Tissue
Polysemous title- Tissue • Tissue- paper + skin (human life is fragile [criticises arrogance, encourages us to protect]) • Also paper (not alive) + skin (alive)- criticises monotony of life, not really living • Tissue paper- found in bibles and holy texts, but fragile (overinflated importance of identity causing wars and discrimination, really it’s very fragile and identity isn’t real, we’re all just people (tissue as in skin)) • Tissue- used to wipe away tears, togetherness can reduce suffering • Tissue- medical term for deep skin- poem shows deeper nature of humans and our potential for goodness, can be wounded and damaged by outside influences but can always heal
"Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things" - reference to religious texts paper, light as Jesus and Allah (power of religion) - or coexistence with nature (Dharker is a Muslim Calvinist)
Enjambment- freedom, lack of control of humans, rejecting constraints
Free verse- same thing
"Let the daylight break through capitals and monoliths" - power of nature, criticism of authority, weakness of humans- “break” violent personification, destroying authority, daylight + break = sunrise + hope
"The sun shines through their borderlines" - nature overcomes human segregation identity, criticism of war, power of nature) sibilance shows power, “their” still shows separation, criticise that
"fly our lives like paper kites" - childish metaphor, mocking control of money over life (criticism of authority)
"the back of the Koran" - “the” repetition shows importance, “back” shows it is hidden/shunned by society, still holding onto identity
"Transparent" - repetition, criticism of dishonesty of authority
Exposure
"Merciless iced east winds that knive us" - personification of wind shanking people (first line not about war but nature- more significant) (power of nature)- subtle sibilance (just as dangerous as bullets but most people don’t realise)- Germans were in the east, but the only thing from there is wind
ABBAC rhyme, structure is built only to be taken down (tension of soldiers expecting fight but let down)
Pararhyme- unsatisfying for reader, reflects how the soldiers are always nervous but never get to chill
“What are we doing here?” Rhetorical question to criticise authority, or actual question to show PTSD confusion, can be asking what they are DOING or why they are HERE
"For love of God seems dying" ok 1. The soldier's love of God is dying 2. God's love for the soldiers is dying 3. To show love of God, you should die
"forgotten dreams" - juxtaposition, loss of hope, forgotten dreams on purpose to be less sad? war made them forget? “forgotten” disassociated from PTSD, “dreams” as happiness from the past that seems unreal
“a dull rumour of some other war" reference to the Bible and Armageddon, metaphorical end of the world for the soldiers be suffering "sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence" - sibilance represents sound of bullets, jolting reader out of relative lack of noises, feel like soldiers
Epistrophe "but nothing happens" cyclical structure, stuck in suffering
“we” “us” “our” collective pronouns, shared experience, comradeship, loss of identity, relatable to all soldiers
Kamikaze
Title- single word, only military rank- only seen as a kamikaze pilot by others
Structure- 6 lines per stanza but free verse and lots of enjambment- conflict between control and freedom (military/social expectations/duty vs love for family/nature/memories/life)
Constant shifts between first person and third person- disconnect from family due to shame
“Her father embarked at sunrise” -sunrise as power of nature + Japan’s military flag- conflict
“a shaven head full of powerful incantations” -incantations are deliberately vague- orders from military? prayers? inner conscience against it? It’s “powerful” tho and influences him, and it’s “full” showing his distress, shaved head like most kamikaze pilots
“green-blue translucent sea” beautiful imagery, “translucent” shows how things are unclear but getting clearer- nature helps him decide what to do
Describes fishes “like a huge flag”- patriotic semantic field shows brainwashing, but reduces as the poem goes on, simile shows how he is starting to disconnect and change his mind,
also as “a figure of eight”- shows thoughts of pride and prosperity-
“The dark shoals of fishes/flashing silver as their bellies/swivelled towards the sun” - • sibilance shows ocean noises and beauty, “dark” -> “flashing silver” things get brighter and easier to see- knows what to do thanks to nature • “Silver”- medals he would have gotten for being a kamikaze pilot, but true reward is in nature • “Sun”- represents beauty of nature and also Japanese flag- conflict but now there’s also nature in the mix • Belly up- death on his mind
“bringing their father’s home safe/-yes, grandfather’s boat- safe” repetition of “safe” shows reason to come back- wants to return to family, memories
“a tuna, the dark prince, muscular, dangerous.” • first mention of danger = power in the whole poem, danger to the mission as it causes the pilot to have doubts, true power is in nature and memory • First full stop in the poem and lots of commas- makes us stop and think like the pilot about what he’s abt to do
“laughed” “loved” at the end of the poem- all in past tense- nothing left for the soldier
“we too learned to be silent”- “learned” should be positive but contrasts with what they learnt- criticises how they were taught shame by the older generations- but it’s said in first person, the daughter is criticising this and teaching her children not to think that way
Poppies
Title- honours and grieves dead soldiers, short single word title shows full intent of the poem and how the mother’s life is consumed by grief
Dramatic monologue- emphasis on the domestic impact and how the soldier isn’t present in the poem
Free verse, enjambment- chaotic, lack of control over the son, distressed
Domestic + military semantic fields- life has been ruined by war
“Spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias”- mix between war + domestic • “spasms” and “red” is injury and pain- mother is worried or is hurt by letting go (spasms is involuntary muscle action- involuntary letting go), • “paper” is the fragility of the son • “blockade” is military language showing her worry abt the conflict, how she wants to “block” her son from going into the military • “disrupting” the fabric - the son becoming a soldier disrupts the peace or she is trying to disrupt him from going to war
“The dove pulled freely against the sky, / an ornamental stitch”- dove represents peace and grief- she and her son is at peace with death, “pulled freely” is an oxymoron- inner conflict with grief or letting her son go, the comma shows a pause to reflect on the grief, the “ornamental stitch” metaphor for the mother (pretends to hold it together)
“I was brave”- takes down ideas of just the soldier’s bravery but also the mother’s, but past tense shows current weakness from grief
“Sellotape bandaged around my hand” • Bandage shows wounds • Sticks them together one last time- cat hairs are removed, no more reason to stay • Claustrophobic feeling- stuck in the domestic role, can’t go and protect the son
“Blackthorns of your hair”- religious connotations of Jesus on the cross, sacrificed for the country- metaphor for the son
History Boys
"Enemy of education" war metaphor and alliteration, opposition between true understanding of literature and grades only used shallowly “Cheat’s Visa”
"a fact of life" indisputable and unchangable, in opposition with Irwin's views on history (truth does not matter to him until now?)
Drummer Hodge: Intertextuality, Tom Hardy (the poet) represents Hector, sympathising with the ordeal of the youth, Drummer Hodge represents the Boys, thrown into the chaos of life without proper guidance
"She's my western front" war metaphor objectifies Fiona, personal pronoun further expresses how women were seen as objects to be owned
“... all the other shrunken violets you people line up" [you people] segregates gay people, [shrunken violets] derogatory language
"Some of the literature says it will pass" looking to literature for solace and comfort during a sexuality crisis
"All literature is consolation" Dakin changes his mind on literature symbolising him changing to Irwin's side. No need to look for solace in literature when he can pursue Irwin
Parallels with "all knowledge is precious" from Hector - A.E. Housman, one of the first intertextualities and used in the intro to establish his character
“cunt-struck” “a cunt”- Mrs Lintott repeats the colloquialism “cunt” twice, to describe Dakin as “cunt-struck” and Headmaster as “a cunt”. This is the hardest swear in the play and is used show that it wasn’t a slip of the tongue, and to break down stereotypes of women being gentle and passive
“history is women following behind with the bucket” - her big scene about women in history at the end of the play (which is typical for Alan Benett’s plays such as “Kafka’s Dick”) so it would be recent and stay in the audience’s mind when the show ended
Irwin intro as politician in the future "etc., etc." while talking abt freedom- that man gives no fucks about freedom really, just waffling on (first impression for the audience too!!)
Parallel with Holocaust debate- Lockwood uses the SAME EXACT PHRASE while talking abt how the holocaust was bad, (dismissiveness of mass genocide? in this education system? it’s more likely than you think) then goes on to argue that they should be unique with their arguments- Irwin passed on thr mindset even on such an important subject
Hector is set up to be looking cool and all (motorcycle scene dramaticness, greek name connotations, fav teacher) but is absolutely uncool when we get to know him- purposeful? "studied eccentricity" and all. clinging onto youth?
Posner is actually rather helpful as the "dictionary person" bc i doubt the audiences know what "otiose" means
SCRIPPS IS THE MOST RELIGIOUS ONE AND CLOSEST TO POSNER it can dismantle the idea that religion is against queerness
Irwin didnt know how nietzche was pronounced bc from what we know of him he would call Dakin out on that

I know everyone's mileage may vary and some people can take different levels of conflict within their relationship. My girlfriend and I have been together for close to a year now. We definitely have love for each other. She's amazing in nearly every way. However, she has very high standards, is a professional in psychology, comes from a really good family with parents who just celebrated their 30th anniversary, and has a pretty healthy marriage. I say all of this to highlight that she is really emotionally healthy and aware and knows most of the time what the best and emotionally healthy way to act is in a relationship and expects that of her partner too. I don't come from as great of a family background and had to learn the hard way in my last (first and only long-term) relationship how to be a proper partner to someone. There are always ways that we can improve, but I think I've come a long way and my current girlfriend thinks highly of me as well, which is great.
However, because of the different life aspects that she has that I mentioned before, I feel that she has a really high expectation of how her partner should act. She says she doesn't expect perfection all of the time, and I know she 100% believes that, but we often (every week or other week) get into disagreements and they're typically about something I did or didn't do that wasn't in line with her expectation and ultimately led her to feel hurt or disappointed (as a mental health professional she's said that my depression probably plays a role in my responses to certain situations, so there's that). She has emotions and she isn't afraid to express them and I admittedly can be pretty detached and not as emotionally comforting as she would want her partner to be. I've certainly improved a lot in that department throughout our relationship though and she even says so. So, even though she recognizes that I check off almost all of her boxes and that I'm a pretty good partner a majority of the time, it feels because of these weekly/bi-weekly conflicts that I'm never going to live up to all of her expectations and I get pretty insecure about that.
She doesn't think we have an abnormal amount of conflict at all, and maybe that's true. However, compared to my one other relationship, it just feels like a lot more than I'm used to. In the early stages of our relationship, it would take me a few days to get over one of our conflicts because it just felt so foreign to me. Nowadays, I move through things pretty quickly. But I still worry about the frequency of them and have never truly gotten over the insecurity of not living up to expectations. I know a lot of that insecurity is probably on me though, so I recognize that and it's something I'm trying to work through. So what do you all think is a normal, healthy amount of conflict to have with your partner?
TLDR: my girlfriend and I have weekly/bi-weekly conflict, typically around something I did or didn't do that wasn't in line with her expectations. I'm usually not used to having such frequent conflict in my relationship and it's causing some insecurities within myself about not ever being able to be good enough. What do you all consider the normal, healthy amount of conflict to have in one's relationship?
Any feedback is welcome even the constructive cricisim. Thanks in advance

Hello! Obviously I’m here because of the title. My (26 F) boyfriend (29m) and I have been together for almost 7 years. I love him so much. He is an amazing partner, I feel loved, and I don’t connect with him like I do with anyone else. A year into our relationship he was having some Ed problems I found out he was using phone sex lines to masterbate and I was really hurt, he told me he thought he had a porn addiction and he felt very guilty about the whole thing and that’s why he was having issues when we had sex. and realizing now he didn’t really want to stop, because I compromised and said that he could do it if it made him happy. He went to addiction therapy and to be honest I don’t think he truly worked on the problem and for some reason we just never brought it up again. I knew he watched porn, and tbh I knew when he would, but to protect myself and my feelings I never really brought it up because I was scared of addressing it (stupid I know, but porn is so normalized in our society I just kind of felt like I had to accept it)
Fast forward through those 6 years, we never really fight, we get along great, we have sex, we do things together and I felt connected. Although recently, we both have been going through a LOT, family issues and illnesses and a lot of stress. Tbh I had been feeling disconnected because I could tell he was acting different and he was not happy in life. He told me he had been using phone sex operators and sexting with strangers (who he knows he will never meet) and watching cam models to masterbate and that he was trying to convince himself that I was ok with it because I said I was…. ( I already know people are going to say he probably physically cheated on me. I know he never did and he never would, he is too honest and I know he respects me too much) He claims he feels nothing towards them and doesn’t even care about what these people look like, he just uses them as “tools” He would do it every day. I was shocked, like genuinely. I had no idea it was this bad. I was so hurt because I have never not wanted to have sex and I try to be sexy and I usually always want to have sex. It made me feel very insecure and confused because I know I’m attractive, and so in my head it didn’t make sense to me. Why would you choose these people over me?!
We split up for a few days and I kept thinking about it, and him. I love him so much. But he has always been honest when asked, but I just never asked to protect myself.
We had a very long talk and he confessed he has been feeling very depressed and unworthy of my love and that I would sometimes shut him down when it came to sexual topics ( I realize now that I would do that, and i think back now and maybe it was to protect my feelings) and he moved an hour away from his friends and family to live with me and honestly doesn’t have many friends where we live. So he had been feeling like he was missing out on human connection beyond me. He told me as a kid he would masterbate often to make him himself feel better. He feels awful for what he did and knows that he hurt me and said the right thing to make me feel ok about it. (I know he loves me and would do anything for me) he wants to actually do addiction therapy and he was saying he was proud of himself because he had not masterbated for a few days since we split and he said it wouldn’t feel as good if he did it now. He starts therapy in a few days and I don’t want to make excuses for his shitty behavior but it makes sense that he would do it given his past and wanting to self soothe and if he felt unable to talk to me about things then it makes sense. (What he did was still wrong)
I guess I’m saying all of this because in my heart I know he has a problem, it never truly got solved and I hate that we just brushed over it without actually fixing the problem. I am looking for a male perspective, or advice, or anything. Is it worth going through this journey? I love him so much and he initiated this entire recent conversation by wanting to go to therapy.
Is it harsh to expect him to not do anything related to phone sex or I consider it cheating or we’re done forever? I want him to get better but I’m so scared. He says those people mean nothing to him, and he doesn’t want to lose me. I just feel a little lost.
I want to continue this relationship so badly.
I appreciate your thoughts and please be kind to me, I know some people would just say dump his as, but if this is truly an addiction I want to be there for him. I know he is not a bad person.

They say actions speak louder than words but what does it mean when your actions care about me while you remain silent?
I said I missed you… you never said it back. You reacted with ignorance, feigned annoyance. But you stayed up with me to talk about nonsense until the sun began to rise. Until the birds outside started to sing.
Maybe you don’t miss me at all… maybe you just don’t know how to express yourself, afraid to be vulnerable… but you’re always going to be there for me… and that’s my problem.
Because… why? We were really just friends? You speak to your other friends like you speak to me? I know that you don’t.
You’re not going anywhere, you haven’t even moved an inch when I came back to check…but you won’t even tell me where you stand or why you’re even standing there?
And why do you leave the door so open for me when I’ve told you twice that I needed you to close it?
Do you find this funny? Are you seeing how many times I’ll give in before I give up? Is my desperation entertaining? Do I boost your ego? Do I mean anything more to you?
I felt like you cared about me… a lot… but if you really cared about me why do you tell me this but won’t tell me that? Why do you this but won’t do that? I guess I’m selfish for wanting more… we we’re only friends, after all.
You’ve helped me with so much and I am immensely grateful for you but you’re hurting me with your sustained olive branch of kindness despite my wishes… or maybe I’m hurting myself… it’s constantly making me want to break this self-imposed no contact again.
… I know that if I came back you’d just talk to me about whatever and make me laugh for hours for the umpteenth time. You’d probably start glazing me again too lmao, I guess I kind of miss that even though I don’t really deserve any of your nice words. You made me feel like I could do anything… but I digress.
I just wish I could love myself more than I yearn for yours unspoken.
And… well anyway, I always hope you’re doing well... I miss you.

People see her as a trend or something to be a apart of, I notice a lot of new devotees are lazy and really not in it. They’re usually with her for a few weeks months or maybe even a year but during most that time period they neglect her. I’ve heard people say she wants to much… but honestly you’re just lazy and wanted to be apart of something. It’s nothing to put a glass of water, a couple dollars or candies. But you’ll choose to get yourself these things and not think of her at all. It really blows my mind of this communist of posers. Especially seen on TikTok comments a lot of people are like this. Many people have never even did a rosary prayer once. Not that tattoos are needed but a lot of people with speak of doin those things but never do. In reality your half way in and which is why the connection fails or you feel not called upon. Because it was never genuine. No prayers no offerings no words nothing. It’s truly sad pero así es. Shout out to the real devotees even without an altar it’s nothing to have a picture or necklace, bracelets etc.

