Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the amazing questions you’ve submitted for our Q&A with Assistant Game Director, Adam Whiting. We’re delighted to have received so many. So many, in fact, that we couldn’t possibly have taken so much of Adam’s time to answer them all – maybe we’ll have to do a part two one day soon.
We sat down with Adam this week and got some answers for you. We’re sure you’ll be happy with what Adam did manage to answer; he’s really gone above and beyond for this one.
Here’s a few words from Adam:

“I really appreciate all the kind words for the studio, we’ll be sure to share them with the rest of the team. It was also nice to see some familiar faces from over the years – thank you for remembering me and saying hello! It’s always a pleasure interacting with our wonderful community, and we look forward to doing more things like this in the future.”

And with that, we’ll dive into the Q&A. Enjoy!
/EVERYWHERE Community Team

Life as an Assistant Game Director at Build A Rocket Boy

Q: Hi Adam! Thank you for participating in this, it's so great to see the relationship Build A Rocket Boy has established with the community!

• What are your daily tasks as Assistant Game Director, and what would you say is the aspect of game development that you give the most importance to? (Game mechanics, narrative, visuals...)
• What are your favourite games and how do you think they influenced you when working on EVERYWHERE oand MindsEye?

Keep being awesome! – From u/NestorSite
A: Well, thanks to you as well NestorSite, it’s exciting for me to get to talk to you all about what we have been working on (finally!) and we really care about our community and are delighted to get to share more info.
As Assistant Game Director my day can vary greatly, and each day presents new challenges and opportunities to help progress the project. Primarily in Game Direction we are ensuring that all the teams are aligned on the bigger picture and goals of the project. Historically, this has been working mostly with Design on the core game mechanics and systems, but now we are at a point where a lot of the design work is complete, its more about checking progress, playing the game every day, and making sure everything is trending correctly.
It's hard to pick an area that is most important as what makes games development special is how it’s a convergence point for most of the artistic and engineering disciplines we know of, and all of them contribute to the whole, so they are all equally important (plus I would hate for any of our teams to feel like I had any favourites 😉). That being said, games are primarily meant to be fun, so I am particularly passionate about the core mechanics. We want our players to have a great time in EVERYWHERE and MindsEye – though each of these have their own specific requirements that present interesting challenges and drive all our departments to push the boundaries of their respective areas of expertise.
I’ve given a lengthy answer about my favourite games elsewhere so I’ll try and keep this short and point you in the direction of that, what I would say though is that generally we don’t look at other games in particular when working on the design of EVERYWHERE though it’s impossible not to be influenced by the things you have enjoyed (such is the nature of art).
Q: Hey Adam! Could you tell us what is the most challenging task you had to face in the last few years? – u/Gab1024
A: Hey Gab, thanks for your question!
One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced throughout the project has been building the team – building an exciting, ambitious, and new type of project is a huge challenge but building the company in tandem has been very tough as we’ve always aimed to bring the quality talent that the project requires. That can be tough when you are trying to attract talented devs, who, in many cases, can choose where they work. They are often choosing between established studios and established projects which can be very tempting. [DB1] However, we’ve been very fortunate and have built a team of very talented and experienced devs (with a healthy dose of people fresh to the industry) who are really delivering on the ambitions of the project, and we are all excited for you all to see and play the game as soon as possible.
Personally, one big challenge for me was the whole Gamescom experience – I never thought I’d find myself on stage with Geoff and talking in front of so many people, especially having grown up watching countless game announcements and reveals, it was both terrifying and extremely exciting though pretty far from my natural environment behind a PC in a studio 😊
Q: Hiya, I’m curious if you started out in another role in the gaming industry that led to being a Director? - Thanks, u/voodoolady94 xx
A: Hey voodoolady – unsure if your name is a Ween or Hendrix reference but either way, I like the handle!
I started in the industry, as many people did, in Quality Assurance. QA is a fantastic starting point for two reasons; Firstly, it isn’t a role that requires a lot of specialised experience to get started. In fact, one of the key things we are always looking for with new QA roles is a passion for gaming, strong attention to detail and good communication skills – don’t get me wrong it can be very intense and challenging working in QA but if you have a genuine passion for making games it can be highly enjoyable and rewarding working in part of a team that is so intrinsic to releasing any quality project. Secondly, everything in every game needs some form of QA support – meaning that you are exposed to every department/facet of games development which can be really useful for finding what you like and what you are good at. Often you can naturally progress into a more specialised role that can lead to moving to another team entirely (or becoming a stalwart experienced QA that will always be in demand within the industry) – there are countless examples I can think of from across my career where people have gone from QA into writing, AI coding, concept art, audio design – pretty much every department has someone within it that started in QA.
My personal journey was rising through the ranks of QA to a QA Supervisor and then moving towards Production before eventually moving to Game Direction – and I’m honestly still learning and growing every day as I get to interact with truly exceptional and talented people who are each extremely knowledgeable and experienced in their own areas. Each interaction is an opportunity to learn and grow, and if you approach the industry with that spirit, you will definitely do well.
Q: How hard is it to turn your game ideas into reality with the help of developers, how do you explain to them what's on your head in terms of game direction? – Thanks, u/vassirbl. From Morocco.
A: Hey vassirbl, thanks for taking part!
This is a really interesting question and one that is hard to answer directly as it depends on the idea – some things can require just a few lines of code, some can require multiple teams working in tandem to bring it to life – and that is part of the challenge with games development, something that seems quite straight forward might be really challenging to manifest. On the flipside, sometimes something that may seem to be really complicated and taxing can actually be done very quickly and efficiently.
The thing I’d say about this is that having ideas is one thing, everyone has ideas and I believe everyone is creative, but in a position like games direction it isn’t always about throwing around big ideas – you need to have a vision for what you are wanting to make and achieve and you need to ensure that your ideas are in service of that vision and are supplementing/augmenting/enhancing the direction of the game. You aren’t always making a game for yourself and your own niche interests, you are in service of the vision and trying to ensure that there is congruence between what is going into the game and what the game is trying to achieve.
In terms of explaining things that can often be more straight forward than it might seem, you are interacting with people who aren’t just gamers, they have made gaming their passion/vocation so you are speaking about the game in a similar way to when speaking to a friend about a game you are both playing together – and generally if the idea is good then it's going to generate some excitement. Then you are in an ideation process where the person you are talking to, often someone who is passionate about an areas of games development (their discipline), will then have some suggestions for flourishes and tweaks that can help improve the idea. This is really important because you want the game to be as good as it can be, and there is no silver bullet that magically makes a game feel special, fun or unique, normally its countless little tweaks and adjustments and suggestions from everywhere within the studio that create the end result which hopefully is something that feels like it has been made with love, care and attention. You can’t fake that or even articulate what it is that makes a game feel like that, but you feel it when you play a great game and that is what we are always striving to achieve.
Q: I was waiting for this because I'm on the mailing list. I appreciate this. Hello Adam. I guess my question is what is one of your favourite things about being an Assistant Gaming Director at Build A Rocket Boy? – u/EducationalCook9570
A: Thanks for signing up, EducationalCook, really pleased to get to answer your question so thanks for taking part.
It’s really hard to pick one particular thing but over the years I’ve been asked some variation of this question and my answer generally is the same – it's getting to work with such an amazing team of wonderful and talented people who are giving their all in service of the same common goal – making EVERYWHERE and MindsEye the best possible game(s) they can be.
When I was growing up gaming was still a bit of a niche hobby so anyone I met that was a gamer was instantly a friend, someone I could share my passion with, and now I get to spend most of my time with people like that – it's truly a blessing and I feel fortunate every day I get to interact with all of my wonderful colleagues.
Q: Howdy Adam! Most people will ask about the game, but for a Q&A it's really about the person. So here are my questions.

• Were there moments where the development struggled? If so, how did this affect you?
• Now the last ones might be too personal buuuut, is pineapple on pizza justifiable?

Thx in advance for answering these questions. I really hope you do. – u/MikaStr0L
A: Hey MikaStr0L, thanks for your question(s)!
I wouldn’t say there were any parts where development struggled but along the way there are always challenges to overcome, the main one for us was building a company at the same time of building a brand new and exciting project.
Generally speaking though, if things aren’t going quite as planned I try not to let it bother me – though that can of course be hard when you feel very personally invested in something – but I’ve found that it doesn’t help to let the negative feeling linger and instead try and push on, games development – like life in general – doesn’t always go according to plan but you just have to focus on solutions and moving forward and not let things hold you back. If you can do something about an issue, then deal with it and fix it, if you can’t do anything about it then move on and try not to let the negatives/setbacks hold back progress in other areas.
Now the truly important question… I must admit that I am not a fan of pineapple on pizza, although I do like pineapple generally, I’m more of a pepperoni kind of guy 😊
Q: Hey Adam, first, let me say I admire the work you all do a lot. Not only you guys at BARB, but also in the whole industry. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on MindsEye and EVERYWHERE.

• Working within the QA part for many years, was it difficult the transition to a different role? Would you say it was a positive change?
• Do you think EVERYWHERE and other games/experiences with a similar concept are the future of gaming?

Thank you and I hope you keep succeeding at your career, can't wait to play both projects’ you guys have been working on. 💙 – u/Fabry06
A: Hi Fabry, thanks for taking part and for your kind words and sentiments. I’ll start by saying that I also admire the work that takes place industry wide – the games industry is full of amazing and talented people who are all helping to further this artform we all whole dear forward, and I believe we are only just now realising the potential that video games can achieve.
I would say that transitioning from QA to another role felt very natural, even in my current position I’m still playing the game all the time and entering bugs, they might not be as well written as they once were but once you’ve cultivated a QA mindset it is not easy to turn off (this can make me a very boring person to watch play in my spare time as I’m always poking and prodding games to see what might happen…). I would say it was also a positive change for me personally but everyone's path in the industry is different and you kind of move with the tides and get swept up in a project and who knows where you end up within it – I always took the approach of wanting to be helpful/productive/useful in furthering the ambitions of the studio and the project and have always been happy to do that regardless of what that entails (in the very early days I was building PCs and writing design docs as well as doing QA work, whatever was required).
I do think that EVERYWHERE is a new type of project, but one that isn’t entirely unfamiliar, there are probably aspects that you recognise and some that are a bit different, I think the way everything ‘fits together’ is quite elegant and hasn’t been done before. The industry in general though is continuously evolving and I think that’s what makes it an exciting thing to be a part of. I do feel that the way people are consuming entertainment has fundamentally changed within the past decade and I believe that EVERYWHERE is a reflection of that – perhaps games in general are a bit to beholden to established paradigms and ways of doing things in ways that I think we aren’t.

