Our fleet of ~15 diesel 30' tower trailers got quite a workout during and after the 2020 pandemic. The idea that one ham could open a residential garage door and roll out one of these to a deployment site and be on the air in half an hour was appealing. These were popular on Field Day, when a decent sized beam could be deployed to a park or parking lot with minimal setup.
One Field Day use case we had hear about annually is powering large RVs. Our favorite ham club has around four, and various (6KW- gasoline) onboard RV generator ailments are a constant topic of conversation. One of the RVs reportedly broke down out West, and may not be back in time for June. One large rig nicknamed "Swamp Monster" provides the lovely food service, but needs 50A of 115V AC for the various systems, including two air conditioners.
The pair of 2012 vintage ex Sunbelt 6KW diesel towers I bring are ideal for powering Field Day stations. They have two sets of 20A 115V outlets and we made transformers for 240 30A 3 wire (L6-30- hot, hot ,ground no neutral) to 120V 20A. We can use the transformers for one 30A 120V RV outlet but not the 50A RV requirement. These gensets burn > .5 gal/hour and do not require refueling during the event and emit no RF hash we could detect.
The arrival of sad faces and 50A RV power cords caused us to shop online. We are pretty good at this - and just needed an excuse. Vin the Diesel - a Coleman 15KW generator unit was purchased at auction some years back for $800. It has a "California" 50A 240V four wire (hot, hot, ground + neutral) AC outlet. A simple adapter converts this to a modern 50A RV outlet. It has a small (10 gallon) internal fuel tank and burns ~1 gallon/hour. In 2023 we powered a 50A RV, 2x 30A RVs and several smaller trailers and stations. It worked well but we made a lot of trips to the nearby diesel station. We do not have priority fuel delivery set up for emergencies- FEMA had a recent exercise for a weeks long regional power outage and limited diesels.
Diesel light towers are made in 6KW, 8KW, 15KW and 20KW models. The 20KW models seem to be seen in Canada, North Dakota and Texas. One (2012 Magnum MLT 5200) appeared for auction locally in running condition. It's a good brand. It was single phase only- three phase is used at events but not in Ham Radio as such. I lobbed in a low four figure bid and called Doug, N0NAS who tries to be the voice of reason.
Why I wanted it:

1. Bragging rights
2. One trailer rules them all - 440,000 lumens of light (3-5 acres), lots of 120V AV power (167 amps), 30' tower, 56 gallons diesel.
3. Two California jacks (50A each) and one 50A Marine Shore Power also easy to convert to RV 50A, several 30A 3-wire 240V and four 120V 20A AC outlets.

Why I didn't need it:

1. No place to store it in my garage - it's wide - our Duluth area trailer base has room though
2. No use case except Field Day (MN VOAD is getting a 30' ex FEMA trailer - 50A RV plug) but it has a built in genset)
3. 1.8 gallons per hour fuel burn. $170 worth of diesel for 24 hours. If you run it lightly loaded it will use a little less but will also wet stack
4. 15,000 hours on it- we don't use it much - but an overhaul ($$) is in the future.
5. A solar tower trailer is more event friendly due to noise, fuel cost and smoke

To make a long story short, it went for $1300 or so. This was above my impulse buy range- and a good thing actually.
2012 MAGNUM MLT5200IVCAN Online Auction Results AuctionTime.com

I realize there are a lot of posts out there relating to changing a first name for very good and nuanced reasons: choosing a name that better aligns with gender expression, culture and heritage, etc. However, my reason for wanting to change my first name is far more mundane: I just didn’t like it very much.
I have prepared all the documents, and even had them notarized, in preparation to change my first name. Specifically, to swap my first name and middle name (think Maria Laurel to Laurel Maria). For a long time, I’ve felt like this is the right decision. However, since completing the paperwork a few nights ago, I’ve had nightmares about the name change, and now I’m second-guessing myself for the first time.
I have disliked my first name my whole life. It is very feminine and classic, and while I’m a cishet woman, it always felt too regal and too grown-up for me. I felt like it was a very nice name, but didn’t quite fit *me*. I always said that when I got older, I'd swap it with my middle name. For a myriad of reasons, it was too much hassle to change it when I was in university. Then, after graduation, some legal proceedings in the family got me to hesitate again. So, I kicked the can down the road, figuring I'd just change my first name along with my last name if/when I got married.
I’ve gone through related Reddit posts, and tried a bunch of things recommended by commenters—I’ve ordered coffee / takeout under the new name to hear it shouted over the counter, introduced myself as my new name to a stranger I was on a long multi-hour bus ride with, tried writing out the new name as a signature and thinking how I'd respond to any short-forms or nicknames that might come about, etc. I like the way the new name looks and sounds, and I like that it won’t cause too much of a ruckus with my medical documentation because it’s just a swap of my two current names, and where I live, the health card number and social insurance number do not change when a person changes their name.
I don’t know why my subconscious is suddenly throwing complicated feelings at a decision I [thought] I’d made my peace with long ago. These nightmares have me wondering what I will do in the event that I do end up regretting it.
I’m wondering if any other “mundane-motivated” name-changers have any insight, advice, or recommendations of things I should think about before mailing this package to the government.
**So, Reddit—has anyone changed their first name NOT for reasons not related to gender or culture, and regretted it? Or, changed their first name, but still ended up going by their original name anyway?**
Some extra info in case it is asked in the comments:
1. Both names are common feminine Western/English names, and I am a cishet woman. As such, the nuances of anglicizing a foreign name, reclaiming an anglicized foreign name or Indigenous name, and alignment with gender expression are not a factor in my case.
2. I’ve been at my job for 5 years. Prior to this job, I worked a string of contracts in a completely different industry. Now, I’m in a job at an organization I’d like to stay at for a long time. All this to say: networking events and “brand recognition” of my name are not a big deal for me.
3. My job is fully remote, so whatever my username is, is the name coworkers will know me by. My work has very simple and supportive policies for people choosing their “public” name. I have 3 work friends that I actually speak with outside of work, and I think they will adjust alright. (And even if they don't... it's not like others will overhear them calling me by my original name and absorb it, since we don't work in an office!)
4. I know that my family will likely never call me by my new name, for a wide range of reasons, and I’m OK with that. I think it’s even kind of sweet to have a name that’s just for my family. I will of course notify them of the legal change, though, in case they ever need it (for example, locating me in a hospital or airport, etc)
5. One of the more important reasons for point #5 is that we have a few people in the family with memory loss due to both Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injuries, so being able to refer to me by my original name will make life a lot easier for them and those who provide care to them.
6. My mom is sad that I don’t like the name she picked, but fully saw this coming, and is OK with it, and I’m OK with her calling me by my original name…as long as she doesn’t try to get people to use my original name at new introductions (ie, “this is my daughter, Laurel” > “I thought your daughter was named Maria?” > “Maria is her middle name, she prefers to go by Laruel outside the family”, etc)
6-b. I am estranged from my father. My siblings are not estranged from my father. Either way, I don't care too much what he thinks.
7. My spouse is fully supportive. (He only ever calls me “dear” or “darling” when it's just us anyway)
8. My in-laws live far, far away, and we are LC (low contact) with them, so they can call me by my original name all they want, because I will not be around to hear it (except Christmas, but I can live with that!)
9. I purposely keep a low profile online, and am not worried about people being unable to find me online. I do not have Facebook. My Instagram is set to Private, has a small friends list of people I actually talk to in real life, and I don’t use Linked In. I do use Reddit, but am mostly a lurker who makes an effort to remain unidentifiable offline. All this to say: I’m perfectly fine with people having a hard time finding me on the internet.

So this, this takes a lot of contextual details into account, so strap in.
I (27F) have a brother, (33M). The age gap between us is relevant. Growing up, I just wanted to be friends with my brother, he was one of my favorite people in the world even if he did bully me sometimes.
I'm going to provide some examples of his treatment.
When I was about three, he came into my room after I had been put to bed, wearing a mask and holding a butter knife above me. Still afraid of masks to this day.
He would always drink every pitcher of something I made and never make any after finishing it. Sometimes I wouldn't even get a glass. My mom was busy fostering other kids and didn't have time for 'petty squabbles'. Once, I spit in the top of the pitcher and left the lid off so he could see it. He yanked away the bowl of cereal I was eating and spit in it, shoving it back so hard some spilled on me. I had just hit preteen age and was really sick of just taking his crap, so I splashed it back at him. He threw me to the ground and started hitting me. My mom heard the fighting and told us we were both at fault, so he never got punished.
One time, my parents busted him with drugs. There was a screaming match and he was only home from college for the holidays. Once he left, I felt safe to come out of my room again and was at the dining room table drawing or doing winter break worksheets or something. I think I was around 14. My brother came back in and got something from the kitchen before going back down to his room in the basement, but he said some snarky comment to me before going down. I hadn't even said anything or made a noise to warrant it. What I said in turn was 'At least I don't do drugs.' The next second, I was pulled up by my neck and my brother slammed me into the wall. Things are kind of foggy, but my next memory is waking up on the floor and crying for our parents. I'm not really sure what the punishment for that was. I think he just left and went back to college early to avoid it.
After the fight this post is actually about, I learned from my mom that he actively denied that this ever happened. I was really traumatized about it. The drug he claimed to be on became an almost catastrophic trigger. I would feel hands on my throat and the darkness closing in again at the mere mention of it, it could send me into a panic attack. I've gotten better about my reaction to it, but I still refuse to have it anywhere around me or in my life. It's a socially accepted drug, so it's cost me more than a few relationships. When I heard he denied it, I looked at my mom and said, how many times have I lied versus him? And why would I make up something like that? She's seen the reactions. I broke up with a guy I really liked because he refused to keep it away from me. If I saw a scene in a TV show when it was more recent, I would curl up into a ball and couldn't talk, my throat felt so tight, I just cried. I'd like to know how or why I would have faked reactions like that. She never really believed him since he was known to lie, but it was still appalling he tried to lie about something so severe.
And that's not all! Once, my mom kicked him out when she snapped at him for his dog hurting our dogs and he called her a bitch, living rent free with our parents at 27 after failing through college due to partying. My mom had enough and told him to get out. He texted me and asked if he could stay with me for the night, despite me being away at college 2 hours from our town. I didn't think my mom did anything wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to leave him alone like that. I still loved him, even after all that up there.
So I said yes. I lived in an apartment near campus with a roommate, and we each had our own bedroom and ensuite bathroom, plus the kitchenette and a living room we shared. I had a 'friend' at the time- I asked him if he could possibly bring some booze over for my brother, giving a quick run down of the situation, and he agreed that yeah, the man probably needed a drink (I wasn't old enough to purchase alcohol, so I asked him). All three of us hung out on the porch to make sure we didn't disturb my roommate until around 3 AM, where my brother's drunk comments are making me really uncomfortable so my 'friend' suggests we head to bed, since we have class in the morning, too. Friend regularly sleeps with me in my bed, so its not an issue. And I cleared the couch in the shared living room with my roommate before I told my brother it was okay. So I go in first, change into pajamas, and then let my brother in to do all the bathroom stuff he needed before bed. I'm laying down and half asleep when I'm yanked out of bed by my arm and forcibly pushed through my own door, my brother demanding my bed. 'Friend' gently stood up for me and reminded him that I was already being generous by letting him stay at all, he could at least respect me. My brother did not like that. He started slurring angry stuff at both of us and collecting his dog's toys, saying that he'll just drive all the way home if I'm going to be like this. This is after he consumed like, half a bottle of fireball. So that was NOT happening. I'm standing in the way of the front door and blocking it once my brother finally finds his keys and he starts pulling me away and hurting me. 'Friend' tackled him and pinned him to the ground in an old highschool wrestling hold. I snatch the keys and run into the kitchenette, remove the sink filter, and hold the keys close in case I have to throw them down the drain in desperation. My brother is screaming and hurling insults left and right and I'm deeply traumatized already because of his violence towards me and from the vitriol just makes me cry really hard. My roommate knows I'm quiet and the noise wakes her up and she asks what the hell is going on. I try to explain but I'm basically in hysterics and 'friend' explains for me, while calmly still pinning my brother. Roomie was in nursing school and turned on the Nurse Voice immediately to address my brother. She tells him she just lost a friend to a drunk driver, and it is not responsible to drive in this state. She'll perform sobriety tests periodically and when he passes, he can go. And if he continues and tries to leave, she will call the cops on him for drunk driving, and my 'friend' and I could probably tell the cops about the violence, too. Around 5 AM he was finally sober enough to pass and his last words to me were 'I hope you fucking like mom and dad, because we aren't family anymore'. It shattered me.
He didn't talk to me for 2 years.
I got presents when I came home on my birthday and christmas from him during that time, and my parents said he was busy working and left the presents early with them, he was still annoyed but we were family. I believed it. I later realized that my parents were lying and covering up for him because they knew it would have broken my heart.
At some point after that, he started turning himself around. He never really apologized for any of the things he did to me. But I let him back into my life anyway, because I loved him, and I had always wanted my brother to be my friend. Our family is really small. I was just happy to jump at the chance to hang out with him again. He ended up with a girlfriend and he bought a house where they both stayed, so I finally had a place to actually visit him since he had been more or less couch surfing until then. I was so excited. My brother was older and more mature, and he had his own house now! We could finally be close!
Obviously... That wasn't how things turned out.
Why exactly none of us like his girlfriend is a different, long story. But suffice it to say, we all pretty much hated her and hated that he was with her. She basically forbade us from being over at his house very much. I tried to overlook the crappy things she had done to us, because she and I shared a lot of traits and interests. I would have a cool sister! Now? It disgusts me that we share anything in common. Point is, I would still keep trying to be friendly with both of them. There came a day when I sat my brother down and had a real conversation with him. When he was truly sad, he seemed to come to me. He told me he wasn't happy with her. He just was terrified of being alone. He was really afraid of her being a mother, due to her mental and medical state, and the fact that she was so lazy around the house (working from home, too). And that was the last time I was over at his house, because we heard the girlfriend's comforter rustling and he panicked and shoo'ed me out of the house before she realized I was there. That was about 3 years ago.
I kept being really excited when he was over for holidays. But he was over for less and less, because they went with her family more, or she wanted to go home. He wouldn't show up on birthdays the day of, or even the weekend. It'd be like two weeks later, and it was almost always gift cards for my parents. Like jesus christ, the least you could do is hand your parent the card on their birthday. Anyway, I would always ask him to hang out later on and he'd say yeah, then back out at the last minute. It stung every time. I started asking less and less. It got to the point where he would even back out of playing animal crossing with me online, from the comfort of his own home. That's when I gave up. He used to text me once in a while with memes, at least. But that stopped long ago. I realized that I was the only one putting effort into our relationship, and it crushed me.
I'm not going to lie, I became really bitter about his girlfriend. When he announced they were engaged, none of our family was happy. But I managed to save the relationship between all of us by apologizing over text and pointing out that all our faces dropped with pain and confusion because he was referring to his fiancee by a nickname, that was also the name of our dog that had passed only a month ago. Which, that's partially true, that's definitely why my face looked shattered. I wasn't happy, but I wasn't going to bring it up.
As my brother got older and started making healthier decisions, I kept up hope that one day he'd come to his senses. Either ditch the fiance or put more effort into family relationships. But I started losing hope really quickly. I dreaded the day when they would tell us a wedding date or that a baby was on the way.
Mother's day came, and my brother backed out of brunch with my mom, stating he was tired from having breakfast with fiance's mom (yeah. yeah, that was a pretty common theme and just one more reason we didn't like them together). So he'd take her out the next weekend. Last year he backed out after being twenty minutes late because he took his fiancee to urgent care for one of her usual and frequent migraines. He kept telling us he wouldn't be long. Get her a refill on the injections she would use and come to us. An hour and a half later, he said to go home and that he was sorry, we'd reschedule.
He never rescheduled.
So, up comes the make up brunch for my mom this year. I had already given her my present, so she had at least some mother's day celebration. I woke up with a pretty bad headache and immediately downed allergy pills and advil so I could make it through brunch at least, for my mom's sake and to see if my brother had changed any. At this point in the relationship with my brother, I'm pretty bitter. I went back and checked my texts while we were waiting for him in the restaurant. The last text between my brother and I was January of this year. And it was me asking if hypothetically could I stay with him if my mom threw me out (I've asked it before many times, and he would say yes-- It's not really likely that my mom would throw me out, but I have kind of bad anxiety and it makes me feel better to have back up plans). He said 'uh maybe very short term it would be hell with my dogs and schedule lol' and I just stared at the text. He asked if I had considered getting my own place-- Well, yes, I have, but I really can't bring myself to do it because it would mean separating my family's two dogs (technically one is mine, ones is my parents', but they're so attached to each other) and I couldn't just leave my dog behind either. I told him not to worry, because mom had calmed down.
But back to breakfast. I'm usually a little more lively around my brother and usually try to talk to him a lot, about anything, or something I'm excited about. Between my bitterness and the headache, I didn't say more than 40 words through the whole meal, I think. The two times my brother spoke to me at all were to mansplain to me about my favorite Fallout character (its Hancock, he uses drugs, but you can get him off them if you do his friendship arc). He asked me if I'd seen the show yet. I told him no, because I asked a friend to watch through it and see if Hancock's drug use was too frequent or severe before I started it. And then he asked me who Hancock was. And I was like??? The guy with the lasagna face? Turns out Hancock is actually the main character of the show. He pretty much talked down to me 'you know they're not real drugs, right, they just exist in the universe. he takes his inhaler everyday'. Internally I'm like 'No you fucking moron, they're real drugs, with different names. If you paid attention to crafting or lore, you would realize that. You need fertilizer to make the drug you're talking about (jet)-- you know, like people who will shit in a bag and huff it. Buffout is basically steroids. And Hancock decreases his drug use if you become close with him, but sure, tell me about my favorite character you know shit about, not even his fucking name.' But I say none of this. I just return to being quiet and slowly eating my food. The other time he talked to me was when I asked the waitress if my mom could have a redo on her eggs because they weren't the cook she asked for (which, also, this is big for me! I have severe anxiety and ordering food is so hard, much less speaking up about an inconsistency) and my mom was so grateful. She didn't want to make a fuss, but I would, for her. When the lady took the eggs back he's all shitty like 'you know that if they fuck it up the first time, then they probably can't make it right, don't you' and I just looked at him and didn't bother responding. Like, okay. You assume its just one person back there making eggs? If one was screwed, either they would just refire it with extra care or one of the other line cooks would do it. I watch a ton of Kitchen Nightmares and Hells Kitchen, so I think I'm a little more familiar with the back of house or how the line works than my brother. And that people don't actually usually mess with your food for simple or reasonable requests. But he doesn't know that (actually, I roped my mom into Hell's Kitchen, and we then further roped my dad in, so Hell's Kitchen is now a Family Event), because of course he doesn't, he never asks about me or my interests. By the end of brunch, I'm just kind of pissed off, and my head is aching. We're walking out and my brother hands my mom a card. She opens it up and it says something something something grandma and opens on a sonogram. And I'm just so done with everything. I mutter to myself 'are you fucking kidding me'. My mom is putting up a good effort in being nice to soon to be wife and while personally, this disgusts me and crushed my spirit, I was not focused on the baby talk. I did manage to pick up his fiance saying 'oh yeah well i'm not on speaking terms with my family at the moment, so i have to talk to SOMEONE'S family haha' (like wow, okay, tell us you don't consider us family until we're a back up plan a little louder). We were out in the sun, it was hot, and my head was pounding. After a few minutes I asked 'can we go now' and my brother got shitty with me, because the world revolves around him (god forbid he had sympathy for a migraine given his own fiancee, but he didn't even notice to care that I said less than 50 words) and snapped at me that 'You don't have to be here, no one invited you'. And I was just done. I walked away closer to the car and I didn't catch it but my mom glared daggers at him and said that she had invited me. Then my brother said the thing that was the last straw.
'That's some fucking family for you.'
I was engulfed in rage. He put us on the back burner, barely spoke to us, minimized visits for his girlfriend's comfort, and yet somehow, he decided I was shitty family? I did his homework for him when I was a child and he was in high school. I always was there for him when he got depressed or existential crisis now and then. I advocated for my parents to make up with him after the fight where my mom kicked him out. When he tried to finish his degree since he only had one semester left when he really fucked it up, he asked ME for help, because he would need the help in the last core class he needed- Calculus. I was STILL IN HIGHSCHOOL. And I agreed! (He never ended up going, but that's not the point). I was the one who reminded my parents of what desserts he liked for family gatherings. I was the one who would dogsit for him when he would just leave without telling anyone, because he knew if I heard the dog cry in its crate I would feel bad and release it, and that I wouldn't put it away in a crate if I was home because I felt bad. I was the one that tried to convince my parents to give his fiance a second chance. I made 300 fake facebook accounts years ago before verification was a thing to vote for his band to headline a medium large concert for a decently known band.
He used to steal my things to pawn them for drug money. He would threaten to say goodbye to my chao when I reminded him it was my turn to play. He would call me a dependent loser for not having 'x' life skill already when he didn't have it at my age either, and long after that! He used physical force against me several times. He would purposely taunt me with things I was afraid of. He repeatedly cut me off and didn't talk to me for a while over some petty thing he got angry about, but 2 years was the longest ever by at least a year. He would use me as a kid to ask our parents about something he wanted, and me being a kid, would go along with it because I loved him and wanted to make him happy. He decided to spend one summer with his girlfriend in California or whatever during highschool and I was crushed and asked him if we would be able to hang out any before the next school year started because he would go away for college and he laughed in my face. He always used me as the soundboard to vent about my parents (again, I am much younger than him)! He would constantly make fun of me that I had no friends and that I would be alone all my life, and that continued through adulthood, too. He would talk down to me about my chosen second family/people I met online long distance. He would make fun of things I liked all the time knowing that I found his opinion important.
I had done nothing but love him my entire life, and he barely acknowledged me in his.
So I fucking lost it. I started screaming back at him (in public, in a parking lot, loud-- all things that are important because I have severe anxiety and hate making a spectacle, this was how far things had gotten) about how he was an ungrateful piece of shit and he had personally told me he wasn't happy with her and that she would be a terrible mother and all I wanted was for him to be happy but I'm shitty family? He resorted to his standard argument when he has no argument- Puff out his chest and say 'lay a hand on me, lay a hand on me'. My parents were so shocked by the fact that I had an outburst like that, they couldn't react for a moment. Neither of them told me off, at any point. My dad started to redirect me towards the car to end the argument and my brother has one last clapback 'remember when you asked to move in with me? yeah, this is wh--' I cut him off by screaming about when he asked ME to stay with me in my apartment and threw me out of my own room, and his only comeback was 'it wasn't YOUR apartment, it was THEIR apartment' pointing to my parents, because like for him, they paid for my accommodations in college. I had enough. I told him to never fucking contact me again, because he is NOT my fucking family, he chose his family and he is dead to me. And I got in the car. Didn't listen to another word.
My parents stayed out there with my brother and his fiance for a while. I hadn't known anything that had gone on until later when talking to my mom.
Again, neither one of them scolded me a single bit when they got in the car. They just gave me this really apologetic look because they knew how sad and hurt I had to be to finally cut him out of my life for good. I was really wound up and stressed out and I sort of asked my mom to choose between us-- Poor wording on my part, but I needed to be supported. My brother always got away with treating me like shit without any consequences-- And me not being in his life wasn't a consequence either, because his life would not change without me in it. She kinda got cross with me by saying she would never abandon either of us and I took it as 'you're enabling this by keeping contact, and saying that it's okay for him to treat me like this' and I went to my room. I shut my door and started sobbing my eyes out. My mom had heard me through two door and down the hall and she came to hug me. And I asked her straight up like 'what's going to happen at the wedding? are you going to go if he doesn't invite me?' Because like I said, he never had consequences for treating me like garbage my entire life. I wanted there to be SOME form of consequence. She did reassure me that if he pulled that move, neither one of my parents would go. We had a long talk about how it really hurt my feelings the way she said she wouldn't abandon either of us because, you know, at the time, it really felt like she wasn't supporting me with that choice. But I had also worded my question really poorly, being so upset and all. I told her how I felt about him not ever having any repercussions so I needed my parents to at least back me up on that. They don't plan on contacting him much, but won't outright abandon him if he needs something. But if it comes down to it, like if the wedding invite doesn't come, they would support me over my brother. And she had made it clear to him that family is like a totem pole, and on that totem pole, I definitely was higher than him.
A few days later, I was telling her how it still really hurt. I don't regret what I did and I will never take it back, but it pained me to know how little I really meant to him. I think I was hoping that the shock of me finally giving up on him would ring some alarm bells in his head. We were talking about it and she ended up conversationally giving me more details about what had happened after I got in the car and the aftermath. Apparently after my outburst, the fiance started walking away crying that 'first she didn't have her family, and now she doesn't have his family either'.
Remember how she said she wasn't on speaking terms with her family? Her older brother and his wife have a child that their mom babysits sometimes. They're considering another child, via IVF. The fiance is mad that her baby won't be her mom's priority if they have another child and that her brother was hogging their mom to babysit.
Yeah. Gee, wonder why they won't talk to you anymore either.
And she told my mom about the moving in comment, that it was just because she didn't want their large dogs to shred my small dog, or anything worse, because she would feel horrible (I don't believe this for a second, it was another convenient excuse). My mom looked at her and asked if she was serious, because I never would have brought my dog over there. Again, because of how happy she is with her sister. The fiance actually looked shocked at this information, indicating that my brother was up to his old lying was again.
Speaking of my brother, apparently he told my parents that he would never come over here again as long as I live here. And honestly? That's fine with me. I don't want him in this house. I am agoraphobic and my home is like a sanctuary. My mom and I were talking about how ridiculous this all is and how entitled they are, and I mention that it occurred to me that they were suddenly invested in being a family now that she's pregnant and definitely getting married (and after she won't speak to her family) and I wouldn't be surprised if they only told us and played the 'family' card because they had expected me to be my normal gentle and loving self. That it seemed convenient, and I couldn't help but think they had only allowed us in on the news expecting a baby shower gift or wedding gift. Or for me to arrange the baby shower-- Fiance doesn't have a sister, isn't talking to her mom, and doesn't have that many female friends (shocker). My mom sighed and said it wouldn't surprise her either if they had expected me to be their baby sitter for the same reason, just like I took care of his dog because I couldn't refuse it with my soft heart. And honestly, I had thought that too, but I dismissed the thought because it seemed too much like they would consider me for that. But my mom had the same idea, so it couldn't be that far off.
She told me she had reached out to my brother one last time, after the initial fight, after she had comforted me from the violent sobbing and saw just how much it hurt. The gist was just 'you should really apologize to your sister, all she ever really wanted from you was for you to acknowledge her as part of your life. our family is small, and it hurts to see you two like this. All it takes is an invite to hang out now and again, that's all she wants. I hope you can figure this out. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I love you'.
My brother's response was 'I am not handling this situation right now'.
And it really hit me. He wasn't willing to do the bare minimum of an apology and spending any time with me at all. I laughed bitterly and told my mom he probably thinks that by the time his birthday rolls around I'll feel bad and come back to him-- He'll have a nasty surprise coming.
I'm pretty sure I'm not the asshole here. But between my anxiety, my hurt, and just the long history of me forgiving my brother because I love him, I keep wondering if maybe I shouldn't have. I go back and forth between thinking that I was wrong and that I was just showing off my shiny new backbone.
So, AITA for cutting contact with my brother and his pregnant fiance?

