new people. We don't always have the same interests either so I appreciate her willingness to adjust. Going against my Mom's advice I would tell people where I would be going and ask if they'd be interested days in advance, but nobody seems to have the time, or they have so many friends (proving it can be done) that nobody considers me a priority. They enjoy my caring and giving nature, my ability to help with computer stuff, but I picked up that they only seem to reach out to me for that, and I feel I'm not good enough for anything else.
I befriended an older woman months ago at work who keeps pushing me to do stand-up, as I'm always making her laugh, and have been there to listen as her brother is in the hospital. I offered to hang out but she feels uncomfortable and doesn't want to look suspicious as she knows I have a girlfriend. I was upset about it but then she wishes she would have changed her mind when I spoke to her the next Monday.
This past week there was a street fair in a big town as my gf was there doing tarot readings, and that the street fair has eclectic items and draws a huge crowds with food vendors and entertainment. I mentioned this event to said coworker, a friend from Grade School I just reconnected with, my female friend from Meetup (no reply, and she lives with her bf closer to the event) and my ex wife who I get along with. The ex wife wasn't sure as she always was in bed by 9 (an issue in our marriage). After I told the coworker Friday about the event, she said on the day of the event that she made plans elsewhere. The friend from grade school seems to be going through issues and doesn't seem reliable, like everyone else.
I'm not a beealcohol drinker, was picked last or near last at gym so I'm not into sports, and I dont have the typical guy mentality; so it's easier to do me to be friends with women. One of my other female friends says "Life gets in the way" but if that were true why do a lot of FB posts show them with friends and best friends? That envy and comparison was why I only go on FB to buy and sell stuff. Do those friends and best friends not have lives, and is that why they're able to do things?
So at this point in life is it better to accept my fate and move on? Was I simply taught wrong when I should have learned morals off the street? Is everyone just not reliable enough? I keep telling myself that if you're not already in someone's inner circle that there's no chance of getting in now, and I'm starting to think that's true. I've tried being the catalyst with no results. Even this morning I read a story on here of a Mom who got RSVP's for her 5-year olds b-day party but got cancellations days leading to the event, so i know im not alone. Maybe this is best posted over at /MaleMentalHealth but wanted other's inputs here. If being funny, caring, and considerate isn't enough or more than enough, what am I lacking?

MAIORES. IV, CAL. IUNI. FORTUNA PRIMIGENIA.

This subject follows along from the general conclusion of infantilism, i.e. if we agree that infantilism exists in a culture that therefore all aspects of (such a culture) must be examined as to how they are impacted ‘by’ that infantilism, as: infantilism constitutes an undeveloped form of a thing; here (without covering absolutely every single aspect of it, as this could be a book in and of itself) we explore ‘sexual immaturity’ and its promulgation and consequences (of which we could easily make the case of the consequences as to be the cause of ‘all social ill’).
In an anthropological view; as if like we are looking at a chimpanzee colony, both procreation and familial-tribal child-raising takes place in our contemporary Western societies in a very clumsy sort of way; with the latter (i.e. the actual raising of children) not occurring at all, with the consequence of ‘arrested development’ – usually we would recognize and name it as that, if we ever thought very deeply about it:
However, the notion that all of this could be reduced to and fathomed as ‘sexual immaturity’ is an interesting (and unexplored) avenue to approach these matters from; certainly the act of actual procreation is deliberately accidental (I mean here in the contemporary West) in that a Woman does “not seek a mate” and then become pregnant, i.e. she does not even consider the sexual act to be procreative, rather: she accidentally becomes pregnant (“it was a miracle”), having beforehand and all throughout the duration and beyond it a culture which is far detached from the physical reality of things and thus a new human is created with no forethought for its care or provision and no security net in place to provide for it and ensure its prosperity and intelligent up-bringing, and increasingly there are fewer and fewer intelligent older persons around who are capable of providing the education and care for that child as would naturally exist in the large familial-tribal unit of an extended family where, historically, we all came from and of which is still the norm across much of the world (i.e. village elders who would otherwise raise the children up to be intelligent even if the Mother herself is too young to be a real parent - if we imagine as the species norm would be that most Women historically had their first child at around the age of fourteen or fifteen). Without, then, that familial-tribal unit to instruct and care for the child’s intellectual development and without either land to make a living from to provide tis economic development then we find a cursed life, that is: a life far more difficult than it otherwise ought be had it been born in a more wisely chosen environment.
My point here is that ‘procreation’ is considered almost never at all by our society as being the most basic step in the creation and promulgation ‘of’ a tribal unit; with procreation itself being left down to blind chance and more often either legitimately accidentally or feigned accidently so as to attempt to cement a relationship (see: divorce and break-up rates in the West), either way this is the material circumstance into which children are born.
To say, then, that not grasping this reality ‘is’ itself a product of sexual immaturity; i.e. a Woman who does not understand what a new human is, seems to me to be far more of an accurate view of the thing than to declare it as ‘sexual immorality’ as it is usually insisted by the Abramic types, as: rather obviously it is ‘Sexual Immaturity’ rather than ‘Sexual Immorality’ that is the really cause of (the above scenario), that is: it is not Men and Women knowing too much about sex but of Men and Women knowing virtually nothing at all and therefore absent of a practice and familiarity necessary for Sexual Maturity, with Sexual Maturity itself being the very thing declared to be Immorality - an irreconcilable paradox.
It seems to me, then, that the habits we observe of ‘accidental pregnancy’ are the natural occurrence in such an unnatural society; that is: a consequence of misplaced moralism over the vital mechanical sexual functions of the human body (a thing which may well dominate and drive our unconsciousness entirely) have been rendered so alien to our expression and consideration but of which are so incessant and irrepressible; that sexual release is habitually denied, I mean here societally (i.e. “it is not polite”), and only finds ‘permission’ to appear in extreme drunkenness in fits of frenzy, and so on, so that when procreation actually occurs it is sporadic and neither at that moment nor before it was the adult rational mind involved – again, this is plainly a consequence of ‘sexual immaturity’ ‘before’ it could ever be said to be a consequence of ‘sexual immorality’.
It’s worth considering, of our own society in contemporary times, how far removed we are from most of the world which practices arrange marriages in one form or another (i.e. whether we are speaking of large tribal units or smaller family units) and what the consequence of this is on our own communities being absent of that; that is: the most fertile years of our lives are not spent having gotten procreation out of the way by having five or six children by the age of twenty or nineteen (so that when the child is fifteen you might be thirty, which seems to be the age where the sexual drive begins to dissipate or has anyway lost its novelty), and instead (i.e. without of being match-made far earlier in life) procreation instead occurs – if it does at all – accidentally and well-past the most fertile and healthy years, with such children being often quite sickly and the strain on the body being significantly more risky to the Mother (haphazardly enabled only then by massive external resources which would not have been required at all beforehand). I do not mean to seem as if I am advocating “having five or six children by the age of twenty or nineteen” only that in our natural environment this has always been the way of the thing due to natural sexual exploration when we are at that age.
At the same time, at the beginning and at the end of this “waste of time” (as I would say) of those most fertile years in which our sexuality is forbidden to us; that culture which we examine here as being simply Sexual Immaturity, it has been the case that that “Immaturity” persists well into later life by those afflicted adults who were forbidden to practise their natural sexuality when they were at the age where they wanted to, that is that the culture and mentality of such persons subjected to such restrictions quite demonstrably can be shown to have regressed them to the point that, as then as adults, they dress as children, speak and think as children, shun adult responsibility and seem altogether to have matured intellectually no further than the age of twelve or thirteen years, despite physiologically and neurologically having surpassed far beyond that early almost larval-like stage of our development where the body and mind are both only partially formed.
Instead it has been the “dragging-out” of that childlike insensibility, again: to no useful outcome, which has by that point in time essentially mitigated most of their procreative potentiality in that 1) physically having children is then far more difficult for them, and 2) they are now twenty-five years behind where their familial-tribal unit might otherwise have been, i.e. they do not have five or six twenty year old children bringing in incomes to the Household (to purchase a Household in the first place if they did not possess one before) or working the land (or likewise to purchase land) so that their prosperity will not have developed beyond mere subsistence off of the external labour market so as to escape the poverty and dependency traps inherent in the cities – which nominally constitutes their entire existence ‘to’ escape such miseries. All in all it is a lot of hard work by that point and I could not help but notice, of my own generation and those slightly older, how this outcome would have been entirely altered and set on a more prosperous trajectory if, say, at the age of sixteen a couple had been put together and had a few children, as: by the age of twenty the best seeds would have been sewn and they would not have to even think about “having children” ever again which is itself a thing, I observe anyway, that is so daunting and bothersome later in life that it really is something better gotten out of the way as early as possible in the manner that we would have done quite naturally otherwise.
If the idea here is to build up that familial-tribal unit then this methodology serves the purpose in the most optimal manner; the adults are freed up and enjoy their liberties, the younger adults (i.e. the teenagers) are preoccupied quite happily fulfilling their single greatest biological urges to have sex as much as they like, and the population figures begin to climb up at a rate of replacement which is far superior, e.g. a thirty year old parent of a fifteen year old only has five years before that fifteen year becomes a physically matured adult ready to contribute to the unit, whereas by contrast a thirty year old parent of a five year old has a great longer time to wait for physical maturity so that the distance between the two age groups becomes fragile and thin the further it is stretched with a concurrent loss of replacement manpower by a space of ten additional years.
There is something to be said for the older more experienced Father, of course, I remember quite well that the children I grew up with whose Fathers were in their forties and fifties and whose Mothers were in their twenties or very early thirties were quite better-off in their disposition and intelligence (whilst those with older Mothers tended to be sickly in one way or another); simply put though I think it is more to do with the experience of age as the influencing factor than anything else and a functional familial-tribal unit would have this influence in far greater capacity.
If we add to this factor the notion of polygamy (something shunned as ‘pagan’ by the Abramic religions yet advocated for in their own holy books, indeed: it was the universal norm) then we find the whole circle being completed in that young teenagers do as they please with each other, becoming familiar with relationship and their sexuality, and then when they reach a more mature age they might marry each other or other people properly so as to begin families of their own; but that by that age they may well have produced several children already via multiple partners so that the actual ‘legitimate children’ (in the sense of inheriting land and titles) of a more formal marriage is superfluous to population replacement insofar as the tribe is concerned, as: they have already increased the headcount quite massively by comparison. It is worth mentioning here the legal problems of land inheritance and the seeming inability for people to ever work this all out amongst themselves as being one of the most desirable points of the introduction of some of the Abramic religions, when they first appeared, as rules were laid out of who could inherit (some rules more effective than others, some quite ruinous in fact) which provided a framework in perpetuity (but on the other hand, with all children being considered legitimate in some instances, i.e. the children of concubines, this produced the problem of “all children” being in competition for the single title or, in turn, a vast spread of land, i.e. a Kingdom, being broken apart “to make it all fair”: this did not differ in form from, say, Imperial China to the late Ottoman court whilst the European Monarchies to their credit, somewhat, temporarily solved the matter by the allocation of specific titles to be given to the first born, second born, third born, etc., and then bouncing back to the Monarch upon the death of that Duke to be allocated again – although some would say this is a feeble manner by which to govern large polities it differs not very much from the essential ‘oversight’ duties over local governments as practiced in the Roman Principate rather than direct-governorship over those provinces themselves).
The tribal influence in real terms upon children cannot be understated in its superior effects upon the character and long-term capacity of the children themselves (when compared to others); I have some experience in my own up-bringing with this and really the outcome (again: compared to the infantilism, i.e. arrested development, you will almost always find in the nuclear family type, which we might easily compare to factory farmed within four walls and a hen-pecking parental authority vs. free range) is a quite more matured and capable disposition (call it “street smarts” if you like; they follow what actually works rather than what is ‘pretended to them’ to work, which is typically nothing more than the parents own whimsical desires of the moment) amongst all the children when they are simply freed up from the poor influence of an unfit parent even without the good influence of a more fit parent of which, then, the fit parent itself could be determined to be largely superfluous, as: of their own accord they learn amongst themselves and become naturally fortified against being instructed into error by a witless or ill-inclined adult, whereas a child stuck under the thumb of a witless ‘parent’ has no means to disobey that witless parent without facing severe punishments and so there the child is sculpted into a helpless fool, later embittered in life and at the tender mercy of their peers, as: even as they might innately know-better (than to do the foolish thing their parent demands they do) they are forced nevertheless, either physically punished or emotionally coerced, into adopting the ‘silly walk’ and ‘dress’ of the witless parent, which is to say: they are forced into conforming toward the cultural idealism determined by the parent with no thought whatsoever for the practicalities of life, e.g. the matter of “how will my child earn a living” is addressed neither by parenting nor by schools thus begrudgingly selling themselves auction block of the labour market turns out to be the only method, whether they were deluded into thinking that their aspirations to be a professional athlete or an astronaut were entertained and encouraged for them at the expense of informing them about any other means of paying the rent or not.
I should say here that when I say “familial-tribal unit” I am broadly referring to any number of groupings, in whatsoever local forms they may take shape, but that the decisive factor, most chiefly, will be a large extended family network of which, if it ever needed to pool its resource together, would constitute a decent size force in land, resource production and manpower – but chiefly it is the possession of land which enables everything else:
More ideally, to my mind, it would resemble (or be very close in composition to) that Roman ‘Familia’ (the origin of the word ‘Family’ in our English) where a fairly large blood family of at least five generations inhabited in and around the same House or group of Houses (see: Palace, Villa and Manor Economy), with servants and adoptees and associates (business partners) likewise being considered as extended kin; altogether forming, as it were, a little nationality. In the sense of ‘Nationality’ it is, it ought be said, more a return to how we actually were prior to the ‘naming conventions’ of the 1700’s or so where the stupid surnames made up on the spot of many Europeans were forced into Law over what would have originally been clan and tribal identities and from which there came that fake sense of disparate ‘Nationality’ (i.e. cut off from tribe and forced into atomization; identity through a very small family unit alone) from which the misnomer of ‘Race’ would be made-up to lend credibility to. In many ways a great deal of the urbane ‘neurosis’, let’s call it, stems really from this absence of ‘true tribe’ with it having been eradicated either by the fecklessness of urban societies; societies of strangers and thieves, and also more directly via those religions which pretend to fill the void of ‘true tribe’ with their witless rituals and effete pretences – things which are a wet-blanket over true fellowship wrought in such a manner as comes in all reality perfectly naturally the moment the screws holding foolishness in place are undone and cast away – and really here, when we stack these observations together one upon the other, we are really speaking of a sound and strong society certainly immune to the shallow perversity created by denialism toward the basic mechanics of the human body – in addition to any other considerations which follow from that.