About EVERYWHERE and MindsEye

Q: What is the inspiration to create EVERYWHERE and MindsEye, and why did you decide to make them two different games? – u/Zgangstas
A: Hi Zgangstas, thanks for your question.
This is a really interesting question and I think this is part of the magic of games development, when you are ideating/experimenting in the early stages of a project you can happen upon some magic that can alter the way you approach things, even if the vision has remained the same throughout perhaps the way to achieve it evolves.
I think that one of the main things we always wanted to do was create a space where players were in control, where they could be who they want to be and have the experiences that they wanted to have – but then as experienced game devs there is a natural inclination towards curating an immersive experience that captivates and enthrals players – this was a tricky thing to balance and trade off and I think ultimately it lead us to our current path.
EVERYWHERE is a space where players are in control, where they can build, share, compete, and explore in numerous different ways – and MindsEye is where we can construct an immersive and cinematic experience – with shared DNA between the two so we aren’t reinventing the wheel constantly, and we are at the place where we are now where work on one project is benefitting the other and vice versa.
So, I guess the true answer is that they both demanded to be different game organically through the course of development and we pay attention to what the game is telling us and let that guide us.
Q: Hi Adam, there’s the audience that fantasize on stylized and cartoonish games and the ones that are focused on realistic, story-driven experiences. How challenging is it to deliver the best game as possible to both audiences, and how confident do you feel about the shape those two games are in? – u/Treyboss2001
A: Thanks for your question Treyboss.
I think as you say there are probably distinct audiences for both, some that prefer or only enjoy one style or the other, but there are others (like me!) who enjoy both stylised and realistic games – often depending on my mood.
It may seem challenging to be constantly shifting gears between them both but ultimately, it’s more natural than it may seem. They have very distinctive and different requirements and demands that make decisions intuitive – though careful thought and consideration is required for each.
However, the way we think about it internally is that we get to have our cake and eat it, we aren’t locked in to one style or gameplay type, which can be fun and refreshing – perhaps you hit a creative roadblock with one and you can move on to the other and come back with a fresh perspective to the original issue you were having. Projects of this scale can often take many years to make so not being too locked in to just one thing is a blessing.
In terms of the progress we are making, I have to say that I am constantly delighted – either one project is delivering something new and wonderful or the other one is (often both at the same time!). Now we are getting to show people them both for the first time I’m truly humbled by the very positive reactions we are receiving.
Q: Hello Adam from the Build A Rocket Boy team. What was the original plan when EVERYWHERE was being developed in lumberyard engine and back when yah were using the lumberyard engine what were the challenges and roadblocks?
Keep being awesome Adam. - u/Lonelyfades
A: Thank you Lonelyfades, I will do my best!
I think back when we first started with this project the industry was quite different, the game engine landscape in particular was very different. We always had lofty ambitions for this project and at the time Lumberyard seemed to be the only engine that could deliver what we needed to even scratch the surface of what we wanted to accomplish. Since then, things have progressed somewhat and now we are in UE5. I believe UE5 is clearly the cutting-edge technology that we need in order to deliver the best possible results.
That is the strange thing with life and games development, sometimes an old decision was the correct one at the time even if it is not correct for right now, and even things as disruptive as engine swapping is ultimately worth it if it unlocks the creative potential you are aspiring towards.
I think this is ultimately a tribute to our core strength as a developer which is our unwillingness to compromise, we are eager to undertake difficult or even painful changes if it helps move the needle closer to where we want it to be.
Q: Hi Adam, so something I was confused about, is EVERYWHERE and MindsEye the same game? Or is it a game within a game? – u/Jozza141
A: Jozza thanks for asking your question and I am happy to try and relieve your confusion.
EVERYWHERE and MindsEye are distinctly different, but also inextricably linked. One way to think about it is that EVERYWHERE is ultimately a platform for games, entertainment, and different types of fun – and MindsEye is a story-driven, action-adventure game that could reasonably exist on its own but is enriched and elevated by its connection to a larger social space. A connection that I believe is deep and meaningful. The possibilities are endless and there’s so much to share, but we will reveal more when we are ready.
Q: Both u/iPeluche and u/Bobby_Boy301 had some questions about PC vs Console release. Why has BARB opted for the separate release between PC and Console. And does this mean Console won’t get the same treatment as PC after release?
A: I don’t think we are completely locked into this type of approach; we want to do that which makes the most sense for both projects whilst also working within the constraints of their paradigms.
PC is certainly a very open and creatively liberating space in which to operate, sometimes key innovations in gaming take place on PC because of its open nature and I think this is an example of that.
Rest assured we are passionate about both PC and Console development, and we would always aim to ensure parity between both releases of either project – platform holders permitting.
With all that being said, I would look forward to future announcements as we are very pragmatic as a company and always move forward in a direction that makes sense both for us and for our players.

Advice for aspiring Game Developers

Q: Ok, ok, here goes:
What advice do you have for those aspiring to pursue a career in game development?
What excites you the most in terms of future game development and where do you think the industry is headed? – u/RazorDarkness
A: Thanks for your question RazorDarkness.
My biggest advice for anyone trying to pursue a career in games development is to always remain humble, this is the cross section for all the artistic and engineering disciplines we have in media, as such it is impossible to be an expert at all things. You are always going to be working in a team and you are always going to be relying on your peers to achieve whatever it is you set out to achieve. So always keep your eyes and ears open and try to absorb as much knowledge and information as you can so you never stop learning. The moment you think you know it all is the moment you become a dinosaur and you will be immediately surpassed.
My second big piece of advice is to never lose sight of why you are making games in the first place – I often keep some mementos on my desk from favourite games and things that inspired me as a child to keep me grounded, as even on the hardest of days I can take a step back and realise that I’m getting to do something that I’ve loved my entire life and despite its difficulties my overriding feeling is always gratitude that I’m even able to earn a living doing something I love.
Q: Hello Adam!
First, I really hope you and your team are getting enough sleep after all the hard work you guys put into these projects. I just want to say on behalf of the EVERYWHERE & MindsEye Community, we really appreciate all of you that are involved with these two major projects, and also sending much support to every single one of you on this journey!
But my question is ... Where do you see yourself, the team, and everyone over at BARB in the next 10 years after both games are officially out? – u/TheRealRocketBoy
A: Well thank you TheRealRocketBoy – your support and encouragement means a lot, excited for you to get to enjoy the fruits of our labours!
This is a great question – I see us still working on this project, both aspects of what we are doing have far reaching plans and if all they all work out, we’ll still be working on both – and we aim that this will be in tandem with our community and players.
What things will look like at that point though I have no idea, EVERYWHERE in particular isn’t the kind of game we want to prescribe to people, it's something we want to further improve and refine in collaboration with our players – indeed the launch of EVERYWHERE will truly just be the beginning and I know that the creativity of gamers will always thrill and surprise so I think we are going to go on a wild ride together and I can’t wait to see where we end up.
MindsEye on the other hand… well who knows where in space or time we may be with that story by that point… I could write down on a piece of paper now a phrase for where MindsEye will be in year 10 and whilst it would almost certainly hold true, how we get there, and the specifics would surprise even me, I’m sure!
Q: Hey Adam, appreciate you taking the time to do this Q&A!
You have a great name! I may have a bias though as I'm also an Adam. In my spare time I've been creating a game design document for a game I'd love to create. This document has been growing and expanding over the past couple years. Ideally, I have aspirations of becoming a creative director for a development studio but have no experience working in the gaming industry (I'm a project manager in the residential construction industry).
Given your experience in the industry and your current position as BARB's Assistant Game Director, what advice would you give someone such as myself about how I may go about potentially pitching my design documentation to a studio and ultimately becoming a creative director? Do you personally feel as though people aspiring to become involved in the gaming industry need to start in an entry level position? Or perhaps there are alternative pathways to achieving such goals?
Thank you! Well wishes to you and everyone at BARB! – u/EndgameEmporium
A: Hey EndgameEmporium!
I admire your enthusiasm and you clearly have a passion for games which is something you want to hold on to as it will always keep you right and steer you correctly.
That being said I think there are two ways to head in if you want to be a creative director – firstly you can go down the studio route – however keep in mind that games are big expensive things to make, and it would be pretty remarkable for someone to have an idea so strong that a studio would trust in and fund it. Generally speaking I think going down this path would require you joining a studio and working your way up, and in particular showing a willingness to work towards someone else’s vision and showing that you can see the big picture when it comes to games development, then you will get creative opportunities with an established project or studio to show what you can do and from there more and more creative freedom until you are able to pitch your idea. With that path you may very well find that working with other creative brief’s and visions can be both challenging and rewarding, as essentially they are ‘creative restraints’ you are operating within and learning to work within these restraints will teach you how to be economical and efficient with your designs and ideas (sometimes a good idea can cost millions of dollars and sometimes a great idea can be brought to life with existing resources, the latter is where the magic really is, and will make you very popular to work with!).
The second path to take would be to try and build out a vertical slice or gameplay prototype or concept yourself, with that I would try and refine your idea to its core components, understand what things fundamentally you need for another person to be able to experience or understand your idea, and go from there. If anything, EVERYWHERE might be the perfect thing for you as empowering the great creative minds of the next generation is something we are very passionate about and you may be able to bring your idea to life with ARC-ADIA.

Emerging Technologies in Gaming

Q: u/Main-Department9806 and u/Dirty_Worka had some interesting questions about AI. Adam, as AI learning and functionality accelerates, what’s your read on the level of disruption we should expect with regards to game development? And do you think we can leverage AI such as ChatGPT into games, for example, so that NPC’s dialogue could be vast and ever changing?
A: I think that AI is going to fundamentally change the way in which we interact with the world and each other, it's going to be a transformative technology over the coming years and every industry and sector will feel it.
In terms of game development, we can see how this might play out already, things like ChatGPT etc. will streamline and accelerate the game development process exponentially – this should hopefully lower the costs and requirements for making larger projects. This could mean many more larger and ambitious games that are taking more risks emerge as they won’t be as expensive and time consuming to create – instead of a lot of talent being funnelled in to a few large studios and creators it will allow us to go back to an older style of games development where a small team with a big idea has some chance of bringing it to fruition without having to compromise on the scope/scale.
From the consumer perspective yes, I think we will soon have realistic interactions with NPCs where we can really build deeper and more personal connections with the characters we interact with in these virtual worlds, possibly even allowing us to alter how events and stories may play out, maybe in the future the way I play a story driven game may yield entirely different results and a different ending to how your story may finish – and maybe these aren’t just branching paths but completely different forks in the road we are creating dynamically – maybe then watching each other player story games has value beyond the personality/skill of the person playing.
I think this something that games developers have always wanted to have access to, a future where we can create entire worlds that feel unique to the individual because the way you are experiencing it is unique to you, in the same way that each of our journeys through life are unique and different even though we all inhabit the same world within the same physical universe.

Off-Topic

Q: Hey Adam, first I would like to thank you and the team for the great effort on EVERYWHERE and we can't wait to play what you're working on.
Second, my question is what's your favourite game (or games) of all time (excluding games you worked on). - u/Punisher_27
A: Firstly, thank you for your kind words, Punisher!
Secondly, what a fun question! I’m going to end up kicking myself later when I realise I missed something but here are a few of my faves from a lifetime spent playing video games:
Mario 64 – it is tough picking one Mario game as he’s the reason I got in to games (playing on my parents imported NES at the age of 3 changed my life!) but something about Mario 64 is just so magical and wonderful, the first time effortlessly moving through a 3D world, the joyous nature of the gameplay and the level design, I just adored this so much and despite later entries (e.g. Galaxy) being more refined and objectively better this is just such a special game I don’t think it's possible to calculate the impact it had on the industry and on entertainment when it first came out.
Quake 3 – I have probably played this more than any other game (with the possible exception of World of Warcraft) but this was my first foray in to the world of online games and that was a life-changing moment, realising that no matter how good I got there was always someone out there better… well that was a challenge I duly accepted and I have met many wonderful friends I hold very dear to me along the way across many different online games but this was the one that really blew me away
Bloodborne – I do adore the whole Soulsborne franchise(s) and as a game dev I really admire how FromSoft do things their own way and stay true to their artistic vision. I can’t think of a game that is more harmonious and congruent than Bloodborne, every pixel/sound is working in perfect harmony with each other, and the end result is something truly staggering. If I could wipe my memory and play one game over and over again and recapture the same feeling I had when I first played it, it would be Bloodborne.
Final Fantasy VII – I was queueing outside Electronics Boutique the day this came out, the first FF game to get released in Europe and I’m so glad we didn’t miss out on this one (though 6 was great and we had to import that…) – I can’t put into words what it was like encountering Sephiroth for the first time thinking I was at the Shinra HQ to complete the game and then the world map opens up and my mind was so utterly blown I couldn’t believe my eyes. As for Aerith/Aeris – well… aside from the fact she was the group healer… I was just floored; I didn’t realise how potent games were at eliciting an emotional response until that scene and I doubt any game could ever have that impact again.
Street Fighter 2 – when this first came out it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before – encountering at an arcade machine it's what the “cool older kids” were playing and its always retained that allure, this was a game that was cool and badass. The way you compete against others in fighting games has a certain purity to it that I just love, and I sorely miss having arcades to go to as they were a staple in my life growing up and there was always a great fighting game a community would build around. Getting to have the SNES version that was as close to arcade perfect as we could fathom at the time was a real joy as well and I guess this is widely regarded as the beat ‘em up that started it all and with good reason, because it did!
Q: Hey Adam and the community team, hope you're all doing well!

• Are you a cat or a dog person? xD
• When the game was announced in 2017, Everywhere was only the working title of the game. Why did you keep the name? What were some of the suggestions?

