Do you go to bed every night wishing there was someone you could talk to for hours, who would actually listen, comfort you, make you laugh through the good and the bad days of your life. Someone whose one look, one hug, whose one kiss and every word they say holds so much power enough to make every little problem in the world feel easy to face, every pain in your life doesn't feel difficult to bear any more, your tears don't feel heavy anymore because these hands will always have someone to hold them, these eyes will always have someone to look at, this body will have someone to embrace and find comfort and relief in, someone who shall always walk by your side holding your hand always no matter what. Do you feel the need and desire for such a person? Someone who will love you so much, someone who will feel like you are a part of their soul and can't live without?
I want to be that someone for somebody who wants to be that somebody for me.
You know for years, I have waited for that one person all my life, someone I would strongly need and desire passionately and see her strongly desire me the same way, someone for whose happiness I could fight the whole world for, someone who fills my world with so much light that I don't wanna let go ever, someone I don't wanna lose ever, someone I can someday grow old with, have babies with and someone I can call family, someone I can't live without. All my life, every night, every pain, every lonely night of my life I went through I told myself it shall all be worth it when I shall finally meet that person.
Such kind of love is all what I'm looking for...and I know you are too....
Therefore please don't let this post be obliviated dear readers, I really need to find my person and I hope she is reading this or gets to read this.
Here are somethings about me:

• My name is Faraz. I'm a 25 year old first year MBA student living in Massachussets. I don't mind where you're from because I believe as long as we feel a strong attraction to each other even a long distance relationship will be worth it till be meet someday.
  
• I'm a Muslim but your faith does not matter much to me because I'm an open minded person and believe religion is one's own personal connection to god whether or not they choose to have it or follow it the way that appeals them.
  
• I'm of Indian and Arab origin through my family and grew up in Saudi Arabia and India.
  
• I love Cooking, watching Movies, Shows, Football, Wrestling etc, Writing my own Original, poems, Stories and Songs to express my feelings etc.
  
• I workout everyday.
  

One weird fact about me?

• To this day whenever I feel so bored or so deep into my feelings, I sing my own songs no matter where I am lol even if I have to mumble 😂. Good way to pass time isn't it? Because my songs help me picturize a whole movie in my mind that I can watch in my mind. That way I always remain entertained.

Yeah spending most of your life all alone until now isn't easy. You need to find different ways to keep yourself entertained lol.

• I love humor. Humor even if laughing at your own jokes is a beautiful thing. I believe we should always find reasons to smile and laugh because our hearts are too fragile to hold up so much of pain in them, life doesn't always have to be top serious. Fate and life will always try to bend time and make living worse for you but you fight back with love and laughter finding it in little things despite your loneliness and you survive beating life at it's worst. That is life. Where it is you versus all the things that make you sad where you fight back and do the things you love.

I guess that's a lot of words for this post right? Lol.
Hit me up with a chat if you liked reading my post. :)
This is me --》https://imgur.com/a/OwfRnUc

I warn all that I tried to stick to my guns and not abide by perfect consensus. Sorry for long write-ups. I had a ton of fun with the comparisons, feel free to rip me apart in the comments. I will only be going to 30 players.
1. Alex Sarr Did not expect to have him at number 1, but I think if I were a GM he'd be the most desirable piece in this draft class by a good amount. I will probably end up talking a lot about archetype, but Sarr's is obviously very desirable. A frequent comp is Evan Mobley, and I see similarities in their games. The intriguing part about Sarr to me is that he is really quick and has a good handle; I see him succeeding in 5-out offenses attacking closeouts. If he continues to develop he could even turn into a slasher from the wing. Defensively I see him as less of a rim protector than someone like Mobley and more of a helpside guy, with continued work on his foot speed I actually think his ideal spot on the court is as a 4.
Comp: Quicker, but worse basketball playing Chet Holmgren
2. Rob Dillingham I think as the league shifts towards a lot of tall initiators (Tatum, PG, Cunnigham, Barnes, etc.), the off-ball skills of a point guard are extremely valuable. I value spot up shooting in a point guard more than I ever have, and Dillingham has this in spades. He is also a good creator for his teammates, something that we got to see bits and pieces of at Kentucky. Most importantly, he is one of the only guys in this draft that if you put him in isolation in the NBA right now, he could go get you a bucket. Snappy crossover and a ton of shake. He has a great in between game, truly a 3 level scorer. Defensively he has a ways to go, a lot of that is in the weight room. I think he actually did an OK job of staying with ball handlers and keeping active hands on defense. Ultimately his offensive upside was too much to overlook in a class with almost no high end talent.
Comp: Tyrese Maxey, Immanuel Quickley (boring Kentucky guard comps, I know)
3. Matas Buzelis This was a close one for me, and I was tempted to put someone a little more off-the-wall here, but I am going to play it relatively safe and go with Buzelis. First off, and I could very easily be wrong, I think his shot is better than what we saw. I trust his mechanics, and I think he is smart enough to take the right shots when he needs to. Matas is one of those guys that I think will shine early in an auxiliary role alongside good NBA players (the Ignite was pretty rough). I like Buzelis' isolation skills and he is a good rebounder and surprisingly good shot blocker. These are skills that are easily overlooked but will keep him on an NBA floor early on. I like his isolation skills, I think he has a good handle. Placing him here means I am betting on the shot coming around for sure.
Comp: I can't escape wanting to compare him to a young Duke Luol Deng. Luol was more mature physically, but I think Buzelis will impact positive basketball like Deng did. Franz Wagner is the obvious comp.
4. Ja'Kobe Walter While Buzelis (and soon Williams) are upside swings that I do not think will pop in their rookie years, Walter is one of those guys who will. Baylor ran him in very advanced, tough movement shooting sets and he still shot the ball very well. He has a blossoming in between game and a knack for getting to the line via pump fakes/seeking contact. His ceiling is a little lower than some others in the draft because he is a little short (huge wingspan though), but Walter is one of the guys I really count on to be a good NBA player. He is a really active on ball defender that I think can be surprisingly versatile despite his size. I also trust him to create a little bit with the ball in his hands, something he was really never asked to do at Baylor due to having a very ball dominant PG in RayJ Dennis.
Comp: Ceiling of Bradley Beal offensively, lower range outcome is KCP. Improvement of handle is needed, but his game has some similarities to Eric Gordon
5. Jared McCain If you go by similar archetype but better numbers, most people prefer Reed Sheppard. I like Sheppard a lot as well, but have some issues with him that I will explain later. My McCain take is very similar to Walter, this is a guy who has an NBA ready offensive game. He is a top quality deep shooter who takes a variety of different looks, he also has the ability (like Walter) to hit 3s without his feet perfectly set. McCain has an intriguing midrange game where he likes to get two feet in the paint, pump fake, and go up from the freethrow line. This proved an effective counter for teams that ran him off the three point line. I also see him as a 1 in the NBA, he has the passing chops to do it, that area was just crowded at Duke and he had limited reps in this field. Very solid defender, smart player, and great rebounding guard.
Comp: Ceiling of Jalen Brunson (more outside shot, less inside craft), high outcome Fred Van Vleet, low outcome Heat Gabe Vincent
6. Zach Edey Yes, I like Edey more than Clingan. No, I do not think he will have the same role in the NBA that he did at Purdue. With that being said, I think he will be an extremely effective NBA player. The big question is: will he be played off the floor after getting killed by switches? I personally think he is serviceable enough on the perimeter to stay on the floor, and he uses his length extremely well without fouling. He has excellent conditioning. He has good touch and a very solid jumper (see FT%). He is also absolutely gigantic, possessing a 4 inch advantage over Clingan in his wingspan. I think he will be a great rim protector, even if the block numbers do not show it. The thing that I believe can occur that will turn him into a star is him becoming a playmaking hub. Picture Edey setting a monster screen for a guard that can score on the perimeter. If the defense hedges super hard they hit Edey at the FT line. Edey can hit this shot, or if a rotation comes he can use his massive size to spray the ball to the corners for 3PT attempts. I know this will be a contentious placement, but I just think Edey is a great basketball player and will continue to be one. Feel free to tell me I am wrong in the comments.
Comp: Yao Ming
7. Cody Williams This is one I can see totally whiffing on, but I am going to stick to my guns and keep Cody Williams high. One thing I have seen on this sub is people calling him a bad defender, which I personally disagree with. Williams was constantly guarding the other teams primary scoring threat, often guarding the other teams PG the entire game (see USC/Collier). He stays in front of the ball surprisingly well, flipping his hips and gliding with drivers. He has a really long wingspan that disrupts shots very well. I think he will turn out to be a wing stopper in the NBA. This, in conjunction with what I believe to be serviceable shooting (FT numbers from HS indicate this, but it is all projection at the end of the day) should get him on the NBA floor early. He has a quick crossover that he uses to get downhill, and finishes at the rim terrifically. He is young, but looked good in a scaled back role. I hate his tendency to turn the ball over and look lost, so I am betting on him getting better with time. I will reiterate, a lot of my thoughts on Williams and Buzelis are projections based on the eye test, rather than backed up by concrete stats.
Comp: I don't think people will like this, but Jaden McDaniels. Spot up 3 threat with ball stopping upside on defense. More of an inside game than McDaniels with less defensive prowess. I think he can turn into a Tayshaun Prince
8. Stephon Castle Castle is an elite on-ball defender, probably the best in the class in this regard. He is a smart player and should see plenty of the floor early on. His ranking this high is a little dependant on the shot coming around, which I believe in. I do not think he will ever be a sniper, but I think he will be serviceable. I see him as a very similar player to Marcus Smart in a lot of aspects.
Comp: Marcus Smart

1. Zac Risacher Risacher is a genuinely bad on ball creator. He can't beat anyone off the dribble, and that really limits his upside. He plays his role well as a catch and shoot guy that defends well and plays smart, but I do not see any star upside. A guy who some see as 'similar' in Jabari Smith was creating for himself via isos at Auburn, and generally showed a large offensive repetoire. Risacher is limited. Good at what he does, but limited. I do not see him playing another position other than the 4 because of his lack of on-ball creation.

10. Carlton Carrington Would like to see him score more around the rim, but his pull-up game is so strong that I think he has a really high offensive ceiling. Has the size and shooting ability to play as the off-guard in an offense that revolves around one ball handler (as most of the NBA does). I love that he creates well from the midrange, snaking PnRs and using pumpfakes to get open looks. Also a smart passer, rebounder,and all around good player. Big boards aren't perfect because his ceiling is much higher than Risacher's to me, but I personally take into account immediate impact and lower level outcomes.
Comp: Offensive game modeled after Devin Booker, obviously the highest end outcome. Lower outcome I would say Alec Burks with point guard skills. Cam Thomas if you transferred some offensive juice to all the other facets of basketball.
*11. Reed Sheppard * Everything that I say about Reed will be redundant, he is obviously hyper efficient as a shooter and player. My concerns are that he struggled big time to create for himself, most of his looks are spot up. He does not have a diverse game off the dribble. He is best in the PnR when he is hitting the roll man, as he does not have the midrange or at the rim ability to score there. He will have a place in the league because he is smart and a tremendous shooter, but I do not envision him having a large role.
Comp: Patty Mills
12. Donovan Clingan I suspect to get some pushback for this, but I consider this the high for a Clingan ranking. I believe he was the beneficiary of a great college team that had amazing guards to create for him. He will have a place in the league because he is smart on offense and a good rim protector, but outside of lob threats his offensive game is really limited. Bad hands and surprisingly awkward finishing at the rim when guarded by bigs. I think he will be fine, but I really see no scenario where he is any better than a Steven Adams or Valanciunas. Those are my highest end outcomes for him. Side note- he will not be a good shooter. He can't even shoot free throws.
Comp: Jusuf Nurkic
13. Ron Holland Ron was someone I thought I was going to have really high on my board until going back to watch his games. He scores a lot in transition to boost his numbers, and is an active and OK defender. He is way more limited on offense than his numbers suggest, and I am curious to see how his game scales down to a smaller role. He is super athletic but not a great finisher at the rim, has a wacky shot that misses badly often, and despite his activity on defense he isn't particularly cerebral. I want to like Holland, but I just can't rank him too high
Comp: Sorry for this one, but I started to see some Stanley Johnson in his game. Reminds me of Nassir Little. Maybe he peaks as a Pacers Ron Artest? Gerald Wallace. I think these are stretches.
14. Kyle Filipowski Smart, do-it-all big. Great passer for short roll situations, has a good foundation for his jumper but needs some work. He will make a team happy as a 5-out center. He made huge improvements as a defender and rebounder in his sophomore year at Duke, and the team relied on him big time (and McCain). He has a problem at the rim of jumping straight into guys and trying to muscle the ball in; this will not work in the NBA. The rest of his offense is great, and he has experience working as an offensive hub creating for others. I honestly see Filipowski as a pretty safe pick.
Comp: Lovechild of Isaiah Hartenstein and Naz Reid. Certainly some of you guys despise this comp but it is probably my favorite one here.
15. Devin Carter Tough player, impacts the game in a ton of different ways. I think he will shine even when scaled down reminds me of a more athletic and larger version of...
Comp: Deuce McBride
16. Isaiah Collier So much Scoot Henderson in his game. Weird to get two prospects back to back that are so similar. I watched a lot of Scoot this year as a Blazer's fan, and I personally am a believer. Being a PG is really hard in today's game. Collier is worse at the one aspect of Scoot's game that was a big question mark: shooting. This will limit him in the league, but he is too talented and physically gifted to completely burn out. I am going to give him the comp that many people are turning to for Scoot now.
Comp: Eric Bledsoe
17. Dalton Knecht Great scorer, but this dude is gonna get cooked on defense. I think he is probably the worst defender in the draft. I am not sold on how he will scale down as a player, as the Tenn offense was so centered around him. I also think he will really struggle to score on NBA length.
Comp: Stealing this from The Ringer I think, but Max Strus. High end outcome of Desmond Bane
18. Kevin McCullar If you have read through all of this thank you, the reviews are getting much shorter. If you have questions just harass me in the comments. I hate myself for using this but McCullar is this year's Jacquez, just a guy who can do it all, and do it all well. McCullar contributes to good basketball and will continue to do so, he has very few flaws in his game.
Comp: Blazers Nic Batum, maybe some Trevor Ariza, a little bit of Harrison Barnes. Worse version of Mikal Bridges. I will stop.
19. Daron Holmes Very solid player, I like how he stepped up and ran the show for Dayton. He plays up to competition, and has a jumper that I believe in, hence the ranking above Kel'el Ware. He is a little smaller, but is really strong and uses his body well. I could see him outperform this ranking for sure. Like Filipowski, I think he is a relatively safe pick and makes a team very happy.
Comp: Maybe my brain is going here because of the last name, but I am going to say Richaun Holmes. That feels like a lower player for a comp, couldn't think of a better one. These are getting hard.
20. Baylor Scheierman Absolutely great shooter. Very good rebounder and passer for his position. Knows how to play in a scaled down role. Tough defender, but a little slower on his footspeed, makes up for that with active hands and a really strong base. He is really smart around the rim with pump fakes and pivots to make up for his lack of vertical threat. I see his game translating really well to the league.
Comp: Cam Johnson
21. Nikola Topic I think his draft profile is boosted because of how Mega runs their offense through one player, and Topic ended up gathering a lot of stats from that. For Zvezda, he is executing fairly well within the confines of the offense, and he is very quick downhill driving, but I just do not see him as a really successful NBA player. His shot is a line drive that just barely stays above the rim, and no defender in the NBA will respect it. Because of this, they will back off, limiting his PnR upside and downhill scoring.
Comp: Beno Udrih
22. Tidjane Salaun This is probably too low for Salaun, he has great tools and is a solid shooter. Sometimes he looks like he has never played basketball before. Not great at putting the ball on the floor and also not a great finisher at the rim if he is not dunking. Will be a multi-year project that could certainly pan out, this is probably the least solid placement on the entire board.
Comp: More athletic Robert Covington
23. Yves Missi Interesting player. Good at driving to the rim, great defender and headache for opposing big men. He and Salaun are wide variance players so I would not argue with anyone who had them higher or lower. I like Missi, and I think he has a lot of untapped upside. I am going to use a cliche comp for him and say...
Comp: Clint Capela
24. Tyler Kolek Great pick and roll creator for others. Good shooter. A little worringly left hand dominant and can struggle with scoring on interior prescenses. I trust him to be a solid player that can run a backup unit really well. I am also going to continue the trend of avoiding only comparing white players to white players and say Kolek is very similar too...
Comp: Tyus Jones
25. Tyler Smith Great shooter, was lost on defense. Good upside swing late in the draft that I could see getting lost in the sea of other NBA tweeners. If you can't tell I am running out of gas writing these. Tyler Smith, you are going to be comped to....
Comp: the guy that Bobby Portis punched in practice, can't remember his name
26. Jaylon Tyson Good all around player that has succeeded in small and large roles. Solid shooter who has an advanced handle and can score. I feel pretty strongly in this comparison in terms of NBA role, ability, and playstyle.
Comp: Caleb Martin
27. Tristan Da Silva I personally prefer McCullar, but Da Silva is solid too. He seemed to sometimes fade out of games and his impact wasn't seen as clearly, but should have a place in the league.
Comp: Kris Murray
28. Terrance Shannon Really reliant on speed and getting to the foul line at Illinois, but also had the ability to take over games with his outside shooting. Active hands that lead to a good amount of steals. Very interested to see how he scales down, as the Illinois offense was very tailored to him.
Comp: Kendrick Nunn
29. Ajay Mitchell These last two guys I could see far outperforming this ranking. Mitchell is really good at just about everything, just played against lower level competition. I think he has the upside of a recent guy in a similar situation...
Comp: Jalen Williams
30. Justin Edwards Upside swing on a guy that was in a less than ideal spot at Kentucky. Coach Cal had an embarrassment of riches and did not know what to do with it. I like his pullup game, with time and proper care he could flourish into a really talented scorer. Do not give up on Justin Edwards.
Comp: CJ Miles