THE OVERALL INFLUENCE (OR LACK THEREOF) OF A TRIBAL-FAMILIAL UNIT

It must be considered quite seriously by the reader as to the overall influence, or lack thereof, of a tribal-familial unit as to what fills its place in the education of people otherwise and, as I began this text by considering for myself, how much of the ‘dysfunctionality’ can be attributed to the “lack thereof”.
Along with the cultural instance on sexual immaturity as to produce the consequence of delaying and drawing out for decades a fetish of normal sexuality which ought naturally be done with by a person after reaching the age, say, of maybe seventeen, there is the greater point which I am trying to relay here in this text of how many other aspects of ‘bad culture’ are singularly anchored to and thusly totally dependent upon that sexual immaturity – that is: we would be hard-pressed to imagine how really many of the pernicious scenarios in our contemporary society would even arise if that foundation stone of ‘sexual immaturity’ were removed from the equation:
For instance, how much of a ‘relationship’ is spent and sculpted (either by the Man or the Woman or both) on jealously and worry of the other ending the relationship for having found another person or another means to fulfil their sexual gratification? If a ‘relationship’ is based upon, let’s call this, “mutual masturbation” then at the heart of that is sexual immaturity of the mental age of maybe fourteen years whereupon a person has been sort of coaxed into dependency for orgasm on a third party; they are fraught and fearful that this should be taken away from them – it being so vital as like a mechanical necessity for either sex – that the entire content of their ‘relationship’ revolves around it; seeking it, coaxing it, demanding it, guarding it from be lost, and so on, of which I think it is not exaggeration to say that such concerns constitute 100% of the verbal interaction in such a ‘couple’; either outright or in the back of the mind so as to reinterpret all scenarios and verbal expressions as being related to that end-goal of maintaining the “mutual masturbation”.
Simply put this ‘relationship’, then, revolves around twenty minutes of sexual activity in a day – if that much (or even if every day), yet dominates the entirety of the mind; that is: the entirety of the ‘relationship’, when this action itself is something that a servant or a slave or a prostitute would be used for in many societies, with the ‘content’ of the marriage, say, being concerned more with running the business of a Household or concerned with procreation to produce legitimate children to inherit the business, the title, the land, whatever. My point here is that neither Man nor Woman are elevated or their dignity improved, somehow, by this absence of sexual maturity but rather that both are reduced; i.e. greatly lowered, to the cognitive and social standing of the “servant, slave, prostitute,” in that as far as they think of and conceptualize themselves as part of a Household at all it is singularly the concern with simple sexual acts which dominate their interpersonal interactions and their ideas about their own self; it is their ‘social currency’.
If this seems alien – I mean my observation on this – consider how much neurosis goes on in the daily grooming rituals of Women or those sad excuses for Men who “lift weights but cannot fight” (not to mention the ease at which a thin muscular physique bleeds out at the slightest of puncture wounds, see: Roman Gladiator training), i.e. whose only concern is that of admiring their own bodies in a mirror, this being intellectually identical to young Women. Is this not the mentally of a slave? If so, even if we shy away from saying it plainly, then we must ask “what forms the mentality of a slave (i.e. where does it come from)” – in the above equation a slave in a Household is more like an object fulfilling a function than He or She is a person with any autonomy (well, obviously there is no autonomy for a slave) so it is almost to be expected that in such an environment that the intellectual trajectory of an object-person goes away from externalities and becomes entirely absorbed with self-presentation and equates their social status from that, and if groups of such persons will set this to be the common culture; deriving status in that manner among themselves – although still these are slaves possessing no ‘status’ to speak of, as being object-people. This is evidenced also in victims of sexual abuse or those, in general, suffering at the hands of third parties whose autonomy is in some way or another restricted; that their singular focus becomes that of sexuality as like depression is “rage turned inward”, thus too it seems for sexual infantilism.
I cannot pass up this subject without mentioning a series of interviews describing, a thing quite novel to me, the notion of American Christian ‘Purity Culture’ from the point of view of those heavily indoctrinated into that; instilled with Catholic levels of guilt over the normal function of the body, who have then left their small churches or megachurches, or whatever, and spoken plainly about the mentality of those inside of it as relating to sexuality. It is a thing I think long suspected but seldom expressed that, as it was described, the mentality of such persons is that they are “horny all the time” due to the relentless guilt inculcated into them; that due to denialism of sexuality their ordinary sexual impulses are magnified to an incredible degree and that, consequentially, their entire being is animated by repressed sexuality so that their thoughts are ‘impure’ all the time whilst verbally they express strong denialism and shame over the thing. I think this is no real difference to any such religious malinstruction; be it Muslim, Jewish or Christian, in that the perpetual infantilism of their surrounding society stems first of all from their own bedrock religious culture (i.e. whatever religion which is at odds with the human body, etc.) were due to such ‘culture’ they never really get over, say, an early adolescent view of sexuality where they are driven entirely by it and never learn to overcome it, no pun intended, but utterly unrealized – which would take them leaving their religion – is that this process demonstrably brings out the absolute worst in their character and disposition with the process itself being the promulgation ‘of’ those very “Viceful thoughts ” that they claim to be “at War with in the world”, in other words: it is just they themselves who, for example, look at a young teenage girl (or god help us, a small boy) and thinks all manner of sexual rapacity – and that this animates them politically to campaign for restrictive legislation to be put into Law to police “all society” as if “all society” existed at their low level is an incredible thing to consider. But I do not think their broader societies are any exception to this, rather point here is that their broader societies are comprised of persons exactly like them; that the Christian or the Jew driven by a lifetimes shaming over their normal sexuality adopt, in turn, the most depraved expressions ‘of’ sexuality as a self-affirmation; that is: the extreme self-identification with a simple sexual action, for example, came to literally define a persons personality in such places to the point that (Americans anyway) seriously put out the notion during the late 1990’s and 2000’s that a fleeting sexual act 1) defines a persons entire character, and 2) it is also inborn, e.g. as like to say that whether you prefer this or that on the menu at a restaurant is something determined genetically; this is utterly stupid and utterly, in my opinion, a consequence of society which has not wanted to evolve beyond the ‘sexual immaturity’ of which physiologically seems to occupy a very small window of the middle to late teens and of which repression during those ages quite demonstrably creates madness and retardation – I mean that if their culture did not peripherally do this to them then the manner by which swathes of their cultural-historical institutions do this to them ‘outright’ by inculcation into this process in particular certainly does it to them, and merely it is the unwillingness to fully condemn these Religions and relegate these influences to the dustbin which keeps the entire thing ticking along with “just enough” of the population bent out of shape by it to present those same persons, seemingly confused as to where they came from, lumbering through the broader society and serving as examples of lunacy and degeneracy.
In short - and I may as well add this here also, the aim to abstain for a while from sexuality was a custom introduced by the Ancient Romans and was designed to heighten sexual pleasure; in effect, then, foreign barbarians coming to this culture much later on with nobody to really explain it to them ended up unwittingly engaging in what they would probably have recognized as ‘sex magic’ whereupon the denial of their own mechanical sexual function was ‘abstained’ by them; i.e. they saw the value in holding off on doing drugs or having sex for a while, – but they did not understand what the effect or the outcome of that was ‘intended’ to be in that one would abstain specifically ‘to’ heighten the senses toward that pleasure; and this is evidenced chiefly in the Lunar Orgies and the Fast/s of Ceres. Interestingly, Jesus himself in (i think the Gospel of Thomas?) mentions to his followers that “they will hate him for what he says now,” and that he says that “fasting brings out all the worst in them” – in other words, engaging in periodic abstinence will turn them all horny. Knowing this from a relatively early age it was no surprise to me at all why celibate priests ended up diddling children or member of their own congregation or why the most outwardly pious zealots proved to be the most morally weak people to be found as even with the most ‘clean’ example, let’s say, of a person who has never drank wine, for example, they have not ‘overcome’ that thing but have rather avoided ever experiencing that thing so that it will always be a novel temptation to them of which they will have no understanding of and which they can be leveraged by in various ways primarily due to their ignorance of which ‘experience itself’ would otherwise render them far more fortified against:
A good example here is the ‘pot scare’ of the early 1930’s in America when it was seriously believed by a wholly ignorant chunk of the urbane voting public that smoking cannabis (and drinking alcohol, for that matter) would turn a person into a serial killer, this is totally bizarre to us now, but notice that this was the same society whose moral standard was that “a table leg” should not be uncovered because it reminded them of a Womans bare leg – although here we might better understand why they were so preoccupied by thoughts like that (I think very seriously in their heightened state of perpetual arousal any little thing would send them to buggery of a farmyard creature)! Hilarious. But – notice also that this was the same society which was engaging in some of the most casually egregious inhumane criminality that history had ever seen, as if they ‘were’ high on narcotics and their rational senses dulled; I do not mean here to bring American notions of ‘Race’ into this as to be seen to ‘condemn Black Slavery’ in the fashion of my own day (although we mentioned family-tribe as a better form of so-called nationality earlier) but the ghastly images of actual Country Fairs where smiling families with children by their knees would pose for crude photographs with the charcoaled or bloated rotting carcass of a burned or lynched Man is beyond my ability to play-down or normalize. I mean here to say, that: far from the pretense of ‘clean mindedness’ of such persons about themselves that we find these same persons are the filthiest and most depraved characters around, being those few persons who walk amongst us who are actually capable of doing those inhumane things (again, see: Banality of Evil) as would be unthinkable to a person of normal rational healthy conscience. We might connect this, also, to the historical BDSM extravaganzas which took place in the Christian monasteries and public squares for many centuries where young Women were sexually tortured by celibate clergymen as to recognize how deep and quick a plunge it is from a person or their culture going from the denial of normal healthy sexuality into the kettled and sadistic gore fetish of outright murder.
It is always worth reminding the reader who wishes to minimize these more egregious aspects of the subject (as rape is still rampant among the clergy); which are consequential of sexual immaturity, that it was not ‘reason and rationality’ per se that stamped this out from European society but soldiers kicking in the doors of such Churches, Town Halls and Houses with muskets, rifles, long knives and grape-shot and physically eradicating the perpetrators and their willing congregations from America and France for the practice itself of sexually torturing a Woman and then burning the evidence on the fake pretexts of obviously made-up accusations of “she turned me into a frog” to actually be ended. That is to say that the ‘mentality’ and ‘culture’ which provided the framework for such inhumane activities was never formally realized or educated-out of a people, so to find it lingers along into contemporary times; animating the otherwise dormant farmyard animal-like character of such persons “like powers of evil”, is not surprising to me in the least. What was more surprising to me is that as so much of these religions are so obviously outright ‘evil’ that more persons do not speak of the intricacies of the things in such necessary detail these more ‘egregious’ cases would qualify, and then to spool back to discover the cause of every evil action in the mentality of every perpetrator – generally speaking, for instance, it will be a character with a disposition of infantilism and perhaps this is more easy to understand without needing to connect it to sexual immaturity though, to my mind, these are not distinct enough to warrant any separation; as: infantilism is always going to be immaturity and immaturity is always going to run concurrent with a lack of adult intellectual development where a mature and experienced view of a thing, sexuality in this case, has likely been within the powers of a person to have gleaned naturally through experiences – in which case there would be no argument with anything I say here, or of which such experiences have been prevented by external powers from being gleaned by the person in question; in which case they remain ‘as if’ they were fourteen years old with the allure of mysterious unknown sex acts utterly dominating their consciousness at all times and yet physically being thirty, forty, fifty years old – well past the age (certainly physiologically) where they should have gotten it all out of their system but of which they have not, chiefly because their experiences have been rather dull and monotone and so much social currency has been valued by it ‘being’ dull and monotone, e.g. monogamy, legal repercussions binding two people in place, the atomized kettling nature of the disconnected nuclear family unit, living amongst strangers in large cities where it not so simple as just going topless to change the local culture, control through the selective denial of the sex act itself (as William Reich and Esther Vilar both write on), the sexualisation of young people by adults, the accidental ‘perversity’ (in the real meaning of the word) of unfulfilled (or poorly fulfilled, or repressed altogether) sexuality and its effects on the brain and society, and so on and so on.
I am always inclined to think when considering this subject, and I may as well end this text in conclusion with this recurrent thought of mine, that ‘sexual perversion’ really begins in the mind of ourselves as young teenagers when the normal human body is leeringly presented to us as being something ‘illicit’, e.g. the breasts of Women are concealed in our society and so due to ‘hiding them away’ they become objects of mystery and fetish which they otherwise are not. I do not think this is deliberate reverse psychology (as god help us few enough people even understand the concept to understand what they do inadvertently) but it produces the same consequence of reverse psychology, whereupon quite arbitrarily a certain piece of the body, say, an ankle, is all of a sudden declared by a mad Adult to be “evil, sinful, lustful, of the devil,” when no such notion existed in the minds of people otherwise, as then: their natural curiosity is piqued by this imposition and so they develop a perversion dervied in chief part – as a sense of lewd pleasure – from bucking the arbitrary nonsensical imposition forced upon them by that dictate of which such a scenario never would have had cause to occur if not for that imposition having created it. I feel that this ‘perversion’ (again, in the real meaning of that word) stands in the way of a fully realized and fully pursued sense of actual sexuality and, from it, of a more resonant concordance between Men and Women whose interactions are otherwise thrown off balance by such impositions as they are dragged back down to sexual immaturity all the time; or into fear and jealously etc., as like a dozen avenues are presented in any conversation and virtually of them are strewn with piss, vomit and polyfoam which had no reason to be put there in the first place, or more accurately: it was put there through the carelessness of an atomized and witless peoples who knew no better than to do this to themselves but of which a familial-tribal unit would have drummed out of them quick sharp if for the actuality of nothing else than “we are all in this together” being something that is tangibly true and not merely shallow political rhetoric when it is said of a tribe vs. when it is said of a state polity comprised of countless strangers.

MAIORES. IV, CAL. IUNI. FORTUNA PRIMIGENIA.

TRIGGER WARNING- SA, etc.
It's a very very long story and there's more that I could go on about but- My parents had me young, mom (19), bio dad (21). They separated when I was around 3 or 4 y/o and that's when my dad (19) (that later adopted me) came into my life. When he went to adopt me at about 7 y/o, before sibling 1 was born, they needed bio dad to release his rights; he agreed on one condition from my mom, 'Don't talk to my family anymore, I will handle it'. So he signed, with the additional agreement that he would not have to pay child support, dad adopted me. I ended up with 1 little sibling and I wanted nothing to do with bio dad at this point, he was already out of my life since the adoption. At around 12 years old, my parents started their divorce, moms second divorce. This divorce was completely different. At first, I hated my (adopted) dad but then again, he used to work 3 jobs to support us, only had 1 day off and used it as a "cleaning day" (which I later appreciated as an adult because I had SEVERE allergies, but in the moment I was just like wtf man fr?) From 13 y/o to about 15 y/o my moms at the time bf was sexually abusing me, forcing me to "cuddle" on the couch, he would pretend to fall asleep (in 5 seconds) and touch my non existent boobs and coochie while grinding his boner against my butt until he had enough. I would lay there silently crying until he actually fell asleep, slowly crawl away, and be up the whole rest of the school night, in shock, crying, cutting myself, and writing very depressing poems. He would break open the bathroom door while I was bathing and would try to peep at me in the tub. I'd cover myself under the bubble bath for HOURS until I had no bubbles and the water was cold. I then tried hurting myself even worse but sibling walked in on me. I broke down and thought if I do this, this dude is going to go for my sibling so I'll just take whatever it is to protect them. So I did. I dealt with all the things plus him walking in on me SERVERAL times in my bedroom each time after I'd have a bath/shower (no lock on the door). This guy also apparently would hit, strangle, and rape my mom. I came to find out that he had a record too, he and his brother abducted a 17 y/o or 18 y/o girl, took her to a trap house, raped her in a bathroom with a pole-blood in the tub, sink, toilet, floor, etc. He also was busted because he put a garbage bag over another man's head and lit it on fire-because the man was black. (Dude ended up being dishonorably discharged later on btw) Eventually, she got rid of him, dated a bit, and settled with a new bf, my now step dad of over 10 years. At this point, I was 16 y/o, had a GREAT relationship with (adopted) dad (not so much my mom), and became curious about my bio dad-where I came from, family customs/traditions, similarities/differences, interests, the other half of who I am. I found him on social media, reached out but didn't get a response for 2-3 weeks. Shortly after us chatting, I went to see him (adopted dad and sibling 1 came with). I had 2 more siblings from bio dad, they were a decade or so younger than me, and sibling 3 didn't resemble me much but did with sibling 2 BUT sibling 2 looked so much like me at that age, weird. A short time later, there was a family event by bio dad, I was invited but had no way to get there (about a 6 hour drive from where I was at the time) so his sistemy aunt said she'd take me. She picked me up and I was to spend the night at her house (with my 2 cousins) then we would travel in the morning. I was so excited because I vaguely remember cousin 1 from childhood, apparently we were super close growing up together, I was eager to reconnect and bond with my cousins. When spending the night, cousin 2 went to sleep early (a bit younger than cousin 1 and I), so cousin 1 and I were talking for hours, it was great being able to reconnect/re-establish our relationship...until he kissed me, threw himself on me, tried getting me to touch him as he started to touch me. I said stop wtf what are you doing we are FIRST cousins!! He chuckled and said "We are but we're not" ... "wtf are you talking about?" ... "I'm not supposed to say but your dad had a DNA test done during tour parents divorce and told all of us your mom cheated on him, you're not ACTUALLY his acoording to the test" ... so at this point, I'm disgusted, have so many questions, confused, am in a house of 'family' that I don't know/don't believe that I am family-I went to sleep. Next day we traveled to see bio dad and after the event I asked him and step mom about it and also mentioned that because of this cousin 1 tried "xyz". Bio dad's response to the DNA-"Your mother had the DNA test done and it said I was not your bio father, she probably lied/gave me a fake test so I would stay out of your life." I went to my mom and questioned her, she said "Absolutely not, you know your (adopted) father and I don't talk so you can even ask him to verify that I'm not lying. I have no idea about anything that has to do with a DNA test, we never had one as he (bio das) was my first and we got married then I was prengant with you about 3-4 months after getting married." I asked (adopted) dad and his story lined up perfectly with my mom's. So bio dad lied to me and his entire side of the family to save face. He lied to all of them because his agreement of giving up his rights to me and not having to pay child support would not have been supported by his side of the family so he told them I wasn't his and supposedly provided a (fake) test so they'd get off his back about it. My grandfather from him said he saw the test-but there was no test! Beyond fucked up man...but whatever. I still wanted a connection. I wanted to leave the bullshit in the past and move forward right? So, fast forward a bit, I was in a 3 year (3 out of 3.5 year) relationship with a TRUE P.O.S. bf that was physically, mentally, emotionally, and verbally abusive. We lived together for 3 years out of our 3.5 year relationship. He was addicted to porn, would call me a bitch every single day amoung other things, ended up raping me and thought it was funny, would hit, kick, choke me (not in the good way), and push me off the bed but then say "You think I want to be like this?! You think I want to do this to you?! Hurt you?! You're making me do it, it's your fault because you have issues." I wasn't "allowed" to talk to my guy friends because they're guys (and I didn't have many girl friends at all), especially my best guy friend that I grew up with and had known since 3 y/o. Bf would isolate me from my families even. At work, I only would talk to my guy friends/male co-workers if bf wasn't there otherwise he would ignore me the whole shift and be brutal when we got home (yeah, we also worked together for a bit over 3 years). I then found out that bf went on the dark web and watched a man kidnap someone, rape her, murder her, and proceed to rape her corpse...my bf was getting off on it! He even said he went back on the next night to do it again but site was blocked. FUCKING PSYCHOTIC. I could go on and on about his craziness. I was his 3rd virgin btw and at work we had a "work daughter" (was so close to that girl, she was 3 years younger than me, 5 years younger than bf and I used to go to her (when bf didnt have same shift as me) crying and telling her everything that would happen with him, so she knew all the shit he did). I was scared he was going to kill me one day, I was scared to stay, scared to leave, all the stupid things and all I wanted was consistent love. We did end up breaking up a few months after I turned 21, he ended up dating our work daughter and took her virginity too! He also did all the shit to her as he did to me! I felt bad for her at first but then thought no you dumb fuck, you knew EVERYTHING you were getting into smh. Anyway, I went to a family event for bio dad, bf was working, they wanted to meet him; we set up lunch for the following day. Bio dad said he was going to give bf the "talk" yk...with the shot gun type of talk. I said I don't feel comfortable with that because firstly, it's not his place, I have my dad (adopted), secondly, bio dad even agreed that we more so have a friend relationship at this point, and third, I've already been with bf for 3 years so it's not appropriate. He got REALLY salty the morning of the meet. We were coordinating plans and everything when he said along the lines, "We haven't seen you in person for almost 2 years now yet you always have time to go out...etc.etc." I responded, "The two times that you have seen me post that I was out, I was across the street from work. I went there for about 2 hours both times with bf and co-workers. I cannot drive 6-8 hours to you and 6-8 hours back in the same day. I work two full time jobs and am going to college online full-time. I'm sorry that I'm making you feel this way or that I've been distant but I try talking and seeing you all (on Skype and such) as much as I can. I don't know what else you want me to do or say at this point. That's why I'm excited for this meet up today. You also could have put in the effort to come out this way these last two years to visit me as well, but again, I'm sorry. I hope you all aren't mad at me, I'm really trying here." He then tells me "I'm going to have to cancel lunch today. I don't think meeting today is a good idea. Now I'm going to have to tell your (LITTLE) siblings that you don't want to see them today since you never have time for us and have basically disappeared from our lives these last 2 years." Aaaaand that's when I ✨️lost✨️ my shit and popped off 🙃 "ME?! I'm the one that disappeared?!?! How fucking dare you say that. How fucking dare you try to do that to them and me. YOU disappeared from MY life at 4 years old, LIED to the entire family (they still questioned if I'm "there's" or not, even had received the comment "Even though you're not ours, your ours because we've known you since a baby" and only 1 of bio dad's parents is still somewhat in touch with me to this day btw) I didn't see YOU for 12 YEARS of my life! I reached out to YOU, I have been the only one making an effort to keep the line of communication open and going and even after all of that plus my explaining that I work TWO full-time jobs plus full-time school, you still have the nerve and audacity to make me the bad guy and say I'm the one not trying here?! YOU are going to continue to LIE and tell MY siblings that I don't want to see them when that couldn't be further from the truth?! I'm going to tell you this ONCE, YOU blew your first chance of staying in my life when I was a child, now you're blowing it a SECOND time with me as an adult; there WILL NOT be a third time. I WILL NOT subject myself to this nor do I need your added stress. I WILL NOT allow you to do this to me EVER again. If my siblings or even step mom (or that side of the family) want to be in contact with me-I will gladly accept that but YOU are DEAD to me. Don't talk to me, don't contact me, I want NOTHING to do with YOU anymore, sperm donor." ... no response ...every couple of years after that I got a "happy birthday" or "merry christmas" here and there but I never responded. It's been a few years with no interaction from him. I just miss my siblings. I got so attached to them and I miss them, I tried staying in contact through video chats but they were still fairly young at that point so it was difficult plus having him or step mom in the background sometimes was awkward. They're now getting a bit older, sibling 2 is turning 18, sibling 3 will be 16. We have each other on social media but don't talk and very very VERY rarely interact with likes on posts. I'm afraid to make the first move, I don't want to push anything, I don't know what bio dad has been feeding into their brains about me, etc. My relationship with them will NEVER be as close as with my almost 21 y/o sibling 1 from (adopted) dad, which I can accept, I absolutely love my sibling 1 that I grew up with like nothing and no one else; I practically raised him tbh. But I do think about the other 2 siblings, I miss them, I just don't know if I should respect unspoken boundaries or make the first move? What do you think? And lmk if you want more of these batshit crazy stories that I've went through (tbh I'm probably going to post another seeking advice on another subject). ✌🏻

