Specifically talking about administrative services provided by federal ministries. It's clear this war may not be resolved soon and people in areas with no fighting are struggling because Khartoum cannot function.
So should the government move civilian services and federal ministries to another city? And if so, which city is best positioned for this role?

After the recent posts about the lightning rail, I've taken another close look at the map and notice:

The Vulyar-Vedykar Gap

The rail runs from Krona Peak to Vulyar to Krona Peak, but is unconnected from the rest of the network. The most obvious connection would be Vulyar to Vedykar in central Karrnath, so the obvious question is why not?

• Maybe it is simply new construct, planned but not built.
• Maybe during the war, Cyre successfully harassed the route, preventing construction.
• Maybe Karrnath didn't have the funds to pay for constructing this route.
• Maybe Vedykar and Vulyar are rival cities. Vedykar doesn't want Vulyar to prosper.
• Maybe the Boromar Clan is bribing House Orien to instead build a route to Gatherhold.

Irontown to Krona, Taxes on Tariffs

An additional detail, maybe the rail around Irontown is privately owned, say by a Baron Bremmer.

• Bremmer has a nephew that operates a mine near Irontown.
• He privately financed the rail from Irontown to Krona Peak.
• Technically, Orien still owns the rail, but Bremmer has exclusive usage for 70 years.
• This section of rail a large success, The Iron Council was convinced to expand the rail.
• In exchange, The Iron Council would get to set import tariffs on goods transported by rail.
• They commissioned the line to Vulyar. Orien bore some cost and fully owns this section.
• Frustrating all, Bremmer imposed his own taxes on goods passing through his section of rail from Irontown on top of the Krona tariffs.
• Many items are smuggled off the rail in Irontown, onto Lake Dark, and up the river to the Mror Holds.
• Bremmer seems to turn a blind eye to smuggling, as long as his thuggish "rail inspectors" are bribed.
• Soured by the whole thing, the Iron Council refuses to expand the line from Vulyar as long as Bremmer has control of his section.

This allows you to play with greedy capitalists and backstabbing business deals near the Mror Holds. A nod of inspiration to the adventure "Dragonshard Sundown".

The Rekkenwood Curse

Looking at western Karrnath, notice that the rail goes straight through Rekkenwood, but carefully goes around the edge of Nightwood and Silver Wood. Korth to Rekkenmark was likely the first section of rail constructed here, done to connect the capitol with its military academy and to reinforce the border. In their haste, they built straight through Rekkenwood. However, I think something happened there that convinced Orien to never build through the heart of a forest again.

Thaliost to Flamekeep

Connecting Flamekeep and Thaliost would complete one large Western Circuit. I think the reason it has not yet is pretty clear.

• Thaliost was originally part of Aundair, its capitol city! So it stayed unconnected from Thrane.
• Thrane occupied the city, the Aundairian royalty fled by rail to Fairhaven.
• Initial efforts to build a connecting rail were thwarted by saboteurs loyal to Aundair.
• Thrane then questioned the sense of building a rail to Flamekeep, which could lead those same saboteurs straight to their capitol and spiritual center.

The Historic Zilargo Line

Looking at the map, the route seems to have a bit of extra squiggle in Zilargo. Considering the Zil gnomes are the masters of elemental binding:

• The first rail was little more than a track for carts winding through the foothills of the Seawall Mountains.
• The Zil gnomes bound elementals to these propel carts, especially air elementals from the Howling Peaks.
• King Galifar commissioned Cannith to study and further develop these carts, operated by Orien.
• The rail along the Seawalls has been expanded to accommodate modern coaches, but still winds among the foothills.
• To this day, the lightning rail must slow down in Zilargo.
• This would make it a prime target for robbery.
• Luckily, in Zilargo, crime is illegal... even before it happens.
• Faint traces of the original track along the Howling Peaks lie discontinued.

The T-Bend

• There is T-Intersection between Gatherhold and Metrol, though the Metrol side is likely disconnected now.
• There is another bend in central Breland between Wroat and Stailaskur in operation.
• The shape of the T is more likely a smoothly bending triangle.
• Still, this section requires a skilled and attentive conductor.
• If, say, a train going full speed on the mainline mistakenly took the curve north, it would derail.
• A derailment at this junction would disconnect Sharn and Wroat from the rest of the rail.

Connecting Other Territories

• There are rumors of a line connecting Graywall to Wroat, but no one believes it. Droaam would benefit from trade. Ending the line at Galethspyre is a slightly less outrageous version of the rumor.
• Building a line into Draguun (Rhukaan Draal) is achievable through the Marguul Pass. But first Haruuc must appease the warlords and suppress the raiders that make their homes in the mountain ravines.
• The Valenar are too proud. They'd rather ride by horseback anyway. Lyrandar is deeply embedded in their government and so airship is poised to become the means of long transportation.
• Newthrone, in Q'Barra would like to be connected, it's just not feasible. Undaunted, King ir'Kesslan will still commission adventurers to scout a (hopeless) way.
• Orien knows better than to expand into the Eldeen, after their previous experience with woods. From most "civilized" towns, Lake Galifar is the best way to travel.

Hope you all find something interesting or inspiring from all that. For my part, I'm happy to have a reason to organize my ideas and have a place to share them.

Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
For all the Cyclone fanatics out there, I see you guys. For the 6th worst Power 5 team on this list, Iowa State has had incredible support, averaging 50,000+ fans a year even during their lows. Finally, after years of struggling minus a few nice Dan McCarney years, Iowa State’s found a coach that’s brought them consistent success in Matt Campbell. Outside of Campbell’s first year in which he went 3-9 and the latest 4-8 season in 2022, the 5 years in between (2017-21) all place in my top 7 ISU seasons over the last 40 years. Whether last year was an outlier or if Iowa State will regress to their historical mean remains to be seen, but the last 6 years have been great compared to what fans have been accustomed to.

Best Seasons and Highlights

1. 2020: 7. Iowa State: 9-3 (30.160) 2. 2000: 27. Iowa State: 9-3 (13.294) 3. 2017: 32. Iowa State: 8-5 (12.780) 4. 2018: 37. Iowa State: 8-5 (8.477) 5. 2021: 40. Iowa State: 7-6 (5.442) 6. 2005: 37. Iowa State: 7-5 (3.574) 7. 2019: 43. Iowa State: 7-6 (1.761) 8. 2004: 42. Iowa State: 7-5 (-2.644) 9. 2001: 51. Iowa State: 7-5 (-3.334) 10. 2002: 57. Iowa State: 7-7 (-4.723) 11. 2012: 65. Iowa State: 6-7 (-7.162) 12. 2009: 63. Iowa State: 7-6 (-7.233) 13. 2011: 62. Iowa State: 6-7 (-8.169) 14. 1989: 56. Iowa State: 6-5 (-10.057) 15. 1986: 56. Iowa State: 6-5 (-10.436) 16. 1990: 58. Iowa State: 4-6-1 (-11.929) 17. 2010: 69. Iowa State: 5-7 (-13.761) 18. 1985: 60. Iowa State: 5-6 (-17.317) 19. 2022: 84. Iowa State: 4-8 (-18.173) 20. 1988: 66. Iowa State: 5-6 (-18.197) 21. 1992: 79. Iowa State: 4-7 (-21.249) 22. 1999: 79. Iowa State: 4-7 (-23.653) 23. 1993: 75. Iowa State: 3-8 (-23.926) 24. 1983: 79. Iowa State: 4-7 (-25.659) 25. 1991: 75. Iowa State: 3-7-1 (-26.248) 26. 2006: 92. Iowa State: 4-8 (-30.444) 27. 2007: 93. Iowa State: 3-9 (-31.101) 28. 2015: 97. Iowa State: 3-9 (-31.892) 29. 1998: 84. Iowa State: 3-8 (-31.989) 30. 1984: 85. Iowa State: 2-7-2 (-32.012) 31. 2016: 97. Iowa State: 3-9 (-32.276) 32. 1995: 84. Iowa State: 3-8 (-32.441) 33. 2013: 98. Iowa State: 3-9 (-34.411) 34. 1996: 94. Iowa State: 2-9 (-37.584) 35. 1987: 91. Iowa State: 3-8 (-37.886) 36. 2014: 115. Iowa State: 2-10 (-42.981) 37. 2008: 111. Iowa State: 2-10 (-48.885) 38. 2003: 107. Iowa State: 2-10 (-50.450) 39. 1994: 101. Iowa State: 0-10-1 (-53.566) 40. 1997: 105. Iowa State: 1-10 (-56.575) Overall Score: 9649 (84th) 

• 184-283-5 record
• 0 conference titles
• 5-8 bowl record
• 5 consensus All-Americans
• 42 NFL players drafted

Iowa State certainly has a knack for producing really good RBs. 4 of their 5 All-Americans come from 2 RBs in Troy Davis (1995, ‘96) and Breece Hall (2020, ‘21). At just 5’8 183 lbs, Davis became the first player in NCAA history to rush for 2000 yards in back-to-back seasons, and remains one of only 2 players to ever do so. In 1995 he ran for 2010 yards and 15 TD, placing 5th in Heisman voting. He outdid himself a year later, rushing for 2185 yards and 21 TD, narrowly missing out on the Heisman, finishing to 2nd Florida QB Danny Wuerfel, who got 49% of the votes compared to Davis’ 43%. Davis won 3 of 4 regions, but lost badly in the South. Still, the tradition of producing strong RBs rings true, as Iowa State’s produced 8 RBs during the last 40 years with 2500+ career rushing yards. Notable NFL players include David Montgomery, Breece Hall, Allen Lazard, Pro Bowler Kelechi Osemele, and as a 49er fan, future Hall of Famer Brock Purdy.