Thanks in advance! – u/thewhitewolf35
A: Hey thewhitewolf! Thanks for your fun questions 😊
I am definitely a dog person, I’ve grown up with dogs my entire life and despite being fond of cats I just adore dogs – quite a few people in the office have them and I am always happy to meet them, and due to my lifestyle I am not really able to be a good and responsible dog owner right now so I am very grateful when I get to interact with any of the BARB doggos. 😊
EVERYWHERE has always been called such and I think we liked the title straight away, I think it speaks to the potentially unlimited nature of what we are trying to achieve and we want this to be a game that anyone can play, wherever they are as I think we see games as more than just ways to spend your time, they are ways to connect and socialise and learn from each other – but even more than that they are a way to share experiences and that spirit of creativity has always been our guiding star with the project.
Q: u/MightyMax_1988 would like to know more about what you do in your free time. Do you like retro consoles such as Sega Master System, Sega Genesis (mega drive), Super Nintendo (snes)? And do you like the movie Ready Player One?
A: Hey MightyMax! I am always happy to talk about my hobbies 😊my friends often wish I would shut up about them!
In my free time I do enjoy watching team sports, specifically football (lifelong Nottingham Forest fan) and I adore the NBA (big Lakers fan) and live sports are a good way to stay connected to my friends and are something I always try and make time for. I also try and stay on top of the latest greatest TV Shows, Movies and Anime (just finished Ted Lasso which I thought was such wholesome fun and I also recently finished an anime called Chainsaw Man that was just… exhilarating!).
In terms of games I’m a lifelong gamer so I’ve had every console (apart from the NeoGeo…) over the years (even a VirtualBoy), though I would say that I don’t really do much retro gaming these days as I struggle to keep up with all the modern games coming out, and I think I prioritise online gaming as it helps me stay connected to my friends so I’m always playing something with them and then trying my best to play the cream of the crop of single player games (currently trying to finish off Octopath Traveller 2 so I can move on to the new Zelda!).
And yeah, I liked both the book and the movie Ready Player One – I love a good mashup of different IPs and art-styles, I really enjoyed Wreck It Ralph for the same reason, and anything with lots of pop culture references makes me happy (even stuff like Scott Pilgrim etc.).
Q: How bad were you at Quake? – u/tyj
A: I was so terrible I had to go to tournaments and captain the UK RA3 team… it was a tough time 😊 but back then when I told people I thought Esports would be played in stadiums for millions of dollars people thought I was an idiot… I’m so delighted to see how things have ended up and really excited that future generations can actually become pro gamers as a viable path in life – how far we’ve come!
Q: Also, what’s your favourite colour? – u/voodoolady94
A: Another question from the voodoolady…. Well, this one is an easy one and I can be uncharacteristically succinct.
Pink, my favourite colour is pink 😊

If you're surfing the hashtags with us, they're in the title! Indiedevs are putting up their retro/pixel games! Tune in and see what's new, what they're developing, or what's turned back up!
We decided to Spotlight The Sundew for it's neonoir feel and great pixel graphics.
The Sundew:
Oh no. There goes Tokyo.
It's 2054 and Shibukawa is now the capital of Japan. The Sundew's Steam Page tells us that "The world's gone to hell, and it's taking you down with it." Not that difficult to believe given that you're Anna Isobe, one cyborg cop. Obsolete. Past your date for decom.
The opening scene introduces you to a foreign take on cyber noir. Your apartment is run down, and half of the automation is broken. But despite the lack of electricity, you still get news updates - and you don't go old school and pull out the percolator, you're entirely dependent on the new era. Your literal existence is engaged with the abuse that is the drip of the waterclock that penetrated your home.
The guy in your bed? That's city normal. Thirty years from now won't make casual relationships any more weird than the past couple decades did. Society has gone down hill as far as this dev is concerned, and cyborgs are never going to get human rights. It's woman versus world, and woman versus society, all wrapped into one neatly neurodependent prison.
You're a supercop, you can take notes in your head and hit up the mindnet for info, but you can't just unplug. You're pretty dependant on others which, any superhero junkie will tell you, is your weak spot.
📷“We’ve got a cyberpunk cop, a Bladerunner and Johnny Mnemonic-inspired world, a ton of items to finagle in an inventory, and luscious, jaggy pixel art to enjoy. I’m basically eating it up.” Fanbyte
Ironically the drones and automated bots that make your life normal rendered you obsolete. After the war which burned down a large part of the world as you know it, you're left serving in a fairly hopeless dystopia. If you somehow make it to work (Quest 1 in this beautiful pixel art homage to the classic adventure game), you receive a simple assignment. You've got your typical informant and your POI (person of interest). Unfortunately these simple leads turn up some dangerous information, and you beat a quick tactical retreat to the darker parts of the city for more information. 📷“The Sundew looks fantastic. It's dark, wet, and a bit of a downer but in a beautiful way. You want to stand in Anna's apartment and stick your hand out of the window to catch the falling raindrops.” Rock Paper Shotgun
Weirdly, the Sundew - a carnivorous plant - are a clue to the mysteries that lie beneath. Sundews are a real world carnivorous plant that lure insects in with nectar, before slowly digesting them like little Sarlaccs. They're springing up all over, not that that's necessarily a threat to the human race. Or cyborgs. The megalopolis of Shibukawa is much of what's left of Japan and exploring it gives you the backdrop for the more modern issues of cyborg rights, global conspiracy and the dystopia that naturally, and unnaturally, emerges with urbanization.
📷"The Sundew is an unrivalled modernisation of the point-and-click genre. It’s stunning, engaging – and best of all, feels like it might just usher in a subgenre renaissance." That Film Blog
From the city proper to her islands, Anna takes her job seriously, tracking the carnivorous plant to its origins, seeking out the growing resistance and trying to connect with the refugees who may hold the key to a case that could place her permanently on the run. Technology is the ultimate threat, and the last one she wants to confront. With more than one ending, you're taking the future into your own hands.
📷“This pixel-based point-and-click adventure still had me hooked to the end. All the more remarkable for being a solo effort, The Sundew is a real treat for adventure fans, cyberpunk aficionados or anyone who’s sick of being a chirpy chosen one.” GameSpew
With overall glowing reviews for art style and setting, The Sundew's only hiccups are the usual adventure complaints, having to got back for storyline objects (in its defense you're a cop), and length of gameplay. Translated from a foreign language, it does an incredible job handling world issues, character growth and plot, and gathered a lot of interest for a simple game from a one woman studio.
Check it out! Gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmbeBKEUzpQ&list=PLzUVFtoYb6_ITIbvvzyl7TUNvsZt56lNN&index=15

Round 26 Voting Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScacMRhvvaUzr9MVy-UpFCP8ir5g_4cM4CHEFh96WES0G6J3A/viewform?usp=sf_link
Email Sign In now required due to Ballot Stuffers. I am not collecting your email address, just your vote.
Previous Rounds Results
(126.) Purify (125.) Invisible Kid (124.) Poor Twisted Me (123.) Shoot Me Again (122.) Slither (121.) My World (120.) Dirty Window (119.) All Within My Hands (118.) Ronnie (117.) Attitude (116.) Cure (115.) Bad Seed (114.) Murder One (113.) Am I Savage? (112.) Some Kind of Monster (111.) Where the Wild Things Are (110.) Low Man's Lyric (109.) ManUNkind (108.) Better Than You (107.) 2x4 (106.) The House Jack Built (105.) Carpe Diem Baby (104.) Sweet Amber (103.) Prince Charming (102.) Jump in the Fire (101.) Don't Tread on Me (100.) Thorn Within (99.) - Human (98.) Just a Bullet Away (97.) Wasting My Hate (96.) To Hell and Back (95.) Mama Said (94.) Here Comes Revenge (93.) Hate Train (92.) Confusion (91.) Devil’s Dance (90.) Rebel of Babylon (89.) I Disappear (88.) Lords of Summer (87.) Aint My Bitch (86.) Escape (85.) If Darkness Had a Son (84.) Metal Militia (83.) Cyanide (82.) Broken, Beat and Scarred (81.) Hero of the Day (80.) The Struggle Within (79.) Crown of Barbed Wire (78.) Sleepwalk My Life Away (77.) Of Wolf and Man (76.) The Unnamed Feeling (75.) Frantic (74.) Now That We’re Dead (73.) Fixxxer (72.) St. Anger (71.) My Apocalypse (70.) Phantom Lord (69.) Suicide and Redemption (68.) The End of the Line (67.) Screaming Suicide (66.) You Must Burn! (65.) Through the Never (64.) Dream No More (63.) Chasing Light (62.) No Remorse (61.) Motorbreath (60.) Judas Kiss (59.) Unforgiven II (58.) Too Far Gone? (57.) Holier Than Thou (56.) Lux Aeterna (55.) Unforgiven III (54.) The Memory Remains (53.) Shadows Follow (52.) Hardwired (51.) Hit the Lights (50.) Atlas, Rise (49.) Trapped Under Ice (48.) My Friend of Misery (47.) The Thing That Should Not Be (46.) Room of Mirrors (45.) Halo on Fire (44.) 72 Seasons (43.) That Was Just Your Life (42.) The God That Failed (41.) To Live is to Die (40.) No Leaf Clover (39.) Eye of the Beholder (38.) Inamorata (37.) Whiplash (36.) The Outlaw Torn (35.) Enter Sandman (34.) Nothing Else Matters (33.) Bleeding Me (32.) Moth Into Flame (31.) Fuel (30.) Until It Sleeps (29.) The Shortest Straw (28.) King Nothing (27.) Fight Fire with Fire (26.) Leper Messiah
Round 25 Results
(25.) Frayed Ends of Sanity (24.) Seek and Destroy (23.) The Call of Ktulu
Vote for the next 3 songs to be eliminated in the link above.
We will pause the poll during the Metallica protest on Jun 12th and 13th and keep the poll going as normal once the sub reopens. For those of you that are protesting for longer, I commend you, and I apologize that you can’t participate in the last few rounds unless you want to DM me your email address and I will email the poll to you. To have this wrapped up by the 12th, I would have to eliminate 6 songs each round, and that would very much ruin the flow of the final rounds as they should be some of the most entertaining. I will be protesting reddit completely those 2 days, and hope some changes come!

Personally, I say no but figured I'd get some thoughts. Also, despite being a mod, I have no idea how to make the sub black out. Also, I have no idea what the other mods think.
Finally, here is a ritual I've designed. Perhaps we could all do it at the same time. Feel free to make it yours.
This ritual aims to channel the forces of chaos and synchronicity to manifest a protective shield for third-party apps on Reddit, preventing their banishment. By combining intention, belief, and the vibrant spirit of Lizzo, we will tap into the cosmic currents of change and influence the collective consciousness surrounding this issue.
Materials:

1. A candle (preferably in a color that represents creativity and empowerment, such as orange or yellow)
2. A printout or representation of the Reddit logo
3. Incense or smudge stick (optional)
4. A small bowl of water
5. A piece of paper and pen
6. Your favorite Lizzo song (to be played during the ritual)

Instructions:

1. Preparation:

• Find a quiet and comfortable space where you won't be disturbed.
• Set up your materials on a clean surface.
• Light the candle and the incense/smudge stick (if using).
• Take a few deep breaths to center yourself and enter a focused state of mind.

​

1. Invocation:

• Hold the Reddit logo or representation in your hands.
• Close your eyes and visualize a vibrant, pulsating energy surrounding the logo.
• Recite the following invocation (feel free to modify it or create your own):
• "Oh, mighty forces of chaos and synchronicity, I call upon you to protect the third-party apps of Reddit. I summon the essence of Robert Anton Wilson's wisdom, And the joyful spirit of Lizzo's empowering energy. May the tides of change align in our favor, And shield these apps from banishment forevermore."

​

1. Symbolic Gesture:

• Take the piece of paper and pen.
• Write down your intention clearly and concisely.
• For example: "I intend to prevent Reddit from banning third-party apps."
• Place the paper in the bowl of water, visualizing the ink merging with the water, symbolizing the manifestation of your intention.

