#every time they fought online it was an event

[yesyourstalker]

Warabie: ........*sigh*...........

Shimi:.....mmmm

Cirrina:....*snoring*... Hmm ....hm

Ikkan: ........................... She snores like your dad

Merv: hehehe

Cirrina:...mmmmm no I don't..

Merv: *reading*..............hm......oh! ikkan look we're home..... look at that!

Ikkan: wow.....look at all that green. It's been a while since I've seen that much grass........

[hello passengers we've landed in krillarney thank you for choosing the Marlin airport]

Shimi: ugh finally....

Warabie:....*huuuuf*... let's go... So where do we rent a car or something?

Ikkan: we still need to take the ferry.....

Cirrina: *yawn*.... did we land?

Ikkan: Yeah.. let's get out of here. let me get your bag for you.

Shimi: so where do we need to go?

Warabie: You said something about a ferry

Merv: yep we need cath the bus and head over to the dock catch a ferry and head over to the house. When's the next bus coming?

Ikkan: the next bus in 2 hours.....

Shimi: 2 hours? ....ugh!

Cirrina: ok so what do we do?

Ikkan: idk walk around the City. We are 30 minutes away let me just get a scuber.

Warabie: you need to get clothes and everything anyway dad.

Shimi: mmmmm.... alright......

Ikkan: is Mrs Cuddle still open?

Merv: yeah they're still serving food. I warn you now so brace yourself cuz Mrs. Cuddle has been waiting a long time to see you again.

Ikkan: I know

_______________________________________________

Gai: woooow .... So this is all yours. All of it?

Neta: yeah......*huff*...... Yeah it's all mine. I didn't get that much merchandise. I just got a couple t-shirts and a figure, two figures, actually......*huff*.. ..It's actually quite rare. I checked online. They're selling for $500.

Gai: is this your old bass..... All beat up huh? You must have put a lot of love into it

Neta: I I-i did....... Well actually my uh ....my partner he uh......... He put a lot of her love in it. He took it to most of his tours so......

Gai: yeah I heard metalopod guy....... makes sense he seems like your type

Neta:...yeah...hehehe..heeee...*sigh*.........

Gai:...... Really nice place you have here. It's the same size as our house... That's not saying much about our old house....... What's that room

Neta: oh uhhhhh that's that's my daughter's room.....

Gai: oh yeah..... little Cici how old is she now 12?

Neta: she's 15 now

Gai oh..

Neta: Dad why are you here? Do you need money or something? Did you and kat fight or something?

Gai: what?! No! A man can't talk to his son after 18 years of no contact. No phone calls no visits or anything, didn't even get to see my granddaughter.

Neta: as if you ever tried to reach out to me

Gai: well how was I supposed to do that? How was I supposed to reach out to you when you're running around everywhere?

Neta: well you know when you're so used to bouncing from house to house It's kind of hard to stay in one place

Gai: well you know you did have a choice to stay at home but You didn't want that. Nothing was ever good for you

Neta: The fuck do you mean nothing was good for me? You moved me out of the house when I was 6!! You can't even handle a 6-year-old?!

Gai: not you! You were terrible!! You were angry, you were mean, you were spiteful! Almost every week I'd catch you stealing something from me! Every day you'd always have to defy me!!

Neta: I don't know dad maybe if you were emotionally there for me and actually been a father!...

Gai: I did my best!

Neta: you did your best?! YOU DID YOUR BEST?! YOU FUCKING ABANDONED ME!! YOU WERE NEVER THERE!! EVERY CHANCE YOU GOT TO DROP ME AT MY AUNT OR A COUSIN OR AT PULPO'S HOUSE YOU DID!!

Gai:......

Neta: EVER SINCE MOM DIED YOU'VE TREATED ME LIKE I WAS YOU BURDEN JUST A NUISANCE THAT YOU COULD NEVER GET RID OF AND YOUR GOING TO TELL ME THAT YOU WERE DOING YOUR BEST!! .....

Gai: YES!! I WAS DOING MY BEST YOU THINK I WANTED TO DROP YOU OFF ANYWHERE I COULDN'T HANDLE MY OWN PROBLEMS AND THEN I HAD TO HANDLE YOUR PROBLEMS ON TOP OF THAT I COULDN'T DO THAT SO I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO!

Neta:.....*sniff*...........

Gai: I wasn't the perfect father. I was emotionally distant I was neglectful and I was unavailable for a lot of things in your life.... .

Neta:...................

Gai:.... I'm......*sigh*..... I'm sorry..........I really am........

Neta:.....................

Gai: I just wasn't prepared to be a single parent..... I always expected Sydney to be there with me....... when she died.......... I..... I guess I just shut down....... I didn't know what to do so I didn't do anything.......

Neta:..........................

Gai: I just want to make things right.

Neta:..................... I don't think you can dad........I really don't............. The damage has already been done.

Gai:.......*sigh*........ I understand........ I just want you to know that I love you...............

Neta:.................

Gai: even though I had a hard time showing it....... I did.... I really did.... I wasn't there for you because I knew I would make things worse for you.

Neta:........................... So you dumped me in military school!?....................

Gai:.………….……....... When I enrolled you I just wanted you to be disciplined. I wanted you to have structure and order and stability all those things that I knew I wasn't able to give you............

Neta:....................................

Gai: when they assigned you to a combat Splatoon I-

Neta: WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU THINK THEY WERE GOING TO PUT ME IN?!?!?! INTELLIGENCE?! ENGINEERING?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!??

Gai:........................

Neta: YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHERE THEY WERE GOING TO PUT ME DAD!! I WAS EXPELLED TWICE, HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, BAD MENTAL HEALTH!! DID IT EVER CROSS YOUR MIND THAT THEY VIEWED ME AS DISPOSABLE!!!

Gai:.......................I didn't. I honestly didn't

Neta: *crying*.I had to watch my friends die!!!...I had to watch strangers die by my own hand....*crying*......do you know what that does to a person???!!!..... I was 14!!....that place ruined my life!! That place ruined me!...*sobbing*.............

Gai:........*sigh*...........neta

Neta:...*sobbing*.......

Gai: ...................... come here...... alright..... I'm sorry...... I'm sorry..........

Neta: *sobbing*

[hour and 45 minutes]

Neta:.....................................................................

Gai:......................................…...............................

Neta: *sigh*....*sniff*...............

Gai: are you okay

Neta:.no..... I'm used to it tho......[stretch]......*uggg*..how long are you going to be on the surface?

Gai: uhhh I'm planning on staying for a short while...... just trying to get acclimated.

Neta: .......... maybe we can get something to eat.... Maybe catch up and try not to fight

Gai:.....................ok............

Neta:.....ok

_______________________________________________

Mahi: do you even know where you're going babe?

Mizole: yeah I'm just taking the shortcut I know where I'm going

ichiya: can't say the same thing about your career

Umishi: I can't believe you got 3 passes to the tidal wave festival. I heard they were sold out minutes after lunch?

Mahi: so The company that does these shows I think they're called 'meso company'. They work with neta and some other store owners. They help them sell their leftover merch and also let them sell tickets to their shows. One of the benefits is that they get vouchers every month so they can get a free pass to any show they all expire after the year is over

Umishi: ohhh that sounds nice you get a lot of benefits

Mizole: and he just gives you all of his passes?

Mahi: not all of them. He's saving five for Haar fest in the fall. I think it's some metal thing I don't know....I know Candi's going with him.......... Holy shit plucc-eeie's we need to go there!

Mizole: what? No we can't

Umishi: Great! Need to pick up some stuff.... I know we have a cooler but maybe we should get some more water and ice

ichiya: here buy a grill and charcoal and some food while you're at it. the food is expensive at festivals

Mizole: You can't buy your girlfriend food at the show.

ichiya: *glares* . .......... He's an extra 20. Buy yourself a tacky t-shirt.

Umishi: oh nice thanks [peck].... Be civil and don't start a fight. We're using his car.

Ichiya:..............................................................

Mizole:..............................................

Ichiya: soooo ...you and uhhh ..

Mizole: mahi

Ichiya: yeah them........... So did you meet them at the concert or did you just use the concert tickets that were meant for us behind my back?

_______________________________________________

Warabie: wow this place is actually nice. I thought it'd be a lot more........ehhhhhh.. old fashioned

Ikkan: That's because we're in the tourist area. Locals don't live here and people who do live here moved here...... well..... Some locals live here. Noji has an apartment here.

Merv: yep damn shame they'll never truly get the krillarney experience.......

Shimi: which part are you in?

Merv: Wrassel. Wrassel Krillarney

Warabie: they have a shopping district here..... Dad you want to go shopping for some clothes? Maybe a suitcase?

Shimi: might as well since I'm going to be stuck here for a month. Ugh.... Judging from the people here, I don't think they have anything nice to wear.

Warabie: see this why you're here to begin with dad you never have anything positive to say. Come on let's go I'm sure they have some designer brands

Shimi: yeah. for farmers......

Warabie:*eye roll* just text me when the bus is here

Ikkan: alright.......you want to look around Cirrina?

Cirrina: ok you said Uncle Noji lived here?

Ikkan: yeah........ but I think he's home.

Cirrina: please

Ikkan: *sigh* ok..... why do we go to Mrs Cuddles first, get something to eat. They have the best fried cod

Merv: yeah and watch Ida give you a long awaited tongue lashing.

Ikkan:mmmmm

Cirrina: hehehehehe

_______________________________________________

Gai: *eating* so they kicked you out of the band cuz you were sleeping with their old bass player?

Neta:..... Yeah if you want to word it like that.......*sigh*.....*eating*....it was just the front man who had a problem with it the other didn't really care.

Gai: do you at least get residuals

Neta: just a little I get a couple checks here and there. nothing much....

Gai: hmmmm........so how's your business holding up?

Neta:*eating*... It's going great..... opening a second location I'm planning on buying a house getting married lots to do

Gai: oh..........wow....... I missed a lot.....

Neta: yeah......... but......... you're here now I guess.......*eating*......

Gai: I'm surprised you want me back in your life

Neta: I don't

Gai: oh

Neta:.......... but you're here so might as well stay I don't care what you do anymore..... what made you decide to show up anyway?? it's not like I'm a successful musician anymore.... you need money or something?