[FIRST][LAST]
Atlantis Commission
Officer Report - Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard
CLEARANCE LEVEL 5
Well this had definitely been a very interesting couple of hours. This dimension and its people had very odd opinions and ideas. Apparently the prey species of this dimension were all obligate cowards, whose instincts compelled them to be non-violent and run from threats. At least according to themselves. There were apparently some of them who were “predator diseased” as they called it, a disease which often resulted in increased violence, aggression, lack of empathy, and unheard like behavior. It sounded to me like some form of infectious psychopathy, but the venlil assured us it shouldn't affect us since we were predators, which didn’t really ease my fears, but hopefully it was something we could figure out when we got home if it ever became a problem.
Gotta love mandatory quarantine periods woo hoo!
As scary as this odd disease sounded, my main concern at the moment was to try and turn a professed coward into someone who could at the very least defend themselves.
I looked down to the table of gear ahead of me and then over to the mostly naked Venlil to my side, and then even farther to Tiel’c who thought It would be a good idea to help oversee Farva’s rapid fire training course. I fiddled with the bluetooth earpiece which was rigged up to one of our handhelds to run a translation program to speak directly with the captain. A big step up from our unknowingly one sided communications earlier.
I stepped on the other side of the plastic table and placed my hands down upon it and looked on at my new student..
“Welcome Captain Farva to our very impromptu accelerated course on Human arms armor and basic infantry tactics.” I said gesturing to the hodge podge gear we had managed to assemble for the good captain. “Are we ready to begin?”.
She flicked her ears, somewhat nervously by the looks.
“I’d take it that's a yes then?”
“Oh yes sorry”
“Alright then, well given that most of our crew is human and the only other alien struts around naked all the time, the only gear we have on hand is for humans, So you're going to be running size smalls and it's all going to fit all a bit big” I say as I toss her the tactical vest. ”Here try this on, we can try to tighten it up if it's a bit loose anywhere”. The captain wrestles with the buckles a bit, and Teal'c helps her tighten up some of the top straps, as the Venil’s shoulders weren't as broad as humans. Farva gave Teal’c an odd look, but seemed appreciative none the less.Once finished, she grasped the vest in her paws with interest. “This armor seems quite lightweight, which is nice, weight is often an issue that causes us to forgo armor, since heavy armor would hurt our running ability.” Farva remarks. “Also the sheer amount of pockets seems quite excessive, what do you need all these for?”
“Well for starters it's currently missing these '' I hand Farva one of the armor plates which she looks over. “That is a depleted Naquadria ceramic composite plate. It’s designed to stop bullet impacts and dissipate energy weapon blasts. It slots into that chest compartment in the front and back of your armor.”
“This isn't quite what Id imagine for the armor of your kind”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well judging by your ships I would have imagined you would put more emphasis on defense Your predatory nature would make you less likely to run away from conflict allowing for more encompassing armor to cover more than just your chest, since you have less need to run.”
She would put it like that.
“Well there are a number of reasons for that, a lot to do with those excess pockets you mentioned. For starters you will not be carrying the same amount of gear that the standard infantry unit would normally be carrying, we are preparing you for a quick in and out op. Normally us expedition teams need to be deployed into unknown territory for extended periods of time, we need to carry everything we might need with us from food, bullets, weapons, to comms gear, sensors, repelling equipment etc. The weight from all that gear adds up fast; In order to stay sufficiently mobile and combat effective; we only carry enough armor to protect our vitals, head and torso, anything else can hopefully be patched up by a field medic.”
Tielc gave his piece as well. “It is important to know when to run both towards and aways from one's foes, not every battle can be won through strength alone, but by strategy and cunning. Being able to reposition oneself quickly is therefore highly advantageous”
Farva seemed to freeze at Teal'c's statement, not out of fear I think, she instead had a distant look in her eye. To snap her out of her slump I handed her a standard ballistic helmet.
Seeming to get the idea she looked at it oddly and tried it on. It confirmed to her head shape decently well but depressed her ears to either side of her head, kind of resembling what one might imagine a sad bunny rabbit to look like “I don't think this will be something I can bring with me” she said ” I can't use ear signals and this will muffle my hearing.”
“Why don’t you keep it on for the time being, I think any extra hearing protection might be useful considering what we are about to try next.” I hand Farva some ballistic ear protectors, slightly modified and somewhat ramshackle. “One of the corporals worked closely with Nurse Fila to get an idea for safe decibels levels for your kind, we were also able to get these earbuds molded to fit into your ear canal better”
Farva took them and slipped them in. “These are a bit uncomfortable, what do I need these for?”
“You'll need them for this” I say as I unsnap the clasps on the weapons case revealing its contents.
The content seems to capture Farva’s interest, getting a slight tail wave.
“Okay So this here is a p90, It carries a 50 round top loading magazine of teflon coated armor piercing ordnance. With a cyclical rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute.”
Farvas ears perk up at this. “This seems like an efficient design, I take it these are a flashlight and laser sight for accuracy?” She asked, pointing to the top of the weapon.
“Yes we also have holographic and acog optics which will help line up targets from farther away.” I look on as Farva picks up the weapon and inspects it, testing the weight as I note that it will weigh a fair bit more once loaded. But she doesn't seem to be struggling with the weight. I can't help but notice good firearm safety as well, she keeps her finger well off the trigger and takes care to keep her weapon pointed aways from anyone else.
“This seems like a solid design but I'm not sure how useful those weapon optics would be, as they are not designed for my side facing eyes”
“I'm sure our master at arms can figure something out, why don't we give it a test fire first tho, before we send it off to make adjustments.” I instruct her on how to load the weapon and turn the safety off. I warn her of the sound it makes. And while definitely taken aback by the recoil and sound at first, she quickly gets the hang of it, she has some respectable shot groupings in both single fire and in short bursts. And keeps the rounds reasonably centered while firing in full auto.
She did a whole lot better than I would have initially suspected given her performance in the hanger bay a day before.
“The rate of fire seems useful” Farva spoke “This would be useful for our soldiers, our accuracy falters when we are panicked, and the increased shot count should guarantee some hits based on volume of fire alone” she finished with a dejected expression.
She quickly places the weapon back in its case, as if it burned to touch.” I don't know if I should be armed for this mission, at least not with that weapon, I don't want to miss and hit one of you in the back!”
“What? Nonsense, you are a great shot, and this is just a precaution in case we get separated or flanked and need some covering fire. If our guys are doing their job right you shouldn't need to fire a single round anyways.”
Captain Farva’s breathing started to hasten, earlier I might have thought it was fear, but I was starting to get an idea of what the captain's issues were. I’ve seen this before.
“I.. I can’t be trusted with this responsibility, every time I am left in charge of something, every time people put their lives in my paws I ....”
“Farva, don’t you start with me now you hear.” I said sternly, swiftly capping off her inevitable spiral of self doubt.
“But.. no.. you don’t understand”
Stopping her again I spoke. “But nothing, what happened before on that ship, and back at that colony is in the past. I don’t know your whole situation, but from what I have gathered from the crew It was nothing good. You feel responsible and it's eating away at you, and frankly it doesn’t matter if that's true or not. Accidents happen, people make mistakes, and when that happens we need to learn, take those lessons to heart, and don't let it stop us from helping people in the present. If you let guilt, or fear of mistakes stop you, then bad guys have already won, all without having to have fired a shot”
Farva is quiet for a short time, I was hoping I got through to her, I'm not the best and pep talks and this certainly wasn’t your typical weapons demo, if only everyones could go as smoothly as Ronan’s.
Farva spoke quietly, arms pressed up against her chest, she looked so sad, defeated, and small. Well more than usual anyways. “We can't be strong like you humans, we are too emotional and when we are scared we run away or we lock up and...”
“And that is clearly not the case with you captain Farva” Teal’c finally reentered the conversation having heard enough. “You have shown courage with every action you have taken so far, your actions have saved the lives of many of your crew, every time you have been threatened you acted not just to protect yourself but others as well. You attempted to contend with beings many times your size without even thinking about it, all in the effort to protect others, and this is only in the time we have known you, this speaks nothing of your actions over the colony. You are a warrior of admirable courage Captain Farva, your self doubt is unearned.”
A single tear rolled down Farva’s eyes which she quickly wiped away. “That was very nice of you to say, but I'm not brave like you say, I was terrified out of my mind the whole time.”
Teal’c looked puzzled. “I did not call you brave, I said you were courageous.”
Farva shot back with the little venlil one up one down ear flick I had very quickly learned was confusion.” I'm confused you just said brave twice”
“Hmm it appears your language does not contain the word I am using, I apologize I am not used to speaking through a translator” Teal’c relented “ There are two words I am using admittedly in slightly different forms, bravery and courage. Bravery or to be brave is to lack fear, to not be afraid to begin with. Courage tho, Is a trait far more admirable. Courage is to be afraid, to have fear, to worry about one's own mortality and personal safety. It is to acknowledge risk, danger, to feel fear, but to act in spite of it.”
“Had I not met your kind before I would have thought predators don't feel fear.”
“Everyone fears feel Farva, It is how we overcome it that determines our worth as warriors”
Teal’c picks up the p90 and returns it to Farvas hands.
“Your people need a warrior Farva, a warrior who protects the innocent and guides the lost to safety. You have shown how collected you can be in the heat of battle, You have already proven your worth in our eyes Farva, now you must do the same in your own. The greatest enemy lies not without” Teal’c places his hand firmly on the venlil’s chest “But within”.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Chief Engineer Donu
I fiddled with my holopad, Its small surface area proving to be a consistent source of annoyance in my current endeavor. Gone was the large workspace afforded to me by my holotable back in my office. Instead I had to work with the scaled down portable holotablet I was just fortunate enough to have strapped to my person when I was beamed away from our last ship. I was stuck with its smaller keyboard and slower rendering speeds.
An annoyed smooth skin alien looked over my shoulder at my device, attached to it was a jury rigged fiber optic cable, slotted into a terran silicon to crystal patch cable, which would convert the electrical signals broadcasted by my tablet into a bandwidth that the terrans crystalline based computers; which they used for highly complex tasks like hyperdrive and transporter systems; could use, and then It was patched again in a even stranger connector to patch into the odd asgard computer stones.
All in all it looked like someone tried to plug a regular computer into some crystal construct like you would find in a fantasy holonovel, and again plugged that into a harchen heat rock sauna lounge. Finally branching out from this conglomeration was a simple copper based wire that connects to a computer terminal at which currently sat the late Doctor Rodney Mckay. A title upon initially hearing led me to believe he was a medical doctor, which led to a flurry of medical questions that he had absolutely no means of answering.
While this odd alien nomenclature was interesting, what intrigued me more was his actual area of expertise, theoretical astrophysics, as well as a number of other diverse specialties and fields. Not to mention not only was he a great scientist who had he been raised in the more civilized portion of this galaxy, would have knowledge and aptitude that would put him alongside some of Aafas greatest minds, but he was also an engineer without peer, at least in this galaxy. His interactions with general Samantha Carter hinted at her possibly being his match if not more. For a species that was supposed to glorify violence the decision to have a scientist be arguably the most senior member of what was by their admission a military vessel spoke to their commitment to knowledge and understanding, a very noble prey-like goal.
I looked warily at the lines of code at my screen, the asguard translation program had earlier scanned our ship and was able to parse written languages, but complex files, like images and 3d design schematics were harder to encode and decode from our perspective systems. As is stands we have 3 completely separate computer architectures, the asguard can talk to human computers and the venlil computers can talk to the asguard computers, It sounds like we would have everything we need to get a human C.A.D schematic into a venlil holotablet right? Wrong! And you're stupid for entertaining such a idiotic notion! Parsing text from raw binary is relatively straight forward, you're just looking for patterns, repeating bit combinations that might infer letters and then iterating them over millions of times looking for patterns, letters, words, and then with a bit of help from some undecoded analog audio transmission, spoken language. This is a far cry from actual procedural communication protocols,the ones that allow for file transfers, exactly what we needed if we were to get Rodney's redesigned part schematics into a format and medium that can be plugged into a suitable fabricator. Assuming one still exists, which I can reasonably assume it does.
Speaking of which, I have just made something of a breakthrough. For upon my screen appears a simple geometric hydrogen cube, we’re talking vertices, planes, material data, everything we need for a usable design file.
I let out an excited pent up yip, the culmination of hours of frustrating software integration work. Unfortunately I startled Rodney, who lets out a panicked gasp and clutches his chest pelts with one of his paws.
“Oh god…..” He gasps, pointing at me “Please.. don’t do that”
“Sorry!” I say a bit meekly. I slowly approach him so as to not make him unnecessarily uncomfortable and show him my work.
“I got the file exchange set up, all we need from you is to finish any modifications to your part, upload them to my holopad, and then we can print away at any class 3 or above fabricator we can scrounge up on Brayga colony.”
“Ok.. um.. got it, I'm almost done i’m just you know” He points a lone grasping appendage at his screen,”Running some simulations, making sure everything is up to spec.” keeping his response kurt. “Sorry for freaking out there.”
I nod my head in the human display of affirmation and return to my workstation to further bug check my work, to test potentially problematic edge cases for when he finishes. Tho Rodney's continued odd behavior intruded on my thoughts.
I should have felt empowered, being able to intimidate this ‘massive beast’, but I didn't. I didn't like being feared, his people have been nice to me, Rodney himself courteous to a fault and desperate for positive attention.
I thought I could expect predators to be fearless but that clearly wasn't the case, rodney was fearful, nervous, had I not known better I would say defective, and while it annoyed his crew, they didn't berate him for it, or attempt to assert dominance, they encouraged it even with placating words and tried to help him through it, they encouraged and supported him like a proper herd, even if sometimes it took the form of what the human would call a playful ribbing. I supposed I could help him as well.
I approached him again, careful to make my approach known to him, making sure to approach from within his limited field of vision. He looks up at me with a wide eyed glare, had I not known him I might have assumed it was hunger, but I did and knew it to be concern.
“Uh high Donu.. um whats up?”
“Why are you afraid of us rodney?”
“Wa-What, me afraid?” he gives out a panicked laugh ”uh no no, I'm not afraid, you know just a bit weirded out I'm just getting used to you all, it's not a fear thing it's a a…. Just getting used to new aliens thing, ask Hermirod we went through this whole song and dance right buddy”
Hermirod furrowed his brow and gave an irritated sigh from across the room.
I reached out to take Rodney by the paw.
His whole body flinched at my mere touch, I quickly withdrew my paw.
“Oh.. um.. I didn't…”
“Rodney! It's okay, your crew doesn’t seem to care when you show fear, and neither do I. Why are you afraid of us? You are almost twice our size and surely double our strength, most venlil would scream and run in terror at the mere sight of you. What's wrong?”
Rodney let out a sigh. “Oh its, we don't have to talk about this, I can deal with this, I deal with scary situations all the time, it's fine, I'll be fine.”
“Rodney, my people are a very emotional, empathic people, we are open with our feelings and with our fear, and the fear of the one can affect the herd, please let me help you. I don’t know what to expect from your society but I promise I wont judge you for your fear or emotions, I mean look at many of my crew mates, we are no one to judge”
Rodney shot back “You didn't seem to be so bothered”
“I’m too old to care, I was about to retire, hell I was about to die as far as I knew, Brayga colony was supposed to be a quiet place to lay back, work on some hobbies, plant a garden and pester the young men of my colony until I either dropped dead of boredom or got lucky” I joked.
That seemed to raise Rodney's mood somewhat. He sighed and seemingly relented.
“It’s… a dumb story, I don't even know why it affected me so much, I come from a place on earth called Canada, people don't usually believe me when I say I am from there, us Canadians are notoriously friendly and I guess I haven’t exactly filled that mold for a lot of my life, but hey I'm working on it, people like me, I have lots of friends back at Atlantis” He says the last sentence in a way as if it isn't me he's trying to convince.
“I'm sure you do, Rodney, You seem like quite the charming individual when you're not cowering!”
“Ha ha thanks, maybe you could come and visit sometime. Tell that to doctor Becket, really nice guy, smart man, he would love to meet you, he loves investigating new species. But back on topic, oh boy, so me and my sister Jeannie were on a family trip to rural Vancouver to visit my grandpa's farm, he kept a lot of goats, not for eating or anything, they were essentially pets that he would use for milk”
“Wait hold on? You drink milk from other animals! Do your females not produce enough milk for their young?”
“Oh um no, we just sort of drink it or ferment it into cheese!”
“Ferment? You mean spoil?
“Yeh”
I reeled from this plasma blast of a statement, I like any right minded venlil had a number of nightmares about being an arxur’s cattle before, especially when I first learned about those things in primary school, but never once had it crossed my mind that we could be used for something so weird. What the speh was I supposed to do with that information?
“Maybe you should get back on topic”
“Yeh sorry about that uh.. Anyways the momma goat had just had a litter of babies, and their real cute when their little, so late in the day when my grandpa was asleep we snuck out to the pens so we can play with the little baby goats, our grandpa told us not to but you now how kids are.”
At this I think back to a young Nyan, as I teach him the inner working of the hyperdrive, I tell him he’s not cleared yet to operate in this engine compartment alone, but I could tell from the occasional caught black hairs and dropped writing implements, there had been a number of curious unauthorized expeditions into its inner workings, he didn't really listen either.
“My sister as always was trying to be the voice of reason, wanting to take it slow. If I was paying attention I might have noticed the angry moma goat who didn’t appreciate the strange human messing with her children.”
The color seemed to drain from his face.
“I uh…” He began to stutter again ”I screamed, a lot, it was rather undignified, she ran right at me, thank god it wasn't a male goat, one with horns, I tired to run but I was hit in the back and knocked over and kicked real good in the head, like wake up in the vet clinic a quarter mile down the road kind of bad”
“This goat was a prey animal?”
“That would be what your kind focuses on”
“Oh sorry”
“Anyways It seems dumb but I have just never been good with animals since then, especially ones that look like you; no offense; I'm getting better but when I first saw you guys in the hangar bay, I was just that dumb kid again, getting in way over my head, scared for my life. I guess there is something to be said about childhood trauma. I really should be over this, I'm getting better with it I swear it’s just”
I take his paw again, he doesn't flinch this time.
“I'm a venlil, a prey animal, I know fear, I know what it is to live in fear, It rattles your brain, it turns your paws to wet grains. It takes great strength to overcome it, to push it aside just long enough to protect the herd. Your herd relies on you Rodney and you are doing a great job in spite of your fear, in spite of having to work with those you fear. You have achieved intellectual feats that rival the greatest minds of the federation and all that while struggling with a traumatic experience. Fear isn’t dumb and there is nothing wrong with you for feeling it.”
“Thank you” Rodney says “That means a lot, I won't be like forever I promise, I just need some time.”
“We will laugh about this someday,” I assured. “Nothing as big and intelligent as you should be afraid of anything”
“Are you calling me fat?” Rodney exclaimed with fake offense.
We both chuckled.
My kind words had resulted in a more upright posture, and a more cheerful demeanor from the human, almost like when I congratulated Nyan on his work, and it got me a look at that happy snarl of his, that I was starting to grow quite fond of.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Apprentice Engineer Nyan
Oh wow! I get to write a report for this mission! I never get to write reports, Donu says they're too boring, but there’s so many interesting things going on all the time. Sometimes I sneakily write my own! Just for fun of course, nobody sees them, which is probably for the best as I sometimes get excited and embellish them slightly. One of the reports I wrote was about the time Donu used nothing but a wad of electrical tape, a bottle of high grain venlil alcohol and a pocket knife to repair a venlil medical ship just in time to get out of the way of a big scary space predator, with glowing red eyes and a million tentacles!
Anyways Im not sure If im suppose to write these In present tense first person or past tense. I asked the captain and she said it's whatever so long as I make sure any pertinent dialogues are properly quoted(“”).
“Nobody usually reads these things anyways.” She said, but this one is surely going to be so exciting, who could look away!
I mean who's gonna scoff at a chance to read about friendly predators from another dimension! A dimension of friendly predators who give warm head scratches and hand out yummy strayu not strayu treats called donuts, that are somehow fluffier than strayu, and have a nice moisture to them. I asked for the recipe but Samantha said we wouldn't have the ingredients back on Venili prime to make them, and Teal'c said the recipe is an old family secret. Its weird predators would be so protective of their plant snacks.
There are so many weird things about these predators, they have nurturing instincts that make them find us cute. They stay perfectly balanced even if they don’t have tails, swinging their arms and body all over the place to keep upright like a lopsided gyroscope, it's pretty funny looking!
They also wear artificial pelts all the time, which I thought was weird, I thought maybe the ships temperature was set by the angry gray alien since he’s the only crew member beside the venlil who walks around naked all the time, maybe he had a fit when it was to warm, and the humans obliged him cause they were worried they would make him even angrier, and wore clothes to make up for the cold. I thought this made sense, a lot of their technology does seem to come from the Asguard, maybe he has more say in the goings on of the ship because of that. But apparently humans just like wearing pelts all the time. They feel uncomfortable without them and don’t like it if you try to remove them or look up their upper artificial pelts they call shirts.
The humans are so weird, I don’t even have to embellish my reports to make it more interesting. Like that time with the big tentacled space predator. That may sound real compared to this stuff but it Isn't, Ha! I bet you fell for it at first, hook line and sinker! Like the humans would say. I think I used that saying right, I'm not sure what it means, but Shepard brought it up when he was telling a story about the wraith.
The humans are so nice, instead of exterminating their predators they try to cure them! Their doctors are working to modify the wraith so they don't have to eat humans anymore, so they can be friendly predators too.
Anyways I should probably get to the actual report part of this report. Farva says I should start after I went off with Samantha to work on some special astrophysics equations she said I would be good at. I kind of wanted to go with Donu to help Rodney get the new parts they needed, or Farva to help rescue our people, but the humans and even the angry gray alien got really weird when Farva mentioned taking me on the mission. Samantha seemed to want me to help her really badly so I didn’t mind. Samantha says I have the most important part to our mission. She's teaching me about how humans communicate through subspace, and about stellar drift equations. We are working on what she calls the exit strategy.

