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I've been traveling to different realities for six years. Washington DC update. (Part 4)
2023.03.22 16:17 SouthParkiscool I've been traveling to different realities for six years. Washington DC update. (Part 4)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
As alternate me drove south, the pop music station switched back to the news channel. Whatever was going to happen in Washington DC in the alternate reality, I was screwed. My heart began to race as I pondered the possibilities. Building smashing would be insane, a creature dump would be the worst thing to get caught up in, an EMP Bubble complete with gassing would be terrifying as hell too, but I guess it would be a quick way to go. The entire city exploding would most likely be quick as well. Either way, and no matter how quick death could be, I didn't want to die at all.
Hopefully a task force made up of various other alternate me's would come rescue me. That's of course probably just a dream in the reality I'm in. For sure there is a team of alternate me's rescuing other alternate me's in some area of the multiverse. It's possible, so it's happening in some set of realities. I hope they come here too.
At around 8 AM, my stomach was rumbling. Luckily, my alternate self got the memo. Unfortunately, her response was cruel.
"Hungry back there? You don't need to eat anyway. It's not going to matter."
I'd probably find something to eat somewhere anyway. Hopefully…
Nothing new came up in the news. It was just talk about the three giants who attacked the UK. Other than that, the news reporters talked about the crashing worldwide economy on account of the Northeast China and Japan EMP Bubbles, the refugees emerging from EMP bubbles and claiming to have seen giants spraying gas on cities and towns, world leaders' reactions to the attacks, and the fall of the CCP, Russia, North Korea, Iran, the UK, Japan, along with the slow torture of the US. The reporters speculated about what the giants may want.
"They're taking out thousands of people in an obviously coordinated way, but we still don't know what they want."
"They for sure want us to be scared, and we definitely are, but yeah, why are they killing certain people who have no proven connection to each other?"
"Maybe that's part of their point. Make us go insane at their uncertainty."
As I browsed the internet, I came across a discussion thread claiming the giants were good because they were destroying all the fascist and flawed democratic governments. The comments of course disagreed, saying killing people is not the answer. It won't end fascism. Curious, I scrolled down to the very bottom to read the least popular comments.
"Yeah.. these giants are transforming this world for the better. Hopefully when their attacks are finished we can rebuild where they helped us out and just be better to each other"
Right… they helped us out… sure.
"Why are people expecting democracy in the aftermath of this? We need stronger leaders who can see past hypocrisy"
Giving people rights means being weak?
And of course… the craziest one.
"These attacks came out of nowhere. How? You're telling me giant titanic beings just popped out of nowhere and nobody had any foreknowledge? The government will do absolutely anything to control their citizens. China has collapsed? North Korea too? Even Iran? Yeah this was coordinated."
Because everyone's psychic and somehow knew beings like these would pop out of nowhere and catch everybody off guard? Also the UK, Canada, and Japan were attacked too. Why would the US attack its own allies? And itself? Especially its own facilities? This must be one of those every elite is a demonic Illuminati puppet theorist.
Hilarious comments aside, it's scary how people can believe just about anything is planned by the government. Demonic giants from who knows where cannot be the fault of any government. But that aside, there was yet another rabbit hole I stumbled down. On an obscure part of Reddit, there was a group who called themselves the Children of Satan's Titans. At first, I thought it was satirical, but as I read their posts, it was clear they were being serious. They thought the giants were bringing on armageddon and that they were supposed to lead the world after all is said and done. They even came up with nicknames for the giants.
The one that attacked Manhattan was the Grim Baron The one that attacked first was the Mother of Destruction for being the first giant to attack The one that forced Justin Trudeau into hiding was Lacertosis The giant duo who first attacked Newmarket and Aurora, Ontario were called the Ignis Duo
…and the list went on. The cult had come up with latin-translation names for each confirmed giant so far. There were 45 confirmed giants.
The car came to a stop. I slid my phone into my pocket and anticipated the worst. The three got out of the car. My alternate self's two cronies opened the trunk and told me to get out and to follow my alternate self or I'd be hit with another dart. I climbed out of the trunk, stepping onto a parking lot. As my alternate self began to walk, I followed. Cars were driving up and down the road, people were walking on the sidewalks. It was pretty busy. That made it even more saddening, as I knew the city was about to be attacked by giants.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Don't talk," alternate me said.
My alternate self was such a psycho. But why? What led her to berating every other version of her? How many times has this whole sort of thing happened? It can't be the first time. If it is, then that's a good thing… She isn't very experienced in this… but I can't let optimism cloud my judgment, especially with the pit of dread in my stomach. I was probably going to suffer whether I survived or not.
I want out of this hostel shit.
The three told me to wait outside a Starbucks. As I stood outside, I checked Reuters for some updates on the attacks. Interestingly, there weren't any. Once the three walked back out, we continued walking.
Over the following ~two hours, the three took me on a tour of the city. However, it was more of a goodbye tour, with my alternate self making snarky comments at every tourist attraction. I'll just list the stuff she said and the places we went to.
When we stopped in front of the White House…
"See this magnificent building here? It's about to be swarmed by a mass of wild creatures. Hope the president makes it out alive."
When we walked by the Smithsonian National Museum…
"All the lovely stuff in there is going to be torn to pieces"
When we walked by the Washington Monument…
"Creatures are going to scale that thing looking for guts to eat"
When we walked by the Capitol Building…
"Creatures this time, and 100 times worse"
When we walked by the Supreme Court of the United States…
"Ever wanted to cut the court in half? Well here we are"
When we walked by the National Academy of Sciences…
"New stuff to put in science books. History books even. Imagine if you had a 21st Century history book and could know how the rest of this century unfolds for this timeline."
While her comments were presented as if they were light, they creeped me the hell out. She was joking about my likely death and reminding me of all the terrible things that were about to happen. What kept me most on edge was the uncertainty of when the creatures would be dumped. There being no updates about the attacks gave me a calm before the storm vibe too. I began to jump at the sight of dogs running by. The Ian and Billy behind me couldn't stop giggling each time.
At the end of the tour, my alternate self led me to what at first looked like the entrance to a subway train station. It was called Dupont Underground. Alternate me led me down some concrete stairs and stopped at a door. She turned to me while pulling her phone out.
"I'm going to show you something from a different reality," she said, with a sinister look in her eyes. "This timeline, but one month from now."
She tapped around for a minute, then she held her phone in front of my eyes. A video was playing. The camera operator walked down a deserted city road. Every car was stalled in the middle of the road with shattered windows and some had huge body dents. I saw the Dupont Underground sign and realized it was the street we were on. The camera operator took a right down the concrete steps. At the bottom was a body covered in blood and fleshy holes. The camera operator walked up to the body and zoomed in on its face. I recognized her. It couldn't be. But it probably was.
"This is you after having your guts sucked out by creatures," alternate me said.
My heart sank. An odd eeriness overtook me. That was me. Dead. My unmoving body laying on the ground. I was looking at my own corpse. I had never seen a dead alternate version of me before. That was about to be me. Technically it was an alternate version of me, but it mirrored what was going to happen to me. I shivered with dread.
"I… I'm…… I'm going to be eaten alive"
"Oh suck it up," alternate me said.
"Yeah," Ian added.
"Don't cry too much," Billy added.
"Don't cry?" I asked. "I was shown my fate you shit!"
"And there's no way to avoid it," alternate me said. "Now, we're taking you for another walk. This time, just a stroll."
"What is the point exactly?" I asked.
"Exercise," alternate me shrugged.
My alternate self took me on a long walk up north. She didn't say a word to me. Neither did Billy or Ian. I made sure to keep my mouth shut, anxious I'd be taken into a back alley and be injected with fire ants of all things. After an hour of walking, I became exhausted. My knees felt like they were going to snap, I was sweating all over, and my breaths were shallow. My stomach began to ache from not eating. I was still too anxious to talk. We went to a McDonald's, but alternate me told me I wasn't allowed to have anything. She had to have been taunting me.
We walked north for another exhaustive aching hour. I was thirsty as fuck. We stopped at a convenience store where alternate me gave me a water bottle. It wasn't something I expected, but I guess he did it just so I wouldn't faint from heat exhaustion. It made the following hour of walking refreshing, but my stomach was still numb. At least we were walking back though. But it dawned on me that it only meant my death was closer than ever. The pit of dread in my stomach deepened, distracting me from the numbness in my stomach. There was a hint of sadness behind every thought I had. I played a song in my head as I continued to follow behind my alternate self. The songs I heard in the Creature Dump Aftermath footage. Just me playing the memory I had of them back in my head calmed me down a bit. For the following hour after that, I anticipated the moment where my legs would just give out. The three psychos would have to understand, but they probably wouldn't… and so I just kept walking, hoping my legs wouldn't give out.
After four hours of walking, I could see the White House right up ahead. I needed a break. I thought it was over, but then we began circling the freaking Washington strip.
I thought I could give out in a place where there were no back alleyways or any place of the sort. I'd get quite a bit of attention. Maybe too much for my alternate self to handle even with two others. But I'd still be in the city… damnit. There was no way I could run either, being exhausted like hell.
Finally, after circling the Washington strip a tenth time, my alternate self told me I could sit down on a nearby park bench, but that I still couldn't eat. I took the offer and rested on the empty bench. Euphoria was all I felt for a good minute, then my adrenaline went back up.
She's letting me rest. Finally… Yes…. I'm going to die but this is worth it right now, even though it really isn't.
"Alright, now I'm going to show you something you're going to want to see," Billy said.
Oh god… another horrific video… I assume.
She held her phone in front of my eyes. It was a private Instagram live stream featuring two men who looked around my age.
"Hello, Nicole," said the one on the left. "This is your cousin, Sam."
"I'm your cousin Markus," said the one on the right.
They're my cousins? Oh, okay. What are they doing?
"We're in a room in the Niagara Falls Observatory," Sam said. "We aren't allowed to come out. We don't know why."
"We don't know who put us in here," Markus said. "Just two girls. One looked very similar to you… Your doppelganger I guess."
A boom echoed from somewhere off camera.
"What was that?" Markus asked.
Multiple booms began echoing from somewhere offscreen, getting louder and louder and louder. Sam and Markus both looked to their right. The booming stopped. A crashing noise echoed from above, followed by an avalanche-like rumble. Sam and Markus looked up, then the stream ended.
Billy navigated to a YouTube livestream of CTV news helicopter footage. A giant was looking around as missiles struck it. But a background detail caught my eye. The Falls.
What the fuck…? did she just show me a live stream of my cousins' deaths? What the hell…?
She skipped back a minute. The giant smashed the tower down, creating a plume of smoke.
Uhhhhh…
"I hope they treated you well," she said.
"Nicole?!" I shouted at my alternate self, who was standing a meter away from Billy. "That's too far!"
"It was my idea," Billy said with a huge smile on her face.
"You're a fucking psycho!" I shouted and stood up. "Were they from this timeline or my own?!"
Billy stood there with her hand on her hip, continuing to smirk. "I'm not telling you," she said. She turned around and walked away. Ian and my alternate self followed.
"Where are you going?" I shouted.
"Have fun," alternate me said as she walked away.
The three walked out of my sight. I stared on, once again wondering what the hell made them so psychotic. They're just evil versions of people. That's all I knew.
I checked the time. 6:35 PM. I sat down and teared up. I was about to be eaten by wild gut sucking creatures. A girl just executed my cousins.
I'm still trapped in this dark reality.
At least I won't have to deal with those three ever again… or anybody…
How painful is it going to be? I don't want to go out in pain… but it looks like that's going to happen.
There's no way I can get out of here before the creatures come. At least, I assume so. Wait… what if my alternate self gave me enough time to get out of DC, but wanted me to think she left me alone because the creatures would be here in a matter of minutes after he left? I was probably overthinking, but I'm not going to take that chance. I need to get out of here while I can.
I trekked in a random direction. South. I wasn't going anywhere near Dupont Underground. My heart sank at the thought of being there. But I wasn't going to stop without eating. I marched into a convenience store and bought anything I could, then I found a park bench and ate everything I had just bought. I was met with some acid reflux in my mouth due to my guts clenching at the idea I may be overthinking alternate me's possible plan, but other than that, I stomached it pretty well.
But as I was eating, I overheard a conversation a couple of people were having.
"So you think this is the end of the world?"
"Maybe. I wouldn't be surprised at this point."
A little kid began balling their eyes out.
"Mommy, he said the world is going to end!"
"The world isn't going to end… It's just going to be… changed. Different."
"Did you hear about the cluster attacks though? They're going for specific people for sure. I can't wait for this stuff to be figured out," an older voice said.
"Cluster attacks?"
"Yeah those giants hit over 6000 houses and apartment buildings all over the world around an hour ago," the older voice explained.
"Where did you hear that?"
"The news. It's crazy."
"I heard there was an attack in Pittsburgh, but not much information was given about it."
"I haven't heard anything about that attack."
None of them know… I hope they're driving out of the area right about now.
As I walked by a short orange building, an overbearing presence struck me.
"Oh no, oh god," I whispered to myself. "I hope that's all in my head."
The cars driving up the road in my direction slowed and people walking in my direction looked up. Some of them began pointing. Dread overtook me to the point I decided to stop walking. I froze. If the next creature dump was happening in seconds, I was screwed.
I kept walking, avoiding my curious urge to look where everyone was looking. Two people turned around and ran. The roaring of car motors began to get faster. I took a glance behind me. My heart stopped. Two giants stood some miles away, holding giant sack-like objects. The two giants tilt the sacks and thousands upon thousands of wild creatures fell out. As the creatures rained down, I turned my head back in the direction I was headed in and sprinted down the sidewalk.
Where do I go?
The river. Can the creatures swim? I'll take any chances.
I ran down the sidewalk, in the direction one of the rivers was in. The adrenaline was peaking. I couldn't think about anything other than survival. I ran through a small park, navigating the benches and people frozen in fear. I crossed the next street without looking at the traffic lights, I nearly tripped over chairs, I almost bumped into people running from my right. I ran that way for seven blocks straight, almost being hit by a car three times. I carefully navigated across a main street. As I crossed the street, air raid sirens began to blair from all directions. I found a one way road to my left and just sprinted for my life.
Hopefully the river is close.
At the end of the road was a parking lot. Nobody was there. I sprinted across it until I found a trail. Down the trail, I saw the river. Boats too. I ran along the trail and saw a spot away from the boats to jump into the water. A couple explosions shook the ground beneath me as I ran. I hopped over the fence and jumped into the water.
I swam until I got to the middle of the river. I glanced around. Everything seemed calm and normal in all directions until a loud bang hit my right ear. I looked to my right and saw a cloud of smoke rising from a triple arched bridge in the distance. People jumped off the bridge and landed in the river below. The air raid sirens continued to blair as fighter jets flew by in the distance. I just needed to stay in the river until the creature invasion blew over.
I looked to my right and saw two creatures crawl across the building beside the parking lot I ran through. Three creatures ran onto the pier. The adrenaline worsened.
Time to find out if these beasts can swim.
They ran around and jumped onto some of the boats. A painful scream echoed from one of them. A man was stumbling around with a creature attached to his head and stomach. He pulled on its tentacles, but they held their grasp. He nudged himself sideways into the water. Seconds later, the creature started squirming around in the water, with its tentacles flailing about. I shivered. It was a terrifying sight. The man floated on the surface, shaking his head and moving his arms as if he were a bird. Soon the creature stopped moving and just floated in one spot like a dingy.
I'm good. But how long will it be until the military clears them? I'll just have to wait.
Explosions, gunshots, and emergency sirens from every direction, along with the roar of fighter jets flying overhead, were all I could hear. I couldn't hear the waves washing up against my own ears, or the sound of my own voice. I decided to play those songs in my head again to pass the time. I played other songs in my head too, all while hoping some soldiers would see me, then rescue me.
After a good amount of time in the water, the sounds of explosions seemed to be concentrated on an area to the north. I could only speculate it was the government strip. I looked to my right again and noticed a dozen creatures were occupying the pier.
This wasn't getting better anytime in the next hour. Hopefully I'll be in the clear soon. Once I am, I need to make sure my alternate self cannot find me.
At one point, I woke up to me being pulled out of the water by some Marines. They put me on a boat and asked me some questions, then they gave me some water. After the rescue, they took me to a refugee camp somewhere in southern Virginia. I was given food, water, and my own little room with a bunk bed. I sat down on the bed, hoping I'd be safe from the creatures. I unzipped my pocket and pulled out my phone to read up on the creature dump in Washington DC. These were the top headlines on CNN, for those curious:
"WILD CREATURES OCCUPY DC METRO AREA"
"All branches of the US Armed Forces are responding to the attack on Washington - Yes, even the Space Force as the US speculates the giants are of extraterrestrial origin"
"Images from above: the White House, US Capitol moderately damaged by wild creatures"
"Five major politicians, 2 billionaires, and 1 celebrity confirmed dead in Washington DC after Creature Dump"
""Nuclear weapons aren't likely to be used, but they have not been ruled out""
"Pennsylvania, Virginia set up refugee camps for predicted mini-flood of refugees from EMP-striken, gassed parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia"
"Global Recession: Why economists are torn on whether or not the economy will return to pre-attack levels"
"Refugees from Florida EMP Bubbles: "We went into town after the gassing and we saw people and animals on the ground, everywhere""
""We need FEMA" EMP Bubble refugees who are staying in their states criticize their state governments for not declaring an emergency"
"MILITARY: There's no way to protect any type of technology from an EMP Bubble"
A guy with brown hair who looked to be in his early 20s walked into the room. He introduced himself as my roommate. We talked about the attacks and their potential ramifications.
"I don't know what's next for the world," I said. "I'm scared."
"We're going to be at war for a while," he said. "Good vs bad. We need to ready ourselves for what's to come. Everything is different now."
"I mean, at this point, I'd just end it if I didn't feel like I had a chance to survive this new world," I said. "Especially being in the initial attacks… I thought about ending it a few times."
"So you're a coward?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you leave people behind to suffer?"
"I'm not the one making them suffer"
"Yes you are… by killing yourself… people want you around…"
"Dude… nobody owns me. Do you think I'm a slave or something? People shouldn't be relying on others for their happiness."
"You are so stupid"
"Are you that entitled? Do you feel you need to treat people like entertainment animals? People are individuals. They're not your Mom's nipples either."
"I just… can't with selfish people like you"
"Honestly, if you can't respect others' choices and call victims cowards, you're just like the monsters and their little gut eating creatures."
"I don't understand why you'd support selfish people," he said. "You're like my ex-girlfriend."
"Maybe if you respected her individualism more, accepted the fact that mental health issues exist, talked about and validated her issues, she wouldn't have done it."
"Oh, okay, so you're okay with what those Empire State Building jumpers did?"
"Yes," I said. "They acted on survival instincts. It was either get eaten or jump."
"A real person would fight!"
"Survival instincts don't exist to you, do they?"
"I'm not talking to you, man," he said, climbing up to his bunk.
He had me until the victim blaming. Anyway, I went back to reading the news and reminded myself I'm not responsible for other people. Sometime after that, I went to sleep. Sometime later, I woke up to the sound of gunshots and shouting. I looked out the window. Two of those hideous creatures crawled by. I closed the curtains. I checked the news, hoping there wasn't another creature dump nearby.
"A COUPLE DOZEN WILD CREATURES REPORTED OUTSIDE DC METRO AREA"
"US East Coast on high alert as wild creatures make it past military checkpoints around DC Metro Area"
"Security video from Philadelphia captures creature that came from DC Metro area"
""V-BASCBHOB-TJCPSZAMDLSA-IKPJJ-HBCHLL" The FBI is investigating the string of letters scratched into the Washington Monument by the creatures"
"OPINION: After a week of teasing, it's the US' turn to fall"
I want out of this painful chaotic dark reality. Maybe there's a slip nearby. It probably wouldn't take me back to my home reality, but anything would be better than this. I've been to dark realities, like one where there was a third world war in the 1960s followed by a fourth world war in the 2010s, in which technology was a bit more advanced, but Eastern Europe and the Eastern United States were irradiated. There was a darker reality where giants attacked multiple metropolitan areas around the world. EMPs were used, but they weren't EMP Bubbles. People were crying, hoping their friends were okay. It was more mysterious, with every initial attack happening within the darkened areas. It started in New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan. Then it spread west to the US in about a day.
Something heavy banged on the door. Shit… I opened the window, clawed the screen apart, and climbed out. I stepped onto the grass, then I sprinted away. I needed to find the gate. It was probably guarded, but I could find a way somehow. Not to sound too optimistic.
The gate was up ahead. There were three dead soldiers lying on the ground around it. After navigating my way through it, I sprinted across the street and into a dense forest.
Half an hour into running, my knees became weak again. I sat down up against a tree to catch my breath. I must've relaxed for a bit too long, as I essentially just blinked and the sun was shining and birds were chirping. I checked the time. 8:02 AM. I checked the news. There were no new updates.
Where do I go now?
There was no place for me to go that I knew of. Slips weren't extremely common. They weren't active 24/7 either. Until I found one, I had to deal with the possibility of being crushed, gassed, or eaten. I didn't expect my alternate self to find me. I was outside of the DC Metro area. To him, I could be anywhere.
Unless of course she tapped my phone… but she most likely would've shown up by now if he had. Knowing me, he probably would've gone to a reality where I famously snuck out of the refugee camp and my steps were publicly retraced, then he'd use that information to find me. Looks like I just need to walk in a direction that is almost one I'd go in but is not one I'd go in, in this situation. I chose to walk in the direction of the ocean.
As I walked, a bird flew right by me. I watched it fly away, then vanish out of thin air.
Yes!
I went over to the spot with a good adrenaline rush coming on. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Reuters. I refreshed the page. The headlines were still about the giants. I walked back and forth once a minute for some time, clamping the leaves to the ground in the process. The headlines were the same. I was desperate, but I dreaded my alternate self finding me. I layed on the dirty ground, letting the leaves brush against my hair. Every few minutes or so, I'd refresh the page and there would still be news about the giants. I wanted to be home, where everything is safe, peaceful, and quiet compared to this place. I didn't want to hear another boom or a certain growl again.
A number of minutes later, I checked the news again.
"Russia warns US over Black Sea drone flights"
"No path to peace: 5 key takeaways from Xi and Putin's talks in Moscow"
"Russian soldier accused of war crimes in absentia after audio files intercepted"
There was nothing about the giant attacks. The headlines were normal again! I slipped! But did I slip into the right reality? A safe one?
I Googled the attacks. Only movie scenes and recaps came up. I had to be home. I had to be far away from wherever my alternate self was. My heart dropped for a second as I realized one of those creatures was roaming around in what may be our reality… I'm sure it'll be taken care of. I hope it's taken care of soon though. It's going to eat a few people for sure, and I hope I'm not one of them.
I got distracted by the sound of an animal moving through the bush beside me. I brought my head up and saw the head of a tentacled creature. It sat still on the side of the bush. Its tentacles brush against the dirt. I laid my head back down. My heart began to speed up as the thing sat there. If it saw me, I would have no chance of living for another minute. The leaves served as a barrier between it and I. I couldn't see it when laying down and it couldn't see me at its height.
"Hey!" A man shouted from some distance further to my left. "Are you alright over there?"
The leaves ruffled. The man looked down in confusion, then he jumped. As he began to turn around, the creature climbed onto him. He fell to the ground as the creature's tentacles grabbed his arms and chest. He screamed. The scream was gut wrenching, but at least this was my ticket out. I got up and ran as fast as I could through the bushes and trees around me. Once I came across a road, I took a left and continued sprinting. My heart was pounding out of my chest. At one point, I came across a river. I stood still on the shoreline, hoping that thing wasn't about to jump out of the bushes. I turned around. Nothing.
I went to my Reddit account and found my previous update. I'm back. I'm going to dump this update here, then hopefully I'll find a good place to stay while running. If I go back home to my parents, I'm going to need a defense mechanism. My alternate self wanted me to be in that dark terrifying reality. She probably doesn't know I'm still alive.
Oh, and if you live in or around Richmond, Virginia… stay safe. The creature moves fast and, as you know, it eats your guts.
Now I hear three familiar voices. I need to run.
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Part 2
Part 3
As alternate me drove south, the pop music station switched back to the news channel. Whatever was going to happen in Washington DC in the alternate reality, I was screwed. My heart began to race as I pondered the possibilities. Building smashing would be insane, a creature dump would be the worst thing to get caught up in, an EMP Bubble complete with gassing would be terrifying as hell too, but I guess it would be a quick way to go. The entire city exploding would most likely be quick as well. Either way, and no matter how quick death could be, I didn't want to die at all.
Hopefully a task force made up of various other alternate me's would come rescue me. That's of course probably just a dream in the reality I'm in. For sure there is a team of alternate me's rescuing other alternate me's in some area of the multiverse. It's possible, so it's happening in some set of realities. I hope they come here too.
At around 8 AM, my stomach was rumbling. Luckily, my alternate self got the memo. Unfortunately, her response was cruel.
"Hungry back there? You don't need to eat anyway. It's not going to matter."
I'd probably find something to eat somewhere anyway. Hopefully…
Nothing new came up in the news. It was just talk about the three giants who attacked the UK. Other than that, the news reporters talked about the crashing worldwide economy on account of the Northeast China and Japan EMP Bubbles, the refugees emerging from EMP bubbles and claiming to have seen giants spraying gas on cities and towns, world leaders' reactions to the attacks, and the fall of the CCP, Russia, North Korea, Iran, the UK, Japan, along with the slow torture of the US. The reporters speculated about what the giants may want.
"They're taking out thousands of people in an obviously coordinated way, but we still don't know what they want."
"They for sure want us to be scared, and we definitely are, but yeah, why are they killing certain people who have no proven connection to each other?"
"Maybe that's part of their point. Make us go insane at their uncertainty."
As I browsed the internet, I came across a discussion thread claiming the giants were good because they were destroying all the fascist and flawed democratic governments. The comments of course disagreed, saying killing people is not the answer. It won't end fascism. Curious, I scrolled down to the very bottom to read the least popular comments.
"Yeah.. these giants are transforming this world for the better. Hopefully when their attacks are finished we can rebuild where they helped us out and just be better to each other"
Right… they helped us out… sure.
"Why are people expecting democracy in the aftermath of this? We need stronger leaders who can see past hypocrisy"
Giving people rights means being weak?
And of course… the craziest one.
"These attacks came out of nowhere. How? You're telling me giant titanic beings just popped out of nowhere and nobody had any foreknowledge? The government will do absolutely anything to control their citizens. China has collapsed? North Korea too? Even Iran? Yeah this was coordinated."
Because everyone's psychic and somehow knew beings like these would pop out of nowhere and catch everybody off guard? Also the UK, Canada, and Japan were attacked too. Why would the US attack its own allies? And itself? Especially its own facilities? This must be one of those every elite is a demonic Illuminati puppet theorist.
Hilarious comments aside, it's scary how people can believe just about anything is planned by the government. Demonic giants from who knows where cannot be the fault of any government. But that aside, there was yet another rabbit hole I stumbled down. On an obscure part of Reddit, there was a group who called themselves the Children of Satan's Titans. At first, I thought it was satirical, but as I read their posts, it was clear they were being serious. They thought the giants were bringing on armageddon and that they were supposed to lead the world after all is said and done. They even came up with nicknames for the giants.
The one that attacked Manhattan was the Grim Baron The one that attacked first was the Mother of Destruction for being the first giant to attack The one that forced Justin Trudeau into hiding was Lacertosis The giant duo who first attacked Newmarket and Aurora, Ontario were called the Ignis Duo
…and the list went on. The cult had come up with latin-translation names for each confirmed giant so far. There were 45 confirmed giants.
The car came to a stop. I slid my phone into my pocket and anticipated the worst. The three got out of the car. My alternate self's two cronies opened the trunk and told me to get out and to follow my alternate self or I'd be hit with another dart. I climbed out of the trunk, stepping onto a parking lot. As my alternate self began to walk, I followed. Cars were driving up and down the road, people were walking on the sidewalks. It was pretty busy. That made it even more saddening, as I knew the city was about to be attacked by giants.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Don't talk," alternate me said.
My alternate self was such a psycho. But why? What led her to berating every other version of her? How many times has this whole sort of thing happened? It can't be the first time. If it is, then that's a good thing… She isn't very experienced in this… but I can't let optimism cloud my judgment, especially with the pit of dread in my stomach. I was probably going to suffer whether I survived or not.
I want out of this hostel shit.
The three told me to wait outside a Starbucks. As I stood outside, I checked Reuters for some updates on the attacks. Interestingly, there weren't any. Once the three walked back out, we continued walking.
Over the following ~two hours, the three took me on a tour of the city. However, it was more of a goodbye tour, with my alternate self making snarky comments at every tourist attraction. I'll just list the stuff she said and the places we went to.
When we stopped in front of the White House…
"See this magnificent building here? It's about to be swarmed by a mass of wild creatures. Hope the president makes it out alive."
When we walked by the Smithsonian National Museum…
"All the lovely stuff in there is going to be torn to pieces"
When we walked by the Washington Monument…
"Creatures are going to scale that thing looking for guts to eat"
When we walked by the Capitol Building…
"Creatures this time, and 100 times worse"
When we walked by the Supreme Court of the United States…
"Ever wanted to cut the court in half? Well here we are"
When we walked by the National Academy of Sciences…
"New stuff to put in science books. History books even. Imagine if you had a 21st Century history book and could know how the rest of this century unfolds for this timeline."
While her comments were presented as if they were light, they creeped me the hell out. She was joking about my likely death and reminding me of all the terrible things that were about to happen. What kept me most on edge was the uncertainty of when the creatures would be dumped. There being no updates about the attacks gave me a calm before the storm vibe too. I began to jump at the sight of dogs running by. The Ian and Billy behind me couldn't stop giggling each time.
At the end of the tour, my alternate self led me to what at first looked like the entrance to a subway train station. It was called Dupont Underground. Alternate me led me down some concrete stairs and stopped at a door. She turned to me while pulling her phone out.
"I'm going to show you something from a different reality," she said, with a sinister look in her eyes. "This timeline, but one month from now."
She tapped around for a minute, then she held her phone in front of my eyes. A video was playing. The camera operator walked down a deserted city road. Every car was stalled in the middle of the road with shattered windows and some had huge body dents. I saw the Dupont Underground sign and realized it was the street we were on. The camera operator took a right down the concrete steps. At the bottom was a body covered in blood and fleshy holes. The camera operator walked up to the body and zoomed in on its face. I recognized her. It couldn't be. But it probably was.
"This is you after having your guts sucked out by creatures," alternate me said.
My heart sank. An odd eeriness overtook me. That was me. Dead. My unmoving body laying on the ground. I was looking at my own corpse. I had never seen a dead alternate version of me before. That was about to be me. Technically it was an alternate version of me, but it mirrored what was going to happen to me. I shivered with dread.
"I… I'm…… I'm going to be eaten alive"
"Oh suck it up," alternate me said.
"Yeah," Ian added.
"Don't cry too much," Billy added.
"Don't cry?" I asked. "I was shown my fate you shit!"
"And there's no way to avoid it," alternate me said. "Now, we're taking you for another walk. This time, just a stroll."
"What is the point exactly?" I asked.
"Exercise," alternate me shrugged.
My alternate self took me on a long walk up north. She didn't say a word to me. Neither did Billy or Ian. I made sure to keep my mouth shut, anxious I'd be taken into a back alley and be injected with fire ants of all things. After an hour of walking, I became exhausted. My knees felt like they were going to snap, I was sweating all over, and my breaths were shallow. My stomach began to ache from not eating. I was still too anxious to talk. We went to a McDonald's, but alternate me told me I wasn't allowed to have anything. She had to have been taunting me.
We walked north for another exhaustive aching hour. I was thirsty as fuck. We stopped at a convenience store where alternate me gave me a water bottle. It wasn't something I expected, but I guess he did it just so I wouldn't faint from heat exhaustion. It made the following hour of walking refreshing, but my stomach was still numb. At least we were walking back though. But it dawned on me that it only meant my death was closer than ever. The pit of dread in my stomach deepened, distracting me from the numbness in my stomach. There was a hint of sadness behind every thought I had. I played a song in my head as I continued to follow behind my alternate self. The songs I heard in the Creature Dump Aftermath footage. Just me playing the memory I had of them back in my head calmed me down a bit. For the following hour after that, I anticipated the moment where my legs would just give out. The three psychos would have to understand, but they probably wouldn't… and so I just kept walking, hoping my legs wouldn't give out.
After four hours of walking, I could see the White House right up ahead. I needed a break. I thought it was over, but then we began circling the freaking Washington strip.
I thought I could give out in a place where there were no back alleyways or any place of the sort. I'd get quite a bit of attention. Maybe too much for my alternate self to handle even with two others. But I'd still be in the city… damnit. There was no way I could run either, being exhausted like hell.
Finally, after circling the Washington strip a tenth time, my alternate self told me I could sit down on a nearby park bench, but that I still couldn't eat. I took the offer and rested on the empty bench. Euphoria was all I felt for a good minute, then my adrenaline went back up.
She's letting me rest. Finally… Yes…. I'm going to die but this is worth it right now, even though it really isn't.
"Alright, now I'm going to show you something you're going to want to see," Billy said.
Oh god… another horrific video… I assume.
She held her phone in front of my eyes. It was a private Instagram live stream featuring two men who looked around my age.
"Hello, Nicole," said the one on the left. "This is your cousin, Sam."
"I'm your cousin Markus," said the one on the right.
They're my cousins? Oh, okay. What are they doing?
"We're in a room in the Niagara Falls Observatory," Sam said. "We aren't allowed to come out. We don't know why."
"We don't know who put us in here," Markus said. "Just two girls. One looked very similar to you… Your doppelganger I guess."
A boom echoed from somewhere off camera.
"What was that?" Markus asked.
Multiple booms began echoing from somewhere offscreen, getting louder and louder and louder. Sam and Markus both looked to their right. The booming stopped. A crashing noise echoed from above, followed by an avalanche-like rumble. Sam and Markus looked up, then the stream ended.
