Preface

I want to begin that this post is to not name players or groups present in MVM Mann-up abusing grief methods. We all know the different players & cliques who are routinely abusing them. Even if you know them, this is not a call for harassment. Do not engage with them, and avoid these situation. I'm avoiding posting an images or videos, so people cannot trace players.
The reason for this post is to raise awareness, following the release of Weezy's MVM Cheaters Part 2. These methods are done to degrade the experience, especially towards new players who don't recognize it from happening in Mann-up. Some may even point out me posting about it will encourage the continuation of these issues. This is not the case.
Players who are doing it, are already doing it, and doesn't need me to exist to continue doing it!
There is a lot of nuance that suffocates the discussion, especially by those who advocate the continued existence of these methods to, "Punish Cheaters & Cheater Supporters." And then, there is the whole notion that these players are an extreme minority, or the players should have, "left the server."
It doesn't matter why it happens, because it can happen for any reason a griefer decides for, against innocent players!
These are problems that exist, and needs to be remedied. While I'm one person, it is clear that many people are wising up to this problem. With the Summer Seasonal around the corner, we need to make noise to even get a chance for these issues to be fixed. Making people feel powerless is what bad-actors want, and Valve has opened the door for fixes towards it.
Despite the niche nature of MVM, the gamemode is not immune from being fixed when it needs to!

Grief Methods

Requing after Kick [1 Player]

Problem & Solution : Soft-bans needs to be restored. Kicked players can easily que back in, especially by abusing vpns to match server location. When a majority doesn't want you there for any reason, it should be obvious that coming back won't change their minds.
It may be harsh, and it will be done for the rude reasons; there are still plenty of other servers to finish your tour. Sadly, griefers don't care and want to grief after being kicked. Any attempt to kick-evade should automatically pass, just like in causal.
Soft-bans should last for 30 minutes, enough time for a player to take their place without them coming back soon.
Likewise, if these kinds of players had the majority in their lobby that facilitates the gameplay they are looking for; they have every right to police their experience, bitter as it may be. The less player conflict, the better.

Mid-Wave Knockback Grief [1 - 2 Players]

Problem : By themselves, they decide to go Pyro with max-airblast, max-ammo, and ammo refill canteens to consistently Airblast robots back into their spawn. A single griefer can waste time, but is doomed to fail alone. Unfortunately, this takes it to the worse when paired up with an Engineer with exploitable spawns. Build a dispenser and now the Pyro has a source of infinite ammo to grief as long as they want.
Solution : Off the bat, robots within spawn needs an blanket immunity from knockback sources. Because Robots already under Stock Uber, Quick-Fix's Anti-Knockback effects should easily apply in their spawns. This will negate the need for kicks during waves, and robots should funnel out. 4 people against 2 griefers should be easily dealt by 2 kicks.
Body blocks might be still possible, yet will require absolute coordination.
1-Way-Robot Spawn Doors can also be a possibility. I'm led to believe it may be hard for a way to discriminate robots in-spawn vs out-of-spawn, but hammer-gurus out there might know how.
For now, a 1-size-fits-all solution should be appealing to the TF-Team.

Force-Loss Grief [1 - 2 Players]

Problem : Sources of knockback is used to play golf with giant boss robots, and to intentionally lead it to the hatch. Well-versed in MVM lore, boss robots has an inherit knockback resistance, yet got broken since Jungle Inferno.
This method is done when spawns are not exploitable, and the griefers know doing this alone can be countered. Although, they use strength in numbers to their benefit, as two airblasting pyros hellbent on force-loses can make this tug-of-war worse.
Solution : Restoring soft-bans would solve removing the griefer, yet why not cover all bases to prevent this problem that happens in general. It is to say an restoration to robot knockback resistance outside of spawn might sacerfice fail-saves. Some people find it fun, some people don't find it fun; there needs to be a compromise along the lines.
Perhaps max airblast-flamethrower should do a power-shove, not a whole golf-club swing, to at least bring an element of choice Valve intended.

Idle Bots & Upgrade Block Attacks [1 Player, Botted Accounts]

Funny how some has decided to employ the use of bots...
Idle Bots : This was seen when going Spectator can make you immune from being kicked, and not contributing. Players themselves done this, but it quickly got automated to fill up servers. Soft-bans is our friend here, outside of Valve banning hosters & bots.
Upgrade Block Attacks : Bad-actors sending automated pre-mym invites to attack specific players, which causes the upgrade station to close. Happens to high-profile streamers, but it can happen to you! Upgrading becomes an unnecessary hassle, and the attacker doesn't have to be in your game. The solution here is a under-the-hood fix by the TF-Team, and I won't pretend to know how to directly solve this.
Obscure, but it can be the next weapon used if left out of the question. It is also possible they can do it to players on Community Servers too, so you are not exactly safe there!

In the end, I see that this will bring some sort of response of,

"What's the point? You can send Emails, these issues are on the contractor's github, and I play Community MVM."

To that, I have sent emails to proper communication channels. Perhaps the TF-Team is well aware of these problems by now. Maybe the contractor has these issues docked on a to-do list. And I do not disagree that many people don't have to worry about these issues in Community Servers, where mechanisms are introduced to negate negative elements, with no reward structures that likely enabled this toxicity.
Whatever happens by the Summer Seasonal is up in the air, but I will conclude it cannot happen any longer than it has gone on for. Doing nothing won't make this issue better, and to fear that it will continue is letting them win. It will be cathartic for all the innocent players in Mann-up to win against bad-actors who done nothing but make players miserable for years.

Hello, I've been modding a server for my friends to play on G-Portal. I'm having trouble trying to add Brita's weapon pack and Fluffy's Hair. With a bit of tinkering, I can get Brita's weapon pack to work, but Fluffy's Hair I don't know if it is compatible with website hosting servers. I read Fluffy's mod page, but it says it is compatible with multiplayer. If it helps here is my mod order on G Portal as well as the numbered workshop ID.
Mod Names:
modoptions;BedfordFalls;North;South;West;tsarslib;ItemTweakerAPI;ItemTweakerAPIExtraClothingAddon;RepairAnyClothes;RepairAnyMod;Arsenal(26)GunFighter[MAIN MOD 2.0];Arsenal(26)GunFighter;Brita_2;DeadMayCry;AlkanshelsConfigforBritasWeaponPack;ReadingIsNotBoring;mrnvsbhltr;rideabletrucks;MandelaBowAndArrow;StalkerArmorPack;CosplayShop;BoredomTweaks,jumpThroughWindows;Tactical Weapons;FC4WT;wringclothes;Max;70dodge;SwapIt;BecomeDesensitized;noirrsling;SpnCloth;Swatpack;UndeadSuvivor;ScrapGuns(new version);RV_Interior_MP;WaterDispenser;snowiswater;ScrapArmor(new version);FuelAPI;cherbourg;AquatsarYachtClub;TMC_Trolley;MapLegendUI;BB_CommonSense;ScrapWeapons(new version),SpnHair,BCGRareWeapons;ToadTraits;ExpandedHelicopterEvents;amclub;TheWorkshop(new version);P4HasBeenRead; ExtraMapSymbols;OutTheWindow;TrueActionsDancing;EasyConfigChucked;Authentic Z - Current;BCGTools;FH;RainWash;FRUsedCars;FRUsedCarsNLF;ATA_Bus;autotsartrailers;TMC_TrueActions;BetterSortCC;Brita;PlayersOnMap;UBPropFix;KillCount;NCWBP;HordeNight01;CleanDirt;Pyromania;REORDER_THE_HOTBAR;Dodge_CC;90pierceArrow;CraftEngineParts;lx_autotsartrailers;FJ_Cruiser_TTE;60falcon;radialmenuapi;ToyotaX90fhq;ReloadAllMagazines;ToyotaCorollaB41;1989Porsche911Turbo;Mitsubishi_Evolution;ATA_Petyarbuilt;WearableLeashes;AuthenticZStudderFix;92nissanGTR;VVehicleEnhancer;FurryMod;AnthroZeds;CheatMenuRB;blkt_crosshair;TheStar;VehicleRecycling;VehicleRecyclingPatch;SpnOpenCloth;MoreDescriptionForTraits4166;exhaustion-fitness-robboinnit;exhaustion-fitness-reduced-robboinnit;EssentialCrafting;VISIBLE_BACKPACK_BACKGROUND;DRAW_ON_MAP;MapSymbolSizeSlider;sapphcooking;sapphcookingbettersorting;RainCleansBlood;RPActions;DragonSlayer;SlayerArsenal;AntiqueArmarment;WaifuDakis;WaifuDakisShop;FancyHandwork;AuthenticAnimations;CombatText;AnimeTV
WorkShop ID
2169435993;522891356;2392709985;566115016;2810800927;2142622992;2297098490;2944763110;2200148440;2876661279;1949441990;2901552077;2877551501;2208315526;2831715402;2707905930;2725360009;2688884240;2324223029;2752895143;2696083206;2492565135;2873290424;2366717227;2627877543;2786499395;2684285534;2091564445;2713921292;2125659488;2822286426;2687798127;2704811006;2658619264;2688538916;1827428289;2392987599;2478768005;2710167561;2875848298;2122265954;2463184726;2432621382;1299328280;2458631365;2778576730;2680473910;2544353492; 2701170568;2659216714;2648779556;2529746725;2335368829;2423906082;2447729538;2657661246;1510950729;2592358528;2282429356;2487022075;2460154811;2313387159;2732804047;2883755057;2553809727;2931426209;2714850307;2711057211;2685625532;2903771337;2855010579;2942793445;2744114761;2699856770;2741984715;2083894944;2735579575;2805957063;2920899878;2275577847;2567438952;2683532719;2782258356;2901167199;2911197660;2846036306;2788428718;2930890411;2732834772;2893930681;2814165668;2619072426;2289429759;2833065348;2812326159;2685168362;2794699088;2903127760;2808679062;2804531012;2734705913;2832136889;2956146279;2876610875;2653684336;2836541309;2926802017;2756636139;2286124931;2904920097;2207282444;2847406722;

Since the 2000s are in, with some people attempting to revive the 2000s, as a geriatric Millennial, here is my early-mid 2000s Revival guide for younger readers out there. Feel free to add to it.

1. Living without smartphones wasn’t just about jumping on the computer instead, it was a completely different lifestyle. We weren’t yet consumed by the internet and being digital connected.

a. We had to be okay with getting lost. Most people didn’t have constant access to a map while driving. Google Maps for the computer wasn’t even released until 2005. I personally didn’t have a GPS until 2007. You had to learn the streets through repetition, reading the signs, recognizing landmarks and knowing which way the sun sets. Sometimes you had to stop and ask for directions.
b. We had to be okay with being lost. Even though there was Google and other search engines, not everything was a Google search away. It wasn’t just that you didn’t have constant access to all knowledge and information, it was that we weren’t yet conditioned to expect that. You learned through teachers, you read books, magazines and newspapers, you joined clubs and heard alternative viewpoints, and you established a worldview that you could defend.
c. We lived in the moment. If you were watching TV, you watched it. If it was time to sleep you would go to sleep. If you were playing video games, you’d get into it. Where ever you were, that was your entertainment. The phone wasn’t there to save you from boredom, it simply was a communication tool to either call or text basic sentences.
d. Unless you were carrying reading material, your eyes were open to your surroundings. It meant taking in the view, whether the city, nature, people watching, etc.

1. We didn’t consume on hyper drive. Consumerism was as much about the experience as it was the product.

a. If at the mall, you were as much there to socialize and people watch as you were to buy something. It was expected and it wasn’t startling to talk to people or be talked to.
b. We consumed at a more moderate pace. The 27in TV I bought in 2002 was $800. Laptops couldn’t really be purchased for $200 yet. Extremely cheap clothing was more of a fad and not the norm yet. Plus we didn’t get paid as much. Anyone remember $1 flip flops from Old Navy though lol?

1. Speaking of consuming, there was five ways I consumed music. CDs, mp3s, XM Radio, and broadcast radio, and then music video channels. But it meant enjoying the same music for longer periods of time.

a. That mix CD might be enjoyed for whole year and rotated with other CDs. But it was a process to download a burn CDs, and it was trial and error getting good quality MP3s off the internet. We didn’t consume music at the pace we do now with streaming.
b. Buying CDs meant enjoying and appreciating the whole album, appreciating the cover and the album art. You truly were able to appreciate the artist more. This is a habit I carry to today. If I like a song, I’ll go listen to the whole album and listen to more albums by that artist. But I still miss the physical product and the album art. Also you had to take care of your music. CDs would get scratched if you didn’t.
c. Radio whether XM or broadcast was still a thing, and sometimes you just relinquished control to the DJ. You learned to enjoy new music as it was presented to you, and weren’t just able to skip past it. Same goes for MTV and music videos as well.

1. TV was more about channel surfing and giving something a chance. There was only so many things you could watch and for the most part you couldn’t skip past it. But we weren’t conditioned to judge everything so quickly. We accepted that what we were watching was curated by someone else. We also couldn’t really skip commercials, so a lot of people who be exposed to the same commercials.

a. Renting movies was also a whole experience, usually done with friends, planned ahead. It was a actual movie night, probably with food. Television was an experience, not just deposable entertainment. I watched 5 seasons of Lost with my college buddies.
b. News was also consumed a lot on TV, before News tv became extremely toxic. I learned a lot watching CNN headline news. I also watched the towers fall live on TV. I was glued to the TV for the invasion of Iraq.
c. Many shows became cultural phenomena simply because a lot of us watched the same thing out of lack of choice. TV was curated to your age group not necessary you. Most of us millennials grew up watching the same MTV, Nickelodeon, and TGIF.

1. A lot of life felt more analog. Cell phones weren’t digital signals yet. Even cars gripped the road a bit differently than they do today. But you appreciated the nuanced feel of much of life. Not everything was so perfected and it was okay, it built patience and confidence and awareness. To get on the internet meant actually sitting down at a computer, and right around the turn of the 2000s, many times it was still dial up. Also early broadband was still slow. Wi-Fi wasn’t widely available yet and when it was available, it was unreliable.
   