Top 5 Seasons

Worst Season: 1997 (1-10 overall, 1-7 Big 12)
Remember how good Troy Davis was, especially after I described him above? Well, his teams weren’t very good, going 3-8 in 1995 and 2-9 in 1996. So you can imagine how 1997 went after he had left for the NFL. Iowa State didn’t stand a chance in Dan McCarney’s 3rd year as head coach, and it’s honestly a miracle the Cyclones let him stay for so long, as it took 6 years for him to get his first winning season. The gamble paid off though, as he was eventually inducted into the Iowa State Hall of Fame. Still, 1997 was his worst year. They had a talented freshman QB by the name of Sage “Helicopter” Rosenfels on the roster, but he wouldn’t start for another 2 years. QB was not a big issue though, as Todd Bandhauer had a respectable year, completing 48% of passes for 2514 yards 20 TD 9 INT, leading the Big 12 in passing yards and TDs. Bandhauer was a 2-time All-Academic Big 12 selection, and is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State. WR Tyrone Watley led the Big 12 in receiving yards with 827, and RB Darren Davis had 1000+ yards in just 9 games. Offense wasn’t a huge issue, but the defense gave up 44.8 PPG. The lone win on the year was 24-17 over 2-9 Baylor, and losses included 14-77 to #3 Nebraska and 20-63 to #13 Iowa, losing their 15th straight against the Hawkeyes.
5. 2021 (7-6 overall, 5-4 Big 12)
For this season to be a disappointment but also top 5 on this list tells you how far Iowa State’s come under Matt Campbell. Make no mistake, it was a disappointment, finishing 7-6 after a preseason #7 ranking, but they were still the best 7-6 team in 2021 (out of 17 teams) by my metric. Iowa State returned 4th year starting QB Brock Purdy, consensus All-American Breece Hall, 2x 1st Team All-Big 12 TE Charlie Kolar, and Big 12 Defensive POTY LB Mike Rose, so the preseason expectations weren’t unfounded. A typical ISU slow start saw them barely beat Northern Iowa, and a classic Brian Ferentz Iowa performance had the Hawkeyes take a 27-10 lead (27-17 final) despite getting outgained 173-339 in yardage. 2 weeks later, a trap game 31-29 loss in Waco all but ended the Cyclones’ playoff hopes, despite outgaining Baylor by nearly 200 yards. However, in true Iowa State fashion, they rebounded to mess up Oklahoma State’s season a few weeks later, beating the #8 Cowboys 24-21 to improve to 5-2. A 2-4 finish was mostly because of location, going 2-0 at home and 0-4 in road/neutral sites. It was a squandered year for Iowa State, outscoring Big 12 opponents by an average of 12 PPG but going just 5-4. 8 starters on offense made 1st/2nd Team All-Big 12, by far the most in the conference. Breece repeated as consensus AA/Big 12 OPOTY with 1774 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage, while Rose earned 1st Team all-conference again.
4. 2018 (8-5 overall, 6-3 Big 12)
For the first time since the Big 12 moved from divisions to a round robin format in 2013, Iowa State wasn’t picked in the bottom 2 with Kansas. Big 12 media picked them 7th, this time coming above Texas Tech, Baylor, and of course Kansas. But after starting QB Kyle Kempt went down in the season opener, and backup Zeb Noland went just 1-3, Matt Campbell gave a shot to a freshman by the name of Brock Purdy. In a sort of foreshadowing for names in the NFL, Kyle became a mentor to Brock, and Purdy exploded onto the scene, throwing for 4 TD and rushing for another in a 48-42 win at #25 Oklahoma State. He’d top that a week later, beating #6 West Virginia and Will Grier 30-14, this time the defense stepping up big to hold Grier to just 67 total yards. ISU never looked back with Purdy, and nearly made the Big 12 title game if they had beaten Texas. They finished the regular season 8-4, 3rd in the Big 12, and nearly beat 11-2 Washington State in the bowl. Campbell won Big 12 Coach of the Year for the 2nd straight season. Purdy was 6th in the nation in passing efficiency, completing 66% of passes for 2250 yards 16 TD 7 INT, on 10.2 YPA. RB David Montgomery had another 1000+ yard rushing season and has gone on to have a productive NFL career. WR Hakeem Butler was 3rd in the nation in yards per catch (22.0), getting 60 passes for 1318 yards and 9 TD.
3. 2017 (8-5 overall, 5-4 Big 12)
Before Brock Purdy and Iowa State could run, the 2017 team had to walk. Years of effort from give-it-their-all players like Allen Lazard and Joel Lanning culminated in a magical 2018 season that might just be the fondest on this list. ISU had gone just 11-37 over the previous 4 seasons, so a 2nd to last place Big 12 finish was expected. After a 2-2 start, ISU pulled off maybe the biggest win in school history, beating #3 Oklahoma 38-31, who’d go on to make the playoff with Baker Mayfield winning the Heisman. LB Joel Lanning, who was the team’s starting QB the previous 2 seasons, was the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week, logging 8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, as well as 9 rushes for 35 yards and 2 completions for 25 yards on offense. A few weeks later against Oklahoma State he’d become the 1st player in the last 10 years to record a pass TD, rush TD, and half sack in the same game. After the win over OU though, just a few weeks later Iowa State would ALSO beat #4 TCU 14-7!!! A few one possession losses later and ISU finished 7-5, but would beat yet another top 25 team in the bowl in #20 Memphis.
Lanning was named a 1st Team All-American by FWAA, racking up 114 tackles, 6 sacks, 5 TFL, 1 INT, 135 rushing yards, 47 passing yards, and 3 TD. Not bad for a former QB. QB Kyle Kempt was one of the most underrated stories of the season, emerging as the starter in the 5th game and going on to throw 15 TD to just 3 INT. Kempt was a 5th year walk-on who had only thrown 2 passes in his career prior to the Oklahoma game. By the time the season was over, he had 2 wins over top 5 teams, and today is still on the team as a coach.
2. 2000 (9-3 overall, 5-3 Big 12)
Like the 2017 team, the 2000 Cyclones came out of nowhere, a dormant program that had gone just 27-80-3 the previous decade. ISU players knew the talent they had though, led by future NFL QB Sage Rosenfels, one of 9 players that would go on to make NFL rosters. Another would go on to join the Iowa Senate, and the late LB Justin Eilers would fight in the UFC. They played a very favorable schedule, going 8-3 in the regular season with 0 wins over Power 6 teams with a winning record, but did beat 7-4 Ohio, 8-5 UNLV, and rival Iowa for the Cy-Hawk. ISU put any “soft schedule” talk to rest when they beat the Big East’s 3rd placed team, Pitt, in the bowl 37-29. Rosenfels had a nice curtain call, winning offensive POTG with 23/34 passing for 308 yards and 2 TD. Rosenfels did what he had to during the year, with deceiving stats of 2298 passing yards 8 TD 12 INT. He was a solid runner though, and would become known for his patented “helicopter” move in the NFL, rushing for 381 yards and 10 TD. RB Ennis Haywood and C Ben Bruns were ISU’s two 1st Team All-Big 12 selections, as Haywood ran for 1237 yards and Bruns led the way. The 5’6(!) JJ Moses led the team in receiving with 775 yards, and was named team MVP.
1. 2020 (9-3 overall, 8-1 Big 12)
Ahh, but it had to be the 2020 team at #1. Even my algorithm places this team way above 2000 even though they had the same record, with the 2000 team finishing ranked 27th and 2020 finishing ranked 7th. After a typical ISU slow start, losing 13-30 to UL Lafayette, the rest of the year couldn’t have gone much better. In the 3rd game they beat eventual B12 champion Oklahoma 37-30. Later on they beat #17 Texas in Darrel K Royal 23-20, essentially ensuring Tom Herman would be fired after the season, and stomped 6-4 West Virginia 42-6. ISU entered the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma as the 1 seed, and had an opportunity at the end to win, but came up short 21-27. A 34-17 Fiesta Bowl win over Pac-12 champion Oregon was pretty satisfying though, and Iowa State finished with their highest ever postseason ranking at #9. They cleaned up in the Big 12 accolades, taking up 9 of the 22 1st Team all-conference slots. Breece Hall was Big 12 Offensive POTY and a consensus All-American, with 1752 yards and 23 TD from scrimmage. LB Mike Rose won Big 12 Defensive POTY with 99 tackles, 10.5 total TFL, and 5 INT. Campbell won Coach of the Year, and WR Xavier Hutchinson and DB Isheem Young won Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Freshman of the Year, respectively. Shoutout to 1st Team All-Big 12 TE Charlie Kolar as well, who was a consistent force making 1st/2nd Team all-conference in each of his 4 seasons.

5th Quarter

Iowa State fans, what do you look back more fondly on, the Matt Campbell years with expectations of competing for a Big 12 title, or the Paul Rhoads years with a win over #2 Oklahoma State and some other fun upsets? Do you think Brock Purdy was always as good as he played for the 49ers in 2022, or is he mostly propped up by a stacked San Francisco offense? Who was better, Troy Davis or Breece Hall? Does David Montgomery take the 3rd spot or does that go to someone like Darren Davis/Alexander Robinson? Aside from going there, what makes someone choose to follow Iowa State? And how’d I do on your guys’ history?
If you appreciate the effort, please consider subscribing on substack!

The Paracausal Bunch
All platforms welcome!
We are a small EU based clan open for all to join whether you're a new light and ready to learn or a seasoned veteran. The name is inspired from the The Wild Bunch western and we though this quote from the film we fitting for how we envisage the clan.
"We're gonna stick together just like it used to be. When you side with a man, you stay with him and if you can't do that, you're like some animal! You're finished!"
We do all sorts of PvE content from casual to hardcore, anything from dungeons to raids to GMs or whatever the god of grind requires of us to have the best, shiniest loot in town.
We have experienced players who are more than happy to teach any raids, dungeons, or whatever. There is a zero tolerance on toxicity and we promote a friendly, chill atmosphere for all members. If you need help with anything, pipe up and people will be happy to help and teach.
As such, our rules are pretty simple:

• Be nice :)

Communication is through Discord which is a requirement for all clan members to help organise raids and events.
Feel free to drop by our Discord for a chat if you're interested (link on the clan page) or you can contact Amadeus#3831 or Mitropa#2591 on Discord.
https://www.bungie.net/en/ClanV2?groupid=5068239

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 75%. (I'm a bot)

Attorneys representing an activist arrested while protesting against the building of "Cop City" in Georgia have launched a legal challenge to the use of a state domestic terrorism statute against protests, claiming an "Act of free speech" is being unconstitutionally targeted, the Guardian can reveal.
The move comes amid the unprecedented arrests of organizers at a bail and legal defense fund that has helped some of the people arrested while protesting against the multimillion-dollar police and fire department training center planned for a forest south-east of Atlanta.
Exclusively obtained by the Guardian, the writ of habeas corpus filed in DeKalb county superior court on behalf of Ariel Ebaugh, arrested on 13 December, challenges the constitutionality of the 2017 domestic terrorism statute that has been used against activists and their supporters.
The petition argues that "Attempting by word or expressive action to alter, change, or coerce government policy is a quintessential act of free speech," and that Ebaugh's protest against Cop City was constitutionally protected.
Georgia's attorney general, Chris Carr, and governor, Brian Kemp, both trumpeted the arrests on social media, with Kemp calling the three "Criminals who facilitated and encouraged domestic terrorism".
The raid's timing was also only days before the 90-day window by which Victor Puertas and Luke Harper - who were arrested on 5 March and are the only protesters among the 42 charged with domestic terrorism still in jail - must be indicted or released on bail, according to Georgia law.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: Arrest^#1 fund^#2 protest^#3 state^#4 Atlanta^#5
Post found in /politics.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

I’d appreciate any leads or suggestions on where to look for short term rentals in the western suburbs other than AirBnB and extended stay hotels.
Also, what’s the best way to find immediately available (or within a few weeks) apartments in the western suburbs?
I’m helping someone look for a long term lease on a 1 bedroom with parking for up to about $1800 per month.
I’m thinking of Oak Park, River Forest, River Glenn, Berwyn, etc. but the person is flexible and doesn’t need to be close to public transit.

First of all congratulations to Heat fans on making it to the finals.
It is just amazing that the Heat made the Nuggets experience the best defense they faced this postseason despite the overwhelming size advantage.
I have watched a lot more Western Conference games than the Eastern Conference, but watching the full ECF if feel the biggest difference between the two teams is the offense.
For a few games against the Celtics, I felt that the Heat offense was straight garbage. I would pull my hair out watching Jimmy dribble the shot clock and passing it to Bam on the top of the key with 4 seconds left. But they got that flow back in game 7.
Now, I think the offensive flow was there in Game 1 even if the shots didn't fall. But, and this is just my opinion, I feel a lot of teams in the West have a better offense than the Heat's. (Warriors, Lakers, Kings, Grizzlies, Suns) And Nuggets have the best of them all.
I watch fewer Eastern games, but I suspect teams are defensive juggernauts but with albeit more stagnant offenses, like Bucks, Heat and Celtics(at least last season they were).
If you guys didn't watch a ton of WC playoff series, Nuggets defense would have been a surprise of sorts. Lots of players playing pretty well there, MPJ, Jokic, and Murray are all pretty good defenders for their positions, despite the grain of narratives.
But I think Heat's offense is where Spo will have a space to churn strategies and finds things to exploit. While Nugget's defense is in quality pretty close to Heat's, they don't have anyone with a defensive IQ to respond well to improvisations and very good random plays. Someone like Draymond or AD.
​
I have also seen a lot of fans in this sub, wondering aloud why the Nuggets are favored so overwhelmingly all across. The answer is Lakers vs Nuggets WCF. It was disrespectful as fuck, and I fucking loved every bit of it. A team with LeBron and AD could not even win one game. And this wasn't the hot garbage team with Westbrook, this was a much better team that sent the Warriors packing. Like you fuck around and win a game. But they didn't. Nuggets had the best player and a better 5-man lineup and they executed it to perfection.
​
All in all, I hope Heat comes back and we get an exciting series.

