I've been in a long distance relationship with a guy I met on Bumble. He recently got out of a serious relationship approximately six months before I started dating him, he had not only lost the relationship but he'd lost his friends as well. We had started off as casual and he was the one to bring up whether we could be exclusive 3 months down the line after we first met. I also felt my feelings growing more. I thought I'd give it a shot because he was fun to talk to, honest and straightforward.
We have not met many times over the course of what is now a 6 month relationship. I am aware that a long distance relationship without a foundation has its drawbacks. Although, I did not feel like that was the case and I focused more on going with the flow. Things did accelerate a bit post the 3 month time, our communication was healthy as well. Although he became flaky and avoidant as feeling began to get stronger. I communicated this with him and he said he was scared. I did tell him my feelings were increasing to which he later responded that he does not know whether he's "capable of" 'being in love' or 'loving someone', and spoke to me in a 'take it or leave it' manner. I took it in a level headed sense and addressed whether he is yet to move on from his ex (something I had cleared up multiple times before as well). He agreed he has moved on, but the fear of getting hurt exists. Also that if he does get emotionally attached and then hurt, he's pretty much dysfunctional to an extreme extent. I was clear that I did not want to stay in a relationship that promises feelings in a vague manner and I will not stand for disrespect. He apologized for communicating the way in which he did and assured me that he does not want me to leave and what he said came from a place of fear.
The next time I did meet him, he spoke about his past in general and was open about his feelings towards me and went on to say he's in love with me. I listened to him speak about his feelings keenly. He mentioned that him saying he was not capable before was a mistake on his part and the wrong choice of words as a result of fear. He bluntly told me he was not confessing expecting a response but he did seem a bit on the fence as he thought I would say something in response. I told him I do not want to say something for the sake of it, he was also well aware that I was more wary with respect to the pace in which we were going considering his last response.
He does all the the bare minimum things. He's working and he calls me during all his breaks, texts me in the morning, etc. I have not demanded time from him other than 2 calls a day and texts in between for general updates in his day and in case he's busy with something. Although the attention or time he used to give me initially has reduced. I directly communicated with him regarding this and he said that he is that way as he feels we're in a different phase, established and working towards our goals while keeping each other in mind. I told him that long distance would naturally require more work, and that I don't feel like I'm being paid attention to at all. He has increased asking me how I am/ expressing interest in the details of what I'm up to.
Everything is okay on paper, if that makes sense. I do have my own insecurities regarding him not having moved on from his ex but I do take his word for it. On some days, social media makes it worse as I see some sad meme/reel regarding an ex being liked by him showing up in my fyp. This does sound silly but long distance alleviates such concerns as I do not see him everyday during our developing relationship. I confessed to him about my feelings and his initial response was not welcoming, he tried to evade it saying he has to sleep early. To which I responded by saying that this is the last time I'd take such disrespect in the relationship when I am communicating about my feelings towards him. He can stay silent or openly tell me if he does have a fear instead of being dismissive. Post me expressing that, he has been open and more relaxed about his fears and openly talks/admits to me about them while not sabotaging the relationship. He does have a repetititve tendency of asking me whether I want to leave or want to break up when we are arguing, eventhough I assure him that we are working to solve the problem together. After a point, when I'm the one hurt and expressing my concern, him asking if I'm leaving makes me feel like my concerns are invalidated and he just wants to give up. He has apologized for it and says it is because he is prepared for the worst after everything that has happened to him. As he cannot let emotions affect him beyond a point because doing so has wrecked everything in the past.
I am in a demanding profession myself and he is also career oriented, so we do respect each other's professional space. He has openly told me he places his career and family as a priority, which I completely respect (he's closer to his family post breakup and spends more time with them, rekindled bonds as he felt he did not pay attention to them at all). With all this being said, on days he does not ask about the details of my day/ spends a maximum of 10-15 mins on call, I do feel neglected and lonely. No matter even if he is comfortable, he should ideally communicate more as this is long distance. I do text him often, ask about his day and his mood. He has gradually realized that I genuinely am interested in his life and he tells me stuff without me prompting. But I do not feel like that support/care is there from his side. He might have a lot on his plate but he could ask details of what's going on with me at least once in a while. I show my care and affection towards people by giving them their space while still checking up on them regularly. He probably shows affection ina different way. But since it is long distance, he must communicate it verbally or via text. I respect and appreciate the space he does offer me, but at times I overthink whether he's given me that space because he does not care at all.
Maybe he isn't the guy he used to be before (as he himself says). I don't know whether I'm a sort of buffer relationship. I have expressed my concerns about the same but he reiterates saying he is giving me all he can and that he does love me.
I do not believe in keeping things piled up and having it burst. I have communicated my needs to him and he has always followed through but i feel like 'I ask, he gives' rather than him actually WANTING to do it himself. Communication in a relationship to accomodate one another's needs is how it should be. But there's not much of a proactive effort from him side. Keep in mind, this is a person who has been in numerous relationships before, so it is not like he does not know what to do. But I do let him know of my boundaries and what I expect (I am not a mind reader so I do not expect him to be one as well). I'm not a person who's constantly looking to fight, but I do bring up things I'm uncomfortable with regarding him (relationship wise) but that has not happened vice-versa more than once. I can't help but wonder whether he does not have a problem with me because he does not pay attention to me. It sounds extremely fucked up, but this mainly stems from the the earlier point of attention. But again. there's nothing "wrong" because every time I have communicated, he has made it a point to incorprate it to make me comfortable.
I'm extremely confused. I do not want to be giving out a manual on how I should be treated multiple times, even if it is for different things. He's genuine but if he does not care or pay much attention to me, there isn't a point in taking it further.
Does this man not care? Am I wasting my time? These are all thoughts that run through my head. I do not know whether I am overthinking.

Be wary of spoilers....... also very long
My theory is that mordrets flaw is that he can only exist as a reflection of someone else, or cannot access his own body for any length of time.
There are a few reasons. While we did get told that Valor destroyed both his body and his soul, but still couldn't get rid of them, we can't know for sure that this is the case. We know Mordret was sent off with asterion for reasons unknown, and that when he came back he was twisted and cruel, which led to his rejection from Valor and the following attempts to eradicate him. But it got me thinking....why does Mordret hate asterion so much if he made him stronger and brought out something that was already within him?
I believe it's because either: 1) it wasn't already within him, it was brought out
2) it was already within him, but he doesn't like the fact he was used by Asterion and plans to get revenge.
While I think the second is possible, I don't see it happening. Just because we knew that Mordret seemed normal before getting taken by the dreamspawn. If it is true, it doesn't really tell us much about Mordrets flaw.
Following the other theory though, we can deduce a few things. First the training with Asterion broke Mordret. Second that Asterion knows or has a divine aspect, and allowed Mordret to develop this side more than normal.
For normal cores, killing nightmare beasts or using a surplus storage of fragments is enough to saturate a core and get a bonus of power when someone ascends or reaches the next level of power. The bonus wasn't explained in detail, but we can assume that Asterion has knowledge we don't about how it works, how skills are given etc, so maybe his goal after recieving Mordret was maxing the number of cores, and then having him ascend so Mordret was super powerful. Then he could tear apart Valor from the inside and steal the power for himself like most sovereigns seem to want to do. The method of getting cores maxed is the key to this theory.
To weaken Mordret for subtle brainwashing to take down Valor, Asterion uses the weakness of his flaw as an excuse to damage and twist his mind and cause serious damage to his host family. I think Asterion knew that to properly train Mordret he needed to have him become as adaptable as possible to mirror other people best, and there is no better way of doing that then killing innocents and trying to fool their friends.
I think Asterion gathered thousands of unexpecting innocents and forced Mordret into slaughtering them all. Mordret as a normal person, would never agree to this, but Asterion pushes him knowing his flaw, and forcing him to consider himself over others. The putting himself first and constant murder and impersonation twist Mordrets mind into a cold and deranged killer, but his sharp mind sees through asterion's plan eventually and leads to his hatred of him.
Finally, this brings me to the conclusion that despite Mordrets unwillingness, he was forced to consider something he'd normally never do to survive, which I think aligns more with the nightmare spells intention of twisted logic for the flaw. Therefore his flaw must be either something that damages himself or forces him to damage others, and taking in the idea of his main aspect of reflections, his flaw could be:
Soul damage the longer he stays in his body, forcing him to take another.
Mordret can only live as a reflection of other people, either in their bodies or likeness.
While he can copy other people completely, sometimes he risks losing himself completely, like sunny with his shadow dance. (I only don't think it is this because of the difficulty to combat for the main cast. While it's a terrible flaw to someone sane, having something like this is almost a non flaw to an already overpowered character.)
These first two flaws leave Mordret in a strong position, but I think something like this is more likely if we want to see Mordret taking any sort of loss later on from our main cast. I think this flaw will be the key in the future to beating Mordret. Though I'm not sure, I did go off on a tangent. Let me know if there's anything I missed!
TL:DR: Asterion slowly breaks Mordrets normal mind using his flaw as an excuse. Because staying in his own body is damaging, Mordret was forced to posses another, but Asterion pushes this even further, which leads to him slaughtering thousands of innocents and copying them, eventually making him lose himself and become what he is today. I think this flaw will become the key to defeating him later, and so I believe it's something crippling either in the mind (having to act like someone else forever) or in the soul (constantly receiving some form of damage).

So coming off of House of Chains, which was for me not as gripping as the previous books, my expectations were tempered. I was aware that the location would change and that I'd also have to adjust to a new cast. As well, I noticed it being a bit smaller than HoC. What I got shook me.
For starters, this book cemented for me just how effective Erikson is at capturing the horror of war, and how disgusting it is, and that it sullies just about everyone involved. The demand for Rhulad, late in the book, for "cleaner" combat rang so hollow, as though there could truly exist a clean war.
Going from that, Rhulad is a deeply tragic character. I will admit I always felt bad more for those around him than the man himself, but no one deserves to be trapped in an endless cycle of violent death and violent rebirth, a puppet to an eldritch monster. The cycles of violence that have emanated from his resurrection have drowned a continent in blood.
Even then, war was almost inevitable. The Letherii capture so well the brutal economic calculus behind empire, and the interweaving of profit with misery that is hand in hand with imperial projects. I in fact feel that the Letherii function as a parallel to the Malazan. We get plenty of Malazan Empire sympathetic PoVs in the preceeding books, but here we see that empire inevitably destroys culture and creates inequality. The Malazan Empire may be more "ethical," but to many, that is small comfort in the face of conquest.
The discussions here of civilization and its harms feel of a piece with Karsa Orlong's commentary, and I feel almost that he is too a parallel with those who'd undercut the Letherii in this book. Cultural conflict seems to be a continuing theme across the books. I'd love to see how Tehol and Karsa would interact considering their goals and ideals, for one.
Speaking of, I just about lost it as we see the Beddict family destroyed. Betrayal, again and again, and the one survivor is the one seemingly the slimiest. Yet, perhaps that saved him. Tehol possessed a self awareness and an instinct for his own society that most didn't have, and as we see with Bugg/Mael, that one cannot survive with friends. Without compassion.
Compassion. The recurring thread across the books. Gods, monsters, and people live and die because of others who act in malice or empathy. All this world seems to suffer under countless cycles of abuse and violence, but as we get again and again, you can't fight violence. You must replace it. In book 4, we saw how Karsa, rather than killing the slaver, made him a tortured, brutalized being. Had he chosen the merciful route, perhaps things could have been different. Cruelty bears no reward. Suffering must be fought, not spread.
Before I go on forever, let me mention my favorite characters.
Bugg/Mael: what is there to say? He's fascinating, and I feel we've but scratched the surface.
Kettle: I just want her to be okay. This weird, bizarre girl is more significant than she could possibly know, but at the end of the day, she seems to just want a family.
Trull Sengar: This whole book just to find our way to where we find him in House of Chains. This poor, poor man. I hope he and Fear find each other again, and I hope he gets to see Seren again.
Seren Pedac: All I can ask for is that she finds peace at the end of all this.
So those are my thoughts. As it stands, my ranking of the books would go like this from best to least best: MoC, DG, MT, HoC, GotM

There is a lot to love but there are also things that I don't like so far.
Story
I don't really know what story everyone else is getting but I feels like this is 5 to 10 minutes of actual cinematic storytelling being retold from a different angle. And only a little bit is being shown each time that had already sort of been inferred from previous clips so I'm bored.
And we're talking about the exact same Zelda lore retold, retwisted etc. I'm here for it in a traditional way, but I don't think it's doing anything all that interesting with the lore.
House Building
Building your house is unfortunately more limited than I would have hoped for. In a game that has all this building why not let us build our house wall for wall and let us choose how to furnish it etc? The 15 limit really puts a damper on things and it's overpriced for what you're even getting. How could they put so much time into this game and then ship this half-assed town idea. It could be so much better and they know it could be.
Horse and Stables.
I still don't really see much of a point for these other than them being quest hubs. The effort of getting a horse to go to a location is basically a waste of your time after a certain point. Maybe horses are sort of useful early game? The stable rewards however don't really seem worth it other than just as a collection thing. Why can't I just call my horse to me whenever I want?
Menus
Why can I not sort my items by their sell price when I'm talking to a vendor?! You should let us also choose favorites that will automatically put themselves at the top of the list when sorted by favorite. The clothing menu is also sort of unintuitive. They should let you preset clothing that will automatically be put on when temperatures change specifically. Stop making me bring up the menu every time to do something I know I already want to do.
The cooking menu is also still terrible. Sure I appreciate the recipes but I'm still manually doing everything over and over and over again. I'm not immersed I'm just annoyed.
Anyway great game so far I'm like 130 hours in 😂