Gai:.......................

_______________________________________________

Warabie: hey mahi!! How's your little road trip

Mahi: it's umnm

Mizole: why are you still mad that I dumped you!!?? like it's been years get over it ?!

Ichiya: because you didn't fucking "dump me" You fucking ghosted me!!! You ignored my calls! You ignored my text!! You blocked me almost everywhere and didn't explain why!! Dumping someone is telling them to their fucking face not just leaving them confused and feeling like shit!!

Mahi: it's fine we're almost to the festival do you want me to get you something. I can get you a shirt and make you feel better

Warabie: nahhh I'm fine

Mahi: so how's the farm?

Warabie: we're not on the farm yet. We're in the city. My dad was forced to come with us so we have to get him close. It's a long story.

Mahi: oh damn you have to stay with your dad? It just keeps getting worse for you huh?

Mizole: see this is why this is why no one wants to be around you!! You're so overbearing and you overstep constantly! You have no concept of boundaries and you have no understanding of personal space!!

Ichiya: what do you mean? I don't understand boundaries!? I literally did not talk to you for several fucking months because I assumed you wanted to be alone and you know what I did?! I left you the fuck alone!!

Mizole: checking someone's Inkstagram five times a day isn't leaving someone alone!

Mahi: just give me one second........ Hey babe can you stop fighting with your ex please. You two are killing the vibe. Also, you're driving way over the speed limits kind of making me nervous

Mizole: sorry babe

Mahi:....... So when you get on the farm send me a picture and also bring back some stuff

Warabie: like what?

Mahi: I don't know fruit? Or something.... maybe a calf!

Warabie:... Like you take care of that... I gotta go see ya .......*huff*...dad it's been an hour we have enough things lets try to find ikkan.....he mentioned Mrs Cuddles.......... hey uhhh hello do you know where Mrs Cuddles is? think it might be a restaurant.

Stranger: oh Mrs Cuddles yeah? Yee uh jest gotta up to dolly wea pass te fork in roed don lef wen ya reech the stock for coaches It's going to be in the ridt next to the fritter bakery...

Warabie: ..............thank you

Stranger: cod bless.

Warabie: ..................................

Shimi: see this we go to nice places when we travel .... You actually understand what they're saying.

Warabie: Dad....uhg...... I'll just search it.......[ping]....... Here it is...... 'Dollyway pass' is a street name okay.. I think I understand what he was saying.... let's go.

_______________________________________________

Mrs Cuddles: well well looky here. is that Merv?! Haven't seen you in months.... Did your wife ground you again hehehe.... I swear how you found that woman. I will never know

Merv: well I'm just here for a quick visit for the summer.... Just the regular please...... I also brought someone...

Ikkan: ....... hey Mrs Cuddles

Mrs Cuddle: No..... Absolutely not..... ikkan Kane!!........ It's been years since I've heard from you! No phone call, no visit, no email, not even a letter!

Ikkan: I'm sorry

Mrs Cuddle: your brother always drops by almost every month just to see me... And you can't even give me a letter. Not even a holiday card!.... Look at you as skinny as the day you left. Sit down.

Ikkan: hehe I've just been really busy....hehehe I'm really sorry.... I should write to you more....

Mrs Cuddle: you should! ... I've been taking care of you since you were nothing but ink! Changed your nappies and everything....... Still have that stain on my white blouse, it never came out...

Cirrina: hehehehehhehhehe

Mrs Cuddle: and who is this? Young lady well aren't you pretty?.... What's your name love?

Cirrina: Cirrina

Mrs Cuddle: cirrrinnnaa oh that's a lovely name. Is she yours

Ikkan: yeah she's my daughter my partner's the biological father

Cirrina: him and my dad are dating

Mrs Cuddle: oh..... ikkan... I have expected you to be in a relationship.........but then again I never expected your father either so hahahahaha. Have some food it's on the house.. Nice and fresh.... ikkan you drink?

Ikkan: not that much

Mrs Cuddle: stand up.........ummm...tall like your mother...... You can probably drink as much as she can too. I'll give you two mugs on the house

Ikkan: one is fine.........*sigh*........ You like this place so far Cici.

Cici: yeah it's nice. I like Mrs Cuddles she's nice

Ikkan: you'll see her again when I get married...

Cirrina: there's a lot of Octolings and inklings here and they look..... Native

Merv: That's because this place wasn't affected by the turf war.

Cirrina: really?

Merv: when the war started a lot of ink fish moved up here to escape the war didn't want to be part of it. Due to the landscapes we weren't affected by the flood all that much. A little bit of corrosion on the mountain.

Cirrina: so these octolings lived on the surface for their whole life? They were never underground? Like ever?

Merv:.....well a lot of them escaped from the underground...a lot of Octolings work in trade here. Most of these new buildings are made by octolings.

Cirrina: wow..... They don't have turf wars do they?

Ikkan: ehhhhhh..... It's not popular. But they do you have a lot of other fun stuff here

Warabie: ugh..... This place is confusing.....*huff*...... What the hell is a coach?

Shimi: *humpf*..

Ikkan: a coach is just what some call buses you'll get used to some of the lingo the longer you live here...........hey mom I oh-

Koi-koi voicemail: sorry, I can't be on the phone right now I'm currently on vacation and I'm probably drunk hehehehehe leave a message at the tone

Ikkan: ok.... Hi Mom, I made it home safe. Just wanted to let you know that. Enjoy your vacation.bye....... love you....... Let's head to the bus stop and hit the ferry. We're almost home.

Cirrina: Wait you promised we were going to visit Uncle Noji!

Ikkan: did I? I don't remember that.

Cirrina: but you said-

Ikkan: I say a lot of stuff sweetie. I can't keep up with the shit I say let's go

Mahi and Umishi bought so much shit from plucc-eeies they bought a tent and everything they got a lot of knick-knacks for everyone except for @fish-at-fish-fish-resort @catastropic

[drdemonprince]

Your post about "transitioning to escape gender but then there's more gender" has been rotating furiously in my mind since I saw it. When I first realized I was trans at age 15, I identified as agender, but I knew I wanted to go on T and get top surgery so I decided it would be simpler to tell everyone I was a trans man and that just kind of became the truth. Now 10 years later I'm sorta starting to feel like I wanna actually be agender again, but the idea of an identity shift like that at my current age is terrifying and idek who I'd tell, or how I'd do it, and I don't think I wanna stop using he/him exclusively, and I have no idea why I'm telling *you* this other than that I'm scared to talk to anyone I know about it because it feels like somehow admitting that I was wrong about the gender I fought like hell to become, even though i don't really think that's the case I think my sense of self might just be continuously evolving... but I just wanna say you talking about having a gender shift like once every several years is helping me process this rn and feel like I'm not faking anything now AND wasn't faking anything before.

Dog i am right there with you. As a kid I always thought gender was bullshit, the coercive nature of it disgusted and scared me and I rebelled against it the best that I could. I loathed being assigned to any gender category, I never identified as a "girl", but I didn't really identify with any other category either. Puberty terrified me (and of course, it does most young people, but it felt like it would only more deeply entrench the category that I was assigned to in other people's minds, it made it more difficult to escape). I had trans friends as a teen but it did not occur to me to transition because there was really no end goal that I wanted to head toward, I just knew what I wanted to avoid and not experience. I coped mostly by degendering my body with a fairly androgynous style and way of presenting myself to the word and mannerisms, but also by starving myself which was not so great, and not sustainable. I considered transness for myself, even trying on a friend's binder and presenting masculinely at certain queer events, but it seemed to me at the time like just another way in which to obsess over gender, a foolish coercive socially constructed thing that i was trying to avoid.

In my 20s, I learned more about nonbinary people and figured that explained things pretty well. I was enamored with the transition journeys of some other trans people, largely trans women more than trans masculine ones (with some trans-effeminate faggot boy exceptions), but I still didn't want to take on all the expense and uncertainty and hassle of navigating the medical system for myself. I didn't think that the pursuit of being happy merited taking on so many risks or fiddling with myself so much. I saw it as an extravagance I didn't deserve, I guess, and I also couldn't locate a target outcome that seemed desirable enough for me. I was still dealing with an eating disorder and recovering from some trauma and didn't really think about my life in the long term. I guess I still don't, haha, whoops.

Eventually I came out as nonbinary, and nobody really gave a shit. There is a lot of useless, solidarity-breaking discourse that happens online about essentially who is "more" oppressed, binary trans people or nonbinary people, and a lot of that fight amounts to the two groups shouting about the ways in which they annoy one another without there being any cogent analysis of power and where oppression comes from (let alone how much those two categories overlap).

But I will say that being a they/them was far more difficult than being a trans guy socially and institutionally, because your identity is completely illegible to every system around you. "binary" trans people struggle under this too, but i have found there are some immense benefits to having a socially and institutionally legible target gender. nobody would fucking actually they/them me. not anyone. not even other trans people and queer people. there were no public gendered spaces for me. there were no spaces for me. there was no way to move through the medical system, professional life, and other public institutions as a nonbinary person. i was still just a cis woman in everyone's eyes. including the people who claimed to support me. and it was massively frustrating.

and so i think ultimately, i took my frustrations with not being at all able to escape coerced gendering as a nonbinary person and combined that with the affinity i do feel for queer men and the general sense of misery i was still experiencing in my life and decided what the hell, i'll round myself up to being a trans guy. i upped my T dose, i dressed more masculinely, i eventually got a super masculine hair cut that really squared off my jawline and got me gendered correctly, and i started more consciously inhabiting queer men's spaces.

and it was pretty dope. for a while. i felt the rush of having gotten away with something. when people effortlessly gendered as male i felt freed at last from the pressure to be a woman. i was no longer being coerced into being something that i was not. i had escaped the enforced category so much that people couldn't even see the history of that category being pushed onto me. there was relief.