Previous case
The infected deer are starting to become a real problem. That being said, as the title suggests, the worms are the least of my worries.
(If you're not familiar with what Orion Pest Control's services are, it may help to start here.)
On my drive home a few nights ago, I saw the reflection of eyes in the distance. As I slowed down, I discovered a buck standing in the middle of the road, head bent over gray fur.
It was eating an opossum. Or, more accurately, the worms puppeteering it were coiling around the opossum, their mouths leaving huge holes in the poor animal's fur as they dragged it between the deer's open jaws.
Like the infected doe I'd encountered before, the buck’s stomach was pulsating as the worms moved. Its fur was unruly, the white patch over its throat stained with layers of dried blood.
My stomach fluttered in disgust at the way the parasites protruded from its mouth. God, those worms… Steeling myself, I snatched my toolbelt off of the passenger seat along with the shotgun and went out to take care of it. Unfortunately, I only had regular shells that time. After the incident at the farm, I hadn't had the time to restock on salt shells. They would've made this process much faster and easier.
I just had to shoot it in the head, then pour salt on each worm afterwards. Same as before. No problem, right?
The sound that the worms made as they devoured the opossum made my skin crawl. The sliminess of their skin as they slithered around each other combined with the wet tearing of flesh and fur. Whatever you're imagining, I assure you that the noise was far more nauseating in real life.
Before the worms or their host had a chance to notice me, I took aim and pulled the trigger. The side of the buck's head exploded. It let out a deep, guttural groan as the worms dropped from around the trapped rodent.
The buck then lowered its antlers at me. Fuckfuckfuck! I sprinted for my car as it charged me, the worms flopping around as they were dragged across the road by their host. I got out of the way just as the buck's antlers pierced my G6's hood. It shook its head violently, my little car shaking along with it as it tried to get its antlers free.
Why was it so much more aggressive than the doe? Had it been infected longer?
Just as I raised the shotgun again, I felt something brush against my foot. I was so glad that nobody was around to see me yelp like a coyote as I expertly flailed away from the worm that had taste-tested my boot.
There was an ear-splitting, metallic groan as the buck got its antlers free. I stepped away from the worms as I fired again. The buck fell to the side, causing the worms to lurch to the ground like cut ropes. Heroically, I backed away from them even more as they began to convulse, fumbling with shaking hands to get the salt out of my toolbelt.
The area around me became much brighter as another vehicle made its way down the road. I got off to the side to lower the chances of getting hit, then otherwise ignored it as I finished the job by seasoning the parasites, grimacing as they writhed against their salty demise.
From behind me, I heard the oncoming vehicle start to slow down. I had just finished salting the final worm when the driver completely slowed to a stop. Glaring against the headlights, dread pooled in my stomach as I recognized the old, boxy blue Ford pickup. I'd seen it parked at the mechanic's shop every time I've had to go over there.
What was he doing here?
Coincidences don't exist in this line of work. I hadn't seen the mechanic since that day he'd turned me into a dog. I'd went out of my way to try to avoid him, which in hindsight, I probably could've been more subtle about.
It occurred to me to run. A frightened, primal impulse. But if I'm right about what the mechanic is, that'd be a horrible idea. They take cruel delight in hunting their prey down. Not knowing what else to do as my heart raced, I made sure that the buck and the worms were dead, shooting the infected animal in the head one last time. It didn't move. Neither did the worms.
The truck's door creaked open, then slammed shut. And with the sound of his boots on the gravel, I said a quick prayer, hoping that whatever god heard me would be a merciful one.
The mechanic grimaced at the dead worms, “Hoo, those things are nasty.”
All I could think of to say in my state was, “…Yeah.”
Brilliant, right?
He clicked his tongue, then walked over to my G6, shaking his head. “It sure did a number on this.”
For the first time, I got to see the extent of the damage that the buck had done to my poor little car. The hood was crumpled and riddled with several small holes. I had left it running, but after the attack, the engine had gone quiet. My dread worsened as I noticed that some sort of fluid was pooling beneath the front of the car.
The mechanic popped the hood, absent-mindedly nudging a dead worm out of the way with his heel as he examined my suffering car.
“Yeah, that's the fuckin’ radiator.” The mechanic commented. “This thing ain't going anywhere.”
You've gotta be kidding me.
I'm not a car person. I didn't know if he was messing with me or not. I stammered, “Are… are you serious?”
He closed my hood, “You see me laughing, puppydog?”
Prick.
“Please don't call me that.” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible.
He snickered, “What would you like me to call you, then?”
I replied, “Let's go back to ‘stranger.’”
He pursed his lips, “But we're really not strangers anymore, now, are we?”
I didn't like that he'd taken enough of an interest in me to want to use something other than a generic nickname for me. I didn't trust this. Not one bit.
The mechanic patted the G6's hood noisily before stepping over a worm to stand in front of me, “Well, I can tow this thing to the shop, then start workin’ on it in the morning. In the meantime, why don't you let me give you a lift?”
Oh, FUCK no.
“Thanks, but I have people I can call.” I replied, eyes on his chest to avoid his gaze.
He chuckled, “You really don't like accepting help when it's offered, do you?”
That was a warning. Don't push it.
Doing everything in my power to keep my voice calm, I asked, “Will you expect something in return?”
With a grin, he replied, “Just the pleasure of your company.”
I don't like this.
As much as I would've preferred to take my chances walking home and dealing with literally any other atypical animal that could be prowling the night, I was too afraid to wear the mechanic's patience any thinner.
He either read my mind or my thoughts showed on my face because he then added with a smirk, “You can bring your gun, if that'll make you feel safer.”
Unable to shake the feeling that I was going to the gallows, I reluctantly climbed into the passenger seat of his truck, flipping the safety switch on the shotgun before setting it on the floor against my leg.
The interior smelled pleasantly of black cherries. I'd expected the stench of motor oil. He wordlessly nativated the truck in front of my broken down car, then jumped back out again to hook everything up.
While he was busy with that, I quickly texted Victor and Reyna, ‘broke down. mechanic found me. taking me somewhere. not sure where yet.’
For good measure, I also shared my location with them. Afterwards, I jammed my phone back into my pocket, then peered into the side mirror to watch the mechanic. He was pulling on the chains he'd attached to my G6, testing their tightness. He looked like he was almost done.
My phone buzzed, but I didn't dare take it out again.
The mechanic climbed back into the driver's seat with a sigh. As the old pickup started down the road, my unease kept building. I felt like I shouldn't move or breathe too much, for some strange reason. This might sound dramatic, but I would've felt safer being trapped in a cage with a hungry lion. At least a lion would just shred me and be done with it.
I reminded myself that I was still wearing my toolbelt. He'd let me take the shotgun. I didn't know how effective salt, shells, or a silver blade would be against him, but it was slightly reassuring to know that I wasn't completely defenseless. Just slightly. The fact that he'd let me keep all of it told me that he didn't consider me a threat to him, even while armed.
The mechanic glanced at me, “I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I was on my way to Dillon's when I found you.”
Dillon's is an old 50's style diner that’s about a half hour walk away from my apartment. It's cheap, greasy, and gets the job done, especially when you're hungover.
The mechanic looked and sounded deceptively friendly as he spoke again, “Though, I am glad that we ran into each other! There's something that I've been wanting to discuss with you.”
That couldn't be good. I stared through the windshield, only looking over at him occasionally to avoid any possibility of him catching my eye.
The mechanic continued, “You remember when I told you the other night that you impressed me? I meant that. And humans don't normally impress me much, so… make of that what you will. However, you also tried to get smart with me and that is the shit I hate. You can be as polite as you want, but insolence is insolence, no matter how much you try to sugarcoat it.”
Even though his tone remained light, the nervous pit in my stomach grew into a gaping chasm. Was he still angry? And if he was, what did that mean for me?
The mechanic side-eyed me briefly as if he expected me to say something.
My phone buzzed in my pocket again. One of my coworkers tried to call me.
Another thing yinz need to know about dealing with the Neighbors: never use the words ‘I'm sorry,’ the reason being that an apology is an admission of a debt to them. If you have to atone for a transgression (and it is highly recommended that you do so), your phrasing matters.
I hoped that humbling myself would appease him, “My actions were a waste of your time and I absolutely regret them. It won't happen again.’
The mechanic snickered, “See, that's just it. You're so… fuck, what's the word I'm looking for? I heard it just the other day and it reminded me of you. Oh, right! Unctuous. You ever hear that word before?”
I told him I hadn't.
“It means someone who's insincerely polite. They tell you what you want to hear just to get what they want. Sound familiar, pup?”
He'd never been this ruthless in our interactions before. I needed to be careful.
Feeling my mouth get dry from impending panic, I shook my head, “That's not it. I just try to watch what I say. I don't mean for it to come off as disingenuous.”
Throughout this whole conversation, his smile stayed in place. He was enjoying making me squirm. As much as it killed me to give him that satisfaction, I couldn't hide it: even without that banjo around, I was terrified of him.
He replied, “You see why I'm glad we ran into each other? This is something that's been on my mind for a bit. Coulda gotten it outta the way a whole lot sooner, if you hadn't been hiding from me.”
I knew better than to insist that I wasn't avoiding him, especially since I was already on dangerously thin ice. And we were still far enough away from town that if he were to decide to pull over right then and there, no one would notice what happened to me until it was too late.
Swallowing back my nervousness, I asked, “What happens now?”
“That whole nasty business two weeks ago didn't need to happen. All you had to do was find your boss, which you already wanted to do anyway. But instead, you decided to be a smartass. From now on, don't get smart with me and just do your job. That ain't asking for much, is it?”
Trying to get more saliva in my dry mouth to swallow again, I hurriedly nodded, “No, it's not. I’ll do better.”
“Glad we're understandin’ each other, pup.”
Despite the mechanic's relaxed demeanor, I still didn't feel safe in that truck. We were getting closer to town. My phone didn't stop vibrating. I just hoped that he was taking me to where he said we were going.
There is a bit of conflict in our records as to whether or not the Neighbors can lie. Some sources state that they can only speak the truth, others say that they are able to be just as dishonest as humans. Either way, it's best to operate under the assumption that their intentions are to manipulate.
The mechanic then cheerily asked, “Now that we got that unpleasantness out of the way, I gotta know, how'd you get so good with a gun? I've seen ol’ blue eyes shoot, and that man can't hit the broad side of a barn, so I know he ain't the one that taught ya.”
Military records are public. If he learned even something as miniscule as my last name, it wouldn't be hard to identify me or my mom from there. The Neighbors have been known to seek out the family members of those who've slighted them. Entire bloodlines have been destroyed in this manner. I've seen it happen before, but that's a story for another time.
I can't stress this enough: never let a Neighbor learn your name.
I struggled to find a balance between being vague enough to protect myself, but detailed enough to satisfy him, “I wanted to learn how to defend myself when I was younger, so I found some good teachers.”
I must've missed the mark because the mechanic shook his head and chuckled, “You're doing it again. That annoying indirect shit. Why don't you try giving me a real answer, for once?”
Feeling my heart flutter, I muttered, “Armed forces.”
That was still vague. I didn't specify which of the armed forces. He could deduce when I served based on my age, but even then, that was still thousands of soldiers to sort through. Hopefully, that would be enough to protect us.
“Thank you for your service.” He said, his tone slightly mocking.
He could taunt me as much as he wanted. At least he accepted that answer. I just hoped that I wouldn't face any repercussions for being too vague earlier.
More streetlights were appearing. We were in town, getting closer to Dillon's. Assuming that he had been telling the truth about our destination.
This was the longest drive of my life. If the truck hadn't been going so fast, I would've been tempted to tuck and roll. And again… if the mechanic is what I think he is, he'd probably love it if I gave him the opportunity to chase me.
I had to know for sure, though. Just so that I knew how to properly deal with him.
Doing my best to sound meek (not hard, in the moment), I tried to word my question carefully, “Are you a Wild Huntsman?”
Once again, not taking the risk of typing or saying the ‘S’ word, especially since I haven't heard from that one person that commented that term on my last post.
Speaking of… are you still alive and in one piece, u/Holiday-Space?
The mechanic laughed, “Too afraid to say it, huh? Come on, I dare you!”
“No thanks.”
One of you is bad enough. Don't need any of your hunting buddies to show up.
The mechanic shook his head at me as he snickered, “Coward.”
Up ahead was Dillon's old purple neon sign. To my relief, the mechanic pulled into the parking lot. With it being so late, there were only two vehicles there besides the mechanic's truck (not including my comatose G6.)
Anxious to get out of there, I reached for the handle only for the door to swing open before I could grab it. The mechanic was holding the door open for me. I hadn't even heard the driver's side open.
See why I didn't try to run from him?
It took a lot of effort to sound sincere as I said, “What a gentleman.”
He nodded towards Dillon's, “After you.”
Even though the idea of having to spend more quality time with the mechanic made me want to crawl out of my own skin, I felt marginally safer in public. He wouldn't risk exposing himself when he has a shop to run. At least, I didn't think he would.
The girl that seated us blushed the moment she saw him. For her sake, I hope he doesn't ever decide to take advantage of her crush.
I was so keyed up that food was the last thing on my mind. It took our poor, flustered waitress asking me twice before I could order only a glass of water.
After she walked away, the mechanic leaned forward, forearms resting on the table as he said in a low voice, “You know, you don't have to act like a hostage, right?”
Wasn't I though? He did take me there against my will, after all.
I whispered, “Why am I here? What else do you want?”
“I already told you. I want your company. We're just talking. That's it.”
If that was true, then why go through the effort of intimidating me? Granted, he didn't have to do much. My mind raced as I tried to remember anything helpful that the boss could've told me. I recalled then that Victor had said that the mechanic couldn't do anything to him while he was still alive. There must be some sort of condition that has to be met.
The waitress scurried over with the mechanic's coffee and my water, turning an even deeper shade of red when the mechanic flashed an admittedly charming smile at her. When her eyes met mine, she looked somewhat embarrassed. It occurred to me then that to someone on the outside of all of this atypical nonsense, it probably looked like I was his extremely anxious and somewhat disheveled date.
Christ. Just kill me.
Now that I had humiliation to add on top of all of the other negative emotions I was experiencing, I sipped at the metallic-tasting ice water, grateful to give my parched tongue some relief.
As the mechanic added at least ten sugar packets to his coffee, he said, “Try to relax a little, alright? If I'd wanted to hurt you, I coulda taken care of that out on the road.”
Was that supposed to be reassuring?
After a deep breath, trying to lessen my nerves, I uttered, “You… want a little coffee with your sugar?”
He snorted, “Judge me all you want. It's like a drinkable candy bar.”
I stared down at my paper placemat that doubled as a menu. The last thing I wanted was to meet his gaze. It was harder to avoid it when seated together in a small booth. In retrospect, I think that's what he was counting on.
He'd said something alarming about Victor that made me reflexively glance up in shock, aiming to just look at his chest again. I don't even remember what he'd said.
The phone ringing in the kitchen… Mom kneeling down to hug me, making my shoulder wet… My father glaring at me through bullet proof glass…
I shook my head, blinking. What? Fingertips on my chin, leaning in as if to kiss me. The mechanic's eyes are hazel.
Our garage spray painted ‘MURDERER’... A fist pummeling my nose in the school hallway… My black kitten Maisie trotting towards me… That recruiter’s shit eating grin… Sargent Wilcox screaming, ‘Come on, you useless fucks!’... Yelling for a medic as I held my hands over Oliver's bleeding stomach…
Wait… what happened? A warm, gloved hand over my eyes. My cheeks were wet. When did I start crying? As I came to my senses, I recognized Reyna’s perfume.
The mechanic's voice made me stiffen. It's tone was sultry, with a menacing edge to it, “And who might you be?”
“No one.” She replied hurriedly, her voice bearing a slight quiver. She then whispered to me, “Let's go.”
Even though I couldn't see him, I could tell the mechanic was smiling as he told us that he'd see us later.
Due to our height difference, (I'm 6'1 while Reyna meets the requirements for the Lollipop Guild) her hand uncovered my face naturally as I stood up to leave. I refused to look in the mechanic's general direction. We rushed out. I could tell he was watching to see which car we'd go into. Fortunately, Reyna had the foresight to park behind the building.
I should also mention that Reyna had disguised herself. She wore red heart-shaped sunglasses and a scarf over her head, like a starlet from the golden age of Hollywood. She even wore platforms to try to appear taller. While it wasn't very discreet, it would hopefully keep the mechanic from recognizing her. Once we got to her Monte Carlo and peeled out, she ripped the sunglasses off.
Glancing into the rearview mirror for the what felt like the eighth time as Dillon's faded away behind us, Reyna frantically asked, “What did he do to you? I walked in and… you were just…”
He'd flipped through my mind like the pages of a book. I told her as much. She asked me if I was okay. I wasn't sure.
“We’re going to my place.” She informed me, checking the mirror again. “Vic and I agreed it's probably safest since the mechanic knows the least about me. And I'd love to keep it that way.”
I nodded, still unreeling from having my memories dug into, “Sounds good.”
Further on down the road, she noticeably stiffened when she saw a pair of headlights come up behind us. I reminded her that he didn't know what her car looked like. She didn't speed up, keeping the car at the speed limit to not draw attention to ourselves.
The headlights got closer. Turns out, it was just some impatient idiot with a lifted Dodge Ram truck. We both let out groans of relief when the ugly, oversized vehicle passed us.
“I never thought I'd actually be glad to see a pavement princess.” Reyna commented with a nervous laugh.
She then suddenly asked, “Is the mechanic an incubus?”
Feeling the beginnings of a headache behind my left eye, I answered, “I wish. That'd be a lot simpler.”
“Ah, okay. Wonderful. Lovely. And uh, don't worry about answering everything I say. I'm just kinda talking because I don't know what else to do, so if you want to ignore me, feel free.”
I ended up calling Victor, putting him on loudspeaker so that Reyna could hear.
He answered on the first ring, “What happened? Are you alright?”
I caught him up on everything. After I was done, he sighed, “Okay. If you don't mind me asking, when he got into your head, what did he see?”
“My sperm donor getting arrested, me getting beaten up in middle school, bootcamp, and a buddy dying after an ambush in Afghanistan.”
“Was your name used in any of those memories?”
“No.”
“Okay. That's good at least. I'm sorry you were forced to relive all of that.”
I didn't know what to say. Thankfully, Victor saved me from having to respond by continuing, “I was afraid of this. When a Hunter takes an interest in someone, especially someone that they can't take right away, they start off with trying to break the target down. Using fear and intimidation to make the person feel isolated, sometimes even driving them insane. The mechanic is trying to start that process with you.”
What he was saying checked out with everything that I'd researched about The Hunt. They are said to be attracted to bereavement, often pursuing those who've experienced a great loss or heartbreak. They interpret it as weakness. The more vulnerable their victim is, the easier it is for The Hunt to devour them. That explained why the mechanic had gravitated towards some of the most traumatic experiences of my life.
I'd read somewhere that they find brave, good-natured people especially appetizing, even though they're the hardest for The Hunt to take. By being unable to cry out when I was transformed, I think I’d unintentionally convinced the mechanic that I was that type of person. And it made him hungry.
Victor bitterly informed us, “He's not going to chase you tonight. He has your gun and your car. He knows you’ll go to him.”
Slowly, the fear became replaced with anger. And spite. The mechanic could disarm me and use my worst moments against me, but I resolved then that I wouldn't let that fucker intimidate me. I wouldn't give him what he wanted.
If he wanted to think I was something special, I'd give him something fucking special.
“Vic, can you get her things so that she doesn't have to deal with him?” Reyna asked.
Before he could answer, I shook my head, “No. I don't want the mechanic to think that I'm afraid. I mean… I am but he doesn't need to know that.”
Victor warned, “By confronting him, you could make the hunt more thrilling for him. That might encourage him to be more aggressive towards you.”
I shrugged, “I'm screwed either way. At least this way, I'm screwed on my own terms.”
For the first time in a long time, Victor sounded like he might've been smiling. I haven't seen him smile since before he showed up with that bandana covering his slit throat. “We can start by finding a hagstone. That's easier said than done… but, something's telling me that there'll be one at Beaver Run. Check there.”
According to our records, draugr have a limited ability to see the future. Maybe that ‘strange feeling’ was actually a premonition. It certainly wouldn't hurt to check.
“Tomorrow morning, while the mechanic is at his shop, it's hagstone time.” I announced.
“I'll help.” Reyna offered, but then quickly added. “Unless you need me to cover for her tomorrow, Vic.”
“If you wouldn't mind doing a half-day, that'd be best.”
“Okay, can do!”
Victor wished us luck, then hung up.
Forgive me, but I'm going to go off on a brief tangent: Reyna has a pet skunk. Her name is Fireball. I'm mentioning this because that little skunk was basically free therapy after the night I'd had. And in all my days of having to dig the little guys out from under people's houses, I never really had a chance to appreciate how cute they are.
“She can't spray.” Reyna assured me when the little critter trotted over to sniff me. For those that aren't aware, skunks are typically quiet, but when they do vocalize, they sound like weed whackers.
Reyna stared down at Fireball, “What are you ‘meeping’ at?”
Fireball stomped at her, then jumped back. In the wild, they do this when they're trying to intimidate predators, so if you encounter a skunk and they do this, it's best to back off. However, in Fireball's case, they might also stomp when they're feeling sassy.
Reyna put her hands up in an annoyed gesture, “What's with the attitude?”
The skunk stomped again. Reyna huffed, “Jeez, you act like you're starving to death. You still have food in your bowl, idiot! Just because you can see a little bit of the bottom doesn’t mean it's empty!”
After we quadruple-checked to make sure that every entrance into Reyna’s apartment was properly salted, I settled down on the couch to get some sleep. At one point in the night, Fireball ended up curled up in my lap. That healed me.
The search for a hagstone wasn't going to be an easy one. They're stones with holes in the middle, normally found near bodies of water. In the old tales, these stones are valuable tools against the Neighbors for a variety of reasons, one of them being they can protect against curses and ward off evil. They also have been said to allow humans to see things that would normally be hidden to us when looking through the middle of the stone.
In other words, if our records were accurate, it was the key to leveling the playing field when it came to the mechanic.
I was in the river not long after the sun rose. Even though the water was cold this early in the summer, my spite kept me warm. I dug through the riverbed for hours until I came across a white stone with a large hole in its lumpy center.
Good to know that Victor's newfound draugr intuition was accurate.
I have the hagstone hanging on a chain around my neck, tucked under my shirt. I wasn't sure what effect the hagstone would have on the mechanic. At the very least, maybe I could see what he actually looked like.
Later that afternoon, Victor called to tell me that my car was done. Moment of truth. Even with the hagstone, I wasn't looking forward to being in close quarters with the mechanic again. But I reminded myself that I wasn't going to let that sadistic fuck frighten me into hiding again. No more avoiding him.
The mechanic greeted me, boyish grin in place, “Long time no see, pup!”
Feeling the weight of the hagstone as a comforting weight around my neck, I said, “I was told that my car is done. Think I left my shotgun in your truck, as well.”
“You did. You left in such a hurry. Probably had a lot on your mind, I imagine.”
Fuck you.
He set my keys on the counter, along with my shotgun, then leaned forward, resting his forearms on the counter next to then, “Come and get ‘em.”
I didn't know if the hagstone would keep him out of my head and I wasn't about to find out the hard way. He already knew more about me than I was comfortable with. I kept my eyes low.
As I approached the counter, he suddenly stepped back, eyes narrowed. Unfortunately, he didn't lose that grin. That was a shame; I was hoping to wipe it off of his face.
The mechanic let out a short laugh, “I see you came prepared.”
I sounded braver than I felt, “Of course I did. Now, how much for the repairs?”
His smile turned mysterious as he gave me my total. He didn't come closer to the counter while I stood by it; I had to back up for him to be able to run my card. After that was done, he set it on the counter next to my other belongings, leaning against the back of some old clunker he had lined up to work on.
As I hurried to get my things, the mechanic suddenly asked, “You can't tell me that you ain't curious.”
“Curious about what?”
“‘Bout what I really look like.” He smirked, folding his arms across his chest. “Go on. Take a peek.”
As tempting as it was, it wasn't hard to deduce his ulterior motive, “You just want to know where I have the stone hidden.”
He chuckled, “Yeah, that's true. You got me there. But wouldn't you like to know what you're really dealing with?”
“I already do. I don't need to see a monster to know it's there.”
Judging by the way his eyes slitted, he did not care for that comment. I knew I was probably going to regret that later. He already wanted to hunt me for sport. What did it matter if I clapped back at him just one time?
His voice lowered, “When your heart stops, puppydog, you better pray the devil finds you before I do. You'll crave Hell before I'm through with you.”
Hoping that he couldn't see my hands shaking, I grabbed my things and got out without another word. The G6 was working even better than it had before the deer incident.
After that interaction… I think I'm going to look for more hagstones. And I'm going to restock on salt shells.

Hi everyone,
Been diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis 10 years ago and have experienced joint discomfort for about 15 years now. I'm 33 and am getting to a point where I'm just not sure if this is worth trying anymore.
Now I don't think I have it in me to commit self harm but I just don't see myself ever reaching a point of being pain free and happy. It feels like I'm always sad, depressed, anxious and in pain.
It's not just the illness. I also dont have much contact with my family as I was born into a religious household as a jehovahs witness. I've also never been really genetically gifted in anything. Since I was young, it would take me more time to understand information and more effort to barely compete with the average. I'm also short, small, and with ankylosing spondylitis, you'd imagine I'm probably not that strong. I do try to put in a lot of effort to at least feel physically good doing hot yoga, swim, weight lifting but all my effort feels lost when you get joint aches and your body weaken from it. I've also been having skin issues as well so even swim for me sometimes is difficult. Not to mention battling the constant fatigue which probably is from Ankylosing spondylitis. I also believe my fatigue is heightened from a bit of depression and anxiety as well. The lack of sleep as well.
I don't do well with women and on dating apps, my confidence gets even worse. I saw a big tall guy walk past me at the gym the other day and it hit me how much more powerful he is than me. I mean he could probably snap my already crippling neck in half. It's weird but I could see why women would want to be with a powerful tall guy like him than me.
As I get older, the thought of never finding that someone and having children also saddens me. I also don't know if I am healthy enough to take care of one as well at this point.
I'm nicknamed the hideous survivor amongst my small group of friends since I'm ugly and unskilled in every aspect but yet finding a way to survive.
I just don't see life worth continueing as I'm getting older and I guess I'm just at a point where if I were to rest, it may not be the worst thing. I just wanted to know if anyone else is struggling and can relate. Sorry if this sounds too depressing but I may be at the end game when it comes to trying.

