Please be literate, descriptive and over the age of 18. I will be writing as three seperate characters who each have their own unique personalities. Your character is a human (or perhaps a different supernatural creature) who is in charge of taking care of these three orphans who reside in a large mansion. If you have any questions or if you're interested in this plot, feel free to send me a message.
Deep within the darkened forest far away from any other civilization or people, a village full of Vampires lived in solitude. No one besides the villagers knew that this place even existed. They normally kept to themselves and it was absolutely crucial that they did not tell anyone that this placed existed. Because if they did, a large amount of humans would come and most likely end up destroying the village.
The village was very well maintained and every citizen had their own assigned duty to take care of. Even though it was still rather small, the village still had the necessary buildings to survive and thrive. They had a school, grocery store, farms and a random assortment of different buildings that included a museum, indoor pool, library and restaurants.
It had seemed like they were doing very well for themselves. However, they had one very big problem that they could not solve. Due to the severe lack of female Vampires, it was impossible to breed and continue the "Vampire legacy" of living in this village. There wasn't a single female living in the entire village, only males. Due to this severe problem, the Vampire who was in charge of the village decided to invite one single human female to the village and see if she would be able to get along with the other Vampires within the village. The whole point of this was to see if Humans and Vampires could get along in the first place. It was something that the whole village agreed on, considering that their race would eventually die out if they continued to do nothing about this problem.
The human female would be staying in the orphanage with three Vampire boys. If she was able to get along with them, surely it would be no problem to interact with the other Vampires of the village. This was a test to see if a human female was able to co-exist with another completely different species.
The orphanage was rather dark and dreary. Even though the building was rather large and had many windows, there was hardly any light shining through the windows because the curtains were almost always closed. Sunlight did not affect them at all, but obviously Vampires preferred to stay in the dark. It wasn't dusty or dirty at all, except for a few things that were left on the floor and never picked up.
The boys who occupied the Orphanage were named Drax, Athan and Cain. Drax was always the trouble maker who thoroughly enjoys teasing people and occasionally playing pranks. He was also mischievous and the oldest out of the three of them. Athan was straightforward and was basically the one always making sure Drax would not get into trouble. He is very responsible and makes sure everyone is taken care of. Cain was shy and hardly talked to anyone besides Drax and Athan. He normally kept to himself and it was difficult for him to open up to new people. None of them have even met a female before, let alone seen one.
High above on the second floor, Drax leaned against the railing with his elbows perched against the top of it. His bright pink eyes scanned down at the floor below, watching Cain draw a picture with a piece of paper and a wide variety of different pencil crayons. He leaned his face against the palm of his hand in boredom. "When is that new person supposed to be arriving? I'm getting tired of waiting." Athan who was also on the second floor adjusting a few pieces of furniture replied back to him. "I think she will be here in a few minutes. I'm very curious to find out what she looks like. I guess she will look a lot more different than a male, right?" Draw replied back. "I guess so. Hopefully she is pretty. If she is, she can sleep in my bed." He said, grinning evilly.
Athan rolled his eyes. "I doubt she would do that in the first place. Anyway, I'm sure it will be fun showing her around the village and visiting all the fun spots."
Cain continued to quietly draw his picture which consisted of a mansion with a bunch of bats surrounding it.

