I have lost the will to liveSimply nothing more to giveThere is nothing more for meNeed the end to set me free Things not what they used to beMissing one inside of meDeathly loss, this can't be realI cannot stand this hell I feel Emptiness is filling meTo the point of agonyGrowing darkness, taking dawnI was me, but now he's gone
Metallica- “Fade to Black" The man sat on the bench, tearing off bits of bread and scattering them to the waiting creatures hovering nearby. The Tetrarchy had no pigeons or squirrels, those being strictly relegated to the human worlds, but it did have analogues that filled similar ecological niches. The small animals jostled one another, chittering and squeaking for attention as he tore off more bread, gobbling up the bits of food before the hit the ground. So intent were the animals on their meal they barely glanced at the woman that sat down on the bench beside him. “...I wondered who they’d give the job to,” the man said, tearing off another hunk. “I suppose I should be grateful it’s a friend.” Tango raised an eyebrow. “I’m not here to kill you, Whisper.” He reached into his bag for another hunk of bread. “Yes you are,” he told her, “you just don’t know it yet.” She watched as he scattered more food to the tiny creatures. “You’re a hard man to find. You went to a great deal of trouble to disappear.” “Not great enough, apparently,” he said. “I had a couple advantages,” Tango explained. “And before you ask…Nassat didn’t tell me.” Whisper nodded. “I didn’t think he had. He wasn’t exactly in his right mind when he contracted me for the hit.” A snort sounded briefly in the back of his throat. “But then...neither was I.” He tore off another piece of bread. “Fujimoto sent you, didn’t she.” “She did,” Tango confirmed. “I figured.” He sighed, and set aside the bag. “I always knew she wasn’t quite done with me.” “She does tend to plan ahead,” she agreed. Tango turned and leaned against the backrest. “I almost didn’t recognize you. If I hadn’t known what happened, I would have walked right past you and not stopped.” She gazed at her former teammate, eyeing him curiously. “What does it feel like?” “I doubt I could explain it to you,” Whisper replied, “not in a way that would make any sense.” “Try me,” she insisted. The creatures at their feet squawked in protest, demanding the remaining food. He handed Tango the bag. “Here...you might as well make yourself useful.” She removed a hunk of bread and began shredding it. “Our good Field Marshal knew all about that last job, as it turns out,” he explained. “She had her own reasons for wanting Chugaz Uydan dead. She made a ship available, provided me with funds through an untraceable account, passed on any intel she came across...all under the table, of course. Governments can’t be seen employing assassins. Bad for the image.” Whisper gave her an unreadable look. “Especially ones like me.” “And the Prime Minister?” Tango asked. “Was she in on it too?” “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I never dealt with her, only with Fujimoto. But if had to guess, I’d say she was at least aware. There was a certain...tacit approval, that I sensed. But if she did know, you can rest assured her hands are clean. She hasn’t stayed in power this long by making those kind of mistakes.” “Fair enough,” she nodded. “But you haven’t answered my question yet.” “I’m getting there,” Whisper explained. “Fujimoto wanted proof, when the job was done. Something that couldn’t be faked. She also wanted Nassat to think it had all been his idea.” “Why?” Tango asked. “I think she was nursing a grudge,” he said after a moment. “The Healers were regrowing her arm, and she was bitter about the loss of the ships under her command. Part of her blamed Nassat for that, I think.” Whisper shrugged. “Whatever the reason, she had her hooks set deep. When I got back from Khonhim space with the proof she’d wanted, she set up a meet. My final pay off.” “Since when was money ever a motivation for you?” she asked. “Never...but it’s nice to have,” he said with a wan smile. “True,” she nodded. “And the proof?” “Chugaz Uydan’s head, on ice,” he said matter-of-factly. “Hard to fake, that…though I had a little fun with it first.” “I’ll bet,” Tango said dryly. “You can spare me the details.” Whisper nodded. “Once she inspected the head...and she did it without flinching, which I thought was impressive...she handed me a credit chip and walked away. Apparently that was the signal.” He shook his head in disgust. “I didn’t spot her team. Sloppy of me. They had me tranked and bundled up before I could lift a finger.” “Why did she bother?” she asked. “No offense, but if Hélène was tying up loose ends...there are easier ways.” “It’s like you said before, she plans ahead. I could still be useful...but running around without supervision was a potential problem for her. In my mental state at the time, anyway. So instead, she had me...fixed.” Tango nodded. “When she handed me the report…” She paused for a moment, and shrugged. “I’d always assumed your...condition...was incurable.” “For us humans, it was...but the old Triumvirate races knew a few tricks we didn't.” He was silent for a moment, staring off into the distance. “That’s not to say the procedure wasn’t invasive...or painless.” “And now?” she prompted. “You mean, now that I’ve had a conscience grafted onto my brain,” he said bitterly. “You know what I was like. You know what I did...well, you know some of what I did,” he corrected, after a moment’s thought. “Imagine for a moment committing those acts without so much as a twinge of guilt, because guilt was a word without meaning for me. Consequences?” Whisper barked out a brief laugh. “Bring it on. None of it mattered to me. Not the threat of prison, or torture, or even death. I simply didn’t care.” “But now, you do,” Tango speculated. “And now I do,” Whisper agreed. “And even worse...I remember. All of it. Every act, down to the last detail. Every sin I’m guilty of...and every last drop of blood.” He turned and looked her in the eye. “Imagine the sheer weight of that. Imagine, for just a moment, carrying that burden. Every. Single. Day.” She let out a breath. “...I don’t think I can,” she admitted. He nodded. “I appreciate your honesty. You were always honest though...in the sense that you never tried to pretend you were something you weren’t. It was a trait that we shared.” “We did,” Tango agreed. “Musashi and Graybird were skilled, no argument...but we were the killers.” She considered that for a moment. “So…why didn't you...?" "...end it?" Whisper sighed. "Because I can't. They made sure of that, too." She nodded, taking that in. "So, can you suit up again? Is it even in you anymore?” “Oh yes,” he said immediately. “You see...they gave me a conscience, but couldn’t quite manage to take away the drive. The urge. I may not be quite as ‘Devil-may-care’ as I once was, but I still have the skills.” He paused, and then said softly, “...and the need.” Tango finished tearing up the last of the bread and tossed it to the animals, before standing up. “There’s ticket waiting for you at the port. Just make sure you don’t go home.” She shrugged without apology. “We had a contingency plan, in case this didn't work out.” Whisper didn’t seem surprised. “Always a pleasure, working with professionals.” Tango nodded. “You know we’re going to get bloody on this one, right?” For the first time since she’d sat down, Whisper smiled. “Oh…I hope so.” First I Previous I Next
Reddit Black Poker Tournament Update - Prizes Info (Registration still open!)
