“This book is on voyages to the North, where Lord Debling intends to travel.”
“Miss Featherington, are you reading about the fabled Northwest Passage?”
(S3 E4 11:16)
Hi everyone! I posted a comment about it right after season 3 dropped, and I have seen a bit of interest in the Northwest Passage on here recently. I thought that for those of you who didn’t learn about it extensively in school in the small corner of Canada that I did, I’d put together a little informative post on the extremely brief (and perhaps even inconsequential!) reference to the Northwest Passage in Episode 4. I’ll provide an overview of the Passage and its history, touch on some characteristics of travel to this region, and conclude with some completely speculative comments on the literary purpose of evoking the passage in this scene in Season 4.
A quick note on the colonial nature of this post: Throughout this short post, I refer to several colonial expeditions to the land many of us call Canada. Although I attempt to be cognizant of my language, it is important to note that the Inuit people who live in the arctic regions that I reference have navigated the sea ice for thousands of years (Panikkar et al., 2018) and that the written history of this region are often hegemonic and euro-centric narratives that were formed within colonial frameworks.
More information on the Inuit and their culture, language, and traditions can be found here: https://www.itk.ca/about-canadian-inuit/
References are at the end. If you like this post, you might also like the speculative post I made about the influences of the Eros/Psyche quote in the Polin sub which is also endless academic yapping.
Exploring the Northwest Passage- a bit of context
In August of 1820, Lieutenant Edward Parry, a member of the British Royal Navy observed the dense ice and snow of arctic land and sea that was thought to be the location of the mysterious Northwest Passage. From a simple look, he knew that no ship in existence would be able to pass through ice sheets of such a great thickness and that extended for such a long distance (Brandt, 2011). Despite his pessimism, by Parry’s time, British sailors and explorers had been explicitly seeking the passage for hundreds of years (Williams & Costley, 2010; Day, 2006, p. xxiv), dreaming of exploiting the desirable economic prospect of a Western route from Europe to burgeoning Asian markets.
First encounters: When European sailors first encountered North America, it was in pursuit of a route west to Asia. They were, of course, incorrect about the location of Asia. And although a great deal of interest shifted to mapping the new continent, there was also an acknowledgement that there would be great economic benefits to finding a way around this newly encountered landmass (Day, 2006). Over time, the reasons and methods of locating the Northwest Passage changed and evolved, but interest never truly went away.
Renewed British interest: Notably, at the end of the 15^th century, when the Ottoman Turk’s empire extended into the Mediterranean and eastward, European merchants were no longer allowed to move and trade freely (Day, 2006). Seeking new routes for the Pacific, European (and especially British) explorers turned West. The Northwest Passage was a concept, a theoretical possibility, for European explorers. It was seen as a potential commercial sea route to the trading markets that were already established and burgeoning in Asia. The Passage was a route with phenomenal economic potential, especially as European consumers sought spices, materials, salts, and woods from foreign markets (Williams & Costley, 2010).
Based on their knowledge of the Southern Hemisphere and the potential geography of the world, many believed that a similar passage would be reflected in the earth’s northern pole (Day, 2006). As a result, there was a massive potential for financial gain for colonial governments and individuals, should such a passage ever be found.
Public fascination: The passage became a point of national fascination for many members of the public. In pursuit of this fascination, many enthusiastic researchers “persuaded persons of influence and wealth to send out discovery expeditions” (Williams & Costley, 2010, p. xv). With governments in Europe stabilizing, the emergence of an economy of cheap labour (lower class men who were willing to take on the dangerous work at sea), and the rapid development of ship technology, the 1600s was a prime time to set out on expeditions.
The fascination with the Passage continued for 300 years until a passage was finally navigated by sea in full in the 1900s. Over the course of history, Anthony Brandt describes the fascination with the Passage’s discovery as a tragedy (2011). He writes: “hubris, an all-too-human arrogance and pride that triggered a particular calamity” (p. 5) as being the tragedy of the exploration for the Passage. Despite the fascination of the public with it, the ice “remained intractable, impenetrable, and, for those who challenged it, a kind of fate” (p. 5) George Malcom Thomson reported that the Passage did not exist where popular imagination speculated it must be (Day, 2006). He noted: “the whole enterprise was founded on a misapprehension, a geographical fiction, a fairy-tale … and downright inventions that scholar manufacture to amaze themselves” (p. xxv).
The danger of the passage: Voyages to and in search of the passage were fraught. Many never returned, and those who did survive faced immense physical and mental challenges. There were, of course, significant difficulties with massive ice drifts and shelves. However, the relative location of the expeditions to the north pole led to issues with magnetic variation for compasses. Fog further complicated travel (Williams & Costley, 2010).
There were also extreme mental dangers to pursuing the NWP. MooSmith’s expedition in the mid-1700s reported “potentially murderous quarrels between officers” (Williams & Costley, 2010, p. xvi); John Franklin noted that the things that occurred on his ship “must not be known” (p. xvi); and it was noted that on the McClure, Beckler, and Collinson expeditions, “tensions” erupted “as captains and subordinate officers exchanged threats of court martial, and some officers spend years under close arrest on their ships” (p. xvi).
In the time of Bridgerton: The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 allowed for greater expeditions by the British Royal Navy (Day, 2006). This would have included surveys of a large portion of the global north and the Arctic. There were a large number of “successful” (depending on how you define it) land expeditions that had made progress in producing surveys and maps of the region. Despite significant ongoing interest in discovering the Passage, in particular, little progress had been made. Later still, despite more advanced mapping by the Hudson Bay Company and expeditions by many notable sailors, there was still no route by the 1820s (Day, 2006).
What does it signify? If a character in Bridgerton was voyaging to the Arctic, it could take them less than a year to reach areas of the Hudson Bay that would be suitable for a scientific voyage. That in itself is not overly dangerous. However, the reference to the Northwest Passage is an interesting literary point. Of all of the places to voyage in the Arctic, even at the time, it would have been an immensely dangerous trip to set out on. The persistent lack of success for a solid 30 years after this season takes place may reference the fact that this is a voyage that Debling is unlikely to ever return from.
It doesn’t help that Debling’s odds are really stacked against him. He does not eat meat, one of the only renewable sources of food for arctic expeditions. There is little to no fresh naturally occurring produce (during the Coppermine expedition, the surviving crew members famously ate lichen to survive once they lost the favour of local indigenous groups and fur traders) and did not do well.
Certainly, it lends a very tragic potential element to the story. The Arctic, if mentioned alone, is not necessarily an overly dangerous location to travel to. Yes, marine travel in the 1800s was still a dangerous endeavour in its own right, let alone in an area as unnavigable by sea as the Arctic. However, the North, in many regions, had active whaling expeditions, Indigenous populations that were willing to trade and work with sailors, and (in some areas) active fur trades. If the purpose of Debling’s travel was only to highlight his unique interests and sense of purpose, the show had many methods of doing so. The choice to reference a notorious and dangerous Northwest Passage, there is an extremely interesting element of danger that is introduced.
What would this potential marriage mean for Penelope? Of course, Penelope’s name is a reference to the wife of Odysseus, who unwillingly takes ten years to return home after the Trojan war. In contrast to Colin, who returns with a steadfast conviction, Debling may represent a kind of eternal limbo for Penelope, should she marry him. Although Debling’s trip is set to take 3 years, it would be hard to prove his death. Likely, she would be a widow for years, if not her entire life, before they were able to locate his ship. The HMS Terror was famously lost in 1845 and not located until 2016(!). As a result, Penelope would likely be stuck at home, awaiting his return, in the same tragic fashion of her namesake in Greek mythology.
As such, not only is there a potential tragic reference to Debling’s future, but there is also a dark illusion to what Penelope’s life may look like as his wife. Of course, this is all based entirely on implication, but it is an interesting act of speculative foreshadowing.
Thanks for reading!
References
Brandt, A. (2011). The man who ate his boots: the tragic history of the search for the northwest passage. Anchor.
Day, A. (2006). Historical dictionary of the discovery and exploration of the Northwest Passage (Vol. 3). Scarecrow Press.
Panikkar, B., Lemmond, B., Else, B., & Murray, M. (2018). Ice over troubled waters: Navigating the Northwest Passage using Inuit knowledge and scientific information. Climate Research, 75(1), 81-94.
Williams, G., & Costley, S. (2010). Arctic labyrinth: The quest for the Northwest Passage. University of California Press.

- alloy\_forgery 2.1.2+1.20 - allthetrims 3.4.2 - ambientsounds 6.0.1 - amendments 1.20-1.1.30 - amethyst\_core 1.5.0+1.20.1 

- amethyst\_imbuement 1.20.1-19.4 

- amethystequipment 2.2.0 - animated\_guns 1.3 - another\_furniture 1.20.1-3.0.1 - appleskin 2.5.1+mc1.20 - aquamirae 6 - archers 1.2.1+1.20.1 

- architectury 9.2.14 - archon 0.6.2 

- armory 1.7 - arsenal 1.7 - artifacts 9.5.5 

- athena 3.1.2 - attributefix 21.0.4 - autoconfig1u 3.4.0 - automobility 0.4.2+1.20.1-fabric 

- autotag-convention 2.0.2+1.20 

- awesomedungeon 3.2.0 - azurelib 2.0.22 - azurelibarmor 2.0.3 - bakery 1.1.10 - balm-fabric 7.2.2 - basicweapons 1.2.0 - bclib 3.0.14 

- beaconoverhaul 1.8.4+1.20 

- bedbenefits 13.0.3 - betteradvancements [0.3.2.162](http://0.3.2.162) - betterarcheology 1.1.9-1.20.1 - betterchunkloading 1.20.1-4.2 - bettercombat 1.8.5+1.20.1 - betterdeserttemples 1.20-Fabric-3.0.3 

- betterdungeons 1.20-Fabric-4.0.4 - betterend 4.0.11 - betterf3 7.0.2 - betterfortresses 1.20-Fabric-2.0.6 - betterjungletemples 1.20-Fabric-2.0.5 - betterloot 1.0.0+mc1.20.1 - bettermineshafts 1.20-Fabric-4.0.4 - betternether 9.0.10 - betteroceanmonuments 1.20-Fabric-3.0.4 - bettervillage 3.1.0 - betterwitchhuts 1.20-Fabric-3.0.3 - boatiview 0.0.5 - bookshelf 20.1.10 - bountiful 6.0.3+1.20.1 - cardinal-components 5.2.2 

- castle\_dungeons 4.0.0 - clickadv 1.20.1-3.8 - clientcrafting 1.20.1-1.8 - climbladdersfast 4.0-1.20.1 - cloth-config 11.1.118 

- clumps [12.0.0.4](http://12.0.0.4) - collective 7.57 - colytra 6.2.2+1.20.1 - combatroll 1.3.2+1.20.1 - comforts 6.3.5+1.20.1 

- commonnetworking 1.0.3-1.20.1 - configured 2.2.3 - controlling 12.0.2 - convenientdecor 0.4.1 

- corgilib [4.0.1.1](http://4.0.1.1) 

- cosmetica 1.2.9 

- create 0.5.1-f-build.1417+mc1.20.1 

- creativecore 2.11.28 

- cristellib 1.1.5 

- cull-less-leaves 1.3.0 - cupboard 1.20.1-2.6 - darkblades 1.2.3 - darkloot 1.2.0 - darkmining 1.1.1 - darkpaintings 17.0.4 - darkrewards 1.0.9 - darksmelting 1.0.6 - darkspins 1.1.0 - digs\_dnd\_origins 1.20.1-0.0.11 - dimdoors 5.3.2 

- doapi 1.2.12 

- doggytalents 1.18.11 - dungeonnowloading 1.5 - dungeonz 1.0.4 - eatinganimationid 1.20+1.9.61 - eldritch\_mobs 1.15.1 

- emerald\_tools 1.6.3 

- emotecraft 2.2.7-b.build.50 

- enchantedlib 0.3.1 - enchdesc 17.0.14 - enderzoology 8.0.2 - endrem 5.2.4 - enhancedcelestials [5.0.0.4](http://5.0.0.4) - enhancedvisuals 1.7.2 - entityculling 1.6.2-mc1.20.1 - exclusive\_weapons\_armor\_and\_tools 3.0.0+1.20.1 - expanded\_ecosphere 3.2.4 - explorations 1.20.1-1.5.2 - explorerscompass 1.20.1-2.2.3-fabric - extraorigins 1.20-8 - extraspellattributes 1.2.1 - fabric-api 0.92.1+1.20.1 

- fabric-language-kotlin 1.10.20+kotlin.1.9.24 

- fabricloader 0.15.11 

- fabricshieldlib 1.7.2-1.20.1 

- fakerlib 0.1.3 - fallingleaves 1.15.6 - farmersdelight 1.20.1-2.1.1+refabricated 

- fastasyncworldsave 1.20.1-1.9 - ferritecore 6.0.1 - forgeconfigapiport 8.0.0 - formations 1.0.2 - formationsnether 1.0.4 - formationsoverworld 1.0.3 - fpsreducer 1.20-2.5 - framework 0.6.27 

- friendsandfoes 2.0.10 - frostiful 1.0.9 

- fzzy\_config 0.3.2+1.20.1 

- fzzy\_core 0.5.1+1.20.1 - gazebo 1.1.1+1.20.1 - gear\_core 0.3.8+1.20.1 - geckolib 4.4.4 

- goblintraders 1.9.3 - goldenfoods 2.3.0 - gpumemleakfix 1.20.1-1.8 - grapplemod 1.20-v1.8 - graveyard 3.0 - grindenchantments 3.1.2+1.20 

- harvestwithease [8.0.1.0](http://8.0.1.0) - hopobetterruinedportal 1.3.7 - hopobetterunderwaterruins 1.1.5 - hwg 2.0.2 - iceberg 1.1.18 - illagerinvasion 8.0.5 

- imbued\_gear 0.4.0+1.20.1 - immediatelyfast 1.2.14+1.20.4 

- immersive\_aircraft 1.0.1+1.20.1 

- immersive\_armors 1.6.1+1.20.1 - immersiveores 1.20.1-0.5 - incantationem 1.2.1+1.20 - indium 1.0.30+mc1.20.4 - integrated\_api 1.5.1+1.20.1-fabric - integrated\_stronghold 1.1.1+1.20.1-fabric - inventoryhud 3.4.18 - inventorysorter 1.9.0-1.20 

- invoke 0.2.3 - iris 1.7.0+mc1.20.1 

- iron-jetpacks 0.4.7 

- ironchests 5.0.2 

- ironladders 2.2.0 - itemphysic 1.7.1 - jade 11.9.2+fabric - java 17 - jei [15.3.0.4](http://15.3.0.4) - jeresources [1.4.0.247](http://1.4.0.247) - jewelry 1.3.0+1.20.1 - kambrik 6.1.1+1.20.1 - kevslibrary 1.1.0 - kevstierifymodifiers 1.2.4 - kleeslabs 15.0.0 - legendarytooltips 1.4.5 - libraryferret 4.0.0 - libz 1.0.3 

- lootintegrations 1.20.1-3.7 - lootr [0.7.33.81](http://0.7.33.81) - majruszlibrary 7.0.8 - majruszsaccessories 1.5.3 - majruszsenchantments 1.10.8 - masiks\_puzzle\_dungeon 1.2.0 - mcda 5.0.2 - mcdar 4.0.3 - mcdw 9.0.4 - mcwfurnitures 3.2.2 - medieval\_buildings 1.0.1 - medievalend 1.0.1 - medievalorigins 6.3.3+1.20.1 

- merchantmarkers 1.3.1 - mes 1.3.1-1.20-fabric - miapi 1.1.19 

- midnightlib 1.4.1 - minecraft 1.20.1 - missingwilds 1.2.1+1.20.1 - mns 1.0.1-1.20-fabric - mobhealthbar 2.3.0 - modernfix 5.17.0+mc1.20.1 - modmenu 7.2.2 - monolib 1.1.0 - moonlight 1.20-2.11.22 - morebows 1.0.11+1.20.x - morebowsandarrows 3.0.1 - moremobvariants [1.3.0.1](http://1.3.0.1) - moretotems 2.16.0 - mousetweaks 2.26 - mr\_mine\_treasure 1.3.2 - msmlegacy 2.0.4 - mutantmonsters 8.0.7 

- mvs 4.1.2-1.20-fabric - mythic\_charms 0.7.0 

- mythiclib 1.0.0+1.20.1 - mythicmetals 0.19.7+1.20.1 

- mythicmetals\_decorations 0.6.0+1.20 - mythicmobs 1.20.1-fabric-1.4.5 - mythicmounts 1.20.1-7.4 - mythicupgrades 3.0.1+mc1.20.1 - naturalist 4.0.3 - nerb 0.3 - nets [0.3.5.5](http://0.3.5.5) - newshieldvariants 1.2.0 - newslabvariants 2.1.0 - notenoughanimations 1.7.3 - nullscape 1.2.5 - nvidium 0.2.6-beta - nyctophobia 1.9 - nyfsspiders 2.1.1 - obscure\_api 16 - origins 1.10.0 

