Facebook animals made out of symbols

Hey community, how's it going?
I'm currently playing Kiwami 2 and was under the impression that everything happening in the games is canon, from the main story (which I'll assume is still ongoing and everything that happened and is happening is canon) to the minigames, substories, cabaret plots, rivality stuff, you know, anything that happens in the game does happen in the lore.
I'm on act 4 and have just started the Cabaret Grand Prix plot/minigame, where Kiryu says that he has no experience whatsoever on the show biz, which initially I thought was to weasel out of the responsabilities of managing a club AGAIN (Although it makes sense from a gameplay standpoint - First time players or returning players after a while need a refresher on the mechanics), but they're extending the joke a little too much, which makes me think that cabaret subplots in the previous games didn't actually happen lore-wise, and probably this one won't matter either.
That made me start to wonder what else isn't canon from what happened before. I'll guess anything that made Kiryu hook up with anybody, anything that made Kiryu rich, any actual crime Kiryu made, such as the murder heat action animations, or the car sequence in Yakuza 0. I'm ok with some stuff not being canon, but it still bugs me that I don't know what's lore and what's fluff.
Is there any sort of community agreed upon non-main storyline stories that are canon?

My fiancee (33 m), who is my ex since a week now, went out to the casino and took drugs and paid a escort 900$ behind my back (me 23 F). He left to another city to go see his kids and go to court and I was supposed to go fly out to see him and his kids the week after but things did not turn out the way we planned.
The only reason why I found out about what he did is because he broke his phone and I had an extra phone and he used it, he used my phone for, bank, Facebook, messenger, Instagram, emails, enough for me to see everything, and he never signed out of all his stuff and he said he trusted me because he don't talk to no girls, he don't cheat, he has nothing to hide,
LOL
I saw on his Instagram that he had a lot of blond women all over his feed and he told me he doesnt know why he has them there, and I was not happy with how many little blonds were all over his instagram so I told him to remove them in a fit of anger. I already knew he was going through a lot with his baby momma forcing him to go to court because apparently he don't pay her enough lol
But that night he told me he was going to sleep and he told me goodnight and that he had a big day tomorrow (because he had a sleeve tattoo scheduled for the next day)
Instead he went out to the casino and met a rich friend there then went to his private house to play poker, where there was escorts wearing stripper clothes, thats exactly what he told me. Oh and I forgot he bought drugs too. I had a bad feeling when he told me he was going to bed, because he said it at 8pm at night, I got kind of suspicious.
When I woke up in the morning, I looked at my phone that he used to see If there was any new messages and I saw he sent 900$ to a girl named megan, I was able to see her full name through the transfer that he made, and so I went investigating, I looked everywhere, google, facebook and Instagram, I found her on Instagram and I saw her onlyfans and on her only fans bio said she lives in the same city as my ex fiancee.
I pieced two and two together so I immediately think he cheated on me, I called him right away but it took maybe 6 or 7 calls for him to answer, and when he answered I asked him "How was your night" and he said "it was good" I asked " oh yeah who's megan?" He said "what" and I said "you sent this megan 900$ last night" then he said he think there's something wrong with his bank and I told him "figure it out or I'm breaking up with you" and I ended the call.
I then texted him to figure it out then later on he then texts me saying he went to a rich guys private house to play poker and he apparently did not know that there would be escorts and strippers there.
He told me the reason why he paid he 900$ is because the game was her game and it was a private game, he said he tried to cash out before but his card couldn't work so instead he personally sent her 900$
At first he tried to lie to me then eventually he coughed up his lies, today he had court and im over here drowning in deep depression and I can't help to keep thinking what else did he do? He was hiding a lot of stuff from me so I feel like he did not tell me everything.
I apologize if my English is broken, English is not my first language. By the way this is my first time posting on reddit. Have a nice day.

I read the first book in the series and really liked the concept. I'd like to find out what happens in the series, but the animal cruelty in the first book made it very hard to read for me. Kudos to the author for writing something that really got under my skin, but it was too much for me.
Has anyone read the rest of the series who can comment on if the other books are similar with regard to animal abuse content? I tried reading through some reviews on Goodreads but didn't see much and was running across spoilers.

I posted a week ago about my horrible experience wearing shorts in public for the first time in a few years. Well the tattoo was rescheduled for today, so I begrudgingly wore the shorts again. Despite it being the hottest day of the year so far, I wore a long but light coat over the top, thinking it would be enough to stop ppl. I made the very unfortunate decision to stop and pick up beer after my appointment, and as I am tossing my beer in the passenger seat a man comes up behind me and starts commenting on my tattoos on the back of my thigh… I literally don’t know if this man cane out of a store or a car or thin air. He was just there suddenly asking for my facebook (I don’t t think many 23 year olds have facebook…) and I am just so disappointed and uncomfortable. I know I said it before that I wasn’t going to wear shorts again, but part of me thought maybe the last time was a fluke, and another part if me thought I deserve to be able to wear whatever is weather appropriate and comfortable for me. Obviously now I greatly regret both my decision to wear the shorts and my decision to stop at the gas station. Anyway this is just a rant. I’m so disappointed. Will the world ever be a better place for my daughters? Or granddaughters? Seemingly not.

It had some if the earliest computer animation. Everything was beige and made out of marble. I think there was a marble jaguar in it.

(Friend of mine on Facebook posted this)
“I’m pretty heated. This happened to me today, at around 2:20pm. I am driving back to work on my lunch break, enjoying a nice podcast, and casually glancing around at my mirrors as I do every few seconds. I had just passed two separate car accidents, and after a decade of riding & driving an ambulance to 911 calls, it made me really trust my mirrors, especially in traffic. Anyway, I happen to glance up to my rear view mirror and that is where this story really starts. Whenever I say out of nowhere, I mean this white car appeared out of NOWHERE, approaching my rear at a speed that was so fast, I honestly and truly believed that they were about to crash into me. In the couple of seconds it took my brain to process, I instinctively try to avoid him. That is when the driver of this white car seemingly realizes the big ass black truck in front of him that he was rapidly approaching, and decided to maneuver as well. We then almost crashed again.
After that, he brakes HARD to a near stop, so that he can cruise alongside me, phone in hand, staring me down with the hardest face that man could muster, and that is when it hit me. This guy is a cop. A freakin’ cop, man.. Knox County Sheriff’s Office, to be exact. He is literally going from like 100%mph, to nearly hitting me twice, to then slowing down to a near stop to yell threats at me on his PA? Why does this guy get to break all these traffic laws, almost hit me, and then threaten me, Knox County Sheriff's Office?
He started acting like he was filming my truck, I thought about filming him too, but then he would have a reason to pull me over.. (You know, for breaking the same law that he did..) Regardless, he was caught breaking an obvious no hands law at its most extreme degree. So whether he was taking my picture, or texting while driving erratically without lights and sirens, still a very unprofessional move. A very DANGEROUS move.
After pacing alongside me in traffic to stare me down, he proceeds to pick up his PA mic, and yelled something along the lines of, “ do you want to be hurt motherf**ker?”, before accelerating HARD again, and taking off into traffic erratically once more. All the while, no lights or sirens. Immediately after he floored it into more traffic, (again without ANY audible lights or warning sirens), I pulled over so that I could time stamp everything and jot down all of the necessary details to send off to their internal affairs. I have been an emergency responder myself for 11+ years. I know that his car, (#9642), has a camera. I also know that his rapid acceleration, along with the sudden breaking that he administered to stop and harass/threaten me, would have definitely triggered said camera to record the entire incident. Quite possibly even his body camera too, pending on that department set up. Everything that I have stated here can be proven without a doubt in that video, which I plan to get. I make this post just to warn anyone that may have the unfortunate experience of being on the wrong side of this officer’s attitude. He had shorter, dark hair and a mustache. Car number was 9642.
So if I end up missing, go ask Officer Mustache about it.”

I (20F) moved in with this girl (20F) in the fall and it has been a nightmare ever since. I met her online and she was in the same situation as me, wanting to move to the area, already had a job lined up, same budget and we got along great. Everything was perfectly fine up until move-in, there were no red-flags, she paid her half of the deposit and fees, she was fast at replying, was proactive and we were getting to know each other more. She lost her job about two months before we moved in. She told me she got a new job although it paid less and had less hours, but her parents would help her with rent if she needed it, so I thought it was safe to continue with her. I wish I could go back in time and stop myself. The day we moved in she did not have the money and she was frantically trying to get it from her parents. We had been waiting so long to move-in and I didn't want to be waiting in the leasing office for hours while we waited for the money so I told her I would cover her half that day and when the money hit her account, she could pay me back. That never happened. I asked her about it every few days and she kept blaming her parents and said she would get it to me. She has not once paid a full month's rent, at most she's paid half of what she's responsible for but for the most part I get less than $100 every couple weeks and haven't received anything in the past two months. Instead, I've been paying in full every month and keeping a running total of what she owes which is now a significant amount of money. I've been barely making enough to pay the full amount even after getting promoted and racking up as much overtime as I can. She has had a myriad of overlapping jobs the past few months and she recently got a job she says will cover her rent. Rent isn't even the only problem. She brought in a lot of animals (violating the lease) after living there for two weeks. She said her parents asked her to take care of them for a few weeks and then they would take them. The number of animals made me apprehensive, and I wasn't comfortable with all of them being there, but it was supposed to be temporary. All of the animals are still in the apartment with no end in sight. It wouldn't be so bad if she actually took care of the animals, but she has consistently neglected them for months. She will leave for days at a time and leave them with only a few bowls of food and water which they go through quickly and then sit empty for days. At first, I tried to care for them, I would refill their food and water and give them attention, but I made sure to let her know they were not my responsibility and while I didn't mind helping out if she were away, I would not be taking care of them for her. I brought my concerns of their care up with her and her parents many times but was brushed off every time. She also has not been cleaning up after them consistently, so the smell gets really bad. It has gotten to the point where I have thrown up from the smell and even had to wear a mask while inside. I asked her to keep them in her room as I wanted to contain the smell and I didn't want them getting into my things. One of them learned how to open her bedroom door and my furniture has gotten ruined as a result. I've taken pictures and even contacted animal control but was told there was nothing they could do. She is also extremely messy. I know I can get cluttered, and I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt and be understanding, but it's disgusting. This was a newly constructed building; we were the first people to live in the apartment and I wanted to keep it clean and fresh for as long as possible. It now has a permanent nasty smell even when she does clean after the animals. She leaves food in the fridge to mold for months and garbage on the counters. She has never once cleaned the common area, no vacuuming, no wiping down the counters, no dusting, no cleaning appliances after she uses them. She will leave dirty dishes out for over a week without washing them and would leave them scattered around if I didn't put them in the sink for her. She will overstuff the trash to the point where the bag rips to avoid taking it out. I am very nonconfrontational and I figured most of these problems were growing pains and we'd work it out. I figured we're both just starting out, we'd both make messes and make mistakes and things would eventually get better, but they just keep getting worse and worse. I'm so exhausted and frustrated. After a couple months I started just avoiding her, I would check her location and if she were there, I would just go to my boyfriends' place. It's gotten to the point where I can't be in the apartment alone with her because she makes me so anxious, if she's there I ask my boyfriend to come over. The past few weeks I have not spent one night at my place. My mental and physical health have taken a huge toll because of her. I have tried so many times to reason with her and have genuine conversations and come up with solutions but each time I get the same excuses and I just can't take it anymore. This was supposed to be fun! I'm 20! This is my first apartment! I couldn't wait to have my friends over and feel like a real adult, now I'm too embarrassed to invite anyone over because of the state of the place. I was so excited to start a new chapter of my life and start new after my college education was derailed by serious health problems. I'm trying so hard, and it just feels like I'm always taking one step forward, two steps back. There is only so much my parents can help me with because they are in a different state, and I need to maintain a certain level of financial independence for a long period of time to qualify for a cheaper tuition. I'm trying to be dropped from the lease but that can only happen if she can prove she can afford rent by herself. The worst part is if she had made an effort or communicated with me, I would be more than willing to help her. There's so much more I could go into but for the sake of privacy and not overloading my monologue with details I'll leave it here. If you've made it this far, thank you for listening to my rant.

