Gun made out of charactersm

I have played off and on for quite a while. Hard casual gamer in general, I did have a good swath for several seasons where I deleted the game, mostly because my internet wasn't great, and a buggy controller made it near impossible to properly play anything. But have been back for about 4-5 seasons now, and with the return of solos mode, I question if the game even has proper balancing at all, or if the game is straight up just rigged against certain groups of the player base. I have always been the definition of a casual, console player, never amassing a large amount of wins, absolutely detesting teammates whose only ever plan was to drop in the hottest area of the map to fight it out because I can always count on rng to put nothing but maybe attachments and a grenade where I try to land in the hot zone, and said teammate to instantly d/c when they get downed there. But a long running thought I have had, is does literally nobody else seem to have the problems I seem to have as a console player using the standard controller for my ps4. I always seem to have more recoil that make hitting more than 3 shots at range unlikely whereas enemies shred my shields long before I can even get to a more effective range, always have issues trying to track seemingly spastic moving enemies in closer range, compared to them constantly hitting shots while moving like a frog of meth. Feels like my gun magazines always run out fast, and just shy of doing enough damage to kill, whereas theirs seems to fire at a leisurely pace, but also somehow firing enough shots fast enough to kill me before I can kill them. Rarely getting more than 1 shot in nearly any of the burst fire guns to hit at closer ranges per burst, and in general a sense of over correcting when trying to aim at enemies in close range fights. Now, I will admit, I am nowhere near a great player, but I tried to think of myself as an average, slightly below average player. I understand my skills when it comes to positioning, quick lootings, and recoil control are fairly poor, that the controller makes it a little less convenient for mobile moving and aiming compared to keyboard and mouse( don't say jack about aim assist, have only had even the slightest bit of noticeable affect a whopping 1 time in a lockdown match), that there are setting changes that pc users can take advantage of compared to a 5 year old ps4. I just lately have been getting what feels like constant B.S. in solos/trios and the mixtape playlist. I chose a gun I am decent with, enemy kills me with firerate, I find a freaking gold spitfire in solos, only to somehow be beaten with firerate at close midrange by a flatline of not known tier. Enemies constantly seeming to have positions on the fly where only their head and or upper torso are visible, and the constant of the enemies on a roof lip, getting many, many shots on me if I get literally anywhere near them, or try to using semiauto weapons from a decent distance away. I constantly try using different characters I like, usually try using a weapon I am good with(generally, flatline, spitfire, rampage, alternator, g7, RE45, peacekeeper, havoc; mildly, sentinal/longbow, tripletake, moz). But lately all my efforts just seem to play well in my style just seem to end up dead to the first enemy I encounter. I learned quickly that I just could not keep up with the manic building energy in fortnite, now it seems like I just have no chance in the last multiplayer shooter game I try to enjoy, and it just feels crushing.

Ive heard quite a few times that heists on payday 3 don't have the same impact as previous games. I believe it's a problem of the "get out ASAP" game design and just some boring objectives. While I can't suggest anything for the former, the latter goes like this from me!
NRFTW
This heist being the first one excuses the more simplistic design and I agree with it. Only gripes I got are these

• The dye pack timer should scale with player count.

I find it a bit stupid that solo players are the only ones that can't defuse all packs without an ECM. I think that making non 4 player teams (1-3) either risk it or have a dedicated ECM carrier is more interesting. Maybe a voice line from Shade hinting that it's a feature too. It's completely hidden as it is now.

• Script cop spawns near the electrical boxes

The push past everyone to the escape zone has more cops than the "locked down perimeter" a bit beyond it. Nuff said
Road Rage
This heist mostly suffers from being boring on repeat play thrus. The fix is complex to execute but simple as an idea.

• Make the roadblocks dynamic instead of preset.

Add a swat van driving into the path of the van, cops breaking a scaffold etc. The only time players gets caught out is in the very first playthrough, really boring.
Dirty Ice
This is one of the best heists in the game in terms of player choice and freedom. The only problem of the diamond cleaning being useless is also being fixed in the next update too. I honestly don't have any gripes. You stay for as long as you want and do it your own way.
Rock The Cradle
Honestly, this heist needs some sort of restructure. Or item placement changes.

• Remove the blue keycard of the VIP door guard.

Since the game launched people have been exploiting this to skip 50+% of the heist. It's a stupid oversight to stick to.

• Do something about the flip boxes.

Yea real smart. But I'm not sure what to suggest with the locked RNG being in the game. New objective, diffrent way of them working, not sure ngl.
Under The Suprhaze
This heist overall is pretty cool but it can be a bit fatiguing on failed attempts. It's really long in some aspects (both stealth and loud) and if I need to replay it I just groan, seeing how much progress I lost.

• Make the QR codes faster to grab.

Please there's 7 and each takes a small eternity to grab. I'm not wasting a skill to do that.

• Either improve or remove the floor-is-lava rooms

This is a first person shooter, parkour is not the games strongsuit. Mantling or jumping is a gamble, bouncing off of walls on jumps is common, it's not really fun to sweat over it. Maybe it's a skill isue :shrug:

• Rethink the stealth secure point

I honestly cannot play this stealth without a zipline asset. The secure point is a block away from the building, across a very populated park. Is this me being punished for "not planning it out"?

• Make the final assault trigger on last mission critical painting being picked up, not the usb one

Just...why. You can litterally just not pick up the usb painting or pick it up last and circumvent the huge obstacle. Not a fan

• Wi-Fi circles. Nuf said

Gold And Sharke
This heist for the most part is fine, just not as epic as I would have wanted it to be but that's subjective. Anywho-

• The QR requirement for the manager rooms is not needed.

The starting objective needs QR codes to get into manager rooms but it just feels like padding. Scavenging thru the intire bank for random phones to guess what's behind door number 3...or just use tricks/glitches/oversights to basically skip it. Just leave it as locked doors, no need for QRs.

• Wi-Fi circles. Nuff said
  
• The drill should beep when low on oxygen and the marker for where the oxygen is doesn't need to spawn AFTER the drill breaks.
  

I've had countless runs where I just get distracted for a minute and the drill breaks due to no oxygen. It's a simple QOL feature. Also Shade says the drill needs oxygen but waits for it to break before saying WHERE it is. Just spawn it when it's red at least.
99 Boxes
Hoo boy. The more I play this the less I want to do it again. This intire heist is just a really long holdout and kinda just needs a full remake imo, let's see if I can think of something. Where to begin...

• Make the parkour paths harder to miss

Again, the game is not made for parkour. I lose more health breaking my legs than the cops. I'm not even sure I'm getting to some containers the way the devs intended lol.

• Wi-Fi circles. aaaaAAAA

Change them into a minigame or perhaps rerouting the signal of a recently arrived FBI van to get a location signal to spoof instead of damn circles. Maybe have players rotate the dish manually until a signal is caught and then grab the chip before the FBI interupts the hi-jack.

• The spike strip objective is a bit...pointless?

The whole objective is just nothing, grab a consistant spawn object, place it, NOW you can leave. It takes 10s at most. You could change it into players having to move cop cars Brooklyn 10-10 style into a blockade, dissable the cars (shoot tires, break engines etc) and THEN leave. That's way more interactive.
Touch The Sky
This heist is a cool premise but it felt like devs really ran out of steam on the objectives on here ngl. Even Shade knows with the safe in a vault comment.

• Wi-Fi circles...jeez

This is getting tiresome. This could be maybe a rewire objective, follow wires from the console to trick it's current status (door locked or not). Heck, blow it open in loud or something, it's a wooden door with metal lining.

• The red keycard for the main office is a bit boring but mostly fine.

We're breaking into an office of a gun runner and its key is just in a random paper room? Cmon. It could be hidden in the bedroom, maybe even booby trapped so snoopers wouldn't get away with such a steal.

• As Shade mentions, the safe is not necessary.

It's padding. Remove it

• Increase the difficulty of removing the encryption off of the ssd.

Add timed checks to like flick an accept Hoxton breakout style when the ssd asks for one, find a required hash in Masons notes for it etc. Its the last mission of this first chapter but the end goal is a simple hack. Spice it up
Turbid station
This heist is mostly good. Only real problem is the damn security room cart.

• Make the "If the blue shirt guy is dead" objective the main way to get into the cart.

If you didn't know, if you kill the executive guy you get a secondary way to open the train cart. It's way safer and it opens the cart PWLERMENANTLY. Why is the """punishment"""" for not following the plan is an easier route???

• Make hacking SSD make a noise again

This one I'm honestly not sure is the case but I THINK it's completely silent. It wasn't so in 2.
Cook off
This heist is another perfecto, no real problems other than some bugs that may or may not be patched. So only problem from me is this

• Fix the houses proportions.

The doors feel commically wide. Staircase feels commically wide. It's silly.
Syntax error
This one's a doozy. Some things done well, some not so.

• Shorten the main door hack in loud.

In all loud lobbies I've done, everyone knows to stealth the first bit to get the code for the door due to it being faster. A bit silly ngl.

• The red keycard spawns are commically bad for new players.

There are dozens of clips of players running for an hour, not finding the red keycard. The red shelves are not that obvious and are low on the floor. Hang em on the wall atleast!!

• Techie sucks with the current armor system.

The techie so far has had two states. So stupidly OP that leaving her alive or running out to kill her is virtually the same in terms of resource drain. And how she is now, a mosquito with no real threat. Going out to kill her takes more resources than tanking it. The design is stupid with her hiding out. It's never worth hunting her during an assault. More so if you got drone hack skills.

• The park objective is...silly

If you kill cops in the park (as the objevtive says) you won't progress. You need to be in the field and kill park enemies. Bruh-

• The escape should have been further away or in a sewer.

It's silly planning wise to buy thousands of dollars worth of explosive equipment to...cross the street. It's anti climatic imo
PHEW...Let me know your thoughts!

