(Sorry if my english is not correct or spelled wrong, im eastern europian) I [18F]live with my mother[F50]and my dad [M56]. They have been married for 17 years.Lately my father has been getting aggressive. I would say that my father has always been a person with a serious and strong character. He has always been aggressive,more in a mental way, jealous and just pretty much an egoistic person. He doesn’t talk to his part of the family and has pretty much no friends. On the other hand my mom has always been that kind of person that cares for everyone and she is the best woman in the world that know. She is never jealous of anyone’s success, you can always talk to her, she is hardworking and that kind of person that will try to handle things calmly. When I was little I did notice that my dad would have these anger episodes but i didn’t think much of it. When I was around 15 I started noticing that it was getting worse and right now it is the worst it has ever been. I think that maybe this problem is not that serious as other peoples but i dont know who to talk to. I hope to get some advice or hear your story here,online. So the problem is- Lately my father has been having problems with his anger issues and he has been yelling at my mom so much and calling her names that nobody would like to be called. He never listens to what my mom has to say and always yells at her, and when my father starts yelling then its getting scary. Yesterday i heard my mom crying in her room and my heart just broke. I know its getting to her because she never cries, never. She was telling her friend about another fight with my dad. We can never talk like a real family because my father starts to get mad over little things such as our opinions. My dad works in a different city so he is home only on the weekends and we have to prepare mentally for those days. And it just doesnt stop because he calls my mother 3x a day and keeps yelling at her over the phone. My mom said that she would leave him if she had the money. Divorce is not an option right now because we dont have a place to go. I have been trying to spend more time wih her and remind her that at least we have each other. I have been getting her flowers everyday to try and make her smile. I dont want to go into more details that my father has done but its 2:40 where i live and i cant sleep because im scared that my father will start abusing my mother physically. I have prepared a plan of what will i do and with what thing i will hit him just in case. I have been praying to God to take everything from me if that will make her feel better because it hurts me to see her falling apart.I just don’t know what to do. It has been so bad that i have been crying for days.
What should i do and how to try and maybe fix this?How can i try and keep abuse from happening?

I don’t tend to show up to work looking well groomed, in spite of the fact that my appearance has been criticized in the past (not at work, but in middle and high school. I understand that this partly happened because I am a woman of color, however. People are harsher when asked to assess the appearance of a WOC, especially when she is darker. I have learned about colorism.) However, I do make an effort to be consistent in showing up and working the amount of hours I am supposed to work, in spite of the fact that I have sleeping issues.
I tried to make small talk with my coworkers today by talking about an interest of mine (reading.) I admitted that I don’t really know what I’m doing with my life, and that even though I think it’s healthiest to just go with the flow in regards to my career, I wish I had a better idea now of what I want to major in. I sent a coworker of mine a PDF of “the yellow wallpaper” after we discussed it.
I’m an educator, and have started making $19/hr this week as opposed to $17/hr, which is what I was making before (I have been working for nearly a year. I was supposed to receive a raise to $18/hr, but advocated for myself to ensure that I received more money than that - it was actually an abrupt decision made about two weeks ago, my decision to request a raise. I actually requested the input of my coworkers first, because I was stressed/overwhelmed when I learned that I’d have greater responsibility in regards to the care of a child who has different needs this summer. I have been caring for him in the afternoons since maybe January, and was given a greater role (now helping handle his diaper changes, am supposed to give his behavioral technician tips if she’d like some,) because I am supposedly good at it (I don’t think I’m terrible with him, but was partly upset when I felt/realized that I was perhaps not being fairly compensated because everyone knows working with this child isn’t always easy.) I now make $19/hr (I threw $20 out as the number I was aiming for, we agreed that if this month goes well I start making $20/hr afterward.) I am actually enjoying working over summer. I feel that it gives me something to do.
I have gained greater empathy for my older brother, who is returning to rehab today after having been kicked out of his most recent center. When I was a child, I would side with my father when he emotionally abused my older brother. As an adult, I understand that it is important to not enable him, though I have also come to understand that my parents are disgusting people who abused him as a child. I came along yesterday even though I was tired on our ride to the rehab center to try and ensure that he was supported (and that my father did not yell at or threaten him.) I tried to give him a chance to tell me his side of the story. I asked my parents to stop yelling at him. I have felt guilty about how he turned out for a long time, and find it important to give him the opportunity to share how he is feeling. Even though our parents aren’t open to the idea of him converting to the Muslim religion, I am fine with it (especially seeing as how I am an agnostic atheist) because he is an adult, and I think that it is his choice. I was “raised Christian” myself, though I stopped praying to God as I grew older because I’m not convinced that God makes sense. I don’t like the idea of someone being denied the opportunity to make a decision for themselves, which is what I feel my parents are trying to do. It’s something I really don’t like about my mother in general, actually, that she tries to force other people to believe what she believes. It’s a very irritating trait. I understand that my parents are mentally unwell and growing older, though I don’t sympathize with them because both are atrocious human beings. Abusive childhood or not, there is no excuse for them to have turned out the way they did, and I understand this.
I’m losing interest in television more recently, though I still like films. I was on season 3 of “Laverne and Shirley” (started it about three months ago, was really enjoying it) but after I stopped watching it consistently. I don’t dislike it (I actually think, even though I know it’s an unpopular opinion, that “Laverne and Shirley” is much better than “Happy Days.” And I am someone who tried hard to get into “Happy Days.” I just thought that “Happy Days” seemed forced and fake. I watched 11 episodes of the first season, one of the third season, and three of the second. It was too corny for my liking. I felt that “Laverne and Shirley” was actually quite funny, though I don’t feel like watching that, or any other tv show, now. I’ve been nineteen for nearly two months, so maybe I’m just getting older. I still really enjoy watching films, though - you don’t have to “stick” with them. That’s what I really struggle with. I struggle to “stick” with what I’m watching, especially whenever I’m actually busy. Same with reading (took me too long to finish “Carrie” by Stephen King. I was not reading it consistently. I am done with it now, but am thinking I’ll try reading short stories moving forward to ensure that I actually finish my books.)
I’ve arguably had a bad life since I was about 13-14 (bad family life, at least) but am still not idk incapable of being optimistic, or happy. I’d like to believe that I can figure things out for myself. However, I have not been taking care of myself (seeing my new doctor, getting a new therapist.) I’m more focused on my responsibilities right now.
I actually think that going to work today really helped me stop thinking so much about how sad my family situation actually is, though. It’s a good distraction. It’s like I said, it gives me something to do. I have depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I’m an ISFJ.
I’m uncertain about whether or not I want to see “Inside Out 2.” I have no friends to see it with, although I loved the first film when I saw it with my mother years ago. I’m hesitant to spend money, largely because I grew up low income and understand how important it is to save it. I’ve gotten into a mindset of “no use in seeing this film now, I can always watch it when someone is able to release a version of it online.”

(Sorry if my english is not correct or spelled wrong, im eastern europian) I(17F) live with my mother(F50) and my dad (M56). Lately my father has been getting aggressive. I would say that my father has always been a person with a serious and strong character. He has always been aggressive,more in a mental way, jealous and just pretty much an egoistic person. He doesn’t talk to his part of the family and has pretty much no friends. On the other hand my mom has always been that kind of person that cares for everyone and she is the best woman in the world that know. She is never jealous of anyone’s success, you can always talk to her, she is hardworking and that kind of person that will try to handle things calmly. When I was little I did notice that my dad would have these anger episodes but i didn’t think much of it. When I was around 15 I started noticing that it was getting worse and right now it is the worst it has ever been. I think that maybe this problem is not that serious as other peoples but i dont know who to talk to. I hope to get some advice or hear your story here,online. So the problem is- Lately my father has been having problems with his anger issues and he has been yelling at my mom so much and calling her names that nobody would like to be called. He never listens to what my mom has to say and always yells at her, and when my father starts yelling then its getting scary. Yesterday i heard my mom crying in her room and my heart just broke. I know its getting to her because she never cries, never. She was telling her friend about another fight with my dad. We can never talk like a real family because my father starts to get mad over little things such as our opinions. My dad works in a different city so he is home only on the weekends and we have to prepare mentally for those days. And it just doesnt stop because he calls my mother 3x a day and keeps yelling at her over the phone. My mom said that she would leave him if she had the money. Divorce is not an option right now because we dont have a place to go. I have been trying to spend more time wih her and remind her that at least we have each other. I have been getting her flowers everyday to try and make her smile. I dont want to go into more details that my father has done but its 2:40 where i live and i cant sleep because im scared that my father will start abusing my mother physically. I have prepared a plan of what will i do and with what thing i will hit him just in case. I have been praying to God to take everything from me if that will make her feel better because it hurts me to see her falling apart.I just don’t know what to do. It has been so bad that i have been crying for days. Hope to hear back from someone.What should i do and how to try and maybe fix this?