Hey nerds <3
I posted here last month looking for players to run a second group through my world. Unfortunately, some of the folks didn't work out. So we're starting fresh and looking to find some new folks to fill the ranks. My apologies if I didn't get to you last post, there's was a lot of applications and because I got threats and some quite nasty comments, it made it hard to reply to the close to 70 applications that I received.
Our current party consists of 3 lovely queerdos:
River (Me)- DM Jake- Rogue/Gunslinger Devin- SorcereBarbarian
We're looking for 3 or 4 lovely folks to fill out the slots. Please do not apply if you can't commit, we're looking for people who have the consistency, I've had to decline some really cool people only for players to ghost or drop out. So, if you're flaky like pastry, please do not apply.
🌌 Welcome to Papatūānuku:
Join me in a campaign set in the embrace of a lonely goddess, the Earth mother, Papatūānuku. Here, souls of the departed embark on a celestial voyage across Pilgrim's Pass, or Te-Awa-Nui, a river not just of water but of spirits journeying to the mountain pass where the god of souls dwells.
💀 The Soul Siphoners:
In a world where souls are palpable and reincarnation weaves the fabric of existence, a dark threat emerges. The soul siphoners, creations of the Night Mother – a witch who first shattered the natural cycle of life – once augmented their forms with stolen souls. Thought extinct since the first age, their ominous return poses a chilling question: What stirs this ancient menace back to life?
🔮 A Quest of Mystery and Magic:
Is the Night Mother's dark magic reawakening? Are the shadows of the past stretching into the present? Your journey will unravel these mysteries, leading you through a tale of magic, peril, and discovery.
🌙 Uncover the Secrets:
Are you prepared to confront the mysteries of Papatūānuku, challenge the resurgence of ancient evils, and shape a story that will echo through the ages?
🌟 Unique Gameplay Experience:
Immerse yourself in a world enhanced by Gestalt rules (dual classing), a piety score system that will lead you to be the champion to one of the 50+ gods, and stackable DM inspiration, rewarding your courageous adventures in Papatūānuku.
🎲 Customized Characters:
Step into Papa's realm with a character crafted from over 30 unique, homebrew species and a plethora of subclasses. Here, your character’s journey is as unique as the world itself. (Please do not bring pre-made ideas, your application will not be considered if you do)
🎭 Adventure Time!:
Our campaign weaves together threads of whimsy, horror, humour, and mystery. Ideal for players who revel in a mix of high adventure and deep lore, and who bring enthusiasm and theatrical flair to their roleplaying. Include "Lamington" in your application to show that you read my post, not including it will result in your application being ignored..
💃 Commit to the Bit:
I'm looking for players who are dedicated, with consistent attendance and active engagement in and out of game. I really want to make new friends and find people equally as excited to get into this.
If you can't socially hold a conversation this might not be your jam.
🖥️ Technical Essentials:
Sessions are held via Discord and Roll20. A clear microphone and camera are necessary for full participation in this vividly imagined world.
🎥 Animation Plans:
This campaign is set to be animated! Strong, consistent attendance is vital. This campaign is ideal for those who can dedicate around 4 hours a week to an immersive, long-term adventure. As a bonus, expect lots of free art and down the line, an animation to show off to your mates– just be sure to show up!
Keep in mind that because it is being animated I may take artistic liberties and make changes to how your character is portrayed in an animation. This is a big part of why I'd like to find people who can engage.
📅 Scheduling: Sunday 5:00pm PST. Attendance is important, if you can't attend or commit to a weekly game, this isn't the game for you.
🌟 Inclusive and Respectful Environment:
A warm welcome to all! We maintain a positive space free of homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, pro-genocide, and general negativity. Let's create a respectful and fun environment for everyone.
📖 Integrate Lore into Your Character:
I encourage creativity! Each player should incorporate the existing lore of Papatūānuku into their character's backstory. Please avoid bringing pre-made characters; let’s craft something fresh and unique to our world.
🔞 Mature Themes with Sensitivity:
Gear up for a journey exploring mature themes, suitable for adventurers aged 18 and above. Do not apply if you're a minor. Expect substance adventures, heart-pounding gore, intriguing murder mysteries, and deep secrets. Note: Explicit content will be handled with a "fade to black" approach.
🤝 Respectful Teamwork:
Our adventure thrives on cooperation. Please refrain from flooding the game with unsolicited advice. We value each player’s individual contribution and style.
👑 Drag Race Bonus:
If you're a fan of Drag Race, mention your favourite queen at the end of your application for some extra points! If you're a talkative diva who thinks Kate Middleton got lost at the Wonka Experience after her BBL, please apply! We love a loud and proud nibbling mother! :)
I'd lowkey love to make it a Dungeons and Drag Queens game but it doesn't have to be if folks don't vibe.
📝 Your Invitation to Adventure:
Applications are open for the next week. Applied to my last post? Please feel free to apply to this one. New applicants, show us your creativity and enthusiasm. Here's the google form link. You will hear from me if you're chosen, however, because I received death threats when I was sending out declinations, I won't be able to tell everyone the verdict, sorry about that.
https://forms.gle/xrhkFgWKg7joRPtq9

When I graduated high school, my mom had already signed me up for the Navy. I guess she thought she would be able to get ahold of me and have 24/7 access to me even in bootcamp, so when she didn't, she lost her mind. Started calling and faking emergencies so I would be escorted away from my division and into a room with a phone and my mother would be waiting on the line for me to pickup so she could tell me all about her day. I eventually worked up the courage to just say no to these summons and she, no longer having access to me as an emotional support pet, started going to professional therapy for the first time in her life. That was the first boundary I set with her successfully, back in 2016.
Fast forward and now I am comfortable telling her no much more often. During the pandemic I discovered the reason she is such an asshole is because her brain literally works differently. Not just from the trauma, but because she has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder, and yes I think I have it too but I haven't gotten a formal diagnosis). I told her as much, she was insulted at first, but eventually got tested and my suspicions were confirmed. So it's easier to explain things to her, now having the equipment neccessary to navigate weird social situations with her. Save one thing. She still thinks we are besties and can share anything with me.
Including randomly sending me pictures of the family dogs asshole when he got a rash, the inside of her mouth when she got strep throat, pictures of her shit she thought looked weird, vomit, etc. So I have to constantly be on guard whenever I get a random picture out of context.
Yesterday she told me in a facebook messenger conversation I was trying to have about my DEAD DAD and his friends, she randomly said "I have seriously been looking at too much porn 😒" and I haven't been able to leave myself alone with my thoughts ever since. I feel nauseous typing that out and I DO NOT want to tell anyone because...who tf would I talk to about this? I'm grossed out and embarrassed. I'm crying right now because I feel so horribly guilty wanting to cut contact constantly....she has 1 friend outside the family, is horribly agoraphobic... I didn't engage in that topic, I just changed the subject. Idk. I just needed to vent here because I've already been so fucking stressed lately, masturbating is my way of decompressing and she ruined it for me like so many other things in my life. Sometimes I want to bare knuckle fist fight her. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and make her get an abortion. Right now I just wish I could wipe my fucking memory.
Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for listening. Hope you're just here cause you like reading the stories and not because you were also raised by shitty parents 🥴

In 2023, I did a story with StarterStory.
I enjoyed working with them - everything went well!
But... it is behind a paywall and even I can't read it.
No bueno, as I want to read it, and I want others to read it too.
So... why not make it public? Here it is ⬇️
I updated it since, and hopefully you get some value or inspiration out of it ✌
I realise this is my first post here but my aim is to continue contributing and engaging with the community. I feel honoured to be part of this community, thank you :)
Who are you and what business did you start?
Hey everyone, I’m Denis and I’m the co-founder of Glimp - a business started 8 years ago.
During that time:

• I survived on $150 NZD per week for a year
• volunteered at Rio 2016 Olympics
• lived in Bali, Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Russia to name a few and visited even more countries
• made lots of friends, and memories
• improving my dating... a lot
• battled depression and started doing therapy
• became TikTok famous in New Zealand
• went sober and continue to do so
• committed to calisthenics and flexibility
• and of course, built a 7-figure business while making a tonne of mistakes

So, let’s talk business!
Glimp.co.nz is a utilities, financial products, and insurance comparison website in New Zealand. 🇳🇿Think SkyScanner, except in the industries I mention.
We help Kiwis (that’s what you call New Zealanders) find better deals and save money. We do this by negotiating exclusive offers and presenting them in as easy and as straightforward as possible. That’s the consumer side.
From the business side, we help big and small companies acquire customers. We promote their offers and get paid when customers sign up.
Today, our average revenue is $170,000 NZD ($100,000 USD) per month with a healthy gross margin.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I started my career as an auditor at one of the big accounting firms - BDO. Then one day, after 2 years there, I had enough.
I looked around my office and asked myself “Is this the life I want?”.The work didn’t inspire me. I wanted freedom and change, so I quit.
I quit my job in June 2015, I was 24 years old. I had 6 months left to get my Chartered Accountancy (CA) qualification aka CPA. The highest honour for accountants. It meant I was saying no to a 6-figure salary and a relatively stable career path. It felt really scary.
Two weeks later, I moved alone to Wellington, New Zealand, where I didn’t know anyone, and began my 8-week coding journey.
If you asked me about my plan then… I would not had a single idea it would lead me to where I am today.
My aim at the time was to claim back my freedom, start a business and travel around the world.
The plan went something like this:

1. I want to start a business
   
2. If the business doesn’t work, I will get a coding job
   
3. If I can’t get a coding job, I will go back to whatever I was doing before
   

During the coding bootcamp, I met my now business partner - Michael. We clicked as we both didn’t want to work 9 to 5 but do our own thing. So we brainstormed a few ideas and settled on our comparison website. The funny thing is… the ideas that we wrote down, all of them have been executed by other entrepreneurs.
The comparison idea was close to Michael’s heart, as he is an immigrant from UK and price comparisons there are huge. Enormous! So we decided to copy their model and launch the first all-inclusive comparison website in New Zealand. We were the first to include a comparison of many products. The thinking was… if it worked there, it has to work here.
I barely had any business experience, besides what I learned online. I was fresh. Michael was an ex-electrician and a property manager. He was also fresh.
That meant we had to figure everything out, and we did.
At the time I was living off my savings of approximately $150 USD per week. That included rent, food, gym, and 1 cup of coffee a week. Talking about being thrifty.
I lived like that for a year and four months. Challenging at times, but overall, it was fun. At one point, I moved back to my parents but that was after I went to Brazil to volunteer at Rio 2016 Olympics for 3 months and came back home broke.
A few months since returning from my Brazil trip, we started paying ourselves equivalent to the minimum wage in New Zealand. This was December 2016. I decided I had enough of living with my parents and that’s when I moved to Bali.
My journey of travel and self-discovery has begun.
But we are here to talk business, so let’s talk business.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
I built an MVP in two weeks and started with Internet comparison. I was an internet geek, World of Warcraft, etc, and it felt right to start with what I know - prices for different internet plans😅.
As Steve Jobs once said “Good artists copy, Great Artists steal”Having zero design or CSS skills, I did exactly what Steve said. I went on overseas websites and started to understand how they operate. Some call it, reverse engineering.
In my head, I’m thinking, these guys are spending millions of dollars optimising their websites and products, so they must be doing something right.
However, I did add my own spice to it. After analysing websites, I noticed they all do comparison one above the other. Whereas in real life, we do it side by side, so I implemented a comparison of our offers like that.
In reality, it was just two guys trying to apply what they learned during the coding bootcamp. Using the latest Ruby on Rails framework, Bootstrap and jQuery. We fell into a natural rhythm where over time I was focusing mainly on Front-end and my business partner was focusing on Back-end.
It was a lot of spaghetti code, which is code that is lacking any structure. One of these days we will rebuild the website.
Describe the process of launching the business.
In January 2016, we launched our website. We just pushed it live on Heroku and… now what?As you remember, we were fresh, there was no growth hacking or anything.
Luckily for us, New Zealand was going through a massive Fibre rollout and the government was spending millions on marketing. So that’s what we focused on.
Around the same time, an overseas internet company entered New Zealand with a market-leading offer. They wanted new clients but they only had a referral program for door-to-door salesmen at $120 NZD on acquisition. We asked them if we can do acquisitions online. They agreed.
We featured their offer and began a simple AdWords campaign. Our budget was $1,000 a month. This was all financed via our savings. And to this day I remember the first lead that we generated. I was frothing.
At the end of our first financial year, we made $60k in revenue and $20k in profit. Not bad. This was purely from focusing on AdWords.
Over time our main source of user acquisition became SEO but it takes time to build it out. So we kept grinding and getting better at what we do while improving our core offering.
We also were trying to get more client relationships. In some cases, it was a waiting game to get noticed. In other, it was someone we knew. And in other cases, it was us approaching them and saying what we can do for them.
When we started we would accept the price that the provider was willing to pay. However, as time went on, we negotiated for better and higher CPAs.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
In the beginning, it was AdWords. This was the main source of our traffic. Since we were bootstrapping, it was really important we were profitable from day 1. So I made our website flow super simply to get our users from Point A to Point B.
I put a lead capture where we would collect customer details when accessing a certain deal. We would then use those emails to follow up with them. At the time, I also coded up a simple transactional email so we didn’t pay for the service.
Then I started exploring ways how to generate more traffic and stumbled across SEO. I started diving deeper and quickly implementing the best SEO practices at the time. The most fun I had was figuring out how to write content that ranks. Publishing it and then seeing it at the top of Google’s first page. It was great.
The content pipeline system was simple. It was putting myself into the shoes of a consumer and answering questions they might have. I would also analyse the content our competition was writing and make it better.
Michael and I would reach out and get backlinks with the partners that we worked with and websites in a related industry.
We later got SEO tools like SEMRush to help us with content ideation, and eventually we outsourced the SEO side of the business. To this day, we haven’t found an SEO agency or partner to continue working with - the search goes on.
Next, I was analysing industries we haven't started comparing yet. Seeing where we could easily rank and launch another vertical. That allowed us to rank top of Google’s search for Mobile Plans, Car Insurance, and Power in New Zealand.
As we grew in traffic, we started bringing on more paying partners. You see, at first, for our idea to work we had to sell our service on an acquisition basis only. And we had to include companies that didn’t pay us because they were well-known in New Zealand.
However, with higher traffic, we were able to onboard new paying partners and get better exclusive deals. And the exclusive deals meant customer retention because they weren’t able to find these deals anywhere else.
We also tried leveraging Facebook, forums, and groups to promote those deals. However, the best we found was SEO and Adwords.
How are you doing today?
Personally, I'm doing great. In fact, the best I've been mentally since doing therapy, but it wasn't like that before.
Up until 2020, our business has been doubling in revenue every year.
We started to expand our team and by end of 2020, we had 20 full-time staff mainly from the Philippines. We had a call center team, marketing team, operations, and developer. The idea was to grow the business and streamline operations.
Since that point, our business has been through a lot of ups and downs. Some people worked out great and some didn’t. It was a learning experience for me too because I never really managed a team.
Currently, we are a team of 3 full-timers combined with 10 contractors in different parts of the business.
The biggest lessons were:

1. Find the right people
2. Make sure they are kept accountable for the deliverables

Between the period of 2020 and 2022, when we had 20 full-time employees, I relaxed and thought the people I had could run the business. And I guess they did, the question is how well.
I also wasn’t enjoying the business. I managed to achieve my goal of living anywhere and working whenever I want. And yet... it felt meaningless.
Looking at this period now, I was depressed and going through a lot of internal growth and changes. And still going, and what a ride it is.
Things had to change... I let go of all of our marketing team at the beginning of 2022 and replaced them with contractors.I was paying more per hour but was getting better results. Great success!
The year 2022 was also the worst year in terms of profitability, achieving a loss in September. That was a wake up call for me - it was time to really do something about it.
In the second half of 2022, we let go of our operations manager and made more staff from full-time to hourly.
I also found that our email automation was turned off for over a year with a user base of 120k+ emails. I didn’t want to think about how much revenue we lost, so I found an email team to help us with it. Even then, I had to part ways with them and find another person to help me.
In 2023, we let go of our call centre team and replaced with a new one - that was the last change in employees for now.
After all those changes, we were back to making the highest profits we’ve made in a very long time.
One thing I’m forgetting to mention is that during that period I also improved our conversion rate from 6% to 12%.
What does the future look like?
Short term plan is to continue putting the right people into the right seats within the business.I want to increase profitability and automate as much as I can.
I'm happy to share that we finished year 2023/2024 (different financial year in NZ) with highest profit to date! And I want to continue the momentum going.
Long term plan is to figure out the next stage of life from a business and personal perspectives. Remember, the internal growth journey I talked about?
Michael and I are currently at crossroads on whether to put the business in the maintenance mode, continue building within New Zealand and dominate it, go for a bigger market or sell.
This comes from losing steam in the recent months and discussion of selling the business are starting to show up but whatever we decide will be the right decision.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
Timing and luck play an important factor. It has been proved to me many times during my journey. Combine that with hard work and you will get results.
When it comes to evaluating people you want to have a clear idea of their responsibilities and objectives. Using those objectives is how you will evaluate them. For example, if you agree with someone on 10 pieces of content per week, and only receive 5, you discuss that with them next week. If it keeps happening, then you have a basis to take action. Simple and effective.
If I knew the above earlier I would’ve let go of some of my employees sooner. They were the right people but in the wrong seat. Or the wrong people in the wrong seats. It just wasn’t serving anyone.Also, as someone who gets emotional about this matter, it allows me to look at it more objectively.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
We’ve built the website on Ruby on Rails. For our hosting we use AWS but when we started it was Heroku. For CRM, it is Freshsales, and for email we use ActiveCampaign.
On day to day basis we use Slack and GSuites, it does the job. We use Trello for project management.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I think it was the 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. I read it before I started my business journey but at the time, I was hooked. From day 1, the business was fully remote and had no office. We were doing the remote thing before it was cool… kind of.
Another one is Traction by Gino Wickman, I read it in 2022 and it is about setting up operations within the business. The key takeaway is to measure the performance of key metrics on weekly basis. That way you don’t wait one month to see how things are going.
Once I implemented what I learned from Traction, my business grew a lot.From -$10k profit to $80k profit... not bad.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Realise that you can always go back to whatever it is you were doing before.
If you have a fear around money, I lived on $150 USD per week for over a year. Honestly, this was one of the best times for me during my business journey.
Figure out what is your minimum “survival” requirement and you will be surprised how little you need to get by. In turn, you will experience freedom and it will allow you to focus on building whatever it is you are building.
Note: I was 24, single and debt free at the time. But if you are not, I’m sure you can figure out a solution that works for you.
Where can we go to learn more?
At the moment, I'm starting to be active on my Twitter (@denistyurkov) and sharing there my journey and interests more. You can also find me on other socials, if you want, as it won't be that hard.

• Twitter

Would love to connect with amazing people and chat about business, relationships, travel, calisthenics, hiking, kitesurfing, men’s work, and many other things... or just say hi :)
Hope you all find this somewhat useful!I welcome feedback and any questions you may have.

P.S. I know there are a lot of spelling and grammar errors; keep in mind that this is a first draft, and I am not fixing such errors right now. I am mainly looking for thoughts on the quality of writing and story itself.
The sky was grey and clogged with dark sagging clouds that seemed brooding and ready to release their sodden payload. Ironically the street was clogged with people who rushed antlike from place to place shoulders hunched eyes glancing furtively at the clouds. Amid the rush of black and brown and occasional blond heads rushing down the overladen sidewalks, there was a head of hair the shade of red on associated with crimson droplets of beaded blood or dark wine being swished in a glass.
Cain Caddel the owner of this remarkable hair, was not particularly special himself, at least in regards to his standing in society. He was a single middle-aged man who lived a comfortable and private life in a wooden cabin outside of the city. He had a golden retriever named Angel and had many books which he liked to read by the fire before bed. He had a standard paper pushing job in which he was competent and made good money in, but in which he had showed no inclination to climb the corporate ladder. He was gradually, though not slowly accumulating money for retirement. In short, Cain lived a comfortable life, the sort of which he had dreamed of when he had struggled simply to survive many years past. If Cain could describe his situation in one word it would be, content.
Cain was not in a hurry to get home to his dog and he did not care about the rain. He had felt it in the past and would feel it again. He only walked fast so as not to disrupt the swift tidelike flow of the crowd. The was nothing demanding his attention, nothing to stress him, nothing to bother him. Wasn’t this the closest thing to liberation a man could achieve? He had reached the final peak of all he had ever desired and he was satisfied. In that moment and for a reason which he could not precisely explain, Cain felt an intense, almost euphoric feeling of contentment. He felt a rising urge to laugh hysterically, but repressed it with surprising difficulty.
Perhaps it was the whim of a cruel God that made the following events happen when they did.
Cain felt a sudden ache in his head like how he felt midway through a bad headache, but as soon as it had appeared, the sensation vanished. It was as abrupt as running into a tree you hadn’t seen or teleporting somewhere utterly random. Then Cain missed a step and then another. He stumbled forward in a drunken shamble his head suddenly swimming in sluggish circles. Then he recovered. The entire sensation disappeared as instantaneously as it had appeared. For a moment Cain Found himself staring blankly at the ground too bewildered to notice anything.
But of course, then he heard the screaming.
It was the loudest scream the broke him out of his reverie. It was a man’s voice gibbering and high.
“STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP!,” repeated again and again mindlessly and pleadingly. The were other noises too. Whimpering moans, high wails, cries for help. Looking around Cain saw many people collapsed on the ground. The man who had cried stop was spasming violently and foaming at the mouth. His cries to stop were swiftly being replaced with vague gurgles. Most were not in the condition of the stop man though. Many quivered violently on the ground or screamed as though they were undergoing slow and brutal torture, but they were better than the stop man.
There were even a few stragglers who had not collapsed and had simply fallen to a knee or leaned against a wall. They all had faces screwed with pain and clenched fists. The faces of people who had just stepped on a nail or were undergoing surgery without medication.
Abruptly, Cain wondered why he was not experiencing such pain, or whatever it was. In the entire visible stretch of sidewalk he was the only one standing-
There was a deep thud and a crash of breaking glass as car crashed into the side of a glass skyscraper. Panes rippled and then shattered high up the building in a wave which left a wake of falling glittering shards. The shards fell among the catatonic people in a shattering rain. An errant piece hit Cain’s arm but failed to penetrate the fabric of his suit. Another grazed his temple, leaving a searing line of pain.
Cain decided to run.
He had no clue, no fucking clue what was going on, but staying outside seemed like a stupid idea. The smart move was to hide somewhere and wait this out. He felt a flash of guilt at the thought of leaving all the people out there to the mercy of errant cars and mysterious pain, but what could he do when everyone was affected? No, it was best to lie low and wait. Cain sprinted toward the nearest safe building, he had to be fast. there was no telling when the next derailed car would crash. He hopped over quivering torsos, and limp hands. Too limp. And the he pulled open the translucent glass door of some off brand looking retail store.
Without bothering scouting his surroundings, Cain ran through racks of wacky T-shirts and shelved of knickknacks, toward the back of the store which had an unlabeled door. Second floor, it must be! The first floor was unsafe, especially with all those windows, and that glass door. He needed high ground for safety.
There was a titanic roar and a concussion that thrust Cain forward and to his knees in a painful bump. The very windows he had been worried about burst violently inward along with dust, and debris, and…. and a red chunk. A chunk that looked like a piece of raw beef. It flew through the air and landed with a wet, small sound. A sound that seemed too small and too real. Cain stared at the chunk fascinated by it. He knew what it was, but.. No why think about it, it did no good. It would disctract him from what mattered. He needed to get to the second floor and wait for this die down, that was what he needed to do.
Everything would be fine and die down if he just waited on the second floor… Cain was still riveted by the chunk. it was red and glistening, and it pooled its redness around itself in a slow leak. Was like grocery store meat, so impersonal, so inhuman.
Cain stood, fast and shook his head like a dog. He turned around and walked through the unmarked door. It led to an unlit and narrow staircase with dirty white paint; the kind one would imagine coke gets snorted from liberally.
The staircase led to a hallway, which was essentially just a hallway version of the staircase: narrow dirty and poorly lit, and generally indicative of drug deals. There was a row of doors with golden numbers, and a shabby brown carpet and a row of windows overlooking the street. Amond a field of sprawling bodies there was a number of stragglers who stumbled drunkenly around the road as if they were heavily drugged. Glittering shards of broken glass sparkled cheerfully up between corpses and the occasional bang or scream could be heard In the background. A red flicker glinted off of the shards of glass.
“My fucking God, Lord have mercy, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.” Cain whispered his eyes breathily to himself, speaking out loud for the first time since the disaster began. Scenes kept replaying in his mind, over and over again in a cruel loop. The man screaming stop again and again futilely, like a pig at slaughter who knows it is about to die. His bloodshot eyes rolling sightlessly. The sides of his mouth foamed with white froth. The car hitting the building straight on, confidently and without hesitation, the driver killing himself. The chunk of meat that looked beef from a grocery store that had plopped down beside him like a treat tossed to an obedient dog.
Cain closed his eyes and breathed in slowly and shakily, then he breathed out. He tried to blot out the images and shut out the cycle. Images kept multiplying and reappearing: Ameobus that multiplied after being cut apart. But eventually he calmed down enough to think and be rational. He opened his eyes, though his breathing was still ragged and shaking.
“Ok what the fuck.” He whispered to himself, knowing he didn’t need to whisper but not caring. “What happened?”
It was like an Emp to the brain that had swept over everyone at once and destroyed people’s circuitry, though not everyone had been treated equally.
He was the prime example of that.
He had gotten off easy with just bad headache and a stumble for a few seconds, whereas others sounded as if their very souls were being rent apart. What was the significance of his near immunity? He had not worn any special headwear or worn any special clothing. He had no metal on him apart from his watch, phone, and parts of his pants. Could it be that he had been standing in just that right place for the attack to affect him to a lesser degree, the same way a lucky blind man could survive a hail of arrows by standing in the right place? It seemed unlikely. And he was already assuming it was an attack in the first place. It could have been aliens or the fucking wrath of God.
There was no benefit to speculation anyway, he needed to focus on the present. As it was, all he knew was that everyone in the immediate area was either dead or wandering in a drugged daze. He had no knowledge of how extensive this effect was; for all he knew, the entire continent, or hell the entire world had been affected. He could be the only sane person alive in the world.
So he should try to gather information, then. Cain took out his phone and opened the news app to the most recent story.
Oklahoma F4 Hurricane Kills Four, 10 Million In Estimated Damages.
Not surprising. The event was too sudden for anyone to make a news story already, and, if this had happened everywhere of course, who would make it ? All the writers and journalists were probably dead or more fucking zombies.
Wait what was he doing anyway? He didn’t know how extensive this was and for all he knew it could have only affected the immediate area. The police station was an hour away; it could be unaffected!
He dialed 911, it rang once, then twice, then three times, then ten times, then twenty. He glanced at his watch after five minutes and hung up the call. No good, he was being too optimistic.
So what did he do now? The news was out, and the police were probably the same as everyone else. There were no friends he wanted to call, and his mom was long dead. Any siblings either didn’t exist or were too separated for him ever to find them. He stared blankly at the useless keypad of his phone app for a minute before an idea came to him.
He opened Facebook, eyes glued to the blue f and heart beating rapidly. This would work, he knew it would. People of all kinds, all over the world used Facebook. If anyone else was alive in reasonable numbers, then there would be some kind of information on Facebook. And maybe this fucking nightmare only occurred in the surrounding few miles. Maybe the police were just busy and unable to pick up, that would be understandable given the situation. Maybe the news was working on a story right now and it was breaking news on every tv in bars and stores and houses all across America.

Breaking News: A deadly and unexplainable phenomenon engulfed the California Town of Mount St Louis. Initial Probe reveals thousands dead and thousand more catatonic. Experts are still researching cause…

The blue f faded and revealed a list of posts. The first was a picture of a solemn looking yellow lab curled in a corner surrounded by puppies with the snarky title of: Running from Her Responsibilities. The post was from six days ago.
Cain felt an irrational and sudden dip in his excitement but forced it away. Was he expecting all his desires to be magically fulfilled in the first second of opening the app? It wasn’t like Facebook regularly showed posts from less than an hour ago in the feed. But… With a frown, Cain went to preferences and switched to most recent. The blue F returned and disappeared as the page loaded and Cain’s Eyes widened, his heart beating rapidly and his chest feeling light and airy.
All of the most recent posts were about the same thing. I collapsed and now everyone around me is... Does anyone know if the police….Can someone…I was cooking and my wife fell over do you… Please help…
The posts were all accompanied by pictures. They were all different, many showed pictures of the street in different towns, all with the same story: people collapsed everywhere with a few stragglers, often crashed cars or damage was visible. Many people were isolated or with a friend or family and posted about collapsing and not being able to contact anyone or about family dying in extreme pain. One man survived after driving on a crowded highway, his picture showing a hellscape of overturned cars, scattered metal with intermittent fires, and sprawled and dismembered corpses.

