This coming Friday kicks off the next edition of Phoenix Fan Fusion 2024! This is one of my pop culture highlights every year here in Arizona and wanted to put together this post.
Tickets - no on site cash purchases. You’ll need to purchase via the Fan Fusion website and pick up at one of the designated tents. - single day passes as well as full weekend are available. - kids ages 12 and under are free with an accompanying adult.
Parking - you can pre-purchase convention parking at several garages (or just you the park and ride option with the Metro Valley Rail). For more info and the links, you can check that out here.
Guests - Media guests such as Simu Liu, Giancarlo Esposito, Shameik Moore, Gina Torres, and the voice cast of X-Men The Animated Series to name a few - Comic creators such as Brianna Garcia, Art Adams, Donny Cates, Greg Capullo, Marv Wolfman, and Todd McFarlane.
Additional Info - You can check out the event map, schedule, and some tips to get a better sense of how to plan your weekend. - Take not the Diamondbacks play each day of the convention and the Mercury also play Saturday night so downtown might be a little busier than usual. - There is a Fan Fusion sponsored screening of Hook at the AMC at the Arizona Center with a film introduction by Fan Fusion guest Dante Basco (Rufio in Hook). - Plenty of gaming tournaments and table top gaming can be enjoyed at the convention. - Over 600 vendors, creators and artists in the exhibit hall. - A dedicated area for kids with activities such as arts and crafts as well as a LEGO room. - For the older the crowd, there is late night programming both Friday and Saturday with some of the events being 18+

Hi there!
Disclaimer: this is a very long post. If you read all of it, I appreciate it endlessly! 🥹
After taking a break that has lasted way too long, I have decided to return to writing with my usual enthusiasm and am looking for an equally eager, literate and detailed, male (24+) partner.
My name is Elise, I am twenty-five and have been roleplaying for countless years now. I love creating stories that keep my partner and me on the edge of our seats, as well as inventing characters that find new layers of themselves throughout the journey. I consider myself a literate and write in third person, past tense on Discord. I live in the GMT+2 timezone, however I want to mention that I have been living with insomnia for years now, so I am incredibly flexible when it comes to the hours I am able to write.
For the longest time, mafia and crime settings have been my favorite! (I blame it on the countless dark romance books I have read.😝 ) I love having two dark and complex characters with backstories that influence their beings meet and let the fire start. Morally grey characters that sometimes do not make the best decisions have a special place in my heart, lmao. Also, I think that the combination of crime and romance can be incredibly interesting. It offers countless opportunities for the story to unfold and tropes to make use of.
For the longest time, I have had a specific setting in mind. It includes a young, woman who does not believe in love and has fingers that like to dip into other people's pockets meeting a stern and power hungry man who is involved in the world of crime.
Down below, you can find the starter. If you happen to be interested, please feel free to shoot me a message with an introduction of yourself and perhaps even any ideas you would like to incorporate. I would appreciate a bit of an effort, instead of the generic 'hey, wanna rp?' Merci!
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"Correct. I have just landed and had to check your boutique out. I have read such good things about it." Gianna lied effortlessly to the friendly sales lady. Part of the brunette even felt sorry for her, considering the fact that this was about to turn into one of the worst days she would have at her job. The young woman had really just landed from Los Angeles, quickly having come to the realization that her summer wardrobe was awfully out of place in snowy New York in the middle of December. "I'll try these dresses on as well. This sweater and this skirt look amazing, too.“ She added, knowing she had to bring a pile to the changing room, so the saleswoman would not notice some pieces being missing right away. The poor employee had been told some bullshit story about Gianna having come to the city that never sleeps with her boyfriend and assuming he was going to propose, she needed to look good at all times.
Minutes later, she found herself stood inside the spacious changing room, having managed to sneak her suitcase inside with her. Opening it, she quickly knelt down and stuffed a few of the things inside. First came the jacket, it was freezing outside. Then the skirt, sweater and another dress. The rest of the pile remained hung up. "I will be right back!" The saleswoman announced from the other side of the door, as the store's phone rang. Gianna heard her footsteps grow more and more distant, before quietly opening the door. Perfect. She was gone. Instead of rolling her suitcase behind her and making noise, she quickly lifted it, groaning internally at the weight of it. With quick steps and quite as a mouse she then made her way out of the store. She did not even have to run, the woman was busy with the phone on the other side of the store. Gianna was lucky, she knew that. She always was.
She smiled triumphantly to herself as she quickly turned a corner outside, knowing it was only a matter of time, until her absence would be noticed. After walking for around fifteen minutes, she spotted a public bathroom and quickly got inside to get changed. Ignoring the more than disgusting scent inside, Gianna got out of her jeans and thin sweater, before putting on the dress and the coat she had just stolen. Admittedly, it did look good on her. The dress was black and strapless, exposing her delicate shoulders and neck. It reached her knees and hugged her body. Her legs were elongated by a pair of heels she had snatched on the way out. The black coat fit perfectly, no one would assume the brunette did not even have a place to sleep.
Neither would anyone assume she had lit an entire casino on fire thirteen hours ago. By now, it was almost eight pm and Gianna took confident steps through the streets of New York, as if she belonged to the Upper East Side and nowhere else. Finally, she reached her destination. Tilting her head, she glanced up at a bright colored sign above an expensive looking bar. From the outside, it was almost impossible to look through the windows, but considering the way guests stepping inside were dressed, it had to be a somewhat upscale establishment. She neared the bodyguards controlling the entrance who at first seemed unsure about her, mustering her petite frame and the suitcase up and down.
"Come on, gentlemen. I am freezing." The brunette smiled softly and batted her eyelashes in an innocent matter at them. She was not wearing any makeup, but the look on her face apparently seemed to be enough for them to let her in. With a polite nod, she stepped inside. Gianna had visited a lot of upscale establishments in her twenty-six years of living, but this..this truly was something else. Everything was held in dark colors, the bar, the interior. It all dripped in exclusiveness, letting her know she was exactly where she wanted to be.
She sat down at the bar on one of the high stools and crossed her slim legs, with her suitcase beside her. Still wearing her coat, she glanced around. Several men were here already, some in groups and some on their own. Some had rings on their left finger and some had not. However, Gianna knew it did not mean a thing. Manipulating married men was even easier, since they were up for every thrill. Except, Gianna was not a thrill. She was not some fun for one night. Instead, she was good company, being able to giggle and talk for hours, until her companion was blacked out, or simply too intoxicated to notice her slipping her long and slim fingers into their pockets and taking out what she had wanted all along; their wallet. Perhaps a watch, too. Whatever she could get.
With every married man that fell into her trap, Gianna felt more and more discouraged about trusting any male. It had destroyed her illusion of faithfulness completely. Her gaze landed on the man to her right. He was younger than the rest, but older than her. Admittedly, he was handsome. And he was not wearing a ring. However, there was one problem: He was not looking, unlike the other creeps. Letting her coat glide down her shoulders, she exposed her bare skin, without looking at her right anymore, hoping the somewhat seductive gesture would be enough to get his attention. When the bartender asked what she would like to drink, she gave him a small smile. "An old fashioned, please." She answered, knowing very well she did not have an ounce of cash on her. Surely, someone to pay her bill could be found tonight.

The church's earliest visitors on Sunday are a group of kind-hearted do-gooders. And Lucas is there too.
The group, including Lucas, is diligently doing last-minute preparations, carefully and skillfully tending to the food they expertly prepared yesterday. Every single person involved in the work does their part with impressive ease and earned confidence. Lucas's careful contributions, both his direct, visible work, and the boons conferred by his presence allow them to do their work with newfound ease, confidence, and remarkable luck. Lucas occasionally makes minor missteps, but those are due more to the drawbacks he is enduring than anything he actually does. And every time he makes a mistake it's so minor a few deft movements are enough for him to overcome them. All the while he is texting Hannah and is visibly excited to volunteer, even though his motives are still quite selfish.
Lucas wisely does not take a leadership role here. The diligent figure follows the lead of his more experienced peers, and his endless, untiring contributions are enough to allow the group to be ready in an hour, completing work that normally takes them two or three thanks to the various perks Lucas grants them, as well as his actual, material contributions. When the group is ready, Lucas suggests they all swap stories about what led them to volunteer here.
The five volunteers and the pastor encourage the newcomer to go first, and he deftly weaves a tale that incorporates bits and pieces of the backstory he constructed for himself at his job. He explains that he grew up as the only child of a family in a small town and that he has been volunteering in minor capacities his whole life. He tells his new friends the same fanciful lies he told his coworkers and is a bit shocked when he gets the "Storytelling" skill. After that, his companions share their own stories with him. The pastor goes first, explaining that when he took over the church not one charitable act was occurring here and in only a few short years the pastor has massively changed that. The others all share various stories about how they've needed food before, or known people who needed a meal, and so they wanted to make sure that if someone needed a meal they could get it. The stories stir Lucas's heart, and he feels a pang of sincere admiration for his new friends. That said the pragmatic figure is not someone who is so kind-hearted that he'd lose sight of his larger objectives here.
While his companions share their stories he activates "Rogue", but focuses the skill on his hands. This decision almost completely cloaks his hands, rendering them invisible just long enough for Lucas to pour healing magic into the soup. He pours all of his magical energy into the stuff, exhausting himself but that is a minor inconvenience given one of his handy toys and especially when he receives a notification alerting him that he has gained an "Overcharge" skill; the ability to empower something by putting more into it.
As soon as everyone finishes their stories there is just enough time for the group of volunteers to go and get ready for the first of the arrivals at the kitchen. When Lucas is out of view of everyone he reaches into his inventory and pulls out his nifty arcane potion and downs it. The instant that the golden liquid touches his lips his power begins to flow back into him, suffusing his very soul. Minutes later the lad is welcoming guests and visitors to the church. People excitedly greet him, stunned in two different ways by his appearance.
Firstly there is the fact that Lucas is stunning, aesthetically. No matter one's preferences, no one can honestly deny his wholesome movie star looks, and no one tries to. But here, in the soup kitchen, that's the less important part of his appeal. The more important aspect of his appearance is his newness. Many of the people who appear early are people who come to the church regularly, and they recognize everyone there but him. This gives the young volunteer a chance to make several new admirers, and he navigates these social interactions with aplomb. The figure, at this point, doesn't even rely on his perks, having grown accustomed to his new life and reality.
As the figure encourages the visitors to come and grab food he is extremely pleased when he feels time freeze the first time someone tastes the food he made. This is due to the fact that he is making progress towards his quest to become a "White Mage" the formal name given to the "Healer" class he received a quest to become earlier this week, The quest asks him to heal 100 people, and this marks one of the first times he has made progress towards it. The figure smiles internally as he deactivates the notification that froze time and continues the important work he's been assigned; welcoming guests and working to log in the information they're willing to give about themselves. To achieve this task the eager go-getter has a clipboard and is stationed near the entrance to the part of the church that houses the kitchen where the chefs made the food. Every time someone new eats the food he spelled to be restorative the figure has to deal with paused time, but only the first time someone lifts some of the ensorcelled food to their lips, and each time his excitement at the prospect of obtaining a new class grows more intense.
For the first hour only long-term, regular members of the church's congregation, and their hungry friends, come to the kitchen. The pastor is one of the figures serving them food, while Lucas continues the important work he was asked to do. During this time 22 people make their way through the kitchen, greeting Lucas with excited smiles and happily volunteering the same information they've volunteered before to other individuals tasked with doing Lucas's current work. The young jumper listens to distant conversations even as he writes down the information of various individuals. He smiles internally whenever he overhears someone saying that the food tastes different somehow, better than it has before. Such individuals also sometimes notice how immediately the pain they're in lessens, their old aches and pains fading and in some cases disappearing altogether. They don't know about the magic that is repairing their bodies, the sacred energies that course into them with every faint bite or spoonful of food they eat. Also during this time the chef gains more experience
Lucas doesn't consciously know this but his decision to pour all of his magic into the food has supercharged it. If not for his decision to infuse the food with healing magic again time, coupled with the diffuse nature of the soup would have weakened the healing properties of the magic, but Lucas's choice to suffuse the food with as much magic as he could in short order before the hungry congregants and community members began to arrive has sanctified the food and empowered it's naturally restorative and fortifying properties almost making it something like a potion of sorts.
More people begin to arrive during the second hour of the meal serving period. Some of these people are brand new, and of them a handful gawk at Lucas. These individuals, include homeless youth. teen parents, and college students can't resist the urge to take in the cool glass of water on a hot day that is the charming volunteer. His ability to feign kindness and his almost but not quite eerie sense of their emotional states is enough to allow them to develop crushes, platonic or otherwise, on the figure. And in the space of the hour 40 such individuals come through and eat more of Lucas's cooking, enough to allow him to level up his chef class one more time. He eagerly takes a new class ability, one that allows him to grant food he cooks very minor buffs, though he finds that it's not retroactive.
During this time the pastor gives a very brief address to the crowd of gathered individuals, and introduces Lucas to everyone though Lucas has already been social enough and diligent enough to do that himself. Lucas eagerly thanks everyone for joining them today, and during this time he experiences a very subtle glitch where he says a word but no one notices it. The young adventurer simply ignores the glitch, but not before noting that it's the first one he's experienced in a public situation.
During the last forty five minutes of the meal more people come through, and this group is the oddest and the largest. These folks are the irregulars; people who occasionally need the meals the kitchen provides but who don't love prospect of coming to the kitchen. This group numbers a total 45 of individuals, and by the time they eat the effects of the food are less miraculous, but still solidly strong. At the same time when the next to last person to eat grabs a spoonful of soup and lifts it to her lips she is unknowingly responsible for time freezing and Lucas gaining a new class, The excited hero immediately changes classes and gains a boost to his intelligence and charisma as a result of it as well as just enough experience to boost the power of "Support", making this the first time that a perk of his has been directly strengthened to a quantifiable extent.
"Support" is the most subtle of Lucas's perks other than "The Devil's Own Luck". This perk makes him a more effective leader and teammate, and boosts the efforts of his c;lose-by allies by the equivalent of a "+2", until just now, modifier in TTRPG terms and weakens the efforts of his c;lose-by enemies by "-2", or now "-3". In layman's terms all of the efforts of his allies by a tiny but noticeable margin and weakens the efforts of his enemies by an equal amount. The perk also allows for buffs or debuffs to affect all allies or enemies in close proximity to each other, but Lucas has not had many chances to buff allies or fight enemies. One effect this perk has had is that it allows his friends to cook food that is more delicious, more filling, and healthier than their past efforts. Another effect of it is that it has helped those who eat said food to ingest it more easily and thus allows them to eat it without fears of stomach pains. New spells also appear in the hero's mental grimoire, ones that offer minor buffs or debuffs to friends and enemies, targeting their attributes, but none that consider Lucas a viable target.
The hero delights in his new class and is excited to have the chance to grow as a healer and support provider but the day isn't done. When the last of the crowd leaves Lucas and the rest of his friends stay behind to clean up. Lucas is eager to put his newly enhanced perk to the test, and during these efforts Lucas gains the "Cleaner" class, a class whose initial benefits to him include a boost to his senses and to his skill with anything intended to be used to clean something. During the cleaning, Lucas does not quite gain enough experience to level up, but he knows that he will in time.
Eventually Lucas bids his new friends farewell and makes his way to the gym. He works out somewhat intensely during this time, gaining a series of new skills in the form of swimming and boxing, thanks to his time engaging in a decently stimulating jaunt around the lap pool, followed by his participation in a class that revolves around self-defense. Thanks to "Master of All" and his decision to swap classes to "Fighter" he manages to level up both his "Mage" and his "Fighter" class, opting to give himself a boost to his endurance as a class skill for "Fighter", and a boost to the rate at which he regenerates arcane energy as his class skill for "Mage". It is during this time that Lucas figures out that for his classes to level up he needs to gain class-based experience, but this is the first time that he has seen that he can level a class up without having the class equipped, there just seems to be some relative debuff to the experience gained by the classes he doesn't have equipped. This insight boosts his intelligence, the realization itself serving as a sort of training of the attribute.
By the time Lucas returns to his apartment he is immensely satisfied with the day he has had. The moon is visible in the night's sky when he steps into his apartment he is ready to spend the rest of the day honing his skills and gaining valuable experience. He immediately starts this off by using some of his magic to mess with some of his possessions, positioning and repositioning them as he pleases with telekinesis. For the first time the figure shuts his eyes and practices his telekinesis by feeling alone, an exercise which results in the acquisition of a strange new skill: Extrasensory Perception, or ESP. The figure excitedly practices this skill, even as he levels up his "Spatial Magic" skill and gains an expensive new spell: "Minor Teleport". This particular spell lets him teleport objects he can see and hit with a small magical ray, causing light, small objects he hits to appear in his hand. The mage's skills with this are enough to allow him to hit a kitchen knife with it and teleport it to him without any issues. Lucas's mind fills with possibilities as he takes in the wicked potential of this spell. Still, the spell costs enough that he can only cast it once or twice without waiting for his pool of arcane energy to recover which limits it's usefulness somewhat but that's only a short term problem.
Monday rolls around and when it does Lucas is delighted to find that he is familiar enough with his surroundings that he settles into a routine. The jumper almost immediately throws himself into his work the minute he arrives at the office and he quickly grinds the day away. The only notable event is his realization that Amy is developing a crush on him, something he notices during lunch when he is eating with her and their small cadre of colleagues, when she eagerly asks him about volunteering. On Monday afternoon the lad goes to the gym and works out, taking another dancing class and leveling up the class partway through the workout. He gains a class skill which allows him to more easily persuade anyone who sees him perform a few dances, which he realizes probably won't be very useful in this jump but might mean something later on in his "Chain" as his employer called it several days ago.
The figure spends part of the night leveling his rogue class and gaining skills associated with it thanks in part to his "Rogue" perk and his new spells. He sticks to public places, and stays out just long enough for some shopping outlets and malls to close. He limits his targets to small objects like keys and wallets with his magic, and occasionally targets people with debuffs. He also levels "Observe" enough that he can learn the moods of living things just by using the skill, When his rogue class levels up he snags a new skill which boosts the effectiveness of his actions when he is unseen by the people he is targeting. He also snags a title: "Arcane Sneak", which boosts his magical regeneration when he is unnoticed by people or in the immediate aftermath of him using magic to take something that belongs to someone else.
The next month and a half passes in a blur, and Lucas develops a decently strict schedule he sticks to. On Mondays he trains a specific class, not necessarily rogue but definitely something. On Tuesdays he works out, including taking Zumba, a boxing class, and swimming. On Wednesdays he does meal prep and stays at home honing minor stuff. On Thursday he does some sort of volunteering, and on Fridays he actually relaxes and does something like writing or website design. The weekends are filled with volunteering and city exploration.
During this time his classes, other than chef, dancer, and mage, are slow to level up. He actively practices magic, he is a regular chef, and he turns a passive admiration he once had for dancers into something he is surprisingly passionate about. He also begins to volunteer at the hospital he visited, spending a few hours every Saturday in a small room in the back of the hospital looking through paperwork and doing stuff he didn't anticipate a hospital volunteer doing. Still, he quickly racks up trust and admiration from the few hospital staff members who know of him, thanks to his ability to just not complain, coupled with his stunning effectiveness at what he does.
As he begins to approach the two month mark he is a level 10 chef, level 12 dancer, and a level 6 mage, and a level 3 fighter, rogue, and white mage, as well as a level 4 cleaner. It turns out that each class levels a bit differently, which has inadvertently skewed his leveling but he's become an advanced enough chef that his food can be actively beneficial or detrimental and that there is now a 5% reduction in how long it takes him to cook something. He can also now gain modifiers to his interactions with people who've eaten several dishes he's made, provided they enjoyed them. His dancing is similarly useful, and he is a much better mage now than he once was. The figure can also cast spells and use an ability that prevents something from getting dirty, or magically cleanse objects. Despite all of this he remains a level 1 human, having not gained any experience that would level him as a member of his species; it seems that for him to gain such experience he needs to engage in combat and even when he's sparred with people he doesn't fight them to unconsciousness.
He leaves his apartment on the last Monday in October with a smile on his face, ready to begin a new work week.

