Guys balls painted as easter eggs

I have a loose plan for this and want to see where it goes.
Chapter 1 - Stranger
When Daglan woke up that morning he didn't see anything unusual. He had awoken from a drop of water falling from the ceiling as he did many mornings. His best friend Rozere was in the kitchen with her father cooking what smelled of eggs. The sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains and holes in the walls as it always did. What felt different? Then he heard voices outside, voices that grew louder and louder. At this point Rozere and her father Koshu had heard the commotion as well and stepped outside to see what it was. Daglan hastily followed suit, after finding his tunic and boots.
Lying on the ground outside was a young man, no older than 25. He lay face up in the dirt wearing only baggy purple pants and a black conical hat covering his face. His long black hair seemed to be tied at the base of his head in a long spiky ponytail, his slender muscular body was covered in dozens of battle scars, and at his waist was a black katana with its sword tied firmly inside its sheath. Almost the entire town had crowded around him, murmuring and shifting anxiously. It wasn't often people arrived in town, mostly just traders on their way to and from Inoris, and that too was a rarity.
"Back now people, give this man some room! And for the love of Reza, quiet!" Barked Doc Silvis as she pushed through the crowd. She immediately knelt down and felt his neck with her fingers. She paused for a moment and gave a very annoyed sigh, slapping away his hat. "He's alive alright. This dumbass is sleeping in the street." She gave the stranger a hard slap across the face, one that would have probably knocked him out, had he been awake. The crowd watched in awe as he yawned and scratched his nose, barely affected by Silvis.
"What should we do?" Someone asked.
"Do you know who he is?" Asked another.
As the murmurs heighted Daglan could tell Silvis was getting fired up, over the years Daglan had gotten to know Silvis quite well, with all his escapades outside the town walls. Daglan knew better than anyone that Silvis hated when a patient ignored her, and more so when she had to repeat herself.
"I said quiet! Don't you lazy bums have more important things to do?! Livani! Koreso! Aren't you two on watch?! Scram the lot of you!" A wave of fear crashed down upon the crowd and everyone began to disperse. All but Daglan, as Rozere pulled on his sleeve.
"Come on Daglan," she hissed, keeping an eye on Silvis like she was some wild animal, "You don't want to make her angrier."
"I'll be fine," he whispered, without looking back, his eyes stuck on the sleeping man. What was this feeling? It was like the feeling he got when Silvis healed his wounds, but not as warm. Almost closer to the feeling he got when abominations were near, when he ventures past the walls, but not as malicious. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Silvis, watching her run her hand across his body, her hands glowing faintly, his curiosity bubbling.
"He isn't cursed or hypnotized, I can't feel a single thing wrong with him. I do believe this man is really just asleep, and slept through a slap in the face." Silvis sighed. After a few moments she looked at Daglan with a tired smile, then frowned. "Thanks for being quite Daglan, now since you're gonna bum around, get to work hauling this bastard back to my infirmary and don't let him out of your sight. I want to know as soon as he wakes up."
Daglan looked around to ask Rozere for help but she was already gone, how long had he been watching this stranger and Silvas? He looked down at the smiling, snoring face of the stranger, scooped under his arms, and with much difficulty began dragging the older, bigger boy to the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet today, there hadn't been a major abomination attack in quite a few weeks which didn't happen often. It wasn't long before Rozere came in with a grimace on her face and her fingers on her nose.
"Honestly," she said in that strange nasally voice when you hold your nose, "I hate how much time you make me spend here. Between you getting hurt and my dad making me help Silvas, I can't get away!" She plopped down next to him and sighed. "So what's with this guy? Why are you still here with him?"
"Silvas asked me to watch him and tell her when he wakes up. Apparently I can't let him leave till she talks to him." He shrugged, trying more to convince himself. She eyed him suspiciously, but immediately dropped the subject.
"Did you notice his sword was tied closed? I wonder what that's about?" She reached out and placed a hand on his sword, and just then the weird energy the stranger gave off changed from similar to those of the abominations , to even scarier than anything he'd ever felt from them. Rozere fell to her knees and screamed as the stranger stood over her. When had he stood up?! Daglan shot to his feet, a smile ripping across his face as excitement crackled through his body. He prepared to defend his friend, when just as quickly as the evil energy had manifested, it disappeared. In fact the feeling Daglan had been getting from the stranger had all but subsided completely.
He stared at Daglan and Rozere with a confused look. When Rozere had eventually stopped screaming, Daglan held out his hand to help her up. Daglan’s mind raced with questions but could he do nothing but stare at the stranger as he stared back.
“Uh, hello-” he began and just then Silvas and Koshu burst through the door with Livani and Koreso close behind. Koshu sprang in between Rozere and the stranger, towering over him.
"What did you do to my daughter!" He said through gritted teeth. The stranger scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth when Rozere spoke up,
"It was nothing dad, he just woke up and scared me! Look at me I'm fine, now would you stop!" But Koshu didn't flinch, not until Silvas spoke up.
"Back off Koshu, Rozere is right, she's fine, and this boy is obviously no danger at the moment." He mumbled something under his breath but did as he was told . "Yeah, listen to Silvas and not me." Rozere grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Now listen here young lady, you will show your aunt some resp–" Koshu began but Silvas smacked him in the back of the head.
"Now isn't the time, Koshu, take her and go," she glared at the stranger, who was still smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
“Everyone out, now.”
"Uh, where am I? He eventually stammered.
"Daglan, out." Silvas said forcefully, without taking her eyes off the stranger. As well as Daglan knew Silvas, he'd never seen her this worked up, not even about the abominations . She was so strong-willed, so much more than anyone else in town. He had heard stories about Silvas, but only bits and pieces around town, probably all made up. Still there was one he heard more than others, he had heard before she lived in Graybarrow she had fought in some kind of war.
Daglan sat outside the infirmary trying to hear as much as he could. Wondering what could have gotten Silvas so worried, and if that man was even human. He could barely hear anything, mostly Silvas's mumbled questioning and the nervous laughter of the stranger. As he sat and pondered, an extremely tall, wide shouldered man sat down next to him and lit a cigarette. He had a long thick mustache that covered his upper lip but came down on the sides past his chin, and scruffy brown hair that stuck up at weird angles.
"Oh, hi Mr.Lucio." Daglan said as he pretended to have not been eavesdropping.
"I haven't seen you in class," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "and I don't often see you hanging around here by choice." He continued to puff his cigarette as they sat in silence.
"Mr.Lucio… I can feel him like the abominations and Silvas's healing. What is he?"
"I'm not sure, from what I've heard he sounds human enough. What do you think?"
"I don't know… I think he's human? But why can I feel him?"
"There must be something similar between him, Silvas's healing, and the abominations from the mountains and forest, hmm?"
"I guess so…" They continued to sit in silence until Lucio had finished his cigarette.
"You can always talk to me if you need help, Daglan. You may like getting experience more, but a little book learning can go a long way." He stood up, pressing his cigarette out between his fingers and putting the butt in his pocket. "It's always good to see you, don't be a stranger." He said as he waved his hand walking away. Daglan thought about what Lucio had proposed, something similar. It didn't seem like Silvas or the stranger would be coming out soon so Daglan decided to go home and see what Rozere thought about all this.
When he did get home both Rozere and Koshu were in foul moods, having most likely fought since earlier. Deciding that he'd rather not be part of that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out the front door before Kusho had time to notice.
It's a short walk to the gate, the guards had patched up his last hole in the wall, but he had since come up with another, more thrilling way. Climbing up to the top of the traders hall, he'd be high enough to jump to the wall once the guards had passed. Then it was a quick jump down and a sprint out of their eyesight before he was able to relax. He walked along a path he knew quite well until he came up on a small ladder, it was built into a tree that led up to a small treehouse.
His exploration headquarters as he liked to call it. The inside was small and filled with trash, and his souvenirs from his adventures sat on a roughly made table. A small Salegitti skull, a broken dagger missing its tip, and a small crystal like rock that shown with faint yellow light. Next to them were three well worn books. He picked up the book titled journal and sat on the ground, scribbling furiously with a small piece of charcoal. He then began to study the other two, older, bigger books. One titled, Abominations of Hel’s Peaks, and the other, Creatures of South Shodun. Mr Lucio was right about book learning, but he liked his own books.
Back in town Rozere was wandering around with her hands behind her head, whistling to herself. “I wonder where Daglan is?” She pondered allowed, before realizing she had stopped in front of Silvas’s office. She stared at the large building with its off-white stone, and massive steel doors. There were various cracks and dents all along the wells and doors, as well as wooden planks over the windows, Silvas called them the clinic’s battlescars, there was nowhere safer to hide in the whole town.
She stared for a long time before realizing there was a man sitting in the grass, a large bottle of alcohol in one hand, and multiple empty bottles sitting neatly by his legs. His long spiky hair was a little cleaner, and the copious amounts of drool were now wiped away. His face was a bright red, and he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He stared at her with a slight wobble,
“Hey… You're that girl that touched my sword right?” He took another large gulp from his bottle.
“Yeah? What of it?” She asked with defiance, her hands on her hips. He smiled a sickening smile and shot to his feet faster than Rozere could see.
“Why don't you try it again? Or will you simply scream for help? Little girls shouldn’t play with monsters.” He said as he towered over her. “Go ahead.” He lifted his arm in the air so his katana was unblocked. Rozere’s knees began to shake and a lump formed in her throat but she did not look away. She was an ant, and this man was a giant. She wasn't going to back down, but he could stand faster than she could see. Surely dropping his arm even faster would be no problem right? He was right, she wanted to scream, but she stood firm.
“Maybe I will!” She returned his malicious smile and reached out for his sword as fast as she could, bracing for the impact and the horrible crunch of bones as he grabbed her arm and snapped it in half. She flinched as her nerves went off, electric sensations coursing through her fingertips. It's happened! But what she felt wasn't pain, but the hard yet somehow soft grip of a katana hilt. She opened her eyes to see her hand firmly gripping his katana and a much more playful smile somehow even wider across this strange man’s face. He began to laugh loudly as she stumbled backwards and fell. He held out his hand, still giggling a little. She eyed him hard then after a moment smacked his hand away. She stood up, and began to brush herself off, glaring at him all the while. He apologized in between giggles.
“My name is Noboru, you've got quite the spirit to face me down. What's your name kid?” He asked as he sat back onto the grass and took another long swig from his bottle. Rozere straightened up and looked at him with a fiery gaze.
“Rozere of Grayborrow.” She said, crossing her arms. “And you dont scare me!”
“What are you yelling about Rozere?” Silvas asked as she appeared behind her. “You!” she exclaimed as she saw Noboru “Where did you get all of that from!? Rozere give me a hand and throw away these bottles would you?”
“She's already gone.” Noboru giggled. Silvas spun around to see that Rozere had indeed disappeared, as Noboru began to laugh louder. Rozere could hear the slap from across town as she sat against the traders hall. As she pondered just how big a lump must be on the side of Noboru's face, a ball smacked her’s.
“Hey who did that!?” She demanded as she hoped to her feat, tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.
“Oh, sorry Rozere! I didn't mean to! Honest!” Said the boy as he ran up and grabbed his ball off the ground before the evil Rozere could kick it away, her foot swishing in the air. The boy was a few years younger than Rozere, had shaggy blonde hair, a tunic that was two sizes too big for him and a pair of round glasses broken in several spots.
“You better be sorry, pipsqueak!” she said, wiping her eyes and now running nose. “I'll have to beat you up if not!”
“Come on give Vilcus a break he said sorry. What are you doing over here by yourself anyways? Daglan run away again?” Said another girl with little blonde pigtails and red cheeks, as she came up behind Vilcus.
“Hi Meska and no he didn't run away again.” Rozere said, sticking her tongue out. “I just think he went for a walk is all… he'll be back… soon!” She crossed her arms and held her chin up. “Well why don't you come play with us until he gets back?” Meska asked, turning around and walking away, “We are playing dodgeball, maybe you can hit Vilcus in the face.”
“Hey nuh-uh! She won't hit me!” Vilcus persisted as he followed after her. Rozere sniffled, rubbed her nose with her sleeve, and smiled.
“Okay fine, but wait up!” She yelled.

