An old friend of mine once told me never to go to Necro town. I asked him why but he just never gave me the answer. Looking far from my home town, Necro town looked abandoned and was never owned by anybody nearby. Whenever I look out into that town, I wonder about it. The unknown and its many mysteries.
My old friend seems to have lived in that place but he never did. It's as if he was making up a horror story about Necro town. But, I did what he told me to. Never go there. Ever.
I asked my parents about that place. They never knew anything about it except it's just a wasteland. Grandpa never knew about it either. Such a mystery as to why would my old friend prohibit me from entering but my dad said otherwise. "If you want to go there and explore the place, I guess you can. But you better be careful from strangers alright kid."
By the time I turned 14, the bully in my school keeps getting worse on me. I get slammed into a locker, get my head knocked out, and even beaten up. I really don't want to go back to school but how am I supposed to convince my parents that?
The reason I don't have any friends at school was mostly because they don't like me as a person. I expressed myself for who I am and yet I get mocked by them all the time. calling me many names like freak, loser, norm, or even Melvin the idiot. Was it because I'm different? I have no clue about them at all.
I tried to fight back but they just keep winning every time. So then, I run away from school in the middle of classes, lunch breaks, and activities but every time I do, a teacher always caught me down and send me to the principles office. I lied to them and said "Because I wanna get candy." Or "I forgot my books back home.". I don't want to tell them the truth because I knew how much big trouble I'm going to have if I do.
I tried escaping all over again and finally I made it one day. And whenever I escaped, I always go to my old friends house. We go into the woods to go fishing in the pond. I love seeing those shiny blue fishes in the waters because they're just so beautiful when I look at them in the afternoon.
My old friend's name is Brandon West. He's of course much older than me because he's about 64 years old and for some reason he got so much energy to keep himself moving. He always have his brown firm cane with him everywhere he goes. He tells me tales of ancient beings, heavens and hells, the Sturgeon, and the blue turbo.
I've asked about the blue turbo and all he said was. "He's a sad man." Sad man sounds like he's been through a lot.
The blue turbo was born in a world where flame people live. They all have special powers depending on their shape and colors of their bodies. Green flame, blue flame, red flame, etc. He grew up with lovely parents who have similar powers to his. His power is both his parents powers. In his childhood, he grew fond of his friends and family that he devoted his life to protect the good in life.
In his teenage years, he became an officer. Protecting the people who are in danger. It was starting to get dangerous for him, but that never means he won't give up.
In his late 20s, he became a well devoted guardian, fighting against the evil dark powers from beneath the world's surface. He loved everything that is good in life. He had a wife and son while being a guardian. Their relationship was strong and they did whatever it takes to enjoy life. But then one day, the world around them turned into a warfare. The evil dark powers are killing people whilst they fight back. He fought hard and won. But it was at a huge cost. He lost his wife and child right in front of his eyes. Lost what's left in the world. He fell to a deep depression, which he quit being a guardian and was never to be seen again.
Brandon always looked sad whenever he told me the blue turbo. It's as if that felt real and it did happen. But, it is compelling. I asked him about where did the blue turbo go. He said. "Don't know. But wherever he is, he'll still devote himself in life."
One day when I was 16, I escaped school again and this time it didn't go well. By the time I walked behind the basketball court, I was caught by the bully and his gang. "Well oh well. Looks like Melvin the idiot is trying to leave the school all by himself. You're really going to leave again just so that you'll get away from us? That ain't happening norm." They were going to beat me up badly, so I didn't waste anymore time as I ran away from them. I didn't know how fast I was at this point.
They kept following me as I ran on the sidewalk. I didn't want to look back because I knew very well that if I did, I'll slow down. The running footsteps behind me kept pacing towards me. I can hear the loud steps as if they're like the golem's foot. My breath is getting shallow the more I keep running and my legs began to grow numb and sore. But I never slowed down nor stop. I just kept running until I finally lost them.
"Get back here you freak!!"
"We're going to kill you loser!!"
Then, a road towards Necro Town appeared before me. The words from Brandon echoed inside my mind not to go in there. My heart beats in fear. The bully and his gang chasing behind me like I'm their food to eat. My legs are about to surrender to my exhaustion and I can feel every pain coming from my muscles.
I can hear the footsteps behind me as I think of any other options. There are no other ways to go except into Necro town. I don't want to be beaten up or killed. Then, every memory of myself being bullied by them flashes into my mind, making me very angry. I'm sick and tired of being their punching bag. It's time for me to fight back!
I stopped at my tracks and turned to face them. Face to face. They stood on their grounds before me. Laughing at me with mockery. I stood my grounds and prepared myself for the worst. "I'm tired of being your punching bag! It's time for me to stand up for myself! I'm not afraid of you!!" But I lied. I'm still scared of getting beaten up. All I want is for them to stop bullying me forever.
The bully rushes towards me and I was ready to punch him at any moment given. By the time he's in front of me, I missed my shot. The punishment for my failed attempt to punch him was getting knocked out by getting punched in the face. I fell to the ground, knocking my head against it. My body passed through the limits of entering Necro town. My head and shoulders lay on the Necro town grounds.
I was then slowly dragged into Necro town by the bully's gang. I can feel the painful sting on my back as I get dragged. Suddenly, before I went to sleep mode, I heard screams. The bully's scream fades far away and his gang gets slowly decreasing. My arms are dropped down. The hands that held me tight are loosened from my arms so fast. I can hear each of them screaming in fear as piece by piece they disappear. Then I blacked out.
I woke up to find myself in an empty dark room. While my vision was getting clear, I slowly stand back up. When I got back my conscious, I gagged from the awful stench that just came from inside this room. I looked around to see where's the door for my escape and there, I see the shining golden knob reflecting my sight. I ran and grab hold of it, then twist it to open the door. To my very eyes, I've witnessed the most insane horror I've ever had in my life.
The sources aren't just in the room I was in. It was also in the living room because there are 5 dead bodies hanging like pig meat. Their flesh cut and sliced so disgustingly brutal that I can see their organs and tissues beginning to slip out of the sockets. Blood and bones are spread around the floor, shining the cold light that shines through the curtains of the outside. When I look at the top of their corpses, there are eyes looking directly at me with fear. Then I realize that they're still alive.
They suddenly screamed everywhere with the pain they share. I blocked my ears with my palm as I felt the twist in my stomach getting worse. Tears rapidly escapes out of my eyes that I shut my eyes tight. I quickly ran out of there and arrived to a room that is full of random colors. The colors are wrong. They're all wrong in many different ways that I can't describe so well about it. The screams and the colors made me vomit all over the floor. I nearly fell to the ground but I kept myself back up in hopes of leaving this place. I want to go home. I want to see Brandon again. I wished I'd rather get beaten up in the basketball court than coming here to lead my bully and his crew to their unholy demise.
I spun around in a frenzy and saw the bright and weird door before me. I quickly opened it and I was met with a freezing atmosphere. The world turned into some sort of hell. There are large stone spikes all over Necro town, crushing through the houses. The sky all grey and the sun is smiling at me with an empty mouth. Its eyes glaring at me in those sockets. The Sockets are too big for the eye balls that I thought it'll fall to the ground but it didn't.
I don't see anybody else outside. There's only the deformed flesh like trees and broken homes. My heart begins to panic. The world is making me crazy and horrified at the same time that I froze in place.
Something was walking behind me. They felt wrong, all wrong like it's not human. I turned around to see nothing. Literally nothing. There's no room filled with colors and the screaming stopped. Far away from myself is the darkest room I've ever seen. All dark. No light. Nothing.
I closed the door behind me and checked the room that was hanging my bully and his colleagues but they're all gone and the wall is stained with blood. The writing gave me enough chills and fear that drives me mad. There is no god to save you, Hermit
I spun around in a frenzy as if someones looking at me. I can feel the eyes are at me and I don't know where it is until a stomp noise can be heard right in the room I woke up in. At first, there were loud footsteps, and now it's banging on the door like a maniac. I didn't wait for it to come out of course. So I ran away, outside in the hellish Necro town.
I'm running on the road now and something is coming for me. Thoughts popping inside my head about whatever is coming for me, it won't lose my tracks as it can smell my very soul. Until I was very far away from the house I was in, a loud scream booms from that house. The scream is like the thousand souls tormented in hell for all eternity. I can feel its gaze at me with its hellish intentions.
I didn't stop to look back. I just kept running until I get into my home. How far is this town? Because I've been running for much longer and the town shouldn't be so far. The footsteps are getting closer as my heart beats faster with every second of its footsteps getting closer.
My legs became so sore and numb, and my lungs became so shallow from the burning air. I suddenly coughed so much that I fell to the ground, hitting my elbow. I tried to crawl away but it was already too late as the thing behind me has already come to get me. I rolled on my back and looked forward to see a tall hideous figure.
It was a tall humanoid with coal like skin. Its skin tightens its bones and I can see its red blood veins pulse around its deflated muscles. Its legs are of a goat's legs, resembling the creature to be something demonic like the devil. The arms are so long that its length is from shoulder to feet. Snd its fingers are way too long that it's like a monstrous claw. Its head is not human, more like a hood connecting to its shoulders. It's not the long and impossible stretched jaw that made me scream. The eyes are because there's nothing in them. Nothing but darkness of Sheol.
It's reaching me with those hideous claws while screaming like a wild demonic animal ready to pounce on their prey. Is this really how I was going to die. To be brutally mauled by its claws and jaw. Will I share the same fate as the bully and his comrades? I don't want to know and I never want to live like this. I'm scared. I don't want to die.
By the time it reaches me, something bright hits it. It's like I'm looking at a fireball? It was big. Bigger than my torso. I looked upwards to see a bright blue figure approaching me. It's like I'm looking at someone from the afterlife because its whole body is in flames except for a recognizable coat, pants, and a cane.
"It's been so long since I've fought these creatures." It was a voice of an old man I recognize clearly. But this doesn't make any sense at all. It's so strange for this guy to sound like Brandon but his voice matches him.
The creature growled at him like a dog and I didn't waste anytime to get away from it. But the smoking smell in my lungs prohibit me to get away. It's like I was dying. But my eyes are alright.
The creature jumps over me, attacking the savior of my life. He shot another fire ball at it and that makes the creature soar back. The creature stands back up wildly before the stranger appeared before it as if he teleported in a blink of an eye. He wack his cane at its head which rips off from its neck. This stranger killed that creature like its nothing but when he turned around I can see fear on his face.
His face, I can see his eyes and mouth. There's also 2 triangular scar at the sides of his chin and they're not burning in flames. "Melvin. I can explain later but right now we have to leave." He said my name just like Brandon does. This is insane, I don't know if I was dreaming or it's real because everything is going mad.
"Let me help you up." He held me by the arm, pulling me up from the ground as I tried to take a breath. My legs are too tired for me to walk. But when he pulled me from the ground, I felt a great sensation of cleansing in my lungs and my legs and muscles began to relax. His hands doesn't hurt nor burn me as if it's a regular hand with no effect on me. I look at him and still he's in fear. Why would he be scared too?
"Brandon?" I said with fear and question in my voice. He looked at me with defeat as if he can't hide that away anymore. That's how I knew he's Brandon. "Well. Looks like you figured it out. But come on. Lets move now. You don't want the fish and chips cold." As he ran, I followed in pursuit. My legs felt reborn and my lungs have increased somehow. This felt so real. Everything does. I'm not dreaming at all. It's really happening. I kept asking Brandon with many questions from my head. "You're the blue turbo?"
"Yes. I am."
"Where were you after you quit being a -"
"Melvin. Now is not the time. We have to go. I'll answer them until we reach home ok."
We were suddenly blocked by 5 more of these creatures. They're just like the one I met before when I was being chased. I hid behind Brandon for safety as the creatures screams. I stepped far back from them, not wanting to turn into their puppet or something worse. I looked around to see more of them approaching us with hungry mouths. We're surrounded.
We stand with our backs facing each other. I'm horrified to see more of these demonic creatures all around us, ready to pounce at any moment. When I turn to see Brandon I thought he would be scared but he looks like he knew this would happen. "Melvin, when I say go, run away and don't look back. Keep running no matter what."
"What? But I don't want to leave you."
"I know. But this is the least I can do for you to live. You know my story Melvin. You know why."
My heart sank from the message. Leaving him here with all these creatures, I don't even know if he'll live on after this. But what can I do against these creatures. I'm just a human. I felt so much fear and guilt. After for what I've done to myself and Brandon. I wished I never had run away.
The monsters are creeping in. I can hear the chatters from their jaws and the footsteps around us. The creatures are ready to kill us because their backs are lifting up as a sign of predatory nature. Then suddenly when Brandon pierces his cane to the ground a loud boom vibrated around us as blue circular waves from the cane emerges out. The waves created a gravitational force that the creatures started floating in the air. Except we weren't floating. "GO!!"
And with that, I ran away as fast as I can, far away from this hell, far away from the only friend I have in my life. I can hear the sounds of vibration turned shut quiet and the screams of the demonic creatures so loud I ran even more faster. Tears are falling from my cheek with the guilt squeezing my heart with pain.
When I finally escaped and was on the clear road, I cried. I cried so much that I can feel everything around me started to fall. I've lost my best friend in Necro town and it's all my fault. If I hadn’t ran away, none of this would’ve happened. I've lost him. I was lying on the ground with the deepest depression in my soul hurting me. I can't bare to lose my friend. I just can't. What am I even supposed to do? I can't save him. I'm not strong enough. I'm just scared.
I'm now sitting at the front porch of Brandon's home. Waiting for him to come back for days. I haven't eaten anything nor come back home or school. I just stayed there waiting for him to come back. I'm alone and scared.
I kept being bothered by random people. They ask why I'm still outside. I never did answer until they called the hospital or the cops. I told them there's nothing to worry about but they don't believe me. If I tell them the truth, they'll die in Necro town and I don't want that for them. I don't believe the cops would understand.
From every hospital or cops I went through, I just kept coming back. Even my parents told me to stay home, I snuck out in the night waiting for my old friend. I did eat sometimes but not really much. I just went to my room until night time arrives.
Then, one day, at midnight, he's back. He's really back. I was so happy and glad he's alive just the way he is. But when I approached to hug him, he collapsed down to his knees. I was exploded with fear and worry. I helped him up and asked him what just happened. "I don't have much time Melvin. Lets go inside, we have a visitor I think you would like to meet. Meet Judith Wednesday." Behind him was a girl who's the same age as me. Her hair is black and she wore a grey hoodie with a logo I've never seen in my whole life. She was covered in dark red blood. The blood that is definitely from the creatures in Necro town.
We all went in and I gave Brandon a seat on the couch. Judith sat next to his left. And me, I sat next to his right. "Brandon, what happened?"
He looked at me with a smile on his face as he begins to change form in front of my eyes. His body changed like he was glowing and the flames form around him. His form now just like the form I saw while at Necro city. "Well. With the help of this young lady, we've defeated all the monsters. But, for me, it didn't go well for me. I'm slowly dying you see. I'm not going to have much time in this world."
"But you can't die. You're like spiritual aren't you?"
"Yes. But that doesn't mean death can't happen to me. I don't know where people like me go when they die. Nobody does."
I can feel my heart race as the tears slides on my face. I can't help myself but to cry before him.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have ran away. I shouldn't have."
"Melvin. It's not your fault. I saved you because I wanted you to live a life I protected. It's my choice. And I'm glad I did. And you didn’t do anything to get there on purpose. I would’ve done the same thing by running if I were you. Now. Lets go fishing together. One last time."
I wiped my tears away, trying my best not to ruin this very moment but I just couldn't help myself. He reached out his arms and I took it. I hugged him tightly whilst crying so deeply that I don't want to let go. We've stayed like this for couple of minutes until I finally let go with my soul finally relaxing but with small sadness. My guilt is free.
We grabbed our fishing equipment and went to the river in the forest. Judith follows us with a fishing rod in hand. I don't feel anything like talking to her but at least we both have company. To share the moment together I guess. But this is for Brandon and I hope she knew that too.
When we arrived at the jetty and started placing worm food at the hooks. Brandon was the first to throw his fishing hook. The fishing hook was glowing blue, just like his flames. The pond glowed so bright like a lantern. It was beautiful. The fishes shine so bright from the light. It's as if the world around us is gone and all that matters was this very moment before death.
Judith was struggling to put the worm food at the hook. I went to help her but she said. "It's ok. I got it." By the time her finger was nearly stabbed by the hook, the tip of her finger turned into metal. But that didn't bother me because at this moment, it felt like home. We just laughed. I don't know why we were laughing and it's like being a kid again.
We threw our fishing hooks in the pond, waiting for a fish to bite. The shiny blue fishes. They're more beautiful than I'd remembered. The stains of my tears fades away. "Melvin. You promise me that you'll stay strong?"
I heard Brandon said and I didn't believe it at first. How can I be strong for those that really need help or even myself? "I'm not strong."
"You are. You're strong the way you are. It's ok to be scared because that's a part of how we live. You're a good man Melvin. You just got to believe in yourself."
"How?"
With a smile on his face, he replied. "You find ways to make yourself better. Achieve your goals. And enjoy life." His words are so convincing that I begin to believe that. My eyes caught my attention to Judith with a warm and sad smile on her face. For some reason, that helped me believe too. I think I can be strong if that's what he said. "Ok. I'll be strong."
"Good. Remember Melvin, you're not alone." And with a sad and free smile on his face, he faded away before my very eyes. His body evaporated into nothing as the last bits of his flames disappear. The tears in my eyes slowly fell as I look into the the pond and the sun beginning to rise.
"I know how it feels." I heard Judith said.
"Really?'
"I've lost my mom and dad to cancer. My mom died when I turned 8. My dad died when I'm at the age of 16. I felt so depressed when my parents die right in front of me. I can't do anything except watch."
"I guess we both got the same moment then. I wish I could just get him back." She looked at me with sad eyes. This very moment makes us feel so calmly sad like its a funeral or somewhere quiet.
"I know. But there's nothing we can do. We just have to move forward with the memories."
It was nice to have someone with me who had similar stories like mine. She was right, we can't do anything about it. We can't get them back. It was hard for me, I know well. Like she said, I had to move forward and keep the memories I had with Brandon. I looked at the sky and prayed that wherever Brandon is now, he's at peace with his wife and son. In a good life he deserved.
It's been a few weeks. I stopped trying to escape school because my bully's are gone. But that didn't make me feel better at all nor felt good. Their parents looked everywhere for them, even the cops but they're not found. Some of the cops went into Necro town and was never heard of again. I wished I could warn them but they don't believe me when I did.
Judith came to visit me every now and then whenever I left school. We exchange stories of our past lives and other stories shared by others. We became close as friends as we kept hanging out with each other. I'm very glad and happy to have a new friend. She's not like any other teenager I've ever met. She's really good with cutting wood. She even shot an arrow directly at the fish in the river.
She's really cool but also depressing. She doesn't have any other friends and doesn't even go to school. Her mom died first, which is the reason she stopped going to school. So that she'll spend more time with her dad just like with her mom. She didn't want any friends. She only wanted her mom and dad and they're enough for her. Until she lost them. They were everything to her. But as time goes, she moved on and came here.
I knew how she fought the creatures with Brandon. At first I thought she was lost like me too but she's much stronger than I'd think. She told me she got a robot spirit within her spirit. A fusion. She can form into the form of her spiritual companion. Her name was Athena and in every single dream she kept coming over in her dreams, babbling random stuff. She's inside of her head, which means she's the everyday annoying voice in her mind that she cannot get away from. I felt bad for her at first but she shrugged it off, saying. "But hey, we got along with each other. Even that I don't like her at first, she's a person too."
One day, we went to the woods at night with our flash lights. It was horrifying for me because we could get lost so easily here. Sweat poured down on my forehead as we kept walking into the woods. Until suddenly, a bright blue light in front of us glows in the night. When we approached the light, it was the pond.
The pond was glowing the same light as Brandon's. This never happened ever in every night or day. Unless he did something or he somehow resides there. But I don't feel like he's there. But I can feel something else.
We walked to the jetty until we stopped near the edge. The pond is as beautiful as I remember with the blue shiny fishes swimming around it. I wonder what happens if I put my hand in the pond. Will I feel something warm or something else. Maybe my arm will glow. I don't know. But then something grew within my soul. A connection. As if the pond wants me to put my hand in. It felt amusing.
So I did it without hesitation. It felt warm as I swim my right hand in the water. The water suddenly jumped on my arm. I thought I was going to panic but I didn't flinch. Instead I let it do what it does. Judith tried to pull me away but I told her not to. She then watched as the glow of the pond gathered around the water that is holding my arm. I felt a great sensation of warmth and heat. I felt a stinging pain all over my arm but it quickly turned into a cold feeling.
All of the glow of the blue flame from the pond is now on my arm, glowing as small flames flew up from my arm, just like Brandon's head of flames. As the glow fades away, I can see clearly that my arm is stained with bright blue.
The pond is now empty of normal water and the fish swims peacefully. We were both shocked as to what happened. Did the glow of Brandon's flames just fused with my arm? I can definitely feel the power from my arm coursing with my soul. "How did it feel?"
"It felt like, painful at first but went normal. I don't know." A realization hit me that I forgot where my flashlight was. I looked to find nothing. Judith helped me out by lighting around the place but it wasn't enough. Suddenly, I felt something in my arm. I lift my hand up and gripped tight, making a bold fist. When I opened my hand, a bright blue flame appeared before me. A bright orb of blue flame glowing our surroundings.
It's as if I knew what I was doing. It's like my soul is connected to this power. When I looked at Judith, her face was a surprised look. I'm surprised as well. So I think I have Brandons powers now. I think I know the reason the glow came tonight. Brandon gave me his powers because what's the point in keeping them when he's living in a peaceful life. I understand now.
I looked around and found my flashlight dropped in the pond. I was frightened that it could've electrocuted the fishes but it didn't. I wasn't paying any attention to it. Accidentally dropping my flashlight. But it looked to be drained off somehow. When I was grabbing in for it, the pond created a vortex beneath the touch of my right palm.
It was shockingly beautiful to watch. The vortex flows so smoothly. I then put my foot on the ground and the pond made space for me to be able to move around. The fish swims all around the pond as I stepped on the ground of the pond beneath me. It was dry. All dry. I grabbed my flashlight and looked up to the jetty. To Judith. With a smile on her face, she said. "This is so cool."
I smiled back as the pond begins to glow and my right hand glows with blue the blue flames. I stand on the ground of the pond my old friend and I loved going to. I have the gift from Brandon and now, I think I'll use this power for good.
I looked up into the night sky, watching the stars shine above whilst a shooting star appeared with them.
I'll be strong Brandon. I'll overcome every obstacle I come across and overcome the suffering. I'll be strong for who I am. And no one is going to stand in my way of doing that.

