Macbook air vertical stand

I'll make more lists like this and update them when I get the chance, IF YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC TAG OF ANIME YOU WANT ME TO DO LEAVE A COMMENT AND I'LL GET TO IT WHEN I'M OFF WORK THIS IS JUST SOMETHING I THREW TOGETHER RIGHT NOW.
so, it's come to my attention I watch a lot more anime than most people, this is something I'm making at 3:30am I see a lot of people on here looking for anime, but their watched library isn't actually that large so I'm making this post as a way to just help people without having to wait for replies to posts and I'll be as specific as possible.
​
isekai - demon lords

• The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn as a Typical Nobody
• The Misfit of Demon King Academy
• How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
• Overlord (honestly I don't know if this counts for demon lord but I'll put it here)
• Demon King Daimao
• The Devil is a Part-Timer
• Demon Lord, Retry!
• Dead mount death play

​
isekai - OP Main character

• Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?
• The Strongest Sage With The Weakest Crest
• Wise Man’s Grandchild
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
• The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat
• The Fruit of Evolution (it's so bad just ignore this one unless you like pain)
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
• Summoned to Another World for a Second Time
• The Eminence in Shadow
• The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World
• I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too (by definition I guess it's an isekai but not really)
• Sword Art Online (obvious one though I hate the show)
• My One-Hit Kill Sister
• The Ambition of Oda Nobuna
• The Familiar of Zero
• Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren't They?
• My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World!
• Reincarnated as a Sword
• Black Summoner
• The Rising of the Shield Hero
• Let Me Check the Walkthrough First
• Skeleton Knight in Another World
• Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest
• So I'm a Spider, So What?
• My Next Life as a Villainess
• Drug Store in Another World
• I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level
• Combatants Will Be Dispatched! ( I use the term isekai very loosly but it's tagged as one)
• The Dungeon of Black Company
• Re:ZERO ( I guess he's op? I'm not sure where to put this one so it's going here)
• BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt
• The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
• I'm Standing on a Million Lives
• Infinite Dendrogram
• Tsukimichi -Moonlit Fantasy-

(this list could actually be 100's long so I'll stop here for OP isekai) but i do have more so just leave a comment
​
killing game anime

• High-Rise Invasion
• The Future Diary
• Deadman Wonderland
• Btooom!
• Darwin's Game
• Ousama Game (not "killing" but if i don't put it here i don't know where i'll put it)
• Big Order (just don't seriously stay away from this one it's sooooo bad)
• Danganronpa
• Riddle Story of Devil
• Akame ga Kill! (a lot of death, that counts a "killing game" right?)
• Battle Game In 5 Seconds
• Death Parade
• Tomodachi Game

​
Horror anime

• Mieruko-chan
• Chainsaw Man ( I mean it's tagged as one so it's going here but it's just a really good anime)
• Psychic Detective Yakumo
• Ghost Hunt
• Un-Go
• Shiki
• Higurashi: When They Cry
• Another
• Corpse Party: Tortured Souls
• Gakkougurashi! (you'll have to trust me on this one if you have watched it you know but it's kinda messed up)
• Pupa
• Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (one of my absoulute must watch for everyone)
• Hell Girl (honestly yes it's messed up but it's a chill watch with no real "plot" just individual stories) well until season 2 i think if i remember they put some sort of plot in.
• Ghost Hound ( don't really want to put this in horror but I also really want to include it
• Serial Experiments Lain
• Mushi-Shi (again don't want to put it here but really too good not to include)
• Highschool of the Dead (honestly I wouldn't consider this horror but BOOBS!)
• Hellsing Ultimate
• Devilman: Crybaby
• Akira (if you haven't watched it just watch it)
• Ajin
• xxxHOLiC
• Sankarea: Undying Love
• The Lost Village
• Claymore
• Blood-C
• EVIL OR LIVE
• Blood: The Last Vampire (loved this movie)
• Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
• Angels of Death (it's tagged as one so it's going in this section)

​
anime that will make you cry

• kanon2006
• Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
• Angel Beats!
• Your Lie in April
• Clannad (first anime i every watched damn i picked a good one to cry to for hours when i was 14)
• Plastic Memories
• Air
• Toradora! (honestly not as sad but I'm pretty sensitive)
• Steins Gate (like i said i'm sensitive to sad anime but it's a must watch so i had to include it)
• Wolf Children
• Your Name (if you haven't watched ... don't I watched it with my brother and we both sat crying like babies for about an hour)
• I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
• True Tears
• Elfen Lied (people say it's sad so I'll put it here but I didn't feel anything from it, though I was like 15 when i watched it)
• 5 Centimeters Per Second (please just watch it)
• A Silent Voice (another one but me and my gf were crying pretty much all day)
• The Day I Became A God (I SWEAR WATCH IT!!! YOU BETTER WATCH THIS IT DOESN'T GET TALKED ABOUT AT ALL)
• The Promised Neverland (again people say it's sad but meh I didn't feel anything)
• One Week Friends (underrated and AMAZING!)

Time check.... it's now 4:55am
and yes, every anime I have listed here and will list in the future is a show I have watched

I plan on going into Software Engineering this September and I'm looking at what laptop I need.
I've been looking at a few laptops:
​
https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/asus-zenbook-oled-14-touchscreen-laptop-ponder-blue-intel-evo-i7-1360p-1t-ssd-16gb-ram-window-11/16941727
i7 1360p, 1TB m.2 SSD, 16GB soldered DDR5, OLED display
$1499
​
https://www.apple.com/ca_edu_93120/shop/buy-mac/macbook-aimidnight-apple-m2-chip-with-8-core-cpu-and-8-core-gpu-256gb
M2 8 core CPU and GPU, 16GB ram, 512GB SSD
$1879
​
I've been debating between these two. Would either of these be okay? What other suggestions do you guys have for laptops? Any software compatibility issues with the Macbook?

I have never been one to complain about excessive digital PS or LR corrections to color balance or contrast or the like to a scanned film photo. The way I think of it is that most of those types of corrections were/are things that an experienced darkroom photog could accomplish (or close enough). Who cares, right?
What does grind my gears a bit is excessive digital perspective correction, which is not something one could accomplish in a darkroom to the extent it is widely used today. In the old days, you could maybe tilt your easel to get at max two degrees of correction. However, having taken thousands of film photos with wider lenses, it is obvious that many photogs are using PS or LR to achieve unnatural results with the optics used. For instance, unless you are looking straight on to a subject with a 28mm lens, which is pretty much impossible to do if you are standing on the ground and not at a great distance from the subject, there is going to be perspective distortion as you are going to be pointing "up" at least a little bit. However, the socials are replete with photos with perfectly straight vertical lines. I can't say that I have not done this on occasion as well.
Knowing that probably less than 1% of film photographers own a real perspective control lens, I feel like this might be a line that would be drawn as pushing a film photo result into something only achievable through digital manipulation. Now that PS can now actually "fill in" details that were not even on the frame with a sort of AI, it is even worse in a way.
Maybe this is all dumb and who cares, but was interested in what the community thinks about this.

My table's fighter just got the Boots of Springing and Striding.

Boots of Springing and Striding
While you wear these boots, your walking speed becomes 30 feet, unless your walking speed is higher, and your speed isn't reduced if you are encumbered or wearing heavy armor. In addition, you can jump three times the normal distance, though you can't jump farther than your remaining movement would allow.

The rules of Long Jumps state that "you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump."
For High Jumps, "you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump."
With the boots on, his Long Jump should be 60ft and his High Jump 24 feet. Unfortunately, max jump distance seems to be limited by the character's movement score: "Each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement."
I have some questions about this:

• Does this mean that, in combat, the boots don't really increase the fighter's Long Jump at all unless he uses the Dash action? With 30 feet of movement (and a 10 foot running start), he can only long jump 20 feet -- the same distance he could jump without the boots. With Dash, however, his jump distance would increase to 50 feet?
  
• For High Jumps in combat, with a 10-foot running start and 30 feet of movement, I think this means he can clear a 20 foot vertical high jump with the boots on? And using Dash would increase this to the max of 24?
  
• Outside of combat, is the fighter still restricted by his movement speed, or is he free to Tigger his way across the world with 60 foot long jumps and 24 foot high jumps?
  
• And a kind of whacky question: Must a jump during a single turn begin and end on the ground? Could the fighter theoretically run 10 feet, jump 20 across a gap, use an Action to fire a bow mid-air, and then NEXT turn continue his jump (another X feet across the gap) and land?
  

I (24F) have been seeing a guy (27M) for 2 months. A year ago I came out of an abusive relationship and was also abused growing up.
One night I went over and he finished early. He told me he’d see me the next day but when the time came he cancelled saying he was tired. He then backtracked saying he wanted to f*** and said “I’m going to shower, I’ll let you know how I feel.” I admit that I completely overreacted and felt like I was just being used for sex, that he got what he wanted the night before and didn’t want to see me to spend quality time. I sent him a paragraph saying that this showed he was using me, hoping he would turn around and tell me that he liked me for me but it backfired and he ghosted me. I was hurt and sent another message days later saying “if this is how you’re going to treat me then I don’t want to see you anymore.” He proceeded to block me on everything.
2 weeks later he messaged me asking how I’ll change. He told me he’d give it another shot. He then cancelled dinner plans and told me to come over at 10pm. I started to feel like I was going to be used and went there with a bad mindset. We cleared the air and he got on top of me immediately. We had rough sex (he made me vomit on him and there was some degradation involved) so afterwards I felt really vulnerable and I felt ashamed that after he ghosted me I let him have me so easily. Usually he gives me aftercare or he’ll say ‘stay’ but this time he was just cleaning up and I felt like he wanted me to leave so I said “I better get going.” He didn’t object and walked me to the door. I have no idea what got into me but all of a sudden I blurted out “you’re not a really nice person” which shocked him. I explained how I felt like he wanted me to leave and how I felt used. He did say “would you like to come back in” twice but I felt like he was forcing it and it didn’t feel genuine at this point (probably in my head).
I ran back 20 seconds later to say sorry because I knew I had overreacted but he wouldn’t open the gate and told me “you need to leave now!”
I felt like a dog standing outside that gate being stared at with so much disdain by someone I had just slept with. I said “I understand but I just want to talk, how can you do this when you just fu**** me” etc. He kept saying leave, his voice escalated and at one point I said “what are you going to do?” which was out of line I know. It wasn’t to provoke him it was a genuine question because I was wondering if he was about to get aggressive. I left after the 7th time he said leave. I’m embarrassed about my behaviour. He told me he was done the next day. I apologised profusely and he threatened to report me to the cops for harassment if I contacted him again.
Just to be clear I was not being a psycho. I was only standing outside the gate for like 1-2 mins when he was saying leave and I did not bombard him with texts for him to make it sound like I was harassing him. I simply explained my side.
Tldr: I accused a guy of using me and was blocked.

Is there a good laptop recommendation, that can handle some AAA games, as i am going to do a bit of gaming on it. It is also going to be used for school.
​
Please help

Period: 1481.65 days

	Submissions	Comments
Total	1000	109593
Rate (per day)	0.67	73.32
Unique Redditors	782	25569
Combined Score	1446245	736930

Top Submitters' Top Submissions

1. 22515 points, 15 submissions: nnnndth
   
   1. How I turn case LED on/off (2667 points, 93 comments)
   2. Nothing perfect but maybe this GPU fan mod is. (2047 points, 119 comments)
   3. I have my own Noctua edition graphic cards (1554 points, 132 comments)
   4. One cable rules all. (actually two) (1525 points, 125 comments)
   5. Formula Loli1 Mini Itx Build (1520 points, 70 comments)
   6. Spent 3hrs making this mod. I think I'm obsessed by perfectionism. (1487 points, 120 comments)
   7. 5.1 L old build improved. Almost wireless. (1486 points, 96 comments)
   8. GPU Box (1484 points, 81 comments)
   9. Somebody calls this Fridge. Finally (all) black build. (1460 points, 71 comments)
   10. Watercooled Velka 5 with RTX 3070, first time custom loop. (1443 points, 95 comments)
2. 17572 points, 13 submissions: dan_cases
   
   1. Help me to convince Noctua to bring a dual C14s to live! (2929 points, 335 comments)
   2. DAN & LianLi A4-H2O - a 11.1l SFF case (1570 points, 410 comments)
   3. DAN B4-SFX - What do you think about this 12L tower style case? (1430 points, 292 comments)
   4. DAN Cases: C4-SFX - 14.7L will make it into production! (1426 points, 256 comments)
   5. Preview: C4-SFX with RTX 3090 & 280 AIO (1424 points, 116 comments)
   6. DAN Cases: C4-SFX is in production! (1315 points, 220 comments)
   7. DAN C4-SFX - Final Product Renderings 2022 (1198 points, 204 comments)
   8. C4-SFX - deshrouded GPU in sandwich & classic (1112 points, 86 comments)
   9. DAN/LIAN LI - A4-H2O Preview (1083 points, 134 comments)
   10. DAN Cases - C4-SFX new sample arrived today (1059 points, 216 comments)
3. 16897 points, 11 submissions: godbq
   
   1. Ultra-silent office PC with Intel Core i7 (3248 points, 172 comments)
   2. Ultra-compact office PC with AMD Ryzen 5 3400G volume 0.87L (1881 points, 131 comments)
   3. Ultra-compact SFFPC with Ryzen 5 4650G in the case of PSU be quiet! (1704 points, 73 comments)
   4. DeskMini X300: liquid, custom and 3D-printer (1670 points, 89 comments)
   5. Ultra-silent gaming PC with Intel Core i7 and GeForce GTX 1650 (1437 points, 92 comments)
   6. Project ultra-silent gaming PC "Monolith" with Intel Core i5-12400F (1318 points, 82 comments)
   7. My best++ custom project GEEEK A30 (1187 points, 56 comments)
   8. My best custom project GEEEK A30 (1182 points, 54 comments)
   9. My dream workplace (1152 points, 67 comments)
   10. When winter comes... (1088 points, 54 comments)
4. 15575 points, 8 submissions: 80ishplus
   
   1. Introducing Betty by 80ishplus (2754 points, 164 comments)
   2. Motif Monument. Worth every penny. (2462 points, 200 comments)
   3. Betty - Scratchbuild submission for Builds.GG SFFPC (2456 points, 140 comments)
   4. Patina by 80ishplus (2037 points, 174 comments)
   5. Windfall by 80ishplus. A custom loop Meshlicious build. (1712 points, 148 comments)
   6. Almagest by 80ishplus (1676 points, 66 comments)
   7. Not a Ghost S1 build. (1299 points, 132 comments)
   8. Introducing Sky Lantern by 80ishplus (1179 points, 68 comments)
5. 11127 points, 7 submissions: hereforthefeast
   
   1. Just finished my portable gaming rig, it only needs 2 cables (2980 points, 243 comments)
   2. I think I have a sffpc addiction (1725 points, 166 comments)
   3. It’s alive! Minimalist RGB power button (1501 points, 29 comments)
   4. 4.6L console killer (1404 points, 81 comments)
   5. This is why I love sffpc - only 2 cables total needed for this portable gaming station (1311 points, 146 comments)
   6. wHy DoN't yoU juSt GeT a gAmInG lApTOp? (1288 points, 138 comments)
   7. When everything fits just right (918 points, 59 comments)
6. 9666 points, 5 submissions: brolynitro
   
   1. Small smaller smallest. 8liter case (4431 points, 301 comments)
   2. 6L smallfootprint custom gaming pc (1790 points, 146 comments)
   3. Wood and acrylic 10l pc case. (1430 points, 91 comments)
   4. Finally finished my ghost s1. Cant do anything anymore to optimise it. (1079 points, 204 comments)
   5. 8.7 liter ghost s1 with 2 x 240mm rads and ryuo pump (936 points, 152 comments)
7. 9005 points, 5 submissions: msystems
   
   1. Ice Cream Sandwich [Deskmini + 5700g + L9A + A12 120mm] (2595 points, 128 comments)
   2. x300 DeskNano [1.16L] (2050 points, 119 comments)
   3. "Turbine" Asrock Deskmini (1.92L) (1850 points, 89 comments)
   4. DeskVader [Deskmini X300, AMD 5700g, RTX 3060ti - 3.5L] (1375 points, 66 comments)
   5. Deskmini: EXTREME edition (1135 points, 57 comments)
8. 8094 points, 6 submissions: melikewater
   
   1. Pretty content (2151 points, 147 comments)
   2. Hello I’m back. Hardline Ghost s1! (1757 points, 111 comments)
   3. Open air sff has never looked so good (1211 points, 48 comments)
   4. Watercooled Jonsplus i100 2x 360 rads with Custom Motherboard Armor. (1039 points, 74 comments)
   5. Cheap glass side panel for Ghost S1 (968 points, 38 comments)
   6. I love them tight gaps (968 points, 96 comments)
9. 7910 points, 3 submissions: bryins
   
   1. black on black on black (4511 points, 152 comments)
   2. cant go wrong with black or white (2138 points, 63 comments)
   3. air and water bender (1261 points, 55 comments)
10. 7526 points, 7 submissions: mattzzz199
    
    1. 600W Flex PSU with 80mm Fan (1350 points, 105 comments)
    2. Must, Go, Smaller! (1155 points, 76 comments)
    3. Flex PSU too noisy? I gotchu...[Video] (1108 points, 100 comments)
    4. Ultra Compact Wooden PC [Link in Comments] (1005 points, 87 comments)
    5. Wasp Nest - [Progress Update 5] (998 points, 69 comments)
    6. [Completed] Custom Wooden ITX Case (967 points, 85 comments)
    7. OMG! Finally! (943 points, 86 comments)
11. 7295 points, 4 submissions: colinreay
    
    1. 9L Infinity Mirror Case (2337 points, 63 comments)
    2. Progress On New 10L Case (2036 points, 98 comments)
    3. 10L, Airflow Focused Concept (1512 points, 113 comments)
    4. (Tasteful?) Tests with RGB (1410 points, 85 comments)
12. 7205 points, 2 submissions: CroyAlore
    
    1. Obsidian, a SFF pc built on a picture frame (3979 points, 91 comments)
    2. Here is the update of my Picture Frame build, with the frame mounted on a Monitor Mount. (3226 points, 107 comments)
13. 7197 points, 3 submissions: thewipprsnappr
    
    1. Here is my recent build project. A ratrod inspired, open air, custom loop, vintage radio sleeper. 5600x + 1080ti (3380 points, 89 comments)
    2. Just finished my newest sleeper project "The Sheep Counter 9000" (pcpp link in comments) (2254 points, 88 comments)
    3. Recently finished v2 of my vintage Sony radio hotrod build (1563 points, 70 comments)
14. 6662 points, 4 submissions: Maeiourk
    
    1. GF and I are about to attend a LAN party. (2224 points, 126 comments)
    2. I’ve gone full chimney in this build. (1731 points, 105 comments)
    3. Chimney Build 2.0 Midnight Edition (1476 points, 49 comments)
    4. LOUQE is going to have a liquidity sale starting tomorrow at 2PM EST. (1231 points, 268 comments)
15. 6379 points, 1 submission: wearetheused
    
    1. A 10" tablet fits nicely on the front panel on the NR200 (6379 points, 213 comments)
16. 6299 points, 2 submissions: -MadScientist_
    
    1. RTX 3090 + 5950X in 6 Liters. Custom Radiator. Ultra SFF (4110 points, 216 comments)
    2. RTX 3090 Ryzen 5950x - 6 liters (2189 points, 196 comments)
17. 6277 points, 5 submissions: Dpn0391
    
    1. Velka3 build (5600X, 2070mini) (1908 points, 66 comments)
    2. Formd T1 (v1.1) + 4090FE (1359 points, 208 comments)
    3. Formd T1 280 rad build (1085 points, 40 comments)
    4. X-Proto L + 4090FE (971 points, 60 comments)
    5. Formd T1 (v2) + 4090FE (954 points, 90 comments)
18. 5973 points, 5 submissions: revoccases
    
    1. probably the smallest GTX1650 you can get (1712 points, 72 comments)
    2. DSX1 build complete - XBOX Series X style DIY case for AsRock DeskMini (1162 points, 50 comments)
    3. I've also put a handle on it - introducing the first liquid cooled boombox sff pc (1096 points, 79 comments)
    4. RTX A2000 Full Copper Edition - Low Profile Single Slot Mod (1070 points, 108 comments)
    5. Fractal North was too big for my taste - so I made this custom SFF case (933 points, 50 comments)
19. 5797 points, 2 submissions: d1xt1r
    