2. Not everything was personal curated and fine tuned to your preferences. Netflix and Spotify wasn’t there to spit out music according to the algorithm. The internet wasn’t watching your every move to suggest the next product. Customizing your MySpace page, decorating your room, your car and your laptop was about the extend of personalization.
   
3. Not everything was grey and boring as it’s become today. Consumer tech and clothing was widely available in the whole spectrum of the rainbow. Home decor bordered on gaudy. Cars could just as easily be orange as the could be purple. Not everything was updated from their 80s and 90s decor yet.
   
4. You lived and learned, made stupid mistakes and made a fool of yourself without the fear of exposure you have today. A lot of life wasn’t recorded or under surveillance. They just became gossip and funny stories among friends.
   

Feel free to add more.

Hello and welcome to my post! This prompt takes place in a Modern Realistic world that is taking an AU spin after the beginning of the rp, but we can change some details of the real world to fit better such as names or new individuals in governments (obviously like a new princess, if you play her, rather than IRL one). This rp is based around War, Special Operations, Politics, Espionage, Romance, Mystery and more and can depict adult themes so please be of-age in your jurisdiction! Your character is up to you! I can gladly help make one, but, the way this rp is set up with intertwining plots means your character can be partially in-the-know about one part and come to learn and uncover the rest hoping to save the world! Below is the 'start' of the initiative, and if you wanted you could be... a drone operator who saw part of what happened to the plane... or the princess who (if you play her) survives the attempt on her life. We can find a way to work you into the mentioned events going on in the world. Anyway, I role play on Discord and if this interests you, please reach out!
~~
A long delicate hand extended across the custom made Roche Bobois Executive desk with masterfully blended darkened steel and glass, curving around into the shape of a crescent moon. It's owner had a chuckle over that every time they saw it, knowing it was on a bit too on the nose but not minding the small joke. Their hand picked up an old rotary phone that was linked to a sister device just 15 feet to their west, where their secretary sat, "Nightshade" The Executive identified them-self to the phone
A moment of pause, a female voice responded from the other end, "All preparations complete, Nightshade. Operation Zephyr, Operation Crimson Jewel, Operation Mirage, Operation Ember Storm, and Operation Shadow Orchid" The females voice said to the phone
"Proceed with all, then proceed with Operation Equinox Ascendant" The executive responded before hanging up the phone.
A moment of silence followed the secretary as she replaced her own phone on the receiver and took a breath in. Her mind wondered about Nightshade as it had for the last four years since she received this unique job offer. She had never seen her boss, nor does she know what Nightshade sounded like as the voice was scrambled every time they spoke. Even worse, she didn't even know Nightshade sat just 15 feet to her east all these years. She picked up her phone, dialing the officers of Nox to relay the orders to proceed from Nightshade in the order she had asked them previously. Zephyr, Crimson Jewel, Mirage, Ember Storm, and Shadow Orchid...
~~
Major Jacob Hurthwing of the United States Airforce adjusted himself in the seat of his, as yet, unnamed and top secret state of the art Multi-role Fighter Jet while his stomach rumbled. It was 3pm and he was hungry. He had been told that this fighter put the F-35 Lighting II to shame with its superior Stealth Capabilities, Ground Attack Armaments, and Maneuverability and because of this it was exceptional in its handling and disbursement of G Force other than on the pilot, and it had taken him a few weeks to get used to the control scheme. Everything was controlled from his helmet or the unique control stick which was more like an advanced glove connected right to the plane that seamlessly linked his movements. However, as much as he was in awe of what he called a Seventh Generation Fighter... He was equally in awe over the view he had from the cockpit. To his east was the mighty Himalayan Mountain Range and below him was lush green valleys, deep gorges, and pristine rivers meandering through the terrain. Cascading waterfalls punctuated the verdant hillsides, adding a touch of ethereal beauty to the scene. Valleys dotted the terraced fields, vibrant with the hues of cultivated crops, reflecting the agricultural livelihood of the Bhutanese people. He was on practice runs, evading and testing the capabilities of the fighters stealth ability, which had been wildly successful. He had yet to be spotted by any of the Asian countries he had flown over, from teasing the China border to over India and north. It was a gorgeous day with clear skies and he had just checked in with the USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf who had advised him to return to deck, but, he figured he could slip in a few more minutes of this view as he adjusted his course... Suddenly, the cockpit of the Fighter flashed red as his HUD displayed at least fifteen different warnings, most of which he could ignore but two he could not... Unsafe weather conditions... and Connection Lost. He hardly had a moment to think about how to fix the situation before his seat ejected, without his desire to do so, but his cockpit remained closed. His neck broke instantly as it hit the strong composite metal, and with his lifeless corpse, the plane began banking to its new destination...
~
4,800 miles away six individuals sat within the back of a Route-master, known more locally to Londoners as a Boris Bus or New London Bus. It was the classic red double Decker redesigned for the modern day, and the men loaded Kalashnikov's as they knelt below the high sides of the second and first deck levels. The bus took a turn on Dacre St just a few blocks away from Buckingham Palace and saw their target. An unmarked, visually unremarkable vehicle driving on the opposite end of the road and coming their way, just as they had expected. While the car was unremarkable to the world, the driver of the Routemaster knew how to identify it with its exceptionally strong tires and had a low profile from the weight of the armor plating that was hidden within. It was an armored car being used to ferry the Princess of England on her way to an unplanned and unscheduled stop just halfway across London but the bus driver knew the car would never make it, as he had been given the proceed on Crimson Jewel... As the vehicles drew closer to one another, he yanked his wheel to the side, and the two vehicles collided to a loud crushing stop, for the bus was modified as well. Behind the driver, the six men in masks opened the windows of the bus and aimed down at the Princesses' vehicle. Its armor had been compromised by the impact and the windshield began to splinter as dozens of bullets hit it. One of the men pushed a Panzerfaust 3 from the busses window, aiming the rocket launcher at the car. He wasn't supposed to fire it yet, ideally, they captured the princess... but should the police arrive to soon... Oh well...
~~
Operation Mirage occurred in the early morning in Michigan, USA. A lone Nox operative had already slipped inside one of the worlds foremost digital security services and major supplier to the US government and had laughed to himself at how simple it had been to do so. Monotony and Peace had ruined the guards who stood watch and had been waiting for the shift change that occurred at 5am just moments ago, and he had no need to obscure the cameras for when he reached the server room... He could erase and loop the videos... as he gained unrestricted access to their systems...
~~
"That's it?" The nox operative asked his officer, known as Phantom. "That's it" Phantom responded ever so simply. They had spent the past week preparing for this operation and the young operative couldn't believe that kicking it off was so lackluster and so simple. Of course, preparing hadn't been simple. They had been all over Mallacoota and the Coopracambra National Park of Australia setting up caches of fuel that they were sure could not be found nor traced back to them. It had to seem like an accident, after all. It was 7pm as Phantom took one last long drag of his cigarette, looked out over the national park... and flicked it into the fuel trail at his feet before the two left.
~~
It was similarly 5am for Operation Shadow Orchid, and the officer in charge had seemed almost disappointed that it would be nothing more than a drop off... and he had been going through ways of making it more interesting in his head. An arrow with a message? No, too archaic... A Grenade launcher through the window? No, too modern... In the end, he decided to go with a timeless classic with a unique twist... It was two hours later that the US Senator awoke next to his wife. He rolled over to hug her, as he always did, but when he did he felt something slide on his chest. His eyes opened to see a manila envelope with a note on it suggesting he keep quiet and wait for more contact. Attached to the note, however, was a Polaroid of him and his wife asleep in bed just two hours prior. Inside the envelope were pictures of him and his many... Mistresses... Something he would do anything to keep quiet
~~
With that the operations had been completed, or started, and operation Equinox was all set to begin...

A Deep Dive into Parallels in Taylor’s Song "Hits different"
---
I have been listening to "hits different" repeatedly since it was put on streaming and I believe it is one of the songs that has the most parallels with other love songs (especially from Reputation and Lover).
Let's analyze it:
---
“I washed my hands of us at the club / You made a mess of me”
This verse represents the end of a relationship. The end of this relationship is a contrast to all the songs where she thought it was going to be forever.
​

• Lover: "I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all."
• All of the girls you loved before: "I want to show you how forever feels like."
• King of My Heart: "Is this the end of all the endings?"

---
“I pictured you with other girls in love / Then threw up on the street”
Here, the narrator knows that his ex-partner will eventually move on and have another romantic relationship. This fear of him being with someone else is reflected in other songs:
​

• Lover: "And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you."
• Delicate: "Do the girls back home touch you like I do?"
• Gold rush: "I don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch."
• End game: “I don’t wanna be just another ex love you don’t wanna see”
• Need: "Fear is the nightmare I had, you were with someone else, you forgot about me"

Also, we have an indication that the author tries to solve her problems with alcohol. This has been explored in other of her songs, for example:
This is me trying: "They told me all of my cages were mental so I got wasted like all my potential."
---
“Like waiting for a bus that never shows / You just start walkin' on / They say that if it's right, you know / Each bar plays our song / Nothing has ever felt so wrong”
The relationship now seems to have no salvation for the author and she finds no signs to prove her wrong. Their bond is no longer as strong as before. In contrast with other songs:
​

• Lover: "All's well that ends well to end up with you. / Can we always be this close? Forever and ever."
• Paper rings: "Honey, without all the exes, fights, and flaws we wouldn't be standing here so tall."
• Long Story Short: “But if someone comes at us this time I’m ready”

---
“Oh, my, love is a lie / Shit my friends say to get me by / It hits different / It hits different this time”
The relationship is different and the one she has felt the most of all she has had, we find references to this in other songs:
​

• ...Ready for it?: "Every lover known in comparison is a failure."
• King of my Heart: "'Cause all the boys and their expensive cars with their Range Rovers and their Jaguars never took me quite where you do."

---
“Catastrophic blues / Movin' on was always easy for me to do / It hits different / It hits different 'cause it's you”
Her partner is compared to blue on other occasions:
​

• Lover: "My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue."
• Delicate: "Oh, damn, never seen that color blue."
• Gorgeous: "Ocean blue eyes looking in mine, I feel like I might sink and drown and die."

---
“I used to switch out these Kens, I'd just ghost / Rip the band-aid off and skip town like an asshole outlaw”
Taylor mentions how easy it was before to switch from one relationship to another in contrast to what it is now. She uses the word "Ken" to refer to a generic man.
Don’t Blame Me: "I've been breakin' hearts a long time, and toying' with them older guys just playthings for me to use."
---
“Freedom felt like summer then on the coast / Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings”
This phrase has the clearest parallel with "daylight", when before she mentioned light as something that had given her happiness or hope, now it is something that harms her.
​

• Daylight: "I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night and now I see daylight, I only see daylight."
• Evermore: "in the cracks of light I dreamed of you."

---
“And I never don't cry at the bar”
This is another object that used to be something good and now it is not. Before, the bar represented the place where she had met her lover.
​

• Delicate: "Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?"
• So it goes: "Met you in a bar, all eyes on me, your illusionist."
• Cornelia Street: "Drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar."
• Invisible string: "A string that pulled me out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar."

---
“Yeah, my sadness is contagious (my sadness is contagious)/ I slur your name till someone puts me in a ca I stopped receiving invitations”
Her sadness can be contagious not only because of her strength, but because she writes about it in songs that make the public feel the same way. In this part, she also mentions being drunk in a car and thinking about the other person in a state of unconsciousness.
​

• Cruel Summer: "I'm drunk in the back of the car and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar."
• The Great War: "cursed you as I sleep-talked."
• Death by a thousand cuts: "I get drunk, but it's not enough cause the morning comes and you're not my baby."

---
“I find the artifacts, cried over a hat/ Cursed the space that I needed”
Objects that make her think of the other person have been mentioned in other songs, as well as places:
​

• Cornelia Street: "And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends I'd never walk Cornelia Street again."
• All Too Well: "And I, left my scarf there at your sister's house and you've still got it in your drawer even now."

---
“I trace the evidence, make it make some sense / Why the wound is still bleeding?”
Taylor tries to find the reasons why her relationship ended and why it is so hard for her to overcome it. The end of her relationship as something impossible to overcome, is something she has mentioned previously:
​

• Cornelia Street: "That's the kind of heartbreak time could never mend."
• Don’t blame me: "If you walk away I’d beg you on my knees to stay."
• Death by a thousand cuts: "But if the story's over why am I still writing pages?"
• New Year’s Day: "Please, don't ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere."

---
“You were the one that I loved / Don't need another metaphor, it's simple enough / A wrinkle in time like the crease by your eyes / This is why they shouldn't kill off the main guy”
Direct declarations of love and thinking that the person is "the one" (the main guy) are also present in her other works:
​

• Cruel Summer: "I love you ain’t that the worst thing you’ve ever heard?"
• Invisible String: "And isn't it just so pretty to think all along there was some Invisible string tying you to me?"

---
“Dreams of your hair and your stare and sense of belief”
Taylor mentions his eyes in multiple songs, his hair also seems to be present, as well as his personality which she seems to admire.
​

• Gold Rush: "What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominos."
• Peace: "Your integrity makes me seem small. You paint dreamscapes on the wall. I talk shit with my friends it’s like I'm wasting your honor."

---
“In the good in the world, you once believed in me”
Her ex-partner supported her and saw the good in her.
​

• Dress: "Even in my worst times you could see the best of me."
• Call it what you want: "My baby's fly like a jet stream high above the whole scene, loves me like I'm brand new."
• Dancing with our hands tied: "I’m a mess but I’m the mess that you wanted."

---
“And I felt you and I held you for a while / Bet I could still melt your world / Argumentative, antithetical, dream girl”
In this part, Taylor acknowledges that she knows her partner also loved her:
​

• I Think He Knows: "He’s so obsessed with me and boy I understand."
• So it goes: "But I got your heart skippin', skip-skippin' when I'm gone."

---
“I heard your key turn in the door down the hallway/ Is that your key in the door?/ Is it okay? Is it you?/ Or have they come to take me away? / (To take me away)”
In this verse, she shows how she still has hopes that her beloved will return, in addition to demonstrating that her mental health is deteriorating after the break-up of the relationship. The intensity of this relationship was such that she was willing to do anything for him:
​

• Don’t blame Me: "For you, I would cross the line, I would waste my time, I would lose my mind."
• Peace: "And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences sit with you in the trenches give you my wild, give you a child."