Imagine a world split into a futuristic, and a past civilization at the same time.
Even if its a same species, humans, they couldnt be more separated. Two civilizations that do not interact, and if they do, it is about conflict, slavery, oppresion.
The "Upper World" is basically the richer people, the ones who could flee in the middle of catastrophes and such, and built their own "civilization" in the top of the mountains and high plains, or even in floating futuristic cities. High development, technology and fine things, laser guns, robots, everything good.
The ones who couldnt enjoy the luxury of a confortable life are the ones from the "Lower World", people who couldnt save themselves and had to stay on the ground, keep their distances from the Upper World, yet still suffer on their hands. Theres little access to education and infrastructure on the Lower World, basically no real government except for some people who are like leaders on small cities and villages, overall the people on the Lower World often deal with poverty.
Tobi is a girl from the Lower World who was adopted after being left on a man's doorstep as a baby. The man, whose name is still unknown, is a ex-millitary from the Upper World who fled to the Lower World due to possibly political reasons. Tobi gave him a nickname as "Gummy" due to a inside joke, and they live together ever since.
You can look up to the Upper World, but never go there. They wont let you in, but they will surely come to get half of your crops. They will surely come to get your ores, minerals, wood, natural resources, water and such. They will surely come if they need some "cheap workers" for a big project.

Hey there!
I have an almost year old ball python. had him for roughly 2 months. i was told that he was being fed pinky rats every other week. after some close watching, he wasn’t gaining any weight. i upped it to every week. still no changes. he’s never really refused food (besides saying screw it after he took to long to get it oriented in his mouth, resulting in cold food)
i’ve done more research, and found that roughly the same size or slightly larger of the largest part of his midsection is how i should choose the size of the rats. since he hasn’t grown much and has lost a couple of grams, definitely need to up the size of his food. not the frequency of feeding.
does anyone have any good online sources for frozen rats? and does anyone have a sort of size guide in relation to what the nicknames mean?
the site i’m looking at currently (coldbloodedcafe.com) has pinky, fuzzy, pup, weanling, small med large, jumbo colossal and mammoth sized rats. i was thinking pup.
any suggestions or tips? don’t want to try and give him something huge he can’t digest, but also want him to get what he needs food wise.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/may/22/inside-ring-ex-secretary-state-mike-pompeo-calls-u/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCC9tUESNIQ
It’s good to be here. Good to be with the people of Taiwan again. Uh, it is a profound honor to be with you all. When I get that much applause before I speak it makes me very nervous. So, so please do bear with me.
A couple of years ago, uh, my first trip, I was moved. I was moved by your hospitality and your warm welcome, your graciousness. Uh, even at the height of COVID, when there was so much struggle in the economy, and for people, and for families, I saw it. I saw I saw Taiwan’s resilience as a free nation, a free country, led by an incredibly capable government. Here, here once again, I had a chance to come back at another inflection point in your nation’s history. Another landmark moment for your country, uh, when a democratically-elected president makes a peaceful transition to a new era that will undoubtedly be full of challenges, for sure, but many opportunities for everyone in this room, and I hope for all of the people of Taiwan.
I feel particularly fortunate at this event hosted by Taiwan’s leading conservative NGO, the Formosa Republican Association. It is a unique group, a special group, and I’m so proud to be with you all today.
You all know – yes, I have to be very careful, my book has now been translated into your language. Um, but I do know one, right? Formosa is a nickname for the country. It means a beautiful – [Applause] – island. And as a conservative Republican from America, you make me feel most at home here. So, thank you very much for that. You should know, you you should know that I I’m not here today as a partisan Republican advocate, nor am I here as a representative of the United States of America. I am a a civilian, a a private citizen. Um, I am here because I wanted to be in this place to celebrate alongside of you, to celebrate your successes in embracing both conservative and what I – what are traditional liberal ideas, understandings of human dignity and basic rights. I I’m watching your legislature – it’s very rambunctious. Um, I served in ours. We were pretty rambunctious, too. Uh, who knew you would have to take Taekwondo to serve in your legislature?
Um, I I am so proud of what you all have done. You should be very proud of it, too. Time. What is known as having a progressive, very liberal form of government in the finest traditions, and the balancing act of these traditional and conservative ideas and values, is too often, I think, forgotten. It’s certainly true in America. I’m deeply interested in your success. I am deeply interested observer. I believe it’s important to stress the source of Taiwan’s greatness, its democratic success, and that is the underlying conservative heritage that has built and facilitated Taiwan and brought it to where it is today.
I want to talk about that for just a second because if we forget our past, our traditions, if we walk away from them, uh, the traditional conservative views that have been so pivotal in the success of this place could well be forgotten. And we can’t let that happen. Uh, this is certainly true between the lenses of both my country, the United States, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, traditional values and institutions have been instrumental and stable to the transition to a mature and incredibly modern nation and a modern economy. You all you all, every day, exemplify that democracy critically hinges on a calculated balance between that tradition and the hard work of bringing nations forward, unlike regimes like that in communist China which have faltered and will continue to f- falter partly due to their abandonment and destruction of civilizational values, traditional institutions, the very same ones that Taiwan has nurtured and creates its culture today.
Consider the uh, the healthy interplay between conservatives and liberals in Taiwan. This plural society forms the true basis for your democracy. Taiwan embraces a green agenda agenda with robust legal rights and framework for every citizen and was among the first in Asia to legalize gay marriage, yet conservative voices, voices like mine and many in this room, are still at the center, the heartbeat of your nation.
One cannot overlook the emphasis on meritocracy and education that are deeply rooted in the Taiwanese people and deeply rooted in the Chinese tradition. It provides not only a pool of well-trained talent who run factories and manage industries – these are important – and govern with efficiency – this matters, too – but more importantly, it is a marvel because that education, that foundation, the understanding and love of family, are at the core of the Taiwanese people. Your respect for authority is widely known in the finest of the Confucian traditions, and it fosters, importantly – what America sometimes forgets – is the essential nature of the rule of law. This understanding that it matters to protect property rights and basic human dignity that all citizens are required to conform with the law. You get vigorous political processes. I joked a bit about that before. That’s a good thing. Uh, differences in ideas are inevitable, and indeed the hallmark of mature democracies are that they continue to push on and grow as these differences emerge and solutions are found.
The tradition of community community welfare in Taiwan underscores the balance, the balance between collective well-being and the individual gains that are necessary.
And I want to stop here to speak for a moment about Taiwan’s religious tolerance. It is exemplary. A polytheistic society, Taiwan actively involves all faiths in contributing to societal growth. Buddhist and Christian groups both support social justice initiatives while local temples and communities centers centers serve as forums for political discussion. That matters an awful lot. As a Secretary of State who put religious freedom at the very top of the American agenda, I want to thank you for demonstrating to the world this religious tolerance. It makes you better and stronger and makes you deeper in your capacity to grow as a nation.
The world marvels at your economic success – don’t ever walk away from that – buttressed by family-run businesses that integrate traditional values into the company, into the businesses. As someone who ran a small company for 10 years, I knew that that culture in these institutions mattered an awful lot. We were we wanted to make money, we wanted to grow our company, but it was absolutely essential to our customers, to our team members, to everyone who was part of our organization, that we never forgot the central values that had delivered so much progress for our nation, and if we did it right, would create a culture in our business that would lead to further success.
You know, we uh, we live in an era where extreme left-wing ideologues often challenge these traditional values. That is certainly true in my nation, and I I know it’s true here as well. You have demonstrated, through what has happened just yesterday and over the years, that Taiwan stands as a beacon, a beacon to the world, of how tradition and modernity can exist alongside of each other. Thank you, and God bless you for that. I was often given a hard time by my liberal friends and said, “Mike, you live in the past. You have these ideas of tradition.” But Taiwan demonstrates that tradition and progress do not stand adversely to each other. Indeed, they are deeply complimentary of each other.
Now I I want to say something to everyone in this room, and indeed to anyone who, from around the world who watches this this the the central question of, “Why does this place matter to my people, the people of Oklahoma and Kansas, the people of Virginia and Washington?” Say, “Why is it the case that the United States has a responsibility, and it is in our best interest, to be good partners and friends and stewards of Taiwan and its place in the world?”
Um, it seems pretty simple to me. Me, but I’m going to take a few minutes to explain it, in case there’s a few who don’t quite get it. Uh, first, there’s a law, the Taiwan Relations Act. As a simple matter of international law and precedent that makes enormous sense, it clearly stipulates that we’ll provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. But this is far more than just a legal obligation. It is a moral one, for sure. Uh, it reaffirms our commitment to the fundamentals of democracy that our nation has stood for for 250 years. It um, it also says that we know that we must hold the central value of national sovereignty, the freedom of peoples to act collectively as a nation.
It is also true that the strategic implications of this place can never be forgotten. The failure of the United States to support Taiwan, and the Taiwanese to support their own defense and security, would create an epic challenge for the globe, just to have a piece of real estate that matters. Geography is important. We we know that this is the gateway between the Pacific and the South China Seas. Where the Chinese Communist party to come to control this place, it would significantly alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Something that matters to every surfer, like me, who grew up in Southern California. I I know that we are a Pacific nation, too, one that depends on the capacity for people, people who fear God and who work hard and who love their families to keep freedom in this place.
Thirdly, I must say, as we watch what’s taking place in the world today – and I know in the Q&A we’ll talk a bit about this – supporting Taiwan reemphasizes, for the world, that America will live up to the commitments that it has made over the decades around the world. Our allies in Japan and South Korea and the Philippines, they’re they’re watching how the United States behaves. Make no mistake about it, and properly so. They rely on our resolve and support to counterbalance regional threats and to honor the commitments that we’ve made. Were it to be the case that we abandoned Taiwan at any level, not just militarily, but economically and diplomatically, morally, nations would come to doubt my country. Nations would come to take risks against my country. Nations would view themselves as free to take risks that could lead to things that would harm my country. So, out of an abundance of selfishness, not only a morality, it is deeply in America’s interest to continue to honor the commitments that we have made through the decades. And I I pray that we will continue to do so.
And finally, uh, you all matter to the global economy. You know this. God bless you, extract a lot of value for yourselves, go out and be good capitalists and deliver wonderful outcomes for the whole world. Any conflict that were to threaten this place would cast a pall over the global economy. And were the Chinese Communist party to control it, would harm the global economy in ways that seem almost unimaginable to most. So, it’s not about just protecting this small island with a relatively small population, it’s about preserving a strategic frontier that matters for global peace and global security and global prosperity for the decades that follow. I pray that we get this right, deeply selfishly for my children, and, and I pray one day I will have grandchildren. Uh, my son, now married two years – so far, so good. Uh, but no grandchildren just yet. I want them to know the peace and prosperity that have generated so much good for the everyone in this room and for the people of America, and defending Taiwan is a central component of that.
Now I want to I want to share with you why I think you should have confidence that that’ll remain so. Look, we’re going to have we’re going to have political strife in America. We’ve got a crazy-looking election coming for the next six months. Um, there’ll be lots of noise in the media. There’ll be lots of sound and fury. And there will be hard-fought ideological debates about the direction that America should take. But I want to spend a couple minutes talking about why you should have confidence that, no matter the outcome in that that election, that the vast majority of the American people stand with you, and therefore our political process will yield support for your country as well.
You’ve seen Republicans and Democrats. You’ve seen um, each of them provide military support. Um, we’ve seen advanced jets and missiles and naval vessels: tangible proof of American commitment to Taiwan’s defense capabilities. I wish that the Biden administration were doing more and getting more equipment into the field to you, into the hands of your capable military forces, more quickly. And I wish that there were more joint efforts in the region, joint forces training together in the Pacific, demonstrating to anyone who had any doubt in their mind that America and the allies of Taiwan around the world will stand with them even at the most difficult times.
I believe the evidence insurmountably indicates that we will continue to be with you. Um, it’s in our own self-interest, and I’m confident that that self-interest, combined with an American understanding of how it is, and who it is, in this region that is standing for the very values that we stand for, requires us to be with Taiwan and the people of Taiwan. Know.
Um, I uh, I I do hear doubters. I hear people talking about America no longer being the global superpower. I hear them talk about America walking away from some of its allies. That breaks my heart. Sometimes there’s sometimes there’s a modicum of truth to this, but I I want to remind everyone that, historically, when it matters most, the United States has stood with its allies through difficult times and difficult challenges. Uh, we shouldn’t think uh, much past what happened in Kuwait, when that nation was invaded. It would have been pretty easy for the United States to walk away, but we did not. We in- did, did the right thing and helped eject a ruthless dictator from taking over a people who simply wanted to live their own lives. From Kosovo in the Balkans uh, to the support we are providing today to the people of Ukraine, the United States is a good ally in times of strife. Um, it’s clear, too, we’re better at it, we’re more robust, when our strategic interests are aligned. And there could be no other place in the world, like Taiwan, that shares a set of strategic interests with the United States, perhaps more than any other nation.
I, uh, my father served in the Navy in the Korean War. And I remember it’s uh, sometimes forgotten how controversial that was, how many Americans died in fighting in that place in Asia. Some thought, “Goodness gracious, too far away. Why is it the case that America would invest there?” We’ve since that day had more permanently-deployed troops and weapons in that war in that region than any place else in the world, including today, over 50,000 in Japan and over 23,000 in Korea. We continue to provide the support that those nations need to counter the threats of our modern times. Our largest overseas military deployment by far is the Seventh Fleet, which, for decades, has patrolled just right off this shore. Taiwan’s defense, as our Navy and our military and our government know, are int- are intrinsically tied to America’s capacity to defend. And remember, this has transcended multiple administrations, Democrat, Republican alike. This deterrent posture, I’ve spoken about a lot and written about a great deal, could be better. It could be strong. There is more to do. There is no doubt about that. Deterrence is always temporary. The bad guys, evil, stays at it. So what does that mean when evil stays at it? That requires those of us who are good and decent and understand human dignity, it requires us to stay at it as well. And as these threats continue, it will requires us to step up our game in ways that we’ve never had to before. It’s why your peaceful transition matters so much as evidence that you’re prepared to do that for your country as well. We are indeed.
I want you I want you to leave here today knowing that this partnership matters, that partnerships take both sides working really hard and accepting some amount of risk to deliver the security and prosperity that your nation needs. We should move forward in confidence as partners, and you should trust that our shared commitments and fate together will deliver good outcomes.
You know, um, I’ll close with this because I’m looking forward to the Q&A. Um, I know how to not answer questions with the best of them. Um, I want to speak to you not just as a former Secretary of State, um, but as an advocate for a peace, in a world that respects fundamental rules of sovereignty and democracy and international law.
I uh, I made a few heads hurt a couple years ago when I took a position uh, that said, “You know, it’s time for the United States to recog- recognize Taiwan as a sovereign and independent country.”
Um, you should know, I I thought about this a lot before making that statement. As a former Secretary of State, people think about what you say. Sometimes they think about what you say, and they say, “You’re just crazy.” Um, but I thought about it a lot, and I came back to what I tried to write about in my book. I came back to the central idea that we shouldn’t live in a make-believe world. We shouldn’t say things that everyone knows aren’t true. We should accept fundamental, basic truths and speak about them openly, no matter what that means, what, no matter what the second-order implications of that are. We should, when when we live in a fantasy world, we create enormous risk.
Um, this wasn’t just a, a gesture or a diplomatic nicety. Um, recognizing this place, Taiwan, as an independent, sovereign, free nation is true. It reflects the reality. You know, I was I was speaking, uh, a week or so back about this law that China has on its books, this idea of an anti-secession law. That’s just crazy, right? When when Xi Jinping speaks of Taiwan as being reunified with his country, this is propaganda. This is an effort to shape the minds of your children, and shape the minds of people around the world who don’t know the history, that don’t know the history that is so central to why it is, it would be important for the United States to make a declarative statement about Taiwan and its independence. It’s a it’s it’s a simple call to just recognize the existing reality. You govern yourself democratically. We saw this yesterday with your peaceful transition of power. You control territory. You engage in international trade. You do so as a separate entity, deeply separate from the People’s Republic of China. None of your real estate, none of your territory, is under the PRC’s sovereign control. Uh, to suggest otherwise belies the reality. You know, the risk is that the PRC has misinterpreted the – the PRC stance, and frankly we’ we’ve had these set of understandings, these communique- these agreements, that have been made uh, long ago now, um, and perhaps they were workable in decades gone by. It’s possible.
Um, when the other side violates an agreement, and there are really only two parties involved, it makes no sense for the other side to continue to honor those commitments. This isn’t about belligerence. This isn’t about an effort to create conflict. This is about recognizing conflict. This is about recognizing that there is an aggressive party, and there’s a party that is a potential victim of that aggression. That’s the people of Taiwan, not the people and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. They are the aggressor. They are the ones who have threatened and attempted to coerce this place. You are the ones who have stood up to this coercion, aggression, ways that are important and noble and decent, and God bless you for that.
And finally, I, what pushed me over the edge to say that America ought to take that position is a reflection of my country’s history, my country’s history of recognizing people and their sovereign right to protect their own borders and to create prosperity for their own people. We correct an historical oversight when we get this right, but it also strength- strengthens a peaceful and democratic peoples. It’s not just you. It’s not just a policy adjustment. It is a moral and strategic imperative. And it is a necessary and it is a rightful acknowledgement of the democratic process of your true, free, and sovereign state. Time for us to act boldly, together. And when we do, when we do, I am convinced uh, that we will look back on the day that we just acknowledged the truth and the reality, we will look back on that day as a day that was an inflection point in world history, an inflection point in the history of this place, and an inflection point for the peoples of the entire region, and we made their lives better, safer, and more prosperous.

華盛頓時報：https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/may/22/inside-ring-ex-secretary-state-mike-pompeo-calls-u/
完整演講：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCC9tUESNIQ

英文講稿：

It’s good to be here. Good to be with the people of Taiwan again. Uh, it is a profound honor to be with you all. When I get that much applause before I speak it makes me very nervous. So, so please do bear with me.
A couple of years ago, uh, my first trip, I was moved. I was moved by your hospitality and your warm welcome, your graciousness. Uh, even at the height of COVID, when there was so much struggle in the economy, and for people, and for families, I saw it. I saw I saw Taiwan’s resilience as a free nation, a free country, led by an incredibly capable government. Here, here once again, I had a chance to come back at another inflection point in your nation’s history. Another landmark moment for your country, uh, when a democratically-elected president makes a peaceful transition to a new era that will undoubtedly be full of challenges, for sure, but many opportunities for everyone in this room, and I hope for all of the people of Taiwan.
I feel particularly fortunate at this event hosted by Taiwan’s leading conservative NGO, the Formosa Republican Association. It is a unique group, a special group, and I’m so proud to be with you all today.
You all know – yes, I have to be very careful, my book has now been translated into your language. Um, but I do know one, right? Formosa is a nickname for the country. It means a beautiful – [Applause] – island. And as a conservative Republican from America, you make me feel most at home here. So, thank you very much for that. You should know, you you should know that I I’m not here today as a partisan Republican advocate, nor am I here as a representative of the United States of America. I am a a civilian, a a private citizen. Um, I am here because I wanted to be in this place to celebrate alongside of you, to celebrate your successes in embracing both conservative and what I – what are traditional liberal ideas, understandings of human dignity and basic rights. I I’m watching your legislature – it’s very rambunctious. Um, I served in ours. We were pretty rambunctious, too. Uh, who knew you would have to take Taekwondo to serve in your legislature?
Um, I I am so proud of what you all have done. You should be very proud of it, too. Time. What is known as having a progressive, very liberal form of government in the finest traditions, and the balancing act of these traditional and conservative ideas and values, is too often, I think, forgotten. It’s certainly true in America. I’m deeply interested in your success. I am deeply interested observer. I believe it’s important to stress the source of Taiwan’s greatness, its democratic success, and that is the underlying conservative heritage that has built and facilitated Taiwan and brought it to where it is today.
I want to talk about that for just a second because if we forget our past, our traditions, if we walk away from them, uh, the traditional conservative views that have been so pivotal in the success of this place could well be forgotten. And we can’t let that happen. Uh, this is certainly true between the lenses of both my country, the United States, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, traditional values and institutions have been instrumental and stable to the transition to a mature and incredibly modern nation and a modern economy. You all you all, every day, exemplify that democracy critically hinges on a calculated balance between that tradition and the hard work of bringing nations forward, unlike regimes like that in communist China which have faltered and will continue to f- falter partly due to their abandonment and destruction of civilizational values, traditional institutions, the very same ones that Taiwan has nurtured and creates its culture today.
Consider the uh, the healthy interplay between conservatives and liberals in Taiwan. This plural society forms the true basis for your democracy. Taiwan embraces a green agenda agenda with robust legal rights and framework for every citizen and was among the first in Asia to legalize gay marriage, yet conservative voices, voices like mine and many in this room, are still at the center, the heartbeat of your nation.
One cannot overlook the emphasis on meritocracy and education that are deeply rooted in the Taiwanese people and deeply rooted in the Chinese tradition. It provides not only a pool of well-trained talent who run factories and manage industries – these are important – and govern with efficiency – this matters, too – but more importantly, it is a marvel because that education, that foundation, the understanding and love of family, are at the core of the Taiwanese people. Your respect for authority is widely known in the finest of the Confucian traditions, and it fosters, importantly – what America sometimes forgets – is the essential nature of the rule of law. This understanding that it matters to protect property rights and basic human dignity that all citizens are required to conform with the law. You get vigorous political processes. I joked a bit about that before. That’s a good thing. Uh, differences in ideas are inevitable, and indeed the hallmark of mature democracies are that they continue to push on and grow as these differences emerge and solutions are found.
The tradition of community community welfare in Taiwan underscores the balance, the balance between collective well-being and the individual gains that are necessary.
And I want to stop here to speak for a moment about Taiwan’s religious tolerance. It is exemplary. A polytheistic society, Taiwan actively involves all faiths in contributing to societal growth. Buddhist and Christian groups both support social justice initiatives while local temples and communities centers centers serve as forums for political discussion. That matters an awful lot. As a Secretary of State who put religious freedom at the very top of the American agenda, I want to thank you for demonstrating to the world this religious tolerance. It makes you better and stronger and makes you deeper in your capacity to grow as a nation.
The world marvels at your economic success – don’t ever walk away from that – buttressed by family-run businesses that integrate traditional values into the company, into the businesses. As someone who ran a small company for 10 years, I knew that that culture in these institutions mattered an awful lot. We were we wanted to make money, we wanted to grow our company, but it was absolutely essential to our customers, to our team members, to everyone who was part of our organization, that we never forgot the central values that had delivered so much progress for our nation, and if we did it right, would create a culture in our business that would lead to further success.
You know, we uh, we live in an era where extreme left-wing ideologues often challenge these traditional values. That is certainly true in my nation, and I I know it’s true here as well. You have demonstrated, through what has happened just yesterday and over the years, that Taiwan stands as a beacon, a beacon to the world, of how tradition and modernity can exist alongside of each other. Thank you, and God bless you for that. I was often given a hard time by my liberal friends and said, “Mike, you live in the past. You have these ideas of tradition.” But Taiwan demonstrates that tradition and progress do not stand adversely to each other. Indeed, they are deeply complimentary of each other.
Now I I want to say something to everyone in this room, and indeed to anyone who, from around the world who watches this this the the central question of, “Why does this place matter to my people, the people of Oklahoma and Kansas, the people of Virginia and Washington?” Say, “Why is it the case that the United States has a responsibility, and it is in our best interest, to be good partners and friends and stewards of Taiwan and its place in the world?”
Um, it seems pretty simple to me. Me, but I’m going to take a few minutes to explain it, in case there’s a few who don’t quite get it. Uh, first, there’s a law, the Taiwan Relations Act. As a simple matter of international law and precedent that makes enormous sense, it clearly stipulates that we’ll provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. But this is far more than just a legal obligation. It is a moral one, for sure. Uh, it reaffirms our commitment to the fundamentals of democracy that our nation has stood for for 250 years. It um, it also says that we know that we must hold the central value of national sovereignty, the freedom of peoples to act collectively as a nation.
It is also true that the strategic implications of this place can never be forgotten. The failure of the United States to support Taiwan, and the Taiwanese to support their own defense and security, would create an epic challenge for the globe, just to have a piece of real estate that matters. Geography is important. We we know that this is the gateway between the Pacific and the South China Seas. Where the Chinese Communist party to come to control this place, it would significantly alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Something that matters to every surfer, like me, who grew up in Southern California. I I know that we are a Pacific nation, too, one that depends on the capacity for people, people who fear God and who work hard and who love their families to keep freedom in this place.
Thirdly, I must say, as we watch what’s taking place in the world today – and I know in the Q&A we’ll talk a bit about this – supporting Taiwan reemphasizes, for the world, that America will live up to the commitments that it has made over the decades around the world. Our allies in Japan and South Korea and the Philippines, they’re they’re watching how the United States behaves. Make no mistake about it, and properly so. They rely on our resolve and support to counterbalance regional threats and to honor the commitments that we’ve made. Were it to be the case that we abandoned Taiwan at any level, not just militarily, but economically and diplomatically, morally, nations would come to doubt my country. Nations would come to take risks against my country. Nations would view themselves as free to take risks that could lead to things that would harm my country. So, out of an abundance of selfishness, not only a morality, it is deeply in America’s interest to continue to honor the commitments that we have made through the decades. And I I pray that we will continue to do so.
And finally, uh, you all matter to the global economy. You know this. God bless you, extract a lot of value for yourselves, go out and be good capitalists and deliver wonderful outcomes for the whole world. Any conflict that were to threaten this place would cast a pall over the global economy. And were the Chinese Communist party to control it, would harm the global economy in ways that seem almost unimaginable to most. So, it’s not about just protecting this small island with a relatively small population, it’s about preserving a strategic frontier that matters for global peace and global security and global prosperity for the decades that follow. I pray that we get this right, deeply selfishly for my children, and, and I pray one day I will have grandchildren. Uh, my son, now married two years – so far, so good. Uh, but no grandchildren just yet. I want them to know the peace and prosperity that have generated so much good for the everyone in this room and for the people of America, and defending Taiwan is a central component of that.
Now I want to I want to share with you why I think you should have confidence that that’ll remain so. Look, we’re going to have we’re going to have political strife in America. We’ve got a crazy-looking election coming for the next six months. Um, there’ll be lots of noise in the media. There’ll be lots of sound and fury. And there will be hard-fought ideological debates about the direction that America should take. But I want to spend a couple minutes talking about why you should have confidence that, no matter the outcome in that that election, that the vast majority of the American people stand with you, and therefore our political process will yield support for your country as well.
You’ve seen Republicans and Democrats. You’ve seen um, each of them provide military support. Um, we’ve seen advanced jets and missiles and naval vessels: tangible proof of American commitment to Taiwan’s defense capabilities. I wish that the Biden administration were doing more and getting more equipment into the field to you, into the hands of your capable military forces, more quickly. And I wish that there were more joint efforts in the region, joint forces training together in the Pacific, demonstrating to anyone who had any doubt in their mind that America and the allies of Taiwan around the world will stand with them even at the most difficult times.
I believe the evidence insurmountably indicates that we will continue to be with you. Um, it’s in our own self-interest, and I’m confident that that self-interest, combined with an American understanding of how it is, and who it is, in this region that is standing for the very values that we stand for, requires us to be with Taiwan and the people of Taiwan. Know.
Um, I uh, I I do hear doubters. I hear people talking about America no longer being the global superpower. I hear them talk about America walking away from some of its allies. That breaks my heart. Sometimes there’s sometimes there’s a modicum of truth to this, but I I want to remind everyone that, historically, when it matters most, the United States has stood with its allies through difficult times and difficult challenges. Uh, we shouldn’t think uh, much past what happened in Kuwait, when that nation was invaded. It would have been pretty easy for the United States to walk away, but we did not. We in- did, did the right thing and helped eject a ruthless dictator from taking over a people who simply wanted to live their own lives. From Kosovo in the Balkans uh, to the support we are providing today to the people of Ukraine, the United States is a good ally in times of strife. Um, it’s clear, too, we’re better at it, we’re more robust, when our strategic interests are aligned. And there could be no other place in the world, like Taiwan, that shares a set of strategic interests with the United States, perhaps more than any other nation.
I, uh, my father served in the Navy in the Korean War. And I remember it’s uh, sometimes forgotten how controversial that was, how many Americans died in fighting in that place in Asia. Some thought, “Goodness gracious, too far away. Why is it the case that America would invest there?” We’ve since that day had more permanently-deployed troops and weapons in that war in that region than any place else in the world, including today, over 50,000 in Japan and over 23,000 in Korea. We continue to provide the support that those nations need to counter the threats of our modern times. Our largest overseas military deployment by far is the Seventh Fleet, which, for decades, has patrolled just right off this shore. Taiwan’s defense, as our Navy and our military and our government know, are int- are intrinsically tied to America’s capacity to defend. And remember, this has transcended multiple administrations, Democrat, Republican alike. This deterrent posture, I’ve spoken about a lot and written about a great deal, could be better. It could be strong. There is more to do. There is no doubt about that. Deterrence is always temporary. The bad guys, evil, stays at it. So what does that mean when evil stays at it? That requires those of us who are good and decent and understand human dignity, it requires us to stay at it as well. And as these threats continue, it will requires us to step up our game in ways that we’ve never had to before. It’s why your peaceful transition matters so much as evidence that you’re prepared to do that for your country as well. We are indeed.
I want you I want you to leave here today knowing that this partnership matters, that partnerships take both sides working really hard and accepting some amount of risk to deliver the security and prosperity that your nation needs. We should move forward in confidence as partners, and you should trust that our shared commitments and fate together will deliver good outcomes.
You know, um, I’ll close with this because I’m looking forward to the Q&A. Um, I know how to not answer questions with the best of them. Um, I want to speak to you not just as a former Secretary of State, um, but as an advocate for a peace, in a world that respects fundamental rules of sovereignty and democracy and international law.
I uh, I made a few heads hurt a couple years ago when I took a position uh, that said, “You know, it’s time for the United States to recog- recognize Taiwan as a sovereign and independent country.”
Um, you should know, I I thought about this a lot before making that statement. As a former Secretary of State, people think about what you say. Sometimes they think about what you say, and they say, “You’re just crazy.” Um, but I thought about it a lot, and I came back to what I tried to write about in my book. I came back to the central idea that we shouldn’t live in a make-believe world. We shouldn’t say things that everyone knows aren’t true. We should accept fundamental, basic truths and speak about them openly, no matter what that means, what, no matter what the second-order implications of that are. We should, when when we live in a fantasy world, we create enormous risk.
Um, this wasn’t just a, a gesture or a diplomatic nicety. Um, recognizing this place, Taiwan, as an independent, sovereign, free nation is true. It reflects the reality. You know, I was I was speaking, uh, a week or so back about this law that China has on its books, this idea of an anti-secession law. That’s just crazy, right? When when Xi Jinping speaks of Taiwan as being reunified with his country, this is propaganda. This is an effort to shape the minds of your children, and shape the minds of people around the world who don’t know the history, that don’t know the history that is so central to why it is, it would be important for the United States to make a declarative statement about Taiwan and its independence. It’s a it’s it’s a simple call to just recognize the existing reality. You govern yourself democratically. We saw this yesterday with your peaceful transition of power. You control territory. You engage in international trade. You do so as a separate entity, deeply separate from the People’s Republic of China. None of your real estate, none of your territory, is under the PRC’s sovereign control. Uh, to suggest otherwise belies the reality. You know, the risk is that the PRC has misinterpreted the – the PRC stance, and frankly we’ we’ve had these set of understandings, these communique- these agreements, that have been made uh, long ago now, um, and perhaps they were workable in decades gone by. It’s possible.
Um, when the other side violates an agreement, and there are really only two parties involved, it makes no sense for the other side to continue to honor those commitments. This isn’t about belligerence. This isn’t about an effort to create conflict. This is about recognizing conflict. This is about recognizing that there is an aggressive party, and there’s a party that is a potential victim of that aggression. That’s the people of Taiwan, not the people and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. They are the aggressor. They are the ones who have threatened and attempted to coerce this place. You are the ones who have stood up to this coercion, aggression, ways that are important and noble and decent, and God bless you for that.
And finally, I, what pushed me over the edge to say that America ought to take that position is a reflection of my country’s history, my country’s history of recognizing people and their sovereign right to protect their own borders and to create prosperity for their own people. We correct an historical oversight when we get this right, but it also strength- strengthens a peaceful and democratic peoples. It’s not just you. It’s not just a policy adjustment. It is a moral and strategic imperative. And it is a necessary and it is a rightful acknowledgement of the democratic process of your true, free, and sovereign state. Time for us to act boldly, together. And when we do, when we do, I am convinced uh, that we will look back on the day that we just acknowledged the truth and the reality, we will look back on that day as a day that was an inflection point in world history, an inflection point in the history of this place, and an inflection point for the peoples of the entire region, and we made their lives better, safer, and more prosperous.

