This thought had been stuck and bothering my mind since I got SS (Shitty Skylines): Campus DLC after its release (two years) because I often think about this even before playing Cities Skylines (where the game and its DLCs provide a release to develop my fantasies), so I decided to vent out for an reflection essay here.

There are three tiers of campus complexes from the DLC: Trade School, Liberal Arts College, and University - with each three of them presenting three faculties. I will examine the unspoken power relations that underlies the decision in choosing the taught subject attached to the campus complexs. There are two clusters of faculties in every tiers of complexes: social and life sciences (which should have been at the same level instead of needing different tiers to be unlocked), with its third tier faculties neither fit to those two categories and required a separate classification once the other to are unlocked. The table below will sums up the division of each educational faculties in regard to each of its role in societal simulation:

	Social Science Cluster	Life Science Cluster
University	School of Law - bureaucracy became ritualized, sanctified	School of Medicine - experimenting with dangerous substances
Liberal Arts College	School of Education - introduce literacy for thought control	School of Environmental Studies - exploits land, sea, and air
Trade School	Police Academy - maintain violence	School of Tourism and Travel - encourages gluttony

Some of real-life countries had separation of social and natural science classes (ex. France and Indonesia that I could think of) since high school, hence I think it is needed to provide the ideology that underlies at CS: Campus' choice of its college subjects. Law and Medicine are both ancient subjects that are staple of higher education in all cultures (hence I put the table on descending order), however sometimes the basic purpose of those studies became visible when its modern educational equivalent (Trade School) peels its bare purpose of higher education to human needs (food and belonging). All of them provide generalist labor that can be flexible when switching career at a particular sector or industry, no purpose in keeping Liberal Arts College and Trade School once the University is unlocked. The explanation of the table are below:
​

• Social science cluster - on providing fictions of a state and religion to the mass population

Here you can see the maintained violence (and coercive apparatus) required to keep the well behaviour of our cims. It starts with the militarized Police Academy in our hypothetical Trade School Polytechnic to bring order into the streets whether it's from criminality or other living things that disturbs city amenities. Then, those uniformed officers will become more civilized and became a little bit 'intellectual' where they would able taught the little cims in the schools to regulate and cultivate their behavior to be discipline since early childhood. The task of educational apparatus to instill fiction of a state ends in the University-level where those robed lawyers and its flashy clothing will turn itself into rituals, religions, sects, and sanctification, to the point it has almost no different from theological studies.
Social science faculties provides techniques and methods for population control through producing fictions (be it in forms of religion or state) from its crude ways to sophistication, starting from the gaze of a police, the endless task of a teacher, and the bullshitery jargons by a lawyer. All social science stems from this curiosity of an out-of-control rapid social change with ever-accelerating industrialization (especially with CS: Industries installed). All of those professions and curriculum stems from the gluttonous religious clerics, which in modern days it's increasingly being replaced by corporate and state administrators to escape the guilt of slaughterhouse and toils of farming - educational stream for lazy persons. Their ability to control people are always in the name of people's welfare, where they in fact are bards and storytellers of the most generic kind.
​

• Life science cluster - on hunting and gathering for food and rest

The basic needs is the theme of this cluster: food and resting needs of humans where order was not required to fulfill those needs, without the guilt of destroying other living organisms. Main theme for the establishment of School of Tourism and Travel provides the quality meal through its chefs and entertainment for cims and guests alike to make sure they are not getting suicide due to the dullness of buses and metros. Its ever-expanding needs of humanfolk then upgrades to School of Environmental Studies, where it actually taught geology and geography to provide insatiable needs of humans for food (agricultural soil to grow) and rest (external energy to power up plants and made cims lazier on their Chirps) without the guilt of destroying surrounding 'wild' organisms. The School of Medicine is the apex of all, from their humble beginnings in planting herbs at the University's backyard, to engineer surgical equipment and producing synthetic drugs.
It has no difference in a food chef's work and a apothecary (whom made physician's recipes where they could do it by themselves), from the saying 'food as the best medicine' to an actual physician in providing pleasure and healthiness to affected cims. Hard-workers tend to go on this clusters where they do not mind serving other people to the point where we could find records of royalty to despise medical professionals due to their status as care-workers (though their career trajectory and prosperity are all the same and only differs in their talents). No difference between a kitchen's chef, naturalist's yard and a physician's laboratory in terms of its purpose to the cims as a whole. In my games, the purpose of hospitals and hotels are the same and I frequently put those two buildings into a same district.
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SS: Campus are all fun and games until the player are able to unlock all of the three campus complex tiers, the balance had been broken from the duality balance of complementing social and life science. With the unlock of third faculty buildings, the ideology of those campus complexes become networked. School of Economics (Liberal Arts College) and School of Engineering (Trade School) provides a perfect balance between social and life science clusters for cims purpose without any need of an exalted University in our modern age:

	Social Science - Liberal Arts College	Life Science - Trade School
The Most Distinguished Modern Subjects in Replacing Sacred Arts of Law and Medicine	School of Economics - clergy training in counting the morality of cims by taxes and narrative foundation of the fictions needed by a city: religion and state	School of Engineering - provide tools for insatiable consumption of the city and solutions to make cims ever more gluttonous in cuisine and leisure

A single higher education institution becomes two competing with each other, and then School of Science (University) completely broke the balance to either: transposing heritage of social-life sciences balance into Economics and Engineering schools, and damaging the continuity of ancient educational reputation by introducing modern science subjects in the University complex which consists two exalted faculties of Law and Medical professionals since the ages of Plato, Buddha, and Confucius.
Wish someone will do the same for the ideology underlies the industrial and park districts in Industries and Parklife DLCs.

Imagine if you had to market your group or boast about them in general what would you say? You can’t mention names, just fun facts, music type, member qualities, their peak, their low, and etc. Let others guess the group and see how many people get it right 🤓

I usually play with my friends, not tryna tute my own horn but even when we die off drop I end up with 500+ damage and they end up with 200 or less, sometimes even zero damage. Whenever im tryna play with them I end up having to carry and they’re always begging me to res or complaining about how the enemy they lost their 1v1 to is one shot and how I should’ve been there to finish them off, I try my best to comply with these things and play as team but sometimes I can’t. Maybe im one shot after getting a knock when they do the callouts and I gotta heal behind cover therefore I can’t push, or I know for a fact after that knock the enemy team is gonna push very aggressively and we’re in a vulnerable position therefore I can’t commit to the res and I gotta reposition and that’s when they start yelling. How can I improve when it comes to playing off a disadvantage? Most of the time I end up third partying my own teammates and using them as distractions while I kill off the enemy team. I’m usually IGL and most of the time I have to clutch up 1v2s or 1v3s with only a crack.
My question is how can I improve at these scenarios? There’s only so much u can do as a solo, I’ll get one or two knocks and then I can’t play off my health because it’s too little and there’s one more enemy with full health left and I get merked bc I’m healing or repositioning. I know I can play with better people and I do that on ranked but pubs? that’s time for the homies.
I’m calling all those 4K20 players because y’all the only mfers I die to, any tips? I’m open minded to everything so be honest.
Thanks, much love and remember, have fun. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

My boyfriend is an amazing guy. He is my best friend and a real sweetheart too. We met in High School and have been in a relationship for 8 years now. We have never broken up before nor have we had a break for all this 8 years. We have even been talking about marriage lately and plan to get married in around 2 years.
I like to think that we have a very healthy relationship. We are great with each others friends and family and hang out a lot as well. We fight for petty reasons mostly and also over our differences but somehow come to a middle point or a compromise always. We have never fought about other guys or girls in our relationship nor have we fought about exes as he has only one and this is my first. We have no jealousy issues in our relationship too.
I have very high morals and standards in any relationship and the reason behind this is because my parents had a very rocky marriage and my mom ended up cheating on my dad. So as a principle I don’t lie/ backstab or hide things and try to keep things as straightforward as possible. My boyfriend has told me that he admires this about me and wishes he was more like me.
My boyfriend on the other hand is a guy who doesn’t like to hurt people’s feelings and a huge people pleaser too. He also tends to be a bit of a pushover at times.I have pointed this out to him and he agrees and he has been working on this too.
Last November he told me that he was going to hang out with some ex co-workers and there was one co worker (25F) whom I have always not got a great vibe about. Everytime they met up at university he would always tell me everything about her which would make me cringe because she stands for everything that I don’t. Somehow I don’t control him on whom to hang out with and not as he is an adult. He stayed late that night and was in touch with me too via message and told me things like they were waiting for dinner and all. Usually we stay up for each other to get home.
He texted me at around 12.45 a.m. saying that he will be getting a lift from one of the people there and not to stay up for him and left me a message at about 2 saying he got home. He called me afterwards to spill the tea and was mostly talking about this female ex coworker’s life and failed relationships as they had been talking about it.
Fast forward this January he posted a birthday wish for her and for some reason it made me feel very uncomfortable as he does not do birthday wishes for anyone including me. When asked he got awkward and said that he did not think I expected such things and said he did it cuz she expects such things and to compensate for forgetting her birthday last year. Following this weird encounter I checked his chat with her to see if she had told him to do the post and cuz I was curious (something I usually don’t do) and found out that he was with her that night ALONE got drunk on beer and had even taken a cab to her house and dropped her. He had even texted her saying I can’t believe we were that drunk on beer and had a nice time with you.
On the other hand she had also requested him to invite me to the dinner which he never mentioned to me.
When I confronted about him at first he still tried to cover up his lie. I told him to call the friend who gave him a lift and he even pretended to. However once he realized he messed up he broke into tears and begged for forgiveness. I told him that he had broken my trust and that I didn’t know what happened that night between him and her. He swore nothing happen and told me that I could call her and check too. I told him I want out of this relationship but the fact that he was going through a tough time too made me stay. I wanted to be there for this through all his pain and guilt.
We are still together but I can’t get over the fact that he lied to me. He keeps swearing that nothing happened but I am not sure I can trust that. I have given him many opportunities to come clean but his story remains the same. That he had to continue lying to maintain his first lie that it was a group hangout. He said he kept thinking about it ever since.
I feel disgusted that I found out this way and it scares to think that he may have never told me about this. I don’t want to be suspicious about him but the fact that he lied about this meetup at the first place makes me think otherwise. Fun fact: the same situation happened in my parent’s relationship which was how they started growing apart. My boyfriend knows this too.
There is a huge distance in us nowadays and I feel like I’m not attracted to him as I was before. I do really love him though but I don’t know what to do.
P.s: I have no intention of calling the woman or asking her anything as she had even invited me over so I don’t think she has done anything wrong from her end.
What should I do?

Azur Lane has a massive pull in the anime/history community, and as one of those “cultured” historians whose come to Azur Lane after being impressed by examples of historical nuance and attention to detail in many designs (ex. USS North Carolina, USS Enterprise, HMS King George V, HMS Hood, IJN Mikasa, etc…) I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that the pull this game has isn’t maintained beyond the character’s design, sometimes having little to no impact on their character or presence in their other skins or vanilla designs.
Back to skins, we haven’t gotten a single skin referencing a ship’s history, background, or anything of the sort for awhile now. I looked at as many KAN-SEN as I had in my dock (280-something) and the only ones with a sort of historical skin were Kirishima (or it was one of the Kongo’s representing their British heritage), Prince of Wales (her Sakura empire skin representing her sinking in Japanese waters), and Mikasa’s skin that is literally a period uniform.
It would be amazing to see more skins like this, with some ideas I can throw around being perhaps US ships having skins related to their namesake, like some battleships having states for names receiving skins that are in reference to something of the state’s history, perhaps giving some of the carriers named after famous revolutionary war battles. Uniforms from that time (imagining Yorktown in a period outfit would be amazing, give her the Tricorn Hat!!!) and maybe some Royal Navy ships, having a skin related to their origin, with Belfast, perhaps, receiving something Irish in origin, or Shinano having a skin in relation to the Shinano River. Lots of potential there.
Perhaps we can also see skins related to the ship’s history themselves. We can see a skin for HMS Vanguard, where she is in German attire because she actually played the role of Bismarck in the film “Sink the Bismark!” or Lexington II (when she is added) having a similar skin to Vanguard as she played ships on both sides in the 1976 Midway film. We could also have outfits that are from the period of a ship’s time, with perhaps a roaring 20s themed events with ships getting skins akin to that time period, which would be a nice change on the whole party dress style. I also agree that more uniforms should be added, with the Sakura empire, Iris libre, and Sardinia empire, especially missing a lot of accurate uniform depictions.
(u/Xaldror proposed the idea of historical skins so I decided to devote a new thread to this)
These are just my ideas, so go ahead and sound off your hopes in the thread. In the meantime, I’m going to rant about current vanilla ship designs.
Let’s take one of our newest UR ships for example, the long awaited Musashi. Her history is extremely fascinating, being named after the largest province in Kanto Japan, home to the capital of Edō/Tokyo, and sharing her name with famous swordsman and thinker Miyamoto Musashi, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed by her limited reference to her history.
Don’t get me wrong, Dishwasher did a MARVELOUS job with her design, but I feel her voice lines and presence in the story hasn’t had nearly as much reference to her position as flagship, being one of the most modern vessels in the Japanese fleet, and having one hell of a final stand at Leyte Gulf.
(Fun fact: she was the only Battleship to depth charge a submarine! Look it up! She had depth charges on her!)
Almost none of this is mentioned, and I can’t help but be a little saddened by it. I know I am side-tracking off of the original topic of historical skins, but I just wanted to put forward that I feel Azur Lane should spend a little bit of time building their characters off of their history, and moving on from there.
I just remember the initial pull of Azur Lane, with the ships wearing outfits with some trivia being rooted in their characters, like how a Akagi’s separation anxiety comes from Admiral Nagumo abandoning her at Midway, Enterprise’s outfit representing a proper naval attire for the period, and the beauty of many of iron blood’s designs with Bismarck as a prime example. Give us more historical skins, Manjuu! And please, don’t forget our roots.

The only way thing she fucked up is going back to Sumo last week. She could've been living happy and stress free. She's been on live pissed off, sad. Well, Kristen guess what! You need to learn a lesson or two. Hopefully nobody comes running to your rescue this time. It's time you put your big girl panties on and dig yourself out of this mess and prove to if not everybody, yourself that you're really ready to leave and move on with your life. I'm curious what friends you were referring to about not being able to be too far away from. At this point it seems as though you've burned every bridge you've crossed. There comes a point where a line has to be drawn. I'm sure said friends are really tired of your nonsense and slowly but surely on the verge of wiping their hands clean off you!!! Y'all will be right back together as soon as she's done having fun and using the others and it's time to come home and use you again!!!! Ain't no sense in crying about it or complaining about it now. It's a viscous cycle with you!!!! Sumo runs and consumes your life. Just accept that fact because your clock is ticking and she's all you care and worry about!!!! You should be worried about you your mental health, your health in general, getting your life together, not her and all the repetitive bullshit!!!!

