Five down one across reviews
OneDownFiveUpLife
2020.08.16 20:59 jwpeace OneDownFiveUpLife
Motorcycle Touring
2016.06.18 01:46 HA92 Trolley problems: submit and discuss.
A subreddit for submission and discussion of variants of the trolley problem.
2008.10.24 20:05 Real Estate Investing
Interested in Real Estate Investing? You've come to the right place! /realestateinvesting is focused on sharing thoughts, experiences, advice and encouraging questions regardless of your real estate investing niche! Structured Deals, Flipping/Rehabbing, Wholesaling, Lending, Land, Commercial Real Estate and more! If it has to do with real estate investing this sub is for you!
2024.06.09 15:40 Dillon123 Mind is Buddha pt. 2
Click here for Part One.
In the Source of Zen, Zongmi wrote:
In Zen study, kensho is turning the light of awareness around, from seeking externally to seeing internally, and that is seeing that one's nature is no-nature, which is Vairocana (that golden Buddha). See Huineng's verse from the Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #663 to see Huineng's verse on the eight consciousnesses transforming into the Four Wisdom Buddhas. (I wrote a post entirely about this if interested).
Let us return to Zongmi, who was about to describe the minds:
In Part 1 of the post we saw in the end passage that Fire can be evil when used to burn down a house, can be benevolent when cooking, and can be the Dao when making elixirs. Gold too can be fashions, shaped, manipulated, purified etc. So too can mind. As the Flower Garland Sutra says: "A disciple of the Buddha is like a skilled goldsmith who repeatedly refines gold in the fire until it becomes pure and malleable, able to be used according to one's will. Bodhisattvas are likewise, offering to the Buddhas and guiding sentient beings, all for the sake of practicing the pure ground. All merits and virtues are dedicated to the enlightenment of all sentient beings, repeatedly purified and made pliant, able to be used according to one's will."
Anyways, we last ended on Zongmi talking of an indistinguishable essence. Let's allow him to wrap this one up for us:
submitted by Dillon123 to zen [link] [comments]
In the Source of Zen, Zongmi wrote:
"Mahamati Bodhisattva regards the mind alone as the dharma and considers the significance as the gates of birth and extinction of the true nature. It is stated in the text: "By relying on this mind, the profound and extensive significances are revealed. The true nature of the mind is its essence, and the birth and extinction of the mind are its attributes." It simply means that this mind is not illusory, hence it is called true, and it remains unchanged, hence it is called as it is. Therefore, the text repeatedly mentions that the mind is truly as it is, and the mind is born and extinguished."We saw a good example of this in Part One, where Gold was used as the example to illustrate this. Though gold can be fashioned many ways, purified, polluted, etc. "If someone asks which substance does not change and which adapts to conditions, the correct answer is gold. This analogy helps to understand the principles and teachings of the entire collection of scriptures: it is all about the mind."
Nowadays, many practitioners of Zen do not understand the significance, so they simply refer to the mind as Zen. Likewise, many speakers do not understand the dharma, so they only talk about the significance according to the name. This approach leads to difficulty in understanding. Some may consider shallow understanding as profound, or they may reverse the dharma and the significance, considering the mind as the dharma and the nature of the mind as the significance. Therefore, it is necessary to compare the doctrines of the three schools with the scriptures and treatises to clarify the significance. Once this is done, returning to the one mind naturally resolves all disputes.We won't explore the three schools with the scriptures and treatises, but we see here that once this exploration and understanding is obtained, we can naturally resolve disputes and come into understanding of the One Mind. Zongmi continues:
The Eight Consciousnesses, which are common in nature but distinct in significance, are named similarly but differ in meaning. Some scriptures condemn the mind as a thief, ordering its eradication, while others praise the mind as Buddha, urging its cultivation. Some describe the mind as good, evil, pure, impure, greedy, hateful, compassionate, and merciful. Some say the mind arises with conditions, while others say conditions arise from the mind. Some say the extinction of thoughts is the mind, while others say contemplating conditions is the mind. There are various contradictory descriptions. Without comparing them with the doctrines of the various schools, how can one discern them when reading the scriptures? Are there many types of minds, or is there only one universal mind?To understand the Zen "Mind", we have to understand the Eight Consciousness model, as this is how they approached and discussed mind. This is how we'd be able to parse sayings from Joshu for example, where he has dialogues like this: Someone asked, "What is the essence of all essences?" Joshu said, "This 'essence of essences' thing - you don't need it. It is the seven of seven, the eight of eight."
In Zen study, kensho is turning the light of awareness around, from seeking externally to seeing internally, and that is seeing that one's nature is no-nature, which is Vairocana (that golden Buddha). See Huineng's verse from the Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #663 to see Huineng's verse on the eight consciousnesses transforming into the Four Wisdom Buddhas. (I wrote a post entirely about this if interested).
Let us return to Zongmi, who was about to describe the minds:
The term "mind" broadly encompasses four types, which are translated differently in Sanskrit.Here again we have gold as a metaphor, and this mention of ornaments reminds me of the Transmission of the Lamp entry for Mahakasyapa where he is a goldsmith, and when there was a buddha who entered nirvana, and in the constructing of his stupa, a little gold was missing from the face of the Buddha image. At that time there was a poor girl who took a gold bead to the goldsmith and asked him to decorate the Buddha's face. Mahakasyapa then gets a golden body, and in other stories he has a golden coffin.
First is "klistamanas," which means the fleshly mind, representing the five consciousnesses within the body (as explained in the Five Skandhas Discourse of the Huángtíng Sutra).
Second is "manas," which means the discriminating mind, representing the Eight Consciousnesses, each capable of discrimination due to its own respective object (the visible object is the object of the eye consciousness, and so on, up to the sense organs, the sense faculties, and the external world, all being the objects of the Ālāyavijñāna). Each of these eight has its own good and evil. In various scriptures, all these minds are collectively referred to as the mind, including both good and evil minds.
Third is "cittamatra," which means the accumulating mind, referring only to the Eighth Consciousness. It accumulates seeds and gives rise to manifest actions (as stated in the Five Skandhas Discourse of the Huángtíng Sutra). In the West, external paths consider it as the ego (self), but it is actually this consciousness.
Fourth is "amalavijñāna," which means the steadfast mind, also known as the pure mind. This represents the true mind. However, the Eighth Consciousness does not have a separate entity; it is simply the true mind that remains unaware. It has the significance of harmony or disharmony with various delusions. Harmony implies the ability to contain both defilement and purity, known as the storing consciousness. Disharmony implies the constant and unchanging nature, known as the Tathāgata-garbha. Both are aspects of the Tathāgata-garbha. Therefore, the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says, "The cessation of defilements is called the one mind, which is the Tathāgata-garbha. The Tathāgata-garbha also resides in the realm of dependent origination."
As stated in the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, "Thus, know that the four kinds of minds are fundamentally the same entity." Therefore, the Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda-śāstra says, "The Buddha speaks of the Tathāgata-garbha (the dharma-body within the realm of dependent origination) as the ālayavijñāna (the storing consciousness). Ignorant wisdom cannot understand that the ālaya is the Tathāgata-garbha. Those who perceive a distinction between the true nature and the ālaya are of ignorant wisdom. The Tathāgata's pure, unblemished repository is the worldly ālayavijñāna. It is like gold and the ornaments made from it, indistinguishable in essence."
In Part 1 of the post we saw in the end passage that Fire can be evil when used to burn down a house, can be benevolent when cooking, and can be the Dao when making elixirs. Gold too can be fashions, shaped, manipulated, purified etc. So too can mind. As the Flower Garland Sutra says: "A disciple of the Buddha is like a skilled goldsmith who repeatedly refines gold in the fire until it becomes pure and malleable, able to be used according to one's will. Bodhisattvas are likewise, offering to the Buddhas and guiding sentient beings, all for the sake of practicing the pure ground. All merits and virtues are dedicated to the enlightenment of all sentient beings, repeatedly purified and made pliant, able to be used according to one's will."
Anyways, we last ended on Zongmi talking of an indistinguishable essence. Let's allow him to wrap this one up for us:
Even though they share the same essence, the significance of true and false differs; their origins and outcomes are distinct. The former three represent phenomena, while the latter represents nature. Phenomena arise based on nature; their convergence to nature is not without reason. Nature and phenomena are not obstructed; they are all one mind. When deluded, it's like facing a wall; when enlightened, it's like myriad phenomena reflecting in a mirror. If one emptily seeks textual expressions or blindly believes, how can they understand the nature and significance of this one mind?
2024.06.09 15:40 AndiDragon [F4TF/NB} Princess Sees You, the True You [Trans Identity Story] [Medieval like-setting] [Closeted but seen] [Hiding your true self but being found out-in a good way] [Unconditional Love and Support] [Choosing to be free of shackles (metaphorically)] [Pet]
Hey there!
So this is my first ever script and is sort of based on some fantasy scenarios that I have been using to help myself sleep since going on HRT last year (Wooo!) A lot of Trans stories I see in the ASMR community are about those who are just coming out or are dysphoria comfort etc.
And since its Pride month I thought I may as well share one of my own comfort scenarios in case anyone else may also find it so
Since, for my own personal journey, I just wish that someone could have seen the me that I hid behind the shell and veneer I showed to the world for 16 years after coming to terms with being Trans back in High School in like 07-ish. And hence why this is written this way. Anyone enough about me
To be clear, the listener does indeed know they are Trans feminine/Non-binary. I have tried to leave that a bit ambiguous, using only they/them/their pronouns from the speaker in regards to the listener. I am also fine with ANYONE voicing this regardless of gender identity and changing the speaker to fit such (Eg; Prince instead of Princess) and with this being explicitly labelled for TF or NB etc. Just please give me credit for the script if used
You may monetise this on any platform, if you do please give me a link.
I would also love any and all feedback and constructive criticism. (Spelling is in Australian English)
I think that's everything, so THE SCRIPT!!!
First Extra Details:
-dashes- indicate sfx (optional)
Names in [brackets] are fine to change
Princess Lee=P
[Mira} is optional lines for a second voice if wished but are COMPLETELY optional and the script should work with or without them.
[Mira] and Princess [Lee] share 1 short line that either or both can speak.
K=Knight/unnamed listener’s lines, Obviously these are unspoken but have “marks” to illustrate them as separate.
SCRIPT STARTS BELOW
-knocks on a door-
(slightly muffled)
Princess: You may Enter.
-Opening door creak-
P: Ah finally! You are the last one you know? Of course you do. I’m sure the disappointment of not being selected to be my personal guard has been spreading through all the other nominees as they returned to the barracks rejected, yes?
“K: It has your highness.”
P: (stifled chuckle) …Well then, take a seat on my couch, opposite me please. (give a few second pause for them to reach the couch and sit) As you may have guessed then, as the last potential candidate, you have been selected though to be honest it was always a bit, uh, rigged from the start?
“K: Rigged?”
P: Yes, you see, well, as I’m sure you are aware, all of us in the Royal Family already have our own specially trained Shadow. A personal right-hand to be our guard, our confidant…our friend. [Mira] over there on the recliner is mine…as again I am sure you are well aware. Apologies I am a bit more flustered than I thought I had prepared myself to be.
(Take a deep Breath)
P: You see these tests and checks we’ve been doing for the past month are … not really for choosing my additional guard for my time in the [Magic University] after all it is a very secure facility, and [Mira] would be able to accompany me to all classes and locations there anyway. Rather these were all tests to confirm whether my suspicions regarding you were true.
“K: What suspicions?”
[Mira]: Suspicions was probably the wrong word [Lee].
P: Oh no! I do not mean to accuse you of being a spy or anything of that sort! I trust with my entire being that you are more than loyal to this kingdoms’ people and my family. Rather I was referring to a … secret I believed you were withholding or, at least, one that you were not actively voicing or embracing of a more … personal nature to you. And if I am right, which I believe I am, then I fully understand. But before I say any more please know, whether I am right or wrong, this conversation will not leave this room. You are safe here either way. You have my WORD on that.
[M]: Both of our words.
P: You see, yes these tests have all been of a social engagement variety not only due to the environment at the [Magic University] not only to see how you would all behave as guards during such settings, but also as guests. After-all it is a primarily social form Academy, with the majority of students and teachers being women, and noble born ones at that. And as such rather than war rooms or sparring sessions, as you and the other knights would be used to, tea parties and balls are more of what would occur over the 3 years there.
[M]: You should probably elaborate more on the why not the school Lee.
P: Yes, you see this common knowledge was a helpful subterfuge for our actual tests. To see how well you could and would perform as the “guests” for the guards. And I do mean YOU specifically. Whilst we did pay attention to your fellow knights, it was mainly you we were paying attention to. How at the tea parties you sat so demurely and smiled, paying so much attention to the stories. Sitting with proper etiquette. How at the ball you hung back clearly uncomfortable in your suit … and your skin. Then when the dances came up, and we were partners… You let me lead.
[M]: Don’t worry, no one really noticed. Except for us, and even then, it is only because we were looking.
P: Your face during it. Your expression. You were so at peace. At all of these when you could fade into the background and enjoy yourself. Your face was always so … Happy. Whenever you didn’t have to play the knight. Having to be strong in front of everyone. Winning duels so that you can keep your hair as long as you like. Refusing promotions and the like so that you could stay safe and hidden. Turning down dates because they could only see the Strong Sir Knight resplendent in their masculinity…. But that’s not you is it? Not really.
[M]: Maybe you should start from the beginning Lee?
P: I began looking into year about 6 moths ago, when you turned down the promoting to lead your own platoon. I found it odd at first given that it would be quite an accomplishment for a knight as fresh as you into adulthood. But thought you were just holding out for something more or trying to just not be separated from your current squad yet. Being so involved in my own studies I didn’t think much more. UNTIL I was on a stroll through the gardens with [Mira] one afternoon as a break. When we came across you. Napping with your hair down in a very secluded spot. (warm giggle) with a cute flower crown and matching bracelet on.
[M]: No sword in view anywhere. Not often even a baby knight doesn’t trigger my alert or even “careful” radar. And ESPECIALLY one who has won even duels to keep their hair that long. Wouldn’t have seen you if we hadn’t decided to meander through the flower field
P: At first, we didn’t recognise you. You looked so different. So … androgynous and cute…. So feminine. So vastly different in comparison to how you hold and present yourself with the other knights. You were at so much peace then too. Not like the quiet conflict I realised you were showing all other times. In the following weeks we looked more into you as the sight became so burned into my memory.
[M]: Nothing too invasive. Well except….
P: [Mira] investigated your room in the barracks. Just a spot check. Comparing to the other knights. She didn’t go through your draws or anything. It was bare. No Decorations. No displayed gits or ornaments. Just some books, haircare products and a chess set. So barren and empty, in stark contrast to your fellow knights. No mirror either. Your Commander said you had it removed as it reflected the lights poorly and hindered your sleep.
[M/P]: But that’s not true, is it?
P: In truth, you find looking in the mirror to be stressful and/or weird. Like something doesn’t fit right. And it’s your reflection, isn’t it? It’s not what you see you as in your own head is it? It began to click for me at that time. Then we found out the knights had taken you in as one of their recruited volunteers from the Orphanage to help make space there for younger children. They took you in and raised you. Trained you to be the knight sitting before me. A path you would not have chosen otherwise, I’m sure.
[M/P]: Stuck in a role you do not want. With nowhere to return to. No other skills to utilise or survive on. Trapped.
P: But here is where I can offer you an escape. Another chance. Another way. First, I will let you know that no matter what, [Mira] and I will not be returning to the castle again. My Elder siblings can all fight for the throne, they are well aware that I will not come for it unless they hurt or threaten the people of our kingdom with malice. So this deal is a one time thing AND you must decide pretty much now. As such…
-clinking glasses-
P: In this vial that I will place to your right is a potion that will give you amnesia from the events of the last 24 hours. You will not remember this day, or this conversation [Mira] and I will claim that you tested a wine for me and discovered it was poisoned, saving me. We will leave the palace immediately with the rest of our wagon to [the Magic University], whilst you will be hailed as a hero and able to return to your current life.
-more glass clinking-
P: Whilst in this vial I will place to your left. If you choose this one you will come with us. We will still leave in the but in the morning, and you will have a new future and a chance to live. However, the reason we will leave in the morning rather than immediately? This is due to the vial containing a very potent potion that will flow your mana into me and WILL cause you to pass out. But by drinking this your mana won’t become mine but rather it will be…subservient to mine I can loan it or grow it with my own, but I will also be able to find you for the rest of our lives. And by choosing this you choose to become mine. For all intents and purposes you will be essentially be My Possession. My Pet. My Property. If you wish you can even be MY Princess. A new life and chance. But you must choose it.
**Give a 5-10 second pause here**
P: You are hesitating. Which in itself is an answer, isn’t it? Hey look at me. Here let me hold your face - Huh your check is so warm, and your eyes so beautiful... I promise you, By taking this yes, you will become mine, but that does not mean I will force you to become or do anything that you do not want to do. I want to you to be by my side yes. I want to watch you live and grow and become so much more than the knight-shell that sits before me. But YOU get to make that choice. I can only offer you it. As well as the unconditional love and support of having us there to help you become …well YOU.
-Glass clinking as the left vial is taken and drunk-
-Ruffling and moving as Princess Lee rushes to their side-
P: Oh, thank you for trusting me. Here Let my hold you as you drift off. I promise you that everything will be ok now. You can be whoever you need to be. And I will be there to love you my pet. Whoever you are. Whoever you will be. Tomorrow your new life, your true life can begin.
submitted by AndiDragon to ASMRScriptHaven [link] [comments]
So this is my first ever script and is sort of based on some fantasy scenarios that I have been using to help myself sleep since going on HRT last year (Wooo!) A lot of Trans stories I see in the ASMR community are about those who are just coming out or are dysphoria comfort etc.
And since its Pride month I thought I may as well share one of my own comfort scenarios in case anyone else may also find it so
Since, for my own personal journey, I just wish that someone could have seen the me that I hid behind the shell and veneer I showed to the world for 16 years after coming to terms with being Trans back in High School in like 07-ish. And hence why this is written this way. Anyone enough about me
To be clear, the listener does indeed know they are Trans feminine/Non-binary. I have tried to leave that a bit ambiguous, using only they/them/their pronouns from the speaker in regards to the listener. I am also fine with ANYONE voicing this regardless of gender identity and changing the speaker to fit such (Eg; Prince instead of Princess) and with this being explicitly labelled for TF or NB etc. Just please give me credit for the script if used
You may monetise this on any platform, if you do please give me a link.
I would also love any and all feedback and constructive criticism. (Spelling is in Australian English)
I think that's everything, so THE SCRIPT!!!
First Extra Details:
-dashes- indicate sfx (optional)
Names in [brackets] are fine to change
Princess Lee=P
[Mira} is optional lines for a second voice if wished but are COMPLETELY optional and the script should work with or without them.
[Mira] and Princess [Lee] share 1 short line that either or both can speak.
K=Knight/unnamed listener’s lines, Obviously these are unspoken but have “marks” to illustrate them as separate.
SCRIPT STARTS BELOW
-knocks on a door-
(slightly muffled)
Princess: You may Enter.
-Opening door creak-
P: Ah finally! You are the last one you know? Of course you do. I’m sure the disappointment of not being selected to be my personal guard has been spreading through all the other nominees as they returned to the barracks rejected, yes?
“K: It has your highness.”
P: (stifled chuckle) …Well then, take a seat on my couch, opposite me please. (give a few second pause for them to reach the couch and sit) As you may have guessed then, as the last potential candidate, you have been selected though to be honest it was always a bit, uh, rigged from the start?
“K: Rigged?”
P: Yes, you see, well, as I’m sure you are aware, all of us in the Royal Family already have our own specially trained Shadow. A personal right-hand to be our guard, our confidant…our friend. [Mira] over there on the recliner is mine…as again I am sure you are well aware. Apologies I am a bit more flustered than I thought I had prepared myself to be.
(Take a deep Breath)
P: You see these tests and checks we’ve been doing for the past month are … not really for choosing my additional guard for my time in the [Magic University] after all it is a very secure facility, and [Mira] would be able to accompany me to all classes and locations there anyway. Rather these were all tests to confirm whether my suspicions regarding you were true.
“K: What suspicions?”
[Mira]: Suspicions was probably the wrong word [Lee].
P: Oh no! I do not mean to accuse you of being a spy or anything of that sort! I trust with my entire being that you are more than loyal to this kingdoms’ people and my family. Rather I was referring to a … secret I believed you were withholding or, at least, one that you were not actively voicing or embracing of a more … personal nature to you. And if I am right, which I believe I am, then I fully understand. But before I say any more please know, whether I am right or wrong, this conversation will not leave this room. You are safe here either way. You have my WORD on that.
[M]: Both of our words.
P: You see, yes these tests have all been of a social engagement variety not only due to the environment at the [Magic University] not only to see how you would all behave as guards during such settings, but also as guests. After-all it is a primarily social form Academy, with the majority of students and teachers being women, and noble born ones at that. And as such rather than war rooms or sparring sessions, as you and the other knights would be used to, tea parties and balls are more of what would occur over the 3 years there.
[M]: You should probably elaborate more on the why not the school Lee.
P: Yes, you see this common knowledge was a helpful subterfuge for our actual tests. To see how well you could and would perform as the “guests” for the guards. And I do mean YOU specifically. Whilst we did pay attention to your fellow knights, it was mainly you we were paying attention to. How at the tea parties you sat so demurely and smiled, paying so much attention to the stories. Sitting with proper etiquette. How at the ball you hung back clearly uncomfortable in your suit … and your skin. Then when the dances came up, and we were partners… You let me lead.
[M]: Don’t worry, no one really noticed. Except for us, and even then, it is only because we were looking.
P: Your face during it. Your expression. You were so at peace. At all of these when you could fade into the background and enjoy yourself. Your face was always so … Happy. Whenever you didn’t have to play the knight. Having to be strong in front of everyone. Winning duels so that you can keep your hair as long as you like. Refusing promotions and the like so that you could stay safe and hidden. Turning down dates because they could only see the Strong Sir Knight resplendent in their masculinity…. But that’s not you is it? Not really.
[M]: Maybe you should start from the beginning Lee?
P: I began looking into year about 6 moths ago, when you turned down the promoting to lead your own platoon. I found it odd at first given that it would be quite an accomplishment for a knight as fresh as you into adulthood. But thought you were just holding out for something more or trying to just not be separated from your current squad yet. Being so involved in my own studies I didn’t think much more. UNTIL I was on a stroll through the gardens with [Mira] one afternoon as a break. When we came across you. Napping with your hair down in a very secluded spot. (warm giggle) with a cute flower crown and matching bracelet on.
[M]: No sword in view anywhere. Not often even a baby knight doesn’t trigger my alert or even “careful” radar. And ESPECIALLY one who has won even duels to keep their hair that long. Wouldn’t have seen you if we hadn’t decided to meander through the flower field
P: At first, we didn’t recognise you. You looked so different. So … androgynous and cute…. So feminine. So vastly different in comparison to how you hold and present yourself with the other knights. You were at so much peace then too. Not like the quiet conflict I realised you were showing all other times. In the following weeks we looked more into you as the sight became so burned into my memory.
[M]: Nothing too invasive. Well except….
P: [Mira] investigated your room in the barracks. Just a spot check. Comparing to the other knights. She didn’t go through your draws or anything. It was bare. No Decorations. No displayed gits or ornaments. Just some books, haircare products and a chess set. So barren and empty, in stark contrast to your fellow knights. No mirror either. Your Commander said you had it removed as it reflected the lights poorly and hindered your sleep.
[M/P]: But that’s not true, is it?