中文直譯：

很高興來到這裡，再次與台灣人民在一起。嗯，能和大家在一起，我感到非常榮幸。在我演講前得到這麼多掌聲，讓我非常緊張。所以，所以請多多包涵。
幾年前，嗯，我的第一次訪問，我被感動了。我被你們的款待和熱烈歡迎，你們的親切所感動。嗯，即使在新冠疫情最嚴重的時候，當經濟、人民和家庭都在苦苦掙扎的時候，我看到了。我看到了台灣作為一個自由的國家，一個自由的國家，由一個非常有能力的政府領導的韌性。在這裡，在這裡，我又一次有機會在你們國家歷史的另一個轉折點回來。對你們國家來說，這又是一個具有里程碑意義的時刻，嗯，一個民主選舉產生的總統和平過渡到一個新時代，毫無疑問，這個時代將充滿挑戰，但對在座的各位來說，也充滿了機遇，我希望對所有台灣人民來說也是如此。
我覺得在這個由台灣領先的保守派非政府組織「福和會」主辦的活動上感到特別幸運。這是一個獨特的團體，一個特殊的團體，我今天能和大家在一起感到非常自豪。
你們都知道--是的，我必須非常小心，我的書現在已經被翻譯成你們的語言了。嗯，但我確實知道一個，對吧？福爾摩沙是這個國家的暱稱。它的意思是美麗的--[掌聲]--島嶼。作為一個來自美國的保守派共和黨人，你們讓我感覺這裡最像家。所以，非常感謝你們。你們應該知道，你們應該知道，我今天來到這裡，不是作為一個黨派的共和黨人倡導者，也不是作為美利堅合眾國的代表。我是一個平民，一個普通公民。嗯，我來到這裡是因為我想在這個地方和你們一起慶祝，慶祝你們在擁抱保守主義和--我--什麼是傳統的自由主義思想，對人類尊嚴和基本權利的理解方面的成功。我--我正在觀察你們的立法機構--它非常熱鬧。嗯，我在我們的立法機構服務過。我們以前也相當熱鬧。嗯，誰知道你們必須學習跆拳道才能在你們的立法機構服務？
嗯，我--我為你們所做的一切感到驕傲。你們也應該為此感到非常自豪。時間。我認為，在最優秀的傳統中，擁有所謂的進步的、非常自由的政府形式，以及這些傳統的和保守的思想和價值觀之間的平衡，往往被遺忘了。在美國當然也是如此。我對你們的成功深感興趣。我是一個非常感興趣的觀察者。我認為，重要的是要強調台灣偉大的根源，其民主的成功，而這是潛在的保守主義遺產，它建立並促進了台灣，並將其帶到了今天的位置。
我想談談這個問題，因為如果我們忘記了我們的過去，我們的傳統，如果我們放棄了它們，嗯，那些對這個地方的成功至關重要的傳統保守主義觀點很可能會被遺忘。我們不能讓這種情況發生。嗯，從我的國家美國和台灣的角度來看，這當然是事實。在台灣，傳統的價值觀和制度對向一個成熟的、令人難以置信的現代化國家和現代化經濟的過渡起到了推動作用，而且是穩定的。你們所有人，每一天，都體現了民主的關鍵在於傳統與推動國家前進的艱苦工作之間的精心平衡，這與像中共國那樣的政權不同，後者已經步履蹣跚，並將繼續步履蹣跚，部分原因是他們放棄和破壞了文明價值觀、傳統制度，而這些正是台灣今天培育和創造其文化的東西。
想想看，台灣的保守派和自由派之間的良性互動。這種多元化的社會構成了你們民主的真正基礎。台灣擁抱綠色議程，為每個公民提供了強有力的法律權利和框架，並且是亞洲最早將同性婚姻合法化的國家之一，然而，保守派的聲音，像我和在座許多人的聲音，仍然處於你們國家的中心，是你們國家的心跳。
人們不能忽視台灣人民深信不疑的精英管理和教育，這深深植根於中華傳統。它不僅提供了一批訓練有素的人才，他們經營工廠，管理工業--這些都很重要--並有效地治理國家--這也很重要--但更重要的是，這是一個奇蹟，因為教育，這個基礎，對家庭的理解和愛，是台灣人民的核心。你們對權威的尊重在儒家傳統中最為人所知，而且重要的是，它培養了--美國有時會忘記--法治的基本性質。這種理解是，保護財產權和基本人權非常重要，所有公民都必須遵守法律。你們有充滿活力的政治進程。我之前開玩笑地說過這個問題。這是一件好事。嗯，思想上的差異是不可避免的，而成熟民主的標誌正是它們在這些差異出現和找到解決方案時繼續推進和發展。
台灣的社區福利傳統強調了集體福祉與個人利益之間的平衡，這是必要的。
我想在這裡停一下，談談台灣的宗教寬容。這是模範的。台灣是一個多神論社會，積極讓所有宗教信仰參與社會發展。佛教和基督教團體都支持社會正義倡議，而地方寺廟和社區中心則成為政治討論的論壇。這一點非常重要。作為一個將宗教自由置於美國議程最前沿的國務卿，我要感謝你們向世界展示了這種宗教寬容。它使你們變得更好、更強大，並使你們在作為一個國家發展的能力方面更加深入。
全世界都對你們的經濟成功感到驚嘆--永遠不要放棄這一點--以家族企業為支撐，將傳統價值觀融入公司，融入企業。作為一個經營了一家小公司 10 年的人，我知道這些制度中的文化非常重要。我們--我們想賺錢，我們想發展我們的公司，但對我們的客戶、我們的團隊成員，對我們組織中的每個人來說，絕對重要的是，我們永遠不要忘記那些為我們的國家帶來如此巨大進步的核心價值觀，如果我們做對了，就會在我們的企業中創造一種文化，從而帶來更大的成功。
你們知道，我們--我們生活在一個極左翼思想家經常挑戰這些傳統價值觀的時代。在我的國家當然是這樣，我知道在這裡也是這樣。你們已經通過昨天和多年來發生的事情證明，台灣是世界的一盞明燈，證明了傳統和現代可以共存。謝謝你們，上帝保佑你們。我的自由派朋友經常讓我感到難堪，他們說："麥克，你生活在過去。你有這些傳統的觀念。"但台灣證明，傳統和進步並不相互排斥。事實上，它們是相輔相成的。
現在，我想對在座的各位說幾句話，事實上，對世界上任何一個關注這個--這個--這個核心問題的人說："為什麼這個地方對我的人民，對奧克拉荷馬州和堪薩斯州的人民，對弗吉尼亞州和華盛頓州的人民很重要？"說："為什麼美國有責任，而且符合我們的最大利益，成為台灣及其在世界上的地位的良好夥伴、朋友和管理者？"
嗯，對我來說，這似乎很簡單。對我來說，但我要花幾分鐘時間來解釋一下，以防萬一有些人不太明白。嗯，首先，有一部法律，《台灣關係法》。作為一個簡單的國際法和先例問題，它非常有意義，它明確規定，我們將向台灣提供自衛的手段。但這遠遠不僅僅是一個法律義務。這當然是一個道德義務。嗯，它重申了我們對民主基本原則的承諾，這是我們國家 250 年來一直堅持的。它--它還表明，我們知道，我們必須堅持國家主權的核心價值觀，即人民作為一個國家集體行動的自由。
同樣不可否認的是，這個地方的戰略意義永遠不能忘記。如果美國不支持台灣，台灣人不支持自己的國防和安全，將會給全球帶來巨大的挑戰，僅僅是擁有一塊重要的地產。地理位置很重要。我們--我們知道，這裡是太平洋和南中國海之間的門戶。如果讓中共控制了這個地方，就會大大改變印太地區的力量平衡。這對像我這樣在南加州長大的每個衝浪者來說都很重要。我--我知道我們也是一個太平洋國家，一個依靠人民，依靠敬畏上帝、努力工作、熱愛家庭的人民在這個地方維護自由的國家。
第三，我必須說，當我們看到今天世界上正在發生的事情時--我知道在問答環節中我們會談到這個問題--支持台灣，是向全世界再次強調，美國將信守幾十年來在世界各地做出的承諾。我們在日本、韓國和菲律賓的盟友，他們--他們正在觀察美國的行為。毫無疑問，他們是這樣做的，而且做得對。他們依靠我們的決心和支持來抗衡地區威脅，並履行我們做出的承諾。如果我們在任何層面上拋棄台灣，不僅僅是在軍事上，而是在經濟上、外交上、道德上，各國都會開始懷疑我的國家。各國都會開始對我的國家採取冒險行動。各國都會認為自己可以自由地採取冒險行動，而這些行動可能會導致損害我國利益的事情發生。因此，出於極度的自私，不僅僅是道德，繼續履行我們幾十年來做出的承諾，完全符合美國的利益。我--我祈禱我們將繼續這樣做。
最後，嗯，你們對全球經濟都很重要。你們知道這一點。上帝保佑你們，為你們自己創造了很多價值，走出去，成為優秀的資本家，為全世界帶來美好的結果。任何威脅到這個地方的衝突都會給全球經濟蒙上陰影。如果讓中共控制了這個地方，就會以一種幾乎無法想像的方式損害全球經濟。因此，這不僅僅是保護這個人口相對較少的島嶼，而是要維護一個對未來幾十年的全球和平、全球安全和全球繁榮至關重要的戰略前沿。我祈禱我們能把這件事做好，這對我的孩子們來說是極其自私的，而且，我祈禱有一天我會有孫子孫女。嗯，我的兒子，現在結婚兩年了--到目前為止，一切都很好。嗯，但還沒有孫子孫女。我希望他們知道，和平與繁榮為在座的各位和美國人民帶來了如此之多的福祉，而保衛台灣是其中的核心組成部分。
現在，我想--我想和你們分享為什麼我認為你們應該相信這種情況會繼續下去。你看，我們將會--我們將會在美國發生政治鬥爭。在接下來的六個月裡，我們將迎來一場看起來很瘋狂的選舉。嗯，媒體上會有許多噪音。將會有許多喧囂和憤怒。關於美國應該走什麼方向，將會有激烈的意識形態辯論。但我想花幾分鐘時間談談為什麼你們應該相信，無論那次選舉的結果如何，絕大多數美國人民都與你們站在一起，因此我們的政治進程也會產生對你們國家的支持。
你們見過共和黨人和民主黨人。你們見過--他們中的每一個人都提供軍事支持。嗯，我們已經看到了先進的噴氣式飛機、導彈和海軍艦艇：這是美國對台灣國防能力承諾的有力證明。我希望拜登政府能做得更多，更快地將更多裝備送到你們手中，送到你們有能力的軍隊手中。我希望該地區能有更多的聯合行動，聯合部隊在太平洋地區一起訓練，向任何心存疑慮的人表明，美國和台灣在世界各地的盟友將與他們站在一起，即使在最困難的時候。
我相信，大量證據表明，我們將繼續與你們站在一起。嗯，這符合我們自身的利益，我相信，這種自身利益，加上美國人對這個地區是誰，是誰在為我們所堅持的價值觀而奮鬥的理解，要求我們與台灣和台灣人民站在一起。知道。
嗯，我--我--我確實聽到了一些懷疑的聲音。我聽到人們說美國不再是全球超級大國。我聽到他們說美國正在放棄它的一些盟友。這讓我很傷心。有時--有時這話也不無道理，但我--我想提醒大家，從歷史上看，在最關鍵的時刻，美國總是與它的盟友站在一起，共同應對困難的時期和挑戰。嗯，我們不應該忘記在科威特發生的事情，當那個國家被入侵的時候。美國本來可以很容易地袖手旁觀，但我們沒有。我們--做了--做了正確的事情，幫助一個只想過自己生活的民族趕走了一個殘暴的獨裁者。從巴爾幹半島的科索沃，嗯，到我們今天為烏克蘭人民提供的支持，美國在衝突時期是一個良好的盟友。嗯，很明顯，當我們的戰略利益一致時，我們也會做得更好，更強大。世界上沒有其他地方像台灣這樣，與美國有著共同的戰略利益，也許比任何其他國家都多。
我，嗯，我的父親曾在朝鮮戰爭期間在海軍服役。我記得，嗯，有時人們會忘記那是多麼有爭議，有多少美國人在亞洲那個地方的戰鬥中喪生。有些人想，"天哪，太遠了。為什麼美國要在那個地方投資？"從那天起，我們在那個地區的戰爭中永久部署的部隊和武器比世界上任何其他地方都多，包括今天，在日本有超過 5 萬人，在韓國有超過 2.3 萬人。我們繼續為這些國家提供必要的支持，以應對我們這個時代的威脅。到目前為止，我們最大的海外軍事部署是第七艦隊，幾十年來，它一直在離這個海岸不遠的地方巡邏。台灣的防禦，正如我們的海軍、我們的軍隊和我們的政府所知，與美國的防禦能力有著內在的聯繫。請記住，這一點已經超越了多屆政府，無論是民主黨還是共和黨都是如此。我已經談了很多，也寫了很多關於這種威懾態勢的文章，它可以做得更好。它可以更強大。毫無疑問，還有很多工作要做。威懾力總是暫時的。壞人，邪惡，會一直存在。那麼，當邪惡一直存在時，這意味著什麼？這就要求我們這些善良、正派、理解人類尊嚴的人，也必須堅持下去。隨著這些威脅的持續，這將要求我們以我們以前從未有過的方式加強我們的遊戲。這就是為什麼你們的和平過渡如此重要，因為這證明你們也準備好為你們的國家這樣做。我們確實如此。
我希望你們--我希望你們今天離開這裡時，知道這種夥伴關係很重要，知道夥伴關係需要雙方真正努力，並承擔一定程度的風險，才能實現你們國家需要的安全與繁榮。我們應該作為夥伴，滿懷信心地向前邁進，你們應該相信，我們共同的承諾和命運將會帶來良好的結果。
你們知道，嗯，我要用這個來結束我的發言，因為我期待著問答環節。嗯，我知道如何不回答問題是最好的。嗯，我想和你們說話，不僅僅是作為一個前任國務卿，嗯，而是作為一個和平的倡導者，在一個尊重主權、民主和國際法的基本規則的世界裡。
我--我--幾年前，當我提出一個立場時，讓一些人感到頭疼，嗯，那個立場是，"你們知道，現在是美國是時候承認台灣是一個主權獨立的國家了。"
嗯，你們應該知道，我在發表這個聲明之前考慮了很多。作為一個前任國務卿，人們會思考你說的話。有時他們會思考你說的話，然後說："你真是瘋了。"嗯，但我考慮了很多，我又回到了我在書中試圖寫的東西。我又回到了這個核心觀點，即我們不應該生活在一個虛幻的世界裡。我們不應該說一些大家都知道不是真的事情。我們應該接受基本的、基本的事實，並公開地談論它們，無論這意味著什麼，無論其第二層含義是什麼。當--當我們生活在一個幻想的世界裡時，我們就會製造巨大的風險。
嗯，這不僅僅是一種姿態或外交上的客套。嗯，承認這個地方，台灣，是一個獨立的、主權的、自由的國家，這是事實。它反映了現實。你們知道，我--我--一個星期前，我還在談論中國法律上的這條法律，這個反分裂法的概念。這太瘋狂了，對吧？當--當習近平說台灣與他的國家「再統一」時，這是宣傳。這是一種努力，是為了塑造你們孩子的思想，塑造世界上那些不了解歷史的人的思想，他們不了解歷史，而歷史對美國為什麼要就台灣及其獨立性發表聲明如此重要。這只是一個簡單的呼籲，只是承認現有的現實。你們以民主的方式治理自己。我們昨天在你們和平移交權力的過程中看到了這一點。你們控制著領土。你們從事國際貿易。你們這樣做是作為一個獨立的實體，與中華人民共和國截然不同。你們沒有一寸土地，沒有一寸領土，處於中華人民共和國的主權控制之下。嗯，暗示其他情況與現實不符。你們知道，風險在於中華人民共和國誤解了--中華人民共和國的立場，坦率地說，我們--我們已經有了一套諒解，這些公報--這些協議，這些協議是--很久以前就已經達成了，嗯，也許它們在過去的幾十年裡是可行的。這是可能的。
嗯，當一方違反協議時，而實際上只有兩方參與，另一方繼續履行這些承諾就沒有意義了。這不是好戰。這不是要製造衝突。這是要承認衝突。這是要承認有一個侵略方，而有一個是潛在的侵略受害者。那是台灣人民，而不是中國共產黨的人民和領導層。他們是侵略者。他們是威脅和企圖脅迫這個地方的人。你們是那些勇敢地抵抗這種脅迫、侵略的人，你們的方式是重要的、高尚的、正派的，上帝保佑你們。
最後，我，促使我說出美國應該採取這種立場的原因，是對我國歷史的反思，對我國承認人民及其保護自身邊界和為自己的人民創造繁榮的主權的歷史的反思。當我們把這件事做對的時候，我們就糾正了一個歷史性的疏忽，但它也加強了一個和平與民主的人民。這不僅僅是你們。這不僅僅是一個政策調整。這是一個道德和戰略上的當務之急。這是對你們真正的、自由的、主權國家的民主進程的必要和應有的承認。現在是我們一起採取大膽行動的時候了。當我們這樣做的時候，當我們這樣做的時候，我相信，嗯，我們將回顧我們承認事實和現實的那一天，我們將回顧那一天，認為它是世界歷史上的一個轉折點，是這個地方歷史上的一個轉折點，是整個地區人民的一個轉折點，我們讓他們的生活變得更好、更安全、更繁榮。

中文意譯：

非常榮幸能夠再次來到台灣，與大家共聚一堂。各位的熱情款待讓我深感溫馨，尤其是在疫情期間，我親眼見證了台灣在蔡總統領導下展現出的韌性與堅毅。如今，台灣再次迎來歷史性的時刻，新任總統將帶領國家邁向充滿挑戰和機遇的新時代。
我非常感謝台灣共和協會的邀請，讓我能夠參與這個盛會。台灣共和協會作為台灣重要的保守派非政府組織，一直以來都致力於推動台灣的民主與自由。我必須強調，我今天是以平民的身份來到這裡，並非代表美國政府或共和黨發聲。我來到這裡，是為了和大家一同慶祝台灣在融合保守主義和自由主義價值觀方面所取得的成就，這些價值觀包含了對人類尊嚴和基本權利的尊重。
台灣的民主制度充滿活力，各位在議會中激烈的辯論也讓我印象深刻。我為你們所取得的成就感到驕傲，台灣在傳統與進步之間取得了完美的平衡，這在當今世界實屬難得。我認為，台灣的成功離不開其深厚的保守主義傳統，這些傳統價值觀和制度為台灣的現代化進程奠定了堅實的基礎。
遺憾的是，在美國，傳統價值觀常常被忽視。台灣的經驗告訴我們，傳統與進步並非水火不容，相反，它們可以相輔相成，共同推動社會的發展。台灣在推行環保政策、保障 LGBTQ+ 權益的同時，也保留了對傳統價值觀的尊重，這充分體現了台灣社會的多元與包容。
台灣人民重視教育和精英管理的理念，這源於中華文化，也為台灣的經濟發展提供了源源不斷的人才。更重要的是，這種對教育的重視，以及對家庭和社會的責任感，構成了台灣社會的核心價值觀。台灣人民對權威的尊重，並非盲目服從，而是建立在對法治精神的認同之上，這也是台灣社會穩定發展的重要因素。
台灣的宗教寬容也值得稱讚，佛教、道教、基督教等各種宗教在台灣和諧共處，共同為社會做出貢獻。這種多元化的宗教環境，也為台灣的民主發展提供了肥沃的土壤。
台灣的經濟成就舉世矚目，這與台灣的家族企業文化密不可分。這些企業將傳統價值觀融入經營理念，在追求利潤的同時，也注重社會責任和員工福祉，這也是台灣企業能夠在國際市場上取得成功的關鍵因素。
在當今世界，極左翼思想家常常對傳統價值觀發起挑戰，台灣的經驗證明，傳統與現代可以並存不悖。台灣就像一座燈塔，照亮了人類社會發展的道路。
接下來，我想談談為什麼台灣對美國，乃至全世界都至關重要。
首先，《台灣關係法》明確規定了美國對台灣的安全承諾。這不僅僅是法律義務，更是道德責任。美國有責任維護台灣的民主自由，也有責任維護國際社會的秩序與穩定。
其次，台灣的戰略地位不容忽視。台灣位於第一島鏈的中心位置，是連接太平洋和南中國海的重要樞紐。如果台灣落入中共手中，將嚴重威脅整個印太地區的安全與穩定，也會對全球經濟造成難以估量的損失。
第三，美國對台灣的支持，也是對其盟友的承諾。日本、韓國、菲律賓等國都在密切關注美國的行動，如果美國背棄台灣，將會導致盟友對美國失去信心，也會讓那些試圖挑戰國際秩序的國家更加肆無忌憚。
最後，台灣是全球經濟的重要組成部分。台灣的半導體產業在全球供應鏈中扮演著不可或缺的角色，任何威脅到台灣安全的行為，都會對全球經濟造成嚴重衝擊。
我相信，無論美國政壇如何變化，美國對台灣的支持都不會改變。因為這不僅符合美國的利益，也符合美國的價值觀。
我希望各位對台美關係充滿信心，雙方將繼續深化合作，共同維護台海和平穩定，促進印太地區的繁榮發展。
最後，我想談談我對台灣地位的看法。我認為，美國應該承認台灣是一個主權獨立的國家。這並非挑釁，而是對現實的承認。台灣擁有自己的政府、軍隊、領土和人民，並且以獨立的身份參與國際事務，這些都是不爭的事實。
中共聲稱台灣是其領土的一部分，這完全是虛假宣傳。中共的「反分裂國家法」只不過是其企圖吞併台灣的藉口。我們不應該生活在謊言之中，應該勇敢地說出真相。
美國承認台灣是一個主權獨立的國家，不僅是對歷史錯誤的糾正，也是對台灣人民追求民主自由的支持。這將是世界歷史上的重要里程碑，也将為印太地區帶來更和平、更繁榮的未來。

Metro: Small posse lives their life underground in a subway system once the words goes apocolyptic after nuclear attacks with no help from the ever-growing climate crisis; more people find the tunnels will they lead the new world or branch off and start world hatred once more?
MC's M Steve, M Mark, M Nickolas (nickname Nick), F Sasha, F Caroline(nickname Cara)
Location: Metro tunnels of New York
The Bronx tunnels/area are marked as off limits due to the radioactive levels
Manhattan tunnels/area is the main farming and food production area.
Brooklyn tunnels/area is the main living quarters
Queens tunnels/area is teaching, meeting, guard, and job training quarters.
Year: 2065
Once the people turn 16 they are sent to Queens to be tested and choosen a job to work the rest of their time there.