Cain’s heart pounded in a dreadful THUMP THUMP that resonated through his chest in cruel and rapid beats. There were posts from everywhere. There was one from Florida and one from South Dakota, and dozens more from unnamed towns that could be anywhere. America was dead.
Jesus Christ is the world over? His legs weakened, whatever passive energy that had been holding them up draining out like water through sieve. He fell to his knees with a dull thump, but his didn’t care about the pain. A funny thought occurred to him.
I actually fell to my knees. I thought that was just the kind of shit people say when they’re being overdramatic.
The world was over. He knew it. This was not some attack, there was no technology that could do this. It might be aliens and it might be God, though it was probably something else. But it didn’t matter. It was over.
He sat there for a second just thinking about it all. He had been walking home to see Angel, then he was going to make dinner. He had been thinking about grilling a burger, and he would give some to her. He would read more of a mystery novel he had found at the Barnes and Noble. It was light thing, the book version of popcorn, but he wanted to finish it. He was going to work tomorrow. What was going to happen now? What did he do now?

Well first he had to wait and then of course he needed food and water and shelter. And he would obviously need to make it home to Angel. The streets would be clogged with crashed cars and corpses, so no driving fa car for poor old Cain. Maybe a bike or a motorcycle? He couldn’t drive one but he could take it slow. There would be no angry drivers honking the shit out of him for going 10 miles per hour. And when he got the hang of it he could go faster, maybe 20. But it the roads looked like the hellscape in the post he saw, then maybe he would have to stick to 10.

He felt a bit of pressure pass out from him like air whistling out of the end of an overfilled balloon. He knew what to do, yeah the world probably, well almost certainly, ended, but he had a solid course of action for the next few days. He just need to wait another hour to be absolutely sure nothing would explode or fall or otherwise reduce him to the state of one of the fortunate people lying dead on the street.
He leaned back against the wall and looked at the shoddy golden letter seven on the door opposite him. Behind him, the laden clouds finally released their load. Heavy droplets of rain pattered down on the dead streets. On the pavement, a man whose gaze was vacant of the normal thoughtfulness and constant analysis of a human being looked up as a cold droplet impacted his forehead. He stood where he was for a moment, his hair soon growing flat and waterlogged his suit clinging to his round middle-aged body, almost seeming to contemplate this new development. Then he kept walking forward, his steps slow and seemingly deliberate.



























Chapter 2.
David Sharp walked down the streets of New York in his standard relaxed yet confident stride, both of his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. It was one of his daily suits, fashionable, and quite expensive, but only enough that it evoked admiration and respect, not jealousy or annoyance at a pointless display of wealth.
He glanced down at a particularly twisted looking corpse. It was a thin and tall woman with equally thin and long blond hair. She wore a homemade looking sweater and had on a delicate pair of slip on shoes. She seemed like the type to bring her neighbors casseroles and call you hon or dear, or so he theorized.
As she was, her mouth was stretched open wide enough to fit a small melon, her jaw looked purple and discolored, the bones seemed to be in almost the wrong place. Her cheeks traced tears of dried blood from empty sockets where eyeballs had burst. Her torso was twisted like a rag doll from a spine broken in pained thrashing.
“Oh my dear, I’m so sorry for you” he said, his voice soft and genuine.
He looked up at a small figure who was standing father down the street.
This was not one of the zombie people whose minds had been broken by the event, but a person, he knew it.
He kept walking forward, his stride now cautious and unsure. He looked around at the broken city around him as if searching for something. When he neared the man, he snapped his head toward him.
“Hey, are you alive?! He rushed up to the man “You don’t look like one of them”
The man turned around to look at David. His eyes were vacant, but not in the same way as the zombies. He wore a dirty band shirt and black exercise pants. His feet were scraped and red and he only had flip flops on.
“Laura, she died. She just died.” He said it in a the monotone of a college student doing a presentation about an obscure African tribe.
“she just fell over and started flailing her arms and screaming. I fell over too and I couldn’t do anything. When I was better, she was dead. I felt her pulse, and she felt too cold. She was pregnant. The baby is dead now too.
David touched the man’s shoulder.
“Come on, you need to eat and get inside. My house is nearby.” He smiled gently.
“I am much luckier than you, since there was no one for me to mourn. Feel welcome to stay as long as you need.”
He guided the man to his apartment with a hand on his back. The man followed with no resistance, his eyes stared constantly forward at some unknown point.
David guided the man to an elevator and up his suite on the fourth floor of the skyscraper. It was a perfect suite. Massive, with high ceiling and white ceiling lights that washed the entire apartment with an even glow, it was full of the kind of modern furniture that made use of simple geometric shapes to create an elegant but straightforward appearance.
He guided the man to an armchair in front of his custom flatscreen. The man sat down, accepting easily. He took to David’s guidance like a lost puppy, his mind was still pliable from his crushing loss, David could feel it.
In fact, David could feel it much more easily than normal. It was not just his ability to flawlessly modulate his emotions and analyze those around him. Martin was open to him, his mind was peeled apart by his loss: a normally solid wall, crushed by a fierce battering ram of emotional destruction.
Martin! That is his name, I am utterly sure.
David’s facial muscles twitched up in an involuntary smile, perhaps the first involuntary emotional response he had experienced since early childhood.
This could be very good. And he had the perfect test subject sitting placid and pliable, waiting for his guiding hand.
David reached out with an invisible hand toward Martin’s mind. He had always had the hand, he realized, but it had been more of a finger. It nudged, prodded, and massaged, but it lacked force, so much force that he had not known he had been using it. It was many times stronger now, maybe hundreds of times.
The hand plunged into the soft pliable mind as one would plunge their arm into a bowl of Jello.
“Uuuh!” Martin said.
He jerked slightly as if he had been shocked.
The fingers felt Martin’s Love for Laura and her blond hair and mischievous jokes, and the crushing, overwhelming emotional emptiness when he felt her cold dead corpse. The fingers explored, wiggling and invading. Martin’s Childhood memories were in there, they saw that he had gone to college for a year, but realized that he had always been too lazy to really apply himself. They saw him meeting Laura at the office and getting to know her. She was always serious when working, but she had a cute side where she laughed and joked. He had a love for classic video games, especially Mario, and he…
Martin was spasming violently, his hands clawed at his scalp and ripped out chunks of dirty black hair as though he was trying to remove a rabid rat from his skull.
He went. “UUUH, UUUUUHH, UUUUH!”
The hand stopped exploring and retracted carefully.
David sped over to the pathetic man, whose head now lolled loosely on his shoulder. He put a hand on Martin’s shoulder.
“Martin, Jesus, what happened? Did it happen to you again, the thing that killed everyone, I mean?
He ran over to Martin’s other side and examined his face.
The eyes were now as vacant as a zombie and a line of translucent drool traced down his chin and neck. His body was limp and responseless.
The hand split apart into many tiny gentle tendrils and wormed their way into Martin’s mind. David had not known he could do it until he had already started.
The hand had mashed and scrambled Martin’s weakened mind: a clumsy toddler playing with a fragile nest. The tendrils were very different.
They wormed their way quietly and harmlessly along, moving, fixing, rearranging; a hundred thousand fingers, reassembling a shattered mind.
More than a mere 100 times stronger
Martin bucked a few times, some invisible mechanisms being triggered accidentally. Then the vacant eyes were once again occupied. Martin sat up in his chair as his muscles regained control.
Martin stared fixedly at the T.V. then turned to examine the furniture and the window with the view of New York. He brought his hand to his face looking, most likely, at the dirty fingernails and scabbed over cuts. He put his hand down and sat for a few moments.
He stood and turned around, now looking at David. His eyes were no longer crushed and empty, but wide and confused.
“How…how did I get here?”
David smiled.
“I found you wandering around the street and at first I thought you must be one of those zombies. But I was walking nearby, and I saw that you looked a little different. It was hard to put a finger on; a certain clearness of the eyes, maybe. So I asked if you were alive and you responded with some meaningless sounds. It was quite clear that your mind was barely holding on.”
“Of course, I never leave a man in need so I escorted you to my house and set you down in a chair. It seemed likely to me that in your case the ailment of the mind was of a lesser degree and might heal over time. As we both can see, you are standing.”
Martin stood and absorbed the stream of information the same as a stone cliff might absorb a passing wind.
“I think… I lost something, but I can’t remember. Its fuzzy, I-“
“Oh God, Oh Shit!”
Suddenly he leaned forward as if he had been struck in the crotch and held his head.
“It fucking hurts!” Martin screamed, “Oh fucking God, it hurts!
David walked over to Martin and eased him into the chair.
“Sit down,” he said in his most gentle voice. “sit here for a second and you will feel a little bit better.”
David put his hand on Martin’s back and soothed. The hand’s touch soft and guiding, massaged the aching mind.
After a few minutes Martin’s back muscles relaxed.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“Do not thank me. I am simply doing my duty as a decent human being.”
Martin turned to David with a face of mixed gratitude, and intense confusion.
“Please… what happened.”
“First, you should look outside. It will explain better than I am capable of. Hold on to your stomach.”
Martin walked toward the window with an unsteady studder to his steps. He tilted his down and looked at the street only to jerk back in shock. Little black shapes littered the street, and several cars were piled on top of each other like pancakes tossed in a lazy pile.
“Jesus!”
Before Martin could speak further, David began explaining
“I do not know exactly what happened, but three days ago, there was something like a wave that swept over everyone in the world, as far as I can tell. Most died, and most who survived turned into what I and the remainder of the internet is calling zombies; people who live but only in the scientific sense. They have no mind; they walk around in a shambles without any apparent direction. Out of those who did not die, a bare fraction retained their mind: their ability to think and make logical decisions.”
David spoke in the businesslike but sad-tinged tone of someone who has accepted a truth but has yet to fully move past it.
“I do not know what spared this group, whether it was some unknown factor or pure random chance. But I would be surprised if more than 1 in 1000 people survived, though that is a wild guess based on nothing but my own intuition. You are the first person I have seen that I am absolutely sure is not a zombie.”
“I believe that your headache and your fuzzy mind were caused by the wave. I theorize that the wave affected everyone to a different degree, in the most extreme cases, people died in minutes, but some took hours to die. I believe you were affected almost to the point of zombification, but the effect ended right on the brink between a living mind and a shattered one. When I found you, your eyes seemed to have a spark of intelligence but little more.”
Martin still looked out of the window, with a hunched back and dark hair hanging in strings.
“What about me…what happened to me? I lost something.”
David walked next to Martin; lips pinched in a sympathetic line.
“Martin, I don’t know… how could I? Everyone in the world had to deal with the wave on their own. I felt pain like you did. How could I have been there when it happened to you? I only found you by chance. As your mind strengthens it may come to you and it may not, that is the best I can tell you.”
Martin turned to look at David, his eyes were bloodshot from tears, his stubble and greasy strands of hair seemed to stand out.
“How do you know my name? I never told you.”
David smiled his gentle smile again.
“You let it slip out while you were a near zombie. I thought it would be good for you to hear it again, nothing more than that.”
The hand reached out to Martin’s mind, ready sooth away irrational anger and needless distrust, but it felt a wall. A wall of sturdy steel-hard will.
Martin’s eyes grew wide and he took a step back.
“You, you just tried to do something to me! I felt it in my mind!
David’s smile smoothly transitioned into an expression of affront and sad understanding.
He spoke slowly and with a hint of hurt.
“David, I know that you are confused and angry, but all I have ever done is help you. Please try to direct your anger at something else. I do not mind being supportive, I cannot help if you lash out.”
Martin’s expression softened, and he hesitated.
It was then that the hand, now a fist, struck.
The wall of steel shattered and the hand drew back splitting apart into tendrils which weened their way into the crevices of Martin’s mind.
Martin instantly relaxed, all anger and suspicion disappearing like a candleflame before a gale.
But then a wave a steel hard resolve exploded out of Martins mind and the tendrils were blown apart.
The hand started reforming itself.
I cannot be gentle with this one.
Martin’s face screwed up in an expression of utter rage.
“You FUCK, you BASTARD, it was you wasn’t it!”
Martin charged at David a pocketknife gleaming in his hand.
Hidden the whole time.
David turned on a heel and dodged Martin. Of course he had taken self-defense courses. He could defeat and immobilize Martin easily, but Martin was useless now, he was too fargone to be worth keeping.
David, caught Martin’s wrist and with an efficient twist, had Martin on his stomach with an arm stuck behind his back. There he patiently waited. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
The hand reformed.
Four seconds. Five seconds….
David fed his will into the hand, increasing its size and its power.
Ten seconds.
The hand seemed about to explode. It was a white-hot pulsing mass of will.
Martin seemed about to know what was going to happen.
“PLEASE, PLEASE, STOP, I’M SORRY-“
The hand crashed into Martin’s feeble wall.
It tore apart like a thin sheet of rice paper.
It sank deep into Martin’s mind and he moaned in pain. David felt more and more of Martin’s memories. They came earlier and earlier the deeper he went until he saw a sweet face with dark hair and red lips, and feeling of warmth and simple love. Then he let the hand explode.
Martin Jerked upwards almost throwing David off of him and then went limp. Blood pooled from where his eyes faced the floor.
David, got up and walked to the window with his hands behind his back.
“It seems that I am not the only one who changed.”