(Hi! This is the first time I've posted a long text about the society of keys. I hope you like it. It about Edward and Erin. I know long texts don't usually work here. But I made this from the heart and I wanted to share it with you. Without further ado, let's get started!)
Out of Continuity: Lair of the Society of Keys
The basement/clinic was completely silent, only disturbed by the occasional beeping of one of the Medical Teams. Suddenly the 5 members of the society entered, all carrying Erin, who was in a very weak state of health, black marks came out of her mouth, and spread across her skin.
Elizabeth: Leave her on the bed, carefully…
They gently placed her on her bed, while they hooked her up to monitors to view her vital signs. Which were at worryingly low levels. The 5 members left all their keys on top of Edward's desk. Next to a small black device similar to a wristwatch.
Eechiro: Damn, what did they inject herwith?
Eric: No idea, that guy came out of nowhere, although he left this syringe behind.
Elizabeth: We have more important issues right now. Her signs are stable but they are declining at a worrying speed, we have to find a way to cure her...
Edward moves away a little to lean against one of the laboratory counters. His mind was still racing, Erin's voice began to hit his psyche. Repeating her name over and over again. Until his mind decided to take him to THAT night. He could feel like Erin was hugging him...
"Please…"
His pupils shrank, turning into small black dots. His arms had the reflex of trying to hug the air in front of him. The only thing that could bring him back to reality was Eechiro's clicking noises. Which was in front of him, trying to get his attention, while he repeated his name.
“Edward! Edward! Richter!” Eechiro gave up and returned to the rest of the society, who were surrounding Erin “Nothing! "He's like in Shock, I can't get him out of there!"
Edelgard: “Leave it, we have to do something soon! If we don't find a way to cure her, she's going to die."
Those last words gave Edward the boost he needed, without saying a single word. He approached his desk and took 5 keys next to the strange clock. After this, he began to leave the basement. While he put the watch on his wrist.
“We have to make a plan to get into his base, Edward, do you have any ideas…?” Eric noticed that Edward was leaving the basement, and after a quick glance he also saw that he had taken the keys. “Get him, it’s trying to leave the house!”
The four members of the society followed Edward who walked determinedly towards the door to leave the society base. Just a few meters away, Elizabeth and Eechiro began to pull his arms. While Edelgard held him by the back of the neck.
Eechiro: “You're not leaving!”
Edward quickly crouched and performed a roundhouse kick to knock down the three who were trying to pin him down. Eric placed himself between Edward and the door to prevent him from leaving.
Eric: “Edward, No! We need a plan!" He said as he held on to the door frame to prevent Edward from pushing him.
“ERIC, I KNOW YOU HAVE GOOD INTENTION. BUT I ASK YOU TO GET OUT OF THE WAY” Edward said as he looked at the floor. Eric remained immovable in place.
“I can't do that Edward, I know you're angry. But going like this is…” Eric didn't finish his sentence, because Edward put his hand on his shoulder, after which he made eye contact with him. Eric looked closely into the eyes of forensic. It wasn't the look of someone angry, but of someone scared and determined. For the first time, he could see a look on Edward that wasn't one of indifference. But of absolute concern. After which, the young diver take his decision, getting out of the way. Edward just nodded his head and walked out the door. When Elizabeth, Edelgard and Eechiro stood up they went directly to face Eric.
Eechiro: “What did you do Eric? You went crazy. He ran away and take the keys!”
Elizabeth: “He didn't take everything… he lefts Erin's key. Although Eechiro is right, what were you thinking? Did you let him go alone to face an army? What were you thinking?”
Eric: “You didn't see it… that look was relentless. I'm afraid of what will happen..."
Edelgard: “If you were afraid, why did you let him go?”
Eric: “I'm not afraid for Edward... I'm afraid for whoever decides to stand in his way. Although that is secondary now, We have to make sure we keep her alive.... Come on, let's get moving!”
Universe 18-24-53: Lair of the Steelwater.
Edward arrived at the outskirts of a bar, from outside he could see multiple men sitting at the tables. Most of them had baseball bats or brass knuckles. At the centre table there were four men playing poker. After a few seconds of thinking, he decided to go inside.
“Look and cry gentlemen, I have Full House,” said a man as he slammed the table hard. Another responded to him, as he revealed his cards, “Very interesting, but…”
"What!? An R-Royal straight!? “That's impossible, you bastard,” said the first, while he looked at his partner's letters in astonishment. The lucky gangster was about to say something, until suddenly, Edward grabbed his sleeve, causing multiple hidden cards to fall out.
The gangster was surprised by the presence of Edward standing next to them. "Where the hell did it come from?" Wait… you cheated!?” The gangster replied, now addressing his partner.
“O-Of course not… and also who the hell is this blue-haired?” Said the other man who was still sitting. A dead silence was maintained until multiple windows were heard breaking. When Edward turned around he saw a man at another table, with the bat in his hand. He had dropped his beer on the floor in shock. “Idiots! That blue-haired is one of those multiverse travellers! The Forensic Killer! You let the enemy in!
"What!?" The Full House man lunged at Edward, who simply dodged him. Placing his leg to cause the gangster to fall to the ground, the man's forehead collided with one of the wooden chairs. The other men launched themselves at Edward, who limited himself to Dodge, and responded to them with the furniture of the place. He attacked them with chairs, plates. Even with the same poker cards. “Why don't you die!?” It was probably the phrase that was repeated the most in that fight.
When there were only two men left, they both decided to distance themselves from Edward, and tried to go to the back of the bar. Quickly, Edward took out a pair of sharp metal scissors from his pocket and threw them hard, aiming for the head of one of the men. Which remained nailed to the wall next to the door, while his companion managed to escape. Edward followed at a fast pace, but without running, maintaining unwavering composure. Which only generated more fear in the man who ran.
Edward followed the man to some underground warehouses. The contrast with the bar was clear, while the first looked like a stereotypical 80s movie, this was more like an apocalypse bunker. The man continued running down the long hallway, until he reached a huge room at the end. Due to the distance he had managed to get from the coroner. He had time to activate the Security system. Edward saw three huge metal doors close between him and the man. At this, Edward said nothing. He just approached and tapped the metal plate in front of him, after which he took out of his pocket one of the keys that he had taken from the base. It had a drawing of a dragon. And small burn marks. Edward took the key and inserted it into a small slot in the device on his wrist, suddenly a flash of orange light invaded the tunnel…
On the other side of the door the Gangster is celebrating — “Let's see how you get through that, Four Eyes!” Until he felt 2 presence behind him “What the hell are you doing?” The man turned around to see his boss, a man in a beige suit, with his hair combed back with gel. Next to him was a woman with red hair and green eyes. She dressed in a trench coat, shirt and black pants.
"Boss! Miss Octavia! “He is the coroner, he is here, and he has eliminated everyone in the bar!” The man said as his legs trembled. The boss hardly flinched. While the woman only managed to murmur a phrase, “I was already wondering when we would see each other again, Edward.”
The man guided his boss and the redhead to a screen, which showed the security camera in the hallway. “You don't need to worry anyway, there are three metal doors between him and us. Look… there is no way he can pass- WHAT?”
The three of them were stunned. The metal on the doors was melting. Edward, dressed in a black and orange kimono, shooting a burst of fire. Making a circle to melt the door. The boss rushed towards his minion, holding him by the shoulders. “You told me he was the coroner, not the arsonist!”
“He's the coroner, I don't have the slightest idea how he's throwing fire.” The boss released his minion and approached the redhead. “Listen to me, Octavia. You told me that if he eliminated one of those crazy people, The Guardians would fulfil a wish of mine. But you didn't tell me that they would come to try to destroy me.” The woman broke her silence and said, “Calm down, Tragliatore. Our pact still stands. The guardians will fulfil your greatest wish. You have my word as a Detective” The redhead said as she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Boss! He already went through 2 of the doors! Look” The henchman shouted at his boss, while he pointed at the door that was turning increasingly reddish. The boss removed Octavia's hand from his shoulder. “Quickly, you lazy bunch, everyone pointing at the door.” all the soldiers pointed directly towards the door. “I want anyone who walks through that door with more holes than a damn sieve.”
Multiple men stood at a safe distance from the melting door. Everyone was waiting for what was about to happen. The sound of the flame on the other side of the door invaded the environment, until suddenly... Brain. Causing chills to almost all the people present there. A yellow glow could be seen from under the door that was melting…
The silence was interrupted by the sudden ejection of the door, which was thrown directly towards the soldiers in front. A large amount of smoke came out of the hole that was left. And a couple of yellow dots lit up. Edward ran out of the smoke, wearing a black trench coat, the inside of which shone bright yellow. In his face there was a pair of Goggles, also yellow, which emitted an intense light.
"There is! “Shoot him!” He shouted loudly, as Octavia dragged him towards a door to get him away from the shooting. The henchmen fired volleys of bullets at Edward, who was blocking the shots with Edelgard's trench coat.
Edward tackled one of the men and took cover behind some wooden boxes. He took the gun from the anklet, knocked out the guard next to him and took his gun from him. To start responding to shots. Taking advantage of the lens aiming system. After several minutes, Edward realized that he needed to increase speed... He removed the key that was inserted into the device. Which had the symbol of a Sniper sight, I inserted another one that had the symbol of skates.
After this, he threw his pistol into the air, while a green light enveloped him. The gangsters were perplexed, watching as the gun transformed into a UZI with neon green markings. They were even more perplexed, when Edward jumped out from behind the box... Dressed in a black one-piece suit, with silver lines. In large white letters it was written "Ritcher" and a number 3 in large.
Edward caught the UZI out of the air, and it clicked on his heels. The white soles began to glow, and he levitated a few centimetres from the floor. The next thing the gangsters saw was this blue-haired boy attacking them while he fired with the UZI.
“Quickly, Tragliatore. Over here!” She told Octavia to the mafia leader, As she dragged him through one of the doors, and she kept crouched down so as not to be seen.
Edward continued to dodge bullets while he in turn returned fire. He quickly positioned himself in the centre of the room, and began to spin on its axis at high speed, while he continued shooting with the UZI and one of the gangsters' weapons. Generating a storm of bullets, which filled the room. When he stopped, Edward realized that he had made holes in all the walls, covers and enemies in the place. He began to walk towards the hallway that Tragliatore left down. With all the calm in the world, he removed the key from the device, and placed a different one with the symbol of an Oxygen mask and a Sickle.
“Come in! Come in! Quick!" Octavia shouted at Tragliatore, while holding the door of a small laboratory, which had a small window with a curtain, inside was another of the henchmen, dressed in a white coat. After entering, Octavia's attention was quickly caught by a shelf with some books. Tragliatore watched as his protector began to search the bookshelf. “What's happening, boss? I heard a lot of gunshots and-” Quickly, the scientist's words were interrupted by the screams of their leader. “That doesn't matter now! We are under attack, scan the bunker. I want to see how many of my men are still alive!” The henchman typed something on a nearby computer. While Tragliatore was still confused by what Octavia was doing. He was about to ask her, when his employee's surprised moan distracted him. “Bo-boss, there are only four living beings left in the Building…” Tragliatore raised his hands to his face, passing them all over his face, while he let out a long sigh through his mouth.
“Okay, okay, it's manageable, it's manageable… Octavia, we need a plan, can you think of it… Octavia!?” The gangster was surprised when he saw the red-haired girl, with a book from which a white glow came out. And a white circle surrounded her. “I'm sorry, boy, but our deal is going to have to end here…” When Tragliatore tried to stop her, he realized that he couldn't get through the circle. “This was not what was agreed upon, you said that The Guardians were going to fulfil my wish…” Octavia tore the pages from the book, and held them up. “I told you that they were going to grant your wish…” He released her leaves, which began to orbit around her. “If you survived…” Tragliatore was about to reply, until his minion shouted at him, with a tone of perennial terror in his voice. "MISTER! “She's coming down the hallway, she's coming this way.” Tragliatore's shock was evident in his eyes. And when he turned around to look to Octavia for a solution, he saw that she had disappeared, and the circle on the floor was on fire.
The scientist quickly approached Tragliatore, holding him by the shoulders, his body aligned with the door. On the other side of which footsteps could be heard in the distance. “What do we do now, boss? There are only the two of us left, I don't want to die! My notes are still on the table, if he finds out that I designed that poison, I don't know what he'll do to me!” Tragliatore quickly slapped the soldier away from him. “We're not going to give up, listen this is what we're going to-”
Before Tragliatore could finish the sentence, a metal sickle came flying through the door window. The sickle hit the scientist directly and stuck into the wall. Blood began to drip from the inert body. Tragliatore recoiled in shock, blood had splattered on his face.
The bottom of the Sickle opened and a small stream of water came out, which floated forming a hand. Which I grab the sickle and take it out of the wall. Causing the man to fall to the floor, Tragliatore watched in shock as his hand stopped in front of the door and slammed hard against the handle. Causing the door to open.
Edward entered through the door, dressed in a black jacket with grey sleeves, accompanied by black neoprene pants. The footsteps of his boots broke the silence of the room like thunder in the night. His face was covered by a hood, accompanied by a black oxygen mask. Tragliatore tried to pull the gun from him, but was quickly restrained by Edward. Which he held against the wall.
“What the fuck do you want? If you're going to kill me, do it now! Tragliatore tried to say with the most threatening tone he could. Edward remained silent, taking one of his scissors out of his pocket, beginning to run it across the neck of his mafia leader. "Wait! Wait! You want money? “I can give you money.” At the offer, Edward stuck the scissors into Tragliatore's leg. Causing blood to flow out, along with a gasp of pain “Uh… Okay, Okay, no money. What do you want?"
Edward took out the syringe with a black liquid from his pocket. And he shook it in front of him. "The poison? Do you want to know how the poison is made? Why do you think I would tell you?” Tragliatore said, finishing his sentence by spitting at Edward. Which was Stoic, took another scissors from his pocket, and stuck it in Tragliatore's hand. Leaving it nailed to the wall. The scream of pain was even louder. “Ugh! In the table! In the notebook on the table!” Edward alone tragliatore, letting the scissors support him. While he went towards what he had come for. He took the leather-bound notebook, and opened it to the page that was marked with a red ribbon. On the same page, the process with which the poison had been made was detailed.
After seeing this, Edward began to walk towards the exit door. A white glow enveloped him and his clothes returned to his usual trench coat. Tragliatore couldn't contain his frustration and shouted at Edward, “Really? You entered my base, you killed all my staff, that's why? All this for that Bea-” Before he could finish the sentence, Edward turned on his heel. Throwing a pair of scissors directly at Tragliatore's forehead. The scissors remained stuck in the wall. Leaving a hole in Tragliatore's face. “DON'T INSULT HER AGAIN, NEVER!" After this, Edward adjusts his bangs, and begins to walk out of the underground base. Willing to achieve it.
Out of Continuity: Lair of the Key Society / One week later…
Erin woke up on the morgue gurney, her eyes slowly opening as her senses began to return. She looked around her, recognizing the medical equipment and monitors that were still beeping softly. She sat up on the bed with some effort, and her gaze fell on Edward, who was sitting next to her.
Edward was completely disheveled, with deep circles under his eyes that marked his tired face. He tapped his foot on the floor at high speed, clearly nervous. Next to him, the table was littered with empty coffee cups and a stopwatch
"Edward?" Erin asked in a weak voice. Edward looked up quickly, his eyes filled with a mix of surprise and relief. Realizing that he hadn't imagined the sound of Erin's voice, he jumped up and hugged her with all of her strength.
"Are you OK!" he exclaimed, her words filled with her emotion. Edward moved away from her a little, holding Erin's face with her hands under her cheeks.
"Yeah...I'm fine," Erin responded, still a little disoriented. She noticed the black marks under Edward's eyes and frowned in concern. "My God...Edward, are your eyes okay?"
Edward couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "You wake up from a coma, and the first thing you ask me is if I'm okay?" After that, Edward hugged her again, resting her jaw on top of her head. Erin just enjoyed the hug, feeling the warmth and security that she gave her.
Suddenly, she felt drops falling on her head. Erin looked up and saw the tears falling from Edward's eyes. "Edward? What's wrong?" she asked in a soft voice.
Edward grabbed her chin again and brought her face closer to his, causing Erin to blush. "What's going on?" Edward moved forward, planting a kiss on Erin's lips. The shock to Erin's mind was brutal, but she soon began to enjoy it. After several minutes, Edward broke the kiss and looked at Erin with a look he'd never had before. "That's what happens," Edward said softly, hugging her again. "I Love you"

