Planet fitness teenager membership 2021

Hello community! I am looking for a few interested individuals to add to my PbP server.
DragonFit is a cooperative fitness motivational tool I’ve designed for myself and some long-term friends from the PbP community. You will have the opportunity to engage in a Monster Hunter-inspired world where you will have the opportunity to slay every dragon from the Monster Manual, Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, and more! The game world also features systematically-generated exploration, worldbuilding, and crafting elements.
Your characters earn Experience Points when you complete workouts in the real world. The system is designed around progress, personal growth, and establishing healthy habits and workout routines. People of all fitness levels will be on an even playing field, as all fitness objectives are progress and improvement-based, not performance-based. In addition to working out, the game also incentivizes various other healthy lifestyle activities such as reading, or cooking new foods through a rotation of daily challenges.
No workout equipment is necessary, as I do my best to find a variety of free, no-equipment, at-home workout routines as an option for those who cannot afford paid alternatives. However, to get the most out of the game and the most out of this experience, it is recommended that you acquire the following before starting:
•A device such as a Garmin or Fitbit which track workout/health data •Access to a variety of workout equipment (weights, pull-up bar, etc) or a gym membership
Additionally, this server utilizes Avrae for combat and other quality-of-life features, so proficiency with Avrae (or a willingness to learn) is required.
If you (like me) have struggled with establishing healthy fitness routines and are looking for a change, if you’re looking for a community of support and accountability on your fitness journey, or just want to slay some dragons while getting your pump on, I hope you would consider my server. Thanks!
Since our kickoff in January, several dedicated members have seen tremendous results! Multiple players have established solid workout routines, some have seen significant performance improvements in weight-lifting and cardiovascular capabilities, and one player has lost over 30lbs! My hope is to continue this trend and help as many people as possible reach their fitness goals!

Follow-up to my last post:
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An Attenborough documentary on dinosaurs with the same CGI that made The Jungle Book so lifelike? I couldn't think of a greater sell. But was it worth it? Would it give me the same sense of wonder that I felt when Walking with Dinosaurs came out 22 years earlier?
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The first episode, "Coasts", is overall the strongest episode of season 1. Starting immediately with a swimming t-rex (Tyrannosaurus rex) leading his children to an island where he smelled a dead archelon (species unknown, as no Maastrichtian-age archelon was ever found in the fossil record), that first scene showed the promise of the show as a whole. Seeing CG baby t-rexes interacting with live-action baby turtles is both concerning (as sea turtles are currently endangered) and entertaining, as they are demonstrated pretty goofily. But after that, we are done with dinosaurs for the rest of the episode.
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We cut to the one scene that, while endearing with a riveting soundtrack by power couple Anže Rozman and Kara Talve, does give me pause. The pterosaurs featured in that episode were based on bones so fragmentary that they couldn't be diagnosed. How can we be sure that Barbaridactylus was a member of the antlerwing family, Phosphatodraco a member of the simurgh family, or even Tethydraco a member of the pteranodon family? How do we even know what Alcione even looked like? Also, the score doesn't really match the slower, less urgent movements of the pterosaurs.
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The next scene was described as "the sunken continent of Zealandia", which is a refresher to see the lost continent bearing recognition for a change. Here, a family of plesiosaurs (Tuarangisaurus keyesi) comes to the coast to gulp themselves on anti-buoyant rocks, while the males ceremoniously poke their long, heavy necks up to the surface, the only good moment in an otherwise generic sequence.
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After a quick focus on coral, we get treated to a Hoffmann's mosasaur (Mosasaurus hoffmanni) relying on fish and shrimp to give him a good, proper scratch, only to be pushed out of turn by a younger male. This sequence sticks out to me because it shows mosasaurs being portrayed as animals, not as monsters to shadow Nigel Marven or kaijuified Blackfish bootlegs.
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The next scene shows a dazzling, mesmerizing mating ceremony of ammonites ("scaphitids", they were called, but that doesn't determine specific species, as it was a very huge family). They glow in the dark and mate very particularly. If the male's flashes don't sync with those of the female, he'd be rejected. Complimenting this alien but still soothing scene is Rozman and Talve's equally alien and soothing score.
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Back in Zealandia, we end with plesiosaur pod mentality, as the whole group defends a pregnant mother from a kaika taniwha (Kaikaifilu hervei). As with the previous plesiosaur scene, it wasn't a scene that I got too crazy about.
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The next episode, "Deserts", isn't really as impactful as the Planet Earth episode of the same name, both in regards to execution and the musical score, and it was riddled with confusing scene decisions. The first scene demonstrates a lek of dreadnoughts (Dreadnoughtus schrani) acting like a combination of elephant seals and frigatebirds, right down to the pops on their necks. The score in that sequence is definitely memorable, as it (literally) highlights the weights that the males take to demonstrate their fitness to attract the gaggle of girls in the audience. Though I'm left wondering--did the upstart beat the veteran because he was stronger, or because he popped one of the veteran's neck balloons, as male frigatebirds would do to ditch the competish?
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Once the sauropod show is over, we now move to what was presumed to be Nemegtia, but it was portrayed to be as dry as Djadochta, which leads to the next problem. While there was evidence of Maastrichtian-age velos in Central Asia, calling them "Velociraptor" is just wrong. I grew up watching Walking with Dinosaurs, which means I watched "Giant of the Skies", which featured Utahraptor in the wrong place at the wrong time. And while the American cut justifies this with a demonstration of a land bridge that connected North America to Europe, I don't know how much water that holds, and that doesn't seem to be relevant anyway, for the damage has already been done. So having in Velociraptor, a genus of velos that went extinct 71 million years ago, in Nemegtia, which was set 66 million years ago, is just a rehash of that previous mistake. In short, Prehistoric Planet has Utahraptor'd the Velociraptor. And besides, hasn't the picture of pack-hunting raptors already been discarded?
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The next scene, the one with the Nemegtian mononych (Mononykus olecranus), is cute but not top-notch memorable, and its color choice is teetering way close to the point of plagiarism.
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Afterwards, the brief but violent rains have created a watering hole in the middle of the desert, luring in dinosaurs and pterosaurs from miles around, including a wandering khan (Tarbosaurus bataar). The reason that scene is so low was that it was just a near-identical rotoscope of the Water Truce sequence from The Jungle Book, right down to the herbivores making a clearing for the khan.
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Then we go high up to see more Barbaridactylus. This scene I wasn't aware was a problem until Unnatural History Channel brought it up in his video, but the females were shown to be oddly consensual towards the similar-looking sneaky males, who use their feminine appearances to sneak past the larger, more impressive males. This is a problem, apparently, because the more extreme the sexual dimorphism, the more likely the sneaky male will be rejected and therefore resort to assaulting the females.
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The last scene is an interesting one, albeit one that suffered an unmemorable score in the soundtrack. Apparently, salty southern duckbills (Secernosaurus koerneri) can thrive on dunes of gypsum, but when rains hit the coast, they rely on both their tenacity and their know-how of the sky to get to more productive grazing. This scene stands out to me because I question why any large animal would choose to thrive on such a taxing environment. It'd make sense for an animal as small as the cryptile, the scrofa and the gryken from The Future is Wild, but not for a duckbill bigger than 16 feet long.
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It is unanimously agreed upon that "Freshwater" is the weakest episode in the first season. Apart from the humpbacked false duckbill (Deinocheirus mirificus) getting a scratch in the swamps of a more accurate Nemegtia and the devil frog (Beelzebufo ampinga) making a snack out of a baby whacktooth (Masiaksaurus knoplferi), the habitat itself has been relegated to the backseat, which is why the mating scene of the t-rex and the laying magnificent simurgh (Quetzalcoatlus northropi) are on the C tier, good scenes that have been damaged by simply being in the wrong episode. Speaking of the latter, memes have popped up in which the faces of dinosaurs have been pasted over two shots of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with either Masiakasaurus or the Planet Dinosaur model of Majungasaurus being Galahad and the Quetzalcoatlus being the French taunter ("What are you doing in Africa?" "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!") when, really, that meme is more applicable to Velociraptor being in the Maastrichtian. On that topic, not only is it STILL in the wrong time, there is another problem, one I didn't pay attention to until Unnatural History Channel brought it up on his video. Instead of showing audiences raptor prey restraint (or "RPR"), the storytellers relied instead on mountain cats to show the velos hunting the pterosaurs (species unknown). Like the Deserts episode, Planet Earth has a far stronger "Freshwater" episode.
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"Ice Worlds" didn't excite me as much as "Spirits of the Ice Forest" did, which is a shame, because dinosaurs in the snow is a refresher by default. We start at Prince Creek, which I couldn't ask for a worse place to start because the cast list is very fragmentary. In the opening scene, a pack of raptors (species unknown, though modeled after the pitbull raptor), shadows a herd of ugrunaaluk (Edmontosaurus sp.) for a long-delayed meal. Again, the picture of raptors hunting in packs has been debunked for a very long time now. Why insist on resorting to old cliches?
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The Ornithomimus scene (can't think of a vernacular for them), while the designs look cool and add distinction to overall character, is still just a rotoscope of the Adelie penguin sequence from "Frozen Planet". Next.
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The sequence with the swanneck (Olorotitan arharensis) is even less impressive. Are horsetails really more nutritious than grass? If so, then why have grasslands been the dominant plains since the Miocene?
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The reason the scene with the tro-o is relatively low on the tier list is that it should have been longer, because a dinosaur with the intellect of a fire hawk is a very interesting prospect. But the final scene was just too short and too bland to show off any real gold.
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We have spent so much time in the north that I question the necessity of a quick detour to Antarctica, rendering the scene with the polar macahutiul (Antarctopelta oliveroi) my least favorite of the series.
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The final scene demonstrates the predator-prey dynamic between the northern boss (Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum) and the nanook (Nanuqsaurus hoglundi). The scene is great, the score has some very rhythmic moments, but what puts it low on the B tier are the nanooks themselves. From a distance, they look as good as most of the others. But in closeup, they look kind of fake, especially when they're running. Which brings up to the next problem--the story is based on fossil footprints of different lines pointing in the same direction. But how do we know that those parallel tracks were made at the same time and not separated within hours, days or even weeks of each other? And while it is true that nanooks were smaller than t-rexes, their portrayals in the show were just too small. More recent consensus shows that one nanook could easily match a boss in size, if not overtop it.
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"Forests" is an everywhere kind of episode. The opening scene with the austroposeidon (Austroposeidon magnificus) is not long enough to get me invested.
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Then a herd of trikes (Triceratops, species unknown) visits a cave to visit a clay lick to neutralize the poisons from their plant food. But why clay? Why not salt? Herbivores can clearly deal with poisonous plants without problem, but plants lack sodium, which is why the elephants of Mount Elgon (the inspiration behind that scene) scrape the caves not for clay, but for salt.
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This next scene has gotten everyone talking. A male minotaur (Carnotaurus sastrei) clears the stage to wave his arms around to impress an impossibly stoic female. Everything about that scene--from the choreography to the score--is very goofy, and that is what makes it work so well.
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While it is nice to finally see the Pinocchio-rex (Qianzhousaurus sinensis) in the flesh, its hunt for bright blue corythoraptors (Corythoraptor jacobsi) is not a scene I'd be in a hurry to revisit.
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The fire scene is oddly slow, the only memorable moment in the whole sequence being my first official introduction to Atrociraptor marshalli...literally just one short week before Jurassic World: Dominion predictably ruined it.
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The scene with the baby Therizinosaurus is passable. While it is cute to imagine babies having a taste for honey, it just wasn't executed memorably.
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The final scene, the one set on Hateg Island, slogs on in pace, with the greatest focus being a bunch of odd-looking baby zalmos (Zalmoxes robustus) running and hiding from the real star of the episode, the robust simurgh (Hatzegopteryx thambena), looking more proper than how it looked in Planet Dinosaur. One question, though--weren't pterosaur wings supposed to be rounded at the tip? Sure, they've got the hands pointing backwards, but the pointed wingtips is now believed to be an outdated picture.
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So it goes without saying that years of watching a moderate quantity of Attenborough documentaries has made the watching experience of Prehistoric Planet, at least in comparison to the original Walking with Dinosaurs, a bit numb. The creature designs are good, the CGI has not faltered in its photorealism from The Jungle Book, and even the soundtrack has enough of a score to make it memorable. But it's the stories that amount to the overall numbness of the first season. They hadn't opened my eyes in the way that Walking with Dinosaurs did.
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When season 2 was announced literally one year after season 1, I had my doubts. Planet Earth 2 came out literally a decade after the first Planet Earth, and the differences in filming technology and musical score clearly show that. Same for the 16 years that separate The Blue Planet from Blue Planet 2. Dynasties 2, by contrast, came way too soon after the first Dynasties, and the end result is sloppy, from the stories being set at the tedious start rather than at the steady prime to the score from the first Dynasties being reused so often that the only episode to have any new music was "Meerkat". So to find Prehistoric Planet 2 come out literally one year after Prehistoric Planet, I was concerned that it'd be as shorthanded as Dynasties 2 was. The opening episode, "Islands", kind of suffered that, but it thankfully wasn't as severe a problem.
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The first segment of that episode struck me as odd because the adult zalmo looks weirdly identical to the baby model from last episode.
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While it is cool to see the robust simurgh being expanded upon, I personally wish we'd stayed at Hateg Island, where they'd hunt the Transylvanian dwarf duckbill (Telmatosaurus transylvanicus) and not the funky combbill (Tethyshadros insularis).
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One of season 1's most recurring complaints is "no crocodiles", which is pretty apt when you consider how diverse they were during the Cretaceous period. So to see the Malagasy armadillo (Simosuchus clarki) at all, let alone stand up against a mahjong (Majungasaurus crenatissimus), is one to remember for the ages.
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This next scene is actually pretty interesting, in which we see Adalatherium, which wasn't a true mammal, but rather something hovering closely outside the taxonomic boundaries. It's a long sequence, which is just as well, because this is as new a clade to me now as the cynodont was when Walking with Dinosaurs came out.
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As with in "Ice Worlds", a quick detour to Antarctica doesn't seem necessary to me, as the hunt between the Imperobator and the Morrosaurus feels more like a skim.
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The last scene in the episode is my personal favorite, in which a male robust simugh stands on a sandbar to do whatever it takes to impress a mate.
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"Badlands" stands out in that there are only two settings. The first one is the strongest because of how the Deccan Traps, long reputed to be the co-culprit to the fall of the dinosaur empire, has been repurposed into prime nesting estate for a herd of sauropods (Isisaurus colberti). The journey seems reckless, but volcanic sand is hot and toasty, something that a modern species of dinosaur, the megapode, also exploits as it lays its egg in the hot volcanic sand of the Solomons.
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The next scene hasn't fixed on last year's problems, in which Velociraptor is still there and it still hasn't performed RPR--it just kicks an herbivore off a cliff, and that was that.
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The nesting Corythoraptor scene didn't interest me, but what really bugged me was that the antagonist of that sequence was a kuru (Kuru kulla), a raptor who, like the pterosaurs on the "Coasts" episode, was based on incomplete, fragmentary specimens.
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The sequence with the tarchias (Tarchia, species unknown), is a refreshing detour from the previous sequence because we have a better idea as to what they would have looked like. And to see them slog around for an oasis is a second highlight (next to the Deccan nursery).
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This next scene has nothing new added from either "Time of the Titans" or "Alpha's Egg", in which a herd of baby sauropods gets picked on by larger predators on their way to the safety of the forest.
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The majority of the "Freshwater" sequences I feel fit better in "Swamps". The same unnamed pterosaurs from "Freshwater" have reappeared, this time trying to fly past an approaching population of alligators (Shamosuchus djadochtaensis).
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The next episode features a grizzly bear gathering of austroraptors (Austroraptor cabazai) hunting gar. It stands out as highly as it does because it shows a species of raptor that looks and acts differently from the usual velo or nych. Plus, we know many miles more about austroraptors than we do about Spinosaurus, so that is a relieving plus.
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The devil frog stands out in this episode, and to see a grumpy male try to fight off a herd of goavambe (Rapetosaurus krausei) is humorous. It also deviates from the usual picture of "the frog that eats dinosaurs".
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This next sequence I was very concerned the moment I saw it in the ads. Thanks to Jack Horner, the poorly-known family Pachycephalosauridae has been under very hot fire with the notion of bone sponginess being a taxonomically viable method of identification, which it really isn't because all amniotes have spongy bones in their teens. But very thankfully, this sequence does not resort to Hornerism. It shows that older males do get longer horns on the backs of their heads, not the other way around. Also, new evidence has shown that the domes may have been covered in shiny skin, so this has me asking--is the dome a boys-only trait? Could that dracorex (Pachycephalosaurus hogwartsia) skull that I saw at the Black Hills Museum just be a girl entering her sweet 16 when she died? Could those stygimoloch (Pachycephalosaurus spinifer) skulls just be those of high school footballers?
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"Swamps" ended on a high note with a couple of t-rexes hunting an anatotitan (Edmontosaurus annectens) in the dark. One just walks to the duckbill, and the animal, in its panic, goes right in the direction of the other t-rex in hiding. This perfectly reflects the current understanding that t-rexes exchanged fast running for better walking. Now can we see some duckbills fighting back, please?
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On May 26, The Little Mermaid came out in theaters. A day earlier, "Oceans" came out. If I were to choose, I'd stick to the latter, simply because we're treated to fresh new stories with a wider variety of mosasaurs and ammonites than any of the Walking with programs ever did. The scene with the hesperorns chasing bait fish only to have themselves be chased by bulldog fish (Xiphactinus) is a classic, but a good one. However, "X-fish"? What's wrong with "bulldog fish"? But the highlight, no doubt, is the final sequence, in which a Hoffmann's mosasaur killed a juvenile plesiosaur simply by ramming it great white style.
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"Freshwater" was weak due to being sorely unfocused. "North America", by contrast, is even weaker for being too rushed. Also, the "scars make the man" narrative with the trikes bugs me the most. What justification is there for that?
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This has been a very exhaustive review of Prehistoric Planet, and it's way too early for me to worry about a season 3 coming out, if there is going to be one.