but then. as always happens. people made little comments about my handshake being too weak for a man. the hypermasc dudes at the leather bar rolled their eyes at me and all the other effeminate dudes swanning around the bar. the people who picked me up off the apps or at the sauna would always let it slip, eventually, that they had a lot of experience with trans guys, or had most recently been dating all trans guys, and it would make me feel like a stock character to them, yet another category into which all kinds of assumptions had been projected. a type not a person. a few people said my haircut made me look like i was in the military or described me as actually masculine, which was equally jarring because it was so incorrect. people tried to affirm me by saying i was such a dude, i was such a man, i was such a fag, i was such a gay bro, pawing all over me leaving the mark of all their assumptions and oversimplifications behind. i had tried to run away from gender and there i was just BASTING all the time in everybody's goddamn assumptions about gender. trans people didn't talk about it any less than cis people did, they were just as fucking confining to be around.

it honestly feels really dirty. when people try to affirm your gender constantly and can't stop talking about it, when people look past you and see only your body, your history, or the role they have typecast you in, when people use your body as an outlet for their own gender or sexuality explorations, when they keep trying to measure every single facet of existence up into being masculine or being feminine or being toppy or bottomy or any other gendered type, it's claustrophobic.

as a trans man i tried playing this whole gender game and the second i started winning i began to feel even more disgusted with myself. it wasn't a victory or an escape, it was a capitulation. exploring with my identity and presentation has brought positive things into my life and my health has gotten better as a result, and i've made wonderful friends who, like me, are disaffected by this coercive gendering system. so i don't regret any of that. but trying to make myself legible under the existing gendered system was a fool's fucking errand. i wish i hadnt done it to myself and i wish i hadnt had it pushed onto me. to be clear, it was cissexist, binarist society that forced it onto me; even when other queer people coated me in their gendered assumptions that is obviously a byproduct of societal conditioning, and it's conditioning that ive reinforced in my own behavior and outlook toward others plenty of times too. we all do it, and we are all wronged by the existing coercive gender system.

i dont even care how i fucking identify anymore and i have no intention of changing pronouns again or anything, i'm so bored of it, i just actually want off this fucking thing. im not interested in trying to make others understand what i am anymore or in who i am even being simply categorizable, i dont want to obsess anymore over how i am perceived or to attempt engineer my appearance and mannerisms to broadcast an identity to anyone. i dont even want to fuck anybody right now at all because im so sick of how much that's a gender pantomime for people. i want off this fuckin ride man im so done.

it's kind of freeing, to hit this point of complete gender apathy, and i think it is a pretty common stage of identity development for a lot of queer people who have explored multiple identities and roles over time. there is no category that i actually am, or that anyone is, there are just the frameworks that society has given us to work with to understand ourselves, and the ways in which we flatten who we are to be able to make sense of the world using those frameworks. but who i actually am is so much more contextual and mutable than all that. i am a different person in the classroom than i am on the train platform than i am in the bedroom than i am cuddling on the couch than i am when i'm working out than i am when curled up on the floor crying than i am at a big furry convention. who i am continues to change as new people come in and out of my life and age and change and my body alters and as the weather turns. who fuckin knows man it's nothing and everything. i want to let it just be

[snootlestheangel]

The Angstiest Idea I've Ever Had

Task Force 141 is sent on a borderline impossible mission, and Laswell made them promise to come back safely. Normally, she would never do such a thing, but she wanted her boys to be okay.

For the first few hours, everything is going according to plan and Laswell is starting to relax. But then something goes wrong. There was an unaccounted for element and the hostiles ended up getting the upperhand. Laswell can only guide them through their comms as best she can from her tiny little office.

After a while, she loses communication with them. Whether it was on her end or theirs was unclear, and she started to panic to get them back online. But nothing she does works. She has no choice but to wait.

She sends a rescue party after several hours. She doesn't want to know what happened, she doesn't want to listen to the comms from the rescue party but she does. She does because it's her job. She does because those are her boys.

There's not much the rescue team tells her, and she can sense by their silence that something was horribly wrong.

What she didn't expect was for the commander of the team to bring her something directly to her office.

Three pairs of dog tags and a skull balaclava.

~~~

She takes it upon herself to personally notified each member's family. First is Price. His only remaining family was his sister, and despite having a rocky relationship with her brother, she was still devastated. Her reaction was the easiest to handle.

Second is Gaz's family. Laswell fought the urge to break down upon seeing the concern on his older sisters' faces, the tears already welling in his mother's eyes. Momma Garrick broke down harder than Laswell was prepared for. She kept screaming about her baby boy, her only son, over and over. It was overwhelming for Laswell, but his sisters handled the situation better and allowed her an easy way out.

Third is Soap's. By the time she made it to the large house, the entire family was gathered for a special event. Laswell wanted to hightail it out of there the second she saw the joy on the MacTavish family's faces. She couldn't stop the tears that formed when she introduced herself to Soap's father, their resemblance striking. The pain that could be seen through all of his siblings was too much for Laswell, and she almost snuck away to hide her own grief. But she was stopped by a gentle hand on her arm, the loving blue eyes of Soap's mother looking at her with such concern.

"What about his Simon?" Laswell allowed a single tear to fall at the woman's question.

"In his arms."

~~~

The funerals were overwhelming for Laswell. They were all buried together by Laswell's request. Those boys did everything together, she'd be damned if she separated them.

Price's sister and the Garrick ladies helped paid for expenses for the two of them, and the MacTavish's fought tooth and nail to pay for Simon as well.

"That man was a MacTavish whether he knew it or not."

Soap and Ghost are buried next to each other.

Laswell waits by the graves even as everyone leaves. She's kept it together this long. Her wife stays by her side every second, her arms wrapped around one of hers in comfort. Momma MacTavish stays behind as well, whispering something to Simon's casket with tears in her eyes. Alex and Farah stand watch behind Laswell a fair distance, already having said their goodbyes.

It's the first and last time they ever see Kate Laswell cry.

[darkmaga-retard]

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a well-funded organization many consider terrorists that is permitted to wreak havoc on the global population with no repercussions. Klaus Schwab and his “forum” have been proclaiming how they will change the lives of the masses for years but everyone turns a blind eye. They told us we will eat bugs, they told us we will own nothing, they’ve been warning of their sinister plans for some time. The WEF infiltrated government cabinets and altered the left side of politics in every single Western nation. The WEF recently released an ominous article, warning that we must prepare for “an era of shock events” in the near future.

Power disperses in a post-superpower era

The forum stated years ago that one of its goals was to remove America’s title of global superpower. “Since the pandemic eased, the reality is we haven’t had enduring global leadership on much, and it’s hard to imagine that changing soon. This is partly because superpowers are terribly burdened with global wars and domestic challenges,” the WEF warned. A global government is their proposed solution.

A big election year won’t stop our recurrent crisis of political legitimacy

The WEF warns that “disinformation” is threatening “the biggest election year in history,” hence the need for global censorship both on the streets and online. The forum warns that democracy is declining, largely due to policies it implemented. Civil unrest is rising and the WEF is prepared for the dissent. Furthermore, they already recognize that no one will accept the results of the election. “People have fought back in all political systems, driven by a conviction that there must be a better, more effective way to govern. In most countries, even after their vote, citizens will continue to challenge their leaders, questioning whether they have the capacity to tackle our many post-pandemic risks,” the article notes. In other words, the people have become unruly and are turning on governments. The World Economic Forum is prepared to crush any rebellion before it occurs.

[kayfabebabe]

Wonderful Tonight

Whilst you’re trying to get ready for the annual Slammy Awards, Bret is rather distracting. 

This, originally, began life as something short and sweet to get back into the routine of writing after a short break. Then it got out of hand and quickly descended into... whatever it is now. Oops? 

Bret Hart X Female Reader  WARNINGS - Vaguely spicy. Fluff. 

~ ~ ~ 

March 1996

“You make it look simple.” 

A faint smile tugs at the corners of your lips as you remain focused on tightening the knot of Bret’s bowtie. It, now, sat perfectly centred at the base of his throat. No longer sitting at a crooked angle or threatening to unravel. Perfect. You couldn’t help leaning back to admire the sight in front of you. Bret dressed in an immaculate tux with his hair brushed away from his face and tied in a low ponytail. Even under the harsh light of the hotel bathroom, he was beautiful. There were only a handful of occasions that you’d ever seen Bret dressed in anything other than jeans and his ring-gear. 

You fought the urge to pull Bret closer by the lapels of his jacket and risk arriving late to the ceremony. This was an important night. Every well-known name in wrestling would be congregating in a singular place to celebrate the achievements of the past year. Restless butterflies had been steadily building in the pit of your stomach since Bret asked you to accompany him. Over the past week, you tried to distract yourself from the nerves by searching, and eventually finding, a new gown. It worked for a short time. 

With a final glance over Bret’s outfit, you turn to face the large mirror and check your eyeliner. Everything needs to be right. You’re so engrossed with your makeup that you fail to notice how Bret’s hands rest on the curve of your waist or how his gaze unashamedly roams your reflection. There was a fond warmth behind his eyes that was strictly reserved for these private moments. A surprised squeak falls from your mouth as Bret spins you before the sound is quickly muffled in a firm kiss. Your heart somersaults behind your ribs like it always did when you kissed Bret. Every worry and thought that's been running maddening circles in your mind dissolves into a pleasant static.

Your arms drape over Bret’s shoulders and you raise up on your toes, humming contently into the kiss. You can’t imagine the day that you’ll grow tired of this. One kiss melts into another then another and another. Bret moves to crowd you against the bathroom counter, but your brain comes back online and you, reluctantly, stop him. Hands resting on his chest with your foreheads pressed together. There’ll be plenty of time to get lost in each other after the event.

“We’re going to be late...” 

“One more for luck?” 

Bret knew that you could never resist an invitation to kiss him. It didn’t matter when or where you were, a simple tilt of his head could draw you in.

~ ~ ~ 

“Bret… We sh-...” 

Whatever you planned to say gets lost in a high-pitch moan as Bret bites at the underside of your jaw and presses you harder against the elevator wall. Hips grinding forward, sending bright sparks dancing down the length of your spine. Your hands desperately clutching at Bret’s shoulders for leverage with the rich material of his jacket bunching beneath your fingers. It’s good - so good - already. One of Bret’s hands tugs on your hair to force your head further to the side and he begins to suck a fresh mark over your pulse.

The ceremony had gone well. All of your concerns about looking out of place or embarrassing yourself were quickly forgotten, with excitement taking over, when Bret’s first nomination was announced. Every time Bret’s name was read as the winner, tears filled your eyes and you couldn’t contain the overwhelming happiness that washed over you.

