Local to 11367, can meetup near microcenter
(Local pricing) Looking for:
$375 for the 3080 10GB (With both stock and the AC cooler) https://www.microcenter.com/product/628346/evga-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-ftw3-ultra-gaming-triple-fan-10gb-gddr6x-pcie-40-graphics-card
$340 for Asus Z390-e, 9700k, 32(4x8 gigs of ram), and the EK water block(waterblock has a slight blue tint from Koolance 702 and I will be cleaning the CPU waterblock)
$125 for B650M PG Riptide (Upgraded to a bigger board for encoding GPU slot, comes with a Thermalright heatsink, and one that is generic) https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650M%20PG%20Riptide/index.asp#BIOS
For shipping: Shipping pricing will be added on as they are quoted by USPS.
Timestamp w/ images: https://imgur.com/a/99x8ELv

Everyone knows pack weight is awful since last Friday but I thought I'd put it to the test. From many hours of picks/exchange grind here are the results:
Dante x 11
Sugawara x 7
Hegerberg x 6
Szmodics x 6
Donnaruma x 6
Bentaleb x 5
Lala x 5
Kadioglu x 5
Katoto x 5
Medina x 5
Lees-Melou x 4
Locko x 4
Kouassi x 4
Szemik x 3
Matteo x 2
Del Castillo x 2
Hartel x 2
Golovin x 2
Zakaria x 1
Renard x 1 (only since I already had her from 86x2)
Vardy x 1
Auba x 1
My take away from this is that if EA decides your account isn't destined to pull top cards, you simply never will and there's no real point in trying (at least from picks, good reds are sometimes still possible). None of the above cards go into my team.
A weird thing about the dupes... once you pack a new tots you haven't packed before it feels like they're 'unlocked'. I'd never got Lala and then got him 4 times in the space of around half an hour and not again since. Same thing happened with Katoto. Something is really off with the dupes in this game. The hard thing isn't necessarily packing a blue it's packing a new blue. I'd love to know how they code these things.
Tldr pulled over 85 tots this week and not one Zaire Emery, Majri, Mbappe, Vitinha, Sakina, Dembele, Thurham, Messi, Geyoro, Bacha, Chawinga etc.
Not a rant post but maybe someone finds this data interesting. Here's to better luck for Spanish leagues 🙏

Moby has always been a mainstay in house music and electronica in general. And on May 17th, 1999, he released his fifth studio album Play to critical and commercial success, becoming a rare phenomenon in the dance world.

…..but not in the way you would expect. You see, not even Moby thought he would make an impact, and originally intended to retire after that. So what makes his success story so unique? And how did this album become the best selling electronica album of all time? Let’s take a deep dive!

A quick recap into his early career

Throughout the 80s, Moby was involved in multiple underground punk rock bands. At the tail end of the decade, he shifted his interests towards the then-burgeoning electronic music scene, moving to New York City and taking up producing, remixing and DJ-ing as a result. By 1991, his single “Go” became an instant success and propelled him into stardom. For the next few years, he scored multiple dance hits (including a remix of the James Bond theme).

It was in 1996 when he released his album Animal Rights where everything went wrong. His sudden shift to punk and metal inspired music alienated much of his fan base and proved to be a critical and commercial failure, leaving him in a bit of a disarray. By this point, much of his audience began to cast doubts as to who Moby was as an artist, and while he asserted that the stylistic change was only temporary, it didn’t stop them from leaving his side. His own touring was disastrous, and him opening for alt-rock band Soundgarden was met with boos and jeers, prompting him on leaving music altogether. But thanks to artists like Bono, Axl Rose and Terence Trent D'Arby giving positive reactions to his Animal Rights album, he decided to stay a little while longer.

Background

Play's musical direction began around the time Moby's friend, Gregor Ehrlich loaned him a 1993 box set titled "Sounds of the South: A Musical Journey from the Georgia Sea Islands to the Mississippi Delta." by Alan Lomax. In it, a wide collection of folk music recorded throughout the 20th century.
Moby began to work on Play in August 1997, but touring obligations as well as unsatisfactory mixing sessions caused multiple delays. According to Moby's manager, Eric Härle had stated their original goal was to sell 250,000 copies, which was what Everything Is Wrong (1995), Moby's biggest-selling album at the time, had sold. Moby had doubts in achieving that, and many of the labels seemed to agree. Moby lost his outlet to released Play in the US following his removal from Elektra's roster of artists, leaving UK-based Mute Records as his sole label. Looking for US records to distribute was a struggle, with major label records like Warner Bros., Sony and RCA rejecting him. Even after V2 picked up the offer, most of the journalists passed on listening to the album. By March of 1999, two months before release, Moby began contemplating on his future and felt that maybe it's best to just throw in the towel and retire.

Play debuted at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart, but fell off shortly after. In addition, the radio and network airplay the songs received was very minimal. At this point, the goal was to simply get people to listen to the music; for that to happen, Moby and his management had to get really creative. While brainstorming, the team noticed a few agencies flocking to them for permission to use the music as soundbeds. That marked the moment a huge lightbulb went off on everybody's head; there's great potential in using licensing.
Licenses weren’t exactly lucrative but it was an alternate way of exposing listeners to the music rather than just radio. Management team was very diligent in looking for licenses, nevertheless, they took painstaking care of which requests were more appropriate for certain songs. Eventually they succeeded in getting every track on the album licensed, with "7" being the last track to do so.

Singles

Play's rollout consisted of eight singles. I've listed the samples used as well as where the songs are heard. While I listed as many licenses as I could, I tried to keep it within a 5 year timeframe. Forgive me as I know I missed a few but it's tough to find older, obscure commercials.

Honey
After discovering an a cappella song from Lomax's box set, Moby wrote this song in about 10 minutes. The song had minimal radio airplay but still managed to chart in several places including the UK Singles Chart (#33) and Billboard's Dance/Electronic Singles Sales (#95). A remix was later released featuring American R&B artist, Kelis.
Licensed: Permanent Midnight (1998), The 13th Warrior (1999), Maxwell Coffee (1999), Holes (2003),
Samples: Bessie Jones - Sometimes (1960)

Run On
This was one the first Play tracks Moby made. Due to the amount of samples, putting this song together proved to be a major challenge. Sampling the original folk song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Bill Landford and the Landfordaires, Moby didn’t know about the song's popularity until after recording it. It’s been covered by many artists including Elvis, Bobbie Gentry and Johnny Cash.
Licensed: Renault Kangoo (199x), Harsh Realm (1999), Mercy Streets (2000), Osmosis Jones (2001),
Samples: Bill Landford and The Landfordaires - Run On For A Long Time (1949), Melvin Bliss - Synthetic Substitution (1973)

Bodyrock
Fun fact: Both of Moby's managers tried to convince him not to include the song on the album, as they thought it sounded too similar to a Fatboy Slim, but he insisted on keeping it as he liked the song for its sample.
Licensed: Dawson's Creek (1998), Rolling Rock Beer (2000), Hype (2000), FIFA 2001 (2000), Buffy The Vampire Slayer (2001), Veronica's Closet theme (2003)
Samples: Spoonie Gee and The Treacherous Three - Love Rap (1980), Gang of Four - What We All Want (1981), Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force - Looking for the Perfect Beat (1983)

Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad
Moby originally wrote this back in 1992 as a techno song. Unsatisfied with the result, he never released it. Years later, he revisited the song, reproducing it with slower and more sorrowful tone, Eric Härle encouraged him to include it on the album. Kelis also provided vocals on a remix of this track.
Licensed: The Next Best Thing (2000), Millennium Mambo (2001), Lovely Rita (2001), Black Hawk Down trailer (2001), Associaçao Desportiva de Deficientes (2004)
Samples: The Banks Brothers and The Greater Harvest Back Home Choir - He'll Roll Your Burdens Away (1966), Delegate vs. Emo-Trance - Return to Tasmania (1998)

Natural Blues
Music video features Christina Ricci (famous for her Wednesday Addams role)
Licensed: Shadow Hours (2000), Freddy Got Fingered (2001), Joan Of Arcadia (2003), Basic (2003)
Samples: Vera Hall - Trouble So Hard (1937), Coke Escovedo - I Wouldn't Change a Thing (1976), The Banks Brothers and The Greater Harvest Back Home Choir - All the Way (1966)

Porcelain
A standout of the album, it's one of the only songs on the album that Moby sings on.
Licensed: The Beach (2000), Nordstrom 'Doorway' (2000), VW Polo 'Lunchtime' (2000), Bailey's Irish Cream (200x)
Samples: Ernest Gold - Fight for Survival (1961), Electra - Destiny (The Remix)(1989)

South Side
Initially recorded with No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani, production problems forced Moby to leave Stefani's vocals off the mix of the song included on the album; her vocals were later restored for the song's single release.
Licensed: I cant find any :(
Samples: The Counts - What's Up Front That Counts (1971)
Find My Baby
The final single (obviously)
Licensed: Any Given Sunday (1999), Charmed (2000), Nissan Almera II (2000), American Express 'Tiger Woods Plays Manhattan' (2000)
Samples: Boy Blue - Joe Lee's Rock (1960), Louis Bellson, Shelly Manne, Willie Bobo & Paul Humphrey - Super Mellow (1975)

As for the deep cuts (once again, I couldn’t find them all).