​

1. Dance of Empowerment:

• Put on your favorite Lizzo song, one that resonates with your personal power.
• Begin to move your body in a way that feels natural to you, allowing the music to inspire and energize you.
• Dance with intention, feeling the rhythm and the lyrics infusing you with confidence and strength.
• As you dance, envision waves of positive energy radiating from your body and merging with the protective shield around the Reddit logo.

​

1. Closing:

• Take a moment to express gratitude for the energies you've invoked.
• Extinguish the candle and incense/smudge stick, thanking them for their participation.
• Keep the paper with your intention in a safe place or dispose of it respectfully.
• Whenever you use a third-party Reddit app, visualize the protective shield surrounding it, reinforcing the intention of the ritual.

Rituals are symbolic and psychological tools that can help focus your intention and tap into the power of belief. This ritual is intended to be performed with a sense of joy, creativity, and empowerment. Respect the free will and policies of Reddit while working towards positive change.

Personal story: I bought sf6 at launch, and I've so far played about 30 hours trying to get better.
I was placed 0 LP absolute rookie, and I've climbed (so far )into bronze 3 about 3900 LP.
As part of this I wanted to play some games that weren't on my main(Zangief) so I tried Blanka and Guile , Blanka I played with modern controls for the fun of it but found it awful! It was actually very difficult to manage meters when you're so restricted in how every combo comes out.
I have since gone back into the story mode and unlocked Blanka's style where i only use classic controls, so have begun practising....even accounting for the extra experience, the overall finer control over a character is better, at least for me learning.
Going back into ranked after this, I won a few sets and have not looked back into modern controls at all. They just feel like a restriction.
While milage may vary and I'm sure there's some broken combos out there, I feel personally satisfied that if I lose to modern controls, it's not the control scheme it's 100% my choices. I've played 350 games with Gief so far and loving it. I know my next hurdle is to be more patient(especially against cammy and ken) but I've progressed about 2 ranks a day since launch learning a little bit every day and finding a new hurdle to overcome.
TLDR: modern controls aren't as useful as I expected, and I played worse (much worse) with them once I'd gotten reliant on classic.

Raven

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

Origins:

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

New Teen Titans:

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

Time Dead:

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

A Second Chance at Life:

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

The New 52:

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

Rebirth:

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

The Present:

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

Recommended Readings:

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

I've been playing around with ChatGPT and asked him to write me a nice description of the song Merry-Go-Round. I gave it some info on the text and the instruments and here's what I received. I liked it and plan to continue making this kind of text :)
Merry-Go-Round is a mesmerizing blend of dreamy and melancholic soundscapes that lures you in from the start. This track introduces itself with a beautifully textured orchestration of piano and ethereal synth tones, setting the stage for the high, clear female vocals that will guide you throughout the journey.
The soft, rhythmic bass line and subdued drum beats echo the sensation of 'live' drums, grounding the floaty melodies with an earthy beat. Yet, the most captivating part of the soundscape comes with the violin that oscillates between left and right, ever-so-slightly distorted to create an intriguingly unique sound.
Each verse maintains a calm demeanor, the melody simplified to pure vocals and piano tones. Then, as the chorus breaks in, the song surges into full bloom with its multi-layered orchestration, pushing and pulling at the listener's emotions.
Perhaps most captivating is a moment of dynamic shift in the song. Amidst the tranquil verses and choruses, there comes a moment of increased intensity, creating tension and release that adds a layer of drama to the overall experience.
With elements that recall the grandeur of Rob Dougan's 'Furious Angels' and the emotive vulnerability of Alev Lenz's 'Fall Into Me', 'Merry-Go-Round' takes its influences and forges its own path. This track is more than a simple blend of styles; it's a uniquely intimate and experimental piece that pushes the boundaries of genre conventions.
Experience 'Merry-Go-Round', and let it take you on a swirling, immersive journey unlike any other.
And here's the song itself. Enjoy: https://element14band.bandcamp.com/track/merry-go-round

Streaks can be an invigorating endeavor, fueling your determination to conquer new heights in your nofap journey. Yet, they can also cast a shadow of disappointment when an extended streak is abruptly broken. But let me shed some light on this matter.
Consider this analogy: Imagine advising an individual seeking weight loss to embark on a calorie deficit. Would it make any sense to say that a single day of indulgence would erase all their progress, sending them back to their original weight? Of course not! Similarly, we need to reshape our perspective on failure.
Embrace the idea that setbacks are an inherent part of the process. You will encounter more failures than victories along the way, and that's okay. Failure should not deflate your spirits; rather, it should ignite a fire within you to strive harder and push further.
So, get comfortable with the notion of stumbling because it is through those moments of vulnerability that we grow the most. Recognize that one relapse does not erase the progress you've made. Instead, it serves as a lesson, an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and reinforce your commitment.
Remember, true resilience is not defined by a flawless streak, but by your ability to bounce back from setbacks and continue moving forward. Embrace each relapse as a chance to gather strength and fortify your resolve. Every failure is a stepping stone towards ultimate success.
So, my friend, let go of the fear of failure, for it is merely a detour on your journey to self-mastery. Embrace the challenges, for they will shape you into a stronger, more determined individual. With each setback, rise again with renewed vigor and determination. Your success lies not in avoiding failure but in your unwavering commitment to rise above it.
Keep marching forward, embrace the process, and let each stumble be a testament to your unwavering spirit. You have the power within you to conquer any obstacle on your path to self-improvement. Believe in yourself, learn from your failures, and let them fuel your unwavering pursuit of greatness.