TRIGGER WARNING- SA, etc.
It's a very very long story and there's more that I could go on about but- My parents had me young, mom (19), bio dad (21). They separated when I was around 3 or 4 y/o and that's when my dad (19) (that later adopted me) came into my life. When he went to adopt me at about 7 y/o, before sibling 1 was born, they needed bio dad to release his rights; he agreed on one condition from my mom, 'Don't talk to my family anymore, I will handle it'. So he signed, with the additional agreement that he would not have to pay child support, dad adopted me. I ended up with 1 little sibling and I wanted nothing to do with bio dad at this point, he was already out of my life since the adoption. At around 12 years old, my parents started their divorce, moms second divorce. This divorce was completely different. At first, I hated my (adopted) dad but then again, he used to work 3 jobs to support us, only had 1 day off and used it as a "cleaning day" (which I later appreciated as an adult because I had SEVERE allergies, but in the moment I was just like wtf man fr?) From 13 y/o to about 15 y/o my moms at the time bf was sexually abusing me, forcing me to "cuddle" on the couch, he would pretend to fall asleep (in 5 seconds) and touch my non existent boobs and coochie while grinding his boner against my butt until he had enough. I would lay there silently crying until he actually fell asleep, slowly crawl away, and be up the whole rest of the school night, in shock, crying, cutting myself, and writing very depressing poems. He would break open the bathroom door while I was bathing and would try to peep at me in the tub. I'd cover myself under the bubble bath for HOURS until I had no bubbles and the water was cold. I then tried hurting myself even worse but sibling walked in on me. I broke down and thought if I do this, this dude is going to go for my sibling so I'll just take whatever it is to protect them. So I did. I dealt with all the things plus him walking in on me SERVERAL times in my bedroom each time after I'd have a bath/shower (no lock on the door). This guy also apparently would hit, strangle, and rape my mom. I came to find out that he had a record too, he and his brother abducted a 17 y/o or 18 y/o girl, took her to a trap house, raped her in a bathroom with a pole-blood in the tub, sink, toilet, floor, etc. He also was busted because he put a garbage bag over another man's head and lit it on fire-because the man was black. (Dude ended up being dishonorably discharged later on btw) Eventually, she got rid of him, dated a bit, and settled with a new bf, my now step dad of over 10 years. At this point, I was 16 y/o, had a GREAT relationship with (adopted) dad (not so much my mom), and became curious about my bio dad-where I came from, family customs/traditions, similarities/differences, interests, the other half of who I am. I found him on social media, reached out but didn't get a response for 2-3 weeks. Shortly after us chatting, I went to see him (adopted dad and sibling 1 came with). I had 2 more siblings from bio dad, they were a decade or so younger than me, and sibling 3 didn't resemble me much but did with sibling 2 BUT sibling 2 looked so much like me at that age, weird. A short time later, there was a family event by bio dad, I was invited but had no way to get there (about a 6 hour drive from where I was at the time) so his sistemy aunt said she'd take me. She picked me up and I was to spend the night at her house (with my 2 cousins) then we would travel in the morning. I was so excited because I vaguely remember cousin 1 from childhood, apparently we were super close growing up together, I was eager to reconnect and bond with my cousins. When spending the night, cousin 2 went to sleep early (a bit younger than cousin 1 and I), so cousin 1 and I were talking for hours, it was great being able to reconnect/re-establish our relationship...until he kissed me, threw himself on me, tried getting me to touch him as he started to touch me. I said stop wtf what are you doing we are FIRST cousins!! He chuckled and said "We are but we're not" ... "wtf are you talking about?" ... "I'm not supposed to say but your dad had a DNA test done during tour parents divorce and told all of us your mom cheated on him, you're not ACTUALLY his acoording to the test" ... so at this point, I'm disgusted, have so many questions, confused, am in a house of 'family' that I don't know/don't believe that I am family-I went to sleep. Next day we traveled to see bio dad and after the event I asked him and step mom about it and also mentioned that because of this cousin 1 tried "xyz". Bio dad's response to the DNA-"Your mother had the DNA test done and it said I was not your bio father, she probably lied/gave me a fake test so I would stay out of your life." I went to my mom and questioned her, she said "Absolutely not, you know your (adopted) father and I don't talk so you can even ask him to verify that I'm not lying. I have no idea about anything that has to do with a DNA test, we never had one as he (bio das) was my first and we got married then I was prengant with you about 3-4 months after getting married." I asked (adopted) dad and his story lined up perfectly with my mom's. So bio dad lied to me and his entire side of the family to save face. He lied to all of them because his agreement of giving up his rights to me and not having to pay child support would not have been supported by his side of the family so he told them I wasn't his and supposedly provided a (fake) test so they'd get off his back about it. My grandfather from him said he saw the test-but there was no test! Beyond fucked up man...but whatever. I still wanted a connection. I wanted to leave the bullshit in the past and move forward right? So, fast forward a bit, I was in a 3 year (3 out of 3.5 year) relationship with a TRUE P.O.S. bf that was physically, mentally, emotionally, and verbally abusive. We lived together for 3 years out of our 3.5 year relationship. He was addicted to porn, would call me a bitch every single day amoung other things, ended up raping me and thought it was funny, would hit, kick, choke me (not in the good way), and push me off the bed but then say "You think I want to be like this?! You think I want to do this to you?! Hurt you?! You're making me do it, it's your fault because you have issues." I wasn't "allowed" to talk to my guy friends because they're guys (and I didn't have many girl friends at all), especially my best guy friend that I grew up with and had known since 3 y/o. Bf would isolate me from my families even. At work, I only would talk to my guy friends/male co-workers if bf wasn't there otherwise he would ignore me the whole shift and be brutal when we got home (yeah, we also worked together for a bit over 3 years). I then found out that bf went on the dark web and watched a man kidnap someone, rape her, murder her, and proceed to rape her corpse...my bf was getting off on it! He even said he went back on the next night to do it again but site was blocked. FUCKING PSYCHOTIC. I could go on and on about his craziness. I was his 3rd virgin btw and at work we had a "work daughter" (was so close to that girl, she was 3 years younger than me, 5 years younger than bf and I used to go to her (when bf didnt have same shift as me) crying and telling her everything that would happen with him, so she knew all the shit he did). I was scared he was going to kill me one day, I was scared to stay, scared to leave, all the stupid things and all I wanted was consistent love. We did end up breaking up a few months after I turned 21, he ended up dating our work daughter and took her virginity too! He also did all the shit to her as he did to me! I felt bad for her at first but then thought no you dumb fuck, you knew EVERYTHING you were getting into smh. Anyway, I went to a family event for bio dad, bf was working, they wanted to meet him; we set up lunch for the following day. Bio dad said he was going to give bf the "talk" yk...with the shot gun type of talk. I said I don't feel comfortable with that because firstly, it's not his place, I have my dad (adopted), secondly, bio dad even agreed that we more so have a friend relationship at this point, and third, I've already been with bf for 3 years so it's not appropriate. He got REALLY salty the morning of the meet. We were coordinating plans and everything when he said along the lines, "We haven't seen you in person for almost 2 years now yet you always have time to go out...etc.etc." I responded, "The two times that you have seen me post that I was out, I was across the street from work. I went there for about 2 hours both times with bf and co-workers. I cannot drive 6-8 hours to you and 6-8 hours back in the same day. I work two full time jobs and am going to college online full-time. I'm sorry that I'm making you feel this way or that I've been distant but I try talking and seeing you all (on Skype and such) as much as I can. I don't know what else you want me to do or say at this point. That's why I'm excited for this meet up today. You also could have put in the effort to come out this way these last two years to visit me as well, but again, I'm sorry. I hope you all aren't mad at me, I'm really trying here." He then tells me "I'm going to have to cancel lunch today. I don't think meeting today is a good idea. Now I'm going to have to tell your (LITTLE) siblings that you don't want to see them today since you never have time for us and have basically disappeared from our lives these last 2 years." Aaaaand that's when I ✨️lost✨️ my shit and popped off 🙃 "ME?! I'm the one that disappeared?!?! How fucking dare you say that. How fucking dare you try to do that to them and me. YOU disappeared from MY life at 4 years old, LIED to the entire family (they still questioned if I'm "there's" or not, even had received the comment "Even though you're not ours, your ours because we've known you since a baby" and only 1 of bio dad's parents is still somewhat in touch with me to this day btw) I didn't see YOU for 12 YEARS of my life! I reached out to YOU, I have been the only one making an effort to keep the line of communication open and going and even after all of that plus my explaining that I work TWO full-time jobs plus full-time school, you still have the nerve and audacity to make me the bad guy and say I'm the one not trying here?! YOU are going to continue to LIE and tell MY siblings that I don't want to see them when that couldn't be further from the truth?! I'm going to tell you this ONCE, YOU blew your first chance of staying in my life when I was a child, now you're blowing it a SECOND time with me as an adult; there WILL NOT be a third time. I WILL NOT subject myself to this nor do I need your added stress. I WILL NOT allow you to do this to me EVER again. If my siblings or even step mom (or that side of the family) want to be in contact with me-I will gladly accept that but YOU are DEAD to me. Don't talk to me, don't contact me, I want NOTHING to do with YOU anymore, sperm donor." ... no response ...every couple of years after that I got a "happy birthday" or "merry christmas" here and there but I never responded. It's been a few years with no interaction from him. I just miss my siblings. I got so attached to them and I miss them, I tried staying in contact through video chats but they were still fairly young at that point so it was difficult plus having him or step mom in the background sometimes was awkward. They're now getting a bit older, sibling 2 is turning 18, sibling 3 will be 16. We have each other on social media but don't talk and very very VERY rarely interact with likes on posts. I'm afraid to make the first move, I don't want to push anything, I don't know what bio dad has been feeding into their brains about me, etc. My relationship with them will NEVER be as close as with my almost 21 y/o sibling 1 from (adopted) dad, which I can accept, I absolutely love my sibling 1 that I grew up with like nothing and no one else; I practically raised him tbh. But I do think about the other 2 siblings, I miss them, I just don't know if I should respect unspoken boundaries or make the first move? What do you think? And lmk if you want more of these batshit crazy stories that I've went through (tbh I'm probably going to post another seeking advice on another subject). ✌🏻

I already made the first post regarding episode 1 and 2, here are the links, if you are interested:
https://www.reddit.com/PolinBridgerton/comments/1d8p07y/analysing_thematic_imagery_of_season_3_episode_1/
https://www.reddit.com/PolinBridgerton/comments/1daa5se/analysing_thematic_imagery_of_season_3_episode_2/
Same note as before: I do not claim all of these thoughts as originals of mine, I am not taking credit for noticing what others already noticed, and feel free to credit those who were first in comments. Also feel free to comment what you see and I do not! Or challenge me or mine.
I shall do my best to deliver analysis of the fourth episode before part 2 drops.
General imagery of the season so far (feel free to skip if you read the last post or posts):
The main thematic imagery of this season is reflection; how characters are perceived by others and how they deal with those perceptions. It ties to both leads, who were given roles by society which they must fight from time to time, and how society’s perception of them changes and controls them. Mirror imagery was important throughout the previous season not only for Pen and Colin, however in this season in particular, mirror imagery appears very often, and I expected it to continue (ehem ehem).
Tied closely to reflection imagery, we see the dichotomy of light and shadows. This dichotomy is alluded to by titles of 3 episodes of the whole season; and through this dichotomy, social roles and expectations are established. Colin is in the light, showered by compliments from members of the Ton, while Pen is forced to be in the shadows. She uses the shadows as LW to her advantage, while Colin uses his power within the light to his advantage.
The general idea is that Pen needs to decide whether she wants to stay in the shadows, which might be easier, or whether she is willing to take a risk by stepping into the light. Other characters are also haunted by their reflections. I shall dive into it in each episode.
Episode 3: Forces of Nature
While the second episode heavilly relied on the dichotomy of the day and the night to showcase masculine and feminine power, the third episode features dichotomy of nature and humanity. I have very briefly touched upon it in previous analysis regarding the promenade, when Pen asks whether she can learn to flirt through books and the moment was juxtaposed with the nature behind our leads.
It is not a new dichotomy for the show. We can for example remember the ending of episode 6 from previous season ("Animals require no contracts or dowries. The hen and a rooster make no vows. Leave it to people to complicate matters with their ceremonies and their cakes.").
The nature represents the attraction and longing, while the humanity represents either obstacles in following our desires, or simply a rationale to be "sensible" instead. Lady Whistledown acknowledges that people can somewhat triumph ("Humankind has accomplished extraordinary feats in its attempt to compete against nature."), but the episodes concludes that not only will the nature win in the end, the battle does not even include the nature, but the people who fight themselves. Basically concluding that there are no winners.
"All of man's greatest inventions are nothing more than a distraction from which is most natural to us. Our instincts. The innate animal impulse that is inside even the most sophisticated of us. For all is said and done, our nature will always win out."
Both Penelope and Colin fail to fight their own feelings in this episode.
While the natural forces refer to inner desires, we might focus on the literal natural forces which symbolize them: the Featherington garden (aka the place of crime), and the fire; the most featured in this episode, though, is the wind. The natural force which ensured the first meeting of our leads and (at least according to the books and trailer for part 2), caused Penelope to fall for Colin, as he (literally) fell from his horse.
I shall get to it more later. Let's go again scene by scene.
Third episode begins with Colin's dream. Dreams are of course heavilly linked with both Colin, Pen and their desires. Ironically, Colin's dream represents his waking up Marina alluded to in the last season ("You are a boy, caught up in his own fantasies... You need to wake up, Colin!").
While Penelope stopped dreaming and gave up on her "fantasy" after Colin's comment in the end of season 2 ("I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington, not in your wildest fantasies."), Colin is awaken at the same place, in a cheeky way, by his dream.
The Featherington garden represents crucial moments of their relationship so far. Firstly, it was the place where he broke her heart by his statement, and sparked her intention to marry. Secondly, of course, it was the place where they came to their agreement, with her agreeing to move from him by accepting his help, while he put himself in a vulnerable position to face feelings he did not acknowledge before. Thirdly, it is the place where he was forced to face his feelings VERY directly by agreeing to kiss her.
Colin's subcontious wants to "repair" the moment. It is cheeky for Colin to apologize for the late hour, which might have been appropriate for their last meeting, as well.
Fans have had a lot of fun dissecting Colin's psyche, as Colin's dream features basically every cliché of a raunchy romance novel, which is, of course, very intentional. The first shot features the fire burning, symbolizing Colin's realized feelings. The fog might either allude to the mystery whether Colin's love is requited, or to form a "protection from the gazes of others".
This episode offers a lot storytelling through clothing with Colin especially, and I shall dive to each of his looks. Generally speaking, Colin trades vulnerability for his armor repeatedly in the first half of the episode, culminating in his Innovations Ball look, which I find the most vulnerable.
Colin in his dream is dressed similarly as he was in the end of episode 2, however, his neck is now bare, alluding to his vulnerability. Pen's neckline is lower, her loose hair as well as the fit of the gown make it seem like she is in her nightgown. Still, it is very respectable look for a wet dream, likely to showcase and hammer that Colin did not found vulnerability anew, not sexual desire.
I find it interesting that the shot does not start with Colin walking into the frame, who is the one dreaming, but with Penelope. Perhaps the intention was to try to mess with fans and give them the impression it is Pen who dreams. Colin does not get confirmation of her feelings until he admits his. Again, Colin is the vulnerable this time, not Penelope. The scene focuses much more on her pleasure than his, either to again fool the audience, or again, to sell the difference.
As Colin wakes up, we get more visual clues in the globe and the map, likely alluding to his travelling experience, which are connected to his sexuality. The other is, of course, that his blanket is yellow, a color tied to Pen (resembling the shal Violet has in the portrait, again to sell the paraller of the couples, even before Violet states it to the audience at the end of this episode). He looks to the window, which might allude to him trying to find her, as she lives accross the street, which he likely did for the first time in last episode, or trying to find the light, representing a) his social role as a popular charming rake, and b) his masculine power.
Gregory's injury might thematically tie to multiple things. Gregory was established as a cupid, who pierces Colin's heart, and who now can't do so, meaning that Colin is trapped. Gregory can also represent Colin himself as he can't even properly eat with his injury, which was something Colin also mentioned of not being able to do so. We know that Gregory falls injures the hand before he has a chance to see the balloon, which might foreshadow the ending of the episode, when Colin tries to find the answer, only to not get it and be hurt.
Colin comes to the drawing room in a brown vest. The color of the vest reminds me of his pirate coat, and I wonder whether it is basically his "casual armor", the one he wears around his family now, not wanting them to know of his feelings. It is also worth pointing out that when Colin walks in, he goes to his brothers who sit seperately from the sisters and the mother, almost to shocase Colin's tendency to trying to follow male squad, even the toxic one.
Our dearest prophetess Hyacinth strikes again by mentioning Penelope. It is worth noting that while Colin is distressed, he still realizes that he likely hurt Eloise by commenting on Lady Whistledown finding about their ordeal, and seems to attempt to follow her to make sure she is fine. Colin can't refer to Penelope as his or as a friend, so he opts to refers to her as the acquaintance of the whole family and sips the tea this time. Colin's drinking is a recurring gag this season, showcasing his growing attraction towards Pen.
From the Queen's and Agatha's meeting, we get an interesting gag of the male suitors being thrown. Penelope fell for Colin when he fell from the horse, which is rather cheeky to remember when the one falling this time is Debling.
Penelope leaves her room just in time for her to a) be reminded of the importance of producing an heir, b) be reminded of her reasons she intended to find a husband, hearing her sisters. I believe that it is Eloise's comment that sparks Pen's hope to find a husband once again, as she gets her blessing. Penelope knew she couldn't stay away for long, but to keep her column, not because she gained hope.
It is quite reasonable that Penelope chose to promenade after week in her room. We are left to wonder why Colin choose to do so and if he was perhaps trying to see her. However, from his expression, I do believe that he was surprised to see her. Colin is the one who follows Pen this episode, showcasing the change in the dynamic. Penelope often followed him instead in the previous episode.
Penelope's styling seems very childish, with her ribbons, hair to the side and pinkish and lilac tone of her dress, perhaps a visual way for her to distance herself from the ordeal and that kiss. Colin is wearing the style akin to previous seasons, with his armor being left home. They are children once again. The willow the meet under might symbolize innocence, protection, childhood, as it somewhat shields them from the Ton. The long distance show might allude to them suddenly feeling a gap between themselves, or perhaps a need to keep their distance after the whole ordeal.
It is cheeky that Penelope relies on her double identity when asked for a reasoning. She might have just as easily pointed out the Ton itself, instead, she uses Lady Whistledown she disparaged in the last episode. Just as Colin refered to the Pen in regards to all Bridgertons, Penelope refers to her and his family regarding the embarassment. Pen thanking Colin for his kindness is of course very funny paraller to her comment about his cruelty in episode 1; a comment which might have hurt him the same.
Debling starts the episode as the hunted "prey", not only as Cressida (and later Pen) is after him, but by himself, as he wants to find a hiding place. However, Debling of course changes into the "predator" later.
Stowell House in general does not seem particularly inviting. It either displays mirrors or the "prey" on the walls, signalling Pen's entrapment. Penelope does not hide even in her corner, where she is found by the toxic buddies.
Penelope assures her mother that Ton will likely be distracted by the new scandal. Portia of course does not know that it is Penelope herself who is Lady Whistledown, and who might have a chance to publish such a scandal, but only if Pen leaves her hideout. Pen later offers social contagion as a joke, which might be a fun way of alluding to her double identity, as she holds a bit of power regarding social assesment.
Mirror imagery is quite cheeky regarding our leads and Debling. Pen's back is seen in mirror behind her, which might signal that she is currently social outcast, still uncomfortable after the incident, or visual signal of Pen hiding her identity.
With Colin's arrival, it is Pen who looks at him first, just when he looks at Eloise. Colin notices and continues to look, while Pen looks away and hides as a "prey". Colin turns away and we see a glimpse of him in the mirror. Pen fell first, but he fell harder. Colin flees the mirror, as he will continue to do so in this episode, following her.
Debling does not mind the mirror at all (something he seems to share with Agatha and Benedict) and as Pen becomes more comfortable, the mirror seems to dissapear from the shot. It is worth pointing out that both Colin and Debling have waistcoats with yellow ornaments, alluding to both of them being interested in Pen.
Colin is accompanied by the candles both when Eloise mentions Penelope, as well as when he is "assessing his pupil", alluding to his growing love. I do not think it was unintentional to have Alice mention his "kindheartedness", after Penelope thanks him for his "kindness". Not only do both mention the possibility of a different suitor, they also use similar language when speaking of Colin's role in it, rubbing the idea deeper.
Even more cheeky is that Alice does not refer to Penelope by name, only as a pupil, while Colin comments on it as "gossip" finding their home. Colin refers to Whistledown when asked about Penelope; while Pen is, of course, both subject of the gossip as well as its source as lady Whistledown.
Eloise'a and Cressida's scene alludes to Eloise walking to the crossroads and choosing a path she might regret. Eloise does not help Cressida much, but it is enough for her to easily win over Pen at first.
Finally, we get likely the most in face reference of the episode: Hawkins Balloon, with its blue and yellow stripes. It likely symbolizes our leads, with Colin seeing the balloon (aka embracing the opportunity of them becoming a couple), while Pen ignores it in favour of Debling.
Colin arrives in his armor, aka with his pirate coat firmly on. But his defence crumble rather quickly. He follows Penelope immedietely. At first, he follows her instruction to focus on sweets, but more and more into the scene, he just begins to look at Pen, the only exception is when Pen compliments Debling, as he feels a need to hide his feelings.
Colin loses his battle while seeing Pen eating the cake. The cake symbolized sex even back in 102, when Pen asks Marina how did she become pregnant. What is striking, though, that the next time Colin is shown on screen, he took off his coat and seems to finish Penelope's cake. Colin lets his armor down, just before his heroic moment.
The balloon is representation of a human attempt to "triumph" over the nature, to "conquer the wind". Funnily, as Colin with the help of his squad protects the balloon and wins over the wind, he loses his own battle against it internally, as the wind represents his desire for Penelope. Colin finds courage and allows himself to be vulnerable (by leaving the pirate coat, his armor, behind in the arms of one of his toxic buddies), only for him to find Penelope in Debling's embrace. Eloise and Cressida's remarks might be quite cruel foreshadowing for the later events. "It is good thing no one was injured." "Who says I wasn't?"
The distress of Colin at Innovations Ball is implied with his darker waistcoat, bare neck and him adjusting his jacket. Colin attempts his best to smile for Eloise, but it is a rather unsuccesful attempt. If I dare say, Colin seems like he is attending funeral. His question whether a man can be pensive is rather interesting, not only as it is pun on Penelope's name, but as Colin asks basically if he can be himself.
Penelope and Portia ignore the lamp, the sorce of fire and light, which I would argue, represents the love between Pen and Colin.
Benedict refers to Francesca as "his shield" from the debutantes, and we see Benedict succeeding in fleeing the debutantes with the sister by his side. Eloise, on the other hand, leaves Colin to them, leaving him "unprotected". This is hammered with Violet, who without the children by her side, becomes the target of Marcus. It is no wonder Francesca finds her man when she is allowed to return to her familiar shadows, with fireplace representing love, passion and desire once again. Benedict, too, fails to "battle the nature", as he finds himself in the embrace of his newest partner, after he meets her at the staircase, with her looking down on him.
As the debutantes ask Colin if he is as heroic on the dancefloor, Colin moves his head instead of answering, while we get the shot of Pen holding her own dancecard. It is quite clear. Colin is losing his chance.
While Penelope's and Cressida's race is for comedic effect, it showcases that a lot of times, women fight over guys they might even want, just because they fear someone else will snatch them. While Cressida is pressured to be married, no one points out that she almost married Jack last season, someone who turned out to be a schemer. Daphne won her own "race", only to end up with Simon. Cressida fails to gain Colin's attention in season 1 and 2 mostly due to her treatment of Penelope and Daphne.
Penelope finds herself on the crossroads between Colin and Debling. She chooses to look at Colin, showcasing to the audience that Pen is romantic at heart. While Colin answers the question of debutantes, he is in fact encouraging himself, but as he can't help but look at her, she takes it as his confirmation of wishing her good luck as a mentor. Just as Pen unknowingly let Colin down in willow scene with her words, Colin just done the same. Cheekily, Debling asks whether Pen has trouble with the balloon, while she answers "not at present". As she gave up on Colin in that instance.
Penelope herself pretends to love nature to secure herself a naturalist, ignoring her own desire to be with Colin. Ironically, she secures the naturalist by openly stating she does not really care about nature, when she cares about what nature represents in this episode. Debling giving Pen lemonade ties narratively to Pen leaving the lemonade at the table during the Full-Moon ball, as well as her leaving it at drawing scene with Colin.
I believe that Debling caught on Colin's feelings at this instant. The reason I believe so is that Pen's dance card was still blank and Pen gave Colin time to react. Debling did not ask Penelope for dance beforehand, and she hoped that Colin would speak... which is something Colin might have realized once Penelope gives Debling his hand and dance card is visible to him.