Hello all! I have been playing ttrpgs for around 4, almost 5 years now and despite being in many different diverse groups I've never had any horror stories to share. Now, I have at least one minor one.
People involved are myself(female, because it unfortunately matters), DM, Rogue, Ranger, Fighter, Bard and Witch. This is a Pathfinder 2nd Edition game.
Most of my experience has been with 5e, and I hadn't really touched any other system. So, when everything went south with Wizards of the Coast and the OGL and Pinkertons, I decided to branch out and try other systems. That is when I managed to find a group for Pathfinder! I was excited to learn the system, so as soon as I was in, I started reading the core rulebook and listening to videos on the rules of the game.
The initial party consisted of everyone but Witch(she would join later). DM proclaims he has about 3 years experience running 5e games, but is new to Pathfinder himself. No big deal, it seems all of us are new, with Rogue and Ranger being brand new to ttrpgs. We'll learn the system together. Things start off somewhat okay, with a skirmish between two sides, with players split between the two factions. Combat is very basic and everything dies in a single hit, without really attacking us directly. We do discover that Bard's character is... Well, the best way to describe him was a flamboyant gay elf, using a stereotypical gay voice and cadence, who ran from the battle at the first sign of trouble. That was... Off-putting, but it was whatever.
We cleared the encounter, and one side clearly won. My character was actually knocked unconscious, but was picked up and carried by another player of the opposing faction, Fighter. We then all eventually stumbled across a large dragon man, basically a Dragonborn, who breathed lightning, and had a huge axe and plate armor. When we fought him, all at lvl 1, still worn out from the last battle. Almost no one could hit his AC, and he nearly downed half the party before we managed to win. I later found out that the DM just used a level 3 player stat block for this guy, and buffed his HP, which I know in 5e, at least, is a bad idea.
After this, the DM had a shady NPC show up out of nowhere and invite us to come along with him. This was the first sign that the DM wasn't very good at roleplaying, or at least doing so in a convincing way. But, this was the plot hook, so we all went with it. The DM then showed off their inexperience again when we were offered a mission from this NPC, and Rogue asked some pretty softball questions about why we'd want to work with them. As an aside, rogue's backstory involved working with criminals, and these guys were like rebels against the empire who invaded the city.
Either way, we had to go to an auction house to buy a magical item. We were given 50 gold to buy the item, and this was where the DM displayed their inability to describe rooms to us. The description was very bland, and didn't paint much of a picture for us. He also didn't really do many voices, so it was difficult to tell if an NPC was talking, or if it was the DM out of character. Regardless, we found the item we needed, placed bids and got into a bidding war with a noble. For whatever reason, this makes the bard decide to set off a... Distraction, by trying to cast a spell on the noble to charm them, to which they roll a 37 to resist. We are level 2, by the way. This leads to bard's backup plan.
Bard lights and shoots off fireworks in the auction house, causing the entire roof to cave in and severely injure most of us. Rogue did manage to snatch the item, and slip away along with Ranger. Bard ran down the street escaping the guards, and myself and fighter just stood around in disbelief, because up until that point, we had all blended in without issue. There was no reason for such a huge commotion. We stayed and the noble spoke to us, but we talked our way out of it, Fighter being the type from a military/mercenary background, and myself being a local farm girl.
Eventually, we all met up, and in between sessions, the entire group agrees to kick Bard for playing a blatant caricature and being chaotic stupid. He also talked over and interrupted people a lot, and really tried to push his luck with every ruling. And, before we returned to the quest NPC, we got a new player, Witch, who immediately rubbed myself and Fighter the wrong way because she was playing an older, grandmother type, character who... No matter what you said... She knew more than you, or at least as much as you.
Once we got back to the quest NPC, we were paid for the job, and given the option of taking other quests. We did one on an island, it was a poorly narrated place with a simple puzzle that everyone kind of overcomplicated. Typical rpg stuff. Then another, where we got to see Ranger awkwardly flirt with an NPC as a distraction. He was terrible at it, and we all had a great laugh.
I should point out that in each of these sessions we played, DM usually sounded very unprepared, even when we were doing what was clearly intended. He also frequently showed that he was not doing anything to learn the system between sessions. He'd make the same mistakes each week, forget how many actions his NPCs have taken, or even how saves and checks work, frequently using passives, instead of opposed checks. It was frustrating, because we had two brand new players to TTRPGs and we were all new to the game. Yet, it was Fighter and myself, and occasionally Witch as her know-it-all trait wasn't character specific, who were explaining the rules. I even had to correct him on crits once, because he said the number on the attack roll, even with 20, was below the AC. He argued until I showed him the ruling, and he then changed to saying he knew how it worked. Apparently not.
I digress... In game, we did another mission that resulted in our party being ambushed by the noble we had seen at the auction house. The party was then split on motives, as the Witch felt this guy was evil and refused to change her mind, while he told my character he could help her find her biological mother(she was adopted, and there was a lot of familiarities between him and her). Other than what Witch felt about him, and that he was a noble from the invading kingdom, we had no real reason not to trust him. Well, once we were released and able to discuss things, and no matter what anyone did in trying to convince Witch to work with noble, she refused without giving any explanation in or out of character. She just didn't like the guy because of where he was from.
The session ended without us having chosen a side, and we were poised to visit with the noble the next day. The morning of that day, during the next session, Fighter couldn't make it, so we said he went off to talk to someone from his back story, and we went shopping. Rogue got herself a crossbow and Ranger helped teach her how to use it. We then went to a local restaurant my character frequently went to with her adoptive father. This was a fun opportunity for my character to kind of talk about her childhood a bit, how important family is, and some stuff about her dad. When we got there, the Ranger asked what he should order, and my character recommended this huge, expansive breakfast, and I even made up a name for it, the "Hungry Farmers Breakfast" and added that her father proclaimed to have been the first to order it and even named it. Cue our Witch chiming in to say he lied, because this dish is served all across the land. She's eaten it at tons of places.
Now, it's worth mentioning that I had brought it up to DM multiple times that Witch has a know-it-all, one-up whatever you say, personality, and that it really detracts from what others can do. He's said he talked to her about it, and nothing has changed despite that. This, for me, was the last straw. I called her out, and said for her to let us come up with unique character development that we want, and to not steal the wind from our sails. I might have been a bit rude about it, but it was a repeated issue that had yet to be resolved. Witch tried to defend what she said by comparing it to stuff in real life, like from chain restaurants, and I had to point out that they don't tend to have chain restaurants in fantasy worlds, and that this place was specifically a local place.
After that, Witch got quiet and the DM ended the session an hour early because he had stuff to do, and Witch was apparently feeling sick. Supposedly unrelated to being called out. I talked to Rogue and Ranger, and neither of them thought I was out of line, and were sort of feeling the same way about how she was acting. I messaged DM the next day about it, and he promised he'd talk to her again.
I waited a few days, and the Discord server was quiet, and I messaged DM, asking if they had heard back from Witch since they messaged her, and he said he hadn't. He then told me, absolutely out of the blue, that he had a dream of me, that I was holding a baby, and he and I went on a walk together. I... Had never had the misfortune of hearing something like this before, and just promptly tried to change the subject. Fortunately, he went with the change and we talked a bit about Pathfinder stuff. Now, DM knows I'm married, I live in a different country than him, and that I'm... Around 10 years older than him. So, I was very confused as to why he would ever say anything like that to me.
We skipped the next session because two players couldn't make it, and during this time, I asked a lot of people IRL, and in other ttrpg games I'm in about the situation, showing screenshots of the conversation so they had, verbatim, what he said. Everyone, guys and gals, thought it was either super weird, or outright creepy as heck. I agreed, and decided that this would be the last nail in the coffin. Poor descriptions, bad roleplay, terrible rulings, no enthusiasm during actual sessions and suggestions of introducing broken critical failure rules, like permanent injuries or dismemberment into a game with total ttrpg newbies ON TOP of this guy also dreaming about me with a baby. I was done.
I wrote the DM a length explanation, told him how creepy it was, and that I'd be leaving. Wished him well, and waited for his response. To his credit, he didn't explode. But, he did say that I was overreacting because what he said wasn't explicitly sexual or romantic, and so I shouldn't take it that way. Yeah, I'll just take my friend's advice, where she said he was testing the waters with the dream stuff. I told the group I was leaving, without context outside of things just weren't for me. Wished them well.
When I left, Rogue, Ranger and Fighter all stayed in touch and wanted to play more games with me. DM, on the other hand, decided to air out everything that he and I said, sharing screenshots of the conversation and... Yeah. Rogue and Ranger were both kind of shocked by it. Rogue said it was none of her business, and agreed that DM was a creep. Ranger was a bit more forgiving about the dream stuff, but was also offput by the airing of dirty laundry. Fighter left when I did, so he didn't see it.
Tldr: Joined a Pathfinder 2e game where the DM went from incompetent and underwhelming, to really creepy, alongside a player who glorified a gay stereotype, and another who wouldn't let anyone have any cool moment, because she had apparently experienced everything in life, and it was better than whatever you did.
Glad to be out of that group, and now I have Fighter, Rogue and Ranger in a group that I and Fighter take turns DMing one shots in until we can find someone who would like to be a DM for us on a longer form adventure.
All in all, far from the worst horror story, but still an interesting little rollercoaster. I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry if it was a long read.

2:00 am- Wake up 2.05am-Cold shower 2.15am-breakfast,almonds, breast milk bought off Facebook, 50mg adderall 2:30am- begin workout,incline bench 2 plates,12x12 with 30 seconds of rest, no warmup. 2:45am-edging,4hrs (for discipline) 6:45am-cold shower 7:00am-begin reading assignments for the day. Quimbee only, 5 minutes max per case. I haven't bought a single textbook. 8:00am-arrive at school 8:05am-Get to the library to establish dominance. 8:06am-get kicked out from the library for "repeated inappropriate comments" and "predatory behaviour" 8:10am-sprint back home 9:10am-lunch-raw cod, berries foraged on the way home, small pebbles (for digestion),50mg of Adderall 9:10am-edging(as punishment) 9:30am-2:00-class. I cold call the professors. 2:00pm-sprint back home 2:30pm-bed time

I gave up a while ago trying to use collars and protective puts. The strategies made no sense to me at some point, the nuances of which I forgot some time ago. Basically I stopped seeing value in them.
The likely reason is that let's say you are afraid your stock would go down so you pay $5 for a protective put. The stock goes down $5 as you thought and then stays there and your put expires worthless because everyone thought the same thing which is why the puts were worth $5 in the f**king first place. You paid $5 for no protection and raised your cost basis by $5.
Do this enough times and you end up breaking even at best meaning you just held your stock to the bottom anyway, and at worst you ended up paying MORE for the pleasure of losing money.
I make about 50 trades a month so ... I have a lot more personal experience with two things I think most people take for granted:

• Scalability
• Compoundabilty

Nobody should really care if you have different experiences in an account where in your entire lifetime you've traded less than I probably do in a single week.
Yes I realize anecdotes are not "valid" - but good luck getting my results from your backtesting and paper trade practicing.
Anyway.
The collar is just a screwy version of the protective put, where you think if you get a zero cost you have improved protection but the same rules above apply only now you cap your gains - usually so that you are called away at a break even price or it hits the put and stalls and you get little protection and noting much really changed so why did you put the trade on in the first place.
In my experience over thousands of trades...if you want to protect equity just sell out of the position.
But this isn't a thread about protection - it's a thread about making money.
If I want to stay in the trade what I've found works better is:

1. Be properly sized so that you don't get liquidated
2. Layer in short puts under your underlying if it drops. This is effectively DCA'ing and lowering cost basis.
3. If the stock price is recovering just sell more puts until you reach your adjusted cost basis. This prevents you from "Selling the hole" and closing the trade for an inevitable loss if you try to lower cost basis through covered calls.
4. When you have sufficient gains (above adjusted cost basis); only then sell covered calls.
5. Stop selling puts in this case because you're just exposing yourself to violating step #1 above. Selling puts is like adding to the trade, and in this case step #1 is "be properly sized so you don't get liquidated."