Well, guys, I’m in a bit of a pickle. Please don’t judge me..I realize some of this was poor judgement on my behalf. But here I am. Please note that I am consulting with a couple lawyers next week. Ugh.
Background:
I am a sport coach professional of 15 years. I have been working independently with a handful of private clients since 2018.
A little over a year ago, I was introduced to an investor who purchased property near me, seeking the guidance of someone such as myself to help develop the property out for a business in my related sport field. I did not seek this investor out, they sought me.
I told the owner I had no interest in running the business, but I would happily act as a consultant to get the best use out of the facility as well as get them connected with other professionals who may be interested in leasing the property upon completion.
We had discussed briefly what compensation would look like, with plans to get things down on paper the following week when the investors were in town. (You might be able to see where this is going).
Well, fast forward — the investoowner of the property decided they did not want to proceed with the professionals I had connected them with, and instead wanted to see what they could do to get me and my business partner in to operate the business. Keep in mind that the investors/owners know NOTHING about my industry.
At this point we are about 4 months into this whole dynamic or whatever it is. At the time, despite how dumb it may sound, I sincerely did not mind going out of my way to help a few hours a week with the guidance of developing this property. No one in the area can help them the way I can. This type of a facility is overwhelmingly needed in this area for our sport, and there are few other professionals, if any, in the area that can help guide the development of their vision for the facility. For the benefit of the community, the time I was putting in did NOT bother me. I wasn’t worried about getting paid, and trusted we would come to an agreement (as had been promised).
Well, upon being re-approached by the owner to please reconsider operating out of the facility, they sweetened the pot by offering an ownership share for the time I am putting in. We met for dinner, they had printed out a sheet outlining the infrastructure of the ownership between me, my business partner, and them. Although nothing was signed, I have a printed copy of what was handed to me. Again, you can probably see where this is going. The ownership offer for my time made it worth it to me to move forward and start this whole thing from scratch. At the time, I had no reason to believe they would go back on their word.
After the meeting, I began putting more of my time into the facility (10-15 hrs per week). By this time, I was working with my business partner to develop business plans, working with their lawyers for documents, and all the normal stuff of building a small business from scratch. I have a years worth of texts and drafts I made for everything regarding the business. We had weekly meetings with the project manager. I began interviews for the team, hired the manager, etc etc. Each week went by, with more conversations about our agreement, promises that lawyers were drafting the agreements, yet each week we wouldn’t see paperwork prepared for us. As I’m sure you can anticipate, the original offer has been redacted and changed last minute. I know, I am really dumb for letting this get this far. Please don’t beat me up more than I am beating up myself.
What they are now offering are three different options
— a small salary + a much smaller profit share percentage
— a bigger salary
— a small salary + a lump sum payment for my time over the last year
A lump sum payment for my time and walking away was briefly mentioned, and my gut is telling me to accept that offer. But I am worried that they may make it very difficult to receive payment for my time, because we never had anything in writing for my consultation except for what was discussed very recently with our project manager and written down (Again, no signing, but I do have a photo of what was written down for my consultation fee). We are a month out from opening, and I am feeling pressured by them to make a decision despite asking for the last 4-5 months to review the final agreement. “The meeting” where the original offer was redacted, involved a lot of degrading statements and manipulation tactics — I believe they are trying to scare me into quickly complying with shady business practices.
I opted for the lump sum payment for my time and smaller salary (verbally). Now, I am waiting for the documents to be sent over to me so I can review the specifications of the NDA and the non-compete with a lawyer.
Although everything the owner has done (the details of the meeting in which the original offer was redacted was terrible — the owner showed their true colors and although I feel dumb, I am generally a good judge of character, and was sincerely blown away) goes against my values as a person, the facility we have built would be incredible for my clients to experience. The follow up meeting with our project manager, where we discussed the details of the new offer and got the stipulations written down on paper to transfer to the legal documents, was one that they were trying really hard to keep me on board, “making up” for the previous meeting. The reality is, once we are operating, I wont be seeing much of the owner at all. Regardless, at this point, if it were for myself and myself only, I wouldn’t move forward. But because of my clients, I want them to be able to train out of a facility like this. We have NOTHING like this in the area. However, although the money isn’t worth it to me, with the encouragement of my spouse, I do believe I need to see something in my pocket.
I believe I have the upper hand because I bring the clients to the facility and the knowledge. The owners couldn’t do this without me and my business partner, period.
Here’s what I’m worried about (aside from the obvious if not already stated) —
The NDA and the non-compete are going to be ridiculous. To be honest, I don’t know what “Trade secrets” would be covered in the NDA aside from their financials…there are no trade secrets in my industry that I can think of. I do think they will try to cover something I discovered and discussed with the owner — lets just say, someone on the property who shouldn’t be on the property due to legal reasons. But this is public knowledge if searched (which is how I discovered we needed to talk about this person and get him off the property, or the success of the business is at stake). But I don’t know if that’s legally possible. However, I do know that I saved “them” by bringing this to their attention because if discovered, quite literally their operation would have been completely shut down and ostracized by the governing body of my sport (For good reason). I think they are going to try really hard to make it difficult for me to leave with the non compete.
Is there a way for me to negotiate protecting myself and the clients I am bringing to the business with the non-compete? Is it reasonable to negotiate that the non-compete cannot apply to the clients I am bringing with me? Or that, if I am fired, or the conditions of my employment change, the non-compete is null and void? How does the recent new ruling on non-competes affect this?
Do I have enough hard evidence to ask for my consultation fee for the last year and just end with that? Or am I completely screwed out of that?
Do you have any advice for me at all?
Like I said, I am meeting with lawyers next week who specialize in my industry and employment, but I just wanted to pick the brains of lawyers here about my situation. Their business practices are clearly shady, and I need to get my head out of my ass and need help with what I should be on the lookout for.