30m, this happened back in 2011 so it has been a while. I will be as brief about my ex step-father named Eric. That’s his real name and I would love it if he saw this🤭. The man was abusive towards my brother and I. My brother is 2 years older. Had this gem in my life from 9-17yrs. I was always so afraid to make any mistakes around him. Once I accidentally broke some vertical blinds while playing with our dogs. I knew he would be upset but decided to tell him later. I placed the SINGLE broken blind on the top ;hidden but obvious enough to see. My mom got home, we walked the dogs, got back 45 mins later. Eric is now home. I walk past the living room and Eric has this scowl on his face. Shit. He knows. I was going to tell him but here we are. Well, I walk into my room… I had this beautiful, 34 gallon saltwater reef aquarium, filled with fish, coral, and invertebrates that I acquired from working at an aquaculture store. It was 5 years old and I was very proud of it. I walk into my room and notice the water is too clear, like crystal clear and the corals are retracted. I rush over and see the fish I had raised from babies struggling to breathe. The water smelled of bleach/chlorine. It all died. We got into an argument, he convinced my mother that it was a random chemical reaction. Anyways, I waited about 8 months before going in for the kill. They started having marital problems so I took the opportunity. I broke into his gaming room/man cave and went snooping. In a WELL hidden place, I find a syringe, needle, steroids, likely a narcotic, handgun, and a dildo. I did know about the gun. 😎😎💅 It was too risky to be direct, even to my mother. She was blind to a lot. All I did was put the dildo in a different location to mess with his mind. Even if he suspected it was me, there is no scenario in which he can both confront me and maintain his dignity. Check♟👑 My mom found the dildo, as I found out years later. I told her about finding a “ syringe” in his room. I lied and said it was simply laying atop his man cave bed. Men can be so forgetful… 😏That led to her finding the rest. I also made sure she knew his throw away email, which I knew because he let me play on his Xbox from time to time. Well, it turned out to be his throw away email account for dating websites. Check and mate ♟ They divorced shortly after. TLDR: Recovering people pleaser put the nail in the coffin to his shieeettt stepfather.
Edit: Guys, why does the formatting keep getting ruined? I am putting spaces…. I am not an animal! Sorry!!

So I posted awhile back asking about how to stay in this game and be invested. As I'd had struggles in the past but the show had rekindled the want to get into the fallout universe.
Well update: I'm still playing! And fully invested. To not spoil just in case I'll be vague but I made it up to a certain outpost with metal wearing soldiers after having a slight issue with Liam Neeson. Place rhymes with fit...adel...
Things I learned on the way: 1. kids are rude af 2. Maybe repairing equipment requires the same equipment. Glad I learned that one nearly halfway to where I'm at and was running off of quarter repaired equipment so far. 3. turns out leaving big town too fast isn't the best idea. 4. Save save save. And 5. Make sure the enemy you are shooting from far away is ACTUALLY an enemy and not some poor son of a gun npc you can ice

Sorry about the clickbait, I actually played heavy bolter build only once and that was my first playthrough, so I didn't fully understand all of the synergy and can't fully compare.
However, I tried dual wield double pistols build (actually dual wield not needed) as pair holster makes Jae a beast (but late), so I decided to try Soldier-Arch Militant and the result is - you can do probably do solo unfair with extended stats - once this gets rolling. Which is pretty early (you need a couple of Arch Militant levels).
The mechanism is simple and built on one item - pair holster gives free pistol attack for every critical in burst. So you want to have have a pistol with nice RoF - you can get shuriken pistol in Act 2 when you first meet Marzipan (I did this before going to Kiava Gamma),. That's 7 burst, 8 with tactical backpack which you can get early on. With rapid fire it's 16 shots and if you can hit every one (which you can later), that's free 16 attacks, because Always Ready + Reckless Rush = 4 stacks of versatility + confident approach = every shot is a critical. Then you just want to change type of your attacks to build versatility for extra damage (and perhaps armor, but that's not necessary, cause you will win 99% of fights in T1). You don't even want the recoil gloves, stabiliser gloves for +25% extra critical damage are way to go - tempestus backpack is sufficient for removing recoil.
The dual weapon build is not that necessary, you can just switch your hands - Foe hammer is great for non burst fire, later Rebori-Pattern Foe hammer (Act 2 possible). Act 4 you take Daredevil pistol for extra RoF and damage, you can buy Bone-Shatterer. Also Anti vehicle revolver for extra strong opponents. This is when dual wield comes handy, as you want start with the Daredevil pistol for free attacks, go with the Bone-Shatterer for versatility and extra damage ability. And then switch to the Anti vehicle revolver - but that's really only for enemies with super high armor, for most of the fights you're good with the Daredevil.
You want to have Portative manipulator (also buying very early Act 2) for free reloads, which you'll need. Later when you get to 8 AP (it's worth to get +1 AP on Kiava Gamma with Dogmatic) you can swap Portative manipulator for Bead of might - extra 30% damage means you won't need to reload that often. You can get two reloads for free (fortress world origin, soldier ability) - you basically need only APs for: Rapid Fire, Revel in Slaughter (can use only one), Run and gun (for movement) - that leaves you with 5AP for reloads, which is fine.
You will need lot of movement for some fights because of the short range of your weapons. Since you use reckless rush at the beginning of fight you're stuck with run & gun and dash. Stimm is useful too.
You want a lot of agility for dodge and if you don't use Cassia (who makes every fight end before it even starts) also for initiative. You don't really care about armor - in case you get to T2 you'll have +a lot from versatility, And if you have bounty hunter Pasqal you can just get a lot of armor from Tactical knowledge - pick a lone enemy and give him lot of exploits in extra turns.
So how good is it? I am in Act4 - Unfair, wounds +100%, and only fight that has made it to T2 was Incogrous defiler because of his heal (I have destroyed only two plasma batteries).
Frozen world chaos marines - T1. Yremeryss fight - more like execution, the reinforcements didn't even come, Yrliet and Pascal had to take out those two Genestealers at the bottom, cause they were just too far (and Ulfar blocked Yremeryss so she wouldn't attack RT when she heals). Dragonus throne room fight vs xenos? T1. Only time my people get injured is when they stand to near to enemies and they get caught in burst fire. I don't even care anymore, Friendly kill Abelard in T1? Tough luck, still no problem.
This all without using Cassia, or any bring it down from Jae.

1# once Hermes told bell to help him with one of his many Schemes but it was so out pocket and well make them both killed because it was consistent of freya, steal, underwear and bell was so done with him he pulled out a literally gun out of thin air and start chasing him while shooting at him and yelling about how stupid he is
2# Riviera makes so bad joke like even a dad telling his kid a dad joke is Funnier then her that eleven just stand there and do nothing until she stop laughing at her own joke
3# Ottar probably sneaks some baby formula in his protein shakes. The only people who know about this are freya and Bell because he saw him once and buried that secret to his death
4# welf literally do everything in the house other then cooking and cleaning fixing a Door welf make a new window welf fix a couch no problem you have welf make dresses for a part the man the legend the myth welf
5# tiona once said something so smart. Everyone thought she was an evilus
6# When Lili has nightmares, she goes to hestia bedroom and snuggles up to her as hestia pat her until she sleeps even though they don't get along they still one small but big familia
7# aisha ryuu and asfi go and met up secretly to have gossip
8# bell can cook a perfect egg with his palm, which made everyone lose their mind when they were fooling around
9# loki and hestia probably are great at using roller blade they even sometimes have races in those two and mostly hestia wins them all
10# bell, bete, welf, alen, Hedin, Hogni, tiona and tione, aisha and for some reason Shakti are really great at skateboarding

