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A staredown soon ensued.
One that neither of us seemed to be willing to let up on.
But as far as staredowns went, this one was pretty evenly matched as neither of us really had the ability to ‘blink’, or at least as far as an outside observer could see.
My whole schtick was pretty obvious, the tinted lenses were more or less just doing the job for me, taking blinking out of the equation entirely and adding a solid plus ten to my intimidation base stats.
The shadowy cloaked figure’s approach was just downright bizarre though, as instead of eyes, there were just these two trapezoidal ‘lights’ that I assumed were supposed to be a placeholder for his actual eyes hidden somewhere underneath the shadowy void casted by his hood.
A void which was downright pitchblack, and completely impenetrable to the naked eye.
The figure gave off a surreal vibe as his rogue-like attire, coupled with the hood and the impenetrable shadow it casted, looked like it’d been ripped straight out of a Castles and Wyverns art book or a high-fantasy comic. The pitch-black void that obscured his face, and those two trapezoidal eyes that hovered and shifted with increasing scrutiny, just didn’t look real.
While most would leave it at that, I wasn’t one to leave a mystery hanging, I was a human with an entire visual sensor suite to work with for crying out loud. So before I even knew it, I reflexively went to activate my night-vision cameras. Only to see that the shadowy effect covering up his face was still there.
This led me to only one solid conclusion.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 140% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
A quick localized environmental scan made it clear to me that this was yet another one of the Nexus’ weird mana-fueled acts of tomfoolery.
“What say you, first years? Are you here for healing, or are you here for a visit? For as I have stated, the healing wing is not accepting visits at this point in time.” The hooded figure answered with this strange mix between a sing-song voice and an attempt at sounding gruff and gravely.
“We have an unfulfilled point of personal privilege that requires addressment.” Thacea stepped up to the plate, promptly placing herself by my side, then taking several steps forward. “Along with an unresolved conflict which requires immediate resolution by the party with which the aforementioned point of personal privilege was evoked but was halted due to unforeseen circumstances.” The princess began flexing her courtly-talk with the hooded figure, which clearly seemed to have some effect as he reached up a single gloved hand up to where his chin should be, only to have his fingers disappear as soon as they entered the dark shadowy effect currently covering up his face.
“And with whom is this unresolved matter incurred?” The figure inquired plainly, though the way he spoke shifted to something a bit more accommodating, perhaps even a little bit more hospitable than the gruffer tone he’d initially directed towards me.
“An apprentice, good sir. Apprentice Larial to be precise.” Thacea clarified politely, using what I could only describe as this flighty, chirpy, almost haughty tone of voice that was an exaggerated version of the cadence she used during our first interactions together.
“Hmm…” The hooded figure replied with a concerned grumble. “I was going to waive this particular matter, allowing the fair lady-” He paused, before making a point to stare at both me and Thalmin. “-and her two knights to pass on through, under the points of exceptional circumstances.” He continued in a less restrained, more flighty cadence. “However, you must excuse my inability to do so, my lady. My hands are currently tied via the powers that be, and I simply cannot grant your request.” The man began weaving a string of apologetics, giving Thacea a genuine and polite bow in response. “I must apologize for this discrepancy in expectant decorum.”
This didn’t make things any better for our circumstances though.
And it was clear Thacea understood this as she continued pressing forward.
“May I have your name and title, my good sir?” Thacea chirped lightly.
“Appointed-Deputy Magistrate Sir Arlan Ostoy, Senior Apprentice of the Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. May I have the honor and the privilege of requesting your name, my fair lady?”
“Princess Thacea Dilani, of the Aetheronrealm, First Year and Scholastic Peer of the Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts.” Thacea replied with a full bow, and a half-curtsy of her own.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The shadowy figure bowed yet again.
“The pleasure is all mine, Sir-Magistrate.” Followed by yet another bow by Thacea.
There was some serious song and dance going on here, and one that I was observing with bated breath.
“Might I inquire further as to the particular reasoning behind this unfortunate and unseemly inability to respect the rights of expectant decorum?” Thacea quickly shot back.
“As I have alluded to, your highness, the powers that be prevent me from furthering the natural solution to your particular grievances. If this were any other instance in time, at any other location or place, I am sure this matter would have been resolved in an expedient and timely fashion. This situation, as you have alluded to yourself, results from a very particular set of unforeseen circumstances. Circumstances which currently dictate my actions in a manner which just so happens to be in conflict with your points of personal privilege, your highness.” The man’s posture, the way he stood, even the way he talked seemed very particular when addressing Thacea.
It was at that point that something changed. I didn’t know what, and I wasn’t sure why, but Thacea seemed to be shifting towards a tactical retreat, as she clacked her beak several times before addressing the both of us. “This is absolutely preposterous, I will need a moment to clear my mind but when I do return…” Thacea turned towards the magistrate/guard/apprentice person yet again. “There will be words exchanged.”
At Thacea’s prompting, we all left the room, but not before slamming the door behind us shut in a similar manner to Ilunor’s drama-filled exits.
We continued walking away from the medical wing at a steady pace, until another privacy screen was suddenly brought up.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 275% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
“I have a plan.” Thacea began. “And this is entirely relying on you two having the physical prowess to back up your military backgrounds.” She continued ominously.
“Oh princess, you sully the Havenbrock name if you believe my mercenary heritage is in any way, shape, or form a mere decorative mantlepiece.” Thalmin responded with a sarcastic, yet excitable tone.
“I assure you, Thacea, I think my training has almost every eventuality accounted for.” I added with an affirmative nod.
“So what’s the plan?” Thalmin barked out excitedly as we stopped right in the middle of this long, wide hallway connecting the main castle with the medical wing. Thacea was quick to answer this question by wordlessly gesturing to a lone door on the right side of the hallway.
Windows lining either side of the hallway made it clear that this entire structure was just an elevated bridge connecting the main castle to an entirely separate compound.
This made the presence of a door smack-dab in the middle of its length sort of bizarre.
Upon entering it though, we were treated to an open-air rooftop terrace with a few seats and benches. The whole outcropping gave us an unparalleled view of the roaring waterfall beneath the Academy, and a direct line of sight to the medical wing and its five distinct towers.
The princess continued walking silently as we reached the edge of the terrace’s balcony, overlooking the sheer cliff face at a height that more or less put me in mind of your typical open-air rooftops on your typical Acela Corridor skyscraper.
“I’ve observed that the medical wing seems to consist of a large tower-atrium, with several more towers connected to it via additional corridors. Similar to spokes on a wheel. As you can see from this vantage point, it seems as if most rooms have private balconies. If we cannot make our way to the apprentice via conventional channels, then I plan to reach her via more unconventional means.” Thacea turned towards me with a hardened look in her gaze. “Emma, is your… insect artifice ready for use?”
My eyes widened at that, as I nodded affirmatively. “Just for the record, we call it a drone.” I quickly corrected Thacea. “But, yes, I can designate individuals and targets for it to track down or follow. However, I can’t just have it poking around in every room since there’s no guarantee that the drone will be able to get a lock on them. There’s too many variables involved that would get in the way of the drone actually being able to zero in on a person’s face. From the beds facing the right way, to bandages possibly covering up her face, to-”
“I don’t want your artifice to observe every balcony and window, Emma. That will most certainly take too much time, and as you’ve stated, there’s no guarantee of actually identifying a face considering the multitudes of factors involved.” Thacea interjected. “What I plan to do is to return to the Deputy-Magistrate, and to attempt to reach a compromise that he will abide by. I plan for him to take us, or rather, your drone straight to the apprentice.”
“And how will you accomplish this?” Thalmin whined,his head tilted in curiosity.
“I will draft a letter, addressed directly to the apprentice, and request that it be taken straight to her room. This way, the Deputy-Magistrate will in a sense be able to accomplish his obligations to the Expectant Decorum, and in doing so he will lead your insec-, drone, straight to the apprentice’s room.”
I stared at Thacea with wide eyes, as her back and forths with the deputy-magistrate began taking on a completely different meaning in this new light.
“That way, we can find out exactly which room the apprentice is in.” I replied bluntly.
“Correct. However, from there, I cannot say my plans are in any way foolproof.” Thacea replied with a sullen coo.
“Well go on, princess, it sounds pretty good so far!” Thalmin urged.
“Ascertaining the apprentice’s room is only half of the stated objective. Actually getting there is another matter entirely. Because depending on where the apprentice is located… my idea for the latter half of this quest involves you two scaling your way towards her room.” The princess spoke with an immense level of trepidation. “On the exterior aspect of the castle, if that needed to be said.”
My heart skipped a beat as the princess laid out her plans. I looked across the absurdly spindly hallway-bridge that this little terrace was somehow attached to, and towards the five towers that made up the medical wing.
Thalmin did the same, although his face seemed to indicate that he was at the very least, considering the plan at least somewhat seriously.
“Alright.” I muttered out loud, instinctively trying to place a palm on my forehead, only for the glove to bonk straight off. “I have several ideas. First, we might be able to do this remotely. I’m thinking once we find out which room she’s in, we fly in a larger drone, one carrying with it a deployable holographic projector or some other two-way communications device so that we can talk to her remotely.” As soon as I spoke that idea out loud however, things started to fall apart. “But because of how thick the walls are, and considering the distance between the tower and our dorm, I might have to deploy repeaters in order to daisy-chain the connection all the way back to the dorms. I mean, we can’t just set up shop out here in the open after all. At which point we’d have a continuous chain of signal-repeater drones flying all across the Academy… which wouldn’t be ideal. No, scratch that, that won’t work.”
The pair stared at me with varying degrees of confusion, but seemed to have collectively decided to ignore the idea after I’d scrapped it.
“I say we just climb it!” Thalmin yelped out, but not before another idea hit me. One that could work, but that required me consulting Thacea first.
“I mean, we could, but…” I turned to face Thacea. “What’s the Academy’s policy on noise? Or rather, do you think we could get away with something really really loud, buzzing outside of the towers?”
Thacea once more stared at me with a look of just utter confusion, but shrugged it off and went with it anyways. “I would highly recommend against generating too much noise for this particular quest, Emma. It would most certainly garner a lot of unwanted attention.” Thacea spoke plain and simple.
I couldn’t help but to groan internally in frustration at that.
That makes flying over there a no-go… it would’ve made things so much easier though…
“Alright, well, that more or less places us in a very awkward situation with not a lot of options available to us, huh?” I thought to myself outloud again, as I craned my head over to an excitable Thalmin.
“I guess I have to climb on over.” I stated in no uncertain terms.
“Wait, I?!” Thalmin responded with a shocked and incredulous bark. “There’s no way I’m allowing you to climb over there yourself without assistance or-”
“Thalmin, there’s no need for you to climb on over with me.” I interjected. “This whole mission is hedged on me talking to the apprentice one-on-one. Remember the gardens? The apprentice wouldn’t allow you anywhere near us when we started talking. It’d be a waste of time, energy, and more importantly… a huge risk to your safety. I don’t want to risk your life needlessly, Thalmin. Not especially for a fight that isn’t your own.”
“Well you’re part of our peer group, so it’s my fight as well.” Thalmin replied with a dejected growl, but eventually relented. “But you’re right, Emma. I hate to admit it, but you’re right.”
I nodded at Thalmin’s slowly. “Besides, there’s an important job I need you to do.” I began scrounging through one of my pouches, and began palming for my spare in-ear earpieces. “I need you on lookout, to keep me aware of anything fishy developing in case I need to pull out.”
Thalmin looked over the side of the terrace, towards the raging waters beneath this side of the Academy as he let out a sigh. “That shouldn’t be too hard. Hardly anyone will be passing by this terrace, and beyond that there’s no way anyone can spot you from below, given there’s nothing but the cascading rapids below us. There’s no one that can spot you from here, save for perhaps the foxes in the library. We’re most certainly on the right side of the Academy for this quest, that’s for certain.” Thalmin pointed at the library in the far distance.
“Oh, I’m not too worried about anyone seeing me. I’m more concerned about someone compromising my extraction point, i.e. this little terrace here.” I acknowledged.
“But, surely you must be worried about someone seeing you scaling the walls…” Thalmin scanned me up and down, as if wanting to comment about my size but- “You’re massive.”
“Okay, first off, rude.” I spoke sarcastically, and raised both hands up for added effect. “But in all seriousness, I have another device that can mask my visual presence.” I pulled out a plastic-like poncho from one of my pouches, activating it, and revealing its active-camo properties as it projected whatever was behind it, albeit with some imperfections. “It isn’t perfect, but from afar it should actually work pretty well.”
Both Thalmin and Thacea stared at each other in utter shock as they saw this.
“A mana-less-”
“I think… this is a matter worth discussing another time, Princess.” Thalmin interjected with a polite exasperated breath. “But I expect a good explanation for this one, Emma.” Thalmin pointed a finger right at me.
“In any case, I will be diverting the Deputy-Magistrate’s attention by preoccupying him with needless and vapid chatter. This should take attention away from the apprentice and your intrusion, Emma.” Thacea quickly added, and promptly tied this whole impromptu operation up nicely.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road then. We’ll head back to the dorms and get that letter drafted so-”
“Already done.” Thacea interjected, bringing up a parchment that she promptly began sealing into an envelope.
“Wait, when did you-”
“Whilst we were talking, I used a dictation spell. The letter is written and signed.” Thacea spoke nonchalantly, as she held a neatly sealed envelope in one of her talons.
“Wait, what, when did you, how did you-?”
“I carry a quill and extra parchment in my bag of holding. This is to account for any eventuality where a statement in writing, a legal affidavit, or a notarized letter may be required.” Thacea responded a-matter-of-factly.
“Alright then.” I tapped the pouch with the INFIL-DRONE, the small little thing peeking its head out much to the visible disgust of the pair. “So we’re ready for phase one of the operation. Misdirection and information gathering. We’ll go in, drop the letter, and have the drone do its thing. After that, we wait for the drone to return, and we’ll take it from there on whether or not we can continue with Phase Two: penetrating the enemy lines.”
“What would be stopping us from continuing with phase two?” Thalmin quickly asked.
“Well, simple. If the apprentice is still conked out from her injuries, there wouldn’t be any point in attempting to meet her. So hopefully, she’s going to be in a good enough state to talk to. We’ll know when we get the drone footage back.”
“Fair point.” Thalmin nodded.
“So, is everyone ready to begin?” Thacea asked.
A series of affirmative nods later, we began our quick walk back over to the atrium.