Preamble: This ended up being way longer than intended. TL/DR at the bottom just in case.
Here is a 30 second video to give you an idea of the space before reading: https://youtu.be/Gt-HmbzD8rY
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My family has lived in this neighborhood for 20 years, and for the most part, I don't mind the HOA. They are good people with good intentions. I served on the board for about 4 years myself.
When the neighborhood was developed, it included a single tennis court and clubhouse. As a tennis player, this was a motivating factor in buying our home. ZERO money from our HOA dues was put into the maintenance of the tennis court (despite my repeated efforts as a board member) and over the years it has degraded into an asphalt slab surrounded by a fence that occasionally gets overgrown until the lawn care folks take a whack at the weeds and growth. The court has been unusable for tennis for several years.
The HOA also debated for years about what to do with this common space. The HOA can't afford to repair the court, they can't afford to replace the court, and they can't afford to tear it out. It just sits. The overgrowth makes it a scar on our community. Someone from the HOA eventually put a chain and lock on the gate, preventing anyone from using what was left of the space as well as anyone from cleaning up the weeds, brush, growth taking over.
Fast forward a year or so, and as property ownership continues to change hands between generations, more families with younger children are moving in. And as parents of a 10-year-old, we welcome this! And these families seem to be like-minded in wanting the common areas where kids can play outside to be well-maintained as directed by the covenants.
This past Christmas our son and two of his friends got these Razor drift carts (the Crazy Cart Shift). They go a whopping 8 mph, run on battery, and the boys have an absolute blast riding them. The families talked about it and thought the old tennis court would be a great safe place for the kids to ride their carts. It's literally just like a parking lot at this point. No tennis surface left. Just a fence around asphalt. We asked one of the HOA members if we could get a key. They said, sure! We spent 6 hours one Saturday cleaning up the space, getting rid of weeds, cutting back overgrowth, bagging up leaves, etc. Making it not look like a jungle. So, a couple days a week, we would take the boys to the tennis court, let them ride their carts for about 20-30 minutes, play soccer, play catch with a baseball, even let the dogs run around inside the fence, etc. It was great! Some neighbors even came out to say hi, and everyone was being very friendly. We really encourage our kids to play outside and it's important for us to get them away from the electronics and be active.
Then one day the HOA president comes by and tells us that 'someone has complained about you guys using the court'. What?! In his words, "they aren't even someone who gets out much. They just drove by a few times, saw you, and complained". OK, whatever. Some people just don't like to see others happy and playing.
Fast forward 1 month, and each of us get a "Hold Harmless" agreement in the mail that they want us to sign to continue to use the property. This is where we start to get annoyed. If all the agreement said was, "you promise not to sue the association if anyone gets hurt", then we would have signed it and moved on. Even though no one was ever asked to sign anything to play tennis in this space. BUT that is not all it said. It also said that we would be responsible for maintaining the lock on the gate, and that if anyone were to gain entry to the space that we would be responsible. It was worded so that we are now the caretakers of this space and would be held liable. Who's to say that if someone won’t climb the fence, break an ankle, then it becomes our responsibility? No way. It was too much. So, we refused to sign it. We don't tell them we aren't going to sign it. We just don't respond.
Coincidentally, the weather has warmed up and the kids have moved on to swimming, trampoline, sprinklers, bikes, etc. They just didn’t want to go ride their carts until yesterday.
It's a holiday weekend, the kids are having fun and they ask to go to the tennis court. We head up there and there is a new combination lock on the gate. Our key that we were given is longer usable and we are locked out.
That is where we stand.
My question...Can the HOA prevent us from using this space for recreational purposes? The association has failed to maintain it as a 'tennis court' over the years. But it is still a common space for the community. We would still like to use it for recreation purposes. Can they just say NO, and lock it up? What is the protocol here?
What was strange to us is after the initial complaint, we offered to go to the next board meeting to answer any questions or address concerns, and the HOA president said, "No, you can just tell me, and I'll share it with the board". To me, that is sketchy, and I don't want anyone speaking on my behalf in a situation like this.
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TL/DR: Tennis court neglected by association for years is now just asphalt slab. We want to take our kids there to play other games. HOA locked us out. Can they do that? What can we do?

I usually post on the spirituality subreddit, but I wanted to come here because this relates here more for this. I'm going to paste the post here just so it'll be quicker
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If you guys have been seeing my last post, I have talked about reality shifting and all that. The method I have discovered can make certain events happen and is a very strong method.
When I first did it, it felt like I just changed a whole timeline. I didn't understand why, but I wasn't worried about it at the time. I basically manifested a whole life, and that whole life began off of one single event. Basically was me getting rich and moving out into the mountains and a few other stuff, but that's the just of it.
Well, May 25th-May 26th I believe it was, I swear to God what I manifested was coming true. I can't explain how, but everything was going perfectly to make it come true. It came down to one decision I made, and with that prevented it from happening.
That night though, I felt the feeling I felt when I first changed reality, but this time alot stronger. The following day, everything felt positive and the "memory" of the manifestation didn't feel like a memory any more.
I felt really different, nothing bad, just different. If you felt a shift recently, let me know so I can know if it's just me or not. At this point I'm just using this subreddit to document my spiritual journey I guess lol, but yeah im going to try and figure out what the hell happened. I'll keep you all updated on my progress!

rant post
this might sound really stupid but i’m extremely desperate and i’m doing terrible mentally. ive been religious my entire life and ive never stopped believing in god, but i have been in my worst so my relationship with god this past year hasnt been great even though i still try. i got contact lenses a month ago and after a week of using them they broke and i felt really stupid and useless since i feel like i cant do anything right and i really let something as simple as a contact lense break. i got new ones last friday and i put them in for the first time today cause i’m still a beginner i wanted to practise cause i have school tommorow so i need them. i got them in just fine but i took them out and the right one was broken somehow. it broke. again. i immediately broke down crying because how could something like this happen again? why does god let so many bad things happen to me? ive been in the lowest point of my life so everything is extremely overwhelming and i feel very fragile, and now this too? my parents are going to kill me and i dont understand why so many bad things happen to me if ive been nothing but faithful and god knows ive been trying. is it possible to physically fix a broken object though prayer? i really dont know what to do anymore since i have to wait another month and my parents are gonna find out. im sorry if this was long its very messy but i dont know where else to ask. please dont get mad in the comments i really need help

This is the 5th story in my series reviewing every Episode original!
TL;DR If you want the quick review:

• 4/5
• Cons: NO gem rewards, can't pick any genders, and can have some pretty convenient plot points that make the story less interesting.
• Pros: Non-intrusive gem choices, great pacing and foreshadowing, an interesting concept pulled off amazingly with great twists and an adorable, non-romance ending to send it off.

Before I start, I wanted to say sorry for disappearing for a while, I haven't been super motivated to do anything recently, let alone read Episode. That's starting to go away now though, so reviews will be back to normal :3
I got quite a few requests from people to read Glitch Girl, and decided to see what all the huff was about. At first, I was kind of confused because this story doesn't give gems, so I was wondering if there was some confusion and people were just recommending community stories, but nope! Turns out it was released as an original, but probably got the gem rewards taken away at some point. That still fits in my criteria, so I went ahead. And now let me be the first to say: I WAS SO WRONG ABOUT THIS STORY AND I WANT TO GIVE A FORMAL APOLOGY. I was pretty entertained through it all but *one* specific thing was annoying me for most of the story, and it made me so upset that I was gonna only give this story a 3/5. THAT ENDED UP CHANGING BIG TIME.
ALSO DISLAIMER: I usually try to keep spoilers to a minimum in my reviews unless I'm pointing out something specific, but this will spoil quite a few things. If you want a relatively spoiler-free review, stick to the TL;DR. Honestly, I almost recommend doing that because this story REALLY is best when going in blind.
I'll actually start with the bad things this time, because there's VERY few of them and I want to gush about this story.
The bad things:
-The obvious thing here is no gem rewards. You don't get any gems for finishing a chapter, which will put LOTS of people off. I mean, that's why most people read originals anyway! This is probably the biggest issue with this story, because even though the rest of the story is GREAT, not getting a gem reward in an episode original is like having a love in a story without a golden retriever or an edgy emo boy. It just feels wrong, yknow?
-Can't choose gender of mc or love interest. -The plot of this story can sometimes get pretty plot armour-y and ridiculous, as in a problem will happen and there will be the most CONVENIENT solution in the world to fix it. I actually think choosing the non-gem choices in this make for a better reading experience, because the mc has to actually work and fail before finding a solution to her problems.
The good things:
-Non intrusive gem choices! Most of the time, they're either a bonus or just an outfit choice every couple episodes. Sometimes, they're plot-based to help you get out of situations easier, but like i said earlier, I prefer the non-gem choices here anyway. -A very sweet ending! I'll spoil as little as I can, but I really appreciate that the focus wasn't on the romance and was mainly about the close relationship between the mc and her grandma. It was super wholesome and I honestly recommend reading till the end just for their closeness :3
-Really good pacing in this one, I think every part of the story has a purpose and doesn't overstay its welcome. Some scenes I initially thought were kind of mid and didn't know why they were included, but I realised just how important they were as character establishment later on.
-The character building and foreshadowing in this in general is really good, all the little things that stick out as weird or kind of meh in this story are ALL for a reason. The end will have you going 'OHHHHHHHH' at pretty much every past scene, it's wild and I love it.
Okay from here on out we get into MAJOR spoiler territory so if you haven't already, I suggest just leaving this review and going to read the story right now. It's best when it's read blind IMO and I don't want to take away from you guys' experience. This section talks about plot twists, so you won't miss much!
-If you're someone who enjoys no romance stories, this is the original for you! Admittedly, 'romance' (if you can call it that) is a plot point in the first half of the story, but you can choose to keep rejecting seth and keep his relationship friendly. Or at least, as friendly as you can in a linear story. You HAVE to get engaged unfortunately. The good thing is though, In the end you end up single and happy about it, talking about how you'll be staying away from dating for a while. It's really refreshing, ESPECIALLY for an episode original.
-very cool concept and executed REALLY well. The entire concept of gaining powers and stopping some mystery person, only to realise that the people who you've been trusting this whole time are the entire reason for your problems in the first place was done AMAZINGLY. and that is very much thanks to..
The plot twists! The entire reason this story was going to get a pretty mid review from me initially was because I HATED the love interest. I thought it was going to be one of those "You have one main love interest as the driving force of the story but you spent lots of time with this other love interest on your journey and end up falling in love" stories when they let you customize both Seth and Corey, but I liked how I customized Corey more and ended up wanting to go with him for the main LI. So naturally, I kept rejecting Seth. Except he wouldn't LEAVE ME ALONE. LIKE, EVER. He was so creepy and the longer I read the more I was starting to think that Seth was actually the only real love interest. He:
-wouldn't let me have the superhero name I picked,
-didn't get the hint when I asked him to just be friends
-even LIED to people after I said no to his proposal, telling everyone I said yes??? and MC just rolled with it?!??
I thought it was just bad writing, but I was so wrong.
I sort of expected that Corey was actually Zero, and wasn't completely surprised by that twist. It was still really cool to watch it play out though! but SETH'S TWIST????? girlies i was gagged. Gobsmacked. Flabbergasted if you will. Everything made sense, why he was so pushy, why Corey was BARELY mentioned in the story despite us having FOUND him online apparently after all these years, and why the initial bomb planting itself was barely explored too. I had to pick up my jaw off the floor after this, I was kind of half-hoping that he'd turn out to be the evil mastermind behind all this just so I could not have him as a love interest after all this, but I DIDN'T EXPECT IT TO BE TRUE???
Overall, this story kind of blew me away. I was pretty entertained in the first half, but the second half snatched my hair and punched me in the face. If you're not into the fact that there aren't gem rewards, that's totally fine, but as a STORY I recommend this. This is a really cool story if you want to be left thinking after you're done, and if it had gem rewards, would probably be a 4.5/5 for me. Snaps for Glitch Girl!
Next review: The Soulmate Game

Hello all,
I dont know where to start so i guess we'll just get into it. I met my gf at a bar one random night and everything was fun, we started hanging out and always talked to each other and both always wanted to hang out more and more. That went on for a couple months before she started getting a little annoyed that I wouldnt ask to make things official to the point she started almost ignoring me and wouldnt talk to me until i did, so i caved and made it official.
Ever since then, whenever I ask her to hang out its always "im gonna see what the girls are up to and ill let you know" with 9 out of 10 times having her pick the girls. I feel as if she hides me because theres no more sharing me on social media to the point i almost feel a little weird posting her. If we go out and she posts anything its of her at the spot, but when shes with friends she posts all of them out. its a little weird to me and ive brought it up a time or two and all i get is "i never use my social media, you know that."
our texting/calls/face times have dropped significantly to the point i get maybe one text every couple hours where it used to be every 5-10 mins or so. me simply asking her to let me know when she gets home from girls night has caused arguments and she just flat out refuses and makes a big deal out of it when she used to always offer her location and id say no i trust you, now i just get argued with and have to just trust she made it home ok. we dont talk when she goes out w her girl friends anymore, she used to talk to me the entire time but anymore i just feel like im bothering her so i stopped reaching out when shes out. when her and i go out shes always on her phone talking to basically whoever talks to her.
like i said this has been going on a couple months now and ive been trying not to overthink it but i just cant anymore, shes changed dramatically and i dont know what to do. ive brought it up and shes reassuring when i do, but will immediately go back to just disappearing and im left wondering whats genuine and whats not. i dont think theres someone else but at this point i dont know what to think.
basically, what do i do? do i keep trying and hope something connects or just give it up?

I'm (23) not sure if I'm a trans girl or not. I want to be, but I'm not sure if it's just something that I want, or if it's reality. I'm terrified that I'm not actually a girl, that I'm just nonbinary or even a boy. I only realized I wanted to be fem about a year ago, and only realized it was more a few months ago.
Or at least, I want it to be more. I don't know if I actually AM though. I worry that I'm just trying to convince myself that I'm something that I'm not. The idea of living as a woman feels... Weird. Not wrong, but not euphoric like I'd expect. It just feels odd. I like to dress feminine and wear makeup, and I want to be able to pass, or at least malefail. But sometimes I don't care about it and just go out in whatever because it's a lot of effort. I look at the mirror and sometimes I hate looking masc, but sometimes I sort of have to "remind myself" that I don't like how I look because I look masc instead of just not liking my reflection. I still sometimes accidentally think of myself in masculine terms and subconsciously include myself when people are talking about men. HRT is terrifying too, because of the permanent effects. Even though I do want to go on it, there's a lot about it that scares me. Breasts are a big one - sometimes I find myself wanting them, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I feel like "phantom breasts" but not always.
I want to be a girl. I don't want the universe to take this from me. I want to be right about this, but I'm terrified that I'm lying to myself. My friends are all trans girls, and when I first started covertly dressing fem I was worried that it was just because my friends at that point were in large part femboys. I'll see a cute trans girl or femboys who could pass and feel this massive spike of anxiety and pain. But I don't think I actively feel dysphoria necessarily, and I don't really know if I feel any sort of gender euphoria. People using she/her pronouns for me still feels odd sometimes, rather than euphoric.
I guess part of it is how so much of my identity was always tied up with being a boy. I'm an eagle scout and started as a tiger cub, so spent 10 years of my youth actively immersed in a male-focused space, defining myself by the term "boy scout." My soccer team was all boys, my friends were largely boys growing up because of my extracurriculars. My body is undoubtedly masculine, with broad shoulders that I used to be proud of, and I felt proud to get a more defined jawline and have lost my chest fat when I lost weight. And I'm still sometimes proud of those things, despite them being 100% masculine.
I'm just scared. I'm anxious. I want to be a girl, but a loud part of me is saying I'm not one. I want to be a girl, but I'm afraid that I'm lying to myself and just trying to convince myself that's what I want. I want to be a girl but whenever I say or type that the anxiety grows and tells me I'm lying. I don't want to be a boy. I can't be a boy. The universe can't take this from me too. It's taken too much already.
I know this is just a rant, but I've bothered my friends with this shit too much already and I need a place to let it out.