IIDE (Indian Institute of Digital Education) is a prominent institute known for its comprehensive courses in digital marketing and related fields. They offer a variety of programs catering to different levels of expertise, from beginners to advanced practitioners. The institute is well-regarded for its industry-relevant curriculum, experienced faculty, and practical approach to learning.
IIDE offers a specialized Social Media Marketing Course that is available online, making it accessible to learners in Dubai and worldwide. This course is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in social media marketing. Here’s a detailed look at what the course typically includes:

Social Media Marketing Course Details

Duration:

• Typically, 1.5 to 2 months

Curriculum:

1. Introduction to Social Media Marketing:
   • Overview of social media marketing and its importance.
   • Understanding the social media landscape.
2. Content Creation and Strategy:
   • Developing effective social media content strategies.
   • Content planning, scheduling, and management.
   • Visual and written content creation best practices.
3. Platform-Specific Strategies:
   • Facebook: Organic and paid strategies, page management, and Facebook Ads.
   • Instagram: Content creation, growth strategies, Instagram Ads.
   • Twitter: Building a Twitter presence, tweet strategies, Twitter Ads.
   • LinkedIn: Professional networking, LinkedIn for business, LinkedIn Ads.
   • YouTube: Video marketing, channel optimization, YouTube Ads.
   • Other Platforms: Emerging social media platforms and their potential.
4. Community Management and Engagement:
   • Building and nurturing an online community.
   • Best practices for engagement and customer interaction.
5. Social Media Advertising:
   • Creating and managing social media ad campaigns.
   • Understanding ad targeting and budget allocation.
   • Measuring ad performance and ROI.
6. Analytics and Reporting:
   • Using social media analytics tools.
   • Interpreting data to make informed decisions.
   • Reporting on social media performance.
7. Advanced Strategies:
   • Influencer marketing.
   • Social media for e-commerce.
   • Crisis management on social media.

Features:

• Live Instructor-Led Sessions: Real-time learning with industry experts.
• Practical Assignments: Hands-on projects to apply theoretical knowledge.
• Case Studies: Learning from real-world examples and success stories.
• Industry Insights: Guest lectures and insights from social media professionals.
• Certification: Upon completion, students receive a certification recognized by the industry.

How to Enroll:

• Visit the IIDE website to find the specific course page.
• Check the course schedule and enrollment deadlines.
• Complete the online application form.
• Pay the course fee through the provided payment methods.

Additional Support:

• Mentorship: Access to mentors for guidance and support.
• Community: Join a community of like-minded learners for networking and collaboration.
• Career Support: Assistance with job placements and internships in the field of social media marketing.

This course is ideal for marketers, business owners, and anyone looking to enhance their social media marketing skills. The flexibility of online learning makes it accessible to individuals in Dubai, allowing them to learn from top industry professionals without geographical constraints.

Starting a social media marketing (SMM) business in 2024 is an exciting venture. With the growing demand for effective social media strategies, there are plenty of opportunities for new businesses to thrive. Here are the key steps to help you launch your own SMM business, along with an introduction to Flashy Panels, a powerful platform that can enhance your operations from the start.

1. Build Your Skills and Knowledge

Before launching your business, ensure you have a strong understanding of social media marketing. Familiarize yourself with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

• Online Courses: Websites like Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning offer in-depth courses on social media marketing.
• Stay Informed: Follow industry blogs, attend webinars, and join relevant forums to stay updated on the latest trends and algorithm changes.
• Practice: Manage social media accounts for friends, family, or local businesses to gain practical experience.

2. Choose Your Niche

Specializing in a specific niche can help you stand out. This could be industry-specific (e.g., healthcare, fashion, tech) or platform-specific (e.g., Instagram marketing, LinkedIn marketing).

3. Create a Business Plan

A detailed business plan is essential. Your plan should include:

• Market Research: Identify your target market and analyze competitors.
• Services Offered: Define the services you’ll provide, such as content creation, social media management, and paid advertising.
• Pricing Strategy: Set competitive prices based on market rates and your level of expertise.
• Marketing Strategy: Outline how you’ll attract clients, including your brand positioning and marketing tactics.

4. Register Your Business

Choose a business name that reflects your brand and register it with the appropriate government authorities. Obtain any necessary licenses or permits.

5. Establish Your Online Presence

Your online presence serves as your portfolio. Create a professional website and active social media profiles to showcase your skills and attract potential clients.

• Website: Include information about your services, case studies, testimonials, and a blog to demonstrate your expertise.
• Social Media Profiles: Create and maintain profiles on the platforms you specialize in. Share valuable content, engage with followers, and showcase your social media skills.

6. Invest in the Right Tools

Effective social media management requires the right tools. This is where Flashy Panels comes in.

Introducing Flashy Panels

At Flashy Panels, we offer comprehensive SMM panels to streamline your business operations and maximize efficiency. Here’s how Flashy Panels can support your new business:

• User-Friendly Customer Panel: Enhance customer satisfaction and manage high volumes of orders with our easy-to-use platform.
• Comprehensive Admin Dashboard: Gain complete control with our powerful admin dashboard, featuring a range of advanced tools to improve your workflow.
• Automated Order Processing System: Simplify your operations with our efficient order processing system, integrating multiple APIs from Limitless v2 SMM providers.
• Subscriptions and Dripfeeds: Increase sales and expand customer profiles with personalized subscription services and dripfeed orders.
• Powerful Importing System: Quickly import services from providers supporting the API system, with high-speed fetching and full control over modifications.
• Robust Security: Our platform includes strong DDoS protection, ensuring 24/7 security for your admin and user panels.

Contact Us:

• Email: [support@flashypanels.com]()
• WhatsApp Support: +919407085519
• Website: Flashy Panels

7. Build a Portfolio

Your portfolio is crucial for demonstrating your capabilities to potential clients. Include:

• Case Studies: Detailed accounts of previous work, including objectives, strategies, and results.
• Sample Work: Create mock campaigns if you don’t have real client work to show.
• Testimonials: Collect reviews from past clients or collaborators.

8. Network and Market Your Services

Networking is vital for growing your client base. Attend industry events, join online forums, and use LinkedIn to connect with potential clients. Additionally:

• Offer Free Workshops/Webinars: Showcase your expertise and attract clients.
• Guest Blogging: Write for industry blogs to increase your visibility.
• Referrals: Encourage satisfied clients to refer others.

9. Use Freelance Platforms

Freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer can help you land your first clients and build your portfolio.

10. Deliver Exceptional Results

Your success depends on the results you deliver. Focus on creating value for your clients by staying updated on best practices, continually refining your strategies, and maintaining open communication with your clients.

Conclusion

Starting a social media marketing business in 2024 requires a combination of current knowledge, strategic planning, and dedicated execution. By following these steps and leveraging the powerful features of Flashy Panels, you can build a successful business that helps brands navigate the dynamic world of social media. Consistency, creativity, and client satisfaction are key to your success. Happy marketing!

Oh, hello! I didn’t see you there! Well, to be fair, you're behind a screen reading this right now, possibly thousands of miles (or kilometers) away from me. How would I have seen you? Okay, now that I got that stupid and cringy introduction out of the way, I can get to the heart of things.
I’m a 27-year-old medical student from the USA with aspirations of becoming a psychiatrist one day—though neurology is pretty cool too. Since I know people care about looks (myself included), here’s a picture of me: https://imgur.com/a/mLdYWke Yes, that’s a picture of me kissing a container of milk in the street. Why am I kissing a container of milk in the street? I guess you'll have to message me to find out ;)
I’ll try my best to give a brief synopsis about myself. I’m 6’2” (188 cm). Actually, I’m technically 6’1-⅞”. If you’re going to bust my chops over ⅛” (0.32 cm), be my guest. Personality-wise, I’m definitely more on the introverted side. I’d describe myself as a fairly typical dorky White guy. Like most guys my age, I like to play video games—I’ve been playing a fair amount of Helldivers II. If you have Helldivers II, we could play together sometime! I love silly things; if you think this video is funny, I think we’d get along. I also have a deep fascination with psychology, especially abnormal psychology and evolutionary psychology. I actually majored in psychology back in college (university), and my interest in psychology is what propelled me into pursuing psychiatry as a career. I’m not interested in casual flings and want something serious. I’m totally open to a LDR if we can eventually work to close the gap. I've only ever had one (now ex-) girlfriend in my entire life, so I'm really not super experienced in the realm of dating.
Here are a few fun facts about me:

• I love spicy foods — I’ve had people from Sichuan (province in China known for its ridiculously spicy cuisine) tell me I have a high spice tolerance
• I can speak German decently well — Zugegeben, mein Deutsch ist ziemlich eingerostet :P
• I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue — This was a big deal l back when I was like 7 years old, okay?
• Even though I have green eyes, I’m slightly red-green colorblind — Histology is the bane of my existence!
• I’m actually pretty good at cooking — I made some ayam masak merah (Malaysian/Singaporean spicy tomato chicken dish) yesterday. Not to toot my own horn, but it was pretty tasty.
• I don’t like coffee — I seriously don’t get all the hype surrounding coffee. People lose their minds over a drink that tastes like fancy, artisanal dirt. There’s also a plethora of other (oftentimes cheaper) ways to get caffeine, just sayin’ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• The smallest country I’ve visited is Liechtenstein — It’s ˢᵒ ˢᵐᵃˡˡ

This is what I’m looking for:

• Someone who speaks English fluently or near-fluently — It doesn’t bother me at all if English isn’t your native language, as long as you speak it well. I actually think most non-native accents are cute.
• Someone who doesn’t have kids — I’m childfree and want someone who’s also childfree, though I'm open to having kids in the future.
• Someone who’s younger than or the same age as me — I’m open to 18-27, but I’d prefer someone who’s 20-25.
• Someone who doesn’t drink alcohol or do drugs — I don’t drink alcohol nor do drugs (including marijuana) and want somebody who doesn’t either. I suppose I’d be fine with someone who drinks occasionally/socially, but drugs are a dealbreaker for me.
• Someone who has a similar sense of humor — I’m pretty sarcastic and the kind of person who likes to tease people I’m close with. I also like it when people bust my chops (I can take it just as well as I dish it out). I just love good banter! All in good fun, of course.

Congratulations! You’ve officially slogged through this super long post. If I seem like a decent guy, please feel free to drop me a message and tell me your favorite dessert (mine is a cannoli)—this way I know you've read through my post. I’d also highly appreciate if you’d send a picture of yourself so that I can match a face to the chat. I am much more likely to respond if you include a picture of yourself and respond with more than one sentence. Hope to hear from you!