In the spring of 2016, I had too much free time. I was 16. I was a lonely and introverted teenager with some complexes, so naturally, I spent a lot of time playing computer games.
So I joined a small Minecraft server. I liked the unique community, I liked the custom server plugins, and I liked the administration's approach to server management.
When applications for server moderation team opened in mid-summer 2016, I submitted my application. Even though I was a relatively new member of the server, my application was accepted, I was given a fancy red prefix, access to special commands, and I officially became a member of the server staff.
In a position of strength, my complexes began to manifest themselves. I started acting like an arrogant jerk.
It was around this time that I met J. She was a very creative server player, and without a second thought, I complimented her building abilities.
This turned out to be a mistake on my part; a little of my attention was enough for J to become obsessed with me and want even more. She did everything to get my attention: she threatened me with suicide, sent me gory photos, and drew disgusting drawings. This scared me a little. She was only 13; she had obvious problems with self-harm, and I had no idea what to do with her attention as I was worried about her mental and physical health.
On the evening of one autumn day in 2016, when I logged into the game after school and, as always, was busy satisfying my complexes by punishing some poor kids for doing kid stuff, a player with the nickname Z joined the server.
Almost immediately after he joined, an extremely ambiguous message was written on the server on my behalf in the general chat.
When I tried to ban Z, my prefix just turned toxic green.
I panicked and wrote to one of the server owners about what was happening and received an unexpected answer...
Z is a senior member of the staff and part of the development team.
It is worth noting that I was never personally introduced to all members of the staff; I was just added to the private server. That's the reason why I didn't know who Z was.
Although the problem was resolved, in my eyes, Z humiliated me in front of the entire server. I was angry, and I wanted to repay him in one way or another. It sounds funny now, but I was 16. At the time, it seemed like a matter of honor to me.
So from that very day on, Z and I developed a kind of comic feud. When we were both online, we joked and messed with each other.
Over time, we began to sometimes chat outside the game. Z was quite good at IT, and at that time I was thinking about a career in that field. so I sometimes consulted him on the topic.
In January 2017, something happened among the senior staff. I never found out what, but as part of this, Z and several other senior administrators resigned. The server could not withstand such a crisis and closed down two months later.
My interest in Minecraft was starting to wane a bit at that time, so I just shrugged and went back to the games I was playing before. But my connection with Z remained, and J continued to stalk my online accounts.

Somewhere in March 2017, I started playing another voxel game on the RP server. This was my first RP experience, and it just blew my mind.
RP allowed me to be anyone, and of course (now I’m even embarrassed to write this), I started playing as a lonely, serious, and rich government employee.
About a month later, Z found out about my RP alter ego.
Me: damn Z, I’m playing this RP game, and presidential elections are going on right now, and I’m supporting one of the candidates and
Z: And he turned out to be a Nazi?
Me: NO!!! It’s just that there are two candidates, and the one I support is not the one who is going to win! What if they take revenge on me now?
Z: And what will they do to you :-/?
Me: EXACTLY! I HAVE NO CLUE, AND I'M SCAAAAAAARED!
Z: Why are you playing then if you're scared?
Me: I like it!
Z: That sounds interesting; what exactly are you playing? :-)
and Z came in. and Z liked it.
We started chatting much more. I was lonely and didn't have many friends. That's why I became attached to Z and our chats with him. I often sat up until the early hours of the morning, just chatting with him about all sorts of stuff.
Z was two years older than me, had answers to all the questions, spoke four languages, was a troll, and had a strange, charming style of communication. One moment he would talk like your wise older sibling, and the next he would act like a stupid, naive little one.
Z: You have a new car!
Me: Yeah, it's a little buggy, but they promised to fix it in the next bugfix.
Z: Why blue?
Me: I like blue
Z: But why not green?
Me: Because I like blue!
Z: But I like green :-(
Me: Well, paint yours green!
Z: I want yours!
Me: Nope, my car.
Z: meanie:_-(
He also had the habit of taking the conversation to unexpected places.
Z: Hey, what do you think about immortality?
Me: IDK
Z: Hey, don’t be like that! I’m sure you’ve thought about this at least once :-/
Me: To be honest, I’m too lazy to think about immortality at 4 am haha
Z: lazy ass :-(
Me: What do you mean by immortality anyway? Like, how does it work?
Z: any theoretical immortality! Do you think this is good or bad?
Me: um... I'm not sure. Bad, I think.
Z: Don't you want to live forever? :-)-:?
Me: I'm just not sure that immortality for all people is a good idea. Some might go crazy or smth, IDK
Z: How sweet! You care about other people!
Me: THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!!
Somewhere in July, I developed an addiction to opening cases in a very well-known online shooter. I spent most of the money that I earned on them.
I knew that Z had a lot of money; Z never hid that he worked in a lucrative position at a construction company. This led to one of the most humiliating moments of my life.
Me: Hey Z, can you lend me 100usd, please?
Me: please?
Z: For what? :-/
Me: cases. I'll return it in a week, I promise!
Z: Nah, try to rob your parents :-)-: I'm sure this would make a cool news headline.
By the beginning of June, I decided to sell some virtual game items for an approximate amount of 700 USD and spend it on my addiction. I found a buyer and asked Z to help me with the process. but everything didn't go according to plan. Z lied to me, transferred the items to his own account, and then... permanently banned his own account.
This was the first time I saw this side of Z. I sat helplessly and felt that, through the monitor, Z was glad that he could hurt me, glad that he was able to humiliate me.
I blocked Z on all platforms and decided not to contact him anymore.

I haven't talked to Z for two months. Honestly, I don’t remember what excuses I came up with, but I unblocked his accounts and wrote to him myself. I was lonely; I had no friends, and my time with Z was one of the best times I've had in years. Any excuse would do.
Me: Hey, jerk.
Z: hi :-)
I again started staying up late and texting with Z. Re-reading our chats now, I see that he began to behave more aggressively towards me, intentionally hitting my emotions and complexes. I was mistaking his obvious attacks for stupid jokes, which is what he was probably aiming for.
Moreover, I became even more attached to Z, which led to another extremely humiliating moment.

Me: You know, I wish you could be my girlfriend.
Z: Oh wow, the offer is certainly interesting, but I’ll probably refuse :-D

Around late November or early December 2017, J continued to write to me again and send me a lot of gory stuff. I was annoyed by this and complained to Z about her.
A couple of days after I complained to Z, I received a link to a file-sharing service from him, and of course, being a complete idiot, I downloaded the folder that was on it.
After opening the downloaded folder, I was completely shocked. The folder contained almost all possible data about J that you could think of. even her parent’s passports. Z doxed J to me. But my idiocy didn’t end there. I, as a 17-year-old edgy teenager trying to seem cool on the Internet to my ‘cool friend‘, so wrote in response the most moronic thing I could.
Me: Fuck, she lives in my city!!!

Yeah, I was so stupid that I doxxed myself. What was I thinking at that moment? no idea. Z responded very vaguely:
Z: What a coincidence :-D
At the end of January 2018, Z and I had a little fight over some nonsense.
A couple of days after this fight, I saw J near my school. She smiled, waved at me, and walked away. I immediately realized that Z had contacted J, and told her that we lived in the same city. I shared photos of my life with Z, and from them, J could easily identify my school, street, and, over time, even my look. and she did.
So now J stalked me not only online but also in real life. I was terribly scared; I didn’t know what to do. She pushed her drawings under my door, she walked down my street in the hope that I would come out to, her online spam increased threefold.
Z found it funny. Yeah, even after Z did this, I still forgave him, put on a “brave face” and continued to chat with him. I didn’t want to seem like a coward in front of him, so I didn’t say anything about this. I just asked why he did it, to which I received an extremely common “Z answer“
Z: I thought it was a great idea :-)
In March 2018, Z and I had this conversation:
Z: Hey, explain to me why you are so dependent on the opinions of others.
Me: This is a strange question; I have no idea how to answer it. We're all a little dependent on it, aren't we?
Z: Maybe so, but you make all your decisions looking at those around you :-/-: “Oh my God, what will people say? What should I do?”
Me: Um... well, I'm just a little indecisive!
Z: No, you are afraid of those around you. Let’s say, why isn’t your photo on one of your social networks? M?
Me: What does this have to do with it?
Z: This is very important; it's stupid to be afraid to show your face simply because you think others will judge you. Others don't matter.
As a result of this, I put my photo on one social network. exactly for a couple of minutes, then I felt anxious, and I deleted it. But these couple of minutes were enough for Z to download this photo.
I didn’t know that Z saw and even downloaded that photo.
In March, J’s actions began to cross all boundaries, even reaching the point of making threats towards my parents. I was afraid to tell anyone about J because she threatened me with false accusations several times. On the Internet, J began using the same emoticons as Z.
Z jokingly advised me to kill J, and even gave several methods of slow poisoning, and even presented me with a scenario for killing J in which I would remain undetected.
This all happened in the usual humorous manner that Z enjoys, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.
In June 2018, Z sent my childhood photo to our chat.
Z: Cool outfit :-D
I had no idea how to respond to this. I was in shock; words didn't come to mind.
I: ?????????????
In response to my message, Z sent more photos to the chat. photos of my parents, photos of my deceased grandmother, photos of my parents' old and new cars. And the photo that I posted earlier.
It was some kind of strange, unvoiced threat without a threat.
I know who you are; I can find out even more.
At that moment, so many thoughts were swarming my head that I didn’t even think about the implications. I was just scared.
Z is the only person whose gaze I felt through the screen, and at that moment I felt it. I felt him enjoying the moment of my weakness, the moment of his control over me. But I didn’t want to look weak—to look like a coward in front of Z. So I typed something extremely stupid:
Me: Yeah, yeah, very cool. How did you do it?
Z: :-)-:
I never found out how Z got these photos; Z didn’t tell me, and I didn’t insist because I thought that if I did, I would show weakness.
Looking at it all now, I can assume that Z somehow forced J or someone else to break into my house for this. but this is a theory without evidence.

At the end of June, after J once again stalked me on the street, I wrote Z an extremely irritated message in which I said that his joke with J had gone too far, that it was putting my whole family in danger, and that I was afraid to go outside because of him. I expected him to be angry, but instead, he answered me very calmly.
Z: Okay, I'll fix it. Your loss
After a week, I no longer saw J around my neighborhood. I thought that Z had talked to her, or maybe even bribed her with something.
Later, I found out from J herself that he actually tried to reason with her, but she refused. In retaliation, he sent her self-harm video to all work emails associated with the company where her mother worked. This forced her parents to take action and find her help.
In mid-summer 2018, I had an extremely memorable interaction with Z. While playing with him, we had a humorous argument during which I accidentally killed Z’s character.
I didn't think this would be a big problem, but for Z, it turned out to be. Z literally exploded in chat and typed some offensive and very hurtful things. After some time, he stopped typing; his character stood unmoving for about 3 minutes, then disconnected from the game. I didn't see him online for about 3 days. When he returned, he apologized for his behavior and said that he had misunderstood my words and the situation.
I described all this to make it clear that Z was a paranoid person who could misunderstand your words by turning them around.
From the fall to the end of 2018, I was overwhelmed with a lot of studying. Z, on the other hand, was busy at work, which is why we had almost no time to chat. At first, it bothered me. Z was my safe space, and it was hard for me. But then I became more open and made real friends.
My chats with Z at that moment were limited to just a couple of messages a day. Z himself began to behave much more apathetically toward me, but in general, he showed joy and even strange pride in me, That I am no longer limiting myself and socializing with other people.
In February 2019, it was revealed that my school’s network was compromised and was used for malicious purposes; this even made it to the local news. I don't understand anything about cybersecurity at all, so I won't even try to go into technical detail. All I know is that all the school computers were infected with something, and because of this, the data of several professors and students was leaked online.
I didn’t even think it could be Z at that time, but now I don’t rule out this possibility. Based on his further actions, he is quite capable of such things.
In April 2019, I received a personal message from R on one gaming platform.
R said that he saw me on Z’s friend’s list and asked how I was related to him. I replied that Z is one of my best friends. R replied that he, too, once considered Z his best and only friend, and he wanted to warn me about Z.
R, like me, was once a lonely teenager who was hiding from real life in video games, and in 2015, he met Z on the same Minecraft server as me.
R and Z began chatting under the pretext of language learning. R, as a Russian, did not know English very well, and Z did not mind learning Russian, which he already knew well.
R was 14 years old at that time, so it was easy for Z to take control of him. And if Z behaved like a friend with me, with R, he behaved like an older brother.
Their main communication took place in voice chat, which surprised me because in those rare moments when I had the courage to offer Z talking through voice chat, Z refused.
R was talking to Z every day, telling him about his life and telling him some of his very intimate secrets. Z gave R advice, helped with homework (to be fair, he helped me too), and even helped his family financially when times got tough.
Just like with me, at a certain point in their relationship, Z obtained a lot of personal information about R, creating an unspoken threat.
R blocked Z from all areas after Z sent sketchy people to photograph R's younger brother on his way home from school.
Despite all the earlier threats, Z did not respond to this in any way.
R also wrote that Z was responsible for leaking some personal data of two bullied 11-year-olds in Ukraine in 2012, which ultimately led to extremely sad consequences.
Just like me, R became more open over time, made a circle of friends, and became a fairly well-known local DJ. According to R, without Z, he wouldn’t have achieved any of this. This upset me and lowered my spirit, since I was proud of myself that I was able to change a little, and in R's opinion, this is not my merit but the merit of Z.
I can't confirm or deny R's story, but I am inclined to accept the main part of it.
I chatted with R for one day, after which I blocked him. I felt disgusted and uncomfortable, and I chose not to listen to him anymore. He said what he wanted to say and warned. Well, I guess too late.
In July 2019, I started dating.
Z showed almost no emotion to this news; he wrote that he was happy for me. I think that he already had another victim, and he didn’t spend as much time on me as before.
Despite this, in October 2019, he sent some people to my girlfriend’s apartment complex to take photos of her. after which he sent them to me.
Me: You're sick.
Z: Well, we are all sick in some ways :-)-:
I didn’t stop chatting with him out of fear; he had too much information about me and my loved ones, and I can’t imagine what I would have done to myself if something had happened to them because of him.
In 2020, Z himself began to show me the results of his actions. From hacked computers, surveillance cameras, and data leaks to raider takeovers. It was clear that he was showing this to me to implant in me the idea that it could be me, and this made me even more scared.
Z's messages stopped being sweet and friendly; they became sarcastic, sometimes with some kind of double-threatening overtone. I think that it was at that moment that the real Z, who loved to destroy, torture, and enjoy all the destruction, communicated with me.
In the fall of 2020, due to my stupidity (previously, I downloaded some files that Z sent me), Z gained access to my phone and sent phishing links to all my contacts. As a result, the finances of several of my friends were jeopardized. Z didn't even deny his involvement in this.

In December 2020, I heard Z's ‘voice’ for the first and last time. It was in a discord voice chat with a few other people, and he was using a voice changer. He sounded completely distant and had a strange French-German accent. Perhaps it was some side effect of a changer
In the winter of 2021, Z entered into a conflict with a Russian lawyer, O. I have no idea whether this was a 'direct' conflict regarding some legal matters (I don’t think so, since Z is not Russian) or whether O simply offended Z in some way online. But you could feel the anger from Z through the screen.
To my horror, Z was determined to seriously ruin O's life, and I had to watch. If Z stalked me, then he giga-stalked O. Personal photos, secretly taken photos, and even live broadcasts from the webcams of O’s relatives and friends were sent to me.
I think that Z thought that O was challenging Z’s intelligence by not ‘getting under control’, and every day this infuriated Z even more. But again, this is just my speculation, since I don’t know how the conflict between O and Z started.
Over time, Z's actions became more... physical. Z sent people to crash O's car, set his elderly father's house on fire, and beat up several of his friends and coworkers. ‘Others suffer because of you’ seems to be Z’s favorite tactic.
Did O do anything in response? he did. I don’t know what exactly , Z preferred not to talk about his failures, but from the context and some vague wording, I could understand that O was trying to somehow resist Z, which irritated him even more.
In the late summer of 2021, Z was able to gain access to O’s personal computer and phone. In early autumn, Z outed O as gay using personal messages from dating sites and a collection of gay prose written by O. Z specifically posted this information on websites for people with extremely negative views of it. Given Russia's problems with gay rights, I don't think O got off easy.
After that, the only time Z mentioned O was when O's prose was removed from all sites on which it was published. Z was clearly delighted.
I was horrified; a person’s life was being destroyed in front of me, and I didn’t know what to do. I felt like an accomplice (I still do), and I was afraid that I would be next. I was scared for my family, I started having problems sleeping.
In November 2021, I couldn’t stand it and told my girlfriend everything. About Z, and J, and about the fact that Z sent people to take pictures of her, and about O.
She supported me, and we both decided that the best solution would be to block Z and forget about him. For several months, I was afraid of some kind of retaliation from Z, but it never came.
In the fall of 2023, J contacted me. She gets the help she needs, and she is very sorry for what she did. She didn’t want to discuss Z.
Sometimes I just go in and re-read our old chats with Z, just out of nostalgia, and I see that Z's accounts are still active.
My story may be missing something because I tried to tell only about the important moments leaving out the unnecessary. Because of this, I might have missed small details.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

So...uhh
Been a hot minute since I last discusses this ey? Sorry about that.
ANYWAY I been working on Smokey aka Night Train again, mostly for a Snowpiercer universe DND game I wanna eventually hold. Soo uhh...yeah, let's get into this shall we?
Updates:
First of all, let me share some Updates with the Backstory of the engine. Most notably how I started moving in the first place 3 years after and where it was parked. You see, Smokey wasn't exactly...hard to find. Located three streets down from Snowpiercer's launch spot, was Smokey, which at the time had the name Penitente which had been given to it incase a engine needed rescue during the construction of the rail lines, it would be easier to send out a named engine and it's better for marketing. Anyway back to the topic at hand. Smokey was stored in a old works station, which was supposed to be the main station but the space proved too small for what they wanted to do. So they simply left Smokey there to rot away. Which...as you all know didn't happen so uhh..let me explain that. You know how I said in the last post about this that the company was trying "experimental" things on Smokey? Well, one of them was an AI. The entire engine has a bind of its own, which got restarted when it's operator, a young 10 year old boy, who lived in the destroyed city with his family, managed to restart its power supply. Now let's get onto the engine itself shall we?
Engine:
As stated before, Smokey is an ai powered/controlled engine, an AI that despises its creator even if it desires their attention and the love of the masses. Smokey also refuses to let any humans freeze to death without trying to save them, usually resulting in it having constant panic attacks whenever it goes through a city or sees the abandoned coaches of Big Alice and Snowpiercer. Smokey constantly feels like it needs to prove itself, to save as many people as it can since that was its purpose for being created. Smokey also pretends to be none-sentient whenever people it doesn't know are in the cab. It also regularly snatches up peices from other trains, cars, and such to help improve itself to protect its passengers, which it does with its little human buddy. It is also the strongest engine out on the lines "that they know of" because you see...Smokey has every single engine built by the company on their hard drive, although they don't know their current state or location.
Oh and it loves to call the crew of Snowpiercer and Big Alice "a group of swines who would put their wine over a life" specifically due to how their cultures have evolved to be so classist and also says "you all are the only groups I would leave to die if I could".
As of currently, Smokey has 32 coaches, 14 goods vans, and 2 converted Flatbeds.
The Amored Tortoises, the Hare, and the Iron Ghost:
Now onto the juicy stuff! How does Smokey connect to the others engines? Well in many ways, for one...before the freeze. Smokey helped deliver the parts and such to build the likes of Snowpiercer and several others and helped lay the rails they run on.
During the Freeze is where things get interesting. For one Smokey and it's crew actually saw Big Alice leave its hiding spot. They watched Willbert take it from the factory it was stored in and race off, they did follow for a while but decided it was best to check out the factory for any information on other engines and trains. They also saw the...uh..let's say the...cutting of middle weight on the Snowpiercer.
Later on Smokey ran into the two engines again while the three were heading in opposite directions. Although Smokey had its lights off at the time being so only the crew at the front got to see a glimpse of the engine and it's train which gave Smokey the nickname "Iron Ghost".
Three weeks after that incident Smokey stumbled across another shed/factory where it and it's passengers discovered prototype coaches which they snatched up as well as a few documents saying that someone had stolen the engine the factory was working on.
Next they watched the "game of chicken" from across the yard and later ended up giving Snowpiercer a jumpstart after a small power surge which made it almost impossible to get moving fast enough.
And that's uh...that's the end I guess? I'll make another post when more of my ideas are sorted out so uh...see ya? I guess?