No sooner had Najia sat down at a dingy canteen on the scrap facility than her datapad received a call from Yorilos. She hadn't even gotten her coffee yet, and thought that was supremely unfair. "Anyone wanna bet he natters on without stopping to let me interrupt?"
There were no takers, and she propped the datapad up, connecting the call. Yorilos's face appeared, in the cockpit of the ship she had 'liberated' for him. "Excellent!" he exclaimed without preamble. "Now, Protectyon is exorbitantly expensive, but I suppose we will not need an entire unit to conduct your research. It might be our best course of action to approach the CEO of Northriver Company directly. We might be able to buy a small sample from him... If we can find him, that is. It is well known that he occasionally likes to flaunt his enormous wealth. A fellow trader just spotted him taking his most prized possession out for a pleasure cruise. I have sent you the coordinates of his last known location. Start from there."
He terminated the call, and Najia sat back, blinking. "Did he even stop to breathe?" Marta snorted. "That guy apparently sucks wind with his asshole, since he sure as hell didn't take any in through his mouth!"
Najia snorted, laughing and covering her face with her palm. Ace looked at Marta in disbelief for a few moments, as she worked out the idiom, then let out a high-pitched, almost strangled trill, hanging her head. "Y'all know I'm right," Marta hammered the point in. "He is longwinded, yes. And also, unfortunately, an idiot," Ace declared. "Well... Yes, but why in specific, this time?"
"I hope for his sake he is fantastic in the bunk and willing to pursue a career in prostitution, because he is clearly a homeworld-raised true believer in nonsense," Ace spat. "He actually believes 'the invisible hand of the free market' will result in equitable distribution of goods and wealth?!" She let out a shrill trill. "In Avarice and Windfall no less!" Marta snorted. "Yeah... He'd better be planning to be a boy-toy." She rolled her eyes. "Does he really think that the CEO of a monopoly is just going to sell us a tiny sample of what's making him filthy rich so we can take it away, analyze it, synthesize it, and start competing with him?" "Apparently he does," Najia said with an exasperated sigh. "That's kind of... Frightening, actually. Though chasing this fellow down might be something we'll have to do eventually, but for now... We might as well just buy a load."
"Protectyon is not ordinary cargo," Ace pointed out. "I do not know the specifics, but I do know that it requires special cargo-handling equipment. The Rakers know this. They guard the nature of this equipment with some skill. Between that, and that the only market for the stuff is here in Windfall, it is not a substance of any value to a pirate... Presumably, small containers for transporting small quantities are available to those in the know, of course." "Of course... But in this case, I think the best move is to make use of my checking account," Najia said. The waitress arrived with coffee in a cheap metal mug, which Najia took gratefully, as did the rest of her party. They were sitting at a table next to Robin and the party of crew she had brought with them. Najia took a drink of the coffee, and grimaced immediately. "Don't like it, spacer," the waitress asked with a smirk as she handed out the others' drinks. "Took me by surprise. Tidebreak serves it sweet enough to curl eyebrows." No sooner had she said that, than the waitress sat a bottle on the table with a heavy, dense thunk. Najia poured it in, and nodded; it was some kind of yellowish syrup or synthetic honey. "Thank you," she said. "Sure, whatever. Your ship brought a load of food here - and not even like, the stuff the fuckin' Viggs 'let us' have, at extortionate rates. So, there's that, spacer." The waitress turned and hurried away. Ace snorted. "Not very grateful, was she?" She had, apparently, missed where part of the plan had been to have Takio's personal Baku deliver a load of food, which she supposed had transpired while she was asleep.
"These people are... Prickly. I can understand that," Najia said. "Anyway, I'm just going to take the simple route on this one: buy one of the condensate ships, load it with the stuff at market value, and have it fly it to the headquarters... For 'upgrades' of course." She grinned.
Ace trilled softly at that. "Upgrades indeed." She fiddled with the datapad in her hand as Najia and the others started to do likewise, and after a few moments, found what seemed to be a saved-game in progress. It looked like a sketch of a space station, but it struck her as being a puzzle game, and probably an 'indie' one at that, given the godawful user-interface. She quickly worked it out of course, because a pirate's mind is slippery by necessity and a Teladi's mind is primed to calculate a dozen variables at once, and then she could dig into the meat of it. It looked like a space station, but it was one built on an impossible scale; an absolute megalith of a station, an absurd and ridiculous monolith seemingly built to construct the most basic and common of Commonwealth construction materials, but in absolutely absurd quantities. There was a rider on it, too; and that seemed to be the objective of the game, or at least of the current level; adding a mixed population of Terran, Argon, and Teladi workers, and the requisite inputs to feed them all, enough to run the entire station and then some.
The datapad in her hand chirr-uped, and Ace saved and closed the progress she had made in the game, finding that a new report had been filed by the professor they had hired for, frankly, enough money to probably have employed the entire Empyrean Curs. She skimmed the summary - short, consise and to the point - and trilled softly. "Interesting development," she noted. "Your starship professor is making yet more inroads." She looked up at the human magnate. "Apparently he found a project starfighter that someone had been preparing in one of your hangars."
Najia chuckled. "A project starfighter?" She took the datapad. "Paramerion...? Hmph. Looks like someone stripped down a Kallis for speed and narrowness, judging by these stats." "Could be fun," Marta pointed out. "For someone who likes to fly, that is," she added, grinning at Najia and Ace.
Najia chuckled, and then shook her head. "Might even be just the thing for chasing down this Northriver fellow, if we assume he's going to make himself difficult to catch up to. According to the Professor, it's currently a one-off, but they should be able to extrapolate the plans and build more, if desired. Seems that it actually was based on some early, unproduced Kallis prototypes." "I'll have it sent out to the Avarice Necessities supplier," Najia added. "Meanwhile..."
A high-importance alert hit her datapad. She frowned as she read the report; one - then two - then three - of her freighters in Windfall were reporting being harassed by the Vigor syndicate. That was new. She scowled at that, snarling.
"Trouble," Ace asked. Under the table, she curled her tail around Najia's calf, and Najia rubbed her eyes. "Trouble," Ace repeated; no longer an interrogative, but a statement. "The Vigor syndicate have apparently decided to start harassing ships carrying food," she noted, wrathfully. "That you have gone so long without them doing so is the anomaly," Ace pointed out. "They are not shy about that they use force to enforce their monopoly on food in Windfall and Vigor," she added. "And was this not the fight you intended to wage anyway?"
"Yes," Najia hissed angrily. "But the timing is wrong." She rubbed her eyeballs, seething. Her ships were reporting that the Vigor syndicate were being very aggressive; not quite at the point of shooting openly at them - which would go poorly for everyone concerned frankly - but they were harassing them openly, shaking them down for bribes or even demanding they drop cargo, as well as conducting "police" inspections for "contraband" - meaning food and water. "Then what do you plan to do?"
Najia grit her teeth, closing her eyes. She focused on the feeling of Ace's tail squeezing her calf, and seethed, but calmed herself. "Comply... For now. Set up some goodwill by selling them energy cells again." "Again? They're probably angry you cut them off in the first place," Ace noted, and Najia snorted. "Probably." Najia let out an annoyed hiss of breath. "Well, we'll deal with it." She drummed her fingers in annoyance on the bare metal, cafeteria-style table. "The time is not yet. Not yet... Yet." She cracked her knuckles, one-by-one. "First, we need to chase down this Protectyon stuff." She started fiddling on her datapad. "I'll just place the order and have it sent to the HQ. If Boso Ta can't work with that, well... I guess we'll try it Yorilos' way and chase down this Northriver."
"It might be worthwhile to approach him now in any event," Ace suggested. "The Northriver company are, as you might imagine... Well-connected, with the Vigor Syndicate." Najia pursed her lips and frowned, but nodded. She looked around the dingy cafeteria, and sighed, nodding, but sighed again, heavily. "You can't fix everything, Ninja Taco; and what you can fix, you mostly can't fix in a day," Marta said, softly. "Let's just... Let's try Ace's idea."
Najia nodded, with a heavy sigh. She covered her head with her hands for a few moments, and let out a huff. She needed a bit of breathing room, time to think, time to plan. She looked around, and drummed her fingers on the table. "Let's finish our business here, and head for the Necessities station," she said. "We'll give the Raleigh I bought time to make it to the HQ, and the Paramerion time to get here... Then we'll use it, as it's apparently speed incarnate, to chase down Northriver and see what he can tell us about Protectyon, or the Syndicate, or both." She looked around; there were no particular objections raised. Ace snorted softly at her. "I and 'Chipmunk' are laying low; it matters little to me where we do so or what other activities we engage in whilst doing. Besides, I wonder what this station looks like."
Najia grinned at her.
Scant hours later, Ace was in the co-pilot's seat of the Baku as it arrowed in to land, alongside the Radiant Afterglow that had been shadowing them the whole time. The station was a mammoth; Ace had been expecting some kind of small way-station. It had absolutely gargantuan solar arrays pointing at the nearby star; the number of docks and piers was, frankly, grossly excessive, to the point that Ace reckoned it could easily hold the entire ship population of Avarice. There were massive personnel accommodations, and all the things she had seen that made Takio's constructions so awe-inspiring. "The number of docks and piers you have here is mind-boggling," Ace commented as the ship landed on one of the Terran-style disk docks. "It defies description. I cannot imagine why."
Najia smiled weakly at her, leaning out to look out through the expansive flight-deck window. "Quite simply? I wanted there to never, ever, ever be any question about whether or not a ship in need of safe-habor from the Tide could find it here. And yes, we're buying the Protectyon stuff - at quite ridiculous prices - to keep the place safe." She pointed at a massive, triple-pronged module along the station's 'spine.' "The Breakers built that, and the storage for it. They're effectively a 'black box' to us since part of the deal there was that we didn't poke around inside, but the thing keeps working, and we've isolated them from outside comms to ensure that stays the case."
Ace snorted. "I'm surprised you agreed to refrain from reverse-engineering them." "Well, we did. Of course, we lied," Najia said, with a grin. "I don't believe in letting other people keep technological secrets from me. But we're not, you know, cutting our way in or anything... Sometimes, you have to move slow. Besides, nobody would bat an eyelash at me commissioning another Raleigh and stocking it with some Protectyon, right?" "Right," Ace said, chuckling. She glanced up at the station. It was massive. She glanced down at the time-table; the Paramerion would arrive in approximately sixteen hours. "This place is huge. I might have to look around."
Najia smiled at her. "Feel free. You want to come with me to chase down this Northriver character? I think I'm going to give this prototype a test run myself." Ace trilled. "That sounds fun. Sure."
The Avarice Necessities Supplier station was a mammoth. Ace had explored it thoroughly; it had all the amenities one might expect of a space station, which was surprising in Avarice space. Unsurprising to her now, was that the prices were absolutely rock-bottom. Not quite giving the stuff away at cost, but close enough. It was, Ace mused, a good way to make inroads with the Rakers, though she suspected that Takio was doing so out of beneficience as much as anything else. She seemed positively furious that the Syndicate were exerting control over food and water; absolutely furious.
That, Ace realized, was something that set her apart. To her way of thinking, it was only to be expected that the party which had the power to establish a monopoly on such basic necessities should do so, to further increase their power and wealth, exploiting that position to enrich themselves. Takio clearly did not see it that way. It was an affront to her; and she was clearly plotting the Syndicate's downfall over it. Ace mused these musings both before and after she took a nap, in a surprisingly-affordable lodging room she took on the station. The amenities were in fact made in the same style and materials as those Najia had established for herself back on her headquarters station. The shower, in particular, was an absolute luxury to Ace's mind; there was no time- or pressure-limiter, no charge for the water use, and, as with the showers on her ships, featured a slick slatted floor instead of an obvious drain and a bench. All available at such a rate that anyone who landed here could afford to stay without difficulty. Neither were there any other tiers of accommodation available; there were no 'suites' above and beyond what she slept in, nor were there the expected squalorus hostel dormitories she had sometimes been able to avail herself of in her youth - at prices that sometimes exceeded that of the individual suite she enjoyed. The only other forms of room available were doubles and quads for pairings or parties sleeping together, and 'accessibility' rooms for persons with mobility or other issues.
Ace had found this so surprising, in fact, she had chatted up the clerk at the lodging module. Apparently, Takio Enterprises had taken some simple shortcuts in their design process, by not doing the design work themselves; they had simply followed Segaris traveler-accommodation regulations and made use of a common Segaris habitat module design. The prices were set low because the station was, ultimately, self-sufficient save for the reliance on Protectyon, and it was largely viewed as a public service.
The difference between this station and the one they had left hardly any time at all before was striking. The Terran construction techniques Takio used were incredible, of course; but it also spoke to their intents that they were effectively leaving money in the pockets of persons who would pay higher prices for what they were offering and gladly. Of course, she mused, it wasn't entirely utopic. It couldn't be. she had found a tavern and lurked, and certainly she had caught the (metaphorical) scent of black-market trade. The number of employees at the station was enormous, surely there would be those who could be bribed. There was certain, she knew, to be a thriving underbelly in illicit goods or services; though it seemed that there was an effort to minimize this, by the simple expedient of making the most commonly-smuggled goods and most commonly-criminalized services legal, mostly in the Teladi style; Ace saw vending machines which dispensed packets of Space Weed and found a local-net exchange board which purported to connect medically-checked and cleared prostitutes with clients; tangential to that was a heap of information about prostitution - both practical and, she saw with a little digging, historical and philosophical - as well as resources for those looking to get into that trade, beginning with reporting to medical for an examination. There was also a stark warning that pimping, or abusing a prostitute in any way, carried a summary sentence of execution. Ace's eyes shot up at that. She ran a few searches to see what cut Takio Enterprises was taking for this, but couldn't find any over and above presumably the rental price of the lodging rooms involved.
It almost seemed clinical, but, she mused, on the balance, if this environment had been available to her when she was trying to figure out what to do to avert hunger, it certainly would have seemed a far more attractive option. Her primary reason for shying away from prostitution as a career, had been the fear of winding up the property of a pimp. Ace ruminated on this, whilst staring out the window of a tavern, at the star, through the solar panel array, when she got the message that the Paramerion had arrived.
The craft itself looked very much like many of the Terran ships Ace had seen in recent weeks, sitting in the pretty purple trim that Takio had ships meant for herself painted in. It was even sitting in a bay next to a Tsurugi superheavy fighter, which made her take a double-take; clearly they had wasted no time in producing the starfighters!
Ace looked between the two. The Paramerion was short dorsal-to-ventral, as most Terran small craft were, but this one took it to an extreme. It was elongated and somewhat narrow, though it could have, she thought, been narrower still without the side-mounted wings that served no purpose she could discern immediately, save to be wings. "They're for atmospheric flight," Najia explained. "Most Terran S- and M- craft are at least capable of it; most Argon, too, for that matter. Most Teladi... Even the Drill, which the Baku is based on; and of course the Baku itself. Though, admittedly, the flying shoe does rely a lot more on thrusters," Najia said; she was standing by the ramp into the Paramerion, watching Ace's gaze.
Ace trilled softly and nodded, joining Najia in the cockpit. It was roomy enough; the cockpit design seemed to be wholly-copied from the Kallis. That made sense, as they were apparently related designs. She looked around, and tapped on the holographic auxiliary console at the rear of the cockpit, to the side. "Shall I navigate for you?" "Unless you'd rather fly," Najia said, smiling at her. Ace took a moment to think on that, and shook her head. "I'll fly the way back, if all goes smoothly. It's your ship, you should take it. Where is Marta? Is she not coming?"
"She's already in the back. There's what the original designers of these classes euphemistically refer to as a 'bunk-slash-engineering-access' behind us, in front of the power plant. It's so tight I don't think anyone could even masturbate in there, but you can sleep in there... If you're desperate. Personally, I'd just roll out a sleeping mat in the dockpit," Najia said; this got a louder trill from Ace, as Najia took the chair. "Right, I've already done the preflight... Let's see what she can do."