First: https://redd.it/11e34ce
Previous: https://redd.it/13q19ts
Chapter 31
It was a long while before Quin stirred. He knew it was well past the 14:00 mark when the crew would have re-boarded. He glanced down at his armband and saw 18:43. He was thirteen minutes late to the dinner hour. The weight of everything sitting heavy on his shoulders, he lethargically pushed himself out of bed and sat on the edge, his face in his hands. Falling forward onto his feet, he trudged over to the door and unlocked it. Out in the corridor, he found almost no one. A lone security officer made his way slowly around the corner as he was looking down at a tablet. He paid no mind to Quin and he slowly passed, heading to the cafeteria.
Maybe I can grab something to eat really quick before anyone recognizes I’m there, he hoped. They should all be busy eating, I could just slip in and out. He had no intention to speak to anyone. His armband and even the screen in his room were unusually silent, which didn’t bother him too much, given the way that he was feeling. He knew he would eventually have to face the crew, and especially Nova, back at work the next day. I technically should have been back already. There was mixture of fury, shame, and uncertainty brewing in his gut and he wanted to quash it before having to meet anyone. He breathed slowly, deeply, and leaned up against a wall. He let his head rest against the wall and felt the queasy feeling subside a bit. He sighed and pushed out a long exhale, leaving the wall.
He saw no one as he wound through the crew dormitories, arriving at the main hallway that connected the crew living space, the command deck, and the working spaces. Right on the edge of this junction, the main cafeteria’s double doors opened into a massive bay, with tables stretching far down the open space leading to the serving line and kitchens in back. Quin knew that back there, Bostwick had arranged to have coffee served continuously. He looked around and saw pockets of people eating and a larger crowd lounging around a group of tables. Quin saw Mae and Bostwick among the group and made to leave to avoid them, but Mae caught his eye and waved him over, preventing his escape.
Quin trudged over and sat down at the periphery of the group, He didn’t recognize a lot of the people sitting there, though he could remember a few being among Mae’s engineering section. He supposed the others were a good mix, some being security, judging by their builds and haircuts.
Mae leaned toward him a whispered, “As you can imagine, word has travelled fast.” This set Quin on edge. He in no way felt ready to confront his fellow crewmembers about what took place in that hangar. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he felt a hand on his upper arm. Mae was looking at him, meeting his eye as he silently pleaded to escape. Her firm clutch on his arm was remarkably comforting.
“It’s okay, Quin,” Mae whispered to him. “Nothing is going to happen. I’m here and so is Commander Bostwick. Stay, eat.” She slid him her tray where a good portion of her meal was untouched. He grabbed a rehydrated roll and tore off a bit. It was about all he could stomach. He chewed slowly and let his eyes trace the floor tiles between his feet. It allowed him to be ignored by the ongoing chatter while still paying attention to what was being said. A number of the crew were debating amongst themselves, some more loudly than others.
“Drake here thinks we can just go killing each other willy-nilly,” one crewmember said loudly. She gestured to an older, scruffy looking man in a white t-shirt and a stained apron reclining against the table, a hardened look about him. He was the head of the kitchen crew that Quin remembered from his first briefing.
“Shoulda killed ‘em while she had ‘em pinned,” Drake grunted. His accent was more British than anything, though it was course and not like some of the academy instructors’ more refined dialect.
“You can’t be serious, Drake. Killing another person? That’s so senseless,” Mae said.
“Goddamn thief, gotta lot less than ‘e deserved,” Drake scowled.
“Drake, we’re on a goddam humanitarian mission, for the love of…” Mae quipped, exasperated. “How can you be for killing this guy when we are trying to save all those people of Gaia?”
“It’s tha’ job, girlie,” Drake retorted. “You officer types got all these ideas. You know how much a support staff gets from this? Imma retire tha’ minute we get back.”
“Well, sure, there’s that,” Mae said, a little resigned. “But there’s also the humanist principle. Protecting and promoting human life.”
“Life is pointless, dearie. Th’ sooner you reconcile yerself with tha’, the sooner you will be comfortable with th’ fact tha’ nothing you do matters. Tha’ bloke is insignificant. An’ so are you,” Drake stated, punctuating his last sentence with a jab of the finger at Mae.
“Why are you being so cold?” Mae said, rather hurt.
“Cause life hurts, right Chief?” Drake sneered. He turned to Commander Bostwick with raised eyebrows. It was clear that Bostwick was now the only person that could say anything that would be heard by the entire group, Drake included. The familiarity of the remark seemed to indicate that Bostwick and Drake had been on missions before together.
“Actually, Drake, I don’t agree,” Louis said, seemingly waking out of a deep reverie.
“Really? You think this whol’ thing ain’t some crock of shit?” Drake asked incredulously.
“I have long ago come to terms with how small I am compared to the grand arch of the universe. You can’t be a space traveler and not see that. In my experience, it usually drives people to one of two extremes: they either become extremely religious in their search for belonging and purpose, or they become so nihilistic that caring goes the way of the common cold: extinct. I see that you tend towards the latter. Me?” Louis shrugged, offering, “I take a different approach. Yes, our existence has a sense of cosmic horror and pointlessness. We are not some Ancient Ones, consuming worlds and manipulating the very fabric of physical laws. We are subject to the universe’s ebbs and flows. So, what do we do? What can we do? We give our lives purpose; we give them meaning.”
“Yer just like ‘er,” Drake said, shaking his head and flapping his hands to wave him off. “Sentimental wishing that’ll save tha worl’.”
“Perhaps. Though I would say I’ve seen quite a few loved ones and colleagues senselessly killed: training accident mishaps, space travel cataclysms, incurable diseases, not to mention at the end of a gun.” Quin was frozen, though he was staring intently at the floor so as to not meet anyone’s gaze. He knew who Bostwick was talking about when listing those causes, and Quin felt his stomach churn violently when imagining himself being on that list.
“Their deaths affect everyone around them and funerals are for the living,” Bostwick continued. “You can’t see that and not be angry at the universe for what seems like random fatal chance. I know I have been at some points. So, I’ve come to look at it this way. In light of everything that could go wrong at any time, YOU, yourself, are responsible for giving your life meaning.”
“Philosophical bullshit,” Drake said, interrupting, and crossing his arms and leaning back against a cafeteria table.
“Shut the hell up, Drake,” Mae said testily, turning back to Louis.
“It’s okay, Mae, everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Louis said, smiling softly.
“Sure, but he keeps dismissing it without letting you explain it. What do you mean by ‘giving meaning’?”
“Hmm, well, look at it like this. Whatever you do in life, you are remembered by. Everyone interprets things too, so your meaning is the only thing that comes from you, intrinsically. Once you put it out there, it’s for others to deal with as they please. Especially in death. That’s why we gild our historical figures, we project our best wishes on them, despite what meaning they may have intended for their life. It is only in your own life and your own motivations that you are able to control your meaning, your purpose, so that is why you have to live your life as fully as possible.”
“Wow, that’s pretty heady,” Mae said, smiling a bit.
“Not really. Look at it like this. When the Europeans set out to conquer the American continents, they were after large amounts of gold. Gold, itself, has no real intrinsic purpose, until a person comes along and gives it a purpose or meaning by using it for something. So, the Europeans ascribed it tremendous value. The Native Americans living on those two continents, millions of people spread across thousands of miles of land and spanning cultures, languages, and beliefs, were subject to such cruelty and horror, through genocide and plague, all because the Europeans ascribed value to a particular resource. And the kicker is, these native groups held that resource in a different regard. Imagine an alien race coming along and saying that your…shoes,” Louis said, gesturing toward Mae’s feet, “were extremely valuable and were going to trade you for them. And you refused, so they killed you for them. Wouldn’t you think that their purpose for shoes is a little…off?”
Mae simply nodded. The rest of the cafeteria was silent.
“Sure. Humans are the only beings that we know of right now that can not only give purpose to things, but also to themselves. It’s why our species had religion for so long. People seek purpose. Now, I have no patience for such a system where my purpose is controlled by something else. Some people go their entire lives, repeating a mundane set of tasks within a relatively limited amount of space, and call that living. If that’s where they get their own purpose, then fine. But I’ve concluded that living a purpose-driven life means taking personal responsibility for one’s own actions and putting it at the service of others. I give myself purpose. That’s why I’m here. I’m fortunate that my life’s purpose is aligned with the humanitarian ideals present in our mission. Many people search a long time to find such a unity of purpose.”
“So yeh’ve got yer altruism an’ it keeps you warm an’ fed at nigh’,” Drake said sarcastically.
“I’ve got my bread and my cot, so I’m taken care of. I’m speaking about a higher search for meaning. I believe to my core that such a mission is purposeful, because I am dedicating my existence to others. I’ve come to accept my fate. If I die—and I shall because all of us are only temporary passengers on this journey—then my life’s meaning is crystal clear,” Louis finished, sitting back in his chair, taking a sip of coffee, and glancing over at Quin, who was busy tracing a panel of floor tiling with his eyes and trying to soak in everything Louis said. “And if it needs to be stated for the record, I’m also opposed to killing anyone onboard this ship, or off it for that matter, no matter what crime they are believed to have committed.”
Drake stood up, staring at Louis, and wiped his nose on his sleeve. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but instead just shook his head and wagged his finger and stomped off to the kitchen.
Quin stood up too and skulked off out the main cafeteria doors. Louis jumped up and chased after him, leaving the rest of the room sitting quietly.
“Quin! QUIN! Will you just stop and talk to me?!” Louis said part-way down the hall, grabbing Quin’s arm and turning it. Quin’s eyes were burning as he was trying hard to hold in his guilt.
“Okay, come on,” Louis said, guiding him down the hallway.
They walked a full quarter length of the massive ship, Louis guiding him through the twists and turns of the labyrinth that was the Nemo. They passed through the portal leading to officer quarters and arrived at Louis’s chamber. The walls closed in around Quin as he and Louis crammed themselves into the room. Louis sat Quin down on the bed and took the desk chair.
“You need to cool down,” Louis said. “I know it’s not your fault. You have this really annoying, yet really endearing habit of carrying the weight of the cosmos on your shoulders. Even Atlas himself asked for a break. No one is dead.”
“Yeah, but it could have gone a lot worse. And I had no way of controlling it, yet I’m still responsible for it, Louis,” Quin half-shouted, launching himself up and pacing the small room. Bostwick’s eyes followed him back and forth. “I can’t face Captain Fuentes, or the other crew, let alone Nova. I don’t know what to say to her. Aside from that I almost got someone killed.”
“Like I said, Quin,” Louis said, smiling softly, his piercing grey eyes suddenly warm, “leave it to others to gab about the situation and suppose everything. You, yourself, are the only person who knows what is in your heart. But, my friend, I think I can guess what’s in there.”
Quin’s his chest was tight as he was burning up with humiliation and rage.
“You know what I do when I need to calm down?” Louis asked.
“What’s…that…” Quin said between slow breaths to calm himself, the tightness in his chest refusing to abate.
“You ever heard of Hendrix?”
“No, what’s that?”
“You mean, who’s that,” Louis said, hopping up. “Take a deep breath, lean back, and rest your head. Let the music wash over you.”
Quin laid his head back against the wall next to the bed and got comfortable.
“Now, center yourself. Take a deep breath,” Bostwick said softly as he scrolled through a menu on his tablet in the wall. He pressed play on his tablet, and the first twangy guitar strums filled the room, like a heartbeat, pulsing the air through Quin’s chest.
Quin let his eyes go unfocused and closed them as the lyrics began emanating from the nothingness around him. “After all the jacks are in their boxes…” the cool edge of the singer’s voice and the slow, driving grit of the guitar took over him, and he drifted off to sleep. The Nemo cruised on into the black, and it was as if Jimi and space fused as one, his music making the nothingness swell with soul. “And the wind…cries…Mary.”

If you guys have been seeing my last post, I have talked about reality shifting and all that. The method I have discovered can make certain events happen and is a very strong method.
When I first did it, it felt like I just changed a whole timeline. I didn't understand why, but I wasn't worried about it at the time. I basically manifested a whole life, and that whole life began off of one single event. Basically was me getting rich and moving out into the mountains and a few other stuff, but that's the just of it.
Well, May 25th-May 26th I believe it was, I swear to God what I manifested was coming true. I can't explain how, but everything was going perfectly to make it come true. It came down to one decision I made, and with that prevented it from happening.
That night though, I felt the feeling I felt when I first changed reality, but this time alot stronger. The following day, everything felt positive and the "memory" of the manifestation didn't feel like a memory any more.
I felt really different, nothing bad, just different. If you felt a shift recently, let me know so I can know if it's just me or not. At this point I'm just using this subreddit to document my spiritual journey I guess lol, but yeah im going to try and figure out what the hell happened. I'll keep you all updated on my progress!