If you're hanging out there sitting on all your buying power in credit put spreads on something like AAPL at a strike like $170 because you were following steps 3 through 4 and didn't let the puts expire and close out that side...
Don't cry to me when the stock falls significantly in the money and you have no buying power to manage the trades for a profit.
Step 1.
BE PROPERLY SIZED.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyway.
I don't care you think I'm cocky. This is the best damn strategy anyone will probably ever tell you. I'm giving it to you for free.
There's some mathematical reasons this is what works and collars, protective puts, iron condors, butterflies, your moms sock drawer and jade lizards and all that other stuff out there inevitably doesn't, I just don't know anymore how to teach this stuff. I've tried.
Oh and to you Theta Gang gurus. Don't ever Wheel, it just ends up boxing you in to a pinned-price that is usually your break even and you might as well just have held shares. Don't believe me? Get back to me when you retire.
It comes down to the results:

• It's scalable
• It's compoundable
• Almost nothing else is

Three rules to live and die by.
Rule #1. If it's not a buy it's a sell and if it's good enough to sell it's good enough to short.
No I don't care if you think that's a stupid rule (as some do). It's from one of the greatest traders to ever live, who made the equivalent of $1billion in today's money trading, lost it all, and made it all back. So until you do that you don't really get to come up with your own rules now do you?
The next rule is by another legend.
Rule #2. You don't know how big, small, really is.
BE PROPERLY SIZED.
Rule #3. Never lose your position.
If you aren't able to lower your cost basis then you're not making money. If you can't scale or compound it, you aren't making money.
What I described above works...I guess I can write another 10 pages on why it works. But it just works. You lower cost basis. You survive draw downs. You can scale, you can compound.
YOU MAKE MONEY.
It's simple....making money is easy. If it's hard, you're doing it wrong.

Features:
us link
uk link
【Siri and Alexa Voice Control】: Compatible with Apple HomeKit, Alexa and Google Home Assistant. Just need simple voice commands to control and manage your device. For example: "Hey Siri, turn the bedroom lights on". Start enjoying your smart life now! No hub required 【Timer and Schedule】: The smart switch makes your home appliances semi-automatic by setting a schedule. Automate your connected fixtures to follow your daily schedule and preferences. You can turn your lights on or off at times of your choosing without forgetting to turn them off, which also saves your power 【App Remote Control】: You can control the smart wall light switch anytime and anywhere remotely via the Home APP(iOS only) or download our CozyLife App .Even if you are outside, you can also check the status of the wall switch in your home. 【Multi Control】: In addition to APP and voice, you can also directly touch to control the device. Flame retardant material + tempered glass panel, overload protection and damp-proof design 【Note】: Only 2.4GHz WiFi is supported! Neutral wire is required, please turn off the power when wiring. 3 Gang means three switches on one frame,1 Way means there's only one place you can turn your light on or off ,single switch controls a single light

This is like...50% informational post and 50% vent (actually it turned out more like 70/30 respectively, at most, I think). I will make every effort to keep my tone neutral and calm, and I apologize if I get heated. I have some ✨️ issues ✨️ around this topic.
Strap in, gamers. This one's a doozy.

The Introjection—Identification Continuum

I just need to say how much I love the way this website worded this, because it's PERFECT for describing the topics I'll be delving into in this post. I take absolutely zero credit for this title, it's paraphrased from this because it's really great.

What is Introjection?

I think the best place to start would be what introjection even is to begin with, DID notwithstanding. That's right: Introjecting isn't just for the complex dissociation gang! It's something that every single person does. To introject can most simply be defined as "to internalize/adopt the beliefs of another person". Not necessarily identifying with that person—we'll get to identification later—but seeing their beliefs and going "This is a part of my beliefs now".
I'm being intentionally broad by referring to the materials being introjected as just beliefs, but they can be a lot of things—ideas, attitudes, expectations, you name it.
As young children, introjection is an important part of learning to experience the world (hell, even as an adult, introjection is important to me experiencing the world. Not introject-heavy, though). As we grow older, however, introjection is more commonly seen as a defense mechanism. There are TONS of resources about introjection as a wider concept, and not even necessarily in DID literature, because it's not exclusive to DID.

What is Identification?

Remember how the heading for this section is called "The Introjection—Identification Contiuum"? It's about to make sense here: After you introject beliefs sourced from other people, you may begin to identify with that person (you may already see where this is going with regards to introjects). Not necessarily in a literal sense, but more so believing that you're just like them.
I like the example given in the above article: If a child is being bullied, they may introject the idea of "the bully is stronger than me; to bully is to be strong, and to be strong is to be safe". As such, they may begin to act in similar ways to the bully, which is still introjection. They don't necessarily identify with the bully themselves, but they have internalized beliefs that they adopted because of the bully.
It doesn't become identification until the child does begin to identify with the bully and not just the internalized beliefs—"acting like them in all respects, thinking “I’m just like him-we rule the school!”, dressing like the bully", etc.
Thus, the introjection to identification contiuum. Introjection of beliefs as a defense mechanism may lead to identifying with the source of said beliefs (again, you may already see where this is going).

Pathogenic Kernels and Substitute Beliefs

Gonna try to keep this part free of as much medical jargon as I can, because I KNOW some of y'all may be looking at "pathogenic kernel" like "that sounds like a computer virus wtf", which is fair. Just hear me out.

What is a pathogenic kernel?

I think the way The Haunted Self puts it is best: They are the most threatening part of a traumatic experience. As they put it, "[n]ot all parts of traumatic experiences are equally threatening or overwhelming" (56, PDF version). The pathogenic kernels are the worst of said traumatic experiences—things beyond what even other EPs can hold.
The thoughts associated with these kernels are called pathogenic kernel statements, but I'm just gonna call them "kernels of truth" because 1) that's what an infographic I like did, and 2) that is so, so much easier to write.
Simple. Grim as anything, but pretty simple.

What is a substitute belief?

Here we go, the real meat and potatoes. A substitute belief is a belief that acts as a mask for a truth that cannot be integrated. These substitute beliefs can take many forms: "I am a demon", "I am a dog", "I am an angel", "I am a ghost", etc. (hyperlinked is an example from those infographics I keep mentioning; the masterpost does have primary sources listed).
There is always some kernel of truth—very, very real feelings, that is—beneath these substitute beliefs. But the substitute beliefs in and of themselves are not true, nor are they the important part. The beliefs that the substitutes are masking are what is important to uncover. And since these are often pathogenic kernels, it's generally not safe to go digging this stuff up by yourself.

Putting it Together: What Exactly Are Introjects? (a.k.a., a TL;DR, but not really)

So, I've thrown a LOT at you. Introjection, identification, kernels, substitutes, what does it all mean for introjects?
Introject alters are alters who split to hold an introjected pathogenic kernel that could not be integrated and therefore became a substitute belief. They then may or may not begin to identify with the source of said belief.
Or, in simpler terms, an introject is an alter that split to hold an introjected belief that no other alter could hold at that time, and said introjected belief was masked by a substitute belief.
However, with introjects, the substitute beliefs come in the form of identifying with the people (or, in the case of fictional introjects, characters) who instilled that belief. "I am [abuser]/[caretaker]/[important figure in my life]/[character]."
Again, the substitute belief is not the important part—the most important part of it is helping to get to the bottom of the kernel of truth and, if it is harmful, try to heal it.

Conclusion (or: Much Ado About Nothing) and TL;DR

The hullabaloo around introject alters is...weird. Especially fictional introject alters. I don't really know what else to say. There's so much misinformation out there that it's not even funny. It is just exhausting. My ✨️ issues ✨️ with this topic stem from it being used to seriously hurt me and someone I really care about.
"All introjects exist for a reason!" and "Introjects aren't/can't control their source!" are both correct statements, as proven in this post. But it's rare that people use them knowing what the mean, imo.
I'm just tired, man.

TL;DR

• Introjection: The act of adopting beliefs (or ideas, attitudes, etc.) sourced from another person
• Identification: The act of identifying with/as another person/creature/etc.
• Pathogenic kernel: The most threatening part of a traumatic experience
• Substitute beliefs: Beliefs that exist to mask pathogenic kernels. The substitute beliefs are not important in and of themselves. The more important thing is the beliefs they belie.
• Introject alters: Alters formed when an introjected belief cannot be integrated, and is thus masked with the substitute belief of identifying with the person/character the introjected belief came from.

...yeah. I'm actually scared to post this one, because this is a lot more controversial. It's really not meant to be discourse, I'm just trying to dispel some misinfo.
If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Resources

Infographics that I like: [1, 2, 3, masterpost w/ references and resources]
The Haunted Self (pages 56, 77, and 92 of the PDF)
No proper bibliography. Ya boi is tired.

Addendum (already lol)

Edit 1: Added the 3rd infographic link. Because I forgot. Oops.

It's ironic that in this day and age with the internet so accessible and social media holding so much significance over everything everyone does, that corporate america (or should i say corporate taiwan) still thinks it's ok to condemn workplace abuse (emotionally & physically). Me being naive running to HR for help but HR going directly to my supervisors and ganging up on me. Oh how silly, I guess they didn't realize who they just made their public enemy #1. Where should I even begin? Wow the endless possibilities I have here huh well I guess lets just start rocking the boat by talking about how OSHA is a gimmick and why even exist when everyone working in TSMC Arizona are in a office with unsafe working conditions every single day yet when reported to OSHA they do absolutely nothing about it. Let me put into words for you since I can't share with you any pictures. Imagine working in a office that isn't even nearly remote close to being completed and their is so much construction going on everyday you literally are either inhaling silica dust or hear drilling sounds pierced in your ears, vibrations under your foot for 12 hours on end. TSMC when first beginning their Arizona project had rented temporary office spaces that were only allowed a maximum amount of occupancy on each floor they rented but do you think they even cared about that? Nope, everyday the temp. offices were crammed so full that people were practically sitting on top of each other and shoved into random spaces not even real legal office spaces just empty areas that upper management decided "Yeah ok, that works lets just shove them there." Later on mid march when the official TSMC AZ offices announced they would start moving people in everyone was so stoked, thinking we would finally get proper office spaces, our own seating real lunchrooms accessible bathroom etc everything + anything a real billion dollar company office should have. Instead to our disappointment we were left with no running water, bathrooms that can flush but you can not wash your hands, sinks and water fountains that dispensed brown water when you tried using them every other month we have notices of water stopping to not use the bathroom and bring our own water.......12 HOUR SHIFTS WITH NO BATHROOM? In the middle of the desert? How on earth is this ethical. Not to mention the office is either burning hot like the desert air or freezing like alaska and when we asked for something to be done upper management just replied "Wear bigger jackets" So you had hundreds of employees sitting in a below freezing office 12 hours a day with heavy thick winter coats IN THE MIDDLE OF APRIL IN ARIZONA??? I was amazed anyone in Arizona owned winter coats. I literally got sick 4 times back to back working in that condition, I was so cold one time my fingers froze and stiffened up so bad I couldn't type anymore I had to keep rubbing them together inside my jacket until they warmed up enough to continue working. Look what I am trying to say is that a lot is happening inside TSMC Arizona that so many people do not hear or know about so I will gladly be the one to update you all because I want change I want a safe work environment for me and my colleagues I want TSMC to take accountability and until they do I want to be the one to expose what they're really like, what is really happening behind closed doors. Here below is a brief update list of all the that has happened from the day they allowed employees to work inside the official F21 site.
- on a daily tsmc spends about $300,000 to their contractors and vendors like ABM who are hired to work on site to help with this project but what tsmc themselves don't even know is that lately we have been having evacuations almost every week sometimes even as far as twice a week but they're not even real evacuations concerns! they are occuring because ABM workers have gotten smart and realized if they blow the emergency airhorn it will create a chaos and we have to evacuate the whole entire building for about an hour each time because there are like hundreds and hundreds of workers everywhere on each floor so it takes so long for everyone to get out safely and by the time the entire evacuation is over they come back its lunch time and then boom at 2 they go home. not only has this been happening so often but on top of that people started paying people to take turns blowing the horn and standing guard so they don't get caught.
- ABM workers are being paid to do nothing literally every day. When walking on the construction site you have no idea how many people I see sitting by the door just napping or staring at the floor. We have to wear shoe covers in some parts of the building and there was 3 workers handing out shoes covers....3 WORKERS - literally just handing out one shoe cover. It does not take 3 people to complete this task. Sometimes i ask them what they were assigned to do and they said to just stand there in the hallway literally thats it, stand.
- One day my coworker took the elevator with some people and when the elevator reached the 4th floor the cable snapped and dropped to the 1st floor. He then was stuck in there for 40 mins because nobody could find out why or get the doors opened. But then when opened he told me they hurried him away, said they would pay him for the rest of the working day but to go home immediately. I didn't even hear about this until he had to tell me himself. TSMC could've done the right thing and issued out a warning to not use the elevator for the time being until deemed safe again but instead they shoved money into the problem and hid it from all of us working there.
- the FABs where the semiconductor chips are being made sometimes have areas where there are open holes or flooring that were not properly placed yet but because as always tsmc prioritizes money not safety they rushed engineers to go inside and start working immediately and one day one of the engineers fell into these holes. Luckily he is fine! But it really could've been a lot worse
- Contractors working in these FABS are not near or have any drinking water accessible to them all day while working inside but the temperatures in these places sometimes go as high as 90 degrees inside because there is no working electricity so there is no proper airflow or windows so they are literally being suffocated in these confined covered spaces and have to wear cleanroom suites so they are so hot and humid too.
- there are no bathrooms in these places so we have found many water bottles full of pee lying around inside the FABs on top of that they were now being tossed and moved around so much when i was driving to work last week i saw a water bottle filled with yellow liquid sitting in the parking space under the hot desert sun
- the fbi had to be called in because we had one week where there was 3 fires and the police questioned that these fires were starting to be intentional and someone was risking everyones life by starting real fires on site
- a angry worker had a fight with one of the taiwanese worker that had just flown in from taiwan and that american grabbed a steel pipe and hit the taiwanese assignee over the head and he was sent to the hospital. Yet again we were not made aware of this situation and tsmc tried to hide it keep it hush hush to protect themselves not protect us
- are you ready for this one?
an employee last week brought a real PISTOL INTO tsmc. INTO. FOR 12 HOURS.... there was an active gun inside this building and the worst part of this all was that we have a whole x-ray machine + metal detectors 8 security guards working in the front more security inside the building and this employee managed to carry a whole gun inside TSMC Arizona he managed to get a whole gun inside past the metal detectors past the x-ray machines PAST the security guards who also scan you up and down when you walk inside. Now this is all made to public eye because he had gotten caught can you even imagine the employees who haven't gotten caught? If he was able to so easily bring a gun inside tsmc az then who's to say he was the first or will be the last? Who's to say there hasn't already been more or others.
Every day i go to work i feel constantly scared because they recently torn apart the ceilings above our heads so all the mechanical work the wirings the cables they all are hanging and dangling from above and i just feel like one day one of it is going to either fall or hurt me or my colleagues. Now i have to worry about my actual safety as well because they're just letting anyone bring anything up inside here. Make matters worse whats the point of all the security when TSMC Az has no security cameras working or on? They are literally all just for show the security cameras you see they are not being of use right now they don't work. Everyday our personal belongings are being stolen TSMC projectors that cost thousands of dollars are being stolen from meeting rooms, workers sneaking past wire cutters to this point where we locked our projectors to a cable and that cable is being cut and things still get stole. Anyways thats all i have for now, for today at least. Don't worry I will definitely be back even if nobody reads this i will continue to shout from the top of my lungs
GET REAL....TSMC AZ

I know our jobs suck sometimes - but it really is a profession that you just have a quality for. I’ve been a people person my whole life, they just gravitate towards me. No clue why - or how (my mom is a crazy witch and says it’s bc I’m libra ♎️ gang and we balance the scales). I was a single mom with nothing - and honestly feel like my energy helped me succeed to where I am now. Any other people persons? Or good communicators?
I look forward to expanding on my education (SHRM and PHR). I don’t have a degree but I feel like my 2+ years or experience (mistakes, ER, payroll, recruiting, etc) is putting me in a good place. Should I really be considering higher education? Please advise

Line Score - Game Over

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
CIN	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	7	0	6
BOS	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6		8	8	0	5