Meet Marlee (@bionicgirl96) she uses another creator who is literally fighting for her life on a daily basis to boost views, gain followers and Marlee loves to block anyone who gets a little too close to her BFF Emily (@justincase912) just for funzies.
You can clearly see anytime she has a thumbnail with Emily in it her views are 5x what they would be other post.
I know Emily is a smart, capable human who surrounds herself (usually) with people who have her best interests at heart. Namely her extremely caring and doting husband Ryan, BIL Parker, and her true BFF Paloma. These are the only people who are qualified to give updates, besides Em herself (of course!).
There are a growing number of us worried about Marlee using Em for nefarious reasons...here is a breakdown of what makes Marlee a narcissist:
Why does a narcissist brag and name drop? Narcissists often engage in bragging and name-dropping as part of their behavior patterns related to their personality disorder. Here are some reasons why a narcissist may engage in these behaviors:
Need for Validation: Narcissists have an inflated sense of self-importance and a deep need for validation from others. By bragging about her "friendship" and name dropping Emily she boosts her own self-esteem and gains attention from Emily's followers and friends
Maintaining Superiority: Narcissists have a strong desire to feel superior to others. By bragging about texting Emily while she is in the OR and blocking anyone who doesn't agree with her or anyone who has something medically in common with Emily or a closer connection to Emily than she does, she asserts her dominance by blocking you from Emily's lives and account (as a Mod) and has no problem telling you that she is better than you are. She WANTS to keep Emily sick. It's disgusting.
Manipulation and Control: Name-dropping can be a form of manipulation for a narcissist. By associating themselves with influential or important people, they may try to gain leverage over others or create a sense of awe that can be used to control or influence those around them. This is Marlee's literal modus operandi.
4.Seeking Attention: Narcissists crave attention and admiration. By bragging about themselves or dropping names, they draw attention to themselves and ensure that they are the center of focus in social interactions. Definitely works because she's gathering a group of people calling her out for her BS.
5.Masking Insecurities: Marlee has nothing going on in her life and her entire personality would be her missing leg without Emily. If Emily is the Little Reindeer, Marlee is the R rated version of Martha.

1. Lack of Empathy: Marlee lacks empathy and understanding for people in similar medical scenarios as Marlee. In fact she actually does everything in her power to keep you seperated, so she has total control . She also discredits you to Emily to make you look like the crazy one.
   
2. Marlene's persistent, extreme, and pattern of self-centeredness and manipulation when it comes to Emily is stalker level scary. Dealing with a narcissist can be challenging, and it may be helpful to set boundaries, seek support from others, and consider seeking professional help if necessary. I have no doubt Ryan and Emily are capable of taking out the trash.
   

TL;DR: Marlee @bionicgirl96 is a narcissist preying on Emily and her kind heart @justincase
Personally, I won't stop until Emily regains an acceptable quality of life and Marlee publicly apologizes for treating hundreds of Emily 's supporters like trash because once Emily is better Marlee will need to find a new baby reindeer to stalk.

I butcher a languages orthography, whoever guesses it tells me the next one to keep the chain going.
ᜋᜓᜈᜓᜓᜑ᜕ ᜆᜒᜀᜅ᜕ ᜀᜑ᜕ ᜃᜁᜆ᜕ ᜋᜓᜂᜃ᜕ ᜋᜒᜒᜁᜈ᜕ ᜐᜒᜁᜇ᜔ᜒᜌ᜕ᜉᜒᜒᜁᜉ᜕ ᜈᜒᜓᜅ᜕ ᜉᜒᜒᜁᜉ᜕ ᜐ᜕ᜋᜁᜐ᜕ᜋᜁ ᜃᜈᜒᜁ ᜃᜈᜓᜅ᜕ ᜐᜁᜆ᜕ ᜈᜒᜓᜅ᜕ ᜐᜒᜁᜃ᜔᜕ᜃᜇᜆᜌ᜕ ᜆ᜕ᜎᜌ᜕ ᜆ᜕ᜈᜓᜂ᜔ ᜋᜓᜈᜓᜓᜑ᜕ ᜃ᜕ᜇ᜔ᜓᜓᜓᜉ᜕ ᜇ᜔ᜓᜓᜓᜂ᜔ᜉ᜕ ᜐᜓᜆ᜕ ᜆᜁ ᜋᜒᜒᜁᜈ᜕ ᜊ᜔ᜒᜃ᜔ᜀᜇ᜔ᜈᜈ᜔ᜒᜒᜆᜈ᜕ ᜈᜓᜒᜅ᜕ ᜐᜆᜒᜐᜋ᜕ᜉᜃ᜔ᜓᜓᜆᜈ᜔ᜈ᜔ᜒᜀᜑ᜔᜕ ᜑᜁᜌ᜕ ᜆ᜕ᜇ᜔ᜓᜓᜂ᜔ᜊ᜔ ᜉ᜕ᜇ᜔ᜉ᜕ᜇ᜔ᜒᜓᜓᜆ᜕ ᜃ᜔ᜋ᜕ᜉᜓᜓᜁᜑ᜕ ᜃ᜕ᜈᜒᜒᜁ ᜆᜓᜒᜏ᜕ ᜊ᜔ᜓᜓᜒᜈ᜔ ᜆᜒᜓᜏ᜕ ᜋᜓᜂᜃ᜕ ᜃ᜕ᜈᜓᜅ᜕ ᜐ᜕ᜋᜀᜇ᜔ᜓᜓᜂᜇᜁᜌ᜕ ᜇ᜔ᜓᜓᜆᜉ᜕ ᜑ᜔ᜀᜈ᜕ ᜃ᜕ᜈᜒᜁ ᜃ᜔ᜒᜁ ᜊᜀᜅ᜕ ᜉ᜕ᜑ᜔ᜓᜓᜂ᜔ᜈ᜕
Hint: It’s unique for NOT being total compared to its neighbors.
Name in script: ᜃ᜕ᜋᜁ

Name: Darkshadow Bloodfang the Chaos Beast
Appearance: Darkshadow Bloodfang is a black and red hedgehog with glowing crimson eyes that bleed with chaos energy. His spiky quills are tipped with silver, and his body is covered in dark tribal tattoos that pulsate with power. He wears a tattered cloak made from the shadows themselves and has razor-sharp claws.
Backstory: Once a normal hedgehog named Blaze, Darkshadow Bloodfang was betrayed by his closest friends and left for dead in the ruins of the Chaos Temple. Consumed by rage and the dark energy of the Chaos Emeralds, he transformed into the ultimate being of darkness and vengeance.
Abilities: - Chaos Control Mastery: Can manipulate time and space at will, freezing enemies or teleporting anywhere instantly. - Shadow Flames: Can summon black fire that burns hotter than the sun and consumes everything in its path. - Blood Rage: Increases strength, speed, and agility tenfold when wounded, becoming an unstoppable force. - Mind Shatter: Can enter and destroy the minds of his enemies, leaving them in a state of perpetual fear and pain. - Immortality: Cannot be killed by any means, regenerating from any wound instantly.
Personality: Darkshadow Bloodfang is consumed by hatred and a desire for revenge against those who wronged him. He trusts no one and works alone, often lurking in the shadows to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. He speaks in a deep, gravelly voice and enjoys the suffering of those who dare to cross his path.
Weakness: His only weakness is his own overwhelming rage, which sometimes causes him to lose control and attack indiscriminately, including allies.
Catchphrase: "The darkness within me shall consume you all."
Lol

With Community Goodwill resurging after Thrones of Decay, and CA's interpreted desire to chase easy cash, i am just surprised that remaining big names haven't been announced sooner.
Foremost among the big names is the Bone Pope himself. You'd think (or at least, I would) that CA would want to go for something safe and get a guaranteed return. I find it hard to think of something that would be safer then a Nagash dlc, escpially when elements of that dlc could overlap with Counts and Coast and Tomb Kings, enticing the players of those factions to purchase the dlc.
Also, Neferata? The Lahmian Sisterhood (which is being ed by a male vampire count for some reason???) Has existed for so long and nothing lol
Thoughts ?

Do you think theres a chance that we all got it wrong ? That both ex muslims and muslims simply got it wrong. Sufis often look to the 99 names such as Rahman, raheem, wadud, Rauf, Latif, afuw, ghafoor, Tawaab, outlining the richness of these qualities as gentle love, mercy, compassion, kindness, mother's protection, humor, desire to forgive and redeem the worst of souls. By this we would say God of the quran is perfect a super nice guy. Yet when we read the quran we get the opposite image. A God who's highly rageful, vengeful, hateful of polytheists and kaafirs, threatens of hell every single surah. A very negative authoritarian angry hyper emotional vibe. Can we imagine such a loving God torturing people with boiling water, ripping flesh, toasting, roasting etc ? So who is correct ? The sufi ? the salafi ? The shia ? The sunni ? The qurani ? Imo I feel if islam ever was the truth it could only be a sufi mutazilite version. But there lies the issue. Interpretations upon interpretations. Sects upon sects. But is it possible we all got it wrong ? for instance muslim beliefs often clash with quranic beliefs for example

• Anti science, anti art, anti reason and wisdom clashes with quran verses praising reason, condemning following of forefather, majority and speculation.
• Muslim attire clashes with qurans idea of attire and modesty.
• Prophets are perfect clash with quran showing they are flawed as well.
• Muhammad did miracles clashes with quran claiming he didmt do miracles.
• Muslims obsession with fiqh clashes with quran having little to nothing about fiqh
• Muslim beliefs in non muslims going to hell clash with qurans praise of non muslims salvation
• Muslims believe in scholarly consensus following imams and mullahs of the past yet quran attacks following of mullahs.
• Muslim focus on hadith worship yet quran has no reference to hadith. Even if it did quran and hadith contradict more than agree.
• Muslims being tribal, arabifying life eg hijabs, thobes, kufis,arabic words akhi, west is evil contradict quran praising different colors, languages and encouraging cultural relations.
• Muslims force Islam and apostasy punishments on people. Quran tells muhammad not to force himself on people.

So what is happening here. Is Quran simply superficially saying these progressive things ? Are muslims simply following muhammadism or hadithism ? Is it just an interpretation ? I wonder I wonder

My husband (30) is not ready to be a father just yet and it's become clear that he needs to mentally get there whereas I'm (36) more than ready (and panicking a lot as I'm older). December 2023, we sat down and I formally expressed my desire for kids and how important this dream was to me. We decided to try December 2024, but as the date approaches, my husband is clearly not ready and able to commit to that date and can't make me any promises about when he'll be ready.
He also doesn't want to entertain ending the relationship whereas I'm a bit more open to doing that if it will make us both happy in the long term.
We're both in individual therapy and his therapist is adamant that he shouldn't have a baby when he is not ready whereas mine is pushing me to really stand up for what I want as the risks as I get older are really there. But I can't make someone be ready for something they're not but also I can't give up this dream waiting. I feel like we're both caught up with timing.
In the meantime, we've decided that it's important that we take some time to go through what might be causing fear and what might be holding him back from making a decision.
We've scheduled some dates to sit down and discuss together as a couple. I said I'd go and find some books/workbooks that we could work through separately in the meantime and then come together to compare our thoughts.
I'm quite clear on a lot of why I want kids and what to expect (I've done a lot of this personal work) whereas he needs more help naming what he's feeling and what he feels like he needs to accomplish before he has kids.
Do you guys have any recommendations or advice?

REUPLOADED FOR POST TITLE CLARITY
I (30m) have recently started dating a girl (26f) a few months ago. Things are going really well and she's amazing. I've never met someone as genuine and kind as her and she treats me like a king, however she won't let me treat her like a queen back.
I run a very successful company that I built from the ground up and now at the age of 30 I make amazing money. Without getting into specifics, I could basically afford to retire in 10 years or less if I wanted to, and live very comfortably. Since I have been out of the country for a week for work, I wanted to surprise my girlfriend with a pair of Louboutin heels. I found a pair in a style I know she likes and have seen her wear and wrapped them to surprise her when I took her out for dinner after getting back. When we got back to my house, I gave them to her and at first she seemed really excited and liked the style, but when she saw the red bottoms she asked how much the shoes cost. I refused to tell her, because to me the cost of the shoes doesn't matter, only if she likes them. She knew they were Louboutin though and guessed pretty close to the actual price and started getting upset. She told me they were too expensive and doesn't want me recklessly spending so much money on her when I could've bought her something in the same style but 1/10th of the price. Again, I assured her that I'm good for the money and would've been fine spending even more than what I did, but she wouldn't listen. She kept saying that it was too much and she can't possibly wear brand name clothes and doesn't want to be the girl dressed in Louboutin or Gucci etc... She kept telling me to return them and get her a cheaper pair of shoes in the same style, and to save my money for something more important. I told her that I already have my finances figured out and I'm almost set for retirement and I don't need to worry anymore about saving or being frugal because I'm already there. I said if things continue to go well and we are together for the long term, she won't even have to work if she doesn't want to since I make more than enough for the both of us.
She makes significantly less than I do and is very frugal. She doesn't struggle, but I know brand names and luxury purchases are off the table for her. I am always offering to pay for things, buy her gifts, and even pay her bills if she's really stressing about them and I'm always turned down. I understand she's independent and wants to work for what she has- I love that about her and it's one of the reasons I feel we work well together because I know she's not after my money. But I feel frustrated at being turned down every time I offer. Don't girls want to be spoiled? I thought every woman's dream was to have nice things or be spoiled by their partner? I asked her a few weeks ago what her dream car would be, assuming it was free and she could have anything she wanted, and she said her dream car was a Toyota Highlander. Not a sports car, not anything even... really all that desirable. Out of all the cars, she picked such a basic one. I feel like she and I are in different worlds and it's like she can't even comprehend that she could have so much more if she let me help. She's not a bland person or anything, she's beautiful, intelligent, great taste in food, and she's always cooking for me or willing to try new things at the restaurants I take her to when she lets me pay. She also wants to travel but won't let me take her anywhere she can't afford by herself.
Sometimes I feel like she's too proud. Like if she lets me buy her things or take her on trips she will somehow be less? I asked her and she just keeps repeating like a broken record that she wants to earn things herself and be practical. But in my eyes she HAS earned it. She just doesn't like the finer things in life and I'm absolutely befuddled by it. Who wouldn't want nice clothes, shoes, a car, trips etc... If it was freely given? Am I missing something? I really thought all women wanted these things, and she doesn't.
Edit: I didn't mean women specifically, I mean people in general. Yes in this case we're talking about my girlfriend but my point really stands with all people men included. Why wouldn't people want nice things? If you can afford the best of the best, why on earth would anyone want something that's crap? I understand not everyone can afford such things, but if you CAN, then why would you settle for less?

In 13 out of the 27 EU countries, abortion is not provided free of charge. Instead, it typically incurs a cost ranging from €300 to €1500. Sterilization is illegal or inaccessible in most of the EU countries.
In Germany, abortion is still in the Criminal Code, paragraph 218 and over 1000 people travel to the Netherlands each year to access abortion services. Malta and Poland have complete bans on elective abortion. In Poland women are dying. In Italy and Croatia, 60+% of doctors do not perform abortions. The Meloni government just passed a law allowing anti-abortion groups access to women considering ending their pregnancies.
Enter European Citizens Initiative My Voice My Choice!