There are surely a million more parallels that I have not mentioned, so feel free to add any you want! Thanks for reading this long post!

saw an ad on facebook and I bought a car Ford focus 2012 of $4500 and Dealership offered me warranty for $1000 for 2 years which makes $5500 and I sold my car in $1000 to the dealership so I paid total of $4775 including tax. The agreement didn’t disclose any previous car history except car Air condition and Radio. When I took the car to my house after payment (paid by credit card) I was putting windshield fluid in the hood and noticed that Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir is missing I tried to find everywhere but did not find.
Luckily one person ‘bystander ‘ came to us and offered help and I said i am not able to find Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir . He was expert and got to know that many parts are missing and told us it’s an accidental vehicle. And we checked car deeply we found front bumper is hanging with elastic bands and horn is not working ,Music system too was faulty, the bystander suggest that we should return car immediately as it could be that it was not inspected before being sold and would not be safe to be on road. Also mentioned that we should have received some sort of inspection certificate which we didn’t.
So I called the dealership they said come tomorrow and we will see. I went next day and I said I need to cancel the deal but they refused to do so. So I requested them by law to do this they agreed and also returned my previous car.
When I went to office for payment they said they are not going to refund me $400 for inconvenience and cannot refund $1000 of warranty. I asked him why? Ziad (the guy I bought the car from) said it’s another company who gave you the warranty and they don’t refund it and they will talk to the warranty company, he asked me to come on Monday may-29-2023. So before going I called the warranty company Track Garantie Inc. (was given this name by Ziad) and they said they do not have my file under my name and car’s vin number also they said if you return your car within 10days you will get full refund.
But, the dealership is saying that they will still take the amount of $1400 without mentioning it in contract or giving me any receipt. I went there on Monday and they gave me a paper to sign it with $3375 refund check. The owner Ziad was not present even though I had already texted him and made appointment on Saturday that he will be there. So I asked the salesman what is wrong why are you charging $1400 they said the manager is not there you have to come on Tuesday 30th May 2023. I called the manager and texted him same day several time but He ignored.
I also spoke to my credit card company and found the full amount was charged by the company GTS Auto which I can’t find any website or on google. I feel like I am being taken advantage of by this Dealership as they’re not providing me with proper receipts. Also trying to defraud money from me for the warranty. I have also sent the screen shot of the website to the dealer from Track Garantie Inc. where it says that the policy can be canceled within 10 days which he has ignored too.
There are multiple people in the dealership who talk in Arabic when I am there and very aggressively which I don’t understand and the other sales men at the company office say that they’re not responsible but always come forward to negotiate and tell me to accept a lower amount than what I paid. I refused the check that was provided and one of the salesman aggressively said something in Arabic and tore the check and paper in front of me before I left the office today. They have asked me to come back tomorrow which is 30th May 2023 as they said their boss Ziad will be there. I tried to call and text him to see if he will be there and he is unresponsive. Should I talk to credit card company or sue them? Thank you!

Legacy and Impact on the Sport
“Watershed moment” is what Larry McReynolds used to describe Jeff Gordon’s first career win in the 1994 Coke 600. A 22 year old racer from California with an open wheel background was something unheard of in NASCAR at the time. That same 22 year old winning one of the sport’s biggest races was even more preposterous. The win would not only begin to propel Gordon into NASCAR superstardom, turning him into a household name who transcended the sport like no other, becoming a bonafide A List celebrity in the process, but fundamentally altered the landscape of the sport. What Jeff Gordon did for the sport can not be understated. What Babe Ruth did for Baseball, what Michael Jordan did for Basketball, what Tiger Woods did for Golf, Jeff Gordon did for NASCAR. The quick success of the young, clean cut, personable driver from California helped grow the sport from its regionally dominated southern roots into a nationally and internationally well known sport, so much so it became the 2nd most watched sport behind only football. Gordon provided audiences with a different type of driver to cheer for. Not cut from the same cloth as the typical driver, Gordon brought in an entirely new audience which sparked a culture rivalry between the new (Gordon) and old (Earnhardt) on track and off. With this new audience and rivalry, media attention, viewership, and sponsorship all grew as new tracks not only entered the sport, but thrived. The success of Gordon was the beginning of the youth movement in the sport as owner’s radically changed their perspective from veteran southern drivers to young guns from across the nation. It opened the door for the Gillette Young Guns in the 00s, West Coast drivers like Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, and the Busch Brothers, to dirt drivers like Larson, Stenhouse, and Bell, and guys who grew up Gordon fans getting their shot at a young age like Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. Where the sport is today and who is in the sport today is due to Jeff Gordon.
Ownership Success
Jeff Gordon convinced Rick Hendrick and Lowe’s to take a shot on Jimmie Johnson, another young kid from California who drove anything with an engine to great success. Bringing in Chad Knaus, an old Rainbow Warrior on the 24, Gordon helped form one of the the most dominant DriveCrew Chief pairings of all time, going on to be 7x Champions winning 83 races. Gordon’s ownership success did not end here. Taking on an even bigger role for Hendrick Motorsports, he revitalized the organization that was slumping after he departed. He assisted with HMS Track Attack Program, which only furthered the organizations dominance on road courses. Gordon also recruited Kyle Larson to the former 48 team, winning 10 races and the championship in 2021. Named Vice Chairman in 2022, Gordon is set to replace Rick Hendrick and guide the organization in the future.
Hard Statistics
Summary: Jeff Gordon has all the volume stats, racing his way to the Modern Era leader in Wins, Top 5s, Top 10s, 2nd Place Finishes, Podiums, Poles, (ranks Top 5 All Time in each category) and scoring the most points in a year 7 times. He places Top 5 in the Modern Era for Laps Led, Lead Lap Finishes Win%, Top 5%, Top 10%. Gordon is also the All Time Leader in consecutive starts. And despite the Chase being his perceived “weakness,” Gordon’s 11.9 Average Finish in the Chase/Playoffs is 2nd All Time only to Kevin Harvick.

• 4x NASCAR Cup Champion, 2nd All Time Winston Era, 3rd All Time Modern Era, 4th All Time
  
• 7x Season Long Point Leader, Tied All Time Winston Era, Tied All Time Modern Era, Tied Most All Time
  
• 93 Wins - Modern Era Wins Leader, 3rd All Time (17 more than Dale, 10 more than Johnson)
  
• 325 Top 5s - Modern Era Leader, 3rd All Time (44 more than Dale Sr, 93 more than Johnson)
  
• 477 Top 10s - Modern Era Leader, 2nd All Time (49 more than Dale Sr, 103 more than Johnson)
  
• 75 2nd Place Finishes - Modern Era Leader, 4th All Time (5 more than Dale, 29 more than Jimmie)
  
• 230 Podiums - Modern Era Leader, 4th All Time (25 more than Dale, 54 more than Jimmie)
  
• 81 Poles - Modern Era Leader, 3rd All Time
  
• All Time Consecutive Starts Leader
  
• 24936 Laps Led - 3rd Modern Era, 6th All Time
  
• 706 Races Running at Finish - 7th All Time
  
• 588 Lead Lap Finishes - 2nd All Time
  
• 10.5 Avg Start - 28th All Time (Minimum 100 Starts)
  
• 12.5 Avg Finish - 19th All Time (Minimum 100 Starts)
  
• 11.5% Win % - 4th in Modern Era, 17th All Time
  
• 40% Top 5 % - 5th in Modern Era, 19th All Time
  
• 59% Top 10 % - 5th in Modern Era, 13th All Time
  
• 107,112 Points Earned - 2nd in Modern Era
  
• All Time Earnings Leader
  
• 2nd All Time in Chase/Playoff Average Finish
  

Special Events - Crown Jewels/Grand Slams/Winston Million/No Bull 5/All-StaDuels
Summary: No one was better on the biggest stages than Jeff Gordon. 21 Crown Jewel wins is the most all time. He has the most Brickyard 400 wins and the most Southern 500 wins. A 3x Daytona 500, 3x Coke 600 winner, along with 4x Winston 500 winner. He was the last to win the Winston Million and 3x All Star race winner.

• 21 Crown Jewel Wins - Most All Time (7 more than next closest)
  
• 3x Daytona 500 Winner - Tied 3rd All Time
  
• 3x Coke 600 Winner - Tied 3rd All Time
  
• 4x Winston 500 Winner - Tied All Time Leader
  
• 6x Southern 500 Winner - All Time Leader
  
• 5x Brickyard 400 Winner - All Time Leader (More wins than any Indy Car driver as well)
  
• 4x Consecutive Wins in Single Crown Jewel Event (Darlington 95-98) - Most Consecutive Crown Jewel Wins All Time
  
• 3x Grand Slam Titles - Tied Most All Time
  
• 4x No Bull 5 Wins - Most All Time
  
• 1x Winston Million Winner (Only he and Elliott did it)
  
• 3x All Star Race Winner - Tied 2nd All Time
  
• 5 Daytona Duel Wins - Tied 3rd All Time
  

Track Type Specific Results
Summary: Jeff Gordon is the most versatile NASCAR driver of all time. He is the all time leader in wins at Restrictor Plates, Road Courses, 2.5 milers and Top 3 all time on 1.5 milers and 1 mile intermediates. Nobody has this breadth of success as Gordon. He also owns a record of 5+ wins on 11 different tracks, proving his dominance was not contained to a mere 3-4 tracks like most drivers.

• 12x Restrictor Plate Winner - Most All Time
  
• 9x Road Course Winner - Most All Time
  
• 11x 2.5 Mile Winner - Most All Time
  
• 17x Short Track Winner - Top 15 All Time
  
• 10x 2 Mile Track Winner - 7th All Time
  
• 10x 1 Mile Track Winner - 3rd All Time
  
• 24x 1.5 Mile Track Winner - 3rd All Time
  
• Won at 24 of 25 Tracks Competed On
  
• 11 Tracks with 5+ wins - Modern Era Leader, 2nd All Time (Martinsville, Darlington, Talladega, Daytona, Pocono, Charlotte, Atlanta, Bristol, Dover, Indy, Sonoma)
  

Stats Per Track
Summary: Gordon owned Indianapolis like no one ever has in the track’s history. Not only was he the greatest driver at the track in NASCAR, but perhaps ever. His success extended to Darlington, Martinsville, Pocono, and Sonoma. The pattern shows. Tracks that are tough to drive, driver’s tracks, Gordon dominated. He is seen riddled throughout track history books. Another underrated stat is Gordon’s Lead Lap Finishes, which he owns the record at many tracks, proving his consistency and longevity. Gordon is also a 3x Inaugural Winner at tracks of Indy, Kansas, and Auto Club.

• Atlanta - 42 races, 5 wins (Tied 4th All Time), 16 Top 5s, 26 Top 10s, 12.6 Average Finish, 1297 Laps Led, 28 Lead Lap Finishes (All Time Leader)
  
• Auto Club - Inaugural Winner, 26 races, 3 wins (Tied 3rd All Time), 10 Top 5s (3rd All Time), 12 Top 10s, 11.8 Average Finish, 648 Laps Led (3rd All Time), 21 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Bristol - 47 races, 5 wins, 17 Top 5s, 25 Top 10s, 12.2 Average Finish, 2730 Laps Led (5th All Time), 31 Lead Lap Finishes (Most All Time)
  
• Charlotte - 46 races, 5 wins (Tied 3rd All Time), 17 Top 5s, 25 Top 10s, 15.3 Average Finish, 788 Laps Led, 27 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Darlington - 36 races, 7 wins (3rd All Time), 19 Top 5s (Tied 4th All Time), 23 Top 10s, 11.6 Average Finish (4th All Time Minimum 20 Starts), 1744 Laps Led (4th All Time), 26 Lead Lap Finishes (Most All Time)
  
• Daytona - 46 races, 6 wins (Tied 5th All Time), 13 Top 5s, 21 Top 10s, 16.3 Average Finish, 710 Laps Led, 35 Lead Lap Finishes (Most All Time)
  
• Dover - 47 races, 5 wins (Tied 3rd All Time), 18 Top 5s (Tied 3rd All Time), 27 Top 10s (Tied 2nd All Time), 11.4 Average Finish (3rd All Time Minimum 20 Starts), 2396 Laps Led, 32 Lead Lap Finishes (Most All Time)
  
• Homestead - 17 races, 1 win, 7 Top 5s (Tied 2nd All Time), 13 Top 10s (2nd All Time), 10.3 Average Finish (5th All Time), 253 Laps Led, 12 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Indy - Inaugural Winner, All Time Leader in Races (23), Wins (5), Top 5s (12), Top 10s (17), Poles (3), Laps (3519), Laps Led (528), Lead Lap Finishes (20). 10.0 Average Finish (3rd All Time)
  
• Kansas - Inaugural Winner, 20 races, 3 wins (Tied2nd All Time), 11 Top 5s (2nd All Time), 14 Top 10s (Tied 3rd All Time), 10.0 Average Finish (2nd All Time Minimum 10 starts), 218 Laps Led, 17 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Las Vegas - 18 races, 1 win, 6 Top 5s, 8 Top 10s, 15.2 Average Finish, 457 Laps Led, 11 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Martinsville - 47 races, 9 wins (Tied 3rd All Time), 29 Top 5s (2nd All Time), 38 Top 10s (Most All Time), 6.7 Average Finish (2nd Best All Time, Minimum 10 Starts), 3779 Laps Led (Most All Time), 38 Lead Lap Finishes (Most All Time)
  
• Michigan - 46 races, 3 wins, 19 Top 5s (Tied 2nd All Time), 27 Top 10s (3rd All Time), 12.4 Average Finish, 1059 Laps Led (2nd All Times, Only 3 Drivers Led 1000+ Laps Here), 35 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• New Hampshire - 42 races, 3 wins (Tied 2nd All Time), 16 Top 5s (Most All Time), 24 Top 10s (Most All Time), 11.2 Average Finish (4th All Time Minimum 20 Starts), 1373 Laps Led (Most All Time), 36 Lead Lap Finishes (Most All Time)
  