Hello OSRS people! I've been an enjoyer of reality game shows like Survivor for over 20 years, and a Runescape playing friend of mine was visiting and thought he would see if I enjoyed Gielinor Games... and boy howdy did I!
We devoured the first three seasons in a few days and I've been watching Season 4 on my own. I even started watching content from some of the contestants (Settled, Solo Mission, Jimmy etc.) because I really liked them on the show and I wanted to get better knowledge of the game so I could have a better grasp of what was happening in the episodes themselves.
Wanted to shout out my love for the series and also talk about the whole thing from the perspective of someone who has not only watched a lot of reality game shows, but also run things similar to Gielinor Games myself! More colloquially they're called ORG's (Online Reality Games) and there are whole communities that run online games using the format of shows like Survivor and Big Brother. I've hosted more than 20 myself and part of why I love Gielinor Games is that they capture a lot of that same magic. I'm a game designer in my day job so I have a LOT of semi-professional thoughts (as much as one can be) on both the format/game design of each season of GG, the strategy of each season, and also ideas for how it could draw from more of the ORG world to create more types of challenges, create more interesting social strategy and all that good stuff.
Season 1 was definitely the most difficult to get through, especially for someone with no Runescape knowledge. The challenges leaned a lot into content early on and I was basically completely zoned out during many of the challenges themselves but I did enjoy the ones I could follow like Spawn Camping, Cya in Lumby and Money Talks.
The format was most like a show called King Of The Nerds and both suffer from their format stifling a lot of the more strategic aspects of a game like this. Coupled with the very genial atmosphere within teams who were largely concerned with "the group" winning over individually winning and it led to a rather tepid strategic environment. This could've been a lot more interesting if there was some cross-team collusion and I'm surprised that something like this didn't happen, especially given the trajectory Solo Mission would take in following seasons. That's really the only thing that can develop a game like this since there's relatively little to be gained by colluding within your own team, especially if it does lead to more team losses. Given the broad lack of strategy this season, the struggling format as well as the quite high barrier to entry as an uninformed viewer, it was definitely the season with the most flaws. But that's to be expected with a new show in its first iteration.
Season 2 is hands down my favourite season. There are so many great character arcs and stories throughout, between Jimmy and Settled being the overlooked underdogs (and Settled himself being a Survivor fan), EVScape and Skiddler's huge banning streak in the Redemption Falls, DitteTorvesta's cockroaching to survive and rivalry between each other, and of course the incredible machinations of Snake Mission.
Survivor is my favourite of the reality shows, and GG Season 2 is probably the one that most closely resembles it (with a dash of Big Brother's Head of Household mechanic thrown in). Survivor is one of the purest social strategy games that exists and has produced some truly insane strategic plays throughout the years. Some that are mindbogglingly good, not just in terms of being complex or effective but in how they socially engineer themselves into a position to convince others to go along with it. So when I say that I legitimately think that Solo Mission played one of the best strategic games I have ever seen, I want to convey the full gravity of what I'm saying. (Also credit to Gunschilli for playing a strong supporting role throughout but as far as the show goes Solo stole the whole thing.)
So obviously he's playing against pretty strategically weak competition. Nobody else is really taking advantage of the social strategy side of the game to the same extent, and that does make it an easier ride for someone who is navigating it as hard as he is. All the while he is able to avoid being targeted for the double play, consistently places himself in situations that obfuscate his puppeteering, organises the votes to his whims in many rounds and continues to have both major alliances trust him just enough to get to the next stage, while also keeping the numbers in such a way that both sides need his vote. It's masterful and takes huge skill regardless of the quality of the competition.
And truthfully I think he could've won the whole season if not for Redemption Falls. If Verf and Zulu are fighting a team other than Settled/Jimmy there's a better than zero chance they're eliminated. If that happens, Solo/Gunschilli absolutely clean up in Diary Dash and then they're in the finals. I don't say this to complain or say that Solo should win, but his plans were thrown out of whack by a late-game twist that upended the forseeable format of the rounds, and I wonder if Solo would've done things differently if he'd known that the bridges he was burning would last longer in the game.
I also want to highlight the genuine masterclass of game theory that Solo/Guns display in part 2 of Soup's Clues. The way that they go into that fight with second to worst gear (with a large margin between them and 2nd/1st) and use the current game situation to dictate who they target and when in order to end up in a winnable scenario is truly incredible. I was jaw-on-floor the entire fight with how much finesses and forethought went into that victory and it's one of my favourite things I've ever seen.
Obviously a huge congrats to actual winners Verf/Zulu, I don't want to take any part of their victory away from them but as a fan of social strategy I can't help but see Solo Mission as the all star of the season. I also loved rooting for and against DitteTorvesta at different points throughout the season, it is just such a wild ride.
Season 3 is very strong, and my biggest takeaway is that even though Solo Mission didn't win S2, Gielinor Games won by having a player of that caliber compete because it forced EVERYONE to up their game and play harder this time around.
Obviously Solo Mission's reputation is completely tarnished and he has to play from the bottom but I still think he does a fantastic job here. But this is where players like Framed, Settled, V the Victim, EVScape really start to shine. EVScape comes back with a vengeance after a rough first go and he rocks it. Gotta root for my fellow aussie. I'd watched a little bit of Hanannie's content at this stage and I'm so happy to see her in the cast and she delivers in her short time. Also C Engineer is a great comedic presence throughout all the first three seasons and I'm sort of getting his humour and style at this stage in my binge. Friend showed me the vid of him trolling people that use his plugin and it was such a cute concept. It was also really cool to see more women represented this season in general.
Even though this season was called Free Agents it definitely felt a lot LESS individual than season 2. The strategy is a little more homogenized with a handful of big alliances sort of cruising through with smaller groups and individuals getting picked off, and with the challenges changing each round between solo, duo and group challenges.
This felt like a bit of a lucky dip of a season where your success could swing wildly based on the challenge and groups involved (especially due to how immunity effects who gets to vote), but since you always had your own vote to control a part of your fate it still felt like a decently fair game where anyone could win it. With a strong enough alliance you could survive the votes at least, and you'd have to get sent in directly by a crown holder, but if your alliance is a crown-holder you have some protection there as well.
It doesn't surprise me that the biggest successes this season are people who played solid and safe and relied on their personal skill, but it definitely felt like the foot had been taken off the pedal a little bit. HOWEVER that doesn't mean this wasn't a fun as heck season full of good strategy and funny moments and keen insights. Settled especially really comes into his own and V the Victim does a great job of managing his threat level despite the reputation he had, and the caveat of him joining the season late. Really good season overall.
Season 4. We're caught up! If you haven't watched episode 5 then please skip this section as I'm going to be talking full spoilers so 3... 2... 1... ok. So something I haven't commented on is the production values and the editing and the music and by jove Season 4 is so so so so so good holy moly it's so damn good. Soup you are a magician and you are doing a spectacular job, as well as everyone else on your team. Truly kudos.
HOWEVER! And this is all coming from a reality show fan but I really dislike the format of this season. With individual votes being removed almost entirely the game is so much more focused on challenge performance. There is very little room, if any, for someone who is not one of the most skilled at the game to win this season. This also basically minimizes the effect that alliances can have on the game. In terms of raw format this season is quite similar to a korean reality show called The Genius (which is truly one of the best tv shows of all time) but the challenges in that show are strategic in nature, effectively social board games that have alliances play out in the gameplay of the challenges themselves. GG has the "drawback" of being set in a video game with confined capabilities and mechanics. Now I love using a video game to create a reality game like this, but I do think that at this stage too much power and emphasis has been put on challenge performance.
This is also where we may get to a contentious opinion I hold but I dislike Boaty's presence. Not as a person or a character, but as a strategic entity in this game. Nothing against the guy, he is TALENTED and charismatic and I'm sure that his content is wonderful but he is so antithetical to what I personally enjoy about these types of social games. He largely doesn't engage with the social strategy, he basically acts entirely based on whims and challenge strength and like... I can't fault him for this at all. Obviously its not his personality type, but also when you are that good at the game you don't need anyone else. Boaty is the favourite to win simply due to the format of this season. He has to both not win a challenge, and then specifically lose again in a 1v1(ish) duel where he can CHOOSE HIS OPPONENT. This is simply just not likely to happen until very late in the process if at all and even then he is still probably the favourite to win most any 1v1 challenge against most any contestant.
Season 4's strategy has devolved once again from the heights we saw in season 2 and it makes me a little sad. That being said I'm still hella invested and loving the show overall but it definitely isn't gripping me to the edge of my seat like it did before. The craziest moment that happend was largely due to a quirk of random chance (that being the order in which Soup asks people to reveal their votes publicly) and honestly even though it was a big moment it felt a little sketchy to me because it wasn't strictly a fair situation.
NOTES Now here's my various notes and suggestions that I am just putting out into the universe just in case some sort of host of some sort of show happens to see them and think they're insightful
Firstly, there are a lot of kinks that need to be ironed out in terms of Fair Play. For example I don't like players having to reveal their votes publicly as it discourages subterfuge, but if you ARE going to do so, you should force the players to lock them in ahead of time and not be allowed to change them during the reveal. They simply announce who they voted for. But again, if you keep the votes private it allows a space for players to lie and create distrust and form cracks between groups of people. If you smooth this out by making it public it just removes tools for the players to play.
Secondly, I would LOVE to see more of the strategic talk be incorporated into the show, whether that's DM's (seeing Settled/Solo's dm was hilarious) or recorded private conversations or whatever. Especially if players are wheeling and dealing more than what we're seeing. I also know that this is a tall ask to include in addition to the show so no stress. It would just be nice for my reality brain to follow the strategy side of things a little more closely. Maybe like, bonus content if it's not too much work (I know it's all work though so again I understand if this isn't feasible)
Thirdly, I've outlined my issues with Season 4's format but I also understand that many people might want a skill focused season with "the best player" winning, but there are still ways to include the Social Strategy elements:
Have challenges that allow and reward collusion! This lets alliances play a stronger factor in overall challenge placement on a round to round basis. Having hosted many similar games myself online I have actually hundreds of potential ideas but here's some really simple examples:
Gieliguessr played individually, but allow the players to talk privately and share information. This way, players in the same alliance can help each other compete whereas players who aren't in alliances must rely on their own skills. Boaty can do his thing while alliances can help each other as best they can.
Individual Money Making challenge but allow players to combine money if they wish. Alliances could choose to funnel their money into a two players to guarantee control at the Tribunal but at the risk of leaving themselves vulnerable to being picked, as well as any penalties that occur for low placements, or they could split money evenly across the alliance hoping for group general safety, or any sort of combination they like. It creates more interesting strategic dynamics layered on top of the skill based game. Risk and Reward.
Another way to add social strategy into the game is by adding an In-Game Currency. In The Genius every player starts with a currency token called a Garnet. These tokens do two things. Firstly, they directly correspond to the prize money at the end (you receive money based on the number of tokens you have at the end) Secondly, they can be spent in challenges to gain advantages. One example could be purchasing extra starting cash in a challenge like Top Gear, or buying an early updated picture in Gieliguessr. I think this would be a more compelling potential reward for the Amulet of Choice than the 200M cash stack, especially because you could always say "Every token at the end of the game can be exchanged for prize money" and you don't even lose out on that option. You could reward these tokens for top 3 finishes, or scale a reward based on general performance (If you score above X threshold you get Y tokens) and if you want to get extra spicy you can copy The Genius exactly and say that whenever you defeat another player in the Banning, you receive all of their tokens yourself. So now you have a secondary targeting criteria for bannings, as you might target a player because they have a LOT of tokens and you want to win them. This also means that the players can use these tokens as bargaining tools, promising tokens in exchange for not being sent into the banning or for helping out in a challenge.
Lastly there's a mechanic that almost all of these reality shows have that GG is missing, and that's the Jury. In games like Survivor or Big Brother, the Jury is a handful of eliminated players (usually the 7-9 most recently eliminated by the time of the finale) who at the end, cast their vote that ultimately decides the winner from a final 2 or 3 players. It is the ultimate turnabout of the players needing to play strategically hard to make it to the end, but also have enough positive sway with these players to curry their vote.
Obviously GG shouldn't have this, as I think that ultimately this is a game of skill and should reward skill, but what they CAN do is what The Genius does, and allow eliminated players to give small advantages to a finalist of their choice. This would do 3 really important things for the finale of GG:

1. It lets all the eliminated players get one last hurrah and feels like a nice capstone to their journey. It feels good from an entertainment perspective to see all those faces again and for them to be able to impact the finale.
   
2. It means that the way you maneuver throughout the game DOES have tangible consequences in the finale and it means that alliances and friendships play a slightly more involved role in the voting mechanics throughout the game since players may be afraid of a particular player being super popular with the eliminated contestants.
   
3. It gives less skilled players a genuine chance to overcome the odds and win. It makes me a little sad feeling like there are several players who just have such a strong chance to win that it's hard to root for other people when they still have to overcome these overdogs at some point, and I think that having a mechanic that allows for the eliminated players to put their finger on the scales ever so slightly is a great way to both create tension for the finale games and even the odds and reward social strategy and all the things that I (and hopefully the other viewers) love about the show without taking away the skill focus.
   

The biggest rule I always tell people when they want to host ORG's on their own is to give the players control. If you give the players tools, they will find all manner of creative ways to use them that you never dreamed of. The more you restrict their options the flatter and less interesting the game will become. But you also need to keep a short leash. Give them a variety of small powers, but don't allow for situations to be overpowered. Make sure that sabotages and advantages don't break a game, and try to create scenarios that will allow any player to have an interesting story. You will be surprised by how much an unsuspecting strategic powerhouse can come from the unlikeliest of people if you give them the right tools and circumstance.
Above all, when in doubt, let the players play.
I want to thank anyone who reads my ramblings and I don't want to cause any distress, I'm not trying to rag on anyone or complain because I LOVE the show so much and I want it to be the best it can be, and I like to think I have at least some expertise when it comes to this exact kind of thing so I wanted to share my non-Runescape opinion and see what y'all think and what y'all value and maybe I'm completely off the mark for what GG is trying to do but I'd love to see what you have to say regarding anything I've said.
... I also may have made a Runescape account because I just want to know more about this game and this world because it seems so fun and cool.

Rewatching the show and I’ve noticed that Liz is often extremely nervous around her parents, especially Trent. Like in the episode when Trent was teaching her to drive and she tensed up and Trent got frustrated with her she started crying immediately. And then in a later episode when Liz was driving the go kart and the wheel randomly came off she was on the brink of a panic attack thinking about Trent going off on her. But when Trent came to help her with the gokart he was completely unfazed by it and it made Liz seem anxious for no reason. It also made me think about when amber and Anna got into that huge fight and amber got up to leave, Liz snapped and got mad at Anna for arguing with amber. It’s almost as if Liz has been hyperfixiated on being the golden child that she cannot handle making a mistake even though it’s not her fault. And she also is aware of how badly Anna has been treated for making mistakes and doesn’t want to put herself in that position and so she feels like she has no choice but to constantly make her parents happy. It’s like she has been conditioned into being a people pleaser to her parents. This is concerning because Liz may start to project onto her partner and child aswell.
It’s honestly kind of scary how blatently Mysoginistic they are. They treat their girls like crap and get mad at Liz for being emotional at times and Anna for having behavioral issues as a child but they treat their boys like they are regular human beings without shaming Alex for having emotional/behavioral issues up until middle school and Jonah for literally being the laziest POS. Emma is the youngest daughter so she doesn’t experience the brunt of it. But As a woman and oldest daughter it’s frustrating to watch them constantly have patience and Grace towards Alex for having meltdowns and being bratty at times (as normal children do) and then watching them take away Anna’s clothes and makeup for making a mistake in school and treating her like crap just because she is a bit more playful and doesn’t just follow along with whatever they tell her to do. Like Anna is a young human being that should be able to make mistakes without being shamed or put down and T and A need to be an emotionally safe space for Anna to express how she feels but no. Amber getting up from the table during her and Anna’s disagreement was so incredibly hard to watch because you can tell all Anna wanted was for her mom to support her and give her the peace of mind of a parents unconditional love but instead, amber couldn’t handle the idea of her adult daughter having her own mind and framework of thinking and so she just got up and left. Anna was told her entire adolescent life that she needs to grow up and mature and be independent but as soon as she’s ready to be independent and has demonstrated that she is mature amber can’t handle it???
I hope both Anna and Liz are able to mentally undo the damage that Trent and amber have undoubtedly caused them.