Scoring Plays

Inning	Event	Score
T3	Kevin Newman doubles (6) on a fly ball to center fielder Jarren Duran. Curt Casali scores.	0-1
B4	Justin Turner singles on a ground ball to right fielder Stuart Fairchild, deflected by first baseman Spencer Steer. Rafael Devers scores.	1-1
B7	Enrique Hernandez homers (5) on a line drive to left center field.	2-1
T8	Matt McLain singles on a ground ball to center fielder Jarren Duran. Kevin Newman scores.	2-2
B8	Rafael Devers doubles (15) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Jose Barrero. Alex Verdugo scores.	3-2
B8	Enrique Hernandez singles on a ground ball to right fielder Jake Fraley. Masataka Yoshida scores. Jarren Duran scores.	6-2
B8	Connor Wong homers (6) on a line drive to left center field. Enrique Hernandez scores.	8-2

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Boston, June 1 vs Reds	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for Cincinnati, June 1 vs Red Sox	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for Cincinnati, June 1 vs Red Sox	0:11	Video
Fielding alignment for Boston, June 1 vs Reds	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Reds at Red Sox - June 1, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Chris Sale's pitches	0:08	Video
Enrique Hernández: Home Run Statcast Analysis	0:08	Video
Breaking down Hunter Greene's pitches	0:08	Video
Hunter Greene's outing against the Red Sox	0:20	Video
The distance behind Connor Wong's home run	0:09	Video
Analyzing Enrique Hernández's home run through bat tracking	0:09	Video
Connor Wong's home run through bat tracking data	0:09	Video
Kevin Newman lines an RBI double off the wall	0:17	Video
Alex Verdugo throws out Spencer Steer at home plate	1:29	Video
Justin Turner grounds an RBI single to right	0:21	Video
Rafael Devers doubles on an elusive fly ball	0:40	Video
Chris Sale strikes out six over 3 2/3 innings of work	1:03	Video
Chris Sale exits his start vs. Reds with an injury	1:16	Video
Kiké Hernández drills a go-ahead solo home run	0:31	Video
Matt McLain hits a game-tying RBI single in the 8th	0:16	Video
Rafael Devers drills a go-ahead RBI double in the 8th	0:27	Video
Kiké Hernández smacks a two-run single the other way	0:07	Video
Raimel Tapia scores on a balk	0:07	Video
Connor Wong drills a two-run homer over the monster	0:26	Video
Alex Verdugo loses his bat, fan in stands catches it	0:16	Video
Kenley Jansen secures the win	0:15	Video

(These builds are all taken from Smogon's suggested builds for them in OU, and title of this post and the nicknames are a reference to this Youtube video)
I'm a new player when it comes to Smogon Singles (I've dabbled on and off, but this is my first semi-serious foray into it), and I decided I wanted to go with a Bulky Offense team for my first comp (preference in playstyle and a fondness for a lot of the mons involved). I want to be able to take hits and dish out big damage in return, as it feels good to play that way. Dragapult is the only one who doesn't fit the mold, but its presence isn't for the bulky part so much as the offense part of the team as a wallbreaker, revenge killer, and general nuke. Looking for possible replacement suggestions for the mons and suggestions on moveset changes, mostly.
SHADOW WIZARD (Dragapult) (F) @ Choice Specs Ability: Infiltrator Tera Type: Dragon EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature - Draco Meteor - Shadow Ball - U-turn - Thunder
My wallbreaker and general thing I'm trying to pivot into whenever I can. U-Turn I rarely use with it, since if it's on the field my brain is begging to click Draco Meteor. Went with Dragon for Tera for big damage, and Thunder for the third special move to clear out Flying types and as a backup if I can't use MeteoShadow Ball. I'd prefer to keep this guy in, I'm loving Pult a lot.
MONEY GANG (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet Ability: Rough Skin Tera Type: Steel EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Stealth Rock - Earthquake - Spikes - Dragon Tail
Suicide lead, basically the thing I open with 9 times out of 10. I drop SR, I drop Spikes in as many layers as I can comfortably throw out, then I decide from there. Rough Skin+Rocky Helmet means most Physical attackers get punished for trying to kill Chomp, and sometimes it scores kills with EQ. Dragon Tail lets me get extra hazard damage in and make a mess of my opponent's momentum. I think Garchomp can stay without issue, though I am open to looking into alternatives.
SHADOW GOVERNMENT (Skeledirge) @ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Unaware Tera Type: Fairy EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 188 SpD / 28 Spe IVs: 0 Atk - Substitute - Shadow Ball - Torch Song - Slack Off
Sadly, the weakest link of the comp. Skeledirge is genuinely good, I typically use it as a switch-in against spinners since a misread on a spin is less likely to kill Dirge than Pult. STAB moves to deal damage, Sub for defense and Slack Off for recovery, it's the set I copied off Smogon. Boots to not melt to SR. But, a lot of the time I find I mostly end up sending it out just to die due to the rest of the team having dealt with everything that Dirge would check or counter. I'd like to replace this one, despite my fondness for this mon.
CASTING SPELLS (Toxapex) @ Leftovers Ability: Regenerator Tera Type: Fairy EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 60 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Surf - Toxic - Haze - Recover
If Toxapex has a million fans, I am one of them. If Toxapex has one fan, I am that one fan. If Toxapex has no fans, I am no longer of this earth. Toxapex is here as a bulky pivot that spreads around Toxic, clears stat buffs with Haze, and does okay damage with Surf to deal with Fire and Rock types that I'd rather keep my other team members away from. Honestly I don't see myself replacing Toxapex, it has served me extremely well due to its tankiness and ability to Toxic the shit out of anything that needs poisoning.
SWAG MESSIAH (Corviknight) @ Leftovers Ability: Pressure Tera Type: Fighting EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD Impish Nature - Defog - U-turn - Roost - Brave Bird
Bulky pivot 2, bird boogaloo. Clears hazards on both sides, takes hits, slow enough to usually go last with U-Turn, generally solid. I chose Brave Bird over Body Press to hit opposing Fighting types when needed. I feel like, though, I could be doing better for this slot. Corviknight is good, but it never feels like it's winning me games, and a lot of the time it ends up doing little to nothing (though part of that may be skill issue). Suggestions for replacements very welcome.
BEES MAKE HONEY (Great Tusk) @ Heavy-Duty Boots Ability: Protosynthesis Tera Type: Fighting EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Headlong Rush - Rapid Spin - Knock Off - Ice Spinner
Went with this build to crunch through opposing Steel types while clearing hazards, and gets occasional sweeps if Rapid Spin pays off. Knock Off as a safe "I don't know what they're gonna bring out" option, and Ice Spinner to out Flying types since my only alternative is Dragapult's Thunder which is not a consistent or safe thing to do. I like running Great Tusk, and prefer its design over Lando-T, but I am curious about some alternatives for the purpose of this comp.
So, as for things I've been struggling with:

• PRIORITY: There are no priority moves in this build whatsoever, and I don't think most of these mons really have good priority moves. As such, if I run into someone running a set-up sweeper with a priority move, a lot of the time I end up screwed.
  
• FAIRY TYPES: No good outs to Fairy Types either, meaning Pult has issues with going nuclear. Skeledirge works as a switch-in, but I don't really have a good way to kill Fairy-types beyond targeting secondary typing. As I write this, I wonder about Gengar and Magnezone as potential options, but I haven't looked into either one in Gen 9 OU (though I've never seen a Magnezone in the games I've played in OU thus far and only seen Gengar once, so maybe not the best choices?).
  
• KINGAMBIT: Every time this mon hits the field, I swear to god it ends up wiping the team. Since it shows up later into the game, it often dodges my Garchomp and Great Tusk by virtue of them being KO'd, so I have no good ways of taking it out.
  
• GARGANCL: It's just durable, and tends to really wear into my team by the time it goes down. Less of a problem by comparison, but it does pop up every so often.
  
• ROTOM: Unironically, I have had a fair amount of trouble with Rotom Wash due to its typing and relative bulky being a pain for the team to out.
  

Those are my current biggest issues, and I would like advice on how to make this team be better. Skeledirge and Corviknight feel like my weak links, but I'm willing to try replacing everyone to improve the comp.

Well fuck me, it's that time again...
I can't believe its been a year since we last gathered up the financial wreckage that is ASX_Bets into a tidy little package, but it seems as though you tards are going as strong as ever.
(If you'd like to see what the fuck this is all about here are some links to Part 1 and Part 2. )
Or just take a deep breath, ignore the smell and dive head first without any DD at all into Part 3 of the weird, wild and wonderful history that is degenerate gamblers support group ASX_Bets.
(Personally, Mods blame u/SunkDestroyer for all the craziness of the last financial year, shits never been right since they set off the fire alarm...)
​
Enjoy cucks..
​
A FUNKY MARKET AND SOME DOGS ON THE LOOSE
Given the way things have tracked along since the last post, I thought it fitting to kick of this years mash-up with a post from u/Pastry1 that got an awful amount of traction, a rundown of the ASX biggest dogs. Mostly, it's just indiscriminate venting from folks about their favorite Clifford, but it's still worth a read for nostalgic purposes.
PAPPY ELON AND THE TWITTER SCAM DREAM
Never shy of a controversy, Papa Elon initiated a whole bunch of crazy in the markets during the purchase of twit-wit. Commentary and the linked post was provided by u/Wannaliveinpenthouse, kind of ironic given the circumstance really...
AN EPIC BAN BET
Generally, I won't single out a specific bet unless its really off the scale, like bodily fluids, daddy/sister banging, tattoo's, or in this case buying an acreage of growth forest and cultivating the ASX_Bets logo into it. Seriously, this is the claim u/joeycloud has made in their epic bet from 2022.
DESPERATELY SEEKING BLM
In the absence of u/ilyfish and DW8 (R.I.P) or the waxing/waning of u/SlaughterRain and their WBT commentary, u/Maleficent_Ad_1982 has become our most obsessive poster. (having said that, WBT has fairly clearly won the giga-chad award for the chippie stonks, so big ups to slaughter given they backed this one through highs and lows)
I've gone back in time to the original comment when they were so young and starry eyed, dreaming of quick bags on AZL to the First countdown post, the melt-down at day 100 and now the grizzled wreckage of a human we see before us to show just how deep this rabbit hole goes. In particular, I enjoyed the anniversary rant on day 365. You've got to admire the determination, if not be slightly concerned about the obsessive compulsiveness...
(Based on a suggestion from u/AntiCGT Mods are currently trialing a Rule 12 regarding starting a countdown, we will see whether we can be bothered pursuing this or not in time..)
RETURN OF THE SOULESS DAY-WALKER
Our resident ginger, u/FameLuck served out their year long ban and returned this year in a blaze of, well, glory I guess. Mods conferred behind the scenes and decided to offer the ginga ninja a slot in the Banning of the Tards Hall of Fame, where he sits beside revered company indeed with Big Jim, Kooksy, Stinky, Mutated and Josh. Another point about ginge, he definitely loves a bit of experimentation.
Also, there is a a very weird 3-way fetish thing with u/ChZakalwe and u/Blisser_the_sniff. Still, it earnt Chaz some shiny heels to go with that utopian scam dream flair, so not all was lost.
SPEAKING OF CUNTS...
While we are on the topic, lets have a little rehash of when u/Mutated_Cunt mercilessly dissected fabled doggie ZIP. In the post aptly titled anatomy of a dog, our resident genitalia deformity systematically destroys Larry's love child with disturbing precision.
It appears though, that we will not be able to enjoy the cunts commentary any further, a thread on Atayls seemed to indicate that reddit had nuked their account.
THE LITHIUM BUG
- u/Jswyft has been banging on about the Lithium cycle for long enough now that even the most smooth brained amongst us have at least had the opportunity to make some tendies. Whether you're into that type of thing or not, we have to give a shout out to the Lithium king and all the information he puts up here for you fuckers.
- u/SoftTopMafia also provided an interesting post regarding the Lithium Bulls.
RENEWABLES?
- Its been a big topic in the markets this last year. u/BigJimBeef kicked off the renewable energy debate in this post and its had a thread running through a lot of the sub conversations ever since.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
- Love her, loathe her, don't care or whatever, there is no denying that the world lost an iconic figure in 2022. In fitting ASX_Bets style, u/zupahorse made us a touching tribute to our departed overlord.
WAKA WAKA
- Fucking Waka Waka. Scotty and the boys rose to BRN levels of fomo when they discovered something spicy in the dirt across the sea. There were innumerable shit posts, comments, average DD assessments and the bets. Oh my lord the bets. We managed to ban half the sub due to a failed drill bit.
Fittingly, the peoples Mod u/mcfucking created a touching video representation of the whole debacle.
SOME OTHER STUFF
- Not to be deterred by the already impressive volume of dog-shit on the exchange, u/Outrageous_Junket817 floated the possibility of starting a mining company.
- u/dontletmedaytrade put up a post on Credit Suisse and the financial impacts of a crash, which was actually a pretty good read and commentary.
- u/Far_unit9020 created a write up about Red Flags. Applicable to majority of the subs tinder profiles and stonk choices, this one was another good read.
- u/TwoMenOneJar dropped in and set the daily threads on fire. Clearly a stray, they wandered off-lead from the den of HC into our wholesome little sub, proceeded to argue with and then block half the users here.
Now, a little ditty that we couldn't share with you then that I'll share with you now. Behind the scenes, a message was quietly sent to the lad regarding misusing the ''reddit report'' function. They responded with a message of their own, stating they had also been reported for self-harm. So obviously, they could not be the culprit as they are clearly the victim. A screenshot was produced. They had indeed been reported for self-harm. However, they had also neglected to crop out the previous reddit alerts, including the ones about ''we have reviewed the report you made''...
Remember folks, when you're purchasing stonks, this is the calibre of intellect you are betting against...
PURGE/COMPS
As always, we ran THE PURGE. Congratulations to u/MotherFuck3rJones who was the winner this time round. Our loser, currently serving out their year ban was the infamous u/logofpoo. They made a fitting farewell post from the deed.
- u/FameLuck ran the first ASX_Bets Dog Race.
- u/LegendoftheASX produced a write up about 2023 predictions. Fittingly, sub veteran u/WowVeryJosh took it a mile further, with a 2023 stonk picking comp.
MOD STUFF
- We had a few decent debates this year. Mods try and put up posts about current events, it gives us some direction as opposed to just running it all through the daily threads. Also highlights that we do have some wrinkled brains amongst the smoothness...
- recession debate
- Interest rate debates
- Budget night debates
- As is tradition, a perma-ban victim was released from the dungeon during Easter. Congrats u/Competitive_Copy2451, our shit post content went up an awful lot.
- Now, we all know there is no justice like angry mob justice. So, kangaroo court was back in session this year.
- April Fools this year had the Mod team partnering with Netflix. Oddly enough, there is actually some reasonably funny back story to alot of the sub and it Nope, it's a fucking terrible idea.
THE ELUSIVE 100K
Well, it finally happened. Over 100,000 of you cucks in this cesspool. Un-fucking-believable.
SHIT-POSTS
If we have said it once, we have said it 47 million times. Above all, we love YOLO's, shit-posts and dank memes. Here is but a sampling of the top shelf collection from the last 12 months...
- u/yothuyindi with some upbeat advice for the resident ZIP hodlers, a beat for the boomers, an Attenborough special and a ASX_Bets personalized ETF. Some fine work from one of our finest users.
- u/Far_Unit9020 discovered origins of LKE and provided us with an always popular Hitler parody.
- u/BigJimBeef had us in stitches with a, well, I'm actually not sure but it's funny as fuck and it has a fish in it. He also provided a sage reminder of the darker side of the year, the lettuce saga of 2022
- u/litres-of-cum made a little zippy ride
- u/Jenky83 provided some top shelf meme work with this offering
- u/HiVisEngineer got in on the act, giving us some lithium perspective
- u/prestiCH did the financial review for us
- u/hunnymunster made sure we never forget our cuck friends over at Ausfinance
- u/Denominator_K gave us the Lambo inspiration when times were dark and a hotcrapper pummelling.
- u/zupahorse cancelled the recession and for an encore gave us an American Psycho parody for the ages. They created a little super-mario throwback, even Bluey got a run...
- It's rare to get a shit-post series, but thats exactly what u/justjohncliff has given us with their advertising saga
- u/Competitive_Copy2451 gave us a rundown of what to expect from interest rate hikes, a tribute to sub dog DW8, more Scotty- Mac posts than you'll know what to do with and a rundown of the ASX dogs.
- u/sneakycutler with a , well, its pretty fucking disturbing whatever it is
- u/kervio made an oddly heart-warming musical piece for you all to enjoy here, with some shout out's to the departed.
- u/Instantly-Regret, (who by the way has the most on point username on the entire sub), made us a Monopoly game in honor of some of the sub's finest doggies...
- u/i_bid_thee_adieu had a sneaky little swipe at Rusty Rake Capital and their obsession with BOQ earnings
GAINS
As always, this is but a mere sampling of the gains.
- The gains posts have been a little thin this past year, however ASX_Bets rare earths mogul u/Calculated-Punt managed to make a fucking lot of bags on this little puppy
- u/FurcationInvolvement showed us what a 600% gain looks like.
- u/joeycloud is still tracking along nicely with the MNS gains.
- u/1000baggers is living up to their username, posting some nice portfolio numbers
- u/Particular_Love_8811 has been keeping us updated periodically on the musings of Rusty Rake Capital. As inexplicable as their trading methodology is, this user appears to be making money so go figure.
- u/Springoniondip provided us some warm and fuzzies with their love affair for LTR. You always remember your first.
Allegedly..
LOSS PORN
Ahhhh, loss porn. Again, only a taster plate from the many, many choices.
- u/After-Note921 with some top shelf loss porn. (Odd side note to this, the user was banned at a later date for portfolio claim they refused to provide proof of. Weird...)
- u/StrethAU threw out some tasty BNPL losses
- Always good for some Epic Red, the artist formerly known as u/Rude_Jello_377 politely presented this offering
- Some HVY loss porn, courtesy of our resident T20 hodler u/dskoh1
- u/JoeHax00 and some breath-taking loss pornography
- u/JDK-Ruler and a DW8 masterpiece
- u/Luck_Beats_Skill showed us the importance of believing your investment thesis and hodling through the storm, producing this glorious post.
​
KOALITY CONTENT
Again, this is but a sample of the $$ and blood sacrifices made throughout the year.
- u/tassiboy42069 and some heartwarming content
- u/Rosencrantz1710 and a RUOK donation pledge that went viral pretty quickly
- u/spank-hair and a Blood Sacrifice
- u/Silvertigar with a heartwarming koala donation
- u/RandomVanBloke and a Blood Sacrifice
- u/Calculated-Punt came good with a bet donation, spreading the love around to a number of different charities.
​
And alas, it comes to the awkward part where I need to finish the post but suddenly remembered the thousand other things that deserved a mention here. I seem to say this every year and every year it becomes more apparent, so much goes down it's just not possible to capture it all.
Although we lurk like shadowy forces, rarely commenting, (discussing our losses on the Mod Chat so as to save ourselves public embarrassment) Burn, Ruin, Phantom, MCF and I really do appreciate you all from the bottom of our collective degenerate heart.
I'm not crying, you're crying...
​
Till next year, stay sexy you beautiful bastards...
​
TLDR: τα γαμημένα ελληνικά είναι δύσκολο να μεταφραστούν