Rushing
Licensed: Weather Channel (2000s-2010s)
Samples: n/a

Machete
Licensed: Play It To The Bone (1999), Mission Hill 'Andy Joins The PTA.' (2002)
Samples: Tom Jones - Looking Out My Window (1968), Incredible Bongo Band - Apache (1973)

7
Licensed: unknown
Samples: n/a

Down Slow
Licensed: unknown
Samples: n/a

If Things Were Perfect
Licensed: unknown
Samples: Willie Hutch - Hospital Prelude of Love Theme (1974)

Everloving
Licensed: Requeum For a Dream trailer (2000), Thortons Chocolates ad (200x)
Samples: n/a

Inside
Licensed: Riding Giants (2004)
Samples: n/a

Guitar Flute & String
Licensed: unknown
Samples: n/a

The Sky Is Broken
Licensed: The X-Files 'All Things' (2000) (fun fact: Gillian Anderson hand-picked this song!)
Samples: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Long as I Can See the Light (1970), SMPTE Timecode - Audio Sample (1967)


My Weakness
Licensed: The X-Files 'Closure' (2000), Any Given Sunday (1999), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), The Salton Sea (2002)
Samples: Kanak - Danse Nyinewaco De Tiga (1990)

Conclusion

Play was the breakthrough album Moby needed to break into the mainstream, landing DJ gigs across the world before he even knew it. It was the first album to have all of its tracks licensed. The licensing approach was a resounding success that helped increase the album's visibility along with radio and MTV. In fact, it was so lucrative that the album was already considered a financial success before it even reached multi-platinum sales! Overall, Play's journey to being a cultural phenomenon was a slow but gradual one, with the album re-entering the top 100 charts and have many of its songs hit the charts across multiple countries. Before you knew it, the whole blues-meets-electronica was everywhere (even Adele cited this album as an influence on 25).

Using popular songs for commercial purposes is nothing new but with Play, many viewed this album as redefining the concept of "commercial". Not everybody was on board with this, many techno purists scoffed at his approach for success, seeing Moby as an ultimate sell-out, and his music being devalued as a result. Despite this, Moby remained steadfast in his decisions. Now, 25 years on, with a staggering 12 million sold worldwide, Play still remains the best selling electronica album of all time.

Questions

What was your experience with this album? Did you enjoy it?
Do you feel the push for licensing really changed the game? For better or for worse?
Do you feel this album has any cultural relevance beyond its commercial ubiquity? Why or why not?

Hello all! I've been working on another brew and I really think I might be on to something here. I've wanted to do something with [[ephemerate]] for a long time but with BW turning into blade, there's only really jeskai. I recently found [[ardent elementalist]] which means I could ephemerate loop without blue which would make something different than jeskai possible. I initially tried boros, but where these decks excell is with the indestructible artifact lands and [[cleansing wildfire]], so much so that I saw a competitive boros deck that played 5 off color bridges just to run wildfire. That got me on the line of thinking that I could use that extra color basically for free since the bridges are so central to the core of the deck.
Now let me go over the deck itself, and some of the recent tweaks. It overall hasn't been tested much but I'm looking to do that more soon, and if anyone has these cards on MTGO and would be willing to try it, that'd be awesome.
You'll notice a strong foundation of white creatures for strands, the most recent of which is the 2 inspectors (different printings for the funny). I'm thinking the extra source of card draw is always welcome as late game I found I was lacking my card draw creatures sometimes. Plus they fill out the curve and are white. The exception to the white creatures rule is [[thorn of the black rose]] which I'm running instead of the white version because of deathtouch as a blocker. This is up in the air because having a white create as my emblem is very nice so I can protect the emblem with strands on that creature.
Dawnbringer is a star here, being the anti bogles/ponza, grave hate, and life gain for red. We're running one main and can bring in a full playset. This deck in general has most answers covered for any matchup, we have revoke existence for affinity/artifact lands, fumes and Hadar for sweepers, pyro for spell protection vs blue, our last cast down for biger creatures when bolt isn't good, and [[stonehorn digintary]] for combat based decks. Even main board, bolt/cast down/strands is REALLY good for answering most threats. They make it able to stall once we slam emblems, then the plan is to grind our way to victory with trap and bolt. There's a very good sense of inevitability with our ephemerate loop, plus our one of late to dinner making it able to get back our key pieces, like elementalist or paladin, and then it itself being able to be looped is phenomenal since it buys us more time with creatures and food. Finally, the wildfire is awesome for any lands that tap for more than one (familiars, bogles, ponza, fog, Tron) and can really slow down those decks. The worst matchup I think is ponza, especially post board. However it is totally winnable with our hate for their utopia sprawls and bolt for the elfs.
TLDR: Grindy mix of jeskai and BW ephemerate that wins with ephemerate loops and initiative with answers for most every deck.
Hope you like it! I'm quite happy with it and really think it has a ton of potential. Feel free to comment with suggestions or questions and I'll do my best!
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/4E0GJTFXvEKhCxSmTBL9Hg

For some reason, I have yet to find a blush shade that complements my skin, hair and eye color. I’ve tried red, coral, peach, mauve, pink and cool pink - and none seem to be as flattering as I’d hope. What is the secret to finding a blush color that perfectly complements your appearance? Any tips and tricks are greatly appreciated.
(For reference, I have light skin that tans easily with some redness from skin sensitivity, neutral undertones (I think), blue eyes, and light brown hair.)
In my quest for finding a flattering shade, I wonder - are there any blushes known to be nearly universally flattering? Is there a shade that looks good on almost everyone? Thanks in advance for your help!!