Credit—Fandom (https://konohalibrary.fandom.com/wiki/Talk_No_Jutsu)
Naruto and Ash Ketchum are the only known user of Talk-No-Jutsu it descended from ashura Talk No Jutsu
589c647d1faddd449cb5af541a1c0586 Naruto Uzumaki performing Talk no Jutsu on Obito Uchiha (Somehow worked...?) (however zoro can't be affected by talk no jutsu)
Believed to be a founding principle of the original Ninshū created by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki The Sage of Six Paths. Talk no Jutsu (Art of Talking). With it, he can talk to the evilest, depressed, and twisted people and make them change their entire lives in minutes. Which is canon... Totally and proven to be the most powerful jutsu in the series.
This jutsu was confirmed by Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, to be by far the most powerful jutsu of all and said it was inspired based on the time when his therapist performed a talk no jutsu-style exorcism on him.
This jutsu was taught to Naruto by his mentor Iruka Umino when he tried to save Naruto even though the latter was blamed for the death of the former's parents. Talk no Jutsu also seems to be Iruka Umino's only jutsu. In chapter 655, it is revealed that Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, also had a talent for Talk no Jutsu, but it does not disclose to what extent Kushina can control this jutsu. It is hinted that Hinata Hyuga also has a penchant for Talk no Jutsu when she forces Naruto to question himself after Neji's death. Talk no Jutsu can be activated by uttering a specific word, which, when used repeatedly, results in the controlled person and Naruto entering Talk no Jutsu dimension and the target falling deeper into the jutsu. For example, Naruto's activating word is Dattebayo, Kushina's word is Dattebane, Iruka's activating word is obviously Naruto. Boruto's Dattebasa hints that he similarly possesses the genetically inherited predisposition for Talk no Jutsu.
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Inheritance
Apparently, the TnJ (and the resistance to it) can be passed on to the next generations. This can be seen with Asura descendants Hashirama and Naruto possessing natural TnJ talent while Indra descendants Madara and Sasuke are mostly impervious to TnJ. There is also reason to believe TnJ can be inherited vertically, with Boruto inheriting his father's ability.
Users
Asura Ōtsutsuki
Asura, one of the sons of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, is noted to be the inventor of TnJ. With his friendly personality and his mantra of relying on others for his strength, Asura was primed at a young age to develop TnJ. This was first seen in the filler episode when he convinced villagers living near the God tree to rely on themselves for their prosperity. This technique was so momentous that it set up the Naruto universe; Asura's success with TnJ convinced Hagoromo to choose him as his successor, leading to Indra's jealousy and betrayal and culminating with their continuous reincarnations as Hashirama and Madara and eventually Naruto and Sasuke. Ironically, Asura's failure in TnJ - ing Indra was also the first recorded failure of the technique.
Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto's TnJ is widely thought to be the most successful in the entire Naruto universe, with a near 100% success rate that is broken by Madara Uchiha and Noelle Holiday. Itachi is the only known person to successfully use the TnJ against Naruto: Naruto wanted to end the war all by himself but Itachi managed to TnJ Naruto that he should not shoulder everything himself or he will fail. This innate strength is likely due to Naruto being a descendant of Asura--the creator of the original TnJ thousands of years ago.
TL;DR Naruto says Dattebayo and TnJ acitvated, this won’t work on some people through inherited immunity,
Against Neji
In exams second phase against Neji. Naruto continuously used small bits of TnJ on Neji throughout the fight and then blasted a finishing TnJ-enhanced uppercut punch right up at him. When Neji was lying on the ground defeated, Naruto slipped in a little bit more TnJ to finish him off. By the time Neji was taken to the infirmary, TnJ had already inflicted permanent psychological and emotional damage.
Against Gaara
During the Konoha CRUSH arc, Naruto next used TnJ against Gaara. At first it didn't work, so he had to fight it into him with a TnJ enhanced headbutt. The TnJ seems to be transferable as Gaara gained the TnJ ability after his encounter with Naruto though his technique still leaves a lot to be desired.
Against Tsunade
In the Search for Tsunade arc, Tsunade was subjected by Naruto, whose attitude reminded her of Nawaki and Dan, going into flashbacks until she could hardly grasp for breath. While it was not clear whether Naruto used TnJ on her, due to an absence of an extended philosophical and ideological dialogue, it is speculated that Tsunade fell for the TnJ variant: Remind - me - of - my - loved - ones - no - jutsu so hard that she became Naruto's fangirl, placing her utmost important treasure and faith in him and even almost got herself killed by Orochimaru to protect him.
Against Sai
During the first 60 episodes of Naruto: Shippuden, when Sai, Sakura, Yamato (Kinoe, Tenzo) and Naruto went to save Sasuke , Sai tried to betray them but Captain Yamato captured him. Naruto started using TnJ on him when Sai talked about how scary Sasuke seemed and how little he cared about Naruto, and Naruto talked about how he didn’t care about that. He said he would give up his whole body just to save Sasuke. “I don't care who I have to fight! If he rips my arms out, I'll kick him to death! If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death! If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death! And if he gouges out my eyes, I'll curse him from the grave! Even If I'm torn to shreds, I'm taking Sasuke back from Orochimaru!” Sai didn’t understand but was moved anyway. Ever since then, he got closer to Team Kakashi/Yamato.
Against Nagato
One of the most momentous displays of TnJ was seen during Pain's invasion when Naruto confronted Nagato in person. When normal TnJ was not able to budge Nagato, Naruto created a new variant of it called Sage Art: Talk no Jutsu and Sage Art: Pretense no Jutsu. This new TnJ variant, fueled by the natural energy of the earth, was so strong that it convinced Nagato to commit suicide and revive all those he had killed during the invasion.
Against Killer B
Prior to the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto used TnJ on Killer Bee to make the latter train him. When proven to be ineffective, Naruto invented another strong variation of TnJ called TnJ: Brofist no Jutsu. This variation is a special one since it did not contain the toxic dialogue of merchandising. He bolstered this with a little Rap no Jutsu to convince the rapper jinchūriki and it worked like magic. You must also note that naruto used another version of this technique called TnJ: Improvised Oiroke no Jutsu which blends the sexy technique and the talk no jutsu for maximum effect on men but for unknown reasons(most likely due to his willpower) it did not work causing Naruto to resort to the brofist no jutsu
Against Kurama / Kyuubi
The universal effectiveness of TnJ was in full display when Naruto was able to make the Kyuubi submit to his ninja way. Naruto told the bloodthirsty Kyuubi that he'll "do something about [Kyuubi's] hatred". As the Kyuubi--having been inside Naruto since his birth--is very familiar with TnJ, the usual variant of the technique was rendered moot. This marks the first time when TnJ alone was insufficient to subdue the target. With knowledge on the origin of the tailed beasts, Naruto sought to finally control Kyuubi by evolving the jutsu to one that's actually useful: Action-speaks-louder-than-talk-no-jutsu (ASLtTnJ) combined with the I-will-remember-your-names-no-jutsu (IWRYNnJ) on display when he freed the other tailed beasts from the reanimated jinchūriki. Since then, the Kyuubi (now known as Kurama) has unquestionably joined forces with Naruto. ASLtTnJ was so effective that Kurama and Naruto ended up referring to each other on a first-name basis.
Against Obito
Obito Uchiha is the only known Uchiha to be TnJ-able by Naruto. Unsurprisingly, mere TnJ was inadequate and Obito ends up strangling o. In response, Naruto developed Punch no Jutsu, bringing Obito to a new level of TnJ. Using a combination of TnJ and Flashback no Jutsu augmented with a synergy of Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Mode, Obito was punched so hard that he was put into flashback and started to TnJ himself back from his sociopathic and puppy love-inspired emo worldview.
Note that Obito had a variant of the talk no jutsu. It was seen only once when he convinced Kakashi to help him save Rin. Obito never used it again as it seemingly does not work after said Uchiha falls victim to the Curse of Hatred. It is thus observed that an Uchiha's inherent immunity to TnJ gets nullified when their lifelong dream of being Hokage gets triggered by the combined attack of TnJ and Flashback-no-Jutsu.
Against Sasuke
Aware of the dangers of TnJ since the first-day meeting Naruto, Sasuke secretly worked on his own version of TnJ and also an Anti-TnJ. The resulting technique was Emo Style: Edgy Kid no Jutsu. Thanks to this, he was able to resist this powerful jutsu. This worked flawlessly for 15 years. Unfortunately, due to some stupid plotline introduced by a bored Kishimito, he finally gave up and become Naruto's wannabe fanboy.
Sasuke Uchiha has been blessed by Kishimoto to withstand this horrid technique for 15 long years. This divine level of resistance is thought to be the result of Sasuke being a descendant of Indra--the first person to withstand the TnJ by the first ever TnJ user, Asura. Withstanding multiple barrages of TnJ from Team 7 and several more from Naruto for 15 manga years, Sasuke appears to have learned and developed a dark version of TnJ of his own. This TnJ, similar to Naruto's, is likely among the strongest to ever exist due to Sasuke being a descent of Indra--the first person to ever resist a TnJ (from Asura).
Sasuke's unique TnJ was seen when he seemingly appeared to be TnJ-ed by Hashirama. To everyone's surprise, Sasuke used an advanced form of TnJ that made Hashirama and even Tobirama TnJ themselves into supporting his ideals.
Sasuke's TnJ resistance came to a close during the last part of the Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes arc during the closing final battle between him and Naruto. In their final confrontation battle, Naruto and Sasuke, with their own advanced forms of TnJ, fought while communicating telepathically. The battle ended in a tie, with both ninjas lying on the the ground with their arms destroyed. Being his keikaku (means plan) all along, Naruto activated the ultimate and most lethal variant of TnJ: TnJ-Blood Ties. By mixing his blood together with Sasuke, TnJ Blood Ties finally allowed Naruto to completely brainwash Sasuke to the extent that not even Kishimoto could save him. The technique was so severe and effective that Sasuke ended up falling in love with and marrying Sakura--a woman he never showed romantic interest in before, and admitting that Naruto is his equal and best friend. and the best part is that sasuke was the only one to resist Tnj for a long time. In a way, this could be more powerful than Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, which Itachi originally planned to brainwash Sasuke into rejoining Konoha.
Against Kawaki
In Boruto, there was an episode in which Naruto attempted to convey to Kawaki, "I used to be like you" Surprisingly, this particular line has garnered significant attention, evolving into a prominent meme that has nearly overshadowed the iconic "Talk no Jutsu." We could even argue this is after years of constant usage of Talk no Jutsu, that has caused it to evolve.
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Large scale use
Naruto
In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto Uzumaki demonstrated the ability to use TnJ on a notably much larger scale: the Tajū Talk no Jutsu (TTnJ). While giving a speech in Konoha, during the Byakuya Gang incident, he was not only able to calm a fair number of protesters down, but also managed to change their mind and turn them against the Byakuya Gang. This new evidence suggests that skillful users, who have mastered TnJ, are also able to use TTnJ, a rare variant of the technique directed at a large number of people.
Gaara
Several years after succumbing to Naruto's TnJ during the Konoha crush arc, Gaara was finally able to master and display his TnJ prowess during the Five Kage Summit when he asked the other Kages, "When did you all forsake yourselves?" This skill was repeated during the Fourth Shinobi World War when he inspired the Allied Shinobi Forces as well as psychologically wounding Kabuto's reanimated corpses. His TnJ finally met its match when he miserably failed against Sasuke, who was just too emo.
Hashirama Senju
Initially, it would appear Naruto's Talk no Jutsu pales in comparison to Hashirama's. The latter's Talk no Jutsu seems to be the most effective, converting Sasuke and his universe as it basically sets up the entire plot. Moreover, while being a natural at using TnJ, Hashirama has very low resistance against TnJ. This was seen when Naruto used TnJ on him, convincing the First Hokage to blindly support Sasuke despite the latter's true and more anarchist intentions.
Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha has a variant of the technique called Izanami which traps the opponent in an endless time-loop until the victim TnJs him/herself. This was used to convert Kabuto away from the dark side. On success, the jutsu stopped the war on a large scale due to the release of reanimated corpses and left it to be a millennia-long, god-tier family feud.
Madara Uchiha
Madara Uchiha may be the only shinobi known to be able to resist and dispel such a powerful technique due to his strong immunity to it and probably also due to the fact that he created a counter jutsu to it during his time inside the cave. The resulting technique, Give No Fucks no Jutsu, can cancel any form of Talk no Jutsu. This technique was developed in response to his being a victim of Hashirama's Self-Sacrifice Talk No Jutsu a few years before he was able to dispel it, likely due to him being a descendant of Indra--the first ever person to resist TnJ. Unfortunately, the Give No Fucks no Jutsu was deactivated after the Kaguya bullshit, so in his partially conscious, paralyzed state Hashirama's last technique Death's Door Talk no Jutsu was used against Madara, which he may have succumbed to (the TnJ) in his fragile emotional state prior to his immediate death. It should be noted that if he did succumb to it, he could overcome it if he wanted to.
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Resistance
Despite the seemingly all-consuming power of TnJ, there are a few ninjas who have initially shown resistance to it. These include Holiday Noelle, Uchiha Obito, Orochimaru, Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Madara, Haruno Sakura, the Fourth Raikage, and Indra. All of the above mentioned possessed the Give No Fuck no Jutsu to some extent. However, towards the end of the Naruto: Shippuden manga, only Uchiha Madara and Holiday Noelle was shown to be completely impervious to the technique. Indra is also assumed but not shown.
Indra Otsutsuki
Indra's resistance to TnJ was fueled when he didn't get daddy's puppy love and attention and wasn't chosen as successor of Ninshu. He declared war on his father and was only stopped when Asura, failing to subdue him with his TnJ, used his full power to defeat him. Refusing to capitulate, he declared that he will eventually destroy his father's work, even at a next life. As a result, his descendants, Madara Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, were also blessed with innate TnJ resistance.
Madara Uchiha
As one of Indra's descendants, he had one of the strongest resistance to the immense power of Talk No Jutsu. Although at the start, Hashirama used TnJ on him to aid the creation of Konoha.
Side note:
Madara Uchiha:
Though it is said this guy has the most powerful anti TnJ well he did succumb to the Hashirama Revival before you die let me give you some juicy TnJ no jutsu. It is said that this jutsu was a big douche move by Hashirama who had some kind of emo edgy hatred for madara's resistance to his TnJ and attacking the village.
Shisui Uchiha:
Not much is known about this Uchihas life and how many people were victim to his criminal activities. However, he was a proficient Tnj-ier or the TnJ-ier of all TnJ-iers the so called Shisui of the Tnj-ier. Shisui gave a slight Tnj infused sharingan to Itachi and even to Danzo who decided to protect the leaf in his own ass-holic way.
Noelle Holiday:
Despite not being an Uchiha, Noelle Holiday had the biggest resistance to the TnJ. Just like Obito and Madara, she had a tough childhood and lived a number of tragedies. However, she still had someone that made her keep going despite all the sadness and death she saw; her older sister, December Holiday, A.K.A "Dess". But, one day, she saw her sister die with her own eyes, and broke down. After she slaughtered everyone who was responsible for Dess' demise, Noelle felt empty and broken. She knew she had no one left (despite still having some friends left, but eh), and therefore, fell into a path of solitude and loneliness.
She would work under Obito and Madara Uchiha, as some sort of pawn to them, with the slightest hope that she could reunite with her older sister in the "New World" that Madara and Obito told her. And she strongly believed it.
During the 4th Great Shinobi War, Noelle and Naruto would clash paths and they were enemies. However, despite that, Naruto saw Noelle's real feelings inside her heart and wanted to help her come back to the light side with the TnJ. However, Noelle had her own counter against the TnJ. It was the "You-think-I-give-a-fuck-about-that-no-Jutsu". It worked perfectly and flawlessly against the Jutsu. Naruto tried to use the same arguments he used with Obito since he spotted some similarities between the Uchiha and the Holiday. Despite his best efforts, Noelle's Jutsu proved unbeatable and she was still a villain. Besides, when Naruto said that the void in her heart can be healed, Noelle lashes out at him, aggressively, saying: "Who?! My life was my sister! And she's dead! And my former childhood friend tried to kill me! Who the hell is going to heal THAT!?"
Therefore, she was still on Madara's side and was still the entire Shinobi World's common enemy. However, due to Madara being bullshitted in an awful way and being replaced by Kaguya as the Final Boss, Noelle had no options but to temporarily make an alliance with the heroes. Naruto smiled at this, but Noelle quickly shut him up saying: "I'm not doing this because we're friends. I'm only doing this so that Black Zetsu bastard pays for his betrayal."
After Kaguya was sealed and Obito was killed, Noelle was the only one who still believed in the Infinite Tsukuyomi Plan. So she fought against Naruto one final time, but lost. In her last moments, she started to cry, but not because she was sorry about what she did. She was crying because the plan had failed and that she would never see her sister once again.
But Naruto comforts her saying that she'll meet her sister in the Next World, and that there's no need to cry. Noelle believed that, but not because she was affected by the TnJ. She believed that, because her heart was telling her that maybe Dess was waiting.
Despite dying seemingly affected by Naruto's words, she died with a smile because all she wanted was to be with her sister again. Therefore, the TnJ never worked on her.
Hamura Otsusuki:
This man was a an alien as he TnJ-ed Kaguya when he was born. He started by kicking her in the stomach whilst he wasn't even born yet (implied he had 8 months and 29 days to go). Used a TnJ infused slap and after that Kaguya as we knew her became delusional. He as well had inherited the good side of TnJ but unable to use it since it was dangerous forbade himself from ever using it again. However, Haguromomo pushed him to the edge after he impregnated no Jutsu a girl he liked. This led to him releasing some TnJ aura which not only affected Kaguya but later Haguromo since he chose Asura without really considering how he's other son feels. Hamura later goes to the moon with a rocket made out of pure TnJ fuel and is able to release all his TnJ emo edge potential onto his descendants. Stories of TnJ however is heard from the main and side branch who both are at odds with each other. Of course the puny little side branches are nothing like the main branch who have a crazy alien variant of TnJ thanks to Hamura.
Orochimaru:
Screenshot (6) Be Aware of this man This man is very weird as he has a TnJ and is a man who has fought against destiny to acquire this unholy variant. Able to trick people into giving up their bodies so he can live forever and he was ill at the part 1 of Naruto. He was also very resilient to Jirayais TnJ and even he's sensei Hiruzen who was adept at TnJ. However, Jiraiyai had more potential and as a friend didnt give up on TnJing Orichi until he decided he couldn't do anything when he couldn't even TnJ not only hes comrade but disciples as well. There it was hinted that a part of his TnJ had flown to Naruto as pure energy. The TnJ of this guy is weird as he can make people follow him from childhood e.g. Karin, kimimaru, suigetsu, sasuke etc. This f$%k-ed up Tnj variant even kick started Naruto like a chain reaction and is called TnJ hidden depth no jutsu. In Boruto it is implied that he TnJ's Mitsuki which by the biggest miracle he fails to TnJ little disabled Mitsuki? We dont know yet since Orichimaru has contact with both and can be in fact TnJing them without them realizing.
TLDR : unless you are one of the strongest, give up you will fall to TnJ

Credit—Fandom (https://konohalibrary.fandom.com/wiki/Talk_No_Jutsu)
Naruto and Ash Ketchum are the only known user of Talk-No-Jutsu it descended from ashura Talk No Jutsu
589c647d1faddd449cb5af541a1c0586 Naruto Uzumaki performing Talk no Jutsu on Obito Uchiha (Somehow worked...?) (however zoro can't be affected by talk no jutsu)
Believed to be a founding principle of the original Ninshū created by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki The Sage of Six Paths. Talk no Jutsu (Art of Talking). With it, he can talk to the evilest, depressed, and twisted people and make them change their entire lives in minutes. Which is canon... Totally and proven to be the most powerful jutsu in the series.
This jutsu was confirmed by Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, to be by far the most powerful jutsu of all and said it was inspired based on the time when his therapist performed a talk no jutsu-style exorcism on him.
This jutsu was taught to Naruto by his mentor Iruka Umino when he tried to save Naruto even though the latter was blamed for the death of the former's parents. Talk no Jutsu also seems to be Iruka Umino's only jutsu. In chapter 655, it is revealed that Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, also had a talent for Talk no Jutsu, but it does not disclose to what extent Kushina can control this jutsu. It is hinted that Hinata Hyuga also has a penchant for Talk no Jutsu when she forces Naruto to question himself after Neji's death. Talk no Jutsu can be activated by uttering a specific word, which, when used repeatedly, results in the controlled person and Naruto entering Talk no Jutsu dimension and the target falling deeper into the jutsu. For example, Naruto's activating word is Dattebayo, Kushina's word is Dattebane, Iruka's activating word is obviously Naruto. Boruto's Dattebasa hints that he similarly possesses the genetically inherited predisposition for Talk no Jutsu.
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Inheritance
Apparently, the TnJ (and the resistance to it) can be passed on to the next generations. This can be seen with Asura descendants Hashirama and Naruto possessing natural TnJ talent while Indra descendants Madara and Sasuke are mostly impervious to TnJ. There is also reason to believe TnJ can be inherited vertically, with Boruto inheriting his father's ability.
Users
Asura Ōtsutsuki
Asura, one of the sons of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, is noted to be the inventor of TnJ. With his friendly personality and his mantra of relying on others for his strength, Asura was primed at a young age to develop TnJ. This was first seen in the filler episode when he convinced villagers living near the God tree to rely on themselves for their prosperity. This technique was so momentous that it set up the Naruto universe; Asura's success with TnJ convinced Hagoromo to choose him as his successor, leading to Indra's jealousy and betrayal and culminating with their continuous reincarnations as Hashirama and Madara and eventually Naruto and Sasuke. Ironically, Asura's failure in TnJ - ing Indra was also the first recorded failure of the technique.
Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto's TnJ is widely thought to be the most successful in the entire Naruto universe, with a near 100% success rate that is broken by Madara Uchiha and Noelle Holiday. Itachi is the only known person to successfully use the TnJ against Naruto: Naruto wanted to end the war all by himself but Itachi managed to TnJ Naruto that he should not shoulder everything himself or he will fail. This innate strength is likely due to Naruto being a descendant of Asura--the creator of the original TnJ thousands of years ago.
TL;DR Naruto says Dattebayo and TnJ acitvated, this won’t work on some people through inherited immunity,
Against Neji
In exams second phase against Neji. Naruto continuously used small bits of TnJ on Neji throughout the fight and then blasted a finishing TnJ-enhanced uppercut punch right up at him. When Neji was lying on the ground defeated, Naruto slipped in a little bit more TnJ to finish him off. By the time Neji was taken to the infirmary, TnJ had already inflicted permanent psychological and emotional damage.
Against Gaara
During the Konoha CRUSH arc, Naruto next used TnJ against Gaara. At first it didn't work, so he had to fight it into him with a TnJ enhanced headbutt. The TnJ seems to be transferable as Gaara gained the TnJ ability after his encounter with Naruto though his technique still leaves a lot to be desired.
Against Tsunade
In the Search for Tsunade arc, Tsunade was subjected by Naruto, whose attitude reminded her of Nawaki and Dan, going into flashbacks until she could hardly grasp for breath. While it was not clear whether Naruto used TnJ on her, due to an absence of an extended philosophical and ideological dialogue, it is speculated that Tsunade fell for the TnJ variant: Remind - me - of - my - loved - ones - no - jutsu so hard that she became Naruto's fangirl, placing her utmost important treasure and faith in him and even almost got herself killed by Orochimaru to protect him.
Against Sai
During the first 60 episodes of Naruto: Shippuden, when Sai, Sakura, Yamato (Kinoe, Tenzo) and Naruto went to save Sasuke , Sai tried to betray them but Captain Yamato captured him. Naruto started using TnJ on him when Sai talked about how scary Sasuke seemed and how little he cared about Naruto, and Naruto talked about how he didn’t care about that. He said he would give up his whole body just to save Sasuke. “I don't care who I have to fight! If he rips my arms out, I'll kick him to death! If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death! If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death! And if he gouges out my eyes, I'll curse him from the grave! Even If I'm torn to shreds, I'm taking Sasuke back from Orochimaru!” Sai didn’t understand but was moved anyway. Ever since then, he got closer to Team Kakashi/Yamato.
Against Nagato
One of the most momentous displays of TnJ was seen during Pain's invasion when Naruto confronted Nagato in person. When normal TnJ was not able to budge Nagato, Naruto created a new variant of it called Sage Art: Talk no Jutsu and Sage Art: Pretense no Jutsu. This new TnJ variant, fueled by the natural energy of the earth, was so strong that it convinced Nagato to commit suicide and revive all those he had killed during the invasion.
Against Killer B
Prior to the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto used TnJ on Killer Bee to make the latter train him. When proven to be ineffective, Naruto invented another strong variation of TnJ called TnJ: Brofist no Jutsu. This variation is a special one since it did not contain the toxic dialogue of merchandising. He bolstered this with a little Rap no Jutsu to convince the rapper jinchūriki and it worked like magic. You must also note that naruto used another version of this technique called TnJ: Improvised Oiroke no Jutsu which blends the sexy technique and the talk no jutsu for maximum effect on men but for unknown reasons(most likely due to his willpower) it did not work causing Naruto to resort to the brofist no jutsu
Against Kurama / Kyuubi
The universal effectiveness of TnJ was in full display when Naruto was able to make the Kyuubi submit to his ninja way. Naruto told the bloodthirsty Kyuubi that he'll "do something about [Kyuubi's] hatred". As the Kyuubi--having been inside Naruto since his birth--is very familiar with TnJ, the usual variant of the technique was rendered moot. This marks the first time when TnJ alone was insufficient to subdue the target. With knowledge on the origin of the tailed beasts, Naruto sought to finally control Kyuubi by evolving the jutsu to one that's actually useful: Action-speaks-louder-than-talk-no-jutsu (ASLtTnJ) combined with the I-will-remember-your-names-no-jutsu (IWRYNnJ) on display when he freed the other tailed beasts from the reanimated jinchūriki. Since then, the Kyuubi (now known as Kurama) has unquestionably joined forces with Naruto. ASLtTnJ was so effective that Kurama and Naruto ended up referring to each other on a first-name basis.
Against Obito
Obito Uchiha is the only known Uchiha to be TnJ-able by Naruto. Unsurprisingly, mere TnJ was inadequate and Obito ends up strangling o. In response, Naruto developed Punch no Jutsu, bringing Obito to a new level of TnJ. Using a combination of TnJ and Flashback no Jutsu augmented with a synergy of Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Mode, Obito was punched so hard that he was put into flashback and started to TnJ himself back from his sociopathic and puppy love-inspired emo worldview.
Note that Obito had a variant of the talk no jutsu. It was seen only once when he convinced Kakashi to help him save Rin. Obito never used it again as it seemingly does not work after said Uchiha falls victim to the Curse of Hatred. It is thus observed that an Uchiha's inherent immunity to TnJ gets nullified when their lifelong dream of being Hokage gets triggered by the combined attack of TnJ and Flashback-no-Jutsu.
Against Sasuke
Aware of the dangers of TnJ since the first-day meeting Naruto, Sasuke secretly worked on his own version of TnJ and also an Anti-TnJ. The resulting technique was Emo Style: Edgy Kid no Jutsu. Thanks to this, he was able to resist this powerful jutsu. This worked flawlessly for 15 years. Unfortunately, due to some stupid plotline introduced by a bored Kishimito, he finally gave up and become Naruto's wannabe fanboy.
Sasuke Uchiha has been blessed by Kishimoto to withstand this horrid technique for 15 long years. This divine level of resistance is thought to be the result of Sasuke being a descendant of Indra--the first person to withstand the TnJ by the first ever TnJ user, Asura. Withstanding multiple barrages of TnJ from Team 7 and several more from Naruto for 15 manga years, Sasuke appears to have learned and developed a dark version of TnJ of his own. This TnJ, similar to Naruto's, is likely among the strongest to ever exist due to Sasuke being a descent of Indra--the first person to ever resist a TnJ (from Asura).
Sasuke's unique TnJ was seen when he seemingly appeared to be TnJ-ed by Hashirama. To everyone's surprise, Sasuke used an advanced form of TnJ that made Hashirama and even Tobirama TnJ themselves into supporting his ideals.
Sasuke's TnJ resistance came to a close during the last part of the Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes arc during the closing final battle between him and Naruto. In their final confrontation battle, Naruto and Sasuke, with their own advanced forms of TnJ, fought while communicating telepathically. The battle ended in a tie, with both ninjas lying on the the ground with their arms destroyed. Being his keikaku (means plan) all along, Naruto activated the ultimate and most lethal variant of TnJ: TnJ-Blood Ties. By mixing his blood together with Sasuke, TnJ Blood Ties finally allowed Naruto to completely brainwash Sasuke to the extent that not even Kishimoto could save him. The technique was so severe and effective that Sasuke ended up falling in love with and marrying Sakura--a woman he never showed romantic interest in before, and admitting that Naruto is his equal and best friend. and the best part is that sasuke was the only one to resist Tnj for a long time. In a way, this could be more powerful than Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, which Itachi originally planned to brainwash Sasuke into rejoining Konoha.
Against Kawaki
In Boruto, there was an episode in which Naruto attempted to convey to Kawaki, "I used to be like you" Surprisingly, this particular line has garnered significant attention, evolving into a prominent meme that has nearly overshadowed the iconic "Talk no Jutsu." We could even argue this is after years of constant usage of Talk no Jutsu, that has caused it to evolve.
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Large scale use
Naruto
In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto Uzumaki demonstrated the ability to use TnJ on a notably much larger scale: the Tajū Talk no Jutsu (TTnJ). While giving a speech in Konoha, during the Byakuya Gang incident, he was not only able to calm a fair number of protesters down, but also managed to change their mind and turn them against the Byakuya Gang. This new evidence suggests that skillful users, who have mastered TnJ, are also able to use TTnJ, a rare variant of the technique directed at a large number of people.
Gaara
Several years after succumbing to Naruto's TnJ during the Konoha crush arc, Gaara was finally able to master and display his TnJ prowess during the Five Kage Summit when he asked the other Kages, "When did you all forsake yourselves?" This skill was repeated during the Fourth Shinobi World War when he inspired the Allied Shinobi Forces as well as psychologically wounding Kabuto's reanimated corpses. His TnJ finally met its match when he miserably failed against Sasuke, who was just too emo.
Hashirama Senju
Initially, it would appear Naruto's Talk no Jutsu pales in comparison to Hashirama's. The latter's Talk no Jutsu seems to be the most effective, converting Sasuke and his universe as it basically sets up the entire plot. Moreover, while being a natural at using TnJ, Hashirama has very low resistance against TnJ. This was seen when Naruto used TnJ on him, convincing the First Hokage to blindly support Sasuke despite the latter's true and more anarchist intentions.
Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha has a variant of the technique called Izanami which traps the opponent in an endless time-loop until the victim TnJs him/herself. This was used to convert Kabuto away from the dark side. On success, the jutsu stopped the war on a large scale due to the release of reanimated corpses and left it to be a millennia-long, god-tier family feud.
Madara Uchiha
Madara Uchiha may be the only shinobi known to be able to resist and dispel such a powerful technique due to his strong immunity to it and probably also due to the fact that he created a counter jutsu to it during his time inside the cave. The resulting technique, Give No Fucks no Jutsu, can cancel any form of Talk no Jutsu. This technique was developed in response to his being a victim of Hashirama's Self-Sacrifice Talk No Jutsu a few years before he was able to dispel it, likely due to him being a descendant of Indra--the first ever person to resist TnJ. Unfortunately, the Give No Fucks no Jutsu was deactivated after the Kaguya bullshit, so in his partially conscious, paralyzed state Hashirama's last technique Death's Door Talk no Jutsu was used against Madara, which he may have succumbed to (the TnJ) in his fragile emotional state prior to his immediate death. It should be noted that if he did succumb to it, he could overcome it if he wanted to.
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Resistance
Despite the seemingly all-consuming power of TnJ, there are a few ninjas who have initially shown resistance to it. These include Holiday Noelle, Uchiha Obito, Orochimaru, Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Madara, Haruno Sakura, the Fourth Raikage, and Indra. All of the above mentioned possessed the Give No Fuck no Jutsu to some extent. However, towards the end of the Naruto: Shippuden manga, only Uchiha Madara and Holiday Noelle was shown to be completely impervious to the technique. Indra is also assumed but not shown.
Indra Otsutsuki
Indra's resistance to TnJ was fueled when he didn't get daddy's puppy love and attention and wasn't chosen as successor of Ninshu. He declared war on his father and was only stopped when Asura, failing to subdue him with his TnJ, used his full power to defeat him. Refusing to capitulate, he declared that he will eventually destroy his father's work, even at a next life. As a result, his descendants, Madara Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, were also blessed with innate TnJ resistance.
Madara Uchiha
As one of Indra's descendants, he had one of the strongest resistance to the immense power of Talk No Jutsu. Although at the start, Hashirama used TnJ on him to aid the creation of Konoha.
Side note:
Madara Uchiha:
Though it is said this guy has the most powerful anti TnJ well he did succumb to the Hashirama Revival before you die let me give you some juicy TnJ no jutsu. It is said that this jutsu was a big douche move by Hashirama who had some kind of emo edgy hatred for madara's resistance to his TnJ and attacking the village.
Shisui Uchiha:
Not much is known about this Uchihas life and how many people were victim to his criminal activities. However, he was a proficient Tnj-ier or the TnJ-ier of all TnJ-iers the so called Shisui of the Tnj-ier. Shisui gave a slight Tnj infused sharingan to Itachi and even to Danzo who decided to protect the leaf in his own ass-holic way.
Noelle Holiday:
Despite not being an Uchiha, Noelle Holiday had the biggest resistance to the TnJ. Just like Obito and Madara, she had a tough childhood and lived a number of tragedies. However, she still had someone that made her keep going despite all the sadness and death she saw; her older sister, December Holiday, A.K.A "Dess". But, one day, she saw her sister die with her own eyes, and broke down. After she slaughtered everyone who was responsible for Dess' demise, Noelle felt empty and broken. She knew she had no one left (despite still having some friends left, but eh), and therefore, fell into a path of solitude and loneliness.
She would work under Obito and Madara Uchiha, as some sort of pawn to them, with the slightest hope that she could reunite with her older sister in the "New World" that Madara and Obito told her. And she strongly believed it.
During the 4th Great Shinobi War, Noelle and Naruto would clash paths and they were enemies. However, despite that, Naruto saw Noelle's real feelings inside her heart and wanted to help her come back to the light side with the TnJ. However, Noelle had her own counter against the TnJ. It was the "You-think-I-give-a-fuck-about-that-no-Jutsu". It worked perfectly and flawlessly against the Jutsu. Naruto tried to use the same arguments he used with Obito since he spotted some similarities between the Uchiha and the Holiday. Despite his best efforts, Noelle's Jutsu proved unbeatable and she was still a villain. Besides, when Naruto said that the void in her heart can be healed, Noelle lashes out at him, aggressively, saying: "Who?! My life was my sister! And she's dead! And my former childhood friend tried to kill me! Who the hell is going to heal THAT!?"
Therefore, she was still on Madara's side and was still the entire Shinobi World's common enemy. However, due to Madara being bullshitted in an awful way and being replaced by Kaguya as the Final Boss, Noelle had no options but to temporarily make an alliance with the heroes. Naruto smiled at this, but Noelle quickly shut him up saying: "I'm not doing this because we're friends. I'm only doing this so that Black Zetsu bastard pays for his betrayal."
After Kaguya was sealed and Obito was killed, Noelle was the only one who still believed in the Infinite Tsukuyomi Plan. So she fought against Naruto one final time, but lost. In her last moments, she started to cry, but not because she was sorry about what she did. She was crying because the plan had failed and that she would never see her sister once again.
But Naruto comforts her saying that she'll meet her sister in the Next World, and that there's no need to cry. Noelle believed that, but not because she was affected by the TnJ. She believed that, because her heart was telling her that maybe Dess was waiting.
Despite dying seemingly affected by Naruto's words, she died with a smile because all she wanted was to be with her sister again. Therefore, the TnJ never worked on her.
Hamura Otsusuki:
This man was a an alien as he TnJ-ed Kaguya when he was born. He started by kicking her in the stomach whilst he wasn't even born yet (implied he had 8 months and 29 days to go). Used a TnJ infused slap and after that Kaguya as we knew her became delusional. He as well had inherited the good side of TnJ but unable to use it since it was dangerous forbade himself from ever using it again. However, Haguromomo pushed him to the edge after he impregnated no Jutsu a girl he liked. This led to him releasing some TnJ aura which not only affected Kaguya but later Haguromo since he chose Asura without really considering how he's other son feels. Hamura later goes to the moon with a rocket made out of pure TnJ fuel and is able to release all his TnJ emo edge potential onto his descendants. Stories of TnJ however is heard from the main and side branch who both are at odds with each other. Of course the puny little side branches are nothing like the main branch who have a crazy alien variant of TnJ thanks to Hamura.
Orochimaru:
Screenshot (6) Be Aware of this man This man is very weird as he has a TnJ and is a man who has fought against destiny to acquire this unholy variant. Able to trick people into giving up their bodies so he can live forever and he was ill at the part 1 of Naruto. He was also very resilient to Jirayais TnJ and even he's sensei Hiruzen who was adept at TnJ. However, Jiraiyai had more potential and as a friend didnt give up on TnJing Orichi until he decided he couldn't do anything when he couldn't even TnJ not only hes comrade but disciples as well. There it was hinted that a part of his TnJ had flown to Naruto as pure energy. The TnJ of this guy is weird as he can make people follow him from childhood e.g. Karin, kimimaru, suigetsu, sasuke etc. This f$%k-ed up Tnj variant even kick started Naruto like a chain reaction and is called TnJ hidden depth no jutsu. In Boruto it is implied that he TnJ's Mitsuki which by the biggest miracle he fails to TnJ little disabled Mitsuki? We dont know yet since Orichimaru has contact with both and can be in fact TnJing them without them realizing.
TLDR : unless you are one of the strongest, give up you will fall to TnJ