• What's ECI? The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a mechanism that allows EU citizens to directly participate in the development of EU policies by proposing legislation on specific issues.
• How does it work? To be considered by the European Commission, an initiative must collect at least 1 million valid signatures from EU citizens, with minimum thresholds reached in at least seven different member states.
• Who can sign? Any EU citizen old enough to vote in European Parliament elections (usually 18 years old, 16 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta) can participate.
• How long do we have? We have 12 months to collect the necessary signatures.
• What happens with my data? Signatures are collected on the European Commission's platform, which complies with GDPR regulations, and your data will only be used for the purpose of placing the issue of abortion availability on the EU legislative agenda.
• What do we want? We want the EU to expand access to abortion services and cover the associated costs, as they have already done for other medical procedures.

The collection started on 24.04.2024. So far 450.000 people signed the initiative!
\Irish folks please be aware there's a mistake on the form. If you don't have a house number, write "0" in the "number" field.*
And for the sake of everything sacred - VOTE this week in the European Parliament elections. We have many great progressive options: The Left, Volt, MeRA25/DiEM25, and the European Greens.
P.S. For the US folks - Democrats in the US Senate will try to codify your right to contraception tomorrow. It's time to call your Senators and tell them to vote for S.1999, The Right to Contraception Act! If they are up for reelection, tell them you are registered to vote and will vote come November.
Script (taken from emilyinyourphone on IG): Hello my name is [Mary Sphan], and I live in [Arlington, Virginia]. I am your constituent. Contraception is critical for so many people, it helps us plan our families and protect our health. I ask you to vote for S.1999, The Right to Contraception Act and do everything you can to help it pass. Thank you.

I'm trying to find hidden files using this command, I'm using kali linux
cat /home/kali/Desktop/foldername/filterallext rush curl -skl "{}" grep "type\=\”hidden\”" grep -Eo "name\=\”[^\”]+\”" cut -d\" -f2 sort -u >> /home/kali/Desktop/foldername/hidden-files
however getting errors as follows
"Error: unknown shorthand flag: 's' in -skl
Usage:
rush [flags] [command]
Examples:
simple run, quoting is not necessary
$ seq 1 10 rush echo {}

1. keep order

$ seq 1 10 rush 'echo {}' -k

1. timeout

$ seq 1 rush 'sleep 2; echo {}' -t 1

1. retry

$ seq 1 rush 'python script.py' -r 3

1. dirname & basename & remove suffix

$ echo difile_1.txt.gz rush 'echo {/} {%} {^_1.txt.gz}'
dir file.txt.gz difile

1. basename without the last or any extension

$ echo dir.d/file.txt.gz rush 'echo {.} {:} {%.} {%:}'
dir.d/file.txt dir.d/file file.txt file

1. job ID, combine fields and other replacement strings

$ echo 12 file.txt dis_1.fq.gz rush 'echo job {#}: {2} {2.} {3%:^_1}'
job 1: file.txt file s

1. capture submatch using regular expression

$ echo read_1.fq.gz rush 'echo {@(.+)_\d}'
read

1. custom field delimiter

$ echo a=b=c rush 'echo {1} {2} {3}' -d =
a b c

1. custom record delimiter

$ echo a=b=c rush -D "=" -k 'echo {}'
a
b
c
$ echo abc rush -D "" -k 'echo {}'
a
b
c

1. assign value to variable, like "awk -v"

seq 1 rush 'echo Hello, {fname} {lname}!' -v fname=Wei,lname=Shen
$ seq 1 rush 'echo Hello, {fname} {lname}!' -v fname=Wei -v lname=Shen
Hello, Wei Shen!

1. preset variable (Macro)

equal to: echo sample_1.fq.gz rush 'echo {:_1} {} {:_1}_2.fq.gz'
$ echo sample_1.fq.gz rush -v p={:^_1} 'echo {p} {} {p}_2.fq.gz'
sample sample_1.fq.gz sample_2.fq.gz

1. save successful commands to continue in NEXT run

$ seq 1 3 rush 'sleep {}; echo {}' -c -t 2
[INFO] ignore cmd #1: sleep 1; echo 1
[ERRO] run cmd #1: sleep 2; echo 2: time out
[ERRO] run cmd #2: sleep 3; echo 3: time out

1. escape special symbols

$ seq 1 rush 'echo -e "a\tb" awk "{print $1}"' -q
a

1. run a command with relative paths in Windows, please use backslash as the separator.

"brename -l -R" is used to search paths recursively
$ brename -l -q -R -i -p "\.go$" rush "bin\app.exe {}"
More examples: https://github.com/shenwei356/rush
Flags:
-v, --assign strings assign the value val to the variable var (format: var=val, val also
supports replacement strings)
--cleanup-time int time to allow child processes to clean up between stop / kill signals
(unit: seconds, 0 for no time) (default 3) (default 3)
-c, --continue continue jobs. NOTES: 1) successful commands are saved in file (given
by flag -C/--succ-cmd-file); 2) if the file does not exist, rush saves
data so we can continue jobs next time; 3) if the file exists, rush
ignores jobs in it and update the file
--dry-run print command but not run
-q, --escape escape special symbols like $ which you can customize by flag
-Q/--escape-symbols
-Q, --escape-symbols string symbols to escape (default "$#&`")
--eta show ETA progress bar
-d, --field-delimiter string field delimiter in records, support regular expression (default "\\s+")
-h, --help help for rush
-I, --immediate-output print output immediately and interleaved, to aid debugging
-i, --infile strings input data file, multi-values supported
-j, --jobs int run n jobs in parallel (default value depends on your device) (default 2)
-k, --keep-order keep output in order of input
--no-kill-exes strings exe names to exclude from kill signal, example: mspdbsrv.exe; or use
all for all exes (default none)
--no-stop-exes strings exe names to exclude from stop signal, example: mspdbsrv.exe; or use
all for all exes (default none)
-n, --nrecords int number of records sent to a command (default 1)
-o, --out-file string out file ("-" for stdout) (default "-")
--print-retry-output print output from retry commands (default true)
--propagate-exit-status propagate child exit status up to the exit status of rush (default true)
-D, --record-delimiter string record delimiter (default is "\n") (default "\n")
-J, --records-join-sep string record separator for joining multi-records (default is "\n") (default "\n")
-r, --retries int maximum retries (default 0)
--retry-interval int retry interval (unit: second) (default 0)
-e, --stop-on-error stop child processes on first error (not perfect, you may stop it by
typing ctrl-c or closing terminal)
-C, --succ-cmd-file string file for saving successful commands (default "successful_cmds.rush")
-t, --timeout int timeout of a command (unit: seconds, 0 for no timeout) (default 0)
-T, --trim string trim white space (" \t\r\n") in input (available values: "l" for left,
"r" for right, "lr", "rl", "b" for both side)
--verbose print verbose information
-V, --version print version information and check for update

I'm trying to find hidden files using this command, I'm using kali linux
cat /home/kali/Desktop/foldername/filterallext rush curl -skl "{}" grep "type\=\”hidden\”" grep -Eo "name\=\”[^\”]+\”" cut -d\" -f2 sort -u >> /home/kali/Desktop/foldername/hidden-files
however getting errors as follows
"Error: unknown shorthand flag: 's' in -skl
Usage:
rush [flags] [command]
Examples:
simple run, quoting is not necessary
$ seq 1 10 rush echo {}

1. keep order

$ seq 1 10 rush 'echo {}' -k

1. timeout

$ seq 1 rush 'sleep 2; echo {}' -t 1

1. retry

$ seq 1 rush 'python script.py' -r 3

1. dirname & basename & remove suffix

$ echo difile_1.txt.gz rush 'echo {/} {%} {^_1.txt.gz}'
dir file.txt.gz difile

1. basename without the last or any extension

$ echo dir.d/file.txt.gz rush 'echo {.} {:} {%.} {%:}'
dir.d/file.txt dir.d/file file.txt file

1. job ID, combine fields and other replacement strings

$ echo 12 file.txt dis_1.fq.gz rush 'echo job {#}: {2} {2.} {3%:^_1}'
job 1: file.txt file s

1. capture submatch using regular expression

$ echo read_1.fq.gz rush 'echo {@(.+)_\d}'
read

1. custom field delimiter

$ echo a=b=c rush 'echo {1} {2} {3}' -d =
a b c

1. custom record delimiter

$ echo a=b=c rush -D "=" -k 'echo {}'
a
b
c
$ echo abc rush -D "" -k 'echo {}'
a
b
c

1. assign value to variable, like "awk -v"

seq 1 rush 'echo Hello, {fname} {lname}!' -v fname=Wei,lname=Shen
$ seq 1 rush 'echo Hello, {fname} {lname}!' -v fname=Wei -v lname=Shen
Hello, Wei Shen!

1. preset variable (Macro)

equal to: echo sample_1.fq.gz rush 'echo {:_1} {} {:_1}_2.fq.gz'
$ echo sample_1.fq.gz rush -v p={:^_1} 'echo {p} {} {p}_2.fq.gz'
sample sample_1.fq.gz sample_2.fq.gz

1. save successful commands to continue in NEXT run

$ seq 1 3 rush 'sleep {}; echo {}' -c -t 2
[INFO] ignore cmd #1: sleep 1; echo 1
[ERRO] run cmd #1: sleep 2; echo 2: time out
[ERRO] run cmd #2: sleep 3; echo 3: time out

1. escape special symbols

$ seq 1 rush 'echo -e "a\tb" awk "{print $1}"' -q
a

1. run a command with relative paths in Windows, please use backslash as the separator.

"brename -l -R" is used to search paths recursively
$ brename -l -q -R -i -p "\.go$" rush "bin\app.exe {}"
More examples: https://github.com/shenwei356/rush
Flags:
-v, --assign strings assign the value val to the variable var (format: var=val, val also
supports replacement strings)
--cleanup-time int time to allow child processes to clean up between stop / kill signals
(unit: seconds, 0 for no time) (default 3) (default 3)
-c, --continue continue jobs. NOTES: 1) successful commands are saved in file (given
by flag -C/--succ-cmd-file); 2) if the file does not exist, rush saves
data so we can continue jobs next time; 3) if the file exists, rush
ignores jobs in it and update the file
--dry-run print command but not run
-q, --escape escape special symbols like $ which you can customize by flag
-Q/--escape-symbols
-Q, --escape-symbols string symbols to escape (default "$#&`")
--eta show ETA progress bar
-d, --field-delimiter string field delimiter in records, support regular expression (default "\\s+")
-h, --help help for rush
-I, --immediate-output print output immediately and interleaved, to aid debugging
-i, --infile strings input data file, multi-values supported
-j, --jobs int run n jobs in parallel (default value depends on your device) (default 2)
-k, --keep-order keep output in order of input
--no-kill-exes strings exe names to exclude from kill signal, example: mspdbsrv.exe; or use
all for all exes (default none)
--no-stop-exes strings exe names to exclude from stop signal, example: mspdbsrv.exe; or use
all for all exes (default none)
-n, --nrecords int number of records sent to a command (default 1)
-o, --out-file string out file ("-" for stdout) (default "-")
--print-retry-output print output from retry commands (default true)
--propagate-exit-status propagate child exit status up to the exit status of rush (default true)
-D, --record-delimiter string record delimiter (default is "\n") (default "\n")
-J, --records-join-sep string record separator for joining multi-records (default is "\n") (default "\n")
-r, --retries int maximum retries (default 0)
--retry-interval int retry interval (unit: second) (default 0)
-e, --stop-on-error stop child processes on first error (not perfect, you may stop it by
typing ctrl-c or closing terminal)
-C, --succ-cmd-file string file for saving successful commands (default "successful_cmds.rush")
-t, --timeout int timeout of a command (unit: seconds, 0 for no timeout) (default 0)
-T, --trim string trim white space (" \t\r\n") in input (available values: "l" for left,
"r" for right, "lr", "rl", "b" for both side)
--verbose print verbose information
-V, --version print version information and check for update

Introduction:

Hello, Hello everyone! I hope yall are doing good, and a Happy Pride Month to any and all who celebrate it. With a new month, comes a new challenge, and this one was right up my alley. Some of you will remember this concept from a couple of weeks ago, when it was a mere rough concept, but after taking feedback and seeing this month's challenge, I have fully ironed it all out. This is also the first time I have designed a Support Champion instead of a Carry or Bruiser style, and as you can probably tell from my submission history, I love making Mechanically Complex and Unique Champions. A Mechanically Complex/Unique Support was difficult for me, but as I mentioned, I got a lot of good feedback from people, and was able to create O'Rin, Lady of Butterflies
O'Rin is an Ionian, Vastaya that is supposed to be a mix of Battle Mage (or Warlock as I like to call them) and Enchanter, similar to Karma in that intrinsically she is a Support Champion that needs to be with an Ally in order to function, however she provides extreme amounts of Battlefield Utility and Damage, in this case through her Butterflies. Unlike Karma however, O'Rin is almost firmly set as a Bot LaneSupport Champion because her abilities revolve and rely on her allies. She could be a Mid Laner, in conjunction with a very tempo-oriented or Snowballing style Jungler, however she has very little tools in her kit that this would require, namely waveclear, consistent damage abilities and Lane Pressure of her own. On the other hand, just like Karma, O'Rin is designed to forego the traditional Support Items, barring World Atlas and maybe Imperial Mandate, in favor of AP Items as she scale incredibly well with Raw AP and Mage items in general. I foresee her Core build being World Atlas (Zak'Zak's Realmspike) > Imperial Mandate > Rabadan's Deathcap > Banshees's Veil/Cosmic Drive/etc in order to maximize the AP that she can get to turbocharge not only her Butterflies but also her abilities, especially considering that the abilities come with decently long cooldowns.
As to how she support's her Allies, O'Rin provides devastatingly powerful effects at the cost of long Cooldowns and Conditional Activation that relies on her teammates. She is very clearly designed to work in Higher Elos with Higher Skill pilots, however she provides a vast array of tools within her kit. The Butterflies on their own provide True Damage, Nearsighting. Crowd Control Amplification, Executes, %Max Health Burn Damage, Damage Amplification and Healing. Of course you cannot access these effects at the same time, but similar to Viego, participating in a Takedown Chain will allow you to rapidly cycle between effects of your choosing, allowing you to rapidly inflict whatever effects you want while in the middle of combat. In addition, her actual abilities provide Knock backs, Stuns, Heals, Shields, and of course work with her butterflies, creating a very potent Support Champion, at the cost of being incredibly squishy, incredibly complex and incredibly team reliant. More specific detail will be talked about in the Analysis Section below.