As Daglan walked through the trees, he could feel the malicious energies from abominations all around him, it was making his blood boil. He remembered the stranger looking down at him and Rozere, overflowing with the most malicious intent he had ever felt. A smile began to creep across his face once more, as he could feel something close behind him. He spun around to see a creature he had only seen in books, the sight of which excited and terrified him. 

A giant humanoid creature with a long smooth snake-like torso, and grotesquely elongated arms and legs stood before him. It had a small pair of arms on its hips that bounced as if boneless, and a strange human face. Smooth indents of skin sat where the eyes should be, and it had a beak lined with razor teeth that jutted out at multiple angles. It clicked its tongue and sniffed the air then began to lick its beak with what could only be called a smile.
“What should I call you big fella?” Daglan asked nervously as excitement shot through his body. This wasn't like anything he'd ever encountered in the forest, or during attacks. This creature was much more dangerous. He gritted his teeth and forced an equally disgusting smile, even though he was sure the abomination couldn't see him. He pulled out the dagger he had smithed in secret at Koshu’s forge and dropped his stance lower, lower, lower. The creator was clicking and sniffing in anticipation, no doubt it could feel Daglan’s bloodlust.
Daglan took a slow step forward, then another. The creature's head tilted and it sniffed harder, then in a flash that Daglan couldn’t even see, it lashed out, slashing his shoulder apart. Adrenaline had already made its way to Daglan’s brain and he didn't even feel the warm blood soaking into his tunic or notice his limp arm flailing behind him as he attacked. He rolled under the creature’s arm and slashed at its ribs ripping its open sending its guts pouring out. It screamed in pain and whirled around, but its tall body and long arms whizzed over Daglan’s head. He rolled again, this time in between its legs, slashing at its knee, cutting down to the bone. It screamed again and fell to its knees with a gross squishy thud from one. It twitched and spazzed as it began twisting its body around in a disgusting manner.
Daglan approached cautiously, but the adrenaline had worn off and he looked down at his arm. It was almost completely blue, and the little skin and bone that held his arm to his body squirted copious amounts of blood. There was a blur then he was flying through the brush stopping when he thudden into a tree. His eyes began to blur with red, then black. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice...
“You are by far the most interesting of the bunch. Hey, can you hear me?”
When Deglan awoke he was looking at a ceiling he knew all too well. In a bed he had awoken in many times. But this time he couldn't move. “Silvas! What's happening?! Silvas! Rozere!” Daglan began to thrash when he heard that same voice.
“Hey hey hey! You're going to hurt yourself more than you already have!” When standing over him, blocking the light with his conical hat, was the stranger. “That was a nasty creature you were tangling with out there. I heard you like to fight but I'm guessing you've never seen a lasari before? Ugly things, and not easy to kill with small weapons if you don't know how.”
“I do know how.” Daglan said matter of factly, “They have two brains located behind the eye sockets.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” the stranger smiled maliciously, “ but how do you stop them from reproducing after that?” Daglan went silent for a moment. “What do you mean?"
“Lasari have a fun ability to reproduce from their corpse. Specifically, their heart has two eggs inside that will hatch if it ever stops beating. So to properly kill one you must burn the heart.” He laughed and presumably sat back down, out of Daglan’s eyesight. There was a slight pause and Daglan was about to speak when he heard a gasp and the stranger continued.
“Anyway, you almost lost your arm. Luckily, your doctor and blacksmith were able to fix you up, those two are something else. It'll take some time for your bo-” Daglan cut him off.
“What do you mean I almost lost my arm?! What did they do to me?!” He exclaimed, thrashing, memories of his broken and bleeding arm flashing through his mind.
“If you don't calm down, I will calm you down.” He said forcefully. “I hate babies. I thought you were supposed to be a tough kid? Now anyways it's just me and you here, everyone else is asleep, so please. I know you've heard of the metal prosthetics of this country, Metics, I think they're called? I’ve seen people in town with them. Well your blacksmith had to help your doctor make you a new shoulder.”
“So why are you being so helpful? I don't know you, and you feel the same as an abomination.” “See it's things like that!” He shot back up his face noticeably red.
“You're so interesting! I don't remember how I got here…” He scratched his head for a second, “but boy have I had fun since I've shown up!” Your girlfriend Rozere-”
“She's not my girlfriend, and you leave her alone!” He shouted.
“Well she's fearsome! And you’re so interesting too! Definitely the best five year o-”
“I’m twelve. Rozere is thirteen.”
“Well twelve then. Point is, I like you and your little girly friend, so I thought I'd help out and not let you die.” Then it dawned on Daglan, there was no way a search party found him like when he normally gets in a scap and passes. He had thoroughly lost and was deep in the woods. By all accounts he should be dead. Daglan was so angry he hadn't even thought about what happened afterwards.
“It was you. So what do you want from me? Are you some abomination loo-” This time the stranger cut him off.
“My name is Noboru, the handyman.”
“I've never heard of that species.”
“Well I'm not an abomination, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. I travel from place to place making money doing odd jobs. Anyways, you remind me an awful lot of someone I used to know. So don't go throwing your life away against such low level trash as the abominations around here.” Daglan began to feel the intimidating malice from Noboru, almost that of when Rozere had touched his sword. “I know you can feel my energy. Unlike the people of this town, save a few, I think you're gifted.” Then it was gone just as quickly as before. “What do you want, Daglan.” Daglan’s blood was fire and his eyes daggers, piercing the ceiling with determination.
“I want to be remembered.”
“So get out of this town and maybe one day you can fight me, and I’m not even the strongest out there. Come… show this world what you're… made of because I for one… can't wait.” Just then Daglan heard a thud followed by an endless cascade of snores from Noboru.
“Would someone get me out of here!”

So, yesterday I posted here about my theory that Lost and From are connected and share the same universe and here I'm going to prove it. Btw probably the show is also related to The Leftovers so this post will have spoilers about all 3 shows.
​

1. Boyd has 2 versions of himself : Lost and From. The fact that they have exactly the same actor on the exact same situation is because it is the same character.
2. The "Drone" represents the Plane. It will probably crash like as if it was an easter egg.
3. In The Leftovers the whole show focuses on the sudden disappearance of 2% of the world population which I believe amounts to like 175 million people. I believe the reason all those people disappeared was because of them being teleported to From-like towns.
4. In one of the episodes of the first season Boyd says "Maybe we are all that's left, the leftovers, the ones who got lost".
5. All the shows have a really connection to religion, faith and the power of our own mind, how we deal with situations that are hard to understand and all of them seem similar. Visions, Symbols, everything is present in one way or another.
6. One of the members of the writing team worked for...you guessed it, Fox while they were producing both The Leftovers and Lost. He went FROM Fox to MGM, maybe there's also that tie in.
7. In the portuguese version of the show the title is "Origem" which means "Origin". From and Origin are different things. Maybe there's something in that as well
8. Everyone LOST someone.
9. I will let you guys decide this one and investigate further.