Billy navigated to a YouTube livestream of CTV news helicopter footage. A giant was looking around as missiles struck it. But a background detail caught my eye. The Falls.
What the fuck…? did she just show me a live stream of my cousins' deaths? What the hell…?
She skipped back a minute. The giant smashed the tower down, creating a plume of smoke.
Uhhhhh…
"I hope they treated you well," she said.
"Nicole?!" I shouted at my alternate self, who was standing a meter away from Billy. "That's too far!"
"It was my idea," Billy said with a huge smile on her face.
"You're a fucking psycho!" I shouted and stood up. "Were they from this timeline or my own?!"
Billy stood there with her hand on her hip, continuing to smirk. "I'm not telling you," she said. She turned around and walked away. Ian and my alternate self followed.
"Where are you going?" I shouted.
"Have fun," alternate me said as she walked away.
The three walked out of my sight. I stared on, once again wondering what the hell made them so psychotic. They're just evil versions of people. That's all I knew.
I checked the time. 6:35 PM. I sat down and teared up. I was about to be eaten by wild gut sucking creatures. A girl just executed my cousins.
I'm still trapped in this dark reality.
At least I won't have to deal with those three ever again… or anybody…
How painful is it going to be? I don't want to go out in pain… but it looks like that's going to happen.
There's no way I can get out of here before the creatures come. At least, I assume so. Wait… what if my alternate self gave me enough time to get out of DC, but wanted me to think she left me alone because the creatures would be here in a matter of minutes after he left? I was probably overthinking, but I'm not going to take that chance. I need to get out of here while I can.
I trekked in a random direction. South. I wasn't going anywhere near Dupont Underground. My heart sank at the thought of being there. But I wasn't going to stop without eating. I marched into a convenience store and bought anything I could, then I found a park bench and ate everything I had just bought. I was met with some acid reflux in my mouth due to my guts clenching at the idea I may be overthinking alternate me's possible plan, but other than that, I stomached it pretty well.
But as I was eating, I overheard a conversation a couple of people were having.
"So you think this is the end of the world?"
"Maybe. I wouldn't be surprised at this point."
A little kid began balling their eyes out.
"Mommy, he said the world is going to end!"
"The world isn't going to end… It's just going to be… changed. Different."
"Did you hear about the cluster attacks though? They're going for specific people for sure. I can't wait for this stuff to be figured out," an older voice said.
"Cluster attacks?"
"Yeah those giants hit over 6000 houses and apartment buildings all over the world around an hour ago," the older voice explained.
"Where did you hear that?"
"The news. It's crazy."
"I heard there was an attack in Pittsburgh, but not much information was given about it."
"I haven't heard anything about that attack."
None of them know… I hope they're driving out of the area right about now.
As I walked by a short orange building, an overbearing presence struck me.
"Oh no, oh god," I whispered to myself. "I hope that's all in my head."
The cars driving up the road in my direction slowed and people walking in my direction looked up. Some of them began pointing. Dread overtook me to the point I decided to stop walking. I froze. If the next creature dump was happening in seconds, I was screwed.
I kept walking, avoiding my curious urge to look where everyone was looking. Two people turned around and ran. The roaring of car motors began to get faster. I took a glance behind me. My heart stopped. Two giants stood some miles away, holding giant sack-like objects. The two giants tilt the sacks and thousands upon thousands of wild creatures fell out. As the creatures rained down, I turned my head back in the direction I was headed in and sprinted down the sidewalk.
Where do I go?
The river. Can the creatures swim? I'll take any chances.
I ran down the sidewalk, in the direction one of the rivers was in. The adrenaline was peaking. I couldn't think about anything other than survival. I ran through a small park, navigating the benches and people frozen in fear. I crossed the next street without looking at the traffic lights, I nearly tripped over chairs, I almost bumped into people running from my right. I ran that way for seven blocks straight, almost being hit by a car three times. I carefully navigated across a main street. As I crossed the street, air raid sirens began to blair from all directions. I found a one way road to my left and just sprinted for my life.
Hopefully the river is close.
At the end of the road was a parking lot. Nobody was there. I sprinted across it until I found a trail. Down the trail, I saw the river. Boats too. I ran along the trail and saw a spot away from the boats to jump into the water. A couple explosions shook the ground beneath me as I ran. I hopped over the fence and jumped into the water.
I swam until I got to the middle of the river. I glanced around. Everything seemed calm and normal in all directions until a loud bang hit my right ear. I looked to my right and saw a cloud of smoke rising from a triple arched bridge in the distance. People jumped off the bridge and landed in the river below. The air raid sirens continued to blair as fighter jets flew by in the distance. I just needed to stay in the river until the creature invasion blew over.
I looked to my right and saw two creatures crawl across the building beside the parking lot I ran through. Three creatures ran onto the pier. The adrenaline worsened.
Time to find out if these beasts can swim.
They ran around and jumped onto some of the boats. A painful scream echoed from one of them. A man was stumbling around with a creature attached to his head and stomach. He pulled on its tentacles, but they held their grasp. He nudged himself sideways into the water. Seconds later, the creature started squirming around in the water, with its tentacles flailing about. I shivered. It was a terrifying sight. The man floated on the surface, shaking his head and moving his arms as if he were a bird. Soon the creature stopped moving and just floated in one spot like a dingy.
I'm good. But how long will it be until the military clears them? I'll just have to wait.
Explosions, gunshots, and emergency sirens from every direction, along with the roar of fighter jets flying overhead, were all I could hear. I couldn't hear the waves washing up against my own ears, or the sound of my own voice. I decided to play those songs in my head again to pass the time. I played other songs in my head too, all while hoping some soldiers would see me, then rescue me.
After a good amount of time in the water, the sounds of explosions seemed to be concentrated on an area to the north. I could only speculate it was the government strip. I looked to my right again and noticed a dozen creatures were occupying the pier.
This wasn't getting better anytime in the next hour. Hopefully I'll be in the clear soon. Once I am, I need to make sure my alternate self cannot find me.
At one point, I woke up to me being pulled out of the water by some Marines. They put me on a boat and asked me some questions, then they gave me some water. After the rescue, they took me to a refugee camp somewhere in southern Virginia. I was given food, water, and my own little room with a bunk bed. I sat down on the bed, hoping I'd be safe from the creatures. I unzipped my pocket and pulled out my phone to read up on the creature dump in Washington DC. These were the top headlines on CNN, for those curious:
"WILD CREATURES OCCUPY DC METRO AREA"
"All branches of the US Armed Forces are responding to the attack on Washington - Yes, even the Space Force as the US speculates the giants are of extraterrestrial origin"
"Images from above: the White House, US Capitol moderately damaged by wild creatures"
"Five major politicians, 2 billionaires, and 1 celebrity confirmed dead in Washington DC after Creature Dump"
""Nuclear weapons aren't likely to be used, but they have not been ruled out""
"Pennsylvania, Virginia set up refugee camps for predicted mini-flood of refugees from EMP-striken, gassed parts of Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia"
"Global Recession: Why economists are torn on whether or not the economy will return to pre-attack levels"
"Refugees from Florida EMP Bubbles: "We went into town after the gassing and we saw people and animals on the ground, everywhere""
""We need FEMA" EMP Bubble refugees who are staying in their states criticize their state governments for not declaring an emergency"
"MILITARY: There's no way to protect any type of technology from an EMP Bubble"
A guy with brown hair who looked to be in his early 20s walked into the room. He introduced himself as my roommate. We talked about the attacks and their potential ramifications.
"I don't know what's next for the world," I said. "I'm scared."
"We're going to be at war for a while," he said. "Good vs bad. We need to ready ourselves for what's to come. Everything is different now."
"I mean, at this point, I'd just end it if I didn't feel like I had a chance to survive this new world," I said. "Especially being in the initial attacks… I thought about ending it a few times."
"So you're a coward?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you leave people behind to suffer?"
"I'm not the one making them suffer"
"Yes you are… by killing yourself… people want you around…"
"Dude… nobody owns me. Do you think I'm a slave or something? People shouldn't be relying on others for their happiness."
"You are so stupid"
"Are you that entitled? Do you feel you need to treat people like entertainment animals? People are individuals. They're not your Mom's nipples either."
"I just… can't with selfish people like you"
"Honestly, if you can't respect others' choices and call victims cowards, you're just like the monsters and their little gut eating creatures."
"I don't understand why you'd support selfish people," he said. "You're like my ex-girlfriend."
"Maybe if you respected her individualism more, accepted the fact that mental health issues exist, talked about and validated her issues, she wouldn't have done it."
"Oh, okay, so you're okay with what those Empire State Building jumpers did?"
"Yes," I said. "They acted on survival instincts. It was either get eaten or jump."
"A real person would fight!"
"Survival instincts don't exist to you, do they?"
"I'm not talking to you, man," he said, climbing up to his bunk.
He had me until the victim blaming. Anyway, I went back to reading the news and reminded myself I'm not responsible for other people. Sometime after that, I went to sleep. Sometime later, I woke up to the sound of gunshots and shouting. I looked out the window. Two of those hideous creatures crawled by. I closed the curtains. I checked the news, hoping there wasn't another creature dump nearby.
"A COUPLE DOZEN WILD CREATURES REPORTED OUTSIDE DC METRO AREA"
"US East Coast on high alert as wild creatures make it past military checkpoints around DC Metro Area"
"Security video from Philadelphia captures creature that came from DC Metro area"
""V-BASCBHOB-TJCPSZAMDLSA-IKPJJ-HBCHLL" The FBI is investigating the string of letters scratched into the Washington Monument by the creatures"
"OPINION: After a week of teasing, it's the US' turn to fall"
I want out of this painful chaotic dark reality. Maybe there's a slip nearby. It probably wouldn't take me back to my home reality, but anything would be better than this. I've been to dark realities, like one where there was a third world war in the 1960s followed by a fourth world war in the 2010s, in which technology was a bit more advanced, but Eastern Europe and the Eastern United States were irradiated. There was a darker reality where giants attacked multiple metropolitan areas around the world. EMPs were used, but they weren't EMP Bubbles. People were crying, hoping their friends were okay. It was more mysterious, with every initial attack happening within the darkened areas. It started in New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan. Then it spread west to the US in about a day.
Something heavy banged on the door. Shit… I opened the window, clawed the screen apart, and climbed out. I stepped onto the grass, then I sprinted away. I needed to find the gate. It was probably guarded, but I could find a way somehow. Not to sound too optimistic.
The gate was up ahead. There were three dead soldiers lying on the ground around it. After navigating my way through it, I sprinted across the street and into a dense forest.
Half an hour into running, my knees became weak again. I sat down up against a tree to catch my breath. I must've relaxed for a bit too long, as I essentially just blinked and the sun was shining and birds were chirping. I checked the time. 8:02 AM. I checked the news. There were no new updates.
Where do I go now?
There was no place for me to go that I knew of. Slips weren't extremely common. They weren't active 24/7 either. Until I found one, I had to deal with the possibility of being crushed, gassed, or eaten. I didn't expect my alternate self to find me. I was outside of the DC Metro area. To him, I could be anywhere.
Unless of course she tapped my phone… but she most likely would've shown up by now if he had. Knowing me, he probably would've gone to a reality where I famously snuck out of the refugee camp and my steps were publicly retraced, then he'd use that information to find me. Looks like I just need to walk in a direction that is almost one I'd go in but is not one I'd go in, in this situation. I chose to walk in the direction of the ocean.
As I walked, a bird flew right by me. I watched it fly away, then vanish out of thin air.
Yes!
I went over to the spot with a good adrenaline rush coming on. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Reuters. I refreshed the page. The headlines were still about the giants. I walked back and forth once a minute for some time, clamping the leaves to the ground in the process. The headlines were the same. I was desperate, but I dreaded my alternate self finding me. I layed on the dirty ground, letting the leaves brush against my hair. Every few minutes or so, I'd refresh the page and there would still be news about the giants. I wanted to be home, where everything is safe, peaceful, and quiet compared to this place. I didn't want to hear another boom or a certain growl again.
A number of minutes later, I checked the news again.
"Russia warns US over Black Sea drone flights"
"No path to peace: 5 key takeaways from Xi and Putin's talks in Moscow"
"Russian soldier accused of war crimes in absentia after audio files intercepted"
There was nothing about the giant attacks. The headlines were normal again! I slipped! But did I slip into the right reality? A safe one?
I Googled the attacks. Only movie scenes and recaps came up. I had to be home. I had to be far away from wherever my alternate self was. My heart dropped for a second as I realized one of those creatures was roaming around in what may be our reality… I'm sure it'll be taken care of. I hope it's taken care of soon though. It's going to eat a few people for sure, and I hope I'm not one of them.
I got distracted by the sound of an animal moving through the bush beside me. I brought my head up and saw the head of a tentacled creature. It sat still on the side of the bush. Its tentacles brush against the dirt. I laid my head back down. My heart began to speed up as the thing sat there. If it saw me, I would have no chance of living for another minute. The leaves served as a barrier between it and I. I couldn't see it when laying down and it couldn't see me at its height.
"Hey!" A man shouted from some distance further to my left. "Are you alright over there?"
The leaves ruffled. The man looked down in confusion, then he jumped. As he began to turn around, the creature climbed onto him. He fell to the ground as the creature's tentacles grabbed his arms and chest. He screamed. The scream was gut wrenching, but at least this was my ticket out. I got up and ran as fast as I could through the bushes and trees around me. Once I came across a road, I took a left and continued sprinting. My heart was pounding out of my chest. At one point, I came across a river. I stood still on the shoreline, hoping that thing wasn't about to jump out of the bushes. I turned around. Nothing.
I went to my Reddit account and found my previous update. I'm back. I'm going to dump this update here, then hopefully I'll find a good place to stay while running. If I go back home to my parents, I'm going to need a defense mechanism. My alternate self wanted me to be in that dark terrifying reality. She probably doesn't know I'm still alive.
Oh, and if you live in or around Richmond, Virginia… stay safe. The creature moves fast and, as you know, it eats your guts.
Now I hear three familiar voices. I need to run.
2023.03.22 15:43 LSR1000 Do sweat the small stuff
Many posters here have asked for help with forgiving what they consider to be major attacks on them such as physical or mental abuse. While it's important to work on those forgiveness lessons, I just want to point out that, for me at least, so-called minor grievances are the problem. I say "so-called" because all grievances, those we consider to be major and those we consider to be minor, are the same in purpose: to feed the ego. So if I'm annoyed when a receptionist seems short with me on a telephone call, a car cuts me off, a friend fails to return my call when they promised to, or even when an appliance doesn't work as it should, I try to apply forgiveness to it. This can be done in many ways. For me it's just thinking, "I can see peace instead of this. And if I do I will be happier." That's enough for the "small stuff."
think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold against those you like and even think you love. It will quickly become apparent that there is no one against whom you do not cherish grievances of some sort. This has left you alone in all the universe in your perception of yourself.
submitted by LSR1000 to ACIM [link] [comments]
think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold against those you like and even think you love. It will quickly become apparent that there is no one against whom you do not cherish grievances of some sort. This has left you alone in all the universe in your perception of yourself.
2023.03.22 15:38 spirityun 230322 Hueningkai with W KOREA (Vol. 4 / April 2023 Issue) Interview translations by liebesalm on twitter
link to interview article
submitted by spirityun to TomorrowByTogether [link] [comments]
q. freshly debuted in 2019, you did a photoshoot withmagazine. you were 18 at that time, right? you answered “i can’t sleep without plushies” for a question.
🐧 i’m not like that now (laughs). after that moment, i receive an overwhelming amount of dolls as gifts, but lately i think, “isn’t it time to say goodbye…?” (to the dolls)
q. do you remember when you answered “i’m a mass/lump of charm” when asked to?
🐧 wow, i said that. oh well. i am, a lump of charm (laughs)
q. haha. we’ll give you another chance to answer that question. (yourself in one word)
🐧 “a person you can trust”, “a person you’d give your trust to”. 📷 to be honest, (to become) these are my goal. i’m the youngest in our team, but i want to be someone who they can trust.
q. in the interview at that time (2019), you said your goal was ROTY. it’s been 4 years since then and this january you released a mini albumwhich achieved a career high with initial sales of 2.18M copies.
🐧 actually, i still can’t believe this is real. this was an album i worried about the most. this was the first time i didn’t feel sure (of the album). the title track ‘sugar rush ride’ tells the story of a boy who fell into a deadly temptation. when i first heard from the company that the song will have a “refreshing-sexy” mood, i really liked it. because i really liked a refreshing concept. but then after hearing the song, the refreshing, fresh concept was only 5% and the sexy concept takes up 95%. (laughs) and the stage costumes were also really on the bolder side, i was worried if the fans wouldn’t like it. but as expected, my feelings were wrong. i learnt something from this promotions, that you shouldn’t trust my feelings. (laughs)
q. personally, when i saw you expertly devouring the stage, i thought, “this must have been a concept he’s wanted to do for a long time.”
🐧that’s because even if i had my own worries, i have to perform on stage professionally. i had to do my best (for every performance). we just recently spent our 4th year anniversary, and now it feels like any form of sloppiness (on stage) is gone. if we find something that’s lacking or needs fixing while monitoring our first stage, we’ll surely have it fixed by the time we do our second stage. be it expressions or gestures. to be honest, i couldn’t really see what i’ve been lacking in until recently. for our debut song, i only remember smiling a lot on stage while performing. thinking about it now, it would’ve been nicer if i performed it a bit more seriously on the first half of the song then progressively smiled for the second half of the song, following the story of the song. if i perform that song now, i’m sure there will be a difference.
q. you use a lot of facial expressions on stage. i get the feeling that you must understand the song to a certain extent to be able to express the mood well. how do you approach that when you first got the song?
🐧 i think it’s because my mbti is istp, which has a lot of interest in causality and objectivity principles. i’m also the type to do a thorough research on the internet when i prepare things alone and feel stuck. in the case of ‘sugar rush ride’, the big story of it is about how growth becoming an adult is being promised/vowed, but with temptation right in front of their eyes, they keep on wanting to be a young child. it’s like the children’s tale’s narrative. that is why before this promotion period starts, i looked through and other various cruel fairytales. reading cruel fairytales helped me approach the concept in a new light because it is different from the childhood tales i used to know.
q. is there anything that made you go “ah i can also get inspiration from this!”?
🐧 the expression of when a puma preys on a sloth? (laughs) last year during GBGB promotions i watched a lot of documentaries about pumas. i worried a lot about what expressions i should make on stage as it (GBGB) was a song full of the anger of someone who was hurt by their first love, of loss as well. my dorm roommate taehyun told me to go watch puma documentaries so i got curious and watched it and i think i can say it became quite of help. (laughs)
q. you did stages with a strong rock mood for, the title following the first three parts of which took a fresh approach with a lot of synth pop genre songs with ikily and loser=lover being the representative. as a musician, when/which promotion period made you most satisfied?
🐧 my favorite song is ‘0x1=lovesong’, track ofreleased in 2021; i listened to it in the car on our way to today’s photoshoot location. it’s an energetic song based on pop rock, but i’ve always loved rock music and band sound ever since i was little. i could say this era was my turning point as my understanding of the song was high. your skills improve much more when you do things that you like rather than when you’re forced to do it. so at that time i got excited and i tried a lot of different gestures and vocal tones.
q. you formed a band club back in middle school, right?
🐧 right. there was a pop song festival at school and for some reason i wanted to participate and perform in a band. but there was no band club at school. so one day i went to the teacher’s office. i sang in front of my english teacher and asked them to open a band club. the band members went around different classes and gathered students who knew how to play the instruments. friends at that time all liked ‘fifa online 3’ so we performed that game’s BGM
q. music must’ve been something natural for you since you were young, right? we heard that your father used to be active as a musician.
🐧 that’s right. but it’s not only my father, my family members from generation to generation have always loved music, as so i’ve heard. naturally i grew up learning the piano, drum, and guitar. the sight of singing songs in my father’s home when i was younger was also nothing unusual. sometimes when my father performs on stage, us three siblings would go in front of him and dance. maybe it’s because i’ve been up on stage since i was small, but now i don’t get as nervous when i’m on it. i get excited, yes, but i don’t get nervous.
q. your little huening bahiyyih is also active in the group kep1er, right? being in the same area of work field, you two must’ve share some worries to each other?
🐧 that’s right. especially building up to your little sister huening bahiyyih’s debut. she came to me to ask questions like, “i don’t know which facial expressions i should do on stage,” or “it’s hard finding the camera.” at that moment, as an older brother and a senior, i helped her and gave her the advice she needed.
q. then you two (huening kai and hiyyih) must often meet at music shows.
🐧 we do often run into each other. and sometimes we film tiktok challenges together too. at times, hiyyih comes looking for me at the green room and starts nagging at me. “oppa, you should really give mom a call.” (laughs)
q. the song you produced yourself in 2021, “dear sputnik”, made it into the album as a b-side. what kind of song is it?
🐧 it’s a little amateur, but since a while back i’ve been trying to produce songs on my iphone in an app called garage band. since i liked band music, i tried to work on songs that has that kind of mood and it (dear sputnik) turned out pretty good. i made a sketch of the song and sent it over to the company and luckily it became a b-side in the album. i actually made the song with the thought of “wanting to show/give the people a proper feeling of their hearts beating fast (as they listen to dear sputnik)” and with concerts kept in mind.
q. what do you think is an important element in song making?
🐧 songs that are able to be enjoyed by many, songs that are able to bring happiness to people, songs that are able to move people’s hearts. these three are most important to me.
q. then is there a song that moved your heart as a listener?
🐧 demi lovato’s ‘this is me’. it’s the soundtrack of the movie. it’s the song that played during the climax of the movie, when the shy heroine performed in front of a large audience, showing their true self. there’s this lyric, “this is me”, “no more hiding who i want to be”. the lyrics spoke to me and stuck in my heart as if it was my own story. and because i have always been a very shy person ever since i was small, i have decided after listening to that song, that “i will show myself” (this is me).
q. when we get the chance to see huening kai’s solo album/mixtape in the future, how do you want it to look like?
🐧 there was a time where i imagined myself in comfortable clothes singing a folk song while having a guitar on one hand. and while doing so, i’d like to deliver the messages i’ve always wanted to say to a lot of people. i’ll probably sing a song that brings hope. because i find joy in seeing everyone happy.
q. starting from the end of march, you will go on a world tour around 13 cities, right? what does a world tour mean to a musician?
🐧 this is our second world tour following our first one that started last july. i’m sure it’s the same for all musicians but a world tour is something i’ve dreamed of and hoped to come true ever since i was a trainee. i still think our lollapalooza festival stage was one of the best moments from our tour in 2022. i was even able to perform with a band session that i’ve really wanted. the five members holding their hand mics, standing on stage, and at the same time the sun was beginning to set— wow… it was really an amazing moment. that moment i looked at the other members’ faces and we were all smiling. since we were all so happy. when i think of that moment now, i still feel amazed and overwhelmed.
q. will we see such a performance again in this tour?
🐧 of course. i can also say you can guarantee looking forward to it. we are currently preparing for our tour and everything including the stage production is going to be amazing. there’s probably going to be a song that you will see performed for the first time when you enter the audience seat and there’s probably a song that’ll make you think, “there’s a choreography for this song?!”
q. what are three things that you must bring with during tour?
🐧 headset and earphones are a must. i have a strong tendency to stay indoors so during tours i mostly spend my time at the hotel. it’s like a rule to stay and rest in my room even if i go out for a little bit. because i can always look outside and observe from my windows (laughs). headsets are a must because i always need to listen to music in my hotel room. and also cleansing products (skincare). if i were to give one tmi, i originally use cleansing foams but recently i switched to using cleansing oils (laughs). it’s really good. and lastly… nintendo switch?
q. up until now you’ve released, , and . if you were to name a chapter of your own based on the life of 22 year old huening kai, what would it be?
🐧 the beginning chapter. though we’ve reached our present carrier high with the release ofin january, i honestly think starting from this moment, this is the real start. i have this certain determination. “we will strive and go up higher, we will show our everything, this is the beginning of tomorrow x together.”
q. what is your life motto? (a word you believe in)
🐧 i spend my days with a smile and positivity with the thought, “let’s not be unhappy people.” that’s why my way of talking became like “oh, that’s good, though?” i believe that after that word exits my mouth, even if it takes some time, the result (of what i did) will always come back to me as something good.
2023.03.22 15:32 Jackviator The Spacer’s Guide to Caring For Your Pet Human (Part 2)
Greetings! If you missed part one, it can be found here.
This chapter is a bit of a long one, but very worth it if you want to understand what’s happening later on; it sets the stage, does a bit of worldbuilding, and expands on our absolute cinnamon roll of an alien deuteragonist.
Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy. :)
——
Y’ggdrasog nervously whistled to himself as he remotely piloted an unmanned stealth drone from his cloaked ship in the upper atmosphere of the alien planet, yet every so often did a happy little wiggle in his seat at the terminal. Despite the danger in what he was doing, he was shaking with excitement and literally glowing with glee (which, if you were curious, happened to be a lovely shade of banana-yellow).
But my apologies, dear reader; I’m getting ahead of myself.
You see, Y’ggdrasog worked as a galactic interplanetary system scout, colloquially known as a “spacer” among the citizens of the Ul’dril Galactic Collective (a governmental alliance between a wide variety of different sapient species that also happened to be his employer). His main function was piloting his personal scout ship to uncharted star systems to summarily un-unchart them.
While in this line of employment, he had been witness to countless wondrous things. He had seen stars go supernova, witnessed space dust forming beautiful nebulas tens of lightyears wide, and caught the frosted trails of comets slinging close enough to a star to off-gas their icy payloads. But nothing even came close to this, to every spacer’s wildest, most fantastical dream discovery:
LIFE! And not just any life, SAPIENT LIFE!
As the drone flew through the sky, descending towards the surface of the planet below, he reminisced on that fateful day approximately six planetary months ago…
He had been scouting the ice and gas giants in this yet-uncharted solar system, scanning their composition with the unmanned probe-drone he used to sample geological deposits, take gas samples and so on to determine if they could be possible new sources of rare elements to harvest for the Collective. He had just finished probing the seventh planet out from the star when he suddenly picked up multiple abnormal readings originating from the ocean-planet of the system. He sighed, figuring it would just be the usual; some leftovers from a solar flare that affected its magnetosphere or some such.
As he listened in through his radiation wavelength analyzer, he expected to hear the meaningless, purposeless static he had heard hundreds of times before. Instead, he heard strange patterns. Hang on, was that… were those- They were! Voices, in a language he didn’t recognize.
He recorded a sample, then pulled up his auto-translator and had his ship’s analytical programs study it, in case it was a distress call from some poor sap who had crash-landed their spacecraft. …But not a single known language was a match.
He scratched his head, puzzled. Could it be a code of some sort? It wasn’t uncommon for smugglers, pirates, spies, and other “off-the-books” types to hole up on uncharted worlds and use coded verbage to prevent detection by Collective authorities. He had the ship analyze it to at least determine what Collective species the vocal cords that produced them were, but again, no matches, not even when he had it scan the audio samples for possible voice-altering.
He sat back in his pilot seat, stumped. Then, he started connecting the dots.
If the vocal cords producing these noises weren’t recognized as a species already included in the Collective, that meant these were the voices of a species unknown to the Collective. An unknown species, but one that was was nonetheless smart enough to use radio waves…
His eyes flew open, and his bioluminescence began to glow the pure white of sudden realization.
…BY THE SPIRITS, IT WAS A NEW SAPIENT SPECIES!
He leapt up from his chair, and would have nearly deafened anyone nearby with the joyfully excited noises he started to make.
…Luckily, however, he was in space. And after all, in space, no one can hear you squee.
It took him nearly an hour to calm down enough to call it in over his quantum communicator and provide the audio samples he had recorded, then another hour to reassure his liaison on the other end countless times that no, this was not a joke, this was not a lie, an elaborate prank or some such- yes, he would be more than willing to testify to the truth of his statements in a Collective court, and yes, this was in fact the once-in-multiple-millennia moment he and most every spacer in the entirety of the Collective always dreamed of:
THIS WAS A NEW FIRST CONTACT!!!
…As Y’ggdrasog left Memory Lane and turned back onto Present Day Boulevard, he let the controls go for a second and proceeded to spin around in his chair in sheer excitement whilst giggling like a madman, literally glowing with giddiness, before swiftly grabbing the control stick again before the drone drifted off course.
HE found a new sapient species! HE did! He’d be in the Collective history archives for the rest of time!
…Months of preparations had to be done beforehand, of course. He had to wait a few long, loooong days on the outskirts of the solar system with his ship in full stealth-mode (so as to avoid attracting attention from the new species until the time was right) before a truly staggering amount of Collective ships arrived, chock-full of top experts in all sorts of social and scientific fields to fill any conceivable role in the analysis of this new species.
While he wasn’t allowed to participate in the work himself or see most of what they were doing, he was nonetheless ecstatic with the knowledge that the work was being done all because of him. Plus, at least he could attend certain intelligence briefings on their main findings as well as look at heavily-redacted versions of some of the results of their endeavors.
Various scientists from the myriad Collective species and dozens more scientific disciplines had gathered together, set up shop within a day and gotten to work. They performed long-distance surface scans, mapped the planetary geography, and analyzed their atmosphere and planetary conditions to determine what Collective species might be compatible for potentially cohabitating with them.
Y’ggdrasog was delighted to learn that they utilized oxygen for respiration just as his species (lumigog) and tens of others in the Collective did, in contrast to Collective species who had to have, say, an atmosphere mostly composed of carbon dioxide, who were out of luck.
Additionally, they drank the same liquid water for fluid regulation in their bodies as his own people did. …Though admittedly, at a much narrower spectrum of salinity than his own species was capable of tolerating. He found that a bit tragic; there was so much water to be found in their homeworld’s oceans. Yet unlike his own people, who could drink from nearly any water on their homeworld, these “humans” could only drink what they called “freshwater.”
However, any sadness he felt about their situation faded when he learned that the gravity of their homeworld was only 1.04x that of his own species’ homeworld; this meant that at least in the case of lumigogs, the answer of cohabitation was a very solid “yes!”
Moving along, the scientists in charge of engineering and military endeavors surreptitiously analyzed the humans’ levels of technology to determine their capabilities, if they were a potential threat to the Collective, and so on; they were deemed, to quote the spokesman of the Collective military, “mostly harmless.”
Y’ggdrasog thought this might be a bit unfair. …That is, until he read the reports, and found yet another reason to pity them. From what little he was able to read of the heavily-redacted documents, the humans were very, VERY primitive. Spirits, they hadn’t even developed fusion yet!
…Still, that was all the more reason to help them; and to do so, they needed a proper line of communication. Countless diplomats, ambassadors, emissaries and representatives of every Collective race were attending seminars on all the sociological experts were learning about the species’ social norms across distinct cultures. And most importantly, the linguistic experts and etymologists got the ball rolling for the true-AI algorithms of the larger vessels (far more complex than his own ship’s operating systems, which only measured in at a few paltry yottabytes) to sort out the languages these “humans” used.
…Speaking of, just how many languages did they need?! With each additional language that was added to the auto-translator databases, he thought surely this one will be the last, but no! You couldn’t swing around a “noodle” of “spaghetti” (the humans always seemed to choose such silly names for their food) without hitting someone speaking a new language!
But all the pity, sadness and frustration he felt was outweighed by the jubilation he felt knowing that all these countless man-hours of hundreds of individuals per each and every Collective species were happening because of him. All these people were here because HE found them, and he was ecstatic at the impossibly exciting prospect of welcoming this new species into the Collective- or on the off chance they didn’t wish to join them, it was determined that it was safe to at least uplift them technologically so that they could be potential new allies, as well as potentially provide new avenues for trade and commerce of never-before-seen exotic goods. After all, there was hardly any risk in doing so, as they were quite literally outnumbered by over a million to one by the allied races of the Collective.
…And after all that, when they had quadruple-checked everything, then quadruple-checked it again to be absolutely sure, the day of first contact FINALLY came. Everyone brought out the celebratory drinks, snacks and party favors. The diplomats sent out their messages in hundreds of human languages declaring a desire for peaceful contact, promises to assist them in the technological uplifting of their species to a post-scarcity way of life and an offer to join the Collective for the benefit of all parties involved, and THEN…
…
……
…Nothing.
No response…
After a few nervous, awkward hours of sitting alongside the other low-ranking crewmates of the larger vessels, he and all those around him got orders of radio silence from high command and for all the “non-essential” personnel to return to their ships and wait for further orders.
As he remembered the sinking feeling he’d experienced at that moment, Y’ggdrasog unconsciously gripped the drone control stick much tighter than necessary.
…All that waiting, the agonizing waiting for them to greet this new species, the one HE found, and for what?
More. Thrice. Damned. WAITING.
…But this time, there wasn’t even a payoff to look forward to, and no one above would tell him what was going on. He didn’t know why there was suddenly so much smoke in the air of the planet, nor what all those bright flashes lighting up the atmosphere midway through the first day were- and there were certainly no answers coming from high command.
He had to sit there in his spacecraft, and just… wait.
One planetary day passed. Then another. Then another, and so on.
In the downtime, he read and reread the guidelines for first contact back to back over and over again, trying to find out what the possible reason for the wait could be. …Unfortunately, all that availed him was eye strain and an extreme amount of boredom from trudging through all the legalese.
After a week of sitting around, watching the planet slowly spin beneath him while in orbit, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He needed to know what was wrong. He NEEDED to act- if only to silence the creeping dread that had slowly but surely permeated his entire being. A dread born of the worry that something had gone horribly, catastrophically wrong…
And thus, an idea formed: His drone.
He knew the humans’ tech levels; there was a smaller chance they could detect him than the literally astronomically low odds of him finding this species to begin with. …Instead, he was far more worried about the potential ramifications if anyone from high command knew what he was up to.