New stream of Eversax talking about KC after the Spring Cup. I don’t know how many interviews we will have so I wanted, at least, to translate the recap of Eversax as usual.
This translation will be long and separated into 3 parts:
- Part 1: Spring Cup (Preparation, Vitality, BDS, Grand Final, ExoTiiK, Itachi, Playing many BO7s, fatigue, bracket reset)
- Part 2: Negative side of social media for “unpopular opinions” from “fans” and Pros/Coaches/Casters (Toxicity, pressure to perform, Negative comments, people farming impressions, mean people on the internet)
- Part 3: Other information (EU/NA level, player’s performance, Vitality's winning streak, best coach)
Link to the replay: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1831882651 (starts near: 8.23)
I would advise you to read the parts talking about Vitality + Part 2.
→ Part 1: Spring Cup
● Spring Cup
- Preparation (12.58): He was happy since they improved compared to the Spring Open. A top 4 is a great result, but they were not good. They worked a lot between the two regionals since they had to improve after the long post-Major break [In the last translation Eversax explained that they didn’t prepare correctly before the first regional due to schedule conflicts]. His players wanted to come back so bad but it was more negative than positive. Indeed, they started to play too much and It’s not the best thing on RL. You don’t use your time efficiently and you often finish by playing without thinking so you don’t improve. That’s why he told his players to take a break of 3-4 days between the two regionals. It was risky, but It worked because they played much better during the Spring Cup. It was the first time that KC started to play well throughout the whole minor.
- Devil Fruit and PSG Tundra(14.45): On Friday it was quite easy because they were stronger than Devil Fruit and PSG Tundra.
- Guild (15.03): To reach the top 3 they had to beat Guild, a team that won against Oxygen. He thinks that KC played really well leading to this no-match (4-0). Everything was controlled but he can’t say if KC was too strong or if Guild was too scared. He said that because Guild was totally different when they had to play against BDS. But in any case, they reached the semi-final winner bracket by beating Oxygen so Guild deserved to be there since their bracket was not free.
- Winner bracket final against Vitality: Vitality played well as usual while KC was just bad. It was a no-match and they were better so they deserved to win (11:20). Their weakness was more about mentality and maybe the last regional impacted their series. KC had difficulties playing well while Vitality took advantage of this weakness from the beginning. But as usual, there was no problem with the team and they used their break after to speak together (15.45). This sweep allowed them to realize that, in their head, Vitality was different from other teams and it was one of the reasons for their bad performance. Fortunately, they solved that for the next matches and it should not be a problem anymore. That’s not something new because they had the same apprehension with BDS and rival French teams last year. They took these matches too seriously even though they should not make any difference between opponents (1.00.40).
- BDS (16.12): When they came back after their loss against Vitality, KC was not the same team. Fortunately, this defeat didn’t negatively impact his players and they won 4-0. Even though it was closer than the result, they played well and you could see that KC was the better team on the field.
- Grand Final against Vitality: As a bracket reset is difficult he wanted his players to try their best. And he thinks that’s what they did (16.57). During the first series, they took advantage from the beginning and the games were great. In fact, he said that it was the most beautiful match he had ever seen as a coach because everyone was playing so well. It’s difficult to explain it but he had this special feeling where you had only 3-4 opportunities to score in each game because players were making few mistakes. The winner was only decided on who would have taken advantage of more opportunities. However, after the bracket reset, they had to play an OT of 5 minutes in game 1. For Eversax, It was not difficult mentally but It added one more game and players started to accumulate fatigue. It’s short but also exhausting since you don’t have any breaks + every game is intense. He still thinks that KC was able to fight until the end but Vitality deserved their win because they bounced back after the bracket reset. Indeed, they still had energy after the 2-2 to punish small details while KC was making mistakes that they were not used to doing (19.40).
- Preparation for the next regional (20.03): You could see that fatigue affected all players and the last 2-3 games were difficult with all these mistakes. Now he knows how to prepare his players better. Usually, they prefer to eat less before matches. But when you have to play 4 BO7s from 5 pm to 10 pm without anything in the stomach, it’s not the best thing. So they’ll try to adjust that for the next minor.
- Importance of each regional (21.25): Each minor is important to prepare the MajoWorlds. That’s why KC cares so much about minors and they’ll work even harder to win these tournaments even if Majors and Worlds are more prestigious. Why? Because all their efforts will allow them to prepare for the last step: Worlds.
- ExoTiiK: ExoTiiK was particularly good against BDS because he led coms. Eversax didn’t understand why some people thought that he was the weak link of the team because performances depend on the three players and not only one of them. They win and lose together (51.18). People continue to underestimate him but Eversax understood what ExoTiiK can do when he’s peaking. In general, he goes on every ball and he controls his moves so well despite his 0.30 dead zone (1.02.15).
- Itachi (1.05.14): Eversax was so proud of Itachi because he started the Winter Split thinking that he was the best player in the World, but after the 3rd regional + Major, he was a little bit disappointed. Eversax felt like Itachi was missing a small thing, but during this minor, he saw this small thing again. And overall he’s so proud of his 3 players.
- Conclusion of the Spring Cup (44.35): He’s proud of their run. Indeed, his players were individually strong in the first series of the grand final and they improved since the last regional. Yes, a top 2 is not enough, but that’s also good to have some competition within a region for motivation and improvement. This rivalry between KC and Vitality will push each team further and they are creating hype for the next minor.
● Double-bracket elimination format
- Playing many BO7s (08.38): Eversax thinks that players can play 4 BO7s in a row but it’s difficult to prepare these runs. It's the particularity of this format and different from the two other splits where you normally play 3 BO7s on Sunday with breaks. He thinks that BDS would have struggled much more since they started their loser bracket way before KC. A longer break could have helped, but he can’t blame the format because you can rest if you stay in the winner bracket. That’s why the only solution as usual is to win.
- Fatigue during the bracket reset (11.50): We saw that It was difficult to stay at a high level between games. They made so many mistakes due to fatigue and it didn’t affect only KC. For example, Radosin’s own goal was unlucky and he saw that he was tired too.
- Mentality throughout the bracket (12.25): It’s difficult to not mentally drop after a 4-0 but KC bounced back and swept BDS too. They even won against Vitality once to reset the bracket. Maybe playing in boot camp would have helped to deal with fatigue but it's difficult to play at that level for so many games with so much coms.
- Is resetting the bracket too difficult?: He knew that this format gives a huge advantage to the winner bracket so it’s almost “impossible”/too difficult to reset the bracket and win the final. He just wanted the team to play well from the beginning and try their best (16.45). Still, for Eversax, this format is not the best. Indeed, it’s rare to have a bracket reset and you can see it because, for this season, KC was the first team to reset the bracket. It’s so rare to reset the bracket, but even more to win the second series. And he would say the same thing if KC was still in the upper bracket. You should have a clear advantage for the winners, but not a 80% chance of winning. Still, Vitality played well and they needed an advantage. The format is the same for everyone and if they want to rest more, KC has to win, so there’s no excuse for their loss in the Grand Final (19.05).
- BO9 with 1 game in advance (11:40): For him a grand final in BO9 with one game in advance for the winner bracket could be interesting. However, he thinks that Psyonix will never accept BO9s so It’s complicated.

///11th of June, 2006
“Dad, the moon!” I shouted as I entered the garage. My father was on the floor, under his Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, obsessively removing and re-installing pieces of the car like he always did. He quickly got up, a smile on his grease-stained face.
“Finally!” He said with his beer-breath, grabbing a towel and cleaning most of his face, before running outside as fast as he could. I followed him. I don’t know why I always liked these moments. Any child would find them terribly boring. But I always reveled on them. Maybe it’s because they were the only moments he smiled. He positioned his telescope on our front yard, adjusted the lens, drank a beer can and started looking at the full moon above us.
“Do you see it?” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him.
“Shut up.” He said, still looking. After half an hour of waiting, he started laughing. I opened my mouth to ask if he was seeing it, but I held my voice. Didn’t want to anger him.
“It’s blinking! It’s blinking Johnathan!” He laughed. I smiled. That wasn’t my name, though he called me that. Only several years later I would learn that was the name of his deceased younger brother. Every full moon, we would come look at it with the telescope. And he’d always call me Johnathan. Probably because he was always so drunk. But from always avoiding me or calling me “Brat”, Johnathan was a nice shift.
“Can I see?” I asked, and he lowered the tripod so I could see the moon. There was a small light blinking on it’s surface. It was truly beautiful.
“Fine, my turn again.” My father shoved me back, adjusted the tripod back, and started looking at it again. “It’s blinking so much tonight… Maybe… Brat, get my camera!” He shouted at me. I quickly went inside the house, and looked around for the camera in the living room. There it was, on a little pile of beer cans and empty rythmol boxes in the corner of the room. I hurried back outside, as fast as I could, as I did not want to anger my father.
I stopped on my tracks as soon as I was out of the house. There was a strange being involving my father. It looked like a snake, but I knew it was anything but a snake. There were not snakes that big where I lived. And certainly not with human faces. My father seemed oblivious to it, looking through his telescope, but the thing was all around him, from the bottom of his legs all the way to the top of his head.
“It’s blinking so much…” He said, in awe. The creature looked at me, locking eyes with me, and smiled, revealing several sets of sharp fangs. And then, it disappeared. My father looked at me, he was sweating. “I think… I need to lay down for a bit…” He muttered, before falling on the grass. I spent the entire night trying to wake him up, before my mother found me there crying the following day.
///09th of November 2021
“And that’s why you decided to study astronomy? Really?” Melissa laughed.
“Oh, come on, babe… Don’t make fun of my tragic past.” I said, finishing my waffles. She went to the fridges, grabbed the orange juice, and poured some in our cups.
“Shall we toast?” She asked.
“With orange juice? And what for?”
“Your impending graduation. What else?”
“Impending? Ha! I didn’t even start my capstone thesis.”
“So, what will it be about? Venus, right? Or was it Mars?”
“Nope. Too many people I know will already be working on planets like Venus and Mars. I thought about Neptune, but it’s too far away. So I figured, why not the Moon?”
“Please, don’t tell me this is about your father.”
“Mel, he wasn’t the best dad in the world. But he did left me his collection of vintage cars. This is what paid for my education.”
“He didn’t left it to you, it was divided between you and your mother.”
“Regardless, I feel like I owe him this. Apart from the cars, the moon was the only thing he loved.”
“You owe him nothing, Ezra.”
“I need to know what the blinking lights are! Lunar transient phenomena, it’s how they call them. There’s no scientific explanation to what they are.”
“Just because there’s no known scientific explanation, it doesn’t mean one does not exist. And if there’s one, it’s certainly not creepy snake-man” She laughed.
///04th of September, 2022
The first thing you feel when you start seriously investigating the moon is how mysterious it is. We only went there a handful of times, and then never again. All reasons are given for this, but it never really felt right to me. Maybe what happened to my father always made me feel paranoid about the subject, but I somehow felt there were things about the moon that were hiding on plain sight.
The focus of my research, the lunar transient phenomena, is incredibly unknown. Few studies were done about it, and most of them were never published or were abandoned. The few that were made available were either from little-known universities in third-world countries, in languages that I couldn’t understand and without English translation, or mere compilations of recorded occurrences. I found some theories. The lights were caused by magnetism, or by gasses, or by asteroids, perspective…
But mere hypothesis were not enough for me. I needed to know. I needed to understand. I needed… I needed to confirm it weren’t those lights who killed my father that day.
So, I delved deep into the research. I spent weeks in my bedroom, reading books and more books, entering all sorts of websites, sending emails to experts, looking for anything that could give me more information. But through all my effort, the only thing I could find were theories or hypothesis, all of them with little to no evidence. In my search for answers, I started straying further away from modern science, entering strange websites and reading books that talked about blatant pseudoscience, like astrology or the paranormal.
///17th of February, 2022
“So, what books will you be basing your capstone on?” My orienting professor asked. I could not see his face properly, we were talking through a videocall and he was not very tech savvy, so his eyes and nose were out of the frame.
“Chris, I can only see your mouth!” I laughed.
“Sorry…” He said, adjusting his camera. The framing was not perfect yet, but it was better. "Have you read the books I sent you?"
"They... They were not what I was looking for."
"What were you looking for, Ezra?"
"I told you. Answers. I have been looking for answers, yet I only find questions."
"We will only be able to find real answers when we actually set a lab on the moon. Until then, we will have to live with merely hypothesizing."
"I know, but..."
"Have you tried reading Kulikovsky?Or Hakan Kayal? Non-american studies in general."
"Yes, professor Chris. But... All studies seem to contradict themselves. Some point to studies that I can’t find anywhere, like they don’t exist anymore. Like they were erased by someone…”
“Some texts were never made digital or registered. It’s very unfortunate.”
“Everyone tries to find a logical explanation... What if there isn't one?"
"What is this truly about?"
"What?"
"It's just... You do know you can change your capstone thesis theme, right? Maybe an analysis of something more well-known could work better with your methodology."
"Chris, I will not change my mind. We have discussed this before."
"Well, well... I talked to one of my former colleagues, he is retired now, who also studied the moon, but his research was more focused on gravity. He told me there's a book called "A Study of the Moon with a New Lens" or something like that. Written by one Dr. Karl Hollfern in 1935."
"That is way before LTP was even catalogued."
"Catalogued, yes. Recorded? No. Hollfern studied extensevely the lunar mysteries. Unfortunately, he was executed by the Nazis because he opposed them. But his research lived on. My friend told me they have one of his books in the library. But it's in German."
///18th of February, 2022
I entered the library carrying a bag full of German grammar books and a dictionary. I would not let a little language barrier stop me from getting to the truth.
“Hello, how can I help you?” The librarian asked, barely averting her eyes from her cellphone.
“I’m actually looking for a book that could either be in the astronomy section or in the foreign titles section… Can you help me?”
“Which book?” She was still looking at her phone, seemingly playing one of those generic casual mobile games.
“It’s in German. Old, from the 1930s. Talks about studies of the moon made at the time.”
“Unusual request, but ok…” She put her phone on the counter, and started typing on the computer. “Can’t find it. Do you have the author’s name?”
“Karl Hollfern.”
“Uncanny. It’s unlisted.”
“What?”
“We have it in the library, but it’s not available. We usually do this when books are being cleaned. Usually takes a couple of days… It says it won’t be listed until… Until 2100?
“What? How does this makes sense?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been working here for sixteen years, and have never seen something like this. Regardless, I can’t lend you the book. I can’t even let you access it in library grounds.”
///23rd of February, 2022
I was drinking my Starbucks cappuccino while trying to make myself comfortable on the shopping mall bench, to no avail. I was tense. I had never involved myself with something like this. If my mother or girlfriend knew, they would kill me. An older man made his way out of the crowd and patiently sat down next to me.
“You were supposed to be sitting on the bench next to Nike. But no problem.” He laughed.
“Sorry. I got confused…” I facepalmed.
“I got the book you asked me too. But the price is going to be different in your case.”
“As in more expensive?”
“No. Normally, I charge twenty five grand, or double If the job is hard. In your case, the job was ridiculously easy. I will be charging five grand only.”
“Thanks! I’m transferring to your account right now…” I said as I typed on my phone.
“The book is in your car.”
“How did you… Oh, of course.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” He got up and left. I immediately went to my car. There it was, Eine Untersuchung des Mondes mit einer neuen Linse.
///28th of February, 2022
“Honey, are you still awake?” Melissa asked me. I was sitting on a pillow in the corner of the room, aggressively doing more and more Duolingo lessons.
“I’m busy, Mel.” I said, without averting my eyes from the green owl.
“Is this about that German book you have been taking everywhere?”
“No…” I blatantly lied.
“Honey, you’ve been up all night. It’s ten to six.”
“What?”
“You are obsessed with this shit, Ezra! Look at you! This is the third time I find you here studying German instead of sleeping!”
“I’m sorry, but you do know I have a capstone thesis to finish, don’t you?!” I screamed back at her.
“Oh. So this is what’s all about, right?”
“Babe, it’s not like that…” Before I could say anything, she stormed out of the apartment. I stood there, frozen, for a minute or two, before I went back to my Duolingo.
///3rd of March, 2022
“Hello Ezra” Chris said, as I adjusted my camera. As usual, I couldn’t see his face properly.
“Good evening, professor Chris.”
“Ezra, are you okay? You look tired.”
“I’m fine.” I said vehemently.
“Ezra… I… I have bad news for you.” When he said that, I felt like a hand was smashing my heart. “The university has rejected your intended theme.”
“W-what?”
“You’ll have to pick something else. I’m sorry.”
“What? Why?!”
“Apparently there’s information about Lunar Transient Phenomena that is undisclosed to the general public. The feds were here yesterday, talked with the dean about it. Said that researching the LTP was considered meddling in national security affairs, and that all projects focusing on it were to be halted.”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m sorry. I know how much time you have already invested in this. But we’ll find something else, Ezra. There are more lunar mys…” I interrupted him.
“Why is it so hard to research a simple lunar phenomena?! Every time I advance, everyone tries to block me! They will not stop me from uncovering what happened to my father!” I slammed the table.
“What?”
“This will not stop me.” I muttered, while ending the videocall.
///8th of March, 2022
After some turbulent days, I was finally making progress again. My knowledge of German wasn’t great, but knowing basic grammar, using online dictionaries, and with a little help from online German studying communities, I was making my way through the book.
The book was almost a century old, yet I felt like I was finally making progress. The research by Hollfern was fascinating, but disturbing. He described how the “blinking moonlights” if watched carefully, could be interpreted as having meaning. My German was advancing but far from perfect, so I didn’t have the exact translation, but it said something about the moon speaking in some sort of secret code using the lights.
It also referenced some books, most of which seemed to not exist anymore, but some of them not only existed, I also managed to download their scanned PDFs. It was pretty unorthodox for a scientific study. There was a book on symbols and sigils of different religions, a compilation of theological texts about Gnosticism, a book compiling works by Schopenhauer, and a Hindi scroll explaining Chakras.
I didn’t understood yet how everything connected. Seemed like a strange collection of unrelated weirdness.
///10th of March, 2022
I stumbled upon something I had previously overlooked. There’s an work by Schopenhauer where he discuss reading the Upanishads, which are old Hindi texts. The Hindi text I had downloaded was translated to English, but what if I looked for the original? Maybe there was something I wasn’t shown.
The original had a section that was censored in the English version that talked about a Devas that was corrupted by an evil unknown entity called that attached on it’s solar plexus and made it miserable with overwhelming sadness and pain. A thing described as a floating jester.
///13th of March, 2022
The phone in the living room started ringing. I left it there, unwilling to stop reading the book and trying to translate the contents. The call went to voicemail, and then I heard the caller recording it:
“Hey Ezra, I know you’re going through a bad time, but as your orienting professor, I care for you. You didn't show up for any of your tests. I know you seem to be focused on your research, but this isn't the-" I unplugged the damn thing.
///16th of March, 2022
I got evicted after not paying my rent. Or I was supposed to be at least. I picked up my research stuff and rented a cheap motel room on the outskirts of my town. I could not pay for the rent, and least not for now, I spent most of my money buying books and old magazines during the last weeks. I don’t need a place to call mine for now. I just need to find the truth.
I know the government will come after me. I’m coming too close. But if they want me to stop, they will have to kill me. I’ve already lost everything. This investigation is all I have left.
///18th of March, 2022
There's an old website that I found while researching. A true relic, seems to be from the early 90s. It contains old conspiracies theories, like stuff about the Illuminati and New Age, Satanic Panic, how Ronald Reagan was actually replaced, among other things. But there was something among the insanity that I felt was the last thing missing in my investigation. The true reason why we never returned to the Moon and why the Soviets never even attempted landing on it.
According to that website, during the last moon expedition, in December of 1972, the astronauts were secretly instructed to find out what was causing the Lunar Transient Phenomena, and spent three days on the Taurus-Littrow Valley, the region where the phenomena was more frequent on the previous five years. They were carrying a seismometer, as the most influential theory at the time was that the LTP was being caused by moonquakes cracking the surface of the natural satellite and releasing gasses.
But what the seismometer detected was that there were no such thing as moonquakes. Their equipments revealed humongous structures, seemingly biological or mechanical, moving under the moon surface.
One day before they left, NASA detected an instance of LTP a few kilometers near where they were stationed, so the astronauts went there to check. What they found there was never disclosed, but some theorize they met one of the beings responsible for causing the blinking lights. And that was the reason humanity abandoned all expeditions to the moon. After five missions in three years, we never returned there.
///20th of March, 2022
I woke up feeling like my head was spinning. I was lying on the sofa of my motel room. Once again, I had spent the entire previous night and day reading texts cited by Dr. Hollfern. My tablet was out of battery, so I got up, feeling pain all over my body, and went looking for my charger. It took me a couple of minutes to notice the two men wearing dark suits, black ties and dark sunglasses sitting on my sofa. One of them had a silenced pistol on his hand.
“Good afternoon, Ezra Thornbridge.” The one holding the firearm said, with a voice so ordinary it was scary.
“W-what?!” I blurted, still trying to overcome the pain.
“Oh, don’t mind us. We are just here to recover something.” The other man said, smiling.
“Something that isn’t yours, yet you’re in possession of.” The man with the gun complemented.
“I… Who are you?” I asked.
“Right now, I’m the man pointing the gun at you.” The man with the weapon said, while his partner just shrugged.
“Fine, I’ll return your damn book. But I already know about it. I already put the pieces together."
"Oh, interesting. What do you think you know, Thornbridge?" One of them mocked.
"The Solar Plexus Clown Glider. I have studied them in depth. Or do you prefer to call them like the Gnostic theologians called them back in the day? Archons…”
“Look what we have here, Spencer. Like father like son.” The guy with the gun scoffed.
“I told you we should have just doped him and looked for the damn book while he slept. He is totally gone.” Spencer said.
“I’m not crazy! The Archons are real! They killed my father! They kill people! And you, instead of trying to protect the people, just hide their existence, just lie, just lie and lie and lie!”
“How can you be so smart yet so stupid?” The guy with the gun said.
“The Archons don’t kill people, Ezra. They just make you miserable and drown you in fear and pain.” Spencer said.
“But I saw one kill my father.”
“Your father died of chronic ventricular arrhythmia coupled with excessive alcohol ingestion. The thing you saw was merely an emotional parasite, feeding off his negative emotions and influencing him to indulge on them.” Spencer said.
“Does this mean…”
“Yes. It also infected you that day. That’s why you saw it. It’s been with you ever since. The more you learn about it, the more you dread, the more you obsess, the more you lose… You were feeding it all along.” Spencer explained.
“And why do you think we tried to protect you, dumbass? If the knowledge was harmless, we wouldn’t be around breaking the law and breaking people’s necks to prevent it from spreading.” The guy with the weapon said.
“It’s not too late, Ezra. When your father was alive, there wasn’t much we could do, but now we have technology to make them go away. But it has a cost.” Spencer explained.
“What cost?”
“You will forget your father. You will forget most about the moon and astronomy. Probably the entirety of the last few months. And there are probable side effects, like sporadic short-term amnesia.” Spencer said.
“Or we can just fucking shoot you in the forehead right now to prevent the thing from infecting more people. Your choice.” The guy with the gun said. I just turned around and ran as fast as I can towards the window behind me. I jumped out of it, shattering the glass, and fell on the hard cold concrete of the parking lot. I tried to get up, my body was all cut from the glass, and I felt something warm on my back, even though it was raining.
“Are you stupid?!” I heard the guy with the gun shouting while he and the other agent descended the staircase that led to the parking lot. I finally got up, feeling cold from the rain, and tried to run, but could only limp. Yeah, jumping out of the window like I was in an 80s action movie wasn’t the best idea. I heard another click behind me, and fell to the floor. I could see the agents running towards me, smoke coming out of the gun. There seemed to be snakes around both of them, smiling witch their human faces and several sets of sharp fangs.
I looked towards the sky. Among the raining clouds, I could see the moon above me, full and blooming. Blinking. Blinking so much.