Clementine walks outside of the dormitory with AJ. The sun is bright and warm making the air all fresh and new from the thunderstorm last night. Some minor damage was done to the east side of the wall, but nothing threatening that will endanger everyone. The grass was still wet from the rain, and so were the picnic tables. Clementine hobbles away with AJ by her side as they make their way to the watchtower. Willy and Aasim are scheduled to go out and hunt early in the afternoon, and Ruby and Violet should be in the greenhouse today gathering herbs and tending to the garden. Louis will be out later in the afternoon checking the traps for game along with Tenn.
AJ walks with Clementine as they pass Omar's black caldron to cook their meals. AJ cast a look up at his mother figure as she is wearing an unusual smile on her face this morning. AJ looks down at the ground to ponder on it for a moment. Clem's hat blocks out most of the sun from his eyes. He finally spoke to her as they made their way to the watchtower, "Why are you smiling so big?"
Clementine shook her head to clear it from her thoughts with Louis from last night, "Huh, what?"
"You are smiling a different kind of smile today," AJ commented being observant of her.
"I am?" Clementine asks with one of her eyebrows arching a little.
"Yeah, like you are glowing or something. What made you so happy last night? Did Louis and you have some sissy gross love talk?" AJ asks.
Clementine looks down at him as they approach the ladder to the watchtower to climb up on. "Yes, we did." Clementine casts her look away not wanting to admit to her surrogate son her first sexual experience.
"That can't be, because you never have that look when you guys talk of kissing love. And kiss and stuff, so what exactly happened between you and Louis that made you...this happy?" AJ looks up at her one more time.
Clementine sighs as she shakes her head, "AJ...."
"I am curious, is all? I have never seen you this happy, even when you guys do gross love things together." AJ said.
"Some things you don't need to know kiddo. At least not right now. When you get a bit older, I will tell you. But you are still my little goofball, and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can, even if you are growing up too fast for me." Clementine said as she reaches out to rub AJ's head and her old hat. Making it go lop-sided on AJ's head.
AJ straightens out her hat on his head as he pouts up at her, "It is AJ or Alvin Jr, not goofball. How many times do I have to tell you that."
"Sorry bud, old habits, and I still like that nickname." Clementine teases him.
AJ gave her a swat back as Clementine balanced on her prosthetic foot, "Well I don't. It makes me feel like I am three again and a baby, which I am not." AJ crosses his arms over his chest and looks away from Clementine.
"Okay, I will try not to use it, alright, kiddo." Clementine sighs, and AJ turns to smile back at her. She then puts on her motherly leadership tone now, "Okay, time to do look-out duties. You go up first." Clementine said as she let AJ climb up first. Once Clementine makes the climb up she let AJ use the binoculars to see as she scans the horizon with her eyes on danger. She tries not to think of about her time with Louis and focuses on looking out for danger, but the thought keeps coming back in her head. Is Louis right? Do I have a glow on my face from what happened last night? Do women glow after they have sex? Do men do as well? And if AJ sees it do the other kids know about it as well? Am I really that obvious to everyone? She tries to hide it, but her heart and happiness will not hide away. Clementine shakes her head to clear it as she focuses in on the threats outside the walls of her home.
.....................................
Louis finished picking up the rest of their fort and gathered his cards up. Smiling as he thought about his and Clementine's passionate night last night. She made him the happiest guy on earth. Once Clem's room is all packed away, he slowly puts on his green shirt and never notices the hickeys Clem left on his neck.
When Louis closes the door to his and Clem's room, he feels a little dizzy, and light-headed all of a sudden and a sharp pain at his gut. Louis leans on the door for support. The pain was a sharp burn, like a bad cramp or something. He never noticed Aasim was just coming out of his room and looked at Louis kind of funny.
"You okay, dude?" Aasim asks.
Louis took a moment then shook his head as the pain was dull but not as severe. "Yeah...must be something I did last night." Louis slowly spoke.
"Uh huh, and that moaning in your and Clem's room had nothing to do with it?" Aasim arches his eyebrows and crosses his arms.
Louis flush in the face now, as Aasim heard his first sexual encounter with a girl, "We...uh...practicing her combat skills." Louis cast to the floor as Aasim is not buying his act.
Aasim chuckles to his friend and looks to Louis, "Look. Lou, I am no idiot. I know you and Clem did it last night. It was obvious by the soft moans from the two of you as I passed your room to go to bed. I won't tell anyone." Aasim looks at him. "You have my word, bro."
Louis looks down, then back up at Aasim, and has a new appreciation for his old friend and for keeping to the guy code. He still held his hand on the side of his body, and Aasim took notice. "Are you sure you are okay Lou, I can go get Ruby?" Aasim asks.
"Yeah, I am fine, and no need to get your girlfriend involved. It is probably hunger pains." Louis half joked as he never experiences this deep pain. Or maybe this is after sex pain.
"Okay, suit yourself. I have to find Willy. He and I have hunting duty, and you Lou, need to rest the traps. It is your turn today, besides fixing up the wall from the storm last night." Aasim said.
"Will do, after I eat something," Louis said as he leaned his back on Clem's dorm room door.
Aasim started to move and kept his eye on Louis as something was not right or not good with him, and he was a bit concerned. Louis took deep breaths as the pain slowly subsided, and he slowly began to move to go outside.
Louis sees Aasim getting his food and taking it over to where Ruby is as they are being all cutesy with each other. He smiles at his friend's romance, and then Louis's eyes fall on Clementine and AJ up in the watch tower. He sighs a happy smile at seeing his girlfriend as she still has that glow upon her face that she and he did last night. And strangely, Louis, too has a glow on his face. He shakes his head as he grabs food and starts to eat it, hoping whatever pain he felt was just hunger pains.
Then he spots Violet coming in from the graveyard, of all places. He has seen her near there a lot, and it is not like her to see her ex-girlfriend's grave marker and act so damn happy when he knows for a fact Minnie ruined Violet back on the beach after the Delta boat blew up. He watches as Violet heads directly to her room, and he lets out a sigh. Once Violet is seen to go to the dorms, Louis looks out over at the wall of the school and the traps as they can wait to be fixed, as Louis wants to find out where Violet has been sneaking off to in the dead of night and coming back in at dawn, or mid-morning. Louis finishes his stew and puts it where the rest of the dishes are and heads to Violet's room, room 202.
...................................
Maya made it back to her tent without anyone noticing her absence. She sees Aniya is still asleep in her bed on her side of the tent, while Maya crawls into bed and smiles with her heart feeling like it has wings. There is no doubt now on Maya's face that she is in love with Violet. Maya only got a half hour of rest when she felt Aniya waking her up, "Maya, Maya...wake up. Bonnie wants us to go hunting again."
Maya groans a little and squints her eyes, "Okay.." Maya slowly gets up, and Aniya looks at her older sister with concern.
"You sure you are up for it? You look exhausted." Aniya said.
"I will be fine." Maya yawns.
Aniya looked at the door and then back at her sister, "You were with Violet all night, weren't you?"
Maya looked down at her feet then her brown eyes met her sisters. "Yes."
"Maya.." Aniya shakes her head.
"Before you say anything, I told her how I felt about her." Maya sighs, "I love her,"
Aniya looks at her, "Maya, I am glad, even happy for you. You found love in this world. But you know this is going to get very complicated. People will start to get subspinous about your disappearing to go meet her. Bonnie will soon pick up your weird behavior and start to question your loyalty. I don't want to see you getting kicked from the group. I need my sister."
Maya understands her little sister's worry as Maya bows her head and puts her hands over them, and lets out a heavy sigh. For the first time, she admits it out loud to her little sister, "I am so torn, Aniya. Sometimes I wished I never met her or those group of kids that fateful day."
Aniya reaches out to her sister and lightly touches her shoulder, "Why?"
Maya pulls her head up and moves her hands to the side of her body. "Because this way, I wouldn't put my heart through this hell I am feeling. It is getting very damn difficult to leave her to come back to this group. You are the only thing that keeps me here, you and Robert." Maya sighs and softly mourns, "Please don't hate me for saying that. I love you, and you are the only kin I have left in this world, and I vowed to Mom and Dad I will take care of you, and know I will never leave you."
Aniya nods and holds her sister tight, "I know. And I don't hate you, Maya, for having those thoughts. But to tell you the truth. As much as I sometimes come off as being jealous, your love for this girl is not a mistake, and don't ever think that was. Seeing you deeply in love with Violet actually gives me hope for a future in this bleak dark world. In some ways brings back memories of when Mom and Dad were alive. And if you feel your home is with Violet and her group, I will go where you go, sis. Family sticks together." Aniya reminded her.
Aniya coughs and nods to the doorway, "Alright, come on, we got hunting to do before Bonnie gets suspicious. Do what you can, sis, and I will try and think of something of an excuse for why you are exhausted."
Maya shakes her head, "I appreciate the loyalty Aniya, but I don't want you to lie for me. I will devise my tale and not let you get involved. Bonnie will know something is up if you do that. Come on."
Maya, Aniya, and Bonnie head out on the beach scouting for food. Maya braces the cold wind as it blows on her fingers, making it difficult to hunt with the bow. They walked what felt like miles, and Maya spotted what looked like a deer. She blinked several times, and it was a deer. Maya gets in a low crouch and begins to stalk it. Maya drew her bow and an arrow from her quiver. She knows when hunting deer out west, she needs to be quick with her motions. Maya drew the arrow back of the string of the bow until it was taunt. Before Maya could strike at the deer, the deer turned and looked at her.
Maya gazes at the deer as it doesn't run or flee, and soon Maya's heart stops and knows this is not just a deer. It is a spirit. Maya lowered the bow and withdrew her arrow from the string.
Aniya looks at her sister as Bonnie catches a wild turkey and a few rabbits. She sees her sister staring at something invisible that only she can see. Bonnie looks to Aniya, "What is Maya doing?"
"I'm not sure," Aniya said as she tried to read her sister's actions.
Maya stares long and hard at this deer and soon feels a sharp pain in her forehead. The pain was so much it caused Maya to fall to her knees and hold her head. Then Maya blacks out and is about to get a vision of what happened to Clementine, Louis, and Violet that day on the beach when the Delta boat blew up
"Maya!" Aniya screams out and runs to her sister, and the same with Bonnie.
"What is wrong with her, Aniya?" Bonnie drops the kills she made and kneels to Aniya, holding her sister, who is unconscious.
Aniya answers, "She is having one of her vision things. She gets like this sometimes when a spirit or something contacts her."
Bonnie looks at her oddly, "This is ridiculous. We need to get back." Bonnie goes and reaches for Maya, and Aniya batted her hand away.
"No, don't...don't touch her when she is like this. You might not believe this kind of thing, Bonnie, but my sister is next chosen to be my tribe, Sherman. Shermans have special gifts of having visions of the past and foreseeing things. My grandmother had this gift, and it is passed to my sister." Aniya explains.
"So what do we do, wait until she regains conscious?" Bonnie asks, looking at Aniya holding her older sister.
"Yes," Aniya said.
"Who knows how long that could take? I don't want to—" Bonnie's words were cut short when both she and Aniya heard groans of walkers, about eight or nine of them. "Shit.."
Aniya stood up and looked at Bonnie, and Bonnie looked at her, "Well, we don't have time for your sister to come to now unless she wants to be walker food. You get our kill, and I will carry your sister to a better location where we are not easy targets. Keep those fuckers off of us." Bonnie picks up Maya and carries her in her arms as Aniya keeps the walkers off their tails Bonnie leads them to a cave to keep them hidden from the walkers.
.........................................
Maya wakes up on the sandy beach. The pain in her forehead eased up some as she heard gunfire. Maya looks and sees Clementine, the little boy named AJ, and Louis Aasim, a boy Maya has never met or seen before.
She hears a horse crying as the boy Aasim waves to some other kids Maya again has never seen before. Maya counted the seven kids and counted Violet, these must be Violet's other members of the group. Then out of nowhere, Maya sees the love of her life as she pleads to a girl Maya has never seen or heard of before.
"Minerva, why are you choosing to be with them? I still love you despite killing Sophie! Your home is with Ericson, not the fucking Delta! I know you remember!" Violet screams.
Minerva looks to Violet. She lets out a scream of confusion. When she sees Clementine shooting a member of her family, Minerva's eyes goes cold and turns from Violet. Violet kept screaming out her name, but she didn't know she was there. "Minerva!"
Violet knew from that moment her precious Minnie was lost to her. Violet watches in horror as Louis, Aasim, and Omar flee to safety. Minerva was going to kill or do harm to someone she cared about.
Minerva points her gun, and Violet sees what Minerva will do. Violet runs to stop Minerva, and the two of them battle and fight with each other until Violet gets slashed by Minerva's knife. Violet's felt the sting of her shoulder where Minerva sliced her. And the look in her eyes just then it is like she didn't care if she hurt Violet.
Violet, in tears now feeling betrayed by the love of her life, watches as Minerva, blindly in rage, advances onward toward Clementine. Violet slowly reaches for Minerva's crossbow and, with shaking hands, aims at her former lover and lets out her tears, knowing Minerva is no longer in love with her and the Minnie she once found love and joy in died the day she entered the Delta. Violet pulls the trigger and shoots Minerva in the shoulder when she tries to aim at her head. Minerva lets out a shriek of pain as she eyes Violet as the ultimate butyral of her former lover. Violet made her choice that day and was going to kill Minerva for the love of her friends.
Minerva yells at Violet, "Fuck you and everything we had." Minerva was unaware of a walker coming and biting her in the face. Louis puts his arms around Violet to protect her. Clementine looks to AJ and is about to follow after their friends when she hears Minerva screaming, "Clementine! FUCK YOU!" and lobs a grenade at Clementine and AJ, causing the separation of Clem and AJ from the rest of the Ericson group.
Maya's heart broke for Violet seeing how much Violet loved Minerva. And Maya stands on the sandy ash beach, watching the event unfold. Maya crashes to the sandy ground and holds her arms, "Oh, Vi...I...I am so sorry..." Maya sobs, and her heart aches for her lover. Maya soon looks up and wipes her eyes, and Maya looks and sees the deer she saw in the woods when hunting with her sister, and Bonnie now appears in the woods of her vision. Maya wipes her tears and realizes this is not just any deer.
Maya slowly stands up and eyes the spirit animal, "Why are you showing this to me? Why am I reliving Violet's past? Who are you, and what do you want? Tell me who you are?"
The deer looks at her and then toward where the horse carries Violet away. Then looks back at her. Maya gazes at the deer and soon hears rumbles. Maya turns and sees a storm making landfall on the river as a stiff wind blows sand in Maya's eyes. Maya sees flashes of bright lights, and soon, the sandy beach around her is filled with blood, and the sky is red. Maya looks back at the deer who stands in the shadows of the woods. Maya realizes this is a warning. The blood, the red sky, and the rumbles of a storm. The red sky means death is coming. No..oh dear God, no! Maya looks at the deer with sad eyes, "Don't fucking tell me I am going to lose the love of my life! Or my sister, Aniya."
The spirit never answers her and Maya soon felt the pain in her forehead as she holds her forehead until the blinding pain stops. And Maya is back to her reality.