P: In truth, you find looking in the mirror to be stressful and/or weird. Like something doesn’t fit right. And it’s your reflection, isn’t it? It’s not what you see you as in your own head is it? It began to click for me at that time. Then we found out the knights had taken you in as one of their recruited volunteers from the Orphanage to help make space there for younger children. They took you in and raised you. Trained you to be the knight sitting before me. A path you would not have chosen otherwise, I’m sure.
[M/P]: Stuck in a role you do not want. With nowhere to return to. No other skills to utilise or survive on. Trapped.
P: But here is where I can offer you an escape. Another chance. Another way. First, I will let you know that no matter what, [Mira] and I will not be returning to the castle again. My Elder siblings can all fight for the throne, they are well aware that I will not come for it unless they hurt or threaten the people of our kingdom with malice. So this deal is a one time thing AND you must decide pretty much now. As such…
-clinking glasses-
P: In this vial that I will place to your right is a potion that will give you amnesia from the events of the last 24 hours. You will not remember this day, or this conversation [Mira] and I will claim that you tested a wine for me and discovered it was poisoned, saving me. We will leave the palace immediately with the rest of our wagon to [the Magic University], whilst you will be hailed as a hero and able to return to your current life.
-more glass clinking-
P: Whilst in this vial I will place to your left. If you choose this one you will come with us. We will still leave in the but in the morning, and you will have a new future and a chance to live. However, the reason we will leave in the morning rather than immediately? This is due to the vial containing a very potent potion that will flow your mana into me and WILL cause you to pass out. But by drinking this your mana won’t become mine but rather it will be…subservient to mine I can loan it or grow it with my own, but I will also be able to find you for the rest of our lives. And by choosing this you choose to become mine. For all intents and purposes you will be essentially be My Possession. My Pet. My Property. If you wish you can even be MY Princess. A new life and chance. But you must choose it.
**Give a 5-10 second pause here**
P: You are hesitating. Which in itself is an answer, isn’t it? Hey look at me. Here let me hold your face - Huh your check is so warm, and your eyes so beautiful... I promise you, By taking this yes, you will become mine, but that does not mean I will force you to become or do anything that you do not want to do. I want to you to be by my side yes. I want to watch you live and grow and become so much more than the knight-shell that sits before me. But YOU get to make that choice. I can only offer you it. As well as the unconditional love and support of having us there to help you become …well YOU.
-Glass clinking as the left vial is taken and drunk-
-Ruffling and moving as Princess Lee rushes to their side-
P: Oh, thank you for trusting me. Here Let my hold you as you drift off. I promise you that everything will be ok now. You can be whoever you need to be. And I will be there to love you my pet. Whoever you are. Whoever you will be. Tomorrow your new life, your true life can begin.
2024.06.09 15:39 Pipermason Someone took photos of me through a building window without my consent and shared it on Instagram with its exact location
It’s relevant to say the Instagram account that shared the photos has over 350K followers. It’s one of those ‘explore X city’ account where they share events, places to visit and curiosities about a city.
I’m working inside of a private building (it’s not an office or customer service-related) and they took photos of me when I was working from the street through a window without my consent and then they shared the exact location of the building on the description. They took several pictures of the building from different angles and made a video as well. It’s extremely easy to find. My co-workers are also in one of the photos.
I’ve contacted the owner of the account many times ( through instagram, email and FB) for them to take it down stating the obvious issues of the post and they never responded. I’ve also reported to Instagram several times saying that I’d given no consent for these photos to be taken or shared and every time instagram reviewed it they said the post is not breaking any rules or Instagram guidelines. Which is obviously not true. I’ve refuted their review and nothing ever happens, I just get the same answer
I am based in the EU
After 6 months the post is still there with thousands of likes and comments. I don’t know what else to do to make instagram take it down.
submitted by Pipermason to gdpr [link] [comments]
I’m working inside of a private building (it’s not an office or customer service-related) and they took photos of me when I was working from the street through a window without my consent and then they shared the exact location of the building on the description. They took several pictures of the building from different angles and made a video as well. It’s extremely easy to find. My co-workers are also in one of the photos.
I’ve contacted the owner of the account many times ( through instagram, email and FB) for them to take it down stating the obvious issues of the post and they never responded. I’ve also reported to Instagram several times saying that I’d given no consent for these photos to be taken or shared and every time instagram reviewed it they said the post is not breaking any rules or Instagram guidelines. Which is obviously not true. I’ve refuted their review and nothing ever happens, I just get the same answer
I am based in the EU
After 6 months the post is still there with thousands of likes and comments. I don’t know what else to do to make instagram take it down.
2024.06.09 15:35 Pipermason Someone took photos of me through a building window without my consent and shared it on Instagram with its exact location
It’s relevant to say the Instagram account that shared the photos has over 350K followers. It’s one of those ‘explore X city’ account where they share events, places to visit and curiosities about a city.
I’m working inside of a private building (it’s not an office or customer service-related) and they took photos of me when I was working from the street through a window without my consent and then they shared the exact location of the building on the description. They took several pictures of the building from different angles and made a video as well. It’s extremely easy to find. My co-workers are also in one of the photos.
I’ve contacted the owner of the account many times ( through instagram, email and FB) for them to take it down stating the obvious issues of the post and they never responded. I’ve also reported to Instagram several times saying that I’d given no consent for these photos to be taken or shared and every time instagram reviewed it they said the post is not breaking any rules or Instagram guidelines. Which is obviously not true. I’ve refuted their review and nothing ever happens, I just get the same answer
I am based in the EU
After 6 months the post is still there with thousands of likes and comments. I don’t know what else to do to make instagram take it down.
submitted by Pipermason to Instagram [link] [comments]
I’m working inside of a private building (it’s not an office or customer service-related) and they took photos of me when I was working from the street through a window without my consent and then they shared the exact location of the building on the description. They took several pictures of the building from different angles and made a video as well. It’s extremely easy to find. My co-workers are also in one of the photos.
I’ve contacted the owner of the account many times ( through instagram, email and FB) for them to take it down stating the obvious issues of the post and they never responded. I’ve also reported to Instagram several times saying that I’d given no consent for these photos to be taken or shared and every time instagram reviewed it they said the post is not breaking any rules or Instagram guidelines. Which is obviously not true. I’ve refuted their review and nothing ever happens, I just get the same answer
I am based in the EU
After 6 months the post is still there with thousands of likes and comments. I don’t know what else to do to make instagram take it down.
2024.06.09 15:34 Limestorm_ The day Lake ran with LEADERS’ blood The Red Gathering, Newleaf, 90 CE AU Story, Part 1
It is the first part of my AU clan story, a loose collection of events written more in the style of a documentary than a novel, highlighting only the most important moments and quotes. Tell me what you think, I'll post more parts and allegiances soon. Here it is:
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.
submitted by Limestorm_ to thedawnpatrol [link] [comments]
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.
2024.06.09 15:34 Limestorm_ The day Lake ran with LEADERS’ blood The Red Gathering, Newleaf, 90 CE AU Story, Part 1
It is the first part of my AU clan story, a loose collection of events written more in the style of a documentary than a novel, highlighting only the most important moments and quotes. Tell me what you think, I'll post more parts and allegiances soon. Here it is:
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.
submitted by Limestorm_ to WarriorCats [link] [comments]
As the first glimpses of the moonlight appeared in the black sky, illuminating the travelling cats, the danger was already in the air. For some time now, the Lake Territories were being invaded by an unknown group of cats. They always appeared in number, were uninterested in talks, and ready to kill if challenged. Attempts to reconquer the land were always met by decisive action and foiled by the much more numerous enemy.
The hope of the ThunderClan leader, Brackenstar, was that the issue would be resolved at the upcoming Gathering, but events moved faster than he expected. Yesterday, after another of his clanmates was killed, he was forced to prohibit his cats from hunting north of the camp and change the route of patrols, effectively abandoning over half of his territory to the rogues.
And yet, there he was, marching towards the island. His whole clan was with him - he wouldn't dare to leave a weakened camp with cats inside. When they arrived on the island, all the remaining clans were already present. The atmosphere was tense, no one was speaking or exchanging news, only watching the approaching ThunderClan warriors.
As the Gathering begun, the first topic was that of the rogues. The cats were divided. ThunderClan and SkyClan requested the five clans join their forces to expel the enemy, ShadowClan was hesitant, while yet unaffected RiverClan and WindClan were unwilling to make a hasty decision.
"Your obstinacy may cost us our existence!" the Risingstar of SkyClan told Nightstar of RiverClan, "I know the enemy, and I know, there's nothing for us to gain from waiting. What we need is not thinking, but a decisive action to vanquish the forces that threaten us!"
Nightstar argued, but his voice was cut by a shout from the back. The words no cat would want to hear or say fell, silencing the quarrel. "They are here! The RiverClan camp has fallen!" At that moment cats flooded onto the island. First, escaping RiverClan, then Rogues.
The messy defense, which the unorganized cats provided lost them the opportunity to hold the attack at the crossing point. The Rogues quickly established a breach on the shore and started pushing clan warriors further away from the tree trunk that served as a bridge. The first to react was Brackenstar, jumping off the branch and leading his cats with a rallying cry. He ordered his freshly appointed deputy, Olivefur, to secure elders, kits and medicine cats and move them to the other side of the island. Soon the other clans joined in, but it was too late. They fought valiantly, but to no effect. They soon found themselves yielding more ground to the relentless onslaught.
Some of the RiverClan cats, led by Blackpelt, suggested fleeing by lake onto the other shore. Meanwhile Olivefur, helped by Nettleleaf and Eaglefeather managed to break a branch from one of the trees and used it to cross the lake with four medicine cats and some warriors. It is often described that Olivefur opposed the idea of fleeing and had to be dragged onto the branch by Nettleleaf, who more strategically, pointed out that after crossing the lake the medicine cats would need escort as well.
As they moved out, their clanmates' defense started collapsing. From the water they could see Brackenstar falling under the Rogue claws. On the other side, Nightstar, after overseeing the retreat of his cats, entered the water himself, carrying one of the younger ThunderClan warriors. Deprived of leadership and without hope for victory, cats of all clans fought side by side till the end or tried to save themselves by swimming in the cold early-Newleaf water. The chaotic retreat left many of the cats dead, most on the island itself, but there were many who drowned or were hunted down after reaching the mainland.
Fleeing by a wooden branch, Olivefur and her cats landed on the ThunderClan shore, and were almost immediately targeted by a Rogue patrol. Having some ten cats with them, they were a force to not be taken lightly, but even they soon found themselves outnumbered. On Eaglefeather’s suggestion, they fled into the underground tunnels, planning to reach WindClan territory, the one least affected so far. The plan almost fell apart when a Rogue patrol appeared behind them.
"Go on. I'll slow them down," Nettlleaf's words sounded from the end of the escaping group. Olivefur was unwilling to abandon another one of her clanmates but moved forward. It is unknown how exactly Nettleleaf died, but her heroic sacrifice slowed the pursuit for surprisingly long, allowing the rest to reach WindClan camp unharmed. There, they found Rogue cats as well, besieging a group of defenders. They swiftly broke through and chased away the enemy with the help of a group of RiverClan cats that emerged from the other side led by Blackpelt.
Numbering now around twenty cats, they decided to look for more survivors. At first, they successfully rescued several more cats, including the RiverClan leader, Nightstar, the only one of the five to survive, as it would prove later. Yet, as they moved into the RiverClan territory they found increasing opposition and soon had to abandon the search and flee. They regrouped on the outskirts of the WindClan territory and set up a temporary camp. For the next week they found several more escapees, but then, were chased away again.
Faced by an overwhelming enemy, themselves underfed, exhausted and carrying wounded, they decided to abandon the Lake Territories. In total, of some two hundred cats that lived around the lake, only exactly forty-six set off with Olivefur's group.
Up to this day, it is unknown if and how many any other clan cats fled, never reuniting with the largest group, but it is possible such existed. Of the five clans, SkyClan suffered the worst fate, left with only two warriors and a medicine cat. Blackfeather agreed for her mate, Crackedcloud to take the role of the clan leader. In ThunderClan, that honor rightfully fell on Olivestar, who appointed Eaglefeather, her mate, to be the deputy. In WindClan, Wildstar was elected, while similarly to ThunderClan's case, the ShadowClan deputy, Greenstar, took command of his clan. The least affected was RiverClan, where the only change was Blackpelt's appointment for deputy - for his courage and quick thinking in face of danger that saved many lives.
And thus, the five clans, shadows of their former selves, set off into the unknown, a great adventure which begun a new age in the history of the clans - one of pain and suffering, but also of courage, honor, and one that forged the greatest legend in the clan's recent history, shadowed only by the great Firestar.
Context: The CE, or Clan Era, started with the events from the book S4E6 "The Last Hope". The story may not be consistent with some of the later books, thought so much time passed probably no one will notice.
2024.06.09 15:31 Rusted-1 ARK 8 Chapter 23-Unlucky
 | To kill for yourself is murder. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is harmless. What is it to kill for religion? - Unknown submitted by Rusted-1 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments] This fanfic is based on the fanfic The Isolationists, by Seeyouon_otherside, and a continuation of the stronger_together series. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Time Since First Contact: Y:0 M:1 W:0 D:3 Memory Transcript Subject: Private Brolien “Lucky” Tiwond of the enforcers. “Wait, the humans call you that? Why?” My buddy Rohan asked me as we patrolled the streets of the capital city of Finalshape under the night sky. You could actually see one of the aliens' ships flying overhead, which was fantastic. I felt like a kid watching them, just in awe at the technological marvels. Our power armor was clanking and clunking as we went about our day, heavy auto rifles in hand, a good breakfast this morning, kissed the kids and misses goodbye for today, promising little ones I’ll bring them back a souvenir of some kind. We walked through the snow that had to yet be cleared by the snow plows, and I just enjoyed the forever-green grass and trees. Just admiring the city that we lived in “Yeah, I was on the plane next to the human ARK ship when I went down.” “Wait, that was you?!” Rohan practically yelled, getting the attention of many people around us. “How come you’re still not in the Air Force anymore?” “That crash rattled me pretty bad, So I stepped down for that position and took up a job as a trooper,” I respond casually. “It was fun for a while being in the Air Force, but now, with seven kids and a wife, I can’t take that risk anymore. I’d rather do something more laid-back to have a higher chance of survival. So I can spend more time with my beloved and see my little ones grow up.” I said. Then I revealed my trap card. “I also got a spot on the Land Tank. “Yeah, I get that-YOU WHAT!?” He yelled. I let out a hearty laugh as he began to freak out. “Yep! I will be one of the lead anti-air and anti-space gunnery commanders. The pay is fantastic. I’m going to spoil my family rotten.” He made an odd noise and launched himself at me. “HOLLY SHIT DUDE! YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED A JOB ON THAT HUNK OF HISTORY! I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!” He patted me on the back a few times and then let go. “But I get what you mean by anti-air, but what do you mean by anti-space?” I sighed and looked around before switching to helmet-to-helmet communication so no one could hear us. "You're aware that Lord Lieutenant Commander Canilia Feral doesn't fully trust the aliens, right?” Rohan nodded. I couldn’t see his expression under the heavy metal helmet, but we had known each other since we were kids, so I could tell he was somber. “Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of that. But that doesn't mean I don't understand it. The aliens are fun, lovely, adorable, and huggable. I can say a hundred other nice things about them, but I won't because I don't want to bore you to death. They are still a massive unknown; they've been sharing more and more information with us, and I know the one, Captain Leo, is preparing to hold some… not ceremony, what do you call it…I want to say it's a seminar about how they got here and their history. I'm going to it, but I don't know when it will be.” I nodded in agreement. “ I am with you on every single one of those points. As amazing as they are, there are so many unknowns about them… which is why Lord Lieutenant Commander Canilia Feral has started a program meant to counteract the aliens' most powerful tools: their droids and ships.” Rohan looked at me. I could tell from underneath his helmet he looked surprised. “Wait, weapons?” It was my turn to be somber. “She says it's to prepare for if they turn on us. She made it very apparent that she hoped she would never have to use these weapons, but she wanted to be prepared.” “Does Commander Fango Feral know about this?” I scoffed at that thought. “Well, yeah, this project would have never gotten the green light anyway. Plus, we're talking about Lord Lieutenant Commander Canilia Feral here. Going behind her uncle's back is the last thing she would do." Rohan nodded. "What do you know about the project?" He asked "What little I know about the project is that I will be operating an ASRFC, an anti-space rapid-fire cannon. It’s designed to do what it sounds like: it shoots or, rather, assists in launching incredibly fast-moving projectiles, similar to missiles but different somehow. They should be coated in the specialized electricity designed to short out alien systems. She's also been developing handheld weapons to short out their droids.” Rohan was silent. Then spoke. “Geez. That's… a lot. I'm just hoping the aliens don't find out.” My shoulder sagged as I hated the thought of operating a weapon like that against two species that have been nothing but kind to us. “Same, we all share the same sentiment at the Land Tank. We are on our hands and knees, praying to the great protector that we never have to use these guns. Lord Lieutenant Commander Canilia Feral is probably the person who is hoping the most. However, I get the odd feeling that they would understand why we would make these weapons. I think they'd be mad, but they wouldn't be upset. They'd be understanding.” I looked over at my childhood best friend. “Honestly, considering your Borderline addiction to anything alien right now, I'm surprised you're taking this as well as you are.” He shook his head. “I'm not really… it's hard making guns and weapons to kill a person who has been nothing but kind to you simply because you don't fully trust them. But I understand and support the logic behind it. However, it is comforting to know that everyone working on this project hopes and prays that they don't have to use them. Not much, but a bit.” Rohan sighed, and we walked in silence for a while. He perked up, his posture became slightly straighter, and he pointed to my chest. “What is that anyway on your chest? I’ve never seen a dialect or a plant like that,” he asked. I looked down and laughed. “Yeah, that’s human dialect. I want to say it’s the one called English, but it could also be the one called Japanese or Russian. I really have no idea. It says, “Lucky, the falling star.” The symbol is of what they called a four-leaf clover, a type of plant back on the human homeworld that was considered lucky, surrounded by a star, and there are trails to the side of it, or to make it look like it’s falling.” Rohan stopped for a minute, got the joke, and nearly busted a gut laughing. When he finally calmed down, he looked at me. “How the hell did Humans and Zeyzell convince you to get that painted on your armor!?” he asked through laughs. “Well, I was at a drink stop, a bar as most of you normals call it, forget which one, when out of the blue, a bunch of humans popped up, and they recognized me as a pilot. I don’t know how, but they did.” I answered, “Ask me all sorts of questions like how I survived. How was I doing? Generally, they were good questions and warmed my heart that they were worried about me. It was nice, anywho, they were going on about this plant on the human home world called the four-leaf clover, and this represents luck or something. They asked if they could paint my armor with it. I had just gotten my shiny new power armor, so I was like, sure, go ahead and paint it. Then, they whipped out a bunch of little pups, or kids and kits, as the humans call them. As in little humans who are ADORIBLE, and they started painting my armor as I started talking to the adults. Two hours later, bam, you got this masterpiece painted all over my armor. I swear they took the little ones out of their pockets if I didn’t know better. After all that, I wanted it back to camp, and the paint had dried. I tried getting off, even though it was a nice gesture. I was kind of sad about it, but I don’t know what the void they used is. This stuff is not coming off. I scrubbed for a good hour, and it didn’t come off. So when I had to fall in with everyone at Camp and with everyone with their new hand-me-down E-10 power armor. I stood out like a sore thumb.” “And you had petty officer Gotrom, didn’t you?” Rohana teasingly said. I shook my head in pain, causing him to laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.” “Yep, I had him, the man of the petty ones. The moment he laid eyes on me. His eyes did the whole bleeding thing. I hate it when he does that and starts screaming at me. I mean, this dude is slightly above me in rank, but he takes his job too seriously. So, after five minutes of chewing me out, I thought he would pass out with the amount of hot air he was spewing. He asked me what my excuse was.” “What do you say to him?” Rohan asks. I laughed. “It was like the great protector had whispered exactly what I should say into my ear. “Interacting with the new locals, sir. Just letting them know that we are their friends, not their wardens.” And you won’t freaking believe this, he took it.” “He what?! he took it as a valid answer?!” Rohan asked. “I myself was still surprised that he took that as a valid answer, but yes, he did. Then he immediately brought me to the front of all three hundred troops and started to yell at them, tearing them a new one by telling them how I was the only one here who had made any attempt to meet with the alien. Even though we all know that’s not true, they found me. He patted me on the back, congratulated me, and sent me off to get some extra food.” “By the old void, that guy gets stranger and stranger every time.” I shrugged. “I honestly have no clue, and I think he was telling everyone to step up the game in greeting the aliens, but other than that, I have no idea. The Humans are super nice, and I often find them chatting with someone or petting someone. Void, I’ve even seen an entire group of humans swarm a giant and start petting it. It was cute to watch. The Zeyzell seem far more reserved than the humans, but you can have interesting conversations with them.” We continued to patrol the streets in silence for a while after that, making a bit of small talk to break it, but nothing much, just observing people going about their business. That’s when we saw an out-of-breath Tiwond with a human gently helping him drink a bottle of water. A Zeyzell clung to the human's back, laughing his lungs out. “Everything all right over here?” I asked. “Yeah,” the person said as he got up, swishing his tail as he did, “tried to beat my buddy here in a race after hearing about humans' high stamina. I lost by a large margin while he carried his fluffy ass on his back. The man said as he pointed to the Human and the Zeyzell. The Zeyzell just laughed while still clinging to the human's back. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” The Zeyzell said as the three laughed. “All right, you three, stay safe. Bye now.” The group of three said their goodbyes, and I looked at the human. He just seemed so happy. It was such a pure and authentic expression that it warmed my hearts. “It’s so nice that we met the humans; everyone just seems happier.” Rohan nodded. “Yeah, it’s like the mood has shifted, from the low to the high, it's nice. With the war, the terror that came after it, and the animals evolving and changing. Things were looking bleak. That’s not even mentioning all the giant refugees we've been getting, and well…him and them.” I looked at Rohan. “Who and what?” Rohan looked at me, confused. “You know? Viggo Scythelock?” I nodded. The mention of his name made me slightly mad. “Oh, him…you think they will catch the guy?” I asked. “Honestly, I hope so. He has caused so much pain to so many. The man is a psychopath, a monster. He used the war as an opportunity to harm so many.” Rohan looked down. “But honestly, it’s been over three years. I’m not sure if they will ever find him.” “Yeah…I hope they find him and take him out. Also, who are "Them" you are talking about?” Rohan looked at me, surprised. “You haven't heard?” he asked. He switched to helmet-to-helmet communications instead of talking out loud. This must be bad.” “I’m almost afraid to ask…but no, I have not heard about them,” I responded also with helmet-to-helmet communication. “Who are you talking about?” “The Cult of the Old God? You haven't heard what they have been up to?” “You mean them assassinating high-ranking individuals, stealing supplies, their entire operation multiplying tenfold ever since the alien's arrival?” I could tell he was surprised, and I could also understand that he was blinking and surprised underneath the helmet. That's how well we know each other. “How did you know?” “It's common knowledge, and the higher-ups sent this documentation earlier this morning. Did you not read it? They're very transparent, and you know that I don't get all your conspiracies at everything, which is a conspiracy.” “Oh, come on! The Aliens! Their rival was too perfect; just when we were getting worried that we were the only living creatures in the universe, pop! They show up. That can't be a coincidence!” I rolled my eyes underneath my helmet. “You need help.” “Not with my mental state, but definitely with my taxes.” I shake my head We continued on our way. When we crossed one of the streets and took a left toward one of the shopping districts, we saw two dudes sitting in the snow, huddled around something. We approached to make sure everything was alright. “Everything alright?” I asked. The guys looked up at me and made the shhh motion with their fingers. Then they parted their bodies a little, and I saw a female human sleeping between them. “We don’t want to wake her up,” the first said. I nodded my head and continued on. Both of us then turned a corner into a more populated part of the district. We saw a human and what looked like a construction worker chatting there. “Thank you so much for taking us in. I think I can speak for my entire species when I say you have made us so happy.” The construction worker raised an eyebrow and took another bite of the sandwich she was eating. “Anyone would’ve done it; it's just the right thing to do if they had a soul, at least.” The human started to laugh a bit, and then it quickly stopped as a human just shook her head. “Guess the federation has no soul then, huh?” The construction worker took another bite out of her sandwich. “Doesn’t sound like it.” The human leaned into the construction worker. “Eay, don’t worry. If those Federation things ever come here, they’ll get a big face full of Big Jim.” She then pulled out a massive [monkey wrench.] I smiled at that, knowing that so many were willing to protect the humans. I believe that made them feel more at home. We wandered past them on our patrol and continued deeper into the district. “Hey, you know what I’ve noticed?” Rohan said. “Hm?” I asked in return. “I haven’t seen all that many little humans, you know, their pups, kids, children, whatever they call them.” I was about to argue that I had seen quite a few children, but when I really thought about it. The only significant group of human children I had seen was when a bunch of them confronted me and painted the four-leaf clover and star onto my chest plate. Other than that, I’ve only seen a few. “Now that you mention it, you’re right. I’ve hardly seen any. Why do you think that is?” Rohan thought for a minute. Then, he snapped his secondary jaw in realization or remembered something. “I remember a bit of talk about a lot of young ones being on a second ARK ship. I don’t know much about it. All I know is that most of their young population, as in newborns to tweens, was supposedly on an ARK ship called ARK Twelve. Other than that, I don’t know much.” “Where did you hear that from?” I asked. “One of my buddies works in intelligence gathering. We like humans, but the intelligence bureau doesn’t fully trust them like Lord Lieutenant Commander Canilia Feral doesn't. I can’t blame them. Again, Humans are still a big unknown, even though they are one of the cutest things I have ever seen.” “Agreed.” “He was pretty drunk when I asked him, but it was his reaction when he said out loud that really disturbed me. Normally he’s a pretty big drinker because you see some bad shit in intelligence gathering. I mean, there are some terrible people out there. But the second he mentioned ARK twelve, he got really really sad. And he didn’t even finish his drink, which was a first. He mumbled something about going home to spend time with the human he was taking care of. I don’t know what it was about the response, but I got a sense of pure dread from it.” I nodded my head, and we continued. I felt like asking the next human I saw about ARK twelve, but I sensed it would be a bad idea. We saw a commotion in front of what looked like a jewelry store. Wandering over, there was a female tiwond Who seemed distressed. As we approached, she continuously asked strangers if they had seen someone. A lot of other people are starting to be concerned, too, for some reason. We approach to attempt to calm the situation. “Enforcers, what’s going on here?” Rohan asked. The woman turned around rather quickly. She was short and had that typical camo pattern fur that the people of the woodland area have, so she was most likely not a local. Then again, you can never be too confident in the city. “I lost them! I can't find them! I don’t know where they are!” She almost yelled in what looked like fear and worry. “Whoa, calm down, ma’am. What’s the problem?” I gently told her to try to get him to calm down. “Take four large breaths and clear all four of your lungs. Trust me, it helps.” She took some deep breaths, seemingly calmed down just a little, and then spoke again. “I am in charge of two humans under my care for the exchange program. I had brought her and her kid here to the shopping district to see if they wanted anything before moving back to the Woodland cities. However, they vanished. I don’t know where they went. I am terrified of all the unknowns around here that might hurt them.” “Thank you. Do you know where you last saw them?” I asked. I made a hand motion to Rohan to signal in an incident report and some backup. Rohan stepped away from the conversation and radioed a command using his helmet. “This is Rohan. I'm reporting a case of a missing person. Yeah, two humans went missing. I’m currently with Brolien, and we’re patrolling the shopping district… Green Wyvern. Can you send a few more patrols down here to help? We can’t have two aliens going missing in the city. That's bad, AR. Also, and yes, I want to see them safe. I am not an AR asshole.” "This is HQ, sending down an additional squad. Keep us updated." "Yes sir." Rhoan responded “Do you know which store you were in when you saw them last?” I asked. “The jewelry store, the one just over there. About [10 minutes] ago. Their names are Jasper and Melinda.” She pointed to one of the higher-end jewelry stores, and I motioned to Rohan to follow me. I noticed a few Street cops coming over to see what the situation was about. “What’s going on here?” one of the cops asked. I recognize this one, a retired Detective, I think. “Missing persons, two humans last seen over there. We’re going to investigate now,” I quickly informed him. “Keep an eye on her, will you?” He nodded and walked over to the lady, with two others in tow. Rohan and I walked over to the building to inspect the area around it. “If a human is missing here… I’m worried about who might’ve taken them. I know it’s pretty rare for kidnappings, but still.” Rohan said as he opened a dumpster and took a peek inside. “I mean, the humans are so frail. A good-sized hail storm will kill them.” Rohan said. “Yeah, apparently it can. I’ve heard rumors that back on their home planet, it’s possible to die from things like that.” I responded. “Unbelievable,” Rohan replied in disbelief, shaking his head. We started to search the area, calling out their names. We wandered past an ally—“Oh, protector, what is this?” I looked over to see Rohan had stepped in Something. I walked over and looked at it. “Is that blood?” I asked him. “No way too light to be blood. Look at how red it is. It’s not even a black color like ours. I bet you another copper wire melted. I can tell by the scent.” he replied as he shook the stuff off his boot. I took a closer look, put my hand in it, and brought it up to my face. It looked like blood. It flowed like blood. I used the scanning equipment in my helmet and… …Oh shit. “Rohan, this is human blood,” I said. I got up and turned the safety off my gun. Rohan follows suit, and we both enter the alleyway, guns drawn. There was a little more blood on the walls and a bit on the ground. “This is enforcer Rohan calling enforcer HQ, and we have possible contact with an unknown that has seemingly taken two humans, one child, and one mother. Send backup, sending location.” Rohan called in as we quietly walked along the side of the alleyway. We are doing our best to make no noise. I’m so happy that we are wearing the newer power armor. They are so silent. “Roger that Rohan, this is enforcer HQ. Reinforcements are inbound in two minutes.” The coms operator said [Chanting] “Do you hear that? Sounds like chanting?” Rohan whispered. I strained my ears to listen and turned up the sensitivity on my power armor audio receptors. Chanting, I wonder… “Do you think it could be…?” I trailed off, and he immediately knew what I was talking about. “Cult of the old God? This far north? Hm… shoot to kill.” Rohan sternly replied. “This is Enforcer Rohan, possible contact with the Cult of the old god. I am requesting time for the arrival of reinforcements.” “Reinforcements inbound in one minute.” We both quickened the pace and turned the corner-“FUCK!” I yelled out loud. There were Six cultists in total. Two cultus whipped around to face me. One drew a pistol, and another a plasma pistol. “CONTACT CONTACT! LIGHT THEM UP!” Rohan yelled, and we both started blasting into them. We popped bullet bullets into each of their heads and two hearts, taking them down instantly. “Cultus! Here! This far north! What the fuck?!” Rohan yelled. The three others drew their guns and aimed and opened fire at us as we took cover behind some old barrels. We were bullet and plasma-proof in our power armor, but I would rather not risk it. Rohan tossed a flash bang, and It blew up a second later. I heard screams a second later, and we got up and opened fire, our visors blocking out the flash. We both nailed the same bastard as his buddies dove behind cover. They would fire at us every few seconds, keeping our heads down. I looked at Rohan and made the hand single to get the shield. He reached behind himself and took out the heavy-duty shield. I had the battering ram, so I was not that useful. He got up first as I threw another flash, confusing and disorienting the cultists as it went off. We both advanced as Rohan swapped out his heavy rifle for an SMG; I took out the full-auto shotgun as we got closer. Rohan shield-bashed the first one and then blasted him with the SMG. I took out the second one with my shotgun. A bullet deflected off of the shield, and a small spread of bullets that Rohan could deflect with his shield came at us. Then they stopped, and we rushed to cover, Rohan still holding the shield. I peeked out from behind the cover. “Were did..” I started when I heard a yell from behind us. Whipping around, the cultist had appeared and was now wrestling with me for my shotgun. In a split second, I shoved the shotgun into him as he pulled, disorienting him and knocking the wind out of him. I then grabbed the battering ram, which had already been turned on and was at full power, and bashed it into his chest. He immediately exploded from the pressure, and I was coated in his blood. Looking around, all the cultists were down just as reinforcements flooded the area. Looking at the cultus robes, I noticed the same color of blood on them that I had looked at earlier. “Shit, I think these guys got the humans!” I told Rohan. The human female was lying on what looked like a makeshift altar made of scrap metal, an old luxurious chair, and wood. Her entire chest and lower body had been torn open. Most of her major organs were removed, and her heart was speared with multiple little needles and placed on top of the altar. “This is bad. This is bad. If there is this far north, they have gotten bold.” Rohan spoke as he walked over to the human female and inspected her. “She died only a minute ago. It looks like she was in pain the entire time, too. Damn. FUCKING FANTIC SHITS!” “Radio this in,” I ordered Rohan, and he immediately did that. I walked over to the human adult female's corpse and looked at it as a medic was handling her. Why didn’t she scream? Oh, that’s why. They sewed her mouth shut. Damn. I look at the cultists again and look at their golden medallions decorated with a skull. “Wait, Rohan. Weren’t there two?” We looked at each other and immediately split up in different directions to find the kid. It didn't take long for me to see him. “Aw…kid.” I gently bent down to inspect the little body. His lower jaw was gone entirely. His left arm seems to have been sawed off and taken. His eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving. I looked up and noticed footprints taking off into the distance. A seventh cultist, it looks like we missed one. I cradled his head in my hand and took a pulse. Nothing… “Shit.” “Oh, void.” ‘Oh, my young one…I am sorry.” the other enforcers said as we gathered around the child's corpse. One of the enforcers punched a wall out of anger as another just sat on an old couch, shaking her head. “Looks like there was a seventh we missed. If I get my hands on that-.” Another one started. *GACK!* “OH SHIT! ROHAN HE'S STILL ALIVE!” I screamed. Rohan immediately ran over and looked. As did the medic. “By the protector he is!” The medic yelled as she began to administer human-friendly meds. “There is an ambulance outside. MOVE!” She yelled. I picked up the kid and held him in my arms, carrying him as the medic did her work. “You’ll be OK, you’ll be OK,” I told him to comfort him, although I felt it was more for my own sake. “JASPER!” I looked behind me to see the female running to me and followed beside me. "MISS IS MUST INSIST YOU MOVE-" The medic begins to yell. "I'M HIS CARE TAKER!" she yelled back. "Shhhh, I’m here now.” Jasper reached up with a blood-soaked hand and began to grab at her fur like he was trying to hold onto life. She held him to her and then took something out of her bag. “I can use this to get the blood out of his lungs!” “Do it!” the medic told her. She stuck the tube into the kid's chest, and blood came out, and he immediately began to breathe easier. He then latched himself to her chest and passed out. “Don’t worry. I promised your mom I would take care of you if anything happened to her. I will take care of you.” She quietly told the sleeping child as she rocked back and forth, crying, holding the child as the ambulance came around the corner with more enforcers. They loaded both of them into the ambulance and took them away. I walked out and sat down on a bench in front of the alleyway. I just needed time to think. I sat there as the world around me continued. Just lost in thought. What if we got there sooner..? I was broken out of the trance by Rohan. “You alright?” I looked down. “No, we were supposed to protect them…” “Yeah,” Rohan said. We just sat there. It was helping a little to have my buddy there. But…still A human was…dead. “And yet…we saved a human child.” He told me. I nodded, looking up at the Alien space station that was now in orbit around our planet. “Yeah…we did.” We remained silent before he put an arm around me and hugged me. "I hope he survives." "Me too, me too." First/Previous/Next |
2024.06.09 15:31 WMH81 My gut had been telling me things, of course I need a second opinion. Story time!
Day four of no-contact, one of our (apparently now formerly) mutual friends had gotten a hold of me yesterday to say the ex had tried to reach out to her about something and then got pissy when she didn't get an immediate response, so she just never responded to the ex. I had a good long chat with the friend about things and the way things had been while I was with the ex, and her response to most of them was along the lines of "Jesus, I didn't realize... Just... no. Just no." The more responses I get from people like that, the more I think my gut was right. So I figured I'd throw some of them out to all of you and see what Reddit thinks. This is going to be a long one.
1) Back in high school (20 years ago) she smoked weed, drank, partied, fucked around, and always reminisces about it with a big smile on her face. Had no problem talking about her exes from high school in the same way, especially "J1." She brought him up a million times, and always gave me the same spiel as if she forgot she had told me every time. "He was my ex from high school, my first everything but a kiss. We were together for about a year and a half, we were so in love. You know he's the only guy I've ever cheated on in my entire life, and I still feel so bad about it to this day... I actually apologized to him a few years ago, I know it's stupid high school stuff but I just felt so bad. We still talk sometimes, I can always go to him with my problems or anything. He's just always going to be my person." I mean, one night for no reason she sat down next to me with a photo album. She flipped through the early kids stuff without saying anything and went straight to her high school photos. She went right to her exes and started pointing them out and naming them, then got to J. She started the spiel but caught herself a couple sentences in, closed the album, and put it away. After the breakup I had moved and was helping her digitize some of her old 8mm tapes, we were watching an elementary school Christmas program and at one point she sits up and exclaims "Oh my God is that J1?!" with the same big smile.
2) At the end of high school she had gotten with this other piece of garbage and got pregnant. They were together with the kid for a couple years then he cheated on her and they split. He was a worthless deadbeat dad, but they still kept in occasional contact. We'll call him "J2." She had him come out a couple times when she bought her house after her own divorce to help with renovation. Before we had dated, I noticed those two were acting like a couple (even though she was already starting to get serious with someone else... call him "C"). At one point we were out in the garage while she was gone at the store, discussing a decision on the house she told me she wasn't going to do but she was going to do it now. He says "Oh that's cause I told her to do it. Yeah, she always listens to me. She does whatever I say, that little girl fuckin loves me. I got her wrapped around my little finger." A year later after her and I had started dating, I was staying at her place a couple nights a week while helping out at another branch. One night she says "I need to get J2 out here again at some point soon to finish the painting in the front hallway." Next day while I was going to work, she had gone from talking to me all the time to dead radio silence all day. I got back from work a couple hours early and she had gone to pick up her kid from school. I come inside and walk through the kitchen, and much to my surprise J2 steps out from around the corner with his hands up and a big smile on his face like he was ready to give somebody a big hug. He sees me, his face immediately turns to "oh shit." I just said "what's up" and went back to the bedroom to drop my bag. The sheets on the bed were all wadded up at the end, the clothes she had been wearing to bed were tossed around on the nightstand, pillows, bed. I piled the clothes up and set it next to my bag on the bed, just to let her know I had been in there. I went back outside to work on the grill, this dumbass came and sat out back and tried to make small talk. Smoking weed, yelling and swearing, you can hear the music he had blaring inside the house, a bunch of stuff that she said she did not want going on considering her neighbor was an elementary school principal and she had DHS stuff going on with her ex-husband. But apparently he got to do it all. Eventually he goes back inside, she comes home and blows right by me without even looking at me. A couple minutes later she comes rushing out, standing over on the other side of the patio, going right into this story about how the 4-year-old messed the bedroom up like that. No hugs, kisses, how was your day, sorry I didn't have my phone on me, nothing like that. The rest of the time he was at the house, he didn't say anything to me and he looked very uncomfortable whenever he looked over at me. A few hours later she took the four year old with to take this guy back home an hour away. She was gone for a long time.
3) Right around the end of all her divorce proceedings, one of our other mutual friends introduced her to someone she knew, for the sake of maybe being friends with benefits. Something to try to blow off some steam, try to move on, rebound kind of thing. Let's call him "R." Before we were dating, she mentioned him once or twice (same time she was getting involved with the previously mentioned C) but that the whole friends with benefits/fuck buddies thing wasn't really her kind of thing so nothing ever happened between them. But they were still friends. I noticed that seemed like she talked to him more and more as time went on, but she was always trying to hide it. One time I glanced over and saw she got a text from him. "How's it going, doll?" Another time I saw him talking about "the mystery in your eyes." Anytime I was nearby after she got done texting with him she would immediately turn her phone screen off and set it face down next to her leg away from me. One time I came home from work and she was sitting on the couch in the living room with the kids, and she was on the phone. I set my bag down and walked across the living room to give her a kiss as we always did when one of us came home from work. I got halfway there and she stood up and started walking around me to the kitchen. She stopped to look at her screen and turn the volume down and I saw his name on it. She then went to the kitchen without a word to me and got quiet. I sat down on the couch for a few minutes then went into the kitchen to get something to drink, and when I got there she went right back to the living room without a word to me. Got my water and went back to the living room, she went straight back to the kitchen. Eventually she came back to the living room, stood there texting for like 10 minutes straight. I asked if she was chatting with R, she said yeah, she had only talked to him on the phone one other time, so they were just catching up. Then she came back and sat down on the other end of the couch from me, nothing about how our days were, no welcome home kiss, nothing. After the breakup while I was still living there, one of the times she handed me her phone to look at a house listing she found, as soon as I looked at the screen a text from him popped up. "He doesn't know shit."
Thoughts? I know this was a long one, this was just the biggest things that had been on my mind regarding her from the last couple years.
submitted by WMH81 to BreakUps [link] [comments]
1) Back in high school (20 years ago) she smoked weed, drank, partied, fucked around, and always reminisces about it with a big smile on her face. Had no problem talking about her exes from high school in the same way, especially "J1." She brought him up a million times, and always gave me the same spiel as if she forgot she had told me every time. "He was my ex from high school, my first everything but a kiss. We were together for about a year and a half, we were so in love. You know he's the only guy I've ever cheated on in my entire life, and I still feel so bad about it to this day... I actually apologized to him a few years ago, I know it's stupid high school stuff but I just felt so bad. We still talk sometimes, I can always go to him with my problems or anything. He's just always going to be my person." I mean, one night for no reason she sat down next to me with a photo album. She flipped through the early kids stuff without saying anything and went straight to her high school photos. She went right to her exes and started pointing them out and naming them, then got to J. She started the spiel but caught herself a couple sentences in, closed the album, and put it away. After the breakup I had moved and was helping her digitize some of her old 8mm tapes, we were watching an elementary school Christmas program and at one point she sits up and exclaims "Oh my God is that J1?!" with the same big smile.
2) At the end of high school she had gotten with this other piece of garbage and got pregnant. They were together with the kid for a couple years then he cheated on her and they split. He was a worthless deadbeat dad, but they still kept in occasional contact. We'll call him "J2." She had him come out a couple times when she bought her house after her own divorce to help with renovation. Before we had dated, I noticed those two were acting like a couple (even though she was already starting to get serious with someone else... call him "C"). At one point we were out in the garage while she was gone at the store, discussing a decision on the house she told me she wasn't going to do but she was going to do it now. He says "Oh that's cause I told her to do it. Yeah, she always listens to me. She does whatever I say, that little girl fuckin loves me. I got her wrapped around my little finger." A year later after her and I had started dating, I was staying at her place a couple nights a week while helping out at another branch. One night she says "I need to get J2 out here again at some point soon to finish the painting in the front hallway." Next day while I was going to work, she had gone from talking to me all the time to dead radio silence all day. I got back from work a couple hours early and she had gone to pick up her kid from school. I come inside and walk through the kitchen, and much to my surprise J2 steps out from around the corner with his hands up and a big smile on his face like he was ready to give somebody a big hug. He sees me, his face immediately turns to "oh shit." I just said "what's up" and went back to the bedroom to drop my bag. The sheets on the bed were all wadded up at the end, the clothes she had been wearing to bed were tossed around on the nightstand, pillows, bed. I piled the clothes up and set it next to my bag on the bed, just to let her know I had been in there. I went back outside to work on the grill, this dumbass came and sat out back and tried to make small talk. Smoking weed, yelling and swearing, you can hear the music he had blaring inside the house, a bunch of stuff that she said she did not want going on considering her neighbor was an elementary school principal and she had DHS stuff going on with her ex-husband. But apparently he got to do it all. Eventually he goes back inside, she comes home and blows right by me without even looking at me. A couple minutes later she comes rushing out, standing over on the other side of the patio, going right into this story about how the 4-year-old messed the bedroom up like that. No hugs, kisses, how was your day, sorry I didn't have my phone on me, nothing like that. The rest of the time he was at the house, he didn't say anything to me and he looked very uncomfortable whenever he looked over at me. A few hours later she took the four year old with to take this guy back home an hour away. She was gone for a long time.
3) Right around the end of all her divorce proceedings, one of our other mutual friends introduced her to someone she knew, for the sake of maybe being friends with benefits. Something to try to blow off some steam, try to move on, rebound kind of thing. Let's call him "R." Before we were dating, she mentioned him once or twice (same time she was getting involved with the previously mentioned C) but that the whole friends with benefits/fuck buddies thing wasn't really her kind of thing so nothing ever happened between them. But they were still friends. I noticed that seemed like she talked to him more and more as time went on, but she was always trying to hide it. One time I glanced over and saw she got a text from him. "How's it going, doll?" Another time I saw him talking about "the mystery in your eyes." Anytime I was nearby after she got done texting with him she would immediately turn her phone screen off and set it face down next to her leg away from me. One time I came home from work and she was sitting on the couch in the living room with the kids, and she was on the phone. I set my bag down and walked across the living room to give her a kiss as we always did when one of us came home from work. I got halfway there and she stood up and started walking around me to the kitchen. She stopped to look at her screen and turn the volume down and I saw his name on it. She then went to the kitchen without a word to me and got quiet. I sat down on the couch for a few minutes then went into the kitchen to get something to drink, and when I got there she went right back to the living room without a word to me. Got my water and went back to the living room, she went straight back to the kitchen. Eventually she came back to the living room, stood there texting for like 10 minutes straight. I asked if she was chatting with R, she said yeah, she had only talked to him on the phone one other time, so they were just catching up. Then she came back and sat down on the other end of the couch from me, nothing about how our days were, no welcome home kiss, nothing. After the breakup while I was still living there, one of the times she handed me her phone to look at a house listing she found, as soon as I looked at the screen a text from him popped up. "He doesn't know shit."
Thoughts? I know this was a long one, this was just the biggest things that had been on my mind regarding her from the last couple years.
2024.06.09 15:29 Away_Tea_8414 [NED] T9R SFT40 4000K swap
![[NED] T9R SFT40 4000K swap](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/iVbi8-a1GF38GGwi2wzU4wCrTstJ2hegxz-0snPRDuw.jpg "[NED] T9R SFT40 4000K swap") | This turned out to be so much more difficult than I was expecting. Apologies for many words: submitted by Away_Tea_8414 to flashlight [link] [comments] The bezel was not glued and came off easily, giving access to the proprietary MCPCB. The solder is the hardest to remove I’ve ever come across, I had curved tweezers holding the MCPCB off the shelf, flux, and my Hakko iron up to its max - 480c. After what seemed like forever, it budged. The wires were incredibly stiff and small cross section, not the typical silicone I’m used to. The plastic-like insulation was a bit rough from factory and by the time I’d finished, they needed replacing. Access to the driver is beyond the glued retaining ring, removing the driver is fiddly and I never managed to remove the switch while replacing the wires, which were now too thick to pass together, through one hole in the shelf. After some head-scratching, the + and - had to go through separate holes in the shelf, with the MCPCB rotated 90 degrees to utilise the larger, screw holes in the board. I tried a 20mm star MCPCB, but the pads are too close to the emitter as Fireflies have chosen to use a reflector with a large opening which contacts the soldered wires (I cut down the gasket while attempting this). The light itself is beautifully well made, the ano finish is superb and feels grippy. Button actuation is short but tactile and it must have shipped with a late Anduril revision as it has fade on/off. All-in-all a good use of FF reward points as I paid $21. |
2024.06.09 15:28 Chris00008 Now I understand why people hate guest characters (basic math).