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, Extraction Point Alpha (Open Air Terrace Overlooking the Medical Wing). Local Time: 1420 Hours.
That took way more time than I’d initially thought.
In fact, it took so long that I was beginning to wonder how two people could have an unending conversation where nothing of value was spoken and nothing of value was gained.
It was basically elevator small talk, but written by the same writers who wrote Bridgerwesson Lane, and adapted to a theatrical release with a trilogy that ended with a movie arbitrarily cut up into a two-parter.
I honestly zoned out for a few moments during those hours, as I decided to use the spare time to review the grappling hook and mountaineering gear I’d be using on this little quest.
Eventually however, the Deputy-Magistrate relented, at which point I let loose the INFIL-DRONE to do its thing.
It’d been twenty minutes since we left and made our way back to this open-air terrace, and all of us were waiting with bated breath for the results the drone had in store.
“So, how fast can that drone of yours fly anyways Emma-”
Thalmin was immediately cut off as the drone in question buzzed right by his ears, causing them to flick this way and that, before flattening out entirely.
“Speak of him and he will come.” I chuckled, as I outstretched a gloved hand over for the little drone to perch atop of.
Once again, the pair stared at it with a look of mild disgust, and then panic as it crawled all the way back into its docking port, and began uploading the data we needed.
“Alright, let’s see what we have here.” I spoke to no one in particular before shifting my attention to the EVI. “EVI, isolate and replay relevant footage, and calculate the target’s location.”
“Acknowledged, parsing…”
“Location Parsing. Footage isolated. Play Footage?”
“Affirmative.”
I immediately pulled out my data-tab for the gang to be able to watch as well, as the footage began just as the Deputy-Magistrate, and by extension the drone, arrived at the apprentice’s room.
The door, and all details posted in the front were all captured, and so too was the state of the apprentice revealed to us in short order as I braced myself for a mangled and bandaged-up mass of broken bones.
What I instead saw, was… still a heavily bandaged up figure. However, the most important thing was that they were awake.
And what was remarkable, was the fact that they were able to move without assistance. As the apprentice reached over to receive the letter wordlessly, shifting a bit in bed as she did so.
“This is a letter addressed from a Princess Thacea Dilani of the Aetheronrealm. I have fulfilled my duties and obligations as per the Expectant Decorum. I will now take my leave, Apprentice Larial.” The deputy-magistrate spoke with the same air of overbearing properness, seriously making me consider whether or not this was how he was all the time.
Whatever the case may be, the apprentice seemed to be healed enough to move her arms at the very least, as she grabbed the letter and spoke hoarsely back in response. “Thank you Senior Apprentice.”
There wasn’t much to the footage beyond those interactions, but it was good enough for the purposes of this mission.
“Alright.” I spoke, as I pocketed the tablet. “We have our answer. The apprentice seems healed up enough to speak to, so phase two of this operation is a-go.”
The pair nodded in response, just in time for the EVI to be done with whatever calculations were needed to determine the apprentice’s precise location.
I turned to the tower, as the room and its balcony was highlighted.
It was just about five stories above from where we were.
Meaning it’d be a hell of a climb.
“The room’s about five floors up.” I announced with a sigh.
“Are you sure you can make that journey, Emma?” Thacea responded worryingly. “I… I will be honest, Emma, I am having some second doubts about this whole idea. The concept just came to me as flying between tall structures and towers is just second nature to us Aetheronrealmers. Considering the heights involved, and your inability to fly, I’m wondering if this whole quest was a folly of my own shortsighted-”
“It’s fine, Thacea.” I cut the avinor off. “I can do this, trust me.” I placed a single hand on the princess’ shoulder, and squeezed it once for effect.
Meanwhile, the EVI began doing what it did best: attempting to minimize the risk associated with my hairbrained schemes, as it deployed the suit’s primary lookout drone in order to start mapping out the best possible route forward.
This spooked the pair yet again, as they both jolted backwards.
Thankfully, the drone was deathly silent, so it shouldn’t bring too much attention to it.
It was at this point that I brought out a pair of earpieces I was scrounging my pouches for earlier, one for Thacea, and another for Thalmin.
“These will help you stay in contact with me throughout the climb.” I stated plainly, as I attempted to latch it onto my own ear for demonstrative purposes, only to realize that I could not, given the suit was in the way.
I sighed, as I turned towards Thalmin. “Do you mind if I put it on for you?” I asked sheepishly.
“Erm, what is it, Emma?”
“It’s…” I paused, as I attempted to find the best way to describe this without taking up too much time. “It’s a communication artifice, Thalmin. It’ll allow us to talk to each other remotely, relying on that drone there-” I pointed at the lookout drone still flying away from us. “-to relay our voices to each other.”
Thalmin, as expected, looked at me with an expression of partial dumbfoundedness whilst Thacea seemed completely transfixed by the earpieces I held in my hands.
“So it’s like a hearing-sense?” Thalmin responded with a questioning bark.
“Look, I’ll just demonstrate.” I managed out with a sigh as Thalmin reluctantly nodded and allowed me to begin hooking in the earpiece, looping it around his fluffy triangular ears.
This inevitably resulted in my hand brushing over the lupinor’s fluffy head a few times, which seemed to elicit some large tail-wags and a dulcet rumble.
I tried to ignore that, as I pulled back and began demonstrating. “I’ve turned off my speakers, can you still hear me, Thalmin?”
“Yes, I can.” The lupinor spoke after clearing his throat.
I turned my speakers back on immediately after. “Alright, I’ll get into the specifics of how it works later, but as for now, just know that I can hear whatever you say.”
“I’m afraid I don’t think that artifice will be compatible with my… anatomy, Emma.” Thacea spoke calmly, as she pointed at several aspects of the earpiece that required an actual ear canal to fit into, and an earlobe to loop around.
“This complicates things a bit, but it shouldn’t be too difficult. How long do you think you can keep up the distracting conversation with the deputy-magistrate for, Thacea?”
“We just went through several hours discussing nothing in particular, I can most certainly continue that trend from dusk till dawn.” The avinor spoke confidently, and frankly, rather proudly. “The issue lies not in how long I can manage to maintain the conversation, but in how long it will take you to accomplish this quest, Emma.” Thacea shot back.
“An hour.” I nodded confidently. “Twenty minutes to scoot my way over there, twenty to talk to the apprentice, and twenty to get back.”
“I’ll make that two hours then.” Thacea responded without a second thought. “We need to account for potential complications, and an extra hour of senseless dialogue will most certainly not be an issue for me.”
With an affirmative nod from me, and an approving glance from Thalmin, I now turned towards the exterior of the two hundred foot corridor leading to the concourse, and the extra five hundred feet it would take to get from the atrium to the tower in question.
It was at that last minute that the EVI brought out another suggestion, one that was formulated with the aid of the new datasets provided by the FEBNPMS lookout drone that had been busy mapping out the best route forward.
It was… an inherently riskier approach, one that my aunt would definitely not approve of, but it definitely beat scaling a wall and wedging spikes into it.
“Actually… I have a better idea than simply scaling the walls.”