I reach into my inventory and pull out the tablet I received from the gacha mechanism I am the "Owner" of. I watch as the thing turns on and I begin to fiddle with it, going through a brief registration as I walk over to the part of my apartment that serves as a kitchen and I open my refrigerator door. I take a step back and decide to get creative and practice using my powers.
I close my eyes and use magic, casting spells to telekinetically reach into the fridge and pull out ingredients. This is messy and difficult but it results in me gaining experience and a new skill "Spatial Magic". I feel the keen impact of "Experience Booster" as even simple motions, and failures, grant me valuable experience. I keep my eyes on the tablet and I deftly manipulate it while I maneuver the food I plan to cook over to the appropriate parts of the kitchen. I deal with bouts of "Buggy" all the while but nothing actually disruptive. The drawback is annoying but so far it's been a nuisance more than anything else.
The tablet is easy to use and I feel my appreciation for the technology growing as I sync it up to the local wifi and I notice that the thing has an unlimited battery. The device promises to be useful with its unlimited battery...
I switch my class over to chef as I begin to cook. At the same time I skillfully use the tablet to listen to the news and I finally begin to have a reliable mechanism through which I can learn about the world I'm in. My cooking grants me experience, which "Master of All" makes universal, while I actively advance my "Passive Listening" skill and I grow in my overall awareness of the world around me. I fastidiously store every morsel of knowledge I acquire as I cook, and in minutes I have more food than I made yesterday. I again taste some of it and smile, satisfied by the skill I'm showing. The food tastes noticeably better today than it did last night. This is a trend that will absolutely continue in the days to come thanks to MoA and my dedication to honing my skills.
I take a beat to photograph the food, carefully and diligently using the multitude of experience I've earned since I gained that skill last night to snap some good pictures before posting them on social media and quickly writing a caption about "Meal-Prepping" which this kind of is. I'm better at it than any normal person could ever hope to be, since my food is fresh and will stay fresh in my inventory. After I do that I store the food, placing it safely in containers I own and then storing said containers in my inventory.
For the rest of the night I use my tablet to learn about the world while carefully practicing the magic I can use on myself and other objects. I gain a skill named "Enhancement Magic" which is certainly handy, and I also gain a "Meditation" skill after looking online for what "Real Gamers" would do and finding that this concept seems to exist in this world as well. While I am meditating I do indeed recover my arcane energy faster, and I even improve my intelligence attribute! As of this point in time I have not improved charisma, but this is the only attribute of mine that hasn't risen by at least one point thanks to the incredible synergy between "Master of All" and "Experience Booster".
Before I know it it's Thursday and I am on my way to work. I have another uneventful day of simply working to fix the backlog my company is in and thus grinding experience for skills. At lunch I again surprise my friends, but I share more of my food with them and get more experience with my chef class, It is enough to level up, and I select a skill that allows me to prepare a touch more food with my ingredients than is physically possible, which I know will come in handy down the line.
At the end of the day I go to the gym again and this time I explore the place fully. I find that it has several amenities, such as a decently large pool, numerous studios and even a few rings for sparring and martial arts-based physical conditioning. I keep my workout today simpler than it was two days ago, and as a result of this I only gain two skills: jogging and sprinting. I test my endurance and jog for close to an hour as a sort of light workout. For the last five minutes of the hour I go as "Full tilt" as I can on a mundane treadmill and effortlessly endure the experience, thanks to the tenacious "Tough As Nails" perk. While I'm working out I activate my gacha machine and get a ring that I cannot use as it boosts my charisma and I am prohibited from using stat enhancers like this by one of my drawbacks. I tuck it away in my inventory and mentally sigh. I'll undoubtedly need to get used to this kind of thing, since my "Starting Equipment" drawback is actually pretty significant even if it's only a temporary inconvenience.
I work out for a decent bit before heading home. At home I initiate work on longer-term projects. I don't bother making food today, though I continue to hone magic while utilizing my "Mage" class, and I also use my tablet to begin to do creative things like create graphics, write, and even try my hand at making websites from scratch. One minor seed I plant while attempting to get new skills is that I email a few charitable groups, particularly soup kitchens, hoping to get the chance to more easily grind "Chef" since it seems I get the biggest amounts of experience whenever food I cook gets eaten by others. I do this all for the sake of gaining new skills, ones which I prove able to gain very easily and I will be able to grind even more easily. My ability to just... not sleep proves it's worth its weight in gold, or choice points, as I use another night to grind valuable experience.
Throughout the night I keep hoping to get assigned a quest for a class like "Psionic" or "Psychic" and so far I've had no luck. A part of me wonders if I should be tricky and try to use my pseudo-psychic powers in front of someone but I quickly realize that such an action would be just as likely to get me a deception-based class as it would be to get me what I seek...
Friday rolls around and I complete my work week with ease. Work really is just a chance for me to grind my skills, and each day my speed, accuracy, and overall badassery in the context of my boring job increase. In days I've managed to sort through a healthy portion of the backlog we've been stuck in thanks to the fact that my speed and accuracy with stuff like typing. "Buggy" becomes less and less meaningful, thanks my slowly improving luck, as well as my ever increasing speed.
I don't level up as a chef today, but it doesn't matter since towards the end of my shift I get an email from a coordinator of a soup kitchen that is based out of a church near my apartment that asks me to stop by tomorrow for a chance to discuss what volunteering would look like and potentially help out for part of a shift. This news delights me and for my first non-picture post on social media I share how excited I am to have the chance to learn about volunteering. This post immediately begins to get likes on websites like the local equivalent of Twitter, a website and app named Chitchat. Some of the likes come from my coworkers, a handful of whom have found me and followed me.
At home I finally take the time to thoroughly and properly clean spaces such as my bathroom and to effectively organize the tiny living space I have. The activities are enough for me to earn new skills, with one particularly handy new skill being the "Cleaning" skill. I don't gain a new class, but for the most part this is to be expected. I suspect if I level up a class enough I'll automatically get access to new, "Prestige" classes seeing as that's one of the features I paid for with regards to my skills, but aside from that it seems that to gain new classes I need to effect others with my skills. Gaining some type of cleaner class will probably take me cleaning a public space, which is a fascinating thought to entertain as I can do such a thing under the cover of acting "Charitably".
As I sit in the cramped space I'm currently calling a home I wonder how altruistic I would be in a fully mundane, completely organic situation...
Right now I am achieving selfless ends but for entirely self-serving reasons. I want to work at a soup kitchen, to volunteer my time and energy not to help someone but to empower myself as this provides me with the easiest means to cook food for other people in ways that will award me a significant amount of experience. It's true that I am achieving positive, beneficial ends, not only for myself but for others as well, but given the simple reality that my motives are so impure it's a bit difficult to sit here and pretend that I'm a righteous sort. Though I doubt the people I'm helping will actually mind that my motives don't stem from a heart of gold...
I am steadily continuing my journey towards getting stronger as I swiftly type away using my tablet's digital keypad. A video is playing via picture-in-picture and I'm listening to a chef talk about making delicious soup on a budget, mostly to get myself in the right state of mind. Eventually that video ends and I quickly listen to I'm writing out a short fantasy story, as an exercise in creative writing. The words are flowing and I'm easily getting into the grove.
The secondary train of thought I possess is keeping track of the bars associated with my attributes and is noticing that this odd exercise is directly increasing my intelligence and charisma attributes, as it seems that some activities are nice tests of more than one attribute.
I devote myself to this particular sort of training all while I use simple casts of my telekinetic magic to hone my growing familiarity with an incredibly vital field of magic. By the time Saturday morning rolls around I've gained a point in charisma and increased my writing level several times, which has the effect of granting me levels in other skills such as singing and speed typing. At this point I can write nearly 300 words a minute, a hilarious number for me to be able to type and by the time I'm done with this jump that number will surely be much, much higher thanks to the nature of my job as well as my favorite perk Master of All.
When it's late enough on Saturday that the sun is out I find myself on the sidewalk, slowly walking towards a cafe. I have a short bit of time before I need to go to the soup kitchen so I decide to grab some breakfast someone else cooked, as a bit of a treat. The cafe is a quaint little thing located not terribly far from my apartment and pretty close to the church the soup kitchen is operating out of.
Soup kitchens operating out of churches was something I heard of back on the "Earth" I hail from, but it's not something I ever actually saw... This version of Earth really seems to have taken after various stereotypes and assumptions about Earth that didn't always reflect reality.
I enter the cafe and walk towards the back of the line of people waiting for a chance to order their food. The line ahead of me isn't huge, but it's bigger than I would have thought if someone asked me to picture a line at a cafe. The cashiers diligently do their jobs and in a matter of minutes I'm walking towards a cashier. I feel the subtle effects of TDOL as I approach a strikingly pretty cashier.
The woman is a surprisingly tan, probably Hispanic, redhead whose hair smells of somewhat newly applied hair dye. She smiles brightly at me as I approach her. She is... quite pretty, and as I approach her I dare to wonder if there's a sort of persuasive route I can take to getting her number. Internally I smile as I sense the back of my mind, the unconscious part of my mind, sort through potential conversational strategies that might allow me to successfully flirt in the short time frame I have to interact with her. I pause time with one of my perks, and allow my rapid mind the time it needs.
I feel various perks working together as I use "Observe" on the cashier. A small load of information appears in my head allowing me to learn her name, as the cafe doesn't require nametags, and various minor facts about her. This is due to the fact that "Observe" has slowly and steadily increased in level over the last few days, and each time it increases in level it's cooldown decreases and how much I learn when I use it increases as well.
What I have just learned is factoring into the strategies and instincts I feel considering my desire. My perks powerfully hone my charisma, turning it into a valuable weapon and tool in my toolkit when it comes to interpersonal stuff. I allow my mind a second, as I decide on my strategy and then with a thought I unpause reality itself. I walk over to the redheaded Hispanic woman with a smile.
"Hey there, how's it going?" I ask with a happy grin and she smiles back at me. She asks what I'd like and I reply with whatever she thinks tastes the best. This surprises her, and my smile relaxes a touch.
"I'm about to go into an interview for a volunteering opportunity and I wanted to grab something light for breakfast. I'll be honest I'm not normally one for breakfast foods but I'm trying to broaden my horizons." I reply, relaxedly. She sizes me up and then taps some of the keys on her cash register. A number appears on the thing and she asks me for my name. I give it to her and she types it into the machine as well, before holding her hand out for my payment.
"You're not gonna tell me what it is?" I ask and she smiles in a curiously catlike fashion before replying.
"Only if you ask." She says, and for a moment I look at her and decide, instinctually, not to do so. She nods when I hand her my card, and she quietly calls me funny. She hands me my card and a receipt, and I fill out the paperwork with a confident grin on my face. I walk over to where other customers are waiting for their food, and I wonder if I made the right moves. I don't have to wait long, as when I get my order I am pleasantly surprised that the top napkin of the handful placed on the tray my food was given to me on has a number scrawled onto it, and the girl's name written in what I assume must be her handwriting.
The order I receive, Hannah's suggestion, is a light turkey croissant, and a delicious, fruity drink. I enter the number into my phone and text the cashier immediately, though I don't anticipate getting a response until a bit later. My message is simple, it's a short introduction and a thank you for the dish.
I do the stereotypically millennial act of photographing the food, posting it online, and then actually eating it, taking only a short few minutes to do so, and when I'm done I clean up after myself before I quietly leave the cafe. I smile as I feel the early morning sunshine beam down on me. This is the first chance I've really had to appreciate the sunlight during the day, as it's decently in the middle of Autumn and so most of my day is spent at work.
The church I'm heading to is visible from where I'm standing, so I appreciate its beautiful architecture, which reminds me of a Protestant church back in my version of the United States, for a second before making my way there. Reaching it only takes me the duration of a short walk and I arrive there early enough that I am about ten minutes early. This is within the window of polite earliness that I am used to back in my homeworld. I switch my class over to chef again as I wait to be seen. In minutes I am speaking to a kind-eyed older Black man who is the church's pastor.
Thanks to perks and my very specifically busted, for this kind of thing, build, I am able to make a hilariously good first impression on the kind pastor who runs the soup kitchen. I spend much of the rest of the day here, doing m. In minutes I'm assisting several more experienced cooks with doing minor preparatory work for tomorrow's meal hour. The soup kitchen is open every weekend, and I make a very good impression on my fellow chefs thanks to my class, skills, and knowledge I gained when it comes to soup making last night, though the food we make is varied.
I diligently follow instructions, having wisely told my fellow chefs that I'm new to cooking, and as I cook with the chefs, I level up my cooking class again. This time the upgrade I select is a boost to the speed at which I can produce food, cutting down how long it takes me to cook something by 2%, a rate which will increase as I level up more. This is not a big improvement, but in time... In time this'll become something astounding.
During this time I've also been getting occasional text messages from Hannah. We've been chatting and I've taken pictures with some of my new friends during brief lulls between intensive moments of culinary action. This habit of mine has gotten weird looks from my new friends, all of whom are older than me, but given my enthusiasm and "natural" skill, no one has actually tried to criticize me or get me to stop. It seems that everyone considers me a bit of a lucky charm, and to be fair... I am.
I cook with the chefs for well over five hours, and they are surprised to feel the effects of perks in my possession. This is a rare opportunity for me to be a leader and team player so I happily contribute my perks to the success of the kitchen. I am a dynamic, impossibly fast learner, and so by the time two hours have passed I'm cooking and engaging with my new friends with a stunningly natural rapport and flow, but beyond that I'm able to use "Teamworker" and "Motivator" two of my "Generic Cubicle" perks for the first time. This gets coupled with the power of "Support", which makes my allies far more effective at everything. By the tme the first hour passes and I get into my grove we're cooking faster, and we're making fewer mistakes, as well as finding it easier to manage the necessary chaos that comes with working in a decently large kitchen. Even my luck is contagious!
By the time the pastor, who has been cooking alongside us, says that we've done enough for today and can do the rest tomorrow it's partway through the afternoon. In a moment of inspiration, after a long day working in the kitchen, I ask the pastor to pray over the food and for us, which he smiles at me for and motions for everyone to bow their head in prayer. I do as everyone else does, and am thankfully when people do not grab hands around me. I have an idea I want to test out and to do it I need everyone to either leave or have their eyes shut for a moment.
I use my enhanced senses to easily track when everyone's eyes are shut and when they are I open mine and quickly cast a spell aimed at the food. The spell I cast is a simple healing spell and I am doing this to see if I can enchant and enhance food with magic. The big pot, filled with a healthy soup meant to supplement a smaller dish like some bread, begins to glow and I smile as I shut my eyes. The glow is subtle and only lasts a brief second so when it ends no one seems to notice it. This brings a smile to my face, as does the acquisition of a pair of new skills I get which freezes time for a split second but is worth it: one is named "Stealth-Casting" and even before I read the description I know what it does: it makes it harder to detect my magic, especially when I don't use it on living creatures. This skill is worth its weight in gold and when everyone looks at me I am cheesing pretty hard. The other skill is named "Enhancement" and it allows me to funnel supernatural energy into objects to subtly enhance them. This skill... this is one of the foundational attributes of some versions of alchemy, and the knowledge that I have acquired such a beauty of a skill is incredibly exciting. I tell everyone I'm excited for tomorrow, and no one has any difficulty believing me, definitely only thanks to my perks bolstering my charisma.
We all quickly get ready to go home, and I am sad to say farewell to my new friends but I am quick to assure everyone I'll be here bright and early on Sunday. On Sundays, the team, whoever can make it at leasr, is here from 9:30 until 2:30, primarily serving food and doing kitchen maintenance. I plan to join them. As I walk home I use my gacha mechanic and I get a water bottle that serves as an arcane energy potion I can use once a day to completely refill my arcane energy pool!
I arrive home uneventfully, and I make use of my new toy immediately, the instant that my arcane pool runs out of energy after I run out of energy the first time, as I train my magic and my other skills for the rest of the day. At the same time I text Hannah and a handful of my coworkers who message me on Flickpic, this world's version of Instagram, while I grind through the night. Sunday rolls around, and not super long after the sun peeks out over the horizon I make my way to the church, ready to serve the community and potentially level up some more. One minor thing I get, after using my gacha mechanic today, that I don't think I'll, personally, ever need is a pillow which protects against bad dreams. It's a neat curiosity, and I plan to keep it, but seeing as I don't sleep I think it'll be more for my friends, romantic interests, and anyone else who I might give it to for a short while.

The results are in for Match 21. The winner is…
Mahimit was dragged across the battlefield by ｢Young Lives｣, the Stand filling him with a vigor to fight, to please his father who was watching from above—and that vigor filled him with each slash of its claws, keeping the son awake as he was marched down towards the trailer.
The two Stand Users had made their way down there last—secluded within a small container, cornered. The Stand’s puppet had been worn down for certain, but this was the time to finally finish things. As they approached, they saw through the window the older woman pull out her phone, and immediately Mahimit’s arm was raised to aim his gun right for it. As they made him pull the trigger, he couldn’t fire before she had spoken to her allies on the other end:
“Yeah, we figured out who the perp is, it’s Thomas Kent. Singh didn’t even show up, sent a lackey instead. He should be…”
The rest of her sentence faded out as Mahimit stalled…stopped.
The Stand roared in panicked fury as its user lowered his gun, unable to control them with the ease it once had. Mahi barely noticed—neither did they react to Windy’s warm, draining embrace of as ｢Young Lives｣ attempted to claw her off of him. As his eyes began to close, the longcoat of his Stand’s prior form disappeared and revealed the real one beneath, he managed one thought before falling into a deep sleep.
Of course he didn’t. Why did I think otherwise…

Sonika Singha and Windy, with a score of 72 to Mahimit “Hira” Rākin’s 56!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	Sonika Singha and Windy	27 (14+2) - 3 (0+2)	A shutout victory for the players!
Quality	Mahimit “Hira” Rākin	17 (6 5 6) - 20 (7 7 6)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Mahimit “Hira” Rākin	18 (6 6 6) - 23 (8 7 8)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	Nothing to report!