A study was done on sexual activity among close to 10,000 18-44 year old adult men and women in the US from 2000-2018. I put the link to the study at the bottom.
The study confirms what most of us already know. Sexual inactivity increased among men 18-34 years old, but not so much among young women 18-24.
The study also showed low income men, unemployed men, and students were more likely to be sexually inactive.
Also not surprisingly, gay men or men who have sex with men had more sex than heterosexual men. That's because men are horny and not hypergamous. So, while men who want to sleep with women need money/status/game to get laid, gay men just have to be good looking or even just available, so long as they can find other gay men who are into their look.
All of this debunks the claim that we see online about foreign women only want your money and so on. All women are hypergamous and tend to judge men based on income. The only difference between women in developing countries and women in rich countries, is the women in rich countries have higher financial demands and often also have acquired toxic attitudes. Plus the demographics in high income countries are often unfavorable (excess males and aging populations so lower proportions of young attractive women).
I think some Western women are disgruntled because they can't do what we do. If we go overseas, knowing all women are hypergamous, we instantly become much more attractive based on being seen as rich. Now if Western women go abroad, they may find men who want to use them for money as well. But, being hypergamous, they generally don't like that. Whereas as men, we know that women everywhere judge us based on money.
So it makes no difference in that respect whether it is an American, Canadian, British, German, Australian woman, or if it is a Thai, Colombian, Filipina, or Kenyan woman. The major difference is how attractive the woman is and how nice and pleasant she is. In general the women that PPB types meet overseas tend to be more attractive and pleasant to interact with. Whereas the Western ones tend to be less physically attractive and more unpleasant, while making higher financial and material demands.
If you have a restaurant where you serve horrible food, have long line ups at the door, charge exorbitant prices, and are rude to customers, don't be surprised if some customers go across the street to the place with cheaper prices, better food, and better service.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7293001/

Well, if you want to do a deep dive into PayPal/Venmo and their shady tactics, look no further than the PayPal and Venmo subreddits. It is an endless stream of people who opened small businesses, used these services within the scope of their TOS, and still managed to have their funds seized for an indeterminate amount of time. Alternatively, Google search results will also serve as an endless source of these claims.
I am a coin dealer. I've been doing it in a hobby capacity for the last 10 years and started getting serious about it in 2019. Even early on, I knew something was wrong with PayPal. Every now and again, some god-fearing Christian boomer who had used it for their coin business since their inception, would fly off the handle that their account got shutdown for no reason, their funds seized, and they struggled to get this money back to them. PayPal claims they only hold it for 180 days, but they almost never return this money to people.
Turns out, you can create obstacles for people trying to get their funds back. You simply toggle their account as fraudulent, or as running a money laundering scheme, or claim it is a national security issue or that it falls under some type of weapon, and you can even get the government involved to delay the return of funds even further.
In these high interest environments, these seized funds serve as 0% interest loans for PayPal.
Now I know what you're thinking. The government will surely step in. The problem is, most politicians who could change how PayPal operates own a sizeable amount of shares. Why would they ever go against their own best interests for a bunch of poor people?
Here's how the scheme works. You set up a legitimate small business on etsy or eBay and it takes off like a rocket. It doesn't make sense to pay fees listing on this platform anymore. You setup a private website and need a payment processor. PayPal has attractive fees so you sign up with them. You build a war chest of say, 10k, and wake up one morning to an email from PayPal that they're holding all your money for "180" days. You've somehow managed to fall into a terms of service violation by selling concert tees and handmade mugs.
You try to contact them but get automated AI prompts. If you ever reach a person, they have a loose grasp of the English language and can't help you anyway. In fact, they're not paid to help you at all. They're paid to frustrate you as much as possible so you give up and PayPal can keep the money.
You escalate and finally move it up a service level or two but get nobody helpful. They tell you that you can sue. However, it is expensive to get an attorney and sue someone, let alone a massive corporation with a warchest of everyone else's money. At the end of the day, they also crippled your source of income, so there's no recourse. You wait the 180 days, thinking PayPal will return your money.
Except they don't. I've met people who have been waiting a few years for their funds. PayPal can setup barriers every step of the way as an excuse to not refund them.
You're savvy so you think, you know, I'll just setup a Venmo account and take payments directly. Except, they're owned by the same company and all you've managed to do is jump from the frying pan into the fire. They collect your IP, name, address and social. You rebuild your business, build a 10k war chest, and "randomly out of the blue", your account gets banned and funds seized. You go through the same motions with them that you did with PayPal. You escalate up a level or two and finally get someone who can help. They inform you that they've cross referenced the data and discovered a banned PayPal account and they'll be keeping the funds for "180 days".
I know what you're thinking. Isn't this some type of fraud? Well, when you own the regulators and government and you're never held accountable, the chance of you ever seeing consequences for your actions is low. You toe the line of your terms of service and victim-blame every step of the way. In fact, you should take note the amount of victim blaming that goes on in subreddits and web forums when someone speaks out. Accusations of selling drugs, defrauding people, or working against America as some kind of terrorist come flying at you like a firehose until you delete your post and try to move on with your life.
And of course, nobody lives forever, so this money that is stuck in limbo sometimes belongs to people who pass away. It becomes part of their estate. Surviving family members (if there are any) would have no idea you even had this going on. PayPal pockets the money. It's pure profit.
I've been banned from web-based internet forums for pointing this out. I'm still banned or shadow banned from finance subs here on reddit. If you don't believe me you should go to some of them and start asking questions. Wallstreetbets will absolutely ban you. Turns out the moderators there have huge positions in PayPal.
Anyway, this is turning into a novel, but I think I've hit the nail on the head with this one. I hope I'm not banned here, too. It's really easy for these people to hide under the guise of money laundering, banking regulation, and foreign weapons sales while stealing your money legally and harvesting 0% interest loans from the working class. Baked into their money-grab is the side effect of killing small businesses. You can never have competitors if you kill every small business when it is still a babe in its cradle.
IMO, this is the largest bona fide, actual criminal conspiracy hiding in plain sight since FTX. Additionally, I think eBay got nervous about this in 2022, and is why they switched to eBay managed payments.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Here are all of the new US and Canadian CHAdeMO (Leaf fast-charging) stations that rolled out in May, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center. You can fetch the data yourself here. Feel free to report inaccuracies to the AFDC.
There were 124 new or updated charging stations in May 2024. I don't attempt to count individual CHAdeMO chargepoints because, unfortunately, the AFDC data does not specify how many chargepoints support CHAdeMO, so I don't want to assume too many.
For comparison's sake: in the US, there were 122 "new" (or updated) CHAdeMO stations added in May 2023.
Keep in mind that even EVGo has started to roll out stations where only some of the bays support CHAdeMO. This makes sense given that only Nissan still sells a CHAdeMO pure-battery-electric car in the US, and the newer Nissan Ariya model is CCS. The Mitsubishi Plug-In Hybrid Outlander PHEV also supports CHAdeMO.
Some of these chargepoints will be "refreshes," e.g. the provider replaced them with faster chargers etc. Some may be incorrect. This report is only as good as the Alternative Fuels Data Center data.
If you'd like to know about new chargers along your routes right away, or reading these monthly reports is just frustrating in your state, I've set up a free service that provides email notifications only when new stations actually open. You can sign up at evpov.com. I built it to help EV owners like myself (especially my fellow Leaf owners). You can pick other plug types as well.
For actual trip planning I recommend using PlugShare. This report is mainly useful to understand trends.
If you get a chance, do check out reported new stations near you and add PlugShare reviews, which helps everyone.

