I had a wonderful childhood. I couldn't have asked for a better one. My parents, brother, family, ... so much love in my life.
As I got older, I started to become exposed to the harsh realities of life. The people closest to me and the ones I loved the most started to get sick and pass away. I lost my dog. Life wasnt the same. And later, was diagnosed with Crohns which had a massive impact on my life and self confidence. I felt like a lab rat.. so many tests, doctor visits, medicine, diets, needles, ... eventually extensive surgery.
Luckily, after years of torture, I made it out ok. I started to build back my confidence, and was optimistic about the future. Before I knew it, I met the love of my life. I felt so extremely lucky to have you in my life. It felt like a dream. I felt that after all that pain and loss, I had finally had something good happen to me.
As time we on, we became best friends. You confessed your love to me, said I was different than all the rest, and you saw a future with me. You expressed how special I was to you. I felt the same way.
We met eachothers families, who became so close with eachother. I truly loved your family, they felt like home. My family loved you so much... my parents loved you like a daughter, and I knew you loved them too. We had everyone's support and love. We were the golden couple. We grew and experiences so much together. Bought our first house, saw the world, new jobs, school, ... Everyone was so proud of us, and we were proud of eachother.
Somewhere along the way, you started seeking outside the relationship for attention. I knew you were very social, so at first, I was happy to see you making friends. I knew you had a difficult childhood and past, and didn't have many good friends, so I was very supportive and encouraged you to do things with your friends.
We were inseparable. Always going things together, planning trips, going on adventures. Everything was easy. We enjoyed eachothers company so much. We made eachother laugh, feel loved, and safe. We were so comfortable and open, goofy with eachother, and always so intimate.
We shared a lot of the same hobbies: plants/garden, camping, trails, video games, movies, travel, outdoors, relaxing at home, ... it didn't seem to matter what we were doing, we were happy together.
I loved making you smile and laugh. I loved seeing you happy doing what you loved, or eating a meal I'd prepare for you.
I always wanted you to have the best. Since you were in school, I provided for you. Food, toys, restaurants, trips, ... whatever you wanted. I wanted to give you the world. It felt so good to make you happy.
You would tease me and hint towards wanting to get engaged. After 3 years, it happened. We were so happy, and you were so excited and happy to share the big news. We started planning our wedding, moved into a bigger house, new jobs, everything felt good.
I never expected to love someone so much. This young woman brought so much love, happiness, and adventure into my life. She completed changed everything. Everything was so easy.. effortless.. felt right.
When we moved into your dream home, things became more stressful. The house needed a lot of work, as well as the property. Regardless, we were willing and eager to tackle projects together and were excited to make things our own.
As time went on, and school/work seemed to become more stressful for you, I was left finishing a lot of our projects and maintaining them by myself. I also stepped up and started trying to take on more of the chores and responsibilities so that you could focus on school/work and still have time to relax. I was happy to help give you some relief.
After a few months, your brother asked to be our roommate for a time. I was hesitant, but you encouraged me that it would be a good thing. He would pay and help around the house. At first, it was nice. However, as time we on, it became more and more stressful.
The stress of doing everything and having a roommate that didn't mesh well with us overwhelmed me. I knew it was temporary, so I endured it.
One day, you came home from your new job and expressed what a good day you had.. that you had the chance to work with a different doctor, and that he was very fun and nice. I was so happy to hear it, since I knew you hadn't been having good days and people had been difficult. I was glad you seemed to have a mentor.
You started to have more good days than bad, working with this person more and more. You started talking to me about them more, sharing things you learned and talked with him about. As time went on, I started to feel a bit jealous. You had been spending more time with this person than me... your shifts were long, and I hadn't been seeing you as much. You started even talking to our parents about this person.
I started to notice you texting him while we were at home together. I'd ask, and you'd happily share whatever it was you guys were talking about. One evening, you were texting this doctor late at night. I approached you about this, and expressed how it was making me feel. I felt that it had started to become too much, and wasn't appropriate. I didn't like the idea of this older married man communicating with my young fiance so much. I expressed that I was happy that you had a friend at work, but felt that it was becoming too personal and inappropriate. You tried to reassure me that you were just friends, and that he was old and married, you would never be attracted to him. I stood firm and expressed that I would like for you to only communicate while at work, or for work related matters. You agreed and assured me it was nothing.
As time went on, I noticed you would sometimes hide your phone, turn it away, flip it upside down, or turn it off as I walked by. At first, I thought it was just me being paranoid. But as time went on, it started to mess with my head... otherwise, everything was good, so I told myself it was nothing. You started to enjoy that type of work and decided to join his practice. I was happy you were able to make up your mind and find something you enjoyed. Time went on. At some point, you needed an invasive procedure done... and you requested that doctor complete it. I didn't love the idea, but you preferred to have someone do it that you trusted. After that, the doctor seemed to be a thing of the past.
As the wedding date approached, the excitement increased. We had everything planned out and we were so excited for our big day. I saw how happy you were throughout the whole process. I couldn't believe our big day was right around the corner.
Our wedding was like a dream. Everything came together so nicely. We had the best night of our lives. I loved seeing you so happy with our friends and family there to celebrate with us. We went on a wonderful honeymoon and I felt so loved and appreciated.
Once we returned home, our roommate left, and stress started to decrease dramatically in the house. I was so relieved. You finished school, graduated, and I threw you a big surprise party to celebrate. I had always put together parties for all your special occasions, and I knew you really appreciated that. After so many nights helping you study, it felt wonderful to see you walk across that stage and finally finish.
You shortly after moved to a different hospital, and seemed to really like your new job and everyone there. Life was so good...
The house and our list of responsibilities and all the maintenance was still a lot, but I felt we were quickly starting to knock things off our list.
One week, you started working a lot... I hardly saw you that week. We'd always text and check in, saying we loved eachother, missed eachother, and looked forward to seeing eachother. When the weekend finally arrived, you had mentioned your best friend invited you to join her for girl time. I realized you hadn't seen her much lately and encouraged it.
That weekend, my grandmother had been struggling. I felt alone in our big house and had wished you were there. We checked in on eachother while you were gone. I was expecting you to return one evening, so I had dinner prepared. I was hurt when you didn't arrive and decided to stay another night with your friend.
When I saw you the next morning, I was feeling pretty down. I was already sad about my grandmother, but also felt like an after thought that week. You were so happy to see me, which was nice. We had a nice evening, spent time together, .. you never stopped telling me you loved me.
The next day after work, I got home, and you seemed so cold and distant. You seemed bothered by something. I checked in, asked if you needed anything, then went about my day. It seemed like you wanted space. I checked in every few hours, and you were busy doing something on your laptop.
I prepared dinner and started watching TV. I encouraged you to take a break, eat, and relax some before bed. You joined me on the couch, but was quiet and explained that you had some work to finish.
As it got late, I went up to bed. You explained you'd be up a little longer while you finished your work. As the hours went by, I thought it was so odd that you weren't in bed yet. I knew you had to get up early... sleep was always such a priority. I got up to check on you and to get some water. You were still on your laptop.. I noticed you were looking at rooms to something. I encouraged you to get some sleep. You joined me, looking exhausted.
We cuddled, said we loved eachother, then fell asleep. The next morning, I finished getting ready for work while you slept. As I was getting ready to leave, I sae your laptop. I decided to check and see what you were looking at... another air bnb for a trip? I was curious. We shared the laptop, so I didn't feel like I was invading her privacy.
I opened the laptop and saw apartments. I was so confused. I checker her email.. apartments. I noticed she had Facebook messenger up with recent messages. I checked... my world turned upside down. Those seconds felt like eternity as my heart sounded and my stomach sank. I read a message to a friend saying she wanted a divorce, never loved me, felt like a stranger in her house, dreaded coming home to me, ... that she loved a doctor.. he's married, but his wife is a lesbian. That was easily the worst moment of my life. I panicked and didn't know what to do... I was in shock. After a few minutes, I decided to address this with you.
I quietly walked up the stairs, sat on the edge of the bed, and calmly woke you up. You were sleepy, asking why I woke up.. you still had about 30m before work. I apologized for waking you.. As I looked at you silently, I started to cry. I quietly said "I know...". "I saw the messages". She looked back at me in shock.. eyes wide in the dark. I asked if she had been having an affair. She said no.. then started to look at me as if I wad a stranger. It was a terrible feeling.
You got up to get ready for work, and said we'd talk later that evening. You left. I was standing in the driveway and felt sick. I wasn't sure if I could make it to work.. but being at the house was making me feel worse, so I left. I didn't eat anything that while day. While at work, I prepared myself for our talk.
When we both got home, you pulled up to the house and started to pack some things while I sat on the couch. When you finally joined me, you were quiet.. asked about my day, I asked about yours.. then more silence. I asked what you needed from me. You explained that you were feeling very anxious, and didn't want me to get upset. You said you were going to stay with a friend for a few days to clear your head and wanted to talk once we were both rested.
You left for almost a week while I stayed in our big empty house, taking care of our pets, and completely confused and dead inside. I hardly ate or slept. I desperately started reading and watching whatever information I could find to help explain what was happening and to prepare myself. I spent most of my time thinking, reflecting on our life. I started tonrealize how stressed I had been... and thought about all the things I should/could have done differently. I knew I treated her so well, but no one is perfect.
Looking back, I started to think about all the red flags. Love is blind. I truly loved, trusted, and cared for this person more than anyone in the world. I thought she felt the same way... I never imagined us seperating.
I started to think of that doctor she used to talk about.. and realized she probably never stopped talking to him. I started to realize that my wife had stopped opening up to me... was no longer emotional or vulnerable... her emotional? affair started to kill the emotional intimacy between us.
I was happy just to have her in my life and enjoyed just being with her... she never expressed or talked about being unhappy... if I had known, I feel certain that we could have fixed whatever was lacking. I would have met whichever needs werent being met.
Were you lonely while I was busy working hard for us? Was she bored? I would have happily planned more outings... whenever I suggested something, you expressed that you were tired or didn't show interest. I knew you enjoyed time alone, so I never felt bad doing my own thing. I figured you would tell me of you needed or felt something...
I was so confused... started to question what was real. When did this all start? Why? How? Terrible thoughts entered my mind... so many late shifts, staying the night at the hospital, leaving early to get the air bnbs ready, ...
I also realized that towards the end, you had suddenly started to listen to different music, got a nose piercing, tattoo, talked about signing up for a sport, working out, ... these were all things I knew you had wanted to do for awhile, but it was all so sudden.
Why didn't you ever communicate... I recall you expressing your concern with my stress, but nothing else. I felt that my stress was reasonable considering everything I was doing.. and knew it was temporary. I didn't ignore it though. I saw a therapist, and started making changes. Was it all too late?
When we finally spoke again, it was so nice to just see you. We sat and you were so friendly and sweet - it reassured me that everything was going to be ok. We made small talk and joked, which immediately lightened the mood. You suggested I spoke first. I expressed my feelings and how important the marriage was.. that I'd so anything to save it. I took responsibility for my side of things and expressed the changes I had made and would continue to make. When you started, you expressed that you would always cherish our time together, but we're set on divorce. That we both deserved to be truly happy. Shortly after, you left.
The days after, you started packing your things while I was at work. I was living in a big empty house, every day getting more and more empty. I was a complete mess living in hell. Her family started to reach out to me and shower me with support, apologies, and disbelief. No one could make sense of this.
After a week or so, I couldn't take it any more, so I moved to stay with my parents while we finished moving out. I attempted to stay cordile through all this. You seemed so unphased and happy... texting me and talking to me like we were still best friends.
You explained that you felt bad for saying you never loved me... that you did, but not in the way a wife should love their husband. That it could be years, but in the future, I could count on you.
As time went on, and the pain increased, I was more distant. You texted more and more. Finally, I suggested that we limit communication unless she was interested in working on our marriage.
As the days went by, you grew colder and irritated.. I started to feel like the bad guy. I know you started to feel the weight of your decisons, and starred to project onto me. Making me the bad guy made you feel better. I attempted to end things on a good note... being helpful throughout the move out process, but you were so cold. It hurt so much... 5 wonderful years tossed aside like it never mattered.
I havent talked to you in weeks... I miss my best friend, my love, your family, our pets, and the wonderful life we built. I'm left trying to pickup the pieces. I feel so lost, confused, broken, ...
The tremendous amount of support I've gotten from both sides has helped a lot. I'm seeing a therapist, reading a lot, eating more, working out, and focusing on my self. The days are getting better, but I still have days where I am a mess.
I havent been sleeping well... always tired. Waking up several times, terrible nightmares and thoughts of you being with another man... I still have believe you would be capable of all this.. of hurting me so much.
I have urges to reach out to you... wanting to fix this, that there must be a misunderstanding... there are so many things I'd like to say. I got complacent and comfortable during our time together. I stopped doing the little things as often as I used to... I never meant to hurt you, make you feel lonely, unloved, unappreciated, ... whatever it is you felt. It's difficult for me to accept that my sweet innocent wife was capable of this... surely there was a reason?? I was just so caught up in my list of things... I was working so hard for our future.
I feel like my wife was manipulated by this man... why does an older doctor (20 years older) have a lesbian wife? He doesn't love her like she seems to think... he is using her. I feel sorry for her... I know there is no future there.
I've done a lot of reading on Attachment Styles, Limerence, love addiction, and other things that come as a result of childhood trauma. I feel like a lot of this has to do with her trauma... but also her selfishness and emotional immaturity. There is nothing I can do. I just pray she figures things out on her own, finds longlasting happiness, and puts an end to this cycle.
I would love it if we were able to reconnect in the future... I still deeply love and care for her. I don't want our story to end... none of this feels right. My gut is screaming that this is all wrong. I just know we both need to work on ourselves for the time being.
One day I had it all, the next, it crashed down before my eyes. Meeting you was the best thing to happen to me... you leaving was the worst. You rushed out of my life so quickly... I wish things were different.