At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.
Surviving the loops was hard enough, but now, in his senior year, Vell Harlan must take charge of them, and deal with the fact that the whole world now knows his secrets. Everyone knows about Vell’s death and resurrection, along with the divine game he is a part of. Now Vell must contend with overly curious scientists and evil billionaires hungry for divine power while the daily doomsday cycle bombards him with terrorists, talking elephants, and the Grim Reaper himself -but if he can endure it all, the Last Goddess’s game promises the ultimate prize: power over life itself.
[Previous Chapter][Patreon][Cover Art]
“This is fun,” Samson said. “I woke up last loop worried about one supervillain, now I get to deal with two!”
“At least one of them is nice,” Hawke groaned. “The other one wants to turn us into some kind of weird fungus crab monster.”
“A Mi-Go,” Helena said.
“Yeah, that’s his name,” Vell said. “How’d you know? You weren’t in the room.”
“I had no idea,” Helena said. “I just know what a Mi-Go is. Those things we got turned into are from the Lovecraft mythos.”
“Horrific creepy monsters made up by a weirdo does seem like your kind of thing,” Samson said.
“His work is foundational to cosmic horror fiction and the study of the Eldritch,” Helena said.
“Oh, right, there’s so much to learn from him,” Samson said. “Tell me more about Lovecraft, like hey, what’d he name his cat?”
After a few seconds of intense contemplation, Helena realized she had been backed into a corner from which there was no escape. Her surrender came in the form of silence.
“Thought so,” Samson said.
“If you two are done bickering, we have actual problems to solve,” Alex said. “I presume the rest of us will be working on Mi-Go while you continue to wrangle your relationship?”
“No, Alex,” Vell said. “Obviously Mi-Go is the bigger priority.”
“But this is really important to Skye,” Kim said.
“I know, I know,” Vell said. “But obviously I need to focus on the mushroom crab monster thing. Best case scenario, I do both, worst case scenario, we stop Mi-Go and I chalk it all up as a big misunderstanding. I mean, who the hell would expect there to be two different supervillains on campus?”
“I suppose that is fair,” Kim said. The sheer absurdity of the circumstances would make anyone forgiving, and Skye was forgiving to begin with.
“Helena, stick with Doc Ragnarok,” Vell said. “Make sure he doesn’t stumble into anything Mi-Go related. Seems like those two have beef.”
“I can do that,” Helena said. “Would you like me to make sure your girlfriend doesn’t get mad at you for being late, too?”
“That’s not the priority right now...but yeah, if you could make an excuse or two, that’d be great.”
“I’ll think about it,” Helena said.
“Alright then, step one: those thugs in the dining hall.”
“You’re bringing me this time,” Kim said.
“Obviously, you think I want my ass beat twice?”
***
The goons fake accents had lasted about two seconds with Kim. The fight had lasted about that long too. One of the few still-conscious goons tried to crawl away, and Kim grabbed them by the ankle to drag them back and hold them upside down.
“Where’s your boss?”
“I don’t know!”
“Answer me!”
Kim clenched a metal fist, and the dangling henchman wriggled with terror.
“Please, I don’t know!”
“Kim, jesus christ,” Vell said. “Put the guy down. We’re not- have you been binging Batman?”
Kim let the guy continue to dangle for a bit.
“Maybe.”
“God,” Vell sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off an approaching headache. “Look, Kim, I get that you’ve got media playing in your head all the time, but you’ve got to switch up the genres more often. You marathon the same thing for days in a row and it starts to rub off on you.”
“It is not,” Kim said.
“Kim, you are dangling a human being by his ankle,” Vell said. “Put him down and turn on some children’s cartoons or something.”
Kim reluctantly dropped the goon, stepped to the side, and queued up some episodes of Tom & Jerry in her head. Vell knelt down and put a hand on the terrified goon’s shoulder.
“Hey, look, I get that you don’t know where the base is,” Vell said. “But you’ve got to know something. Help me out here.”
“The base is mobile,” the goon said. “It’s somewhere under water, probably still close to the island, that’s all I know, I swear.”
“Well, we both know that’s not true,” Vell said. The goon briefly started to sweat, until Vell reached into his tracksuit pocket and pulled out a keycard. He knew exactly where to find it, thanks to the last loop. “There we are. All done.”
Vell patted the thug on the shoulder and then let him flop to the ground to recover from Kim’s Batman-esque beating. He made sure to walk Kim out of eyesight of the thugs, just in case.
“Alright, now we know where to go,” Vell said. He briefly handed the card to Kim, who copied the access codes within before handing it back. “I’ll go get the diving gear.”
“And I’ll go get my swimming body,” Kim said. While her robotic body made underwater ops slightly easier in that she did not need to breathe, it also made her weigh six-hundred pounds, which was less than ideal for swimming.
“I’ll take the front entrance and keep up the super-spy routine, you try and find a back way in and sabotage things in secret,” Vell said.
“Or, hear me out, we both go in the front door and I punch my way through whatever’s in there,” Kim said.
“No, nope,” Vell said. He held up his phone to display an ebook version of Doc Ragnarok’s supervillainy guide. “These people want things to be one-on-one matchups. We go in as a pair, things escalate, and we’ll all get turned into creepy fungus crab monsters.”
“And then melt.”
“And then melt,” Vell said. “I try to avoid provoking people who can melt me.”
“What about-”
“That was an accident,” Vell said. “Come on. I want to try and get this done before Skye realizes I’m doing something else.”
***
Unfortunately for Vell, his girlfriend was very smart.
“Come on, Vell, where are you?”
She paced back and forth through the viewing room, and double-checked the forcefield generator. The first meeting at the dock had gone well enough, but Vell hadn’t been seen since. Their robotic minions hiding out in the lab hadn’t even been touched -at least as far as she knew. She was hoping Vell had taken a stealthy approach. Doc Ragnarok was still perfectly content, as it sometimes took his rivals a long time to make their first appearance, but Skye knew Vell’s competence too well. He was behind schedule.
She did one more lap of the viewing room and then headed for the central room of their lair once again.
“She was in the sheet metal business, and you can imagine how often I had to buy from her store,” Doc Ragnarok said, to a visibly bored Helena. “Obviously we crossed paths frequently, you can see how things got started.”
“Fascinating,” Helena grunted. The only thing worse than a long monologue about Skye’s mother was a second, identical monologue about the exact same thing.
“Hey, Dad, not that I don’t love hearing you talk about the circumstances of my own conception and all, but could I borrow Helena for a minute?”
“Does the death ray need repairs?”
“No, dad, it’s fine,” Skye said. “It’s about...school stuff.”
“Oh, right, well, carry on then,” Doc Ragnarok said. Helena raised an eyebrow, but followed along until they were out of earshot of Skye’s father.
“Do you know what’s going on with Vell?”
“I have no clue,” Helena said. “You’re the girlfriend. Aren’t you supposed to keep him on a leash?”
Skye took a brief pause to contemplate how Helena’s views on relationships had gotten skewed.
“No.”
“Well then neither of us have any idea where he is,” Helena said with a shrug. “You know how he is. Saw a random person who needed help and went off on some side tangent, maybe. I’m sure he’ll catch up once he’s done.”
“Yeah, that does sound like Vell,” Skye said. She had a dreamy smile on her face, which confused Helena. She didn’t think very highly of Vell’s insistence on being helpful.
“You could try giving him a call,” Helena suggested. “Maybe remind him where his priorities should be.”
“I’ll give him a bit,” Skye said. “I can always call him later, see if he’s not too tied up.”
***
Vell was not tied up. Technically it was more like wrapped, or whatever the equivalent word for being held in a tentacle was.
“Got to give you credit, it’s been a long time since something hit the top ten most fucked up things I’ve ever seen,” Vell said. Fours year of looping in he’d seen the best of the worst already, but Mi-Go’s genetic abominations had found their way into his top ten. The purple tendril that held him was actively dissolving and re-solidifying as it coiled around his body, and half-formed eyes occasionally bubbled to the surface to glare at him for a seconds before dissolving back into the bulbous mass.
“Why thank you,” Mi-Go said. He was, thankfully, a regular human, albeit a very old and wrinkled one. Vell had been worried about even more genetic abominations. “I’ve gone to great lengths to accurately recreate the Shoggoths.”
“It shows,” Vell said. He wriggled a little as more shoggoth slime seeped into his coat. His dry-cleaning bill for this tuxedo was going to be insane. “Any chance I can appreciate it from a less slimy angle?”
“Not likely,” Mi-Go said. “Shoggoth! Take him to the prisons and keep him out of the way until my plan has come to fruition.”
“And what plan is that, exactly?”
“That pathetic excuse for a supervillain you were supposed to be thwarting is long overdue to be put in his place,” Mi-Go ranted. “He thinks he can turn his back on our ways, then playact villainy for the benefit of the heroes? Pathetic! He insults the very concept of villainy.”
“He had a kid,” Vell said. “Would you want to blow up a world your daughter lived in?”
“Every woman is someone’s daughter,” Mi-Go said. “Why would I value mine more than anyone else’s?”
“I don’t know, there’s like, paternal bonding, or something,” Vell said. “I don’t know, I’m not a dad, but I know my dad wouldn’t blow me up.”
“Well, we can give him the father of the year award later,” Mi-Go taunted. “Shoggoths! To the prison chamber!”
The slimy abomination started shambling into the deepest pits of Mi-Go’s underwater lair. Vell was dragged along until the Shoggoth reached an all but lightless row of prison cells, and hurled Vell into one. Iron bars slammed shut behind him as Vell picked himself up off the floor and looked around. The cell was completely featureless and empty, but for one human skeleton in the corner. Vell was not particularly bothered by that, since he had seen a lot of human skeletons and could tell at a glance that one was fake.
“Okay. The part where I escape.”
“You want a hand with that?”
Kim was already in place, leaning on the bars of the cell. She had a smug smile displayed on her face already.
“I wouldn’t say no to a way out of here,” Vell said.
“On it, boss.”
Kim grabbed the metal door of the cell and tore it right off its hinges, then threw it across the room. The clatter of metal on metal echoed through the darkened chambers like a warning bell.
“Kim, someone definitely heard that.”
“Yeah, but they don’t know I’m here,” Kim said. “Mi-Go’s going to think you did that, and it’ll scare the shit out of him.”
“It’s still not great for stealth!”
“Because you’re not the stealthy one,” Kim said. “You go for the death ray and keep everybody busy. I’ll cut the power.”
“I notice I’m getting the job that involves the slime monsters here,” Vell said, even as he walked away to fulfill his mission.
“That’s on purpose,” Kim shouted back, before disappearing back into the darkness of the halls. Vell mumbled a few insults under his breath and then got back on track. He fumbled through his slime-covered pocket for his phone and tried to avoid putting it near his face as he called Hawke.
“Hey Hawke, everything coming along nicely on the backup plans?”
“Yeah, Alex says she can use a magic shield to stop the mutagen ray for sure,” Hawke said. “But that’s y’know, Alex.”
“She knows magic, at least,” Vell said. “There’s like, huge weird slime monsters here, so be ready to put that plan into action if things go wrong. I don’t know if I can-”
One of the aforementioned slime monsters grabbed Vell by the ankle and pulled him off his feet. On the other end of the call, Hawke heard a few muffled gurgles, some shouting, and the sound of violence. Hawke waited for a minute, but Vell’s voice never returned.
“That’s probably not good,” Hawke said. Various nightmare scenarios started to flit through his head.
Meanwhile, in the actual scenario, Vell had easily defeated the monster, the only casualty being a thoroughly cracked and slightly slime-soaked phone screen. That was going to take more than some time soaking in rice to fix. He shoved the now-useless phone back into his pocket until he could get it repaired, and got back to business.
The relatively minor hiccup in communication would have been no problem for anyone in any other situation, but since Vell was trying to manage two supervillains at once, it created problems almost immediately. The deep well of Skye’s patience had finally run out, and she called Vell, entirely unaware his phone was broken. She tried a few more times before relenting and calling Samson instead.
“Samson? Do you know where Vell is?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s-” Samson got midway through an explanation before remembering their cover story. “Uh, is he not in your lair right now?”
“No, he hasn’t even visited our minions yet,” Skye said.
“Weird, last I heard, he’d beat up some thugs and stolen a keycard, then headed to an underwater base,” Samson said.
“Underwater? Our base is on the Senior Dorms roof, the secret entrance is literally in my dorm room,” Skye said. “He’s been-”
Skye checked over her shoulder to make sure her dad was out of earshot.
“He’s been there often enough,” Skye said, lowering her voice a little.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Skye,” Samson said. “He’s definitely infiltrating something.”
“That’s...weird. Thanks, Samson, I need to go check on something.”
Skye hung up and stormed across the makeshift lair her father had set up.
“Ah, Skye, I was just telling Helena about your goldfish tank back in third grade,” Doc Ragnarok began.
“I’ll probably survive a change of subject,” Helena said.
“Dad, have you been using human minions again?”
“No, not for a while,” Doc Ragnarok said. “I’d love to, but the Union makes it hard to hire them on to non-standard jobs like mine.”
“And is any part of this lair underwater?”
“Not unless this island is flooding,” Doc Ragnarok said.
“Then why the hell is Vell infiltrating an underwater lair with human minions?”
Doc Ragnarok shrugged, and Helena tried her best to look clueless.
“Hold on,” Skye said. “I think I still have a deep sea scanner in my dorm.”
The fact that she was a reasonable human being amid a sea of self-interested sociopaths meant Skye often did lab work in her dorm room, far removed from the rest of the Marine Biology department. She made her way through the hastily constructed secret tunnel, hoping to bump into Vell heading the other way, but was disappointed. Unlike her boyfriend, Skye’s scanner was right where she’d left it, and she plugged in a quick scan of the seas below the artificial island. Since the scanner was calibrated to find very small fish, it picked up the massive underwater skull fortress with relative ease. Skye hustled back up the secret tunnel.
“Hey Dad! You’d remember if you had a massive underwater skull fortress, right?”
“Probably.”
“And you don’t have one?”
“Not here.”
“Then whose skull fortress is this?”
Skye held out the scan of the fortress, and Doc Ragnarok’s brows furrowed instantly.
“Mi-Go.”
“You know that just from looking?”
“You don’t? The skull is very distinctive, dear, every supervillain has their own unique design.”
“Huh. I must have flunked out before I got to that part of supervillain lessons,” Skye said. “Who’s this Mi-Go guy?”
“Someone especially upset that I still operate as a ‘supervillain’ while cooperating with the law,” Doc Ragnarok explained. “He’s spent just about every year since you were born trying to get me banned from the annual Supervillain Potluck!”
“Is he the guy who got your speech at the 2015 conference canceled?”
“No, that was...I was hungover, Skye,” Doc Ragnarok mumbled. Skye gasped with offense.
“You told me you were so grumpy because you were upset!”
“You were twelve!”
“I’ve been not twelve for a long time,” Skye snapped.
“It hasn’t been relevant!”
Helena cleared her throat loudly. She had been privy to too much personal information about their family already.
“Do you need something, Helena?”
“No, but I think maybe you need to do something about the other supervillain,” Helena said. “The one who is pointedly more ‘villain’ than us and our ‘death’ ray.”
“Do we? It was rude of Mi-Go to show up, that I’ll admit,” Doc Ragnarok said. “But if Vell’s a competent hero, as he appears to be, he should be fine.”
“We need to help him anyway, dad,” Skye said.
“I’m not really equipped for an actual combat scenario, Skye,” Doc Ragnarok said. “I have some robot minions with foam darts and a ‘death ray’ that's effectively a very powerful laser pointer.”
“Well we have to help anyway!”
“Why?”
“Because- be- ugh,” Skye groaned. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists. “Because Vell’s my boyfriend!”
The lightning-bolt shaped black streak in Doc Ragnarok’s hair got a little smaller as a few more of his hairs turned grey.
“He’s what?”
“My boyfriend, Dad,” Skye said. “I am dating Vell Harlan!”
“Dating- Did he seduce you to thwart me?”
“No!”
“Damn it,” Doc Ragnarok sighed. Skye’s offense turned to confusion.
“Why do you sound disappointed?”
“You’re a supervillain’s daughter, the hero is supposed to seduce you to the side of good in order to thwart me,” Doc Ragnarok said. “Happens all the time. The other villains keep bothering me about when you’re going to find a nice hero to settle down and betray me with.”
“Wh- No, Vell did not seduce me,” Skye said. “I mean, he did, sort of, but not in the context of- I’ve been dating him for a like a year, Dad.”
“You’ve been dating him for a year and you never mentioned it?”
“It hasn’t been relevant!”
Skye put her hands on her hips and stared at her father as he did the same. Helena cursed her crutches, which made it impossible to back away slowly. She settled for turning around and walking away at a brisk pace, only to turn around again, in sheer confusion, as the father and daughter started to laugh.
“Alright,” Doc Ragnarok said. “Let’s go save your boyfriend.”
“Please don’t make it weird, Dad.”
“Too late!”