• North Wilkesboro - 8 races, 1 win, 4 Top 5s, 5 Top 10s, 12.4 Average Finish, 314 Laps Led, 4 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Phoenix - 34 races, 2 wins, 12 Top 5s (Tied 3rd All Time), 24 Top 10s (2nd All Time), 10.8 Average Finish, 446 Laps Led, 26 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Pocono - 47 races (2nd All Time), All Time Leader in Wins (6, Tied), Top 5s (20), Top 10s (32), Laps Led (1040, only driver with 1000+ Led), Lead Lap Finishes (40), 10.2 Average Finish (2nd All Time)
  
• Richmond - 47 races, 2 wins, 18 Tops 5s, 30 Top 10s (Tied 4th All Time), 13.4 Average Finish, 1637 Laps Led, 34 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Rockingham - 23 races, 4 wins, 8 Top 5s, 11 Top 10s, 15.0 Average Finish, 984 Laps Led, 9 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Sonoma - All Time Leader in Races (23), Wins (5), Top 5s (14), Top 10s (18), Poles (5), Laps (2343), Laps Led (457), Average Finish (8.3). Lead Lap Finishes (21)
  
• Talladega - 46 races, 6 wins (Tied 2nd All Time), 16 Top 5s (2nd All Time), 20 Top 10s (Tied 5th All Time), 902 Laps Led (4th All Time), 17.0 Average Finish, 33 Lead Lap Finishes (Tied Most All Time)
  
• Texas - 30 races, 1 win, 9 Top 5s, 14 Top 10s, 691 Laps Led, 17.0 Average Finish, 17 Lead Lap Finishes
  
• Watkins Glen - 24 races (Most All Time), 4 wins (2nd All Time), 6 Top 5s, 9 Top 10s, 262 Laps Led (Most All Time), 17.5 Average Finish, 18 Lead Lap Finishes
  

The Greatest Seasons - 1997 and 1998
1997 Gordon went from champion to all time great at the young age of 25. 10 wins, 22 Top 5s, 23 Top 10s in 32 races, winning the championship.
He won the Daytona 500, Coke 600, Southern 500, which led him to being the second and final winner of the Winston Million. He won another million by winning the All-Star race. He also won at Rockingham, Bristol, Martinsville, Pocono, Auto Club,, Watkins Glen, and Loudon.
Gordon did even better in 1998. In 33 races, he set a modern era record of 13 wins, with 26 Top 5s, 28 Top 10s, and a 5.7 average finish.
Gordon would win the Coke 600, Southern 500 (No Bull 5 Winner, 1 Million Bonus), the first ever night race at Daytona in the Pepsi 400, Brickyard 400 (No Bull 5 Winner, 1 Million Bonus), both road courses, swept Rockingham, along with wins at Bristol, Pocono, Michigan, New Hampshire, and the finale at Atlanta.
In the final 20 races, Gordon’s worst finish was 7th, posting 10 wins and 19 Top 5s. He had 8 consecutive Top 3 finishes, during that stretch he won 4 straight. After a disappointing 5th, he went on to post 5 consecutive Top 2 finishes. He ended the season winning 3 out of the final 4 races.
His 1997 and 1998 combined seasons led to 2 championships and 23 wins, 48 Top 5s, 51 Top 10s in 65 races. It included 6 Crown Jewel Wins (1x Daytona 500, 2x Coke 600, 2x Southern 500, 1x Brickyard 400) and 4 million in bonus winnings.
Conclusion
Nobody was better than Jeff Gordon in my eyes. He was the most influential driver the sport will likely ever have and was the sports greatest driver. He grew the sport to new heights and opened the door for hundreds of drivers. He has the modern era records for nearly every major stat from Wins to Poles to Top 5s and Top 10s. He won the biggest races multiple times over. He won championships. He is a successful owner.
Jeff Gordon is the undisputed GOAT of NASCAR.

saw an ad on facebook and I bought a car Ford focus 2012 of $4500 and Dealership offered me warranty for $1000 for 2 years which makes $5500 and I sold my car in $1000 to the dealership so I paid total of $4775 including tax. The agreement didn’t disclose any previous car history except car Air condition and Radio. When I took the car to my house after payment (paid by credit card) I was putting windshield fluid in the hood and noticed that Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir is missing I tried to find everywhere but did not find.
Luckily one person ‘bystander ‘ came to us and offered help and I said i am not able to find Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir . He was expert and got to know that many parts are missing and told us it’s an accidental vehicle. And we checked car deeply we found front bumper is hanging with elastic bands and horn is not working ,Music system too was faulty, the bystander suggest that we should return car immediately as it could be that it was not inspected before being sold and would not be safe to be on road. Also mentioned that we should have received some sort of inspection certificate which we didn’t.
So I called the dealership they said come tomorrow and we will see. I went next day and I said I need to cancel the deal but they refused to do so. So I requested them by law to do this they agreed and also returned my previous car.
When I went to office for payment they said they are not going to refund me $400 for inconvenience and cannot refund $1000 of warranty. I asked him why? Ziad (the guy I bought the car from) said it’s another company who gave you the warranty and they don’t refund it and they will talk to the warranty company, he asked me to come on Monday may-29-2023. So before going I called the warranty company Track Garantie Inc. (was given this name by Ziad) and they said they do not have my file under my name and car’s vin number also they said if you return your car within 10days you will get full refund.
But, the dealership is saying that they will still take the amount of $1400 without mentioning it in contract or giving me any receipt. I went there on Monday and they gave me a paper to sign it with $3375 refund check. The owner Ziad was not present even though I had already texted him and made appointment on Saturday that he will be there. So I asked the salesman what is wrong why are you charging $1400 they said the manager is not there you have to come on Tuesday 30th May 2023. I called the manager and texted him same day several time but He ignored.
I also spoke to my credit card company and found the full amount was charged by the company GTS Auto which I can’t find any website or on google. I feel like I am being taken advantage of by this Dealership as they’re not providing me with proper receipts. Also trying to defraud money from me for the warranty. I have also sent the screen shot of the website to the dealer from Track Garantie Inc. where it says that the policy can be canceled within 10 days which he has ignored too.
There are multiple people in the dealership who talk in Arabic when I am there and very aggressively which I don’t understand and the other sales men at the company office say that they’re not responsible but always come forward to negotiate and tell me to accept a lower amount than what I paid. I refused the check that was provided and one of the salesman aggressively said something in Arabic and tore the check and paper in front of me before I left the office today. They have asked me to come back tomorrow which is 30th May 2023 as they said their boss Ziad will be there. I tried to call and text him to see if he will be there and he is unresponsive. Thank you!

Sgsflair 1: here --- 90+ Confirmed Trades
Sgsflair 2: here --- 15+ Confirmed Trades (no longer updating)
PayPal region is US.
Please use reddit private messages instead of chat once we come to an agreement
Leave a comment first before PMing or I won't respond
​
May 2023 Choice:

• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters
• Bendy and the Dark Revival
• Builder Simulator
• The Invisible Hand

​
April 2023 Choice:

• Revita

​
March 2023 Choice:

• Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Hero's Hour

​
February 2023 Choice:

• Fallout 1
• Othercide
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Five Dates

​
Survival Instinct:

• SCUM
• Starsand
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
• SurrounDead

​
Fighting Farmers:

• Forager
• Kitaria Fables
• Re: Legend
• Serin Fate
• Spirit of the Island
• Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

​
In Case You Missed It: Gems of 2022

• Haiku, the Robot
• PowerSlave Exhumed
• Source of Madness
• Submerged: Hidden Depths

​
January 2023 Choice:

• Encased: A Sci-fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG
• Hokko Life
• OlliOlli World - RAD Edition

​
Black Friday VR Voyager's Pack:

• A Fisherman's Tale
• Acron: Attack of the Squirrels
• Car Mechanic Simulator VR
• Cook-Out
• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
• I Expect You To Die
• Sairento VR
• Shooty Fruity
• SUPERHOT VR
• Until You Fall
• The Wizards - Dark Times

​
November 2022 Choice:

• Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice
• Unmetal
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes

​
October 2022 Choice:

• Disciples: Liberation
• Epic Chef
• Railroad Corporation

​
Starlight Children's Foundation Games:

• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Grim Fandango Remastered
• Pinball FX3 DLCs
• Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
• Star Wars - The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
• Star Wars Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast

​
Valiant VR Bundle:

• Budget Cuts 2
• HARD BULLET

​
2K Megahits Bundle

• BioShock: The Collection
• Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe
• The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
• Mafia: Definitive Edition
• PGA 2K21
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds + Ultimate Brawler Pass
• X-COM: Ultimate Collection

​
LEGO At the Movies Games:

• LEGO Marvel's Avengers
• The LEGO Movie - Videogame
• The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame
• LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game

​
September Choice Games:

• Just Cause 4: Complete Edition
• Crown Trick

​
August Choice Games:

• Emily is Away <3
• Gas Station Simulator
• Omno

​
July Choice Games:

• Legend of Keppers
• Lawn Mowing Simulator
• Yes, Your Grace
• Atom RPG Trudograd

​
High Tier:

• 7 Billion Humans
• A Game of Thrones: The Board Game
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Arizona Sunshine
• BATTLETECH
• Beyond Blue
• Cook-Out VR
• Crawl
• Dead by Daylight
• DMC: Devil May Cry
• ELEX
• Gears 5
• Generation Zero
• Gods Will Fall - Valiant Edition
• Golf It! x2
• House Flipper
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Kerbal Space Program
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance
• Kingdom Two Crowns x2
• The Long Dark
• Marvels Avengers: Standard Edition (might keep)
• Metro Exodus
• Monster Hunter: World
• NASCAR Heat 5 + Playoff Pack
• NASCAR Heat 5 + Ultimate Pass
• No Time to Relax
• Pistol Whip VR
• PGA Tour 2K21
• Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
• Project Winter
• RPG Maker VX Ace x2 + lots of DLCs (just ask)
• Saints Row: The Third - Full Package
• Scythe Digital Edition
• Starbound
• Swords & Souls: Neverseen
• SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
• Team Sonic Racing
• theHunter: Call of the Wild x3
• Trailmakers Deluxe Edition
• Trover Saves the Universe VR
• Universe Sandbox
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• Warhammer Chaosbane: Slayer Edition
• We Were Here Too

​
Medium Tier:

• 112 Operator
• Beyond the Wire
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
• Carcassonne - Tiles & Tactics
• Desolate
• El Hijo - A Wild West Tale
• Endless Space 2
• Endzone - A World Apart
• Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
• GRID 2019
• Heliborne - Collection
• House Flipper VR
• Huniepop
• Imperator Rome
• Killing Floor Incursion
• LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
• LEGO Batman 3 Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
• The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game x2
• Memories of Mars
• Never Alone
• Overlord: Ultimate Evil Collection
• Primal Carnage: Extinction
• Quest Hunter
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
• Ryse: Son of Rome
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed Collection
• Sonic Lost World
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Splendor x2 + The Cities and Strongholds DLCs
• Star Wars Squadrons (Origin key)
• Street Fighter V
• SUPERHOT
• Townscaper
• Trine 2: Complete Story
• Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Victoria II
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Collector's Edition
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• We Happy Few

​
Low Tier:

• Act of Aggression - Reboot Edition
• The Battle of Polytopia
• Book of Demons
• Brawlout
• Bridge Builder Racer
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
• Close to the Sun x2
• Detention
• Dirt Rally
• Dungeons 3
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West Premium Edition
• Espire VR
• F1 Race Stars Complete Edition
• Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark x2
• Fling to the Finish
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Guns, Gore, and Cannoli
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
• Iconoclasts x2
• Legends of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
• The Letter Horror Visual Novel
• Lucius
• Magicka
• Mordheim: City of the Damned x2
• Out of Space
• PAYDAY 2
• PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate + Shooter Bundle
• Quiplash
• Rise of Industry + 2130 DLC
• Rise of Insanity
• Sheltered
• Shift Happens
• Small World + Cursed DLC
• Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1
• Sparkle 2
• Supreme Ruler The Great War
• Tannenberg x2
• Tools Up!
• Tooth and Tail
• Total Tank Simulator
• Traffic Jams VR
• Tropico 4 Collector's Bundle
• V-Rally 4
• Vanishing Realms VR
• Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
• Voidigo
• Worms Rumble
• WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yooka-Laylee

​
Very Low Tier:

• AER Memories of Old
• Ageless
• Alien Breed Trilogy
• All You Can Eat x2
• Archangel Hellfire - Fully Loaded
• Ballpoint Universe - Infinite
• Between the Stars
• Broken Age
• Combat Wings: Battle of Britain
• Crookz the Big Heist
• Crowntakers
• Crusader Kings Complete
• Deadly Days
• Deployment
• Detached
• Dino D-Day
• Drawful 2
• Earth 2150 Trilogy
• Enclave
• Endless Space - Collection x2
• Enforcer: Police Crime Action
• GoNNER
• GRIP: Combat Racing Artifex DLC x2
• Hiveswap Friendsim
• Homeworld Remastered Collection
• I Am Not a Monster: First Contact
• Imperial Glory
• In Between x2
• Iron Fisticle
• Jagged Alliance 2 - Wildfire + Classic DLC
• KnightShift
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 x2
• Leisure Suit Larry - Manga Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored
• Leisure Suit Larry 1 - In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
• Leisure Suit Larry 2 - Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)
• Leisure Suit Larry 3 - Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
• Leisure Suit Larry 5 - Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
• Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Shape Up Or Slip Out
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
• Love Letter x2
• Magicka
• Men of War
• Milky Way Prince - Vampire Star
• MirrorMoon EP
• Mugsters
• Murderous Pursuits
• Newt One x2
• Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor
• Off-Road Drive
• Oh My Godheads
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• Overload
• Overlord II
• Overruled
• Pac-Man 256
• Pesterquest x2
• Porcunipine
• Realpolitiks
• Rebel Cops
• Rebel Galaxy
• Regular Human Basketball
• Save Jesus
• Septerra Core
• Sir, You Are Being Hunted
• Starcrossed x2
• Star Wolves 3: Civil War
• Steamburg
• Sudden Strike Gold
• Super 3-D Noah's Ark
• Swords of Gurrah
• Table Manners: Physics-Based Dating Game
• Tacoma x3
• Talisman: Origins
• Teleglitch: Die More Edition
• Tempest Pirate Action RPG
• Tropico 3 Gold Edition
• The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
• Warlock - Master of the Arcane
• World War II: Panzer Claws
• World's Dawn
• Xenus 2 White Gold
• Ylands Exploration Pack DLC
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK HEADRUSH
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK MOVIES
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK SPORTS
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK TELEVISION
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 1 XL
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 2
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 3
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 4: The Ride