A, B, C and D.
I want to start with the one I want to kill or beat up the most: A. He is a pro football player, and that's kind of where the problem begins. When we were in the same class my whole life, he always yelled at me whenever we played football, ever since elementary school. He is also (for some reason) the highlight of the class, like for every single girl. He even had his first kiss under a desk in kindergarten. Not that I have a problem with that; the girls are all his, I don't even want a girlfriend. But what I don't get is how every single girl STILL likes and praises him despite him always humiliating, teasing, and sometimes even hitting some of them, yet none of those girls can even stand sitting next to me (especially B, but I'll get to her later). It's like it has become a standard for every girl to not like me. They say they don't hate me and I'm just being dramatic, but I'm pretty sure of the truth; most of them dislike me, don't even respect me. Anyways, back to A. Its almost a part of his daily life to make fun of me or swearing at me. All i did was wear a lumberjack shirt on top of my school uniform and he still sweared at me about it. (Something like ''fuck your clothing'' as the google translate says) he occasinally pushes me out of the way, my fatass ''friend'' pushed me so i leaned against a side to avoid hitting his GF (not that i care that she is his girlfriend) and he still yelled something like ''stay away'' like some fucking dog protecting his mate. He always cuts me off when i ask something to the teacher and almost the whole class joins him like some hiveimind. The girls are so OK with him he always had girls following him like some kind of animal's harem before he had a GF ,they even made fun of THE WAY I THOUGHT(like,my hand was on my chin.), i also call the ones on his tails whores. My hate for him is so strong i get past kill/torture him, i sometimes want to push him to the ground and r@pe him so i can give him a trauma that he will never forget, ruining his life and maybe even suiciding if im lucky (or unlucky). Im trying not to give in,but if i ever did something like that and if someone asked if i regret it,i would probably say ''i would do it again if i had they gave me the chance to go to the past''. Everytime i see him walking down stairs,i want to kick his back,slam his head against the wall until his face bled. İ want to put him down on his knees and hold him by his hair on the streetcar rails,because that way,i would both suicide and also kill him,it would be pure bliss for a few seconds. But i get sad every time i remember that murder is obviously illegal,and it wouldnt be worth burning my life...i also think about if its actually worth it cause, i dont have much dreams,i want to be a simple cashier,not much would change the world if i died,but if i killed him or he died in some way,i would be eternally happy. He is probably one of the,if not the worst, of this list of people,i wanna strangle him to death.
Now for B, she has blue hair and trains in muay thai, she even joins tournaments, but she is half my height and weight, im pretty sure i could beat her up,but i dont want to let my ego get in the way. Anyways now for why i hate her. She is fucking annoying. She ALSO cuts my sentences to make fun of me, she would never sit down with me, she calls me weird, she mentions that has nothing to do with the topic while arguing with me, like the time she made fun of the pose i made for the school album where all the boys are in a single pic.(The pose was me leaning one one of my waist while putting my hand on the opposite side o fmy waist while doing the peace sign, which,sure,its funny,but not an excuse to make fun of me) I always regret the time when she punched my stomach and ran away to her desk. All i did was just raise my leg and slowly ''stomp'' her on the chest,which only just leaved a print of dust on her. If i could go to past,i would definetly beat the shit out of her. She also almost punched me just because i called her adolescent (everyone calls her that btw,she tried to hit JUST me) but i thankfully caught her fist in the air. The teacher of course warned her,but im sure as hell they wouldnt *just* warn me if i hit her,its just general teacher treatment. Anyways long story short,i hate her as much as A,if somehow not more. The things i wanna do to her are the same as A, torture,murder,beating up and rarely even r@pe blah blah.
Now C. He is...a bit egoistic, he will point and laugh at me, but uses force even if i call him a nickname everyone calls him. He even threatened me in elemantary school to join him in being naughty. The intimading about him is well,he is pretty muscly and also grew up in a bit of dangerous streets. He is usually cool but he is one of the people who always keep up with the making fun of me everytime i get a random boner trend (everyone in this list,except B keeps this up btw). Overall i still wanna kill him etc etc, the same.
D. D is...also loved by everyone but me.He also makes fun of me, like saying they will beat me up in highschool for random fucking reasons thats none of his business (Dumb shit like me liking old things btw). I think he is probably the weakest out of this bunch (or maybe B, idk). He studies all day (his mom kinda forces him to) but that doesnt justify his actions like slapping my cheeks (both kind of cheeks,yes). He is also weirdly handsome and kind of a soft. The same thing goes for him too. Murder, beating up, torture, r@pe etc.
Anyways,long story short,these are people that i wouldnt be sad at if they died or got hurt. Also the people who i would love to hurt if it was legal. But, yknow, my hate for A,or any of these people, teaches me something. No matter how much of an asshole you are, no matter what you do,if you are popular for a good reason, you will always be the one winning, its just the way society works. And honestly,classmates like these make me understand some school shooters and why they do it, of course, im not saying its justifyed at all, its one of the stupidest things to do,but i kinda have those thoughts too. Last words: I hope every one of these people i counted above a very unpleasent life and death,they ruined the most active moments of my life,puberty,and further boosted my sadness and p*rn addiction.

why is it so hard to make friends?
m19 here from (still in) maryland, and lately i've realized how lonely I am, lmao. I have my hobbies and stuff but yet, I'm so lonely, i have one friend, who's been my friend since middle school, he's my bro. but i realized i legit have no friends..or a friend like me, here's some points I've seen/made 👇🏾
° fake people: there's too many fake people in the world today, worried about “worldly” bull crap or something stupid, wanting to be in drama, coming to you, then completely ignoring you or ghosting, I find it fake, sorta bummy and immature. people don't know the definition of a “friendship” or a “very close bond” like i'm gonna stick beside you no matter what, people don't seem to get that, then play victim when you call them out. people will use you, talk poorly of you, do all things wrong, i can't stand that. which is why i enjoy being more of a loner..i hate fake friends and i am not no fake friend, im sorta clingy
° people have weird interests/and are boring: this is, i guess controversial, tough one? but people have their interests but i've met some people (school/outside) that's into some weird crap, pronouns for one, i dislike folk whose interests are gender crap, not much into anime honestly, i do love harry potter though. i find a lot of people boring and never knowing how to have a conversation, never wanna be like “come over and chill, or let's watch a horror film” or anything like that, i've always wanted a male friend to explore stuff with, let's ride our skateboards around and learn tricks/let's ride through the night, i'd love to explore abandoned places honestly, guess i'm more of an that “emo boy that's always up to something”. i also love a childish person, stupid jokes/pranks are always the best, where's the trustworthy people who'd wanna skate all night and go to a pizza joint and chill at each other places all night watching horror films, (and i love horror. anyone seen the movie terrifer? the conjuring? house of 1000 corpses? lords of salem!!) talking about whatever, even deep conversations all night with pizza. play video games with me if you'd want, im a console player, i enjoy my xbox, we can facetime and play stupid stuff or id come to you and chill. who still plays minecraft lmao, im a huge lover of the grunge, skateboard theme, nighttime themed things, yeah i'm a slytherin 🐍. i can't find people like that. also, any other song writers out there? i love making my own music, rock is dope but it depends on the rock..
° bad places and everyone is untrustworthy/ghetto: i grew up in the hood, not to be prideful but it's sorta easy to see through people and know when stupid crap is going down. it's hard finding friends like you in the area you live in. this goes along with fake friends cause people are fake, users, and ghetto af. like what the hell? i mean like dude, if I'm your friend, i mean that, im not gonna use you for money or betray you for some chick or whoever. people don't seem to get that. i also find it stupid how guys, other males are such simps for women and will completely throw you under the bus for a woman, women do the same with men, it's fake af.
° i hate people/large crowds/groups: this i feel like a lot of people can relate to. i absolutely hate people and not on a “woke gen z” area, but on a “people do too much” level, yes people do too much and they always deny that they're doing too much. i hate big groups, because they always fall, which is a heartbreaker dude..it can be 4 of us, then 3, then 2, then none. i've always prefered a group of 3 or just one guy and myself. this gonna sound weird but i've always wanted a male friend, a guys guy really. i don't really go to skate parks, cause it's usually to many people, doing the most per usual, like there's one by the baltimore harbor, i'd rather go at night due to the amount of people there during the day. it sounds cheesy but i hate people. i really do.
° no one has my interest: this is the same as people having weird interests, but this is true. no one has the same interest as me, and i hear that people with the same interest are the ones that argue a lot, fall apart quickly, or just can't get along, i don't know how true that is entirely. but that's where the communication falls in, talk to me man. if there's an issue, open your mouth! don't be a pussy and keep it to yourself and talk poorly of me and hate me. that's not right, it's wack and lame af. people who do that really need to get themselves in check. like again, i love horror, i love the hell out of horror, its all I watch, anyone here watch mr.nightmare ? on youtube, also people enjoy stupid stuff and stay indoors to much. i get it, being in your space in your smelly room is cool and all, it's america, we hate it here, but personally i think there so much more, like I said I love night time stuff, abandoned houses/churches/stores, etc, i'm always down for it all, guess it's my emo horror obsession haha. anyone want to work and save up money together? where's the people like that who wouldn't steal your money, and dip off, like we save and use it for stuff like pizza, new skateboards, deep woods campfires and outings man. spending the night at each other's place, sneaking into spots! and one thing, building each other up, im the type to help you out, if you feel bad or something, let me know and id help, I know depression runs through a lot of people, and if I had that friend that in looking for in gonna be there, no matter what. that's just the kinda person I am, not satanic lol, just..emo? or grunge? i don't know..
° no one is loyal/have bad families/too sensitive: this is a tough one but im just gonna say it. people aways hated that I have no filter, not that I have a nasty mouth and I always have to put my opinion in stuff, i'm more so very quiet. i also have a dark sense of humor, im black, so i definitely do say racial jokes, not as a insult, but a little humor or whatever. dark humor is always the best. but i have no filter, i'm gonna tell you the truth of what it is, what I enjoy, what I hate, just point blank period, and people hate that, i'm nor gonna sugar coat anything! a true friendship circles and stays strong through truth and open words, if you can't handle that, something is honestly wrong with you fr. families, now. i won't judge you for having a bad home, but what i mean is, completely putting all that, that's not your responsibility in the way. i did that once, as an older sibling, i believe younger siblings aren't no one's responsibility, i once canceled plans to “watch and take care” of siblings when their old enough to watch themselves, which i regret. if you're having a bad time, you always got me there. which falls into loyal, people aren't loyal. which is basically people are fake. im a longterm friendship kinda dude. you're my homie, just like that.
° finally, judging and redflags: i don't judge at all, ask ill tell, but I don't judge at all. I don't see a point? none of us is perfect, so I don't see a point, saying what you feel is different than judging fr. same with redflags, guess mines would be im clingy 😂 i love clingy people as well, im not sure. but red flags falls into the same with, people do too much, people are fake, and users. and it amazes me completely how someone will use you, for however long, then completely ditch you in the end, or when you're caught, times get rough, or something like that. I really really hate that and that's what destroys friendships. don't really care if someone is clingy.
guess that's all, i think friendships in 2018-2024 are absolutely awful, and I hate that so much. there's no one else around really, like what the hell 😂 and still today, no friends. i be hoping i can find someone like me, like if you'll be there forever man mean that and stand on it. i think the future of friendships will die out honestly. no one can trust each other, no one can spend nights no more, go out, or anything..im not into politics, I don't care about presidents or anything, nor money, I need it, I know, which is why I'm still job searching, I just think there's more to a friendship besides money, arguing, drama, stupid stuff. that's it from me i guess 😂 just a lil rant since I joined this group. show me your skateboard, songs and favorite bands! mines is behemoth and a few grunge ones.. hopefully id find a friend ..