Base Stats:

Base Health: 530 + 90/Level
Health Regen: 4.0 + 0.5/Level
Base Mana: 400 +35/Level
Mana Regen: 7 + 0.5/Level
Armor: 30 + 4/Level
Magic Resist: 28+ 2/Level
Base AD: 50
Base AP: 70
Movement Speed: 335
Attack Range: 575

Abilities:

Passive: Butterfly Swarm:
O'Rin has a swarm of 3 Butterflies surrounding her, increasing by 1 when she reached Level 6, 11 and 16. Damaging Abilities and Applying Crowd Control send a Butterfly with a Unique Effect to that enemy. Healing or Shielding an Ally will instead send a Butterfly to them, empowering them to send a Butterfly of their own via the same conditions. Butterflies will stay with Allies for 15 seconds, before returning to O'Rin. If an Ally dies while bonded to a Butterfly, the Butterfly will immediately return to O'Rin.
Enemies can only be affected by a Butterfly' sent from the same Host every 10 seconds, unless Monarch's Ascension is used, Once a Butterfly has applied its' effects, it takes 1-5 Seconds, depending on distance from O'Rin, to return to her, and it cannot be sent to an enemy or ally until it is fed again.
O'Rin's Butterflies apply Unique Effects, depending on what plant O'Rin has fed them. Once all of O'Rin's Butterflies have been sent to an Enemy and returned, they must be fed again for the next 1.5 seconds, during which they are unable to be sent to an Enemy or Ally. O'Rin can choose what plant to feed them, to change what effect they apply:
White Lotus: Butterflies will deal an additional 12.5% Current Health True Damage to their Target
Black Nightshade: Butterflies will Nearsight Enemies and reduce their Movement Speed by 50% for 3 seconds. Additionally, the duration of any Crowd Control Effects applied within this time is amplified by 50%
Green Hemlock: Butterflies will Execute target Enemies if they fall below 7.5% Max Health. This effect will apply up to 1.5 seconds after the Butterfly lands on a target.
Red Wisteria: Butterflies will burn Enemies for 7.5% Max Health Magic Damage over 3 seconds
Blue Jasmine: Butterflies will deal an additional 40 + 20% Bonus AP Magic Damage to the target, and heal O'Rin or the ally which they where bonded to by 150% of the damage dealt.
Additionally, Butterflies will apply O'Rin's On-Hit and On-Damage effects only, however an Ally's Attack or Ability will apply their On-Hit or On-Attack effects like normal, via their own Attack or Ability.
Q: Chrysalis Kunai
Passive: O'Rin can store an amount of charges of this ability equal to the maximum amount of Butterflies she has. She regenerates a charge every 3 seconds. When she runs out of charges, O'Rin must be out of combat for at least 5 seconds before she will start regenerating charges again. Each charge has a 0.5 second, static cooldown between uses.
Enemies hit with 3 Kunai within 3 seconds are Knocked Away from O'Rin. If they hit Terrain, they are stunned for 0.75 Seconds, and a Butterfly is sent to them, if one is available and will apply its' effect, regardless of Butterfly Swarm.
Active: O'Rin throws an enchanted Kunai at a target enemy, dealing 20/30/40/50/60 + 35% Total AP Magic Damage.
Static Cooldown: 0.5 Seconds
Static Mana Cost: 25
W: Nectar of the Ancients
Passive: On Takedown, O'Rin can re-feed her Butterflies.
Active: O'Rin gives a target Ally some of her Sacred Nectar, healing them for 50/60/70/80/90 +40/45/50/55/60% Bonus AP and giving them 25/30/35/40/45% Bonus Movement Speed for the next 2.5/2.75/3/3.25/3.5 Seconds.
Cooldown: 15 Seconds
Mana Cost: 75
E: Flight of Beauty
Passive: While under the effects of Flight of Beauty, Allies cannot receive a Butterfly from O'Rin via Nectar of the Ancients, or Items, unless O'Rin is the target, in which case all of her Butterflies will contribute towards this ability.
Active: O'Rin surrounds herself or an Ally with half of her Butterflies, prioritizing ones that must be fed, granting them a (30/40/50/60 + 15/20/25/30/35% Total AP) per Butterfly, Shield for the next 2.5 Seconds. During this time, if any of the Butterflies can still apply their effects, and O'Rin or her Ally attempts to send a Butterfly to an enemy, then they will leave their Host and the Shield will decrease by the aforementioned amount.
Cooldown: 22/19/16/13/10 Seconds
Mana Cost: 125
R: Monarch's Ascension
Passive: If O'Rin dies while her Butterflies are in a Frenzy, the Butterflies will leave their hosts, and the Frenzy will dissipate.
Active: O'Rin summons all of her Butterflies back, feeds them with a plant of her choosing, puts them into a Frenzy for the next 15 seconds, and then sends her Butterflies to all of her nearby Allies. While in a Frenzy, they gain the following benefit;

• Butterflies can now apply their effects 3 times before they must be fed again
• Butterflies will now travel 2x faster to and from Targets, Allies and O'Rin
• While in a Frenzy, Butterflies will return to their Host instead of O'Rin
• Butterflies from the same Host can affect the same Target every 3 seconds now

Once all Butterflies have calmed down, they return to O'Rin and must be fed once again.
Cooldown: 180/120/60 Seconds
Mana Cost: 100

Lore:

Long Ago, when peace and harmony covered the land, the Spirits walked freely across the Land of Ionia. With them, the Vastaya did as well, romancing the humans and embracing the calm and steady life that Ionia was known for. Each Spirit took the form of an animal native to Ionia, and roamed the land, wholly unknown to the commonfolk and sustaining the Spirit of Ionia itself.
Mirithra, the Spirit of Nature itself, was oft to take the form of a Large, Colourful Butterfly and roamed the land, making sure that the Humans and Vastaya alike kept it proper. Myths and Legends grew from this, describing either a gentle, protective Butterfly that blessed those who came upon it, or a monstrous, cannibalistic flying creature that consumed any and all who dared tread foot on its' land. Nobody knew which story was true, yet all who walked amongst the sleepy forests, along the ivory coasts, up the craggy, granite peaks kept this story in mind. At the same time, others dismissed such things as the story that it was.
Indeed, there where some that took this the other way, and instead of treading carefully, took it upon themselves to hunt and slay this creature, not understanding what it actually was. Most failed, however after the son of a Lord was killed, the Spirit was hunted and slain. The beautiful butterfly that once flew through the forests, was cast into the depths of a dark cave. Its wings broken, its body full of stone and lead, it reverted into a Chrysalis and the Spirit went into a deep hibernation.
Millennia passed, and the tectonic forces of the world eventually revealed the entrance to the cave once more, and this was how O'Rin's ancestors found it. Still in the Golden Age of Ionia, her ancestors nurtured the Chrysalis, for they where stewards of the land instead of defilers of nature. After many years, the Spirit awoke yet again, but this time forsoke its bestial form. The only remnant was an intricate tattoo in the shape of a butterfly, that lain upon the chest of the clan's newborn child. But this was no ordinary marking, for rather it was a blessing by the Spirit upon its' caretakers, that gave them an extended life of eternal youth and the ability to commune with the Spirits themselves.
The ones marked by such a tattoo where elevated to Matriarch or Patriarch of the clan itself, for such powers where a sight to behold, and came with great wisdom and a long, powerful life. Yet for all these gifts, only the first born child of the Blessed could be granted such powers as well, and upon that child's birth, the Blessed would be found dead and a Butterfly would be found amongst the child's cradle. The butterfly would be a lifelong companion of the new Blessed, as they grew and matured both into a caretaker of Ionia and as the head of the clan.
O'Rin was the newest in this line. Just as previous generations had, her mother had died in childbirth, and her father had vanished, and in their place O'Rin was born with the tattoo upon her chest and a venom black butterfly resting upon her cradle. Such an ominous sign was not forgotten by the clan's elders, for this was the first time in history that a Black Butterfly was found with a child. In a quick, panic-driven, fear-induced coup, they cast out O'Rin as the head of the house, throwing her into the deepest, darkest prison within the massive estate.
Located amongst the high peaks of Northern Ionia, within the dense granite, the prison was O'Rin's home for the first part of her life. Yet within the darkness, amongst the cool air, isurrouunded by unyielding stone, the Black Butterfly found its way to O'Rin and just as previous generations, accompanied her as she grew within the the Prison known only as The Well of Despair. Yet instead of despair, O'Rin grew and matured with a sense of defiance. Instead or murderers, rapists and all other sort of criminals, she found instead people who where loyal to the estate rather then the Elders. Unbeknownst to the recent generations, the clan's elders had slowly corrupted and consolodated power to themselves, deposing all who stood in their way, and turning O'Rin's family into a puppet, while they ran the estate for themselves. With the Black Butterfly at her side, these former soldiers, stewards, clerics and advisors raised O'Rin in the ways of her ancestors. Reading by the ghostly candlelight, sh learned of the legends behind her family. Training by the handful of hours fo snlight, she became adept at a multitude of martial arts. Speaking in echoes through the mountains, she learned the Common Languages and the Uncommon languages.
In time, her Vastayan Roots came to fruition as well. From a young age, her skin was mottled and grew into rough scales. Her tongue, grew longer, and eventually split into a fork during her teenage years. Her irises changed from wholly circular to narrow slits, yet her vision became acutely stronger. Through her childhood, such changes where met with awe, and could not be controlled,yet in her teenage years she became adept at changing herself at will. She could disguise her mottled, scales as pale, smooth skin. She coudl shorten and fuse her tongue for a short time. She could rapidly grow out her hair after much exhaustion, to lose it days later.
Soon, her day of reckoning came, for upon her ascent to womanhood, she and her adoptive family escaped from the mountain prison, and set off for her ancestral home. Behind her a massive vanguard followed, made up of all those who who where falsely imprisoned with her, but also the humans and vastaya alike who where downtrodden by the clan's elders. Yet beside her always, was the same Black Butterfly that had been with her since birth.
She and her allies quickly overwhelmed the Elder's soldiers, and she retook her ancestral position back. With great speed and brutal efficiency, she purged the corruption and rot within the estate and instituted people who where not only loyal, but also capable in their place. Nevermore, was anything like this going to happen to her family again, and indeed the estate continued to thrive. Notably, she had her people hide and protect her lands with the strongest magic they knew of. Nestled between a mountain ranges, and amongst sleepy forests, these magiks guaranteed their survival from any potential physical and political invaders.
By in large the estate functioned like normal. Her vassals continued with their life, living in peace and prosperity like all before them, but she instituted a strict return to the stewardship that had been lost generations ago. Her land, while physically hidden, was quite easily accessible, and it became a respite for the Spirits, be they escaping from Human Hunters, or the Azakana that opposed them. Make no mistake, Humans, Vastaya and all in between lived amongst her estate, but only the Spirits could come and go as they pleased.
The heart of this Stewardship, was the Butterfly Shrine, where not only the original Spirit of Nature, Mirithra, permanently lived, but any other Spirit could visit to rest and recover in either their Mortal Form or their Animalistic Form. The Butterfly Shrine was half in the physical realm and half in the Spirit Realm, and was the crown jewel of O'Rin's estate. Humans could come and go, offering prayers and offerings to the Spirits, while the Spirits themsleves could rest, safe from the influence of physical hunters and Azakana alike.
The smoke from prayer incense drifted constantly through the air. Silent prayer took place amongst the Courtyards and Gardens. Food and other offerings where placed at the numerous shrines. The Gardens themselves where tended and amongst the plants, an incomprehensible collection of Butterflies lived with the Spirits. Notably, O'Rin's signature Black Butterfly could always be seen amongst the swarm of rainbow colored insects, for just like her ancestors, O'Rin had the power to commune directly with the Spirits directly within the realm, and served as bridge between worlds, and Mirithra had quickly bonded with her, re-uniting her family line, with the Spirit itself.
It was her duty as the Speaker of the Spirits to commune with them, but it was also her duty as Aegis of the Ancients to protect them as well. Such was the case, when invaders pierced the veil between worlds and began to defile the land with chaotic, dark magic. Yet as quick as they came, they fell quicker still for O'Rin wielded powers that where hitherto unseen. The gardens of the Butterfly Shrine, home to Butterflies and Spirits alike, rose up against the invaders. Thought quite beautiful, the Butterflies where capable of destruction themselves and O'Rin was their caretaker.
In time, she met a handful of outsider, that somehow traversed through the Spirit World and had arrived at the Butterfly Shrine. She knew not how they had survived, nor why they had come, yet all who arrived where clearly strong enough to survive amongst the Spirit Wilds, and respectful of the Spirits themselves to travel amongst them for so long. She met a tall, lithe swordsmen, with a red mask bound to his face, bleeding from many wounds and collapsed upon the forest's floor. She met a Ninja Master and his Apprentice, traveling amongst the Wilds, in search of the Spirits themselves, in search of harmony. She met an armored warrior. and his Acolytes, wielding shadowy, chaotic magic also in search of a Spirit. She offered them a respite, amongst her people and Spirit's alike and it was only their respect of the Spirits that kept them alive. As for keeping the Butterfly Shrine a secret, O'Rin bound all of them with a Blood Oath before they left the refuge, cursing them to hold their tongue lest they immolate in unending Spirit Fire.
In time, she found herself growing older, and with it came new responsibilities. She was of child-bearing age, and Tradition and Fate meant that she was to take a lover and give birth to a new heir, one who would take up the mantle as Speaker of the Spirits and Aegis of the Ancients. Yet O'Rin took care in whom she pursued, for haste was of nigh importance to her. She did eventually take a lover after many years, and many years after that they married, and years after that she found herself heavy with child. By no means, was she her young self that had overthrown the Elders but nor was she an old, demented Lady like the Elders that she had overthrown. Her pregnancy would be long and hard, but she was determined to uphold her duties till the birth of her daughter. In her mind,she knew that her life's end was near upon her, yet she felt a serene sense of happiness, knowing that child would be born into a safe world, accompanied by a Butterfly of their own, and would serve the Spirits as she had, reaping the same benefits she had.

Quotes and Interactions:

Pick Quote: Behold! The Butterfly Swarm takes flight!
Ban Quote: The Swarm will not rest!
Zed: My Butterflies will devour you and your dark magic, Defiler!
Shen: My praises, Spirit Walker. The Spirits themselves bow to you...
Akali: Careful young one! Your blades are Sharp, but my Butterflies are hungry!
Kennen: Where you to visit the Butterfly Shrine, you would achieve the Enlightenment that you so desperately desire...
Syndra: I pity thou. An unjust fate, for a woman whom was destined for greatness...
Karma: Your play at serving the Spirits! My family has served for Millennia!
Yone: The Azakana have been culled, and for that you have my thanks!
Xayah: Your actions are admirable! Mayhaps you would join our Sanctuary?
Rakan: A pity that you are spoken for, but your loyalty is admirable nonetheless!

Inspiration:

I was debating whether to put this above, but I decided to put it here. Apologies in advance to TheHerald for having to read all the way down here in order to see if this qualifies for the competition. This champion qualifies for the competition under the Art of Inspiration. My initial Inspiration was from Vincent van Gogh's Butterfly Series, however the specific Inspiration behind the Butterfly Swarm Theme and the Feeding Mechanic is Long Grass and Butterflies as well as Grass and Butterflies. The paintings are an abstract work where you can interpret the paint as either long grass in a field while blowing in the wind, or Butterflies feeding upon grass in a field. This became the initial inspiration, and of course I took it and ran to create the fundamental mechanics behind O'Rin.

Gameplay Analysis:

Writing a Gameplay Analysis is almost as fun as designing the champions themselves. It allows me to explain how my vision for the Champion and their gameplay, while also allowing me to reflect upon the design process and fix any errors or ambiguities that arise. But anyway, I digress.
O'Rin's main Mechanic is of course the Butterfly Swarm that she manipulates. Just a disclaimer, this is the first time I have ever build a Support Champion, however I think I did a decent job. Initially the effects that the Swarm can apply look to be incredibly strong on their own, in fact when I designed them I thought about what sort of passive would I give to a BruiseHypercarry, ie:

• %Current Health True Damage is very similar to Fiora's passive, and incredibly strong in the hands of a Bruiser or Assassin
• Nearsighted and Crowd Control Amplification are rare enough effects that a Support's entire Passive could be just this and it would be strong.
• Green Hemlock is The Collector's Passive but slightly better, and while you don't necessarily build The Collector for the Execute, and Execute is an Execute. This is incredibly good for Bruisers and/or Marksmen
• Red Wisteria is Burn effect that scales with Max Health. Everyone knows how annoying Brand is, and the ability for multiple people to apply this is similar in that vein. This could very well be a Mage's Passive on its' own.
• Blue Jasmine is a decently strong Damage Modifier, that also heals for a huge portion of the damage dealt. On its' own this could be the passive for a BruiseAssassin

