Hey all :-)
I want to share the current status of my project:
Despite looking for a change in work for money and an upcoming relocation to a new living space ( a little more privacy due to more space) I am still working a little on NeonCity every day.
Currently I am really thinking about some kind of Patreon or something like this. I want to have this overhaul made, but I'ts a daily struggle with money vs mapping. And I already spent all my savings in the past year to make this happen and now I need to go up in work hours, and lowering mapping time. Nontheless my plans are still huge and I still love working on my vision; hoping to inspire future modders to expand this universe with all kinds of futuristic mods.
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With the step towards raw building the shape of the inner city buildings - and different heigh floors/elevated pedestrian floors - I am currently reworking the street layout and pathes,which I drew roughly last year. To adapt to my now achieved knowledge about mapping everything, I decided to extend my mapping tools with street-brushes to allow a more fluent work-flow in the future, redrawing and expanding my street sheets and combining/reworking the curbs&lines used allover to allow a more smooth and tile-savong placement - but with the same/more detail.
With my gained knowledge I can now work on things, I didn't know is possible, 12 months ago
-> elevated (nondriveable streets, driveable streets below building lots, elevated pedestrian areas with still preseen buildings on "the same" lot. Way more immersive monorail, several floors high and inbetween bridges&connections inbetween buildings.
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Future gameplay design ideas are f.e :
Not just because of the massive amount of buildings and floors in such a dense urban city and higher buildings with future updates (though I'd never go above 12-14 floors) - but even out of some wild design ideas - I am planing a lot of special rules, not present in current maps:
- there will be a lot of double-high floors in larger commercial and office buildings
- not all floors in every building will be enterable. tehre will be obstacles of different kind to guide you through some buildings - Keeping the immersion up, always regarding enough escape routes- to serve you the illusion of traversing through massive cyberpunkish constructions.
- there will be blocked shops and closed floors on buildings (always visible through a clear tiling, this keeps you travelling, exploring, without a too massive amount of shops, but way more story-telling and detail possible.
- of course I want to add back door secret entrances in areas seeming blocked. Enterable from below, maybe the side or through building a way for yourself. Secret possible passages to blocked buildings. Special looting areas in special floors in harder to reach buildings. Your way and sense for discovery will be rewarded, even if it's only a new discovered more safely route above the roof tops of Neon City.
- to achieve this and especially the higher risen ground areas, most my drawn walls and much more stuff fpr architecture is indestructible and unflamable (or can be burned but leaves just burned slightly molten concrete and still blocks)
- of course the sledgehammer won't be in vain. I like the idea to have a lot of single hidden spaces where you can still break through. Cracked walls, special doors and such. Wooden walls and some brickwalls are still destroyable, like in reality. I got a lot of blocking props for streets and alleays, which can be dismantled or just sledged down to escape. But sledgehammering massive modern steel reinforced concrete walls in Neon City? No way... We aren't in wood&plaster Kentucky anymore so far.
- parts of the city already won back by nature through traveling sand, drought and even some flooded areas becasue of the risen ocean nearby.
- different biomes, depending on the vicinity to the poluting city. already got desert areas, dried up farmlands, areas with rocks and cliffs, some still slightly nourishing areas near some not already poluted water sources. Dead wasted beaches with floating garbage and much more. Open for future ideas ;-)
- still thinking about "wintesnow". -> will it snow? I love winter ambience, but it's not easy with all these custom tiles. -> will it snow at least with new textures? lighter snow, dirty snow? covering less? -> is there no snow anymore, but the nature at least still changes to a hard&cold weather? How will this be visually presented as "winter-time"?
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Added bonus for future work and health:
Found a cheap newlike electric height adjustable desk for a 5th of it's prevoius price from 2y ago. This dept in money I just had to make :-)
It will be agreat new place for my drawing screen & posibility in overhaul handling. Because my spine is already bugging me heavily when doing sensible tasks with my hands/arms for years and this will stay with me. This means my love for Neon City is so immense, I am accepting daily hindrance and pain to achieve this :-)
.. tiling for a game is incredible fun, even more bringing it alive!
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Thanks for reading and feel free to give me input about my plans.

Hy y'all
My name is Ann and I'm the organisator of Roll Initiative Con a Dutch full TTRPG convention.
(Ttrpg is table top roleplaying game such as dungeons and dragons.)
I'm organizing this con on my own with the help of lovely volunteers and we thought it would be cool to have a escape room like Activity.
I say activity instead of room Because we think it would be awesome if it is in style of TTRPGs so in the theater of mind or with a map and some small props but the escaping is done in a fantasy world, like a true DnD session.
Ofcourse this might be a bad idea 🤣🤔 and maybe a simple tent out if which you need to escape would be more doable.
The Convention is 6&7 april in the Netherlands next year.
Are there people willing to help us create this? I have not a single escape room creating bone on my body 🤣
I'm a small convention so i don't have buckets of money but I'd love to talk about compensation. We can also talk about not doing everything design wise but helping us creating it on our own.
Please shoot me a message ❤️
Love
Ann Queen of RINCON 👑 Roll Initiative Con

For centuries, dealing with mental illnesses was done in a very inhumane way. You can't blame the doctors back then completely, they didn't know. In a way it was even comical that they thought that they could measure someone's head and say “yup, this person is an arsonist” or something. Heck, they used to think that staring at the moon would make people insane (Luna is another name for Moon and now you know where the word “lunatic” comes from).
What isn't funny about this, is that they thought the cure for schizophrenia was ice baths, mothers who were grieving from the death of their babies had to have electric shocks and people who had depression should be confined to a room and do nothing but stare at a blank wall (they literally thought that the nervous system was overtaxed and doing nothing was a cure, now we know that isn't the case).
And I didnt even mention the horrors Geraldo Rivera uncovered at Willowbrook or the frontal lobotomies that were all too common.
The reason I bring all this up is because I think I came across something much worse while doing some urban exploring in Goose Creek Sanitarium, a hospital in my hometown that had been abandoned long before I was born.
In one of the filing cabinets was the medical journal of Doctor Hogg that had worked in the hospital during the nineteen twenties. The name meant nothing to me at the time, but that didn't stop me from reading through it.
The paper had suffered from water damage over the years and was half eaten by silverfish by the time I stumbled across it. However, from those pages I was able to piece together a very menacing story.
Doctor Hogg was convinced that he could cure every mental ailment by performing questionable experiments on his patients. Most of the language he used was a bit over my head, but I understood that everything from mental afflictions, memory, personality to perhaps even the soul was not physically in the brain, but instead only existed electrically.
Because of this Hogg thought that if he extracted these electrical impulses and shared them with others who were connected to the machine of his own device, he could “cancel out” some qualities. He was sure that as long as he could find “polar mental opposites” his theory would work.
The way it was described it was as though all these patients didnt know where they ended and the others began, and personally, I couldnt imagine a worse kind of torture.
This went on for a full ten days. He noted every twisted detail for prosperity.
In my opinion I think the man was a sadist.
On the tenth day the patients stopped showing signs of their conditions and started to act like completely different people. More than that, they started acting like the same person. Not only would the patients finish each other's sentences but they would also talk in unison.
At first the doctor thought this was residual effects and that over time they would all readjust to the “cure”. However, it wasn't long before the patients started to show signs of precognition and in a few cases, “pyromancy” (the doctor's word, not mine). Seeing this in his patients, the doctor was convinced that the people he subjected to the machine he built were possessed by legion, even going as far as quoting scripture and blaming himself for “opening the door to damnation.”
Over the months, the doctor grew more terrified of his patients and in order to cover up any wrong doings, he brought a gun to work with the intention of killing those who he thought were possessed.
That was the last entry in the doctor's journal, but I had to know what happened next.
I searched the rest of the abandoned sanitarium for anything I could find, but there was nothing there. At least nothing I could read.
Down in the basement I found a monstrosity of brass and iron and copper, covered in rust. After cleaning it of rust and cobwebs, I tried posting it on Reddit (Whatsthatthing) but the best answer I got was movie props for a horror movie featuring a mad scientist. Though the user admitted that this was just a guess.
During my quest to discover the truth behind this bizarre tale, I traveled to the library in town and went through the microfiche in the back.
I was about to call it quits when I came across a headline from 1927. “Inmates Make Daring Escape.”
The rest of the article highlighted the fact that even though the patients lived in different cells and floors, and had no way of communicating to each other, they worked in unison to escape. Then, most puzzling of all, they leapt from a fifth story window and ran out into the woods where they were never seen again.
It sounds crazy, I know. However as I read that headline, a flood of memories came over me and for the first time in years I remembered a story that my grandmother used to tell me before bed. The one about the neighboring woods and how she would hear noises at night when she was a little girl.
Coupling this with the fact that the town already thought that the woods were haunted by ghosts and monsters of all kinds, convinced me that there was something to my grandmother's story.
The more research I did about doctor Hogg, the more disturbed I became. Years after he was about to kill the patients, he became incarcerated at the very hospital he worked at. There, he tried convincing everyone that he had opened a door and summoned demons.
The jury is still out on whether Hogg was insane or not. But that doesnt matter to me as much as getting the machine in working order. I am sure as long as I can get it to work that there would be someone willing to purchase it. Who knows? Maybe what he said is true and it really opens a door and allows demons into our world?
I hope it works. I had enough of this world and I want it to end.
Perhaps I should test it on my landlord? No one would complain if he went missing.
WAE