Ambessa Medarda.
So just re-watched Arcane and am now so certain its Ambessa.

1. Mel is told early on that she is 'the richest woman' in Piltover, yet her response is to remark that she is the poorest Medarda. This implies that House Medarda or maybe even Noxus in general is far richemore powerful than Piltover (I dont know League lore). They are certainly more militaristic and they encompass territory that goes beyond a single city state.
   
2. Silco is the defacto leader of Zaun. If he has a boss then it wasnt shown. The only real check to Silco's authority in Zaun are the other Chembarons (and his wildcard daughter) who are still basically his subordinates. This bigger fish than Silco cant be a Zaunite.
   
3. Silco's trading partners. Silco was attempting to smuggle Shimmer out of the city in episode 4 expanding his operation via the Hexgates. But who is picking up the Shimmer at the other end? Well we know that the Hexgates are used to trade with Noxus, we also know Ambessa was keen for new weapons. Why not Shimmer?
   
4. The biggest clue is immediately after the scene where Finn references the 'bigger fish' we cut to the arrival of Ambessa Medarda and the Medarda crest.
   
5. This one is tenuous but I cant help but feel the 'threats beyond our walls' is a reference to Noxus. Indeed I think by the end of the war between Piltover and Zaun we will see them forming a temporary alliance to face a Noxus attack/invasion.
   

If you don't have time to read this, or would like a video explanation for this article that will help you understand this better here is the link:
https://youtu.be/ThiGc8ZyDew?si=rpBCadX-0DDFRUm-
Why do we do what we do as MEN.
From the beginning of time, all living things on this planet have evolved to survive and reproduce. Meaning that with each generation there are new ways of looking at life and how to navigate it in a way that prolongs our lifespan and carries on these survival traits to the next generation. Hence, we as men, are more inclined to build ourselves throughout our lives. Most of the time we are not given anything, and are then placed in a position of improvement in order to be respected, looked up to, and in order to survive. Yet, you will also notice that it is not just one aspect of improvement that “does it”, no. For example: an individual might build themselves to have a lot of financial success, yet if they are not in shape, well that will always be the weakest link of the chain (remember the strength of a chain is measured by its weakest link). If the same individual now is in shape, and has finances yet is not in control of his emotions, well that will be his downfall. If that individual has the finances, is in shape, and has control over his emotions, yet is not in control of his sexual desires, well that will be his downfall. Do you notice a pattern here? In order to prolong survival and reproduce the genes necessary for the next generation to outlive and out survive the previous one, that individual needs to be improving themselves in ALL aspects of their lives in order to do so. (Does that make sense?)
With that said, let’s take a look at how the brain works in our bodies in order to instill and motivate that behavior and what needs to happen in order to align yourself back on the track of survival and reproduction. Let’s dive in.
How does your brain instill and motivate actions that lead to increased chances of survival and reproduction.
Our brains are one of the most complex organs in our bodies that scientists and doctors have yet to fully crack open and understand, yet are pretty darn close in today’s day and age. Let’s take a look at how the brain motivates and rewards the behavior and action that leads you to increasing your chances of survival and reproduction. There are two main drivers of ACTION and RESULTS that your brain has control over when it is in a healthy state (no addictions or substances that alter this.)
These drivers of action and results are being represented by two main chemicals in the brain, dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine is a chemical the instills and rewards the ACTION that an individual does in order to increase chances of survival and reproduction. Serotonin is a chemical that instills and rewards the COMPLETION of a task that increases your chances of survival and reproduction (following me so far?)
How pornography use hijacks your primal reward systems of your brain that drives survival and reproduction.
What did a man have to do thousands of years ago to mate and reproduce an offspring with a woman who had large breasts, hips, butt, and had a pretty face? Well, that man had to BE someone, and in order for the individual to BE someone, they had to WORK on themselves first. For example: That man had to be strong enough in order to outlive and out survive other hunters, warriors, environmental challenges, etc. That man had to become a LEADER of a tribe that created an environment of safety and protection that would place that woman in an environment where she can be vulnerable for 9 months that it takes to go through the pregnancy period that leads to birth and not fucking die. (Does that make sense?)
Understanding that is crucial to understanding how adult content completely twists that process in your brain. Let’s take a look at what happens when an individual starts watching porn and how it leads to what you are experiencing now (keep reading, we are getting close.)
When a man starts watching porn, your brain (since it does not have eyes) thinks that you IMMEDIATELY became that LEADER, that MAN of MEN, that GOD walking amongst this earth. Since you have access to all these “hot”,” busty”,” prime” women that only the top of the top elite men has access to that have WORKED on themselves and BECAME those top elite men, now your brain perceives that you are now that and now longer need to be DRIVEN to do anything else, since it believes that you have already WON. (Does that make sense?)
Hence, now your brain is REWARDING you for being around all of these “prime” women, and not rewarding you for the PROCESS of becoming that man in order to be with those women in real life. How does your brain reward you in this instance? Your brain rewards you with a HUGE amount of dopamine when you are starting to indulge in the sexually explicit material, and because the dopamine chemical is responsible for the ACTION (remember what dopamine is responsible for instilling from earlier) you find yourself endlessly scrolling and going from page to page to page to page (sounds familiar)?
This process keeps going on and on and on until your brain is so overstimulated and is swimming in so much dopamine that you end up “releasing” or “relapsing” in this case. This repeated action over time leads to the brain starting to counteract this overstimulation by releasing enzymes that start to block and fortify your receptors in the brain from further damage and stimulation.
After years and perhaps decades of this repeated behavior, your brain is no longer able to RE-ABSORD the dopamine that is getting released during the indulgence in explicit material due to the fortification that it has built up in the billions upon billions of receptors that drive the behavior of confidence, fulfillment, motivation, drive, and achievement. This leads to the next step in the process of this abyss of misery. The individual then finds themselves not being interested in the content that they were indulging in, now they start seeking more erotic content, more extreme content to get the same “feeling” or “euphoria”. You find yourself watching more content that is more aggressive, more violent, more extreme (BDSM, Orgies, Trans, Gay, Shemale categories, etc.)
This cycle continues until your brain has build up so much defenses around itself to the point of where it starts shutting down your sexual organs (hence the occurrence of the porn induced erectile disfunction symptoms that is starting to be widely recognized today) that you no longer feel like human being anymore. You start thinking that you are not worthy of life, you start getting depressed, you start getting anxiety, and start avoiding other individuals (sound familiar?) Alright, we are getting closer, keep reading.
At this moment is when an individual is starting to recognize that this is becoming a problem and start seeking solutions whether it be online, in person therapy sessions, doctor visits, etc. This is very crucial to recognize since when you realize that this is a problem, getting rid of it is going to be much, MUCH more difficult, and hence why this is going to be the most difficult journey that a man will go through perhaps even in their life. (Hence 95% of men fail, and do not go through this process.)
When you decide to stop this destructive habit. Your brain will start PUNISHING you for this since it now thinks that you have lowered your value/status (remember what it was thinking when you were “impregnating” all those “hot” women on the screen) and is not able to attract those women any longer. This is when you start feeling body aches, mood swings, psychotic mental events, depression, absolutely no libido, etc. On top of all of that the absolute fortresses that your brain has built up around its dopamine receptors over decades do not allow any amount of dopamine to be absorbed if at all, leading to an even darker hole of misery. (Following me so far?)
You will not find motive to conversate with other individuals thinking that something is wrong with you. Regular woman will be of no interest to you. Your dick will not work, hence the reference to the “flatline” term to describe this occurrence.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at what starts to happen OVER TIME and yes, a very VERY LONG TIME after completely getting rid of anything that got you here in the first place.
After getting rid of anything that overstimulates the reward system in your brain (social media, links, magazines, tv series, movies, anything that makes you think of going back) your brain starts to chisel away at those fortified walls it has build around itself. (Described in the Month 2-3 state in the “Gentlemen, holy shit” article) hence this being the crucial moment to stat instilling better habits during this time (start eating healthier foods, start reading books, start going to the gym, start going to dance classes, etc). Since after about months 3-6 of abstaining from overstimulation your brain starts to reabsorb some of the dopamine that it REWARDS you with when you are instilling those BETTER HABITS. (Does that make sense?)
This results in the seeing the “light at the end of the tunnel” moments after months 3-6, since your brain is starting to re absorb the dopamine that it is rewarding you with due to you putting int the ACTION of improving yourself.
As your brain is starting to chisel away more and more of the fortifications, you will start feeling more driven, more inspired, more motivated to do things that before you had absolutely no motive to do. (Look at what I am doing now, I have never done this before.)
You will start getting more and more aligned with the PRIMAL driving factors and rewards from your brain that place you in the position of constant improvement in order to SURVIVE and REPRODUCE. This is what attracts the opposite sex (hint, hint.) Overtime you will start finding even the most “basic” or “regular” looking people kind of attracting. You will start having a want and drive to conversate and build relationships with other individuals in order to increase your chances of survival and reproduction (You see how it all ties into this process?)
Please let me know if I have missed anything or did not cover, or if you are looking for more clarification on this since this very complex topic. Looking forward to your response, have a great rest of your day.