What/how little do we think Ariana eats a day to maintain her current state? I’m just fascinated by how someone, especially with her mental health issues & busy schedule manages so much with so little nourishment, I would feel like I didn’t have a minute to breathe if I was so deep in my ed but had so many obligations to show up for (which alone can be exhausting). I’m aware there’s all kinds of drugs/help she could be getting to stay up & running as she is, however, taking a possibly more realistic approach, I wonder if maybe she truly does just drink a shit ton of black coffee which can do the trick to an extent (ik my heart would be racing out of my chest, if I ingested the amount she does lol I feel like it has a higher affect on those w anxiety?) she probably is just incredibly strategic abt what/when she eats so she can keep pushing through her days, that on top of the fact she probably gets a lot of steps in for someone so malnourished (especially on set for wicked where she had to dance & run all around set) I’m interested to hear some other thoughts on this & what y’all think a day of eating (or lack thereof🙈) looks like for her! P.S. she is no longer vegan to my knowledge there have been numerous reports she confirmed it in a soundcheck back in 2018 although I’m not rlly convinced she was ever truly 100% vegan as she actively bought/wore leather bags & a horrific fur coat, as well all throughout this time period - lol performative much😭 as an ex-vegan I simply point this out to say, you never know especially w someone like her, she’s probably at least primarily still plant based / a pescatarian…coming from experience, however, she probably eats whatever she can that is most high protein/low cal in her state to stay this way w out dying essentially, unless ofc she has orthorexia, which could make it even more difficult for her to indulge in anything outside a v rigid set of safe foods….I say all this not to alienate her in any way, or those w ed’s in general, but as someone who has dealt w an ed similar to her’s & is looking to study nutrition/health, I am simply curious to hear some other viewpoints:) thankfully I am in the final stages of recovery, but I want to be clear it hurts my heart to see anyone dealing w such a hateful relationship w themselves, it truly is a disconnection w the self/soul:( I will also be asking ariheads in the near future & reporting back on their predictable delusion lol. She may be a shit person, however, this post is not intended to shame her for her ed in any way, simply to shed light on a topic I find fascinating in the aftermath of my ed.

I had my first lap that led to my diagnosis in August 2023. The doctor who did the procedure was the fifth one I had talked to about my symptoms and concerns that I had endo and the only one who offered an ultrasound or surgery to get to the bottom of the pain I’ve experienced in the past 7 years. She would make comments that made me feel dismissed, such as “it’s not your fault you feel this way. Eve bit the Apple, not you. We are just meant to suffer” or only talk to my husband DURING my ultrasound. Despite this, I stuck with her out of fear of starting over and having to explain to another doctor that I’m not being dramatic about my pain. My only post-op appointment was a disaster. While she did show me the three points of endo that had developed behind my uterus, I wasn’t given any information about what stage it was in or how to treat them. All I was told is “I’m not so worried about it that I’d push you to have a baby yet” and “there’s a lot of good resources online that you can look up”. She even took a phone call and gestured for me to leave the room and ended our appointment! I left feeling like I didn’t leave with hardly any more knowledge about my condition than what I entered with. I looked online and saw information about hormonal medicine that may help, including Orilissa, which I took for a short time before my surgery, but I suffer from Major Depressive Disorder and have noticed that hormonal medication negatively affects my mental state. Since my appointment, I’ve virtually given up on treatment. I don’t feel any better than I did before the procedure, and it feels like I’m getting more and more symptoms every month.for instance, around my surgery, I started noticing light rectal bleeding that would happen during my period, which my doctor shrugged off when I brought it up. Now, I experienced the bleeding at the same pace with the same consistency as my menstruation. I’ve tried to incorporate a plant based diet and Pilates/cardio to help combat other symptoms and haven’t seen much difference there either. Sometimes it feels like nothing is going to get better, but I want to be optimistic. I thought about getting a new doctor and talking about a hysterectomy or other ways to manage, but I’m worried it won’t even be worth it. This is 100% a pity party but I really wanted to get it out there. Do any of y’all relate to this frustration? How do you handle it?