Collanite Season 1: Storyline: one day, during day of the blood ring on monstinia, a portal made of this excess energy formed in the relatively small but populated and active island, known as aphrodite, not only that, but it also created a energy dome around itself, that slowly grew until it covered the entire island, causing strange, anomalous events to occur on the island. On further investigation, it was discovered that these events only affect aphrodite. Later on, from the same portal, a group of people from another world fell through into the island and started colonizing it for themself. Theme: strange, otherworldly characters have entered aphrodite
Locations: Monster Metropolis, Saltwater Shore, Skier Slopes, Doggy Diner, Peace Pond, Mount Anon, Starlit Suburb, Golden Saucer, Cozy Cabins, Sakura Swim Club, Misty Mesa, Sacred Shrines
Skins: Travis Touchdown(1), Link(22), 2b(43), Glamrock Freddy(62), Monika(84), Cloud Strife(100)
Destruction Tools: Blood Berry, Ancient Battle Axe, Virtuous Contract, Glamrock Mic, Heart Pen, Buster Sword
Backblings: Blood Berry, Hyrule Shield, Virtuous Contract, Glamrock Giftbox, Poetry Book, Buster Sword
Emoticons: Ancient Bow Drawn, Well Done Superstar, MonikaHeart, Confident Cloud
Gliders: Demzamtiger, Wild Paraglider, yoRHa Flight Unit, Car Battery, Poetry Book, Hardy Daytona
Contrails: Sheikah Symbol, Pod 042, Blue Boltz, Glitching, Materia Orbs
Emotes: Beam Showoff, Milk Drink, Slate Check, Phut Hon, Glamrock Wave, Glamrock Giftbox, Write Your Heart, Code Panel, Piano Practice, Victory!
Weapon Wraps: Tunic Of Memories, yoRHa Specialist, Glamrock Shell, Doki Hearts, Buster Steel
Music Pack: Berry Beatdown, Open Wilds, Blissful Death, Pizzaplex Performance, Your Reality, Let The Battle Begin
Weapon Charms: Jeane, Triforce Of Courage, Superstar, Chibi Sayori, Chocobo
Loading Screens: View Of The Wild, yoRHa Installation, Below The Pizzaplex, JuSt MoNiKa, Fantasy Evolution
Edit Styles: Purple Jacket(Travis Touchdown), Tunic Of Memories, Tunic Of The Wild, Well Worn Outfit(Link), 2p Mock Machine, Mask Off(2B), Dirty Freddy(Glamrock Freddy), Paper President, Ghost Menu Monika, Ponytail Monika, Jumpscares Monika(Monika), Playstation Polygonal(Cloud Strife)
Wildlife: Goose, Chocobo, Wolf, Horse, Snowcoat Fox
Weapons: Thrasher Assault Rifle, Thrasher Burst AR, Thunder Shotgun, Buster Shotgun, Calamity Submachine Gun, Sacred Submachine Gun, Tactical Pistol, Drum Pistol, Ancient Sniper Rifle, Monster Grenades, Silver Longsword, Royal Guards Sword, Beam Katana, Silver Knife, Bronze Knife
Items: Crafting Station, Pizza Box, Pizza Slices, Maple Sprout, Maple Vines, Apple, Baked Apple, Maple Pie, Raw Meat, Meat Skewer, Knights Shield
Weekly Challenges/Updates:
Week 1.
Visit Named Locations (3)
Deal Damage With The Bronze Or Silver Knife (300)
Search Loot Crates (5)
Plant A Maple Sprout, Then Consume Maple Vines (2)
Eliminations With Beam Katana (1)
Week 2.
Visit Starlit Suburb, Then Block Damage With A Shield (200)
Retrieve A Stolen Item From A Goose
Search Uncommon Or Rare Loot Crates (3), Deal Damage With A Thrasher Assault Rifle Or Thunder Shotgun (500)
Tame Horses Or Wolves (1)
Deal Damage With The Royal Guards Sword While Riding On A Horse (350)
Added: Bows, Arrows, Milk Bottles
Week 3.
Fire Arrows At Opponents (8)
Land At Sacred Shrines And Reach Top 50 (1)
Interact With yoHRa Pods (3)
Craft A Shotgun Or SMG Using The Crafting Station (1)
Deal Damage With A yoRHa Assault Rifle (300)
Added: yoHRa Assault Rifle
Week 4.
Pick Up Or Purchase A Pizza Box (1)
Visit Doggy Diner And Consume Pizza Slices (5)
Perform Dodge Rolls With The Knights Shield (3)
Construct A Stage Inside Of Doggy Diner (1)
Eliminate Opponents With The Silver Knife (5)
Week 5.
Visit The Clubroom At Starlit Suburbs (1)
Eliminate Opponents At Starlit Suburbs Or Sakura Swim Club (3)
Consume Cupcakes (5)
Collect A Fazer Blaster And Stun An Opponent Using It (1)
Delete Opponents By Eliminating Them With Four Hits Or Less (1)
Added: Apple Pie, Fazer Blaster
Week 6.
Visit Sacred Shrines Or Sakura Swim Club, Drink Milk Bottles (3)
Collect Torn Poem Pieces Scattered Around Starlit Suburb (7)
Restore Health And Stamina Using Meat Skewers (75)
Deal Damage Using Monster Grenades (150)
Destroy Structures With Beam Katana In A Single Match (20)
Week 7.
Consume Apple Pie (1)
Investigate Strange Energy Signals At Monster Metropolis, Mount Anon And Skier Slopes (3)
Collect A Tactical Pistol And Deal 150 Damage Using It
Piece Together The Torn Poem Pieces Into A Full Poem (7)
Get An Elimination With The Ancient Sniper Rifle (1)
Week 8.
Deal Damage With The Buster Sword (175)
Land At Golden Saucer
Block Damage With The Knights Shield 30 Seconds After Landing (150)
Visit Skier Slopes And Cozy Cabins In A Single Match
Land At Monster Metropolis And Deal Damage With The Buster Swords Cross Slash Or Blade Beam Attack (100)
Added: Buster Sword.
Week 9. Deal Total Damage With The Calamity Smg and Royal Guards Sword In A Single Match (300)
Consume Baked Apples, Maple Pies Or Pizza Slices In A Single Match (8)
Visit The Clubroom At Starlit Suburbs, Read The Pieced Together Poem (1)
Use The Buster Swords Cross Slash To Deal Damage In Different Matches (3)
Tame A Chocobo And Ride It 250 Meters
Week 10.
Interact With The Strange Gauntlet At Mount Anon (1)
Eliminate Opponents Using The Buster Sword (3)
Investigate Strange Objects Appearing At Monster Metropolis, Saltwater Shore, And Misty Mesa (1)
Defeat Prismarine Warriors (5)
Visit Named Locations In A Single Match (3)
Added: Prismarine Warriors, Prismarine Knife
End Event: Power Theft The event starts players around Mt. Anon. The event starts with an anomaly opening up at mount anon and from ot, Romeo the admin appears and steps out laughing maniacally “it is time, people of aphrodite. Time that I take this islands power for my own!” Romeo then rises up into the air, hovering above the center of mt. Anon.. then 2b rushes up the side of the mountain and slashes Romeo with the virtuous contract, causing him to yell out in pain for a moment before quickly composing himself and fires a blast of lava towards 2b, knocking her off the mountain and onto the ground with a thud. He then fires another blast, attempting to finish off the islanders of aphrodite, but monika forms a shield of code that absorbs the blast before closing it. “Don’t worry about him, we’ll stop him before he can do anything harmful” monika says, and then both cloud and travis run up to the mountain, weapons drawn- and then in sync, they jump up into the air and travis performs quick and powerful slashes with his beam katana, while cloud fires multiple blade beams at Romeo, greatly damaging him and knocking him back down onto the mountain, as they both fall back down sure they’ve beaten him.. and they took that moment to rest, but just then as soon as they let their guards down.. romeo began laughing before getting up and dusting himself off and commanding his army of prismarine colossus to rise up from the water around the island and attack everyone on it. Then saying “Now, back to absorbing this pathetic heart of yours” and forming a small protective shield around himself and firing two guardian beams at the center of the island, glamrock freddy then throws everyone a Fazer blaster to stun the colossi, allowing the rest of them to fire at them while they can’t move. Romeo then attempts to pull the power heart out, causing a small tremor as the power heart is ripped out from the core of the island, then once it’s all the way exposed he begins using the beams to absorb the crystallic energy. once the first set of colossus fall, another one walks up from the water almost immediately, and then monika seeing this, says “it’s no use. They just keep coming..” then she gets an idea, and says “alright, I have an idea. But- it’s a risky one..” “if the powerheart becomes corrupted, then it’s dark energy will drain the energy and power of anything making contact with it..” “but, as the heart is what controls everything on this island. If it gets corrupted, the islands landscape and everything would also become corrupted and sinister.. but it’s the only way” monika hesitates for a moment before manipulating and corrupting the powerheart. as the heart grows darker and begins to crack slightly, the influx of dark energy causes romeos beams to backfire, draining him of all his energy and admin powers and causing him to fall out of the sky, back onto the mountain and sliding down the side of it, hitting various things on his way down before eventually coming to a stop on the ground surrounded by everyone else. Romeo then lets out a weak cough, saying in a weak raspy voice “what.. h-happened?..” and link chimes in saying “you just got defeated by us.. now.” And link draws his sword, ready to finish off romeo.. but before he can, the powerheart lets out a big burst of dark energy, knocking everyone back and leaving a decent sized crater around it.

Race Information

• Name: Steel Rail Marathon
• Date: May 19th, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Pittsfield , MA
• Website: https://steelrailraces.com/the-races
• Strava: https://strava.app.link/BvTTuv6xJJb
• Time: 3:25.31

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 3:40	Yes
B	Sub 3:30	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	7:20
2	7:19
3	7:40
4	7:15
5	7:21
6	7:20
7	7:19
8	7:20
9	7:30
10	7:32
11	7:25
12	7:16
13	7:23
14	7:39
15	7:53
16	7:58
17	7:49
18	7:52
19	7:58
20	8:05
21	8:15
22	8:36
23	8:34
24	8:38
25	9:09
26	8:55

This was my first marathon. I've run two half marathons in the past and decided to take the plunge. I went with Pfitzinger 12 week up to 55mpw plan. I had to modify the schedule a bit, but never fell short of the weekly required mileage. I actually averaged 5-10 miles more per week than the plan called for whether that was the right or wrong decision I don't know, but I felt recovered from each week. The plan called for two 20 mile runs, but I opted for an additional 21 mile run instead of the 17. I did the midweek long runs too, but there were some tempo runs that I would consider on the long side that I ended up breaking into two separate workouts for a total of running six times a week. This was mostly because I have kids and couldn't get the time to do more than 2 long runs per week.

The race was an hour away and I've had some bad experiences from day of packet pickups so I opted to pick up the day before which allowed me to "sleep in" on race day. I actually slept really well the night before, I don't know how, but it worked out. I ate an english muffin with peanut butter and a coffee. Drank 12oz Gatorade on way to the race.

Fueling: I trained with SiS isotonic gel. Brought 8 gels for the marathon, but only used 6 (3caff/3reg). I took the gels at 30 minute intervals, I know some have mentioned every 20 minutes, but that would have messed me up. After six I felt a bit queazy so opted to skip the last gel. They had GU Brew at the hydration stations, but I've never tried it so went with water the whole way. Also used salt stick tabs. Gear: Saucony Pro 3, Injinji toe socks (my favorite purchase and godsend after many blisters), Rabbit Speedsters, Flip Belt. Race: This was an out and back marathon. Miles 1-14: I would consider this a smaller race with only 800 participants, 180 in the marathon. Race went out in waves with the marathon first. They grouped us in target times and the gun went off. Immediately the whole front of the pack were out with the lone guy targeting a sub 2:20 time. After about a minute I looked at my watch and dialed it way back. My plan going into this race was to bank early milage below marathon pace and gut out the finish so I settled on a 7:30ish pace early on. I found a guy in the local runners club and ended up chatting with him for the first 4 miles or so to avoid getting caught up going to fast again. In the taper week leading up to the marathon I did something to the tendon on the front of my ankle and rested it the best I could, but knew it would flair up on race day and it did at mile 6. I pushed through and it ended up subsiding or I just forgot about it by the half marathon point. Miles 14-17: This was billed to me as a flat course, but that was not the case. There was a 2.5 to 3 mile continuous up hill climb. With it being an out and back I knew this was coming and planned to dial back my splits to conserve energy, ended up running those 3 miles at 7:50 which was still below my target marathon pace. 17-26: after the long hill I settled in to a slower pace going over 8:00 for the first time in the race, I did my best to keep it close to marathon pace for as long as I could, but the wheels started to come off at mile 24 in which I ran a 9:09! This was the hardest mile I have ever run in my life. I trained without music, but brought headphones as a motivational boost for the tail end of the race, but of course they crapped out and I was left with my thoughts. As I passed fellow marathoners walking down the stretch I wasn't sure I could do this and questioned my choices, but was able to finish out the race in the end.

This was the best part of the race. It was awesome to have family cheering for me at the finish line and a moment I will cherish for all time. I don't normally drink, but the race purchase came with a free tech shirt and beer so I said what the heck. Definitely the best beer I ever had! I already know that I want to try this marathon thing again in the future. Definitely made some mistakes I can improve upon and want to pick a more destination type marathon, but overall I am over the moon with my results. A huge thank you to this community for the amazing tips and tricks you have shared with me. Thanks for reading.

Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

So I watched Game Theory's newest TADC theory I was interested by the points that it made, but I think it ultimately came to the wrong conclusion about Jax being an NPC. Gooseworx could've been simply sizing up Caine as relentlessly tormenting people in the teaser episode to draw more attention, and the actual evidence for Jax being an NPC, can just as easily be concluded as him simply being the foil to Pomni, with greater understanding than he is letting on, as shown with his pin room. The chekov's gun of NPCs still has lots of opportunities for future episodes.
So, as compensation, I came to a different conclusion with Game theory's evidence, and some of my own.
Jax is willingly choosing to stay in the Circus, and preventing the others from catching on to find ways to escape.
Jaz clearly knows more than he let's on, with how he manages to have keys for everything without any explanation, which Ragatha notes as not being normal. He has the means to explore more and peal away at the curtain of the Digital Circus, yet tells Pomni they've all already tried to leave and Failed.
Jax treats people as simple entertainment, but even so, he should be able to work together with the others if he really wants to escape with his prior experience. Remember, he did bring Gangle and Kingar with him to hide from Kaufmo. He is willing to help or work with people out of absolute necessity.
If this is the case, why did he never begrudgingly work with the others on the absolute necessity of ESCAPING?
Simple, he could've already, but he doesn't want to. He prefers the Digital Circus to whatever hedonistic and shallow life he lived before. Gooseworx did comment that he deserves to be trapped there the most.
So instead, he continues living his past life through the others' suffering, a life free from consequences, where he imposes his will on everyone around him and they are forced to put up with him.
In addition to general sadism, he could then be tormenting the others as a means of submission, to be an obstacle that obstructs them from ever focusing on the bigger picture and escaping without his help.
His first response to Pomni's distress isn't to empathize or be blunt but fair, it's to give her the cold reality immediately, reinforce it by saying everyone else already tried to leave, and then mock her continously for the rest of the episode about her desire to escape.
Furthermore, remember that he was also the one to choose who to pair up as teams in the pilot. As noticed by Ragatha, he pairs up the two most unstable and despondent characters. Whilst he is the one who decides to go with Pomni and Ragatha.
If his sadism is a means of creating submission, then it makes perfect sense why he'd choose to go with Pomni and Ragatha. Pomni, because she's still having initial discontent and hoping to escape, and Ragatha, who maintains a positive attitude and tries to still help others with their situation, both are conflicts to his interests of preventing anyone from escaping. He leaves Gangle and Kingar alone because, in his eyes, they're already too far gone, therefore he has no need to accompany them.
He bullies Gangle because she still has enough reason left to suffer, whist largely ignoring Kingar, because, like a sadist, he realizes that Kinger is too innocent and friendly to give him any satisfaction in tormenting him, he wants a reaction.
To add to his influence of submission and blind acceptance, I noticed looking back at episode 2, the only seemingly affable thing he does without an obvious alterior motive is near the beginning. He playfully invities Zooble to come along for the adventure and mess around with the new AI. It's strange on rewarch, he may only want to torment Zooble, but the odd sincerity with which he invites her betrays his own demeanor. He knows Zooble hates him, he's bullied her as well in the pilot, and she hates adventures. He earnestly is attempting to hype her up, to make her interested in going on the adventures.
This small moment takes a dark twist under this new idea of willful misdirection. He wants her to give into the worthless entertainment. If his goal is to prevent the others from finding a way to escape, then Zooble refusing to go on adventures is a direct wrench in his plans, when he has no control or influence over them, they could do whatever they want.
Now, the last part of this puzzle to support this idea. What will this mean thematically? TADC is a story about existentialism and nihilism;questinging the value of your own reality.
Episode two ends on a bittersweet note, Pomni realizes she may still be trapped, but she discovers that she has the others to help her through it. Episode 2 also, as explained by gametheory, highlights the similarities between AI and Humans, but this can be taken in another direction, where the humans' lives aren't much different in the circus either, they both face impending insignificance and the threat of oblivion, so TADC will tell us something about the worth of our lives.
So then, how will this tie to Jax? Jax acts as a sorta foil to Pomni, as supported by Game theory and it's here in this funeral scene we get the first shred of humility from him. Whilst Pomni ends happier after attending Kaufmo's funeral, accepting her own vulnerability, Jax storms off with the tiny hint of emotion in his eyes, but repressing it as he refuses to attend.
This is a noteworthy moment of applying empathy to his character, but we must remember, Gooseworx has directly stated that Jax will be even worse in future episodes, and has nothing heroic in him. Therefore, I find it hard to believe he is feeling genuine sadness for Kaufmo, in a way that is actually selfless.
To reinforce the evidece of Gamethoery that Jax is worse than Caine and the true tormenter in the circus, now that him being an AI isnt the conclusin, him actively conspiring against the others gives more credence to this idea of him being the true villain, as he better fits the role of AM, the main antagonist of I have no Mouth and I must Scream, the primary inspiration for TADC, as he treats people like playthings and forces them to be stuck with him, in an attempt to repress his own suffering.
Now, let me recontextulize the funeral scene;when Ragatha brings up the topic of Funerals he isn't getting emotional over Kaufmo's, he's thinking of his own, and for a tiny moment, he realizes the grim reality that no one is gonna be attending his, but chooses to brush it aside.
He is the antithesis to Pomni, he is the anti role model who reflects horrible ways to cope with your existence, and more importantly, shows how he's hurting himself by choosing to live this way, depriving him of any true purpose. He chooses to stay trapped, so he may live a life without consequences, but under his anger, he's fearful and empty.

Hello! I recently just finished the Fallout TV Series and loved it and decided to finally try out Fallout 4. I played FO4 when it first released and it wasn’t the game for me so I dropped it an hour or so in, but now I’m hoping back over to try again on the next-gen upgrade.
These questions will be regarding things like gameplay and other basic lore elements that may be useful for new players such as myself.
I have never seen anything else in the Fallout Series except for the show so sorry if this stuff is common knowledge.
1 - Scrapping - So I am in the process of building Sanctuary but don’t know what to scrap. I have read that all junk should be scrapped or sold, is that right? Should I be scraping trees and items like chairs, fences, and toys in houses or keep them for scenery? Is this my main base and should I be building self made houses or putting things in the old run down buildings? Also is there a faster way to scrap items? Ive been dropping all my items in front of a workbench and clicking the scrap button on every single item separately.
2 - Looting - I am currently picking everything up off enemies and from containers to dismantle for parts at workbenches. If this is wrong what specific items should I be looking for? Currently I have the 10mm pistol, Security baton, double barrel shotgun, laser musket, and mini gun (where do i put this?), and am wearing a Vault 111 Utility Jumpsuit for armor.
3 - Exploring - Where am I supposed to go? Do the enemies scale or do they get harder if I go in a certain direction? Im guessing rads are bad and should be avoided. I want to do side missions before advance the main quest, but do I need to get to a certain point to unlock a majority of the side missions?
4 - Quests - What quests should I be doing. Any side quests for some easy good armoweapons? I tried doing The First Step but the raider are like 2 shotting me on normal and I keep randomly blowing up inside the factory.
5 - Random Encounters & Lore - The first encounter I came across was a man and woman who were going to shoot a guy with a beard wearing a blue jacket. I convinced them to let him go and he ran off. He is a synth and from the Institute? What does all that mean or is it spoilers? Was I supposed to follow him after he ran off? The next encounter was at an old diner, a standoff between a woman and Wolfgang. I got it to end peacefully with the woman paying the gang. Is it better to keep people alive? Do you get better rewards for choosing a side in these situations? From the TV show, I know there are factions, is there a set good guy/bad guy? Should I try being friendly to everyone?
Also, is Dogmeat the same one from the show? Is there a general timeline somewhere and do I need to have played the previous games to understand things in this game?
Thanks in advance and feel free to provide any information about topics I didn’t mention here that I may find useful!

Tw: mention of s*icide
I hate this. I (f20) reconnected with a old fling/friend(nb19) a couple of weeks ago. I was in completely isolation since march and in semi isolation since September of last year. The impulsivity got the best of me and I wanted to rekindle the friendship we had in the past even if he saw as highly romantic and I prefer letting the sparks go slowly (he never was my favorite person for my own caring and fear of hurting him in the process.)
We started connecting again and both of us opened up but I felt like he was hiding something in the end of the night. They suspect they have bpd as well and I encouraged and tried to make him feel safe and get well even if the jumping the gun in the romantic field felt uncomfortable for me for someone I always shielded and masked my true feelings on. They got some message at the end of the night and got really emotional and I let he cry in my chest while I comforted them.
Things seemed fairly okay with him opening himself in how badly everything was and he even went into a mental institution by himself to get checked in a treatment and I felt really proud. By other day this week I called him to come into my house to see if he wanted to chill but I didn't managed to be loving or relaxed as some things he did in the house just ticked me off but we finished with him going home and talking about his birthday was close by. Next day he sent a really omnious text about how them can't help but feel shitty for everything going wrong and that they were losing faith in love and after that a joke about suicide and then they stopped answering, I got extremely triggered and started text bombing him worried that he may have done something about it and even text their mom. Later he said that it was sorry for not answering and I just got bummed out that it really made me scared but in any way I was there for them.
Yesterday they had me blocked me in every single thing except steam and I can't help but want to reach out in everything until I get a answer. I know is not healthy and it will make him probably hate me but I feel so injusticed by being there and being heard or asked about it or even know why or what even if I can deduct. The silence is loud and I'm contemplating sending him something or bugging him until he gets back but just the hurt of being blocked is mind numbing. How do I deal with the pain of being rejected by one of the only persons that I trusted?

i met this guy on hinge and he seemed like a chill vibe. Based off of his photos he seemed to be someone i would be attracted to. dark complexion, medium build , introverted, and kind of nerdy. We had matched, exchanged numbers, and developed somewhat of a connection but nothing serious. we had mutual interest like video games, and x-men comics. i wanted to get to know him better outside of messaging and asked him if he wanted to see a movie. he responded with “i would love to, but i am currently not working and wouldn’t be comfortable with you paying for your own ticket on the first date.” i found that commendable, and understood that it was currently hard to get a job in our city at the moment (Toronto/GTA AREA). as we continued to talk he became eager to meet me in person, and asked if we could go on a walk. i agreed, but he proposed that we meet him somewhere five minutes away from his house, which was a 30 minute drive away from mine. i expressed that i didn’t feel comfortable doing that because i didn’t see the difference in paying for my own movie and paying for my own gas there and back to see someone for the first time. he also didn’t offer to meet anywhere in between which i would’ve been fine with. for context he told me he didn’t drive or have his license. he agreed with my sentiments and apologized, so we met somewhere in between the both of us. we walked around a local mall for an hour and i told him where to meet me. he had a little bit of trouble but we saw each other and embraced each other with a hug. he then pressed me for not giving him better details on where he could find me but i never thought anything of it. if i’m going to be honest i expected him to look different. firstly he lied about his height, which didn’t make any sense to me but whatever i don’t care for height. i also noticed his hygiene was off. he had insanely cracked dry skin, peeling lips, foam in the corner of his mouth, and an insane amount of build up under his long finger nails. i ignored it and just continued to walk and talk. i notice he couldn’t hold a conversation for his life making it very awkward but i sympathized with him, as he could’ve been nervous. time goes by we’re just walking, window shopping and then he asks for us to go get patties. we went to the patty shop, i bought a patty and he bought one. he noticed the hiring sign, and while on the date he filled out an application for that job. while he was filling out the application i was planning an exit in my head out of this situation. i found it a bit awkward and maybe rude to do so on your first date with someone. i didn’t say anything and then we went home. i went to my car and asked if he needed a ride. he said no, i drove here. at this point i wanted a gun to shoot my self. he had already told me he doesn’t have his license so i was confused how he drove here and why he wanted me to drive all the way to his end of the city if he could drive. i confronted him and told him i thought he didn’t drive. he told me its his dads car and he just takes it sometimes. we then hugged and went our separate ways. the next day he messages me talking about the kind of relationship he wants and tells me he just wants a sexual relationship but nothing serious. i was thinking of a response as this was random and we never had this convo or any conversation like this before. but as time went on i couldn’t think of a reply and ended up ghosting him. do you think i was justified in my actions, or should i have made a better effort to come up with a response?