- origins-classes 1.7.0 - overflowingbars 8.0.0 - owo 0.11.2+1.20 - packed-inventory 0.3.0+1.20 - packedup 1.0.30 - paladins 1.2.0+1.20.1 

- paraglider 20.1.3 - patchouli 1.20.1-84-FABRIC 

- pehkui 3.8.0+1.14.4-1.20.4 

- petshop 0.1.3 - pfm 1.2.1 - phantasm 0.2 - philipsruins 1.20.1 - pickablevillagers 1.4.5+1.20.1 - pickupnotifier 8.0.0 - piercingpaxels 1.0.12 - player-animator 1.0.2-rc1+1.20 - plentyofarmors 1.3.0 - polymorph 0.49.3+1.20.1 

- presencefootsteps 1.9.4+1.20.1 

- prism 1.0.5 - puffish\_attributes 0.1.0 - puffish\_skills 0.12.1 - puzzleslib 8.1.19 

- ranged\_weapon\_api 1.1.1+1.20.1 - rare-ice 0.6.0 - reeses-sodium-options 1.7.2+mc1.20.1-build.101 - regions\_unexplored 0.5.5+1.20.1 

- regrowth 83.31.1 - rpg\_origins 1.4.1 - runes 0.9.11+1.20.1 - searchables 1.0.3 - selling-bin [1.2.9.1](http://1.2.9.1) - silk-api 1.20-0.3.1 

- simplehats 1.20.1-0.3.0 - simply\_houses 1.1.4-1.20.1 - simplylight 1.20.1-1.4.5 - simplyswords 1.55.0-1.20.1 

- sit 1.20-24 - skyvillages 1.0.3.2-1.19.2-1.20.1 - smallships 2.0.0-b1.2 - smartbrainlib 1.14 - sodium 0.5.8+mc1.20.1 - sodium-extra 0.5.4+mc1.20.1-build.115 

- somanyenchantments 0.4.1 - soulsweapons 1.1.3-1.20-fabric - spawn 1.0.3-fabric - spell\_engine 0.14.3+1.20.1 

- spell\_power 0.10.2+1.20.1 - spellbladenext 1.14.0 - spellbound [1.15.0.1](http://1.15.0.1) 

- stackablepotions 1.0.0 - structory 1.3.5 - structory\_towers 1.0.7 - structure\_pool\_api 1.0+1.20.1 - structureessentials 1.20.1-3.3 - super\_ore\_block 5.1.0 - supermartijn642configlib 1.1.8+a - supermartijn642corelib 1.1.17 - supplementaries 1.20-2.8.11 - swingthrough 1.0.4+1.19 - t\_and\_t 1.12 - terrablender [3.0.1.6](http://3.0.1.6) 

- terrestria 6.0.13 

- thermoo 2.3.1 

- tiered 1.3.3 

- tipsmod 12.0.5 - tlc 1.0.1 - tramplenomore 13.0.3 - trashcans 1.0.18 

- travelerstitles 1.20-Fabric-4.0.2 - treechop 0.19.0 - tridents\_n\_stuff 0.2.0+1.20.1 - trimeffects 1.1.1-fabric - trinkets 3.7.2 - usefulbackpacks [2.0.1.122](http://2.0.1.122) - uteamcore 5.1.4.299 - valhelsia\_core 1.1.1 - valhelsia\_furniture 1.1.3 - variantshields 2.1 - villagespawnpoint 4.2 - weaponmaster 3.0.5 - wetlands 1.2 - wizards 1.2.0+1.20.1 

- xaerominimap 24.1.1 - xaeroworldmap 1.38.4 - xp\_storage 1.5.3+1.20.1 - xp\_storage\_trinkets 1.0+1.20.1 - xtraarrows 3.0.4 - yet\_another\_config\_lib\_v3 3.4.2+1.20.1-fabric 

- yigd 2.0.0-beta.11 

- yungsapi 1.20-Fabric-4.0.5 

- yungsbridges 1.20-Fabric-4.0.3 - yungsextras 1.20-Fabric-4.0.3 - zenith 1.1.9-1.20.1 

- zenith\_attributes 0.2.4 

- zoomify 2.13.4+1.20.1 

I play on long life span so I dont have to tush myself to meet my goals for my generations challenge. Because I play on long lifespan, my sims have a lot of time to develop their personalities. Ive noticed that they will develop likes and dislikes that dont have to do with conversation or activities on their own, but I wont get a notification for it. Somehow it makes sense for the storylines too.
For example, my gen 6 heir didnt have a good relationship with one of her moms. That mom loved yellow and decorated the whole house with it. Gen 6 heir randomly hated yellow one day. She eventually settled her differences with her mom and the mom was allowed to have relationships with her grandchildren. Gen 7 heir loved yellow now. Also, gen 7 recently developped a dislike for suburban contemporary decpr out of no where. Now I have to figure out what the hell suburban contemporary decor is so I know how to decorate his house to his preferences. I find it interesting since hes supposed to be a famous actor one day, so maybe he has really expensive tastes.

Okay so i’ve always been a bit of an opportunist and i’ve taken from stores as a kid multiple time just the usual kid stuff like candy,chips,fruit, and toys. Recently this has blossomed into a fixation of mine i tend to obsess over things for some time because of my adhd, i get easily addicted to things for no reason and this isn’t new. I recently started hanging out with a friend who also shoplifts because my main friend group is comprised of well…rich kids and they’d shame me for doing so. It started small taking ice cream some snacks maybe a hygiene product. i then got a bus pass and we started going to places to shoplift explicitly, i have what you may call a stray moral compass as i only take from big businesses especially where they practice unethical behavior. Once in target i saw hair dye and took it this spiraled into me taking bleach from a sally beauty and ive taken multiple colors that ive amassed a collection. On a trip to a book store i stole 2 books worth 50 dollars combined it was a rush compared to my usual petty theft and i helped my friend take a miku figure. This was a turning point for me I started taking higher level items such as perfume, skincare, haircare, and stationary. I also became ballsier id walk out of a store with items in my hand blatantly disregarding the scanners. On a recent excursion me and my friend took a lot of charms from michaels just because they were cute i took 90 dollars worth of items including superglue, moss, bracelets, and charms. Now here’s a thing, I do not feel guilty like at all i have fun on these trips and i love having things my rich friends chastise me saying im gonna fly too close to the sun i disagree. I plan on taking more but im getting nervous what if i get addicted? what if i get caught? whats gonna happen a few years down the line. For now im having too much fun to stop i think im just a teenager and not doing anything wrong. Anyways i needed to tell someone because i don’t want a digital footprint, Im probably reckless but im not stupid.

