Lawn mower dies when choke off

Devi was pleased at the surprising lack of itchiness that usually came with ethnic attire. This time, it seemed as if she had lucked out - the inside of her lehenga was incredibly soft, and the outside made her feel like a princess. As she looked at herself in the store mirror, she heard her mother call out - she would be inside the dressing room with Kamala.
After the frenzy that the past week had been, Devi relished the solitude of the moment.
Getting herself comfortable in a little armchair, she looked around the store - laden from floor to ceiling with Indian clothes of all kinds, for all ages, for all occasions. A few years ago, this same store would have elicited disgust from her, but now she felt happy and safe. At home.
She was also pleased but surprised at how comfortable she had grown to become with her Indian-ness. One might even say that she had missed feeling Indian.
A semester at Columbia will do that to you.
Kamala and Nalini emerged from the dressing room, Kamala donning a dark red lehenga with golden embellishments.
"You look beautiful Kamala!" Devi smiled at her. She doubted there was anything in this universe that Kamala could wear and not look pretty in, but this, this outfit felt as if it were made just for her.
Kamala, however, did not return Devi's smile. Instead her face held a grimace.
"Thank you Devi." she replied, standing in front of the mirror while Nalini moved around her excitedly, adjusting the veil on her head. Devi simply could not place what was wrong, but Kamala seemed more anxious than excited about her wedding, which was just two days away.
Five minutes later, Devi was back in her regular clothes with a bag in her hand and a disturbing thought in her head - Kamala didn't want to get married to Mr.K.
-----------------------------
Devi was convinced every doctor in the US was the kid of one of her mother's colleagues.
"And, Anderson, you know - he was in my third year residency! I think he's practicing in Boston now, and his daughter is in Harvard! He told me that she wants to pursue neurosurgery."
Pulling out her chair and serving herself some sphagetti, Devi wondered if shattering her eardrums and permanently losing her hearing was truly that bad of an option if she wouldn't have to listen to her mother go on and on and on about who was going to study what.
"Mom, I've told you, I don't want to become a doctor. It's too much work!"
"All professions are work, Devi!"
"I know, I know, but I think that the process is so long and grueling that you can only complete it if you really, really want to. And I don't"
"Well, you need to declare your major soon Devi. Have you been able to find another option? I'm not going to let my only daughter study something like art history"
Devi sighed. Here it was again, the same conversation that had been repeated every single night for four days straight since she had come back home for Thanksgiving.
Any time she tried to talk about her major, her brain drew a blank. Nothing seemed appealing and yet it all seemed interesting at the same time.
"This is important Devi. I don't understand how you don't have a single idea for what you want to do. All your classmates have five year plans mapped out - no, don't you interrupt me young lady! I heard you conversation with Ben! I had expected you to have at least some semblance of a vision!"
This conversation was uncomfortable, just like any conversation featuring parental disappointment was for her.
Devi had spent hours researching the process to become a doctor, only to realise that she simply did not have the stomach to study that much. Ever since, she had tried several 'what career is right for me' tests online. The result that popped up most frequently was attorney or lawyer.
She had tried to bring up the option with her mother once, only to have all her hopes crushed. "Lawyers are serious, sincere people Devi, and it is a very hard job. Are you sure you about this?"
As much as she had wanted to fire right back and tell her mother that the job of a doctor was also very hard, the first few of her words struck too hard. She didn't think Devi could ever be serious and sincere.
Ever since, she had been unable to discuss the idea again, scared that she might learn more of what her mother thought of her.
Her mother was right, even she had expected better from herself.
However, she wasn't going to suffer through this heaviness for yet another dinner, because today, she had the perfect distraction.
"Anyways, Kamala! You looked a little anxious in the store today, is everything alright?"
Kamala, who had been silently lost in her thoughts so far, suddenly sat up straighter.
"Huh? Wha - oh, that? No, I was just feeling a bit down because of the heat." she replied with a nervous smile.
Kamala's strange reaction drove any thoughts about her major out of Devi's mind, because the AC in the store had been cranked up to the point that all the metallic emebellishments on her lehenga had felt cold.
"Are you sure there's nothing bothering you?"
"No, Devi, I am perfectly fine. Now if you will please excuse me, I need to go to bed early today" Kamala snapped, taking her barely touched food back to the kitchen.
Oh, something was definitely wrong.
-------------------------------------------
The day before the wedding, the Vishwakumar household had been abuzz with activity since the morning. The final trial for their clothes had taken place earlier that day, but Devi was yet to take off her attire - she was too busy helping Pati with the flowers. Finally, when Mr.K and his parents arrived in the afternoon, Devi got the chance to sit down.
Devi realised that she had suffered the misfortune of becoming quite close to her annoyingly pretty, wannoyingly Indian cousin - so much so, that only she could tell that Kamala wanted nothing more than to escape this marriage. Hence, she also realised, the mantle to help her cousin escape this wedding, bollywood style, now also rested on her.
This realisation dawned upon her when she saw Kamala constantly fidgeting with a pen while Mr.K sat calmly by her side. No one else in the room seemed to notice that something was wrong - not Mr.K's parents, not Nalini, not Nirmala, just her.
Getting up and walking towards the stairs, she gestured at Kamala to follow her. With a nervous 'I'll be back in a moment', Kamala hurried after her.
"Okay, cousin, something is up with you. You have to tell me at least." Devi said as soon as the door to her room was shut.
Sighing, Kamala sat down on the bed.
"I don't know why, but I'm still scared of getting married. Manish is such a great guy, and I'm doing great in my career, but I still don't feel ready."
"What are you scared of?" Devi asked.
"I don't know. But maybe, I'm scared that this will change after getting married. I won't see all of you as often, and my relationship with Manish won't stay the same either. What if it's not the same any more and I regret my decision?"
Change, Devi realised. Kamala was scared of change. As much as she was herself convinced that she and Mr.K made a perfect match, she wasn't sure if she was up to the task of convincing Kamala.
"I think you should talk about this to Mr.K, no?"
"I know, but I'm too scared of that. I don't want him to think that I'm rejecting him or anything. I'm just not ready."
Kamala's voice wavered towards the end of her sentence, and Devi knew that she wouldn't be able to go through with this wedding.
But maybe she could save Kamala from having the face the music herself and leave it all for her mother and grandmother to deal with.
She might not be a great daughter, she might not know what her major should be, but she sure as hell could be a great sister right now. She was too young to give Kamala any advice, but she could buy her a lot of time.
"Alright then, Kamala" she began, with the mischievious smile that had always preceded the wildest of her plans "You don't want to get married, then don't get married. We're escaping this stuffy Indian event right now."
-----------------------------------------
Devi had never felt as much relief as she did when her feet finally touched the ground.
"That" she thought "seemed a lot more effortless when Paxton and Ben did it. Well, I would like to see them do it in a lehenga."
Devi's idea this time, had been to reach the backyard through her window, and then run to Ben's house without being found out by anyone. She had realised the risks the plan carried the moment she had placed one foot out the window, but she was willing to risk a few broken bones for the sake of being a good cousin and for the thrill of adventure.
Well, if worst came to worst and she did end up breaking something, the event would be cancelled anyways, but she preferred other, less injurious method of helping Kamala.
Dusting her hands off, she called out to her cousin.
"Kamala, you there? Just slowly put on leg out of the window, and then the other, and then hold your balance on the ledge! Don't be scared, I didn't die or hurt myself at all!"
"Why are you yelling at the window, I'm right here!"
Devi jumped in surprise and turned around to find her cousin standing right behind her.
"Wait, Kamala? How did you get here so quick?"
"I didn't want to climb down from the window so I came out through the kitchen door."
Despite being slightly pissed that Kamala had ruined her big dramatic moment, Devi whipped out her phone and dialled a number. About five minutes later, a shiny black Porsche was parked a few houses away from her, ready to take her and her cousin to safety.
---------------------------------------
"So, have you turned my home into some sort of safe house that you can escape to any time you're on the lam?"
Devi rolled her eyes at Ben. So far she had only spent five minutes in his room, but with the number of criminal activity jokes she had heard it might as well have been five hours.
"Well, I'm glad to have made the acquaintance of such a seasoned outlaw. Why are you on the wrong side of the rules this time around?" he laughed, stretching his legs out where he sat on the bed. Devi roamed around, observing.
Before Devi could send back a witty reply, she spotted something on his desk.
A grief journal. Identical to the one Dr.Ryan had given her years ago.
Kamala had requested some solitude, so they had left her alone in one of the fifty million spare bedrooms that Ben's house had, while they headed up to his room.
The room felt emptier, and Devi felt a bit strange being back here. The semester in Columbia had led to Devi becoming accustomed to Ben's dorm room, and this room brought back memories of an older self.
So far she had smiled at all the memories, as she remembered how she had run here in sophomore year, how Ben had helped reunite her with her friends, how she had lost her virginity in this very room to the boy she was slowly beginning to fall in love with.
But on seeing the journal a face suddenly flashed in her brain - a face she had gone a surprisingly long time without thinking about.
What would Dad have said, if I told him I wanted to become a lawyer?
She remembered how she had gotten into a fight with her mother, and how they had reconciled to spread her dad's ashes.
You don't like me, mom.
These thoughts were supposed to be in the past - why was she still worried that her mom didn't like her?
They are serious and sincere people, Devi, are you sure about this?
Was her mother disappointed that she hadn't been able to get into Princeton? Columbia was still an ivy , but maybe her mother had wanted her to go to her first choice.
Devi shook her head - she had to clear away all these thoughts before they became a problem.
"What is this, your journal?" she asked, holding up the book.
"Oh, that? Yeah, my old therapist gave it to me. It's empty though, never wrote anything in it"
"Your old therapist? Did you get a new one?" Devi asked as she sat on the floor beside the bed, looking up at Ben.
"Nah, I quit. I don't really need therapy, you know? I've never gone through anything traumatic and my life is great!" he smiled at her.
But Devi could tell there was something behind his smile, something he was not telling her.
"Ben, my life is great too. But I still go. What's up?"
Ben opened his mouth to throw another reassurance at her, but then thought the better of it.
"It's just, I don't like talking about anything bad that happened. My life really is great. I'm going to my dream college, I'm getting good grades, I've got you, I've got Dad, I've got Ronny and Mitch. Life is great. I don't want to dig up any of the bad stuff from the past and ruin it all"
"But then what about the next time life isn't great?" Devi asked, looking down at her hands, "All the stuff you leave unresolved will come back to haunt you, and you won't have answers for any of it."
Ben looked at her carefully for a minute.
"Are you alright, David? Is there anything bothering you?"
Devi was surprised at how well Ben could read her. Sure, she had been thinking about how she never quite convinced herself that her mother liked her, and now her doubts were here to ruin her days with full force.
"What major do you think I should pick?"
Ben was slightly taken aback by the question - this was not what he had expected.
"Uh, I don't know. What career do you want to pursue after college?"
"I don't know."
Devi turned around again to look at him.
"Suppose I wanted to be a lawyer. Would you say I'm not sincere enough to do it?"
"Who said you aren't sincere enough?"
"Mom"
And there it is, Ben thought, that is what's bothering her. By the expectant, slightly scared look on her face, Ben could tell that Devi did not like what her mom had said.
"I think you would make a great laywer, actually. You've got a great memory so you'll do well in law school, you'd be great at presenting in court, and you're a very clever and dedicated researcher. My dad's a lawyer, maybe you could ask him?"
He could see Devi visibly deflate with relief.
They stayed silent for a while, contemplating the words that had passed between them, before Devi spoke up again.
"I wonder what Dad would've said about this, if he was here."
Ben didn't quite know what to say, so he said what he believed Devi wanted to hear.
"I think he would've encouraged you to go for it. I think you can do it too, if you want to. And I forgot to tell you, I think you look really pretty in that outfit. Like a princess."
Devi closed her eyes and smiled, before looking at him again with adoration in her eyes.
"Ah, Mr. Gross, what would I do without you."
"You'd probably die."
The laughter that followed left Devi feeling a little lighter.
-----------------------------
Kamala had spent the past two hours lying on the bed, occasionally nibbling at her nails, and discovering that clear nail polish tasted extremely bitter.
She simply could not convince herself to go back. She thought she had wanted time, time to think and convince herself, but now after thinking for so long she was convinced that she absolutely could not do this. She could not get married - she just didn't have the ability.
She heard a gentle knock on the door, and Devi entered.
"How are you then, decided on anything? We can't keep hiding out here forever!"
"I know. But I still don't want to get married, and that's scary."
Devi sighed and sat down on the bed beside her cousin. If the past few years had taught her anything, it was that she hated it when other people kept giving her advice or assuming things when she was upset. Maybe if she just asked Kamala questions, her cousin would feel better.
"You're scared that you don't want to get married?"
"I'm scared that I might never want to get married at all."
Devi's eyebrows went up high as she registered what her cousin has said.
"I - earlier I thought that I didn't want to mess up my career, and that's why I was so against the idea of marriage. But even now, when everything is going great, I still can't bring myself to do it. I have no doubt that Manish will support me through anything. But I'm still scared. I can't do this without discussing this with him first and figuring it all out."
Devi nodded.
"If you're having trouble talking to him, maybe you could write him a letter or an email?"
Five minutes later, Kamala sat typing away on Ben's laptop, while Devi watched, smiling to herself. She was sure she had been a good sister today.
-------------------------------------------------
Patty frowned as she paced around in the living room.
"They'll destroy my kitchen, these kids." she muttered to herself.
Ben and Devi had decided to cook dinner that day. After long deliberation (and several threats from Patty about what she would do if they set something on fire), they settled on pasta. Simple, tasty, and with very little chance of the fire department being called.
As Devi poured out the water from the pasta, she decided to bring up their earlier conversation again.
"So, Ben, you said you don't want to go to therapy because you don't like talking about the past."
Ben stopped chopping his mushrooms for a moment, but then continued with a smile.
"Nothing gets past you, huh?"
Hoisting herself to sit on the counter, Devi continued "You know, I used to think therapy was all hokey stuff too. For the kinds who stare out of rainy windows and listen to too much Lana Del Ray - "
"Hey, anti-Lana speech is not tolerated in this house." Ben said, playfully stern, pointing his knife at her.
"No, of course not!" Devi laughed "But, case in point, I used to think therapy is for the kind of people who ponder on the meaning of life and are sad all the time."
"And it's not?"
"It's not. After Dad died, I tried to push Dr.Ryan away a lot, but at the end of the day, her advice helped me become a little less crazy."
Ben sighed and set his knife down.
"You were never crazy. You were sad because you lost the most important person in your life."
"Oh, is that so? Am I talking to the same person who once said I went straight up psycho?"
Devi had meant it as a joke - she was glad that these days she was able to joke about that period of her life, but the way Ben suddenly stopped dead and stared at her, told her he hadn't understood the joke.
"I was joking, Ben, I didn't mean - "
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I said all that stuff to you. The things about faking your paralysis, and the UN thing, god, I was so dumb. I'm so sorry, those were such terrible things to say, I shouldn't have done that" he blurted out in a rush.
Devi smiled back at him.
"It's okay Ben. You've done more than enough to make up for it. I'm not mad at all."
"You're not an unfuckable nerd at all" he said shyly "You're actually very pretty. Especially in those clothes."
"It's called a lehenga."
"Especially in a lehenga." he smiled, going back to his vegetables.
"So, what was I saying? Yeah, therapy helps Ben."
"I know, I just - "
He paused for a moment, with his eyes closed, but when he opened them again his mind was made up.
"I know it helps. I don't want it to help. I don't want to feel any of the bad stuff again. When my parents wouldn't have dinner with me and I would be lonely, when you - you cheated on me with Paxton, I was, broken. I was broken. And I know I've broken others. There's so much resentment and guilt in those memories, there's not point in digging them up."
Devi hopped off the counter and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. This was it, she had the perfect answer.
"I'm sorry for the cheating thing, really, really sorry." she began "I was a dumb kid back then. Still am, but slightly less dumb. But the thing is, you haven't overcome any of the resentment or guilt, Ben, you've just pushed it deep down. It's still there. And if you go to therapy, you can actually get rid of it. You can forgive everyone else and yourself."
Ben looked at her for a moment, smiling slightly, then nodded.
"Alright. I'll try it out when we get back to Columbia, alright?"
Devi nodded happily and went back to her pasta, now fully drained and dry, ready to be mixed with the sauce.
"And for the record" Ben said "You would make an excellent lawyer."
Devi smiled. Good sister? Check.
Good girlfriend? Check, baby.
---------------------------------------------
Ben was convinced it was karma that had come back to get him. For all the dinners in the Vishwakumar household that he had interrupted, this was the ultimate payback.
Because Nalini Vishwakumar was currently standing in his dining room, looking angry enough to explode. The only saving grace was that she wasn't looking at him - no, she was glaring daggers at Devi and Kamala.
Ben and his father looked at each other and gulped. Neither had the courage to speak.
"How dare - HOW DARE YOU TWO DO SUCH A THING?"
"I- I can explain - " Kamala began nervously, but was cut off by Nalini's angry rant.
"WE SEARCHED FOR YOU EVERYWHERE! WE WERE SO WORRIED! Kamala, you can't keep doing this again and again! Why did you agree to marry him when you were just going to run away again? You should have seen the look on his face! He was heartbroken!"
"Manish, he was heartbroken?" Kamala asked quietly, on the verge of tears.
"Yes! He was worried you were kidnapped or dead in a ditch somewhere! He was so relieved when he recieved your email! It was from some ID called 'ben is not gross' and he thought you had run away with your secret boyfriend or something! I was the one to figure out where you where!"
As much as Devi had the urge to just shut up and let the storm pass, she knew that this was her idea to begin with.
Stupid morals.
"Mom, don't yell at Kamala. I thought she was scared and needed some time to herself, this was my idea."
Nalini's glare now turned from Kamala to Devi.
"What, Devi, instead of telling me what was wrong, you decided that running away was the best course of action? Who put you in charge? If you want to be treated like an adult you have to behave like one! This is not how adults behave!"
Devi racked her brain for an answer that would calm her mother down.
"Mom, think about it, this is marriage! It's a life long commitment! If I had taken Kamala to you, you would've convinced her to go through with this! I can't let her do that unless she's entirely sure!"
Nalini opened her mouth angrily, ready to yell some more, before realising she did not have a retort for it - Devi was right. She would indeed have convinced Kamala to go through with her wedding.
"Devi, this conversation should have happened in our living room, not in another neighbourhood entirely with less than 24 hours remaining!"
"But mom! Mr.K was there, and his parents were there, you were there, you all would have told her to not ruin it and get married! She needed some space and time to think for herself and she couldn't find it at home! I couldn't just let her get married and ruin two lives because I didn't have the guts to help her run away!"
Nalini had a strange look on her face as she looked at Devi silently for a bit. Howard Gross finally gathered the courage to clear his throat.
"We'll, uh, this seems like a family matter, we'll leave" he said, gesturing to Ben and walking out the door rapidly.
Nalini pulled out a chair and settled down in it, massaging her temples in frustration.
"Well, Kamala, I'm very disappointed in you. I want you to speak with Manish right now. He's been calling you all day."
Kamala nodded. Dialling a number on her phone, she rushed out of the room.
"Now as for you, Devi."
Devi braced herself for the upcoming punishments.
"I'm proud of you."
Huh?
Devi stared at her mom as if she had sprouted two heads.
"You made the right choice. Sure, you brought great shame upon this family, for the third time now, but you made the right choice. You placed what was important over what was easy and obvious. I'm very happy with you."
Getting up, she held out her hand for Devi to hold. Hand in hand, they walked out, with a giant smile on Devi's face.
Did that just happen? Am I dreaming? Am I stuck in a simulation?
In the kitchen, Kamala was speaking in pensive tones and nodding frquently, but from the absence of tears Devi could discern that all was well between Kamala and Mr.K.
"Mr.Gross, I'm so sorry that my daughter and niece disturbed you for so long."
"Oh, no problem, she's a delight to have around anyways."
A few minutes later, the Vishwakumars were seated in Nalini's car, speeding off towards home.
"He was angry, but mostly relieved that I was safe. His parents didn't seem to care much, to be honest. We'll have a talk when I get back home." Kamala said, quickly relaying her conversation to the other two.
Devi was happy that Kamala wasn't in trouble, but more than that, she was feeling all warm inside from her mother's words.
I'm proud of you. She's proud of me!
"Hey mom!" Devi said suddenly "Remember the conversation we had last night about my major?"
"Yes, Devi, I realise that I'm rushing you a bit. Make this choise wisely, okay? But no art history or liberal science or anything."
"Yeah, about that, I've decided. I am going to be a lawyer. I know it's tough and only sincere students are able to make it, but trust me, I can do this."
"Devi, I never doubted you for a second. Why would you think so?"
Devi was stunned for a second. But then -
"You said that only serious and sincere people become lawyers, and if I was sure?"
"Yes, it's true! It's a path as difficult as becoming a doctor, if you were so wary of studying medicine then I thought you should know it's equally difficult to become a lawyer!"
I am such an idiot.
"Oh thank god. I've been upsetting myself this whole time thinking that you found me dumb or something."
"Devi, I - of course I don't find you dumb! Why would you ever think of such things?"
Devi hesitated for a moment, before remembering the advice she gave Ben. Turning to look into her lap, she blurted it all out in one go.
"I - sometimes I tend to think that you don't like me or the things I do, and that you think that I'm lazy and I won't be able to achieve anything great. I -I thought you were disappointed about me not getting into Princeton."
A few moments of tense silence passed before Nalini spoke again.
"I'm so proud of you, Devi! You got into an ivy league school, who cares which one it is? Of course I like you! You are a brilliant, kind and strong young lady, and you will do great things. Sometimes I disapprove of the things you do, but I am so proud of you! I wouldn't want anyone else on the whole planet for a daughter! You'll make an excellent lawyer! I was fuming when I entered that room and you managed to bring me back to reason!"
A weight she didn't know she was carrying was lifted off her shoulders, making her feel weightless. Here they were, the words she had been dying to hear all her life. She didn't bother to stop her tears, but she still smiled through them.
"Thanks mom. I love you."
I love you too, Devi"
Good sister? Check. Good girlfriend? Check.
Good daughter? Finally, check.
The day may have started off with running away from a wedding, but it had ended up being one of the most wonderful days Devi had experienced in a long time.
Perhaps, she thought, it might just be one the of the best days ever.
----------------
Author's Note: Whew that was long.
So, I don't like this one as much I liked the Ben one. In my effort to stay true to the show's style, I think I got too intentionally cheesy and feel good, and the dialouge is a bit clunky. Well, I'm always improving.
I have managed to fulfil two of my greatest wishes :