Northriver was, allegedly, in the same sector - Avarice I - and finding him was a minor challenge. Ace operated sensors whilst Najia piloted; the ship seemed to have very desirable piloting characteristics; agile and responsive without being touchy or prone to over-maneuvering. Swift, but not prone to sliding. She looked forward to her own turn at the stick, as they narrowed in on the alleged location of Brantlee Northriver.
Finding him was little challenge - then Ace swore softly. "Is that..." She had another ship on the fighter's sensors, and brought up its details. Sitting a hundred klicks from Astrid, apparently the ship of Northriver, was J.P. Morgan's Knife. Ace hissed softly. "Does he... Really..."
"Does he really expect this guy to give us a sample to reverse engineer?" Najia groaned. "Fine, fuck it. If we don't ask, he will, and Yorilos is about as good at negotiating as someone who goes to a flea market, sees a pair of sun-shades at a stall, talks the proprietor down two credits and walks away feeling like they're John Pierpont Morgan." Ace trilled softly at that. "Is that whom his vessel is named after? Who was this person?" Najia snorted. "We'd have to interrupt the history lesson to run for cover from the Tide," she said with a grin, looking over her shoulder. "Suffice to say he was a human industrialist from a very long time ago, who managed to amass one of the smaller fortunes of his era, but who wielded power and control of money to substantially more effect than the actual wealth he personally had. He formed banks, you see; once, he helped to fend off an impending bank run that would have caused a financial collapse, by assembling a large number of a nation's most powerful bankers in his mansion, and locked them in his library, telling them that they would not be leaving until they had worked out a scheme to avert the crisis."
Ace trilled, watching as the little fighter closed on what she was reading as some kind of yacht. "That sounds like something you might do," she pointed out. Najia snorted, looked back at Ace, and chuckled. "I think I should take that as a compliment. J.P. Morgan was an asshole, like pretty much all of the wealthy and powerful persons of his time and era... Or, any era, to be honest. I... Never expected to find myself wielding clout and power like Morgan's, let alone enough that I probably eclipse him. It's... Kind of overwhelming, to be honest." "And yet, you persevere," Ace retorted. "By any measure, you could take what you've amassed now, retire to a sector of your choosing, build a monumental space station of your own design, and live a life of indolence until the money ran out. A Teladi could take your wealth and live out the rest of her life, even. Yet, you are building warships and lodgings fit for well-off individuals and affordable to the hardscrabble. By Teladi reckoning, Najia, you are insane."
Najia blinked at that, half-snorting. She had cut the travel drive and was approaching the lazily drifting yacht, and took the moment to turn her chair halfway, looking to her side at Ace. "Do you think I'm... Literally mad?" Ace peered at her, and shook her head. "No, I do not. Many Teladi might assume it to be so," she said, with an ambivalent sway of her hips and a shrug. "... I believe that you are acting to a set of principles and convictions that are, however, utterly alien to most Teladi understanding. You seem as if you intend to seize Windfall and Avarice outright. Yet even if you did, you would not squeeze the Rakers on food prices the way the Syndicate does. I do not understand where you are coming from," Ace said, swaying her hips again. "But... I feel I can trust you. And from there, confidence. Heads-up," she added, cautioning Najia. "We are close enough you had best comm them, lest they think you're about to attack."
Swiveling rapidly back to face forward, Najia did just that, signaling the yacht she was approaching of her intent to communicate. Moments later, she recieved a reply. "Yes, what is it you want?" Brantlee Northriver had a grating, abrasive, and smug voice; he was also dressed, she thought, ridiculously, wearing what looked like a desaturated blue jacket trimmed with excessively gaudy, and gaudily excessive amounts of gold, with some kind of absurd half-hood thing cupping the back of his head. It was some long-ago futurist's vision of what a far-flung spacefuture clergyman's robe might look like crossed with a business suit. Najia knew that her own sense of fashion was questionable, but even she immediately recognized the outfit as disgustingly ugly, and radiating both wealth and contempt. Her impression was realized as he continued, "I sure hope you have a good reason for approaching me. I am quite busy, you see?"
Najia mastered the urge to ask if he was busy receiving fellatio from someone under the console he was sitting at, because she could see absolutely no other possible activity he was invested in; she also mastered the urge to just shoot the smug off his face. She instead smiled at him, schooling herself into 'businesswoman' persona even though he made her skin crawl on an imager; and, of course, she would have to try to talk a sample out of it, because she knew that Yorilos was listening in and would certainly swoop in and somehow make things stupider if she didn't. "Mr. Northriver, you may not have had time yet to notice my minor operations; Takio Enterprises is expanding into Avarice. The name of Northriver and its Protectyon is on every set of lips within three jumps as a potent defensive measure against the Tide. I wished to obtain -"
"What, just a sample?" Northriver leaned forward, towards his camera, smirking - no, smugging - at her, adopting the 'Thinker' pose, briefly. "Such a small quantity won't get you far, if you want to protect yourself from the Tide. Can't afford more, eh?" For a moment, Najia toyed with the notion of making an offer to buy Northriver outright, just to wipe the smug off his face, but he continued to smug audibly at her. "Oh, well, since you seem to be new around here, I'll allow it. Once." Brantlee turned to look out his cockpit window at Avarice, which illuminated him brightly. Looking away and up was probably his 'best side;' it was the only posture in which she had yet seen him that looked anything other than 'contemptable.' "To get you hooked. Am I not charitable?" He immediately resumed his contemptuousness, then turned back to face her and made it all the more stark. "I will even cut you a special deal, how about that?" His expression clearly communicated his contempt and belief that he was superior. "Merely twelve and a half thousand credits for the sample you so dearly desire; my first, last, and only offer."
Najia wanted to say something scathing in return, she really did. Or simply to lock her cannons on his admittedly-very-sexy yacht and take the sample at cannon-point. Or to flip him the finger. Instead, she schooled herself to merely raise her eyebrow skeptically; forcing herself to maintain 'The Businesswoman,' who was too refined to rise to the bait. But she also had neither time nor patience to haggle over what was, frankly, a trivial sum to her bank account. Hell, she knew for a fact that Ace could buy the sample and wouldn't lose much sleep over it, just from what Ace had made in the last several days with her. "It seems your proposal can only be agreed to," she said, bringing up the financial transfer function on her console and sending the sum required.
Smugly, Brantlee grinned at her. "Here you go. I hope you leave as a satisfied customer!" Ace quickly tapped a message that appeared on her console. 'He's jettisoned an XS cargo pod.' The Teladi deftly located it for her on sensors, targeting it for her, as Northriver continued, "Oh, and by the way - don't for one second think that you can use this sample to engineer a competing product. It won't work. Northriver products are just too ingenious!" Northriver positively crowed it at her, and once again Najia had to master the urge to lock weapons upon him, but she did, at that moment, privately vow that, by means fair or foul, she was going to gain possession of his yacht if only to spite him. "Run along now," he added, smirking. "I have much more important matters to attend to," he clarified, sanctimoniously smiling, ending the comm channel and turning the yacht away, entering Travel drive.
"Let me bring that pod aboard," Ace muttered, manipulating the tractor controls, and comming the multipurpose space in the back. "Marta, if you would kindly suit up -" "Way ahead of you, Ace," Marta answered her, popping up on-screen already wearing a light pressure suit, in the airlock. "Get it over here and I'll grab it, make sure it doesn't jostle or anything. Mass?" "Considerable, but not more than a large human such as yourself can handle. Volitility is not known, but it cannot hurt to be over-cautious."
Najia smiled to herself as she heard Ace, unprompted, begin collaboration with Marta. A part of her cynical and intellectual side tried to argue that Ace was a pirate, and probably always would be a pirate at heart, but she was quite simply too fond of the reptilian spacer to listen to that part of her anymore; her oldest friend and her newest could be coming together. Then another comm popped up, and she resisted the urge to groan aloud. She let The Businesswoman fade; frankly, Yorilos didn't rate it, and they were (sort of) collaborators on this anyway. To her surprise (and pleasure), when he commed her, he immediately voiced her own opinion, "I wonder if being obnoxious is his deliberate business strategy?" Najia laughed, heartily, slumping back in her command chair and grinning brightly, shrugging. "I don't think so. I think it just comes naturally to the git."
Yorilos looked momentarily nonplussed, presumably by her vernacular, then said, "No matter. It will make it all the more enjoyable when we pull the rug from under the Northriver Company." "We are in absolute agreement about that," Najia said. "I want to wipe the smug grin off his face." She glanced down; her airlock indicator had closed, and she flicked up a view of the inside. Marta was carefully securing a container roughly the size and volume of a ubiquitous 205-liter shipping drum, though it wasn't one. "I've just taken the sample aboard." "You want to take it back to the headquarters yourself? Go ahead," Yorilos said. He cut the channel, and Najia blinked at the suddenness.
"... Well, that was... Abrupt," Najia said, looking back to Ace. "It was. I cannot believe that you paid twelve and a half thousand for the sample." Najia shrugged. "I mean... It's highway robbery, considering that a commercial volume costs just about twice that and is twenty cubic meters in volume whereas that sample is maybe two. On the other hand, you heard him; he wasn't in the mood to negotiate. What should I have done? Shot at him?" "Yes." Ace trilled, then huffed, shaking her head. "No. As cathartic as it would be, your plans are too long-term to have simply taken it from the wretch by force." She shook her head. "I suppose you had little choice," she conceded, "if you are to continue Yorilos' scheme."
"I'm kind of eager to set Boso Ta loose on this stuff myself," Najia said. The revolving door to the back cycled, and Marta walked in, looking flushed with exertion. "Thanks, Marta," she said. "You can thank me by you securing the damn thing in the 'hold,' Marta said, snarkily.
Najia nodded, and swiveled her chair all the way. "Sure. Thank you. Ace, you're up on stick," she said, standing up. "Let's just fly this thing straight home; I bet we can make it before dinnertime with us flying," she said, smiling at Ace. Ace trilled softly. "That sounds like a challenge. Accepted." She slid past Marta and Najia, slaloming between them, and took the stick, keying in a course for the Takio Enterprises headquarters. "We should recall the other ships, yes?" "Yes; good thinking, Ace. Thank you. I'll handle it from the back, after I've secured this barrel."
Ace and Najia made great time returning to the headquarters; they flew close to recklessly, causing Marta to comment that she was glad she was flying with them, for if they got themselves killed flying that way, she wouldn't have to hear about it. They arrived at the headquarters to little fanfare, and Marta peeled off as soon as they arrived, pleading the need to go and look into something she had arranged previously. "Well, shall we talk to Boso Ta?" Ace asked, looking up at Najia. They had gone to Avarice in an overnight journey by-the-numbers, stayed for less than a day, and were now back where they had started. "And hope that this back-and-forth bears some fruit?"
"I would very much like that," Najia agreed. The container had already been sent to the lab, and she squared her shoulders up, heading for the lift with purpose.
The door to the laboratory opened, and Najia's jaw dropped. "How," she said, flatly, quietly, as Ace all-but plowed into her backside. Ace slid around her side, looking into the lab, and let out a chuff of disbelief.
Yorilos was standing beside Boso Ta's tank.
Ace resisted the urge to hiss in surprise, and reached up, patting Najia's back. "I do not know," she confessed. "Perhaps he made use of an anomaly and was quite lucky. Or perhaps he has modified his hauler in ways unimaginable and is an outright daredevil pilot." Najia shook her head, and squared up, entering the lab. The elderly professor was nowhere to be seen, but it was late at night; he was likely in bed. So she went to the interloper, approaching Yorilos. "Yorilos, hi... What are you doing here?" She wasn't even going to ask how. That was his secret and his alone.
"Ah, yes. I really hope we can find a way to make the Protectyon more affordable for everyone in Avarice," he explained, as he peered around the laboratory. That, she thought, didn't exactly explain her question; presumably he intended for her to infer the answer. Somehow. Najia shook her head and smiled, nodding to him. "Alright." She climbed up the stairs, after a glance back at Ace, who had become fascinated by the new addition of a lot of bonsai trees in the laboratory's little greenery display, and greeted Boso Ta with a wave, to which the Boron responded with one of his own. "Hello there! Ah, excellent, the Protectyon sample has been delivered, and we may begin. Thank you kindly!" Boso Ta seemed to examine a computer tablet held in his... Tentacles? Flippers? Manipulators. He made a few deft strokes. "I have added the Protectyon Research to our agenda, and listed the required secondary materials. Feel free to initiate the research at any time convenient to yourself!"
With that abrupt declaration, Boso Ta swam upwards through the hatch in the laboratory tank, presumably to his personal lodging suites. Najia blinked, rocking back on her heels and looked back at Ace, who looked at her with the cocked hips that Najia had intuited was a definite shrug. "You'd think I didn't own the place," Najia muttered to herself, "the way almost everyone just... Is so... Curt with me." "You could put them in their place the way a pirate lord would," Ace suggested. "Or, if having a beating administered is too vulgar for your preferences, do what a capitalist might do and threaten them with penury."
Najia snorted. "Yeah... I think I'd rather just live with being curtly spoken to than be an asshole." "So be it. Your ways do allow for others to become... Familiar with you," Ace said, giving a vibrato trill. "For better, and for worse." She smiled at Najia, and Najia smiled back. Ace was toying with a small bonsai tree, and watched as Najia checked her datapad, then clucked her tongue.
"A lot of things we don't have on-hand," Najia muttered, "mainly because what Boso Ta wants - for this research project, and others - are Commonwealth-base, and we're not. That's not a huge problem, I'll just ask Tsukiko to set up a PO for a useful quantity of said commodities. For now -" The tank was suddenly filled again with Boso Ta. "Assistant, you simply must do something about this irksome vessel!"
A moment of silent passed. Najia pushed down the urge to be catty or snarky at Boso Ta, or outright hostile. She took a deep breath. "A... Vessel? Is irking you?" "Yes yes! Somehow, it is managing to distort the station's sensors, preventing me from witnessing a solar event in the Great Reef Nebula. I suggest you take care of this annoyance before it manages to disrupt even more observations!"
Najia took in a breath to respond, but Boso Ta had already vanished again, with such rapidity that even Yorilos seemed to be watching him dumbstruck. Yorilos also made a cocked-hip gesture, and then walked out. Najia watched him go, and snorted. "If he has even half a brain, he's going to ask Boso Ta what resources he's asking for and then try to get ahead of the purchase orders," Najia noted. "I would." "As would I," Ace agreed. "Would you like me to take care of this... 'Irksome Vessel' for you?"
"Bored?" Najia asked, grinning at Ace. "I wouldn't say that I was bored," Ace said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. Najia squeezed back. "But it seems that Boso Ta will not likely let the matter drop."
"Alright. Let's take care of it." Najia rolled her shoulders. "I can do this admin stuff from a ship as easily as my apartment study." She headed for the lift, neglecting to let go of Ace's hand; Ace likewise kept the hold, accompanying her. They almost ran into Marta coming out of it. She had a big grin on her face, and Najia pursed her lips. "Okay, what have you done," she asked.
"Oh, not much, just had a warship commissioned to keep close-to-hand in case we get in trouble and need some biggish guns fast. She's done, come take a look." Najia looked down at Ace, who trilled loudly at her. "Either you pay her too well, or you trust her entirely, if she has such authority in your name." "Jealous," Marta asked, smirking. "Yes," Ace admitted frankly. "Shall we?"
Najia sighed and laughed. "Fiiiine."
The bridge of T.E.S. Koshirae was the common standard Terran capital module, and very shortly, Najia, Marta and Ace were standing in it, shaking hands with the woman standing at the captain's post, who was wearing a stylish jacket in a decidedly non-Terran style, tights, and comfortable looking sneakers. "I'm sorry," Najia said, with a smile. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."
"Kevlin, ma'am; Selaia Kevlin. I'm a shipyard specialist." Her accent was distinctly neither anything Solar that Najia recognized, nor Segaris. "I'm surprised you're even aboard yet; we're only about to put her through space trials."
Najia snorted. "Not even the shakedown cruise, huh? You're not from anywhere I've been, are you?" "No ma'am." Selaia looked Asian, with her hair up in a tight bun. "I'm from Argon Prime. I found myself in Grand Exchange as crew on a freighter, saw the amenities on offer on your headquarters station, and jumped ship for a job here."
Najia nodded. "I see..." She grinned. "Are you spying on me?" "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, ma'am," Selaia responded back, in the age-old joke. Najia laughed in turn.
"Right. Well, stand down for a while," she said. "I appear to have been talked into taking her out personally." "Ma'am!" Selaia stepped aside. "The, err, owner has the bridge!" she called out, fumbling through something approximating military protocol, as Najia stepped up, looking over the console. Najia grinned. "Alright. Nifty little ship. Ace, take the helm," she said. "Take us out."