You hardly separate from each other when the elevator doors open and you stumble towards your hotel room. Anyone could see how Bret pressed himself against your back as you attempt to unlock the door; his hands unabashedly roaming your chest over your dress. The mere possibility of being seen by anybody walking down the hallway or coming out of their room stole your breath. Anyone could see and hear you. Your hands falter with the key for a moment before you, finally, opens the door and Bret hurries inside after you. 

~ 

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for running away from home?

I (17F) am regarded as gifted by my family and peers. This on its own isn't bad, but... I wanted to be a nurse, but my parents (especially my mother) insisted I do better and become a doctor. Believing they knew what was best for me, I decided to work towards becoming a doctor. Over time, I had to bend to their whims more and more, to the point where I lost my sense of self.

A couple years ago, I met a musician who I'll call Y (17F) online. We would work together on music and eventually became friends. Later, two others joined our group: S (17F) and A (16F ...I think?). Within our underground music group, I was the lyricist. I had planned to disappear because of all the pressure put on me outside of our group, particularly from my mother, but Y pulled me from the event horizon and said she would continue working until she made a song that saved me. As we started spending more time as friends, I was forced to come to terms with my treatment at home. I was expected to be perfect.

My mother discovered our underground music group because of an old synthesizer I was using for it. She saw them as a distraction from me becoming a doctor like she wanted me to be. After I started rebelling, including skipping a mock exam to hang out with my friends, she began to double down. I had to hide everything related to my group in hidden folders on my computer, but she managed to find them anyways. She ended up meeting with Y behind my back, trying to separate us.

The meeting went... about as poorly as you might expect. Things rapidly went downhill from there. My mother threw away my synthesizer and (likely intentionally) spilled juice on my laptop, breaking it. I was almost completely cut off from everyone, and it was difficult for me to even focus on studying like she wanted me to. Every time I heard her come close, I think I panicked. My grades began slipping, which I tried to hide, but she noticed anyways. She tried to take my phone, my last connection to my friends, away. We fought over it until my phone fell into water and broke. I was alone.

Eventually I found a little outside encouragement from H (??F) and K (??M), who convinced me to confront my mother with how I truly felt. I poured my heart out to her, even after I almost didn't tell her anything because she started crying. And yet, she still did not listen. She blamed music and the group for my struggles. She blamed them for why I no longer wanted to become a doctor, even though I never wanted to be one in the first place. So after remembering a talk with A, I decided to run away to Y's home.

Now that I'm here, I'm not sure if I did the right thing. All my friends say I did, but... I don't know. I have a hard time putting my feelings into words, but it just... doesn't feel right. I made my mother cry. Did I really do the right thing?

[inthememetime]

🤺with Vlad

Sorry for the delay! A fight between Clad and someone who doesn't know he regularly gets in fights with superheroes. Star's morning shift has gone Very Sideways. That's ok- the betting pool is about to make her rich.

-

Everyone knew Amity Park's mayor had the kind of self-control shared by honey badgers and angry geese worldwide. He fought with words- in person, online, or via letter- and pranks.

Argument with the US President on Chirper? Pretty normal.

Prank war with Phantom? A bi-annual event nowadays.

Hissed arguments with GIW agents? Average, and the betting pool on when he'd snap was getting pretty big.

But he didn't physically fight very often. There was that one time when Phantom overshadowed the Fenton kid, but even that was with a gun, not hand-to-hand.

If Jack Fenton ever got tired of him, he could snap the billionaire like a twig. The bets on why Maddie Fenton hadn't broken his spine yet were getting more traction than the ones about when he finally became a serial killer, if he was a mad scientist like the Fentons, and if he was actually Phantom's dad- another of Wes' theories, but a benign enough one.

That was what made The Incident so shocking. Amity Park didn't get much human crime- after all, the victims stood a pretty good chance of coming back to haunt their attackers. Every great once in a while, like that cold November morning, they'd get people they fondly called visitors, less fondly tourists, and rudely called interlopers.

The men from out of town were Interlopers.

It had started quite normally; the mayor had visited the usual 24-hour diner Saturday morning, famous for coffee with a little something extra (whiskey or ectoplasm, depending on the guest), and set out a plan with one of his many assistants.

From her position behind the counter, Star could make out it was about the annual Christmas parade, but couldn't catch the details. That was fine. If she were lucky, she would be able to catch a few minutes on her homework while they ate.

It was fine until the visitors walked in. "Hi, welcome to the Spooky Spoon Cafe! If you'll find a seat, I'll bring you menus. How many today?"

Standard question, she thought. People frequently used the Spooky Spoon for birthdays or other events. The visitors- no, the tourists- disagreed. "Three, can't you count?" One snapped with an ugly sneer, and his friends laughed.

"Right, no additional guests," she confirmed, customer service smile tight like armor on her face. She sat down the menus. "When you're ready to order, just let me know. I'm Star, I'll be your waitress today."

"So your parents gave you a stripper name, huh," one asked with a leer. "You live up to it?"

She took a step back, quickly. "Sir, I'm a minor."

"So?"

Forget tourists, these were interlopers. "Right. Well, I serve food and drinks, and that's it. Let me know when you're ready to order, please."

She stopped by the mayor's table to refill the coffee- and add a shot of hazelnut creamer to his assistant's, and ectoplasm for him. "Is everything quite alright? If you want to head out early or call in someone else to watch the counter with you, I'm sure Henry won't mind," Mr. Masters offered.

What he meant, she knew, was that he'd throw enough money around to make sure Henry didn't mind. She didn't hate the mayor, like a lot of their classmates. He was an excellent tipper- usually, she'd come away with a cool $100 tip on a $20 order, as long as she kept the coffee and ectoplasm coming and didn't bug him.

He also reminded her a lot of her grandmother's snappy Dalmatian French Poodle mix- nippy, but wouldn't really hurt you. Very high-strung- not that she'd say that in front of him.

"Thanks, Mr. Masters, but Henry and Paul both came down with Covid, so it's just me until Lea gets off work at 4. I think I've got it," she added, braver than she felt.

"Right. Well, we'll try not to bother you."

She was about to reply when one of the men whistled. "Hey lady, we're ready."

Ugh. What creeps. "Great, what can I get you?"

The food orders were pretty sensible, at least, but then they got to the drinks. "3 Irish coffees, hold the coffee," one joked.

"I'm sorry, we can't serve alcohol today, as only minors are working. We've got a lot of types of creamer, though, or ecto-"

"The hell is it on your menu, then?"

She flushed. It was 8:30 in the morning, why did they want shots anyway? "We usually have an adult over 21 in store, but not today, so-"

"Not even the cook's an adult?"

The cook was an adult, but only 18- not legal to serve it yet. "We don't have anyone who can serve you alcohol today," she explained again. "We do have an Irish Coffee creamer that tastes like the real thing, though, if-"

"Thought this place served shots."

"We're not a bar," she said, losing patience but keeping calm besides, "so we don't have a bartender on staff. We can add shots to drinks up to a limit, usually, but not today."

The asshole turned red and opened his mouth to continue, when asshole number two interrupted. "Hey, what's this about turkey or veggie bacon? Why don't you have real bacon? All the pork's like that."

"It's religious reasons on the part of the owners, so we're not able to offer pork. But the turkey bacon tastes just like-"

Asshole 3 stood up. "I think you have an attitude problem."

Another chair slid out, this time at her back. "Hmm. Three grown men crying because they can't have pork or alcohol at 9 a.m., harassing a teenage girl, and trying to intimidate her into- what? Killing a pig for you? Finding a bartender? And she's got the attitude problem?"

Oh. Oh no. The mayor was vicious in an argument, and she knew without a doubt this would dissolve into a screaming match- probably just when the brunch crowd rolled in.

Asshole one didn't let it get that far, and only years living around ghost attacks let her dodge the smack going her way. It still hit- she heard the sharp sound- but not on her.

Oh shit, was that Wes filming outside? What was he- a sharp crunch sounded before a shout of pain, and asshole one's face was bleeding profusely. "Get out," the mayor said simply. Calm- but years of hearing arguments between him, Danny, Phantom, and others told her it wouldn't stay that way for long.

"Fuck you, you old-"

"I'm calling the cops," she managed to squeak, and one of them rounded on her, only to be bodily picked up and slammed, hard, on the carpeted floor.

The mayor didn't look winded. In fact, he almost looked happy, maybe excited. "Go ahead, Star. Call the police," he said calmly as the third guy started smacking his friend's face to wake him. "And maybe an ambulance if they don't grow some common sense."

Well, she was gone. "What happened?" Ray asked when she ran to the kitchen, and her locker.

"It's a 3-on-1 fight. Interlopers against the mayor, I'm calling the cops."

"Holy shi-" he ducked under the counter as a motorcycle helmet went flying over it. "Dude, I think the old man's winning," he said, impressed.

"Hi, I'm at the Spooky Spoon, and 3 guys just attacked the mayor, can you- yes, I know he's a dick, but still- oh, that guy definitely needs an ambulance now. That's a lot of blood. Huh? Oh, I'm Star, I'm a waitress here."

She popped her head up again to find asshole 1 covered in blood and unconscious under the table. Number 2 was on his knees clutching his throat, and 3 was- throwing a really bad haymaker.

Just. Objectively bad. Phantom when he just started bad.

The mayor didn't even move, just let it miss, and she hissed and winced when the final man was lifted a few inches from the force of the punch into his diaphragm. That was going to hurt for a while.

"Oh, Star, wonderful. How far away from us are the police?"

Number 1 lurched to his feet, but the old man idly tossed him back down like a child would a ragdoll. "Hush, you had your chance."

She swallowed. "They say about 15 minutes."

He scowled. "The response rate is supposed to be a maximum of 10. Andrea, do you- Andrea?"

His assistant was gone. "Hm. She won't last long," he muttered ominously. "Regardless- you might want to call Henry and tell him. I'll pay for the damages, of course."

"Um. Right."

Wait- she had $50 on him being a secret badass. Ooh new school year, new outfits here she comes! Or better yet- a car!