11/20/2017
Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
The past couple of days are events I pray no one else ever has to go through what Kate and I had. I had her and Mr. Raines cleared of all charges, having found the proof we all needed to end this case and find the true killer. Kate no longer has to go into witness protection and I had given the police a good enough lie to keep myself from looking insane in the eyes of my co-workers. I know no one will ever know the true story or believe it, but I’m writing it out here. It at least needs to be known written somewhere. Even if my and Kate’s eyes are the only ones that will ever read it written out and forever imprinted in our memories.
The morning Kate had run off to the mountains on her own, I had made my way to the Blackwell home where I was immediately met with Mr. Blackwell charging at me and wrapping his large hands around my neck. He was shaking me and blaming me for getting his daughter killed and not doing more to keep her safe. The police who had been called to examine the scene and read Kate’s letter had to sedate Mr. Blackwell to get him off of me, lying him down on the couch, his head resting on Mrs. Blackwell’s legs. Though the woman was distraught and begging the police to bring her daughter back, she still took the time to shoot that cold, death glare my way. The ice in my chest growing. I couldn’t tell these people that this thing had come after me to get to Kate. I knew it wouldn’t change anything. If anything they’d hate me even more for keeping it to myself.
The sheriff was there and he pulled me away from eye sight of the Blackwells, trying to tell me that this wasn’t my fault. But I couldn’t help but blame myself. I should have done everything I could to keep Kate as far from those mountains as possible.
There were no signs of a struggle in Kate’s room and the letter was definitely written in her hand writing. Her father’s rifle missing from the study, a backpack and some food and supplies gone as well. She had only grabbed one set of clothes from her drawers, showing she did indeed have plans on returning after only one night in the mountains to confront whoever or whatever the killer was.
I told the sheriff to keep any police from going up to the mountains without first allowing me to go up there first to find Kate. He of course argued, telling me that he couldn’t break protocol based on any hunches I may have had. However, I told him that I could get Kate back without her putting up much of a fight, whereas she may struggle with a group of cops who didn’t understand the situation she was in. I was close enough to this case to have built a trust with her after all. I was mentioned in her letter about ending this case for me.
It took a good hour to get the sheriff to eye the Blackwells, Mr. Blackwell beginning to stir from his sleep, and allow me to go to the mountains to find Kate. He didn’t bother to call off the search to the police that had already begun making their way to the mountains, but did radio to tell them to not try getting Kate home without first allowing me to speak to her. He then gave me twenty-four hours to find her to which I told him I’d only need at most ten.
Without telling him about the disturbing scratches on my car, I sped to the mountains, taking the same path Kate had that day she took her friends on their trip. The route, as the sun began to rise was scenic. A drive that may have been a sign of a bright future ahead with a beautiful week in the mountains of nothing but nature, was now a reddening sky of horror. I couldn’t understand how Kate felt, going down the same roads that led to her only friends’ fates to avenge them, but the feeling of guilt did weigh heavy on my chest as I saw the signs of the Appalachian Mountain trails grow bigger on the horizon. Guilt for not doing more to prove Kate was innocent, for allowing Mrs. Mayfield for getting killed right before my very eyes, and for Liam for not being lucky enough to save him.
When I finally arrived to the cabin, there didn’t seem to be any change since the first day I was called to the crime scene, the only thing out of place being Mr. Blackwell’s truck parked precariously near the cabin. The police tape was still up, the cars of Kate and Mr. Woolfe still left where they were, the tires still slashed, the door wide open from when Kate, Ms. Greymoore, and Mr. Woolfe ran out of the cabin upon Mr. Billings was killed by an unknown force. All the bodies had been found and were now being prepared by their families to be buried or cremated. Only one body of the five still roaming around to avenge each and every one of their deaths.
I called out for Kate as I made my way into the cabin. The Ouija board was still on the coffee table, the white line of where Mr. Billings had been found lying face first on the floor with his head bashed open remained on the spot. The planchette was still missing. I kept calling out for Kate as I made my way up to the attic, the door left unlocked, using my flashlight to shine down on the white outline where Mr. Steele had been found completely torn apart. To think Kate had done such a thing, I now realize made me look like a complete dumb ass for believing it.
When I couldn’t find Kate in the cabin, I made my way out the cabin, still calling for her. I called out to her, promising that she just needed to come back home with me and we could solve the murders together. I knew it was a lie and that the sheriff would immediately have her take away to some secluded place where the killer couldn’t find her, but it was all I could think of to try luring her out to meet me. Still, she never appeared.
The sun was soon beginning to set as I tried retracing the very steps Kate and Ms. Greymoore had taken to outrun the killer. I had passed the small shrine of flowers and the pictures of Mr. Woolfe where the boy had been found, his face permanently remaining nineteen forever in the photos of him with Kate and their friends. I kept going, trying my best to follow the same path to the cliff where Ms. Greymoore was found, calling for Kate along the way.
It wasn’t until I found the place Kate had buried her best friend that I found Kate. She was on her knees before the rock where she left her bloody handprint, sniffing as her head was lowered, her dad’s rifle in her hands.
“Ms. Blackwell-“ I began as I took a step toward her. I was immediately cut off as Kate jumped to her feet, raising her father’s rifle at my head. I jolted back, raising my hands up to show her I meant no harm to her. “Ms. Blackwell, it’s me, Det. Snow!”
“Detective…?” She gasped, slightly lowering the rifle, but keeping it on me. “P-Prove it!”
“I’m sorry?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I… I thought I saw Sonja…” Kate breathed between tears, the rifle shaking in her hands, “it… It was wearing her face… It had her voice… How… H-How do I know you’re really Det. Snow?”
“You… Saw Sonja?” I asked as gently as I could with a terrified woman pointing a gun my way. “She spoke to you?”
“Prove you’re Det. Snow!” Kate demanded as she stilled her arms, readying the rifle as she pointed straight between my eyes.
“Alright! Alright!” I kept my hands up, backing up slightly as I tried thinking of how I could prove to her I was really me. “I… I, ah… I have… Had a brother… We went to get ice cream together once and… I dropped a dime and went to grab it… I was five… I followed it out to the road and despite how trafficked it was, I didn’t get hit. I grabbed the dime just as a truck was speeding my way and it swerved just before hitting me… Seeing how close I was to death, I dropped the dime and it rolled into the sewer. My brother called me Lucky Dime since then… Saying the dime was lost to me because it did its job in protecting me… I haven’t seen my brother since I was seven and I haven’t spoken to my parents in…” I looked at my watch. “Five years… No one else calls me Lucky Dime… Not even the people at the station know that was my nickname.”
With this, Kate lowered the rifle, her eyes softening from her furious fear to a more melancholy terror. She looked to Ms. Greymoore’s grave marker, her hand print just barely visible In the approaching darkness.
“It… It looked just… Like her…” She sniffed, “it had her voice… Why did it have her voice… Why did it look like her…?”
“Ms. Blackwell,” I soothed, relaxing now that there was no weapon in my face, “we need to head back, your parents are worried about you and the police are looking for-“
“I can’t go back yet!” She snapped at me as she spun to look at me, tears in her eyes. “That thing is still out there and will kill again unless I end it!” She held up her dad’s rifle as if to show me how she meant to “end it.” “I’m not leaving until I end that… Thing that had the balls to wear Sonja’s face and have her voice!”
“Ms. Blackwell, we will catch the killer, I promise, but right now, we need to get you home before your dad ends up killing a police officer for keeping him from looking for you.”
“I told him in my letter I’d be back tomorrow! I’m twenty-years-old, he can’t force me back home if I don’t want to! I just want to stop this thing before it-“
A howling in the distance cut Kate off. Coyote from what I could hear. If I couldn’t get Kate home, I’d have to get her somewhere safe. I turned to begin talking her down and taking her to one of the other two cabins for shelter. However, when I looked back at her, her face had turned to a bone chilling terror I’d never seen on a person before. She looked like hunted prey that had been found by its predator. She gripped her dad’s rifle to her chest tightly, her hand reaching for the trigger.
“Ms. Blackwell, it’s just a pack of coyote,” I tried telling her calmly, “let’s get to one of the other cabins and-“
“No, no, no,” She stopped me as she stepped back, looking around for where the howling was coming from, “I… Heard that same howling just before I saw Sonja! I thought it was far away, but she… She was right in front of me… She… Something was off, but it looked just like her!”
“Ms. Blackwell, you didn’t see Sonja,” I assured her, “I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t-“
“Lucky… Dime…”
I froze. My blood turned to ice. The fear on Kate’s face grew as she began backing away, her back hitting the grave marker. I spun around to see a figure in the darkness limp toward us, a scratched and garbled familiar voice coming from it.
“Lucky… Dime…” It wheezed, “You brought her… Back… Give her… To me…”
I whipped out my gun, pointing it at this thing that had his voice. I stepped back to stand directly between this thing and Kate.
“Stay back!” I demanded. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Lucky… Di-“
“Shut up! Stop calling me that! Who are you? Not another step or I’ll shoot!”
The thing stopped limping toward us, its body shuddering in place as it stared us down. I took the safety off of my Glock, ready to blow this thing’s head off if it got any closer or even dared using that voice on me again.
“Kate…” It turned its attention to Kate, a completely different voice coming from it, another male’s voice. “Kate… I’m cold…”
“J-Jasper…” Kate began to sob, “Please, stop using their voices… Please stop!”
“Kate… Kate why did… Did you leave me…?” Another male voice asked. “I… I was in so much… Pain…”
“Shut up!” Kate cried out.
“I thought we… Were friends… Kate…” A female voice. “You said you… Loved me… Why won’t… You let me have… Your warmth…?”
“I said shut up!” Kate screamed as she pointed her rifle and shooting at the creature. She had missed, but the thing still let out an ear piercing shriek as it dodged out of the way of the bullets Kate was shooting. It ran off into the darkness, but Kate kept pulling the trigger of her rifle.
“Stop!” I shouted as I snatched the barrel of her rifle, shoving it to the ground before us. “It’s gone, you scared it off, get to the cabins, I’m right here with you!”
I began shoving Kate back toward where the cabins were, the sounds of that thing screaming out in a symphony of different voices ringing out throughout the woods. I shoved Kate into the first cabin we had arrived to, Cabin #1 I could only assume as I slammed the door shut behind us. It smelled God awful, like the smell of the corpse I found on my first murder case, and it was getting darker as the sun began to sink behind the trees outside.
“Detective, it smell terrible in here!” Kate cried out, covering her mouth and nose, but the tears still falling from her eyes were still visible as they rolled down her cheeks.
I pulled her close and kept her behind me as I took my gun and flashlight out. “Stay close to me,” I ordered, leading the way through the cabin, “do not run off or use that rifle without may say so, understood?”
Kate didn’t answer, but I could feel the heat from her body following after me as I made my toward the smell. It was getting worse as we inched closer to a closet door in a hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. The door was locked, but after a couple of kicks I was able to get the door to swing open, the smell blasting us in our faces making us gag and nearly throw up on the floor. I fumbled around the sides inside the room to find a light switch that I was able to find to the side of the entryway. A yellow light flickered on, revealing the door led to a staircase. I led the way down the creaking steps, Kate close by as she kept her mouth covered with her shirt.
Once we had made our way to the bottom, Kate dropped her dad’s rifle and let out a scream as we stared at what was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps. In a large pile at the corner of this basement room were nothing but skin and bones of humans and animals covered in maggots and flies. Some of the human bodies being small and child-like in size. The missing people who were never found after vanishing when they came to Cabin #2.
I grabbed Kate’s rifle off the floor and began pushing her back up the stairs, her screaming and sobbing all the way back up to the cabin. I slammed the door shut behind us and pushed Kate to the front door.
“We need to leave,” I had told her, trying to calm her down as we made it outside, “we need to get you home and away from here as soon as possible.”
“N-No… No!” She began fighting me, trying to escape my grasp on her. “No! That… That thing is still out there! You saw it! You can’t say you don’t believe me now! It even called you Lucky Dime! It said you brought me back!”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you!” I shot back. “I do, I saw exactly what you saw, but it’s way too dangerous for you to be out here while you’re the one it’s after!”
“I escaped it once, I can do it again!” Kate pointed out as she struggled against me while I tried getting her into my car. “I’m not running away this time, I want to kill it!”
“God damn it, Blackwell, we’ll let the police handle it! Just because you have a weapon doesn’t make you safe or ready to handle something like… Like that… That thing!”
“It killed my friends! It wants me! I’m going straight to it so I can blow its head off! It’ll come right for me!”
“I came here to bring you back home, not let you accomplish some stupid ass revenge plot! Get in the fucking car, unless you want to end up like those bodies down that-“
“D… De… Detect… Detective…”
A scratched and moaning voice cut me off. Kate and I both froze at the sound of something approaching. I turned to see a police officer stagger toward us from the tree line. I could barely tell who he was or who he used to be, his head held low and blue uniform covered in blood.
“H… Hel… Hel… Help… Help me…" It croaked as it stumbled closer.
I held up Kate's rifle. "Stay back!" I barked. "Not another step!"
The thing that stood before us wearing the cop like a full-bodied suit stopped in place. It swayed where it stood, blood water falling from its head and down to its chest.
"It… It… It's inside… Inside me…" It breathed painfully. "I… I can't… Help… Me…" Its voice then changed to that familiar voice that made my skin crawl. "Lucky… Dime… I… I'm so… Hungry… Give her… To… Me…"
I pulled the trigger of the rifle, hitting the creature in the head, the rest of it staggering backward from the blow. Still though, it remained on its feet, turning itself to look toward us once again.
"Give… Her… To… Me…" It wheeze, blood and brain pouring from where I had shot it, it beginning to stumble toward us once again. I continued shooting, hitting it in the shoulder, the arm, the leg, the head again, but it just kept coming toward us faster, demanding I give Kate to it.
I was about ready to ram it with the rifle, having run out of bullets, when a voice off in the distance made the creature freeze just an inch before us.
"I'm here! I'm here!" It called out in an almost sing-songy way, using the voice of a little girl. "I'm here! I'm here!"
"I'm… Here…" The creature repeated as it jerked its body to look to where the voice was coming from. "I'm here… I'm here… I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!" It began shrieking in a high pitch wail. It sounded like a mixture of different voices ranging from child, to woman, to man. Keeping flat on its feet, its upper body fell forward onto its hands before speedily crawling off like a spider.
We stood in shaking silence for a moment, Kate digging her fingers into my arm while I was too numb from shock to care about the pain she was unknowingly inflicting. It wasn’t until the radio from my car buzzed to life that jolted us back to whatever reality was at this point. I scrambled to the driver’s side, swinging the door open as I fell inside to grab the intercom to respond to the voice yelling for me over the receiver.
“Det. Snow, what the hell is going on up there?” The sheriff’s scratched voice called out over the receiver when I could barely get my name out of my mouth.
“Sh-Sh-Sheriff…?” Was all I could respond with, still trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
“Y-Y-Yeah,” he responded in mock shudder, “what the hell is going on up there? I’ve tried radioing every man I’ve got up there and am constantly being left on red! Do I need to send back-up?”
“No!” Immediately, I returned to full reality, finally understanding the severity of the moment and putting that knowledge into my tone. “Landon, do not send any more men up here, call everyone back immediately! I don’t know what this thing is, but it’s too dangerous! Call everyone back, we’re heading back to the Blackwell house now!”
“We?” The sheriff questioned, skepticism in his voice.
“I found Ms. Blackwell, she’s here with me.”
I was met with statice before the voice of Mr. Blackwell blasted over the intercom.
“Bring my daughter home, right now, you son of a bitch!” Mr. Blackwell demanded. “You bring her home this instant before I decide to kick your teeth in!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the radio was snatched from my hand from Kate. “I’m not coming home until I kill this thing!” She snapped into the radio. “I don’t know what it is, but I at least know I’m not crazy and that it needs to die before it kills anyone else!”
I grabbed the radio from Kate’s hand, beginning to tell her off when a agonized scream erupted from the intercom. I dropped the radio to cover my ears as Kate did, the scream piercing from my car to throughout the forest around us. The voice screaming and crying for help sounded male and it seemed to echo all around us.
“GIVE HER TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” A mix of the screaming voice and Mr. Blackwell’s hissed out after a good five minutes of screaming before the radio short-circuited and puffs of smoke flowed out.
After allowing my ears to adjust to the sudden silence, I grabbed the radio once again and tried calling for the sheriff, for the cops with us in the mountains, for anyone. When I was met with more silence, I slammed the radio back down on the holder and cursed loudly, hitting the wheel as if it were the source of all my problems.
After a moment to take some deep breaths, I told Kate to get in the car as I placed her rifle in the back seat.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she shot back. “I’m not-“
“Damn it, Blackwell, we have no idea what we’re dealing with, it can mimic peoples’ voices, and it just ran off like a fucking black widow!” I snapped, stepping out of the driver’s seat to glare down at her. “The last thing I’m doing to leaving you here alone and I’m not staying here another second until I can wrap my head around what the fuck I just saw! So, you either get yourself killed out here while I try talking you down this hero complex high, or you’re going to do what I say and get in the damn car!”
We stood in heated silence, glaring each other down before Kate huffed and stormed over to the passenger side of my car and slamming the door shut as she climbed in. I jumped in after her and began driving away from this nutty nightmare I had found myself in.
We drove down the trail back to civilization in silence, Kate staring out the window and trying to keep her tearful sniffs quiet. I had finally begun calming down and was starting to feel bad for snapping at her. She had only gone there to avenge her friends by killing that thing that had most likely killed a whole bunch of cops to find her. However, I still couldn’t just let her stay to hunt it and I didn’t want to stay out in those mountains with some kind of creature that could take the form and voice of someone I knew. I still couldn’t understand what is was I had even seen.
“Wendigo,” Kate whispered, breaking the silence in the car first. She had said it as if she had just remembered something important.
“What?”
“A Wendigo,” She repeated, turning to look to me with wide scared eyes, “that’s what that thing is! It’s a Wendigo!”
“Slow down, what’s a Wendigo?”
“It’s… Oh, just forget it! You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Ms. Blackwell, I just saw a cop being used as a puppet and then run off at inhuman speed on all fours; I doubt I’m not going to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth now. What’s a Wendigo?”
Kate eyed me for a moment before releasing some of the tension from her face as she took a deep breath and began explaining to me. “They’re a Native American myth; it’s believed they’re the spirits of people who would lose themselves in the woods and would end up eating other people to satiate their hunger. I think that’s what that thing is. They can mimic the voices of people who died and use it to lure people to them, they can take the form of that person too.”
“Why does it want female hearts?” I asked, not realizing I had yet told her what my mysterious caller kept asking for when they called me.
“It… It wants my heart?” she asked shakily.
I cursed to myself before letting out a frustrated sigh. “I think this thing wants hearts, but it only wants female hearts. Why? I don’t know yet. But the only other person to be found after killing someone in those cabins was found with his partner’s heart missing to which he was blamed for taking out of her. Recently, I’ve been getting calls from some… Thing wanting me to bring you back here so it could take something from you. It would have taken Ms. Greymoore’s, but you hid her well enough that only the police could find her in time. Now, I’ve been getting calls asking for you and to get something from you.”
Kate looked to me in shock before a wave of guilt twisted her face in pain. “I… I’m so, so… So sorry, Detective!” She cried out. “I… I had… I had no idea you were being… Harassed by it! Had I known it wanted me back and was demanding you brought me here, I never… I didn’t… That’s why it said you brought me back! Oh, I’m such an idiot!” She pressed her hands to her face, grabbing at her hair between her fingers and tightening them around her eyes.
“No, no, no, stop, stop that!” I ordered, screeching the car to a halt, having to bring it to a crooked stop so I could stop her from hurting herself. I snatched her arms from her head and pinned them to her lap, tears flooding her face. “It’s my fault for not telling you sooner! I was too focused on trying to solve this case with the most efficient evidence I could, but that just kept me looking to you as a suspect. I should have stopped thinking you were the killer the moment I got that first call. There’s no way any of us could have seen… This coming… Except people who probably already believe in that kind of stuff or don’t stop to assume a more rational explanation like a cult… I’m… I’m sorry. But, I won’t let it take anything from you, not anymore. I’m going to get you home and then I’ll deal with this with the rest of the police department. You don’t have to deal with this thing anymore, it’ll be my burden from now on. You need time to finally get some rest and mourn your friends with your and their families. It’s already fucked your life up enough, I won’t let it go on making it worse.”
I stopped her before she could argue with me with a wave of my hand. “Your friends’ deaths shouldn’t be your burden to handle. I know you want to be the one who kills that thing and do right by them, but that’s not what they would want. They’d want you to remember them and continue living. They know you didn’t do it, so stop blaming yourself and stop acting like you’re the one who has to make it up to them. I will put an end to this die trying, but you need to go home and be with people who are happy you still get to live.”
Kate looked down at her hands that I kept down on her lap before nodding weakly and letting out a broken “okay.”
“Good, now let’s get you home before-“
My words were cut off when the honk of a car barreling toward us echoed through the woods. The headlights were fast approaching and I barely had time to grab the gear shift to put us back in drive as the other vehicle hit us, forcing us back and forth in one violent motion. It took me a moment to check myself to be sure I hadn’t hit my head on anything or got whiplash from the crash before I immediately returned my full attention to Kate who was kneeling over holding her head. I gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up to examine her head. It didn’t appear to have been busted and bleeding, but she was holding the front side of her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, prying her hand away from the spot on her forehead, seeing that it was beginning to bruise. “Can you hear me? Blink twice if you can understand me!”
“I… I’m f-fine…” she mumbled as she looked to her hand to check if there was blood on her palm, “I… I think I just… Hit… Hit the w-window…” She then blinked twice in my direction before looking to the car that had rammed us.
I turned my attention as well to the car to see it was a police van, it’s front crushed into the left of my front. I quickly jumped out my vehicle and stormed to the van, yelling at who ever was driving the van to come out and explain what the hell they were doing.
The driver’s side of the van swung open once I was near enough and a man in an orange jumpsuit climbed out, staring familiar daggers at me. The moment realization set in, my mixed emotions of confusion, frustration, and fear turned to fury.
It was Leighton Raines.
“Jesus, you really are a shitty detective.” Was all he said to me before reaching into the can and retrieving a rifle out from the passenger seat.
[END OF PART 1]
Part 6

I’ve played on a ball hockey league for a few years now but I’m tired of it and want to transition to ice. Brand new to ice skating at 27 years old with aspirations to play ice hockey. I’ve taking 3 adult “learn to skate” classes and can now skate around without fear of falling during a public skate for 30+ minutes.
My question is, how is the transition from rental figure skates to hockey skates?
The instructor advised me if I ever plan on playing hockey, to get in hockey skates as soon as possible, which makes sense. Just wondering what anyone’s experience was like making the transition.

I discovered Shera's videos quite a few years ago, and loved her humour as well as her message to level up. I started noting down all her little gems. They give me motivation, and a giggle too. I am older, in my fifties, and have been happily married for over 15 years, so I don't need her dating, sugaring, or 'get the bag' advice, but I do love her level up advice. I saw another lady share her notes, so I wanted to as well. There are tons, I've realised! I hope you enjoy them!
~~

How do you become the prize?

If you don’t start as the prize, then you aren’t the prize. If you don’t know if your mind that you are already the prize then you can never be the prize.

~~

How to be more feminine so I can be spoiled more?

It’s a lifestyle. You have to act, fake it until you make it, and create a lifestyle. The days that you don’t feel very feminine are the days that you have to use more of your masculine energy.

Remember to always have a space to come back to that is feminine, and recharge yourself with feminine energy. Create a more feminine environment, wear more feminine clothes, listen to music that is going to help your femininity instead of diminishing it.

Keep things that you like to do feminine and do feminine things. Going shopping, getting your nails or hair done, buying shoes, picking out décor for our rooms, decorating tables, going on picnics, watching girly movies.

Recharge yourself by doing some of those things. You need to be able to recharge your femininity at least once or twice a week.

~~

Live the type of life you want already. It may not be on the scale that you want to live it at, but it needs to be a version of it. For example, if you want to live a soft, feminine life make sure your current life reflects that: your current environment, the current way you dress, the current way you walk, talk and act.

The more you receive, the better treatment you receive, if you can get a provider who can let you live a more feminine life, a softer life, then it's just going to get better and better.

But already live the life you want to live, that way they can only improve you and they see how you treat yourself and see what you like and that’s what they are going to be giving you. Your goals will be met just by dating.

~~

What are some ways to keep him interested in he provides well?

Look good
Make sure you know what his interest are
Talk to him
Make sure he feels like he is the man
Look good when you are out with him
Make sure you are pretty and heads turn ‘ooh who’s he with’
His self-esteem will skyrocket when you go out with him if you look good and he’s not going to want to leave that


~~

Men like women to switch it up as long as it’s classy.

~~

Flower attract bees to them by their bright colours and they smell good. Attract men to you:

· Wear bright pretty colours
· Smell good
· Look fresh, dewy and youthful
· Look attractive

Look like the prize. Look like his fantasy. Look through his eyes: what would he like to see?

It’s not that complicated. Bring it back down to simplicity? What do men like?

Heels
Skirts
Dresses
Makeup
Long hair
Red lipstick
Baby voice
Feminine colours
Make them feel good
Give them compliments
Let them talk
Don’t talk about your boring stuff – they don’t care

Use the formula to get success with men.

~~

If you want to dress casual in jeans and a cute top, still wear heels, hair, full makeup. If you’re going to wear jeans, you’re going to need to wear heels.

Also think about this: what sort of man are you attracting. If you wear jeans when you meet you’re going to get taken to a jeans date. Dress for the life you want.

~~

Comment:
When we had a fight I cut my hair short & bangs & went shopping. He was so glad he said “you look like a different person!” The fight was forgotten & he treated me new again & took me shopping again.

~~

"Life is fun! (...) life is a movie, life is a stage. Get into character... "

~~

Men don’t care about anything else but what you look like and how you make them feel.

~~

If you’ve let yourself go, level yourself up to the point that their jaw will drop when they see you.

~~

The only limitations are the ones you believe in.

~~

What do rich men’s wives all have in common besides being pretty?

They’re feminine
They’re classy
They’re not loud and obnoxious
They don’t outshine their husband
They hold back and keep it together in public
They are well proportioned

Shera had a friend who was a little rachet, and she ended up marrying wealthy. She had to totally change everything about herself:

The way she dressed
The way she wore her hair
The way she spoke
The kind of shoes she wore
Her makeup
She had to change it all
How she acted around people
How she spoke to men
She had to change everything
It’s not that she changed who she was inside or her personality
It’s that she changed who she was around men
There’s a difference

~~

Your stock should go up after you get married, not down. If your stock is not rising after marriage you’re doing it backwards. That means still investing into yourself, your beauty, your clothing, into your stash (money, wealth and investments). If you got married and your stock plummeted, that’s your fault.

~~

Loving yourself means putting yourself first as a priority. Knowing your worth and value and not taking any crap from anybody because you value yourself, you love yourself. That’s all loving yourself means. And not talking down about yourself. And knowing that you deserve what you want in life.

Once you do that other people will as well – men, co- workers, your boss, parents, spouse, brother, sister, cousin, whoever. Whoever is in your life at the moment will recognise that you love yourself and that you don’t have to submit to them or that you’re not desperate for their approval. In fact they may start to be desperate for your approval. So make sure you’re putting yourself first.

Don’t be always talking about the other person and what they want or what they think. Don’t care who they are. Don’t care about other people or their spouse or the person they’re interested in. It’s not about them, it’s about you. If they can’t recognise you and they don’t like you, then you are wasting time.