Original thread with signup info: http://www.reddit.com/redditblack/comments/24a7jq/reddit_black_poker_tournament_with_prizes_free_to/ As of 9:15 PM PST, we currently have 6 people registered in the tournament, along with 14 people registered in the club. IMPORTANT: Note that you must enter the tournament after being approved to the club to play. The following 8 people have registered for the club but have not registered for the tournament:
zpun
blastergasm
thatglockguy
chawleebee
deijavu01
SirCronkite
Tangohhh
TastyWasty
Now, for the fun part! I've decided on the following as Prizes:
1st Place: Your choice of Watch Dogs / Wolfenstein: The New Order (Amazon Pre-Order, any platform)
2nd Place: $15 iTunes gift card
3rd Place: Goat Simulator (PC)(Steam gift)
Prop bets:
Hitman: Before the tournament starts, I will randomly select 1 person in the tournament who will be the "Hitman". If you knock the Hitman out, you win the prop bet. If you are the Hitman and win the tournament, you win the prop bet. The winner of this prop bet gets to choose Tango's flair for a week. (If Tango wins the prop bet, Tango gets to choose the flair of a mod's of his choosing for a week)
High Hand: $20 Xbox Live gift card, courtesy of everyone's favorite Arab, ClaxAttack. Aces Full of Kings or better to qualify. Tie will be decided by FFA FaZe 420 sWaG #jonlifts quikscopexx match. Hand must reach showdown and both hole cards must be used.
This is the tango they dance to in episode 4, Por una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel. It's about horse racing, and always betting on the second horse to reach the finish line.
Sharing my library. It's a mixed bag, from some truly atrocious quality to some hi-res titles. I don't have a huge online storage as I'll just be using the free Mega account (It just went down to 15GB from 50GB). Please comment on any specific titles you'd like me to upload and I'll reply with the link once uploaded. -If there's no quality specified in [], then it's 16/44.1 -Sample rate is only listed when it's higher than 44.1/48 -[16 or 24] is 16-bit or 24-bit -[When this # is 3 digits] Indicates MP3 and the number is kbps -[96] MP3 at 96kbps, stay away from these. I told you it's a mixed bag lol 2 Chainz - Based on a T.R.U. Story 2 Pac - 2Pacalypse Now, Strictly 4 My NIGGAZ, Me Against the World, All Eyez on Me, Americaz Most Wanted 8 Mile Original Soundtrack 8Ball - Lost 21 Savage - Slaughter King [320], Savage Mode, Savage Mode II [24] 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin', The Massacre 112 - 112, Room 112 A Boogie wit da Hoodie - The Bigger Artist [256], Artist 2.0 [24] A Great Big World - Is There Anybody Out There? [320] A$AP Ferg - Furious Ferg A$AP Rocky - Live.Love. ASAP, Long. Live. ASAP Aaryan Shah - In the Making, The Arrival: Part II [24] Ace Hood [320] - Studio Album: Gutta, Ruthless, Blood Sweat and Tears, Trials & Tribulations Mixtape: Ace Won't Fold, All Bets on Ace, Final Warning, Street Certified, The Preview, I Do It.. For the Sport, The Statement, Body Bag Vol.1, Sex Chronicles, The Statement 2, Body Bag Vol.2, Starvation, Starvation II ACG: .hack_Sign OST 1+2 [320] Castlevania - Akumajo Dracula Best Music Collections Box Curse of Darkness - Prelude of Revenge Harmony of Despair Lament of Innocence Lament of Innocence Limited Edition Music Sampler Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate Symphony of the Night Death Note OST 1+2+3 [320] Detective Conan OST 3 Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy VII OST Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks Final Fantasy VII Remake Final Fantasy VIII Final Fantasy X Gensomaden Saiyuki - OST, Single Collection Guilty Gear X - Heavy Rock Tracks, Rising Force of Gear Image Vocal Tracks Guilty Gear XX OST Guilty Gear XX - Sound Alive/A.S.H. Hikaru no Go - Theme Song Selection Howl's Moving Castle - OST, Symphony Suite [320] Hunter x Hunter - OST 1+2+3, The Last Mission Joe Hisaishi - Dream Songs/The Essential Joe Hisaishi Koudelka Legend of Mana [320] Madlax My-HiME - OST 1+2 Neon Genesis Evangelion - Single Collection NieR:Automata Noir - OST 1+2+3 Ragnarok Online Complete Soundtrack Rurouni Kenshin - OST 1 [320], OST 2+3+4, CD BOX [320], Director's Collection, Premium Collection, Songs, The Best Theme Collection Shaman King - Comics Image Album, Melody of the Spirits, Osorezan Revoir ~au revoir~, Osorezan Revoir ~prologue to shaman~, Single Vocal Album, Vocal on Parade!! Slayers TRY Treasure BGM Spirited Away [320] The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time Tsubasa Chronicle - OST 1+2+3+4 Yu-Gi-Oh! Theme Song Single Collection Z.O.E. - Zone of the Enders, Anubis: Zone of the Enders Zenki - Character Song Collection 2, OST 2 Raigou Shourin!! 軒轅劍三外傳:天之痕 - 三個人的時光 風色幻想 - 1+SP+2+3+4+5 Adam Ben Ezra - Discography Adam Lambert - Trespassing Adam Lopez - The Popera, Showstopper, Till the End of Time Adele - 21 Afek-T - Les brumes Agnes Obel - Philharmonics, Aventine, Citizen of Glass [24], Myopia [24] Akon - Trouble Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls [320], Sound & Color [192~320] Alejandro Fernández - de noche - clasicos a mi manera, Confidencias [320] Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor Aloe Blacc - Shine Through, Good Things, Lift Your Spirit Amber Run - 5am [320], For a Moment I Was Lost [320] Amy Winehouse - Frank [160~320], Back to Black [196~246], Lioness: Hidden Treasures [320] Andrea Bocelli - Romanza, Verdi Angra - Discography (1992 - 2010)[160~231] Anita Baker - Rhythm of Love Anthony Ramos - The Freedom EP, The Good & The Bad Ariana Grande - My Everything [24], Dangerous Woman [24], Sweetener [320], Thank U, Next [24] Arvo Part - Various works Aurora - Discography (2015-2019)[24, except Infections of a Different Kind which is in 320] AZ - Do or Die Az Yet - Az Yet [320] Babyface - The Day Bad Meets Evil - Hell: The Sequel Ballet Class Music [320] Banks - Discography (2014-2019)[16~24] Basso Profondo from Old Russia Belly [320] - Another Day in Paradise, Inzombia, Mumble Rap Beyoncé - 4, Beyoncé, Lemonade Bilal - 1st Born Second Bill Evans Trio [320] - Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Waltz for Debby Bill Withers - Lovely Day: The Very Best of Bill Withers Billie Eilish - Discography Birdy - Discography [320] Bishop Briggs - EP [320], Church of Scars, Champions [24] Black Hill - Discography (2014-2019)[16~24]