I honestly think this is the whole idea of the show. This, the simulation theory or one that I've read here that ties From to the Valorant videogame are actually the most believable ones but what do you think?
Btw this community is awesome.

There is a zombie show that I'm thinking of that has a creepy guy with neon body paint and is live streaming about the zombie apocalypse(in favor of). I feel like he wears creepy headdresses as well. The language of the show is Korean or Japanese. Please help me find this!

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TL;DR for Part 1: We are monogamists plagued by the trauma of my pedophile uncle. In 2022 an online predator got the cheating ball rolling due to my wife’s DID.
INTRODUCTION
Due to length my post is in three parts.
We are both 29. I first saw my wife at 3, dancing under a sprinkler. She noticed my stare, and Cupid’s euphoric lightning hit us the second our eyes met. We breathlessly ran up and expressed the mutual BOOM. After that, we were inseparable. At age 4 we agreed to marry in adulthood, then shared our first electrifying kiss. Adorable, right? Well, the caveat is we were already sexualized by my uncle and privy to adult problems. We had no clue how to be kids.
The sexualization inspired my wife’s BDSM-fanatic father to train and traffic her as a sex slave. By 5, he also twisted our pure Love into a trauma bond. I was forced to inflict child-on-child BDSM abuse on my young fiancée and watch her rapes. Our childhood divided between daytime Disney romance and a freakshow at sundown. Besides that, my narcissist grandmother mindfucked me daily and dotingly brainwashed my wife whenever she stayed at our house. She practically grew up in my toxic family.
Our Love endured hell and we married at age 23, at which point I dedicated 7 years to deprogramming my porn addiction, BDSM fetishes, attitudes about women and sex, etc. Underneath toxicity, I found Paradise: Twin Flames who intricately understand each other, share interests / values, are both introverts, and can enjoy divine vanilla sex. Our Marriage is D/s given that I am a rational Dominant, and she a submissive reliant on my leadership; we are a 1950s couple sans homemade meals (wife can’t cook). My precious Mom loves her deeply as a daughter too.
My wife’s True Self is melancholic, shy, demure, and emanates sensual Purity, but her psyche has a Sex Brigade courtesy of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formally diagnosed). Her mind split off into alter-egos to shield the Original from abuse. As she retained her Original Self, I distinguish this from the alters as ‘True Wife’.
THE FACEBOOK PREDATOR (AP1)
May 19th, 2022, WW met a 31yo ‘virgin’ full of sob stories on FB. While extracting info on her DID and rapes, AP1 made WW his sex-ed teacher, helping her confidence flourish. I was unconcerned given my rock-solid trust. Little did I know it was one alter’s EA of unrequited ‘love’ for my uncle.
Uncle raped my wife and I from infancy until we ceased being ‘sexy’ at age 6. Since he was her only sweet pedophile, WW’s enamoured alter did cartwheels to win back the ‘boyfriend’ who shunned her. This infatuation plus my grandmother’s obsession with him spurred me to compete against my uncle for both women’s affections until we were synonymous. Moreover, uncle’s playlists and relationships informed our childhood romance. Despite all this, I differed too much to be the ‘perfect’ substitute.
Enter my eerie displacer, AP1. The extreme resemblance to my uncle in looks / job / zodiac / vibe / pedo streak made him an ideal projection, particularly given that Uncle 2.0 attentively lavished WW. He was her dream come true. Meanwhile, I was assured that the hours spent texting and talking by phone are recharging her desire for ‘me’. I was yet to understand that ‘me’ meant uncle. Felt sad, but still trusted.
After 3 weeks of buildup, AP1 executed his plan and triggered her, fully infiltrating WW’s subconscious. True Wife freaked and decided to end the friendship on June 8th, 2022 (DDay). AP1 derailed “goodbye” into an engaging Spiritual chat, followed by trauma-targeted content that methodically wore down my wife into a sexual trance. Finally he hit the jackpot, causing her alter to seize total control.
The unholy pair delved into 6 HOURS of m abuse reenactment sexting, audio clips, nudes, and blasphemous “I love yous”. WW suffered miniature heart attacks from the retraumatization (her health never recovered). Once True Wife woke up and saw what transpired, her horrified despair demanded suicide ASAP. A long-distance female friend moved mountains to talk her out of it.
When I walked in, tear-stricken True Wife fell to her knees and frantically confessed sexting, giving away our gif collection and using phrases / terms sacred to us. I was annihilated by heartbreak. In a stupor I provided comfort, struggling to swallow reality: the woman I waited to have to myself for 19 years just betrayed me. The ONE PERSON I thought would never break my trust, just shattered it. Long before I learned that uncle was the motive, I felt triggered by my old rival. My mind knew.
After 48 hours of talks and meltdowns, my wife cheated again (June 10th, 2022). The predator had unlocked a 24/7 oil spill of traumatic arousal, thus it took seconds to induce another hypnotic sex marathon. AP1 then instructed WW to give him first dibs every day—her Husband can only get sloppy seconds. Once he left, the alter skipped over to My Mom announcing that her boyfriend will marry her (persistent fantasy about my uncle). This unmasked DID as the cheating engine. We also discovered that AP1 is a scavenger who enjoys stealing other guy’s wives and targets mentally-ill women.
True Wife plunged into catatonic shock. SHE was traumatized, as cheating on me egregiously violated her monogamous nature. We did our best to give support while True Wife grieved what she did, then processed the truth of her alter and my uncle. I never had a chance to focus on myself, as the insights were revolutionary for everyone, plus Mom and I were busy stopping the alter from obeying AP1’s “sext me daily” command.
Realizing the insidious influence made True Wife hyperfocus on Our Marriage. She was outraged that AP1 dared invade us and texted him multiple rants revoking pledges of love / ownership, condemning him for “raping her while drunk” and hammering the sanctity of Marriage into his snide mug. We banded together against the uncle spectre and felt in-tune as a couple. Therapy sessions were scheduled. Had this continued, Our Love would be detoxed and stronger than ever. Alas, a parasitic distraction sapped its power 6 days later.
2022’s summer of betrayal continued in Part 2.

Having just been recently diagnosed, I've been discovering so much more about myself and why I struggle in certain areas of life so much
The biggest area for me is employment! I've had 4 jobs over the course of my life (admittedly they were all before I was diagnosed with autism level 1) and they've all just drained the essence of life out of me! I'm 27 for fuck's sake and everyone around me seems to have a stable job or source of income and my parents wanna charge me rent and I can't be on their car insurance anymore so I gotta now pay for that and I'm just sitting here like... Welp, I'm fucked!
What the hell am I doing wrong?!? I realize now that my autism is what's making this downright abysmally difficult, but good Lord!
Not only am I overanalyzing when/how I should apply for jobs in terms of my diagnosis, as well as what accommodations I'll need and how to ask for them, but I'm absolutely DREADING the interview process!
I can't be bluntly honest in the interview, or they'll refuse to hire me cause I'm too much of a burden with all my problems and struggles and accommodations I'll likely need, but I LOATHE lying and know for a fact that if I don't advocate for myself, I'll either get fired or have to quit when sensory or situational overload inevitably kicks in!
For context, here's the jobs I've tried:

1. Handyman work - Painting, landscaping, home renovations and repair etc etc - This proved to be extremely taxing on my physical body and downright horrible for my executive dysfunction... The overall work we had to do seemed monumentally overwhelming, so I wouldn't even wanna start, much less keep going... I would come home and crash after this. Lasted maybe 2 years at this.
   
2. Dishwashing - As much as I thrive off routine, this actually became TOO repetitive for me! It was less physically demanding, but it was so mentally dull that I would dread it. Not only that, but my coworkers seemed intent on doing ALL they could to screw up my systems I had in place for doing things! I'd get frustrated when they asked for certain dishes to be prioritized when I was in the middle of washing other things, and worse yet, they'd complain that I wasn't fast enough! Like, hello?!? Do you want actually clean dishes or not?!? I can only clean with quality so quickly! I only lasted 2 years at this.
   
3. Serving - AKA, masking at it's finest. Need I say more? Keeping strangers completely happy in a fast paced, overwhelming environment gave me panic attacks and depression... I'd come back crashed and unable to care for myself. Only lasted a year at this.
   
4. Ride operator at my local theme park - Okay, at least this job was in my area of special interest - thrill rides - but good grief was it pain for me! Not only was I masking the whole time when dealing with strangers, but I'd frequently get cussed at, complained at, and treated like less of a human for following the rules and standard operating procedures that were in place for a reason and for guests safety! Like I'm sorry, would you rather die today random tourist?!? I can arrange that! Not only that, but operating these complex pieces of machinery took a lotta quick judgement and strangely enough, speedy arbitrary estimation and math to make sure the ride was balanced so it wouldn't break... Combine all these elements together, and it was no wonder I'd have mental shutdowns on the job to the point where my supervisors would have to take over! A measly 4 months. That's all I could take of this!
   