1. Ben apologising for his rude comments in the beginning of S1
2. Nalini telling Devi she's proud of her.

So, here we are, this is Devi's story! Tomorrow will be Paxton's, Nalini's and El's (I already have ideas for all of them), and after S4 drops will be two more : a Benvi story with a bit of a twist, and a surprise.
I hope you enjoyed reading it! Again, critism and feeback is most appreciated, but please be kind.
​
​
​

So listen, I know we’re all the tippy-top when it comes to Cardinals fandom. We bleed red, ya know? I'm totally cool having big, must win nationally televised games get preempted so I can see Colt toss a few pigskins...
But sometimes we want to might scout the competition. Just during the commercials and such, of course!
I've been dying for Sunday Ticket to escape the clutches DirecTV. Into the warm embrace of Google but, hey, you can't win them all. I recently took the oppurtunity to ditch Cox (obligatory FUCK COX). YouTube is pretty decent and I'm stoked for Sunday Ticket.
It's $100 off right now. I think it's only for Youtube TV subscribers but I'm not totally sure. Hopefully you can save some money.
Anyway, this infomercial is over. Vince from Slapchop signing off.

I've been smoking heavily for about 22 years. All day, every day, with no interruptions.
I HATE who I am, and getting high makes me able to tolerate him. If I'm not high, I'm extremely irritable and depressed. I'll lay in bed all day. I won't eat. I'll be hyper-focused on my loneliness and all the miserable shit I've put myself through. I don't understand how anyone can quit when they're in a situation like this, where not getting high makes them unable to deal with themselves and their own thoughts. How is it not better to kill off those feelings? Why would I quit when there's a huge chance I'll take myself out, which, despite my saying I want to die, I don't want to do it myself. What's the point of giving up the only wholesome, acquirable thing that's made me feel good?
Pot is keeping me alive despite myself. Should I even try to quit?