➡ AL (1) SEAM HYUNDAI BACKLOT 29736 Frederick Blvd Daphne, AL 36526 (1) HARTSELLE 1 STATION 1 (L) 214 Chestnut St NW Hartselle, AL 35640 (1) CAT CARD BK PHENIX CITY2 1135 East 280 Bypass Phenix City, AL 36867 ➡ BC (1) 7Charge - Langley 20250 88th ave Langley, BC V1M 2Y4 (1) WESTCOASTNISSAN WC NISSAN LV3 19625 Lougheed Hwy. Pitt Meadows, BC V3Y 1Z2 (1) Alberni Chrysler - DC 2651 Port Alberni Hwy Port Alberni, BC V9Y 8P2 (1) YVR Parkade 3211 Grant McConachie Way Richmond, BC V7B 0A4 ➡ CA (1) Bay Area CoRoasters 2322 Fifth St Berkeley, CA 94710 (1) BWP EV CHARGE DCFC BWP LOT 1 110 West Magnolia Boulevard Burbank, CA 91502 (1) Danville - Library Parking Lot 400 Front Street Danville, CA 94526 (1) EV Connect Hardware Support 615 N Nash El Segundo, CA 90245 (1) G&M OIL G&M #194 2 6101 W Manchester Ave Los Angeles, CA 90045 (6) H&S ENERGY PM# CHEVRON 3 1050 Sunset Boulevard Rocklin, CA 95765 (1) ARCO 5731 - 805 Reed Ave, West Sacramento, CA 805 Reed Avenue West Sacramento, CA 95605 (1) 7Charge - Woodland 1670 E Main St Woodland, CA 95776 ➡ CO (2) CO ENERGY OFFCE GUNNISON PL2 202 East Tomichi Avenue Gunnison, CO 81230 ➡ CT (2) CROWLEY AUTO LEVEL 3 - B 238 Broad St Bristol, CT 06010 (1) MB OF DANBURY FRONT DC 1 1 Miry Brook Road Danbury, CT 06810 (1) MB OF DANBURY FRONT DC 2 10 Miry Brook Rd Danbury, CT 06810 (1) Applegreen Electric - RT 15 Fairfield NB Service Plaza 1396 Merritt Pkwy Fairfield, CT 06825 (1) Applegreen Electric - RT 15 Fairfield SB Service Plaza 4647 Merritt Pkwy Fairfield, CT 06825 (1) MANHONDA HONDA-CUSTOMER 24 Adams St Manchester, CT 06042 (1) Applegreen Electric - I-95 Milford NB Service Plaza I 95 Northbound Milford, CT 06460 (1) Applegreen Electric - I-95 Milford SB Service Plaza I-95 Connecticut Tpke Milford, CT 06460 (1) Applegreen Electric - RT 15 North Haven NB Service Plaza 14 Upper State St North Haven, CT 06473 ➡ FL (1) Waffle House Madison 145 SE Bandit St Madison Madison, FL 32340 (1) Certification 4201 Vineland Orlando, FL 32811 (1) OUC SHINGLECREEK DC 9939 universal Blvd Orlando, FL 32819 (1) PENSACOLA BGC STATION 1 5651 Pensacola Blvd Pensacola, FL 32505 ➡ GA (2) GEORGIA POWER MCRAE DC2 90 W Oak St McRae-Helena, GA 31055 ➡ HI (1) Hawaiian Electric Kona Office 74-5519 Kaiwi St Kailua- Kona, HI 96740 ➡ IA (1) Audobon Waspys Truck Stop 2079 U S 71 Audubon, IA 50025 (1) Hy-Vee Euclid 2540 Euclid Ave Des moines, IA 50317 (1) HYUNDAI STORE HYUNDAI S 4601 Singing Hills Boulevard Sioux City, IA 51106 (1) HYUNDAI STORE HYUNDAI N 4601-25 Singing Hills Blvd Sioux City, IA 51106 ➡ IL (2) ROSEN GROUP CPE250 2 789 S Randall Rd Algonquin, IL 60102 (1) KIA OF URBANA WELCOME CENTER 1111 Napleton Way Urbana, IL 61802 ➡ IN (1) Kokomo 1815 E Morgan St Kokomo, IN 46901 ➡ MA (1) 400 SUMMER ST 400 SUMMERP3-3 400 Summer St Boston, MA 02210 (1) DURAND CHEVY DURAND CHEV 223 Washington St Hudson, MA 01749 (2) NA208940 HND L3 A 88 Walkers Brook Dr Reading, MA 01867 ➡ MB (1) Shell Canada Ltd 1790 Highland Ave Brandon, MB R7C 1A7 (1) Federated Co-operatives Ltd (FCL) 3357 Pembina Ave Winnipeg, MB R3V 1A2 (1) Shell Canada Ltd 50 Sage Creek Blvd, Unit 400 Winnipeg, MB R3X 0J6 ➡ MD (1) BGE - Annapolis Visitor Center 26 West St Annapolis, MD 21401 (1) BGE - Bowie Park and Ride 15207 Major-Lansdale Blvd Bowie, MD 20716 (1) RFS 131 2703 Ocean Gateway Cambridge, MD 21613 (1) GENESIS BEL AIR JJGEN-EXT 3 1710 Harford Rd Fallston, MD 21047 (2) GENESIS BEL AIR JJGEN-EXT1 1710 Harford Road Fallston, MD 21047 ➡ MI (1) Midland 2029 S Saginaw Rd Midland, MI 48640 ➡ NC (1) 122 Turnersburg Hwy 122 Turnersburg Hwy Statesville, NC 28625 (1) GPM INVESTMENTS 3262 DC 2 310 College Rd Wilmington, NC 28403 (2) WINDSOR STA#1 STATION 1 105 Queen Street Windsor, NC 27983 ➡ NE (1) SDHYUNDAI S.W.HY 8350 South 40th Street Lincoln, NE 68516 ➡ NJ (1) Applegreen Electric - Connie Chung Service Area 1339 Broad St Bloomfield, NJ 07003 (1) 1433 Palisade Ave 1433 Palisade Ave Fort Lee, NJ 07024 ➡ NM (1) Enel X - Angel Fire Country Club 100 Country Club Dr Angel Fire, NM 87710 (1) Cumbres and Toltec Railroad 500 S Terrace Ave Chama, NM 87520 (1) Chiricahua Apache Plaza 20885 Frontage Rd Deming, NM 88030 (1) LAC DPU LOS ALAMOS MUNI 1000 Central Avenue Los Alamos, NM 87544 (1) Henry's True Value Hardware 17342 US-84 Los Ojos, NM 87551 (1) Enel X - 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I've seen a big sentiment of people going "lmao they just added more rng and gold sinks...this is trash and doesn't fix anything...T4 is a mistake!" and to me it seems like these people don't realize that not all RNG and progression is created equal and there are good ways and bad ways to implement RNG and progression and what they showed with T4 so far looks very promising and does indeed fix a lot of things. I am not saying the new systems are perfect and they completely fixed Lost Ark...there are still some big L's in the new system which I will get to aswell but I wanna try and make a somewhat unbiased showcase of what changes these new systems will actually bring and why it is better than what we currently have.
Honing:
Let's start with one of the big L's that they didn't really fix. Honing has always been an annoying system where the gap of progression between lucky and unlucky people was too big and considering it is mandatory to do to access new content it felt like the most painful system since it is always the number 1 thing you are forced to focus on in terms of progression whereas the power increase for all the investement is very little.
They now introduced an improved honing system with Echidna that is far better and had the chance for T4 to make it the standard system and instead it seems like both systems will exist in parallel which is definitely sad.
If you wanna hear my cope take for honing: The big problem for the old honing usually only starts at the higher levels where honing chances go down to 5% and below. Beforehand honing usually goes relatively fast and the gap between lucky and unlucky isn't that bad yet. If they increase the amount of ilvl that is available through Echidna honing in T4 there is potential that you only need to go up to +16 to +18 with old honing and can then solely engage with Echidna honing for ilvl progression and accessing new content and the remaining 20-30 ilvl from old honing system is just there for whales that wanna flex and don't have to be used by normal players.
Books:
Lets go from the biggest L to the biggest W when it comes to progression systems. Atm books are a mandatory system for engravings that are completely useless until you reach 20/20 legendary books creating a massive paywall especially for new players but also alt enjoyers. You can also only use books for 2 out of 5 engravings and the other 3 have to be bought again for each new character through stones and accessory.
With the new system you now get a massive free baseline (I use Grudge as example since we have pictures of that) of 15% from blue and purple books (since you get tons of those from events etc. and they will always be cheap on the AH). And then you get slow 0.75% increments of power for each 5 extra legendary and relic books you buy. This means new players will instantly have access to a decent amount of the power and then have a slow and steady progression instead of having to face a giant paywall for all 20 books at once.
The books now also apply to ALL 5 engravings meaning they turned engravings as a whole into a ROSTERWIDE RNG FREE SYSTEM where the investement on your main also benefits all your alts making alts much cheaper aswell as balance updates hurting way less if your class suddenly gets a new build.
Obviously in the short term it is a new gold sink with relic books and lego books you dont have yet but the gold you spent into this system has 0 RNG involved and it will benefit every single character you will ever create which to me makes it probably the best progression system they have in the game.
Stones:
Atm stones are a mandatory system for your engravings that can be a massive gold and pheon sink depending on RNG since you are forced to get a 7/7 and anything below is useless on each new char which sucks for new and old players.
With the new system suddenly a 7/0 stones is also totally usable for new players and alts since the difference between 7/7 and 7/0 is only 3% dmg which nobody will ever gatekeep you for.
Yes obviously once you start maximizing your chars you wanna go for 7/7 stones again and the RNG of the whole system is the same as before but the big difference is that you aren't forced into doing it anymore to just make your char playable with engravings. It is now a minor dmg increase that you can come back to at any time once you have the ressources for it.
Accessories:
Everyone seems to be worried that you now have 5 new bracelets to roll and everything got worse than before but if you think about it current accessories are much worse RNG. You have base stats, quality and engravings on them and only a single shot per accessory to get a useful roll and it is again very binary where it is either completely useless or extremely good. With the new system you have multiple chances and the progression is much more linear where you can go for small dmg increases first and only once you maxed out other systems come back to improve your dmg with them.
Also the biggest change in this system compared to bracelets is that you can roll and then still sell AFTER the rolls. This means if you don't like the RNG part of this new system you can completely ignore it and buy finished accessories on the market for fixed prices.
This makes the system identical to its current form of just buying the right ones for you on the market with the difference that you now have options and can choose how much you wanna invest depending on how much power you want/how much gold you have to spare. It's again an amazing system for alts and new players who will be MUCH cheaper than before and even for your main it is a nice RNG free (unless you choose otherwise) gold sink system with more freedom compared to before.
And for anyone arguing "you are actually forced into upgrading all these systems instantly cuz of gatekeep"...no you won't. I feel like people overestimate the amount of effort people go into when it comes to gatekeeping. The order of operations for most people when it comes to gatekeeping goes: Roster Level -> Title(if asked for) -> Class(depends on the person of course) -> Ilvl -> Transendence+Elixir -> Engravings -> Gems And if there are no red flags along this path they will most likely accept. Nobody checks stuff like quality, bracelets etc. and people won't start with it here by going over every single accessory or whether someones Grudge deals 1.5% more dmg etc. And the few people that are cringe enough to go to these lengths in gatekeeping you don't wanna be in the party anyways.
Now overall all these changes give two big things: Flexibility and very cheap baseline power levels. The cheap baseline is absolutely amazing for new players who can instantly get their main and alts going without having to spend hundreds of thousands of gold on these system just to get a playable char in terms of engravings. It is also amazing for vets when it comes to trying out new alts because you don't have to wait and commit to a class with each new Express pass and instead can create a functional good alt for almost no gold and try them out in T3 raids before deciding whether or not you wanna commit to them. Your build is now much more flexible than before since you can easily swap out engravings for others and at worst loose 3-6% dmg and in most cases since books are rosterwide you loose no dmg at all. This can allow you to experiment with new builds, adjust to balance patches more easily, have PvP builds, swap between both Class engravings of your class without any extra cost and so on.
Now one limiting factor of this flexibility that I haven't adressed yet and is my 2nd L of these new systems is gems.
Gems:
When you change around engravings you often also change around abilites which means you also have to change Gems in a lot of cases but it is not realistic to just have spare high lvl gems laying around for each ability but you also can't reroll with silver everytime you change around your build. I think one change they should have introduced here is that instead of getting gems like in T3 currently you unlock a gem slot of the respective level and can then apply this gem slot to any skill and change the skill around whenever you want. If you wanna be extra nice make the gem slots rosterwide progression but that would probably be too much hopium to ever happen. But in general if they somehow make gems changeable in an easy way so you can easily switch builds it would just really compliment all the other changes they seemingly made with the goal for more flexibility.
Now the whole Lvl 10 -> Lvl 8 gems for T4 I don't think is that problematic. Gems have always been an extremely solid RNG free progression system (if we exclude the Lvl 10 dmg vs CDR roll) that people don't mind investing gold into and since in Korea the system is just maxed out for a lot of players raising the ceiling is just a nice way to give these players a way to invest into this system again. For an average player in the west not much changed by them raising the ceiling of gems...you won't suddenly get gatekept because your gems are Lvl 6-8 again because guess what...everyone around you also only has Lvl 6-8 gems and very few people will instantly go back to 10 again. The same way how a year ago nobody expected you to have Lvl 10 gems in the West nobody will expect gems above Lvl 6-8 in T4 for a long time.
Transendence/Elixirs:
Those 2 systems are obviously not ideal considering how massive the power increase is for them which forces players to engage and finish them asap if they dont wanna get gatekept. I don't think just removing them in T4 would solve the problem since it would first of all just create massive short term problems of these systems being obsolete very soon while being massive powerspikes right now and since so much power is tied to them you would have to just introduce a new system that compensates for the power loss in T4 so your char isn't suddenly weaker than before so instead of hating the current Transendence/Elixir system people would hate on the new system in T4 instead.
Still the good part about these systems is that they have a clear finish point at which you are done with them and don't have to engage in them anymore and by reducing the cost and time to get there by 50% they still did quite a big improvement on those 2 systems.
Quality taps:
Only got a small change by introducing a pity system to it which is obviously a great addition to make it so even unsuccessful taps give you some form of progress in the form of pity meter. I don't think this is a problematic RNG system because getting to a solid 70-80 quality baseline is very easy and nobody will ever gatekeep you for lack of quality on your pieces so tapping above 80 is mostly something you do at your own pace whenever you got some spare gold and not something you are forced to do.
Bracelets:
Probably the worst RNG system in the game but the good thing is that you don't really have to engage with it all the much if you dont want to. Its fairly easy to get a 6-7% dmg bracelet and nobody will ever gatekeep you for not having a 10+% bracelet. The reason why people invest so much into bracelets is mostly personal pride of wanting to have a god bracelet on your main but realistically if you dislike this system you loose at best 3-4% dmg from not going all out on it.
It's hard to say how big the changes are for the T4 bracelets...perhaps with the new options it's much easier to get good bracelets compared to before and the preview of being able to choose if you want the old or new values will definitely help too. But this system probably is still not gonna be that great but it's arguably an improvement to the current version.
So as a summary when it comes to the changes of RNG and gold sinks for T4 here nothing got worse compared to before and a lot of things just got a lot better by making the RNG cheaper or less mandatory in a lot of places while making the progression of systems much more linear compared to being a binary perfect/useless that it is right now while also giving new players and alts very cheap baseline powers in a lot of these systems.
Massive buffs:

• Books
• Stones
• Accessories

Small/Medium buffs:

• Transendence
• Elixirs
• Quality Taps
• Bracelets

Just as bad as before:

• Honing
• Gems

I'm gonna be real: I hated this. There were interesting concepts, and had they been utilized differently and written by literally anyone else, it could've been an actual good book.
writing. The writing in The Deer and the Dragon is miles better than in The Night and its Moon. It's still not good, but it's better if that tells you anything. The first-person POV mixed with modern-day speak works so much better for Piper's capabilities. It was much easier to get through, but it was still a huge slog for me. Honestly, what are the editors at Bloom even doing? There were still way too many typos and sentences with missing words. Piper still misuses the word dredges after using it in THREE(+?) BOOKS. HOW DO YOU STILL NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DREDGES AND DREGS? Dregs are the sediment of a liquid, so what's at the bottom of your coffee cup. Dredge is when they scoop up mud from the bottom of a river. TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. The word broach is also misused in this book TWELVE times, and it's PART OF THE CENTRAL PLOT OF THE BOOK. You mean to use BROOCH, PIPER. They're pronounced the same, but they mean two different things. Again, what the hell are the editors at Bloom doing?
characters Really, the only character I can talk about is Marlow because this book is just about Marlow and how amazing, special, perfect, and genius Marlow is. I fucking hate Marlow. If I ever met Marlow in real life, I would beat her up. Marlow is the most unlikable person ever. The story opens up with her on a date with a guy she's not interested in and can't remember his name; when she gets it wrong, and he corrects her, she continues to call him the wrong name all the way to the end of the book. She mentally berates him for mixing wasabi and soy sauce and cannot let it go. She’s also an AWFUL friend. It seems like her friend's only real purpose is to support her and tell her how amazing she is. She never bothers to make plans with them or inform them about anything that’s happening in her life. When she goes missing for a good chunk of the book, and they're blowing up her phone worried about her, she doesn't even bother to call them to calm them down. She doesn't think about them at all. She's far more concerned with herself and finding her imaginary boyfriend, who she only just decided was real. Her editor tells her she's at risk of losing her job if Marlow doesn't deliver her work or update her on what's happening, and Marlow just...doesn't care. She's like, 'No excuse I can give will be enough, so I'm just not going to say anything at all because I'm afraid of confrontation'. Grow the fuck up?? Her friend Nia only became her friend because she obsessively messaged her on social media until Marlow 'gave in', and now they're family? Somehow? Yet Marlow doesn't think about Nia once or bothers to comfort her when Nia has to call Marlow's abusive mom to ensure Marlow isn't dead. Kirby has allegedly been Marlow's friend since childhood, but does Kirby know anything about Caliban at all? Does Nia? Does Marlow tell her friends anything? If they know about the abuse her mom put her through, do they know how that abuse started? When Fauna shows up and freaks out over liking Kirby’s name so much, Marlow takes it upon herself to tell Fauna the story of Kirby’s name, scornfully informing Fauna that Kirby isn’t their real name the second Fauna expresses interest in it. (Like what, are you jealous that Fauna likes Kirby’s name, you fucking insecure freak??) The story revolves solely around something traumatic that happened to Marlow and how she and Kirby sat and played Super Smash Bros. Kirby liked their character so much that they adopted the name. Which…okay, choosing the name because you liked a video game character, okay, fine. But the whole story preceding this was so unnecessary and just made Marlow come off as suuuuch a whiny baby. “Oh, you want to know about my friend’s name? Well, first, let me preface it with this long woe-is-me story all about ME before I tell you how they chose their name because basically everything revolves around me.”
The way Marlow talks about rejection is so juvenile. You're in your thirties girls, get over it. Life is full of rejections. Someone telling you they didn't to play with you when you were eight years old isn't something you should form your whole life around. Like Marlow doesn't want kids because she doesn't want them to face rejection. Oh my god, Marlow. I also can't empathize with her trauma with her mom at all because I feel like I didn't really see much of it. I'm sure some of the things she says might hit with other people, but I wanted an actual flashback of a super intense fight or conversation instead of an overview of what happened.
plot. It took a while to get to the actual plot. About 100 pages in before things start really happening. I would’ve liked a little more exposition on Marlow’s relationship with Caliban at the beginning of the book. I get that some of the reveals needed to come more towards the end, but I kind of wish that maybe the fox had spoken to Marlow, too, which would’ve helped with why she’s so sure she’s insane. Foxes don’t talk! In all honesty, I wish this story had been restructured entirely. I think it would've been substantially better if we'd started out in Marlow's childhood. We can see how her day to day life was before Caliban ever appeared, how things were with her mom, who can also see through the veil. Maybe she notices some strange things about her mom that she just brushes off, which she later sees in herself and understands why her mom responded that way. Then something actually traumatic happens instead of some little kids not letting Marlow play with them, instigating her starting to see Caliban. I also would've liked to see flashbacks to Marlow's previous lives. While she's busy trying to convince herself Caliban isn't real, those flashbacks would add to her thinking she's losing her grip on reality. Maybe she'll be doing something innocent, like washing the dishes, and then suddenly, she sees herself standing in the middle of a raging battle, wearing long, elaborate robes. Do you see what I'm saying? This could've been cool! Instead, I had to read about Marlow jerking off about herself for 600 pages.
At some point, Caliban shows up to Marlow looking like a human. She's a teenager at this point, but they eventually start sleeping together, and like...idk something about that feels icky to me. It feels like grooming. Because he's clearly thousands of years old, he probably stays the same age while she's a teenager. What age did he wait for her to turn before their relationship turned sexual? Also, she doesn't even think he's real, and he does nothing to convince her that he is. Yeah....just no thanks. I'm good. Marlow tells Caliban when she's 21, she doesn’t want to see him anymore, so she literally physically cannot see him, but she can hear and feel him, and he still shows up, and like they keep having sex. So she’s just having sex with her imaginary demon friend for like five years before she’s finally like, all right, this is weird; maybe we should stop. And then she immediately regrets that when he stops showing up and then the rest of the book finally happens.
We also get flashbacks to when Marlow first starts escorting, and tbh, I hated this depiction of sex work. I keep hoping since Piper claims to be an advocate for sex work and is a former SWer that, we might get some actual depth to this plot. Maybe learn how Marlow was able to mold herself into the person she needed to be for each client, how she’s able to play people, etc. But no. She meets some random girl in a foreign country where she’s teaching English to children, and the girl is like, OMG, you’re too pretty to BE A TEACHER. COME HANG OUT ON MY YACHT. Now, I’m going to be so real. I feel like any woman with a speck of intelligence in their brain would have red flags going off right about now. If a random woman I met in a foreign country invited me to her yacht five minutes after meeting me, I’d immediately assume this woman was about to try and murder me or kidnap me or traffick me or something. But not Marlow. She is like fuck it, why not. She flies on over to wherever this yacht is(literally, she has to get on a plane and fly there) and makes some new besties who introduce her to the wonderfully glamorous non-dangerous life of escorting, where they hand her clients and set up the appointments for her and blah blah blah(also, wanna point out that Marlow even tries to say that she built this sex work empire herself. bitch no you didn't. it was all handed to you). I don’t feel like I really need to go further about why this is a really poor, dangerous rose-colored glasses-type depiction of sex work. It’s just not the reality.
Flash forward five years later, and Marlow is now a top-selling author writing about South African folklore as a white woman, trying to date other men, still having sex with her imaginary friend, calling her nonbinary friend a horse girl, the usual. Her escort pals are nowhere to be seen, and we have no clue what happened to them. We never hear from them again; they just vanish once Marlow gets what she wants from them, just like Nia and Kirby vanish once Marlow finds Fauna and Azrames. One day, Marlow’s at a book signing and sees the ONE bad client she had(because in all the years/months fucking strange men you meet in a foreign country, only one time does it go bad. okay, sure) He somehow finds where she lives, breaks into her home, and tries to murder her. An angel shows up and murders him instead, and then Caliban finally reveals his face and explains to Marlow that he has marked everyone who’s ever wronged her. (Wronged her in what way, tho. Like if someone accidentally shoulder-checked her on the street, are they now marked for death?) I thought it was kind of weird that she’s not like…focused on the fact that her hallucinations have extended to two people and another person dying. She’s still convinced Caliban is a figment of her imagination even after she sees this happen, and Caliban explains to her that he couldn’t save her because there’s some type of contract with her that forbids him from doing anything under her roof without her permission. But she still gets mad and banishes him, and now he can’t come back, and now she’s like, but wait, no, I didn’t mean it. Thus begins the search for Caliban.
Now, I could sit here and outline the rest of the book, but I won't because it's so boring, and nothing of substance really happens. So, to summarize. Marlow searches for Caliban fruitlessly for months and finally makes some progress when she decides to go to the house of the guy who tried to kill her and finds a parasitic entity that she continuously calls a Cheshire Cat. then Silas, the angel, shows up to save her again. Silas maybe wants to fuck Marlow, I can't tell. He waffles between abandoning Marlow to die and stalking her and her mom to force Marlow to bond with him for no seeming reason at all. Everyone and their mom wants Marlow to join their religion, and I don't know what the fuck makes her so special. Marlow is such a popular author that everyone recognizes her name, reveres her, fawns over her, and has multiple copies of her two books in their offices. She's so good that she inspired millions to switch religions. This book was so exhausting to read because it was just about how amazing Marlow is LMFAO. I'm pretty sure they even try to say she's the reincarnation of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. Like....wow.
Marlow goes to Hell with Fauna to escape bonding with Silas, where they meet a literal stolen character design. this guy
(my original review has these images but I am an idiot and don't know how to post them so instead I'll share the links)
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1717860981i/35597445._SY540_.jpg
Don't believe me? here's the commissioned character art.
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1717860929i/35597423._SY540_.jpg
Anyway, his name is Azrames and he and Fauna are long time lovers and they go and bone while Marlow is in the next room and Marlow fucking masturbates to the sounds of them boning. So...I was forced to read about that, and I hated it. And then, at the end of the book, five chapters before it's over, we learn the bad guy who's been holding Caliban captive the entire time is a fertility goddess. Just out of nowhere. No mention of it previously. So, no one tells Marlow the actual plan, and instead, they send her into this fertility clinic the goddess is working out of and have her pretend to want to get pregnant. So the goddess drugs her without her consent and puts her in a room full of half-naked men, hot stereotypes from every ethnicity, while she's SUPER horny. One of the doctors tells her that 'mixed babies are all the rage right now'. The men all tell her how hot and amazing she is and how lucky they are for the chance to get to fuck her. Then after she chooses one of them, she grinds all over him while he just stands there, then they take him out and bring Caliban in and decide he'll fuck her instead. I just wanna point out that this, all of this, would be rape. Marlow didn't consent to being drugged, and if she didn't know who Caliban was, they basically just took the guy she "agreed" to have sex with away and brought in one she didn't agree to for no reason whatsoever. It doesn't matter that she's saying yes to it; she is drugged. She can't consent. Anyway, Caliban sticks his dick in Marlow and just leaves it there, unmoving, and then makes out with the fertility goddess before stabbing her in the heart and cutting off her head, even though five chapters earlier, they said it's super hard to kill a god. I'm just...wow.
Marlow gets taken back to Fauna's apartment by Silas while Caliban and Azrames are stuck fighting more Cheshire Cat demon children that I imagine look like the spider baby from Toy Story. Marlow is still high, so she's putting the moves on Fauna. She's kissing her throat, rubbing her thigh, trying to suck on her fingers. Let me tell you rn, if one of my friends showed up at my place high af doing this shit to me, I'd be livid. Because I guarantee you, Marlow will not apologize for doing any of this to Fauna.
Fauna tells Marlow that they can be sunflowers. The book ends.
I will read the next one because I like to suffer, but...I hated this. I give it 2 stars because the writing is better than TNAIM, but it was not a hit for me at all.