Hello, I hope you have a good day.
These days, I have been turning over an idea in my mind, which I have been thinking about a lot and which has ended up giving rise to this idea of a magic system, which I have named Tulmaterium. I like to know our opinions about this idea :D
Mechanisc
The idea of this magic system is that some people that they born with the ability of access to this magic, called Thulmatists, have the power to create, with their energy magic(called Essence), a material that dont exist in the nature. Because they are materials that should not exist, they disintegrate over time (the speed of the process depends on how much mass of this substance has been created), unless they are supplied with essence in a good quantity or continuously.
This materials are unnatural because they have stranges properties to their phisical state or dont obey the natural laws of the element that they are associating(Every imaginary material have asocciate a natural element, like air, dust, water, among others.) In addition, each material can generate a different magic effect, that only manifests if the user add some magic energy to the material with the intention to use this power(not in all cases, but it applies in most of the materials.
Furthermore, all users of said magic are recognizable by certain traits in their being that can be associated with the element to which they were born associated. For example, those who can create the material of air may have hair that moves as if there is always wind blowing it or their way of walking is as if they are light as the wind.
Powers
In this systems, exists only 8 elements, with one imaginary material associates. This elements are:
Air: This element allows their users to create a gas similar to a dense mist, pink in color with orange touches like the sunset. It behaves the same as fog but, if exposed to a source of ultraviolet rays, such as direct sunlight, it undergoes an almost instantaneous and very violent expansion (in open areas it is harmless except for the change in pressure, but in closed places can be as strong as an explosion).
the magical power allows the user to alter the light that passes through the fog, creating visual illusions, making whoever enters invisible or altering the shape of the gas so that it acts as a lens that concentrates or disperses the light (in the first case creating a similar but more powerful effect of the reflection of light in the mirror)
Dust:
The material of this element are a type of dark sand, like the one present on volcanic beaches, but with a strange metallic shine when it spreads or forms sheets.
Its only strange property is that, with enough magic and time, it can be used to create black crystals that do not disappear over time, but lose their ability to use their magic power. Of course, when reacting with magic, they emit an iridescent and flowing glow, like the shine of tar, but more powerful and long-lasting.
The magical power are the ability to manipulate the sand to alter its consistency, making it denser or more fluid, or act as a filter or insulator for one element or another through the structures that you can use to manipulate it.
Water:
The substance is similar to water in aspect, except for it have a intense light blue color and more viscosity. The strange property that It has is that it is a very reactive substance, even being capable of damaging glass and slightly some metals that support chemical reactions, such as platinum. Of course, other imaginary materials and living beings, due to their essence, are more resistant to this effect, although not immune.
The magic power that it grants is the ability, by mixing the appropriate components inside, the user can use the liquid to alter said components, obtaining the molecule or alloy that the user desires from them. Of course, the process completely consumes the imaginary substance.
Oil:
The substance is a type of biofuel in aspect and properties, but with a remarkable purple color. And, like the fuels, are very flammable(similar to gasoline) and produce, in contact with the aire, a strange slag layer made of solidified air components (like O2, CO2, water vapor, among others) as a gelatinous mass.
the magic power is the ability to increase the power of the magic powers of other users that they are sprinkled with that oil and the user of the oil has applied his power to them.
Rock:
This material can be created in form of small balls of gold rocks with cracks through which a reddish glow is emitted, like a broken and lit coal in a fireplace. Despite their appearance, the heat they emit is only a couple of degrees higher than that of the human body.
The magic power of this material only activate when someone eat one of this balls, causing, upon reaching his stomach, the material to begin to emit controlled heat and cause a temporary alteration of his body in the user, who develops small rocky patterns on his skin and his eyes become intense as fathoms. This transformation consumes the essence that the living being possesses by virtue of being a living being and multiplies it, turning it into an improvement in its physical and mental capabilities.
Of course, consuming more spheres does not give you more power, but rather it lengthens the time that the ability remains active (although the effects later are worse when they are exhausted, since more than three or four continuous spheres can leave someone on the brink of death. a normal human)
Metal:
This material is a liquid metal, like the mercury, but less poisonous, more cohesive and a deep red color, like intense fire. The magic power are the ability to generate magnetic fields, both inside the metal (to alter its shape at will) and outside the metal (used to push other nearby metals or levitate the metallic substance).
Vegetable material:
This material is a strange green substance, contained in a wooden shell of white, brown and red colors, as well as covered with several spikes.
Its magical power allows, through an infinitely replicable process, to store and extract essence from the greenish substance, which acts as a portable warehouse for it. The curious thing is that, if the essence reserve is left full, but nothing is extracted for several days, the material will consume said energy to grow in size and change to resemble a growing tree.
If this process is repeated several times, in a few years you can have trees of this substance almost ten meters high and several meters long. In this state, touching the leaves of said plant allows energy to be transferred or extracted, its storage now being equivalent to that of the magical energy of tens of thousands of people or thousands of users.
Animal material:
This substance is similar to a white gelatin, inside which an incredible amount of amoeba-like microorganisms is stored. These are harmless to living beings, although they require nutrients and magical energy to stay alive.
Its magical ability allows the user to generate, from the available nutrients, any biological component (biotoxins, hormones, proteins, fats and so on) that the user desires, as long as the user knows its exact chemical composition and can maintain contact and the organisms that produce it are well nourished.
These same microorganisms can also be applied to a wound or in a sterilized space to cause them to undergo a conversion, going from their original form to becoming cells of the chosen living being. With this, wounds can be sealed or even organs can be created from scratch, as long as the user knows what their structure is like and the cells that should form it and in what order they should be placed.
And this is the whole system, I'm sorry it's been so long. I hope to know what you think about this and I would like to hear any suggestions or ideas :D
I hope you have a good day