However, these strong effects are gated behind some conditions that neuter O'Rin from spinning out of Control. Namely, that you can only apply these effects from the same "Host" once every 10 seconds, or in the case of her Ultimate, once every 3 seconds. Coordinating these effects would mean having a team that actually knows what O'Rin does and can function around her, which is the second Mechanism that keeps her balanced. O'Rin's intrinsic Butterfly Mechanics rely on your ADC/Team as a whole to understand what they do, and how it affects the rest of the kit. For example, Flight of Beauty is a shielding ability, but it can also be turned into an Offensive Ability at the cost of the Shield itself. The final effect that gates O'Rin, is the fact that all of her Butterflies have the same effect, which means that based on your Gamestate and Team Composition, you may want a different effect. For example, if you have a high octane, early game comp, White Lotus and Blue Jasmine are going to be more valuable compared to Black Nightshade or Red Wisteria. Consequently, if you are facing a heavy BruiseTank/Juggernaut Comp, then Red Wisteria and Green Hemlock will be more valuable. Even if you are skirmishing in 2v2s instead of 5v5s, then Black Nightshade would be more valuable then anything else, because you can lock down and kill the carry int he skirmish fast. What ability to use and spread to your Allies is going to depend on a lot of factors, and having a good team that can capitalize on your decision is also important for O'Rin to function properly
As mentioned, Flight of Beauty and Nectar of the Ancients are the abilities that synergize the best with the overall Butterfly Mechanic. Nectar of the Ancients is a decently strong, scaling heal, but more importantly this is the main way that O'Rin can get a Butterfly onto an Ally. Butterflies will only go to an Ally if O'Rin can heal or Shield them, so she needs one of each type of ability. The Heal itself scales incredibly with AP and also applies a MS Bonus that scales with rank in how long it lasts and how large the bonus is. Truth be told, this is a very powerful ability on its' own, but combine it an the Butterfly Mechanic, and you have an Enchanter that is unquely suited for more aggressive ADCs instead of scaling Hyper Carries. Flight of Beauty is the shielding ability, and uniquely it scale not only with rank, with AP but also with Butterflies. Specifically, the AP Ratio increases with Rank, and because O'Rin intrinsically scales the amount of Butterflies that she has, it also increases the total Shielding AP Ratio that is used.
Then we come to the Coup de Grace of the kit, Monarch's Acension. In essence, t is really simple, because it is a huge stat boost at the end of the day, but it allows O'Rin to make her Buttrflies and in extension her teammates extremely lethal and punishing. First, it automatically allows O'Rin to re-feed her Butterflies, which means that she can change what effect they apply just before or just after a teamfigth starts. From there it provides utility, such as the ability to re-apply effects on the same target every 3 seconds instead of 10, as well as being able to apply said effects 3 times instead of 1 before needing to be fed. This makes her O'Rin absolutely lethal in team fights, as applying something like Black Nightshade or White Lotus on a significantly lower cooldown and with the ability to do it multiple times means that unless O'Rin is dealt with immediately or before a fight, it will be very hard to combat, given the sheer amount of stats and effects that she allows her team to apply. However, killing O'Rin will dissipate the swarm, and therefore if you can kill her early in the fight, then the combat pressure she applies will also be gone
The main point behind having such High AP Ratios that scale as hard as they do was to incentivize O'Rin to not build Support Items, but rather AP/Mage Items. All of her abilities scale incredibly hard with AP, and this is because I wanted to push her towards a more Karma-esque build path. My intended, or rather predicted build path would be a World Atlas (into Zak'Zak's Realmspike) into a Blackfiretorch, followed by an Imperial Mandateand finished by a Rabadan's Deathcap. This gives the Mana and Raw AP, which O'Rin desperately needs/wants to turbo charge her abilities, whilst till providing some form of Support Utility. Namely, Imperial Mandate is arguably the best Support Item in the game, and O'Rin perfectly synergies with it, given her poke with Chrysalis Kunai and the Crowd Control Effects on Black Nightshade. Dipping into Imperial Mandate reduces the total amount of AP you can get in 3 items, which realistically Supports most commonly hit only 3 items or so, but the Coordinated Fire effect synergizes too much with the kit to not dip into it. Blackfire Torch gives her the Mana she needs, and also AP, but more importantly the Burn from BFT will spread via her Butterflies that deal damage. This means that with the help of her Allies, she can very quickly spread the Burn to many enemies, which in turn amplifies her AP temporarily, which in turn amplifies her Healing and Shielding. Rabadan's Deathcap is a must for any AP Centric Build, so that is why its the Capstone of this build.
Rune Wise, I actually think that O'Rin would take Unsealed Spellbook more then any other Keystone Rune. She is unique in that she does not really benefit from any other runes specifically, as the entire kit is really around enabling her teammates, but on the flip side, the traditional support runes really do not feel like they would fit either. Summon Aery would be the other potential Keystone Rune, but at the same time O'Rin actually benefits from being able to cycle her Summoner Spells because it would give her the flexibility she needs in order to survive or switch gears to help her teammates. Beyond that, I catered her Base Stats to be very Mana Hungry, so going Inspiration Primary with Boots + Biscuits > Sorcery Secondary with Mana Runes would probably be her most optimal Rune page.
Finally, in terms of weakness, O'Rin is designed to be incredibly squishy and immobile. Her Cooldowns are pretty long, and her envisioned build path has little little CDR. As well, her abilities are impactful when used offensively or on other people, so not wasting it on herself and using it on the proper target is important. Additionally, her high dependence on AP means that she is goign to be buying the most expensive item in the game, being Rabadan's Deathcap, which not only has a terrible buildpath but is coming off the income of a Support. In total, O'Rin really wants to play aggressively and snowball her lane matchups, while simultaneously being incredibly squishy and immobile. As well, she wants to be paired up with an aggressive ADC, which means that she will often be putting herself in danger, but if she can be piloted correctly, she can take over games on her own, given how strong her Butterflies are and how fasts he scales with AP.

It started as just another frustrating day for Ramona Diaz. The 38-year-old low-level city councilwoman was stuck in a seemingly endless DMV line, trying to get her license renewed before the lunch rush. After two hours of waiting, the fluorescent lights and droning announcements over the loudspeaker had already sapped her patience.
When she finally reached the counter, the clerk curtly informed her that she was missing a vital piece of documentation and would have to reschedule her appointment. A red haze of anger clouded Ramona's vision as she felt all the built-up stress and futility boiling over.
"You've got to be kidding me!" she erupted, slamming her palms on the counter. "I've been waiting here for two freaking hours!"
The clerk shrank back, eyes widening in surprise at the outburst. But Ramona was just getting started, sick of having to bottle up her authentic self for public consumption.
She let years of repressed frustration and impotent rage pour out in a torrent of profanity-laced tirades as she swiped everything off the clerk's desk, sending documents and office supplies clattering to the floor. She forget what it means to not think before act ever since people watched her all the time. By the time the stunned security guards managed to restrain her, she had already vented her fury on the office's antiquated computer terminals, leaving them in pieces amidst the detritus.
As the handcuffs clicked on, the viral footage was already spreading across LivePol - the 24/7 politicians livestreaming platform that had revolutionized American politics over the past few decades. For the first time, Ramona's unvarnished self was on full display for the nation to witness.
That evening, her husband Peter bailed her out, the viral DMV meltdown footage already making the rounds. LivePol almost crashed, since it was the first time in decades since some politician did something that didn’t alighted with the consultants advices. Ramona was distraught, feeling deeply ashamed at her loss of control, and by the time she returned home, all her advisers resigned.
"I don't know what came over me, Pete. I totally embarrassed myself... my career is done." Peter didn’t know what to say. They couldn’t sleep, barely talked all night. Just laid in bed, while the phones rang.
Over the next few weeks, however, her popularity soared as the bemused public developed a strange fascination with the foul-mouthed, unrestrained version of Ramona they saw on their LivePol feeds. Here was a politician being brazenly, almost obscenely authentic - ranting about mobile games being stupid freemium cash grabs, or berating a barista who spelled her name wrong, or tearing apart fast food employees over getting her order incorrect.
At first it was shocking, even disturbing to see a Woman of State having such vulgar public meltdowns over trivial matters. But soon the Diaz RageCam became strangely compelling viewing for millions seeking an outlet for their own pent-up frustrations with modern life. Suddenly, across the nation, it was cool to "pull a Ramona" and vent with gale-force fury over the smallest inconveniences.
Something shifted in Ramona. The raw, honest responses across the internet praising her for "keeping it real" and "telling it like it is" started eating away at her remorse.
Maybe this unfiltered persona could be... empowering? Revolutionary, even? The idea fermented as she witnessed her popularity numbers climbing. Within a week, the decision crystallized - she would fully lean into this new identity.
What followed was a spree of increasingly unhinged public spectacles, each one meticulously captured on her feed as the "RageCam" phenomenon took off. There was the tirade against a barista who mixed up her order name ("It's fking Ra-moan-a, not Ramonica, you utter waste of zygotes!"). The on-camera beef with a self-checkout machine at a grocery store after it failed to scan several items ("You whiny little bch machine, not doing the payroll taxes you should be doing!"). Ramona's freakouts became mandatory watching for millions seeking catharsis.
Per longstanding tradition, politicians' homes and families were meant to be off-limits from public livestreaming to allow some privacy. But Ramona herself obliterated that norm during an explosive argument with Peter over household chores.
"I'm the lifeblood keeping this sad household running while you're out chasing corporate eunuch bucks!" she raged, hurling a lamp across the room that shattered against the wall. "So why don't you shut your domesticated pie-hole and show some f**king appreciation?"
Within a month of her DMV meltdown, Ramona had fully committed to leaning into her new uninhibited "RageCam" persona to Peter's dismay. Her unfiltered tirades were picking up momentum, much to her husband's increasing discomfort.
It all came to a head one evening when Ramona returned home from another day of profanity-laced rants making the social media rounds - this time angrily berating an innocent grocery bagger over a crumpled cereal box.
"Are you actually doubling down on this unhinged act?" Peter said, his voice a mixture of weariness and pleading as she stormed into the kitchen. "This isn't who you really are, babe."
Ramona whirled on him, eyes blazing. "And what, this docile Stepford wife thing is the 'real me' you want? Just keeping my mouth zipped and playing the pretty little politician's arm candy?"
"That's not what I'm saying at all," Peter said, struggling to keep his tone measured. "But there's a line between authentic passion and... this. The madness I'm seeing streaming out there isn't you."
"You're damn right it's me!" she shot back, jabbing a finger at his chest. "The real, unflinching, uncompromising me that you've never had the courage to accept! This is a woman who refuses to bottle up her justifiable anger and discontent anymore."
Peter put his hands on her shoulders beseechingly. "I've always supported you expressing yourself, babe. But this constant rage-spewing and adolescent hostility? It's self-destructive and so beneath you as a person."
Ramona shrugged off his hands in disgust. "There you go again, telling me how to act and what to think! Just like every other insecure man who can't handle a strong woman threatening his frail ego."
"I'm trying to be your partner here!" Peter retorted, his own temper finally starting to fray. "But how can I when you've decided to fully buy into this repellant, unrecognizable character?"
"Maybe I'm just finally showing the guts to embrace my most authentic self without apology!" she shouted back. "Not the demure little facade you want me trapped performing out of some 1950s housewife fantasy."
Peter sighed, shaking his head as he ran his hands through his hair agitatedly. "This... this isn't you being 'authentic,' Ramona. It's you being needlessly cruel and vulgar for a twisted likability game that's only going to leave you empty and alone."
She laughed bitterly at that. "You smug, insecure prick. You're just threatened by a woman who won't be controlled or shamed into compliant mildness anymore."
"This has nothing to do with control!" he insisted, his voice rising urgently as their kids poked their heads in, concerned. "It's about being a decent role model for our children... for acting with even an ounce of the integrity and respectability your office deserves!"
Ramona glared at him, fists clenched as the depths of their divide became clear. Something almost snapped in her at that moment. To see her husband so desperately looking for the woman he loved, watch her kids looking at her like she was insane, like she was a monster. But the crowds, the liberation, the phenomenon she became. Even if it wasn’t too late, could she really make a conscious choice to let it all go? To go back?
Alas, Ramona's withering look said it all. She was all in on her new persona, regardless of whether it ultimately brought positive change or merely a fleeting sugar rush of angsty infamy. A battle line over identity and integrity had been drawn, with no signs of resolution ahead.
As Peter moved out with the kids, too shaken to continue together, Ramona's unbound furor only stoked her diehard supporters' zeal. They cheered her on as the ultimate truth-teller bucking the stifling politically correct norms. With each colossal public meltdown or vulgar slight against decorum, her grassroots grew stronger.
In the final weeks before Election Day, any facades of substantive policy messaging were abandoned in favor of pure, visceral emotional pleasure for Ramona's base. When an elder community activist attempted asking about climate proposals at a town hall, he was quickly cut off. But while her two main opponents still in the lead, Ramona had to do something radical. Something decisive, that would swing the tides. That opportunity arrived, at the last hearing of her trial.
It went well at first. She could have walked it off easily if not for her remarks about the judge and the verdict along the way. But as the judge declared her weak punishment - two weeks of community service and no more, the usual punishment for public representatives for damaging property in the years before the American public executed his right for revolution and the foundation of the LivePol system - Ramona took her chance. She glared at the judge and knocked over stacks of legal books and papers, throwing some toward the judge and verdicts.
“This whole damn court system is rigged from top to bottom!” Ramona said. “It's all a big act, a fake show to make you sheep think there's justice when really it's all been bought and paid for by the elite scumbags running things behind the scenes!”
She chucked a metal trashcan towards the bench, clanging loudly.
“You lords and masters in your little robes and costumes think you're so high and mighty, looking down on the regular people from your ivory towers! But we're onto your racket now. This so-called ‘justice’ you peddle is nothing but a corporate-controlled sham to cement the establishment's iron grip!”
A wooden gavel went sailing past the judge's head.
“I've seen how the system works firsthand - grinding down the little guy while your banker overlords and Big Business cronies get away with their dirty bullshit scot-free. Anyone dares to call out the status quo gets squashed under the state's boot like a bug!”
She started grabbing random objects like purses and briefcases from the gallery and heaving them towards the bench.
“This court is a disgusting farce, just another money-grubbing tentacle of the all-powerful deep state machine! You parasites in your cheap Halloween costumes pull the strings however your globalist puppet masters order to keep the unwashed masses in line!
Your robes and phony-baloney ‘rule of law’ are nothing but a wizard's curtain to hide how you elite filth are looting and pillaging this country into the ground! Well, I'm ripping away that curtain and baring your tyranny for all to see!”
Finally, she chucked the courtroom's recording device towards the judge, smashing it into the bench as she raged on.
“So go ahead and convict me, you corrupt establishment stooges! Throw me in chains if it helps you sleep at night knowing you're protecting your soulless, greedy overlords! Because I'll never stop screaming the truth from the rooftops about how rotten and rigged your entire decrepit system is against the real people of this country!
I'm the unshackled voice you sadistic bootlickers want to destroy! The unstoppable flame of righteous patriotic fury that's going to burn down your entire demonic deep state cabal and corruption empire to the ground! Try and stop me, you have-nots!”
She glared defiantly, surrounded by the debris and chaos she had created in the courtroom as the judge looked on in disbelief, blood trickling from her forehead.
The raucous cheers that erupted said it all - for her supporters, drunk on the adrenaline of watching public decency torched, facts and figures were irrelevant. Only the sick thrills of watching hot-headed id run rampant mattered now.
On Election Day, Ramona won by a landslide. The nation had spoken, choosing visceral gratification and a release from societal constraints over sober governance and moral leadership. But with her victory came a price.
As the cell door clanged shut, Ramona stood alone in the dim, cold confines of her prison cell. Her family was gone, too shaken and hurt to stand by her side. The walls echoed with her isolation, the reality of her choices pressing down on her.
But outside, the raging crowds still chanted her name. They had elected her even as she faced charges of disorderly conduct and contempt of court, maybe even because of it. To them, she was the embodiment of common American citizen, a symbol of a real leader, someone just like them, someone they’d laugh with, or laugh on.
As the inauguration ceremony approached, a small group of loyal supporters gathered outside the prison gates. Ramona, clad in her orange jumpsuit, was brought to a makeshift podium set up in the prison yard. Cameras flashed, capturing the surreal moment as she prepared to take the oath of office.
Peter sat alone in his dimly lit living room, the flickering glow of the television casting shadows on the walls. On the screen, Ramona stood in the prison yard, a solitary figure against the stark, cold backdrop. The woman he had once known seemed a distant memory, replaced by someone driven by a relentless, unrecognizable fury.
He watched as the warden stepped forward with a Bible. The scene felt surreal, almost grotesque in its juxtaposition of solemnity and spectacle. Peter’s heart ached with a mix of sorrow and disbelief. This was the culmination of a journey that had spiraled far beyond reason.
“Do you, Ramona Diaz, solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to serve the people with integrity, and to discharge your duties faithfully?”
“I do,” Ramona’s voice echoed, steady and firm, yet hollow.
The crowd outside the prison gates roared in approval, their faces alight with an unsettling fervor. To them, this moment was a triumph, a thrilling culmination of their desire for unfiltered emotion and defiance against the establishment. Peter saw it differently—a grim reflection of a society that had chosen chaos over coherence, spectacle over substance.
As the camera panned over the cheering supporters, Peter felt a profound disconnect. The country seemed to revel in the madness, drawn to the raw, unbridled spectacle that Ramona embodied. In their eyes, she was a beacon of rebellion, but to Peter, it was clear that the cost was far greater than they realized.
He turned off the TV, the applause and chants still echoing in his mind. Ramona’s image lingered, a haunting symbol of a nation that had forsaken stability for the rush of discord. Alone in the silence of his home, Peter understood that this was not just Ramona’s descent, but the nation’s as well. Spiraling into a future where spectacle reigned supreme and substance was a relic of the past, just to get a cheap thrills, something to joke about, and to see their basic selves in office.