///11th of June, 2006 “Dad, the moon!” I shouted as I entered the garage. My father was on the floor, under his Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, obsessively removing and re-installing pieces of the car like he always did. He quickly got up, a smile on his grease-stained face. “Finally!” He said with his beer-breath, grabbing a towel and cleaning most of his face, before running outside as fast as he could. I followed him. I don’t know why I always liked these moments. Any child would find them terribly boring. But I always reveled on them. Maybe it’s because they were the only moments he smiled. He positioned his telescope on our front yard, adjusted the lens, drank a beer can and started looking at the full moon above us. “Do you see it?” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him. “Shut up.” He said, still looking. After half an hour of waiting, he started laughing. I opened my mouth to ask if he was seeing it, but I held my voice. Didn’t want to anger him. “It’s blinking! It’s blinking Johnathan!” He laughed. I smiled. That wasn’t my name, though he called me that. Only several years later I would learn that was the name of his deceased younger brother. Every full moon, we would come look at it with the telescope. And he’d always call me Johnathan. Probably because he was always so drunk. But from always avoiding me or calling me “Brat”, Johnathan was a nice shift. “Can I see?” I asked, and he lowered the tripod so I could see the moon. There was a small light blinking on it’s surface. It was truly beautiful. “Fine, my turn again.” My father shoved me back, adjusted the tripod back, and started looking at it again. “It’s blinking so much tonight… Maybe… Brat, get my camera!” He shouted at me. I quickly went inside the house, and looked around for the camera in the living room. There it was, on a little pile of beer cans and empty rythmol boxes in the corner of the room. I hurried back outside, as fast as I could, as I did not want to anger my father. I stopped on my tracks as soon as I was out of the house. There was a strange being involving my father. It looked like a snake, but I knew it was anything but a snake. There were not snakes that big where I lived. And certainly not with human faces. My father seemed oblivious to it, looking through his telescope, but the thing was all around him, from the bottom of his legs all the way to the top of his head. “It’s blinking so much…” He said, in awe. The creature looked at me, locking eyes with me, and smiled, revealing several sets of sharp fangs. And then, it disappeared. My father looked at me, he was sweating. “I think… I need to lay down for a bit…” He muttered, before falling on the grass. I spent the entire night trying to wake him up, before my mother found me there crying the following day. ///09th of November 2021 “And that’s why you decided to study astronomy? Really?” Melissa laughed. “Oh, come on, babe… Don’t make fun of my tragic past.” I said, finishing my waffles. She went to the fridges, grabbed the orange juice, and poured some in our cups. “Shall we toast?” She asked. “With orange juice? And what for?” “Your impending graduation. What else?” “Impending? Ha! I didn’t even start my capstone thesis.” “So, what will it be about? Venus, right? Or was it Mars?” “Nope. Too many people I know will already be working on planets like Venus and Mars. I thought about Neptune, but it’s too far away. So I figured, why not the Moon?” “Please, don’t tell me this is about your father.” “Mel, he wasn’t the best dad in the world. But he did left me his collection of vintage cars. This is what paid for my education.” “He didn’t left it to you, it was divided between you and your mother.” “Regardless, I feel like I owe him this. Apart from the cars, the moon was the only thing he loved.” “You owe him nothing, Ezra.” “I need to know what the blinking lights are! Lunar transient phenomena, it’s how they call them. There’s no scientific explanation to what they are.” “Just because there’s no known scientific explanation, it doesn’t mean one does not exist. And if there’s one, it’s certainly not creepy snake-man” She laughed. ///04th of September, 2022 The first thing you feel when you start seriously investigating the moon is how mysterious it is. We only went there a handful of times, and then never again. All reasons are given for this, but it never really felt right to me. Maybe what happened to my father always made me feel paranoid about the subject, but I somehow felt there were things about the moon that were hiding on plain sight. The focus of my research, the lunar transient phenomena, is incredibly unknown. Few studies were done about it, and most of them were never published or were abandoned. The few that were made available were either from little-known universities in third-world countries, in languages that I couldn’t understand and without English translation, or mere compilations of recorded occurrences. I found some theories. The lights were caused by magnetism, or by gasses, or by asteroids, perspective… But mere hypothesis were not enough for me. I needed to know. I needed to understand. I needed… I needed to confirm it weren’t those lights who killed my father that day. So, I delved deep into the research. I spent weeks in my bedroom, reading books and more books, entering all sorts of websites, sending emails to experts, looking for anything that could give me more information. But through all my effort, the only thing I could find were theories or hypothesis, all of them with little to no evidence. In my search for answers, I started straying further away from modern science, entering strange websites and reading books that talked about blatant pseudoscience, like astrology or the paranormal. ///17th of February, 2022 “So, what books will you be basing your capstone on?” My orienting professor asked. I could not see his face properly, we were talking through a videocall and he was not very tech savvy, so his eyes and nose were out of the frame. “Chris, I can only see your mouth!” I laughed. “Sorry…” He said, adjusting his camera. The framing was not perfect yet, but it was better. "Have you read the books I sent you?" "They... They were not what I was looking for." "What were you looking for, Ezra?" "I told you. Answers. I have been looking for answers, yet I only find questions." "We will only be able to find real answers when we actually set a lab on the moon. Until then, we will have to live with merely hypothesizing." "I know, but..." "Have you tried reading Kulikovsky?Or Hakan Kayal? Non-american studies in general." "Yes, professor Chris. But... All studies seem to contradict themselves. Some point to studies that I can’t find anywhere, like they don’t exist anymore. Like they were erased by someone…” “Some texts were never made digital or registered. It’s very unfortunate.” “Everyone tries to find a logical explanation... What if there isn't one?" "What is this truly about?" "What?" "It's just... You do know you can change your capstone thesis theme, right? Maybe an analysis of something more well-known could work better with your methodology." "Chris, I will not change my mind. We have discussed this before." "Well, well... I talked to one of my former colleagues, he is retired now, who also studied the moon, but his research was more focused on gravity. He told me there's a book called "A Study of the Moon with a New Lens" or something like that. Written by one Dr. Karl Hollfern in 1935." "That is way before LTP was even catalogued." "Catalogued, yes. Recorded? No. Hollfern studied extensevely the lunar mysteries. Unfortunately, he was executed by the Nazis because he opposed them. But his research lived on. My friend told me they have one of his books in the library. But it's in German." ///18th of February, 2022 I entered the library carrying a bag full of German grammar books and a dictionary. I would not let a little language barrier stop me from getting to the truth. “Hello, how can I help you?” The librarian asked, barely averting her eyes from her cellphone. “I’m actually looking for a book that could either be in the astronomy section or in the foreign titles section… Can you help me?” “Which book?” She was still looking at her phone, seemingly playing one of those generic casual mobile games. “It’s in German. Old, from the 1930s. Talks about studies of the moon made at the time.” “Unusual request, but ok…” She put her phone on the counter, and started typing on the computer. “Can’t find it. Do you have the author’s name?” “Karl Hollfern.” “Uncanny. It’s unlisted.” “What?” “We have it in the library, but it’s not available. We usually do this when books are being cleaned. Usually takes a couple of days… It says it won’t be listed until… Until 2100? “What? How does this makes sense?” “I don’t know. I’ve been working here for sixteen years, and have never seen something like this. Regardless, I can’t lend you the book. I can’t even let you access it in library grounds.” ///23rd of February, 2022 I was drinking my Starbucks cappuccino while trying to make myself comfortable on the shopping mall bench, to no avail. I was tense. I had never involved myself with something like this. If my mother or girlfriend knew, they would kill me. An older man made his way out of the crowd and patiently sat down next to me. “You were supposed to be sitting on the bench next to Nike. But no problem.” He laughed. “Sorry. I got confused…” I facepalmed. “I got the book you asked me too. But the price is going to be different in your case.” “As in more expensive?” “No. Normally, I charge twenty five grand, or double If the job is hard. In your case, the job was ridiculously easy. I will be charging five grand only.” “Thanks! I’m transferring to your account right now…” I said as I typed on my phone. “The book is in your car.” “How did you… Oh, of course.” “Pleasure doing business with you.” He got up and left. I immediately went to my car. There it was, Eine Untersuchung des Mondes mit einer neuen Linse. ///28th of February, 2022 “Honey, are you still awake?” Melissa asked me. I was sitting on a pillow in the corner of the room, aggressively doing more and more Duolingo lessons. “I’m busy, Mel.” I said, without averting my eyes from the green owl. “Is this about that German book you have been taking everywhere?” “No…” I blatantly lied. “Honey, you’ve been up all night. It’s ten to six.” “What?” “You are obsessed with this shit, Ezra! Look at you! This is the third time I find you here studying German instead of sleeping!” “I’m sorry, but you do know I have a capstone thesis to finish, don’t you?!” I screamed back at her. “Oh. So this is what’s all about, right?” “Babe, it’s not like that…” Before I could say anything, she stormed out of the apartment. I stood there, frozen, for a minute or two, before I went back to my Duolingo. ///3rd of March, 2022 “Hello Ezra” Chris said, as I adjusted my camera. As usual, I couldn’t see his face properly. “Good evening, professor Chris.” “Ezra, are you okay? You look tired.” “I’m fine.” I said vehemently. “Ezra… I… I have bad news for you.” When he said that, I felt like a hand was smashing my heart. “The university has rejected your intended theme.” “W-what?” “You’ll have to pick something else. I’m sorry.” “What? Why?!” “Apparently there’s information about Lunar Transient Phenomena that is undisclosed to the general public. The feds were here yesterday, talked with the dean about it. Said that researching the LTP was considered meddling in national security affairs, and that all projects focusing on it were to be halted.” “Bullshit!” “I’m sorry. I know how much time you have already invested in this. But we’ll find something else, Ezra. There are more lunar mys…” I interrupted him. “Why is it so hard to research a simple lunar phenomena?! Every time I advance, everyone tries to block me! They will not stop me from uncovering what happened to my father!” I slammed the table. “What?” “This will not stop me.” I muttered, while ending the videocall. ///8th of March, 2022 After some turbulent days, I was finally making progress again. My knowledge of German wasn’t great, but knowing basic grammar, using online dictionaries, and with a little help from online German studying communities, I was making my way through the book. The book was almost a century old, yet I felt like I was finally making progress. The research by Hollfern was fascinating, but disturbing. He described how the “blinking moonlights” if watched carefully, could be interpreted as having meaning. My German was advancing but far from perfect, so I didn’t have the exact translation, but it said something about the moon speaking in some sort of secret code using the lights. It also referenced some books, most of which seemed to not exist anymore, but some of them not only existed, I also managed to download their scanned PDFs. It was pretty unorthodox for a scientific study. There was a book on symbols and sigils of different religions, a compilation of theological texts about Gnosticism, a book compiling works by Schopenhauer, and a Hindi scroll explaining Chakras. I didn’t understood yet how everything connected. Seemed like a strange collection of unrelated weirdness. ///10th of March, 2022 I stumbled upon something I had previously overlooked. There’s an work by Schopenhauer where he discuss reading the Upanishads, which are old Hindi texts. The Hindi text I had downloaded was translated to English, but what if I looked for the original? Maybe there was something I wasn’t shown. The original had a section that was censored in the English version that talked about a Devas that was corrupted by an evil unknown entity called that attached on it’s solar plexus and made it miserable with overwhelming sadness and pain. A thing described as a floating jester. ///13th of March, 2022 The phone in the living room started ringing. I left it there, unwilling to stop reading the book and trying to translate the contents. The call went to voicemail, and then I heard the caller recording it: “Hey Ezra, I know you’re going through a bad time, but as your orienting professor, I care for you. You didn't show up for any of your tests. I know you seem to be focused on your research, but this isn't the-" I unplugged the damn thing. ///16th of March, 2022 I got evicted after not paying my rent. Or I was supposed to be at least. I picked up my research stuff and rented a cheap motel room on the outskirts of my town. I could not pay for the rent, and least not for now, I spent most of my money buying books and old magazines during the last weeks. I don’t need a place to call mine for now. I just need to find the truth. I know the government will come after me. I’m coming too close. But if they want me to stop, they will have to kill me. I’ve already lost everything. This investigation is all I have left. ///18th of March, 2022 There's an old website that I found while researching. A true relic, seems to be from the early 90s. It contains old conspiracies theories, like stuff about the Illuminati and New Age, Satanic Panic, how Ronald Reagan was actually replaced, among other things. But there was something among the insanity that I felt was the last thing missing in my investigation. The true reason why we never returned to the Moon and why the Soviets never even attempted landing on it. According to that website, during the last moon expedition, in December of 1972, the astronauts were secretly instructed to find out what was causing the Lunar Transient Phenomena, and spent three days on the Taurus-Littrow Valley, the region where the phenomena was more frequent on the previous five years. They were carrying a seismometer, as the most influential theory at the time was that the LTP was being caused by moonquakes cracking the surface of the natural satellite and releasing gasses. But what the seismometer detected was that there were no such thing as moonquakes. Their equipments revealed humongous structures, seemingly biological or mechanical, moving under the moon surface. One day before they left, NASA detected an instance of LTP a few kilometers near where they were stationed, so the astronauts went there to check. What they found there was never disclosed, but some theorize they met one of the beings responsible for causing the blinking lights. And that was the reason humanity abandoned all expeditions to the moon. After five missions in three years, we never returned there. ///20th of March, 2022 I woke up feeling like my head was spinning. I was lying on the sofa of my motel room. Once again, I had spent the entire previous night and day reading texts cited by Dr. Hollfern. My tablet was out of battery, so I got up, feeling pain all over my body, and went looking for my charger. It took me a couple of minutes to notice the two men wearing dark suits, black ties and dark sunglasses sitting on my sofa. One of them had a silenced pistol on his hand. “Good afternoon, Ezra Thornbridge.” The one holding the firearm said, with a voice so ordinary it was scary. “W-what?!” I blurted, still trying to overcome the pain. “Oh, don’t mind us. We are just here to recover something.” The other man said, smiling. “Something that isn’t yours, yet you’re in possession of.” The man with the gun complemented. “I… Who are you?” I asked. “Right now, I’m the man pointing the gun at you.” The man with the weapon said, while his partner just shrugged. “Fine, I’ll return your damn book. But I already know about it. I already put the pieces together." "Oh, interesting. What do you think you know, Thornbridge?" One of them mocked. "The Solar Plexus Clown Glider. I have studied them in depth. Or do you prefer to call them like the Gnostic theologians called them back in the day? Archons…” “Look what we have here, Spencer. Like father like son.” The guy with the gun scoffed. “I told you we should have just doped him and looked for the damn book while he slept. He is totally gone.” Spencer said. “I’m not crazy! The Archons are real! They killed my father! They kill people! And you, instead of trying to protect the people, just hide their existence, just lie, just lie and lie and lie!” “How can you be so smart yet so stupid?” The guy with the gun said. “The Archons don’t kill people, Ezra. They just make you miserable and drown you in fear and pain.” Spencer said. “But I saw one kill my father.” “Your father died of chronic ventricular arrhythmia coupled with excessive alcohol ingestion. The thing you saw was merely an emotional parasite, feeding off his negative emotions and influencing him to indulge on them.” Spencer said. “Does this mean…” “Yes. It also infected you that day. That’s why you saw it. It’s been with you ever since. The more you learn about it, the more you dread, the more you obsess, the more you lose… You were feeding it all along.” Spencer explained. “And why do you think we tried to protect you, dumbass? If the knowledge was harmless, we wouldn’t be around breaking the law and breaking people’s necks to prevent it from spreading.” The guy with the weapon said. “It’s not too late, Ezra. When your father was alive, there wasn’t much we could do, but now we have technology to make them go away. But it has a cost.” Spencer explained. “What cost?” “You will forget your father. You will forget most about the moon and astronomy. Probably the entirety of the last few months. And there are probable side effects, like sporadic short-term amnesia.” Spencer said. “Or we can just fucking shoot you in the forehead right now to prevent the thing from infecting more people. Your choice.” The guy with the gun said. I just turned around and ran as fast as I can towards the window behind me. I jumped out of it, shattering the glass, and fell on the hard cold concrete of the parking lot. I tried to get up, my body was all cut from the glass, and I felt something warm on my back, even though it was raining. “Are you stupid?!” I heard the guy with the gun shouting while he and the other agent descended the staircase that led to the parking lot. I finally got up, feeling cold from the rain, and tried to run, but could only limp. Yeah, jumping out of the window like I was in an 80s action movie wasn’t the best idea. I heard another click behind me, and fell to the floor. I could see the agents running towards me, smoke coming out of the gun. There seemed to be snakes around both of them, smiling witch their human faces and several sets of sharp fangs. I looked towards the sky. Among the raining clouds, I could see the moon above me, full and blooming. Blinking. Blinking so much…