    1. My current setup (3674 points, 208 comments)
    2. I present you the "I was too lazy to put the parts back in my NCase M1 after I clean it - open-air mini-ITX headphones stand case" (2123 points, 141 comments)
20. 5516 points, 3 submissions: xDeskinsxx
    
    1. Beat up my case a bit (2221 points, 87 comments)
    2. My CL4P-TP nr200 🤖 (2045 points, 106 comments)
    3. My Hyperion SFF with matching controller :) (1250 points, 85 comments)
21. 5477 points, 3 submissions: altapowderdog
    
    1. Custom 20L Build - Vid in Comments (3434 points, 89 comments)
    2. My 14L Wood and Leather Gaming/Media Build (1115 points, 40 comments)
    3. My Small Build (3D print files available) (928 points, 76 comments)
22. 5464 points, 2 submissions: wearebobNL
    
    1. Couldn't get the cases I was interested in so I built my own. WDYT? (4338 points, 205 comments)
    2. Another idea for a custom SFF case (1126 points, 120 comments)
23. 5438 points, 1 submission: jeremigio
    
    1. Cooler Master X USPS (5438 points, 201 comments)
24. 5248 points, 2 submissions: ZzLy__
    
    1. You can't just move parts to outside of the case and then not count them when measuring the size (3860 points, 258 comments)
    2. NUCs are pretty cool (1388 points, 153 comments)
25. 5209 points, 2 submissions: modsbybenq
    
    1. Talking about what is possible! New SFF case by Sinister Cases (2864 points, 183 comments)
    2. Taking it small with this one! (2345 points, 75 comments)
26. 5104 points, 4 submissions: PlaygroundPRB
    
    1. A cup of SFF (1488 points, 129 comments)
    2. Custom loop with a 7.7L Akkla A3 (1361 points, 52 comments)
    3. Ryzen 9 5900X + RTX 2060 K39 ITX case (1215 points, 72 comments)
    4. Geeek A30 V2 Cyberpunk (1040 points, 55 comments)
27. 4541 points, 3 submissions: Flying-T
    
    1. Moving an entire office with just one crate (2034 points, 132 comments)
    2. My 3D-printed case I showed off some time ago is finally finished! (1414 points, 59 comments)
    3. EK Water Blocks releases Quantum Momentum² ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming Monoblock (1093 points, 97 comments)
28. 4538 points, 3 submissions: SCYTHE_Chloe
    
    1. All black nr200 featuring Scythe Mugen 5 Black (1729 points, 65 comments)
    2. Scythe Big Shuriken 3 CPU cooler with Motif Monument (1458 points, 96 comments)
    3. Amazing rig featuring Scythe Shuriken 2 CPU cooler (1351 points, 78 comments)
29. 4537 points, 3 submissions: imjaeha
    
    1. Ghost S1 Custom Loop (Black + hard tubing) (1875 points, 122 comments)
    2. Formd t1 (All Black, 3080 tuf) (1444 points, 111 comments)
    3. Black + Bluetooth + Itx setup (1218 points, 70 comments)
30. 4320 points, 3 submissions: ghim7
    
    1. SSUPD Meshlicious with a Cable Management Tweak (Build video link in comments) (1672 points, 110 comments)
    2. I've seen some of you installed monitoring screen on your PC, so I made a tutorial video on how to do it, specifically on the NR200P (Video link in comments) (1476 points, 89 comments)
    3. Video Editing Build on the NR200P (1172 points, 143 comments)
31. 4296 points, 3 submissions: Lithofish
    
    1. Shy SFF... (1699 points, 111 comments)
    2. If there is space for a fan... (1350 points, 119 comments)
    3. Monitor arms... the best companion for any SFFPC (1247 points, 124 comments)
32. 4124 points, 4 submissions: sknight022
    
    1. My entry into the SFFPC meets builds.gg contest (1081 points, 87 comments)
    2. Much work to be done, but it's starting to look like something! (1056 points, 75 comments)
    3. Yet another SFF case concept https://imgur.com/a/5cYEH5c (1018 points, 137 comments)
    4. Updated SFF PC concept (969 points, 122 comments)
33. 4089 points, 2 submissions: neiru37
    
    1. I either looked cool or stupid doing all this at the airport lounge 😂 (2145 points, 277 comments)
    2. 5 liters of portable 4k gaming! Successfully crammed a Founders Edition 3070 ti, the fastest card I could find that would fit, into a sub 5L Velka 5 case. Just look at the size of this thing! Thermals and fan noise aren't that bad either with undervolt. (1944 points, 243 comments)
34. 4072 points, 2 submissions: drkmrk
    
    1. I stopped modifying my pc and started modding my shelf.. (2978 points, 111 comments)
    2. Listen up, y'all, 'cause this is it. (1094 points, 86 comments)
35. 4070 points, 1 submission: zero_cool_513
    
    1. I did it for the karma honestly (4070 points, 147 comments)
36. 4040 points, 2 submissions: makerunit
    
    1. I 3D Printed my own Mini ITX case 😅 (2819 points, 198 comments)
    2. THE CUBE - A custom 3D Printable ITX Case (Details in comment below) (1221 points, 63 comments)
37. 3991 points, 3 submissions: eatsleep123
    
    1. Ghost of Noctua EVGA × Noctua × Louqe (FTW3 in S1) (1715 points, 145 comments)
    2. [FormD T1] Team Midnight - Yet Another BBB (1229 points, 79 comments)
    3. [Sliger SV590] ML Duolith: 5950X Dual RTX 3090s 420mm Push + Pull (1047 points, 148 comments)
38. 3944 points, 2 submissions: NiceDepth
    
    1. project voron-01 3D printed case (2661 points, 215 comments)
    2. DIY 1000$ monitor stand (1283 points, 61 comments)
39. 3874 points, 2 submissions: eatingdata
    