The results are in for Match 22. The winner is…
Club Naraka, the site of a hellish pile of bodies and accidents, was practically on fire that night. Thankfully, Sulka, along with a group of armed guards, had brought a fire extinguisher with them. They stormed the ground floor, taking a moment to spread themselves out. “Alright, we’ve-” A hail of gunfire cut the man off. “—THEY’RE HERE!”
A few of the nameless guards rushed in towards Sulka, to catch any strays that might come his way. Sulka himself pulled the nozzle end up, and heard another single shot fire from another nearby pillar. “There’s an accomplice, circle—” Something crawled up his thumb, and bit into the extinguisher, just as a stray bullet drove a dent into the metal casing. “—AUGH!”
The fire extinguisher burst in his hands, filling the room with a heavy white smog. The hip-firing moved, and it came long, low, and in mobile spurts. “Fire back—” As if on cue, fire jettisoned into the cloud of smoke, “—SPREAD OUT, QUICK!” Through blurred vision, Sulka watched one of their own leave through the front door. “Not that far, damnit!”
With the guards spread out along the floor around him, some wearing gouts of fire, some drenched in the liquid refuse of their extinguisher, and others still riddled with bullets, Sulka turned to one of their dead men, and ripped a pistol from their side. They watched the last moving object head for the door, and pulled the trigger, twice. An employee badge caught the edge of his blurred vision.
The cool night air filled the ground floor, and fed the flames atop the burning men. Sulka’s arm fell to his side, letting the gun clatter against the floor.
A spiral of thoughts took him. First, he’d need to make a casualty report, followed by a loss statement. The sheer number of clients who may not come back after an incident like this would likely drive the place out of business. Between that, the viscera, the dead workers, the dead clients, and all the ammunition costs—let alone the licenses he’d have to put in for—his head shrieked at him. For once, he shrieked back.
It was a low, horrid thing, much like a growl or snarl, but loud enough to make itself known against the billowing call of night. A cool hand slicked his hair back, and the night air stopped pouring in through the shutting door. He turned to one of the guards, who’d taken to putting out another with a blanket. “Take everyone alive and go look for everyone else alive.” Sulka sauntered away. “I’ll be in my office.”

Reese McGuffin, with a score of 72 to Markov's 69!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	Reese McGuffin	13 (3+2+2) - 17 (5+2+2)	An even voting period right up until the very end!
Quality	Markov	23 (7 8 8) - 22 (7 8 7)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Tie	23 (8 8 7) - 23 (7 8 8)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	Nothing to report!

Somewhere in the night, a Club Naraka coat and hat, usually only worn by guards, lay in a trash can. A woman, caked in blood and all manner of horrors, pressed herself against the wall beside it, and fished through her pocket for a coin. She’d found it there, in the elevator, on her way to her shift. Moonlight danced across its surface, letting the coin shimmer madly in the low light. ”Hah… you… y-you saved me…” Emile was shuddering, clutching the golden coin tight, for fear of dropping it. “I-I don’t know why, but… w-whatever you want of me, I’ll gladly give it in return… p-please, tell me…who…who are you?”
“…aha!” the voice chuckled. “How…terrible of me! In all the commotion, our…introductions com-pletely slipped my…mind.”
The air in front of Emile began to shift and shimmer. As she pulled her gaze away from the coin, she saw something phase into existence—a feminine form, long purple wires for hair, and a peering red eye gazing back at her beneath them.
It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
“My name is Markov. And your ad-mir-a-tion is payment…enough.”
Emile stared, gazing in wonderment at the hovering figure. Whether from exhaustion or reverence, she dropped to her knees, tears beginning to streak down her face. She thought of the ordeals she’d just faced. The people she’d passed. The people she’d fled. The people she’d killed. There was something else, though—the figure’s eyes seemed to- “That…hole in your shoulder.” Emile’s own head turned to match the figure’s gaze. “Do not fret. I can…teach you how to…take care of that.”
From the roof above the pair’s heads, one couldn’t hear the quiet murmurs and shivers of a woman ripping apart her own viscera-caked clothes to seal her wounds. Other things were certainly on the mind of its occupant, one Reese McGuffin.
Before him were two rats. Before them was a whole litany of ghostly creatures. His hand pointed towards the rat to his right, “Alright everyone, this is Splinter—” before it moved to point at the rat on his left, “—and this is Remy!”
Remy waddled up to a Utahraptor first, and started sniffing at it. “Oh, lemme introduce you to pieces, Remy!” Reese put a hand between the ghost animals, and casually shuffled it back and forth as he spoke. “Remy, Pieces! Pieces, Remy!” He turned on his heel to see Splinter eyeing up Finn, the shark. “Hey! He’s a friend, not food!”
A comforting quiet filled the night air as the ghostly animals circled one another, introducing themselves in their own little ways. The only thing left on Reese’s mind was a single odd question, one that had been eating at him since he left. “Where did I put that coral?”
Slowly, Mahimit awoke to the morning sun’s light. They could have sworn that they had a nightmare that night, but they felt refreshed as if waking from a peaceful slumber…
That wasn’t a nightmare, was it? He thought he could manage it all but in the end he just…broke as soon as he saw Ajay lying there with a bullet through his shoulder—wait, is he okay? Was he brought to safety? Did the Suite now think he was involved?
“Hey, don’t worry—you're safe here.”
Mahimit blinked, finally taking note of their surroundings. They were lying in a plain white bed, first aid boxes and equipment scattered about—the architect remembered the claws raking at their back throughout the night. Their torso had been bandaged up thoroughly: their long coat was laid out across a table, while their shirt was currently in Windy’s hands, who must have paused in stitching back up one of the tears when she noticed them awake.
“W-where am I?” Mahi asked. “Is Ajay safe? Where is he?”
“Jon got him to a hospital as soon as he could,” a voice called out from the door. Mahi looked over to see who looked like a detective walking in, followed by the two he recognised having gone after Zafar back then—no, not Zafar. “Had to be more careful with you given how well known you are, Mahimit—or do you prefer Hira?”
The architect sighed with some relief at that, not finding any deceit in the answer. “Either’s fine…not sure which one’s more ‘me’ anyways.” He looked around at the group settling into the room. “…Where’s the other person who was with you? Is she okay?”
A silence filled the room as the four recalled what Windy recounted once they regrouped—Sonika had lost hope, and ended up attempting to kill an unconscious Mahimit before she was stopped by Windy which caused the PI to run off.
Steric didn’t look it, but he was probably one of the most affected within PINDROP. While diving into his work wasn’t the healthiest coping mechanism, he had been increasingly concerned for Sonika’s health and disposition—so to hear that she not only ran off, but wanted to dispand PINDROP was crushing. “She…she ended up leaving.” He refocused onto Mahimit. “You said you’re unsure about yourself—would you be willing to answer why?”
Hira chuckled. “I guess I do owe you some answers. Well, I first went out as ‘Hira’ right around when I manifested my Stand—but then I ended up going out as them more often. Started to look into stuff about myself without the pressure of being the perfect son on my back…haven’t felt I’ve had the chance to really do so since I came back to Rakin.”
“Because of Zafar?” Inago asked, taking a nearby seat. “You don’t have to answer more than you’re comfortable with, but…you only went berserk after you thought he had just shot your friend.”
“Yup,” Windy nodded, setting aside the shirt and needle. “And I couldn’t help but notice ya stopped letting that Stand control ya once Sonika said out loud that it wasn’t your pa.”
Mahi winced. “…Yeah, I thought it was Zafar. He was a great parent and I never wanted to let him down, but things got so out of hand that when that last piece dropped I just…shattered, I guess. Though even if he was told it probably wouldn’t matter…”
“And why’s that?” Steric asked, jotting down some notes.
“He’s stubborn, sticks to how he thinks things are. If anything challenges his view on a friend or ally of his, he’ll just ignore it and carry on. He’s going to learn that I was Tamas and he’ll shrug it off and forget about it, as usual. Probably the sole reason he’s still in the Metro is because he truly believes that they’re doing what’s best for the city—something I found quickly wasn’t the case.”
Drippy stepped forward. “About that: why were you in there in the first place, and for how long? And what do you know about the Middleman?”
“…I can’t tell you anything about them.” Hira spoke, eyes glancing away from her.
“W-why!?” Drippy almost yelled out. “What reason do you all possibly have to not want them stopped?!”
“Well, you plan on killing them once you know, aren’t you?”
“Yes! Perhaps if you actually told us then maybe we could see why we shouldn’t put down this person taking utmost glee in murder. I don’t get why you and Rasna are willing to protect this guy.”
“…Trust me, if I could have stopped them I would have years ago. But if Rasna’s refused to tell you, you should be able to figure out why, right?”
“…they’ve suffered a lot, haven’t they?” Inago asked somberly. “That must be why they’re how they are today.”
“Oh, so they can get off free after everything they did?” Drippy retorted.
Steric put his hands between the two lest things escalated. “We can discuss this later—at the very least that is a lead.” He turned to the guest. “As for the other questions?”
Mahi nodded. “It was a month or two after I began working towards getting into the City Planning Board. Things weren’t looking as good as I hoped, when my father decided to bring me down to see these friends of his. I was offered a deal: they would pull some strings to help get me onto the board as long as I was willing to put forward some things they wanted…even then I figured something was off, but if it meant I could help this city I thought it was worth it. Oh how wrong I was…”
Steric sighed, finishing up with his notepad before putting away his pen. “I think that will be all then…thank you for your time. We’ll leave you to rest now.”
Inago followed the PINDROP members out, looking over his shoulder one last time: “Before I forget, anything you want for breakfast?”
Mahi thought for a moment. “Pancakes?”
Windy hopped off her chair and walked closer to Hira. “You’re a kind soul deep down, aren’t ya? Even as violent as you were, ya never tried to kill anyone…”
“But I just tried to kill you! It wasn’t me but it was born from me…messed with my thoughts as well as my body. So glad my therapist is a Stand user, thank fu—dge.”
She chuckled at the self-censorship. “But you fought back in the end, didn’t ya? I think I understand the feeling of getting puppeted though, and I know Luna and Alex should be able to help with the memory stuff. If you ever want to talk about it, feel free—we’d be happy to.”
“Sure,” Mahi nodded, lying back down into the bed as they allowed themself to smile. “…Thank you.”
Scenario: Verve Residence, Sapatibhatt — 10:23AM
Clink.
The teacup rattled against the table, empty. Idly, Gioia Arancini glanced over the lid, curious to see the shape of her future reflected in the tea leaves. She didn’t believe in that stuff, but Fate had taken stranger forms. Besides, Evergreen had done a lot these past few weeks. She couldn’t help but wonder…
“You were right, Gioia!” Soichi piped up from beside her, sipping on his own cup, “this is really good!”
In front of them, Vasant Verve sheepishly wrung his hands, giving them both a little smile. “I’m glad I haven’t lost my touch, haha…! It really is the least I can do, while you’re here.”
They could not meet at Urban Hymns, as the estate had been closed since Gioia and Charvet fought the man a few weeks prior. Though she had expected the two of them would get arrested, Verve himself had told the authorities that he would not press charges. In return, Gioia had been checking in with him, making sure he was back on his feet, and that ｢Cage The Elephant｣ was well and truly gone.
“Mm,” Gioia nodded, “give Vasudha my thanks as well,”
“No problem, dear!” a woman shouted from another room. Verve had little desire to return to his cabin, so in the meantime he was staying in his younger sister’s house.
For a moment, there was silence. Verve was perfectly still, as if one wrong move would shatter this tenuous peace. Soichi was content to drink in the cozy atmosphere. Gioia was staring at the tea leaves. What shape did they form?

The peace on Mount Parapollah was just as tenuous. Muuru had returned to the mountain now that the sand worms slumbered and the shifting had stopped. There was once a being who was to the Mountain as Muuru was to the City. The being was gone, now, and the Suite was filling in the gaps with trucks and bulldozers. As Muuru watched, a woman with a flute sat down beside him and smiled. Whatever happened next, the Mountain and the City moved together.

Gioia was drawn back to reality as Soichi spoke. “So, what have you been doing during your time off?”
“Oh?” Verve blinked. “Not much, I suppose! Just some odd jobs, here and there, mostly in the South. Just trying to help the rebuilding efforts, you know? Fix what I broke.” He grimaced a moment, before deflecting back to Soichi.
“What about you? It’s usually just Gioia checking in, I haven’t seen you since, you know…”
“The whole New York thing?” Soichi chuckled. “I’ve been alright, yeah. As rough as it was, we ended up making friends with those Riders! Sometimes you need an unlikely situation to help you come together, you know?”
Evergreen had certainly faced unlikely situations before. Gioia mused on this as she looked at the leaves.

The flute was not the only instrument that echoed through Rakin. As Deacon Blues wandered through the Sapatibhatt, the song of his trumpet followed behind. The land, once torn apart, was being rebuilt. The scars from his battle with the weaponsmith were fading, but the man still taught him a valuable lesson. The hand that wields a weapon can also wield a tool. Maybe this was the nature of potential. Whatever it was, Deacon figured it was worth a song.

Gioia glanced up from the cup, giving Verve a smirk. “Tough times help you realize who your real friends are. You’ve realized that too, I’m sure. Thanks to our efforts, the Metropolis Suite is having a tough time of their own. I wonder how quickly they’ll turn on each other?”
“Xen was already convinced they were out to get him. He kept going on about this Stand, ｢Diamond Life｣. No matter what he did for the Suite, it never told him who its user was. It drove him crazy–I think he was trying to solve that one himself.”
“Did he succeed?”
“I don’t think so. It’s not like he could strike a deal with The Gossip, he didn’t have anything ｢She｣ wanted. I’m sure that drove him crazy too.” There was still a sorrow in his voice.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Soichi smiled quietly, patting the man on the arm. Gioia nodded in turn, before she continued.
“Have you had any contact with him?”
“Not really. His assistant texted me, apparently the folks at Hymnal are on indefinite paid leave, until I figure out what to do. I guess that’s on me.” Verve paused a moment, grimacing. “Apparently he might still be at the cottage? I don’t know—I’m not going to—I’m not ready to talk to him, yet.”
“You don’t ever have to talk to him again,” Gioia responded. “I’m sure he’s cowering in the dark now that we’ve exposed his true nature. The other members of Metropolis should realize they’re soon to follow.”
Indeed, the members of Evergreen might not have the same methods…but they were united in this cause. Would this define their future? Gioia glanced over at the tea leaves.

The immortal had lived through countless riots, but the Bedtown Takeover was one of his favorites. He had returned to the area, replaying his grand speech, looking at the bloodstains that marked this territory. Sure, now that Aco’s child had appeared, VULTURE was considering new leadership. But that didn’t matter to Ouroboros, content to remain the (Self-Appointed) Secret Lord of Bedtown. Behind him, Honeydew was simply content to dismantle car batteries.

Gioia glanced back at Verve to see his brow furrowed.
“I can’t believe I ever got involved with those bastards,” he scowled. “Deep down, I knew they were trouble—I talked to Xen about Sing Now!, he just said…sometimes the only way to reach a common goal is to work with people you don’t agree with. He almost made it make sense.”
“He was a smooth-talking control freak. I’m sure you’ve realized how empty those words were.”
Verve rested his chin in his hand, staring into his own empty cup. In the end, all he saw were scattered leaves. No one was guiding him now. No one but himself. “…That’s not all he was. I think he really believed it, you know? That he was doing good. I wanted to believe it too, more than anything. But I think he was just trying to justify it to himself. Even when he had his doubts.”
Gioia curled her fingers around the teacup. “What about you, Verve? What do you think ‘good’ is?”
At this, the man laughed bittersweetly. “You think I can answer that? I thought Xen had the answer, and look where that got us. If you think you’re the only guy who can change the world, you’ll just make it worse.”
He looked up at Soichi. “We saw what his world looks like,” then to Gioia, “he would have trapped us both inside, if not for you.”
It seemed the Suite had a lot of cities within cities, living symbols of their control. Gioia took one last look at the symbol in her cup.

Disco D Lune had been keeping up with her contacts at the military base, catching up with the most recent happenings. Apparently, there had been a falling-out between the general and his child: an opportunity to sew doubt and dissent amongst the ranks. Disco had already designed new buildings to replace this one, and they were beautiful.