PART ONE THOUSAND AND THIRTEEN
[Previous Chapter] [The Beginning] [Patreon+2]
Sunday
Lucas tapped the flat of his finger twice on the partially open door, more to let Boyd know he was coming than actually requesting permission to enter. He pushed it open and strode through as the somewhat welcoming grunt came from within.
“Hey, sexy,” he said, crossing the two rooms to zoom in on Boyd sitting at his bench. On the spinner before Boyd was a larger figure than he had ever done before: an eighteen-inch figure of a woman with an hourglass figure wearing a form-fitting formal gown that flowed to the floor, swaying as if she’d just stepped to her right. Her hands were curled as if she were holding something or someone, but that part was missing.
“Ooooh,” Lucas said, resting his head on Boyd’s shoulder to examine the piece closer. “She’s pretty.”
“She’s also the viscount’s granddaughter, who I think is married to a prince somewhere in Eastern Europe. I’d have to pull out her details again, but she’s already got two kids, and she still looks this good.”
“She doesn’t look old enough to have two kids.”
“That’s what happens when you marry when you’re still a teenager.”
“Please tell me it wasn’t an arranged marriage.”
Boyd did a slow pan to level an annoyed look at him.
“What? They used to.”
“Slavery was a thing in America back in the day, too.”
Lucas made a deflating raspberry. “If you want to get technical,” he grumbled.
Boyd twisted his seat to face him, loosely curling his arms around Lucas’ waist. “Where are you off to, Mister Soon-To-Be-Masters?”
Oh-ho. Someone’s feeling playful. “I thought you were going to become a Dobson,” Lucas countered, leaning in to give him a quick morning kiss.
“Yeah, but then I was reminded I do have family that I care about.”
“None of which are Masters. Your mom and Aunt Judy are sisters who changed their names when they married. If you were going to take any of their names, we’d both be changing to Davenport.”
Boyd looked down at where their abdomens rested against each other.
“Hey,” Lucas said, sliding his hand under Boyd’s chin and lifting it so he could see those beautiful baby blues focusing on him. “What’s going on, love?”
Boyd opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He tried twice more. “Ten years,” he finally croaked. “They took me in and gave me a home within the family for nearly two years, and I repaid them by cutting them out of my life the second I could. Who does that to their own?”
“Somebody with a lot of fear,” Lucas answered honestly. "And that somebody isn’t you anymore. You’ve invited Emily to be our accountant, and personally, I hope you know what you’re doing there…”
“Emily has always been good with money. The only time she’s ever been off is when she borrows money from you, and you go to get it back. By the time she’s finished explaining all the financial movement around the transaction, you end up owing her twice as much, and she’s really convincing. Computerised flow charts and everything.”
Lucas hoped he was exaggerating. If Emily had been that quick and deceptive to separate Boyd from his money when she was a teenager, she might have been even more cunning now. Lucas would remain attentive until she proved herself because the love of his life had earned this break. “Okay,” was all he said since he didn’t want to argue.
Boyd nipped the tip of his nose. “Don’t you ‘okay’ me in that tone of voice.”
Lucas pulled back and rubbed the back of his hand against his nose. It hadn’t hurt, but it was weird. No one had ever done that before. “I’m a cop, love. In my world, it’s guilty until proven innocent.”
“Getting back to my original question. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go and get some supplies for Levi and Maddy. The dumbass has been worrying himself sick over where he can leave Maddy on short notice if he and Austin get called out to a fire together. They can’t waste up to an hour each way getting over to Queens and Brooklyn.”
“Tell him she can stay with us,” Boyd said without hesitation. I’ll be here all the time, and if I’m out and it’s an emergency dump-and-run, I can drop whatever I’m doing and call someone to teleport me back.”
Lucas leaned in and kissed him again. “And that’s just one of the many reasons I love you,” he said once they parted. “Charlie will be here too, which means Robbie won’t be far away either. Levi still wants to run it past Llyr since it’s his place, but so long as we keep her on our side and away from Miss W, it won’t be a problem.”
“You’ll need to remember to lock up your guns when she’s here.”
Lucas nodded thoughtfully in agreement without speaking. It would devastate everyone if Maddy somehow managed to get her hands on one of his work firearms and fire it. He’d need to get a thumbprint safe – something that he could get at very quickly in a crisis.
“How is she with beds?”
“What?”
“Don’t little kids have those hospital guardrail things, so they don’t roll out of bed and hurt themselves? I mean, your bed isn’t that far from the floor, but if you’re getting supplies, you might want to think about some of those things to keep her in.”
Lucas hadn’t thought about that. “Okay, then it’s going to be a bigger shopping trip than I thought, but that’s alright. Levi and Maddy are going to chill in the apartment until I get back.”
“Do you want me to check in on them?”
“Nah, it should be fine. Levi knows where Charlie’s office is, and if he’s going to annoy anyone while they’re at work, it should be our sister.” Lucas turned Boyd back to his carving and leaned his head on Boyd’s shoulder. “You keep outdoing yourself, you know that, right?”
“These tools are magic. I can’t do a thing wrong with them.” With a slight grimace, he added, “Hey, have you ever heard the story about the kid who gets the magic piano?”
Lucas squinted warily. “Am I going to like this story?”
“It’s a cautionary tale. This kid finds a magic piano, and all he has to do is work the pedals, and the piano plays itself. No one notices it’s not the kid, and the kid’s ego grows with each performance until he’s an international sensation. Then, he has a fight with the piano over who the star really is. The following night, the piano refuses to play, and the kid is booed off the stage. His family is left financially ruined.”
“I will beat you within an inch of your life if you equate that to you.”
Boyd looked at him. “How can I not? I mean, when I relax and just let the tools do what they’re made to do, the pieces come out flawlessly—every time. But the second I worry, minor defects creep in. Nothing I can’t counter and fix, but still…”
“If it concerns you that much, why not do a piece every now and then without the divine tools to prove to yourself that the skill is yours and the tools are just tools?”
Boyd looked over the divine toolset, then back up at the shelf where his older tools were. “That’s a good idea,” he admitted.
Lucas lightly kissed him on the lips and stepped out of his grasp. “I’ve been known to have them now and again. Oh, and don’t forget we’re going to Angus’ this afternoon. Just the six of us.”
Boyd raised his left hand in acknowledgment, but his focus was back on the carving even as his right hand picked up a scalpel of some kind and drove it across the carving’s middle. The blade was then smoothly passed to his left hand to make an incision from that side while his right reached for a new tool.
As he’d said, his motions were flawless, with chips and shavings flying at the speed of a professional wood chopper. Lucas could watch him work all day, but if he was going to make it to Angus’, he needed to leave now.
He let himself out and headed for the main front door to the level.
A little over an hour later, after grabbing several sets of clothes in his brother’s size, Lucas was standing in the middle of the children’s clothing section, blinking in confusion at all the options. He would go to touch one, then back away, unsure.
He must have looked pitiful because a staff member in her mid-thirties took pity on him and approached with a warm smile. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, this is crazy,” he answered, gesturing to the millions of clothes options before them. “My brother asked me to look after my niece in an emergency, and I want her to have whatever she’ll need at my place in case he doesn’t have time to take her home.” He looked at all the clothes. “Whatever that entails.”
“That’s really sweet. Is your brother a doctor?”
“Fireman.”
The woman gave Lucas the once over. “I can see that.”
Lucas chuckled. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. Between him, Levi and Mav all sharing their dad’s muscle, they’d always caught people’s eye. “Anyway,” he said, wanting to move this along. “My niece is three going on four, and she’s about this high,” he said, showing her height as an inch or two under his hip.
“Does she have any favourite TV shows?”
“Spongebob,” Lucas said, incredibly grateful for his conversation with Levi over breakfast. He’d have never had that answer otherwise. “And if you’re not doing anything after we get her clothes sorted, my fiancé mentioned something about bed rails since she’ll be sleeping in my old queen-sized bed. This is an all-in shopping trip for her, and I have no idea what to get.”
“Do you have any toys for her? And no, I’m not pushing for a commission here. Little minds need to be kept stimulated, or little hands will end up in places they have no business being. If this is your first time looking after her, you’re going to want a few toys, books, and things to keep her busy.”
“My brother is already nagging me about buying her the basics. What would you recommend that won’t make it seem like I’m trying to buy her affection?”
“Are you okay with electronics, or are you trying to steer her away from that?”
“It doesn’t faze me. It’s more the cost. I don’t want to buy her what my brother hasn’t or can’t afford. I’ve been into too many households where kids have every version of PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo and every known game that goes with them. Those kids appreciate nothing, and that’s not something I’m okay with.”
“You see a lot of people’s houses?”
“I was a beat cop for over eight years before my promotion.”
“A policeman and a fireman? I’m sure there's a joke involving a bar in there somewhere.”
“If there were, the third person would be an ice hockey player,” Lucas chuckled again, already liking this woman. As they wandered through the aisles, she added things to his cart. Clothes were first, but they quickly moved on to toys. A couple of generic soft toys. and the board game “Candyland”. Lucas grabbed ‘Hungry, Hungry Hippos’, as that was one he and his brothers had played when he’d been Maddy’s age. Then came two large boxes of Duplo.
Not once did it feel like the sales assistant was pushing an agenda. She even paused to consider the options as if she were buying them for her own kids. Lucas really appreciated that.
As they were walking the isles, Lucas came to a screeching halt and stared at a range of doctor, nurse and vet play sets. Two jumped out at him. One had a plastic pet carrier with a handful of bulky instruments, and the other came in a bright blue bag with red handles and a white pawprint on the side. It had a comprehensive range, including toy bandages, pill bottles, cream jars, syringes, a stethoscope and even a cone of shame. Both went into the cart after he checked to make sure the two soft animals would fit in the carrier.
Mason’ll have a field day showing her exactly how to simulate using all this stuff, he thought to himself with a grin.
“You’re really very thoughtful,” the woman said after he explained why they both had to be purchased.
Lucas specifically asked for books after that. Real books with paper pages. He was sure his mother (as a high school English teacher) would murder him in his sleep if he didn’t buy Maddy at least ten books ranging from ones she could memorise and pretend to read (which, in her grandmother’s eyes, taught her word structure and was the first step in learning to read), with ones he could read to her. And that, of course, required Spongebob bookends to hold them together.
“Your fiancé is a lucky woman if you’re willing to do all of this for your niece,” she said once the cart was full and they were heading back to the checkouts.
“Yes, he is,” Lucas agreed, deliberately sliding in Boyd’s gender without making a huge issue of it.
Her eyes widened in horror. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Wow, I really shouldn’t make that assumption anymore, and I apologise.”
Because this was New York. “Apology accepted,” Lucas said, waving it aside. Boyd might have been embarrassed, but thankfully, he wasn’t here. “Thanks again for all your help.”
* * *
((Author's extra-long note:
Heya guys! Just letting you know I need to take a week off. [It’s nothing to do with the community here, I promise! I love writing this, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.]
In fact it's … you know what? Stuff it. You guys might as well know. Remember how I mentioned earlier this year we were fighting for more care for my special needs daughter?
That’s the issue.
Our support coordinator has our written authority to act on our behalf. Yet we’ve been told in writing from the government department that if she doesn’t back off, the whole request, including thousands of dollars of specialists interviewing our daughter and reporting their findings, will be deleted, and our request, including all-new interviews and reports, will have to start all over again.
I’m almost at the point where I’m not sleeping, but our support coordinator has promised us to fight because, in her words, “This is getting ridiculous.”
I’ve been really struggling to write this week with everything going on in the background. I’ve finally admitted I need to pull back (just for one week—I mean it when I say how much I love this writing and the little community we’ve formed) to focus on sorting out the mess, so that my writing isn’t tarnished by the battlelines that are being drawn up in the background.
(I already scrapped a page and a half because my anger at things [I bounce between anger and depression] had people who were usually very chill (Robbie) acting in a very aggressive manner that simply wasn’t them. Because of this, I’ve already used up several of my backlog this week and I loathe to lose any more, given how hard they were to build up. (The thought of using them up without others to take their place was also adding to my stress.)
And I was told by my beta reader, ‘Given you’ve been doing this for over three years, and you’ve only had the occasional day off due to sickness, take the week and regroup, stronger than ever.
I agreed. This means my next post will be on Monday, the 27th, Australian Time.
This means my next post will be on Monday, the 27th, Australian Time.
I hope with all my heart that you’ll all still be with me when I return next week.
Karen. ))
((All comments welcome. Good or bad, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🥰🤗))
I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here
For more of my work, including WPs: Angel466 or an index of previous WPS here.
FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!!

The ancient Book Of The Dead, commonly and intentionally mistaken with text of pyramids its The Nuit Papyrus that despict goddess nuit, and Hadit, also know as the Book of hours, the paint that decorates the rooftop of Tomb KV7.
What is it made of? Whats the sithlyte? Its sperm infected with HIV poured into the painting. Once you develop aids in the brain, you turn into a "living dead" which allows you to access to past lifes memories and forms.
There are three forms of the book, page blue, page red, and the black one full form.
List of powers depending on your current spirit:
Blue: Telepathy, teletransport, hematocontrol(they turn you into a puppet injecting their blood), cure aids, radar, intangible, invisibility
Red: Transforming your hand into any weapon you have seen, turning your skin black to gain great strength, flying, werewolf, bat form, telekinesis, stopping time.
As you can imagine stopping time its the most op power there is.