rant post
this might sound really stupid but i’m extremely desperate and i’m doing terrible mentally. ive been religious my entire life and ive never stopped believing in god, but i have been in my worst so my relationship with god this past year hasnt been great even though i still try. i got contact lenses a month ago and after a week of using them they broke and i felt really stupid and useless since i feel like i cant do anything right and i really let something as simple as a contact lense break. i got new ones last friday and i put them in for the first time today cause i’m still a beginner i wanted to practise cause i have school tommorow so i need them. i got them in just fine but i took them out and the right one was broken somehow. it broke. again. i immediately broke down crying because how could something like this happen again? why does god let so many bad things happen to me? ive been in the lowest point of my life so everything is extremely overwhelming and i feel very fragile, and now this too? my parents are going to kill me and i dont understand why so many bad things happen to me if ive been nothing but faithful and god knows ive been trying. is it possible to physically fix a broken object though prayer? i really dont know what to do anymore since i have to wait another month and my parents are gonna find out. im sorry if this was long its very messy but i dont know where else to ask. please dont get mad in the comments i really need help

"Death is but a door, time is but a window... I'll be back" -- Vigo the Carpathian
Basic Concept: a shoot 'em up in which you take over the body of whichever NPC killed you.
Backstory for the idea (such as it is): I watching a comedy animation which explores "what it's like for an NPC when the controller disconnects" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSgrumHw-XA). Someone in the comments says something along the lines of "When he killed the main player you can see his awareness begin to slowly expand to becoming the main player himself." Then someone expands that by asking why there isn't a game in which the NPC becomes the main character.
Now, obviously, that would be a nightmare to code and you'd essentially be writing a full potential game for each NPC. And not every NPC is going to be engaging in a shoot 'em up / adventure game.
So I thought, why not split the difference? When your character gets killed your 'video game spirit' possesses/bodyjacks that NPC. You have the same mission (get the girl, shoot the baddies), but you're now pursuing it with a character who has different stats, appearance AND was formerly allied with the baddies.
Dying accidentally or via your own hand does NOT let you jump into an enemy.
Thinking about it, this would almost be an action remake of Abe's Odyssee with the body possession mechanic the core component of the game.
Further ideas:
As the game progresses, the more you're killed (and the more you possess other characters) the smarter the enemy gets about the bodyjacking mechanic. So enemy troops, rather than trying to kill you, will work to subdue/pacify you via non-lethal means (knockout, tying up, sedation, etc). In essence, the enemy gets paradoxically SAFER as the game goes on.
Some puzzles/sections of the game would require you to be killed by an enemy (for instance, if they're in a place you can't physically get to).
A point in the game might see you needing to be killed by an enemy NPC if you've been tied up, making you resort to psychologically tactics, using conversational dialogue trees to goad the enemy into murdering you.
Setting:
Anything really to justify the bodyjacking.
Medieval: Soul Reaver, The Bodyjackening... you play a deceased supernatural being, pressed back into service by an eldritch being.
Modern Occult: your soul has been fused with the Angel of Death, thus you now occupy the borderland between the living and the dead.
Western: you've been cursed by an Algonquin shaman to be torn between the land of the sun and Chibiabos, the ghost land.
Sci-Fi: your character is actually a prototype "invasive engram" able to jump from one neural implant to another.
Etc etc, anything genre-compatible to allow the core mechanic to function smoothly in the game world.

Yo! I made a post reviewing the Dark Tournament and everything before it here, so lets talk about Chapter Black! Feel free to skip any sections you're not interested in! The first section is about Yu Yu's power systems! Also, this should be clear, but everything in episode 95 and before will be spoiled here.
By the way, why did nobody tell me this arc was so long?! I somewhat joke, but this has ended up perhaps longer than my post on the Dark Tournament. www

YU YU HAKUSHO'S POWER SYSTEM PROBLEM(And how Togashi solved it!)

So, for the arcs before this one, the power system of Ki has been somewhat frustrating. It didn't ever make me go "bleugh, i hate this power system!", that'd be silly, alot of great moments come from both Yoki and Reiki users. However, I do feel they held the story back in some ways! Soft power systems are.. not my faves. Seemingly, you can do virtually anything with the cost of aura. Training methods are never really defined, and when mentioned, they're 'mentioned' at most. Abilities of Ki users have no specific limitations except when thrown on with sudden explanation.
So, I love Territories! We're introduced to them with the three schoolboys, Kido, Kaito and Yanagisawa.. in order, they're the users of Shadow, Taboo and Copy! I love Kido and Kaito, though Yana didn't really get much focus in the story so I have no particular interesting in him outside of hairstyle and ability! Kido and Kaito on the other hands are fun, charismatic characters with awesome Territories! Kido is voiced by DIO, so that's another plus.
Kido's Territory is simple. His Territory is shadows. He can control his own shadow's movements, and if he steps on your shadow, you've entered his Territory, freezing your body in place. This is just fucking cool.
Yana's Copy Territory is cool, but not really notable. It was neat and was used well, it's just very limited. Though, in the final battle, I don't really see why he didn't copy Yusuke or Hiei; easily their strongest party members, and help out. Plot hole? maybe. Narrative convenience? certainly.
Kaito's is probably my fave Territory in the entirety of Chapter Black. Taboo makes a certain radius around him his Territory, inwhich violence is impossible! He sets the Taboo word, and if either he or anyone inside his Territory speak the Taboo, they lose their soul! Generally speaking, this was probably my one of my fave fights in all of Yu Yu Hakusho.
Strategic, skill-based, not about raw numbers.. A fight of intellect. Rad as fuck. Though, It really did sadden me that it was never used more than once! I'd love to see more Taboo battles. It's unfortunate Kaito never got to fight again. Theoretically he could defeat Sensui himself! I don't get why they didn't send him in in the final battle. I get it's total protagonist syndrome, where only the protags are allowed to fight the final boss, but c'mon. That only makes sense from a meta-perspective! In-universe, there's really no excuse. atleast we got several instances of good use out of Copy, but not using Taboo more than once? It's sad.
So, now that we've got through the first Territories we've met, what does this teach us? 1. there's always a bigger fish. Just because Yusuke is the strongest man on earth, doesn't mean he can't be defeated. After an antagonist like Toguro younger, it's hard to imagine who Yusuke could fight next. This is a genius way of implementing it. Raw power is no longer the way. 2. humans can now fight without any prior experience, as that hole opening is causing humans to gain Territorys. This is great for introducing new antagonists and supporting cast members. 3. Territories don't give the user raw stats! Users of Reiki and Yoki have their raw stats (ATK, DEF, AGI, MP, HP, ETC) increase the stronger they get. This is bad for a long narrative, as your characters will keep rising to new limits, making it harder to add stakes to a conflict, or add in new, strong, amazing guys.
This is the very reason that Togashi's next battle shounen manga had a power system that, while similar to Ki, has additional classes, rules, regulations and systems to it, because he learned from this narrative mistake. With Territorys, a user has only as much ATK, DEF, AGI or HP as an average person, with no MP to speak of. Any Territory user could just die from a brick to the head, or being punched too hard that their skull hits the ground and splits, like a normal person. This ups the stakes of the battle, by equalising the forces. Their ability and intellect are their strongpoint, not raw numbers. after like 40 episodes of raw stat-based combat, this was an AMAZING narrative choice.
This is further seen with a boxer named Murota. His wiretap allows him to read the mind of anyone who enters his Territory. So simple, yet so good for a narrative. All the storytelling involving Murota's Wiretap are great, and his easy defeat when it comes to Yusuke coming in didn't even take away from his ability being interesting. Sorry buddy, for a Boxer, you didn't get a offensive ability at all.
This is all of the introductory Territory, so i'll leave this section here. The other Territories and my thoughts on them will be covered along with their connected character. Though, I will leave you with one thought.. Togashi, All the women in your narrative are virtually identical visually speaking, get barely anything to do, and Genkai, the only one with a character arc and her own great story gets it reversed by the end of the Dark Tournament Arc..
atleast give us a W by giving Keiko a Territory! this way, the LEADING WOMAN of your story could join in the plot without ANY training required.. Like come on, what the hell. All women seem to do in Yu Yu Hakusho is act as someone to project and care for by their man. It's kinda gross. Atleast we have Genkai, but come on..

CHAPTER BLACK & YOKAI CLASSES!

Soon after the initial plothook, we learn we were tricked into thinking these guys were the plot! Gotta love Genkai lol. I love that she continues to teach Yusuke in such a way. Moving on, though, ignoring Sensui and the gang for now, Chapter Black! a GREAT concept! Is it a bit on the nose? Yes, of course. But we must remember Yu Yu Hakusho is aimed at young children, so we can forgive this, since it's really well written anyway!
Togashi would go on to perfect his writing about this theme in Hunter x Hunter, but that doesn't mean it's not amazingly done here! It makes perfect sense that Chapter Black would exist, and doesn't seem contrived, there's nothing negative I can really say about it. How it effected those who saw it tells enough, so I don't have to tell you about it!
So, before the introduction of Chapter Black, the tape itself, we learn about another thing that definitely existed this whole time! (I'm just being sassy, nothing wrong with introducing new concepts.) Yokai classes! At the beginning of the anime, Kurama and Hiei were lowly D-listers at the beginning of the anime, so their rise to power is quite unexpected, now being B-listers! By the end of the arc, they both reach A class! Good for them good for them.
The revelation that Toguro younger was only a B class is great. Really gave me a "Oh my god!" moment. The class system is very much serving the same purpose as scouters, to make us go "woah!" at how strong an enemy is to impress us, and to impress us even further when our Yokai protagonists, Hiei, Kurama, and later Yusuke are when they reach a higher level! It's simple but effective. Though, later, in my own opinion, this will have negative repercussions on the plot. But we'll get there at the end of this post. For now, they're good in my book! You'll see why my thoughts change later, and why I think they were a mistake in the long-run.
Also, a smaller note, some interesting foreshadowing. At the end of the arc, Shinobu notes that Kurama, as Yoko Kurama, was once an A class Yokai.. but he also mentions that Hiei used to be A class aswell?! Obviously, this is going to be expanded upon later. I'm interested to see why he dropped to D later!

INTRODUCTION OF BLACK ANGEL & SNIPER! THE FIGHT WITH DOCTOR..

Okay, now we're back to Territories and the plot! Sorry, we were stuck in the 'mechanics' zone for a while, weren't we?! So! First, we meet Sensui himself. Later, we learn this is one of his alters, Minoru. Ominously, he stares at Yusuke and the gang, and has Sniper shoot an eraser to intimidate, and lure them into a trap at the hospital! From this, we can already tell he's intelligent.
Here, he expected Yusuke to follow him so he could dispose of Yusuke, but Yusuke kept surprisingly cool thanks to Genkai's preparation she put them through. It's kinda fucking crazy to imagine that Yusuke, if he followed Sensui, he would of been quickly killed by Minoru and Sniper. Doctor would then of disposed of the users of Shadow, Copy and Wiretap. Can you imagine how the plot would of gone from here if Yusuke made this singular choice?! I love when a story has so many single choices that could change EVERYTHING. it's really entertaining to think about.
So, Wiretap's user gets taken to the hospital, but they learn that Doctor is about! Doctor Kamiya is a fun character, simple but effective, I really like him. So far, Yusuke has murdered countless evil Yokai, but to kill an evil Human? It's very different. In the end, Yusuke does kill Doctor, but Genkai revives him by restarting his heart, saying that Yusuke needs not the death of a man on his conscious. I really like this moment.
The entire fight was super entertaining and everyone got something to do! ..Well, except Keiko. Togashi, why'd you make her go there?! C'mon man.. This is probably one of the best fights in Yu Yu Hakusho. I love that Kido and Wiretap and Copy's users do alot to aid Yusuke in this fight! It really feels like a group effort.
On the Territory front, Doctor Kamiya's is cool! Generally speaking, doctor powers are always super cool. A Reiki scalpel, creating diseases with his mind, perfect surgery skill.. his Territory being the diameter of a Hospital, it's so fun. It's a cool limitation too, all these abilities, but he can only use them inside of a Hospital setting. Territories allow for such awesome limitations.

SEAMAN, KUWABARA'S AWAKENING! KOENMA'S MORALITY..

Seaman! It's a great conflict, not much else to say! Mitarai is a great character, and his Territory is cool! Really, I already talked about Mitarai through subtext in the 'Chapter Black & Yokai Classes!' section. Though I will say, UNLIKE WITH KEIKO, using this opportunity to unlock a new power for a HUMAN we've known for a long time, Kuwabara, is really clever! Him being the one who can cut open the field is the LAST THING I expected, it's great.
Though, this introduction of Seaman; Mitarai, will come back as a negative later! the Chapter Black arc introduces alot of great concepts and characters early on, but suffers for it in the late game is something I notice. Much like Yokai Classes that I mentioned earlier, this is something you'll wanna 'bookmark' in your mind, as later on I will explain my problems with Mitarai's usage later in the story! Just know that for now, I think his story position is great, aswell as his character itself. This poor kid was used by Sensui who held Chapter Black as the reason why Mitarai should join him in hating humanity.
So, around here is where we learn about Shinobu's past. So, throughout the early story, I didn't like Koenma much. I didn't DISLIKE him or anything.. he was just kinda a joke character in a serious role, which isn't a bad thing. But here, they really flesh him out.
Now, at the beginning of the story, Koenma uses Yusuke, a boy with an inferiority complex who's had fighting as the only thing he's good at, as a child soldier, sending him to what is basically war. Koenma even out-loud admits in the Chapter Black arc that he chose Yusuke because unlike Shinobu, he's not an independent thinker. Essentially, he's easy to use, with the idea being grooming him into the perfect child soldier for Spirit Realm's desires.
We the audience realize this is bad from the beginning of the story, and we all knew that Koenma was a bad person, but them saying out loud was rather surprising! Alot of battle shounen try to sneak this under the rug, like Naruto and My Hero Academia. Admitting that the morality of the adults in your story is corrupt for sending children to murder others and endanger themselves? Pretty ballsy!
and hey, Yusuke has murdered tons of Yokai up to this point, all of which deserved to die, but making a child do this is the immoral part. Something I enjoy about Yu Yu Hakusho is that all our characters can be rather grey at times. This is something Togashi perfects later in Hunter x Hunter. But for now, we have characters of questionable morality like Hiei and Kurama in our supporting cast.
Yusuke hasn't done anything immoral, but he's murdered plenty of people without remorse, and threatened to do as such to those he doesn't like by the end of the arc (the forces that King Enma sounds down at the end of the arc). Kuwabara is the only one who's truly morally clean when you think about it. Though, by the end of the arc, even he makes an immoral choice, which is fun. None of our protagonists are morally perfect, and I think that's great.