Hi! American here who is a big fan of British shows. I've seen quite a few dramas produced by the BBC, namely Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Inside Man, and now I'm watching The Escape Artist. (I'm a big fan of David Tennant)
Quite a few of these shows prominently feature a corrupt/ineffective government system, in the case of Broadchurch and The Escape Artist allowing murderers/rapists to get off nearly scot-free and return to their lives. Similar themes are explored in other shows as well.
I'm just interested to know why these shows are allowed to depict these themes, seeing as how they are all produced by the BBC which (from my understanding) is run by the government. Why would they purposefully be poking holes in their own system? I'd love to know what your perspective is actually living there!

im slowly ruinig my life and i don't know how to stop it. I im a girl living in Macedonia, im slowly losing hope of ever living a normal life , im overworked and tired , always trying to please everyone around me especially my parents, im an artist , a musician and yet i cant have any artistic freedom in my household because everything i do is "worrisome" to my parents , my parents constantly threatening to take me to a mental hospital every time i try to open up to them, bigger problem is the world is changing rapidly so rapidly that i even start to believe in conspiracies of the world ending that makes me anxious, always reading the latest news always trying to escape the life im living in its making me sick , i even started contemplating on even taking my own life a while back , maybe im over analyzing things but i genuinely cant find happiness in anything. im just lost.
(also sorry if i have made any mistakes , English isn't my mother language)
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Raven

(Spotlight guest-written by bluelookslikeblue)
Name: Rachel Roth
Created by: Marv Wolfman and George Perez
First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #26
Affiliation: Titans
Previous Affiliations: Teen Titans, Sentinels of Magic, Night Force, Team Wonder, Justice League Dark
Allies: Beast Boy, Nightwing, Donna Troy, Cyborg, Starfire, Arsenal, Tempest, both Wally Wests, Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Superboy (Conner Kent), Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Woman, Shazam, Booster Gold
Powers: Pretty much whatever combination of teleportation, empathic healing, soul-self projection, flight, telepathy, telekinesis, emotional manipulation, mind control, and vaguely defined magical energy the writer feels like that day.

Origins:

Raven’s story begins with her mother, Angela Roth. Angela made the unfortunate decision to join a satanic cult, leading to an even more unfortunate encounter with Trigon, a genocidal demon rapist. One failed abortion/suicide later, Angela and her daughter were taken in by the monks of Azarath, a pacifistic magical realm which accidentally created Trigon in the first place. Taking on Trigon’s daughter was a matter of controversy in Azarath and there was at least one assassination attempt on the infant half-demon. Angela took the name Arella and learned some of the Azarathian mystic arts. The child named Raven was taken to be raised by the Goddess Azar.
Azar determined that Raven could be possessed by Trigon and/or destroy the universe if she lost control of her emotions. Thus, Arella was told to surrender her child to Azar to train and raise. Azar raised Raven in isolation, training her to purge herself of emotion and rarely permitting contact with others including her own mother. The result was a child about as socially well-adjusted as you’d expect someone denied emotions, love, or any contact with kids her own age whatsoever. Upon Azar’s death, Raven’s training fell to Arella. Although mother and daughter eventually grew close, their relationship was somewhat hampered by Raven’s insularity and emotional stuntedness. On her thirteenth birthday, Trigon revealed himself as her father. He tortured her mother and demanded Raven take his place at his side. She refused and lashed out in hatred, her darker side manifesting as her soul-self for the first time. Satisfied that his daughter had inherited his power and rage, Trigon departed, warning that he would return once Raven became a woman.

New Teen Titans:

When Raven was eighteen, Trigon returned to destroy the Earth. Deeming this outcome unacceptable, she implored the priests of Azarath to intervene but they refused, believing it to be a violation of their pacifist beliefs. Moving on to Plan B, she fled to Earth and asked the Justice League for help but was declined as Zatanna sensed Trigon’s taint on her and told her teammates that Raven was probably evil. Refusing to give up, she went to Plan C and haunted the dreams of Dick Grayson - then still Robin - until he agreed to reform the Teen Titans with her chosen members. She was able to convince Donna Troy (then Wonder Girl), Beast Boy (then going by Changeling), and Cyborg to join but was turned down by Wally West (then Kid Flash). Unwilling to take no for an answer at this point, Raven secretly made Wally fall in love with her using her empathic magic, causing him to join. She then led them to the rescue of their final member, the alien warrior Starfire who was captured by Gordanian slavers.
Raven’s early days with the Titans did not go well. Her pacifism made her useless in fights and her refusal to give a straight answer to anything and tendency to disappear immediately upon getting what she needed made her teammates question her trustworthiness. Things were further complicated when the other Titans were killed and Raven had to go back in time with Booster Gold to covertly fix the timeline. Upon Zatanna’s revelation that Raven had turned Wally’s brains to scrambled eggs so he would do her bidding, her teammates decided they had enough and refused to put up with her anymore. To make matters worse, Trigon arrived to destroy the world and easily defeated her estranged teammates. Raven teleported them to Azarath before they could be killed and begged her mother and the priests of Azarath for help but was again declined. When Trigon appeared and once more defeated the Titans, Raven moved on to Plan D and agreed to go with him in exchange for the safety of the Earth and the lives of the Titans. Trigon accepted her offer and took Raven with him to his realm. He then promptly murdered a child and announced his intent to destroy the Earth anyway. Distraught by the loss of her daughter, Arella agreed to take the Titans to Trigon in order to rescue Raven but the teens were defeated again and imprisoned. However, Raven was able to free her teammates and together they were able to weaken Trigon with Arella sacrificing herself to imprison Trigon in another dimension.
Raven enrolled in college and continued to serve with the New Teen Titans despite an awkward and occasionally tense relationship with Wally West, forming an odd friendship with the extroverted and impulsive Starfire. While continuing to espouse pacifism and pursuing non-violence when possible, Raven came to the conclusion that knocking people out with her soul-self, controlling minds, and the occasional act of psychological torture was okay and robots and monsters shouldn’t count anyway and thus proved surprisingly useful in many fights. During this period, the Teen Titans would face off against many supervillains such as Deathstroke, the Brotherhood of Evil, and the Fearsome Five. However, none would prove as troublesome to the young heroes as Brother Blood, whose cunning, charisma, and arcane mastery would put the Titans on the off-foot time and time again. Although Raven would come to be a valued member of the team, Trigon’s corrosive influence led to her gradual physical and mental degradation which was exacerbated by her fear of reaching out to others for help. Eventually, Trigon escaped captivity and almost caused the apocalypse with a corrupted Raven as his minion. The Teen Titans ultimately thwarted Trigon with the help of Raven’s mother and Lilith Clay. Raven’s body was nowhere to be found.
The Titans thought this a bit weird but didn’t make finding her their number one priority. This proved to be a bit of a whoopsie-doodles as she was captured and brainwashed by Brother Blood first. Nightwing would eventually come looking for her but was himself captured. Blood would defeat the Titans and came to the cusp of taking over the world before Raven broke free of his control and stopped him. With Trigon seemingly dead, Brother Blood’s brainwashing purged, and her soul purified, Raven was free to be herself for the first time in her life. Rejoining the Titans, the now-white cloaked Raven was thrilled to finally be free of any malign influence and became the embodiment of sweetness and light. Unfortunately, this sunny outlook was not to last. Kid Flash’s replacement Jericho became evil and caused her to be corrupted by evil spirits. Once more falling to demonic possession, Raven proceeded to engage in various acts of villainy. However, the good part of Raven secretly planted herself in Starfire and helped her friends kill her body and defeat her evil self.

Time Dead:

Raven’s re-purified spirit spent most of this period hanging around as a golden ghost, occasionally assisting the Titans when necessary. For a while Detective Comics Comics forgot she was dead and she served on the Sentinels of Magic alongside various other mystical heroes such as Zatanna, Alan Scott, and Madame Xanadu. Then it remembered and unceremoniously threw her back in the grave without explanation.