[soojungdx]

hello! 💞

hiiii everyone! sorry for the delay – if you didn't see ms soojung's pinned post, i am not new, this is carly (jaeyong and miyoung's mun). if jaeyong is my worst boy and problematic fave, soojung is my worst girl whom i hate. she's an entirely new muse to me and i'm looking forward to seeing the chaos she causes and how she develops! she's a sideblog, so i won't be following anyone from her account! but her about page is here. please give this post a like if you want to plot with her and i'll fly to u asap 💗 i know i owe a bunch of replies and i will also get to those asap, i have been having a rough go of it lately alksdfjalsdf BUT! i will do the usual ramble about her under the cut and offer some plot ideas too 🙏 thank u for reading in advance!!

ABOUT SOOJUNG

born to two a tier enhanced agents – they were among the first generation introduced to the public

they did not keep her out of the spotlight. she will tell you she has been a superstar since she was born. or something

naturally everyone expected her (and her older sister) to follow in their parents' footsteps

her relationship with her parents is Fine and they are fine people but they were fairly absent because of their jobs

also were/are filthy rich

this left soojung to mainly make nannies' lives a living hell

despite being social and attending events with her parents (when allowed) she was actually a very lonely child

the nanny that she didn't manage to scare away wasn't the most affectionate and she and her sister are kind of opposites and fought a lot

her reflection manipulation manifested when she was nine and looking for a way to entertain herself. making things out of reflections was fun for a while but eventually got old

she ended up spending a lot of time online when she wasn't out socializing and failing to make many deep friendships (she was a troll and catfish tbh)

she did not care about following in her parents' footsteps but they still made her apply for pinnacle every year. and they signed her up for heroes of tomorrow academy

she hated it. too much work!!! she didn't care!!

her older sister got into pinnacle at 19 and was very dedicated, very heroic, very cool

one day when soojung was home alone with her parents, two assassins broke into their home

they were prepared to block her parents powers but didn't expect soojung to be there, so they couldn't control her

her ability to create portals through mirrors manifested then, and she and her parents escaped that way

they moved to x palace apartments after that, for the higher security if nothing else

soojung became a Little more dedicated to improving her abilities after that, just so she could protect her parents better if something like that happened again

eventually she got bored and started slacking again though

she also started streaming herself playing video games, and her charisma manipulation manifested to help her gain her own lil following

or big following. jjangame is pretty big online now, due almost entirely to her parents' rep and the charisma manipulation, because she is awful at games and has a terrible personality. but good for her

she was both relieved and scared when it was her final year to apply to pinnacle. on one hand, fucking finally, she could just stream full time, but also what would people think if she DIDN'T become an enhanced agent???

she got in despite being underqualified #nepotism

she hates pinnacle she hates training and school but she hates the idea of being irrelevant even more so she puts up with it

but still streams whenever she can!

personality-wise she is just a little brat. bitch. asshole. fake!!! so fake nice but actually incredibly mean and selfish she dgaf about anyone but herself and maybe her parents and MAYBE her sister

but she is still beloved by the public both due to the image she projects and her charisma manip, NOT her actual personality

she is terrified to do anything socially significant without her charisma manipulation, but it's only her minor ability, so it tires her out when she uses it. so she takes lots of naps and people probably think she has chronic fatigue. fine with her

PLOT IDEAS

i'm ngl i had some but i forget a lot of them bc it's been so long aslkdjfajlksdf let's see

fans of ame (her streamer persona)

alternatively, haters. she does not know how to deal with being hated, especially by people she hasn't personally wronged

people she's personally wronged <3 i'm sure she's thrown plenty of friends under the bus and stabbed plenty of people in the back over the years

pinnacle and heroes of tomorrow classmates!

i WOULD like her to develop genuine relationships with depth but she doesn't know how to do that KLSDFKLSDF so patient people to put up with her and actually be a good friend to her...it will be sad because she will probably treat them like shit but

she has a corgi named winston and is obsessed with him but doesn't walk him because she's prissy. they have a dogwalker. so winston's dogwalker!

or soojung has to walk winston herself one day and you're like why is this girl walking a corgi in stilettos and acrylic nails and a diamond necklace. wait a second she didn't pick up that dog's poop!!! evil!!

she's probably the type to get in a bunch of shallow romantic relationships because she loves attention. she's bi so both the guys and the gals are acceptable for this though i think she's mostly been with boys

i get the vibe that One relationship or crush fucked her up A Little Bit but i do not know details.....Perhaps We Can Find Out...might need a girl for this one though 👁️ lots to unpack here...

people she plays games with. you could be featured on her stream! or at least your voice over discord could

ok i truly believe i'll be better at brainstorming for her so i'll leave it off here 🫡

[rabbitcruiser]

Pony Express Day

Pony Express Day celebrates those brave souls who made up the unique mail delivery system of the same name. Back in the days of the wild west, there was no Fed Ex, no Postal Service that ran that far west, no planes, and delivery by ship were likely to take months if it ever got there at all.

Seeing this need for a specialized delivery service, Leavenworth and Pike’s Peak Express Company took an opportunity to expand into this void. From this important decision was born one of the most iconic pieces of American History, whose influence is felt in hundreds of Pony Express Day Festivals throughout the American Midwest.

History of Pony Express Day

The Pony Express existed for 18 months between the days of April 3, 1860, to October 1861. In these days there was no airmail, no great American Highway, all there were was hundreds of miles of wide-open spaces with not much in between but animal-filled wilderness and bandito filled hollows.

During this time, if you wanted to send a letter or small package from anywhere East past the gateway of St. Joseph, Missouri, there was only one way to go. The Pony Express was a massive employer for its time, with up to 80 young riders employed at any given stage, with stringent requirements on their age, size, and weight.

The Pony Express preferred to employ the youngest riders they could, in part for their resilience, and in part for how light they were. The lighter a man was the longer the horse could run and the more cargo the rider could carry, and since the horses were put to go full tilt for 10 to 15 miles at a stretch before changing, this was of vital importance.

The rider changed out every 75 to 100 miles, but the mail never so much as slowed even in the worst of weather. While the average trip from coast to coast (On Horseback!) took 10 days, when they delivered Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, the trip was made in a mere 7 days and 17 hours.

How to celebrate Pony Express Day

With Pony Express Day Festivals being a staple all throughout the United States, there are tons of opportunities to celebrate the bravery of these young mailmen. You can spend Postal Express Day dressed up as one of these adventurous young souls who served as the heart of America’s fast-tracked postal line while watching equestrian events commemorating the challenges they faced.

Speaking of equestrian events lets not forget the true heroes of this endeavor, the horses that carried men and post across the nation time and time again. These events often have a broad range of related events, including food-related events.

Chili was one of the staples of the old American West, and as you might imagine there was often a pot of this spicy staple bubbling to keep the riders fed as they came in and out with the packages.

If you find yourself without a local event, you can host one at your home. Make Chili and Cornbread, find logos and the like to print out online, and get the 1953 movie ‘Pony Express’ featuring Charleston Heston and Rhonda Fleming!

This is a classic about this amazing American institution and the trials and efforts of the men and women who fought to make it a reality. So get together with your friends and family on Pony Express Day, and celebrate the Pioneer spirit of the Old West!

Source

[wildegeist-old]

Sweet hell it's been a day.

I got dismissed from work early (rest of my shift still paid), then evacuated to a safer spot for Idalia since my home is right on a damn canal and coastline, was obscenely high flood risk, and there's a mandatory evacuation order for us. After seeing how Ian wrecked Fort Myers last year, I've been extremely paranoid and don't wanna take a chance again- it was supposed to hit my area last year and it was a real plot twist that it didn't. I may end up without power for a bit but I'm out of the "red zone" and safe. If I vanish it probably just means electricity is being funky and nothing else. I can't wait until I move into my apartment next month where it'll be safer.

Booking a hotel was really hard because rooms would actually sell out while I was in the process of booking them. Even when I got to the hotel I DID manage to snag a room at, they almost couldn't even give me the room even though I booked online, cause every hotel is inundated with bookings and their status couldn't update in time. I managed to get extremely lucky, because someone happened to cancel right as the hosts were panicking about finding me a room. I also fought with some of my family who refused to evacuate and criticized me for packing and leaving as I was heading out.

What a nervewracking day! But it's over! I'm gonna just... relax now. I honestly have a lot more peace of mind after jumping through all these hoops, if anything. Life has been just a bit too eventful for my liking lately and I can't wait until I have time to rest. x_x

[thegayfromrulid]

Since you're mood for writing...

SAO gang x reader in a spooky event!

The gang must survive the haunted house as they prepare for a challenge. Will the gang survive the night, or they'll forever lost from the headless knight, The Hallow Echo

I apologize for the wait! I'm wrapping up a really big paper this October, but I wanted to get this one done before Halloween! I hope that you enjoy! Link to AO3 version below, and Tumblr version below the cut!

AO3 Link: The Hallow Echo

         “I-I don’t know if I can do this any longer!”

         “I-It’ll be fine! Just a b-bit longer, guys!”

         “A-are you sure?”

         “Kyaaaaaaa! Something touched me! Something touched meeee!”

         “You’re fine! Just bear with it! You’re fi–aaaagh!”

         Perhaps, at this moment, you’re wondering how it got to this point. All of your friends are trying their best to find one another in the pitch-black space while also keeping their guard up; this certainly wasn’t how the morning started. In fact, it had been a normal Saturday morning of just lying around in bed until a very excited text game through the group chat.

         Kirito: guys! theres a horror event happening tonight!

         Lis: waaah Kirito why did u wake me up for this

         Kirito: we should totally do it!

         Asuna: Kirito-kun, you *know* I don’t like this sort of thing…

         Silica: im not scared!!!! i have pina! <3

         Lis: ofc u would say that Silica

         Silica: ;-;

         (Y/N): ig im down. what time?

         Klein: yeah, deets kiri-bro!

         Sinon: wth are we all yelling about @ 10 on a Saturday???

         Silica: spooky event…

         Kirito: starts 10pm and runs til bout midnight. meet at the house in 22 @ thirty til?

         Asuna: Kirito-kun! Come on!

         Sinon: you don’t have to join, Asuna

         Lis: ofc she does!!! dont wuss out Asuna heh

         (Y/N): haha yeah, ill be on. see ya then.