Long before the radio silence commenced, he was told in no uncertain terms that no, he couldn’t scan the planet, no, he couldn’t act as an ambassador, YES, they really meant it, and NO, it didn’t matter that “he really really REALLY wanted to help somehow, please please pleasepleasePLEASE-” …and after that last bit, they shut down his outgoing comms to high command for a full planetary month.
…Jerks.
Er- more importantly, he was told that while no, he couldn’t help in the preparation process, after first contact commenced his main function would be to do what he did best. Scouting and scanning to tease out any additional information he could on the planet’s natural resources in order to assist with the technological uplift process.
The thing is, they had given no specific time frame- …just “after first contact commenced.”
Technically, the current time frame satisfied that condition.
So technically, he wasn’t doing anything he wasn’t supposed to, he was just- …uh… …t-taking initiative!
They couldn’t court-martial him for just doing a little scanning here and there to get ahead of his own workload, surely.
…And it would just be an entirely coincidental, happy accident if while doing this he managed to find out what in the name of the spirits above was happening.
And so he had slowly, carefully moved his ship in such a way that he was currently orbiting in what he hoped was the blind spot of most of the ships of any higher-ups.
…Purely so as to, uh- better position his drone’s entry point into the atmosphere, yes! Rest assured, he was only motivated by- um… a-avoiding negative weather patterns. …Or something like that.
Once in position, he released and directed it towards the planetary surface.
If lumigogs had sweat glands, his would have been in nervous overdrive as the drone descended through the atmosphere.
Would he be detected? Would this all be for naught?
He waited, glancing between the ships around him and the drone’s interface on his monitor, but from his readings on the other vessels it seemed like all the command ships’ sensors were focused on the bigger population centers of the planet. He let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He was safe- if only for now.
…He’d have to focus on a rural area. Despite every loophole and excuse he could come up with, he’d still be much better off remaining undetected and not interfering in whatever might be going on in more concentrated pockets of the species. It would likely take much longer to gather information this way than heading towards the larger population centers in search of clues, but he could still poke around on the sly for any information he could tease out from the surroundings.
…And hopefully then he could finally get the answers he so desperately craved.
<“Alter descent velocity. Slow to 50% speed and activate autopilot mode.”>
Y’ggdrasog looked at the aerial scans, deciding that what seemed to be an area focused on harvesting crops with a long road running alongside it dotted with the occasional primitive ground vehicle would be as good a place to start as any.
He highlighted the road with a flick of a clawed finger.
<”Descend to 100 meters above planet surface, then follow highlighted path at 20% speed. Proceed.”>
As the drone dutifully obeyed his commands and traveled along the stretch of paved road for a time, he was surprised at the lack of humans to be found despite the vehicles present. Each and every one had seemingly been abandoned; they all sat still, unmoving. His curiosity piqued, he highlighted a few of them in the control interface.
<“Halt forward momentum. Descend to 50 meters from planetary surface. Scan and analyze condition of marked targets.”>
As he finished his verbal command, the familiar synthesized voice of his drone’s onboard computer blared to life from the speakers of his terminal.
He shook his head, puzzled.
<“What happened here…? …Alright, ascend, 300 meters from planetary surface. Continue forward movement following the highlighted path, 15% speed.”>
Farther and farther the road stretched, but he didn’t see a single human upon it, nor in the surrounding area. He sighed and absent-mindedly gazed around at the surrounding environment. He couldn’t help but marvel at how- well, alien it all looked. The taller plant life he saw appeared to be quite complex, their stems covered in thick fiber and their extremities full of- oh, what was the word, “leaves?
…He hadn’t paid all that much attention during the portions of his schooling that covered exotic alien plant life found on feral worlds and the various homeworlds of the other races of the Collective. He figured he’d never really need to interact with much beyond the giant fungal pods, great lichen growths and so on of his homeworld. He was a spacer for spirits’ sake, not a xenobotanist, and-
…Wait, what was that?
<“Halt forward momentum. Reverse 50 meters. Pan visual sensors left, 30 degrees.”>
He squinted at the incoming visual feed. He was right, there was something laying in that ditch! Probably just a random piece of detritus, but better safe than sorry. He highlighted it.
<”Scan target. Assess.”>
<”...Descend toward target, 5% speed.. 2%... halt.”>
His eyes narrowed further as he zoomed the forward visual lens in. Whatever it was, it looked to be a biped, and-
…Wait a minute, he recognized that body structure! Spirits be praised, this had to be one of the members of the new species!
It- they, he corrected himself- had pale skin, long, dark brown fur atop their head, and were wearing clothing covering their torso and legs- though much of it was stained red, running all down the left side of their body.
What were they doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? And why were they laying in a ditch, unmoving? …Were they ok?
<”Scan target, and establish connection to ship auto-doc subsystem. Assess physical condition and cross-reference with known anatomical data of species designation: human.”>
Y’ggdrasog nervously swallowed, trying to center himself and focus despite what he had just heard. Well, that certainly answered that; no, she very much was NOT ok. Whatever had happened to her, it really messed her up.
<”Analyze if damage sustained is life-threatening without intervention given circumstances and location.”>
He swore under his breath.
<”...Expand and clarify analysis.”>
<”C-certainty of analysis conclusion…?”>
He put his head in his hands, his bioluminescence flickering between several colors- none of them good. Spirits above... She was going to die unless someone helped her!
…
…But he was in no position to do so…
He knew deep down that he was deluding himself if he thought he could get away with this if he was caught. No amount of loophole abuse and“legitimate” excuses could save him from severe negative repercussions, not when it came to something as serious as first contact.
He was already risking enough as it was…
Maybe he could let someone in one of the other ships know- no, that would give away that he’d been poking around on the sly…
Maybe- maybe someone else would find her in time, and they could save her? Or maybe, despite the odds, she might just get better on her own? Even if it took her past the 1.3 cycle mark to do so, there was still a- his brow furrowed as he did the math- 0.0000028% chance that she could survive, and a chance was a chance! …Right…?
No one would know if he didn’t intervene. It would be so easy- no chance of getting caught, no risk, no danger, just pull the drone-prone back to the ship, return to his original position, scrub the flight logs, and-
…
……
…No.
No, she’s not.
He opened his eyes and spoke, voice full of grim certainty.
<”Descend to two meters above highlighted subject. Very, VERY carefully use stasis field to attach to subject, entangle her matter with an equivalent mass of carbon from the fabricator hold, then return to quantum anchor point with cargo and safely lower the subject prone beside the drone chassis. Proceed.”>
He got up from the terminal and took off for the drone bay as fast as his taloned feet could carry him, one thought repeating itself over and over in his head as he went, a mantra of sorts:
submitted by Jackviator to humansarespaceorcs [link] [comments]
This chapter is a bit of a long one, but very worth it if you want to understand what’s happening later on; it sets the stage, does a bit of worldbuilding, and expands on our absolute cinnamon roll of an alien deuteragonist.
Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy. :)
CHAPTER 2
15 minutes ago——
Y’ggdrasog nervously whistled to himself as he remotely piloted an unmanned stealth drone from his cloaked ship in the upper atmosphere of the alien planet, yet every so often did a happy little wiggle in his seat at the terminal. Despite the danger in what he was doing, he was shaking with excitement and literally glowing with glee (which, if you were curious, happened to be a lovely shade of banana-yellow).
But my apologies, dear reader; I’m getting ahead of myself.
You see, Y’ggdrasog worked as a galactic interplanetary system scout, colloquially known as a “spacer” among the citizens of the Ul’dril Galactic Collective (a governmental alliance between a wide variety of different sapient species that also happened to be his employer). His main function was piloting his personal scout ship to uncharted star systems to summarily un-unchart them.
While in this line of employment, he had been witness to countless wondrous things. He had seen stars go supernova, witnessed space dust forming beautiful nebulas tens of lightyears wide, and caught the frosted trails of comets slinging close enough to a star to off-gas their icy payloads. But nothing even came close to this, to every spacer’s wildest, most fantastical dream discovery:
LIFE! And not just any life, SAPIENT LIFE!
As the drone flew through the sky, descending towards the surface of the planet below, he reminisced on that fateful day approximately six planetary months ago…
He had been scouting the ice and gas giants in this yet-uncharted solar system, scanning their composition with the unmanned probe-drone he used to sample geological deposits, take gas samples and so on to determine if they could be possible new sources of rare elements to harvest for the Collective. He had just finished probing the seventh planet out from the star when he suddenly picked up multiple abnormal readings originating from the ocean-planet of the system. He sighed, figuring it would just be the usual; some leftovers from a solar flare that affected its magnetosphere or some such.
As he listened in through his radiation wavelength analyzer, he expected to hear the meaningless, purposeless static he had heard hundreds of times before. Instead, he heard strange patterns. Hang on, was that… were those- They were! Voices, in a language he didn’t recognize.
He recorded a sample, then pulled up his auto-translator and had his ship’s analytical programs study it, in case it was a distress call from some poor sap who had crash-landed their spacecraft. …But not a single known language was a match.
He scratched his head, puzzled. Could it be a code of some sort? It wasn’t uncommon for smugglers, pirates, spies, and other “off-the-books” types to hole up on uncharted worlds and use coded verbage to prevent detection by Collective authorities. He had the ship analyze it to at least determine what Collective species the vocal cords that produced them were, but again, no matches, not even when he had it scan the audio samples for possible voice-altering.
He sat back in his pilot seat, stumped. Then, he started connecting the dots.
If the vocal cords producing these noises weren’t recognized as a species already included in the Collective, that meant these were the voices of a species unknown to the Collective. An unknown species, but one that was was nonetheless smart enough to use radio waves…
His eyes flew open, and his bioluminescence began to glow the pure white of sudden realization.
…BY THE SPIRITS, IT WAS A NEW SAPIENT SPECIES!
He leapt up from his chair, and would have nearly deafened anyone nearby with the joyfully excited noises he started to make.
…Luckily, however, he was in space. And after all, in space, no one can hear you squee.
It took him nearly an hour to calm down enough to call it in over his quantum communicator and provide the audio samples he had recorded, then another hour to reassure his liaison on the other end countless times that no, this was not a joke, this was not a lie, an elaborate prank or some such- yes, he would be more than willing to testify to the truth of his statements in a Collective court, and yes, this was in fact the once-in-multiple-millennia moment he and most every spacer in the entirety of the Collective always dreamed of:
THIS WAS A NEW FIRST CONTACT!!!
…As Y’ggdrasog left Memory Lane and turned back onto Present Day Boulevard, he let the controls go for a second and proceeded to spin around in his chair in sheer excitement whilst giggling like a madman, literally glowing with giddiness, before swiftly grabbing the control stick again before the drone drifted off course.
HE found a new sapient species! HE did! He’d be in the Collective history archives for the rest of time!
…Months of preparations had to be done beforehand, of course. He had to wait a few long, loooong days on the outskirts of the solar system with his ship in full stealth-mode (so as to avoid attracting attention from the new species until the time was right) before a truly staggering amount of Collective ships arrived, chock-full of top experts in all sorts of social and scientific fields to fill any conceivable role in the analysis of this new species.
While he wasn’t allowed to participate in the work himself or see most of what they were doing, he was nonetheless ecstatic with the knowledge that the work was being done all because of him. Plus, at least he could attend certain intelligence briefings on their main findings as well as look at heavily-redacted versions of some of the results of their endeavors.
Various scientists from the myriad Collective species and dozens more scientific disciplines had gathered together, set up shop within a day and gotten to work. They performed long-distance surface scans, mapped the planetary geography, and analyzed their atmosphere and planetary conditions to determine what Collective species might be compatible for potentially cohabitating with them.
Y’ggdrasog was delighted to learn that they utilized oxygen for respiration just as his species (lumigog) and tens of others in the Collective did, in contrast to Collective species who had to have, say, an atmosphere mostly composed of carbon dioxide, who were out of luck.
Additionally, they drank the same liquid water for fluid regulation in their bodies as his own people did. …Though admittedly, at a much narrower spectrum of salinity than his own species was capable of tolerating. He found that a bit tragic; there was so much water to be found in their homeworld’s oceans. Yet unlike his own people, who could drink from nearly any water on their homeworld, these “humans” could only drink what they called “freshwater.”
However, any sadness he felt about their situation faded when he learned that the gravity of their homeworld was only 1.04x that of his own species’ homeworld; this meant that at least in the case of lumigogs, the answer of cohabitation was a very solid “yes!”
Moving along, the scientists in charge of engineering and military endeavors surreptitiously analyzed the humans’ levels of technology to determine their capabilities, if they were a potential threat to the Collective, and so on; they were deemed, to quote the spokesman of the Collective military, “mostly harmless.”
Y’ggdrasog thought this might be a bit unfair. …That is, until he read the reports, and found yet another reason to pity them. From what little he was able to read of the heavily-redacted documents, the humans were very, VERY primitive. Spirits, they hadn’t even developed fusion yet!
…Still, that was all the more reason to help them; and to do so, they needed a proper line of communication. Countless diplomats, ambassadors, emissaries and representatives of every Collective race were attending seminars on all the sociological experts were learning about the species’ social norms across distinct cultures. And most importantly, the linguistic experts and etymologists got the ball rolling for the true-AI algorithms of the larger vessels (far more complex than his own ship’s operating systems, which only measured in at a few paltry yottabytes) to sort out the languages these “humans” used.
…Speaking of, just how many languages did they need?! With each additional language that was added to the auto-translator databases, he thought surely this one will be the last, but no! You couldn’t swing around a “noodle” of “spaghetti” (the humans always seemed to choose such silly names for their food) without hitting someone speaking a new language!
But all the pity, sadness and frustration he felt was outweighed by the jubilation he felt knowing that all these countless man-hours of hundreds of individuals per each and every Collective species were happening because of him. All these people were here because HE found them, and he was ecstatic at the impossibly exciting prospect of welcoming this new species into the Collective- or on the off chance they didn’t wish to join them, it was determined that it was safe to at least uplift them technologically so that they could be potential new allies, as well as potentially provide new avenues for trade and commerce of never-before-seen exotic goods. After all, there was hardly any risk in doing so, as they were quite literally outnumbered by over a million to one by the allied races of the Collective.
…And after all that, when they had quadruple-checked everything, then quadruple-checked it again to be absolutely sure, the day of first contact FINALLY came. Everyone brought out the celebratory drinks, snacks and party favors. The diplomats sent out their messages in hundreds of human languages declaring a desire for peaceful contact, promises to assist them in the technological uplifting of their species to a post-scarcity way of life and an offer to join the Collective for the benefit of all parties involved, and THEN…
…
……
…Nothing.
No response…
After a few nervous, awkward hours of sitting alongside the other low-ranking crewmates of the larger vessels, he and all those around him got orders of radio silence from high command and for all the “non-essential” personnel to return to their ships and wait for further orders.
As he remembered the sinking feeling he’d experienced at that moment, Y’ggdrasog unconsciously gripped the drone control stick much tighter than necessary.
…All that waiting, the agonizing waiting for them to greet this new species, the one HE found, and for what?
More. Thrice. Damned. WAITING.
…But this time, there wasn’t even a payoff to look forward to, and no one above would tell him what was going on. He didn’t know why there was suddenly so much smoke in the air of the planet, nor what all those bright flashes lighting up the atmosphere midway through the first day were- and there were certainly no answers coming from high command.
He had to sit there in his spacecraft, and just… wait.
One planetary day passed. Then another. Then another, and so on.
In the downtime, he read and reread the guidelines for first contact back to back over and over again, trying to find out what the possible reason for the wait could be. …Unfortunately, all that availed him was eye strain and an extreme amount of boredom from trudging through all the legalese.
After a week of sitting around, watching the planet slowly spin beneath him while in orbit, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He needed to know what was wrong. He NEEDED to act- if only to silence the creeping dread that had slowly but surely permeated his entire being. A dread born of the worry that something had gone horribly, catastrophically wrong…
And thus, an idea formed: His drone.
He knew the humans’ tech levels; there was a smaller chance they could detect him than the literally astronomically low odds of him finding this species to begin with. …Instead, he was far more worried about the potential ramifications if anyone from high command knew what he was up to.
Long before the radio silence commenced, he was told in no uncertain terms that no, he couldn’t scan the planet, no, he couldn’t act as an ambassador, YES, they really meant it, and NO, it didn’t matter that “he really really REALLY wanted to help somehow, please please pleasepleasePLEASE-” …and after that last bit, they shut down his outgoing comms to high command for a full planetary month.
…Jerks.
Er- more importantly, he was told that while no, he couldn’t help in the preparation process, after first contact commenced his main function would be to do what he did best. Scouting and scanning to tease out any additional information he could on the planet’s natural resources in order to assist with the technological uplift process.
The thing is, they had given no specific time frame- …just “after first contact commenced.”
Technically, the current time frame satisfied that condition.
So technically, he wasn’t doing anything he wasn’t supposed to, he was just- …uh… …t-taking initiative!
They couldn’t court-martial him for just doing a little scanning here and there to get ahead of his own workload, surely.
…And it would just be an entirely coincidental, happy accident if while doing this he managed to find out what in the name of the spirits above was happening.
And so he had slowly, carefully moved his ship in such a way that he was currently orbiting in what he hoped was the blind spot of most of the ships of any higher-ups.
…Purely so as to, uh- better position his drone’s entry point into the atmosphere, yes! Rest assured, he was only motivated by- um… a-avoiding negative weather patterns. …Or something like that.
Once in position, he released and directed it towards the planetary surface.
If lumigogs had sweat glands, his would have been in nervous overdrive as the drone descended through the atmosphere.
Would he be detected? Would this all be for naught?
He waited, glancing between the ships around him and the drone’s interface on his monitor, but from his readings on the other vessels it seemed like all the command ships’ sensors were focused on the bigger population centers of the planet. He let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He was safe- if only for now.
…He’d have to focus on a rural area. Despite every loophole and excuse he could come up with, he’d still be much better off remaining undetected and not interfering in whatever might be going on in more concentrated pockets of the species. It would likely take much longer to gather information this way than heading towards the larger population centers in search of clues, but he could still poke around on the sly for any information he could tease out from the surroundings.
…And hopefully then he could finally get the answers he so desperately craved.
<“Alter descent velocity. Slow to 50% speed and activate autopilot mode.”>
Y’ggdrasog looked at the aerial scans, deciding that what seemed to be an area focused on harvesting crops with a long road running alongside it dotted with the occasional primitive ground vehicle would be as good a place to start as any.
He highlighted the road with a flick of a clawed finger.
<”Descend to 100 meters above planet surface, then follow highlighted path at 20% speed. Proceed.”>
As the drone dutifully obeyed his commands and traveled along the stretch of paved road for a time, he was surprised at the lack of humans to be found despite the vehicles present. Each and every one had seemingly been abandoned; they all sat still, unmoving. His curiosity piqued, he highlighted a few of them in the control interface.
<“Halt forward momentum. Descend to 50 meters from planetary surface. Scan and analyze condition of marked targets.”>
As he finished his verbal command, the familiar synthesized voice of his drone’s onboard computer blared to life from the speakers of his terminal.
He shook his head, puzzled.
<“What happened here…? …Alright, ascend, 300 meters from planetary surface. Continue forward movement following the highlighted path, 15% speed.”>
Farther and farther the road stretched, but he didn’t see a single human upon it, nor in the surrounding area. He sighed and absent-mindedly gazed around at the surrounding environment. He couldn’t help but marvel at how- well, alien it all looked. The taller plant life he saw appeared to be quite complex, their stems covered in thick fiber and their extremities full of- oh, what was the word, “leaves?
…He hadn’t paid all that much attention during the portions of his schooling that covered exotic alien plant life found on feral worlds and the various homeworlds of the other races of the Collective. He figured he’d never really need to interact with much beyond the giant fungal pods, great lichen growths and so on of his homeworld. He was a spacer for spirits’ sake, not a xenobotanist, and-
…Wait, what was that?
<“Halt forward momentum. Reverse 50 meters. Pan visual sensors left, 30 degrees.”>
He squinted at the incoming visual feed. He was right, there was something laying in that ditch! Probably just a random piece of detritus, but better safe than sorry. He highlighted it.
<”Scan target. Assess.”>
<”...Descend toward target, 5% speed.. 2%... halt.”>
His eyes narrowed further as he zoomed the forward visual lens in. Whatever it was, it looked to be a biped, and-
…Wait a minute, he recognized that body structure! Spirits be praised, this had to be one of the members of the new species!
It- they, he corrected himself- had pale skin, long, dark brown fur atop their head, and were wearing clothing covering their torso and legs- though much of it was stained red, running all down the left side of their body.
What were they doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? And why were they laying in a ditch, unmoving? …Were they ok?
<”Scan target, and establish connection to ship auto-doc subsystem. Assess physical condition and cross-reference with known anatomical data of species designation: human.”>
Y’ggdrasog nervously swallowed, trying to center himself and focus despite what he had just heard. Well, that certainly answered that; no, she very much was NOT ok. Whatever had happened to her, it really messed her up.
<”Analyze if damage sustained is life-threatening without intervention given circumstances and location.”>
He swore under his breath.
<”...Expand and clarify analysis.”>
<”C-certainty of analysis conclusion…?”>
He put his head in his hands, his bioluminescence flickering between several colors- none of them good. Spirits above... She was going to die unless someone helped her!
…
…But he was in no position to do so…
He knew deep down that he was deluding himself if he thought he could get away with this if he was caught. No amount of loophole abuse and“legitimate” excuses could save him from severe negative repercussions, not when it came to something as serious as first contact.
He was already risking enough as it was…
Maybe he could let someone in one of the other ships know- no, that would give away that he’d been poking around on the sly…
Maybe- maybe someone else would find her in time, and they could save her? Or maybe, despite the odds, she might just get better on her own? Even if it took her past the 1.3 cycle mark to do so, there was still a- his brow furrowed as he did the math- 0.0000028% chance that she could survive, and a chance was a chance! …Right…?
No one would know if he didn’t intervene. It would be so easy- no chance of getting caught, no risk, no danger, just pull the drone-prone back to the ship, return to his original position, scrub the flight logs, and-
…
……
…No.
No, she’s not.
He opened his eyes and spoke, voice full of grim certainty.
<”Descend to two meters above highlighted subject. Very, VERY carefully use stasis field to attach to subject, entangle her matter with an equivalent mass of carbon from the fabricator hold, then return to quantum anchor point with cargo and safely lower the subject prone beside the drone chassis. Proceed.”>
He got up from the terminal and took off for the drone bay as fast as his taloned feet could carry him, one thought repeating itself over and over in his head as he went, a mantra of sorts:
2023.03.22 15:04 chainer9999 2023 32 Teams/32 Days: Cincinnati Bengals
Hub post
Contributors: chainer9999, TheReaver88
Division: AFC North
Record: 12-4 (1 no contest), AFC North Champions, Lost in AFC Title Game
Season Summary:
After a Cinderella run the previous season which ended just short of a truly miraculous ending, there were a lot of split opinions about whether the Bengals were “for real.” While there were people who believed that a young nucleus led by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and numerous talented but relatively unknown defenders would continue to grow and be even better in 2022-23, the majority opinion was that the Bengals were prime regression candidates and that they were not even the favorites for their own division.
The early part of the season appeared to validate the skeptics: the Bengals sputtered to an 0-2 start, and the offseason O-line improvements were not yet apparent. But Joe Burrow found his form, the line came together as a cohesive unit, and the offense adjusted to take what the defenses were giving them in the short passing game. After a humiliating Monday night loss in Cleveland, the team buckled down and ripped off 8 straight wins (with a tragic no contest in the middle) to roar past the Ravens and grab the division title for the second straight year. The Bengals entered the postseason with some serious question marks; two of their three prized OL signings went down with injuries, as did left tackle Jonah Williams. After squeezing by Baltimore and dominating Buffalo, Cincinnati fell just short against the Chiefs in the AFC Title Game by a familiar score of 23-20. The Bengals experienced several departures in free agency, but the coaching staff and quarterback will remain with the team in 2023 in search of the franchise’s first Super Bowl.
1. 2022 Offseason Recap
Offense
From the data, we can conclude a few things.
A few conclusions:
5. What Lies Ahead for the Bengals in the 2023 Offseason (Free Agency and Draft)
This was an amazing season for the Bengals, despite major disappointment on either end of the schedule. The biggest takeaway was the statement that the Bengals are real; all those projections of a “step back” or the team being a fluke have faded into the past. The convincing win in Buffalo was among the strongest statements the franchise has ever made. The new reality of the NFL is that the Cincinnati Bengals are a serious contender until proven otherwise.
The team has taken free agency losses and will need to see how the roster looks going forward, but this team is still largely the same squad that has reached consecutive AFC title games, and it’s mostly behind a coaching staff and quarterback that are still leading the charge. As long as Joe Burrow is wearing stripes, Bengals fans will enter the season (and often the postseason) with an aura of confidence that has frankly never existed for this fanbase.
Cincinnati will enter 2023 as one of the 4 or 5 shortest odds to win Super Bowl LVIII, and at this point, we fans can dream of our first Lombardi Trophy without being accused of hitting the pipe. However, many monsters loom in the loaded AFC. Guide us, the good shepherd Burrow.
Special thanks to u/TheReaver88 for his edits and summary work, and finally......
WHO DEY!
submitted by chainer9999 to nfl [link] [comments]
Contributors: chainer9999, TheReaver88
Division: AFC North
Record: 12-4 (1 no contest), AFC North Champions, Lost in AFC Title Game
Season Summary:
After a Cinderella run the previous season which ended just short of a truly miraculous ending, there were a lot of split opinions about whether the Bengals were “for real.” While there were people who believed that a young nucleus led by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and numerous talented but relatively unknown defenders would continue to grow and be even better in 2022-23, the majority opinion was that the Bengals were prime regression candidates and that they were not even the favorites for their own division.
The early part of the season appeared to validate the skeptics: the Bengals sputtered to an 0-2 start, and the offseason O-line improvements were not yet apparent. But Joe Burrow found his form, the line came together as a cohesive unit, and the offense adjusted to take what the defenses were giving them in the short passing game. After a humiliating Monday night loss in Cleveland, the team buckled down and ripped off 8 straight wins (with a tragic no contest in the middle) to roar past the Ravens and grab the division title for the second straight year. The Bengals entered the postseason with some serious question marks; two of their three prized OL signings went down with injuries, as did left tackle Jonah Williams. After squeezing by Baltimore and dominating Buffalo, Cincinnati fell just short against the Chiefs in the AFC Title Game by a familiar score of 23-20. The Bengals experienced several departures in free agency, but the coaching staff and quarterback will remain with the team in 2023 in search of the franchise’s first Super Bowl.
1. 2022 Offseason Recap
- Free Agency Signings:
- RG Alex Cappa (4 years, $35m, $11m guaranteed): Announced within the first minute of free agency, Cappa's signing signaled a stark departure from the past, when the Bengals refused to pay big money to guards. As the interior of the o-line was absolute garbage especially near the end of the previous season, Cappa was viewed with great optimism.
- C Ted Karras (3 years, $18m, $5m guaranteed): Karras a bit less so. While known as a heady and smart player, the Bengals fanbase had been focused in on Ryan Jensen, but he chose to play with TB12 for one more run. Karras felt like a consolation prize at the time, but he was definitely a good signing and won over many fans with his play and attitude.
- RT La’El Collins (3 years, $21m, $5m guaranteed): Filled with shopping mall intrigue and Burrow-baked cupcakes, the La’El Collins saga eventually ended up with him in the building. While the great majority of the fanbase welcomed a signing of Collins’s pedigree, there was some skepticism amongst certain fans that maybe there was a reason Collins had been let go by Dallas. Yeah, about that……
- TE Hayden Hurst (1 year, $3.5m): A signing needed to replace the departed CJ Uzomah, expectations were modest for Hurst. With his first-round pedigree, the hope was that he’d slot into Uzomah’s production, maybe make some gamebreaking plays.
- Notable Re-signed players:
- DT BJ Hill (3 years, $30m total, $13m guaranteed): After a promising campaign rotating with Larry Ogunjobi, the Bengals chose to pay Hill. This was seen as a bit of a gamble as Hill, while productive in a rotational role, had not been the starter the previous season. Ogunjobi was more disruptive as an interior pass rusher, but the deciding factor was probably Ogunjobi’s deficiency in run support and his late-season injury.
- FS Jessie Bates III (Franchise tag, $12.9m): After failing to come to a long-term deal, Bates was franchised, a distinction that he did not take great joy in. Bates maintained that he would refuse to play on the tag, and carried out that threat well into training camp.
- CB Eli Apple (1 year, $3.5m): While most knew Apple as 1) a loud Tweeter and 2) the guy that got burned by Cooper Kupp in the final moments of the Super Bowl, Bengals fans knew that Apple had outplayed his paltry contract. With the cornerback market getting pricy, Apple was retained as a cheap value CB2 or CB3, depending on how the draft would fall out.
- Other re-signed players:
- QB Brandon Allen (1 year, $1.5m), WR Stanley Morgan (2 years, $2.24m), WR
Adam ColeTrenton Irwin (1 year, $825k), WR Trent Taylor (1 year, $1.135m), WR Mike Thomas (1 year, $1.13m) - DT Josh Tupou (2 years, $3m), S/CB* Tre Flowers (1 year, $1.85m), S Michael D. Thomas (1 year, $1.17m)
- LS Clark Harris (1 year, $1.27m)
- QB Brandon Allen (1 year, $1.5m), WR Stanley Morgan (2 years, $2.24m), WR
- Departures:
- TE CJ Uzomah (UFA, Jets, 3 yrs $24m): the spiritual leader of the team during their Cinderella playoff run, Uzomah left for a payday and to be in New York. While it was sad, people understood that his money for his production was not a great deal.
- DT Larry Ogunjobi (UFA, Steelers, 1 yr): After a failed medical scuttled his potential big-money move to Chicago, there were some rumblings that Ogunjobi could possibly return, but no dice; Ogunjobi eventually ended up in Pittsburgh, leaving Baltimore as the one AFC North team that he hasn’t played for……yet.
- C Trey Hopkins (Released, unsigned by any NFL team in 2022), OG Quinton Spain (UFA, unsigned by any NFL team in 2022), RT Riley Reiff (UFA, Bears): Three members of the offensive line cut or not retained. Tells you something, doesn't it?
- CB Trae Waynes (Released, subsequently retired): the big miscue out of the Bengals’ defensive spending spree, Waynes was constantly hurt, and even when healthy could not beat out Awuzie or Apple.
- CB Darius Phillips (UFA, Raiders): After his two-muff debacle against San Francisco, he was never heard from again in Bengals stripes.
- CB Vernon Hargraves III (UFA, unsigned by any NFL team), S Ricardo Allen (UFA, subsequently retired), LB Jordan Evans (UFA, unsigned by any NFL team)
- WR Auden Tate (UFA, Falcons), OL Fred Johnson (ERFA, Buccaneers)
- Draft picks:
- Round 1: S Daxton Hill (Michigan) - a redshirt year for Dax, as he was picked with Bates’ departure in mind. Still, it was somewhat depressing to see him virtually never get on the field, and he worryingly showed some mental lapses when used on special teams.
- Round 2: CB Cam Taylor-Britt (Nebraska) - the first instance of Zac Taylor’s Nebraska connection being utilized, CTB was picked to compete with Apple for the CB2 job.
- Round 3: DL Zach Carter (Florida) - seen by many draftniks as a reach, Anarumo’s penchant for players who can line up in multiple positions was a deciding factor. Ultimately did not contribute much, as his first campaign was spent mostly bulking up.
- Round 4: OG Cordell Volson (North Dakota State) - the sole pick spent on offense, Volson was seen as a Frank Pollack guy from the start, a “glass-eater” to use Pollack’s term. He beat out Jackson Carman for the left guard job and held it, making the pick a relative success.
- Round 5: S Tycen Anderson (Tulsa) - an injury wiped out his rookie campaign.
- Round 6: DL Jeffrey Gunter (Coastal Carolina) - Not much out of Gunter in his rookie campaign, except on special teams.
- Notable UDFAs:
- LS Cal Adomitis (Pitt): this pickup would prove hugely important after Week 1.
- Midseason waiver pickups
- DT Jay Tufele (Jacksonville Jaguars)
- OG Max Scharping (Houston Texans)
- TE Devin Asiasi (New England Patriots)
- Other notable happenings
- Zac Taylor’s contract extended: Hey, if you lead the Bengals from the doldrums to the precipice of a Super Bowl, you deserve to get paid. There were concerns about whether this was a knee-jerk extension to an overachieving season, but over the course of 2022, Taylor showed enough both tactically and leadership-wise that we can say it wasn’t a mistake.
- Joe Burrow’s appendectomy: the quest for an uninterrupted Joe Burrow offseason continues, as he had an appendectomy before training camp and missed all of preseason. While none of the players or coaches admitted as such, one gets the sense that this definitely impacted Burrow early in the season.
- Paul Brown Stadium becomes Paycor Stadium: Seeing the dollar signs racing towards him in the form of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins, Mike Brown gave in and put up the naming rights of Paul Brown Stadium for sale. Paycor made the highest bid, and thus PBS became Paycor Stadium. I maintain that it sounds better than Acrisure Stadium; your mileage may vary.