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 69%. (I'm a bot)

A meeting of foreign ministers of the Brics group of nations in South Africa has called for a rebalancing of the global order away from Western nations.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said the group's vision was to provide global leadership in a world fractured by geopolitical tension, inequality and global insecurity.
Brics is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the allegations and, as a member of the court, South Africa would be obliged to arrest him if he attends a Brics summit scheduled for Johannesburg in August.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira described the Brics as an "Indispensable mechanism for building a multipolar world order that reflects the devices and needs of developing countries".
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said the Brics group could be expanded to provide assistance to developing countries and emerging market economies.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: South^#1 Brics^#2 Minister^#3 country^#4 foreign^#5
Post found in /EndlessWar, /worldnews and /RussiaUkraineBriefing.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

Have three wonderful daughters 15, 12 and 5 yrs old.
The question is about helping middle one with characterization of events. She has been a super picky eater since childhood with somewhat of strong reaction to what she doesn't like.
Issue that is bothering me is that she doesn't have any friends and I suspect it part owes to her negative characterization of experiences and people, similar to her characterization of most food items.
When you ask her about any experience, no matter how fun or positive it has been, she focuses on mildest dislikes and calls the whole experience terrible.
For example, we had a one on one weekend night walk in a lively neighbourhood with restaurants and coffee shops. There were a ton of people on streets which she liked. We had a great chat, lots of laughs and ended the evening with ice cream. On the way back the streets were less crowded. I thought the night went great as driving home we listened to both of us's favorite Rock tunes and head banged a little bit. Had the best of time and she was happy all along.
In the morning, her mum asks about the night before and she says it was terrible bcs coming back, the streets were no longer crowded!
My jaw dropped. To pick on something so insignificant and immaterial to call a great evening terrible made me so sad and disappointed.
This is just one experience but she calls any camping trip, any picnic or any other experiences horrible for the least inconveniences or dislikes.
How can I get my daughter focus on positive aspects of an experience in ways other than asking to her, because clearly that hasn't worked.