TL;DR Me and my players from different groups meet IRL for the first time and decide to play a game at local con, but some unbearable kid's behaviour forces us to leave.
Hey! Author of this story here!
First of all, a quick off topic: I wanted to share the fact that at this point I have two functioning DnD parties (one is my regular group and the other one consists from people I've mentioned in previous post). Also if you're interested in our DM's backstory from previous post - bad news, we still don't know much. The only thing Sorcerer let us know is that DM had a favourite curse word in school, which was the word "f@ggot". In fact, the DM liked it so much that at some point he was calling EVERYBODY with this word. This backfired rather badly, cause his classmates started to use this word as his nickname. That and the fact that this dude is pretty sensitive towards "the gay stuff" is everything that we know so far and unfortunatelly we won't have an opportunity to investigate more, cause the Sorcerer declined an invitation to our game. Anyway, let's move on to the actual story.
So, few of my regular party members had to go to one city for different reasons and we decided to have a short trip to meet IRL for the first time (some of us are from the different parts of the same country and some are from abroad). Luckily, there was a relatively small con in the city at the time, so we decided to go there and play DND for three days straight. I warned my second party about the fact that I won't be able to play next week and it turned out that the Barbarian from the second party lives in the city we were visiting. Needles to say, I immediately decided to take her with us. So, we gather up at this con, chat, walk and have some fun in general. At last, we head to Tabletop area, pick up the table, sit and start playing. Two hours in, we decide to take a break. Few guys stay at the table and the others go outside. Me and Barbarian go to buy some food and drinks, while having some spontaneous date going on. When we come back - there's a 10 or 12 y.o. child sitting at our table and reading my notes behind the DM screen. Now, don't get me wrong: I knew that we were going to play in public, which means that there will be other people and some of them might want to watch, or even join the game. For that instance I created few extra character sheets that I was going to sell for some symbolic price to anybody who wants in. We specifically discussed that it will be alright if we let 2-3 people to play with us. Unfortunatelly, my campaign has R rating, 16+ at best. My players were having a chat with an owner of a BROTHEL at the time we took a break. Luckily, my notes are just a bunch of NPC names, nothing detailed. So, I step up to the kid.
Me: Hey, fella. Can I ask you to leave our table? It's an adult game, you probably shouldn't be hear. Also it's kinda rude to read other people's notes, don't you think?
The Kid: But you're playing DnD, right? I have a DnD character too! Look, he's a cool robot *shows me a pic on his phone*
Me: Yeah, that's cool. Still, we can't let you play with us. Our game is adult themed. There are few more DnD tables, maybe you could join them instead?
Kid: I have a character sheet!
Barbarian: Cool. Anyway, you can't play with us. Period. No offense, buddy. We're just playing our own game and no kids allowed.
The kid gets up and leaves. I let out a sigh of relief and take my place. We continue the campaign. Players are on the mission to find few prostitutes and ask them about a murder related to brothel business. At some point there is a scene, where the Barbarian hooks up with one of the girls to get information while pretending to be her actual client. Right at the moment when I start describing how the prostitute imitates "you know what" and tells info to the Barbarian - the kid shows up again and sits next to our table, all ears.
Me: She leans on to you, breathes heavily and let's out a moan, covering the whisper... What the hell, dude?
Kid: They play Daggersomething, only you play DnD here! I like DnD more!
My friend (to me): Maybe we could tone done the narrative a bit and let him stay?
Me: *Sigh* Alright. Ok, listen, you can stay, just don't interrupt us.
Kid: Can I play?
The whole table: NO.
Me: It's an adult campaign. I'm going to tone down the narrative cause you sit here, but I don't wanna be responsible for your involvement in some nasty stuff.
Barbarian: And also we don't want to work as babysitters, with all due respect.
The Kid: Fine. I'll just watch then.
We continue the game, even though the moment is clearly lost and we have to filter out half of the stuff that is normal to us. I decide to replace the word "prostitute" with a "courtesan".
Kid: What's a courtesan?
Me: Doesn't matter. Dude, I thought we had a deal? Don't interrupt us, please.
Kid: Sorry, I'll google it.
He pulls out a phone and starts typing on sounded keyboard that somehow sounds louder then the whole damn noise of the event. Honestly, when we've seen him pulling out a phone - we should've leave immediately. But unfortunately I'm not really familiar enough with the dangers, that unripened humans can provide, so I just went forward. Few minutes pass and suddenly we hear the sounds of the eldritch horror called "DnD TickTock" being summoned and broadcasted upon our plane.
My friend; Hey, kid! Can you keep it down or put on headphones? Please, for the love of C'thulu.
Kid: I'm not talking!
Friend: Yeah, but your phone does and it's annoying.
Kid: I just watching some DnD stuff. Why is it annoying? Don't you guys play it right now?
Barbarian: What's your problem, kid? You're ruining our game. Can you please just stop or leave us alone at once?
Kid: Pfft, f-i-i-ine.
At this point I'm already boiling up. I feel that I want to end the session and leave to find some other place to play, but unfortunatelly our time is limited and there's no good place to stay anywhere around, other then at the con. I brace myself and continue. There is a specific situation where the NPC is "not convinced" by the information, that players have given. In my mind they need to either make things up, or use some magic, or bring more evidence, or just take it and leave it. My players know that damn well and while they are searching through their spells we hear loud "Make a Persuasion check!!!!". Before I even react to that, Barbarian stands up, picks up her stuff and gets out.
Me: Hey, you're leaving?
Barbarian: I'm gonna call somebody from the staff. Sorry, I'm about to waste a charge of Rage IRL. Will be back in a minute.
We just sit and wait while she comes back. Suddenly the kid takes her chair and sits with us.
Kid: Hey, maybe I can play with you since she left?
Me: I've said, clearly said "No". Like three times.
One of the players: Why do you want to play with us? Is it because of the murder or the hookers?
Kid: *laughs*
My friend: Kids these days, huh?
Barbarian returns with one of the managers.
Manager (to kid): Hey, buddy. What's happening here?
The Kid: I wanna play DnD.
Me: And we have prostitute murders in our game. We asked him to leave multiple times.
Manager (to us): This is public event. He's doesn't have to leave only because you think so.
Barbarian: Sweet! Hey, DM! Let's proceed from the scene where I paid the hooker for the info. Can't wait to hear how you would replicate her moaning.
Manager: Alright, listen. We will make a separate zone for adults, but only tomorrow. Today - sorry. Like I said, that's a public event. Either turn thing down and let the kid stay, or just stop and leave.
And that's what we did. Packed our stuff and left for good. When we were leaving, the kid was sitting at our table and rolling a bunch of dice. Seeing this, the Barbarian sighed and said "I freaking hate children" and I was so much agreed with her. I just hope that they will make an adult zone tomorrow as the manager promised, cause I don't think I have any more patience to endure some annoying children.

This post has been adapted from Eft Universe, written by Sonia Novinsky. It's a long post, but a brilliant case study proving psychotic disorders can in fact be healed.
Jacqueline came to me about 1 year ago. She had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic with auditory hallucinations, depression, and an inability to operate in social environments. Now, the hallucinations are gone and she is well adapted to society. Along the way, many other benefits occurred, including relief from anorexia and the cessation of smoking. Here’s the story.
She arrived in a very depressive state, saying to me: “This is my last chance. And all I can pay is 10 dollars per session.” It was impossible to refuse her desperate appeal for help. She said…
“For 9 years now, since my daughter was born, I am taking Haldol, Prozac and other medications because psychiatrists considered me an incurable schizophrenic patient. I’ve been sleeping most of my daytime during all these years. After a traumatic event when my daughter was born, I fell into a depression. I started listening to Mary’s voice (Jesus’s mother) [diagnosed by her former psychiatrist as an auditory hallucination] and I had some inappropriate behaviours, including a kind of anorexia, with hospitalisation. I heard about your work with energy and I want to try it. I believe that this could help me get rid of medication and my disease. The only reason I don’t kill myself today is because my religion forbids me to do it.”
At the first moment, she told me that she had a supportive husband and parents, and also wonderful children and that made her feel more guilty for being a mentally ill person. She complained of smoking too much, of having difficulty resting and sleeping. She said she was also 30 kg more than her ideal weight, partly because of the antipsychotic medication. During the last 9 years she had been afraid to drive a car; before her crisis, driving was normal for her.
The last psychiatrist she saw was very oppressive, telling her she had an incurable mental illness and would be obliged to take Haldol for the rest of her life. When she arrived at my office, she was very angry with all psychiatrists and therapists who took care of her during all these years. They gave her no hope: just labels and drugs.
Before investigating core issues, I worked for some weeks on our rapport, trying to help her on her self-esteem and trying to develop some trust in our connection. She was very upset with the kind of relationship she had with her psychiatrists and therapists. A hierarchy was always present, and she was the inferior part of it, all the time. Her objections about the treatment were never validated by them.
In this case, it is very important to stress how strong was her intention to get rid of any medication because they condemned her to be out of a normal life.
I will give a summary of the main topics we worked with in EFT. We did EFT hundreds of times. I do a free talk while tapping, in a way that I can’t reproduce here, introducing humour and installing new meanings and possibilities. She was entirely open to working with EFT.
We started working with the most apparent sensation she was having at the moment she arrived. In my experience, you can start with this state, even if it is not a core issue. When this layer is reached, even if you don’t clear it completely, it gives room for the traumatic memories to show up.
Meanwhile, you get the basic trust needed to work deeply. So we started working on her self-image and self-esteem.
While we were tapping, I installed some reframing about how I was one with her, no hierarchy between us, how we were together and no label separating us.
The result was important for the rest of the treatment: She trusted that she was not alone and that I was assuming a strong, deep, and personal commitment with her.
She disclosed that when her daughter was born she was very upset with some events and we tapped on them. The worst one (which launched her first psychotic episode) was her husband’s imposition that his mother should be the godmother of her daughter. When Jacqueline went to see her mother-in-law to invite her, her reaction was very negative. She said: “I accept to be the godmother but I will not receive your family in my house.” This was a traumatic event for Jacqueline.
She felt very unhappy, with no way out, and thus she had her first psychotic attack. She undressed completely at a soccer stadium full of people.
We tapped for this event, and many aspects showed up. We tapped for the shame and guilt of not having control of her behaviour. While she was narrating the event, I tapped on her. This is my preferred way of tapping specific events. This one was a very traumatic event, but finally her husband agreed to her demand that his mother would not do the baptism of their daughter.
Thus she was victorious in some way, but she paid a high price for this “victory”: From this day on, she carried the label of a sick person. Two months later, her mother-in-law died suddenly and that gave Jacqueline the illusion of having a mean power inside her, and that made her still more guilty. In some way, Jacqueline felt she had no control over herself but from another point of view she was afraid of having some extraordinary power.
Jacqueline wanted to drive a car again. She felt ready to try it after clearing her psychotic attack and its consequences*.* So we tapped for the fear of driving, first at my office, then in her car.
Some aspects of her fear were: fear of losing control, fear of hitting the car, fear of hitting some one on the streets, fear of killing someone.
We made a test. We went inside her car and tapped in the car for any aspect, like “heart jumping too fast,” “I am not able to drive anymore,” etc. With me at her side, in the car, she drove the car by herself. After a couple of minutes, she was very calm, driving the car. Since that day she has been driving the car with no problem, with her children. Sao Paulo (my home) has very dangerous and wild traffic. Many normal people don’t drive cars here. But she does it now.
Schizophrenia is caused sometimes by double messages received mainly during childhood. Since her birth we could find many situations where double messages were received. Clearing all these double messages of Jacqueline’s life, from her birth until now, it was essential to allow her to see everything in a different way and to create a more integrated identity.
Jacqueline was the first child. Her father (Italian origin) wanted only a male child. When Jacqueline was born her mother felt in some way not comfortable with the fact that she couldn’t give her husband a boy. At the beginning of her life, Jacqueline felt no holding, no sensation of being desired. Eleven months after her birth, her mother gave birth to a boy who received all the attention of the parents. Jacqueline was most of the time with a single aunt that had a strong passion for a Catholic priest at that time.
We tapped for all events and sensations Jacqueline could remember that were related to this belief of not being wanted, of not deserving love, of being guilty for not being the boy her parents were waiting for. The strategy Jacqueline found was trying to persuade her father that she was good enough like a boy would be, and to do so she became too close to him and that made her mother very jealous and ambivalent toward her.
Investigating it more, I discovered that when Jacqueline had her crisis, after the birth of her daughter, she was feeling guilty and not deserving of having two healthy children, a boy and a girl. This was connected with a specific and important event that we addressed in each detail.
When she was 18 years old, she was dating her future husband and she got pregnant. As she was very religious and she wanted to become a mother, she didn’t want to get an abortion. But her husband, Leo, said that he would stay with her only if she got the abortion.
She postponed it as much as she could. She felt under a big pressure. She didn’t want to lose Leo and didn’t want to lose her child. She talked with her parents and they agreed with the abortion. So she did it. It was a very traumatic event for her. She felt guilty for the abortion, felt enraged with Leo, who didn’t go with her to the clinic, and felt very uncomfortable with her father. After the abortion, he was very critical of her. Their parents were supportive on one side, but on the other they were very severe and full of deception.
We tapped for each aspect of this event: the blood she saw, the place where she lay down, the light of the room, the questions the doctor asked her, the ambivalent sight of her mother, the feeling of abandonment because Leo was not there, the guilt of killing a 4-month-old fetus.
We discovered that her anorexia was connected with the blood she saw at the abortion. From that day, she started feeding herself in a more balanced way and started losing the extra weight she had at the beginning of the treatment.
We could see at that moment how the mother-in-law event triggered the abortion trauma, guilt, and anger. When her husband made this second imposition to her, “My mother will baptise my daughter,” she fell apart and collapsed. From that day, she started hallucinating and having inappropriate behaviours. One manifestation of this behaviour was a passion for a Catholic priest (like her dear aunt in the past), who held her in a compassionate way at the church.
In my point of view, the main issue for Jacqueline was not being held since the beginning of her life, and this fact was repeated many times, maybe because the writings on her walls were like these: “I don’t deserve to be loved, I don’t deserve to be held, there is something wrong with me, I should be different to be accepted, I am inappropriate, I have some strange powers that can harm people, etc.”
What was interesting is that when we cleared all aspects of the guilt of the abortion, including the guilt of having healthy children and the guilt of being alive (she used to talk of suicide as a self-punishment), that same week her anxiety stopped, her voice became more calm, and she stopped smoking.
I think the most important piece of this therapy was the possibility she opened for me to have a deep rapport with her while tapping. She started believing that she was a person, not a sickness, and as far as this occurred, her own family started to legitimate her as a mother, a professional, and a complete human being. She felt the self-confidence to restart her professional life. For 10 years her family and Leo’s family considered Leo the best husband, almost an angel, and Jacqueline was the crazy one, the problem. The whole system around her changed when she changed.
Some months ago she gave me a long written testimony (in Portuguese), about her issues and her treatment, confirming some of the results I have written here. Her intention was to help other people who could profit from her experience. On one of the last days, she completed the testimony verbally. I quote her words:
“For the first time in my life I feel peace in my heart. I have difficulties with my son and with my husband, but they don’t disturb my peace. I want to live like a normal woman and like a helper, for this I am praying and serving as a volunteer in a hospital.
“For the first time people trust me again. I was elected to the directory board of my club, and possibly I will be a candidate for a public position in the near future. I am free from the obsession for the priest. I know it because I went to see him in the church and could see him only as the priest he is. I don’t need smoking or the voices I used to listen to. I can remember the abortion without guilt. I couldn’t have a child for myself at that moment. I feel free from the double messages my husband used to send to me all the time, saying he loved me but excluding me from his life and problems and pleasures. I feel ready to take care of myself, and to take care of my children. I am living each day, not anticipating the worst like I used to. The pressure I felt in my heart is gone. I feel as healthy as anyone in this life, even if I need therapy for some more time.”
In conclusion, I think that what was decisive was EFT plus the holding she felt because I could accept, without any judgment, her passion and fantasies for the priest, her wish to die, and her fear of getting crazy, and her deep pain out of any category or classification that could separate us.