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7/10/2020 Delores: A Thimbleweed Park mini-adventure
7/10/2020 The Escapists 2
7/10/2020 Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition
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7/3/2020 Trackmania
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6/25/2020 AER Memories of Old
6/25/2020 Stranger Things 3: The Game
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5/28/2020 Sludge Life
5/28/2020 Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
5/21/2020 Sid Meier's Civilization VI
5/14/2020 Grand Theft Auto V
5/2/2020 Amnesia: The Dark Descent
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4/23/2020 For The King
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4/17/2020 Just Cause 4
4/15/2020 Paladins
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12/30/2019 Hello Neighbor
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7/25/2019 This War of Mine
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7/4/2019 Overcooked
7/3/2019 Dauntless
7/3/2019 Last Day of June

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What should I do during undergrad to improve my chances of getting into Grad School and Getting Good Job/ Internship

I am playing my first Final Fantasy game ever which is Final Fantasy VII from 1997. Here is the previous part for those who care: https://www.reddit.com/FinalFantasy/comments/13zpdz2/my_first_final_fantasy_game_ever_part_16/
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For this part, I completed the Forgotten City and the Raid of Midgar.
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For the gameplay, I finally found the Key of the Ancients which was under the Forgotten City Island using the submarine. It took me over an hour trying to find it. I regret not googling the answer because I would have saved more time. The only consolation I got was that I went back in the Gelnika Ship and found a second room that led to me find cool stuff. As for the boss fights, I thought they were really good. The fight against the Grey Weapon and the 3 boss fights in Midgard I thought they were good. While I realized that the boss fights against the Turks was optional, I still chose to fight them because it was fitting. After that, I was able to battle the Black Weapon and I got Ultima Weapon for Cloud which looks cool. Unfortunately it doesn't grant materia growth so I will use it later. And with the Blue, Grey, and Black Weapon defeated, there is only one weapon to defeat which is the Green Weapon. Scratch that, I have found the existence of the Red Weapon and I got a game over from it. I do not like the Red Weapon. While I may have yet to fight the Green Weapon, the Red Weapon has to be the hardest enemy in the game. The ability to remove your party members while at the same time having tentacles that take away your MP and HP is super strong. I will need more levels and legit strategy to beat the Red Weapon. I also discovered that the Black Weapon left a crater which allowed me to go to the Mountain Forest. I did not like the Mountain Forest because the leaf enemies are incredibly annoying. They dodge my attacks left and right I felt like I had to use magic but I had low ethers to replenish it. Those leaves can dodge some attacks from Omnislash so it is ridiculous. I found Typoon Summon but overall the Ancient Forest is something that I do not plan to come back to anytime soon.
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Now for story. So now we know the purpose of what Aerith did in the Forgotten City. She was trying to summon Holy using White Materia and the small plot twist was that White Materia has been with her the entire time as her hair pearl. I did not expect Aerith's hair pearl to be plot relevant later on. It turns out that the Holy summon has been activated but it has been suppressed by Sephiroth. So the plan is to defeat Sephiroth to stop the suppression of Holy. But before we can enter the Northern Crater, we have to intercept the Grey Weapon from attacking Midgard. It was epic to actually fight and defeat a Weapon cause they were something that I have typically avoided. After that I went to Midgard but I did not know that we are supposed to fly over it instead of walking to it. I walked into Sector 5 which I was able to do because I found the key in Bone Village and that lead me to the Premium Heart. I find it very funny that I was able to find what seems to be Tifa's strongest weapon because I was stuck in the return to the Forgotten City. After actually going on top of Midgard, it was epic to see how we have to enter the city via parachute with the gang. And of course, if I have to do a level in Midgard, I can only use the Midgard Trio of Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett. I often like it in games when they have a section of ending things where they began. This game began with us bombing one Shinra Reactor and now here we are finishing Shinra by coming to Midgard and stopping the Sister Ray. I also found it very satisfying to finally beat Heidegger and Scarlet in the Prod Clod together. Now for the Hojo boss fight. The boss fight was fine but the revelations are holy crap. It is confirmed that Hojo is the father of Sephiroth! I call BS on that. There is no way that Hojo could have smashed Lucrecia. I saw Vincent's flashback in the waterfall cave, I am still baffled. Of all the things to happen in the story from talking cats, a planet creating weapons, and crystals that can summon meteors, the most unrealistic thing about this game is that Dr. Hojo has the rizz to bag Lucrecia. I have said this in the previous part and I will say it again here. Whatever happened between Lucrecia and Vincent had to be something super major like Vincent had a hand in killing Lucrecia's parents or something of that gravity. It is just unbelievable that someone like Hojo could feel the touch of a woman. The only conclusion that I can see for Hojo and Lucrecia happening is that Hojo mind-controlled Lucrecia or that Lucrecia was so into science that she smashed Hojo out of science. Those can be the only explanation. I think I have spent enough time talking about this.
Moving on, we now have the get together in the Highwind. Seeing everyone having to prepare themselves for the final confrontation with Sephiroth is just emotional. Having everyone leave to do their own thing is just heartwarming. Barrett goes to Marlene, Red XIII visits his grandfather, Yuffie goes to Wutai to see her own father, Cid goes to Rocket Town to see Shera, and Vincent probably went to the Waterfall Cave to see Lucrecia. After that we have a one on one with Cloud and Tifa and just it is adorable and sad at the same time. Both Cloud and Tifa no longer have a place or anyone they can go to anymore so they stay on the Highwind but at least they have each other. I really enjoyed the one on one and then seeing Tifa sleep on Cloud's shoulder is just so cute. While the somber tone may be sad, the things said were just great. But after that everyone regroups together and now with a clear purpose in mind, AVALANCHE has one more mission to complete: Defeat Sephiroth.
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From the looks of it, I think that my next part, Part 18, will probably be my final part for this series. But before I enter the Northern Crater there are a few things I need to do. I need to find the manual for Tifa's Limit Break 4, the best weapon for Red XIII and Cid, and to beat the Red Weapon and maybe Green Weapon if I feel it.
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As always, please do not spoil what I have left for the game.