Oh, and before the ride operator position, I interviewed to be a ride mechanic... That was the worst interview of my life! Not only did the guy not direct the conversation, but he didn't ask many questions of me, and all the questions he asked I was completely unprepared for! So the entire time I was just dead silent cause I didn't know what to say or when! Not only that but I had none of the experience they wanted... So that was awkward and anxiety inducing! Like, I'm sorry, my undiagnosed self at the time had no idea what questions to ask, or how to even move the conversation forward, I thought that's what YOU the EMPLOYER was supposed to do!
As if all that isn't bad enough, my degrees in engineering and music, both require intense socialization and marketing yourself to even get your foot in the door in the industry! Like, I'm sorry, my qualifications and knowledge isn't enough for you?!? You'd rather hire someone based off a recommendation from someone else?!? Well whoop de doo! I'm socially awkward and overanalyze everything socially and literally have a nightmare of a time meeting new people! Guess I'm royally fucked!!
sigh... It's made me incredibly frustrated, jaded and hopeless that I'll ever be able to be on my own...
I just wanna accomplish my dreams... Get married ... Raise a family... Work at building thrill rides... Compose music for film, animation and video games... Invent and tinker and research stuff...
Kinda impossible to do most of that without living on my own...
At this point I'm looking for suggestions and advice, as well as sympathy...

Ko-fi
They stood at the mouth of a deep cave. Three men, one wielding a sword, the other an axe and the last man with a strung bow hanging over his shoulder and a quiver of arrows fixed to his back..
"Now what?" Sam the axe wielder asked, he was the son of a blacksmith, up until that morning he'd been focusing on taking up his father's trade, that was until Jim the baker's son had walked into the town square brandishing a long sword and declared that he was going to slay the dragon that had swooped down one Sunday afternoon and flown away with Beatrice the grain merchant's daughter in its talons. Normally dragon slayers didn't pronounce their intentions loudly at town squares for all to hear. They just went about the business of killing dragons without making a show of it but Jim had been loud. He'd even knelt down and wept at one point when he commemorated how much he'd loved Beatrice which was a coincidence because Sam had also loved Beatrice. Hence why he volunteered to accompany Jim on the dragon slaying mission.
It had come as a surprise when Thomas the Gardener's son had volunteered for the mission as well. When asked why he'd stepped up he'd answered. "Beatrice owes me three silver pence." Apparently he'd loaned Beatrice some money or something along those lines before the dragon had carried her away and he wanted it back on the off chance that she was still alive. He was willing to risk his life and rescue her so that she would pay him back.
"I'm going to be honest with you guys, I have no idea how to go about slaying a dragon." Jim said with his sword's edge resting on his shoulder. "But together I'm certain we can achieve this feat." They all nodded.
Thomas pondered as to how exactly they were going to accomplish the feat as they stood outside the dragon's lair, he was a sucker for details so he asked. "How exactly are we going to kill the dragon?"
"I'm certain if we stick something into it enough times it'll die." Sam said to which Jim nodded.
"Yeah, we just look for a vulnerable spot and stab it there." Jim said.
"But doesn't it have hard scales covering its entire body?" Thomas asked.
"I'm certain its testicles don't have a coat of scales covering them." Jim said.
"Yeah but, does it even have testicles, what if its a female dragon?"
"Why would a female dragon carry away Beatrice? Everyone knows only male dragons carry away virgins to their lair so they can eat them." Jim answered.
"But Beatrice wasn't a virgin." Sam said comfortably.
"What do you mean she wasn't a virgin? She was a fair maiden who loved only me and had vowed that I shall have her hand in marriage and that I will one day share her bed." Jim said. Irritated with having to defend Beatrice's dignity.
"She definitely wasn't a virgin because I used to have sex with her." Sam said.
Jim turned fully to face Sam. "What do you mean? I was the last to hang out with Beatrice on Saturday behind the church meadow where she'd let me cup her breast, her left breast, and vowed to me that I was the only man to ever touch her ample bossom."
"She must have lied to you, she let me touch her breasts every time, and even lick them while having sex." Sam said.
Jim balled one hand into a fist, becoming furious. "She was a virgin, my darling would never have had relations with the likes of you."
Sam turned fully to face Jim and swung his axe to rest on his shoulder by its haft. "I used to meet with her at the meadow every time to have sex. Though not on Fridays, Fridays were for Terrance the Beekeeper's son to have sex with her."
Jim turned to Thomas for help. "Thomas, tell this fool what an upstanding woman Beatrice was."
Thomas nodded. "Beatrice was an upstanding woman, she was the best whore our small town had." He nodded at his last statement and raised his eyes to the cave, trying to peer within.
"What do you mean whore?" Jim asked. Now turning to face Thomas.
"Why do you think she's owed my three silver pence? She charged me a dime for a fondle in the bushes but she didn't have change for a gold crown hence why she's owed three silver pence." Thomas said. "She wasn't a virgin." He added. "But that doesn't change the fact that she needs rescuing."
"Now you listen here you root digger's sorry excuse for a son." Sam started. "Beatrice wasn't a whore, she was just adventures in carnal matters and that's all."
"Why then did she charge me to fondle her in the bushes?" Thomas asked. "She also charged Michael, the Jeweler's son and Martin the barkeep's son. We still have to rescue her though, I need my three silver pence."
Jim's blood was boiling at this point, he couldn't believe the words he was hearing and with every passing moment the grip on his sword tightened.
"Why then didn't she charge me for our fondling in the meadow if she was a whore?"Sam asked.
"Maybe she fancied you." Thomas said to which Sam gave a satisfactory nod and smiled.
"You know what? Fuck this." Jim said and flung his sword away. "Fuck this nonsense, I'm out." He turned around and started making his way downhill.
"But we have to save Beatrice?" Thomas called to his retreating back.
"Well fuck you and fuck that cheating whore Beatrice. Can't believe I saved myself for her, even curved out our initials onto the tree in the meadow." Jim said.
"Yeah I always used to wonder who 'J and B' were as I shagged Beatrice beneath that tree." Sam said.
Jim turned around and flashed his middle fingers at the pair, he then turned and continued on his journey away from the cave.
"Should we go and save Beatrice on our own?" Thomas asked. "I really need that three silver pence."
Sam shook his head from side to side. "Naaah this quest has lost its luster." And he turned around and followed Jim. After a moment of retrospect Thomas cursed at his loss and followed.

Its a 730AM tee time. I am paired with 3 dudes. Here's how the round went.
They rolled up to the tee box late. I get that its early, but, your pace of play affects the entire day. I was like.. OK... let's see if these guys make up for lost time. After another 10mins, they finally get their gloves on, pull out them balls, and everything... and hit 2 into the woods, and topped another from the blues.... OK.. never mind.. breakfast balls..
Nope. It was an all day .. all you can eat, shankapalloooooza affair.
1 hour passed... we are on the 3rd tee box.
and then..... I noticed this one dude's routine with his phone.
He takes it out... turns it on..... taps his club...... 3 swings... sets up.... 2 more swings.....
This other dude... seeing the delays... starts on his phone as well... checking facebook or what not..
READY GOLF was dead today.
and then.. some dude decides to pull the flags before he putts...
What would you do?