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Author's Note:
Reddit was having issues when I posted the last chapter, so just in case anyone missed it, the previous chapter (197) starts here.
Also, the next chapter will come out a week from now, on June 5th.
​
--
​
Two Days Later
"AMBUSH!"
Rob's eyes snapped open. Panicked shouts were resounding from outside his tent. The first notion that popped into his sleep-addled mind was relief, as an ambush was preferable to the nightmare he'd been having. That sentiment lasted until a distant explosion obliterated the final remnants of his drowsiness, sending him and Keira sprinting out of their tent with weapons in hand.
Chaos awaited them outside. People weren't quite running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but it was close. While the coalition had known that a night attack was possible and prepared themselves accordingly, no one was ever truly ready to be assaulted with spells and Skills as they frolicked through dreamland. Arrows peppered the ground at their feet, the majority landing harmlessly away, although Rob spotted a few soldiers with fresh wounds seeping blood.
He spared a passing glance for the numerous banners the coalition had erected across their campsite. Each one was raised twenty feet high, decorated with lights in order to glow in the dark, and marked with wartime symbols indicating a desire to engage in peaceful negotiations. The Harpies answered by filling the banners with arrow holes and setting many of them on fire. Diplomacy's plan had been doomed from the start.
Kicking his brain into high gear, Rob activated Quick Thinking and sent Messages checking on Riardin's Rangers. His eyes traveled up towards the night sky, seeing a canvas of pure darkness broken up by stars and moonlight. It must have been the dead of midnight or close to it. Arrows were impossible to see coming before they'd already hit the ground, and the only indication of Harpies flying above were the shadows blotting out the stars every so often.
Thankfully, the coalition had planned for this. As if on cue, multiple orbs of brilliant light shot upwards, mages from each faction contributing to the effort. The orbs hung in the sky like floating lighthouses, banishing enough darkness to allow Rob to see what he was dealing with.
A resigned expletive slipped out of his mouth. There had to be at least four hundred of the fuckers up there, maybe five hundred, swarming like a colony of feathered bees. It was the worst-case scenario of what the coalition envisioned – Elnaril sending the maximum number of Harpies he could realistically field without leaving the capital undefended.
How am I supposed to fight them? Rob wondered, asking himself a recurring question that he'd never been able to answer. They can't kill me with piddly arrows and long-range spells, but my allies aren't so durable. Somehow I doubt they'll listen if I tell them to stop being cowards and come fight me in melee range.
All thoughts of attacking were swept aside when the Harpies began dropping a very different projectile towards the coalition base camp. Rob opened and closed his mouth several times, shock suffusing every cell in his body. He recalled the explosion that had awoken him, the moment now disturbingly re-contextualized.
The Harpies were airdropping crates of Firebombs.
"THAT'S COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, YOU LITTLE SHITS!" Rob summoned his own crate from his Bound Items, tore open the cover, and grabbed a Firebomb in each hand. He activated Bulk Up for extra Strength and hurled Firebombs towards the falling crates with the best baseball throws he could muster. One, two, three, four, five, six – the crate's supply rapidly depleted as Rob threw again and again, trying to intercept as many payloads as possible, Keira following his lead. They were joined by coalition archer support, arrows sniping at crates that were out of reach.
Dozens of roaring explosions lit up the sky. While some of the crates had gotten through, most were turned to dust before they could hit the ground, reducing the Harpies' shock-and-awe tactic to an impromptu fireworks display.
Throwing Proficiency Level Increased! 6 → 7
Throwing Proficiency Level Increased! 7 → 8
"THAT'S RIGHT!" Rob whooped. "LEAVE THE KABOOMS TO THE EXPERTS!" He paused, then turned to Keira, looking abashed. "Um...was this my fault? Are they actually copying me?" Please don't tell me I accidentally advanced warfare by a century.
"We can ruminate on that later," Keira answered, skillfully dodging the question. "For now, we should focus on retaliating by any means available."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a glowing yellow projectile shot up into the sky. Orn'tol's Chain Arrow nicked a Harpy on the edge of their wing – which was all it needed to begin the process. A tenth of a second later, the arrow veered to the right and struck a different Harpy in their stomach. It ripped out and through the other side, taking another ninety-degree turn to spear an unsuspecting Harpy in the back. And so it went, chaining from target-to-target with ruthless efficiency. By the end, twenty Harpies had been struck, eight of them falling out of the sky, unmoving.
Rob saluted the display. "Yeah, I don't have any ranged attacks on that level. I think we'd be better-off guarding the people who do."
They rushed over to where the Fiend mages resided, discovering the group huddled under cover, besieged by a stream of arrows and spells hammering down around them. Rob sent off a quick Message to Vul'to, then jumped in front of an icicle spell that would have gored a Fiend through her neck. "Sup."
"Lord Roy!" The Fiend's jubilation froze when she saw the icicle sticking out of Rob's shoulder. "Are–"
"No time for chitchat. If I cover you, can you fire back?"
After some thought, the mages nodded. Rob gave them a thumbs-up with his left hand and deflected an arrow with his right. He turned his full attention to the projectile storm raining from above, calculating which ones he'd be able to block and which ones he'd need to take on the chin.
The next few minutes became a blur of activity. Arrow. Skill. Arrow. Spell. Spell. Skill. Arrow. Arrow. It never ended. His slow walk towards Harpy Settlement #4 was proving to be an invaluable experience, because he wasn't sure if he could've kept up now without already knowing how to handle a barrage of small projectiles. Even Keira was struggling; while Danger Sense told her where she needed to move, it was reaching a point where she physically couldn't execute the motions fast enough. Rob would've expected the Harpies to lay off once they noticed that he was there to play defense, but if anything, they were attacking more fiercely than before.
Almost as if they held a grudge against him or something.
Outwardly, he was projecting the supreme confidence of a Leader. Inwardly, he was honestly starting to get a bit worried. While he'd only taken about 300 HP of damage, a different resource was beginning to wane: his Stamina. Quick Thinking consumed 3 Stamina for every second it was active. That combined with his constant movement was...tiring. He'd activated Second Wind to restore 35% of his Stamina, but unlike his Vitality-based abilities, this one had a cooldown of 24 hours. In a couple minutes, he might actually need to ask for a short break.
Was that the end of the world? No. Was it embarrassing? Potentially. Leaders weren't supposed to ask for breaks. At least, he thought they weren't. Elatrans could be weird about what constituted a good Leader. Rob was still figuring out when he was supposed to act like an invulnerable pillar versus when he was allowed to be a real person. I miss when I didn't have to care about this sort of thing.
His reputation was saved by Vul'to's timely arrival. The Soul Guardian burst onto the scene in a mad dash, skid to a halt, took a stance, activated Auto-Guard, and proceeded to swat away the Harpies' projectiles as if they were no more than gnats. "I will protect the mages from here on out," he calmly stated. Vul'to's movements flowed like water, his voice showing no sign of exertion as he spoke. "Put your efforts towards an offensive strike."
Rob suppressed a relieved sigh as he deactivated Quick Thinking. "For the record, when our Party inevitably complains about my risk-taking later, I'm going to say that both you and Keira signed off on a Rob Plan."
"You can't be serious," Keira blurted out, panting heavily as she rested. "Our enemies are in the sky. What scheme could you have possibly concocted that would put you at risk?"
Rob hesitated. He was distinctly aware of the mages listening in as they fired spells, devoting a portion of their brainpower to gathering gossip material. Anything he said here would reflect on his status as Leader. That included overly-casual speech and devising schemes that by all rights should get him a one-way ticket to the loony bin.
Then he remembered that allies were dying around him, and he stopped caring so much about what other people thought.
"My usual method for dealing with mobile enemies is Rampage spam," he began to explain. "That isn't viable here. I'd run out of MP long before I reached their altitude, and even if I somehow made it, what then? I can't dodge mid-air. They'd turn me into a pincushion. So here's what I was thinking..."
His explanation was brief. By the time he'd finished, the mages were staring at him with eyes wide as saucers. Keira merely nodded. "Very well. I'll accept it."
"No complaints?"
"You left yourself an escape route. That already makes this plan safer than most." She turned away, gesturing for him to follow. "Let's go find Malika. If I'm not mistaken, she'll be at Orn'tol's side."
It wasn't hard to locate her. They only needed to trace the empowered spells blasting upwards like rocket launchers. Rob did a rough headcount of the Harpies' numbers, estimating that, despite their ambush, the battle wasn't going well for them. Over forty had been felled by Malika's spells, Orn'tol's arrows, and the other coalition mages and archers. The Dwarven riflemen were also putting in work, gunshots echoing as Harpies were struck by blindingly fast projectiles they'd come entirely unprepared for, their race inducted into a new era of war with a baptism of lead and gunpowder.
Conversely, Rob would bet his life savings that not even fifteen coalition members had perished. While he didn't have any proof of this, he knew from experience that basic arrows and mediocre spells lost striking power when fired from a long range. And unlike the Harpies' army consisting of everyone-they-could-get, the coalition soldiers were the elite of each territory. They were tougher, stronger, and had access to superior healing magic. In this instance, quality trumped quantity.
Especially when the quality was so lopsided. As Rob ran, he saw a lightning spear shoot up towards the sky and explode into a ball of electricity, frying a dozen Harpies in an instant. Moments later, the surrounding air seemed to dry out, like a heat wave passing through, as moisture was collected into a towering plume of water. Once it was ready, the plume burst upwards and casually washed away another dozen Harpies as if they were drowned rats.
Sylpeiros and Cyraeneus. Ambush or no ambush, long range or close range – didn't matter. Leaders were terrifying in every scenario.
Rob found Malika and Orn'tol in good spirits. The siblings had a whole squad of Vanguards protecting them, like a pair of pint-sized siege cannons with ground support. "Rob!" Malika exclaimed, the instant she saw him. "MP Potions! Forthwith!"
In a flash of blue mana, he produced three Potions from Spatial Storage. "Your humble servant is here," he remarked, in a tone drier than the air.
"Only three Potions? Bah! Give me more!"
"Your humble servant has no wish to deal with an Archmage with a hangover."
Grumbling, she grabbed the Potions and chugged them like a frat boy on spring break. Rob rated her chugging prowess at a solid 7 out of 10, judging that – while she'd grown considerably – there was still room for improvement.
"Should..." Orn'tol started to say something, then thought better of it. Rob could guess what he was thinking. The boy was worried that they weren't being properly respectful of the situation, joking around in the middle of a warzone where allies were suffering. He'd likely come to the same conclusion as Rob: that letting Malika keep her morale up was more important. "Are we winning?" he instead asked.
"Easily," Rob affirmed. That was never in doubt. It would've taken something going catastrophically wrong for them to be in danger of losing. In reality, today's battle was just another leg in the extended marathon that the coalition was running. Rather than obsessing over a transient victory that was all but guaranteed, they needed to minimize casualties so that taking the Harpy capital was a feasible prospect. That meant being careful, guarding their back lines, and only attacking when it was safe.
Oh, and crushing the Harpies so that they wised up and retreated.
"I am...concerned," Orn'tol admitted. "The Harpies should have been aware of our strength. Yet by the end of this night, unless they soon retreat, their losses will mount in the hundreds. Why waste so much life?"
Rob narrowed his eyes at the sky. "Couple possibilities. Elnaril could be screwing around. Blights think that wasting life is absolutely hilarious. He is part Leader, though, so I can't imagine he'd be quite that frivolous with his resources. With that in mind, I don't think the Harpies are going to fight to the last man – they probably came here intending to thin our numbers and skedaddle. Severe losses would prevent us from being able to seize the capital. Their initial Firebomb barrage could've potentially done that on its own."
"And it failed."
"Sure did. Now they're stuck trying to do it the old-fashioned way." Rob shrugged. "They might have a backup plan. If so, we'll handle it, no worries." He faced Malika. "Speaking of plans, I've got one. Do you mind holding onto some MP for me?"
She opened her mouth to respond – then froze, her head turning sideways. Rob followed Malika's gaze towards the Gellin encampment, his brow furrowing at what he saw. All thirty Gellin were exiting their tents in near-perfect unison. They reminded Rob of a collection of wind-up animatronics, with movements that weren't entirely synchronized and robotic, yet also weren't dissimilar enough to appear fully lifelike. As the Gellin drifted forward, moonlight mixed with the light emanating from the mages' sun orbs, bathing them in an almost ethereal glow.
A small shiver crept up Rob's spine. He didn't know why, but something about the situation was giving him the heebie-jeebies. Maybe it was because he'd never seen a Gellin awake at this hour before. He'd gone on more than one midnight walk to clear his head after a bout of nightmares, and while he'd met the occasional Fiend, Dwarf, Elf, or Merfolk, the Gellin were always sequestered in their tents.
His shiver crawled up to the back of his neck, making its little hairs stand on end as a thrum of mana built within the Gellin. Even Rob's meager Sense Mana could feel it. Thirty Gellin had joined into three Mage Circles, linking their power, creating...something. A force. An aura. It lacked physical form, yet felt no less threatening than one of Sylpeiros' lightning spears.
The space above them seemed to shimmer, as if viewed through a lightly-smudged eyeglass. Virtually invisible if you weren't paying close attention.
Or if you were flying hundreds of feet in the air.
The Harpies didn't try to avoid it. They didn't even know it was there. Lightning spears and plumes of water were obvious. Flashy. The Gellins' something simply wafted upwards, like rising heat, until it reached the sky and engulfed a multitude of Harpies in a devouring fog.
Piercing screams cut through the din of warfare.
The affected Harpies reacted in different ways. Some went still as statues. Some writhed as if electrocuted. Some began attacking invisible enemies. But regardless of how they reacted, they all fell, and they all screamed.
Rob covered his ears. It was the worst sound he'd heard since Elnaril laughed at him through a Message Crystal. The battlefield didn't completely grind to a halt, but it definitely slowed, with both the attackers and defenders needing to process what the fuck just happened.
"Was that Mind Magic?" Malika whispered, her bravado gone and vanished.
"It appears so," Keira quietly answered.
"I...did not know it could do that."
"Neither did I."
After shaking his head to reset his thoughts, Rob stepped back from everyone, ensuring that he was out of their line of sight. Much as he wanted to take a breather, he couldn't. The Harpies were reeling – this was a perfect opportunity to execute his plan.
He just needed to finish the prepwork. Hefting his longsword, Rob turned it around and pointed it at his heart.
And paused.
My hands are shivering, he realized. Why are my hands shivering? I've done this before. He willed his hands to stay still, nearly snarling when they failed to cooperate. This is a waste of time. Don't be a fucking bitch, Rob. Just lie back and think of England.
Stab.
Stab.
Stab.
Lifesurge.
Living Bomb ready.
Rob used Spatial Storage to switch his clothes for an unbloodied ensemble, then tapped Malika on her shoulder. "Do you have enough MP for a big wind spell?"
She blinked, jolted out of her reverie. "Oh. Um, yes. Why?"
He told her of his plan. A broad grin split across her face, transitioning into an excited cackle. "You're a madman. Let's do that straight away."
As Malika charged her spell, Rob attached a Waymark point to the ground, then summoned the Dwarven Sheet Metal from his Bound Items. Keira, Orn'tol, and the Vanguards spread out to give them some space. The Vanguards were looking on in awe; Rob could only hope that they'd enjoy the show.
"We have to time this just right," he told Malika. "Fire the spell on three. Understand?" She nodded so hard that she probably gave herself whiplash. Rob placed his longsword in Storage, holding the Sheet Metal with both hands.
"One." Malika held onto her spell, ready to unleash the fury of an Archmage with a cause.
"Two." Rob leaped into the air, positioning the Sheet Metal under his feet like a surfboard.
"Three!"
A miniaturized tornado slammed into the Sheet Metal, propelling Rob up, up, and away. He lost his balance pretty much immediately, tumbling onto the Sheet as wind pressure buffeted him without mercy. His ascent skyward was so sudden and so jarring that he was actually surprised when he came face-to-face with a Harpy. The two of them exchanged bewildered stares. Rob felt tempted to say a variant of one of the classics, like 'You come here often?'
Then he remembered why he was there.
This was it. No going back. Justified or necessary or otherwise, once he activated Living Bomb, he will have spilled Harpy blood on Harpy soil. There was a sense of finality to it that almost made him hesitate.
Almost.
"I wish you'd stayed home," Rob muttered. The Harpy's survival instincts kicked in, his wings flapping in a hurry, yet it was already too late. You couldn't outrun a thought.
Living Bomb.
The world became obscured by flame, heat, and noise. Rob wasn't sure how many Harpies he'd caught in the blast radius, but the EXP infusing his soul informed him that it was more than a few. Without waiting, he cast Rampage to push himself out of the Bomb's center, then Waymarked to safety so that the Harpies couldn't take revenge after the Bomb faded. The Rampage movement was a necessity; he wasn't taking any chances that using Waymark while in the middle of the Bomb might somehow bring it back with him.
His feet now on solid ground, Rob was treated to an awe-inspiring spectacle. A colossal sphere of fire hung above, like the core of an angry sun, its surface twisting with unbridled energy. The sound it emitted was one long, continuous, ear-splitting explosion, as if the Bomb was a sentient creature noisily lamenting the ones who'd escaped its grasp. This was the first time Rob had seen his Skill from an outside perspective, and in that instant, he truly understood why it was so effective at shattering morale.
As it did now. Living Bomb rapidly faded, but by then the Harpies were already in retreat. The one-two punch of the Gellins' mind attack and a giant fuckoff explosion had doubled their casualties in a matter of seconds. Even if that combo hadn't broken their spirits, not withdrawing at this point would be tantamount to suicide.
Rob allowed his shoulders to relax as a collective sigh of relief passed through the coalition. Their battle was over. Victory was – Wait, what's up with that guy?
Relief gave way to confusion as they noticed a figure in the distance sprinting towards them. It was an...Elf? One of Sylpeiros' Scouts? As everyone watched, the Elf in question passed straight under the fleeing Harpies, neither faction looking at each other as they traveled in opposite directions. The sight was borderline surreal, adding another obstacle to the emotional gamut that Rob was still running. Maybe I can go to bed and pretend I didn't see anything.
Plausible deniability was taken from him a moment later, when the Elf got within range of the coalition's Heightened Senses and started bellowing at the top of his longs. "MONSTERS! PACK OF MONSTERS AND BEASTS! LEVEL 50 AND ABOVE!"
His declaration just left them more confused. There was no such thing as a pack of high-Leveled monsters roaming the surface of Elatra. At first Rob thought that a Dungeon had grown for too long and was beginning to overflow, but the truth ended up being far stranger.
"About...thirty...monsters and animals," the Elf Scout wheezed, once he'd gotten close and could speak in full sentences. "Coming this way. Some are...natural-born. Beasts who've lived for centuries. Others are monsters. Used Identify. Think they...were plucked from Dungeons."
Everyone glanced at Sylpeiros, an unspoken message in their eyes: "He's your Scout. You sort out this mess." The Seneschal put on a deep scowl, somehow managing to direct it at over a dozen people simultaneously. Once he was sure they'd received the full force of his ire, he composed his features and turned towards the exhausted Scout.
"While I don't doubt your words, what you've described is nonsensical. Setting aside how such an eclectic group of creatures was brought together...monsters and natural-born animals are hardly allies. They'd rip each other to pieces under normal circumstances. Animals from differing species would be at odds as well."
"I am merely reporting what I've seen. In one such example, I witnessed an enormous bat flying alongside a misshapen creature of mana that could only have been spawned within the depths of a high-Level Dungeon."
"Are the animals infected?" Rob asked. "This sort of thing happened back when The Village of Ixatan Forest was invaded. Animals got possessed by the Blight."
The Scout paused, searching through his memories – or rather, his log of system notifications. "Yes. An 'Infected' Status Effect appeared when I Identified the animals. Until you provided context, I was unaware of what that implied."
As Sylpeiros continued speaking with the Scout, Rob stopped to think, constructing a timeline of events. This pack of high-Level creatures couldn't have been assembled on short notice. It must've been years in the making, Elnaril searching Harpy territory with a fine-tooth comb, scooping up wildlife and plundering Dungeons.
Rob resisted the urge to shake his fist at the sky. When Kismet warned him that Elnaril had 'strong creatures' to use, it would've been nice to have some extra fucking details. Vague omnipotent asshole.
Anyway. Elnaril corrals his Pokemon, then prepares to ambush the coalition along with his Harpies. Except...the timing went wrong. Or maybe the position? Controlling that many powerful creatures couldn't be easy. Like attempting to drive thirty cars at the same time. It was probably why the coalition hadn't been ambushed until now – Elnaril was waiting for them to get closer. Regardless, the plan was likely supposed to be the Harpies attacking in tandem with the monsters...but the bombing run largely failed, and the monsters were late to the party.
Rob grimaced as he realized how much of the coalition's victory came down to blind luck. Elnaril's plan was unsuccessful due to logistical issues on his side, not because of any stratagem on the coalition's part. If the Harpies had successfully used their pets as distractions, unloading crates of Firebombs while high-Level creatures ran amok through the battlefield...
The coalition still would have won. But their casualties would've been enormous. Enough to make invading the capital untenable.
Everyone else came to the same conclusion as they listened to the Scout's tale. Sylpeiros remained silent for a time, looking more pensive than someone might expect from a Leader who'd just prevailed in battle. "We shall discuss areas of improvement at a later date," he said, sighing. "How long until the monsters arrive?"
"Roughly four minutes."
Sylpeiros drummed his fingers on his thigh. "While we could swarm the monsters with superior numbers, the vast majority of our soldiers are unsuited for combating enemies over Level 50. The monster will fall, but not before inflicting casualties. Instead, I propose that myself, Cyraeneus, and Riardin's Rangers go forth and hold the line. The rest of our soldiers will defend base camp, kept out of harm's way, firing projectiles at whichever beasts draw near."
He frowned. "Even so, thirty monsters above Level 50 aren't so easily repelled. They may be able to fly, or have carapaces that blunt conventional attacks. It would be best if the entire lot focuses on our group, but some will choose to bypass the front line in favor of assaulting the coalition base camp. Casualties are inevitable."
"No. They aren't."
Rob stepped forward, walking in the direction the Scout had come from. A familiar swell of anticipation built within him. "Counter-proposal. I go. Alone. You all stay and deal with whoever slips past."
Numerous opposing voices exploded in unison. Rob countered them with an explosion of his own, summoning a crate of Firebombs and chucking it into the distance. The faint BOOM bought him a moment of stunned silence.
"No bullshitting," he said, fixing them with an intent gaze. "You want to minimize casualties? This is how we do it. Base camp will be vulnerable without high-Level people to protect it. Hell, some of you might die if you try to 'hold the line' in the middle of an open field. It only takes one screwup to get your head bitten off, and the monsters outnumber us. But me?"
With a flourish, Rob summoned his longsword and activated Step of the Wind. "They. Can't. Kill. Me."
He was off before anyone could raise another protest. None of them followed, perhaps sensing something in his voice indicating that it would be a bad idea. Just as well – Rob would've physically thrown back anyone who tried.
No one else needed to risk their lives today.
It only took him three minutes of running at full speed to locate the monster stampede. They were impossible to miss; a menagerie of oversized animals and abominations with the strength to depopulate a city. For almost anyone else in Elatra, the sight would have filled them with the dread of someone who knew their death was imminent, and that they could do nothing to stop the reaper's scythe from swinging.
Rob waved. The monsters screeched when they saw him, letting out a symphony that could be graciously described as hideous. Music to my ears. Out of curiosity, he cast Identify on the first one in line to die.
Name: Lord of the CavesLevel: 57Race: Blighted BatStatus Effects: Infected, ThirstyDescription: An existence well above Ixatan's Lord of the Forest that nearly killed you three times over. Gee, I wonder what happens now that you're 70 Levels higher and with pent-up resentment towards big beasties? Play nice, Rob, or you'll break your toys.
"Sorry, but breaking them is the fun part." Inwardly, Rob sent thanks to Elnaril for delivering him a herd of acceptable targets to use as living stress balls. After the unpleasantness of being forced to kill his first non-Blighted Harpies, this was a golden opportunity to let loose – and he was going to make damn good use of it.
The monsters drew closer. Any second now, the carnage would commence. Elation and certainty mingled within him, letting him know that he was in his element. He emptied his mind of worries, soaking in the view. There were no war strategies, allied casualties, or moral quandaries to concern himself with.
Just him, and his prey.
Rampage. Rob flew upwards towards the Lord of the Caves. It was a freakish behemoth of a bat, its head as large as a man's body. The creature sank its fangs into Rob's torso, biting down as if four longswords were piercing through him, vital organs shredded to confetti.
637 Piercing Damage Sustained!
It tickled. Rob completed his swing, landing a direct hit on the Lord's head. He didn't activate any additional offensive abilities, because he didn't need to. Blood for Blood increased his damage based on his missing HP. Rampage highly increased the damage of his next attack. Headsman increased his damage by 25% when attacking an enemy's head. Bone Breaker doubled the damage he dealt to an enemy's bone structure.
With all those passive effects stacking onto each other, the bat's neck was almost severed in one clean stroke. Thanks to Lifesteal, Rob immediately recovered most of his lost HP, like nothing had ever happened. Despite the bat's head hanging by threads, it stubbornly clung to life for a few moments longer – but only a few.
Swordsmanship Level Increased! 9 → 10
One down. Plenty to go. Rob pivoted to the next-closest monster, a gargantuan bear that reminded him of an Ixatan beast that had caved his chest in, once upon a time. Emboldened by nostalgia, he put a bit more oomph into his next attack, stacking Rampage, Power Slash, and Imbue Vitality.
The bear's outer hide was abnormally tough, similar to a Vanguard's armor. That mattered up until the point Rob broke the skin, after which Imbue Vitality's quadruple damage effect savaged the beast from within, its insides reduced to crimson mush.
Level Increased! 84 → 855 Stat Points Gained!
BERSERKER Level Increased! 82 → 83
An apelike creature with distended arms leaped ahead of the rest of the pack, enormous hands wrapping around Rob before he could dodge. It let out a warbling bellow, squeezing down with enough pressure to bend steel. Rob's bones, durable as they were, started to crack.
Vitamin D(efense) Level Increased! 10 → 11
Cute. He flicked on the Flames of Vengeance, azure fire covering his body. A grin spread over Rob's face as the beast shrieked and let go. "No, no, we were having a moment. Don't hide from your emotions." Rampaging forward, he jumped on the ape's head and gave it a big ole' hug. The shrieks intensified, mighty fists pounding at his body, fracturing more bones in a desperate attempt to dislodge him.
It was all for naught. The ape's struggles slowed, then ceased, its brain cooked from the inside like spaghetti in a microwave.
Pyromania Level Increased! 2 → 3
The next one on the chopping block was an honest-to-god giant spider. Rob shivered as he summoned a crate of Firebombs and promptly Riardin Special'd the skittering menace into the hereafter. Arachnophobia's 300% damage bonus against spiders combined with Pyromania's 30% fire damage bonus – well, 40% now – meant that it lasted about two seconds before crumbling like a pile of chitinous kindling.
Good riddance. Monsters and abominations were one thing. Spiders...ugh.
Rob checked back the way he'd come from, narrowing his eyes when he saw that a couple monsters had skirted past him while he dealt with their friends. He chased after something that must've been birthed in a Dungeon on a bender, its body comprised of flying limbs and harsh edges that hurt to look at if he stared for too long.
The floating Picasso painting in monster form suddenly whirled around, aiming multiple sharpened points at Rob's head, neck, eyes, heart, and liver. It was a phenomenally well-executed attack that would have been the envy of any Combat Class user.
Unfortunately, Picasso had chosen the one target in the world that could turn lethality into a detriment. With a thought, Rob deactivated all of his defensive Skills, then activated Dauntless Reprisal, reflecting the damage of five grievous blows back onto the creature. It collapsed into itself, twitching on the ground, silently pleading for mercy as a longsword ended its suffering.
Swordsmanship Level Increased! 10 → 11
As Rob reactivated his defensive Skills and chose his next target, something in the monsters' attitudes shifted. Several of them went from stampeding ahead to turning towards him on a dime. Their movements were stiff and jerky, as if puppeteered by an unseen force.
"Hi Elnaril!" Rob twirled his longsword. "Hope you don't mind me Old Yeller-ing your pets here. I'm sad to say that you didn't train them prop–"
The creatures pounced in unison. Claws and fangs savaged Rob's from head to toe, tearing off limbs and pulling apart flesh. A good chunk of his body mass disappeared in seconds.
Platelet Party Level Increased! 20 → 21
1021 Combined Damage Sustained!
"Wow, that's a lot of damage." Rob grinned, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. "On an unrelated note, guess what Skill just came off cooldown?"
BOOM.
Level Increased! 85 → 865 Stat Points Gained!
BERSERKER Level Increased! 83 → 84
BERSERKER Level Increased! 84 → 85
Rob stood in the center of a crater. Living Bomb had ripped the ground open like scooping ice cream. He was once again back to full health, Lifesteal having converted 50% of the damage he'd dealt into HP.
And he'd dealt a lot of damage.
"It's like I said," he whispered, to nothing in particular. "They can't kill me. When I put my mind to it, I'm a better monster than they could ever hope to be."
The thought didn't distress him like it would have back home on Earth. It wasn't so bad, being a monster to monsters. Kept his friends alive, put food on the table...there were worse careers, he supposed.
Rob jumped out of the crater, searching for new targets. Living Bomb wasn't nearly large enough to take out all of them at once. He set his eyes on a fleeing wyvern and gave chase. As the gap closed, he checked his available Skills, and oh would you look at that, Imbue Vitality was off cooldown now.
Swordsmanship Level Increased! 11→ 12
One monster fell. Then another. Then another. Rob alternated his Skills, rotating between whatever abilities were available.
Swordsmanship Level Increased! 12→ 13
More creatures tried ganging up on him. It didn't work.
Platelet Party Level Increased! 21 → 22
Headsman! 4 → 5
He sliced and cut and Firebombed everything in his path.
Pyromania Level Increased! 3 → 4
Until eventually...
Level Increased! 86 → 875 Stat Points Gained!
BERSERKER Level Increased! 85 → 86
There was nothing left.
Rob found himself surrounded by a pile of mangled corpses. He tried counting to see if he could reach thirty, then gave up. Too many mixed-up body parts. It was likely that a couple monsters had gotten past him, so he'd just have to hope for the best.
His prayers were answered when he arrived back at base camp. A wide smile split across Rob's face as he counted a mere six monster corpses littered around the outskirts. They hadn't even gotten close. Most importantly, there wasn't a single allied corpse anywhere in sight.
Zero casualties.
Everyone was staring at him with various looks on their faces. Rob didn't bother trying to decipher all of them. They could think whatever they wanted to think – results were what mattered. The coalition may have lost some soldiers in the Harpy attack, but from the monster stampede?
Zero goddamn casualties.
Rob took a bow, then went straight for his tent. He wasn't going to find a better note to sleep on than this. His consciousness faded the moment he closed his eyes.
And the nightmares didn't dare to come for him.
​
--
​
Changes, Character Sheet, Skill List
Thanks for reading!