If you have to sit there and be puzzled about why someone is not responding properly or why they’re not doing this or that, it means they don’t like you so just move on and stop trying to waste time worrying about it. You already know that in the back of your mind; you’re just hoping for a different outcome that there won’t be.

Make sure that when you realise you are putting other people before yourself as a priority then you’re not going to get the type of man or people attracted to you that you need. When you can get somebody in the click of a finger and they’re not used to that it means you are valuable and that they are not necessary. They are very unnecessary and therefore they feel like you have even more value because you don’t need them. You don’t need them, they need you. That’s why they seek you out. That’s why they call you, that’s why they ask you out.

Make sure you’re not getting caught up in silliness. If they’re not putting you first, you’re gone. Or you put them on ice; that means you let them figure it out and when they start acting right again then you allow them back into your life. If you’re chasing behind someone, if you’re worrying about someone who ghosts you then you’re not putting yourself first.

And that means you don’t love yourself. A lot of people were taught to act a certain way – not cocky etc – if you don’t, all people see you as is a doormat. You can let down your guards later when they are fully invested in you and aren’t going anywhere, but until that happens they are there to impress you.

~~

How do you fall in love with yourself when you aren’t happy with yourself?

Become happy with yourself:

· Do things that make you happy
· Look the way you need to look
· Continue to do this every day until you are happy

Only you can make you happy

~~

Don’t go out there lookin’ like Plain Jane. Plain Jane gets passed by with the eye.

~~

The key is confidence. You can learn all you want, if you don’t have confidence you can’t pull it off. The key is confidence, knowing your value, and not listening to no dusties. That’s the key, that’s the masterclass right there – be confident.

Be main character energy. Stop caring what people think. Have a goal of what you want and go for it and don’t stop until you get it. Speak positive about yourself and stop dealing with dusties. That’s just it. You do all those things and you’re going to have something. You’re going to get what you’re looking for. That’s it.

~~

It’s not what you look like – it’s how you make them feel.

Are you going to make them feel young again?
Are you going to make life exciting for them?
Do they enjoy being with you?
Do they like being seen out in public with you?

~~

Shera, on when you talk about all your feelings and prior history:

“You’re being an informant on yourself. You’re telling on yourself. You’re giving out all your secrets and revealing everything. So that’s definitely not feminine energy, because feminine energy is naturally dark. You know, it’s water, it’s the cosmos, it’s that. So when you’re revealing everything, when nothing is unknown and everything is known, now you’re masculine. Because that’s light- everything is known. So the more you say, the more you tell, the more you open up, the more masculine you become in that energy, and the less mystery and femininity and feminine allure you have, because now you’re an open book. And they have all the clues to how the story ends and how to manipulate the character.”

~~

“Feminine energy is naturally dark, is water, is the cosmos, is that. So, when you are revealing everything, nothing is unknown and everything is known, now you’re more masculine, because that is light, everything is known.

So the more you say, the more you tell, the more you open up, the more masculine you become in that energy, and the less mystery and femininity and feminine allure you have because now you are an open book, you’re predictable.

And they have all the clues to how the story ends and how to manipulate the character.”

~~

Get them to worry about you, while you worry about you.

~~

How do you find your purpose? You create it.

~~

Leveling up is actually a lot of fun when you are present and mindful about it it’s probably be the best gift you could ever give yourself as a woman.

~~

Stop caring what other people think and live the life you want to live. If you don’t like kissing people’s butts, don’t kiss their butt.

~~

A lot of women don’t realise that if you just get into your feminine, and you stick with your standards, you can get what you ask for.

~~

How to become detached and unbothered?

Stop caring. When you care too much, that’s when you can’t detach and be unbothered. Stop caring, become ‘take it or leave it’. That’s your attitude. You will be fine with it or without it.

~~

Comment:

Three years ago I was getting yelled at a public train station (which we had to take because neither of us had a car) by my dusty disgusting ex. I lived in a cheap apartment with four unsavory roomates and their boyfriends. Now I live in a luxury high rise with a conceirge and valet. All I did today was get a facial, sit by the pool and shop. I don’t have to worry about a SINGLE THING and every man in my life treats me like a queen. I’m truly breaking generational curses; my dad left my mom with four kids alone while she worked at Denny’s waitressing overnight. If it weren’t for Shera’s wisdom I don’t know where I would be today but I just give thanks every day that I saw the light. This is my one and only life so why shouldn’t I be living peacefully and bougie.

It’s crazy how fast life can chance when you realize your worth and act on it. Keep on inching further and further; the more luxurious things you do the more the rest of your life catches up. It literally started with me going to the expensive nail salon instead of the cheap one. Then I felt like I deserved more. I moved into a nicer apartment that was out of my budget at first, then a nicer car, then I started buying designer bags and now I live in an ultra-luxurious place. Small steps and the rest of your life will catch up in time. Of course look your best every day and be healthy. And do not give a second of your time to anyone who does not treat you with respect, remember if they’re not adding to your life they are taking away.

The universe somehow just opened up and rains abundance on me. The more you surround yourself with the vibrations of prosperity the more it will be drawn to you. Ella Ringrose on YouTube helped me a lot to draw in money.

~~

Comment:

Shera ever since I started watching you I have levelled up my life completely. I lost 50 pounds and changed my whole look to be more feminine. My husband was so motivated he started making more money and bought me a home and my dream car. He does everything I want now and he feels proud to bring me home his paycheck. I no longer work and just workout every day and focus on my children. A lot of my family members don’t understand this life but I am very happy and comfortable.

~~

If you give yourself away too easily, your value is low.

~~

10 Important Habits of a Gold Digger

1)high standards
2)high self-esteem
3)perspective
4)purpose
5)options
6)be unapologetic
7)looks
8)business plan
9) knowledge/value of money
10)stay unbothered

~~

‘Busy patterns that aren’t classy make you look older’. You can show how classy your clothing is by the cut, colour and pattern, not the brand or designer.

Look to magazines for style inspiration:

O magazine = for older women
Instyle = more youthful

~~

Comment:
Men need respect, they don’t want your love.

~~

Wealthy men like women who are thin, feminine, and classy, or classy/sexy.

~~

Classic = classy. Dress in a way that you wouldn’t look crazy in a photo in 20 years time.

~~

‘We’re not trying to fit in, we’re trying to stand out.’

~~

Comment:
Looking beautiful, adore your blouse and that classy backdrop. I have earrings very similar. I have to go out now, I’m over 60 and always look stylish heading out the door . Make up and a cute dress today. You never know who is at the coffee shop 😊

~~

Be cute, be feminine, don’t talk so much. Let him do the hard work.

~~

‘You’re not his momma stop acting like it’ video
Women will turn into their man's mother without realizing it! Then he will run.

A lot of times when a woman has been in a relationship for a long time or is married, they start acting like a mother to the man without even realising it. To avoid that, do these things:
· Totally change everything – change how you dress, put more makeup on, wear heels.
· Act ten years younger.
· Don’t be concerned about the things you used to be concerned about.
· Let everything be free and fly.
· If you once worried about dishes in the sink don’t worry about it anymore.
· Change it up.
· If he realises that you stop caring and you just put all that extra energy that you were nagging and trying to organise and keep stuff right or that you were frustrated about – if you took all that extra energy and put it back into yourself – and you stopped worrying about the house and the domestic issues and him doing this, this and that. He’s going to think, ‘Well dang, everything is out of order, now she’s dressing like this and putting on makeup and looking this way, and the dishes aren’t clean anymore, or she’s not nagging me about picking up my clothes and the room is a mess’, then either he’ll get up and do it or he’ll start turning into your father.
· You mirror what they do and they’re gonna start seeing what you are doing by you have to act that way with them.
· You stop cleaning dishes, you start leaving your stuff on the floor.
· You start dressing cute, and say you’re going out.
· You forget to do stuff, or you stop helping out because you don’t want to damage your nails or the Real Housewives is on.
· Start doing the same thing to him – he watches sport, you say, ‘Oh Housewives is on, I wanna watch it. I don’t wanna watch it later.’
· You don’t do any of this like it’s revenge, just like you joined him in not being responsible, or joined him with more relaxed rules.
· He might like it. He might be like ‘you’re so laid back, you look happy today’.
· Then he might start cleaning up more because it’s not an order.
· But as long as you’re happy and not nagging him, he’s going to do it voluntarily.

~~

How you act and how you make him feel will give you more power to get what you want.

· Look good
· Be more feminine
· Speak softly
· Smile
· Laugh at whatever he is saying and make him feel good about who he is
· Let him talk more than you
· Feed his ego
· Act vulnerable and he will want to do things for you, will want to please and impress you

(I added:
· Ladylike, dainty, girlish, delicate, compassionate, considerate, sympathetic, tolerant, warm-hearted, gracious
· Calm, refined and tasteful
· Agreeable, friendly, good-natured,
· Kind, moral, pleasant, delightful)

That’s how you get what you want.

Our power is in our femininity, not in our masculinity, not in being in competition with a man, but making them weak because we are giving them exactly what no-one else does and so they’re not used to it and they yield to it and want more of it and they’re going to do what you want.

Being feminine is the key to getting what you want. There is no magic formula; it’s just ‘being feminine’. Work on that and you will get what you want. Work on your baby voice. Work on asking men for things and help, feeling vulnerable around them and stroking their ego and you can pretty much get what you want, especially if you choose the right target. Don’t go up and choose someone who has a thousand options, go up and choose someone who feels lucky to be with you and who will act accordingly.

~~

Men don’t like jealous women. You look insecure if you show jealousy. If you feel jealous, act like you don’t care – laugh it off.

~~

Men don’t like to be told what to do or have someone running their life. They don’t need you to offer them suggestions – this will just make them feel like a child, emasculated and they will rebel.

~~

Have a hobby and have a life.
Have your own life.
Make yourself number one.

Make sure he likes you more than you like him. If he really likes you he is going to chase you and not let you go, and you don’t even have to do anything to make this happen.

~~

I am not a people pleaser. I live for myself not others. And that’s how you have to be to be unbothered. Be unbothered always and you will live your best life.

~~

I live in a fantasy world every day. That’s why I can create the world that I want.

~~

A dream woman is motivation for a man in every way. If you no longer motivate him, you are no longer his dream woman.

~~

A good actress will melt into her role.

~~

Instead of waiting and having regret later, make the decision now to do what’s best for you, not what’s best for the outside world and what they think. Do what’s best for you in the long run, not what’s best for you right now in this one moment which will pass. Think ahead. Right now is gone. As soon as you think about it, it’s gone.

~~

To be a dream woman and to be worshipped by the man you are with, you have to stay focused on you. Don’t be about him. A man’s dream woman does not mean she is all over him. She has a life. Keep a healthy distance instead of being extra clingy. That way you stay on his level. Make sure you appeal to his friends (in a classy way) too. He will see that others appreciate you and know that he has the prize.

~~

“Put outfits together in your mind when negative people are talking.”

~~

How to be unbothered?

Comments:

‘Fake it till you make it. That’s what happened with me I started to pretend that it didn’t bother me. Now I’m literally so unbothered and focused on myself.’

‘When you are showing that you’re upset or bothered, you are giving them power to know they affected you. I love everyone but I do not argue. I have trained myself not to get emotional even at my husband or family. Being this way also makes you more respected, it’s part of your charisma.’

‘Being unbothered is a choice.’

~~

Comment:

If you're over 35 the best ways to look young is to drink a gallon of water a day....it's good for wrinkles..and helps your makeup glide on like butter.

Eat less and eat as much green as you can (Kale, Broccoli, Spinach) so you can be as slim as possible so that you feel good in your clothes....

Work out to increase your confidence...

Dress your age....nothing worse than a woman who dresses out of her age range...makes you look like you're trying too hard...

~~

Build confidence by not accepting that you have low self-esteem. Every day improve yourself so your self-esteem gets higher and higher. Don’t wallow in it, don’t accept it. Every day tell yourself what you want:

I look good
I feel good
I’m great

Tell yourself that. Give other people compliments, and they will give you compliments. Before you know it, you’ll have high self-esteem. You have to work on it, it doesn’t come automatically. It took a long time to tear down your self-esteem, and it takes a moment to pull it back up.

Just work on it, keep moving forward. Don’t let anyone put you down again.

~~

How to keep your husband interested

· Less communication
· Less giving of information
· Spend more time apart
· Don’t get so close that he is going to want to back up
· You have to get close then back up, get close then back up again
· Look your best at all times
· Don’t smother people and they won’t try to escape you
· Have a life
· Have things to do
· Have a to-do list that does not require that person

Go out and do things. He will appreciate you more when you get back. He will wonder what you’ve been doing. He will anticipate your return.

Don’t let him conquer you. When men have conquered a woman, they will move on. If he doesn’t feel like he can ever conquer you, he will try harder. Never let him feel like he totally has you.

~~

Masculine people (men or women) tend to run to the rescue of others.

~~

Shera, on uplevelling your looks and being your best every time you step out the front door: Don’t let life pass you by. Life is short. Life is very short.

Comment on Shera’s video: My mom went through a season where she dressed up and it just made our whole family and home come alive. I remember when my mom walked into the living room all fixed up and my little cousin's eyes just lit up. He said be careful don't touch her lol. He literally went from seeing her as a plain ol’ aunt to a princess. He was so young, but he couldn't fake it; that was his instincts.

~~
· It’s not about looking young, it’s about looking good.
· If you miss an opportunity to be levelling up, you are only cheating yourself.
· Stay ready.
· Every day do something to improve yourself - hair, exercise, mindset, self-esteem
· Enjoy getting ready – be creative
· If you’re wearing makeup, go bold. Men want to see the makeup.
· Men like it when you look your best. When you’re out in public, people are judging a man’s status by the type of wife he has, how she looks. You add status to any man that you are with.
· If you are attractive, you will have a lot of friends inviting you out. They will use you to attract attention because you look good. They are going to gravitate towards you and associate you with success. Your appearance will get you further than almost anything else.

~~

When you’re trying to lure a man in, dress for that man. Men do pay attention to what you look like.

Broke men pay attention to your silhouette. They look at your body because they just want to have sex with you.

Men with money pay attention to what you wear: your clothes, your shoes, your jewellery, your shoes, your hair, everything. Are you appropriate? If he wants to take it to the next level and take you out and get to know you, start a relationship, introduce you to his friends, he isn’t just looking at your body.

~~

The better you look, the more successful he looks.

~~

Men are visual creatures. Everything men do is based on that they see. How they treat you is based on what they see.

If you go without makeup, hair not done, and dressed badly, you won’t get the same treatment even by the people who see you every day. When you look good, the people around you have a little bit more respect for you. They see you looking pulled together and to see you any other way is foreign to them.

When you are levelled up, keep this in mind, don’t backslide. When a man meets you looking good, he wants to see you like that for your entire marriage. He doesn’t want you to let yourself go.

Try hard to keep yourself up during your marriage; how you looked when you met him is how he wants to see you forever more.

Men are very visual creatures, so when they see us looking bad, it upsets them. It literally makes them clench inside a little bit because they are so affected by the visual.

You are like a Christmas tree or a beautiful ornament. It’s a pleasure to look at you and they’ll want to be around you just for that.

People may treat you badly because you didn’t keep up your looks - a man could be speaking to another woman or ignoring you.

~~

“Just act and dress like a feminine lady. You’re making them feel younger by being in their presence. Watch 1950s Hollywood movie stars to watch how those ladies acted.”

Never help a man level up as they will always put you in a maternal role and look at you as a mother figure.

How to change your mindset:
1. Tell yourself that you are no longer allowing people to make you feel bad about something – that’s your choice.
2. Decide that you want to be better, and each day take action towards being better. Your self-esteem will rise from this.
3. Surround yourself with like-minded people so you can influence and help each other.

~~

People who talk less are generally more well respected.

~~

“Look for the positive in every negative comment or situation, and you will find it every time.

Whatever your weakness is, make it your strength, to fuel you to the next level. That’s how you really level up from inside. Face your weakness head on. If someone calls you fat, flaunt it. Say, ‘So what? Yes, I eat, I haven’t seen a rib in many decades, but I’m happy. I got a lovely husband, nice house, nice car.’

Instead of being a victim about it, empower yourself with it. Your flaw can be your power. It can be your power if you take it and embrace it and stop focusing on it as an insecurity. The more you focus on something as an insecurity, the more other people will focus on it because they know it’s your weakness and that’s how you get affected. Whatever your flaw is, turn it into something that can give you more than it can take from you. If people say it’s a flaw, take it and turn it into a power.”

~~

Don’t listen to what people say; what do you think? Opposition creates interest.