Chapter 3

I believe that in my opinion that the Yugioh dub by 4kids was actually better than people said it was and it is still the best English dub for a children's anime, despite the fact that it was heavily censored and had major plotline changes. The dub still holds up even without nostalgia glasses because it was trying to not be a typical shonen anime like the original Japanese version and it is a perfect example of how to turn a shonen/shoujo anime for teens into an anime for kids in a correct manner. Now, let me tell you why most people still praise the Yugioh dub as one of the greatest English dubs ever, even it is a hack dub.
The first reason is the stellar dub voice cast and direction that 4kids has put out in high quality. All of the voices perfectly fit the characters naturally when they were cast and were having voicing the characters. Dan Green really brought the main protagionist Yugi Moto and Atem in distinct ways. He gives a deep and commanding voice to the Pharaoh Atem in which makes him a father figure to Yugi in advanced. He also gives a beliveable teenage vice to Yugi without sounding so old. Wayne Grayson gives Joey Wheeler a not cartoony Brooklyn accent that made him iconic for any line that he gives. Amy Birnbaum voice for Tea Gardner has to be my favorite because of how spunky and feniamine she brings in the character when she was given a moment to shine. For example, in episode 24, Birnbaum really nailed the anger and sadness better than the sub va when she stood up against Kaiba for mocking Yugi when Yugi lost to him, and that felt so emotional and real to me when she yelled at Kaiba. Greg Abbey fits perfectly as Tristan Taylor with that teen suave voice that he portays. Megan Hollingshead plays Mai Valentine with a sexy and husky voice that was really perfect for the character. Ted Lewis brought an extraordinary British accent to both sides of Bakura and makes him sound more manly. Finally, the voice that made me automatically watch only the dub is Set Kaiba's dub va, Eric Stuart. Eric Stuart really had the most quotable lines out of all of anime dub history and his voice is what Kazuki Takahashi envisioned for the character.
The next reason for the dub still holding up is to do with the stellar writing in the dub's scripts. The humor was written well and did not feel cartoony for the most part. The writing from the dub made the anime stand out from other shonen anime dubs and make it not a typical shonen anime like DBZ or One Piece. The name changes for the character actually made sense compared to other dubs from the 90s and 2000s (excluding Digimon).
The final reason of why this dub is still watchable was the dub's music and songs that are still high-quality to this day. The dub music fits the series way better than the Japanese music/songs. The BGM for the dub is still one of 4kids' best dub replacement music ever alongside Pokemon and Mew mew Power. The vocal soundtracks that they made (Music to duel by and Pyramid of Light movie) were filled with banger 2000s songs that range from, pop punk, techno, and Disney/Broadway styled songs. Two of my favorite songs from the soundtrack "Music to Duel By" are "We'll Be there" and "Face Up, Face Down" because they remind me of the Disney Renaisance era so very much and the dub voice actors are also wonderful singers.
So to conclude, the Yugioh dub is till worth watching to this day for a 2000's children's English anime dub. It was the reason why Yugioh became popular in the US and created Little Kuriboh's Yugioh Abridged. I hope that everyone should rewatch the dub and see that it was still watchable despite the censorship and rewrites that 4kids did.

I am estranged from my father. My parents split when I was probably 7 or something. Then I would see my father every few weekends. He was a great dad back then, and I was a real daddy's girl before it all went down.
He started a relationship with someone who was one of my mums best friends. Was there any overlap? Who knows. Here's where the story really begins...
I never liked this woman even before my parents split, even as a young child I felt uncomfortable around her. She had a bit of a reputation of being phsycho, and had had a few fallings out with my mum and her friends before everything happened, and they weren't really close friends anymore (She had previously punched her ex husband in the face and broken his nose, and nearly ran over my mums friend with her baby in a pram, because she was angry she was late). From now on I will call her "Linda".
Eventually they moved in together in a new house. I never felt welcome there when we (I have 2 brothers) would go over. Linda would never let us spend any time with my father, or even sit next to him. If she came in and I was next to him, she would tell me to move, that was her seat. My dad would never argue with her.
She gave us clothes to wear at their house and we weren't to wear our own clothes. We had to shower and change into those clothes as soon as we arrived. As if we were dirty.
If we ever went out Linda would ensure I straightened my usually curly, frizzy hair, and wear a hideous, girly dress that she picked out. "You don't want to embarrass your daddy, you need to look nice" she would say. She would get so angry if I "embarrassed" her. One time she put her hand down on my shoulder in the street to control me, and I shrugged her off (idk why I did it, unconsciously or not, I just didn't want her touching me) she made a huge deal about it "what will people think if they see that" and my father made me apologise to her.
There's so much other stuff that led to what happens next I don't have the time. All you need to know is I felt so uncomfortable around her that I told my mum. I told my mum that I wished I could spend time with my father without Linda present. My mum then wrote (they corresponded through letters) to my dad and told him what I said. Well, somehow Linda got hold of the letter and read it. The next time I went down to their house my dad sat me down and told me that I was no longer welcome there, "because you told your mum that you don't like Linda, and she is very upset". When this happened I was 10 or 11. I was kind of in shock at how disappointing my father was, even at that age I knew I hadn't done anything to deserve that. That's when birthday and Christmas cards stopped too. My brother would get them, but not me, and the other excommunicated brother.
One of my brothers would still go down for maybe a year or two after that. (The other brother had already also been told he wasn't welcome either because he had also somehow offended Linda. That's actually a pretty funny story, but it's irrelevant) Eventually that stopped aswell and even though that brother tried to stay in contact, my father "didn't have time".
Eventually Linda and my father got married. We weren't informed or invited. And they moved abroad. The only time I've seen them since I was around 12, was at my grandmother's funeral, I was then 23 years old. They were furious I was there, as they had requested we not be invited. (We weren't invited to our own beloved grandfather's funeral prior to this, because they didn't want a scene). They had told the entire family that my mother wouldn't allow them to see us and were afraid that everyone would find pit they were lying.
When I saw them, they pretended to be happy to see us. My dad asked "are you _______(my name" because apparently he didn't recognise me. AWKWARD. He hugged me and apologised for messing up. I just went along with it to not make a scene, as other family members were looking at us.
We found out after the funeral that Linda had said some pretty fucked up things and made it seem like my family did some terrible wrong to her by inviting us to the funeral.
After the funeral I got a message from my father saying it was "great" to see me, as if it wasn't him in the first place, who demanded I be left out. He continued on by telling me how great his life with Linda was and that if I wanted to reconnect, I would have to accept that Linda would need to be respected and that there would be no contact with him, without her present. As if she was still holding a grudge against my 11 year old self for asking to spend time with him without her there. That's where things ended and I haven't seen or heard from them since. He popped up in my suggested friends once and I thought he may have been looking at my Facebook page. Eventually I looked him up but the profile had disappeared. Neither of then have any social media. I don't know why I even look sometimes. I think it's time to accept that I will never see him again.
I doubt anyone has read this far, but it's good to write it all out. I hardly ever think of it but every now and then I ruminate on it... I don't know why I waste energy trying to figure out what happened and why.

They make cut little animal themed tea cups and things and I want one. The animals aren’t painted on. Instead she’ll mold a little cat face out of the clay or something like that.
I’ve looked through my likes and my comments. I even found a comment in my activity that I made to one of her posts. But it doesn’t show the account name I was replying to! Maybe she deleted?

For a little backstory: I (17f) go to a charter school for troubled youth and credit recovery. I am now a senior and graduating early. My (now ex) friend (almost 19f) is still a junior and refuses to do her work and sleeps in class day. We both have difficult home lives so I understand why she’s burnt out because I was for a long time too. There was a specific person she would talk bad about because he was 19 years old and a senior even though she turns 19 in August and is still a junior and talks bad about of lot of other people which is why most of our school doesn’t like her. She’s also very loud and a little much to handle. We had very different political views which I won’t get into but any time the topics would come up she would interrupt me, scream at me, and sometimes cry. She was talking bad about me to our other friends and so we are no longer friends.
For one of our mutual friends 17th birthday I bought her a concert ticket about a month before the concert. I told her I was unsure if I was able to go because my boyfriend and I are saving for a down payment on a house plus pet fees, furniture, and other necessities. I told her I would try my best to get a ticket but I was still unsure if I could go. She asked me today if I could go and I said I was unable to because I don’t have the money and I’m busy the day of the concert. I thought because I told her I don’t know if I could that she would make a backup plan and bring someone else if I ended up not being able to come. I have a teacher I go thrifting with and help her sell the items we find to make some extra money and I am supposed to go thrifting with her the day of the concert. (May 3rd 2024.) I am also starting to clean houses. My family ended up pitching in for VIP tickets to another concert in October as an early birthday gift for me. I am also unable to go to the concert because there is an outbreak of the bird flu in mammals. I’m not 100% sure how the bird flu works but it has been found in cows, obviously poultry and even a dolphin so I’m not even eating products from those animals. My family is just trying to be safe. Because I’m not able to go I offered to buy another ticket for her to give to her friend which is my ex friend even though I can’t really afford it. I texted the ex friend asking if she could go and she went off on me. I will include the conversation word for word as it won’t let me add pictures. I have asked other people for their opinions and they say that I am not in the wrong. I just feel bad for my friend because now she won’t go because no one will go with her but I am also angry because she told the ex friend a lot of stuff in a way that made me look really bad. Her messages to me have little to no punctuation so they’re a bit hard to read but I want to type them out word for word. Reach out to me if you would like the actual screenshots.
Me: if I buy you a ticket will you please go to this concert with ____? I can’t go and she really doesn’t want to miss it. I will 100% pay for your ticket
Ex friend: I really can’t. She already asked me today but I got work at five that day and no PTO. I can ask my mom wassup
Me: she really doesn’t want to miss it and I can’t go with her. If there’s anyway you can go. I’ll buy your ticket
Ex friend: I can’t bro I ain’t got no time to takeoff and I can’t get a point 🤦🏽‍♀️ Why can’t you go
Me: cause I have a million and one things going on tmr.
Ex friend: ik she don’t want to go alone BFFR who wants to go alone I thought you were going with her and aren’t you going like thrifting with mrs ____ tmr I think I heard y’all talking about it ik it ain’t my place but I think it’s really fucked up of you to go and hang out with ms ____ or other ppl and this is a ticket you got for ___ on her birthday the only reason she was gonna go was cause she was under the impression that y’all were going tg and now she’s upset cause she doesn’t want to go alone and no one can go with her if you would’ve us told her straight up said no I don’t think I’ll be able to go sooner then I would’ve been able to go and I think it’s fucked up that you knew you were gonna put a down payment on a house and didn’t inform her that you wouldn’t be able to go. It’s OK to just say no I can’t go. I can’t do it instead of leaving ppl wondering if you’re going.
Me: omfg First of all this ain’t your business but I’ll send you the same text I sent her Wtf do you think we were saving up for? We were broke because we put our money into savings to put a down payment on a house. And then we drained our savings plus an extra thousand dollars for that house because of pet fees. The concert that we bought tickets for is in October. My family pitched in for that as an early birthday present. I’ve been saving clothes to take to Plato’s closet for extra money. I’ve been going to Goodwill with mrs ____ to sell the things we find for extra money. I do want to go with you. Do you know how bad I want to see Kim Dracula? I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to go because we’re preparing for another pandemic. They’re survival rate of the bird flute is 48%. We’re not even eating chicken or beef right now because of it. My mom doesn’t want me out there during that. Also I did tell her I was putting a down payment on a house. Just btw
Ex friend: that’s an excuse if you were really her friend did you would’ve told her straight up? I can’t go. It’s not my business but you dm’d ME about it asking if I could go yk you could free up time. You just don’t want to do you have money. You’re literally literally offering to buy another ticket you js and the bird has been around forever and you’re not gonna get it unless you eat the chicken and drink milk like BFF and now you’re going with ms ____ LMAO how does that make sense? I know you’re going to emo night with (other mutual friend) two so it’s really not that you can’t go you just don’t want to and that’s ok js be straight up
Me: I can’t go. You have no clue what you’re talking about. You don’t know me anymore. You don’t know a damn thing that’s going on with me. I offered to buy her a ticket to Emo night too. You just like talking to talk. I tried to be nice. I gave her alternatives. I offered to buy you a ticket and her cousins or siblings a ticket or whoever she wanted to go with. Once again, I am going with mrs ____ because it’s an extra source of income plus some other stuff I’m doing for some money. “If you were really her friend-“ shut up. I don’t want to hear those words from you because all you do is talk about everyone you don’t like even though you pretend to be friends with everyone.
Ex friend: I’m not gonna argue with someone who’s not emotional mature and competent enough to grasp the principle of said concept TBH you really need to look at yourself and do sum work on yourself because you’re gonna lose everyone this way you do not listen. She leaves the day of emo night your js making up excuses don’t make this about me because it’s not it’s about you being a bad friend to her
Me: talk to me about deadly diseases you have a degree or graduate high school. The bird flew is not supposed to be found in mammals. They found it in a fucking DOLPHIN. That’s a big big deal. I don’t even have my emo night ticket because IDK if we’re fixing to be in a lockdown, but I’ll buy her one cause (other mutual friend) is going.
Me: (replying to her message about not arguing with someone like me) OK that’s fine. I’m not gonna argue with an almost 19-year-old junior. You were never a great fucking friend anyway so you have no room to judge. Nobody fucking likes you so maybe take a look at YOURSELF.
Ex friend: Okay whatever you wanna think at least I’m gonna go to college and have a better life than you ever will.
Me: yea in Florida with your daddy that keeps blowing you off? 😂 okay ____.
At this point I blocked her because I had a doctors appointment and was tired of arguing with her. I also want to clarify that the tickets to the concert are $75. The tickets to emo night are only $25. Aita??