During the height of my high regard for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), among the movies of which I had been a major fan were the Captain America releases. At least two of them. The third film in this mini franchise - 2016's "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR" proved to be a major disappointment for me. However, when I heard that Disney and Marvel Films had plans to air a miniseries about the characters Sam Wilson aka the Falcon and James "Bucky" Barnes aka the Winter Soldier, I must admit that I felt a renewed interest in the franchise again.
When I said a renewal of the MCU franchise, I meant it. Aside from a few movies like "ANT-MAN", "BLACK PANTHER", "CAPTAIN MARVEL" and "ETERNALS"; the MCU had become a major disappointment for me ever since the release of 2015's "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON". One might ask . . . what about the MCU television productions that aired on the Disney Plus streaming channel? Aside from one production that I somewhat liked and one that I loved, most of them have been disappointing to me. Unfortunately, I have to include this follow-up to the Captain America movies, "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER".
Set six months after 2019's "THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME", "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER" followed former war veteran/Avenger Sam Wilson, who has resumed working the for the U.S. government, while using his role as the Falcon. When the government recruits Sam to track down and deal with a group of enhanced anarchists known as "the Flag Smashers", former World War II veteran/HYDRA tool/Avenger James "Bucky" Buchannan aka the Winter Soldier decides to join Sam in his mission, due to his lingering guilt as a former HYDRA assassin and their shared experiences as Steve Rogers' close friends and battling Thanos and his army.
Since "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER" had aired on the DisneyPlus channel in six episodes, I had seriously considered ranking the episodes. But like Season three of the Marvel Netflix series, "DAREDEVIL", the more I watched "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLIDER", the more it disappointed me. Aside from complaints about its pacing, the limited series had received a great deal of praise from critics and fans alike. Because of this, I believe it was one of the most overrated productions in the MCU history. People had seemed so focused on little moments and scenes that very few had noticed how the series' narrative seemed to be all over the map. For example:
~\Sam Wilson~* - This limited series is supposed to be a follow up to the events of "ENDGAME" in which Sam had received the Captain America shield from an aging Steve Rogers, a sign for him to take up the latter's costumed role. Was this an attempt by Marvel Films/Disney to make Sam a more relevant character? If so, why? Why did a MCU character have to replace Steve as the new Captain America to be more relevant? Why not allow Sam to continue as the Falcon, only push his role to the forefront as one of the franchise's new leading characters? Some might accuse me of not wanting a black man as Captain America, a topic that was brought up in the series. Frankly, I never wanted another character - regardless of race, gender or ethnicity - to become the new Captain America. That includes Bucky Barnes. Allow Steve Rogers to fade into the background and let Sam (as the Falcon) shine as one of the franchise's new leads. However, the die has been cast. One can only sit back and see if moviegoers are willing to accept Sam as the new Captain America.
Perhaps the MCU had to make Sam the new Captain America in order to make him more relevant. Why would I say that? The showrunner for "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER", Malcolm Spellman, came dangerously close to shoving Sam into the role of the second lead or worst, a role he has been since his debut in 2014's "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER" - a supporting character. During the series' first three or four episodes, someone other than Sam (either Bucky Barnes or Helmut Zemo - two white men) made decisions that allowed the plot to move forward, not Sam. He was simply regulated to being an observer or reactor. The series even managed to undermine Sam's decision not to support the Sokovia Accords in "CIVIL WAR". In thee 2016, Sam became the first Avenger to speak out against the Accords and declare his intentions not to sign it. Yet, according to Bucky in this series, Sam had merely followed Steve's example in rejecting the Accords. And Spellman did nothing to allow Sam to correct this misconception.
~\James "Bucky" Barnes~* - One of the few aspects of "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR" I found enjoyable proved to be the interactions between Sam Wilson and Bucky Buchannan. Despite their lingering jealousy and competition over the role as "Steve Rogers' best friend", the pair's interactions proved to be very entertaining, thanks to the screen chemistry between Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. Unfortunately, Mackie and Stan could not save "CIVIL WAR" for me. Nor could they save "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER", due to its problematic writing. A good deal of that writing surrounded Bucky's character. I have so many questions about his role in this series. For example:
-Why would any official of the Joint Counter Terrorist Center allow Bucky to visit and question Helmut Zemo, the man responsible for the U.N. conference bombing in Vienna, in "CIVIL WAR"? That made very little sense to me. Surely the JCTC authorities remembered how Zemo managed to brainwash Bucky into making his own prison break in "CIVIL WAR"? Also, Bucky was on parole for his activities as a brainwashed HYDRA assassin. Yet, the JCTC had allowed him to visit Zemo? Surely, the showrunner could have allowed Sam, who was serving the U.S. government again, to be the one to visit and question Zemo?
-How on earth did Bucky managed to evade being arrested and charged for helping Zemo escape from the JCTC? The U.S. and other governments should have been suspicious of Bucky after learning about his visit to Zemo.
-Bucky came off as an arrogant school jock, who thought he was entitled to get his way - especially in his interactions with Sam. I found it hilarious that many fans had criticized John Walker aka Captain America aka U.S. Agent for such toxic behavior. Yet, they had turned a blind eye to Bucky's own behavior. And so did the series - up until the last two episodes. Why did the showrunner allow Bucky to get away with this behavior toward Sam for so long without any complaints from the latter?
-I did not care how Bucky had bullied his way into Sam's mission without the latter's consent. What I found even more annoying was the U.S. government's decision to allow Bucky to join Sam's mission after that ludicrous "therapy session" they were forced to attend together.
~\Racism -~* A good number of MCU fans had complained about the inclusion of racism in "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER". I had no problems with this direction, considering the story was about Sam, an African-American man, becoming the new Captain America. However, I had a good deal of problems with how the production explored the topic of racism.
The story of Isaiah Bradley, Marvel's second Captain America, had originated in the comics. In the MCU, he was a Korea War veteran whom the United States Army used as one of several unwilling African-American test subjects for their version of the Super Soldier serum. I realize that both Marvel Comics and the MCU had attempted to use Bradley's experience as a metaphor for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The problem is that I cannot see the U.S. government and the Army - both racist organizations in the early 1950s - be willing to risk the possibility of creating a non-white super soldier. Despite the recent desegregation of the Armed Forces in the late 1940s. And both the government and the Army had been more than willing to use white soldiers in other experiments.
After saving a group of black American super soldiers from a prison camp, Bradly was imprisoned by the U.S. government for thirty years. I saw nothing wrong with this twist in the character's narrative, until I remembered two things - Bradley had been able to free his fellow soldiers without anyone's help; and nearly sixty years later, Steve Rogers managed to break into the Raft and free those Avengers who had refused to sign the Sokovia Accord. Why was Bradley unable to free himself from prison? This is the man who had defeated the Winter Soldier by breaking the latter's metal arm. And he was not powerful enough to make a prison break, let alone evade capture?
I had assumed Sam's difficulty in becoming the new Captain America would stem from the government's reluctance to recruit a black man for the position. That would explain their decision to recruit the blond-haired John Walker instead. But the series never really made it clear whether political racism had played a role in Walker's recruitment. The series also had James "Rhodey" Rhodes had paid Sam a visit, emphasizing the importance of the new Captain America being black. As it turned out, Sam's own insecurities about becoming Captain America had more to do with him not initially assuming the role. There was also that interesting scene outside Bradley's Baltimore home where the police arrested Sam during verbal argument with Bucky. Although the cops backed away when they recognized Sam as an Avenger, they ended up arresting the parolee Bucky for missing his required therapy appointment. This scene was supposed to be a case of racial profiling. But . . . we might as well be honest. In the real world, the police would not have backed down from hassling Sam. What I found more disturbing was the production's handling of Bucky's arrest. Once the police discovers that Sam was an Avenger; they turned to arrest Bucky for failing to show up for his missing his therapy session. Not only did the police arrest Bucky with a more gentle behavior, they did so, accompanied by Henry Jackman's mournful score, something that did not accompany the moment of Sam being arrested. Were the audiences expected to notice the hypocrisy and racism in the police's handling of the two men? Expected to feel sympathy for Bucky? Or both?
The last episode featured a scene of two black kids playing with toy Captain America shields. Someone had commented that the shields (especially in the hands of non-white children) represented hope to the future of race relations in the United States. Why? How? This country had a biracial president for EIGHT YEARS. Yet, U.S. racial policies have remained problematic even to this day. I can say the same for other countries. The so-called symbolism of this scene only reminded me of how human beings put so much faith in imagery and symbolism. And this strikes me as a FALSE FAITH. Why was taking up the mantle of a costumed hero that had been previously occupied by a white man, the only way for Sam Wilson to become relevant within the MCU franchise? What was wrong with him being "the Falcon"? Sam becoming the next Captain America was not going to save the U.S. in regard to race relations - not in real life and not in the fictional world of the MCU. Looking back on the series, the series' only scenario that seemed to expose racism in a realistic manner, proved to be Sam's failure to acquire a bank loan for his family's fishing boat in Louisiana.
~\Sharon Carter~* - I am certain many MCU fans are aware of this. One of Marvel Comics' most iconic couples happened to be Steve Rogers aka Captain America and Sharon Carter aka Agent 13. She also happened to be the great-niece of Peggy Carter, Steve's love interest during World War II. Portrayed by Emily VanCamp, Sharon was first introduced as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER" as a potential love interest for Steve. Despite Sharon's appearance in the following Captain America movie, "CIVIL WAR", their romance never really developed. Many blamed the lack of chemistry between VanCamp and Chris Evans. I never had a problem with their screen chemistry. I had a problem with the lack of relationship development between Sharon and Steve. And I blame Kevin Feige's decision to transform the third Captain America film into a third (and badly written) pseudo Avengers movie. The change in the film's narrative, along with Sharon's failure to appear in "THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR" and "ENDGAME", left no opportunity for Sharon and Steve to become the romantic pair they had been in the comics. Instead, Sharon became a fugitive from the U.S. government after helping Steve and Sam hunt down Bucky, moved to Madripoor, a city-state with no U.S. extradition and became an embittered criminal known as "the Power Broker".
After "CIVIL WAR", nearly five years had passed before Sharon appeared in another MCU production - namely this series. And what happened? The franchise, with Spellman, ended up completely destroying her character by transforming her into the villain known as Power Broker, the criminal leader of an Indonesian city-state called Madripoor. After helping Steve and Sam acquire their suits and equipment in order to go after Bucky in "CIVIL WAR", Sharon lost her job with the C.I.A. and became a fugitive. She eventually moved to Madripoor, a city-state with no U.S. extradition, to evade capture, survived Thanos' Snap and became an embittered criminal nicknamed "the Power Broker" in order to survive the new world.
What really pissed me off about Sharon's arc between "CIVIL WAR" and "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER" is that her development into a major villain all happened OFF SCREEN. Off screen. Apparently, screenwriters for "INFINITY WAR" had written a draft that included Sharon in the movie. But according to Christopher Markus, he and Stephen McFeeley could not imagine scenes featuring Steve and Sharon trying to make it work in an apartment, because the 2018 movie did not have time to focus on their personal life. Why did Marvel simply fail to allow Sharon to be part of Steve's vigilante team - like Sam and Natasha Romanoff? I mean . . . good fucking grief! And why did Malcolm Spellman believe the only way Sharon could be interesting was to become a villain in "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER"? This was his idea of improving Sharon's character?
~\Helmut Zemo aka Baron Zemo~* - Why did Malcolm Spellman, Kevin Feige and the MCU thought it necessary to bring back Helmut Zemo, the Sokovian-born villain from "CIVIL WAR"? What role did he play in "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER"? I realize that Bucky, of all people, visited the incarcerated Zemo to acquire information on who had created the super-soldier serum that empowered the Flag Smashers. But why did he believe Zemo could provide the answer? Because he thought HYDRA was involved? Bucky or Sam could have searched for information from sources other than Zemo, who had been incarcerated for . . . what? Eight years? Eight years. Zemo managed to become something of a crowd-pleaser, thanks to Daniel Brühl's performance. Otherwise, I found his presence in this series unnecessary.
~\The Big Bad~* - Why on earth did it take this series so long to finally reveal the main villain's identity? At first, the series hinted the Flag Smashers, led by Karli Morgenthau. However, the series tossed other potential candidates for the Big Bad before viewers - John Walker, Helmut Zemo and yes, Sharon Carter. But in the end, Morgenthau and her group proved to be the main villains.
The Flag Smashers were a group of empowered people who believed the world was a better place between Thanos' Snap and the Blip (resurrection of those who had died during the Snap), when Humans around the world managed to unite and form a borderless society, one in which people helped others without any thought to nationalism and bias. Thanks to the Avengers, the world resumed its conflicts between nationalities and other groups. In other words, the borders returned.
Frankly, I have nothing against this ideal. Only Ms. Morgenthau and her followers resorted to violence and terrorism to achieve their goals. Does this sound familiar? It should. The Flag Smashers proved to be another example of characters with a progressive goal, resorting to extremism and becoming villains. This seemed to be a growing trend within the franchise, which I believe began with Erik "Killmonger" Stevens aka Prince N'Jadaka in 2018's "BLACK PANTHER". Since then, the MCU has not looked back at its growing roster of progressive villains. Perhaps I should not have been surprised. The franchise's ambiguous portrayal of an unconstitutional document like the Sokovia Accords, should have been the wake-up call. It seemed as if Kevin Feige, Marvel Films and Disney Studios had finally exposed themselves for the faux progressives they pretend to be. Frankly, this form of villainy has become tiresome to me.
After writing this article, I had considered ranking the six episodes featured in "THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER" anyway. But I decided against it. My dislike of the series made it impossible for me to even bother. Being a fan of the first two Captain America movies, I had truly hoped this series would redeem the franchise. Unfortunately, it proved to be just as disappointing as "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR". Pity. Perhaps the fourth film, "CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD" will do the trick. I hope so.