What am I able to do? I am a 17 year old female and I have 3 older brothers in their 20’s, two of which live at home. (However those two are building their own house at the moment so they will be gone in a few months.) My mother(56F) is a hoarder, and justifies her hoarding by thinking that it is something that my brothers and I need. She grew up in a broken, authoritative father figure home and was given barely anything from her parents her entire life. She thinks that by giving us stuff, and I mean STUFF, that it makes us happy- but it doesn’t. It only makes my brothers and I more miserable. My mother is the kind of person that doesn’t accept that she is aging, lives very selfishly, attention seeker, and has anger issues. She doesn’t try to better herself and always comes up with excuses. She also digs through the trash we throw out, and made my once eldest brothers room into closet for my clothes. She is constantly on online shopping websites and Facebook market place and other common online stores. She is completely glued to her phone and so is my father. She has constant ‘tantrums’, or anger fits and screams at everyone about how horrible and they are or how much of a mistake they are. Because I am only 17, I can’t leave the house and live somewhere else yet. I am planning on going to college. And my family is a very loving one beyond the hoarding problem. When my brothers and I attempt to get rid of the hoard, by burning it, throwing it out, or donating it, she will find it and bring it right back in, or be super passive aggressive about it being burned. We have to hide the evidence of tossing it out. On another note, my mother tries to live through me constantly, and tries to control my life at the same time she says she isn’t. She buys me everything I ask for and then some. She buys me so much stuff that I do not want and tell her not to get me, that it caused constant arguments between us. She goes into my room and rummages around, entirely invading my privacy. One time I was missing something important, and I was going to be gone the entire day so I was unable to search for said item. In turn I asked my parents to look for it for me, but not to look for it in certain places as to protect my privacy and because it wouldn’t be there. As they were looking around my room for said item my mother looked underneath the bed, one of the places I explicitly told her to not search. She had even went underneath my mattress. When I came home the next day I was furious to see that the items under my bed her dug out and laying all over the place. I told her that it was an invasion of my privacy because I said explicitly to not look there or touch it. She only got upset at me, blamed everything on me, and never apologized. It was truly an eye opener. She still digs around my room and I can’t do anything about it since I do not have a lock for my door. I do not want to create drama in the house by confronting her because it leads to nowhere. To the present, my mother is creating a closet for me that I DO NOT want in the slightest. I have told her a multitude of times that I do not want it, to which she responded that it won’t be a closet of mine. I don’t even wear half of those clothes she is buying and placing in there; she literally is attempting to make me her little Barbie doll and saying that it is because she loves me. That is twisted behavior, and I looked online to what I can do to help her and whatnot. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can do from my knowledge. She is labeled as a toxic mother from the various sources I have read, and the only thing I could do is create distance between her and I emotionally. However, if I create that distance she believes that I don’t love her and that I hate her. She has said multiple times throughout my life that she believes all of us hate her. (We don’t.) Upon that, I know as a teenager I can be a lot sometimes- I am a very blunt person at times- but she has called me a “flaming bitch”, “heartless”, “unfeeling”, “cold hearted”, “bitch” numerous of times that I used to believe that at first. I know now that yes I can be sharp sometimes, but that is amongst normal behaviors in females. I can’t bend over backwards to please her because no matter what I do I can never please her in the way she wants me to. Because of this manipulation of love that this is, I hate the word love. I believe it to be extremely manipulative, and I hate getting gifts in a relationship because of the hoard. The house I live in has every room full of stuff, box, clothes, items, and anything you can think of. Her excuse is that it is valuable, and granted some of it is, but mostly it is just stuff she bought online. My father in all of this has given up. He is just a man that plays the father figure and tries to be the best husband he can be, but he doesn’t have the “authority” to stop the hoard madness. I don’t know what to do anymore, I’m so lost in the mound of junk that has accumulated around me and my brothers. What we believe is our only escape is by moving out as soon as possible, but my brothers are moving out soon and I’ll be stuck here for another year. I can’t do that to myself, I can’t put myself through that year long unhappiness. What am I able to do? If someone reads this please, any advice would be helpful.

I'll copy my wishlist below. I would love it if you helped me choose what to prioritize. Consider that my goal is becoming as self-sufficient as possible by 2040 (I have a piece of land) and take into account that I want to live without electricity as much as possible because

1. I want to do my part for the planet even if it's just a drop in the ocean
   
2. The power grid and the supply chain are a fragile thing in my mind
   
3. I like some aspects of anprim -anarchoprimitivist- philosophy (even if I don't like the inherent ableism and one infamous person who defamed the whole group with his disregard for human life) and think that humans evolved in a very different environment from the one we live in and that our brains are happier in that environment because they were shaped by it for hundreds of millennia
   

. . .
My situation and budget:
I get about 350€ every month (+ about 800-1000€ around Christmas) and have to use them to buy:
-food (not all of it, another person buys mostly fresh fruit, fresh vegs and fresh meat so I only need to pay for grains, legumes, canned and frozen things, -mostly vegetable- milk, and fish. We take turns for cheese and water. If I eliminated "my things" from my diet I'd still have to contribute about 50% of the expenses for food)
-small expenses like gifts
-occasionally courses and b&b stays (not for vacations, but to learn new skills and build community on the road to self sufficiency)
-relationship-building objects (things that people I want to be friends with make, like cheese and honey if I want to befriend some farmers I would like to be taken as an "apprentice" by, or attending a course I wouldn't sign up for otherwise because a friend is the teacher)
-other groceries like hygiene products
-hand-tools and materials for my goal of self-sufficiency
-hand tools and materials to hopefully teach a course about primitive skills in the future
-"preppers items" (like radio, water filter...)
-physical books
-private lessons (I would love to have a botany expert guide me occasionally for example, or to take some lessons from a good blacksmith I know)
-ideally I would want to keep some savings for emergencies, unexpected expenses, heavily discounted and second hand items, and opportunities that might open...But I'm also among the people that would be hit the strongest by hyperinflation (and I was a theft victim recently and lost quite a bit) so I don't want to have too much savings at the same time. Please DON'T tell me "forget about buying things and save at least 6 months of expenses blah blah": it's reasonable but it's not something I need to hear from other people and it's not ideal in my situation for many personal reasons
. . .
Now the ever-increasing wishlist:
-pressure canner (the only option I have is about 130+40€ shipping)
-jars (12 jars of 1 litre capacity each + lids cost about 40€)
-mylar bags and oxygen absorbers (the more the better)
-extra food and water (again, the sky's the limit. If I had to guess I'd say I currently have about 1 month's worth)
-GRAYL water filter (I have a SAWYER mini though)
-4 volumes of an excellent botany book about dichotomous keys to safely identify local flora (the first 3 volumes cost about 100€ each and the 4th isn't available at the moment... I also I have other books on local flora but nothing that gives me the peace of mind of a reasonably certain identification)
-book "The survival medicine handbook" that goes for about 40€
-book "Preserving food without freezing or canning" 22€
-plants of Plectranthus barbatus to use as sustainable toilet paper (8€ each and 12 € shipping so I would have to take at least 2 to make the shipping worth it I guess?)
-book about cheese making in my language 18€
-book "knife engineering" 34€
-book "slow tech" 26€
-book "the regenerative grower's guide to garden amendments" 24€
-book on macrame in my language 15€
-book on willow baskets making in my language 15€
-book on bike repairing in my language (I have a decent bike but I'm pretty out of shape, it needs repairing and it doesn't fit in the elevator of the apartment I currently live in) 25€
-book on vegetable milk making (I drink quite a bit of it and love it) 8€
-2 sprouting jars 28€
-flint (a friend of a friend could send it to me at 5€/kg) and steel stricker (26€)
-gorilla tape 10€
-fire piston fire starter 11€
-book "The complete guide to no-dig gardening" 25€ (I have other books on general gardening)
-a bracelet (a gift that can be postponed if needed) 7€
-hiking sticks 17€
-blacksmith pliers 34€
-anvil -I have a good hammer already- (price here varies greatly with weight but for 40kg you pay about 230€)
-cheesecloth 8€
-1kg beeswax 25€ (mainly to make a good pitch but also for candles and even soap maybe?)
-120 m candle wicks thread 12€
-25 m wire mesh 31€ (for a future animal coop or something like that) ...
There are many more things that I would love to buy if I had unlimited money, from "insects hotels" or the materials to build them to beekeeping protective suit and hives, from a higher quality and larger tarp to buckets (to extract clay, to put the mylar bags in...) and to other books and tools, but I want you all to give your advice on the objects in the list at the moment.
Please DON'T suggest alternatives to the items I listed, just help me decide what should be bought soon and what can wait.

I joined this subreddit a few days before the show started, and there was a post that I found really interesting where u/TeeeeCeeee looked back at the previous Produce seasons + GP999 + Idol School and analyzed some of the most common archetypes found in Mnet survival shows, and I thought that it'll be interesting to go back to that post and try and see which Boys Planet contestants best fit the archetypes they predicted would appear.
(Note: I did not watch any of the Produce seasons nor GP999 nor Idol School so I have no idea what OP is talking about when they list their examples for each archetype but I trust that they’re right)

The Hero/Heroine: This is the protagonist of the show. In some seasons, Mnet's protagonist is a little less easy to identify, but I'll focus here on the most blatant examples. The hero/heroine is youthful and charming but there's some growing they still need to do. This weakness is typically presented in the first couple episodes, and their overcoming this weakness is usually one of the most major storylines in the season. Mnet's heroes and heroines always debut, and they get so much screen time it's difficult for them not to. They're often one of the first contestants we see, but usually not the actual first.

OP listed Somi (S1), Chaeyoung (IS), Sakura (48), Yohan (X), and Dayeon + Chaehyun (GP999) as examples.

It's a little early to know for sure who Mnet's hero will be (ep.1 will certainly make it clear) but there's a pretty good chance it will end up being Sung Hanbin, or any of the shiny boys.

I’d say that they were pretty spot on with Sung Hanbin in terms of the fact that he was the protagonist of the show from the moment that he walked into the Star Level test stage. However, I’m not sure if the show really focused on his weaknesses. We did see him struggle during Tomboy and Say My Name, but those weaknesses weren’t present in the beginning and didn’t really have a storyline during the entire show.

The nation's leader: The trainee who takes charge in the leader role time and again and shows compassion for their teammates, but also leads them to greatness. Someone who makes level-headed calls and also helps out the weak trainees. This is a niche that several trainees will fill early in the season, but only one of them typically makes it to the finale and becomes the nation's leader. It's also an archetype that the contestants seem to know well and gun for frequently, but it's success rates aren't actually fantastic.