A Second Chance at Life:

Raven would be resurrected in a younger body by the new Brother Blood, a sniveling teenage aspiring rapist who was the son of the previous Brother Blood. Brother Blood Junior wanted to force Raven to marry him as part of a plan to end the world. Raven was not fond of this development and tried to escape. Upon being caught and recaptured, her subconscious magically reached out to Beast Boy via a haunting and took control of him in order to lead the latest iteration of the Teen Titans to her location. With his help, she broke free of Brother Blood’s control. Once more plagued by her darker half as a result of Brother Blood’s rituals and believing herself to be a danger to her friends, Raven prepared to depart but was encouraged by Beast Boy to rejoin the Titans, now consisting of himself, fellow veterans Starfire and Cyborg, and new members Cassie Sandsmark, Conner Kent, and Tim Drake. Raven would renounce her pacifism and help her friends mentor the younger members of the team, helping Tim come to terms with the death of his father and encouraging Conner to believe that he was more than the worst parts of his heritage after the discovery that he was a partial clone of Lex Luthor. She would also begin a rocky on and off again romance with Beast Boy. While Raven was drawn to his kindness, her lack of openness and his immaturity would lead to many rough patches in their relationship. Raven attempted to establish a civilian secret identity as Rachel Roth but it is questionable how secret it really was after Beast Boy visited her in the belief nobody would recognize him if he showed up in disguise as a green bear.
When Trigon returned, Raven reunited with her old New Teen Titans teammates and defeated him but was once more nearly overtaken by her evil side. Although able to prevail over her inner darkness, Raven was badly shaken by the experience and became even more insular and withdrawn. Believing herself to be a danger to her friends, she broke up with Beast Boy and attempted to push him away through meanness for his own safety. However, events would see them once again working together mentoring younger heroes on the Teen Titans. The pair would eventually reconcile, with Beast Boy growing in maturity and Raven resolving to get in touch with her emotions and embrace the good in life as well as the bad. Reaffirming their love, the two shared a passionate kiss and were ready to move on, optimistic about their future together.

The New 52:

Because Barry Allen missed his mom, the entire timeline was rebooted and all of the previous history and character development was lost because Dan DiDio said so. In the new timeline, most of her early life was basically the same except this time Rachel was her birth name. However, this time she had to flee Azarath at age sixteen to escape Trigon. While hiding on Earth, Rachel would attempt to do good, using her empathic powers to secretly comfort suffering people but was betrayed by the Phantom Stranger and handed over to her father who renamed her Raven. Forced to become Trigon’s servant, Raven committed various atrocities before being planted on the Teen Titans as a mole. Beast Boy was red for a bit before turning green again for unexplained reasons. Bart was actually Bar-Torr, a war criminal from the future. Raven broke free of her father’s control due to time travel shenanigans. It was a weird time. Following a lot of bad comics, the team disbanded and Raven sought out her mother’s family and enrolled in high school, hoping to reconnect with her human side.

Rebirth:

Due to events featuring the older, white Wally West and a naked blue man, it turned out that five years were erased from the timeline and there was a previous Titans team led by Dick Grayson. As a result, there were now two Titans teams, the Titans led by Dick Grayson, and the Teen Titans, now led by Damian Wayne. Raven was shanghaied into the Teen Titans via kidnapping by Damian alongside her old teammate Beast Boy, the younger, African-American Wally West and Starfire. Raven did not do much of note during this period. She briefly made an ill-advised decision to throw in with an insane Tim Drake from the future alongside Beast Boy, as they determined that even a Tim Drake without all his marbles was preferable to Damian. She also did a few cool things during the Dark Nights: Metal Wild Hunt tie-in issue where she was decidedly unimpressed by the angsty darkness of evil Batmen. Monkeys were involved. DC tried putting Raven in a relationship with Wallace the Younger but changed its mind. As a result, they officially began dating in an issue of Teen Titans and were mentioned to have broken up off-panel in an issue of The Flash that came out the same day. She was then abducted by aliens and took part in the events of No Justice where she was part of a Wonder Woman-led team of mystics before having a few solo adventures stopping Trigon again and briefly leading a group of magically powered teens associated with the morally dubious Baron Winters. After this, she was ambiguously aged up alongside Beast Boy and placed on Dick Grayson’s adult Titans team where she was drawn as older and written as more mature and having a preexisting friendship as Nightwing but nothing was explicitly retconned. Raven lost her soul-self early in her tenure with this team along with most of her powers and ability to feel emotions due to trickery by an elf. She would eventually recover it and save the universe from the villainous Mother Blood alongside Beast Boy with the two friends saving each others’ lives during the final battle.

The Present:

Because in another universe Batman is a clown, Wonder Woman had a conversation with Perpetua after a bunch of nonsense that I am not going to waste time on what happened and continuity changed again. Raven is now in her mid to late twenties and has achieved greater mastery of her powers than ever before. Her background is currently hazy with something vaguely approximating the events of New Teen Titans having occurred several years in the past with some details changed. (eg: Cyborg was a member of the Justice League before joining the Teen Titans.) More information regarding Raven’s current origins and backstory will presumably be revealed in the upcoming Tales of the Titans miniseries.
Raven agreed to participate in her fellow former New Teen Titans’ disastrous attempt to run a school for super-teens. It exploded twice in a year before they gave up and called it quits. During this period, Raven mentored Billy Batson and his friend Dane (who was the antichrist), saving the two boys from the clutches of the fallen angel Neron after they made an unauthorized trip to Hell. She would also reignite her relationship with Beast Boy. After Teen Titans Academy blew up the second time during the events of Dark Crisis, Raven proved instrumental in saving the universe, locating Pariah’s magical macguffin as part of a Justice League Dark taskforce and defeating a corrupted Spectre with the assistance of Jim Corrigan. However, victory would not come without a cost, as Beast Boy would become horribly traumatized after an attack by Deathstroke which nearly killed him. Also, Lazarus Planet happened and Trigon came back but nobody cares about Lazarus Planet.
Following the events of Dark Crisis, Raven took her relationship with Beast Boy to the next level, sharing living arrangements with him, helping him cope with his PTSD, and even engaging in public displays of affection with her fuzzy green lover. Raven and Beast Boy agreed to once more serve on the Titans, now tasked with safeguarding the world following the disbanding of the Justice League. One of their first assignments was the safekeeping of Olivia Desmond, a young girl whose soul was claimed by Neron, who had since taken over hell. Raven saw echoes of her past in the young girl and took the matter very personally -much to the concern of her teammates who were disturbed by her willingness to entertain extreme measures to safeguard the child. Determining that the best way to learn how to help Olivia was to go directly to the source of the problem, Raven led the Titans through the depths of hell where Nightwing found the information needed to save Olivia’s soul. While there, she formed an uneasy working relationship with the demon Blaze, who was vying with Neron for control of hell.
Neron proved supremely incompetent and utterly failed at all of his attempts at villainy in an extraordinarily pathetic manner. Trigon showed up to call him a loser, a rare area of agreement between father and daughter. While Neron was easily poofed back to hell by Nightwing in a weakened state through the power of bad writing, Raven deemed this outcome unsatisfactory. Believing Olivia to be unsafe as long as Neron was still at large, Raven returned to hell by herself without consulting her teammates and proceeded to singlehandedly overthrow him through overwhelming violence. She then left a brutalized and comatose Neron to the mercies of Blaze, to whom she handed the leadership of hell. When asked what price she demanded for control of the underworld, Raven informed Blaze that she would call in a favor later but for now she just wanted the Titans left alone by any demonic forces. Blaze agreed to Raven’s terms, warning her that she sensed that Raven was not whole and something was missing…
Raven currently stands at an inflection point. In some ways, she has never had it better. She is more powerful than she has ever been and has reunited with her oldest friends, earned the respect of her peers, and found love. However, her decision to meddle in hell’s affairs may prove her downfall, earning her powerful enemies and encouraging dark impulses she has long tried to suppress. What happens next may determine whether she will finally rise above her tragic past or fall into damnation forever. Whatever the future may hold for the Daughter of Darkness, the return of her father and the rise of a new Brother Blood suggests that it is not going to be easy.

Recommended Readings:

Those interested in Raven’s classic adventures should check out New Teen Titans (1980) and Teen Titans (2003).
Those who want to see a crossover with Marvel written by Chris Claremont should read The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans if they can find a copy.
Those who think I am making the bit with Booster Gold up should read Booster Gold (2007), issues 23-24.
Her solo adventures during the New 52 and Rebirth eras can be found in Marv Wolfman’s Raven (2016) and Raven: Daughter of Darkness (2018).
To get caught up on where she is currently, read Nightwing (2016) 100-104, then Titans (2023) and her upcoming issue in Tales of the Titans.
She also stars in Kami Garcia’s popular YA novels Raven and Beast Boy Loves Raven, which are illustrated by fan favorite artist Gabriel Picolo.