Hey gang!
Looking for some advice on how I can develop myself further and land that perfect job in this wild market. Some background:
-Bachelors in Electrical Engineering -Worked as an EE playing with Python for 2 years - now I manage profiles for a big company in HTML and CSS (some JS) - Just finished CS50, great fun! - have a small roster of projects, adjacent field experience, adjacent degree, coursework
My stack: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, SQL, C, Jinja, Flask
I want to run with what I’ve got so far and develop new skills to make myself desirable in the job market as a Junior developer. I’ve been applying a bit and what I’ve seen is that the following APPEAR to be in demand: React, .Net, Typescript, MongoDB, J.Query, Node.JS
I was gonna just take CS50W and collect the 6 projects in that, but the course doesn’t seem to focus on any of the above tools. Boot camps are effectively impossible for me, both from a financial and time perspective— no clue how anyone is shelling out $15k and an extra 40 hrs per week on top of a 40hr job + commute for 6 months lmao, straight up sounds like satire.
Thinking about crushing through some CodeAcademy to pick up the above stuff, but not sure if this is the best path.
What do you guys think? Am I on course?

Hi all, seeking relationship advice here. My partner and I are in our early 20s, both of the same age. We have been dating for over one and a half year. We were the happiest couple last year but when this year came, everything actually started going downhill. Because we are adulting, we have other commitments too like work. Our time spent with each other became less and less, we have arguments almost everyday but Nevertheless, our love still remains strong and we remain faithful to each other. During arguments, we are matured enough to communicate and compromise. We arent really as happy as how we used to be before and its okay, i think all relationships eventually reaches that part. I really love him and I could tell that he loves me twice more and I am forever grateful for that. We are almost the perfect match together and even have dreams of building a future together and having a family of our own. I said ‘almost’ because there is a huge barrier between us - religion. My mom’s side is a devoted Roman Catholic. I have no choice too but to attend church almost every sunday, although I wouldnt say that Im a religious person. My partner, on the other hand, differs religion from me. He is a Muslim and I understand that its pretty complicated to really pursue this till marriage due to our religion. During our early days of getting to know each other, I have already pointed this out to him. Told him we can continue loving each other and risk it, but also risk wasting time..because you know, we could have just find someone who shares the same religion and beliefs as us to make it easier and more certain that they will be one to marry. Honestly speaking, as much as I love him, I dont see myself converting. I have no idea whether our families would accept each other too. But one thing for sure, parents would prefer their children to end up with someone with the same religion. I think religions can really be a huge obstacle. But Eventually me and him just decided to go with the flow since we both are the happiest couple and we love each other unconditionally, Although we both are still afraid of the future. Since we are still kinda ‘young’ to actually talk about marriages, converting and stuff like that, we dont really talk about this a lot yet in depth. But we both are well aware that this is a big obstacle that we would face in the future.
I am a foreigner in a country that I currently live in. (Migrated here since young and grew up here too). My family and I moved for a better standing of living, as compared to my native country. This is where I met my current partner which is a local. We have been dating for over one and a half year. However, things have really been tough for my family for the past few years. and honestly we dont intend to stay here for the long term. We dont even plan on retiring here (we are not even a Permanent Resident, really just foreigners holding valid visas). We just intended to work here and save up and move to another, better country in a few years time. We dont even see ourselves in this country in 10 years time anymore .. its tough being a foreigner here. makes cost of living 10x more expensive here too, and the government dont really give advantages / benefits to the foreigners either.
So here is my concern — several weeks back I told my partner that I dont see myself in this country for the long term. My visa in this country will be expiring in about 8 months time, which really isnt a lot of time. i cant renew or extend my visa any longer. With that being said, after that 8 months, I ‘d probably be back to my native country for a period of time, And then afterwards will be moving to the country that my family wishes to move to. After that 8 months, If I were to be back in THIS country, I cant stay here for long too as Ill only be on a tourist visa. He was thinking that we both dont have much time together anymore. With that, I believe i have given him a heads up of what might happen to this relationship too. And as someone whos love language is quality time and physical touch, I have made it clear to him that Im doubtful of my ability to do LDR and to actually pursue the rs through LDR. You guys will probably say If we really love each other, we would do everything to make it work right? But i believe sometimes love isnt enough, considering other important factors too. I myself have been in two long distance relationships before and both failed. I love him and as much as I really want a future with him and make this work, I am doubtful about us because the distance would come in soon.
And so I told him that i guess we both can see losing each other in the near future. I mean we could give LDR a try, and try make the rs work, but i think im certain that it would fail eventually too and we would end up just losing each other…which sucks so much
So here i am asking for advice, option 1) for the next 8 months, should I just make full of this time and spend as much time with him, create the best moments and memories with him while im still in the country? Even though i would still probably lose him eventually ? The pro: happy and wholesome for the next 8 months enjoying each others company The con of this is ‘wasting time’ or it would hurt even more and it would be harder for us to cope losing each other.
Or 2) considering our different religions and me not living in this country in the long run, should we End the relationship soon because we would eventually lose each other anyways? I have always been thinking that I am just wasting his time because we would probably part ways eventually.. and if we still continue this, im afraid it might hurt so much more for the both of us by the time the 8months is up.
Im really in a dilemma, God I love this man so much..we love each other so much, He is my answered prayer and my biggest life blessing and thinking of losing him really scares me. We love each other so much, but I have to consider the future too.. at this point i am really confused and Im not sure which is the right / best decision to make for the relationship.. thank you for taking the time to read the post.. sharing your thoughts on this or any advice given would be greatly appreciated :(

There was a discussion about weed at my work place today. Because of a rumopossibility that the Government is going to track our spending to take peoples 2nd Amendment rights away if they buy/use weed. Idk how much of that is true. But I used to work at a Medical Dispensary in my town and I was one of the best Budtenders until I left. I used what I have learned and also seen at the dispensary as key points when discussing topics pertaining to weed. But what I hate the most is when I don’t get a chance to finish a sentence or make the point I was trying to make because my boss is from a time where weed was a horrible addictive drug and won’t change his biased views because of his meth addicted son! But what really pissed me off was when he said “I know you’re big on weed!” I’m sorry but I’m not “big on weed” if I was I would be high on the job! The amount of ignorance he has no problem showing is ridiculous. Then wonders why my generation wants to make all the changes to the world. It’s because we are tired of getting our thoughts and rights stomped on and basically told we are wrong. I wish the baby boomer generation would actually look into stuff and then make decision on where to stand. Not make a decision on where to stand based on word of mouth or from what the government says!

okay this is going to be a long one. So I come from India, but I moved to a small little cozy country in the Middle East. let's call it country A. my family and I moved there when I was 3 so that country is all I know, but I'm very connected to my culture because I always had indian friends. Now I got into a relationship at 15, yes very young, but it lasted all the way up until now, and it's the cutest relationship ever, I'd like to say so myself. At 17, I decided I wanted to study in Canada. I made this decision solely out of educational prospects and not because I wanted to settle there. Forgot to mention an important thing about country A: they don't give you citizenship no matter how long you live there, unless you're muslim and working for the government. I'm a Hindu middle class person so no way my family would ever get citizenship unless I married my boyfriend because he is a citizen, but I still don't know how high my chances would be. Anyway, fast forward, my mom lost her job and we moved to Dubai in 2019. Covid happened, I came back home, but couldn't visit anyone and was stuck in dubai for a year, so my boyfriend and I broke up. It was a shitty feeling. We got back together after that until recently. All my time in Canada I've enjoyed very few moments. While I was studying, I just kept thinking about the fact that I need to get my degree. I got my degree and then I had to look for a job. I just came back home and visited country A for the first time in 4 years [for just 2 weeks] and it was so lovely and wonderful. I met my boyfriend as well and we spent whatever time we could happily. But leaving was the hardest decision ever. I did find a job now so I have to leave, and my parents spent so much on my education, and we obviously don't wanna move to India again because that really isn't my home. So my best option is to stay in Canada but I don't know if me not being happy there is because of my unstable age, the fact that I keep thinking about country A and my boyfriend or just a gut feeling. But I'm giving myself a few years and deciding whether I want to stay or not. My boyfriend can't move to Canada, he doesn't have a stable career and his life is in country A since he's always been a citizen there. I'm so torn and I wake up with anxiety everyday. I constantly try to find a loophole of us being together in some situation so we don't have to break up. I'm afraid if we breakup we'll lose all hope we have. We've been together for 8 years and best friends for 10. How am I supposed to stop talking to someone I've known for this long?
I really did try to consider Canada as one of my homes. But my loneliness is always at an all time high. I think I've become someone I don't even recognize anymore because I keep comparing myself and my relationship and life conditions to everyone else. I get jealous of my own friends who are in happy relationships and can be together physically and friends who are still in country A enjoying their lives. It's a very small country, so it's very cozy and homey, which is what I love, I don't even like big cities. Anyway, I don't know what the end of this paragraph should be. I'm just torn and lost and confused.