Toxic Rats: Geoff, Scott, Leshawna, Sammy, Trent
Mutant Maggots: Anne Maria, Katie, Molly, Scarlett, Dave, DJ
Episode 04: Finders Creepers
"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island!" Chris opened over a stock shot of the camp, the recap montage starting off with a clip of the contestants racing off towards the side of Mt. Looming Tragedy. "Twelve bumbling buffoons battled it out in a brutal buffet of bombastica," Chef was shown gleefully dropping ice blocks on the climbing campers, catching Geoff and Scott but narrowly missing Molly and almost catching Anne Maria.
"Why all the 'B' words?" B was shown demonstrating his couch invention created from junk, "Because, B proved he was a brave and brilliant improviser who scored big time for his team!" B used an ice pick to poke holes onto a shard of ice and placed it on top of the castle, directing the sun beam towards the Maggots' base and melting it effectively. "Until his bitter teammate Scott allowed brainy Molly to botch it on purpose and B got the boot," Molly threw a snowball onto the shard, melting the castle and B was shown being flung into the night.
"And now," Chris said, popping up in front of a shot of the full moon in a cloudy sky with a lit candle in his hand, marking the end of the recap montage, "tonight's challenge is about fear." He made a devilish look. "And everyone knows fear is a dish best served, in the dark!" he said in an exaggeratedly spooky manner, an eerie sound playing as he laughed evilly. "Huh?" he stopped suddenly, the camera pulling back to reveal Chef standing next to him...dressed like a showgirl with lots of peacock feathers. "Chef!" the host said in annoyance.
"Wardrobe was all out of vampire costumes," Chef explained as the series's capstone then began to play.
"It's all scary!" Chris said, walking off to the left. "Other than that," he scowled and gestured back toward his off-screen assistant. "Right here! Right now!" he resumed his usual demeanor. "On Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!" He adopted his spooky tone as he finished the title, and ended with another evil laugh.
XXXXX
Frogs and crickets chirped and croaked, joined by an owl's hoots as the episode opened on a shot of the full moon. The camera panned down to the cabins as the sound of snoring was added to the nighttime mix, and the scene cut inside to the girls' side of the Maggots' cabin where Anne Maria and Katie were sleeping peacefully in the bunk they shared. Dave and DJ were also shown sound asleep on the boys' side, and the scene cut to the Rat boys to show Geoff also sound asleep.
The camera cut next to show Sammy waking up with a yawn. She stretched her arms out for a few good seconds and fell right back to sleep...until the sudden shrill wail of a blow horn pierced the air.
"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Chris hollered from off-screen as the scene cut back outside, the blowhorn continuing even over the panicked shouts of the campers.
The camera briefly cut to a close-up of the blowhorn still blowing, then over to the Maggots' cabin as they ran outside fully dressed – first Katie screaming "What's happening?!"; then DJ just screaming; then Scarlett yelling out "This is unethical!"; then Anne Maria just hollering; and then finally Dave coming out, calling out "I'm wide awake!"
The Rats were shown next, Scott grunting "Me first!" as he shoved Geoff down the stairs and slid down the railing; Leshawna quickly running after him; Sammy screaming at the top of her lungs; and Trent coming out last at around the same time while screaming.
They assembled nervously in the common area between cabins, where Chris – wearing a pair of heavy earmuffs – finally eased up on the blowhorn. "Glad you all could make it," he grinned as he took off his headgear.
Molly soon arrived later. "Is there an attack or what?" she asked her teammates.
Katie shot her a quick glare. "Of course not, but why would you care about anything but yourself?"
Confessional: Molly
"Olay, yes," Molly moaned. "I left my teammates behind, but that was because I wanted to win the challenge first. I was always taught to focus on one thing before moving on to the next, and that's what I did." She grew concerned. "I don't see any problems with that."
Confessional Ends
"I hope you're all ready," Chris continued, "'cause it's challenge time!" He stepped to the side as Chef rolled up a large widescreen television on a wheeled cart. It was currently displaying an aerial map of the island with several additional colored icons – six bright green skulls scattered around the island; three yellowish envelopes over the campfire pit, the western edge of the campgrounds, and deeper into the forest; and a large purple spider in the middle of it all.
"We're gonna do a challenge?" Anne Maria wondered. "In the middle of the woods? At night?"
Confessional: Anne Maria
"Doesn't Chris know that we need our hours of sleep?" Anne Maria criticized. "I haven't even done my hair."
Confessional Ends
"Your challenge," Chris continued as though there'd been no interruption, "a scavenger hunt for three creepy souvenirs. Your locations? A haunted forest," he walked across to the other side of the television, "a scaaary pet cemetery, and an extra spooktastic cave. First team to each location gets a special clue," he said, the camera zooming in as he pointed towards the westernmost letter icon on the screen. "But watch out for booby traps," he added jovially as he moved his finger to one of the skulls, "I really went to town with them, heheh." The campers were shown watching warily.
"So move fast," the host added, "and stick together. You'll be penalized for each player you lose!"
"Umm, what's with the giant spider?" Sammy asked.
"Oh yeah," Chris answered as the shot zoomed in on the icon in question, "there's some kinda gigantic mutated spider sorta running around loose on the island."
The cast immediately started to voice their fears and protests.
"A huge, humongous spider is on the loose?!" DJ hugged Katie out of fear.
"I guess so," Katie said frightfully, but was secretly enjoying DJ hugging her.
The shot zoomed in on Dave in particular as he looked around, moaning "Oh no..." in annoyance.
Confessional: Dave
"Ever since I was a kid, I've never been a huge fan of spiders," Dave admitted. "They leave messy webs everywhere they go, and it takes me a long time to clean them up in places like my uncle's attic or my aunt's basement." A spider soon crawled down on a string. "This is gonna be unpopular, but I'm not a huge fan of Spider-Man because of my dislike of spiders." The spider hissed after hearing the criticism, making Dave flinch.
Confessional: Leshawna
"I may seem fearless on the outside, but spiders are one of the few things I'm terrified of," Leshawna said nervously. "Anything with eight legs is frightening enough."
Confessional Ends
"And since I want to keep things fair for both teams," Chris continued, "I decided to bring back an eliminated contestant for the Rats."
"It's so good to be back here!" the familiar voice of Sierra was heard, becoming more recognizable when she ran next to Chris.
"Sierra! I haven't introduced you yet!" Chris snapped at her.
"If I waited any longer, the episode would've been past the usual 22-minute runtime," Sierra explained. "I'll just go join the Toxic Rats and save you the trouble of doing so since I've rejoined."
Chris watched the fangirl run up to the contestants in annoyance. "Long story short, Sierra is the returnee." Chris regained his smile, and the dramatic and almost heroic tune started playing again. "There's nothing to fear but mortal terror itself! Talk soon," he added impishly, sounding his blowhorn once again.
The twelve campers ran off towards the woods.
\
The footage flashed ahead to another shot of the full moon over the forested hills of Wawanakwa, an owl hooting as the scene cut down to ground level. The logo of the Toxic Rats appeared in the corner of the screen just before the team itself did, running up and stopping in front of a tree with a loudspeaker set up in its branches.
"We're in first place! Sweet!" Geoff cheered just before the loudspeaker whined into activity.
"Welcome to the Haunted Forest!" Chris announced over it, the shot panning downward to show the six Rats gathering around a small crack in the ground. "Your clue can be found at the base of this tree!" Sierra reached into the hole...and screamed in pain as something metallic snapped inside the hole.
"Inside a bear trap," Chris finished his announcement with a laugh.
Sierra withdrew her hand from the hole, the trap clamped down firmly on her arm – though she was at least clutching a note in her hand. "Here! Read the clue," she said, passing it to a mildly shocked Sammy. Just as she was about to read it, the sound of approaching footsteps distracted her and her teammates.
"Bad news guys," Anne Maria commented from the six Maggots. "They have the clue."
"Even with a team advantage they still managed to beat us," Katie reminded them.
"We can let the opposing team have their clue," Scarlett said, looking back towards her teammates. "I have another plan," she said, running ahead with her teammates in tow.
\
The shot cut to the Maggots as they stopped at a clearing further along the trail. "So what's the plan?" Katie asked the girl in front.
"Find a place to hide so we can follow the Rats and their clue to our first souvenir," Scarlett answered. "Into that bush!"
The Maggots dived and painfully tried to hide in a thorn bush.
"Be quiet," Dave hissed, "They're coming."
"Inside a knot is a nest," Sammy read as the scene cut to the Rats. "Your souvenir lives with a pest. Find Polaris to travel northwest? Polaris is the North Star."
"The North Star is right there, so this way's northwest! There's a path!" Trent declared. He ran off, the rest of his teammates following suit.
"Now we follow!" Scarlett declared as the rest of her teammates came out of the bush.
\
The Rats' logo reappeared as the footage skipped ahead again to them running along through the woods.
"Inside a knot is a nest," Geoff muttered to himself as the shot zoomed in on him. "Hey Sammy, what was the rest of that poem again?" he called back without taking his eyes off the path ahead.
When he didn't get an answer he immediately skidded to a stop. "Sammy?!" he yelled in rising panic, and looked back to see nobody behind him.
The shot cut back to show that the rest of the Rats had stopped in their tracks. "What? Did we lose the mouse?" Scott asked.
Geoff gulped. "We get a penalty for each player we lose, right?" he asked nervously.
"And there's a spider crawling around, right?!" Leshawna said in panic. The shot cut outward as he did so, showing a large purple spider crawling down through the shadows of the forest trees.
"We're looking for a knot with a nest, right?" Scott looked off to the right; the camera quick-panned over to a large tree with a noticeable hollow knot in the trunk with the hints of a nest inside; a few green and red marks had been spray-painted on the bark under it.
"There it is!" Leshawna said, immediately rushing towards it.
"But what about Sammy?" Trent asked his team.
"We'll look for her after we get the souvenir," Sierra assured him.
Leshawna started climbing up the trunk as the rest of her team ran up to join her, and soon began to root through the tree hollow with one arm.
Suddenly, a large eye opened up inside the hollow and stared directly at Leshawna. She screamed, and several squid-like tentacles reached out of the tree's other hollows. One quickly grabbed her around the neck and held her up, while another gave her a few wet slaps then poked her in the eye.
"My eye!" Leshawna yelped in pain and terror. In response the tentacle tightened its grip, and Leshawna began to choke.
"What do we do!?" Sierra yelled in panic.
Geoff looked around, then bent down and picked up a handful of small rocks. "We can throw these stones at the octo guy!"
"Good idea!" Scott said as he and his team picked up rocks of their own and began throwing them at the creature, but they seemed to be hitting Leshawna more than the mutant squid-tree monster. Eventually, the thing just raised its captive up even higher, then slammed her down onto the ground and hissed at the others.
"RUN!" Geoff shouted, turning to flee as a tentacle shot towards them, forcing them to scatter.
Unfortunately, Trent was unable to get away in time and was lifted up by the leg. Trent cried in pain as the mutant began to punch him in the stomach with a curled-up tentacle.
The sounds of pain and wet punches caused Leshawna to get frustrated. "No way am I gonna get pushed around or let a squid attack my teammates!" she declared, getting back on her feet and climbing up the tree-squid's trunk while it was distracted. "Quit buggin' us!" she cried as she punched the mutant in the eye.
The beast bellowed in pain, dropping Trent and retracting into its tree. As soon as he got back up, a strand of spider's webbing shot down from above, sticking on to his head and pulling him away from the floor.
Leshawna reached into the knot once again, quickly and triumphantly pulling out a brass key. "And that's how I roll!" she called down to her teammates.
She dropped down to the forest floor, and landed in front of Geoff, who grinned when he saw it. "We got the key, Trent." Geoff received no response as Scott rejoined.
"Trent?!" Leshawna yelled out in concern. "Where are you?!"
As she panicked, the shot changed to a perspective further away, and the footage switched to an infrared shot of the four Rats.
"Guess he's gone," Sierra sighed sadly. "On the plus side, we found the key."
"We lost two players!" Leshawna said. "Shouldn't we go and look for them?"
"Knowing Chris, he probably has them trapped someplace else, so I'm not too worried right now," Scott brushed it off.
"You've got a point there," Geoff agreed.
Just then, the six Maggots arrived on the scene.
Scott was the first to notice them. "No luck here," he quickly said with faux disappointment, "Do you want to see if Sammy and Trent saw anything better over there?" he looked back and asked Sierra, Leshawna, and Geoff.
"Absolutely. It's not just the three of us," Sierra caught on before they turned and ran off.
"I see something!" Katie pointed off to the camera's right – the direction of the squid-tree. "Team colors!" The camera briefly cut over to the knot in question, with a focus on the marks below it in the two teams' colors.
"Excellent eye, Katie," Scarlett complimented while DJ ran to the tree.
"I'm not just a phone addict, y'know," Katie laughed a bit.
"I got the key, everyone," the camera cut to DJ who was in the tree's hollow and holding out a key. He threw the key in front of Dave and Molly.
"Way to go, DJ!" Molly said.
"Now you want to support us," Dave snarked at her. "Where was that when I was frozen?"
"Are you still mad about that?" Molly groaned.
"Of course we are," Katie snorted.
"You don't just leave your teammates behind," Dave lectured.
"Whatever happened happened," Anne Maria got in between them. "Let's focus more on the challenge and less on squabbling right now."
Confessional: Anne Maria
"I'm here to start no fights," Anne Maria confessed. "What Molly did was messed up, but they can scold her after the challenge."
Confessional: Molly
"Thank you, Anne Maria," Molly let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, someone who won't ride on me for my choices!"
Confessionals End
"You're right, Anne Maria," Dave sighed. "We shouldn't waste anymore time fighting."
As Dave bent down to pick up the key, however, a line of spider silk shot down from the treetops, wrapped around Molly, and pulled her up out of sight.
DJ regrouped with his team. "They said they saw something far away, so maybe-" he paused and looked behind his teammates. "Wait, where's Molly?"
The other four looked behind them and gasped. "Oh no, Molly's got taken by the spider!" Dave cried out.
"What do we do now?" Anne Maria griped.
Scarlett sighed. "Not to sound apathetic, but I think we're gonna have to continue on without her."
"Are you sure about that?" Katie questioned.
"I'm sure we can catch up to wherever she's being taken to," Scarlett waved off her concern.
"Well, I hope so," Katie said as she and the team exchanged nervous looks.
Confessional: Dave
"I don't see Molly in the best light right now, but that doesn't mean that I want her to be taken away," Dave began to shudder. "Especially by a spider."
Confessional Ends
"Why are we running so slow when we're in a challenge?" Geoff said as the scene moved back to him, Sierra, Scott, and Leshawna running through the forest. "We won't beat the other team at this rate."
"Relax, I know what I'm doing," Scott conversed with him.
Confessional: Scott
Scott was whittling another piece of wood with his shark tooth. "I'm heading us back into last place where we belong. Another elimination ceremony for the Rats and it's bye-bye Geoff! Or Sierra. I can't decide."
Confessional Ends
"C'mon, let's rock this! With years of exercise and partying, I've got energy to burn!" Geoff said, snatching the key from Leshawna and jogging ahead. The three followed him, but the camera kept its focus on Geoff as he passed a tree stump, then a rock; then stepped on a mysterious clump of dirt… which exploded and sent him flying.
Leshawna, Sierra, and Scott stopped immediately, the shot showing Sierra and Leshawna being shocked and Scott showing delight as Geoff got launched from one land mine to the next off-screen.
During this, however, a line of spider webbing was shot onto Sierra's leg. It quickly wrapped around it and tugged Sierra away from her team.
The camera finally cut back to Geoff, singed and groaning on the ground in an awkward but still holding the Rats' key. The Maggots approached him moments later. "Sorry that had to happen, doll!" Anne Maria comforted as she ran past Geoff.
Scott and Leshawna came to Geoff's need. "You gonna be alright?" Leshawna helped him up.
"I'll walk it off," Geoff tried to remain cool headed.
"Thanks, focus boy," Scott said.
"I don't want to strain my calves," Geoff added.
"We should leave in a few minutes just to make sure we catch up to the other team," Leshawna said. "Sierra just got captured, and I don't want us sticking around here."
\
The scene cut to the lantern-lit cemetery. The camera panned left across its headstones and crosses, several of which were pet-themed, to the entrance as the five remaining Mutant Maggots arrived, huffing and puffing from their run.
"Welcome to the Wawanakwa Pet Cemetery!" Chris greeted them over the loudspeaker.
"We're first. Nice!" Dave said.
"What's the clue?" Anne Maria asked Scarlett.
The camera cut in close as she opened the lid to a small coffin in an open grave, revealing a ragged piece of paper within bearing a list of numbers: 5 in the first row; 5 in the second; 5 in the third. Notably, while most of the numbers were plain black there were three 6s and the 18 were all an eye-catching red. "Three 6's is normally not a good indication of luck," Scarlett said with a nervous look.
"Let's fan out and look for numbers!" DJ said as the perspective cut back to its usual sideview.
"By ourselves?" Anne Maria asked.
\
"I'm in a creepy cemetery in the middle of the woods looking for three 6s. It's no big deal," Anne Maria said warily as she backed through the graveyard. "Good news is, there aren't any owls hooting around. I think I'm safe," she told herself, pausing to smile. "Now, let's see if I can find any numbers..."
She turned around and started examining the nearest headstone, and the shot cut to a view from afar, the footage switching back to infrared. The monster serving as the camera's viewpoint blinked, and when it opened its eyes it had gotten much closer to the jersey girl, and had extended four sharp limbs with tiny claws on the end towards her...
Anne Maria's scream echoed through the cemetery, quickly catching the attention of Katie, DJ, Scarlett, and Dave as they looked up in shock. "Anne Maria?" Dave asked out in concern, the footage quickly skipping ahead to show all four arriving at the location the tanned young lady had been snatched from.
"I could've sworn she was just here," Dave said in confusion.
They all gasped. "Where'd she go?" Katie asked in mild terror.
"I'm just as concerned as you all are," Scarlett started, "but like what happened with Molly, we should move along and hope to catch up with them."
"I know you're trying to be reasonable," DJ said, "but you're rubbing me off the wrong way."
"Yeah, it's like you don't care about what could happen to our teammates," Dave told her.
"I'm just used to not expressing my emotions on occasion," Scarlett told her team members. "Thank you very much."
\
The scene flashed to the Rats, where Scott and Leshawna were next to grimy coffins propped upright against a couple statues.
"Find the souvenir, hide the souvenir, lose the game…" Scott went in to unlock the coffin, but was interrupted by Fang bursting out of the coffin with a menacing grin.
"AAAAHHHHH!" The devious ran away screaming when Fang moved to chase after him.
Geoff was looking at a grave that was open. "This grave smells like french fries. Weird, but I'm not complaining." He got shoved in thanks to Scott running away from Fang.
The camera followed Scott as he ran past two open graves, one of which with a mound of dirt in front of it.
The mutant shark followed his quarry, but when Scott leapt over the mound of dirt, Fang tripped over it. The shark fell into the open grave and growled.
"Why does this graveyard smell like fries?" Katie wondered aloud, following a scent as she walked through the cemetery. She soon came to the pit Geoff was in. "Maybe it's coming from there."
"Hello? Anybody? I need someone to help me down here!" Geoff called out.
Katie backed away a bit. "Did that hole just talk?"
"It's me. Geoff!" Geoff tried to denounce her belief.
"Oh right," Katie sighed in relief. "You're the guy with the cowboy hat."
"That's right," Geoff confirmed her statement. "I fell down this hole, and I'm covered in grease right now."
"So that explains the smell," Katie realized.
"Can you get me out of here?" Geoff begged her. "Grease doesn't mesh well with my shirt."
"I would, but I have to help my team right now," Katie declined. "One of your teammates could get you out. Bye," she left the scene.
"This sucks," Geoff whined, unaware of four maggots coming by the grave. As soon as they saw the grease and Geoff, they jumped in and attacked him, making him howl in agony.
\
The scene cut to Chris, who was watching feeds of both teams on a trio of monitors and laughing hysterically. "Will anyone make it to the spooky cave?" he turned and asked the camera, holding a covered cup with a straw in it. "And if so, how can they possibly make it all the way to the finish line? Less brain, more pain, when we return!" he said, finishing with a sip of his drink.
\
(Commercial Break)
\