A Picturesque Paradise: Unveiling the Best Resort for Photoshoots
Introduction: In search of the perfect backdrop for your next photoshoot? Look no further than the best resort for photoshoots. Nestled amidst stunning landscapes, this resort offers a haven of beauty and charm, providing photographers and their subjects with a captivating canvas to create timeless images. Let's delve into the allure of this exquisite resort and discover why it stands out as the ideal destination for capturing unforgettable moments.
​

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⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Hey, I'd like to invite you all to a really awesome server called Mellow Rust!
We’re a chill, lightly-modded PVE server with PVP zones. Perfect for new players, busy parents, or people who just wanna relax, but don’t wanna play anything too modded.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Vanilla Loot, Gather, Stacks, Decay, and Upkeep
Plugins and changes include:

• PVP Zones that are clearly designated
• Tool Cupboards have 2x capacity
• Free DLC, P2W items, Sign Artist, and building skins
• Vehicle License with no chat commands
• Craftable blackjack, slots, big wheel, and card tables
• Craftable plants, recyclers, test gens and more
• Deployable Ziplines
• RaidAlarm
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I really don't want to go low health. I keep seeing low health is the best for stealth. Can you reach good stealth with full health? I have sneek and escape artist. Was thinking camelion and over eaters. My concern is if I can get agility high enough. I know camelion works standing still. Will full health agility/sneak keep me in stealth while moving? Thanks all

A Prayer in Hell: X-Raided’s highly-anticipated Strange Music debut is an incredible, haunting masterpiece
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
“It was once said, no tree can grow tall enough to reach heaven, unless its roots are deep enough to reach Hell.”
X-Raided has been an underground king for over 30 years, releasing classics like Psycho Active, Xorcist, Unforgiven Vol 1, and Nefarious, the majority of which were recorded during his well-documented incarceration. After nearly a quarter of a century behind bars, X’s prayer was finally granted and he was released early on parole in 2018 and went straight to work, dropping There is a Storm (2018) and California Dreamin’ (2020). In May of 2022 it was announced X had signed to Strange Music, the home of legendary rapper Tech N9ne, setting fan anticipation and expectations at all-time highs.
From the moment the ominous lines of the intro begins, X grabs you and pulls you into the surreal, hellish landscape that serves as the setting for the album. “A Prayer in Hell” is a dark, fantastical refrain that showcases X’s incredible lyricism and unrelenting delivery as he describes his nefarious origin story. “He only behaves when ensnared in his cell, beware the evil he’s prepared to unveil, if he’s ever released from the place where he’s held, no escape, there’s not even a prayer in hell”.
On “Return of the Living Dead”, X likens himself to a “demonic angel” and tells how he lost himself and ultimately “became a dragonslayer in hell”. Next, X writes some “Life Sentences”, an introspective track that paints a despairing portrait of prison and street life over an atmospheric beat “Hard to change from demon to angel, when you spent the majority of your life learnin’ to scheme and finagle, when its glorified”. On “To Whom it May Concern”, X tells of the self-destructive and suicidal feelings that torment him as a result of his life of sin.
Here the album switches gears and begins a string of features with some legendary rappers. X stole the show with his feature on “Still Right Here” from Tech N9ne’s album, so Neena arrives to return the favor on the pulsating single “Stratus Fear”. Here the two rappers have some fun exchanging a string of tongue-twisting and mind-bending verses. Next, Ras Kass and X take on “Any Challenger”, a boastful, energetic banger. ”James Taylor, Carole King” is the mantra on the infectious “Legendary”, where X is joined by labelmate King Iso who delivers another signature highlight verse. Playboi Prada and Bleezy add some mayhem on “Knoccin’”, a street anthem with a beat that could have been produced by Michael Myers himself.
The second half of the album starts with “No1 is Safe”, another slammin’ single that X obliterates with his implaccable flow. The beat for “Celebration” is so laid back it could feel right at home on a Wiz Khalifa or Berner album. A-Wax adds a nice verse and hook to this smooth track. X-Raided takes it back to the 70’s with “Blaxploitation” a funky track where X puts himself in the starring role as a Shaft-like character.
“Villains in the Streets” is another standout anthem with a strong feature from Yowda. The album reaches its zenith with “Parasitic”, where X describes the dangers of gang mentality over an absolute banger of a beat. "I got you participating in genocide and you did it with pride.”
“That was then, this is now” the rapper declares as we transition to “The Bridge”, an old-school summer-time jam that has X reflecting over his childhood days. Joey Cool delivers an inspired guest verse. On “Ka-el” X dons the red cape and describes how he discovered his own powers: “It wasnt until I came down to earth that I realized, I was gifted, everything changed, my perspective shifted.”
“This is not a song, this is a poem” X states on “Many Apologies”, the final track of the album . “Seconds, minutes, hours, days” he repeats on the hook, reflective of the album cover that shows X sitting in a room with several clocks on the walls, an analogy for the despair he felt at never knowing when or if he would ever be released from prison.
A Prayer in Hell is an exceptional piece of art that is not only X-Raided’s best album yet, but one of the best albums of the year. The production is diverse and top notch, creating a chilling atmosphere that mirrors the intense storytelling and introspection found within each track. Moreover, the album's guest features are carefully curated and perfectly complement X-Raided's style. Each collaboration brings a unique dynamic, adding depth and variety to the overall sound. It's evident that X-Raided has surrounded himself with artists who share his passion and dedication to the craft, resulting in a cohesive and powerful musical experience. If you’re a fan of raw and authentic hip-hop, then this Prayer is a must listen.