​
Want:

• PayPal (US) -- Priority
• TF2 Keys
• Sacks of Gems
• Steam Inventory Gifts
• Wishlist
• Game offers I plan on claiming

I saw an ad on facebook and I bought a car Ford focus 2012 of $4500 and Dealership offered me warranty for $1000 for 2 years which makes $5500 and I sold my car in $1000 to the dealership so I paid total of $4775 including tax. The agreement didn’t disclose any previous car history except car Air condition and Radio. When I took the car to my house after payment (paid by credit card) I was putting windshield fluid in the hood and noticed that Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir is missing I tried to find everywhere but did not find. Luckily one person ‘bystander ‘ came to us and offered help and I said i am not able to find Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir .
He was expert and got to know that many parts are missing and told us it’s an accidental vehicle. And we checked car deeply we found front bumper is hanging with elastic bands and horn is not working ,Music system too was faulty, the bystander suggest that we should return car immediately as it could be that it was not inspected before being sold and would not be safe to be on road. Also mentioned that we should have received some sort of inspection certificate which we didn’t. So I called the dealership they said come tomorrow and we will see.
I went next day and I said I need to cancel the deal but they refused to do so. So I requested them by law to do this they agreed and also returned my previous car.
When I went to office for payment they said they are not going to refund me $400 for inconvenience and cannot refund $1000 of warranty. I asked him why? Ziad (the guy I bought the car from) said it’s another company who gave you the warranty and they don’t refund it and they will talk to the warranty company, he asked me to come on Monday may-29-2023. So before going I called the warranty company Track Garantie Inc. (was given this name by Ziad) and they said they do not have my file under my name and car’s vin number also they said if you return your car within 10days you will get full refund.
But, the dealership is saying that they will still take the amount of $1400 without mentioning it in contract or giving me any receipt. I went there on Monday and they gave me a paper to sign it with $3375 refund check. The owner Ziad was not present even though I had already texted him and made appointment on Saturday that he will be there.
So I asked the salesman what is wrong why are you charging $1400 they said the manager is not there you have to come on Tuesday 30th May 2023. I called the manager and texted him same day several time but He ignored. I also spoke to my credit card company and found the full amount was charged by the company GTS Auto which I can’t find any website or on google. I feel like I am being taken advantage of by this Dealership as they’re not providing me with proper receipts. Also trying to defraud money from me for the warranty. I have also sent the screen shot of the website to the dealer from Track Garantie Inc. where it says that the policy can be canceled within 10 days which he has ignored too. There are multiple people in the dealership who talk in Arabic when I am there and very aggressively which I don’t understand and the other sales men at the company office say that they’re not responsible but always come forward to negotiate and tell me to accept a lower amount than what I paid.
I refused the check that was provided and one of the salesman aggressively said something in Arabic and tore the check and paper in front of me before I left the office today. They have asked me to come back tomorrow which is 30th May 2023 as they said their boss Ziad will be there. I tried to call and text him to see if he will be there and he is unresponsive. Thank you!

Elvis isn’t dead, he just went home.
Exploratory scout DSX862-QQ1 was cruising along at approximately 80% of lightspeed on an outer spiral arm of the galaxy it was native to. Its mission, issued by the Greater Council Exploratory Committee, was to seek out new life, new civilizations, points of scientific interest, and potential future colonies.
80% of the speed of light was a tremendous pace, even for a craft built by a galactic community as ancient as the Greater Council, but its particle shield was more than up to the task, and it allowed the scout to scoop interstellar dust and hydrogen to refuel itself, slowly charging its drives for the next pinch-jump. Each jump would catapult the little craft a hundred light years forwards, followed by another sub-light cruise to analyse, recharge and listen. It wasn’t expected to find much out here. Life had evolved in the warm, bright galactic core, entire civilizations meeting within decades of reaching orbit of their respective home worlds. Resources were plentiful, many of them had been talking for centuries before meeting face to face, with only years of communications lag, instead of the decades or centuries between the species evolving further out, in the colder reaches.
Out here, on the arm, everything was cold. Even the search for possible colony sites and resources was more a formality, record keeping for the sake of the endless bureaucracy that infested the Council.
So, it had come as a tremendous surprise to the scouts simple intelligence when it picked up the ghostly whisper of a deliberate radio signal.
Pulses, blips, zaps, hisses, all were the normal background noise of the cosmos, but this was a firm BUZZ. Soon followed by strings and knots of beeps. The scout rotates, following its radio antenna ‘nose’ to lock in a direction towards the noise. It spooled up its pinch-drive, and jumps, a few lightyears, not enough to drain its energies, but just enough to allow it to triangulate. Then jump again, to get a third point. A fourth, a fifth.
A yellow star, a few billion years old, spectral and gravitational indications speaking of gas giants, rocky and icy bodies, and a potential habitable zone with a world skimming just along the outer edge of the habitable zone. The source of the signals.
The scout spooled its pinch-drive once more, preparing to make the thirty something lightyear jump to close with the noisy world.
It also began the process of waking up its Commander.
++++++++
Kevin Karl and the Karlsons wound down their last song of the evening, sweating under the stage lights and bathed in the adoration of the crowd. This was IT, the high they had all dreamed of, had chased through bars, opening acts, and finally, after just a few years, headline act of a whole show!
They’d bopped along to the other acts on that night, friends all, they’d been on tour together for weeks across the entire USA and would be playing two more shows before wrapping up for the year.
Off-stage, past the cheering, singing, breathless fans of rock and roll, brought together by the joy of the new genre that seemed to defy boundaries and break the locks of society. When they played, no-one saw the colour of their skin, Joeys scars, Mikes club foot. The band couldn’t make out individuals in the crowd. They saw humanity, united and beautiful, wrapped in the music they played.
One of the opening acts were gathered back stage, still bouncing, and their singer passed over a reefer cigarette. Kevin took a drag, feeling the smoke sooth his nerves as he passed it on, then he choked and laughed. “That was some show, could you feel them?”
The other singer, Jack ‘Wabbit’ let out a howl, “Hell yeah baby, felt like lightning, smooth lightning all through… wait, that gives me an idea for a song!”
He was off, crouching awkwardly as he pulled a pencil and notebook from somewhere and started scribbling.
Kevin chuckled, took a beer from Joey, and started walking towards the car. While far from brand new, it was big enough to take the band in relative comfort, while the instruments and gear followed in trucks. He climbed in back, sprawling across the bench, and closed his eyes. It was a thousand miles to the next venue, they were already running late to start getting organised, but he needed just a moment.
He was woken by a nudge. “Hey, Kev, you want a ride down to Jacksonville? Wabbit says his cousin has a plane, can take you both to Florida, rest of us will come down with the trucks, faster then the Catalina can get us there.”
Kevin blinked, groggy, but hanging on to getting to the next stop in comfort.
“Damn, yeah, I’m in! No way I’m passing up a planeride in comfort!”
++++++
The commander of DSX862-QQ1 listened to the sounds of the boisterous world her small ship had discovered. To say it was barely habitable was an understatement. Plenty worlds had higher gravity, but not the weather extremes this one had. Others had far worse weather but lacked the deadly pathogens that were detectable in the outer reaches of the atmosphere. Others still had some version or variation of every horrific threat this single world had, but never so many of them wrapped into one pristine appearing blue and green ball of life that seemed determined to survive by any means necessary.
She was impressed that life had evolved to multicellular levels at all, never mind to the point where it had achieved radio broadcast, powered flight and, if the latest scans were accurate, atomic power, weaponry, and the rudiments of space flight under development.
This world was only a few centuries from needing a first contact delegation, she could sense it.
If they survived. She’d seen plenty of far more peaceful civilisations wipe themselves out before achieving their full potential after all, and the light-delayed data her ship had gathered on the way in indicated that the primary species of this world **really** liked to fight one another.
Well, it wasn’t as if the Greater Council was perfect. A few hundred worlds, usually half at odds with the other half, or outright warring with the non-aligned groups surrounding them. Over what, she could hardly imagine, resources weren’t scarce, habitable worlds almost common, matters of religion seemed pointless to her.
Rather than be caught up in the endless squabbling, she’d worked to be assigned a scout ship, and only went ‘home’ when the databanks were full or the hull degraded.
She flipped idly through the signals her ship was pulling in. Mostly simple vocal signals, some barely encrypted, likely military, the rest completely in the clear. For a while there had been a simple video signal modulated as well, the computers now busy going through it to compile a useable language interface.
Her digit stopped, as one transmission caught her attention. There was a voice there, the words as yet unintelligible, but it was laced through, interwoven with, strung around a **sound**.
It wasn’t the first she’d heard of music from this world, nor even the first she’d heard following this particular set of musical rules, but there was something about **this** voice… It reached inside her, and she felt her soul reach out to embrace it.
It was memetic, the warning symbol now flashing on her display confirming what she already knew, but memetics were weapons, hazards, dangers to be filtered and avoided, while this?
It spoke of pain, it sang of loss, and heartbreak and joy and unity and togetherness. It sent her thoughts on strange tangents where her actions saved worlds, brought together warning species, enabled peace…
She shook off the effects as the music faded out and a smooth voice mumbled something, before the next song started. That too, touched her, yet lacked the sheer power of the first, and she was able to shut off the recording with a shaky digit.
She fumbled the ships controls, aligning with the source of the original transmission. A rickety looking steel tower with several high-powered emitters inside a small building next to it. Clearly not the source of the music itself, merely a civilian broadcast station, the music an entertainment medium.
She turned her attention then, to discovering what, or who, had created such a wonder.
++++++
Kevin stared at the airplane. It looked fresh, but old.
“War surplus, picked her up for a song when she was gonna be dumped out in a desert!” Wabbits cousin was a skinny boy, barely out of his teens, but with the quick and sure motions of an expert when he touched his beloved machine. “I heard you guys playing last night, gotta say, it changed my mind about black folks. Always thought to myself, to each their own right? And the laws are that way too, it made sense, but man, the way you sang, how the band played, I wanted to meet you, to say, you got me to see more. Like how the world looks from way up high, we’re all just one piece of something, right? And I think the world might be less ugly that way. So, I said to my cousin, man, I want to help out, my folks left me a pile of cash, I have my baby here, and if you want, I’ll take you where you gotta go.”
He stopped, looking at the ground, and although Kevin was tempted to accept the offer on the spot, but the kid was offering to sideline everything to ferry around his ass?
“Well, damn, listen man, thanks, and I’m grateful you’re giving us a ride to Jacksonville, but lets take it easy right? See how you feel after the flight and if you want to come to the show, sure, I’ll get you in. I can’t pay for regular flights though, I’m already paying for my car! Besides, as much as I need to get down there and make sure everythings golden, I can’t go leaving my band behind every time!”
“Oh, right, no it’s cool, if they want a ride too its all good. I want to make a change, and helping you out helps me do that, right? If you want to talk money, heck, I could bankroll a few shows, take a percentage in return, but its not about the money. Man you changed me, in a good way. I think you could do the same for people like me! You, uh. I stopped hating, you know? Feels good.”
Kevin started to wonder if he shouldn’t have just curled back up on his car bench and stayed asleep. “Okay, I’m on board, if you want to take the rest of my guys too, that’s great, we all get to our next stop on time, you get a show, and if you still want to help us out, we can look at more shows after the tour. Sound fair?”
They shook hands. Pete, as he turned out to be named, started fussing with his airplane again, and removing what he termed ‘junk’ from the hold and other parts of the craft, which to Kevins untrained eye all looked vaguely important, but were ‘heavy’.
He boarded with his band, and Wabbit, who had his own guitar with him, and as the airplane started taxying, amidst the reefer smoke, and snippets of song Wabbit was working on, they settled down for the flight.
++++++
DSX862-QQ1’s commander was hampered in her efforts to locate the origin of the music she had heard by the lack of any real information link between radio and physical locations. There was undoubtably ground-based cable she couldn’t tap, but there was no evidence of a wide area data network, and given the technology of the ‘Humans’ she wasn’t surprised.
Just frustrated.
Nonetheless, she was able to identify the singer, and his ‘band’ who played the instruments that had so perfectly twinned with his voice. She wondered how a purely non-verbal species would have received his music. Would they have felt what she felt just through the radio signal? Something she would learn, in time. Her plan was simple, she’d locate her subject, and deploy a drone to follow him. Wherever he played, her drone would invisibly follow, recording his music in perfect fidelity.
She’d return home, and share his music. Something no-one had heard before, had never experienced, and perhaps, it would make them see, and feel, what she had when hearing it.
The ship pinged, it had located a small heavier than air craft that had a high probability of carrying her quarry. It was moving at less than a third of the local speed of sound, but was being strangely buffeted. The computer flashed warning symbols on sections of the craft. Simple, but not primitive, the craft was perfectly designed for the task it was meant to perform, very good engineering had gone into creating it.
Yet it was failing, structurally, air pressures flowing over it far in excess for which it had been designed, one of this worlds unique weather phenomenon threatening to rip it apart.
Amidst the horror of realizing she was about to witness the death of those individuals who had touched her very soul, she recognized the craft was operating in excess of two hundred percent its designed stress ratings.
It was a toughness that bought a few seconds of thought. Of decision, and rash, perhaps illegal, action.
Digits brushed controls, summoning a hum from the depths of her ship. The fuel capture system was not meant for rescue, in fact, using for anything other than non-living mass was considered a breach of several laws. First and foremost, it was a very focusable disintegration array, making it a terrifying weapon. Secondly, it could collect the energy released by the disintegration and funnel it into storage cells to fuel the engines.
Thirdly, and this was the illegal part, her scoutships sensors could record exactly how the disintegrated matter had been arranged, down to the subatomic level, and the array could be reprogrammed to then reverse the process to convert the captured energy back into the original thing.
Used on an interesting rock, this was fine. On a living being it was murder at best and non-consensual cloning at worst.
Her digit pressed down firmly on the energize symbol that appeared below her hacked override code.
++++++
The aircraft finally surrendered to the windsheer pulling at it, fragmenting in a shimmering cloud of metallic fragments that erupt in a fireball as unspent aviation fuel is ignited.
Of the passengers and pilot, no trace was ever found, their deaths mourned by millions, in part for the loss of young people who had given the world such wonderful music, but also the sense of loss at the music they would now never be able to play. A pilot who had changed his beliefs and committed himself to promoting the ones who changed him for the better, a brilliant young singer and songwriter, and a band who could touch souls, lost forever.
The great changes they had been about to unleash would not take place. Or at least, not take place as quickly. The seeds had been planted, as other young people took up their instruments, raised their voices in song, and set out to change hearts and minds their own way.
Over the course of the centuries before Humanity could reach the stars as a single family, a steady stream of visitors dropped by the musical ball of rock. To observe, to listen, to rescue, when the opportunity arose.