SHINOBU'S PAST!

^{To note, I will be talking about Sensui's Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID} here. While we didn't learn about it at this point in the part, it seems like the most logical place to talk about it since it originates from his past, like anyone with DID. I do not have DID myself, so I cannot say if this is a good or bad representation of it. However, I can say that from what I know, it's very well researched. If anyone with DID has thoughts on this representation, I'd love to hear them.)
So, Shinobu, a human born with incredible Reiki. Probably equivalent to a low B-class Yokai in his youth. For reasons unknown to him, Yokai saw his incredible Reiki and targeted him. Why did these mysterious creatures that only he could see aim to kill him? He didn't know. Being a child, naturally, he comes to the conclusion. "I didn't do anything to them, and they're trying to kill me. Yokai are evil, Humans are the good guys."
Eventually, Koenma sees this kid, and is like "it's free real-estate.", choosing to use this kid for his own gain, grooming him into a child soldier and putting him into far more dangerous situations than he would of entered otherwise. As you know, Shinobu Sensui enters a young Black Black Club and witnesses humans being far worse than any Yokai he's ever seen. This sight likely tortures him for the rest of his life in his dreams, so that's fun.
This young man, filled with justice, decides he was completely wrong, and 180's his perspective. Yokai are free and honest creatures. Humans are the evil ones. This awful past, and this traumatic moment in his life, are what form his modern perspective, formed the alters in his system to cope with the trauma, and inspired him to steal Chapter Black and go into hiding for 10 years soon later.
Surprisingly, Sensui Shinobu does not develop one evil personality who controls the 'real Shinobu', like the old trope goes. Togashi here shows a fairly realistic depiction of DID, with alters of different age, gender and personality.
Considering we later learn about Itsuki, the gay man who loves Sensui, and both this and DID are treated really well, it really makes you wonder why the women in Yu Yu Hakusho are treated so badly when mental illnesses and homosexuality are treated with respect, lol. You were so close Togashi! now if only you treated Transgender people and women better.. well, he learns to treat both these groups better in his later works, so I can't really complain. I forgive you, old man. We'll speak about each of Sensui's identities later when they're introduced!

YUSUKE VS SENSUI! DEATH IN YU YU HAKUSHO..

Sniper fires a 'bullet', attempting to kill Mitarai! Yusuke runs down and fights Sensui way earlier than i'm sure any of us expected! Minoru and Yusuke's fight is one to behold, his leg-based fighting style is rad! Though, it's quite unfortunate that I don't have much to say about this brilliant exchange? I suppose with fighting, being such a visual thing, it's hard to talk about it. But what ends up happening as you're aware is that Black Angel, Gourmet and Gamemaster kidnap Kuwabara, the only one who can cut up that field; the barrier! We get a rad chase scene where Yusuke, with his super physicality thanks to his incredible Reiki, chases them down on a bike despite them driving a car!
This entire sequence is great. By the way, so far, Kurama hasn't done much this arc, and nor has Genkai. really makes you wonder why either of them didn't die in the Dark Tournament arc. Sorry to bring this up, but I just really don't like fake character deaths! Atleast Kuwabara's new Territory is a major plot-thread.. Kurama saved Keiko and Kuwabara elder, who shouldn't of been there in the first place and defeated Kaito's Taboo.
Genkai set up the boys to kidnap Yusuke and fight the gang, and that's it. I love what they did in this arc so far, but it's so little to justify such impactful moments. Kurama, fine, I can accept it. His sacrifice was impactful, but it didn't really matter, but Genkai.. she's such a good character, reviving her like this really makes me go "wow, so nobody can die except the antagonist, huh.". You don't want the audience to see through the wall like that..

YUSUKE VS SNIPER!

At this point, every fight in the arc has been amazing. I can't help but think Togashi has perfected combat. Hagiri's Territory is truly masterful, his Territory is a certain range from his body. From this range, he can place several bullseyes on his target's body. Any object he makes physical contact with will chase his target until it hits one of these bullseyes! What I'm saying is this Territory is awesome, and the fight is amazing. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, when it comes to a fight there's not much to talk about, haha. I loved it though! At this point it feels like every new fight is 'the best fight in Yu Yu Hakusho'!
Something I love is that this guy isn't even Sensui, but he almost killed Yusuke! He would of, if our lovely tsundere Hiei wasn't about! After defeating Sniper in one hit, Hiei gives Yusuke a figurative handjob and releases Yusuke's tension! Yusuke and Hiei strike a deal with a fun climax in the epilogue of this arc, and team up!
Finally, the gang all meet up, and enter the cave! The final dungeon! Genkai decides that it's best to send in a limited number of people. If they all enter at once, then if the first wave dies, the second wave has a chance! Well, I already voiced my my complaints about this choice, so whatever. I'm just glad Mitarai gets to go in! He has to resolve his character arc, afterall.

GAMEMASTER, GOURMET, AND MINORU..

The actual games weren't very interesting to watch, but I enjoyed Mitarai's development, aswell as Kaito getting frigging screen-time! The way Gamemaster is defeated is really sad, I like it alot. It really tore Kurama up to kill this child. Love it. Seeing how Sensui manipulated this poor little boy is crazy.
After the defeat of Gamemaster, we get to Gourmet! blah blah he wasn't defeated. I don't really like Kurama's fights, to be honest. He just kinda pulls something out of nowhere. It's like he can do anything at all but only once.
So, Gamemaster and Gourmet were kinda dips in quality.. but soon we're back to the stuff I like! Now, logic dictates that if only Sensui and Itsuki are left, we're either going to have a 2 V 4, or Itsuki has to be defeated first before the gang can fight Sensui together.
Logic also dictates that now that Kurama has had his moment to shine, defeating both Gamemaster and Gourmet, it's time for Hiei, who has been absent the whole arc, and Mitarai, who's character arc revolves around being free from Sensui's manipulative grasp, to fight!.. but logic has nothing to do with it! Itsuki has tamed a Yokai of sorts, and kidnaps the gang! So, Hiei, Kurama and Mitarai are reduced to reaction youtubers. Atleast Itsuki is an interesting character, his feelings for Sensui are really sweet.
So, the fight between Yusuke and Minoru begins! I love the twist on classic battle shounen conventions where Yusuke in ATK, DEF and AGI is stronger than Minoru. Minoru has superior skill and MP and HP, but that's about it! Essentially, if Kurama is a White Mage, and Hiei is a Red Mage, then Kuwabara is the Warrior. Meanwhile, Yusuke and Minoru are a strange hybrid class, a Black Monk; a Monk who has access to Black Magic. Yusuke is overwhelmed by projectiles, but eventually realizes that he'd lose the war of attrition, so he goes on the offense! the damage isn't too much, so he just takes it and punches the hell out of Minoru! Frankly, the charismatic, philosophical and manipulative Minoru is my fave of Sensui's System. But we're soon introduced to Kazuya!

YUSUKE VS KAZUYA

I love Kazuya! His personality is very outward, and he's vulgar! A great opposite to Minoru, who's not very straight-forward at all. I don't really get if his gun arm is made from his Reiki or a prosthetic. If it's a prosthetic, where did his hand go..? But well, it's a cool weapon, so I can forgive it. Later when Shinobu shows up he asks Itsuki for a spare hand, so I guess it's a prosthetic? It doesn't really matter, but it peeves me slightly lol.
Kazuya loves murder and torture, and gradually shoots the hell out of Yusuke! I love this guy. Suddenly, Koenma appears! He wants to take responsibility for his awful actions?! I LOVE this for Koenma's character. Instead of a character with a black presence throughout the story, his presence has become a grey! He's regretful of what he's done, and I appreciate that. Through this arc, it feels like Koenma and Yusuke form a friendship, so that's nice. poor Jorge tho, totally neglected lmao. But while I like Jorge, he doesn't really matter.
So, Yusuke had time to recover thanks to Kazuya and Koema's conversation (the conversation was great, by the way.) and swipes the Mafuukan from Koenma! This is in-character for the low-self esteemed boy, so yeah. Yusuke beats the shit out of Kazuya, which is fun, and Shinobu appears!

VS SHINOBU

Shinobu shows up, puts on a shirt, and reveals he has.. Sacred Energy; Seikoki. Now, I'm sure in the last arc this will be expanded upon, but this for now has no info that we know about it, except that not even Genkai could turn her Reiki into it. We learn that Shinobu's Seikoki is SO strong.. that he's equivalent to an S class Yokai. Bro. TOGASHI. this is WHY you introduced Territories, so this wouldn't happen!! come on man.. so guess what, he kills Yusuke?
Listen, it starts cool okay, like, this is looking back in hindsight. At first it was "OH MY GOD HE'S SO STRONG" and "HE BROKE YUSUKE'S ARM WITH A TOUCH". it was really cool! but narratively, this was clearly a mistake. here's the thing.. Sensui is a great character. he definitely could of came back later. hell, while we know the names and personalities of all his alters, we haven't even met them yet! We've only met three! He's such a complex character, but from here, everything in the climax feels cramped.
So, Yusuke dies, this awakens Kuwabara's Territory fully, and he cuts out of Itsuki's dimension. Kurama is so enraged that his body enters the Yoko form by itself, without his mind reverting. Hiei's power goes up to A Class on principle. This is cool, but here's the thing. We *all* know they can't win. Togashi has introduced power levels. Kinda crazy isn't it? Togashi introduced Power Levels (Spirit Class) from Dragon Ball AND Stands (Territory) from JoJo in the same arc! Territories are great because fighters can come from anywhere and don't rely on being powerful to win. Spirit Classes suck because they relegate power to 'my number (or in this case, letter) is higher, so I win.'
Kuwabara and two A-Class Yokai.. they can't win against a single S class. On the bright side, good character moment coming up! When Shinobu gets behind the barrier, Kuwabara without even holding back, knowing he's going to die and so are all humans anyway, cuts through it, letting swarms of Yokai soon kill all humans! This makes sense for Kuwabara, since he knows they're all doomed anyway. Hiei and Kurama don't try to stop him, none of them regret this choice, they want to die by Shinobu's hand, fighting to the death. That's their choice. They fight on into the Demon Realm and face certain death..!

A DEMONKIN AWAKENS..

So, we learn here, while Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara fight Shinobu, Yusuke is reviving! His descendent was an S-class Yokai! The Yokai traits skipped about a hundred generations, and Yusuke inherited this gene! I think this is actually.. pretty great! It only makes sense, right? in the prior arc, Toguro had his life ruined my Yokai, so he became one. Toguro hates Yokai.
in this arc, Sensui saw humanity being totally evil, so he took the Yokai's side. In the end, he, the human, fighting for the Yokai, fights Yusuke, who becomes a Yokai to stop Sensui, the human. Thematically, this is the best way this could end, Yokai vs Human. Even if this stuff with Yusuke and Shinobu being S-Class sucks, but it is what it is, i love that Yusuke is a Yokai. Though, poor Kuwabara, he and Keiko are the only human characters that matter left lol.
Pheonix Puu looks soo fucking cool btw, love that design. I love that Yusuke has spikey teeth now, that's fun. so, Yusuke and Shinobu fight, and I realize.. Shinobu is the least interesting of Sensui's system? He's overpowered, kills random Yokai in the Demon Realm while fighting Yusuke.. does he even care about his own goal? It's weird man.
well, on the bright side of this shitty Dragon Ball fight, Yusuke's Yokai form he enters looks super cool! Great design, love it. so, Yusuke does his Goku thing that he's started doing since the Dark Tournament Chu fight and is unsatisfied with beating Sensui while not using his own power. Whatever. Itsuki explains that Sensui is sick for some reason. This was not well foreshadowed, but he had cancer or whatever. Koenma brang Gamemaster back to life, so that uh. good job removing a great moment of the arc from the continuity, Togashi. It's really true that only antagonists can die in Yu Yu Hakusho, huh!?
I like that Shinobu wanted to open the hole to the Demon Realm because he wanted to die there, though. A great repentance for his transgressions against Yokai-kind, and this being delivered to him by the strongest Yokai we've seen so far, Yusuke Uremeshi, is great. Itsuki takes away Sensui's corpse forever into the darkness, which is sweet.
So, the epilogue! i loved EVERYTHING about it. everyone's paths they took were great. I love Doctor and Sniper's especially! If I have one pet-peeve, it's that they cut Yusuke's hair, it looks so coool, imagine him with the school uniform on with the long hair and scary tattoos?! it'd look rad. come on, uremeshiiii--
thank you for reading! sorry it's so long! :P big arc lol.