Hi! Please read
So, my friend started talking to this guy a month ago and things are a bit messed up. Let's call her A, the guy M and her best friend P.
She started talking to this guy M, he's from a neighbouring country, the same age. She's a really really sweet girl, but, she's a bit too naive. She'll trust you completely if you start talking. She has many online friends but M was the closest.
I never liked M, he was really weird and rude (and corny too). And she, never complained about it even though he'd say a lot weird stuff to her, fight with her, she'd apologise. We tried stopping her from talking to him but she didn't. P is really close to A, and she also talks to the same guy M.
So the scene is, that my friend A and the guy M had a fight, over a petty small issue. Nothing too big, but the thing was A didn't apologise. We didn't let her. Bc it was not at all her fault, M ditched her at times, then he's complain to her how she “uses” him bc she opened up about her trauma to him. Btw M himself asked her to share, he'd always try asking her and since they were good friends she did share.
M started becoming pathetic. P approached M since P is my friend's really close best friend.
M - the guy had a crsh on P, but she rejected him too. Things were heated up, so we finally got M blocked and things were completely fine for a week. M messaged P, backbitching about A btw.
Today, he put on many stories. Revealing both the girls photos and videos WO CONSENT ON HIS PUBLIC ACCOUNT. Now here's the real talk.
Most are videos of chat bw him and his some other friend (she's a fcking btch). So, firstly in their chat they share photos of P and he screenshotted from their highlights. They started laughing at P's face, then starting talking about how A was built like a brick wall.
A - she's really pretty but a bit chubby bc of a condition, she's a bit insecure of her looks BUT trust me she's the nicest girl ik.
They started making fun about how A - my friend is fcking ugly, is a brick wall, “cant even fit her in the a box” the girl says to which he replies “not even in a luggage box” and they made pretty messed up jokes about her appearance.
They start calling P Shrek, "she's so fcking ugly" loads of curses and slut shaming, posting their pics and simply laughing at them. Calling them weird names.
But the worst?
M says -
"I should rpe P and imprgnate her, then fill her up wt donuts, stuff her mouth with an apple, then tie an apple around her forehead and punch her hard, the feed her flesh to A.”
And he also says "I'm not joking, I'm being serious"
To which the bitch replies
"It'd be disgusting to touch her."
They continue with their body shaming, slut shaming contest and the girl ends it wt saying
"P looks so molestable. Yk girls sometimes get stalked and catcalled, if she has a stalker he'd take one look at her ugly ass moustache and puke. She so fcking ugly."
They've posted the girl photos wo their consent in all their stories, then M has the audacity to say
"If you want more of the brick wall's videos and the molester lesbian's vidoes(referring to P), let me know" with their pics in background.
The way they gives me an ick, they're the typical wannabe cool kids using the n word each and every time.
We don't want A to know about this, she finally got over rhim and we don't want to stir up problems for her. But I don't absolutely think it's alright for him to f/cking post pe jokes and pics and videos of the girls, boys so corny I can't even
What should I do? I don't see the guy stopping, what can I do? We have a group of friends.
Please let me know your opinions.
(Would've doxxed If I knew how)

I realized my usage of pornography was actually an addiction about a year ago. I have struggled to quit it since then. It's actually wild to me how I am not in control of my own actions. Sometimes I'll be strong enough to go for a week without relapsing but yea I just don't get it. I don't get how I can't just choose not to engage with it. I mean sure I get it I guess but it's just still wild to me.
And it's made me move away from looking for sexual partners. I realized that this addiction had led to ED (and I'm assuming it's porn induced) and yea I'm just too nervous to engage with women now. I wanna "fix" this first and then go out.
I am in therapy for it too. But since there are so many other issues in my life it's never been able to the center focus of my sessions, which is my fault I guess. It's only become the center focus in the past 2-3 weeks I suppose.
I have a couple of questions about it, apart from any resource or guidance you all would like to share with me which I would really appreciate by the way

1. I have other problems, depressive symptoms, loneliness. But then I also have assumed other things to be the factor for these. Childhood trauma (I don't like using the word trauma because I always think its used a little too easily but I'm okay with using it here because my therapist characterised it as such) or perfectionism, whatever it is called when you treat social interactions like a performance and it exhausts you. But reading this book called "Your Brain on Porn" I realized a lot of these issues are a direct result of porn usage too. Which I've engaged in since I was 13 basically. So now idk what is causing what, am I lonely because of my addiction, am I suicidal because of my depression cause by my addiction, or are these what fueled my addiction?
2. I know this is technically a dating question and that seems to be limited to Fridays only, so uh I guess I could post this again next week, or you could choose to not engage with this one idk. I'll do whatever the community needs so I can get some solid answers for these. The reason I ask this is because it's strongly related to these other issues. My therapist (and I) think I do this because I come from a place of starvation of a meaningful connection. I have in the past, and even now, engaged in this unrequited love thing that I really hate doing but continue to do anyway. Most recently I've become friends with a girl whom I have had a huge crush on for about a year. But she's in a long distance relationship with a dude, been together 3-4 years now. I feel like a snake even being friends with her knowing I have a strong attraction for her. On top of that, while she does engage in things that really honestly, on paper, would look like she's into me, she's probably not actually interested. But I keep getting my hopes up. How do I not fantasize or get my hopes up obsessively and waste time thinking about her when I also rationally know that 9 out of 10 reasons say it's a bad relationship I have with her currently and it won't amount to anything. Similar as 1. why can't I get my brain to do what I know to be better
3. This one I don't know if it's its own thing or related but I have a serious problem with perfectionism. After I graduated with a bachelor's I was unemployed for about 1.5 years, most of it because I just didn't apply for jobs, rejecting myself before I applied. I wanted to level up my skills so I'd be good enough first. Currently graduating with a master's too, and I find myself doing the same thing. (less bad now) It's a repeated pattern. I think the question is, which do I address lmao are they all just feeding each other. What is the core problem, what is the foundation of all of these issues

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUEASTIONS AND ANSWERS : The Qur'an says: Primordial Convenant.Part2
The question–answer of the covenant should not be thought of in a material or corporeal sense. God commands beings according to their particular individual nature, and listens to their needs and speech and whatever issues from them. Thus, He understands all and fulfils their needs. In the scholastic theologians' terminology, the Almighty understands all languages and dialects; issues commands and communicates truths in them; explains and expounds humanity and the universe; and takes promises and makes covenant with them in the form of words, for which the technical term is kalam-i lafzi. There is also a Divine Speech specific to animals as inspiration, and to angels as divine discourse. Although their precise natures are unknown to us, obviously it is non-verbal and consists of different manifestations of the so-called kalam-i nafsi.
Divine Speech is so diverse and extensive—from the inspiration coming to the human heart to the discourse addressed to the angels—and the forms of communication between the Creator and His creation are so different and occur in such different realms that those who inhabit one realm cannot hear or detect the communications belonging to another realm.
It is a serious mistake to suppose that we can hear everything. It is generally accepted that the range of our hearing, like our sight, is quite limited. What we see and hear is almost nothing when compared to that which we cannot see or hear. For this reason, God's communicating with the atoms or systems within this creation, His composing, decomposing or re-composing them, occur in such sublime ways that our limited perceptive powers cannot detect or understand them.
We cannot know exactly when God made this covenant with us, for such knowledge is beyond the ability of our limited senses and faculties. In fact, He might have made it not with our whole being, but with a specific part, such as our soul, conscience, or one of the soul's sub-faculties.
There is general agreement that the human soul is an entity independent of the body. Since the soul came into existence before the physical body, and in a sense has a particular individual nature outside of time, and since the questioning and acceptance in the covenant was with the soul, our limited powers cannot comprehend or report it fully. The soul hears and speaks without words and voice, as it does in dreams, and communicates extrasensorily and without the medium of sound waves, as in telepathy. This special form of communication is registered and recorded in its own specific way. When its time is due, it will assume its specific form and, using that language, speak and bring to the mind all original associations. At that time, we will see that the covenant has remained imprinted upon the human soul. In addition, it will be adduced as an argument against its possessor on the Day of Judgment.
The souls of all human beings were gathered in a realm that was not veiled by an intervening realm, and so saw everything clearly. After this, they gave God an oath of allegiance. When He asked them to witness against themselves:
"Am I not your Lord?" they replied: "Yes, we witness that You are our Lord and our God."
However, as is common today, some people have never turned to that section of their soul (their conscience). Thus, they have not come across that profoundly inherent covenant in themselves, for they have no interest in it and have not tried to see beyond the corporeal world that intervenes between them and reality.

Shabbat Shalom everyone,
Last week, we looked at some verses that support veganism. In Genesis we can read that man and beast were commanded to eat herbs, seeds and fruits from the start of creation. After the flood, then the animals are permitted to consume themselves. In Isaiah we see the picture of a new earth where the animals also return to consuming plants. Another good reason I find to be vegan is the example of Daniel and his friends; they chose not to defile themselves with the flesh of the animals and the wine of the King of Babylon because they were offered to other gods. Not to the God of Abraham, Isaack and Jacob.
My reasons for becoming vegan were at the start to support my wife, but ultimately, I ended up getting more benefits. Doing no hurt is a great bonus too. As a type 1 diabetic, I used to struggle to control my blood sugar, but when I stopped consuming the flesh of animals, my insulin consumption reduced by half and I was “cured” from neuropathy and arthritis. Within a week, I noticed significant changes. The arthritis was so bad in my shoulders and hips that I though I was down and out for the count in my early fifties. The arthritis took about 3 months to disappear, first in my hands and feet, then even the most chronic in my shoulders and hips. Even the rheumatologist preached to me the benefits of a vegan diet to help counter the arthritis. She preached to me that eliminating flesh from my diet would reduce my ailment to a manageable status without drugs and she was right. I thank Yah for the new lease on life. All these pleasant results were done without any drugs or medications. I’m a believer!
Plant based whole foods can make a real difference. Try the 10-day vegan challenge, and like Daniel, his friends, and myself you will look better and have a better countenance just like they did while in Babylon (Daniel 1:15). Enough on that, let me change to a different kind of witness.
God speaks to his people, no matter where or who they are. He might speak through a prophet, like Moses or Yeshua. He speaks to his people through visions and dreams. He speaks in plain words sometimes. He even speaks to the false prophets who claim to speak in his name. What is the difference between a believer and a doubter? The difference is when God calls, the believer listens. The doubter instead of listening, will raise more questions: Did I really hear that? Did the Creator of the Universe speak to me? What can I do to make a difference?
Can doubters be believers. No, they can’t. Doubters and believers are contradictions in terms. If a believer is still on the fence so to speak, he or she is not a believer. If we pick and choose what we accept and reject in the Torah or in Yeshua’s teachings, we are still on the fence and didn’t choose which side we are on. Doubt is from the father of lies. Doubt is the weapon of choice in disinformation campaigns. We are exposed to these every day through the media, advertising and the propaganda of the for-profit corporations of the world.
They will say things like “Use this product and you will _______________ (insert your greatest desire in this blank)”. The blank can be filled with: popularity offers, or worse shaming a person for not having the right hair, color, mood, car: whatever. All of which are untrue. For profit corporations have been deceiving the masses since they found out that by associating themselves with the popular elites of the world, through sports personalities, social media influencers, even politicians, they can profit from their followers by association. For example, they will pay a celebrity to endorse their own brand. The celebrity will then lie to their own followers saying things like “I always wear this brand.” Or “I drink this brand”. The follower or fan then sees their idol, and then imitate him or her. Happens billons of times every day that an idol makes a product more popular, and the product fills the pockets of the corporation that created it. That’s capitalism. Fooling the masses by lies, half-truths, and doubts.
I wonder how much Donald Trump is paid every time he flashes a Diet Coke or shows up at McDonalds? One thing is certain, he doesn’t do it for free. Everything about the man, even the presidency was for his own gain, and not for the people he was supposed to represent. Even turning clemency into a risk to the people by releasing convicted perpetrators for a price.
Yeshua teaches us that we need to love one and hate the other (Luke 16:18). Idols profit only the idol makers of the world. Elohim gives to his people gifts greater than gold and silver. Ask the Father to give you these. If you’re sincere, He will answer.
Don’t take it from me! Prove all things and judge for yourself. Let the spirit lead you where it wants you to be.
Faith in God’s promises brothers and sisters. Let’s not bend to the ways of the world. Instead of bending, let us be broken instead.
Yeshua is our master, savior and rabbi, we need no other man to lead us!
Shalom, VN