In SF6, this season has two returning characters.
If each of the next five seasons (through season seven) has only two returning characters, that means over the lifespan of the game, there will be only TEN more legacy SF6 characters. (Instead of 15, if they followed the pattern from season one.)
The chance of getting your favorite just went down considerably.
submitted by Chris00008 to Fighters [link] [comments]
If each of the next five seasons (through season seven) has only two returning characters, that means over the lifespan of the game, there will be only TEN more legacy SF6 characters. (Instead of 15, if they followed the pattern from season one.)
The chance of getting your favorite just went down considerably.
2024.06.09 15:28 Smooth-Review-2614 Farthing by Jo Walton
Farthing is the first book in the Small Change trilogy by Jo Walton. I went into this blind since I had forgotten why I had asked my library to buy it a few months back and didn't bother to read the blurb. To frame this review remember this trilogy was written 2006-2008 and Walton is a British author.
This is an alternate history where America elected Charles Lindburgh and we never did more than send some old ships to the UK. This is a world where Pearl Harbor never happened and Hitler did not open WWII by attacking Russia. Here the UK cut a deal with Hitler to end the war and to prevent an invasion. There is all evidence that the horrors of the Holocaust and the Japanese invasion is still there but no one cares.
This trilogy is about the rise of a fascist government in England and this first book is about the inciting incident that gives the political cover to allow a prime minister to seize power. The plot is a standard murder mystery where the smart out of town detective comes in and most of the page time is about the gossip of the family.
Where this novel shines is how the background is shown. It is in the newspaper coverage about Kurst changing hands, a siege at Stalingrad, efficient Nazi work camps, and Japan putting down uprising. It's in conversations about those Reds trying to start labor unions, fear of a Bolshevik uprising, and the depth of the casual antisemitism. The turn from simple murder investigation to political witch hunt and frame is well done.
Still at the end of the day this is a story told from the view of a single detective and the victims of the frame. What gives this book the horror is the reader's knowledge of what is happening off stage. It's seeing the light go out as decent people realize that the Germans, Poles, and French are not uniquely evil to have allowed the horror but it is going to happen here.
I finished this book in a day and I woke up thinking about it. If you are a fan of alternate history you should consider this trilogy.
submitted by Smooth-Review-2614 to Fantasy [link] [comments]
This is an alternate history where America elected Charles Lindburgh and we never did more than send some old ships to the UK. This is a world where Pearl Harbor never happened and Hitler did not open WWII by attacking Russia. Here the UK cut a deal with Hitler to end the war and to prevent an invasion. There is all evidence that the horrors of the Holocaust and the Japanese invasion is still there but no one cares.
This trilogy is about the rise of a fascist government in England and this first book is about the inciting incident that gives the political cover to allow a prime minister to seize power. The plot is a standard murder mystery where the smart out of town detective comes in and most of the page time is about the gossip of the family.
Where this novel shines is how the background is shown. It is in the newspaper coverage about Kurst changing hands, a siege at Stalingrad, efficient Nazi work camps, and Japan putting down uprising. It's in conversations about those Reds trying to start labor unions, fear of a Bolshevik uprising, and the depth of the casual antisemitism. The turn from simple murder investigation to political witch hunt and frame is well done.
Still at the end of the day this is a story told from the view of a single detective and the victims of the frame. What gives this book the horror is the reader's knowledge of what is happening off stage. It's seeing the light go out as decent people realize that the Germans, Poles, and French are not uniquely evil to have allowed the horror but it is going to happen here.
I finished this book in a day and I woke up thinking about it. If you are a fan of alternate history you should consider this trilogy.
2024.06.09 15:28 NonSpecificGuy26 Finished Downpour for the First Time: My Review
To preface I had played Downpour when it came out. I played it on PS3 when I had a subscription to GameFly (good old days) but I never finished it and, in the lead up to 2 Remake I wanted to amend that.
I want to say first thing that’s on my mind. I truly do believe that Downpour is underrated and overhated but I also think that the reception it got in 2012 makes sense. I’ll explain.
The Combat: The gameplay is beautifully clunky. It reeks that old school Team Silent feeling of making the main character seem like an average joe who can barely hold his own. It’s weird and doesn’t always make sense but once you get the feel for it it’s not that bad. Starting out I would try to interrupt the enemies mid swing which often didn’t work, then I moved to defending all their flurries before getting in a couple hits, but I finally learned how to bait the enemies and put them down in seconds. Combat actually has options despite it feeling so hollow on the surface. It’s not some deep mechanical system or anything but I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t doing the same strategy the whole game and, yeah, running away was a viable strategy as well which is always nice. I do believe the combat is where 2012 players got fed up though along with two others I’ll talk about next. It’s rudimentary in comparison to games coming out around the time and it’s not exactly satisfying. Yeah I learned to enjoy it but it didn’t stop me from getting tired of fighting the same 3 enemies and I often just started trying to avoid them.
The Graphics: Straight up, the game isn’t pretty. At all. As a matter of fact it’s downright ugly most of the time. Character models aside from Murphy suffer the most they just look wooden and like they’re constantly jittering like they’re barely still attached to the earth. I think this somewhat benefits the game when it comes to the monsters, the screamers in particular, and gives the town and locations this grungy feel to them. This is one of the other sticking points for 2012 players. This was the era when all that mattered was ma graphix people often writing off really good Wii games because they were ugly. Gamers in 2012 were relentless with this. If it wasn’t the most groundbreaking graphical leap it wasn’t worth $60.
The Town: In all honesty the exploration of the city is the very best part of the game, in my opinion. Running around Silent Hill finding Easter Eggs and searching for secret entrances was always a blast to me (The Room Easter Egg is truly special). The last time I’ve played a game whose atmosphere was so thick, so haunting, and so fitting was honestly probably Silent Hill 3. Walking around the city making your way through dilapidated buildings and alleyways just felt so right. The Radio’s you can find around town that play some of the most beautiful and haunting licensed music with the quality you’d expect from a radio like that always made me feel something. My personal favorite was If I Had a Boat in the Bank. My biggest complaint about the city is what I imagine everyone’s complaint is. It’s labyrinthian but it doesn’t have any shortcuts aside from the Subway unlocking which was convoluted to say the least. It could’ve REALLY benefited from a Dark Souls like take on the town where you could open up shortcuts to previous locations but considering Dark Souls was only a year prior that seems unfair. This is where I think 2012 players found their other issue. Traversal is long and tedious. Especially without the subway and with monsters roaming the streets.
The Sidequests: One of the stronger parts of the game for me but one that I only loved because I had a guide to tell me which building was which. If I were trying to remember which specific building held Painting sidequest, or ribbon sidequest ending I would have been roaming for hours. With a guide, not for the puzzles, it’s a breeze and a blast to uncover the many sidequests lying about and the tragic stories that they often tell. One of my favorite parts of the game honestly, the point that I was pretty sad when I ran out of sidequests to find. The fact there are 13 is surprising though as that’s a hefty amount for such a small town.
The Story: The story has a relatively strong hook. The opening to the game is a clever twist on the James archetype but it shows you from the beginning that Murphy isn’t a good guy. He’s not a hero. Sewel is the worst and that’s great. He really is a character that you despise from the get go and is the true villain of the story because of his coercion. Frank is solid but I wish he was present for more of the story since he’s such an integral part of it. The character interactions you have are depressing and weird like they should be. And you’re introduced to the “monster” that will haunt Murphy for the entire game and it’s not what you would expect. While a wheelchair bound monster is unsettling it’s not scary and I liked that. It’s not about the monster marching around trying to kill you like Pyramid Head. The journey from the cable camines to the town is one of my most memorable set pieces from this era.
The Endings: I think this is the one place where the game truly falters. The endings just do not satisfy in my opinion. Especially given the fact that depending on the ending the… past… changes somehow.
Ending A: it’s nice and all that Murphy didn’t kill Frank but the fact he didn’t even kill Napier and Sewel had to finish the job makes the accusations pointed at Murphy for the whole game about him being a murderer makes this ending fall apart.
Ending B: this is the best one. Murphy still doesn’t kill Napier for some reason but he doesn’t kill Frank and Anne, Franks daughter, presumably get her revenge on Sewel
Ending C: Murphy kills Frank and then offs himself which puts him back into a loop that find him in the Lakeside Penitentiary from the end of the game. Basically saying that this ending doesn’t even matter.
Ending D: The Execution one is weird. You randomly show back up at the prison from the beginning and Murphy is blamed for killing Charlie, randomly calls Sewel a cupcake, then fucking dies. What a lad.
Ending E: Just a beautiful farewell in all honesty.
Ending F: seeing Murphy take on the role of Sewel and Anne take on the role of Murphy feels like it could’ve been a whole NG+ moment of its own. It’s neat but it goes nowhere.
So yeah! I quite enjoyed it. Obviously I had my gripes with it but overall it’s definitely worthwhile and worthy of the Silent Hill title. I played it on Series X so I didn’t really experience any glitches like I did on my PS3 in 2012 so I can’t speak on those.
Solid 8/10 for me.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my long winded review. :)
submitted by NonSpecificGuy26 to silenthill [link] [comments]
I want to say first thing that’s on my mind. I truly do believe that Downpour is underrated and overhated but I also think that the reception it got in 2012 makes sense. I’ll explain.
The Combat: The gameplay is beautifully clunky. It reeks that old school Team Silent feeling of making the main character seem like an average joe who can barely hold his own. It’s weird and doesn’t always make sense but once you get the feel for it it’s not that bad. Starting out I would try to interrupt the enemies mid swing which often didn’t work, then I moved to defending all their flurries before getting in a couple hits, but I finally learned how to bait the enemies and put them down in seconds. Combat actually has options despite it feeling so hollow on the surface. It’s not some deep mechanical system or anything but I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t doing the same strategy the whole game and, yeah, running away was a viable strategy as well which is always nice. I do believe the combat is where 2012 players got fed up though along with two others I’ll talk about next. It’s rudimentary in comparison to games coming out around the time and it’s not exactly satisfying. Yeah I learned to enjoy it but it didn’t stop me from getting tired of fighting the same 3 enemies and I often just started trying to avoid them.
The Graphics: Straight up, the game isn’t pretty. At all. As a matter of fact it’s downright ugly most of the time. Character models aside from Murphy suffer the most they just look wooden and like they’re constantly jittering like they’re barely still attached to the earth. I think this somewhat benefits the game when it comes to the monsters, the screamers in particular, and gives the town and locations this grungy feel to them. This is one of the other sticking points for 2012 players. This was the era when all that mattered was ma graphix people often writing off really good Wii games because they were ugly. Gamers in 2012 were relentless with this. If it wasn’t the most groundbreaking graphical leap it wasn’t worth $60.
The Town: In all honesty the exploration of the city is the very best part of the game, in my opinion. Running around Silent Hill finding Easter Eggs and searching for secret entrances was always a blast to me (The Room Easter Egg is truly special). The last time I’ve played a game whose atmosphere was so thick, so haunting, and so fitting was honestly probably Silent Hill 3. Walking around the city making your way through dilapidated buildings and alleyways just felt so right. The Radio’s you can find around town that play some of the most beautiful and haunting licensed music with the quality you’d expect from a radio like that always made me feel something. My personal favorite was If I Had a Boat in the Bank. My biggest complaint about the city is what I imagine everyone’s complaint is. It’s labyrinthian but it doesn’t have any shortcuts aside from the Subway unlocking which was convoluted to say the least. It could’ve REALLY benefited from a Dark Souls like take on the town where you could open up shortcuts to previous locations but considering Dark Souls was only a year prior that seems unfair. This is where I think 2012 players found their other issue. Traversal is long and tedious. Especially without the subway and with monsters roaming the streets.
The Sidequests: One of the stronger parts of the game for me but one that I only loved because I had a guide to tell me which building was which. If I were trying to remember which specific building held Painting sidequest, or ribbon sidequest ending I would have been roaming for hours. With a guide, not for the puzzles, it’s a breeze and a blast to uncover the many sidequests lying about and the tragic stories that they often tell. One of my favorite parts of the game honestly, the point that I was pretty sad when I ran out of sidequests to find. The fact there are 13 is surprising though as that’s a hefty amount for such a small town.
The Story: The story has a relatively strong hook. The opening to the game is a clever twist on the James archetype but it shows you from the beginning that Murphy isn’t a good guy. He’s not a hero. Sewel is the worst and that’s great. He really is a character that you despise from the get go and is the true villain of the story because of his coercion. Frank is solid but I wish he was present for more of the story since he’s such an integral part of it. The character interactions you have are depressing and weird like they should be. And you’re introduced to the “monster” that will haunt Murphy for the entire game and it’s not what you would expect. While a wheelchair bound monster is unsettling it’s not scary and I liked that. It’s not about the monster marching around trying to kill you like Pyramid Head. The journey from the cable camines to the town is one of my most memorable set pieces from this era.
The Endings: I think this is the one place where the game truly falters. The endings just do not satisfy in my opinion. Especially given the fact that depending on the ending the… past… changes somehow.
Ending A: it’s nice and all that Murphy didn’t kill Frank but the fact he didn’t even kill Napier and Sewel had to finish the job makes the accusations pointed at Murphy for the whole game about him being a murderer makes this ending fall apart.
Ending B: this is the best one. Murphy still doesn’t kill Napier for some reason but he doesn’t kill Frank and Anne, Franks daughter, presumably get her revenge on Sewel
Ending C: Murphy kills Frank and then offs himself which puts him back into a loop that find him in the Lakeside Penitentiary from the end of the game. Basically saying that this ending doesn’t even matter.
Ending D: The Execution one is weird. You randomly show back up at the prison from the beginning and Murphy is blamed for killing Charlie, randomly calls Sewel a cupcake, then fucking dies. What a lad.
Ending E: Just a beautiful farewell in all honesty.
Ending F: seeing Murphy take on the role of Sewel and Anne take on the role of Murphy feels like it could’ve been a whole NG+ moment of its own. It’s neat but it goes nowhere.
So yeah! I quite enjoyed it. Obviously I had my gripes with it but overall it’s definitely worthwhile and worthy of the Silent Hill title. I played it on Series X so I didn’t really experience any glitches like I did on my PS3 in 2012 so I can’t speak on those.
Solid 8/10 for me.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading my long winded review. :)
2024.06.09 15:27 tomesandtea [Discussion] Mod Pick David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Chapters 1-5
Welcome to our first discussion of David Copperfield! This week, we will discuss Chapters 1-5. The Marginalia post is here. You can find the Schedule here. The discussion questions are below.
One reminder - although this is a classic novel that has been adapted many times over, please keep in mind that not everyone has read or watched already, so be mindful not to include anything that could be a hint or a spoiler for the rest of the book or for other media related to this novel! Please mark all spoilers not related to this section of the book using the format > ! Spoiler text here !< (without any spaces between the characters themselves or between the characters and the first and last words).
Links of Note:
Chapter 1 - I Am Born: David Copperfield launches into the retelling of his life story with that famous line that questions whether he or someone else will turn out to be the hero of his life…but we’ll just have to read the whole thing to find out! Immediately we are let in on the unusual circumstances of David’s birth, which is suffused with superstition, causing the town gossips to speculate wildly. He was born on a Friday night near midnight, which of course means that he’ll have an unlucky life and be visited by ghosts and spirits. (I mean, would this even be a Victorian novel without some ghosts? David assures us that he’s yet to be haunted, though.) He was also born with a caul (inside the amniotic sac) which means he’ll be safe from drowning. This is apparently such great news that they advertise the caul for sale after his birth, but only get one hit on Victorian Craigslist, so they hang onto it until they can put it up for a raffle several years later. David says he remembers that raffle and found it super weird to watch a piece of himself get sold off, which, fair! He does note that the old lady who won the caul died in bed and not by drowning, so I suppose it was worth it?
Anyway, back to David’s birth! His father had been dead for six months on the night of his birth, and his mother was a terrified teenager living alone with Peggoty, her servant-girl, so called because they share the same first name. One Friday afternoon in March, his mother was hanging out by the fire and pondering the likelihood of dying in childbirth, when a formidable woman named Betsey Trotwood showed up at her door. Miss Betsey was his father’s aunt and she loved Mr. Copperfield, but hated her abusive husband, who she paid off to go to India and leave her alone. It worked - he died there! On the night in question, Miss Betsey literally pokes her nose into Mrs. Copperfield’s window and then demands that the pregnant lady get up to let her in. Being a force of nature, she takes charge of the room right away, criticizing the Copperfields’ choice of home (a rookery with no birds?) and making somewhat disparaging remarks about Mrs. Copperfield’s history as an orphan and a nanny. She also declares that the baby will be a girl and demands to be the godmother and namesake so the new Betsey Trotwood (Copperfield) can undo all the mistakes of Great Aunt Betsey’s life. Mrs. Copperfield goes into labor and Miss Betsey stays by the fire, plugging up her ears with cotton. She spends some time mildly abusing Ham Peggoty (the servant’s nephew who was hanging around the house to carry emergency messages) and generally ignoring the doctor. Said doctor, Mr. Chillip, is a gentle man but speaks so slowly that Miss Betsey almost throttles him. When he congratulates her on the birth of a BOY, she smacks him upside the head with her bonnet and leaves immediately, never to darken the Copperfields’ door again! Welcome to the world, David!
Chapter 2 - I Observe: David Copperfield relates some of his early impressions of life: his memories of creepy pantries, stuffy parlors, boring church services, and a loving home. His mother is young and beautiful in these memories, and Peggoty is beautiful to him in her own way (though she insists she is not). One day, Davy's mom shows up with a stranger who walks her home and - gasp! - touches her hand! Davy immediately dislikes this black-bearded, dead-eyed interloper and Peggoty seems to like him even less. He falls asleep while his mother is swooning over her new admirer, but when he wakes up his mom and Peggoty are having a big fight. Peggoty says the new man is bad news and Mr. Copperfield would never approve, while Davy's mom says Peggoty is being unfair and heartless. When all she does is sacrifice for Davy, doesn't she deserve some attention and excitement?! All three of them end up crying, and things are never quite the same between the trio again.
Davy's mom continues to see this man, Mr. Murdstone, who rides up one day and invites Davy to take a little trip with him to see a yacht. Peggoty gets him ready in a huff, and you can just tell this is the Victorian era version of riding on the irresponsible boyfriend's motorcycle without a helmet. Davy gets to meet some friends of Mr. Murdstone and watch them do a bunch of paperwork on the yacht. They also make fun of him, comment on how hot his mom is, and make him drink brandy. Since Davy is a little kid, he thinks they're having a grand time. When he later tells his mom they complimented her looks, she is quite thrilled. And then a few months later, Peggoty invites Davy to go with her to visit her brother for a fortnight. She talks up the trip so Davy will be excited, but it's clear she's worried. Davy wonders how his mom will fare all alone, but Peggoty assures him she will stay with a neighbor. (Lies!) Mr. Murdstone is there to see them off and he has … opinions … about how emotional Davy's mom is during the goodbyes. I'm with Davy when he wonders why it's any of this guy's business in the first place. In retrospect, Davy reflects that he wishes he had known he was leaving something behind forever and he is glad that he and his mom had a touching moment full of love as his carriage pulled away.
Chapter 3 - I Have a Change: Davy endures a very boring journey across flat countryside towards the sea to get to Peggoty’s family in Yarmouth. When Davy complains, Peggoty defends her hometown, as a proud Yarmouth Bloater. (Here's some bonus reading: a Victorian-era article about bloaters.) Davy is won over when they reach the busy fishing town and he gets to see the Peggoty home: it is a boat that has been converted for living, and he thinks it is pretty perfect. It turns out to be a full house due to the generous nature of Mr. Peggoty (original Peggoty's brother). Just don't mention said generosity because it makes him super mad. Mr. Peggoty has taken in the orphaned children - Ham and Em'ly - of his drowned brothers, as well as Mrs. Gummidge, the widow of his fishing partner. Davy's fortnight with the Peggotys is full of happiness. He explores the seashore with Em'ly and falls in love with her. They bond over never knowing their dads, although Em'ly wishes she were a lady in the same class as Davy. Davy reflects that given what he knows of her future life, it might've been better if Em'ly drowned that day by the sea. Dark! Mrs. Gummidge often has melancholy moods where she cries all day and declares she has it worse than everyone else, but the family kindly chalks it up to mourning for her husband and assures her they don't want her to go off to the poorhouse and die.
As the visit draws to a close, Davy realizes he has quite forgotten to miss his home and becomes eager to see his mother and Blunderstone Rookery. Yet when they arrive, Peggoty pulls him into the kitchen nervously. She really botches the delivery of her big news because Davy first thinks his mother may have died and then, when she tells him he has a dad, imagines Mr. Copperfield may have risen from the dead. But she brings him to the parlor to greet his new step-dad: it's Mr. Murdstone, of course. Mr. Murdstone proves himself to be a real downer, kicking things off by correcting Davy's mom (who we discover is named Clara) for jumping up too enthusiastically at her son’s arrival. Davy sneaks away to find that his house has completely changed and the yard has acquired a mean, black dog that snaps at him.
Chapter 4 - I Fall Into Disgrace: Davy has fallen asleep crying after the discovery of his mother’s marriage, and when Clara and Peggoty wake him, his mom blames both Peggoty and Davy for his despair. Mr. Murdstone comes up and dismisses them both so he can be alone with Davy. He explains that if he had a stubborn animal, he’d beat it until it obeyed, strongly implying that Davy had better change his attitude or else. Things get pretty grim for Davy after this. He is kept isolated from both his family and neighborhood children. Mr. Murdstone’s sister, Jane, comes to live with them and immediately takes over Blunderstone. Clara is given no say in household matters: even the keys are kept by Miss Murdstone and, when Clara protests and weeps at being pushed aside, the Murdstones manipulate her into apologies and submission. When the family goes to church, Peggoty is no longer invited and the Murdstones keep Davy and his mother apart; Davy also notices that the family seems to be the subject of much whispering and staring from the community.
Davy’s days are miserable. He is often locked up alone in his room, where he loses himself in his father’s old stash of novels and uses this escape as a survival mechanism. (This collection of novels was taken straight from Dickens’ own childhood, according to his biographer John Forster.) When allowed out of his room, Davy endures lengthy, difficult lessons in the parlor. He suspects the lessons are meant as much to teach his mom the Murdstone tradition offirmness tyranny as they are to educate him. No matter how hard Davy tries, he cannot seem to remember the lessons under such severe supervision. Davy is belittled as stupid for his mistakes and boxed on the ears with his books by Mr. Murdstone. When Clara tries to help Davy at one point, Miss Murdstone catches her, and both Clara and Davy are in a good deal of trouble. Clara is chastised, Davy is removed from the room, and the next day’s lessons are overseen by Mr. Murdstone with a cane and switches. This goes about as well as you would imagine: in his terror, Davy makes more mistakes than ever and is dragged from the room by Mr. Murdstone. To her credit, Clara does protest and try to run after them (unsuccessfully). Mr. Murdstone wields his cane and switches, but Davy bites his hand in an attempt to wriggle away. He then beats Davy severely and leaves him locked in his room for five days. During his imprisonment, Davy sees only Miss Murdstone who brings him meager meals and allows him short walks in the garden each morning and family prayers in the evening, before locking him away again. At the end of this punishment, which feels like years to Davy, Peggoty sneaks to his room to whisper through the keyhole that he will be sent to boarding school in the morning. She tells him his mother isn’t very angry with him, only disappointed, and begs him to remember her and her love for him. She promises to look after Clara and they both vow to write to each other. Davy asks to be remembered to Em’ly and the other Peggotys.