Eientei was under attack, with hordes of youkai both feral and corrupt; most of them being rabbit youkai. They were charging in with their broken, bloody mallets while they bore forms more akin to their small and fluffy counterparts; albeit in a much more horrific manner. Some of them shrieked, screaming wildly while they charged forward, only for a long sharp blade to come around and slice a colony down.
Youki sheathed his sword slowly, followed by all the rabbits which had been sliced, having their blood spraying out of their arms, legs and chests until they plummeted to the ground; back where most of them belonged. He looked back for a moment before hearing someone approaching as he pulled out his sword once again.
He sliced another one that came at him with a mallet, then another that tried to attack him from behind. Both rabbits had their heads cut off, leaving them with decapitated bodies that twitched before falling.
“Hmph! Coward, trying to strike an old man while their back was turned.” Youki said to the dying rabbit.
Behind Youki was Kosuzu, Ko, Wakasagihime, Gummy and Shanghai, all of whom were either being carried or hiding behind Kosuzu, leaving the child spirit struggling to hold everyone’s weight; even if she happens to be dead. Ko specifically was shivering and trembling; stuffing herself with chocolate as a form of comfort.
“Uh, s-sir?” Kosuzu said. “I would like it if you didn’t show that kind of scenery in front of the kid. The last thing I want is for her to get nightmares after this.”
“Nonsense. Back when I trained Youmu I showed her many types of corpses and dead carcasses in order to improve her resistance to mental shock. Needless to say I think it didn’t have much success, probably the opposite even.” Youki said.
“Grandfather of the year right here.” Kosuzu thought to herself sarcastically. “I just hope everyone else is okay.”
Back outside of Eientei, Meiling and Mary were punching and slicing their opponents up. Meiling herself had PB equipped in order to boost her abilities; with PB taking the appearance of a blue Chinese fighting dress to match her preferences in design. She was palm striking, roundhouse kicking both feral and corrupted beings out of sight; blowing them away like striking a baseball as hard as one can with a bat in order to get a home run.
“Wow! I never felt so powerful before!” Meiling said while fighting. “I feel like I could face Taisui Xingjun and win without breaking a sweat!”
“That is good to hear, Miss Meiling.” PB said. “However you are aware that the more you use me, the more I drain you of your energy, correct?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll try to be careful.” Meiling said. “How are you doing Mary?”
Mary was too focused right now. She was plowing down rabbits and lost causes one by one while sucking them up of their blood using her daggers. She had a delightful smile on her face, the reflection of the moon on the glasses everyone was wearing.
“I’m doing great! The number of enemies coming to me like blood donors; ohhh… It is glorious!!!” She said while gutting one unlucky rabbit of all their blood.
“Uhhh…Are you okay Mary? You didn’t stare at the blood moon too long, did you?” Meiling asked.
“Oh, don’t mind her. Mary is usually like that on certain occasions.” PB said.
Cirno and Rumia meanwhile were still in the midst of their fight. Their swords clang and swung as they were both focused; though one was keeping a cool head, the other hot-headed. Rumia yelled and screamed with blind rage as her eyes glowed bright as the red-stained moon. Cirno was keeping up with her; not wanting to make the same mistakes she did as last time.
“Rumia! I know you’re in there!” Cirno shouted. “You can’t allow the moon to affect your sanity! Please, for Ko’s sake!”
“GRAAAAAAGH!” Rumia responded, swinging her sword down at the Ice Fairy.
Everyone was able to hold off the fending invasion. Youki sliced down his opponents, Meiling and Mary were out on the offense, and Cirno kept Rumia’s attention.
But further in the bamboo, a large squad of moon rabbits kept an eye on the group; analyzing the situation and the best course of action they should take.
“This is Rabbit group 2, I have an eye on the enemy. The red-haired girl and the crimson dressed lady currently have the armor on hand.”
“This is Rabbit group 1, I have infiltrated inside the base. The only threat so far is the swordsman; the rest do not look as though they pose a threat.”
“Rabbit group 3 here, two of the enemies are fighting one another. It seems one of them has been entranced by the moon.”
“Copy that everyone. Ready for my signal.” The Captain said.
Another feral youkai flailed their arms as they reached forward, only for that hand, their arm, and the rest of their body to be sliced into pieces by Youki, while their phantom half remained flying around them.
“Hmph! That makes another! Honestly, they come one by one just to get struck down by my blade.” Youki said.
Kosuzu and the others continued to stay behind him, but they’d gradually moved a little further back thanks to the pile of chopped corpses that now make up the inside of Eientei. But this was a mistake on their part, as they didn’t notice that someone else had sneaked in and grabbed Ko who was right behind everyone else.
“Wa-” Ko screamed when her voice was suddenly muffled.
“Ko?” Kosuzu looked behind, but only saw the bar of chocolate that Ko was previously eating.
“Ko!? Where are you!?” She asked in a panicked tone.” Youki, Ko is-”
Then Kosuzu’s voice was muffled, as was Wakasagihime, Gummy, and Shanghai thanks to the coordinated effort by the group of moon rabbits who infiltrated inside Eientei to take them away. Kosuzu tried to phase through, but the rabbits were wearing some kind of special equipment that made it impossible for her to accomplish.
Shanghai struggled the most, thanks to her small size. She slipped through the hands of the rabbits to alert Youki.
“Shanghai! Shanghai!” Shanghai let out their voice right before the rabbits grabbed her and stuffed her inside a bag.
“Hm?” Youki turned around and saw what was happening. He quickly readied his sword to attack; intending on striking all his enemies down in a blink of an eye. But the rabbits had prepared for such a scenario.
Falling from the ceiling a small moon rabbit jumped out, using the opportune and shot Youki with a dart, hitting him in the back of his neck. Immediately his body turned limp and he fell to the ground, unable to move his arms or legs.
“Unbelievable…” Youki thought.
“This is Rabbit group 1, we took down the swordsman and secured the others.” One of the Moon Rabbits said.
“Excellent. How’s 2 and 3?” The captain asked.
“This is Rabbit group 3, we’ve managed to capture the fairy. However the blonde one is giving us a hard time due to her frantic strength.”
The moon rabbits had tied up Cirno, with her arms behind her back and her legs together. One of the moon rabbits attempted to lift her fused sword, but found it to be quite heavier than expected. The rest of the group was busy handling Rumia as they tried to pin her down, but she kept throwing them around like rag dolls.
“Keep going, she’ll fall soon enough. How’s group 2 handling the situation?”
“Rabbit group 2 here. Most of us are fighting the crimson dressed lady and the red-head right now. We had one casualty so far but we are doing fine, most-"
*CRACK*
A large fissure appeared below the rabbits, making them trip over as the ground rumbled violently. They quickly got in alert, raising their weapons.
"Sir, an earthquake has just happened! A fissure has been created in the ground!" One of the commanders said.
"Group 2 here! We have felt the shake! We are alert-
*blarghsh*
*fzzzz*
“YOU SPEAK TOO MUCH, MORON! HAHAHAHA!!! GIVE ME MORE BLOOD TO SHED!!!"
"Group 1 here! The prisoners have managed to slip from our grasp due to the earthquake!"
Another voice was heard through the radio.
"Recapture the prisoners and wait for orders! Group 3, split, secure the fairy and return to Eientei! Leave a group behind to deal with the other one!" The captain said.
*RUMBLE*
"Sup."
"What the-"
Then, a gigantic punch came out of the fissure, sending the rabbit commander to the stars in a cartoonish fashion, leaving only the boots and the helmet behind. Shortly after, a couple of horns emerged from the ground, and an oversized Suika made her appearance, along with Satsujin and Sumireko, who flew away by the force. Satsujin ended up crashing into Eientei, where Kosuzu and the others were, while Sumireko was sent where Mary and Meiling were fighting.
Suika landed back on the ground after shrinking to her normal size. She had a look of shaky relief as though she had escaped the presence of death. Satsujin ended up landing on top of Youki, and Sumireko fell flat on the ground.
“Owie…” They all thought in unison.
In the midst of all the chaos, another figure flew right out of the hole that Suika had created, out into the blood-stained night, where more hoards of youkai; massive enough to be considered an army, approached. They had heard of all the chaos from far away, which meant that there was something there they could feast on.
It was time for the night parade of 100 demons.
But down in front of them came the same figure who came out of the hole Suika had created; crashing into the ground and marking a small chasm. The youkai were confused somewhat; tilting their heads over who or what had landed in front.
The figure slowly rose up, standing on their feet, wearing the classic red-white shrine maiden outfit, holding their sharpened gohei to the side, and staring back at all the demons with a fear-piercing gaze.
Chihana looked around her. She saw feral youkai on her left, corrupted on the right, and lost causes here and there. She tightened her grip on her weapon, pulling out her talismans and needles.
“...” Chihana said nothing, she thought of nothing. All that was in her mind was the instinctual urge to cut loose.
"My head…Where did I end up?" Satsujin said, rising from the ground.
"Satsu?" A very scared Ko said, as she hugged Shanghai, who had returned to her side after being stuffed in a plastic bag.
"Ko? Are you okay? Where are the rest?" Satsujin asked while he was helped up from the numb Youki.
“Off…My back.” Youki said. “Proof of my age.” Satsujin helped the old man up, right as Kosuzu and the others were freed from their restraints with the help of Ko.
“Oh thank goodness you arrived, Satsujin!” Kosuzu said. “We were ambushed by the moon rabbits! Youki protected us but we underestimated them. Where were you? What happened?”
“I-It’s a bit of a long story.” Satsujin said. “We were trapped underground in this weird lab, and when we reached the bottom we ran into someone completely unexpected.”
“Unexpected?” Kosuzu asked.
Right then, the sound of destruction was heard outside of Eientei. They all rushed to check outside, where they also saw Sumireko and Suika along with Meiling, PB and Cirno. Suika and Sumireko were already caught up on everything, with Suika now wearing one of the sunglasses that Cirno provided her.
“Oh, there you guys are!” Cirno said. “I was worried when you three fell into that trap door! I know it sounds like a lot, but right now we have ourselves a blood moon happening.”
“A blood moon?” Satsujin asked. He sensed his surroundings, noticing a surmountable amount of malice. “Great, exactly what we need right now.”
“But there’s more!” Cirno said. “This lady came out of nowhere, and now she’s been going on a killing spree!”
And right on cue, Chihana zoomed past the group, ignoring them and instead focusing on throwing another one of the youkai into the ground. She went to another and stabbed them with her gohei, then stabbed another one with the same gohei, and then another one before flinging them all away. She threw her needles around, piercing the skulls of several more, while her paper charms set the forest ablaze; burning any youkai who were unfortunate to have been in the crossfire.
“Who…Even is that?” Meiling asked. “Are they friend or foe?”
“It’s better to say neither.” Suika said. “That’s Chihana Hakurei, one of the predecessors of the Hakurei Shrine.”
“They're Hakurei!?” Meiling asked. “I-I thought Reimu was the only one!”
“Oh you have no idea…” Sumireko said.
"Guess we'll leave her alone with those things. For now, we gotta focus on defending the ones that can't fight. Where is Mary?" Satsujin asked.
Meiling pointed to a nearby building, where Mary had cornered a squad of rabbits who attempted to make a strategic escape.
"Group 2! We have been corn-"
*chop*
"NO ONE'S GONNA SAVE YOU FROM ME!!!" A manic Mary shouted, as she splitted the rabbit in half in one hit.
"Holy sh-*
*slash* *stab* *chop*
"MORE, MORE!!! GIVE ME MORE!!!" She shouted, as her eyes glowed like torches.
*whistle*
Mary turned her head, seeing Satsujin wave at her…without a shirt. She instantly sprinted over to him and hugged him.
“Satsu!!! There you are! I’m so glad you’re okay and safe! Oh what I would’ve been if I found out you were hurt or worse! But you’re not and that is a good thing! Where did you go, who were you with and why is your shirt torn up?” Mary asked in a hasty tone.
“Calm down Mary, I’m fine, but we have other problems to face right now.” Satsujin said.
Once again, Chihana nearly hit Mary and Satsujin as she came right behind with a youkai who she dragged across the ground, resulting in their face being torn off with muscles and bone showing. She threw them over at some bamboo as their blood splattered; marking some of the green stalks red.
Chihana was breathing hard, having gotten a fair share of injuries herself during her blood spree. She looked frantically, as though looking for more youkai to rip and tear. Fortunately, her actions drew the attention of several youkai, hundreds even. She was running low on needles and talismans, and her gohei had broken off due to it having been quite frail from years of inactive use.
But she wasn’t going to give up just yet. She charged at the hoard head on, gripping a fist full of needles as she began to bludgeon and stab the youkai.
She killed one by cracking their head with her fist.
One she killed with a single kick.
Another after their tongue was ripped off and left on the ground slowly bleeding.
Another when she tore off their arm and gutted their heart out with that same arm.
Another when…
Another when…
Another…
…
Chihana was surrounded. She ran out of everything in her arsenal. Her clothes were tattered, her hair a literal bloody mess, and she held one broken arm with the other, all the while missing a foot.
In her surroundings were the piles of piles of youkai she slaughtered, their skulls open, their organs spilled, and their lives long gone. But more still came; never-ending during the night of a blood moon. They all had their eye on Chihana, and didn’t care what it would take to get what they wanted.
All the others were amazed, having been spared of the onslaught of youkai due to Chihana luring them all. They could not believe how long one person could handle such an army on their own. But now Chihana was at her wits end; the horde of youkai clearly too much for her alone to handle.
“...Youkai…” Chihana said. “Creatures of the night… Savages… Monsters… Demons… They’re all… Demons. They don’t care if you’re some little kid, an old-fashioned granny, or a wounded villager; to them they all taste the same… That’s why I exist. I exist to protect the humans from those foul youkai…AND I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO BE MY FINAL STAND!!! YOU HEAR ME YOU EVIL INCARNATE!!! YOU ALL WILL PERISH UNDER THE NAME OF HAKUREI!” She yelled, showing her bloody hands as she spoke with complete determination. An immense battle cry was let out as she got ready to unleash a powerful spell.
“FANTASY-”
The maw of a giant wolf appeared from the stalks of bamboo, unbeknownst to everyone. The wolf bit down on the head of the elder Shrine Maiden, gnawing at her and ripping it off like it was a piece of meat, leaving the rest of her body to spray blood everywhere like a fountain, before it collapsed on the ground, twitching slightly.
Sumireko, Satsujin, Suika, and everyone else were equally shocked by this. They watched the wolf eat the head before it swallowed, leaving nothing behind.
"What in the actual fuck was that? That thing killed a Shrine Maiden like it was everyday business!" Everyone thought in unison, save for Ko, who was being consoled by Kosuzu, due to the immense stress she was going through.
The wolf sniffed the air, before turning its head over to the ground, where it saw a moon rabbit that seemed desperate to escape.
“Dammit… I’m a freaking captain, yet I did not prepare to die here on Earth.” The moon rabbit said. “I need to get back and report to-”
“Grrrrrrrrrr…”
The moon rabbit looked behind her, and saw the giant wolf staring down at her with its gaze and teeth.
“Fuck.” Was all she said before the wolf opened its mouth and began to eat her alive. She let out a terrifying scream as she was thrown into the air and straight down toward the belly of the beast as the wolf snapped its mouth shut.
The wolf looked up at the blood moon, and it howled, a loud howl that could be heard from miles.
The rest of the corrupted rabbits and youkai quickly fled out en masse, frightened by the creature, until it was just the wolf, facing the group of survivors, with a terrifying expression that depicted strong bloodlust.
“Oh, crap.” Sumireko said. “Of all the things, it had to be a giant wolf. What do we do?”
“Only thing we can do obviously… We beat the hell out of it!” Meiling said, rushing right at the wolf with PB still equipped. She ran at the wolf’s head, delivering a heavy kick from below, sending the wolf up into the sky, landing on the ground.
Meiling took a fighting stance, facing the beast as it slowly got up. The wolf growled at Meiling, charging at her again as she kicked it across the face once again to the left. Her punches were much more powerful than they already were; dealing massive blows to the beast again and again.
However, despite the warnings from before, she didn’t realize how much of her energy had already been drained as a result of wearing the armor. The visor on her head started beeping red.
“Miss Meiling! You have been exceeding the amount of energy used while wearing the armor! I suggest we retreat now while you still have enough to flee!” PB warned.
“What! I still feel energized! What are you…”
And then Meiling felt it. Her movement got sluggish, her mind hazy. She felt immense fatigue and the urge to rest. She checked her head while the constant beeping kept reminding her of the consequences of wearing the armor.
“Crap… You weren’t ki-”
The midst of the moment, the giant wolf slashed at Meiling with its claws, then slammed her with its tail, sending her way back rolling on the ground with massive injuries across her body. Had it not been for PB, it probably would’ve been fatal.
“Meiling!!!” Cirno ran over to Meiling as quickly as she could. “A-are you okay!? Talk to me!”
“I-I’m fine…” Meiling said. “It…it’s not the worst thing I survived. Don’t worry, I’ll heal as soon as I can.”
PB was removed from Meiling due to her injuries, stepping away from her right as some of the others went over to see if she’s okay.
"Meiling! I'll heal you shortly, please hold me for a moment." Mary said, handing over her blade, as Meiling took it, feeling the energy flowing through her, as the wounds slowly closed with some steam coming from them.
*ROAR*
The wolf had begun to move towards the group quickly. Everyone got in a fighting stance, and Cirno got in front of them, leading the offensive. However, she felt someone pushing her away, that being Mary, who
"Get off my way! I'll keep that thing away from the old man and the others!" Mary said, as she rushed over to the giant wolf with her blade, and climbed up to the beast's back as fast as she could.
The wolf didn't take notice of her attack until Mary started to carve its skin open with her blade. The beast roared in anger and pain and began to move around, frantically trying to get the intruder off itself, though Mary was extremely resilient, and managed to do a lot of damage.
"Your skin is too- ugh! Can you stop moving for once? I'm not done with- wow!" She said, as she struggled to have a grip in the wolf's soft and silky fur. "Let's see if you can stand this!" Mary began to stab deeper into the beast's back, managing to spray quite a good amount of blood in the process.
However, this made the already tough to grasp grip even more slippery, causing her to be launched upwards, and kicked away by the beast. In the end, despite her efforts, the wolf managed to get her off its back, but not without causing sizable damage in the process. Mary was sent flying towards the armory room, crashing into it. A moment later, she emerged from the dust cloud the impact had formed, with her clothes messed up, and several weapons stuck in her body. Regardless of it, she pulled all of them out, and returned to the arena.
The rest of the group was separated due to the rampaging wolf. They were all knocked back, some getting injured. The only one who wasn’t knocked out of the way was Ko, leaving her with just the wolf. The wolf growled at Ko, moving closer as its dark eyes looked down at the timid girl, opening its mouth so it could devour.
"MOOOOOOOOOM! HEEEEELP!" Ko screamed to the top of her lungs, trying to call Rumia.
Somewhere further away from the fight. Rumia was lying on the ground; tied up as a lone moon rabbit was attempting to pull her away while she remained knocked out. But upon hearing Ko’s voice, she awoke from her slumber.
“Ko…Ko…” Rumia thought. “Ko!!!!” She realized.
“Everyone is dead… I can’t go back home… And we don’t even have the armor… Great, so much for my first ever mission.” The Moon Rabbit said. “At least I have one hostage. If I play my cards right, I could use her as the opportunity I need to acquire the armor. Then I can finally be praised by-”
A dark glowing sword went through the moon rabbit, cutting them in half. Rumia freed herself from her restraints.
“I need to help Ko! I need to save her!!!” Was all that the Youkai of Darkness could think of. She spread out her wings and charged forward with her blade.
The wolf had its mouth wide open in front of Ko. Her eyes were tearing up upon looking inside the mouth of the beast. All hope felt lost. But then the beast was knocked out of the way thanks to Rumia who came out of nowhere and rammed right at the beast with her blade.
“M…Mama!!!” Ko said with newfound hope.
Rumia pushed the wolf further and further away, far enough so that the wolf was nowhere near Ko. She pulled her sword out, and then threw out a barrage of bullets at the beast. The wolf howled in pain, but then quickly turned around to try and attack Rumia with its teeth and claws. It swiped, bit, thrusted forward, but Rumia grazed them all and countered back with more swings of her blade and even more bullets.
"Yes, yes!!! Split it wide open!" Mary shouted, encouraging Rumia as she kept a defensive stance just in case.
Rumia swung her sword in an uppercut at the wolf’s mouth, sending more blood out of the beast as it continued to fight back. Yet it could not do anything against Rumia, who was faster and stronger than it. She held her hands open, releasing two beams from side to side and closed in on the wolf, forming one single beam which burned the wolf’s fur and skin, causing it to howl in even more pain. She screamed in rage as the beam got bigger, causing more pain for the animal.
“THIS IS FOR KO!!!” Rumia shouted.
The wolf was blasted back, knocking down around half an acre of bamboo as a result of the fight. It tried to get up, but it had been weakened; whimpering in pain while Rumia remained floating there, her eyes glowing red.
“Yes! You did it!!!” Mary cheered. Everyone else came over to celebrate. Wakasagihime was carried by Suika over to where the wolf was lying.
“Wait a second. Something’s off.” The mermaid thought, taking a closer look at the wolf.
The wolf looked around, eyeing the group once again. Its eyes, which were dark pupils, softened into a shade of red. And it spoke with raspy words of genuinity.
“Hurts… Save…Please…”
Wakasagihime gasped, recognizing the voice and who it belonged to. “N-No way…”
Rumia had other plans. She approached the beast, still filled with rage and animosity. She knew what needed to be done, regardless of objections.
“W-Wait!!! Rumia!!!” Wakasagihime yelled at her. “Don’t kill her please! That’s my friend!”
“Wait, your friend?” Suika asked.
“Please! I know her! She’s one of my closest friends! You can’t kill her! Stop her from killing her please!!!”
Taking her words at heart, Cirno and Sumireko rushed right at Rumia once again in order to stop her. Cirno and Rumia’s blades clashed before Rumia could slice off the wolf’s head.
“What…are you doing Cirno?” Rumia spoke with bitter hatred. “Get out of the way.”
“They’re already down! They’re no longer a threat! There’s no need to go any further!” Cirno shouted.
“I said, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” Rumia shouted, banging her head on Cirno’s nose, causing it to bleed. She was then knocked away to the ground.
“Cirno!” Sumireko said. “Rumia! Stop this! We won, Ko’s safe! Please, just put down your weapon.”
“Move Sumireko… Or I’ll make you.” Rumia warned.
Sumireko could tell that Rumia was still under the effect of the blood moon. Right on cue, she noticed something in her cloak glowing, and pulled it out.
The White Rose shone under the blood moon’s light. Realizing what this meant, Sumireko held the rose as high as she could, right as Rumia was raising her sword against Sumireko.
“I said move!!!” Rumia yelled at her.
“Mama!!! Wait!!!” Ko yelled at Rumia, getting her attention for just a moment.
Finally, the rose shone with a bright light, enveloping everything in its energy once again, as it had during the last blood moon. Sumireko, Rumia, Cirno, the group, even the wolf… Everything was shrouded in its energy.
And the rest of the night went on in peace.