A/N: yeah I changed up the Alliance admiral's name a teeny tiny bit because the old one was going to fuck me over badly at some point. It would be like trying to publish a book about a wizard named Albus Gandalf. I was NOT cooking when I came up with that shit.
First Previous Wiki Next
It was said that no plan ever survived contact with the enemy. That, at least in the case of Marcus Wayne’s infiltration of Neldia, was proven entirely true.
His ship, the Peacemaker, had undergone an extensive refit before its jump to Neldia to both modify its sensor signature and repair its failing Aegis barrier. The first objective succeeded. The second did not.
One day later, leaving the derelict Ultimate Vigil behind in deep space, the United Human Alliance courier ship Winged Deliverance logged a real space entry at the edge of the Neldia system. Its crew, having spent their waking hours plagued by hallucinations and enduring horrible nightmares as they slept, found this shift very welcome. The worst, though they could hardly believe it, was still yet to come.
“The Neldian fleet is mustering for war,” rumbled the man who had once held the title and security codes of an Alliance sector admiral. Now, he was a traitor to his homeland. “Security will be high.”
“No need to worry, Admiral,” said Marcus Wayne. “Your code will get us through.” It would not.
It took two hours for the Peacemaker, disguised as the Winged Deliverance, to be challenged by the Neldian Armada. “Transmit clearance code,” said an automated voice. Marcus took out a data disc with the admiral's clearance code on it.
“Hold,” said Terris. She was clad in black, her active camouflage offline to save battery, and she had been sitting at the passive sensor console for the past three hours. “Look at this.” A news broadcast popped up in front of Marcus Wayne and his officers. Sector Admiral Sheparda Dama, or at least he was once a sector admiral, had been tried and convicted of high treason.
“It was a secret trial,” Dama said, still in shock at the revelation. “I had no knowledge of this.”
“Well, that tracks, but what do we do now? What code gets us through?”
“Transmit clearance code,” the voice said again, “or adjust course.”
Dama thought for a moment. “Change course,” he said. “We’re not getting through.”
They did. A great sense of defeat took hold in the hearts of the crew. They would never reach the Neldian hypercom. Sheparda Dama, who would have gladly given his life in defense of humankind, would never get the chance to be the man who broke their chains.
The Peacemaker was halfway out of the Neldia system before Terris spoke again. “Hold it,” she said. “I have an idea.”
That was why she had been placed where she was. Clad in an airtight stealth suit. Inside a hollowed-out asteroid. On a ballistic journey to the heart of Neldian space. It was the most insane idea that Marcus Wayne had ever seen.
But, sometimes, insanity was a symptom of genius.
Terris flew past the Neldian Armada undetected. Many asteroids entered the inner system this way, flung by outer-system prospecting ships to the foundries and shipyards in Neldian orbit, and they were thrown and caught so frequently that only the most cursory of inspections was put upon each one. Terris passed the Alliance fleet entirely undetected.
Terris’ chameleon suit could mimic the sensor return of the precious metals it was buried in, at least enough to fool a probing scan, and the cuts made by Protectoral engineers had been so precise that Terris had fit inside there with barely a centimeter of space to spare. She was effectively entombed inside sixty meters of solid rock.
Interstellar espionage was not a job for the claustrophobic.
Finally, after days of waiting, the signal came. She was in range. A mental command triggered a series of shaped charges in the rock above her, if such directions existed in microgravity, and forty pea-sized explosives blasted a circular tunnel all the way to the asteroid surface. If just one of them had failed, that rock might have been her tomb.
Terris tried not to think about that as she began climbing her way out. A brief burst from her suit’s EVA thrusters was enough to start her on her way, and the tunnel out was wide enough for her to use her arms and legs to speed things up. Finally, after too long a wait, Terris saw the Neldian sun for the very first time.
There was fire in the distance. Comm chatter on every band. Warships burning hard for the outer system. The Coalition fleet was here.
She zoomed in, far more than she had ever had to before, and she could pick out the faintest flashes of blue as warships exploded in the black. A brief crawl around the asteroid, which also helped to warm up her muscles after days of inactivity, let her discern an attack force engaging the Alliance fleet. After a moment’s hesitation, weighing the risks, Terris activated her passive sensor suite to try and decrypt Alliance military chatter.
Instantly, her sensors were flooded with noise from the defensive bastions. The fleet base at the L5 point was loudest, its comm operators screaming indecipherably at fellow Alliance elements fighting in the black. Neldian orbit, where the hypercom station was, seemed to be the centerpiece of all the communications traffic. The hypercom, unsurprisingly, was being used as a relay for comm traffic all across the system. Terris made a note to hack its server banks for intelligence, and perhaps leave a timed virus or two to shut down the system after she was gone.
Her suit bleeped, alerting her that she was in optimum position to make the leap to the hypercom. She zoomed in on it, a red and spiked thing just like everything else the Alliance made, and calculated the right trajectory to land right on its metal surface.
Trying to jump from a moving asteroid out past Neldia’s rings and hit a hypercom station barely three hundred meters in diameter was like shooting a rifle from a jumbo jet in hopes of hitting a mosquito down on Earth. A nearly impossible shot, even with Coalition computers to help make the jump, and anyone lucky enough to make it would have been better served bankrupting their local casino at the slot machines.
Terris gave a command to her suit, activating a set of ion thrusters to boost her off the asteroid and adjust her course mid-flight. She’d never believed in luck.
She coasted silent and graceful past the particle guns in high orbit, like a majestic swan flying on a summer wind. Their sensor arrays were directed out, past her, to the far distant parts of space where a trillion tons of steel were locked in deadly battle. Terris really did wish she could smile at the moment. She was about to have unrestricted access to the biggest communications relay in the star system, able to send out viruses and receive vital intelligence that could cripple the Alliance fleet if placed in the right hands. Terris, confident as ever, knew they would be.
She would make the Neldian Armada burn, and they had no idea she was even coming.
She reached the hypercom station in just under a day, agonizingly slow for a woman like her, hovering just above its surface to avoid triggering pressure sensors. After that, it was simple enough to get inside. Terris found it almost trivial to bypass the airlock sensor grid and trigger the outer bulkhead to open unnoticed, its report to the command room destroyed before it ever arrived. Entering the station itself was easy after that.
Here, there was gravity. She could not hover like she had on the outside of the station. But here, there were no pressure sensors. She really had no need to hover.
The corridor she found herself in was large enough, though nothing like the expansive halls of a dreadnought, and a patrol of marines in powered suits trundled towards her obliviously. Terris had made the right call not to wear a Phantom powered suit. She ducked into an alcove, the chameleon suit concealing her from even their impressive sensor batteries, and they passed by with no clue at all.
Terris made it to the server banks with ease. Most of the hypercom’s security measures took the form of warships in orbit, clustered tightly around the planet to prevent exactly this scenario from happening, but those warships were off waging war. The station defenses were hopeless now that she was actually inside.
The data was encrypted, and she could neither access it nor copy it without potentially fatal consequences, but she wasn’t there to steal data. A brief, milliseconds-long connection to the primary server was all it took to riddle the entire system with custom-tailored computer viruses. The viruses were self-replicating, rather like an electronic version of the biological ones on Earth. They worked similarly, too, meant to latch onto outgoing communications signals and remain inert for a certain amount of time before activating and wreaking havoc across cyberspace.
Terris planned to leave the station in approximately thirty minutes. Shortly after that, the fireworks would begin. It was going to be beautiful.
She heard footsteps. A maintenance worker, no doubt. It was time for her to go. She disconnected from the server, taking pains to hide her involvement, and snuck out of the server room like a ghost in the night.
Next was the transmission array. This room was better-guarded, its door being flanked by marines, but Terris slipped inside by trailing behind an officer as he entered on some unknown pretext. After that, her daring and sleight of hand made sure Admiral Dama’s pre-recorded propaganda transmission was uploaded to the hypercom transmitter. It came with a set of instructions bearing the Admiralty’s seal, changed to be anonymous, to ensure as many people as possible heard his message.
In just under one standard hour, the United Human Alliance would be shaken to its very core. Terris had just made sure of it.
It took longer than she had expected for the door to open again and give her a chance to slip out. Terris had spent that time quite productively, downloading as many incoming and outgoing messages as she could to the internal hard drive just by her spinal cord. Even if they were encrypted, they’d be useful intelligence once Coalition codebreakers took a crack at them.
After that, it was trivial to slip past marine patrols and escape to the hull of the hypercom station. Terris found her ride, an Alliance warship by the name of Brightest Thunder, holding orbit just near the hypercom station. Admiral Dama, even if he was no longer an admiral, still had connections.
She charged her ion thrusters by tapping into the station reactor, an act which did not go unnoticed, but by then it was too late to respond. She had completed her incursion. The damage had been done. Perhaps if the Alliance acted swiftly and accurately, they could undo it, but Terris was a careful woman. She had covered her tracks well.
Waving one final goodbye to the crew of the hypercom station, Terris triggered her thrust pack and shot off into the ink.
“You must be my passenger.” A man in an Alliance captain’s uniform was waiting for her in the Brightest Thunder’s airlock. He wore a helmet and gloves, hermetically sealed to his airtight outfit, so he felt no effects from the vacuum of space. “I was sent by Sector Admiral Sheparda Dama,” he announced after a period of silence, “To transport you and whatever you may have safely to the Coalition fleet.” Nothing. Apart from the dull thudding of the ship’s railgun batteries, firing missiles at range to ward off a strike force of Coalition ships, the airlock was quiet as a ghost.
“You cannot expect me to endanger my life and the lives of my crew without at least some identification that you are who you claim to be!” Silence. Captain Senar Trevy had been standing in that airlock for three and a half hours, while his ship was tasked with screening Neldia and her eighteen billion inhabitants from harm, and he was just now wondering if he had been talking to a ghost.
“I am,” came a voice. Cold. Sterile. Inhuman. Exactly the kind Trevy expected from the secret spies of his former admiral.
“So you are.” Captain Trevy thought for a moment. He cycled the airlock. If his guest held hostile intent, one steel bulkhead would make no difference. “I’ve been stocking the crew with handpicked men and women since I received word of the operation,” he explained as they walked through the ship’s corridors. The crewmen he passed thought him insane. “I can’t vouch for them all, but the ship as a whole will obey me.” No response. Sometimes, Captain Trevy thought himself insane as well.
“This is my personal quarters,” he told the specter, stepping inside and sealing the door behind him. “I must warn you, for your own safety, it would be best not to leave it. The crew are mostly still Alliance loyalists.” He looked around, paying no heed to the decorated furniture or artificial sky, and finally shrugged and sighed. “Are you even here, still?”
Terris decloaked. She stood between him and the door, winged and cloaked in black like a demon of ancient myth. “I am.”
“You’re a black angel.” Senar Trevy, to his credit, kept his composure well. “A spy for the Ierad Republic.” He questioned her purpose here. They both knew it.
“You weren’t told?”
“I was told an alien would be coming aboard, but…” Trevy shrugged again, as if to say ‘what am I supposed to do?’ “The admiral vouched for you. That much is enough for me.” He also knew he had no choice in the matter. From what he knew about black angels, his ship had been lost the moment she boarded.
“I could have impersonated him,” said Terris, voice a perfect replica of Captain Trevy’s own. Even his own mother could not have told the difference. “And I’m trained to lie.” She was testing him, gauging his reaction to assess his personality. She was good at that.
“I could have you screened for deception,” Trevy countered, pointing up at a pearl-sized camera in the ceiling. Terris made a note that it was disabled. “And I could have had the technology officers vet your transmission.”
“I’m trained to lie well.” Terris sat down on Captain Trevy’s bed, a spartan thing compared to the sleeping quarters of most officers. There were no chairs in the room, so her options were few. She took off her helmet and tried to at least appear relaxed. In reality, she was anything but. “It comes with the job, really.”
“Fair,” Trevy chuckled, feigning calm. “I suppose the question now becomes whether or not you can trust me.”
“It’s a safe gamble.” Terris made a mental calculation. It would take her between thirty and fifty seconds to kill Captain Trevy, take the bridge, and vent the ship. That was a very safe gamble. “Besides, that’s what a peace treaty is.” Trevy looked confused. “A leap of faith. You trust your enemy to back their word, and you trust them to trust you as well. If we can’t get along here, can’t put aside our differences to work toward a common goal, then the Alliance will be right. And I hate it when they’re right.”
“I’m speaking to you now because I know they are wrong.” That came as no surprise to either of them. “You know, I was once a foreman of a labor crew in the munitions factories. The most productive unit in my sector.” That one did come as a surprise. “As a foreman, you get leeway to make certain decisions regarding the… well, I suppose they are slaves, under your command. Food intake and the like.” Captain Trevy looked pained when he brought up such memories. Terris wasn’t convinced that was how he really felt. “They use it to weed out any potential xeno sympathizers from the populace. Of course, at the time, I wasn’t so empathetic.”
“So you were a slave driver, and you beat your slaves to make them work. I hope every one of those shells was sabotaged.” Terris’ voice dripped with disdain. She had almost forgotten the Alliance captain was her enemy.
“No, I showed mercy,” Trevy defended himself. “I was generous.” This made Terris reconsider. Perhaps Senar Trevy could be an ally, if not a friend. “I won’t say I was a good man, but I wasn’t cruel. I was practical. Strong, healthy, well-treated workers are more productive than the beaten sacks of flesh in the other factories. My crew’s output was unmatched.”
“And?” Terris cocked her head inquisitively. For a high-ranking officer in the space navy of a genocidal regime, Senar Trevy really did not seem so bad. To be fair, however, she had set the bar pretty low.
“I was investigated for anti-human activity.” Terris could have predicted that. She almost did, too. “They sent me to the fleet, and my labor crew was reacquainted with the energy whips and pain beams.” There was no carrot for an Alliance labor slave. Only the stick. “Their productivity fell thirty percent in the first two weeks alone.” He sounded almost mournful as he said that. He was not lamenting the loss in productivity.
“You see,” said Trevy, “Hatred is not natural. It has to be caused, sustained, nurtured from the day a man is born until the day he dies.” With that, at least, Terris agreed. “And, as you’re about to see, a nation built around cruelty or prejudice cannot sustain itself. It will have to apply pressure to maintain its flawed status quo, like it did with me, and the pressure will build and build until it cannot build anymore.” He tapped a few buttons on the data disc in his hand. It began projecting an image of the battle for Neldia. He placed it on the bed next to Terris. “Now it’s breaking.”
“I wonder if they’ll find themselves in need of more shells.” Terris knew it wasn’t just shells. Every time a slave driver prioritized hatred over hard work, put cruelty over their quota, or even just bowed their head and obeyed the traditional dogma, they hurt the Alliance. Across nine worlds, with billions of slaves not working as they could have, things started to add up. “You know, for a superior species, your fleet is really getting its ass kicked right now. Might want to work on that.”
Captain Trevy nodded. His data disc beeped. He was needed on the bridge. “Agreed,” he said. “I hope this war ends soon, and to our mutual benefit. I’d hate to face you on the battlefield.” He picked up the data disc and turned to leave.
“Oh, forgot to mention, there’s a virus embedded in the transmissions you’ve received. Self-replicating. Nasty piece of work.” Terris shifted a bit in her seat. “Almost forgot about that.”
“Well, better to know now than when it’s activated,” Trevy smiled. “I’ll have Technology Officer Galdir investigate it.” With that, he left. His duty to the Alliance was nonexistent, but the men and women under his command still needed him. He had waited too long in the stateroom.
Terris, with nothing better to do, got to work on cracking the encryption in the transmissions she had copied. She failed. A transmission from deep in unknown space, sent from a dreadnought at the head of a task force known only as the Deep Expedition Fleet, was the only message she could read. Its contents, while troubling, mattered little at the moment. What was far more crucial, however, was the message Terris could not decipher. The military battle plan of Janus Ora’s personal armada.
The battle plan that, when analyzed on a Republic starship, would reveal its terrible secret too late.
The Coalition fleet was walking into a trap.
First Previous Wiki Next

u/addisonellison X2 - I agree with you. This is great for relieving stress. Things are ok on this coast. Still looking for a job with a decent boss. Decent being the key word. The last guy had a few links missing lol
u/reasonable_ad1688 - that bottle cap windchime you made sounds cool! u/ninajyang - your complaint has been lodged. I love the postcard you picked. It’s like a charcuterie board! God bless spell check for knowing how to spell that word lol
u/wabisabi_sf - how was your trip!
u/kk6321 - you’re very right that I love the weed stickers.
u/gothwitchofbrooklyn - thanks for the complaint!
u/snerdboff - ❤️ an Obama card. Just seeing him brings a sense of calm & peace.
u/rennbrig X2 - thanks for the motivation! Also the card with the handmade paper… did you make it yourself? I feel like I hand made paper once but it wasn’t anything you could really write on.
u/-random_ness- - I didn’t realize you had native Americans down there in Virginia but I guess it makes sense!
u/rosiealeo1 - awful I know. But like yeah those cards were too positive for me! Sorry you’re funky now
u/raspberrypoppyseed - thanks for the Star Wars card
u/travel4me22 - thanks for the card. The cheesy places are the best to me!
u/cswl X9 - thanks for the story & complaints :) I didn’t realize loupaper made cards with foreign countries featured on them so that was especially cool to see! Also I’ve tried heated floors before. Some hotel I stayed at had them. Loved them. Did you know Holland Michigan has heated sidewalks all over town that melt snow as soon as it falls? I love how you saved up a ton of complaints & sent them all separate. Always great to get mail from you!
u/altrusticsubject95 - thanks for the card. My job with the doctor actually didn’t work out. He didn’t have enough patients to necessitate a second medical assistant. Turns out he hired me to spite his current MA - no joke. So I quit after two days. Back to you though. It sounds like you’re a good nurse, doctors are trained to document & work on charts now. Not work with patients & build relationships. I’m not a fan of young doctors. Knowing they’re the future of medicine scares me.
u/zkhg - thanks for your complaint. Without outting your life story… I personally don’t want kids. But I’ve known that for a LONG time. At least a decade. I don’t wanna be responsible for anyone but me. Also I too am 34.
u/practical-tangelo22 - thanks so much for the drawing. I absolutely love it!! It is exactly what I’d expect from someone living in your area! u/daeneryswon - thanks for your complaint. My thing with longer trips is it wears you out more to the point you need a vacation from your vacation. But I get wanting more time to take a slower pace.
u/mute_writer - thanks for the card & stickers. The ice maker has actually been working ok for once!
u/penhand1 - thanks for the vintage postcard. Love it!
u/stillsheryl - thanks for the card. It’s interesting your complaint is about allergies. I actually got off my two allergy meds the last few months. I was taking them for maybe 8 or 9 years. Turns out I never actually had allergies. The urgent care doc from a long time ago was wrongo!
u/ngocburin - I agree with you that Vietnamese coffee is amazing. I have these powered packets of it that I use that I get from the local Asian market. So good
u/keqani - thanks for sending a card for pop pop!
u/appropriate_power392 - thanks for the birthday card for my father :)
u/pierresgirl - thanks for all the complaints. I totally agree with the part about people buying more car than they can afford!!
u/t3ctim - I absolutely LOVE the drawing you made for me!
u/luxuryjerky - thanks for the mushroom card!
u/iz-a_bee - I hear your complaint which is also a complaint of mine!
u/josanne916 - thanks for the card!
u/disney-ghettas - to say I simply love the design on the card you sent me would be an understatement.

My bf (33) and I (37f) were together for 9 months, and ended in a blindside “breakup” (he basically ghosted me after an argument).
It’s been a couple months of us not talking… but I miss him, and love him, and want to try things again. Our argument wasn’t over something that couldn’t be worked out (I acknowledged his busy weeks, and expressed a want to be more intentional with the one day a week we got to see each other with his current work/school schedule because I was feeling disconnected from him. That turned into him saying I cause too much stress and need too much reassurance - this is literally the only time I brought a matter like this up in our relationship).
Anyways - this is what I’ve come up with… idk if it’s good or not. I know this semester of school is over so he’s had some time off from that. Is this worded well? How would you feel if you ghosted someone and they sent this to you?
I’m just going to be direct, and hope you’ll hear me out: I’ve gone back and forth on sending you this, cause I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn’t, but don’t know if you even want to hear from me. I also wanted the initial feelings of everything to pass, have time to reflect, and see my part in all this.
I think we were both overwhelmed with things in our own lives. It’s not like we had a huge fight, or something happened that can’t be worked out. So if you're interested, I'd love to give us another try.
Do things better this time. Learn how to best support and love each other. So we can grow and be the best versions of ourselves. What we had was good. You are good for me, and I think I’m good for you.
I understand if you want to put this behind you and move on - but part of me hopes you still have feelings for me too, and would be open to talk about what a second chance would look like for us.