The next morning, his mother expresses her disappointment in his behavior and her hope that boarding school will reform him; Davy seems to realize she has been coached to believe the worst of him. He chokes down a little breakfast before his coach arrives, and Clara steals one unsupervised moment with him to say goodbye affectionately. Then, they are parted, and Davy is on his way to boarding school. It’ll surely be a harmonious and supportive learning environment. Right? Right?!?
Chapter Five - I Am Sent Away From Home: Mr. Barkis, the carrier driving Davy on the first leg of his journey to school, pulls over not too far away from the house. Who should appear out of the bushes but Peggoty! She silently hugs Davy until she pops some buttons of her dress (one of which Davy keeps), hands him some cakes, and slips him a note from his mother that includes two half-crowns. Davy shares a pastry with Mr. Barkis, who asks a lot of questions about Peggoty’s relationship status and cooking skills. He asks Davy to write Mr. Barkis is willin’ in one of his letters to Peggoty, which Davy does at the next stop. As he waits in Yarmouth for the stagecoach to London, Davy eats lunch at a hotel restaurant where he is grifted by the waiter. This unscrupulous man tricks Davy into giving him his ale, most of his food, and some of his money. The rumor goes around that Davy has the appetite of a boa constrictor, making him too nervous to eat at the next stop for supper. Wedged between two men and with a woman’s luggage stuffed underneath him, Davy spends an uncomfortable night in the stagecoach as it approaches London. He finds it strange the next morning, after all the snoring and moaning he witnessed, that the adults insist they were unable to sleep a wink!
Upon arriving at the station in London, there is no one to collect him. Waiting in the office, Davy begins to worry that he will be turned out of the station at night, run out of money and starve, get lost walking home, or have to offer himself as a soldier or sailor (though he knows he is too small for that). Finally, a rather scrawny man - who Davy assumes is the Master of Salem House School - arrives and takes Davy the rest of the way. Weak from lack of food and sleep, Davy begs to stop so he can buy breakfast, and the man takes him to the home of a poor woman (presumably his mother) to cook the provisions they purchase. The man plays the flute very badly as Davy begins to eat, but soon Davy has fallen asleep. He wakes to hear comments of “delicious” which he assumes refers to the man’s music, but I bet indicates they were eating Davy’s breakfast. They continue on to Salem House, where a man with a wooden leg lets them in and throws old boots at Davy’s escort, who turns out to be Mr. Mell, an employee of Mr. Creakle, the school proprietor. Salem House is dilapidated, dirty, and deserted. Davy wonders where everyone is and Mr. Mell informs him that Davy has been sent to school during the holidays as punishment. Another punishment: Davy must wear a sign on his back identifying him as a biter, which makes him increasingly paranoid that someone is always behind him reading it. (Probably not.) He also worries that the students, whose names he can read carved in the doorpost, will all make fun of him for it when they return. (Probably true!) Mr. Mell, an odd man with various ticks, doesn’t pay much attention to Davy, but neither is he mean. We get another ominous reference to the future in that Davy says he dreads the return of boys like J. Steerforth and the presence of “the awful Mr. Creakle”.
submitted by tomesandtea to bookclub [link] [comments]
One reminder - although this is a classic novel that has been adapted many times over, please keep in mind that not everyone has read or watched already, so be mindful not to include anything that could be a hint or a spoiler for the rest of the book or for other media related to this novel! Please mark all spoilers not related to this section of the book using the format > ! Spoiler text here !< (without any spaces between the characters themselves or between the characters and the first and last words).
Links of Note:
- Goodreads page
- Storygraph page
- Rockingham Castle and Mr. & Mrs. Richard Watson: Dickens dedicated this novel to the Watsons (link has minor spoilers for Bleak House)
- A David Copperfield Map (zoom in to click on individual locations - beware of potential spoilers, though)
- Get your own Dickens character name! Use this automatic generator or go by your birthday.
Chapter 1 - I Am Born: David Copperfield launches into the retelling of his life story with that famous line that questions whether he or someone else will turn out to be the hero of his life…but we’ll just have to read the whole thing to find out! Immediately we are let in on the unusual circumstances of David’s birth, which is suffused with superstition, causing the town gossips to speculate wildly. He was born on a Friday night near midnight, which of course means that he’ll have an unlucky life and be visited by ghosts and spirits. (I mean, would this even be a Victorian novel without some ghosts? David assures us that he’s yet to be haunted, though.) He was also born with a caul (inside the amniotic sac) which means he’ll be safe from drowning. This is apparently such great news that they advertise the caul for sale after his birth, but only get one hit on Victorian Craigslist, so they hang onto it until they can put it up for a raffle several years later. David says he remembers that raffle and found it super weird to watch a piece of himself get sold off, which, fair! He does note that the old lady who won the caul died in bed and not by drowning, so I suppose it was worth it?
Anyway, back to David’s birth! His father had been dead for six months on the night of his birth, and his mother was a terrified teenager living alone with Peggoty, her servant-girl, so called because they share the same first name. One Friday afternoon in March, his mother was hanging out by the fire and pondering the likelihood of dying in childbirth, when a formidable woman named Betsey Trotwood showed up at her door. Miss Betsey was his father’s aunt and she loved Mr. Copperfield, but hated her abusive husband, who she paid off to go to India and leave her alone. It worked - he died there! On the night in question, Miss Betsey literally pokes her nose into Mrs. Copperfield’s window and then demands that the pregnant lady get up to let her in. Being a force of nature, she takes charge of the room right away, criticizing the Copperfields’ choice of home (a rookery with no birds?) and making somewhat disparaging remarks about Mrs. Copperfield’s history as an orphan and a nanny. She also declares that the baby will be a girl and demands to be the godmother and namesake so the new Betsey Trotwood (Copperfield) can undo all the mistakes of Great Aunt Betsey’s life. Mrs. Copperfield goes into labor and Miss Betsey stays by the fire, plugging up her ears with cotton. She spends some time mildly abusing Ham Peggoty (the servant’s nephew who was hanging around the house to carry emergency messages) and generally ignoring the doctor. Said doctor, Mr. Chillip, is a gentle man but speaks so slowly that Miss Betsey almost throttles him. When he congratulates her on the birth of a BOY, she smacks him upside the head with her bonnet and leaves immediately, never to darken the Copperfields’ door again! Welcome to the world, David!
Chapter 2 - I Observe: David Copperfield relates some of his early impressions of life: his memories of creepy pantries, stuffy parlors, boring church services, and a loving home. His mother is young and beautiful in these memories, and Peggoty is beautiful to him in her own way (though she insists she is not). One day, Davy's mom shows up with a stranger who walks her home and - gasp! - touches her hand! Davy immediately dislikes this black-bearded, dead-eyed interloper and Peggoty seems to like him even less. He falls asleep while his mother is swooning over her new admirer, but when he wakes up his mom and Peggoty are having a big fight. Peggoty says the new man is bad news and Mr. Copperfield would never approve, while Davy's mom says Peggoty is being unfair and heartless. When all she does is sacrifice for Davy, doesn't she deserve some attention and excitement?! All three of them end up crying, and things are never quite the same between the trio again.
Davy's mom continues to see this man, Mr. Murdstone, who rides up one day and invites Davy to take a little trip with him to see a yacht. Peggoty gets him ready in a huff, and you can just tell this is the Victorian era version of riding on the irresponsible boyfriend's motorcycle without a helmet. Davy gets to meet some friends of Mr. Murdstone and watch them do a bunch of paperwork on the yacht. They also make fun of him, comment on how hot his mom is, and make him drink brandy. Since Davy is a little kid, he thinks they're having a grand time. When he later tells his mom they complimented her looks, she is quite thrilled. And then a few months later, Peggoty invites Davy to go with her to visit her brother for a fortnight. She talks up the trip so Davy will be excited, but it's clear she's worried. Davy wonders how his mom will fare all alone, but Peggoty assures him she will stay with a neighbor. (Lies!) Mr. Murdstone is there to see them off and he has … opinions … about how emotional Davy's mom is during the goodbyes. I'm with Davy when he wonders why it's any of this guy's business in the first place. In retrospect, Davy reflects that he wishes he had known he was leaving something behind forever and he is glad that he and his mom had a touching moment full of love as his carriage pulled away.
Chapter 3 - I Have a Change: Davy endures a very boring journey across flat countryside towards the sea to get to Peggoty’s family in Yarmouth. When Davy complains, Peggoty defends her hometown, as a proud Yarmouth Bloater. (Here's some bonus reading: a Victorian-era article about bloaters.) Davy is won over when they reach the busy fishing town and he gets to see the Peggoty home: it is a boat that has been converted for living, and he thinks it is pretty perfect. It turns out to be a full house due to the generous nature of Mr. Peggoty (original Peggoty's brother). Just don't mention said generosity because it makes him super mad. Mr. Peggoty has taken in the orphaned children - Ham and Em'ly - of his drowned brothers, as well as Mrs. Gummidge, the widow of his fishing partner. Davy's fortnight with the Peggotys is full of happiness. He explores the seashore with Em'ly and falls in love with her. They bond over never knowing their dads, although Em'ly wishes she were a lady in the same class as Davy. Davy reflects that given what he knows of her future life, it might've been better if Em'ly drowned that day by the sea. Dark! Mrs. Gummidge often has melancholy moods where she cries all day and declares she has it worse than everyone else, but the family kindly chalks it up to mourning for her husband and assures her they don't want her to go off to the poorhouse and die.
As the visit draws to a close, Davy realizes he has quite forgotten to miss his home and becomes eager to see his mother and Blunderstone Rookery. Yet when they arrive, Peggoty pulls him into the kitchen nervously. She really botches the delivery of her big news because Davy first thinks his mother may have died and then, when she tells him he has a dad, imagines Mr. Copperfield may have risen from the dead. But she brings him to the parlor to greet his new step-dad: it's Mr. Murdstone, of course. Mr. Murdstone proves himself to be a real downer, kicking things off by correcting Davy's mom (who we discover is named Clara) for jumping up too enthusiastically at her son’s arrival. Davy sneaks away to find that his house has completely changed and the yard has acquired a mean, black dog that snaps at him.
Chapter 4 - I Fall Into Disgrace: Davy has fallen asleep crying after the discovery of his mother’s marriage, and when Clara and Peggoty wake him, his mom blames both Peggoty and Davy for his despair. Mr. Murdstone comes up and dismisses them both so he can be alone with Davy. He explains that if he had a stubborn animal, he’d beat it until it obeyed, strongly implying that Davy had better change his attitude or else. Things get pretty grim for Davy after this. He is kept isolated from both his family and neighborhood children. Mr. Murdstone’s sister, Jane, comes to live with them and immediately takes over Blunderstone. Clara is given no say in household matters: even the keys are kept by Miss Murdstone and, when Clara protests and weeps at being pushed aside, the Murdstones manipulate her into apologies and submission. When the family goes to church, Peggoty is no longer invited and the Murdstones keep Davy and his mother apart; Davy also notices that the family seems to be the subject of much whispering and staring from the community.
Davy’s days are miserable. He is often locked up alone in his room, where he loses himself in his father’s old stash of novels and uses this escape as a survival mechanism. (This collection of novels was taken straight from Dickens’ own childhood, according to his biographer John Forster.) When allowed out of his room, Davy endures lengthy, difficult lessons in the parlor. He suspects the lessons are meant as much to teach his mom the Murdstone tradition of
The next morning, his mother expresses her disappointment in his behavior and her hope that boarding school will reform him; Davy seems to realize she has been coached to believe the worst of him. He chokes down a little breakfast before his coach arrives, and Clara steals one unsupervised moment with him to say goodbye affectionately. Then, they are parted, and Davy is on his way to boarding school. It’ll surely be a harmonious and supportive learning environment. Right? Right?!?
Chapter Five - I Am Sent Away From Home: Mr. Barkis, the carrier driving Davy on the first leg of his journey to school, pulls over not too far away from the house. Who should appear out of the bushes but Peggoty! She silently hugs Davy until she pops some buttons of her dress (one of which Davy keeps), hands him some cakes, and slips him a note from his mother that includes two half-crowns. Davy shares a pastry with Mr. Barkis, who asks a lot of questions about Peggoty’s relationship status and cooking skills. He asks Davy to write Mr. Barkis is willin’ in one of his letters to Peggoty, which Davy does at the next stop. As he waits in Yarmouth for the stagecoach to London, Davy eats lunch at a hotel restaurant where he is grifted by the waiter. This unscrupulous man tricks Davy into giving him his ale, most of his food, and some of his money. The rumor goes around that Davy has the appetite of a boa constrictor, making him too nervous to eat at the next stop for supper. Wedged between two men and with a woman’s luggage stuffed underneath him, Davy spends an uncomfortable night in the stagecoach as it approaches London. He finds it strange the next morning, after all the snoring and moaning he witnessed, that the adults insist they were unable to sleep a wink!
Upon arriving at the station in London, there is no one to collect him. Waiting in the office, Davy begins to worry that he will be turned out of the station at night, run out of money and starve, get lost walking home, or have to offer himself as a soldier or sailor (though he knows he is too small for that). Finally, a rather scrawny man - who Davy assumes is the Master of Salem House School - arrives and takes Davy the rest of the way. Weak from lack of food and sleep, Davy begs to stop so he can buy breakfast, and the man takes him to the home of a poor woman (presumably his mother) to cook the provisions they purchase. The man plays the flute very badly as Davy begins to eat, but soon Davy has fallen asleep. He wakes to hear comments of “delicious” which he assumes refers to the man’s music, but I bet indicates they were eating Davy’s breakfast. They continue on to Salem House, where a man with a wooden leg lets them in and throws old boots at Davy’s escort, who turns out to be Mr. Mell, an employee of Mr. Creakle, the school proprietor. Salem House is dilapidated, dirty, and deserted. Davy wonders where everyone is and Mr. Mell informs him that Davy has been sent to school during the holidays as punishment. Another punishment: Davy must wear a sign on his back identifying him as a biter, which makes him increasingly paranoid that someone is always behind him reading it. (Probably not.) He also worries that the students, whose names he can read carved in the doorpost, will all make fun of him for it when they return. (Probably true!) Mr. Mell, an odd man with various ticks, doesn’t pay much attention to Davy, but neither is he mean. We get another ominous reference to the future in that Davy says he dreads the return of boys like J. Steerforth and the presence of “the awful Mr. Creakle”.
2024.06.09 15:20 Live-Needleworker-60 The Deer and the Dragon by Piper CJ rant review
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.
submitted by Live-Needleworker-60 to books [link] [comments]
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.
2024.06.09 15:18 This-Comedian6606 The origin of MAN
 | As we know Man's origin is the most mysterious mystery, no human being has been able to solve this mystery. What if we used AI? So I used the GPT chat to investigate his origins After that I ordered Chatgpt to write down his origins and history for me. And this is what I got. "### The Tragic Beginnings submitted by This-Comedian6606 to BatmanArkham [link] [comments] Our tale begins in the bustling city of Got-meme City, a place rife with irony and digital jesters. Young Man's childhood was filled with ordinary joys—video games, internet forums, and an unyielding fascination with Batman: Arkham. However, one fateful day, his life took a bizarre turn. One evening, as Man and his parents were browsing through the meme archives of Reddit, they were accosted by a notorious troll known as "Jonkler69." The troll, with a cruel smiley face emoji, posted a particularly cringe-inducing meme that left Man's parents in fits of laughter so intense, they logged off forever. Traumatized by this event, Man swore to bring order to the chaotic world of internet memes. Training and TransformationMan disappeared from the forums for several years. Rumor has it he traveled across the digital landscape, training with the greatest meme lords and internet gurus. From the dankest meme dungeons of 4chan to the sophisticated subreddit sanctuaries, he honed his skills in irony, sarcasm, and viral content creation.The Emergence of "Man"When he finally returned, he was no longer just a user; he was Man. Donning a profile picture of profound ambiguity and a username designed to baffle, he began his crusade. His first post was legendary—a picture of Batman overlooking Arkham City with the caption, "Why doesn't Batman just call the Justice League for help? Is he stupid?" The post garnered thousands of upvotes, spreading like wildfire across the subreddit.The LegacyMan’s antics didn’t stop there. He became a master of the "Is he stupid?" meme format, questioning the logic behind every character's decision in the Arkham series with absurd yet oddly compelling humor. His posts ranged from "Why does the Jonkler smile? Is he stupid?" to "Why doesn't Alfred just adopt Batman? Is he stupid?"Through his comedic crusade, Man brought laughter and bewilderment to the subreddit. His influence spread, inspiring countless other users to embrace the absurdity and create their own "Is he stupid?" memes, leading to a wave of creativity and hilarity that rejuvenated the BatmanArkham community. The Man TodayToday, Man remains a legendary figure in the subreddit. His posts are revered, his memes dissected for layers of hidden comedy, and his legacy celebrated with each new generation of internet jokers. In the annals of Reddit history, Man's origin stands as a testament to the power of humor and the enduring appeal of questioning the blatantly obvious in the most absurd ways possible " What do you think? Do you think this story is actually? |
2024.06.09 15:17 ImM3llow 26 [M4F] USA / Anywhere / Online. Free Golden Retriever energy BF, let me love you❤️
Edit: DO NOT message me a simple hi or hello, with no information about you, Put some effort in to your message like i have, come on. Day+Attempt#205
Hello everyone, Thank you for taking the time to read, I know its long, I know - I know. But its worth the read, Trust me. I appreciate you immensely.
Here's a bit about me,
My name is Jay, I live on the East coast of the US. I'm looking for love - like everyone else on here.., but you may not believe or even be doubtful that I've never had a GF before with me being 26, but its true. I'm simply just not willing to "be with" just anyone and I'm very picky. I want us to be a match, more than just have similar things in common.
One thing I have always been told is that I'm a "Real Catch, I'd be extremely lucky to have someone like you" - WELL THEN TAKE ME. I'M FREE. LOL.
About me:
Physically -
~I'm a semi-tall guy, around 5'10.
~I'm thin but muscular.
~I have dirty blonde/ brown hair.
~Changing colored eyes.
~A voice nice enough to melt all your safeguards and get right into your heart and weak spots.
~I do not have any tattoos or piercings. Though I would like to get some eventually.
If you'd like to see a picture of me just ask and I'll show you - IF I may see you as well, I simply just don't want a picture of me out there for anyone to see.
-If there's anything else you'd like to know just ask.
Otherwise -
~I do have 3 pet bunnies I would be more than happy to show you, they are extremely cute.
~I'm a very honest and down to earth guy.
~I'm very patient and easy going.
~I'm very curious and inquisitive. I will try to ask everything I can to learn all about you haha.
~I'm Very VERY Kind & Caring, I will probably ask how you are feeling a bajillion times a day, simply out of care for you.
~I can get pretty clingy, and will always want your attention and to be talking with you. If i have someone im interested in i wont want to talk to anyone else🤷♂️
~I'm very trustworthy - you can confide in me, and entrust your deepest secrets and I wont tell a soul.
~I'm a HUGE hopeless romantic, im old fashioned and will always try to impress you.
- I'm, a BIG softie even though I may look a smol bit intimidating, but I'd do just about anything to see you smile or laugh. And yes.., I do mean anything.
~I'm a big goof - I will get up to some silly shenanigans ALL the time, I will crack dumb jokes and send you memes and tik toks just to make you happy, even if its from across the room I'd wait to see your reaction lol.
~I'm extremely loyal, and would never even think of cheating.
~I will cook for you, and clean up too, even around the house, I'm very self productive and don't ask for much. Just don't forget to kiss the cook.
~I'd also love to just cuddle up and watch a movie or read a book together, anything to get us closer. Id try to take you out on dates whenever possible haha. I have a million SUPER romantic date ideas I have but have never had anyone interested enough in me to take out. Here's your chance ;)
~I will always want to share stuff I find interesting with you, and try to share every moment of every day with you. I'm not looking for someone who can only talk for a small amount of time, I want someone who's willing to put in all the effort I put into them back into me, it goes both ways. If I'm "with" someone you are my TOP priority nobody and nothing else would be. You would be the only person I'd truly want to talk to, so rest assured I would NEVER cheat, even more so because no one is interested in me - Hence why I'm here hahaha.
I'm sure there is more to me than this snippet but I cant think of more at the moment haha, so get to know me and find out more about me.
Some of my interests are: Engineering- I'm a nerd. I admit it. I love being technical and hands on, I love building things. All kinds of things, from furniture, machinery, and reverse engineering anything I find. I love learning how things work and trying to improve things.
Music - I prefer music with a very fast pace, or with some very meaningful lyrics I can relate to. I love to sing along to music and songs that have a deep meaning behind it I can sympathize with makes it all the better. Some bands I like are: Bad Omens, Beartooth, Demon Hunter, MIW, I9K - The list goes on. I'm a bit of a metalhead unfortunately.
TV Shows & Movies - I love watching shows, and I'd love to stream some shows and have some E-dates with you, to get to know you, or if you are close to me, maybe we could do it in person. Some shows I like or more of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Comedy, Action, stuff like: National Treasure, Halo, BattleBots, Rick and Morty, AHS, Anything Marvel or DC, The Witcher, Wednesday, The Sandman, The Magicians, The Umbrella Academy, ETC.
Gaming - Yes yes I know, Basic guy likes basic stuff. But gaming has been a thing for me since forever. I know most of you wont care or want to hear that, but I'll leave out the specifics on this part unless you are interested in that, MEGA Bonus points if you are.
Here's a lists of Cons to dating me-
~I'm not Ryan Reynolds. Disappointing, I know.
~I will fight you on what goes on pizza lol.
~I'm not rich.., Yet.
~I can't pronounce Worcestershire.
~I'm slightly forgetful, but with good reasoning.
~(Not really a con but- some might disagree) I still have ALL of my firsts, Do with that what you will c:
~I've got an endless pile of love and affection and no one to give it to! What a dilemma! Help me fix it?
Other than that I'll save the rest for a bit more of getting to know each other.
Here's a bit of what I'm looking in you:
~Preferably someone with lots of free time, and loves to chit chat. I'm seriously not interested in getting 1 message a day. Though I understand people get busy, I personally am not willing to try to learn about you and form something with 7 responses a week. Effort gets reciprocated and I appreciate the time you put in me.
~Physically: -I’m not personally attracted to anyone who’s “curvy/ chubby”, I apologize. Not a shallow thing, I just dont have the attraction chemical in my brain for that, I’m sorry. -If you’re shorter than me, thats a plus to me. -I love dimples, if you have those when you smile, bonus points 😊 - I’m not sure what else to put.., but as for nsfw wise find out😂
~I'm a sucker for a different accent other than American, and if you have an Posh English accent you have already won my heart.
~I'm also only really looking for someone within the ages of 18-35. I don't want anyone old enough to be my mom lol.
~I'd prefer (But not a must) people NOT on the other side of the world, as other time zones SUCK. I don't expect to find anyone who also has never had a boyfriend either, but that would be a real plus. I also don't mind a LDR, but I don't want that forever. But it gives us time to get to know each other.