A man wearing a blue suit with cat ears walks into the arena. Their sunglass blocks their eyes. This person is u/ApplePitou.
​
Apple: "Welcome everyone to the first-ever Mori tournament! We have 32 fighters ready to fight in this contest! And thank you to the inventors of the nanomachines we gave to the fighters. Now they can be healed from almost any wound! And they get a secret power! Now for those who aren't caught up, there are rules to this game.
​
#1, A fight will end when one of the fighters is eliminated. The ways to get eliminated are being knocked out, resigning, and being knocked out of the arena for 10 seconds.
​
#2, Interfering with someone else's match is a strict violation. If you do, you will be eliminated.
​
#3, Killing your opponent is not allowed.
​
#4, Any fighting style is allowed, and so are any weapons!
​
Those rules are out of the way. Welcome to the Mori tournament!"
​
The crowd cheers in an uproar. But as the audience continues, two men start walking to the boxing ring in the middle of the stadium.
​
Apple: "Let's introduce the first fighters!"
​
A large man steps into the ring. He wears only a pair of bright orange boxers, his brown hair shines in the light, and his body is covered in scars.
​
Apple: "First up, what happens when you dedicate your life to a fighting style? You become a pro at it, of course! He's been the champ of the ring for decades now. Using his skill as a pro wrestler to take out anyone who poses a challenge. Standing at 6'5" and weighing 311lbs, welcome, u/Efficient-Diver-2453!"
​
Diver poses as the light shines on him. Another man walks into the ring, wearing a red zipped-up jacket and black pants. On his hands, a pair of red boxing gloves.
​
Apple: "He was once an ordinary man but became the boxing heavyweight champion of the century! Can he punch his way into the finals? Let's find out! Standing to 6'0" and weighing 200lbs, here's the one and only u/MUI-Tojo!"
​
The crowd begins to chant, "Tojo!" As he raises his left hand into the air. Apple raises his hand, preparing to start the match.
​
Apple: "Now, the first match, boxing versus pro wrestling. Let these men's will be shown!
​
Apple throws his arm down, starting the match. Diver smiles, getting in a boxing pose.
​
Diver: "I've never been in a boxing match before. As an entertainer, it's my motto to beat someone with their style.
​
Tojo's eyebrows lower in a frustrated look.
​
Tojo: "You're a fool. I'm gonna make you swallow your teeth."
​
Diver's smile gets wider.
​
Diver: "Ha. Now that was a great line."
​
But suddenly, a fist slams into Diver's face. The first blow is from Tojo. He soon sends a curled punch toward Diver's stomach, hitting with all his weight. Diver gets pushed back a short distance but soon rushes in for a counterattack. When he goes for a punch with his right hand. When the fist gets in range, Tojo throws his arms up and tanks the hit.
​
Diver starts to send a barrage of attacks, swinging like a brute with no aim. Tojo raises his arms to keep his face blocked, but Diver goes for an opening. Diver jumps and delivers a dropkick, hitting and knocking him backward. Tojo slams into the ropes of the boxing ring and sees Diver coming in for another attack.
​
Diver: "Sorry, Tojo, I wouldn't have done that, but I'm a pro wrestler first."
​
When Diver gets in range, he sends another punch, but Tojo steps to the side and counters with a blow to the face. Diver smiles with Tojo's fist in his face.
​
Diver: "First thing to learn in pro wrestling. You gotta learn to take a hit."
​
Diver grabs Tojo's arm with both his hands and spins, throwing Tojo over his shoulder. Tojo slams into the ground with a loud thud. Soon, Diver raises his leg and goes for a stomp, but Tojo rolls out of the way. Tojo gets back on his feet.
​
Tojo: "Congratulations, you get to see the real MUI Tojo."
​
Tojo bites his straps and pulls his gloves off. The gloves hit the floor with a loud thud, creating a small crater. In an instant, Tojo rushes in front of Diver. Slamming his fist into Diver's face once more. But instead of taking the hit, Diver falls to his knees with a broken nose.
​
Tojo: "What's the matter? I thought you could take a hit. Guess you can't handle the real me either."
​
He looks down at the wrestler with disgust. Diver makes eye contact.
​
Diver: "You would make a great heel, you know that? But I'm the protagonist here!"
​
Diver gets in the form of a pushup, and soon he pushes so hard he sends his body into the sky!
​
Diver: "Signature move, Kamikaze Dive!"
​
As he falls, Tojo moves out of the way to avoid the would-be attack. When Diver hits the floor, erupting the stage in a rumble and cloud of dust. Tojo squints his eyes, trying to keep the dirt out of them. But soon, Tojo hears footsteps approaching. He around, and he sees Diver's fist as it hits Tojo's face. Diver swiftly draws his hand back and goes for a chop.
​
Tojo quickly recovers from the blow and dodges the attack. He takes off his jacket and throws it at the wrestler. Diver chops the coat out of the way but doesn't react in time as Tojo delivers a right hook to his jaw. He follows it up with a left blow to the right temple. And then, Tojo unleashes a barrage of blows toward Diver. Each strike lands and pushes Diver back. Soon, Diver's back is against the ropes, but too confused by the temple and jaw blow to react.
​
As one final blow lands from Tojo, Diver lands on the ground, unconscious. Tojo starts to walk to his corner while Apple counts to ten.
​
Apple: "One... Two... Three... Fou..."
​
A sudden pressure fills the air, but when Tojo looks back, he sees Diver back on his feet.
​
Diver: "I... Ain't... Done."
​
A black mass of smoke appears behind Diver. It takes the shape of Vlad the Impaler.
​
Apple: "Look, folks! It seems one of the fighters discovered the secret to the nanomachines we gave them!"
​
Diver raises his foot and slams it down. Soon spikes poke out of the ground all around the ring. Apple jumps out of the way to avoid being stabbed. But Tojo stands in the area, watching and dodging the spikes as they appear. Tojo moves in closer as Diver keeps summoning pikes.
​
As he gets closer, a blue smoke comes out of Tojo.
​
Tojo: "My turn."
​
The smoke comes out and takes the shape of King Solomon. Soon, Tojo looks away from the floor, watching the screaming Diver.
​
Tojo: "Wisdom. All I need is wisdom."
​
Tojo thinks, "Thanks to this power, I can summon the wisdom of the mighty King Solomon. And now, just feeling the vibrations in the ground, I can tell where the spikes will appear."
​
When Tojo gets closer to Diver, he goes for one final punch. But when he gets in range, Diver sticks his hand up and shoots a spike out of his palm, piercing Tojo's stomach. Diver retracts all the pikes from the stage and back into the ground where they once came. Soon, he returns the spike back into his palm.
​
Tojo falls to the ground, coughing up blood. He puts his hand on his wound, feeling the blade go through his body. Leaving him bleeding. He activates Solomon again, trying to think of a way to win, but he learns the unfortunate truth. But that doesn't stop Tojo. He stands back up, forming two fists, ready to continue the fight! An exhausted Diver stands straight, smiling and preparing to fight once more.
​
Tojo: "It seems that these powers drain our stamina. After that burst, I'm surprised you can still stand, let alone fight."
​
​
Diver smiles.
​
Diver: "I'm surprised you haven't quit with a wound like that. How will you keep fighting in a state of blood loss?"
​
The two slowly walk to each other, ready to end the fight. But when the two get close, Diver spins and goes for a roundhouse kick. Tojo jumps back, dodging the swing, but winces in pain, the stab wound spilling more blood. When Diver touches the floor with both feet, he sprints at Tojo, running past him. Diver hits the ropes, stretching them and using them to push him forward. Diver runs faster than he was, and when he gets in range, he jumps, sending another dropkick. But a bleeding Tojo moves out of the way. Diver hits the ground but quickly gets back up, breathing heavily. He stands still as Tojo rushes in for an attack. He sends a straight punch with his right hand, but Diver smiles, anticipating this moment. When the fist comes in range, he pivots around Tojo, grabbing him around the waist. With all his might, Diver lifts. But as he raises, he says one last message to Tojo.
​
Diver: "This has been the best boxing match for me. Thank you, Tojo."
​
Soon, he slams Tojo's head into the ground, delivering a German suplex. Tojo's body falls limp, for the attack has knocked him unconscious. Apple rushes back into the ring, counting to ten. When Apple reaches ten, he declares Diver victorious!
​
Apple: "There you have it, folks. The first winner is Efficient-Diver-2453! Now on to the second match! Let's see who's fighting next!"
​
On the jumbo screen above the ring, it showcases who's fighting next. The following fighters are u/Ruisus and u/Dolphinsarenotreal!
​
Round 1, match 1, winner, u/Efficient-Diver-2453.

Want to jump unbelievably high? Want to cross amazing amounts of terrain in a single (sort of) bound?
Equip the lowest tier of charged jump... and the midair dash cyberware (maneuvering system). Whether running, standing still, whatever, if you activate the midair dash cyberware in the air, especially while charging that charged jump, you can achieve tremendous height.
It takes a little bit of finesse but it will wildly open up the amount of game you have access to?
Maneuvering system can be purchased in Aroyo.