Warning: abuse
At 19F in the middle of active alcoholism 3 years after my mom went to jail for murder for hire, I was a SW (looking?) for a SD? - while out at a bar I got approached by a 43M that I found attractive and very charismatic. Thinking we’d end up having “fun”, I returned the honest sentiment of attraction. We stayed together 2.5 years after that. He was a Chemist who laughed and made light of everything, his alcoholism and drug addiction became apparent from the beginning, but not to the extent that it got to/really was.
Like all relationships, things started out fun, a very Glee movie summer-like love, very free-ing. He was a Doctor of chemistry and worked in the oil field prior to my meeting him, because of his living situation and luxury cars he seemed like he was doing well. He never was any type of SD. The night I met him, we made eye contact and never looked away. Our chemistry, pun intended- was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
I’m the youngest, not the smartest nor prettiest. I quit my jobs because I simply didn’t want to work sometimes, I made a lot of mistakes and I’ve been in the receiving end of family based bullying and school bullying, SA, R@p€, abandonment and trust issues, I’m bipolar, I practice/d SH, depression, GAD… things of the human condition that make it feel like I’m faulty.
This man was the first person that ever sat with me and listened to me vent to the extent that I did the first tight we spent together. We rarely had sex, but we shared breaths as we slept, (he inhales my breath as I exhale his breath, vise-versa and so on and so forth) to keep it brief and give example. He’s the most intimate partner I’ve ever experienced.
I notice others micro expressions and cater to their benefit if it seems they are troubled or asking for help.
I’m having so much trouble these days accepting the fact that I’m never going to meet him again. Specifically because he was so attentive and catering to my needs. He knew immediately when I was masking. I’m so confused and perplexed about the feeling of not having anyone in my life that has that interest in me. I felt so understood. That’s been my first and last experience with feeling understood like that.
He drank from morning to night nonstop. Together we became aware of what alcoholism was. Brown urine, blood, pain… regret that then led to arguments, accidents, threats, drugs, danger, fear turned to bonding, helping each other, trying to get better, failing. Trying again. Do it all over again. Fail. Again and again.
We managed to get sober a few days. His parents loved me. I understood and loved him. He hadn’t been sober for that long and trying for a long time. He was doing better, that’s what his mom would say.
Every relapse got harder, more dangerous medically and physically as well as economically.
Sleep deprivation was torture I hadn’t experienced before. I would be awoken with yelling because of delirium, anger and he would degrade me so badly. Use that bond we had against me, my own experiences turned against me he’d repeat the insults I shared with him to me. Yell those at me. Then love bomb. Then threaten me and my family with guns. I lived in fear when he blacked out. Felt lonely because with all of the yelling, smashing things around, being stared at by neighbors crying, being called an idiot dumbass in front of people and them witnessing me at a low point and then, agreeing with him? No neighbor knocked after crying and yelling to see if anyone was ok or dying. Public shame feels so. Fucking. Lonely. Isolation doesn’t help.
He stopped functioning. His body started giving out. I loved him. Took care of him cleaned his wounds after falls, his body after incontinence. He literally shed blood, shit and tears, regret and asked for forgiveness when I cared for him in his sober state.
In return, I’d receive non stop verbal abuse if I didn’t stop and do what he wanted me to at the time he wanted me to and how he wanted me to. If I didn’t give him my attention he’d end up getting it by threatening my family. And he would! Fight my brother and go after him with loaded guns. So there I would go do what he said. Forced to ride in a vehicle, with him locking the doors, blasting Phil Collins yelling at me. Driving erratically, dangerously. And I’d be so fucking scared of crashing. Just imagining the police report, “f19 dead alongside 43m after drunk reckless driving”. He’d speed in traffic so I couldn’t really jump out the car. I’d end up just drinking to numb the fear.
I had enough and attempted to sleepies forever by taking a sweet deadly cocktail of whatever handful of pills I could get my hands on. We had plastic gallon moving boxes filled with narcotics- he was a pharmacist too. I told him I was going to KMS he said go ahead, so I attempted and I filmed it.
From the setting up the phone in that closet, the one I color coordinated for him, his button-ups and suits in those dry-cleaning bags that hadn’t been opened since leaving the laundry shop… I watched my su!c!d€ afterwards. Out of morbid curiosity. “What a dumbass!” was what he said when he found me. I won’t go into detail of the full video but chest compressions hurt a lot, 10/10 would not recommend. And EMS left the AED stickers on my chest 🤷🏽‍♀️
After that 24hr watch, an awkward taxi drive to a crisis clinic that was understaffed and left me in a room by myself for two hours and walking in public with those see-through paper hospital clothes. Embarrassment is a light expression. When I was taken home, I didn’t have keys, or phone, or anything. Just my discharge papers and my cut vomit stained pajamas in a biohazard bag. - I lived in a gated neighborhood with key-fob-entry-only. I was fucked and waited what seemed like 4 hours for anyone to help me but no one showed up until HE did WITH MY BROTHER. The one who was threatened with a gun, that brother.
JFC the amount of insults, “what a fucking dumbass, what were you thinking? You’re a fucking idiot!” To summarize in the friendliest way. I was dressed in a see through hospital gown, I went straight to the shower, didn’t have the energy to get dressed when they kept just YELLING at me. INSULTING me- I had enough and wanted to defend myself. That’s when my brother pulled out his phone and started filming me pleading with them to let me sleep, calling me crazy, threatening to “show the family how fucking crazy you are!” - I threw my phone. Broke the microwave door. More insults, while still filming me, I was ordered to, “clean it up” - and at that moment. Completely detached, I did.
I put my brother on the soon-est bus to Mexico and sent him to rehab after 2 hell filled weeks of him living with us because he was so fucked in alcoholism he was homeless. To this day I don’t know how I did that.
I managed to leave my ex. 2 weeks later I receive calls from worried friends. Ryan was missing.
After investigating, (calls to police,hospitals, checking out the “usual” spots) - turns out he went to a Circle K looking for Peroni after the liquor store wouldn’t sell to him, tripped on the steps, hit his head on the pavement, STILL MANAGED TO PURCHASE ALCOHOL, left, got into a fight, and somehow miraculously ended up in his apartment where he tried to shower, fell face forward towards the water tap, (which left a softball sized bruise on his right eye and fractured his nose) he then tried to walk towards the kitchen? Passed out in the living room leaving blood all over the walls, puddles on the ground and the biggest blood clot stain on the floor ( we had to get crime scene cleaners). He apparently had a fit where he trashed the apartment by throwing my things, my plants, bottles of crown… anything. Everything was trashed when I found him in the apartment. I counted at LEAST 20 bottles of crown. He was so fucked up we thought he had been assaulted.
COVID hit and hospitals were in full lockdown. As an “essential worker” I could travel to the hospital to see him, and because someone somewhere said I was his wife/fiancée I was the ONLY one allowed to see him.
I snuck behind friends and family’s backs checking in on him at the hospital. Singing The Carpenters songs, wearing his favorite perfumes, reading Bill’s Story (IYKYK), playing Phil Collins. The whole 9 yards.
The last time I saw him, he was in Physical therapy/Rehab. He ended up moving back to his parents in California. Then February the next year, on Valentine’s Day - his mom let me know he passed.
She grieved very much attached to me. It was one of the saddest things I ever had to help someone through - alongside helping her son go through alcoholism.
I became a CNA as a tribute to helping him during those hard sober times where his body gave out. Helping others like that, bathing them, diaper changing, g-tube cleaning, hygiene essentials…
The classic grief started with what-if’s. Etc. it’s been hard lately because all my family is against him and his family resents me for being the only one with access to his medical records during COVID. I’m in a relationship now and our therapist told me to “put a break on it”. Recently. My mental illnesses keep getting worse and I feel like no other has taken such interest in me as much as Ryan did. He was so observant. So in-sync with me. And he was so shitty to me. He’s like the sweetest tasting radioactive flower that once was and will never be. And I’m grieving. And it’s so lonely out here.
I don’t know. I’m not suicid@l, I’m medicated and 4 years sober. It’s been hard and it’s getting harder to understand. I feel neglected and lonely. Anything helps please.

So I’ve had my Mark 19 with 6” barrel for about a year and a half. It’s an IWI made in Minneapolis and from the 90s. As I’ve gone across multiple forums and videos and seeing how many rounds the previous owner went through (he passed in 22 and I have his brass) it was obvious that I needed new recoil springs.
It came with the 50 AE barrel and I bought 44 mag to go with it. Upon buying new springs, the barrel swap videos never pointed out the difference in springs between the calibers. I ended up buying both and gave them a run a couple of weeks ago. 44 mag (my reloads dialed in specifically for cycling this gun) worked perfect.
Then I tried 50 AE starting off with some reloads that are above average loads (not max) and it wasn’t cycling. Then I tried pissing hot rounds I got from ammo lab that unleash huge fireballs and it still wouldn’t cycle.
Do the stiffer 50 AE springs need some kind of “breaking in”? Saw a suggestion to take out the inner recoil springs for a while so it’s not too stiff but I’m not sure that’s the route I want to go. I’m considering racking it empty a bunch of times or having the slide in the locked back position for whatever amount of time. Anyone else that has experience in this sector I would appreciate your feedback.
Recoil springs are magnum research ordered directly from Kahr.