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, En Route to Medical Wing Tower C, Room 705. Local Time: 1430 Hours.
“Grapple secure.”
I will never forget the feeling of falling.
The very wrong feeling that came with leaping off of solid ground into empty sky, of suddenly seeing and feeling the world whizzing by me.
It was a visceral feeling, a gut-churning sensation, dominated by an overbearing sense of impending doom that takes over your terrestrial brain that wasn’t designed to feel the ‘freeing’ sensation of being unbound to the ground beneath you.
Leaping over from the edge of the terrace was the worst part of it. But after that tentative jump, things started to become just a little bit easier.
The Academy’s proclivity for over-aggrandized architectural design would finally serve a purpose beyond just decorative aesthetics.
Because it was clear that the walls weren’t really designed to ward off anyone daring to scale them. As there existed several, if not hundreds of these little greebles and outcroppings that served no purpose but to act as decorative pieces on the side of the castle. Some held stone flowers, whilst others had lamps or other light pieces of varying designs.
No matter what they were, or what meaning they held, all were equal and valid targets in the eyes of my grappling hook.
As I dangled there from the first outcropping, held in place by a single high-tensile cable, I looked up to see Thalmin looming over the edge “EMMA?!” I heard him shout in a panic. It was clear that he was unable to see anything, as my light-refraction cloak was currently doing its job well.
“I’m still here, Thalmin. You can’t see me but I’m dangling from this weird outcropping that looks like an overinflated vase.”
“NEXT TIME, BE SURE TO INFORM ME AS TO THE NATURE OF YOUR IMPOSSIBLE ARTIFICES BEFORE USE, UNDERSTOOD?!”
“Of course. You’ll know if I’ve fallen if you hear a long scream followed by a large splat.”
“That’s not funny!”
I chuckled nervously in response, before turning to face the grueling, gut-churning journey ahead of me. “Humor’s my way of dealing with stress, and trust me, I have a lot of stress to work through right about now.”
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(Author’s Note: Hey guys! Time for some unconventional solutions courtesy of Emma and the gang! We're going to meet the apprentice one way or another! I hope you guys enjoy! :D The next Chapter is already up on Patreon if you guys are interested in getting early access to future chapters!)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 34 of this story is already out on there!)]