This will be the last statement I ever make before I disappear forever. I’ve heard that this kind of a thing is quite common for those who finally grow a conscious and decide to leave for good. I personally don’t know anyone else apart from a few people I used to work with who knew about this, so here we go. My name isn’t important, but you can call me DD. When I think about it, I’m not important at all, I’m just the messenger or whistleblower, so anything else that would further “incriminate” me isn’t important either. What is important however is this story. It’ll probably be swept under some rug no doubt, that’s the usual approach to these things, the words “conspiracy theorists” has a strong negative vibe to it, we can thank the boys at Langley and the Pentagon for that one. They have been responsible for more cover ups and lies than anyone else on the planet, except for a few. Well anyway, spoiler alert; there’s a derelict object orbiting Ganymede which is one of the moons of Jupiter… Now that I have your attention let’s begin.
I work for NASA. Well, that’s half-truth really, if you saw my real credentials, you would say that I worked for NASA, and that’d be that. The truth is I’ve been free lancing for various intelligence agencies, some named, some not, for about the last 10 years... Most of the other guys that worked with me were sort of the same, varying in different fields. My job was to delete or remove all the UFO evidence the government “accidentally” let slip into the public eye. We call them UAP’s I’m not sure why the different name but that’s what we call them. What often happens is one of those idiot Astronauts goes for a spacewalk on the external side of the ISS and gets too wild with a camera and boom one of those things is front and center of the next biggest conspiracy to hit the internet; or one of those weather balloons go up for some science experiment or something and they catch one zooming on by. Let’s face it, its been happening a lot these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover up and eradiate everything, whilst Tech Giant companies continue to sell to everyone on the planet a personal camera to record anything they want, with the ability to upload it.
You can only suppress this kind of thing for so long before the conspiracy theorists finally get enough evidence together to make most denials look suspicious at best, and if you keep denying it, well you just look dumb. One thing everyone must know about the Governments of the world, they really care about how they appear to the public, in their little Geopolitical world its known as Optics, its part of their control apparatus. But that’s another story.
So, with the Ganymede object. It requires context that it’s been seen by almost every major Government in the world. Before the James Webb telescope gave us detailed images, we were getting shots from Hubble, and so on and so forth. So, when you think about it this object sort of throws a whole wrench into well... Everything. As far as we were aware at the time when we found it there was a… damn I’m not sure what it was but shit... its strange. It looks like a space station sphere within a toroid, roughly 900 feet across in diameter, it or they both look as though they counter rotate. I think; around each other which is how it is maintaining its orbit, it’s hard to tell, because the body of it doesn’t have any patterns or distinctive features or something along those lines. Juno got too close to the thing, and made it shoot out a ping. So, they had to make it out to be a bunch of random sounds and disruption in downloads for those who wanted the pics from the Jovian planets moon for the mainstream media to keep the all the people calm. The media told everyone that Juno was disrupted, and communication would be shut down for a bit until the proximity was past. Sometimes I think those types of cover ups work a little too well. Juno got a lot closer, and no one was aware. That’s when people like me take over and we work to figure out as much as possible, and then cover the rest up.
The color of this thing shimmers from time to time, we couldn’t tell whether it was some sort of technology, or defensive camouflage or something that had been busted from the internals, or even if it had been naturally made to be iridescent, what we do know though however is that it emits little to no radiation, there is zero heat, and it has no life signatures whatsoever. Throughout this you will notice how behind the eight ball the intelligence services were when it came to this thing and can sometimes be with other of these major world altering revelations sometimes. But I digress.
So, we quickly began covering up everything, and gave it a name, Little Rock. Stupid and probably insulting but that’s what we call it as it looks like a rock anyhow. We tried dating how long Little Rock had been orbiting Ganymede, though without any form of reference it was anyone’s guess, quite possibly before life even existed here on Earth. There is another thing we had to verify about it, we had to make sure of this, but it has a giant freakin hole in the center of it, one of the guys who I worked with has been looking at UFO’s for quite some time, looking for offensive capabilities and the such, he told me that the hole could have been made by either a huge comet ramming through it, at some point in the past or, some other form of kinetic weapon that was shot through it. This evidence was in the images that Juno spat out and it’s like it’s been blown to pieces. We couldn’t make heads or tails as to how.
Moving along, we fast forward to why this has taken so long coming out. After the Juno cover up, we had to get on top of this thing before other Governments decided to move on this, so we launched another satellite in secret almost straight away, this one was launched by one of SpaceX’s rockets; they made a big show that it was only launching more of the Starlink satellites, but one of them had an Ion drive on it and slung shot itself around the planet to move into the trajectory of making it to Ganymede and hopefully running into Little Rock. Well, it worked. The Satellite we sent was called Nemo, it got into an orbit with Ganymede and has produced some more detailed photos of Little Rock, and well its worse than we thought.
Surprise to everyone we aren’t alone in the universe. I think I should just rip that band-aid off and let everyone digest what I just said. And yes, I meant that, we are not alone. We have the proof, but by now I think everyone’s suspicions are just confirmed.
Nemo was shot down, by probably the same thing that got Little Rock maybe? Whatever it was it had been hanging around after Juno passed it or it could have always been there, we aren’t sure. This thing looked like some inactive debris, so Nemo approached it and was instantly destroyed. When we looked at the play back footage, which took longer than we wanted it to get back to us, it looked like a small object had approached Nemo, it had a strange physical look which puzzled everyone, the only way to describe it would be the Angel depictions from the Genesis section of the bible like a sphere within a sphere.it was just bizarre.
The playback showed that as soon as Nemo got there it began moving and changing its orbital direction to meet Nemo, so we have limited information as to what it was and why it did it. When we saw the initial playback one of the four-star Generals who was there with us at the time told us all to copy it to his files for the Pentagon and delete the original. We had to do it but after that we all theorized about what our best guess was. The best one I remember was that it was some sort of proximity drone that activated too late when Little Rock got hit, went dormant again, then when Nemo turned up it went active and did its job. We think it’s a proximity drone since it never attacked Juno, because Juno didn’t get too close like Nemo did.
Now we get to the best part. Somewhere along the line the drone must have been scanning the wreckage of Nemo and figured out its origin, keep in mind that we didn’t leave one of those dumb golden plates on Nemo like Voyagers got, that pretty much says come and get us. So how it made the connection is a mystery to us. What happened next was very scary, we got the same frequencies that Juno picked up earlier here on Earth. For reference there is loads of space junk up there above our heads, and some of it woke up. To be specific the one that woke up is a bit infamous, it’s called the Black Knight Satellite, this thing has been in orbit for the longest time around the south pole; we had originally assumed it was a hunk of debris from the Mir station years ago, but as of more recently we thought it was something else, the conspiracies surrounding it say it is an Alien spacecraft, and well its true. We keep an eye on these things in case, and for the most part it stayed dormant all these years we have never had a way of getting to it without it being obvious or reckless, at least to my knowledge. When those frequencies started, post Nemo getting wrecked the Black Knight decided to start moving in a certain direction and it began emitting a frequency like the one that Juno read. Though it was softer and didn’t emit consistently it bleeped a few times then stopped and started moving.
From what we understand the Black Knight began moving towards Europe where it dropped something out of a holding bay onto a collision course with Earth. You guys should have seen the amount insanity that caused with the intel community, and NASA practically pooped themselves as this payload slammed into the Siberian tundra about 400 miles from anything remotely resembling human habitation and no one knew why or what it was.
That’s when the race had been on, every Government that wanted to see what it was, were sending everything they had up that way. The Russians had a huge head start and were pretty much all over it setting up quarantine stations and a huge facility over the top of what had struck the Earth. We were watching via spy satellites and stealth craft, whilst I’m told we had spies and wet work teams on the ground which made sense because we got photos from the inside of their makeshift facility. Our first reports showed that they’d been excavating it for days, it was a large 3 meter by 3-meter black cube. I’m serious it was a cube, with a lot of... well, I’m not sure, but the images we got back made it look like some sort of sludge. Like this oozing red sludge. The Russians were keeping away from the stuff as it probably freaked them out. They were instead sticking probes in it, taking samples and trying to figure out what it even was. The sludge was given a wide birth, as it was expanding out of the cube, the initial containment zone had been expanded, and was growing daily from the imagery we got back. This was concerning to us, and there had been talk of dropping all kinds of ordinance on the site. As far as we are aware we were moving into different defcons, which is a state of readiness for war.
It must have been something that happened because the cube emitted a pulse. This was read like a seismic event over in that region. For some reason the sludge apparently stopped moving. It just stayed in position and then it calcified. The info we got said the pulse made it crystallize and it looked like a ruby. Within the crystal were sacks or at least they looked like small gross little wiggling sacks full of puss and bile, like larvae or maggots looking for a meal.
No one exactly knew what had been going on, although they did know one thing, these larvae couldn’t be reached by anything, how we figured that out was easy. The Russians have some of the best drilling equipment on the planet and some of the largest and strongest diamond tipped filament drills in the world. Keep in mind that these types of machines and tech are specialized and leave a paper trail. They cost an exorbitant amount of money and are often from overseas corporate manufacturers. So, for secret projects they need a finer touch or end up leaving a large fingerprint on everything. In normal situations Governments will often pay using a black budget that no one can audit or talk about during a live parliament session. This relates to us because we were the ones who the Russians were buying extra drills from and our hardware to crack this structure. If Russia already had the equipment and they were buying more from overseas Manufacturers, it meant they needed help getting into it, and they didn’t care if it was obvious.
These larvae sacks eventually were dissected out of the crystalized structure The Russian government had stopped buying excessive amounts of drills, we heard. Now these larvae weren’t like the ones you find in movies, they looked like tiny little specs, which eventually grew to the size of human bodies, looked like a body bag that had veins and a lot of discharging sludge coming off them, they would wiggle around every now and then like a caterpillar moving around on a leaf, We knew that they didn’t get them all, but the willingness to continue wasting resources was weaning, they got a few of them and left the others, their scientists had found thousands of these things apparently, but they had just sealed off the cube and the word was they planned to fill the whole thing with concrete, or something worse.
The ones they extracted were moved to another facility and we only have sparring reports and rumor as to what had happened since their scientists are tight lipped and every spy that got close to this vanished. I’ll say this without any context. Its human. Somehow someway it’s human or at least appears to be. It has from the documents that we were able to obtain and translate, a human type of body with a working nervous system and humane features down to a detail. On a cellular level their cell structures and makeup of their nucleus is different though, they are harder to destroy, and the life cycle is elongated before undergoing mitosis. There was some speculation as to why they were birthed in those living larvae sacks, the theory went by some of the brains of the freelance contractors and the intel community that in order for any of those things to survive here they have to be birthed from this planet. which would include adapting their immune systems and growing on this planet. You can imagine the absolute nightmare fuel that brought about. This was when the higher ups really considered just dropping a nuke on the whole area and blowing it all to Jesus; and if I’m being honest, I don’t really blame them for wanting to do that. But somehow level heads prevailed, and they decided that if anything was going to happen the Kremlin would be the one to deal with it but if it went beyond their borders, it would be a NATO issue.
We had gotten assurances from higher ups that all data would be shared as it was increasingly obvious to every country involved. The negations meant that the Kremlin was prepared to drop any ordinance they had to deal with it. This wasn’t the best approach but there was an assumption from everyone that NATO would step in if something went sideways even if it was still in Russian territory. Things were very tense in those rooms, I’m just glad I’m not there anymore.
Here is the part that should scare the pants off anyone; we know for a fact that the larvae sacks eventually hatched, or something, and they all came out looking like humans, well they were birthed into various ages, some were 40 odd some were in their 20s, some female, some male. It was as if the birthing sacks had a set expectation of development, not only that, but they had ethnic diversity, meaning they had different racial traits and backgrounds. Some were Caucasoid, others Hispanic, Asian and so on. The Russians were smart enough to photograph and fingerprint all the ones that they had pulled from the ruby structure and thank God they did. Another weird coincidence was that when they ran the DNA and fingerprints most have matching DNA strands to those who have gone missing globally. Yeah, that’s right missing persons cases that have been all over the world, not just in the Russian region but globally. But the differences in their cell structure meant that these things weren’t those missing people, so that was its own pandoras box.
Now that we have caught up, The worst part. They lost them. They literally broke out of their containment zone and ran off into the Siberian tundra, most of them nude or in hospital gowns, those damned idiots lost them. What we know is before the giant jail break. Is that they had been attempting the communication process and education with these hybrid humans, but it hadn’t gone very well, somehow one of them had figured out some information that they shouldn’t have, and even though they were housed in one of the most sophisticated dark gulags they got, these hybrids got out, this isn’t some old soviet era dump, its an actual top level place where they were housing most spies and just pure evil people the Russian Government hated but couldn’t kill. They housed them there moving everyone else out and the Hybrids, they could communicate without anyone else knowing. So, they got out and are in the wind now, and everyone is losing their minds trying to find them. Good luck, I say.
I had to blow the whistle on this one, what the hell is being done to find these people? And what are they going to do if they catch them? I don’t know and don’t want to know, they killed everyone who knew too much and that includes me. so I’m gone, I’m out, I’m leaving this mess behind me, this will be one of my last broadcasts, don’t expect anything in the future, they are probably going to try and find me, but I’ll head off grid and stay off grid forever ill step back if anything ever comes about from this.
Just one more thing before I go, this is more of a thought that we played with in game theory classes during the strategy meetings. When the owners of the Little Rock station had a let’s call it a “security measure” in place to activate Black Knight to have all of this happen with the Cube and the Hybrids, and let’s say it’s a contingency to make sure their civilization survives, who were they fighting? and why were they losing. Food for thought.
DD