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 1,937,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
What is the Cryopod to Hell?
Join the Cryoverse Discord server!
Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!
Want to stay up to date on TCTH? Subscribe to Cryopodbot!
...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
...
Two hundred and fifty miles. A long walk under normal circumstances, and certainly not a distance any person would trek if they didn't have to. Today, such a voyage feels ten times worse for Hell's elites, given the situation that begins to arise.
Yardrat leads the Mephisto Assault Force competently. As a vice-leader of the strongest Hell, he is no slouch when it comes to killing or commanding others. Despite having his spatial powers heavily suppressed, he still presents a lethal cocktail of destruction, able to dish out ridiculous levels of damage by turning his unstable spatial abilities into destructive attacks aimed at the weak points of Glinch's aberrants.
The problem is, as the assault force begins to push toward the center of the Stitched Wasteland, they meet far heavier resistance than they anticipated.
Originally, Auger planned to have the assault force move slowly, picking off enemies, one by one. But unexpectedly, Glinch decides not to play by the rules, and his minions begin deliberately approaching the demon elites in twos and threes.
At first, this horrifies Yardrat and the others, but they quickly realize the creatures Glinch sends aren't all merely the strongest aberrants he's ever made. Instead, they represent a diverse set of skills, strengths, and weaknesses tailored to the hunting party.
The first two monsters they fought were the Brute and the Snakedra. The next three end up being creatures that even the Dukes in the party can deal damage to, somewhat, but they end up forced to split into three groups to deal with these new enemies.
"Glinch, that bastard!" Emperor Fae yells. "He's toying with us!"
"He's treating us like an experiment." Yardrat says coldly, as he, Crow, and Fae take turns whaling on the strongest of the three monsters. "This is little more than a game in his eyes."
At the same time, Bael, Dagon, and ten Demon Dukes battle a slippery gelatin-like monster that breaks apart when struck and melts together, as if made of slime.
"Gross!" Bael moans. "It keeps stickin' to Big Bonk like glue!"
Dagon blasts it with corrosive chemicals, causing it to melt and reform. "It won't stay dead!"
The third monster ends up being a replicator-type entity, a mid-level elite on the weaker end of the Emperor spectrum that Nymph, Kristoff, Serena, and Melody have to battle with their own complement of Dukes.
Serena uses her powers lightly on the Dukes around her, boosting them to the bottom of the Emperor tier, temporarily upgrading their abilities without straining their bodies too heavily. She also sends Soul Webs to the minds of the others, linking their thoughts so they can better coordinate their attacks on the creature.
The multiplying monster boasts a ridiculous regenerative capability on par with Beelzebub, as well as the power to occasionally split its body in half, with the new form possessing the same level of strength as its original form.
In this battle, Kristoff's two Dukes end up shining the brightest. Vespera, the Duke of Gloom, and Rhesus, the Duke of Predation, both of them upgraded to the lowest level of the Emperor hierarchy by Serena's magic.
Vespera. A vicious and violent demoness with powers somewhat reminiscent of not only Kristoff's fallen wife, Fenrir, but certain abilities that echo those of the once-mighty Emperor Lucifer. Able to summon legions of darkness-imbued minions, as well as the ability to lock enemy minds within prisons of nightmares, the Duke of Gloom is a person Kristoff has high hopes for, especially if she manages to ascend to the rank of Emperor.
Her appearance is quite seductive. She wears skimpy robes that only technically shroud her skin from sight, though their semi-transparent nature leaves little to the imagination. Most notably, one of Vespera's defining traits is her utter lack of the red skin characterized by most demons. Hers is light blue, for she is actually a Satyr, one of the few that still survive to the modern era. Were someone to try and make a move on Vespera, they might find that despite being beautiful, she is a cruel and blackhearted woman who enjoys tormenting the minds of lesser beings.
As for Rhesus, he is a demon who focuses purely on the brutal nature of killing and slaughter. As the Duke of Predation, he combines the features of vampires and werewolves into one body, allowing himself to gain power by devouring the blood, skin, and bones of his enemies. His strength might not match up to that of Emperors Belial or Crow, but his ability to take a beating and continue enduring grants him longevity in battles that would leave any other Duke dead. He proved this by surviving the battle against the Cherubiim while the rest of the Third Hell's Dukes perished.
Rhesus wears a set of finely crafted demonstone armor, plated with a thin layer of silver to give it a metallic sheen. His glowing red eyes speak to the hunger in his heart, and the Slaughter Blade affixed to his right gauntlet ensures he is always ready to end the lives of those he hates. Much like Emperor Wolfram, Duke Rhesus has an animalistic werewolf-like appearance, but unlike Wolfram, he also sports vampiric fangs, demonstrating that he is the offspring of two different demonic subspecies. Every movement Rhesus makes speaks to his killing nature.
Vespera, temporarily evolved to the rank of Emperor, conjures dozens of shadowy monsters to attack and bind the bodies of the Replicator aberrant. She attacks the creature with a giant halberd made of pure darkness, keeping out of its range to slash and cut it while infecting its wounds with corrosive miasma.
Rhesus, on the other hand, brawls up close and personal, taking on the same role as Crow and Bael in the other two parties. When the Replicator beats and batters him with its club-like fists, Rhesus only grins maniacally, biting at its shoulders and hips to rip off its limbs. He greedily devours whole chunks of the chimera's body, swallowing them to boost his own strength in the smallest ways.
"Delicious!" Rhesus roars. "High quality food for this Emperor!"
The aberrant silently snaps its fist at Rhesus, battering his head and knocking him back half a step. He immediately returns the favor with a brutal punch to the monster's stomach, doubling it over while running his single gauntlet-blade through its gut.
"Nice hit! Here's my retort!"
Rhesus sweeps his arm to the right, and then the left, slicing the creature in half. He pounces on its severed body, ripping it apart with his teeth and claws, spraying blood everywhere. As he greedily devours the monster, two more copies replicate and lunge at him from both sides.
"Rhesus, you glutton. Pay attention." Vespera says with a frown. She aims her palm at one of the newly replicated copies and fires a shockwave of darkness at it, sending it flying backward. The creature hits the ground headfirst and spins, landing in a sprawled-out heap.
As for the other copy, Rhesus leaps and rams his fist into its chin, uppercutting it into the air while also shattering its jawbone.
"Not today!"
Emperor Melody finds that, unlike the Brute from earlier, she can actually deal heavy damage and even kill this replicating aberrant, but no matter how fast she does, the creature always manages to copy itself multiple times from its other living selves, defying every law of energy conservation.
BOOM! BOOM!
Melody sends dual shockwaves of concussive force into the bodies of two Replicators, making them shudder and freeze, while allowing other Emperors to land killing blows. Nymph swings a giant log of magically hardened wood at the head of one monster, crushing it into meat paste. Kristoff rams his fingers into the other one's heart and sucks its blood dry, leaving behind only a desiccated husk.
"How does it keep conjuring so many clones?" Kristoff asks, bewildered. "And each one is as strong as the others! Is this aberrant secretly a Wordsmith?!"
He doesn't receive an answer. None of the others know. However, as they fight on, they become more attuned to one another through Serena's Soul Web. They move more in unison and adjust their teamwork to kill the Replicators faster than they can duplicate themselves.
Eventually, Melody delivers the final blow on the last remaining duplicate, blowing its body apart with a grenade-like explosion of sound, causing viscous chunks to splatter her comrades. To their utter relief, after killing more than a hundred of the duplicating freaks, no others appear.
Kristoff's squad rushes over to help finish off the other two deviants in Yardrat and Bael's squads, only to arrive just in time for both to kill off their respective foes.
"Whew!!" Bael exclaims, doubling over and gasping for air, every inch of his Matriarch Armor drenched in blood. "Oh, Satan the Devil! That was- aahhh... I need a breather, woo!"
He isn't the only Emperor out of breath. Sweat lines the foreheads of every single elite, except for Serena, whose support duties kept her out of the direct line of fire. Yardrat's body shakes from exhaustion. Crow's biceps pulse fiercely with adrenaline-fueled blood. Vespera's bloodshot eyes tell a story regarding how much mana she's expended.
"We've only killed five monsters!" Nymph exclaims, her beautiful red skin glistening with sweat. She conjures a handful of leaves to daintily dab and dry herself off. "Just five! How could Glinch's minions be so powerful?"
Bael lifts his head. He looks toward the distant center of the Stitched Wasteland.
"Woo... ho-boy, not gonna lie, fellas. I don't know how many more of those I've got in me."
"We have to keep pressing on." Yardrat says through gritted teeth. "Can't you feel the slow thickening of mana in the air? Mephisto's time to ascend must be arriving soon!"
The other elites grimace. They look toward the center of the Stitched Wasteland, fearing they won't have energy to make it there, let alone ultimately kill Mephisto.
"Let's take a five-minute breather." Kristoff suggests, recovering from his exertion a bit faster thanks to the vitality of his blood. "But keep on your guard. It's clear Glinch isn't going to make things easy for us."
The other elites nod. Nobody sits down, but they all stand in place, steadying their breathing and borrowing leaves from Nymph to dry their sweaty bodies off. Even Bael temporarily removes his armor to dab himself dry.
One demon is the exception, though.
Now reverted back to his Duke form, Rhesus greedily bites and chews at the corpses of Glinch's fallen monsters. He hungrily rips them apart like a wolf that hasn't eaten meat in ten years. Some of the more squeamish demons curl up their lips in disgust, while Vespera and Kristoff appear unmoved. They've long grown used to his ways.
Suddenly, Rhesus looks at Bael.
"Hey!"
Bael looks back at him. "What?"
Rhesus points to the corpse of the slime-creature Bael helped kill. "You gonna eat that?"
Bael slowly shakes his head. He nudges it toward Rhesus with his foot, then takes a step back. "Nah, bro. Uh, help yourself. I'm................... full."
"Great!" Rhesus yells, rushing over to chew and slurp up the slimey remains of the once-human-shaped creature Bael ultimately helped slay.
"Some fellas..." Bael murmurs, looking away.
As Rhesus takes these precious five minutes to ravenously devour Glinch's subordinates, Yardrat suddenly looks up in the sky. "Bloody hell! How long has that been there?!"
The others, except Rhesus, follow his gaze.
"What the-?!" Bael exclaims.
"What is it?" Melody asks.
Serena, unable to make out anything but a glowing mass of mana, blinks her unseeing eyes. "A physical description would be nice."
Nymph rests her hand on Serena's shoulder. "It's an... egg. A flesh-colored egg."
"By flesh-colored, you mean...?"
"Sorry. Demon-flesh-colored. Red." Nymph clarifies.
The egg hovers in the sky for only five seconds before suddenly rushing downward toward the demon elites. They quickly raise their fists and weapons, ready for battle, as it crashes into the dirt a hundred meters away.
The egg cracks open. Its shell explodes into fragments, spilling a disgusting green liquid all over the dirt, the stench of which makes many of the elites want to puke.
"Oh, that's awful!" Bael whines, before reactivating his Matriarch Armor so he won't have to suffer the foul odor.
As a cloud of thick green gas evaporates, a bipedal creature steps out of the crumbled egg's remains. Its sleek, moist body makes it resemble a fish. Its mottled green skin makes it appear as if it were born of the forest, a soil-based life-form coated in viscous fluids.
But strangely, its faceless head makes it feel... alien.
Upon seeing this new threat, one demon loses all their color.
Emperor Melody's pupils shrink to pinpricks. A cold chill sweeps across her skin as she immediately takes a step back. "No... no, no, no..."
The other Emperor glance at her in confusion, then back at the monster.
"What is it, Melody?" Kristoff asks quietly, as the creature remains standing in the distance, not yet moving toward them.
"P-P-Pla... Plague..." Melody whispers, a lump in her throat making it hard for her to speak. "That's- that's a- a- K-K-Kuh-Kolvax...ian..."
The temperature around the elites seems to plummet ten degrees. They look at the monster in horror.
"No.. Glinch wouldn't..." Yardrat whispers. "He'd never go this far..."
As the Emperors and Dukes remain standing, uncertain of what to do, the creature's head changes.
Its faceless facade morphs. A line spreads across the middle, where its nose would normally be. The Emperors become unsettled as a giant mouth begins to materialize, filled with shark-like teeth.
"Not....... Quite....." The 'Kolvaxian' says.
The voice that escapes the creature's mouth causes Yardrat to frown. He recognizes it immediately.
"Glinch? Is that you?"
The monster doesn't speak for several seconds.
When it does, it only utters one slow, halting word.
"........Yes."
"What is this?" Yardrat asks. "Did you... did YOU create the Kolvaxians?!"
The monster slightly cocks its head.
"No."
A pause.
"Pale. Imitation." It says.
"Imitation?" Yardrat repeats. "You're trying to copy the Kolvaxians? Why?!"
The creature once again remains motionless for several seconds. Emperor Serena frowns. She detects a faint microburst of mana rising from the ground, entering the monster's body.
"Because." The monster says, its voice still very much an eerie copy of Glinch's voice. "Curiosity."
It pauses.
"Must... Investigate. Many... Mysteries."
"Are you protecting Mephisto?" Yardrat asks. "Don't you see? If you let him ascend, he'll kill you! He's an enemy to all demonkind!"
The fake Kolvaxian 'smiles', its creepy, wide mouth curving up at the far corners.
"Enemy. Demons. Yes. Me? No. Insurance."
Abruptly, the Kolvax-clone leans forward, and a look of pain spreads over its face. Before the other demons can figure out what's going on, the creature makes a strange motion with its stomach.
"Gurr... gurrk... BLERK!"
It vomits green liquid all over the ground, and a hundred tiny marbles filled with mana land amidst the vomit, all of them glowing red visible to the naked eye.
The monster returns to its standing position, that same creepy smile on its face.
"Here. Present."
"What?" Kristoff asks, looking at those marbles of mana.
"Present." The Kolvax-clone says. "For. You."
"Whoaaa," Bael says, "you don't expect us to... eat those. Do you?"
"Beneficial." Glinch says. "Healing. Restoration."
"You're out of your mind." Serena says, narrowing her eyes. "You're mad, Glinch."
"No." Glinch says. "Not... Mad. Curious. Survive. Face... Me. Become... Stronger. Mephisto... Hungers."
The demons watch, stone-faced, at the pseudo-Kolvaxian begins to descend into the dirt, allowing the decrepit soil of the Stitched Wasteland to swallow it whole. It melts into the dirt in the same way as the Kolvaxians have always done, causing Melody's shivering to intensify.
"...can't just be a copy...." Melody mumbles, her shrunken pupils gazing in horror at the facsimile of the creatures that tore her Hell apart.
When it vanishes, all of the Emperors become quiet. Yardrat cautiously approaches the mana-infused pellets, then scoops them all up in his hands and walks back to the others.
Yardrat glances at the faces of the other demons. He holds the pills up, allowing them to look at the blood-colored beads of highly condensed mana.
"Well?" Yardrat asks. "Thoughts?"
Rhesus, having finished devouring the blood, skin, and bones of Yama's monsters, cracks his neck. "I don't know what those are. I'll pass."
"Serena?" Yardrat asks, looking at the Emperor of Soul Whispers.
"These pills are not harmful." Serena says, though her expression appears grim. "In fact, they're highly beneficial. They will restore our mana reserves and replenish our fighting capabilities quickly. There is no harm in taking one."
Despite the confidence in her statement, nobody moves to grab a single pill.
"The problem being?" Yardrat asks, still gazing at Serena.
"It should be obvious." Serena says, pressing her teeth together tightly. "Think of the message this sends us. Glinch doesn't take us seriously as a threat. He's worried we'll be defeated and die to his minions too easily. He wants us to fight in our optimal condition."
Kristoff sniffs the pellets. "There's more. These are infused with the blood of powerful monsters. They don't smell familiar to me. I bet Glinch obtained the blood through his Volgrim connections. The blood likely comes from exobeasts on Psion hunting worlds."
"Even I can guess what that means." Bael says. "These pills won't just bring us back to peak condition. They'll make us stronger."
"Especially the Dukes." Serena points out. "Glinch is... fattening us up."
"The fact he can create pills capable of uplifting demons is a statement in and of itself." Dagon says coldly. "It means he possesses an ability not unlike the Wordsmith's Belial Booster. He can create pills that will uplift lesser demons."
"This much should be expected." Kristoff retorts. "We've seen the strength of his minions. Pound for pound, each one is far stronger than any of us individual Emperors. He must have discovered a way to condense energy into these pills. If he wanted, he could... build an army."
"There's another player in the game." Yardrat mutters, glancing toward the center of the Stitched Wasteland. "He wants to compete with Auger."
"And Gorn." Serena says, glaring at Yardrat.
"Not so fast." Nymph says. "Aren't you guys forgetting? If Mephisto ascends, neither Auger nor Gorn will have the power to contend with him. In a galaxy where a Demon Deity reigns, Emperors will become mere minions. Glinch isn't telling us he wants to raise an army of loyal minions. He's never given a damn about ruling our people."
The other elites lower their heads, grimacing as they realize what she's saying.
"We're just... food." Vespera says quietly. "He intends to raise me and the other Dukes to Emperor... so Mephisto can... eat us."
As the elites stand around, no longer sure of what to do, Bael scratches his head.
"Welp! If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em off, that's what I always say! Gimme one of those pills!"
He snatches a a pill out of Yardrat's hand before the Emperor of the Void can react.
"Wait, Bael, we haven't determined-!" Yardrat starts to say, too slow to stop Bael.
"Nom!"
Bael casually removes his armor once again, pops the pill in his mouth, and swallows it. A second later, his demonic energy condenses, his fatigued body restores back to its pristine state, and his muscles bulge beneath his clothes.
"WOO! OH YEAH, BABY! That's that GOOD SHIT!"
A fire ignites in Bael's eyes. He roars to the sky and pumps his muscles, while steam pours from his nose.
"Oh MAN! WHOA! I could fight a bat! I could kick a dog! I feel AMAZING! You guys have GOTTA pop one of those bad boys!!"
Bael begins dancing around, full of hype. As he has the time of his life, the other demons frown.
"Is it just me, or..." Dagon mutters.
"Yeah." Yardrat says. "His breasts did get bigger."
Vespera blinks. "Give me a pill."
"Emperors first!" Fae exclaims.
While those two hastily grab themselves a pill, the other Emperors only decide to take theirs after seeing the effects of the pills on their comrades.
Emperor Serena glances at the spot where Glinch's fake Kolvaxian disappeared into the dirt.
This isn't a game. She thinks silently. We're balancing on the edge of a knife. One wrong move, and we'll fall to our doom.
....................................................
Artwork for Vespera!
Artwork for Rhesus!