Credit—Fandom (https://konohalibrary.fandom.com/wiki/Talk_No_Jutsu)
Naruto and Ash Ketchum are the only known user of Talk-No-Jutsu it descended from ashura Talk No Jutsu
589c647d1faddd449cb5af541a1c0586 Naruto Uzumaki performing Talk no Jutsu on Obito Uchiha (Somehow worked...?) (however zoro can't be affected by talk no jutsu)
Believed to be a founding principle of the original Ninshū created by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki The Sage of Six Paths. Talk no Jutsu (Art of Talking). With it, he can talk to the evilest, depressed, and twisted people and make them change their entire lives in minutes. Which is canon... Totally and proven to be the most powerful jutsu in the series.
This jutsu was confirmed by Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, to be by far the most powerful jutsu of all and said it was inspired based on the time when his therapist performed a talk no jutsu-style exorcism on him.
This jutsu was taught to Naruto by his mentor Iruka Umino when he tried to save Naruto even though the latter was blamed for the death of the former's parents. Talk no Jutsu also seems to be Iruka Umino's only jutsu. In chapter 655, it is revealed that Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, also had a talent for Talk no Jutsu, but it does not disclose to what extent Kushina can control this jutsu. It is hinted that Hinata Hyuga also has a penchant for Talk no Jutsu when she forces Naruto to question himself after Neji's death. Talk no Jutsu can be activated by uttering a specific word, which, when used repeatedly, results in the controlled person and Naruto entering Talk no Jutsu dimension and the target falling deeper into the jutsu. For example, Naruto's activating word is Dattebayo, Kushina's word is Dattebane, Iruka's activating word is obviously Naruto. Boruto's Dattebasa hints that he similarly possesses the genetically inherited predisposition for Talk no Jutsu.
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Inheritance
Apparently, the TnJ (and the resistance to it) can be passed on to the next generations. This can be seen with Asura descendants Hashirama and Naruto possessing natural TnJ talent while Indra descendants Madara and Sasuke are mostly impervious to TnJ. There is also reason to believe TnJ can be inherited vertically, with Boruto inheriting his father's ability.
Users
Asura Ōtsutsuki
Asura, one of the sons of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, is noted to be the inventor of TnJ. With his friendly personality and his mantra of relying on others for his strength, Asura was primed at a young age to develop TnJ. This was first seen in the filler episode when he convinced villagers living near the God tree to rely on themselves for their prosperity. This technique was so momentous that it set up the Naruto universe; Asura's success with TnJ convinced Hagoromo to choose him as his successor, leading to Indra's jealousy and betrayal and culminating with their continuous reincarnations as Hashirama and Madara and eventually Naruto and Sasuke. Ironically, Asura's failure in TnJ - ing Indra was also the first recorded failure of the technique.
Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto's TnJ is widely thought to be the most successful in the entire Naruto universe, with a near 100% success rate that is broken by Madara Uchiha and Noelle Holiday. Itachi is the only known person to successfully use the TnJ against Naruto: Naruto wanted to end the war all by himself but Itachi managed to TnJ Naruto that he should not shoulder everything himself or he will fail. This innate strength is likely due to Naruto being a descendant of Asura--the creator of the original TnJ thousands of years ago.
TL;DR Naruto says Dattebayo and TnJ acitvated, this won’t work on some people through inherited immunity,
Against Neji
In exams second phase against Neji. Naruto continuously used small bits of TnJ on Neji throughout the fight and then blasted a finishing TnJ-enhanced uppercut punch right up at him. When Neji was lying on the ground defeated, Naruto slipped in a little bit more TnJ to finish him off. By the time Neji was taken to the infirmary, TnJ had already inflicted permanent psychological and emotional damage.
Against Gaara
During the Konoha CRUSH arc, Naruto next used TnJ against Gaara. At first it didn't work, so he had to fight it into him with a TnJ enhanced headbutt. The TnJ seems to be transferable as Gaara gained the TnJ ability after his encounter with Naruto though his technique still leaves a lot to be desired.
Against Tsunade
In the Search for Tsunade arc, Tsunade was subjected by Naruto, whose attitude reminded her of Nawaki and Dan, going into flashbacks until she could hardly grasp for breath. While it was not clear whether Naruto used TnJ on her, due to an absence of an extended philosophical and ideological dialogue, it is speculated that Tsunade fell for the TnJ variant: Remind - me - of - my - loved - ones - no - jutsu so hard that she became Naruto's fangirl, placing her utmost important treasure and faith in him and even almost got herself killed by Orochimaru to protect him.
Against Sai
During the first 60 episodes of Naruto: Shippuden, when Sai, Sakura, Yamato (Kinoe, Tenzo) and Naruto went to save Sasuke , Sai tried to betray them but Captain Yamato captured him. Naruto started using TnJ on him when Sai talked about how scary Sasuke seemed and how little he cared about Naruto, and Naruto talked about how he didn’t care about that. He said he would give up his whole body just to save Sasuke. “I don't care who I have to fight! If he rips my arms out, I'll kick him to death! If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death! If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death! And if he gouges out my eyes, I'll curse him from the grave! Even If I'm torn to shreds, I'm taking Sasuke back from Orochimaru!” Sai didn’t understand but was moved anyway. Ever since then, he got closer to Team Kakashi/Yamato.
Against Nagato
One of the most momentous displays of TnJ was seen during Pain's invasion when Naruto confronted Nagato in person. When normal TnJ was not able to budge Nagato, Naruto created a new variant of it called Sage Art: Talk no Jutsu and Sage Art: Pretense no Jutsu. This new TnJ variant, fueled by the natural energy of the earth, was so strong that it convinced Nagato to commit suicide and revive all those he had killed during the invasion.
Against Killer B
Prior to the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto used TnJ on Killer Bee to make the latter train him. When proven to be ineffective, Naruto invented another strong variation of TnJ called TnJ: Brofist no Jutsu. This variation is a special one since it did not contain the toxic dialogue of merchandising. He bolstered this with a little Rap no Jutsu to convince the rapper jinchūriki and it worked like magic. You must also note that naruto used another version of this technique called TnJ: Improvised Oiroke no Jutsu which blends the sexy technique and the talk no jutsu for maximum effect on men but for unknown reasons(most likely due to his willpower) it did not work causing Naruto to resort to the brofist no jutsu
Against Kurama / Kyuubi
The universal effectiveness of TnJ was in full display when Naruto was able to make the Kyuubi submit to his ninja way. Naruto told the bloodthirsty Kyuubi that he'll "do something about [Kyuubi's] hatred". As the Kyuubi--having been inside Naruto since his birth--is very familiar with TnJ, the usual variant of the technique was rendered moot. This marks the first time when TnJ alone was insufficient to subdue the target. With knowledge on the origin of the tailed beasts, Naruto sought to finally control Kyuubi by evolving the jutsu to one that's actually useful: Action-speaks-louder-than-talk-no-jutsu (ASLtTnJ) combined with the I-will-remember-your-names-no-jutsu (IWRYNnJ) on display when he freed the other tailed beasts from the reanimated jinchūriki. Since then, the Kyuubi (now known as Kurama) has unquestionably joined forces with Naruto. ASLtTnJ was so effective that Kurama and Naruto ended up referring to each other on a first-name basis.
Against Obito
Obito Uchiha is the only known Uchiha to be TnJ-able by Naruto. Unsurprisingly, mere TnJ was inadequate and Obito ends up strangling o. In response, Naruto developed Punch no Jutsu, bringing Obito to a new level of TnJ. Using a combination of TnJ and Flashback no Jutsu augmented with a synergy of Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Mode, Obito was punched so hard that he was put into flashback and started to TnJ himself back from his sociopathic and puppy love-inspired emo worldview.
Note that Obito had a variant of the talk no jutsu. It was seen only once when he convinced Kakashi to help him save Rin. Obito never used it again as it seemingly does not work after said Uchiha falls victim to the Curse of Hatred. It is thus observed that an Uchiha's inherent immunity to TnJ gets nullified when their lifelong dream of being Hokage gets triggered by the combined attack of TnJ and Flashback-no-Jutsu.
Against Sasuke
Aware of the dangers of TnJ since the first-day meeting Naruto, Sasuke secretly worked on his own version of TnJ and also an Anti-TnJ. The resulting technique was Emo Style: Edgy Kid no Jutsu. Thanks to this, he was able to resist this powerful jutsu. This worked flawlessly for 15 years. Unfortunately, due to some stupid plotline introduced by a bored Kishimito, he finally gave up and become Naruto's wannabe fanboy.
Sasuke Uchiha has been blessed by Kishimoto to withstand this horrid technique for 15 long years. This divine level of resistance is thought to be the result of Sasuke being a descendant of Indra--the first person to withstand the TnJ by the first ever TnJ user, Asura. Withstanding multiple barrages of TnJ from Team 7 and several more from Naruto for 15 manga years, Sasuke appears to have learned and developed a dark version of TnJ of his own. This TnJ, similar to Naruto's, is likely among the strongest to ever exist due to Sasuke being a descent of Indra--the first person to ever resist a TnJ (from Asura).
Sasuke's unique TnJ was seen when he seemingly appeared to be TnJ-ed by Hashirama. To everyone's surprise, Sasuke used an advanced form of TnJ that made Hashirama and even Tobirama TnJ themselves into supporting his ideals.
Sasuke's TnJ resistance came to a close during the last part of the Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes arc during the closing final battle between him and Naruto. In their final confrontation battle, Naruto and Sasuke, with their own advanced forms of TnJ, fought while communicating telepathically. The battle ended in a tie, with both ninjas lying on the the ground with their arms destroyed. Being his keikaku (means plan) all along, Naruto activated the ultimate and most lethal variant of TnJ: TnJ-Blood Ties. By mixing his blood together with Sasuke, TnJ Blood Ties finally allowed Naruto to completely brainwash Sasuke to the extent that not even Kishimoto could save him. The technique was so severe and effective that Sasuke ended up falling in love with and marrying Sakura--a woman he never showed romantic interest in before, and admitting that Naruto is his equal and best friend. and the best part is that sasuke was the only one to resist Tnj for a long time. In a way, this could be more powerful than Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, which Itachi originally planned to brainwash Sasuke into rejoining Konoha.
Against Kawaki
In Boruto, there was an episode in which Naruto attempted to convey to Kawaki, "I used to be like you" Surprisingly, this particular line has garnered significant attention, evolving into a prominent meme that has nearly overshadowed the iconic "Talk no Jutsu." We could even argue this is after years of constant usage of Talk no Jutsu, that has caused it to evolve.
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Large scale use
Naruto
In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto Uzumaki demonstrated the ability to use TnJ on a notably much larger scale: the Tajū Talk no Jutsu (TTnJ). While giving a speech in Konoha, during the Byakuya Gang incident, he was not only able to calm a fair number of protesters down, but also managed to change their mind and turn them against the Byakuya Gang. This new evidence suggests that skillful users, who have mastered TnJ, are also able to use TTnJ, a rare variant of the technique directed at a large number of people.
Gaara
Several years after succumbing to Naruto's TnJ during the Konoha crush arc, Gaara was finally able to master and display his TnJ prowess during the Five Kage Summit when he asked the other Kages, "When did you all forsake yourselves?" This skill was repeated during the Fourth Shinobi World War when he inspired the Allied Shinobi Forces as well as psychologically wounding Kabuto's reanimated corpses. His TnJ finally met its match when he miserably failed against Sasuke, who was just too emo.
Hashirama Senju
Initially, it would appear Naruto's Talk no Jutsu pales in comparison to Hashirama's. The latter's Talk no Jutsu seems to be the most effective, converting Sasuke and his universe as it basically sets up the entire plot. Moreover, while being a natural at using TnJ, Hashirama has very low resistance against TnJ. This was seen when Naruto used TnJ on him, convincing the First Hokage to blindly support Sasuke despite the latter's true and more anarchist intentions.
Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha has a variant of the technique called Izanami which traps the opponent in an endless time-loop until the victim TnJs him/herself. This was used to convert Kabuto away from the dark side. On success, the jutsu stopped the war on a large scale due to the release of reanimated corpses and left it to be a millennia-long, god-tier family feud.
Madara Uchiha
Madara Uchiha may be the only shinobi known to be able to resist and dispel such a powerful technique due to his strong immunity to it and probably also due to the fact that he created a counter jutsu to it during his time inside the cave. The resulting technique, Give No Fucks no Jutsu, can cancel any form of Talk no Jutsu. This technique was developed in response to his being a victim of Hashirama's Self-Sacrifice Talk No Jutsu a few years before he was able to dispel it, likely due to him being a descendant of Indra--the first ever person to resist TnJ. Unfortunately, the Give No Fucks no Jutsu was deactivated after the Kaguya bullshit, so in his partially conscious, paralyzed state Hashirama's last technique Death's Door Talk no Jutsu was used against Madara, which he may have succumbed to (the TnJ) in his fragile emotional state prior to his immediate death. It should be noted that if he did succumb to it, he could overcome it if he wanted to.
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Resistance
Despite the seemingly all-consuming power of TnJ, there are a few ninjas who have initially shown resistance to it. These include Holiday Noelle, Uchiha Obito, Orochimaru, Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Madara, Haruno Sakura, the Fourth Raikage, and Indra. All of the above mentioned possessed the Give No Fuck no Jutsu to some extent. However, towards the end of the Naruto: Shippuden manga, only Uchiha Madara and Holiday Noelle was shown to be completely impervious to the technique. Indra is also assumed but not shown.
Indra Otsutsuki
Indra's resistance to TnJ was fueled when he didn't get daddy's puppy love and attention and wasn't chosen as successor of Ninshu. He declared war on his father and was only stopped when Asura, failing to subdue him with his TnJ, used his full power to defeat him. Refusing to capitulate, he declared that he will eventually destroy his father's work, even at a next life. As a result, his descendants, Madara Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, were also blessed with innate TnJ resistance.
Madara Uchiha
As one of Indra's descendants, he had one of the strongest resistance to the immense power of Talk No Jutsu. Although at the start, Hashirama used TnJ on him to aid the creation of Konoha.
Side note:
Madara Uchiha:
Though it is said this guy has the most powerful anti TnJ well he did succumb to the Hashirama Revival before you die let me give you some juicy TnJ no jutsu. It is said that this jutsu was a big douche move by Hashirama who had some kind of emo edgy hatred for madara's resistance to his TnJ and attacking the village.
Shisui Uchiha:
Not much is known about this Uchihas life and how many people were victim to his criminal activities. However, he was a proficient Tnj-ier or the TnJ-ier of all TnJ-iers the so called Shisui of the Tnj-ier. Shisui gave a slight Tnj infused sharingan to Itachi and even to Danzo who decided to protect the leaf in his own ass-holic way.
Noelle Holiday:
Despite not being an Uchiha, Noelle Holiday had the biggest resistance to the TnJ. Just like Obito and Madara, she had a tough childhood and lived a number of tragedies. However, she still had someone that made her keep going despite all the sadness and death she saw; her older sister, December Holiday, A.K.A "Dess". But, one day, she saw her sister die with her own eyes, and broke down. After she slaughtered everyone who was responsible for Dess' demise, Noelle felt empty and broken. She knew she had no one left (despite still having some friends left, but eh), and therefore, fell into a path of solitude and loneliness.
She would work under Obito and Madara Uchiha, as some sort of pawn to them, with the slightest hope that she could reunite with her older sister in the "New World" that Madara and Obito told her. And she strongly believed it.
During the 4th Great Shinobi War, Noelle and Naruto would clash paths and they were enemies. However, despite that, Naruto saw Noelle's real feelings inside her heart and wanted to help her come back to the light side with the TnJ. However, Noelle had her own counter against the TnJ. It was the "You-think-I-give-a-fuck-about-that-no-Jutsu". It worked perfectly and flawlessly against the Jutsu. Naruto tried to use the same arguments he used with Obito since he spotted some similarities between the Uchiha and the Holiday. Despite his best efforts, Noelle's Jutsu proved unbeatable and she was still a villain. Besides, when Naruto said that the void in her heart can be healed, Noelle lashes out at him, aggressively, saying: "Who?! My life was my sister! And she's dead! And my former childhood friend tried to kill me! Who the hell is going to heal THAT!?"
Therefore, she was still on Madara's side and was still the entire Shinobi World's common enemy. However, due to Madara being bullshitted in an awful way and being replaced by Kaguya as the Final Boss, Noelle had no options but to temporarily make an alliance with the heroes. Naruto smiled at this, but Noelle quickly shut him up saying: "I'm not doing this because we're friends. I'm only doing this so that Black Zetsu bastard pays for his betrayal."
After Kaguya was sealed and Obito was killed, Noelle was the only one who still believed in the Infinite Tsukuyomi Plan. So she fought against Naruto one final time, but lost. In her last moments, she started to cry, but not because she was sorry about what she did. She was crying because the plan had failed and that she would never see her sister once again.
But Naruto comforts her saying that she'll meet her sister in the Next World, and that there's no need to cry. Noelle believed that, but not because she was affected by the TnJ. She believed that, because her heart was telling her that maybe Dess was waiting.
Despite dying seemingly affected by Naruto's words, she died with a smile because all she wanted was to be with her sister again. Therefore, the TnJ never worked on her.
Hamura Otsusuki:
This man was a an alien as he TnJ-ed Kaguya when he was born. He started by kicking her in the stomach whilst he wasn't even born yet (implied he had 8 months and 29 days to go). Used a TnJ infused slap and after that Kaguya as we knew her became delusional. He as well had inherited the good side of TnJ but unable to use it since it was dangerous forbade himself from ever using it again. However, Haguromomo pushed him to the edge after he impregnated no Jutsu a girl he liked. This led to him releasing some TnJ aura which not only affected Kaguya but later Haguromo since he chose Asura without really considering how he's other son feels. Hamura later goes to the moon with a rocket made out of pure TnJ fuel and is able to release all his TnJ emo edge potential onto his descendants. Stories of TnJ however is heard from the main and side branch who both are at odds with each other. Of course the puny little side branches are nothing like the main branch who have a crazy alien variant of TnJ thanks to Hamura.
Orochimaru:
Screenshot (6) Be Aware of this man This man is very weird as he has a TnJ and is a man who has fought against destiny to acquire this unholy variant. Able to trick people into giving up their bodies so he can live forever and he was ill at the part 1 of Naruto. He was also very resilient to Jirayais TnJ and even he's sensei Hiruzen who was adept at TnJ. However, Jiraiyai had more potential and as a friend didnt give up on TnJing Orichi until he decided he couldn't do anything when he couldn't even TnJ not only hes comrade but disciples as well. There it was hinted that a part of his TnJ had flown to Naruto as pure energy. The TnJ of this guy is weird as he can make people follow him from childhood e.g. Karin, kimimaru, suigetsu, sasuke etc. This f$%k-ed up Tnj variant even kick started Naruto like a chain reaction and is called TnJ hidden depth no jutsu. In Boruto it is implied that he TnJ's Mitsuki which by the biggest miracle he fails to TnJ little disabled Mitsuki? We dont know yet since Orichimaru has contact with both and can be in fact TnJing them without them realizing.
TLDR : unless you are one of the strongest, give up you will fall to TnJ

The anniversary has come and gone, but now its also been a year since I started a dudes-only challenge account. So I wanted to make a post to share some thoughts on it, and maybe get some advice. Just note that I haven't played every single day since starting the account, especially early on when I couldn't get much done. Although I have played everyday since Penacony released.

Why would you do this?

Theres a few reasons:
1) I made a few reroll accounts early on and the pulls on this account just so happen to be all dudes.
2) To pull characters my main account didnt/couldnt
3) Have you SEEN the men in this game? We're not talking Tartaglia/Ayato/Kaveh here. This isnt a slice-of-life highschool anime. These bros are (mostly) MEN. Shoutout to Wriothesley.

F2P?

I've bought the Express Supply Pass once, in prep for Aventurine. No Battlepasses, No top-ups

SU, MoC, and PF

• All regular SU have been cleared and its normal farming at this point. Although it took a long time to get to that point. Much of it was brute forcing with Luocha+Blade. I've dipped my toes into both the Swarm and GG, but havent had the time to invest to clear it yet. Theres only 1 Superimposer left to buy from the Herta Store. I'll grab it next week. I have never bought Standard pulls from here.
  
• I've never cleared MoC12 with 3 stars. It probably wasn't possible before Argenti, but at this point its likely just a skill issue. :(
  
• Same thing with PF. the first few rounds of PF I don't think I understood the actual challenge presented to me(who reads amirite?). But now that I am reading, I'm just bad I guess.
  

How do the Relics/Traces look?

All traces are maxed on every bro here. Relics are what I would call "Above average" for the time/TrailblazePower invested since I have so few characters to funnel resources into, but I know there's room for improvement on nearly everyone. If anyone is actually looking to see my builds, Here is an album: https://imgur.com/a/1year-write-up-of-boys-account-hsr-TjbEJxd

Characters

I'm going to list each character in the order I got them, and give some short thoughts on them. I think many people can guess which dudes provided the most "Value" but I think there has been some interesting surprises.

• Trailblazer(Caelus)5/18:

  Destruction

  I didn't use much. After maxing FireMC, I went back and tried meme builds so I have this path maxed too. But with Luka and Argenti, its hard to justify not using one of the other Paths
  

  Preservation

  MVP of the early game. The only fire element available until Gallagher, the only sustain unit I had until Luocha. I was STILL using him all the way up to when we were given Ratio, because I also finally got Gepard on the same day.
  THEN I still kept using him, but switched his gear to be more damage oriented. Side effect of doing that was I could now run Blade and FireMC together since the shields were so small. But HMC is too dang good now.
  

  Harmony

  What can I say here that hasnt been already said. Not only is HMC incredibly busted on everyone's account, bringing superbreak into the meta, but hes THE FIRST non-sustain support dude. Bonus points; I can now run a mono-imaginary team and it not be ass.
  