I work a job and play sometimes on weekends and I absolutely hate the fact that they decided to go with a separate multiplayer playthrough instead of making it like heat. I can't give a shit about multiplayer at all cause I'm not grinding out an entire fucking career just for multiplayer. Damn do some people have to grind out the game like that. What a shame I can't give two shits about the latest update which I'd imagine would otherwise be hella fun.

K♥️: Sanctuary [Part 2]
This game is the last entry of a series of games, where I have written games for all 52 cards for a borderlands in the UK. Each one includes a story of how I imagine the game playing out. You can find all entries here.
Venue: Church
Rules: Live in the church until the pastor presses the button
Fourth Day of Exhibitions
The day began almost the same as the other three. They woke up, they ate breakfast they got to work. They had gotten to work, but still, Alfie refused to work.
Roger had worked in the garden, and was happy with the work he had done filling up all the allotted land, before he walked in to tell Noah. As he went to look for him, he caught sight of Alfie, and walked over to him.
“Why do you continue to refuse to work?” Roger asked Alfie.
“I’ve told you, he’s manipulating you! Can’t you see it? All he needs to do is lull you into a false sense of security, then he can slowly pick you off one by one. Once he has your trust he can keep going, and going, and then you’re all dead. He wins.” Alfie said.
“You’re crazy.” Roger said, turning away.
“I’m Crazy!? After all we’ve been through, you walk in here and only a day later you’re worshiping the guy. He is literally the King of Hearts!” Alfie shouted at him.
“Is everything alright here gentlemen?” Noah said, walking up to them.
“No Noah, it’s fine” Roger said walking away.
Noah watched Roger walk away, after telling him that the garden had been finished.
“Alfie. This is your last warning. Please join the colony, or I will have to punish you. Now, get to work.” Noah said, before walking away. Alfie stood where he was.
Noah waited to see if Alfie would join them in the Kitchen, but after a few hours, when it was time for lunch, Alfie still hadn’t turned up.
Noah gathered all the workers, handing out food.
“Today, I have to make a notice. One of our colonists is refusing to work. Yet, he sleeps in our beds, eats our food, and benefits from your labour. But does he help? No. He refuses. That man, is Alfie.” Noah pointed at him. “I would advise you to stay away from him, he is a dangerous influence to our colony. I will try and get him to work, but he will likely refuse once more, like the selfish person he is. That is all.” He said, before sitting down for food.
Alfie walked out in anger.
They finished their meal, and Noah walked to the gate, to see if any new colonists would arrive. He took a bite from his apple, and saw an old woman approaching.
“Hello, my child. Are you’re to join our sanctuary?” He asked, and the woman looked back at him confused, before she walked into the churchyard.
“Are you just going to ignore me?” Noah said.
“Tell me the rules then.” The old woman said.
“The rules are simple. No violence, don’t leave the churchyard. To clear the game, I need to press the button on the church altar freely.” The King said.
“What?” The Old woman said. “That’s not a game!?”
“This place is our sanctuary. Here we can live until our eventual end without having to see the horrible suffering the games cause, or by having to participate in them.” Noah explained.
“Why on earth should I even trust you?” The Woman said.
“It’s because it’s the truth. This place is a true place of safety that frees you from the games.” Roger said, walking up, followed by another gardener.
“Wait, how long have you been here?” The old woman asked them.
“He was here since the start, I arrived yesterday. Trust me, Noah is telling the truth. This place is a little slice of safety in an uncaring world.” Roger said, as the man nodded.
“Thank you for your help Roger. I presume you have finished the garden?” Noah said.
“Yes Noah. We still have a few seeds left over, however, so we may want to increase the size of the garden.” Roger responded.
“Ok. I’ll discuss it with the planners later. For now, I will give our guest here, a tour of our sanctuary.” Noah said, leading the old woman into the church. “What is your name?”
“Margret.” The old woman responded.
“Margret, it is nice to have you here. In this main hall is our dormitory, and at the end we have set up a kitchen. Outside is the garden and where we keep the animals. We also have extra rooms for enter-“ Noah said, being cut off by a voice from the other end of the church.
“Got a new sheep, have you Noah? Trying to get a on record on your brainwashing?” Alfie said, scowling at him while lent against a wall.
“Ignore him, he is a selfish freeloader who seeks to tear the place apart.” Noah said, quickly ushering Margret down into the lower floors.
“If you join Tracy in the planning room, I’ll assure you that she’ll find a good role for you. I have to deal with our trouble maker for a second.” Noah said, heading back up the stairs.
He met with Alfie.
“I’m begging you Alfie, please stop trying to destroy what we have here. We can live at peace with each other, defy the evil of this world. Just join us and all will be forgiven.” Noah said, pleading with him.
“I won’t believe your lies Noah.” Alfie said.
“Very well. I give you until sunrise tomorrow to reconsider.” Noah said walking away.
“Or what? Your own rules state no violence!” Alfie said.
“Violence is subjective. A push is not, under my definition, violence.” Noah said.
“Was that a threat!?” Alfie said, running towards Noah, jumping on to him. “Is this violence!?” He shouted at Noah.
Noah lay on the ground, awaiting Alfie to punch him.
“Come on. Do it. Punch me Alfie. You know how much you want to do it. Break your friends out from under my spell. Do it. It’s really easy. Just one sw-“
He felt a sharp pain across his face, and heard Alfie collapse to the floor.
Roger raced in, and saw the two of them on the floor.
“Noah!” He shouted. “Alfie!”
Noah stood up. “I’m fine, but your friend just came up and started att-“
Noah exhaled. “I’m sorry about him.”
“It’s ok. He wasn’t contributing.” Roger said.
“We will hold a service as soon as possible. Get started on the grave.”
Roger nodded, and gathered the gardeners to prepare a place to bury Alfie.
Noah looked at the roof, seeing the light stream in from where the laser had shot down. He would need to get it fixed. He went down to the planning room, and informed them of the news, before he added the fixing of the roof and the expansion of the garden to the to do list.
“Tracy, I’m very sorry for your loss.” Noah said.
“It’s hard to believe that he did it in the end…” She said, trailing off.
Noah announced the news to everyone at dinner, saying that he was sorry to have lost a member of the colony, even if he was unwilling and uncooperative.
By this point Margret had joined the planners and the cooks, and had become a valuable assistant.
They settled into their beds, Noah not telling them any tales today.
Fifth Day of Exhibitions
Noah awoke early that morning, and went onto the roof. There were half gone now. He was surprised to see that Jack had made it this far. The Queen of hearts still hung in the sky too, and he looked at the card. He was not a betting man, but was sure that the Queen and him would outlast the others.
He woke up the cooks and they got to work preparing breakfast. They ate at their bunks, talking amongst themselves. Today’s breakfast was scrambled eggs, a delicacy many had not enjoyed for weeks. They were glad for such a delicious meal, and many thanked Noah for providing it.
The day passed smoothly for the first few hours, and everyone did their tasks. Now with Alfie out of the way, things seemed to have calmed down. He wasn’t sure if Alfie’s ideas had spread to anyone else, but he was sure he had managed to stamp out any possible support he had by portraying Alfie badly. Not even his friends supported him.
He walked up to the gates, eating from an apple. He watched weary until just before lunch, when a woman, her hands bandaged, began to walk up to the gates. She was dragging herself slowly, and he alerted those with any form of medical training to gather to their medical room as soon as she crossed the threshold.
The woman stepped in, seemingly not herself, and Noah quickly rushed the rules out to her before the medics carried her to try and treat her.
Clearly the Jack of spades had not been successful in his endeavours, and had now fallen.
He was informed the woman would be fine, and that she simply had been suffering from the cuts on her hands and a lack of water. They theorised that she may even have walked into the venue by accident.
Noah supervised various activities, before returning to greet the woman properly. She told him about her experience with the Jack of Spades, and he comforted her, telling her that she had entered the sanctuary and she was now safe from al of the other games.
He got her some of the soup they had made for lunch, and she ate it, gratefully. He asked her what she would like to do as a job once she recovered, recommending hard physical labor jobs due to her Jack of spades victory, and she agreed.
The afternoon passed smoothly, now the influence of Alfie had left, and they could live together in harmony.
In the evening, Noah got the woman, Kim, to recall her Jack of Spades experience, before he explained, that without this place, without the medical team, she may have died, yet now, here she was, free from all of that. He used her story to strengthen the trust they placed in him, as, after all, he had to keep them in his support if he wanted the sanctuary to continue.
He then began to talk about who the Jack of Spades was, and how he disapproved of his game. He told them about how the Jack of Spades was by no means a bad person to begin with. He had been kind, supportive, and a good friend to him, but once they arrived, he lost sight of his old self. He started to distrust Noah, and became the evil villain that had tortured Kim in his game. But Noah was different. He resisted that. He wanted the best for them.
A lone clap came from the back of the hall to interrupt Noah’s story.
“Very good, very good. You’ve used another person and their story to increase the trust others have for you, and quite frankly, it’s a wonderful idea. This game, the sanctuary, is great. You’ve found a perfect way to keep everyone alive while still preserving yourself. You spit in the face of the creator of this place. Amazing. The only problem is, I’m here to win.” A man in a hoodie said, walking forward. “Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Lucas, and I just beat the queen of hearts. I’ve come to finish the trio off.”
Noah looked at him. “Well, I think you are going to find that rather difficult….” Noah said. “I have no lan of pressing that button, and no one in this hall but you wants me to do so…”
“We’ll see, won’t we. Now, which bed do I get. I’ve had a long last hour.” Lucas responded. Noah pointed to a bunk, and Lucas lay down.
Noah continued his story, before they all went to bed.
Sixth Day of Exhibitions
It was just him and Jack left now. The fact Jack had made it this far surprised him considerably, considering the nature of his game. Who knows, maybe God was looking out for him.
His routine was slightly different that morning. Instead of waking the cooks and preparing breakfast, he awoke Lucas.
“Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. I am willing to give you a tour of the church, and then maybe you can tell me where you want to work. Let me assure you, this place is where you want to be. You don’t want to play any of the other games. You don’t want to clear all the games.” Noah said
“Yeah, whatever.” Lucas responded, getting up. “Although, in future, could you not wake me up so early in the morning?”
“Of course.” Noah said, leading him away.
He showed him the garden, the livestock, the underground rooms, and finally the Kitchen, where Lucas decided he wanted to work. He told Noah that he had always enjoyed cooking, and was quite good at it. Noah agreed to let him do so, and Lucas began to get to work on breakfast, as Noah woke the others up.
Lucas seized his chance, slowly walking out of the building with two sacks of potatoes, throwing them behind the wall, putting them outside of the area. He could slowly do this with all of the food, and then wreck the garden, Noah would quickly fall out of favour with the others. :Lucas did also realise, that in doing so would also damage his reputation, but he hoped most of the blame would fall on Noah.
He spent most of his day secretly throwing food out of the venue, before someone pointed out that someone had spilled a sack of potatoes just outside the churchyard.
Noah came to inspect it, and said that whoever it was should come forward, and Noah wouldn’t be angry.
Lucas stepped forward. “I’m sorry Noah, but I was carrying the potatoes, when I accidentally dropped them, and they all spilled out. I tried to throw the rest out to hide the evidence, but that was clearly a mistake.”
Lucas made his face look guilty, and Noah put his hand on Lucas shoulder.
“It is forgiven.” He said, before leaning in to Lucas “I know what you are doing. Stop, Now.” He whispered in Lucas’ ear.
Lucas looked at him, and nodded. Lucas walked back to the Kitchen, and began to properly work. He found that there were no other opportunities to get rid of food, so while everyone ate their food, he sat in silence contemplating when he could strike again.
He returned to work, and over a couple of hours, deliberated a conundrum.
The no violence rule should shield him from being stopped, so he could simply do it in broad daylight.
Just to be sure, Lucas waited until no-one was properly looking at him, or at the food.
Lucas saw a chance. He knew it was risky, but the no violence rule theoreticallymeant no one could stop him.
He picked up two bags in full view of everyone, and ran outside, throwing them through the gates.
“What the hell is he doing!?” Roger shouted.
“He’s decreasing the food supply to try and destroy our sanctuary! We must cats him out while we have the chance!” One of the gardeners shouted, and he rushed towards Lucas, about to push him.
“Wait! Don’t! No violence, remember?” Roger shouted.
“A push isn’t violence!” The Man shouted.
He prepared himself to push Lucas out of the churchyard, when an announcement rang out.
“There is only one game remaining. The Game is the King of Hearts. To join, please make your way to the venue.”
They stopped dead.
“Wait, if that’s true, then all that needs to happen for us to win is for Noah to press the button!” Roger said.
“Yes, but if we win we just have to become citizens ourselves. That isn’t what I want. I don’t want to have to create a game. I would rather stay here, with Noah. Don’t you? Or would you rather he died? Are you a traitor?” Someone said, and others agreed.
Roger was terrified. “That’s not what I meant..” He said, nervously.
“My children, calm down.” Noah said, walking out. “There is no need for our sanctuary to end because the other games have. We can still continue. Who is with me, and wishes to remain?”
The crowd gave a mixed reaction.
“After all I have done for you, after everything, you do not wish to remain?” Noah said, puzzled.
“Well Noah, one thing you underestimated was the human want for something they don’t have. Many here want to be able to leave the churchyard, which they can do if you press the button. In fact, your game is now more of a hindrance than an advantage. If you do press the button, they can at least go wherever they want. While you still live, They are confined to this churchyard.” Lucas said.
Noah was about to respond, when there was a large creaking from the church doors.
Four people walked in, the one at the front asking if he was interrupting.
“You…” Lucas said, looking at the schoolboy that had spoken, and then to the woman. “I’m surprised she made it this far. She cared way to much about people. Wheras you,” He said, looking at Ben. “I’m not one bit surprised. After you betrayed your friend, I knew you had it in you to survive this world.”
He turned back to the group. “See, now all the other games have gone, you will get more and more of these maniacs coming to make a stain on your perfect colony. Consider it-“
The door creaked open again, and three men and a woman walked in.
“As I was saying, more and more arrivals will come, and you will have to try harder and harder to keep them here. Anyway, I await you decision Noah. I am going to sleep now.” Lucas said, walking over to his bunk, listening as the crowd erupted into chaos.
Seventh Day of Exhibitions
Lucas was awoken by the now familiar voice.
“The Button has been pressed. For all remains players, it is game clear.”
He shot up, seeing the others all looking around similarly. Lucas looked at the altar, where Noah’s dead body lay. It seems he crumpled under the pressure, and had decided to end his sanctuary.
The room was lit up with bright light from outside, and they all got up to make their way out.
Fireworks littered the sky, and as they filed out of the churchyard, they saw the King of Hearts Blimp explode behind them, and crash into the sanctuary.
“And I told him not to wake me early..” Lucas muttered.
“All Games have been cleared.” The Voice announced, and Lucas and the others continued to watch the fireworks displays.
“Now, the remaining players are offered a choice to continue the Death matches of the borderlands with Lifelong citizenship All player must individually provide a response now please.”
Lucas was the first to speak.
“I accept citizenship.”
Around him a chorus of declinations began, as he watched various players toying with what to choose.
John stood next to Grace, Sam, and Chris. They agreed together that they would decline citizenship.
They said it together.
Ben and James looked at each other. They knew they couldn’t continue in this world, and so rejected.
Alex and Mia did the Same. So did Kim, Roger, Tracy, Flo, and Margret.
They looked at the fireworks in the sky, which eventually coalesced to one glowing beacon in the sky, which slowly expanded, engulfing them.
Lucas shielded his eyes, and when he opened them, he found himself in an underground office, with various computers and chairs around. He looked at the table, seeing on it laid a King of Hearts card.
He stared at it, confused.
1st Day of Restitution
“Yesterday, at around 10:00, there was a disastrous collapse at the Theatre, which has left large lists of casualties in its wake. A burst gas pipe caused the building to collapse as a result of its old age, burying many under layers of rubble. This follows yesterdays news of a bus crash in much the same place, which left 19 people in critical condition, all of whom have now passed. We are sure the city, as well as the greater region, will feel the affects of these two disasters for many years to come, and may never recover from the loss. Our heartfelt condolences to all the families.”
John clicked off the news broadcast. He was recovering in hospital from the events the previous day. He had been unlucky enough to be next to the theatre when it collapsed, burying him and the patient in the bed next to him under rubble. He looked over to the man in the hoodie laid out next to him, as well as the younger blond man on his right. He was glad to see some people had made it out safe, and he felt like he knew them well, assuming it was something to do with shared trauma.
In another part of the hospital, grace awoke next to her colleagues, Tracy, Flo, and Roger. It had been hard on her, the entire production crew, the actors, almost everyone involved in the production had been lost. She didn’t know any of them that well, but as she listened to the news broadcast run through the hundreds of dead, she couldn’t help but wonder why she was left alive. But she knew now she had to continue to live for those who had died, she couldn’t let herself get too wrapped up in the past. She wondered why her Dad hadn’t visited her yet, and asked one of the nurses to see if he had asked for her. The nurse informed her he had, but that he couldn’t see her as he was still being tended to. Grace was surprised by the fact her Dad had been there during the accident, but told the nurse she wanted to see him as soon as possible.
In another wing of the hospital, James turned to talk to ben, one of the only remaining members of his form. Mia lay next to him, drifting in and out of sleep. He had never really spoken to them, but felt he knew them really well.
Ben had been crying, thinking about everyone that had been lost, and James had shed a few tears too. While he had never really liked certain members of form, like Ellis, he didn’t think any of them had deserved this. Ben and James started to talk about their lives, and how grateful they were to be alive. Ben thought about how he had lost almost all his friends with one cruel sweep. The day before he had still been clinging on to the hope Jack would recover, but now their whole form was gone. Sophie, Tom, everyone.
Alex lay in bed, in hospital, watching the news play, informing everyone of the incident at the theatre. She found it hard to believe she had been there, and made it out. As the long list of casualties scrolled past, she felt so lucky to be alive. She caught sight of the name Kathrine Foreman on the screen, and couldn’t shake the feeling she had heard it somewhere before, it was like it was a person she couldn’t remember, a name she couldn’t put a face to. She lay back down, her arms and legs in pain.
Lucas
He awoke, breathing heavily. He saw that he was where he should be, in the city, with everything in place.
Ever since accepting residency his dreams had been plagued with visions of doctors and nurses, talking about how he was comatose. He brushed the thoughts out of his mind, walking over to a sink and throwing water into his face.
He was alone here. No one else had chosen to stay. Yet, he still new almost as much as he did before. Why he was here, where here was, all lay unanswered. He shrugged.
He walked over to the table, preparing himself some food.
This was not what he had expected from citizenship, he must admit, but he welcomed the freedom of this world, even if no one could share it with him. The fax machine on the desk whirred, and he walked over to it, having only seen it in action once before. A list of names shot out of a fax machine near him, and he looked at them.
It was a table, with two columns. ‘Arrival date’ and ‘Player Name’. He had also been provided with a difficulty. Seven of Spades.
He looked at the paper, and smiled. This was more what he had been expecting.
From u/Other-Borderlands:
Thank you so, so, so, much for reading. I’ve struggled with keeping up with this series for a bit, but I’ve managed to push through. I want to thank specifically u/Lost_in_Borderlands, u/NatetheMechaBoss, u/StuddedDiamond, and u/Tricky-Ad-2456 for all of your continued support and kind comments. I am so relieved to have finally finished this series and hope you had as much if not more fun along the way. I hope to write more in future, but at the moment I need to take a well earned break. See you then!

Some nights ago, I decided to get even tho I knew it's a problem and not a lifestyle that benefits me, but decided yo, no guilt let's have fun and to put a video game on to play.
Well, ended up here writing stories about my guilt, how bad I feel and stayed up until the morning, where I gradually started feeling more and more disgusted about myself, the fact that it's not and wasn't even fun cause the esthetic feeling of the point I feel I've reached is awful, that why even bother wasting so much if it's not even fun, that I'm ruining myself and basically my remorse and regrets and guilt were so much amplified and focused on from all the night of rumination and confessing to various people, from people on here to friends with sending awfully long messages talking too much.
It's not me. I existed before, in the meantime (I tried in November first time, stopped immediately to protect myself cause I knew it'd ruin me, now back at it)
I took a day and a half break, despite the comedown I was so jolly and felt strong but I was invited to a party and purchased 0.75g. I specifically asked for that quantity to at least put a boundary. But here I am realising, two days ago I made a decision and I broke it?! Is this telling of this is how it's going to go? At least it was recreational use this time... But I need to be disgusted. It's the only way I've managed to qt stop all other things I've hooked myself to at times.
By being absolutely disgusted with my person. Self-control is a virtue I lack but I have other weapons, like an internal sense of what's wrong and right that guides any emotion and I strongly operate on emotions.
But. I said that the other day too. Therapy and medication on the way so at least that corroborates my hopes.

I've been getting into NotRealName's videos, and with one point she raised and MatPat moving ahead with his timeline, it got me thinking about the order of events again.

None of us know how the heck Glitchtrap got into Help Wanted. The code just came from 'old circuit boards', and everyone took that to mean it was Springtrap's stuff.

But I remembered we see the Pizzaplex being teased at the end of HW, and Security Breach takes place in like 2035 or something. 'Old' has a lot of wiggle room here, and being able to go all the way back to saying those circuit boards came from Afton means we can go all the way back to even earlier: the Toy animatronics.