Two hundred and fifty miles. A long walk under normal circumstances, and certainly not a distance any person would trek if they didn't have to. Today, such a voyage feels ten times worse for Hell's elites, given the situation that begins to arise.
Yardrat leads the Mephisto Assault Force competently. As a vice-leader of the strongest Hell, he is no slouch when it comes to killing or commanding others. Despite having his spatial powers heavily suppressed, he still presents a lethal cocktail of destruction, able to dish out ridiculous levels of damage by turning his unstable spatial abilities into destructive attacks aimed at the weak points of Glinch's aberrants.
The problem is, as the assault force begins to push toward the center of the Stitched Wasteland, they meet far heavier resistance than they anticipated.
Originally, Auger planned to have the assault force move slowly, picking off enemies, one by one. But unexpectedly, Glinch decides not to play by the rules, and his minions begin deliberately approaching the demon elites in twos and threes.
At first, this horrifies Yardrat and the others, but they quickly realize the creatures Glinch sends aren't all merely the strongest aberrants he's ever made. Instead, they represent a diverse set of skills, strengths, and weaknesses tailored to the hunting party.
The first two monsters they fought were the Brute and the Snakedra. The next three end up being creatures that even the Dukes in the party can deal damage to, somewhat, but they end up forced to split into three groups to deal with these new enemies.
"Glinch, that bastard!" Emperor Fae yells. "He's toying with us!"
"He's treating us like an experiment." Yardrat says coldly, as he, Crow, and Fae take turns whaling on the strongest of the three monsters. "This is little more than a game in his eyes."
At the same time, Bael, Dagon, and ten Demon Dukes battle a slippery gelatin-like monster that breaks apart when struck and melts together, as if made of slime.
"Gross!" Bael moans. "It keeps stickin' to Big Bonk like glue!"
Dagon blasts it with corrosive chemicals, causing it to melt and reform. "It won't stay dead!"
The third monster ends up being a replicator-type entity, a mid-level elite on the weaker end of the Emperor spectrum that Nymph, Kristoff, Serena, and Melody have to battle with their own complement of Dukes.
Serena uses her powers lightly on the Dukes around her, boosting them to the bottom of the Emperor tier, temporarily upgrading their abilities without straining their bodies too heavily. She also sends Soul Webs to the minds of the others, linking their thoughts so they can better coordinate their attacks on the creature.
The multiplying monster boasts a ridiculous regenerative capability on par with Beelzebub, as well as the power to occasionally split its body in half, with the new form possessing the same level of strength as its original form.
In this battle, Kristoff's two Dukes end up shining the brightest. Vespera, the Duke of Gloom, and Rhesus, the Duke of Predation, both of them upgraded to the lowest level of the Emperor hierarchy by Serena's magic.
Vespera. A vicious and violent demoness with powers somewhat reminiscent of not only Kristoff's fallen wife, Fenrir, but certain abilities that echo those of the once-mighty Emperor Lucifer. Able to summon legions of darkness-imbued minions, as well as the ability to lock enemy minds within prisons of nightmares, the Duke of Gloom is a person Kristoff has high hopes for, especially if she manages to ascend to the rank of Emperor.
Her appearance is quite seductive. She wears skimpy robes that only technically shroud her skin from sight, though their semi-transparent nature leaves little to the imagination. Most notably, one of Vespera's defining traits is her utter lack of the red skin characterized by most demons. Hers is light blue, for she is actually a Satyr, one of the few that still survive to the modern era. Were someone to try and make a move on Vespera, they might find that despite being beautiful, she is a cruel and blackhearted woman who enjoys tormenting the minds of lesser beings.
As for Rhesus, he is a demon who focuses purely on the brutal nature of killing and slaughter. As the Duke of Predation, he combines the features of vampires and werewolves into one body, allowing himself to gain power by devouring the blood, skin, and bones of his enemies. His strength might not match up to that of Emperors Belial or Crow, but his ability to take a beating and continue enduring grants him longevity in battles that would leave any other Duke dead. He proved this by surviving the battle against the Cherubiim while the rest of the Third Hell's Dukes perished.
Rhesus wears a set of finely crafted demonstone armor, plated with a thin layer of silver to give it a metallic sheen. His glowing red eyes speak to the hunger in his heart, and the Slaughter Blade affixed to his right gauntlet ensures he is always ready to end the lives of those he hates. Much like Emperor Wolfram, Duke Rhesus has an animalistic werewolf-like appearance, but unlike Wolfram, he also sports vampiric fangs, demonstrating that he is the offspring of two different demonic subspecies. Every movement Rhesus makes speaks to his killing nature.
Vespera, temporarily evolved to the rank of Emperor, conjures dozens of shadowy monsters to attack and bind the bodies of the Replicator aberrant. She attacks the creature with a giant halberd made of pure darkness, keeping out of its range to slash and cut it while infecting its wounds with corrosive miasma.
Rhesus, on the other hand, brawls up close and personal, taking on the same role as Crow and Bael in the other two parties. When the Replicator beats and batters him with its club-like fists, Rhesus only grins maniacally, biting at its shoulders and hips to rip off its limbs. He greedily devours whole chunks of the chimera's body, swallowing them to boost his own strength in the smallest ways.
"Delicious!" Rhesus roars. "High quality food for this Emperor!"
The aberrant silently snaps its fist at Rhesus, battering his head and knocking him back half a step. He immediately returns the favor with a brutal punch to the monster's stomach, doubling it over while running his single gauntlet-blade through its gut.
"Nice hit! Here's my retort!"
Rhesus sweeps his arm to the right, and then the left, slicing the creature in half. He pounces on its severed body, ripping it apart with his teeth and claws, spraying blood everywhere. As he greedily devours the monster, two more copies replicate and lunge at him from both sides.
"Rhesus, you glutton. Pay attention." Vespera says with a frown. She aims her palm at one of the newly replicated copies and fires a shockwave of darkness at it, sending it flying backward. The creature hits the ground headfirst and spins, landing in a sprawled-out heap.
As for the other copy, Rhesus leaps and rams his fist into its chin, uppercutting it into the air while also shattering its jawbone.
"Not today!"
Emperor Melody finds that, unlike the Brute from earlier, she can actually deal heavy damage and even kill this replicating aberrant, but no matter how fast she does, the creature always manages to copy itself multiple times from its other living selves, defying every law of energy conservation.
BOOM! BOOM!
Melody sends dual shockwaves of concussive force into the bodies of two Replicators, making them shudder and freeze, while allowing other Emperors to land killing blows. Nymph swings a giant log of magically hardened wood at the head of one monster, crushing it into meat paste. Kristoff rams his fingers into the other one's heart and sucks its blood dry, leaving behind only a desiccated husk.
"How does it keep conjuring so many clones?" Kristoff asks, bewildered. "And each one is as strong as the others! Is this aberrant secretly a Wordsmith?!"
He doesn't receive an answer. None of the others know. However, as they fight on, they become more attuned to one another through Serena's Soul Web. They move more in unison and adjust their teamwork to kill the Replicators faster than they can duplicate themselves.
Eventually, Melody delivers the final blow on the last remaining duplicate, blowing its body apart with a grenade-like explosion of sound, causing viscous chunks to splatter her comrades. To their utter relief, after killing more than a hundred of the duplicating freaks, no others appear.
Kristoff's squad rushes over to help finish off the other two deviants in Yardrat and Bael's squads, only to arrive just in time for both to kill off their respective foes.
"Whew!!" Bael exclaims, doubling over and gasping for air, every inch of his Matriarch Armor drenched in blood. "Oh, Satan the Devil! That was- aahhh... I need a breather, woo!"
He isn't the only Emperor out of breath. Sweat lines the foreheads of every single elite, except for Serena, whose support duties kept her out of the direct line of fire. Yardrat's body shakes from exhaustion. Crow's biceps pulse fiercely with adrenaline-fueled blood. Vespera's bloodshot eyes tell a story regarding how much mana she's expended.
"We've only killed five monsters!" Nymph exclaims, her beautiful red skin glistening with sweat. She conjures a handful of leaves to daintily dab and dry herself off. "Just five! How could Glinch's minions be so powerful?"
Bael lifts his head. He looks toward the distant center of the Stitched Wasteland.
"Woo... ho-boy, not gonna lie, fellas. I don't know how many more of those I've got in me."
"We have to keep pressing on." Yardrat says through gritted teeth. "Can't you feel the slow thickening of mana in the air? Mephisto's time to ascend must be arriving soon!"
The other elites grimace. They look toward the center of the Stitched Wasteland, fearing they won't have energy to make it there, let alone ultimately kill Mephisto.
"Let's take a five-minute breather." Kristoff suggests, recovering from his exertion a bit faster thanks to the vitality of his blood. "But keep on your guard. It's clear Glinch isn't going to make things easy for us."
The other elites nod. Nobody sits down, but they all stand in place, steadying their breathing and borrowing leaves from Nymph to dry their sweaty bodies off. Even Bael temporarily removes his armor to dab himself dry.
One demon is the exception, though.
Now reverted back to his Duke form, Rhesus greedily bites and chews at the corpses of Glinch's fallen monsters. He hungrily rips them apart like a wolf that hasn't eaten meat in ten years. Some of the more squeamish demons curl up their lips in disgust, while Vespera and Kristoff appear unmoved. They've long grown used to his ways.
Suddenly, Rhesus looks at Bael.
"Hey!"
Bael looks back at him. "What?"
Rhesus points to the corpse of the slime-creature Bael helped kill. "You gonna eat that?"
Bael slowly shakes his head. He nudges it toward Rhesus with his foot, then takes a step back. "Nah, bro. Uh, help yourself. I'm................... full."
"Great!" Rhesus yells, rushing over to chew and slurp up the slimey remains of the once-human-shaped creature Bael ultimately helped slay.
"Some fellas..." Bael murmurs, looking away.
As Rhesus takes these precious five minutes to ravenously devour Glinch's subordinates, Yardrat suddenly looks up in the sky. "Bloody hell! How long has that been there?!"
The others, except Rhesus, follow his gaze.
"What the-?!" Bael exclaims.
"What is it?" Melody asks.
Serena, unable to make out anything but a glowing mass of mana, blinks her unseeing eyes. "A physical description would be nice."
Nymph rests her hand on Serena's shoulder. "It's an... egg. A flesh-colored egg."
"By flesh-colored, you mean...?"
"Sorry. Demon-flesh-colored. Red." Nymph clarifies.
The egg hovers in the sky for only five seconds before suddenly rushing downward toward the demon elites. They quickly raise their fists and weapons, ready for battle, as it crashes into the dirt a hundred meters away.
The egg cracks open. Its shell explodes into fragments, spilling a disgusting green liquid all over the dirt, the stench of which makes many of the elites want to puke.
"Oh, that's awful!" Bael whines, before reactivating his Matriarch Armor so he won't have to suffer the foul odor.
As a cloud of thick green gas evaporates, a bipedal creature steps out of the crumbled egg's remains. Its sleek, moist body makes it resemble a fish. Its mottled green skin makes it appear as if it were born of the forest, a soil-based life-form coated in viscous fluids.
But strangely, its faceless head makes it feel... alien.
Upon seeing this new threat, one demon loses all their color.
Emperor Melody's pupils shrink to pinpricks. A cold chill sweeps across her skin as she immediately takes a step back. "No... no, no, no..."
The other Emperor glance at her in confusion, then back at the monster.
"What is it, Melody?" Kristoff asks quietly, as the creature remains standing in the distance, not yet moving toward them.
"P-P-Pla... Plague..." Melody whispers, a lump in her throat making it hard for her to speak. "That's- that's a- a- K-K-Kuh-Kolvax...ian..."
The temperature around the elites seems to plummet ten degrees. They look at the monster in horror.
"No.. Glinch wouldn't..." Yardrat whispers. "He'd never go this far..."
As the Emperors and Dukes remain standing, uncertain of what to do, the creature's head changes.
Its faceless facade morphs. A line spreads across the middle, where its nose would normally be. The Emperors become unsettled as a giant mouth begins to materialize, filled with shark-like teeth.
"Not....... Quite....." The 'Kolvaxian' says.
The voice that escapes the creature's mouth causes Yardrat to frown. He recognizes it immediately.
"Glinch? Is that you?"
The monster doesn't speak for several seconds.
When it does, it only utters one slow, halting word.
"........Yes."
"What is this?" Yardrat asks. "Did you... did YOU create the Kolvaxians?!"
The monster slightly cocks its head.
"No."
A pause.
"Pale. Imitation." It says.
"Imitation?" Yardrat repeats. "You're trying to copy the Kolvaxians? Why?!"
The creature once again remains motionless for several seconds. Emperor Serena frowns. She detects a faint microburst of mana rising from the ground, entering the monster's body.
"Because." The monster says, its voice still very much an eerie copy of Glinch's voice. "Curiosity."
It pauses.
"Must... Investigate. Many... Mysteries."
"Are you protecting Mephisto?" Yardrat asks. "Don't you see? If you let him ascend, he'll kill you! He's an enemy to all demonkind!"
The fake Kolvaxian 'smiles', its creepy, wide mouth curving up at the far corners.
"Enemy. Demons. Yes. Me? No. Insurance."
Abruptly, the Kolvax-clone leans forward, and a look of pain spreads over its face. Before the other demons can figure out what's going on, the creature makes a strange motion with its stomach.
"Gurr... gurrk... BLERK!"
It vomits green liquid all over the ground, and a hundred tiny marbles filled with mana land amidst the vomit, all of them glowing red visible to the naked eye.
The monster returns to its standing position, that same creepy smile on its face.
"Here. Present."
"What?" Kristoff asks, looking at those marbles of mana.
"Present." The Kolvax-clone says. "For. You."
"Whoaaa," Bael says, "you don't expect us to... eat those. Do you?"
"Beneficial." Glinch says. "Healing. Restoration."
"You're out of your mind." Serena says, narrowing her eyes. "You're mad, Glinch."
"No." Glinch says. "Not... Mad. Curious. Survive. Face... Me. Become... Stronger. Mephisto... Hungers."
The demons watch, stone-faced, at the pseudo-Kolvaxian begins to descend into the dirt, allowing the decrepit soil of the Stitched Wasteland to swallow it whole. It melts into the dirt in the same way as the Kolvaxians have always done, causing Melody's shivering to intensify.
"...can't just be a copy...." Melody mumbles, her shrunken pupils gazing in horror at the facsimile of the creatures that tore her Hell apart.
When it vanishes, all of the Emperors become quiet. Yardrat cautiously approaches the mana-infused pellets, then scoops them all up in his hands and walks back to the others.
Yardrat glances at the faces of the other demons. He holds the pills up, allowing them to look at the blood-colored beads of highly condensed mana.
"Well?" Yardrat asks. "Thoughts?"
Rhesus, having finished devouring the blood, skin, and bones of Yama's monsters, cracks his neck. "I don't know what those are. I'll pass."
"Serena?" Yardrat asks, looking at the Emperor of Soul Whispers.
"These pills are not harmful." Serena says, though her expression appears grim. "In fact, they're highly beneficial. They will restore our mana reserves and replenish our fighting capabilities quickly. There is no harm in taking one."
Despite the confidence in her statement, nobody moves to grab a single pill.
"The problem being?" Yardrat asks, still gazing at Serena.
"It should be obvious." Serena says, pressing her teeth together tightly. "Think of the message this sends us. Glinch doesn't take us seriously as a threat. He's worried we'll be defeated and die to his minions too easily. He wants us to fight in our optimal condition."
Kristoff sniffs the pellets. "There's more. These are infused with the blood of powerful monsters. They don't smell familiar to me. I bet Glinch obtained the blood through his Volgrim connections. The blood likely comes from exobeasts on Psion hunting worlds."
"Even I can guess what that means." Bael says. "These pills won't just bring us back to peak condition. They'll make us stronger."
"Especially the Dukes." Serena points out. "Glinch is... fattening us up."
"The fact he can create pills capable of uplifting demons is a statement in and of itself." Dagon says coldly. "It means he possesses an ability not unlike the Wordsmith's Belial Booster. He can create pills that will uplift lesser demons."
"This much should be expected." Kristoff retorts. "We've seen the strength of his minions. Pound for pound, each one is far stronger than any of us individual Emperors. He must have discovered a way to condense energy into these pills. If he wanted, he could... build an army."
"There's another player in the game." Yardrat mutters, glancing toward the center of the Stitched Wasteland. "He wants to compete with Auger."
"And Gorn." Serena says, glaring at Yardrat.
"Not so fast." Nymph says. "Aren't you guys forgetting? If Mephisto ascends, neither Auger nor Gorn will have the power to contend with him. In a galaxy where a Demon Deity reigns, Emperors will become mere minions. Glinch isn't telling us he wants to raise an army of loyal minions. He's never given a damn about ruling our people."
The other elites lower their heads, grimacing as they realize what she's saying.
"We're just... food." Vespera says quietly. "He intends to raise me and the other Dukes to Emperor... so Mephisto can... eat us."
As the elites stand around, no longer sure of what to do, Bael scratches his head.
"Welp! If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em off, that's what I always say! Gimme one of those pills!"
He snatches a a pill out of Yardrat's hand before the Emperor of the Void can react.
"Wait, Bael, we haven't determined-!" Yardrat starts to say, too slow to stop Bael.
"Nom!"
Bael casually removes his armor once again, pops the pill in his mouth, and swallows it. A second later, his demonic energy condenses, his fatigued body restores back to its pristine state, and his muscles bulge beneath his clothes.
"WOO! OH YEAH, BABY! That's that GOOD SHIT!"
A fire ignites in Bael's eyes. He roars to the sky and pumps his muscles, while steam pours from his nose.
"Oh MAN! WHOA! I could fight a bat! I could kick a dog! I feel AMAZING! You guys have GOTTA pop one of those bad boys!!"
Bael begins dancing around, full of hype. As he has the time of his life, the other demons frown.
"Is it just me, or..." Dagon mutters.
"Yeah." Yardrat says. "His breasts did get bigger."
Vespera blinks. "Give me a pill."
"Emperors first!" Fae exclaims.
While those two hastily grab themselves a pill, the other Emperors only decide to take theirs after seeing the effects of the pills on their comrades.
Emperor Serena glances at the spot where Glinch's fake Kolvaxian disappeared into the dirt.
This isn't a game. She thinks silently. We're balancing on the edge of a knife. One wrong move, and we'll fall to our doom.
....................................................
Artwork for Vespera!
Artwork for Rhesus!

I (22M) regret staying local for college so much. So many factors came into play regarding my choice to stay and they made sense at the time but I wish I could go back and force myself to stay. I don’t feel like transferring is an option now but I’m so miserable. I only have 1 year left but every day I wake up and wish I was somewhere else.
Here’s my timeline
Fall 2019: start community college Fall 2021: apply for transfer Spring 2022: take a semester off bc I finished my units Fall 2022: attend a UC briefly, have to drop out because of reasons I will list below Spring 2023: continue education at local state school in order to still graduate on time
Reasons I left the UC: •my financial aid was stripped last minute, leaving me with a ridiculous amount of loans I’d have to take •I was unsure in my major (film), and I didn’t want to take more loans to figure that out •my dad was being forced to sell the house due to external circumstances, and if I came back I’d be able to help him keep it (without this house I’d be homeless) •felt I may have better opportunities at the state school instead of the UC
Fast forward to now, I just finished my first semester at the local state school under what I feel is a better major (Creative Media), but I feel so empty. I’m taking units at an accelerated rate to graduate on time but it doesn’t feel worth it. The whole point of a college degree is to help get a job, but this degree does not feel like it’s going to help. My school doesn’t help with internships or anything, but even if they did I wouldn’t want to work bc then it would cement me here. Everyday I’m either at school or doing nothing. My school doesn’t help with internships, none of which would matter anyway bc I can’t bear getting a job here bc that just cements me to being here longer. I commute from home because I live so close (20 min) but at this point I’d rather go into debt than live here any longer. Which is weird because I have a perfect home life. I can do whatever I want whenever I want, i buy my own groceries and have my own freedoms, privacy, etc. but I still crave a change.
I want to be an actor but I can’t find any auditions or classes near me that I haven’t already taken. There are no theatre or improv clubs at my school. It got so bad I tried to make my own improv group but it fell apart bc we didn’t know what we were doing. I know I fucked up bad staying here and it feels like I’m just letting my life slip away. I’m almost 23 and stuck here until I turn 24 since that’s when I’ll graduate and whenever I remember that it makes me wanna die.
I know “the grass is always greener”, but I genuinely feel like I’d be so much happier living away from home. Because even if it was worse at least I’d be experiencing something new. Every time I drive around this town it feels like I’ve done everything here.
I’ve talked to a therapist about this but I don’t feel like much progress has been made. Mainly I’ll just forget I feel this way for a few weeks and then I’ll remember and get depressed again.
I am such an outgoing person so being locked in house with no reason to leave drains me so bad. I need to get out of here no matter what it takes, but I don’t want to drop out of college either. I don’t know what I can do.
I know I’m just a guy who tried desperately to cling onto the past, but it feels so unfair that I have to pay for it with 2 years of my life. I’ve felt this way since January, which is past when applications are due so if I wanted to transfer I’d have to apply in the fall and then wait until next fall, which by that point I’ll already be graduated from the state school. I don’t want to drop out of college but I’m open to anything that gets me out of my situation and helps me experience something new. I have around 30k saved and no college debt, so luckily I’m not tied here financially anymore, but that doesn’t make me feel any less stuck.
TLDR: chose to go to school far away, but when I left my family had to sell our house so I came back to help and go to college locally. House got kept but now I’m miserable living in it and feel like I may have been better off letting them sell it and not coming back.