As always, thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for the wonderful universe that is NoP! Thank you to u/cruisingNW for proof reading and helping me make this chapter as good as it can be, you're the man! Honestly LoM wouldn't have gone very far without him! If you haven't you should absolutely go read Foundations of Humanity! It's very good AND it just updated!
A big thanks to u/Saint-Andros for helping with proofreading! He writes Out of Our Elements which is a very good one! If you like a good fic in the wilderness and a pair of cute 'friends' ;) you'll love OOE!
Also thank you to u/brotanics! For this wonderful fanart of Taisa. And this one! She's so cute I'm gonna die
And thank you to u/Jimdandy117! For this adorable fanart of Chris and Renkel! Dear god help he's adorable I love him so much
Thank you u/SlimyRage, or AsciiSquid on Discord, for makin' Vengineer Taisa Gamin'. She's absolutely adorable, I love her lil' workers apron. She looks so excited to get to work!
Thank you u/Braquen! For this astounding Pixel Art of Taisa after a few range day dates with Chris! Her little hat and gunbelt are absolutely astounding!
Thank you u/VeryUnluckyDice! For this Artwork of Taisa and Chris as characters from One Piece! I've never seen or read it before but it's incredibly cute!
Thank you to u/creditmission for their wonderful work of several LoM fanfics!
First Prev. Next
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Memory Transcription Subject: Taisa, Venlil Starship Engineer, Crystal Star Shipping Co-Owner
Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 16th, 2136
Stars… doom or not, that moon is beautiful.
Earth’s own spotlight still hung in the sky, creeping ever higher backlight more and more of the fleet waiting in anticipation. The moon’s pure white light scattered aimlessly across the mountains, shimmering like liquid silver on the surface of the river flowing through the valley far below us. Slinking dark forms of ships that slipped beyond her light made their presence known through the trailing wisps their ion thrusters jetted out behind them; painting the soil-black sky with twisting, swirling hues of blue amongst the shimmering stars.
A warm and weighty hand pulled me close as the cool night air of the mountains flowed through my wool, coaxing a contended purr to build and blossom in my chest as I pressed into Chris’ side, stretching up to nuzzle into his neck before leaning forward and snatching another ‘hummus’ covered carrot from the tray to pop it into my mouth. The delicious, savory smoothness of the hummus accompanied the sweet harshness of the carrot perfectly, sending a trill of pleasure through my chest before I continued my story.
“Anyhow, Quilleth and I, despite her continuous protests, get assigned to the same design herd for one of our final projects. We had an old Triconn Drive Systems TC-547 Jump drive and one of their ‘standard’ fusion cores to go with it, one of the worst pairs of speh-stacks ever built if you ask me, that we needed to rebuild and get working again, and she wanted no part of having to ‘deal’ with me for any extended period of time. Tavareth, my jump-drive maintenance and design professor, was adamant that,” I stopped, pulling in a breath and puffing out my chest, doing my best to mimic the old, gray trunked Mazic. “Ahem, ‘In a work environment you’ll have to work past your differences to make the herd stronger.’ and all kinds of other speh that amounted to ‘I need to fill out this herd the rest of the way and you two are who’s left.’”
“They both sound so pleasant.” Chris rumbled, a chuckle in his voice as he grinned, handing me another of his ‘cracker sandwiches’ before turning his eyes back to the stars high above.
“That’s a word for it.” I agreed, giving a jovial whistle past the crumbling cracker and deliciously smooth nut-spread. “But she dropped that tune real fast the second we came up to a real problem in the project trying to source a new, or at least rebuildable, primary magnetic accelerator. I called Parnel and had a brand new one, that was well past any spec we were expected to meet, in our workshop and installed within the paw. After that I checked the drive’s Tritium levels, rerouted every coolant line, field flow point and magnetic induction coil so they actually worked right, stars forbid those wool brains at Triconn ever design something right the first time, to get everything I could out of the new accelerator assembly.”
“Now why does that sound familiar?” Chris mused, a sly smile on his face as scooped a fistful of crunchy chips into his mouth.
“You can shush Captain ‘try his damnedest to burn out every subsystem he can find’, half the re-routing I have to do now is your fault!” I replied with an amused whistle, paffing the back of his head with my tail-tuft before continuing. “Now, after I’d… dove into the ove-”
“As you often do.” Chris cut in, a smile on his face as he prodded my side with a burbling laugh in his voice.
“Shush!” I bleated in return, the warmth of a spreading bloom driving the sneaking cold of the mountain air from my wool. “As I was saying, after I dove into the drive, Quilleth and our other partners, mostly Quilleth, had taken it on themselves to handle the core’s overhaul and refueling. Leave it to most herds to take the easy route and not learn something if they can get away with it, you can damn well bet they made sure to document that I was the one who worked on the drive and that the, far easier, core was all them. The work on the drive took a while by myself but I still managed to get everything done and put together before we had to spin it up for the test-paw.”
“How do you test a drive and a core if it's not on a ship? Feels like a fast way to make a problem for yourself.” Chris asked, his eyes focused on me, interest plain on his face as his hand wrapped around my side to pull me close.
“Well the drives physically can’t engage if they’re in a sufficient gravity well, and VP is well beyond that threshold, so we just spin them up, take readings to ‘prove’ that they’d work in a real application. I argued we should have had a few shuttles with remote diagnostics and control systems, like we used during your flight training, to do the tests to show they actually did work since correct readings in a gravity well and correct readings in applied use can be different and you wouldn’t know until you were in orbit and getting ready to jump. Tavareth said he’d have ‘loved to give us the chance but the university didn’t have the funds to allocate’ or some other excuse the faculty always used to avoid doing things the right way.” I replied, waving my paws in frustration at the amount of projects that were only given a curled tail of thought before being dumped on us to complete, real world applications or not.
“Sounds a lot like Trepassy’s parent company, unless it was a ‘mission critical component’ as they put it, then they didn’t much care to fix it if it didn’t keep her stuck in port. Always made the excuse that the repairs weren’t in the budget while posting ten plus percent margins. Didn’t matter how much me and the cap’ called and bitched them out for busted Air-con or the rec-room being entirely bare they always said the same damned thing. Bunch of assholes.”
My tail set to wagging at the idea of Chris and his captain shouting into a phone at some other Human half the world away about something that felt all too familiar. “Anyways, we get everything set up on the testing field outside of Dayside, get the systems mounted into their cooling and fuel channels before we start spooling the core up and putting power to the drive. Before too long Tavareth announces that everything looks stable and we can begin putting load onto the system, everything climbs their scales well. The warp field levels off with the expected fluctuations of a drive being operated way too far into a gravity well to maintain any real stability and the core temperature looks good. Everything’s holding steady, Tavareth looks pleased, the rest of my project-herd is congratulating each other on a project completed.”
“Then the core temp starts climbing, blooming well beyond any ‘acceptable’ overheating limiter Quilleth, Uderek or Ofent could have seen fit to set. I looked over and found all three of them watching the core start to melt down in disbelief as Tavereth slams down every single E-stop he can find on the command console. Suddenly everything stops, the room goes quiet as the distant, now glowing white core is dumped straight into an abort tank to expend its… energy somewhere a bit safer. ”
“Tavereth whipped around faster than I’d ever seen that big old Mazic move and oh stars was he furious!” I bleated, tossing my paws in the air at the memory of him studying each of us in turn before launching into an angry tirade. “That core was as bright as the stars themselves but it had nothing on the bloom positively glowing beneath Quilleth’s coat! He laid into all of us for a solid five minutes, calling out everything that could have gone wrong under Sollaglick’s light and I didn’t say a thing until she tried to blame me for forgetting to install the limiters!”
I saw the corner of Chris’ mouth curl in a tight smile, he knew what was coming but it still felt so good to be able to revel in it with my own herd, pack or whatever we should have been called. “Then I threw her own write up right back at her! Pointed out every note that explicitly called out that I only worked on the drive and that the core was all them, more specifically that SHE was supposed to have installed the limiters almost a herd before according to their schedule!”
“Uderek, Ofent and I all got a stern warning about why you should always check your herd-mates’ work and I got a gruff ‘good work’ for the drive before Tavereth positively berated Quilleth for the next quarter claw! Those two were good to me for the tail end of the semester, I’d hoped they’d try to keep in touch after we went our separate ways but… well they really didn’t.” I sighed with a shrug, the sun falling from my field at the memory of the last time I’d seen the chipper Gojid and our Tilfish friend.
“Well, hopefully things are going good for them, sometimes folks get busy… maybe they figure they don’t wanna bother you! ‘Specially now that you got your own ship and whatnot!” Chris comforted, his hands tracing wonderfully comforting circles through my wool.
Could always try to get in contact again if we make it through this.
>Agreed.< “Maybe I should, would be nice to have even more paws onto look at any of the problems Darno and I can’t… Stars above what is that?!”
My breath hitched in my throat as I looked to the stars, watching as the fleets high above began to exchange zipping tails of blue and green. A horrid, deadly light show filled the void high above earth, ships on both sides taking and serving hits with the fervor only people fighting for their lives, and the lives of everyone they’d ever known, could truly muster. The blazing trails of plasma slammed into the distant motes, scattering their vibrant colors in globs across the tapestry of the stars before some of them were joined by the flash of critical reactors and munition blowouts.
But amongst it all that wasn’t even the most of it.
For a brief moment I had thought the U.N. had decided to throw their entire moon at the fleet, another break-tail juke to smash as much of the fleet as they could; but the vectors were all wrong. They weren’t propelling here, they were taking off from her. The light of the moon was ablaze, obscured with towering pillars of smoke and fire, cacophonous trails of burnt oxygen and hydrogen traced a stampede directly to the extermination fleet. No, what they had actually chosen to do was far worse.
They’d stowed what looked like a never ending salvo of gargantuan missiles waiting for the exact moment to drop everything they had on the extermination fleet. A thought crossed my mind, a display from some stars-forsaken exhibit in the capital’s museum called ‘true evil’, its content was positively laughable now, about how many atomics humanity had made before they’d ’annihilated’ themselves. I think the curator had harvested the numbers a shear or two short. The sky lit up like a battery of strobes, the constant cracking light of splitting atoms nearly turning night to day as they spread like a blight through the assaulting fleet.
I couldn’t help but pull my lips back in a smile as my tail thumped rapidly against the stone beneath me. That mote of hope in my chest grew, watching the burning hulks full of people who wanted nothing more than to destroy everything about this world I’d come to love break apart, venting atmosphere as they sat, hanging in the void. Some tried to turn tail and limp away, some slipped into Earth’s gravity, their battered hull sections turning to voracious fireballs as they plummeted toward the hard, unforgiving dirt below.
Should’ve stayed home.
The thunk and twang of Chris’ instrument slipping from its case harvested my attention, my eyes sliding from the battle high above to the glowing white instrument resting in his hands. His own eyes turned to the sky, hovering for a moment as he plucked a few discordant notes from the instrument before looking back down and over to me, meeting my gaze.
“‘Suppose now’s as good a time as any.” He shrugged, giving me a small smile as I nodded, wrapping my tail around his wrist before gently nuzzling into his neck and turning my eyes back to the battle.
The sharp, plucky, barking twang of the banjo called out across the mountain tops, echoing back to us like a distant friend as Chris’ voice filled the air, joining the banjo in its reprise. The slow, wavering song danced between us just as the violence for the stars above, weaving amongs the whispering chorus of the trees and the chattering, throaty backing of evening insects.
“But I want to be where all the stupid shit I say Sounds so romantic and true.
Cause I'd rot in hell with you,
If you'd just ask me to.
I love the shitty things we do together,
Live with me in this sin forever.”
Memories flooded my mind with the words and hanging notes that echoed across the valley before us. The panic of our first solo flight as Chris pushed Shamrock for everything she’d had to give us, trying desperately to keep her in one piece as he blew past every limiter to get Maeve to the hospital as fast as we could. Concern roiling in my chest as I helped him to the truck after he’d dove into the river after, soaked to the bone, shivering and frozen but still so proud. The frustration of the two of us hard at work on Polani the paw after we’d gotten her, tail, and elbow, deep in carbon, grease and oil as we cursed everything under the stars. The fear of the cradle as the thunder of shells slamming into Polani’s hull filled her halls, the horror as one stalked me within my home…
“Cause home is the last place that I'd stand to be with anyone but you.
I'd rot in hell with you, If you'd just ask me to.
I love the shitty things we do together, Live with me in this sin forever.
Hell and you, I know you want it too.
I hope you take the shot, see this chance.
Feel the fire, and let me have this dance with you.”
I pressed into his side with a contented sigh, listening to the last echoing twangs of the Banjo and his voice as they called back across the great expanse before us. A long, cool breath filled my lungs before I leaned up to give his cheek a small, loving lick as a purr rolled through my chest. “I love everything we do together too, Love. Almost as much as I love just having you in my life at all.”
His mouth split into that broad, goofy grin as his hand pulled me just a little closer, his heavy voice rolling through me, just as comforting as always. “I love you too, Darlin’.”
“So…” I whistled, my tail twitching back and forth with amusement as I spoke into his neck. “About that dan-”
The words faltered in my mouth as a building light caught my eye, harvesting my attention skyward.
There, seemingly hanging in the sky, a pair of ships were tangled, no speared together. Both of them were burning fuel as munitions explosions wracked their hulls and trailing plumes of wispy atmosphere vented from their hulls as they plummeted to earth together, locked in their own deadly dance. The fires of re-entry blazed across both of their hulls as parts, pods and melted trails of slag broke away from both of them. The rammer’s guns opened up, sending round after round out after the escape pods that had bailed from the other ship, turning scores of them into little more than puffs of smoke that never had a chance.
As the pair grew closer I could finally make out what they were, or at least who the aggressor was. A Federation light cruiser was speared dead in her midship by the unmistakable, sleek curves of a Venlil Destroyer ending in a hextet of thrusters that still belched plumes of burning hydrogen fuel into the sky as she drove her opponent towards the certain death of the mountains below them with everything they had. The screaming roar of the ship reached my ears, their cacophonous echos casting across the mountain range like the angered, belligerent wails of someone defending everything they held dear.
That ship doesn’t have U.N. markings… Stars above that ship… those are Venlil.
“Damn…”
“Stars above…”
Chris and I watched what amounted to a grand, defiant headbutt as it traced its path down from the stars above. The pair of dancing ships continued their descent, pirouetting to the mountains below them like experienced partners just as their arms and thrusters screamed at each other like enemies with a centuries old grudge to settle.
“Shit… they’re comin’ down on Salt Pond.” Chris whispered, his eyes tracking the pair as they plummeted.
Mountains rose into sight beneath them, the distant mountain’s peak reaching into the sky like it was anticipating, just hoping for the chance to dash the interloper across its face.
“H-How far is that?”
“‘Bout twenty miles as the crow flies. ‘Least no one lives on that one I think, ‘sides maybe the rangers.”
The fleets far above them were still locked in a furious fight, the monstrous flanks of the federation ships pushed on, crashing through the defenders like a harvester through wool-grass. Ships of both sides fell from their formations, ablaze like the stars around them, only growing brighter before flaring into catastrophic explosions that cast them into incalculable pieces that fell to the ground below like a meteor shower.
“Think they’ll manage?” I whispered, a sprout of fear and doubt managing to push past the stone of hope I’d done my best to embed in my heart.
“I hope so, Darlin’. I ho-“
The cacophonous screech and cavernous boom of metal crashing into stone, trees and dirt filled the air, drowning his voice out and sending birds scattering from the trees around us as the ground beneath us shuddered from the impact.
Then everything went whi-
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ERROR: REMAINDER OF LOADED TRANSCRIPT CORRUPTED.
ERROR CODE: 47846-MD-EF-RI. MEMORY DAMAGED BY ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: RADIOLOGICAL INFLUENCE.
SOLUTION: ATTEMPT RECOVERY? Y/N
Y
ATTEMPTING…
ATTEMPTING…
ATTEMPT FAILED.
SOLUTION: LOAD NEXT TRANSCRIPT IN QUEUE FOR ‘THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE BLACKSBURG BURNER AND THE SKALGAN SHOWSTOPPER’? Y/N
Y
SOLUTION ACCEPTED. LOADING NEXT TRANSCRIPT.
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First Prev. Next