I can't talk about this to really anyone else because most of my friends have some kind of Harassment/SA trauma but it was really. Really unnerving and I need to get this out of my head.
So in this dream I was walking home late at night, maybe 2-3am, I don't even remember why? But I had my backpack on, my usual outfit of cargo pants/tank top, and my switchblade hooked on my pocket. I didn't have my phone, dunno why. I was in a strange city, somewhere downtown where it was dark, not many lights, not many apartment buildings either, mostly businesses. I remmeber this part because I knew screaming for help would have been useless.
There were two garbage collector men, and one of them was an older guy with long gray hair a beard, deep voice, wearing a camo ball cap. The other guy looked to be younger, like mid 20s even, had short black hair and generally looked nicer? I don't know how to put it.
But I walked past them, then they both started following me. The older man started talking to me, and I refused to talk back to him. He said things along the lines of "You're out late at night, where you going?" Then "You look nice. It's a nice night." Then finally "You're alone, yeah? We were going to head to home depot, you should come along with us." And I started walking faster. I picked up the pace, stood taller, put my hands by my sides.
He grabbed my hair, which was longer in this dream for some reason, because I always keep it short? I quickly said "Don't touch me." And he grabbed my shoulder and said "It's not nice to ignore someone. You shouldn't have done that to me."
I could feel my heart beat in my throat, the rough pull on my hair, the footsteps of the other guy walking up beside me. I reached for my switchblade, but all my mind could scream was 'He's going to rip it out of your hands. You're going to die.' And 'Can you even stab him in the right place? Will he back off?' And I just.. hesitated as he grabbed me again,
Then I woke up.
I'm so severely mad at myself for hesitating, that was a dream, what would I have done if that was real life? I took self defense classes, I was taught how to use knives, and yet I still couldn't do it! And the other guy, who I thought would help me, also was just.. going to further it along, it felt sickening. I don't know why I would have a nightmare like this, if it was some kind of wake up call, or some sick joke my brain wanted to do to remind me of past trauma. And that stuff of "your dreams predict your future" stuff is terrifying to hear right now :,,)
Just good god. Screw that. Felt like my heart beat was going to burst out of my throat, and left me feeling gross and anxious when I woke up. I'm going to see about self defense classes again.