This will be the last statement I ever make before I disappear forever. I’ve heard that this kind of a thing is quite common for those who finally grow a conscious and decide to leave for good. I personally don’t know anyone else apart from a few people I used to work with who knew about this, so here we go. My name isn’t important, but you can call me DD. When I think about it, I’m not important at all, I’m just the messenger or whistleblower, so anything else that would further “incriminate” me isn’t important either. What is important however is this story. It’ll probably be swept under some rug no doubt, that’s the usual approach to these things, the words “conspiracy theorists” has a strong negative vibe to it, we can thank the boys at Langley and the Pentagon for that one. They have been responsible for more cover ups and lies than anyone else on the planet, except for a few. Well anyway, spoiler alert; there’s a derelict object orbiting Ganymede which is one of the moons of Jupiter… Now that I have your attention let’s begin.
I work for NASA. Well, that’s half-truth really, if you saw my real credentials, you would say that I worked for NASA, and that’d be that. The truth is I’ve been free lancing for various intelligence agencies, some named, some not, for about the last 10 years... Most of the other guys that worked with me were sort of the same, varying in different fields. My job was to delete or remove all the UFO evidence the government “accidentally” let slip into the public eye. We call them UAP’s I’m not sure why the different name but that’s what we call them. What often happens is one of those idiot Astronauts goes for a spacewalk on the external side of the ISS and gets too wild with a camera and boom one of those things is front and center of the next biggest conspiracy to hit the internet; or one of those weather balloons go up for some science experiment or something and they catch one zooming on by. Let’s face it, its been happening a lot these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover up and eradiate everything, whilst Tech Giant companies continue to sell to everyone on the planet a personal camera to record anything they want, with the ability to upload it.
You can only suppress this kind of thing for so long before the conspiracy theorists finally get enough evidence together to make most denials look suspicious at best, and if you keep denying it, well you just look dumb. One thing everyone must know about the Governments of the world, they really care about how they appear to the public, in their little Geopolitical world its known as Optics, its part of their control apparatus. But that’s another story.
So, with the Ganymede object. It requires context that it’s been seen by almost every major Government in the world. Before the James Webb telescope gave us detailed images, we were getting shots from Hubble, and so on and so forth. So, when you think about it this object sort of throws a whole wrench into well... Everything. As far as we were aware at the time when we found it there was a… damn I’m not sure what it was but shit... its strange. It looks like a space station sphere within a toroid, roughly 900 feet across in diameter, it or they both look as though they counter rotate. I think; around each other which is how it is maintaining its orbit, it’s hard to tell, because the body of it doesn’t have any patterns or distinctive features or something along those lines. Juno got too close to the thing, and made it shoot out a ping. So, they had to make it out to be a bunch of random sounds and disruption in downloads for those who wanted the pics from the Jovian planets moon for the mainstream media to keep the all the people calm. The media told everyone that Juno was disrupted, and communication would be shut down for a bit until the proximity was past. Sometimes I think those types of cover ups work a little too well. Juno got a lot closer, and no one was aware. That’s when people like me take over and we work to figure out as much as possible, and then cover the rest up.
The color of this thing shimmers from time to time, we couldn’t tell whether it was some sort of technology, or defensive camouflage or something that had been busted from the internals, or even if it had been naturally made to be iridescent, what we do know though however is that it emits little to no radiation, there is zero heat, and it has no life signatures whatsoever. Throughout this you will notice how behind the eight ball the intelligence services were when it came to this thing and can sometimes be with other of these major world altering revelations sometimes. But I digress.
So, we quickly began covering up everything, and gave it a name, Little Rock. Stupid and probably insulting but that’s what we call it as it looks like a rock anyhow. We tried dating how long Little Rock had been orbiting Ganymede, though without any form of reference it was anyone’s guess, quite possibly before life even existed here on Earth. There is another thing we had to verify about it, we had to make sure of this, but it has a giant freakin hole in the center of it, one of the guys who I worked with has been looking at UFO’s for quite some time, looking for offensive capabilities and the such, he told me that the hole could have been made by either a huge comet ramming through it, at some point in the past or, some other form of kinetic weapon that was shot through it. This evidence was in the images that Juno spat out and it’s like it’s been blown to pieces. We couldn’t make heads or tails as to how.
Moving along, we fast forward to why this has taken so long coming out. After the Juno cover up, we had to get on top of this thing before other Governments decided to move on this, so we launched another satellite in secret almost straight away, this one was launched by one of SpaceX’s rockets; they made a big show that it was only launching more of the Starlink satellites, but one of them had an Ion drive on it and slung shot itself around the planet to move into the trajectory of making it to Ganymede and hopefully running into Little Rock. Well, it worked. The Satellite we sent was called Nemo, it got into an orbit with Ganymede and has produced some more detailed photos of Little Rock, and well its worse than we thought.
Surprise to everyone we aren’t alone in the universe. I think I should just rip that band-aid off and let everyone digest what I just said. And yes, I meant that, we are not alone. We have the proof, but by now I think everyone’s suspicions are just confirmed.
Nemo was shot down, by probably the same thing that got Little Rock maybe? Whatever it was it had been hanging around after Juno passed it or it could have always been there, we aren’t sure. This thing looked like some inactive debris, so Nemo approached it and was instantly destroyed. When we looked at the play back footage, which took longer than we wanted it to get back to us, it looked like a small object had approached Nemo, it had a strange physical look which puzzled everyone, the only way to describe it would be the Angel depictions from the Genesis section of the bible like a sphere within a sphere.it was just bizarre.
The playback showed that as soon as Nemo got there it began moving and changing its orbital direction to meet Nemo, so we have limited information as to what it was and why it did it. When we saw the initial playback one of the four-star Generals who was there with us at the time told us all to copy it to his files for the Pentagon and delete the original. We had to do it but after that we all theorized about what our best guess was. The best one I remember was that it was some sort of proximity drone that activated too late when Little Rock got hit, went dormant again, then when Nemo turned up it went active and did its job. We think it’s a proximity drone since it never attacked Juno, because Juno didn’t get too close like Nemo did.
Now we get to the best part. Somewhere along the line the drone must have been scanning the wreckage of Nemo and figured out its origin, keep in mind that we didn’t leave one of those dumb golden plates on Nemo like Voyagers got, that pretty much says come and get us. So how it made the connection is a mystery to us. What happened next was very scary, we got the same frequencies that Juno picked up earlier here on Earth. For reference there is loads of space junk up there above our heads, and some of it woke up. To be specific the one that woke up is a bit infamous, it’s called the Black Knight Satellite, this thing has been in orbit for the longest time around the south pole; we had originally assumed it was a hunk of debris from the Mir station years ago, but as of more recently we thought it was something else, the conspiracies surrounding it say it is an Alien spacecraft, and well its true. We keep an eye on these things in case, and for the most part it stayed dormant all these years we have never had a way of getting to it without it being obvious or reckless, at least to my knowledge. When those frequencies started, post Nemo getting wrecked the Black Knight decided to start moving in a certain direction and it began emitting a frequency like the one that Juno read. Though it was softer and didn’t emit consistently it bleeped a few times then stopped and started moving.
From what we understand the Black Knight began moving towards Europe where it dropped something out of a holding bay onto a collision course with Earth. You guys should have seen the amount insanity that caused with the intel community, and NASA practically pooped themselves as this payload slammed into the Siberian tundra about 400 miles from anything remotely resembling human habitation and no one knew why or what it was.
That’s when the race had been on, every Government that wanted to see what it was, were sending everything they had up that way. The Russians had a huge head start and were pretty much all over it setting up quarantine stations and a huge facility over the top of what had struck the Earth. We were watching via spy satellites and stealth craft, whilst I’m told we had spies and wet work teams on the ground which made sense because we got photos from the inside of their makeshift facility. Our first reports showed that they’d been excavating it for days, it was a large 3 meter by 3-meter black cube. I’m serious it was a cube, with a lot of... well, I’m not sure, but the images we got back made it look like some sort of sludge. Like this oozing red sludge. The Russians were keeping away from the stuff as it probably freaked them out. They were instead sticking probes in it, taking samples and trying to figure out what it even was. The sludge was given a wide birth, as it was expanding out of the cube, the initial containment zone had been expanded, and was growing daily from the imagery we got back. This was concerning to us, and there had been talk of dropping all kinds of ordinance on the site. As far as we are aware we were moving into different defcons, which is a state of readiness for war.
It must have been something that happened because the cube emitted a pulse. This was read like a seismic event over in that region. For some reason the sludge apparently stopped moving. It just stayed in position and then it calcified. The info we got said the pulse made it crystallize and it looked like a ruby. Within the crystal were sacks or at least they looked like small gross little wiggling sacks full of puss and bile, like larvae or maggots looking for a meal.
No one exactly knew what had been going on, although they did know one thing, these larvae couldn’t be reached by anything, how we figured that out was easy. The Russians have some of the best drilling equipment on the planet and some of the largest and strongest diamond tipped filament drills in the world. Keep in mind that these types of machines and tech are specialized and leave a paper trail. They cost an exorbitant amount of money and are often from overseas corporate manufacturers. So, for secret projects they need a finer touch or end up leaving a large fingerprint on everything. In normal situations Governments will often pay using a black budget that no one can audit or talk about during a live parliament session. This relates to us because we were the ones who the Russians were buying extra drills from and our hardware to crack this structure. If Russia already had the equipment and they were buying more from overseas Manufacturers, it meant they needed help getting into it, and they didn’t care if it was obvious.
These larvae sacks eventually were dissected out of the crystalized structure The Russian government had stopped buying excessive amounts of drills, we heard. Now these larvae weren’t like the ones you find in movies, they looked like tiny little specs, which eventually grew to the size of human bodies, looked like a body bag that had veins and a lot of discharging sludge coming off them, they would wiggle around every now and then like a caterpillar moving around on a leaf, We knew that they didn’t get them all, but the willingness to continue wasting resources was weaning, they got a few of them and left the others, their scientists had found thousands of these things apparently, but they had just sealed off the cube and the word was they planned to fill the whole thing with concrete, or something worse.
The ones they extracted were moved to another facility and we only have sparring reports and rumor as to what had happened since their scientists are tight lipped and every spy that got close to this vanished. I’ll say this without any context. Its human. Somehow someway it’s human or at least appears to be. It has from the documents that we were able to obtain and translate, a human type of body with a working nervous system and humane features down to a detail. On a cellular level their cell structures and makeup of their nucleus is different though, they are harder to destroy, and the life cycle is elongated before undergoing mitosis. There was some speculation as to why they were birthed in those living larvae sacks, the theory went by some of the brains of the freelance contractors and the intel community that in order for any of those things to survive here they have to be birthed from this planet. which would include adapting their immune systems and growing on this planet. You can imagine the absolute nightmare fuel that brought about. This was when the higher ups really considered just dropping a nuke on the whole area and blowing it all to Jesus; and if I’m being honest, I don’t really blame them for wanting to do that. But somehow level heads prevailed, and they decided that if anything was going to happen the Kremlin would be the one to deal with it but if it went beyond their borders, it would be a NATO issue.
We had gotten assurances from higher ups that all data would be shared as it was increasingly obvious to every country involved. The negations meant that the Kremlin was prepared to drop any ordinance they had to deal with it. This wasn’t the best approach but there was an assumption from everyone that NATO would step in if something went sideways even if it was still in Russian territory. Things were very tense in those rooms, I’m just glad I’m not there anymore.
Here is the part that should scare the pants off anyone; we know for a fact that the larvae sacks eventually hatched, or something, and they all came out looking like humans, well they were birthed into various ages, some were 40 odd some were in their 20s, some female, some male. It was as if the birthing sacks had a set expectation of development, not only that, but they had ethnic diversity, meaning they had different racial traits and backgrounds. Some were Caucasoid, others Hispanic, Asian and so on. The Russians were smart enough to photograph and fingerprint all the ones that they had pulled from the ruby structure and thank God they did. Another weird coincidence was that when they ran the DNA and fingerprints most have matching DNA strands to those who have gone missing globally. Yeah, that’s right missing persons cases that have been all over the world, not just in the Russian region but globally. But the differences in their cell structure meant that these things weren’t those missing people, so that was its own pandoras box.
Now that we have caught up, The worst part. They lost them. They literally broke out of their containment zone and ran off into the Siberian tundra, most of them nude or in hospital gowns, those damned idiots lost them. What we know is before the giant jail break. Is that they had been attempting the communication process and education with these hybrid humans, but it hadn’t gone very well, somehow one of them had figured out some information that they shouldn’t have, and even though they were housed in one of the most sophisticated dark gulags they got, these hybrids got out, this isn’t some old soviet era dump, its an actual top level place where they were housing most spies and just pure evil people the Russian Government hated but couldn’t kill. They housed them there moving everyone else out and the Hybrids, they could communicate without anyone else knowing. So, they got out and are in the wind now, and everyone is losing their minds trying to find them. Good luck, I say.
I had to blow the whistle on this one, what the hell is being done to find these people? And what are they going to do if they catch them? I don’t know and don’t want to know, they killed everyone who knew too much and that includes me. so I’m gone, I’m out, I’m leaving this mess behind me, this will be one of my last broadcasts, don’t expect anything in the future, they are probably going to try and find me, but I’ll head off grid and stay off grid forever ill step back if anything ever comes about from this.
Just one more thing before I go, this is more of a thought that we played with in game theory classes during the strategy meetings. When the owners of the Little Rock station had a let’s call it a “security measure” in place to activate Black Knight to have all of this happen with the Cube and the Hybrids, and let’s say it’s a contingency to make sure their civilization survives, who were they fighting? and why were they losing. Food for thought.
DD

It kind of fascinates me that despite 'Survival Horror' being a made-up marketing term for Resident Evil 1, how closely it manages to resemble modern survival games in several key areas: A focus on resource gathering/use, a grid-based inventory, and of course- item boxes. RE's systems don't entirely feel out of sync with the likes of Valheim, The Long Dark, The Forest, or even something completely atonal like Terraria. And that, from what I can tell, isn't by intention, but rather a natural consequence of trying to create a game with "survival" as a core theme. After all, to approach survival in any gamified way, is to ask what the core struggles of it are in a real-life setting: considerations like the body's needs, carrying capacity, and just what to do with all that stuff has to be taken into account. So in a roundabout way- my point is that it made sense from the beginning for item boxes to be there, simply because they closely enough resemble the backpacks, vehicles, and prepper's caches of the real world. And despite the fact that not every RE has chosen to directly engage with this system, I do think that they not only speak to something "real" about survival, but are directly responsible for giving the games that do utilize them a deeper and more fulfilling sense of it.
A lot of you probably already know this, but the original intent of RE1 was to have each item box be "dysnc'd". Each box denoted its own, separate, storage space. Later on, it was decided that this was too difficult for players, and the "they're all linked" system we're familiar with was implemented (though the idea does remain as a sort of nod in one of REmake's difficulty modes). Now, in the context of RE1 only, a non-linked system would have been more challenging, but, still quite possible because of its relatively unified level design compared to the rest of the series. It's built all as one, small, world, and there are really no notable cutoffs until its final conclusion. (And just as a bit of an aside, I think this design is quite brilliant. It's really satisfying to know that you can run all the way from the Tyrant's elevator straight back to front door of the Spencer Mansion if you so choose.) So really all linking the item boxes did was facilitate easier gameplay, but that being said- I think it was a design choice that gave a distinct advantage as the series moved forward.
On a purely gameplay axis, not much changed with RE2 (at least as far as core systems were concerned). It was the same controls, inventory system, resource system, etc. And despite some fun tweaks like Zapping, altered character movements when in danger, more aggressive pushing of zombies away after a bite, and the like- it's not as if it could be seen as a decidedly different game (the way say, RE4 was). But what did change, was its overall level and world design. Gone was the idea of a small, continuous, world that could freely be explored from start to near finish. And despite there still being a great deal of exploration, RE1's singular world was ditched in favor of sequential, smaller, "worlds" to delve into, and here's the important part: Crossing into one cut you off from the previous. Now, imagine what would happen if that design was chosen, but with un-linked item boxes?
Resources, puzzle items, keys, etc. would all be left behind. Everything stored in the previous "world's" box would have to be taken into account by Capcom as irrelevant for the next area. In a sense, what it would turn RE into is a sequence of isolated levels, each with their own insular resource limits and puzzle challenges. Something closer to the design of DOOM, in which set capacities of health and ammunition aside- everything more or less "resets" at the start of each new level. So what the linked item boxes do, is make sure that ALL the resources and key items in the game are "in play" for the entire duration of the run. That the bullets you spend or herbs you burn in hour-one matter up to hour-five, and beyond. Or perhaps that that key item you forgot all about in hour-two needs to finally be whipped out again in hour-four. The linked item boxes are taking a broken world, and re-unifying it. Bringing it in line with RE1's core design despite their linear progression.
So why do I think this is important? Well, because I personally feel that in lines up more with the emotional experience of "survival." It forces you to think long term. To truly consider your resources, and treat them as something precious, because of the butterfly effect-like way their use echoes and compounds throughout a run. I recently played through RE5 for the first time, having long had it on the back burner. I've gotta say, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. It's an excellent shooter, and a truly fun game. But one of the most notable things about it is how removed from those feelings of survival it really is. Almost every challenge is completely disconnected from another. One hard room is just that, a room. Then it's off to an auto save, a quick restock of your resources from boxes or the store, and then all that came before is forgotten for the next hard room. There simply aren't any meaningful enough systems to create that same compounding/butterfly effect as the old item box system. I would sometimes run low on health or ammo, but I never felt a risk of soft lock, as there was always a way to push forward enough to regain anything lost. Now that's not "bad" in some sort of objective way. So many good games use similar systems of progress (RE5 itself aping a lot of Gears of War's). But the old item box system forces a lot more responsibility into the player's hands to make smart decisions about where and how to spend their limited resources.
Survival games, of course, don't play anything like Resident Evil by and large. Minecraft, Conan, Valheim- they're usually far more concerned with a more or less unending gameplay loop of gathering, crafting, some inevitable resource sink, followed by doing it all over again, maybe with some sort of crafting upgrade tree that is slowly climbed in the middle of it all. They're selling the Robinson Crusoe version of survival, usually lacking RE's horrors and definitive ending. But I still feel like RE, at its best, sells a very potent and deep feeling of survival that very few games can match, and personally- I think a lot of that is owed to how item boxes work. It helps the games feel just a little more removed from artifice, and a little closer to reality. And I love them for it.