One of MatPat's early SB theories was that Glamrock Chica was a rebuilt version of Toy Chica. That already follows what Fazbear Entertainment is known to do: recyle their animatronics, like with refurbishing the Withered animatronics from FNaF 2 (the prequel) into the original ones (from our perspective) in the first FNaF, and also with giving the HW game designers those aforementioned old parts.

What Fazbear didn't do was start cleaning out the corpse bits from Springtrap. Henry sealed Afton behind a wall and left him there, and as far as Burntrap goes, the corpse is still inside. So putting aside that question of "How could Afton be uploaded into SB as Glitchtrap when he's mostly the same level of deterioration, meaning no circuit boards seem to have been removed to be uploaded in the first place," and let's look at the four things that had to have happened if we go the 'recycling' route from the Toy to Glamrock animatronics:

1. Toy animatronics get decommissioned
2. Fazbear gives some random old circuit boards over to the HW team
3. Fazbear teases the opening of the PizzaPlex at the end of HW
4. Fazbear opens the PizzaPlex with a new set of Glamrock animatronics

Those are the facts in chronological order. The next obvious step is that somewhere between those four facts, Fazbear has to actually build the Glamrock series. If they were dumpster diving back far enough to refurbish Toy Chica, it's just as possible that they refurbished parts of the other Toys. Glamrock Freddy has a very different body shape compared to Toy Freddy, so this isn't saying they used every bit of the old series to make the new one. It's more likely Fazbear only took the parts that still seemed useful, then scrapped the rest again.

From there, it's possible - and my theory's arguing that this is what happened - that at the same time Fazbear got those 'old circuit boards', they were salvaging what they could from the Toy series into the Glamrock series, and that's where those circuit boards came from. They couldn't use Toy Bonnie's anywhere else (or the others, but the main point is about Toy Bonnie being the face of whatever gets cobbled together), so they hand that to the game studio like, "idk maybe this'll help"

Toy Bonnie.

The creepy, overly cute bunny from FNaF 2 that stares with a giant, unending smile.

The one built with all those advanced features from the Toy line, like being tied into criminal database systems.

The one from the series of animatronics that was never haunted, and could therefore be acting under its own corrupted software (after years of deteriorating from having been decommissioned decades earlier and then being mashed into whatever bits were there to merge with from the other Toys' salvaged code) and with a new opinion of the criminals in its database after being split into 16 different glitching Tape Girl tapes, then being put back together but "maybe not in that order".

In the video I linked up there, NRN makes the case that Glamrock Bonnie could have been kinda violent under the surface. Popular and well-liked in public, but dangerous when everyone was looking somewhere else. She frames it as being a hint in the game towards Glamrock Bonnie's true personality, not an actual marketing decision by Fazbear Entertainment, but that idea of "friendly on the surface but secretly dangerous" fits with what we see of Glitchtrap.

Even better, it fits with the idea she presents about Burntrap and Glitchtrap being separate entities. Burntrap's still in his corpse-suit - why go to the effort of bringing Afton back by uploading him into VR just to download him into an even frailer post-Pizzeria Simulator suit? Why not download him into a better suit altogether?

Unless Afton was never uploaded in the first place.

I'm trying to avoid saying, "How is it even possible for Afton's consciousness to be preserved onto a circuit board in the first place" - ghosts. The answer is ghosts. Suit's haunted, whatever, that's the franchise. But if the goal is to bring Afton back, and into a body that doesn't match the body type of the other Glamrock animatronics (so it's not like he was directly downloaded into Glamrock Bonnie), why take this super-long set of steps to:

• Find Springtrap (after being burned again)
• Get circuits
• Upload Afton
• Preserve Springtrap remains
• Free Glitchtrap
• Recover circuits
• Reinstall circuits back into Springtrap
• Awkwardly refurbish-but-not-really Springtrap into Burntrap using bits of Glamrock Bonnie
• Download Glitchtrap into Burntrap

... when you could much more easily have:

• Find all Toys
• Salvage circuits
• Oops Toy Bonnie's brain is a virus now
• Make Glamrock animatronics with the other bits
• Oops virus in the Glamrock database
• Toy Bonnie's back in refurbished Glamrockin' action with a new Glitchtrap brain
• Ok he's gonna go hang out with the criminals for fun now lol it's bunny season, he's pulling the strings behind this whole Vanny and Afton thing tee-hee

It's one clear line of events - functional Toy Bonnie, then functional Glitchtrap, then functional Glamrock Bunny - instead of running back and forth from broken Afton with some scavenged pieces, then to Glitchtrap to get new shiny pieces, then back to Afton with those new pieces but not too many new pieces that he's actually functional again and will still definitely need more repairs and now it's going to be a whole thing and why even bother, why was the corpse so important if you had truly already copied Afton's brain.

I know this series doesn't like being simple, but with the things NRN laid out in her video and what MatPat lays out in his, the timeline of events leave room for a simpler (and more fun) explanation of what's going on: alongside a possessed-by-Glitchtrap Vanny, one of our new main antagonist is a mix (amalgamation maybe? :3) of various recycled parts from a series with lots of extra features that did not mix well together in its Curse of the Fredbear frankensoup after all. The evil has gone fully into the sci-fi side, because Glitchtrap is a ghost-free animatronic that's here to have fun instead of a vengeful spirit out to get revenge.

And come on - it would be Evil Toy Bonnie who possesses Vanny to bring Afton back again. He's the worst.

Once upon a time, there lived a man called Norman.
Norman was not particularly smart, or fast, or strong or charismatic or even particularly lucky. He wasn't stupid or slow, nor was he weak or socially inept. If anything, Norman was painfully average. Everything about him was utterly uninteresting.
Norman worked as a manager of a sales team for a company that he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of. Every day he did paperwork, counted beans, handled complaints and generally just stayed in his office. He was a good enough boss; somewhat absentee, but everyone under him knew that if they had a problem, he could deal with it.
"Dealing with it" was how Norman went along with life. He once heard of the phrase "this too, shall pass" and didn't take it to heart as much as he made it the core of his entire philosophy. In life he encountered problems, and his day-to-day happenings consisted of dealing with them. If he couldn't deal with a problem or fix an issue, he found that simply riding out the consequences and adjusting to the shifts it caused would often solve the problem.
Take Norman's job, for example. Norman didn't care much for paperwork. He found it boring to fill out memos, approve forms, and juggle spreadsheets. Despite this, Norman was good at it and it made him money, so he dealt with it. His parents were overbearing, judging and stricter with him while favoring his sister, so he kept contact at a minimum and dealt with the problem.
For whatever reason, Norman wasn't really affected by the stress caused by problems. This manifested in an almost supernatural ability to remain calm in all kinds of situations. He simply dealt with stressful situations and moved on. When one of his salesmen had to take an emergency leave and threw his carefully built shift schedule into chaos, Norman dealt with it. His subordinates eased into the shift change nicely. When his pet rabbit died, he dealt with it. He didn't shed a single tear.
Norman thought that it was because he was detached, in a way. Those sorts of things didn't really bother him. He never could explain why.
Norman wanted to be a robotics engineer when he was young. He loved machines and read plenty of sci-fi stories. Especially the ones involving robots. Norman didn't want to be a sales team supervisor, but he dealt with it.
He sometimes took junk computers home with him, where he had a little workshop where he spent his free time tinkering and soldering and plugging things together. He named his PC Frankenstein because all of its parts came from otherwise broken computers. He used Frankenstein to write code for little robotic doodads that he made.
One day, he realized that he didn't really like making his little doodads anymore. Maybe he didn't have the time for it, or maybe it didn't interest him anymore, but he visited his workshop less and less. He dealt with it.
It turned out some of his colleagues went fishing on occasion. He learned to fish and went with them, and for a while he had fun. But he showed up less and less. He didn't have the time for it, or maybe he didn't have the energy to go out, but he didn't really go fishing anymore. He dealt with it.
At a family gathering, Norman's parents fawned over his sister and her achievements. She was a doctor. They scoffed at Norman's 9-to-5 office job. Norman didn't say anything. He felt he had done good, but didn't contradict his parents. He knew what would happen if he did. So he dealt with it.
Ever so slowly, problems became more and more prevalent. They never got to a point of actual contention but they became more and more annoying to deal with. Norman dealt with his problems, but complained a little more when he did it. He became pessimistic.
Norman started predicting what little ways the day might screw up for him. His reward system twisted itself into something worse. He was wrong as much as he was right, but every time he was right he got a twinge of sick satisfaction of having gamed the universe in a way. So he remembered the bad happenings more than the good happenings.
Norman became bitter inside. Outside nothing really changed. He was always a bit withdrawn so nobody really noticed everything. But he became bitter. He became subtly colder in his dealings with other people. A bit more sarcastic.
He didn't really do anything anymore. He woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, came home, ate dinner and went to sleep. He didn't want to do anything more. Everything he did invited more and more problems, more and more pressure to deal with it. He minimized the problems he encountered.
And he dealt with it.
One day, it clicked. Norman was unhappy but he couldn't really explain why he was unhappy. It was almost as if living was a drug, and slowly, ever so slowly he built up a tolerance for it. Things happening didn't really elicit a response anymore. Norman had facilitated enough HR meetings to see depression when he saw it.
Norman was confused. He shouldn't have depression of all things. Only the socially inept, the poor, the addicts, the lonely got depressed. To have depression meant you had something wrong in your life. Norman's life was perfect. He was financially stable, had a roof over his head and food on his table, a good job and people who he liked to think liked him. But the fact still stood that he exhibited all the symptoms of depression.
This was a problem.
Norman was always a bit introspective, and he applied his experience with his tinkering hobby to many things. It was one of the reasons for his expertise in mathematics, for example. Even with calculus, math was really a machine, a complicated machine with numbers for motors and variables for switches. Take apart an equation and put it back together, and you can figure out which part was missing. Which gear could create the desired outcome.
Norman had read many stories, both in books and online, of machines becoming people. He reasoned that perhaps depression is what it was called when people became machines.
Because really, his existence was almost mechanical now. His routine was straight and cold. He figured that an advanced enough algorithm could go through his motions as effectively as he could.
A routine was a coping mechanism. And what happens when that routine becomes excessive? To the point that it blots out everything else?
What was the point of it all?
Norman considered this one night, as he lay awake in bed. After a day of work, just before another day of work identical to what he had just gone through.
What was the point? To just work and work and work? No. For entertainment? Norman did browse memes now and then. Mindless entertainment. There was no point to that, either.
What if Norman could just… end it all?
He'd thought of it on occasion. At first he'd contemplate it after particularly devastating fights with his parents. After returns of grades he thought were good but were never enough. At first it was out of misinformed revenge. He hadn't been valued by his parents. Only abused, treated like an investment more than a person.
Some people only appreciate things when they're gone.
Now, Norman had different reasons. He didn't really see a point to it anymore. He found life boring, and tiring, and annoying. Problems upon problems upon problems. For so long all he had done was deal with problems only to find more problems. He hadn't cracked under the pressure, but he had certainly changed. Deformed. Warped like an overstressed support.
He could deal with it all right now.
Norman didn't really know what happened after death, but whatever it was he wouldn't have to deal with all the fucking problems anymore.
At this point another person might have gotten help, or talked with someone. Norman didn't have anyone to talk to. All he had was his work and his problems. He had acquaintances at most. He hated people, because all they did was bring him more problems.
And a little part of him thought, "Huh. That's pathetic."
He considered it. That'd be weird if he went and offed himself on only his prerogative. As far as he figured nobody really wanted it. Nobody even disliked him that much except for his parents, and he'd cut them off long ago.
Other people have had depression. Maybe they could help.
A sensible part of him went, "No. All they'd do is give you more problems. And you'd have to deal with it."
“But a little more problems is a lot better than just ending it," said the first part of Norman. "Maybe if we exhaust all other options to find a reason to live, then we could go on happily, knowing we tried everything we could."
So Norman went and reached out for help. Even if it would give him problems. But it was the only option he had left.
Now, Norman was lucky. His boss lightened his workload immediately and referred him to therapy. He learned to spot when that sensible part of him wasn't being so sensible. To find the fallacies that part told him. To look at things a little better. To figure out which problems were problems and which problems were merely inconveniences. What problems should be solved and which ones could be simply evaded.
Many people aren't so lucky. They are simply pushed away, or their cries for help are seen as weird anomalies instead of something worse. So watch carefully if you feel someone might need help.
Norman began to do small things. He shaved once. He changed his tie. Washed the dishes. He went out on a walk in the park. And he began to see.
Norman didn't really pay attention to the world these days. He just kind of assumed everything was overcast and gray and dreary. He never really did appreciate the vivid diversity of color the world provided in even a public park, underfunded and bland as it was.
When Norman appreciated the little things in life, he appreciated the little problems as well. Sometimes there really was no problem at all, especially when talking to people. He began to open up to people, and slowly gained a network of friends in his coworkers. He went fishing again. He booted up Frankenstein again. He met people in his hobby groups and made more friends. He even ended up dating.
Describing the process only took a few pages, but for Norman it took months and months to even begin to change. The whole thing took years. At first it was a herculean effort to just keep going, like running through a minefield in the dark. Every natural instinct in his body told Norman that every step would be his last. It turned out, many of the mines in his field were simply water balloons. Some of them were just plates of metal with clickers in them, placed there by people whose opinions didn't really matter.
As he worked on himself, it was as if the sun came up, and he figured out that his minefield didn't really have that many mines in it. Those few mines that did exist were easy to see. And he had help. His friends let him know where the mines were, what to do, because they cared about him. They had fun with him. And Norman simply appreciated the act of walking, even if it was in a minefield. Norman was sure he couldn't have done it on his own.
Yes, people helped him. But it was Norman who started it. It was Norman who began his journey, like the primer that begins the explosion that has a bullet flying from a gun. And Norman learned that there are always people willing to help you, if only you reached out and asked. The real trick was finding them. The hardest part was mustering up the courage to ask.
Norman had read on the internet once that what some people considered the first sign of human civilization was an ancient leg bone that had once been broken, showing signs of having been fully healed. The reasoning was that for any animal, even for the herd and pack animals, even for the so-called eusocial animals such as bees, a broken leg was a death sentence. To survive a broken leg, someone would have to be helped. They would have had to have been a burden and a net loss on their companions, who bear the brunt anyway. Who helped each other. They say that helping each other for the sake of it is the first sign of civilization.
One day, Norman went to the park, the one where it all began. He was good friends with his boss, and had even been given a raise for outstanding work. He had a cat, now - also named Norman. He didn't move on, go to school and get a "dream job" as a robotics engineer as he once wanted - he knew to never make your passion your job. He was fine with his tinkering hobby. He had recently made Frankenstein a set of legs and was working towards having it take its first steps.
He sat on a park bench with his girlfriend - now fiancée - and thought. He wondered. His brush with death had left him quite philosophical.
Humans, he thought. Humans are social animals. But that isn’t really what separates humans from animals. Herds, packs, hives, prides and schools exist in the animal kingdom. Not empathy, either. Rats, mice, dogs, cats and all kinds of animals used extensively as test subjects have been shown to empathize.
No, what sets humans apart is the drive to help each other. Wolves will leave one of their own to die if they suffer a broken leg. Bees that are damaged beyond repair are simply left outside the hive to freeze. Mice and rats will gladly leave an incapacitated fellow to their fate. But humans?
Only humans would risk so much to drag an injured friend back home. Only humans would spend weeks and weeks nursing a fellow back to life when the only probable result would be a death and a waste of resources. Only humans would stop to help one less fortunate when there is no benefit to themselves. They wouldn’t have a society otherwise.
Norman looked out on the park, his soon-to-be wife’s head on his shoulder, and a satisfied smile crept across his face, the first he had had in a long while.
And he was happy. Because he hadn’t been left behind.
This was humanity’s motto:
No man left behind.