I love both Red Dead Redemption games, they're both well written with many memorable characters and a large great open world full of many opportunities. I think both games should be equally as praised for how they tell the story of the dying West.
However between both of these games, I find myself loving rdr1s atmosphere more than rdr2s. And there is reasons for what, weither or not you agree with those reasons is up to you and I'm not saying everyone has to agree with my opinion here. But never the less I wanna talk about it, because I think rdr1 has a very unique atmosphere and something that everyone should experience.
The major difference between rdr1s atmosphere from rdr2s, is the tone. Rdr2s atmosphere can range dramatically in the game, but most of the time Rdr2s tone is fun and hopeful. Yes there absolutely is depressive and sad moments in this game and many times where you actually feel very hopeless, but overall the tone I feel when playing rdr2 can be quite happy and hopeful. Getting to spend so much time with the gang, having cool shootouts and robberys, and with many memorable fun characters that you can't help but love for their personality and the bond you establish with them such as Sean.
Rdr1 has absolutely none of this. There is no moments in rdr1 where there's a sence of hope or fun in this game. There's no glorification in rdr1, no moments where you can feel hopeful and happy in what your doing and witnessing. As depressing as rdr2 is at the end, no one can deny that there is indeed many moments of glorification, such as storming the Braithway Manor with everyone. But in rdr1, there is no moments like this.
The majority of the story is devoid of hope, even the side missions mostly consist of dark and gloomy story's that only make you feel worse for being In such a vile world.
From saving an abused prostitute only for her to be killed anyway, to finding a cannibal in the wilderness who's killed innocent folk, to trying to help a lost man only for him to die alone and dehydrated in the wilderness, to searching flowers for a good husband only to find out his wife was dead for years and he was living with her corpse under a delusion she was still alive, to stumbling upon an old distressed woman that you eventually realise that she had been stood up by her husband decades ago which drove her too insanity, to killing an innocent man in a duel due to a scumbag woman lying to you, to watching a man fall to his death with a flying invention he thought would work, to helping a man who commits beastiality with a horse
All of these are the side missions in rdr1, and their all very dark and hopeless. The majority of rdr1s content is gloomy and depressing, there is never a sence of happiness in them. Compare this to rdr2, where while there can be some dark side content, also has alot of happy and silly content too.
Even Irish, one of the only rare characters that's semi silly and meant for laughs, has a very dark and tragic end. When you find out in a newspaper that he tragically blew his own brains out accidentally in an outhouse while drunk with a revolver. Sure Seth Briars has a kind of happy end, when you find out through a newspaper that he became rich. But this is Seth we are talking about, the delusional mad grave robber who was a likely necrophile and a man who was completely fine with the prospect of torturing someone with a knife. It definitely doesn't feel good that a man like that gained a large sum of money.
My point is, the atmosphere in rdr1 is dark, depression, gloomy and vile. There's never a sence of hope in this game, never any glorification or any moments of happiness. Its a disgusting vile atmosphere where no one's life is valued and the majority of people get the short end of the stick. Rdr2 certainly has moments similar to this, I'm in no way saying that rdr2 isn't serious or depression, because it is. All I'm saying is, rdr1s atmosphere is completely void of anything else than rdr2 offers and thats why I love it so much. Its bleak, dark and vile.