NOTE: As much as I am forever grateful for the amount of resources available, and y'all for providing them, please do not comment unless you are actually interested in collaborating on the project. Thank you so much!
TRIGGER WARNING: This show contains strong language and depicts graphic murder, parental death, as well as the death of a young child. Please be advised before taking on the project if you are comfortable with that subject matter.
LOGLINE: After her parents died in a car accident when she was a baby, a young woman has been raised in a mental institution, unawares of her true family, until the day an older lady shows up at the institution's door, claiming to be her older biological sister...but what none of them know is that she's a serial killer.
This is a musical I originally came up with the idea with about a year ago now, after having to do some research about mental institutions for a research paper of mine. The story of how I came up with the show itself is rather weird, in my opinion. Ever seen those "you wouldn't last a day in the asylum where they raised me" posts on social media?
My brain thought it'd be a good idea to make that quite literal.
Sorry, the logline is quite vague, that's my apologies. The show takes place in post-WW2 (the year in my head is 1947/1948) deep American South, say Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. The setting and time period are left vague in the script anyways.
The main character, Helen, as the logline says, has been raised in a mental institution since she was a baby. This show is NOT supposed to be realistic in that regard. Everything else? Relatively, yes. We all know that someone would've long called CPS or the police if they saw a baby on the side of the road next to two dead bodies. The town the institute is in is quite small, and I've always phrased it in my head as "suspend reality for just one moment and nobody happened to see her except the one nurse who knew there were no homes for miles around". Just keep that in mind.
Helen is raised in this institute by a rather strict and seemingly uncaring nurse named Dolores, and it's hinted at throughout the show that Dolores only took in Helen out of moral/legal obligation (can't leave the baby to die). Despite this, the two do respect each other, but it's not exactly a mothedaughter relationship. The one who actually really loves her is Edgar, who's the head of the institute (only by bribing his way in and blackmailing half of the board of directors). They're more of a fathedaughter type.
And then there's Edgar's adoptive son, William. His mom was a drug addict and died by ODing, so he was taken in at a young age, much like Helen. Him and Helen have a very close platonic relationship, but it never veers into romantic territory (Helen is heavily implied to be aro/ace, though I'm not totally sure about this)....as William is gay. And this is the 1940s. There's a song in the show that reveals the whole schpeel behind that, but basically he has a boyfriend named Richard he's been sneaking out to meet for the past two years, and nobody beside Dolores knows (him and Dolores have a more familial relationship).
All of this to say, this all sets up for the inciting incident of the story, when Arabella steps in the picture. She appears to be your classic 1940s/50s housewife, nothing off about her in the slightest, rather bubbly, etc. But of course...she's a serial killer who killed her past 5 fiancés. Were the fiancés abusive (as well as her current playboy husband, Michael)? Yes. Was she abusive? Also yes. Nearly everyone in the show is morally grey, but she is not someone the audience is intended to root for, namely also because she's abusive towards her two children, quiet supergenius Alan (who later dies) and bratty albeit somewhat good intentioned Marie.
The whole show from there is Helen trying to get out of this situation (aka: don't end up dead) but the dilemma is she both sees Arabella is a bad person and yet she wants her to change so damn badly, even though she knows, deep down, she can't. It's very much reminiscent of Stockholm Syndrome, except in a more familial and not "romantic" way (do note: this show is inspired by the Gothic aesthetic and not by the concept of Gothic itself). She plunges herself way too far into it, and it ends up with Alan, William, Edgar, and Michael all dead by the end of the show.
After all...is anybody entirely good? And is being entirely "good" a good thing?
That's my ramble, lol. Like I said, I originally came up with the idea around a year ago, but kind of took a hiatus 6 months ago only to pick it up again around 2 months ago. I always reach out to actors for a project while I'm still writing the show, just to see if it's viable conceptually and if anyone would be interested. I actually had Teagan Early, Athena in EPIC: The Musical, slated to play Arabella, and 3-4 others slated who had been on Broadway (in ensemble, swing, or supporting role capacities, nobody famous). Unfortunately, due to scheduling and personal emergencies, they all fell through.
So here I am, back at the drawing board.
This one, overall, is somewhere in the middle between "idea" and "rehearsal-ready". I have an outline, and I have 7-8 of the songs out of 20 written, but I'm still in the first 10 pages of the libretto and don't have a score for it yet. I am a librettist/lyricist, I am vocally trained, not instrumentally, haha. I'm primarily looking for a composer, but if someone here is a composer AND a librettist and would want to do the majority of the book, then by all means.
I'm thinking a heavy classical sound for the show: piano, violin, but maybe a little sax and trombone, depending on the number. The style of the songs for the show is both somber and doomed hopeful, I'd say it's a pretty even mix between upbeat songs and more slower, contemplative (I don't want to say ballads). Helen I'm envisioning a little more faster piano, violin, while Arabella is full blown jazz, William is a slower piano and sax, while Dolores is an upbeat mix of both, among others. This is all subject to change, and you'd have a LOT of creative freedom. This is just how I originally envisioned it.
Some logistical things. I'm based just south of LA, in the Pacific Standard Timezone (GMT - 8:00; so for example, right now, it's almost 11:30 AM here). I'm open to collaborations in timezones of all sorts though!
I will say I'd like a collaborator that is active, but also "slow and steady wins the race". I'm working on three other projects in varying states of development right now, and I'm sure y'all are working on stuff too, so my goal would be to get this produced end of next year, beginning of 2026. And when I mean produced, I mean full workshop, up on its feet. I'm totally down for hosting smaller staged readings for feedback beforehand. So if you're someone who a): ghosts and b): likes to go quickly, DNI. Sorry!
Dear god...I just legit rambled, lol. If interested, please DM me! I'll send you the planning document I've been using for the show then, and we can get started. Have a great day, y'all!