I'll try to keep this short but it's been a long and frustrating process. I rent in Scotland. I got accepted for ECO4 work for a boiler and some other measures. I've not been able to live in my flat since mid-March because the work by private contractors took so long, whilst my flat has been full of building materials, some of my stuff packed away, etc. The flat has been left in a pretty bad state now that they've "finished" the work and the agency I'm renting from is aware. They originally said they would finish it in March, and it's just been pushed back and back with very little progress weekly. The agency want me to go over and let the same contractors in again to clean up and fix things.
As this has been going on for so long (with so many issues from people not turning up, turning up unexpected, leaving takeaway boxes lying around, paint and plaster all over my stuff and the furniture, stuffing things down the plugholes, heating not working, on top of a load of really bad workmanship) it's really stressful to continue with these contractors. The agency has said that I have to let them in to finish the job and stay with them to supervise. Do I have to do this? Would make me very uncomfortable and my mental health has already taken a massive hit from all of this.
I was hoping the agency could send someone over to do that and get it finished properly. The agency refused and basically say that since I applied for the ECO4 grant, it's all my responsibility to get it finished. Is this true, even though they signed off on the company to use? I just want to move back into my flat as it's been almost 3 months since the work started. Am I also liable to be held responsible if the contractors don't fix the flat to an acceptable standard? So far I've been advised it's complicated because it's energy saving measures and not repair work, and because I sent the details of the company to the agency in the first place (even though the agency originally chose the company, the guy moved to a new one and then told me he can still do the work, so I passed him over to the agency to get permission). Don't know where this leaves me.
I might look into some kind of compensation in the future but for now I'm just focused on how to get it finished and move back in. The landlord is also currently selling the flat so I don't want to kick up too much with them. I'm thinking of telling the agency I will let them in to finish the job but I'm not going to stay there amongst all the debris between my boxes for several hours a day..

I, like a lot of people, am looking at getting the Tyranids from the Leviathan box. And after lots of hard thinking into the paint scheme, I decided on getting inspiration from jewelled beetles.
So I need some tips, on what chromatic paints you guys recommend, I want to try colours yet so brands will be fine as far as recomendation goes. I will also probably be painting with a brush, since I dont have space to use a airbrush.
A trick I saw before was to use silver paint and mix contrast or shades get a similar effect.

So I stopped.playing driver regularly about 3 months ago.I wasn't getting any consistency beyond a 100 yard to 200 yard hook. I was playing 4 iron off the tee which on a clean strike about 210/220 yards,so it kept me in play but not as far as I could be. Based on advice here I kept grinding driver on the range.Swing coach I worked with(non certified good for beginner stuff ) kept telling me it was hand position and grip,I felt it was swing path and was looking for a club pro to help with swing path because I wasn't clicking with the guy I was taking lessons with. I cut an inch and a half off my shaft for more control that helped.Then I adjusted the loft from 10.5 to 9.5 when I read lower loft equals more open face that helped but still a bit hooky. The lightbulb moment,Im hitting balls at a local range,good spot maxes out about 280 wide open. A guy set up next me,and I hear some folks talking to him about his drives saying they have been watching him and are impressed. So I watch the guy drive a few over the back un marked border 300 plus yard drives. I start making small talk,I mention my hook problem. He asks if I want to fix that ? I clearly do as hitting a good drive is an obcession. He drops an alignment stick at a 45 degree facing away from me along my follow through line,says your path is off make this your follow through line. So I start hitting straight and long On a bad swing a fade.But 260/280 straight. It carried over to the course so what I do now when I tee up is look for a divot just right and ahead of my ball and use that as a swing path alignment aid . So far I've had two mild hooks an about 6 great drives on course. It feels good to drive again.

The front doorbell chimed as the first customer in hours came in. Tim was one of the few people at Smart Pets who actually cared for the animals and watching people mistreat them all day infuriated him. As the customer rounded the corner, Tim recognized his face. Almost every other day, this man came in and purchased a hamster; on his next visit, he would return it dead. The man clearly lied about each method of death and the poor creature’s bodies were always mangled. When Tim reported this to his manager, he ignored the concern because he believed this behavior was good for business. As he approached the counter, the middle-aged man had a phony frown, trying to play up the death. Tim glared at him and without saying a single word, the customer spoke to him: “This is killing me…Tim” he said, looking at the worker’s name tag, “Another bad batch”. Tim breathed in deeply before reaching out his hand to collect the plastic bag that the hamster would be in. Rather than placing it gently in his hand, the customer tossed the bag onto the counter, causing a loud THUMP. Tim balled his fist and squeezed hard, trying to keep the anger inside. The customer must have noticed the anger somehow and decided to say something. “Hey, I really AM sorry bud. You guys gotta source your hamsters from somewhere else or something. These bad batches are getting out of hand.” “I’ll be right back,” Tim said, leaving the counter suddenly and walking to the back of the shop. The customer sat there waiting at the register for a few minutes before he became annoyed. Five more minutes went by, and the customer rested his elbows on the counter. He noticed a quarantine room behind the check-out counters and began to wonder what could be hidden within. A little bit more time went by before a loud bang on the other side of the door startled the customer, causing him to stand back up and take a few steps back. He bumped into something that wasn’t there before but before he could turn around and see what it was, a plastic bag slipped over his head. He struggled to breathe before finally falling onto the floor, unconscious. The customer slowly woke up, limbs tied down to a metal table, the room enveloped in complete darkness. “How does it feel?” A sudden voice said from within the darkness. “What the fuck is this?” He responded, scared. The lights switched on and Tim stood there holding a hammer, eyes red with anger. The room was filled with empty cages and human corpses with their faces covered in plastic wrap, and bodies mangled and beaten. The customer noticed one human that looked to still be alive in one of the cages; they were wearing a SmartPets manager shirt covered with fresh blood. “We at SmartPets will do our best to rid our store of bad batches”

This is a pet project I've been thinking about and vaguely working on for ages, but I'm finally taking a few steps toward actually doing this. I've been obsessively mapping out the lay-out of the Quick Stop and RST in absurd detail (I'm going for really absurd detail -- down to the Batman 1989 Annual sitting on the counter of the Quick Stop, or the Amazon Iced Tea and lighter on the counter at RST).
Why am I doing this? Two reasons. #1 - Because the hunt is fun. Learning about the history of the Quick Stop and neighboring business and identifying as many small details as possible has just been fun in and of itself, without an end-goal. #2 - Because I think it would be really cool to make a digital recreation of the 1993 Quick Stop that you can explore as if you were killing a day with Dante and Randal. A video game without the gameplay, if you will.
I think I am planning on creating a 2D point-and-click style environment, though I'm still in the early stages of scanning for details and establishing the layout. I've been having a lot of fun doing this, and I figure this is the type of thing a team could have a lot of fun working on together and really make some cool progress, so I figured I'd see if anyone was interested! Any contributions could be helpful really -- from an artist who wants to help with the actual recreation, to anybody just interested in scanning the movie and identifying products/fixtures/etc, to anybody digging up information on the history of the business and surrounding businesses, to anyone with experience making video games or virtual environments.
Currently, there's really only one spot that is still a mystery -- the area behind the walk-in cooler, where the bathroom and security monitor must be. Using Google Earth, footage and photos I took when I visited in 2008, and shots from the movies, I determined that there is a small area between the back-door inside the walk-in cooler (which we catch a glimpse of in Clerks III) and the door in the back of the building (which I photographed when I visited). This must be where the bathroom is, and I assume this is also where the security monitor is that Randal turns off in the infamous "Pelican flying" deleted scene. Aside from that, there's only a few minor areas left mysterious -- most of the Northern wall of the walk-in cooler, the two rooms in RST (one is the porn room, the other must either be a bathroom or a closet), and the area behind the children's shelf in RST. That, and of course, the two neighboring businesses (however, I even have some leads on those as well -- including a relatively detailed description of the interiors at the tattoo parlor next to RST which opened in 1993).
I am considering options for how we can learn more about the backrooms of the Quick Stop and other mysterious details. I am planning another trip down there, and willing to pay the owners (or the clerk) $100 (or even $200) to just let me take a peek, or to even just send me some pictures. I was thinking of reaching out to the people who made Shooting Clerks to see if they know anything (they filmed on location, didn't they?). I'm also wondering if there's any official information on the location and it's history we can obtain from the local government.
Again -- this is just for fun. If you think this would be fun, lemme know and I'd be happy to share what I've got so far. I've got lots of little ideas for ways we could make interacting with or exploring the environment slightly more interesting than it sounds -- holes we're unable to fill with exact details could be filled with easter eggs and nods to the franchise (Mooby's wrappers in the trash, Flintstone's List or Mighty Ducks 9 at RST, etc). This could make for a really cool end-product, and I'd love to tackle Mooby's 2005 afterwards if this works out well.
Anyone interested, or just me and my weird brain? 😝