Stvannyr - Secrets of the runes
Black Panther - Original Score [24], The Album [24], Wakanda Remixed [16] Blindspotting - The Collins EP [320], The Miles EP [320] Bloom - Sinses [320] Blue - All Rise Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Creepin on ah Come Up EP Brent Faiyaz - A.M. Paradox EP, Sonder Son, Lost EP, Fuck the World Bruno Mars - Discography (2010-2016) Busta Rhymes - The Coming Call Me By Your Name OST Camila Cabello - Romance Cardi B - Gangsta Bitch Music Vol.1 [128], UnderEstimated - The Tour Album [128], GBMV2 [128], Invasion of Privacy Carolina Eyck [320] - Theremin, Waves Case - Open Letter Céline Dion - All the Way.. A Decade of Song, Courage Charlotte Cardin - Big Boy EP, Main Girl EP Charlotte Cardinale - Florescentia Chase Holfelder - Major to Minor (Vol. 1) Chet Faker - Thinking in Textures, Built on Glass [320], Lockjaw Childish Gambino - Camp, Because the Internet, 3.15.20 Chingy - Jackpot Chloe x Halle [24] - Sugar Symphony EP, The Kids Are Alright, Ungodly Hour Choral: Aliqua, Chor Leoni Men's Choir Discography, Christmas with The Princeton Singers, The Manitou Singers - Repertoire for Women's Voices, Vol. 2 Christina Aguilera - Christina Aguilera [320], Stripped, Back to Basics, Bionic, Lotus [320], Liberation [24] Cirque du Soleil - Discography (1992-2015)[128~320, 3 albums in 16] Clann - Kin Fables, Seelie Classical: 100 Great Symphonies Bach - Selected Organ Works, The Famous Cantatas, The Six Motets Beethoven - Complete String Quartets, Piano Sonata No.8 op.13 'Pathetique', Piano Sonata No.14 op.27 'Moonlight', Piano Sonata No.23 op.57 'Appassionata' Brahms - Brahms on Life and Love, Requiem, Symphony No.1 Bruckner - Te Deum Chopin Complete Piano Music [192] Dvořák - Mass in D, Requiem, Symphony No.7+8+9 Fauré - Requiem Glazunov - Violin Concerto in Am op.82 Grieg - Piano Concerto op.16 in Am Liszt - 10 Hungarian Rhapsodies, Piano Works Mendelssohn - Symphony No.4, Violin Concerto in Em Mozart - Clarinet Concerto in A, Concerto in C for Flute, Harp, Orchestra, Horn Concerto No.4, Piano Concerto No.20, Piano Concerto No.21, Requiem Paganini - Salvatore Accardo plays Paganini's Guarneri del Gesu 1742 Schubert - Piano Sonata No.14+19 Schumann - Piano Concerto op.54 in Am Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No.1, Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, The Symphonies [192] Verdi - Requiem Vivaldi - Concerto in C for Violin and Double Orchestra, Concerto in D for Violin and Double Orchestra, The Four Seasons clipping - CLPPNG [24], There Existed an Addiction to Blood Coco OST Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise Corey Payette - Children of God, Les Filles du Roi Craig David - Born to Do It Curtis Clearsky and the Constellationz - Indigifunk D12 - Devil's Night, D12 World Daley - Those Who Wait [192], Days & Night [320], The Spectrum [320] D'Angelo - Brown Suger, Black Messiah [24/96] Darren Hayes - Spin Daveed Diggs - Small THings to a Giant, Seven Nights in Chicago [320] David Morin - Every Colour Deen Squad Mixtape 2015 [320] Destino - Forte, Beginning Again Destiny's Child - Destiny's Child, #1s Disclosure - Caracal DJ Danger Mouse - The Grey Album DJ Drama - Quality Street Music 2 Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No.1+2+3+4+5+6+8+9+12+14+15, Violin Concerto No.1 DMX - It's Dark and Hell is Hot, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, ...And Then There Was X Dr. Dre - 2001, Compton Drake - So Far Gone [320], Thank Me Later [320], Take Care [320], Nothing Was the Same [320], If You're Reading This It's Too Late Dream Theater - Discography (1989-2019)[16~24/96] Dream Warriors - Subliminal Simulation Dru Hill - Dru Hill, Enter the Dru Dumbfoundead - We Might Die [320], Inside/Outside [24] Dylan Brady - All I Every Wanted, Choker [128], Dog Show [128] Eagles - Hotel California Eazy-E - It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa, Eternal E Elijah Blake - Bijoux 22 [128], Drift [253~276], Shadows & Diamonds [320], Blueberry Vapors [320] Eminem - The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show, Encore En Vogue - Funky Divas ES Posthumus - Unearthed [320] Evanescence - Discography (2003-2017)[16~24] Fantastic Negrito [320] - The Last Days of Oakland, Please Don't Be Dead Far East Movement - Free Wired FKA Twigs - LP1, Magdalene Flipsyde - Discography (2005-2012)[128~320] Florence + the Machine - Discography (2009-2018)[16~24/96] Flume - Skin [24] For vance - From Muscle Shoals [24] Frank Ocean - Discography (2011-2016)[16~24] Frank Sinatra - Ultimate Sinatra Frozen OST Fugees - The Score Future - Beast Mode [24], Future [24/96] Gallant - Zebra [320] Game of Thrones - S1-8 OST, Various Orchestra Albums, For the Throne Ghost - Meliora [24] Ginuwine - Ginuwine... The Bachelor, 100% Ginuwine Gorillaz - Gorillaz [24], Demon Days [24], Plastic Beach [24], Humanz [24/96] Grace VanderWaal [24] - Perfectly Imperfect, Just the Beginning Guru - Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 GZA - Liquid Swords Hamilton: An Americal Musical - Cast Recording, Hamildrops, Instrumentals, The Hamilton Mixtape Hans Zimmer - The Dark Knight [24/96], Inception [24][5.1], The Dark Knight Rises [24], Intersteller [24], The Classics [24/96] Harry Potter OST Hercules [192] Higher Brothers - Black Cab, Five Stars Hozier - Discography (2013-2019)[16~24] Igorrr - Hallelujah [320] Il Divo - Discography (2004-2018, except A Musical Affair)(320~16] In tha Beginning... There Was Rap Ingrid Michaelson - Discography (2005-2014) J.S. Ondara - Tales of America (The Second Coming) [24/192], Folk n' Roll Vol.1: Tales of Isolation [24] Jacques Loussier Trio - Vivaldi- The Four Seasons James Blake - Discography (2011-2019) James Vincent McMorrow [320] - Early in the Morning, Post Tropical Janelle Monáe - Discography (2010-2018)[16~24], Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) EP Janne - Meeting the Wolf EP Jay-Z - Discography (1996-2017)[16~24] Jeremy Dutcher - Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa [320] Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure? [24] Jhené Aiko - Chilombo [24/96] Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix- The Best of Jimi Hendrix JMSN [320] - Priscilla, Pllajë, JMSN Joe - All That I Am, My Name is Joe John Coltrane - Both Directions at Once/The Lost Album John Legend - Discography (2005-2016)[320~16] Jon Mcxro - The Fifth of Never [287~310] José Tomás Molina - Discography (2014-2019)[16~24] Josh Groban - Discography (2001-2015)[320, except Stages in 16] Joss Stone - Introducing... Joss Stone Juice OST Justin Timberlake - Discography (2002-2013)[16~24] k.d. lang - Ingénue, Invincible Summer Kadebostany - Pop Collection Kanye West - Discography (2003-2019)[320-24] Kendrick Lamar - Discography (2011-2017) Kerry Muzzey - Trailer Music 3, The Architect, Trailer Music 4: Neo Kid Cudi - Discography (2008-2013) Kiel Magis - Kiel Magis Kieran Fearing - Reprieve Kieran Martin Murphy - The Painter's Hand, Theatrics Korean: DJ Doc - 4th Album eAeon - Guilt-Free H.O.T. - We hate all kinds of violence, I yah!, Age of Peace OST, Outside Castle, The Best Rain - First Drop Shinhwa - First Mythology, My Choice, Wedding k-os - Exit, Joyful Rebellion, Atlantis: Hymns for Disco Krizz Kaliko - Son of Same [239~270], Go [320] Kwabs [157~246] - Wrong or Right, Pray for Love, Walk La La Land - The Complete Musical Experience [24] La Quinta Estación - Sin Frenos [192] Ladysmith Black Mambazo [192~257] - The Very Best of Lana Del Rey - Discography (2012-2019)[16~24] Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Le Flow - The Definitive French Hip Hop Compilation Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares - Vol.1+2 [320] Le mystère des voix Corses - les plus belles polyphonies [320] Led Zeppelin - Discography (1969-1982), Remasters [24/96] Lenny Kravitz - Greatest Hits Leonard Cohen - The Future Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien - The High Road to Kilkenny Leslie Odom Jr. - Leslie Odom Jr. [24], Mr. Lhasa de Sela - La Llorona [320] Lil Dicky - Hump Days [256], So Hard [320], Professional Rapper [128] Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake Linkin Park - Discography (2000-2017)[16~24/96] Lionel Richie - Back to Front Loïc Nottet - Selfocracy [320] London Grammar - If You Wait [24/96], This is a Beautiful Thing [24] LP - Lost on You [320] Ludacris - Chicken-Beer, Release Therapy Ludovico Einaudi - Echoes: The Einaudi Collection, Divenire [320], Nightbook, Islands: Essential Einaudi [320], Elements [320], Seven Days Walking [24] Luniz - Operation Stackola Mac Miller - Circles [24] Madredeus - Various albums (1987-2005)[128~320] MAGIC! - Don't Kill the Magic [320] Maksim - Discography (1999-2010)[320, except 2 albums in 16] Mandarin: 5566 - 1st Album Energy - E3, 無懈可擊, 米迦勒之舞 F4 - 煙火的季節 IPIS 蟑螂 - 第四蟑 RuRu - 美麗心情 S.H.E. - 青春株式會社, 美麗新世界, Together 不能說的秘密 OST [148~224] 伍佰 - 夢的河流, 冬之火 九重天演唱會特選錄音專輯 伍思凱 - 分享 南拳媽媽 - 南拳媽媽的夏天 周杰倫 - Discography (2000-2004)[16 except 同名專輯 in 320] 宋岳庭 - Life's a Struggle 張信哲 - 精選, 從開始到現在 張學友 - 走過1999, 張學友音樂之旅Live演唱會 張智成 - 凌晨三點鐘 張衛健 - 齊天大聖孫悟空 徐婕兒 - 愛之初 戴佩妮 - 怎樣 手牽手大合唱 林俊傑 - 樂行者, 第二天堂 海豚灣戀人 OST 王心凌 - Begin... 臥虎藏龍 (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) OST 范逸臣 - 同名專輯 蔡依林 - 看我72變, 城堡 薔薇之戀 OST 許慧欣 - 孤單芭蕾, 幸福 謝霆鋒 - VIVA, 了解, Viva Live 謝霆鋒演唱會 郭富城 - 目眩城迷 全精選 陳冠希 - Edison Chen 陳小春 - 抱一抱, That's Mine Mandido - Time on Our Hands Marc Anthony - Discography (1993-2013)[320] Marian Hill - Act One [24], Unusual Mario Frangoulis - Various Albums (1998-2014)[128~320] Marques Houston - MH Mase - Harlem World Master P - Ghetto D Max Richter - Discography (2002-2020)[16~24/96] MC 900 ft. Jesus - Welcome to My Dream, Open Step Ahead of the Spider Meek Mill - Dreams Worth More Than Money [24], Championships Metallica - Discography (Remastered)(1983-2020)[24] Metro Boomin - Not All Heroes Wear Capes [320] Miah Luz - The Coming LP Michael Bolton - Only a Woman Like You [320] Michael Bublé - Discography (1995-2013)[96~320] Michael Conway Baker - Four Musical Portraits Michael Jackson - Discography (1972-2014)[320 except Invincible in 16] Migos - Discography (2015-2018)[209~24] Miguel - Discography (2010-2017)[16~24] Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool [24/192], Bitches Brew [24/88], Kind of Blue Mirah - Discography (1997-2009)[198~256] Misha Mishenko - Discography (2016-2019) Missy Elliott - Under Construction Moana OST Mobb Deep - The Infamous Mos Def - Black on Both Sides, The Ecstatic Moulin Rouge! OST Muddy Waters - Anthology Muse - Origin of Symmetry [24/96], Absolution [24/96], The 2nd Law [24/96], Simulation Theory, Drones [24/96] Musical Theatre - Various Musical Cast Recordings (1934-2017)[170~202, except Come From Away and Hamilton in 16] Nahko - Dark as Night, On the Verge, Hoka [320], My Name is Bear [320] Namie Amuro - Break the Rules, Genius 2000 Nas - Illmatic, It Was Written, Stillmatic, God's Son, The Lost Tapes, Street's Disciple, Life is Good Naturally 7 - Discography (2000-2015) Naughty by Nature - 19 Naughty III Nav - Good Intentions [24] Ne-Yo - Discography (2006-2012)[320~16] Night Lovell - Discography (2014-2019)[320] Nina Simone - The Essential of Nina Simone [24/96] Nipsey Hussle - Crenshaw, Victory Lap Niykee Heaton - Bad Intentions, The Bedroom Tour Playlist Norah Jones - Come Away with Me, Feels Like Home, Not Too Late, Pick Me Up Off the Floor [24/96] Notre-Dame de Paris (Musical) Cast Recording Obie Trice - Cheers October London - Discography (2016-2018)[320] Omar LinX - A Cold Welcome [320], City of Ommz [320], The Living Dead EP [128], Victor [320], M.O.R [320] Omarion - O, 21, Ollusion Once OST [96] Onegin (Musical) Opera Babes - Beyond Imagination P. Diddy - No Way Out, The Saga Continues... PartyNextDoor - PX3 Pentatonix - Various albums [128~320] Peter Gundry - Discography (2016-2019)[16~24] Pharrell - Girl [24] Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon [24/88][DSD64], Pulse Playboi Carti - Die Lit PNL - Deux frères [320] Portishead - Discography (1994-2008) Post Malone - Discography (2016-2019)[16~24/88] Prince - Discography (1978-2019) Pusha T - Daytona [24] Putomayo - World Reggae, Asian Lounge Quavo - Quavo Huncho [320] Queen - Greatest Hits Rae Sremmurd [320] - SremmLife, SremmLife 2 Raincity - Tell Me, Stuck on Replay, Raincity EP Raleigh Ritchie - You're a Man Now, Boy [320] Rick Ross - Discography (2006-2017) Ricky Martin - Ricky Martin, Música + Alma + Sexo [192] Rihanna - Anti Rockapella - 2 Roscoe Dash - J.U.I.C.E. [320], Dash Effect [160] ROSK - remnants Ruelle - Up in Flames, Madness, Emerge Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2, RTJ3 Instrumentals [24/96] Sade - The Best of Sade Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 [123~252] Sam Smith - Discography (2014-2017) Sandra van Nieuwland [320] - And