It seems pretty obvious that Melina is the Gloam Eyed Queen. There is more than enough evidence to make this case, and too many people have lost the plot and can't see the forest through the trees on it. The youtuber TimDiggity made a video theorizing how Miquella is actually Melina, and Ziostorm made a video about his theory, but the whole thing grasped at straws to say the least. I intend on setting the record straight, because if you're still asking the question than you weren't listening.
Lets stick to the facts. The Gloam Eyed Queen was the wielder of Destined Death. Her purpose was to maintain the balance between life and death. That is until she was defeated by Maliketh, who took her Destined Death and sealed it away inside of him.
We can also assume that the Beast Eye is the Gloam Eyed Queen's.
Claw-marked stone eye received from Gurranq, Beast Clergyman.
It is said to tremble when near Deathroot.
The murky violet iris writhes as if alive. "I am not sated... Feed me more...Death..."
Firstly, because it's a "violet murky iris," and 'gloam' refers to sunset or dusk where the sky bleeds into a murky violet color. Quite a poetic representation of balance between life and death when you think about it: Life and Death, Dawn and Dusk. Secondly, the Beast Eye is '"claw-marked." It's not claw-marked because the claw is the mark of the beast clergyman, but because it was literally clawed out of the Gloam Eyed Queen's face by Maliketh during the fight. Thirdly, the eye can sense Deathroot. What is Deathroot if not the essence of Destined Death spreading like a disease on the roots of the Erdtree from the cursed body of Godwyn. He was assassinated with a fragment of Destined Death that was stolen off Maliketh by Ranni. More on that later. The eye senses the Destined Death essense that is part of the Deathroot. The Eye has to be the Gloam Eyed Queen's.
Now how do we know the Gloam Eyed Queen is Melina? Well. The Gloam Eyed Queen is known to be an Empyrean,
(Black Flame Ritual Item Descriptions:) The Gloam-Eyed Queen led the apostles. It is said that she was an Empyrean chosen by the Fingers.
but also one that goes unaccounted for in the mentioning of other Demigods and Empyreans. We know in order to be an Empyrean you must be an offspring of Marika in some way. Melina refers to her mother several times during her journey with the Tarnished, and it eludes to Marika being her Mother. Here's some of her dialog that makes this case:
-Me, I'm searching for my purpose given to me by my mother inside the Erdtree long ago, for the reason that I yet live, burned and bodiless.
-There is something I'd like to say. My purpose was given to me by my mother. But now, I act of my own volition. I have set my heart upon the world that I would have. Regardless of my mother's designs. I won't allow anyone to speak ill of that. Not even you.
There is only one "Mother" inside the Erdtree and it's Marika. Melina's mother cannot be anyone else. The context is too strong. (In the Game Files she is referred to as 'MaricaofDaughter.')
Now let's talk about the most important parts of her dialog. When we are at the Kiln of Giant's Flame and during the Frenzied Flame Ending.
-I have long observed the Lands Between. This world is in dire need of repair... and Death*...indiscriminate...* Are you prepared... To commit a cardinal sin?
-Very well. Let my hand rest upon you, for but a moment. (A cinematic of Melina igniting the forge) O Erdtree, you shall burn. Burn, for the sake of the new Lord. (Turns back at you) Thank you. For guiding me here. (Lifts hand and ignites more intensly) The one who walks alongside flame*,* Shall one day meet the road of Destined Death*.* Good-bye.
-(The Blade of Calling is known to be Melina's weapon. Part of it's item description reads:) The one who walks alongside flame, Shall one day meet the road of Destined Death*.*
Melina mentions the Dire Need for Death Indiscriminate, because the Lands Between has gone without it for so long. Death is Indiscriminate, it literally does not discriminate. It comes for all. This is exactly what the Gloam Eyed Queen would say, because she was The Keeper of the Balance Between Life and Death as was explained earlier.
After setting herself a blaze where does she send you? To Crumbling Farum Azula, because the last thing she needed from you was to free the Rune of Destined Death from Maliketh so that balance can be restored.
After inheriting the Frenzied Flame:
-Should you rise as the Lord of Chaos, I will kill you, as sure as night follows day. Such is my duty, for allowing you the strength of runes.
Frenzied Flame Ending Cinematic:
-Lord of Frenzied Flame... I will seek you, as far as you may travel... To deliver you what is yours. Destined Death.
"As sure as night follows day." Remember what we said about 'Gloam' representing the sunset / Dusk. Dawn and Dusk being a metaphor for Life and Death? Here is where that all come full circle when she say as sure as Night follows Day. I mean come on guys, lets give our compliments to the chef because I AM COOKING.
During the Frenzied Flame Ending she says she'd hunt the Tarnished to deliver Destined Death, and why wouldn't she? Destined Death has been freed by Maliketh for her to reclaim, and she has reclaimed her Gloam Eye. I imagine that her eye was not burned by the Frenzied Flame left in the player's wake because: 1 - It survived all this time in the possession of Gurranq without deteriorating, and 2 - It's has a hardened stone exterior which prevents it from burning. The eye was most likely dropped right there where Torrent's Whistle fell, and all of the Tarnished's other belongings burned into ash.
At this point she has fully returned to being the Gloam Eyed Queen. She is the Balance (between life and death) and you are the Chaos. She will always be at odds with the Frenzied Flame because of this duality.
That is that. There is no further debate on who Melina is. I have no clue why people are still theorizing about her. The meal is cooked and plated, sit down and eat.
SOME REAL BIG THEORIES
1 Ranni is St. Trina
2 Ranni and Melina as Spirits
3 How / Why Miquella charged Ranni and Melina with delivering Torrent + the Spirit Calling Bell to the Tarnished
4 Melina and Ranni's ulterior motives (Emphasis on Melina, the game is all about her)
5 Conclusion / Miquella is Torrent
Now that we know for a fact that Melina is the Gloam Eyed Queen, And she is NOT Miquella, I'd like to continue with some real theorizing that I've cooked up. In what follows we will discuss Ranni, Miquella, Melina, Torrent and the DLC.
Ranni is St. Trina: First of my Schizo Theories is that St. Trina may have been Ranni before she un-alived her human body. We learn a lot about Radahn before he fought Malenia. He was a great warlord, admired Godwyn at a young age. He learned gravity magic from an Onyx Lord and was able to achieve mastery over it to the point of being able to stop the movement of the stars themselves. What was Ranni up to all of this time in her youth/adolescence and into adulthood?
Perhaps during this youthful time of her life she was experimenting with the alter-ego St. Trina, because there is quiet a bit that connects her to Trina than the lilies connect Miquella to Trina.
Being born of the Carian Royal Family she must have had her own school of magic like her brother and mother, but we never see her cast a single spell in the game. EXCEPT for the Mists of Slumber that puts Kale (and his Donkey) to sleep when we meet her. This is because she wanted to meet the Tarnished in secret, and the mist that scatters the ground looks very much like the Animation for the weapon art for the Sword of St. Trina.
Lets continue with this. What other evidence do we have that Ranni specializes in sleep magic? During the encounter with Renalla the fight is interrupted from the disembodied voice of Ranni. She states:
Upon my name as Ranni the Witch. Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee. Of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. And the majesty of the night she conjureth.
From there a blackish-purple mist (Dream Mist) is conjured up and swallows the room. The tarnished now fights an erect Renalla in what appears to a dream world. This dream-world-boss fight spell is obviously the work of Ranni. There is also precedent for dream-world-boss fights if you can recall the encounter with Fortisaxx inside Fia/Godwyn's dream.
During her questline she states that she needs to take a nap due to her puppet body's limitations. Who else takes a long ahh nap mid-game? Another association with her sleep is that when you recover the Fingerslaying Blade or when you try to have her drink the amber draught she immediately wakes up. She commands power over other's sleep and her own slumber.
Not to mention her 'Outer God' is literally a Moon (The universal symbol for bedtime,) and she begins the Age of Stars ending by saying:
o every living being, and every living soul.
Now cometh the age of the stars. A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon
Also, the Engravings on St. Trina's torch and other items looks a bit like Ranni. That doesn't mean much because Ranni looks a lot like Melina but there ya go.
Like I said. This is a Schizo Theory. Unlike Melina = Gloam Eyed Queen, I cannot say that Ranni = St. Trina with 100% certainty, but In my opinion it is unlikely that St. Trina = Miquella.
-- Revision: One more thing I forgot to mention about Ranni. Did you ever wonder how she stole a fragment of Death off of Maliketh? He was entrusted with death because no one could defeat him. Ranni didn't have to defeat him, and in fact he is NOT defeated until the Tarnished challenges him. Ranni put him to SLEEP and stole a piece. That's part of the reason why he's so ashamed of himself. He was SLEEPING ON THE JOB. Guys I'm cooking up a mean five-course meal, has anyone even put that together or is it just me?--
Ranni and Melina are Spirits that can visit Miquella in the Land of Shadow:
Ranni and Melina (And Torrent) are all spirits. Spirits are like Remembrances, except they are NOT 'hewn into the Erdtree.' Every Remembrance in the game that we receive says that the character is 'Hewn Into the Erdtree' which means their spirit is preordained to be returned to the Tree and/or the Greater Will.
When Ranni gives you the Bell she states:
Ah. As I had hoped. I was entrusted this, for thee. By Torrent's former master. 'Tis a bell for calling forth spirits.
Summon them with it, from ash unreturned to the Erdtree.
So this is what becomes of beings that are not Hewn into the Erdtree. They are "Unreturned" and therefore exist and 'Spirits.'
Ranni, Melina and Torrent all have one thing in common. That is the animation that occurs when they appear or disappear. For Torrent you see it regularly. For Melina you get to see it a dozen times at sites of grace. For Ranni you only see her disappear a few times. The most notable instances are After she gives you the Bell and After you save her life by putting the ring on her. She calls you her lord and disappears until you complete the Age of Stars Ending.
I've looked over these animations multiple times. They may have different sound effects attached to them, but the particle effects are always the same. Shimmering blue sparkles and a cloud of blue ash. It's all the same animation because they are the Same Type of Spirits.
So we know that Ranni, Melina and Torrent are all spirits, and we can assume that as spirits they have the same power to walk between the Lands Between and the Lands of Shadow from the DLC.
How can we assume this? Well the artwork for the Shadow of the Erdtree had Miquella in a wheat field of spirit headstones riding atop Torrent. The Land of Shadow is both literally and figuratively the Erdtree's Shadow, meaning that thing that exist in this land are bereft of the Erdtree's light or grace. It would make since that this would be a land of Spirits, because as we discussed, Spirits are "Unreturned" to the Erdtree. They were never hewn or received Erdtree burial.
Miquella charged Melina and Ranni with making deliveries:
Melina must have been charged with delivering the Spectral Steed Whistle to the Tarnished. Ranni must have been charged with delivering the Lone Wolf Ashes and the Spirit Calling Bell.
Both the Spirit Calling Bell and Torrent's Whistle must have been crafted by Miquella himself. We know he's an excellent craftsman because he made the Unalloyed Gold Needle:
-One of the unalloyed gold needles that Miquella crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods.
-An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold. Once snapped in half, it has been repaired by Sage Gowry.
And Torrent's Spectral Steed Whistle reads:
A delicate goldwork ring*. Can be used as a finger whistle.*
Aside from assuming that he crafted these items, we Know for a Fact that they were given to the Tarnished through our Spirit Empyreans by Miquella. He was Torrent's Former Master, and Ranni was entrusted by Torrent's Former Master to give the Tarnished the Bell and the Ashes.
What this means is that Miquella cannot leave the Lands of Shadow. He is trapped there or is choosing to remain there. This is why he must make these deliveries through Ranni and Melina. Spirits which can walk both worlds.
Ranni, Miquella and Melina are NOT on the same page (I am particularly Proud of this one)
Given the dialog the in-game dialog it appears that (Firstly: Ranni and Melina both like Torrent a lot for some reason,) that doing these tasks for Miquella were one-time-deals or they were transactional. Ranni and Melina are NOT loyal to Miquella. They have their OWN agendas that are totally separate.
Ranni leaves the Tarnished after lying to them, calling themselves Renna and making their delivery:
Now it is thine. To do with as thou wishest. Forgive mine intrusion, Tarnished. I doubt we shall again meet. But all the same, learn well the Lands Between.
Whatever makes the Tarnished important to Miquella is obviously not important to Ranni at this point. Ranni straight up lies about her name to the Tarnished as an extra layer of security. Like making a drug deal and using an alias. She wants to wash her hands of this transaction. After Ranni fulfills her end of the bargain, whatever bargain that is, she returns to her own schemes in Caria Manor.
Now we talk about something super interesting. We know Torrent is Miquella's steed and we know Melina is the Gloam Eyed Queen, (WE KNOW MELINA AND MIQUELLA ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON) so what's up with this dialog when when we first meet her?
Greetings. Traveller from beyond the fog. I Am Melina. I offer you an accord.
-but you, I am afraid, are maidenless. I can play the role of maiden. Turning rune fragments into strength. To aid you in your search for the Elden Ring. You need only take me with you. To the foot of the Erdtree.
-Then its settled. Summon me by grace to turn runes into strength. Ahh, another matter. I bequeath to you this ring*. Use it to traverse great distances. It will summon a spectral steed named Torrent. Torrent has chosen you. Treat him with respect.*
In this instance Melina fulfills her end of her bargain with Miquella of giving Torrent to the player, but ONLY on the condition that the Tarnished accepts her accord. She is also lying to the player and taking advantage of Miquella's trust. In this dialog she admits that she has been lying to the player:
There is something for which I must apologize. I've acted the finger maiden yet I can offer no guidance, I am no maiden. My purpose was long ago lost...
Her goals do not align with Miquella's, because her accord and her charge to give us the Steed Whistle are two different matters entirely.
"Ahh, another matter. I bequeath to you this ring."
I know it's stringent context, but it's 100% intentional that Her Accord and Bequeathing the Ring are two different matters.
Moreover, Miquella believes in You, the Player Character, from the very start. He wanted you to have Torrent, he wanted you to have the Bell and the Ashes. You are his chosen lord through and through. The same cannot be said for Melina.
*Forgive me. I've been...*testing you. To see whether or not grace truly does guide you. And...whether you are fit to face the challenge that entails. It seems my worries were unfounded. Torrent had your measure from the very start. Whereas I merely pretended.
Like Ranni, Melina did not know what makes the player Tarnished special, and why Miquella would want such gifts delivered to them. However, Melina is smart and cunning enough to understand that if the wise Empyrean Miquella has taken interest in the Tarnished than there must be something to it.
Even though she could reveal herself in front of Ranni at the church of Elleh she does not. Even though they both know Miquella, she wont reveal any more information than is necessary. Melina is the most secretive character because she is the Gloam Eyed Queen. If any other demigod knew what she was trying to do: repair the balance between life and indiscriminate death, they might try to stop her and the Tarnished.
She watches you progress to see if Miquella is right about you, and when you defeat Margit in single combat her suspicions are confirmed. What suspicions are those?
That Miquella has located You, the next Tarnished that is capable of becoming ELDEN LORD. The only one that can see the Guidance of Grace.
Not all Tarnished are the same, and not since Vyke has there been one who has gotten close to achieving such a feat. Armed with this Knowledge, Melina uses you as her pawn. Deceiving you all the way to the kiln, withholding information. It's possible that every time she shares with you 'Marika's words that still linger here," she is trying to manipulate you. Think about the way that she says:
In Marika's own words. The Erdtree governs all. The choice is thine. Become one with the Order. Or divest thyself of it. To wallow at the fringes; a powerless upstart.
It makes Marika and her Golden Order sound Evil, and sharing this information with the Tarnished is designed to move them in the direction of fulfilling Melina's purpose. She burns the Erdtree. She sends you to Farum Azula (Against your will btw) where the only thing you can do is kill Maliketh which frees the Destined Death.
I have set my heart upon the world that I would have. Regardless of my mother's designs. I won't allow anyone to speak ill of that. Not even you.
She says this with some disdain. It's a reminder that her goals are the only ones that are important. It's a Freudian Slip. In fact, the only time that you CAN deviate from her schemes is by choosing the Frenzied Flame Ending.
In 5 out of 6 endings she doesn't care what the Tarnished chooses to do. Her mission gets accomplished regardless. Destined Death is returned to the world and the Balance between Life and Death is restored.
That is what the game is really about. Restoring balance to the Lands Between, and you don't truly do it through any of the other characters. Behind the scenes all the endings are all about Melina. Life and Death, Order and Chaos, Light and Shadow. Duality duality duality.
__________________________________________________________________________________ That's what I've got. Honestly everything seems pretty airtight. Feel free to poke holes, but I've got this one locked up. I cooked. I win the Elden Ring Theorizing awards.
And just remember: Miquella can't be Miquella and St. Trina and Melina and in the Cocoon and in the Land of Shadow all at the same time, Tim. He just can't. If Miquella is anybody he is torrent. Because Miquella compels affection, and both Ranni and Melina can't help but to mention Torrent in such high regard:
Ranni's Dialog related to Torrent:
-I must thank Torrent too, for his part.
-I believe I said my name was Renna, when last we met. It pleaseth me to see Torrent hale and hearty... But Tarnished, what business hast thou here?
Melina's Dialog related to Torrent:
-Torrent has chosen you. Treat him with respect.
-Torrent had your measure from the very start. Whereas I merely pretended.
-I'm glad it was you I traveled with. I must tender my thanks to Torrent, too. Thank you, Torrent. Please continue to lend your aid. Till the end.
-I will kill you, as sure as night follows day. Such is my duty, for allowing you the strength of runes. Goodbye, my companion. Goodbye, Torrent...
There you go Miquella can be Torrent if you want