OP listed Nayoung (S1), Kim Jonghyeon (S2), and Bora (GP999) as examples.

The nation's leader is usually one of the older trainees, and Ichika and Hui are already looking to be likely candidates. Keep an eye on trainees in the eye contact battle that seem to be very doting on their partner and helpful, especially those helping them translate. Hui's speaking Japanese for the much less confident Hyo is a classic nation's leader move.

I agree with Hui as he was the leader for every single mission in the show and people liked his leadership skills. Ichika was eliminated pretty early on nor was he ever a leader so he doesn't fit OP's definition. Dongyeol was also a contestant who got the leader role in every single mission he was in, but he also didn’t get a lot of screentime and not a lot of people talked about him so unfortunately he doesn’t really count. I’d argue that Park Hanbin was also a nation’s leader as many people liked his military-style training and he ranked first in leadership in that one subreddit talent survey. On top of that, his K-Group Hot Sauce team was the only team whose members all survived the first elimination. People also liked Zhang Hao and Jiwoong as leaders and they both made it into the final lineup, but neither of them actually ended up becoming the leader of the group.

The faildol: Often going hand in hand with the leader archetype is the trainee who seems to be way out of their league, looking lost and generally failing at every mission they try to do, but not failing too hard. Being endearing is the primary factor that makes the faildol such a successful archetype, and it's one of Mnet's absolute favorites … Somebody who isn't talented (yet) but they're down to earth and likeable.

OP listed Sohye (S1) and Hyewon (48) as examples.

Early candidate is Lee Daeul, who fans are already noticing can't dance, but at least he's cute! In kpop, for many, that's what really matters.

Daeul fits OP’s definition of a “faildol” pretty well; he didn’t have a lot of training but he was endearing, and Seunghwan (who you can also argue as someone who fits the leader archetype) took good care of him when they were both 2-stars. Unfortunately, he was not one of Mnet’s favorites as he got a really bad evil edit in episode 4 that caused his rank to plummet down to 46th after the 1st elimination ended and the votes resetted. Another example might be Takuto, who also lacked training but was very cute and charming. Mnet constantly edited him with cute sound effects, but they also focused on him struggling in the missions a lot as well.

The wonder kid: Opposed to the last few archetypes, the wonder kid never debuts, but an Mnet show isn't complete without them. The trainee who's young, probably too young to be on the show, but wow, they sure can dance. You're kidding, they can sing too? This kid's going places … Surely these kids are too talented to overlook, until their age holds them back, but they often work wonders for this next archetype.

OP listed Woojin (S2) and Haeun (48) as examples.

Likely candidates are any of the 07/08 kids, we'll have to see which one gets that golden ep.1/ep.2 edit.

I’m not sure if there were really any contestants in Boys Planet who fit this archetype. The closest example would be Yujin, who dances well especially for someone who was born in 07 and has only been dancing for a year, but that’s pretty much it (edit: also Yujin debuted so actually I’m not sure if he really fits OP’s definition).

The Ideal Hyung/Unnie: They're effortlessly cool and pretty, down to earth in a believable way, and are always looking out for the little guy, whether that be the faildol or the wonder kid. They're probably a little doting too, but it's not quite motherly/fatherly. A little tomboyish or distinctly masculine. The sort of person you'd want to have your back, the perfect older sibling … This archetype has been watered down and more of a micro-archetype in recent seasons, but I think it's pretty likely to make a resurgence this time around, especially with the contesants skewing older.

OP listed Sejeong (S1) and Daniel (S2) as examples.
I think a good example for this archetype is Jiwoong. He’s definitely masculine and has a “cool” vibe, but he’s also down to earth and has a goofy side to him. He also has almost a fatherly relationship with Yujin, whom I listed as a potential example for the Wonder Kid.

The One True Main Vocal: Is pretty self explanatory. It's the trainee who can hit high notes like no other. Every kpop group needs a main vocalist and this trainee is essential for the debut team. Typically this means they barely scrape by to the final elimination and get panic-voted into the lineup. It's also key for there to be several contestants of this archetype, so Mnet can pit them against each other for drama. This archetype can even pretty consistently make the debut team even after getting some bad edits.

OP listed Yeonjung (S1), Jaehwan (S2), Yuri, Goeun, Haeyoon, and Chowon (S3) as examples.

Kim Taerae seems like he'll be in the running, but there will definitely be many more alongside him.

I’m honestly pretty impressed with how OP managed to predict Taerae, as not only was he one of the contestants who were highlighted as a main vocal, but he also made it into the final lineup. On top of that, they also managed to predict that he would get panic-voted into the lineup since that's kinda what happened after the final interim rankings dropped. Other candidates for The One True Main Vocal were Hui, Jay, and Seungeon (OP also predicted the “pit them against each other for drama” correctly, especially with Hui and Jay during LMR), but ultimately it was Taerae who rose on top.

The Born Dancer: Also self explanatory, these are the trainees that are the best dancers on the planet and Mnet is going to make sure you know it, even if you don't know anything about dance whatsoever. They've probably been dancing since they were a baby, and they probably also learn choreography in 30 seconds … Unlike when it comes to main vocals, there will probably only be one main dancer push from mnet, despite many potential candidates.

OP listed Chungha (S1) and Chaeyeon (48) as examples.
There were a fair amount of main dancer candidates during this show (Sung Hanbin, Park Hanbin, Zihao, etc.) but honestly I feel like this show didn’t really focus that much on who can dance well? I feel like whenever the show did focus on dance it was more focused on who dances poorly and is “hindering” the rest of the team, but idk I could be wrong. Anyway, I think Park Hanbin fits this archetype the best. Idk if he’s been dancing since he was a baby, but Mnet put a lot of focus on him being a very fast learner (cue to him learning both the En Garde and Switch choreos) and a very good dance teacher.

The Underdog: There's something inherently underwhelming about his trainee, but when they come on stage they come alive. Maybe they're meek and shy, maybe their visuals aren't up to snuff, but that just makes them more relatable. Maybe they just aren't ranking as high as the objectively should, and that just makes you root for them harder.

OP listed Yoojung (S1), Hyeongjun (X), and Youngeun (GP999) as examples.
I… honestly don’t know who to put for this archetype. Maybe Jay? Since he unfortunately had quite the hate train going but that also made his supporters root for him even more. He did rank pretty high throughout the show though, so I’m not sure if he was really an “underdog.”

The Vitamin: Endlessly energetic, naturally funny, and always optimistic. Mnet loves to have a tense scene of team conflict then immediately cut to a vitamin doing something endearing for the cameras. The vitamin is the variety star to be … While the success-rate for vitamins has definitely gone down over time, their frequency has not wavered, and there will surely be several this season as well.

OP listed Yena (48) and Seungyoun (X) as examples.
This is definitely Seowon. That one scene during the reevaluations when everyone was stressed and anxious meanwhile here comes Seowon happily doing his audition and going “this is so fun :D” afterwards… yeah this archetype belongs to him. Woongki also fits this archetype as well; he’s funny and very energetic and is Seowon’s partner in crime. Both of them were the variety stars in the show (unfortunately they also didn’t make it into the final lineup).

The Flower Boy: A little effeminate, probably very comfortable doing aegyo. They're usually a bit of a toned down vitamin, and they're often a big victim of mnet forcing shipping. Smiley and upbeat and will probably be put into a fluffy sweater at some point.

OP listed Jihoon + Daehwi (S2) and Dongpyo + Hyeongjun (X) as examples.

Woonggi and Sungmin were World Klass' flower boys so there's a decent chance they'll take up the mantle again. From what I've seen, Seo Won or Jung Hojin might also fit this archetype well.

Alright I know I literally just listed Seowon and Woongki as examples for the Vitamin archetype but they also kind of fit the Flower Boy archetype as well. I don’t think they were “toned down vitamins,” but they’re pretty feminine and comfortable with doing aegyo. I think OP might be right with Hojin (based on that one dorm scene where Woongki, Seowon, and Hojin danced to Hype Boy), but he also didn’t get a lot of screentime so it’s a bit hard to tell. Same thing with Sungmin.

The Big 3 Dropout: A trainee once from a prestigious company but who got overlooked for debut and is now on the rocks, desperate for debut. Mnet makes sure you know they're a bit different from the rest, there's something inherently better about them. They must be talented to have been in such a big agency, but they're also a built in underdog for having failed already … Being from a Big 3 agency isn't a guarantee you'll get this archetype either, you just have to get lucky and hope Mnet picks you to be the lucky one, there's always many who get overlooked.

OP listed Herin + Seoyeon + Jiwon (IS), Chaeyeon (48), and Chaehyun + Mashiro (GP999) as examples.

The Loud contestants have a good chance of getting this archetype for this season.

To be honest, I don’t think this show really focused on which companies/survival shows the contestants have trained/participated in before. There’s no/barely any mention of some of the contestants being in Loud or being former Cube trainees, so I don’t think this archetype is really present in the show.

The Desperate Idol: Maybe their group is struggling, maybe it's already gone. Regardless, this is a trainee who's already made debut but has struggled to find success for one reason or another. Every season has a ton of contestants who have already debuted in one way or another but you've got to be from a decently high profile group to score this archetype. What's important that you know about this contestant is that it might just be their last chance. Don't you feel sorry for them? Aren't they too good to let slip through the cracks? The likelihood of a very nugu group member getting this edit is very unlikely.

OP listed Chaeyeon (S1), NU’EST (S2), Kaeun (48), Wooseok (X), and Yujin (GP999) as examples.

Hui is a given for this edit, but it's also possible the guys from Up10tion might get it too. Woonggi and Sungmin are unlikely to get this edit due to the circumstances of their leaving the group, and Seunghwan is also unlikely due to be the winner of an MBC survival show. Can't be promoing the rival networks. The other contestants from other groups are likely all much too nugu for mnet to name drop them.

OP was right about Hui getting this edit as well as Woongki and Seunghwan not getting this edit. Sungmin did briefly mention “leaving” TO1 and saying that this is his last chance during the Rush Hour conflict though. Up10tion and NINE.i were also very briefly mentioned during Hui’s segment but that was kinda it, so yeah it was mainly Hui who got this edit.
This was pretty fun to write lol

Look I know he wasn’t thinking rationally for most of the final sequence, but cmon. He must’ve had some kind of post-op clarity when he got to Tanalorr. What was he gonna do, navigate the abyss for every grocery run? You can’t live on an uninhabited planet with nothing but what you can fit in the back of your headhunter 💀💀

I always had a great time on it, I always sat either in the front or in the back for the better experience.
Still pissed they took it out because it was the only one of its kind with the dual twists on the ends. No other version has that anywhere.
I still say they could have relocated it somewhere else in the park, maybe in the back because I always felt like the theme of it would fit Frontier Town.
Glad i got to ride it in 2021 though one last time.

Hello Lexus Fam!
I've been a longtime lurker and am looking to purchase a sedan for the daily. I am looking at the IS, ES, and GS models. I am looking to purchase a vehicle that has a touch of luxury, reliable, and sporty. I'm in my 20s and 6'1 and feel like the IS fits the bill for what I am looking for. However, I have a couple of questions

1. Is the IS the right choice for me or would it be too small for me considering my height? I do like a spacious vehicle and don't want to feel like its too tight for me to fit.
2. I know a friend who is in the business of buying and selling salvage titles after fixing them up and said he can get me a 2021 IS350 F-sport for $25k (I saw the pictures and the damage was the front bumper came off in an accident, airbags did not deploy and didn't seem to be in bad condition). My budget is around $20k but I really liked that vehicle he showed me, but I was wondering if you all would get a rebuilt title car? I am planning to have this one as a keeper for a while so resale value doesn't bother me much.
3. For the f-sport models on the IS, what are some issues that you all see? I have noticed the tire wear issue. Is this common on the newer models as well? Maintenance is also a big factor for me in deciding my next car and I don't want to be bogged down with big repairs.
4. Anything else I need to know? :)

Appreciate the help!