~~

· Be extra feminine in the way you dress, speak, act.
· Be charming - smile, don't argue (and then do exactly what you were going to do anyway).
· Ask for help from your man - opening a jar, lifting something, reaching up high, anything - they love it. Do this three times a day. Say things like 'It's too heavy for me'. Doing this makes them feel protective of you.
· When you are offered help, accept it.
· Talk to men in a feminine baby-voice.
· Practice being feminine and flirty every day to men everywhere so that it becomes second nature. Things such as asking a man for assistance at the supermarket and smiling and saying thank you in a feminine voice.
· Use your feminine charm on everyone around you.
· Look your best, put on makeup every day, smell good, be well groomed, have nice nails.
· Speak to him as if he's a person and not a child - don't try to control him. Mothers control their children and men don't want to have sex with their mother.
· Ask for what you want, but do it in a feminine way.
· Act like the prize to be the prize.
· Be unpredictable - men will get bored of you if you are too predictable. If you are unpredictable it is exciting to them plus scares them a little too. They will wonder why you are different.
· Don't talk so much.
· Mirror how he acts to bring him closer. Say your man is a bit distant; my natural inclination is to wonder what is wrong, try and talk to him etc. That is clingy, a better way to behave is mirror that - be busy doing your own things, happy but busy and let him come looking for you when he comes out of his cave.
· Be feminine in everything you do - surround yourself with reminders of your femininity - i.e. a pink phone cover.
· Be the receiver not the giver.
· Let him think up ideas, with your subtle input.
· Hardly ever text or call him at work, unless you need him to pick up something.
· Dress up every day for no reason.
· Smile.
· Always be levelling up.
· Have a plan B.
· Don't tell him your plans for the day or where you have been - be a little mysterious and let him wonder what you've been up to.
· Keep the mystery alive with privacy - closet, bathroom etc.
· Don't do everything together.
· Have hobbies and interests of your own.
· Make him feel like a man by asking his advice, seeking help from him, not trying to tell him what to do etc.
· Keep up with new trends and the latest styles. Try new looks, buy new clothes, look cute.
· Make him feel younger by being fresh, new and exciting.
· Be excited by life and easily impressed.
· Go on vacation, go out to places.
· Do new things and turn him on to new things. Do new things in bed.
· Change your looks - look different, be different.
· Listen to the latest music.
· Keep up with the latest trends in things.
· Be an exciting adventure.
· Be happy go lucky, not a care in the world, everything is fun.
· Head up, chin up, look around, smile.
· Get all excited when you talk about little things.
· Light up when you talk to people.
· Bring a high energy.
· Wear your hair long and straight or smooth-wavy.
· Be seasonal - with your look/outfit, eating, décor.
· Reinvent yourself regularly.
· Play different characters for fun.
· Channel someone else when you go out.
· Be constantly changing and improving.
· Be a lively woman - bubbly, happy, exciting, smiling, lifts their spirits, fun to be around.
· Grab his hand and pull him along like a child.
· Be energetic and breathe life into others.
· Mirror his body language about 10-30 seconds later.
· Try new things, new looks.
· Practice your charm on waiters etc.
· Be a people watcher in different environments depending on the lifestyle you desire.
· Look from the outside in - how do people view you? How attractive are you?
· Transform yourself.
· Be his ultimate fantasy girl.
· Look good, do your makeup every day.
· Speak to your him as if he is a person and not a child.
· ‘Can you help me/lift that/get me a blanket?’ in a baby voice. Get him used to looking after you. ‘This is too heavy for me, I can’t reach it’. Do this three times a day minimum.
· Ask for what you want in a feminine way.
· Use the baby voice.
· Be extra feminine.
· Be charming – smile, don’t argue – agree (but do exactly what you want anyway).
· Ask for help from men.
· When you are offered anything, accept it.
· Talk to men in a feminine nature.
· Practice being feminine and flirty every do so that it becomes second nature to you – it will become easier with practice.
· Ask questions and smile.
· Play a bit dumb (not stupid; request their knowledge).
· Use your feminine charm on everyone around you – practice on any man to get better.
· Never get too comfortable (don’t let yourself go).
· Keep the illusion going – makeup, hair, lotion, fragrance.
· Look like you did when you first met (me: 66-67kg, long blonde hair, stylish clothes).
· Men are visual creatures and your hair is foremost – long, silky and straight.
· Have your makeup on, look cute.
· Shera’s husband treated her differently when she gained weight and then lost weight.
· Shera’s advice to a lady who gained 40 pounds and now her husband isn’t attracted to her: ‘Lose 40 pounds’.
· Still look sexy even if you’ve been together a while.
· Exfoliate your face and body.
· Have glowing, moisturised skin.
· Use highlighter on your face.
· Wear perfume, body lotion, nicely scented products.
· Wear red lipstick, eye makeup.
· Wear light, modern perfumes.
· Have simple, nice nails.
· Tell him that whatever you want is your ‘ultimate fantasy’.

~~

If you want to be married to a rich man, dress like a rich man’s wife.

~~

Be unbothered

It’s so amazing to just not care. You have no idea how much better your life gets when you stop caring. When you stop caring about stuff that’s not beneficial to you, everything blossoms, everything. Because your attention is no longer on anything negative, it’s all on you, and so you blossom.

How to keep your man chasing you? Be busy, don’t call him all the time. Have a hobby or a business and let him have to go looking for you.

~~

Did you ever feel insecure about your weight?

“No.

At any weight my mental game was tight, it was good. I could get anything I wanted, so it never really held me back. The only thing that would ever make me feel insecure about anything is… I really don’t have a lot of insecurities anymore. I had the normal insecurities of a child. But when I grew up and I understood that you could take your power from any situation, you no longer have insecurities.

If I was insecure about my weight, I wouldn’t be up here on YouTube, and if someone says something about how I look, I don’t care. I say Okay yeah and so what? I’m eating good, I’m living good. It doesn’t bother me, because that’s not what defines me. I’m gonna get paid skinny or fat. I’m gonna be happy at whatever makes me feel happiest. So it’s all about how you feel about yourself and how you value yourself. You don’t base your self-worth on what other people think about you.

And the reason why I teach people you gotta look good if you want to turn heads and make men cross the room is because if you are trying to get a date, yes, you have to be concerned with what other people find attractive. But that should not ever play a role in your own personal self-esteem.

Whatever you need to feel good at the time, tomorrow or today, that’s what you need to be doing.”

~~

(Trigger Warning: There was a lot of reload scumming. A lot.)
I finally beat classic mode. I wanted to share my experience and maybe spark some discussion! : )
The Team I Began With:
Began with a Litten, Frigibax, and a Klefki. Litten has an amazing IV spread and is pretty bulky. I'm sure we all know how strong Incineroar can be so there isn't much to explain there. Frigibax is a pokemon that I have never used since I haven't really played the mainline games since Sun & Moon, but man I fell in love instantly. Dragon Darts singlehandedly saved me money by taking Poketrash out between the main fights. The IV spread for him was decent and with his nature being +Speed -Sp.Atk combined with a Soul Dew I got later in the playthrough he usually just took out everything. Not to mention he is reasonably bulky and has a great ability in Thermal Exchange.The Klefki may be a weird choice when there are options like Tinkatink, but my Tinkatink had a very skewed IV spread and less than desirable nature, so for that reason I took the much bulkier Klefki. I figured its more about the typing's immunity to Dragon than the damage output itself.
Getting to, and past, level 20 wasn't too difficult thanks to having Dragon Darts as an egg move early on. From there I needed to grab some coverage Pokemon.
The Team I Caught:
As the run went on, I realized I had really strong late game mons, but nothing that would make taking out a variety of types easy. So, first I caught a Lotad and covered my grass and water needs. Luckily, he had a good IV spread and helpful moves. Next came a Pikachu, I wasn't sure how I felt about getting a Raichu since regardless of how good the IV spread is, the final stage BST isn't much to write home about and it wasn't crazy fast enough to make 100% use of a decent Attack stat. I ended up needing it more at certain times than I thought I would've. Lastly, came Ursaluna, who I have just now realized...IS A DAWG. Oh my stat spread, and with Payback to capitalize on the slow speed stat. Thanks to helping add some more coverage with Arm Hammer and High Horsepower, and being pretty tanky, it played such a pivotal role. (Before Ursaluna, I had caught a Marowak out of desperation, but that was a no-no since I knew there was no way it was going to do anything for me.)
My Luck, and the Battles:
Now, there are some glaring issues on my team. Namely, one fighting type could likely end my run (assuming I cared more about my "dignity" than the completion of the run and decided not to reload). Gym leaders tended to cater to my strengths as I dealt with multiple Water-type and Grass-type leaders, and the only tough battle as far as type matchups was with Roxy, around 50-70 I believe.
My rival, Ivy, in this case, wasn't too abrasive either. A Primarina that was almost always a Water Tera-type made the Fairy threat less, well, threatening. The rest of her squad was pretty lackluster, but had decent coverage I had to be a bit careful about. The Rayquaza was annoying, but much easier to get around than in my past attempts. Level 55 and 145 were probably the ones that required the most retries.
For the Elite Four, I got dealt the Kanto hand. Which at first I thought, "Yes! I'll have a breeze against Lance, and Agatha shouldn't be so bad either. Not to mention I have a decent type matchup against the Water-types and Ice-types from Lorelei!". This was all true. What I forgot was Bruno. Remember how I said that one Fighting-type could probably wipe my squad. Yeah. Hariyama would always swap on when I would set up for the Onix and was too tanky to be done with quickly, but I needed my Ludicolo (who had Zen Headbutt, crappy move for a special attacker to have by the way) to stay alive to take care of the rock snake. Needless to say, I spent the bulk of the reloads on this fight.
The champion, Blue, wasn't too much of a problem. A bit annoying here, a bit annoying there, but what really did it was his very diverse type pool. With a Mewtwo that would always set up Future Sight attacks, and a Gyarados that would always swap on whenever Incineroar would be present to nullify the Future Sight, I had an aggravating, but in reality not too bad of a time.
The last fight: Eternatus. I haven't played Sword and Shield so I didn't know the move pool going into the fight, but I did know he had a lot of Boss Bars (the segmented health). I reloaded a total of three times against Eternatus. The first three attempts ended in a Dynamax Cannon wiping my Baxcalibur and Flamethrower throwing my Klefki to the side. Then arose the true MVP of my team, Ursaluna. This game has spiked my interest in the newer generations more than anything has before. I haven't played them because: 1. I don't own a switch / 2. I didn't like the fight mechanics from Sun & Moon, and so on (I have since changed my mind, but I still don't like Z-moves). / 3. The art style hasn't been as appealing to my nostalgia-loving self as HG/SS. Anyways, that's irrelevant. The point is: Ursaluna is top-10. This may not be founded in any truths, but the stats people, the stats! It took two major hits from Eternamax Eternatus and dropped a health bar every time it hit a High Horsepower. The impact was most evident pre-Dynamax though. After a Fake Out from Incineroar, I switched in Ursaluna, and one hit was all it took to force the Dynamax. Best part is that I kept swapping in a second Pokemon that either had a weakness to Eternatus or was a threat and so it kept ignoring Ursaluna.
The Reload Scumming:
I know this is a point of contention in the community, as it is in any Souls-like or Rogue-lite game that encourages a challenge. I probably reloaded 50+ times. The game is hard and reloading while having Serebii pulled up in the tab besides PokeRogue helped make sure I learned either what I didn't already know (i.e., everything from the newer generations like moves, pokemon, abilities, etc.) and what I did wrong. In my view, completing the game is a challenge regardless of if you reload, or choose not to. The reload is simply quicker. You don't have to go through 144 levels to try another combination of moves, and swaps. At the end of the day this is a fan-made game that we're all meant to have fun in. Whether one person's definition of fun is different than the other's is perfectly fine. In saying this, I would like to thank the developers and everyone in the community for helping create and sustain such a cool medium of Pokemon that we hadn't seen until now.
Thanks for taking the time to read and share your thoughts! I don't know many Pokemon fans in real life so I figured it would be worth discussing with the community here.

Please disagree in the comments.
Gale - some playlist of songs you’ve never heard of compiled by an obscure online DJ. When you comment that it’s surprisingly pretty good he remarks that “you should have heard them on their first album, before they were famous.”
Karlach - crowd pleasers all the way. She’s got a mix called “summer heat” or something and it’s full of upbeat hit it songs from the last 50 years.
Shadowheart - religious metal music. Maybe some Evanescence. She bangs her head and mouths the words.
Wyll - a mix of old R&B songs, sentimental pop songs and Disney show tunes. He knows all the lyrics.
Astarion - some edgy remix of a really old song that reminds him of his youth
Jaheira - some really old songs that remind her of her youth. Thinks Fleetwood Mac is “what the kids are listening to” but really likes them.
Minsc - unironically plays anthem rock tunes
Halsin - some folk album that he brought a CD for. Listens to it on repeat.
I still haven’t figured out what Lazael or Minthara would play.

The SJHL isn’t often a league that sees many of its players get drafted, in fact it’s rare if any of the Junior A players playing out of Saskatchewan get their name called in the draft. The tides seem to be turning slightly on that though; as the Canucks selected another Humboldt Bronco Matthew Perkins in 2023. This years version of Perkins will be Van Blaricom in my opinion who’s currently ranked by central scouting in the 4th-5th rounds of the draft and will be heading to Muskegon next season for one more year of development before starting his college career at Michigan Tech.
So why am I such a big fan of the 5’11 right wing from Southey, Saskatchewan? It’s purely based on the play style he brings and how there’s a really nice NHLer trajectory for skaters that play the way that he does.
As Brock Otten describes him, Van Blaricom is a Tasmanian devil on the ice. He played for Canada West alongside some really interesting Major junior skaters and was an absolute menace the entire time on the ice. He has a nose for the net always crashing in on rebounds or creating space by relentlessly tracking pucks into tight spaces. While he was the star player in Humboldt, the way he was able to change his role up with Canada West where he wasn’t the most skilled player was equally as impressive. He became someone who was able to utilize his strong pro like shot to create rebounds or create space for more skilled players by suckering defenders too far away from their position.
Van Blaricom’s physical presence is also a major part of his game; he lays hits and he lays them to hurt guys. All SJHL season he caught players at open ice or blasted them into the boards with more force than some that is 5’11 and 175 pounds should be doing. That and playing a physical game in front of the net snowing the goalie an extra little bit or pestering a defender to react and draw a call. Van Blaricom is an absolute nuisance that the team that drafts him will love. Though he will continue to work on his skate stride to really be able to make it to the next level of the game as his stride is clunky and very upright.
Had 68 points in 47 games with the Broncos this year, the SJHL isn’t a league that Baders system loves so Van Blaricom is projected as a 3% star and 18% NHLer with some really intriguing similar Draft Year trajectories: Evan Rodrigues, Dakota Joshua, Andrew Mangiapane and Troy Terry

Trigger warning, mental health topics like suicide. Thanks for reading this. I filed for divorce back in Nov because my husband’s mental health was not improving and he was getting more abusive towards me and his disabled 10 year old son (whom I adopted). We had spent Oct apart to see how a split would be and I felt my like was more peaceful. His mental health continued to decline and this culminated in a bad episode where he screamed and cursed at me then threatened to kill himself in front of our son. I got us out and called the police and they took him to the hospital. After getting out, he was not allowed to see my son other than at supervised visitation locations or to come to the house.
He went out of state to stay with family, then found an inpatient treatment center in Cali. We agreed that I would hold off with the divorce to allow him to use the health ins and focus on treatment full time while I took care of our son and worked full time. During this time, he would still try to flirt with me and say he still loves me, etc. I turned him down and eventually his advances stopped and I hoped he was focusing on recovery. The first treatment center was not good (understaffed, false advertising, etc.) so he then moved to an intensive outpatient center that he had found nearby.
He started saying that he wanted to move to Cali because of state programs and lifestyle. I was annoyed that he would be so far from our son, leaving me with full time care, but he had never been very reliable or responsible. He said he was depressed and his calls grew less frequent. However, I foolishly started harboring a small hope that he would actually get better and come back to our family.
He told me about a month ago that he was being released. He mentioned randomly wanting to move to the same town where the treatment center was located. This bothered me, why there? On the day he was released, I figured it out…there must be a woman. I confronted him and he said he had a gf but they broke up. I was immediately DEVASTATED. Couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t understand how he could be so immature and selfish to do this while he was supposed to be focusing full time on treatment. He acted like I was over-reacting and I spent hours texting him and explaining my concerns, such as, what if she ends up pregnant? He continued to act like I was overreacting, that his treatment was not affected, that trauma bonding between patients is common, etc. I pivoted in our divorce to continue requiring supervised visits as I could not trust his recovery. I also started having intrusive thoughts about the woman, who I found out was another patient. I grew extremely jealous. I spent time trying to convince him not to abandon our son and move across the country. We ended up spending countless hours talking and going over our communication issues, he finally apologized profusely, took accountability for fucking up, and was somewhat friendly. He said the relationship with the other patient was toxic and completely over. He said I had made it pretty clear after Oct and by filing divorce that our relationship was completely over, if he had known that there was still some hope, or how much this would have hurt me, that he would have made different decisions.
He arrived back in town on Wed. I spent the evening talking to him, and the is point my desire to rekindle something was embarrassingly full tilt, he was soo much calmer and collected but also very distant. We spent more time together and I grew more confused. I finally confessed to him yesterday that I wanted to try and see if anything was left of our relationship before filing the final papers. The extra draw to it for him would be the financial stability and support I am capable of providing. We talked on the phone and he said it was all too fresh and too much, as I have the house he is basically on the verge of being homeless and is jobless. But he said he was open to discussing it further.
Fast forward to last night, he exercised a supervised visitation with my son and we talked briefly after. He told me he needed to tell me something, that his ex-gf from the facility was indeed pregnant. I almost threw up. I am 38 and wanted kids with him, but our relationship was never stable enough emotionally or financially to try. I asked if she was going to keep it and he said at first no but now she was changing her mind. She is still a patient at the treatment center and is there bc of a recent suicide attempt. The whole thing makes me feel so ill.
The icing on the cake was last night, when he indicated that he had stipulations for getting back together with her. When I wanted to get back with him he was unsure (he already knew she was pregnant), but potentially wanted to go back to her. That was the final straw for me, I really lost it on him. He was already thinking about abandoning his living son to go live with this woman, now they will have a baby. But now I can’t sleep or eat or do anything. My life feels like a Jerry Springer episode, but I am a responsible, kind, hardworking person who did so much for my husband for years, including saving his son from his abusive, drug-addicted, ex-wife and raising him as my own. I know I made choices here too that led to this mess, but I have never felt this hurt and lost before. I am trying to seek out more therapy, etc, but nothing seems to be helping yet.