Once upon a time, there lived a man called Norman.
Norman was not particularly smart, or fast, or strong or charismatic or even particularly lucky. He wasn't stupid or slow, nor was he weak or socially inept. If anything, Norman was painfully average. Everything about him was utterly uninteresting.
Norman worked as a manager of a sales team for a company that he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of. Every day he did paperwork, counted beans, handled complaints and generally just stayed in his office. He was a good enough boss; somewhat absentee, but everyone under him knew that if they had a problem, he could deal with it.
"Dealing with it" was how Norman went along with life. He once heard of the phrase "this too, shall pass" and didn't take it to heart as much as he made it the core of his entire philosophy. In life he encountered problems, and his day-to-day happenings consisted of dealing with them. If he couldn't deal with a problem or fix an issue, he found that simply riding out the consequences and adjusting to the shifts it caused would often solve the problem.
Take Norman's job, for example. Norman didn't care much for paperwork. He found it boring to fill out memos, approve forms, and juggle spreadsheets. Despite this, Norman was good at it and it made him money, so he dealt with it. His parents were overbearing, judging and stricter with him while favoring his sister, so he kept contact at a minimum and dealt with the problem.
For whatever reason, Norman wasn't really affected by the stress caused by problems. This manifested in an almost supernatural ability to remain calm in all kinds of situations. He simply dealt with stressful situations and moved on. When one of his salesmen had to take an emergency leave and threw his carefully built shift schedule into chaos, Norman dealt with it. His subordinates eased into the shift change nicely. When his pet rabbit died, he dealt with it. He didn't shed a single tear.
Norman thought that it was because he was detached, in a way. Those sorts of things didn't really bother him. He never could explain why.
Norman wanted to be a robotics engineer when he was young. He loved machines and read plenty of sci-fi stories. Especially the ones involving robots. Norman didn't want to be a sales team supervisor, but he dealt with it.
He sometimes took junk computers home with him, where he had a little workshop where he spent his free time tinkering and soldering and plugging things together. He named his PC Frankenstein because all of its parts came from otherwise broken computers. He used Frankenstein to write code for little robotic doodads that he made.
One day, he realized that he didn't really like making his little doodads anymore. Maybe he didn't have the time for it, or maybe it didn't interest him anymore, but he visited his workshop less and less. He dealt with it.
It turned out some of his colleagues went fishing on occasion. He learned to fish and went with them, and for a while he had fun. But he showed up less and less. He didn't have the time for it, or maybe he didn't have the energy to go out, but he didn't really go fishing anymore. He dealt with it.
At a family gathering, Norman's parents fawned over his sister and her achievements. She was a doctor. They scoffed at Norman's 9-to-5 office job. Norman didn't say anything. He felt he had done good, but didn't contradict his parents. He knew what would happen if he did. So he dealt with it.
Ever so slowly, problems became more and more prevalent. They never got to a point of actual contention but they became more and more annoying to deal with. Norman dealt with his problems, but complained a little more when he did it. He became pessimistic.
Norman started predicting what little ways the day might screw up for him. His reward system twisted itself into something worse. He was wrong as much as he was right, but every time he was right he got a twinge of sick satisfaction of having gamed the universe in a way. So he remembered the bad happenings more than the good happenings.
Norman became bitter inside. Outside nothing really changed. He was always a bit withdrawn so nobody really noticed everything. But he became bitter. He became subtly colder in his dealings with other people. A bit more sarcastic.
He didn't really do anything anymore. He woke up, ate breakfast, went to work, came home, ate dinner and went to sleep. He didn't want to do anything more. Everything he did invited more and more problems, more and more pressure to deal with it. He minimized the problems he encountered.
And he dealt with it.
One day, it clicked. Norman was unhappy but he couldn't really explain why he was unhappy. It was almost as if living was a drug, and slowly, ever so slowly he built up a tolerance for it. Things happening didn't really elicit a response anymore. Norman had facilitated enough HR meetings to see depression when he saw it.
Norman was confused. He shouldn't have depression of all things. Only the socially inept, the poor, the addicts, the lonely got depressed. To have depression meant you had something wrong in your life. Norman's life was perfect. He was financially stable, had a roof over his head and food on his table, a good job and people who he liked to think liked him. But the fact still stood that he exhibited all the symptoms of depression.
This was a problem.
Norman was always a bit introspective, and he applied his experience with his tinkering hobby to many things. It was one of the reasons for his expertise in mathematics, for example. Even with calculus, math was really a machine, a complicated machine with numbers for motors and variables for switches. Take apart an equation and put it back together, and you can figure out which part was missing. Which gear could create the desired outcome.
Norman had read many stories, both in books and online, of machines becoming people. He reasoned that perhaps depression is what it was called when people became machines.
Because really, his existence was almost mechanical now. His routine was straight and cold. He figured that an advanced enough algorithm could go through his motions as effectively as he could.
A routine was a coping mechanism. And what happens when that routine becomes excessive? To the point that it blots out everything else?
What was the point of it all?
Norman considered this one night, as he lay awake in bed. After a day of work, just before another day of work identical to what he had just gone through.
What was the point? To just work and work and work? No. For entertainment? Norman did browse memes now and then. Mindless entertainment. There was no point to that, either.
What if Norman could just… end it all?
He'd thought of it on occasion. At first he'd contemplate it after particularly devastating fights with his parents. After returns of grades he thought were good but were never enough. At first it was out of misinformed revenge. He hadn't been valued by his parents. Only abused, treated like an investment more than a person.
Some people only appreciate things when they're gone.
Now, Norman had different reasons. He didn't really see a point to it anymore. He found life boring, and tiring, and annoying. Problems upon problems upon problems. For so long all he had done was deal with problems only to find more problems. He hadn't cracked under the pressure, but he had certainly changed. Deformed. Warped like an overstressed support.
He could deal with it all right now.
Norman didn't really know what happened after death, but whatever it was he wouldn't have to deal with all the fucking problems anymore.
At this point another person might have gotten help, or talked with someone. Norman didn't have anyone to talk to. All he had was his work and his problems. He had acquaintances at most. He hated people, because all they did was bring him more problems.
And a little part of him thought, "Huh. That's pathetic."
He considered it. That'd be weird if he went and offed himself on only his prerogative. As far as he figured nobody really wanted it. Nobody even disliked him that much except for his parents, and he'd cut them off long ago.
Other people have had depression. Maybe they could help.
A sensible part of him went, "No. All they'd do is give you more problems. And you'd have to deal with it."
“But a little more problems is a lot better than just ending it," said the first part of Norman. "Maybe if we exhaust all other options to find a reason to live, then we could go on happily, knowing we tried everything we could."
So Norman went and reached out for help. Even if it would give him problems. But it was the only option he had left.
Now, Norman was lucky. His boss lightened his workload immediately and referred him to therapy. He learned to spot when that sensible part of him wasn't being so sensible. To find the fallacies that part told him. To look at things a little better. To figure out which problems were problems and which problems were merely inconveniences. What problems should be solved and which ones could be simply evaded.
Many people aren't so lucky. They are simply pushed away, or their cries for help are seen as weird anomalies instead of something worse. So watch carefully if you feel someone might need help.
Norman began to do small things. He shaved once. He changed his tie. Washed the dishes. He went out on a walk in the park. And he began to see.
Norman didn't really pay attention to the world these days. He just kind of assumed everything was overcast and gray and dreary. He never really did appreciate the vivid diversity of color the world provided in even a public park, underfunded and bland as it was.
When Norman appreciated the little things in life, he appreciated the little problems as well. Sometimes there really was no problem at all, especially when talking to people. He began to open up to people, and slowly gained a network of friends in his coworkers. He went fishing again. He booted up Frankenstein again. He met people in his hobby groups and made more friends. He even ended up dating.
Describing the process only took a few pages, but for Norman it took months and months to even begin to change. The whole thing took years. At first it was a herculean effort to just keep going, like running through a minefield in the dark. Every natural instinct in his body told Norman that every step would be his last. It turned out, many of the mines in his field were simply water balloons. Some of them were just plates of metal with clickers in them, placed there by people whose opinions didn't really matter.
As he worked on himself, it was as if the sun came up, and he figured out that his minefield didn't really have that many mines in it. Those few mines that did exist were easy to see. And he had help. His friends let him know where the mines were, what to do, because they cared about him. They had fun with him. And Norman simply appreciated the act of walking, even if it was in a minefield. Norman was sure he couldn't have done it on his own.
Yes, people helped him. But it was Norman who started it. It was Norman who began his journey, like the primer that begins the explosion that has a bullet flying from a gun. And Norman learned that there are always people willing to help you, if only you reached out and asked. The real trick was finding them. The hardest part was mustering up the courage to ask.
Norman had read on the internet once that what some people considered the first sign of human civilization was an ancient leg bone that had once been broken, showing signs of having been fully healed. The reasoning was that for any animal, even for the herd and pack animals, even for the so-called eusocial animals such as bees, a broken leg was a death sentence. To survive a broken leg, someone would have to be helped. They would have had to have been a burden and a net loss on their companions, who bear the brunt anyway. Who helped each other. They say that helping each other for the sake of it is the first sign of civilization.
One day, Norman went to the park, the one where it all began. He was good friends with his boss, and had even been given a raise for outstanding work. He had a new pet rabbit. He didn't move on, go to school and get a "dream job" as a robotics engineer as he once wanted - he knew to never make your passion your job. He was fine with his tinkering hobby. He had recently made Frankenstein a set of legs and was working towards having it take its first steps.
He sat on a park bench with his girlfriend - now fiancée - and thought. He wondered. His brush with death had left him quite philosophical.
Humans, he thought. Humans are social animals. But that isn’t really what separates humans from animals. Herds, packs, hives, prides and schools exist in the animal kingdom. Not empathy, either. Rats, mice, dogs, cats and all kinds of animals used extensively as test subjects have been shown to empathize.
No, what sets humans apart is the drive to help each other. Wolves will leave one of their own to die if they suffer a broken leg. Bees that are damaged beyond repair are simply left outside the hive to freeze. Mice and rats will gladly leave an incapacitated fellow to their fate. But humans?
Only humans would risk so much to drag an injured friend back home. Only humans would spend weeks and weeks nursing a fellow back to life when the only probable result would be a death and a waste of resources. Only humans would stop to help one less fortunate when there is no benefit to themselves. They wouldn’t have a society otherwise.
Norman looked out on the park, his soon-to-be wife’s head on his shoulder, and a satisfied smile crept across his face, the first he had had in a long while.
And he was happy. Because he hadn’t been left behind.
This was humanity’s motto:
No man left behind.

BUDGET I have no budget for a deck itself but I do have a budget of £30 per Card so Cards such as Baronne de fleur are out of my budget currently. That being said I still welcome suggestions out of budget as I may be able to change my criteria in the future but I would appreciate it if you are able to tell me both the best option AND cheaper alternatives. If a cheaper alternative doesn't exist then I'm thank-full for any suggestion.
REASON FOR DECK CHOICE Short answer: I like the art of both Gizmek and Deskbot and think they might work together well. Longer answer: in addition to my biased from the art of the cards, Gizmek monsters defining commonality is that their attack equals their defence with some Gizmek cards having specific effects based on that fact. Funnily enough all Deskbots have 500 ATK / 500 DEF meaning that the same ATK / DEF criteria for Gizmeks also applies to Deskbots. Both architypes are also Machines so machine support works well with both. I also believe that Gizmeks have great long term survivability but aren't all that good at killing while Deskbots are awesome little murder bots but can't handle anything long term. Together they make a nice midrange deck.
MY DECK LIST This is a TCG deck list. (I am not going to wright out the full name of the Gizmeks, Deskbots Vernusylphs, or common staples context should be enough also subject to change) Main deck: 40 Monsters 1X Okami 1X Kaku 1X Orochi 2X Uka 2X Gizmek Yata 1X 008 2X 006 3X 005 2X 004 3X 003 3X 002 1X 001 2X Vernusylph Hills 1X Vernusylph Mountains 2X Vernusylph Seedlings 3X Ash blossom Spells 1X Harpie's Feather Duster 3X Machine Dupe 3X Small world Traps 3X Imperm Extra Deck: 15 1X Deskbot jet 1X Naturia Beast 1X Herald of the Arc Light 1X Metal Marcher 1X Gear Gigant X 1X Gigantic Spright 1X Ashura King 1X Borrelsword Dragon 1X Saryuja 1X Apallousa 1X Knightmare Unicorn 1X Qliphort Genius 1X Platinum Gadget 1X I:P 1X Almiraj Side Deck: TBD
The heart of the cards The main purpose Okami, Kaku and Orochi: All good stated monsters with non combat removal that can be brought out for basically free and be used to take care of monsters that have protection and/or to extend.
Uka: They can special from deck anything but mainly combos with 003 and makes a 003 normal summon a +2 to +4. Might actually bump them up thinking about it.
Gizmek Yata: allows an additional normal summon which turns a normal summon of 003 into into a +4 ish.
004: Can become a 4500 beat stick and if it wins the fight it can get back the scraps in the grave to allow me to play a little longer.
003 and 002: on their own they can search/special summon any Deskbot from the deck but together the gain so much advantage it's mad and this process will get repeated multiple times with the help of my other cards.
001: Not only can it become huge, it's the heart of any syncro I summon.
The Pendulum Deskbots: Pendulum summoning allows this deck to summon even more and activates 001's and 002's effects allowing even more advantage. They are also fodder for 004.
Vernusylphs: Since most of my deck is desk bot and Deskbots revolve around special summoning 002 as much as possible, the fun fact that all the Deskbots are earth helps a massive amount. As for specifically why these 5, they all continue the chain ending with mountain that gives a draw which in this deck is better than manipulating the grave like the 2 Vernusylphs I didn't use do.
Ash blossom and Imperm: both hand traps are very valuable with the rise branded again and negating/ preventing getting my board locked by kashtera.
Machine Dupe: instant +2 to 4 ish.
Small world: Allows me to get from any monster to another.
The Extra Purpouse Qliphort Genius, Naturia Beast, Herald of the Arc Light, Apollousa and Ashura King: They all negate but they appear through different lines and difficulties, Genius being easiest, then Herald, then Beast, then Apo and hardest being Ashura. Metal Marcher and Platinum Gadget: Both allow extension through special summoning.
Gear Gigant X and Saryuja: Both get cards to my hand but Gear Gigant X is more to correct my hand while Saryuja is to push through and make a terrifying end board.
Gigantic Spright and Borelsword: BIG BEAFY BEATERS
Knightmare Unicorn: Deals with problems that no other card can by sending stuff back to the deck instead of destroying.
I:P and Almiraj: Link extenders that allow me to get into stubborn links that don't like monsters with the same name.
Deskbot jet: If 003 is the Stratos of the deck, this is the DPE.
Any suggestions to make this better is appreciated, hope the text wasn't too long.

Well where the fuck does she think the negativity comes from?
I'm not negative with my friends or my dad.
The fuck?
Ok actually she has a point, I brought up my past and she has apologized for it. But hey, it's something I've had to hold on to for 15+ years. Its the kind I tried to forget, but mom keeps doing it and I decided to NEVER forget in case the shit happens.
She knows I'm disappointed at her. And I know I'm not wrong in my feelings. My parents expect me to be good in academics, sociable, well adjusted and wise.... But they never taught me shit. In fact a lot that they did was contrary to what they expected of me.
You guys get the point. - They want me to be sociable, but I risk getting scolded when I try to hang out with friends (now not so much at 28) - They want me to be academically good but I have been made fun of (or commented in passing at best) for my nerdiness. - They want me to be independent, yet my dad scolded me for studying what I want. My dad has full on accepted my independence (including moving out!) So that's good.... My mom not so much, but now I learnt to just ignore her. Idc if she isn't gonna feel good about it. - Etc.
Not to mention they don't teach me shit, and "you're so smart, how is it that you don't know X", and compare me to people who have all the freedom and guidance from their parents. (I know parenting isn't cakewalk, but this is quite the cognitive dissonance). Goddamn disappointing.
My mom just told me that she no longer knows who I am.... That's how much I've given in this give-and-take relationship. I've given my personality, kept my feelings to myself, didn't learn to navigate my feelings until mid 20s. I'm using totally different strategies to deal with disagreements. I'm way more confrontational, way more insistent on details and I'm not sorry. Plus it's really no different from how I treat my friends and colleagues, just that I get more shit from my parents.
All these combined, how to not be negative with them? Plus she needs to stop being negative! She's so negative about everyone including herself! She thinks she is mediocre (she really isn't. She just refuses to challenge herself). I've tried telling her to shut up without saying "be quiet", "stop it" etc because she just gets angry at those. I've resorted to walking out.
I hate it when my mom told me "I don't want to worry about you." it just gives me "you're not allowed to make mistakes" vibes. Well, looking back, I can't join activities that are difficult, I can't try clothing styles because I'd look ugly.... and then I get scolded for not trying new things....
My dad's "I don't want to worry about you" actually feels like that. He's scolded me for making mistakes, more than my mom... but he's never stopped me from trying things....except for my studies and some tech stuff (which he's slowly learning I'm better at).
I've also been told by old peeps that I'm not appreciative. I do appreciate the sacrifice they made for me. But I also don't accept inconsistent behaviour and unrealistic expectations. And to be frank, I'm also proud of my parents. Their day jobs are legit not easy, my mom's hobby isn't easy either

Some people like their dating to be clean and romantic, others like it dirty. Click on which you prefer (or both)
Clean Version
I'm looking for a young woman who would like a relationship involving having children. I want someone who would like children soon because I'm not getting any younger, but its fine if you use birth control until you make your mind up. As far as I'm concerned, if I'm having sex with you, you have my permission to get pregnant or not as you choose. You can live with me or visit often before and after conception. I'd like a long term relationship and ideally would like at least two children
Dirty Version
I'm a much older man looking for a young woman/women who will let me fill her juicy fertile pussy as often as possible with my cum with the aim of knocking you up. I want to do this as soon as possible, so please stop birth control and remove any implants if you have them, so that when my cock pumps my seed into you, I know that whilst I'm playing with your cum filled pussy after sex, there's a good chance rest of my seed is heading into your womb to impregnate you. After a pregnancy test shows positive, I want to enjoy my cock inside you and exploring your ripening body for the next 8 months or so as I feel your belly growing and your breasts swell, finally getting to share your full milky tits after you've pushed the baby out, whilst making love to you again to breed you again.
I realise what I'm looking for may be hard to find, so I won't be surprised to be reposting this in 6 months, but its enjoyable talking to people whilst looking. 😀
Unlike many on here, I'm not just looking to talk about doing this (although that's fun) I'm looking to meet up with someone and actually do it. Ideally you will be in the UK or a short plane journey away. Willing to talk to people further away but will be upfront and say the closer you are the more likely this will happen.
You:

• any legal age under 25 ^{For some reason I am often asked 'is my age okay' and the answer is yes if you are under the age limit}
• want to have children early
• live in England or able to get there!
• any religion as long as you don't mind me being agnostic
• any ethnicity

Me:

• white, 5'11" blue eyes, brown hair
• professional, work remotely but I have to be in England to work.
• needs exercise - New Years Resolution to do cycling!
• enjoys musicals and theatre
• not rich but high income. I'd be paying all living costs
• married but have lived separately for 15 years or so
• 3 adult children

I live in a large village but it has a railway station just 5 mins away on a direct line to London.
I believe that in a relationship I should help you achieve your goal in life, whether it's a career or being a stay at home parent, but I'm there to be a partner, not baby you 24/7. Similarly, although I want someone younger, you're not my slave (except in fun roleplay!).
Sex
I believe in spontaneity so after agreeing to have sex the first time, you don't have to ask to start things next time, however "Stop" and "Not Right Now" are valid!
I'm not a great believer in sexual extremes, but have no objection to fun. I will mainly be turned on by the fact that someone beautiful is happy to be with me.
Messaging links:

Wickr
vampyrebite
Session
058a5ad97c9663d08654e64d8e5702b548e617e37ab059688ec14b1bfb0ba17770
Telegram
@biteyVampyre

​
^{Due to the prevalence of people who are just looking for fun {fine 👍} or fake 👎, I apologise to those who are seriously interested in that I will have to keep this post live until I am in a committed physical relationship with someone!}

So I was talking about a show and there is a character who happens to be queer and not a fan of them as a love interest cuz I don't find interesting/compelling and then gave reasons why I don't like them to not across as bigoted or bad. I then said I want them to vanish from the show or move away from and then a person who was trans said "fun fact. a transphobe used that literally argument to me on twitter a couple days ago and said trans people shouldn't exist"
I got annoyed by this and offended cuz it felt they were trying to stealthy call me a bigot or homophobe cuz I never even said that especially over fiction and called them out. They said they weren't but I didn't believe them and felt they were implying and told them to piss off as they don't know me. I said its like if I said "you know this reminded me of something a Nazi or KKK member said" about something.
AIBTS??