And this is going under the assumption that a modern day anti christ would have the same if not greater power than Jesus, which is a tricky concept considering so many technologies have advanced since their time, technologies which enable humans to achieve feats faster and more efficiently. If Jesus was a real man, than I can guess his feat was to help enable all humans to live in peace, but there can be no peace without war, but war is for the weak, therefore the meek shall inherit the earth, but if this species decides to invent technologies which aim to provide life supporting services outward of our own planet, and further galaxies or something, then how good would a Jesus type figure fit in that scenario?

On first glance, Whickham appears to be a typical former pit village, a place of no consequence in the north east of England. But should you look closer, you would reveal a long and interesting folkloric history. And at the heart of that history, is Lang Jack.
Should you ever visit Whickham and ask about Lang Jack, you’d hear all the standard stuff. They’d tell you that he was incredibly tall, and inhumanly strong. They’d say he heaved stones from a quarry the next town over on his back and up the hill that Whickham sits atop in order to build his house. And lastly they’d tell you that you can visit him yourself, his monument is at the centre of the village, a great towering pillar holding up a bust of the man himself.
All of this is true, or so they say, but there’s more.
What they won’t tell you is that he was almost as famous for his anger as he was for his height. In fact, in a fit of rage he is reported to have tipped an entire cart of stones, horse and all, down an embankment, killing the poor animal and destroying the cart.
They also won’t tell you about his alcoholism, which destroyed his family, career, and liver, leading to his untimely death. He would often get so drunk that he would jump up and down on the spot, one part party trick, two parts act of vandalism when his heavy frame crashed through the wooden floorboards and he flopped into the cowshed beneath him.
But most importantly, they won’t tell you to visit his monument at midnight. They’ll never tell you this because they know the story of Ye Olde Lang Jack’s monument, they know the games they would play as children, and they know the fear that creeps into their chest when they remember the look on that contorted, dissolving stone face.
To tell the full story we have to go back in time, back to a time long after Lang Jack’s death, and long before his monument was moved. You see, the monument once sat in a very different part of Whickham, a place called Woodhouse Lane in Fellside. This area is much more rural, with sprawling fields around it in almost all directions. It sat beside a cottage, Jack’s cottage, the one he built with his bare hands.
The monument was first placed there in 1860, the same year of Lang Jack’s death. There has long been speculation that Jack was buried beneath the monument rather than in the churchyard like many other notable Whickham villagers. Peculiar for the time, Jack rejected the church, instead spending much of his time drinking and working as ‘hired help’ for businessmen who sought to intimidate and punish unruly workers, especially unionmen.
As a result of this speculation, the site of Lang Jack’s monument was a popular one among children and teenagers looking to spook themselves.
They would arrive, rocks in hand to hurl at the monument of Olde Lang Jack. Each child would take turns trying to strike the stone giant in the face as it smiled down at them from its 18 foot plinth. And if they missed, Ye Olde Lang Jack might just reach up with those long arms of his and snatch them deep down into the dirt.
Children played this game for years, and the stories of Jack’s grave spread like wildfire. Generation after generation the game was modified to fit the modern day, and as it was, so too did the stories of Jack mutate, and finally, with each stone throw, Jack’s face became more mutilated.
The years of wind, rain, sleet, and stones twisted Jack’s once charming and chiselled face into something much more unsettling. Corrosion took away his smug smile and replaced it with a sneer. Then it took his eyes, once kind, now they stare piercingly outward, as if a single glance could turn you to the very same stained and mossy stone.
This new face, and in particular the eyes, is what drew the children back. They gawked and pointed and groaned out chants they’d received from their parent’s childhoods. There were many variations, but most went something like this:
"Gangly Lang Jack, The Giant of Whickham
Who stood eighteen feet tall but that’s not all
So mighty and strong that they wrote this song
To tell all of Ye Olde Lang Jack.
He built our home with only his hands
The most beautiful village in all of the lands
Now he lies cold and dead underfoot
Hands grasping at nothing, his purpose kaput.
So chuck him a stone and give him a wink
Stare into his eyes and see if they blink
But watch where you step, the giant is sleeping
And listen carefully to Olde Lang Jack’s weeping."
They would dance around the monument to Lang Jack and sing this song, then dare each other to stare into his eyes. After that they’d throw their stones and more often than not be chased off by a local, giggling into the distance, off to tell their friends about their bravery under the stony gaze of Lang Jack.
This bravery didn’t last long. Soon the very sight of Lang Jack would strike fear into the hearts of the children of Whickham. No longer would children sing the song of The Giant of Whickham, they wouldn’t visit his grave or throw their stones, but most of all, no one would dare stare into Olde Jack’s eyes.
Fear like this was not the type that crept into the heads of sleeping children as they dreamt of the fun they’d had at Jack’s grave. Instead it was a very unnatural fear, a fear that came at a cost, and that cost was the life of a young girl named Mary.
Mary was brave, braver than most, and she wore that bravery like a badge of honour. So when some of the older girls dared her to go up to Lang Jack’s grave alone, she didn’t hesitate before agreeing. She even upped the stakes and decided that she would venture up in the evening, just as the sun was starting to set.
The night she chose was particularly blustery, the wind howled through the treetops as she made her way to meet Lang Jack. Polaroid camera in hand she pushed hard against the gale that saw fit to blow her back down the hill. But she was persistent, and so brave, so with each gust she only quickened her pace.
Mary rushed to the top of the hill, triumphant over the weather and ready to take on The Giant.
What happened next will forever be between Mary and Jack, and the two of them alone. A passerby claims to have seen a flash atop the hill before hearing a mighty crash. Thinking it was lightning they hurried back to their home. But beyond that, no one truly knows what happened that night.
Mary was found the next day, still clutching her camera. A single polaroid is said to have been found at the scene. Those who have seen it have described it as the frozen eyes of the devil himself. Although it is much more likely to have been a snapshot of Lang Jack’s face as the bust fell from atop the plinth and onto poor, brave Mary.
After that night the monument was moved to where it remains today. It was shortened to reduce the risk of another fatal accident, and placed where all of Whickham could see it, where there would always be someone to chase away the children.
The children who knew Mary, or knew her story, grew up fearing the statue. They forgot his song and denied ever throwing their stones. Time weathered their memories and before long they forgot why they were even scared in the first place. But their children remained curious, and some still met at the statue.
And so this brings us back to what they won’t tell you. They’ll never tell you to make the same mistake that so many have before. They won’t tell you to meet at Olde Lang Jack’s gravestone at midnight and stare into his eyes. And they won’t tell you to listen for his weeping and look for the tears streaming down his scarred face. But you’ll do it anyway, because how could you resist?
So the cycle goes on, and the stories continue to be told for years and years. All the while Jack cries on his plinth. Why does he cry? Nobody knows. Does he feel guilty for what happened to little Mary? Perhaps, or perhaps he mourns the man he once was. Before folklore changed him into the gibbering spector locked in the stone tower. Feared by many and ignored by most, only noticed by those who wish to see him weep.

"Greetings, and Welcome Traveler to Ethos Reforged. A open world text based rp on Discord. Here at Ethos we play daily around the clock as our custom ocs. Built around the many fantasy classes, and races to choose from. With a track time of 3+ years we are one of the most long running, and active rps around. With a track record of being in the top 100 disboard rps all of 2021.
Ethos itself is a custom open world Fantasy Rp with both combative, and non-combative elements.
Play whatever you want. From a human ranger with a dark backstory that has lead him to alcoholism to a dwarf trying to make a smithing business. As long as it fits into our world, it is yours.
Understand that Ethos is a tough environment. It is not meant for light roleplayers. Our serious, and fun player base have grown to respect the hardship. And, we hope you do too.
For a invitation, please message me here or on Discord.
Discord Name: LilithRosé#3781
Thanks, Lilith
• ⁠Dice System ? Situational/Probability system • ⁠Age Requirement? 15+ • ⁠Writing Requirements? No • ⁠General Premise and Setting: Medieval Fantasy • ⁠Fandom or OC?: OC • ⁠General Restrictions: No ERP

"Greetings, and Welcome Traveler to Ethos Reforged. A open world text based rp on Discord. Here at Ethos we play daily around the clock as our custom ocs. Built around the many fantasy classes, and races to choose from. With a track time of 3+ years we are one of the most long running, and active rps around. With a track record of being in the top 100 disboard rps all of 2021.
Ethos itself is a custom open world Fantasy Rp with both combative, and non-combative elements.
Play whatever you want. From a human ranger with a dark backstory that has lead him to alcoholism to a dwarf trying to make a smithing business. As long as it fits into our world, it is yours.
Understand that Ethos is a tough environment. It is not meant for light roleplayers. Our serious, and fun player base have grown to respect the hardship. And, we hope you do too.
For a invitation, please message me here or on Discord.
Discord Name: LilithRosé#3781
Thanks, Lilith
• ⁠Dice System ? Situational/Probability system • ⁠Age Requirement? 15+ • ⁠Writing Requirements? No • ⁠General Premise and Setting: Medieval Fantasy • ⁠Fandom or OC?: OC • ⁠General Restrictions: No ERP

"Greetings, and Welcome Traveler to Ethos Reforged. A open world text based rp on Discord. Here at Ethos we play daily around the clock as our custom ocs. Built around the many fantasy classes, and races to choose from. With a track time of 3+ years we are one of the most long running, and active rps around. With a track record of being in the top 100 disboard rps all of 2021.
Ethos itself is a custom open world Fantasy Rp with both combative, and non-combative elements.
Play whatever you want. From a human ranger with a dark backstory that has lead him to alcoholism to a dwarf trying to make a smithing business. As long as it fits into our world, it is yours.
Understand that Ethos is a tough environment. It is not meant for light roleplayers. Our serious, and fun player base have grown to respect the hardship. And, we hope you do too.
For a invitation, please message me here or on Discord.
Discord Name: LilithRosé#3781
Thanks, Lilith
• ⁠Dice System ? Situational/Probability system • ⁠Age Requirement? 15+ • ⁠Writing Requirements? No • ⁠General Premise and Setting: Medieval Fantasy • ⁠Fandom or OC?: OC • ⁠General Restrictions: No ERP

"Greetings, and Welcome Traveler to Ethos Reforged. A open world text based rp on Discord. Here at Ethos we play daily around the clock as our custom ocs. Built around the many fantasy classes, and races to choose from. With a track time of 3+ years we are one of the most long running, and active rps around. With a track record of being in the top 100 disboard rps all of 2021.
Ethos itself is a custom open world Fantasy Rp with both combative, and non-combative elements.
Play whatever you want. From a human ranger with a dark backstory that has lead him to alcoholism to a dwarf trying to make a smithing business. As long as it fits into our world, it is yours.
Understand that Ethos is a tough environment. It is not meant for light roleplayers. Our serious, and fun player base have grown to respect the hardship. And, we hope you do too.
For a invitation, please message me here or on Discord.
Discord Name: LilithRosé#3781
Thanks, Lilith
• ⁠Dice System ? Situational/Probability system • ⁠Age Requirement? 15+ • ⁠Writing Requirements? No • ⁠General Premise and Setting: Medieval Fantasy • ⁠Fandom or OC?: OC • ⁠General Restrictions: No ERP