But as for attributes I'm looking for in you:
~Someone who is above all else very very Loyal and would never cheat.
~Someone who is Honest, and will tell me the truth over a little white lie.
~Someone who is Kind & Caring, who'd constantly check on me, and accept me for who I am & help me improve day to day.
~Someone who is trustworthy, and I can count on to keep my secrets safe, or even just help me remember things.., I do tend to be somewhat forgetful.
~Someone who is very Patient and wants to see me succeed and will help me do so, just like I would help you. Even if its small day to day things, I would appreciate your company ANY time.
~I want a partner who is Affectionate, can reciprocate, and loves to snuggle and talk about their day, and what their interests are, and what makes them happy.
~Someone who can admit they get clingy or overprotective is a bonus.
~A partner with good communication is key, if something wrong we have to be able to talk about it.
~A partner who likes to game with me or at least watch me play would be a plus but not a requirement.
~Someone with a good sense of humor and like to joke around, I am a big goof after all and I love to joke around. Sending memes is always appreciated and good to cheer people up too!
~I'd prefer someone with the same music taste, but not a requirement, Plus if you wouldn't mind if I send you love songs occasionally that's a bonus, or sending me some back haha.
~Being willing to voice call is a must, Texting forever is not the way to go. I have to know what your voice is like haha, later on we can video call if you are comfortable with that. I prefer chatting on Discord because Reddit messages of any kind I'm sure you know are unreliable and sucky in general. So please send me your discord if you have one :)
~I would LOVE to see picture of your pets if you have any. Bonus points if it includes your beautiful self haha.
I'm sure there is more I'm looking for but I cant think of it right now haha, I will have to edit this when I think of it.
Please tell me about you as an opener! I told you a good bit about me, now its your turn haha.
Tell me some things like -
~What's your name?
~Where are you from?
~How old are you?
~What are your hobbies / interests?
~What about my post interested you?
~Where is my TV Remote?!
~Selfie? Pet pics?
~Hit me with your best joke or meme :)
~What's your favorite candy?
I'd LOVE to get to know you, and see where things go.
But yeah, I know it was long I'm sorry haha. Send me a message and lets get to know each other! :)
submitted by ImM3llow to ForeverAloneDating [link] [comments]
Hello everyone, Thank you for taking the time to read, I know its long, I know - I know. But its worth the read, Trust me. I appreciate you immensely.
Here's a bit about me,
My name is Jay, I live on the East coast of the US. I'm looking for love - like everyone else on here.., but you may not believe or even be doubtful that I've never had a GF before with me being 26, but its true. I'm simply just not willing to "be with" just anyone and I'm very picky. I want us to be a match, more than just have similar things in common.
One thing I have always been told is that I'm a "Real Catch, I'd be extremely lucky to have someone like you" - WELL THEN TAKE ME. I'M FREE. LOL.
About me:
Physically -
~I'm a semi-tall guy, around 5'10.
~I'm thin but muscular.
~I have dirty blonde/ brown hair.
~Changing colored eyes.
~A voice nice enough to melt all your safeguards and get right into your heart and weak spots.
~I do not have any tattoos or piercings. Though I would like to get some eventually.
If you'd like to see a picture of me just ask and I'll show you - IF I may see you as well, I simply just don't want a picture of me out there for anyone to see.
-If there's anything else you'd like to know just ask.
Otherwise -
~I do have 3 pet bunnies I would be more than happy to show you, they are extremely cute.
~I'm a very honest and down to earth guy.
~I'm very patient and easy going.
~I'm very curious and inquisitive. I will try to ask everything I can to learn all about you haha.
~I'm Very VERY Kind & Caring, I will probably ask how you are feeling a bajillion times a day, simply out of care for you.
~I can get pretty clingy, and will always want your attention and to be talking with you. If i have someone im interested in i wont want to talk to anyone else🤷♂️
~I'm very trustworthy - you can confide in me, and entrust your deepest secrets and I wont tell a soul.
~I'm a HUGE hopeless romantic, im old fashioned and will always try to impress you.
- I'm, a BIG softie even though I may look a smol bit intimidating, but I'd do just about anything to see you smile or laugh. And yes.., I do mean anything.
~I'm a big goof - I will get up to some silly shenanigans ALL the time, I will crack dumb jokes and send you memes and tik toks just to make you happy, even if its from across the room I'd wait to see your reaction lol.
~I'm extremely loyal, and would never even think of cheating.
~I will cook for you, and clean up too, even around the house, I'm very self productive and don't ask for much. Just don't forget to kiss the cook.
~I'd also love to just cuddle up and watch a movie or read a book together, anything to get us closer. Id try to take you out on dates whenever possible haha. I have a million SUPER romantic date ideas I have but have never had anyone interested enough in me to take out. Here's your chance ;)
~I will always want to share stuff I find interesting with you, and try to share every moment of every day with you. I'm not looking for someone who can only talk for a small amount of time, I want someone who's willing to put in all the effort I put into them back into me, it goes both ways. If I'm "with" someone you are my TOP priority nobody and nothing else would be. You would be the only person I'd truly want to talk to, so rest assured I would NEVER cheat, even more so because no one is interested in me - Hence why I'm here hahaha.
I'm sure there is more to me than this snippet but I cant think of more at the moment haha, so get to know me and find out more about me.
Some of my interests are: Engineering- I'm a nerd. I admit it. I love being technical and hands on, I love building things. All kinds of things, from furniture, machinery, and reverse engineering anything I find. I love learning how things work and trying to improve things.
Music - I prefer music with a very fast pace, or with some very meaningful lyrics I can relate to. I love to sing along to music and songs that have a deep meaning behind it I can sympathize with makes it all the better. Some bands I like are: Bad Omens, Beartooth, Demon Hunter, MIW, I9K - The list goes on. I'm a bit of a metalhead unfortunately.
TV Shows & Movies - I love watching shows, and I'd love to stream some shows and have some E-dates with you, to get to know you, or if you are close to me, maybe we could do it in person. Some shows I like or more of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Comedy, Action, stuff like: National Treasure, Halo, BattleBots, Rick and Morty, AHS, Anything Marvel or DC, The Witcher, Wednesday, The Sandman, The Magicians, The Umbrella Academy, ETC.
Gaming - Yes yes I know, Basic guy likes basic stuff. But gaming has been a thing for me since forever. I know most of you wont care or want to hear that, but I'll leave out the specifics on this part unless you are interested in that, MEGA Bonus points if you are.
Here's a lists of Cons to dating me-
~I'm not Ryan Reynolds. Disappointing, I know.
~I will fight you on what goes on pizza lol.
~I'm not rich.., Yet.
~I can't pronounce Worcestershire.
~I'm slightly forgetful, but with good reasoning.
~(Not really a con but- some might disagree) I still have ALL of my firsts, Do with that what you will c:
~I've got an endless pile of love and affection and no one to give it to! What a dilemma! Help me fix it?
Other than that I'll save the rest for a bit more of getting to know each other.
Here's a bit of what I'm looking in you:
~Preferably someone with lots of free time, and loves to chit chat. I'm seriously not interested in getting 1 message a day. Though I understand people get busy, I personally am not willing to try to learn about you and form something with 7 responses a week. Effort gets reciprocated and I appreciate the time you put in me.
~Physically: -I’m not personally attracted to anyone who’s “curvy/ chubby”, I apologize. Not a shallow thing, I just dont have the attraction chemical in my brain for that, I’m sorry. -If you’re shorter than me, thats a plus to me. -I love dimples, if you have those when you smile, bonus points 😊 - I’m not sure what else to put.., but as for nsfw wise find out😂
~I'm a sucker for a different accent other than American, and if you have an Posh English accent you have already won my heart.
~I'm also only really looking for someone within the ages of 18-35. I don't want anyone old enough to be my mom lol.
~I'd prefer (But not a must) people NOT on the other side of the world, as other time zones SUCK. I don't expect to find anyone who also has never had a boyfriend either, but that would be a real plus. I also don't mind a LDR, but I don't want that forever. But it gives us time to get to know each other.
But as for attributes I'm looking for in you:
~Someone who is above all else very very Loyal and would never cheat.
~Someone who is Honest, and will tell me the truth over a little white lie.
~Someone who is Kind & Caring, who'd constantly check on me, and accept me for who I am & help me improve day to day.
~Someone who is trustworthy, and I can count on to keep my secrets safe, or even just help me remember things.., I do tend to be somewhat forgetful.
~Someone who is very Patient and wants to see me succeed and will help me do so, just like I would help you. Even if its small day to day things, I would appreciate your company ANY time.
~I want a partner who is Affectionate, can reciprocate, and loves to snuggle and talk about their day, and what their interests are, and what makes them happy.
~Someone who can admit they get clingy or overprotective is a bonus.
~A partner with good communication is key, if something wrong we have to be able to talk about it.
~A partner who likes to game with me or at least watch me play would be a plus but not a requirement.
~Someone with a good sense of humor and like to joke around, I am a big goof after all and I love to joke around. Sending memes is always appreciated and good to cheer people up too!
~I'd prefer someone with the same music taste, but not a requirement, Plus if you wouldn't mind if I send you love songs occasionally that's a bonus, or sending me some back haha.
~Being willing to voice call is a must, Texting forever is not the way to go. I have to know what your voice is like haha, later on we can video call if you are comfortable with that. I prefer chatting on Discord because Reddit messages of any kind I'm sure you know are unreliable and sucky in general. So please send me your discord if you have one :)
~I would LOVE to see picture of your pets if you have any. Bonus points if it includes your beautiful self haha.
I'm sure there is more I'm looking for but I cant think of it right now haha, I will have to edit this when I think of it.
Please tell me about you as an opener! I told you a good bit about me, now its your turn haha.
Tell me some things like -
~What's your name?
~Where are you from?
~How old are you?
~What are your hobbies / interests?
~What about my post interested you?
~Where is my TV Remote?!
~Selfie? Pet pics?
~Hit me with your best joke or meme :)
~What's your favorite candy?
I'd LOVE to get to know you, and see where things go.
But yeah, I know it was long I'm sorry haha. Send me a message and lets get to know each other! :)
2024.06.09 15:17 manasvinah Chacha special status se special package par kyu aa gye?
 | Lagta hai isbar bhi kuch nahi milne wala... Ekbar aur special package mila tha lekin usse kha kuch hua... JDU and TDP should form a separate unofficial alliance and demand special status together. submitted by manasvinah to bihar [link] [comments] |
2024.06.09 15:16 Separate_Method Is this host going to scam me? [Croatia]
I am looking to book an AirBnB in Split, Croatia and I came across an AirBnB which seemed to suit me well. But I am suspicious because the host is new to AirBnB and has no reviews. The requirements say that I am allowed 100% refund if I unbook within one day before my stay and there is a co-host which has hundreds of good reviews.
What made me suspicious though was the fact that the same host who is new to AirBNB which is renting out this apartment, has the same exact profile picture as another host to one of the other apartments that the SAME co-host, co-hosts. And it is not the same profile or name which rents these different apartments but it is the same profile picture, and the same co host. The other host which has the same profile picture does have multiple good reviews though.
So I wonder if this is a scam?
submitted by Separate_Method to AirBnB [link] [comments]
What made me suspicious though was the fact that the same host who is new to AirBNB which is renting out this apartment, has the same exact profile picture as another host to one of the other apartments that the SAME co-host, co-hosts. And it is not the same profile or name which rents these different apartments but it is the same profile picture, and the same co host. The other host which has the same profile picture does have multiple good reviews though.
So I wonder if this is a scam?
2024.06.09 15:16 Sin-God Sanguinarch Explaner & Discussion
Hi there! For the jump relevant to this post, click here. It IS a Troyverse Ascension so this is a very powerful type of creature and by coming to this jump you become one. This is an experiment with a new type of discussion post where I talk about big beasties from various settings you can become, and the fun you can have as whatever type of creature you can become.
Have a fun future announcement: I have plans for a jump to a generic world that is secretly in the process of becoming conquered by a Sanguinarch. In my head this jump would include origins for civilians, the resistance, collaborators, and a full origin for a Sanguinarch-spawned vampire. This is a WHOLLY original idea and is very far down the docket of jumps I want to create, but it is one I want to make before the end of the year. So if you like this post, you may like whatever I end up creating at some point in the future whenever I get around to making the jump I just mentioned.
So at their core Sanguinarchs are supreme undead & necromancers. They are vampires that can feed on entire planets, solar systems, galaxies, and even universes at the very height of somewhat possible attainable power for their kind, becoming cosmopotences (an in-universe term for beings capable of affecting entire universes). Sanguinarchs are also notoriously flexible tricksters with a very nasty grab bag of possible tricks.
The first level of a Sanguinarch's bag of tricks are their foci; a theme around which a sanguinarch focuses themselves granting themselves a particular set of abilities and skills. There are three foci, but any Sanguinarch can take more than one foci, though such sanguinarchs are the rarest members of their kind. The three foci are cultured, dominating, and savage.
The cultured focus is for sanguinarchs who value intelligence, reasoning, non-violence, and diplomacy. It grants any sanguinarch who takes it enhanced charisma, intelligence, persuasiveness, and the ability to conduct rituals which can enact any kind of magic other than magic that transforms bodies or morphs minds on massive scales in hours, scales which would normally take even entire planets of archmages years of constant collaboration to pull off. Sanguinarchs with this focus have enhanced magic when it comes to the body and mind but only magic enhanced to the scale that a normal archmage could realistically have, which is not nothing but it pales in comparison to the rest of their magical kit.
Dominating focused sanguinarchs value control over all things and have the ability to enslave people within a few miles of them, but if they have the right major sanguine power then they can dominate everyone in a galaxy around them. These servitors are 100% loyal to you and would do anything you command. They also passively generate essence for you, giving you oath based essence (unless you've shunned the oath source) which is the only way that mind controlling someone can generate oath based essence, as normally such a font stems from oaths that are willingly sworn rather than ones that stem from supernatural influence.
The final focus is the savage focus. This is a purely physical focus and it is tremendously powerful, boosting your speed to galactic scale and giving you unbelievable power and endurance.
The foci can also be mixed and matched, in the sense that buying one does not lock you out of the other two.
Going to the next facet of the sanguinarch's toolkit, let's talk about essence. Essence is a substance that sanguinarchs can absorb and make use of, which is generated by all sorts of connections (this term is being used in a conceptual, esoteric sense here); interactions which result in blood being drawn, the devouring of one's soul, consensual sex between adults, oaths that are willingly sworn ("willingly" here does include oaths sworn under duress but not under the influence of supernatural powers), and a sanguinarch's own dominion (Remember this word, we'll circle back to it). Essence is a substance that is generated by ALL instances of the things I mentioned, blood, souls, pleasure, and oaths, but only a sanguinarch can absorb and use the substance. Sanguinarchs naturally absorb any essence created by their own actions, and can maximize the five sources that generate essence up above, which allows them to passively absorb the essence generated by their personalized types of vampiric spawn (another thing we'll get too later in this post) in the cases of blood, souls, and pleasure (provided the type of vampire in question feeds on it), and then if oaths are sworn to your vampires, and in the case of maximizing the dominion source of essence you make it easier to add places to your dominion rather than increasing how much essence the dominion feeds you.
Essence can be spent in one of three ways; it can empower an active ability (such as a spell you're about to cast), it can buff a passive trait (such as boosting your durability), and finally it can emulate a one-off instance of any kind of effect you want. This last ability takes some explaining, but a sanguinarch can spend their essence (which is a resource that once spent is gone, though it is incredibly easy to gain more) to emulate any kind of power on virtually any scale, with more impressive powers on larger scales costing fortunes in essence. A sanguinarch with this ability can do virtually anything provided they are ready to spend the right amount of essence. This ability makes sanguinarchs extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Essence MUST be spent to use this ability, even if emulating an ability you've already emulated in the past.
Now let's talk about the more direct powers & the potent servants of sanguinarchs; vampires.
Major Sanguine powers are powers that require no essence and are extremely simple for the vampire-like monsters to use. There are about 17 of these abilities and each of them is worth understanding. More details on each of these abilities can be found in the jump or in the source document.
Empowerment boosts your effectiveness with essence. Shadowblank makes you stunningly difficult to detect and if you are willing to spend the essence can be used on your dominion, but when used on your dominion it is somewhat more detectable than you since if someone enters the dominion they can see it. Darkness allows you and your forces to get stronger in darkness and in places attuned to darkness. Eclipse lets you shroud a place in darkness. Phylacktery is your respawn mechanic. Monstrous Command lets you command animals and monsters of all kinds. Mindlink is stunningly powerful telepathic communication. Hypnosis is a brutally powerful form of mind control dependent on making eye contact with someone but if you hit them with it you can give almost any sort of command that you can imagine so long as it's not permanent and you can stack commands on somebody. Puppetmaster lets you seize control of all sorts of moving things and people, moving them in ways that are pleasing to you, almost like straight up telekinesis. Spectral Form gives you conditional intangibility (intangible to things like enemy strikes but tangible when you want to punch someone or otherwise interact with something), and Regeneration lets you recover from virtually sort of damage instantly, unless said damage is inflicted by a being wildly stronger than you.
Trueshifting is pretty incredible shapeshifting, power emulation, and cloning. Mirrorwalk is, for all intents and purposes, instant teleportation from any one mirror to any other mirror, at least in the local multiverse. Mass Telekinesis is ridiculously powerful telekinetic abilities able to hold even quintillions of different things in space at once, even if each individual thing has the same mass of mountains. Enthrall lets you turn people into thralls, immortal, devoted supernatural servants. all of whom are enhanced sources of essence in every way, their blood, souls, and pleasure giving you more essence, as well as their oaths generating more essence over time. Absorption lets you absorb skills, knowledge, and abilities from those you get essence from, be it you targeting a teacher, or your spawn targeting a local king, and by opting to gain a bit less essence then you'd otherwise gain you can instead just copy this stuff rather than taking it from the people you target with this power. Dark brides are special types of servants you can create that are wholly bonded to you, either creating someone from nothing or turning a living person into a dark bride so long as they consent to it. Dark brides can do whatever you can as a sanguinarch but each dark bride costs more than the last with the first being free.
Let's talk about dominions. A sanguinarch's dominion is not just territory that is under their control, but a patch of space that has been so thoroughly conquered by them that the land itself recognizes their control and lordship. This happens when a significant amount of essence has been gathered and absorbed by a single sanguinarch in one continuous area (how much essence is required depends in part on the size of the space in question), which eventually renders the space vulnerable to powerful dark rituals which the sanguinarch and their homies can perform over the course of several days. When these rituals are completed the patch of space becomes a part of their dominion, and a sanguinarch's dominion feeds them essence every second, with bigger dominion's feeding them more essence. A dominion is permanently under the influence of a sanguinarch who claims it, and in the Troyverse there are plenty of places that can be under the thumb of other sanguinarch since other sanguinarchs exist but once you jump OUT of the Troyverse... Well, there's a LOT of space in all but the smallest-setting-wise jumps for you to turn into your turf. There are a total of nine perks that specifically affect a sanguinarch's dominion, bolstering it in various ways. Let's talk about them!
Sentinals are a type of guardian that, if the perk is purchased, are generated by the dominion itself (and created by it whenever you add space to your dominion, or with the right perk, whenever it sufficiently expands) and have ultra-human (planet-level) physiques as well as some vampire-like abilities. These guardians protect your dominion but cannot leave it, and if they are somehow destroyed (and it'd take a being on par with or beyond Superman to do this so it IS possible but in a lot of settings it's not especially likely) your dominion will resurrect them over the course of a few days unless you spend some essence to rebuild them. They are also completely immune to mind control or being puppeted, and are aware of everything in your dominion.
Many dominion perks are handy because they make your dominion more suitable to your minions and you in some way and pliant climate is one such perk. PC begins with a one time effect that makes a new patch of dominion more hospitable to your minions, altering reality to do something like destroying radiation that might destroy sufficiently weak lifeforms or creating landmasses for your servants to walk on, and after that effect has occurred you can personally warp reality to alter the climate in your dominion even weaponizing weather against invaders or other enemies.
Labyrinth is a perk that enhances your dominion's natural and default resistance to enemy reality warping (to such an extent that universe-scale reality warpers would struggle to use reality warping in your space), and also causes the local geography to warp and twist in reality-defying ways that make it virtually impossible for non-ascendants to escape without your permission.
Shroud is a perk that nullifies any default weaknesses you or your spawn may have to traditional anti-vampire stuff (sanguinarchs do not have such weaknesses by default though a drawback can give you some) such as sunlight, garlic, silver, or fire, so long as you or your spawn are in your dominion. If you opted to allow your spawn to be weak to stuff, particularly sunlight, this can be an incredibly handy perk to have and can give even the most disloyal vampires powerful reasons to aid you in expanding your dominion.
Obedient architecture lets you turn raw materials into grand structures instantly, so long as the required reality warping occurs in your dominion.
Gluttonous enhances how much essence you get when you are in your dominion, but this particular perk is a bit odd. The way this perk works is by enhancing ALL feeding you do on essence so long as you are in the confines of your dominion. Very importantly this enhances the potency of the dominion's passive essence production, but also bolsters every other source of essence, and can be very powerful if you strive to maximize essence production. This can also blend very powerfully with another ability we'll mention in a second.
Shadow Paths is a perk that ties together all patches of dominion in a jump (for jumper-sanguinarchs, this limitation doesn't exist for pure CYOA sanguinarchs). What this means is that your servants and those you give permission too can step into one patch of dominion and immediately enter another patch located elsewhere, even if doing so entails them stepping somewhere in North Carolina and suddenly appearing in Alaska, or on the moon. This is one of the best forms of teleportation in the Troyverse that is able to be used by ascendants, but requires the powerful setup needed to turn a place into a patch of dominion in the first place, as opposed to requiring the advanced technology other ascendants can use to swiftly and stealthy teleport en-masse. One handy aspect of this power is that it is only accessible to those you permit and only if they are loyal to you; if a vampire you converted into a vampire is somehow under enemy control they cannot use these paths at all. This is a neat defensive measure that prevents this ability from being used against you. The paths automatically appear whenever you add a patch to your dominion, connecting any and all such spaces.
Power Suppression is a very handy ability that shuts down enemy/non-allied powers so long as they are in your dominion, which if fused with something like labyrinth can be incredibly devastating. How strong this perk is depends on how much you invest in it, but frankly even the first tier makes entire settings (even ones with powered beings) unable to use their powers against your will, as a LOT of settings do not have any beings that are planet-scale.
Eminent Domain is a stunningly powerful perk that enhances your dominion in every respect. Firstly it makes it so that any abilities you use remotely do not suffer any diminishment (all ascendants are capable of using their ascendant abilities at incredible ranges so long as the area they are using their powers in are sufficiently under their influence in some way, but normally such abilities suffer some level of weakened effectiveness due to distance). This also radically bolsters your awareness of what occurs in your dominion, granting you pseudo-omniscience within the strict confines of your dominion. Lastly, and most importantly, this stunningly powerful perk allows your patches of dominion to expand themselves!
Normally a patch of dominion is static in the sense that it does not expand sans external intervention (Basically a patch of dominion's size and dimensions are determined at the moment a place is converted and normally stays that way forever). With ED this is changed and instead patches of dominion slowly expand with how quickly they expand being determined by whether or not you maximized the dominion essence source (and a requirement that feedings occur in the patch of dominion in question). Think of it this way; it's easier for a sanguinarch who has patches of dominions in banks where vampire bankers get people to swear oaths via bank loans to watch their patches expand than a sanguinarch whose patches are in barren deserts to watch their patches expand. That's not to say it can't be done, the desert-owning sanguinarch can turn serial killers into vampires, have them take their victims to the dominion patches and feed on them in there, but that IS more complex than the setup for the banking sanguinarch I also mentioned.