Expectations and unjust hatred

It is honestly baffling to me, how anyone acts like it is just DM pandering. Or is surprised by this.
You want real DM Pandering?
Point fingers at the TCG for replacing characters on the Boosters, or releasing annual awful gimmicky TCG exclusives for DM decks.
The OCG only gives them a tiny bit of more support than the other series.
And even the amount of support they receive is overexaggerated. Blue-Eyes has been around for 25 years and has gotten a total of 47 cards that support it, that's less than 2 cards a year on average. There are almost as many cards that mention "Fallen of Albaz" and he debuted in late 2021.
Compare that to say Shark. Who got constant support for the past 5 years and gets praised for it. Because for some reason people on here treat Zexal as an underdog, when it really only is that in the TCG. In the OCG it is just as popular as 5D's.
Sure, Yugi and Seto are also given more attention than the other protagonists and rivals, but one should keep in mind they are the original faces of the franchise.
That's like being surprised Red, Pikachu, Charizard, Mario and Link get the amount of representation from Nintendo.
As is Blue-Eyes.
Ask any non fan or casual to name a Yu-Gi-Oh! card and it will likely be Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician or maybe Exodia.

Blue-Eyes Structure Deck

The Blue-Eyes Structure Deck could be amazing for newcomers and returning players and the amount of people gate-keeping and hating on here are ridiculous.
Again, it is the most popular card and the fact that the deck is needlessly expensive despite being so weak turns off potential new players.
Making it accessible and hopefully helps exactly that player base. It's their gateway drug you might say. If they enjoy it, they will likely also get other decks. Because most people have more than 1 deck.
Also, as if it was DM pandering, to print the LIGHT Dragon Structure Deck R in the year of Dragon and LIGHT that would have come next chronologically anyway. I even called people bitching about it, despite how oblivious it was.
Maiden and Azure Eyes, were even shown in the 25th PV Animation to make it even more apparent.
And it isn't even treated as a Structure R, so the Atlantean Deck could still be printed. That's big win in my book.
I've read some comments about calling them boomer decks and they would rather not have any new players at all than so called "Yugi-boomers".
And people wonder why this game has a problem with new players.
And before anyone calls me a DM fanboy, or Yugi-Boomer, or any other lame derogatory term of their choice.
No, I don't have a competitive Blue-Eyes Deck. Nor a DM one. In fact I don't like the way Konami decided to take the decks and hope the Structure Deck fixes the awful identity crisis they have.
When I was still playing locals, I used Lightsworn, Salad, Tear, Traptrix and Mathmech. I do have character decks that use Blue-Eyes and DM. But even there I have more GX and 5D's Decks, than I have DM ones.