Hi all! This is my first review as I've dived into this addicting world of indie fragrance. I hope you find it helpful - CCW too! I'll be rating it on a scale of 1-5; 1, I'll destash and 5 is a definite full-size purchase. I literally just received these samples yesterday so I can't quite speak to the longevity yet except for one that I am wearing today. I'll try each one for all-day wear but I was too excited to post my review.
A little bit about me: I'm always on the hunt for the perfect smell-like-a-rose scent. You know how in romance novels the main heroine is described with "a trace of roses follows as she walks by" or something ridiculously romantic like that? That's what I aspire to. But I also want to be the witch in the story - dark and sultry and mysterious and probably a badass. Think of patchouli and incense - I love that stuff. A little sweet, a little spicy. I'm not crazy about too sharp scents or on the flip side, powdery dusty scents. I want to feel transported or transformed when I wear perfume.
Isabella - Notes of rose are combined with a light resin, white tea leaf, and a rare honey/milky-musk. I purchased this sample because I saw a high review of it from u/Zaltara_the_Red in her rose spreadsheet. Do you want to smell like a lovely little cabbage patch doll? Then this perfume is it for you. It's creamy and sweet first, then rosey. It's really delicate and soft. It's the perfume I decided to wear today for longevity. It's faded into something even softer but still there. Like skimming a rose across your nose, setting it down, and taking a sip of tea. It slightly reminds me of Rose Jam by lush but without the sticky sweetness of Rose Jam. It's very feminine, not overpowering with roses (I could probably actually use a little more rose). I love it. 5/5 will full-size this.
Beatrice - Skin musk, 2 white musks, "Crystalline" musk, and grey musk. In the bottle and wet on the skin, it reminds me of a day at the beach. The smell of freshly applied sunscreen with a hint of shea butter. (I'm still learning these notes but I'm guessing it's the white musk.) It faded into something a little more mature. I think this perfume could have used a kick of spice, but it is pleasing to smell. Golden and soft. 3/5 I think if you love beachy smells without the coconut, you'll enjoy this one.
Dance with Me - A superb coumarin-laced lavender combines with fizzy pink grapefruit, and it all rests on a bed of white musk. SO MUCH GRAPEFRUIT. Do you remember that Grapefruit perfume by Bath and Body Works? This is it right off the top. Fun fact, I used to wear that B&BW scent in my early 20s and it was like a man-magnet. I'll try Dance with Me one day to see if it has the same effect in my 30s now ha ha. I did not get any lavender or coumarin, and to be honest, I had to Google coumarin ("freshly mown hay"). I'll be interested to see if any other notes come through more as it lasts on my skin. It seemed to fade quickly. I liked it, not sure if I'd wear it as a signature scent though now. 2/5 mostly because I think I've outgrown it but maybe I'll boost my rating after a full-day wear.
Lavender Corset - Lilac, musk, versatile, feminine, clean, sophisticated, long lasting, cooling, summer scent. Guys, this was pretty close to that romance novel scent I'm chasing. I felt like I smelled like a garden. Side note: I love lilacs. For three years, I have tried planting lilacs in my yard but they die each time so if you have any gardening tips, throw them at me. Back to it - I have tried Just Lilacs scents before, and the lilac is strong in this one (iykyk). Lilac is at the forefront of this perfume and then it is followed by light musk. It is indeed clean and feminine. Con: it is a sharp scent. It faded into something a little softer, but it had me wondering "Do I like this? Is it still too sharp?" so it will require more testing. You would really have to be a fan of floral, feminine scents. It was not powdery, which is a plus in my book. 3.5/5 maybe a 4 depending on all-day wear.
Queen of the Night - A deeply perfumy blend with a deeply foody core. If your goal is to smell like a kitchen witch, try it. It is very perfumy. Toffee syrup, a little nutty. It's like eating pancakes smothered in syrup on a crisp September morning. This is a really nice fall scent IMO. It's really warm and cozy and feels a little bit like I'm being enveloped by a cozy cottage kitchen witch. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of witch I'm vibing to be. 1.5/5.
My Love Like is a Red, Red Rose - A very comforting, sweet, and almost sugared rose--not sharp at all. Floral. As I said before, this is one of my "maybe this is ~the rose~ scent that becomes my signature." Alas, it will not be. It is sweet. The rose note is stronger than Isabella. Although at the cost of it not being sharp, the softness is powder as opposed to cream/sugar. Kinda dusty. Mature. Meh. 1/5.
Amethyst - A sharp amber to start combines with a smoother and more caramel-like amber and a great shot of lavender on top of it all. This was one of the freebies sent to me. As it described, it's a sharp amber. Kind of like a punch in the face at first. Then the caramel comes out to smooth out the sharpness. Unfortunately for me, the lavender seems like a weak shot. It's somewhere hanging in the back but I have to search through the amber. It is very amber-heavy. It gets softer as it lingers on my skin, but I guess I learned I really don't enjoy amber. 1/5
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba - Mysore sandalwood, suede, frankincense, patchouli, 4 vanillas. This was the second freebie. I was honestly so surprised by this one, in a good way. So another fun fact about me is that I ride horses. Western. Barrel-racing. And smelling this perfume, I was the Queen of Sheba arriving in the middle of a Western movie scene. The suede is a twang that is calmed by sandalwood, patchouli, and vanilla. The vanilla is a strong backdrop of the perfume. It fades and the suede comes through. Like the leather of a saddle. Surprisingly, and because I wouldn't say vanilla is my vibe, I liked it. I would try this for a day to see how it lasts. 4/5
And that, my friends, is my first review! I'm still learning so I hope it was helpful. I have a larger sample order of BPAL arriving soon so I'll post my review of those too. I also have one lone order from DeathandFloral (Rose Seltzer) that I'll throw in a review of with the BPAL.
Do you have any of these scents? What do you think?

I want to preface this by saying that I do think most people have potential in the dating market, for the vast majority of people they’re well-adjusted and have enough qualities that would make them a good partner. All of this is also admittedly anecdotal as it’s based on my own experience as someone in this situation.
With this, as someone who grew up isolated , I don’t think you have a chance in the dating market if you came from a background like this for so many reasons.
The biggest one is social skills and having normalized social situations. It took me years just to be somewhat comfortable in social situation, nevermind being proficient in talking to others or flirting. If you’re isolated you simply don’t get those small experiences of talking to people and being around others that most people get in high school and the like, which understandably sets you back.
There’s also the issue of potential trauma that comes with that background. For many others including myself, you also have to live with CPTSD, PTSD or a myriad of other mental illnesses because fun fact: people don’t do well under isolation for ling periods of time. This in itself I feel is a death sentence as mental health gets painted as such a red flag that you basically just get written off the minute you start talking about it. I hate how I’m penalized for something I had no control over, even when I’m getting help such as medication and therapy. But it isn’t enough, because apparently having a mental illness gives people “the ick” which, tbf they are entitled to that, but at the same time you feel really empty.
I feel like I’m broken and no one will want me. I want love so bad and have for so long but it’s something that you can’t even talk about for fear of sounding entitled.
It’s all a joke, life is so shitty, I just want to fucking die. I didn’t ask for this to happen but I’m fucking here anyways, just fucking kill me

There's a reason why were seeing so many public freakouts of so called "karens" on the internet. Why there's so much seperation and perversion between people nowadays.
OOGA BOOGA.
Yes.
Humans are more similiar to apes than we like to admit.
We are wired to throw shit at each other for our own amusement. Wearing a suit and a tie and talking about the macro-economic developments of the third quarter doesn't change that.
As soon as the power grid goes out and people don't have any water and food you'll see the mask come down.
Life is painful when you believe the lie that we live in a society that rewards the one with the highest productive output for the benefit of our society.
That our government cares about us, that we're all in this together and this is not a "one wins/one loses" game. And that it's ENTIRELY your fault, and your weirdness, why you don't fit in.
I am one of those people who cannot cope with this society. It's demoralizing. It rewards psychopathic traits. Not just on social media but in real life.
The more I grow up, the more I observe how it all boils down to status.
!You're socially awkward?
You're not weird. You're the average person.
You could be a total piece of shit person and dress like a wealthy person, signalling status and people will treat you better than you deserve. Watching social experiements where people pretend to be famous, walking around with bodyguards just shows this. Suddently everyone is this fake celebs biggest fan.
!You rap about violence and drugs? (literal murder)
You'll be worshipped by a large proportion of this society. You fulfill their shiny object syndrome. A bunch of depressed, fake happy people, scrolling and worshipping truly weird people. People who put satanic references in their songs with life's totally foreign to most. Who's weird?
My empathy is reserved.
Reserved for my family, friends, and people who were unfaily treated by the system.
Like the children in the congo who had to mine the cobalt used in the laptop I am writing this on.
I have empathy. When walking outside for example and looking at a stray dog I want to help and am motivated to work my ass off, to attain power and influence in this backwards society to help it. But when dealing with rude people in public, and other people's ego's, their personality, their world view and need to feel important by starting shit with me or giving me mean looks. I could not care less if they died from a heart attack right infront of me.
When being numb feels better than feeling attached to your surroundings, then that's a problem. Or perhaps its not. Perhaps it's a blessing, if able to be controlled.
From what I've seen most people wouldn't really care if I was the one catching the bad luck. As long as the lion is fed, and they have a seat on the tree, it will not shake their little world. Afterall, they don't know me. I am not part of their circle.
I bet some would even record a TikTok like "YOOOO, GUYS YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SEEN."
#prayforhim #empath
Again, psychopathic society. It makes me want to meditate in the forest naked at night during winter, become and absolute BEAST phyiscally and mentally, untouchable, just to be able to be secluded from them and give money to people in need. I've been there before.
For my sanity I refuse to be anything other than stoic, dealing with people. It's all a psycho babble bullshit mix of needs and wants. Fucking, eating, shitting. It confuses me and its draining. I find it hard to read in-between the lines.
My honesty is often not appreciated or seen as rude or weird. People's chitty chatty small talk just seems so fake.
Why care, when only my parents, truly care about ME?
The only times when I truly connect with people is when going through hardship together. I think this might even be what creates true bonds. And love.
A psychological and emotional connection allowing us to depend upon each other for survival.
I am done people pleasing and caring how I come across.
You might relate...
FUCK. I've been so socially anxious at times that I could not even stand in the subway without looking in all sorts of directions, trying to look away from people in attempt not to stand out or come across as creepy.
Either this society is just sick, or I am sick. either way
From now, most people might not even lift a micro-expression in my face.
I focus on my breath in every situation.
Asses my moves, for financial freedom.
Nature is calm and peace. Perfecting a craft is purpose. Creating art is relief.
I think I am at the point where in a movie, the villian-arc would begin
But Zen is the way.
We're all gonna make it Brah
#deep

In across the spider-verse, the climaxe of the movie is reached when Miles decides that he's not going to let his father die even if it will most likely break the multiverse, after being given a vision of the spot killing his father.
This is weirdly also the goal of the main antagonist kingpin in the first movie. Miles knowingly stops kingpin from bringing back "his" family so the multiverse can be put back on track.
While I'm sure we can all sympathise with his intentions, Miles dosent seem to have learned the lesson given by the first movie and seemingly disregards the "with great power comes great responsibility" code all the other spider-people have accepted. Especially seeing as tho it's very likely he will loose not just his dad but his mother and everyone else if he dosent succeed.
A great example of consistency with this idea is in the PS4 spider-man game where Peter chooses to loose someone close at the risk of not being able to save more people later. To me this is the hallmark of the tragedy that is spider-mans life and what makes him so compelling. (No spoilers if you know you know)
Have I missed something crucial about Miles and his intentions or mindset going off to save his dad? It feels like the most forced part of thr movie to me and I'd love someone to help me understand so I can enjoy the movie even more than I already do! (It's a solid 8/10 to me)

Hello hope to get a straight forward answer online since I feel like I’m getting the go around from my old manager.
I recently found out that someone had out there two weeks in and I left a note about rehiring process with my old manager. The person leaving is my friend and as far as I know everyone who works there valued my work ethic and I’m someone who usually goes above and beyond when it comes to the customer. I was a favorite at the window with most of our regulars.
That being said I do suffer from mental health issues and due to covid, a nephew being diagnosed and ultimately dying of cancer and substance abuse issues I did have a problem with attendance. That being said once I was there I worked hard and at one point was doing a lot of the work a shift leaf should be doing because she was also going through something intense.
My mental health got so bad that I should have been fired for job abandonment. My manager gave me a final warning instead and after that I was pretty great on not missing, woudl always pick up shifts, work on holidays and stay late as a closer.
I basically left because my nephew was dying and I kept crying at work anytime anything happened. I also had a traumatic encounter with a costumer who called me a “flag it” and then proceeded tofollow me to the back to try and physically fight me. The police were called and nothing except me getting traumatized happened. Which kind of hurts my feelings because I feel like all that was done was me getting told “next time try and call a manager when something like that happens” when I really didn’t do anything to elicit said behavior other then tell her that she was my problem because I’m that moment she was.
I’m on the spectrum and have boundary issues, and I didn’t realize that me being honest in that moment wasn’t appropriate. I corrected said behavior.
Anywho when I left, I put my two weeks in because I felt like my life was falling apart due to my sadness.
I was informed also that my old manger ticked “no” on is this person rehireable but she keeps making it seem like she can’t hire me rather that doesn’t want to hire me so I’m confused on whether it’s more of a “I could not hire you” due to that box being left untucked upon my exit.
I liked working for Starbucks. My nephew died and I’m complety sober and on meds which means I’m clear headed and reflecting.
I just want to know what are the criteria for unrehireablility. And wether or not I’m wasting time trying to get rehired because no one is saying no and all the “yes but not right now” seem to not make sense given they have hired new people it’s just not me.
Like I said I am neurodivergent so a lot of these responses feel hopefully but I think she might just be trying to tell me nicely to stop trying because she thinks I will retaliate like she does. But I’m just confused
I hate interviewing because of how much stress being judged by a person who doesn’t know me. Because I don’t look autistic it comes off as me being some jerk who is pretending to be autistic but I really struggle with subtleties.
Could someone just tell me what is going on without the patronization in trying to protect my feelings. I’m an adult and I know how to process bad feelings. Pretty well actually, cause again my nephew just died of lung cancer, and im out here doing life as best I can.