* I split all splitable codes; so, please ONLY redeem what we agree upon. Thanks in advance!
DISNEY HD SPLIT CODES (port to MA)
Aladdin 1992 Animated (GP)
Aladdin Live Action 4K (MA) or HD (GP)
Ant-man (GP)
Atlantis The Lost Empire (MA)
Atlantis Milos Return (MA)
Avengers Age of Ultron (GP)
Avengers Infinity War 4K (MA) or HD (GP)
Big Hero Six (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (GP)
Brother Bear 1 (MA)
Brother Bear 2 (MA)
Captain America The Winter Soldier (GP)
Cars 3 (GP)
Cinderella 2015 (iTunes) (redeems 4K) or HD (GP)
Finding Dory (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Frozen (GP) or (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Frozen Sing a Long Edition (GP) or (MA)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (GP)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (MA) 4K
Inside Out (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Into The Woods (GP) or (MA)
Iron Man 3 (iTunes) (redeems 4K) or HD (GP)
Jungle Book 1967 (GP)
Lightyear (GP)
The Lion King Animated (MA) 4K
Maleficent (iTunes) (redeems 4K) or HD (GP)
Mary Poppins 1964 (GP) or (MA)
Mary Poppins Returns (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Oz The Great and Powerful (GP) or (MA)
Planes (GP) or (MA)
Planes Fire and Rescue (MA) or (GP)
Saving Mr Banks (GP)
Spies in Disguise (GP)
Star Wars The Force Awakens (GP) or (MA) (iTunes redeems 4K)
Star Wars The Last Jedi (MA) 4K
Strange World (GP)
Super Buddies (GP)
The Good Dinosaur (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
The Lone Ranger (GP) or (MA)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (GP)
The Pirate Fairy (GP) or (MA)
Thor (GP)
Thor Love and Thunder HD (GP) or (MA 4K)
Thor The Dark World (GP)
Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast (GP)
Toy Story of Terror (MA)
Zootopia (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
SONY BUFF PASS x1 (Choose 1 of the following options...)
My Girl 4K
Hancock 4K
Stripes 4K
The Blob 1988 HD
Blue Thunder HD
Born Yesterday HD
Bye Bye Birdie HD
Guess Who HD
Stir Crazy HD
Untraceable HD
Universal Rewards May (Choose 1 of the following...)
A Dog's Purpose 4K
Backdraft 2 4K
Black Christmas 4K
The Sparks Brothers 4K
Agnes Browne HD
Antz HD
Being Frank HD
Don't Let Go HD
Final Account HD
Kicks HD
Loving HD
Raw HD
HD CODES (VUDU or MA)
007 Skyfall (vudu/GP)
47 Ronin (MA)
A Dogs Purpose (MA)
A Good Day To Die Hard Extended (MA)
A Quiet Place (VUDU HD/iTunes 4K)
About Time (MA) split
Alex Cross (Vudu) split
American Girl Grace Stirs Up Success (MA)
American Girl Isabella Dances into the Spotlight (MA)
American Girl McKenna Shoots for the Stars (MA)
American Made 2017 (MA)
American Reunion Unrated (MA)
Anchorman 2 (VUDU split)
Animal House Natinoal Lampoons (MA) split
Annihilation (Vudu) split
Apollo 13 (MA) split
Atlas Shrugger Part 3 (MA)
August Osage County (Vudu)
Bad Grandpa: Jackass Presents (VUDU split)
Barbie and her Sisters in a Pony Tale (MA)
Barbie and her Sisters in a Puppy Chase (MA)
Barbie and the Secret Door (MA)
Barbie in Princess Power (MA)
Barbie in the Pink Shoes (MA)
Barbie Mariposa and the Fairy Princess (MA)
Barbie Rock n Royals (MA)
Barbie Starlight Adventure (MA)
Battleship (MA)
Baywatch (Vudu split)
Ben Hur 2016 (vudu split)
Billy Elliott 2000 (MA)
Blackhat 2015 (MA)
Book Club (VUDU split)
Buttons A Christmas Tale (Vudu split)
Captain Fantastic (MA) split
Captain Underpants The First Epic Movie (MA)
Cirque Du Soleil Worlds Away (Vudu) split
Crocodile Dundee 1 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
Crocodile Dundee 2 (HD Vudud/4K iTunes)
Crocodile Dundee 3 in Los Angeles (HD Vudu/HD iTunes)
Curse of Chucky unrated (MA) split
Daddy's Home (VUDU split)
Daddy's Home 2 (VUDU split)
Darkest Hour 2017 (MA)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K iTunes)
Dead in Tombstone urated (MA) split
Deadpool (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Despicable Me 2 (MA)
Despicable Me 3 (MA) 4K
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days (MA)
Dracula Untold (MA)
Dr. Seuss's The Lorax (MA)
Eddie the Eagle (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Ender's Game (VUDU split)
Epic (MA)
Everest ( MA) split
The Fast and Furious 2001 (MA)
Fast and Furious 2009 (MA)
Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift 2006 (MA)
Fast Five Extended Edition 2011 (MA)
Fast & Furious 6 Extended Edition (MA)
The Fast and Furious 2017 Theatrical (MA)
The Fast and Furious 2017 Extended (MA)
Furious 7 Extended Edition (MA)
Fences (Vudu split)
Ferris Buellers Day off (Vudu/iTunes)
Fifty Shades of Grey unrated (MA)
Flight (vudu split)
Get Out (MA)
G.I. Joe Retaliation (vudu split)
Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters unrated (Vudu split)
Hard Target 2 (MA)
Hercules 2014 (vudu split)
Home Alone (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Hop (MA)
How The Grinch Stole Christmas 2000 (MA)
Hunger Games (Vudu)
Hunger Games Catching Fire (Vudu)
Ice Age Continental Drift (MA)
Independence Day (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (vudu split)
Interstellar (VUDU split)
Jackass 3 (Vudu Split)
Jack Reacher (Vudu split)
Jack Reacher Never Go Back (Vudu split)
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (vudu split)
Jason Bourne (MA)
Jaws (MA)
John Wick 1 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
John Wick 3 (vudu/GP/iTunes 4K)
Jurassic Park (MA)
Jurassic Park The Lost World (MA)
Jurassic Park 3 (MA)
Jurassic World (MA)
Katy Perry The Movie (vudu split)
Kick Ass 2 (MA split)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (MA)
Labor Day (Vudu) split
Les Miserables 2012 (MA)
Life of Pi (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Lucy (MA)
Madagascar 3 Europes Most Wanted (MA)
Mean Girls 2024 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
Minions (MA)
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (vudu split)
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (Vudu split)
Mission Impossible Fallout (vudu split)
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (4K Vudu/4KiTunes)
Mr Peabody and Sherman (MA)
Nebraska (Vudu split)
Noah (vudu split)
Non Stop (MA)
No Strings Attached (VUDU split)
Oblivion (MA)
Office Christmas Party (VUDU) split
Olympus Has Fallen (MA)
Pain and Gain (vudu split)
Paper Towns (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 1 (vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 2 unrated (Vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 3 extended (Vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 4 unrated (Vudu Split)
Parental Guidance (MA)
Penguins of Madagascar (MA)
Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters (MA)
Perks of Being A Wallflower (vudu)
Pitch Perfect 1 (MA)
Pitch Perfect 2 (MA)
Pitch Perfect 3 (MA)
Project Almanac (Vudu split)
Rango (VUDU split)
Ride Along (MA)
Rio 2 (MA)
R.I.P.D. (MA)
Rise of the Guardians (VUDU)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Runner, Runner (MA)
Safe House (MA)
Selma (vudu split)
Sing (MA)
Sisters (MA)
Snatched (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Snow White and the Huntsman (MA)
Spiderman 2 Theatrical/Extended 2004 (MA)
Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home (VUDU HD/iTunes 4K)
Star Trek Beyond (Vudu split)
Star Trek Into Darkness (Vudu split)
Straight Outta Compton unrated (MA)
Strawberry Shortcake Dance Berry Dance (MA)
Super 8 (VUDU split)
Taken 2 (MA)
Ted unrated (MA)
Ted 2 unrated (MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 (vudu split)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
Terminator Dark Fate 4K (vudu split)
Terminator Genisys (Vudu split)
The Adventures of Tin Tin (Vudu split)
The Amazing Spiderman 2 (MA)
The Big Lebowski (MA)
The Big Short (VUDU split)
The Boss Baby (MA)
The Boss Unrated (MA)
The Bourne Identity (MA)
The Bourne Legacy (MA)
The Bourne Ultimatum (MA)
The Breakfast Club (MA)
The Croods (MA)
The Dark Tower (MA)
The Dictator (VUDU split)
The Dilemma (MA)
The Fault in our Stars (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
The Gambler (Vudu split)
The Girl On The Train (MA)
The Great Wall (MA)
The Guilt Trip (Vudu split)
The Heat 2013 (MA)
The Impossible (Vudu)
The Internship (MA)
The Mummy 2017 (MA)
The Other Woman (MA)
The Purge 2013 (MA split)
The Purge: Election Year (MA) split
The Scorpion King 4 Quest For Power (MA) split
The Secret Life of Pets (MA)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (MA)
The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge out of Water (VUDU split)
The Wolf of Wallstreet (VUDU split)
The Wolverine Extended (MA)
This is 40 theatrical (MA)
Top Gun (vudu split)
Top Gun Maverick (VUDU 4K/iTunes 4K)
Transformers Dark of the Moon (vudu split)
Transformers Age of Extinction (Vudu split)
Transformers The Last Knight (Vudu split)
True Grit (VUDU split)
Turbo (MA)
Unbroken (MA)
Unfriended (MA)
Van Helsing (MA)
Warcraft ( MA)
War For the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Warm Bodies (VUDU split)
What to Expect When You're Expecting (vudu split)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Vudu split)
Wonder (Vudu or iTunes)
World War Z (Vudu split)
X-Men Days of Future Past (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
XXX Return of Xander Cage (Vudu split)
ITUNES HD CODES (unless otherwise stated)
Alien Covenant (redeems 4K)
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Road Trip (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues (split)
Assassins Creed (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Bad Grandpa Jackass Presents (split) (redeems 4K)
Battleship (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Baywatch (split) (redeems 4K)
Big Little Lies Season 1
Buttons A Christmas Tale (split)
Cowboys and Aliens (ports to MA)
Daddy's Home (split redeems 4K)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Deadpool (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Despicable Me 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Diary of A Wimpy Kid The Long Haul (ports to MA)
Dredd (redeems 4K)
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (ports to MA)
Dr.Seuss' Horton Hears A Who (prts to MA)
Exodus Gods and Kings (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Fast and Furious 6 extended 2013 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Fifty Shades of Grey (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Game of Thrones Season 1
Game of Thrones Season 2
Gifted (ports to MA)
G I Joe Retaliation (split) (redeems 4K)
Gone Girl (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hansel and Gretal Witch Hunters
Hercules 2014 (split redeems 4K)
Hidden Figures (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hitman Agent 47 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Home Alone (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Home Alone 2 (ports to MA)
Hop (ports to MA)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hugo (Split redeems 4K)
Hunger Games (split redeems 4K)
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 (split redeems 4K)
Ice Age (ports to MA)
Ice Age 5 Collision Course (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Identity Thief (ports to MA)
If I Stay (redeems 4K)
Independence Day Resurgence (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Interstellar (split redeems 4K)
Jack Reacher (split) (redeems 4K)
Jack Reacher Never Go Back (split) (redeems 4K)
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (split redeems 4K)
Jurassic World (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Keeping up with the Jonses (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Kingsman The Golden Circle (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (ports to MA)
Les Miserables 2012 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Lets Be Cops (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Logan (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Lucy (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Mike and Dave need Wedding Dates (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Minions (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (split redeems 4K)
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (split redeems 4K)
Mission Impossible Fallout (split redeems 4K)
Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Nebraska
Neighbors (ports to MA)
Night at the Museum Secret of the Tomb (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Noah (split)
No Strings Attached (split)
Oblivion (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Office Christmas Party (redeems 4K)
Paranormal Activity 1 (split)
Paranormal Activity 2 (split)
Pitch Perfect 1 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Pitch Perfect 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Playing with Fire (redeems 4K)
Rango (redeems 4K)
Rise of the Planet of the apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Savages (ports to MA)
Silicon Valley Season 3
Sing (ports to MA) (redeems 4k)
Snatched (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Snow White and the Huntsman (ports to MA)
Spectre (redeems 4K)
Spy unrated (ports to MA)
Star Trek Beyond (redeems 4K)
Star Trek Into Darkness (redeems 4K)
Super 8 (redeems 4K split)
Taken 3 (ports to MA)
Ted (ports to MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 (redeems 4K)
Terminator Genisys 4K (iTunes split) (redeems 4K)
The Book of Life (ports to MA)
The Bourne Legacy (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Fault In Our Stars (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Longest Ride (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Martian (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Maze Runner (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Maze Runner The Scorch Trials (ports to MA) (redeems 4k)
The Mountain Between Us (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Peanuts Movie (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Secret Life of Pets (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Wolf of Wall Street (split redeems 4K)
This is 40 (ports to MA)
Transformers Age of Extinction (split redeems 4K)
Transformers The Last Knight (split redeems 4K)
True Grit (redeems 4K)
Unbroken (ports to MA)
War for the Planet of the Apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Warm Bodies (split redeems 4K)
Why him (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
World War Z (split) (redeems 4K)
X-Men Apocalypse (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
X-Men Days of Future Past (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
XXX Return of Xander Cage (redeems 4K)
Zoolander No 2 (split)
ITUNES/MA/VUDU (SD) Redeem Codes (See Link Below)
https://www.reddit.com/uvtrade/comments/18ywl4j/offer_hd_and_sd_codes_my_list_requests_hdsd/
**ALL codes have been verified
MY ISO/Request list:
Ghostbusters Frozen Empire MA
Godzilla X Kong The New Empire MA
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania MA
Kung Fu Panda 4 MA
Other new releases