I am going insane When i was maybe 6-10 I can not for the life of me remember what it was called. It had like a skull mouse app icon it was a card game with chibi like characters? Elements. a bit of story.. I played it on my phone it was pretty simple you’d battle online i think and you’d match cards to see wich one was strongest wich depended on how strong it is and how much damage it could take I probably played it in 2012-2016 I knew a lot of people who played it

So, I am frustrated and ashamed beyond belief. I started building pcs at 13, hacking and modding, and all around spent my youth as a big 'ole nerd. I'm now 35, 4 years ago I had a staff infection that ended up causing me to have open-heart surgery and 4 strokes, spent 8 days in a coma, and 2 months in the hospital, followed by 2 more years of the same. It's been a long road, fortunately, I'm finally better... but, I have lost so many memories and so many skills. *cue violin, ik...*
I just feel so stupid because it shouldn't be this hard for me to use the Steam deck to install epic, battlenet, ea, etc. I tried a couple different ways, following top youtube videos and written instructions, but there would always be some deviation on my device, or something not explained the same way via the source material. I tried the "non-steam launcher" and ended up with a bunch of launcher icons that wouldn't let me even change which version of proton they launched in anyways - and if they did, i didn't know which to pick (picked experimental), when I did pick it was set in stone and it wouldn't let me change it again. Regardless, nothing would load, except maybe BattleNet, but I wasn't sure it was really stable. I really LOVE my Steam Deck, I want to be able to get epics free games, tryout Diablo 4 on battlenet, remote play my ps5, and ADD MODS to games... I'm always so impressed and at the hard work i see in this sub, constatly making the SD better, different, optimized, cooler... I just can't seem to be able to do any of it myself. I spent 3 hours yesterday trying and by 3am I just deleted all of it. Then I think, maybe if I got a ASUS ROG it would fix my problems, but I LOVE my steam deck, and I love the Steam community. I've already spent a bundle on my deck's case, bag, battery, et all. I have a million websites bookmarked, but none of them seem to work / I need to be told like a 5-year-old / idk... I just dont know what to do, I can't seem to get anything to work, I'm embarrassed and feel dumb.
The SD is what got me back into gaming, I feel so loyal to it, and I know it has the capabilities to do almost everything I want it to. I just can't seem to get any of it to work. It makes me feel like I should get an ASUS Rog Ally, but I don't want to, I don't trust it'll get the same level of care, I see the problems w/ it, I ♥️ steam.
TDLR - 1. install launchers & how to add games from them, 2. remote play ps5 3, mod games