It was like Amazon. For boyfriend's.
According to his bio, Cam was a cat person.
His favorite food was sushi, and he loved horror movies.
His profile was cute. Cam’s photo looked professionally taken. He was a guy in his mid twenties with a slight curl in his lip that teased the start of a smile. Maybe a little on the pretentious side with the Sherlock style trench coat, though his eyes were what pulled me in.
I don't think I had ever seen that shade of blue.
Like staring directly into a perfect, crystalline blue sky.
Not quite natural, but too beautiful to ignore.
Cam was perfect.
Now, I didn't really think this Hire-a-boyfriend thing through.
I found the app through a link my friend Hannah sent me.
After just getting out of a pretty toxic relationship, finding someone to just hang out with was more comforting than dwelling on a relationship I have trouble even remembering. I don't think I can describe loving someone I don't remember. I have zero memories of him, only a vague sense that I was drowning.
That I had to run, to get away from him.
His face inside my mind is more of an outline, a shadow I can't make out. My therapist said it was PTSD, my mind’s way of dealing with trauma. I don't know the details, but I woke up in the emergency room with stitches in the back of my head.
Hanna was straight forward in her text.
She told me Hire-a-Boyfriend pulled her out of depression.
I was sceptical, though the app looked legit.
Like I said, it was Amazon. For boyfriend's.
The interface was cute.
When I signed in through my apple account, the app required a questionnaire after registering.
They asked details such as my likes, hobbies, and who and what I was in the mood for.
The Boyfriend™️ was a bestseller.
I found Cam on the feature page. His reviews were sparkling.
I hired Cam for a wedding! He was amazing! So polite, I wish he was my real bf :( - Lissa.
“Watched a movie with Cam, and he talked all the way through it. Not in a bad way lol, the movie was terrible. This guy was hot. I fully recommend”! - Ryan.
”Hire a bf is amazing lmao, my friends actually thought we were dating. The plastic thing ruins it tho. 😭” - Mina.
Scrolling down, there were even Husbands™️.
Husbands were more expensive, and could be hired for up to three days.
The Boyfriend™️, however, was only available for 2 hours up to a full night.
The app intrigued me.
I thought it was a joke, but could I really hire a pretend boyfriend?
Before I knew what was happening, I was on my second glass of wine, and my credit card was definitely in my hand, squeezed between my fingers.
In the back of my mind, hiring a boyfriend was a whole other level of dystopia.
However, I was still lying to college friends about being taken. Even worse, I blabbed I was fucking engaged at twenty three. This was definitely a me problem. My initial plan was to close down the app and install Tinder.
But my credit card was feeling heavy in my hand, the corner spiking my palm.
Cam was 50 bucks for half a day with him.
50 bucks I would otherwise spend on Uber Eats or over-expensive makeup.
Tapping on Cam, my hands were shaking. I was halfway through the hiring process that was settling on a day, a time, and a location, when a discounted Boyfriend™️ popped up.
Roman.
23.
Leaving soon!!!
Roman had two reviews, which was just a string of heart emojis and another that was hidden. I did see the start of it, but I wouldn't let me tap read more.
Hey! Isn't this… [REVIEW HIDDEN]
The guy’s lack of bio was slightly off-putting. No likes or hobbies, not even a favorite TV show. Roman’s photo stood out, however. Dark hair that was the perfect kind of messy, freckles, and a far-away look, half lidded eyes not even meeting the camera.
He looked like a daydreamer.
It made sense why this guy was on a discount. He didn't smile in one photo, and not even the teasing smirk I was used to with the others. His available photos were him standing awkwardly, arms crossed across his chest, as if he didn't know where to put them.
But, like Cam, this Boyfriend was flawless.
Not a hair out of place, and if it was, that was the style.
Each guy had a color scheme, and his color was chestnut.
His description caught my eye.
Perfect caramel coloured curls and eyes like melted chocolate. Roman is our favorite ‘Fall’ guy! An enemy to a lover in three (yes, three!) dates!
I had to agree. This guy embodied Fall itself, every outfit in deep oranges and browns that reminded me of crisp autumnal mornings. I think they were trying to sell college guy with him holding a book, and looking uncomfortable wearing a pair of glasses. His last photo was a full zoom in, capturing flawless skin and tawny eyes swirling with flecks of red.
Out of all of the guys I had scrolled through, this was the only guy who looked like he had personality.
Cam was cute, yes. But Cam reminded me of a mannequin. He was too perfect.
Roman’s perfection was human enough for him to feel real. Cam was a Ken doll wearing the exact same grin that people knew would sell. Roman was scowling, standing slightly tilted to the left, his hands in his pockets, and then squeezed into fists, before settling over his chest.
I could practically hear the impatient voice behind the camera.
Why are you scowling? Smile! Do you know how to smile?!”
“Eyes on the camera! Look awake! You're supposed to look appealing, why do you look half asleep?!”*
He made me wonder what the BTS behind Hire A Boyfriend was.
Cam was marketed as true love, while Roman was the guy next door who drives you insane, but is also kind of hot.
Were these guys strapped for cash and selling themselves out?
Was this all an act, or were they based on their real personalities?
Either way, I was sold.
Tapping hire, I chose our date to be in the city park at 3PM.
The app asked me if I had any special preferences, and I hesitated.
“Call me a donut.” I typed. If this thing was legit, this poor guy has a script.
I was nervous to meet him. After class in the afternoon, I headed to the park. It was raining, so already the date was going great. The receipt I received in my emails had the exact location, a green bench next to the water fountain.
I was five minutes early, already regretting my spontaneous, wine induced decision making.
Scrolling through my phone with clammy fingers, I was trying to cancel, when the bench wobbled next to me.
Roman.
Dressed in his usual autumnal wear, a levi’s jacket with jeans and a beanie, he looked exactly like his profile, already scowling at the ground, that exact same faraway look in his eyes.
My Boyfriend™️ was purposely distancing himself, sliding further away from me. After getting mildly offended, I remembered his standoff attitude and perma-scowl was his selling point.
The refusal to smile and inability to compliment me.
Enemy to a Lover.
He was acting.
“Hi.” His voice was a low mumble. Still refusing to look at me, he tipped his head back and blinked at the tree looming over us. “It's, um, Jane, right?”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “Hi.”
I watched his gaze wander, lingering on a butterfly. He folded his arms, pursing his lips. I had no idea what he was trying to say, before he let out a groan.
“I'm not calling you a fucking donut.”
Ooh, this guy was really getting into the role.
I liked it, playing along.
“It's fine,” I said with a laugh, “It was a stupid request.”
Roman met my eye, his lip curling. He wasn't laughing. “Yeah. It was.”
This guy was a pro.
I thought I'd made a mistake. Especially when my ‘boyfriend’ refused to walk by my side, stalking behind me instead.
He took me to a restaurant and bought me the cheapest option, indulging in the delicacy menu himself, and spent an hour ranting about birds not being real.
I started to realize why this guy was on discount. He was a fucking weirdo.
Still, though, everything about him was endearing.
The way his gaze wandered when I was speaking, like I could physically see his mind jetting off to Saturn.
Roman played with his hair a lot, twirling a single strand around his index. He ate his pasta like a psychopath, using a spoon instead of a fork, and spoke with his mouth full, spaghetti sauce running down his chin.
He (unintentionally) made me laugh out loud multiple times.
When we left the restaurant, Roman surprised me by slipping his hand in mine, entangling our fingers.
His gesture was unexpectedly warm.
When we parted ways, he had the slightest curve of a smile hinting that he was getting a little closer to me.
That’s how Hire a Boyfriend lured you in.
Their guys were like video game characters. I had to pay more to build them.
And that is what I did.
My friend was an artist, and invited me and my ‘boyfriend’ to her exhibition.
I hired Roman for the exhibition, but halfway through the date, he leaned his head on my shoulder, grasping tighter to my hand. He didn't get any less weirder, officially freaking out my friend with the birds aren't real theory. Eve was more amused than scared, immediately asking for his socials.
Roman said he didn't know what a social was, and she laughed harder.
“Your boyfriend is amazing,” Eve told me over drinks, “Isn't he like, literally perfect?”
Yes, he was.
But he wasn't mine.
I started hiring Roman every week, and the more I got to know him, I fell hard.
Every week turned to every day. I was obsessed with unlocking his true character and personality. Each time I hired him, Roman would get less standoffish, his barriers coming down.
He started to lean into me, squeezing my hand, kissing my shoulder.
Cash didn't matter to me, I was barely emotionally conscious when I was entering my card details. Just like the app said, Roman did get closer to me.
Fast forward four months, and I was sitting on a park bench with his head sandwiched in my shoulder, cherry blossoms blooming above us. It felt real.
He felt real.
I can't describe my feelings, because I don't even understand them.
He was the first man I remember truly falling in love with.
When he kissed me, I stopped seeing him as a Boyfriend™️.
Roman was like no other guy I’d ever met. Before him, I couldn't remember having a clear mind. After him, everything made sense. My friends loved him, and I had slowly deluded myself into believing he was real. His true personality was friendly, a little clumsy but in an endearing way, and he made me laugh. The park was our place, and I enjoyed dozing in the sun with his face pressed into my shoulder.
There was just one problem.
Roman was still a Boyfriend™️ which meant he was off limits. The plastic tag sticking out of his right temple assured that. If that wasn't enough, the app sent me hourly reminders, warning me to not get too close. I did understand, it was for the guy’s privacy and safety.
But it's not like Roman wasn't being affectionate himself.
The app said zero touching, including kissing, sexual intercourse. He kissed me multiple times, his head correctly leaning into mine. I still wasn't sure if he was part of his obligation as a Boyfriend, but it was clear this guy was slowly steering away from the rules.
I couldn't resist prodding the tag. “Does this not bother you?”
Roman shrugged, pulling his legs to his chest. “Not really. I like the smell of it.”
“Smell?”
Rowan held out a hand with a small smile, catching cherry blossom on his palm. “Yeah. Doesn't it smell good?”
He was talking about the cherry blossom.
Something about the way he immediately dismissed the tag put a sour taste in my mouth.
“No, the thing sticking out of your head,” I said with a nervous laugh.
Roman blinked, his lips breaking out into a smile. “I'm glad we both like it.”
Maybe he wasn't allowed to acknowledge the tag.
Ignoring my twisting gut, I focused on the sunset instead, blurred reds and oranges streaked across a twilight sky.
It was slowly starting to sink in that Roman was not mine.
“I love you,” he said in a low murmur.
Something warm dampened the sleeve of my shirt.
Was he crying?
For a moment, my words were tangled in my throat.
“I think I love you too.” I said, my cheeks heating up.
“Mm.” he sighed, and I was trying to ignore how wet my sleeve was getting. “I told you I would come back,” he snuggled into my shoulder, and that wetness was dripping down the bare skin of my arm. When he nestled his face in my neck, I smelled it, a tangy, metallic scent tickling the back of my nose.
Blood.
Twisting my head, my right sleeve was drenched with startling red.
My neck felt sticky, blood smearing my shoulder blade.
Roman was bleeding. I thought it was a nosebleed when I glimpsed his nose and lips and chin dripping red, but it was leaking from his ears too, rivulets of blood seeping from him, while the guy himself didn't move, still smiling, his head leaning on my shoulder. When my body remembered how to move, I jerked away with a shriek, but Roman stayed in the same position, his head tilted.
“I came back for you,” a wide smile spread across his lips, blood dribbling down his chin. “And our baby.”
I didn't respond, pulling out my phone to call an ambulance.
“Are you happy I came back?” he whispered. I was transfixed by the blood running down his face. His head jolted suddenly, his smile dampening, before curving into a frown. The man's eyes were suddenly so sad, wandering, like he was searching for something.
Someone.
“I changed my m-mind,” Roman’s head jerked again, drool slipping down his chin. “I w-want to be a dad, Sara.”
Roman’s words jolted something inside me, a shiver slipping down my spine.
I dropped my phone, using my sleeves to stop the bleeding. Grabbing his face, I forced him to look at me. “Hey. Look at me.” The bleeding was letting up a little. But it was his eyes that held me in a trance. I fell in love with beautiful, almost unnatural brown. What I was seeing was green, a smear of lime slowly seeping into that tawny oblivion.
“Roman.” I said, louder. “Who is Sara?”
His expression crumpled, like he was crying, a whole new personality taking over.
But he wasn't looking at me.
Roman was looking right through me.
“I love you,” his voice broke, “But I also love him. I'm not ready for a baby! I'm twenty three! What twenty three year old wants to settle down with a little brat?” His eyes widened, expression softening. “I didn't…I didn't mean that.”
I was talking to a memory.
“I love both of you. And I want to… I want to make a family with both of you,” he shook his head. “But not now, Sara.”
Sara.
There was that name again.
“Sara.” I said. “Can you tell me who that is?”
The man's gaze snapped to me. “Sara,” he whispered. “She's my girl…” his head jerked again, this time violently.
“Girl… friend?”
Roman frowned. “She's my girlfriend,” he mumbled. “I was going to go… back. But I… I couldn't… find her…”
His hands dropped limply to his sides.
“I looked for her. But they… grabbed me.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “They took me… away.”
When his whole body shuddered, eyes rolling back, I couldn't help myself, reaching forward with trembling hands and plucking the piece of plastic from his temple. It was like pulling a tag out of a toy. But it kept going, a long plastic thing feeding directly into his head.
It was like pulling a tag out of a toy.
This thing was a long coil of wire stained red, a metallic plate attached to the end.
Biting back a shriek, I dropped the tag, my fingers slick crimson.
This thing was embedded, fed, directly into this guy’s head.
Like a switch had been pulled, Roman’s arms fell to his sides. “Sara.” he said through a mouthful of red. “She's my… she's m-my…” he trailed off and blinked slowly. His gaze found my hand, where I was gingerly stroking his temple. Roman jumped up suddenly, his eyes frenzied, awake, like a startled animal. “What the fuck?” he shuffled away like I was contagious, diving to unsteady feet.
So, this was Roman.
“Who are you?” he swiped at his bloody chin. “Where's Sara?”
When I couldn't reply, his fingers gingerly stroked at his right temple.
“Fuck.” Roman let out a sharp breath. “You actually got that thing out.”
I was shaking, still holding it between my fingers.
This thing was warm, thrumming, like it was alive.
“And what is it?” I managed to get out. “That thing was inside your head!”
Roman curled his lip, his gaze wandering the park.
“Where's the exit?”
“What?!”
He grabbed me, harshly this time, pulling me to my feet. I was still trying to mentally register the tag feeding into his brain. This guy was not the man I hired, violently pulling me to his side when I could barely stand. His eyes were fierce, hollow, a whole other person taking over him. He was the shadow that had been pushed down, a suppressed memory who was awake.
And pissed.
“We need to get out of here right fucking now,” he said in a hiss. His fingernails stabbing into my skin hurt, but the pain was enough to snap me into fruition.
“That app.” I said. “What is it?”
Roman’s eyes darkened. “It's a factory,” he tightened his grip around my wrist.
“Can you help me find my girlfriend? I'll tell you everything, but we need–”
“Miss Doe, am I correct?”
The sudden voice caught me off guard.
Roman looked confused, his gaze flicking behind me.
Fuck. His lips formed the word and he stumbled back, his hand slipping from mine. Behind us, an outline of a woman slowly bled into the shadows.
“You.” Roman’s lips parted in a silent cry. He shook his head, clawing at his hair. The guy let out a spluttered sob, a thin line of blood escaping his nose.
“You're the bitch who did this to me.”
The outline inclined her head. “I know you have the memory of a goldfish, dear boy, but if I remember correctly, you were recommended to us. I even have your consent if you require proof.”
His eyes were wide. Terrified.
“You make us sign it! We don't have a fucking choice!”
“That's a rule break. Boyfriend's do not swear, unless it part of a joke and has been given full content by our clients.”
The woman appeared, no longer a disembodied voice, basking in the shadow of the setting sun, rich red hair and matching heels. She was my age or a little older. Sculpted in a black suit, this woman was oozing sophistication.
She turned to me with a bright smile.
“Hello Jane! My name is Lily. I'm a customer adviser at Hire a Boyfriend. I am so sorry for the malfunction!”
Tilting her head, Lily’s lips formed a frown.
“As we explained in our terms and conditions, the Boyfriend™️ does not usually act like this unless considered faulty. However, it is expected from a discounted model like Roman. He is scheduled to be refurbished in a week, so we'll happily take him off your hands.”
“No.” Roman whimpered. His gaze flashed to me. “Please… help me.”
His head jolted once again, and he dropped to his knees.
“That is also a rule break,” Lily said. “You never directly tell clients what to do.”
Roman’s body shook, his head jerking left to right.
“Get away from me.”
“You are broken, Roman. Allow me to fix you.”
His eyes filled with tears. “Broken?”
“That's right. Broken.”
“Sara.” Roman swiped blood from his nose. “Is she okay? Is she… s-safe?”
The woman regarded him with a pitiful smile.
“I'm sorry, who?”
Roman blinked. “Sara.” his expression crumpled. “She's my…she's m-m-my–”
Lily stepped towards him, and he shrunk back.
The sound of her heels frightened him, like he was used to them.
Used to her looming over him, a satisfied smile on her face.
“She's your what? Come on, speak up!”
He let out a raw cry, clawing at his hair.
“I don't know! I d-don't know! I…”
“Come quietly, and I will rethink my decision to convert Sara’s child when once of age,” Lily said. “The contract was clear. Section five, clause three. Hire a Boyfriend are automatically entitled to a Boyfriend’s offspring.”
Roman broke down, his head dropping into his lap.
“I'll go w-with you.” somehow, his eyes were glitching, unnatural blue light igniting around his iris. “I'll g-g-go.”
More blood, this time running thick down his face.
Lily’s lips split into a grin. “I'm sorry Roman, who is Sara again?”
He scrunched up his face, fighting to keep his mind. “I… d-d-don't know.”
I hated myself for turning away, after listening to him sobbing, begging for his unborn child to be safe, his mind torn from him right in front of me. I felt sick to my stomach. Lily was revelling in every second. Was this the reality of Hire a Boyfriend? What about Cam?
Who was behind his original face?
I should have done something. I stepped forward to grasp him and pull him back. When my hands were on his shoulders, the light fizzled from Roman’s eyes, sparks flickering out.
Like a puppet, he flopped to the ground.
In a panic, I tried to pull him to his feet, before I was violently shoved back.
The redhead nodded to me. “I apologise again for the malfunction, Jane,” she told me, scooping him into her arms.
He looked so vulnerable, a fully grown man somehow reduced to a living toy.
Lily bid me goodbye, promising me discount on my next Boyfriend™️.
I thought about that day a lot. I went to the cops with a report, only for them to tell me Hire a Boyfriend did not exist.
Apparently, I had been watching too many movies.
Two months passed by, and Roman never left my mind.
In an attempt to forget about him and delude myself into believing I was suffering a psychotic break, I lost myself in podcasts. Anything I could find, I listened to endless hours, blocking out thoughts drowning me.
Yesterday, I was making my way back home from class when I walked into a dishevelled looking girl with an armful of missing posters. I already knew who she was, and who was on the poster.
I was trying to avoid her, but this girl was following me. I could sense her steps getting closer, her breath on the back of my neck. Grief enveloped her in a sickly green aura, pale cheeks and straw-like hair stuck under her hooded sweatshirt. This time, the girl situated herself in front of me, red rimmed eyes begging me to stop walking.
I did, coming to an abrupt stop, my gaze immediately flicking to a very familiar face on the missing poster.
Unlike Roman, my Boyfriend™️, this man did have flaws.
Crooked teeth flashing a grin and an oddly shaped nose. He was stockier and had the worst fashion sense imaginable, clad in socks and sandles. This time, though, the boy had a different name.
Jun.
The photo was always different, what I guessed was a collection from her Instagram. This one was particularly heart wrenching. Roman’s eyes were bright and happy, no sign of that hollow cavern I found myself lost inside. The two of them were standing in front of a mirror, his arms wrapped around her.
Whatever happened to him after he was taken had stripped Jun away.
The girl shoved the poster in my face.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?
JUN LOCKE.
24.
LAST SEEN WEARING A PLAID SHIRT AND JEANS, OUTSIDE CAMPUS.
I didn't look at the face that had been perfected and moulded into the ideal boyfriend.
Into Roman.
I stared at the girl’s bulging pregnant belly instead.
Sara was getting bigger.
“Please,” She whispered, her voice a hoarse cry, one hand cradling her stomach. “Have you seen my boyfriend?”
It was always a no.
Swallowing hard, I shook my head.
Sara didn't even acknowledge my answer. She turned and walked away.
“Wait.” her name tangled in my mouth.
I felt like I was floating, my body moving for me. Stumbling after Sara, I lightly touched her arm and she twisted around, her eyes igniting with hope.
Opening my mouth, I choked on my words.
I have seen your boyfriend.
“Jane Doe! Oh my God, I haven't seen you in… years, is it? How are you doing?”
Sara’s half lidded eyes flicked to a familiar face behind me.
Lily.
This time, the woman strutted in a stylish red dress.
Her smile was too wide, too many teeth.
“Jane, can we talk?” she asked, “Woman to woman.”
Lily nodded at Sara’s belly. “Congratulations!” she winked. “I hope it's a boy!”
I had no choice, letting her pull me away from Sara.
Lily’s grasp on my arm was polite. She dragged me off campus. I thought she was going to throw me into a truck, before the redhead came to a stop.
I tried to pull away, but her grip tightened.
“It is quite painful, you know,” she said casually.
When I frowned at her, the woman prodded at her own temple. “The Neurowire is fed directly into the brain to ensure complete compliance with our Boyfriend's.” her gaze was across the road, and when I followed her eye, my heart almost jumped out of my throat.
Roman.
They had cut his hair. He was a sandy blonde now.
His colour scheme was deep blue, sporting a short sleeved shirt and jeans.
He was laughing, hand in hand with another girl.
“I'm only going to say this once, Jane, because you are a little too curious.”
I watched Roman reach for the girl’s hand. They must have changed his personality. Now he was smiling and playful, the two of them laughing. But there was a shy side to him, his cheeks blossoming red, fingers slipping through her fingers and entangling them.
“There are certain men in our society who are born to be Boyfriend's and Husbands.” Lily spoke up, and I realized she didn't just work for them.
She was Hire a Boyfriend.
“At Hire a Boyfriend, we believe everyone should have a significant other they can be with. Even if it's for an hour or two every day.” she turned to Roman, who was wrapping his arms around the girl, laughing into her hair.
The two of them seemed too close. I had a feeling this wasn't their first date.
Lily followed my gaze, her eyes narrowing. “Do you really think a man like that belongs with someone like Sara? No, sweetie. As you can see, Roman is currently being hired by Lula, our richest client, a socialite who is considering buying him as a full time Husband! Now, she is perfect for him.”
The redhead turned to me, lightly brushing my hair out of my face, the tips of her fingers tiptoeing across my temple. She had a smile I couldn't make sense of. “I have missed you, Jane. If only dear Ben didn't get his own way.”
She tried to touch me again, and I smacked her hand away.
I caught a hint of hurt in her eyes, before she sighed, grasping my chin with manicured nails and forcing me to look directly at her. “Sara is a woman who's boyfriend left her. She does not need any more stress for our baby.”
Dropping her hand, Lily’s tone hardened. “If you do not walk away and forget us, I will happily contract dear Sara into the Hire a Girlfriend program. And trust me, you of all people should know that it will be a very uncomfortable time for her. Would you like to know the conversion process? Well, allow me to explain–”
“Stop.”
My legs were close to giving way.
“I won't say anything.”
The bitch enjoyed my silence, my panicking thoughts trying to understand what she was saying. “Or we could make her a wife! There are a lot of lonely men looking for the perfect wife! Look at her. A young woman in her early twenties. Perfectly healthy and beautiful. And she's pregnant, so that's a bonus! Sara Mcintire is textbook girl next door. Exactly what we look for.”
Shaking my head, I was trembling, sweat trickling down my neck.
Lily's nails dug into my skin. “Am I clear, Jane? Or do you want me to say it again?” her lips grazed my ear, a shiver skittering down my spine, bugs filling my mouth. “Pain is beauty, after all, and we aim to create perfect Boyfriend's. I'll leave the process to your imagination.”
Stepping back, I nodded, swallowing a bout of vomit.
“Good.” she pivoted on her heel. “Keep walking and you will never see me again. Neither will pretty little Sara.”
Her voice followed me home.
“By the way, it was nice to see you again! Say hello to your boyfriend for me, all right?”
I don't have a boyfriend.
When I returned home, I felt like I was stepping inside a different apartment.
Everything seemed just like how I left it but the house was too… clean.
Too empty.
Standing in front of my bedroom mirror, I pulled out my ponytail, my fingers lightly prodding at my temple.
What did she call me again?
Jane Doe.
Maybe I was seeing things, but I'm terrified.
There it was.
How had I never seen it before?
With shaky fingers, I prodded the tiny plastic tag sticking out of me.
When I pulled it out of Roman, he knew who he was.
Who Sara was, and his unborn child.
Am/was I like Roman?
Am I a Hire a Girlfriend?
And if I pull this thing out, who was I before?
Edit: I've found hundreds of blood stained and fresh tags in my bedroom drawer. Who is changing them?
I live alone, but why does my apartment feel so empty?
Please help me. I think I'm going crazy.