Previous Part
The next day went by in a blur. Rocco was walking the perimeter of the camp, keeping an eye out for Brooke when I woke up. I didn’t really think he’d leave, but it seemed to give Rocco something to do other than being a general menace to society. All of us ate breakfast as normal but no one really said much. I’m not sure if they were still reeling from things they saw yesterday or if they just weren’t in a talking mood. The thought occurred to me that Shaoni may have payed a visit to each of them as well. Prying into what they saw and answering questions they might have. Honestly the whole thing felt like we were guinea pigs. Shaoni didn’t really seem to have a great handle on the trials so far. It was… mildly concerning that the ringmaster of all this didn’t seem 100% in control anymore.
Actually, I’d thought about that a lot last night. Shaoni just sort of left us to our own devices when we went through those “visions” yesterday. It’s not like she backed up her claim that she’d know what we’d seen either. If anything the fact that she came to ask me about it made me even more suspicious that she wasn’t really sure what she was doing. It was the first time I’d ever thought of Shaoni as anything other than in complete control. Slowly but surely it was becoming glaringly obvious that wasn’t the case.
If I was remembering correctly today’s trial was the trial of strength. I sincerely hoped that was a metaphor for something. You’ve got to understand, I’m not a very strong person, not physically anyways. I hoped Shaoni wanted to test mental strength or strength of will something like that. My hopes shattered as we arrived at the coliseum and saw an arena set up. There were several dummies in a corner, the kind you would see used in martial arts or HEMA or something to that effect. At the foot of the dummies were several wooden clubs. I couldn’t see them to clearly but they almost looked clawed from a distance. The real centerpiece was the platform in the middle of the coliseum. It looked like a stage and I’m sure that’s exactly how we were going to use it. The raised wooden platform had been constructed with boards placed across the top. It looked like those boards could be removed and under that was simply the cold hard ground about two feet below.
Katrina’s eyes lit up as she looked over the room.
“Now this is what I’m talking about, a real trial!”
She just about shrieked in excitement, throwing one fist in the air and startling the rest of us to attention. Katrina was the only one that really seemed excited about this. John and Robert just looked accepting and I’m not sure Brooke had put two and two together yet. I’d seen the clubs laid out by the dummies and already figured we’d be sparing with each other.
“Good morning everyone, I hope your ready for today.”
Called Shaoni, emerging unseen from behind us. Anyone who wasn’t fully awake at that point sure was then. There’s just something about Shaoni that makes you really really not want her to show up behind you unannounced. Probably why she kept doing it to us.
“Today I will test your strength, while I’d rather avoid conflict it’s sometimes unavoidable. My ideal candidate not only knows themselves but can handle themselves as well. We will allow you some time to familiarize yourself with the war clubs you’ll be using. Then you will compete against each other to find the strongest, most skilled warrior among you.”
Shaoni explained, Katrina’ excitement growing with every word.
I wasn’t to keen to participate in any of this but, like usual, I didn’t really have much of a choice at this point.
“So will you be sticking around this time then?”
I asked, wondering if Shaoni was going to cut and run again.
“I have other matters to attend to today. While I would like to stay and observe the whole day I need to prepare things for the final trial tomorrow. I’ll be back in time to see you test each other though.”
She replied dismissively, already on her way out. Shaoni seemed almost uninterested in us now. For someone evaluating us she seemed awful happy to pass off the evaluation to her followers. I didn’t say anything else as she walked out of the coliseum and towards the exit.
As I walked over to the little training area I saw the clubs were actually ornate masterpieces. They were carved from a hard dark wood. The handles resembled an eagles talon, curving near the end to grip a wooden orb. Whoever made these was beyond skilled, these things were works of art. I didn’t have much time to admire them before Katrina interrupted me.
“Hey, Keith was it? Want me to show you how to use these things?”
She called over to me, it was more of a command than a question but that’s pretty par for the course with her.
“If you want, sure. I’m uh… I’m kinda a fish out of water with this find of thing.”
I told her, rubbing the back of my neck with one hand in embarrassment. I wasn’t sure why she was singling me out for that but she answered that question for me.
“Good, Those two creep me out and that one has been drooling over me since we got here.”
She said, pointing over at Robert and John who had already started practicing, then at Brooke. Katrina showed absolutely no subtly in any of this, earning us looks from all three of the others.
I was a little afraid of Katrina teaching me anything, if someone was gonna kill me by accident it would be her. That and she still had that gun on her. Despite my misgivings she was actually a pretty good teacher. She was a bit like a drill instructor but I learned a thing or two. By the time we were done I felt like I might stand half a chance in this trial.
“Just remember your footwork, keep your balance and the rest should come natural. Oh, and if we get paired up, take a dive, it’ll be less painful.”
Katrina added with a smirk, walking over towards the group by the stage in the center of the room. Shaoni had just come back in and was up on the balcony. A few of her followers had collected us and informed us we were about to start the, ”practical part”, as they put it.
“There’s five of you so for the first matchup one of my own will serve as the opponent. Anyone what to go first?”
Shaoni asked us, looking down with a raised eyebrow and waiting for a response. Before I realized what I’d done my hand was in the air, my body subconsciously wanting to get this over with as fast as possible. Shaoni actually looked surprised as she gestured for me to take my place on the stage. Two of the boards had been removed on either side leaving us something like six feet of space to work with before falling off the platform. But I was far less concerned about that after I saw the guy walking over. It was the driver from a few days ago when Shaoni had me brought out to the camp. The guy that had his friend stabbed by Bianca, he didn’t look like he’d forgotten about that as they gave him his club.
As I took my place on the stage the only thing I was thinking was exactly how bad it hurt when you got hit with one of these things.
“Begin when you are ready.”
Called Shaoni from her place on the balcony. The guy across from me took absolutely no time to think, charging at me wildly right away. I tried to brace myself and remember Katrina’s training, taking an even stance and angling my club for the coming blow. I did manage to block his strike but the force of it threw me to the ground. My mind went into full survival mode as he swung down at me. He was way less fluid than Katrina had been when she was showing me the ropes. He just seemed like he wanted to hurt me by any means necessary. As I rolled from side to side avoiding his blows I waited for an opening. He took a particularly hard swing at my head and I rolled at the last possible second. He lost his balance, giving me a chance to slip between his legs and get back to my feet. I stood back up narrowly avoiding a swing for my head as my opponent regained his balance and swung back at me. His wide hate fueled swing carried his whole body around with it and gave me another opening. I planted my feet and took one hard swing at the man’s turned shoulder hitting him right on the bone with a sickening crack. He stumbled around towards the edge, turning his back to me. I took one final swing, hoisting the club above my head and bringing it down in between his shoulder blades with a hollow thud. The blow sent him tumbling forward over the edge and off the stage, falling to the floor below.
Katrina shot me a quick thumbs up as I walked off the stage while Shaoni looked down at me and gave me an approving nod. No one else seemed to pay me any mind as I rejoined the group. I felt empowered, I hadn’t expected to get even that far, maybe there was a chance for me in this trial after all. Robert and John fought next and despite their age they each held their own. In the end John forced Robert off the edge, his age and weight throwing off his balance. I was still impressed either of them could move like they had, I guess I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Then Katrina fought Brooke in the last… round I guess I’d call it. The smile on her face was unsettling from the moment she realized she’d be paired up with him, like a shark smelling blood in the water. You could just tell that she was going to take pleasure in what happened next.
That smile was still on her face as she walked up onto the stage and took her place across from Brooke.
“I hope you like it rough baby, cause I’m not going easy on you!”
Brooke called to her from the other side of the stage making a point to puff out his chest and flex his muscles. That set her off like a bomb, the smile disappeared and she exploded towards Brooke. I saw the exact moment that false confidence left his eyes and he actually turned to run, he was far to late and way to slow. Her first strike went low, shooting out in front of Brooke and coming back to catch his knee sending him tripping forward. He tried to regain his balance but she had no intention of letting him. Katrina swung out in front of him again, this time catching his neck with the club on its way back. That sent him flat onto his back, the club falling form his hand and rolling off the edge of the stage was the only sound in the whole coliseum. All eyes focused on Katrina as she took a breath then delivered a kick to Brooke’s ribs so hard that he went rolling off the edge, following his club. I returned her thumbs up she had given me as she rejoined the group.
Next, those of us who remained got matched up with each other. Shaoni wanted to use another one of her followers to stand in but Katrina insisted on just going twice. That meant I’d fight her and then the winner would fight John to see who the victor of the day was. As I stood across from Katrina I considered taking her advice from before, “…Just take a dive…” she had said. I thought about it, I really did, but I’d done so well earlier right? Why stop now? While I’d been thinking Katrina had walked up to me and started to swing. I had just enough time to realize my mistake before she cracked me across the head so hard she knocked me out.
I came to an hour later, alone on an animal skin cot. I was still in the coliseum but everyone else had left apparently. The only thing I saw when I got up from the ground was the torchlight illuminating the passage that lead back outside. That and the note scribbled on a scrap of a sticky note taped to my fore head.
“I told you to take a dive.”
Well at least she might feel bad about knocking me out. I figured we must be done for the day given how dead the camp seemed when I emerged back into the light. With nothing better to do, I walked off towards the forest to clear my head. I wondered what Bianca had been up to since I’d been gone as I aimlessly wandered around the forest’s edge.
“No that wouldn’t work! We don’t know what’s up there and we are not just waltzing in through the front gates!”
Stein yelled at me as I went over my most recent idea for breaking Keith out of whatever trials were going on out by the old mine. It had been two days since I watched him get kidnapped in front of me and I was getting drastic, aaaannd maybe a little dramatic.
“But I could do it guys! Remember back at the reservation? Those guys were willing to do anything for me and there can’t be that many guards in one place. Maybe I just convince a small group to lead us in and make an excuse for us.”
“For the last time Bianca, They’re just about cultists far as I can tell. You ain’t gonna be able to fight the kinda conviction they have to that bird, even if ya could its to much of a risk.”
Tuck protested from his seat at the kitchen table.
The kitchen table had become our war room over the past few days. A map of Eagles Peak Frank had made lay across it with dozens of pins stuck in around where the old mine would be.
“I don’t think an approach from the front is a good idea at all. You and Keith got to the mine through the forest once. Could we follow that path, approach without anyone knowing we were there?”
Stein theorized as he paced back and forth at the head of the table.
“Well, we really just wandered around for a bit and ended up there. We didn’t find the mine either, it was a hole that lead down to an old cavern near the mine. They turned out to be connected but that was just dumb luck.”
I explained to the group. Tuck looked like that had given him an idea.
“So you two got some backdoor entrance figured out that you’re only just tellin’ me about? That could be perfect! The four of us could make our way out and drop through that hole, take em all by surprise!”
Tuck exclaimed, leaping to his feet. His enthusiasm was nice but it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“We… kinda made a bit of a scene when we were there, they might be watching for something like that to happen again.”
“True, but it’s the best entrance strategy I’ve heard so far, I think following up on it is worth a try.”
Frank added with a nod. Stein then started pacing up and down the length of the table for a bit. He was coming up with something, that much was obvious.
“So we’ll enter through this hole leading into a cave connected to the old mine. From what you told us about your time there its some sort of staging area for these trials, at least that’s my best guess. Odds are there won’t be many people there overnight so we make our way out there during the night. From there we move through the cave and into the mine but after that we know nothing about what we’re running into.”
Stein lectured to his audience.
“But I think we have a solution for that. Frank do we still have that drone?”
An hour later the four of us were gathered at the edge of town on that path Keith and I had taken into the forest. The trees growing together forming a sort of arch over our head’s were unsettling but I couldn’t decide why. It just didn’t sit well with me, it looked unnatural I guess and that just gave me the creeps. I get that’s rich coming from a literal succubus but its how I felt.
“Alright, just watch the trees as you take it up, I don’t want a repeat of Missouri.”
Stein instructed Frank as he got the drone in the air.
“You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”
Frank chuckled, shaking his head.
“It was the first time we used this thing, there was bound to be a few unexpected variables.”
“If you call “unexpected variables” an itchy finger on the throttle. We had to have Rocco untangle it from the branches.”
Stein joked as he checked to make sure the drones camera was feeding back into the app on his phone.
I hadn’t seen them like this, being friendly with each other. There was never a time where they hated each other or anything like that but they’d been so… business like with for a long time now. It was nice to see them act like real people again. Leaning over Stein’s shoulder I got a birds eye view from the drone.
“ Just go East, its what we did. Just walked East till we stumbled into everything.”
Frank followed my advice and flew the drone due East. Eventually a campsite came into view, there were a bunch of tepees and a bunch of people just walking around.
“What, they just look normal?!”
I blurted out, a little louder and a bit more distressed than I meant to.
“How’re they supposed ta look then?”
Tuck asked
“They’re just people like you n’ me. Nothin to special about em other than the fact they worship some big ass bird.”
He continued with mild annoyance.
“I don’t know, I guess I expected these creepy guys in tarps, like from Keith’s story. These are just… well they’re just people!”
I responded, Throwing my arms out to my sides in exasperation. Tuck was right, I shouldn’t have expected everything to be just as Keith had said. Still, something just didn’t fit together for me about that whole thing. What had the deal been with those people in Imalone then? I shook my head, clearing the question from my mind, it wasn’t important now.
“There! That’s the entrance to the old mine.”
Tuck told Stein as he looked at screen. I looked over myself and felt my entire being freeze. It was Brooke, walking out from the entrance with some bitchy looking girl and two older guys that I’d seen around town before. How could he be here? After all this time why, why was he anywhere near me?
My vision swam, when it came back Frank was standing in front of me. His mouth was moving but I couldn’t hear anything.
“…anca! Are you ok, what’s going on? Bianca!”
I finally heard over the sudden ringing in my ears.
“Him.”
Was the only thing the escaped my lips as I pointed one finger at the screen. I felt warmth coming back into my limbs as that frozen feeling slowly left me.
“He’s here…. Shouldn’t be here… why.”
I mumbled to myself as Frank helped me into the back of the SUV twenty minutes later. I was still nearly catatonic as we headed back into town.
“So… that was him, the one you were running from when we found you.”
Stein said, breaking the silence that had fallen. I could talk normally again but I still only managed a quick “yes”.
“You know you don’t have to come with us, I’d understand.”
Frank said, snapping me to attention again.
“NO! I’ve got to help Keith, I don’t care if… if Brooke’s up there too.”
I tripped over my words just mentioning his name.
“I can do it, I can do this Frank, please.”
I begged, taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down. We pulled into the driveway before Frank said anything back. As we were all getting out he muttered something under his breath. He didn’t mean for me to hear him but I did.
“I’m not sure you can girl.”
I went straight up to my room after that, I didn’t want to be around anyone. All I caught before I left Frank, Stein, and Tuck before running up the stairs was the hard look Stein shot both of them. A look that said “We need to talk” and told me that he finally had a real plan. I spent the rest of that night thinking about the past and what I’d been through. Could I go out to that mine and rescue Keith if I had to face Brooke again? The last time I’d seen him had been as I leapt out of a moving car as my eyes turned to meet his one last time, rolling down that hill to freedom. I’d never seen him since and it was rare for him to even cross my mind. I wanted to go with the rest of them but despite what I said I really wasn’t sure I could do this anymore. Eventually I just decided only time would tell, hopefully Stein’s plan was a good one and we could put this whole thing behind us.
“Ey! Ey Keith!”
Someone yelled out as I came back from my little hike around the edge of the forest. My eyes darted around behind me before they finally focused on a rustling bush. Rocco jumped out of it holding a cigar in his mouth.
“That Brooke asshole hasn’t gone anywhere, I found him out by that trail the trucks drove in on with this.”
He said, tossing the cigar up in the air where it twirled around before he caught it in his mouth again.
“I figured I should frisk him just in case. I took a bite of his pants and stole this little number out of his coat pocket.”
He continued, shaking a silver lighter with a gold inlayed image of a lion in his paw.
“Oh and the cigar, I took that too. Cuban so the guy’s got taste, still a prick. Anyways, it looked like someone got to him before me. The guy was pretty beaten up, had some nasty bruises.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was just trying to picture Brooke getting mugged by a raccoon In my head and I burst out laughing. Rocco walked back to the camp in toe with me, only stopping to look up at some weird buzzing sound we both heard above us. Probably some rickety old plane or something way up there. I think I was finally starting to get why Frank and Stein had kept Rocco around. He may be a furry criminal mastermind but when he was motivated he could actually be really helpful. I never would’ve been able to keep any sort of tabs on Brooke without his help.
We made our way back to the long tent that still had remnants of lunch sitting on the table. Usually I would’ve tried to hide Rocco but at this point I figured he deserved the free food. Plus I just didn’t want to argue with him after getting my shit rocked most of the morning. Someone walked up behind me and I heard Shaoni’s voice, of course she was creeping up behind me again.
“Your feeling alright after today I hope?”
She asked me, taking a seat next to me.
“I’ll be alright, I’m sure I’ll have a killer headache in the morning but I’ll manage.”
“Good, good. We’ll be gathering in a few hours so I can announce the final trial. I expect you out by the entrance to the mine by 6.”
“What’s the matter? No cryptic questions this time Shaoni?”
I asked, paying no mind to what was sitting next to me.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you always stop by to check in after these trials. You don’t have any questions this time?”
“No, Katrina was the victor today, there is no question about that, the woman is… brutal. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t hit you to hard, you were unconscious for some time.”
She answered, some genuine concern slipping into her voice again.
“Heh careful, I might start to think you actually care.”
I joked, less nervous than I should’ve been.
“I’ll see you tonight with the rest for the announcement.”
She said with a deep sigh, standing up and walking off toward where ever she came from.
I took a nap and just barely managed to wake up in time for this “meeting” Shaoni had planned. I couldn’t find Rocco before I left but I wasn’t all that concerned about that anymore. When I got to the entrance a massive bonfire was lit and Shaoni stood alone in front of it. Robert and John were already there and Katrina showed up a little after me. Brooke hadn’t arrived before Shaoni started her speech.
“I thank all of you for coming here tonight. Regrettably one of you is missing but I won’t be waylaid by his absence.”
She spoke with clear annoyance in her voice.
“Tomorrow marks your final trial, the most important of the three. The trial of justice. Tomorrow there will be a murder in Eagles Peak. I want you all to work together to stop it. Then, succeed or fail, pass judgment on those involved in the murder. Afterwards I will select which among you will receive my gift. But for tonight, talk amongst yourselves, plan, and rest. Prepare yourselves for tomorrow, I will have my eye on each of you.”
With that Shaoni stepped away from the fire and into the night. Not accepting any questions about anything she had said.
“What do you think she has planned?”
Robert asked me as I took a seat by the bonfire to think over everything Shaoni had said.
“I don’t know, a murder apparently. Shouldn’t you know more about it? You’re one of her followers after all.”
I said as I turned my head to see John walking off into the night. That man was weird, really weird. I knew next to nothing about him and he seemed to never speak.
“Usually sure, but she hasn’t said anything to us about this. It’s why she hasn’t directly overseen all the trials, she’s set this last one up all on her own. I guess there’s nothing to do but wait, we’re all in this together for the first part of the trial I guess.”
Robert explained, leaning back and sprawling out on the ground. He was right, there wasn’t much we could do until we were in the middle of it.
I looked around, searching for Katrina in the firelight. I found her leaning against the rocky wall that made up the entrance of the mine. I stood up, leaving Robert to relax and made my way over.
“How’s the head?”
She asked, feigning taking a swing at me again with an evil grin on her face.
“I told you to take a dive.”
“Yeah, I should’ve listened.”
I admitted, rubbing the goose egg that had formed on my head over the course of my nap.
“So what do you thin about this last trial?”
“Well, I can say that If that Brooke guy tries flirting with me one more time the murder won’t be that hard to solve. Seriously though, I think she’s gone off the deep end. How does she know there’s going to be a murder?”
Katrina made a really good point, how was Shaoni so sure?
“That’s… hmmmm, you’re right.”
“Well I’m gonna head to bed then. Something tells me tomorrow is gonna be a headache. Just try to stay out of my way when we’re all forced to work together and you should be fine. All goes well and maybe we’ll be out of here tomorrow, I know I will.”
Katrina said as she pushed herself off the rock wall she’d been leaning against. Something about the way she said that last part, it made me think she was up to something. Like she was leaving no matter what or she had some sort of exit strategy.
As I left Robert relaxing by the fire and hiked back to my own tepee for the night I spied Katrina. She had climbed up a tree and had her legs wrapped around the trunk and one of her arms gripped a branch above her. There was some kind of box in her other hand, a radio maybe. I had no idea what she was saying, she was too far off, but it had to mean something. As far as I knew none of us had any contact with the outside world since we got here. My gut feeling was that she wasn’t meant to be doing that. I wasn’t going to bother her at this point though so I went my own way and settled down for the night.