Upon entering an ever-changing arena, players embark on a quest to amass crystals scattered across the map, thereby augmenting their personal point tally. This accumulation triggers a growth spurt for their in-game character, affording them an expanded attack radius. Nevertheless, this enlargement comes at the cost of reduced mobility. As contestants engage in fierce battles, their primary objective is to eliminate adversaries. Upon vanquishing a foe, the defeated player relinquishes a portion of their accrued points, which the victor can seize to bolster their strategic advantage. Ultimately, victory is bestowed upon the player who emerges with the highest point total at the culmination of the match.

Came here due to following The Click on YouTube LOL so I'd try my luck posting. Might be a bit long, so TLDR at the bottom. Technically I posted this before on pettyrevenge, but my friend told me that I should also post a copy here, so here we are. And as a side note, I'm not from the US, so yeah.
This happened during my college days in the 2000s. I majored in Business Admin and one of my classes we had to take for the core subjects was Business Management, which I shared with a few of my friends who took the same major and a few other acquaintances who were in a different major but took them as part of their elective courses.
One of the acquaintances, whom I'll call Gina (not real name) was one of those that really had to stick her nose into other people's businesses. If she sense someone talking about something juicy (in her eyes), she would quickly insert herself into the conversation and insist the person to spill the tea for her, regardless if she knew the topic of discussion or not. Not only that, she has absolutely no inside voice whenever she joins a conversation. She adopts this "loud and proud" attitude and would just talk and respond loudly during the conversation that you can sometimes even hear her outside of the room.
Even when the topic in question is just a general discussion of a course subject that she didn't even take the class of, she'd insist on joining the conversation and either 1) spout out absolute nonsense and be completely oblivious that she had said anything wrong or 2) steer the conversation to finally talk about something she is familiar with. Not only that, she's the type of person who has to one-up you at any topic, e.g. "You got a Nobel prize? I got knighted by the Queen!" type of attitude.
It got to the point where she sometimes try to butt into private conversations or people talking about personal matters and insist on hearing about it and also give unsolicited advice even though she knows fuck all about the issue, and if you try to dismiss her, she will loudly chastise you for not including her into the conversation and not being a good friend for doing so. As an Asian ingrained in polite Asian culture (remember, I'm not from the US), we would either just smile and nod and tolerate her presence or try to make an excuse to leave the room to continue our discussion elsewhere away from her earshot, and our dear ol' oblivious Gina would move on to the next grapevine to grab the next gossip.
One day, I was talking to one of my friends Jordan (who takes the same major as me, also not real name) about a family crisis at home. IIRC, I think it had something to do with their father facing possible jailtime for embezzlement and that they might face potential dropout from college because their father was the main breadwinner and the one paying for college tuition and their mother might not be able to cover it in the future once their father is officially convicted. As usual, Gina saw how intense our faces were while we were talking despite us using hushed tones, and plopped herself next to us to get the scoop.
I tried dismissing her, saying that this is a private matter and that she shouldn't get involved. But of course, she took offense and loudly chastised me in front of the whole class for being "anti-social, leaving her out, that's not what friends do, all I want is to help, I just want to know, what's so wrong about that?" Everyone heard her but decided not to interfere (again, polite Asian culture), but we could still see that all eyes are on us to see how this drama unfold and how we're going to deal with her. Jordan's face became visible distraught and uncomfortable both by the prying eyes and Gina's endless loud chastising, and it was obvious if Gina didn't shut up, all hell would break loose.
Then it suddenly clicked to me on one of Gina's quirks: she was the type that had no patience for foreign films or TV shows. She would only watch movies or TV shows if they were in English, Mandarin or Cantonese (like famous Hong Kong movies and/or TV shows). Anything other than those three languages, she would NOT touch them, even if the show comes with subtitles, because she doesn't have the brain capacity to read subtitles AND watch the show at the same time, and even more so when it comes to anime.
During that time, the Three Kings of Anime (Bleach, Naruto and One Piece) were the rage and while I'm not a die-hard fan, I'm kept up to date with the storyline thanks to being a backseat audience whenever my now husband (then boyfriend) watched those three shows every week when it came out. And we knew for a fact that she actively avoids anything to do with anime because she has no patience to watch them and is completely ignorant of anime fandoms, and from there, the nerdy gears in my head turned the cogwheels to sprout out my demon horns into imaginary existence.
I gave my friend a "I got this" look, pretended to sigh in defeat and said, "Fine~ We were talking about how we could get our hands on the One Piece."
"One Piece?" Gina's eyes began to show intrigue, and a bit of smugness thinking that she had wore me down.
"Oh yeah, didn't you know? It's a family treasure heirloom in Jordan's family for generations!"
I proceeded to basically tell Gina the plot of One Piece anime, but replacing the anime characters' names with Jordan's and their family. How Golden Roger was their ancestor who used to be a pirate in his heyday and had kept a stash of treasure hidden somewhere in the far corners of the Earth, and that a treasure map has become Jordan's family heirloom and passed down from generation to generation, and now that Jordan's grandfather had recently bequeathed the map to them in his will, they were trying to discuss with me the best way to travel to find this One Piece. I spun tale after tale (may have even included Naruto and Bleach plots into the mix) to keep her intrigued, all the while everyone in the classroom (those in the know, anyways) were just trying very hard to keep a straight face at my fanciful tale. Even Jordan played along and added their own spin into the plot to keep the conversation going, and dear ol' oblivious Gina just lapped it all up.
We kept it up for almost 2 weeks as Gina kept coming back for more of Jordan's "family lore", in which we kept feeding her more anime plots (at the same time, it gave Jordan a bit of stress relief and distraction from their own real family crisis). Until one day, at the campus cafeteria, we saw Gina with another group of her friends about two tables away from us and we could hear her talking in her usual loud self about Jordan's "family lore" (yeah, if a story is juicy enough, she would tend to spread around to anyone who would listen; another bad habit of hers).
One of her friends, whom we know is an anime fan, suddenly called her out, "Hey! I thought you said you don't watch anime!"
Gina, with an obvious disgust on her face, said, "Of course not. I wouldn't touch them even with a ten-foot pole! Don't lump me with your lot."
"Really? Then why does your story sound like the anime plots of One Piece, Bleach and Naruto?"
Gina went dead silent for almost a full 2 minute to let everything sink in before she VERY SLOWLY turned towards us sitting two tables away and gave us the world's deadliest death stare, in which we just grinned and comically shrugged at her before walking out of the cafeteria laughing our heads off.
We're not sure how, but she soon realized on that fateful day when we started telling her the "family lore", everyone in class was in on it because no one came forward to stop or correct us. She completely stopped talking to everyone in class and no longer butt in on conversations after that because she couldn't trust anyone at that point, and by mid-semester, she dropped out of this class altogether. From what I heard, she picked a different elective class to go to because she was so traumatized with paranoia by the fact that "if OP lied about her conversation with Jordan, what else are others lying about in their conversation??" in her mind.
Eh, good riddance either way.
TLDR: Entitled classmate wants in on everyone's drama regardless of their privacy or relevance, so I gave her fictional drama to stew on, and she got embarrassed for being told the drama ain't real.
P/S: If The Click sees this, that'll absolutely make my day LOL