So I was talking about a show and there is a character who happens to be queer and not a fan of them as a love interest cuz I don't find interesting/compelling and then gave reasons why I don't like them to not across as bigoted or bad. I then said I want them to vanish from the show or move away from and then a person who was trans said "fun fact. a transphobe used that literally argument to me on twitter a couple days ago and said trans people shouldn't exist"
I got annoyed by this and offended cuz it felt they were trying to stealthy call me a bigot or homophobe cuz I never even said that especially over fiction and called them out. They said they weren't but I didn't believe them and felt they were implying and told them to piss off as they don't know me. I said its like if I said "you know this reminded me of something a Nazi or KKK member said" about something.
AITB?

LA Knight who was known as Shaun Ricker at the time signed with WWE in 2013 after grinding for nearly a decade on the indies but was used as enhancement talent and was never given a chance to shine. Knight left the WWE in 2014 and was soon forgotten. Ricker as Eli Drake would sign with TNA in 2015 and he became one of the biggest stars of the post-Hogan TNA era. He held numerous titles such as the Impact World Tag Team Championship with Scott Steiner, TNA King of the Mountain Championship, and even the Impact World Championship. After leaving Impact in 2019, Eli Drake went to the revitalized National Wrestling Alliance where he would win the NWA World Tag Team alongside James Storm. In early 2021, Eli Drake left the NWA in early 2021 and resigned with the WWE after having proven himself time & time again in every company he signed with. 20 years of hard work finally paid off.
LA Knight would become one of the last major signings of the NXT Black & Gold Era. LA Knight had a decent run, having an entertaining feud with Cameron Grimes that involved Ted DiBiase & the Million Dollar Championship. He even had a face run feuding with Grayson Waller, he even teamed up with the old guard of NXT Black & Gold to face the new crop of talent representing NXT 2.0 inside WarGames, a match NXT Black & Gold went on to lose. LA Knight would do the job for Gunther at NXT Takeover Stand & Deliver which would ultimately be Knight’s last match in NXT. Immediately following WrestleMania 38, LA Knight was called up to the main roster and would soon start his own faction called Maximum Male Models with Mace & Mansoor. Knight would have his name changed to Max Dupri and would gain a manager who was his storyline sister Maxxine Dupri. Maximum Male Models has shown potential as a decent undercard stable but is definitely below the talents & capabilities of LA Knight. Soon after Triple H took over creative, Max Dupri would leave MMM and revert back to LA Knight. He would then start losing matches to the likes of Ricochet and feud with Bray Wyatt in that awful Pitch Black Match at Royal Rumble. But despite consistently losing, he is getting louder & louder reactions from the fans and is primed for a huge push after this year’s WrestleMania. So get ready to look at how WWE SHOULD BOOK LA KNIGHT AFTER WRESTLEMANIA 39 YEAHHH!!!