There's a reason why were seeing so many public freakouts of so called "karens" on the internet. Why there's so much seperation and perversion between people nowadays.
OOGA BOOGA.
Yes.
Humans are more similiar to apes than we like to admit.
We are wired to throw shit at each other for our own amusement. Wearing a suit and a tie and talking about the macro-economic developments of the third quarter doesn't change that.
As soon as the power grid goes out and people don't have any water and food you'll see the mask come down.
Life is painful when you believe the lie that we live in a society that rewards the one with the highest productive output for the benefit of our society. That our government cares about us, that we're all in this together and this is not a "one wins/one loses" game. And that it's ENTIRELY your fault, and your weirdness, why you don't fit in.
I am one of those people who cannot cope with this society. It's demoralizing.
It rewards psychopathic traits. Not just on social media but in real life.
The more I grow up, the more I observe how it all boils down to status.
!You're socially awkward?
You're not weird. You're the average person.
You could be a total piece of shit person and dress like a wealthy person, signalling status and people will treat you better than you deserve. Watching social experiements where people pretend to be famous, walking around with bodyguards just shows this. Suddently everyone is this fake celebs biggest fan.
!You rap about violence and drugs? (literal murder) You'll be worshipped by a large proportion of this society. You fulfill their shiny object syndrome. A bunch of depressed, fake happy people, scrolling and worshipping truly weird people. People who put satanic references in their songs with life's totally foreign to most. Who's weird?
My empathy is reserved.
Reserved for my family, friends, and people who were unfaily treated by the system.
Like the children in the congo who had to mine the cobalt used in the laptop I am writing this on.
I have empathy. When walking outside for example and looking at a stray dog I want to help and am motivated to work my ass off, to attain power and influence in this backwards society to help it. But when dealing with rude people in public, and other people's ego's, their personality, their world view and need to feel important by starting shit with me or giving me mean looks. I could not care less if they died from a heart attack right infront of me.
When being numb feels better than feeling attached to your surroundings, then that's a problem. Or perhaps its not. Perhaps it's a blessing, if able to be controlled.
From what I've seen most people wouldn't really care if I was the one catching the bad luck.
As long as the lion is fed, and they have a seat on the tree, it will not shake their little world.
Afterall, they don't know me. I am not part of their circle.
I bet some would even record a TikTok like "YOOOO, GUYS YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SEEN."
#prayforhim #empath
Again, psychopathic society. It makes me want to meditate in the forest naked at night during winter, become and absolute BEAST phyiscally and mentally, untouchable, just to be able to be secluded from them and give money to people in need. I've been there before.
For my sanity I refuse to be anything other than stoic, dealing with people.
It's all a psycho babble bullshit mix of needs and wants. Fucking, eating, shitting. It confuses me and its draining. I find it hard to read in-between the lines. My honesty is often not appreciated or seen as rude or weird. People's chitty chatty small talk just seems so fake.
Why care, when only my parents, truly care about ME?
The only times when I truly connect with people is when going through hardship together. I think this might even be what creates true bonds. And love.
A psychological and emotional connection allowing us to depend upon each other for survival.
I am done people pleasing and caring how I come across.
You might relate...
FUCK. I've been so socially anxious at times that I could not even stand in the subway without looking in all sorts of directions, trying to look away from people in attempt not to stand out or come across as creepy.
Either this society is just sick, or I am sick. either way
From now, most people might not even lift a micro-expression in my face.
I focus on my breath in every situation.
Asses my moves, for financial freedom.
Nature is calm and peace. Perfecting a craft is purpose. Creating art is relief.
I think I am at the point where in a movie, the villian-arc would begin
But Zen is the way.
We're all gonna make it Brah
#deep

for the past couple of years i’ve been stuck in this cycle of i want to die to life’s great, whenever i finally feel like i’m getting a fucking break from stuff i get hit with the shittest news and then i go into this weird mood for weeks where i feel like my brains heavy, i want to cry constantly and every single thing infuriates me on a scary level. My whole life’s been a shit show the only reason i’m here today is i want to join the Army and live that life for as long as possible but of course little things have post poned that and my mental healths just building up worse it’s like i’m being tested to see if i can make the date of my basic training. I can’t talk to no one as it puts my career at risk or even potential to be post poned so i feel like ranting to no one or strangers will help get a lot off my mind cus fuck me man life fucking sucks when i feel at my highest

I just read this story and I'm dying to talk to someone about it. I actually read it once before but I was pretty young and it was so long ago I'd forgotten almost everything about it. But once in a while it would pop into my head, mostly when I was thinking about painting a room. And now that I've reread it, I just can't stop thinking about it. It's so weird for lack of a better word. I usually hate stories that are this ambiguous, but it actually works really well here. Everything feels so surreal but also mundane - the setting itself, the way the characters interact with each other, the way they seem to just accept all the bizarre shit happening around them (if it really is happening). It reminds me of The House Next Door, but more Lynchian. I have no idea what happened, but I love it. Lately I've been into stories set in suburbia where there's just something kinda off, and this story scratched that itch beautifully.
It's not often I wish I was back in an English lit class discussing a story, but this one would be perfect for that. There's just so much to sink your teeth into here and so many ways you could interpret it all that no two people are gonna have the same read on it. This is the only thing I've read by Kelly Link, but if all her stuff is this good, I'll definitely read more from her.

After skipping April, here are some inspiration snippets from Berlin, Germany and wider. Career and other cool insights. Here is March.

Week of 1st (May)

1. 🤔 Do you know any shortcuts/tips/tricks on how to get an appointment at Ausländerbehörde? If so, please share in the comments or drop me an email. Thank you so much!
2. 🚃 Lost something on public transport? Here is the website to deal with it. It will be sold at an auction if you do not pick it up in 6 weeks. These are done quarterly, and see you at Auktionshaus Beier in July because I need some AirPods.
3. 🚗 Germany is extremely dependent on the automotive industry and their exports. Don’t quote me on that, but the big ones make roughly 1/3 of their revenues in China. Now, look at these charts and think: What sets modern cars apart? What does it mean for Germany? Soon, the brand will be the only differentiator.
4. 🙌 Pragmatic Engineer (Gergely Orosz) gave me a nice shoutout tweet. A must-follow if you are interested in tech/engineering. One of my recent favourites is this interview with Steve Yegge, which is full of interesting insights.
5. 🤖 If you are like me, you maybe feel worried that your ChatGPT prompt game is weak (especially after reading all those "prompt influencers" milking the trend on the bird app). A while ago, I even linked to a “Prompt Engineer” as a future profession. But according to Ethan Mollick's Guide to Prompting, we do not have much to worry about. In a nutshell: just try things out and then repeat.
6. 📦 eBay-Kleinanzeigen, one of the best German websites (😅) with 40M monthly users, will finally rename to Kleinanzeigen on 16.5 after being sold to Norwegian classifieds specialist Adevinta in 2021. Most of it will stay the same; I am delighted my “Top Zufriedenheit” status will also be migrated.
7. 😔 Bad news: N26 is laying off 71 (4%), Knister Grill (Munich) insolvent; Flink shrank for 8k (down from 21k!) employees since April 2022.
8. berlin choice of the week: activists vandalized a few luxury shops on K’damm, and of course, the commentariat delivered again on all sides of the spectrum. Also, BVG has a new type of tram that looks like a car. 😅
9. ✈️ This week I learned that BER Terminals 1 and 2 are connected. You can use any security control to access gates at both terminals.
10. 💬 Briefly: SellerX (Berlin) is rumoured to be in a sale process; HelloFresh and Delivery Hero are, unsurprisingly, growing slower: check their Investor Relations pages for details and take it with a pinch of salt; Bosch plans to purchase TSI Semiconductors' assets for $1.5 billion to enhance its semiconductor business with silicon carbide chips; Finn (Munich) CEO Max-Josef Meier resigned after harassing several female colleagues on a company event.

Week of 8th (May)

1. 🚂 If you have decided to take on €49 ticket, Exberliner prepared a nice list of suggestions for excursions from Berlin. Worth a save!
2. 🤑 Here is a summary of research on money and happiness. I like Nick’s conclusion: Increased income is associated with greater happiness for lower-income individuals. For high-income, unhappy individuals, further income is unlikely to increase happiness. For high-income, happy individuals, while more income could enhance happiness, the effort required may not be worth it.
3. 😔 Bad news: CleverShuttle (Berlin) insolvent; Shopify 20% of employees (most of German org).
4. berlin choice of the week is an interesting Reddit AMA from an U-Bahn driver from a year ago.
5. 💬 Briefly:
6. Getir wants to own them all and is reportedly buying Flink—enjoy it while it lasts;
7. Tier reportedly selling itself;
8. Vice News, a former alter news source loved by millennials and eventually copied by everyone, is in serious trouble;
9. TeamViewer from Ba-Wü posted 13% YoY growth (151M);
10. SAP wants to enter LLMs with an investment into Aleph Alpha—it will surely be expensive;
11. Lilium (Munich) needs/wants to raise €250M;
12. founder of once-hyped Gorillas, Kagan Sümer, is building something new in HealthTech called Mirror (no website yet);
13. his other three colleagues founded meal-as-a-service for restaurants, Tasty Urban.

Week of 15th (May)

1. ✌️ Here is another reminder to check out my article with 40+ questions you can ask at the job interview. Disclosure: not written by ChatGPT!
2. 👻 Like all the startups beyond Series B, Bolt also plans to become profitable soon, specifically in the next 12 months, and then IPO in 2025. They might also do payments? More at Reuters. Meantime, Lyft, another Uber competitor, is firing 1100 employees.
3. ⚡️ Remember all those predictions on the Russian gas and the collapse of Germany? Here is an interesting article about the concept of substitutes in economics (the fallacy: “When the average person thinks about a 40% reduction in natural gas supplies, they implicitly assume that each natural gas-dependent industry must cut its usage by 40%.”), but it is also worth reading the comments for differing opinions (= free markets are BS.)
4. 👀 Besides your burgers and curries, Lieferando started to deliver 100 different MediaMarkt products inside the Berlin ring (useful if you urgently need a phone charger or a phone, lol? and bad for their competitor Arive). Food & high margin product delivery is probably here to stay, but groceries? I think not.
5. 📚Blinkist, a Berlin-based app that always felt like cheating to me, was bought by Go1 from Down Under; nobody asked me for my opinion, but a good time to exit with all the Generative AI knocking on the door! Now I should probably go back to my book.
6. 🌊 Have you ever heard of Seaflooding? Me neither, but it reads like a great idea. Flooding parts of the Sahara to reduce the ocean levels? Plus, make some energy on the way? Let’s do it!
7. 👟 Adidas is stuck with €1B worth of Yeezy sneakers since the man lost his mind, but, amongst other batshit crazy stuff, found a purpose in antisemitism. They plan to sell them gradually and partially donate the proceeds. (€, 🇩🇪) What a problem to have.
8. ⛴️ Exberliner delivers again! Berlin has plenty of ferries; I see myself using some in the summer. This article also made me think I need a “handpicked Berlin bucket list.”
9. 😔 Bad news: nobody is publishing news about layoffs anymore! There are three options: 1) all layoffs are done; 2) all layoffs are silent; 3) nobody is laying off. I vote for 2). Infarm leaving Berlin & Europe; okäse (Köln) insolvent.
10. berlin choice of the week is this DDR map of Berlin from 1988; comments deliver as usual.
11. 💬 Briefly:
12. swedish Northvolt plans to build a battery gigafactory in Schleswig-Holstein (and employ 3k people) with support from the state and Bund - careers;
13. Revolut’s CFO is leaving, which is never a good sign, especially after problems with acquiring a banking licence in the UK. On a more positive note: they will start to sell ETFs via Berlin’s Upvest;
14. Trivago, the troubled aggregator of the aggregators, changed almost their complete board;
15. VW will restructure Cariad, its software arm, replacing its CEO with Peter Bosch (ex-Bentley);
16. Google did not release Bard in the EU because of GDPregulation worries;
17. Unstoppable Finance (Berlin-based crypto play) wants to get a banking license in 2024;
18. Mobileye will do automated assistance and navigate-on-pilot functions for Porsche;
19. FS Italiane ordered 40 locomotives from Siemens worth €300M;
20. Rheinmetall is planning to start production in Ukraine.

Week of 22nd (May)

1. 🚴‍♀️ If you have ever wondered how many bikes pass a certain checkpoint in Berlin, you have your answers here. (via this post on berlin)
2. 👀 I found out about Himmel Unter Berlin, an exclusive invite-only exhibition. I did enter the waitlist, but if I could be your +1, please let me know. 🙏
3. 💸 After eight years of rental price caps, landlords (incl. mine) just seem to love ignoring the rules and ask for too much rent! (🇩🇪) Analysis of 6K cases in 2021 shows that 98% were overcharged. Hah.
4. Bitpanda, an Austrian crypto investing platform, jumped on the AI hype train and will invest $10M in an AI chatbot. Ok.
5. In Saxony, AfD’s Sebastian Wippel brought the topic of chemtrails to the state parliament. What’s next, Flat Earth?
6. Sifted reports that Bolt is close to buying Tier. There are still some micro-mobility companies left, but I am still unsure how such a seasonal business can be profitable long-term. Bolt is betting on many horses, and only time will tell if we will still see so many scooters lying around in 2 years. Related:
7. ☝️I previously recommended Matt Levine and his Money Stuff, and this week he wrote about blitzscaling of Uber being possibly illegal. The VC-subsidised “winner takes all” mentality caused partial destruction of competition and could be considered predatory pricing. Worth a read (second chapter)!
8. 😔 Bad news: nothing to report. So instead, data from last week’s poll: 26% (41) of voters know 10+ people laid off since April 1st, and 38% do not know anyone. The rest (36%) are in-between. Hard to draw conclusions, but clearly, silent layoffs are happening.
9. berlin choice of the week is a flat directory of smaller real estate companies. Good luck if you are on a search now.
10. 💬 Briefly: Tesla will start spending on marketing (inevitable with all the competition); ThyssenKrupp wants to IPO its hydrogen unit Nucera (careers) in June for 4B; Cara Care founder Jesaja Brinkmann ALSO behaved inappropriately towards female colleagues at a party in December and is OUT; Intel also wants to invest in LLM developers Aleph Alpha from Heidelberg; after Mercedes also VWis leaving Russia; DB ordered 73 new ICEs (🇩🇪) for €2B and wants to hire thousands—careers; ATU was hacked (🇩🇪)—I wonder if my car data is LOST or STOLEN.