HT: Real Sociedad 1-0 Sevilla

Real Sociedad scorers: Brais Méndez (28')
Venue: Reale Arena
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LINE-UPS
Real Sociedad
Álex Remiro, Jon Pacheco Dozagarat, Igor Zubeldia, Martín Zubimendi, Diego Rico, Gorosabel, Asier Illarramendi, Brais Méndez, Ander Barrenetxea, Takefusa Kubo, Alexander Sørloth.
Subs: Robin Le Normand, Mikel Merino, Unai Marrero, Ander Guevara, Mikel Oyarzabal, Mohamed Ali-Cho, Carlos Fernández, Aihen Muñoz, Robert Navarro, Alex Sola, Beñat Turrientes, Andoni Zubiaurre.
^{____________________________}
Sevilla
Marko Dmitrovic, Nemanja Gudelj, Loïc Badé, Diego Hormigo, Gonzalo Montiel (Jesús Navas), Óliver Torres, Manu Bueno, Pape Gueye, Rafa Mir, Alejandro Gómez, Erik Lamela.
Subs: Ivan Rakitic, Tanguy Nianzou, Jesús Corona, Suso, Matías Árbol, Youssef En-Nesyri, Bryan Gil, Alex Telles, Lucas Ocampos, Yassine Bounou.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
9' Substitution, Sevilla. Jesús Navas replaces Gonzalo Montiel because of an injury.
27' Goal! Real Sociedad 1, Sevilla 0. Brais Méndez (Real Sociedad) left footed shot from outside the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Ander Barrenetxea.
41' Diego Hormigo (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
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Fifth Year Festival: Liverpool
March 3, 2007
Liverpool, England
The Liverpool Olympia
The main event, Nigel McGuinness versus Samoa Joe, was one of the few times in Nigel's career that he did not have an overwhelming home field advantage. Joe, in the midst of his ROH farewell tour, has support that equals if not surpasses Nigel's on this night. Nigel defeated Joe in a tag team match in Chicago, and the two men have had a couple of other run-ins on this tour. These two are capable of sleepwalking to a good match, but fortunately they put in the effort, probably motivated by the heavily-invested crowd. Joe got his shoulder smashed into the ring post, giving Nigel a target to focus on. Nigel went for the Tower of London on the outside, but Joe blocked it, and since Nigel wanted to play that game, he hits Nigel with a Muscle Buster on the ring apron. Referees begin helping NIgel to the back, but Joe questions Nigel's "intestinal fortitude" as JR would say, and Nigel returns to the match and slaps Joe in the face. Nigel kicks out of another Muscle Buster in the ring and a lariat. Joe finally puts things to bed with the Coquina Clutch.
In their first defense of their third reign with the ROH World Tag Team Championship, the tag teame aces, the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark) faced off with the Dragon Gate duo of Naruki Doi and Shingo. Lots of emphasis made on the open challenge made by the Briscoes for the following night in Liverpool at Finale, a sign of overlooking their challengers on this evening. And it is easy to see why, as I can't recall Doi and Shingo teaming in ROH before. There's a certain pace to the Briscoes that makes their matches exciting. They're fast, but it never feels like they are rushing through spots. Shingo accidentally hits Doi with a clothesline, allowing the Briscoes to hit Doi with Total Elimination and an assisted neckbreaker, but no finish. In a shocker, Shingo finishes things a cradle shock on Mark to win. This is a second huge upset on this tour, following Morishima defeating Homicide in Philadelphia. ROH has had a few short title reigns before, but the top dogs of the tag team division losing their first defense? Unprecedented for the company. After the match, Jay got on the mic and questioned whether he and his brother were getting soft and challenges his brother to a match for the following night to get back on track.
For the first time, the Full Impact Pro Heavyweight Championship was defended outside the US, allowing it the designation of a world championship. I'm not sure how official all that is, but that's PWI's guidelines. Full Impact Pro was the Florida-based sister promotion of ROH. Roderick Strong, the champion, defended against a very young Pac. Physically, Pac has "local competitor" vibes, but by this point had already developed a popular reputation in his homeland. FIP World Heavyweight Championship matches had a 20-count on the outside and could be lost via disqualification or countout. Strong takes the young Englishman to school and beats the hell out of him for most of the match. Pac finally finds an opening and starts hitting a variety of high-flying moves, including what would become known as the Red Arrow to the outside. He goes to the well one too many times however, and Strong decides to put the young man away with a kick and tiger driver. Strong gets huge heat for locking Pac in the liontamer after the match, but is run off by Delirious.
In a two-out-of-three falls match, longtime rivals Matt Sydal and Delirous faced off. Finally free of the tag titles, Sydal can be more of a cocky heel, while Delirious is an energetic tornado. The first fall was a feeling out period. Delirious hit Sydal with a big punt, and while the referee was attending to Sydal, Sydal sneaked in a low blow that allowed him to craddle Delirious for the first fall. Sydal takes to more heel tactics in the second fall, with lots of choking and other illegal tactics. Delirious finally catches a break and hits Sydal with his back splash/cobra stretch combo finish to win the second fall. Things really picked up with the third fall as both guys used their experience with each other to hit spots seamlessly. Once again, Sydal uses the referee to his advantage, shoving the ref into the ropes to gain an advantage and hitting Delirious with a top-rope belly-to-belly suplex for the win. A great match demonstrating great chemistry.
I think this was a very good show and the best of the tour thus far.
Other matches on this show:

• Jimmy Jacobs & Jimmy Rave vs. Colt Cabana & BJ Whitmer
  
• Sara Del Rey vs. Allison Danger
  
• Homicide vs. Davey Richards
  

You can find the B-Show Stories archieve here.

HT: Villarreal 1-1 Atletico Madrid

Villarreal scorers: Nicolas Jackson (9')
Atletico Madrid scorers: Ángel Correa (18')
Venue: Estadio de la Cerámica
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
Villarreal
Filip Jorgensen, Pau Torres, Aïssa Mandi, Alberto Moreno, Kiko Femenía, Manu Trigueros, Étienne Capoue, Dani Parejo, Nicolas Jackson, Yeremy Pino, Samu Chukwueze.
Subs: Johan Mojica, Álex Baena, Jorge Cuenca, Jorge Pascual Medina, Carlo Adriano García, Giovani Lo Celso, Haissem Hassan, Pepe Reina, Sergio Carreira.
^{____________________________}
Atletico Madrid
Ivo Grbic, Axel Witsel, Mario Hermoso, Stefan Savic, Sergio Reguilón, Nahuel Molina, Koke, Saúl Ñíguez, Pablo Barrios, Antoine Griezmann, Ángel Correa.
Subs: Álvaro Morata, Thomas Lemar, Marcos Llorente, Salim El Jebari, Adrian Corral, Matt Doherty, Abdellah Raihani, Antonio Gomis.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
9' Goal! Villarreal 1, Atletico Madrid 0. Nicolas Jackson (Villarreal) right footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner.
18' Goal! Villarreal 1, Atletico Madrid 1. Ángel Correa (Atletico Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Antoine Griezmann following a set piece situation.
36' Alberto Moreno (Villarreal) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
40' Etienne Capoue (Villarreal) is shown the yellow card.
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Just tried to make an offer and there didn’t seem to be an icon for price matching in the cart any longer. Looked through the website and couldn’t find any reference to it anywhere. Did they stop doing this?