Seccussion
Shiv, Kendall and Roman at the terrasse of a chic Italian restaurant.
Shiv – Guys, listen. I think dad might be trying to fuck us.
Roman – Jesus Christ Shiv ! Can I at least have a bite of my… shitty club sandwich thing ? He bites. Wich by the way is fucking disgusting, what the fuck did I order ? Hey waiter ! Waiter boy ! Fuck, did he try to poison me ? Is this a fucking lawsuit ?
Ken – Calm down, Ron.
Shiv – Guys, listen to me.
The waiter comes.
Roman – Yeah, I’m so sorry to interrupt your busy day, but this feels like I’m eating my grandmother’s corpse. Could you, like, bring me literally anything else from the menu ? Before I club you to death and make you eat this in front of your children ?
Ken – Hey, hey, Ron.
The waiter takes the club-sandwich away.
Shiv – That was not cool, I think he actually has children.
Roman – Well, so did Hitler. That didn’t stop him from doing his Europe tour. And yes, the comparaison stands, this club-sandwich was basically a holocaust in my mouth.
Silence
Roman – Oh ok sorry ! The poor children ! Bouh ouh ouh !
Shiv – Will you fucking listen to me ? Dad is trying to fuck us. I think he’s trying to * insert scheme involving money, stocks and share-holders \.* I tell you, he’s fucking us over.
Kendall – Well… Okay, but… You know ?
Shiv – No I do not know, care to elaborate ?
Kendall – Well okay. Sure. He’s fucking us. Sharks swim. It’s a Monday, whatever.
Ron – If dad wasn’t trying to fuck us, I’d suspect he was having a stroke.
The waiter comes back.
Waiter – I took the liberty of bringing you a snail casserole with a radish and apple sauce reduction « à la hollandaise ».
Roman – What the fuck ? The guys brought me snails ! You guys see this ? Literal, actual snails, like the thing that crawls around when it rains.
Kendall – Well hey. You know ?
Ronan – Plus I thought this was a fucking italian, now he’s talking french to me about some german apple sauce, what kind of place is this ? Never mind, can you disapear forever ? Oh, and bring something fucking Italian, like some pasta, but you know, make it not shitty, pretty please.
The waiter leaves.
Roman – That’s right fuck off, bitch boy. Go jerk off in my linguines you sick fuck.
Shiv – Can we please stop focusing of Ronan’s exciting new culinary adventure and focus on the fact that dad is trying to fuck us in the ass ?
Roman – Shiv, can you please stop talking about dad fucking us in the ass, it’s starting to gross even me out, and I jerk off to war footage so… Just not feeling that kinky.
Shiv – So what do you think, Ken ?
Kendall – You know… Hey. If he tries to merge the acquisitions, we’ll go berserk. Full lawyer-up. Fucking gimsuit fucking army of, accoutants, convincing share-holders dad is loosing it. Go fucking 1918 on the deal. Otherwise, you know. Shoot for the moon. Start holding stock options. Paralyse the market. I don’t see it Shiv.
Roman – Aaaand I didn’t understand a single word of that.
Kendall – I’m just saying. You know ?
Waiter – Here are you linguines. The chef took the liberty of making them « al dente » , that’s the Italian way…
Ron – I will literally murder you in your sleep.
The waiter leave.
Shiv – Dude, if dad makes this deal he could choke us out of the company ! Like right now he literally has his giant dick in your asses !
Roman – How does that works, he’s got like a three branch dick ? Like a weird alien fucking hentai thing going on ? Well good for him. You were saying something about dad choking you ? Jesus Christ it’s really « al dente », I don’t even think they put them in water.
Ken – Wait, why is Roman the only one who has food ? I want a soufflé. They make that right ? Hey, waiter ? Yeah, can we have like, soufflés for the whole table ?
Shiv – Also, I’m gonna get some whine. I’m getting fucked by my dad, might as well get a little tipsy. Bring me an expensive one, please.
Ronan – « Bring me an expensive one ? » You really are the « connaiseur ».
Kendall – Does Tom know about this ?
Roman – Who gives a fuck about Tom ?
Kendall – Yeah, you’re right. All things considered, dad’s tanking the merge. The shares won’t hold the structure at a hundred k max. So we move quick, drop all the the dead weight : parcs, spaceships, real eastate, Tom, the cooking network. We make this all in one, all inclusive, no strings attached. Just good all american fun for the masses. That’s the italian way. News and entertainment doesn’t fly at five dollars a share. We spook the board and go fucking, fucking… Fucking Nagasaki on their ass. Right ? Real scorched earth stuff. That’s the way dad would do it. Dad would want us to fuck him as hard as he wants to fuck us.
Roman – What is that, fucking feta on my linguine ? Is this some kind of Game of Thrones red wedding bullshit ? Am I getting murdered at the end of the episode ?
Shiv – I just got a text. Dad sent me « Fuck off » in all caps.
Roman – I… guess that’s good ?
Shiv – How is that good ? No, really Ronan, please tell me, how is that good ? How is dad sending me « Fuck off » good ? How is dad fucking the merge good ? How is my marriage falling appart good ? How is Tom sleeping in a separate bedroom, fingering his ass with a dildo and eating his own cum while I sleep alone good ? Tell me, because I’m DYING to know !
Roman – I wish I could say that made me respect Tom less.
Kendall – That’s far from good. The board is gonna loose it. We get ten percent on the acquisition and maby we walk away with vote majority, but we gotta restructure the entire thing, go A-wall, I’m talking reshaping corporate and financial blocs, I’m talking rebrands, I’m talking firing Tom, I’m talking de-unionize the parks. Oh hey, I got the text too.
Shiv – So what do you think ?
Kendall – Well hey. You know.
Roman – Oh, hey, I got it to ! But mine also says I’ve got a small dick. Thank’s paps.
Kendall – That’s a good sign. It means his going all in, no lube, just good all-in-one over-the-counter stategizing for tax benefits. Maby we lawyer up. Get some representation cause shit’s about to hit the fence.
Shiv – I don’t know about that, I got a bad feeling.
Roman – Oh yes please Shiv, enlighten us with your feminine intuition. Is it that time of the month ? Are your chakras not aligned ? Is the moon fucking not hitting Jupiter at the right angle ?
Shiv – Fuck off. You guys are jerks. I’m ordering something sweet, do they have pancakes ?
Kendall – I think we should all get pancakes. I see here they make them with bruschetta.
Ronan – What kinda of fucking place is this ?

Round 7 of Ragnarok was approaching, and Brunhilde, accompanied by Göll, was checking on the Medbay, where both humans and Gods were treated, after they had won their round in Ragnarok.
“How are they, Mary?”
Brunhilde asked, and a woman, around her middle ages and dressed in red robes with white cloth covering her hair, turns to Brunhilde, while she was tending to Chang’e, victor of round 2 but still not completely healed up due to the injuries Tsukiyomi inflicted on her.
“The Goddess is in better conditions, but she still can’t move, and as for her leg, it’s healing too, we were lucky her husband brought it along her”
Brunhilde was about to reply, but the tv opens, announcing that the Gods have revealed their next fighter:Lucifer.
“Tch, prideful bastard”
Brunhilde looks away, before Mary tells a few nurses to notify Asclepius of something, walking towards Brunhilde.
“Who will you send?”
She asks Brunhilde, who quickly scrolls through the available roster, looking at a young woman in armor.
“I’ll have to send her, I know Lucifer has a shield, and she can easily evade his other weapons”
Mary looked at the selected fighter:Joan of Arc, before shaking her head.
“No, she’s too important…..I’ll go”
Brunhilde and Göll look at Mary, shocked.
“M-Mary? A-Are you crazy? The medbay needs you!”
Göll exclaims to Mary, before Asclepius, with his caduceus, interrupts her.
“I got this, plus, we still have plenty of both Human and God medics and healers, we can do without the Virgin Mary”
Asclepius answers Göll, Brunhilde looking at Mary and changing her selection off Joan and to Mary.
“Very well, let’s go meet your Valkyrie then”
On the side of the Gods, Lucifer was looking at the arena from the Gods balcony, while Zeus, Artemis, Hermes and Thanatos were looking at him.
“You stupid fool, why did you announce yourself publicly?”
Thanatos scolds Lucifer, who simply shrugs him off.
“Relax old man, I want to see the humans fear as I net our 6th win effortlessly, I’ve hoarded enough sins to last me a gauntlet of all 7 human fighters at once”
While Lucifer gloats, Artemis sighs annoyed.
“Sin of Pride? More like Sin of Stupidity”
Lucifer turns and snarls at Artemis.
“And who lost 2 legs and an arm against that shit relic of a plane? Huh? Mind your place”
Artemis, Hermes and Thanatos were taken aback, before Zeus grew all muscular.
“Careful with your words, Devil, Michael can still fight”
Lucifer looks at Zeus and scoffs.
“Whatever, no wonders that stupid rabbit sided with them with your attitudes, I’m going there right now”
Lucifer walks away, Artemis’ hand quivering in rage as she firmly grips her bow, Thanatos following Lucifer.
“I’ll go check on how Michael and Amaterasu are”
Hermer looked at the roster while Artemis and Zeus were looking at Lucifer and Thanatos walking out.
“Oh, what a….curious choice”
Hermes shows Zeus an image of Mary, as he then smiles.
“Heh, she’s still wasting weak fighters against powerful ones? Are you secretly wishing for us to win, Brunhilde?”
While Lucifer went inside his room, Thanatos went inside the medbay, surprised to see Thanatos and Hippocrates patching up Amaterasu, while Lakhsmi was tending to David.
“Where is Mary? I need to speak to her”
Thanatos asks Asclepius, before he points to the door Thanatos went in, Thanatos sighing disappointed, while Brunhilde and Mary were now in Brunhilde’s office, Randgriz looking at Mary.
“Are you sure of this pick sister?”
Göll asked Brunhilde, as Mary and Randgriz were looking for weapons.
“Lucifer is a very well armored asshole, both armor and shield, so Randgriz’s Shieldbreaker will be very useful”
Brunhilde said, before Mary and Randgriz returned, Mary held a thurible.
“Mary…..what is that?”
Göll asked, Mary looking at her Thurible.
“A thurible, it’s used to spread incense in ceremonies, but Randgriz said we could use it as a weapon”
Mary answered, before she swung the Thurible like a flail.
“Plus, smoke can be a great help, you told me Lucifer has enhanced sight and reach with his helmet and hook right? The smoke can render them useless”
Brunhilde looked at Mary and Randgriz, nodding.
“It does fit a holy saint of your caliber, Mary”
Brunhilde then opened the doors of her office.
“You should go now, match should start soon”
Mary and Randgriz walk out, as Brunhilde and Göll head for their balcony.
“Sister, please don’t tell me you’re using the same plan you did against Thanatos”
Göll asked Brunhilde, fearful of Mary’s fate, but Brunhilde reassured her.
“No, Lucifer has no idea of who his opponent is yet, so imagine his surprise when his extreme opposite will stand on the other side of the Arena”
Göll looked anxiously at the Arena as Heimdall began announcing.
“IN ROUND 7 OF RAGNAROK, WITH THE GODS AT 4 POINTS AND THE HUMANS AT 2, THE GODS HAVE SENT THEIR TRUMP CARD!”
As Heimdall spoke, the arena entrance on the side of the Gods bursted into flame, with the screams of the damned echoing around the arena and unsettling the audience, a figure with 6 wings slowly walking out of them.
“HE IS NONE OTHER THAN THE SIN OF PRIDE! THE STRONGEST REBEL OF HEAVEN, NOW THEIR BIGGEST ASSET!”
Lucifer stepped out of the flames, as they slowly turned into a set of Armor, gauntlets, a helmet, a shield, a sword sheathed on his hip, a spear, and a hook wrapped around his right forearm, while Lucifer spread his pitch black bat wings out.
“THE LEADER OF HELL! LU! CI! FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
The crowd of the Gods immediately began cheering and chanting his name, as the humans started to pray and beg for mercy.
“LUCIFER! LUCIFER! LUCIFER! LUCIFER! LUCIFER!”
A few spotlights turned to Lucifer, who had the biggest grin ever, as Brunhilde scoffs while Göll is shocked and scared by Lucifer.
“WOOOOAHHH! H-he looks so terrifying”
Heimdall then points to the human entrance of the arena, where everything gets darker, before all the spotlights aim at the entrance.
“HEY! Keep one on me!”
Lucifer complains, before a chant in ancient Hebrew could be heard from the entrance, a dim light slowly emerges.
“BUT WHO HAVE THE HUMANS SENT?”
The light grew a bit brighter as the chanting grew alongside, Mary slowly walking out, swinging her thurible with one hand while preaching a bible on the other, Lucifer lifting the visor of his helmet.
“Wait what the fuck?” “THEY CALL HER THE GREATEST WOMAN WHO HAS EVER LIVED!”
The human audience immediately brightened up from the chanting, while all Christian, Jewish and Islamic humans all began preaching in Latin, Hebrew and Arabic.
“THE ONLY HUMAN WHO HAS EVER ASCENDED TO HEAVEN ALIVE! SAY HALLELUJAH TO THE ONE! AND ONLY! VIRGIN MARYYYYYYYY”
The human audience explodes in a hopeful cheer as Mary finishes preaching, the Hebrew chanting dying down as Mary puts the Bible inside her robes, and opening the thurible, but no smoke coming out of it yet.
“Oh you’ve got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME?”
Lucifer looks at Mary, before chuckling.
“Heh…..this is….”
Lucifer then explodes in laughter, pointing at Mary.
“PFFFHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHHHH…..OHHHHhhhhhhh, is that…i-is that a fucking incense spreader?”
Lucifer could barely say in his laughing fit, supporting himself with his spear.
“Y-y’know f-for a second I-I thought that..haha……was a flail or a mace..”
Lucifer slowly began to recover from laughing, still distraught at Mary’s “weapon” of choice
“Ohh, you might kill me with laughter, Brunhilde…..phewwfff…..oh, t-this is a very good joke, now bring out the real fighter”
Lucifer asked Heimdall, who looked at him confused.
“Well…..she’s your fighter, she’s in the roster and all”
Lucifer looked at Mary, then at the balcony, directly at Brunhilde.
“Oh I see I see, you think this bitch can win, because she’s a saint? Why not send your other female Saint huh?”
Heimdall then interrupts Lucifer.
“WILL THE GODS ADVANCE TO 5 POINTS, OR WILL THE HUMANS SCORE THEIR 3RD? MAY ROUND 7 OF RAGNAROK BEGIN!”
As soon as Heimdall announced the beginning of the round, Mary began to swing the thurible back and forth, creating incense smoke around her, Lucifer still smiling from Mary’s weapon of choice.
“Seriously, how are you even going to hurt me with that thing?”
Lucifer then charges forwards, slashing at Mary, who swings her thurible, deflecting the hit as she steps back, surprising Lucifer.
“That footwork….someone must have trained you”
Lucifer comments on Mary deflecting and dodging his Sword of Wrath.
“Will you be surprised if I were to tell you-”
Mary was answering Lucifer, before Lucifer grabs his spear and tries to thrust at her gut, Mary smacking the pole with her thurible.
“-that it’s all self-taught?” “Bullshit, I know a fighter when I’m fighting one”
Lucifer says, briefly glancing at the balcony of the Gods, eyeing Zeus specifically, before his helmet warned him of an incoming hit, and he dodged Mary’s thurible.
“Lucifer charges towards Mary, but she dodges it effortlessly, deflecting the blow with her Thurible, who would’ve known such an unorthodox weapon was actually useful?”
Heimdall comments, Lucifer already growing annoyed.
“Alright let’s get this over with, BEELZEBUB! HOOK OF GLUTTONY!”
The hook wrapped around Lucifer’s forearm unraveled, and he then swings it at Mary, who dodged it, before the Hook then flies around, and ensnares Mary.
“What? How did that hook fly like that?”
Göll asked Brunhilde, before she pointed at a pair of fly wings on the hook.
“Lucifer’s arsenal is consisted of armor and weapons that capture the 7 Deadly Sins, the Hook of Gluttony is able to grab and ensnare everything that Lucifer wants, as he has free control over it”
Brunhilde said, worried, as Mary tried to break free while Lucifer grabbed his spear.
“ASMODEUS! SPEAR OF LUST!”
As Lucifer was about to thrust, Mary’s thurible spewed incense, blinding Lucifer for a moment, and completely engulfing the two.
“Lucifer has successfully ensnared the Virgin Mary! But she retaliates by creating a cloud of holy Incense!”
Helheim announces, while Lucifer tries to get out of the cloud, unraveling the Hook and letting Mary go, the cloud dissipating immediately as Mary then charges at Lucifer.
“And the champion for Humanity charges towards the Devil himself!”
Heimdall announced from the sidelines, Lucifer looking at Mary and deflecting her swings with his Shield of Envy.
“Hey, sister Brun, you chose Randgriz specifically because of her ability right?”
Göll asked Brunhilde, who nodded.
“Yes, but a mere swing like that won’t be enough, for that shield and all of Lucifer’s weapons, are as strong as the sins he has accumulated, and still is”
Brunhilde said, pointing at the dark aura that Lucifer is emitting, while Mary then swings her thurible upwards, shooting something from inside it:caltrops made out of gold.
“The Virgin Mary shoots caltrops out of her Thurible! Is she planning to keep her distance from Lucifer?”
Lucifer looks at the caltrops, sheathing his sword.
“Oh, you think your little caltrops can stop me?”
Lucifer kicks the caltrops with his sabatons, Mary winding up a swing.
“Tch, I almost wish the human wins, I hate that bastard”
Artemis complains, having moved her wheelchair closer to the balcony, Zeus nodding in agreement.
“Yes, especially after everything he’s done, but at least my dear brother Hades is now safe”
Zeus said, a bit ashamed of himself.
“What? He let him go? In exchange for being allowed to fight here?”
Artemis asks, Hermes nodding.
“The amount of sinners still living in Earth is probably worth fighting directly for”
Zeus said, looking at the fight.
“Yet, he did not send one of the other 6 sins, but he went in himself, but I’m sure he’ll win against that human woman”
Artemis replies.
[End of chapter 1]