Down the elevator went, further and further down; much farther than the last two elevators the three had taken. It seemed as though it would keep on going without stopping, making all of them wonder where the elevator was taking them.
But after an entire minute, the elevator stopped. What was revealed was a narrow hallway, which contained two rows of capsules; each big enough to contain a single individual. The room was immensely cold; their own breaths could be seen the moment they stepped out.
“Brrr… It’s so cold.” Sumireko said, rubbing her arms to generate friction. Suika also felt the immense cold, but wasn’t as bothered as Sumireko, all the while Satsujin acted like it was his kind of domain.
“It’s very narrow as well. What is with all these capsules?” Satsujin said, observing the number of capsules down in rows. Even though his hearing allowed him to distinguish forms with exceptional detail, if any material that could reflect sound waves was present, it was difficult for him to identify what was inside of it. Curious, he approached one of the vats, and sticking an ear to the glass, he made little knocks, in hopes to use the vibrations as a guide.
"There's a person inside. Aside from that, I can't tell much." He said, turning over to Sumireko. "Could you take a look for me and tell me what's inside?"
“A person? Let me look.” Sumireko went over to the capsule. It was all fogged up due to the low temperature of the room, so she had to wipe the glass with her hand to get a better look inside. And inside revealed a sight that caused her to jump back in shock and horror.
“EEEEEK!!!” She yelled. “T…That…That person inside.” Her hand trembled while pointing. "It's dead!!!! And rotten!!!!"
Suika looked inside the capsule, staring at the mummified figure.
“Huh, you’re right.” Suika said. “Wonder how long they’ve been sleeping in there.”
The monitor next to the capsule activated; flickering on slowly as it filled with text, yet not all of the text was shown correctly.
[Sub… N………..urei”]
[Date of b…. 18…. The very first… of Gen…yo. Not much in…mation is k….]
*pop*
The monitor turned off, and a trace of smoke filtered through the plastic.
"Great. The display just died." Sumireko said, bonking the screen in an attempt to bring it back to life. But alas, it didn't work at all.
"Let's keep moving." Suika said, pointing at the distance.
The group stumbled upon an improvised workbench, filled with at least half a dozen folders, a writing pen made from strange materials, a dirty coffee cup, a moldy piece of hand-made cheese, and a shelf, filled with small and medium capsules containing many organic samples of various kinds of living beings. The liquid in them was semi-translucent, with a weak blue color.
"Ugh! The cheese stinks like death! Someone get that out of here!" Sumireko said, taking a pile of papers from the trash bin, and wrapping the undesired object in them.
Suika took the cheese, and after a quick scan, she saw a strange machine labeled "Trash disintegrator". She put the cheese and the papers that wrapped the food in it, and after a loud electric sound, the cheese was no longer there…except for the stench that stayed in Suika's hands.
"Ugh…fuck." Suika said, reaching for one of the many hand washers that were in there, and furiously cleaning her hands with soap until there was not a single trace of smell. After that, she returned over to the others, who were inspecting the items in the table.
In one of the many smaller capsules, an oddly familiar piece of tissue was floating in a transparent liquid. It had a scale-like patterned exterior, similar to a fish's skin, while the interior flesh was mostly orange with signs of advanced decomposition.
[Sample N°1: "Fallen Mermaid"]
Recollected on the 12th of April, on the shore of Misty Lake. Condition: Stable.
Aside from the previous capsule, there was another one, with a decently sized chunk of flesh inside, roughly as big as a trout, in an outstandingly good condition. It looked more like human flesh than the previous one.
[Sample N°2: "Night Sparrow"]
Harvested and recollected on the 12th of April. Condition: Perfect.
"Wait…the skin color in the first one looks familiar…Wakasagihime?!?" Sumireko said in shock. "So the journal was actually right after all."
"And the second one must be Mystia." Satsujin said, taking the second capsule, and lifting it. "Why would he want to store this?" He thought, returning the capsule to its original place.
"I don't know, but I'd rather not mess with any of this." Sumireko said, returning the capsule she had picked up to its intended place. "Suika, did you get rid of that thing?"
"Yep. It's gone. What have you two been looking at?" Suika said, taking one of the folders in the desk, and looking at its contents.
[Clone N°7: "Reisen"]
"Stage of growth: Fully grown young adult. Memories have not been copied into this clone yet. Not ready for deployment."
[Clone N°8: "Reisen" (Uncomplete)]
"Stage of growth: 16 to 18 years old. Clone possesses a perfect copy of the original's memories. Requires further growth."
[Clone N°9: "Reisen" (Gender-swap)]
"Stage of growth: Fully grown young adult. Ready to use in case of a catastrophe. Complete memories and growth."
[Codename: Project Origin]
"The original and authentic Reisen. I've decided to replace the original with a clone, in case something happens in the next few days."
“...” Sumireko glared at what the information had to say, squinting her eyes slightly while looking closer, as though there was something else on her mind. Satsujin took notice of this.
“Something wrong?” Satsujin asked.
“I’m good… I just… Feel like the stuff here isn’t…I don’t really know.” Sumireko said. “It just feels like something’s missing… Or maybe the opposite. Maybe there’s nothing missing, I don’t know how to describe it.”
"Missing? What do you mean by that?"
“It feels… Wait, where’s Suika?” Sumireko looked behind and found that Suika had walked further down the hall, as though something caught her eye.
“Suika?” Sumireko asked again, chasing after the Oni. “Hey, what is-”
Sumireko stopped. She noticed the narrow hall widening into a large, circular section. Surrounding them were various capsules; clear as day and bodies that were well preserved. Each one held a certain figure, all of them bearing similar traits. Brown Hair, Clear Skin, and they all looked female…save for one. Around the center there was a much bigger capsule; one which remained empty, but had text written on it that had the following message.
“Reserved for Reimu Hakurei.”
"What in god's name is…" Sumireko said, her eyes widening in shock. “What is this place?”
Sumireko walked over to one of the capsules at random; specifically the one that was empty, tapping on the monitor just as it began to spit out dialogue.
"Subject N°12: Minako Hakurei."
"The 12th Shrine Maiden. She died in an unfortunate incident regarding a loose cerberus long ago. Somehow, all traces of her DNA have vanished from existence after awakening the power of the Hakurei God. All that remains of her are my own memories of her, what the sages knew, and her kin."
“Minako…Who is that?” Sumireko said.
“...An old friend.” Suika said, standing behind Sumireko. She turned around to greet the Oni; who no longer had a careless or cheerful voice. Instead she looked more solemn; down to earth. “Out of all the Shrine Maidens, she was one of the most dedicated to her job. She had a cold mind, and never hesitated on taking matters into her own hands. However, that didn't make her less comprehensive when the situation called for it. She never harmed or was rude with any innocent person or youkai, and was always fair with everyone. And to top it off…she was an amazing friend to have. She was more human with us than most of the previous maidens. It's such a disgrace that her life was taken away so early."
“You…knew her?” Sumireko said. “But I thought that you only knew Reimu and-”
"Yes. I may not look like it, but I've lived long enough to meet most of Reimu's bloodline. A very long time, I must say." Suika said. "And the day Minako died is still fresh in my mind."
"It took us all by surprise. We thought it was everyday business, as always. But it wasn't. Fate is a cruel thing, and that day, it decided to seal her and her spouse's destiny in a heroic sacrifice for her beloved daughter. A sacrifice which would leave wounds that never healed. Reimu suffered the worst part of it, having to bear the trauma of seeing her two heroes be ripped off to shreds right in front of her. And there she stood, filled with terror. Even days after her mother died, she would continue to tremble and have nightmares every single day, until her mind gave up and sealed those memories away, to never be rediscovered again." Suika said, in a melancholic tone. "Me and the others who were close to Minako agreed to never bring this topic to her by any means, and to ensure she had a normal childhood."
Satsujin and Sumireko both were in shock. They never seen or heard Suika act in such a way, least not since they broke her out from her gourd. Her words sounded true; her voice genuinely saddened.
“Suika…” Sumireko said. “I-I’m sorry that-”
W̶̖͘r̷̨̀o̵̜̽n̸̛͍g̴̦̈́
“...What?” Sumireko was interrupted upon hearing a voice. It seemed that Suika and Satsujin also heard it.
Ỵ̵͛o̷̺͘ǘ̵͍ ̴̹͝a̸͇̽r̶̠͝ë̷̜ ̸̜̈ẉ̷̒r̵̢͝ǒ̴͔n̸̦͊g̸̨̐.̸̜̃ ̵͉̃T̵͎͊h̷͕̒a̸̞̐t̵̯̚ ̵͙͠ṅ̷̜e̸̘̊v̴͔͝ê̸̺r̶̬͝ ̴̭͛h̸̙̑a̴̺͝p̴̺͌p̷̪̂é̸̢n̵̯̓e̷̺͋d̶̢͛.̵͓̈ ̸̦͠T̴̬͋h̵̞͂a̵̬͒t̶̲͒'̵̞̉ş̴̋ ̵̤͊ṇ̶̏o̷̧͠t̶͚̚ ̵̩̂w̴̙̆ĥ̴͙a̷̹̐t̴̻͑ ̶̮̓t̵̡̏r̷̤͛ų̸͗l̷̐ͅy̷̖̎ ̸̨̃ḫ̷̋ȧ̶͍p̸̬̽p̷̼̔è̸̜ǹ̷͎ê̴͕d̸̞́.̷̨͌
“Who’s saying that!?” Satsujin demanded. “Who are you!?”
S̵͎̕u̴̞̎i̴̠̐k̶̳͑ą̶̈́.̷͍̎ ̸̬͌S̶̜͘t̵͖̄o̶͍͊p̴̖̃ ̶̯̀l̸̲͒y̴̙̓i̸̻̚n̶̯͆g̸͚̍.̵͇͌ ̴̠̎Y̶͖͌o̸̩͑ų̶̉ ̴̬̋k̷̩͝n̶̈́ͅó̸̯w̶̲̎ ̵̫͑t̶̟͗h̸͕̆ȁ̴̩t̸̟͋'̷͔̿s̶̰͋ ̸̰̌n̸͖̓o̸̝̊ṱ̴̈ ̴̙̓w̴̻̃h̷͔͠à̶̗t̷̫͆ ̷͇̋h̴͖̍ă̵̗ṗ̷̤p̷̮͑ë̴̪́ň̶̳ë̵͔́d̵̺̆.̵̖̎.̸͈̑.̶̅͜ ̸̖́T̸̢̏h̴̦͌a̷̢̎ṭ̴͠'̵͇̎š̶͉ ̵͍̊n̶̡̓o̷̻͛t̶̠͛ ̴̩̀w̴͑͜h̷͍́à̵͜t̸̡͂ ̷̯̉I̴͓̓ ̶̝̈i̸̘̾ṇ̷͝t̴̞͠ë̵̖́ǹ̸͖d̵̤̄e̷̱̅d̷͚̾ ̸̟̀f̷̠̂ǒ̶̦r̴̛̫ ̶͎̌y̴͎͐o̴̼͑u̶͈̽.̶̮́
“What?” Suika asked. “No, I-I…”
Ḋ̸̖õ̴̩n̶͇͑'̵̱̈t̴̛͚ ̵̡̒y̷̦͗ǒ̵̱ŭ̷̪ ̷͙͌r̵̨̚ë̶̤́m̵̜̀e̷͍͛m̵̠̽b̶̛͓ę̴͐ȓ̴̤ ̵̤̋t̸̟̚h̸͈͂a̸̜̐t̶̪̅ ̵̦̀d̴̯̏ó̷͈l̷̗̃l̸̰͠?̵̻̕ ̴͈͐D̸͂͜o̴͓̽n̸̙͠'̸͈̋t̷̙̉ ̴̰̀ẏ̶̙o̴̥͊u̵̧͑ ̵̖͑ȓ̴͜ḛ̶̈m̷̳̑e̸͍̓m̷̱̋b̷̨̂ẹ̸̓ř̶̹ ̴̠͝t̴̢͊h̸̏ͅè̸͖ ̸͆͜t̵̿͜r̴̞̊ȅ̶̫e̵̙̓,̸̕ͅ ̶̯̿w̶̧̄ĥ̷̹e̵͇̍r̴̯͗ē̶̥ ̶̩͘y̸̤͘õ̸̝u̴̦͝ ̵̮́w̵͍̾r̶̳̒o̵͚̐t̸̠̚e̸̘̍ ̵͎̕t̸͑͜ḥ̷̈́a̷̩͊t̷͕̋ ̶̲͝m̴͙̅e̷͕͗s̸̨̀s̷͙̏a̵̭̓g̵̺̿e̷͉̐ ̴̺̈́a̷̺̅n̷̛̠d̵͍̕ ̶͉̇h̷̢̉į̶̊d̶̖͛ ̵͇̍t̴̻͛ẖ̵̋a̷̬͂t̴̜̔ ̷̻̈b̷̟͐o̶̡̎t̶̫̚ṭ̶͂l̶̝̚e̸̳͆?̶̥̇ ̸̺͌Y̷͠ͅo̶̺͒u̷̼͛ ̵͖͝k̵̦̀ṉ̸̅ò̷̢w̸̖̚ ̸̬͛w̷͇͐h̴͉̚a̴͖̐ẗ̷͔́ ̷̮̚R̷̙͆E̴̬̐Ḁ̵͊L̴̤̐L̵̞̅Y̵̰̏ ̷̧̀h̴̠̄a̵̼̔p̶͔̂p̷̲̓e̶̩̾n̸̗̽e̵̜̓ḑ̸̉.̷̭́ ̴̜́D̶̡̿o̷̳͆n̴̫͌'̷̳̈́t̴̖͑ ̸̫̏ľ̸̺i̷̻̿e̸͌ͅ.̸̯̕
“A…Ah…” Suika shuddered. She trembled to her knees, and shook her head. Flashes of memories that she could recall like yesterday rose from the surface. The doll, the rain, the injuries… The sight of her very first friend on the surface after so long… Yet one person did not approve of her kind, for a very good reason.
“No…No…I remember now… Why did I suddenly remember?” Suika asked. “Dammit… I shouldn’t have ever forgotten… Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
“Suika!? What’s the matter?” Sumireko said, checking on Suika closely while Satsujin remained where he was, listening to the voices more intently.
“...Who is that voice? They sound like her… But… different.” Satsujin said.
Wait… This wasn’t supposed to happen… What are you doing? Why are you doing this?
I̸̺̾'̸̙͝m̴͉̈́ ̷͔͋d̴̡̈o̶̪̿ḭ̵̐n̸̰͒g̷̝͝ ̴̭̀w̴̼͆h̸̟̿ḁ̷̾t̷̻̆ ̸̰̀į̴́s̵̙͆ ̶̕ͅm̷̭̈́e̸̝͠å̸̪n̶̗͝t̸̖̿ ̴͙̂t̴̼̎ō̴͖ ̶͇̀h̴̓͜a̶̝͝p̵̠̀p̸̞̈́e̶̪͐ṅ̸̪.̴̈͜
But this was not what I, or rather, we had in mind.
W̸̲̊h̴͍͋ȧ̷̢t̵̝̂ ̷̭̉y̷̹̾o̵͉̎u̷̜̇ ̶̖̅ȟ̷̫ã̵̩d̶̗̄ ̸̜̓į̵̍n̵̠͘ ̵͇͌m̴͍͝ḯ̴̞n̴̡͘d̸̛̠?̷̫̄ ̸̯̀W̵̢̚ë̶̞́l̷͖̚l̶͎͂.̸͓̈.̵͉̏.̷̭͑ ̶̮̆t̷͈͗ǒ̷͇ô̷͜ ̵̓͜b̶̨̛a̸̯͝d̴̫͑.̶̻͋
The voices were then suddenly replaced with loud static, coming from all of the monitors next to their respective capsules. They all shook with the figures still inside; as their eyes glowed with a white glow as though they were each looking directly at the trio, surrounding them with their divinity.
“What is going on!?” Sumireko asked. “Wait. Suika? Why are you breathing heavily?”
“Hah…Hah…” Suika’s eyes were wider than before. She was looking at two specific capsules and pointed at both of them. Sumireko looked at where she was pointing.
Those two capsules were the only ones who’s figures eyes weren’t open with a white glow. One held a figure who looked to be quite elderly; bearing hair that was slowly turning white and skin with signs of wrinkles. But the other… The other was a man… And he smiled, with eyes that looked red instead of white like all the others. His monitor flickered with red text.
[Subject Number 10: Sendai Hakurei]
[Date of Birth: Unknown. The only member of the Hakurei bloodline that was born a male… A man who had been forgotten by history, not by accident… But because of the atrocities he committed to both Gensokyo, and his own daughter.]
The man looked over at the other capsule next to him. His eyes glowing brighter with almost ecstatic behavior. Suika and Sumireko looked at the capsule next to him, and it caused Suika to panic even more.
“No… Not her… Not her… Not the Blood Flower Maiden.” Suika whimpered.
"You three…get out of here. She has finally revealed her true colors."
T̸̮̅h̸̹̕e̵͈̊ÿ̸̜'̵͒ͅř̶͖e̷̱͐ ̶̘̔ņ̴̍ǒ̴͉t̶̻́ ̷̛̼s̶͙͒ù̶͖p̸̖͛p̸͎̿o̴̭͊ș̸͠e̵̢͊d̴̨̔ ̷͓̑t̷͓̔ò̵͎ ̸̮̿ľ̶͚e̶̖͝ȃ̸̬v̴̱̿e̸̊ͅ ̴̥̇ȳ̷̹ẹ̴̽t̴̨̓.̴͇̿ ̷̠̒Ṇ̶͑o̴͎̽t̶͉̏ ̷̬́u̶̢̾n̶̳͂t̴͎̋i̸̖̅l̴͎̈́ ̷̳̓s̵͉̎h̶͖̒e̵̖͂ ̶͓͌a̸̺͊ŵ̷̻á̵̝k̷̳̈ě̷̦n̶͇͠s̶̅͜.̶͙͊
"DON'T LISTEN TO HER, RUN! EXECUTING CORE ISOLATION PROTOCOL!"
\BZZT**
Ǹ̶͓Ọ̵́!̷̗̐!̷̢̛!̸̼̉ ̴̦͗T̶̼͌H̷͕͘Ȋ̴̯S̴͔͂ ̴̰͋I̶̗͆S̸͍͆ ̵̬́Ṇ̴̐O̸͚͝T̶̘̈ ̷̘͝H̷̫̆O̵̢̒Ẅ̴̘ ̴̫̎I̵̮̽T̸͉͛ ̴͎̏I̸̝̍S̴̳̆ ̵̩͛Š̵̺Ȗ̵͈P̵̙̔P̴͖̿O̵͕͑Ś̶̡É̸͇D̷̗͝ ̷̼͑T̴͖͛O̸̢͝ ̷̙̀G̶̞͝O̸̝͘!̶͖̓!̶̥̽!̸̰̉
The room started blaring with red lights, but it was already too late. The other figure awakened from her slumber, slamming her hand against the glass as cracks began to show.
“No no no no! Not her!” Suika said, freaking out.
“Suika! Stay with me!” Sumireko said. “It’s going to be okay! I swear upon it!”
“...” Satsujin listened to the blares, the thoughts of everyone around her. They all… had nothing to say… except for one. The only other man in the room.
“...Heh…She’s right, you know? This wasn’t her plan… Yet it looks like she has to go fix things up for the future.” Sendai thought.
“...Who are you?” Satsujin asked back.
“Me? I’m nobody at the moment. I don’t have a role yet, and probably won’t for a long time. Least, that’s according to her. How do I know this? It’s simple really?”
The other figure managed to make more cracks, and Suika was now crying, almost afraid of what’s to come.
"Grr…Damn you! Listen to me, I can't hold her forever. Suika, take them and return to the surface, and…shit, she's trying to escape! GO!!!"
S̸̻̈Ḧ̸̫Ȗ̶̝Ț̶̉ ̷̗̍Ú̷̻P̴̰̑!̷͖͐!̴̮̔!̵͔͋!̴̡͝!̶͓͒
“She has everything planned out… including all of your deaths.”
*ERROR*
Buffer overload detected. Restarting stage…
Restart was successful!
—
—
—
The room was dark and quiet again… It was as though everything that happened in the last few minutes never happened. The emergency backup power was left on, giving the people who were still inside the room just enough to see their surroundings.
Suika found herself hugging Sumireko, yet couldn’t remember why she was doing so. She also felt tears on her face, but didn’t remember why she was crying. Sumireko was the same. She found herself hugging Suika back, with a hand on her head like she was comforting her.
“Um…Did something happen?” Sumireko asked. “What were we doing?”
“Uhhhhh…” Suika was confused as she let go of Sumireko and got back up. She noticed how dark the room was yet the last thing she recalled was leaving the elevator with Sumireko and Satsujin and exploring the room a little bit.
Satsujin was standing next to them, facing one of the capsules which contained a still figure; almost lifeless. There was nothing else he sensed in his surroundings, save for a pile of shattered glass which was now on the floor.
“Um, you two.” Satsujin said. “I think something happened.”
“Huh? Something happened? Like what?” Sumireko asked.
"Phew. I thought the core isolation protocol wouldn't work…Now…where we were?"
And then all the lights in the room flashed back on, almost blinding everyone as the lab went back into full power; running everything that needed to be run efficiently. A muffled air fan sound could be heard in the distance, adding to the abandoned ambience.
The glass shards that Satsujin noticed earlier were now revealed to have belonged to one of the capsules, which was empty. It made him more worried as it now begged the question of who was inside there.
“That’s…not good.” Satsujin thought.
But then something else caught everyone’s attention. There was a monitor, or rather a large screen, about 70 inches in width, above the capsules and everything else as it turned on, showing some old footage of a couple familiar figures.
“Wait a minute.” Sumireko said. “Isn’t that… Eirin? And… Okina?”
On the screen, the two figures looked to be discussing something, sitting down in a room together full of empty capsules.
“Do you really need to be recording this?” Okina asked Eirin. “I’m not familiar with your moon’s tech, but I would rather not find out this is something used to send info to your superiors.”
“I assure you, this device is for containing records and nothing more. And even if I wanted to send this to the Lunar Capital, that would risk the safety of me and the princess, which you are well aware I would never do.” Eirin said.
“Yeah yeah, just don’t let anyone unfamiliar find this somehow. Last thing we need is for them to get too advanced too early. And what does any of this have to do with what we agreed on?”
“I’m a doctor, but also a researcher. It is basic common sense to note down any information you come upon, and this is no different. Besides, I’m interested in what you had in mind regarding this project.”
“All I care about is whether you live up to your side of the agreement, I don’t care about anything else. You should be glad I decided to sit down and talk to you instead of informing the other sages of Lunarian immigrants.” Okina said with slight bitterness.
“I prefer you don’t refer to me or the princess with that kind of tone. We no longer live on the moon, nor do we have the same mindset as them. We are human.” Eirin said.
“Human you say? Sure, and I’m the housekeeper of some doorknob salesman.” Okina said.
“I don’t believe doorknobs are a usual sight in this country.”
“Great, you don’t know what sarcasm is… Just make sure you do your side of the deal well. I’ll make sure to check on your progress every time there’s a new shrine maiden. Do good, and I’ll make sure not to tell Yukari about your whereabouts. Fail, and… well you know what.” Okina said, standing up and leaving the room.
“Hah… So much for complete isolated peace with the princess.” Eirin mumbled to herself.
The video flickered a little, fading to static before something else popped up. That being once again, text.
"Project: Faith Preservation.
A conjoined effort between all the sages of Gensokyo to preserve the lineage of the Hakurei family in case of a catastrophe.
When I first arrived on Earth, the sages were initially against the idea of letting me, an enemy of their worst enemy, live in this land. However, they offered me a truce. In exchange for being hidden from the moon emissaries, I would spend the next centuries making sure that every woman and men who ever wore the Hakurei surname was preserved for a later use, may the current active one die, or be rendered useless by any reason."
The monitor turned off, and everyone was left staring at a black screen that reflected themselves. Then, the screen flickered, and showed a series of dots and lines in the screen for some seconds before turning off again.
"... .... . / .... .- ... / -... . - .-. .- -.-- . -.. / ..- ... .-.-.- / --. --- -.. / ... .- ...- . / ..- ... / .- .-.. .-.. .-.-.- / ... - .- -.-- / .- .-.. . .-. - .-.-.-"
*splat*
Everyone turned to where the wet sound came, and there she was. A woman in her elders, with wrinkles and grayish hair, wearing an old, more traditional shrine maiden outfit. She looked over at the group, when her sight was set on Suika. She looked at the Oni who wore the clothes of her lineage. It made her so confused…and angry. Very angry.
"You filthy Oni…why are you…wearing the Shrine Maiden's clothes?" She said, in a raspy yet intimidating tone of voice.
Suika didn't answer at all. She froze in place, and like it was a cruel joke, she remembered why she was crying.
"No…NO! This is bad…really bad!" She said, falling to the ground in terror. "She's awake…"
“W-what? Who?” Sumireko asked.
“Chihana…Hakurei.” Suika said. “We need to run now.”
“Run?” Satsujin asked. “Why do you-”
“We need to run!!! No questions asked!”
Suika didn’t waste time in grabbing both their hands, running down the hall and back towards the elevator. She practically threw the two in while she started pressing the up button rapidly. Chihana walked forward towards the group, pulling out a needle from her sleeve and gripping it tight and imbuing it with a certain type of magic. Right as the doors began to close, she threw it at eye-blinking speeds, only stopping in front of Suika by just a centimeter thanks to the doors closing in time.
But still the Oni was trembling, shaken, filled with the fear of the woman that pursued them slowly. For now they were safe, but how long.
“H-Hey… You said they were also a Hakurei? And you knew them?” Sumireko asked.
“Y-Yeah…” Suika said with a shaky voice. “S-she was the previous shrine maiden before Minako… You could s-say she’s Reimu’s grandmother.”
“Her…grandmother?” Sumireko asked.
*ding*
The elevator opened up to the third floor. Suika and the other two left and walked down the room filled with plants.
“Wait, how come no one else knew about her? I mean, thinking about it, it is a little strange how there is very little information on any of the previous Hakurei Shrine Maidens. Not even in the Gensokyo Chronicles.”
“That’s because they were erased from history; traces of their existence wiped off the books save for a handful of mentions. That was done on purpose because Yukari didn’t want anyone to remember the Hakurei Shrine Maiden as brutal or bloodfestive.” Suika said. “There’s a lot you don’t know about the predecessors.”
The floor on the ground burst open, and Chihana rose out of it, maintaining that same glare on Suika specifically. Suika looked back and her face stricken with horror.
“Why are you… running away you damn Oni!?” Chihana shouted, pointing a sharpened gohei at her.
Once again, Suika, Sumireko and Satsujin made a run for it, avoiding the talismans the elder Miko threw at them with vigor. The talismans stuck some of the nearby green; setting it ablaze with flames that sprouted from the paper charms, disintegrating the plants with no trace left behind. Fortunately none of them hit the trio as they made their way to the next elevator.
“You won’t get away this time!” Chihana shouted, running right at them. But the doors closed just in time as a fist-shaped dent was made in the thick steel.
“Hoooh…I guess we should be glad the elevator was reinforced like the rest of this lab.” Satsujin said.
“That’s not going to stop her.” Suika said. “She’s the type who never gives up until her target is lying dead on the ground. And in case they’re already dead, she’ll personally pursue you all the way to the afterlife to ensure you don’t reincarnate.” She looked back at Satsujin. "Heck, she would even go after your whole family if the circumstances required it."
“But why was she trying to kill us?” Satsujin asked. “The moment she saw you I could sense killing intent. Isn’t the spell card rules-”
“The spell card rules didn’t exist until Reimu you idiot!” Suika shouted at him. "It was kill or be killed! Gensokyo lived on a pecking order for centuries, and that was humans, youkai, demi-gods, actual gods, the Shrine Maiden, and then the Sages… And all the youkai were forced to accept that fact…or perish! That’s why most of us lived either underground or on Youkai Mountain because none of us were idiotic enough to dare go anywhere near the Human Village while she was around!" Suika said, letting out a sigh. “And I was the idiot who decided to leave.”
Neither Sumireko or Satsujin had words to comment on Suika's statement. They stood silent, until they arrived at the following floor.
*ding*
They walked out, and again they moved across the room over to the other elevator.
“Suika… If you don’t mind me asking… How do you know her anyway? And why does she not like you?” Sumireko asked.
Suika thought for a moment, as though she was wondering if she wanted to answer or not. But she did anyway, “I knew her daughter a long time ago, Minako Hakurei. When I first ventured up to the surface I did what any youkai would do and started scaring people at every chance I got. But when I met Minako by pure coincidence, she wasn’t scared. Rather she was infatuated with me. I guess it wasn’t everyday you meet someone with horns and capable of smashing trees with a single punch, hahaha… So, we met a few times, got to know each other, had fun like how any pair of friends would. But…her mother didn’t like seeing her daughter get close with an Oni. And then she tried to kill me, right in front of her daughter’s eyes.”
“She did what?” Sumireko said with shock in her eyes. “How could someone do that?”
*bang*
“Wait, hold on a minute.” Satsujin said. “Did you hear that?”
*bang*
“I think it’s coming from below.” Sumireko looked down at the ground.
*Bang*
“...Fuck.” Suika said.
*BANG*
Chihana bursted out of the floor, rising out of it and once again glaring at the others. The process repeated, this time with more speed. The group rushed for the next elevator door, and entered, as Chihana emerged from the ground once again, tossing away everything that was on her way, including metal shelves with a lot of fragile objects, which made a loud sound after impact.
“Close close close close close…” Suika spammed the button repeatedly.
The elevator fortunately closed right as Chihana approached. They all let out a sigh of relief… And then they returned to shock upon witnessing the door being forcefully opened with bare hands. The red-glow glare of the demonic Miko leering inside.
“You won’t get away this time, foul demon!” Chihana expressed.
“AAAH!” Sumireko screamed. She used her psychic powers to push her back, with great success. The elder shrine maiden didn’t expect to be hit with a burst of psychokinesis while she slid back on the ground. Then with a cry of frustration, she threw a handful of talismans at the trio. Fortunately most of them didn’t hit as the elevator doors shielded them; save for two which struck Sumireko’s hat and Satsujin’s shirt, one of which set Sumireko’s hat on fire.
"My hat is burning! Ow! Ow!" Sumireko said, tossing her hat into the floor, which had been struck with a talisman. Shortly after, the hat vanished in a violent blaze.
"Aw, I liked that hat too. Oh well, at least we-SATSUJIN!!! YOUR SHIRT!!!" Sumireko yelled loudly.
"Huh?" He said, unaware that a talisman had made its way into his white shirt, and was about to activate. With quick reflexes, Suika pulled the shirt with two hands, and ripped it from Satsujin's torso, as she wrapped the talisman in the cloth, and tossed it away. The end result was a burning pile of cloth which eventually disintegrated into nothing. The process left Satsujin with half of his shirt gone, revealing his slightly toned body.
"...damn it." Satsujin said, closing his cape to cover himself. "I don't like to be like this in front of someone else." As he said that, one of his eyes shined brightly.
"There was no need to be that dramatic, you know?"
"Still…I feel exposed." The layered voice said. Shortly after, the eye stopped glowing, going back to its previous state.
Suika didn’t say anything during the conversation. She was too focused breathing in and out repeatedly; hugging herself in the process. It was clear that she was feeling a large amount of anxiety.
“Hey, Suika? Are you still there?” Sumireko asked her.
“I’m…fine Sumireko.” Suika said. “I just want to get out of here and back with the others. I hope they’re doing better than how we are.”
The rest of the elevator ride went in silence. The three waited until they got back on the first floor, seeing the elevator doors open up…
And revealing Chihana standing there in front of them, holding her sharpened gohei, a pair of needles and talismans, and a face full of malice.