More, Banging on the Doors of Love Santino Le Saint - Cloud 304, Xeno, Blue Pill [24], Rage of Angels Sara Bareilles - Discography (2007-2015)[320, except What's Inside - Songs from Waitess in 24] Scorpions - Discography (1972-2015) Scott Leonard - 1man1mike Sevdaliza - Discography (2017-2020) Shai - If I Ever Fall in Love [128] Sia - Discography (1997-2017)[16, except OnlySee + Healing is Difficult in M4A260, This is Acting in 24/96] Sigur Rós - Discography (1997-2013) Snoop Dogg - The Doggfather, Tha Last Meal, R&G (Rhythm&Gangsta): The Masterpiece, The Blue Carpet Treatment Solange - A Seat at the Table Southern Journey - Bad Man Ballads (Songs of Outlaws and Desperadoes, Vol. 5) Stacey [128] - Stacey, Stacey (Reconstruction), First Move Stevie Wonder - The Definitive Collection Stromae - Cheese [256], Racine carrée [24] Sun Kil Moon - Discography (2003-2017)[320, except Benji + Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood in 16] Swollen Members - Bad Dreams SWV - It's About Time System of a Down - Toxicity SZA - Ctrl T.I. - Trouble Man Heavy is the Head Tamia - Tamia Taylor Swift - folklore [24] Tech N9ne - Discography (1999-2013)[192~320], The Storm, Enterfear TGT - Three Kings The Beatles - Discography (1963-2009) The Carters - Everything is Love The Chorus OST The Chronicles of Narnia OST The Cinematic Orchestra [320] - Every Day, Man with a Movie Camera, Ma Fleur, To Believe The Game - The Documentary, Jesus Piece [320], Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf [320], The Documentary 2+2.5 [320] The Godfather I+II+III OST [320] The Great Gatsby OST The Great Tenors - Vol.1+2, In Concert The Lion King - Complete Score [128], Return to Pride Rock [128] The Lord of the Rings OST [24] The Lumineers - Cleopatra [24/96], C-Sides [24], Live Tracks [24], III [24] The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die, Life After Death, Born Again The Nutcracker (Ballet) [24/96] The Pink Panther OST [320] The Savannah Leigh Band - City of Grey The Tango Project - The Tango Project The Tenors - Discography (2008-2015)[156~254, except Under One Sky in 16] The Tony Rich Project - Words The Weeknd - Discography (2012-2020)[16~24/192] The xx - Discography (2009-2017)[320, except I See You in 16] Three 6 Mafia - Most Known Unknown Timbaland - Shock Value Tinie Tempah - Demonstration [320] Toni Braxton - Toni Braxton, Secrets Tony Bennett - The Essential Tony Bennett, a wonderful world (with k.d. lang), The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection, Duets II [320], Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 Tory Lanez - Discography (2010-2020, except Daystar)[160~320, except Chixtape 5 + The New Toronto 3 in 24] T-Pain - Discography (2005-2012)[192~16] Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman Travis Garland - Discography (2011-2015)[160~320] Travis Scott - Discography (2015-2018)[24~24/88] Trey Songz [320] - Trey Day, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, Chapter V TroyBoi - icekream [128~320], SoundSnobz [128~320], Left is Right [128], V!BEZ [128], V!BEZ, Vol.3 Tsar B - The Games I Played [320] Tyga - Discography (2008-2016)[320], Legendary Tyrese - I Wanna Go There UltraVillain - Lost in You [320] Ulvesang - Ulvesang [24], The Hunt Unity: Athens 2004 (Olympic Games Album) Usher - Discography (1994-2018)[16~24] Van Morrison - Moondance Vitas - Discography (2001-2009)[128~256, except A Kiss as Long as Eternity+20th Century Hits in 16] Waka Flocka Flame - Flockaveli Whitney - Light Upon the Lake Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston Wisin & Yandel - Discography (2000-2012)[320] Wiz Khalifa - We Dem Boyz [320], various songs [320] Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y - 2009 [24] Wyclef Jean - Carnival, Vol. II- Memoirs of an Immigrant X Japan - Discoraphy (1988-2017)[16~24/96] XXXTentacion - Revenge [320], 17 [24/192], ? [320] Xzibit - Restless Yann Tiersen - Discography (1995-2003)[96~160] YG - My Krazy Life, Still Brazy, My Life 4Hunnid [24] Young Bleed - My Balls and My Word Young Buck - Buck the World Young Thug - Barter 6 [320], Slime Season [24], Slime Season 2 [320], I'm Up [320], Slime Season 3 [320], Jeffery [320], So Much Fun Yuki Kajiura - Discography (includes side projects: FictionJunction/YUUKA, Kalafina)(Anime soundtracks 1996-2018) Yuna - Chapters [320] Zed Yun Pavarotti - French Cash [320] Zeina [320] - Odd One Out, various singles
SOME PLANETS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE: an Elite Comedy/Mystery
***** SOME PLANETS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE by Cmdr Tittybiscuits.com ****** Ever tried to clean vomit out of the dash vents of a Type-6? I have. Tried, that is. And I’ll tell you for free: it’s impossible to get rid of the smell once it’s in the AC system. She’d been to the core and back, twice. Deep scanned over six-thousand systems, survived countless gankers, and even made me a packet during the mining boom of 3305. In the end, I had to trade her in, the poor old girl: survived all this, only to be killed by regurgitated baked greebles. But I suppose I should begin with the transmission that started it all. The message to which I should never have replied. The job I’ll always regret accepting. The single moment that had written my old T6’s fate into the stars, and that had made me promise to never, EVER leave the bubble again. **** “Commander. Mission. You there? We have a mission for you. Are you reading me? Come in, Commander. Are you available?” “Yes, yes. Cool your jets, mate. What’s…” But then realised I hadn’t pressed the transmit button and was just talking to myself. “Commander? Are you reading me?” I tried again. “Yes! Bloody hell! Keep your dick on. I’m reading you.” “Good. Hello.” “So what’s the mission?” “Exploration job. Available?” It was The Handler. He was always this blunt, and that was fine by me. Employers giving me all the info up front allowed me plenty of room to employ your standard negotiation tactics, such as: “Hmmm. I’m kinda preoccupied other clients,” I said, scratching my week-old stubble and hitting pause on the space porn I’d been watching before he had hailed. “Of course, if you make it worth my while, I’ll try and rejig a few things in the schedule...” “Bullshit. You have no other clients.” He had me there. Go on.” “We want you to go to the Thule region. That is all.” I did a quick mental check; Thule wasn’t