“You’re a free man, Verve,” Gioia concluded, staring him down. “So what will you do with that freedom?”
Verve looked between the two, but found no answers. Now, his choices were his own. In the end, the answer was simple.
“…I want to make things right. The Suite they… they ruined my home, they ruined him, they ruined me. I’m tired of seeing kids get pulled into this. Rasna, Ichi, and now poor Mahamit…” Behind him, warm air sang with the soft trumpet of ｢Bitter Sweet Symphony｣. “It needs to end. Those kids, my nieces, all of them, all of us. We all need a city that we can call home.”
Gioia smiled, closing her eyes contentedly as she felt the heat roll over her. Beside her, she could feel Soichi resting a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t even need to see his smile to feel its warmth. She didn’t need to see the leaves to know the shape of her future. She had known many homes, many stories, many tragedies and triumphs. But right now, home was a tree, Evergreen. Seasons changed, and yet its leaves would always flourish.
Soichi glanced at the cup in her stead. To him, the leaves just seemed like a weird square. But soon that shape was washed away, as he poured them all another cup of warm and fragrant tea.
“Well said! This calls for a toast. To new friends!”
Clink!

Scenario: Hymnal Bazaar, Reshmerasta — 8:58 PM
The market was closed for the evening. This curfew was in place ever since the Middleman attacked. The Bazaar was already struggling—if people were too scared to walk around at night, then why bother staying open? Even when the Bazaar was open, the stall for Urban Hymns stood empty. But for a broom, only a lone figure stood there. Verve used to sweep while his employees handled everything else.
His boyfriend once asked him why he did that.
’It makes me feel like I’m doing something–” he had laughed, “I’m leaving this place better than I found it!’
Verve had a lovely laugh, the figure recalled, staring at the broom.
Slowly, he knelt down to pick it up.
Then, Xenagoras took a deep breath,
and swept the streets that he used to own.

Scenario: ???, ??? — 9:07 PM
“It’s simple, gentlemen…”
The sound of chatter and slow music. The smell of pristine tobacco and the clinking of glasses. This outlined the leadership of the Metropolis Suite, holed up in a skyscraper that overlooked the whole of Rakin. To their right, a window—one that replaced the whole wall, showing the nighttime lights. It almost looked like an alien world, the way the dark purples and reds of the late sunset stretched across the blinking gleams of windows and signs. A single man spoke, an esteemed guest trying his best to rise in their ranks: Luiviton.
“With a little bit of push, we could completely criminalize a number of traffic violations. Of course, they’re already illegal—but I’m talking perfect driving. Instead of community service, we give fines that cut chunks out of bank accounts. Instead of towing cars, we give jail time. I have contacts in the private prison industry who would be willing to pay us good money to multiply the conviction rates~! All it takes is a little bit of sacrifice from Rakin’s people.”
The table was silent. A voice piped up- that of Sing Now!, media conglomerate CEO and one of the Suite’s primary figures of authority. “That’s an awful idea, Luiviton.”
He blanched. “E-Excuse me?” He asked, flabbergasted. “We could stand to gain-”
Sing Now! interrupted him swiftly and curtly. “It doesn’t matter how much we ‘stand to gain’ from selling our city’s soul to prison moguls. You’re a good friend, but everytime you come up here with a suggestion it’s always some kind of short-sighted scheme to make money. That’s not what this thing of ours is about.”
That earned a couple of nods and a “Damn straight.” from Zafar at his left.
He continued. “If we overcriminalize poor driving, what we’re doing is sacrificing Rakin’s workforce in exchange for…nothing. We would completely freeze important institution who are suddenly bleeding key figures and employees who’ve made simple mistakes. We’re not parasites or petty tyrants. We’re leaders. We do these backdoor deals not to increase our wealth, but our resources which we must use for everyone’s benefit. We must direct the people, not root through their pockets.”
Conversation erupted, primarily economic in nature. Some offered to take care of the market in Xenagoras’s stead. Others offered grants to the arts. Others pointed to the need for construction and repairs. Some tried to give statistics on rising rates of crime and discontent within Rakin’s citizens.
One key figure of the Suite, however, was absent. She stood a few meters away, staring out the window at the city below. Her stance was relaxed, yet firm. As if she was on guard against some invisible threat. She held a small glass of scotch in one hand, occasionally sipping from it. She seemed tired. Very, very tired. This was Zhengqi Dianyou, the CEO of the Rakin Rail Corporation. Occasionally, she’d let out a yawn.
Sitting on a loveseat nearby was Ichi Ni San Go—the charge of Sing Now! who was currently too distracted to really remember she existed. Without a babysitter, she was content to simply exist next to Zhengqi, looking out the window with her at the beauty of the city and occasionally asking simple, childish questions.
They were approached by a figure, glowing in the light. Someone followed close behind.
｢Diamond Life｣, the Stand of the every-mysterious head of the Metropolis Suite. Said user hung close behind. Zhengqi always found her boss’s habit of speaking through their Stand peculiar; she understood it as a security tactic, but it often came up even in casual scenarios. “Enjoying the event, you two?” It asked. Its tone was genuine—the Stand could be a tool of intimidation whenever its user willed it so, and this wasn’t that.
Zhengqi just grunted, turning around and finishing off the scotch. She set the glass down on a nearby table, looking at ｢Diamond Life｣. “I’ve never understood how it’s so easy for you to talk through that thing—”
｢Diamond Life｣ shot forward with incredible speed, shushing the name with a single finger gently placed on her lips. “Careful, Ms. Dianyou. The end of the table. Do you see him?”
Her eyes crept towards the table, landing on a man nodding idly to the talk. Iron Butterfly was a member of the Suite who often remained in the background; to her understanding, he helped keep the Suite in control over a good deal of the crop farming in the more rural parts of Rakin. She looked back at the Stand, and it elaborated: “He’s wearing a wire. Loose lips aren’t ideal tonight.”
Zhengqi just sighed, running her hand through her hair as her other put ｢Diamond Life｣’s hand back down. “I’ll take care of him after the meeting.” She offered. ｢Diamond Life｣ chuckled, willingly pulling their hand back.
“I’d appreciate it- I had originally planned on handling the issue myself. You’re always putting your best foot forward with us—it’s something I value.”
She gave a weak smile. “It’s nothing, really. Just me giving back for everything the Suite’s done for me.”
Ichi piped up, eagerly watching the conversation. “I think Ms. Dianyou works too much…she’s always so tired and never has any time to play games or watch cartoons or do anything!”
Zhengqi did her best to put on a friendly smile. “Ichi…when you get older, sometimes you just don’t have the time for-”
｢Diamond Life｣ interrupted her. “She’s right, you know. You overwork yourself. I was being polite about it before, talking about your best foot forward- but I do worry.”
She looked at ｢Diamond Life｣ sternly. “We don’t exactly have the time to rest. I’m certain you’ve seen the news. People are starting to figure out we exist. People are hiring private detectives and holding protests. Things are starting to unravel. We need to act before things break so hard they can’t be put back together.”
｢Diamond Life｣ stood up straight, looking her in the eyes. “Trust me. I have plans, and they involve you. Both of you.”
Ichi immediately raised a little in her seat, glowing a little. “Me~? Really~?”
A friendly chuckle escaped from ｢Diamond Life｣’s nonexistent lips. “Yes, you.” A dour look plastered across its face as it looked back at Zhengqi. “I’m going to need you to handle…key targets. I want certain people out of the way and key infrastructure mapped and maintained for your “ability”—it’ll be valuable to us should the ire of the populace come to a head. Past that, rest. Allow your subordinates at Zuantou Rail to handle things. Take a long holiday. We don’t need an exhausted zombie, we need you.”
Zhengqi could only reply with silence. She knew better than to argue with ｢Diamond Life｣, but to stop working? It felt alien to her. She was tempted to clutch at her sternum from the thought.
“As for you, Ichi…” The Stand continued. “I want you to gather info for me on some of the Stand users around the city.”
Ichi innocently kicked her feet. “How am I ‘sposed to do that? I dunno any cool spy stuff, and Daddy said-”
“I’ll handle your father, don’t worry.” ｢Diamond Life｣ said, walking forward and cupping Ichi’s cheek in their clawed hand. “I just want you to make friends, okay? Go out. Explore. Meet people, as many as you can. Participate in their lives and conflicts. Tell me everything you see and hear, okay?”
Ichi just nodded, smiling widely.
“Perfect,” replied the Stand. They drew their arm back, clasping their hands together. “But enough about work. Have you two tried the finger food that’s been provided? It’s truly divine.”
Scenario: Mili's Diner, Mist City — 7:37PM
The bell above the entrance rang late into the dusk, announcing the arrival of a certain happy customer. He hummed cheerily to himself, taking a seat behind the counter and giving her regards to the woman behind the counter. His order was the same as it was every time he came here, and yet he always flipped through the menu anyway. He was a cheerful, easygoing man, despite everything.
His name was Steric Lou Farin, recently self-appointed head of PINDROP. He hadn’t been planning on it, but with the sudden departure of Sonika, the team needed someone to step up fast. He was the most experienced in the field of investigation and had the sort of charisma the role required. He didn’t mind taking the lead, either. If anything, it made his work a little easier.
Speaking of work, that was the reason for this visit—good as the food was. He glanced over to the other two customers, talking quietly amongst themselves, and smiled. Both were of particular interest.
The first was one Brighid Rhodes. He’d sparred with her a few months back, and an exchange of business cards had proved extremely wise when he needed assistance in dealing with one Texas Aco. She was the one to finally calm her down in the end—albeit forcefully, but all’s well that ends well.
Speaking of which, Texas Aco sat at the counter now, talking in hushed mumbles to Brighid. The notable thing there being that she was talking now. She had been silent in the immediate aftermath of her rampage, but after spending some time at Brighid’s, Steric had gotten the call today that she’d been ready to speak.
“I hope you all had a safe drive here,” he chuckled to himself. “It’s awfully rainy out, isn’t it?”
“Nothing too bad.” Brighid exhaled, and Texas nodded with her, sipping on a chocolate milkshake. Her misshapen insect arm was hidden under a worn old coat draped over her shoulder. Brighid gave the detective a particular glance, and Steric took that as a sign to get to questioning.
“So, Texas…” He cleared his throat, making sure he had the girl’s attention. “I’m sorry for calling you out so soon. You ever want to stop talking about all this, let me know. I don’t want to do you any harm.”
“Mmm.” Texas nodded again.
“Now, I understand you’ve had, er, a difficult last few months.” That was no understatement: she’d been directly responsible for an attempted VULTURE mutiny. It failed, and drove her off into hiding god-knows-where. “In particular, I’d like to ask you about your relationship to VULTURE. It’s a piece of the puzzle here I haven’t entirely been able to ascertai-”
“I’m taking over VULTURE.” Texas deadpanned. Brighid sighed.
“I told you that isn’t the best idea.” The lawyer attempted to flick her on the forehead. “That’s too dangerous. No way you can get it done on your own.”
“No, I mean, like-” Texas grumbled. “She literally told me I could have it. The old boss.”
Brighid blinked a few times. She hadn’t heard about that. Steric nodded.
“Ms. Kaliya told me she’d been in contact with you. She said you’d been pretty against taking the leadership role, though.” Steric raised an eyebrow. “What changed?”
“…It sucks here, man.” Texas smirked. “Even with all the bullshit charities, shit’s gone bad after Rasna left. I’m sure you caught wind of that. Guys turning up dead left and right—there was a fight at a funeral, right? Whole place got blown to smithereens. What the fuck, man.”
“Ahah, yes.” Steric winced. “Quite the festivity, wasn’t it.”
“The place needs someone to step up. And with that little rampage I went on…” She looks embarrassed, for a moment. “I think I’ve got the rep to fill her shoes. Er. Maybe. I’m not really that scary, but, uh…”
“Ms. Kaliya told me you weren’t of that sort of opinion before.” Steric raised his eyebrow again, tapping his pen against his notepad. “What changed?”
“…Nothing, really. I just.” Texas chuckled, reclining on her stool. “I don’t really think anything I’ll do will have any difference. But I can’t stop myself from trying, either. I don’t think she’d want me to, either.”
Brighid placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, glancing down at her. “Long as you come back to my place when you’re done. I trust you, but you should have a bed to sleep on.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Steric grinned. This was a good development! A bit risky, sure, but it gave him in an in. “Say!” He stopped absentmindedly chewing on his pen’s tip. “Y’think you’d be willing to help us out? VULTURE’s assistance would be a great help…and something tells me we’ve got a common goal.”
“I’ll think on it.” Was Texas’s only response. Brighid flicked her on the forehead again. “Ow! Okay, fine, yeah, I’ll help. You guys don’t seem that bad.”
Steric clasped his hands together. One step closer. “Ah, and you too, Miss Rhodes.”
“Hah?” Brighid scoffed. “I don’t think anyone with me is gonna be much help-”
“I think that’s, er, preposterous.” He tapped his notepad a few times. “I did some looking into the work your people’ve done recently. For museum staff, you folks sure are prolific. A boat raid is quite the accomplishment. Hmm, hmm~.”
“Well, er…” Brighid sighed. Her group had had a history of engaging in combat. Entities like Paranoia and Markov were practically built for it, but her group had had similar exploits recently: Ruby’s left her fight with the swordsman at the art college relatively unharmed, and Roxanne had managed to charm an ex-member of Metropolis. Despite how weird all of them were, they were useful in a variety of ways; it made sense Steric wanted their assistance.
“Alright. I’ll get them to help out.” Much as she didn’t trust some of them with heroism, Brighid found herself more involved than she’d anticipated—and getting into the action herself meant she could help keep Texas as safe as possible, despite everything. “But you gotta help out with the museum. We’re, uh, still working on reconstruction.”
“No worries. I think I’ve got a few artifacts here and there. They’d be fit for your collection.” Steric’s phone buzzed—he rose and nodded at the two. “It’s been a pleasure, folks, but the life of a detective is ever so busy. Be seeing you.” With that, he grabbed his coat and strode away, leaving a good third of his burger.
Several oversized flies crawled out from beneath Texas’s coat, nibbling on the leftovers. “You really okay with me, uh, y’know…” Texas made a few vague gestures with her hands. “It’s a big thing to, uh, undertake. I figured you’d try to stop me.”
“I doubt I’d be able to.” Brighid chuckled. “‘Sides, you’re a pretty tough kid. I was pretty rough and tumble when I was your age, and look how I turned out. I’m a lawyer and everything.”
Texas nodded, returning to her milkshake. She was an ant under an elephant’s foot—she’d become well aware of that. But even so; even an ant had its resolve, and a swarm could pick apart a carcass. Even if it was only delusion, she’d do what she could. Mom would’ve liked that.
“Mmm.” She grinned. “Here goes.”