Part 24: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/13taoss/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_24_revised/
(Terry)
It had been a day or so and I hadn’t gotten a response from Megami. There are spurts where we don’t talk, she tends to be pretty accident-prone with electronics. Sometimes the frequency she’s singing goes haywire and fries it. But it had been a good five months or so since we last spoke. Taking a shot in the dark, I called Rachel.
“What is it, Terry?” She grunted, “I’m a little busy.”
“I need to talk to Megami, but she’s been MIA since the whole ‘Maerod’ situation.” My mind shot back to what Jones had told me, to watch out for “her,” momentarily questioning whether or not Dexter’s team had been dumb enough to keep her alive.
There was a pause, the line was silent. Then, a sigh, “Actually, I’ve had the same problem. I figured she just broke another phone, or was pissed at me for… Well, I’ll keep an ear out and let you know if I hear anything. What do you need her for?” She grunted again.
“Small mission.”
“Joseph?”
“Yeah.”
The line went silent again, then an exasperated sigh, “Good luck, be sure to bring The Doctor with you. You know how you can get.”
A flush of anger pulsed through me, but I took a deep breath, “Sure.”
She shrieked, “Oh shit!” The call ended.
I thought over the list of everyone, wondering what I was gonna do. I had actually intended to have Doc and Megami be the last two after Smudge, no one else would really work. Chad wasn’t right for the type of incognito mission we were doing, Abraham wasn’t available, Rachel and Sepratine just didn’t quite mesh with what we were doing, Megami was supposed to be the last one to fill out the party. I mulled it over, but I still owed David, the huuldefolk, a favor from the Maerod raid. I would’ve called Jacob, but he was in another country doing who knows what.
My phone rang as I stood, leaning against the couch, “Jones, something wrong?”
He chuckled, “Not in the least. You got your group together?”
“We’re one short.”
“No problem, bring everyone by tonight, we need to prepare on our end, and Dexter sent us a bit of backup.” He hung up.
I called up Doc and Smudge, telling them to be at my place and ready by the time dusk rolled around. Heading to the bathroom I downed my meds, trying to shake off a weird feeling that slowly crept up on me. As if something was going to happen when we got there. It was more than just a bad feeling, but a conviction, I knew something would happen, and it made me uncomfortable. One of the pills I took was supposed to ease it, but when it got that bad, it meant my brain had already determined some kind of outcome. It’s not a superpower or anything, more like enhanced intuition. It only happens when my brain has the information to go off of. But there’s a disconnect between my conscious and subconscious, so whenever something like that happens, I just have to wait for it to come to fruition.
-----------------------------------------
Stepping into the office, I looked around, “Where’s the new guy?”
Xavier looked up, baffled at the sight. Then Jones stood, walking over to greet us, the bags under his eyes less defined, “He’s in the back getting himself something to eat. Smudge, nice to see you again, you haven’t aged a day.” Smudge chuckled at that, “You must be The famous Doctor, I want to thank you for coming. I’m sure you’re a busy man.” He outstretched his hand, but Doc just gestured between Jones and me.
“You see, that’s how you should greet me. You really ought to get a notepad out, you might learn a thing or two about how to respect your elders.”
“If I remember correctly, I’m about 2,000 years your senior. When did you start your… questionable medical practices again? 16th, 17th century?”
Doc ignored me, angrily shaking Jones’s hand, “Nice to meet you, lad! Glad to hear somebody thinks highly of me, even if it is a meager thinskin.”
“Me and my dislocated fingers thank you for that.” As he brought his hand back, Jones uncomfortably pushed his fingers back into their sockets one by one. “So, who were you planning on bringing? You said there was going to be another?”
“Right, had my sights set on a Siren, she’s pretty skilled and can be silent when the occasion arises. But I couldn’t get ahold of her.” I paused, “Actually, you’ve got your ear to the ground, you heard anything about someone named Megami? It’s been a few months since we talked, I’m kinda worried.”
Jones was a mannequin, despite trying to seem calm, his eyes flicked to Xavier before shooting back to us. He leaned against his desk, reaching for his coffee mug several times, not looking away from us, before finally grabbing it, and raising it to his mouth.
I stared hard at Xavier, a few moments later, he cracked, “Look it was a life or death sit–”
My legs tightened, I could feel the meds pushing to the side as I grew, stepping over to him in two long strides. He threw out his hearing aid, grasping his one intact ear as he held himself up with his free hand on the desk, “You killed Megami! Tell me why I shouldn’t give you the same treatment!” Something grasped my waist, then each of my legs. They were trying to push me back. When I released a tentacle to shoot Xavier through the head, I felt a prick stab into it. I fell limp, shrinking back down instantaneously.
Much calmer, I looked at my surroundings, Doc stood over me, making sure I was fine, Smudge looked between Xavier and me, wondering how he should react. Then I saw Xavier, Jones standing beside him, and on the other side of the desk, just across from us, stood the blonde buzzcut, and scarred musculature, of a Texan soldier. “Fucking Tucker.” I chuckled with disdain, “Of course.”
“Wish I had my H.O.P.S. but unfortunately it was destroyed along with the U.S.P.M. You’re one terrifying son of a bitch when I’m not in a full suit of armor, I’ll tell you what.” Looking close, I noticed he was wearing one of the older exosuits they used to wear. It was clean, but there were scuffs in the black paint job here and there.
“The U.S.P.M is just a bad fucking omen at this point.”
“Hey, we didn’t kill Jeff, and we didn’t kill Megami. So why don’tcha chill the fuck out.” Tucker crossed his arms, staring at me.
Smudge let out a jittery sigh, “You know, Jane’s death wasn’t necessarily the fault of Jeff.”
I looked at him, “Are you really going to side with the thinskins on this one?”
“Terry, behave yourself. We’re only here for Joseph’s sake. After we’re done you can go wipe out the US government. But we’re here for a reason. Doctor back me up here.”
“I’m neutral in this, I don’t care much for anyone.”
“And yet you’re here to help save Joseph.”
He sighed, “Joseph is okay I suppose. But I’m here because Terry gave me a deal on a pixie a month or so back.”
Smudge and Doc continued their back and forth as I stared at Xavier, he stood upright again, fixing the aid back into his ear, “I don’t blame you, Terry, I’d kill me too. I even did. But at least wait till this is over, yeah? I wanna slip in one last good deed if I can.” He blinked tears back as he put on a ski mask.
“When we’re done, I’ll thank you, but you better hope we never cross paths again.”
“I could say the same to you… I could.”
The air was still for a minute or so, even Doc and Smudge had stopped their bickering. “Well then.” Tucker smacked his hands together, making a metal clink, “Y’all ready to kick some shit in?”
“How long is the drive? I’ll need at least an hour to recover.”
Jones answered, “Hour and a half to two, you’ll be fine. We’ve got guns in the van, all suppressed. I had a mutual acquaintance of ours send us a care package yesterday. Regardless, I say we should all keep our blood inside our bodies.”
Tucker joined in, “Speaking of, I managed to scrounge the materials to make up some of those SIOM rounds. I left them in the van, along with the last resort.” He winked at me.
Jones nodded, “We should be good to go then, you guys oughtta join us in the van, less conspicuous.”
I nodded, “Yeah, that’d make the most sense. I’ll be taking the lead when we get there though. Which reminds me, you never sent me the schematics.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll send them over. Are you gonna have enough time to put a plan together?”
“Yeah, I already know how we’ll follow into the building. I was thinking Tucker at first, but without his suit, he’s basically just a liability.”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, we’ll see about that one.”
-----------------------------
As the van slowed, Tucker pulled on his combat gloves. He was decked out in full gear that I hadn’t really noticed till we got in the van. A flexible vest that was essentially a skin-tight long-sleeve shirt, meeting his wrists. His pants were tight and were made of the same fabric as his shirt.
We came to a complete stop as he slung his rifle around, clicking off the safety on his Bizon. Doc clapped his book shut, and Smudge stood.
“Alright, everyone up, we need to get to the gun cases.” Jones had come back through a door-sized hole connecting the back of the van to the front. He’d already pulled his mask over his face, the only color that came from him was his remaining eye and parts of his lips, only revealed by small, cut strips in the fabric.
We stood, sidestepping so he could get to the guns behind the seats. One by one we filed out the back.
Xavier hopped out the back, followed by Jones who stared at Tucker for a moment, “Did you uh… Did you put a new scope on this?” He raised his PS90 which held an ACOG and a suppressor.
“Oh yeah, it’s kinda like a thermal scope. But instead of heat it picks up… well I don’t actually know. But you should be able to see anything invisible or not.” Xavier inspected his own gun, “Sorry guy, I only had enough for Jones and me. You should be fine, but just cause you don’t got a fancy scope don’t mean you can go missing your shots. Them rounds’re expensive as hell.”
“Well, let’s get going, I’ve got the map down, I know how to get there. Second floor of their basement has the data. Unfortunately, we have no idea what security looks like, so we have to be cautious if we intend to stay hidden.”
Tucker spoke, “Just to be clear, you’re upfront, Jones is behind you, then the Doctor, then Xavier with me covering our asses.”
“Smudge is behind Doc, and while I’d like to have Xavier in the back–”
Xavier rolled his eyes, “Well I’d like to have you in back.”
Tucker sighed, “Anyhow, guess it works. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll have a huuldefolk I can put some rounds through. Release some of this tension.” He shot his gaze between Xavier and me.
“Well let’s head out. Smudge, you’ll be able to keep the cameras down right?”
“Based on what you said about their layout I should be able to, but I won’t be able to keep us hidden from the perception of the guards once we’re inside. There are far too many electronics I need to keep down so if we run into anyone inside the building, we need to kill them and hide their bodies to avoid being caught. I can’t keep the entire building down, so I can’t stop them from setting off an alarm if we miss anyone.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Tucker lifted his gun.
“Let’s hope those sights are as powerful as you say.”
Before long, we were on our way. We’d parked some distance out so as to not draw any attention. Taking the lead, the only noise I could hear was the occasional snapping of twigs as we walked through a forested area. Despite having come in contact with the exoskeleton previously, it still surprised me how stealthy Tucker could be wearing it.
Breaching the treeline, I held up my hand. Surrounded by a gravel driveway stood a three-story tall modern office-style building. Men patrolled around the lot, all wearing tactical gear. Focusing on the shadows, I could tell there were hidden guards as well, those ones were wearing light, flexible clothing and minimal if any weapons.
“Smudge,” I whispered, waving him up with two fingers.
“Yes.” As he looked out, he seemed to understand, “This will be a tough one if they aren’t all humans. Seems like there are about 30 guards that may see us. If even one of them is around a five, I won’t be able to blind all of them from our presence. If Rachel were here we’d be able to determine such a thing, unfortunately, we don’t have her spiritual sense.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Tucker whispered from behind us.
“What kind of bullshit caused you to break formation without my asking.”
“As I said, these scopes can sense alternative forms of energy. I have a few frames of reference, I know what civies look like through this thing. Smudge, if you can point out all the hidden ones, I’ll be able to tell you what we’re dealing with.”
Smudge looked at me, then shrugged, “Alright, if you’re certain.”
---------------------------
“We’re good to go then? That was the last one?”
“So it would seem, that scope of yours ought to be reliable.”
“If we don’t get by, you have my full permission to do whatever you want to Xavier.”
Jones butted in, “I believe that’s up for me to decide. I still need him around.”
Smudge whispered at a frequency that’d set dogs off, “Enough bickering, you’re worse than when I have to babysit Chad and Rachel. Everyone get in formation, it’s easiest on me if we go in single file.” Getting back into position, he spoke up, “Sorry Terry, I know you’re leading, but, well you get it.”
I nodded back to him, “Everyone ready? No piss breaks past this point. If you have cold feet, just head back to the van.” I looked back to Xavier, to which he flipped me off, signaling me to start.
I wasn’t worried about the situation until we got about ten feet from the door. One of the two guards standing beside it looked over at us. I signaled everyone to stop, and the guy continued to stare. A few moments later, he shrugged, facing forward again, and we continued on through the door.
There was no one in the immediate vicinity, though there were several cameras pointed toward us, blinking.
Smudge said one word as he took a deep breath, “Break.”
Nodding, I signaled for the three of us up front to take the right wall, and the other three to take the left.
------------------------------
Once Smudge caught his breath, he stood back up, and we all got back into formation, right as a guard turned the corner. I shot a tentacle out, grabbing him by the throat and snapping his neck, all while bringing him closer so we could hide the body.
That was when an alarm went off, “FUCK! Keep the humans hidden, Doc and I can handle ourselves.” My brain froze time, trying to figure out what happened. Eventually, it clicked, heart monitors, a precaution not even Maerod took.
“Leave me out of it Smudge, I can handle myself too. You need all the focus you can get.” Tucker stepped up, aiming down sights.
The door bashed open before I could get my tentacles out. Turning, Tucker already faced the door, dropping people in one to two rounds a piece.
Turning back toward the dead body, I headed on, alarms blaring overhead. Bodies came and went. Despite how badly we’d apparently messed up the plan, I knew where the database was, and I refused to let anyone stand between me and it.
Each step I took was further than the last, “KEEP YOURSELVES SAFE, I’M GOING FURTHER IN!”
“Not without me you’re not!” Metal clattering rang out, “IMBECILE!” Doc caught up to me as I flung several bodies out of the way.
“Watch where you’re throwin’ em!” Tucker yelled out, “We shouldn’t split up!”
I was already at the staircase making my way down when something smacked across my face. Turning to my right, I saw a lanky man with his hands in his pockets. He was slouched as if bored.
“FINE, GO DOWN, I’LL MEET YOU THERE!” Swinging a tentacle at him, he made a popping motion with his mouth, the limb slammed into a wall. Shooting them all at him, he blew air out in a circle, then at me directly, lunging at me as he threw me off balance. He kicked me in the chin, then down on my head, knocking me to a knee. A second later I was thrown into the air, then to the ground.
“Damn man, you look like you could use a hand.” The strange man stood over me, offering me his right.
I took it, spinning him around, snapping his arm, and flinging him against the wall, where lay motionless. I stabbed him in the head, then the heart just to be safe. Scoffing at his arrogance, I headed down the stairway.
When I got down to the second basement floor, there were already several dead bodies strewn about. Everyone was hiding behind metal tables. Tucker injected Doc with something, sitting beside them was a heaving Smudge.
I put my tentacles away, and a sudden burst of gunfire came from the back of the wide-open office room. A few bullets hit me, but I was already too tall, they crumpled on impact.
“THEY GET AHOLD OF YOUR FORMULA!?”
“Fuck that’s loud, yeah, there was a leak a few months back! Doc ain’t doin’ so hot!”
“That’s, The Doctor, to, you.” He spoke each word with individual breaths.
Walking toward the guards, they panicked. With a thud hitting my chest, one of the men screamed, “We need you up here!” Looking down I found a pinless grenade, which I kicked, knocking one of the men unconscious. Bodies tumbled over one another as it exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. A few pieces stuck in my face, but I headed straight for the room.
“YOU’LL WANT TO GET BACK! SOMEONE IS COMING FROM DOW–” The ground gave out from under me, falling a few floors, I was kicked into a wall in a dark room, aside from the hole. Landing on my feet, I looked around, rubbing my side. I felt something wet, where I’d been hit. Then I saw who it was. A scaly humanoid, each scale tipped with a tinted blue, serrated prong. His shadow fluctuated, then its eyes sprung open, and a black mist shot me. I blocked with my tentacles, but they were cheese to a grater.
“Kenet himself breaking in here? Must think you’re hot shit!”
I grunted, springing off the wall, using a shredded tentacle to slam the scaly man with a table. Sure enough, the mist formed into a shadow-walker, same as Jacob. I slammed my fist into his face before he could react.
“I NEED SOME LIGHT DOWN HERE!”
But the scaled man already rebounded, swinging his pronged fist at my face. I managed to block with my arm, but it was getting stiff.
“DOC, I NEED YOU!”
I heard Tucker to my left, “He’s still recovering, close your eyes!”
Before I could tell him I couldn’t close my face, a clinking sounded, and I saw a small metal canister roll into view. A blinding light took over, banging nine times, each followed by a flash. Then several gunshots.
Accepting the pain to come, I grabbed the scaled man, flinging him into the ceiling, dazing him. The shadow-walker was already dead on the ground, three bullet holes planted in his skull.
“NICELY DONE!”
“Got any weaknesses on the other one? Never seen anything like him.”
“SKIN TRANSFORMATION, WE MUST WEAR HIM DOWN!”
“Lovely.”
The prongs tipping his scales had already shrunk considerably. Stumbling to his feet, he glanced down at the motionless skinwalker, “Goddamn.” His scales evaporated, leaving behind a hollow man, standing still, “Ju–”
Tucker put a bullet right between his eyes, “Didn’t have to ask buddy.”
As we turned to head back up the stairs, a thud reverberated from behind us. Turning back, Smudge lay, face first, and uncovered. He wore a full-body outfit ensuring no skin was revealed, but my concern was on whatever had dropped him down. Aside from the alarms, it was eerily silent. They landed on Smudge, hopping off, and kicking him into the wall.
The black suit was almost a fabric, but it was certainly mechanical. Parts at joints stuck out slightly, giving him mobility along with full body protection. At his neck, the material fluctuated, phase shifting at the slightest movement. The entire front of his helmet was a velvet red visor, the changed to a light blue when the light reflected just right. He had several weapons littering his body, including two hook swords, an unknown kind of pistol, a pump action shotgun, and a few others; all of which were as black as his armor.
I had to lean my head and chest down to avoid hitting the ceiling. I couldn’t move anymore, and Tucker looked a little nervous, “DOC! YOU ALIVE!?”
A German accent replied with a chuckle, “He was already dead.”
“Yeah, right.” Tucker said, “What’re you waitin’ for big guy?”
Shooting out my back, I held the odd man at tentacle point, Tucker readied his carbine, and the man retrieved his hook blades.
“Come, let me get this over with.”
Tucker stammered, “B-be careful.” He swapped magazines, “This guy is radiating like a human.” He fired a round, I felt it slide between two tentacles, and as it hit the man in the visor, an explosion errupted. I engaged, picking the man up by the leg, but before I could fling him, pain shot through it, the tip was sliced off. Tucker fired two more rounds, both exploding as they met their target, filling the room with a cloudy haze. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to move, but I felt like a turtle.
Suddenly, my leg ripped up, I held in place, stabilizing with a few tentacles, then smashed where a crack had formed on his visor, but he swung his other blade down, cutting it in half. A rapid succession of explosions slowly knocked the man back, and for the first time, he looked at Tucker, throwing one of the hookblades at him, it was angled for his face, but he snatched it mid air, then lunged at the man. He slammed the blade down on his shoulder, spinning it around and hooking the back of his arm, yanking him in, Tucker punched full force. In an instant, Tucker was against the wall, falling face first into the tile floor, leaving ceramic to crack the area around him.
The man chopped the last of my tentacles down as he approached me. When they were practically useless, he put the remaining blade away, pulling out the pump action shotgun. He shot me in the face six times before throwing the gun to his side. A small stream of black ooze dripped down my chin, and I had a hard time seeing anything in front of me.
“Damn, you’re one tough fucker, I’ll give that much.”
Pulling out his pistol, he proceeded to unload every round into my forehead, despite being ordinary metal, something about them kicked like a mule. When that gun was out, he dropped it, looking to his right, seeing where Tucker had dropped his gun.
“I wonder, how will you hold against explosive rounds? Not well?”
As he picked it up, I felt something prick my back, a familiar sensation made its way toward my heart, like organic WD-4D.
“You’re awfully quiet over there. Lost will to fight?”
“You’re an asshole!”
“Please, stop, I’ll shit myself.” He let out an antagonizing laugh, “You’re strong, but you’ve too much a stiffy going on there.” He let off a round into my face, nearly knocking me down, but I staggered just enough to stay in place.
“Wow, this has some nice kick to it, perhaps I’ll join the military after this.” He shot three more into my face, with each explosion, my skin peeled away just that much more, my brain rattled, but my limbs loosened.
By the fourth round, I regained some mobility, walking toward him. He stepped back, switching the gun to burst fire. I maneuvered around three bursts, only getting hit three times, each one in my torso. Those explosions seemed to boost the Doc’s serum, and I was able to grab the man by the head, crushing his visor with the palm of my hand. “You rely too much on your gadgets and luck. Neither will get you out of this.”
The helmet cracked, and blades shot out, slicing my fingers off. He pulled his remaining hook blade and slid under me. A sharp pain hit the back of my skull, then a cracking reverberated through my head. A metal clattering followed, and when I turned, the man stood there, shocked. He lunged back, throwing several kunai at my face, but I ducked them. With my full range of motion returned, I slung one of the tables at him, flinging him into a wall front-first.
Walking over to where he’d dropped Tucker’s rifle, I snagged it, and walked over to the man. He staggered back to his feet, a broken nose and a shard of ceramic sticking out of his eye. I held the gun to his forehead and fired, his head bursting like a pipe bomb.
I stumbled over to Tucker, dropping his gun beside him, and dropping to one knee. I smacked him in the face a few times, “You still alive?”
He rolled onto his side, “Kinda wish I wasn’t.” His face was covered in small cuts from the ceramic tiles, “Wish I’d had my Odyr suit, couldda kicked his ass. Fuckin hell what a dick.”
I sat beside him, “Hopefully he was their last line of defense, I think your gun gave me a concussion or something.” The room spun, my stomach on a Ferris wheel.
“Wow, the Doctor was right.”
I turned to the stairway, Xavier held Jones’s arm around his neck, helping him stand, “What happened, is Doc really dead?”
Tucker staggered his way to a standing position, “Nah, that stuff I gave him slows heart rate. He was too stupid to check for a full minute. He should still be alive, don’t worry.”
“And you two?”
Jones cleared his throat, “Smudge hid us, but he was worn down.”
Hearing that, I turned back to see Smudge, still laying flat. I stood, stumbling over to him, checking his pulse. It took a bit, but eventually, I felt a weak heartbeat. “DOC, YOU ALIVE UP THERE!?”
“I suppose!” He groaned.
“WE NEED YOU DOWN HERE! SMUDGE IS IN BAD SHAPE!”
A faint hint of a sigh made its way down the hole. I picked Smudge up, and moments later, Doc landed on the ground, a leg giving out from under him.
------------------------------------------
Some time passed, and we patched ourselves up as best we could before heading back up to the proper floor. Jones was able to walk on his own, but his right leg was in bad shape. I carried Smudge on my back, and despite Tucker’s several broken bones, he was walking just fine, occasionally stumbling from a torn tendon. As far as Doc went, the only sign he showed he was injured was his panting. Fortunately, we never ran into anyone else aside from the odd straggler, and we managed to grab the data we needed.
With the stressors passed, we laughed and joked, trying to bring ourselves back down from the adrenaline high. Exiting the building, I spoke up, “Xavier, I’m not going to forgive you, but I will thank you.”
He looked over at me, “To be fair, it was the Doctor’s idea.”
“That’s why I’m not forgiving you, anyone could’ve done it.”
“Oh, fair enough. Guess you could’ve done it too aye Doc?”
“That’s Doctor.” He let out an exhausted sigh, “In theory, but by the time I got around to it, who knows if Terry would still be alive. For a thin-skin, you did well.”
That’s when a limo pulled up through the gravel headed right for us, stopping just in time to not hit us, “Doc, wake Smudge, have him get you guys out of here. NOW!” I set him on the ground behind me.
“Well, I certainly hope he’s feeling up to it.”
“If not, you guys need to run.”
The back door opened, and a man in a suit stepped out. Pulling off his glasses, he tossed them in the back seat before closing the door and signaling the driver to leave. They couldn’t get away fast enough.
“Terry, son of Charles, I was under the impression you wouldn’t get involved with us. But after the Maerod incident, we decided we should implement additional security measures. Seems we should’ve invested more heavily into that. What was your intent here? If you had just called on Charles and told him about us, I’m certain he could’ve turned the entire building to mist.”
“If you know that, why’d you come to see for yourself, you can’t kill him. Or are you really that arrogant?”
The man laughed, “Because the alarm is still going off. If he had come, there would be no signal sending the alarm. You’re strong sure, but even three assassins managed to do this to you. Hence the difference between you mortals and us gods.”
“Didn’t realize living for 3000 years classified me as mortal.”
“You know, it’s interesting. Even after thousands of years, some still feel the need to attach themselves to this world. It’s as if they’re unaware of the insignificance of this world, this solar system, galaxy, supercluster, hell this universe! If you will live to see it all end, then what’s this part of it matter? They get animals to give themselves more meaning, call them pets. They feed the animal, water them, domesticate them, protect them. But they also prevent them from living in their natural habitat. Pulling the animal from where it belongs to give themselves a sense of purpose, it’s selfish wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure, I guess in a nihilistic sense.”
“So why are you here? To retrieve your pet? As I’ve said, there’s a transmitter in there, I saw what you pulled. Data on where your pet is. Why not just let him live in his terrarium?”
“He’s one of us now.”
“Due to your interference.”
“What are you really doing here!?”
“That’s the question of the day is it not? Quite frankly, I think Maerod was right to kill her. You’re far too attached to this world, though I suppose you are still a mere child. You could be so much more wise, and yet you refuse to allow it, you latch onto what’s been lost when you could focus on what you could have.”
“Sounds to me like you’re not quite past your own insignificance.”
He sneered, “Are you certain that’s your final answer?”
“I guess so.”
“Gods, the apple really does fall right to the roots.” The grass around him shriveled to dust when he charged me. Time stopped as the gleam in his eyes froze me, each fist pummeling me to the dirt, creating a deeper crater with each fist.
Then I was back in place, so was he. I’d never felt it so strong before, but I couldn’t deny the reality, he would kill me. Unlike Maerod, that man had absolute control over his soul, a feat all my attempts couldn’t achieve. All I could do was hold him off until I had an opportunity to slip out of his perception.
The grass around him slowly disintegrated, ready for his lunge, I leaped into the air, grabbing him mid-air with my tentacles and throwing him full force into the building. I sprung myself to the forest, latching onto a branch and engrossing myself in the tree, doing what I could to suck as much energy out. It wasn’t long before I was forced out. The tree crumbled to dust and I lept from it, charging the man with what little extra energy I had. He stood still, tanking four punches to his face. He kicked me back, nothing but a streak of blood running down his nose.
I lunged back searching for another tree. I found one a ways back, flinging myself at it, I fell into it and absorbed the tree’s power. I forced myself and found I could suck it out of other nearby trees. Until I was once again forced out, the trees crumbling in decayed mass, “You’ve gotten a bit stronger, Charles must be so proud.”
“What are you trying to achieve? Is losing your HQ really that important?”
He stepped toward me casually, “The same thing Maerod was trying to achieve, and really all the other gods in this disoriented country. However, no, killing you isn’t punishment for the damages, it’s for the audacity it took for you to do it. Entering my domain and destroying my primary facility? That takes balls, unfortunately, the rest was only a few inches.”
I tried to leap back again to gain a foothold, but all nearby trees crumpled to dust. Seeing no other way, I charged him again, but just as I came face to face, I spun and sidestepped, launching a single tentacle for the back of his heart, but on impact, it turned to dust.
“Unfortunately, the rest of you won’t be so easy to get rid of.” He turned, jumping, and once again, I met his bloodthirsty gaze. My skull cracked on impact, and when my head hit the dirt, a crater was left behind. He stood over me, “I’m gonna be on his shitlist for this one, but really, it’ll be worth it.” He pointed a finger gun at my head, and as the darkness closed in, three gunshots followed by a familiar light filled my senses, and when I could see again, his head was missing, the body still standing up-right, three bullet holes oozing blood at different angles...
I staggered to my feet, adrenaline keeping me awake. I looked around, seeing everyone but Smudge scattered around, “RUN! HE’S GONNA BLOW JUST FUCKING RUN!” I used my tentacles to move, sticking them in the ground and launching myself, then staggering to my feet. I headed in the direction the van was in, and a few seconds later, an intense blue light erupted from behind me, the shockwave hitting immediately after.
Part 26: Coming Soon!