First/Previous/Next
Happy Friday Everybody! Here's the second part of Chapter 3. As always comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Enjoy!
​
The Golden Citadel Chapter 3 Part 2
​
Sooner rather than later, to Mannad's almost inaudible relief, they had made it through the maze of tunnels and reached a hole to the surface. All she needed to do was climb yet again, except instead of a ladder it was a pile of rubble. Far easier in a way, at least this time she wouldn't have to exert herself going straight up. The incline and abundance of handholds was far more forgiving to her than she would have thought, not needing to climb far either as she merely needed to cover the single height of the tunnel before she was standing in the exposed chill of the open air.
Wind and dust blew gently around her whilst she stood and revelled in the exposure.
"Guess you haven't seen the sky in a while" said Shand as they walked up beside Alice.
"Even before I was frozen, my life was labs and orbital stations" she replied. "I’ve seen plenty of skies. Just rarely from the ground."
"I can’t imagine growing up without a sky. But we don’t have green anymore. Not like this planet. In our capital the only nature remaining are isolated to the parks. Instead, skyscrapers go as far as the eye can see with the occasional spacescraper reaching up like giant fingers of the Empress grasping the void. Hell, from my living hab alone you can see the dawn sun rise above the peaks of the spires, the way the light strikes and reflects off the glass…" Shand trailed off.
They stood there in silence, each lost in their respective memories.
Alice broke the shared silence between them “I tried asking earlier but you were cut off. So tell me, please, just how long was I asleep for?”
Shand seemed to shift awkwardly, as if she had been dreading the question. “I'm sorry, I don’t know for sure. Hundreds of orbits at least. Maybe a thousand. There’s something else as well”
Alice looked at her, wondering what more there could possibly be.
Shand continued “Since you woke up you seemed to have been under the impression we’re fellow survivors of… whatever happened. I’m sorry but we’re not. We’re not even from here”
Alice grabbed Shand by the arm in an attempt to get them to look at her “What do you mean you’re not from here?”
“My race are the Leasha. We came to colonise and strip mine the system before detecting your bunker’s faint signal. We barely picked it up, the only reason being we’re far removed from Sovereignty space” Shand informed her.
“Surely you must have picked up something else besides me when you approached? Anything at all” Alice begged.
“When we arrived in orbit we did very thorough scans. Beyond basic plants and lower food chain lifeforms… I’m afraid we didn’t find any signs of civilisation.” the Leasha officer revealed.
Alice let go of the arm she’d been holding like a vice. She turned to get away from the person before
her who wasn’t even human. They had looked human, but she should have known better. Surface appearances in a galaxy with multitudes of races inevitably overlapped.
Shand attempted to comfort her as she stepped back. “Don’t leave this place without a memory, this could be the last time you see the sky of your home”
"It doesn’t matter anymore anyway." Alice said curtly as she wandered away to find a secluded spot, not waiting for an answer or permission. “What good is the sky when everyone’s too dead to see it anymore”
She rushed away with long strides, around the corner of a rockslide that had formed a wall encircling where they had exited the bunker, almost like a guard keeping it safe.
Checking over her shoulder that none of the aliens had followed her, she reached out with her right hand and a holographic menu appeared before her, projected from the chest plate of her suit. She tapped an icon in the upper left and the seal around her helmet popped, releasing a small amount of pressure with a slight hiss. Dismissing the blue light with another wave of her hand, she reached up and lifted her helmet off her head, revelling at the feeling of fresh air on her unnaturally pale face. Her short coal black hair fluttered slightly with the breeze and dust blowing around her.
Alice closed her eyes and basked in the faint rays of the setting sun that had nurtured the Earth for so long. The warmth running across her body like the caress of all those she was leaving behind bidding her farewell.
She opened her red eyes again and looked at what had become of her world. The sight was almost too much to bear and tears threatened to well up.
The once grand city nestled below the mountain range was no longer even a ruin like she had thought she had seen on the camera. For a moment she could picture in her mind's eye how it was in its prime, with the packed walkways between spacescrapers that reached like the fingers of giants towards the edges of the atmosphere. Skies full of the majestic ships flitting about like worker bees tending to their queens. But as much as she could imagine, it was undeniable it was gone forever and the image faded.
Mangled wreckage rusting away to nothing marked the mass grave in front of her. Encroaching vines marred the souls staring back at her. Sightless eyes staring at her from between the shadows. All who had perished in the final moments, helpless before the inevitable fire that had consumed them.
She wished she could have stayed there forever, letting her bones form with the earth. What was one more corpse amongst the untold billions. She wished it hadn’t even happened. That the fathers and mothers and children before her had never suffered the fate that had been inevitable by the end. Mercilessly butchered by those who had sworn to protect them. The anger suffusing her being from earlier threatened to bubble back up again. A scream begged to be bellowed from the depths of her chest to the silent sky, one last howl to ward off the night. Balling her fists, she struggled to contain her primal rage. Instead, she swore a promise to the innumerable souls watching her. Begging her for vengeance so they could finally rest. An innumerable mass listening from beyond the veil for the promise they demanded.
I’ll make them pay. All of them
But just hurting them wasn’t enough. Not to satiate the shades before her.
I’ll make them hurt until the last of them begs for the mercy they never showed us. And then I’ll wipe them out from the face of existence.
Her helmet slammed back on her head, automatically sealing with a small hiss. Deep and long breaths helped to find her composure she needed to maintain in front of the strangers. Earth held nothing for her now. It was a memorial of the past and better left to the guardianship of the dead and damned. She'd miss the sun but at least now she wouldn't be trapped underground or alone.
She moved back towards the awaiting shuttle. The others had extricated themselves from the hole and were milling about while Yurisa appeared to be talking on her radio again with how her head was cocked. Shand was waiting nearby for her to return and walked with her to the strange shuttle. The lines put her in mind of a ray with two too many fins meeting at the tip. As she walked she could almost feel the heat from the burning questions Shand must have been desperate to ask but still managed to hold back.
"Take any seat you like that's free" said Yurisa as she walked past.
The rear of the shuttle was open and the rest of the squad had already boarded the troop compartment inside. Ten seats lined either side of the walls, two being taken up each side around the middle of the sections. Iftan and Mannad were on the right with Doane and Hedi on the left.
Alice was unsure where she should sit, nervous at sitting with beings she didn't know or how they would behave. Most of all she didn't want any pestering questions on the flight out of atmosphere. So she took a seat on the left just on the inside of the doorway, the furthest she could get from anybody else in the cramped vessel. Shand came on behind her and sat next to Doane with the commander taking up the rear and ending up opposite Shand, next to Mannad.
A voice came over a hidden speaker as the boarding ramp began to rise with dull motorised hums.
"Ladies and gentlemen, especially the ladies, we have a short flight back to home base with a slight chance of buffeting, please keep your seatbelts on and any in flight entertainment will be provided to you by our lovely steward"
"Can it Seash!" yelled Iftan.
If the pilot heard him or not over the whine of the engines spooling up Alice didn't know. Instead she turned and looked out of the long window which lined the wall behind her.
The ground gave away without a jolt as they took off into the sky, slowly building up speed as they climbed. The cityscape fell beneath them to slowly be replaced by a horizon of gold and green. She was happy to see green, at least her planet wasn't completely dead and maybe she could return one day.
The golden hues of the sunset sky slowly gave way to pale blues which thinned to the pitch black of space. She couldn't see their destination even if she craned her neck, the shuttle was approaching in a manner where the ship was hidden from view.
Instead, Alice watched the Earth slowly rotating below, the night side as dark as the space surrounding it. It was odd to see none of the city lights she had known so well when growing up in one of the orbital stations as a child. She remembered how she would watch the small glittering patterns like fireflies frozen in the dark. She could even name all the cities just from the patterns alone. But now there were no fireflies, no cities, no lights. The only glittering came from the stars in the void.
Her home was replaced by a large mass of purple metal of an outer hull as the shuttle must have been approaching a docking hanger. Certain enough, the purple hull was replaced just as quickly as it had appeared with dull grey utilitarian metal. As the shuttle turned she could see mighty doors beginning to close behind them, like a giant maw sealing them inside the belly of the beast. The tiny ship settled in position inside the wide empty space and engines whined back down. The boarding ramp opened again as the soldiers began to collect their equipment and disembark onto the far larger vessel.
Alice remained in position, remembering what the commander had said about quarantine. Shand disembarked with a small wave before Commander Yurisa motioned for Alice to follow her.
Disembarking behind the stern woman, Alice spotted two purple beings in long light blue fully sealed uniforms with clear plastic breathing masks affixed to their faces waiting for them.
The similarity to how human they appeared should have startled her, they even appeared to have been anticipating it with tensed stances. After the revelation given to her from Shand, she had been fully prepared for creatures ranging from the completely bizarre to those not so dissimilar to herself, like the wider galactic community she had seen in the education vids growing up. These people comfortably fell into the latter. Two eyes, two ears, mouth, nose and even hair.
If it weren’t for how they were bright purple she would have thought they were human. As she stared the more she noticed. As similar as they were, they were still distinctly alien. Their facial features were slightly too sharp, the eyes a fraction too large and the same colour as their skin, the mouths smiling wider than a human could. The effect was disconcerting, like they didn’t mean the expressions they were pulling. And their ears were pointed. Almost like elves of fantasy crossed with bats. A thin waxy sheen formed a layer on top of it all, like a second skin. As she studied the features of these people, she noticed how the sheen was attached to the masks they wore. Which meant that it wasn’t part of their anatomy after all, but rather a way to form a physical barrier not unlike a hazmat suit.
“These are the medical staff who will be performing the scan, please follow them to the quarantine room” said Yurisa.
The kindly smiling aliens waited patiently for Alice to overcome her initial shock at the sight of what her rescuers actually looked like beneath all the heavy armour. She looked at Yurisa. The commander must look similar to them beneath that helmet she realised. Shand too. And the others.
Perhaps it was the way they had seemed so unguarded around her and the full body coverings creating an illusion within her mind, but it only now hit her that her rescuers were truly alien.
Seeing that she still wasn’t moving, one of the kindly aliens took her gently by the arm and began directing her towards a door opposite the exit ramp of the shuttle. Her steps fumbled across the unfamiliar metal floor of the hanger.
As she was led off, Alice turned her head back in time to see the commander remove her helmet, revealing her own light purple skin. A small smile was also on her face, although not as large as the ones the medical personnel sported. Yurisa’s piercing and equally purple eyes gazed back at her, somehow looking into her own, past the glass faceplate.
A slight chime and smooth whoosh of the door admitted Alice into the quarantine room. The alien let go of her arm, allowing her to step inside. Another chime and whoosh of the door closing and the Commander’s gaze was cut off, replaced by a plate of glossy glass and metal. Looking at her new surroundings Alice saw the room was made from the same dull grey metal of the hanger. Perhaps the entire ship followed this pattern. It would be exciting to find out, not to mention meet the rest of the crew. A cushioned bench jutted from the wall to her right which Alice sat down on. There was nothing to do but wait for the scans and think.
Thoughts she had forced to the side in the moment began to catch up with her now she had time to pause. The first moment of peace after the completely overwhelming past few hours. Alice bent over, hiding her head in her arms from any cameras that would definitely be watching her. Rage and sadness battled for domination in her mind. Which would come out the victor only time would tell.