Hi gainers,
I have just finished running Super Squats by Randall J. Strossen and wanted to share my results. There are plenty of discussions of this program out there already, but I figured sharing my experience with the program can't hurt and can hopefully be interesting, or maybe even useful to someone. This was my first time running a "proper" program (i.e. one designed by a prefessional) and it has been by far the most productive training block I have done so far. Since I am a beginner, I'm not calling this a review (I don't have the training experience to offer any kind of expert opinion). This post is meant rather to show my results as a beginner on the program and to share some of my thoughts about it.
[Before, 82kgs, 10 April 2024](https://imgur.com/a/super-squats-before-82kg-10-04-2024-PvPBvIl). NSFW. Pics taken the day after the first workout.
[After, 86kgs, 18 May 2024](https://imgur.com/a/loPa07y). NSFW. Pics taken the day after the last workout.
Background:
M30, 6'2", no athletic background. Typical denizen of this sub in that I could always eat loads and not put on weight blah blah blah. Worked out in my teens with weights in my room but never maintained a consistent schedule long enough to see significant results. Fast forward to 2 years ago when I started doing bodyweight workouts at home and making an effort to gain weight. Had some success and then started going to the gym at the start of this year. Did a 4 day/week UppeLower split with some success. My weight had fluctuated between a very skinny 67kgs to around 73kgs throughout my twenties. Prior to running Super Squats I had already bulked from 74kgs at the start of December to 82kgs at the start of April (I started taking creatine in January which definitely contributed to this weight gain).
The Program:
Super Squats is a book, which is short (less than 100 pages) and contains everything you need to run the program. Although the book was written in 1989, the routine it outlines is based on old-school squatting programs utilized by strongmen from the 1920s onwards. A chapter is devoted to this history of squats, the "master exercise". There are a couple of anachronisms (my favourite is referring to the hamstrings as "thigh biceps") but overall it is well-written and presented.
The program itself is a six week full-body routine, with the choice to run it 2 or 3 days per week. I won't spell out the whole program here (just buy the book), but the core of the routine is, of course, a single set of twenty heavy squats, with the trainee taking at least three deep breaths between each rep. The squats are supersetted with a set of light pullovers or Rader chest pulls to stretch the rib cage. The starting weight for the squats is a weight you can do for 10 reps (and yes, you really do twenty reps with that weight) and the program stipulates that you must add at least 5lbs/2.5kgs every single workout. The program is fairly light on volume (especially if you run it 2 days per week like I did) but what it lacks in volume, it more than makes up in intensity.
There is no way around it: heavy, high-rep squats are deeply, profoundly, brutally unpleasant. There is no stipulation for rep cadence or how long the set should take, you can take as long as you like, but completing 20 reps with good form will require having the bar on your back for at least 3-4 minutes. From week 2 onwards, the single set of squats always took me more than 5 minutes (and it always felt much longer).
Performing warm-up sets slowly and deliberately was crucially important. Before I even got to the warm-up sets I performed a few reps of touchdown-squats on a box, and a few more of goblet squats with a light kettlebell, opening my hips against a resistance band to prime my glutes and quads.
Super Squats is the embodiment of "mind over matter". The book has a whole section on mindset and positive visualization to help trainees to manage the seemingly impossible task of squatting a 10-rep weight for 20 reps. It sounds stupid, but by the second half of the program, I had gotten into a ritual of giving the bar a firm slap, as a jockey would slap his racehorse, before I started the set, cementing my effort to view the bar not as an enemy to overcome but as a friend helping me to achieve my goals.
Reps 11 and 12 were usually the hardest. By the time I got to ten reps my legs were already trembling. My whole body was drenched in sweat, the weight of the bar impossibly heavy resting on my traps, crushing my whole body into the ground. Time had slowed to a crawl, and the thought that I was only half way would be enough to sap my resolve if I let it. Once I got to rep 13, comfortably more than halfway, I no longer had to think about breathing. I was sucking in great lungfuls of air automatically and heaving them out so hard I sprayed the mirror in front of me with droplets of spit (yes, of course I wiped it down afterwards). Once I got to rep 17 I knew I had the set in the bag. No matter how tortuous those last three reps, no matter how long they took, no matter how many heaving breaths I had to take, I could do 3 more reps.
During week 2 I had what I think is the closest I've ever had to an out-of-body experience. It was as if I was watching someone else perform the agonizing reps while I talked myself through the rest of the set: "Breathe, good, deeper, you've got this, next rep, nice. Keep going".
Breathing is the key. The book talks at length about the importance of deep breathing throughout the set. Pretty quickly, I found that deep breathing was the only way to keep from passing out or collapsing mid set, though as I said, deep breathing becomes automatic about halfway through the set (there's simply no other way to stay upright with the weight on your back). A very helpful tip from the book is to suck in an extra gulp of air on top of your already full lungs for each of the last reps.
If all this sounds a bit exaggerated, try the program and see for yourself. But I'm not trying to put anyone off with this description, quite the opposite! The great thing about Super Squats is that the difficulty of the squats is directly proportional to the feeling of giddy elation upon completing the set. I always felt great after the set, and rode the feeling of accomplishment for the rest of the day. The program really pushes you beyond the boundaries of what you think you can do.
My Progress:
I started the squats at quite a low weight of just 40kg. The book recommends erring on the side of starting too light, and then adding more weight if needed, so that is what I did. Remember, the program stipulates a minimum increase of 5lbs/2.5kgs per workout, but there's nothing saying you can't add more. Once I realized the weight was too light (I managed 21 reps for the first workout) I simply increased the weight by 10kgs on the second workout and continued with the 2.5kg increases from there.
Before starting Super Squats I had had a two week break from training due to illness, so I started with too-low weights (I exceeded the target rep range on all exercises). So I increased the weight by 5-10kgs depending on the exercise for the second workout. The program has varying set numbers and rep ranges for different exercises. As a general rule, I increased the weight once I could hit the target rep range for the first two sets of each exercise, but I did not stick to this rule every workout.
The only thing I stuck to was the minimum increase of 2.5kgs for the squats every workout. I managed this consistently until the final week, when I failed on the eccentric of the tenth rep with a weight of 77.5kgs (a 5kg increase on the previous workout). My legs just gave way and I could not get back up. I did two more sets to make sure that I at least performed more total reps than the previous workout. Then, in the last workout, I amazed myself by succesfully performing all 20 reps with the same weight. Definitely the hardest set I have ever done, and I was completely finished afterwards, but the highlight of the program for sure.
Other ups and downs: I lost reps on Bench and Bent-over Rows on both workouts of week five, but got them back in week six and set new PRs on both. A good reminder that progress is rarely linear. My left knee started hurting in the last week, but thankfully the pain hasn't persisted. I guess my form might have broken down a bit too much in one of the last workouts.
Diet:
The book's diet advice is very simple: lots of calories and protein, with the majority coming from healthy whole food sources. Nothing surprising there. The book has two recommendations in addition to meals for achieving these goals: milk and shakes. The book doesn't use the GOMAD acronym, but that's basically what it boils down to: a recommended minimum of 2 quarts (about 2 litres) per day in addition to meals and snacks, with a recommendation to increase to up to a gallon (nearly 4 litres) per day if you can.
I was somewhat surprised to see that the book recommends home-made mass gainer shakes for trainees who struggle to eat enough solid food (the book refers to them as "blender bombs" which I think sounds much cooler).
I am not vegetarian, but I don't eat meat very often. I live with my fiancee, who doesn't like meat, and since we eat dinner, the main meal of the day, together, we eat a lot of plant-based meat substitutes. I did, however, eat meat more often than usual during the program. My typical diet looks something like this:
Breakfast: Usually muesli, with seeds, fruit (apple or banana), yoghurt, and a scoop of unflavoured whey protein.
Lunch: Usually eggs, fried or scrambled in butter, served with wilted spinach on wholemeal toast or with pasta and pesto. If not eggs then leftovers from last night's dinner. My local supermarkets do a rangle of reasonably healthy frozen meals and during the program I ate these a couple of times per week, always going for chicken dishes with plenty of vegetables.
Dinner: Something based around the aforementioned meat substitutes. Favourites include spaghetti bolognese (with plenty of cheese of course), chili with black beans, sour cream and guacomole served with rice, and burgers with fries for a "junk"/"dirty" option.
I don't count calories but I do roughly track protein, aiming for 2g per kg bodyweight and topping up with whey protein as needed.
During Super Squats, I upped my creatine dosage from 3.5g/day to 5g/day, added extra snacks to the above diet (nuts, dark chocolate etc.) and also milk and shakes as the book suggests. For the first three weeks I had a daily shake consisting of whey protein, milk, cocoa powder, banana, peanut butter and oats. The shakes helped with weight gain, but they proved unsustainable, as they led to some, er, digestive issues. Ok, they gave me explosive diarrhoea. See [this review of Super Squats](https://empire-barbell.com/2021/07/23/super-squats-review-of-the-legendary-20-rep-squat-program/) in which the author recounts ingesting a shake according to the book's recipe before starting a work shift and shitting himself during the shift, lol.
I hadn't really drank milk for several years prior to the program (I tend to prefer oat milk with my muesli) but I did increase my milk consumption slowly over the six weeks. For most of the duration I drank a couple of glasses per day, totalling only about 500ml -1 litre. Only in the last week did I make a serious effort to drink at least 2 litres per day. Turns out it's really easy to drink a lot of milk, and a very cost-efficient way to get lots of extra calories and protein. Who knew haha.
Rest and Recovery:
I've been having trouble sleeping lately, which was the reason I opted to do the program 2 days per week from the beginning (the book recommends starting with 3 days and dropping down to 2 if you find you can't recover sufficiently between workouts). I was a very deep sleeper as a child but those days are long gone and these days the slightest noise seems to be enough to wake me. My fiancee gets up early for work during the week (her alarm goes off at 4:45am), ivariably waking me before it does her, and we have a cat, who tends, as cats do, to go crazy in the small hours (her new favourite thing is scratching frantically on the closet doors). I've tired everything I can think of short of getting rid of the cat, which I'm not willing to do for the sake of gains. Hopefully she will mellow as she gets older. If nothing else, I guess it's good practice for when we become parents lol. Suffice to say it's rare that I get an uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep.
I tried to do everything within my power to get as good sleep as I could (making an effort to get to bed earlier, playing with the cat to tire her out, etc.). I still made good gains despite overall poor sleep, but there were definitely some days when I could have gotten to bed earlier.
What I liked about the program:
Super Squats is a simple, easy-to follow program which is practically guranteed to lead to growth. The non-negotiable nature of progression from workout to workout gives a strong incentive to eat enough and get enough rest. I seriously can't see how someone could follow this program, increasing the weight as prescribed, and not grow.
Another thing I liked was making significant progress over a short timeframe while only training 2 days per week, leaving more time for life outside the gym.
By far the biggest benefit of the program, hower, is the lessons it imparts and the mental toughness it inculcates. Lessons you can only learn by standing under the crushing weight of the bar for 20 reps. Put simply, you are capable of more than you think you are, and this program teaches you that in a way that words never could. I feel that I now inderstand intensity as a training variable far more deeply than I did before the program. After running Super Squats I understand why it is so often recommended to beginners.
What I didn't like about the program:
The individual workouts took far too long. This was by far the biggest thing I disliked about the program. The book claims that the Basic Routine should take less than an hour to complete, but I found that I rarely completed a workout in less than 90 minutes, and several times it took me a full 2 hours. Granted, this was partly due to training in a busy McGym, where waiting for equipment is often a factor, and I feel like I spend half my life searching for locking collars, but even so, the long workouts were grinding. Another big factor is just how exhausted you are after that set of squats. I often felt like I was moving in slo-mo, with the stiff-legged deadlifts (themselves no easy exercise) and calf and ab work still to get through.
The other main negative factor was how daunting the squats are. I rarely looked forward to workouts, and often actively dreaded them. I really had to psyche myself up to go to the gym on this program, despite knowing that I would feel great after my workout. That next set of squats was always looming ahead menacingly.
What I would do differently:
The biggest thing I would change is doing the milk properly from the beginning. By "doing the milk" I mean drinking at least the recommended 2 quarts per day. I would also probably leave the shakes out, and make an effort to eat cleaner. I kind of gave myself free reign to cut corners and do what it takes to gain on the program (spooning peanut butter from the jar and ice cream from the tub, eating "junk" meals like burgers and fries or frozen pizzas a couple of times a week, etc.).
I would have chosen a different abs exercise. I did hollow-body crunches, but since these can't be loaded (as far as I know) I had to resort to adding extra reps and then an extra set to add progressive overload. It would have been smarter and more time-efficient to simply choose a weighted abs exercise and increase the load each workout.
I could have been more diligent about consistenly increasing weight/reps on all exercises other than the squats. I feel my progress on the other lifts could have been better.
The book does not mention cardio, and in fact states that trainees should move as little as possible outside of training to allow for maximum recovery. I will definitely add some light cardio in the form of walking the next time I run the program (thanks to u/MythicalStrength for pointing out that since the program is based on old-school principles, it is likely assumed that pretty much everyone would have been doing a fair bit of walking before lifestyles became so sedentary in developed countries). Over the weekend between weeks five and six my mother came to visit, and in the course of showing her around my city I did a lot of walking that weekend (15k steps each day). I think this may have contributed to the failure on the first workout of week 6 by eating into my recovery. Ideally, I would just do, say, a 30-40 minute walk on off days throughout the program.
Most of all, I would trust the process. Of course this is easy to say with hindsight, but there was a point in weeks 3-4 where I got quite demotivated, felt like I coudn't notice the program working (of course not - visual changes take longer than a couple of weeks!) and felt quite tired out from all the eating, so I ended up eating a bit less for about a week in the middle of the program, which quite possibly contributed to the strength losses in week 5. Again, progress isn't linear, but if you stick to the program over six weeks it will pay off.
Conclusion/Next Steps:
Running Super Squats over the last six weeks has been without a doubt the most physically and mentally challenging thing I have ever done, but the payoff has been well worth it. 4kgs gained in 6 weeks and invaluable lessons learned. I'm going to have to go clothes shopping and replace most of my wardrobe. Shirts and T-shirts that were loose are now tight, and my old slim-fit T-shirts now look comically small. Even my straight-leg jeans are now tight fitting (my fiancee said the other day, "Those jeans are a bit tight on you now, huh? But your bum looks great!").
Being on the taller side, I still have quite a lot of frame to fill out, and I still have a lot to learn about training. I will definitely be running Super Squats again in future. I am especially interested in running the Abbreviated Program, consisting of only the squats, pullovers/Rader chest pulls, bench, and bent-over rows. This would solve the problem of workouts being too long, but I imagine it would be extremely challenging, since you should increase the weight on all exercises each workout, not just the squats. With bench and bent-over rows offering less overall muscle fibre recruitment than squats, and 2.5kgs being the smallest weight increase logistically possible (in my gym, anyway), I imagine that this would be challenging in the extreme.
The book suggests running a strength-building training block after the 20-rep squat program, consisting of more sets with lower rep ranges. It even suggests alternating between six weeks on the 20-rep squat program and six on the strength-building program, extending Super Squats well past the initial six weeks. While this approach is intriguing, I want to try something different, and I would rather have more training days in the week in return for shorter individual workouts.
I've ordered a copy of 5/3/1 and will probably run 531 for Beginners, and then see which template I run after that. I have my eye on the BBB Beefcake 3 Month Challenge, but I'll see when I get there. For now, I'm going to dial back on the eating, to around maintenance levels, for at least a couple of weeks (I need a break from stuffing myself all day).
In the meantime, I can't recommend Super Squats enough! You will surprise yourself on this program.
Well, that turned into a huge wall of text. Thanks very much for taking the time to read if you got this far!

Trigger warning, mental health topics like suicide. Thanks for reading this. I filed for divorce back in Nov because my husband’s mental health was not improving and he was getting more abusive towards me and his disabled 10 year old son (whom I adopted). We had spent Oct apart to see how a split would be and I felt my like was more peaceful. His mental health continued to decline and this culminated in a bad episode where he screamed and cursed at me then threatened to kill himself in front of our son. I got us out and called the police and they took him to the hospital. After getting out, he was not allowed to see my son other than at supervised visitation locations or to come to the house.
He went out of state to stay with family, then found an inpatient treatment center in Cali. We agreed that I would hold off with the divorce to allow him to use the health ins and focus on treatment full time while I took care of our son and worked full time. During this time, he would still try to flirt with me and say he still loves me, etc. I turned him down and eventually his advances stopped and I hoped he was focusing on recovery. The first treatment center was not good (understaffed, false advertising, etc.) so he then moved to an intensive outpatient center that he had found nearby.
He started saying that he wanted to move to Cali because of state programs and lifestyle. I was annoyed that he would be so far from our son, leaving me with full time care, but he had never been very reliable or responsible. He said he was depressed and his calls grew less frequent. However, I foolishly started harboring a small hope that he would actually get better and come back to our family.
He told me about a month ago that he was being released. He mentioned randomly wanting to move to the same town where the treatment center was located. This bothered me, why there? On the day he was released, I figured it out…there must be a woman. I confronted him and he said he had a gf but they broke up. I was immediately DEVASTATED. Couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t understand how he could be so immature and selfish to do this while he was supposed to be focusing full time on treatment. He acted like I was over-reacting and I spent hours texting him and explaining my concerns, such as, what if she ends up pregnant? He continued to act like I was overreacting, that his treatment was not affected, that trauma bonding between patients is common, etc. I pivoted in our divorce to continue requiring supervised visits as I could not trust his recovery. I also started having intrusive thoughts about the woman, who I found out was another patient. I grew extremely jealous. I spent time trying to convince him not to abandon our son and move across the country. We ended up spending countless hours talking and going over our communication issues, he finally apologized profusely, took accountability for fucking up, and was somewhat friendly. He said the relationship with the other patient was toxic and completely over. He said I had made it pretty clear after Oct and by filing divorce that our relationship was completely over, if he had known that there was still some hope, or how much this would have hurt me, that he would have made different decisions.
He arrived back in town on Wed. I spent the evening talking to him, and the is point my desire to rekindle something was embarrassingly full tilt, he was soo much calmer and collected but also very distant. We spent more time together and I grew more confused. I finally confessed to him yesterday that I wanted to try and see if anything was left of our relationship before filing the final papers. The extra draw to it for him would be the financial stability and support I am capable of providing. We talked on the phone and he said it was all too fresh and too much, as I have the house he is basically on the verge of being homeless and is jobless. But he said he was open to discussing it further.
Fast forward to last night, he exercised a supervised visitation with my son and we talked briefly after. He told me he needed to tell me something, that his ex-gf from the facility was indeed pregnant. I almost threw up. I am 38 and wanted kids with him, but our relationship was never stable enough emotionally or financially to try. I asked if she was going to keep it and he said at first no but now she was changing her mind. She is still a patient at the treatment center and is there bc of a recent suicide attempt. The whole thing makes me feel so ill.
The icing on the cake was last night, when he indicated that he had stipulations for getting back together with her. When I wanted to get back with him he was unsure (he already knew she was pregnant), but potentially wanted to go back to her. That was the final straw for me, I really lost it on him. He was already thinking about abandoning his living son to go live with this woman, now they will have a baby. But now I can’t sleep or eat or do anything. My life feels like a Jerry Springer episode, but I am a responsible, kind, hardworking person who did so much for my husband for years, including saving his son from his abusive, drug-addicted, ex-wife and raising him as my own. I know I made choices here too that led to this mess, but I have never felt this hurt and lost before. I am trying to seek out more therapy, etc, but nothing seems to be helping yet.