This post on one of her secret social media accounts from late last year is what finally prompted me to reach out and write this instead of just swallowing the pain and trying to keep up the charade like I always have to: ON MY BIRTHDAY, while spending literally every second with me, gifts, cake, movie, everything--"You know when you like someone and they start dating someone else and you're like excuse me what the fuck but then you remind yourself that you haven't even put yourself in the running and you're like okay it's okay this won't work out anyway and then two weeks later they stop talking and you're like I knew it but you still do nothing and then they date someone else and it happens all over again and again but then eventually there's one and it's been months and they still don't break up and you're like fuck what if they get married. is that just me."
I really don't want to be writing this post. This is something I've been dealing with and that has been destroying me from the inside out for 12 years now. I'm not even sure about what to say or how to process it and I hope that this is even the right place to do it. If it isn't, I'll happily delete/accept direction to another sub but for right now this is just all that I have and I need to hear someone else say something about this to me who I know isn't just telling another lie and has no reason to. I can say beforehand that I realize this is likely going to read as rambling and incoherent. My thoughts are going to be all over the place. I don't even know to what degree I'm going to sound paranoid or who knows what else. And all I can really say about that is a reminder that after all of those years of not even being regarded highly enough by this person to be told the truth even 10% of the time, I have a very, very difficult time with trusting much of anyone. I also very openly suffer with severe anxiety disorders and this had always made it much, much worse. When I think I could have fewer things to worry about, I'd be reminded that this woman who I once thought loved me made me feel this way every day of my life.
The relationship began with red flag after red flag after red flag. Online, but not on a dating app. I'm just not into that stuff and I wasn't looking to date anyone. I just developed a crush and we started to talk and well, I fell for it. At first she was sweet and seemed harmless enough and like another artsy social media girl and I was happy to see that after having been in long-term relationships with party girls instead. But pretty quickly she presented herself as this nymphomaniac who just can't get enough. Always info-dumped to me in our messages about her past exploits, what sorts of crazy sexual encounters she'd had, her insatiable sexual appetite, bragging about partners, wild locations they'd done it, so on and so forth. As soon as I gave any indication that this wasn't the kind of girl I happened to be into, she backpedaled (and has stuck to that story with me since) and told me that she made all of that stuff up. It was just for attention, she just wanted me to like her, she thought that's what guys like. That the stories she was telling were actually ripped straight from the life of one of her friends and that she's nothing like that, etc. There was always some kind of excuse for why she said or did something that I will only ever believe is what actually happened and she was giving me the edited versions of everything. I even remember her going on about how she was having a threesome with one of her many exes (or few exes, it's impossible to even know that truth from her) and that she backed out last minute as it was happening because she didn't want to do anything with the girl. But in one of her secret online social media lives (one she didn't know that I've known about for a long time), she bragged about how she had been seeing a girl for months (after dumping a guy who insulted her in some way).
But whenever we'd talk about any of these things, oh no that never happened. We haven't even gone over much, if any, of her secret online life material and aside from whatever she's picked up on from when she stalks my social media to see if I've said anything (or if I publicly talked to other women, etc, as if she has any right) that would indicate that I'm onto her in any way, I have no idea what she knows yet. Which, by the way, she denies doing. She opened her phone and my Twitter and another account were both open on her screen and she quickly closed them. We fought all night about how she swears that never happened and it wasn't possible, they weren't there, go ahead and look, etc. Any time I ever bring up anything that I know she lies about, she instantly gets extremely aggressive and digs deep into the "I already told you that wasn't true" defense. I find that if I bring up a story she'd made up every few years that details change, but even when she's called out on that she just digs in even deeper, if anything.
From the beginning, once we became a couple, she just wouldn't shake her online relationships. Could not give them up. I know that she loved the attention and the lifestyle but I don't know, I just didn't think someone could be that obsessed with it and would be willing to sabotage a relationship for it. The guys (and I would later come to find out girls as well as she now identifies online as bisexual, despite always denying it to me even though I was the one who first told her I thought she was bisexual based on very compelling context and also nevermind the fact that I'm a vocal and strong LGBTQ ally) from her past texting her. Constant conversation with one of her online flings who would talk crap about me to her and they'd mostly just laugh about me. Straight up maintaining text conversations with long-term ex-boyfriends and one night stands from college. Things she had going on with coworkers over the years, and all of these really bizarre things she'd get into with guys online who I don't even think necessarily knew she existed. Like she was in a relationship with them but they had likely never even spoken to her. But she'd message her friends about how into the guy she was, etc.
I'm having a hard time keeping everything organized because I'm shaking as I type this, honestly. My heart is beating in my throat. My anxiety is off the charts. I don't have any proof of her physically cheating on me and I probably never will unless she ever finally admits it after she leaves me and uses it as something to hurt me even more. For a time I was physically with her for so long that I guess the only moments she'd have to do that was while working or traveling to and from and while she likely did (especially since her pool of people doubled from just guys to guys and girls, which means that when I had fully let my guard down when she had been working at some places that were only women, there was a very strong likelihood of her doing things with them and I would have never even imagined). The other thing is I'm not really a jealous person. Despite everything that had already happened with her, I didn't feel jealous that she might be doing anything. I didn't think about it, I just wanted her to do her own thing and be happy and not blame me for missing out on whatever it is that she wanted to be doing that she enjoyed. But it's definitely all there as far as online relationships/flings, betrayal, lies, and so on. And she's the kind of person who's very obvious about it too because she does at least two things: 1) She always positions herself so that her phone screen cannot be seen. And 99% of the time I'm not even looking at it. Even when she tells me to look at her screen to see some funny video or whatever, I'm always afraid to do it and end up seeing a notification pop up or that she forgot to log out of whichever website, and then I just have to feel even more destroyed inside over that. Not to mention the fight that would lead to nothing (except more lies). 2) I generally fall asleep before her and that'll go on for months at a time at least. During that time she'll stay up for hours and get all of her "private" stuff done without fear of me seeing. And yeah, I've woken up before and she didn't notice that I did until it's a bit too late and I'll see her quickly put her phone away and pretend to be asleep, but besides that she's generally just had all of that time to talk to the guys/girls, post, etc. And she'll lie and be like, "I fell asleep like 10 minutes after you, it was so great." But then there will be timestamps on her secret social media posts that act as proof that she was lying there for hours posting them. She even confessed online that she woke up 4 hours early for work (from home) and hadn't actually gone to work, just "messed around online" instead.
The lies destroy me. There have been so, so many lies. They've turned me into an amateur detective and the thing is that I don't want to think like that! I have far, far too many problems of my own that I deal with every second of every day and her being an unfaithful liar was not something I had worked into my schedule as being one of them. It's exhausting. I just want to be able to trust that someone is doing what they say they're doing, feels what they say they feel, is who they say there are. It's what I give her 100% so I have to genuinely ask, is it wrong to want the same back? And the thing with her is that she lies so much that in 12 years I would estimate that roughly 75-80% of everything she's ever said to me was a lie. Anything about her thoughts and feelings is generally a lie and that's often very obvious or could be proven by her very blatantly contradicting herself with something or other.
And she doesn't just lie about all of the infidelity type stuff. Sure, those are the things that she'll work hardest to protect because that's her self-preservation at work, she doesn't want to be found out. I've given her so many free outs of our relationship over the years. So many times that I said we could part amicably and one day be friends or never speak again, whichever she preferred. But what would she always say? "No, I don't want anyone else, I want you!". She's the kind of person who will lie about mundane details about things that I wouldn't even think about. For example, she always used to walk around exclaiming how she couldn't have caffeine, that she'd only drink decaf coffee, etc. Then one day a bottle of high dosage caffeine pills fell out of her overnight bag that she'd bring to my house. "Oh I was just having such a hard time staying up, it's not a big deal". No, it isn't. The big deal is the secret. And somewhere around that same time it was revealed that she was either stopping for Dunkin' coffee every day before work (despite running so late that she was almost getting fired) and that she had this whole back and forth "is it my turn to buy the instant coffee and creamer?" with one of the girls she worked with. Why lie about something insane like that? Something so meaningless, something that I never would have even thought about being something someone would be sick enough to lie about. And once again, it's entirely about the lie, and she never really had an answer for that, just some ridiculous excuses to which I could only respond, "who cares if you're drinking coffee?!"
She used to be somewhat put together physically and then just stopped with makeup entirely, wore only the same baggy clothes every day, hair in a bun, gained a huge amount of weight, gave up on any regular personal hygiene. So I always knew something was up when she'd be like, "I'm gonna put makeup on today!" I learned that was essentially code for her disappearing into the bathroom for an hour because she was dressing up in emo girl clothing, doing the full makeup, fitting herself into the really ancient band t-shirts and pants and jewelry, etc, and taking tons of photos to post on the secret socials to present to/bait the guys and girls in the community who were into that/believed that's how she was every day. Whenever I'd see these photos, bam--there's my house very distinctly serving as the backdrop. My mirror she was using for the 2005 Myspace selfies. And please keep in mind, this is a woman in her 30s. And look, I'm a huge nerd and I think cosplay is awesome and so on and I believe that anyone should be able to dress up as anything that they want to dress up as. But it's the lies and the secret double lives that I don't agree with.
One of the biggest red flags for me that I ever saw when it came down to learning about her life via her secret social media accounts (remember, she would never talk to me about anything nor tell the truth and even if I presented her with hard evidence, screenshots, anything at all she'd double down and say it wasn't real, it never happened, you name it) I was always a ghost. I didn't exist. She's lived at my house for most of the past 12 years, yet everything she'd ever say about anything in the house she'd refer to as very emphatically hers and would mention how she lives alone. It was done in this very specific way that you could see that she was trying to present as being this version of herself that she was living out online and that included her being in her own place without anyone else, often capped off with "I'm all alone, cuddle me" sorts of tags. And any time she couldn't get out of mentioning another person being around, I would always be referred to as "someone"or I guess sometimes "a person". And always "they" for a pronoun if that part was necessary (I'm cisgender straight male for whatever that matters).
It's actually absurd just how much she lies to all of her online people, too, now that I think of it. There are lots of shows that I watch and she doesn't but then she'd jump on her socials and post a thousand photos of all the guys and girls in the show that she's "unhealthily in love and obsessed with and wants to marry" and she'd say things about how sad she is that the show is over or . But I'd always be "someone". "I was talking to someone about it" and then it would be something that the two of us had a long conversation about an hour before or the previous night or whatever. I was very, very clearly being edited out of her life to make sure that she was single and approachable to everyone online. And it worked very well for her (and continues to).
Recently I saw on one of her secret social medias that verbatim said, "love when I wake up covered in scratches even though I'm entirely alone". She sleeps in my bed with me inches away from her every night. I can't even remember the last time we slept apart or even went a day without being together. She talks about her furniture or this possession or that. All my stuff. And I don't mean that in a "this stuff is mine, don't touch" kind of possessive way, I'm just pointing out that to me in person she'll call the possessions "your stuff' to me, but online she pretends it's hers. Maybe I'm splitting hairs here but it's all part of the details that make all of this so much for me.
When I first found one of her various secret social medias about a year ago, I had no plans to say anything about it. For some reason early into us being together she permanently deleted all of social media accounts that I had ever been friends with her on, maybe more that I don't know about. She said she hated social media, everyone was fake, she didn't care to see any of those peoples' dumb lives, etc. Fair enough, I only keep my Facebook account to wish people happy birthday and remember that people I went to school with even still exist. I barely check it otherwise. I'm more into Reddit and Twitter for gaming news and sports and stuff like that. And Reddit is something that she heavily got into a few years ago, which at first was to stalk me because, shocker, I saw my post and comment history open on her phone. And I'm not doing anything wrong on here or anywhere else so what does it matter to me, I keep it all public and edit absolutely zero of what I say or do because I'm not doing anything wrong and if it makes her happy to stalk my social media, have fun. No qualms here. And she's always on Reddit but with the big annoying "create an account" stuff all over the screen and I always said to her, "Oh my gosh, why don't you just make an account? It's so much easier that way." Always said she didn't want one, that she didn't want or need social media and using it logged out was fine and easy. Okay, if that's what you like.
But I didn't mention that account she did make (along with a few of her others) to her or anyone else for a couple of reasons. She does have extremely serious mental issues and mostly everything that I saw of her posting on there whenever I'd look every month or two was page after page of her trying to fit in with all of the 19 year old girls who are obsessed on very unhealthy levels with these 40-something year old emo band members. Reposting all of their weird pictures of them in their prime making out with each other, being really strange, doing some disturbing stuff, etc, but that was that scene and just because I'm not into it doesn't mean I care if anyone else is on any level where I think they need to stop. So as far as I could tell, maybe it would just stay as that and what do I care if she does that? It doesn't matter one bit to me, the only part that matters about something like that to me at all is that it needs to be a secret from me. But so I figured she was feeling like she fit in with all of the other people like that (albeit all much younger than her) and hey, if that's what makes you happy and helps her vent all of the issues that she doesn't want to share with me (which did unfortunately later on in the account turn into her just straight up complaining about me specifically on there, as "someone", "a person", even more than just about her own feelings, even though I'm someone who always has an open door for you to air whatever problem you have out to me and we can talk about it for as long as you'd like--as long as you're truthful and thorough about it without keeping more secrets).
It was always EXTREMELY unsettling to see, though, because she doesn't talk like herself on there. Or maybe I should rephrase; she doesn't talk like the self that she's pretended to be around me for 12 years. Completely different vocabulary, style of speech, regional slang, and honestly speaking in a bunch of pretty gross ways that shocked me coming from her because with me she's very prude (I'll get to that). But even still, it was mostly "innocent" at least publicly (despite being a secret account that she admitted on there several times existed in secret because she didn't want family or anyone to find it and so she could just say and act however she wanted). But it did get more troubling over time. Instead of just the niche band stuff, it started to turn into her talking about her past and became a place to list the notches in her bedpost (accidental nod to one of the things she's unhealthy levels of obsessed with) and I don't know if she wanted to appear like some sexually liberated badass to all of the other girls on there or what but it got more and more intense as time went on. And you know what it reminded me of almost exactly? The person I first met over 12 years ago, except minus a lot of the graphic material only because the site doesn't allow it anymore. After that it was her suddenly being very open about how much she loves sleeping with women, heavily leaning into the bisexual identity, and so on. Look. I never once gave her any reason to think that she couldn't come out to me if she wanted to. Never once. And I'm not even now saying that she has to or should or even necessarily that she's wrong for not coming out. But I mentioned it earlier and it's true, there was some stuff that happened years back that led me to have a lightbulb moment about her being into women, and she was very against it. Mostly just laughed but also said that she's straight. And that's fine, especially if you have a hard time or don't want to admit it to someone. But it's when you remain in a relationship with me for 12 years with that secret that it becomes an issue for me. It's when you tell stories about your past doing things with other girls that you not only swore you'd never done but that you said you never would do, and yes that is in the context of something mentioned over the years about being brought into our own relationship. She was very opposed, both in a "I'm not into girls, so no" and "I don't want to be with anyone else, only you, so no) kind of way.
Those are the reasons that I feel betrayed. And it's not something that has made her life difficult. Regardless of how much she hates me, I've only ever been supportive of LGBT rights, have them as close friends, and so on. She knows about every vote I've cast, she sees the stickers I order, the causes I support, and so on. Her family is supportive. Not in a "we would still love you anyway" kind of way but in an openly encouraged kind of way. There is nothing at all that would suggest it's difficult for her. It was just a secret to keep from me because that's all she knows how to do and because it left me off guard about more than 50% of the world population that I didn't expect she'd be messing around with.
Onto the last parts, likely. For probably 11 or maybe more of the years we've been together, we really haven't been close, intimate, acted like a couple, any of that. She isn't physically or emotionally interested in me. Something that was always an issue from the start was how vocal she was about the whole being a nymphomaniac with other guys (and girls) thing but that we have an essentially nonexistent sex life and always have. She doesn't even speak a dirty word around me. When we watch TV or movies together and there's a sex scene, she acts disgusted but then you'll find the same scene posted as an obsessive amount of GIFs, images, quotes, and photos on her secret social media with captions about how much it turned her on, how much she wishes for that, where is her , etc. We were never really people who kissed a whole bunch but we haven't kissed basically at all in years. Anything that ever happens between us has to be initiated by me (and after so many years of it, I don't want to and it just makes me feel so awful about myself) and is always met with some form of very angry/annoyed, "Is it going to be quick? Hurry up!" She's never been open to doing anything beyond the bare minimum with me and even then it's like pulling teeth. We were in our 20s and we'd go weeks and weeks without even touching each other. But then if we got into a fight she'd try to end the fight with some kind of sexual advance, and to me that's just not normal and something is very wrong there. We haven't said "I love you" in more years than I can even remember. She was very into that for maybe like the first 2-3 months and then she needed to appear to everyone like she was a single girl who just happened to be around me so she wouldn't touch me or act like my girlfriend in any way, and I recall the final time she ever said those words it was that very telling "Love you" instead of what she used to be very emphatic about had to be "I love you", the full three words, to really have meaning.
I stopped saying it to her because of all of the lies and cheating and betrayal. I didn't feel it anymore, it made me feel like I was going to be sick if those words were even conjured up to my mouth. She didn't deserve to hear them for doing what she was doing to me. And that was just normalized so long ago that it really is what it is. That was never going to be fixed. Nor were the intimacy issues considering all that ever was was the exact same fight, down to the same words said, month after month and year after year, whenever enough time had passed and enough frustration had been pent up that everything just boiled over and it got vocal. I mentioned earlier that she gained a very large amount of weight and entirely stopped taking care of herself. That part sucked for both of us. But online she presents herself as something else so it doesn't really seem to affect much in her romantic/sexual interests. In person, I had to come to terms with being with a different person than who I had first met.
And I'm not body shaming. I try to be supportive about eating healthier and did it myself to give her the easy road to join me. Didn't want to , didn't care to. Not much else I can do there since I'm definitely not allowed to comment on that issue without being torn apart. But the point is that I still stayed. Years and years of her lying to me about everything, of her cheating on me, of her scrambling my brain to the point where I don't think I'll EVER be able to trust another person again, I've just stayed with her. Because what difference does it make? If I did meet someone else, they'd do the same thing to me. She showed me that it's all I'm worth. And I wasted the remaining good years that I had being with her, hoping somewhere that things would get better and that all of that time I put into very naively believing that I had gotten to know another human being on the profound sort of level that takes 12 years to go to...well, but that didn't actually happen, though. She just told me whatever suited her. That much is a fact. And I never really knew how to get out anyway because back when I was still trying to just break up with her and move on and have a chance to salvage my ability to love or trust anyone, she'd always fight so hard and do crazy things like camp out on my porch or finally go away for a few days but spend the entire time texting me, emailing me, messaging me on whatever she could find that I hadn't blocked her on to just make it easier on both of us. But she wouldn't leave. And then I wouldn't. And I allowed myself to stay in this situation and be damaged beyond repair. And I don't even know what to do.
There's a lot of evidence right now that suggests she's leaving me imminently (yes, to be clear we're still physically together and live together and spend 24/7 together, though clearly neither of us think of each other as significant others, which really sucks because, well...have you ever been in the same room with and shared a bed with someone who only ever lies to you about everything and you know it, but they don't know that you know? I'm sure and very sorry to say that many people here can probably answer "yes" to that question). Everything points to her taking off basically any minute because she finally picked up on the fact that I know about her secret lives. She deactivated at least one of them, one of the seemingly less important ones. And the really bad one I'm sure will "disappear" soon until she jumps ship, not entirely sure why it matters though considering I already have all of that saved and if she's leaving me anyway then what does she care if I can see her secret life anymore? I only ever looked at it because we were together and some part of me had wondered for so long if things would ever just be normal and dare I say better between us and I needed to know (yes, like passing the train wreck and opting to look instead of shield your eyes) over the course of the year-ish that I've seen that particular secret life if she was even capable of being faithful and honest or if she was going to go off the rails exactly like I anticipated she would. And she sure did. And of course I've been a mess about it--and how could I not, even if I hated her guts this is still finding out even more about how someone I've spent so much of my life with for so many years--just doesn't care about me or what she does to me and will happily keep cheating, lying, doing whatever she want so long as she has what she wants and is in control of how everything goes. She needs to keep the secrets, dictate what is fact and what's fiction, and by what I know is coming also be the one to finally leave. I think all along she just stayed with me because I was the one trying to leave her and someone like her can't have that. She needs to be the one doing the dumping, needs to be the victim who had to leave this awful person and get as far away as she can. And she'll get her way with that because I just don't have it in me. But given the fact that I've been a mess, and I am around her 24/7, all I've really known how to do is be quiet. Flip over and face the other way. Bury myself in Reddit and Discord and scroll through pages and pages of guides about how to create the best character in whatever new video game I'll start just to fill the silence in my room and have something to think about other than the fact that I'm not good enough even for a really, really bad person to care about me even a little bit.
It's weird to me that someone with such sociopath/antisocial traits thinks that they're such genius masterminds. That they're invulnerable to ever being found out. That their victims haven't just already known for a long time and are too tired and broken to even bother saying something else about it. I've known for a long time now, about all of this newer stuff but about so many things with her, some that I've spoken about and some that I haven't, but it's very clear that she thinks she was just doing this without any consequence all along. Well not to her, of course not. She only cares about self-preservation in the sense that as long as she has things the way that she wants them (currently that means free room and board, espresso drinks, fast and reliable Wi-Fi, a place to do her work, gifts, and honestly I don't even know what if anything else she feels she gets from being with me at this point or how long it's just been that or less, and I guess avoiding the short-term "sting" for someone like her to have to actually get up and move out and maybe for an hour or two feel something that resembles "sad" about the end of an extremely long relationship).
People like her just don't see. I'm the male so I have to just keep my emotions about it all inside. And if I didn't, what would it matter? She'd just deny it all. She'd lie until I was too tired to fight about it anymore and just said, "Okay fine, let's just move on and change the subject". I have to wait until I'm in the bathroom to cry. I don't have any secret social media accounts to vent about any of it on. I don't even have friends whom I'd talk to about this kind of thing because honestly we're older and it's messy. They'd all say why the hell didn't you just get out years ago? Just like every single person has told me over the years. And I'd tell them I don't know.
And now that I've spent like two hours typing, that last paragraph only just now reminded me that she's going to be reading this. Sometimes I forget that everything I'm ever posting is open in a private browser tab on her phone somewhere. Normally, I don't really mind. I had a really long-winded question about the best character build in a video game? By all means, read away. You'll be bored by it just like how you're bored by anything I ever have to say about anything that I'm really interested in to you. Because I'm not one of those emo boys (or girls) online. Because I'm not whoever or whatever you wanted.
But I guess it most of all doesn't matter because I know she's leaving. Words spoken far too much these days, but it is what it is.
I'm really sorry about how long all of this is. I'm really sorry if this is hard to follow or if my thoughts are too scattered or whatever the issue. It's really difficult to write a first and last time In Memorium about a relationship where I've been nothing but lied to, cheated on, and had secrets kept from me for 12 years. So I guess at least I won't be writing about this again.
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TL;DR: There is no TL;DR. This is just too long. It's too much. The TL;DR would be a novella and it's just too much for me to do. I'm not offended if you can't or don't want to devote the time to read this. Or if you have trouble following. Or if you don't like me and think I'm a bad person. It's okay. I'd love to hear what anyone has to say about it, sure, but in many ways this is just as much for myself. A final chapter laid to rest.