I was brought up in a church. It was always boring and strange and I never really felt welcome, despite everyone's persistent attempts to tell me how happy they were to see me every week. Nevertheless, the stories I was taught there were all I had. And even if I didn’t fully understand them, to me, there was a god and good and evil, and I was just a mortal caught in the middle of it all.
I was around 12 or 13 years old at the time. I remember it being spring time outside, beautiful but tainted by a plague of allergies that had come over me. I was stuck in a habit back then of reading books late into the night. My mom was mostly supportive of it though and bought me a book light to use in the dark, with the caveat that I put the book down by 10PM at the latest.
On the first night that it happened, I remember being very sucked into the story I was reading. I had started a new book and I distinctly remember thinking that the story wasn’t for someone my age, and if my mother found out what I was reading, she might not let me keep it. The feeling that I was doing something wrong had me on edge in a sort of fun and exciting way, and my heart was beginning to beat somewhat quickly as I continued.
And then I heard it. A rustling sound like something had slid off of a hanger in my closet. I jumped in place, dropping my book down on the blanket, the clip-on book light casting a long and imposing shadow across the room. What I saw next was difficult to make out and is even harder to picture in my mind all these years later. I remember my clothes hung up in the closet, swaying in place, almost shivering or jittering from the movement coming from behind them. The book light was cut off along one edge of the closet opening, only showing the bottom of my hanging clothes and part way down onto the floor where some old shoeboxes and retired sports equipment was stored. But there was something odd and quite noticeable partially in view within the small glow of light that existed there. At the time it was puzzling to interpret as I had been expecting my angry mother to have somehow divined that I was reading something she didn’t approve of. But with time and reflection it became clear that the dark shape I saw amongst my belongings was an abnormally long and trembling leg.
“P-please!! P-put that down!”
It spoke with a frantic whisper, as if I was inadvertently pointing a loaded gun at it. I froze for a moment, staring at the indiscernible shape, watching my jacket and button down shirts shivering on their hangers when it suddenly occurred to me. I frantically grabbed the book light and pulled it to my chest. I could have quickly turned and shown it directly into the closet, but for some reason, I didn’t.
The nights that followed were difficult. I kept looking over my shoulder, staring in the direction of my closet, wondering if something would happen instead of falling asleep or reading. My mother even took notice of the sudden change, asking me, “Is something wrong, sweetie?” before tucking me in one night.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I’m just bored with my book,” I lied.
“You can’t give up on it now, dear! Even if it’s not for you, at least try and finish it so you know for sure.”
That night I pulled the book out again and continued from where I left off. I felt bad, as if I was taking advantage of my mom’s ignorance as she advocated for me to read a book that she must not have known the full story behind. But still, I wasn’t really bored of it. In fact, once I had the book out and in my hands again, I felt that same itch I had before. An excitement to see what came next. To know what else lies between the pages of the coming chapters. And as I read further, my heart began to race again. I felt a tingle going up my spine now, and for some reason, I began to sweat.
“Can you hear us?”
The voice was closer this time, somewhere off to my side now, away from the closet and more toward the center of my room. I remained still, careful not to bounce the book light around in fear that I would drive the being away.
“Yes.” I told it. The moment after I spoke back to it for the first time, the strangeness of the situation became somewhat mildly apparent to me, although it still did not deter me or drive me toward fear.
“Good.”
I had church that next morning. What I didn’t realize that day, as we piled into the car at the crack of dawn, was that it would be the last time I would ever go to church for the rest of my life. I remember this day very well, as you’ll soon be able to tell.
“Did you sleep okay?” Mother asked me, peering into the backseat through the rear view mirror.
“Okay, yea.”
“How about your book? Did you read any?”
“Yeah.”
“Good! I’m glad.” She said, smiling with her eyes as they returned to the road ahead.
We pulled up to the church and parked in the small parking lot out front. It was altogether a poorly cared for area with faded yellow lines on the ground separating the parking spaces, and chunks of concrete broken apart as if the urban environment had somehow fallen victim to a recent bombing. Our church service was held in an office park of all places, down a flight of stairs and through a long hallway that always smelt like damp carpet. The church pastor had acquired the space for a good deal, and always talked about the location as if it were merely the humble beginning compared to where they would someday be.
We took our seats in the cramped room as usual and an eerie silence was broken by the sound of an old, muffled electronic organ that tried and failed to lift the energy of the room before our pastor walked out center stage.
“Welcome and good morning to everyone on this fine, somewhat humid day. I hope you all are doing well and the drive in wasn’t too problematic, what with all the traffic cones blooming for the summer.” He gave a sort of wincing smile as a few members of the crowd let out a light chuckle. “I’m sure we’re all eager to get on with service today as this is the day we’ve all been waiting for for almost 18 years now - wow! But I just wanted to take a brief moment before we begin to acknowledge the significant achievement of everyone here, and the endless effort you all have gone through in order to make sure that today happened at all.” The room filled with gentle clapping, everyone turning toward one another as they nodded in approval.
“Very good. Now, without any further delay. Let us begin.”
Several quick yet world changing events occurred in the minutes after his speech. Minutes that have dominated my life and memory ever since they happened. My mother stood up and took me by the hand, looking down at me with a large smile across her face.
“Come on! It’s time!”
“What for?” I hesitated, only slowly scooching off of my seat.
“It’s ok, you’re just going to read something out loud for everyone. Think of it like a speech in class, except everyone here is excited just to hear you speak. You won’t do anything wrong, I promise.” I nodded nervously and followed her up to the front of the congregation where she positioned me in front of a mic stand, adjusted down to my height, before leaving to stand next to the pastor. And then I saw her do something quite strange. She took the pastor's hand in her own and kissed him on the lips. The room was deadly silent as the lights overhead were shut off, suddenly leaving us all in a thick darkness. I squinted my eyes as I tried to look back towards my mother, hoping to god I could catch even the slightest hint of her familiar face.
The shadows were pierced by something on the far side of the room. A glow of red light parting the darkness like a curtain, illuminating the pages of an old looking but familiar book that was slowly making its way down the aisle and toward me. Somebody placed the book in my hands and opened it to the first page.
And then a familiar voice spoke.
“Read.”
“But… I’ve already read the beginning before.” I replied quietly.
“But they haven’t.” The voice explained with a seductive hiss. I held the book closer and looked it over. It was my book. It was my light.
As I began reading the words from the pages, I could hear people in the crowd whispering. Some of them were praying, some were crying, one woman in particular I could hear whispering excitedly to her partner: “He can read it! Can you believe that?”
And there were other noises as well. Chanting. Whaling. A sound that I can only explain as a guttural choking noise. I tried to stay focused. To read loudly and not stutter. But as I read further, another noise began to distract me. A drumming or clanging of metal, followed by a rhythmic grinding, over and over and over. Eventually the noise was so loud it was hard to hear my own voice, but I could tell that the audience was loving it. In fact, they were beginning to yell out their approval: “Amazing,” “We’ve finally found him,” “Praise be!”
The tingling had returned up my spine again and my skin felt electric, like I was being filled with some sort of strange energy. It was as if I was moving with momentum as the words of the book were flowing from my mouth like I had somehow memorized every page - even the parts I hadn’t read before. It was so easy I didn’t even need to look at the pages at a certain point, but by that time, something had started to come over me. A hesitance or doubt. I felt wrong and I desperately wanted to leave.
I looked at my book light, examining the streaks of red marker across the glowing plastic, and without a second thought, I scratched it off with my thumb nail. The rhythmic sounds of metal ceased and a blood curdling scream sounded off across the room, followed by several animal-like growls from the now seething congregation. I had stopped reading now and dropped the book to the ground, clutching the light firmly in my trembling hands as the light showed all around me.
“Mom?” I called out with no reply. There wasn’t a sound in the room now apart from the heavy breathing of the congregation, as if they had all just finished running in a triathlon. I started inching my way forward, stepping down the aisle way between all the seats, swinging my head over each shoulder as the sound of bare footsteps sounded off the linoleum floor, mere inches around my glowing circle of protection. I had considered aiming my light around the room, but couldn’t stomach to see what I might reveal. “Mom?” I called again. A sea of hisses erupted from everyone in the room, and without any further investigation, I ran. I pushed open the office door, turned down the long hallway and made short work of the stairs leading up and out of the building. The light outside was blinding, and everything after that was a blur.
The people who found me, wandering alone around a park, brought me to the police who quickly started a search for missing children. Shortly after that, an investigator was brought in who had already been tipped off that I may not have been the child of the woman who raised me.
Years later, I have now learned who my true biological parents are. The woman who I had once called mother had kidnapped me from the hospital on the day I was born, and several lengthy trials later, she has been placed in prison.
I don’t know what the book really was, and for some reason I have no recollection of its contents either. While these events do haunt my memory, it also helps me to share the bizarre and horrifying tale with others. As time has gone on the days have gotten easier to get through, while the nights are still haunted by the feeling of something lingering in the shadows, watching me with anger but unable to act as I always keep my book-light nearby and ready.

i met this guy on hinge and he seemed like a chill vibe. Based off of his photos he seemed to be someone i would be attracted to. dark complexion, medium build , introverted, and kind of nerdy. We had matched, exchanged numbers, and developed somewhat of a connection but nothing serious. we had mutual interest like video games, and x-men comics. i wanted to get to know him better outside of messaging and asked him if he wanted to see a movie. he responded with “i would love to, but i am currently not working and wouldn’t be comfortable with you paying for your own ticket on the first date.” i found that commendable, and understood that it was currently hard to get a job in our city at the moment (Toronto/GTA AREA). as we continued to talk he became eager to meet me in person, and asked if we could go on a walk. i agreed, but he proposed that we meet him somewhere five minutes away from his house, which was a 30 minute drive away from mine. i expressed that i didn’t feel comfortable doing that because i didn’t see the difference in paying for my own movie and paying for my own gas there and back to see someone for the first time. he also didn’t offer to meet anywhere in between which i would’ve been fine with. for context he told me he didn’t drive or have his license. he agreed with my sentiments and apologized, so we met somewhere in between the both of us. we walked around a local mall for an hour and i told him where to meet me. he had a little bit of trouble but we saw each other and embraced each other with a hug. he then pressed me for not giving him better details on where he could find me but i never thought anything of it. if i’m going to be honest i expected him to look different. firstly he lied about his height, which didn’t make any sense to me but whatever i don’t care for height. i also noticed his hygiene was off. he had insanely cracked dry skin, peeling lips, foam in the corner of his mouth, and an insane amount of build up under his long finger nails. i ignored it and just continued to walk and talk. i notice he couldn’t hold a conversation for his life making it very awkward but i sympathized with him, as he could’ve been nervous. time goes by we’re just walking, window shopping and then he asks for us to go get patties. we went to the patty shop, i bought a patty and he bought one. he noticed the hiring sign, and while on the date he filled out an application for that job. while he was filling out the application i was planning an exit in my head out of this situation. i found it a bit awkward and maybe rude to do so on your first date with someone. i didn’t say anything and then we went home. i went to my car and asked if he needed a ride. he said no, i drove here. at this point i wanted a gun to shoot my self. he had already told me he doesn’t have his license so i was confused how he drove here and why he wanted me to drive all the way to his end of the city if he could drive. i confronted him and told him i thought he didn’t drive. he told me its his dads car and he just takes it sometimes. we then hugged and went our separate ways. the next day he messages me talking about the kind of relationship he wants and tells me he just wants a sexual relationship but nothing serious. i was thinking of a response as this was random and we never had this convo or any conversation like this before. but as time went on i couldn’t think of a reply and ended up ghosting him. do you think i was justified in my actions, or should i have made a better effort to come up with a response?

Hi, guys! Back for a fourth try in requesting this DLC.
I think, between KF1 and KF2, I honestly love KF2 more than the first game, which is a surprise seeing as I logged many hours into the game. I love the improvements that KF2 made, like the look and feel of the weapons (laying down the trigger on the AA-12 on a horde of approaching zombies never fails to bring a smile to my face and get the adrenaline running) to the sheer satisfaction of just seeing the game go all zed time/slow-mo when you kill a zed and you see it ragdolling as you continue to rip and tear into the corpse. Add to that the awesome metal soundtrack, some fun locations, with my favorites being the Airship and Monster Ball as they remind me of a classic arcade game I used to play a lot called CarnEvil and you got a recipe for some good ole fashioned zombie killing! Honestly, I've been playing the game since it came out on Xbox in 2017 and I consider it one of my favorite zombie killing games to date. The game also holds a very special place in my heart: It was the very first game I ever reviewed professionally as, back in the day, I used to work for an online radio station called The Cove Radio before they shut down in 2020 (In fact, out of all the companies whose games I reviewed, they were the most enthusiastic of all of them to hear my thoughts).
Now, the only thing that I didn't care for, and this is honestly the only thing that hurts the game for me personally: Most of the weapons that been released since 2019 are now locked behind DLCs, which I personally never understood. Skins and other cosmetics I can sort of understand but why weapons were put as DLC and not offered as free content to go along with each update, I just don't get. Now, yes, I know KF1 had DLC weapons and skins but, oddly, that didn't really bother me as much (I attribute that to the addition of the Steam Workshop and all the weapons on there). Fast forward to now when I saw there was an Ultimate Edition of KF2 which, after doing a lot of research to see just what it includes, I found out includes not only a bunch of cosmetics that were released via DLC...but all the DLC weapons ever released as well! From the G36C, a gun I first fell in love with when I saw it in the original (can't believe I have to say that) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, to the MG3 Shredder, a gun I used a lot in Call Of Duty Vanguard's multiplayer (Hey, don't laugh! I actually like this game), to even the Rhino Revolver, a gun which I always thought was the coolest looking revolver out there. Heck, even the skins, something I usually just gloss over in games, look amazing too! The Reaper outfit gives me some mad Ghost Rider vibes and, come on...Gary Busey as Santa. I'll say that again, GARY BUSEY as Santa! Can't get much better than that!
So, why am I'm coming here to make this request for the Killing Floor 2 Ultimate Edition Upgrade? Right now, money is tight for me as I currently need whatever money I have to afford minutes for my phone (Tracfone) and, until I'm able to find a job again and be finically stable once again, items like this is just not something I can afford to get myself at this time.
Really don't have much else to say, so I'll just say this: Thank you for taking the time to read my request and I hope you have a wonderful day!
My GamerTag - https://account.xbox.com/en-us/profile?gamertag=S3ANW0LF
Store Link - https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/killing-floor-2-ultimate-edition-upgrade/9NTLNLR2JXZC/0010