         Since Kirito had been a bit sparse with the details, you did yourself the favor of looking up what he meant. Alfheim Online was hosting a single-day event for Halloween that took place on a special map. Players could enter the space in groups to take on the challenge, giving each group their own scrambled map. There was no chance they’d run into any other groups during the challenge, so it wasn’t a fight for a single prize. Basically, it was a haunted mansion that was being disturbed by a field boss-level enemy called The Hallow Echo. No description was provided about what this mysterious boss looked like, but players would enter the house and be trapped inside of it for the duration of the event. They had two options for completion: survive the time limit without dying (flight) or defeat The Hallow Echo and escape (fight). The rewards were different for the two completion styles, with defeating the boss as having more desirable prizes.

         The intensity of the quest mentioned that it was somewhere between medium to very hard depending on the overall stats of the party that entered and whether they chose fight or flight. It was designed in a way that ensured that the players who chose simply to play the evasion game could still get something out of it, even if higher level players wanted to challenge the difficult boss monster and reap the rewards of a battle well fought. You assume that the group will likely be trying to defeat the boss monster; if Kirito suggested it, then there’s definitely a cool prize he wants from the rewards. It’s an exciting event to look forward to.

         At a little before 9:30 PM that evening, you log onto ALO and confirm that you’re in the log cabin. You typically log out there, but every so often, during a big quest you can’t be peeled away from, you’ll stay at an inn in the closest town over night so that you can get back to it faster. You’re relieved to find that you did, in fact, log out from within the cabin. Kirito appears to have already beat you there. He holds up his hand for a high-five. You grin and give him one.

         “Glad you could make it, (y/n)!” he says.

         You let him know that you’re excited to start the quest. It’s been a while since something big has happened that everyone could show up for. The others start appearing, the chatter in the little player home increasing until the last member, Agil, shows up. He had to wrap up some things at his café and bar before logging on, but the gang is finally all here. Asuna opens up a map with an uneasy look on her face and shows everyone where the haunted house appeared. Everyone checks their inventory to make sure they have enough potions, and then you’re off.

         The haunted house itself it about a ten-minute flight from the cabin. It doesn’t take long for everyone to get there, and a small crowd of players has already started to gather around it. There’s a timer display in front of it, counting down to when the event will start. A few people are trying to shove their way to the front, but you know there’s no reason to do this. After all, every team will get their own map separate from the others. There’s no limit on how many people can enter at once; if that were so, they’d have to make more than one version of the house. The exterior is dark and gloomy, and the weather around it seems to have turned from a clear, moonlit night into a stormy one, with flashes of lightning cracking close enough to the top of the house that it might sound rather alarming from the inside.

         “Ohhh, this is gonna be so good!” Lisbeth exclaims.

         Asuna awkwardly chuckles.

         “You don’t think there are any astral-type monsters in there, do you?” she mutters.

         Kirito reaches down and grasps her hand, giving her a soft look.

         “I’ll make sure they don’t come after you,” he says.

         Sinon rolls her eyes.

         “Get a room, you two,” she says.

         Lisbeth laughs and smacks Asuna on the back.

         “We’ll be fine!” she says.

         The timer finally hits zero, and players all dash forward to enter the haunted house. Each party is sent into a separate map, so there’s no worry if some members are faster than the others. They’ll all end up in the same map as long as they’re registered in the same party. The speedier members of your party arrive first, so when you enter the space, Kirito, Asuna, and Leafa are already taking a look around the dimly lit hallways. Sinon trails in right on your tail. Lisbeth practically pushes Silica into the space, and Agil and Klein trot in behind her. Alice, for some reason, is bringing up the rear, her hand perched on the pommel of her sword as if expecting something to attack the group from behind. An NPC appears out of the shadows when there’s been about thirty seconds of no new entries to the space.

         This NPC is an elderly woman with spindly grey hair sticking out of a tightly wrapped bun. She’s wearing clothing that you would expect to see the proprietress of a traditional Japanese inn wearing, which seems a bit out of place for the fairy world setting. It isn’t quite accurate, though; the cut of the fabric is wrong for a kimono or yukata, making it more of what one would imagine a quick, from-memory sketch of Japanese traditional clothing looked like from someone who’d seen it perhaps once. The designs on her dress also could be European in nature. Its coloring is either a dim blue or a grey, but it’s hard to tell in the low lighting. She bows at you all, and Kirito walks up to her. She starts to talk as soon as he initiates with a “hello.”

         “Weary travelers, I’m afraid that this abode isn’t the friendly stay that it used to be,” the NPC says. “For years, I offered beds to those traveling across Alfheim, and I fed my tenants enough to fill their bellies for the road ahead they had to travel. As of late, however, there’s a disturbance in this house that keeps me from keeping adventurers overnight, so I’m afraid I can’t arrange beds for you this evening.”

         It was a natural enough way to start a quest. Kirito prompts her for more.

         “What kind of a disturbance?” he asks. “Is there any way we can help you out?”          The old woman scrunches up her forehead and sighs.

         “There’s something haunting my home,” she laments. “It’s too much to ask of you, but if you would be willing to check it out for me, I’d be willing to pay you quite handsomely if you can get rid of it.”

         A quest menu popped up in front of Kirito. He clicks the button to accept the quest, and then a darkened map appears in the corner of your vision. It seems like the map needs you to walk around in order to see the pathways. You suggest splitting the group in half. Everyone else agrees that this is a good plan, since the goal of the party is to locate The Hallow Echo and defeat him. You go with Kirito, Asuna, Silica, and Lisbeth. The other group of Sinon, Agil, Klein, Leafa, and Alice goes to the left, while you all go to the right. Along the path, there are smaller monsters that don’t take too much work to defeat as a team.

         But things change when the lights all go out.

         An echoing, guttural voice laughs in the halls. You can’t tell from which direction it’s coming; it’s all-encompassing. A light flickers in front of you for a moment as Kirito, you think, holds up a torch. In that moment, you lay eyes on its form—The Hallow Echo, a knight decorated in a dark armor that soaks up the blackness around it, with a sword hovering dangerously close to your own neck that is dripping with something wet and thick. A lone detail stands out in the center of the light; a gaping, dark hole sits where the knight’s head should be. As soon as you note this, Kirito’s torch is extinguished with a sizzle and a hiss, as if something licked its fingers and pressed them against the tip to put it out. The group lets out a collective scream, and they all leap backwards to avoid possibly getting hit by the knight’s weapon.

         “Was that it?!” Lisbeth shouts.

         Metal clangs against something solid in the dark, most likely the wall.

         “That’s DEFINITELY it!” Kirito shouts back.

         A yelp comes from your left. It sounded like Silica.

         “Headless…why did it have to be headless?” Asuna mutters.

         “How the hell are we supposed to defeat that thing in the dark?” Lisbeth asks.

         Another clang slams down. It sounds like it hit the floor this time. Silica shrieks and you hear her jump up to her feet and start running. She winds up bumping into you.

         “S-sorry, (y/n)!” she stammered.

         You tell her it’s all right and give her a gentle pat on the head. The same echoing laugh as before greets you again, still feeling as though it’s all around you.

         “Listen to the sound of its footsteps!” Asuna cries out. “When it’s close enough, attack it! If you hear it stop for too long, then it’s getting ready to use one of its attacks. Jump back if you hear no footsteps for more than six seconds!”

         Despite her fear of the ghastly, Asuna takes full charge of the fight immediately. Her prowess as a leader always comes out in situations like this. Her methods work well for a bit, and as the group fights, you run into the others, who join in on Asuna’s strategy. Everything seems to be working well, up until you see The Hallow Echo’s HP fall into the last bar. Suddenly, his footsteps vanish all together, and his echoing laugh zooms around as if he’s floating through the air around you.

         Suddenly the battle changes from a physical one to a true test of courage. You can feel things making grabs at your body in the dark. Touching the walls often renders a slimy, unpleasant texture. More than just the one laugh surrounds you; other voices echo in the halls, and sounds of chittering or scurrying accompany it. Now in an astral form, The Hallow Echo flies around you and sometimes through you, sending a cold chill inside of the space he passes through.

         “I-I don’t know if I can do this any longer!” Asuna finally wails.

         There’s a grunt from Kirito as he swings at the specter flying past him. You can hear a metal “clink!” as his sword hits the core inside of the ghastly figure.

         “I-It’ll be fine! Just a b-bit longer, guys!” he reassures you all, though the words were most likely directed at Asuna more than anyone else.

         “A-are you sure?” she stammers back.

         Another thud comes from behind you.

         “Kyaaaaaaa! Something touched me! Something touched meeee!” Silica cries.

         Someone else hits the core.

         “You’re fine!” Leafa cries. “Just bear with it! You’re fi–aaaagh!”

         An arrow whizzes past your ear and hits The Hallow Echo’s core. The light from the arrow gives you enough space to swing at it. Your sword connects with the core inside, and this time, instead of just hitting it, it slices through it with a sound like glass shattering into hundreds of tiny pieces. White light bursts from the spot, and everyone can see The Hallow Echo in his full form once more as he dissipates into a black mist and gets swallowed up by the center of the light where the core burst. Everything is pitch black for a moment, and then the hallways light up with the same dim candles that you’d first seen when entering the haunted house. Right on cue, the elderly NPC walks up with her hands clasped together.

         “Oh, thank you!” she cries. “How ever can I thank you for taking care of that monster for me?”

         Kirito lets out a strained laugh.

         “I-It’s our pleasure,” he says.

         A few of the group members chuckle at his statement. The NPC waves her hands and points them at the group.

         “Will this be enough?” she asks.

         You all get a dialogue box showing you the quest rewards for beating The Hallow Echo. The prizes, as mentioned in the notice for the event, are quite handsome. A large sum of yrd is given, as well as some crystals that are useful in smithing. Everyone receives a weapon in their specific class that has quite high stats. Some rare potions are present as well. As you all leave the haunted house, high-fives are shared for a job well done.

         As you log off for the night, you know you can rest well, as The Hallow Echo has been defeated, and the limited time quest didn’t escape your grasp.