<=TO BE CONTINUED==

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New norms give Vatican greater say on alleged apparitions

Rome Newsroom, May 17, 2024 / 05:33 am
The Vatican’s top doctrinal office is centralizing its authority over the investigation of alleged Marian apparitions and other religious phenomena under new norms it issued Friday, a break from past protocols that gave local bishops greater autonomy in discerning such cases.
While emphasizing that “discernment in this area remains the task of the Diocesan Bishop,” the new guidelines state that the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “must always be consulted and give final approval to what the Bishop decides before he announces a determination on an event of alleged supernatural origin.”
The document spelling out the new procedures, titled “Norms For Proceeding In the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena,” explains that the doctrinal office previously played a role in the evaluation process, but generally did so behind the scenes.
“While previously the Dicastery had intervened but the Bishop was asked not to mention it, today, the Dicastery openly manifests its involvement and accompanies the Bishop in reaching a final determination,” the document states. “Now, when the Bishop makes his decision public, it will be stated as ‘in agreement with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.’”
The DDF’s prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who signed the document, held a press briefing for journalists at the Vatican Friday at noon local time.
The new norms take effect on Pentecost Sunday, May 19, abrogating the previous norms established under Pope Paul VI in 1978.
Centralizing control
In the document’s introduction, Fernández observes that under the older norms, “decisions took an excessively long time, sometimes spanning several decades,” delaying “the necessary ecclesiastical discernment.”
Fernández also highlights that in the past there was greater deference to the local bishop in ascertaining the validity of alleged supernatural events, stating that “some Bishops insisted on being able to make a positive declaration of this type.”
“Even recently, some Bishops have wanted to make statements such as, ‘I confirm the absolute truth of the facts’ and ‘the faithful must undoubtedly consider as true …’”
“These expressions,” Fernández states, “effectively oriented the faithful to think they had to believe in these phenomena, which sometimes were valued more than the Gospel itself.”
Responding to the “development of modern means of communication,” and “the increase in pilgrimages,” the document notes that these alleged events assume a global character “meaning that a decision made in one Diocese has consequences also elsewhere.” The DDF's document makes no mention of any specific cases.
The document also emphasized that there have been cases of alleged supernatural events which have been “detrimental to the faithful,” adding that the Church “must respond with utmost pastoral solicitude.”
Some of the issues Fernández outlines included “the possibility of doctrinal errors,” “an oversimplification of the Gospel message” and “the spread of a sectarian mentality.”
Restrictions on pronouncements
The new guidelines note that during the discernment process “the Diocesan Bishop is to refrain from making any public statement in favor of the authenticity or supernatural nature of such phenomena and from having any personal connection with them.”
The document continues: “If forms of devotion emerge in connection with the alleged supernatural event, even without true and proper veneration, the Diocesan Bishop has the serious obligation of initiating a comprehensive canonical investigation as soon as possible to safeguard the Faith and prevent abuses.”
In those cases, the bishop must establish an investigatory commission to include at least one theologian, one canonist, and “one expert chosen based on the nature of the phenomenon.”
The document also stipulates that an interdiocesan commission must be created to evaluate cases that involve “the competence of multiple Diocesan Bishops.”
The new norms emphasize that should “alleged supernatural events continue” during the investigatory process and “the situation suggests prudential measures,” then it is incumbent upon the bishop to “enforce those acts of good governance to avoid uncontrolled or dubious displays of devotion, or the beginning of a veneration based on elements that are as of yet undefined.”
Weighing positives and negatives
During the evaluation phase, the commission is to look at both the “positive” and “negative” criteria of the alleged apparition, the DDF’s new norms state.
The document identifies four positive criteria:

1. “The credibility and good reputation of the persons who claim to be recipients of supernatural events or to be directly involved in them, as well as the reputation of the witnesses who have been heard.”
2. “The doctrinal orthodoxy of the phenomenon and any messages related to it.”
3. “The unpredictable nature of the phenomenon, by which it is evident that it is not the result of the initiative of the people involved.”
4. “The fruits of the Christian life, including a spirit of prayer, conversions, vocations to the priesthood and religious life, acts of charity, as well as sound devotion and abundant and constant spiritual fruits.”

The new norms also set forth six negative criteria to be considered:

1. “The possibility of a manifest error about the event.”
2. “Potential doctrinal errors.”
3. “A sectarian spirit that breeds division in the Church.”
4. “An overt pursuit of profit, power, fame, social recognition, or other personal interest closely linked to the event.”
5. “Gravely immoral actions committed by the subject or the subject’s followers at or around the time of the event.”
6. “Psychological alterations or psychopathic tendencies in the person that may have exerted an influence on the alleged supernatural event.”

At the end of the evaluation process, the bishop and a delegate he appoints to oversee the commission’s work are to prepare a “personal Votum” in which the bishop proposes to the dicastery a final judgment.
That decision will normally follow one of six formulas:

1. Nihil obstat: “Without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself, many signs of the action of the Holy Spirit are acknowledged ‘in the midst’ of a given spiritual experience, and no aspects that are particularly critical or risky have been detected, at least so far,” the document states.
2. Prae oculis habeatur: “Although important positive signs are recognized, some aspects of confusion or potential risks are also perceived that require the Diocesan Bishop to engage in a careful discernment and dialogue with the recipients of a given spiritual experience.”
3. Curatur: “Although important positive signs are recognized, some aspects of confusion or potential risks are also perceived that require the Diocesan Bishop to engage in a careful discernment and dialogue with the recipients of a given spiritual experience.”
4. Sub mandato: “In this category, the critical issues are not connected to the phenomenon itself, which is rich in positive elements, but to a person, a family, or a group of people who are misusing it.”
5. Prohibetur et obstruatur: “While there are legitimate requests and some positive elements, the critical issues and risks associated with this phenomenon appear to be very serious.”
6. Declaratio de non supernaturalitate: “In this situation, the Dicastery authorizes the Diocesan Bishop to declare that the phenomenon is found to be not supernatural,” the document states.

Next steps
Following the DDF’s final decision, the diocesan bishop, unless directed otherwise by the dicastery, “will inform the national Episcopal Conference of the determination approved by the Dicastery” and “will clearly make known to the People of God the judgment on the events in question.”
The document notes that a Nihil obstat “allows the pastors of the Church to act confidently and promptly to stand among the People of God in welcoming the Holy Spirit’s gifts that may emerge ‘in the midst of’ these events.”
The document explains that the phrase “in the midst of” denotes that “even if the event itself is not declared to be of supernatural origin, there is still a recognition of the signs of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural action in the midst of what is occurring.”
But the norms stress that in cases where a Nihil obstat is granted, “such phenomena do not become objects of faith, which means the faithful are not obliged to give an assent of faith to them.”
As in the case of charisms recognized by the Church, the document states, “they are ‘ways to deepen one’s knowledge of Christ and to give oneself more generously to him, while rooting oneself more and more deeply in communion with the entire Christian people.’”

A new document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published on Friday, May 17, has updated the norms for discerning alleged supernatural phenomenaA new document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published on Friday, May 17, has updated the norms for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena. The norms come into force on Sunday, May 19, the feast of Pentecost.
The document is preceded by a detailed presentation by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery, followed by an introduction and six possible conclusions. The procedure allows for faster decisions while respecting popular devotion.
As a rule, the Church’s authority will no longer be engaged to officially define the supernatural nature of a phenomenon, a process that can require large amounts time to thoroughly study an event.
Another new norm involves the explicit involvement of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which must approve the local bishop’s final decision and which has the authority to intervene motu proprio at any time.
Many cases in recent decades have involved the former Holy Office, even when individual bishops have expressed themselves. However, the interventions have usually remained behind the scenes and were never made public.
The Dicastery’s new explicit involvement also relates to the difficulty in circumscribing phenomena, which in some cases reach national and even global dimensions, “meaning that a decision made in one Diocese has consequences also elsewhere.” The document originates from the long experience of the last century, which saw cases where the local bishop (or bishops of a region) rapidly declared a phenomenon’s supernatural nature, only for the Holy Office to express a different decision later. Other cases involved a bishop saying one thing and his successor deciding the opposite (regarding the same phenomenon).
Each event also required lengthy discernment periods to evaluate all elements in order to reach a decision on the supernatural nature or non-supernatural nature of the phenomena. These time periods sometimes contrasted with the urgency to give pastoral responses for the good of the faithful. The Dicastery began revising the norms in 2019, leading to the current text approved by Pope Francis on May 4.

Spiritual fruits and risks

In his presentation, Cardinal Fernández explains that, “many times, these events have led to a great richness of spiritual fruits, growth in faith, devotion, fraternity, and service. In some cases, they have given rise to shrines throughout the world that are at the heart of many people’s popular piety today.”
However, there is also the possibility that “in some events of alleged supernatural origin,” serious issues that harm the faithful may arise. These include cases where from the alleged phenomena, “profit, power, fame, social recognition, or other personal interest” (II, Art. 15, 4°) are derived, even to the point of “exerting control over people or carrying out abuses (II, Art. 16).”
There may be “doctrinal errors, an oversimplification of the Gospel message, or the spread of a sectarian mentality.” There is the possibility of believers “being misled by an event that is attributed to a divine initiative but is merely the product of someone’s imagination, desire for novelty, tendency to fabricate falsehoods (mythomania), or inclination toward lying.”

General guidelines

According to the new norms, the Church will exercise her duties of discernment, based on the following:
“(a) whether signs of a divine action can be ascertained in phenomena that are alleged to be of supernatural origin; (b) whether there is anything that conflicts with faith and morals in the writings or messages of those involved in the alleged phenomena in question; (c) whether it is permissible to appreciate their spiritual fruits, whether they need to be purified from problematic elements, or whether the faithful should be warned about potential risks; (d) whether it is advisable for the competent ecclesiastical authority to realize their pastoral value” (I, 10).
However, “it is not foreseen in these Norms that ecclesiastical authority would give a positive recognition of the divine origin of alleged supernatural phenomena” (I, 11).
Therefore, as a rule, “neither the Diocesan Bishop, nor the Episcopal Conferences, nor the Dicastery will declare that these phenomena are of supernatural origin, even if a Nihil obstat is granted. It remains true, however, that the Holy Father can authorize a special procedure in this regard” (I, 23).. The norms come into force on Sunday, May 19, the feast of Pentecost. The document is preceded by a detailed presentation by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery, followed by an introduction and six possible conclusions. The procedure allows for faster decisions while respecting popular devotion.
As a rule, the Church’s authority will no longer be engaged to officially define the supernatural nature of a phenomenon, a process that can require large amounts time to thoroughly study an event. Another new norm involves the explicit involvement of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which must approve the local bishop’s final decision and which has the authority to intervene motu proprio at any time. Many cases in recent decades have involved the former Holy Office, even when individual bishops have expressed themselves. However, the interventions have usually remained behind the scenes and were never made public. The Dicastery’s new explicit involvement also relates to the difficulty in circumscribing phenomena, which in some cases reach national and even global dimensions, “meaning that a decision made in one Diocese has consequences also elsewhere.”
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-05/dicastery-doctrine-faith-supernatural-phenomena-norms.html

Source By: Instagram Pro Editor – Maarten Schrader

What You’ll Learn In This Course?

• Introduction
• Section 1 – In-depth Understanding of Each Tool (Beginner)
• Section 2 – Dedicated to Understanding CURVES (Beginner – Advanced)
• Section 3 – Creating Style/Making Presets (Advanced)
• Section 4: Guest Editors + RAW Download For Each Lesson
• Section 5 – All My Secrets Revealed + RAW Download For Each Lesson (Advanced)