Hi all,
I am prepping to do my second computer build. I did a budget one a few years ago, which is a Ryzen 5 3600 and Radeon 5600 XT, but am ready for an upgrade. I’m looking to keep it around 2k total, but am willing to go slightly higher if needed. I have all the peripherals, so only need pc parts. I only care about gaming for this build. I play WoW the most which I know doesn’t require a super strong build. I also play total war, madden, and golf club/EAs pga games often. I plan on playing Diablo 4 when it comes out. Currently have a 1080 widescreen but I can upgrade that separately once I have a new build, that would be a separate budget.
Here is what I am currently thinking of getting:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KnhdpH
Any changes I should make? Is it overkill for the games I play? The one I feel most uncomfortable picking is the motherboard as I don’t know as much about those.

Preferred payment is PayPal Friends and Family! But I can also do Cashapp, Zelle, Facebook Pay, Vudu Credits, Venmo or Amazon GC if need be.
I am open to trades if I don't already own it!
Everyday discount I will take 1 dollar off every 10 spent!
3 Film Collection Kevin James (Paul Blart/Here Comes The Boom/Zookeeper) SD MA $7
3 From Hell 4K VD/IT $4
12 Rounds 2 HD MA $3
12 Years A Slave HD MA $4
13 Hours HD VD/IT $3
21 Jump Street SD MA $1.50
31 HD VD $3
101 Dalmatians 1961 HD MA $4.50 HD GP $4
101 Dalmatians 2 London Adventure HD GP $4
A Haunted House 2 HD Itunes $3
A Quiet Place HD VD/IT $3.50
Admission Itunes $3.50
Aladdin 1992 Signature Collection HD MA $4.50 HD GP $3
Aladdin 2019 4k MA $5 HDMA/4KIT $4 HD GP $2
Alex Cross HD VD/IT $3.50
Alien HD MA $2
Aliens HD MA $4.50
Aliens 3 HD MA $4.50
Alien Covenant HD MA $2
Alien Prometheus HD MA $2
Alien Resurrection HD MA $4.50
Aliens Vs Predator Requiem Itunes $4.50
Alien 6 Film Collection HD MA $18
Alice Through The Looking Glass HD MA $5 HD GP $4
Alita Battle Angel 4K MA $5
All Is Bright HD VD $4
All The Money In The World SD MA $2
Aloha HD MA $4
Alvin Chipmunks Road Chip HD MA $4
American Gangster Extended Edition 4K MA $5
American Psycho 4K VD/IT $5
American Sicario HD VD/IT $3
Amsterdam HD MA $4 HD GP $3
An American Girl Lea To The Rescue ITunes $2
Anchorman 2 HD VD/IT $2
Angel Heart 4K Vudu $5
Anna Karenina Itunes $4
Annie 2014 HD MA $4 SD MA $2
Ant-Man HDMA/4KIT $4.50 HD GP $2.50
Ant-Man And Wasp 4K MA $5.50 HDMA/4KIT $4.50 HD GP $2.50
Assassination Nation HD MA $3.50
Atomic Blonde HD MA $3.50
August Osage County HD MA $3.50
Avengers 4K MA $6 HD GP $4.50
Avengers Age Of Ultron 4K MA $6 HDMA/4KIT $5.50 HD GP $1.50
Avengers Endgame 4K MA $4 HDMA/4KIT $3 HD GP $1.50
Avengers Infinity War 4K MA $4 HDMA/4KIT $3 HD GP $1.50
Bad Boys HD MA $4
Bad Boys For Life HD MA $4
Bad Grandpa HD VD/IT $3.50
Bad Mom's HD MA $3.50 HD iTunes $3
Bad Words HD MA $4
Banshees Of Inisherin HD MA $5.50 HD GP $4.50
Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar 4K VD/IT $5
Battleship HD MA $3.50
Beauty And The Beast 2017 HD MA $3.50 HD GP $2.50
Beauty And The Beast 1991 HD GP $4
Bedknobs And Broomsticks HD MA $5 HD GP $4.50
Beethoven Treasure Tail HD MA $4
Beirut HD MA $3
Belly 4K Vudu $5
Big Hero 6 HD MA $3.50 HD GP $2.50
Black Adam HD MA $5
Black Panther 4K MA $5 HDMA/4KIT $4 HD GP $2
Black Panther Wakanda Forever HD MA $4 HD GP $2.50
Black Widow HD GP $3.50
Book Club HD VD/IT $3.50
Book Of Life HD MA $3.50
Boss Baby HD MA $4
Boss Baby 2 Film Collection HD MA $7.50
Bourne Legacy HD MA $2.50 Itunes $2
Boyhood HD VD/IT $3.50
Brian Banks HD MA $3.50
Brides Maids Itunes $3.50
BumbleBee 4K VD/IT $5 HDVD/4KIT $4
Burnt HD Vudu $4
Cake HD MA $4.50
Captain America Civil War 4K MA $5.50 HDMA/4KIT $4 HD GP $2.50
Captain America First Avenger 4K MA $5.50 HDMA/4KIT $4 HD GP $2.50
Captain America Winter Soldier HDMA/4KIT $4 HD GP $2.50
Captain Marvel HDMA/4KIT $3.50 HD GP $2.50
Captain Phillips HD MA $3.50 SD MA $1.50
Carrie 2013 HD Vudu $4
Cars HD GP $4.50
Cars 3 HDMA/4KIT $3 HD GP $2
Christopher Robin HD GP $4
Chronicles Of Narnia Voyage Dawn Treader iTunes $4
Cinderella 1950 HD MA $5
Cinderella 2015 HD MA $4 HD GP $3.50
Clerks 3 HD VD/IT $4.50
Clifford 2021 HD VD/IT $3
Coco HD MA $4 HD GP $2.50
Crawl HD VD/IT $3.50
Crazy On The Outside Itunes $3
Criminal HD VD/IT $4
Cruella HD MA $4 HD GP $3
Daddys Home HD VD/IT $2.50
Dallas Buyers Club Itunes $3.50
Danny Collins HD Itunes $3
Darkest Hour HD MA $4
DC Superpets HD MA $4
Deadpool HDMA/4KIT $3
Deadpool 2 HD MA $3.50
Death On The Nile HD GP $3.50
Deepwater Horizon 4K VD/IT $5 HD VD/IT $3.50
Despicable Me 2 4K Itunes $4.50 HD MA $3
Despicable Me 3 4K MA $5.50 4K Itunes $5 HD MA $3.50
Despicable Me Minion Madness HD $5 Itunes $4.50
Detective Knight Rogue HD VD/IT $4
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Itunes $3
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Long Haul HD MA $3
Die Hard 2 Die Harder HD MA $5
Die Hard A Good Day To Die Hard HD MA $4
Die Hard Live Free Or Die Hard HD MA $4.50
Dirty Grandpa HD VD/IT $3.50
Disney Nature Born In China HD MA $4
Disney Nature Monkey Kingdom HD MA $4
Disney Nature Bears HD MA $4
Divergent HDVD/4KIT $2 SD Vudu $1
Divergent Insurgent HDVD/4KIT $2 SD Vudu $1
Django Unchained HD Vudu $4
Doctor Strange 4K MA $5.50 HDMA/4KIT $4 HD GP $2.50
Doctor Strange Multiverse HD MA $4 HD GP $2
Dog HD MA $4
Dolittle HD MA $3.50
Downsizing HD VD/IT $3
Dracula Untold HD MA $3.50
Draft Day Itunes $3
Dragon Heart 3 HD MA $2.50
Dying Of The Light HD Vudu $3.50
Dumbo 2019 HD MA $3.50
El Chicano HD MA $3
Elvis HD MA $4
Elysium/District 9 Film Collection HD MA $6.50
Empire Of Light HD MA $4 HD GP $3
Empire State HD Vudu $3
Encanto HD MA $5 HD GP $4
Enders Game 4K VD $5 HD VD/IT $3.50
Epic HD MA $4.50 HD iTunes $4
Escape Plan HD Vudu $3 SD Vudu $1.50
ET Extra Terrestrial HD MA $4.50
Eternals HD GP $3
Equalizer HD MA $4
Equalizer 2 HD MA $4
Expendables 1-3 Film Collection HD Vudu $6.50
Expendables 2 HD VD/IT $2
Expendables 3 HD VD $3
Far From The Madding Crowd HD MA $4.50
Fast And Furious 1 HD MA $2.50
Fast And Furious 5 ITunes $2 SD MA $1
Fast And Furious 6 HD MA $1
Fast And Furious 7 HD MA $1.50
Fast And Furious 8 HD MA $1
Fast And The Furious 1-8 Film Collection HD MA $12
Fast And The Furious 1-9 Film Collection HD MA $14
Fault In Our Stars HD MA $2.50
Ferdinand HD MA $4.50
Fifty Shades 6 Film Collection Unrated/Theatrical HD MA $9
Fifty Shades Darker Unrated HD MA $2.50
Fifty Shades Freed HD MA $3
Fifty Shades Of Grey Unrated 4K MA $3.50 HD MA $1.50
Finding Dory HDMA/4KIT $3.50 HD GP $1.50
Finding Nemo HD GP $4
Flight HD Itunes $3.50
Florence Foster Jenkins HD VD/IT $3.50
Fortress HD MA $4
Fox And The Hound 2 HD MA $5 HD GP $4
Free Guy HD MA $4 HD GP $3.50
Frozen HDMA/4KIT $3.50 HD GP $1.50
Frozen Sing Along Edition HD MA $5 HD GP $4
Frozen 2 HDMA/4KIT $4.50 HD GP $3
Fury HD MA $4
Gemini Man 4K VD/IT $4.50
Ghost In The Shell 2017 4K Vudu $4.50
Ghostbusters 1 HD MA $3.50
Ghostbusters 2 HD MA $3.50
Ghostbusters Afterlife HD MA $4
Ghostbusters Answer Call Extended/Theatrical HD MA $3.50
Ghosts Season 1 HD Vudu $5.50
GI Joe Retaliation HD VD/IT $3
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Hello all. I have written here before about my job at Ultima Resort (1,2,3,4,5,6,7), though I know it has been a while, sorry about that. We were trapped for some time, my phone died pretty quickly, and I wasn’t able to recharge it again until the water receded. So, I haven’t really been able to write. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me get you up to date, then it will all make more sense.
I opened a door and peered into the closet, but the noise was quieter here, if anything. I shut the closet and continued down the hallway. The dripping had started out intermittent. The gentle plip, plip, plip was barely audible over the normal sounds of the hotel, and we had assumed it was related to the steady rain that had been drumming on the building for a few days, at that point. But the frequency of the dripping had been increasing steadily, and now was concerningly loud and constant. It was somehow audible from every corner of the hotel, and it was only a matter of time until the guests complained. They were already irritable because of the bad weather, which had kept them stuck indoors. As I passed a window, a flash of lightning lit the forest behind the hotel. The lights flickered ominously but it stayed on. The clap of thunder rattled the doors in their frames. I spotted Vincent hurrying towards me from down the hall. His face seemed pale.
“Well, did you find the leak?” I asked.
“Umm… you could say that,” he replied, uncomfortably, eyes shifting to the storm outside.
“What’s wrong?”
“It… well, you should just come see.”
I followed him down the hall to the ballroom where we had hosted the anniversary party some days back. It had been a nice event. Less deaths than I had expected. The hors d’oeuvres were pretty good. There was still a bit of smoke damage on the west wall, but we had cleaned it off as best as we could and the place looked presentable again, though I was now thinking we should put on a new coat of paint. It was hard to decide, when I wasn’t sure if the room would even be here next week. Vincent opened the door on the back wall and gestured me inside. This was new.
It was some sort of small storage cupboard, with dim lighting and a low ceiling. It was full of what looked like furniture, draped in white cloths for storage. I wondered what the furniture was made of, because the room had a strange fetid odor, that reminded me of rot and death. I covered my nose with my hand instinctively, but it did little to help. The small window in the back showed that the rain continued to fall outside, but it didn’t seem to be the source of the leak, as the floor around it was dry. Still, the leak must be in here, because the sound was louder than ever. I took a step forward, to get a better look at the room, but Vincent grabbed my arm and pulled me back, pointing towards the ceiling. I looked up to see a large dome light. It had a strange dark tint, and hardly any light made it through. But something else was coming from the dome. Drips fell in a steady rhythm, and as my eyes tracked them, I saw them splash into a widening puddle on the ground. The puddle was viscous and black, glimmering in the dim light. I looked back at Vincent.
“What is that?” I raised an eyebrow. “It doesn’t really look like ordinary water to me.”
“I don’t know. Maybe… it is picking something up as it drips through from the roof?” he did not sound particularly convincing.
“Maybe,” I tried to play along. “Though, I am not sure I want to know what that could be. Did you check if it is coming from somewhere upstairs?”
“Yeah. Nothing out of the ordinary on the floor above, and I can’t find any signs of a leak anywhere else.”
“Alright,” I backed out of the door and closed it behind us. “Well, I am sure whatever that is will work itself out.”
“What? We’re just going to leave it? Why did we even bother looking, then?” Vincent protested.
“I was worried it was a roof leak, something we needed to handle with routine maintenance. That does not seem to be the case,” I raised a questioning eyebrow. “Do you know how to fix whatever is going on in there?”
“No…”
“Me neither. In this place, when the ceiling is dripping black ichor, it is probably for a reason. I assume we’ll find out when one of our guests gets involved.”
Vincent opened his mouth, as if to protest, but even as he did, the sound of the phone at the desk echoed through the hotel. Vincent sighed,
“Alright, let’s go see what fresh hell awaits us today.”
I heard a small chuckle inside my head. I resisted the urge to ask Al what he knew. He answers were rarely helpful. He didn’t seem to lie, but he was often intentionally misleading, saying whatever he thought would elicit the most drama. I was tired of giving him the satisfaction. I was sure I could sense his disappointment when I refused to engage, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part. I couldn’t blame Vincent for being apprehensive about what the guests’ inquiry might be. The three men had arrived to participate in some sort of golf event, but they been here for 3 days now and since it had poured every moment, the event was not taking place. The guests were very unhappy about this turn of events, and they had mostly been killing time by taking it out on us. That wasn’t exactly a surprise. The rich ones were always the most demanding, unused to being told ‘no’ even when the question was ‘has the rain stopped yet?’, and based on the Bugatti they had arrived in, these men were quite rich. I answered the phone on the desk, already suppressing a sigh.
“Ultima Resort, front desk, how can I help you?”
“You can come and open the bar,” the voice on the other end snapped. “It’s past noon and the sign says it should be available by now.”
“I apologize, sir. I’ll be right there.”
“You had better be. The service at this place is frankly astounding. Honestly, I don’t understand why anyone ever stays here. I have half a mind to leave a review warning people away.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I know your stay hasn’t been ideal, but please bear with us and we will do everything we can to make it right.”
“You can start by hanging up the phone and getting me my drink.”
The line went dead in my hand. I sighed and replaced the phone on the cradle.
“Let me guess, they wanted to give us a large tip and leave early?”
“Don’t quit your day job,” I chuckled. “You wouldn’t make it as a psychic. Come on, let’s go open the bar, before we have a mutiny on our hands.”
I grabbed the key to open the shutters from the desk and we headed into the dining room. Our three guests were standing around the locked bar, making a show of checking their watches. I struggled to keep my eyes from rolling. It was 12:03pm.
“You know,” Jack turned to the man next to him, but spoke loudly enough to be sure I could hear. “This reminds me of some of the dumps we stayed in before we made our fortune, you know? The little rat trap motels in the port towns we had to stay in.”
“The customer service certainly leaves something to be desired, for a 5-star resort,” his companion, Stewart, sniffed. “For the amount we are paying, I would expect better.”
I turned the lock, opening the bar. I let them vent; I didn’t particularly care if they left us a bad review, and I certainly couldn’t do anything with a good tip, so they were free to hate it here if they wanted. It mattered less to me than they could possibly imagine.
“Can you both hear that leak from your rooms?” the final man, Lesley, asked.
“Can we? I swear it is audible from everywhere in the hotel. There must be a dozen leaks in this old roof,” Jack laughed.