• Dan Heng 5/18

  No surprises here. Stopped using after getting Sampo/Blade. I'd rather get more pulls than purchase copies from the shop
  

• Arlan 5/18

  Being Jing Yuanless means I still use Arlan all the time for lightning-weak enemies. He was amazing in the early game, but obviously poor guy can't keep it up most of the time. The damage numbers I mean.
  

• Welt 5/19

  Getting Welt as the first 5-star is was got the idea to do this account in the first place. I immediately stopped using all the women(none were leveled past lvl20/30 anyways) and began seeing if I could actually do this. Got his E1 from the Standard 300-pull Selector
  

• Yanqing 6/2

  Getting Yanqing as the 2nd 5-star cemented the idea of doing this account. Hes great early game, and now that I have Aventurine to shield him, I've started using him again. That inbetween time was rough though.
  

• Sampo 6/12

  Getting Sampo was the first big decision I made since I bought his first copy from the shop. He's been a staple in most my teams ever since namely due to his toughness bar damage, and his attitude. I got a few copies from Kafka's first banner while pulling for Luka, but most of his copies have thankfully come from the Standard banner.
  

• Luocha 6/28

  This. Changed. Everything. I could now field 2 teams with 1 sustain each(Luocha+FireMC). Hes my most used character period. But since picking up Gallagher and Aventurine, I havent looked back. (Likely due to being tired of looking at him, but Luocha+Blade is just too good of a combo. Don't worry, I'll come back to him.) I can't believe we still don't have confirmation of what is in the coffin. Got his E1 while pulling for Gallagher
  

• Blade 7/23

  Amazing DPS. Carried me through many SU runs I should've lost just because he can heal himself. He's a little too edgy for my tastes, but every bro-group needs atleast 1 brooding emo. His texts convos are hilarious.
  

• Luka 8/9

  I made a mistake here. I was desperate for new bros to fill my roster. I would never ever recommend anyone pull for 4-stars if you don't want the 5-star. But I pulled for 1 Luka on Kafkas banner and then stopped. He was amazing back then, but nowadays I only use him when I need more Physical Break or if PF has a bonus to DoT.
  

• Cooler Daniel 9/1

  I was SO hype for Imbibitor Lunae! Sure, I already had Welt and Luocha to cover imaginary weakness, and... I didn't have any supports to make DHIL any good... and... he wants the same relics as a bunch of the other bros... and... I never seriously used him. I cant build a team to work around him sucking up so many skill points. Well I could, but itd be a worse team than if I swapped DHIL out for another DPS.
  

• Argenti 12/6

  I was not expecting to actually like this corny ass goof of a knight. But hes awesome! Reliable, powerful, has a unique energy mechanic, covers a weakness I only had Luka for, hilarious quest, references Aeon lore. I love this man. He is true Beauty. He is the embodiment of what this account is for.
  

• Gepard 1/17

  He came too late. Showed up to the party just as his replacements were already drip marketed. AND he came at like Pull#289 and the Standard banner. I WAS going to pick him @300. So I guess a Welt E1 is cool too. He generates energy way too slow to be relevant in any end game content now. Or his shields are too small... or I don't have good relics... something like that.
  

• Dr. Ratio 1/17

  Let's get it on. 2 new characters in the same day! Teams are staring to form and I'm not just carelessly throwing in 3dps and a sustain. Now I'm thinking about debuffs too. and I got him for free... so that justifies pulling for his Lightcone right? My roommates say no, but I heavily disagree. Gave my Welts DPS relics to him(I've gotten better ones since then).
  

• Gallagher 3/27

  I love everything about this guy. He's a bro, I stood by his side even when Hoyo was trying to make him a villain for that one cutscene. I risked it and pulled on Acheron's banner. I'm starting to sense a pattern here... Anyways I got 2 Gallagher's from the banner, but it took forever and I ended up getting E1 Luocha(pretty nice honestly). Then I used the event 4-star selector to get Gallagher's E2. At this point I can't help but feel a sense of relief. Luochas has been with me for months, always looking over my shoulder, judging me, always ready hop in and save the day. With Gallagher, I can feel Luocha's grip on my roster loosening.
  

• Aventurine 4/17

  Luocha who? Oh Blade's BF? Yeah, if Blade isnt there, I don't use him anymore. It's Aventurine time baby! I prefarmed everything, I used sweaty math to optimize the relics, and I even got his Lightcone. Aventurine is now one of the biggest stars of the account. Outdamaging, outsustaining, outvaluing nearly everyone else. Only Ratio can rival his damage, and Blade/Argenti if theres a full field of enemies. (not taking Super Break into account)
  

Still Missing:

Misha

I got itchy. I pulled for the 4star Misha. I think I spent 60 pulls and got absolutely none of him before I had to cut myself off. AND I rolled on the wrong banner. What could have been a DHIL Eidolon(arguably useless) turned out to be Black Swan(actually useless). His absence can be felt too as I'm tired of Yanqing and the limitations he brings with him.

Jing Yuan

I made this account during King Yuan's first banner, but couldn't get enough pulls to get him after losing the 50/50 to Yanqing. His 2nd banner came at an awful time, Sandwiched between the dreaded Misha Mistake and the realization that I needed to save for Gallagher and Aventurine. King Yuan's absence on this account can be felt frequently.

What's Next?

Boothill

OFCOURSE! Why wouldn't I get Boothill? My roster certainly not already absolutely saturated with DPS units. I don't already have sufficient Phyical coverage in Luka and Argenti. Oh wait I do... Well gatdang muddle-fudger I still want him! Logically, i should skip right? Someone PLEASE give me a reason to pull for him! I could get him guaranteed, I lost a 50/50 going for Aventurine E1.

Sam

I am devastated. A true fire DPS was in sight, I could see him flying through the skies in my dreams. The Stelleron Hunters even called him "he/him". How could this happen? I have all these feelings swirling up inside, because I also love Firefly so much. I play the story quests with my roommates watching and they say I should just pull for Firefly anyway since shes Obviously MC's GF, shes "one of the bois". But I don't know, I'm conflicted.

The Future

Patch 2.3 is likely a double skip for "The Bois Account". Means I can save up for any future dudes I may be dreaming of. I'm desperate for any more dudes who might be Fire, Ice, or Quantum. I've got too many Imaginary Characters at this point. I got Mono-Imanginary covered 2-ways from Sunday.
I'm determined to actually max out MoC and PoF rewards eventually, I really tried hard on the most recent iterations so I could say I did it in this post.

The Ladies:

All have been leveled to 20/30 for the "free pull". But are only used for holding relics. I don't even use them for Assignments. Notably, I've been dealt 6 5-star ladies and 64 4-star ladies. Compare that to 11 5-star dudes and 23 4-stars. I'm not counting MC in those numbers and I cant count any men or women after their E6. Himeko haunts my 50/50s. Himeko[E2] BlackSwan[E0] Bronya[E1] Sushang[E6] Natasha[E6] Guinaifen[E0] Hook[E0] Asta[E3] Pela[E3] Herta[E6] March[E2] Tingyun[E3] Serval[E6] Qingque[E5] Lynx[E6] Yukong[E6]

Got any questions? Or CharacteTeam building tips I might have missed? What do you think I should do regarding Boothill and Sam?

I am 35, my nickname has always been rod sage, since my favorite characters of Tales of Symphonia were the sage brothers. I dont have any friends at all and I play mostly League and I suck at it really. I live in an area that everyone looks down upon you just because you are different, so I feel isolated and been struggling with addiction for so long now. Small talk is something that elludes me I am more of an introvert but I do enjoy meaninful converstations. If you let me get to know you, I think I can be someone really empatethic and more open. Hit me up with a private message and hopefully we can have fun together.

For the past ten years, the Capital have been reveling in the universally acclaimed Hunger Games phenomenon known as the Golden Victor era. This era gave the Capital the most popular and iconic victors that the history books declared as the epitome of what being a champion of Panem was all about. The Capital was especially surprised that it lasted as it had, starting with Jase Toliver of the 11th Hunger Games representing District 3 to the most recent iconic entry in the lineup Laika Brown representing District 12. Head Gamemakers Capricorn Luther and Balthazar Grimstone were to thank for such incredible games and were awarded presidential medals of honor by President Rain himself. Now that Grimstone’s five year contract had expired, it was time to pass the torch to the new Head Gamemaker Priscilla Cardew. Capital citizens kept their fingers crossed that she would deliver their next Golden Victor.
Laika Brown had been enjoying great success studying to become a geologist while her mentor and fellow victor Andrew “Corpse” Beckford (victor of the 10th Hunger Games) kept her home orphanage up and running. She continued to visit the retirement home she formerly worked at and would continually talk to Candace Freeman (victor of the 4th Hunger Games) on the phone. A couple months after erecting a statue of her father in Plasma Square, she was called to participate in the reaping tour for the 21st Hunger Games. Whenever she wasn’t obligated to tour the districts and pull names out of a bowl, she was found in the hoverjet lounge area pouring over log books, schematics, and safety manuals for the District 12 oil reserves and gold mines. The first stop at her home district was the most stressful after reaping two twelve year olds named Calsie and Reese (12). The only other eventful reaping was in District 2 after everyone had to see Atlanta (2)’s reaction to her ex boyfriend Cicero (2) winning the reaping games and title of male tribute. Atlanta demanded a retrial as she didn’t want to fight alongside him, but Daria Wood (victor of the 1st Hunger Games) put a stop to her whining by pinching her ear and whispering something indiscernible.
After a while, Laika arrived at her third to last district: District 11. She was enamored by the beautiful colors of the flowers and various fruits surrounding her but became enveloped by the thick humidity of the rainforest. Mayor Recife and the district's only victor Savannah Pickett (victor of the 6th Hunger Games) greeted her and gave her a tour. Despite the heavy humidity, Laika enjoyed her tour and had the opportunity to sample a newly brewed chocolate with chili peppers. Laika used some of her victor’s money to buy chocolates, coffee, and exotic fruits, pleasing Savannah when she declared the mango as her favorite. Laika had a lunch of arapaima filet and fruit salad at Mayor Recife’s office. She noticed Savannah’s stern expression and advised herself not to speak to her. Eventually, she was ushered to the reaping stage and was nervous. The despondent green clad youth didn’t help and she gave a rushed victor’s speech. Mayor Recife instructed her to choose a name from the female reaping bowl. Laika walked over and plucked a name from the top. She unfolded the paper and read the name of seventeen year old Melonie Sanchez.
A few murmurs and youths breathing out in relief were heard while the cameras searched for the district’s new female champion. Some of the children began whispering to themselves upon hearing Melonie’s name, insinuating they were aware of her. The cameras found a girl with light skin, green eyes, and brown hair who was trembling and wiping away tears. As the peacekeepers escorted her to the stage, Artemis was given the background notes. Melonie was the third of five children who all worked in the coffee industry. Melonie was usually found picking coffee from the fields and delivering the baskets to the grinding machines. On her off days, she was a substitute teacher at the preschool. Artemis checked the neighborhood gossip and discovered Melonie was popular in school and many boys swooned over her. Artemis said she should’ve known this as she was one of the few youths with makeup. Melonie sheepishly shook Laika’s hand before being shoved into her place on stage when hesitating. Laika was urged to continue and stepped closer to the male reaping bowl. After fishing through the bowl, she chose a crumpled piece of paper. It read the name of sixteen year old Martin Bogota.
The camera panned through the sixteen year old section trying to find this year's male tribute. Before anyone assumed he somehow ditched the reaping, a short boy with coconut brown skin and face plagued with acne stepped out into the aisle. His greasy curly hair rested on top of a pair of thick squared glasses and his open mouth gape revealed crooked teeth. His ears looked as if they were too big for his head as they seemingly reached out to catch every sound around him. His only desirable feature was a small button nose but unfortunately that couldn't save anything. As he walked, a creaking noise drove attention to the cherry on top of his unfortunate appearance: a barebones metallic prosthetic leg attached to his right that seemed ever so slightly too short compared to his regular leg. Him walking down the aisle showed he was still capable of walking albeit with a limp. The notes Luther pulled up revealed that he was the second youngest of five and a lowly fruit washer. Artemis rudely said, “Clearly he didn’t use that water to wash himself.” Artemis was curious as to how he lost his leg but Luther was disappointed in her hygiene comments and said she could wait. Martin hobbled over to the stage trying to ignore Savannah’s look of pity and resignation. He shook Laika’s hand and silently moved to the other side of the stage. Mayor Recife hesitantly congratulated this year’s tributes and dismissed them to the tiny town hall.
Melonie was visited by her parents, siblings, and her boyfriend Pablo. Melonie was a nervous wreck. She was scared of dying and didn’t want to leave her family. Her parents comforted her and told her that Savannah was a great teacher. Pablo took it a step up and reminded her of how skilled and beautiful she was. He pleaded with her to utilize the trade skills and gave her permission to “flaunt her beauty” to gain sponsors. Melonie was ripped from a kiss by the peacekeepers and sent to the hoverjet. As for Martin, his parents didn’t have many words of encouragement. Due to his disability, they felt his death was inevitable but they didn’t have to say this out loud. However, his parents wouldn’t let him talk down on himself and tried to assure him he was strong. His younger sister Petal innocently said that he could get a new leg if he won. Martin hugged her and embraced his family one last time, thanking them for everything. He was wrenched from their embrace and dragged to the hoverjet.
Melonie was on the couch in the lounge area lamenting over her situation. Her face was buried in a throw pillow so she didn’t notice Martin entering the room. Martin limped towards the bar wanting a drink. He nearly tripped over a chair which made enough noise to capture Melonie’s attention. She rushed over and offered to help him but he insisted he caught himself. He took a proper seat at the bar and grabbed a bottle of straight tequila. Melonie wanted to discuss potential strategies for them to gain sponsors but Martin thought it was pointless for him. He cemented his statement by gesturing to his acne riddled face and his prosthetic. He pointed out how easy it would be for her since she was beautiful and to not waste time on him. A voice from behind him said, “Don’t sell yourself short. There’s more to a person than looks.”
The voice belonged to their mentor and District 11’s sole victor Savannah Pickett. She grabbed the bottle from Martin and inspected his metal leg. Wordlessly, she fidgeted with some of the screws and managed to extend the bottom bar a smidge while Melonie watched in awe. When ordered to stand, Martin was amazed to see his legs were now even length. As he tested them out, Melonie commented how she knew about her company Hamaguchi Prosthetics but wasn’t aware she had mechanicals skills. Savannah said her fallen ally Arisu’s family taught her. She beckoned Martin to the dining table while avoxes wheeled in the lunch trays. Savannah gave her mentees a few minutes to piggishly fill their stomachs. Melonie was confused as her parents always lectured her about manners. Savannah claimed to understand the starvation many citizens had to endure, making a snide comment on how much produce the Capital takes. However, she reverted to the standard rundown of the pregames events.
Savannah explained the importance of sponsors and used the sponsors she received in her games as examples. Melonie revealed her boyfriend gave her permission to flaunt her body to arouse viewers and wondered if this could work. Savannah rolled her eyes and didn’t hold back how disgusting she viewed it but admitted it would work in her favor. She went on to ask what skills she had. Melonie had some muscle from carrying the coffee baskets. She then skimmed through her substitute teaching job. Savannah said it was a start and said, “If you could deal with toddlers then the fufu Capitalites should be a walk in the park.” When asked about weapons, Melonie’s face fell as she didn’t use blades for her job. She did mention playing camogie during the short recess but not enough to go by. Savannah’s eyebrows perked upon hearing this and said she could help her master the camogie. Savannah directed the same questions to Martin.
Martin told Savannah that there wasn't much to say as he had zero skills in all categories. He added that with only a week until the games, he probably won’t build enough skill to last five seconds. Offended, Savannah told him not to say such things about himself and that she was sure that they could find something. She asked him what he liked to do when he wasn't working. Martin shrugged and admitted most of the time he just sits by himself doing nothing or sleeping since his disability rendered him useless in every extracurricular activity. On the occasion one of his parents forced him out of the house “to get some fresh air”, he would observe the camogie games down by the pitch and sometimes keep track of the points scored.
Savannah didn’t want to argue and thought it was better than nothing. She declared that during the week he can try out new skills and see what fitted him. She offered to show her mentees some hurling skills in the next carriage over. Melonie immediately accepted but Martin asked if he could stay and watch previous games recordings instead. Savannah agreed but insisted he promise to take part in future parts of training.
Savannah took Melonie in the training carriage. Inside was a camogie simulator to test the drive. Melonie immediately went to work and practiced her drive. She was shaky at first but after some practice and a few pointers from Savannah, Melonie was able to drive the sliotar up to eighty yards. Savannah mentioned reading her file and wondered why she volunteer tutored with kids when she could have seized another work opportunity. Melonie said her parents and two older siblings were almost never home so she had to raise her younger siblings herself. They were twins and were in the same preschool class, so Melonie volunteered so she could keep watch over them. Savannah knew how she felt since one of her brothers just had a baby. She grumbled over how there were almost no “rich” people in District 11 besides herself and wished the Capital let them keep some of their supply. Melonie shrugged and chalked it up to their products being that good.
As the two girls returned, Martin was just finishing watching Savannah’s games. Martin had several notes dedicated to her allies Pedro and Arisu. Savannah tried to ignore the screen and read Martin’s notes. Martin admitted that despite the low hopes, he thought seeing the only two handicapped tributes would give him ideas. Melonie asked if he had any but Martin shook his head. He had a prosthetic leg while Pedro and Arisu had missing hands, so there wasn’t much comparison. Melonie thought that Arisu being the runner up had to amount to something and buttering up the Capital could get him a similarly upgraded prosthetic. Savannah admitted she had a point but Martin still had no hope. He shouted that Melonie was beautiful and skilled while he was ugly and didn’t amount to anything more than washing papayas. He stormed out of the room. Savannah sighed and said she knew all too well how he felt. She dismissed Melonie to her quarters for a short nap before they arrived in the Capital.
The Capital had become visible and the tributes were awake to marvel at the extravagant architecture. As the train pulled into the train station, Melonie was preparing herself while Martin was staring at the plethora of different styles of hair and makeup. Savannah pulled him from the window and gave him a pep talk. Martin promised to at least try and make a good impression despite his imperfections, gesturing to his face and showing off his crooked teeth. Melonie wasn’t ready to flaunt anything so she considered starting with a “girl next door” act, claiming to get the phrase from a book. Savannah opened the doors and introduced her tributes to the crowd of Capital citizens. Despite having the third lowest turnaround this year behind Districts 9 and 6 respectively, District 11 had one of the most positively received first impressions of the year. This was mostly in part to Melonie’s charisma and stunning good looks. She struck a variety of poses for the many cameras surrounding her. One of the photographers was a talent scout for the Pristine Paragon, a popular Capital fashion line. He said that if she won, she should call him and become a model for them. He even revealed that Corpse Beckford (victor of the 10th Hunger Games) had made a few of their magazines. Melonie appreciated the offer and promised to accept if he sponsored her.
Meanwhile, Martin wasn’t seen by many but those that did marveled at his prosthetic. Martin gave a retelling of Savannah fixing it and exaggerated the dizziness of walking in circles while testing it. A Capital woman asked why he couldn’t have simply bought a Hamaguchi upgrade himself. Martin sternly said he was dirt poor and “couldn’t afford dental let alone a new leg”. Some of the attendees laughed when he showed his teeth after saying this. Another claimed he could get new teeth if he won but Martin had already stomped away. Savannah ushered her tributes into the limousine after being bombarded with her fans.
The entourage arrived at the accommodation building in record time. Waiting by the elevator was the new stylist Demeter Stallings. Savannah wondered what happened to Hanson Jollyberry, her old stylist, which Demeter claimed he retired after winning a hefty prize at the Silver Coin, one of the Capital’s most popular casinos. The four arrived at the eleventh floor and Demeter immediately got to work. Melonie rushed to the bathroom while Martin had his measurements done. Demeter asked about the acne and offered to give him a special cream. Martin said anything was better than coconut oil. Demeter pulled out a tin of yellow cream and applied it to his face. Martin winced as his face turned red and began to burn. After a moment, Demeter gave him a mirror. Martin was taken aback by the results. Every pimple, acne scar, and blackhead was completely eradicated and left nothing but pure smooth skin. Melonie returned in time to see the finished result and complemented his new complexion. Martin was in stunned silence while Demeter finished up the measurements. She decided to dress Martin as a peach tree while Melonie would be covered in strawberry vines. Melonie rearranged all the vines Demeter placed on her to make it look almost like a flowing robe while Martin was painted to look like a tree. Savannah was not so approving of the very basic costumes until Demeter revealed the fruits to be real.
The parade was the opportunity for all Capital citizens to get a good look at this year’s tributes. Savannah ushered her tributes through the tunnel and towards their chariot. Melonie and Martin were intimidated by the muscular career tributes who were already plotting a potential alliance. After they walked past the District 3 chariot, Melonie questioned if they would make ideal allies. Savannah said that she would have to wait until training to be certain of their usefulness. Martin sarcastically suggested trying for the careers while she was at it. Melonie thought that was something to consider and thanked him for the idea. Martin tried to ignore the stares from other tributes, all mostly staring at his leg. He in particular didn’t enjoy the smirk Genera (5) was sporting but ignored her nonetheless. After arriving at their chariot, Demeter gave their outfits a final inspection and offered tips. Savannah stepped away to talk with previous year’s victor Laika Brown when she beckoned her over to ask for any updates on Jansen Toliver. Martin wouldn’t stop brushing his clean face and Melonie chuckled over it. Martin thought he would have to live with it for all his life and wondered why the special cream wasn’t available to the districts. Melonie thought it was still in the experimental phase but Demeter shook her head. Martin thought it unfair and considered it another example of the Capital’s cruelty. Melonie whispered to him not to let this affect his potential for sponsors. Savannah returned and wished them luck as the chariots pulled forward.
The chariots rolled out and the tributes became visible to the audience. Violet and Merde (1) wowed the audience with their designer clothes and were given extra points for eviscerating a Barron Moriarty ragdoll tossed to them by the audience. District 2 nearly ruined their chances when Cicero (2) nearly nudged Atlanta (2) off the chariot and received a slap in response, but an impromptu kiss brought them back in good graces. District 5 was a big surprise as Genera and Simmer (5) made excellent use of their dynamite costumes which exploded into confetti. In an unusual turn of events, both Heather and Bergen (6) were asleep in their chariot which greatly disappointed Mutt (fangroup of weakest tributes) fans yet was ironically humorous since their costumes were alcohol bottles.
After the mediocre lion costumes from District 10, District 11 was ready to shine. Melonie charmed the entire Capital with big smiles and free strawberries from her vines costume. After nearly all of the strawberries were gone, she tore off some of the vines and the outfit became more revealing, barely concealing her private parts. Melonie used this to slowly eat the last of the strawberries while seductively posing for the camera. Martin didn’t put much effort in his performance outside of throwing his peaches, disregarding whether audience members caught them or not. Suddenly, one purple braided citizen threw his peach back at Martin and it struck his face. Martin nearly toppled into the oblivious Melonie and angrily searched for the culprit. He yelled, “What’s the matter perra pequeña? My peach not sweet enough for ya?” He continued to hurl Spanish curse words at the culprit and soon began directing them to the audience who was laughing at him. At the end of the parade, the title of Blanco Fashion Magazine’s Best Dressed was awarded to District 5 for their creative dynamite costumes.
Back at the apartment, Savannah admitted the two did surprisingly well. Through gritted teeth, she told Melonie her striptease was good quick thinking. She criticized Martin’s attitude and warned him of the potential haters. Martin didn’t seem to care at first until Savannah revealed the post-parade comments. Despite the immediate amusement of the audience, later comments criticized his attitude and chalked it up to “short man syndrome”. The nicknames began flowing in, such as “Pegleg Pedro” and “Lanky and Skanky”. Melonie was horrified by the cyber bullying and wanted Savannah to turn it off. Savannah instead filtered the comments to ones about Melonie. The Capital seemed to adore Melonie and she was already one of the most popular tributes. Melonie suggested to Martin he could stick with her so the positive reception would eventually rub off on him. Martin refused to please the people who got off on ridiculing him but Savannah warned him of the consequences. She recalled the travesties Tris Plummer (victor of the 8th Hunger Games) had to endure being targeted by the gamemakers and her treatment by the Capital after she survived. Savannah warned him that he would be next if he kept it up. Martin sighed and apologized. Melonie hugged him and promised to be by his side the entire time. Martin retired to his room. Melonie asked Savannah if he had any chance of winning. Savannah couldn’t say as he reminded her of herself during her games. Melonie promised to keep an eye on him. She then asked about her chances. Savannah said that she was one of the best mentees she ever had and would be over the moon if either of them won.

My small band of League refugee friends started playing DOTA around March. We had loads of fun but our biggest struggle was the heroes names when we are playing.
Hero abbreviations don’t immediately make sense to us, so we come up with naming systems that only make sense within our circle.
Since we are League Refugees we use lots of League references. We call heroes with similar looking/play style to league as Neighbor X (LOL Name). Some are just random funny nicknames. I’ll share a few:
Ancient Apparition: Frozen Spirit
Axe: [neighbor] Darius
Bat Rider: [neighbor] Singed
Bloodseeker: Red Ferrari (he fast)
Brewmaster: Panda
Bristleback: Rammus
Broodmother: Spider
Clinkz: Skeleton archer
Pugna: Skeleton Mage
Wraith King: Skeleton soldier
Crystal Maiden: Ice lady
Dark Willow: Flower lady
Dawn Breaker: Hammer lady
Omniknight:Hammer man
Death Prophet: Ghost lady
Doom: Daddy (please for the love of god don’t ult me Daddy)
Drow Ranger: Ashe
Earth Spirit: Rolling Rock man
Tiny: Rock man (that’s how we differentiate the two)
Earthshaker: Ox man
Spirit breaker: Charging ox man (u can see the pattern)
Elder Titan: Big Ox man (he’s rare we don’t see a lot in our game)
Ember Spirit: Fire man
Lina: Fire lady
Hoodwink: Squirrel
Huskar: bullshit (we’ve been steamrolled by this thing way too many times)
Invoker: Hwei
Io: Cat (it’s literally Yummi)
Juggernaut: Garen Master Yi (or just Master Yi)
Kunkka: Captain
Legion Commander: Solo lady
Leshrac: Old Deer
Enchantress: Young Deer
Lifestealer: Dog (yes. Just dog)
Ursa: Bear
Lone Druid: Bear Bear (since he also transform into bear)
Luna: Wheel lady
Lycan: Wolf man
Marci: Fist lady
Mars: [neighbor] Pantheon
Medusa: just Dusa or snake lady
Monkeyking: Monkey
Phantom lancer: Multiple monkey
Morphling: Water man
Nature’s Prophet: Tree man
Treat Protector: [neighbor] Maokai (he’s not a man, he’s tree)
Ogre Magi: Blue fatty
Pangolier: Rammus Fiora
Phoenix: Fried Chicken
Pudge: Hook TahmKench
Rubicon: Thief
Sand King: Scorpion
Shadow Shaman: Haiya Haiya (sound effect)
Witch Doctor: Dong Dong Dong (also sound effect)
Slardar: Big fish
Slark: Small fish
Tidehunter: Fish guy (because the recent event)
Sven: Ultraman
Missing some heroes since we don’t have nicknames for them.