This is the official end of the first Volume. Next week will begin Volume 2!
After a lot of progress on my story, I'm making changes to my Patreon and instead of reading 3 chapters ahead, you'll get access to 5.
Elijah Commission
Azeline Commission
The Little Menace
Worship Her
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Bennett was dead asleep in his hammock when he was roused by hushed whispers and the sound of activity echoed throughout the room, seemingly amplified by its cramped space.
“Ben.” A voice called out.
As the engineer slowly opened a singular eye, he found himself struggling to make sense of the situation. A figure was just a few meters away from him, rifling through a bag when they turned around and faced him. However, Bennetts groggy state prevented him from fully discerning who or what was responsible for the disruption.
“Ben, wake up.” The voice called out one more time.
Scowling in irritation, Bennett chose to ignore the voice and flipped over, burying his face into the hammock's fabric. He was determined to get back to sleep, even as the voice grew more insistent and the room's activity continued.
“Ben, wake the fuck up!” The voice finally yelled.
Suddenly, Bennett found himself suspended in the air, his groggy state replaced with fear and anxiety as he was forcefully yanked out of his hammock. He tried to process what was happening, but before he could comprehend the situation, he felt the cold embrace of the hardwood floor.
THUD
“Argh! Fuck!” The Engineer groaned as he slowly lifted himself up off the ground. "You goddamn asshole!" Bennett snapped, his voice hoarse from the mixture of pain and anger.
Standing over Bennett with a cackling Fairy on his shoulder, Elijah decided he wasn’t going to wait for the stubborn man to get up on his own. "It's time to get up," Elijah said, turning around to continue sifting through his bag. "We got a lot of shit to do before we leave, and I can't afford to have you sleeping in."
Bennett’s glare shifted between his captain and his sadistic partner. "Fine, fine. I'm up," he grumbled, rubbing his sore back. He knew Elijah was right, but that didn't make the sudden wake-up call any less infuriating. Yana, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying Bennett's misery, her laughter ringing in his ears.
THUD
Pulling out his remaining Bioscanner, Elijah began running diagnostics on the device, ensuring it was in working order for when he delivered it to Salvanius. It was a trade that he was loathing, but it was a trade he would make 1000 times if given the chance to get the rest of their equipment back. Even if they only managed to find a quarter of their property, that was still a lot better than having nothing at all.
As the Bioscanner's display indicated the device was functioning optimally, Elijah let out a small depressed sigh and slid it into his pocket. "Alright, let's get this over with," he said, opening the door and stepping out into the dimly lit corridor. Bennett followed, still grumbling under his breath about the hostile work environment while shifting his stink eye at both Yana and Elijah.
THUD
“GOD DAMNIT!!” Bennett yelled, rubbing his head after hitting the top of the door frame.
He had completely forgotten how cramped everything was on this wooden death trap and how he had to crouch throughout the entire interior. Frustration and annoyance etched on his face, Bennett muttered a string of curses under his breath as he adjusted his posture to avoid the low ceilings and narrow passageways.
“Midgets…” The Engineer sneered as he heard Elijah snicker father up ahead.
It only took a few moments for Elijah and Bennett to reach the deck, and there they observed Rhea efficiently issuing orders to the ship's sailors. Her authoritative voice rang out over the hustle and bustle of the ship’s crew, who were quickly scurrying about, securing ropes and checking supplies. What really caught their attention, though, was Rhea was finally out of her armor.
Adorned in a faded white linen long-sleeved shirt, Rhea left her chest straps slightly undone, revealing a hint of her modest, but alluring cleavage. The Knight Captain’s slim, athletic figure was displayed in stark contrast to the thick padding underneath the metal armor she normally wore. To accentuate her figure, the tight brown linen pants she wore hugged her humbly, but satisfyingly shapely curves and seamlessly tucked into her leather boots. The outfit, deceptively sultry, effortlessly exuded a sense of casual confidence and undeniable charm.
Turning her head slight, the Knight Captain finally noticed the two Humans and acknowledged them with a nod. “Good morning Sir Elijah, Sir Bennett and…” She made a difficult face when her eyes locked onto Yana.
“Your Honor will do!” The Fairy said in a chipper voice, crossing her legs. “I am both a Goddess and a confirmed Eternal Judge of the Fae courts!”
Rhea’s expression turned sour for a moment, but decided it was best not to engage any further with the mischievous Vanir. "Very well, good morning Your Honor," Rhea replied, forcing a polite smile. "We're running a bit late, but we should be ready to set sail in just a few hours.”
Elijah raised an eyebrow at the small fairy at the mention of being a confirmed judge, but shifted his attention back towards Rhea and nodded in understanding. "We'll be ready whenever you are," he said with his eyes traveling up her entire figure attire before refocusing on her face. "Just give us the signal when it's time to set sail." .
“I’m assuming the northern woman is still asleep?” The Knight Captain asked, tilting her head curiously.
Seeing her long elf ears bounce up and down seemed to be the final straw for Elijah, as an unbidden and almost adolescent fascination welled up within him. He blinked a few times, trying to regain his composure before replying. "Uh, yeah, she’s still asleep," Elijah finally responded, exhaling deeply. "We’ve been up for almost 36 hours, so I think it's best to let her rest for a while longer." he replied, trying to maintain a professional demeanor despite the lingering fascination with her elf ears.
Bennett narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he regarded his captain with a disgusted look. "Can you control yourself?" he asked with a judgmental tone.
Also noticing Elijah’s basically ogling her, Rhea couldn't help but laugh at the exchange while running a hand through her hair. "I'm glad to see at least someone finds me attractive," she said, her cheeks tinted with a slight blush. Elijah cleared his throat, trying to regain some semblance of dignity as he shifted his gaze away from her.
"Ah... My apologies, Lady Rhea, but I was caught off guard," Elijah said, giving her a genuine smile. "I wasn’t prepared for the famed Knight Captain to be so beautiful out of her armor. It's a pleasant surprise, to say the least."
Rhea found herself momentarily speechless as her cheeks flushing a deep shade of red. She wasn't used to receiving compliments, let alone being called beautiful by someone as striking as Elijah. A small, bashful smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she looked down to hide her embarrassment. "Well… I, um… Thank you, Sir Elijah.” she managed to say, her voice uncharacteristically timid. “I appreciate the kind words."
Noticing the usually confident and stern Knight Captain was completely flustered, Elijah knew she was on the backfoot and went for blood. “You’re more than welcome Lady Rhea,” he responded, bowing his head. “I was just saying it how I see it—”
"Yana, zap him!" Bennett ordered, sensing that Elijah was about to push his luck too far.
The mischievous fairy didn't hesitate, and with a magical pop, she immediately shifted forms, transforming the fiery inferno atop her head into a flowing teal, wind that cascaded past her shoulders. After her transformation, a maniacal grin spread across her face as she clutched two fistfuls of Elijah's hair.
“AHH FUCK!” Elijah yelped in pain.
A light chuckle escaped Rhea's lips as she watched the scene play out before her, momentarily pushing aside her embarrassment and wariness of the group. Their playful antics, though unprofessional, stirred a sense of lighthearted camaraderie she hadn't experienced in years. The thrill of exploring the unknown alongside trusted friends had been lost to her ever since she joined Salvanius' Order. The organization's rigid structure and hierarchy had dampened her once-adventurous spirit, and witnessing Elijah's crew sparked a touch of envy within her.
Yana, still grinning mischievously, finally released her grip on Elijah's hair. The man, now fuming with anger, made a hasty attempt to snatch her out of the air, but the nimble fairy easily dodged his grasp, giggling all the while.
"I'm going to kill the both of you!" Elijah yelled, glaring at both Yana and Bennett. His frustration only caused more laughter from the fairy and an amused smirk from Bennett, who crossed his arms and leaned back against the railing.
"Come now, Sir Elijah, there's no need for violence," Rhea interjected while covering her mouth in a poor attempt to hide her own laughter. "I'm sure you can find it in your heart to forgive their little prank.” She continued, adjusting her hair that was flowing in the wind. “We’re going to spend a few long days sailing if we’re going to catch up with them, after all.”
Glancing back at her crew, Rhea's face returned to its usual stern expression when she noticed the sailors gawking and whispering amongst themselves. It was evident that her momentary display of mirth had taken them by surprise, as they rarely saw their Knight Captain in such a lighthearted state.
"What in the name of Tylas are you all gawking at!?" She roared, placing her hands firmly on her hips “GET BACK TO WORK!”
Rhea's eyes narrowed as the scrambling crew members hastily returned to their tasks, their faces pale with fear. The ship's atmosphere instantly shifted back to its usual disciplined state as the sailors focused on their duties, aware that their Knight Captain's gaze was upon them.
Elijah let out an annoyed sigh in the realization that he was probably never going to catch that little psychopath and shifted his gaze to Bennett. “I’m gonna get you.” He hissed hatefully. “Mark my words, you piece of shit.” However, Bennett merely smirked in response, clearly unfazed by his captain's threats.
Just as Elijah was about to ask the Knight Captain about the whereabouts of her liege, the man himself appeared on deck. Salvanius came sauntering up the planks that connected the ship to the docks, his imposing figure drawing the attention of everyone present.
"It's quite rare to hear you so jovial, Rhea," the Demigod remarked, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Rhea, slightly taken aback by her liege's observation, straightened her posture and cleared her throat.
"My apologies, your grace," she replied respectfully, attempting to regain her usual composure. "I shall see to it that this Cog is ready to depart, post haste."
Salvanius waved a dismissive hand, his expression softening slightly. "There's no need to apologize, Rhea. It's good to see you enjoying yourself, even if just for a moment. However, you are correct; our guest would most likely appreciate departing as soon as possible."
With that, Rhea nodded and began barking orders to her crew, ensuring that everything was in order for their imminent departure.
Turning to his guests, Salvanius addressed them with an air of authority. "I assume you two have the magical tool..." He paused, recalling the events that transpired the previous day. "I mean, the tool. Is it ready?"
The two Human’s exchanged glances before Elijah stepped forward, pulling out the bioscanner from his pocket. "You’re not going to be able to understand it, but I’ve configured it in a way where you can still get a lot of functionality without having to read." he explained, holding the device out for Salvanius to see.
Time flew as Elijah went into an in depth explanation of the bioscanner's functions and features. He walked Salvanius through everything all the way from disease diagnosis to health monitoring and treatments. With each new feature the human listed seemed to make Salvanius’ jaw drop lower and lower until he found himself looking like a fool.
"And finally, if a red tube with a bolt of lightning ever just starts flashing, all you have to do is flip it over so these panels face the star and just wait," Elijah explained, pointing at the bright orb in the morning sky as he showed the Demigod the solar panels. "It's designed to recharge itself using starlight, so you'll never have to worry about finding a power source."