Hello! I am a hearing person seeking advice
About two months ago, new neighbors moved in; husband, wife, and two children. They all communicate in sign language and have a service dog. (This is a pet free complex, service animals are the only exception) They are so loud. I've lived in apartments for a long time and understand noises a regular part of Apartment living however, the children are constantly screaming, banging on the screen door (two feet away from mine) and banging on the walls. The service dog barks all day and night and has a flurry of barking anytime Anyone walks by the door.
A month ago their dog made a mess on my welcome mat and tried to get their attention. My plan was to type something out via text and let them know what had happened. I knocked for about 20 minutes and no one ever heard me although they were all in there so I'm assuming they're all not hearing.
Is this typical for service animal to be so vocal? Is it possible for an entire family to be nonhearing or deaf? (I'm so sorry. I really don't have any knowledge)
Additionally, I don't believe they communicate English or ASL. I accidentally received some of their mail and it was all in language foreign to me ( however very common for my area Glendale, ca )
I don't wanna be a jerk and go straight to my landlord but just not too sure what to do. Any info helps

Fellow aussie here. I just wanted to reach out to others and see if others have experienced this. I went to the Melbourne zoo on the weekend and I saw some things that made me wonder when we started to lose our common sense in public places.
Here's some examples:
LITTERING: families with kids not picking up after their toddlers when they just chuck their chip packets on the ground. Families not cleaning up after using a table and having their rubbish fly in the wind. My mate and I just picked up whatever litter we saw and popped it in the bin. Only takes like 10 seconds but frustrating to see people at the zoo just not giving a shit.
Hoising toddlers above the railings: this was pretty disturbing. I can't count the number of times I saw a parent lift their toddler so that their little feet were on top of an exhibit railing. Saw this for the elephants and monkeys mostly. I understand holding up the child, but surely its common sense not to hold the kid over a railing?
Trying to touch the animals: I saw a dad recording his young daughter put her wiggling fingers up to one of the cockies in the aviary. The cockie would reach his beak forward and try to bite her finger. This went on for several minutes while other families were standing back and trying to see the bird. Eventually more children joined, all putting their fingers up to the cockie (about 5 or 6 in total).
At the lemur exhibit the keepers had to tell multiple adults to physically move out of the way of the animals and not touch them. There were lemurs walking on a railing and the keeper asked a group SEVERAL times to let the animals pass but they were too busy recording it on their phones and keeping their hands on the rails to try and touch them.
Disrupting the animals: it was really sad to see people talking really loudly, banging on the glass for the platypus exhibit and shining their mobile tourch lights into the enclosure right up to the platypus' face. Heaps of children banging on the glass for the platypus and reptile enclosures. Parents not disciplining their kids and their kids yelling at the animals to try to get a reaction from them.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't the first time I've seen this stuff at the zoo. I visit pretty regularly for personal pleasure and for work. I just noticed that the common sense has really been lacking recently. Perhaps the last 5 years or so? Would love to hear your experiences.

With invis in its current state, I’ve only been hearing comments on how bad it is. I’m not aiming to discuss the rest of the light class balance, just this one specialisation slot. Gonna try compile some suggestions I’ve seen floating around as well as add one or two of my own.

1. Keep invis in its current state, maybe even buff the stationary invisibility to visually undetectable. To compensate for that, reduce the activation cost majorly and decrease the drain. That way it’s not the free escape and initiation tool it once was, and it can be used more to scout and ambush while being undetectable, while being punished for needing to reposition. Maybe add a damage threshold to take you out of cloak, instead of the one stray bullet, say 60 damage. That way it would stay intact against two shots from most automatic weapons.
   
2. Replace invis with a stim shot. This ones been pretty popular on here. Basically an activated shot that increases your move speed, triggers regen, and/or makes your regen always on for some amount of time. Could be used on teammates if it was a toggle specialisation that you activate with left/right click.
   
3. Personal shield. Just saw this today and it could be interesting. It could be just some small plate armour that adds 50 or so non regenerating health. Could have an independent cooldown or one that starts when the armour is destroyed.
   
4. Dematerialise. This is an idea I had this morning and is basically what made me want to post this lol. It would be an ability that, on activation, pixelates your character model and puts the player into the spectator camera mode for a short time. After the time runs out, or on reactivation, your character rematerialises where your camera is and puts in on cooldown, basically with the defib animation and sound cue. It could be a great escape or repositioning tool without having such egregious engage and disengage ability.
   

It would be great to hear your suggestions and feedback!

I recently reread the series for the first time since 2007. In the 2000s I followed the online discussion and to my recollection there was a consensus that Snape was among the most enjoyable and entertaining aspects of Harry Potter. Beloved anti-hero is where I thought the fandom had landed.
Afteduring my reread I went on Reddit to see what was going on in nerd world and I was shocked to see EVERYONE HATES SNAPE and everyone is ride or die for Neville’s pet toad???
I’ve being thinking about it and I think readers may hate Snape because of these story-telling choices:

1. Snape uses the Prince’s Tale (“Tale”) to apologize to Harry for his treatment of him but this apology is indirect can only be understood by inference;
2. Given the indirectness of the apology and the "off-screen" acceptance of it, Harry and Snape’s series-spanning conflict is unsatisfyingly resolved by JKR

There are several excellent posts positing the Tale as an apology to Harry. I won’t repeat the arguments here as they have already been made persuasively and I have little to add.
So, to my second point:
When the Tale concludes Harry is reeling: Dumbledore, his kindly mentor, is asking him to walk straight into the firing line for the greater good! He has no headspace available to reflect on the trials and tribulations of Severus Snape. We get a few lines of trash talking in the Great Hall when Harry reveals to Voldemort that Snape was Dumbledore’s man, then in the Epilogue we meet ASP. Why is the relationship between Harry and Snape, perhaps the most compelling relationship in the 3500-page series, resolved with a one-sided video-message and a middle name?
Harry Potter is a coming of age story and reckoning with fathers and father-figures is a fundamental part of coming of age stories. Snape is Harry’s father figure in a symbolic sense. To be clear: I do not mean Harry consciously views Snape as a father figure (Sirius and Mr. Weasley inhabit that role). For most of PS (and the series as a whole) Snape is outwardly the negative aspects of a father: oppressor, critic, limiter of freedom and fun. At the end of PS and then again at the end of the series as a whole Snape is revealed to be the man who protected Harry fiercely and unconditionally: ie, has the positive aspects of a father.
Harry’s central problem when we meet him in PS is his unfair and unloving family. He yearns for affection, attention, and understanding. Even though Petunia is the blood relation, Harry’s relationship with Vernon is the focus. Harry’s original conflict is with his father-figure.
Snape comes to occupy Uncle Vernon’s role once Harry leaves the regular world for the magical world: He is an intimating, if slightly ridiculous figure always out to get Harry. Uncle Vernon is Harry’s male legal guardian who has provided for him materially to age 11. While at school Snape takes standing in loco parentis to an extreme: Harry’s well-being and protection is his life's mission*.* Both men shoulder their task of keeping Harry alive begrudgingly and with a marked absence of affection. Vernon is strict; Snape is severe. They both seem to delight in arbitrary punishments. In PS Vernon won’t let him have his letter; Snape won’t let him have his Quidditch book back. Vernon favours the undeserving Dudley. Snape favours the undeserving Draco. The link is drawn in later books too. In POA Vernon tells Marge in front of Harry that James was unemployed then Snape tells Harry that James was an arrogant prick. In GOF, there is a funny line: “Snape, of course, would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt Harry.” In OOTP Harry explicitly identifies Snape’s silent treatment as a regular tactic of Uncle Vernon’s. They both emasculate, manhandle, and threateningly impose their greater physicality over Harry at various points in the series. The parallels are intentional.
Further, Snape wrenches Harry from the protection and genial warmth of the good fathers. By the end of HBP from Harry’s point of view Snape bears responsibility for the deaths of James, Sirius, and Dumbledore: beloved father, beloved father-figure, and beloved mentor. Snape has also dispatched with Harry’s idealized picture of his father. In OOTP Harry has spent much of the winter semester bearing his painful memories of being bullied to Snape only for the lessons to end with a revelation that burns Harry like swallowed acid: James was a repulsive, arrogant bully. Then Harry spends 6^th year in rapt admiration of the Half-Blood Prince, hoping childishly that the Prince would turn out to be James. He curls up in bed reading the annotated textbook every night and takes it with him to read over Christmas at The Burrow. Harry’s admiration is an intimate, dedicated admiration. At the end of the novel Snape detonates the truth and Harry is left stunned, betrayed and in torment.
Both in terms of the plot and in terms of Harry's emotional development, Snape is there wherever there is a daddy issue and his continued presence at these places entreats a satisfying resolution.
Snape and Harry’s exchange at the end of HBP is the rawest in the series. Harry can’t even touch Snape he is so outmatched in magic and in his brashness is once again threatening Snape’s cover and the war effort. Snape has Harry’s best interest at heart but once again Harry is blind to this. Harry sears Snape with accusations and invites death. Boy and man are in anguish and rage, buckling under the respective burdens Dumbledore has asked them to carry. Snape cracks at “kill me like you killed [my dad]” he belts Harry across the face (with a spell). Buckbeak’s intervention terminates the “duel” rather than either character.
Compare this with Harry coolly telling Voldemort what’s what at the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry’s struggle with Snape is personal whereas Harry’s struggle with Voldemort is an impersonal struggle against death. For all the shared visions and wand-cores, Voldemort and Harry are strangers to each other. At least the Voldemort conflict is resolved satisfyingly face-to-face whereas there is no such resolution following the HBP blowout.
Harry camps all of 7^th year on a fetch quest while Snape paces in the headmaster’s study. Snape wordlessly watches from afar as Harry follows the silver doe. Harry wordlessly watches through the pensieve an already dead man’s memories. Both characters passively observe the other rather than actively reconcile. It feels incongruent that Harry and Snape who spent 6 books verbally sparing do not have a conversation in the last book, especially when there was so much to be said.
Harry confronting Snape and Snape’s revelations communicated directly would have been electric. But even if it had to be after Snape’s death that Harry learns the truth, then the inclusion of even a paragraph in the breathless last few pages of DH may have helped. Harry could have reflected on Snape’s sacrifice and been bowled over by gratitude and awe. The man he so hated had loved his mother so fiercely that Harry himself was enveloped and protected (like a son).
We clearly understand Snape’s motivation is penance for Lily’s death, so in terms of plot we get a satisfying conclusion. But what about the direct relationship between Snape and Harry we have watched unfold? Reckoning with the father figure--coming to place of empathy, respect, and understanding-- is an essential step in a coming-of-age narrative, but Harry reaches this point of maturation off-screen.
Due to this narrative choice, Snape remains to some just the dickhead teacher Harry had to deal with growing up. I can see why some are so "Justice4Trevor." The reader did not get to see Harry arrive at his nuanced view of Snape and so Snape remains to some readers just as much a cartoon character as Uncle Vernon.
TLDR: The flawed story-telling choice of an indirect apology from Snape followed by Harry's forgiveness of Snape offscreen contributes to fan hatred of Snape.