Back to my 'Deadly, Deadly Humans' universe. Decided to focus more on expanding the setting this time, let me know how you feel about it.
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Humans weren't exactly welcomed by the galactic community with open arms at first. Or wings, tentacles, or whatever other appendage one might have. There were several reasons for this.
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The first, of course, is that they're terrifying.
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Well, terrifying is perhaps an exaggeration. Certainly, there are predators which look more intimidating; big teeth, sharp claws, that sort of thing. It was more the idea that a predator could be sentient at all that unsettled people. That, and the fact that when the rest of the galaxy learned about them they were in the middle of their conflict with the Kalu-Kamzku. Now, no one shed too many tears for the Kalu-Kamzku, but the first documented evidence of humans that made it to the wider galaxy were human "soldiers" fighting Kalu-Kamzku Armed Recon Teams. And, well... seeing bits of Kamzku everywhere tended to leave a negative first impression.
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Add to that the fact that they live in a relatively remote area of space, and are technologically underdeveloped compared to most of the galaxy. It was an effort for anyone to visit them and they didn't have the ships to explore the galaxy themselves.
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In short, humans were very isolated at first, and given their propensity for violence the rest of the galaxy was happy to leave them that way.
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Except for the Yuenkei.
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The Yuenkei are something of an anomaly themselves. Or at least, the ecology of their homeworld is. The planet Yuen itself is fairly typical of many planets that give rise to sentient life: rocky, much smaller than a gas giant, having an atmosphere and an ionosphere and sitting at the right distance from its star for liquid water to exist. An Amia or a TokTok or indeed a human would feel perfectly at home in its temperate environment.
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But there are no predators there.
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None at all.
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The exact reasons for this have long been debated, but the broad scientific consensus is that for the first hundred million years after multicellular life evolved, Yuen's ecology was more or less like any other similar planet. There were sessile photosynthesisers, motile herbivores that fed on them, and carnivores that fed on the herbivores.
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However, then there was a mass extinction. And that's where Yuen's path diverged.
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There's only so much you can tell from fossils, but it's thought that a single species of plant evolved a highly effective poison, to the point that it became inedible to all herbivores. Because Yuen only had one continent in that period it was able to spread across virtually the entire landmass of the planet, out-competing every other form of plant life and rendering all the food chains that relied on them extinct. The plant became so pervasive that toxins from its decomposing foliage were carried into the rivers and poisoned the oceans as well, killing everything above the level of plankton. All this took place over a very short space of time, geologically speaking - much less than a million years, and possibly only a few millennia. Before anything could evolve a defence against the poison, it had wiped out virtually every other multi-cellular lifeform.
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It's theorised that the pre-existing ecology managed to hang on across a few isolated volcanic islands, where the native herbivores had no natural predators. Every so often one of these herbivores would make it to the mainland, and for millions of years it would immediately die as soon as it tried to eat the local plant life. But eventually, a chance mutation occurred, and some extremely fortunate herbivore washed up and found itself in an environment where it had absolutely no competition.
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From there, Yuen's ecological development proceeded more or less as normal: the plant that caused the mass extinction began to evolve into different species as it adapted to environmental changes and the reintroduction of herbivores, and the new class of herbivore that was able to metabolise its poisons did likewise. A hundred million years later, Yuen's wildlife was as diverse as any other planet's... except for the fact that predators never re-evolved. All animal life on the planet could trace its ancestry back to that one lucky castaway, which apparently was so specialised for a herbivorous lifestyle that none of its descendants ever found it practical to go the carnivore route. Roughly three hundred million years later one of those descendant branches evolved into the Yuenkei, and they evolved in an environment with no predators.
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Now, at first glance this might seem an odd species to reach out to the newly discovered humans. In fact you'd think the Yuenkei would be the last species that would want to have anything to do with the galaxy's first sentient carnivores. Humans, as meat-eaters, are more alien to the Yuen than almost any other planet in the galaxy that bears intelligent life (almost, but not quite, although we won't go into the Upau-Roekvau and the Ishoa right now).
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However, there is one thing the Yuenkei lack that is universal in every other sentient species: fear.
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Before they left their home planet the Yuenkei had no concept of a predator, and therefore they had no instinctive fear of other lifeforms. Well, it's not entirely true to say that they lack the emotion of fear completely. They have an instinctive apprehension towards approaching storms, and they aren't strong swimmers so they shy away from large bodies of water. But in general they're a lot more relaxed than most species, because unlike most species they never had to be constantly watchful for something with big teeth and bad intent lurking in the bushes.
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Incidentally, even after they left their home planet the Yuenkei didn't have much to fear from predators. The toxic arms race between the dominant plant life on Yuen and the herbivores had continued, just without the sudden overwhelming success the former had previously experienced. The Yuenkei's typical foods are all highly poisonous to most other species in the galaxy, and the poison accumulates in their bodies; this may be one reason that predators never evolved again on Yuen, as trying to become a carnivore would expose them to several hundred times the dose they'd been used to. As I understand it the Yuenkei are so saturated with toxins they actually smell poisonous, and most carnivores have decent olfactory senses. It must give you a certain confidence to know that anything that tried to take a bite out of you would drop dead.
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Incidentally, the Yuenkei have a complex relationship with their food. Even with their toxin resistance the process of making some of their dishes safe for them to eat is long and complicated, and their culture has made it something between an artform and a sport. A significant amount of the average Yuenkei's leisure time is spent discussing recipes with their friends.
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The discovery of humans provoked concern among the Yuenkei, of course; just because they don't feel fear, doesn't mean they can't understand danger on an intellectual level. Humans were clearly capable of extreme violence. However, they didn't experience the same immediate, subconscious aversion most species felt when they first learned of humans. Given the Kalu-Kamzku's... well, undiplomatic nature... it was possible they had provoked the conflict.
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Being unusually level-headed, the Yuenkei decided to give humans a chance. At the very least, there should be no harm in taking a closer look at them.
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By the time they reached this decision, the conflict between the humans and the Kalu-Kamzku was coming to an end. It had finally occurred to the Kalu-Kamzku to ask themselves why this unknown species was killing them. They came to the conclusion that humans were A) sentient, and B) probably viewed their attempt to sterilize a human colony so they could mine the planet as an act of aggression.
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Better late than never, I suppose.
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When the Kalu-Kamzku finally tried to communicate, they were somewhat surprised to find that the humans were actually receptive to negotiation. I am fairly sure the first Kamzku ship given the task of making contact thought they were being sent on a suicide mission. Of course, being the Kamzku they were still too obtuse to work out why their enemy wanted to talk; they were just glad the humans had finally stopped slaughtering them. But the Yuenkei figured it out almost immediately, and it prompted them to advance their plans from observation to first contact.
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It's important to remember that throughout the human-Kamzku conflict, the flow of information was entirely one-way. That is, the rest of the galaxy got regular updates on events through their embassies with the Kalu-Kamzku, while the humans had absolutely no information about what was going on outside their little corner of the galaxy. The Yuenkei correctly deduced that humanity had had no idea that there were other intelligent species in the galaxy before their encounter with the Kalu-Kamzku, and still were unaware that there were any others besides the Kalu-Kamzku.
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From the way negotiations progressed between the humans and the Kamzku, it seemed like the humans were intensely, profoundly curious about the aliens.
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It has to be said, the Yuenkei are not a particularly curious species themselves. Certainly not like us Amia; they have no equivalent of the Science Consortium, spread out across the galaxy looking for new discoveries. It's more in their nature to set a goal and head towards it rather than investigate every new thing they come across. Our view of them tends to be of rather dull, plodding creatures (although in return they find us hyperactive and somewhat intrusive, which is fair enough). However, new sentient species aren't exactly a common occurrence, and one of the Yuenkei's ongoing goals is to maintain mutually beneficial relations with other spacefaring civilisations. This was something that deserved their attention.
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They understood humanity's curiosity, just like they understood every other species' fear. And they saw a Yuenkei-shaped hole in the equation.
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They approached the Kalu-Kamzku, and asked for an introduction. The Kalu-Kamzku were at first reluctant to add what they referred to as a 'random disruptive element' into their delicate negotiations with the humans, but the Yuenkei pointed out to them (or spelled out very slowly with simple words) that humans might react more positively to a species that hadn't killed quite so many of them. Plus, the Kamzku weren't exactly known for their skills at diplomacy; the negotiations might go a lot more smoothly with input from the Yuenkei.
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The Kamzku may be obtuse, but at least they're logical. They could see the sense in what the Yuenkei were suggesting so they agreed to ask the human ambassadors if they would consent to the introduction of a third party. And naturally the humans jumped at the chance.
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I have to imagine that they must have been at least nervous. Those first Yuenkei who were selected to make first contact with humans. They couldn't feel fear in the way we understand the emotion, but they must at least have felt a heightened state of alertness, surely. Humans had only been introduced to one alien species before them, and it had resulted it a lot of violence. They couldn't have been sure how the humans would react to them.
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I can't even imagine what the humans thought of the Yuenkei. Imagine a lumpy cylinder, and give it six legs that stick up at a forty-five degree angle from the body, then curve down. In fact, only the bit that sticks up is actually the leg: from the joint to the blunted tip is a keratinous growth not dissimilar to a giant claw. The Yuenkei are essentially walking on stilts - useful for wading through swampy ground or stepping through dense, possibly toxic foliage.
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The cylindrical body doesn't hold itself level; the back end faces down slightly, because this is where their mouth is. Well, I say mouth... it was a slight surprise to the Yuenkei when they found out that most species have a separate orifice for ingesting food and expelling waste. The front end is even stranger: the Yuenkei's eight eyestalks are almost a metre long, about the same length as their body. Four have large, round eyes at the tip, but the other four only have vestigial eyes that have been superseded by the eyelids, which have evolved into grasping pads, giving them four tentacles they can use to manipulate objects.
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For the humans, the Kalu-Kamzku must have looked practically familiar by comparison. At least they bore a passing resemblance to organisms that are found on Earth, although then again the fact that they look more or less like a giant praying mantis might not have done them any favours; as I understand it, humans aren't particularly fond of the insects even when they're only a few centimetres long, let alone five metres.
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For xenopsychologists like us, one of the great joys of studying anything that involves the Yuenkei is that they document everything meticulously, and they don't mind sharing. We have full, high-definition video of their first meeting with the human ambassadors. The room was a large one, obviously, to accommodate the ten Kalu-Kamzku, who entered first, followed by their three much smaller guests, who stayed close to the doors. The Yuenkei had suggested that they keep their distance at first. Firstly, because their appearance might unsettle the humans, and secondly because most species find their smell off-putting, at best.
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The humans enter the room and proceed to the seats provided. There are ten of them: four diplomats escorted by six of their hunter caste... 'soldiers', as they call them. Unarmed, but an unarmed human trained specifically to kill is more dangerous than just about any weapon you could carry. The Kalu-Kamzku approach the table and formally introduce the Yuenkei lingering at the back of the room, waiting for a sign that it was okay to approach.
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The humans seemed to be confident at first, but almost as soon as the diplomats sit they start shifting uncomfortably. Finally one of them asks:
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Did someone bring coffee?
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Even at a distance, the humans could smell the Yuenkei. However, contrary to what the Yuenkei expected, it wasn't the first time they'd encountered that smell, and they didn't find it repulsive. Quite the opposite, in fact.
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The human diplomats seemed deeply confused about why there was suddenly an all-pervasive smell of coffee in the room. To the point where one of them got up and started trying to find the source of the scent. The Kalu-Kamzku skittered back as he got closer to them, but the Yuenkei, of course, remained exactly where they were. The human asked if he could approach them and, being completely unafraid, the Yuenkei delegates consented.
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Interesting piece of trivia: humans aren't carnivores. We usually call them that, because to an Amia the fact that they eat meat is the most notable thing about them. But technically speaking, humans are omnivores. They can eat a wide variety of plants and plant-products, and to them the Yuenkei smelled exactly like a plant whose seeds they roast, grind, and mix into beverages.
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They call it coffee. It is, to us and most of the rest of the galaxy, extremely poisonous.
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In the days before Amia made contact with other sentient species, it was theorised by our scientists that any aliens we encountered would be fructivores, like us. Slightly solipsist, you might think, but there's logic behind it: after all, plants have an evolutionary incentive to provide the animals that eat their fruit with a good meal. There should always be more calories in specialising in fruit than in eating other parts of a plant, which the plant will be trying to stop you from eating. And the more specialised consumer always has an advantage over the jack-of-all trades.
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They were completely wrong about the first part, of course; fruit-eaters are common among intelligent species but they're far from universal. But they had a point about specialisation: if you want to do something well, you've got to devote yourself to it entirely, and that includes what you eat. The downside of specialisation is that you're more vulnerable to interruptions in your food supply, but that's exactly why intelligent species are more likely to be specialists: because once you get smart enough, you can control your natural environment and eliminate that downside.
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Most intelligent species specialise in a limited range of food sources, and therefore have a limited tolerance for chemicals not found their natural diet. But being omnivores, humans have a natural resistance to a wide variety of natural toxins. A lot of chemicals that for an Amia would be a cause for an immediate and urgent trip to hospital are to humans just a more piquant flavouring to liven up their food with. It seems a little unfair, given how ridiculously durable humans are in just about every other area, that they're also highly resistant to poison.
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In fact, the only species with a similar broad-spectrum resistance are the Yuenkei, because their toxin-laden plant-life has, through parallel evolution, produced many of the same chemical defences found in Earth's biosphere. In fact, it's thought that the original toxin that caused the mass extinction on Yuen was caffeine, the active ingredient in coffee. A highly potent neurotoxin to most species, but to humans and Yuenkei merely a mild stimulant. The plants on Yuen are almost all highly poisonous, unlike on most planets - including Earth - where only a minority are, and there are so many different types that between them they've evolved almost all the chemicals found in coffee, including compounds like 2-furfurylthiol which contribute to the aroma.
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The similarities don't stop there. Both Earth and Yuen have a lot of poisonous alkaloids in common.
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When the human diplomat got within touching distance of the Yuenkei delegates, he stopped. His colleagues, had the same fear response to the unknown that you or I would have; humans have that in common with us at least. So they stayed back and asked him if the aliens were the source of the aroma.
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He confirmed that they were, but now that he was closer he could smell something else. Something familiar...
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Chocolate. To humans, the Yuenkei smell of coffee and chocolate.
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The humans were baffled. The Yuenkei, on the other hand, were interested. It didn't occur to them to worry that their predatory counterparts found their odour appealing. They had never encountered another species that appreciated their cuisine, or indeed could survive it. And the Yuenkei really do like their food.
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The Yuenkei had decided to make contact with humans merely because they saw that humans wanted to know more about the wider galaxy, and they felt there was no reason not to assist them. Friendly relations with other species generally benefitted both. However, they had discovered much more than they bargained for.
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They had finally found a species they could swap recipes with.
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The human diplomats had expected to be talking about ending their conflict with the Kamzku, but when the Yuenkei started interrogating them about what flavourings humans used in their food they soon got deep into a conversation about whether the Yuenkei smelled more like an espresso or a mocha, and progressed from there. It should be mentioned that the Kalu-Kamzku hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. But since the Yuenkei seemed to be engaging in a dialogue with the humans, for once they did the sensible thing and didn't interrupt.
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So what's the lesson here? Well, first of all if you're worried about a human trying to eat you and want to know how to make yourself unappealing, you can cross coating yourself in poison off your list. They'll probably just thank you for marinating yourself for them.
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Alright, there is a serious lesson too. It's an easy trap for xenopsychologists to fall into to assume that common ground between species is found by talking about 'important' things like systems of government, technological development, major cultural traits. By that logic, a species of predators and a species from a planet with no predators should have had absolutely nothing in common. And yet, through their shared interest in mixing poisons into their food, the Yuenkei had more to talk about with humans than any other species they'd encountered. More meetings followed, trade opened up, and soon both species had an insatiable desire for the other's culinary products.
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Sometimes, the little things can make a big difference. The fact that the Yuenkei, the ultimate pacifists, had managed to establish friendly relations with humans went a long way to assuaging other species' misgivings about them.
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And after the brutal conflict with the Kalu-Kamzku, it really improved humans' view of aliens when they found out that there was a whole planet out there that smelled of coffee and chocolate.
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Introduction

Christian religious education is defined as the process where by Christian learning takes place. It often involves “teaching which enables practicing Christians to adopt and deepen their Christian belief, values and dispositions to experience and act in a Christian way. It depends to a greater extent on how this process is adopted and practiced in different churches.

Different practices in Christian education in local churches

At some degree of certainty that all Christian churches have a similar aim’s and practices. The liturgical aspect is of paramount importance in the Trinitarian belief and practices in that it serves as introduction to what Christianity is all about. This is where the process of Cognitive learning takes places it involves the worship service where hymns are sang, lessons extracted from the books of the bible are read, sermon often punctuated with exhortation, admonishment and instruction in righteous living is delivered and prayers are said. It also involves the celebration of the holy Eucharist which Jesus Christ himself, recognized as the head of the church, initiated based on experience acquired in the worship service, it can be seen as Christian religious education is a confessional churchly activity of evangelism, instruction and nurture.
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I assure that “Youth are the most critical of all critics when it comes to religion”. Today, common inhabitants do pray and accept the holiness in church for Christ which they are aware that Christ constitutes the sacred bread and wine, but do not entirely act upon worshipping and fail to confront the thoughts and feelings to masses which would spread dignity of godliness among selves. The moral lies in the fact that this creates lackness to reach spiritual beliefs through worship and liturgy resulting in declination the faith which affects the divine nature approaching positivity.
Christian education is a vital important part in youth development. For Christian education to be explored, generation of today should be brought into contact through various practices. In the early centuries, reformers emphasized and trusted true faith and doctrines, to change and reform behaviour as the only solution for salvation in Christian education. Christian school movements prove a challenge as a messenger to convey god’s given mission and honour god.

Traditional approach

This approach was practiced since many decades and is still continued to be practiced which helps in binding and governing the ethics and morality within the religion and belief. Since beginning described, in leaving our homeland to teach the gospels throughout the world through scriptures, god conveyed his message – by sending his son Jesus for us, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Church, and Baptism for building unity.
Christianity consists of three things – Religious faith, way of life and community of mankind towards salvation are most important. The most vital of all belief preached is that there is only one god. The term Christian does not imply on the fact that a Christian should grow up in a Christian community, but precisely accepts Christian faith and belief, follows and leads the path of life on which Jesus walked on and made mankind accept Christian community through involvement and participation physically and mentally, as a result, traditional approach is how the local churches and preachers go about conducting their services. The apostle’s creed was apparently developed to summarize the Christian doctrine for man who baptised himself.

Theological and Biblical approach

This approach is regarded as an abstract discipline which teaches what bible is written. It is the study of god expressing god’s thought. The movement of bible indicates the doctrines to the kerygma to didache, to theological ethics, to revealed truth, to the way of living in Christian community.
God’s salvation to the world, worshipping the holy spirit, baptizing people in the name of god, preaching gospels as the word of god, share Christ’s own body and blood as bread and wine in holy communion, repenting and confessing god’s forgiveness etc are the concepts of theological and biblical foundation to Christian education. Even though mankind is aware but fail to involve due to the increasing evil and greed.
The service is organized to accept the call of god and to love him and others and which aims to gather people to worship him in return allowing him to take control over the world and through his presence spread peace, righteousness, justice, joy and helps in the growth of the life in an individual through increased faith.

Activities organized and performed in different local churches through to these practices

Some churches develop the initiative of the worshippers by confessing their faith in the words of the apostle creed. Each activity is correlated and composes a range of varied elements. Their current activities reflect the lives of an individual and drive them for a purpose through various numbers of activities to attain a better quality of life.
Due to activities, all age group gain variety of skills through many spiritual centred activities. Church acts as an interpreter between god and the worshippers to support in training the composition of these activities which are far more complex to solve a disturbed youth. They have to thereby standardize their curriculum and activities in regards to implement it. Different denominations organize activities to resolve the aim therefore to meet the need of the youth. Curriculum should be more focused than just on providing knowledge.
Activities are necessarily planned to build youth commitment. I believe it is necessary to reach them, i.e. train them to be strong future leaders. They should be kept one step ahead, for their life is very challenging. I believe that the best way to outreach youths mind is to be a youth like them to understand their psychology as it differs from every individual. The same activities do get affected as the youth is choosy and subtle.