         Well, that is, unless he returns for revenge next year…

[ursarangler]

h. ello .

my name is dominique. we are related but that does not matter. i have questions for you .

i am very interested in the strange and unexplained events happening in the regions . i find them very neat . i want to learn more about them as i grow up and. i heard that you went through stuff like that.

i am sorry that happened to you . but also what happened in full . what was celebi like . did you see a. zigazagoon. thank you

thank you for answering my questions . i think you should get more sleep.

— 🎧🐾

▓▒░U(''°ᴥ°'')U░▒▓ hey, kiddo! Please don't tell random strangers online that you're related to them with no context!! I'm not mad at you, I just want you to know that you could really scare the life out of a fella doing that!!

For your questions though σ(￣ᴥ￣ʋ⁠) I wouldn't say I've been through much unexplainable stuff. Really, most of it's just the result of a bunch of men with big egos fucking around and finding out. I did experience some odd things growing up in Unova, though!! U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^⁠U Lots of strangeness in the woods and out in the more rural parts! I can't remember a lot of it, long ago as it was, but one thing I remember is when I was out at a friend's farm late at night. We were out looking for bugs out by the Torchic coops, and suddenly, the Torchics went all quiet. Next thing I know, there's a whistling coming from in the coops. ▼⁠・⁠ᴥ⁠・⁠▼ I had a bad feeling about all of it, but my friend wanted to make sure there wasn't something in there killing all the mons, so he just tells me to go get his ma and pa, picks up a big stick, and charges on in there.

Kid's been a missing person's case for about fifty years now.

Anyways! U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^⁠U what happened with the Celebi!!

First off, it put up one hell of a fight!! O-(`ᴥ´Q)/ That's to be expected and all I suppose, being a mythical mon! The psychic armor worked a bit, but I still got tossed around a good bit and not to mention the whole U(”⁠ ⁠⊚ᴥ⊚⁠ ⁠”)U time travel thing. But! V⁠●⁠ᴥ⁠●⁠V like I said! The little critter had no physical strength! The moment I got my teeth around the fucker's head, it was over.

I saw Zigzagoon in the past, but they looked kinda... Different? U(⁠・ᴥ・⁠;⁠)U They looked closer to the kinds they got in Galar, but not quite the same. Weird as all get out. I wasn't really paying much mind to them though because I think I showed up in the middle of a war. I'm not sure what they were fighting about. Couldn't understand a word of what their leader said to me. Shit felt like touching down in Kanto all over again. U⁠ ⁠´⁠꓃⁠ ⁠`⁠ ⁠U A damn mess, really. All I knew was they saw me kill a mythical and figured I'd be of use to their side. They were dressed in red, the other side was dressed in blue. I wound up helping them win a crucial battle and took a fair chunk of the blue leaders out in the process. All in all, I think it took a month or so, but I lost track of time real damn quick. It was just so easy to lose myself out there. The pokemon and I fought the same. Claws and teeth. We don't fully grasp our handlers, but we know we have to fight. Destroy. The praise that rained on me when their necks broke. Ain't I the weapon they needed? The weapon to end them all? Am I not death?

▼⁠・⁠ᴥ⁠・⁠▼ where was I going with this?

Oh! U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^⁠U They gave me an egg for my efforts! All the best fighters over there had big ol' beastly pokemon by their sides so I suppose they wanted me to keep the fella. U(⁠*⁠´ᴥ｀⁠*⁠)U Be kind of rude to turn the ol' fellas down now, huh? It hasn't hatched yet, but I'm keeping a close eye on it.

After all that, they invited me to some sort of star festival. Something about a pokemon that wakes up once every some odd years? ▼⁠・⁠ᴥ⁠・⁠▼ Figured I'd oblige. While I was there, I saw this little creature taking in energy from the stars. Something... Compelled me to speak to it. I don't know what. I figured it could hear me.

I asked it to take me home.

U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^⁠U And now we're here!! Anyways, hope this answers things!! It's a bit of a long story, but I suppose you don't seem the type to mind the ramblings of an old man. U(⁠ ⁠´⁠◡ᴥ⁠◡⁠`⁠)U

[perregrinstudiessometimes]

Book review of: Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and The Battle for Truth

Author: Elizabeth Williamson

Book started on: January 17th

Book ended on: January 20th

Format: audio book

Source: Libby (app that my library partners with)

Good reads summary:

“Based on hundreds of hours of research, interviews, and access to exclusive sources and materials, Sandy Hook is Elizabeth Williamson’s landmark investigation of the aftermath of a school shooting, the work of Sandy Hook parents who fought to defend themselves, and the truth of their children’s fate against the frenzied distortions of online deniers and conspiracy theorists.

On December 14, 2012, a gunman killed twenty first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Ten years later, Sandy Hook has become a foundational story of how false conspiracy narratives and malicious misinformation have gained traction in society.

One of the nation’s most devastating mass shootings, Sandy Hook was used to create destructive and painful myths. Driven by ideology or profit, or for no sound reason at all, some people insisted it never occurred, or was staged by the federal government as a pretext for seizing Americans’ firearms. They tormented the victims’ relatives online, accosted them on the street and at memorial events, accusing them of faking their loved ones’ murders. Some family members have been stalked and forced into hiding. A gun was fired into the home of one parent.

Present at the creation of this terrible crusade was Alex Jones’s Infowars, a far-right outlet that aired noxious Sandy Hook theories to millions and raised money for the conspiracy theorists’ quest to “prove” the shooting didn’t happen. Enabled by Facebook, YouTube, and other social media companies’ failure to curb harmful content, the conspiracists’ questions grew into suspicion, suspicion grew into demands for more proof, and unanswered demands turned into rage. This pattern of denial and attack would come to characterize some Americans’ response to almost every major event, from mass shootings to the coronavirus pandemic to the 2020 presidential election, in which President Trump’s false claims of a rigged result prompted the January 6, 2021, assault on a bastion of democracy, the U.S. Capitol.

The Sandy Hook families, led by the father of the youngest victim, refused to accept this. Sandy Hook is the story of their battle to preserve their loved ones’ legacies even in the face of threats to their own lives. Through exhaustive reporting, narrative storytelling, and intimate portraits, Sandy Hook is the definitive book on one of the most shocking cultural ruptures of the internet era.”

Book grade: 79/100

My thoughts:

Going in to this book I only had a surface level knowledge of both what happened at Sandy Hook, and the false reporting by the extreme right.

I think many would benefit from reading this book. This book is less about Sandy Hook, and more about the rise of false reporting by the extreme right. This book highlights the blatant disregard for the truth and human suffering that happened at Sandy Hook that was perpetrated by Alex Jones, info-wars, and many other right wing “news” sources. 

I struggle writing reviews for books like these, because my opinion doesn’t matter. These books showcase the facts, and the fact is that Alex Jones lied to his viewers and profited off of those lies. Regardless of whether or not, Alex Jones believes what he said about Sandy Hook, the things that he said are still false. The things that he said still hurt the morning families trying to understand the loss of their children and the things that he said, set a precedent of false “news” regarding pretty much every major shooting that has happened since Sandy Hook.

There was a moment in one of the earlier chapters where the author mentions that a false piece of reporting originally reported that the shooter was the son of a teacher at Sandy Hook. This was the first time I had had that misconception corrected for me. I had been avoiding news on Sandy Hook because I knew about the horrible conspiracies surrounding it and because I was so wary of any news regarding it I never sought out the truth.  Bad reporting in the early days of Sandy Hook caused my mis-knowledge. That bad reporting also fueled people Alex Jones, and his conspiracies.

Because of the polarization of this topic, and the fact that the book takes such a strong side, means that this book fuels its reader, both with grief, but also with rage. This is the type of book that you have to put down every once in a while, because the human body is not meant to be exposed to such strong, horrible emotions for that length of time. I found myself often pausing and trying to gather my thoughts, and I hope that more than just anger comes from this book. I hope that this book does good and reminds people that reporters are not without their faults and that doing your own research means checking more than a couple of sources, and then taking a step outside of our bubbles is not only good but necessary. I deeply appreciate the last chapter that showcases what governments and people are currently doing to help stop the spread of misinformation and stop the tactics that conspiracy theories used to spread that misinformation.

The Internet makes it very easy to get trapped in an echo chamber, where you only see people who agree with you. That is dangerous, regardless of your politics and causes conspiracies like this to spread to the people, most vulnerable to believe them. Social media is not without the fault in this, but the problem remains a human issue. 

[dragon30125]

Hey I haven’t been here in a LOOOONG time, but I need somewhere to just vent where there isn’t really much chance of a pity party or me freaking out some people.

It’s just, really fucking hard right now. This year has ducking sucked, hell most of my life sucks. Some of these are my own fault, some are no ones. Imma just list shit and bare my feelings cos like I need to get things off my chest.

The year started and I was working my ass off, then I got run off the road riding an EScooter and broke my hand, I was able to get 2 days off then back to work I went, I got punched by a customer that was beating the shit out of another customer when I intervened (With my broken hand btw) then I got sick, then my friend died, then I didn’t get to properly celebrate my 30th birthday with my friends cause they all had these plans come up, so I only really had 2 friends actually like celebrate with me (which hey better than my 19th or 22nd birthday when no one came to my party’s right?) then I worked for like 40 days straight then my grandma died, and hey straight off to the Gold Coast whilst my Dad, Aung and Uncle all fought over the Fucked up shit my Uncle did that came to light. Then work got busy and I still couldn’t get time off, even now it’s just a constant fucking fight to have an hour to myself, then dating opht.

So I’m 30, and despite all the different ways I have tried I just cannot succeed at any version of the partners/dating/boyfriend/girlfriend game. I’ve gone to bars, clubs, out with friends, out alone, OkCupid, Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Feeld and a slew of other apps. Paid for some of them at some point just to see and try but have come up empty. I’ve gotten dates! Not a lot of them, and even less second ones. I’ve never had a third. It fucking sucks. NOTE I don’t blame anyone for this, no one owes me a date or anything if the sort, and the only common factor to these dates is me so it’s obviously something I fuck up. But damn does it hurt. I bloomed late, got comfy with being bi, but just can’t get out of the gate.