graduating student (or idk) solo sa study and been struggling to sched a final defense between my adviser and panel (panel 1; campus admin, panel 2; researcher na may strong personality) add ko na din yung adviser kong nasa study leave (for masters degree).
maaga akong nagdefense kasi mahaba ang duration ng study ko (plant growth) syempre di sya mamadaliin. so i took my time. di sya madali, laborious and nakakapiga ng utak. need guidance and knowledge ng panel and adviser kasi sila ang nakakaalam, but yun idk ang hirap nilang hagilapin kasi mga busy nga (panels) kaya nag cconsult ako sa adviser, pero dumating yung time na aalis sya for study leave, di na kami masyadong naasikaso kasi busy din sa kanyang masters. ako walking in the dark, di ko na alam gagawin na sunod, may methods naman pero umabot ako sa point na na overwhelm ako, di ko alam ang gagawin.
so yun medyo nasa late stages na din ako for defense, busy pa din sila and kinakapalan ko na mukha ko para makapa sched, naiintindihan ko naman na busy sila pero pabago bago din nga ang schedule depende sa availability nila, sobrang draining. ngayon sana defense ko online pero di natuloy at pagod sila and i understand, kaso medyo nagkaroon kami ng misunderstanding nung panel 2. im trying to be respectful kasi hinihingi ko mga ang oras nila. medj nadamay pa yung iba kong classmates at may presentation kami for an event. di na sila makakapresent, baka dahil sakin
i dont know man. sakit na ng ulo ko kakaiyak. i dont want to blame anyone, kasi iba iba naman ang sitwasyon namin. naiipit lng ako between them. gusto ko lang irant

Anyone have experience with them?
This is my fourth attempt at an epic event. I was able to gather 100k and fill my storage with good items. I’ve gotten 110 epic points collected so I’ve hit the llama stage but need 90 more to get puma/leopard stage.
Right now I have 3 challenges that need 5 beach chairs each, and 2 challenges that need avocado plants each, among other less rare items challenges.
A little over 5 hrs left and abt 50k left.
I’m thinking it’ll be a waste of inventory and money to try for the last 90 points as it seems the items are going to become harder and harder. They’re nearly impossible to find in trade..
If you’ve ever achieved the highest level, How much money did you start with? Storage capacity? Any items you made sure to stock up on before starting? Any tips you can share?
Thanks for reading. Fellow obsessive SimCity builder.

The Scriptures seem to imply that the kingdom of God isn't exactly synonymous with what is called "the Church." The Church was a temporary eschatological community of believers that existed on earth in preparation of a kingdom where God Himself would reign, and said community had Christ reign over them in the meantime. The head of the Church was Christ, with the Father serving as his head (1 Cor. 11:3). The Scriptures teach that, when all Christ's enemies were to be made his footstool, he was to give back all authority to the Father (Psa. 110:1, 1 Cor. 15:22-28), and it is this page's belief that this happened in 70 AD.
The following quotation is from the above hyperlink:

As for the "1000 years" mentioned in Revelation, they are apocalyptic metaphor for the 40 years Christ "reigned" (triumphed) over his enemies both human and spirit, with the final triumph being the judgement of apostate Jerusalem. The "1000 years" began with his ascension, and ended with this judgement.

Thus, the community to replace the Church on earth was to be the kingdom of God. But, what even is the kingdom of God, and why did God have to reclaim authority of His own creation in the first place?
To be as succinct as possible: man sinned, and so the great level of authority God initially granted us ourselves over the creation was stripped. As a result, the human condition has suffered and it must be redeemed for God to allow us to reign with Him in the way that He originally intended for us. God has always been sovereign, of course, but He seeks the good of man to make us stewards over His world with Him, as that was His original plan and this was His original view of what a kingdom of His truly looks like: a kingdom characterized by man's love for Him and love for others.
A Biblical understanding of Adam's sin, contrary to popular thought, isn't that we are guilty of what he did personally. We simply inherit his fallen nature and a fallen world as a result of his sin, the same way a baby could leave the womb already addicted to certain substances because the mother abused said substances while pregnant. It's not the baby's fault for its condition, it was the parent's. But the baby is born with this condition and enters the world like this nonetheless.
The implication of this is that we are all only guilty of our own sins, and whether or not we ever seek to treat (or possibly cure) our condition in the first place is on us. We were dealt a bad hand due to Adam, sure, but God doesn't hold us responsible for what our forefather did. God only holds us responsible for what we do, and whether or not we seek to be liberated from the dark forces which keep us in bondage to our sinful condition (Gen. 4:6-7, Deut. 24:16, Jer. 31:30, Ezek. 18, Matt. 9:9-13).
The whole Old Testament is essentially a record of God's people constantly breaking their covenant(s) with Him. There are individuals mentioned throughout that were, of course, commended by God and the Biblical authors for their righteousness in honestly pursuing to remain faithful to their covenant with Him. But even the best of these people often faltered and, in fact, did rather heinous things in their lives at one point or another. One of the greatest examples of this is king David, who was literally called by the Scriptures "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14, Acts 13:22). Yet, this same man at one point committed adultery and then murdered the man he stole the wife of to try and cover it up. This was a heinous thing, and David repented of what he did with genuine sorrow and guilt toward God. God ultimately forgave him, but not without a heavy hand of chastisement and earthly consequences for his actions.
All throughout the Old Testament, you see various men of God who were deemed righteous, but these same men were usually shown to have some major flaw that prevented them from living a life that could be characterized as consistent obedience to the commandments to love God and love others as themselves. There is something deeply wrong with man's heart, according to the Bible. Something so wrong, in fact, that a whole prophecy had to be given that promised to address the issue of man's seeming incapability to accomplish fulfilling the commandment to love consistently on their own without some sort of divine help from above:

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."-Ezekiel 36:26

Naturalistic philosophies see the physical world as all that exists. Humans beings are the result of mindless, chance causes and processes. Humans are essentially animals – highly evolved, but no different in significance than any other living thing. Thus naturalistic views demote humans. But this view leaves a lot unexplained. Why do humans practice altruism, benevolence, or acts of heroism? And what explains acts of incredible evil? Sure, naturalistic arguments have been made that true altruism doesn't exist, and that "unconditional love" is really just an illusion that's been disguised very well by our survival instincts that we've developed over a long period of time at certain stages of our evolutionary process. However, many people have found such arguments to be unpersuasive and naive when compared to their actual experience of the world as they mature in their lives and have what they know to be truly meaningful experiences that can't simply be reduced in the way that the naturalist wishes them to be. This realization was ultimately why I transitioned from hard atheism to agnostic spiritualism at one point or another.
On the other extreme of these things, transcendental worldviews and philosophies say that the physical world is illusory. Only the spiritual world is ultimately real. Humans are an expression of the divine spirit that is the essence of all things. If naturalistic views demote humans to the level of animals, transcendental views promote human beings. God is not “out there” somewhere; we are God. God is all, thus God is us. But this view doesn’t explain real evil. Why are people selfish? Why do they hurt others? What accounts for personal acts of evil like rape or terrorism? If we are all truly "God," then why would we ever do such things to what is ultimately "ourself"? And why can't a person who practices the belief that we are all actually "God" be only loving? There are so many people who adopt this view of reality who are constantly, day by day, finding that they struggle to be as truly loving as they wish to be because they will still sometimes find themselves thinking and doing rather evil and selfish things. I can speak from experience here, remembering throwing myself into the New Age movement when I was desperately seeking what I did not know at the time was forgiveness for and redemption from my sins because of who I was as a person up until that point. I was seeking the mythic "ego death" that promised me that I could truly be loving and find the forgiveness and redemption I was searching for, because I thought that if only I truly realized I was "God" all along, I could then accomplish these things all at once and simultaneously. I eventually found even this philosophy unsatisfactory when I came to the aforementioned conclusions concerning our great capacity for evil, and also realized that forgiveness can only exist if there are two parties: forgiver and forgivee. Such a thing is impossible if there is only really one being at play at the bottom of reality, and I knew deep down that forgiving oneself (at least, on its own) will never satisfy one's pursuit for redemption that we all inherently take part in whenever pursuing to mend even our own relationships with each other as humans. Further, love would be an illusion in this philosophy too, being that there is only really one party behind and in all of existence if "everything is God." Such an idea would make true altruism a farce, as well. There would be no such thing as real sacrifice for another, because there is no "another."
The French mathematician and Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “Man’s greatness and wretchedness are so evident that the true religion must necessarily teach both.” Any philosophy that cannot fully account for human greatness and human depravity at the same time should be abandoned because it misses something obvious about the human condition. The religion of the Bible has a valid explanation for human greatness: people are made in God’s image. Thus we have dignity, value, and capacity for good. The Bible also explains human evil: the image of God has been defaced by sin. Our great capacity gets used for the wrong purposes. Our creativity is placed in the service of evil and our best intentions twisted for selfish gain. Something has gone terribly wrong. While other worldviews unduly demote or promote humanity, the Bible gets the tension just right.
Thus, human nature is puzzling and conflicting. Other worldviews—both secular and religious—struggle to account for this enigma, and don't offer satisfying solutions to the problem itself. The Bible, however, explains what happened when it tells us that man rebelled against God in the paradise that was prepared for him called "the Garden of Eden." We fell into temptation and estranged ourselves from God by tarnishing the image we were created in, and now are born with a natural proclivity to do evil, despite our best efforts to do good (that is, to do good consistently).
And so, the Bible promised a solution in the prophet Ezekiel that God will literally change our natural human condition, if we simply choose to humble ourselves before Him in faith to allow for such a change. While as unbelievers our inner disposition towards God is often rebellious, we at least still have the capacity to choose to do the righteous thing in seeking God that He may change us and forgive us if we so let Him. This is one reason why Jesus, (the one who made the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy even possible by his coming, sacrifice, ressurection, and outpouring of the Spirit upon his ascension), said that only faith the size of a mustard seed was required for something so miraculous as moving a mountian to happen, because so little is required from us to allow God to change us into the kind of person He's always wanted us to be, and yet changing the condition of our own heart can be compared to literally moving a mountain if we were to try and do so on our own strength alone. The mustard seed was the smallest of seeds, and yet if one simply planted it and nurtured it, it could become a bush so large that it was comparable to a tree with branches that stretched to the heavens for the very birds of the air to rest on.
It was when I came to these realizations that I prayed to God for the first time again, having been years since I did so, going so far back as to when I was a little child even. I prayed in the dead of night in my room, and asked God to show me the truth and to reveal Himself to me if indeed these things were true, and in an instant I felt His very presence in my room, and my heart was changed. To describe such an experience would be like trying to describe the taste of something to the man born without tastebuds, the color of something to the man born blind, or the sound of something to the man born deaf; there are no words, and it is only something you can know by experiencing it for yourself. Suddenly and all at once, I knew right then and there that Jesus really was who he said he was, that the one true God is the God of the Bible, and that I have been forgiven. As the time of this post, it's been 5 years since then, I'm 23 now, and I'm still walking with God.
My prayer for anyone reading this that may not know God for themselves yet is that one day, you will too.
Back to the topic at hand.
When Adam sinned, we fell under the tyranny of death, corruption, evil heavenly powers, and sin itself. When Jesus came, Jesus was the new and exalted human, the new Adam, through whom humanity could now realize their original destiny that was laid out for them in the Garden of Eden. Because Jesus, being a man, obeyed unto death, he has defeated the powers which held us so long under bondage; we are now promised liberation so long as we simply place our faith in his sacrifice to wash us of our sins and receive the Spirit of God that is also promised to all who exercise this faith.
We often think of ‘the gospel’ as the part that brings the forgiveness of sins (and of course, that is part of the idea), but ‘gospel’ is the announcement that everything has changed in the coming of Jesus and it leads us to a new kind of living.
The gospel Jesus preached and the gospel the apostle Paul preached were different, in that Jesus preached of a kingdom where God reigns directly and with all His faithful subjects as participants in that reign. The gospel Paul preached was about the exaltation and reign of Christ, and because Christ reigned, the consummation of the kingdom of God with earth could now finally take place (Col. 1:12-13). This consummation was put on hold during Christ's "millennial" reign, which transpired between his ascension and his return. However, the consummation has come to full fruition since that return.
We will be arguing for some of these claims by pointing out how central the kingdom of God actually was to Jesus' earthly ministry and message, and demonstrate what Jesus taught about how it actually looks like.
The term 'kingdom' appears 53 times in 42 places in Matthew, 17 times in 13 places in Mark, and 41 times in 29 places in Luke. When the 'kingdom' is qualified, Luke always refers to the 'kingdom of God' (32 times) and Mark follows this pattern (14 times). Matthew, on the other hand, prefers the term "kingdom of heaven" (31 times), using the phrase to refer to the same idea "kingdom of God" only four times: 12:28, 19:24, 21:31, 43.
The Gospel of Luke records an event where Jesus responds to the population that lived near Simon Peter's house who believed in him after he had done his miraculous work there, but saw that he was leaving them:

"And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore [i.e., for this pupose] am I sent." (vss. 42-43)

The Greek word euangelion is often translated as the word “gospel.” In the Bible, this word is always used whenever it concerns the announcement of the reign of a new king. And in the New Testament, the Gospels themselves use this word or the phrase "good news" to summarize all of Jesus’ teachings. They say he went about “preaching the gospel [good news] of the kingdom [of God]” (Matt. 4:23).
There’s this beautiful poem in the Old Testament, and it’s in chapter 52 of the Book of Isaiah. The city of Jerusalem had just been destroyed by Babylon, a great kingdom in the North. Many of the inhabitants of the city have been sent away into exile, but a few remained in the city, and they’re left wondering, "What happened? Has our God abandoned us?" This was because Jerusalem was supposed to be the city where God would reign over the world to bring peace and blessing to everyone.
Now, Isaiah had been saying that Jerusalem’s destruction was a mess of Israel’s own making. They had turned away from their God, become corrupt, and so their city and their temple were destroyed. Everything seemed lost. But the poem goes on. There is a watchman on the city walls, and far out on the hills we see a messenger. He’s running towards the city. He’s running and he’s shouting, “Good news!” And Isaiah says, “How beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings [news]” (vs. 7a). The feet are beautiful because they’re carrying a beautiful message. And what’s the message? That despite Jerusalem’s destruction, Israel’s God still reigns as king, and that God's presence is going to one day return with His city, take up His throne, and bring peace. And the watchmen sing for joy because of the good news that their God still reigns (vs. 10).
Jesus saw himself as the messenger bringing the news that God reigns. Jesus also claimed to be the Son of man. This was Jesus' favorite self-designation, being used some 80 times in the Gospels. Notice, not just a son of man, but the Son of Man. Jesus was directing our attention to a vision described by the prophet Daniel:

"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:"-Daniel 7:13-14a

At Jesus' trial, the Jewish high priest accused Jesus: "Art thou the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed [God]?" His answer left no room for doubt. "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:61-62). Because Jesus' was rejected and killed for threatening the power the religious authorities had over the people, the consummation of God's kingdom with earth had been put on hold until all of Christ's enemies would be put under his feet after his ressurection and ascension.
But again, what is the kingdom of God? What does it look like exactly?
Well, the way that Jesus described God’s reign surprised everybody. I mean, think about it. A powerful, successful kingdom needs to be strong, able to impose its will, and able to defeat its enemies in physical combat. But Jesus said the greatest person in God’s kingdom was the weakest, the one who loves and who serves the poor (Matt. 23:11-12). He said you live under God’s reign when you respond to evil by loving your enemies, and forgiving them, and seeking peace (Matt. 5). To us, this is an upside-down kingdom. But to God, it's right-side up. This was what God had originally planned for us: a kingdom where God reigns in our hearts.

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."-John 3:3

Jesus was being quite literal here. You can’t see the kingdom until you’re born again and have the life of that kingdom. When you’re born again, you start 'seeing' differently. You see what others don’t see, you hear what others don’t hear, you know what others don’t know. And yet you may be physically in the same earthly location as they.
The kingdom of God is the totality of God’s influence that covers the world and heaven. It’s everywhere, but its manifestation isn’t everywhere. It manifests on earth wherever there are those who are born again and live as if God reigns in their hearts.
Before Jesus, John the Baptist announced to all people, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:1-2), as he saw a soon coming kingdom of God that would be ushered in by the Messiah. Notice that John the Baptist didn’t say that something “like” the kingdom would come and he didn’t say that the real kingdom might be thousands of years away. He said over and over that THE kingdom was at hand! Do you believe him? Did God inspire him to give a clear and accurate message or a mistaken one? If we dare to believe him, things might become surprisingly clear, simple and exceedingly optimistic.

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."-Matthew 6:10

Jesus taught his followers of his generation to pray that God's kingdom come and that His will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Why pray for something that will just inevitably come by force, unless it was actually through our willing participation? That is, unless God's will is carried out through us "in earth, as it is in heaven"?

"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."-Mark 1:14-15

It's very telling that these are the very first words the Gospel of Mark chooses to record Jesus as saying.
The kingdom is NOT something to wait for. Jesus says the kingdom is NOT something visible, and it is NOT something in the sky. The Kingdom Jesus taught is a spiritual reality that comes into the world through us. Considering that Jesus even said the kingdom was in and among the Pharisees in Luke 17, which seems almost offensive to consider, perhaps it is like a spiritual seed that has been planted inside each of us, and that activating faith in God makes it grow.

"Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it."-Luke 13:18-19

Jesus talked about the kingdom as if it would be a present reality, yet one that was growing in the world like a seed grows into a tree.

"And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."-Luke 13:20-21

To Jesus, the kingdom was something growing in us like yeast through dough, increasing in effectiveness.

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."-Romans 14:17
"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."-1 Corinthians 4:20

Paul says the kingdom isn’t something you taste or touch like physical food. It’s not even saying the right words. But rather the kingdom comes in the realities of righteousness, peace, joy and power that flavor our lives when we live empowered by the Spirit of God and God's Spirit in us.
Since Jesus the Messiah returned only 40 years after his earthly ministry, putting all enemies under his feet, the complete consummation of earth with the kingdom of heaven has finally taken place.
The kingdom of God has come, and it continues to come through us as believers. It makes progress like light shining into the world and dispelling the darkness.

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."-Matthew 5:14-16

Synopsis:
An engineer in another world—blending science and magic to achieve greatness in a world where skills and levels reign supreme.
—
Ethan was just a plain old engineer, but everything changed when he was reborn into a world of skills, levels, and magic. With his advanced knowledge far ahead of the time period he finds himself in, this new reincarnated life will be much different than his last, especially because he can construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct runes—something no one else can do.
But with royal politics, looming tax collectors, a mountain of debt, dungeon incursions, cults, and hostile fantasy races mixing together into a cocktail of bullshit that threatens to bury his dreams; Ethan must bridge the gap between steel and sorcery to grow stronger. — Runecrafting is slow burn. — What to Expect: - Weak to very strong progression - Hardcore wish fulfillment - A balance of action, kingdom building, and runecrafting. - MC will trigger an industrial revolution, revolutionize magic, modernize agriculture, communication, commerce, textile production, education, transportation, sanitation, weapons manufacturing, leisure & entertainment, and medicine.
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Chapter 03