I’ve struggled to find this for a while, I hope I remember what happened correctly. I believe it was some sort of Asian drama, and was not in English so I have no idea what they were saying.
It starts off with four guys coming home I believe and seem drunk, there are four red drinks suspiciously awaiting them once they come home, and they drink them without a second thought. The next morning all four guys wake up only to realise they’ve become women. They all are chased out of the bedroom they slept in by a woman with a broom, and they head off to some hang out doit if I remember correctly? It looked like broken down bud that they filled with lights and stuff?
After a conversation between them, they go shopping ton the mall for new clothes and all get dressed up nicely as girls. We see there is some kind of unknown figure in a separate shot (who preseumably left the drink’s maybe?) but I’m not sure if this persons relevance as I didn’t get that far in the story. After this mysterious figure is introduced to us, the four “girls” are seemingly sent though a portal back in time to ancient times, landing in an oriental type village. From there I believe they end up in some kind of school designed that teaches women to be “proper ladies”? This is purely what I got from the visuals.
After that I have no idea what happened, I should also mention this was over the course of maybe two or three episodes, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere without a name. Can anyone help?

~Gun Mage Episode 1: The Beginning of Something New~
~Planet: Azuria~
As a mage of the School of Destruction, I’m not gonna lie, doing paperwork was not my favorite thing to do. I guess it’s not very many people’s favorite, but I could alter the fabric of reality to blow stuff up so it’s extra boring. What’s worse was that my desk was full of it, mission reports I hadn’t filled out, artifact descriptions that needed to be filed, all of it was a testament to my procrastination.
I turned to my monitor and logged in to find an alert popup on my feed. It was from Doctor Isabela Silva. Most guys would have loved to receive a message from the gorgeous Sansarian woman, but I was not one of those guys. Whenever she sent me a message, it was always about to be a task and a half, but I’d become one of her most reliable friends, much to my misfortune. I pressed the popup on my screen to reveal a message saying that she’d be at my office nine am. After taking a look at the chrono it was about nine am in about three minutes, well so much for organizing my office before she arrived.
Almost as if my thoughts summoned her, I heard a ping from the set of double doors, as the A.I. announced, “Dr. Silva is here to see you sir.”
“Yeah, yeah let her in.” I answered, and she came strolling through the open doors. She was a light blue skinned woman, with dark blue tentacles that fell around her shoulders, each one had a gold ring at the end of it. She was shapely, with fins that protruded from her forearms and calves. She had finned ears and a set of sapphire eyes that pierced the soul. All of this was complemented by her lab coat and an insulated cybernetic mesh that left little to the imagination.
She walked into my office, observing the scattered books on the floors and some on the little tables I’d left open, then smiled at me, “Your office is in impeccable shape as always.”
“We aim to please.” She chuckled, but my demeanor grew serious, “So what’d you need?”
“I need a favor, but I’m guessing this time, it might be a welcome change of pace.” She gestured at my paperwork. I sighed; this woman knew me too well. She came walking towards my desk then sat atop, and gave me one of her famous smiles, the same one that turned so many men into mush, “But I can tell you while we take a little walk around the academy, it’s been forever since we spent time together.”
“That’s because every time we spend time together, you inevitably ask for something nonsensical.”
She laughed, “And whose fault is that?” I huffed as she continued, “Look, I can only rely on you, considering that most only have naughty intentions when they do me a favor. Besides, taking a walk with me isn’t the worst thing you could be doing, and it’ll get you back in the action instead of filing documents.” She turned to look at the snow coming down over the mountain tops through my viewport since I had a nice view of the peaceful, snowy landscape.
“Fine, fine, lead the way.” She began to walk back toward the elevator across the well-polished polymer floors. I followed a moment afterwards, but not before I grabbed my revolver whom I affectionately named Hunter, and put it in the holster on the back of my robes. We walked past the furnished waiting room to the elevator on the other side. We got into the elevator and she leaned against the back wall as we came down towards the training halls. The elevator had a glass lookout and we could see a few mages in the arena. I looked out to see a young boy and girl facing off against a few training robots while their master watched over them. It was a plain looking arena and the master was an old coot who went by the name Ebenezer Cleide. He looked like the stereotypical wizard, you know the type, brown robes pointy had, but he was a good mentor and teacher for young mages.
“Did you ever think about taking on a student?” Izzy asked.
“No, why?”
“Because you’d make a great teacher, and because there are a lot of students that look up to you.” I stayed silent, after all, part of why I was around was to hunt rogue mages. A life of violence was not one to teach the young to adore. I turned back to face her as she came to watch alongside me. We came to the second floor of the training arena where we came to the railing to spectate the rest of the match. On the bottom floor were the two students, one was a Nymean a girl with four arms, and black skin with gold runes running through her skin. The other was a lizard like boy who had all red scales and a cobra like head, a Tarak. The training bots had the two surrounded, but at least the girl looked confident. The young Tarak seemed a bit nervous, beginning to form haphazard hand signs, but before he could perform his spell, the bots shot him with a stun round that knocked him out cold.
The girl cursed at his failing but remained calm, placing two of her hands together and letting the two orbs from her other hands float. Her eyes lit ablaze with purple fire which caused the orbs to fire bolts to destroy three of the bots. The other students began to cheer, next to Master Cleide, but unfortunately the girl lost focus which allowed the remaining bots to shoot her in the back, knocking her down to the ground. I could hear the old man begin to lecture them, while Isabela continued, “I suppose I had an idea, that might put you in charge of a very interesting apprentice.”
“And you mentioned this to me now, why do I have a distinct feeling that you already suggested this to the headmaster.”
“I did, we’re just waiting on you to agree.”
“What makes you think I would?”
“Arxor Academy is the home of mages, wizards, sorcerers, and witches. Not every country understands that, besides, the mage in question is a boy I tried to mentor back when I was still in Bastion’s army. He’s a kid on the wrong side of the tracks, but he’s trying to use his power for good. You’ve got a rare compassion for people that have it rough, and you’re not like the others, so stuck in the rules that you can’t adapt to an unconventional student.”
So, she wanted me to take on a student who, more than likely was an outlaw at this point, has issues with authority, and he would hate someone like me. While I didn’t have the most troubled childhood, my experiences as a rogue mage hunter would have driven most people insane. I suppose she thought a student wouldn’t be worse than surviving the obnoxious situations I’d been in. That said, I wasn’t about to take on a student when there were far better teachers here, “I’ll look for the kid, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be his teacher. My hands are far too dirty to teach him in the right way. He needs someone who isn’t steeped in the violence mage hunters are accustomed to. People like Master Cleide down there would give him a far better education.” That excuse should work.
“Whatever you say.” She said then we began to walk to the other side of the arena. We walked down a set of stairs that led to a massive door that opened automatically when we came close. The hall was massive allowing for the passage of many students, while large statues of legendary mages stood sentinel.
For a moment we passed several hurrying students in a rush to their next classes, before I finally asked, “Tell me a bit more about this kid.”
“Well, he specializes in magic that’s consistent with the School of the Unseen. When last I saw him, he used three catalysts, each a silver ball that can’t be separated from him. Each one can turn into an eye with varying effects. His name is Zerik Shin.”
“So, where’s he at?”
“Bastion, Slade City.” I thought about that for a minute. Bastion was not a very friendly nation when it came to mages. The Western Continent as a whole went through a phase of religious nut jobs verses mages, and it tore nations like Bastion apart. Now they’re about as atheist and anti-magic as it gets. On top of all that, Slade City was literally one of the most run-down cities on the planet. Plagued with crime and society’s unwanted, it was a cesspit for the most dangerous criminals known to man.
“That’s a hard sell Izzy, even if he’s a prodigy.” I said, but she turned back and smiled as we passed a small door on the left side, where the infirmary and her office were, “I know, but you can handle it. I owe you one Jaden.”
“Wait I haven’t,” She disappeared into the infirmary leaving me in the halls, surrounded by the incoming students. I sighed, there was so little information, how was I supposed to find this kid? I looked up at the ceiling and stared at the fluorescent lights then began to proceed towards the end of the hall. I walked past a few doors then came to a decorated door on the left that led to one of Arxor Academy’s libraries. The enormous room had shelves stacked high with data slates and books from bygone eras. Magic theory piled on high at least four floors worth of knowledge in this library alone.
Mankind had figured out so much about the Wyrd and how it bestowed magic to each of us in such unique ways, but there was always more to know, more to see. I walked through the black carpeted library to one of the tables and sat, pulling up a menu from the holo-table. I selected a book on the School of the Unseen magic to try and understand the way a mage with this kind of magic thought and acted. This was generally the process when I started hunting, finding out how their magic worked and adapting my own in a way that was an effective counter.
Aside from just finding a needle in a haystack, there was the fact that this kid specialized in the School of the Unseen, which meant his magic would make him difficult to detect through magic sense alone. I sighed as a hover-bot brought me the requested book. It was from a scholar on the School of the Unseen, a tome from the Izra Hizen, an infamous assassin known for killing one of the last emperors of the east.
“About to head off on another of Isabela’s little request?” A voice behind me said, only for me to find that it was a human the rest of the academy called “Lancelot.” He was known as the Blade Mage, using melee weapons as his catalyst. He was tremendously powerful, and frustratingly enough he considered me his rival. I hadn’t wanted that, but whenever we sparred the matches were close, with the winner only narrowly eking out victory. He wore a set of armor that looked like a knight’s armor, but fashioned after our modern power armor that was silver with red secondary colors. A cloak of scarlet was draped around his shoulders, pressed down by a vibrant white gold and blue sword he named “Excalibur.”
He had a rugged face with pale skin, and he wore his hair short. He was what most women found attractive, and he drew stares wherever he went. Behind him were a few mages, he called his disciples, all of which had an arrogant look about them. Amongst them were a few ladies that most jokingly referred to as his “fan girls.” Oddly enough the one woman he wanted attention from was Dr. Silva, so it’s no wonder he was here. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch our exchange, how rude could they be? I wanted to scream “mind your own business!” but that would just play into his hands.
I gave him my usual unimpressed look, fighting desperately to suppress the urge to slap the taste out of his mouth, “I haven’t quite accepted the request yet.”
“Well then, perhaps I can help? After all I have a few friends that could help me find, well whatever it is that she’s looking for a bit faster.”
“Nah, I think I’ll be fine.” I was lying of course, but I felt like being contrary. I looked at the man and at his little flunkies who gave me hard looks. “Besides, I figure a guy like you would have far too much to do to help out with such a small request.” I gave him an infuriating smile, both of us staring daggers into the other.
“Alright my friend, well, I’d better get to that important task. I envy you, you know, but one day I’ll show you that I’m the greatest mage alive.” He finished then walked back out of the library. I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling while others returned their attention back to what they were doing. I smiled ruefully wondering whether Izzy told that bastard I’d agreed just so that he’d come see me and ensure I took her little request. I took a few more moments in the library, before I left to begin making preparations for the long trip south.