First/Previous/Next
​
Chapter 3 Part 1
​
They always said that you never dreamed in cryogenic sleep. Which was true. It was \impossible to dream with your entire being frozen to negative temperatures, body flooded with preservation medications so ice crystals wouldn't form in the cell walls or a host of other complications that would otherwise kill a person. What they neglected to tell you was the dreams you had when thawing out and waking up.
The dreams a person experienced while undergoing this thawing process were always intense too. As vivid as reality as it was sometimes reported. No one knew why. Whatever it was; whether it was the combination of drugs, the brain trying to understand the trauma it had just experienced or even the soul catching up with the universe as some more spiritualist elements theorised, without fail the dreams were the most intense someone could experience. For her, this time, they were far more than just intense.
​
Her eyes darted under her eyelids as the ghosts of energy bolts from aeons past darted in her memory. She heard the screams at the shaking of each dust filled rumble in her head. Her ears barely registered the dulled hum of ancient machinery fulfilling vital life sustaining protocols and the silent clicks of her standardised survival suit undergoing restart checks. Her helmet blocked out everything else or she'd have also heard the murmurs of voices beyond her pod. The cries of the dying desperately making one last stand echoed in her ears, drowning out the dull sounds. Those dying to protect her.
In her dream her arms reached out painfully slow for her father. She ached for them to go faster. This time she would make it. She'd be able to block the lid from fully sealing, preventing the cryogenic pod from starting. She was millimetres away. And yet the pod sealed effortlessly with a resounding hiss. At that her limbs decided to move normally again and hammered on the inside of the pod as the reinforced armour glass door's magnetic locks clunked to activation.
A dull green light shone into her face. Glacial coolness washed over her body as she slowly succumbed to the sensation of drowning. In one last desperate attempt she tried again to reach for her father. He wouldn't even look at her. A woman in midnight black armour cloaked in ragged robes embraced him from behind.
She screamed herself hoarse, trying to use sheer force of will to make the glass melt away. For her fingers and hands to phase through the transparent barrier and wipe away the tears staining his white bearded face. To just touch him one last time, even through the haptic feedback of her suit. To get him away from the stranger caressing him and wiping away the tears that belonged to her. She screamed a guttural scream as his face became sallow at the stranger's touch. It was killing him. Eyes sunk into sockets and flesh peeled back at the rapid mummification. "Alas" said the midnight black armoured woman in the ragged robes, holding her father's grinning skull in a gentle caress on the tips of her fingers. "Poor girl. Time to wake up. Wake up, and smell the ashes"
Fear gripped at her heart in a vice. There was nothing she could do but watch. The only way out was the emergency release button embedded at her side. But it was already too late, she didn't get to try as the feeling of drowsiness drowned her out, pulling her deep into the depths of slumber.
Except this time the feeling didn't become a stifling cold malaise. Instead, it was getting warmer. The sensation of drowning was slowly dissipating. As if she suddenly remembered she needed to breathe, her chest gave a mighty heave and began to rise and fall. For the first time in both more than a millenia and less than a handful of minutes, a large gasping breath passed through her lips. The inside of her visor fogged from the condensation.
She still heard the residual echoes of screams and cries in her ears like a phantom pain. But they were fading. Being replaced by a newer, stranger sound. The murmuring of a language she couldn't understand filtered through the glass and barely perceptible inside her helmet. Voices crowded around her pod. She hadn't yet opened her eyes. She didn't want to. She wished she was still in the dream.
Revival was always a confusing process and this was no different than the fifty odd times she’d undergone it before. But each time she had woken up her father had been there. He had to be there. Like how he’d be there this time. After all, it had only been a bad thaw dream.
The urge to open her eyes and look was almost overwhelming but she had to keep them shut. It was imperative until the medical diagnosis beeped an all clear signal. Otherwise she risked retinal damage before they were fully thawed. Until then she was alone in the dark with her thoughts. It was comforting to have thoughts however. What’s more; it was an even greater comfort knowing that because she was even having thoughts, she wouldn't spend an eternity of limbo in her frozen tomb, lost to the universe.
Finally, after what felt like an aeon, a dull chime resounded inside her helmet. Her eyelids slowly fluttered open. Microsensors within her helmet immediately noticed the movement and activated her suit's display systems. A heads up display appeared in front of her face. Light teal transparent letters flickered as she read information being displayed.
​
CRYOGENIC REANIMATION COMPLETE.
​
PLEASE EXIT THE UNIT AT YOUR DISCRETION.
​
This was strange. If her father was monitoring he would have already opened the pod right as her eyes opened. At least the words were reassuring. If there was anything wrong with either the pod or herself it would have been indicated in bright red flashing letters. A flick of her eyes and a blink dismissed the notification from her visor and she laid there in a stupor. She needed to get out and find everyone, find out what had happened.
It had all been so fast. There was barely enough time to even put on her survival suit and rush to the lowest levels.
The guards escorting her, Sergeant Lockley and a subordinate of his she had never got the name of, had practically dragged her in their rush, the entire bunker wasn’t even bothering with security procedures anymore. Everywhere else had gone quiet days ago, as far as they had been aware they were the last ones left.
No matter how much she'd pestered Sergeant Lockley he'd never given her any details on what had happened beyond that they needed to hurry and were about to be under attack. He didn't need to say by who, especially that late into the war. If it could even be called a war by then. It was more like a genocide with the fleets falling from the sky burning the heavens. City after City had collapsed, less and less reports coming in until they were isolated. And then it had been their turn. The entire human race reduced from carving out their own territory in the wider community to a scant few fighting tooth and nail for every scrap of dirt in a few decades.
That pit in her stomach as she'd been unceremoniously thrown in the pod while her father had ran all the checks himself when it normally took an entire team, was returning. Or had it never gone and she was only now allowed to feel it once again?
But she had been woken up. If she was awake then someone knew she was here, which meant they must have won. Beat the terrible odds stacked against them and come out the other side. If it had only been a few hours, or even a few days, either way it didn’t matter. She needed to get out and help the survivors, an extra pair of hands would be absolutely invaluable.
Looking at the lid, there were unexpected layers of thick dust caked against the outside of the glass, all except where her head had been. Maybe the combat had been so heavy the cryo chamber had nearly collapsed and whoever had woken up had brushed that portion aside to check on her. Yes, that must have been it. Holographic displays floated in front of her beyond the glass, their brightness blinding her eyes as well as making it almost impossible to make out who stood beyond their glare. She tried squinting past them, the shapes of the people outside were hard to make out, the fuzzy outlines of their bodies blurred together. However, their heads were still identifiable in the darkness as her eyes still adjusted. And from the looks of it there were at least four people in front of her. There was only one way to definitively find out though.
She motioned her fingers to indicate she was awake to the internal sensors inlaid into the walls of her glass coffin. She didn’t know why they hadn’t used the external controls to let her out, maybe they had been broken.
A dull clunk sounded indicating the magnetic locks had been released and the holograms flickered off as the glass slowly slid upwards with a motorised hum. The metal brim passed over her face, her visor compensated automatically for the low light levels, revealing, at last, her rescuers.
Four definitely humanoid figures crowded around her in the dark room. If she hadn’t been wearing her helmet the light coming from their torches being shined directly in her face would have blinded her. Instead, the glare was automatically filtered, revealing the figures standing in the room with her. They wore strange plated purple armour, bulky in the fashion all military equipment tended to be. A metallic point descended in the middle of their faceplates giving them an appearance similar to angry owls. Maybe it had been a special prototype her father had kept in storage somewhere, something given to the few elite soldiers remaining that helped to turn the tide. All the guesswork and unanswered questions directly after the panicked scramble to get into the pod was beginning to agitate her.
As a result, even through her reasoning, something nagged at the back of her mind. Trying to tell her something was off. She slowly looked over the four people again with her eyes, studying them closely without turning her head and giving away what she was doing. The one to the far right of her had their weapon hovering vaguely in her direction, as if unsure of what to do suddenly. Why would people that knew about her be so scared of her? It looked like an odd combination between an ornate staff and a rifle yet not quite either and looked to be encased in the same dark purple material as their armour. No matter how it looked, a weapon was a weapon and these people were dangerous. But they had also just woken her up. Surely if they had done that they wouldn’t be here to harm her. If they were, they could have easily done that while she slept.
The one directly in front of her, however, had no weapon out that she could see. Instead they had paused with a hand pressed into what looked like a computer device embedded on their forearm armour. The glow of the screen was reflected in the strangely shaped visor.
She tried weakly reaching out of her pod for the one closest to her in an attempt for aid.
"Where’s my dad? Did we win? How many days has it been?" She asked in a rapid succession, her weak voice amplified by the speakers within her helmet. She had to know.
The strangers looked at each other. They seemed more shocked at her speaking than helping her get up in her weakened state. She gave up on reaching out and instead used her arms to adjust herself on her near vertical frozen bed. She could feel the strength slowly return to her limbs as she moved. It would take a little while longer until she felt she could make an attempt to stagger out of her cryo pod but until then she was essentially helpless.
The strangers simply kept staring at her, as if they didn’t even know what she was. Which meant they weren’t from her bunker. They truly were strangers in the truest sense. But even so, they were survivors. And if they had survived then perhaps others had as well. For now however she needed information, her feelings either way could wait until she knew more.
"Who are you, how did you get here?" She asked again.
One of the beings, the one she had been reaching out to, spoke. It was a strange, melodic language that she didn't understand. Almost haughty in tone. That it hadn’t been automatically translated meant it must have not been in the system. An oversight by the programmers no doubt. Either that or they were speaking in a form of code. She sighed, that would make this far harder in an already difficult situation. Her powerful in built computer would be able to eventually figure out and create a translation if it really was a language but until then she needed them to speak more to hurry the process. Or even better, if she could activate one of the embedded computers on the wall, it would be able to extrapolate from just a scant few words. A common frame of reference to start with would be the best option but she struggled to think of what to use.
She remembered reading back when she was younger; even under the best of circumstances experts would deliberate for months, even years, on the meanings and nuances of individual words to ensure the most accurate translations possible. Computers helped immensely with the process but without the subtleties of organic beings they could create embarrassing inaccuracies.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. But if you can understand me, please help me get to the computer over there I'll be able to understand you" she pleaded, pointing with her right hand at the dust covered screen mounted into the wall.
The second stranger on the left, standing behind the closest one she had been reaching for, said something in their still untranslated language and slowly walked over to the computer.
They must not be able to understand me either she thought.
The stranger pointed at the screen and said something. She had a feeling this time it was a question with the tonal inflection. That was good, if her hunch paid off it would help immensely.
Hoping what they had asked was something similar to "do you want me to turn this on" she nodded. The being said something that sounded harsher this time and the two she hadn't interacted with raised their weapons squarely on her. That message didn't need a translation. They obviously didn't trust her. The being cautiously reached out while looking at her, hesitating only for a moment, before wiping away a layer of dust and placing their hand on the touch sensitive glass. The machinery hummed to life as the screen registered the limb pressed against it and turned on.
Relieved by the fact that the fortress bunker's fusion core was still operational, she watched as the state of the art device cycled itself.
Yet another dull blue glow added to the room’s illumination as the main screen activated. Her own armour's holographic interface automatically synchronised to the system and displayed in front of her, adding to the blue light, its own illumination and brightening the room from a dull gloom to a faded glow.
The strangers still eyed her warily, fingers not on their triggers but hovering close enough to fire if she tried anything. This was more than not trusting her. They seemed scared of her.
Slowly and deliberately to show them she wasn't up to anything untoward, she lifted her right hand to tap on the translator option in front of her among the myriad of options. The haptic feedback in her glove gave her the sensation of resistance as she pressed and the computer gave a chime of recognition. Three concentric rings appeared on the screen, pulsating like a heartbeat. She spoke and the rings pulsed in time with her words.
"If you speak, that should be able to translate for us in real time" she said.
The one to her left lifted up her arm with the miniature screen and pointed it at the wall computer as the one who had touched the wall screen voiced more of their melodic speech.
"I think it's a translation programme, commander. I've managed to connect and uploaded our language to its database. They obviously designed it to be universal, it automatically reached out to my pad. It doesn’t seem like there aren't any defences or compatibility issues at the moment but this one will need to go through maintenance checks back on the ship" the being said, the software translating the language to her in real time. “But right now the risk is minima, I’m letting our systems access the programme now”
It was a wonder of coding, even managing to mimic vocal tones and cadences of the individual accurately. Although there was a slight disorienting disconnect in person when the sounds didn't quite match up to the mouth movements but that was something you got used to.
She smiled inside her helmet and relaxed, the tension that had been building easing out of her body. It was working and she'd be able to talk to them finally. And get some much needed answers.
"At least you’ll finally be able to understand me" she said.
The beings were confused for a second, each looking at each other like they'd been the ones to say it before it dawned on them that she had just spoken to them in their own language. They turned to stare at her from behind their owlish visors. It would have been almost predatory if their brief naive confusion hadn't been so amusing.
Immediately, the two with their weapons trained on her began to lean in, their fingers barely hovering over the triggers. The one who had placed their hand on the computer moved in front and motioned to them with a gesture. They lowered their weapons but did not appear to have calmed down.
"Who are you?" the person demanded.
The simple question confused her immensely. If they didn’t know who she was then why were they even down here in the first place? Even so, she needed their help to be able to get out of her pod. Let alone leaving the bunker and getting to the surface and finding any survivors. There was little choice, she needed to be careful. Secrecy protocols drilled into her by intelligence trainers until she’d had migraines were almost second nature at this point. Especially with what she should reveal and to who. But her name was something she shouldn't have to worry about.
"My name is.. Alice" she said with only the briefest hesitation.
Deciding that she could get further with these strangers by forcing a situation and getting out of the pod rather than just laying there, Alice leaned up and took a tentative shaky step forwards. She braced herself with her hands against the cushioned sides as she placed her weight on her dominant foot, stepping out warily. As soon as she lifted the weight off her back foot her leg buckled and she collapsed onto the ground in a heap.
The one who had been closest to her this entire time rushed forwards to help her.
"Are you alright?" they panicked as they helped Alice stand.
"I'm fine. Just a bit shaky after being asleep for so long." Alice replied calmly. "It's a side effect of the drugs for cryogenics. It'll take me a few more moments for it to get out of my system"
"Why would they keep you frozen for so long if it would have such deleterious effects?" asked her helper.
"What do you mean for so long? It’s just what’s used"
"Can you tell us why you were here? What happened? Why are there so many dead soldiers in this facility?" asked the demanding one.
Alice couldn’t let them see how such a casual line of questioning shook her. Taking all of her meagre strength to not simply collapse again from shock. She had to compose herself or she’d let something go by accident. At least she could be honest in this instance.
"I don't know any of that either. I was put in there before any of that happened or anything was explained to me" she said, indicating with a thumb over her shoulder. Her casual body language was key. Keep them off balanced, make sure they didn’t know how much she was internally panicking then.
he body language of the person asking her so many questions appeared incredulous at her hesitancy to be forthcoming.
Besides which, Alice had questions of her own.
“Not to be ungrateful, but who are you all?” she asked.
The one who had been demanding of her appeared to straighten up their back even further somehow.
“I am Commander Yurisa. The one kindly helping you stand at the moment is Second Rating Shand."
The latter term was unfamiliar to her but she perfectly understood the implications of there being a commander. There were enough survivors to field a well equipped and manned military. Tentative hope began to form as Alice looked at the person helping her. She gave them a nod of greeting.
"What about them?" asked Alice, indicating to the two who had been the tensest and most willing to point their weapons eagerly at her. They were still slightly hovering their weapons in her general direction.
"Conscripts Doane and Hedi. They do not need your attention, pay them no heed" said the commander curtly.
The lack of respect for the two subordinates caught Alice off guard. The two people, Doane and Hedi, may have been jumpy at her. But they didn't deserve to be dismissed so out of hand.
Even so, she could think about the ramifications of someone who would dismiss their underlings in such a manner later. Now her focus was changing as the strength returned to her limbs. She needed to find out about the rest of the bunker, what had happened after she had been frozen.
She untangled herself from Shand who had been helping her and stood straight on her own, albeit still slightly wobbling.
"Thank you for waking me up, all of you. But if it's alright, I'd like to know what happened. How many days has it been since I was locked in there?" she slightly chuckled nervously.
"Not until we know you won't pose a danger to my people or my ship" Yurisa replied sternly, a hand extended in front of her. They had evidently identified the weapon she carried.
This seemed like a hard line she shouldn’t push for the moment. She didn’t know these people and they in turn didn’t know about her it seemed. A rapport was more important for the moment, leaving her only one course of action if she didn’t want to be shot by the jumpy soldiers. Slowly reaching towards her thigh for the standard issue civilian sidearm clamped there. Making sure to deliberately grab it by the casing rather than the grip and placed the rugged weapon in the proffered commander’s hand.
Yurisa looked at her for a seeming eternity before hooking her gun on an armoured belt.
Stand down" she commanded.
Doane and Hedi once again relaxed, except this time they slung their weapons onto their backs in fluid motions.
Content they had relaxed and weren’t going to shoot her after all, Alice went to the computer she had indicated to Yurisa to turn on. She tapped the screen to change menus from the translation software to a full cultural database download. The computer chimed and began downloading the entire memory bank into her onboard storage. All the information amassed before and after her sleep. All public research and development. All scientific theories and art and literature. The entire sum of all human knowledge and culture. She'd carry it with her. The weight would be immense. The guilt of leaving it behind would be worse.
"I promise I'm not a threat commander" she said dejectedly. The energy rushed out of her as fast as it had returned, like a collapsing wave on a beach. She accessed the imaging network. Before there had been hundreds of cameras available, ranging from CCTV in the cities to satellites in orbit. Now it seemed none remained, not even static from severed connections. They were simply blank screens with error codes. She couldn't even see what had become of her home. She tried accessing previous recordings, hoping at least the final moments of the people who had protected her had been saved. The files listed themselves in front of her in a cascade of videos all dated and timestamped. She added them to the download, vowing to sort through them at the earliest opportunity.
"I just want to leave. I want to get out and see what’s survived. Who’s survived. I want to see the Earth and help rebuild, maybe even find anyone I know if I’m lucky."
She stared at the screen, willing the cameras to life. To show her the bustling streets and busy sky lanes. To see the grand ships hanging in low orbit above the urban centres, ever watchful sentinels of the heavens. But the screen defied her will and remained stubbornly black. Her rapt attention shielded her from the awkward glances the people seemed to be sharing behind her.
Shand nervously cleared her throat. “About that..”
She began but the commander furiously cut her off with a swift hand signal.
Frustration clawed at her as Alice repeatedly swiped horizontally through the vast list of camera nodes, the error codes stubbornly refusing to yield. A single flash of colour blurred past her frantic swiping. She swiftly backpedalled, searching for the frame that had zoomed by. With a tap, the swiping stopped. She had found it. A single camera she had overlooked. Tapping on the frame to enlarge the feed, she stood back. The image before her was severely cracked and pitted, barely feeding a picture let alone video. Static suffused almost the entire screen. But past it she could just about make it out. The ruins of the city. No fires flared or smoke dissipated into the sky as she expected. Or even rebuilt to its former splendour like she was hoping with these strangers being in her bunker. Instead, her eyes tried to process the rusted sharp jags of bare metal left to rot into nothing. The illusion her brain had imagined while she had been so desperate moments ago shattered at the reality in front of her.
It was gone. All of it. Just how long have I been frozen?
Grief and fear threatened to rear up in her before an entirely different sensation replaced them.
They destroyed it all. All of it. No mercy After all we had given them. Their very reason for being. If it hadn’t been for the human race they wouldn’t have even existed. HOW DARE THEY!
“HOW DARE THEY!” she screamed, punching the screen with unbridled rage.
Webs of cracks spread out from under her fist as she took deep breaths. She had to control herself. She didn’t want to turn and look at the people no doubt staring at her after her outburst. No clacks of weapons had sounded so at least they weren’t panicking even if they would be on edge yet again.
A warbling chime broke the spell around her. The download was complete. Everything that had been was now with her. The importance of it was undeniable before but now it was possibly the only record left in the galaxy. She had to guarantee its safety, as well as her own. The fallback option when she was woken up without the expected personnel. She typed in the final command she had been told to do when she had been briefed so long ago.
​
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
​
Alice snorted to herself.
Of course it would be that, they always thought they had a sense of humour. What idiots.
And with those last letters, the fortress that had survived fathomless millenia protecting its charge shut down with barely a dulcet low whine. The ruined screen flickered as the fission reactors went off line. The dull blue light slowly dimmed, once again returning the room to darkness. The last thread of life that had lasted so long finally free. And the last man made structure died, its duty carried for so long fulfilled.
Alice turned from the console a final time. The only sources of light came from the torches of the people standing in the room with her. She reached up to the side of her own helmet and touched a small pad. An embedded LED just above her faceplate illuminated itself, adding a narrow cutting beam to the wide ones of these apparent soldiers.
Commander Yurisa appeared to become distracted for a moment, her head tilting slightly to one side as if someone were talking directly into her ear. Her reply to whoever was on the other end of the obvious communication was heard by Alice.
"No, nothing to worry about. Sit tight, we're on our way back" she said to whoever it was.
Judging by that context, Alice guessed they were heading back up to the surface. They had come down and discovered her and were now leaving with their prize in tow.
No matter, as long as she could get off the planet she didn’t care where they took her now. She didn’t think she could handle the ghosts if they left her here.
Commander Yurisa indicated towards Alice, gaining her attention.
“We will be taking you back to our ship in orbit. Standard procedure means you will be confined to quarantine until medical scans show you are clear of any pathogens or other such contaminants that may prove a risk to us. These scans are non invasive and barring any complications will last no longer than a single rotation” she said in a statement that sounded rehearsed more than sincere.
Alice’s brain scratched like a record at what she had just been so casually told. A ship in orbit. She could barely comprehend all the implications it raised, not least of all the biggest one of how. She had to find out, to see if they had found an intact ship or maybe were even from a separate colony that had been missed. Her mind raced as she simply nodded in return, keeping the facade.
“I understand. I wouldn’t want to cause any harm to any of you. Just please, can we leave.” she begged.
“Doane, take the lead back to the surface. Second Rating, follow him and map our way out” ordered the stern commander.
Doane performed an odd slamming across his torso and nodded before heading towards the doorway. Alice gave one last glimpse at the pod that had kept her safe. She didn’t know if she would miss it in time but for now she felt hollow. Everything was proceeding so quickly and sooner or later she would have confront being left behind for such a long time. At least soon she would be getting answers. Why they had never found or woken her before now. She didn’t even know when now was, that was something she’d have to look up in the records when she had time.
Her lamenting was interrupted by the form of the commander filling her vision. Arm extended, indicating it was her turn to leave. Passing through the once pristine doorway, she immediately noticed the state of sheer decay. Instead of an elevator, rubble and rust met her eyes. She looked up, trying to spot where these people had climbed down. The opposite doorway wasn’t far above her, barely two levels. Doane and Shand were already more than halfway up. More beams of light were cutting through the gloom back at her, revealing the individual that Yurisa must have been talking to over the radio earlier.
Crossing the debris strewn floor, Alice reached for the corroded ladder, grabbing the rung closest to her. With mighty heaves she brought herself up, step by step, her limited strength making the simple task a strained ordeal.Finally she reached the opening she had seen from the bottom. Reaching out with her left food to dismount she hopped the small gap. Her weakened muscles still building their stamina back up from her lengthy internment failed her. Her foot slipped off the rung as she overexerted her leg, her left foot buckling from beneath her. Arms waving in front of her, desperately scrabbling for purchase on anything before she would plunge back into the darkness. Gravity inevitably overcame her struggle and pulled her back into the black shaft. A hand shot out, yanking on her forearm and dragging her back from the brink of her overbalance and firmly out of the doorway.
Alice collapsed hard onto her hands and knees, panting at the loss of strength and exhaustion wracking her body. Desperately trying to catch her breath, she looked up at who had pulled her in. Shand stood over her, head cocked while watching her. Alice fought against a giggle from erupting, the helmet the being was wearing made it look like a curious bird caught red handed in a spotlight.
Were they concerned? she wondered to herself.
Shand extended their purple gloved hand to her as she gasped from exhaustion. Alice grabbed the proffered hand. With a mighty heave, and a grunt from Shand, she stood unsteadily on her feet. Two of the soldiers rushed to her aid as she swayed on the spot, their rough armoured forms propping her up between them. Which two had helped her Alice didn’t know but nevertheless she voiced her thanks to them.
One of the group took the lead and began to head towards where they must have entered from. That must have been Doane, and Shand was the one following. She was easier to tell apart due to the holographic map being displayed on her wrist.
As they walked she looked at the aged remains of the carnage around her. Bodies and weapons strewn about the wreckage, no one left to bury them but entombed all the same in this bunker.
My father could be in here Alice realised as she slowly walked past an armoured skeleton wearing the stripes of a Sergeant draped over the remains of a concrete barrier.
They had still clung onto their rifle in a literal death grip, defending her as she had been frozen and slept. Guilt flushed through her at the sight of so many who had given themselves. Especially the Sergeant.
"Commander Yurisa. Could we stop for a moment please" asked Alice
The commander walked up to her, seeing her staring at the remains around her in the chamber.
"I think we can spare a minute or two" said Yurisa.
Alice gently removed the support of the two people who had been helping her and knelt in front of the Sergeant. An unsettling grin stared back at her through the smashed face plate of the helmet that once fitted. The unsettling truth suffused her being as she knelt. Days, or even months wouldn’t leave such a bare skeleton. This was years, decades at least. Alice looked around her at the other bodies lying around her, as if looking for any scrap of evidence that what she was realising couldn’t be true. All were beached with age, their tooth filled smiles laughing at the cosmic joke being played on her by the universe.
Looking away from the grim audience, she reached past the neck, briefly rummaging for the chain necklace she hoped would still be there. Gently lifting it past the skull, she dangled the rugged jewellery in front of her visor and attempted to read the dog tag hanging in the air. The thin slice of treated metal was caked in rust but even then it wasn't so far gone as to be illegible. Wiping the plate with her thumb, she read the name she had suspected it would say since seeing the rank of the remains.
Lockley.
The man who had rushed her to her pod so she could be where she was now. Alice bowed her head at the man she once knew. The man's armour may have been corroded with age but tradition was still tradition.
She reached out and disconnected his bulky left shoulder armour, the magnetic clamps still keeping it secure in place after so long. Placing it on top of her own civilian suit's lightly armoured shoulder with a light click, the piece looked completely out of place compared to the rest of her suit. A large dent in the centre showed where something had struck the late Sergeant as he had fought, perhaps an energy bolt or shrapnel from the fight. She rotated her shoulder, ensuring the piece wasn't interfering with movement or cumbersome. Satisfied it wasn’t, she then placed the dog tags back around the man's neck. The last thing she needed to take was his identity. The final thing he could keep.
Her deed done, she stood back up, looking around at the people she didn't realise had been staring at her.
"It was a tradition that started during the war" she said sheepishly. "You take the pauldron of whoever saved you if they died, that way you can carry them with you out of respect"
"That's a nice tradition" one of the soldiers she didn't know the name of yet said from behind her. One of the pair who had helped her. One who had been there when she had woken up. Which meant this must have been Hedi.
Alice chuckled slightly to herself as a sudden absurdity came to her. "Yeah but unfortunately I don't have enough shoulders right now for all the rest" she indicated with a sweep of her arms.
The group gave a few quiet sounds of amusement of their own, looking down at the ground or up at the ceiling rather than meeting her faceplate.
With a heavy sigh Alice willed herself to move. If she stayed any longer she would begin to lament on the lives lost for her and if she began that she may never leave.
Catching up with the awaiting Shand and Mannad, the group were led to a narrow maintenance utility shaft embedded into the wall. The cramped spaces twisted and turned as they took a winding path directed by shand.
The soldier Alice had not yet learned the name of was revealed to her when Iftan annoyed Mannad with an attempt at humour commenting on how it appeared to take longer to return the way they had come and if Shand had gotten them lost. Apparently Mannad had acute claustrophobia, however it was swiftly eased with a thump on the back of Iftan's helmet.
Alice smiled to herself at the thought of how soldiers were soldiers no matter what time or part of the universe you were from.