Offense
| Total | League Rank | 2021 League Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 418 | 7th | 7th |
| Total Yards | 5371 | 7th 🔺 | 13th |
| Yards Per Play | 5.9 | 7th | 7th |
| Passing Yards | 4520 | 6th 🔺 | 7th |
| Passing TDs | 35 | T-2nd 🔺 | 7th |
| Interceptions | 12 | T-19th (w/ 4 other teams) | T-14th |
| Sacks Allowed | 44 | T-22nd 🔺 | 32nd |
| Sack Yards Allowed | 280 | 21st 🔺 | 31st |
| Yards Per Pass Attempt | 7.4 | 9th 🔻 | 3rd |
| 20+ yard Passes | 54 | 12th 🔻 | 6th |
| Rushing Yards | 1528 | 29th 🔻 | 23rd |
| Yards Per Rush | 3.8 | T-30th 🔻 | 24th |
| Rushing TDs | 14 | T-20th (w/ BAL) 🔻 | T-14th |
| 20+ yard Runs | 7 | T-26th (w/ 3 other teams) 🔻 | T-22nd |
| DVOA | 14.2% | 4th 🔺 | 18th |
- Continuing last year’s trend, the Bengals were a top-quartile passing offense, even after a dreadful start to the season. After some fits and starts, the players and coaching staff eventually figured out how to attack opposing defenses that took away the deep shots which made the team must-watch TV last season. This dinged the yards per attempt figure, which dipped from 3rd in 2021 to 9th this season.
- However, the running game, which was bottom quartile last year, was even more putrid–and this was evident to anybody that was watching the games. It got so bad that at one point, the Bengals gave up lining up under center and went all shotgun all the time, because they simply could not run the ball from under center (and telegraphed the run way too much when they went under center). The running backs did contribute significantly in the passing game as Burrow utilized checkdowns extensively as a counter to the 2 high safety shells, but the running game itself ultimately never got going.
- The reinforcements for the O-line did have some impact, as the sacks allowed and sack yardage stat all improved quite a bit from last year (55 → 42, 403 → 280). Some of this was also on Burrow learning when to give up looking for the home run.
| Total | League Rank | 2021 League Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points Allowed | 322 | 5th 🔺 | 17th |
| Yards Allowed | 6048 | 8th 🔺 | 17th |
| Rushing Yards Allowed | 1706 | 5th | 5th |
| Rushing Yards Allowed Per Carry | 4.2 | T-7th 🔺 | 15th |
| Rushing TDs Allowed | 12 | T-10th 🔺 | 15th |
| Passing Yards Allowed | 3665 | 16th 🔺 | 26th |
| Passing Yards Allowed Per Attempt | 6.6 | 18th 🔺 | 20th |
| Passing TDs Allowed | 17 | T-3rd 🔺 | 15th |
| Sacks | 30 | 29th 🔻 | 11th |
| Takeaways | 24 | 13th 🔺 | 18th |
| Red Zone Defense % | 52% | T-9th 🔺 | 18th |
| DVOA | -4.4% | 11th 🔺 | 19th |
- Last year’s defense was a middling defense that got hot at the right time; this year, the results were more steady throughout the season, as the Bengals improved their defensive rankings across nearly all areas.
- One notable area where the Bengals declined was in sacks, as Trey Hendrickson’s 14.5 sacks from last year did not materialize (though advanced stats say that he played just as well, if not better). Other than T-Rex, the Bengals don’t really have an elite pass rusher, which in turn puts a strain on coverage.
- While Lou Anarumo being back is a huge boon, there most definitely will be some departures this offseason compared to last year, when virtually every meaningful contributor returned......and this was borne out in free agency, as Bates and Bell walked away, bringing the "dark day" that Anarumo had been dreading.
- Game by game recaps: see here
- Season highs and lows:
- Highs
- Feasting on the NFC South: With the season off to an uneven start, the Bengals won a close one against New Orleans, and then absolutely pasted the Falcons and the Panthers to gain momentum for the stretch run. Even old GOAT Brady could not stop the Bengals, as the Bengals defense led a rousing second half comeback to sweep the NFC South.
- The 8-game win streak to end the season: There was a lot of skepticism about the Bengals after their slow start, as the stretch run slate of opponents looked exceptionally difficult. However, the team came together for this stretch and dispatched Tennessee, Kansas City, old nemesis Cleveland, Tampa, New England and Baltimore to once again claim the division.
- The Hubbard Yard Dash: Arguably the greatest defensive play in Bengals history. With the game in the balance on Wild Card Weekend, local kid Sam Hubbard scooped up a goal-line fumble and, unlike in Madden, didn’t run out of stamina on his way to the end zone, snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat. A fitting celebratory moment for a player who often gets overlooked.
- Returning to the AFC Title Game: There were many questions about whether the Bengals were just a one-year wonder, or if 2021 was the foundation for something greater. While they came up just short in the AFC Title Game, the fact that they managed to make it there twice in a row after being a doormat for half a decade is not something that should be laughed at.
- Lows
- The first two games of the season: A comedy of errors in Week 1 (a pick six, a blocked XP, and a hilariously botched FG) and a sputtering offense in Week 2 started the season off in morbid fashion. Ultimately, these two squandered games would become the difference in the Bengals having no shot at home field in the stretch run.
- The Halloween massacre: The Browns have had Zac Taylor’s number ever since he became head coach, and on Halloween,
Jake BrisketJacoby Brissett, Nick Chubb and Myles Garrett delivered an ass whooping. It was the Bengals’ worst loss of the season, compounded by CB1 Chidobe Awuzie tearing his ACL. - The end of the season: No doubt about it, the final game against Kansas City feels like an opportunity missed, as O-line injuries led to the offense sputtering even as the defense put up an incredible effort against Patrick Mahomes & co. The way it ended with a costly penalty also stings, as many knew that this year would be the end of the line for several key players.
- Special aside
- The Damar Hamlin game: As the other team participating in that game, I think the Bengals, and specifically head coach Zac Taylor, did the right thing by conferring with Sean McDermott to essentially stop the game, and get the very distressed players off the field. It’s really a relief seeing Hamlin now walking about and able to live his life, considering he was temporarily a dead man on the field in Cincinnati. Even though I don’t think the league handled the aftermath very well, I truly hope that in another scenario like that, the Bengals and Taylor would act just like they did that night–some things are bigger than football.
- Highs
- Awards:
- HoF induction: Ken Riley (posthumous)
- Best Celly of the Year (lol): The Jungle Roller Coaster (Week 18)
- Pro Bowlers
- First Team: QB Joe Burrow, WR Ja’Marr Chase, DE Trey Hendrickson
- Alternates: FS Jessie Bates III (2nd alternate), RB Joe Mixon (3rd alternate), WR Tyler Boyd (3rd alternate), K Evan McPherson (4th alternate), C Ted Karras (5th alternate), DT DJ Reader (5th alternate), SS Vonn Bell (5th alternate)
- All-Pros: None
- A bit of a rant, but it is incredible how the Bengals have no All-Pros, just three first team Pro Bowlers, managed to win the AFC North and reel off 8 straight wins to finish the season, and Zac Taylor doesn’t get a single vote for CotY. Where the hell are the victories coming from then?
5. What Lies Ahead for the Bengals in the 2023 Offseason (Free Agency and Draft)
- Extension Candidates: before we get started, it should be noted that the Bengals front office has rarely used the "modern cap techniques" such as void years and backlogging guarantees--they like doing flat AAV contracts and not incurring dead money when possible. However, with Burrow and Chase (and others) soon to be paid, it is going to be tricky to navigate the cap without utilizing such methods. This offseason will grant us a real look at what the Bengals' strategy is moving forward.
- QB Joe Burrow: The big one. He’ll get extended, no question–it’s a matter of how much, and how it’s structured. An AAV of $50m is probably going to be the end result. This extension will be the one that shapes all decisions this offseason, as well as many other offseasons to come.
- WR Tee Higgins: Extension-eligible, the tricky part is that Chase is available for one next year (although Chase has a 5th year option). Since paying two WRs WR1 money is often not seen as a wise investment of cap space, there is a lot of speculation that Higgins might be trade bait a la A.J. Brown–of course, we know what happened to the GM that actually did trade A.J. Brown, so really? An extension might not get done, but the Bengals will want to keep him around at least for the next two years, possibly even using the tag on Higgins after this season if things go down that route.
- LB Logan Wilson: The 3rd rounder in the “Burrow draft,” Wilson has blossomed into a good-to-great linebacker. With Pratt looking set to leave, the team will want to lock down Wilson; the issue will be the cap number. If the Higgins extension is a no-go, Wilson could be the one getting it instead this offseason. The return of Pratt at a relatively modest number might change the calculation a bit.
- The next two are primarily cap-related extension ideas, which, for the record, are not typically things that Cincinnati has done.
- DE Trey Hendrickson: With two years remaining on his deal and his importance to the defense paramount, an extension might be an option to lower Hendrickson's cap hit ($15m).
- DT DJ Reader: Entering the last year of his 4-year deal, Reader's importance to the run defense is similar to Hendrickson's to the pass rush. Just like Hendrickson, Reader's cap hit is $15m--an extension could be on the cards.
- Free agency
- Notable UFAs
- FS Jessie Bates III: Having already had contentious negotiations for two years and playing on the franchise tag, Bates looks almost as good as gone. Get paid, man. (Highly likely to leave) Left for Atlanta on a 4-year, $64m deal. Glad he got his bag, thanks for the memories Jessie.
- LB Germaine Pratt: Played himself into a big payday by being a positive in pass coverage, and probably out of Cincinnati’s reach. (Likely to leave) Ended up staying, solidifying the linebacking corps (3 years, $21m).
- SS Vonn Bell: With Bates almost certain to leave and Lou Anarumo on record as saying that it will be a dark day when both Bell and Bates are no longer here, Bell looks to be a high priority to re-sign. This is especially because unlike Bates, the Bengals don’t have someone that can fill in Bell’s slot. (50-50) Left for Carolina on a 3-year, $22.5m deal. Thanks for the memories Vonn, you turned the franchise around when you sent JuJu into next week.
- CB Eli Apple: With the emergence of Cam Taylor-Britt and Apple’s antics on Twitter coming to the fore after the Divisional Round, it’s a toss-up to whether Apple is re-signed. If he’s willing to play for cheap like he did last year ($4m), it wouldn’t be a bad idea. (50-50)
- TE Hayden Hurst: Hurst became a fan favorite in Cincinnati, and he seemed to like it here as it gave him a chance to resurrect his career. The issue will definitely be price, as nobody is certain exactly how much Hurst will command–if it goes into CJ Uzomah territory ($8m AAV), the Bengals will probably bid him goodbye. (50-50) Left for Carolina on a 3-year, $21m deal. The man parlayed the season into a bag, good for him!
- RB Samaje Perine: Mixon might be gone unless he takes a pay cut, in which case the Bengals will probably want to retain Perine while bringing in a rookie. How much the Bengals pursue Perine will be dependent on money and what happens with Mixon. (Likely to return) Left for Denver on a 2-year, $7.5m deal. He stated personal reasons, so I'll respect that. We'll always remember his TD against the Chiefs and him dribbling Justin Reid's head.
- RB Trayveon Williams, WR Trent Taylor, OG Max Scharping: re-signed
- CB Jalen Davis, S Michael D. Thomas: re-signed
- DB Tre Flowers
- QB Brandon Allen
- TE Drew Sample
- LS Clark Harris
- Potential cut candidates
- RB Joe Mixon: His 12m cap hit is a large one for a running back who was ineffective last year. As he doesn't have additional years left on his deal, restructuring is not an option. Straight up cutting Mixon would save roughly $7.2m against the cap, while incurring $5.5m in dead money. Perine's departure makes this less likely.
- OT La'El Collins: The coaching staff seems to want him back. However, his play noticeably dipped last year, making a cut a distinct possibility. Cutting Collins would save the Bengals $6m while incurring $3.3m in dead money.
- ERFAs
- LS Cal Adomitis: re-signed in February, which probably means the end of the road for Clark Harris.
- LB Clay Johnston
- TE Mitchell Wilcox
- RFA
- LB Joe Bachie: Re-signed
- Notable UFAs
- Additions
- LT Orlando Brown (4 yrs, $64m): A very unexpected signing, and probably the biggest swing that the Bengals have taken in free agency regarding the offensive line in recent memory. He's not perfect, but he's a damn good LT and in his prime; throw in the surprisingly reasonable contract, and this is a signing that Bengals fandom was highly supportive of. This did in turn force current LT Jonah Williams to make a trade request; stay tuned.
- S Nick Scott (3 yrs, $12m): Signed to pair up with Dax Hill after Vonn Bell's departure, Scott is definitely athletic and heady, although Bengals fandom was somewhat disappointed after prime free agent Chauncey Gardner-Johnson was all over Twitter re-tweeting Bengals players throughout early free agency.
- OG/T Cody Ford (1 yr, $1.08m): Signed for the minimum, there are rumblings that Ford could be the Bengals' plan at RT, which does not give me any reassurances. It's better than Adeniji, but that's not saying much.
- Draft
- Needs
- Offensive Line: Center and right guard are stable (Karras, Cappa), left tackle is now set (Brown) but right tackle is uncertain (Collins? Williams? Ford?) and left guard is nothing special (Volson). The Bengals will definitely look to see if they can secure a high-potential offensive tackle prospect with their first rounder, with names like Dawand Jones, Broderick Jones, Darnell Wright, and Anton Harrison all in the mix for the 29th pick.
- Tight End: Hurst is gone, Sample and Wilcox are out of contract, and this is a deep class for tight ends. The idea of taking one in the first round like Michael Mayer or Darnell Washington is hotly debated on Bengals Twitter, but later round potential picks like Sam Laporta, Tucker Kraft or Luke Schoonmaker are also discussed. They need at least one.
- Pass rusher: While the defense improved this season, it had a precipitous drop-off in sacks. Either a good edge or someone that can provide pressure from the interior is needed, and names like Calijah Kancey, Nolan Smith, and BJ Ojulari are all under discussion.
- Cornerback: With Awuzie coming off a torn ACL and CTB still developing, the Bengals could see cornerback as a position that needs another injection of youth–you need as many corners as you can in this league, and the Bengals have not been afraid to stack picks at CB in the past (Jonathan Joseph-Leon Hall, Dre Kirkpatrick-Darqueze Dennard). Deonte Banks was the main name that got discussed for the 29th pick, though he may have risen too far now.
- Wide receiver: Tyler Boyd may be on his last season at Cincy, and with Higgins and Chase due for raises, finding a developing wide receiver is a need. Probably not a 1st unless someone slips far, but they’ll look for options later in the draft.
- Running back: Even if Mixon returns, it behooves the Bengals to find a future starter in later rounds. If Bijan is actually there at pick 29 there will be some interesting discussions, but later round names like Zach Charbonnet, Devon Achane or any other running back prospect slated for Day 2 or later will be in the mix.
- Needs
- Possible coaching departures and promotions:
- OC Brian Callahan (finalist for the Colts job–lost out to Shane Steichen)
- DC Lou Anarumo (finalist for the Cardinals job–lost out to Jonathan Gannon)
- QB Coach Dan Pitcher (interviewed for Bucs OC)
- After a lengthy process, Callahan, Anarumo and Pitcher all were passed over by other teams, leading them back to Cincinnati. The dream scenario would be for these coaches, who have been with the team for five years now, to guide the Bengals to the promised land and then find their places as head coaches. Of course, dreams don’t always come true, but there’s no harm in hoping.
This was an amazing season for the Bengals, despite major disappointment on either end of the schedule. The biggest takeaway was the statement that the Bengals are real; all those projections of a “step back” or the team being a fluke have faded into the past. The convincing win in Buffalo was among the strongest statements the franchise has ever made. The new reality of the NFL is that the Cincinnati Bengals are a serious contender until proven otherwise.
The team has taken free agency losses and will need to see how the roster looks going forward, but this team is still largely the same squad that has reached consecutive AFC title games, and it’s mostly behind a coaching staff and quarterback that are still leading the charge. As long as Joe Burrow is wearing stripes, Bengals fans will enter the season (and often the postseason) with an aura of confidence that has frankly never existed for this fanbase.
Cincinnati will enter 2023 as one of the 4 or 5 shortest odds to win Super Bowl LVIII, and at this point, we fans can dream of our first Lombardi Trophy without being accused of hitting the pipe. However, many monsters loom in the loaded AFC. Guide us, the good shepherd Burrow.
Special thanks to u/TheReaver88 for his edits and summary work, and finally......
WHO DEY!
2023.03.22 14:54 JonathanPhillipFox This is Definitional Copy-Pasta, it's a Theory, "not yet a theory," just, unrelated, "but...what would it mean if it weren't?" Mad Science thoughts; Ghost Witch Semiotica, so:
Dog Barks,
"what is annoying, when it's annoying," or when it catches you off guard; like fucking Shoepenhauer talks of in his chapter of Pessimism,Noise, Noise, Motherfuckers in Carts, Motherfuckers Banging, Clanging; the fuck, man; and beat horses, too, beat themselves, don't have a horse to beat- it's fucked up, more so than people say...that's, summary, but go off and read it I haven't in at least a year; so,
The cat is bored and wants attention, It IS an Emergency, She insists, and POOF- the same, "you and me we talk together," I am inside of, you are inside of, albeit a little seperated in space and time that this is what goes away; it's interruptive, I'm saying,
What if it's always interruptive; what if speech is always interruptive, and the conveyance occurs through the, "I know what you're thinking, what thought leads from there, and further on, HALT!"
Watch This,
Not This, or...#Monologization)This read this, OK Back to Father Riley, the Guy,
It occurs to me as obvious that in their, "tennis game,"The Priest Takes it for granted that God Exists, Paradoxically, That this is a Closed Chapter and thus his interests, or, his,
[the priests discursive/utterance/creative] activity and discourse [which are]#Monologization) evaluatively charged and context specific,...are all outside of the realm of Catholic Doctrine and Dogma, wherein/within which auto-utterative language objects close the realm of thought down to, non-possibility; Riley, or, the Alchoholic Who killed a young woman in a Car Accident?
That is the realm of thought wherein which, quite specifically, everything, remains, "evaluatively charged and context specific," open to all and new possibility; so while the atheist, in theory, in point of fact, He Tells the Priest, "Halt from the material, think to the spiritual," and just the same,THE PRIEST, In Function-of-fact, says, in his Certainty, "HALT FROM THE SPIRITUAL, THAT OF LIFE AND DEATH AND BROADEST SENSE OF ETHICS," Halt from this, allow me to teach you the Halting Frame, the Frame around the closed and boxed realities that I can percieve without an exit, and then, or, allow your thoughts to return to the material; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dialogic_Imagination
NEW SCIENCE JUST IN: LANGUAGE SHUTS DOWN THE RIGHT HEMISPHERE'S ACTIVE, well,
The authors came up with an innovative language task for their study subjects and applied advanced neuroimaging methods to the data collected.
A paper on their findings has been published in PLoS ONE.
Functional asymmetry between the two cerebral hemispheres in performing higher-level cognitive functions is a major characteristic of the human brain. For example, the left hemisphere plays a leading role in language processing in most people. However, between 10% and 15% of the human population also use the right hemisphere to varying degrees for the same task.
Traditionally, language lateralization to the right hemisphere was explained by handedness, as it is mainly found in left-handed and ambidextrous (using both hands equally well) individuals. But recent research has demonstrated a genetic difference in the way language is processed by left-handed and ambidextrous people.
In addition to this, some right-handed people also involve their right hemisphere in language functions.
These findings prompted the scientists to consider alternative explanations—in particular, by looking at brain anatomy to find out why language functions can shift to the right hemisphere.
Researchers at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain hypothesized that language lateralization may have something to do with the anatomy of the corpus callosum, the largest commissural tract in the human brain connecting the two cerebral hemispheres.
The researchers asked 50 study participants to perform a sentence completion task. The subjects were instructed to read aloud a visually presented Russian sentence and to complete it with an appropriate final word (e.g., “Teper ministr podpisyvaet vazhnoe…”—”Now the minister is signing an important …”).
At the same time, the participants’ brain activity was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Additionally, the volume of the corpus callosum was measured in each subject.
A comparison between the fMRI data and the corpus callosum measurements revealed that the larger the latter’s volume, the less lateralization of the language function to the right hemisphere was observed.
It can be said that in processing language, the brain tends to use the left hemisphere’s resources efficiently and to suppress, by means of the corpus callosum, any additional involvement of the right hemisphere. The larger a person’s corpus callosum, the less involved their right hemisphere is in language processing (and vice versa).
This finding is consistent with the inhibitory model suggesting that the corpus callosum inhibits the action of one hemisphere while the other is engaged in cognitive tasks.
SO WHAT WOULD THAT IMPLY OF LANGUAGE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND THE LITTLE GODS AND GREAT DEMONS I LOVE THE MOST< DIISMANESETLARESLARVAE,
WHAT IS DYNAMICAL INDETERMINISM allow a Medical Doctor to Explain, explain that this is the manner in which we are nothing, really, like a mineral and instead like a hurricane; and from,
Physics, also- so what then is language?
...in this kinda, framework, wherein- and to be clear, I am saying, It's always a dogs bark, always, a cats meow, dogs are just a little rougher with their technique and cats can't be goddamned to care better for theirs, 'see how these statements shut down certain thoughts which lead from the thoughts before," if not at first, then, certainly, now that you've read this far; which might be, also, definitely, if the rest is correct, How Chat-GPT, "works," not on the PC side but for what reason it could be so good-like a Doppleganger, yeah? I'm referring to the, "autocomplete," and Perhaps, then, an overall metaphor for what I'm insinuating might-well be,...an auto-complete of injunctions, and to which in dialogue we might add more injunctions which complicate or contradict the extant inunction systems of:
CHAOS CONTROL, an active cage around the dynamical indeterminative rendered through Injunction; fwiw and from a narcoleptic (take a look at me, being, slow, slowest motherfucker would like to spend another 10 20 minutes staring out the window before I have a sandwich) sometimes, well; some of you, Definitely, would overdose on how much amphetamine is inside of me I'm saying, "I know the moods and mode of it," Let me tell you: There is no, "high," it just renders second-order-injunction obvious for what it is and that is, also, the reason (or perhaps the process through which) those unfamiliar with, synthetic ephedra, soma, whatever we wanna call it, Chatter-Chatter-Chatter; can't stop themselves, I WOULD BE CURIOUS WHETHER THERE COULD BE SOME MODELED ANALOGUE, TO THIS, SPECIFICALLY, Within a failure-state of Cage-Breakout in this, "chaos control"Literally, this is a good idea maybe, may-be.
...a motherfucker cassandra in this motherfucker, simply, because I'd got, not, assimiliated to some, "nevermind," anyway,This is Evidence that I am correct; the reason he lost his fucking cool, should be obvious- that it's, "material," or, cultural (in this instance) and NOT narcotic nor biological, "skrrrrt," it's cultural, narratological, the Material Realities of His Day, That Day, Fucked His Shit Right Up, Pushed that reality,
.....outside of the Chaos Control of His Injunctive Auto-utterances, interior-or-even-just-conferential-to habit and circumstance (again, this, perhaps, what a Dopamine (bunch of it) over-rides) so what does that Man do to, "fix his fucking ghost haunted nightmare visage of his daytime reality," which, lest you forgot:
Dude made a Fundraising Video for his Sham Charity, "Stop the warlord," but there wasn't one, not, anymore, Literally, imagine it this way,You're from KazakhstanI do have a friend from Kazakhstan, but, I know, for this reason, most of you don't; it's far away, is the point,
so you're from Kazakhstan and you visit america, return, and set up a Charity to STOP THE PROUD BOYS FROM TERRORIZING AMERICAN, you choose, Cleveland; it's a huge success, it's that, nebulous, "raise awareness," kind of thing; with fundraising, of course, to raise more awareness of the proud boys in cleveland at your home in kazakhstan, now, Proud Boys are Real, Cleveland is real, it's a different scandal, per se, than a charity, not doing enough to fulfill its obligations, per se, isn't it, because when your normal-ass cheesy-toasty-video goes ULTRAVIRAL the MOST VIRAL OF ALL OF HISTORY, at that point,People in Cleveland are going to be like, and, Did, in this 1:1 Real Close analogue, be like:
What in the absolute fuck, are you even talking about?So,
He's outside of the discursive cage, right?
Watch all of the videos, read all of the links, and then tell me this:It Does Make Sense, and (and!) it is NOT Wittgenstein 1
It not Wittgenstein 2,and it is NOT Logical Positivism; Oh, Logical Positivism, "you're familiar with Logical Positivism," except I suspect you know it as its new name,
Economics
Related: I need, Need Not a Want a NEED, You to notice that the instantiation of some so-called, "fact value dichotomy," is what, in fact, however, "close the two sound," it is the CAUSE of,The Is/Ought problem and Hume's Guillotine Being Ignored; Do You See How that Is So, I'll Tell You: Logical Positivism, and the Fact Value Dichotomy, take the premise that there is no, "is/ought problem," if all of the, "ought," discourses are rejected. entirely, as frivolous bullshit invented by women homosexuals poets and the arts; and you've got to do what is because otherwise you'll starve to death and a policeman will shoot you for moving when he punches you, "I'm not even fucking kidding, should you like I should say it in less blunt and common language," because I can 10,000 improvised words in an elevator all sourced from memory and the obvious snip snap I just don't think so little of you as to think you need me to do so you live in an economy also don't you, ok. so.
It Does Make Sense, and (and!) it is NOT Wittgenstein 1
It not Wittgenstein 2,
and it is NOT Logical Positivism; Oh, Logical Positivism, "you're familiar with Logical Positivism," except I suspect you know it as its new name,
Economics
Jonathan to Jonathan, here, I'm kinda like:
Did I just knock it out the fucking ballpark>Just on that alone, it makes kinda sense, it isn't the century-old stuff that's either not-quite correct enough not to be way-the-fuck-off or insufficient, and, it's coherent with Modern Modern Science
Send This Limp Bizkit Video to the Nobel Prize Committee and tell them we don't give a fuck about u neither-
remain violent out thereJonathan phillip fox
2023.03.22 13:46 f1newsbot Russell: Mercedes has more pace in its locker for next F1 races
Mercedes' poor start to the season looked set to continue when it struggled through Friday practice, but after overnight work the team unearthed more performance for qualifying.
While Lewis Hamilton still struggled to get to grips with certain characteristics of the W14, team-mate Russell made a step forward by qualifying fourth, which became third after Charles Leclerc's grid penalty.
It led to Russell saying after qualifying that Mercedes gained "more performance in a week than we found in almost a month".
Mercedes' race pace also took a step forward, with both cars outperforming the Ferraris. Amid confusion over Fernando Alonso's final results, Russell was briefly handed third but he was eventually confirmed as fourth ahead of Hamilton.
While the team is not getting carried away by its sudden improvement from Bahrain to Jeddah - a more radical concept change is still in the works - Russell does feel optimistic that there is more to come from the Brackley team on the short term.
"We definitely made a step in the right direction," Russell said. "I think, above all, we just truly maximised the potential of the car.
"We had a really strong qualifying, which was really enjoyable. I was really pleased to come home in P4 on the road because I felt like that was the maximum that was possible. And I was having fun up there.
"The car was feeling good. And we know we've got some more performance in the locker in some races to come."
When asked earlier in the weekend when Mercedes' next significant steps might come, Russell said May's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the most likely target.
"Maybe Imola time," he said. "Perhaps you can bring it a bit earlier, but I guess you're always a bit wary to bring things to a street track.
"We just need to weigh up the options. With the mistakes we've made we're not going to rush to bring things forward, unless we're absolutely 120% sure it's the right one.
"And obviously, the longer you wait, the bigger impact you can have because of the development slope, so we need to weigh up the pros and cons.
"We want to be winning races this year, that's where we want to be. Of course, we'd love to be fighting for the championship, but Red Bull is just doing an excellent job.
"The gap they've got to the rest of the field is bigger than we've seen in F1 for six, seven or eight years, so it's pretty impressive."
Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-mercedes-has-more-pace-in-its-locker-for-next-f1-races/10447143/
submitted by f1newsbot to NonFatF1News [link] [comments]
While Lewis Hamilton still struggled to get to grips with certain characteristics of the W14, team-mate Russell made a step forward by qualifying fourth, which became third after Charles Leclerc's grid penalty.
It led to Russell saying after qualifying that Mercedes gained "more performance in a week than we found in almost a month".
Mercedes' race pace also took a step forward, with both cars outperforming the Ferraris. Amid confusion over Fernando Alonso's final results, Russell was briefly handed third but he was eventually confirmed as fourth ahead of Hamilton.
While the team is not getting carried away by its sudden improvement from Bahrain to Jeddah - a more radical concept change is still in the works - Russell does feel optimistic that there is more to come from the Brackley team on the short term.
"We definitely made a step in the right direction," Russell said. "I think, above all, we just truly maximised the potential of the car.
"We had a really strong qualifying, which was really enjoyable. I was really pleased to come home in P4 on the road because I felt like that was the maximum that was possible. And I was having fun up there.
"The car was feeling good. And we know we've got some more performance in the locker in some races to come."
When asked earlier in the weekend when Mercedes' next significant steps might come, Russell said May's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the most likely target.
"Maybe Imola time," he said. "Perhaps you can bring it a bit earlier, but I guess you're always a bit wary to bring things to a street track.
"We just need to weigh up the options. With the mistakes we've made we're not going to rush to bring things forward, unless we're absolutely 120% sure it's the right one.
"And obviously, the longer you wait, the bigger impact you can have because of the development slope, so we need to weigh up the pros and cons.
"We want to be winning races this year, that's where we want to be. Of course, we'd love to be fighting for the championship, but Red Bull is just doing an excellent job.
"The gap they've got to the rest of the field is bigger than we've seen in F1 for six, seven or eight years, so it's pretty impressive."
Source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/russell-mercedes-has-more-pace-in-its-locker-for-next-f1-races/10447143/
2023.03.22 13:21 f1newsbot Fernando Alonso: How Aston Martin driver reached 100 podiums as Formula 1's ultimate underdog
Fernando Alonso has become just the sixth driver to reach 100 Formula 1 podiums, but the Spaniard has almost undoubtedly taken the most unconventional route to the milestone.
After the best part of a decade in the wilderness of F1's midfield, Alonso's stunning start to the 2023 season suggests he is finally back in the battle at the front of the grid.
A self-proclaimed "anti-hero" from the "dark side", embracing his character role as the villain, Alonso brought up his landmark podium in fittingly controversial style at Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, .
Having shown that Aston Martin mean business with a series of stunning overtakes on George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz to finish third at the season opener in Bahrain, Alonso appeared to be cruising to a far more straightforward podium in Jeddah. However, confusion over the rules saw Alonso celebrate on the podium before being demoted by a 10-second penalty, after which he was finally reinstated following an Aston Martin appeal.
Along with Red Bull's domination, the 41-year-old's unexpected speed has been the story of the opening two rounds of the 2023 season. Alonso's performances have provided inspiration to just about every non-Red Bull driver on the grid, with Aston Martin's remarkable improvement after finishing seventh in last year's constructors' standings showing how quickly progress can be made.
Alonso won back-to-back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, but a series of questionable moves around the paddock since then have limited his opportunities to compete for wins, let alone further titles - leaving him to assume a role of underdog while the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen have dominated.
Given the last of Alonso's 32 race wins came in 2013, the penultimate campaign of his five-year stint with Ferrari, most thought his hopes of adding to that tally were all but over, but now a fairy-tale ending to a decorated career appears possible.
We take a look back at the highs and lows of his career.
Alonso's career remarkably started before McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was born, back in 2001 at Minardi.
The Italian-based team, which still exists now as AlphaTauri having been bought by Red Bull and brought under their umbrella as a junior outfit to the current constructors' champions, certainly could have done with that sort of investment when Alonso was around.
There was very little money available to spend on development, and Alonso apparently helped to bolt pieces of the car together to make sure it was ready in time for the first race in Australia, where he would finish 12th.
At a time when points were only available to the top six finishers, Minardi and Alonso went the entire season without scoring, with a 10th place finish at Hockenheim his best effort.
There were also eight retirements for the Spaniard, highlighting the deficiencies of the model he was attempting to compete with.
Alonso's first taste of Formula 1 was undoubtedly with a genuine backmarker, and came at a time when the lack of a budget cap meant little teams had next to no chance of competing with the big players.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 0
It was only a one-season stay - not for the last time in his career - for Alonso, as he departed Minardi to become test driver at Renault, whose team boss Flavio Briatore was also Alonso's manager, and had been the one to spot his talent as a go-karter.
At a time when drivers were generally not given their breakthroughs into F1 at the young ages we see today, the 22-year-old Alonso was generating plenty of attention for both his youth and the fact he was Spain's first driver in the sport.
This meant that when he took a maiden pole position before going on to claim his first podium at just the second race of the season in Malaysia, the excitement increased. Next time he claimed a pole position, in August at the Hungaroring, he would convert it to a victory, making him at the time youngest driver to win a Grand Prix.
Not only was there a new star in the sport, but he was delivering for a team in Renault that weren't part of the establishment, and were looking to break up the domination of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, which they would finally do in 2005.
Alonso took advantage of a poor Ferrari season to quite comfortably beat McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen to the championship, but the race that epitomised his first title-winning season was in Imola, where the Spaniard held back a charging Schumacher in a nail-biting climax where the Ferrari was the quicker car.
Under pressure from the seven-time world champion and driver widely considered to be the sport's greatest of all time, Alonso held strong, setting down a marker for the remainder of the season.
It's fair to say that 2006 was the more impressive of Alonso's back-to-back title-winning campaigns, as this time he went toe-to-toe with Schumacher, who had won five successive titles going into the 2005 season.
Schumacher had announced that he would retire at the end of the season, and came into the campaign with huge motivation to end his career in fairy-tale fashion.
Alonso looked to have put that dream to bed as he won six of the first nine races - and finished second in the other three - to establish a huge advantage in the standings, but Schumacher would fight back with five wins in the next seven races to set up a tense finale.
However, Alonso would keep his cool under huge pressure once more, winning the penultimate race of the season in Japan before finishing second in Brazil to seal the title.
Race wins - 15
Podiums - 37
On paper, it wouldn't seem the most logical decision to leave a team with which you'd just won two successive titles, but that's exactly what Alonso did as he moved to McLaren to drive alongside a rookie named Lewis Hamilton.
The decision did turn out to be a mistake, but not in the way that anyone expected.
In one sense, the move to McLaren was on the money - the Woking-based team competed for the title with Ferrari while Renault were only the fourth-quickest team.