I'm trying to remember something I saw on TV back when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure it was the 1980s, as a couple of the characters were pretty obvious ripoffs of Oliver & Company, especially the two characters I remember best.
All I can really remember about the show is that it was animated, the dogs could talk, and the humor was a bit on the rude side. It was borderline enough that my parents let my sisters and I watch the show, but then they let us watch a lot of things because they knew it flew right over our heads.
As far as specific characters, I only remember two somewhat vividly. I think it's because the characters were obvious ripoffs of the poodle and chihuahua characters from Oliver & Company. One was a male chihuahua, who played a "regular guy" and Mexican stereotype type of character. The other was a female showdog that I believe was a poodle. The chihuahua got into the showdog's home somehow and he immediately set about trying to seduce her.
At some point during the conversation she starts talking about her past as a showdog, focusing specifically on an incident that caused her disgrace. The poodle had grace and poise, but she had a HUGE weakness for food. The dog is kind of a cross between a glutton and a foodie. At her last show she was in the process of being judged when she smelled food and took off, devouring everything in the process. The chihuahua takes this in stride and tells her that she must absolutely try Mexican food, as "If you haven't tried Mexican food, you haven't lived". The two go eat Mexican and at the end she's like "This was delicious but it doesn't solve my problem." I can't remember what else happens from then on. The only thing I can somewhat remember is him trying to escape the showdog's house since she was essentially keeping him captive. I think he tried refocusing her desire for food onto himself, only for this to result in her keeping him effectively tied up in her bedroom.
Anyone able to help find this show? I think about it every once in a while and can't place the show.

I wish that I was an only child. And I know it's like, "don't say that! She's your sister! You'll grow up and get along). But things have gotten so bad that I can't handle her.
My younger sister has always had bad anger issues. A horrible temper. She used to beat me up, tease me, and just plain ol' make fun of me growing up. Which hey, she's my sibling that should be kinda normal. But she would get so angry over nothing. She would punch walls, throw things at me, slam doors, scream and call me horrible thing. All over something as trivial as letting her use a clothing piece of mine (just an example). She always made everything about her. She constantly threw these tantrums and disrespected my parents. If I had a day that was supposed to be mine, say it was my birthday or I won an award. She would throw a tantrum and all the attention would end up going to her. She was a competitive athlete and insanely good at what she did. So most of our year was spent traveling, waiting, watching. All surrounding her.
She's graduating this year. And for the past couple years or so our lives have been a living hell. It's not just tantrums anymore. She treats me and everyone else in my family like dogshit. Last year around this time she was out late getting drunk and wasn't back till the early morning hours, she didn't call or text my parents. So naturally she was grounded. Well, my sister and my parents got in a huge fight where it ended with my sister screaming how much she fucking hates my parents and leaving to live with her boyfriend. She came back for some reason or another and I was sent out to see what she wanted. She proceeded to get mad at me for not checking on her or asking about her. And I was pointing out how she's in the wrong. Why would I bother to check on her when she treated my entire family like shit and left. Basically dropped a nuclear bomb on our family and left. She then lunged at me and attempted to beat me up in the driveway but I escaped.
It's gotten worse. A year later and it's like she's gone crazy. It's no longer an every now and then tantrum. It's now every day. Treating me and my family like shit. Screaming. She's gotten rid of and treated all of her friends horribly. I think she's bipolar. My parents speculated maybe harder drugs (than her usual weed and alcohol). But the reason I think that is because she goes through these periods of just fucking pure mania. The way she acts, you'd think she's tweaking. She'll get mad over someone saying literally nothing. Say a person asked her how her day was over text. She'd start RANTING and raving, incredibly fast you can barely understand what she's saying. She'll make horrible horrible decisions that make little to no sense. Her reasoning for anything she does is genuinely just nonsense. She'll get incredibly angry over NOTHING. You say one word wrong in a sentence and she'll flip out. I'm no doctor so I can't really say anything but she also has pretty bad doubts of depression.
She pulled a knife on me the other day. I stream on Twitch and it was my first stream in a very long time. I was so excited, I had prepared for a whole week. But as I was streaming, I began to hear screaming. Not screaming, SCREECHING. It sounded like a wild animal. There was throwing and banging and slamming. Like big heavy furniture was being thrown. I paused my live stream cause I'm sure you could probably hear it and went to go see what was going on. I asked her what the fuck is going on. She stopped. I went back to livestreaming but those who livestream know, once something kinda upsets you or messes you up, it feels impossible to get that energy back. To get that streamer persona back. So I ended it early. I came back out and she was asleep on the couch. My dog was at the door needing to go outside. I let her out and go outside with her. Next thing you know, I hear the screaming again. I go back inside and start recording. She proceeds to start screaming at me and goes into the kitchen and grabs a knife, slamming open and closing random cabinets. She then goes into her room and slams the door still screaming. I ended up leaving for the day.
For the past few days, I've been terrified. Genuinely scared. I don't leave my room half the time. I lock my door 24/7. I lock my door at night. Even my dad said I should just in case. We threw her a graduation party despite everything. Guests were already here and she was getting ready. My grandma was super excited and waiting to see her. She came out and I was with my grandma so I said "Hey! Come say hi to grandma!" She looked at me and started going "Don't fucking talk to me. Don't fucking talk to me." In front of everybody. Then proceeded to switch back to her cheery "Oh hi!!!! It's so nice to see you". I went to my room and just started sobbing. I hadn't cried this whole time, and for some reason I just completely broke at that one little thing. I couldn't stop crying for around half an hour.
I can't deal with her anymore. I just can't. I know it sounds dramatic to say "I'm never speaking to her again" But I'm never speaking to her again. I hate her. I hate my sister so much. I hate how she treats me like shit. I hate how she treats everyone surface level to her so nice then her own family who does everything for her. It's not like we're abusive. My parents give me and my sister everything. A house, all the food we could ever want, unwavering love. If we ask for something, they get it for us. I'm not the perfect sister, but when she would threaten to run away as a kid, I would sleep on the tile outside her room. When she got bullied by some kids at school last year, I stood up to them for her. I defended her to my parents over some other personal things that ended up hurting my relationship with my own mother for awhile. But it'll never be enough for her. Nothing is ever enough for her.
I fucking hate my sister.