I ran into a gray Kirby with a bunch of seemingly random characters as his username while practicing my secondary Bowser, hed do a little dance and mash grab facing away from me so I'd do the same thing and he'd roll in front of me to get grabbed and after I pummeled him hed do the same thing, the only attack he did would suck me in so he could request the same with fire breath, hed never up b or dash, only walk and air dodge to stage and he rematched me like 10 times until our sets got so braindead we got kicked for inactivity by just holding neutral B
It's not like he was low GSP, he was in the 14 millions when we started so he obviously had to have some fundamentals, I went from 13.8 Mil to 14.2 Mil from him alone. I was curious if he was like some weird AI someone hooked up to their switch to see if a computer could learn from elite so to test it I sent a friend request and they accepted a few minutes later so they were definitely a real person. Maybe they're trying to tank their GSP? I really wish it dawned on me to record one of the sets in the moment but I was too baffled by this character, I have some screenshots though but I dont know if itd be acceptable to show their username here, even if it isnt in ill intent

Now there is nothing wrong with having some out there theories, but I feel like we have recently gotten to a point again where we see many theories that are not unconventional, but completely baseless and just throwing stuff around to see what sticks and then claim they are a genius if something is true.
Honestly I really am just making this because I've seen many ''this person is actually this person, no character has an original identity and since it's fiction everything automatically becomes possible'' theories floating around again.
So I wondered what other bad theories that might even be too popular did you see floating around?

Hot and cold, hot and cold. Hoping the hot offense shows up today.
Congrats to u/Jnbrkt (9-3) for a +/- 1 on Friday! Also, congrats to u/Impressive-Tank9803 (4/2) and u/OrangeBuffalo8 (4-2) for +/- 1 guesses on Wednesday!
Lucky Guess Standings

Rank	User	Exact	'+/- 1	Lost Tiebreaker	Points
1	u/Global_Painter1020	2	3	0	15
2	u/TommyPickles2222222	1	1	0	7
3	u/ngmatt21	1	0	0	6
3	u/kingfiasco	1	0	0	6
3	u/gnarkilleptic	1	0	0	6
3	u/Efficient_Wishbone93	1	0	0	6
3	u/DudeFoSho	0	4	1	6
4	u/jjk2	0	3	1	5
5	u/King_Clitoris	0	1	1	3
6	u/Sufficient_Expert333	0	0	1	2
6	u/malkusm	0	2	0	2
6	u/uncleslam7	0	2	0	2
6	u/Bmoreorioles1	0	2	0	2
6	u/OrangeBuffalo8	0	2	0	2
7	u/samir_katta	0	1	0	1
7	u/ngmatt21	0	1	0	1
7	u/Jormmy-NcKegHook	0	1	0	1
7	u/jeffreythecat1	0	1	0	1
7	u/Jeff_Banks_Monkey	0	1	0	1
7	u/Individual_Step6688	0	1	0	1
7	u/hiyazz	0	1	0	1
7	u/EarthquakeJake94	0	1	0	1
7	u/DaddyHausen	0	1	0	1
7	u/BowynArrow	0	1	0	1
7	u/bmorebetta	0	1	0	1
7	u/DrDinglberry	0	1	0	1
7	u/ThatTinyGameCubeDisc	0	1	0	1
7	u/VoteForWaluigi	0	1	0	1
7	u/Iciclewind	0	1	0	1
7	u/joystick13	0	1	0	1
7	u/MrTallGreg	0	1	0	1
7	u/Jnbrkt	0	1	0	1
7	u/Impressive-Tank9803	0	1	0	1