-1-
"Business opportunity?" Jack blinked, amused. "Intriguing. One doesn't often hear a noble propose such a thing to a [Necromancer]."
Roland shifted uncomfortably.
Ignoring him, Ethan leaned back in his chair.
"Let's just say these are unorthodox times, Jack. And frankly, the problems plaguing Holden call for equally unorthodox solutions." He gestured towards a nearby chair. "Do have a seat, and allow me to elaborate. It concerns a matter of public health, and specifically, a rather lackluster product currently on the market. One common folk cannot even afford."
Jack raised an eyebrow, taking the offered seat. "Public health and [Necromancy]? This does get more interesting by the moment, my lord."
Ethan leaned forward again.
"I'll be blunt. It's the Blight, Jack. You're undoubtedly familiar with its unpleasant effects." He wrinkled his nose slightly. "The lethargy, the nausea…and the frankly horrendous stench that clings to the afflicted."
"The Blight has stages, my lord. But yeah, I get the gist. Though, I confess, raising the recently departed isn't exactly..."
Ethan chuckled. "Not quite, my friend. While your talents with the departed are impressive, I have a different skillset in mind. One that involves cleanliness."
Jack's smile vanished, replaced by a wary arch of an eyebrow. "Cleanliness? You want a [Necromancer] for scrubbing floors?"
Ethan leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "Not scrubbing floors, precisely. What do you know about the Blight, Jack?"
"It's more than a mere sickness, my lord. It's a clinging parasite that latches onto the unfortunate soul and slowly devours their life force. The early signs are subtle—a sickly sweet odor, lethargy, pale clammy skin."
Jack shuddered dramatically, and continued. "Then comes the hunger. An insatiable craving that gnaws at their insides. The victims start developing a craving for raw flesh instead. Their mere touch becomes corrupting, causing plants to wilt and wounds to fester. Disembodied whispers of the spirits torment them, sapping their willpower—they're like a sweet escape from their suffering. It chips away at their will to fight, turning them inward until they become shells of their former selves."
Ethan blinked. Jack had a knack for theatrics and being dramatic, it seemed.
"In the final stages, the body decays into a walking corpse driven by an unquenchable hunger to consume the life force of others."
"Okay, stop," Ethan raised his hand with a sigh. "Who does the Blight infect?"
Jack took a deep breath. "That's the interesting part, my Lord. The Blight only seems to affect those with little to no mana. It's like mana acts as a shield. Majority of peasants are mana-less. It's a common disease, my lord. Even nobles suffer from the Blight; mostly children given that their mana is still developing."
"So, mana is our solution?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think no one's arrived at this conclusion given that the Blight is such a common occurrence you'd think there'd be a cure?"
"There is a cure, my lord. But—"
"It's way too expensive."
"Indeed, that is correct, my lord."
"Regardless, our solution here is sanitation. You see, the Blight thrives in filth. The stench, the lethargy, it all stems from a miasma that festers in unsanitary conditions. It eats on people's lifeforce. And the current concoction on the market does little to combat it. There's a simple solution—people are aware of it—but sadly, it's expensive, not as effective as it should be, and frankly, an insult to hygiene."
"Oh, are you talking about soap, my lord?"
"Soap," Ethan confirmed. "More specifically, newly made soap. As soap's made with magic here, it has slight mana in it—although it's a different matter altogether that said mana dissipates. Regardless, if bought new and used, it helps with the Blight. However, we need better soap. The current offerings are woefully inadequate, and at exorbitant prices. I envision a mass-produced, affordable soap that can combat the Blight's effects, doesn't lose mana, and can invigorate people."
Jack considered this for a moment. "And why, my lord, would a noble like yourself be concerned with such mundane matters?"
"Jack," Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly, his tone turning icy. "I believe you forget yourself. It is not your place to question nobility. I suggest you remember your place and focus on the task at hand."
Jack's face turned ashen. He quickly lowered his eyes. "I apologize, my lord."
"You are forgiven." Ethan didn't particularly enjoy being a noble, but now that he was one, he needed to maintain certain boundaries.
Though Ethan had been slightly taken aback, Jack was right. Nobles seldom cared about peasants. Even less when it came to the Blight. Any and all solutions currently available for this very normal cause of death were expensive. Current brick they sold as 'soap' was inadequate, had pathetic fragrance, and performed even less when it came to hygiene. So, most peasants die due to lack of money. They couldn't buy soap, and the concoction for the Blight was too expensive.
But I don't really think like the nobles, as I am not one.
Silence stretched between the two for several long moments, and in that silence, Ethan considered the consequences.
The consequences of Ethan's plan would be far-reaching. There definitely would be a political firestorm. Soapmakers, likely well-established guilds with ties to influential nobles, would see their profits plummet and their influence challenged. They'd spread rumors about Ethan's soap being inferior or even dangerous, and might even resort to sabotage, threats, blackmail, or the like. Ethan might also face resistance from other barons who profit from the inflated price of Blight remedies.
I need to be prepared for whatever they throw at me, 'cause they definitely will.
Beyond the immediate political struggle, there could be social unrest. Slower, more expensive production methods often employ a larger workforce given that [Mages] weren't always available to make soap. There had to be a manual process discovered by the [Mages] of this world—though having tried the soap himself, it was quite lacking.
Ethan's plans for mass-produced soap could lead to unemployment among those currently making soap. He'd need to be prepared to address these concerns, perhaps by retraining displaced workers or offering them jobs in the new production facilities. Though, then again, the guilds he'd poach the unemployed people from wouldn't take it lightly.
Regardless, I need to do it. Fuck the guilds. I don't think Theo's dad will let anything happen to him—aka me now.
Theo's family was rather big. His father, Lord Alexander Lockheart, was arguably ruthless and cold, but he usually held his family's interest in his mind—knowing him and his militaristic nature, Ethan didn't doubt he'd latch onto the opportunities to make some hefty sum of money—money which he could use to fund his militaristic endeavors. The man was ambitious.
*Theo's the 4***^th child of the Lockhearts. Even aside from Theo's dad, he's got five siblings: three older and two younger siblings. Two of whom, I can easily rely on. The eldest sibling, Maximillian, or Juliana, who is the second eldest. Benson's the third child, and he doesn't like me much, so Maximillian and Juliana are my only hope—though they're kind of disappointed in how Theo behaved, they wouldn't let something happened to me*, especially knowing that I, "Theodore Lockheart", am turning over a new leaf. Not to mention Theo's mom's too soft.*
Knowing his safety wouldn't be an issue, Ethan looked at Jack. He had only spoken like Theo to make sure he could set a proper boundary with Jack. Deciding that the awkward silence had gone for far too long, he spoke with a lighter tone.
"Though, if you must know, the Blight doesn't discriminate. It cripples the poor, yes, but it also weakens soldiers and undermines trade. A healthy populace is a productive populace, one that can pay taxes and contribute to the well-being of the entire barony. Besides," he added, a sly smile returning, "imagine the profit. Affordable, effective soap for all? It would be a goldmine. I'm especially looking forward to the reaction of noblewomen. They'll be in a frenzy. They'll be begging for this soap. We'll be swimming in coin."
Which I need given the looming tax and Holden's fucked up financial situation...
Unaware of what was going through Ethan's mind, Jack tapped his chin thoughtfully. "And, with all due respect, my lord, why do you need my help? What possible use could a [Necromancer] have in the realm of soap-making?"
Ethan leaned back, a smile playing on his lips. "While your skills in manipulating life force are undoubtedly impressive, Jack, it's your less publicized talent I'm particularly interested in."
Jack's eyes narrowed for a moment. "You mean...?"
"Imbuement." Ethan said.
Ethan wasn't too sure, but given that [Necromancers] and [Witches] were infamous classes, he'd heard rumors. They often imbued objects. Corpses in [Necromancers'] case and certain objects in [Witches'] case. It wasn't mana that they imbued exactly, but something else—which he had no clue about—that let them have control over the corpse/object they imbued. But, given that these two classes were the most affordable ones that could imbue anything at all and were experts in that regard, Ethan was pretty sure Jack could achieve his goal.
That was his theory, of course. It all depended on how long they could hold the mana inside the soap. Making the soap affordable and high quality—that he could handle. Keeping the mana within it, though, and getting some decent returns? Well, that depended a lot on Jack.
Jack ran a nervous hand through his scraggly brown hair, his eyes glinting.
"What if we could imbue the soap with mana?" Ethan said. "It would disrupt the Blight's ability to feed on life force. Think of it as a sort of 'static' that interferes with the Blight's 'signal'. So, we imbue mana into soap."
Jack frowned, considering this. "That's an interesting idea, my lord. But how would we create such a thing? Soap is expensive to make; you would have to employ mages—"
"Leave the soap to me. Deal with imbuing mana instead. As a [Necromancer], you have a unique understanding of life force and how it can be manipulated. I believe that with your help, we can develop a method to imbue soap with mana that stays in for as long as possible—you are the expert in imbuement, after all. The soap would then not only clean the body, but also create a sort of protective barrier against the Blight." He leaned back in his chair, watching Jack's reaction closely. "So, what do you think? Are you up for it?"
-2-
Ethan hummed as the carriage came to a stop near the house where those infected by the Blight were being kept under quarantine, in the company of Roland. The house wasn't luxurious by any means, it was quite small really. But it had been secured to allow them to observe the tainted. Ethan exited the carriage along Roland and Jack, and soon they were greeted by a tall, slender man in robes.
"Ah, Lord Theodore. It is my utmost pleasure to meet your esteemed self." the robed man bowed. His voice was even, but there was a wariness there—clearly, the man was not comfortable dealing with Ethan, or more like, Theodore who was infamous for his... nature.
Ethan wasn't happy with how the people of Holden and everyone acquainted with Theo regarded him, a reputation that likely spread more than just this town, but he couldn't do anything about it. Logically, he'd just need to deal with it one step at a time.
"No need to be so tense... Sir Miller." Ethan briefly checked his memory to bring up the information of the man.
Miller was the head physician of Holden.
"Esteemed guest," The man was still bowing, clearly uncomfortable and unable to bring himself to stand straight before a notorious lord such as Theodore. "Do not concern yourself with trivial manners and come in. The tainted have been secured, and preparations made, so please, this way."
The man led Ethan inside and after crossing through an empty room, they reached a space sectioned off by iron grills. A group of men armed with spears surrounded the door from the outside—they were armed with spears so they could deal with anyone that reached the third stage and became a brain-dead zombie without getting near them. The tall and burly men eyed Roland and Ethan, on alert at a noble's presence.
Ethan covered his face in a mask, stepped over the grills, into the open hall with rows of beds lining both sides, where about ten people lay, most on their back. If they noticed their Lord, the people lying on the bed didn't act like they noticed anything. "Please, Lord Theodore...!" Miller said. "You mustn't get near!"
"Nothing to worry, I won't be tainted," Ethan said. He was a [Mage] after all, and unranked one, but a mage nonetheless. He looked at the patients one by one.
They do look sickly... it is one thing hearing about it, but this is far more eye opening... Sighing, Ethan turned around and walked out.
"Jack, do your thing."
"Yes, my lord." Jack said as Ethan made it to Roland.
"Roland, we need to go to the Deadwoods, you and I."
Roland appeared apprehensive but did not question Ethan's intentions.
As Ethan and Roland walked out, Jack got started on the subjects. Ethan looked ahead. Grassy meadows stretched far and wide, dotted by occasional trees and bushes. The sun's golden rays washed over the land, leaving an orange tinge on the distant mountains. To the west of Holden lay the Deadwoods—easily spotted, as it stood as an ominous expanse of darkness in the otherwise brightly lit region. A mountain range stretched behind the Deadwoods and clung to the earth, meeting the borders of Corinth.
Ethan had to admit, the place was a sight to see despite how much the Deadwoods stood out like a sore thumb amidst all this greenery. Even then, the Deadwoods held a unique allure. Ethan got into the carriage with Roland in tow, then with a light jolt the carriage started moving. It was being pulled by two horses.
"With all due respect, my Lord, this seems unwise, no?"
"It'll be fine," Ethan reassured. "We have guards with us, and I have you to protect me."
"Why, is it not better to simply let us know what you require so we may fetch it in your stead?"
Ethan smiled, but didn't answer.
The Deadwoods soon came closer as the carriage sped up, drawing near to a stretch of meadows with trees scattered every few paces or so.
The carriage rattled as it went over a particularly large bump. Ethan gave a quick glance at Roland—the man had grown quieter since their departure. Clearly, he was contemplating what sorts of heinous plans his new lord had in store.
Suddenly, the carriage lurched to a halt. Ethan poked his head out of the window and called, "What's the hold-up?"
The driver gave an apologetic bow. "There's a large rock in the road, my lord."
"Then have the guards get rid of it." Ethan's voice carried a subtle note of annoyance. He really didn't have time for delays—as a rule of thumb, he usually hated them.
"My lord," Roland said. "It's a trap. We're under attack."
An arrow slammed right beside Ethan's head the next instant.
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Naruto did have some ideas about changing the way things were, he developed those in the Land of Waves arc. But they weren't that ambitious and the mains story kept his ideals in secondary place, mainly because he frequently had to align with the status quo to face villains who were way more extreme about changing the world than he was. By Boruto's time, we see indeed that Naruto changed very little in the world, other than making it more peaceful (mostly because Naruto simply exists).
What I would actually like to see is a more radical (not a more violent one necessarily, don't like edgy Naruto) Naruto, willing to work towards more drastic changes to the Hidden Village System and the Shinobi System itself, working withing or outside such systems when necessary.
The shinobi world is full of contradictions, like the feudal lords having no clear source of legitimacy (not even military power), shinobi villages being ruled usually by the most powerful individual (ruling and fighting would often be conflicting skills, imagine how badly governed ninja villages actually are), and the mercenary nature of shinobis opening ways to SO MANY atrocities even by the least cruel villages like Konoha.
I've seen several fics touch on those subjects, actually, but the main villains even more extreme and opressive ideals inevitably take the spotlight. My solution in this rewrite would be to mostly remove the main canon villains. Maybe Obito freaks out after causing the deaths of Minato and Kushina and actually changes his mind, proceeding to kill the zetsus, ruining all paths for the Mugen Tsukuyomi to happen and going to live as a hermit somewhere Naruto might eventually discover him later. The original Akatsuki would never be tricked by Hanzo and Danzo, and can potentially be revolutionary allies to Naruto later in the plot. Orochimaru never leaves the village by never using Konoha shinobi as experiment subjects, continuing to prove useful to the village, and counting on Danzo as political shield.
That leaves a world mostly without the main plot, where a increasingly more subversive Naruto would slowly be seen by larger and larger parts of the "System" as the threat to deal with. All while his charisma continues to make people his friends and followers.
To be honest, I pieced this beginning of an idea together mostly because I wanted to drastically change the Chunin Exam arc to more closely resemble what I understood of it as a child. Before I could properly watch the episodes in order I misunderstood for a while Orochimaru as simply being Shiore, a VERY strong genin participant of the chunin exams, just like Gaara. Somehow later learning that they were simply parts of a greater plot interrupting the current arc made them less special. That meant they weren't aspects of the usual messed up ninja way Naruto hated, they were unusual circunstances.
So one part of this whole rewrite would be to keep Shiore as Shiore, unrelated to Orochimaru other than also using snake summons (I don't really like how few summoners the main animal clans have in Naruto, makes them seem too centered around the protagonists). Cursed seals and Five Elements Seal would be removed from his arsenal, but he could have everything else he used against team 7 and a few new things.
He could then be portrayed as an actual genin with Itachi level talent, but discovered as a shinobi later in life. That means he is at the first year of his shinobi career, which explains why he is still a genin. Unfortunately he turns out to be way more interested in being violent and toying with his prey than actually progressing his career. That would cause him to plant himself in front of the tower after damaging team 7 and eliminating a few weaker teams, where he would work as a "boss" to the Forest of Death, challenging all other teams at once and forcing even the Sand Siblings to cooperate with others to take him down. By using him like that in the plot he can be this massive threat in the Second Stage without being alive to stomp everyone in 1v1s during the Third Stage, leaving Gaara and a surprising Kabuto to be the main threats of the tournament phase.
Without Konoha Crush, the tournament would have to proceed as expected, and every single arc after the Chunin Exams would have to be an original one.
I only wanted to get those ideas out there, maybe see what else other people might say. I would also like some recommendations of fics where Naruto is the main challeng to the status quo, instead of Madara and Akatsuki. I am unlikely to actually write this fic, since I have another idea more important to me.