"Greetings, and Welcome Traveler to Ethos Reforged. A open world text based rp on Discord. Here at Ethos we play daily around the clock as our custom ocs. Built around the many fantasy classes, and races to choose from. With a track time of 3+ years we are one of the most long running, and active rps around. With a track record of being in the top 100 disboard rps all of 2021.
Ethos itself is a custom open world Fantasy Rp with both combative, and non-combative elements.
Play whatever you want. From a human ranger with a dark backstory that has lead him to alcoholism to a dwarf trying to make a smithing business. As long as it fits into our world, it is yours.
Understand that Ethos is a tough environment. It is not meant for light roleplayers. Our serious, and fun player base have grown to respect the hardship. And, we hope you do too.
For a invitation, please message me here or on Discord.
Discord Name: LilithRosé#3781
Thanks, Lilith
• ⁠Dice System ? Situational/Probability system • ⁠Age Requirement? 15+ • ⁠Writing Requirements? No • ⁠General Premise and Setting: Medieval Fantasy • ⁠Fandom or OC?: OC • ⁠General Restrictions: No ERP

Welcome to Camp Redwood! The feel-good camp for ALL AGES.
We toast marshmallows around the fire, tell spooky ghost stories, and hide in random secret military bunkers under the campgrounds! Because SOMETHING IS HERE WITH US.
Camp Redwood is the PERFECT PLACE for a summer getaway where we start EVERY DAY with a CAMP REDWOOD SMILE. Where our counselors disappear every five minutes, and our campers disembowel us for funsies! Did I forget to mention our littles aren’t actually eight years old, but fully grown adults?
We hope you enjoy your fucking stay!
We are also not responsible for any counselors revealing they are not who they said they are—and not who they appear to be.
...
So. There’s a LOT to tell you and not a lot of time to tell it.
Right now, I suppose you could say we are under lockdown—if that is the word. I want to go over the last several days to get you up to date. That’s all I can do right now. I can hope and pray the thing with Teddy’s voice does not get in here, and once again cry out for help—that I know is not coming. Not from the authorities, at least. But hey, if any of you fancy coming to rescue us, we’re in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. The closest rest-stop is maybe three fucking hours away. So have fun. Has it really almost been a week since I posted? Well, we’re still here!
And surprise, surprise, help is not coming. So, please excuse the salt. I am seventeen years old and I have been abandoned by the adults who were supposed to be looking after us.
Who were supposed to act under protocol if something like this happened. I know they were waiting for it—there are specific fucking guidelines on an emergency evacuation for counselors if this ever happened. But then the little shits took over before we could do anything. I guess I’ll start by letting you know that there are two of us left. (three, if we count Rowan, but I’m not). What I thought was going to be a quiet summer getaway with kids my age has turned into a nightmare.
For one, we have been cornered inside the head counselor’s underground secret bunker. If you want to know why she has a secret military bunker, I guess you should keep reading.
Because shit gets weirder than animal crackers having the power to turn adults into kids, and vice versa. When I made my first post, I thought that was it for us. I thought for sure there must have been a self-destruct somewhere—which meant whoever was running this camp was waiting for something like this. I was sure we were going to die, so after making the post, I have to admit with ya’ll—I just slept. I curled up, tried to ignore Harry and Carmel calling our names through childish laugher, and went to sleep with the thought in my head that I was completely at peace with what I had done with my life.
Sure, I was young. Seventeen years old is too young to be ripped apart by littles who are in fact grown adults. But as I was falling into slumber and allowing myself to fall, with my head resting in my lap, my head turned towards a separate pile of files on the other side of the room—I realized I really wanted to know how this was possible. There was so much I needed to know. Why did eight-year-old Eleanor Summers have a file where here birthday dated back to 1979? Why had supposedly innocent sugary snacks turned our adorable littles into mini psychopaths?
These kids were not kids, somehow. But how? How was that even possible? Could it be that the files were wrong?
1979 was definitely 45.
But Eleanor Summers couldn’t be 45 years old. I knew what 45 looked like. I knew that they thought like. They spent half of their time on Facebook laughing at outdated memes, and the other half… I don’t know, working? They have job’s! They’re happily married with kids, maybe soon grandkids! That was not Eleanor Summers. Because Eleanor Summers was most definitely eight years old. I had played several rounds of teddy-bears picnic, and spent hours reassuring her that Harry's ghost stories were in fact not real, enough times for me to know that this little kid was little—and a kid.
But something was bothering me. More than the secret military bunker, and magic age-regressing animal crackers. When I first signed up to Camp Redwood, one of the tag-lines to gain attraction had been, “Solve mysteries in the woods in the dead of night, with nothing but a flashlight and your fellow campers!” I had no idea I would be solving this thing on my own, trapped inside a bunker.
“What are you doing?” Rowan, who was still looking through Allison’s dinosaur laptop, turned to me with half lidded eyes, when I slowly got to my feet, careful not to make too much noise, and crept over to the pile of separate files which seemed to be crumbling apart from age. He kept his voice low, but it sounded almost like a whine. He could have been scared, but from the way he was sitting, cross-legged with a frowny face, I figured something must have been going on with him. The guy looked tired. More tired than normal.
The bags under his eyes were practically shadowing his face, and were an odd contrast to unusually ashy colored cheeks and slightly dilated eyes. Still though, Rowan refused to look vulnerable. I caught glimpse of Harry’s raybans sitting on his head, pinning back thick dark brown curls from falling in front of sleepy eyes. Maybe he was finally losing his cool and breaking out of the well-constructed façade he had been hiding behind since Teddy disappeared.
We had just narrowly escaped a crowd of psycho littles high on age-regressing sugary snacks who were doing who-the-fuck knows to the other counselors who had been captured, so I didn’t blame him looking like that. I guess he couldn’t look me in the eye, because in Rowan’s mind, he was the reason why this happened. He was the leader, and the camp had fallen to psychopathic little eight year olds who had taken half of the counselors hostage, and the other half—most likely taken apart in the physical sense, after what we had witnessed in Cassie’s cabin. Still though, it wasn’t Rowan’s fault. He could sit there and pull a face all he wanted, it’s not like I was going to blow up at him for getting us stuck down here. He actually saved us.
And trapped us, judging from the footsteps upstairs, Carmel and Harry still bouncing around looking for us.
It was a game in their heads. The little’s thought it was cat and mouse. Harry and Carmel were the oblivious cats prowling, while we were the mice, hoping to fucking GOD we weren’t caught and eaten. Ignoring Rowan, I glimpsed what looked like a box full of DVD’S—all of which were labelled with dates and names. I saw familiar ones, my heart racing into my throat. Phoebe. Eli. Cassandra.
Each DVD had one of the kid’s names scribbled on the front, as well as a date.
I found Eleanor’s right at the back of the box.
Eleanor Summers.
08/05/2021. (PM)
Before I could hesitate and think what I was doing, I slid the DVD into the portable player attached to the MacBook. Rowan, to my surprise, didn’t move. But he did make an acknowledging noise when the screen flickered to what looked like video footage. Peering at the screen, I found myself staring at a small white room. There was no door. Only a wooden desk and a chair, and sitting on it was a middle aged woman with dark blonde curls tied into a strict ponytail. She was wearing what looked like a prison jumpsuit.
Her eyes were eerily glued to the camera, unblinking. Her wrists were cuffed in front of her. Though from the look on her face, she saw the restraints as a game. Her eyes lit up with intrigue and I could practically see the cogs in her mind starting to turn as she struggled with them.
As soon as I saw this woman, I felt all of my nerve endings set alight. I wanted to turn the screen off, or look away. But once I was looking at the screen, I couldn’t bring myself to tear my eyes away. “Let’s try this again.” There was a woman offscreen. She sounded young. Too young to be in that kind of authority. I figured there was no way teenagers were being hired as special ops agents, but I guessed I was wrong. She cleared her throat. “It is 4:35 exactly. August 5th 2021. My name is Agent Lemrac,” she stated. “I am asking once again for you to comply with us. As I have said several times, the court are willing to lessen your sentence if you plead guilty with insanity.”
The woman surprised me with a snorting laugh. She seemed to come alive, leaning forward with animated features, her brow reaching her hairline. She was acting like a child, bouncing up and down in the seat, her lips stretching into a wider grin. “What did you just say?”
There was a pause. I could tell the woman was intentionally antagonising the interviewer.
“It means you have been legally declared insane,” the interviewer stumbled over her words slightly. “Mrs Summers, it would be in your best interest to work with us to lessen your current sentence which at the moment is standing at,” the sounds of shuffling paper crackled through the speakers. The interviewer cleared her throat again rustling paper. “Thirty six years. Without parole.”
The woman didn’t speak, only continued to smile—and the interviewer delved further into the sentence. “If you do in fact plead guilty with declared insanity, you will be sentenced to a program which is in the process of supporting and rehabilitating people with your…” she caught herself for a moment. I could tell this interviewer had a biased opinion and it was definitely showing through her interviewing style. I could hear the rapid intakes of her breath as she hurried through what seemed to be a script she was reading from. “Conditions.” She finished. “The Redwood program aims to help people exactly like you.”
Redwood? I thought.
Like… Camp Redwood?
Rowan whistled behind me. I guess I could call that a reaction. The guy was probably still in shock after seeing Café de Teddy splattered all over little Cassie’s cabin floor. I should have known those little bitches weren’t playing Operation for eight hours straight. Turning my attention from Rowan and back to the screen, the woman in the jumpsuit appeared to have changed tactics. Her expression twisted into nonchalance. She leaned back in her chair. “I am not pleading insane because I am not insane.”
“Mrs Summers—”
The woman cut her off. “I am not crazy.” She raised her hands “I am doing what needs to be done.” She leaned forward. “Humanity suffers in the skin. We age and die— and how is that fair? What if we want to see the next millennium? And the next two millennia after that? Why should our bodies dictate our lifespan? Why should we sit here and wait to rot and wither and die when we have the intelligence and mindset to do it? If nobody else is willing to throw ethics aside to take a step forwards in human evolution, I should do it myself.” She folded her arms across her chest, again, like a child. “I did what was to be done.”
“Dr. Summers.” The interviewer’s tone grew stiff. “You and your colleagues conducted illegal and unethical procedures on your family and friends—as well as four other victims.”
The woman inclined her head. “You have a daughter, am I correct? I have a son.”
“A child you killed, Dr Summers.” The interviewer retorted in a hiss which was definitely expressing emotion. She ignored the mention of her daughter, but I could tell it had rattled her to her core. Her voice had cracked. This case was close to her.
That was obvious. Without seeing the interviewer herself, I could sense how uncomfortable she was, shuffling in the chair. Every so often I would hear the sound of her rubbing her hands on her knees and tapping her shoe against the chair leg. She oozed anxiety, not just from her tone of voice, but the way the frame seemed to move with her. “Dr. Summers, you used your son in your research, along with several of his friends. This was not science.” Her voice shook. I heard her sharp inhale. Unprofessional, but very human. Instead of staying stoic and keeping to script, this agent was cracking apart. “It was murder.”
“Agent Lemrac, concentrate on the interview only.” An official voice crackled through what sounded like an intercom on screen.
“Got it.” She spoke through her teeth.