Salvanius' eyes widened even further, if that were possible. "Astounding," he breathed, clearly impressed. "And you’re just willing to give this to me…?"
“Eh.” Elijah shrugged dismissively. “I have augments- I mean I can already do most of that stuff other than a few things, so it’s mainly just redundant fail safe incase I’m away or dead.”
A complicated expression spread across Salvanius' face as Elijah mentioned that the device was merely a redundancy measure in case of his absence. Suddenly the prospect of having this man as a retainer became much, MUCH more appealing. However, his thoughts were soon interrupted when the Vanir made its appearance by landing squarely on Elijah’s shoulder while glaring daggers at the Demigod.
Salvanius met Yana's gaze and sighed, dispelling the intrusive and dishonorable thoughts of taking these Artificers for himself.
“I understand.” The demigod said, turning his focus back to Elijah. “The Holy Dominion will not forget this grace you’ve bestowed upon us.” He gave a grateful nod before spinning around and heading towards the dock.
However, he soon came to a halt as his eyes fell upon a group of women arguing with his knights at the ramp leading to the ship. The women seemed intent on gaining access to the ship, their arms laden with various items, including several sizable platters of food.
“W-Wait! I-I was instructed to board!” A slim and fearful redhead said, holding a large burlap sack.
Something felt… Off about her.
It was almost as if Salvanius could recognize the woman, even though he was fairly certain he hadn't met her before. Then again, he had met a great number of people in this damned village, but his instincts kept nudging him to take a closer look. But his thoughts were interrupted when he recognized the Beastkin woman and the gaggle of Ferfolk slaves next to her.
"What do ye mean we ain't allowed entry!? I gotta deliver me gratitude before it's too late!" the dog-like woman bellowed, her voice full of frustration and urgency.
An amused huff left Salvanius’ mouth before looking over his shoulder. “I do believe you have guests.” The Demigod said before making his way down the plank.
“Let them through.” He said to his knights, waving his hand dismissively as he walked past the group.
The knights obeyed without hesitation and stepped aside allowing the gaggle of women to board the ship. "Thank ye, yer grace," The dog-like woman bowed deeply before her and the Ferfolk ran up the ramp.
As Elijah approached at the edge of the ship , confusion spread across his face as Mara suddenly appeared with her renowned tubers in hand. The woman stopped a good distance away, staring intently at the man, attempting to gauge his reaction and determine whether he would be receptive to her presence. Seeing he was just staring at her impassively, Mara gathered her courage, and stepped forward with a warm smile.
"I... I wanted to give ye this as a token of me gratitude…” She said shyly. “Ye know, for everything ye done for us."
Elijah's eyes flicked between Mara and the tubers, his confusion slowly melting away into a wry smile as he flicked his hand in a beckoning motion. The action caused Mara’s Shyness to completely dissipate as she bounded forward and handed him the tubers with enthusiasm. "You really didn't have to, but thank you," Elijah said, accepting the gift.
Mara beamed at his response, clearly relieved. "It's the least I could do!” She said, with her tail wagging vigorously. “I couldn’t bear the thought of not makin’ amends with ye.”
Turning around, Elijah handed this plate of tubers to the salivating Engineer and watched as Yana bolted off his shoulder in an attempt to attack the pile of food. Shaking his head, Elijah turned back to Mara and the group of women with a bemused expression. "Hopefully they’ll leave me some," he commented.
“Ye can always come back and get more.” Mara replied with a coy. “I’ll let ye have all the service ye want.”
A chuckle escaped Elijah’s mouth as he ran a hand through his hair. "I might just take you up on that," he said with a smirk. "Your food isn’t the only thing I’m going to miss."
Mara's cheeks flushed deeply at Elijah's reply, her tail wagging even faster as she tried to play it cool. "Well, I'll be sure to make myself available whenever ye are in need of some company," she replied, propping up her supple chest.
Elijah couldn't help but let his eyes wander for a moment before meeting Mara's gaze again, a lopsided grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "I'll… keep that in mind as long as you promise not to try to get me killed again." he replied with a goofy tone that made the dog-girl giggle.
“So all I need to do is spread my legs if I’m ever in need of your forgiveness?” Azelines voice rang out from behind him as the blond Elf woman emerged from the ship still rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes.
With a mouth full of fried tubers, Bennett decided to chime in. “I told him his dick is going to eventually get him killed.” He said, beckoning the Ferfolks to place the other platters on a nearby box.
Bringing a hand up to press against his eyes, Elijah let out an annoyed groan before turning his attention towards the two. “Why do you have to make this weird?” He asked in exasperation. "It’s all about sincerity.”
Bennett snickered, shoving another tuber into his mouth. "Ah yes. You hear that Aze?” He continued in a mocking tone while elbowing Azeline in the ribs. “You need to put more effort in your apologies!"
Azeline smirked, her teasing nature starting to leak out. "Is that so? I guess I’ll make sure any future apologies come with… an appropriate amount of sincerity and effort." She said, striking a pose that was more satirical than seductive.
“Jesus Christ…” Elijah muttered under his breath while his two crewmates broke out into laughter. “I hate both of you.”
The laughter continued after successfully eliciting an annoyed response from their beleaguered captain. However, a quiet seemed to take over the deck as everyone's attention shifted towards the approaching Knight Captain. "So that's the type of man you are, Sir Eli-jah" Rhea remarked with a raised eyebrow. "I'll bear that in mind when you try to charm me with your honeyed words."
“Oh god damnit…” Elijah facepalmed and dragged his hand down his face as another roar of laughter erupted from everyone in the group.
Rhea’s hand was covering her mouth as she tried to suppress a chuckle. “A-Anyways…” She chortled. “We should be ready to sail any moment now, so make sure you’re all prepared for departure.” The woman said, walking off in the direction of the Helm while her shoulders shook in mirth.
Elijah just stood there for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Where the hell is Auri?” He asked no one in particular, his frustration starting to show.
“A-Ahh… H-Hello.”
Recognizing the voice, Elijah looked up to see a petite woman with bright red hair looking up at him expectantly while holding onto a large burlap sack. Glad to see that he at least didn’t have to go hunting for the dainty woman, Elijah let loose a heavy breath of relief. “Alright, I’ll go tell Lady Rhea-” He tried to say, but Auri interrupted him.
Auri squirmed nervously before asking, "Umm… Should I be worried that you also have designs on me?"
“Oh for fucks sake!” Elijah threw his arms up and let them slap against his thighs in frustration as the rest of the crew barked in laughter. "Let’s just go already!”
Yana however, completely ignored the incessant bickering and Instead, she hungrily finished off one of the smaller platters of tubers and chomped down on the last tiny morsel on the wooden plate. Sighing Contentedly, the Fairy’s gaze fell upon Mara and her small group of Ferfolks as they said their goodbyes and disappeared from view. In their stead, the more fidgety whelping appeared, the one who always seemed to look at Ben and Eli with eager eyes. Although this man seemed far weaker than his sibling, he at least displayed a measure of reverence towards her servants.
Turning her head up towards the clear blue sky, Yana placed a hand on her tiny belly and sighed contentedly. She couldn't wait to see what other delightful mortal delicacies or fanciful experiences she would get to experience in the future.
​
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So I'm a sculptor who works with half a dozen other sculptors and stonecarvers and it's become clear that some or possibly all of them find me insufferably arrogant. I don't believe I am arrogant, especially after asking my employer what he believes the word to mean. He described it as "over-confidence". I think arrogant people are condescending and sneer down their nose at others, and I do not have that attitude. I am extremely confident in what I do, no doubt, but my confidence level matches what I achieve. I have visions for what I want to create, and after 20 years of making things I am always able to realise these visions, given enough time.
For context I was diagnosed with autism earlier this year and sculpture is my special interest. It's the only thing I care about and I don't know how to develop other more relatable interests. I like movies and music but I can't get passionate about them like I do sculpture, specifically stone sculpture.
So I didn't care about myself much for most of my life, then in 2017, after making art for 15 years, I had a huge breakthrough in my work while drinking heavily and smoking a lot of weed (at first it was escapism but it put me in the zone with 100% reliability and the results speak for themselves). I found my 'voice' and created a series of sculptures that changed my life. They allowed me to get to know myself at a deep level and finally accept that I am queer, and catapulted me onto a new path with a powerful belief that I may struggle with socialising, I may be awkward and find it hard to understand where people are coming from, but I know I am valid, I deserve to be here and to succeed.
This breakthrough was extremely intense, I had visions, I heard voices - all of them coherent with the narrative that was unfolding through my work. I'm sure that'll sound like psychosis to some, but they only happened occasionally and I am quite stable. After the journey to self acceptance and coming out I got sober (then relapsed a year later, finally sober again) and designed tattoos that tell the story of what happened and got them inked. They're super flashy and colourful and they make me happy every. single. day. But apparently they make me intimidating to some.
Now I know I'm not a better person than anyone else, I don't even think in those terms. Some of my coworkers are highly competitive which seems to me to be a very neurotypical pursuit. I was curious how I stacked up compared to my peers but it doesn't cause me distress when I find that someone is a more skilled sculptor than I am. It gives me no joy to be 'better' than someone else - unless they happen to be particularly catty about it, but even then I'm not one to make snide comments in relatiation, that would make me feel icky. I do revel in being good at what I do though, it does bring me joy to be able to work at such speed and achieve my goals every time.
The rest of my life is a mess, I have very few friends cause that's something I've always found very difficult, which is common for those on the spectrum. I have no hobbies, I'm not good at making money even. I feel very small and simple compared to pretty much everyone but I have this one thing in my life that I shot past the moon and kept accelerating and it makes me even more unrelatable.
I don't want to make others feel like their contributions are lesser - I love sculpture so much that I love seeing what my coworkers come up with cause it's so personal to them, things I would never have even have thought of. The reason they're still working as artists is because they're good at what they do so it's easy to find nice things to say. I am never critical unless they ask for my opinion. But the difference in our abilities is always hanging over us. I know it and they know it. I don't know how to carry this gift I've been given with grace. Doesn't seem to matter how nice I am, they always seem threatened by me, determined to paint me in a bad light. But being autistic I don't know how to offer them the validation they so easily give each other, I can't pick up on those things. I try but it's not enough for them.