Hello, I wanted to jump on this band wagon to get this off my chest. Enjoy, Miss Charlotte.
My mom was a very young mom, and she was divorced around the time I was 14 so she is about 34 at that time. She is not an unattractive woman, she’s very beautiful, and I was always very jealous of her growing up (I am the only daughter for reference so I always acknowledged the fact that she is very gorgeous compared to me.)
So after her second divorce, I was in about seventh grade at that time. I had my Ryder die Besty that I’ve known since about second grade at that time. And she was on the same level as me of pettiness, to the degree we just did not trust any type of man around my mom, whatsoever. my girlfriend came from a very strict Russian background, so she was no fool to being strict on everybody else. Whereas I’m pretty laid-back, I just didn’t trust my mom’s opinion. Together we were like a very scary early 2000 Disney movie.
One day at the mall, me and my girlfriend being in seventh grade and so happy and just being at the mall like normal aged girls like us do, my mom came up with this really tall guy. He had a long black ponytail behind his head, all of his, his ears pierced, and had on clothes from hot topic. I seriously didn’t have a problem with that. I was friends with plenty of (KIDS) dress like that and it wasn’t an issue until she introduced him as her boyfriend to me and my best friend (Kathy).
We both give each other very weird looks and say hello and that was pretty much it. My mom started bringing this loser around who was no older than probably 20. I know women through divorce and that have children, have types of self-confidence issues and seek out any attention necessary.
The day came. I was back from visiting with Again, my best friend Kathy. The loser was sitting on my mom’s couch is playinG MY HARRY POTTER ON MY GAME CUBE. it reeked of marijuana and even though I never smoked it, I knew with the sensor and I could see that along with the smells of cigarette smoke radiating all over the place. The guy sitting there with his leg spread apart with Goth pants from hot topic looks up at us and slurrs “sup.” We’re in awe at this point. This pony tailed man proceeds to get up and show off his new BELLY BUTTON PIERCING.
Kathy and I went outside. We had a child conversion and made a pact…..Were literally going to make this weird guys life hell until he leaves my moms house.
The next two weeks of me and Kathy being there have made this life genuinely hell. He was obviously a cigarette smoker, we accidentally spilled all of the pots for the plants all over the cigarettes on the balcony patio. The marijuana had mysteriously disappeared. The beers he had we put in the freezer and they exploded which resulted in an argument between him and her. We signed him up for gay dating sites that would email him and also call his phone. My mom was like a super hacker paranoid person so we knew that would probably be a good fix. I mean, the belly button piercing was already a giveaway, right? Every time my mom would leave she would tell him she left him lunch in the oven so while he was high and passed out, we would as much white pepper all over anything that was there in the oven or put a ton of salt in it. We would be maniacally laughing hearing him, cough from the other room and it was obviously not from the Weeeeeed. so after about only two weeks, he disappeared.
He never gave my mom a reason why he changed his phone number. This was a long time ago when we still had dial up Internet so she was left without an excuse. However, Kathy and I both knew exactly what we did and we did it every single day until he left. I know that sounds evil but we were taking care of my mom. Now she’s with a fabulous guy who treats her amazing. But I guess our . I know that sounds evil but we were taking care of my mom. Now she’s with a fabulous guy who treat her amazing. But I guess…. Are we the assholes?

On the mission 555 We Tip, Tenpenny calls CJ to plant two tons of marijuana into a Merit. CJ initially refuses, as he refuses to snitch, until he finds out that the car he's going to plant drugs on is a D.A, where he gladly accepts, to the point he even watches the D.A get busted. So my question is why does he hate D.As?