And it’s just, the older I get the more I run into the question on these sites “Would you date someone who has never had a relationship?” And Goddamn does it hurt to see more and more people in the pool of people I could date answer more and more “No” to that every year. Again no one owes me anything but like I think I’m allowed to feel sadness that people won’t even give me a chance because of that, can’t I?

Then there’s the whole gender thing. Like the more and more that time goes on the more and more convinced I become that in probably a Trans woman, but then I still have those days that I feel like Andrew again. And then I see all the stuff that Andrew did and does and I don’t think Andi fits into those spaces or with those people even though all of me loves those spaces. Hell even work doesn’t seem like it will be ok to do there. And it just adds to this feeling of defeat that seems to be my daily life now.

I lost all this weight back in 2014/2015 and then I just slowly put it all back on again because I just lost interest in it and now every time I try to start again it feels like it just can’t happen and then that makes me give up even faster.

And I know I KNOW that I’m depressed and that actually going to see a therapist or a counselled or a psychiatrist would help but I literally cannot afford one, and I can’t find one that will take me and actually have me at an office cos I know I can’t do it online, at my apartment where I just want to let go and hide away.

Hell even work sucks for all of these reasons, I keep wanting to go do stuff and have me time, go to events and party’s that I know people at and where I know I can find some release and relief and just some fleeting happiness yet I just can’t get away from there for even 2 hours, having to cover peoples shifts because they’re sick when I’m also sick and it’s just ARGH.

I just don’t know what to do at this point, how to get out of this hole and all I can do is keep walking up this steep path, trudging along whilst finding the bodies of friends who couldn’t fight more, trying to take them with me even though they’re gone, whist some asshole keeps putting more and more arrows of shit into my back, so much that I just have to keep walking though, and just yeah

Look if you read all this thanks, again I don’t want any pity or anything I just needed somewhere to vent to just I dunno put out into the world and see if the universe will just give me a tiny break somewhere. So hopefully it does. I’ll be ok, I’m always ok, every now and then I just need to like pull out those arrows I mentioned so I can keep going so yeah thanks

[come1nalone]

List of things I managed to do at the ripe age of x without my parents noticing even one bit (my dad was more attentive actually, but he had depression for most of these years and was quite absent at home so it’s mostly my mom):

Ages 6-10:

- having ocd

- get sexually harassed by an elderly creep

Age 11:

- go on a diet (thought I was fat)

- start self harming

Age 12:

-starving myself (eating 500 cals a day) for 6+ months

-binging and purging by throwing up everyday for a month :)

-throwing up 3-5 times a week at other times

-going on plenty of mono diets, which included 3 days straight of only eating apples, 1 day of eating only chocolate, various days of eating only fruit, at least 2 days of eating only vegetables.

- packing only vegetables and diet food for school.

-losing 5 kgs and going down to a 45 kilo weight (was a 1.60 meters tall)

-losing my period for a year and a half!

-self harming after I’ve told them I would stop at age 11.

Age 13:

-bullied in school

-plan to commit suicide ~almost tries and fails~

Age 14:

- find an abusive online friend who hurt me a lot and said it makes sense I have no friends in school and I’m being bullied because I’m a shitty person

-my mom didn’t realize why I had depression: my dad however, did get it, and was absolutely lovely and took me out to walks so I wouldn’t stay in bed all day. ❤️ u dad ur my everything

Age 15:

- be hypomanic

-try to kms again (failed)

-get drunk often, even black out sometimes, and cry in public events with friends while I was drunk out of my ass

-hidden vodka in my clothes drawer :)

-self harm quite often

-eating disorders 2: electric boogaloo

-almost get assaulted by some creepy ass mf who said he likes his partners drunk so he gave me a buncha alcohol and gave me rapey hugs and hand massages and my best friend at the time almost fought him physically so he didn’t assault me :)

-throwing up a tonnnnn going home entirely drunk asf and throwing up every time because I was bulimic ✨

-abusing coffee and pain killers to maintain my schedule and deal with crippling headaches (my mom noticed I had a lot of painkillers and threw them out: she never asked why tho)

- massive downward slope in my grades towards the end of the high school year

-

Ages 16-18:

-these were pretty good times ngl I got better during those years

- I did however have an eating disorder still but it went away after I treated myself

-and I had to fight my mom in order to get an adhd evaluation (which turns out I have adhd duhhh), getting treatment for the headaches, getting help for allergies, and getting some medical help (I ended up paying 343 dollars out of my pocket, and got refunded half of these) for my jaw problems all of which my mom thought were entirely fabricated and untrue

Age 19:

- got raped

- almost committed suicide in my military service (came home to my mom and she refused to hug me)

So ya that’s lovely innit

[ivanca]

Overwatch had everything to be one of the best FPS games of all time, then Blizzard let it rot.

When Overwatch opened its beta version in 2016 I was visiting the US, I borrowed money from a local bank for that trip, I didn’t take my gamer pc with me, why should I? I was there to find some funding for my startup idea (or at least a co-founder), and for that task my outdated laptop was enough, it had been a few months and my lack of preparation and skills to pitch my startup were clearly showing and it was taking a toll emotionally. I knew the date of the open beta of Overwatch so I did something a bit reckless: I spend some of the little money I had to visit a gaming center place in downtown berkeley where you can use a gaming PC and pay per hour, as expected one little voice in my head harshly complained about why I’m being so short-sigthed? I had a gaming PC back home where I could play it if I just waited to return to my country, but I knew I badly needed a distraction from my frustations, so I payed for an hour, and it didn’t just distract me, it gave me thrills that I had never experienced from an fps, before that day my definition of an online FPS was hardcoded by Counter Strike and Call Of Duty, the classic stuff: a game where almost all guns are recreations of how wars are fought in real life so most of the time you aim and click, aim and click, rinse and repeat, sure there are grenades and some other stuff but it always felt secondary, hard-limited to a quantity of one or two per player, it always felt like tiny breaks from shooting and not much else, even sci-fi powers like seeing the footsteps of your enemy where all just helpers the player to reach the point where they aim and shot; and I enjoyed the hell out of those games (and still do!), but Overwatch showed me a whole different world, almost the complete opposite, and I found myself in a FPS where the likelyhood to real weapons had the lowest priority and fun had the first one, fun made of what? Entropy; let me give you an example in the next paragraph, if you already know what I’m talking about feel free to skip it. This is one hostile interaction out of dozens that happen in every single match: One character is called Junkrat, a pyromaniac with a bear trap, he throws it somewhere expecting the enemy will overlook it, it works and someone just stepped on it and is now unable to move (can still shot), Junkrat heard the trap firing so he shoots his slow -but deathly- bouncing balls near the trapped enemy, but this time the enemy is Mei, and just when the exploding balls aproach she uses her power: a wall of ice she can build almost instantly! It stopped the explosive balls from killing her, but she didn’t count with Roadhog, a huge terrifying butcher approaching far away from a side -not blocked by the wall-, he quickly throws his chain at Mei to pull her right in front of him (in his best “get over here” scorpion impresion) but just before he can pull the trigger of his flag cannon (a shotgun from Unreal Tournament) 135 kgs of german armor crash against him and drags him like a truck without breaks until it it a wall nearby, damaging and stunning Roadhog. But while those events unfolded junkrat throws a big bomb (his other power) under its feet and explodes it, propelling him high into the air, way more than enough to jump over Meis wall, from the sky Junk has a clear shot at mei killing her instantly, but he always throws a lot of those deadly balls so the ones that didn’t land on mei bounce almost as high as he was when he shoot them! Reinhard notices this and turns on his giant shield and aims it right over its head, successfully blocking all damage from them! But Roadhog is taking advantage and shooting Reinhard from the side, it seems like Reinhard is not gonna make it but then an angel... yeah literally an angel comes flying an starts healing Reinhard! But the damage is slightly greater than the healing! But it gave Raindhard enough time to recharge his, and now run like a truck to escape from his own dead, unfortunately for the angel a sniper shot her head as she was attempting to revive Mei, but her sacrifice kept Reinhard alive, which turned out to be critical to make his team win.

That all seem too chaotic to be enjoyable but quickly you learned that's far from the truth, quickly after starting every match you always know which characters is the enemy team using, this information is vital as you know what abilities the enemy has available, before you know it you instinctively know exactly how long mei’s wall can last, how tall it always is, and the same thing happens with every single ability; plus all characters look so different you can quickly determine what you will be dealing with as they approach, what really drives the game is how you mix the different abilities of your team to play, and equally important is how good are you at reading the enemy movements, individually and as a group. What really set Overwatch apart was the amount of interactions possible between abilities, when you saw one for the first time “Of course that’s possible, its logical it just didn’t ocurre to me”, when a interaction produced something ilogical it was soon patched, 

The other thing that set Overwatch apart was the characters, their personalities were so different, their powers so different, their models so well designed, their past so mysterious, their world so different from ours, so the lore felt rich, and social media reacted, the amount of memes and fanart of Overwatch was ridiculous.

Then months went by, and a new character were added like just 5 months after launch, a few maps coming in, first halloween came up and there was a special event, life was good,  then new characters started taking 8 months, halloween came up and they reused the exact same event, the exact same animations, exact everything... except new skins for sale of course, those never stopped, then it took almost a year for a new character... and they started reusing attacks for the new characters, I think thats when I knew it was doomed, and of couse halloween never got a new event, I had more than 2000 hours and realized I knew every single of the 21 maps better than my own house, then the bomb dropped, Overwatch 2 will have all the exact same maps and the powers are pretty much the same, its free and its focus is selling skins.

I expected so much from Overwatch, and how could I not? They copied so many good ideas from other games to develop all the initial characters that it was obvious to me that they had the right formula in their hands, they just had to stick with it and it could have been seriously argued to be the best FPS to ever exist. They didn't stick with it, they did the exact opposite. Like many other players I liked to fantasize about what new characters would be coming next, some artists even draw their ideas, my own imagination went wild, maybe the new character will walk like spiderman over any surface! Or a healer who wraps one ally and it takes the damage for them! Or maybe someone like rogue from x-men that can copy one ability from a non-tank enemy! Or be someone like pikachu that can use electric attacks, maybe even use conductive surfaces to increase its area of attack! No, the next character will take one year and will just remix existing abilities, the next new event will be never, the next map will be never, but hey... thousands of skins for the character you are bored to death of playing!