far at all in the grand scheme of things, and especially not for an A-rated, fully engineered Diamondback. Obviously I didn’t have one of those, but still. “What system?” I said, idly trying to stick down a reluctant piece of duct tape on my Type-6 dashboard. “I can’t…” The Handler’s voice wavered. A deep breath, then: “I can’t say it out loud. We’ll transmit it to you.” “Ah, I see. It’s one of those long, meaningless system names comprised of random HIPs and numbers?” “No!” he barked back angrily, and it took me off guard. It was the first time I’d ever heard a shred of emotion from the man. “No, just… look, it’s in Thule. That’s all you need to know. We’ll send you the specific name.” “Meh. Thule’s not far. But in terms of reward, how much are we tal…” “Three billion credits,” His voice cut across the transmission, back to his trademark monotone. I fell back into my travel-worn cockpit seat, as if the words themselves had enough force to knock me back from across the airwaves. Surely they must have meant three-million-with-an-m, not three-billion-with-a-b? A faint, static silence on their end. They were waiting for a response. “Sorry, let me get this straight,” I said, leaning forward again and tapping the notepad on my dashboard. “You’re offering three billion - that’s billion-with-a-b - for me to go to…” “Oh!” The Handler cried out, and it sounded like something had caught in his throat. After treating the airwaves between us to a warm, wet, phlegmy cough, he just about got out: “Please, stop talking. Oh god. I don’t want to think about it. For Braben’s sake, stop talking.” I was massively puzzled. “Stop talking? But we’re talking about this mission?” “Yes, damnit! Stop talking about it!” came the reply, punctuated with a sickly burp that bordered on retching. “Oh, god…” I could hear another voice in the background of the transmission. A woman, urging Hristo (presumably The Handler’s first name, which I never knew before) to leave the room if he felt like he was going to throw up. From what I could hear, he deftly did so and the woman took his place at the transmitter. “Commander, this is M. Trago Mills. I’ll save us both some valuable time and cut to the chase: will you accept this mission?” Normally, I’d blindy do anything the Committee asked of me. Scan a Guardian site, map a Wolf-Rayet star, ram a Keelback into a wedding barge at full speed at the behest of a jilted lover, rescue a stranded traveller just before the Fuel Rats got to him simply just to get on their tits... whatever the Committee needed, minimal questions. It was how I’d built up my reputation as being your local go-to guy. But this? This wasn’t sounding like a ‘minimal question’ job. “Yeah, I’ll do it. Obviously I’ll do it. But what’s…” “No questions,” M. Trago fired back. “This is a minimal question job.” “Oh.” “So I just need to go scan the planet.” “No. Ah… gods, no. Don’t scan it. Don’t even get close enough to scan it. Just jump into the system and… and…” “And what?” “Just look at it.” “Just look at the planet?” “Just look at the planet.” “I take it the system is dangerous.” “Dangerous? No, not in the conventional sense. It’s a standard OBAFGKM star.” “KGBFOAM,” I corrected her. “Shut up.” “Okay.” “Standard star. One planet.” “The planet you want me to look at.” “The planet, yes.” “And you just want me to look at it?” “I think we’ve established that, yes, we just want you to look at it.” “Look at the planet.” “The planet. Yes.” I shrugged. “And you’ll wire me the credits as soon as I get back, right?” “What?” My eyes rolled up to the ceiling of my cockpit as I sighed: “Chris Columbus gotta get paid, love.” “Commander, we’ll pay you the second you see it.” M. Trago’s voice came back flatly, and with it my astonishment at this whole gig returned. Nobody, and especially not the notoriously tight-arsed Committee, would pay such a colossal amount for simply visiting a system; not even returning data or providing proof I’d even been there, simply paying up the second I claim to have done it. As I reflected upon the strangeness of it all, M. Trago was trying to send the full name of the system to me via text comms. It wasn’t going well. THULE 13452-A … … 13445 … IGNOERE THAT COMMANDSR 134 …. PLASE HOLD … THE CORRECT NAME IS THULE 1 … THULE 134452-2-A “Oh, god…” I heard M. Trago faintly slur over the line; it was obvious that she had cupped the mic and turned to one side, but I could still hear her woozily gulping air. It sounded like she was about to faint, or throw up, or both. “Are you alright?” It was muffled, but I heard her say something to the effect of “I can barely even type the name” to an unseen aide on her side. After another bout of clammy silence, she returned at full volume: “You have the system name,” she all but barked at me. “Go there, look at the planet, get paid. Or don’t. Whatever. I don’t care anymore.” And with that, the transmission went dead. I was alone again, blinking at the comms panel, my eyebrows already on their way to Hutton. The decision was already firmly made in my head: I HAD to check this out. To see the thing that had rattled the otherwise-stony Committee to such an extent. I didn’t even care about the credits at this stage. Well, maybe a little bit. A fair bit. A lot. I mean, three billion. With a ‘b’. ********** “Maurice, my old pal! How’s the wife?” I slapped my open palm enthusiastically on the Cubeo cartographics counter. Before he had the chance to reply, I galloped in with my follow-up: “Listen bud, I don’t suppose you could do me mate’s rates on some system data?” Maurice considered this for a moment before gently taking my wrist with his index finger and thumb, removing it from the polished surface. “Firstly, I don’t have a wife. And secondly, I don’t do… ‘mate’s rates’,” he said, wrinkling his nose at the very notion. “Aw, c’mon, Maurice! For old time’s sake.” From over the top of his pince-nez glasses, his expression was an even mix between annoyed and nonplussed. “My name is Jacob.” “Ah. Right.” Jacob-not-Maurice scornfully ran his tongue across his teeth, mouth closed, before opening it to say: “Can I help you?” “Yeah, okay. I need the system data for…” I looked at the smudged ink on the back of my hand, “Thule 134452-2-A.” Jacob had looked away, turning to his console to tap in the series of numbers. He was midway through doing so until I got to the final ‘A’, then abruptly stopped. His hand