The woman was finding wounds and pressing on them. She was scanning the interviewer for vulnerabilities and preying on every insecurity. She leaned back speaking through a sigh. “Without my son’s sacrifice we wouldn’t have created an answer to death. To growing old and dying, and leaving loved ones behind.” Her voice softened into a murmur, but I didn’t trust it.
After identifying the shattering pieces of this interviewer which were very clear visible in her view, the woman was taking advantage.
“Agent Lemrac, you have a daughter. Am I correct in saying her name is Mari?
“That… that is not relevant.”
“Glioblastoma.” Dr. Summers lips curved into a sickening smile hidden behind mocking sympathy. “A sickness of the brain--which, unfortunately, I cannot fix. If your daughter’s brain was in my hands, I would try. However, not even a brand new body would help her. One which would never age or grow sick. And for that, I am deeply, deeply sorry.” She reached her cuffed hands forwards. “My condolences, Agent Lemrac. Honestly. I have to hand it to you. You are incredibly brave for coming here today and talking to me while abandoning your sick child.” She shook her head.
“Your daughter is dying of an incurable illness, suffering inside fragile skin which will break and fall apart and be unable to keep her standing for much longer. While my son will live on forever. He will see every millennia, a planet which will crumble and build itself back together. And maybe the end of the universe itself.” There was a twitch in her expression and a glitter in her eye I did not recognise. Insanity.
She was fucking insane. I was seeing the pure of it, the depraved and disgusting gleam in eyes empty of remorse and regret. This woman did not care what she had done. I could tell from the look on her face. If she had the chance, she would do this again.
But there was no way they were trying to say her cruelty and complete disregard for her son’s life was due to insanity.
“You are sick, Dr. Summers.” The interviewer said after a moment of gathering herself.
The woman shook her head with a chuckle. “I told you. I am not sick--”
“Sick in the head!” The interviewer’s voice exploded through the speakers in a shriek—a terrified cry she had been trying to hold in. I finally saw her—or at least the back of her. She was a young woman with light blonde hair falling loose on her shoulders. She was trembling. Slamming her hands down on the table, she screamed at the orange jumpsuit woman.
“You are psychologically fucked in the head! You psycho bitch! That is my sister!” She spoke through strangled sobs rattling her whole body. “Mari is my little sister. She is not my child.”
Her breaths were strangled and harboured. I noticed figures looming in the background, but she was continuing. “You killed your own fucking son,” she spat. “You are not legally insane, you are sick!” she shrieked. “You planned and put this together! You sit there and you talk about your son like he’s a… like he’s a tool! You deserve to rot. Do you hear me?” I noticed the orange jumpsuit woman was still smiling, satisfied with the interview’s reaction. Her words were spoken in a vicious poison as she leaned forward and spat directly in orange jumpsuit’s face.
“Agent Lemrac!” Whoever her superiors were—were panicking. “I told you not to turn it off. I knew this was going to happen. Can we stop the demonstration, please? Human emotions present inside an Aceville soldier are too powerful—"
Voices were murmuring in the background, and Agent Lemrac raised her hands. “I want to stop.” She choked out, her hands trembling. She spoke like she still had control over the situation and wasn’t being apprehended. “I want to stop. Do you hear me?” The interviewer was crying, I realized. “Stop the recording! I can’t do this. Oh god, I think I’m going to be sick—”
When the footage ended in a burst of static, I found myself backing away, something slimy creeping its way up my throat.
The woman in the orange jumpsuit who had murdered her son and countless others in what sounded like an attempt at playing god, was Eleanor Summers. I thought back to Teddy’s corpse, and the surgical precision of every organ’s removal. The young interviewer had mentioned colleagues of Eleanor.
Was it possible that Camp Redwood was in fact nothing more than a rehabilitation camp for murderous criminals? There was a loud bang from above, and I was torn from my thoughts.
I turned to Rowan, who had been unusually quiet. And I realized why, when I twisted around to find him three inches from my face, his laboured breath tickling my cheek.
The boy jumped back with a chuckle—like me noticing him was some kind of game, before diving back into the chair. I did notice something odd, as my thoughts spiralled. Rowan couldn’t sit still. Slumped in the leather spinning chair, he fingers tapped a rhythm on the armrests while his feet jumped up and down. In the dim light of the bunker, I glimpsed a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead and the flesh of his neck. He looked to be… feverish—and now that I was looking at him properly, all of my attention on the boy, I noticed small things which seemed… off about him.
For one, he wasn’t coming up with a plan. Rowan always had a plan. Even if he wasn’t completely sure of it, or was completely winging it. This time though, he was strangely quiet. I found my voice when he stuck out his tongue at me. “What are you looking at?”
“Rowan.” I spoke softly, careful not to garner attention from above us where Harry and Carmel were still clamouring around, playing games. “Are you… feeling okay?” I asked, when he turned back to the laptop, manically biting his fingernails.
“I dunnnooooo, Josie! Am I feeeeeeling okaaaaaayyyyy?” He surprised me with an uncharacteristic laugh.
But I did know it.
I knew it from earlier when he reacted to Allison’s bunker and I had been too freaked out to realize that I was dragging along the enemy with me.
Because the fucking idiot had consumed animal crackers. I had seen him for myself earlier, pouring a pack into his mouth for a snack. Which meant either the ‘kids’ had intentionally dosed him with mind altering sugary snacks, or the more likely, he could not resist those preservatives which was the equivalent of caffeine. It’s not like I could blame him when he harboured the weight of an entire camp, but come on, did he really have to sacrifice his own fucking mind to keep himself awake?
Rowan wasn’t just biting. His nails. He was gnawing. Which he previously thought was a filthy habit. He had yelled at a camper for chewing on her nails a few days earlier.
Now that I was noticing it, I couldn’t… stop noticing it. The boy’s whole demeanour had changed; the way he was sinking into the chair, instead of sitting up straight like usual—- I used to call it having a stick up his ass. The boy started typing on the laptop, ignoring me. But when I watched the pattern of his fingers, he was just typing gibberish. Footsteps pounded above us, Harry and Carmel acting as the kid’s’ brainwashed foot-soldiers. Or, more likely somehow, if the animal crackers had caused the littles, or I guess, the fully grown forty year old criminals, to relapse in age-- then maybe it was possible for the same thing to happen to us. To Rowan.
I could feel myself starting to back away, but there was nowhere to run. I just slammed into a cupboard. My gaze flicked to Rowan again, who was tapping a beat on the laptop tracking pad, swaying back and forth, his eyes elsewhere before his gaze found mine. “Marcoooooo!” Harry shouted from above, giggling with Carmel.
I had to guess their mental age had to be at least 8-10 years old. Which meant I wasn’t just dealing with a camp full of forty-year-old psycho’s, I was also dealing with mentally relapsed counselors acting like toddlers.
Rowan seemed to jolt in the chair, twisting his head around, his eyes suddenly incredibly childlike and playful, and very Un-Rowan, were finding the ceiling, his mouth stretching into a smile, like he was seeing butterflies. His eyes flashed to me, and I caught a twitch in his lip. I knew that look. It was the look on my seven year old sister, who knew mom was mad at me, and wanted to make it even worse.
His cheeks were starting to blossom scarlet from what must have been the overwhelming urge to laugh. Rowan pressed his lips together and held in a breath like a hamster, and the asshole was fucking with me. Waiting for me to beat him to it by accident. Kids were fucking ruthless, but there was something terrifying about an 18 year old with a little kid’s mind.
I lifted my index to my lips, miming for him not to even try, but the boy just mimicked me, bugging out his eyes and pressing his finger to his grinning mouth. “Don’t you fucking dare.” I managed to whisper. The boy was definitely playing his own game, moving in twitching movements, baiting me. When he cupped his mouth, I almost let out a cry, but then he dropped his arms with a giggle, as if to say, “I’m just kidding!”
Slowly, I turned around, grabbed the salt I’d found in Allison’s cupboard, and a flat can of soda. Without making too much movement, I poured a handful of salt into the can. But Rowan seemed to know exactly what I was doing. Because in the time it was taking me to advance towards him with the can of salty soda, one arm shakily ready to grab hold of him, and put him into a headlock, he was cupping his mouth, all logic and everything adult, everything he had been as our leader, igniting in playful eyes, leaving me the last one standing.
“Pollloooooo!”
By the time Rowan had managed to reveal our hiding place in a spluttered laugh, I had hold of the squirming boy, one arm wrapped around his neck, my other forcing the can of soda into his mouth. I had definitely miscalculated his strength. During camp Redwood activities, he was always the last one to come back from the trail, holding his knees and panting. I figured he was unfit. However, I was wrong. Underneath his shirt, the guy had some serious muscles.
It was like attacking a brick wall. However, Rowan was mentally a kid. So, I had my intelligence and logic on my side. When it became obvious I wasn’t going to get anywhere with brute strength, I resorted to tickling him, which made him squirm, squeaking out a laugh. When he opened his mouth to yell at me to stop, I took my chance, thrusting the can into his lips and holding his nose so he swallowed it down.
“No!” His laughter turned into muffled yelling, as he batted his fists at my chest. “No, no, no! Get off, get off!”
His body convulsed as the salt did its job, causing the boy to lurch to his knees and choke up forbidden animal crackers in a gooish sludge which turned my stomach. By the time Rowan seemed half himself and half not, still kneeling, his head pressed against the floor, Harry was poking his head through the door with a goonish grin. “Found you!” He giggled, before forcing the door open, allowing Carmel and Callen, freshly caught and mentally turned into littles, to advance down the stairs with equally terrifying grins. There was something wrong with Harry’s face, and I only realized it when the guy himself was hauling me from the bunker, Carmel dragging a barely responsive Rowan. There was nothing in Harry’s expression, only blind childish excitement at winning the game. When he dragged me out of Allison’s cabin and threw me to the ground, I realized he too had insane strength I had not been expecting. But that thought quickly retracted when I was seeing his face in the light of a crescent moon lighting up the sky an eerie glow. Harry’s cheeks were puffy and swollen, his right eye way bigger than it should have been.
When he spoke, his voice was more of a lisp. This was something far more realistic than magical animal crackers fucking with his brain.
“He needs help!” I managed to choke out when Carmel wrapped jump-rope around my wrists. Next to me, Rowan was refusing to get up, still choking up salty soda, groaning into his hands. Every time Callen tried to restrain him, he hissed out like an animal.
“Do you hear me?!” I struggled violently. “Harry needs—”
BANG.
Is what it felt like. The feeling of something—what felt and sounded like a toy car—colliding with my temples, sent me onto the ground, my head spinning itself off of its axis. I remember lying on my back and frowning at the moon which almost looked like it was getting closer to me, blurring into a white ball of light—before reality sunk in, and it was in fact Carmel’s converse coming down to finish me off. I didn’t stay knocked out for long. But I did dream.
I think you can call it a dream? I was lying in bed at home; my room drowned in the dark. I was cosy, curled up in my blankets, when a clammy hand slammed over my mouth, rousing me from slumber. There were two figures in my room. They didn’t have faces. They just existed as shadows, silhouettes. Before one of them raised something above their head, and… impact.
It was the same impact as the toy car hitting me, snapping me back to that night. It wasn’t a dream. Because I remembered his clammy fingers over my mouth, and his hisses for me to shut up as he dragged me from my room.
My parents stood in front of me with expressions of sympathy. Basked in warm light, my mom and dad looked almost otherworldly. “For the best.” Was what they mouthed when my own phantom screams slammed into me. I asked them why, and they didn’t reply, allowing him to pull me further and further from what I knew, from my life as I knew it. But.. that couldn’t be real. I had memories of getting on the bus to camp Redwood. I could recall the whole journey. So, why… why was my tangled mind saying otherwise?