He likes to cannonball into pools filled with people and kids. Got so much water in my ear last time it left a painful ear infection and took a week for the water to come out.
He fucking dunked me in front of everyone at a pool party while I was in the pool helping our scared toddler. I did everything not to lose it and scream in front of kids and strangers. Yelled in the car and got yelled at and told he was sick and tired of my drama. That everyone thinks he’s such a great dad because he loudly complains that he’s the only dad in the pool. Gaslights me into “I was just playfully pulling you in. Your head didn’t go in the water” and basically blaming me for it. He got my contacts, hair, and makeup wet and got water in my ears because he turned me under the water after he dove and tackled me.
Besides having a history of being on dating apps, unsuccessfully scoring girls, going into therapy to “fix himself,” he is now really invested in our daughter’s friend from daycare’s mom’s sex life and has been telling me and the other moms at daycare how her ex cheated on him with the teacher at school and all the maybe real or not real drama that went on. We discussed this at length and I asked him to please not share our childrens location with her because she shared her ex tried to kill her, was hacking her phone and reading everything, and she was getting a restraining order on him while calling him names like a psychopath in texts with my husband. I asked him if he digested that and to please keep his word. He goes yeah yeah yeah I understand only to text her the screenshot of a birthday party and the address we would be at without bothering to tell me the next day. He casually brings it up in public and I ask him what the point in having a conversation about it was if he was going to blatantly ignore me right after. Like why talk and talk and talk about this girl and continue texting her our children’s location. Why can’t he call her and tell her the address or even mention it to me when he’s asking for the invite. He yells at me to not raise my voice in public and yells at me basically telling me I’m dramatic for taking the information he said seriously. Blames me for not texting her myself. I don’t know this girl.
Goes to the party and spreads more rumors about her with other moms. Dunks me while lying about it. A mom calls him dad of the year because he’s in the pool with kids. Meanwhile he has not had a real job, dropped the ball on making plans for the weekend so last minute I needed to book our hotel for us to even get to the bday party. He doesn’t pay for a single item all weekend, I take us out to dinner during the week and buy our groceries every week. Buy almost everything the kids need. He scowls at me when I ask him to purchase a hot dog or hamburger for me while I wait with our excited toddler. Such an amazing dad. I get the door slammed and yelled at for not wanting to be dunked and getting mad.
Our daughter’s first tooth and letter for the tooth fairy are under her pillow. He went out last night and was supposed to come back with a present for her, along with dinner. He came back and told me the store is closed. The one store down the road but he couldn’t bother to drive anywhere else where stores are open (maybe less than 10 minutes down the street). Such an amazing dad. He is having a lot of fun sharing his friend’s (the girl from daycare was dating his friend from home) personal details with literally anyone who will listen about how he sought prostitutes, did drugs, etc. I sit there and remind him I found screenshots of escorts on his phone also when we are alone. It’s like he enjoys smearing his name. I remind him the only difference, at least that I know of, are he actually didn’t succeed (most likely due to having no real job or money and not because of not trying). I’m tired of being the drama train and not everyone everywhere we go needs to know about their personal business. It seems super hypocritical coming from him.

Synopsis:
An engineer from earth blends science and magic to achieve greatness in another world where skills and levels reign supreme.
—
Ethan was just a plain old engineer, but everything changed when he was reborn into a world of skills, levels, and magic. With his advanced knowledge far ahead of the time period he finds himself in, this new reincarnated life will be much different than his last, especially because he can construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct runes—something no one else can do.
But with royal politics, looming tax collectors, a mountain of debt, dungeon incursions, cults, and hostile fantasy races mixing together into a cocktail of bullshit that threatens to bury his dreams; Ethan must bridge the gap between steel and sorcery to grow stronger. — What to Expect:
- Weak to very strong progression with a Sword & Magic MC that kicks a whole lotta ass. - Fast pacing. A balance of action galore, politics, kingdom building, and slow-burn runecrafting. - Fun, satisfying moments. An extra shot of happiness when reading. Hardcore wish fulfillment. Hyper competent MC. - MC will trigger an industrial revolution, abolish slavery, revolutionize magic, modernize agriculture, communication, commerce, textile production, education, transportation, sanitation, weapons manufacturing, leisure & entertainment, and medicine. - Dark truths of a medieval-esque society going under change.
Join my Discord Server to have chat, bother me, ask me questions, or just genuine fun really - https://discord.gg/d57v5upvcx
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Chapter 11

Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Meditation]!
Meditation – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: This basic meditation technique focuses on bringing your awareness to the present moment. By calming your thoughts and observing your breath, you create a state of inner peace that fosters the natural restoration of your mana. It’s a simple practice that can be maintained throughout the day, even while traveling or performing light tasks. However, that requires a higher level of the skill. Connections: [Meditation] has formed Connections with [Magic Sensitivity] and [Magic Perception], enhancing all three skills’ effects.
A smile spread across Ethan’s face. He continued his routine like usual, albeit with one addition: daily meditation. It took some time, but slowly—ever so slowly—the dull aches behind his eyes receded, replaced by a refreshing coolness as his mana regeneration speed increased. Meditation indeed helped.
[Meditation] — Lvl 1 -> Lvl 2!
[Magic Sensitivity] — Lvl 1 -> Lvl 2!
[Magic Perception] — Lvl 1 -> Lvl 2!
“Finally!”
Unexpected bonuses! Ethan chuckled. It seemed even seemingly basic skills could have hidden relations. He closed his eyes once more. He had a feeling this was just the beginning.
Time passed, and he continued making rune motes. But a new kind of worry furrowed his brow. The novelty of handcrafted soap had its limits. The initial batch was sent to potential investors, nobles, merchants, et cetera—and it had indeed vanished like suds in a rainstorm. He’d even managed to train a couple of the more eager servants, turning them into his first, albeit slightly nervous, soap-makers. But scaling things up? That presented a whole new bar (pun entirely intended) of challenges.
First, there was the money issue. His pockets were starting to feel empty. Expanding his operation meant serious investment, something he could only take so far.
Investors. Ethan grimaced. The word conjured images of stuffy suits picking apart his plans with a practiced sneer. He shuddered. Funding everything himself was a pipe dream. He needed someone to believe in his vision, a knight in shining armor wielding a hefty bag of gold.
But the bigger challenge, the one that kept him up at night, was the production line. Hand-making was a labor of love, not large-scale commerce. He wanted a streamlined process—bubbling vats and efficient filling. Factories, of course, were out of the question. But the principles could be adapted, scaled down for his humble little workshop.
Large, sturdy vats, fire-resistant, and big enough to hold gallons of bubbling lye solution, were a must. Then came the pouring—tedious and time-consuming by hand but he would find a solution somehow. Safety, of course, was a large concern in his mind. Lye was a fickle thing. He needed proper ventilation systems, thick gloves for handling the caustic solution, and clear safety protocols practically drilled into his fledgling soap-making team. Maintaining quality was another worry. With increased volume, ensuring each bar possessed the same level of perfection became a concern.
Not to mention delays. Delays—that word was the entrepreneur’s nightmare. Machines breaking down, surprise ingredient shortages, unexpected problems in the production line… Ethan knew they were inevitable. He needed a buffer—a reserve of supplies and a maintenance plan to weather the inevitable storms. It was hardly rocket science, but the logistics of it all made his head spin.
Regardless, Ethan worked on the investor pitch, the design for the assembly line, the contingencies for delays—and with each minute, they solidified.
There’s so much to do...
***
Ethan ran a hand through his hair, standing inside the makeshift workshop they’d made to produce more soap. The latest batch of soap sat on the wooden table—smooth, white ovals that lathered luxuriously and left a hint of calming fragrance. The results were undeniable. Now, he had quite the amount of soap made already; it was time to get his creation into the hands of those who needed it most.
Selling within the barony was the easiest option. He could hire someone to hawk his wares at the market, catch the eye of housewives in need. But Holden was small, and the potential customer pool was limited. Not to mention folks knew him, and they didn’t trust him. Regardless, a well-placed stall at the weekly market would likely do the trick—meager returns, however, given that majority of the people were poor. Thankfully, they could afford it.
Ethan needed to be bold, however. The grimy hands of miners in neighboring Corinth, and the mud-caked travelers passing through the bustling border town of Westford—they all needed to experience the excellent product he’d made. Catching the eyes of a noble or two would be even better. Spreading the word beyond Holden presented a problem.
Trade fairs, perhaps. Grand events held a few times a year, attracting merchants from far and wide. The thought of securing a stall at the Westford fair, a place that would be teeming with potential buyers—and the biggest Bordertown that could arguably be called a city—was indeed enticing. But that would require waiting.
Nah, can’t wait. I need money. Merchants themselves would be it. Partnering with a reliable merchant who frequented the border towns could be a more strategic approach. He’d provide the soap, the merchant would handle the transportation and distribution, sharing the profits. But finding such a partner would be rather hard considering his reputation with the Merchants Guild...
Ethan sighed. He needed a plan that would push his soap beyond Holden and into the wider world. I should contact some of Theo’s friends...
Thinking of those “friends” that were indeed just like Theo if not worse, Ethan weighed his options, but settled for it regardless. He had no choice.
“Excellent work, everyone,” Ethan praised the workers, then walked outside where he boarded his carriage. Sitting down, Ethan looked at Roland.
“Roland. Send a letter to Hector asking if we could arrange a meeting,” Ethan ordered. “If he isn’t willing, contact every merchant of worth in Holden—contact the Merchants Guild, they will likely ignore me, given my reputation; however, even if one of them agrees to come, arrange a meeting. I will not be taking a bad deal, but we need to try anyway. Surely not all of them hate my guts...”
Roland looked doubtful of that possibility. Ethan coughed.
“As you wish, my lord.”
...
The carriage was going through the town to his manor when Ethan received a letter from Jack—through one of his undead ravens—regarding the base spell’s situation. The man had been using himself as the nexus, and the spell was working, analyzing the blight-organism’s patterns, recording them, sending them back to the nexus (Jack), and then those instructions would be sent to the base spell in every soap. The process was costing the man quite some mana, and he’d been requesting a mana crystal so he could make it the nexus instead of himself.
Mana crystals were unique, naturally forming gemstones that were imbued with magical properties They formed in regions with a high concentration of mana, often in places where the veil between the physical and magical realms was thin. These regions typically formed deep underground, in caves or ancient ruins, making them difficult to access. The formation of a mana crystal itself a slow process. Over centuries, the ambient mana in these regions coalesces and crystallizes, forming these precious gemstones. The size, purity, and power of a mana crystal depend on the concentration of mana in the area and the length of time it has had to form.
Procuring mana crystals was a dangerous and costly endeavor because it required skilled miners and mages to safely extract the crystals without damaging them or causing magical backlash—it could even be called magical cancer. Worse yet, they could explode. Thus, all the mana crystal areas were akin to area-51 back on Earth. Heavily secured, well-guarded, with possibly several types of magical alarms and defenses to detect intruders, and these mines were watched very, very closely by whoever could. Once extracted, the crystals must be carefully handled and stored to prevent their magical energy from dissipating. Due to their rarity, power, and the difficulty in procuring them, mana crystals were highly valuable. Often used in powerful spells, magical research, and as a power source for magical devices.
The flow of Mana Crystals into the market is strictly controlled due to their potential for misuse—though, if Ethan was being true to himself, it was most likely so the crystals could be sold at exorbitant prices. Though, the “official” reasoning by the mining guilds was that in the wrong hands, a mana crystal could be used to fuel destructive spells or create forbidden magical artifacts. As such, governments and guilds often regulated their sale and distribution, requiring permits and licenses for their purchase and use.
That’s why it’s quite understandable that a mana crystal would be the best nexus. Thinking so, Ethan rubbed his chin. However, mana crystals are expensive...
Ethan wrote back to Jack, penning his concerns and reassuring Jack that he would try to get his hands on a mana crystal as soon as possible. However, it would take time as they’re hard to come by. Not to mention, they cost a hefty sum, and Ethan lacked money at the moment. I need a way to make it absolutely certain that Hector will agree to be an investor. I also need people in the Merchants Guild backing me up—
As he was writing to Jack, Ethan suddenly had an idea. He paused, blinking, staring at the raven. Hmmm. I wonder if I can use these little guys to gather dirt on nobles. The morality of doing such a thing was questionable, and he would rather not do it, but he was in a world that required such actions if he wanted to survive.
Ethan leaned back into the soft backrest inside the carriage, a pensive look on his face as his mind raced with possibilities. He knew the noble houses of the kingdom engaged in all manner of unsavory dealings—corruption, bribery, smuggling, tax evasion on a grand scale, illegal trade in magical artifacts, forced labor in hidden mines, pregnant prostitutes, bastard sons and daughters, and even human trafficking. Heck, he was sure many secretly engaged in trafficking exotic Beastkin from the other continent. A cold disgust settled in Ethan’s stomach. Some Noblewomen with harems of human-looking Beastkin for their amusement. Men who lusted after feline Beastkin, keeping them chained and collared, using their enhanced senses for perverse pleasures. Sadists, the entire lot of them.
The children of these unions were another layer of tragedy. Then there were the barbaric collectors, humans who craved the immense strength of the Minotaurs, using them as gladiatorial entertainment or worse, in underground fighting rings where blood painted the cobblestones—heck, he was sure many were breeding monstrous Chimera for use in their personal fighting ring. The Beastkin weren’t livestock, they were sentient beings, their cultures and traditions as rich and varied as any human kingdom. Yet, here, in the supposed bastion of civilization, they were nothing more than exotic commodities to fuel the insatiable desires of some of the elite.
Lucianos Solarian IV, the Emperor, had outlawed Beastkin trafficking decades ago, and the punishment for defiance was a brutal lesson etched in blood. The first year after Beastkin slavery and trafficking were outlawed was etched into history.
Public execution wasn’t harsh enough. Traffickers were broken first—physically and mentally. Men and women alike. Weeks of torture were standard, designed to make them not only regret their crimes but also serve as a terrifying public reminder of the Emperor’s wrath. Ethan shuddered. He’d heard about men and women being flayed alive, their screams echoing through the city squares. They were forced to march through the city squares, stripped of their finery and any magical glamours that masked their appearance, stoned. Their crimes were announced to the jeering crowds, their faces branded with a mark signifying their depravity. They were then forced into hard labor, their bodies broken and their vanity shattered.
Surely, the Emperor was no kind man, and the message was clear: Beastkin were not slaves, not pets, not trophies. They were sentient beings deserving of respect, and the Emperor would tolerate no violation of their rights. Theodore’s father was the same, Obsidian was one of the better Kingdoms under the Empire. Heck, it could be said to be the best.
However, just like always, people still participated in sick behavior. Not everyone, to be fair. But a minority, still. And given how large the Solaris Empire was—and not to mention the other Empires that were worse than Solaris—there were bound to be dark secrets that they would do anything to keep buried. It was just how things were, and Ethan doubted it would ever end (the continent of Beastkin wasn’t any better; humans were the ones exotic there).
Thus, Jack’s undead ravens could be the perfect spies, slipping into noble manors and gatherings unnoticed, their beady eyes and keen senses recording every sordid detail. With enough incriminating evidence, he could blackmail these nobles into supporting his business ventures, ensuring they backed his proposals and used their influence to aid the common folk. Ethan would feel no remorse, regret, or apprehension for doing. The thought of wielding such leverage would give him a significant advantage when he inevitably threw his hat into the political arena. He refused to be a mere pawn, manipulated by those with wealth and status.
This way, he could control the game from the start.
However, a nagging voice in the back of his mind cautioned him. Using necromantic summons for espionage was hardly an original idea. Surely, some of the more paranoid nobles would have measures in place to detect and counter such tactics. He would need to tread carefully, lest the ravens be discovered and his plans unraveled before they began.
Still, the potential rewards outweighed the risks. With careful planning and execution, he could amass a wealth of compromising information, giving him the power to shape the kingdom’s policies for the betterment of its people. It was an ambitious gambit, but one he felt was worth pursuing despite the moral wound he’d receive from doing it.
Then, when the time is right—I can report them to the Emperor.
Ethan’s gaze drifted back to the raven, its lifeless eyes seeming to bore into him.
A wry smile tugged at his lips. Let’s see what secrets you can uncover for me, my little friend. Thinking so, he added a line saying that he would like to meet Jack sometime and talk about a “business opportunity”—after all, talking about such illegal activities that he was thinking of doing wouldn’t be wise over a letter.
...
A pleasant surprise awaited Ethan in his manor. A middle-aged man in simple attire paced within the living room. He had light, close-cut brown hair and brown skin. The stranger had sharp features, a salt-and-pepper beard, and a kind face that seemed easy on the eyes. Upon seeing Ethan, the man’s features stretched into a deeper smile as he bowed.
“Lord Theodore. I am Derrick. My apologies for the unscheduled visit.”
“It’s alright. I’m not sure if we have met before, Sir Derrick,” Ethan responded, glancing at Roland who appeared to have recognized the man. Roland gave Ethan a look that said I know this man, and he’s here for business.
“Indeed, we haven’t, my lord. I am Derrick, and I used to be a member of the Red Tower. I come here to talk about introductory books that you might interested in—and a far better deal that could benefit the both of us.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow, then smiled.
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Noah glanced at Mark and was surprised to see that he had an almost pleading look in his eyes.
“You’re fine with this?” He asked Mark dubiously. He still couldn’t believe that Mark of all people would approve of feeding the humanoid bodies of the orcs to the pigs.
“I don’t see anything wrong with it. They tried to kill us so I say let’s put their bodies to good use.” Mark looked at the orc corpses with a thoughtful look on his face. “Besides, there’s probably a reason why we can sell them in the shop in the first place. Feeding them to animals probably isn’t the only use for them.”
“Fair point. Hmmm,” Noah looked in Talal’s direction and asked, “What does eating invader corpses do to animals anyway?”
“Well you see, most invaders come from worlds where mana has been the norm for thousands if not, millions of years. This means that their bodies have evolved to contain and use mana in the most efficient way possible.” Talal pointed at the piglets and said “Most animals on worlds like ours, on the other hand, have evolved and changed to the point that they can barely use mana if not for the system giving them skills.”
“So you mean that eating the invaders’ bodies improves their control of mana in some way?” Noah tilted his head to the left and glanced at the orcs again “Then does that work on humans too?”
“No, not really” Talal chuckled “For one simple reason, humans already evolved to manipulate mana efficiently thousands of years ago. Remember that notification at the start of the apocalypse? It said that the planetary mana core was dormant.”
It finally clicked for Noah “Wait, so is that why creatures like you exist? Because magic used to exist on Earth?”
“Ding ding ding! You got it!” Talal smiled and suddenly morphed into his original form but shrunk down to the size of a sparrow. He then flew around then landed on Noah’s shoulder “We used to rule the Earth before the mana core was forced into hibernation by the invaders. That’s what they do before they invade you see, they take the mana away and wait for the natives to weaken. Weaken to the point that sending their weakest forces will be enough to conquer the target world.”
“Why didn’t you guys just leave?” Noah looked at the bird on his shoulder that was speaking into their minds.
“Oh, a lot of us did. The only ones left behind now are the weakest and youngest ones who were unable to travel through space. We had to use our mana sparingly since we couldn’t replenish it. That’s why most of us have human forms. So we could blend in with you and not have to keep on using mana just to exist.” Talal kept on preening himself while talking
It was at this point that Mark put down the piglets he had in both hands and interjected “But wait, how do humans fit into the whole ancient magic society thing?”
“Some of you were actually as strong as us, but for the most part, you were our servants.” Talal stopped to look at the two humans trying to gauge their reactions to that information but saw that they were more nonplussed than anything. “There are still some who want to go back to the old ways of us ruling and you humans serving us but they’re the minority. Most of us just want to be left alone while we grow in power now that mana is back.”
“I… I’m not quite sure how to react to that. Imagining a creature as strong as you wanting to make humans their slaves… it’s a scary thought.” Mark trembled as he thought about the new information
“Which is why we need to get stronger!” Noah said with renewed determination as he abruptly stood up. “Enough with the history lesson, it all boils down to us getting stronger anyway. Strong enough that we can kill those invaders before they kill us and strong enough that we won’t be made into slaves by anyone, no matter the species!”
Mark just smiled. “You’re right again! But first, let’s see what we’ve gained from those orcs.”
Noah brought out all the orc gear they’d gathered today. In total, there were twelve sets of armor and axes. There were also three sets of bows and arrows that came from the archers.
They decided to sell the twelve sets of armor and all the axes for a total of ninety-six mana stones. With the one hundred and twenty mana stones they got from the quest, it all came to a total of two hundred and sixteen mana stones. Add to that their rewards for earlier in the day, they had three hundred and ninety-eight mana stones to spend.
“We might be a bit rich,” Noah remarked while gawking at the number on his screen.
Talal scoffed and said “Relative to the people on Earth maybe, but you’re piss-poor everywhere else”
Noah visibly deflated at that but perked up again when he realized they could still buy a lot with the money they had now. “What do we buy with all this money though?”
Mark had a thoughtful look on his face “Maybe a better wand for you? You didn’t even get to use the one you bought last time because it’s too weak.”
“But they’re so expensive. I don’t think it’s worth it to buy tier-one wands. Maybe when we have enough to buy tier 2 wands or staffs I’ll consider it.”
Mark shrugged “If you say so. Now, let’s get to the juicy stuff, the level-ups.”
With that, Noah checked out his notifications. There were the kill notifications for the twenty-two orcs they’d killed today and the level-ups for his new spells. Then he swiped up to the ones that mattered most
You have leveled up! You have 9 status points to spend!
You have leveled up! You have 18 status points to spend!
You have leveled up! You have 27 status points to spend!
You have reached level 10 and unlocked more System Features!
Unlocked Titles!
Unlocked Leaderboards!
Noah excitedly checked out the Titles window as he remembered that he got a legendary title in the beginning of the apocalypse. He wondered if he somehow had more considering that he made his own spells.
[Divine Pioneer] -As a Pioneer you are given the opportunity to select a Subcalss early- Select now? [Yes/No]
Noah couldn’t believe his eyes. He hurriedly checked the shop for an information packet on subclasses and found out that you can only get one at level one hundred. Getting one at level ten would allow him to level it up much earlier than everybody else. He immediately selected yes and a couple of options appeared.
Scanning… Build focus detected to be full Intelligence… Generating Subclass options according to build and previous actions…
[Incinerator] -Focus on the Path of Fire and reduce your enemies to ashes- -Fire-related spells level up twice as fast- -Grants +10 levels to Fire Affinity- -Grants +9 status points per level- -Grants the spell [Incinerate]-
[Spring of life] -Focus on the Path of Water and bring life to everything around you- -Water-related spells level up twice as fast- -Grants +10 levels to Water Affinity- -Grants +9 status points per level- -Grants the spell [Water of life]-
[Engineer] -Focus on the construction aspect of Earth and build the grandest structures possible- -Earth-related spells level up twice as fast- -Grants +10 levels to Earth Affinity- -Grants +9 status points per level- -Grants the spell [Build]-
[Storm’s fury] -Focus on the destructive aspect of Wind and Blow away your enemies- -Wind-related spells level up twice as fast- -Grants +10 levels to Wind Affinity- -Grants +9 status points per level- -Grants the spell [Storm’s fury]
[Child of Mana] -Focus on the Path of Mana and gain a depthless pool to pull from- -all spells level up 1.5x faster- -Grants +4 levels to Mana Affinity and Magic Talents- -Grants +15 status points per level-
“The system really wants me to specialize huh. Hmmm… Nah. I’ll double down on being a generalist. The versatility is just too helpful to pass up on.”
Noah selected [Child of Mana] and like when he first got his class, his mind was flooded with information about it, though, to a much lesser degree. His head still ached but that took a backseat to his excitement of having more status points. After all, more status points meant more mana and more mana meant more damage. He then checked his status.
Name: Noah Blake
Class: Elementalist(EPIC)
Level: 12
Subclass: [Child of Mana]
Guild: N/A
Mana: 184
Stamina: 14
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 7
Intelligence: 92
Regeneration: 15
Unused Status Points: 42
Noah was flabbergasted at the amount of status points he could spend. “That’s eighty-four more points in mana if I choose to put it all into intelligence. Hmmm… No, I need regeneration too if I want to eradicate the orcs faster.” So, he put fifteen points into regeneration and put the rest into intelligence bringing his total mana pool to a respectable two hundred and thirty-eight points.
While Noah was distributing his stat points, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the room they were in was unnaturally bright. He looked over to the source of the light and was surprised to find out that it was Mark, he was glowing a holy light. A few seconds later the light dimmed and winked out leaving a smiling Mark behind.
“What was up with that light?” Noah asked
“Oh, I got a title for going a different route than intended for my class and got to upgrade my class.” Mark’s smile grew wider while looking at his new class.
Nature’s Paladin(EPIC)
Because he didn’t end up picking a God to serve as a paladin, he ended up as a paladin of nature because of his connection with the piglets. It was kind of like a druid but focused more on combat. He kept his healing skills and finally gained skills geared for close-quarters combat that would make use of his increasing pool of stamina. He even gained skills related to animals and gaining their trust. He was happy most of all because he would be more capable as a frontline fighter. He’d been feeling lately that Noah had been leaving him behind.
“So, what class did you get? And what rarity? And how many status points per level” Noah grilled Mark for details but Mark kept a tight lip.
“You’ll find out tomorrow when we hunt some orcs. All I’m going to tell you is that I get ten points per level.”
“What?! That’s better than my class?!”
“Yeah, but it’s just by one point. And don’t tell me you didn’t get anything good from reaching level ten because I remember you telling me about that legendary title you got from getting that pseudo-planet.” Mark scoffed and said
“Oh, you know hehe.” Noah giggled like a gossiping schoolgirl and continued “I got a subclass and you can only normally get one at level one hundred!”
Mark looked at his cousin and couldn’t help but sigh “Why am I not surprised” he shook his head and sighed again. “Okay tell me about it tomorrow, it’s getting late and I want to sleep.” Mark got up and looked at his cousin again “Just when I thought I was catching up…”
Noah got up from his seat with Talal still on his shoulder and started walking out of the Boars’ room with Mark when he noticed that the bell icon in the corner of his vision was still ringing. He mentally pressed it and was stunned at what came out.
Level 10 reached! Unlocked Pseudo-Planet basic functions!
He stopped walking and couldn't help but exclaim "HOLY SHIT!"