Season 5 was great, but the show lost a lot of heart (and humor!) without Cordelia. "You're Welcome" was great, but it has a manufactured closure feel, because you know there's absolutely no actual reason for Cordy to leave the show other than a certain manchild being a petty pos against the amazing Charisma Carpenter.
So now YOU get a chance to re-write history. You can insert Cordelia full time into season 5. How would you go on about it?
Here's how I would do it:

• At the end of season 4, Cody rejoins the gang. She gets the offer like everyone else. Now, a lot of people think Cordy would never fit into S5 because she'd never take the deal - but I COMPLETELY DISAGREE! In fact, I would argue that at the end of season 4, she has THE most reason to re-consider the path they've been on after getting ROYALLY screwed over by the TPTB and finding out the whole time she was just a pawn in an evil scheme. (season 4 was really...something).

Now, of course Cordy still believes in the mission and Doyle, and the growth she gained S1-4. She would absolutely reject the offer at the first as did the rest of the gang. BUT if:

1. ⁠Angel signs the deal anyway...
2. ⁠Her Connor memory is erased...
3. ⁠She still remembers what TPTB did to her...
4. ⁠No longer gets visions after birthing Jasmine...

Then under these conditions, I 100% believe she would join W&H with everyone else.
So season 5 begins with Cordy as the head of talent management. We see her trying to help guide Angel so he doesn't "lose his way" in the belly of the beast, but she finds herself questioning her own motivations as well.
Some of her S5 episodes would be:

• In her first case, instead of abusing her new position to get film roles, Cordy instead mentors a young upcoming actress whom reminds Cordy of her season 1 self. The young actress's seemingly innocent ambition to become a Hollywood star becomes Demonic and threatening, so Cordy must "terminate" the talent. This is the first case where Cordy questions if they're actually doing any good here, and she finally explores why she even wanted to become an actress in the first place (something that "Birthday" never quite explored).
  
• Cordy has Wes or Fred's department figure out a way to move Dennis the Ghost to her office from her old apartment. Unfortunately, during the events of the episode "Hell Bound" Dennis dies after trying to help Spike escape Pavayne. Spike tells Cordy about Dennis' last moments and how he fought bravely, which makes Cordy start to slightly warm up to Spike (this will be important later).
  
• In another episode, Cordy suddenly gets a vision after believing the visions went away with Jasmine. This throws her and the rest of the gang in shambles as they must protect an innocent by ensuring one of their own clients' trial fails. At the end of the episode, Cordy's seasonal arc begins to take shape as, while she still questions the intentions of the TPTB, she also questions the people around her as well: namely Angel, whom she shocks with a single question at the end of the episode: "How could you erase my memory of Connor?" Having a vision somehow undid the memory erasure spell and brought back her memory of Connor!
  
• Towards the end of the season, Cordy (now back to having regular visions) resigns from W&H and has no choice but to team up with Spike as the new "champion." This arc would see both Cordy and Spike hilariously overcome their different and clashing personalities for the greater good. While she misses the gang (and the lavish office lifestyle and paycheck, of course) she's now certain it's the right thing to do. She doesn't judge Angel & Co for their choice to stay and try to steer the W&H ship away.
  

Season highlights would be:

• Cordy & Lorne working together regularly due to how their departments are interconnected.
• The outfits she would wear!
• With memory of Connor gone, the fun Cordy-Wes-Gun-Fred early season 3 dynamic would be back.
• Cordy dragging Eve in every episode.
• Seeing Cordy grief for Fred, but also try to reasonably negotiate with Illyria instead of charging into battle like the boys.
• Having Cordy in the final shot of the series in the ally!

Sorry for the lengthy post. I just believe season 5 would've been a perfect season had Cordelia Chase been in it.

I just picked up a black 2013 single owner FR-S with 75,000 miles for a reasonable price. I live in Madison, took a bus to Chicago to pick it up after having Lemon Squad check it out(fairly disappointed in them). It had been maintained by the owner, but has some smaller issues that I will be taking care of over the coming weeks. I am starting this post to document the issues I fixed, and get the opinion of the forum on some issues that come up.
First group of "repairs" - driving home I noted a significant, rhythmic vibration that was very notable above 70mph. There is also a burning oil smell that is most notable when going slower, or creeping forward in traffic. On arriving home I found that the front passenger side wheel, and rear drivers side wheel each had only 4 lugnuts on. My fault for not noticing when I picked up the car( I assumed something like this would have been noted on the inspection I paid for), but this gives an idea of the corner cutting the car has been experiencing for the past several years. Breaking free the lugnuts, it was obvious that they were over-torqued, and the studs had never seen anti-seize. I had to repair the threads on one of the studs, but otherwise had no issues switching over to some RPF-1s I had from my WRX, and luckily kept the lugnuts that fit those wheels from before. This got rid of the vibration, but I now notice a creaking/clicking noise from the rear drivers side suspension that I haven't figured out yet. The tires are a few year old hankook V12s, and the car was hilariously tail happy until the glaze wore off.
I also did the H9 conversion for the main beams, and had to replace a turn signal bulb to get rid of the hyper-fast turn signal rate.
the source of the burning oil smell seems to be from a oil leak on the rear of the engine block on the passenger side. a little googling led me to find out this was a cylinder head cover plate that commonly leaks oil. Rather than rely on RTV again, I got an aftermarket billet cover from nameless performance, which I will put on next week. I will also replace the PCV valve and hose, as that has never been replaced, and I suspect that this is part of the issue with the leaking.
​
Issues that I have found but haven't decided what to do yet.

1. loud wind noise from passenger side window, the vertical front window gasket(between the triangle and main window) is very loose and I suspect this is the issue. Im not sure how I plan to fix it, but it will likely involve a heat gun and clamps.
2. the black plastic part of the drivers visor that clicks into the hook on the roof cracked off and it bounces everywhere when Im driving. I might just warp that in electric tape, but It might be worth the 50 dollars to just replace the whole piece.
3. the buttons next to the dash dont work at all(odo, Kph/Mph/Display). I havent found anyone talking about this issue, the part isnt super expensive, but Im not sure it is the buttons, and not sure how to test where the fault is.
4. look into the creaking/clicking sound from the drivers rear suspension
5. need a place to put my cell, where do people mount their phones in these cars?

issues my inability to call good enough alone will drive me to do

1. Im planning on looking at the throttle body to see if it needs to be cleaned
2. I doubt the spark plugs have been replaced, so that will be done this summer as well
3. replace the oil and filter
4. the owner reported changing the rear diff and tranny fluid in the past 20k miles, will likely replace it in the next several months anyway just to be sure
5. brake fluid was done in the last 2 years, and pads look like they are fine. Rotors are surprisingly good(light car I guess). will probably do all of that next year.
6. the air intake box is cracked where the tube from the front enters it. I should replace it, but it really only means a bit more hot air is entering the filter. I read that Cold air kits really dont benefit these cars, and I would rather not drop a few hundred on that right now
7. the car came with K-Sport coilovers, I will likely put them on or have them put on this summer as well. they likely have less than 20k miles on them. the prior owner took them off for being too stiff for chicago roads. the current springs are pretty harsh, so Im a little hesitant to try the coilovers out.
8. the doors do not stay open, I will eventually replace the door stays, but dont want to take the door panels off more than necessary to avoid breaking any tabs. would likely put in some sound deadening material at the same time when I do.

im sure more will come up, and I will document this. Also if anyone is in the madison area and is interested in some 18x7.5 drag wheels with worn out tires on them I would be willing to sell them at a very reasonable price.

All switches are currently single pole.
Switch 1 = light for bathroom
Switch 2 = fan
Switch 3 = Light for hallway
Background:
All neutrals are pigtailed.
3 or 4 Ground wires are cut short and put to each of their own grounding screws. Given single pole switches weren't grounded, the grounds aren't used on any existing switches. Given they are cut short I don't have a lot of real estate to work with.
I am putting in a timer fan switch in switch 2. which requires a neutral and to be grounded.
Question 1: To ground it, I was planning on removing all the ground wires from their individual ground screws and pigtailing them all together. In the event they aren't long enough I was planning on getting additional ground wire and pigtailing the ones that aren't long enough to extend them, and then pigtailing all ground wires together. Would this be appropriate?
Question 1A - I have metal gang box and need to attach the ground wires to the ground screw on the box, in addition to the ground wire on the switch. Would it be preferable to add another ground wire into the pigtail group and have that go to an individual ground screw? OR could i take the green ground wire from my timer fan, strip it so it's exposed, wrap that around a grounding screw and then have the end of the wire go into the group of grounded pigtail wires?
Question 2 - When hooking up my neutral wire from my timer switch, can i just pigtail this with the rest of my neutral wires and wirenut it, or would it be preferable to take one neutral wire out of the current pigtail and pigtail/wirenut that wire with my neutral wire for my timer switch? If so does it matter what wire or would anyone be fine?