(my post originally from CharlotteDobreYoutube)
I will try to keep as many relevant details in here as possible without going too far off track, since the history with us and with her is utterly a novel. This is long, but worth it, so here goes.
11 days before my wedding I kicked out two bridesmaids (A and M.) This meant I had two left (E and L.) It started with bridesmaid A who asked if her boyfriend could wear a cowboy hat to my wedding. Mind you, my wedding venues were a church for the ceremony and a beach front venue for the reception. I told her that I did not want a cowboy hat in my photos or in my wedding, that that was not the vibe my husband and I were going for, and it just didn’t fit either venue’s décor or environment.
A bit of a backstory – A is not in the best position financially. She was dating her boyfriend for like 2 months before she got pregnant. He promised her a better life closer to his family, she believed it, got fired from her $50k/year job, left her first child w/ her ex-husband (Child 1 was supposed to be my flower girl, whose dress we also bought,) they moved from State A to state B, they don’t make much money. They now have the newborn that they can barely afford while living in a camper.
Before A asked about the cowboy hat, she asked about jeans. I did not want denim at my wedding. Denim is not formal. She said he was going to wear the same outfit to the wedding as his grandmother’s funeral. Fine, not a big deal. I told her if they are black jeans that is fine since from a distance they will look like slacks. (I gave her an inch and she was definitely looking for that mile.) She kept going with it and I eventually said, “I did not want denim, but I made the exception for you two.” And she said “Yeah, it’s not like we could have afforded anything else anyway.” I felt the tension and left it alone for the night.
The next morning, she texted me that she was hurt, that I had an attitude basically and I’ve been acting some type of way, she again brought up the money situation. I tried to be understanding and that I know they are not in the best position financially, but a lot of my family is not, and I know a lot of people are spending quite a bit to get where we are for the wedding (about half our guests were coming from out of state.) I also said I wanted everyone to have a great time and I was sorry if I came off any type of way or insensitive. This was not good enough for her. She decided to say that a wedding was about celebrating our love and if I was focused so much on a cowboy hat my priorities were in the wrong place. I asked her what was going on because this was clearly not about a cowboy hat and she avoided answering. Also did not tell me anything else it might have been about.
She said ever since planning the wedding I have been micromanaging, acting proud, and some other accusations that made no sense. I had no idea what she was talking about because a lot of the decisions my husband and I needed to make were taken care of with both venues – food, DJ, set up, breakdown, clean up, etc. A also said she had been talking to M about the way I was behaving, and that the cowboy hat was the final straw. (What’s that even mean? If I was bothering you with things, why didn’t you tell me so I could fix it or change the way I was approaching things?)
Somewhere in the midst of this whole thing, she said her daughter (Child 1) would just be uncomfortable in her dress and wouldn’t sit still for more than 30 mins (A lie, I have been around her and she is well behaved,) and also said her boyfriend does not like to eat in front of people (Arms must be tired from all that reaching) and all around is just making excuses, trying to call my bluff about this; if the boyfriend can’t even wear the cowboy hat to the reception, then they probably just go fishing after the ceremony, and not even come to the reception. She also said we could have helped with her shoes. In many other words, I told her just because we make more than her does not mean we owe her anything and told her almost everything we were paying for. Then told me to chill and that I was probably emotional from the planning and everything going on. Basically, gaslit me when she was the one that literally threatened not to come because of a cowboy hat. She brought up money again like five more times and how they’re broke – so clearly this is about money.
Husband and I bought the dresses, fronted the Airbnb we needed to get ready in, we fronted hair & makeup without asking for anyone to pay for their portion, bought gifts, A’s plane ticket (she paid us back the next day,) and many other things for our wedding for the bride and grooms party so everyone had a good time, knew they were appreciated, and felt like the event was worth the traveling and time.
Throughout my wedding planning, I pretty much planned everything with my husband, and we asked for hardly any input from anyone since no one was really available, no one was close, and it was just easier. So the whole micromanaging comment made no sense to me. I was doing my best to be flexible and understanding of finances for A, not as much for bridesmaid 2, M, but a little. She was also in a state 3 time zones away from me, so her plane ticket was not cheap.
I have known this girl A for six years. I am crying at this point. It’s the afternoon, I have to get final headcount to the reception venue for catering THE NEXT MORNING. I am texting my mother, bridesmaid E, friend D, a group chat on messenger, and I have not told Husband yet. Every single one of them was on my side. E said, “If she is this way now before your wedding, imagine what she is going to be like on your wedding day.” And being the desperate person I was, I said to friend D “I know this is shitty and a horrible circumstance but if I needed you to be a bridesmaid, would you? The dress color and material are still available on [Vendor’s site.]” She said absolutely. I felt terrible for asking but I trusted her.
M now comes in. She was busy at work so she could not respond to the chat as much, but I was keeping a lot of the chat between A and I because I did not think M needed to be involved. A kept bringing the chat back to the group chat. She brought enough back to the group chat that M picked up on some stuff and basically agreed with A, she said I was being insensitive, and “At least she asked you before she did it.” I’m sorry, what?
Backstory for M – A few months earlier she said she was upset I did not officially ask her to be a bridesmaid and did not think it was worth it to come to my state for the wedding because it would be the second time she is here with her boyfriend but not for them; like not for their own reasons such as a vacation. We had a conversation when I started planning and I asked if she would be comfortable ordering a dress for me to see what it looked like. She said “Aww you want me to be a bridesmaid?” I said “I thought that was obvious!” So maybe it’s a thin line, but she went shopping with A and I, went to try on dresses with her, and LET US BUY HER DRESS. She could have said something beforehand that she did not want to, rather than just thinking she had to. She also was not going to be there for the rehearsal since there was a concert in her state rescheduled for two days before my wedding and she was not going to miss it. Understandable since she would have had to get up at 5 am or earlier the night after the concert to get to my state sometime Thursday evening or Friday afternoon. I did not like this, but I accepted it because she also said “I think I’ve been part of enough weddings to figure it out, -insert laughing crying emoji-
By this point husband also called me for something, I don’t remember what, but I eventually said to him “I don’t think I want either A or M to come.” He said “Okay, whatever you need to do. I’m fine at this point.” I summarized the events and he said “If you want to burn everything to the ground I don’t care, that’s fine with me.” I stewed on everything for a few hours but I knew what I had to do.
I let it sit, I said nothing else, I went to run an errand, I was on the way home, told D when the rehearsal and dinner was, asked if she could make it, she said yes. I told her to order her dress, called the florist, I told them I needed one less bouquet, and got home about 30 mins later. A few hours later I said to both A and M, basically, “You know what? Never mind. I don’t want either of you to come. This is my wedding, we are paying for everything, and I was not wrong. I do not deserve this treatment. It is not my fault A you made shitty decisions and can’t afford anything and M you planned a wedding before, how can you agree with her?” and quite a few other things. (Told them both to send back the dresses but ultimately did not end up caring and said they could do whatever they wanted with them later.) A then said I was attacking because I was frustrated. No, A. You made shit decisions and you’re taking it out on me now. M called me and I didn’t answer. (She was married before, divorced now. Whole other fucking story.)
The other kicker? A kept her flight to STILL COME SEE HER DAUGHTER and was going to need a CAR RENTAL ANYWAY, and A HOTEL ROOM with her boyfriend. So wait, was it NOT actually about money? I don’t even know anymore.
Anyway, D got her dress by Thursday or Friday the same week, we went shoe shopping a few days later, and she bought her own shoes, too.
My wedding party on my wedding day had three girls that were super supportive, loving, and made my day a whole lot easier. They were by my side, made me smile and laugh, and made the day so much more special. I have screenshots, by the way. If anyone wants them, I can attach them to a google doc and have you see them, haha. Just PM me!

Mirror Face is one of the least popular plot devices in the RGG series. Maybe even THE least popular. There are a lot of posts asking "why is Mirror Face a thing" or something to that effect, but...do you ever SERIOUSLY wonder? I did, and I wrote a bunch about it :3c
(any errors, tell me and i'll fix it! if it's a critical error that topples my entire premise then uhhh i cut off my pinky finger i guess)
let it be known this is not a defence. This is me looking into the circumstances that may have caused him. This features spoilers for Yakuza 5, Kiwami 2, Judgment and Infinite Wealth, just FYI
Ryo Aoki has made it clear he prefers to take care of "loose ends", i.e. assassinating possible information leaks. He did this with Ogasawara, so it's entirely in line with his MO that he'd want to assassinate Sawashiro too after he'd been assassinated. However, there are currently two big names at his disposal in the Omi that we know of that he could use:

• Reiji Ishioda, a man known for being loud, unpredictable and destructive. First seen using a wrecking ball. Absolute worst candidate for a covert assassination
• Yosuke Tendo, a hulking behemoth of an ex-boxer. Very capricious, and actually okay at assassinations, but Sawashiro's in prison - how would Tendo get him there? Not to mention setting up a fight with Tendo in Yokohama means 1) Ishioda gets even less than what he already has, 2) takes the air out of his fight with Ichiban in the Millennium Tower, and would make it much less of a final boss, not to mention he may not even be there as he'd be stuck in prison - also, the idea of an Ishioda final boss (or Masato only) would be very weird

Both these options aren't good, so it has to be someone else. Nobody in the Omi fits, not even any of the minor Omi characters encountered so far (like that one crazy guy who says he was gonna gut Ichiban like a fish)
Surely there can be someone else?

• (Infinite Wealth) The assassin who killed Hoshino might have been a good bet. Unsure of if he has prison access though, and it might also just be Mirror Face again? Also, most importantly, he wasn't present in the writing because IW wasn't out obviously
• Funny answer, (Yakuza 5) because his previous line of work was this exact kind of thing: Baba. Saejima was on the inside in this case, though, and also if he did this, it'd show he learnt nothing from Shinada
• From the above, I used to think Mitsuo could have been something just because he barely appeared. We don't know much about post-timeskip Mitsuo, but the prologue makes it clear Sawashiro did NOT treat him or Ichiban well, and one possible route could have been a resentful Mitsuo finally wanting him dead, as spending the last 18 years alone under Sawashiro with no Ichiban to act as a lightning rod both drove him over the edge and turned him into a hardened yakuza. I'd get not doing this though as you risk repeating Nishiki's storyline and having Ichiban come across as retreading Kiryu's steps with the "i just got back from prison for nearly 20 years for a murder i didn't do but took the fall for anyway but kyodai nooo don't kill people you're so sexy haha" stuff, and also because it'd be kinda shocking for Mitsuo to turn out that way

Nope. Still nothing :(
What other options are there?

• Have someone on the inside handle matters, the way Sera did between 0 and Kiwami. However, this involves pulling a guy out of thin air the player didn't know, and now you have to explain where they were before this. Kiryu has also not counted this as an option, stating only law enforcement could get to Sawashiro, so you can't send someone in to do this either, also if it's in prison the Ichigang can't get to him at all - no way to stop him
• A corrupt police officer. However, Aoki holds little influence over Kanagawa's police department as the Daidoji-backed CLP still holds their seat here, and you'd also need to make a new guy. I can't think of anyone else that can move in and out of prison like this
• Someone who can IMPERSONATE a police officer, removing the restriction of them having to be a Kanagawa PD officer. This works

With what you have now, you pretty much have to pull a guy out of thin air to assassinate Sawashiro as there are no viable existing candidates that make sense to kill Sawashiro. It's got to be a new guy who can also impersonate a cop well enough to get into a high security prison, AND get out. Since it's a new guy, he can be anything. RGG Studio decided that his degree of impersonation would be spot-on, 100% perfect, down to the voice and face, down to the muscles?
Why? Why a perfect imitation?
I...am not sure??? Maybe it was easier just to use the models of the people he impersonates rather than making "kind of but not quite" versions, or perhaps they realised the impersonation has to be at LEAST good enough for the players not to feel like the game wants them to accept a subpar imitation, and cranked the accuracy on his outfits up to 100%. Yagami and Kaito got by on much worse though, so maybe not that one, but THIS is the part that pissed a lot of people off. There could also be the issue of having to bring in another voice actor for an imperfect imitation, but I doubt they were anywhere near THAT hard-up for money. I'm not sure if they were any of these reasons, but I'm thinking of possible ones rather
(Why did he choose to impersonate some retired traffic cop anyway? Maybe if it were a big name cop, the ruse might fall apart due to someone figuring out where the real one was at the time, and the real one's word counts for something - for a nobody like Adachi, it'd just be easier to have the real Adachi take the fall for it)
So here we have the corner the writers have gotten themselves into: an assassin who can impersonate law enforcement very well, who until now has not popped up, and can't be in prison currently. They have, for whatever reason, perhaps one of the ones above, decided he can imitate people perfectly, with personality only slightly flawed. Some people are good at imitating voices very well. With the right tools, you can imitate a number of people, too. As far as body builds, it's difficult, but if you're lucky to have the same build as the people you're imitating, then fine. All three, without having to dedicate. (Not-Tendo has no Kansai drawl from what I hear, but he's still Pretty Close voicewise)
It's worth noting this isn't the first time perfect imitation of appearance has happened. Far from it - the Jingweon have demonstrated it, not least with The Man Himself, Yeonsu Kim, andFake Kazuki in Kiwami 2 . However, K2 didn't use him as a major plot point, so it's easy to understand why people are...a little more annoyed about Mirror Face in 7. (Lost Judgment)also features this, but shows an obvious drawback in that you can't talk too much in it, nor make certain expressions
(In Yeonsu's case it's permanent plastic surgery so it's different. (Kiwami 2) Kazuki though? Do you think someone really got themselves to permanently look like the host of some Kamurocho host club for the sake of a single scheme? He barely did anything too that's so funny)
What about his appearance in the finale?
Everything Mirror Face!Tendo said is something Tendo himself could have said. An earlier scene in the finale saw Aoki tell Tendo in no uncertain terms he is disposable; Tendo has already shown he's capricious and disloyal when switching sides during the Dissolution's fight (and killing Arakawa), so surely it wouldn't be OOC for him to turn on Aoki between that and dissatisfaction with being disposable? Doesn't need Mirror Face at all. Not really sure Mirror Face was really needed here?? The first contrivance was pushing it to begin with, and bringing Mirror Face back in (plus how did Ichiban get his number so easily???) is a little much. I think this could have done without Not-Tendo
What could RGG have done to not put themselves in this corner? Maybe avoid Mirror Face entirely, perfect imitation or no?

• Yokoyama himself has admitted he's a "write as I go" kind of writer, so it's pretty likely he wrote himself into this corner without realising it, if he was responsible for the circumstances that created Mirror Face. It's hard to give a "shoulda" to a guy with this writing style, but maybe:
• There could have been a corrupt cop introduced earlier on that would have fit the bill for this assassination. Aoki has the Tokyo PD in his pocket though, not Kanagawa,, so you might need to bring a corrupt Kanagawa PD officer in - corruption in the higher ranks has already been stated by Adachi
• (Judgment) Also, ANOTHER Tokyo PD hitman, making it two games in a row, within the space of less than a year, might be a little overdoing it. It would have made the Tokyo PD look like they have a really bad serial killer problem, though. It would be really funny however and I think that'd be worth it. Worth noting though that (Lost Judgment) Tokyo PD can absolutely muscle in on and even take over Yokohama investigations, so it wouldn't be ENTIRELY out of the question. Actually now I think about it Soma would have been a good candidate though I'm unsure of if the Ichigang could come out on top against him. He's a horror movie villain
• (Lost Judgment) Or...the rubber face masks Kuwana used. In that case, the lack of voice was very much an imperfection, and for Mirror Face you could have had him remain a man of few words
• A reason to bring Sawashiro out of prison briefly could be one to open up the assassin candidate list, but I have NO clue how, given he's in for murder (a charge that generally doesn't provide bail) in a place Aoki has little direct influence over the police. I think Sawashiro calling the police on himself in an attempt to get Ichiban to stop him was really well done and I wouldn't want to remove that, and removing Sawashiro entirely would remove the post-fight cutscene which was pretty good, even if the double locker baby plot twist took similar heat to Mirror Face after the game came out
• Have his "base" appearance resemble a slightly off Adachi. Just have him be a naturally big guy who only needs the makeup and outfit. That one's simple. The first appearance (on the Geomijul monitors) kinda just shows him to be a slightly taller guy with an average build - with no finale appearance, he doesn't really need to imitate Tendo either
• Having the Sawashiro showdown happen under completely different circumstances. However just going "they should have simply done it differently" is worth little on its own though. I'm not. I'm not a writer

My opinion? The issue was that his imitation had no imperfections other than personality. Make his face a little off, or have him speak very little. it's like magic as it is!!
TL;DR: They wrote themselves into a corner and Mirror Face was the most convenient contrivance they had because there was really little to nothing in the way of other possible contrivances. It almost had to be an expert lookalike assassin who previously hadn't popped up. There was no reason he had to be such a good imitator that it's almost supernatural, though. That's entirely on them and I have no clue why they did that - but the rest of it had to happen pretty much. Also he didn't need to be there at the end
TL;DR TL;DR: the worst sins committed with Mirror Face were his 100% perfect imitation skills and his unnecessary appearance as not-Tendo at the end. yes i still don't think it was a very good plot device
TL;DR except it's a gif:
https://i.redd.it/cz6l92ag481d1.gif