Prelude
WrestleMania 39: Night One
The Miz is the host of WrestleMania and he has an episode of Miz TV with his guest being “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The Miz starts asking Austin general questions about his career and they begin talking about Austin’s match against Kevin Owens at last years WrestleMania. Miz says that Austin was looking a little slow out there and he sees why Austin hasn’t competed since because Austin wouldn’t stand a chance against a real talent such as The Miz. This draws the ire of the Texas Rattlesnake. Austin says that maybe he’ll come out of retirement again so he can wipe that goofy grin off The Miz’s face. Austin manages to goad The Miz into accepting the match RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!!
The Miz vs “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Like last year, Austin shows that he’s still one tough SOB really laying a can a whoop ass on The Miz. Austin seems to have the match won when Maryse comes out distracting the referee which allows Miz to hit a low blow on Austin. Miz hits a SKULL CRUSHING FINALE, ONE… TWO… AUSTIN KICKS OUT. Austin makes his way back to his feet and he is PISSED. Austin stomps a fucking mudhole in The Miz and follows it up with a Stunner that send MIZ FLYING. It’s Austin’s turn to make the cover, ONE… TWO… THREE. STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN HUMBLED THE MIZ TO KICK OFF WRESTLEMANIA 39!!!
”Stone Cold” Steve Austin defeats The Miz in 8:28
WrestleMania 39: Night Two
On night two of WrestleMania 39, in the middle of the show, we get an impromptu appearance from LA Knight. He puts down the fans and he says that he deserved to be on the WrestleMania card especially over the LA Knight wanna be The Miz and an old retired drunk like Steve Austin. He says they suck and that he should have been on the card over them and that’s a fact of life. This is when Austin comes out and we have a funny & numerous promo exchange between them which results in Austin nailing Knight with a Stunner. LA Knight eventually makes his way back to his feet but he’s still very disoriented. We repeat the spot Austin did with JBL back in 2011 with Austin handing a very disoriented LA Knight a beer then he hits yet another Stunner that Knight sells like The Rock in his prime. STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN HAS HUMILIATED LA KNIGHT ON THE GRANDEST STAGE OF THEM ALL!!!
Raw April 3rd, 2023
It’s the Raw after WrestleMania and we bring back the ANNUAL WWE DRAFT!!! The new WWE Champion Cody Rhodes is Smackdown’s first draft pick. New Intercontinental Champion Sheamus gets drafted to Raw. LA Knight however is one of the last picks on Monday Night Raw!!! LA Knight is absolutely furious and he says that next week is the start of his journey to becoming THE GUY ON MONDAY NIGHT RAW!!!
Raw April 10th, 2023
LA Knight vs Seth Rollins: World Heavyweight Championship Tournament First Round Match
After winning the Undisputed Universal Championship at WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes retires the Universal Championship since after all, the WWE Title was the real prize for Cody. Taking the place of the Universal Championship, will be the return of the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!!! LA Knight will have to face Seth Rollins and it does not go well for LA Knight who absolutely loses it in the ring after losing.
Seth Rollins defeats LA Knight to advance in the World Heavyweight Championship Tournament in 12:56
Later in the night, Drew McIntyre has a match in the tournament and things are looking good for the big Scotsman but LA Knight cost Drew the match because LA Knight wants to make an Impact by defeating one of Raw’s major players.
Backlash 2023
LA Knight vs Drew McIntyre
LA Knight has a lot to prove against the former two-time WWE Champion. LA Knight does better than anyone expects against Drew hitting a verity of moves that impresses the audience and even gets a very close two count with Blunt Force Trauma. Drew however, is still pissed about being robbed of the World Heavyweight Championship and he turns LA Knight inside out with a Claymore to get the 3 count.
Drew McIntyre defeats LA Knight in 14:48
Raw May 8th, 2023
20-Man Battle Royal: #1 Contenders Match for The Intercontinental Championship
This match is a bit of a clusterfuck but LA Knight does what he does best and picks his spots very carefully, scoring an elimination here and then but keeping a low profile. The final three are LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, and Pete Dunne. McIntyre managed to eliminate Pete Dunne but FROM BEHIND LA KNIGHT ELIMINATES DREW MCINTYRE TO BECOME #1 CONTENDER FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
LA Knight wins the battle Royal to become #1 Contender for the Intercontinental Championship in 11:56
King & Queen of the Ring
LA Knight vs Sheamus(c): Intercontinental Championship
LA Knight finally has the opportunity to turn his recent string of bad luck around by bringing home his first taste of main roster gold but he’s going against an Irish brute in Sheamus. Knight has a plan however and he attacks the right knee of Sheamus and hit pays off when Sheamus hits the Brough Kick but he’s selling the knee and he takes forever to pin LA Knight and he kicks out at two. Sheamus does manage to power through the pain and he locks in the TEXAS CLOVERLEAF!!! LA Knight desperately tries to stay in this, he’s flipping around like a fish outta water. He scratches & claws his way towards the ropes but he just can’t, LA KNIGHT TAPS OUT. LA KNIGHT’s STRING OF BAD LUCK CONTINUES!!!
Raw June 6th, 2023
LA Knight vs Dolph Ziggler: Money in the Bank Qualifier
It’s Money in the Bank season and LA Knight is ready to shock the world by becoming Mr. Money in the Bank. But first, LA Knight will have to go through a former Money in the Bank Briefcase holder in Dolph Ziggler. They have a fun match that goes almost 10 minutes where Dolph Ziggler make LA Knight look like a million bucks. LA KNIGHT TURNS DOLPH ZIGGLER INSIDE OUT WITH BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA TO QUALIFY FOR THE MATCH!!!
LA Knight defeats Dolph Ziggler in 9:19
Money in the Bank 2023
LA Knight vs Bobby Lashley vs Cameron Grimes vs Pete Dunne vs Ricochet vs Gunther vs Finn Bálor vs Bronson Steiner: Money in the Bank Ladder Match
While this may not be the first ladder match of LA Knight’s career he is certainly out of his element here and there’ll be no Million Dollar Man to save him this time. LA Knight aims to end his string of bad luck by guaranteeing himself a world title match within the next year. This match is pure anarchy, Ricochet is using the environment around him to take out his opponents using the ladders to , Pete Dunne does ladder assisted joint manipulation, and Solo Sikoa uses his Samoan strength to batter the competition. LA Knight quickly adapts to this chaotic match by picking his spots very carefully like the manipulative bastard he really is. It’s then that LA Knight climbs the ladder and comes face to face with BRONSON STEINER!!! LA Knight wishes that he could get out of dodge having seen what Steiner was capable of in NXT but Knight being on top of the ladder means he has absolutely nowhere to go but down and that’s exactly what happens when BRONSON HITS A FRANKENSTEINER OFF THE TOP OF THE LADDER!!! After a few more minutes of action, LA KNIGHT SNEAKS BACK INTO THE RING KNOCKING OLD RIVAL CAMERON GRIMES OFF THE LADDER CLIMBS THE LADDER HIMSELF TO RETRIEVE THE BRIEFCASE!!! LA KNIGHT IS MR MONEY IN THE BANK, LA KNIGHTS STRING OF BAD LUCK IS OVER!!!
LA Knight wins the Money in the Bank Briefcase in 26:47
Raw August 7th, 2023
LA Knight doesn’t wait long to take advantage of the fact that he’s Mr. Money in the Bank and he attempts to cash in on Seth Rollins but before the match can start, CAMERON GRIMES spoils the cash-in attempt. Grimes says that he was so close to winning Money in the Bank but that sneaky bastard LA Knight knocked him off the ladder and cost him his chance of becoming world champion. Cameron Grimes reminds LA Knight that he kicked his ass in NXT and he’s going to do the same at SUMMERSLAM!!!
Summerslam 2023
LA Knight vs Cameron Grimes
These two have a nice 10 minute match that sees a lot of back & forth action. Cameron Grimes hits his double foot stomp, ONE… TWO… THREE… BUT WAIT! LA Knight’s foot was on the bottom rope m, the match continues. LA Knight levels Grimes with a low blow followed up by BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, Knight makes the cover, ONE… TWO… THREE LA KNIGHT HAS DEFEATED CAMERON GRIMES AT THE BIGGEST PARTY OF THE SUMMER!!!
LA Knight defeats Cameron Grimes in 10:36
Raw August 28th, 2023
Edge vs Seth Rollins(c): World Heavyweight Championship
Edge has been on a quest to regain the tile he never lost over 12 years ago. Seth Rollins has been riding high as champion and Edge knows what it takes to beat Seth Rollins but Edge is nearly 50 years old and father time is catching up quickly for the Rater R Superstar and he is nearing the end of his run. Edge fell short at Summerslam but on the August 28th edition of Raw, it will be airing from TORONTO, CANADA!!! Edge is in the fight for his life against a very game Seth Rollins and he defies the odds BY DEFEATING SETH ROLLINS TO BECOME A 12-TIME WORLD CHAMPION IN HIS HOME COUNTRY OF CANADA!!! With a tear in his eye, Edge celebrates with his World Heavyweight Championship until we hear the music of LA KNIGHT!!!
LA Knight vs Edge(c): World Heavyweight Championship
LA Knight cashes in Money in the Bank in an exhausted Edge. Knight immediately takes the fight to Edge, refusing to let this golden opportunity slip through his fingers. LA Knight immediately goes to work on Edge but EDGE CATCHES HIM WITH A SPEAR OUTTA NOWHERE, ONE… TWO… LA KNIGHT KICKS OUT DAMN THAT WAS CLOSE. LA Knight is pissed that another old man almost embarrassed and he hits Edge with BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, ONE… TWO… THREE… LA KNIGHT HAS DEFEATED EDGE IN HIS OWN HOMETOWN TO WIN THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!!! The heat for LA Knight is ABSOLUTELY NUCLEAR.
LA Knight defeats Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship in 3:13
Raw September 5th, 2023
LA Knight boasts about being World Heavyweight Champion and how he has officially won championships everywhere he’s been but that’s when he gets interrupted by Seth Rollins and he calls Knight a fluke champion and says he hasn’t beaten anyone of note in a fair fight. It was Rollins that beat LA Knight in that WHC Tournament a few months ago and Rollins challenges LA Knight to a World Heavyweight Championship Match at Clash at the Castle and LA Knight accepts but he says that there’s a catch. LA Knight had a clause put in his contract anyone who challenges him for the title only gets one match so no matter what happens at the PPV, there WILL BE NO REMATCH AND THATS A FACT OF LIFE!!!!!
Clash at the Castle 2023
LA Knight(c) vs Seth Rollins: World HeavyweightChampionship
LA Knight makes an elaborate entrance as World Heavyweight Champion just to get under everyone’s skin. Rollins is chomping at the bit to shut this loud mouth old fuck up and they go to work. LA Knight uses every heel tactic he knows to gain an advantage that is until he sneaks the WHC Title Belt into the ring as Rollins sets up for a Crub Stomp. Seth Rollins goes for the Curb Stomp but in mid-air, LA KNIGHT CLOCKS HIS ASS WITH THE BIG GOLD BELT!!! LA Knight makes the cover, ONE… TWO… ROLLINS IS A DEFIANT AS EVER. LA Knight immediately picks up the carcass of Rollins and hits BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, ONE… TWO… THREE… LA Knight has defeated Seth Rollins in his FIRST successful title defense.
LA Knight defeats Seth Rollins to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in 19:42
Raw October 9th, 2023
LA Knight comes out with his World Heavyweight Championship with an arrogant smirk on his face. He is only a couple weeks removed from defeating one of the literal best wrestlers in the world in Seth Rollins. LA Knight is in a very floating mood tonight, that is until he’s interrupted by THE PHENOMENAL ONE AJ STYLES!!! AJ says that LA Knight is just a just a pretend world champion, but that’s what he’s been his whole career. Styles says that LA Knight has gotten by his whole entire career by acting like a discount Dwayne. He only made it down in Orlando because AJ left and he only made it here because he hasn’t had to contend with AJ Styles. The flat Earth man says that he didn’t need to cash in Money in the Bank on a weakened opponent to win his two world titles. AJ CHALLENGES LA KNIGHT TO A WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH AT CROWN JEWEL!!!
Crown Jewel 2023
LA Knight vs AJ Styles: World Heavyweight Championship
We get to the PPV (I refuse to call it a PLE) and it’s the face of OG TNA vs the face of the post Hogan era of TNA. These two have an old school TNA style match. AJ turns back the clock and busts out moves not seen in years such as the Spiral Tap. AJ completely outclasses LA Knight from a wrestling standpoint but AJ makes a costly error when he takes too long to set up for the Phenomenal Forearm and LA capitalizes by hitting a leap-up superplex followed up by BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, ONE… TWO… THREE… LA KNIGHT HAS DEFEATED AJ STYLES CLEAN AS A FUCKING WHISTLE TO RETAIN THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!!! LA Knight has finally been legitimized as a world champion.
LA Knight defeats AJ Styles to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in 21:58
After the match, EDGE MAKES HIS FIRST APPEARANCE SINCE BEING SCREWED OUT OF THE WHC BY LA KNIGHT!!! Edge makes a beeline for LA Knight throwing rights & lefts at the champion before LEVELING HIM WITH A SPEAR. Edge lifts up the very same title that was stolen from him far too soon.
Raw November 6th, 2023
Edge comes out and talks about how 12 years ago, he was in the prime of his career having just retained the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania but just 8 days later he had to retire due to a neck injury and subsequently vacated the title. Not only did he come back 3 years ago so he could finish his career on his terms, but he also wanted to have the world title reign that he was robbed of over a decade ago. Edge calls out LA Knight for doing that to him not only in his hometown but right in front of his family as well. Edge wants a rematch for the title in A HARDCORE MATCH at SURVIVOR SERIES!!! LA Knight comes out and tells Edge to hold his fake outrage because all LA Knight did was do the same thing Edge has done not once but TWICE. LA Knight says that Edge made a career out of being an opportunist, a snake but now because Edge is old and considered a legend he thinks he can pander to the fans and all the sudden give a damn about right & wrong. LA Knight says whether he’s 40, 50, or 60 he’ll always be the same LA Knight because he’ll never claim to give a damn about these people and that’s a fact of life. LA Knight accepts the match so he can put Edge out to pasture for good.
Survivor Series 2023
LA Knight(c) vs Edge: Hardcore Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
This match is gonna fucking go hard, it’s the opportunist of old vs the opportunist of new. Edge isn’t playing any games tonight and he starts throwing all different sorts of weapons into the ring. This match is a fucking car crash that sees both men beaten & broken. LA Knight gets set up on the Apron, flaming table behind him, Edge is poised for a spear. It’s WrestleMania 22 all over again. Edge goes for it but someone moves LA Knight and EDGE CRASHES & BURNS RIGHTS THROUGH THE FLAMING TABLE WITH NOBODY HOME. The man who helped LA Knight is… KEVIN OWENS!!! LA Knight rolls Edge back into the ring and hits BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, KNIGHT MAKES THE COVER, ONE… TWO… THREE!!! LA KNIGHT HAS DEFEATED EDGE TO RETAIN THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!!! In a cruel bit of irony, Edge’s very first world title reign started when HE cashed in MITB and his last world title reign ends when someone cashed in on HIM.
LA Knight defeats Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in 29:15
Raw December 18th, 2023
Kevin Owens explained that him costing Edge the World Heavyweight Championship was nothing personal and it was all business. Owens needed Edge out of the title picture so he could move his way up, after all he is a prizefighter and he hasn’t won a the big prize in over 6 years. After dropping the WWE World Tag Team Titles, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn went their separate ways without bloodshed for once. Both men have forged their path in the singles division with great success but now they find themselves both in contention for the World Heavyweight Championship. In the match itself, Owens & Zayn lay it all out in the ring until they are attacked by LA Knight who lays both men out with a steel chair. Triple H comes out and announced that BOTH MEN WILL CHALLENGE LA KNIGHT FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AT ROYAL RUMBLE!!!
Royal Rumble 2024
LA Knight(c) vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn: World Heavyweight Championship
This match is an archaic fuckfest, we have two best friends who are currently on rocky grounds but if there’s one thing that can unite them, it’s their mutual hatred of LA Knight, YEAHHH. Owens & Sami focus all their attention on Knight, taking turns kicking his ass but there’s clear tension between them. LA Knight realizes that he’ll have to use that tension to his advantage and he manages to put them against each other. Despite all that, OWENS STILL MANAGES TO HIT AN AVALANCHE PACKAGE PILEDRIVER ON LA KNIGHT. Owens makes the cover, ONE… TWO… SAMI BREAKS THE PIN!!! Owens is pissed, he gets in Sami’s face and says “I’ve waited seven long years for this!” Sami retorts that, “this is my dream too!” Owens SLAPS Sami and they begin to brawl. They end up outside of the ring and OWENS HITS AN APRON POWERBOMB ON SAMI, KEVIN OWENS IS REALLY TRYING TO HURT SAMI. Owens enters the ring having almost forgotten about Knight and he is immediately hit with a thumb to the ray followed up by BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA. Knight makes the cover, ONE… TWO… OWENS BARELY KICKS OUT AND BOY IS HE FIRED UP!!! Owens spends the next few minutes just kicking the piss outta Knight. Owens hits his original finisher the POP-UP POWERBOMB but before he can make the cover, Sami limps back into the ring, his back is in excruciating pain but he refuses to let go of his dream of FINALLY becoming world champion. Sami is trading blows with Owens and he hits a reverse STO, followed by a Koji Clutch. OWENS IS FADING FAST, SAMI IS JUST SECONDS AWAY FROM BECOMING WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!!! Knight breaks up to pins hitting Sami in his injured back but there is absolutely no quit in Sami and he hits the exploder suplex followed up by the Helluva Kick, Sami makes the cover, ONE… TWO… OWENS BREAKS UP THE PIN. Owens tosses Sami out of the ring and pins LA Knight, ONE… TWO… THREE. AFTER SEVEN LONG YEARS KEVIN OWENS IS ONCE AGAIN WORLD CHAMPION!!!
Kevin Owens defeats LA Knight & Sami Zayn to win the World Heavyweight Championship in 26:41
30 Man Royal Rumble Match
We fast forward to the Royal Rumble match and we see Johnny Gargano enter at #27. But before Gargano can enter the ring, LA KNIGHT COMES OUT AND SMASHES GARGANO WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!! Despite having competed earlier tonight, LA KNIGHT TAKES JOHNNY GARGANO’S SPOT IN THE ROYAL RUMBLE AT #27. He limps to the ring and knowing that he’s not at 100% he’ll have to pick his spots even more carefully. A handful of guys are attempting to hoist Braun Strowman over the top rope, Knight grabs Strowman’s arm from outside of the ring assisting in Strowman’s elimination. Knight also manages to score a sneaky elimination over old rival Cameron Grimes. Things are seriously looking up for LA Knight. #28 & #29 come out and LA Knight is still hanging in there, just maybe his luck is finally turning around. That is until entrant #30 who is STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN!!! He runs fast for a 60 year old man and he is hitting Stunners like it’s 1998. LA Knight is completely incensed when he lays eyes on the man who ruined his first WrestleMania. LA Knights gets the jump on Austin, but the Texas Rattlesnake won’t go down with out a fight and he’s throwing haymakers back at Knight followed up by a Stunner that’s send LA Knight flying over the top rope. LA KNIGHT HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!!! It’s all good though as Gunther chops Austin into oblivion and throws him over the top rope putting Gunther over huge. Not gonna go into detail about the rest of the Rumble since it’s not relevant to the story but GUNTHER WINS!!!
Gunther wins the Royal Rumble in 1:04:28
Raw January 28th, 2024
LA Knight vs Sami Zayn: Elimination Chamber Qualifier
It’s only been 48 hours since LA Knight lost the World Heavyweight Championship then failed to win the Royal Rumble match getting eliminated by none other than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the man who embarrassed LA Knight at last year’s WrestleMania. Tonight, LA Knight faces a man who also feels that he deserves to be World Heavyweight Champion and that is Sami Zayn. These two have an absolute barnburner of a match as they both have unfinished business from Royal Rumble. SAMI ZAYN BEATS LA KNIGHT TO QUALIFY FOR THE ELIMINATION CHAMBER!!!
Sami Zayn defeats LA Knight in 18:45
Raw February 5th, 2024
We start off with a promo from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and talks about why he entered the Royal Rumble Match. Austin says that he wants whoop some ass and have one final round with the WWE Title and he says that he’s going to enter the chamber and open a can a whoop ass on the five unlucky SOB’s who will be stuck in a chamber with him. That’s when LA Knight’s music his and Austin looks up the ramp expecting Knight to make his way down, BUT AUSTIN GETS CLOBBERED FROM BEHIND WITH A STEEL CHAIR FROM LA KNIGHT!!! LA Knight targets the bad knees of Austin bashing them into the ring post then finally, Knight wraps the chair over Austin’s knee and is getting ready to snap the leg of a 60 year old legend but JOHNNY GARGANO COMES OUT AND RUNS KNIGHT OFF!!!
Elimination Chamber 2024
LA Knight vs Johnny Gargano
The story here is simple, Johnny Gargano wants revenge for being robbed of a spot in the Royal Rumble. Gargano puts on a great showing against Knight which causes him to resort to every heel tactic he can think of to gain the advantage. LA Knight rips off the turnbuckle padding but turns around into a superkick from Gargano. He then picks him up and tries to lawn dart him right into the turnbuckle but Knight slides off and pushes Gargano head first into the exposed turnbuckle. LA Knight sets up for Blunt Force Trauma but that’s when we hear GLASS SHATTER!!! ITS STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN AND HES ON TBE RAMP STARING A HOLE THROUGH LA KNIGHT. This distraction allows for Johnny Gargano to hit a reverse rana followed up by the ONE FINAL BEAT, ONE… TWO… THREE!!! With the help of Austin Johnny Gargano has defeated LA Knight avenging the Screwjob at the Royal Rumble.
Johnny Gargano defeats LA Knight in 11:11
After the match, Austin storms the ring and a huge fucking brawl ensues between the two, multiple referees & security try to break up the braw which allows LA Knight to get away. But Austin isn’t done yet and he clears the ring with STUNNER AFTER STUNNER ON EVERYONE. LA KNIGHT LOOKS HORRIFIED AT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO HIM NEXT!!!!!
WrestleMania 40
LA Knight vs “Stone Cold” Steve Austin: No Holds Barred
This match semi-main events Night One of WrestleMania 40. This match is going to be an Attitude Era style chaos. The match starts off hot with Austin throwing lefts & rights at the loudmouth LA Knight. AUSTIN GOES FOR AN EARLY STUNNER, but LA Knight leaves the ring. Austin doesn’t let up however and he drills Knight with a huge clothesline and starts throwing him into the barricade and into the steel steps. They begin fighting on rope of the announce table and that’s when AUSTIN HITS A HUGE BACK DROP ON LA KNIGHT RIGHT THROUGH THE GERMAN ANNOUNCE TABLE!!! Austin rolls Knight back into the ring but is met with a STUNNER FROM LA KNIGHT WHO JUST STOLE AUSTIN’S MOVE, ONE… TWO… AUSTIN KICKS OUT. LA Knight lays down the ground & pound on Austin and now AUSTIN IS BLEEDING LIKE A STUCK PIG as JR would say. Austin doesn’t go down east and he hits A MASSIVE STONE COLD STUNNER ON LA KNIGHT, ONE… TWO… LA KNIGHT KICKS OUT. Austin’s age begins to catch up and LA Knight outclasses Austin from a wrestling stand point. Austin goes for one last Stunner but LA Knight catches him in a single leg powerbomb followed up by BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA ON AUSTIN, ONE… TWO… AUSTIN KICKS OUT!!! Austin slowly makes his way back to his feet and he looks at LA Knight and flips him the bird one last time, LA Knight hits Blunt Force Trauma one last time. HE MAKES THE COVER, ONE… TWO… THREE… LA KNIGHT HAS DONE THE UNTHINKABLE AND DEFEATS STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN AT WRESTLEMANIA!!! After the match, Austin gets his moment in the ring and nods at LA Knight giving his stamp of approval.
LA Knight defeated “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in 21:39
Later that night, Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens are squaring off in the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship. They have done virtually everything together, they’ve been faces, they’ve been heels, they’ve been tag team champions, they’ve had blood feuds but NEVER have they they met in the main event of WrestleMania for a World Championship. These two former best friends have gone nearly 30 minutes and it’s an absolute barnburner of a match. Kevin Owens has Sami dead to rights but he make a miraculous comeback and hits one finally Helluva Kick to win the match!!! SAMI ZAYN AFTER OVER A DECADE GRINDING IN THE WWE IS FINALLY WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!!! Confetti is falling from the sky, various members of the babyface roster come out to celebrate with Sami who they recognize as really deserving of this moment. While everyone is celebrating, we see a beaten up & limping LA Knight at the top of the entrance ramp staring a hole through the new World Heavyweight Champion to end Night One of WrestleMania 40.
Epilogue
LA Knight would be cemented as one of the top heels in WWE for years to come. Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens would put their feud to rest until a possible retirement match between them down the line. Kevin Owens & Edge would eventually have their match at Summerslam, ideally set in Canada where Edge can officially retire for good this time. Sami Zayn would enjoy a prosperous reign as World Heavyweight Champion putting on bangers against anyone & everyone, that is until LA Knight finds himself back in the title picture and regain the championship and kickstart yet another great run with the title.

And i am anxious about the fact that he may be deleting things for his own benefit. In January i discovered he was watching erotic models on tiktok via his historial of videos seen (by this time, i don't think he did know about the fact that tiktok keeps an historial of all the videos you watched) and i was really really hurt and offended because it was the second time he did it, and he did it a day before our anniversary, it was simply ridiculous because he came to me to celebrate our anniversary like he never looked at other girls the day before and pretend i wouldn't notice it, i cried a lot that day, and again he promised me he would not do that again... now some days ago we were watching tiktoks together and he went looking for a fun video that he ''lost'' and went directly to the historial and i said to mysefl ''well, fuck, he finally discovered how i saw these fucking models even though his historial search was clean of anything sexual'' and i am now semi-convinced he wil definitely use this for his own benefit, i haven't yet asked him how he discovered it (it's not that difficult but i still have curiosity...), maybe i should? How can i know if he's not deleting anything suspicious?
I know you may wonder after all of this, why is he still using tiktok?
The reason is simply we don't live together so i doesn't have much sense for me to say ''don't use x app'' because is obvious he will do it anyway behind my back... it is how it is. It happened before.
so... this is me just venting, sorry if i made you lose your precious time, i feel so alone sometimes..

Well here's my intro about me first:
I've been roleplaying for a ton of years now (Since Yahoo era.) Then jumping around other platforms to find partners that are long-term. Most of them have Universities and Family now to focus on. I work online and music as a hobby so I'm available A LOT. Even though I have a lot of experience, I'm super chill and don't pressure anyone to be ultra perfect with literature. I'm not demanding someone to do 2k amount of material to respond back with. (In fact, I used to do that much but it's a pain to do novella length unfortunately.) The most important thing I want from my partner is to just have fun. I'm really chill and it's cool if you want to just chat.
Prompt time:
I tend to do a lot of Slice of Life with Japanese Culture sprinkled onto it. For example: Seasonal Festivals, School Festivals, Sports/Clubs, Pretty much the Anime tropes. Even use anime-images for my character in story. Just to make it easier to move forward. Discord only communications because I might miss your Chat/Message response in Reddit.
All of these ideas aren't written in stone, I'd love to use my partner's ideas to have a lot of fun. So we can mix and match things that we're into. I know this Prompt is extremely vague but I just wanted to see if anyone is interested first before going more into details.
Time-Zone Info: West-Coast, USA (PST)
Discord Info: Based#1911

Happy weekend :) I'm a Philly suburb guy who absolutely adores makeup, beauty, and fashion. And no, I'm not a professional makeup artist (though I'm happy to try my hand at it!). I just love the creativity and artistry that goes into it all.
I know it might sound surprising coming from a straight guy, but I'm a total beauty and fashion nerd. I can talk endlessly about lipstick shades, eyeshadow palettes, skincare routines, and the latest runway trends. And don't even get me started on shoes – I love checking out all the latest styles and seeing how they can transform an outfit.
Some people might think it's weird for a guy to be so into these things, but I've always been drawn to traditionally feminine things, and I'm not afraid to embrace that side of myself. In fact, I find that I can connect really well with women who are into the same things. There's something so fun and bonding about getting ready together, trying out new makeup looks, and sharing fashion tips and tricks.
I'm looking for a woman who shares my passion for all things beauty and fashion. I want to take you out on romantic dates where we can admire the city skyline while sipping cocktails and talking about our favorite beauty bloggers. And on lazy weekends, let's do face masks and paint our nails while we binge-watch Netflix.
I'm not just looking for a girlfriend – I want to be your beauty and fashion partner in crime. Let's explore the latest makeup releases, try out new styles, and just enjoy being fabulous together. I promise to tell you how gorgeous you look, give you lots of compliments, and maybe even ask you to teach me how to do a winged eyeliner. So if you're a girly girl who loves all things makeup and fashion, let's connect and see where this goes!