The Guardian received the Drifters urgent message to meet him as soon as possible. They made their way to the tower and curiously strode into the Drifters sanctum. At first glanced, the room appeared to be normal. The Drifters mote bank of Taken easma spiralled as usual, gambit coins scattered across the floor. However, around the corner to the right was a flurry of boxes, crates and totes in complete disarray. And there hunched over was the Drifter frantically searching for something. All the while, Drifter did not notice that the Guardian and Ghost were watching him search in a panic.
“Uh Drifter?” Ghost said politely, “We’re here.” Drifter: “Ahh!—Drifter jumped and turned to face his visitors—Hero! You made it!” Ghost: Yes, we came as quickly as we could. Guardian: What are you looking for? Drifter: Oh just a little something that’ll bring me into a new age. The Drifter grabbed his crowbar and stuck it into a crate; and with a satisfying crack, he popped the lid off and slid it off to the side. He reached down and pulled out a small black stainless steel case, the length of his forearm. On the centre of the lid, a silver Black Armoury insignia flickered in the light. Ghost: Is this why you brought us here? Drifter: No, but don’t you worry, I got something else special for you…Follow me Hero, a new age awaits! The Drifter scampered over and around the mess he had made. The Guardian nimbly followed. Drifter: Don’t worry about the mess, I’ll get one of Shaxxs’ ‘Dinklebots’ to clean it up.
Together, the Drifter and the Guardian strode out of the Drifters sanctum, Ghost floated on behind running the possibilities of what surprise Drifter had for them. They took a right and quickly turned left and straight towards Ada-1’s Black Armoury chamber. Usually, Ada-1 had an open door policy for guardians to come and go at anytime. However, this time, the way was sealed shut. Ghost: Is Ada away? Drifter: Nope, she’s in there. She just doesn’t want any visitors. But Ada and I have an agreement. I’m always welcome, Drifter assured. The Drifter began tinkering with the sealed door. Ghost: Drifter..if the door is sealed, I don’t think we should be bothering her.. Suddenly, the sound of spinning gears spun rapidly and slowed to a clang. The heavy door seemed to sigh and release from its locked position. Drifter: See I’m always welcome. The Drifter gave a cheeky smile, as he grabbed the door. The door squeaked and slowly swung open as Drifter applied force to it. As they stepped in, beams of radiant red light lit the chamber. Drifter shielded his eyes as the red light overtook the room.
Ada-1 stood behind a control panel watching as a her machines slowly closed a Black Armoury crate which held the source of the bright light…a red engram. The crate hissed shut and sealed; and the colourful light vanished. “What was that!?” Ghost exclaimed, his jaw would have dropped if he had one. Surprised, Ada-1 spun around and said: “Guardian!?” Even more surprised by the true culprit, “Drifter!!” Ada-1: What is the meaning of this? Drifter how many times have I told you, your unexpected visits will no longer be tolerated. If my door is sealed.. “But Ada, your door isn’t sealed.” Drifter retorted, trying to diffuse the situation. “Yes, because you cannot respect my boundaries. Wait until the Vanguard hears word of this.” Ghost swung around to the Guardian not sure if he should interject into the conversation. Drifter: That would be shame if those Lightbears did, but I brought you something… Drifter pulled out the Black Armoury box from his robes. He opened it and pulled out a thin metal card. The front face was black with 3 distinctive Black Armour symbols. Ada-1 stood unresponsive and taken back by the sight. “This..This cannot be!” Ada exclaimed. “This Drifter, will grant you access.” Drifter handed the card to Ada. She held it in her hands awhile. She lifted it up in the light and the 3 distinct symbols flashed. She turned it over and the backside of the card revealed that it was red. Ada-1 approvingly walked back to her control panel and addressed the Drifter sternly. “I will get started. However, I will by no means overlook your ambundant trespassing.” Ada-1 continued to give Drifter a look that would single handedly make the Hive shiver. Drifter simply responded, “Heard you loud and clear…” He turned to the Guardian and Ghost and softly said, “You had my back right Hero?” The Guardian stood unresponsive and glanced at Ghost. Drifter swung a pat on their back, leaned in and said, “Of course you did.” To keep things moving, Drifter spun around and proclaimed, “Now, that that’s cleared up, how about..
“Hold on a second,” Ghost interjected. “What was that engram?” Ada-1 still examining Drifters Black Armoury card slotted it into one of her machines. “I’m afraid that is of little concern to you. Even the Guardian isn’t ready for such an item.” Ghost: Okay but what was inside? Ada-1: Something of EPIC portions…she continued, “More importantly, let’s move onto why you all really came.” Drifter: “Right, let’s get started.” Drifter put on his entertainer façade. He turned to face the Guardian and Ghost, “You two remember when you stormed into the Prison of Elders after Cayde had passed? Ghost: “Of course, we’ve run that strike hundreds of times..I mean, yes.” “Well, before Spider sold the prison back to the Awoken, I went in with one of his salvage crews. We gathered the remains of Variks precious Servitor. With the help of Spiders crew we rearranged the necessary pieces and then I brought them to back to ol’ Ada here.” Without raising her gaze from her monitor, Ada-1 firmly said, “Do not call me ‘old’..” Drifter: “Noted. Anyway..Drifter rubbed the back of his neck and continued his speech, Ada did her thing and she fashioned you a trusty weapon out of Variks pet Servitor. Ada-1 turned to a control panel, hit a couple commands and in the corner of the room a secondary control panel erected itself from the floor. A round contraption with a dome also lifted out of the floor. A fog, what looked like dry ice poured off the sides as it rose. The round contraption came to a halt. The dome spun and cracked open revealing a purplish blue trace rifle that floated in place. The outer shell was that of the Servitors casing. But underneath, lay exposed sections of the frame and other highly intricate and advanced steel of Black Armoury fabrication. On one side of the long barrel of the rifle etched into the outer casing were fallen symbols that could translate to Guardian or Lightbear. The other side, a bold and dominant Black Armoury symbol showed. Layers of the Servitor shell overlapped themselves along the barrel. At the end of the barrel a small lens of the Servitor eye laid. The contrast between the weathered but refurbished Servitor shell casing overtop the sleek Black Armoury steel frame was quite alluring.
Guardian: This is for us? Drifter: Sure is. You’ve earned it Hero. Drifter stepped closer to the Guardian. Both stood admiring Ada’s craftsmanship. “You and Ghost have saved the day more times than any of us can count.” Drifter added.
Ada-1: I have taken the liberty of sending the schematics and specifications to you Ghost. Ghost bobbed and thrilled with the rush of new information. Ghost: This is most generous of you Drifter and Ada. You have our thanks.
The Guardian turned to the Drifter and then Ada and said a grateful, “Thank you.” The Drifter grabbed the Guardian by the shoulders and said, “You, my friend are the Vanguards greatest ally. See, it even says so right there.” The Drifter rotated the weapon 90 degrees towards the ceiling to showcase the underside of the buttstock. He pointed to the words that were etched in the weapon: To The Guardian, The Vanguards Greatest Ally.
Name: Old Friend Tagline: A Loyal and Unwavering Friend Weapon Type: Heavy Void/Solar Servitor Trace Rifle
Intrinsic Trait: Sustained fire on a target shoots a homing weakening concussive blast.
Judgement at Hand: When Supercharged hold reload to switch damage type from Void —> Solar to overpower the weapon and eradicate enemies with a supercharged Solar laser. Drains super. Final blows cause Solar explosions.(Simliar to Agers Scepter)
Unity Resonator: Sustained damage on a target increases damage for you and allies. Continuous damage slowly charges an overshield for you and allies.
Catalyst - Unity Resonator Repeater: Unity Resonator stack and charge increasingly faster with allies who also have Old Friend equipped. (Damage stacks and Overshield charges faster when damaging the same target with allies.)

Let me start off by saying I am still super happy that this title was able to be greenlit, let alone produced.
Welcome to my review of EO:Luminous - a drop in the ocean of what COULD have been a successful sequel for die hard fans and new fans to the series alike...
This review will have comparisons to EO1/2, as a longtime veteran of the series, and because a game carrying the 'Endless Ocean' title is in all intense and purposes a sequel.
Firstly, I am blown away by the level of immersion that the game has been able to create for myself, despite having considerably less features and stripped back mechanics from the first 2 titles.
In minutes I have been through the story chapters (more on that later) and got to chapter 2.2 already, and from what the story has and hasn't shown me yet, I am most definitely intrigued as to what Arika have baked in here for the story aspect...
Now, onto the review...! Scored out of 5, 5 being the best, and some written comments alongside 📝🌊✨️
Story (2/5)

• Having made it to Chapter 2-3, there is a basic and light story which is fun to see, with some engaging cutscenes and interaction with a character called Daniel, you don't go too deep into this characters arc at all, from what I can see...
  
• The game is lacking a special intro cutscene and credits, in such a way that EO1 and 2 had - which is great shame to see.
  
• There are no cutscenes so far on the same level as EO1 and 2, and the cutscenes that are present are extremely brief and do not flow into each other as those from the previous series did.
  

Gameplay/Format (3/5)

• You swim either in Solo, Multiplayer or Story mode. In every mode there is one type of swimming animation, and only one way to boost your character.
  
• You scan fish, and with some poorly explained mechanics also scan specific creatures for the ability to get access to rarer UML's (unique marine life).
  
• The swimming feels sluggish in comparison to previous games, however it does seem easier to control your character on the whole.
  
• Progression is slow, as it should be - it takes a while to get to the next story objective and there are options to scan for special species such as UML when certain criteria are met, these reset upon each dive map and the requirements differ for each, but its mainly find a fish and scan it.
  

Its procedurally generated, the whole map - and this has some great bits but quite big shortfalls...
2 times now I've got stuck in cave formations as there is only one route out, and the route to follow through the cave is significant enough to lose the entrance (You could use markers to combat this, but requires hindsight and so it is still a sad downpoint...)
Another time I've been caught between the map barrier and a cliffside, resulting in an annoying combination of the barrier symbol and getting stuck in an invisible current (hopefully this can be patched)
Some of the formations and things you end up swimming into are around do not feel natural, and it is clear to see a computer has made errors in some cases.
It takes FOREVER to clear a map to 80%, and to do so you have to let go of just being free and in the moment, I found myself glued to the radar at the top to clear the whole map and get the dive code, as it only clears one x one sqm square and if you change direction at all, the map doesn't clear and you go back on yourself or towards another route.

• There is somewhat of a side quests mechanic but doesn't seem too in depth again, it revolves mainly around a mystery board (I have opened about 12 of these mysteries already) - and there is NO direction at all on what these mysteries are or how to find them, until you do... For example, when you do light up a mystery square, you're told what you did - but there is no inherent link to the last square, or the next - or even a tie in to the main story at all, because of this - it feels extremely baked in and hasn't got the magic of an opening bookcase in a derelict castle, which then leads you to find specific coins or dolls etc, in the way that EO1 & 2 did.
  
• Scanning species is easy enough, there's no mechanic such as Pulsar or calming the fish with your hands or food prior to getting near to them and scanning... the fish just let you get near and scan. (I'll come onto more pros and cons when I touch on technology changes, later in the review...!)
  
• Swimming with fish, this is a nice touch and has a leveling system - which encourages replayability.
  
• Shared dives is all of the above, but with the ability to perform Emotes and find things and mark things together.
  

Aside from that though, that is about it for gameplay!
Graphics/Audio/Immersion (4/5)

• This game is beautiful, it runs great in handheld and docked modes, and the fish have fantastic detail.
• Funnily enough, it's actually a downside that the game is so clear in its current state, as the previous games have been a bit fuzzier and to myself, made it feel less like I'm in a digital cube of pixels (which in this one, it sadly feels like it!)
• The fauna and flora aspects? Not so much... the same models a lot of the places where you look, and because of procedural generation - you can see these same models and textures ALOT - the same with cliffsides, sand relief lumps and 'natural formations'
• The audio is a mixed bag, the music is ambient, wispy and airy - and it really helps with getting you immersed overall...
• Your AI companion Sera, sounds straight out of a text to speech program for people who need audio assistance, and again takes you out of the immersion (the last 2 games had no npc audio at all, which was ideal)
• There's no vocalists like Hayley Westenra etc. but I have heard a nice choir a few times, which set the mood quite well.
• The swimming sounds, especially the dolphin kick - ARE TERRIBLE, if like me you swim everywhere with dolphin kicks, expect to hear SWISHSWISHSWISH over and over again battling with the sound of your scuba breather gear (these sounds can be turned off, but this removes salvage sounds, notifications on scans etc)
• There are NO collisions between yourself and species, you simply float and noclip through a giant Thanatos for example, as it slowly disappears - extremely turning off for immersion.

Overall, I believe this game shouldn't have been a direct sequel to EO 2, it should have instead been a spin off game with a different name.
I give Luminous a 3/5 overall. In Multiplayer its good fun. In Solo its good fun, but with a lack of things to do in comparison to EO1/EO2.
Most players will be done with the core of this game within around a weeks gameplay, and that's if you choose to complete all mysteries - if not, it won't keep your gaze for long.
The soul and 'adventure' aspect have been taken out of the game, and because of this I can't recommend this to a purely Solo player unless you really like scanning fish.
Multiplayer, there is definitely more replayability - and its great to have a portable EO in my hands that I can play anywhere, with up to 30 people.
I've attached a dive code to an interesting map of mine, and hope to see some of you in the ocean!
Dive Site ID - 0081 0439 3774 4795
To the fans that are with me on everything removed from the first games, it's not all bad... I guess! 😭🐬📝