Hey guys, this is an updated post mapping all the community days, past, present and future. I've seen you guys referencing last post in todays annoucement, gave me motivation to keep the material up to date! Will update this every 6 months or so. So we always know what is ahead and what is behind!
Comments on the last 6 months: Rowlet and Litten were perfectly predicted. As the pattern holds, starters always are the stars ofcommunity days. Bellsprout got in, I even whished for a fast move! Got my wish, great day. Also bounsweet! Should've had a better move! Chansey is the one that I didn't predict at all. Thought it was too insane to include. Well, got surprised. But my patterns still held pretty nicely. It's a 3 Stage with a Baby. They gave it a suicidal move to help the opponent kill her faster, so all is okay.
We are on the eve of the June/Cd! Everyone thinks it will be Goomy. I bet it's Goomy. Curiosity: of the past 6 years of events, 4 years had Pseudo-legendaries in the June CD (I consider Haxorus a pseudo legendary on this game, nothing will convince me otherwise!). One year had Slaking, who in theory is the strongest non legendary pokemon in the game. In practice, he can't do much with those moves. And in strongest part of the pandemic, we got a June/CD of Weedle. We voted for that... The voting was suuuper biased, but okay!
Will we get the fifth pseudo legend in the june cd this year? We pray so. Till december for the next update!
Part 0 - Introduction
Every month is the same. The community day is the most expected event and we always wildly speculate which mon will the be our hero of the month. Will the next gen starters finally be featured? Cmon, my boy Decidueye needs that Frenzy Plant goodness. Or maybe the next dragon in line to hyped to the moon (looking at you Goomy). Or maybe they will simply give us Pikipek while laughing with at our frustrated faces. Make it awesome, give it something like Astonish! Just Kidding. I wanna try something different today, let’s try to stablish some patters of every past CD and from that, extrapolate to every possible future one! Every single one so far followed some very limited patterns. There was never a legendary CD, never a single evolution CD, never a plain 2 stage family CD (with 50 candy or without alternate forms). I will list every single one, ignoring Classic days and December days.
Part 1 – Classification of past CDs
1 - Jan/18 - Pikachu - 3 Stage with baby
2 - Fev/18 - Dratini - 3 Stage Pseudo
3 - Ma18 -Bulbasaur - 3 Stage Starter
4 - Ap18 - Mareep - 3 Stage
5 - May/18 - Charmander - 3 Stage Starter
6 - Jun/18 - Larvitar - 3 Stage Pseudo
7 - Jul/18 - Squirtle - 3 Stage Starter
8 - Aug/18 - Eevee - Eevee
9 - Sep/18 - Chikorita -3 Stage Starter
10 - Oct/18 - Beldum - 3 Stage Pseudo
11 - Nov/18 - Cyndaquill - 3 Stage Starter
12 - Jan/19 - Totodile - 3 Stage Starter
13 - Fev/19 - Swinub - 3 Stage
14 - Ma19 - Treecko - 3 Stage Starter
15 - Ap19 - Bagon - 3 Stage Pseudo
16 - May/19 - Torchic - 3 Stage Starter
17 - Jun/19 - Slakoth - 3 Stage
18 - July/19 - Mudkip - 3 Stage Starter
19 - Aug/19 - Ralts - 3 Stage
20 - Set/19 - Turtwig - 3 Stage Starter
21 - Oct/19 - Trapinch -3 Stage
22 - Nov/19 - Chimchar - 3 Stage Starter
23 - Jan/20 - Piplup - 3 Stage Starter
24 - Fev - Rhyhorn - 3 Stage
25 - Ap20 - Abra - 3 Stage
26 - May/20 - Seedot - 3 Stage
27 - Jun/20 - Weedle - 3 Stage
28 - Jul/20 - Gastly - 3 Stage
29 - Aug/20 - Magikarp – 400 Candy 2 Stage
30 - Sep/20 - Porygon – 3 Stage
31 - Oct/20 - Charmander 2 - 3 Stage Starter
32 - Nov/20 - Electabuzz- 3 Stage with baby
33 - Nov/20 - Magmar - 3 Stage with baby
34 - Jan/21 - Machop – 3 Stage
35 - Fev/21 - Roselia - 3 Stage with baby
36 - Ma21 - Fletchling - 3 Stage
37 - Ap21 - Snivy - 3 Stage Starter
38 - May/21 - Swablu – 400 candy 2 Stage
39 - Jun/21 - Gible - 3 Stage Pseudo
40 - Jul/21 - Tepig - 3 Stage Starter
41 - Aug/21 - Eevee 2 - Eevee
42 - Sep/21 - Oshawott - 3 Stage Starter
43 - Oct/21 - Duskull – 3 Stage
44 - Nov/21 - Shinx – 3 Stage
45 - Jan/22 - Spheal - 3 Stage
46 - Fev/22 - Hoppip - 3 Stage
47 - Ma22 - Sandshrew and Alolan Sandshrew – Regional Form 2 Stage
48 – Ap22 - Stufful - 400 candy 2 Stage
49 – May/22 - Alolan Geodude – 3 Stage
50 – Jun/22 - Deino - 3 Stage Pseudo
51 – Jul/22 - Starly - 3 Stage
52 – Aug/22 - Galarian Zigzagoon - 3 Stage
53 – Set/22 - Roggenrola - 3 Stage
54 – Oct/22 - Litwick – 3 Stage
55 – Nov/22 - Teddiursa – 3 Stage
56 – Jan/23 - Chespin – 3 Stage Starter
57 – Fev/23 - Noibat – 400 candy 2 stage
58– Ma23 - Slowpoke and Galarian Slowpoke– Regional Form 2 Stage
59 – Ap23 - Togetic – 3 Stage with Baby
60 – May/23 - Fennekin – 3 Stage Starter
61 – Jun/23 - Axew – 3 Stage Pseudo
62 – Jul/23 - Poliwag – 3 Stage
63 – Aug/23 - Froakie – 3 Stage Starter
64 – Sep/23 - Grubbin – 3 Stage
65 – Oct/23 - Timburr – 3 Stage
66 – Nov/23 - Wooper and Paldean Wooper – Regional Form 2 Stage
67 - Jan/24 - Rowlet - 3 Stage Starter
68 - Fev/24 - Chansey - 3 Stage with Baby
69 - Ma24 - Litten - 3 Stage Starter
70 - Ap24 - Bellsprout - 3 Stage
71 - May/24 - Bounsweet - 3 Stage
72 - Jun/24 - Goomy - 3 Stage Pseudo (we know it is)
Part 2 - The Patterns
So there you have it, 6 years and a half worthy of fun with friends and pokémon adventures while you hopefully don’t melt in the blazing midday sun. Or in the insane rain while you try to convince people to check n on campfire. So far we got a few patterns:
1– 3 Stage. The most common pattern, most CDs use this one. A three stage family is the basic form of the CD, evolve the first for 25 candy and the second for 100 (maybe with an item) for a legacy move. 28/72 are these.
2 – 3 Stage Starter. Basically the same as the 3 Stage pattern, but these are guarateed to happen and we know the moves ( the OP ones, Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, Hydro Cannon). So far we got 21/72 of these (6 generations of 3, 2 from Alola and charmander again for some reason). Poplio is next in Line.
3 – 3 Stage Pseudo. The cream of the crop, always the most hyped ones. We got 7/72 so far and every single one had deep impacts on the meta (PVE oand PVP). Wil we get 8 next month?
4 – 3 Stage with baby. The twist is that the middle form is the featured mon and maybe you can get the baby in eggs. 6/72 of these so far.
5– 400 candy 2 stage. Some two stage families do get featured, but they are never simple. This variation had 4/72 events so far. Gotta get a lotta candy for these fellas.
6 – Regional Form 2 Stage. Niantic tried to put these up a couple of time in votes but the community never voted for them. We already got 3/72, so this pattern is in the table.
7 – Eevee. Yeah, eevee is pretty unique. And we got 2/72.
Part 3 - Future CDs
Nowthat we have the patterns properly described, lets map every pokemon family that could fit in to one of those and didn’t already had an event, all the way to Paldea! I will try to be exhaustive as possible, which Niantic will have to be if they want this game to last forever.
1 – Caterpie. 3 Stage. Was up to vote one day. Will probably happen, but we will hate it.
2 – Pidgey. 3 Stage. Even got a GBL day with a legacy move. Will probably happen (please no!).
3 – Rattata. Regional Form 2 Stage. - This is the day the game die.
4– Nidoran F/M. 3 Stage. - Got an a research day already. Maybe will happen with some interesting move.
5– Clefable. 3 Stage with baby. - The charmer that has Meteor Mash. I don’t think it needs more. Had a recent eggs day.
6 – Vulpix. Regional Form 2 Stage. - Niantic gave it the move it would get in the votes, so I doubt.
7 - Jigglypuff. 3 Stage with baby. - This will happen, jiggly is pretty popular.
8- Zubat. 3 Stage. C’mon, don’t do it.
9– Oddish. 3 Stage. 2 evos, could be even be fun with some PVP moves.
10– Digglet. Regional Form 2 Stage. - Nothing would save Dugtrio, this would be a waste.
11– Meowth. Double Regional Form 2 Stage! - A unique case of double regional form. Even had a research day!. This will happen, that Perrserker shiny is still very valuable.
12 – Growlithe. Regional Form 2 Stage. - Can happen, the hisuian form is cool. Arca9 needs some PVE love.
13 – Mankey. 3 Stage. This would be a joke a year ago. But now, with the third stage being that awesome? Make it happen!
14 – Ponyta. Regional Form 2 Stage. - Almost guaranteed, the galarian one is beloved.
15 – Magnemite. 3 Stage. I don’t understand why this didn’t happen yet. Give this thing Thunder Shock and Discharge!
16 – Grimer. Regional Form 2 Stage. - They tried the vote, people prefered Charmander again. Muk is good, he doesn’t need more moves.
17– Voltorb. Regional Form 2 Stage. - The kantonian is lame, but the hisuian has potential. Can happen with the might Choroblast!
18– Horsea. 3 Stage. - Kingdra has potential, just need better moves. We know this will eventually happen.
19– Mr. Mime. 3 Stage with Baby. The baby is regional, they can release it for everyone. Mr Rime needs better moves. Did you pay 8 bucks for one?
20 – Marill. 3 Stage with Baby. The less we mess with “The Azu” the best. Already got a research day and a eggs day.
21– Sneasel. Regional Form 2 Stage. - With the new Hisuian form, this one can rock. Will probably happen and will be awesome.
22– Wurmple 3 Stage. C’mon, no, just no.
23– Lotad. Already got a research day, but a CD is possible. Seedot got one...
24– Whismur. 3 Stage. As lame as this is, Exploud could get some new moves, it has potential.
25– Aron. 3 Stage. The fated one. Aron CD is always next month, hope next month never comes. But sincerely, it could get a new Steel move. For the raiding community that loves him.
26– Wailmer. 400 Candy 2 Stage. - The big one! But not on hype. Wailord could use new moves and the XP will flow (easiest excellent ever!) but the community will hate.
27– Lillipup. 3 Stage. - It’s lame, but okay, could be a filler day with some fun pvp move.
28– Pidove. 3 Stage. With the recent Starly and Fletchling, this could happen. Please, no.
29– Darumaka. Regional Form 2 Stage. Very strong fire type and very strong ice type. Can be a PVE bonanza in a day!
30– Tympole. 3 Stage. Could be a fun one with a strong/efficient water charged move to pair with the Mud Shot. This has never gone wrong before, ever.
31– Sewaddle. 3 Stage. Kinda rare, lot’s of unused potential. Not the coolest. But fun nonetheless.
32 – Venipede. 3 Stage. He is very stylish. Give him some powerfull Poison charged move and we are game.
33 – Sandile. 3 Stage. This will happen, he deserves. Most players don’t even know he is in the game yet!
34 – Yamask. Regional Form 2 Stage. - Could be a future Halloween one. Heard the galarian form owns on pvp.
35 – Zorua. Regional Form 2 Stage. This event, including the hisuian form, would be awesome.
36 – Gothita. 3 Stage. - Yeah, not the worst, not the best.
37– Solosis. 3 Stage. A tankier psychic type. Could be made a force in pvp, given proper moves.
38– Vanillite. 3 Stage. This is 100% happening and I’m 100% hyped. Gotta play this one on the top ice cream parlor in town.
39 – Klink. 3 Stage. Raid exclusive and terrible moves. Should’ve already happened.
40 – Tynamo. 3 Stage. The mon without weaknesses. Give him better moves and we are cool.
41 – Pawniard. 3 Stage. New super strong evo for gen 9. This will happen.
42 – Larvesta. 400 Candy 2 Stage. The rarest pokemon in the game? Most people arealready waiting for the CD. This event will own.
43 – Scatterbug. 3 Stage. An event exploring many forms and the secret ones, could be fun for collectors.
44– Flabebe. 3 Stage. 100% happening. Kicked a lot of butt with this monster on GBL, could be even stronger. Also five different colours!
45 – Honedge. 3 Stage. The GBL killer which isn’t even released yet. This looks like a faraway dream, hope we survive this long.
46 – Popplio. 3 Stage Starter. Will be incredible with Hydro Cannon. People already use Primarina today, imagine after this? The other two starters from Alolan are already in, he is confirmed in 2024. July perhaps?
47 – Pikipek. 3 Stage. I see this happening. Please, don’t.
48– Wimpod. 400 candy 2 stage. Give him decent moves, for Arceus sake!
49– Jangmo-o. 3 Stage Pseudo. This will amazing, make him an even stronger fighter and we are so game.
50 – Grookey. 3 Stage Starter. Only a matter of time. They need to release Galar first btw.
51– Scorbunny. 3 Stage Starter. Only a matter of time.
52 – Sobble. 3 Stage Starter. Only a matter of time.
53– Rookidee. 3 Stage. The first bird that I actually want. Make it a stronger Skarmory!
54 – Blipbug. 3 Stage. Looks cool, people don’t know him. Makes for an exotic event.
55 – Rolycoly. 3 Stage. Can kick all kinds of but on pvp with move and stats. Will be fun.
56– Applin. 400 Candy 2 Stage. That typing is awfull, but could be a fun one with the three (four) evos.
57– Hatterene. 3 Stage. Another waifu full of Charm. Can be a fun one, not that unique.
58 – Impidimp. 3 Stage. Far more interesing with that unique typing. This one will be hype!
59 – Dreepy. 3 Stage Pseudo. A mini Giratina for Master Premier? That’s what myheart desires. Got Hype.
60– Sprigatito. 3 Stage Starter. The gen 9 grass starter, guranteed event. Will be the top grass type.
61– Fuecoco. 3 Stage starter. The gen 9 fire starter, guarateed event.
62– Quaxly. 3 Stage starter. The gen 9 water starter, guaranteed event.
63– Pawmi. 3 Stage. A beloved pikaclone. Hope they take the 25 km requirement for the event.
64– Smoliv. 3 Stage. A 3 stage grass type with more of a support role. Can be a good event.
65– Nacli. 3 Stage. The salt rock pokemon. A better Golem or Gigalith. This is happening.
66– Tinkatink. 3 Stage. By far the most hyped non starter mon in the gen. Make Gigaton Hammer happen!
67– Frigibax. 3 Stage Pseudo. The star of the gen, the pseudo legendary dragon/ice. This will be awesome, no doubt.
So there it is. 6 years and 1 months worth of CDs all the way to gen 9! Some awful ones, some very cool ones. They will absolutely release more until we exhaut this list. New regional forms! Some of these will probably never happen, but they are all on the table! So, what do you think? Did I forgot anyone? Leave a comment!

there's a troubling situation involving a neglected 14-year-old boy whose mother seems determined to make him a ward of the state. Despite his ADHD, he's been given marijuana to "manage" him, leading to school convictions and manipulation by his mother with authorities. She's denied him medical care, job opportunities, and even basic sustenance by refusing to work. Meanwhile, his grandparents are fighting for custody rights, but with limited success. The mother continues to plant weed in front of him, hoping to push him into further trouble. Despite this, the boy is trying to break free from drugs, holding down a job and seeking counseling sponsored by his grandparents. However, the school and court seem to be against him, pushing for his incarceration. Prayers are requested for this child as he faces an uncertain future, undeserving of the consequences of his mother's actions.

there's a troubling situation involving a neglected 14-year-old boy whose mother seems determined to make him a ward of the state. Despite his ADHD, he's been given marijuana to "manage" him, leading to school convictions and manipulation by his mother with authorities. She's denied him medical care, job opportunities, and even basic sustenance by refusing to work. Meanwhile, his grandparents are fighting for custody rights, but with limited success. The mother continues to plant weed in front of him, hoping to push him into further trouble. Despite this, the boy is trying to break free from drugs, holding down a job and seeking counseling sponsored by his grandparents. However, the school and court seem to be against him, pushing for his incarceration. Prayers are requested for this child as he faces an uncertain future, undeserving of the consequences of his mother's actions.

In Cheyenne, Wyoming, there's a troubling situation involving a neglected 14-year-old boy whose mother seems determined to make him a ward of the state. Despite his ADHD, he's been given marijuana to "manage" him, leading to school convictions and manipulation by his mother with authorities. She's denied him medical care, job opportunities, and even basic sustenance by refusing to work. Meanwhile, his grandparents are fighting for custody rights, but with limited success. The mother continues to plant weed in front of him, hoping to push him into further trouble. Despite this, the boy is trying to break free from drugs, holding down a job and seeking counseling sponsored by his grandparents. However, the school and court seem to be against him, pushing for his incarceration. Prayers are requested for this child as he faces an uncertain future, undeserving of the consequences of his mother's actions.