Hi all
Just thought I'd share my itinerary since sometimes I think I am either packing too much or too little in a day, although generally this is used as a guide but we can easily just deviate from the plan if something unexpected happens.
Day 1 (Fri 21 June)
Arrival HND 11:00 - Tokyo - Shibuya

• Airport - Suica Card / Sim card etc.
• Shibuya Crossing / Hachiko Statue
• Checking out the below for future reference on shopping etc. and/or any necessities we forgot to pack
  • Uniqlo
  • Taito Arcades
  • Mega Done Quitjote
  • Shibuya Parco / Pokemon / Nintendo Store
  • Loft / Tokyu Hands / Other

Day 2 (Sat 22 June)
Tokyo - Shinjuku

• Light morning activity
• Todobashi Meda Store / Batting Cage
• Cross Shinjuku Vision
• Tokyu Kabukicho Tower
• Godzilla Head
• Omoide Yokocho
• Figuring out how Shinjuku station works for Hakone trip

Day 3 - Hakone (Sun 23 June)

• Shinjuku Station > Hakone-Yumoto Station (08:00 - 09:30)
• Walk > Snack > Amazake Chaya (bus) > Tea > Walk (09:30 - 12:00)
• Shrine (maybe)
• Pirate Boat (12:10 - 12:45 or 12:40 - 13:15)
• Ropeway (Egg/Ice cream) (13:15 - 15:30)
• Ryokan + Onsen
• Open Air Museum / Gora Park

Day 4 - Osaka (Mon 24 June)

• Arrive at Osaka station (14:00)
• Casually explore Osaka/Dotonbori (food)

Day 5 - Himeji+Kobe (Tue 25 June)

• Osaka Station > Himeji Station (08:30 - 10:00)
• Himeji Castle and Koko-en Garden (10:45 - 12:30)
• Himeji Station > Kobe Station (12:45 - 13:30)
• Wakkoqu Kobe Beef Lunch (13:45 - 14:45)
• Nunobiki Herb Garden Ropeway / Waterfall (15:00 - 16:30)
• Meriken Park / Kobe Sign (17:30 - 18:30)
• Kobe Station > Nagai Station (18:30 - 19:45)
• TeamLab Botanical Garden (20:00 - 21:00)

Day 6 - Osaka (Wed 26 June)

• Nintendo Land + Express tickets (08:30 - 15:30)
• Casually explore Osaka/Dotonbori (food)

Day 7 - Osaka > Nara > Kyoto (Thu 27 June)

• Miyazaki-Kan - Beef Lunch course (11:00 - 12:00)
• Osaka-Namba Station > Kintetsu-Nara Station (12:00 - 13:00)
• Nara Park and Todai-Ji (13:00 - 14:30)
• Kintetsu-Nara Station > Kyoto (14:30 - 15:30)
• Casually explore Kyoto (check out chef knife shop)

Day 8 - Kyoto (Fri 28 June)

• Gojo Station > Saga-Arashiyama Station (08:15 - 09:00)
• Taxi to Nenbutsuji (09:00 - 09:30)
• Snack + walk down to Arashiyama (09:30 - 10:30)
• Arashiyama Bamboo Forest + Tenryu-Ji (10:30 - 12:00)
• Monkey Park (12:00 - 13:30)
• Ryoan-Ji + Kinkaku-Ji (14:45 - 17:00) - including walking/travel
• Dinner + walk past Nilo Castle (17:00 - 19:30)
• Bar / rest

Day 9 - Kyoto (Sat 29 June)

• Nishiki Market
• Hanamikoji Street / Ninenzaka / Sannenzaka / Hokanji-Pagoda / Kiyomizu-Dear
• Casually explore Kyoto

Day 10 - Kyoto (Sun 30 June)

• No plans / maybe rent bicycle and explore Kyoto

Day 11 - Kyoto > Tsumado (Mon 01 July)

• Kyoto Station > Nakatsugawa Station (10:00 - 11:30)
• Walk Nakatsugawa > Magome-Juku (11:30 - 13:30)
• Lunch and explore Magome-Juku (13:30 - 14:30)
• Walk Magome-Juku > Tsumago-Juku (14:30 - 16:30)
• Ryokan + dinner + explore Tsumado (16:45 onwards)

Day 12 - Tsumado > Tokyo (Tue 02 July)

• Travel back to Tokyo
• Capsule hotel
• Shinjuku area
• Shibuya Sky

Day 13 - Tokyo (Wed 03 July)

• Casually explore Tokyo
• Potential half-day trip to Lake Kawaguchiko / Pagoda

Day 14 - Tokyo (Thu 04 July)

• TeamLabs Planet (09:00)
• Toyosu Market - nearby sushi restaurant
• Gundam
• Art Aquarium

Day 15 - Tokyo (Fri 05 July)

• Shopping / Hajime no Ippo gym / Asakusa
• Senso-Ji
• Tokyo Skytree

Day 16 - Tokyo (Sat 06 July)

• TeamLabs Borderless (09:00)
• Shopping / anything we missed

Day 17 - Tokyo (Sun 07 July)

• Departure 13:00

Pollution and carbon emissions aren't pleasant for anyone, so here's a list of eco-friendly cities prioritizing nature and sustainable living.
Pollution and carbon emissions aren't friendly for anyone. So here's a list of cities that prioritize nature and sustainable living. No city is perfect, and many still have a long way to go before they can be considered truly sustainable.
However, these cities benefit both the people's quality of life and the conservation and protection of our planet and environment.
The sustainability of our planet is in jeopardy now more than ever before. This is due to the rising population and technological advancements that change how we live our lives.
Furthermore, It's becoming unpleasant, from the production of dangerous pollutants to the extradentary levels of waste.
Also, Governments and municipal governments worldwide feel the heat from their population—particularly Generation Z, who are well-known for campaigning for environmental reform.
And pressing countries to seek new methods to become more sustainable and address this global issue.
We've compiled a list of cities leading the way toward moving toward sustainable living and making the world a greener place. The world's greenest cities are listed below.

1. Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen has been labeled the world's greenest city for various reasons. To start with, all of their buses are transitioning from diesel to electric power.
Furthermore, more of their roadways are being designed expressly for bicycling, and also, electric bikes are being supplied at a reasonable cost.
Again, another fascinating thing about Copenhagen is that two-thirds of its hotels are eco-certified, signifying that they adhere to the highest levels of sustainability in terms of energy, food, and design.
They also have vending machines that use recycled stuff and receive a deposit at many of their restaurants, and they sell cuisine made with organic ingredients in many of them.
By 2025, This beautiful Copenhagen city aspires to be carbon neutral. With all of these extraordinary achievements, it's difficult not to believe that this is one of the most eco-friendly cities globally.

2. Zurich, Switzerland

Here are some statistics demonstrating why Zurich is near the top of our world's most eco-friendly cities. It is interesting that renewable energy sources now account for more than 80% of their electricity. Also, over 40% of the garbage in the city is recycled.
Finally, almost 70% of their hotels are certified as sustainable. They have bikes all across the city, just like Copenhagen, giving them away. Zurich is undoubtedly a green city from which all other cities can learn.

3. Amsterdam, Nertherland

Amsterdam is innovative and environmentally conscious in areas other than its well-known "coffee cafes." It's known for having more bikes than people (bikes are piled on top of each other in the streets!), and it's also known as the world's most bicycle-friendly capital city.
Bicycling ensures a healthy population and dramatically cuts carbon emissions and pollution.

4. Bristol, UK

Bristol was the first British city designated as the European Green Capital. It's an honor bestowed upon a community for its efforts in addressing urban environmental concerns.
Furthermore, It is also known as the most environmentally friendly city in the United Kingdom. Bristol has good air quality, and the number of bikers on the road has increased.

5. Stockholm, Sweden

This site has done its fair share of modifications to assist its residents to live a more sustainable lifestyle, with 14 islands and more than 50 bridges.
The large city aims to phase out the use of fossil fuels by 2040 and is doing it by enacting new rules that promote a greener society – with European Union assistance to help it grow smarter.
Furthermore, bio-fuel, made from sewage waste and used to power automobiles throughout the city, is gaining popularity.
Stockholm is one of the eco-friendly cities. They are capable of repurposing any waste heat from its 30,000-seat stadium. Recovering heat might help warm over 1,000 flats more efficiently using sustainable ways.

6. Berlin, Germany

Berlin is a mad, wild city, but it's also known for its unconventional approach to environmental preservation.
Also, Berlin has more parks than any other European city, and it integrates green spaces nicely into the urban landscape.
Following World War I, inhabitants became far more self-sufficient and appreciated their green spaces than they had previously, learning to cultivate their food, a trend that has been handed down down the years.
Furthermore, with the advent of electric vehicles, Berlin has erected over 400 charging stations throughout the city, encouraging residents to consider switching vehicle types.
Moreover, locals do not perceive the necessity to own automobiles and instead choose to share to save the environment.

7. London, Uk

One of the significant factors contributing to London's eco-friendliness is the city's approximately 3,000 green spaces and parks, which account for 40% of the city's total area.
London is among the eco-friendly cities in the world. The IESE Cities in Motion Index 2020 classified the city as the most environmentally friendly globally. By 2050, London aspires to have zero greenhouse gas emissions.
They're putting money into hybrid diesel-electric buses. They expect that by 2037, all 9,200 of their buses will be emission-free.

8. Portland, Oregon

Believe it or not, 25% of city workers commute by bike, carpool, or public transportation, which has significant environmental benefits. As a result, the number of dangerous automobiles has decreased.
Furthermore, the city has an estimated 250 miles of bike trails, demonstrating how easy and safe it is to move around. Cycling is the primary mode of transportation for 8% of the city's population.
Furthermore, Portland generates 2,434,840 tonnes of garbage and recovers 1,235,924 tonnes, which is incredible for a major metropolis. In addition to the preceding, the city employs 33% renewable energy.

9. San Francisco, California

San Francisco's green movement has been reshaping the city in recent years. Also, San Francisco is one of the eco-friendly cities, recycles about 77 percent of its garbage.
In addition, the city was the first in the United States to outlaw the use of plastic. Furthermore, another impressive green statistic in San Francisco is that 13.8 out of every 10,000 residences uses solar energy, more than double the national average.
Also, San Francisco is one of the best locations to visit without a car. You may walk all around this environmentally friendly metropolis.

10. New York City, New York

As shocking as it may seem, New York City has also been named one of the world's most environmentally friendly cities. Heating and water conservation are becoming more critical in their housing buildings.
In addition, more residents in New York City are driving low-emission vehicles, and businesses in the city are taking more environmentally friendly steps. In New York, urban gardening has grown very popular.
Furthermore, small gardens are planted on balconies, terraces, and rooftops.

11. Capetown, South Africa

By making substantial environmental strides, such as using energy from South Africa's first commercial wind farm, altering the city to provide bike lanes, and supporting farmer's markets, Cape Town is leading the way for the entire continent of Africa.

12. Paris, France

Paris is known for being one of the eco-friendly cities, named after an international treaty on climate change. In the ten years between 2004 and 2014, the city's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 9.2 percent.
More measures to promote sustainable transportation and assist create a more sustainable city are being implemented by the city.

13. Helsinki, Finland

If you want to visit a place or city that values the environment's friendliness and the planet's long-term environmental viability, then Helsinki is a place to go.
The capital, located on a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland, combines metropolitan areas and tranquil reservoirs.
Furthermore, tourism is one of the most important contributions to Helsinki's economy, which has increased environmentally friendly lodging.
Indeed, approximately 75% of hotel rooms in the city have been certified as eco-friendly, and those that haven't fully committed to the cause have some environmental plan in place that covers all aspects of the business, from food and water to waste management and energy consumption.

14. Tokyo, Japan

With the Olympics set to take place in Tokyo this summer, the city has announced that all of the energy required to power the Games would come from sustainable sources. By 2030, the city hopes that half of all new automobiles sold will be zero-emission vehicles.
Tokyo likewise intends to use renewable energy sources to power 30% of the town. They also continue to lead the globe in having one of the lowest-emission public transportation systems.

15. Vancouver, Canada

People flock to Vancouver because of its proximity to the mountains and wildlife, so it's no surprise that it's one of the world's most environmentally conscious cities. Vancouver is a top performer in CO2 emissions and air quality, and it is home to Greenpeace.

16. Reykjavik, Iceland

The city, believe it or not, has a population of only 126,100 people, which is one of the primary characteristics that enables easy and adaptable improvements to make it a greener area.
Reykjavik intends to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 by boosting walking and cycling, and public transportation usage.
Furthermore, the promotion of public transportation is motivated by the city's desire to continue introducing hydrogen buses, which are now used by barely 4% of the population. The city has set a target of trebling this by 2030 to ensure that this happens.

17. Singapore, Singapore

Singapore has been named Asia's most environmentally friendly city due to its sustainability efforts. By 2030, Singapore plans to have at least 80 percent of its buildings be green.
The city aspires to be one of the world's most environmentally friendly cities in the future. Singapore being one
However, they are currently regarded as Asia's greenest city. It is one of the best-known towns in the world for its abundance of trees.
Used water that has been cleansed and treated accounts for over 40% of Singapore's water supply. With so much innovation, this city will undoubtedly become a sustainability leader for many years to come.

18. Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo's long-term aim is to save its natural ecosystems and rural areas. Over 85% of Uruguay's electricity is generated from renewable energy sources.

19. Grenoble, France

Grenoble has been named the European Green Capital for the year 2022. Between 2005 and 2016, the city's greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 25%. By 2030, they aspire to have reduced carbon emissions by half.