Twitter/Tumblr artist Agrust recently shared her latest Yoshitoki Ōima's To Your Eternity fan artwork of an AU when Parona decides to travel with Fushi, one of my favorites among her TYE fan artworks. This AU is really something...and very heartwarming too (I'm actually in love with this AU pic!), seeing one of my best TYE girls traveling with Fushi. Things would've been different but better if Oima should've gone with that for the storyline. Considering Pioran was Fushi's main teacher and guide, I wonder where Parona would have fit in all of it in this AU. My guess is that her role would be the same as Pioran's. Parona could teach Fushi survival tactics, like archery, and how to fight back. Pioran's role is more that of a teacher of the intellectual and spiritual way. She taught Fushi to speak, read and write. Parona, like all the people of Ninnanah, doesn't have writing and reading skills, so Pioran could teach them both. Here are my thoughts on how this AU plays out differently from Oima's original TYE content:

After March's death, Parona decides to leave her homeland of Ninnanah and travel with Fushi, knowing that "certain heartless woman" of Yanome is aftering him, as her way to protect him. During their travels together, they reunited with Pioran who taught both of them how to write and read while Parona herself taught Fushi archery and survival skills, like combat. Ever since seeing Fushi in March's form, Parona began to learn more about Fushi's immortal properties. While heading for Takunaha, they meet the first Nokker for the first time with Fushi defeating it. After reaching Takunaha, Fushi and Parona meets a boy named Gugu, who was disfigured in an accident after saving Rean. Gugu and Parona save Fushi from another Nokker, and Fushi, Parona, Gugu, and Rean become friends. For four years, Fushi refrains from transforming or creating objects in order to live as a human and Parona would've been 19 years old. A Nokker attack and Gugu was killed in the process while sacrificing himself to save Rean, who becomes a spirit like March. Fushi and Parona leave Takunaha, the former paranoid of Nokker attacks, followed by Pioran.
The trio continues their travels which leads them to the prison island of Jananda, which is actually the work of the now obsessed Hayase who pays a young girl named Tonari Dalton to lure the trio onto a prison ship to the island, where Fushi and Parona got separated from Pioran, meeting Tonari and her friends Sandel, Mia, Uroy, and Oopa for the first time, and encounters their old enemy Hayase once again. Parona and with the help of Tonari and her friends come to try and save the defeated Fushi from Hayase who was attempts to rape him, but at the same time, Nokkers attack the island, and three of Tonari's friends are killed. Fushi kills the Nokkers, and he leave the island with Hayase, abandoning her to die in the ocean, where she is attacked by a Nokker. Parona decided to stay in Jananda to help Tonari and Sandel reshape the island but knows that they will meet Fushi again. During her time in Jananda, Tonari and Sandel teaches her how to write and read (just like Pioran taught her and Fushi), as well as perfecting her archery skills.
Fushi, at 58 years old in Nameless Boy's form, remains on Sarlnine Island for forty years after the death of his long-time companion and mentor Pioran, until Nokkers begin attacking humans off the island. As he prepares to leave, he meets Hisame, the nine-year-old granddaughter and reincarnation of Hayase, who established the cult-like unit called the Guardians. Hisame's left arm contains the Nokker which had merged with Hayase. The pair travel to the site of the Nokker attack, where they meet the grown Tonari, Sandel and Parona (she would've been 59 years old). Hayase's Nokker in Hisame's arm tries to kill Tonari and Parona, which only wounded Hisame, but escapes. Both Tonari and Parona dies from their wounds in front of Fushi, and becomes spirits, with Parona reuniting with March. Two centuries passed, the ghosts of Fushi's companions have been following Fushi, who has avoided extensive human contact and is regularly visited by the obsessed Hayase's reincarnations and descendants. Along the way, Fushi meeting new friends such as Kahaku, Hayase's only male descendent and sixth reincarnation, Prince Bonchien Nicoli La Tasty Peach Uralis and Todo of Uralis Kingdom, and the Immortals Kai, Messar and Hairo, while dealing with enemies such as Nokkers and the Church of Bennett.
During the Battle of Renril, the forlorn and exhausted Fushi reverted to his true form, the Orb, when Hayase’s knokker in Kahaku’s arm stole the remaining forms of his loved ones. With young March, who was accidentally returned to life before the battle started, she and Bonichen go to seek aid to get Fushi to regain his human form and cherished memories of those whose lives he has touched over the centuries. Having had enough, Bonchien risks his life by killing himself near Fushi, giving him his form. Now aware of his latest ability to resurrect the dead, Fushi is overjoyed to reunite with his good friends Parona, Gugu, and Tonari. As the Nokkers are overwhelmed by the people returning to life, they retreat, therefore saving Renril and its people from destruction. Kahaku leaves the city with his Nokker, and later kills himself and his Nokker, but not before expressing his strong love for Fushi. Fushi tells his friends he will make the world peaceful and resurrect them after he has done so. He sleeps and spreads his body across the planet, to stop the Nokkers from returning. Fushi's friends live their lives and all die as Fushi sleeps. After 600 years, Fushi's body encompasses the entire planet, now at a modern level of technological advancement.
After awakening five centuries into the modern era, Fushi resurrects the eleven spirits following him, including his closest friends March, Parona, Gugu, Tonari Dalton and Bonichen, and they meet Yuki Aoki of the Occult Research Club and his younger sister Aiko and grandfather Kazumitsu. Like Tonari, Parona would've revert to her 15-year-old self and attend middle school, learning to read and write with positive effects, all thanks to Pioran and Tonari's teachings in her first previous life. She became close to March and Eko as she has to Tonari, and like Hairo and Kai, Parona became wary when Yuki comes home with Mizuha, Hayase's great-great-great-great-great granddaughter and ninth reincarnation and introduces her.

What do you guys think? Hope you have any thoughts.

They maintained those heights only by a constantly renewed act of the will, stretched to the limit against every suffering, and finally death. This is no easier today. So where do we get the idea that modem man, the average man, he whom we adjudge to be atheistic, indifferent, and irreligious, has achieved those heights? In the routines of a society of comfort, of moral flabbiness, of an absence of willpower, of debasement, what is there to prepare a person for lifting himself to the heights of atheism's rigorous virtue? What readies him for that merciless clarity about himself and about the world, which irreligion always involves? Where do we see the spiritual greatness, the morale, the quality of exactitude, the rigor on which criticism of myth and the rejection of the sacred are always based? The scientific method and a smug materialism are not enough! It takes men who are hardheaded with their feet on the ground. I do not see them. Everything points to the opposite. We see people on a bed of ease, and wishing no other happiness for others. They whimper at the slightest danger, the slightest suffering (look at the leftists ! ). Flabby skepticism and exuberant disdain are not enough to produce an adult man and an irreligious society. We can rest assured, to the contrary, that in the current psychological tendencies, in the absence of any character preparation for facing up to great progress and great tests, in the transfer of human energies to the exclusively cerebral, in the collapse of the will in favor of the imagination, in the rejection of all self discipline, the only way of escape is into the social and the religious. Everybody since Bergson has proclaimed the need for a soul-supplement. All right, we have it in the new religions.

I was raised Christian but consciously departed with my faith when I was around 22. Praying at the time 'that I am going to seek the truth whatever that may be and follow where the evidence leads.' I'd go on to read large parts of the bible, 'the lost books,' texts on the Council of Nicaea, Bertrand Russell, Hume, Bakunin, The Celestine Prophecy (it was considered serious at the time, haha) and the like.
16 years later through the same process, I became acquainted with some of empiricisms shadows; which planted the seed that would eventually result in me choosing faith freely, perhaps for the first time in my life (raised into xyz implies coercion imo).
Prior to this completely unexpected reversal, Ellul had always been one of the most influential writers I'd encountered. I was conscious that he typically wrote two books for any topic he sought to analyze: an all encompassing sociological analysis and a theological perspective. I intentionally refrained from the latter as I was well aware of his effects on me and that he was likely to win me over. And I was not ready or willing to find out, knowing that a course would imply actions on my part that I was not prepared to undertake.
I'd read some of his brief accounts of how he conceived 'hell' (that it does not exist) and a few other short essays, mostly in relation to the World Wars. I regarded them then as the most sane and responsible approach to religion I'd ever come across.
I understand he's not exactly a stranger in these parts, for good reason. I've collected a some of his more trenchant observations while making my way through his books. I knew they'd be good. I never expected words like 'great' to understate their value.