hovered above the virtual keyboard on his side of the console, unmoving save for a small quiver. His eyes widened, glazed over. “Alright?” He blinked, twice. Hard. Then turned his gaze back to me. “There is no system data for Thule 1344..5….Thu… that system.” “You didn’t type it in. You’re didn’t put in the dash-A.” “There is no data for that system,” he repeated, bluntly. This job wasn’t just getting weird. It was getting really, really silly. “Mate, I was told by my handlers that there is one orbital body in Thule 13…” “I *heard* the system name!” he cut me off, his placid demeanour suddenly reddening to a level that admittedly made me jump. “You don’t need to say it again! The system has no orbital bodies, SIR,” he spat the last word. “You can simply select the star in your galaxy navigation map. There is no further information to give. Do you understand?” I couldn’t help but smile quizzically at the absurdity of all this. Momentarily lost for words, I placed my arm back onto his counter, leading with an elbow. “Dude, I don’t understand why you’re acting so wei…” It was a miracle I had gotten my arm out of the way before the counter shutter slammed down on it. Jacob eyed me wildly from behind the mesh, but it was clear he had no more to say on the matter; another Commander approached the counter from the direction of the cafeteria, but Jacob screamed “We’re CLOSED!” at her. At me. At both of us. The other Commander, not knowing what else to do, threw me an 07 salute. Also puzzled, I fired back an ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ salute in return and we both went our separate ways. Back at the docks, I settled into the seat of my Type-Shitty and plotted a course for what was quickly becoming The System That Shall Not Be Named. 47 jumps to Voldemort. That wasn’t too bad. Raring to go, I promptly opened up Spacify and put on a playlist. I followed this by launching tabs for SpaceFlix, SpaceTube, Spacebook and Spaceporn. That should keep me going. It was time to see what all this was about, and, somewhat more importantly, collect my three billion credits. I had no idea what had gotten Maurice or Jacob or whatever his name was so riled up, or why the Committee was being similarly cagey. Either way, I would get to the bottom of all this. Where there were credits to earn, I would be there to earn them. Where mysteries needed to be unveiled, I would shine a light. I had the vessel to do all such things, and the force of will to see them through to the bitter end. I fired up my trusty, mighty engines and rose up from Launchpad 39, ready and willing to see where this adventure would take me... for better or worse. I immediately bounced off a Beluga liner passing over head, then thrusted directly into the edge of the mail slot. ********** The final jump. I lined up the star, set thrusters to full, and pressed the J key. My hardpoints deployed. I shook my head, pressed J again, then pressed the apostrophe key once they’d retracted. The ship entered the Full Spectrum System Scanner mode. I cancelled that, extended my landing gear, retracted my landing gear, jettisoned cargo, accidentally opened the system map, turned flight assist off and then on again and finally changed the ship’s language to German. What were my key bindings again? Ah, yes: I’d set hyperjump to P, which probably made sense at the time. Friendship drive charging. Or, as the ship now says: Freundsindgungendzingen Aufgenahbenendlichensich. So, this is it. The swift conclusion to a mission that had gotten everyone acting really weird, and would get me incredibly rich. This was good. Sehr gut. I tore off the lid of my can of baked greebles as the ship entered into Witch-space. With barely enough time to dig my fork into the can before emerging again, the system was just like any other: a yellow dwarf suspended in the firmament of nothingness against a background of a trillion of its brothers and sisters. My first action, borne of a thought that occured to me at the very beginning of the mission, was to check the system for other contacts. The Handler, and his handler, had said that the system wasn’t dangerous, but if they were paying me a bazillion credits to visit this oddly regular place there must be something valuable here. Given how local the system was, just sitting in plain view, it would follow that my employers weren’t the only group to know about it. Plus, I’m just a freelancer, one of many; if they’re asking me to come here, they may have asked others. I did a quick check while forking some greebles into my gaping gob. To my surprise, I was the only one in the system. I then opened the system map and, as foretold, found that there were just two celestial bodies here: the star, and the planet orbiting it. But despite the simplicity of the system, I was looking at something that made absolutely no sense whatsoever: the orbital body wasn’t registering as a planet? It was as if the system map was showing a black hole orbiting here, but that was silly. Things orbit black holes, with their incredible mass, not the other way around; unless this one was absolutely miniscule, there was no way it should be spinning around the system’s normal-sized star. I extended my landing gear, retracted it, deployed hardpoints then opened up the detailed system scanner. There it was, out in the void. And the system scanner went absolutely beserk trying to classify it. It was registering a non-metal, non-icy, non-gaseous, entirely organic body that apparently had a temperature above 400K but also *below* absolute zero. It filled the entire frequency band one second, then the next, no frequency at all. No wonder The Handler wanted me to check this weirdness out, but I was still unsure as to what more I could offer on the subject given that they’d clearly observed it already. There was only one thing for it: as commanded, I had to go look at it with my human oculars. Seeing is believing, as the proverb goes. Except, in my unfortunate case, I both heard and smelled it before it came into plain sight. I’d selected the planet - if that unholy mess could even be called that - and gotten within 7 light seconds from it when the fragrance started wafting into my cabin. This was the latest thing that made no sense. Smell cannot travel through the airless medium of space, let alone enter an airtight cockpit, but here it was: the aroma of death. It only got stronger