PRETEXT: This is the first poem I’ve written and I’m very nervous. I’ve written it for my partner for our anniversary, which is tomorrow. I’d love to get some feedback on this and reassurance that it isn’t terrible!
If you ever need me, I’ll be there, wherever And I’ll make sure the ever stays in forever When things are cold I’ll bring back the spring When things get rough I’ll pull out the sting
If you’re blown out then I’ll light your fuse When I am the painter, you are the muse And if you need me to sail the storm I’ll be your way, your shape, and form
I’ll make Fridays come around quick If things dont click, then Ill make them click I’ll make sure that your demons stay in the past And make sure no goodbye is ever the last
I’ll be the body and I’ll be the mind The drugs you need when the world isn’t kind I’ll sort the truth, out from the lies Give you the answers when you want to know why
I’ll be the one to forgive your mistakes Eat all the apples served up by the snakes Be the life support when you feel on deaths door When you’ve nothing to give I won’t let them take more
I’ll find the last bit of pace when you’re engine has gone Fight in your armies no matter which side of history you’re on Whatever your mood I will find you a song I’ll be your bark when the cats got your tongue
I’ll try to be the reason that there’s always something to lose Mix in green and red when all you’re seeing are blues I’d drink the oceans and stare out the sun Just to make sure your bad day is undone
And one day, I might need it too But if you have got me, then I have got you I might not be perfect but I promise to prove If you have got me, then I have got you

Looking to keep up with what's happening in Norfolk? This is your one stop shop:
COMMUNITY: Economic Development officials admitted that MacArthur Center plans are still entirely conceptual and years away from development. Rip it.
$101 million in toll relief for the region was included in the Virginia budget. Rip it.
City Council voted on Tuesday to approve the FY2025 budget that included $1.9 billion in financial plans. Rip it.
Scotty Quixx and the City of Norfolk reached a $200,000 settlement agreement in the case brought after City officials revoked the business’ Conditional Use Permit. Rip it.
Norfolk will receive $11,569,335 from the sale of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. Rip it.
A new study found that Virginia has the most expensive interstate toll roads per mile. Rip it.
Maury High School received the 2023-2024 School Leadership Award for Excellence in STEM Education. Rip it.
15 C-2 Greyhound planes based at Naval Station Norfolk are getting significantly more use as the V-22 Ospreys are still held back from mission use. Rip it.
A WWII grenade found in a Norfolk backyard triggered a bomb squad response this week. Rip it.
NSU Football’s season opener will be televised on ABC. Rip it.
ODU has officially closed “the Bud,” an old baseball stadium as it plans for construction of a new facility. Rip it.
Star players from the Tides continue to get pulled to Baltimore and sent back down to Norfolk as the season progresses. Rip it.
The Admirals playoff run ended with a game 6 loss to the Adirondack Thunder. Rip it.
CULTURE Aoife O'Donovan leads a full day of music and workshops on June 1st. It’s “Light in the Eastern Sky.” Rip it.
Opening soon at the Hermitage: “An American Abroad: Florence Sloane in Europe, 1920s-1930s.” Rip it.
Coming up at Little Theater of Norfolk: “A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder”. Running May 31-June 23. Rip it.
This weekend at Asssembly explore art, music, and awareness at “Loscar Creations Art and Mental Health Workshop.” Rip it.
Opening Friday: “Roses Are Red, My Braids Are Black” at Offsite Gallery. Rip it.
Opening Saturday: “Delectable: A National Juried Exhibition of Food Themed Artworks” at D’Art Center. Rip it.
Currently on Display:
Surfer: An Andy Harris Exhibition at Assembly. Rip it.
Hampton Boyer: Colors of Us at Chrysler Museum. Rip it.
Fantastic Creatures of the Venetian Lagoon at Chrysler Museum. Rip it.
“I Am Copying Nobody” at Chrysler Museum. Rip it.
“Roses Are Red, My Braids Are Black” at Offsite Gallery. Rip it.
Delectable: A National Juried Exhibition of Food Themed Artworks at d’Art Center. Rip it.
Message in a Bottle: Picturing Maritime Culture in Hampton Roads at Barry Art Museum. Rip it.
Martha Chase: Progressive Kindness at Barry Art Museum. Rip it.
Paintings from the Porch: Works by Jake McCord at Gordon Art Galleries. Rip it.
Concrete Ocean: Works by Leigh Merrill at Gordon Art Galleries. Rip it.
Perry Glass Art Collection at Glass Light. Rip it.
The Sloan Collection at Hermitage Museum & Gardens. Rip it.
Analog Mixed Media Collage by Zriegle at The Gallery At Elation. Rip it
Plus, COMMERCE, CROWDS, & CHOW

Selling cache sets at below mentioned price:
My profile- https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198272324546
steam rep- https://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198272324546
Add me if you are interested(only serious buyers (who have read the whole post and sure about buying))
buyer goes first. Reservation is mandatory and nonrefundable.
accepting dota 2 tradable items and tf2 keys
TI8 cache 1

Hero	Price ( USD)	Quantity
Trail of the Sanguine Spectrum(blood seeker)	15$	2
Pitfall Crusader(Pangolier)	23$	1
Insights of the Sapphire Shroud(Dark seer)	10$	5
Pillar of the Fractured Citadel(Spirit breaker)	12$	3
Forlorn Descent(Undying)	15$	0
The Murid Divine(necrophos)	22$	2
Primer of the Sapper's Guile(techies)	20$	3
Molokau Stalker(venomancer)	15$	4
Morbific Provision(witch doctor)	15$	3
Raptures of the Abyssal Kin(queen of pain)	12$	4
Fate Meridian(invoker)	25$	3
Grasp of the Riven Exile(weaver)	10$	6
Visions of the Lifted Veil(phantom assassin)	35$	1
Endowments of the Lucent Canopy(shadow shaman)	100$	sold out

TI8 cache 2

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Pitmouse Fraternity(meepo)	15$	8
Fires of the Volcanic Guard(Ember spirit)	20$	7
Third Awakening(Dragon knight)	35$	0
Shackles of the Enduring Conscript(AXE)	8$	10
Shimmer of the Anointed(Nyx)	6$	10
Cruelties of the Spiral Bore(Magnus)	45$	sold out
Loaded Prospects(Brew master)	15$	8
Ire of Molten Rebirth(Phoenix)	8$	6
Pattern of the Silken Queen(Brood mother)	8$	11
Dread Ascendance(Doom)	50$	1
The Rat King(Chen)	10$	9
Raiments of the Obsidian Forge(Underlord)	20$	4

TI9 cache 1

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Echoes of the Everblack(Abbadon)	30$	1
Allure of the Faeshade Flower(Dark willow)	25$	1
Paean of the Ink Dragon(Grimstroke)	20$	3
Scorched Amber(Dragon Knight)	30$	2
Priest of the Proudsilver Clan(Chen)	15$	5
The Arts of Mortal Deception(Enigma)	10$	4
Poacher's Bane(Tide hunter)	20$	6
Soul of the Brightshroud(Death prophet)	20$	2
Curse of the Creeping Vine(Undying)	20$	3
Pursuit of the Ember Demons (Husker)	22$	2
Appetites of the Lizard King(Slark)	25$	3
Forbidden Medicine(Dazzle)	20$	3
Riddle of the Hierophant(Oracle)	12$	7
Glimmer of the Sacred Hunt(Drow ranger)	30$	sold out
Adornments of the Jade Emissary(Earth Spirit)	25$	1
Defender of Ruin(Disrupter)	25$	8

TI9 cache 2

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Sight of the Kha-Ren Faithful(Drow ranger)	15$	21
Tribal Pathways(Warlock)	10$	26
Directive of the Sunbound(Clockwork)	10$	23
Souls Tyrant(Shadow fiend)	40$	4
Endless Night(Abbadon)	25$	8
Dapper Disguise(Pudge)	18$	16
Prized Acquisitions(Bat rider)	6$	29
Verdant Predator(Venomancer)	8$	23
Fury of the Bloodforge(Bloodseeker)	10$	27
Automaton Antiquity(Broodmother)	10$	25
Tales of the Windward Rogue(Pangolier)	30$	5
Grim Destiny(Wraith king)	20$	21
Distinguished Expeditionary(Tusker)	12$	26
Fowl Omen(Necrophos)	18$	21
Cinder Sensei(Ember Spirit))	80$	4