Action is simply an expression of a will to dominate which in itself is illimitable, and those who win seldom have the wisdom to impose limits on themselves. It is the word that will indicate the limits in the name of truth, but the word is weak, and this is precisely why it is the servant of truth. All that we can do is keep on repeating that this victorious action makes no sense and that it will perish faster than it triumphed. What has been the good of all the wars of this terrible 20th century? War, as action at its peak, is always futile. What did 1918 achieve? Nothing but wind and storm. What did 1945 achieve? An extension of the gulag and a lot of mediocre talk. What do wars of liberation achieve? Even worse dictatorships and misery beyond anything previously known. But why continue with this balance sheet of action? Elsewhere I have attempted similar analyses of technique or revolution, and I have always concluded: Vanity of vanity, all is vanity and a pursuit of wind

And the extraordinary thing is that according to these texts all powers, all the power and glory of the kingdoms, all that has to do with politics and political authority, belongs to the devil. It has all been given to him and he gives it to whom he wills. Those who hold political power receive it from him and depend upon him. (It is astonishing that in the innumerable theological discussions of the legitimacy of political power, no one has ever adduced these texts! [Matthew 4:8-9; Luke 4:6-7]) This fact is no less important than the fact that Jesus rejects the devil's offer. Jesus does not say to the devil: It is not true. You do not have power over kingdoms and states. He does not dispute this claim. He refuses the offer of power because the devil demands that he should fall down before him. This is the sole point when he says: 'You shall worship the Lord your God and you shall serve him, only him' (Matthew 4:10). We may thus say that among Jesus' immediate followers and in the first Christian generation political authorities - what we call the state - belonged to the devil and those who held power received it from him (The New Demons)

Faith has to come to birth as a free act, not a forced one. Otherwise it has no meaning.

Inescapably, if man sets up a sacred, there is some reason behind it. Yet I always find it hard to believe that, if "primitive" man had a great capacity, a great intelligence as a worker, a speaker, an artist, an organizer, he was afflicted with downright stupidity the moment some other type of expression was involved, such as the religious, the mythical, the sacred, the magical. Such a total break at that point is very improbable. Therefore, I think the sacred must have had a meaning just as real as the fabrication of the first tools. (The New Demons)

We have been at this a while anything its a slippery slope as most are. We have met some great people, had some amazing experiences and ultimately keep wanting to go that little bit further. Like most things when you look back at where started it seems far off indeed.
So here we are, somehow in Ohio this is fine but only for the time, adventure calls. There are different kinds of adventure of course, exploring Bondage is one of those roads we keep travelling.
We are so into CNC and BDSM that vanilla threesomes are barely of interest, sure a beautiful woman is alluring, but one that wants to be choked and violated, forced to endure bondage, well that is our kind of girl.
Heres the breakdown:
US- a couple.
Male (me) 47 5'10 190, in good shape.
Female (wife) 48 5'3 116 in great shape and aftermarket additions that you will notice.
What we're looking for, a woman, (this is a hard rule) no guys, no penises, I have mine thats enough, I dont get why women like them, they look dumb, women are streamlined and have such fun parts. so no men, we have no need for more man parts.
Age- 25 and up or very mature for your age.
Where -anywhere in USA or CA, as long as you're not on the FBI no fly list.
We like soft, thin, feminine, in shape, we dont like BBW, as for race any is fine, we would like to play with an Asian woman as we never have though that is just a plus, we're open to any race.
Clean shaven, a little hair is okay, but a seventies bush or armpit hair, leg hair, hard pass.
Kinks- Lets remember we're not trying to insult anyone here and consider this the fair warning that we like some really hard stuff, so if you dont or dont think people should be allowed to consent to what they want to do, then you're just not going to like what we have to say.
Still here?
Good girl. (Gentle biting on the neck as I whisper it)
The basic's, slapping, flogging, whipping, restraints, choking, hair pulling, degrading (verbally, whore slut basic stuff). Now if any of these are are hard 'no' we may be able to work around them but, if 2 or more are on your list, well you might want to swipe whatever way is away, because its going to get worse.
Roleplay- you're a visitor, who gets abused, not to far from the truth, but the best stories always intertwine the reality and fiction.
The harder stuff- this stuff that you can object to, and we get it, its all the harder stuff that we kinda grew into and get that not everyone is going to be all for it, you can pick and choose.
Fisting and or large objects and stretching, DP we really like to DP a woman, you pinned between us, so sexy, so full, eyes rolled back my hand at your throat, giving all you can give but we're wanting more, my wifes nails gently biting your skin. Yeah, we like DP.
Shockers, Estim, prod the jolt of pain, if you do it wrong it can be dangerous, so we have studied and are careful to make sure everyone gets out without any long-term effects. A shocker to the ass, breast, leg or clit, while you're being fucked, in between being stimulated the contrast of pain and pleasure, we love to see that in a sub.
Degrading (part 2, the first was level 1, this is the upgrade) We like the mental aspect of BDSM, its that connection when you have it with a sub, its so sexy. If she wants to be broken mentally, we want the tools to do it. We need some input here, tell us what are the words the things that you secretly hate the feellings that you have that you want to expose but need to be deep in session, walls down, to really admit what you feel about yourself. Its primal and goes far beyond the spat 'slut, whore' If you know, then you do, if not it may not be your thing. Its ours though, let us in, so we can break you more effectively.
Paddles, with the intent to bruise, we like to see our handywork, the paddle gets the job done. We're artists in a way, and you're a canvas.
Overstimulation- the toying till you're cum drunk, you're hurting but were going to keep fucking you hitting you choking, using you like our whore, on this night you are ours and we want you to give yourself to us completely. You have our undivided attention.
Squirting- if you can we are going to be super interested and want to bring you home for a nice night that will end very harshly, we'll keep you hydrated.
The REALLY Hard- Most people won't be for the following, if you are and you have the other third of this mysterious amulet which we have had since we were babies, we need to meet you.
Sounding, the placing of smooth metal rods in your peehole for stimulation, usually it results in you peeing and losing control, which is sexy.
Watersports, you being degraded by my wife peeing on you, or you peeing on yourself.
Waterboarding- you strapped to a board and being tortured against all Nato sanctions, it is rough and extreme and youll lose focus when your clit is being stimulated and you're dry drowning. Not for everyone but sexy if you're the woman we're looking for.
Knife play- we dont do cutting, but using the knife as a prop forcing you at knifepoint to surrender and subject yourself to everything we demand.
The off limits- things we wont do. Nothing Illegal, no kids (both gross and illegal), no breeding you, we dont want any subsiquent kids, not with you, not with anyone nothing ruins kinky fun like crying babies.
No- hard drugs, we dont use anything that alters our thoughts during BDSM, bad mix. So we expect you to be clean too.
No- longterm damage, lets have fun and kink not hospital bills.
No- dudes (I thought it was worth repeating)
No- feet stuff, we dont like feet.
No- furries, not my kind of fun, I'm not dressing in one of those outfits.
Most other things are on the table- do you have a fantasy? Tell us about it we are likely down to try it. Is it twisted and kinky? then we really need to hear about it.
Location- US, we'll take care of travel, if we get along and have a connection, come spend a weekend see clevelands sports teams (we dont do sports so whatever, I hear were not missing much) and get abused (more than by just having to watch Clevelands teams take a whipping).
Experience, we have been doing this for a while but you dont need to be experienced, some of our best experiences were with beginner subs, we all have to be on the same page and have a clear understanding of where this is going, and where it stops.
Lastly- consent, there has to be consent and anything were going to do must be discussed and safewords will be in place. Dont tell me you dont need safewords, youre either unhinged or lying, this should be like a haunted house scary but you know you can leave at anytime. (I mean halloween haunted houses not creepy old houses with ghosts, those are scary)
If you got this far, lets talk, if youre deeply offended by us, please lets not talk, lets just part non-enemies.

I don’t care which genre, just looking for ones where the MC is a badass that makes people shit themselves (or at least they would if they knew who he is). I liked The Lost Fleet series, Kings Dark Tidings, Jack Reacher, The Shadow, Legend of the Arch Magus, and Wraithblade. I’ll admit I don’t have the most refined literary palette, so don’t worry if it’s not the greatest work of artistic genius you’ve ever found, I’m just really in the mood for a powerful (maybe even overpowered) MC. I’ve got enough struggling to survive in my own life right now, I want to escape.