I used to work as a zookeeper at the Milwaukee Zoo. There wasn't much to it. Just your standard zoo with a gift shop and areas to visit certain animals. I certainly was a fan of the zoo as a child, having visited the zoo for birthdays or field trips. I always said I wanted to be a vet of some sort but guess zookeeper was the closest I could get. Started working at the place around age 20. Fresh out of high school and trying to save money for my autistic nephew, this job didn't offer much. Running the train when workers couldn't, making sure the animals were fed and taken care of, you get the gist. I know, I know. I said I was a zookeeper but work is right around these parts so I have to pitch in where I can.
When I first started at the Milwaukee Zoo, I felt like I was living my dreams of helping animals. But that soon turned out to not be the case. After being there for less than a year, strange occurrences started to happen. It would be minor things such as lights going out, animals being sick, etc. Nothing major. The big incident happened right when two rookies were hired to see where they would fit in at the zoo. They were skinny and teen like. One was more hairer than the other but other than that, they seemed normal. Or so I would think. The weather was a bit hot and I was sweating while cleaning the elephant enclosure. I know, not the greatest job but someone's gotta do it. The manger of the zoo came up to me as I was closing the metal door to the cage.
"You Emily Tanner?"
"Yes. What's up?"
"I've got these two rookie here and I was wondering if you have time to show them around the base, you know, kinda get them used to the place and see where they fit in."
"Um, sure." I stammered, reaching out to shake the two young mens' hands. The gesture was ignored. Thinking to myself, I wondered what was wrong with them. Did they not understand basic social cues? Were they autistic like my nephew? Thoughts started racing through my head until one of the young men spoke.
"You ever notice the smell of animal waste, how it brings you joy?"
I couldn't speak in that moment. Surely this guy was kidding around, right? Nope. His face was stone cold. He was serious.
"Maybe." I managed to get out. This guy was definitely going be the last one to work with, I thought to myself. Instead, I gave a plastered smile and continued on with the conversation.
"These two shouldn't give you a hard time." the manger said before walking away. I nodded in agreement but then he turned back around.
"Oh, and I posted some rules on your locker door. Be sure to read them carefully. You wouldn't want to know what could happen to you if you don't."
"Is this man for real??" I thought again, my breathing quickening. I was beyond confused. "What is happening??"
But I couldn't worry about that. I had these two rookies to look after. Once I ensured the door to the elephant enclosure was secure, I lead the two men to the gorilla exhibit. It was a bit of a walk since the zoo is literally a maze where if you wanted to get to one area of interest, you had to pass several others before reaching your destination. Sure, you might be wondering if I should have the zoo's layout memorized by now, but you have to think. I don't go to the zoo everyday. Even when I go home, the zoo isn't the first thing on my mind. As I was walking, showing the men the different animals and how they behaved and such, I caught a chill down my spine every time I took a glance behind me to ensure they were following me. I tried to ignore it but the feeling was so overwhelming, I had to say or do something to take my mind off the dreaded feeling.
"So, what brings you two to the zoo and why do you want to work here?" I asked them.
Nothing.
They didn't answer. They just stared. Their cold, black eyes stared right into my soul. I quickly turned away and continues down the hot sticky tar path towards the bird enclosure. Luckily for me, it was nearing my lunch break. I could probably feed some of the birds there and then leave these two to their own devices.
I hurried my pace so that time could move faster and I could get as far away from these guys as possible. Hastily, I opened the door to the enclosure and lead them inside. Naturally the birds flew and here and there, their squawks and screeches following them as they flew about.
"You wanna be careful with the birds. Sometimes they can be mean." I tried to crack a joke but these guys weren't having it. So I naturally shut my mouth and buried any jokes I had deep within. They just stared at me, their soulless eyes not leaving mine. Bleh! Where the manger pick these guys up from, the graveyard? Even mummies and buried corpses could crack a ghost smile every once in a while. Carrying on with showing them how to care for the birds, I checked my watch and quite literally ran out of the building like it was on fire. I had to know those rules and why on EARTH these deadpan guys were hired. Surely the manger wanted to hire them as a joke because no one could be that cold and unfeeling like these two creeps.
Racing to the lockecommon room, I checked my locker door and surely, there was a list of rules. Five of them to be exact.
Rule One. Do not allow new hires to see the animals. This is crucial. If you've broken this rule, it's already too late.
Rule Two. Make sure the new hires are not left alone with the animals.
Rule Three. Do not allow the new hires to come in contact with the people. This rule is to never be broken.
Rule Four. Ensure all enclosures are locked and secure.
Rule Five. If the new hires are ever left alone, run as far away from this place as you can. Don't look back.
Grabbing the note and slumping into a nearby nearly broken garden chair, I heaved a sigh. I guess I've broken most of these rules because I left these guys alone and I left them in the bird enclosure on top of that. These "rules" didn't make sense. Why didn't the manger warn me of these supposed rules before introducing me to these guys?? Sighing once more, I exited the room and went back into the blinding light outside. I hurried back to the bird enclosure to find the new hires gone. My heart sank. I had to find them and fast.
Since I didn't know where to look, I went to the manager's office and found him on the phone. He sounded annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah. I got them all set. The girl is to be in charge of them until I figure out something else."
His word hit me. Surely he wasn't talking about me, right? My thoughts swirled again and I nearly gagged. Holding myself together, I knocked on the open door. The manger looked up me, plastering the fakest smile ever.
"What brings you here?" he asked.
"Um, I saw the note on my locker door and I think... I think I might have broken a few rules already."
The manger quickly stood up and hurried to close the door shut. Looking out the blinds that faced the opening entrance to the zoo and gift shop, he turned to me, his face serious.
"Did you lose them?"
"Huh?"
"Did. You. Lose. Them?"
His jaw clenched and his face was covered in cold sweat.
"Yes." I finally admitted. The manger signed, hanging his head.
"We have a problem."
His words were cutthroat, no funny business hidden under his once funny demeanor.
"What...problem?" I questioned, concerned.
"Those new hires aren't... exactly what you would call human. They are entities of sorts."
Now my head was officially fried. Entities? I thought. What kind of twisty rollercoaster works was I living in?? The manger approached me.
"If we don't find them by midnight, we're toast." he said, his voice a whispery hiss. I stared at him, shocked.
"Well, what do you plan on doing? I-I didn't ask to be part of this!"
"Look, I didn't have a choice but to choose you. If I didn't..." he faded off. He then looked at me again, his features a mixture of hurt and panic.
"If I didn't choose you, I would be taken away." he sighed, the words a heavy burden to say.
My voice was no more. Still confused, I open my mouth to speak.
"What do we do now?"
"We wait."
End of Part One.

John woke up with a start, his eyes adjusting to the dimly lit chamber. At first, he thought he was dreaming. Maybe he was taking part in some new reality TV show, with hidden cameras capturing his every move. But as his eyes adjusted and the reality of his situation began to dawn on him, he realized with a start – he was in Old Sparky, the notorious electric chair at Sing Sing Prison.
John’s pulse began to race. How had he ended up here? What had he done to deserve this? He tried to remember the events that had led up to this moment, but his mind was blank.
That’s when he heard it. A voice inside his head, the voice of Old Sparky, the electric chair itself. "Good morning, John. I am Old Sparky, and you are now my prisoner."
John shook his head in disbelief. Was this some kind of twisted joke? How could the chair possibly be sentient?
Old Sparky seemed to anticipate his thoughts. “I know you have many questions, John. And I promise I will answer them all in due time. But for now, you need to know that you will remain strapped into me until you die of old age. The prison staff will provide you with food, entertainment, and water while you are with me. However, if you try to destroy me in any way, I will kill you."
John felt a shiver run down his spine. He was trapped, helpless to do anything but obey the chair's every command. But what he wasn't prepared for was the sensation that he felt every night at midnight when Old Sparky delivered its shock.
Unlike the excruciating pain the victims of Old Sparky's past had experienced when undergoing electrification, John felt a strange sensation, as if a million tiny fingers were tickling him all over his body. He could not help but laugh uncontrollably, along with the inability to breathe.
This went on every night like clockwork - the tickling, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe, but the moment the shock faded, he was left shaking, feeling weak and powerless.
Days, weeks, and months passed without any change. John became used to his bizarre existence. The prison staff brought him meals, some books, and even a TV.
Old Sparky continued to speak to him, offering bits and pieces of information about the world outside. John began to look forward to their daily chats, and on some level, he realized he felt something akin to affection toward the sentient chair.
But then something unexpected happened. John started to have dreams - vivid, colorful, and full of life. He dreamed of seeing his family again, of feeling the sun on his face, of experiencing the simple joys of life that he had taken for granted before. And for some reason, Old Sparky was always there in his dreams.
As the years passed, John began to realize that maybe he wasn't really a prisoner after all. Yes, he was trapped in Old Sparky, but he was also living a life that was full of its own unique experiences.
He started to see the world from a new perspective, to appreciate the small things, to find joy in moments of solitude. And while he knew he would never be a free man again, he also knew that he was no longer defined by his circumstances.
And so, John remained strapped into Old Sparky until the end of his days. Every night, he laughed until he could hardly breathe, and every morning, he woke up to a new day, eager to see what the sentient electric chair would have in store for him. Through it all, he learned the power of the human spirit, and the resilience of the human soul.