When I gathered myself, the first thing I realized was I was sitting down. I was outside, cool night air grazing my bare arms. There was something attached to me, jerking violently, And it took me several disorientating blinks to understand that I was tied back to back with Rowan. My head pounded, and something wet and warm dripped down my temple. Great. I could add head injury to the long list of things to worry about.
“Let me go you little fucking witch.”
Rowan was back to himself, though from the muffled hissing and the sound of choking—I had to guess he was being force-fed animal crackers.
“Let me—mpphmmm. little…. fucking… mphmmphhmhppmm!”
“Rowan.” I managed to get out in a croak. Through flickering eyes, I caught glimpse of a familiar figure dancing around us. Shivers rocketed down my spine, and I wrenched at the jump-rope restraints, but they did a surprisingly job of restraining my arms behind my back.
Eleanor was with Rowan, while Eli was knelt in front of me. Looking at him, the boy had definitely aged in the face—and I couldn’t help wondering what exactly he had done as a forty something year old to be sent to this place.
“Josie!” Rowan responded in a wail. “Josie. Wake the FUCK up.”
“Stop swearing.”
Eleanor spoke with the cold tone of her actual age.
“Oh, yeah?” Rowan spluttered. “Fuck you.” The boy’s laugh was still rough from almost vomiting his insides out from too much salt intake. “I’m sorry, you were a fucking boomer all along?!” He wriggled in the restraints, lunging forwards, which sent me backwards.
“Stop swearing, Rowan.” Was all the girl responded with calmly.
“Like I’m going to listen to you!” He sneered. “Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fucking fuck!” What are you going to do, huh? Bite me with your false teeth?” The sound of saliva hitting skin made me wince. He was pissed. I had no doubt his completely rational anger was going to get us killed. Rowan was also somehow getting mixed up between forty and eighty. Though he was unwillingly snacking on mind bending sugary goodness.
“Fudge, Rowan.” Eleanor spoke in a giggle.
“What?!”
“Say fudge. Not fuck.”
“No.”
His hiss of pain caught me off guard. I don’t know what she was doing to him, but it was hurting him.
“You fudging fudge! I’m going to fudging kill you when I get out of these fudging ropes—“ his manic cursing became a muffled yell.
“Say fudge,” Eleanor hummed, followed by his hiss when the palm of her hand skinned his cheek. “Fuck is a bad word. You even said so yourself and you’re my favourite counselor.”
He heaved out a breath.
“You fudge,” Rowan spat. “When I get out of this, I am going to fudging kill you, you fudging—” His manic ranting morphed, once again, into muffled yelling, after another fistful of animal crackers were forced into his mouth. When I risked twisting around, I could see his rebellion slowly starting to simmer out as he relaxed slightly. I wanted to yell at him to keep a clear head before cold fingers were dipping under my chin and forcing my head around where I found myself face to face with Eli.
“I like you, Josie,” he said, before untying me and pulling me to my feet. Now at the age of nine or ten, he was a lot stronger. When I tried to pull away, the cruel blade of a knife grazed my gut. I caught his grin. “But we don’t need you.” Eli pointed to Rowan.
“We just want them.”
I followed his pointer finger which went from Rowan to Harry and Carmel, who were just standing there like fucking idiots, probably awaiting the next game. Harry’s face was getting redder. It looked like he was suffocating, and yet his grin was growing wider and wider, splitting his lips apart. “Rowan Atlas.” Eleanor said, dragging him to his feet. Something was stapled to his forehead head, which caused him to howl in pain, hissing another strangled line of “Fudge”. but I couldn’t read what it was.
“Camp leader. Intelligent, and problem solving skills.”
“Harry Carlisle.” Eli nodded his head with a smile. “Quick thinker. Strong minded.”
“Carmel Locke.” Cassie spoke behind me. She had her arms folded, a wry smile on her lips. “Smarter than she makes out—- an independent learner, and can work well under pressure.”
Looking at these kids, I felt sick to my stomach. They were planning something—and had the intelligence of renowned scientists, which was what I gathered from the footage on the MacBook. “What?” was all I could hiss out, as Eli prodded the blade of the knife into my back, ushering me to walk. “What are you talking about?”
“Duh.” He spoke in a more tweeny giggle. “Like I said, Miss Josie. You’re my favorite counselor but we don’t need you, so I’m going to use you for parts.” He laughed when a shiver spiderwebbed down my spine. “See! I told you I was going to show you my collection!”
“But… what do you need them for?”
Eli pressed his index finger to his lips with a laugh before forcing me to face forwards. “That’s a secret!”
When I didn’t, or couldn’t move, he shoved me into a stumbling power-walk, and I managed to turn my head quickly, making feverish eye contact with Rowan.
“Rowan.” I said calmly through the gutter in my throat. “Get…. Get help.”
If I was going to die, I needed him to get a hold of himself and somehow alert the outside world what was going on.
“From whom, Josie?!” He wailed back—and as I was dragged away, I could once again sense the childish undertones in his voice.
I had no choice but to obey Eli’s orders. If I didn’t want a knife in my back. He took me to the main lunch cabin, which, when I set foot inside, almost sent me to my knees.
Something lurched inside me, and I was screaming with no voice, staggering backwards, only to be shoved onto my face. In front of me was what had been the lunch hall, fully converted into the beginning of a laboratory.
What had been cafeteria tables were fashioned into makeshift gurney’s and beds, and I was looking at all of the missing counselors. Yuri and Noah had been skinned completely, their faces laid out on a makeshift surgical table. Joey had been ripped open, his heart and brain removed, a glittering metallic substance creeping its way across his forehead. It was then when I remembered Eleanor Summers words.
She wanted to prevent death and preserve the human mind. Looking at what was in front of me, this was the start of it. There was equipment I had never seen before. Lily’s body was empty, carved out completely, tubes forced inside her. When I glimpsed her fingers move and begin to ball into a fist, I saw red. I saw fucking red. The exit was so close and yet Eli, fucking Eli, wielded his knife. I think that is when part of me gave up. My brain just stopped. It short circuited. Seeing my friends murdered and yet somehow being kept alive through playing god, my body slumped to the ground. I was numb. Completely numb.
I’m not sure what would have happened if those bloody saws and instruments which had been used on my friends were used on me too.
Luckily, that did not happen. Before Eli could get his slimy hands on me, he crumpled to the ground in an almost cartoon-like fashion, and standing over me was Harry. Who was looking better. When he grasped hold of me and helped me up, I only had one word. “Out.” And he was nodding, his eyes glistening as he drunk in our friends’ fate.
“How?” I managed to sputter out, when we made it out of the cabin, ducking behind a tree. Harry turned to me, motioning for me to shut up. There was a group of now ten to eleven year olds already running around, searching for what I guessed was him.
“I’m allergic to peanut butter,” Harry murmured, his grasp tightening on my wrist as he led me across the camp, the two of us stumbling.
“What, and you just magically healed?”
He didn’t respond to that, which bothered me.
“The bunker is our best shot,” I hissed out. “I think we can get in contact with someone down there.” I paused, unable to stop myself. “What makes you so important?”
“Dunno. Maybe I’m their favorite.”
When we found Allison’s cabin, which was more of a safehouse (an exposed safehouse) I found Rowan sitting on the wooden porch with his legs swinging over the side. “Rowan!” Harry groaned. I found it hard to believe their roles had been switched. Now he was the one yelling at the camp-leader. “I told you to stay inside!”
He ushered the boy inside, before barricading the door with some hefty looking equipment. I could tell from the grin on his face that our so-called leader was once again no longer himself.
I had to bite back a groan. “You’re kidding.” I said, pointing to Rowan, who buried his head in his knees and blew a raspberry. “Does he look and act like our leader right now?!”
“It’s Rowan, Josie.”
“He’s a liability.”
“He’s our friend! Wouldn’t Rowan do the same?”
Yes, he would. But. He would also realize we’re lost causes.
“Gag him with something.” I said. “If he makes any more noise, we’re dumping him.”
“He’s a kid!”
“Just the mind of one.”
I don’t know how animal crackers worked, but his age seemed to be progressively younger. This time he just sat with wide eyes watching us.
Harry almost tore apart the place looking for means of communication, before an old fashioned ringing sound made me jump.
“What was that?” Harry turned to me with his lip curled.
“How am I supposed to know?!” I hissed. “Keep looking!” But when I ducked under the table, my hands crawled under the desk, finding a wire—and attached to that, an ancient looking phone which looked straight out of a 1940’s movie, a bright green rotary phone.
Hesitantly, I answered it, lifting the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Did you awaken the subjects, Agent Salta?"
The voice on the other end was a woman, an oldish sounding woman with the tinge of a British accent.
“What?” I shot a look at Harry before shaking my head. “No. My name is Josie Greenfield. We’re at Camp Redwood, and we need help.”
The woman paused.
“Where is Agent Salta?” She cleared her throat. “This line is reserved for communication with agents only.”
“I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking about!" I squeaked out. “My name is Josie, and whatever is happening here, we need help!”
“Josie. Did you awaken the subjects?”
I paused after a moment, shooting Harry a look when he tried to take the phone off of me. “Yes.”
“And… are our agents unavailable?”
“I don’t understand.”
“When a health and safety breach is activated, our agents are awakened to deal with the Project Spearhead subjects if they were to ever go rogue, or become conscious enough to think. Josie, can you tell me what is in front of you? Describe it to me.”
I held my breath. Next to the hidden phone under the desk was what looked like mismatched wires, all of which had been severed. I lowered myself slowly, poking at mess. “Wires. I see… cut up wires.” I whispered. “Does this mean they know about you?”
She hummed. “Ah…That makes sense. The only way to activate our sleeper handlers would be to send out the signal. You appear to have been sabotaged. Unless activated manually, our agents cannot help you. I am sorry. They are your problem now.” The woman paused.
“If I were you, I would hope and pray they have not sabotaged the self-destruct. If you find that, then you may be able to save yourselves and find peace.” She cleared her throat. “Thank you for your service, Josie Greenfield.”
“Wait.” I managed to get out. “Wait, no! You can’t just… you can’t leave us! We need help!”
I found myself yelling at nothing when the phone went dead. The dull tone of the dead ringtone was clanging in my ears before footsteps from up above. “Fuck this.” Harry picked up a lead pipe. “They’re still little kids, right? I mean, their head must still be partly kids—- so let’s fucking beat their heads in.”
He noticed something, then, starting forwards towards the mess of files I had left earlier. Harry knelt on the ground and picked up Eli’s file, his eyes wide. But he wasn’t staring at the dates confirming the little boy’s age.
Instead, Harry pointed at the bottom of the file. “I don’t want to freak you out, Josie,” he whispered. Initially, I didn’t know what he was trying to show before I glimpsed notes scrawled at the bottom of the file, followed by a signature. “But I’m pretty sure that is my fucking writing.”
Harry was right.
I pulled the paperwork off of him, flicking through each file before turning my eyes to him. “Who the fuck are you?”
A clanging sound from above broke the tension, and whatever Harry was about to reply with was strangled in his throat. He slammed a hand over his mouth.
“Guys?”
The voice twisted me up inside, threatening to release a shriek from my mouth I had managed to clamp shut.
Teddy.
“Are you down here?” His voice was strained, and had an odd tone to it. “I can’t… I can’t see you.”
…
Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?! It’s been a blur of a week. We’ve managed to stay down here, surviving off of Allison’s rations. Rowan isn’t getting any better. He seems to have stopped mentally de-ageing at the age of maybe six. Harry has spent the last few days trying to get in contact with anyone, but it’s like they are IGNORING US.
I’ve been looking through everything I can find on Project Spearhead, but nothing points to Harry being involved. So. How is his signature all over the files? How is it possible that two friends I thought I knew several days ago, are now complete strangers?
Teddy keeps coming back.
He’s crying out to us.
I think he’s… in pain.
My god, I can’t stand this anymore. Please. CAMP REDWOOD NEEDS HELP.