The future is NEVER set in stone.
Whenever you get a predictions, know from deep within that you can always change it. This last month, this notion was heavily tested. And here I share the story of what happened. Brace yourselves, this is one the craziest thing I have ever experienced. Maybe for some of you this will sound absolutely insane, and that is ok. If you've read my book, you know I've had some pretty crazy experiences in this life, and this one is definitely up there in the wild ones. I will give you a Tl;DR, and you may read the long post to get all the details. Here is what happened:
I did a quantum regression session with my ex, and instead of her regressing to a past life as is common, she "regressed" to a point in the future where she had died, and was able to see exactly how she died, and through inquiries we found out it was going to happen within a month. A car accident. She had no recollection of saying all of this to me once she was back from the hypnosis state. But all was recorded. And, well, through the application of several teachings and different meditation journeys I created to release and transmute old energies, as well as a timeline shit change, I am extremely grateful to say she didn't have an accident!
​
Sounds crazy? Well, wait till you hear all the details haha! So, first, a bit of context. This happened with my ex, and at the time of the initial session, we had been separated for about a month, but were still in contact. During her relationship with me, she went through a massive spiritual awakening as I had her do many of the processes I developed to activate people's light. These are various meditation journeys, holotropic breathwork practices, plant medicine ceremonies (Primarily Iboga and 5-Meo-DMT) and so you can bet that, for someone who is eager to learn, open minded, and curious, these combined together can lead to a rapid awakening. And especially for her. She was always having wild experiences. And so at some point we got on the subject of past lives, and regressions, and I told her I had learned how to do it, but never really performed sessions with anyone. Of course, she wanted to experience it. So a few months ago we decided to do it, but after the hypnosis induction technique, she just fell asleep and was unresponsive to further inquiries. And then we went through a breakup after deciding to go our separate ways and didn't revisit the regression until last month.
​
This technique is called BQH - Beyond Quantum Healing, and it is a progression over the QHHT method developed by Dolores Cannon. It allows one to explore different past lives, and if you ever read books by Dolores Cannon, you'll find that at some point very peculiar things started happening. People remembering lives on other planets, people remembering lives as pure energy, people hearing a call to come help Earth go through an awakening, many wild things like that. It has always fascinated me. Because although I do know that at the most fundamental level of existence, we are all Source itself, the very essence of everything is Oneness and all is One, I also know that there are layers of existence and right now we are on this human journey, and the non-dual perspective doesn't negate the experience of duality, and so things like past (or parallel if you wanna use the correct nomenclature) lives are technically possible for the identity that we currently embody. I also heard that sometimes you can regress into future lives during such sessions.
​
So last month, we set a date to do it over zoom, and I will relate here what happened in this session. First, I did the hypnotic induction, which asks her to go to the most relevant time and the most relevant place. The first thing she saw were a bunch of colors. She seemed to be amidst the colors. After some probing, I found out the colors represented feelings. And she said these feelings were with her all the times. And through more probing, she found out she was inside of herself, witnessing all the feelings she has all the time. I asked her to find out why she was brought there, what she needs to do. When that happened, all the feelings started being attracted by her heart, and her heart grew bigger. She said that when all the energies combine together, they finish in the heart, and turn into love. She felt a lot of love, but then it started to be difficult to manage it and became overwhelmed. It started hurting, so I started doing a healing. This is where we basically channel in some golden light and let it run down the whole body from the head down to the feet, and grounding it into the Earth, and bouncing it back up through her. But then something happened...
​
As it was coming back, she stopped me. And she started to have a bit of a panicked expression, and said that the energy can't go up her body because she isn't a body anymore. And I asked why is that so, and she just started saying "she's dead, she's dead!". And saying that she had died. I calmed her down and asked her to describe where she was. She said she was pure energy. And I asked the purpose of where she was. She said she was in transition for the next life. And so I asked what was the previous life. She said her life as Jessica (Placeholder name for privacy, she said her name). I asked her what was Jessica's purpose in this life (This was the main question she wanted answered in the BQH session). She said she couldn't do it, she dies before being able to complete her mission. She was pretty distrust and in fear that she wouldn't be able to come back to being Jessica again. I reassured her and guided her towards a healing place.
​
When that happened, she started feeling *everything.* And felt as if she was everything. She said it was part of the healing process. And then she had the answer for the purpose of her life as Jessica was to heal. To heal, and to teach people to love, to feel , and to heal. And she said that she won't be able to fulfill her mission in this life, because she will die soon. She said an accident will happen. I asked if there is something Jessica can do to prevent that. No answer. I asked who was the one giving these answers. She said "I don't need to know that". So I asked her to ask again. She said she doesn't need to know. So I asked for Jessica's higher self to come, but then she started seeing an angelic figure. And she said she believe this is who was giving the answer. So I asked her to ask who this angel is. She asked 3 times, and then it turns out there were 2, and they were Gabriel and Chamuel (Or Samuel, sound is a bit finnicky).. Apparently there were more angels there, but only these 2 were talking to her.
​
So once that was confirmed, I asked her to ask them if the thing about her dying is the truth. They said yes. I asked if she could do something to prevent it. They said it depends on her actions. That some random action at some point, guided by her intuition, might do it. They said they will also assist. And they said that she needs to be in contact with her intuition to know the right action to prevent it from happening, but that how she is right now is not connected enough to her intuition, and that this is why they need to interfere. (I was getting a bit triggered when hearing that. ) They said it was going to happen very soon and that she didn't have enough time to develop sufficient intuition (???) They then said she has to be more open to her feelings, her desires, and her most random wishes, because some of them could be the thing that saves her. All of these, of course, were being said through Jessica who was deep in hypnosis at that point.
​
So then I asked to speak with Jessica's higher self directly, and had to repeat 3 times with some time in-between for it to happen. She finally said yes, and I asked if I was speaking with her higher self. Yes. And this is when things got really interesting. Her whole attitude and way of answering changed. It was almost filled with a certain arrogance.
​
First thing I asked is why this situation was happening, the meaning of this session. And the meaning was for her to find out how to continue to live her life. Here is what the higher self said:
​
"The important thing is that she is still alive and is loved. She needs to accept love from other people. She needs to feel everything she has to feel. She needs to connect with me and with her intuition, that way she will still be able to live. And she will be ready for a partner and a family. But right now, she needs to focus on love. To feel her love, and to let other people love her. If that happens, she can continue to be alive. If not, she will continue her journey into another life. ""
​
"What is preventing her love?" I asked. "Her fears". "And how can she overcome these fears?" "Love is the answer". (What a conundrum haha!)
​
"She needs to revaluate her life. Does she choose to love and be loved, or does she choose to not be here anymore. That is why she is here. That is why you are helping her."
​
"I will say one last thing: She really needs to be careful remaining in (The city where she lives) during the month of May. If she manages to stay alive by the end of the month, the risk will be dismissed. It's just fluctuations of her whole life that led to this scenario, as it sometimes happens."
​
Then I asked if there was any last messages, and she said "She really really need to be in contact with her true self, with her intuition." She also thanked me for having helped in her awakening, almost implying that this scenario would have occurred earlier if not from us meeting. After that I asked her if she felt more complete... "I'm always complete. There is nothing else to say." I thought it was pretty funny that the higher Self said "I am always complete".
​
And then I guided her back to conscious awareness, and once she was awake, I asked her what she remembered from the session. She didn't remember anything. According to her, she had just fallen asleep and woke up just now. This, to me, gives a certain level of validation to the "unfilteredness" nature of the information received. She was definitely not in a conscious state when it was happening. She didn't have a single memory of the session. But then when I told her everything that had happened (A very challenging thing to do...), let's just say it was pretty traumatic to hear all of that. I don't know if the text here properly reflects how crazy this is, but know that Jessica basically started being afraid she was going to die within the month. I did my best to reassure her, using the wisdom from her Higher Self to remind her there is a blueprint ahead for how to overcome this. And that's what I did.
​
At first I was able to help her navigate the emotions that this brought up, by creating a meditation that assisted in the process given by her higher self. To integrate all the feelings into the heart. When we did this meditation together, she had a powerful experience that led to her feeling so many wonderful things in her heart. And this first week everything was seemingly going great. But then, second week came by and suddenly it was really problematic. She started having wild experiences at night, and feeling like she was dying over and over. She said it was like part of her energy was leaving every time. I told her this was purification, and she wouldn't believe me.
​
She got completely disillusioned by everything, and started just accepting she was bound to death. And that it was imminent. I didn't. So I kept envisioning her having a wonderful transformation as a result of this. I told her that she can do whatever, but I will keep the Faith that she will perfectly make it through this. I made a scene in my mind's eye of her turning the calendar page to June and being super excited about it. But then it got really bad, she started having no energy for anything, and she felt like an empty husk. She couldn't feel anything anymore. She had lost all will to live, and literally told me she's just waiting for death to come.
​
I decided to fly in and help her in person because I felt at this rate it wouldn't be the accident that gets her... And, well... It took a heartfelt hug from me (And some tears) and suddenly she came back alive! It is pretty crazy. From one day to another she was completely different. Really, it's as if her soul came back into her body. I think it is because in that moment she realized that yes, there are people out there who love her. She allowed the love in. The love that is always there, for all of us. I stayed with her until the end of May, and am extremely grateful to say she is definitely still alive, didn't have an accident, and is now working at her pace on feeling all the feelings, loving herself, and accepting love from others!
​
There is so much to unpack from all of this, and this whole experience impacted several of my beliefs regarding reality. I will definitely continue to do the BQH sessions. It seems like the most powerful shortcut to what is currently for us the most important thing.
​
Much love to you, thank you for reading! And thank you for being you <3
Alek

TL;DR: novels series The Night’s Dawn makes a good case in favor of Ragnarok.
I recently finished a space opera called The Night’s Dawn, by Peter F. Hamilton, and a few days ago I realized how well one of its elements – Edenist society – fits the description (very vague description, actually) of the post-Ragnarok world given by Charles. In The Night’s Dawn, humanity split into two subgroups: Edenists and Adamists. The only difference between them is the “affinity gene” Edenists possess, one of the advances of gene modification. It allows Edenists to communicate with each other across vast distances, share thoughts and feelings, and to upload their minds upon deaths into their space habitats, where they retain personalities and continue speaking via affinity with their friends and loved ones. Actually, it was this uploading part which led to the split, as most religious people, regardless of specifics of their beliefs, found this to be an act against their Gods, cheating of death. Edenists and Adamists interact a lot, but they still remain largely separate: Edenists live in their biohabitats orbiting around gas planets, whereas Adamists occupy planets and asteroids.
And Edenist society prospers, much more than Adamist one at that. How? Why? Probably because Edenists are incredibly tolerant. Each Edenist has an intimate knowledge of (almost all) thoughts of (almost) every other Edenist, thus understanding and accepting their actions and decisions. Suppose that your own friends knew exactly how you feel when you decide to do something – anything; do you think they would not approve of your decision then? Lelouch said that people lie to gain something, but Edenist do not need to lie – they tell the truth to each other; they share their burdens, they aren’t ashamed to show their weaknesses, because they would be understood and supported, rather than treated with contempt for perceived transgressions against conventions of manners and high standards.
However, I wrote “almost” twice. Why? The only difference between Edenist society and likely post-Ragnarok society – one which might seem very significant at the first glance – is that Edenists actually can block their minds from being read. "Doesn’t that make all the difference?" you probably ask, and I reply that it makes next to none. Edenists rarely ever close their minds, because they don’t need it. They don’t really keep secrets (apart from “1 in a million” bad guys) because there is no need for secrets and lies -- lies, after all, are just secrets acted out. “We lie to achieve something”, and all actions for which we in our normal world need to lie could be divided into two subgroups: those which do not hurt others, but go against norms (such as liking furries, for instance), and those which hurt others. Edenists would not chide you for liking furries because via affinity they totally understand why you like them; and you would not want to hurt others yourself if you have intimate understanding of how they would feel about it, so you just wouldn’t do bad things which you have to cover up with lies -- that is, you wouldn't need to keep your true activities secret.
This organization truly looks a lot like a hive mind, but everyone retains their own personalities and consciousness. As you begin to truly understand others, you start to act in yours and theirs favor both, and everyone else does the same.
Edenists are a lot like Mao, but Mao before his Geass went awry: they can turn their “mind-reading” off and not listen to the others. Moreso, their brains do process all of that without an issue, and the problem for Mao was that he was overwhelmed by loud thoughts: speaking of Ragnarok, why assume that people after Ragnarok have their minds/brains as weak as Mao had? Why assume humans wouldn’t “grow” more “brain capacity” for interacting with spillovers of alien minds in Ragnarok?
Edenists are not a backwards society: they move towards the future (note that Charles never said himself that he desires the past -- it was Lelouch's assumption). Their dead, instead of keeping living Edenists down, offer help to their biological and spiritual descendants, think about the same problems and suggest solutions, comfort living when tragedies occur in their lives. In this case, of course, the problem may arise from all Edenists being people who wanted to live that way, for the future; whereas after Ragnarok living humans might run into large numbers of those dead who would decry new customs. However, wouldn’t these dead understand why push on into the future if they sense feelings of modern humans?
If you want to read more about Edenists, but don’t want to spend your time reading entirety of Hamilton’s incredibly long novels, look up chapters with characters named Syrinx and Athene, they provide all details regarding how Edenist society functions.
I know that using a fictional work as an argument for anything does not make for a good “proof”. What Peter F. Hamilton did, however, is that he explored how society with that “affinity” property could function, and I personally believe the picture he painted to be the more likely outcome in case something like affinity suddenly was gifted to humanity. Ragnarok, as I’ve explained, is essentially paving the way for humans to becoming Edenists, and Edenists live happily – much better than we do now even controlling for technological difference between us and The Night’s Dawn.
On the other hand, maybe I’m wrong? Maybe there where I see utopia, you see an abhorrent world straight from your imagination of how Code Geass’ Ragnarok was supposed to play out? If that’s the case, if you think that this Edenist world is a crappy world you don’t want to live in, I’m really curious why you’d think so.

​
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Not sure if anyone wants this but here it is. This is a modified version of u/savetheplanet07 script to bypass the vector LMS training videos. It can watch and play through the videos without having to click through them. And can pass the multiple choice questions. You can run it by copy and pasting it into chrome dev console. (It runs at a normal speed so it may not seem like it is working but it will pass each module) Note: you have to copy paste the code into the console each time it passes a module.
// ==UserScript==
// @name VectorLMS
// @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version 0.3
// @description Vector LMS Auto Task Completion Script. Sequentially runs tracking_start and tracking_finish for each course_item (i.e. video) and handles multiple choice questions on the page.
// @author
// @match https://*.vectorlmsedu.com/training/*
// @icon https://cmu-pa.vectorlmsedu.com/favicon.ico
// @license MIT
// ==/UserScript==
function asyncWaitSeconds(seconds) {
return new Promise((resolve) => {
setTimeout(() => {
resolve();
}, seconds * 1000);
});
}
async function main() {
let TOC_items = document.getElementsByClassName("TOC_item");
let TOC_unwatched_videos = [];
let TOC_assignments = [];
// Scrape the /training/launch/course_work/COURSEID page for video and assignment data
for (let i = 0; i < TOC_items.length; i++) {
try {
let href = TOC_items[i].getAttribute("href");
if (!href) {
console.log("Skipping TOC item with no href: " + TOC_items[i].innerText);
continue;
}
let data_entry = {};
data_entry.element = TOC_items[i];
data_entry.isVideo = TOC_items[i].querySelector(".fa-play") != null;
data_entry.isAssignment = TOC_items[i].querySelector(".fa-pencil") != null;
data_entry.href = href;
data_entry.title = TOC_items[i].querySelector(".lead").innerText;
let len = href.split("?")[0].split("/").length;
data_entry.work_id = href.split("?")[0].split("/")[len - 1];
data_entry.item_id = href.split("?")[0].split("/")[len - 2];
if (data_entry.isVideo data_entry.isAssignment) {
let timeText = TOC_items[i].querySelector(".span_link").innerText.split(" ");
data_entry.time_min = parseInt(timeText[timeText.length - 2]) + 0.5;
data_entry.completed = false;
if (data_entry.isVideo) {
TOC_unwatched_videos.push(data_entry);
} else if (data_entry.isAssignment) {
TOC_assignments.push(data_entry);
}
}
} catch (err) {
console.log("Error scraping TOC item: " + TOC_items[i].innerText);
console.log(err);
}
}
console.log(TOC_unwatched_videos);
console.log(TOC_assignments);
// Handle assignments
for (let i = 0; i < TOC_assignments.length; i++) {
let assignment = TOC_assignments[i];
let start_url = `https://${window.location.host}/rpc/v2/json/training/quiz_start?course_item_id=${assignment.item_id}&course_work_id=${assignment.work_id}`;
try {
const start_response = await fetch(start_url);
const start_data = await start_response.json();
assignment.work_hist_id = start_data.course_work_hist_id;
let answers = [];
start_data.questions.forEach(question => {
question.answers.forEach(answer => {
if (answer.correct) {
answers.push(answer.answer_id);
}
});
});
let finish_url = `https://${window.location.host}/rpc/v2/json/training/quiz_finish`;
let body = `course_work_hist_id=${assignment.work_hist_id}&answers=${answers.join("&answers=")}&matched_choices=%7B%7D&survey_result=%7B%7D&save_progress=0`;
await fetch(finish_url, {
headers: {
"accept": "*/*",
"content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
},
method: "POST",
body: body,
});
console.log("Completed Assignment: " + assignment.title);
assignment.element.querySelector(".IconSquare").innerHTML = '';
assignment.element.querySelector(".hidden-xs").innerHTML = '';
} catch (error) {
console.error("Error completing assignment: " + assignment.title, error);
}
}
// Handle videos
for (let i = 0; i < TOC_unwatched_videos.length; i++) {
let video = TOC_unwatched_videos[i];
let start_url = `https://${window.location.host}/rpc/v2/json/training/tracking_start?course_item_id=${video.item_id}&course_work_id=${video.work_id}`;
try {
const start_response = await fetch(start_url);
const start_data = await start_response.json();
video.work_hist_id = start_data.course_work_hist_id;
console.log("Video time tracking started for video: " + video.title);
console.log("Waiting for the length of the video, " + video.time_min * 60 + " seconds...");
await asyncWaitSeconds(video.time_min * 60);
let finish_url = `https://${window.location.host}/rpc/v2/json/training/tracking_finish?course_work_hist_id=${video.work_hist_id}&_=${(Date.now() + video.time_min * 60 * 1000).toString()}`;
const finish_response = await fetch(finish_url);
const finish_data = await finish_response.json();
video.completed = !(finish_data.tracking_status); // 0 is completed, 1 is not completed, 2 is previously completed (but we filtered those)
if (video.completed) {
console.log("Completed Video: " + video.title);
video.element.querySelector(".IconSquare").innerHTML = '';
video.element.querySelector(".hidden-xs").innerHTML = '';
} else {
console.log("Failed to Complete Video: " + video.title);
}
} catch (error) {
console.error("Error completing video: " + video.title, error);
}
}
location.reload();
}
main().then();