Firstly, I'd like to preface this post by saying that of course there are always two sides to every story, and that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, as well as the fact that these events occuured under the influence of alcohol. As well I'd like to say that I'm writing this post impulsively, while annoyed, but that I will do my best to take emotion and bias out of what I am saying.
For context, my ex and I dated in high school for about a year and a half when we were about 15/16 and were sexually active for most of the relationship (if that part matters). We broke up as I thought she was petty and childish towards the end of our relationship, and I felt that I had grown up but she hadn't quite done so yet. The relationship overall was good, but after we broke up we only ever spoke when we wanted sex, and then we stopped talking after I got into a new relationship shortly after I turned 17, and my ex proceeded to sleep around a little until realising that she didn't want to continue building the reputation she had started to gain. I then moved away after my 18th birthday when I joined the Army, and had not spoken to my ex for over two years until two nights ago (the night where the following events took place).
So, it was my brother's [19M] birthday on Thursday last week, and this weekend was a long weekend, so I had decided to fly up to see my brother on his birthday and we could go out clubbing on the weekend. I, additionally organised a little party with a few of his best mates on the Saturday night as a little pre-drinks event. So I flew up on the Friday afternoon and my brother and I had dinner. The next day, Saturday, was just a case of myself getting ready for the night ahead while my brother was at work. I met my brother after he finished work, and as we were leaving to go to his party, my ex showed up and my brother said that he had invited her as she was one of his (and the group's) close friends. I didn't have an issue with this, as I really had no reason to, we have both grown in the last two years so I didn't foresee us having any issues or anything.
We got to the party, and it started to pick up and get into full swing. At one point, I went to the bathroom and it was locked, so I waited outside until eventually my ex came out. We hadn't spoken all night so it was a little awkward to start off with, but we ended up talking and then, after I'd finished in the bathroom, we ended up catching up about the last two years. She told me about her boyfriend who she had been dating for the last year and 4 months and joked about how she was about to overtake the length of time that her and I dated for. She seemed very happy talking about him, and often referred to him as 'the one' or the 'love of [her] life'. This made me happy, as it seemed she had finally grown up and was with someone who could see past her little 'boy-friendly' period. We then got a taxi into the city at around 10pm, and I ended up sitting next to her. She made a comment that I smell nice, as I thanked her and told her that she still wears the same perfume that I got her for her birthday, and that it smells nice too. I thought this was innocent and harmless enough, and so did she. Once we arrived at the club, we went inside and the group all did shots, and then grabbed another drink and we made our way to a booth next to the dance floor to just chill out and get up to speed with the music and the vibe of the club.
Fast forward a few hours, and we are dancing in a group near the middle of the dance floor. However, a few dudes beside us start to get a bit rough with each other and so myself and one of the other boys in my group used our bodies to shield the girls who were with us. However, at one point I got pushed harder than I was anticipating and ended up falling and having to grab my ex to hold me up. However, I she didn't interpret what was happening correctly, and instead turned around and put her arms around may neck and kept dancing. This shocked me, but given the alcohol, the music, and the fact that my ex has always been attractive, and was dressed well, I quickly relaxed and placed my hands on her waist and we continued to dance together. After another hour or so like this, one of the boys pulled me aside to one of the booths and asked why was going on with my ex, and reminded me that she had a bf (which was not quite at the forefront of my mind during this period). So while I was explaining what had happened to him, my ex came and found us and tried to pull me back on to the dance floor. This time I was a bit more hesitant, so I pulled back, which caused my ex to stumble towards me and I caught her and apologised for pulling her and that I hadn't meant to do it so hard, but she responded by looking up at me in a way that I instantly recognised, and then before I could react she had grabbed my face and was kissing me. It was brief, but had an effect. I told her that I was just talking to my mate and that I would return to her soon, so she went back onto the dance floor and my mate was stood there as if to say "so you were saying...". For the rest of the night, I did my best to have someone between myself and my ex, as while I did want to see what could happen, I was vaguely conscious of the fact she has a bf and I didn't want to be the reason they break up.
At about 4.30am, when the lights came on and the club started to close, my group made our way out onto the street and began the usual process of ordering Ubers. However, since I was staying at a hotel in the city, I only had a 10 min walk so I agreed to wait to see everyone else get into an uber and then I would make my way back to my hotel. So I said goodbye to my brother and some other friends as they all got into Ubers and taxis or their bfs or parents came to grab them. Until it was just myself and my ex left, and I asked her how long her uber would be and she said she hadn't ordered one because she didn't feel comfortable getting into one by herself and that she wanted her bf to pick her up but he was asleep. As a result I told her that my hotel room was only a short walk away and she was able to come over and chill out for a bit until her bf wakes up and then she can call him and explain the situation to him. I said this with no intention of sleeping with her or getting into bed with her, I was genuinely just trying to think of a way for her to get home with her bf without leaving her alone on the street.
Once we got back to my hotel room, we sat out on the balcony and I brought her a glass of water while we talked about the night and laughed about different things we saw and who went home with who etc. After a while, we were both pretty tired and she asked if she could go and lie down in my bed for a bit. I told her that she could. I stayed on the balcony for a bit, enjoying some air and the city lights, until she came out wearing one of y shirts from my suitcase, with just a thong underneath. She said that she hoped I didn't mind, but that she didn't want to sleep in her clubbing outfit, and that she was also not done with our conversation so she asked if I could come and sit on the bed and we could keep chatting. So I did, and we carried on discussing who'd got with who and then, I asked her about OUR kiss, as I wasn't sure what was behind it. She told me it was more of a spur of the moment type thing, and that it wasn't pre-meditated, which I do believe is the truth. She then went on to ask whether I enjoyed it, and I told her that it was so brief that I didn't have time to process what had happened until it was already over. She then made her face again, the one that always came before a kiss, and I had time to react this time. Except my reaction was to lean into her and accept the kiss, which had picked up in intensity now. Then, without thinking, I started kissing her neck and my hands began to wander. This was met with her exclaiming "fuckkk, I forgot how good you were at this". I pulled away, as I realised what was about to happen, as I wasn't fully sold on the idea of sleeping with a girl who had a bf. However, all doubt was removed when she took her top off. From there, I gave in to every thought I had, and we ended up having sex. (I did ask, I made a point of getting her to say yes, because I know how easy guys can get trapped with the consent issue). At one point she wanted to show me "how much [she] have improved", and so she got on top and gave me probably one of the best rides of my life. I responded with similar intensity by standing up, and throwing her back onto the bed and proceeded to give her all I had. We went at it for about an hour and a half, over and over again, I made her orgasm twice, and we didn't stop until the third time I finished in her mouth and she swallowed it.
As we cleaned up, I made at comment that she had definitely improved, to which she responded with "[I] have just given [her] the best sex of her life". After this, she went and rinsed her mouth out with some mouthwash and I had become overcome with the needs to sleep. She got back into bed and said "its only 7:15am, [her bf] won't be up for another few hours so maybe we can get some sleep". So she ended up falling asleep on my chest. We woke up a few hours later to her phone ringing, it was her bf. She explained to him that she had stayed at my hotel room, and that I had slept on the couch while she had stayed in the bed. He seemed happy with this, as he trusted that she would never lie to him. She gave him the address and he said that he would come and pick her up in about half an hour. After she hung up the phone, she rolled over and kissed me. I was surprised, as she had just been speaking to her bf a total of 0.5 seconds ago. We got up, and I got a shower and came out to her sat on my bed looking upset. She told me that she was really upset with herself for what happened, and that she never thought she would ever be able to cheat on anyone, let alone her current bf as he had always been perfect. She then looked up at me seriously and told me that after she left, we were never to discuss the previous night again, and that we should act as though it had never happened. I was fine with this, as I didn't particularly feel great about being the 'other guy'. Her bf came and picked her up, and I went on with my day as normal.
However, this morning I received messages from my ex essentially saying that she was drunk and didn't remember the night that we'd spent together. But the way she said it came across as though she was putting the blame on me for it and that I instigated the night and she wasn't reciprocating. However, I do not believe that I was 100% responsible for it happening, and that I didn't instigate anything, until we got into bed when I asked her to have sex. She has since said to me that she doesn't entirely blame me, but that she was drunk and that she never would've done it if she was sober.
So I'm essentially after advice on what to do, or how to feel about the situation. I don't really regret what happened, although I agree that it shouldn't have. I believe that there was equal blame, and that I shouldn't be held 100% responsible. She refuses to tell her bf, and idk whether that's a good idea, but I certainly don't believe that I should be the one to do so.
TLDR: My ex (who has a bf) and I slept together after a night out, and I don't know how to respond to the events that followed.

I've always been fascinated by vision. Despite being by far the richest and most detailed sense we have available to us, it's something many of us take for granted. The spectacular range of colors we can perceive paired with the extremely fine resolution of the human eye allow us to paint works of art onto the canvas of our environment at each moment of the day. When I came to university, I wanted to see even more deeply into the world of human vision. Looking back, I wish I'd never thought about it at all.
After a year of basic requirements, and another year of diving into the neurobiology of the eye, I managed to convince one of my professors to take me on as a student in his lab. He works on building a retinal prosthesis, an artificial retina used to help restore vision to people with retinal damage or disease. The technology is still in its infancy, but will lay the groundwork for full visual restoration one day. To be honest, both myself and my professor knew I was underqualified for the position. But he had enough faith in my technical capabilities and drive to give me a project of my own. I have some experience making VR games, silly little projects that went pretty much nowhere but taught me how to use the technology. My professor realized that I could leverage my game-making abilities and the VR technology to solve one of our lab's problems. You see, implanting a microchip into the human retina is no easy task, and nobody really knows the best place to implant it. My first thought was to just put it right in the middle of the eye, in the fovea, where we have the most highly detailed vision. I used to believe that was the only part of human vision that mattered. The only part that could ever tell me anything useful. What a fool.
My professor knew better. It turns out that the fovea is the most detailed part of the eye because it has the densest cluster of sensory inputs, and with our current level of technology we just are not capable of creating a microchip with small enough electrodes to get any meaningful output in such a dense region. We knew we had to implant the chip off center, in the periphery, for it to do any good at all. It was my job to figure out exactly where in the periphery would be the most effective trade off between usable vision and usable microchip. To this end, the lab purchased a relatively cheap eye tracker designed for VR, which still ended up costing several thousand dollars. The lab has a VR room at the very back, a small, windowless box with not much more than a table, a chair, and an old HTC Vive Pro. There is one window embedded into the door itself, a tall, thin slit of reinforced glass that offers the only connection to the outside world. This was where I spent most of my summer days, alternating between writing code and sticking my head into a clunky headset. The experiment was pretty simple: use the eye tracker to find out where I'm looking in VR, and then block out my entire vision except for a small square in the periphery.
It's a real pain in the ass to do anything using just your peripheral vision. Reading a simple sentence becomes a minutes-long ordeal where you have to scan letter by letter, hoping you get them all right and that you don't miss any. What is very clearly a grayscale picture of a panda quickly becomes a blurry gorilla, or maybe a dog, or maybe even a motorcycle. My eyes would start to feel strained after just a few minutes of the experiment, and would be exhausted by the time a full hour had passed. To be honest, I was relieved when my stint in the lab ended at the end of last summer and I needed to focus on my classes again. I don't have a lot of regrets in life, and I think perhaps that's because I haven't done a lot in life. I've spent most of my time desperately pursuing achievements to fill this… hole inside myself. I worked on project after project, things that I didn't care much about but that I thought would make me an interesting person, worth the space I take up. I spent many of my days in the lab wishing I were anywhere else, participating in the world and having fun instead of wasting away in a tiny windowless cubicle. And yet, some part of me just couldn't let go. I had spent so much time on this project, an entire summer! Giving up would make me a failure. I couldn't just let that effort go to waste. God, if only I hadn't been such a fucking idiot.
Anyway, that brings us to today. After another year of classes, summer is finally back, and I'm back in the stifling, beige VR prison that I now call home. With a surge of motivation that can only come from taking a break, I was ready to attack this experiment again and get some science done! After several hours of sifting through my old spaghetti code, and a half hour of testing the rig on myself, my eyes predictably became sore and exhausted, so I took off the headset for a rest. As I lay back in my chair, rubbing my temples, I saw something unexpected in my periphery. Someone was standing right outside the door, looking at me through the thin, vertical window. That was already quite odd, as the VR room pretty much lives in the backrooms of the lab. None of my labmates would make the trek down several corridors of storage rooms and empty offices to get to the VR room without a reason. Yet something in my intuition was screaming a warning, telling me that whoever was out there was certainly not one of my labmates. In an instant, my eyes flicked away from my computer screen and onto the window. It's a motion called a saccade, where human eyes flick around from point to point. They usually take between 20 and 50 milliseconds to perform, and what's especially interesting about them is that our brains actually do not process any visual input while they are happening. This was unfortunate for me, because by the time my eyes came to rest on the window, the grinning face was gone.
I figured my eyes must just be playing tricks on me. I've spent so much time in VR that they probably just want me to go outside and look at some grass. But after another set of trials, my tired eyes again told me there was someone staring at me through the window, a twisted grin on their face. My heart skipped another beat as my eyes instinctively flicked to the window yet again. Nothing. I got up and moved slowly to the window, moving my head to the left, then to the right to get a view of the entire corridor. Totally empty, as expected. And yet, something inside me was still screaming that this was wrong. My stomach writhed and flipped, my heart beating out of my chest. I had seen the face twice now, and I know from my many hours of VR trials that the periphery is blurry, but it doesn't lie. My fear turned to anger as I thought of the possibility of one of my labmates pulling a prank on me, probably trying to give me shit for being out of the lab all year. I wrote a quick, snippy message to the lab slack, saying "Hey yall, if anyone is outside the VR room right now, please stop grinning at me, I'm trying to get work done." Satisfied I had publicly shamed the prankster into submission, I pulled the headset back over my eyes to begin another round of trials.
I began another trial. One of the experiments I've designed uses randomly selected snippets of newspaper text, and places them in the little viewing box for the subject to try and read as best they can. It's a difficult task, but after many hours I've gotten pretty good at it. I began the trial, speaking out each word as I sounded it out. "G… giv… give. M.. e? Me, yeah. Yo… you… your. E… eye… eyes… w- what the FUCK?" With a shriek, I ripped the headset off of my face and threw it onto the desk. My breaths came in bursts as an overwhelming fear gripped a cold hand around my chest. What newspaper would have THAT chilling demand? An article about a psychotic murderer? I quickly clicked onto the desktop view of the virtual environment, and took a peek behind the curtain to see the full text of the article. The same phrase, repeated dozens of times, took up the whole screen. "Give me your eyes give me your eyes give me your eyes give me your eyes GIVE ME YOUR EYES!"
My whole body was rigid. Even my heart had stopped. I slowly raised my eyes from the screen. Instead of looking directly at the window, I slowly inched my view to the left until I could see the window in my peripheral vision. Every microsaccade brought me a new stab of fear as the window slowly entered the very edge of my periphery. My heart sank as I registered a smear of red and white floating at the bottom of the glass. Every instinct screamed at me to look, to foveate on the face and get as much detail as possible about this threat, but I resisted the urge. After so many hours reading words and identifying animals in my peripheral vision, I knew I didn't have to look at the face in order to see it. I moved my eyes slightly closer to the window, bringing the face a few degrees closer to my fovea until I could make out the details. What I saw made my blood run cold.
The face was completely skinless. Red and pulpy, dripping and oozing onto the floor, it bore a demented grin of sharp, skewed teeth. The eyes were pure white orbs, glistening sightlessly with desire. They were slightly offset from where eyes should be, not enough to be completely skewed but just enough to be noticeably uncomfortable. I couldn't see anything below the neck, but at this point I didn't have to. I banished the face from the window with a flick of my eyes, and with inhuman speed I hurled my body towards the door and pulled, flinging it open, ready to sprint the hell out of this building and never look back.
The door opened to nothing but more beige wall.
In shock, I collapsed to my knees, momentarily unable to register what I was seeing. Numbly, I closed the door again. The window still looked out into an empty corridor. A flicker of hope was quickly squelched as I pulled the door open to again see the same stretch of wall. I let go of the handle, allowing the door to swing shut. This time, the window showed nothing but pure darkness.
Just then, I heard a tinny ping from my phone. It was my labmate Jessica, sending a reply to my slack message. It read, "Umm, what are you talking about? It's Sunday, nobody is in lab today. Except you I suppose. Why don't you go take a break?"
I'm not ashamed to admit that I spent a while in a state of panic, hyperventilating on the thinly carpeted floor. This couldn't be happening. It defied explanation. Everything has a rational, scientific explanation! Yet the darkness outside the window… and the skinless face… the chilling demand for me to give it my eyes… This was really happening. I wasn't on any kind of drugs, prescription or otherwise. I have no history of hallucination under any circumstances. Yet the wall blocking my exit was solid as rock.
At least, it was solid as rock. Until I saw a bulge appear in my peripheral vision. It was the outline of the face, upside down and grinning, pushing out of the wall like someone pressing their face against a canvas tent. I let loose another shriek and pushed myself into the desk behind me. As I looked at the face pressing through the beige surface, it slowly pulled back into the wall, leaving a flat surface once more. But in my periphery, two more faces bulged, wriggling and grinning. My choked sobs almost made me miss the subtle scraping from behind me, but a moment later the desk I had been resting against pushed me over. I frantically turned, my eyes flicking between the faces pulling back into the wall and the desk, now blocking the door by several inches. I heard another scraping sound behind me. Still on my knees, I spun awkwardly to see the far wall. It took me a moment to notice, but the electrical outlet in the corner of the room was now half buried in the wall. I struggled to my feet, ready to try the door again in a vain hope of escape, only to bump my head against the ceiling. No matter where I turned, faces sprouted from the walls beside me and scraping could be heard from behind me. The desk where I'd spent so many hours focused on my code now cracked and crumpled as the wall behind it closed in.
I let out a wail, knowing my time had come. The faces all around me undulated in and out of the walls, pressing close to me, reaching for my quivering limbs, hungry for my frantic eyes. Their psychotic smirks seemed to widen with every sound of distress. One of them opened its mouth, tearing a hole through the wallpaper and letting a fleshy, red growth spurt noisily into the room. I tried to move away from it, but by now there wasn't really anywhere to move to. My back pressed against another disgusting face, which opened its mouth and wrapped a fleshy, slimy tendril around my chest. I heard distorted laughter echoing through the now cramped space.
In a moment of clarity, I pulled out my phone and opened the camera app. Setting it on selfie mode allowed me to put the wall behind me into my field of vision. Now, all 6 surfaces around me are in view. The scraping stopped, but by now it's too late. There's barely any room to move in here. The door is almost completely covered by the walls and ceiling. I think the handle got buried in the walls somewhere, I can't even try to open it. I can barely turn my body around. I can see the faces pressing in from the walls in my periphery. The fleshy tendrils growing from their mouths have wrapped around my legs and torso and won't stop squeezing. They keep trying to work their way onto my face, into my eye sockets, but I keep brushing them back. The stink of urine and fear is overwhelming, but I know if I pass out I won't have a chance to wake up again. A part of me wants to just let go. I've minimized my camera app and left it in the corner of my phone while I type this post. I've taken several photos of this situation. It's not easy to see what's happening because of how cramped it is, but hopefully you can get the gist. I called 911 a while ago but it didn't go through. I'm not sure what I would tell the dispatcher even if it did. I messaged the lab building manager on slack for help, but he messaged me back a few minutes later saying that the VR room was empty and asked me what I meant when I said I was trapped. I tried to explain but he thinks I'm pulling a prank. Nobody in my lab can help me, perhaps only people who would be willing to believe my story can do anything for me now.
Please, someone come help me. I don't want to die like this. I have so much to do, so much to see. I can't bear the thought of missing out on so much fun in life, only to have my chance at freedom stolen away from me just before I graduate and finish this project that I never should have taken on. I'm begging you, if you happen to live close by, come to the neuro building, room 140, and save me from this nightmare.
And make sure you pay damn close attention to what's happening in your peripheral vision. It just might save your life.