TI10 cache 1

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Origin of the Dark Oath(Night stalker)	28$	22
Ravenous Abyss (Underlord)	15$	34
Apocalypse Unbound(Ancient appartion)	10$	36
Beholden of the Banished Ones(Warlock)	15$	5
Fury of the Righteous Storm(Disrupter)	10$	36
Lineage of the Stormlords(Juggernaut)	35$	16
Silent Slayer(Silencer)	20$	32
Mindless Slaughter(Pudge)	15$	37
Heartless Hunt(Bounty hunter)	15$	31
Herald of the Ember Eye(Grim stroke)	15$	27
Fissured Flight(Jakiro)	12$	34
Flashpoint Proselyte(Husker)	20$	34
Glory of the Elderflame(Lina)	25$	26
Signs of the Allfather(Nature's Prophet)	20$	34
Songs of Starfall Glen(Enchantress)	10$	23
Ancient Inheritance(Tiny)	25$	51
Forsworn Legacy(Mars)	40$	26

TI10 cache 2

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Evolution of the Infinite(Enigma)	10$	24
Beast of the Crimson Ring(Bristle Back)	15$	23
Clearcut Cavalier(Timbersaw)	8.5$	27
The King Of Thieves(Keeper of the light)	10$	27
Horror from the Deep(Tidehunter)	20$	22
Ire of the Ancient Gaoler(Arc warden)	40$	1
Talons of the Endless Storm(Chaos Knight)	14$	22
Carousal of the Mystic Masquerade(Rubick)	12$	26
Crown of Calaphas(Shadow demon)	15$	26
Wrath of the Fallen(Doom)	15$	26
Blacksail Cannoneer(Sniper)	13$	26
Secrets of the Celestial(Skywrath mage)	10$	27
Blaze of Oblivion(Phoenix)	8$	26
Master of the Searing Path(Ember spirit)	30$	10
Steward of the Forbidden Chamber(Templer assassin)	30$	30
Claszureme Incursion(Faceless Void)	95$	1

Aghanim's cache sets

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Silverwurm Sacrifice(Dragon Knight)	40$	5
Scales of the Shadow Walker(Phantom lancer)	12$	19
Perception of the First Light(Dawn breaker)	12$	16
Apex Automated(Clockwork)	10$	17
Test of the Basilisk Lord(Razor)	12$	17
Secrets of the Frost Singularity(Ancient appartion)	8.5$	20
Perils of the Red Banks(Chen)	8$	20
The Chained Scribe(Grim stroke)	12$	18
Widow of the Undermount Gloom(Brood mother)	10$	20
Forgotten Fate(Mars)	10$	18
March of the Crackerjack Mage(Rubick)	10$	19
Stranger in the Wandering Isles(Drow ranger)	55$	1
Cosmic Concoctioneers(Alchemist)	7$	19
Days of the Demon(Axe)	25$	7
Blightfall(Abbadon)	8$	21
Pyrexae Polymorph Perfected(Ogre magi)	20$	25
Wrath of the Celestial Sentinel(Chaos Knight)	50$	8

Diretide cache set

Blue Horizons(Marci)	25$	6
Dark Behemoth(Primal beast)	50$	3

2023 cache sets

Hero	Price(USD)	Quantity
Snailfire (SnapFire)	25$	10
Brightfist (Marci)	22$	10
Primeval Abomination(primal beast)	8$	10
Astral Herald(dawn breaker)	7$	10
Spectral Shadow(Abbadon)	5$	10
Taur Rider(alchemist)	5$	10
Crescent Huntress(spectre)	10$	10
Tyrant of the Veil(wraith king)	8.5$	10
Tomo'kan Footsoldier(hood wink)	7$	10
Darkwood Eulogy(death prophet)	5$	10
Sea Spirit(kunkka)	12$	10
Triumph of the Imperatrix(legion commander)	7$	10
Beast of Thunder(storm spirit)	10$	10
Ancestral Heritage(jakiro)	6$	10
Dezun Viper(dazzle)	7.5$	10

Crownfall 2024 treasure
Drow ranger(Ravencloak)=45usd
Weather Effects

Weather	Price
Ash	10$
Aurora	3$
Harvest	3$
Moonbeam	5$
Rain	10$
Spring	5$
Snow	5$
Siroco	3$
Pestilence	2$

Buyers go first, add me now if interested for 30 days cooldown, make sure to leave a comment on my profile . 30% reserve amount required at the time of reserving cache sets. fees(depends on your payment method) on you.
If you are buying more than 4 cache sets then u will get addition discount.
WHY YOU SHOULD TRUST ME:
I have more than 1000$ worth of cache sets in my inventory and i have been selling cache sets from past 2 years so why would i scam you for some small amount and you can also check the profile of the people who have given their feedback on my profile . I can also provide you with screenshots of my previous successful trades

Dear members of this sub reddit.
I would like to implore all of you to spread this word amongst your kin, and follow this yourselves:
It is very damaging to be messing with road safety guidelines meant for the safety of others even if you don't care about your own well-being.
On at least two occasions, in heavy traffic, I couldn't immediately figure out which the emergency vehicle was whose siren I could hear since there was at least 1 private car with blue & red blinking lights around me that I could see in my mirrors, so it took time for me to figure out where to give way to the right vehicle.
Think of your family members in that ambulance — it would be horrible to have it needlessly blocked.
And while we are on this topic — following emegergency vehicles to try to beat traffic is unethical and illegal.
I have now installed dashcams in both my cars, and I hope to report such people to the police.
Just saying.

Shitpost ahead. For some reason, I had this in my drafts for a year now and I only bothered to post this now. (lol)

S-Tier

Balthier

• I'm very biased. Black, white, and gold are such great combinations when it comes to clothing, imo. Balthier comes off sleek luxurious, yet comfy with its simplicity. It's literally just a tunic, vest, leather pants, shin guards, and belt pouches. Initially, I was put-off by the choice of footwear being slip-ons, but they grew on me overtime as it reflects Balthier's laid-back demeanour. The bands on his fingers and the bracelets definitely stand out though if you look at it closely, but not to the overall outfit.

Ashe

• HER COLOUR SCHEME. But I don't fuck with how she has little armour. It's like they have sliders on her clothes set to minimum, especially the skirt.

A-Tier

Reddas

• Hot pink. What a standout! I like how he looks akin to a pirate. Historically, pirates tend to wear minimal clothing to accommodate to the seas and its bipolar climate. When on land, they'd wear the same fit, if not, dress up more, and with footwears. The lavish accessories and complex-looking shirt Reddas has indicates (theoretically) his rank among the other sky/pirates.

Larsa

• OK. This is a weird one. Despite my thoughts on it, I do like the fit. I admittedly thought he looks like a schoolboy the first few glances, but I grew to like the design...and then some weird choices. For one, I've never seen a more hideous shade of green on anyone but Basch, but here we are with Larsa, wearing it as thigh-highs. I think the navy blue shorts salvages the colour softly, but sometimes, my eyes just focus solely on the innards of the boots being red and gold?? I like the colour harmony of his coat and tunic; it balances the the green of his boots. (lol)

Rasler

• He's so regal, but he got shot in the neck because he didn't wear enough essential armour, enough said. Bro was caught lackin' and paid the price.

B-Tier

Penelo

• I adore the colour balance of Penelo's outfit. I find it adorable how she looks like she has wings on her scapula. But what is with girly's boots?? They can't just make it look like normal knee-highs, hahaha.

Basch

• Love the sleeveless red jacket. Basch appears to be wearing something akin to an open button-up corset beneath the jacket which makes no sense to me. Moreso, under the corset is a leather strap that secures the green sleeve/pauldron on his left shoulder. It's a peculiar choice I don't find comfortable. Though it may seem like a strange choice (it is), him wearing loafers under the knee-length leg guards seems plausible because of the Dalmascan climate. It certainly makes more sense than Penelo's footwear. (lol) In short, the fashion is weird and uncomfotable-looking, but it has solid use of colour.

Vaan

• Despite my thoughts on Basch's fashion, Vaan's is a rank lover because I don't have anything to expound on at a the upper half of his body. It's literally just a cropped leather and metal vest, which has to be more uncomfortable than what Basch is wearing. Bold of him to wear that in the desert, honestly. Vaan may be sunkissed, but he's not a burn victim. (lmao) Otherwise, I like the red sash and the dark loose pants with blue patches and red laces. The steel boots can go, too. (lol)

F-Tier

Fran

• NO. Krjn from Clan Centurio dresses better than her lmaooo. However, I think, of the female cast, Fran and other Viera can get away with wearing heels because they have rabbit feet and stand on their toes.