Week of 29th (May)

1. 📉 Germany is, because of a second negative quarter in a row, officially in a mild recession (GDP fell by 0.3% for the last quarter). Well. On the other hand, some startups (esp. renewables) were hiring extensively last year, as the analysis of Sifted shows. To me, Helsing from the Sifted list sounds promising, but ask them if they have a product already. Careers.
2. 👎 Most of the Google/Amazon/other reviews are useless. First, a lot of them are fake and second; they can be bought, and third, they are skewed because the majority of people never review.Gergely Oroszdid an extensive analysis of Glassdoor reviews after layoffs and I think the whole thing proves the point that looking at them is useless and a waste of time.
3. 💩 OpenAI founder Sam Altman said they might pull ChatGPT out of the EU because of the regulation shortly after he also told US regulators that AI should be regulated. I guess only his regulation is the correct regulation?
4. 🛒 Instead of selling itself to Getir, Flink raised €150M from existing investors (they took a haircut to the highest valuation at €2.5B, now at around €1B). In addition, they are letting 100 employees in HQ go and are pulling out of France after their €100M Cajoo investment (🇩🇪, €). On top, Aldi Süd will experiment with delivery around Mülheim (🇩🇪) this July. Are you bullish or bearish?
5. ☝️Big organisations are often arrogant and inefficient. It recently happened again to Microsoft, as reported in this anecdote where Satya Nadella scolded his R&D team. Another good lesson that the size and throwing money at things often doesn’t work.
6. 😅 One of the weirdest political debates I have seen since in Berlin is around the closing of Friedrichstrasse for traffic. Now it will be open again from the 1st of July. But hey, what is the point of just closing a street without planting trees and making it much more pedestrian-friendly? They did it in many other cities, and it worked. Half-assed attempts make no sense.
7. ✈️ Here is a longer profile in German of Ryanair and its success (🇩🇪) after their annual report. They are profitable, are expanding their fleet and want to hire 10k.
8. 🧨 Before joining N26, you might want to read this great analysis from Miriam at Sifted. Bullish or bearish?
9. 🐟 Here you have an Insta post of some of the best lakes around Berlin, which you should pair with this temperature monitoring when the time comes. From my perspective, the time is not here yet.
10. I tried what3words a couple of times, and I remember thinking, “Wow, what a great idea”, before going back to using Google Maps. This week I learned they burned £119M to generate £2.5M in revenue in the last six years. What a time to be alive. This, kids, is what a vitamin looks like instead of a painkiller.
11. ☄️Great news. There is probably no imminent danger of getting erased by an asteroid: We still have at least 1000 years left on Earth unless we destroy it ourselves first!
12. 😔 Bad news: Circus (Hamburg, 35/25%); Meta 6000 (unknown for Germany); Moss(Berlin, 30), Flink (Berlin, 100).
13. 💡 Speaking of layoffs: I have previously linked to “how to act” guidance, but it was not as good as this LinkedIn post from Mayuri Reddy. Read it and share it.
14. 🇹🇭 I have never been to Thailand or Thai Park yet, and this is changing soon; Exberliner has tips on what to eat in Thai Park. I am going with Pad Thai. See you around!
15. berlin choice of the week is this discussion about Pfandpiraten and how much they can earn. Fascinating! “They estimated that about 928,000 people actively collect Pfand in Germany. Of them, 56% make less than 4€ a day. Of them, 28% collect enough that it is their primary income.”
16. 💬 Briefly: Solaris Bank is raising fresh money (€50M); Klarna moved its goal to reach profitability this summer to “this year” and is reportedly “on track”; Flix is expanding like there is no tomorrow: India will be its 42nd market; Neeva, a Google search ads-free alternative full of ex-Google execs, is no more; Meta was fined a record €1.2B for illegal data transfers from the EU to the US beating the previous record of €746M by Amazon.

-------- You can get these weekly. Thanks for reading and feedback.

Part 1
Context: You think you had a life before, but you simply can't remember. You remember screaming in pain, pleading for a name that you can't remember before it all went dark. Now, you are back in the land of the living, your memories gone and the name you may have been praying to... is the Dark Prince himself. Half-demon, half-Fae, he is a legend not to be trifled with. And yet... you appear to have once been the person that mattered most to him. His beloved.
Setting: The Necromancer's Tower
Tags:[MM4A][Widows to Lovers?][Necromantic Wizard Speaker][Yandere Dark Prince Speaker][Resurrected Listener][Childhood Friends/Rivals][Protective][Reunited][Spicy][Reverse Comfort][Comedy][Flustered][Family Drama][Amnesia][Fantasy][Necromancy][Vulnerable for Listener][CW: Mentions of MurdeAngst]
Usage: You may tweak or record this script. Gender flipping is OK! Please credit me if you use this script in any of your projects. If you would like to use this script for a paywalled recording, please note:
Monetization: All forms of monetization are OK with me! Youtube, Patreon, etc. I would appreciate being able to listen to the recording, if possible. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
Check out the rest of my scripts by using the Script Directory
[W] = Edvin, the hapless wizard/necromancer
[E] = Elwyss, the Dark Prince
[Scene opens in the necromancer’s tower]
[SFX: Fire crackling]
[You are meant to be resting while the wizard potters around downstairs, but it’s difficult. Instead, you creep closer enough to listen in on his incantations]
[W] “Let’s see… Memory spells, memory spells… Damnit, it is not lost on me that I cannot recall where I put the book, now stop mocking me, UNDEAD!”
[SFX: A ghostly giggle]
[W] “Listen here, if I don’t find a way to help them, the Dark Prince is going to march into the afterlife and pull his blade on you lot. Do you want that? Cause it seems like it’d be pretty embarrassing to get killed in this life and then have the same man come to do it again!”
[Pause…]
[There is a suspicious lack of giggling this time]
[W] “Mmhm, that’s what I thought. Do you have any idea how terrifying it is to have the man storm into your safe space?!”
[SFX: The door slamming open]
[E] “Edvin!”
[W] “GODS NO-! U-Uh… I mean, my Prince!”
[The wizard bows quickly, flustered]
[Pause]
[E] “Edvin, what I am about to ask you must be kept in the utmost confidence!”
[W] “Oh, do you need more of that creme? I told you, trying to fight giant scorpion women is a bad idea. The moment they realize you’re male, you know those stingers are-!”
[E] “Edvin!”
[W] “S-Sorry, my Prince. How can I assist?”
[The Dark Prince paces for a moment before he heaves a sigh:]
[E] “I… need your advice on romancing my love once more…”
[W] “...Oh. Oh!”
[SFX: The door slamming shut]
[E] “Shh! You must never speak of this.”
[W] “Yes, sire! Of course, sire!”
[The wizard stands posted, looking as though he’d rather be anywhere else]
[E] “What to do, what to do… I’ve never had to… to ‘romance’ them…”
[W] “Really?”
[The Dark Prince shoots him a look and the wizard quiets]
[W] “A-Apologies, sire. That wasn’t meant to be sarcastic… How was it you found a relationship with them in the first place?”
[Elwyss throws his hands up in frustration]
[E] “We did what we’d done since we were children - fought! All the damned time! Violently! And then that normally turned into kisses which normally led to the bedroom and then we’d be mushy in private for a few fours and then go fight other things besides each other!”
[W] “Erm-”.
[E] “I’m half-Fae and half-demon, Edvin! I am in a constant state of needing to pick a fight and/or cause havoc! But… They fear me, now… If I swagger up to them without a shirt, roll my shoulders, and ask to fight, they simply flinch now…”
[Pause…]
[He paces across the stone, arms folded behind him]
[E] “...They were always gentle if you could get them alone… If you could earn their trust. I was always the most fearful of upsetting that part of them. Edvin, you’ve wooed a partner or two, please… If you have perspective, it’d be most appreciated.”
[The wizard sighs and strokes his beard]
[W] “...I suppose I was rather the catch, in my youth. Quite frankly, your highness, being earnest is your best bet. They only know you for your legacy and, ahm, deeds…”
[E, groaning] “Those are things I’d hope to introduce last… How does one woo a partner with my legacy? “Oh, don’t mind me, I just conquered a continent, brought seven kings to their knees, slayed a fleet of dragons, and stole a Dullahan’s steed, naming it Goliath just to spite the mouthy Dullahan I slayed! And that was just the last two years! Want to kiss me, now?!”.”
[W] “Buuut… maybe they’re into that?”
[E] “...What.”
[Pause…?]
[Wait, are you into that???]
[W] “Hear me out! You have legions of men, and women, all outside and in between, and monsters that would throw themselves into your arms-”.
[E, bemused] “I do???”
[W] “Without question! Has your elder brother never shown you the letter room?”
[E] “The what???”
[SFX: The wizard walking and opening a heavy dooa LOT of paper rustling]
[Pause…]
[E] “Dear Lord! Why are all of them coated in lipstick? That can’t be good for the parchment, certainly?”
[The wizard retrieves a letter at random and opens it]
[W] “Let’s see…”
[SFX: The letter being opened]
[W] “Ahem… “O’, Dark Prince. You are in my dreams every night, looming over my bed with a malevolent smirk, flexing those subtle muscles, and demanding I strip”.”
[E, flustered] “I most certainly am not!”
[W] ““I pray that you will allow me to carry your offspring-””.
[Pause]
[E] “STOP! STOP AT ONCE! Gods above, that woman is going to get herself killed thinking like that! What if a werewolf is looming over their bed?”
[The wizard squints at the paper for a moment]
[W] “Well, I imagine he’d be into that. His name is Steve, apparently.”
[E] “I’m sorry, but he mentioned ‘offspring’. How would…?”
[W] “Well, the spell is rather simple if you-”.
[Elwyss holds up a desperate hand and the wizard pauses]
[E] “...Stop! I… I don’t think I want to know. Now.”
[W] “I’ll bookmark it for your reading later, sire… But, if you found each other over the years through combat, how was it you found each other when they were in their calmer, more vulnerable state?”
[The Prince pauses with a sigh]
[E] “...I… spoke with them freely. I trusted them with my most vulnerable secrets, things I had never told anyone else. I expected them to mock me for my weakness, but… they simply smiled and told me they were glad we were friends…Glad that I would be their husband…”
[His voice catches and, for half a second, you think he’s about to weep. He seems to choke it back, however]
[E] “...I told them of my brother’s disdain for me…and mine for him. Riess, the half-angel and half-Fae prince. Angelic, beloved, and betrothed to my love’s older sister, Maeve. His mother was always treated better than my own… Rest her soul.”
[Pause…]
[W, surprised] “I… I’m so sorry, highness… I didn’t realize things were so sour between the two of you. I knew things were tense, especially given what happened to your fiance…”
[Pause…]
[E, bitter] “Neither of them have even come rushing to visit, despite them being with us once more… Riess knows he can’t take me in battle, and it infuriates him and Father both. I can only imagine that is where the muddled waters of my family tree’s hatred comes from. Like always, it is just us here to pick up the pieces… except, now, I am alone without their guidance…”
[W, concerned] “...My Prince, you… You look like you’re having trouble breathing…”
[E, voice small] “I am alone…”
[...]
[SFX: The Listener walking forward]
[Both men jump as you present yourself]
[W] “GAH! How are you so sneaky?!”
[E] “M-My love! I… We didn’t expect you to join us…”
[Pause…]
[W] “...You were listening the whole time, weren’t you?”
[E] “...No.”
[Pause.]
[E, with a facepalm] “Nooo….”
[W] “Beans.”
[Pause?]
[The Prince tenses as you approach him and offer your hand]
[E] “...You… offer your hand?”
[Pause?]
[He laughs sheepishly and takes your hand gently]
[E] “Perhaps I should be asking you what you want, hm? You know, when you phrase it like that, it seems so simple…”
[W] “Certainly more simple than hedging bets on them loving danger. I, uh… I’ll go ahead and close off the letter room. Some of the letters in there are so degenerate that I think it’d make even you blush, my Prince.”
[Pause?]
[E & W, in sync] “No you cannot read the letters.”
[Pause!]
[Elwyss chuckles a little]
[E] “They have us there, Edvin. They are royalty, too.”
[E, with a sigh] “...Fine. If you two want to make a night of it, I’ll have supper sent up with some wine. I am NOT responsible for any disturbing nightmares you get as a result, however.”
[SFX: Edvin hurrying off/the door opening and closing]
[...Pause]
[E] “...He did just set us up on a date and then scurry off like a scared mouse, yes.”
[...Pause]
[E, a bit happy] “I like him, too. He’s always been silly… but I have to scare him a little. If I don’t, he thinks it’s OK to secretly make my horns glitter when he thinks I don’t notice. Or he turns the tufts of my ears pink…”
[Pause?]
[E] “Yes, he did it before I went to face King Aramis. Not going to lie, running an immortal Lich through and having his dying words being “Pfft, nice ears” has pissed me off for five years straight now.”
[Pause]
[The Prince shoots you a look but it’s less frightening this time. More like having a very, very scary friend]
[Pause]
[E] “If I do end up in Hell, I’m going to find him, run him through again, and shout, “PFFT NICE EXPOSED RIBCAGE!”. Asshole.”
[Pause <3]
[He chuckles again, eyes warm]
[E] “...No, I can’t say I’m in a hurry to get there. To be honest, right now, I’d give anything just to stay in this moment… Just so I could cherish you again. But… a night you’ll give me freely is more than enough.”
[He glances toward the mountain of letters with an exasperated sigh]
[E] “...even if it is going to involve me being humiliated to Hell and back.”
[Pause]
[SFX: The fire crackling and paper rustling as the scene fades out]
[To be continued]