[Housing] Large Private Room in Massive Spacious Loft - $1200 - Westlake near DTLA Hello, we had good luck finding our last roommate on here a year ago, so let’s give it another shot! Looking for a sublease to fill my room in our massive (4000 sqft) 5bedroom penthouse loft in Westlake, available from July 1st to October 1st. Please consider reaching out even if the dates don't match up perfectly, the constant roommate search is inevitable. Rent for the available room is $1200, comes with a massive bedroom (fully furnished - bed, couch, tv, iMac), and an isolation booth for recording VO/vocals. Utilities averaging $50/mo. Security deposit is $600.
We're four roomies ranging from mid twenties to mid thirties. One is an actor, one is in law school, one is a podcast/livestream engineer, one works retail in vintage clothing, and I am a freelance producer and recording artist. I built a small professional studio in my room that you would have full access to (see pics). My room is especially friendly to recording artists and producers.
Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/8va3BII
From our two private patios, we have a panoramic view of Los Angeles from the Hollywood Sign thru DTLA down to LA Live and everything in between. There's a stage in the living room where my roommate hosts bi-weekly shows under the instagram handle: thelullabyloft
These events take place in the common area, they are professionally recorded and live-streamed, and we have a cap of 30 people in attendance (typically we average 15 people). I strongly encourage you to get involved with these events! They are great networking opportunities, and my roommate is always looking for an extra hand to help run them if you are available/interested
Important facts: - Shared bathroom Parking is included, but not in-building. It's one block away in an underground lot by the Home Depot with a security patrol. - Internet is $10 a month - Our work habits are a mix of WFH and not. The apartment is big enough where everyone has their own space to isolate, but also collaborative if you come out into the common area. - Laundry is in-building on the 3rd floor, paid via app - We have both men and women as roommates; just no couples or pets please. Other fun facts: - We have a ping pong table. - The loft is so large I can forget people are home for hours at a time. - Nearby Food: - The best Indian spot in LA is two blocks away (Bombay Beach) and also will deliver you groceries if you want. - Two of the best taco tents you'll ever visit are within a block. If you get tired of those there's another four to choose from that are also great. - Langer's is a short walk down the road. - There is a Metro bike-share kiosk directly outside of the building. bus stop right outside our spot and closest metro is 8 min walk - You can walk to the grocery store on 6th/Union. - It's Westlake, so manage your expectations about the area. We've never felt unsafe in the 4 years we've lived here. - The room is available for 3 months from July 1st - September 1st. However, even if your availability ranges outside of these dates, I still encourage you to reach out! If I can’t find anyone for next month - - I’ll still be looking for August. Also, with 5 roommates at the loft - new rooms open every so often… so I could keep you in mind for a later date if something opens up! Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/8va3BII
If you're interested, please PM me with a little about yourself (work, hobbies, etc). I will contact you to schedule a video chat and or phone call, and then set up an in-person tour if it seems right. Thanks, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Who are the fullbacks for AFC Richmond? Know it's not the most glamorous position in a football team, but I'm curious to know the full starting XI of the team.
I think in Season 1, Sam was signed as a full back but as the seasons went on he was playing in a far more attacking position like a Right sided inside forward. Fullbacks don't get as many goals as Sam has scored.
Would've liked one scene to show the full starting line up with their positions like they do before any televised football match
GK - Zorro/Van Damme CB - Isaac Macadoo CB - Jan Mass MF - Colin Hughes MF - Richard Montlaur? MF - Bumbercatch? MF - Roy Kent (season 1) RWF - Sam Obisanya LWF/CF - Dani Rojas CF - Jamie Tartt CF - Zava (part of season 3)
Obviously Kent and Zava no longer make up the starting XI but there's still a couple of spots missing. Any ideas who they might be?

Let me first start off saying increasing the minimum level to 50 to enter ranked was the biggest QOL. No more twitch bros starting infinite Smurf accounts to get into ranked and stomp on noobs. No bored predators playing ranked on low level accounts. Ever since I started playing ranked this season, I haven’t been killed by any Smurfs. That’s HUGE. Btw fuck smurfs.
I’m a pretty solid Platinum player. I’ve made Diamond a couple of times but the Plat rank was always full of Predators and Masters. Plat actually was enjoyable to play through this season. I felt like I played against people who were evenly matched to me and got teammates(usually) who contributed.
I made Diamond and while sure, it’s a different meta then previous seasons, this season rewards being a smart player and not a brain damaged Rambo running into fights without proper preparation. It rewards ring placement and strategy rather than just killing people to get points. I think this is a huge improvement.
I see a lot of salty people talking about how “anyone with a pulse” will have Diamond and Masters and I disagree. It’s not that worse players are getting in places they don’t deserve, its that Pred, Masters, and smurfs aren’t gatekeeping the ranks people should be able to get into. So I’m glad all of the Preds, masters, and Smurfs are getting their just deserts, play with people your own skill level!
I can’t wait to see all the level headed, and thoughtful replies this thread will bring. 😘

HT: Napoli 0-0 Sampdoria

Venue: Diego Armando Maradona
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LINE-UPS
Napoli
Alex Meret, Leo Ostigard, Amir Rrahmani, Mário Rui, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Eljif Elmas.
Subs: Bartosz Bereszynski, Tanguy Ndombele, Karim Zedadka, Pierluigi Gollini, Gianluca Gaetano, Giacomo Raspadori, Juan Jesus, Alessio Zerbin, Giovanni Simeone, Diego Demme, Davide Marfella.
^{____________________________}
Sampdoria
Martin Turk, Bruno Amione, Koray Günter, Nicola Murru, Alessandro Zanoli, Flavio Paoletti, Tomás Rincón, Tommaso Augello, Manolo Gabbiadini, Fabio Quagliarella, Mehdi Leris.
Subs: Gerard Yepes, Telasco Segovia, Nicola Ravaglia, Arttu Lotjonen, Manuel De Luca, Mihailo Ivanovic, Emirhan Ilkhan, Samuel Ntanda, Elia Tantalocchi, Lorenzo Malagrida.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
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HT: Braga 0-0 FC Porto