In every other sense, it was a disastrous chapter in Alonso's career that saw tensions flare between him and his team, not least with McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Hamilton.
Arguably, this was the first time in Alonso's career where he was the establishment and not the young outsider - that role fell to Hamilton, with whom he fought for the 2007 world championship.
The pair squabbled and lost each other points, before eventually finishing the season tied, just one point behind the title winner Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
"I think that the fallout with Lewis in 2007, where they fell out so spectacularly, basically gifted Kimi that title and it took him away from McLaren," Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok said.
"Then Lewis won the championship in 2008, so that's two years there where Fernando should've, would've, could've."
Alonso would leave under a cloud after one year, returning to Renault and giving up the chance to compete for titles.
Race wins - 4
Podiums - 12
The second time around with Renault felt like a bit of a placeholder, with the French team fairly uncompetitive.
Back in his favoured position as the underdog, Alonso took two victories in 2008 against the odds, albeit with one of them coming under controversial circumstances at the Singapore Grand Prix, with his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr crashing at a convenient time,
The 2009 season would see no wins for Alonso, and just the one podium in Singapore, before he moved onto a new team - this time, it was for a prancing horse.
Race wins - 2
Podiums - 4
Ferrari, the team that all F1 drivers want to race for, was the team that Fernando Alonso remained with for the longest period of time.
Alonso battled with Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel for the title between 2010 and 2012, missing out on glory in the final races in both 2010 and 2012 despite some scintillating drives.
A famous statistic about Fernando Alonso is that If he had scored 11 more points across his F1 career, he could be a five-time world champion, missing out by fine margins in 2007, 2010 and 2012.
In essence, his time at Ferrari was one of 'what ifs' as he competed against the metronomic Vettel, with a Ferrari that was generally weaker than the Red Bull.
In 2014, at the beginning of the hybrid engine era, Ferrari's car was not up to scratch and Alonso began to look elsewhere and would move on a 2015, a decision that Chandhok believes was premature.
"Okay, at the time, Ferrari were pretty miserable in 2014 - but it came good."
Ferrari would win three races in 2015 with Sebastian Vettel, who replaced Alonso in the scarlet car before taking the fight to Mercedes in 2017 and 2018.
"I still believe Fernando would've won the championship in 2018 at Ferrari that year," Chandhok added.
Race wins - 11
Podiums - 44
While Ferrari were returning to contention, Alonso had opted for a surprise reunion with McLaren, with Hamilton having moved on to Mercedes.
2015 was a reunion for McLaren in two respects - Honda, with which it had had fantastic success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Alonso, with whom they'd had a falling out.
While it was a reunion and world champion driver line-up of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, which had lots of promise, it delivered a horror show of slow cars, engine failures and frustrated radio messages that led to a messy divorce with Honda and a move to Renault power in 2018.
The engine performance had clearly been a big problem for McLaren, with Alonso making no secret of where he thought the blame lay as he used his team radio messages to make public statements.
"Driving with this, looking like amateurs", "this is embarrassing" and "GP2 engines" all come to mind.
While Honda's engine was not up to standard, it became clear that underlying poor car performance was also a factor as McLaren still languished in the midfield in 2018.
Though being the underdog is his style, this was a step too far at this stage of his career for a frustrated, helpless Alonso, and so he left McLaren and retired from Formula 1.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 0
As one of the greatest and most adaptable drivers in motorsport history, Fernando Alonso took the time away from Formula 1 to compete in other series, including the Indy 500, the Dakar Rally and Le Mans 24h.
He was an outsider, a rookie again, and with Toyota, he won the World Endurance Championship.
Alonso still had what it took to compete at the top of motorsport, so when in 2020 Sebastian Vettel left Ferrari, creating a domino effect in the driver market, it was no shock to see Alonso interested in returning to Formula 1.
Having already raced for the team in its Renault guise on two occasions, Alpine was the natural team for Alonso to return to when he came out of retirement in 2021.
The team had been hovering at the front of the midfield, but were unable to push on from that position even with Alonso's expertise.
While he did return to the podium at the 2021 Qatar GP, Alonso couldn't compete for victory - and his career looked to be winding down in mediocre fashion.
But Vettel announcing his retirement midway through the 2022 season would trigger an explosion in the driver market, leaving Alonso with one more opportunity.
Alpine weren't willing to give Alonso a two-year contract, so he went to a team that would. Alonso left describing Alpine "like family" but admitted that the lack of faith from the team was a reason he left.
"It seems that I have to be evaluated every year because of my date of birth," Alonso said, having just turned 41. "It was a bit strange to me and other teams think differently and they trust in my abilities."
It was clear the spirit of the young Spaniard trying to prove his worth at Minardi 19 years earlier was still very much present.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 1
Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin had faith in Alonso, and gave him the two-year contract that he wanted.
Given their well-known desires to things on their own terms, many had concerns about Alonso and his new boss Lawrence Stroll's relationship.
However, two races and two podiums in, it appears as though this could be Alonso's type of team - they're an enigma and an unexpected force to be reckoned with that are disturbing the establishment.
Aston Martin are beating Mercedes, the team who supply them with an engine and other hugely significant parts of their car, while the Spaniard has also overcome the might of Ferrari.
While they are well-funded now, Aston Martin carry an underdog mentality with staff still around from their their previous guises as Jordan, Force India and Racing Point, who competed as less wealthy outfits that could occasional steal a race beneath the noses of giants.
As Sky Sports F1's Simon Lazenby put it: "Fernando is always effective, whatever he does he will drag the best out of that car.
"I think if you put everyone in equal machinery, I can't see him being far off Lewis or far off Max Verstappen.
"But Fernando has been operating at that level for 20 years. Fernando relishes being the underdog."
In a season where Red Bull's pace looks scary for the opposition, Alonso has just the car and team to play the role he loves best in the high-speed theatre of Formula 1.
If you didn't know who he was, now you do. After brining up a 100th podium, Alonso's next challenge is to find an elusive 33rd race victory. Can he do it in 2023? Find out live on Sky Sports F1.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 2
Source: https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12832080/fernando-alonso-how-aston-martin-driver-reached-100-podiums-as-formula-1s-ultimate-underdog
submitted by f1newsbot to NonFatF1News [link] [comments]
After the best part of a decade in the wilderness of F1's midfield, Alonso's stunning start to the 2023 season suggests he is finally back in the battle at the front of the grid.
A self-proclaimed "anti-hero" from the "dark side", embracing his character role as the villain, Alonso brought up his landmark podium in fittingly controversial style at Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, .
Having shown that Aston Martin mean business with a series of stunning overtakes on George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz to finish third at the season opener in Bahrain, Alonso appeared to be cruising to a far more straightforward podium in Jeddah. However, confusion over the rules saw Alonso celebrate on the podium before being demoted by a 10-second penalty, after which he was finally reinstated following an Aston Martin appeal.
Along with Red Bull's domination, the 41-year-old's unexpected speed has been the story of the opening two rounds of the 2023 season. Alonso's performances have provided inspiration to just about every non-Red Bull driver on the grid, with Aston Martin's remarkable improvement after finishing seventh in last year's constructors' standings showing how quickly progress can be made.
Alonso won back-to-back world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, but a series of questionable moves around the paddock since then have limited his opportunities to compete for wins, let alone further titles - leaving him to assume a role of underdog while the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen have dominated.
Given the last of Alonso's 32 race wins came in 2013, the penultimate campaign of his five-year stint with Ferrari, most thought his hopes of adding to that tally were all but over, but now a fairy-tale ending to a decorated career appears possible.
We take a look back at the highs and lows of his career.
Alonso's career remarkably started before McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was born, back in 2001 at Minardi.
The Italian-based team, which still exists now as AlphaTauri having been bought by Red Bull and brought under their umbrella as a junior outfit to the current constructors' champions, certainly could have done with that sort of investment when Alonso was around.
There was very little money available to spend on development, and Alonso apparently helped to bolt pieces of the car together to make sure it was ready in time for the first race in Australia, where he would finish 12th.
At a time when points were only available to the top six finishers, Minardi and Alonso went the entire season without scoring, with a 10th place finish at Hockenheim his best effort.
There were also eight retirements for the Spaniard, highlighting the deficiencies of the model he was attempting to compete with.
Alonso's first taste of Formula 1 was undoubtedly with a genuine backmarker, and came at a time when the lack of a budget cap meant little teams had next to no chance of competing with the big players.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 0
It was only a one-season stay - not for the last time in his career - for Alonso, as he departed Minardi to become test driver at Renault, whose team boss Flavio Briatore was also Alonso's manager, and had been the one to spot his talent as a go-karter.
At a time when drivers were generally not given their breakthroughs into F1 at the young ages we see today, the 22-year-old Alonso was generating plenty of attention for both his youth and the fact he was Spain's first driver in the sport.
This meant that when he took a maiden pole position before going on to claim his first podium at just the second race of the season in Malaysia, the excitement increased. Next time he claimed a pole position, in August at the Hungaroring, he would convert it to a victory, making him at the time youngest driver to win a Grand Prix.
Not only was there a new star in the sport, but he was delivering for a team in Renault that weren't part of the establishment, and were looking to break up the domination of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, which they would finally do in 2005.
Alonso took advantage of a poor Ferrari season to quite comfortably beat McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen to the championship, but the race that epitomised his first title-winning season was in Imola, where the Spaniard held back a charging Schumacher in a nail-biting climax where the Ferrari was the quicker car.
Under pressure from the seven-time world champion and driver widely considered to be the sport's greatest of all time, Alonso held strong, setting down a marker for the remainder of the season.
It's fair to say that 2006 was the more impressive of Alonso's back-to-back title-winning campaigns, as this time he went toe-to-toe with Schumacher, who had won five successive titles going into the 2005 season.
Schumacher had announced that he would retire at the end of the season, and came into the campaign with huge motivation to end his career in fairy-tale fashion.
Alonso looked to have put that dream to bed as he won six of the first nine races - and finished second in the other three - to establish a huge advantage in the standings, but Schumacher would fight back with five wins in the next seven races to set up a tense finale.
However, Alonso would keep his cool under huge pressure once more, winning the penultimate race of the season in Japan before finishing second in Brazil to seal the title.
Race wins - 15
Podiums - 37
On paper, it wouldn't seem the most logical decision to leave a team with which you'd just won two successive titles, but that's exactly what Alonso did as he moved to McLaren to drive alongside a rookie named Lewis Hamilton.
The decision did turn out to be a mistake, but not in the way that anyone expected.
In one sense, the move to McLaren was on the money - the Woking-based team competed for the title with Ferrari while Renault were only the fourth-quickest team.
In every other sense, it was a disastrous chapter in Alonso's career that saw tensions flare between him and his team, not least with McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Hamilton.
Arguably, this was the first time in Alonso's career where he was the establishment and not the young outsider - that role fell to Hamilton, with whom he fought for the 2007 world championship.
The pair squabbled and lost each other points, before eventually finishing the season tied, just one point behind the title winner Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari.
"I think that the fallout with Lewis in 2007, where they fell out so spectacularly, basically gifted Kimi that title and it took him away from McLaren," Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok said.
"Then Lewis won the championship in 2008, so that's two years there where Fernando should've, would've, could've."
Alonso would leave under a cloud after one year, returning to Renault and giving up the chance to compete for titles.
Race wins - 4
Podiums - 12
The second time around with Renault felt like a bit of a placeholder, with the French team fairly uncompetitive.
Back in his favoured position as the underdog, Alonso took two victories in 2008 against the odds, albeit with one of them coming under controversial circumstances at the Singapore Grand Prix, with his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr crashing at a convenient time,
The 2009 season would see no wins for Alonso, and just the one podium in Singapore, before he moved onto a new team - this time, it was for a prancing horse.
Race wins - 2
Podiums - 4
Ferrari, the team that all F1 drivers want to race for, was the team that Fernando Alonso remained with for the longest period of time.
Alonso battled with Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel for the title between 2010 and 2012, missing out on glory in the final races in both 2010 and 2012 despite some scintillating drives.
A famous statistic about Fernando Alonso is that If he had scored 11 more points across his F1 career, he could be a five-time world champion, missing out by fine margins in 2007, 2010 and 2012.
In essence, his time at Ferrari was one of 'what ifs' as he competed against the metronomic Vettel, with a Ferrari that was generally weaker than the Red Bull.
In 2014, at the beginning of the hybrid engine era, Ferrari's car was not up to scratch and Alonso began to look elsewhere and would move on a 2015, a decision that Chandhok believes was premature.
"Okay, at the time, Ferrari were pretty miserable in 2014 - but it came good."
Ferrari would win three races in 2015 with Sebastian Vettel, who replaced Alonso in the scarlet car before taking the fight to Mercedes in 2017 and 2018.
"I still believe Fernando would've won the championship in 2018 at Ferrari that year," Chandhok added.
Race wins - 11
Podiums - 44
While Ferrari were returning to contention, Alonso had opted for a surprise reunion with McLaren, with Hamilton having moved on to Mercedes.
2015 was a reunion for McLaren in two respects - Honda, with which it had had fantastic success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Alonso, with whom they'd had a falling out.
While it was a reunion and world champion driver line-up of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, which had lots of promise, it delivered a horror show of slow cars, engine failures and frustrated radio messages that led to a messy divorce with Honda and a move to Renault power in 2018.
The engine performance had clearly been a big problem for McLaren, with Alonso making no secret of where he thought the blame lay as he used his team radio messages to make public statements.
"Driving with this, looking like amateurs", "this is embarrassing" and "GP2 engines" all come to mind.
While Honda's engine was not up to standard, it became clear that underlying poor car performance was also a factor as McLaren still languished in the midfield in 2018.
Though being the underdog is his style, this was a step too far at this stage of his career for a frustrated, helpless Alonso, and so he left McLaren and retired from Formula 1.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 0
As one of the greatest and most adaptable drivers in motorsport history, Fernando Alonso took the time away from Formula 1 to compete in other series, including the Indy 500, the Dakar Rally and Le Mans 24h.
He was an outsider, a rookie again, and with Toyota, he won the World Endurance Championship.
Alonso still had what it took to compete at the top of motorsport, so when in 2020 Sebastian Vettel left Ferrari, creating a domino effect in the driver market, it was no shock to see Alonso interested in returning to Formula 1.
Having already raced for the team in its Renault guise on two occasions, Alpine was the natural team for Alonso to return to when he came out of retirement in 2021.
The team had been hovering at the front of the midfield, but were unable to push on from that position even with Alonso's expertise.
While he did return to the podium at the 2021 Qatar GP, Alonso couldn't compete for victory - and his career looked to be winding down in mediocre fashion.
But Vettel announcing his retirement midway through the 2022 season would trigger an explosion in the driver market, leaving Alonso with one more opportunity.
Alpine weren't willing to give Alonso a two-year contract, so he went to a team that would. Alonso left describing Alpine "like family" but admitted that the lack of faith from the team was a reason he left.
"It seems that I have to be evaluated every year because of my date of birth," Alonso said, having just turned 41. "It was a bit strange to me and other teams think differently and they trust in my abilities."
It was clear the spirit of the young Spaniard trying to prove his worth at Minardi 19 years earlier was still very much present.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 1
Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin had faith in Alonso, and gave him the two-year contract that he wanted.
Given their well-known desires to things on their own terms, many had concerns about Alonso and his new boss Lawrence Stroll's relationship.
However, two races and two podiums in, it appears as though this could be Alonso's type of team - they're an enigma and an unexpected force to be reckoned with that are disturbing the establishment.
Aston Martin are beating Mercedes, the team who supply them with an engine and other hugely significant parts of their car, while the Spaniard has also overcome the might of Ferrari.
While they are well-funded now, Aston Martin carry an underdog mentality with staff still around from their their previous guises as Jordan, Force India and Racing Point, who competed as less wealthy outfits that could occasional steal a race beneath the noses of giants.
As Sky Sports F1's Simon Lazenby put it: "Fernando is always effective, whatever he does he will drag the best out of that car.
"I think if you put everyone in equal machinery, I can't see him being far off Lewis or far off Max Verstappen.
"But Fernando has been operating at that level for 20 years. Fernando relishes being the underdog."
In a season where Red Bull's pace looks scary for the opposition, Alonso has just the car and team to play the role he loves best in the high-speed theatre of Formula 1.
If you didn't know who he was, now you do. After brining up a 100th podium, Alonso's next challenge is to find an elusive 33rd race victory. Can he do it in 2023? Find out live on Sky Sports F1.
Race wins - 0
Podiums - 2
Source: https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12832080/fernando-alonso-how-aston-martin-driver-reached-100-podiums-as-formula-1s-ultimate-underdog
2023.03.22 13:12 EagleIcy6906 Dad went on a fishing trip and Malla has tried to look for dad at home or to look through the window to see if the car had already returned to the parking lot. Can't find it 🥺 This little poodle's love and longing for his father is pretty cute! // Daddy went fishing and I've tried to find him. I'm
 | submitted by EagleIcy6906 to DogIsBestFriend [link] [comments] |
2023.03.22 12:31 Nellthe Citizens Exchange - Chapter 4 - Royal Manners
Note: As I said I want to take my time with this story and write it in better quality ("book alike") with bigger chapters and more characters development and world building. Enjoy this chapter!
Prologue Chapter 1 Prev Next
*****
Karina stepped through the portal for the second time that day, emerging in a bustling square in the heart of Aharedun, the capital city of the Kingdom of Aranthia. Unlike the portal to Thalassar, this one was noticeably smaller and less blurry, allowing Karina to clearly see the guards standing on the other side of the shimmering energy field. They wore their imposing grayish armor, their eyes trained on the group of travelers that had just arrived.
Leading the way was Prince Kaelen, who beckoned Karina and their new Viluna companions to follow him into the city. As they made their way through the square, Karina couldn't help but marvel at the sights and sounds around her. The buildings were unlike anything she had ever seen on Earth, with towering spires and ornate decorations adorning every surface. The air was thick with the scent of exotic spices and the sound of alien music that made her toes tap in rhythm.
The crowd that had gathered to greet them was diverse, made up of Thalassarians they already met and several others, she wasn’t sure if they were other species or races.
Her attention was drawn to a particular figure in the crowd, a small creature with dark-green skin and carapaces on its body. It wore a bright yellow toga and had a face that was humanoid but with distinct differences. Its nose was small and almost imperceptible, and it had no hair on its head. Karina couldn't help but stare, fascinated by this strange being.
Before she could take in more of her surroundings, Prince Kaelen stepped forward and made a gesture opening both of his hands and waving his head from one side to other, prompting the crowd to follow suit. Karina wasn't sure if it was a greeting or a bow, but she joined in, copying the movement.
"Welcome, citizens of Aharedun and visitors from afar!" Prince Kaelen announced to the crowd. "We are honored to have these new guests among us, the Humans! We will be taking them to the Royal Palace to show them more of our city tonight and in the coming days. In the meantime, please enjoy the festivities and explore our wonderful city!"
The crowd erupted into applause, and Karina felt a sense of warmth and hospitality from the Thalassarians, she wasn’t sure what she expected once they came here, but this was a welcome sight. As they followed Prince Kaelen down the bustling street, she took in more of the sights and sounds around her, feeling a sense of adventure and excitement building within her. She couldn't wait to see what other wonders this world had in store for her.
They walked stone-cobbled streets towards the big Palace prompted on one of the hills that surrounded the city. The whole time Karina and the humans were escorted by the legion of guards and the hooded figures appeared every once in a while on the corners or on top of the buildings.
“How many people live here?” Karina asked her Viluna which was hovering near her shoulder.
“Around five hundred thousand,” Viluna answered with a squeaky voice.
“Is that a lot in Thalassar or?” Karina asked curiously.
“It’s on a bigger spectrum, but that are larger cities, Aranthia has three bigger cities, but this their capital due to its geopolitical position.” A little speck of flittering light answered. “Which city are you from back on Earth?” The little creature asked her.
“I was born in Moscow,” Karina answered.
“Ahh, we have heard of it in our brief time on Earth,” Viluna answered.
“What?” Karina was shocked. “You have been on Earth? When?” She asked.
“We have visited once the portal was open,” Viluna answered. “We are curious creatures, drawn to new things.”
“How come no one saw you?” Karina asked looking at the Viluna as it flown around her head.
“We can’t take physical or any form on that matter on Earth.” The creature said. “See on our moon we have a physical form, down here on Thalassar we are like this, but once we went through the portal we became nothing but a flicker in the air, barely visible if you knew what you were looking for.” The creature said changing its colors.
“So, why are you here and with us if you can just go to Earth and learn all about us from the shadows?” Karina asked.
“Well, it’s not that simple. Since we can not find any form on Earth, we can’t stay long there, no more than an hour at a time and once we get back it takes us long time to recover.” Viluna explained.
Karina furrowed her brows, trying to understand. “Why is that?”
“We start to lose ourselves if we stay longer. Our minds can’t work right without a form. If we were to stay longer, we would probably cease to exist, as our minds would get lost completely,” Viluna said, changing colors.
“Hmm,” Karina said thinking. “You are weird little creatures. We will talk more tonight, I want to take in all the sights now.” With that said the little creature buzzed above her head.
They had almost reached the big palace during their conversation, only a big flight of rounding stone stairs was between them and an enormous gate at the top of the hill.
“Up we go humans,” Prince Kaelen said and started climbing.
They made their way up the grand staircase, their footsteps echoing against the stone steps. Karina looked around in awe at the view of the city that was unfolding before her. She could see the different districts and neighborhoods of Aharedun, each with its own unique architecture and vibe. She noticed a few towering buildings that stood out from the rest, in her mind those belonged to the nobility or wealthy merchants.
As they reached the top of the stairs, they were met with the sight of the enormous gate, decorated with intricate carvings and symbols that Karina couldn't decipher. The gate was guarded by two large statues of armored soldiers riding unfamiliar beasts, their swords raised and ready to strike. The guards opened the gates, and they stepped into a wide courtyard, filled with lush greenery and fountains.
The palace itself was an impressive structure, with several wings and towers reaching up toward the sky. The walls were made of a white stone that shimmered in the sunlight, and the windows were adorned with colorful stained glass. Karina could see balconies and terraces on the upper floors buzzing with people looking down at their new guests.
Prince Kaelen stood and faced the crown. “Welcome to Royal Palace,” He said opening his arms to show the majestic structure spreading on three sides around them. “It’s been built by my family some four hundred years ago and had been our home ever since.”
As Kaelen talked Karina took her time to take in the marvelous Palace. She was struck by the sheer grandeur of the architecture. Towering pillars rose up from the ground, supporting massive arches and intricate carvings that adorned every inch of the Palace's façade. The gardens were a sight to behold as well, with an array of exotic flowers and plants that seemed to glow in the sunlight. Karina could hear the soft babbling of a nearby fountain, which was surrounded by a group of playful Thalassarian children who were splashing around in the water.
Karina took few steps away from the group and noticed the bustling activity of the Thalassarians as they tended to the upkeep of the Palace and its grounds. Some were meticulously cleaning the pavement, making sure that every stone was spotless. Others were hard at work, trimming and pruning the greenery so that it maintained its shape and beauty. Karina couldn't help but admire the dedication and attention to detail that the Thalassarians put into their work.
Despite their busy schedules, the Thalassarians still found time to take in the sights and sounds of the Palace. Karina observed that they often stopped to exchange greetings and friendly banter with one another, even as they went about their tasks. And yet, whenever opportunity arose, the Thalassarians couldn't help but steal glances in the direction of humans. It was clear that they were curious about the visitors.
“This will be your home for the next year, or until you wish to get reassigned to another part of the program.” Kaelen said finishing speech. “There will be a maid so to say or someone to be of your assistance for each of assigned on top of your Vilunas to make your lives in palace easier. Go ahead enter the east wing of the palace and you will find your rooms at the second and third floor.”
Karina's heart skipped a beat as she stepped into the Palace, her eyes wide open as she tried to take in the grandeur of the interior. The entryway was dominated by a massive chandelier, but she noticed that instead of light bulbs, it was adorned with floating spheres of light that illuminated the entire room in a soft, warm white glow. The walls were painted in a rich shade of yellow, resembling the color of the ocean, while the marble floors were decorated with intricate patterns that seemed the follow the motives from their uniforms.
As she followed the grand hallway, she passed by rooms that were equally lush and rich. She couldn't help but marvel at the fine artwork that adorned the walls, the intricate tapestries that hung from the ceiling, and the luxurious furniture that filled each room. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.
Climbing at the third floor she arrived at her room. It was just as grand as the rest of the Palace, with a large four-poster bed draped in luxurious silks, a writing desk made of rare woods, and a balcony that offered a stunning view of the gardens below.
As Karina was lost in thought, the sound of the door opening startled her. She turned to see a young Thalassarian woman with strikingly unique eyes. They were a deep purple with a faint glow, an unmistakable characteristic of the Thalassarians. Karina guessed her to be in her early twenties, but it was hard to tell with them yet.
The woman's beauty was undeniable, but there was also an awkwardness about her that made her all the more endearing. She stood there nervously, clasping her hands together, as she spoke in a soft voice, "Mistress, my name is Nereia. I have been assigned to assist you during your stay here."
Karina couldn't help but smile at the young woman's formal address, "Please, call me Karina. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Nereia."
Nereia let out a small sigh of relief, "Thank you, Karina. If you'll allow me, I'll show you around and help you with anything you need during your stay here. How do you like your room?" Nereia asked.
“I love it, it’s beautiful,” Karina answered truthfully. “It’s all very overwhelming, but it’s grandiose, to say the least,” Karina said with a friendly smile.
Nereia returned the smile, her faintly glowing eyes sparkling in the light. "I'm glad you like it. Well, the Royal Family is known for its luxurious style.” She said. “Is there anything else you need before I leave you to settle in?"
Karina shook her head, "No, I think I'm good for now. Thank you again, Nereia."
“I will be back later with a gown for the welcome feast tonight, you make yourself comfortable and call me if you need anything,” Nereia left and closed the door behind her.
Moments later Karina stepped out onto the terrace, taking in the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the sound of trickling water from the nearby fountain. She noticed Viluna, her sparkling companion, floating nearby.
"Hey,” Karina said, smiling at her companion. “I was wondering if you could tell me about how magic works. That’s one of the things we humans are the most curious about."
Viluna beamed back at Karina. "It won’t be that simple I am afraid, Karina. Magic is a complex and powerful force that is present in all living things. It's the energy that flows through us and connects us to the world around us."
“Why it won’t be that simple?” Karina asked curiously.
“Well, that’s amongst few things we are not allowed to share with you humans yet,” It said.
“What? Why?” Karina asked. “Aren’t you here to share the knowledge with us?”
“Yes, we are. But it was in the deal we made with the Prince,” Viluna said floating near her head. “The King himself requested we don’t share that knowledge yet, at least not to the full extent. I will answer some of the basic questions and I am sure you will find a lot on your own talking to other Thalassarians, but for now, we are not allowed to explain in detail.”
“Why did he request that?” Karina continued her barrage of questions.
“Because he is afraid that if we give out all of our knowledge you will be able to use it against them if you ever decide to invade again,” Viluna said the explanation made sense to Karina. “But don’t worry if the program goes well I am sure all the knowledge between the two worlds will be shared eventually as the trust grows.”
“Hmm,” Karina frowned. “Makes sense I guess. What can you share now then?” She was persistent.
“Well, All I can tell you is that most of the Thalassarians can cast some of the magic, or at least have to ability to learn it. But to those that can only access simple spells like creating a light sphere, it means nothing. I don’t know if I can find a perfect comparison, but it’s like all of you know how to read and write, but it doesn’t make you special in your own world.”
“Hmm, I don’t know if it’s a great analogy, but I think I get it,” Karina said sitting back in the comfortable chair on the corner of the terrace. “ What else can you share? Where does the magic come from?”
“Hmm, not sure,” Viluna said in a soft voice. “The source of the magic comes to from the moons of Thalassar. There are thirteen of them orbiting the planet and each one of them provides a person with a specific power. Every being born on Thalassar has a connection with at least one and that’s how they are able to make basic spells like light spheres, a small burst of fire, heal minor wounds, and so on.” Viluna spoke and danced around Karina’s head as she listened carefully.
“More skilled mages, healers, enchanters, and so on, have a connection to several moons and use their powers to create and cast unique spells. Even to this day people are able to think of new ways to cast and create new spells. It’s way more complex than that, but it’s all I am able to share for now, that information you can gather by asking almost anyone on the street and it can’t hurt the kingdom.”
“Woah, that’s interesting,” Karina said her eyes full of wonder. “Can someone have a connection to all of the moons?” Karina asked curiously.
“No, that’s unheard of,” Viluna answered landing on her knee. “Powerful magic users most have around five to six connections, the highest anyone ever had was ten, but it is more a myth than a confirmed fact, we don’t have any evidence that Xandros the Second had that ability.”
“Hmm,” Karina said taking in everything her little companion shared with her. “I am sorry, I just realized I never asked you for your name.”
“We Viluna’s don’t have names, but you are free to name me and call me whatever you like,”
“Ok, how about Lumina,” Karina asked right away. “Don’t know why but that name suits you.”
“I like it,” Lumina said her form shifting slightly.
Karina continued to ask a question to Lumina as she overlooked the busy gardens of the Royal Palace. An hour had passed in a blink and a knock from a door cut their conversation.
“Excuse me, Mistress Karina,” a soft voice said with a polite tone. “It’s Nereia, I brought your gown.”
Karina opened the door and welcomed the girl with a warm smile. “Come on in,” She said opening the door wide.
“I am afraid I can’t, they need us down to get everything ready for the feast tonight.” She said. “Here is your gown, get ready and I will come to get you in less than an hour and lead you towards the banquet hall.” Nereia handed her the gown and left.
Karina looked at the gown in awe as she held it in her hands, without hesitation she put the gown on. It was a beautiful, flowing creation made of the finest silk, with intricate embroidery and beading in shades of turquoise and silver. The sleeves were sheer, with delicate lace trimming, and the bodice hugged her curves before cascading down into a billowing skirt that trailed behind her as she walked.
It wasn’t her style at all, she was more of street clothes kinda a girl, but looking at herself in the mirror, she was blown away. She made a few turns looking at the dress from all angles. This kind of dress would cost her fortune back on earth. She found a few silver clips on the desk and styled her hair as best she could to go along with the dress.
A few moments later, Nereia arrived at the door, dressed in a lovely gown of her own, visibly less luxurious than the one Karina got. "You look stunning, Mistress Karina," she said with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"
Karina nodded, feeling a bit nervous but excited as well. She followed Nereia down the hallway, her long gown trailing behind her as they made their way toward the banquet hall. As they walked, Karina couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the palace once again. Every inch of it was adorned with intricate carvings, sparkling jewels, and delicate tapestries.
Finally, they arrived at the banquet hall. The hall was massive, with soaring ceilings, glittering chandeliers, and walls adorned with shimmering gold decorations. The tables were covered in rich, embroidered cloths, and gleaming silverware sparkled in the light of the glowing spheres floating above the table.
The guests were already arriving, each one more elegantly dressed than the last. They were all talking and laughing, their voices echoing off the grand walls of the hall. Karina felt a bit intimidated, but Nereia squeezed her arm reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Mistress Karina," she whispered. "I know feasts like these can look intimidating, but you humans are the stars of the show."
With that, she led Karina toward their assigned table where most of the humans would sit this evening. Nereia took a seat next to her and on the other side, she recognized a girl from their program wearing a similar gown.
“Hey,” Karina said softly. “How are taking all of this?”
“Hey Karina, it’s overwhelming, but everything is beautiful so far, can’t complain,” Clarissa answered. “How about you?”
“Same,” Karina answered and they continued with small talk before the soft music that was playing stopped and people started standing up. Nereia slowly tugged at her arm pointing for the stand as well. Seconds later prince Kaelen walked into the hall with a beautiful woman under his arm. She was stunningly beautiful, with long golden hair that cascaded down her back in loose waves. Her dress was a shimmering ivory color, with delicate beading that sparkled in the candlelight.
Karina couldn't help but notice the intricate braids woven into the woman's hair, forming an elegant and intricate pattern that must have taken hours to create. Her makeup was subtle, but enhanced her natural beauty, with a soft pink lip and just a touch of blush on her cheeks.
“That’s Zaya, Kaelen’s bride-to-be,” Nereia said.
“She is beautiful,” Karina answered truthfully.
“Yes, she is amongst the most beautiful women in the kingdom. Kaelen chose her instead of marrying someone from his family provided in order to establish better relations with other kingdoms. It was a big deal at the time, but that’s prince Kaelen, he always does what he wants.” Nereia explained and Karina just nodded looking at the stunning couple.
“What’s the prince like?” Karina asked.
“He always stood out from the Royal Family. He is a bit eccentric, he likes to party, and travel, and isn’t really that much interested in Family matters.” Nereia said as the couple took a seat at the main table. “Bringing you guys here with this Citizens Exchange program is his way of proving his worth to the kingdom and his family.”
“How so?” Karina asked curiously.
“He doesn’t believe in his family policy of war and old-style politics. He believes both planets could benefit from each other if we set our differences aside and work together. The King was not for this program at all, but the prince managed to convince him otherwise with the help of his Mother.” Karina nodded in understanding and minutes later waiters started serving dinner.
Karina was serving a weird purple-looking fruit or vegetable, she wasn’t sure. “What’s this?” She asked Nereia.
“That’s Nemoryn fruit, it’s one of the best delicates in the Thalassar and only grown on one small island,” Nereia said. “It’s usually served only on big banquets and before the main course as this fruit is known to open the appetite and help dissolve the rest of the food easier.”
“And how do you eat it?” Karina asked poking at the fruit with her knife.
Neremia chuckled softly. “You cut off top and the bottom and then peel the leathery exterior.”
Karina did as told and the inside revealed a pink, jelly-like inside that was filled with small, edible seeds.
“You can eat it all, it’s ok to eat it with the spoon,” Nereia said.