Fully understanding and maximizing the power of the dominion is difficult but it's worth it. A sanguinarch with a few perks is an impressively powerful lord of any space they turn into their dominions, and a sanguinarch with ED can slowly and cautiously watch their dominion expand without having to do the rituals. It's dope.
Now let's talk about vampric spawn! I'm not gonna go over every facet of this, as there's a lot of individual options that'd need to be discussed. but vampiric spawn are a SPECIFIC type of vampire created by a sanguinarch. A sanguinarch can turn anyone in the same planet into a vampire spawn, and even gods are not immune to this transformation, neither are animals, demons, or any supernatural beings unless they are on par with an ascendant themselves. It's also stunningly difficult to resist this transformation, so someone can do something like catch Superman off guard and turn him into one of your spawn.
There are a number of reasons why sanguinarchs want vampiric spawn, but for a lot of sanguinarchs vampiric spawn will be best viewed as a way to speed up one's ability to gather essence. When deciding your builds you have three options when it comes to all five sources of essence; you can "shun" them, you can leave them unaltered, or you can maximize them. "Shunning" a source means you never get essence from it (but this does not make them useless, as dominions can get still benefit from dominion perks AND turning an area into a dominion can stop other sanguinarchs from doing so, though this would only be useful in Troyverse jumps), leaving it alone means you can get essence from instances of the source caused by you and you alone, and maximizing the source means that any actions that are relevant to the source that your spawn cause (that in the case of blood, pleasure, and souls they can FEED on) generates essence for you (which is relevant both for the purposes of the absorption sanguine major power and for the purposes of eventually creating new patches of dominion). This means that vampiric spawn are more than handy servants, they can be vital expanders of your empire.
A sanguinarch can customize vampiric spawn they create in a number of ways by purchasing options in the vampiric spawn customization section of the jump doc. If a sanguinarch went bonkers on this section their maxed out vampires would be fucking stacked with modifiers like enhanced beauty, an ability to grow stronger from feeding (and it being a carving rather than a necessity), fanatical loyalty to you, the ability to mesmerize people, fly, turn into mist, and shapeshift, as well as physiques that are 100 times the peak for their species. These vampires would be tremendously powerful servants, and could make for incredible followers.
Sanguinarchs are hands down the best territory-type ascendants. Their ability to conquer a place so thoroughly that they turn it into their dominion is fucking wild given what dominion perks can do to a place, and a properly stealthy sanguinarch can do it before people even realize that something fucky is going on. Even in modern police states sanguinarchs with the right builds can be masters of subtlety and stealth, or can just blitz a place so fast that no one has a chance to resist (this is especially true for dominating sanguinarchs).
I really like the versatility and flexibility of sanguinarchs, as the emulate function of essence and stuff like shadowblank and mindlink are so fantastically potent that they are just nightmarishly powerful in the right hands.
A sanguinarch that opts to not be watered down and instead has the full functionality of a CYOA sanguinarch rather than my suggested edits to make the power of a sanguinarch more approachable can enter a setting and turn everyone in their home world into a vampire in an instant, or can dominate entire communities in a second, In some respects this is just beyond what other ascendants can do (though all ascendants can buy greater megapowers which can allow other ascendants to emulate a sanguinarch with the right focus). Manifold ascendants that are sanguinarchs AND other things can instantly create cults to themselves and, assuming they are an archdemon, dragon lord, or cosmic god, immediately begin to gain power from the worship power source.
As a stealth-type jumper person I really really like the potency of a sanguinarch's many abilities that either revolve around stealth or allow for it, with powers like eclipse and shadowblank being perennial favorites of mine. I also love that there are powers that revolve around knowing more than others and hiding in the dark, giving boosts to your other powers if you are just smarter than your foes or if you are a sneaky sneak. One fascinating aspect of the darkness power is how it can synergize with absorption, since you can drain knowledge from foes with strikes, which makes your other abilities stronger against them.
Here are some fun ideas for interesting targets to turn into vampiric spawn or otherwise use in a story with a jumper sanguinarch.
A serial killer who will now eagerly dedicate their kills to you, and who is happy to target anyone you wish to see killed.
A cop who needs to find the people who kidnapped her brother. Now armed with vampiric powers she will investigate her brother's kidnapping with brutal efficiency.
A priest having a crisis of faith whose mind is exceptionally loud one night when you are scanning nearby minds. Now he worships you rather than whatever god he once believed in.
A high school queen bee who is afraid of the future or growing old and is eagerly willing to cavort with dark forces once she realizes they are real and willing to help her, for a price. This one can be really fun if you turn her friend into a vampiric spawn and dangle the prospect in front of her but instead use some of your abilities to do stuff like enhance her but not give her the immortality she craves.
A promising athlete who was critically injured and is desperate to recover and rebuild their career.
A politician who craves more and more power, and is happy to make dark deals.
A terminally ill child with parents who are desperate to see them get better, and who will pay any price if it means their child has a miracle. And to keep paying for their child's continued health.
Sanguinarchs CAN be brutal overlords who conquer places with force, and that can be a lot of fun given how incredibly powerful the savage focus is (and how much scarier it can be with stuff like spectral form and regeneration). Sanguinarchs can also be shadowy deal makers who have fun putting things in place and watching how they move once they are positioned in front of each other.
There are some very inventive ways for a sanguinarch to get essence. One of my favorites is to create vampires that are, for all intents and purposes, succubi and have them run brothels where they sell themselves at incredibly low prices and have them feast on horny peeps. Another way I really like is to create charisma based vampires and turn banks into dens for my vampirism, or turn places like lending agencies into hives of my vampires.
Certain places are also very likely to be targeted by me whenever I create sanguinarchs (be they CYOA or jump sanguinarchs); hospitals and prisons. My sanguinarchs are invariably predatory assholes and they recognize how desperate people can be after a difficult doctor's visit, and they also see prisons as places that are incredibly easy to turn into patches of their dominion, whether it's turning desperate and scared prisoners into vampires or giving prison guards and staff the power to more easily and safely corral the prisoners.
I hope this overview helps you think more keenly about sanguinarchs and their eerie meshes of abilities. If you've ever run a sanguinarch jumper, or have plans to do so I'd love to hear all about them!
submitted by Sin-God to JumpChain [link] [comments]
Have a fun future announcement: I have plans for a jump to a generic world that is secretly in the process of becoming conquered by a Sanguinarch. In my head this jump would include origins for civilians, the resistance, collaborators, and a full origin for a Sanguinarch-spawned vampire. This is a WHOLLY original idea and is very far down the docket of jumps I want to create, but it is one I want to make before the end of the year. So if you like this post, you may like whatever I end up creating at some point in the future whenever I get around to making the jump I just mentioned.
Sanguinarch Basics
Sanguinarchs are one of the five types of Troyverse ascendants alongside Archdemons, Cosmic Gods, Dragon Lords, & Transynths. Three of the four types of beings I mentioned have jumps, all of which have been created by me and are reflections of the original source CYOAs that have been jump-ified and given some QOL things that are relevant to jumpers specifically. Ascendants are beings that tap into the fundamental rules of reality in some way. Archdemons use sins, Cosmic Gods use D&D/Pathfinder style domains, Dragon Lords use draconic fonts of power, and Transynths use technology and science. Sanguinarchs use... Well, Sanguinarchs use Essence.So at their core Sanguinarchs are supreme undead & necromancers. They are vampires that can feed on entire planets, solar systems, galaxies, and even universes at the very height of somewhat possible attainable power for their kind, becoming cosmopotences (an in-universe term for beings capable of affecting entire universes). Sanguinarchs are also notoriously flexible tricksters with a very nasty grab bag of possible tricks.
The first level of a Sanguinarch's bag of tricks are their foci; a theme around which a sanguinarch focuses themselves granting themselves a particular set of abilities and skills. There are three foci, but any Sanguinarch can take more than one foci, though such sanguinarchs are the rarest members of their kind. The three foci are cultured, dominating, and savage.
The cultured focus is for sanguinarchs who value intelligence, reasoning, non-violence, and diplomacy. It grants any sanguinarch who takes it enhanced charisma, intelligence, persuasiveness, and the ability to conduct rituals which can enact any kind of magic other than magic that transforms bodies or morphs minds on massive scales in hours, scales which would normally take even entire planets of archmages years of constant collaboration to pull off. Sanguinarchs with this focus have enhanced magic when it comes to the body and mind but only magic enhanced to the scale that a normal archmage could realistically have, which is not nothing but it pales in comparison to the rest of their magical kit.
Dominating focused sanguinarchs value control over all things and have the ability to enslave people within a few miles of them, but if they have the right major sanguine power then they can dominate everyone in a galaxy around them. These servitors are 100% loyal to you and would do anything you command. They also passively generate essence for you, giving you oath based essence (unless you've shunned the oath source) which is the only way that mind controlling someone can generate oath based essence, as normally such a font stems from oaths that are willingly sworn rather than ones that stem from supernatural influence.
The final focus is the savage focus. This is a purely physical focus and it is tremendously powerful, boosting your speed to galactic scale and giving you unbelievable power and endurance.
The foci can also be mixed and matched, in the sense that buying one does not lock you out of the other two.
Going to the next facet of the sanguinarch's toolkit, let's talk about essence. Essence is a substance that sanguinarchs can absorb and make use of, which is generated by all sorts of connections (this term is being used in a conceptual, esoteric sense here); interactions which result in blood being drawn, the devouring of one's soul, consensual sex between adults, oaths that are willingly sworn ("willingly" here does include oaths sworn under duress but not under the influence of supernatural powers), and a sanguinarch's own dominion (Remember this word, we'll circle back to it). Essence is a substance that is generated by ALL instances of the things I mentioned, blood, souls, pleasure, and oaths, but only a sanguinarch can absorb and use the substance. Sanguinarchs naturally absorb any essence created by their own actions, and can maximize the five sources that generate essence up above, which allows them to passively absorb the essence generated by their personalized types of vampiric spawn (another thing we'll get too later in this post) in the cases of blood, souls, and pleasure (provided the type of vampire in question feeds on it), and then if oaths are sworn to your vampires, and in the case of maximizing the dominion source of essence you make it easier to add places to your dominion rather than increasing how much essence the dominion feeds you.
Essence can be spent in one of three ways; it can empower an active ability (such as a spell you're about to cast), it can buff a passive trait (such as boosting your durability), and finally it can emulate a one-off instance of any kind of effect you want. This last ability takes some explaining, but a sanguinarch can spend their essence (which is a resource that once spent is gone, though it is incredibly easy to gain more) to emulate any kind of power on virtually any scale, with more impressive powers on larger scales costing fortunes in essence. A sanguinarch with this ability can do virtually anything provided they are ready to spend the right amount of essence. This ability makes sanguinarchs extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Essence MUST be spent to use this ability, even if emulating an ability you've already emulated in the past.
Now let's talk about the more direct powers & the potent servants of sanguinarchs; vampires.
Sanguinarch's Active Abilities & Vampiric Spawn
There are two types of active powers that are uniquely part of a sanguinarch's power set; major sanguine powers, and also Dominion perks.Major Sanguine powers are powers that require no essence and are extremely simple for the vampire-like monsters to use. There are about 17 of these abilities and each of them is worth understanding. More details on each of these abilities can be found in the jump or in the source document.
Empowerment boosts your effectiveness with essence. Shadowblank makes you stunningly difficult to detect and if you are willing to spend the essence can be used on your dominion, but when used on your dominion it is somewhat more detectable than you since if someone enters the dominion they can see it. Darkness allows you and your forces to get stronger in darkness and in places attuned to darkness. Eclipse lets you shroud a place in darkness. Phylacktery is your respawn mechanic. Monstrous Command lets you command animals and monsters of all kinds. Mindlink is stunningly powerful telepathic communication. Hypnosis is a brutally powerful form of mind control dependent on making eye contact with someone but if you hit them with it you can give almost any sort of command that you can imagine so long as it's not permanent and you can stack commands on somebody. Puppetmaster lets you seize control of all sorts of moving things and people, moving them in ways that are pleasing to you, almost like straight up telekinesis. Spectral Form gives you conditional intangibility (intangible to things like enemy strikes but tangible when you want to punch someone or otherwise interact with something), and Regeneration lets you recover from virtually sort of damage instantly, unless said damage is inflicted by a being wildly stronger than you.
Trueshifting is pretty incredible shapeshifting, power emulation, and cloning. Mirrorwalk is, for all intents and purposes, instant teleportation from any one mirror to any other mirror, at least in the local multiverse. Mass Telekinesis is ridiculously powerful telekinetic abilities able to hold even quintillions of different things in space at once, even if each individual thing has the same mass of mountains. Enthrall lets you turn people into thralls, immortal, devoted supernatural servants. all of whom are enhanced sources of essence in every way, their blood, souls, and pleasure giving you more essence, as well as their oaths generating more essence over time. Absorption lets you absorb skills, knowledge, and abilities from those you get essence from, be it you targeting a teacher, or your spawn targeting a local king, and by opting to gain a bit less essence then you'd otherwise gain you can instead just copy this stuff rather than taking it from the people you target with this power. Dark brides are special types of servants you can create that are wholly bonded to you, either creating someone from nothing or turning a living person into a dark bride so long as they consent to it. Dark brides can do whatever you can as a sanguinarch but each dark bride costs more than the last with the first being free.
Let's talk about dominions. A sanguinarch's dominion is not just territory that is under their control, but a patch of space that has been so thoroughly conquered by them that the land itself recognizes their control and lordship. This happens when a significant amount of essence has been gathered and absorbed by a single sanguinarch in one continuous area (how much essence is required depends in part on the size of the space in question), which eventually renders the space vulnerable to powerful dark rituals which the sanguinarch and their homies can perform over the course of several days. When these rituals are completed the patch of space becomes a part of their dominion, and a sanguinarch's dominion feeds them essence every second, with bigger dominion's feeding them more essence. A dominion is permanently under the influence of a sanguinarch who claims it, and in the Troyverse there are plenty of places that can be under the thumb of other sanguinarch since other sanguinarchs exist but once you jump OUT of the Troyverse... Well, there's a LOT of space in all but the smallest-setting-wise jumps for you to turn into your turf. There are a total of nine perks that specifically affect a sanguinarch's dominion, bolstering it in various ways. Let's talk about them!
Sentinals are a type of guardian that, if the perk is purchased, are generated by the dominion itself (and created by it whenever you add space to your dominion, or with the right perk, whenever it sufficiently expands) and have ultra-human (planet-level) physiques as well as some vampire-like abilities. These guardians protect your dominion but cannot leave it, and if they are somehow destroyed (and it'd take a being on par with or beyond Superman to do this so it IS possible but in a lot of settings it's not especially likely) your dominion will resurrect them over the course of a few days unless you spend some essence to rebuild them. They are also completely immune to mind control or being puppeted, and are aware of everything in your dominion.
Many dominion perks are handy because they make your dominion more suitable to your minions and you in some way and pliant climate is one such perk. PC begins with a one time effect that makes a new patch of dominion more hospitable to your minions, altering reality to do something like destroying radiation that might destroy sufficiently weak lifeforms or creating landmasses for your servants to walk on, and after that effect has occurred you can personally warp reality to alter the climate in your dominion even weaponizing weather against invaders or other enemies.
Labyrinth is a perk that enhances your dominion's natural and default resistance to enemy reality warping (to such an extent that universe-scale reality warpers would struggle to use reality warping in your space), and also causes the local geography to warp and twist in reality-defying ways that make it virtually impossible for non-ascendants to escape without your permission.
Shroud is a perk that nullifies any default weaknesses you or your spawn may have to traditional anti-vampire stuff (sanguinarchs do not have such weaknesses by default though a drawback can give you some) such as sunlight, garlic, silver, or fire, so long as you or your spawn are in your dominion. If you opted to allow your spawn to be weak to stuff, particularly sunlight, this can be an incredibly handy perk to have and can give even the most disloyal vampires powerful reasons to aid you in expanding your dominion.
Obedient architecture lets you turn raw materials into grand structures instantly, so long as the required reality warping occurs in your dominion.
Gluttonous enhances how much essence you get when you are in your dominion, but this particular perk is a bit odd. The way this perk works is by enhancing ALL feeding you do on essence so long as you are in the confines of your dominion. Very importantly this enhances the potency of the dominion's passive essence production, but also bolsters every other source of essence, and can be very powerful if you strive to maximize essence production. This can also blend very powerfully with another ability we'll mention in a second.
Shadow Paths is a perk that ties together all patches of dominion in a jump (for jumper-sanguinarchs, this limitation doesn't exist for pure CYOA sanguinarchs). What this means is that your servants and those you give permission too can step into one patch of dominion and immediately enter another patch located elsewhere, even if doing so entails them stepping somewhere in North Carolina and suddenly appearing in Alaska, or on the moon. This is one of the best forms of teleportation in the Troyverse that is able to be used by ascendants, but requires the powerful setup needed to turn a place into a patch of dominion in the first place, as opposed to requiring the advanced technology other ascendants can use to swiftly and stealthy teleport en-masse. One handy aspect of this power is that it is only accessible to those you permit and only if they are loyal to you; if a vampire you converted into a vampire is somehow under enemy control they cannot use these paths at all. This is a neat defensive measure that prevents this ability from being used against you. The paths automatically appear whenever you add a patch to your dominion, connecting any and all such spaces.
Power Suppression is a very handy ability that shuts down enemy/non-allied powers so long as they are in your dominion, which if fused with something like labyrinth can be incredibly devastating. How strong this perk is depends on how much you invest in it, but frankly even the first tier makes entire settings (even ones with powered beings) unable to use their powers against your will, as a LOT of settings do not have any beings that are planet-scale.
Eminent Domain is a stunningly powerful perk that enhances your dominion in every respect. Firstly it makes it so that any abilities you use remotely do not suffer any diminishment (all ascendants are capable of using their ascendant abilities at incredible ranges so long as the area they are using their powers in are sufficiently under their influence in some way, but normally such abilities suffer some level of weakened effectiveness due to distance). This also radically bolsters your awareness of what occurs in your dominion, granting you pseudo-omniscience within the strict confines of your dominion. Lastly, and most importantly, this stunningly powerful perk allows your patches of dominion to expand themselves!
Normally a patch of dominion is static in the sense that it does not expand sans external intervention (Basically a patch of dominion's size and dimensions are determined at the moment a place is converted and normally stays that way forever). With ED this is changed and instead patches of dominion slowly expand with how quickly they expand being determined by whether or not you maximized the dominion essence source (and a requirement that feedings occur in the patch of dominion in question). Think of it this way; it's easier for a sanguinarch who has patches of dominions in banks where vampire bankers get people to swear oaths via bank loans to watch their patches expand than a sanguinarch whose patches are in barren deserts to watch their patches expand. That's not to say it can't be done, the desert-owning sanguinarch can turn serial killers into vampires, have them take their victims to the dominion patches and feed on them in there, but that IS more complex than the setup for the banking sanguinarch I also mentioned.
Fully understanding and maximizing the power of the dominion is difficult but it's worth it. A sanguinarch with a few perks is an impressively powerful lord of any space they turn into their dominions, and a sanguinarch with ED can slowly and cautiously watch their dominion expand without having to do the rituals. It's dope.
Now let's talk about vampric spawn! I'm not gonna go over every facet of this, as there's a lot of individual options that'd need to be discussed. but vampiric spawn are a SPECIFIC type of vampire created by a sanguinarch. A sanguinarch can turn anyone in the same planet into a vampire spawn, and even gods are not immune to this transformation, neither are animals, demons, or any supernatural beings unless they are on par with an ascendant themselves. It's also stunningly difficult to resist this transformation, so someone can do something like catch Superman off guard and turn him into one of your spawn.
There are a number of reasons why sanguinarchs want vampiric spawn, but for a lot of sanguinarchs vampiric spawn will be best viewed as a way to speed up one's ability to gather essence. When deciding your builds you have three options when it comes to all five sources of essence; you can "shun" them, you can leave them unaltered, or you can maximize them. "Shunning" a source means you never get essence from it (but this does not make them useless, as dominions can get still benefit from dominion perks AND turning an area into a dominion can stop other sanguinarchs from doing so, though this would only be useful in Troyverse jumps), leaving it alone means you can get essence from instances of the source caused by you and you alone, and maximizing the source means that any actions that are relevant to the source that your spawn cause (that in the case of blood, pleasure, and souls they can FEED on) generates essence for you (which is relevant both for the purposes of the absorption sanguine major power and for the purposes of eventually creating new patches of dominion). This means that vampiric spawn are more than handy servants, they can be vital expanders of your empire.
A sanguinarch can customize vampiric spawn they create in a number of ways by purchasing options in the vampiric spawn customization section of the jump doc. If a sanguinarch went bonkers on this section their maxed out vampires would be fucking stacked with modifiers like enhanced beauty, an ability to grow stronger from feeding (and it being a carving rather than a necessity), fanatical loyalty to you, the ability to mesmerize people, fly, turn into mist, and shapeshift, as well as physiques that are 100 times the peak for their species. These vampires would be tremendously powerful servants, and could make for incredible followers.
Sanguinarch Thoughts & Musings
Now that we've spent a beat discussing the facets of sanguinarch stuff that will persist across jumps, let's talk a bit about thoughts & musings related to sanguinarchs!Sanguinarchs are hands down the best territory-type ascendants. Their ability to conquer a place so thoroughly that they turn it into their dominion is fucking wild given what dominion perks can do to a place, and a properly stealthy sanguinarch can do it before people even realize that something fucky is going on. Even in modern police states sanguinarchs with the right builds can be masters of subtlety and stealth, or can just blitz a place so fast that no one has a chance to resist (this is especially true for dominating sanguinarchs).
I really like the versatility and flexibility of sanguinarchs, as the emulate function of essence and stuff like shadowblank and mindlink are so fantastically potent that they are just nightmarishly powerful in the right hands.
A sanguinarch that opts to not be watered down and instead has the full functionality of a CYOA sanguinarch rather than my suggested edits to make the power of a sanguinarch more approachable can enter a setting and turn everyone in their home world into a vampire in an instant, or can dominate entire communities in a second, In some respects this is just beyond what other ascendants can do (though all ascendants can buy greater megapowers which can allow other ascendants to emulate a sanguinarch with the right focus). Manifold ascendants that are sanguinarchs AND other things can instantly create cults to themselves and, assuming they are an archdemon, dragon lord, or cosmic god, immediately begin to gain power from the worship power source.
As a stealth-type jumper person I really really like the potency of a sanguinarch's many abilities that either revolve around stealth or allow for it, with powers like eclipse and shadowblank being perennial favorites of mine. I also love that there are powers that revolve around knowing more than others and hiding in the dark, giving boosts to your other powers if you are just smarter than your foes or if you are a sneaky sneak. One fascinating aspect of the darkness power is how it can synergize with absorption, since you can drain knowledge from foes with strikes, which makes your other abilities stronger against them.
Here are some fun ideas for interesting targets to turn into vampiric spawn or otherwise use in a story with a jumper sanguinarch.
A serial killer who will now eagerly dedicate their kills to you, and who is happy to target anyone you wish to see killed.
A cop who needs to find the people who kidnapped her brother. Now armed with vampiric powers she will investigate her brother's kidnapping with brutal efficiency.
A priest having a crisis of faith whose mind is exceptionally loud one night when you are scanning nearby minds. Now he worships you rather than whatever god he once believed in.