Lora Jones gazed blankly into the forest as she sat alone, knees hugged tightly to her chest, almost forgetting the uncomfortable flaking boards of the porch beneath her. The air was still and deathly quiet, and an indeterminable stirring had drawn the girl outside; cutting through the silence as if calling directly to her. Lora listened intently, intermittently escaping her daydreams to scan the treeline in hopes of encountering something unreal. Something different. Better.
The feeling of being watched was one Lora never found respite from, but as she sat there perched on the porch’s top step the understanding that this wasn’t of the usual malevolence that stalked her wherever she went seemed almost inherently undeniable. This presence was one of positive intent. Soothing, like the mother she’d never had but always longed for.
Lora tentatively got to her feet, the bare skin of her soles rubbing against the moist evening grass, still wet from the prior day's soft rain. As she was about to turn and go back inside, the forest cried out to her in an ethereal, desperate wail. But only ever so briefly. The girl froze, unsure of herself despite the deep, revelrous rays of affection pulsing and radiating from within the trees. She desperately wished to explore, to become one with it all, however her father had expressly forbade her from any such excursions beyond the property’s borders. Especially past the treeline, into those woods that may as well stretch on until the end of the universe. Lora knew what the consequences could be if she were to disobey.
The rusted hinges of the wooden front door creaked and with its closure disappeared anything resembling warmth or hope. Simply cold, fetid air; tainted by the stale musk of Lora’s father as he sat slumped, dozing in his chair. Lora crept across the floorboards, each squeaking almost as if to spite her. Her father stirred, but he didn’t open his eyes.
Lora gripped the knob of her bedroom door, twisting it ever so slowly so as to not make another sound, but it was too late. She turned, stifling a scream as she saw him swaying in the hallway towards her.
“Where do you think you’re going, girl?”
Lora’s father’s breath stank, and it was all she could do but to gag when he stuck his tongue down her throat. The bedroom door clicked behind them, and in her mind Lora went to the forest. She didn’t return until it was long over, but even then she was only half present. Her thoughts reduced to little more than grating static. Lora resolved through the fog that it was time to be free from all the nastiness of her homelife, even if it meant starvation or being ravaged by some sick wild animal. One with razor-sharp teeth and killer claws. Anything would be better than staying there, in that decrepit old cabin on the border of the ancient woods. That horrid, ramshackled shack on the cusp of the forest that breathes.
Lora awoke, tears streaming down her cheeks. When she caught her reflection in the grime-smudged bathroom mirror she couldn’t help but vomit, holding her long dark hair back with one hand while gripping the seat with the other; grasping onto it like someone on the verge of falling. Tight enough to make her fingers ache. She washed her face, then, trembling, crept down the hallway into the living room. Her father’s chair sat empty. The television, off. The fridge was devoid of alcohol, explaining his absence. Unfortunately the cupboards were barren as well, and the young girl’s stomach growled in its emptiness. She settled on the crumbs remaining in an old box of off-brand sugary cereal, the sweetness of which tasted strangely bitter.
As Lora looked absently through her wardrobe for something to wear, she remembered the vow she’d made to herself in the night. About how she’d be freed from this nightmare, one way or another. A flash of vengeful determination made its home in the depths of her gut and it spread until she was no longer acting with conscious thought, snatching a black trash bag and stuffing clothes and keepsakes inside. Lora’s eyes glistened as she rubbed the friendship bracelet between her fingers before sliding it onto her wrist, trying to recall the face of the friend that’d given it to her all those years ago. She couldn’t, and her desire to escape grew ten-fold. Anger was overtaken by remorse and then dread before coalescing into an anxiety-ridden desperation. Looking over the bottles of medication atop the dresser, Lora sent them rattling to the floor with a shriek. Just another set of cogs in the terrible machine that made her feel so awfully hollow. She wouldn’t need them anymore, Lora told herself. Not where she was going.
Her father had locked the front door behind him, a cruel attempt to keep his daughter captive. Luckily for her, Lora had learned many useful things during her confinement. Like how to pick the lock. She removed the pin from her hair before retrieving a thin sewing needle, getting to work. He could be back any minute. A long, increasingly tense struggle ensued as Lora strained to find her way through the locking mechanism; dark as it was inside with all the windows boarded up, allowing in only thin slivers of sunlight. Finally, she felt the click. But her joy was as short-lived as any other feeling considered to be good. Lora shivered with the rumble of her father’s truck as it rolled into the gravel driveway. When he found out what she’d done, anything could happen.
Without another thought or even a look over her shoulder, Lora flung the door open so hard that the wood splintered against the frame and she burst through the threshold, abandoning her bagged-up belongings on the filthy living room carpet. Her sneakers connected with the overgrown grass of the yard before meeting the somehow tamer undergrowth of the forest floor for the very first time. Lora kept running, and she didn’t stop until her father’s furious screams faded deep into the distance behind her. Then, she ran some more.
‘Lost’ was the wrong word, because as confused in her surroundings as she was, Lora felt her trepidations slowly recede into the background. Unseen birds chirped overhead amongst the treetops, welcoming her. Encouraging her to go on. So, she did. She walked for miles through that inviting brush, all laid bare before her as if the very spirit of the forest itself were parting every obstacle in her path, and yet her legs didn’t tire, not at all. A smile quite unlike any other she’d expressed in a long time found itself upon her face. Every breath felt like heaven. The air, sweet and intensely lovely; scented like fresh pine and whipped cream. Everything, Lora felt in that long, perfect stroll among the undulating swathes of greens and browns, everything was going to be alright. Afterall, with a feeling that good, how could anything possibly be bad?
The sun hung fixed above, beaming down from the center of the cloudless, blue sky. By the time Lora realized that it hadn’t and refused to move since the start of her escape, she had begun to notice other curious things about the forest as well. Like how the densely wooded landscape had steadily and subtly changed. The ambience seemed tinged, almost. A sepia-like tone washed over the plants and trees so that all appeared almost entirely brown, punctuated by the dark silhouetted blacks of branches and leaves. They writhed, indistinguishable from one another. Still, her joyous sense of adventurous freedom had hardly faltered and Lora continued on, becoming evermore aware that the path ahead was becoming increasingly treacherous. Thorn-covered thickets threatened to claw at her skin, penetrating the denim of her jeans and scratching at the pale flesh underneath. Lora grew timid in her steps, becoming disenchanted in the forest’s solitude.
For the first time since she’d stepped foot in those woods, Lora stopped, and knew instantly that she was utterly alone. It crushed her, sending the girl to the floor. She sobbed quietly to herself, feeling the pine needles dig into her hands as she grasped at the earth. As she was on the verge of giving up and simply laying down to die, she looked to her left and saw them a foot from her reddened, tear-streaked face. A bush, packed full of ripe blackberries, as appetizing as anything she’d ever seen. Lora ravenously wolfed down more than she could count, as quickly as she could pick them, and after a nourishing feast she lay with her back against the nearest tree where she slept like a baby. Someone uncorrupted.
When Lora opened her eyes, she saw to her surprise that the sun remained unmoved. The area around her had once again changed in hue though, from the sickening reddish-brown to one of a much more affable pink appearance. Sparkling particles danced and winked through the lush clearing ahead, leading the way. The air now tasted sugary, like Halloween candy. Lora couldn’t remember the last time she’d been allowed to go trick-or-treating. Maybe she never even had to begin with. Every sad recollection and vicious intrusive thought slid right off the young girl as she concentrated on the soft crunches her feet made and nothing else, unable to touch her. Eventually, when Lora had to stop once more to regain her bearings - having abandoned a linear path hours before - she realized to her stunned delight that the woods weren’t quite as empty as she’d previously thought.
Through a gap in the trees, past an impassable grouping of thorny thickets, Lora spied a congregation of creatures that she couldn’t quite explain. Even to herself, even though they inspired no fear, their nonsensical appearance left her paralyzed beyond reproach; completely frozen where she stood, and yet grinning ear-to-ear. Cooling themselves from the heat of the summer sun in the shade of a monolithic toadstool, fluttered a peaceful assortment of strange winged women surrounded by translucent stubby things whose jovial laughing mouths led to no innards. Frogs the size of cows croaked from the sidelines and other ineffable beasts hunched and clung to the taller branches above. Lora yearned to join the scene, to be among friendly faces, but she innately understood that were she to call out, they wouldn’t hear her. Let alone begin to understand. Crestfallen in her exclusion, but invigorated by the magical presence she now knew to truly exist, Lora went on her way. Hopeful of meeting someone or something that could take her pain away, if only for a little while.
The tinny brass screech of horns bellowed in the distance, but from which direction, she didn’t know. Contrary to everything she’d learned from books about wilderness survival, wandering aimlessly proved to be the correct approach, and Lora found herself looking in on another group. Who, this time, seemed much more humanoid in appearance, for the most part. Men and women, of over two dozen in number and all intricately clothed in ornate robes and dresses as if attending some grand ball and not just a clearing in the woods stood around, enjoying one another's company. Dwarves pottered about, shrilly chuckling with each other over the din as the brass players began to toot a song likely never before heard by mortal ears that even the sunflowers seemed to dance along to. It was beautiful. To Lora, at least. The partygoers seemed nonplussed by the sweet sounds, going about their conversations and business as if they’d heard them every day of their infinite lifespan. A sickly stream of opaque, swirling orange fog separated the two parties, and again Lora knew that her pleading shouts would have no effect on the beings should she try to call out to them. Distraught, she staggered away, crippled by the dreadful loneliness which was now very much unbearable.
She wandered as if in a daze; unthinking, unfeeling. Ready to perish. The air, once sweet and warm, had turned bitterly sour and in her terror Lora craned her neck to the sky, shivering, and saw that the sun had vanished. The perfect blue sea above had begun to degenerate, turning darker by the second. It exuded an implied emptiness, devoid of stars, as if everything she had felt and seen was all just some cruel joke played by no-one. A thick, miasmic fog began to form around her, and the trees grew less dense and full of audible life. The fetid stench rising up from the swamp was intoxicating. Sickening. Lora’s belly rumbled, begging for food as if it hadn’t ever been full, and she began to weep once more, imploring some vague altruistic force to save her from her torment. She screamed into the blackened sky until her bone-dry throat stung and she could scream no longer.
Then, as quickly as she’d entered, she was no longer among trees, surrounded by the vastness of an unending and desolate desert. Lora didn’t care. She didn’t even glance over her shoulder to see what she’d left behind, she simply continued forward; unable to go on any other way. A violent wind was picking up, carrying clouds of coarse gray dust which slashed at the girl’s eyes. The dunes stretched onto the horizon in patterns that seemed to repeat infinitely and they had nothing to offer except for slow and excruciating death; a suffocating abyss.
Lora’s knees were long since weary, buckling under her meager weight, but she didn’t stop. Even though the cold, dead sand looked like a fine enough place to fall asleep for the last time. As one leg gave out and she tumbled to the ashen desert floor, Lora stared glaringly into the distance; searching for something deadly that might have the courtesy to look her in the eyes before it killed her. She saw no great and hungry beast with razor-sharp teeth and killer claws ready to devour what was left of her, but an ocean instead. Black and unforgiving. Lora lurched in its direction, and found herself on the shore. Ahead, around an arched rock formation of inexplicable nature, danced a number of fairies, male and female; waving their sparkling wands freely as if entirely without inhibition with their pale white skin exposed for all to see. Cherubs writhed floating in a congealed mass above the figures atop the formation; a loving family, crowned in shining white light. The beings reveled soundlessly as Lora watched on, still observing with fascination even as her body gave in to her exhaustion and she collapsed onto the brittle, jagged rocks at her feet. The divine group seemed to take notice of her then, and some laughed at her misfortune. Others whispered mocking jeers which stabbed at Lora, at her very being, even worse than the inhospitable ground she’d fallen onto. The insults became less direct and softer, but still impossibly cruel. They said cryptic, confusing things like ‘This one’s still breathing.’ and ‘Get her out of here.’ Lora knew that she wasn’t wanted. Not there, or anywhere else. The entire world seemed to throb in and out in a deep wavering much like the ripples on the dark, impenetrable sea and the young girl felt hands on her. Picking her up. Delivering her.
Flashes became another place entirely, until finally Lora could see again. She was at home, being lifted out by strange men. Scorching blue lights streaked her vision through the slats of rotting wood nailed to the windows and a wailing enveloped the night, drawing closer. More sirens. As she passed through the living room, Lora saw her father. All sticky and red in the face. Crushed. Glued to his chair, and bashed in. In that sinking, numbed moment that seemed to stretch on into infinity, the girl knew that the overdose she’d taken hadn’t worked, and that she wouldn’t be free. That they were going to bring her back, so that she could pay for what she’d done. Empty pill bottles littered the carpet along with the stained-brown wraps of her father’s stash, mingling with the usual cluttered garbage. It hadn’t been enough, it could never be enough. But as the blinding white light of the ambulance's interior swallowed her, Lora felt herself slipping away. She fell backwards, forever, and while the paramedics hurried about their duty and their desperate pleas became less and less clear, Lora was glad that it was all finally over.

Hi all,
Just started this game and started grinding it a bit because it's pretty fun (lvl 24). To me, it's a mix between borderlands, COD zombies, and Remnant from the Ashes (Highly recommend if you haven't played it). I've noticed some glaring issues and just want to know if the problems are generally known or if they're just part of the experience.
1) I get that people want to get loot and exp faster, but playing at difficulties much higher than your capability is infuriating for multiple reasons. Firstly, you aren't that useful to the team. Your damage is likely shit and you're likely not to have Curios that are as helpful as they can be. Second, the amount of time you waste with failed missions is frustrating. To top it off, challenges don't record progress on failed missions, so you ruin even more than just time for people. As a sharpshooter who has melee kills as a challenge, it's crappy to have to change your style entirely to play for challenges and then not even have that time matter.
2) The loot system incentivizes shit team play. The amount of times I've watched people walk/run past enemies, sometimes even while being attacked, is just hilarious. The worst part is when the fuckers come up on you when you're opening chests and steal whatever is in their. I get that if loot is out in the open it's a free-for-all, but if someone opens a chest, I give them first rights to whatever is in there. Otherwise there would just be too much incentive to play subpar and risk failing the mission. I swear I've lost several times because of people playing like this instead of focusing on not dying.
3) AFKs. Just too many of them. The worst is when they magically come back at towards the end to finish the mission.
Those are my main issues overall. Otherwise, I think the game is rather enjoyable and generally keeps providing reasons to keep leveling up in a consistent manner.
Major Edit: Turns out that some of the stuff I put up isn't what I thought. Which still doesn't explain people's behavior. Thanks!

Going back to my abusive dad
Hi, I am (21F) and my dad is in his 80's. Both parents are narcs and live seperately. My dad was my former abuser and used to choke/scream at me a lot when younger. My parents seperated because of that but my mom was also a narc. Me and my dad kept up email communications since he financed my education. Now, I am abroad and studying uni thanks to him.
In the next week or so, I will have to stay with him for a week. The problem is I don't trust that He won't blow up and try to hit me again. The flight is already booked and I can't give a good excuse to back out. I feel unsafe thinking about it as it is my old home country that I have not been at for the last 10yrs. If something were to happen, I would not know what to do.
He's a racist and I am dating someone who's race he is usually agressive against. I colored part of my hair as well. These are just small things but I am scared I might bring up a fuse by accident.
How do I protect myself and avoid as much as possible fights? He is old yet much stronger than me and can pack a punch. From his email, he seems changed and loving towards me yet I remain scared.
Edit: I will be completely alone with him. The rooms have no locks. All no doors or sliding doors. I have no excuse to stay at a seperate hotel either as it is a big apartment.
Tldr: visiting my old dad for a week who used to physically abuse me alone and with a house that has no locks. He seems changed but I dont trust. How do I protect myself come worst to worst?
Edit 2: want to add that he is dying and I have not seen him in 8yrs.

I read a lot return-to-office grievance here, there and everywhere on the internet. I'll save judgement on those who are angry about returning to the office (to each their own), but I wanted to know if anyone actually likes going back in?
I was happy with WFH in 2020, and quickly in 2021 realized the stagnation of inspiration and verve it causes. I begged to be allowed to go back into the office a couple times a week as soon as it was allowed in 2021 and have been going ever since. My workplace has no mandates, and I often am the only person on my floor...but still I kinda like it. I moved to a better office on my floor with a nicer view because no one was coming in, I get a private bathroom, the office staff clean up after me, I get more exercise, I feel more inspired by being around people and 'stuff' that only downtown offers (I live in a shitty part of Scarborough).
When I work from home I feel like slimy mushroom, slowly dying (there is only so much working in my backyard can do to alleviate this). I work in a creative role, too, so it's a terrible mindset. I find it hard to empathize with people who can't see the benefits of not being at home all the time. Hell, there's no one here, so I still get to slack off just as much as I did at home! (be honest, you slack off. As long as you get your work done, it doesn't matter).
Before haters come out, I do not support mandating a return to office, nor do I think that any employer should require you to be in-office more than three days a week if you can do the work from home. But I do think we as a people are better when we are availed of a place that is not our home to do our work.
Just curious what others think.
EDIT: typo

I just don’t understand what’s wrong with getting a day or two off every now and then, when you’re in your 11th and 12th grades. I’m pretty sure getting those two days off can’t do more damage than not getting them off. To top that off, we have to attend schools on the weekends, attend extra classes, take regular classes for near 12 hours and more at times. And then there’s of course the matter of stress, which we are just not “supposed to take”. Like what do they think dude, they think it’s our choice what gets into our hands and what doesn’t. If that’s the case everyone would top their tests, wouldn’t they TvT. And then there’s of course the matter of marks and ranks. If you’re not top 50, you better lose hopes for you’re future. And they give you “motivation” by saying that IITs have better fests and programmes and packages than the regular colleges, and then they say that’s alright if you don’t get into IITs, like my ass bro. I really wonder how much we learn in our 11th and 12th. I legit remember every line of NCERT starting from 6th to 10th, but I can’t even remember the name of the chapter that was taught to us last week. And we get one or two months to prepare for our boards, and it feels humiliating to score anything less than the top score even if you had the minimum amount of preparation. And peer pressure is REAL. People make each other feel shit for no reason. The worst thing is, even nice asf people come out to be called as “mean”, just ‘cause they’re over-enthusiastic to score more than the others. And the so-called school-buildings are sooo suffocating, like do they even know the meaning of hygiene? Zero ventilation of course, who needs the sun when you’re learning that x=1 has a hundred million solutions. And the fact that the stress gets so bad that the people hurt themselves, kill themselves, just waste their lives over something that they can’t even fully control or comprehend. And no one ever does anything about it. Even the parents and close family just ask the kids to “get the two years over with for the sake of their future”. Why don’t they see it’s. Not. Worth. It. Basic resources we need. Are they responsible for our vitamin deficiencies? Our back pains? Pcods? Hormonal issues? What if we don’t even get into a normal local college, all ‘cause they were focused on the “bigger goals” while we knew we couldn’t hit those top colleges anyways. Our education system is sooo messed up. And everyone’s ok with it? How did people even normalise it? How did the education ministry approve of this. The amount of times I’ve said “I wanna die” in these past few months is more than the amount of times I’ve seen the sky or the sun in those very months. It’s just so messed up. And i wish more people would talk about it. I honestly wanna do an All-India mass protest, but that seems soooo impossible to me. But. Yea, i like to hope (sometimes). This isn’t even half of what it’s like to be in the second half of high school, and that’s the saddest part.