Venue: Estádio do Jamor
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
Braga
Matheus, Sikou Niakate, Vitor Tormena, Cristian Borja, Víctor Perea, Al-Musrati, André Horta, Bruma, Iuri Medeiros, Ricardo Horta, Abel Ruiz.
Subs: Tiago Sá, Serdar Saatci, Uros Racic, Josafat Mendes, Álvaro Djaló, Simon Banza, André Castro, Pizzi, Paulo Oliveira.
^{____________________________}
FC Porto
Cláudio Ramos, Iván Marcano, Pepe, Wendell, Pepê, Stephen Eustáquio, Mateus Uribe, Galeno, Otávio, Mehdi Taremi, Evanilson (Toni Martínez).
Subs: Zaidu Sanusi, Rodrigo Conceição, Fábio Cardoso, Gabriel Veron, Danny Loader, Diogo Costa, André Franco, Marko Grujic.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
25' Otávio (FC Porto) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
29' André Horta (Sporting Braga) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
35' Cristián Borja (Sporting Braga) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
44' Substitution, FC Porto. Toni Martínez replaces Evanilson because of an injury.
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HT: Villarreal 1-1 Atletico Madrid

Villarreal scorers: Nicolas Jackson (9')
Atletico Madrid scorers: Ángel Correa (18')
Venue: Estadio de la Cerámica
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
Villarreal
Filip Jorgensen, Pau Torres, Aïssa Mandi, Alberto Moreno, Kiko Femenía, Manu Trigueros, Étienne Capoue, Dani Parejo, Nicolas Jackson, Yeremy Pino, Samu Chukwueze.
Subs: Johan Mojica, Álex Baena, Jorge Cuenca, Jorge Pascual Medina, Carlo Adriano García, Giovani Lo Celso, Haissem Hassan, Pepe Reina, Sergio Carreira.
^{____________________________}
Atletico Madrid
Ivo Grbic, Axel Witsel, Mario Hermoso, Stefan Savic, Sergio Reguilón, Nahuel Molina, Koke, Saúl Ñíguez, Pablo Barrios, Antoine Griezmann, Ángel Correa.
Subs: Álvaro Morata, Thomas Lemar, Marcos Llorente, Salim El Jebari, Adrian Corral, Matt Doherty, Abdellah Raihani, Antonio Gomis.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
9' Goal! Villarreal 1, Atletico Madrid 0. Nicolas Jackson (Villarreal) right footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner.
18' Goal! Villarreal 1, Atletico Madrid 1. Ángel Correa (Atletico Madrid) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Antoine Griezmann following a set piece situation.
36' Alberto Moreno (Villarreal) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
40' Etienne Capoue (Villarreal) is shown the yellow card.
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HT: Real Madrid 0-0 Athletic Club

Venue: Santiago Bernabéu
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LINE-UPS
Real Madrid
Thibaut Courtois, Nacho, Éder Militão, Antonio Rüdiger, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos, Dani Ceballos, Eduardo Camavinga, Karim Benzema, Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo.
Subs: Jesús Vallejo, Andriy Lunin, Álvaro Odriozola, Ferland Mendy, Eden Hazard, Luka Modric, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Federico Valverde, Lucas Vázquez, David Alaba, Mariano, Marco Asensio.
^{____________________________}
Athletic Club
Unai Simón, Aitor Paredes, Dani Vivian, Yuri Berchiche, Óscar de Marcos, Oihan Sancet, Mikel Vesga, Ander Herrera, Gorka Guruzeta, Nico Williams, Iñaki Williams.
Subs: Unai Gómez, Malcom Adu Ares, Álex Berenguer, Ander Capa, Unai Vencedor, Mikel Balenziaga, Oier Zarraga, Raúl García, Junior Bita, Julen Agirrezabala, Iñigo Lekue, Iker Muniain.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
10' Penalty saved! Mikel Vesga (Athletic Club) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity, left footed shot saved in the bottom left corner.
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So basically I was on tinder about a week ago and i got a match with a girl who it says was 2 miles away and i messaged her. She didnt respond for a couple days but when she did respond she said that she wasnt on tinder very much and she gave me her instagram @. I figured this is a sign that she is atleast interested in talking to me so i followed her instagram and DM'd her but she is following like 2000+ people and has over 1k followers so idk if she checkes her message requests to often and she hasnt responded. I was wondering if it would be weird for me to comment on one of her posts and ask her to dm me because i dont get many matches on tinder let alone any really that are within 10 miles so i really wanna get this girl's attention.

Hey! I'm looking for a couple rp partners! As the title says I'm looking for some angst and for some drama, maybe a lil enemies to friends/lovers. I've been away from the rp scene for a HOT minute so I have like no plots or anything on hand but I'd be willing to make one together or hear you out if you have any ideas. I'm cool with romance but can do without. magic and fantasy is cool, I love stuff like that.
I'm not too big on highschool rps, or those soulmate au ones, I've never done fandom but ig i'm willing to try. I've never played a canon character or anything so shrug.
I'm semi lit+ like a couple of paragraphs and stuff, I try and match my partner mostly.
18+ only, I'm 21 and I dont like talking to children lol
Ooc chat welcome! I'm v friendly just a bit shy so dont ever be afraid to say something ooc!
<3

HT: Braga 0-0 FC Porto

Venue: Estádio do Jamor
Auto-refreshing reddit comments link
LINE-UPS
Braga
Matheus, Sikou Niakate, Vitor Tormena, Cristian Borja, Víctor Perea, Al-Musrati, André Horta, Bruma, Iuri Medeiros, Ricardo Horta, Abel Ruiz.
Subs: Tiago Sá, Serdar Saatci, Uros Racic, Josafat Mendes, Álvaro Djaló, Simon Banza, André Castro, Pizzi, Paulo Oliveira.
^{____________________________}
FC Porto
Cláudio Ramos, Iván Marcano, Pepe, Wendell, Pepê, Stephen Eustáquio, Mateus Uribe, Galeno, Otávio, Mehdi Taremi, Evanilson (Toni Martínez).
Subs: Zaidu Sanusi, Rodrigo Conceição, Fábio Cardoso, Gabriel Veron, Danny Loader, Diogo Costa, André Franco, Marko Grujic.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
25' Otávio (FC Porto) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
29' André Horta (Sporting Braga) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
35' Cristián Borja (Sporting Braga) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
44' Substitution, FC Porto. Toni Martínez replaces Evanilson because of an injury.
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56': Galatasaray 1-0 Fenerbahce