Karina nodded and took her spoon taking a bite out of the fruit. It was soft and crunchy at the same time with a mild, sweet, and subtly bitter flavor. It began to melt into a liquid inside her mouth and the taste reminded of lime and coconut mixed together.
“Woah, this is delicious,” Karina said and took another bite. “Your food is truly amazing.”
Nereia smiled. “Yes it is, but you also are getting the best of the best, keep that in mind.” She said with a smile and Karina nodded her mouth full of delicious fruit.
The rest of the banquet went as expected, they ate amazing food, Karina made small talk with the rest of the humans, and spent most of the night chatting with Nereia, who proved to be rather curious about humans once she loosened up. Prince Kaelen provided them with a whole night of entertainment, dancers, actors, and entertainers took turns at the podium as the night went away.
Deep into the night when the feast was nearing its end, a loud explosion was heard from the outside and bright light emanated deep from the city which could be seen through the open terrace on one side of the banquet hall. Karina ran towards the terrace but the guards were already at the door prohibiting anyone to exit. Karina managed to peer through the cracks in their massive armor and saw a big flame at the part of the city where they walked earlier in the day.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure it’s nothing.” Prince Kaelen said with a stern voice. “Please leave for your rooms we have our people already investigating the source of the explosion. You will be informed of what happened as soon as we know.” He said and left the banquet hall in the hurry.
Nereia escorted Karina to her room and helped her unzip the dress before she left. Karina sank into a soft bed and her mind started racing with everything that happened today, but before the thought could consume her, tiredness took over and she sank into a deep sleep.
She was awakened by the commotion outside her terrace early in the morning. She ran and looked outside and saw Prince Kaelen talking with a man in a uniform she hasn’t seen so far, he had dozens of soldiers at his side. She quickly got dressed into the clothes she came in and went downstairs to look for Nereia.
“What’s going on?” Karina asked as she found the young girl sitting at the bench in the garden.
“Mistress Karina, you are awake,” Nereia said with a smile.
Karina could sense something was off, so she asked again. “What’s going on?”
“I am afraid nothing good,” Nereia said with a worried look on her face. “One of the ships transporting humans was attacked and destroyed last night at the open see.” She said bowing her head down.
“Which one?” Karina asked her heart racing.
“The one transporting your people to military camps,” Nereia said.
Karina’s heart sank in her chest with the realization that it was Liam’s ship. She almost fainted but Nereia took her by arm and helped her sit on the bench. First the explosion last night, then the ship, something was off and it made Karina have almost a full-blown panic attack, but her worry was focused on Liam now, she needed to find out what happened to him and if he was ok.
*****
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Prologue Chapter 1 Prev Next
*****
Karina stepped through the portal for the second time that day, emerging in a bustling square in the heart of Aharedun, the capital city of the Kingdom of Aranthia. Unlike the portal to Thalassar, this one was noticeably smaller and less blurry, allowing Karina to clearly see the guards standing on the other side of the shimmering energy field. They wore their imposing grayish armor, their eyes trained on the group of travelers that had just arrived.
Leading the way was Prince Kaelen, who beckoned Karina and their new Viluna companions to follow him into the city. As they made their way through the square, Karina couldn't help but marvel at the sights and sounds around her. The buildings were unlike anything she had ever seen on Earth, with towering spires and ornate decorations adorning every surface. The air was thick with the scent of exotic spices and the sound of alien music that made her toes tap in rhythm.
The crowd that had gathered to greet them was diverse, made up of Thalassarians they already met and several others, she wasn’t sure if they were other species or races.
Her attention was drawn to a particular figure in the crowd, a small creature with dark-green skin and carapaces on its body. It wore a bright yellow toga and had a face that was humanoid but with distinct differences. Its nose was small and almost imperceptible, and it had no hair on its head. Karina couldn't help but stare, fascinated by this strange being.
Before she could take in more of her surroundings, Prince Kaelen stepped forward and made a gesture opening both of his hands and waving his head from one side to other, prompting the crowd to follow suit. Karina wasn't sure if it was a greeting or a bow, but she joined in, copying the movement.
"Welcome, citizens of Aharedun and visitors from afar!" Prince Kaelen announced to the crowd. "We are honored to have these new guests among us, the Humans! We will be taking them to the Royal Palace to show them more of our city tonight and in the coming days. In the meantime, please enjoy the festivities and explore our wonderful city!"
The crowd erupted into applause, and Karina felt a sense of warmth and hospitality from the Thalassarians, she wasn’t sure what she expected once they came here, but this was a welcome sight. As they followed Prince Kaelen down the bustling street, she took in more of the sights and sounds around her, feeling a sense of adventure and excitement building within her. She couldn't wait to see what other wonders this world had in store for her.
They walked stone-cobbled streets towards the big Palace prompted on one of the hills that surrounded the city. The whole time Karina and the humans were escorted by the legion of guards and the hooded figures appeared every once in a while on the corners or on top of the buildings.
“How many people live here?” Karina asked her Viluna which was hovering near her shoulder.
“Around five hundred thousand,” Viluna answered with a squeaky voice.
“Is that a lot in Thalassar or?” Karina asked curiously.
“It’s on a bigger spectrum, but that are larger cities, Aranthia has three bigger cities, but this their capital due to its geopolitical position.” A little speck of flittering light answered. “Which city are you from back on Earth?” The little creature asked her.
“I was born in Moscow,” Karina answered.
“Ahh, we have heard of it in our brief time on Earth,” Viluna answered.
“What?” Karina was shocked. “You have been on Earth? When?” She asked.
“We have visited once the portal was open,” Viluna answered. “We are curious creatures, drawn to new things.”
“How come no one saw you?” Karina asked looking at the Viluna as it flown around her head.
“We can’t take physical or any form on that matter on Earth.” The creature said. “See on our moon we have a physical form, down here on Thalassar we are like this, but once we went through the portal we became nothing but a flicker in the air, barely visible if you knew what you were looking for.” The creature said changing its colors.
“So, why are you here and with us if you can just go to Earth and learn all about us from the shadows?” Karina asked.
“Well, it’s not that simple. Since we can not find any form on Earth, we can’t stay long there, no more than an hour at a time and once we get back it takes us long time to recover.” Viluna explained.
Karina furrowed her brows, trying to understand. “Why is that?”
“We start to lose ourselves if we stay longer. Our minds can’t work right without a form. If we were to stay longer, we would probably cease to exist, as our minds would get lost completely,” Viluna said, changing colors.
“Hmm,” Karina said thinking. “You are weird little creatures. We will talk more tonight, I want to take in all the sights now.” With that said the little creature buzzed above her head.
They had almost reached the big palace during their conversation, only a big flight of rounding stone stairs was between them and an enormous gate at the top of the hill.
“Up we go humans,” Prince Kaelen said and started climbing.
They made their way up the grand staircase, their footsteps echoing against the stone steps. Karina looked around in awe at the view of the city that was unfolding before her. She could see the different districts and neighborhoods of Aharedun, each with its own unique architecture and vibe. She noticed a few towering buildings that stood out from the rest, in her mind those belonged to the nobility or wealthy merchants.
As they reached the top of the stairs, they were met with the sight of the enormous gate, decorated with intricate carvings and symbols that Karina couldn't decipher. The gate was guarded by two large statues of armored soldiers riding unfamiliar beasts, their swords raised and ready to strike. The guards opened the gates, and they stepped into a wide courtyard, filled with lush greenery and fountains.
The palace itself was an impressive structure, with several wings and towers reaching up toward the sky. The walls were made of a white stone that shimmered in the sunlight, and the windows were adorned with colorful stained glass. Karina could see balconies and terraces on the upper floors buzzing with people looking down at their new guests.
Prince Kaelen stood and faced the crown. “Welcome to Royal Palace,” He said opening his arms to show the majestic structure spreading on three sides around them. “It’s been built by my family some four hundred years ago and had been our home ever since.”
As Kaelen talked Karina took her time to take in the marvelous Palace. She was struck by the sheer grandeur of the architecture. Towering pillars rose up from the ground, supporting massive arches and intricate carvings that adorned every inch of the Palace's façade. The gardens were a sight to behold as well, with an array of exotic flowers and plants that seemed to glow in the sunlight. Karina could hear the soft babbling of a nearby fountain, which was surrounded by a group of playful Thalassarian children who were splashing around in the water.
Karina took few steps away from the group and noticed the bustling activity of the Thalassarians as they tended to the upkeep of the Palace and its grounds. Some were meticulously cleaning the pavement, making sure that every stone was spotless. Others were hard at work, trimming and pruning the greenery so that it maintained its shape and beauty. Karina couldn't help but admire the dedication and attention to detail that the Thalassarians put into their work.
Despite their busy schedules, the Thalassarians still found time to take in the sights and sounds of the Palace. Karina observed that they often stopped to exchange greetings and friendly banter with one another, even as they went about their tasks. And yet, whenever opportunity arose, the Thalassarians couldn't help but steal glances in the direction of humans. It was clear that they were curious about the visitors.
“This will be your home for the next year, or until you wish to get reassigned to another part of the program.” Kaelen said finishing speech. “There will be a maid so to say or someone to be of your assistance for each of assigned on top of your Vilunas to make your lives in palace easier. Go ahead enter the east wing of the palace and you will find your rooms at the second and third floor.”
Karina's heart skipped a beat as she stepped into the Palace, her eyes wide open as she tried to take in the grandeur of the interior. The entryway was dominated by a massive chandelier, but she noticed that instead of light bulbs, it was adorned with floating spheres of light that illuminated the entire room in a soft, warm white glow. The walls were painted in a rich shade of yellow, resembling the color of the ocean, while the marble floors were decorated with intricate patterns that seemed the follow the motives from their uniforms.
As she followed the grand hallway, she passed by rooms that were equally lush and rich. She couldn't help but marvel at the fine artwork that adorned the walls, the intricate tapestries that hung from the ceiling, and the luxurious furniture that filled each room. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.
Climbing at the third floor she arrived at her room. It was just as grand as the rest of the Palace, with a large four-poster bed draped in luxurious silks, a writing desk made of rare woods, and a balcony that offered a stunning view of the gardens below.
As Karina was lost in thought, the sound of the door opening startled her. She turned to see a young Thalassarian woman with strikingly unique eyes. They were a deep purple with a faint glow, an unmistakable characteristic of the Thalassarians. Karina guessed her to be in her early twenties, but it was hard to tell with them yet.
The woman's beauty was undeniable, but there was also an awkwardness about her that made her all the more endearing. She stood there nervously, clasping her hands together, as she spoke in a soft voice, "Mistress, my name is Nereia. I have been assigned to assist you during your stay here."
Karina couldn't help but smile at the young woman's formal address, "Please, call me Karina. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Nereia."
Nereia let out a small sigh of relief, "Thank you, Karina. If you'll allow me, I'll show you around and help you with anything you need during your stay here. How do you like your room?" Nereia asked.
“I love it, it’s beautiful,” Karina answered truthfully. “It’s all very overwhelming, but it’s grandiose, to say the least,” Karina said with a friendly smile.
Nereia returned the smile, her faintly glowing eyes sparkling in the light. "I'm glad you like it. Well, the Royal Family is known for its luxurious style.” She said. “Is there anything else you need before I leave you to settle in?"
Karina shook her head, "No, I think I'm good for now. Thank you again, Nereia."
“I will be back later with a gown for the welcome feast tonight, you make yourself comfortable and call me if you need anything,” Nereia left and closed the door behind her.
Moments later Karina stepped out onto the terrace, taking in the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the sound of trickling water from the nearby fountain. She noticed Viluna, her sparkling companion, floating nearby.
"Hey,” Karina said, smiling at her companion. “I was wondering if you could tell me about how magic works. That’s one of the things we humans are the most curious about."
Viluna beamed back at Karina. "It won’t be that simple I am afraid, Karina. Magic is a complex and powerful force that is present in all living things. It's the energy that flows through us and connects us to the world around us."
“Why it won’t be that simple?” Karina asked curiously.
“Well, that’s amongst few things we are not allowed to share with you humans yet,” It said.
“What? Why?” Karina asked. “Aren’t you here to share the knowledge with us?”
“Yes, we are. But it was in the deal we made with the Prince,” Viluna said floating near her head. “The King himself requested we don’t share that knowledge yet, at least not to the full extent. I will answer some of the basic questions and I am sure you will find a lot on your own talking to other Thalassarians, but for now, we are not allowed to explain in detail.”
“Why did he request that?” Karina continued her barrage of questions.
“Because he is afraid that if we give out all of our knowledge you will be able to use it against them if you ever decide to invade again,” Viluna said the explanation made sense to Karina. “But don’t worry if the program goes well I am sure all the knowledge between the two worlds will be shared eventually as the trust grows.”
“Hmm,” Karina frowned. “Makes sense I guess. What can you share now then?” She was persistent.
“Well, All I can tell you is that most of the Thalassarians can cast some of the magic, or at least have to ability to learn it. But to those that can only access simple spells like creating a light sphere, it means nothing. I don’t know if I can find a perfect comparison, but it’s like all of you know how to read and write, but it doesn’t make you special in your own world.”
“Hmm, I don’t know if it’s a great analogy, but I think I get it,” Karina said sitting back in the comfortable chair on the corner of the terrace. “ What else can you share? Where does the magic come from?”
“Hmm, not sure,” Viluna said in a soft voice. “The source of the magic comes to from the moons of Thalassar. There are thirteen of them orbiting the planet and each one of them provides a person with a specific power. Every being born on Thalassar has a connection with at least one and that’s how they are able to make basic spells like light spheres, a small burst of fire, heal minor wounds, and so on.” Viluna spoke and danced around Karina’s head as she listened carefully.
“More skilled mages, healers, enchanters, and so on, have a connection to several moons and use their powers to create and cast unique spells. Even to this day people are able to think of new ways to cast and create new spells. It’s way more complex than that, but it’s all I am able to share for now, that information you can gather by asking almost anyone on the street and it can’t hurt the kingdom.”
“Woah, that’s interesting,” Karina said her eyes full of wonder. “Can someone have a connection to all of the moons?” Karina asked curiously.
“No, that’s unheard of,” Viluna answered landing on her knee. “Powerful magic users most have around five to six connections, the highest anyone ever had was ten, but it is more a myth than a confirmed fact, we don’t have any evidence that Xandros the Second had that ability.”
“Hmm,” Karina said taking in everything her little companion shared with her. “I am sorry, I just realized I never asked you for your name.”
“We Viluna’s don’t have names, but you are free to name me and call me whatever you like,”
“Ok, how about Lumina,” Karina asked right away. “Don’t know why but that name suits you.”
“I like it,” Lumina said her form shifting slightly.
Karina continued to ask a question to Lumina as she overlooked the busy gardens of the Royal Palace. An hour had passed in a blink and a knock from a door cut their conversation.
“Excuse me, Mistress Karina,” a soft voice said with a polite tone. “It’s Nereia, I brought your gown.”
Karina opened the door and welcomed the girl with a warm smile. “Come on in,” She said opening the door wide.
“I am afraid I can’t, they need us down to get everything ready for the feast tonight.” She said. “Here is your gown, get ready and I will come to get you in less than an hour and lead you towards the banquet hall.” Nereia handed her the gown and left.
Karina looked at the gown in awe as she held it in her hands, without hesitation she put the gown on. It was a beautiful, flowing creation made of the finest silk, with intricate embroidery and beading in shades of turquoise and silver. The sleeves were sheer, with delicate lace trimming, and the bodice hugged her curves before cascading down into a billowing skirt that trailed behind her as she walked.
It wasn’t her style at all, she was more of street clothes kinda a girl, but looking at herself in the mirror, she was blown away. She made a few turns looking at the dress from all angles. This kind of dress would cost her fortune back on earth. She found a few silver clips on the desk and styled her hair as best she could to go along with the dress.
A few moments later, Nereia arrived at the door, dressed in a lovely gown of her own, visibly less luxurious than the one Karina got. "You look stunning, Mistress Karina," she said with a smile. "Are you ready to go?"
Karina nodded, feeling a bit nervous but excited as well. She followed Nereia down the hallway, her long gown trailing behind her as they made their way toward the banquet hall. As they walked, Karina couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the palace once again. Every inch of it was adorned with intricate carvings, sparkling jewels, and delicate tapestries.
Finally, they arrived at the banquet hall. The hall was massive, with soaring ceilings, glittering chandeliers, and walls adorned with shimmering gold decorations. The tables were covered in rich, embroidered cloths, and gleaming silverware sparkled in the light of the glowing spheres floating above the table.
The guests were already arriving, each one more elegantly dressed than the last. They were all talking and laughing, their voices echoing off the grand walls of the hall. Karina felt a bit intimidated, but Nereia squeezed her arm reassuringly.
"Don't worry, Mistress Karina," she whispered. "I know feasts like these can look intimidating, but you humans are the stars of the show."
With that, she led Karina toward their assigned table where most of the humans would sit this evening. Nereia took a seat next to her and on the other side, she recognized a girl from their program wearing a similar gown.
“Hey,” Karina said softly. “How are taking all of this?”
“Hey Karina, it’s overwhelming, but everything is beautiful so far, can’t complain,” Clarissa answered. “How about you?”
“Same,” Karina answered and they continued with small talk before the soft music that was playing stopped and people started standing up. Nereia slowly tugged at her arm pointing for the stand as well. Seconds later prince Kaelen walked into the hall with a beautiful woman under his arm. She was stunningly beautiful, with long golden hair that cascaded down her back in loose waves. Her dress was a shimmering ivory color, with delicate beading that sparkled in the candlelight.
Karina couldn't help but notice the intricate braids woven into the woman's hair, forming an elegant and intricate pattern that must have taken hours to create. Her makeup was subtle, but enhanced her natural beauty, with a soft pink lip and just a touch of blush on her cheeks.
“That’s Zaya, Kaelen’s bride-to-be,” Nereia said.
“She is beautiful,” Karina answered truthfully.
“Yes, she is amongst the most beautiful women in the kingdom. Kaelen chose her instead of marrying someone from his family provided in order to establish better relations with other kingdoms. It was a big deal at the time, but that’s prince Kaelen, he always does what he wants.” Nereia explained and Karina just nodded looking at the stunning couple.
“What’s the prince like?” Karina asked.
“He always stood out from the Royal Family. He is a bit eccentric, he likes to party, and travel, and isn’t really that much interested in Family matters.” Nereia said as the couple took a seat at the main table. “Bringing you guys here with this Citizens Exchange program is his way of proving his worth to the kingdom and his family.”
“How so?” Karina asked curiously.
“He doesn’t believe in his family policy of war and old-style politics. He believes both planets could benefit from each other if we set our differences aside and work together. The King was not for this program at all, but the prince managed to convince him otherwise with the help of his Mother.” Karina nodded in understanding and minutes later waiters started serving dinner.
Karina was serving a weird purple-looking fruit or vegetable, she wasn’t sure. “What’s this?” She asked Nereia.
“That’s Nemoryn fruit, it’s one of the best delicates in the Thalassar and only grown on one small island,” Nereia said. “It’s usually served only on big banquets and before the main course as this fruit is known to open the appetite and help dissolve the rest of the food easier.”
“And how do you eat it?” Karina asked poking at the fruit with her knife.
Neremia chuckled softly. “You cut off top and the bottom and then peel the leathery exterior.”
Karina did as told and the inside revealed a pink, jelly-like inside that was filled with small, edible seeds.
“You can eat it all, it’s ok to eat it with the spoon,” Nereia said.
Karina nodded and took her spoon taking a bite out of the fruit. It was soft and crunchy at the same time with a mild, sweet, and subtly bitter flavor. It began to melt into a liquid inside her mouth and the taste reminded of lime and coconut mixed together.
“Woah, this is delicious,” Karina said and took another bite. “Your food is truly amazing.”
Nereia smiled. “Yes it is, but you also are getting the best of the best, keep that in mind.” She said with a smile and Karina nodded her mouth full of delicious fruit.
The rest of the banquet went as expected, they ate amazing food, Karina made small talk with the rest of the humans, and spent most of the night chatting with Nereia, who proved to be rather curious about humans once she loosened up. Prince Kaelen provided them with a whole night of entertainment, dancers, actors, and entertainers took turns at the podium as the night went away.
Deep into the night when the feast was nearing its end, a loud explosion was heard from the outside and bright light emanated deep from the city which could be seen through the open terrace on one side of the banquet hall. Karina ran towards the terrace but the guards were already at the door prohibiting anyone to exit. Karina managed to peer through the cracks in their massive armor and saw a big flame at the part of the city where they walked earlier in the day.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure it’s nothing.” Prince Kaelen said with a stern voice. “Please leave for your rooms we have our people already investigating the source of the explosion. You will be informed of what happened as soon as we know.” He said and left the banquet hall in the hurry.
Nereia escorted Karina to her room and helped her unzip the dress before she left. Karina sank into a soft bed and her mind started racing with everything that happened today, but before the thought could consume her, tiredness took over and she sank into a deep sleep.
She was awakened by the commotion outside her terrace early in the morning. She ran and looked outside and saw Prince Kaelen talking with a man in a uniform she hasn’t seen so far, he had dozens of soldiers at his side. She quickly got dressed into the clothes she came in and went downstairs to look for Nereia.
“What’s going on?” Karina asked as she found the young girl sitting at the bench in the garden.
“Mistress Karina, you are awake,” Nereia said with a smile.
Karina could sense something was off, so she asked again. “What’s going on?”
“I am afraid nothing good,” Nereia said with a worried look on her face. “One of the ships transporting humans was attacked and destroyed last night at the open see.” She said bowing her head down.
“Which one?” Karina asked her heart racing.
“The one transporting your people to military camps,” Nereia said.
Karina’s heart sank in her chest with the realization that it was Liam’s ship. She almost fainted but Nereia took her by arm and helped her sit on the bench. First the explosion last night, then the ship, something was off and it made Karina have almost a full-blown panic attack, but her worry was focused on Liam now, she needed to find out what happened to him and if he was ok.
*****
Liking the story so far? Consider supporting me on PATREON. There will be bonus chapters on there soon.
2023.03.22 12:25 secularMateriel48 I'm tired of people criticizing me for buying a used Subaru Impreza over a fancy electric car.
Hello, everyone.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally became the owner of my dream and managed to put my hands on the legendary 2004 Subaru Impreza 2.0 WRX STi.
It was love at first sight. As a child, I saw this beauty on TV performing at some race and promised myself I'd buy one someday. It took me over 15 years to make it happen, and I can't wait for the final day and see it in my garage. I have a feeling that when it finally arrives, I won't sleep in my bed until I make it ready for our first drive.
What bothers me is the people around me who won't stop telling me that I made a huge mistake and that for the money I paid, I could've got a good electric car that would've been far more convenient regarding the current gas price increases.
Instead of congratulations, all I hear is ""Why would you pick this old piece of junk?"", ""Have you seen the gas prices?"", ""Flying across the country only to get a broken car when you could've bought one from the local dealer is the dumbest thing you could ever make,"" ""Couldn't you find something better?"".
At first, I tried to explain my choice to my friends and family. Still, everyone looked at me like I was some scam victim who fell for spending a mortgage downpayment on a car and choosing an expensive enclosed car transport to keep it safe. So now I simply reply that I bought it because I wanted to.
I can't say that any of these remarks have ruined my triumph, but it's pretty disturbing that all this comes from close people that should be supportive and happy about my dream coming true. The only person who supports my decision is my father, not because he considers my car a masterpiece but because he also has a passion for rare finds and understands why I bought it.
I hope at least here I can find some support instead of stupid remarks and advice to return it until it's not too late.
submitted by secularMateriel48 to subaru [link] [comments]
A couple of weeks ago, I finally became the owner of my dream and managed to put my hands on the legendary 2004 Subaru Impreza 2.0 WRX STi.
It was love at first sight. As a child, I saw this beauty on TV performing at some race and promised myself I'd buy one someday. It took me over 15 years to make it happen, and I can't wait for the final day and see it in my garage. I have a feeling that when it finally arrives, I won't sleep in my bed until I make it ready for our first drive.
What bothers me is the people around me who won't stop telling me that I made a huge mistake and that for the money I paid, I could've got a good electric car that would've been far more convenient regarding the current gas price increases.
Instead of congratulations, all I hear is ""Why would you pick this old piece of junk?"", ""Have you seen the gas prices?"", ""Flying across the country only to get a broken car when you could've bought one from the local dealer is the dumbest thing you could ever make,"" ""Couldn't you find something better?"".
At first, I tried to explain my choice to my friends and family. Still, everyone looked at me like I was some scam victim who fell for spending a mortgage downpayment on a car and choosing an expensive enclosed car transport to keep it safe. So now I simply reply that I bought it because I wanted to.
I can't say that any of these remarks have ruined my triumph, but it's pretty disturbing that all this comes from close people that should be supportive and happy about my dream coming true. The only person who supports my decision is my father, not because he considers my car a masterpiece but because he also has a passion for rare finds and understands why I bought it.
I hope at least here I can find some support instead of stupid remarks and advice to return it until it's not too late.
2023.03.22 11:58 kiwi_sapphic I am 23 years old, make $67,000, live in Philly, work as a Project Coordinator, and this week I celebrated my birthday in Paris.
I did a money diary this exact week last year about signing the offer letter for the company I work at now. I ended up getting a 5K COL adjustment (62k > 67k) once I moved to Philly. I expressed in the previous journal that I was worried about my taxes since I moved states and work for an NYC company from PA. As many suggested in the comments, it ended up being pretty simple (I used FreeTaxUSA).
SECTION ONE: ASSETS AND DEBT
Retirement Balance - $31,400. A mix of Roth IRA, 401(k), and traditional brokerage.
Equity - N/A
Savings account balance - $11,600 in Emergency Funds; $7,500 in a HYSA that I saved up during college and will use to pay off my student loans when payments resume this summer. Because of this, I consider myself debt free.
Checking account balance - $900; I had a $600 sinking fund for my food/shopping/entertainment in Paris, but I got $300 in cash birthday gifts.
Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it) - $0; I pay my cards off regularly.
Student loan debt - $7,500 for a Political Science and Social Policy Degree with a minor in English. I got a full-tuition scholarship, but had small gaps in aid during my first two years because my school required underclassmen to have on-campus housing and a meal plan.
—
SECTION TWO: INCOME
Income Progression: I’ve been at this job 9 months, make $67k, and it’s great. The people, the work, the benefits. It’s my first post-college, salaried position. I have pretty much no complaints about it and am hoping to get a merit raise during our summer evaluations.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $3,400 (paid semi-monthly)
$1200/mo in total taxes (fed, state, local, SSI/med); $1000/mo to 401(k); Employer pays 100% of health premiums.
No other income currently, no parental contributions, etc.
—
SECTION THREE: EXPENSES (my portions, I live with a roommate)
Rent - $750/mo. Renewing in May; hoping it stays the same or doesn’t increase dramatically
Retirement/Investment contribution - $540/mo to Roth IRA (401(k) contributions detailed in the Income section).
Savings contribution - $460/mo to sinking funds, $200/mo to General Savings/Emergency Fund
Debt payments - None besides regular payments to my cards
Donations - $80/mo to whatever feels right
Food - ~$500/mo ($300 groceries + <$200 dining out)
Electric - $75/mo
Wifi - $65/mo
Cellphone - $300/yr (Mint Mobile)
Renter’s Insurance - $100/yr
Subscriptions - $8/mo; $7 for Apple Music and $1 for iCloud Storage
Annual Subscriptions - $380/yr; $190 for Credit Card Annual Fees; $165 for ScentBird Subscription; $25 for Google Storage
Gym Membership - $10/mo; $50/yr for Annual Membership Fee
I started on a health journey last June (lost 50+ lbs!). Back then, I was in search of any kind of fitness that I would enjoy and actually go to. I ended up getting a $190/mo membership (2 classes/wk) to a RUMBLE (HIIT Boxing) studio and went 2x a week from June - Nov. In December, I bought a flat-fee holiday package that made my classes cheaper ($19/cls vs $23/cls) and more flexible, so I froze my subscription and got a 30 class package.
In January, I started strength training 4x/wk at Planet Fitness and went down to 1x/week at RUMBLE. I love my current routine, but PF and RUMBLE are both a 35 min walk from my house, and I go to the gym early in the morning. So, I’m considering joining the closer (<10 min walk), but more expensive ($72/mo) gym soon.
I’m still slowly burning through the RUMBLE holiday package and plan to cancel my subscription. I’m hoping they do a summer sale so I can buy another class package. If not, I’ll just buy classes ad hoc after I run out.
No pet, car, or therapy expenses currently.
—
SECTION FOUR: MONEY/TRAVEL DIARY
ACCOMMODATIONS
The flight and accommodations for this flight were booked in September after getting an email from Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) about $500 tickets to Paris the exact weekend of my birthday. I stayed in a Sonder that I also booked back in September for about $480. I bought a $30, 5 GB international eSIM from Airalo. I was able to post on social media, send iMessages, and check my bank accounts with no problems and no extra data needed.
Day 1
Today is payday and the beginning of my week off. I clear my credit cards, invest my Roth deposit, and go to the gym.
After the gym, I pick up last minute toiletries ($45.35) and plane snacks ($21.48). I end up on a wild goose chase looking for a Universal Adapter ($34.39), so I get McDonald's (I wanted a Shamrock Shake) while I’m out ($9.15 - this feels expensive for McDonald's?)
My mom gives me a call around 8pm and asks if I’ve checked my bank account. Today was payday, so I had, but not since early that morning. She gifted me $200! After, I spend three hours retwisting my locs and go to bed around midnight.
Day 1 Spend - $108.37
Day 2
Today is Sims 4 Expansion Pack (and flight to Paris) day! I can’t install the game until 1PM ET. Lame.I do one last check to ensure I have everything I need, transfer my Paris Sinking Fund ($600) into my checking account, and then play the Sims to pass the time. At 4, I take the Regional Rail to the airport.
I breeze through TSA and read Another Country by James Baldwin until boarding begins. Upon boarding, I’m stopped and informed that my carry-on is “too big.” They were clearly picking people at random to move their bags because as the woman walked down the jet bridge with my bag, she rolled it past a man who had the exact same suitcase as me in another color. Annoying.
They don’t give me a chance to take out my laptop and snacks, this is my first time traveling internationally, I triple checked the sizing requirements, so this stressed me out. I was terrified of my bag getting lost. I vent to my best friend about the bag situation; she helps me calm down. Once we’re airborne, I spend the next 6 hours rotating between reading, watching Wakanda Forever, and listening to music.
Day 2 Spend - $0
Day 3 (my birthday!)
We land in Dublin at 8am, and I activate my international eSIM. I see my older brother gifted me $100 via Cash App. Even though it was just a quick layover, being in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day made me happy. The Irish were teeming with happiness and excitement. I board my second flight and land in Paris at 1pm, finally am reunited with my bag, and get to the section of town I’m staying in via train ($12.18).
While I wait for a friend to arrive on the train from London, I try French McDonalds per the recommendation of my best friend ($14.95 - seriously, why the hell is McDonalds so expensive?)
Friend arrives and we explore Paris! We then stop at a bakery, I grab a pain au chocolat ($1.60) and slip into a bar nearby. My friend lets everyone know it’s my birthday, and they buy us lots of rounds of shots and drinks. My friend closes the tab for the couple of drinks we actually ordered, and we head to a club that’s having a St. Patrick’s Day party around the corner.
I later try to redeem my Starbucks birthday item, but the barista gently lets me know it’s not valid in France. However, he throws in a free refresher and my friend buys me a blueberry muffin. We head back to the hotel so I can freshen up and change into my birthday dress. We take a nap and head back out for the night on the train ($8.96 RT for 2). We have dinner at a delicious restaurant, which my friend pays for.
Our last stop of the night is an Afro-Caribbean spot that has great music and friendly staff. I tell the bartender it’s my birthday and ask for a drink recommendation. He makes some spicy concoction in a gold bowl with peppers. It’s quite delicious but is strong and makes my nose run! The staff gifts me at least two more shots, and I decide to call it quits on alcohol for the night after that. We dance and laugh the night away with the friendly staff, and I pick up the tab before we leave ($27.81).
Day 3 Spend - $65.50
Day 4
My friend has been teasing a surprise and finally reveals it’s Disneyland! I laugh and realize I hadn’t disclosed the rest of my itinerary — I have a Disneyland reservation for Monday (after my friends went home)! However, I booked a non-park hopper ticket for Walt Disney Studios, so I’m excited to be able to experience them both thanks to my friend!
We had a late, drunk night last night so we started the day a bit late. Grabbed a quick brunch ($6.74) and head to Chessy via the train ($19.68). We got Premier Access (skip the line/lightning lane) for a handful of rides ($79.15), I bought some Stitch merch ($21.39), and we got ice cream ($5.35).
After a few hours at Disney, we head back to Paris to meet up with one of my friends from college who also lives in London. He’s a hyperextrovert and is ready to hit the town immediately. We wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower, but missed the last bus and grabbed dinner nearby ($89.96). My friend from high school started feeling a bit sick, so she went back to the hotel and my college buddy and I spend the night bar hopping, dancing, chatting, and eating until 3am ($37.44).
Day 4 Spend - $259.71
Day 5
Both friends head back to London today but at different times. I start the day a bit late after saying goodbye to my high school friend.
My college friend and I grab breakfast at a nearby restaurant ($41.18). After that, we head out to explore an area of the city near the train station so it’s easy for him to board the 5pm train. We grab some pastries and a baguette ($11.66) and set out to explore. We saw the lock bridge, Arc de Triomphe, took goofy photos, visited the Notre Dame restoration exhibit, and danced alongside a drum parade.
On the walk back to my room, I check my email to see I missed the Eiffel Tower climbing tour I scheduled back in September. I go back to the room, let my phone charge, and pay a fee to reschedule the tour ($10.70). I head out to see the Eiffel and other tourists sites via a Sundown Seine river cruise ($8.99 for 4 bus tickets).