A high school queen bee who is afraid of the future or growing old and is eagerly willing to cavort with dark forces once she realizes they are real and willing to help her, for a price. This one can be really fun if you turn her friend into a vampiric spawn and dangle the prospect in front of her but instead use some of your abilities to do stuff like enhance her but not give her the immortality she craves.
A promising athlete who was critically injured and is desperate to recover and rebuild their career.
A politician who craves more and more power, and is happy to make dark deals.
A terminally ill child with parents who are desperate to see them get better, and who will pay any price if it means their child has a miracle. And to keep paying for their child's continued health.
Sanguinarchs CAN be brutal overlords who conquer places with force, and that can be a lot of fun given how incredibly powerful the savage focus is (and how much scarier it can be with stuff like spectral form and regeneration). Sanguinarchs can also be shadowy deal makers who have fun putting things in place and watching how they move once they are positioned in front of each other.
There are some very inventive ways for a sanguinarch to get essence. One of my favorites is to create vampires that are, for all intents and purposes, succubi and have them run brothels where they sell themselves at incredibly low prices and have them feast on horny peeps. Another way I really like is to create charisma based vampires and turn banks into dens for my vampirism, or turn places like lending agencies into hives of my vampires.
Certain places are also very likely to be targeted by me whenever I create sanguinarchs (be they CYOA or jump sanguinarchs); hospitals and prisons. My sanguinarchs are invariably predatory assholes and they recognize how desperate people can be after a difficult doctor's visit, and they also see prisons as places that are incredibly easy to turn into patches of their dominion, whether it's turning desperate and scared prisoners into vampires or giving prison guards and staff the power to more easily and safely corral the prisoners.
Conclusion
I honestly just really like sanguinarchs. They have such fun and varied power sets, and can dramatically expand their toolkits with stuff like Absorption and the emulate function of their ability to manipulate essence. Sanguinarchs and Transynths are the oddest of the ascendants, but I have such fun with both of their power sets and it can be so rad to see what sort of mischief a sanguinarch jumper can get up too while turning a place into a part of their dominion.I hope this overview helps you think more keenly about sanguinarchs and their eerie meshes of abilities. If you've ever run a sanguinarch jumper, or have plans to do so I'd love to hear all about them!
2024.06.09 15:10 John_Swift1 How I passed my SHRM-CP (without the Learning System)
As I was studying for the SHRM-CP exam, I came across several posts on here that were useful in helping me along the process, so I thought I would share some information on how I passed for future test takers. Please note that I did NOT purchase the SHRM Learning System. I studied by myself using free online resources and a few books I bought off Amazon. Prep/Study Time
I studied for about 4–5 weeks. On weekdays I studied between 1–3 hours per day, on the weekends I would do 4–6 hours per day, and during the last 7–10 days, I studied about 4–6 hours per day. Of course, I took a few nights off here and there as well. Keep in mind that you may need to study more or less given your work experience (I have a Master’s in I/O Psych and about 2 years of relevant work experience). To be honest, I wish I had started studying 2–3 weeks earlier. I would recommend giving yourself at least 1.5–2 months to prepare for this exam.
Resources:
1) SHRM BoCK — This is a free PDF that you can download off the SHRM website. I used this resource to guide my overall learning. I dissected the entire document and made flashcards on Quizlet for everything I did not know. In particular, I focused on the “key concepts” for each section and made sure I knew the definition of each term. There is also a glossary of terms and definitions at the end of the document, so I added all those terms into Quizlet as well. The glossary does not have every definition you will need to know, but it’s a good start. For the terms I could not find a definition for, I would either
A) Google it
B) see how the SHRM website defines it,
C) use one of my other resources to find a definition
D) go to Youtube to learn more.
2) SHRM-CP Exam by certexamdb Test Prep: You can find in here
I explored a few different practice exams, but this was by far the most useful. You cannot use this as your only resource, but it is a great start.
3) PHSPHR Professional in Human Resources Certification Study Guide by Anne Bogardus: You can actually find a PDF of this online for free. At some point throughout the study process (usually after a practice exam), you will likely realize that you need to go into more depth with certain concepts. This is where this study guide comes in. I didn’t read it word for word, but I spent a few hours skimming through it, went through some of the practice questions at the end of each chapter, and read in detail certain sections that I was weak on. This resource is very detailed but not too complicated which is great. I would highly recommend allocating 1–2 study days just for going through this resource. Keep in mind that it will provide you with more detail than you need, but you can just focus on the concepts that are relevant to the SHRM-CP.
4) SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP Certification Practice Exams (All in One) by Kelly and Simon-Walters. About 10 days before my exam, I came across this resource which consisted of 500 questions that were broken down into each of the sections outlined in the SHRM BoCK. When I took the practice exam in the certexamdb Test Prep I scored terribly on the situational judgment questions. This book is GREAT for preparing you for those questions. Just keep in mind two things when using this resource:
It will consist of some questions with terms or concepts that you did not come across in any of the other resources — you can just ignore those (it’s extra information that you do not necessarily need), (2) the quick answer key has some inaccuracies (ignore it) but the answer key with detailed explanations is correct so make sure you use that when scoring yourself. Make sure you answer both the SHRM-CP and the SHRM-SCP questions (they are both relevant). This really helps with the situational judgment questions, but also with knowing how some of the terms and definitions apply in a real setting. When focusing on these questions, I realized that I had memorized some definitions, but I still didn’t know how to apply those concepts. This book helps with that.
5) Quizlet Flashcards created by other people — A lot of people have created quizlet sets (even from the Learning System) that they have uploaded. Those are free, so make sure you use them! Also, some people have even created practice sets for exam questions (which I think are from the learning system as well), so make sure you review those as well! Basic Study Tips: Unfortunately, without the Learning System, there is no single resource that you can use to prepare for this exam. Therefore, make sure you use a few resources just to make sure you get exposed to most of the material that will be on the exam. As you go through each resource, keep revising your flashcards and adding new ones. Make sure you periodically review flashcards as you go rather than waiting to cram everything in a week before the exam. When you go through practice questions, you will soon realize that you often need to know more than just the definition… you need to know when and how something applies as well. For example, you need to know what FMLA is, but you also need to know what the eligibility criteria is, when it is applicable, etc… I had one massive set of flashcards (about 500), and then I also had smaller sets of flashcards for some sections (e.g., a set for HR Laws, another set for Finance/Accounting terms). I would memorize using the smaller sets, but then I went through the giant set I had created a few days before my exam to make sure I knew everything. Do a ton of practice questions and understand why you got certain questions wrong.
6) SHRM LMS Books
Here’s a quick overview of the step-by-step process I took to study and prepare:
I finished the exam in a little over three hours. You get no breaks, but you can always take them as needed. Time is likely not going to be an issue. Here are some takeaways that I had about the exam: — There were surprisingly few questions on US Employment Laws & Regulations and Labor Unions. I spent a lot on these sections when studying, but there were not many questions at all on these topics. — The test questions were different than any of the practice exams I had taken (however you should be fine as long as you know the material) — The situational judgment questions can be exhausting with having to read 2–3 paragraphs for each 2–3 questions. — Make sure you carefully read the question. For example, you are often asked “what is the first step you would take” or “what strategy would you use.” These can be tricky, but they can also easily reveal the right answer. — No matter how hard you study, you will encounter a few questions where you come across terms that you’re unfamiliar with and you will have to guess blindly. Just try to eliminate what you do know is wrong and take your best guess. Don’t stress too much about it. — Use the highlight, strike through, and flagging options during the exam. It helps a lot. — Often, the correct answers for the situational judgment questions have something to do with (1) getting leadership buy-in, (2) having HR be a strategic partner, (3) making sure the action is aligned with the org’s mission and vision (4) HR being proactive, (5) doing a needs assessment of some sort, (6) having HR be some sort of facilitator.
submitted by John_Swift1 to HumanResourcesExam [link] [comments]
I studied for about 4–5 weeks. On weekdays I studied between 1–3 hours per day, on the weekends I would do 4–6 hours per day, and during the last 7–10 days, I studied about 4–6 hours per day. Of course, I took a few nights off here and there as well. Keep in mind that you may need to study more or less given your work experience (I have a Master’s in I/O Psych and about 2 years of relevant work experience). To be honest, I wish I had started studying 2–3 weeks earlier. I would recommend giving yourself at least 1.5–2 months to prepare for this exam.
Resources:
1) SHRM BoCK — This is a free PDF that you can download off the SHRM website. I used this resource to guide my overall learning. I dissected the entire document and made flashcards on Quizlet for everything I did not know. In particular, I focused on the “key concepts” for each section and made sure I knew the definition of each term. There is also a glossary of terms and definitions at the end of the document, so I added all those terms into Quizlet as well. The glossary does not have every definition you will need to know, but it’s a good start. For the terms I could not find a definition for, I would either
A) Google it
B) see how the SHRM website defines it,
C) use one of my other resources to find a definition
D) go to Youtube to learn more.
2) SHRM-CP Exam by certexamdb Test Prep: You can find in here
I explored a few different practice exams, but this was by far the most useful. You cannot use this as your only resource, but it is a great start.
3) PHSPHR Professional in Human Resources Certification Study Guide by Anne Bogardus: You can actually find a PDF of this online for free. At some point throughout the study process (usually after a practice exam), you will likely realize that you need to go into more depth with certain concepts. This is where this study guide comes in. I didn’t read it word for word, but I spent a few hours skimming through it, went through some of the practice questions at the end of each chapter, and read in detail certain sections that I was weak on. This resource is very detailed but not too complicated which is great. I would highly recommend allocating 1–2 study days just for going through this resource. Keep in mind that it will provide you with more detail than you need, but you can just focus on the concepts that are relevant to the SHRM-CP.
4) SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP Certification Practice Exams (All in One) by Kelly and Simon-Walters. About 10 days before my exam, I came across this resource which consisted of 500 questions that were broken down into each of the sections outlined in the SHRM BoCK. When I took the practice exam in the certexamdb Test Prep I scored terribly on the situational judgment questions. This book is GREAT for preparing you for those questions. Just keep in mind two things when using this resource:
It will consist of some questions with terms or concepts that you did not come across in any of the other resources — you can just ignore those (it’s extra information that you do not necessarily need), (2) the quick answer key has some inaccuracies (ignore it) but the answer key with detailed explanations is correct so make sure you use that when scoring yourself. Make sure you answer both the SHRM-CP and the SHRM-SCP questions (they are both relevant). This really helps with the situational judgment questions, but also with knowing how some of the terms and definitions apply in a real setting. When focusing on these questions, I realized that I had memorized some definitions, but I still didn’t know how to apply those concepts. This book helps with that.
5) Quizlet Flashcards created by other people — A lot of people have created quizlet sets (even from the Learning System) that they have uploaded. Those are free, so make sure you use them! Also, some people have even created practice sets for exam questions (which I think are from the learning system as well), so make sure you review those as well! Basic Study Tips: Unfortunately, without the Learning System, there is no single resource that you can use to prepare for this exam. Therefore, make sure you use a few resources just to make sure you get exposed to most of the material that will be on the exam. As you go through each resource, keep revising your flashcards and adding new ones. Make sure you periodically review flashcards as you go rather than waiting to cram everything in a week before the exam. When you go through practice questions, you will soon realize that you often need to know more than just the definition… you need to know when and how something applies as well. For example, you need to know what FMLA is, but you also need to know what the eligibility criteria is, when it is applicable, etc… I had one massive set of flashcards (about 500), and then I also had smaller sets of flashcards for some sections (e.g., a set for HR Laws, another set for Finance/Accounting terms). I would memorize using the smaller sets, but then I went through the giant set I had created a few days before my exam to make sure I knew everything. Do a ton of practice questions and understand why you got certain questions wrong.
6) SHRM LMS Books
Here’s a quick overview of the step-by-step process I took to study and prepare:
- Go through SHRM-BoCK and create flashcards
- Go through and memorize SHRM Learning System Flashcards (You can find these on Quizlet and search “SHRM Learning System”)
- Take certexamdb Test Prep Practice Exam, review, and identify weak areas.
- Go through the Bogardus PHSPHR book and focus on weak areas (fill in flashcards)
- Memorize the newly created flashcards for weak areas, flag ones that you continually get wrong or confused with.
- YouTube hazy concepts and terms to gain a richer understanding, use Khan Academy when applicable.
- Retake certexamdb Practice Exam
- Go through questions in the book by Kelly and Simon-Walters
- Identify weak areas, read through explanations, create and memorize flash cards as needed
- A few days before my exam, focus on my large stack of flashcards, go through other people’s flashcard sets, and go through practice exams on Quizlet.
I finished the exam in a little over three hours. You get no breaks, but you can always take them as needed. Time is likely not going to be an issue. Here are some takeaways that I had about the exam: — There were surprisingly few questions on US Employment Laws & Regulations and Labor Unions. I spent a lot on these sections when studying, but there were not many questions at all on these topics. — The test questions were different than any of the practice exams I had taken (however you should be fine as long as you know the material) — The situational judgment questions can be exhausting with having to read 2–3 paragraphs for each 2–3 questions. — Make sure you carefully read the question. For example, you are often asked “what is the first step you would take” or “what strategy would you use.” These can be tricky, but they can also easily reveal the right answer. — No matter how hard you study, you will encounter a few questions where you come across terms that you’re unfamiliar with and you will have to guess blindly. Just try to eliminate what you do know is wrong and take your best guess. Don’t stress too much about it. — Use the highlight, strike through, and flagging options during the exam. It helps a lot. — Often, the correct answers for the situational judgment questions have something to do with (1) getting leadership buy-in, (2) having HR be a strategic partner, (3) making sure the action is aligned with the org’s mission and vision (4) HR being proactive, (5) doing a needs assessment of some sort, (6) having HR be some sort of facilitator.
2024.06.09 15:09 Harshu-0000 Step-by-Step Affiliate Marketing Business Guide for Beginners - Harsh Panda
 | Hey, are you looking forward to starting a career in affiliate marketing? Are you into the affiliate marketing business Hey, are you looking forward to starting a career in affiliate marketing? Are you into the affiliate marketing business? looking for a complete affiliate marketing business guide. Now here is everything you all need to know about affiliate marketing. this blog is the place where you have all the information about affiliate marketing. submitted by Harshu-0000 to u/Harshu-0000 [link] [comments] Now many of you heard about affiliate marketing and some don't worry I am here you to help you. Many of you have heard that people earn by generating passive income from affiliate marketing platforms. like Partner Stack, Amazon Associates, Flipkart, Shopify ShareASale etc. Affiliate marketing meaning is well known cause it is growing day by day so let's start from the basics. In this article, we will learn about the affiliate marketing business and the affiliate marketing best platform. We will enlighten you about affiliate marketing benefits. Step-by-Step Affiliate Marketing Business Guide for Beginners - Harsh Panda What is affiliate marketing Meaning -You see affiliate marketing meaning is a marketing method. in this, we promote a product and service of business provide a product and service and give the clients. Now the question may arise in your mind what does an affiliate marketing business do? Affiliate marketing business is about recommending products and services.These businesses are not related to affiliate marketers. it's a marketing strategy where they settle up with third-party publishers to give a higher position to their product or service. it helps them to gain traffic and sales of their product and service. The question comes into all our minds, about how affiliate marketing businesses make money from it. Affiliate marketers earn money when they settle up with these companies. they earn each time when a customer purchases from their affiliate link. But in some affiliate marketing strategies. you can make money by leads or app downloads and traffic to websites. Now that you how to do affiliate marketing where to start and how does it work? let me tell you some points you should know before starting an affiliate marketing business. How to do affiliate marketing business-Now you should know that an affiliate marketing business is not like doing promotions and you start to earn. No, it does not work like that here is the proper way to do affiliate marketing strategies. first, know what are the requirements to start affiliate marketing.
Choose niche-Choosing your niche is your category so you need to be specific about your category instead of targeting a broad niche. You need to find something up to the point that will define your audience. you'll have a specific audience and this works with SEO.Choosing a niche can be tricky because you need to write a lot of content about your niche. That is why choose it wisely. Here are some things that can help you find the niche.
Build an audience and choose content platforms -Now by building an audience, I mean that you find where you can work there are some major content platforms. where you engage people and they will buy and which platform to choose depends on your niche. if you want to sell a laptop videos can get you better results.there are some affiliate marketing best platforms where you can work-
Choose affiliate marketing best platform-Choosing the affiliate marketing best platform depends on your niche your experience and whom you are targeting. Some products have high demand example - Sony PS5 but the commission is low. many products have high demands with high commissions.Here are some affiliate marketing best platforms that you can look for -
Search competition-Now you have everything to start. Now you choose products and services with low competition with high volume. if you are a beginner because products and services with high competition you can't do much to gain some experience.If you want to target a popular niche, search for a unique way to promote it like well-known influencers from your niche or start paid ads. Write content-Starting earning your content should be great not just writing about best-paying products. You need to focus on what readers need or what you showing then is it helping them? so for that, we recommend you give a try to products or services. now write content like blogging, script of videos or ad reviews these are basic ways to promote.Some things to keep in mind -
Traffic share-Now you have everything now just need traffic you need to remember one thing if you have a conversion of traffic you have already the right audience. With the right audience, you can engage people. but if you don't have the right audience there are two ways to have traffic -Organic traffic (SEO)-Seo is the practice of optimizing a page that affects your ranking on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Here is how to do it
Traffic by ads-See you can generate traffic by ads but you have traffic but you are paying for it before getting paid. when you stop paying your traffic will no longer be there. it can be a great strategy to generate traffic only if you have great commission. ad expenses will be cut down from your commission here are things to understandYou can lose money if your ad doesn't work. If you are a newbie or on lower commission program don't think of it Important things to have in mind-
Types of affiliate marketing-Three types of affiliate marketing offer a flexible way to earn commissions by promoting other company's products. But there's more than one way to play the affiliate game -Unattached Affiliate -This is the most basic approach. Affiliates promote products within their niche or expertise. Think of social media ads showcasing the latest fitness tracker. the advertiser might pay per click, regardless of the audience's interest in fitness.Related Affiliate -Here, affiliates promote products relevant to their established audience. A tech blogger might recommend a new laptop brand, leveraging their credibility within the tech space. This approach builds trust with the audience and can lead to higher conversion rates.Involved Affiliate -This is the most hands-on approach. Affiliates become involved with the product, often using it themselves. by creating detailed reviews, tutorials, or even courses built around it. This strategy fosters a strong connection with the product and fosters trust with potential buyers.Choosing the right approach depends on your strengths and interests. Unattached might be a good starting point. building a loyal audience through related or involved marketing can lead to more sustainable success. Affiliate marketing Benefits -Affiliate marketing benefits are like having a sales team that works for free. You find people who like your products and let them tell their friends. When someone buys something by your link from your promoter, they earn a commission.It's a win-win. You get more sales, and your promoter makes money. This way, you can reach new people without spending a fortune on ads. Plus, people are more likely to trust a recommendation from a friend than a regular ad. Conclusion -Affiliate marketing business is like getting a commission for recommending things you like. Imagine you tell your friends about a cool new game, and if they buy it, you get a little reward. That's kind of how it works.Companies create special links so they know when a customer comes from you. You share these links with your friends, on your website, or on social media. If someone clicks your link and buys something, you earn a commission. It's a win-win! You help people find products they might enjoy, and companies get new customers. ? looking for a complete affiliate marketing business guide. Now here is everything you all need to know about affiliate marketing. this blog is the place where you have all the information about affiliate marketing. |
2024.06.09 15:09 RainOk786 An offer to bypass IMT but balancing my career and my lazy self
I would be grateful for your advice. I just don't know if I'm the sort of person that's made for IMT and beyond so I'll try and give some context.
Even before I got into medical school, I knew I wanted to be a good GP. That was my aspiration. To become a good GP with a good balance in my working and family life.
As I went through university, I hated the five gruelling, long years of studying. I watched friends and colleagues excelling and saw myself just not caring to study so hard. I'm just not studious like my peers are and the years of studying while watching non-medical friends start their careers wore me down. I also heard about and saw the terrible working conditions for doctors so I became more and more apathetic towards medicine as the years went on and as such, I built no further aspirations past GP training. I scraped through every year.
Then I started working and I absolutely love the patient side of work! I love interacting with patients, taking a satisfying history and doing a thorough examination, then applying the knowledge I have and making a detailed plan. Then getting feedback, learning and applying new knowledge too. I have a good working relationship with my colleagues and other staff too, and I even get compliments and "pats on the back" from consultants from time to time which feels weird given my mediocrity (and lots of negative feedback) throughout university.
That being said, I had to cancel the GP training I secured and did an FY3 year for some family reasons. During this FY3 year, I was approached by the oncology department I frequently locum in for a meeting. The clinical director of the department said that they would sign off IMT competencies for me so I could bypass IMT training and possibly become a registrar in their oncology department.
It's honestly sent me for a loop. I don't even know much about anything aside from GP training. I never researched what it takes to be an IMT doctor or a registrar and beyond because I never really cared for it. But now that I've been given such an offer, it has me reevaluating everything.
On one hand, I don't know if I'm ready to pull my socks up and study for the MRCP and doing the portfolio and be motivated to do it all. I don't know if I've met another doctor like me in that sense. Everyone I meet seems to be really clued on when it comes to their career and building portfolios and they seem motivated to do so. But on the other hand, I'm wondering if it's something I should be doing and if I should find the motivation within myself to do what needs to be done. I want to be the best doctor I can be and I genuinely think that working in a hospital is something I'm good at.
I understand this is all situational and it's difficult to give a clear answer to someone you don't know. But I guess my question is: has anyone else found themselves in a similar position? Is it something you would consider? Is it something I should consider?
submitted by RainOk786 to doctorsUK [link] [comments]
Even before I got into medical school, I knew I wanted to be a good GP. That was my aspiration. To become a good GP with a good balance in my working and family life.
As I went through university, I hated the five gruelling, long years of studying. I watched friends and colleagues excelling and saw myself just not caring to study so hard. I'm just not studious like my peers are and the years of studying while watching non-medical friends start their careers wore me down. I also heard about and saw the terrible working conditions for doctors so I became more and more apathetic towards medicine as the years went on and as such, I built no further aspirations past GP training. I scraped through every year.
Then I started working and I absolutely love the patient side of work! I love interacting with patients, taking a satisfying history and doing a thorough examination, then applying the knowledge I have and making a detailed plan. Then getting feedback, learning and applying new knowledge too. I have a good working relationship with my colleagues and other staff too, and I even get compliments and "pats on the back" from consultants from time to time which feels weird given my mediocrity (and lots of negative feedback) throughout university.
That being said, I had to cancel the GP training I secured and did an FY3 year for some family reasons. During this FY3 year, I was approached by the oncology department I frequently locum in for a meeting. The clinical director of the department said that they would sign off IMT competencies for me so I could bypass IMT training and possibly become a registrar in their oncology department.
It's honestly sent me for a loop. I don't even know much about anything aside from GP training. I never researched what it takes to be an IMT doctor or a registrar and beyond because I never really cared for it. But now that I've been given such an offer, it has me reevaluating everything.
On one hand, I don't know if I'm ready to pull my socks up and study for the MRCP and doing the portfolio and be motivated to do it all. I don't know if I've met another doctor like me in that sense. Everyone I meet seems to be really clued on when it comes to their career and building portfolios and they seem motivated to do so. But on the other hand, I'm wondering if it's something I should be doing and if I should find the motivation within myself to do what needs to be done. I want to be the best doctor I can be and I genuinely think that working in a hospital is something I'm good at.
I understand this is all situational and it's difficult to give a clear answer to someone you don't know. But I guess my question is: has anyone else found themselves in a similar position? Is it something you would consider? Is it something I should consider?