Galatasaray scorers: Nicolò Zaniolo (28')
Venue: NEF Stadyumu
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LINE-UPS
Galatasaray
Fernando Muslera, Sacha Boey, Victor Nelsson, Abdulkerim Bardakci, Kazimcan Karatas, Nicolò Zaniolo, Lucas Torreira, Berkan Kutlu, Kerem Aktürkoglu, Baris Alper Yilmaz, Mauro Icardi.
Subs: Yunus Akgün, Juan Mata, Emin Bayram, Kaan Ayhan, Milot Rashica, Dries Mertens, Bafetimbi Gomis, Okan Kocuk, Léo Dubois, Sérgio Oliveira.
^{____________________________}
Fenerbahce
Irfan Can Egribayat, Samet Akaydin, Ferdi Kadioglu, Luan Peres, Attila Szalai, Miha Zajc, Willian Arão, Arda Guler, Diego Rossi (Bright Samuel), Enner Valencia, Michy Batshuayi.
Subs: Jayden Oosterwolde, Ismail Yüksek, Osman Cetin, Emre Mor, Serdar Aziz, Joshua King, Mert Yandas, Irfan Can Kahveci, João Pedro.
MATCH EVENTS via ESPN
12' Victor Nelsson Yellow Card
28' Nicolò Zaniolo Goal
36' Irfan Can Kahveci Yellow Card
45' On: Bright SamuelOff: Diego Rossi
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If you don’t already know Agatha Harkness gathers all boosters after a match. I spent a couple weeks casually playing and just inked the base card on the third split. Not too impressive I know but the point I’d like to make is that she’s probably one everyone’s least played card but the consistency of the boosters makes her a GEM. If you play 26 games start to finish using her continuously you can take her from base to infinite, which is 31 collection levels. While this doesn’t seem like much when you think about it face value, if you’re struggling to finish out those series 3, 4, or 5 or just doing a collection reserve challenge (up to 3 reserves per split), it’s definitely worth making a deck that she can run smoothly in.
If you made it this far thanks for the read and spread it along. Best of luck on your next snap unless it’s against me!

Hey I’m looking to find a longterm roleplay partner who can match me in length or even surpass me, with me wanting to be pushed to surpass my best efforts.
I consider myself quite experienced with me roleplaying consistently for the past couple years now and have fallen in love with writing wanting to use my words to affect my partner in all sorts of ways.
I’m obviously looking for a longterm partner but I don’t mind in what we indulge in maybe doing multiple longterm plots or multiple short term plots or even world building I’m very versatile.
I’d love to get to know my partner first knowing what they’re preferences are and hopefully building a good connection knowing the other persons likes and dislikes.
Hopefully if you’ve read this far your interested and I’d love to hear from you I either roleplay here or discord either fine with me.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Hi folks! So my partner and I have been following the Jackson Galaxy method of cat introduction, but I am finding hard to interpret staring interactions and also am wondering whether any hissing is not desirable and should be sign to go a phase back. We’ve got two very social ginger tabbies we hope will be companions so we want to do this right. Thank you for any guidance!
You can find more details below, but the quicker version is Fiddle (6 year old resident cat, neutered) and new cat Peaches (1 year old, spayed, adopted May 28th) keep staring at each other through the baby gate upwards of 5 minutes. Peaches basecamp is our guest bedroom that when the door is open looks into our bedroom (upstairs). We feel that Fiddle seems chill (usually in loaf mode) while Peaches seems more nervous (usually low to ground sometimes a swishy tale). What I can’t interpret well is Fiddle backing down from the staring close to the baby gate (a foot away) to then move farther back from the baby gate (our bedroom) to keep staring from a distance. I am worried he is intimidated by Peaches/backing down which seems not a good sign since he is the older resident cat.
We moved to this phase after a few days because they were eating on opposite sides with no issue with the door closed and can also do so with the door open, though sometimes Peaches would grumble or let out a hiss after eating. We decided to still continue with the door open and baby gate but I am wondering if we moved too fast since I am unsure how to interpret the staring and occasional hiss from Peaches. Also, Peaches after interacting with Fiddle does seem nervous, she will flinch a little when pet which I interpret as nerves being fraught.
Any advice on interpreting staring and hissing in cat introductions? I don’t want to rush things but I also don’t want to project and shut down any nervous responses from them that may be boundary setting due to my own discomfort. Thanks again and glad to answer questions.
——
More Background: My partner works from home every day and I work from home three days a week so we feel comfortable caring for these more social cats. Our resident cat Fiddle (6 years old, male, neutered) we’ve had for almost two years and when we adopted him we were told he would really benefit from another cat because he’s a very social guy. He likes to play each day and needs to otherwise he is restless but definitely more of couch potato compared to the younger Peaches. Not super food motivated, though we always had a food routine cause he will eat too fast otherwise.
Last weekend (May 28th) we adopted and brought home Peaches (1 year old, spayed). Her foster described her as an affectionate and social cat, and after describing Fiddle’s personality it seemed they could be a good match. She lived with a bunch of cats at the foster’s home, and the foster said she would swat at the other cats if they got too close but no major issues. Peaches was only there a couple weeks and it seems like she wasn’t too stressed but it was a house with 5 dogs and 5 cats so a lot going on potentially. Peaches was overall described as very social to the point of needy because she would follow the foster’s mom around all the time and likes to be picked up.
Her base camp is our guest bedroom that actually did not have Fiddle’s scent that strongly because my father had been staying with us for a while when we first moved into this place and preferred to not have Fiddle enter.
For the first few days of introduction we did feeding by the door, and we had no incidents of hissing through the door by either. Fiddle was reluctant the first day to eat right in front of the door but on day 2 he had no issue.
We scent swapped form the beginning and are continuing to do so (taking blankets and swapping them very couple days). We have the feliway cat diffusers set up in the base camp and downstairs. I am adding one to the stair landing since that is their meet up point. We make sure to play with both each day multiple times and know to keep positive things for being in front of each other (cat nip, churu, cat treats).

So I did some matches earlier as Lily, and ended up iron, as expected. I'm trying to learn street fighter but have not been playing too long seriously, highest was Ultra Bronze in SFV just playing in the last couple of weeks until 6 came out.
​
I then go to do placements on Chun as she seems the best fit so far and I win 8, then get destroyed by a Gold Cammy for the last 2.
I got put in Gold. There is apparently no rank down in Gold. So now i'm kinda stuck getting my ass handed to me as a Bronze level player, trapped on exactly 9000LP. Havn't won a single round yet.
​
Either I go mad or in a month I will be the strongest Chun Li in the galaxy, wish me luck I guess -_-