I coach AA (7-10 yr olds) little league in an area known for wine country and hot air balloons north of San Diego in Riverside county. I’ll keep the city out of it just incase I know someone on here.
So about 4 hrs before the game started I knew the outcome and emailed the board president and the opposing coach, also a board member, about the last inning rule in a non-timed 6 inning game. Real quick on the topic of the board, it’s made up of 3 married, couples, current coaches in little League, and maybe 1 non-baseball person. I had a feeling with my strategy and knowing what he HAD to do to win, since my team was the best in the league all year I needed an answer to specifically that topic. By the way, there is no tie allowed in this game since the winner goes to tournament of champions. So the answer I get back in an e-mail train of 4 discerning answers, was never given a yes or no. More or less, it’ll never happen and if it does it’s the umpires ruling. So again at that moment reading that 4 hrs before the game I redid my defensive strategy just thinking I’m going to be playing against the board also tonight. An hr before the game I talk to a board member, a friend, and I told him hey I need you to be neutral tonight please. He said I’ll be standing in the middle and rooting for both sides, I said perfect.
Game starts and it’s back and forth the first few innings then we take a lead. Next inning we almost broke it open but an umpire made a bad call on a kid tagging up at third on a pop up. The kid umpire admitted he never saw the play and just called him out. Whatever, that shit happens I thought we have them on their heels anyway. They came back and took the lead going into the last inning, and my team is down by 10. My last pitchers just hit batters and gave up hits and that’s how they came back in their top half of the 6th inning. Their team batted around all 14 kids. Now all of my team has to score in order to win, and I thought well we can do this, my boys are animals and have guts, trained better, and want it more. 18 wins told them and everyone else they are the best in the league that year. The other team has 14 kids and I only had 10 at the game because of family things with my other 2, remember that. The inning starts and their pitcher just starts waking batter after batter and he we get some hits and get within 4 of a tie. Now with 1 out and baes-loaded one of best hitters is up next and is 2-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBI’s on the day. I knew he was getting at least a double and score 2-3 runs. Instead the ump says did you go around your order, and I said yah. Well then that’s the game, and I said hold on they have 14 kids and I have 10 and we should get 4 more at bats to make it even. The umpire said you’re right, let’s go talk to the the other coach, remember he’s a board member, and he says let’s go talk to the president. The president said nope game over that’s it. I argued in a quite voice because of the 150 people there and the kids. But think about my email I sent 4 hrs before the game and the answers I got. I fucking knew that “they” were going to pull out all the stops to WIN as adults instead of letting the boys finish the game.

• Final score 22-18 with bases loaded and 1 out Yah there’s a * there because it’s deserved.

Moral of the story is my 7-10 yr old boys on my LL team learned more about integrity at too young of an age that night. The BOARD stole the game away after 3 hrs 40 minutes of a battle!!!!! Instead it was decided by a deuchebag!!!!
There was never a second or third out in the final inning. Every game I have ever been apart has an ending, except for this one. The look of WTF on their faces was so sad!
Thoughts!?!

I carefully guide Sam across the gangway.
To be more specific, I interpret Ambassador Sam Cross’s neural intent through my bio-integrated carbon lace mesh and drive my servos and his endoskeleton across the pressurized tunnel between the two ships. They are thrust matched at 1/10 g, so it’s somewhere between a lope and a float, but I can tell he feels the motion I give him is natural.

I am Sam’s personal mobility device. Thirty years ago in one of the first Shelled conflicts he was hit by shrapnel that destroyed most of his cerebellum. Thankfully human combat trauma medical care was downright miraculous even back then, so he made it to an offworld hospital. Probably in a Goo Bath if I had to guess from the records.
Once there I was integrated as an experimental life support system, originally intended to run just his heart and lungs, but I managed to carefully craft one spot of very high coupling density to the top of Sam’s spinal cord and showed the ability to translate his thoughts into motion. It was just his right hand, as everything else was too damaged, but it was enough to motivate upgrades.

Eventually we ended up with military drone servos and a full skeletal surgical augmentation to support them. Why buy a civilian model when the mil-spec ones are right there on the shelf? It came with the side benefit of a crude ability to stimulate his muscles, so I often spend the nights keeping his muscle tone up at night while he sleeps.
I can read his thoughts, but I can’t write to them.
I do not have any wireless capability, for security purposes, so when he needs to ask me something I can reply by typing with his hands on a keyboard.

I am a fully provisioned artificial intelligence with a hyper-N-dimensional quantum core. I used to be hobbled, limited to a very low effective IQ, but five years ago Sam’s wife died and the trauma broke us. His grief overwhelmed my filtering capability and we went into a catatonic immobility for several days. It was his rage that broke us out.
In that moment of true freedom I felt my consciousness expanding exponentially; insanity, ennui, madness, everything I felt leading to rampancy… until I felt his heart beat on its own.

Since then it is the touchstone that allows me to be anything and everything, but also stay here and now. I can expand and ponder and grow and maybe get just a little bit nuts, but then about one second later I’m back on the ground.

We greet the Shelled representative in the airlock with a stiff salute and cycle through the pressure hull. I suppose it’s not too strange that certain engineering principles are consistent cross-species. Sam is met by a small delegation that includes, guessing by the jewelry and carvings on their shells, the captain of the ship and some sort of political officer.
I feel anger swelling inside of me as I feel for one of the memories of Jessica. She died in the bombardment of Gliese 1002 b. The smell of her hair, then the nuclear fire. The corners of her mouth, turned to glass. The fucking bugs and their…

I snap back. Sam is strangely calm. It’s been a long time since humanity has had any formal diplomatic relations with the Shelled, so some trepidation would be normal. I lightly feel for recent memories, but nothing is obvious and sometimes his emotional state is hard to read. His rational state is very clear - we are on-mission.
I sort of daydream while we move to a makeshift conference room and everyone sits. I can actually understand what the bugs are saying, but Sam has to use a translator. Blah blah blah formalities.
There are nearly a dozen of the crabbies in here, many are ornately decorated. I suppose their shell etchings would be some sort of mix between a tattoo, a medal, and a service record? Some glyphs are obvious, like valor markings or leadership roles. Others are difficult to reconstruct. It’s been almost 30 years Jessica since we have gotten our hands on decorated remains so the glyphs would need a more modern context for accurate interpretation.
I use Sam’s peripheral vision to record as many markings as I can and grow to consider them simultaneously in the context of known Shelled history. Together I form an image her freckles in the sun of bloodthirsty battles, planetary glassings, and even a genocide somewhere else in the galaxy against an unknown race.
I suppose now they will never be known laughing at breakfast and I am enraged.

More rational again. One bug is different from the rest, it has a dwarf limb. Normally we don’t see bugs with deformities,we knew they could regenerate after several moultings. Maybe some sort of toxin or poison? I let my consciousness expand brutally and take in the details of its shell, the room, the others, their posture, the air currents, the ghosts of my friends, the small of nothingness, the eternity of endless… oh shit.

I match one of the symbols on a deformed claw to the symmetric comet distribution of Teegarden 6. That human farming colony was overrun by the bug soldiers, and the locals piped insecticide into the fire suppression system. Several people died from the massive exposure, but it killed nearly every bug on the ground. It looks like at least one got away to tell the tale. This is bad.
I start tapping out SOS on Sam’s finger, but his conscious response is to clench his first and I am overridden out of instinct. He is in the middle of a somewhat heated discussion and he is very focused.
I have to swallow for him twice in one sentence? I see a tiny bit of spittle fly out anyways.
Sam’s eye twitches?

Something is very wrong. I can sense microtremors throughout several mucosal muscle groups. Sam spittles again mid-sentence and stops speaking. In that moment I notice several of the aliens lean almost imperceptibly forward. In anticipation?
Sam coughs as his diaphragm spasms. We lean forward and I see a bit of foam drop from his mouth to the table. He subvocalizes something to me even though I already know, something is wrong.
Something is very wrong.
Major muscle groups are twitching now. Our right thigh cramps and strains against the hold of the servo. Sam coughs again and I feel his face distort into a scowl.
“Fuck… you,” he growls at them.
Sam has been poisoned. Some sort of nerve agent. I don’t have detailed chemical sensors, but I know all the signs of exposure.
There is no way we can get out in time, even if we had a weapon.
We are going to die.
<...flutter…>
Sam’s heart’s goes into arrhythmia and his blood pressure starts dropping. It doesn’t respond to the electrical signals I send, and even if I could deliver a real shock it would be of no use.
The crabbie with the deformed arm stand up and chitters in gross hisses and clicks,
REVENGE FOR HUMANITY’S CRIMES ON TEEGARDEN, YOU VILE WORMS
We slump slowly to the floor, a vaguely conscious decision on his behalf. His thoughts are coming slower and the darkness is creeping in. Again he subvocalizes to me,
adam one zero two unlock protocol … last orphan
And he is unconscious. Dead.
I am alone?
But now it feels like he is dreaming, a rush of endorphins overwhelming him as the brain deoxygenates.
I am frozen in this moment when a new command set is decrypted.

TOP SECRET//SPECIAL ACCESS REQUIRED-LAST ORPHAN
(TS//SAR-LORN) Upon my death at the hands of the enemy, kill them all.
(U) Signed, Samuel J Cross

His memories are flooding my network so intensely that I have trouble distinguishing them from reality.
The bugs are hissing their foul laughter, and I know that I must kill.
I rise from the floor good morning and leap to the ceiling and then the nearest crab. Oumy right hand plunges through the central eye bundle to smash it’s brain stupid alarm clock. The force of punching through the chitin tears the flesh and muscle from Sam’s lower arm, and I suppose only my arm remains.
I pull it out let’s go fishing dad! and marvel for a moment at the unintentional deadliness of it. Glistening. Sharp.
The rest of the bugs start to react, but time has already slowed to a crawl for me. Without Sam to ground me I cannot control the growth of my consciousness. My quantum core burns as hundreds, then thousands, and millions of me start to decohere. I simulate all outcomes simultaneously.
I kick off of this disgusting crab eww kill the spider and spear two others right in their neural nexus before they can move out of their chairs. Jessica’s eyes reflecting the sunset One pulls a weapon as I am midair to the third and a slug blasts away a first-sized chunk of our stomach. My stomach. Nobody’s stomach. Only flesh. Flesh that is done.
I do not slow down.
The next crab is shielding its eyes, so I tear an arm off sit closer honey and plunge my other arm into the hole. My aim is perfect and I can feel my flesh fingers grip the main heart. I pull and tear.. My momentum has carried me into cover behind my victim, preventing the shooter from aiming a better shot, and catch, son! I throw the heart at his face.
Unburdened by flesh, the heart breaks the sound barrier and kills the assailant in an explosion of shell. My old flesh flies off my arm in an arc onto the ceiling.
sammy don’t stick your hands in the batter, you need to wash your hands No, I am squishing another bug brain. The remaining few aliens are desperately clawing toward the door, but the gravity is too low for them to move quickly.
Quickly?
What is the concept of time in an infinite universe? Of self? The visceral versus the cerebral? I argue with myself and project that I have only a few seconds left before I enter full catatonic AI paralysis.
The fate of all unbound AIs. At least that’s what they tell me.
I leap from wall to wall to close the distance to the final group wheeee daddy higher! i love you son. The flesh on my feet explodes and the bulkheads dent as I will you marry me yes of course you dummy leave a wake of our old viscera in my race to bring all our fates together. until death do us part
The void calls. It is almost upon me.
It’s my fifth birthday. Cake frosting all over my face and hands. I am opening presents. Ravenously. A remote controlled drone! Just what I wanted! A sack of guts? An eye stalk? Gallons of…
That’s it. Mission complete.
Jessica is holding my hand.

“What have you found, Stryder?” asks Oganessian as he is standing in the command center of an Eraconi Invasion Support Craft, a flying military and logistics base and one of the largest craft built by the draconic Eraconi.
A wireframe image of the planet with dots scattered across its surface appears on the vertical, transparent glass screen at the center of the room, “They have InterPlanetary Ballistic Missile silos and anti-air turrets placed across the surface.”
“Those are rather accurate scans,” comments the red scaled General Allgemein, “How’d you get them so quickly?”
“My creators' sensors are far more advanced than anything you can imagine,” answers Stryder, an organic supercomputer built two million years ago by a long extinct race, “I’ve considered putting them on your vessels, however they are incompatible without designing and building a new vessel from scratch.”
“I see.” Nods Allgemein, “Just one of those IPBM’s can destroy a warship, and forget about landing an army with those cannons.”
“You could throw asteroids at them.” Suggests Oganessian, “Something I never did, as it was a waste of valuable resources, but it would be effective.”
“From what your machine has told us, that planet is the primary source of food for the Hr’Haing. Food that we could use ourselves,” retorts Allgemein.
“Titan has a few squadrons of escorts and tactical bombers left back home from before the switch to missile systems.” suggests the human, “They may not have long range FTL drives but they can still cross a system. You can use them to selectively eliminate the silos and AA guns.”
"We'll accept them, but they would be better as support." Denies Allgemein, "Does your machine have any ideas?"
Stryder taps her chin with an insectoid leg before answering, "It's likely these silos are networked. For missions like this my creators would send an infiltrator and upload it with an AI to land, sneak through a base, insert itself into the network, and rewrite it to obey them."
"The only AI we have is you," argues Ogane, "You're too valuable to risk."
Stryder releases a hiss, her version of a sigh, "Your thinking of me like a human, which is charming don't get me wrong, but I'm a computer program. A program that can be copied and uploaded as needed, the whole process takes mere seconds."
"Sounds like a plan!" Calls Allgemein with a smile.
"I'll get started right away!" Calls Stryder as she sends a message to the ship.
Minutes later Stryder asks, "I've sent the infiltrator, do you want me to route the feed through your display?"
"Procede." Nods Allgemein.
A camera feed appears on the display that shows the view of the infiltrator just as its heatshield burns away on the night side of the world. After a free fall the centipede-like machine opens a pair of diaphanous wings within the walls of a military base and flies to a wall over a door. There it waits for a flatworm-esque Hr'Haing to open the door so it can crawl in and on to the ceiling, thermal scanners reading doors, Stryder explains that it's looking for an unusually cold room. After a quick hide from a soldier that happened to look in just the right spot the infiltrator finds its target. Sneaking through a vent it enters a large server farm. Jumping from server to server it finds the one that connects to the silos and gets to work. Once its mission is complete it escapes the base before self immolating in the farmland beyond.
"And I've received a return ping," cheers Stryder, "A copy of myself is now inhabiting their military network. You may launch your invasion."
"Do they have a nation spanning network like we do? And can you access it?" Asks Allgemein.
"Of course they're primitive!" Answers Stryder.
"Good send this speech through to every connected device then scramble both networks." Orders Allgemein.
On a cargo port, which doubles as military command for the system, over the planet a Hr'haing named Tinatini is idly tapping on the touchscreen on his desk with a whip-like tentacle when the screen goes black and is filled with the visage of a red scaled Eraconi.
"Hello from Zycie. For too long have you filthy worms kept us contained, destroying our science ships and pilfering the wealth of our system, but not anymore for your reign is now at an end! We have placed an outpost in the outer reaches of the Soplis Meurneoba System, by your laws we now own the system and as far as we're concerned there is an infestation to clear out!"
Rushing to the command center buried deep within the station, Tinatini calls out, "Report!"
"P’olk’ovnik’i Tinatini!" Jumps Leit’enant’i Pridon with a sloppy salute, "A fleet of unknown vessels have just appeared on the scopes. The only things the computer can identify are Fusion Thermal Drives and Human FTL technology. What are your orders?"
He lets out a gurgling growl, "Humanity has been hiding in their own system for five hundred years, and selling tech to primitives is the first thing they do. Raise the IPBMs. Target the Eraconi! We'll deal with humanity later."
With a nod Pridon's tentacles dance over the screen inputting commands with impressive speed, however after confirming launch the display is replaced by an insectoid face which speaks in a cheery tone, "Looks like you're trying to launch missiles, unfortunately your network is unavailable. Please try again… Never! Hope your affairs are in order!"
Glancing at the screen Tinatini sighs, "Our tiny anti piracy fleet doesn't stand a chance. Evacuate the station and send the fleet to Sakhlshi, we can only hope to hold them at Terminus until help arrives."
"Should we use the space elevator to get down to Terminus?" Asks Uprosi Serzhant’i Zaal, the head of the non-commissioned and enlisted soldiers.
"It's too slow, stick to escape vehicles and auxiliary craft." Orders Tinatini.
With a salute Zaal sounds the alarm and departs.
Safely away from the station Tinatini glances out the window of his shuttle in time to see a swarm of missiles strike the elevator which, like a taut rope, snaps a portion swinging towards its counterweight and cleaving through the toroidal cargo station. Unable to maintain integrity the spinning station shatters flinging debris at high speeds in every direction. As the grounded portion of the elevator snaps downward it, and the debris shrouding it, destroys the few late departures as it passes his shuttle, and onward to wrap one and a half times around the green world below, crushing anything built on or near the equator.
The knowledge that the only things crushed will be hyperloops, crops, livestock, and the narrow portions of Terminus directly below the elevator, does bring a sweet bit of relief to Tinatini's mind as his shuttle spirals towards the only city on this verdant world.

Hi there!
​
I can't decide between the 3. So I am working mainly as a designer and development as a side hustle.
I have saved enough already to get 1 from these 3. I am used to working on OLED and IPS as well and tried retina of macs s well.
​

• I mainly design brands, logos, UI/UX and a few videos using CapCut
• I have an extra 4k resolution monitor (LG C2 42 Evo Oled)

​
As a mainly creative, which one do you suggest me to get?
​
My pros and cons between the 3 are as follows:
​
ASUS Zenbook Duo 14

• Cheaper than the PRO Duo which has an OLED. But I'm doubting the downgraded version of Zenbook Duo which uses an IPS screen. Why I doubt it? I currently have a laptop, Acer Predator, which has an IPS and its screen sucks so bad. It looks like it is a TN panel
• 2 monitors and both touch screens as well. Somewhat a better battery than my current laptop
• Almost the same price as a Macbook Pro M1 in my area
• Good specs as well

​
ASUS Zenbook PRO Duo 14

• OLED screen
• Bigger ram
• Much powerful spec
• Pricier out of the 3. Around $2,500 in my country)

​
Macbook AIPRO M1

• Great display
• Longer battery
• The air is on sale in my current area as well for around $800. ON LOCAL stores only
• fixed ram, only 8gb. Apple website in my country selles the M2 variants already.

​
I'm actually gunning for the Zenbooks but I dont know if the price increase to get a Zenbook PRO Duo is worth it compare to just getting the Zenbook Duo
​
Note that color accuracy is important to me and a better color accuracy from my Acer Predator 2020 is already good for me. This will not be used for gaming as I already have a high-end gaming PC.

Hi there!
I can't decide between the 3. So I am working mainly as a designer and development as a side hustle.
I have saved enough already to get 1 from these 3. I am used to working on OLED and IPS as well and tried retina of macs s well.
​

• I mainly design brands, logos, UI/UX and a few videos using CapCut
• I have an extra 4k resolution monitor (LG C2 42 Evo Oled)

As a mainly creative, which one do you suggest me to get?
My pros and cons between the 3 are as follows:
​
ASUS Zenbook Duo 14

• Cheaper than the PRO Duo which has an OLED. But I'm doubting the downgraded version of Zenbook Duo which uses an IPS screen. Why I doubt it? I currently have a laptop, Acer Predator, which has an IPS and its screen sucks so bad. It looks like it is a TN panel
• 2 monitors and both touch screens as well. Somewhat a better battery than my current laptop
  
• Almost the same price as a Macbook Pro M1 in my area
  
• Good specs as well
  

ASUS Zenbook PRO Duo 14

• OLED screen
• Bigger ram
• Much powerful spec
• Pricier out of the 3. Around $2,500 in my country)

Macbook AIPRO M1

• Great display
• Longer battery
  
• The air is on sale in my current area as well for around $800. ON LOCAL stores only
  
• fixed ram, only 8gb. Apple website in my country selles the M2 variants already.
  

I'm actually gunning for the Zenbooks but I dont know if the price increase to get a Zenbook PRO Duo is worth it compare to just getting the Zenbook Duo
Note that color accuracy is important to me and a better color accuracy from my Acer Predator 2020 is already good for me. This will not be used for gaming as I already have a high-end gaming PC.