today she texted me again she wanted to go to walmart to get snacks so i took her out with our dog. my dad was in his room, gone. locked. she says she knocked the door 5 times. never answered. life knows what to do. my mom was at work, my sister tells my mom she's going to with me. my mom tells her to leave now. the neighbor is outside. observing. and im waiting to see what happens. im ready for whatever life throws my way. but my dad's a fucking pussy with a gun. high as fuck on percs.
one last time before i cant see u again or our dog, one last trip. just us.
i know you like the back of my hand. you have my hair, my humor, my comebacks. born at 9 months old, weighting 8 pounds. smart. beautiful. when the positive came up, i started screaming of happiness and running. you made me a big sister, and i knew i wasnt gonna be alone anymore. i thought of all our adventures. until my mom started crying, desperate. she was finishing her nursing degree, i didnt know she was gonna divorce our dad. you were the stitch to my lilo and nany. you're the glue that makes our family stay together.
i didnt care if u were to be a boy or a girl. at that moment i knew i would be the smallest, the shortest in our family. i felt the responsability fall on me. all in the spawn of 10 minutes. i knew i wouldnt be able to go to college, i knew i would have to be your big brother. i knew i would have to protect you.
and i did, for the longest time. every time our parents would fight i would take u with me and put my fav cartoons for us to watch. i loved babysitting you all the time while mom slept off third shift and dad was working.
i loved making you smile and laugh. you were a perfect baby and are a perfect girl. for you i'll fight any mf that crosses the line, if it wasnt for you i wouldnt have made it to where i am. if you hadnt waited for me in the summer to watch New Girl at 1 am in the morning after i clocked out, i would have quit. you made me a mom, and wish i had my own family. im just a sister, but if anything happens i'll always be there for you
if it wasnt for my sister i would have never fought my abuser back. she was 3 when my dad first whip her with a belt. she peed herself, and for the first time at 12 i screamed ran and blocked him. he marked my thighs, i could care less about the scars they're faded now. i didnt feel the pain. all i felt was rage. for the first time i saw my dad for what he was. i knew unconsciously, yet that moment was it.
2020 my dad's losing his shit and i have to leave. 2021 im in the kitchen arguing calling my mom and my dad's throwing shit. my sister starts crying sitting on a couch on the other side of the apartment. my dad is on my side and starts going to her. asking why is she crying
and ik that walk. ik my sister is terrified. she's not used to this. never will be. it isnt normal. so i jump a counter and run up to her blocking again. always between her and my dad. like its nothing. and its nothing. my body is just meat and bones. i can take it. what is an animal screaming at your face when a baby is on the line?
nothing. for you, who kept me alive for so long. for you who i shared a bed till we couldnt stand each other. for you my twin 10 years younger. for you im reporting our dad and taking the fall.
i love my sister, and i'd rather die than have her go through what i went through. my dad hit her. left a small bruise, a little stupid bruise. like always. nothing bad. all within the safety of law enforcement. i dare him to touch her again after tomorrow

So I am not what one would call "good" at Lethal Company. My highest quota is in the 600s, I've never killed a monster above a Thumper with a shovel, I die to spiders and hoarding bugs often, and I've never played with mods.
HOWEVER, there is one niche that I personally think I do really well in: Protection. If I join a lobby, and they have a shotgun, I'm picking that up and blasting any threats in the facility. I'll often enter the room with my go-to loadout of a shotgun, a flashlight, stun grenade, and either a zap gun, another shell, a shovel, or another stun grenade. I don't pick things up, but I do transport already found items and make sure everyone else is alive.
With that short intro out of the way, it's time to explain what happened. So, I joined a lobby with two girls and one guy. I quickly got to know them, and I don't remember all the names, but the lobby host and the most important person in this tale was named TessTickles, or Tess for short.
The quota for this run was upwards of two and a half thousand. They already had a pretty good stockpile when I joined on Day 3, and I quickly told them what my "niche" was. They seemed pretty happy about this, and agreed to let me act as an enforcer of sorts. We were orbiting Artifice, and the plan was simple: We'd collect scrap, drop it outside the main entrance, and one or more people with jetpacks would fly the stuff back to the ship. If we all died, Tess would disconnect and restart the day before the flag for "new save" could be tripped. Basically, if things didn't go according to plan, we'd just save-scum.
So, day three. After two attempts, we landed a pretty good haul. If we kept this pace up, we'd easily make quota. I killed a Bracken, a nutcracker, and a Thumper with my shotgun and shovel, and managed to stun a Jester and allow my teammate to escape. Pretty good gaming on my part, at least by my standards.
Day two started with me asking if I could have one of the jetpacks, purely to try it out. I had never used a jetpack in this game before, and they understandably refused to let me have one. So, I entered Artifice on foot.
The first part of the day went well, as I stood at the main entrance and funneled scrap from upstairs to the outside while fending off anything that got close. My first near miss occurred when I walked into a kitchen to get some scrap, then heard footsteps. I waited, shotgun out, and then saw my teammate walk into the room.
Me: Hey, man.
Teammate: *says nothing and instead draws a shovel and sprints at me*
M: Wait waIT WAIT NONONO-*frantically spamming the trigger of my shotgun, forgetting about the safety*
My teammate was not, in fact, consumed by bloodlust. Instead, he sprinted right past me and whacked the mimic that had been sneaking up on me to death. I took a moment to collect myself, thanking my teammate, before picking up the scrap and taking it back to main.
Remember the safety, though.
Near the end of the day, we all gathered at main. We had a huge haul, and it would take a while to funnel back to the ship. But before that, Tess had something to do.
Tess: Hang on, guys, I gotta go feed my cat.
Me: Alright, we'll protect you.
About a minute later, we got our first monster attack.
Teammate 1: Snare flea.
T2: Alright, I got it.
Me, seeing a mimic slowly walking down the central staircase: Mimic, mimic!
T2: Keep it away from Tess!
T1: I got this. *runs at the mimic with his shovel*
Me: Aight.
*T2 kills the flea*
*Seconds later, T1 gets grabbed by the mimic after a few good whacks*
T1: Hit it! HIT IT, SOMEONE!
*I try and fail to fire my shotgun, then frantically try and get the safety off*
*General pandemonium*
T2 proceeded to get up close and personal with her own shotgun, preparing to blast the mimic. Unfortunately, it was at that exact moment that two things happened at the same time.

1. T1 got converted into a mimic.
   
2. I finally got the safety off my own shotgun and fired a shell.
   

The buckshot flew right toward the three, killing them all.
It was now just me and Tess.
And Tess was still AFK.
Me: Oh god, guys, I'm so sorry...
I assessed my situation. The items I had available were three shotguns with four ammo between them, two pro flashlights, two shovels, two jetpacks, a flashbang, a stop sign, and about eight hundred credits worth of scrap.
Oh, and a body.
Thankfully, the only threat present seemed to be a slime, which was meandering its way down the stairs. So, I considered my options. I could kite the slime until Tess got back, try and funnel the scrap back to the ship on foot...
Wait, actually, let me check outside, see how bad it is...
I left the facility and was greeted with the sight of:
1 Giant to my left, rapidly approaching.
1 Dog, also to my left, not seeing me yet.
1 Mech, off in the distance.
I quickly turned around and went back into the facility. So, that option was going to be tough. I could maybe try and get to the fire exit, which we knew the location of, but I would only be able to take one load of scrap, it would be dangerous both in and outdoors, and there was no guarantee I'd make it, I could, again, try and kite the slime and wait for Tess to come back, I could-
ticticticticticticticticPLONGGGGGG.
Well, that certainly complicates things.
That's right, a coilhead had chosen to rear its ugly head at the worst possible time. It now sat at the top of the stairs, which the slime had already descended and was creeping toward me steadily.
I now had another decision to make. If I stood still and tried to keep the coilhead from doing anything, I would risk death to the slime. If I waited for Tess, I'd have to kite both a coil and a slime, and I was not confident in my ability to do that. Besides, what was to say the slime/coil wouldn't just execute her, and then turn on me? On top of that, it was 10:30, and I had no way of knowing when Tess would be back. But I couldn't get through the facility fast enough to reach the fire exit, especially with the coil on me, and there was no way I'd survive outside...
My terrified eyes fell upon the discarded jetpack of my teammate. Picking it up revealed it had three-quarters of a tank left of fuel. With all this knowledge, I made my choice.
As the slime slowly approached, I picked up the three most valuable pieces of scrap I could find, being a gold bar, a perfume bottle, and a laser pointer. Then I equipped the jetpack, steeled myself, and spoke.
Me: Tess, I'm leaving you now. Guys, wish me luck.
With that, I went through the main entrance and out to face the night.
Two things had happened while I was gone. The mech had killed the giant, and the dog was nowhere to be seen. I didn't notice this at first, though, and fired up the jetpack.
While I had never used the jetpack before, I knew how it worked, and thought I had a pretty good idea of how to control it. I knew that it exploded if used for too long, or if you hit a wall, and I had watched Smii7y's Lethal Company videos, so I had a vague idea of what to do. I thought you simply looked in the direction you wanted to go, or something like that.
No.
That is not how the bloody jetpack works.
Instead, it behaves more like it would in real life, having no thrust direction but straight down, and you control your direction by tilting yourself with the movement keys.
I found this out literally on the fly, as I boosted straight up and then tilted forward, landing face-first back on the ground. However, I survived, and now I knew a little more. I boosted back up into the air, fiddled around a bit, and then started to get the hang of it. I drunkenly wobbled through the sky like a mosquito after consuming alchohol, but slowly flew toward the ship. I could see the lights, and the two other dogs nearby. I got closer and closer. My fuel dropped lower and lower. Despite this, I estimated I'd have EXACTLY enough to make it to the ship.
Before I explain what happened next, there's something you should know. I do not play on a traditional monitor setup, oh no. My father thought it would be a good idea to hook my PC up to a TV, which means I have a comically large monitor. However, this is... flawed. The TV doesn't have high enough resolution to show minute details, and the distance I am from the screen means I can't see those fine details either. Additionally, the screen tearing is... rather horrendous, and so Vsync is almost a requirement in every game I play. And then there's the issue of my keyboard and mouse being rather old models, and sometimes having difficulty connecting to the reciever in my PC, resulting in either seconds of input lag or no input at all.
That is exactly what happened here. I was within speaking distance of the ship, less than a second's walk away, when my keyboard inexplicably decided that enough was enough and disconnected for a second. I did not realize this until a second later, when the input finally went through after a second of me holding the S key to start hovering, flipping me COMPLETELY upside down and causing me to faceplant again, right between two dogs.
I frantically tried to take off again, but the extra time spent in the air had expended nearly every last drop of fuel in the pack. Attempting to take off used up the last few drops, which made a sound.
A very loud sound.
Me: Guys... I'm so, so sorry. I tried... I'm sorry...
And then the dogs got to me.
The instant I got back into the group voice chat, I could hear them screaming for Tess. But she wasn't back yet. I watched in sorrow as the ship doors closed, all of us dead, the ship returning to orbit, erasing all the progress we'd made.
Tess didn't return until two minutes later, and the other guy on the team explained that, in the span of two minutes, everything that could have possibly gone wrong, did go wrong. Tess, whoever you are, I'm so sorry.

I’m a big Naked and Afraid fan and am checking out Alone for the first time.
I’ve just watched the first two episodes and it occurred to me that the first two guys to tap did so over fear of animals, and those two also just so happened to be the ones who mentioned how they’re always carrying a gun (one as a police officer and another as a civilian) in their daily life.
It made me wonder if it’s more causal or correlation: does carrying a gun for safety make them feel more defenseless when they don’t have it, or are people who are naturally fearful the most likely to choose a lifestyle/profession where they carry a gun every day? Maybe it’s both, or maybe it’s just a coincidence.
Anyway, I know this is random but I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the first to guys who tapped.