Kokichi and Himiko hurried over to Himiko's secret magic room. Once there, Himiko threw open the pages of "Inside the Magical Mind" over to the "Build the Perfect Dream" chapter. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for.
"A-ha!" she squeaked with excitement, placing her finger on the horror section. Kokichi grinned at her.
"Nee-heehee...I know we're supposed to be serious, and all, but that 'a-ha!' was super cute, Monkey Buns!" Kokichi said, giving Himiko a squeeze.
"Nyeh...that's because I'm super cute...thank you very much," Himiko said, sassily flipping her hair.
"Yes, you are," Kokichi murmured in a low, flirty voice, leaning his head against Himiko's. "I wuv my cute, wittle Monkey Buns." He gave Himiko a few soft kisses on her lips. Himiko giggled in delight.
"Okay, okay, it's back to being serious," she said suddenly, clapping her hands with a purpose.
"Yup, yup! It's go time!" Kokichi said, nodding enthusiastically. Himiko studied the horror section of the book:
~HORROR:~
Want a more terrifying experience in your dreams? No? Would you like to give your enemies nightmares, then? If that's the case, try filling up your enemy's mind with the most horrific thing they could ever imagine! Or, use a more lighthearted, yet creepy, potion to prank a friend! That works, too! Take them on a night filled with monsterific fright!
Himiko skimmed the first two potions, "Thriller Night dream," and the "Goosebumps dream." She stopped straight at the "Nightmare Fuel dream."
"Nyeh...this is the one that we need," she said, grinning deviously. Kokichi grinned along with her.
"Oooo...I love when my Supreme Lady gets all mischievous," he said with a ghoulish giggle as he kissed her cheek. Himiko giggled with him, as well, before reading on:
Nightmare Fuel dream: Want your enemies to experience the ultimate nightmare? Then, the Nightmare Fuel dream is the perfect one for you...or should I say, your enemy. Huhuhu! Give them them a night full of what they fear the most, whether it's a bunch of wriggly spiders, or a terrifying ghost!
Kokichi and Himiko grinned at each other impishly.
"Perfect!" they murmured in unison, and giggled deviously as Himiko poured in the ingredients. As she stirred the potion, eerie wisps of green and purple mist emanated from the cauldron. Himiko waved her hands mysteriously over her cauldron to part the mists away. Kokichi was mesmerized by her movements. Her face glowed bright in beautiful shades of shimmering green and purple. Kokichi felt his heart beat faster. If they weren't making cookies, this could be the perfect romantic setting. He couldn't resist her mischievous grin as she continued to pour and mix the ingredients. He felt as if he were falling in love all over again. Himiko looked up at him, catching him staring. She batted her eyelashes seductively at him, beckoning him closer. Finding her alluring and completely irresistible, Kokichi moved closer to her. He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. He then wrapped his arms tightly around Himiko. He couldn't resist. Heart raging against his chest, he reached up her shirt, caressing her back with his hands. His hand slowly moved up towards her bra to unhook it.
Snoozydoodle, my ass, he thought to himself. All my dreams are coming true right here! Suddenly, he moved his lips down to her neck. Himiko gasped softly and smiled. She placed her lips next to Kokichi's ear.

"Kokichi," she whispered seductively.
"Mmmm...yes...my Supreme Lady...?" Kokichi murmured in response, using his lips to move Himiko's shirt collar to gently bite Himiko's shoulder.
"The cookies, Kokichi..." Himiko reminded him in a sultry whisper. Kokichi's hands froze right as he was about to unhook her bra. He squeezed her longingly, but in the end, reluctantly released her.
"Right..." he mumbled. "Sorry..." He sighed, feeling dizzy. He had to admit that he loved the way Himiko made him feel. He shook his head to clear his mind. His breathing slowed back to a steady pace, as well as his heart. Now wasn't the time for feelings. They had to focus on the task at hand. Himiko smiled and bit her lip flirtatiously at him. He could tell she wanted him just as badly in that moment. But, she continued mixing the potion. He turned away from her, as if to block out any lustful temptations.
"Nyeh...it's finally done," Himiko said, breaking the silence. She poured the potion into a potion bottle.
"Ready to go?" Kokichi asked, trying to overcome the spell he was just under. Himiko nodded. Once they left the room, Kokichi grabbed Himiko's wrist. "Himiko...what happened back there...you didn't...do that to me, right?" Himiko smiled as she blushed bright red and shook her head.
"Nope," she replied. Kokichi nodded slowly.
"I thought so," he said. They both took deep breaths. "Pheeew! That was something, huh?" he said, scratching his head with a sheepish blush splashed onto his face.
"Nyeh...it was probably just a heat-of-the-moment type thing," Himiko said.
"Yeah, er, um...sorry about...y'know...reaching up your shirt and..." Kokichi began. Himiko looked at him with a seductive gleam in her eye and smiled naughtily as she placed her hand on his chest.
"You can do whatever you want to me..." she murmured in a low voice. "...and that's the truth." She bit her lip and winked flirtatiously at him before turning and walking away without another word. Kokichi stared after her, stunned, as she walked along the train tracks leading to the abandoned train station. Suddenly, a devilish grin crossed his face as he ran to catch up to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a kiss on the lips before both breaking off into a run with mischievous giggling to D.I.C.E. headquarters to bake cookies for the final time.
End
"Don't go chasin' waterfalls. Listen to the rivers and the lakes that you're uuused to," Four sang, holding a broom handle like a microphone. Five paused from polishing some furniture and turned to him with a scoff.
"Ugh...dummy! Hello! It's 'Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to,'" she corrected.
"Well...whatever," Four grumbled. "I don't like that dumb song anyway."
"Hahaha...why, cuz you got the words wrong?" Six cackled.
"N-No!" Four stammered, going back to sweeping the floor. Two held the dustpan out so Four could sweep the dirt into it. "I just...think it's dumb! How can someone chase a waterfall when it doesn't even move?!"
"Pffft! I don't know, I didn't come up with the lyrics! Why don't you ask DLC?" Six answered. Five rolled her eyes.
"TLC!! " she corrected.
"Whaaaateveeeerrrrr!!" Six shouted back. Suddenly, the front doors of the headquarters burst open, and in walked Kokichi and Himiko.
"Boss! You're here!" Four said, blocking Kokichi's way. "Can I ask you something?"
"Not now, Ichiro, Himiko and I have some business in the kitchen," Kokichi replied urgently. He swerved around Four, but Four ran up to block his way again. "Ugh! What, Ichiro?!" Kokichi exclaimed testily.
"Um...is it 'Don't go chasing waterfalls, listen to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to,' or is it, 'please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to?'" Four asked timidly.
"The latter," Kokichi replied briefly, then dashed away quickly to the kitchen.
"DAMMMIIIIIT!!" Four cried, falling to his knees in defeat. Five grinned smugly at him.
"Told ya!" she said before continuing her polishing.
In the kitchen, Kokichi and Himiko got to work on the last batches of the Snoozydoodles. Kokichi preheated the oven. Himiko poured the ingredients, including some of her potion, inside, and Kokichi mixed afterwards. Right after sticking one batch into the oven, they immediately got started on a second batch. After a few hours of baking, they had finally come up with enough batches for the entire school.
"Nyeh...that was exhausting," Himiko sighed, leaning against the wall.
"Well, that was only half the battle, HimiCocoa Bean," Kokichi said, pulling her up. "We gotta get these cookies to Hope's Peak."
"Ooo! Can I have one?" Four asked, reaching for a cookie.
"No!" Kokichi said, slapping his hand away.
"Nyeh...Kokichi? How are going to carry all these cookies?" Himiko asked, gesturing to the stacks upon stacks of cookies on the counter.
"Kazuki!" Kokichi called to Eight. Eight silently walked in and saluted. "Bring the confetti cannon."
"Yes, boss," Eight replied, then hurried away. He came back a few minutes later lugging a large, black, tubular contraption with a long, black hose with ridges similar to a one on a vacuum cleaner.
"Thank you!" Kokichi replied. Eight saluted in response. "It's clear of confetti, right?"
"Yes, sir," Eight replied.
"Great!" Kokichi said. "Takehiko!" Ten now appeared in the kitchen, taking his place next to Eight.
"You rang, boss?" he asked.
"Yup! Fire up the Happycopter and wait there for us," Kokichi ordered.
"On it like a bonnet!" Ten promised and scurried off.
"Monkey Buns, help me pour the cookies into this hole right here," Kokichi said, opening up a lid on top of the cannon similar to a fuel cap on a car.
"Nyeh...got it, boss," Himiko replied with a smile. Kokichi smiled back at her and stroked her cheek affectionately. They both began pouring the cookies inside the confetti cannon. Once all the cookies were inside, Kokichi closed the lid.
"Alright, babe, we're ready to roll!" he said to Himiko. Himiko nodded firmly in response. Kokichi turned to Eight. "Kazuki, give us a hand." Eight saluted and helped Kokichi and Himiko carry the cannon up the stairs all the way to the rooftop, where Ten was waiting for them in the Happycopter. The three hoisted the cannon inside. Kokichi hopped in and helped Himiko inside.
"Where to, boss?" Ten asked.
"Drop us down on the roof of Hope's Peak," Kokichi replied.
"Caaaan do!" Ten said, then took off. He landed the Happycopter on the roof of the academy, and helped Kokichi lug the cannon out.
"Alright, Ten! We'll take it from here!" Kokichi shouted over the blades of the Happycopter. Ten answered with a salute, then flew the Happycopter back to D.I.C.E. headquarters. The final bell to Hope's Peak rang, and the students began pouring out of the front entrance far below. Kokichi pulled out a megaphone.
"He-eeeey, everyoooone!" he sang, his voice ringing loud and clear. The students looked up at him.
"Hey! It's Kokichi!" Kaito said, pointing up at the roof.
"And Himiko's with him!" Ibuki added. Himiko felt dizzy from such a great height.
"Nyeeeh...I feel woozy," she muttered. "I'm glad I'm only 4' 11." I don't think I could stand being taller than that."
"That's alright, HimiCocoa Bean, I'll do all the talking," Kokichi said. "Just get ready to flip that switch when I tell you to." Himiko went to the cannon and waited by a tiny, black lever.
"Hey, Kokichi!! Tell Himiko to give us more cookies!" Kazuichi cried.
"You guys want Snoozydoodles?" Kokichi asked through the megaphone. Everyone cheered. "I saaiiid...do you guys want Snoozydoodles?" Kokichi repeated louder, increasing suspense. Everyone cheered louder.
"Hurry up and give us the damn cookies!!" Miu screamed at the top of her lungs. Kokichi turned to Himiko.
"Flip the switch, Monkey Buns!" he said. Himiko flipped the tiny lever, activating the confetti cannon. Kokichi held up the ridged hose, and out flew dozens of cookies. The students below cheered and clamored for the cookies. Everyone grabbed a cookie and headed home. Kokichi turned to Himiko and gave her a high five.
"Well done, Himiko!" he said. "Now all we gotta do is wait!"
***
The next morning, Himiko woke up to see Tenko sitting on the edge of her bed in horror. Her eyes were wide and she was pale as if she had seen a ghost. Himiko crept slowly over to her.
"Nyeh...Tenko? Are you okay?" Himiko asked worriedly. Tenko jumped back in fear.
"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" she screamed, jumping back under her blanket.
"Nyeh! T-Tenko! It's just me!" Himiko said. Tenko peeked out from under her blanket.
"H-H-Himiko...?" she stammered.
"That's right. It's just me," Himiko said. Shivering violently, Tenko crawled out from under blanket again. "Tenko, what happened?"
"H-H-Had...nightmare..." Tenko stammered. "N-N-nothing b-b-but...darkness. And...c-c-creepy singing. I couldn't move! It's like I was trapped inside a...a...cage! The next thing I know...there was a sharp p-p-pain in my neck!"
"Oh, my!" Himiko exclaimed.
"Th-Th-That's when I w-w-woke up," Tenko said, holding her blanket up to her face. Then, she slowly lowered her blanket with an apologetic expression. "Himiko...i-i-if it's okay with you...I d-don't think I want another S-Snoozyd-d-doodle..."
"Yeah! Okay!" Himiko nodded. It was exactly what she wanted! She hurried to get dressed, then headed downstairs to the dining room to see the others' faces filled with woe and misery, as if their nightmares had drained every ounce of life from their bodies.
"Nee-heehee...looks like all their hopes and dreams got shattered, huh?" Kokichi whispered, suddenly appearing next to Himiko, leaning his elbow on her shoulder. Himiko grinned and nodded.
"But, I wanna make sure they don't crave my Snoozydoodles at all, anymore," she said. She walked into the dining room. "Nyeh...anyone in the mood for more Snoozydoodles?" Everyone snapped to attention with sheer horror in their eyes.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!" Kaito wailed.
"Keep those cookies from hell away from us!!" Miu cried, tears streaming from her eyes. "There was nothing but...t-t-toilet paper everywhere!! And some buff guy I couldn't identify was running after me with one of the rolls tryin' to strangle meeee!!"
"Gonta not wanna get stabbed by bug again!!" Gonta sobbed into his hands. "Bugs betray Gontaaaaaa!!"
"I...had boiled water thrown on me..." Kiyo said, his face pale and sweaty. "Then, to add salt to the wound, Sister threw salt on my wounds." He shuddered violently.
"I was surrounded by a bunch of piranhas," Ryoma said. "And then, they started biting me. I...could actually feel the biting." Everyone was holding themselves, rocking back and forth, trying to erase their nightmares from their minds.
"Himiko...if it's alright with you...I'm done with Snoozydoodles," Tsumugi said. Himiko pretended to appear despondent.
"I understand," she said. Then, she turned to Kokichi with a huge grin. Kokichi gave her a thumbs up.
"That's my Supreme Lady," he murmured in her ear and gave her a kiss.
***
Weeks later, the time finally came for the surprise field trip. Usami ushered the students onto the buses.
"Where do you think we're going, Monkey Buns?" Kokichi asked Himiko.
"Nyeh...I'm not sure," Himiko replied.
"Tuh...wherever it is, it better not have anything to do with cookies," Miu muttered bitterly. She was hanging over their seat from behind.
"Uh...this is a private conversation between me and my Supreme Lady," Kokichi said. "So, back off, bitch!"
"Eeeeeeee!!! Okay, okaaaayyyy!!" Miu whined, shriveling back down into her seat. The buses lurched forward, and drove a few hours, passing cities like Osaka and Kobe. From Kobe, they drove through Awaji island to one of Japan's main islands, Shikoku, to Ehime prefecture. From there, they took a ferry ride to a small island.
"Heeey, you're taking us to an island?!" Kazuichi asked in annoyance. "How annoying! What's so great about a damn island?! We live on one! Japan is made of a bunch of them!"
"Don't worry! You'll like this place, I'm sure!" Usami promised.
"Oh, my! If that island is what I think it is, we shall definitely have the best time of our lives!" Sonia cried.

"What is it?" Kaede asked.
"I...do not want to tell," Sonia said. "I do not want to get my hopes up." Himiko turned to Kokichi.
"Do you know what she's talking about, Kokichi?" she whispered. Kokichi shrugged.
"Beats me," he replied. "Honestly, I think it'll be fun to find out." Finally, the ferry pulled in to dock. The students climbed off the ferry, and were startled by Sonia's cry of pure joy.
"I KNEW IT!!!" she exclaimed. The students turned to see what she was so happy about, and gasped in delight. There before them, were a bunch of cats! Cats laying around, cats pouncing on birds, cats being petted by tourists. There were cats everywhere!
"Students...welcome to Aoshima Island!" Usami announced grandly. "Feel free to pet the kitties to your heart's content!" The students rushed over to them with glee.
"Awwww...hey, there, wittle kitty-wittyyyyy...!" Kaede gushed, holding a cat up to her nose. then, she held it to Shuichi. "Wanna pet him, Shuichi?" Shuichi patted the cat politely on his head.
"Fuhahahahaaaa!! I shall set up my feline army here!" Gundham said. Many cats surrounded him. "Behold, feline warriors! It is I, your king, Gundham Ta-nyah-kaaa!!"
"Huh...I didn't think someone like you was capable of making puns," Kazuichi said.
"I thought it was a wonderful pun!" Sonia said.
"Pretty cute, huh, Himiko?" Kokichi asked, holding up a black and white cat. Himiko held up a cat with ginger fur.
"Nyeh...this one, too!" she said with a nod.

"Heeeey...these two look like they'd make a great couple!" Kokichi said. They held their cats together. One black and white, and the other, with its fiery red-orange fur.
"I couldn't agree more, Kokichi," Himiko replied, batting her eyelashes at him. The black and white cat's green eyes twinkled with mischief, while the ginger cat just hung there lazily in Himiko's arms. The black and white cat playfully swiped at the ginger cat. The ginger cat made an annoyed noise and pawed at the black and white one. The black and white cat nuzzled its head against the ginger's, and the ginger cat seemed to smile. Kokichi and Himiko giggled and set the cats down. The black and white cat nudged the ginger. He ran a few feet ahead, then stopped, waiting for the ginger to follow. The ginger stood up and trotted after the black and white. The black and white hopped up and down excitedly and broke off into a run. Kokichi wrapped his arm around Himiko's waist as they watched the the ginger catching up to the black and white, running alongside each other off to another adventure, no doubt.