I used to work as a zookeeper at the Milwaukee Zoo. There wasn't much to it. Just your standard zoo with a gift shop and areas to visit certain animals. I certainly was a fan of the zoo as a child, having visited the zoo for birthdays or field trips. I always said I wanted to be a vet of some sort but guess zookeeper was the closest I could get. Started working at the place around age 20. Fresh out of high school and trying to save money for my autistic nephew, this job didn't offer much. Running the train when workers couldn't, making sure the animals were fed and taken care of, you get the gist. I know, I know. I said I was a zookeeper but work is right around these parts so I have to pitch in where I can.
When I first started at the Milwaukee Zoo, I felt like I was living my dreams of helping animals. But that soon turned out to not be the case. After being there for less than a year, strange occurrences started to happen. It would be minor things such as lights going out, animals being sick, etc. Nothing major. The big incident happened right when two rookies were hired to see where they would fit in at the zoo. They were skinny and teen like. One was more hairer than the other but other than that, they seemed normal. Or so I would think. The weather was a bit hot and I was sweating while cleaning the elephant enclosure. I know, not the greatest job but someone's gotta do it. The manger of the zoo came up to me as I was closing the metal door to the cage.
"You Emily Tanner?"
"Yes. What's up?"
"I've got these two rookie here and I was wondering if you have time to show them around the base, you know, kinda get them used to the place and see where they fit in."
"Um, sure." I stammered, reaching out to shake the two young mens' hands. The gesture was ignored. Thinking to myself, I wondered what was wrong with them. Did they not understand basic social cues? Were they autistic like my nephew? Thoughts started racing through my head until one of the young men spoke.
"You ever notice the smell of animal waste, how it brings you joy?"
I couldn't speak in that moment. Surely this guy was kidding around, right? Nope. His face was stone cold. He was serious.
"Maybe." I managed to get out. This guy was definitely going be the last one to work with, I thought to myself. Instead, I gave a plastered smile and continued on with the conversation.
"These two shouldn't give you a hard time." the manger said before walking away. I nodded in agreement but then he turned back around.
"Oh, and I posted some rules on your locker door. Be sure to read them carefully. You wouldn't want to know what could happen to you if you don't."
"Is this man for real??" I thought again, my breathing quickening. I was beyond confused. "What is happening??"
But I couldn't worry about that. I had these two rookies to look after. Once I ensured the door to the elephant enclosure was secure, I lead the two men to the gorilla exhibit. It was a bit of a walk since the zoo is literally a maze where if you wanted to get to one area of interest, you had to pass several others before reaching your destination. Sure, you might be wondering if I should have the zoo's layout memorized by now, but you have to think. I don't go to the zoo everyday. Even when I go home, the zoo isn't the first thing on my mind. As I was walking, showing the men the different animals and how they behaved and such, I caught a chill down my spine every time I took a glance behind me to ensure they were following me. I tried to ignore it but the feeling was so overwhelming, I had to say or do something to take my mind off the dreaded feeling.
"So, what brings you two to the zoo and why do you want to work here?" I asked them.
Nothing.
They didn't answer. They just stared. Their cold, black eyes stared right into my soul. I quickly turned away and continues down the hot sticky tar path towards the bird enclosure. Luckily for me, it was nearing my lunch break. I could probably feed some of the birds there and then leave these two to their own devices.
I hurried my pace so that time could move faster and I could get as far away from these guys as possible. Hastily, I opened the door to the enclosure and lead them inside. Naturally the birds flew and here and there, their squawks and screeches following them as they flew about.
"You wanna be careful with the birds. Sometimes they can be mean." I tried to crack a joke but these guys weren't having it. So I naturally shut my mouth and buried any jokes I had deep within. They just stared at me, their soulless eyes not leaving mine. Bleh! Where the manger pick these guys up from, the graveyard? Even mummies and buried corpses could crack a ghost smile every once in a while. Carrying on with showing them how to care for the birds, I checked my watch and quite literally ran out of the building like it was on fire. I had to know those rules and why on EARTH these deadpan guys were hired. Surely the manger wanted to hire them as a joke because no one could be that cold and unfeeling like these two creeps.
Racing to the lockecommon room, I checked my locker door and surely, there was a list of rules. Five of them to be exact.
Rule One. Do not allow new hires to see the animals. This is crucial. If you've broken this rule, it's already too late.
Rule Two. Make sure the new hires are not left alone with the animals.
Rule Three. Do not allow the new hires to come in contact with the people. This rule is to never be broken.
Rule Four. Ensure all enclosures are locked and secure.
Rule Five. If the new hires are ever left alone, run as far away from this place as you can. Don't look back.
Grabbing the note and slumping into a nearby nearly broken garden chair, I heaved a sigh. I guess I've broken most of these rules because I left these guys alone and I left them in the bird enclosure on top of that. These "rules" didn't make sense. Why didn't the manger warn me of these supposed rules before introducing me to these guys?? Sighing once more, I exited the room and went back into the blinding light outside. I hurried back to the bird enclosure to find the new hires gone. My heart sank. I had to find them and fast.
Since I didn't know where to look, I went to the manager's office and found him on the phone. He sounded annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah. I got them all set. The girl is to be in charge of them until I figure out something else."
His word hit me. Surely he wasn't talking about me, right? My thoughts swirled again and I nearly gagged. Holding myself together, I knocked on the open door. The manger looked up me, plastering the fakest smile ever.
"What brings you here?" he asked.
"Um, I saw the note on my locker door and I think... I think I might have broken a few rules already."
The manger quickly stood up and hurried to close the door shut. Looking out the blinds that faced the opening entrance to the zoo and gift shop, he turned to me, his face serious.
"Did you lose them?"
"Huh?"
"Did. You. Lose. Them?"
His jaw clenched and his face was covered in cold sweat.
"Yes." I finally admitted. The manger signed, hanging his head.
"We have a problem."
His words were cutthroat, no funny business hidden under his once funny demeanor.
"What...problem?" I questioned, concerned.
"Those new hires aren't... exactly what you would call human. They are entities of sorts."
Now my head was officially fried. Entities? I thought. What kind of twisty rollercoaster works was I living in?? The manger approached me.
"If we don't find them by midnight, we're toast." he said, his voice a whispery hiss. I stared at him, shocked.
"Well, what do you plan on doing? I-I didn't ask to be part of this!"
"Look, I didn't have a choice but to choose you. If I didn't..." he faded off. He then looked at me again, his features a mixture of hurt and panic.
"If I didn't choose you, I would be taken away." he sighed, the words a heavy burden to say.
My voice was no more. Still confused, I open my mouth to speak.
"What do we do now?"
"We wait."
End of Part One.

For context i have complex trauma disorder (google it if you dont know what it is)
I have been with the love of my life (j) since last October. He is genuinely the light of my life and was the only person i belive i can truly love and trust with my whole heart and soul. Around February this year i met (M) and (L) in the gym and after chatting and exchanging socials became close friends. We ended up becoming a trio for a month or so until (L) got into a relationship and wasn’t hanging out with us frequently. (M) and i decided to continue the friendship without many changes. The only changes we made was we didnt go out for brunch or to meals alone as it wasnt the same without (L) and felt a little to “datey”. One Thursday after (M)’s volleyball practice, which me and some other friends frequently came to watch, we decided to get pizza and chill at his seeing as it was still technically winter and would be too dangerous for me to go home (about a 3 hour trip because of the long walk to the stations and the train changes). As we had been friend for a while and sleepovers werent un common with our friend group (him even staying at my house without other friends before) i saw no issue in this. I got about half way through my pizza while watching some YouTube videos on his tv (which was on his bed) i started feeling panicked, usually i feel this way before i have a panick attack or in worse case a black out. Now is a good time to mention that i havent had a black out episode since starting therapy about a year before this happened, and when i did before it had always either been at home or somewhere like college in a crowded place where there were many people to help me, as when i begin to black out i have no recollection of my surroundings and tend to start to feel numb, like my legs will be walking but i wont know where im going or that im walking at all. I managed to tell (M) that i thought i was going to have a panic attack and apart from him getting out of his chair and coming over to the bed (where i was sitting) and leaning over me, i assumed to check if i was ok, i don’t remember anything that happened. I remember feeling numb and trapped in my own head but not much else. When i came too i felt his hands (although i didnt realise whos they were at the time) on my legs and I remember kicking him off of me and running out of his house. He had ran after me with my phone and bag, although i didnt have a jacket and tried to calm me down. Firstly i called my cousin to come and get me as he usually works nights so i knew he would be awake, but he wasnt working the mainland, so i called (j). Thankfully he was awake because for some reason in all of this i was more worried about waking him up on a work night, he got the adress from max and left straight away, it being a 2 ish hour drive. In the time it took (j) to get to where we were (M) had talked me out of my panicked state. I didnt realise at the time what exactly he had said straight away but it was something along the lines of “its okay none of its your fault, i dont blame you but (j) will.” By that i had figured out what had happened and was angry at him, he told me if i tell (j) he’ll break up with me and it wouldn’t be in my best intrest. I cant prove that i didnt start it even to myself let alone to him so i didnt tell. Looking back i know how stupid that was but I thought it was best for my relationship that i didnt say anything. I remember getting in (j)’s car but nothing else from that night. For a full month afterwards I couldn’t have sex with (j). Even if i wanted to and was in the mood my body wouldn’t let me, we had to take things slow and do things step by step and eventually i was almost back to normal.
A few months had gone by without me being friends with (M) and i had almost gotten the situation out of my head. I had gotten ill and was sick for around two weeks, (M) in that time decided to “come clean” to (j) and call him saying that i had cheated on him. Since i dont actually know if i started it or not i confessed to it and tried to tell him i didnt mean to and i didnt want to. (M) and some close friends of his had gone to (j) and told him that i had manipulated (M) into having sex with me and had done it “so many times he couldn’t count”. Also saying things like i bragged about it and told people i had two boyfriends. I confess and did confirm the first situation as i truly am sorry and feel guilty but i dont understand why all of this extra stuff was brought up. (j) and i have broken up but he has said he will let me earn his trust back slowly as long as i sort myself out.
Even tho (j) and i arent together anymore hes still the love of my life and i will do anything to make things up to him.
I didnt get the chance to tell anyone other than my therapist any actual details about the situation and my therapist belives it is a good idea for me to get it out there in the open so i can move on from it as the past 3 weeks i have been nothing but depressed. Thats why I’ve decided to put it here, your all strangers and I shouldn’t expect any judgement from you. Its also a way of getting it out of my head as i tend to get stuck, its affecting my work and simple things like eating properly and taking care of myself so thank anyone who reads this for being part of helping me get better.
-mm

In the Marvel Comics there is a concept within the Multiverse, mainly used in the Secret Wars runs, called an Incursion. This is where if two universes have people regularly travelling between them, or staying in one universe they don't belong too long etc it triggers a "collision" event called an Incursion. This is where the two realities collide and have to essentially fight eachother for only one remain.
This was one of the main drivers for the Secret Wars run in the comics. The concept of Incursions has been progressively hinted at more and more in the MCU and has long been a factor in the comics since 2013.
My theory is that the apocolypse that Miguel experienced in the alternate universe he was living in was actually an incursion. This was caused by his own prolonged presence in the foreign universe. Along the same vein with the pick up of multi-versal travel, and devices being created facilitating it, is that with more spider-people travelling around it's leading to incursions unknowingly.
Evidence of this is Earth-42, the universe where Miles' spider originates from. Since there is no Spider-Man here then it should have been destroyed ages ago, because canon was broken from the beginning. Instead it's alive and well (albeit darker) because no one travels there due to the lack of Spider-person to draw them there for recruitment etc.
I believe, and a part of me hopes this won't happen, is that this will be used to feed into the Secret Wars narrative in the MCU. The recent Spider-Verse had a number of real life cameos relating to the MCU and it's plausible that the next Spider-Verse will end with the start of a major Incursion, this will directly lead into the MCU Incursion/Secret Wars and MIGHT be used to move Miles and Spider-Gwen into the main MCU (I hope not). This was actually how Miles was moved into the main 616 continuity in the comics.

I live in a rented flat and have done for about a year. The back garden is small and surrounded by a tall wall. The only thing I keep there are my bins.
There is a family living a stone throw away and their kids play football against the wall of my garden. Zero issue with this. When I first moved in, they would climb the wall (which is shorter when they come in from the neighbouring garden). Zero issue with this. They exit again via my garden gate. Issue. The gate slams with the wind, loudly, and repeatedly some days. Which means I have to go down every day and lock the gate again after they go in for the night.
They got bored of having to climb over, so they knocked the lock in so that it won’t slide along anymore and I can’t lock it. I started to prop a long piece of wood behind the gate so that they couldn’t open it. When they realised this, they starting using all their might and booting my gate over and over until the wood pops out of position and they can come in. Again, gate battering closed in the wind. Then they got bored of having to kick the gate, so they took the wood and snapped it. So I bought a new lock and a padlock so that once they’re in, they have to go back the way they came. They’re move. They have now starting tipping my bin on its side and dragging it to the wall so that they can climb on it to get out again. Everything falls out of the bin so I need to tidy the garden up every week on bin day.
This family are very aggressive (with each other and I’ve seen them have many fights with other people). I don’t feel comfortable approaching them. They scream at the kids and the kids don’t do anything they are told anyway. They have also broken by bin lid clean off, when the bin is collected they sit on it and others drag them around. Last year, when bored during the summer holidays, they chipped at the loose bricks on the wall until they took out about 10 of them creating a hole. My rental agency sent someone out to fix that at the time, but I noticed they have removed a few from another part of the wall recently.
What can I do about these kids? I feel sorry for them, they get no positive attention at all, they have no chance in life, but this is pushing me to move. I’m sick of them.