After a few hours, I’m beat and head back to the Sonder. I got a Poke Bowl from a French/Hawaiian/Sushi fusion place we passed by last night and some chicken wings ($22.89). I spend the rest of the night relaxing.
Day 5 Spend - $95.42
Day 6
I really want to sleep in, but the Climbing tour doesn’t allow cancellations within 24 hours and charge no-shows. I head out around 9:30 am. Despite being tired and annoyed, the tour was great. I have a lunch Steakhouse reservation at 2:30pm at Disney, so I’m sort of in a rush and happy the tour ends right on time at 12:30. I hop on the train ($10.70 RT tickets) and make it to Disneyland at 1:30 pm.
With an hour before my reservation, I stop into a bunch of stores and buy merch ($70.60). I make my way to The Steakhouse for lunch ($37.44). I am stuffed, so I walk a couple laps around Walt Disney Studios to get a lay of the land, take photos, and walk off lunch before indulging in some shows and rides.
A couple hours go by and I grab some dessert ($4.28) and rent a portable charger ($4.28). I wanted to ride Crush’s Coaster before my dinner reservation, but it had a crazy wait time and premier access sold out for the day, so I buy premier access for and ride Avenger’s Flight Force instead ($12.84), return the portable charger, and head to dinner at Bistrot Chez Remy ($58.83).
I stay until 9:30 pm for the light show, have snacks ($9.63), then head back to the hotel to shower, pack, and sleep.
Day 6 Spend - $208.60
Day 7
I have a protein bar for breakfast, check out at 10am, and grab a final ticket ($12.29) to the airport. I start to feel lightheaded and try to drink some water, but it doesn’t help much. So, I get McDonalds ($8.91) before boarding my flight and feel a lot better. I grab a Kinder ($1.72) from a nearby store because I’d never tried one. Amazing!
I am excited to get home and get back into my normal meal prep and exercise routine. I make it back to Philly at 7pm. I take a shower and go straight to bed.
Day 7 Spend - $22.71
—
Week Total - $760.52
Food + Drink - $406.74
Fun / Entertainment - $194.68 (shopping, tour reschedule, premier lanes)
Home + Health - $34.39 (universal adapter)
Clothes + Beauty - $45.35 (last minute toiletries)
Transport - $72.80
Other - $4.28 (portable charger rental)
—
Lastly, reflect on your diary!
While I’d never spend close to this in a normal week, celebrating my birthday in a way I enjoy is very important to me. I’m excited to travel more in the future.
I feel like I spent too much money on individual transport tickets; I should’ve brought the booklet of 10. But $73 for a bunch of days is still pretty cheap. I had a sinking fund of $600 originally, but the cash gifts from my mom and brother increased it to $900.
Overall, Paris was cheaper than I expected. I was worried $600 wouldn’t be enough. I picked up the tab a lot of places since there wasn’t an easy way for us to split the bill in multiple currencies (USD, pounds, euros), and I’m trying to hit the minimum spend on a new credit card. Had I been more willing to figure out bill splitting, I probably could've stayed under $600.
Relatedly - this trip inspired me to revisit my goal of becoming fully fluent in Spanish. French-speakers were visibly irritated when I spoke English (which I wasn’t upset about and expected). I did practice some French (beyond the basics like bonjour and merci) with my sister before the trip, but it always came out sounding like Spanish. So, after the first day, I resorted to starting conversations in Spanish.
If they spoke Spanish, great! However, many were caught off guard and didn’t speak Spanish, so I would then ask, in Spanish, if they spoke English, then converse in English — which made them noticeably nicer. Definitely gonna work on brushing up my Spanish and work towards fluency. I eventually want to learn French and ASL, too.
submitted by kiwi_sapphic to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]
SECTION ONE: ASSETS AND DEBT
Retirement Balance - $31,400. A mix of Roth IRA, 401(k), and traditional brokerage.
Equity - N/A
Savings account balance - $11,600 in Emergency Funds; $7,500 in a HYSA that I saved up during college and will use to pay off my student loans when payments resume this summer. Because of this, I consider myself debt free.
Checking account balance - $900; I had a $600 sinking fund for my food/shopping/entertainment in Paris, but I got $300 in cash birthday gifts.
Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it) - $0; I pay my cards off regularly.
Student loan debt - $7,500 for a Political Science and Social Policy Degree with a minor in English. I got a full-tuition scholarship, but had small gaps in aid during my first two years because my school required underclassmen to have on-campus housing and a meal plan.
—
SECTION TWO: INCOME
Income Progression: I’ve been at this job 9 months, make $67k, and it’s great. The people, the work, the benefits. It’s my first post-college, salaried position. I have pretty much no complaints about it and am hoping to get a merit raise during our summer evaluations.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $3,400 (paid semi-monthly)
$1200/mo in total taxes (fed, state, local, SSI/med); $1000/mo to 401(k); Employer pays 100% of health premiums.
No other income currently, no parental contributions, etc.
—
SECTION THREE: EXPENSES (my portions, I live with a roommate)
Rent - $750/mo. Renewing in May; hoping it stays the same or doesn’t increase dramatically
Retirement/Investment contribution - $540/mo to Roth IRA (401(k) contributions detailed in the Income section).
Savings contribution - $460/mo to sinking funds, $200/mo to General Savings/Emergency Fund
Debt payments - None besides regular payments to my cards
Donations - $80/mo to whatever feels right
Food - ~$500/mo ($300 groceries + <$200 dining out)
Electric - $75/mo
Wifi - $65/mo
Cellphone - $300/yr (Mint Mobile)
Renter’s Insurance - $100/yr
Subscriptions - $8/mo; $7 for Apple Music and $1 for iCloud Storage
Annual Subscriptions - $380/yr; $190 for Credit Card Annual Fees; $165 for ScentBird Subscription; $25 for Google Storage
Gym Membership - $10/mo; $50/yr for Annual Membership Fee
I started on a health journey last June (lost 50+ lbs!). Back then, I was in search of any kind of fitness that I would enjoy and actually go to. I ended up getting a $190/mo membership (2 classes/wk) to a RUMBLE (HIIT Boxing) studio and went 2x a week from June - Nov. In December, I bought a flat-fee holiday package that made my classes cheaper ($19/cls vs $23/cls) and more flexible, so I froze my subscription and got a 30 class package.
In January, I started strength training 4x/wk at Planet Fitness and went down to 1x/week at RUMBLE. I love my current routine, but PF and RUMBLE are both a 35 min walk from my house, and I go to the gym early in the morning. So, I’m considering joining the closer (<10 min walk), but more expensive ($72/mo) gym soon.
I’m still slowly burning through the RUMBLE holiday package and plan to cancel my subscription. I’m hoping they do a summer sale so I can buy another class package. If not, I’ll just buy classes ad hoc after I run out.
No pet, car, or therapy expenses currently.
—
SECTION FOUR: MONEY/TRAVEL DIARY
ACCOMMODATIONS
The flight and accommodations for this flight were booked in September after getting an email from Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) about $500 tickets to Paris the exact weekend of my birthday. I stayed in a Sonder that I also booked back in September for about $480. I bought a $30, 5 GB international eSIM from Airalo. I was able to post on social media, send iMessages, and check my bank accounts with no problems and no extra data needed.
Day 1
Today is payday and the beginning of my week off. I clear my credit cards, invest my Roth deposit, and go to the gym.
After the gym, I pick up last minute toiletries ($45.35) and plane snacks ($21.48). I end up on a wild goose chase looking for a Universal Adapter ($34.39), so I get McDonald's (I wanted a Shamrock Shake) while I’m out ($9.15 - this feels expensive for McDonald's?)
My mom gives me a call around 8pm and asks if I’ve checked my bank account. Today was payday, so I had, but not since early that morning. She gifted me $200! After, I spend three hours retwisting my locs and go to bed around midnight.
Day 1 Spend - $108.37
Day 2
Today is Sims 4 Expansion Pack (and flight to Paris) day! I can’t install the game until 1PM ET. Lame.I do one last check to ensure I have everything I need, transfer my Paris Sinking Fund ($600) into my checking account, and then play the Sims to pass the time. At 4, I take the Regional Rail to the airport.
I breeze through TSA and read Another Country by James Baldwin until boarding begins. Upon boarding, I’m stopped and informed that my carry-on is “too big.” They were clearly picking people at random to move their bags because as the woman walked down the jet bridge with my bag, she rolled it past a man who had the exact same suitcase as me in another color. Annoying.
They don’t give me a chance to take out my laptop and snacks, this is my first time traveling internationally, I triple checked the sizing requirements, so this stressed me out. I was terrified of my bag getting lost. I vent to my best friend about the bag situation; she helps me calm down. Once we’re airborne, I spend the next 6 hours rotating between reading, watching Wakanda Forever, and listening to music.
Day 2 Spend - $0
Day 3 (my birthday!)
We land in Dublin at 8am, and I activate my international eSIM. I see my older brother gifted me $100 via Cash App. Even though it was just a quick layover, being in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day made me happy. The Irish were teeming with happiness and excitement. I board my second flight and land in Paris at 1pm, finally am reunited with my bag, and get to the section of town I’m staying in via train ($12.18).
While I wait for a friend to arrive on the train from London, I try French McDonalds per the recommendation of my best friend ($14.95 - seriously, why the hell is McDonalds so expensive?)
Friend arrives and we explore Paris! We then stop at a bakery, I grab a pain au chocolat ($1.60) and slip into a bar nearby. My friend lets everyone know it’s my birthday, and they buy us lots of rounds of shots and drinks. My friend closes the tab for the couple of drinks we actually ordered, and we head to a club that’s having a St. Patrick’s Day party around the corner.
I later try to redeem my Starbucks birthday item, but the barista gently lets me know it’s not valid in France. However, he throws in a free refresher and my friend buys me a blueberry muffin. We head back to the hotel so I can freshen up and change into my birthday dress. We take a nap and head back out for the night on the train ($8.96 RT for 2). We have dinner at a delicious restaurant, which my friend pays for.
Our last stop of the night is an Afro-Caribbean spot that has great music and friendly staff. I tell the bartender it’s my birthday and ask for a drink recommendation. He makes some spicy concoction in a gold bowl with peppers. It’s quite delicious but is strong and makes my nose run! The staff gifts me at least two more shots, and I decide to call it quits on alcohol for the night after that. We dance and laugh the night away with the friendly staff, and I pick up the tab before we leave ($27.81).
Day 3 Spend - $65.50
Day 4
My friend has been teasing a surprise and finally reveals it’s Disneyland! I laugh and realize I hadn’t disclosed the rest of my itinerary — I have a Disneyland reservation for Monday (after my friends went home)! However, I booked a non-park hopper ticket for Walt Disney Studios, so I’m excited to be able to experience them both thanks to my friend!
We had a late, drunk night last night so we started the day a bit late. Grabbed a quick brunch ($6.74) and head to Chessy via the train ($19.68). We got Premier Access (skip the line/lightning lane) for a handful of rides ($79.15), I bought some Stitch merch ($21.39), and we got ice cream ($5.35).
After a few hours at Disney, we head back to Paris to meet up with one of my friends from college who also lives in London. He’s a hyperextrovert and is ready to hit the town immediately. We wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower, but missed the last bus and grabbed dinner nearby ($89.96). My friend from high school started feeling a bit sick, so she went back to the hotel and my college buddy and I spend the night bar hopping, dancing, chatting, and eating until 3am ($37.44).
Day 4 Spend - $259.71
Day 5
Both friends head back to London today but at different times. I start the day a bit late after saying goodbye to my high school friend.
My college friend and I grab breakfast at a nearby restaurant ($41.18). After that, we head out to explore an area of the city near the train station so it’s easy for him to board the 5pm train. We grab some pastries and a baguette ($11.66) and set out to explore. We saw the lock bridge, Arc de Triomphe, took goofy photos, visited the Notre Dame restoration exhibit, and danced alongside a drum parade.
On the walk back to my room, I check my email to see I missed the Eiffel Tower climbing tour I scheduled back in September. I go back to the room, let my phone charge, and pay a fee to reschedule the tour ($10.70). I head out to see the Eiffel and other tourists sites via a Sundown Seine river cruise ($8.99 for 4 bus tickets).
After a few hours, I’m beat and head back to the Sonder. I got a Poke Bowl from a French/Hawaiian/Sushi fusion place we passed by last night and some chicken wings ($22.89). I spend the rest of the night relaxing.
Day 5 Spend - $95.42
Day 6
I really want to sleep in, but the Climbing tour doesn’t allow cancellations within 24 hours and charge no-shows. I head out around 9:30 am. Despite being tired and annoyed, the tour was great. I have a lunch Steakhouse reservation at 2:30pm at Disney, so I’m sort of in a rush and happy the tour ends right on time at 12:30. I hop on the train ($10.70 RT tickets) and make it to Disneyland at 1:30 pm.
With an hour before my reservation, I stop into a bunch of stores and buy merch ($70.60). I make my way to The Steakhouse for lunch ($37.44). I am stuffed, so I walk a couple laps around Walt Disney Studios to get a lay of the land, take photos, and walk off lunch before indulging in some shows and rides.
A couple hours go by and I grab some dessert ($4.28) and rent a portable charger ($4.28). I wanted to ride Crush’s Coaster before my dinner reservation, but it had a crazy wait time and premier access sold out for the day, so I buy premier access for and ride Avenger’s Flight Force instead ($12.84), return the portable charger, and head to dinner at Bistrot Chez Remy ($58.83).
I stay until 9:30 pm for the light show, have snacks ($9.63), then head back to the hotel to shower, pack, and sleep.
Day 6 Spend - $208.60
Day 7
I have a protein bar for breakfast, check out at 10am, and grab a final ticket ($12.29) to the airport. I start to feel lightheaded and try to drink some water, but it doesn’t help much. So, I get McDonalds ($8.91) before boarding my flight and feel a lot better. I grab a Kinder ($1.72) from a nearby store because I’d never tried one. Amazing!
I am excited to get home and get back into my normal meal prep and exercise routine. I make it back to Philly at 7pm. I take a shower and go straight to bed.
Day 7 Spend - $22.71
—
Week Total - $760.52
Food + Drink - $406.74
Fun / Entertainment - $194.68 (shopping, tour reschedule, premier lanes)
Home + Health - $34.39 (universal adapter)
Clothes + Beauty - $45.35 (last minute toiletries)
Transport - $72.80
Other - $4.28 (portable charger rental)
—
Lastly, reflect on your diary!
While I’d never spend close to this in a normal week, celebrating my birthday in a way I enjoy is very important to me. I’m excited to travel more in the future.
I feel like I spent too much money on individual transport tickets; I should’ve brought the booklet of 10. But $73 for a bunch of days is still pretty cheap. I had a sinking fund of $600 originally, but the cash gifts from my mom and brother increased it to $900.
Overall, Paris was cheaper than I expected. I was worried $600 wouldn’t be enough. I picked up the tab a lot of places since there wasn’t an easy way for us to split the bill in multiple currencies (USD, pounds, euros), and I’m trying to hit the minimum spend on a new credit card. Had I been more willing to figure out bill splitting, I probably could've stayed under $600.
Relatedly - this trip inspired me to revisit my goal of becoming fully fluent in Spanish. French-speakers were visibly irritated when I spoke English (which I wasn’t upset about and expected). I did practice some French (beyond the basics like bonjour and merci) with my sister before the trip, but it always came out sounding like Spanish. So, after the first day, I resorted to starting conversations in Spanish.
If they spoke Spanish, great! However, many were caught off guard and didn’t speak Spanish, so I would then ask, in Spanish, if they spoke English, then converse in English — which made them noticeably nicer. Definitely gonna work on brushing up my Spanish and work towards fluency. I eventually want to learn French and ASL, too.
2023.03.22 11:29 BrokeEggCantTravel I'm unable to date and don't know how to change.
I am an odd person, growing up my mother, teachers, classmates and other family members were baffled by my behaviour even when I did my very best to fit in. As an adult with perspective and consciousness of the existence of mental health as a general concept as explored as it has been already, I have come to the presumption that I might be autistic though I cannot strictly confirm such since I am not a licensed professional in that field and have not gotten an assessment (formally) so my understandings might be misinformed.
The purpose of the preceding paragraph is to provide context for my issue though it seems unrelated explicitly but I think there's a strong connection between, my general oddness which might be Autism and its corrolary affectation, and my inability to enter into a relationship.
I have never been social, I prefer being alone most of the time, I do not like being touched a majority of the time (except by people i deeply care about), eye contact is just incredibly unpleasant and I loathe casual conversation. These are all things that have been in a way described as being hindrances towards dating because as described by many, you cannot meet people when you are alone, low eye contact describes low self esteem (which i do have but is unrelated), physical touch breeds intimacy in strangers which makes them more familiar (i enjoy physical touch of people i feel comfortable with), casual conversation and flirting are the ways to engage peoples attention long enough for them to make the subconscious decision whether they like you.
I do not excel at texting, mine are often brusque and to the point, I usually try to adapt styles, behaviours and mannerisms I've seem receive favourable responses from others to little success. I can be goofy in conversation and interaction, but if it isn't urgent then I'd rather not text at all.
I have been told I am attractive by my friends and family but I generally stand that I am not, while I am not repulsive by any means, my features often do not appear appealing to me (I experience both body dystopia and gender dysphoria). I used to maintain an extremely manicured appearance but of late at my self confidence has waned I rarely cut my hair but always comb it, keep my nails clean, ensure my clothes are clean and pressed though rarely get new clothes or make effort to personalise my appearance (I work in a court and a specific appearance is prescribed which limits room for expression).
Compounding the issue are two key problems, I work a stressful and involved job which eats up my hours between 7 and 4, by the time I return I am far too tired and uninterested to go anywhere even on the days I am not expected at work (I live with my family and they also demand my attention and contribution in issues in the house). The second problem is despite the nature of my work, I receive very little as a salary which limits my possible recreation and ability to pursue other interests, go out on dates or even quit my job to find another one.
I am Masculine presenting and have a keen interest to modifying that appearance to better suit me but to pursue that I would need either a severe escalation of income (which I am at a loss on how to acquire) with the assurance of continued earning even after the completion of my purpose, or I would need to relocate to a country where my transition would not hinder my affairs beyond social hate (I do not care about people's opinions only their influence) yet immigration process is long complicated and expensive which mean each step requires months of saving for me, my presentation fosters hesitation as well (I do not want to enter into a relationship where I am wanted based on my appearance knowing it will fail because I am determined to change that).
I have tried dating apps and found little success regardless of how I've projected. I have found minor friendships with people continents away yet no one around me.
I do honestly prefer my own company the bliss of silence in absence of expectation, yet I have come to find that in spite (true malevolent spite) of myself and my nature, I am frighteningly lonely.
I crave soul cuttingly deep to be understood, accepted, seen and loved. I am mostly tolerated and those who do love me often don't understand me or share my perspectives (My family is conservative and religious, I am queer and not religious. With my family I feel as though they love me but tolerate parts of myself that I want to celebrate but are waiting for me to grow out of it or praying for me to grow out of it).
I feel isolated and unwanted, then despite my best efforts I find any sort of progress towards relocating or building an income or working on my self image perniciously slow. I have my issues and I am trying to be better but I can't get someone to warm up to me over the Internet and I often don't have opportunity in public life, as well that because I am so starved of affection I feel myself becoming increasingly desperate for it which fuels a rational hesitation in the sparse instances where I see an opportunity in life (barring those where I would need to interrupt other peoples public going on in order to approach them) coupled with the knowledge that I couldn't even afford to take them anywhere for a date (But I do know that is what you're supposed to do). In essence, I'm lost on what I could do beyond what I'm doing to change my situation (if you have ideas I would love to hear them), yet the knowledge that I'm doing all that I can does not alleviate my loneliness.
I fear the consequences of my own despair and what I might do or it might turn me into.
submitted by BrokeEggCantTravel to dating [link] [comments]
The purpose of the preceding paragraph is to provide context for my issue though it seems unrelated explicitly but I think there's a strong connection between, my general oddness which might be Autism and its corrolary affectation, and my inability to enter into a relationship.
I have never been social, I prefer being alone most of the time, I do not like being touched a majority of the time (except by people i deeply care about), eye contact is just incredibly unpleasant and I loathe casual conversation. These are all things that have been in a way described as being hindrances towards dating because as described by many, you cannot meet people when you are alone, low eye contact describes low self esteem (which i do have but is unrelated), physical touch breeds intimacy in strangers which makes them more familiar (i enjoy physical touch of people i feel comfortable with), casual conversation and flirting are the ways to engage peoples attention long enough for them to make the subconscious decision whether they like you.
I do not excel at texting, mine are often brusque and to the point, I usually try to adapt styles, behaviours and mannerisms I've seem receive favourable responses from others to little success. I can be goofy in conversation and interaction, but if it isn't urgent then I'd rather not text at all.
I have been told I am attractive by my friends and family but I generally stand that I am not, while I am not repulsive by any means, my features often do not appear appealing to me (I experience both body dystopia and gender dysphoria). I used to maintain an extremely manicured appearance but of late at my self confidence has waned I rarely cut my hair but always comb it, keep my nails clean, ensure my clothes are clean and pressed though rarely get new clothes or make effort to personalise my appearance (I work in a court and a specific appearance is prescribed which limits room for expression).
Compounding the issue are two key problems, I work a stressful and involved job which eats up my hours between 7 and 4, by the time I return I am far too tired and uninterested to go anywhere even on the days I am not expected at work (I live with my family and they also demand my attention and contribution in issues in the house). The second problem is despite the nature of my work, I receive very little as a salary which limits my possible recreation and ability to pursue other interests, go out on dates or even quit my job to find another one.
I am Masculine presenting and have a keen interest to modifying that appearance to better suit me but to pursue that I would need either a severe escalation of income (which I am at a loss on how to acquire) with the assurance of continued earning even after the completion of my purpose, or I would need to relocate to a country where my transition would not hinder my affairs beyond social hate (I do not care about people's opinions only their influence) yet immigration process is long complicated and expensive which mean each step requires months of saving for me, my presentation fosters hesitation as well (I do not want to enter into a relationship where I am wanted based on my appearance knowing it will fail because I am determined to change that).
I have tried dating apps and found little success regardless of how I've projected. I have found minor friendships with people continents away yet no one around me.
I do honestly prefer my own company the bliss of silence in absence of expectation, yet I have come to find that in spite (true malevolent spite) of myself and my nature, I am frighteningly lonely.
I crave soul cuttingly deep to be understood, accepted, seen and loved. I am mostly tolerated and those who do love me often don't understand me or share my perspectives (My family is conservative and religious, I am queer and not religious. With my family I feel as though they love me but tolerate parts of myself that I want to celebrate but are waiting for me to grow out of it or praying for me to grow out of it).
I feel isolated and unwanted, then despite my best efforts I find any sort of progress towards relocating or building an income or working on my self image perniciously slow. I have my issues and I am trying to be better but I can't get someone to warm up to me over the Internet and I often don't have opportunity in public life, as well that because I am so starved of affection I feel myself becoming increasingly desperate for it which fuels a rational hesitation in the sparse instances where I see an opportunity in life (barring those where I would need to interrupt other peoples public going on in order to approach them) coupled with the knowledge that I couldn't even afford to take them anywhere for a date (But I do know that is what you're supposed to do). In essence, I'm lost on what I could do beyond what I'm doing to change my situation (if you have ideas I would love to hear them), yet the knowledge that I'm doing all that I can does not alleviate my loneliness.
I fear the consequences of my own despair and what I might do or it might turn me into.
2023.03.22 10:54 throwaway74261000 A male escort is helping me with my sexual trauma TW: Abuse, suicide attempt, sex
Throw away account. And sorry for the length. I'm just purging my thoughts and feelings. And sorry if it's not very well written.
Over 10 years ago I was repeatedly abused by my ex for over a year. Physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually.... I attempted suicide to escape. Ended up in hospital and then back home with my parents. I was left with PTSD, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and some other things. Over the years I have managed to overcome a lot of it with lots of therapy, some meds, and a lot of work on myself, but of course I still have issues. One of the lingering issues is the anxiety and panic I have when it comes to sex. For a long time after leaving my ex, I experienced traumatic flashbacks of his abuse while I was trying to be intimate with a new partner. I could see him on top of me and I'd begin to panic. It never got better, so I just stopped trying to be in a relationship with anyone. My longest relationship was with him, and he was also my first "serious" boyfriend. I'm so ashamed and embarrassed. I'm always asked why aren't I married yet? When will I have kids? (Never, I don't want kids) My mother even asked me if I was a lesbian, and my sister asked if I'm asexual. The past couple of years I've been craving a relationship, intimacy, being able to trust someone, and just have that special person in my life. But I'm so scared. I didn't even know where to start. I've never used any kind of dating app or website, don't trust them. I recently was talking to my friend and she saw a show talking to women about their experiences with men, sex, relationships, and using escorts. I never in my life would have ever thought about it. How pathetic of me it would be to pay someone to spend time with me and be nice to me. But I did end up watching it, and after hearing from these women and their escorts, something changed in my mind. The way these men spoke about their job, about fulfilling their clients needs, about the trust they've built up, the clear boundaries and no expectations for anything in return, them taking their profession and services very seriously, and not just about wanting to sleep with women. And that's what made it click for me. None those women needed to pay to get sex, none of them were pathetic, in fact I found them all very strong. They were paying for someone to listen to them, almost like a type of therapist, and that's how I started to think about it. The next day I started looking online to see what was out there. At first it was just a lot of the typical male stripper looking men, overly muscular, tanned, and hairless bodies. They all looked intimidating to me, and honestly just not my type at all. But then I found him, and after reading his bio I emailed him. I was no nervous and it took me forever to think of what to say, but I explained my situation and hoped he'd respond to me. He did, and I got so nervous when I saw he replied. His email was incredibly understanding, compassionate, and kind. I started crying (like I am now) and I had to wait til the next day to reply. He did give me his number to call him, but I'm not good at speaking, especially about all this stuff. He said we only need to do what I'm comfortable with doing, even if it's just cuddling, and we can build up to being more intimate. He told me the days he was free and when I'd like to see him. After another day of panic and calming myself I decided on a day to see him. We emailed each other everyday for about a week getting to know each other, and we had so much in common. We're both into science and philosophy and spoke a lot about those things. I became more comfortable with him and about meeting him. I also decided that I needed to just push myself, like I did in therapy, to be vulnerable and have sex with him. He reassured me I only had to do what I was comfortable with and could stop any time. The day arrived and I was fine all day at work, and while getting ready. But once I got in my car and started driving to the hotel, I burst into tears. I was partially upset at myself for letting my ex still have this power over me, but I was also so nervous and scared to meet someone for the first time and have sex with them. I calmed down by the time I got there, checked into my hotel, turned on the tv and took my shoes off. I started getting nervous again and was pacing in the room, constantly checking the mirror. He rang me, and he had the such a calm, sweet, lovely voice. He asked how I was, that he'd be there soon and knock on the door when he's there. When he knocked I took a deep breath and let him in. He was even more handsome in person, and I felt like such a shy, dumb, awkward girl. He asked if he could hug me and I just wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly for a moment. It was the first hug I had in years and I held in tears. I let go and sat on the bed, he sat next to me and we started talking. We had even more in common. He started talking about his favourite shows and comedians and I smiled. His whole demeanour and energy was just so calm and gentle, his voice was soft and calm, and asked me if I wanted to kiss. I got all shy, smiled, and nodded yes. He started kissing me softly and running his fingers through my hair. It was so nice, he was a lovely kisser. He asked how I was, and if I wanted to lay down to kiss, I said yes. I ran my hands on his arms and on his back under his shirt, and then I felt so at ease with with it all, and that I really wanted him... We had sex. After all these years I finally was able to do it. I was still a bit nervous and guarded, and he was so amazing through it all, asking if I was ok, if there's anything I wanted to do. I gradually let my guard down and was able to really enjoy it. Once we finished though, I started getting teary again. He cuddled me tight told me it was ok to let out all my emotions. I felt like such an ugly mess. But never once felt judged by him, and he never once made me feel uncomfortable. I calmed down, and we stayed cuddling and talking a bit more. He's really such an amazing guy, so intelligent, great sense of humour, works a wonderful day job, has so many goals he's working towards. But now I'm worried I'll start to like him. I did go into this thinking of him like a therapist helping me with my trauma, but I guess because it was so emotional and intimate for me, I'm worried my emotions will take over. I do want to see him again, there's other things I want to work on and learn. But part of me kind of wants to see him again because I do like the person he is and want to get to know him more. Driving home I got all teary again, but I was happy. I still have a long way to go, and I'll probably never be able to have a random one night stand with a total stranger. But at least now I think I can eventually be in a relationship, instead of totally avoiding them. I'm so glad I did it, and kind of regretted waiting so long. If you read all of this, thank you. I'm thinking of using this like my journal and post after each session to help me process my thoughts and feelings.
submitted by throwaway74261000 to confessions [link] [comments]
Over 10 years ago I was repeatedly abused by my ex for over a year. Physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually.... I attempted suicide to escape. Ended up in hospital and then back home with my parents. I was left with PTSD, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and some other things. Over the years I have managed to overcome a lot of it with lots of therapy, some meds, and a lot of work on myself, but of course I still have issues. One of the lingering issues is the anxiety and panic I have when it comes to sex. For a long time after leaving my ex, I experienced traumatic flashbacks of his abuse while I was trying to be intimate with a new partner. I could see him on top of me and I'd begin to panic. It never got better, so I just stopped trying to be in a relationship with anyone. My longest relationship was with him, and he was also my first "serious" boyfriend. I'm so ashamed and embarrassed. I'm always asked why aren't I married yet? When will I have kids? (Never, I don't want kids) My mother even asked me if I was a lesbian, and my sister asked if I'm asexual. The past couple of years I've been craving a relationship, intimacy, being able to trust someone, and just have that special person in my life. But I'm so scared. I didn't even know where to start. I've never used any kind of dating app or website, don't trust them. I recently was talking to my friend and she saw a show talking to women about their experiences with men, sex, relationships, and using escorts. I never in my life would have ever thought about it. How pathetic of me it would be to pay someone to spend time with me and be nice to me. But I did end up watching it, and after hearing from these women and their escorts, something changed in my mind. The way these men spoke about their job, about fulfilling their clients needs, about the trust they've built up, the clear boundaries and no expectations for anything in return, them taking their profession and services very seriously, and not just about wanting to sleep with women. And that's what made it click for me. None those women needed to pay to get sex, none of them were pathetic, in fact I found them all very strong. They were paying for someone to listen to them, almost like a type of therapist, and that's how I started to think about it. The next day I started looking online to see what was out there. At first it was just a lot of the typical male stripper looking men, overly muscular, tanned, and hairless bodies. They all looked intimidating to me, and honestly just not my type at all. But then I found him, and after reading his bio I emailed him. I was no nervous and it took me forever to think of what to say, but I explained my situation and hoped he'd respond to me. He did, and I got so nervous when I saw he replied. His email was incredibly understanding, compassionate, and kind. I started crying (like I am now) and I had to wait til the next day to reply. He did give me his number to call him, but I'm not good at speaking, especially about all this stuff. He said we only need to do what I'm comfortable with doing, even if it's just cuddling, and we can build up to being more intimate. He told me the days he was free and when I'd like to see him. After another day of panic and calming myself I decided on a day to see him. We emailed each other everyday for about a week getting to know each other, and we had so much in common. We're both into science and philosophy and spoke a lot about those things. I became more comfortable with him and about meeting him. I also decided that I needed to just push myself, like I did in therapy, to be vulnerable and have sex with him. He reassured me I only had to do what I was comfortable with and could stop any time. The day arrived and I was fine all day at work, and while getting ready. But once I got in my car and started driving to the hotel, I burst into tears. I was partially upset at myself for letting my ex still have this power over me, but I was also so nervous and scared to meet someone for the first time and have sex with them. I calmed down by the time I got there, checked into my hotel, turned on the tv and took my shoes off. I started getting nervous again and was pacing in the room, constantly checking the mirror. He rang me, and he had the such a calm, sweet, lovely voice. He asked how I was, that he'd be there soon and knock on the door when he's there. When he knocked I took a deep breath and let him in. He was even more handsome in person, and I felt like such a shy, dumb, awkward girl. He asked if he could hug me and I just wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly for a moment. It was the first hug I had in years and I held in tears. I let go and sat on the bed, he sat next to me and we started talking. We had even more in common. He started talking about his favourite shows and comedians and I smiled. His whole demeanour and energy was just so calm and gentle, his voice was soft and calm, and asked me if I wanted to kiss. I got all shy, smiled, and nodded yes. He started kissing me softly and running his fingers through my hair. It was so nice, he was a lovely kisser. He asked how I was, and if I wanted to lay down to kiss, I said yes. I ran my hands on his arms and on his back under his shirt, and then I felt so at ease with with it all, and that I really wanted him... We had sex. After all these years I finally was able to do it. I was still a bit nervous and guarded, and he was so amazing through it all, asking if I was ok, if there's anything I wanted to do. I gradually let my guard down and was able to really enjoy it. Once we finished though, I started getting teary again. He cuddled me tight told me it was ok to let out all my emotions. I felt like such an ugly mess. But never once felt judged by him, and he never once made me feel uncomfortable. I calmed down, and we stayed cuddling and talking a bit more. He's really such an amazing guy, so intelligent, great sense of humour, works a wonderful day job, has so many goals he's working towards. But now I'm worried I'll start to like him. I did go into this thinking of him like a therapist helping me with my trauma, but I guess because it was so emotional and intimate for me, I'm worried my emotions will take over. I do want to see him again, there's other things I want to work on and learn. But part of me kind of wants to see him again because I do like the person he is and want to get to know him more. Driving home I got all teary again, but I was happy. I still have a long way to go, and I'll probably never be able to have a random one night stand with a total stranger. But at least now I think I can eventually be in a relationship, instead of totally avoiding them. I'm so glad I did it, and kind of regretted waiting so long. If you read all of this, thank you. I'm thinking of using this like my journal and post after each session to help me process my thoughts and feelings.