Changing activities for tomorrow

Here the question is voiced that, what substantial change can be brought apart from the current activities to eradicate the above upcoming and dynamic problems in nature with respect to behavioural management or of what medication of healing would work out.
I would comment, the activities in the practices should be expanded and conduct likewise programmes workshops on educating purity before marriage, sex, child abuse, exploitation, rape, adultery, adolescence sex, teenage mothers, drugs addiction, aids, and divorce. Workshops, seminars for sex, abuse, peer mentoring, identifying preventive measures instead of curative measures targeting the social, political and the economical factors would be effective for incorporating the overall issues to bring the insight of the good and evil sides of every consequence, discussion on essential real life skills. Our goal is to create “world changers”, inviting the sacrifiers of evil and giving and sharing healthy priorities to save ourselves and the world, before it becomes a terrible fate and a debt for our own selves.
As the world is in unsafe fists of crime, terrorism, corruption, violence, youth have been diverted to a fast-paced and expects instant opportunities. Perhaps, the approaches of these local activities tend to be helpful and may bring positive results but I still feel that there is something missing, to monitor the youth from within. In an article – Practical: The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor in the Local Church, by Graeme Codrington, Denomination: Baptist (All), submitted on, May 18, 1997, states that, “In a world that is so busy, and demands so much of all of its inhabitants, young people need a secure environment, where they can experiment and decide who they want to be. They need significant people to be there to help them through this process. They need role models to follow”.
Above statement eventually satisfies the fact that these folks are craving for friendly support socially and for stimulation. Overall factors which conglomerate are peers, parents, teachers, church members and Christian community. All factors rely on one common feature which constitutes leadership. Ironically, most youth do understand the surrounding factors but the factors themselves become tough unknowingly that they can’t quite control the situation which then becomes too late to recover. The task is questioned commonly as what kind of leader a person should be to prove creditability and capability to influence the youth to pursue the direction towards god? In an article again stated by, Graeme Codrington, Denomination: Baptist (All), – Practical: The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor in the Local Church, submitted on, May 18, 1997, “Young people are not just “little adults” (cf. Elkind 1984:18). They are complex individuals who are battling to deal with the awesome transformation of their bodies, minds, and emotions. They are in a time of transition and growth, developing from the birthed bundle of potential to a fully integrated, functional member of society. The church is in a unique position to assist in this process”. Church as a role model fosters spiritual growth in every youth making them responsible to participate in Christian faith; she is a sign for an entrance of the god’s kingdom to the world of salvation, repentance, justice and peace to bring equality. She struggles hard and performs her duties wholly and solemnly reminds parents to structure their offspring’s life in Christian formation.
Church members acting as supporters, preach to establish and to promote a platform and share to encourage several types of civic, cultural, religious educational associations. In an article by Arthur Paul Boer – What must a Pastor know? Reflection on Congregational studies defines on writer James Hopewell’s statement saying beyond the embarrassment. “He has also observed that churches are sometimes chagrined by the change of hypocrisy and lament that they cannot measure upto ideals of Christian community”. Writer James Hopewell referred by Arthur Paul Boer notes that Christian leaders are incharge and build a church thereby rise in hypocrites. I observe practically that, though the world is changing, church strategy is also changing in complementing the growth. It still targets the set mission. Even though, somewhere in the corner hypocrites do exist but church leaders aim to find out what is the outcome in the people from the traditional, theological and biblical practices.
Perhaps according my research, I suggest they experiment bringing out good approaches to youth’s growth. Instead of the current activities followed in churches I would want to suggest the approach can be focused to bring in the outcome irrespective to exploration and innovation of ideas and thoughts for internal and external behaviour of an individual related to the surroundings around him, deepening of commitments to the teaching, provide opportunities to analyse socially and theologically and viewing his life in a theological manner. To build a framework of an activity consist of – to have an experience “like us”, to sense new boundaries by exploring new links to every Christian among themselves and to god across social and cultural boundaries.
In addition, exploration and inventive programmes can be executed to judge youth’s spirituality. Daily opportunities resulting in disorientation gets support through mission of god. Integration conceptual activities also can help in building and to capture ‘a born leader’. Church leader serves them as task leaders in the corrosion and freeing the task of a disconnected mind by planning tactics and dividing the burden of other’s through consultation. As the purpose is commitment, to serve the lost, skill based leadership formation training programmes can be organized to develop an effective leader so as to sustain the capability and capacity of the leader to solve the complaints lies in the dimensions of the ability. Workshops on intersections to shape boundaries of an individual and communities through theological and biblical language, symbols, and rituals to attain certain centered objectives.
As growth of globalization is tremendous, these leaders come across and face new opportunities and challenges. I believe they help in building an integral performance in conducting entrepreneurial business-based activities, describing the activities because youth’s mind is business-oriented, therefore the activities are to be structured keeping business in mind involving biblical and theological approaches with the existing resources for a business oriented youth. They tend to produce facilitate management sources to sustain and develop faith and love. When the youth develops a church from within, he will be able to observe and analyse the holistic environment.
The activities require presence of not only church members but also worshippers for youth development in successful implementation of these practices. Some worshippers form in small groups, some large varied to race culture. Arthur Paul Boer also examines simultaneously that when a group of pastors were having service of congregation, one among them exclaimed in deep breath “It showed me I’m not alone”. So often in our churches we berate ourselves for problems we face: not enough men, too few youth, preponderance of a certain race or culture. He is clear with the fact that a single person fails, unity increases strength. We ourselves give birth to a problem and then strive hard to face it because as there are few leaders left to catch a grip to support a large community. Due to less number of youth, less support is achieved to sustain the laws and policies of the church and unable to accomplish god’s mission. It is not only one who contributes but many. Above mentioned statement “It showed me I’m not alone” expresses that each race and culture form their own group; build small churches for their own community within their own boundaries, where god expects togetherness, wholeness. It requires lot of efforts to help small churches grow whereas large church with mass contribution grows as their already exist efforts in large numbers which take over the chained actions for development. Whether single church group or many, big or small, the development is important.
On this contradiction, I would suggest that this also includes that in small group the development is paid more attention and given a close eye, problems are spotted quickly and easily to meet the challenges. No matter how large or small challenges occur, the way we approach it is unique and comprehensive as this brings out effects of development in the youth. Whereas in large it becomes difficult to assist as there are more than one individuals. Due to small groups according to races and culture, differentiation exists. But the important criterion is group commitment and work effort in all sets of practice for congregations in any race or culture for a healthy youth so that to accomplish god’s mission. As a result both objectives are co-related to each other.
To understand the nature of Christian youth it is a very distinguished and a unique phenomenon. Due to the increasing issues of ‘peer pressure’, this has led to the obstruction in the development of youth. There are negative as well as positive aspects of it. Negative aspects influence a weaker mind. It is the most consistent findings revealed in observation. Due to the inquisitive innocence, an innocent becomes a prey of the negative aspect, thereby exploited and develops an evil companionship where he adopts negative qualities and habits. But there is positive aspects as in there are some groups who work towards peer relationship. Here innocent gets an opportunity to identify his fear, weakness and have control over his own power. The peer mentors play the part in organizing programmes to understand the behaviour. They interact with the teens and open lines of communication, build up action plans to change the behaviour by using the discipline skills wherever necessary. As church members play an integrate role, it is a challenge for them to develop the youth and make Christian education reachable to them.
Teachers are responsible preachers. Youth growth depends on a teacher infact they are the true facilitators of our learning, are Baptist figures and true authors of an individual’s life book. They also act as the resource developer and planner setting the curriculum for the healthy growth of an individual, depending how the curriculum is designed with the kind and level of leadership skills to recognize the youth psychology. Parents play a significant role in Christian education. They are the promising leaders which shape up Christianity, infact are the real teachers of Christian education. Parents act as a moral standard and support, therefore can synchronize to their growing youth to be aware from their early hood to gain knowledge in Christian faith and this is done when they themselves too experience a fullness of church.
Misunderstandings and miscommunication between parents and their children are one of the issues which follow breakings in the development of the youth. Due to parent’s own principles, for respect and love of family values often creates harmness to the children’s growth which tempts them to behave against them. Thus youth becomes a totalitarian of his own life by going against the values and ethics and unknowingly gets stucked in the torturous situations. Most Christian youth, fail to act upon the 10 commandments of bible.
I must say, I myself as a youth in my real life experience have observed that the originality of the commandments has changed excessively and replaced with the following:
Thou must worship money
Thou must “lyrically” murder
Thou must have evil possession
Thou must have sex
Thou must enjoy drug addiction
Thou must prosper, worship own self
Thou must not feel guilty
Thou must have no respect for ancestral values
Thou must not serve, sacrifice
Thou must differentiate
Due to the above, youth fails to feel guilty in which guiltness is a part of our conscience creating a false belief system as an obstacle in his maturity and creating structure of his own. Under such circumstances he avoids promoting prayer, sacrifice, grace, redemption, worship and meditation, atonement. Considering money and sex are the only two things reliable to satisfy the needs, creating a limitation and a boundary for establishing personal spiritual growth and development.
In general terms, when the efforts of religious and educational institutions, society lack to perform the planned task for Christian education, a positive approach is expected and constructed to gain knowledge and teaching through parents and teachers. Youth must be aware of guiltiness which is a gift from god to help us in being and doing well.
Still the question is raised in a Journal: Volume 5 Number 4, October 2003 by Author Charlene Tan, “Can Christian teachers and parents teach Christian beliefs without indoctrinating their students and children?”
Yes, they can teach Christian beliefs without indoctrinating their students and children they need to be careful when a child is to be handled as their minds are immature. At times it is difficult to understand them because their way of thinking is varied. Firstly before going to the next process, the first process has to be resolved. As teachers and parents are the role models for the development. In order to develop and understand these three role models should be systematically developed first. Only by abiding this rule, they can achieve the development in child. But the point lies beneath that how teachers and parents can prove themselves as an effective source of development by keeping in mind the relative factor of Child’s mind compatibility and psychology? As there are variations in psychological behavior teachers and parents should be mentally prepared, be changeable and adjustment oriented accordingly.
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The political and current affair of the nation is affected by corruption and evilness rationally which gave birth to vivid factors like jealousy, modesty and so on, making human’s built a tendency to mislead the positive factors. The situations have made the teachers adapt those inequalities within them, affecting the surrounding factors. Parents have too due to their increasing self priority created barriers of understanding among their families.
Many people are often drawn towards the attention of the church because of their felt needs and not for spiritual needs.
For instance, it does occur that why the youth is tuned out of his own way? Even in their interaction with their own members it tends to happen with them that they fail to hear a word said to them – stating “I didn’t hear a word you said?”, even though it is obvious that they have said something relating to us. This proves a kind of negligence in contacting the positive mechanism which grows in the back of our minds. Such system blocks all the wanted and useful messages allowing us to hear and see only what our mind tells us to hear and believe. As this tendency is increased in the youth generation, it is creating gaps between a believer and faith of god.
The question is – How? How can we overcome this problem? Youth have themselves developed a capacity in mind to hear only what pleasures them without taking a decision that whether it is false or truth. My query is – How we can bring these groups of youth closer to god? Unconsciously resulting in unexpected calamities and unknowingly they are unable to repent it wisely. Due to this increasing factor, youth can’t get a grip of effective communication and develop themselves internally. Here the parents then enter the scene to play their role.

The main question lies whether the local churches fulfill and meet to mature disciples in Christian education?

As stated above, ‘youth’ are the most critical of all critics when it comes to religion. In this modern era, youth is distracted to church because they are building castles in air due to the unmaterialistic desire. Youth today have focused their vision to crave success and prosperity for their rising life graph; they exploit their own ones due to greed and selfishness. During the primary phase of struggle and hard work, youth craves to achieve prosperity, at the same time, do thank god and accept his involvement for success, but hand in hand, lack to follow the bibles ethics which says to respect others in and with unity. Due to the competition and growth politically, more often youth seem to push the fellow mates and strive to takeover their place. They themselves are unaware that they give birth to exploitation and inequality. And due to inequality, unity is declined, wherein bible does not specify inequality. In a book source, Pastor – “Rick Warren’ – illustrates in his book – The Purpose-Driven Church -“The issue is church health, not church growth!” declares warren. “if your church is healthy, growth will occur naturally. Healthy consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church.”
In addition to this he also declares that “If u concentrate on building people, God will build the church”.
I agree at a certain point with the above statement. I herewith would want to magnify on “How would one build a healthy youth for a healthy church”? In this sense I believe that both are co-related with each other. Again the issue arises in my mind ‘How will the church be healthy if the youth is unhealthy?’ The issue can’t be only concentrated on church. For a church to survive, the basic foundation is the youth and for the youth to be saved and attracted the church has to be healthy. In my knowledge it is a ‘Vicious Circle’.
Local churches upto some extent do specifically fulfill the discipleship through the practices and play a great emphasis in fulfilling and conveying the message of god to us, but still lack to read the minds and bring the youth closer to her, for which she has to upgrade her atmospheric appearance with new packages to reach the youth in a new taste due to the competitive modernism which is hovering on the youth.
The latter part can play the best part coz when first falls in place, everything else falls in place, from the beginning to the end, from all angles in all walks of life. Towards a healthy faith, healthy church can turn and seed a growth of spirituality through which mankind will grow spiritually from within thereby causing church growth.
Author Perry G. Down states in his book – “Teaching for spiritual growth” that ‘how can we best enable Christians to grow towards maturity?’ For this question he suggests three key concepts- ministry, believer, and purpose. But my understanding says that these concepts are incomplete somewhere to create a bond in reaching the results because today’s youth is attracted towards the unrealistic worldly matters, but has resulted in declination towards the god’s spiritual growth. The major role connecting these three concepts is commitment and effort. As the church ministry is the foundation pillar, the main aim is how much measure of commitment is valued and given to achieve the target successfully. Mankind is able to commit only when he chooses the right direction in fear and is able but this is unfortunate as the alien world tend to let us unidentify the type of strategies of growth for maturity. By identifying the type of strategies of growth, we can understand the level of growth required towards maturity at which we can be spiritual. Another reason for in growth is fear. As the youth fears to face unexpected problems, the efforts are less and require the hierarchy’s support.
Author Gary C. Newton stated in his book – “Going towards spiritual maturity” quotes the principle that “God is ultimately responsible for all spiritual growth”. The question arises at this point that if god is responsible for everything, what will be the purpose and role of human? I comment that while god supplies the resources like bible, church, Holy Spirit, baptism, it is also our responsibility to supply effort and commitment to utilize those resources and give results to god. In bible, Paul highlights this principle of his personal lifestyle and in his teachings comparing with the example of a soldier or athlete to illustrate the amount of sincerity and efforts. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), Paul states that “In a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize”. I herewith conclude in a Christian race all runners (ministry, believers, purpose) will fail to get a prize if there is no effort that is commitment from everyone.
Along with the concept of ministry, believer, purpose; effort is also the key concept and it has to be achieved from the youth as well. A healthy youth will gain efforts only when the growth will favour them from within, when the forces of the ministry believers and youth will collide with each other to form a healthy growth.
This will create a mutual relationship between god’s provisional resources and our active involvement in process which is more clearly in Philippians 2:12-13: “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is god who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”. This principle is intricate but the application is clear.
If one is to grow towards maturity in Christ then one must cultivate and demonstrate the efforts with passion, Philippians 2:17-18: ” But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you be glad and rejoice with me”.
Therefore the conclusion lies in the above concept, both; effort of the youth along with the work of ministry, believers proves in the healthiness of the church. In the book “Youth At Risk” by Peter Christian Olsen, 2003, he highlights four basic needs which he has clearly created an awareness of the effects that affects the development of youth:
Acceptance – belonging
New beginnings and second chances – forgiveness
Significance – generosity
Freedom – independence
I agree with his confirmation that he examines in deriving the above developmental needs from the provision of the Almighty’s resources as the absence of these needs do intentionally contribute in how they shape the personality, maturity, responsibility and stability of emotions. He emphasizes Christian community in respond to the needs determining that, the resources will be polishing youth through support during the fear and avoid them from destruction. At times the concepts will be foreign, indigestive for youth because unable to realize its importance. Rather the community need not re-interpret or change the language but simplify their thoughts and improve their visionary and understanding by change in structure through a friendly communication by becoming an effective leader to bridge the gap between the church and the youth. Therefore forces and efforts are needed for decision making which is an effective key in respond to ministry believer and purpose for a possibility of a healthy youth to build a healthy church, which will make the church flourish.

Supporting surveys

According to a survey, some findings proved that church fails to answer every question of the youth.

Q.1 In what way and sense is Christian religion, faith and church viewed by today’s modern youth?

Youth of today’s modern era is firm on the point stating that inspiration is lacked in religion; they feel that the world is divided through religion and is the major factor which is affecting the growth. A 17-year-old Jude from Kent says confidently that “He does not agree with the church who talks on subject morality” and is “Overfilled with traditionality”.
Youth pick their ideas which suit their taste through various religious beliefs. There are few in bunch who strongly believe, there exist only single religion which has controlled the truth. Young generation refer to perform all activities as per their own desire which in return less importance to the religious belief are being given, which gives birth to the side effects of the conduct.

Q.2 Why do young crowd feel that Christianity is not a ‘happening’ cultural activity?

An 18-year-old Marcus said that he left church when he was 15 because the teachings did not amuse him and it did not interest him of anything as a youth.
The major quest, a struggle for a religion is to impose an exertion of force of involvement in terms of attraction. I usually attend church service wherein I find young ones missing the services. I kept questioning myself that, where the young crowd has disappeared? Surprisingly the young ones have taken charge for the attendance of the church. In this consequence the church should give priority to change its curriculum and its way of presenting the services with new attractive packages for enhancement.

Q.3 Are the young preachers practicing different approaches in Christianity declining. What are your suggestions?

As the attendance of the youth in church has declined, but on the other hand people practicing approaches are increasing in numbers. The following is revealed through one of the youths that more the deepening are the studies of the bible, more a person becomes a hypocrite of the Christian leadership and unintentionally accepts and performs the lifestyle of the clergy right or wrong at times unknowingly. In such case, the practices are affected and become different from those which are to be precise. Seen are still some true Christian youngsters who are different in their attitude and conduct, but in spite of such difference, they are not involved into the immorality and violence activities with other youths. They present themselves as they are from a different unknown religion, but practice the religion and it

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Introduction