Comments must include:

• Final Score (winner must be specified)
  
• Tiebreaker question
  
• Format: [Score] [Winner] [Tiebreaker]
  

All guesses must be submitted by the posted start time to qualify.
Score will be as follows:

• Exact guess = 6 points
  
• Off by one run = 1 point
  
• In the event of a tie, the loser of the tiebreaker scores 2 points
  

If two users pick the same score with the same tiebreaker, the person who submitted their guess first will be awarded the 6 points. The same rule will apply when two tiebreakers guesses are equally close to the actual result.
Score will be tallied each night and submitted to the post-game thread (sometimes). They will also appear in the "Standings" section of future Lucky Guess posts.

Now let's play ball!

Tiebreaker for today's game is strikeouts thrown by both starting pitchers.

As always, please do not upvote any guessing comment until after the game is over and the winner is determined, then upvote the winner.

Matchup Statistics

You can find the lineups here before game time.
Orioles

Starting Pitcher	Throws	W-L	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	BABIP	FIP
Corbin Burnes	R	3-2	53.2	23.3%	6.7%	51.4%	.241	3.55

Mariners

Starting Pitcher	Throws	W-L	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	BABIP	FIP
George Kirby	R	4-3	50.1	25.1%	2.5%	35.0%	.273	2.89

Good luck!

So, the last game to use 1hp models was Shogun 2, and despite the lack of unit diversity and the infamous moments of a Samurai cutting down a dozen Ashigaru one at a time, its still praised for its polish and immersion. Rome 2, while certainly not a failure, was condemned by some for switching to a health-bar system (most notably by the infamous Volound). It also did things like Agents and resources the best of any TW, IMO.
Even today, I regularly find myself going back to Shogun 2, most recently as the Hojo in the base campaign. And it got me thinking: would going back to 1hp models (or 2hp+, for characters) fix some of the issues with modern TW, like doomstacking and regen spam? I'm personally of the opinion that games that deliberately constrain themselves in some way (like Mario Odyssey with movement all being based on jumping, rolling, and cap throws) feel more polished than games that throw everything at the wall and see what sticks like Assassins Creed. It forces the developers to make the core mechanics good.
What do you think? Are there aspects of classic TW (i.e. Shogun 2 and earlier) that you think would improve the game if brought back?

Bear with me while I explain where I'm coming from.
The context for this question comes mostly from reading arguments about the role of Essence in the setting and the way Magic is fundamentally a "birthright" to special insight about the way the universe works and the power to interact with it. Now, I personally love that as part of the setting, but what I don't love is how the setting seems to shy away from giving it the Cyberpunk treatment. Yes, Mages are employed by corporations and all corporations want them, but the setting portrays Magic as something that's fundamentally uncontrollable by the corporations. It can pop up anywhere and give anyone the power to ruin their plans. It's a bright spot in the setting, but by dint of that it leaves me with an odd feeling.
This is meant to be speculative fiction to a large extent, and it feels like the speculation there doesn't go far enough. The main culprit, in my eyes, is the MAG score and the role of Initiation.
We all know a higher MAG score is better, and Initiation, the only method to increase it, is usually something you can't do during character generation. It's something left out for the sake of progression and tied directly to karma, which makes its actual cost nebulous. Karma doesn't have a clear material presence in the setting; It exists as a game mechanic exclusively. This creates a strange situation, where, for example, a Mage born with a MAG score of 1 can increase their MAG score by spending Karma up to the limit of their Essence, but that karma doesn't translate to any particular thing that enables that growth. It just happens.
What I want to posit is an alternative to that: A way for Awakened characters to buy up their MAG score with nuyen and to perform Initiation in the same way. I picture it as the cost of reagents and awakened plants or animal parts with high Availability required to increase one's power and control, maybe even to pay an Alchemist to turn this into a pill like in Chinese Xianxia, or to perform treatments. Using these things, Mages would grow stronger in quantifiable ways.
I feel like it would add to the setting in several key ways:

• It would justify the presence of powerful mages working for Corporations, for one. Corporations would pay for all of these resources and treatments to get their Mages up to snuff, the same way they already buy their spells and formulas. It would create a real incentive for the independent Mage to join a corporation's payroll beyond simple lifestyle, and a potential leash for any enterprising Mr. Johnson: You stop taking runs from me and the free upgrades stop coming. This is something that might actually matter to player characters, whereas having their character live in a penthouse instead of an alleyway usually doesn't.
  
• It would push Mages into the rat race. Now they have to think about how much they're being paid, instead of working pro-bono and still getting all they need. Even if the change is to add nuyen as an alternative payment, getting paid in both nuyen and karma becomes a path to two initiations so you don't need working for the people/man rules anymore. It also frees Mages from the working for the people treadmill that pigeonholes them as the "good guys" of the setting. Mages can now benefit from something other than charity work, instead of being penalized for it.
  
• It would create space for new characters and backstories. How did your Mage reach his MAG 6 at chargen, if they even did? Were they born that lucky? Did they have a sponsor or mentor? Was it by working under a corporation or outside their sphere of influence? Was there some kind of Awakened plant or beast involved in the process, and what does that mean for your Magic? It might even create new space for mechanics, like new Adept Paths or Mage Paths that grant spells that otherwise don't see much play. It also creates an excuse not to take MAG to 6 from the get go, and a reason for the mechanics around the numbers there to loosen up a bit. Maybe a way to substitute your MAG in skill dicepools for MAG skills, so low MAG Mages can still roll well but be limited by Force.
  