“It would explain that,” Stewart gestured to wet stain on the carpet across the room, oozing out from under a door I didn’t remember being there yesterday.
I glanced over to Vincent, he shrugged,
“I guess we’ve got a new connection to the ballroom. That’s kind of handy,” he said quietly to me, stepping behind the bar and reaching for the rum to pour; it was all they ever ordered.
“That’s another thing that reminds me of the old days,” Jack elbowed Lesley. “You would think a landlocked hotel would be drier than a yacht, but here we are. Maybe you should get out a mop, see if you remember how, Les.”
Lesley stiffened,
“I don’t do menial labor anymore, Cap.”
“Of course, of course,” Jack clapped Les on the shoulder. “Just a joke, mate. The usual, my good man,” he smiled at Vincent, who began pouring drinks.
As day transitioned into evening, I left the dining room in search of absorbent material, to put down on the leak that was spreading persistently into the dining room. I found some cat litter in a back closet, and it seemed like it would do, for now, so I returned and began spreading it over the growing stain. Jack at the bar looked up blearily, watching my work, before finally declaring,
“Oh, so it’s shit, then. That would at least explain the smell.”
“I think it smells more like a rotting carcass,” Stewart interjected.
He had a point there. Maybe I should get some baking soda from the kitchen.
“You know what?” Jack concluded. “Let’s get this next bottle to go. We’ll take it to our rooms for the night. I can’t stand the smell down here another minute.”
He grabbed the bottle from the bar, then he rose and led his friends out of the dining room. I couldn’t say I was sorry to see them go. Vincent circled out from around the bar and approached the soggy patch on the floor.
“So, is that the storage room?”
Now that we were alone, I risked turning the knob and I opened the door to see the same storage room we had entered earlier, though now the light fixture was pouring dark liquid onto the floor, the drip having turned into a deluge. I slammed the door again.
“Maybe we should get Manny,” I concluded.
Manny stood back, watching the ichor pour down like a waterfall. It was pooling around our shoes now, even standing outside the doorframe. He stroked his chin,
“How long has it been like this?”
“I don’t know,” I frowned. “It’s certainly sped up since we found it several hours ago. Any idea how we stop it?”
Manny closed his eyes for a moment, then frowned.
“I think, perhaps, that we should move the food and water from the kitchen, so they don’t get spoiled.”
“Move them where?” Vincent asked.
“To the top floor storage closet. It’ll be safest there. Come help me gather things up.”
“What, exactly, do you think is going to happen?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s just get to work, we probably don’t have much time.”
Manny turned and strode into the kitchen. Vincent hung back and tapped my shoulder,
“What does he know that we don’t?”
“I have no idea, honestly,” I shrugged, and Vincent headed off towards the kitchen. “Do you know?”
I kept my voice low, so the others didn’t hear.
Oh, are you speaking to me now? Al sniffed.
“Depends, are you going to say anything useful?”
Perhaps for a…
“If you say ‘for a price’ we can go back to not talking. I am not trading anything for this.”
I think you will find I am much more helpful if you are willing to make a trade.
“I categorically disagree with that statement.”
Fine, I could feel him scowling. I can give you a hint for free. Maybe try asking yourself what he’s hiding from you?
“Your free hint is that he is keeping secrets?” I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that true of all of us? That isn’t exactly helpful.”
Well then, perhaps you would like to make a trade?
“Why do I even bother?” I sighed and headed into the kitchen to join the others.
Vincent was helping Manny load food onto a rolling cart. The Chef was, fortunately, nowhere in sight.
“Grab another cart and start loading the soft drinks and bottled water onto it. We don’t have much time before we need to be in our rooms,” Manny instructed.
I heaved a case of bottled water onto the cart, and we all got to work. By the time we made the final trip the carpet in the hall squished under my feet, oozing dark, foul-smelling liquid. It was coming in fast, now. Manny was probably right; we wouldn’t want the food supplies getting contaminated with… whatever this was. After he finished stacking the last bag of rice in the closet, Manny closed the door and turned the key in the lock.
“Well, we should find our rooms. It is getting late, and I doubt they will be in their usual place.”
As he turned to walk away, I noticed blood dripping down from his fingers onto the carpet.
“Manny, wait, your arm,” I pulled up his sleeve to reveal a thin, but deep cut running up his forearm. “What happened? Are you alright?”
Manny yanked his arm away,
“It’s nothing. I must have scraped it moving a box.”
It didn’t look like a scrape. It looked clean, with sharp edges, like a knife wound. But before I could say anything more, he was gone, disappearing down one of the halls.
“You ever wonder about him?” Vincent asked.
“Wonder what?”
“What his deal is. Come on, don’t play dumb. You’ve noticed how strange he can be. How he seems to know things about this place he shouldn’t. Surely, you’ve considered that he might be… one of them.”
“One of them?”
“You know, one of the things that run this place, like the Chef. A demon.”
“Manny? No, that’s ridiculous.”
“Why? He was here before you, maybe he was always here.”
“He is nothing like the Chef or the Masseur. It’s obvious that he is a person.”
“Is it? Maybe that’s just another trick. Maybe he is here to torment us, to steer us wrong.”
I shook my head,
“No, he’s helped us, helped me, many times. It’s impossible.”
“Alright,” Vincent shrugged. “But I have a bad feeling about this one, Lucy. Something about that… water. It isn’t right.”
“You always have a bad feeling. Come on, it’s time to get to sleep.”
“Right. See you tomorrow.”
However he knew, Manny was right. I found my room on the 2nd floor, in a back hallway. Since it wasn’t in its usual place, it took longer to find, but I did manage it before the deadline and locked myself in. Somehow, I could still hear the sound of flowing water, though. I could hear it everywhere in the hotel, in fact. In a way, it was soothing, people liked the sound of flowing water, right? So, keeping that in mind, I allowed it to lull me to sleep.
The morning arrived without fanfare, or a discernable difference in the light coming in through the windows. The storm continued to rage outside, and the clouds were so thick and dark that it was impossible to tell that dawn had broken. Still, my watch told me that day had arrived and so I left the room prepared to mop up whatever water had pooled downstairs and try to serve breakfast. No food had appeared in my room last night, so breakfast sounded very appealing. At least I could sneak a muffin or something. As I arrived at the stairs, I saw Manny standing on the landing, gazing down at the lobby.
“Is the mess bad?” I asked.
“You could say that,” Manny didn’t turn as I approached.
I reached the railing and gasped. The lobby was gone. The whole first floor was gone. All I could see was dark water, lapping against the stairs.
“How is that possible?”
“That’s not really a relevant question, in this place,” Manny noted. “Let’s just call it a flash flood.”
I jogged over to look out one of the windows, lightning flashed, illuminating an alien view, the lawn and garden were also gone. The only thing in sight was a sea of dark water, with the occasional tree protruding from the surface.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“What we always do. Vincent has headed upstairs to lay out some food. We can help him, then lock up the rest and go clean rooms.”
“And if the water keeps rising?”
“We keep moving up the floors, I suppose.”
I stepped down the stairs until I was next to the water, and reached out a hand to touch the surface, wanting to test its temperature and texture.
Stop!
I froze in place, hand hovering above the liquid, the command so urgent I couldn’t ignore it. Trying to act casually, I rose and headed back up the stairs,
“Alright, I’ll go help with breakfast. Maybe we should put up a sign directing the guests to the 5th floor?”
“I’ll handle that. We will have to ration the food carefully; we don’t know how long we will need to make it last. Whatever you do, don’t show the guests where the food is locked up, and only bring out enough for us to have a small meal.”
“Right,” I nodded. “See you up there.”
I turned and headed up the stairs. I waited until I was out of earshot to ask,
“Ok, what was that about?”
Do not touch the water.
“Yes, I gathered that. Why?”
Because you belong to me. And I need you alive.
“What is the deal with that water, exactly?”
But only silence answered. He was done volunteering things for the moment, apparently. I sighed and continued up the stairs. Vincent was waiting for me on the fifth floor, hovering by the landing, looking down over the dark, gleaming surface of the new lake below.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” he asked as I reached the top of the stairs.
“Nope, this is a new one.”
“I wonder if this is what being on the Titanic felt like?” he mused. “Water rising, nowhere to go, just waiting for the end.”
“We aren’t on a ship, though.”
“No. Does that make it better, or worse?”
I shrugged and Vincent passed me a bagel,
“I figure we should eat the breads first; they’ll go moldy in this humidity. We can save the rice, potatoes, and canned goods for later.”
“Makes sense. Do we have a way to cook any of those things?”
“I looked around. Some of the rooms have fireplaces, I guess we can hang a pot over the fire, cook that way. But maybe all this will stop before we get to that point.”
“Maybe,” I wasn’t exactly feeling optimistic about it.
I helped Vincent lay out some fruit and soft breads on the hall table, so that when the guests awoke, they would have something to eat.
“What exactly are we going to tell them when they get here?” Vincent asked, putting out some bowls. “We can’t exactly say that the hotel is sinking and it’s all perfectly normal, can we?”
“What else is there to say?” I shrugged. “It’s some sort of flood. We don’t know any more than they do. It’s the truth, right?”
He considered that for a moment, then nodded.
“I suppose it is.”
A sudden commotion from downstairs drew us to the railing. The three guests were standing on the 2nd floor landing, looking down at the water, Manny was saying something I couldn’t quite hear, but the response was clear enough,
“What do you mean, underwater!” Steward shouted. “This hotel is on dry land. We specifically avoided anything near the ocean or any major body of water. Where did all this even come from?”
“We are located on a flood plain. It is possible that the dam broke upstream,” Manny explained calmly.
Dam, huh? That wasn’t a bad explanation.
“If that is true, where are the authorities, shouldn’t someone be here to evacuate us?”
“I am sure they will be here when they can. Until then, we just need to stay calm and safe. There is breakfast laid out on the 5th floor, please stay away from the water and we will relocate your rooms to the upper floors.”
The trio of men grumbled, but eventually they headed up the stairs. Vincent and I ducked back to our places. As they grabbed fruit from the table, Lesley scowled,
“I told you we should have left days ago. We could have moved to another hotel. Now we’re trapped here, in this dump.”
“Oh, relax, Les,” Jack chuckled. “We’ve been in worse scrapes before. This isn’t a big deal.”
“And if the water keeps rising?”
“I bet we could manage to make a passable raft, eh Stewart?”
Both men chuckled, sharing a private joke, but Lesley still looked anxious.
“I didn’t ever want to be out on the water again. We agreed.”
“Seriously, Les, just keep it together, alright? Let’s just eat something and find some way to kill time. I am sure the authorities will send a rescue crew and we’ll be out of here in no time.”
I opened the storage closet and felt my heart sink as I looked on the nearly empty room. We were down to only a couple of boxes of crackers and a few bottles of water. We had rationed the food carefully, but it had been over 2 weeks now, and we had almost exhausted our supply. I wasn’t looking forward to telling the others. Things had been getting tense. The power went out on the third day, and by now every cellphone we had was dead. Not that anyone could get a signal before that, anyway. The water had risen all the way to the fifth floor, so we were all trapped together on the top floor of the hotel, with nowhere else to go, if it rose any further. The guests had mostly given up hope for rescue, and the rest of us knew that was never a hope to begin with. So, now it looked like the six of us were just going to be trapped up here to starve, if we didn’t drown first. I covered my face with my hands.
“That bad, huh?”
“Vincent. No, it’s… it’s not…” what was the point in lying about it? “Yeah, it’s that bad. We are almost out of food, and the water has risen at least another foot since yesterday.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I have no idea. Let’s just get back to the group. We shouldn’t leave Manny alone, in case the guests come out of their rooms.”
“Right.”
We walked back to the central hallway together. As we entered the room, I saw Manny with his back to us, removing a soaked shirt. Even in the dim light, it was clear that his back was webbed with dozens of scars and cuts. Vincent cleared his throat and Manny hurriedly tugged on a dry shirt.
“I patched the hole in the roof,” he explained. “The rain should stop getting in from there, at least. And I brought down a full barrel of rainwater and replaced it with an empty one.”
“Thank you, Manny. At least the water from the sky is… normal. Because we are going to have to start drinking that water from time now on, I think.”
“And the food?” Manny asked.
“Some crackers, nothing more.”
“Well, I guess we will all need to tighten our belts, then.”
A moment of heavy silence passed between us, before a door burst open and Jack emerged.
“Where’s the food?” he barked. “We’re hungry and the table is bare.”
“Food’s gone,” Manny replied coolly. “There is water in the barrel, to take the edge off.”
“We can’t survive on only water.”
“We can, for another couple of weeks.”
“So that is your plan, to slowly starve to death?”
Manny shrugged but didn’t reply.
“Well, suit yourselves, I have a better plan.”