It has been 20 years since the first calamity struck Earth. A massive wave of solar radiation from a nearby star known as Prometheus 673B showered our solar system in 2025. Electronics have been rendered useless for months, giving humanity the glimpse of what life was like long before. But that was merely temporary. The true effect of the solar flare came in the form of an illness, that afflicted roughly 10% of the current population. Unlike anything we've ever seen, the illness did not kill, rather enhanced the afflicted. For the first time in human history, the term Esper was used seriously. Dubbed the Awoken, those afflicted with illness that stemmed from the solar flare of Prometheus, gained the ability to manifest their own thoughts into reality, with varying degrees of success. At first, nations and laws, society as whole, was not prepared to deal with these new humans and their abilities. Crime ran rampant for a while.
Five years after the incident, the world banded together in a unified front, known as the AMA, The Awoken Management Agency, a world wide agency tasked with handling and controlling the Awoken, allowing humanity to once more function as a whole. Satellites have been sent out as far Earth's gaze into space could reach, to watch our for any other potential cosmic events that may occur, like the one that happened with Prometheus back in '25.
Now, 20 years since the first incident, the satellites have picked up another major cosmic event on the horizon, this time coming from the Aquila constellation. Is humanity ready to withstand whatever cosmos has prepared for it?
[]
"Kenji. Wake up! You'll be later for your lectures, again."
The young man groaned, slowly turning to his side in bed, looking at his mother that stood at the doorway. "I'm up, I'm up."
Yawning and stretching, he sat up in bed, running his fingers through his hair, before turning to check the small clock on his nightstand.
"Wha? Late? Mom, it's only 8. Lectures don't start until 10." He sighed.
"Oh well. No need to cut it short, right? Plus, I've made breakfast." His mother replied and went back downstairs.
[]
AMA Information Database:
Kenji Aoto. Age: 21 Category: Type 1 Awoken Ability: Embodiment. The unique ability of Kenji Aoto, unlike other Awoken of the same type, allows him to alter his own body based on how he feels. Most Type 1s change their environment around them, rather than themselves. Type 1s are classified as such for having abilities that considered non dangerous to the general non awoken population.
[]
"We've got a lot of promising talent this year huh?" Nathaniel said to his daughter, as the two looked down at the auditorium full of students. The dean of the university was preparing his usual welcoming speech, as the assistants tried to quiet down the murmurs of the students.
"Yeah, we sure do." Clara smiled, not taking her eyes off the scene. "Quite a good number of Awoken too."
"Anyone interesting in particular?" Nathaniel asked.
"No, not really. They all have the standard abilities you would expect out of a type 1. Same level of control to boot." She responded.
"Well, I look forward to being their professor." Her father smiled, inhaling deeply. "The smell of youthful energy, so amazing. I can still remember your first day as a freshman."
Clara blushed a bit, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. "Shouldn't you be down there giving your speech, Dr. Offset?"
Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck with a slightly embarrasses laugh to boot. "Oh don't call me that. Ahem, yeah. I'll be going now. See you later for lunch?"
"Of course dad." Clara smiled, giving her father a little wave as he left the teacher conference room.
[]
AMA Information database:
Clara Harris. Age: 32 Category: Non-Awoken (regular human) The lead ambassador for Awoken rights and unification in the AMA. Daughter of the lead researcher in Awoken development and the head teacher of the Awoken department in Nagoya University, Japan, Nathaniel Harris.
Nathaniel Harris. Age: 55 Category: Type 2 Awoken Ability: Offset. Acquired during the first Prometheus flare, the ability of Dr. Offset (he thought the name was cool when he was in his 20s), allows him to offset numerical values. Though touching an object is not required to use the ability on it, the potency of the ability greatly improved when he has direct contact with it. This also extends to, in theory, numerical values pertaining to objects and their position in space, relative to Nathaniel. Meaning he can move objects or parts of them relative to where he's standing, by changing their coordinates, however there were no recorded instances of him doing so. Examples include: Increasing or reducing the temperature of a beverage by direct contact. Increasing or decreasing friction on a surface of an object temporarily by touching it.
In his youth, Nathaniel attempted to become a sort of hero, once his powers kicked in, but due to the very low potency of his abilities, he never really managed to make the cut as one, despite being a type 2. Type 2s are classified as such due to having abilities that could be considered dangerous, powerful or harmful for the general non awoken population.
[]
Location: Russia, Siberia. Time: 22:37 Facility: Maximum security prison for Awoken criminals in Russia, cell block 5.
Theodore laid in his bunk, staring at the ceiling. Each of his breaths released a soft cloud of vapor, that commonly occurs when someone is in a cold environment. In his case, the vapor was a byproduct of his ability, rather than the cold cell we was in. A thug with a love for violence, turned bank robber when his abilities fully developed, Theodore terrorized Russia and the neighboring countries. It wasn't until the AMA was finally assembled and operational, that he was arrested and sentenced to multiple life sentences in this highest security prison that Russia had at a time.
Even after being sent behind bars, he kept up his antics, becoming a nightmare for the guards and inmates alike. No man that was placed in a cell with him would last more than a few days before demanding transfer. Some even lost their lives to the former thugs whims, before their transfer requests could be approved. Hence Theodore has been placed in solitary, a cell designed with all the tech necessary to nullify his ability. There he spent the last 10 years of his life.
Despite being a type 1, an awoken with abilities that were not classified as dangerous to the general population, Theodore managed to use them to their fullest extent. His blessing of temperature manipulation, was a curse to everyone around him.
He looked outside, at the night sky, through his small cell window. Apparently, there was a big stellar event, similar to the one 20 years ago, that gave him the powers he now has. He heard guards and other inmates talk about it, how AMA is now prepared for such an event.
Theodore closed his eyes, imagining what this aurora would look like. The memory of that night, when Prometheus 673B's flare struck earth still fresh in his mind like it was yesterday. The otherworldly mixture of reds and yellows and greens. Like a primordial fire that was lit across the night sky.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps outside his cell snapped him out of his memory.
"Huh?" He adjusted in bed, to see who was outside his cell.
A man, in a white cloak with golden details, stood outside his cell. Theodore was confused. The man was not one of the guards, he was bare footed and did not wear any uniform. And no way he was one of the other inmates, no one had the capabilities to leave their cells without being let out.
"Hey, who the hell are you? How did you get here? The guards letting us out or something?" The criminal walked over to his cell door. The bars were made of material that could withstand sudden changes in temperature without bending or breaking, preventing him from getting out.
The man said nothing, he didn't even turn towards the convict, he merely stood there, hood covering his as he looked up at the night sky through the decorative windows on the buildings roof.
"Hey asshat! I asked you a question. How the fuck did you get out of your cell? C'mon man, don't be a dick, let me out too." Theodore grabbed the bars and rattled them.
The cloaked man finally turned towards him. The convict was stunned, only for a second. The man has a beard and long hair, both as white as his cloak. But his eyes, they were as blue as the midday sky. He could have sworn energy seemed to pour out of them. Before he could say another word, the figure before him extended his hand at him, and with a snap of his fingers, a bold of lightning struck Theodore square in the chest. The convict was send flying, back hitting the wall opposite the cell doors.
[]
Location: Brazil, San Paolo. Time: 16:37 Facility: Remodeled Taubaté Prison, cell block 3.
Vitor sat on the bench press, just finishing a set, looking over the prison yard. Even behind bars, his connections did not dwindle. A former petty drug dealer, Vitor Alves quickly rose to power and influence once his powers awoke. He employed other Awoken with criminal tendencies as his own personal task force to drive all other competition into the ground. Once he held the entirety of San Paolo's drug empire in his hand, he set his sights farther. We wanted the entire city for himself, believing that no one could challenge his claim to that right.
With the help of the AMA, the Brazilian government swiftly put his plan to rest, and Vitor behind bars. The fight between the Awoken under Alves and the AMA/Brazilian forces was indeed a bloody one and resulted in a good number of civilian casualties. The drug lord was sent to Taubate, where he would spend the rest of his life. The prison was remodeled, per AMA standards, to be fully equipped and capable of holding Awoken criminals.
Despite having powers of temperature manipulation, capable of increasing temperature to lethal amounts, Vitor did not believe that to be his strongest ability. Money, influence, connections, those were real power, what truly carried him to the top of the criminal world.
Even now, as he sat on the bench press, doing a few reps before looking over the yard, Vitor was not powerless in the outside world. He waited on his informant, his connection to the outside, to appear so he could delegate orders to what was left of his followers and empire on the outside.
He wasn't sure if it was something he ate, or the heat from the pounding sun. Maybe it was even that sky flare that he heard AMA guards mention. Something indeed felt off, his vision seemed a bit blurry. As if the entire prison courtyard was moving slowly right before him. But the informant should be there soon, so Vitor decided not to go back to his cell just yet.
The other inmates, guards, even the basketball that the inmates played hoops with, suddenly slowed down to a halt. Through the statue like crowd, a single figure moved over to Vitor. His feet were bare, his body and face hidden behind a hooded cloak. The drug lord could only see his white beard and his eyes, as they seemed to be glowing a faint blue glow. Before he even got a chance to speak, the man extended his hand towards him and with a smirk, snapped his fingers, sending a bolt of lightning straight into the mans body, causing Vitor to fly several feet and collapse on the ground.
[]
"Ugh... What the fuck man?" Theodore cursed, as he regained his consciousness. Slowly, he got up to his knees, his head pounding like he was struck by a hammer. The cell felt colder than before. Looking around, he saw the entire cell frozen, every surface covered by a thick layer of ice. Bed, toilet, the cell doors, frozen solid. And the ice shifted. With every movement of his hands, the ice followed.
"Could it be?" The inmate whispered, focusing his mind, channeling his ability. Ice began to form in the palm of his hand, morphing freely. With a single wave of his hand, the frozen bed shattered into bits and pieces. Theodore inhaled, getting up to his feet, head still in pain. But the realization was crystal clear. He could now freeze things without having to touch them, manipulate what he froze, as well create ice out by freezing the water in the air. With a grin plastered across his face, Theodore thanked the mysterious man, of who there was not a single trace left, and decided that he's busting himself out of prison.
[]
"WARNING! WARNING! WARNING. PRISON BREAKS DETECTED ACROSS MULTIPLE AMA FACILITIES!" Blared the system on screen at the Awoken Management Agency in Nagoya. Other HQs across the globe received the same warning.
"What the hell is going on?" Clara said, running into the monitoring hall.
"I don't know. Prison breaks, across multiple locations world wide." Kaito replied, his eyes not leaving the monitors as he fired up the surveillance drones on the impacted locations.
"The main facilities that were absolutely totaled are Siberia and San Paolo." He continued.
"Think it could be?" Clara asked.
"Not possible. The protection against solar flares was at full power. Not a single particle should have hit the ground. I mean, we didn't lose any tech, unlike last time." Kaito shot her question down, pulling up the drone feed of the two prisons.
Taubate was in flames. The entire facility seemed to be entirely engulfed in a raging fire. The Russian counterpart held no better either. The entire prison was torn apart by massive glacier like formations, that seemed to jut out of the ground.
Clara, Kaito and other technicians presents stared, slackjawed, at the live drone feed. Something like that was not possible, no Awoken held that level of power. Not even if multiple Awoken united, could they produce that level of destruction across such a large area.
"Wait wait! What's that? Zoom in on one of the glaciers!" One of the technicians said, pointing at the big monitors.
Kaito's fingers flew across the keyboard, as the drone moved closer and the video on screen zoomed to its maximum. On one of the glacier formations, sat a man, clearly an inmate based on the jumpsuit he was wearing.
"Running identification." Chimed the computer.
"Inmate 4012: Theodore Ivarovski. Age: 36. Category: Type 1 Awoken. Ability: Low drop. His ability allows him to significantly drop the temperature of anything he touches, almost instantly."
"He's a type 1. No way in hell that he could pull of something like this." Clara said, eyes glued to the screed. "He must have re-awoken, there is no other explanation."
"Clara, in the last 20 years since the Prometheus, there was never a single instance of that happening. Some Awoken do push their abilities past the initial capabilities, but that's usually the end of it. It's a conspiracy theory." Kaito mumbled.
"Then how do you explain THAT?" She said, pointing at a massive piece of ice that was quickly forming above Ivarovski, before being sent flying towards the drone and cutting off the live feed.
[]
(Howdy y'all. This is a bit different from my usual write style, with a more manga like story/narration instead of the standard story/novel format I do. I hope you like it, I came up with it months ago, but due to time constrains with work I haven't gotten around to writing it. Based on how it's received, I may continue this along side Sand & Steel. You can read S&S on here:
Royal Road
Wattpad
Scribble Hub
Hope y'all have a nice day.
-M.W.A.)

Serge Lutens is one of the most enigmatic figures in perfumery. Famous for a love of wearing black, he is a curiously aloof character, who appears to enjoy playing the role of both artist and psychoanalyst at the same time. His creative output, likewise traverses the realms of the rational and the emotive; usually within the same piece.
Take his 2013 release La Fille de Berlin, for example - it’s about as ruthlessly cold as a rose can get (think the olfactory version of Dr. Lilith from Frasier!), yet it still manages to project an air of femininity and vulnerability.
Ambre Sultan meanwhile, which is the focus of this particular post, is a similarly captivating piece of work, and arguably rewrote the rulebook on amber perfumes on its release in 1993. The notes, if we’re to go by Fragrantica, include the following (in no defined order):
Resins, Amber, Bay Leaf, Myrrh, Benzoin, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Coriander, Oregano, Patchouli, Angelica, Myrtle
As per the note breakdown, Ambre Sultan contains, as one would expect, all the traditional hallmarks of an amber perfume, but it is so much more than that - it is a nostalgic exploration of the scents of Marrakech. To quote the man himself:
This fragrance is not an Oriental, but an Arab and a Lutens. That being the case, don't expect it to fit in. The point of departure was a scented wax, found in a souk and long forgotten in a wooden box. The amber only became sultanesque after I reworked the composition using cistus, an herb that sticks to the fingers like tar, then added an overtone that nobody had ever dreamed of: vanilla
Serge is on the money in describing Ambre Sultan as an ‘Arab and a Lutens’. I should know - I’ve wandered the very same souks in Marrakech myself. My memory of picking through those bustling streets in the dry heat of a distant April is perfectly captured by the perfume - a combination of green herbs and spices, dusty patchouli and burning labdanum that effortlessly recreates the scents of the warren-like passageways of the medina. Sometimes it can even display an almost crystalline or ‘sandy’ feel reminiscent of the the smell of the ancient buildings of the city.
If those accords represent the Arab aspect of the perfume though, the ‘Lutens’ element lies in the tying of these to the sweeter notes in the composition so as to create something that can be worn for pleasure. Ambre Sultan is, therefore, an olfactory study of an Arabian city merged with classic French perfumery.
It wasn’t actually Uncle Serge (as he is affectionately known) that created the formula behind the fragrance, of course. That honour goes to the legendary Christopher Sheldrake who, as well as composing the vast majority of the Lutens catalogue, has his fingerprints over many of the best Chanel releases of recent times. His technical prowess is what makes the creative vision a reality, although there also seems to be a bit of the Lutens rebeliousness in Sheldrake himself - he was originally training as an architect before he fell in love with making fragrances and is clearly a well-travelled man of culture. Perfumery it seems, is one of the very few industries that allows one to marry a passion for art and science.
It is, remarkably, over thirty years since Ambre Sultan hit the shelves, and it is now firmly established as being a ‘reference’ amber. Indeed, in my personal opinion, it is one of the most important and influential perfumes of all time as well as being one of my favourite perfumes to wear. It is still utterly contemporary too - it could have been made yesterday.
As a result of its success, the concept behind it has, of course, been riffed on numerous times over the decades. Andy Tauer’s L'Air du Desert Marocain, for instance, takes a similar approach, but drops almost all pretences of being a perfume in favour of artistic statement. Zoologist’s Camel, meanwhile, chooses to introduce animalic facets which add skank to the amber accord.
On the more traditional side of the spectrum, L'Eau D'Ambre Extrême by L’Artisan Parfumeur replaces the caustic spices of Sultan with a warming nutmeg note which mingles alongside a gentle balmy vanilla. All, however, trace a clear line back to the Lutens in some form.
It’s also worth noting that Serge Lutens as a brand has also been inspired by Ambre Sultan and a number of the company’s future releases can be linked thematically, and osmatically, to it. So much so, in fact, that the Lutens style is often, unfairly, generalised as being based around resinous notes (there is much more depth to the catalogue!). That being said, lovers of these accords would be well advised to sample Cuir Mauresque, an Arabian themed leather that owes its heritage to Knize 10, the labdanum heavy La Couche du Diable, and the aldehydic and confectionary Arabie.
For me, however, Ambre Sultan will always be the most perfect expression of both the Lutens approach and the amber genre.