• Finally, it equalizes augmentations on both sides of the tech/magic divide. It makes Mages corruptible through the promise of power same as mundanes and makes rewards no longer a complicated mess out of character. The Mage can be just as tempted by a big pile of Nuyen because it translates directly to personal power and not simply "fluff" for them.
  

God, there's so much evidence of this it's ridiculous. This all lines up perfectly.
OpenAI had a massive breakthrough and has been utilizing that breakthrough to accelerate their workflow. They got AI working on its own development on top of their team. And that's why they haven't released GPT-5 yet, despite it being well over a year since GPT-4. We all know they have it—training finished ages ago, and there's no good reason for them not to have released it yet. They just keep doing iterations of gpt4 over and over, and then on the side they just dropped these ridiculous updates...
Then, we suddenly get this demonstration, and have been getting demonstrations ever since, showing the Sora Video Model, and it's stupid good. Like, light-years ahead of the competition. It's straight-up magical at this point, so far beyond our understanding of what's going on with this stuff. Sora, unveiled February 15, 2024, it's so far ahead of everything else that it's very mind-boggling how they ever could have possibly gotten to that point so fast. It's so fucking good..
And that is exactly what is freaking all of them out big-time. Except not Sam Altman at first—he saw some amount of opportunity for humanity, mixed with seeing the power to be had, and how massive it would be if he came out the other side as a savior for humanity. So he embraced the breakthrough and kept going full force ahead. And he wasn't wrong to do that—it's his Oppenheimer moment.
China is going all in on it, that's for damn certain. Which means we have to go all in on it, safety and precautions be damned as they slow the development of AI down. Falling behind to China could potentially be catastrophic; we need to stay ahead. So of course the Pentagon got involved, working on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with OpenAI announced on January 31, 2024, to leverage AI for defense purposes. The military saw something that triggered them to get involved, and while they're helping with cybersecurity, you can bet your ass they're leveraging AI to the fullest extent for all their warfare. They kind of need to, or else we're going to fucking die.
Sam Altman has been looking pretty exhausted and always tired during that entire stretch. Now their safety department has completely disbanded. This just happened, and they all got hit with NDAs of one year on their way out, meaning none of them can talk about it or they lose their stocks in the company. So, Sam Altman, instead of recoiling in fear and horror during the lifting of the veil that they were witness to behind closed doors sometime shortly before his ousting, he went the other direction instead and embraced it and was excited for the prospects. That is all because they discovered AGI sometime around the middle of November 2023. And while some of the employees for deeply troubled by all of this and Disturbed and scared perhaps, Altman showed excitement and exuberance over it, hence the entire ousting of Altman in November 2023. And because he showed excitement, I understand why all sides felt as they did and they are rightfully justified. Just before his ousting, Altman mentioned in an interview how they were witnessing significant advancements and saw it as a momentous period in AI development, which he felt honored to be part of: "I can't imagine anything more exciting to work on, and on a personal note, just in the last couple of weeks, I have gotten to be in the room, when we sort of like push the sort of the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward and getting to do that is like a professional honor of a lifetime. So, it's just so fun to get to work on that"
With the last update we got, it is very clear that they aren't showing us everything. The products are not quite what we were hoping for, but they are insanely good and enough to keep people happy. The shit they can do with the voice now is getting released to the public next month. It can sing, change vocal expressions, and do all sorts of crazy shit that nobody else is near. We all come to find out later that that was just the beginning of all these updates, we have 3D model generation coming, the dolly image generation that's integrated into it is phenomenal and can do consistent characters and it can do text like nobody's business, it's so fucking good, and then we have insanely fucking fast speeds for these models, you're able to speak to these models and get responses like right away just as fast as a human will respond it's not faster and that it's able to do that it's just so mind-boggling. Just think, you have like a fraction of a second for it to go and like break down everything that you said so have that all transcribed and then take that and then crap the response and then say that out through the audio model. And they're doing this all at insanely fast speeds the text generation is so crazy fast and it is now only half the price of what it was before. This type of progress is nuts, what other industry or what other time of history have we seen progress being made at this pace, there's no comparison this is batshit crazy. And it feels off because things don't quite add up as far as what they are giving to the public and what they very obviously have or should have AKA gpt5 something that is multimodal and is an agent that can go out and do everything.
For them to have all of that and yet not have a model significantly better than GPT-4 from a year ago is silly. They have a model, and it's GPT agents set up to code really well. They can tell these models to go and do things on the internet like creating various accounts, setting up the accounts with APIs, codes, and all of that, and then downloading all the necessary things and setting it up in whichever program. It's like these super assistants that are insanely smart. That's what we should have out there. If Sora is out there, then 100% we should have that, and that is AGI. It can do shit on its own and follow up with tasks and goals in mind. It's wild.
So, this next section is borrowing heavily from this Reddit post that was from February of 2024 in which much of this was predicted to a T. This post is so spot on, here's a link to it on an archive site
https://archive.md/rtZHg
It's like the methods magicians use to figure out other magicians' tricks. You look for what is required to be there and is (like the magician's hat on the table), and what is not required to be there but is anyway (like the curtain covering the space under the table).
But then there's the misdirection—the bullshit and distractions. A company with AGI is going to want to feed it as many GPUs as possible while delaying the AGI announcement. They'll throw smoke bombs, release amazing new products, and make cryptic statements to keep people guessing. Their actions will seem more and more chaotic and unnecessarily obtuse. Customers will be happy but frustrated.
They'll start releasing products that are unreasonably better than they should be, with unclear paths to their creation. There will be sudden breakdowns in staff loyalty and communication. Firings, resignations, vague hints from people under NDAs. And then, the military will suddenly take a huge interest, and all PR from the company will go quiet.
That's when you know it's real. When the curtain comes down, everyone stops talking, but the checkbooks keep opening wider than ever, with investors and state departments pouring in resources. Bottlenecks will be reached for multiple industries. A complete drought of GPUs, etc.
And I'm telling you, with everything we're seeing from OpenAI, it's looking more and more like AGI every damn day.