INTRO
I’ve recently had to scroll through my old posts on this account and, reading back my old reviews, I was not satisfied with the quality of some of these old posts (partially due to lack of knowledge on my part for some of these older reviews). So I’ve decided to redo all my old reviews with the added benefit of having done some extensive durability testing on most of them over the last few years (I have a talent for breaking my mouse buttons). I hope you all enjoy!
XTRFY M42
SHAPE/COATING/WEIGHT
The M42 is quite unique when it comes to shape. By default it’s a shrunk down sensei, however by swapping out the back you can change the shape to something a little closer to a mm710. Overall the shape felt a little awkward for me. With its sensei-like shape the mouse felt like the mouse felt too narrow for how tall and long it is. The mm710 like shape felt better, but the taller back plate doesn’t get too much structural support from the side walls. Because of this the back tends to wiggle around slightly and creak quite a bit, giving you an experience below par for a high end mouse. With its high back the mouse is usable for medium to small hands when using a claw grip. Its low back is better when using a fingertip grip but there are plenty of better options out there if you intend to use it as a fingertip mouse.
The coating is a slightly cheap feeling matte coating. Over the 2 ish months I’ve mained the mouse for it’s worn down a little bit and picked up a slight shine on the buttons near where my fingers rest. I don’t expect this coating to last for too long for most people.
The mouse also has round holes all over its body. XTRFY advertises these as weight reducing holes. The mouse however isn’t all too light for its size with its 60 gram weight. I suspect that, because round holes are not great for structural integrity, they had to make the side walls of the shell thicker to compensate which in turn will increase the weight. The holes are also very noticeable when holding the mouse which can be a little annoying. Furthermore the holes collect all kinds of dirt (dust, oil and dead skin) and are almost impossible to clean out properly. In my opinion these holes are only there to give the aesthetic of lower weight without actually making a meaningful difference and only deteriorate the quality of the product.
BUTTONS
The main buttons are Chinese Omron 20M switches. The main clicks on my copy have developed quite a bit of pre-travel and have a weird feeling at the start of the click (almost as if 2 pieces of plastic are rubbing against each other. Issues can mainly be felt on the left mouse button (probably because it’s been used more) but are present, albeit to a lesser degree, on the right button as well. The buttons feel fairly light but are not very tactile and do not have enough post travel to cushion out a button press so you will feel them bottom out when you press them. As far as main buttons go these are usable but not great.
The side buttons on the M42 are some of my favorites. They are light, have very little pre travel, have just enough post travel to cushion out your clicks and are not overly tactile. It’s just a shame that the rest of the mouse couldn’t be closer to their quality.
CABLE
The cable on this mouse is absolutely horrendous. The outside of the cable is a shoelace-like braid while the inside is a thin, dense rubber cable. The cable is not very flexible and it keeps its shape extremely well. Out of the box it comes rolled up very tight creating multiple kinks in the cable which will probably not come out no matter how hard you try. Overall the cable is below par.
FEET
The feet are white dyed PTFE. Although dyed feet were (and still are) pretty common I have a specific issue with these. For a bit of historical context: this mouse came out around the time we saw the first mice with 100% pure PTFE mouse feet. The way people recognized those feet at the time was simply to look at their color. If it was white it was pure, if it was black it was dyed. Generally speaking pure PTFE feet feel slightly more smooth and have slightly less friction than dyed feet and are an overall better experience. The feet on the M42 feel a little bit scratchy and have a bit more friction than I would like. A replacement set of mouse feet is included in the box but if you end up using the mouse for long enough to wear down the feet and want to replace them I would suggest using an aftermarket replacement for an overall better experience.
SCROLL WHEEL
The scroll wheel is a standard 24 step wheel. It requires an above average amount of force to scroll up and down. The scroll wheel is also not very tactile. Scrolling up and down with this mouse feels a little bit like dragging the scroll wheel through mud and is overall not a great experience. The scroll wheel is however fairly quiet.
The scroll wheel click has the same crunchy feeling to it as the main buttons. The click requires a relatively large amount of force and is not very tactile. Overall the scroll wheel click is not great.
SENSOR
As far as the sensor goes I’ve not had any issues. The mouse tracks fine on any non glass surface and I could not make it spin out no matter how fast I moved it. LOD is relatively low at 2mm but cannot be adjusted. DPI can be changed but only to one of the 8 predefined steps (400, 800, 1200, 1600, 3200, 4000, 7200, 16000) the last 2 steps being way too high and absolutely unusable. If you normally use any other DPI on your mouse your only real option would be to change your sensitivity in Windows and in game to attempt to match your old sensitivity.
RGB
The m42 features multi zone RGB at the front of the mouse and on the scroll wheel. The RGB diffuser is placed in a spot that’s not covered by your hand during normal use making it an actual useful addition. The mouse comes with a few preset RGB effects. Effects can be selected using the main and side buttons in combination with the button below the scroll wheel on the top of the mouse. The mouse unfortunately lacks software to customize the RGB effects so unless you want to use the default rainbow wave or one of the preset static colors you might want to turn it off. Although RGB lighting is implemented in a tasteful way on the M42, the lack of software to customize effects makes it slightly redundant.
RECOMMENDATION
Even at its current price of €32- i would not recommend this mouse. There’s durability concerns with its main buttons and coating, the cable and feet are worse than most budget options and its better sensor compared to some budget options is not worth the tradeoff of a flat out worse feeling product. If you want something cheap I’d recommend looking at any decent mouse from 1 or 2 generations ago instead.
Razer Viper ultimate
SHAPE/COATING/WEIGHT The Viper Ultimate shape might look familiar to some. It’s essentially the exact same shape as a Zowie FK1 with a slightly wider front. The shape is alright for claw or fingertip grip for medium to large hands. It’s a fine shape for everyone that doesn’t know exactly what they’re looking for in a mouse, but if you already know what you like it’s not perfect for either grip style. For claw grip a mouse with the hump more towards the back would probably be better and for fingertip grip a shorter mouse with sides that are a bit flatter towards the front would probably be preferred.
The sides are made of a textured rubber that feels fine, but after some time will wear down and become more and more smooth. With dry hands this isn’t much of an issue, when your hands get sweaty however it does become quite slippery.
The top is made of matte coated plastic. It’s fairly grippy, cleans easily and does not show fingerprints. Unlike the sides this matte coating does not wear down easily.
The mouse weighs about 73 grams and feels fairly well balanced with the middle part being a little bit lighter than the front and back pieces.
BUTTONS
The main buttons are Razer’s v2 optical switches (unless you somehow manage to find one with an early production date out there). These v2 switches are a significant upgrade over their v1 variant and feel only slightly worse than the v3 version. They feel almost like a true mechanical switch with a very light click and plenty of tactility. The buttons have very little pre travel and just enough post travel to cushion out the click. The only issue I have with the main buttons is that after my almost year of use the left click has gotten slightly loose and you can feel the main button rub on the switch ever so slightly. Although it’s not perfect this is something that could be expected after my almost full year of use.
The side buttons don’t extrude too far out the shell. This is to prevent you from accidentally clicking the buttons on your non thumb side. In my experience it does not prevent you from accidentally pressing the buttons (unless you hold the mouse in a way where your fingers go nowhere near them), while not extruding too far out the shell makes them hard to click without moving your thumb all the way to over. There is a slight gap between the buttons and the switches which makes them slightly rattly but does not ruin the feel. They require a decent amount of force to actuate and are very tactile. In fact, in my opinion they are slightly too heavy and tactile and I would've preferred something lighter and smoother. They have a very slight bit of post travel but not enough to fully cushion the press (so you will feel them bottom out).
CABLE Even though it is a wireless mouse the cable on the Viper Ultimate feels quite nice. It’s a medium thickness cable micro USB with a slightly loose, thin braid. It’s fairly flexible and doesn’t hold its shape too much. Although it could’ve been a bit more flexible I had no problem with using the cable while charging the mouse. The only downside of the cable is its special connector housing that makes it hard to use with any other product and makes it so almost no other micro USB cable will fit the mouse.
FEET
The feet on the Viper Ultimate are undyed (pure) PTFE. They have a decent glide but their cornered edges can make them feel a little scratchy on some surfaces. One pretty important issue I had with them is that one of the feet was slightly thinner than the others causing it to wobble on hard surfaces and tilt enough to have the bottom plate scratch the mouse pad on softer surfaces. Overall they’re fine but I just got a little unlucky on my unit.
SCROLL WHEEL
The scroll wheel is a standard 24 step wheel. It requires a medium amount of force to scroll and the scroll steps are slightly less defined than I’d like them to be. Overall it’s a perfectly acceptable scroll wheel but it’s not exceptionally good. When scrolling down the wheel is fairly quiet but when scrolling up it makes a distinct rattly sound which I can hear even while wearing my headphones and playing music.
The scroll wheel click is a Panasonic style dome switch. It is fairly tactile and light. As far as scroll wheel clicks go this one feels good.
CHARGING DOCK
The charging dock is a nice bonus when it works. Most of the time it will work fine but sometimes the mouse will just not charge when placed onto it due to dust or dirt building up on the contact pads. The issue is easily fixed by cleaning the contact pads on the charging dock and the bottom of the mouse but often will happen unnoticed which can leave you with a mouse that’s almost out of battery when you need it. It also works as an extender for the wireless dongle to get it closer to the mouse in order to avoid possible connection issues.
SENSOR
I’ve had no issues with the sensor. The sensor works fine on all surfaces I’ve tested it on (which include wood, cordura, and cloth) but might have some tracking issues on glass. I’m also unable to make the sensor spin out with fast flicks. DPI can be set between 100 and 20000 in steps of 50 and LOD can be set from 1mm to 3mm in steps of 1mm. In its low power mode (which activates when the battery is about to run out) it still seems to track fine but has a slightly floaty feeling to it, almost as if there’s a tiny bit of motion delay. With my current setup I’m not able to accurately test what causes this floaty feeling but to me it’s definitely noticeable.
SOFTWARE
First of all installing the software was quite annoying. After downloading and running the installer it will ask you what Razer software you want to install. By default it will install Razer Synapse and its 3 chroma plugins (chroma visualizer, chroma studio and chroma connect). If you don’t want these you have to uncheck the boxes for installing them which are hidden in a drop down menu and are easily missed. When the installation started it also showed me an ad asking me to install Razer Cortex which is their PC “optimizer”. All Cortex will do is change some game settings and delete some temporary or unused Windows files. I’d recommend not installing Cortex because it doesn’t really do anything useful and essentially functions as bloatware. Then when synapse finally finishes installing and launches you’re greeted by ads for multiple other razer products. Disabling these ads requires you to go to another decently well hidden settings menu to turn them off.
Synapse itself is fine as far as software goes. It’s reasonably easy to change settings or navigate menus. The software allows you to change DPI, polling rate, button binds, RGB, LOD and the idle timer and low power mode thresholds. It also shows a fairly accurate battery percentage. I’m currently not experiencing any issues with the software but there were some issues with it in the past. First of all the software will sometimes decide to update by itself which will cause all your razer devices to become unresponsive for a few seconds. Next up there’s been issues where the software would just be unable to save certain profiles to the devices on board storage. Finally there’s been issues where the in app update tool just stopped working for some reason and the only way to get a software update would be to uninstall the software and reinstall the newer version. As far as gaming software goes my experience with Razer Synapse unfortunately is slightly above average, which is more due to other gaming software being even more horrible rather than Razer Synapse being good.
BATTERY LIFE
I get about 4-5 days of battery out of a single full charge with RGB turned off. With RGB on, battery life is closer to about 3 days. Battery drain when idle is minimal. Leaving the mouse on overnight will only drain the battery by about 1%. Overall battery life is slightly below par compared to other modern wireless mice with similar performance but still good enough.
RECOMMENDATION
Nowadays you can get a viper ultimate (with the charging dock) for about €80-. For this price the mouse is honestly not that bad. It’s going to perform better than most other mice around this price range but in return it might not be as durable as some of the other options. Battery life is also not as good as most alternatives but if you charge your mouse every day it shouldn’t be an issue. I would recommend this mouse over the Viper V2 Pro if you’re not planning on using 4000hz wireless and you don’t care too much about long term durability. If you do care about these things however the Viper V2 Pro is the better product even at its significantly higher price of €140-.
Upcoming reviews (in no particular order)
Roccat Burst Pro
Steelseries Rival 3
Steelseries Rival 310
Razer Deathadder V3 (wired)
Razer Orochi v2
Endgame Gear Xm1r

First Pitch: 7:10 PM at Fenway Park

Team	Starter	TV	Radio
Reds	Hunter Greene (1-4, 4.18 ERA)	BSOH	WLW
Red Sox	Chris Sale (5-2, 4.72 ERA)	NESN	WEEI, WAMG (ES)

Game Preview
Reddit Stream for this post

Line Score - Game Over

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
CIN	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	7	0	6
BOS	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6		8	8	0	5

Box Score

BOS		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
RF	Verdugo	4	1	0	0	1	1	.288
3B	Devers	3	1	2	1	1	1	.252
DH	Turner, J	4	0	2	1	0	2	.267
DH	Tapia, R	0	1	0	0	0	0	.274
LF	Yoshida	3	1	0	0	1	0	.312
CF	Duran, Ja	2	1	0	0	2	1	.288
SS	Hernández, K	4	2	2	3	0	1	.239
1B	Casas	4	0	0	0	0	0	.188
C	Wong	4	1	1	2	0	1	.244
2B	Valdez, E	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250

BOS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Sale	3.2	5	1	1	1	6	59-40	4.58
Garza	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	19-12	1.17
Winckowski	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	16-9	2.08
Pivetta	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	15-10	5.54
Martin	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	17-13	1.72
Jansen	1.0	0	0	0	1	0	13-6	3.24

CIN		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
3B	Newman	4	1	3	1	0	0	.291
SS	McLain	4	0	1	1	0	1	.354
2B	India	4	0	0	0	0	2	.277
1B	Steer	3	0	1	0	1	1	.289
DH	Stephenson, T	4	0	1	0	0	0	.246
RF	Fairchild	2	0	0	0	0	1	.241
RF	Fraley	2	0	0	0	0	0	.245
LF	Senzel	2	0	0	0	2	2	.267
CF	Barrero	4	0	0	0	0	2	.224
C	Casali	3	1	1	0	0	2	.164

CIN	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Greene, H	6.0	2	1	1	3	8	109-67	3.92
Gibaut	1.0	1	1	1	0	0	8-7	3.76
Herget	1.0	5	6	6	2	0	29-19	5.30

Scoring Plays

Inning	Event	Score
T3	Kevin Newman doubles (6) on a fly ball to center fielder Jarren Duran. Curt Casali scores.	0-1
B4	Justin Turner singles on a ground ball to right fielder Stuart Fairchild, deflected by first baseman Spencer Steer. Rafael Devers scores.	1-1
B7	Enrique Hernandez homers (5) on a line drive to left center field.	2-1
T8	Matt McLain singles on a ground ball to center fielder Jarren Duran. Kevin Newman scores.	2-2
B8	Rafael Devers doubles (15) on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Jose Barrero. Alex Verdugo scores.	3-2
B8	Enrique Hernandez singles on a ground ball to right fielder Jake Fraley. Masataka Yoshida scores. Jarren Duran scores.	6-2
B8	Connor Wong homers (6) on a line drive to left center field. Enrique Hernandez scores.	8-2

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Boston, June 1 vs Reds	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for Cincinnati, June 1 vs Red Sox	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for Cincinnati, June 1 vs Red Sox	0:11	Video
Fielding alignment for Boston, June 1 vs Reds	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Reds at Red Sox - June 1, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Chris Sale's pitches	0:08	Video
Enrique Hernández: Home Run Statcast Analysis	0:08	Video
Breaking down Hunter Greene's pitches	0:08	Video
Hunter Greene's outing against the Red Sox	0:20	Video
The distance behind Connor Wong's home run	0:09	Video
Analyzing Enrique Hernández's home run through bat tracking	0:09	Video
Connor Wong's home run through bat tracking data	0:09	Video
Kevin Newman lines an RBI double off the wall	0:17	Video
Alex Verdugo throws out Spencer Steer at home plate	1:29	Video
Justin Turner grounds an RBI single to right	0:21	Video
Rafael Devers doubles on an elusive fly ball	0:40	Video
Chris Sale strikes out six over 3 2/3 innings of work	1:03	Video
Chris Sale exits his start vs. Reds with an injury	1:16	Video
Kiké Hernández drills a go-ahead solo home run	0:31	Video
Matt McLain hits a game-tying RBI single in the 8th	0:16	Video
Rafael Devers drills a go-ahead RBI double in the 8th	0:27	Video
Kiké Hernández smacks a two-run single the other way	0:07	Video
Raimel Tapia scores on a balk	0:07	Video
Connor Wong drills a two-run homer over the monster	0:26	Video
Alex Verdugo loses his bat, fan in stands catches it	0:16	Video
Kenley Jansen secures the win	0:15	Video

Decisions

Winning Pitcher	Losing Pitcher	Save
Martin (1-1, 1.72 ERA)	Herget (1-2, 5.30 ERA)

Game ended at 9:54 PM.

Streams
Tracker	MLB.com	Game Graph

GO GET YOUR FLAIR IN THE SIDEBAR!

Think about it.
They both appear simultaneously as a pair the 1st time we are introduced to the espada, almost like they are simply henchmen or representatives of what's to come......or are they?🙃
Perhaps it's Kubo actually introducing the strongest of the espada.
Or lets look at it from a different angle.
Ulquiorra and Yammy are the only ones with 'secret reveals' .
Aizen purposefully leaves them behind to ensure ichigo has to indeed evolve in order to defeat either one of them single handedly (VL ichigo).
Aizen considers unlocking VL ichigo as a bigger priority than fighting the gotei 13 considering VL ichigo is a monster potentially capable of evoking an evolution strong enough to face the challenges in the soul palace.
The only threat in the gotei is yamajii and he already has wonderweiss for that, the other captains all have to gang up on him to stand a chance and so he brought espada 1 to 3 just to wear them down which they did brilliantly. They were easy pickings after their respective fights.
Aizen never really needed his strongest soldiers in FKT, he needed them unlocking his golden ticket to transcendency, VL ichigo, the gotei were priority number 2.
Yammy and Ulquiorra were right where they needed to be.
Where the main priority was. They were the strongest.......they always were👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨⚡⚡🦇👹🙆🏾‍♂️💯