Hi! I passed my written exam and I start flight training at an accelerated training program in August. This particular program doesn’t want me to take all of my written before so I will not be studying for the IR at this time….so is there anything I should be doing in the mean time to prepare? They keep saying “enjoy your time off you’ll be so busy flying….” (lol) but I am paranoid and I am so eager to start.
As a heads up, I am 25F and I am leaving my full time job to follow thus dream. I didn’t think was possible. Life threw a huge curve ball at me in the last year and I decided I am to young to be miserable doing what I am doing when this is something I have always dreamt about. The only thing that was holding me back was myself it the fact that I am not a strong “textbook student” aka reading learner due to my dyslexia.
I have flown before with family and I am confident in my ability to learn to fly an airplane (I’m a very conceptual and kinesthetic (physical learner). I love tasks and checklists. I have the dedication. I have the drive. I do believe with the correct CFI, I will become a great, competent and safe pilot.
So, back to the reading part. I have the PHAK… and I’ve been trying my best to read it but it’s just so “dull”. And it’s hard to read as a dyslexic. Are there any sort of a PHAK outlines I should be looking for to help me guy through it. Any study guides? If so, can anyone recommend a good study outline to prepare for my August 10th start date!?
PS my flight training is 1 to 1 and includes ground school I just want to be extra prepared due to my dyslexia.

It’s 23:54 and I’m (21m) fucking tired guys. I’m so emotionally enslaved from being addicted to porn my whole life, I first discovered it when I was 6. I’m not joking when I say that, my parents never monitored my internet use and laughed it off whenever I got caught watching it. I’ve been trapped in this addiction for my whole life and can’t imagine what it’s gonna be like without it.
In the last 2 years I’ve developed cringe fetishes; cum tributes, masturbating to people I know, age gap porn, barely legal… you name it I’ve sadly been there. My attention span has been fucked for as long as I can remember, after researching I’ve decided it’s most likely from chronic porn use.
I’ve never been able to get it up naturally with my girlfriend and it’s been an issue for long enough. I don’t have the balls to tell her about my addiction so I’m fighting this by myself, and hopefully with some help on here.
This is also the first time in my life I’ve announced a mental health issue and faced the reality of one.
I’m excited but scared, I’m gonna endure to withdrawals and get my life back on track. See you guys around.

The quick point: the art designers making cosmetics would be done at the the same time as the the coders are coding, if they didn't make cosmetics it would only reduce the amount content added overall, you are all just mad that the only satisfying piece of the update is the performance pass.
With that being said, the long point. Despite this Season having the longest gap they didn't work on it for that long, the couple weeks after season 3 was spent on patches and the Christmas event, they then took a break till the new year, in which they probably started throwing around ideas for season 4, but they still were not working on it. They were doing holiday events, the new years ,anniversary, Easter, even Halloween, they were decorating the hubs, adding the new in game events, doing the cosmetics, plus they had the beta build for the anniversary ( and they were publishing but that had no effect on development on the game. When asked in dev streams up untill February they said they still didn't know what they were doing for season 4. It wasn't untill the anniversary stream did they release the road map, which at 3 to 4 months in was the latest roadmap yet (normaly within a month or two). My point being that season 4 was never going to live up to the 7 and a half months of time because it was maybe 5ish months of work. A side point is remember what they did to holiday events during this Season and add that to your season expectations. Point 2, their is a good amount of content, it's just not the in your face kind. We got 7 new enemies (+2 cut ones that could return) one of which is a new boss type event like the Korlock or BETC, and 2 that are now part of the normal pool that will continue to spice up all missions from now on, and the other 4 being a much needed bolstering to the rock pox, making it a worthy addition to the game. Rocket Boots, that alone are cool and add a new layer to traversal in some missions, but also adds a new mechanic "power up" which could be added onto in the future. A new little mini game (which I'm sure will get me killed hundreds of times) which was then added to the hub, for more hub based fun, a staple of each season. The new beer, which introduces a new layer to the game, randomised builds, which is fun for every teir of player, but is for the dwarf who have done everything. It has the potential to define people's experiencinces with the game, some player might love randomness and use it on all missions, others might use it for the extra challenge it provides, or just for a little fun with friends. The randomising you can do your self is a more controlled form and pairs well with the cosmetics randomiser. Then copy and paste loadouts, consdering that people have been begging for this for years their real quiet about ghost ship finally adding it. For the fashionista s (me included) they added sleavless armour for all the mrks and scale brigades, essentially adding six new armour to each dwarfs, also adding the opportunity for tattoos as a cosmetic options, and showing that they are capable of taking apart old cosmetics(which they should use for alot of headgears). Then weapon input buffers, I have no idea what that means but they did it. And while that weapon balancing don't his season was only on one weapon, they chose the exact right weapon that needed it and radically changed it's mods, I haven't used it but I have heard good things. And while that all the main headline stuff there is some gold hidden in the misc. "Fixed that drop pod would sometimes land inside walls","Rock pox wave now have a chance to spawn uring normal missions","sabotage missions now have mutators","tweaked the terrain generation around that caretaker, to improve veriaty and allow biome and cave generation to have a greater impact on the area.","the litho-equipment have a hologram above them". My point being having read all that you can't say their isn't enough content, I didn't even mention the profomance pass content, the issue is there isn't an equipment or map icon based addition.
Point 3, there isn't too little content, it's just not the right content. With a reminder that they spent the normal or less time on this Season, the volume and quality we have come to expect is there. It's just the areas of the game it has been put into has thrown people off, this Season will improve the game more than season 3 did, So why are people upset, because their isn't a icon on the map saying "new content over here!" Or anything to new to experiment with in the weapons terminal, and despite my tone so far, that was a mistake on their behalf, they should have known that this would happen if they didn't add either. But i don't blame them since seasons they have never not had both, season 1- game mode, primary weapons season 2- warning, secondary weapons season 3- warning, grenades season 4- n/a, rocket boots or the beer, both carry the spirit of equipment changing how you play the game, but neither carry experimentation so ultimately fail to hold the weight of the desire, this is where thay slipped up again, this I the worst weapon balancing since seasons, only one weapon was changed in a way that would warrant experimenting, so that part of the seasons, the part where you would try the new equipment or the change you faverate weapon got doesn't exist. Resulting in a very stale season to look falward to, plus with no new thing to try in mission or warning. That is the issue with this Season not cosmetics.
This leads me to my final point. Leave the cosmetictic out of this you morons, if I see one more person want less cosmetics next season I will break into their house and sleep under their bed but only when their not home. I cannot put into words the rage I feel when someone want to reduce the only guaranteed content we get each season, not to mention that making you dwarf look drippy as hell is the only incentive to play after getting all the overclocks. To ever one who complains about "having too much in cargo crates" has clearly never emptied it, I would crack steeves head on a mug like an egg and drink his blood to get a single thing in my cargo crates again, the best thing about the new weopons was that they added the new weapons old frameworks to the crate.
In conclusion, the cosmetics have nothing to do with the season being lack luster, you are just jealous that the only people happy with this Season are the people who value a good looking dwarf over anything else.

We have been together 3 years. We were talking the other day and I mentioned how I may want to get braces again because when I had them before I never wore my retainer and my teeth grew back. He goes “ohhh yeah and wear pig tails too 😉”
I told him that was the creepiest shit ever, and that he was telling me he wants me to look like a child. He got really quiet and seemed embarrassed. I have not brought it up since then.
I was shocked to hear him say something like that. He is usually very very respectful and mild mannered. Literally the nicest guy I’ve ever dated. He does everything for me. During our entire relationship he has never said anything negative to me. He’s also fairly vanilla in bed as well. I’m just trying to paint a picture here so I can get some good advice. This event is truly the only negative thing I can say about our relationship at this point in time.
My thing is… maybe if it were just pigtails OR braces by themselves. A little creepy imo but whatever. But BOTH? I just don’t know what to think. Not to mention our age gap. However, he has only ever dated women his age before me. I pursued him so I don’t believe that is a factor.
ALSO, we have two 6 year old girls from previous relationships. I am over protective of my daughter to an extreme degree. I think that’s why this is bothering me so bad.
This is not something that I would end the relationship over, I think.
I just need some opinions. Am I over reacting? Should I talk to him about it? It’s such an uncomfortable topic but it’s bothering me.
Thank you!