So I haven’t seen anybody posts about this, and I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed this!
I just ended watching the Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated season 2, loved the ending. And then instead of netflix recommending other shows at the end of a series like it usually does - it gives the “next episode” treatment and loops back to s1e1
Now is this some genius way of concluding the plot in a way to make you think it’s literally a loop or that there’s always more mysteries- or is it just a netflix bug. I checked multiple times however and it always does that. So it seems intentional. Does anyone else know about this? Any theories or was this ever confirmed it having some meaning?

Only one scene my wife and I remember, is that a retired (mexican/latino) detective was sniffing around a case because he wanted to solve it, he later realised that a fellow cop is actually the criminal, he gets invited to some house where he finds a car that their suspect drives (its some accomplice from the cop) they climb up the stairs and the guy tells the main character something like "hes gonna kill us" a shoot out breaks out in the house and thats all we remember.
Minor details, while the shoot out was happening, there were kids in the backyard, One of the people in the house had an injury on the eye or something
My wife and I mostly use HBO/Netflix and we only watch Thrillers/Drama/Mystery Movies or Shows/Limited Series (usually from one to 2-3 seasons max. No more than that) Since we remember only ONE scene we're assuming this is most likely eithet a movie or a series of like 5-7 episodes.
Thanks yall

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AS ALWAYS, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ARCHON QUEST.

Please do not continue down this thread if you have not finished the archon quest and/or story spoilers significantly impact your experience.

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Road Not Taken, Anime Megathread

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Archon Quest Chapter IV: Act VI, Bedtime Story

You arrive at the Adventurers' Guild in Sumeru. Katheryne seems to have a very tricky commission for your docket, you need to track down a missing man.

Cold Case Commission

• Atossa: Every time we talked, it always seemed to be around dusk. Time always passed by really slowly. Even when it felt like we'd been talking for hours, the sun would still be at the same position in the sky.
  • Paimon: Well, time always seems to pass slower when you're relaxed, right?
    • MC: Based on what we've learned, this is definitely not a regular missing person's case. What Atossa just told us about time could be the key to unraveling this whole mystery.

Memories That Should Not Exist

That mysterious voice MC heard in their siblings memory, the one who called himself a Sinner, who is he?

• Dain: Let me ask you this; do you believe your sibling to have betrayed you?
  • MC: I want to have faith in them.
    • Dain: I sense hesitation in your words. After all, you still haven't figured out the whole truth of what happened. There's still hope for the two of you to reconcile. Irreparable damage has not yet been done. The Sinner you wish to know about, his situation is different. He and his fellow sinners have long betrayed me, and long betrayed their nation. His name is Vedrfolnir, "The Visionary." I'm loath to admit it, but he is also my kin. My older brother.

What happened between the two of you?

• Dain: There were five of them, the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah. One day, I shall have my vengeance.

1. "The Wise" Hroptatyr
2. "The Visionary" Vedrfolnir: Dain's brother, Vedrfolnir, is the voice of the Sinner who inspired Chlothar to create the Abyss Order.
3. "Gold" Rhinedottir: Rhinedottir is the one who created Albedo
4. "The Foul" Surtalogi: Surtalogi is Skirk's master
5. "Rächer of Solnari" Rerir

• MC: If that's true, then the stone slates we found in that ruin in Fontaine, the ones that outlined Fontaine's prophecy, that was likely Vedrfolnir's doing as well.
• Dain: They were once people of great esteem in Khaenri'ah, those who carried the hopes of the nation. They were the best of their peers, outstanding in their respective fields. The six of us, together should have been the ones to prevent the disaster, the ones to stop the Vinster King from continuing to rock the foundation of the world. Yet, deep within, the five of them craved something more. They could not resist the call of the Abyss, and divided among themselves a power that could destroy the world. So they became Sinners, but also transcendent beings, each in possession of world-shattering power. When the cataclysm occurred, not one of them stood up in defense of their nation, not one came forward to prevent the tragedy, and for that, they shall never have my forgiveness

Dain what have you been looking into all this time?

• Dain: I've continued to investigate the questions surrounding the Loom of Fate. It's been quite some time since the initial operation was launched. By retrieving the eye of the first Field Tiller, we were able to stop part of their plan from coming to fruition; However, it's obvious that was just some kind of technical experiment. The eye was integral to their plan, yet somehow, despite failing to obtain it, they've skipped the experimental phase and found some other way to keep moving forward. Our most pressing concern is to determine the purpose of the Loom of Fate. From there, we'll be able to deduce the Abyss Order's true objective. Based on the intel I've gathered so far, I suspect the Loom of Fate is related to the Ley Lines in some way. Traveler, you were able to observe your sibling's memories last time. I believe that was due to the fact that the Ley Lines in that area were unstable. My recent investigation has shown that Abyss Order activity in a particular area is usually followed by a series of issues with the Ley Lines.

---

• Dain: There appear to be certain memories in my mind that weren't there before. Memories of the missing villager. It wasn't a dream. They're memories; memories that suddenly appeared in my mind after I woke up. I'm certain I've never met this person before. I remember handing him the eye of the first Field Tiller. It appears he possesses the ability to "implant" memories into the minds of others.
• Dain: Whatever the Abyss Order is planning, an important truth has been revealed to us this morning. Their goal is still to obtain the eye of the first Field Tiller. I am the only person who knows its location. Perhaps implanting that particular memory was an attempt to interfere with my mind in some way. I don't believe the Abyss Order is capable of altering reality like that just yet; However, considering their single-minded pursuit of the eye, I would say an equal level of caution is in order on our part. We must check whether the eye is still in our possession.

---

• Dain: Just as I suspected; The false memories were a trap. The Abyss Order just wanted to follow us here. Now that they're in the vicinity, we should have a chance to see-- Argh...! Can you feel that? There's been a disturbance in the Ley Lines. It must be the work of the Abyss.
  • Paimon: Wow, you must be really sensitive to that sort of thing. Paimon doesn't feel it.
    • Dain: You two, use that mechanism over there and leave this place. The Abyss Order is putting something in motion. If you return to Vimara Village, I suspect you might finally have the opportunity to locate the missing villager. Just think of it as a way to divide and conquer.
    • MC: Alright. (Dain does have a point. But, something still feels off. What am I missing?)
• Dain: I knew going along with your trap would be the only way to meet with you face to face.
  • Abyss Sibling: You risked your safety and that of the eye. That's quite the gamble, Dainsleif. But I believe that I am the one walking into a trap laid by the Twilight Sword.
• Dain: So you came here all on your own? What about those followers of yours?
  • Abyss Sibling: When the Twilight Sword is prepared for battle, any army I could send would only be marching to their doom. Better that I face you alone. I know you must have a lot to say, but if it's a conversation you want, you'll have to defeat me first.

---

World-Order Narration

• Paimon: We're in someone else's memory, just like how you entered your sibling's memory last time! That would also explain why we seem to be at a time before he went missing, it's a memory, after all. If the missing person is someone who only exists in people's memories, then we're finally on the same turf! But, Bahram just said he saw him leave the village with someone? Where should we go look for him.
• MC: Let's go through what we know so far.
  • We pretty much figured out that the missing villager has the ability to implant memories into the minds of others. Lets try to figure out a bit more about him using what we know of his ability. Does it maybe leave a trace that would somehow give him away?
    • MC: (Implanting memories into the minds of others must be an imperfect process. There's no way the new memories could perfectly blend in with the old ones. There has to be some kind of tell)
• Paimon: All this time, and the sky hasn't changed a bit. That must mean time isn't passing! That's the tell of the fake memories! The implanted memories are basically taking place outside the regular twenty-four hours of the day. If the memories included the regular passage of time, it would be easy for people to tell that something was off. Like, there could be overlap or something. People might start to wonder why they remember doing two different things at the same time of day. That's why he makes sure the memories take place at a specific moment in time, rather than over a period of time.
  • MC: If we consider this in conjunction with what we already know, then the question of whose memory this is seems to have an obvious answer.
    • Paimon: This is definitely Atossa's memory!

---

• Atossa: So, you see, Granny Jehiet was a mercenary when she was younger. She just talks like that out of habit. She's not trying to scare the children on purpose, hehe. Oh, there I go again... always talking about my own things. Do you, maybe, have anything you want to share? Um... It's okay if you don't. You could also just Talk about what you think of me?
  • Caribert: I think you're an incredibly strong and thoughtful young woman. You'll meet many amazing people and live a very happy life. You won't miss someone like me...
    • Atossa: Are those your friends over there?
• MC: We finally found him. But why does he look kind of familiar?
  • Caribert: Friends? I guess you could say that. It must have taken them a lot of effort to find me. So I should see what they need. I'm sorry, Atossa. We'll have to continue this conversation another time.
    • Atossa : Another time, yeah! Okay! I'll head back to the village, then. Talk to you some other time!
• Caribert : It's nice to see you. I believe this is the first time we've met.
  • MC: You're Caribert Alberich.
    • Caribert: You know me? That's quite the surprise. I don't believe I've met you before. Ah, I see. It was the memory, wasn't it? Your sibling's memory. You saw the me from back then. This is Atossa's memory. I came here to say goodbye to her. But, I suppose I'll just leave her a message instead. Let's find somewhere else to talk.

---

• Caribert: In the new world, they bade farewell to the shrouded sun. You see? We're both still here. In the end, he whispered softly.
• Paimon: Hey, look at those Hilichurls over there.
  • MC: They seem strangely calm?
    • Paimon: Weren't they acting super agitated just a little while ago? Why are they so calm all of a sudden?

---

• MC: What is this place?
  • Caribert: I suppose you could call it the realm of my consciousness. I'm someone who no longer exists in the real world, after all... as you well know. Ah, it's nothing. I still have enough strength to play the part of a good host. I've always hoped that I'd get the chance to talk to you like this, and now, the time has finally arrived.

What exactly happened to you?

• Caribert: Extreme sorrow and pain. Hope and regret coursing through your veins and a degree of Abyssal power that defies comprehension. Father told me that once I possessed all those elements, I would become the Loom of Fate. But, despite his intentions for me, I never truly became the Loom of Fate. I was merely used as a means for its "construction." In truth, I died the moment I set everything in motion. The "person" you see before you now is nothing but a remnant of consciousness leftover within the Loom of Fate.
  • MC: (Caribert is dead. That's why he no longer exists outside of people's memories.)

What is the Loom of Fate

• Caribert: The Loom of Fate is a device capable of weaving Ley Lines. In its primitive form, it can only be used to create and implant memories. But, as more of it is completed, its power becomes stronger and stronger. Until finally, it has the power to weave real Ley Lines of its own. Once fully completed, the moment it gains the power to weave Ley Lines, it loses the lower-level ability to influence memories; but it also becomes a tool that can change the entire world.
  • MC: That was the source of your ability to implant memories?
    • Caribert : Yes. I have the ability to control the Loom in its semi-completed form. I suppose you could think of it as a form of compensation. After all, its existence cost me my life.
    • MC: (So the memories that suddenly appeared in Dain's mind were implanted by Caribert through the half-finished Loom of Fate. I'm still lost as to why he went so far as to "introduce" himself to all the residents of Vimara Village.)