Jack turned on his heel and stormed out.
“What do you think they will do?” Vincent asked.
“He said already, didn’t he? Build a raft,” Manny replied.
“Maybe that isn’t a bad idea,” I offered. “We could help, try to get out of here?”
“Has attempting to leave ever worked?” Manny asked. “No, all we can do is hunker down until this resolves itself. And I don’t think going out on that water is a good idea.”
“Should we try to stop them, then?”
“No. If they are focused on building, it will keep them off our backs, for the time being. Let them do what they want.”
Vincent and I spent the next few days watching the three men lash together furniture using heavy objects as improvised hammers and strips of torn bed linens as ropes. They seemed to actually have some idea of what they were doing, and they quickly fell into a rhythm, with Stewart and Jack doing most of the planning and construction and Lesley being ordered to fetch supplies and carry heavy objects. He grumbled about it, but did what they told him. They mostly didn’t even notice we were there, as long as we made a show of occupying ourselves with some cleaning task or another. They never even bothered to ask why we were still cleaning and maintaining a flooded, sinking hotel all day. It was hard to tell if they just paid so little attention to us that they didn’t notice, or if they simply figured it was our way of coping with the situation. Occasionally, they would ask us for some material they needed but could not find, and we would help as much as we could, then they would go back to ignoring us. On the third day, when the raft was beginning to look seaworthy, Jack sat back on his heels, admiring their handiwork.
“Well, boys? What do you think? Will it float?”
Stewart rubbed his nose with his thumb,
“I think it’s as fine a vessel as we have ever crewed, captain.”
Jack laughed,
“And you thought we had left those days behind us for good, eh chief?”
“They are. But it looks like it will come in handy for us, one more time. Good luck, huh?”
“Good luck?” Lesley’s face turned dark; he had been increasingly dour over the last few days. “I don’t see the good luck in any of this. I think we are reaping our just reward.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Les, this flood has nothing to do with us.”
“No? You think all this is normal, then? It’s been raining nonstop for weeks, the water keeps rising, no one has come looking for us. It’s like…” he hesitated before continuing. “It’s like we are alone in our own private hell. Just us and dark water everywhere. I don’t know how you aren’t thinking about it. I can’t stop. I see his face whenever I close my eyes. I see the dark puddle in the bottom of the lifeboat. Maybe this is what we deserve.”
Jack backhanded him across the face,
“Pull yourself together, swabbie. And don’t speak again until you’ve regained your composure,” he turned back to Stewart. “Now, we need to get this to the roof before we finish lashing it together, or it won’t fit. Then, we can either find a way to launch it, or we can wait until the water rises enough, what do you think, Mr. Stewart?”
“Well, captain, I say we rig up some ropes to lower it, because if we wait until the water is that high and anything goes wrong, we won’t have another chance.”
“Very good. Alright, Les, help us lift these pieces.”
The raft was relocated to the roof and the next 3 days were spent lashing it together and making the ropes strong enough to lower it the ever-dwindling distance into the dark water. When they were finally ready to launch, Vincent, Manny and I gathered on the roof to watch. I had to admit, I was really beginning to hope they succeeded, even if it didn’t seem likely. We were still rationing out the last few crackers, but three or four crackers a day did little to even take the edge off of the hunger, which gnawed on my guts like an animal. If this didn’t work, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I looked over at Manny, his face grim and starting to look a little gaunt. As he turned to face me, I saw blood coating his neck and seeping into his shirt collar from a cut near his ear.
“You’re bleeding.”
He reached up and touched his neck, bringing his hand aways stained crimson,
“Shaving cut,” he offered, wiping it off absently with his hand.
I raised an eyebrow, but let it go. I had noticed Manny with little cuts or scars before, but he was always doing landscaping work or maintenance, so small cuts and injuries didn’t seem unusual. But suddenly, in such close quarters and confined indoors, it was apparent that he seemed to injure himself more than I would expect.
Curious, isn’t it? Al asked, speaking up for the first time in sometime.
“You have something to tell me?” I mumbled under my breath.
No, just noting that there is power in blood. I wonder what he uses it for?
Power, huh? That was probably worth thinking about. Later. For now, my attention was drawn to the makeshift ropes lowering the raft into the water. The raft settled into the water with barely a ripple, the liquid was entirely too thick and seemed to stick to the wood like oil, and the sound when it hit was less a splash and more of a splat. The three men looked at each other, confusion and concern on their faces.
“That doesn’t much seem like normal water, Cap’n,” Lesley noted.
“Probably lots of mud and silt mixed in, it’s nothing,” Jack waved away the concern. “Get down there and then you can help us down.”
Lesley shook his head, mutely.
“Fine, Stewart?”
The other man didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded apprehensively and moved to the edge of the roof and clambered down onto the raft. As it bucked and shifted under his weight, he lay down, waiting for it to stabilize, but instead, the rolling and pitching seemed to increase. Then, from the water under the boat came dozens of pale human hands. They were terribly bloated and marbled with green and grey. Corpse hands. Stewart looked down, terror written plainly on his face.
“No! It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t cause it,” he shouted at the corpses looming under him in the dark water. “You want the captain, not me!”
If that was meant to mollify them, it didn’t work. The hands gripped the wood and pulled, capsizing the raft and pitching Stewart into the water. He screamed as he hit the surface. Not just from fear, but pain. He tried clinging to flipped raft, but hands wrapped around his torso, trying to pull him into the dark. I could swear I heard whispers rising from the surface: Join us.
“Help me, please!” he cried.
He was too far down to reach from the roof, but maybe there was another way.
“Hurry, if we can get to the windows on the 5th floor, we can pull him in,” I shouted.
Vincent nodded and we ran down the stairs, searching for the room closest to him in the water. The screaming helped. When we dragged him inside, he was covered in scratches and bites from teeth that looked very human, some very deep and freely bleeding. His skin was stained from the dark water. The hands continued to reach for him, so I slammed the window shut, leaving them to paw at the glass, just as Manny burst into the room, followed by the other two guests. Seeing the seriousness of his injuries, Manny moved closer, kneeling next to me.
“Some of these are very deep. We need to get pressure on the wounds. Go grab some towels,” he instructed Stewart’s companions.
He inspected the bites and scratches more closely,
“Lucy, this bite is on an artery, press down on it hard, or he will bleed out. Vincent, go get some soap and water, we will have to clean this as best we can, under the circumstances.”
Vincent rose and Manny and I were left alone with Stewart, who seemed to have passed out.
“You seem to know what you are doing,” I noted, pressing down on the bleeding wound.
“I… I was a doctor, once,” he didn’t meet my eyes when he said it.
“Wow.”
“It was a long time ago. Another life.”
“Why didn’t you ever…” I was interrupted when Stewart’s eyes snapped open.
“I need a priest,” Stewart grabbed Manny’s collar, his eyes fevered and unfocused. “I need to confess my sins, before I die.”
“You aren’t going to…”
“We killed him,” he pressed on, oblivious to my objections. “Alan Ross.”
“The billionaire?” I blurted, surprised. “But he died in a… shipwreck…”
I fell silent. I remembered the news stories; Ross had been on a luxury yacht on the way to the Cayman Islands when it wrecked in a storm. The entire crew was lost, except for the captain, the chief mate, and a single deckhand, who had survived in a lifeboat. Ross was in the lifeboat as well, but he had already drowned, before they were able to drag him on board. They had drifted for over two weeks, with his corpse, before they were found and rescued. It had been a major news story, about a decade ago.
“It wasn’t like the news reported,” Stewart gasped. “When the yacht started taking on water, we should have stayed and helped to organize the evacuation of the crew. But Ross wanted to leave right away. He offered us money if we took just him and abandoned the others. We agreed, the captain and I. Lesley was just a deckhand, but he saw us leaving and followed. We quietly launched a lifeboat and fled, leaving the others to their fates.”
“How did Ross die?” I asked.
“He had a bag with him. It was so heavy he could hardly carry it. When he put it in the boat, it fell open and it was filled with diamonds. He was taking them to the Caymans. When we saw that, we… well, we decided. If he didn’t survive the shipwreck, if the diamonds were never found, who would know? We drowned him and hid the diamonds. When we were rescued, we waited awhile, then we sold them, made millions. But it wasn’t worth it… it wasn’t worth this. The guilt…”
He slumped to the ground. Manny met my eyes over the body,
“I think we lost him.”
As I looked up from the body, I saw Jack and Lesley standing there in the doorway, towels in their hands. There was an ugly look on Jack’s face.
“I wish he hadn’t told you that.”
“Told us what? He was raving, delusional,” I attempted.
“We were standing right here,” he replied.
I swallowed hard. Jack advanced into the room, holding a broken table leg like a club.
“We’ve kept this secret all these years, it isn’t getting out now.”
“We won’t tell anyone,” I protested.
“That isn’t a chance I am willing to take. Besides, with the food supply exhausted, it was always going to come to this, eventually. Might as well get it over with.”
“What are you doing?” I heard Vincent call from the doorway.
“Lesley, take care of him, will you?” Jack continued to advance on us.
“Please Jack, hasn’t there been enough death?” Lesley protested.
“Don’t act all innocent, you agreed to this, just like the rest of us. In for a penny, in for a pound, my friend.”
I glanced around for a weapon. Between the three of us, we should be able to take him, but I didn’t much like the look in Jack’s eyes. Manny had stood, backing slowly away as Jack advanced. Then the captain took a swing at him, Manny jumped to the side and the makeshift bat shattered the window behind him. Jack’s expression turned to one of horror as a pair of pale hands gripped the doorframe and a body began heaving itself through the open window. The broken glass sliced its bloated flesh to ribbons, but it didn’t halt the creature’s ingress. Dark, thick liquid that smelled of death oozed from its wounds.
“Alan!” Jack exclaimed, backing away swinging his bat at the creature.
“You owe me,” it gurgled.
We all backed out into the hall, but the creature advanced, slowly, leaving a trail of black liquid on the carpet as it walked.
“Is it money you want? I can get you your money back, your diamonds,” Jack offered.
“What use do I have for money?” it wheezed. “You owe me a life.”
Jack hit the body with his club, but it didn’t slow its progress. He screamed as it reached out a hand and closed it around his throat. Jack was lifted off his feet and the creature carried him to the stairs and plunged him into the dark water. At first, he flailed and fought, but a dozen hands rose from the water, gripping every part of his body. When he was completely immobilized, the corpse released him, letting him be dragged down into the depths. Then, it turned,
“Now,” it spoke to Lesley. “Will you fight, or come willingly?”
Lesley was trembling so hard he could barely stand,
“Please, I’m sorry, I beg you, spare me.”
The creature’s lips curled into a grotesque smile,
“Do you regret what you did to me?”
“I do, I do. I never should have agreed with their plan. Please, have mercy.”
“Did you have mercy on me, when I begged?”
Lesley shook his head.
“Then accept your fate.”
“What… what do you want me to do?”
“Walk into the water. Give your life willingly. Perhaps they will spare you, if you do,” the creature laughed, dark liquid bubbling from its mouth.
Lesley nodded haltingly and began to walk towards the stairs, stepping into the water, he walked down until he was submerged up to his waist. Then, the hands wrapped around his arms and torso and abruptly dragged him under. For a long moment, it seemed like he was gone, the same as Jack, but a moment later, he was thrown back onto the landing. Lesley raised his eyes, now as black as the water, and the creature smiled again, a tooth falling from its mouth as it did.
“Very good,” it burbled. “You have been baptized and born again into a new life.”
Lesley nodded, a serene smile on his face. Without a word, he rose and walked back into the room we had vacated only a moment before. Outside the window, the raft had been righted and floated serenely on the water. He looked down at Stewart’s body, then picked it up and draped it over his shoulder. Glancing back at the three of us, he winked,
“A snack for the journey.”
Then, he stepped out of the window onto the raft and drifted away.
“Don’t suppose any of you would care to join him?” the corpse of Alan Ross inquired. “Be born anew in the cleansing water?”
We all shook our heads silently.
“Oh well, another time, then.”
And with that, the corpse walked into the water and disappeared.
That night, our usual meals appeared in our rooms, and by the next morning, the water had receded, as if it had never been there. The electricity came back on, and the rain stopped. I was finally able to charge my phone and post this account. I tried asking Manny for more information about his time as a doctor but is as reticent as ever. I will keep trying, though, because Vincent and Al are right about one thing, there is something suspicious about how much he knows that he shouldn’t. But, that is a problem for another day, after all there is no need to rush, we aren’t going anywhere.
Until next time,
Lucy