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This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 71%. (I'm a bot)

Ukrainian authorities say air-defense forces shot down all 15 missiles and 21 drones over the capital, Kyiv, as Russia launched its sixth consecutive day of attacks on the capital.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said a 68-year-old man and an 11-year-old child were wounded in the June 2 attacks, which came from several directions and hit residential areas.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who earlier reported two separate waves of attacks, said on Telegram there had been no calls for rescue services.
Russian troops have intensified their attacks against Ukrainian cities, particularly Kyiv, since the start of May. The Ukrainian capital has been targeted by 19 waves of Russian air strikes since the start of May. Kyiv military authorities have said that as a result of falling rocket fragments on the capital on June 1, three people were killed, including a child.
Russian regional authorities said two villages in the country's western Bryansk region were shelled by Ukrainian forces.
The women were traveling by car near the town of Shebekino when shrapnel hit their vehicle, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram on June 2 while blaming the Ukrainian Army for the attack.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: attack^#1 Ukrainian^#2 June^#3 Ukraine^#4 capital^#5
Post found in /worldnews, /Kazakhstan, /Kazakhstan, /Kazakhstan and /TurkicPeople.
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I'm sure I'm not the first to say this but man did it feel great to watch this movie!! I started playing D&D in summer camp when I was 12 or 13 in the late 80s. I've played 2e, 3.5, Pathfinder, 4e (once and it was enough), and now 5e. When I was a kid, I voraciously read as many novels and supplements of Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun (sigh), and Greyhawk as my meager earnings could afford. As disappointed as I was that Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 weren't turn-based (come on, the heart of D&D gameplay!!!), I was delighted to see the mantle of Pool of Radiance carried forward and today we are blessed with D&D video games.
And now, finally, after that horrid Jeremy Irons debacle and the unfulfilled promise of the animated Dragonlance trilogy, we get an actual good movie. Good story, good humor, characters you care about, and good action scenes. Lots of recognizable and well-done references, from the spells and monsters to the 80s cartoon. And best of all, the Red Wizards and Szass Tam, some of the best villains in D&D history and given the appropriately creepy treatment in the movie.
In some ways, this is the D&D golden era.