Why did you implant memories of yourself

• Caribert: I was wrong to implant those memories. I just wanted them to feel like I once existed in this world. As if I had a chance at life.
  • MC: (So that's why. I would have never guessed. But is there any kind of meaning to this? Does only existing in people's memories really count as living?)
    • Caribert: I know what you must be thinking. Why would I do something so meaningless. But I just couldn't accept it. I had to know what it would be like if I had my own life — what kind of person I would be, what other people would think of me. What would it be like if I could live alongside them — no cataclysm, no curse, just a quiet life in a peaceful village. I was curious, so I selfishly tried to have my own life. Even if that meant piecing together the version of myself that could have been, one memory at a time. I know it sounds stupid. After all my life ended a long time ago. Any chance at living was stripped away from me when I was eight years old, my consciousness left to mature in an illusory world of nothingness. Even the form you see before you is nothing but an invention based on my father's appearance — an imagined version of what I would look like if I had had the chance to grow up.
• MC: You know everyone is looking for you.
  • Caribert: I know but, there's nothin I can do to make them find me. If I could exist in the real world, I would return without a second thought and surprise them with the suddenness of it all. But that's not possible for me.
    • MC: As I understand it, even though you only appeared in their memories, they all believe you once lived among them. Well, now that I've found you, let's continue this conversation some other time. Dain might still need my help.
• Caribert: Captain Dainsleif, Twilight Sword? No need to meet up with him. Things should already be settled on his end. As someone who could only exist in people's memories, the fact that I'm able to talk to you in my consciousness like this can only mean one thing; The Loom of Fate has already been completed.
• Caribert: No need to worry about Captain Dainsleif. The only reason he lost the eye was because I happened to guess exactly what he was planning. Captain Dainsleif has had the eye inside his body this whole time. His plan was to lure the Abyss Order to a false location, capitalizing on their pursuit of the eye in order to have the chance to confront Abyss Sibling. He would then hand the eye to you, and tell you to take it away from that location. That way, Captain Dainsleif could accomplish his own goal and ensure the safety of the eye all at once — a very thorough plan.
  • MC: But Dain never handed me the eye
• Caribert: That's right. Because, in his mind, he had given it to you already. Before you two entered that false location. That was when I implanted the memory of him handing you the eye.
  • MC: (So when Dain froze up back then, it was because a false memory was being implanted in his mind)
• Caribert: Given the tense situation at that time, Captain Dainsleif failed to notice anything out of the ordinary and took that memory to be real. I'm sorry, but I needed the Loom of Fate to be completed, and to do that, we had to retrieve the eye.
  • MC: (So, Dain had the eye this whole time until the Abyss Order took it away. I'm not sure there's anything we could have done.)

Now that the Loom of Fate is complete what are you planning to do with it?

• Caribert: I promise I'm not trying to conceal anything from you; I truly have no idea what the Abyss Sibling is planning. Teyvat's Ley Line system is deeply entrenched in the planet**. Creating new Ley Lines can neither "replace" nor "extend" the ones that already exist.** In any case, I had my own use for the Loom of Fate, and my goal has been achieved. After my father, Clothar Albierch, used the power of the Abyss to restore consciousness to my Hilichurl form, I suffered from an indescribable level of mental anguish. To comfort me, my father told me a story. That this was a fairytale world, where I had to take on the form of a little monster. That story managed to dispel my fears even if just for a moment. My goal was simple — to use the Loom of Fate in its near-completed form, when its ability to create memories was at its strongest to implant a specific memory into the minds of the Hilichurls. In that memory, I would tell them a story, just like my father did for me. It was a story of fairy tales and love. But, more than anything, it was the story of us.
  • MC: (So the thing that caused the Hilichurls to calm down back then was Caribert's story. That was the only thing he wanted. He had a device as powerful as the Loom of Fate at his disposal, and all he wanted to do with it was to offer the Hilichurls a moment of comfort and peace.)
• Caribert: I can't change the world, not when I lost the very right to exist within it. Implanting those memories, that was the most worthwhile thing I could offer. All that's left of my existence is a wisp of residual consciousness tied to the Loom of Fate. In truth, that trace of my consciousness should have dissipated long ago. My goal was the one thing that allowed me to hold on all this time. But now, the bedtime story is finished, and it's finally time to rest.

---

Talk to your sibling :')

• Well how about a conversation? The chance to just stop and talk like this is certainly not easy to come by, wouldn't you agree?
  • MC: I almost can't believe it's real.
• That battle earlier was tough. The one against Dain, I mean. I didn't expect that after everything, he would still hesitate to raise his sword against me. Were it not for that, perhaps I'd still be no match for the Twilight Sword. Even after five hundred years.
  • MC: What exactly are you planning? What are you going to do with the Loom of Fate?
• The Loom of Fate, huh, I still haven't found a way to utilize it to its full potential, but there's still time before the Heavenly Principles "awaken." For five hundred years now, ever since the cataclysm in Khaenri'ah, the Heavenly Principles has been asleep. There's been no sign of activity. Not long ago, you witnessed the Hydro Archon destroy her divine throne. Such a flagrant disregard for the "rules," and still Celestia took no action. I suppose that's proof enough of the Heavenly Principles' situation. However, the Heavenly Principles will awaken. We just don't know when that will be, or what might trigger it.
  • MC: You really hate the Heavenly Principles, don't you?
• You could say that. Just look at Caribert. He was so pure and single-minded. The space we now find ourselves is a perfect representation of who he was — quiet and peaceful. Even as a Hilichurl, seeing the terrible sight within the mirror wasn't enough to taint his spirit. He brought comfort to the people of this world... even though he was denied the very right to be a part of it. Ask yourself this; Who was it that deprived him of that right to exist? Of course, that's only one example. My feelings about the Heavenly Principles are too complicated to explain in just a few words.
  • MC: There's so much I wanted to ask you, but for some reason, I'm not interested in asking those questions right now. 🙃 There's just one thing I have to ask, one thing I could never understand. Why can't we continue our journey together?
• At the end of my journey, I arrived at a place known as "The Sea of Flowers at the End." Do you remember? A long time ago, when we traveled between worlds together. You told me you wanted to find a place in the universe where that one flower was in full bloom. To have a place like that suddenly appear before me. Well, would you think of that as a coincidence?
  • MC: You mean...
• I miss you. But as this war continues to rage, and as I continue to seek that final answer. I don't even know how to face myself sometimes, let alone my own sibling.
  • MC: What's going on?
    • This space has lost its tether. I doubt it'll be able to exist much longer. In fact, aside from our inability to physically interact with each other, there's something else you should know about this space. With Caribert gone, we won't be able to remember anything that happened here. Everything in this space will be wiped from existence including all memory of our reunion.

---

• Paimon: Paimon woke up a little earlier than you, so Paimon will fill you in. The villagers said they saw us sleeping near the village yesterday. They couldn't wake us up no matter how hard they tried, so they decided to just bring us back here. Oh, and Dain came by just now. It looked like he was injured. He just made sure that you were alright and left.
• Paimon: We were in that memory, and we saw that guy you called Caribert. He was the missing villager we'd been trying to find, right? And after that Paimon doesn't remember what happened.
  • MC: Caribert and I talked for a while. He told me about the Loom of Fate. After that, I can't seem to remember. (Maybe I'm just tired? I feel like something else happened, but why can't I remember? I'm not sure why but, it almost feels like I lost something)
• Bahram: The village organized another search party yesterday. It didn't feel right to leave all the searching to the adventurers. Suddenly this one guy said it all came back to him. According to him, one day he was passing by this one tree outside the village, and saw our missing villager. His parents came a little later and they all left together. After that, we all started to feel like that really is what happened.
  • MC: (So, that's how Caribert said his goodbyes. That was the last memory he gave them.)
• Bahram: Oh, and we also remembered his name — Caribert. Now, that's not a name you hear everyday. Would've been helpful if we remembered it sooner.
• MC: Caribert is gone. The Loom of Fate is now complete and no one else will try to change the villagers' memories.
  • Paimon: Paimon wonders how Atossa's doing. Maybe we should go check on her? If she hasn't "remembered" like everyone else, we can tell her what happened. Hey, Atossa! How's it going?
• Atossa: I was part of the search party, so I remember what happened to Caribert now. I just can't believe I forgot something so important.
  • MC: Maybe he wanted you to forget him. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to forget him.
    • Atossa: He always seemed to appear out of nowhere, and now he left just as quickly. If Caribert wants me to forget about the time we spent together, then I'm willing to try. I relied on him for a lot of things. But, I'm sure with enough time, even the deepest of attachments can fade.

Group Photo From an Unknown Time (1); Group Photo From an Unknown Time (2) A precious group photo that has surpassed the rules somehow, being taken by some unknown person using unknown means in a space that should no longer exist.
The writing in the picture translates to- "You must get along with each other, the two of you."

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Achievements

• The Town Where Only I Am Missing: Investigate "someone who only exists in people's memories.
• Long-Awaited Moment: Without your knowledge, Dainsleif crossed swords with your sibling..
• The Proof of Existence: Enter Caribert's "realm of consciousness."
• Bedtime Story: Complete "Bedtime Story."

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Posts

• Teyvat and the nine realms
• Analysing the Letter found on top of Favonius HQ (Spoilers for Hidden Strife.)
• Ruin Machine Codes are likely based off Norse Creatures Real-life references
• The 3 Wells of Yggdrasil and Ragnarok
• khaenri'ah actually had a god.
• Etymology of Khaenriah, and how they are demonized in Sumeru
• ll Roads lead to Apollo - or a protracted guess at who the Sinner is using some of Genshin's real world inspirations.
• The energy systems of Khaenri'ah: counterfeit gold
• Pierro True Identity Followup
• Sinner = Fenrir = Third = Naberius?
• Why Rhinedottir isn't the antagonist. (Part 3 - Der Ring des Nibelungen)
• The meaning of the 8-pointed star
• My theory on Surtalogi
• Something about the crimson moon in Arlecchinos ult that I want to share.

Search the Sinner Post Flair
Search the Khaenri'ah Post flair
​
Congrats to u/Willthecrane-> I personally think that the sinner is Vedrfolnir the visionary.

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Boughkeeper Megathread
We Will Be Reunited Megathread
Requiem of the Echoing Depths Megathread
Caribert Megathread
what is the loom of fate? by u/roozevelt

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https://preview.redd.it/44zox5x1v13d1.png?width=1601&format=png&auto=webp&s=0acaa55bb573f20ef8848f36f0af7a73e874965b

I'm in episode 15 right now, and now that Wilson is back the only interesting thing going on is Cuddy's ugly bangs and Foreman and Thirteen dating. I HATE it oh my god Thirteen date a woman please Foreman is NOT good enough for you. Season 5 so far is such an anticlimax compared to seasons 1-4. The cases are fucking boring and I can't stand Taub. Fingers crossed that it will get better. ALSO WHY DID THE SPY GUY SUDDENLY DISAPPEAR I LOVED HIM?! Also this is the cause of the lack of my posts lately, I literally just haven't watched House as eagerly as I have in the past.
ps. ok I will give credit to Last Resort that was a great episode

Hello🐈‍⬛ Im looking for long term friends I just want someone to talk to everyday I am a pretty lonely person with not much going on.
I like Gaming, Youtube,Twitch streams,and watching Anime and manga Im a touhou fan also, my favorite streamer is Caseoh. Im 100 percent hooked on music as well although my tastes are probably very different. Future Funk, House, EDM, Arcadecore, Are a few I like. If there's one thing I really like it's horror content, Creepypasta, SCP, Cryptids, Urban Legends, Mysterys, Eldtritch Horror and all that. I think most of all I really want some people to watch anime with its not fun experiencing it all by myself, the same can be said for alot of things in my post
As for the games I like. Monster Hunter World, Black Desert Online, Terraria (one of my absolute favorites)Pokemon,Mario,Fortnite,Apex, GTA V, And Multiversus. Alot of other games I play are emulated.
I'm into Digital art and I do all my practice through video guides online I struggle with consistency; and Im still finding my comfort zone so please dont really expect much at the moment.
I'm also up for talking about and discussing Various topics as long as it's nothing crazy. please Don't be one of those so called nice people who message me and then ghost like an hour later save us both the time.
If you're up for it, please shoot me a message🐈‍⬛✨️