2023.03.22 09:35 dinkomaricic [H] Mordhau, Empyrion, Kartkraft, Call To Arms, Slay The Spire, Pathfinder WotR, Hell Let Loose, SCUM, Gotham Knights, Back 4 Blood, ETS2, Obduction, State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut, Tower Unite, Man Of Medan & Little Hope, Friday 13th, Satisfactory & 100's more [W] Wishlist, Paypal (EU)
I'm from EU,so GAMES SHOULD work pretty much anywhere
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like you have the right to ask me the same
Don't offer me VR games as I don't own a VR headset
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle,but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Armello
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven NEW
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Biomutant NEW
Bionic Commando
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Blade Assault
Blasphemous
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (EMEA region lock)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition (X2)
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition NEW
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead By Daylight
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf NEW
Deployment
Desert Child
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread Templar
Dread X Collection
Dreamscaper NEW
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity NEW
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game (X2)
Frog Detective 1 The Haunted Island (X2)
Full Throttle Remastered
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Genesis Noir
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Gotham Knights
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice NEW
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour NEW (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim
Hiveswap Friend Sim Complete
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Inmost
Internet Cafe Simulator
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Jurassic World Evolution 2 NEW
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
LEGO Movie Videogame
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Love Is Dead
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mainlining
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown NEW
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Mordhau
Mosaic
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
Mountain
My Lovely Daughter
Nairi Tower Of Shirin
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Niche
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Not Tonight
Numba Deluxe
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Pathfinder Wrath Of The Righteous
Pathologic 2
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Per Aspera
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe (X2)
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Playne The Meditation Game
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Relicta
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelation 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords NEW
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable NEW
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slay The Spire
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition (X2)
State Of Mind
Stealth Inc 2 A Game Of Clones
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator NEW
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before NEW
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tannenberg
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Count Lucador
The Dark Pictures Anthology Little Hope
The Dark Pictures Anthology Man Of Medan
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
There Is No Game Wrong Dimension
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tribes Of Midgard
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun (X2)
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Wandersong
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut NEW
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
West Of Dead
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin
XCOM Complete Pack
XCOM Ultimate Collection
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
Zombie Kill Of The Week Reborn
DONT TRY TO SEND A PM BEFORE YOU POST IN THIS TOPIC - WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU!
submitted by dinkomaricic to GameTrade [link] [comments]
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like you have the right to ask me the same
Don't offer me VR games as I don't own a VR headset
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle,but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Armello
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven NEW
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Biomutant NEW
Bionic Commando
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Blade Assault
Blasphemous
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (EMEA region lock)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition (X2)
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition NEW
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead By Daylight
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf NEW
Deployment
Desert Child
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread Templar
Dread X Collection
Dreamscaper NEW
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity NEW
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game (X2)
Frog Detective 1 The Haunted Island (X2)
Full Throttle Remastered
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Genesis Noir
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Gotham Knights
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice NEW
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour NEW (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim
Hiveswap Friend Sim Complete
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Inmost
Internet Cafe Simulator
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Jurassic World Evolution 2 NEW
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
LEGO Movie Videogame
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Love Is Dead
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mainlining
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown NEW
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Mordhau
Mosaic
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
Mountain
My Lovely Daughter
Nairi Tower Of Shirin
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Niche
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Not Tonight
Numba Deluxe
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Pathfinder Wrath Of The Righteous
Pathologic 2
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Per Aspera
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe (X2)
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Playne The Meditation Game
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Relicta
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelation 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords NEW
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable NEW
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slay The Spire
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition (X2)
State Of Mind
Stealth Inc 2 A Game Of Clones
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator NEW
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before NEW
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tannenberg
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Count Lucador
The Dark Pictures Anthology Little Hope
The Dark Pictures Anthology Man Of Medan
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
There Is No Game Wrong Dimension
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tribes Of Midgard
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun (X2)
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Wandersong
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut NEW
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
West Of Dead
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin
XCOM Complete Pack
XCOM Ultimate Collection
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
Zombie Kill Of The Week Reborn
DONT TRY TO SEND A PM BEFORE YOU POST IN THIS TOPIC - WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU!
2023.03.22 09:31 dinkomaricic [H] Mordhau, Empyrion, Kartkraft, Call To Arms, Slay The Spire, Pathfinder WotR, Hell Let Loose, SCUM, Gotham Knights, Back 4 Blood, ETS2, Obduction, State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut, Tower Unite, Man Of Medan & Little Hope, Friday 13th, Satisfactory & 100's more [W] Wishlist, Paypal (EU)
I'm from EU,so GAMES SHOULD work pretty much anywhere
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like you have the right to ask me the same
Don't offer me VR games as I don't own a VR headset
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle,but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Armello
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven NEW
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Biomutant NEW
Bionic Commando
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Blade Assault
Blasphemous
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (EMEA region lock)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition (X2)
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition NEW
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead By Daylight
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf NEW
Deployment
Desert Child
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread Templar
Dread X Collection
Dreamscaper NEW
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity NEW
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game (X2)
Frog Detective 1 The Haunted Island (X2)
Full Throttle Remastered
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Genesis Noir
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Gotham Knights
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice NEW
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour NEW (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim
Hiveswap Friend Sim Complete
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Inmost
Internet Cafe Simulator
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Jurassic World Evolution 2 NEW
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
LEGO Movie Videogame
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Love Is Dead
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mainlining
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown NEW
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Mordhau
Mosaic
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
Mountain
My Lovely Daughter
Nairi Tower Of Shirin
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Niche
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Not Tonight
Numba Deluxe
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Pathfinder Wrath Of The Righteous
Pathologic 2
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Per Aspera
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe (X2)
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Playne The Meditation Game
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Relicta
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelation 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords NEW
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable NEW
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slay The Spire
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition (X2)
State Of Mind
Stealth Inc 2 A Game Of Clones
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator NEW
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before NEW
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tannenberg
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Count Lucador
The Dark Pictures Anthology Little Hope
The Dark Pictures Anthology Man Of Medan
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
There Is No Game Wrong Dimension
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tribes Of Midgard
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun (X2)
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Wandersong
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut NEW
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
West Of Dead
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin
XCOM Complete Pack
XCOM Ultimate Collection
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
Zombie Kill Of The Week Reborn
DONT TRY TO SEND A PM BEFORE YOU POST IN THIS TOPIC - WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU!
submitted by dinkomaricic to indiegameswap [link] [comments]
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like you have the right to ask me the same
Don't offer me VR games as I don't own a VR headset
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle,but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Armello
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven NEW
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Biomutant NEW
Bionic Commando
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Blade Assault
Blasphemous
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (EMEA region lock)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition (X2)
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition NEW
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead By Daylight
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf NEW
Deployment
Desert Child
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread Templar
Dread X Collection
Dreamscaper NEW
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity NEW
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game (X2)
Frog Detective 1 The Haunted Island (X2)
Full Throttle Remastered
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Genesis Noir
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Gotham Knights
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice NEW
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour NEW (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim
Hiveswap Friend Sim Complete
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Inmost
Internet Cafe Simulator
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Jurassic World Evolution 2 NEW
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
LEGO Movie Videogame
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Love Is Dead
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mainlining
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown NEW
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Mordhau
Mosaic
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
Mountain
My Lovely Daughter
Nairi Tower Of Shirin
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Niche
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Not Tonight
Numba Deluxe
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Pathfinder Wrath Of The Righteous
Pathologic 2
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Per Aspera
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe (X2)
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Playne The Meditation Game
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Relicta
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelation 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords NEW
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable NEW
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slay The Spire
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition (X2)
State Of Mind
Stealth Inc 2 A Game Of Clones
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator NEW
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before NEW
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tannenberg
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Count Lucador
The Dark Pictures Anthology Little Hope
The Dark Pictures Anthology Man Of Medan
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
There Is No Game Wrong Dimension
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tribes Of Midgard
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun (X2)
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Wandersong
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut NEW
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
West Of Dead
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin
XCOM Complete Pack
XCOM Ultimate Collection
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
Zombie Kill Of The Week Reborn
DONT TRY TO SEND A PM BEFORE YOU POST IN THIS TOPIC - WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU!
2023.03.22 09:29 dinkomaricic [H] Mordhau, Empyrion, Kartkraft, Call To Arms, Slay The Spire, Pathfinder WotR, Hell Let Loose, SCUM, Gotham Knights, Back 4 Blood, ETS2, Obduction, State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut, Tower Unite, Man Of Medan & Little Hope, Friday 13th, Satisfactory & 100's more [W] Wishlist, Paypal (EU)
I'm from EU,so GAMES SHOULD work pretty much anywhere
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like you have the right to ask me the same
Don't offer me VR games as I don't own a VR headset
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle,but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Armello
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven NEW
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Biomutant NEW
Bionic Commando
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Blade Assault
Blasphemous
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (EMEA region lock)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition (X2)
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition NEW
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead By Daylight
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf NEW
Deployment
Desert Child
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread Templar
Dread X Collection
Dreamscaper NEW
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity NEW
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game (X2)
Frog Detective 1 The Haunted Island (X2)
Full Throttle Remastered
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Genesis Noir
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Gotham Knights
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice NEW
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour NEW (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim
Hiveswap Friend Sim Complete
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Inmost
Internet Cafe Simulator
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Jurassic World Evolution 2 NEW
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
LEGO Movie Videogame
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Love Is Dead
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mainlining
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown NEW
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Mordhau
Mosaic
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
Mountain
My Lovely Daughter
Nairi Tower Of Shirin
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Niche
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Not Tonight
Numba Deluxe
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Pathfinder Wrath Of The Righteous
Pathologic 2
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Per Aspera
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe (X2)
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Playne The Meditation Game
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Relicta
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelation 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords NEW
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable NEW
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slay The Spire
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition (X2)
State Of Mind
Stealth Inc 2 A Game Of Clones
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator NEW
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before NEW
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tannenberg
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Count Lucador
The Dark Pictures Anthology Little Hope
The Dark Pictures Anthology Man Of Medan
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
There Is No Game Wrong Dimension
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tribes Of Midgard
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun (X2)
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Wandersong
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut NEW
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
West Of Dead
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin
XCOM Complete Pack
XCOM Ultimate Collection
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
Zombie Kill Of The Week Reborn
DONT TRY TO SEND A PM BEFORE YOU POST IN THIS TOPIC - WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU!
submitted by dinkomaricic to SteamGameSwap [link] [comments]
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like you have the right to ask me the same
Don't offer me VR games as I don't own a VR headset
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle,but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Armello
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven NEW
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Biomutant NEW
Bionic Commando
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Blade Assault
Blasphemous
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (EMEA region lock)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition (X2)
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition NEW
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead By Daylight
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf NEW
Deployment
Desert Child
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread Templar
Dread X Collection
Dreamscaper NEW
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity NEW
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
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DONT TRY TO SEND A PM BEFORE YOU POST IN THIS TOPIC - WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU!
2023.03.22 08:50 WisemonkeysLMS The Peephole
 | submitted by WisemonkeysLMS to u/WisemonkeysLMS [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/099jdjb2x8pa1.png?width=901&format=png&auto=webp&s=95bfd1b9d4a2e20c1d78b295a41e5940c2c79898 The Peephole is a short scary story about a young girl who is left home alone when her father goes out of town on business. A 15-year old girl named Donna lived with her father in a small house in the suburbs. Ever since her mother died, Donna had depended on her father for everything. They had a wonderful relationship and loved each other very much. One morning, Donna’s father was leaving on a business trip. As they ate breakfast together, he told her that he would be home very late that night. With that, he kissed her on the forehead, grabbed his briefcase and walked out the front door. Later that day, when Donna came home from school, she did some homework and watched some TV. By midnight, her father had still not returned so she decided to go to bed. That night she had a dream. She found herself standing at the edge of a busy highway. Cars and trucks whizzed by at an alarming rate. She looked across the highway and saw a familiar figure standing on the other side. It was her father. His hands were cupped around his mouth and he seemed to be shouting something to her, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. As the traffic whizzed by, she strained to hear. Her father’s eyes were sad. He seemed to be desperately trying to communicate something to her. She could barely make out the words: “Don’t… Open… Door…” Suddenly, Donna was awoken from the dream by a strange tapping noise. Tap Tap Tap. Then somebody began to ring the doorbell downstairs. Ring Ring Ring. She scrambled out of bed and put on her slippers. Then, dressed only in her nightgown, she ran downstairs and went to the front door. Looking through the peephole, she saw her father’s face outside. He was staring right at her. The doorbell kept ringing insistently. “OK, hold on! I’m coming!”, she shouted. She pulled back the deadbolt and was about to unlatch the door when she stopped. She looked through the peephole at her father again. Something about his expression didn’t look quite right. His eyes were wide open. He looked terrified. She slid the deadbolt back into place. “Dad!”, she yelled through the door. “Did you forget your keys?” Ring Ring Ring. “Dad, answer me!” Ring Ring Ring. “Dad, please! I need you to answer me!” Ring Ring Ring. “Is there someone else out there with you?” Ring Ring Ring. “Why won’t you answer me?” Ring Ring Ring. “I’m not opening the door until you say something!” The doorbell kept ringing and ringing, but for some reason, her father refused to answer her desperate cries. For the rest of the night, the frightened girl cowered in a corner of the hallway, helplessly listening to the ceaseless ringing of the doorbell. It seemed to go on for hours. Eventually, she fell into an uneasy sleep. At dawn, she woke up and realized that everything was quiet. She crept over to the door and looked through the peephole again. Her father was still there, staring at her. She cautiously opened the door and was confronted with a sight that filled her with unimaginable horror. Her father’s severed head was hanging from a nail above the door. There was a note attached to the doorbell. In crude, scrawled handwriting, it read: “Clever Girl”. Credits : Scary stories for kids At Wisemonkeys, we are bunch of young minds trying to develop an environment to deliver knowledge to the society. From article submissions to blog writing and sharing to even question and answers. Post a question and get instant responses from experts online. REGISTER NOW for FREE! |
2023.03.22 08:02 ThrowRA_12771 32F asking for advice on how to shake 32M who is an old flame
Alright, all. I need some help. I usually don’t struggle with type of thing, but there this one guy who, for the past 13 years, I can’t help but return to. I developed deep feelings for him when we dated the first time (we were 19 then, 32 now).
I have at times gone years without talking to him, blocked him, etc. When that wasn’t happening, we were off and on romantically. He has, or maybe just used to have, the capacity to be generous and decent.
He’s got a troubled past, and I’ve afforded him a lot of grace for that as I also had a difficult upbringing. I’ve done a lot of inner work to comb through my trauma, to heal, and to become my best self for me and my loved ones.
In 2020 and 2021 we had a long running reciprocal, and otherwise healthy platonic friendship. We were open with each other about our positions in life, our long term goals, we confided and advised each other in our romantic endeavors. I was over the moon to have him in my life in a way that was meaningful and drama free. And then he wrecked it. I know it takes two to tango, so here’s the tea:
We go out for boba, all is good, friendly, on par with our new normal. Then he just asked if he could kiss me. I told him ‘No’ and he was respectful, but shared that he felt I was ’the one that got away’ and that he he wanted to try again. He drove this point home for eight hours. We were together chatting until 4 am. I told him I was shocked, that I had resolved my feelings for him, etc. He held his ground, he was polite, he was gentle, he talked about taking things slow, about settling down in a couple years, starting a family, yada yada. 😕 So I think about it for a day or two and I tell him that I’d be happy to try again (All those ‘resolved’ feelings came rushing back SO FAST!).
So the following weekend, my birthday weekend, we go on a date. Spend the whole day together, and at the end of it he says this: “Yea, so… I think I just wanted to get laid, and I have deep feelings for someone else.”
I was crushed. I lost who I thought was a friend and who I thought I might be able to have a genuine relationship with in under thirty seconds. All I could do was cry in disappointment in myself for being so stupid. I called a friend from my car and couldn’t drive home because I was crying so hard for almost half an hour.
At this point in my life I was very confrontation averse, but a few days later, over text, I laid into this guy like I will probably never do to another soul for as long as I live. And therein I still tried to be accountable for my role in the whole mess. I could’ve been genuinely mean, but I was more transparent, assertive, and accountable instead. His response was silence. Total silence. He never responded.
A year and a half later, (which is up to the present day) a mutual friend of ours from 7th grade passed suddenly, completely unexpectedly. I thought about him, and I couldn’t help myself. He responded in kind saying that he wishes we were on better terms and that he wishes me well no matter where we stand. So I’ve tried to talk to him and rebuild something but all I get from him are super dry responses. Now he’s asking if I have lingerie and getting generally suggestive. I’m now stuck asking myself ‘why the hell do I care? Why the hell am I trying?!’
I have good memories with him, and I know from our time as friends how much he wants out of life and how hard it is for him to change. I believe in people, including him, that as long as you’re willing to put in the work, you can achieve what you set your heart to. I think that’s one of the reason I just can’t walk away.
The last experience with him set me on a journey of finding my voice and finding people who need and are open to help. I’ve become someone that communicates better, and my life is changing in good ways for it. But when I talk to him, I can’t channel my better self.
So, I can’t see the forest between the trees. I’m looking for some judgement here. Pleas be honest. About him, about me, being it on. I need to hear it. I don’t want to be vulnerable to this guy anymore.
submitted by ThrowRA_12771 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
I have at times gone years without talking to him, blocked him, etc. When that wasn’t happening, we were off and on romantically. He has, or maybe just used to have, the capacity to be generous and decent.
He’s got a troubled past, and I’ve afforded him a lot of grace for that as I also had a difficult upbringing. I’ve done a lot of inner work to comb through my trauma, to heal, and to become my best self for me and my loved ones.
In 2020 and 2021 we had a long running reciprocal, and otherwise healthy platonic friendship. We were open with each other about our positions in life, our long term goals, we confided and advised each other in our romantic endeavors. I was over the moon to have him in my life in a way that was meaningful and drama free. And then he wrecked it. I know it takes two to tango, so here’s the tea:
We go out for boba, all is good, friendly, on par with our new normal. Then he just asked if he could kiss me. I told him ‘No’ and he was respectful, but shared that he felt I was ’the one that got away’ and that he he wanted to try again. He drove this point home for eight hours. We were together chatting until 4 am. I told him I was shocked, that I had resolved my feelings for him, etc. He held his ground, he was polite, he was gentle, he talked about taking things slow, about settling down in a couple years, starting a family, yada yada. 😕 So I think about it for a day or two and I tell him that I’d be happy to try again (All those ‘resolved’ feelings came rushing back SO FAST!).
So the following weekend, my birthday weekend, we go on a date. Spend the whole day together, and at the end of it he says this: “Yea, so… I think I just wanted to get laid, and I have deep feelings for someone else.”
I was crushed. I lost who I thought was a friend and who I thought I might be able to have a genuine relationship with in under thirty seconds. All I could do was cry in disappointment in myself for being so stupid. I called a friend from my car and couldn’t drive home because I was crying so hard for almost half an hour.
At this point in my life I was very confrontation averse, but a few days later, over text, I laid into this guy like I will probably never do to another soul for as long as I live. And therein I still tried to be accountable for my role in the whole mess. I could’ve been genuinely mean, but I was more transparent, assertive, and accountable instead. His response was silence. Total silence. He never responded.
A year and a half later, (which is up to the present day) a mutual friend of ours from 7th grade passed suddenly, completely unexpectedly. I thought about him, and I couldn’t help myself. He responded in kind saying that he wishes we were on better terms and that he wishes me well no matter where we stand. So I’ve tried to talk to him and rebuild something but all I get from him are super dry responses. Now he’s asking if I have lingerie and getting generally suggestive. I’m now stuck asking myself ‘why the hell do I care? Why the hell am I trying?!’
I have good memories with him, and I know from our time as friends how much he wants out of life and how hard it is for him to change. I believe in people, including him, that as long as you’re willing to put in the work, you can achieve what you set your heart to. I think that’s one of the reason I just can’t walk away.
The last experience with him set me on a journey of finding my voice and finding people who need and are open to help. I’ve become someone that communicates better, and my life is changing in good ways for it. But when I talk to him, I can’t channel my better self.
So, I can’t see the forest between the trees. I’m looking for some judgement here. Pleas be honest. About him, about me, being it on. I need to hear it. I don’t want to be vulnerable to this guy anymore.
2023.03.22 08:01 Notostracant Poetically speaking, a triops kaiju would attack Phoenix, Arizona
Yea, this is completely out of left-field but this is a neat little thought I've had in my mind the past couple days as a Godzilla fan and triops enthusiast. This was probably fueled by me rewatching the Godzilla triops video that I fondly remember watching years ago. I shouldn't need to say this but it is obviously fake, but it is still an entertaining watch that I'm sure many of you have already seen before
Why Phoenix, AZ?
submitted by Notostracant to triops [link] [comments]
Why Phoenix, AZ?
- The name itself, Phoenix, has obvious symbolism when it comes to triops. The phoenix rising from the ashes is comparable to the vernal pool teeming with life, drying out, and springing back to life once more.
- Arizona is one state in the US that has an endemic triops population, notably T. longicaudatus, a hermaphroditic species. The fact that it can reproduce on its own adds to the fear factor and fits thematically with some popular monster depictions, such as the 1998 Godzilla film where Zilla's babies play an important role in the final act. Side note: this isn't a good Godzilla film :(
- Man's hubris. Phoenix is one example some people point out as a shining example of what's wrong with contemporary urban planning and modern civilization as a whole. I shouldn't need to elaborate on this further, but for those who want a better explanation, Phoenix is a very unsustainable city. A strong dependence on the dwindling Colorado riveaquifers, massive urban sprawl (read: very car-centric), and extreme temperatures have made Phoenix environmentally very inefficient, even with current regulations in place. There is absolutely no reason for large golf courses and Kentucky blue grass lawns to exist in the middle of a desert while the threat of climate change is ever looming over this city. The original Godzilla was a narrative on the danger's of nuclear weapons and likewise the recent Shin Godzilla dealt with the implications behind nucleanatural disaster and the political climate of Japan. The point I'm trying to make is this hypothetical triops kaiju would be a symbol of the effects of climate change and man's hubris in addressing it in the same spirit how Godzilla symbolizes the lack of prudence with nuclear technology and the responsibility of mankind. What better city would fit this theme than Phoenix?
- Arizona's soil, notably in the desert regions, is typically sandy or gravelly. We all know triops love digging in this stuff!
- Triops tend to grow faster and are more active the warmer it gets. Arizona can get pretty hot. Shouldn't need to elaborate further
- Ebira (shrimp-ra, a common suffix for kaijus) would be a fitting name for this beast, but that name is already taken by this lovely crustacean! Instead, I propose Kabura would be a fitting name. Kabuto is Japanese for helmet, hence beni-kabuto ebi. Most kaiju names are 3 syllables and end in -ra, so Kabura is what I would name this creature. Incidentally, kabu means turnip, which I find adorable and gives us a color scheme in our next point
- With Kabura as a name, it would be fitting to make this triop turnip colored. The top of the carapace would be a lovely purple color that fades to white ventrally. This is a unique color for a triop and honestly I would love to have one like it.
- Every good kaiju needs a beam attack. I don't make the rules that's just how it is. A blue colored beam would contrast the red/orange rocks and landscape around Phoenix nicely, but the G-man already has dibs on this one. Going back to the turnip colors, purple would fit nicely and also contrast with the scenery just as well. I also find it natural that this beam comes from its third eye
- How would Kabura come to be? To fit in with the already established themes, I believe a train derailment would be fitting. After the disaster in East Palestine the absurd amount of train derailments in this country has taken to the public's interest. In fact, there was recently a train carrying corn syrup that derailed in Arizona. This plays into the whole "negligent stewards of the Earth" theme based on the impact these derailments have on the environment and communities when hazardous materials are released. For this monster, I find a train carrying Potassium-40 derailing in the Arizona desert as a suitable creation story. Of course this isn't realistic in the slightest (we're talking about giant shrimps after all!) but it is a nod to the original Godzilla triops video.
- Notable abilities. This baby can dig with its gigantic appendages like no other. I can see it spending most of its time underground and in particular resting inside an aquifer where it also lays its eggs, only coming out to feed or to protect its clutch. This has the potential to be a focal point of this story, as now an important source of water is not only inhabited/made unpotable by a titan, but might need to be destroyed outright before its eggs have a chance to hatch. A little allegory for the consequences of eco-disasteclimate change.
- As hinted earlier, the real threat posed by this monster is that it can impregnate itself and create an exponentially growing problem as these triops grow and gain an appetite to match, fitting perfectly with the theme by representing the positive feedback-loops associated with climate change.
- Finally, the question you're probably all wondering is how big would this monster be. The original Godzilla was 50m tall with later depictions doubling this height. I could see this kaiju when full grown as being 50m tall as well, but 150m long. I could see it being able to temporarily raise its body using its tail to a height of 100m, putting it face-to-face with modern Godzilla
2023.03.22 07:35 PeppyMoss Potential Additional Features that would make Transformers: Tactical Arena a Lot Better.
In this post, we are going to discuss any cosmetic, functional, or gameplay-related features that could be added to Transformers: Tactical Arena to improve the players’ experience while playing the game. Red Games Co. nailed the gameplay itself and have already proven their ability to deliver great new cards, arenas, emotes, and music tracks in almost every update, but this list will include features that will improve this game in general, either improving the feel of the gameplay or adding more things to do in the main menu screen. These are going to be the types of additions the game needs to have before it can grow any further and expand to a wider audience. The list will be numbered in order of most wanted to not as most wanted, but still wanted (based on my personal preferences). Brace yourselves, here it goes:
NOTE: Do not turn unique characters from Transformers lore into simple reskins of cards already in the game. I.E. Do not make Cliffjumper a red reskin of Bumblebee. Cliffjumper and Bumblebee are two totally unique characters with different fighting styles in Transformers lore. Doing so will also confuse the players. Not everyone will be able to tell that a Bumblebee is coming for their turret if he is painted blue, red, or white instead of bright yellow that will immediately jump into the players’ eyes and warn them. Do not turn Skywarp and Thundercracker into Starscream reskins when they are extremely different characters with unique abilities. Not even Nemesis Prime should be an Optimus Prime reskin. The reskins should be limited only to the unique, named characters in question.
Instead, what you could do is make skins of the characters based on their Shattered Glass versions, which would make sense since it’s something the recent update hinted at. Or have the skins be the Generation 2 (G2) repaints of the characters, or their original Marvel comic book appearances, like the red-eyed, blue-painted Trailbreaker, or remodels of the characters based on the IDW comics, like the recent Megatron reskin we got. Keep the skin selection limited to the named characters selected by the players while customizing their looks.
Thus, that amounts to a total of 23 items (and counting) to improve the feel of the game. It is up to the developers to decide whether they want to add these features or not, but I can guarantee they would make the game feel so much better. Please consider some of these. If you have any extra ideas, make sure to comment them down below! Thank you for reading through this list!
submitted by PeppyMoss to TransformerTactics [link] [comments]
- Add a selectable Landscape mode for mobile users:
- Add a Match History feature with a controllable camera for Photo Mode:
- Add more game modes:
- Add more profile customization:
- Add skin selection for unique characters:
NOTE: Do not turn unique characters from Transformers lore into simple reskins of cards already in the game. I.E. Do not make Cliffjumper a red reskin of Bumblebee. Cliffjumper and Bumblebee are two totally unique characters with different fighting styles in Transformers lore. Doing so will also confuse the players. Not everyone will be able to tell that a Bumblebee is coming for their turret if he is painted blue, red, or white instead of bright yellow that will immediately jump into the players’ eyes and warn them. Do not turn Skywarp and Thundercracker into Starscream reskins when they are extremely different characters with unique abilities. Not even Nemesis Prime should be an Optimus Prime reskin. The reskins should be limited only to the unique, named characters in question.
Instead, what you could do is make skins of the characters based on their Shattered Glass versions, which would make sense since it’s something the recent update hinted at. Or have the skins be the Generation 2 (G2) repaints of the characters, or their original Marvel comic book appearances, like the red-eyed, blue-painted Trailbreaker, or remodels of the characters based on the IDW comics, like the recent Megatron reskin we got. Keep the skin selection limited to the named characters selected by the players while customizing their looks.
- Add skin selection for Main and Secondary Turrets.
- Add skin selection for structures:
- Add in-game death animations:
- Add units emoting at the end of the game:
- Add new daily and weekly objectives with higher rewards.
- Add more Squad slots:
- Add Squad randomization:
- Add more Crate types (a greater Crate variety for players to unlock):
- Add more A.I. decks and fix the A.I. itself:
- Add a camera mode in the Squad screen that would allow us to look at the 3D models of the characters closer:
- Add a controllable camera to the Crates selection screen:
- Add sound effects to emotes:
- Make the gameplay feel more smooth:
- Add a wait time for unit deployment.
- Allow the deselection of cards in-game.
- Fix ranged units not firing at enemy units within melee range.
- Add a new leaderboard.
- Add a new Spectator Mode that will allow players to attend and observe other real-time matches.
Thus, that amounts to a total of 23 items (and counting) to improve the feel of the game. It is up to the developers to decide whether they want to add these features or not, but I can guarantee they would make the game feel so much better. Please consider some of these. If you have any extra ideas, make sure to comment them down below! Thank you for reading through this list!
2023.03.22 07:35 PeppyMoss Potential Additional Features that would make Transformers: Tactical Arena a Lot Better.
In this post, we are going to discuss any cosmetic, functional, or gameplay-related features that could be added to Transformers: Tactical Arena to improve the players’ experience while playing the game. Red Games Co. nailed the gameplay itself and have already proven their ability to deliver great new cards, arenas, emotes, and music tracks in almost every update, but this list will include features that will improve this game in general, either improving the feel of the gameplay or adding more things to do in the main menu screen. These are going to be the types of additions the game needs to have before it can grow any further and expand to a wider audience. The list will be numbered in order of most wanted to not as most wanted, but still wanted (based on my personal preferences). Brace yourselves, here it goes:
NOTE: Do not turn unique characters from Transformers lore into simple reskins of cards already in the game. I.E. Do not make Cliffjumper a red reskin of Bumblebee. Cliffjumper and Bumblebee are two totally unique characters with different fighting styles in Transformers lore. Doing so will also confuse the players. Not everyone will be able to tell that a Bumblebee is coming for their turret if he is painted blue, red, or white instead of bright yellow that will immediately jump into the players’ eyes and warn them. Do not turn Skywarp and Thundercracker into Starscream reskins when they are extremely different characters with unique abilities. Not even Nemesis Prime should be an Optimus Prime reskin. The reskins should be limited only to the unique, named characters in question.
Instead, what you could do is make skins of the characters based on their Shattered Glass versions, which would make sense since it’s something the recent update hinted at. Or have the skins be the Generation 2 (G2) repaints of the characters, or their original Marvel comic book appearances, like the red-eyed, blue-painted Trailbreaker, or remodels of the characters based on the IDW comics, like the recent Megatron reskin we got. Keep the skin selection limited to the named characters selected by the players while customizing their looks.
Thus, that amounts to a total of 23 items (and counting) to improve the feel of the game. It is up to the developers to decide whether they want to add these features or not, but I can guarantee they would make the game feel so much better. Please consider some of these. If you have any extra ideas, make sure to comment them down below! Thank you for reading through this list!
submitted by PeppyMoss to TransformersTactical [link] [comments]
- Add a selectable Landscape mode for mobile users:
- Add a Match History feature with a controllable camera for Photo Mode:
- Add more game modes:
- Add more profile customization:
- Add skin selection for unique characters:
NOTE: Do not turn unique characters from Transformers lore into simple reskins of cards already in the game. I.E. Do not make Cliffjumper a red reskin of Bumblebee. Cliffjumper and Bumblebee are two totally unique characters with different fighting styles in Transformers lore. Doing so will also confuse the players. Not everyone will be able to tell that a Bumblebee is coming for their turret if he is painted blue, red, or white instead of bright yellow that will immediately jump into the players’ eyes and warn them. Do not turn Skywarp and Thundercracker into Starscream reskins when they are extremely different characters with unique abilities. Not even Nemesis Prime should be an Optimus Prime reskin. The reskins should be limited only to the unique, named characters in question.
Instead, what you could do is make skins of the characters based on their Shattered Glass versions, which would make sense since it’s something the recent update hinted at. Or have the skins be the Generation 2 (G2) repaints of the characters, or their original Marvel comic book appearances, like the red-eyed, blue-painted Trailbreaker, or remodels of the characters based on the IDW comics, like the recent Megatron reskin we got. Keep the skin selection limited to the named characters selected by the players while customizing their looks.
- Add skin selection for Main and Secondary Turrets.
- Add skin selection for structures:
- Add in-game death animations:
- Add units emoting at the end of the game:
- Add new daily and weekly objectives with higher rewards.
- Add more Squad slots:
- Add Squad randomization:
- Add more Crate types (a greater Crate variety for players to unlock):
- Add more A.I. decks and fix the A.I. itself:
- Add a camera mode in the Squad screen that would allow us to look at the 3D models of the characters closer:
- Add a controllable camera to the Crates selection screen:
- Add sound effects to emotes:
- Make the gameplay feel more smooth:
- Add a wait time for unit deployment.
- Allow the deselection of cards in-game.
- Fix ranged units not firing at enemy units within melee range.
- Add a new leaderboard.
- Add a new Spectator Mode that will allow players to attend and observe other real-time matches.
Thus, that amounts to a total of 23 items (and counting) to improve the feel of the game. It is up to the developers to decide whether they want to add these features or not, but I can guarantee they would make the game feel so much better. Please consider some of these. If you have any extra ideas, make sure to comment them down below! Thank you for reading through this list!