I am writing this on my phone in my car attempting to hold it together.
The month passed and he had gone to therapy and I packed to return home to him. My friend that I've been staying with said I shouldn't and then quickly followed with "and don't say that dumb shit women say about loving him or some brainwashed bs like that because there's no way you can be that stupid." And I felt hurt. So I packed and mumbled a thanks and left without saying anything more.
Maybe I am stupid.
I got home and Norm was there, he looked awful, and had a weird beard like he'd been foraging and hunting for his own food for a month. It could be my brain playing tricks but he seemed thinner. I asked if he was okay as he seemed fine on the phone when we were arranging a time for me to return. He said he was fine, happy I was back, and took my bag for me and put it in the room.
He seemed sad and quiet but doting with me, just not really affectionate. He also barely ate, would be jumpy around me (like it I spoke he would sort of jolt like I surprised him), and didn't speak to me unless I spoke to him. It was like that for the whole weekend and I finally just asked if he was depressed.
He just said not to worry about him and he's just glad I'm home. I told him I was worried because he seemed off and suggested maybe we got out to his favorite restaurant to lighten his spirits. He agree but was like "if that's what you want then sure" but didn't seem excited like I expected. We drove seperate as I wanted to see a movie by myself to take my mind off for a bit, and he ordered meat. I was shocked and said "Oh are you not vegan anymore?" And he did that jolt thing and the waiter even made audible gasp at the moment like "oh sir, you surprised me" and laughed it off. Norm quietly smiled back and apologized and then told me that he associates veganism with our past issues and it makes him sad so he quit.
As we ate I took adavtange of being out in public and told him about the hospital and the nonexistent bills and he just nodded as I spoke and we just stared at each other for a minute and I filled the odd quiet by saying "I mean what's up with that? How is there no record of tou doing treatment?" And he just stared at me for a long while before he burst into tears.
He explained that he expected me to leave him after he tells me everything because it will piss me off. I just said "so you're no sick at all?" And he said he is and it's actually terminal. He was 10 years with treatment and 5 without. He knew the day he was diagnosed. He would leave to "go to treatment" so I wouldn't worry as he thought if I knew he was dying, I would leave him and he didn't want to die alone. He can't do treatment as he's seen what it does to people and so his plan is to enjoy his 5 years to the fullest so he can die without regrets.
I was just sitting there watching him as he cried snd spoke. A woman who overheard leaned over from her table to hand him a handkerchief and suggested maybe he go to the bathroom to calm down a bit. She sounded super empathetic and sweet and he agreed and walked away.
This woman watched him walk away, turned to me and said "Baby girl I hope you're not buying that bs." And I just sat there, in shock because as I had watched him ramble on and on...I didn't beleive a word of it, but silently kicked myself at jumping on any chance to give me a reason to leave especially right after he said he was afraid of that every thing.
But I didn't beleive a fucking word and this woman- GOD BLESS her - didn't either.
I wasn't there when he came back from the bathroom and I went straight home and grabbed my bag again. I am sitting here in a bar parking lot just wanting to go in and get hammered and scream. How the fuck is this my life? This doesn't fucking happen to people. This is some shitty hallmark rip off title scene and its happening to me. Why me? How have I been with someone who so intensely is so screwed up in the head that he lies about cancer and then when caught DOUBLES DOWN and raises the stakes?
I can see even now that he is texting me and sending me messages over apps. Hounding me. I'm so tired. I can't even bring myself to read his messages. I feel so stupid and so alone right now. What a fucking idiot I am to even still love him and it hurts more because people who you love don't do this. They don't lie like this. Which means he doesn't love me. The man I love doesn't love me.
And what was even the purpose of all this? If he's not vegan anymore it can't be to turn me vegan even though that would be the weirdest fucking reason for all of this. I mean why lie about cancer at all? We were happy and content. I saw him as someone I wanted in my life for my life. So how the fuck did I end up sitting in a parking lot too unmotivated to even walk in a bar feeling like such an unlovable worthless stupid fool who just must have been some weird plaything.
I'm sorry this has turned into a rant. I am going to get the stiffest of drinks, figure out where I am sleeping tonight, and rage scrolling reddit.
Edit: I had to turn notifications off on my phone. It's very clear our friends know somethings up. Norm is looking for me. He's asking everyone. He told a friend that I stormed out of dinner because he's not vegan anymore and he went home but I wasn't there. I should have seen it coming. I told a few friends to not worry and that I am just taking a mental break from it all but that Norm and I are over. I got a mixed bag of responses. For every congratulations or thank gods there is a you're making a mistake or you don't deserve him why ruin a good thing
I just feel numb, but the booze is starting to kick in so maybe that will help.

I like to read posts like these for shows I really enjoy, and so I thought I might post my own one of these for Veronica Mars. To be honest, I don't really know how I didn't watch this show back when it aired, considering I watched pretty much every other show in the same genre. I think maybe I missed the first few episodes, and back then there just wasn't any easy way to catch-up.
I've watched iZombie, so the overall vibe and dialogue style felt pretty familiar to me right off the bat. I definitely like the overall plot and am invested in the S1 murder mystery because I really want to see her father vindicated.
I have a few criticisms about the overall tone of the show. They bounce back and forth between dark and sinister and goofy HS fun every other episode. One episode will end with a huge breakthrough in the murder mystery, but then it doesn't get brought up again for an episode or two. It kind of messes with plot cohesion and makes the serious stuff a little harder to take... well, seriously.
I also think the casting has some weak spots so far. The guy they cast to play Duncan could be swapped with mannequin and I'm not sure people would notice. Also, I like Percy Daggs as an actor, but Wallace feels like he belongs in a different show. The writers seem to think so too, because he's been left out of so many plot-lines and even whole episodes. However, Enrico Colantoni as her father is top tier casting. He blew me away as a dramatic actor in Person of Interest, and he's lends so much legitimacy to this show. At first I though Frank Capra as Weevil was a huge mistake, but I really like him and his character, even though the whole HS motorcycle gang think is a huge whiff overall.
Only other criticism is that episode with the kid who had the transgender Mom. I thought they handled that pretty well for the early 2000s, but I still can't fathom why his Mom was trying to bond with her teenage son over the movie "Body Heat." It could have been any other movie, but they went with the one that is 99% known for its raunchy sex scenes?
I imagine the show will get a little brighter as it goes along and will shake off some of the Twin Peaks weirdness that its been flirting with in this first Season. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.

I 28 F, boyfriend 35M have been fighting over things on social media. He thinks it’s not cheating since it’s just online, where as I feel it is cheating and is disrespectful to the relationship we have.
We have worked through some of it but am I wrong for saying looking at other woman all the time on insta or TikTok and Twitter (x) is cheating and messaging them asking for social media handles?
He says it’s because I don’t give him affection but from me looking over all the time only to see him watching lustfully at another woman twerking gets to me and makes me feel like I’m not good enough or attractive so I just give out that Same energy but at the same time I’m not looking else where or trying to flirt with other guys looking for whatever he is looking for online that I’m not giving him. Am I wrong for feeling insecure and calling this as cheating? Is it now normal for men to always be looking at only fans content on social media?
His opinion is he think it’s perfectly normal because he is with me and it’s not cheating because he only looked and messaged because I wasn’t giving him the attention so he was looking for it elsewhere

I checked if this has been asked before on here, but the last times were at least a year or years ago so I thought I'd ask it again because I'd like to make a post that is positive about introversion and I know a lot of us love fiction and making lists, lol.
Motoko Kusanagi the cyborg cop from Ghost in the Shell (especially Stand Alone Complex). I aspire to be even half as awesome as her. I love her line from one episode where she basically says "If I ever want to watch a movie, I make it a point to see it alone." (paraphrasing). While she has no problem speaking to people, the only person who could be considered a close friend to her is Batou, who himself is also introverted (guy just lives alone with his dog, lol), and maybe her boss Aramaki (though he's more of a father figure). She seems to never stop thinking deeply and is very introspective and insightful, and the best part is that this comes from the only part of her that's (partially) human, yet it's the most powerful thing about her.
The Motorcycle Boy from Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton (also portrayed by Mickey Rourke in the 1983 Coppola film) because he's one of the most relatable characters I've ever seen on film. He's tortured by his inability to relate to others and their inability to understand him.
Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye, the most relatable character I've ever read about. Part of his struggle, among a lot of other things is being introverted in a world of extroverts, being a deep thinker with a heavy conscience, disliking and refusing to become anything "phoney", not really understanding himself, the world, and life well enough yet and spending a lot of time being introspective.
Dr. Atsuko Chiba and her alter ego Paprika from the 2006 anime movie, 'Paprika', by Satoshi Kon. I love how while she comes off as a "typical" introvert, her alter ego shows her inner-self and the joy and beauty she contains within her mind.
Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise, because she's a highly intelligent badass. While she's friendly with everyone she has to live and work with, she never seems interested in making close relationships but cares about protecting everyone.
Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, the first novel I ever loved to read. Frodo in The Lord of the Rings is also considered an introvert but I prefer Bilbo as I relate to him more and studied how his character developed. I bet a good amount of us would love a ring to make us invisible whenever we want... even if there are consequences.
Batman ...probably the most famous and powerful introvert of all time. He was my favourite comic book character ever since I watched The Animated Series as a kid.
Sherlock Holmes ...there probably wouldn't be a Batman as we know him today without Sherlock. Probably the most prominent case of introverted tendencies to be honed into a super power.
Amélie Poulain from Amélie (2001 French film). She's just such a positive, unique, fun, and joyful introvert.
Tsukasa from the anime 2002 anime series .hack//sign. I always loved how he was a character who avoided people, even in the MMORPG he's trapped in, and still seemed to enjoy his time in the game doing whatever he wanted, alone. But some episodes in, it seems he does have a social anxiety problem and that he is lonely and wishes he could communicate better with other people to make friends. Still, I've always loved this anime and love Tsukasa as a character. (trying not to spoil the twist ending of the show here btw)
Shiraki Meiko from the 2011-2017 comedy manga 'Prison School'. Her past life that makes me consider her an introvert isn't shown in the anime but it's brought up in the 2nd arc of the manga, so I'll put it in spoilers just in case. As a childshe was a hidden beauty but didn't care much about her appearance and was quiet, reserved, and tried to mind her own business, but an early growth spurt made her a woman too soon and she was bullied for it in her all-girls school. She only ever made one close friend, Mari, who taught her to love herself and be confident. Maybe Mari can also be considered introverted, as she could have become the queen of the school with her beauty and confidence, but instead she chose to make more enemies in order to have Meiko as her only friend.
Star Trek - Spock from The Original Series, Picard from The Next Generation, and Seven of Nine from Deep Space Nine.
Aya Brea from Parasite Eve (1997 video game on PS1), an NYPD rookie who isn't interested in making friends and rather focuses on her job, although she does make some good friends who help her get through her mission. Probably my favourite introvert in video games. There's a lot of video game characters that can be considered introverts (or at least ambiverts), actually, because they tend to go on solitary adventures and aren't known to have many, if any, friends (other than one or two close ones maybe) - Lara Croft, Solid Snake, Adol Christin, Samus Aran, Ryu Hayabusa, Link, Dingo Egret, Ryu (Street Fighter), Mega Man X, Zero, etc.
Tintin, the reporteadventurer from the famous French comics by Hergé. I watched the animated series based on the books like crazy as a kid. He's definitely a positive example of an introvert, without any of the negative stereotypes. He seems to love his life and his job, likes solitude and introspection, and can be sociable when he wants/needs to be. His only real consistent friends are his dog Snowy, the Captain, and The Professor.
Lisa Simpson was always my favourite Simpson. It's hard to consider her to be 8 years old, but she's definitely introverted. While Bart has consistent friends, Lisa has none, though she tries to make some. Other than that, pretty much everything about her makes her one of the most well known introverted characters ever.
Daria Morgandorffer is another character famously known for her introversion. Love watching that show as a kid, though I didn't always feel like I related to her. She's just so well written with so many witty and memorable lines of dialogue.
Deckard and K from the Blade Runner franchise being two great introverted characters is a big reason I like those movies. I didn't think too much about it yet, but maybe there's an introvert involved in every Noir film? lol (maybe at least the most prominent/typical ones)