and more pungent the closer I got, catching in my throat, making me put down the baked greebles I’d previously been enjoying. The sound, now. I never want to hear that cacophony ever again, but I know I’ll have to. It’ll manifest itself in the record player of my brain every time I close my eyes, until the day I die. And then, sweating profusely and feeling saliva build in my cheeks, I saw it. Oh god. Why did I look? Planets should be made of metal, or rock. Or gas. Whatever they're usually made out of. But not that. Never that. I threw up onto the dashboard. Globs of bile and half-digested greebles slopped onto the floor and in between the slats of the ventilators. I wiped away the sick enough to get to the hotline key; after a few pulses, The Handler picked up. “Commander, our trackers show that you made it to the system.” “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe go fuck yourself.” Silence flooded the line, until: “Uh-huh. You made it, then.” “Yeah, you’re damn right I made it. And seriously, fuck you. I can’t stop looking at it.” “I understand,” The Handler replied. “You’ve completed the mission and our client will release the funds within the next hour. Congratulations, Commander. You’re a billionaire.” “You know what? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d rather you kept the money and give me answers instead.” “There are no answers to give, and the client isn’t taking any further questions at this time.” “Oh, god. I’ve got to get out of this system.” “I suggest you do. And please,” said The Handler, a quiver in his voice, “turn off your comms. I can hear that… noise coming over your microphone.” I began to turn the ship around, putting my back to the blasphemy I wish I’d never seen, and selected a neighbouring star at random. As I did so, I saw the confirmation come through: Mission Complete. 3 Billion Credits. “Just one more thing before I go,” I said, wiping saliva away from my mouth. “I told you, we have no answ…” “Is it alive?” The silence returned to the line once more. I thought he’d disconnected, but the reply came, quiet and unsure. “I… I think so, yes.” ***** 6 MONTHS LATER ***** The floodlights on the bay were blinding in their intensity, but I stared at the piercing white lights anyway, entirely lost to thought and focusing only on the pain as my conscious mind begged me to blink. I didn’t even realise that Sam was behind me until he leant over and plonked his black coffee (in the Hutton mug he was so proud of) onto the desk, spilling some of it in the process. “Say, I couldn’t help but notice…” “Uh-huh?” “You parked in bay 22 this morning, right?” I knew what was coming. “Yep.” “That’s an A-rated Cutter with a custom paint job. How the heck does someone on our kind of money,” said the supervisor, splaying his hands and looking around the dank office, “afford something like that?” I shrugged. “Got a beefy inheritance a few months ago. My great aunt was a Duval.” “Fair enough,” he said. “I bet you could get to Colonia and back in that thing quicker than I could finish this coffee.” “NO! I don’t travel!” I accidentally barked, far more aggressive than I’d meant to. “I mean, I commute here, then fly home to the next star over when the shift’s done. Rinse and repeat. No need to go anywhere else, is there? Nothing out there to see.” “Uh, okay, but…” He was about to press further, but an approaching ship interrupted his train of thought. A Type-9, hull full of biowaste. The comms bank lit up. “Okay, here comes another one,” said the supervisor, putting on his headset. “You remember the script? It’s written down here if you want to refer to it…” “Sam, I know it’s only my third day, but I think I’ve heard it enough over the years.” “Alright, then. Off you go.” I put on my own headset, took a deep breath, and allowed myself a little contented smile. “Lakon Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Docking request granted, Commander. Your vector is good. Please approach landing pad four-niner…” ___ FIN NOTE FROM ZEKE: Thanks for taking the time to read my first ever piece of fan fiction, I suppose you'd call it. I've actually got a novel coming out at some point (non-E:D related) which asks the question "What if online trolls were real monsters?" Follow me on Twitter for announcements about that and general idiocy:http://www.twitter.com/ironmanmode
The History of Water Types in OU - Part 2 [Week 6]
BW Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: the weather generation. With Drizzle now in OU, many Swift Swim pokemons become instantly broken. However, they were subsequently banned, but Water types still received many tools: consistent Hydration and Rain Dish, along with the most broken move in the game at this point: Scald (ban it, thanks luv). Politoed is by far the biggest winner. Its access to Drizzle meant it instantly became a mandatory pokemon in the most popular strategy in the tier. As a pokemon, however, it still offers its own merits. If longevity in weather wars is prioritised, its host of utility moves like Perish Song, Encore, Refresh, Protect, and Toxic along with 90/75/100 defensive stats make for a surprisingly durable pokemon. Some teams literally only need it alive for it to provide value, and this sort of set goes a long way at making sure that’s possible, especially since it has an inherent typing advantage against the other weather setters except Abomasnow, whose usage is pitiful in comparison. Still, Rain being an automatic 50% power boost to 120 BP Hydro Pump means that despite a mediocre 90 SpA, Politoed can fire off some extremely strong STABs, either with Specs or Scarf, the latter of which has gotten less popular after the banning of sleep moves (Hypnosis in this case), but still acts as a decent revenge killer, while the former has the power to break most neutral walls regardless. Naturally with the rise of Rain, rain counters become more prevalent in response. The most prominent is Rotom-Wash, having gained the Water typing in the generational shift and the excellent Volt Switch that meant even as a bulky check, it still has the ability to keep momentum for free as its Electric STAB also threatens most of the pokemon it checks. Levitate and such excellent typing meant that it only possessed 1 weakness despite a myriad of resistances, meaning that even as a generic wall it’s still viable outside of beating rain. Being a Water type itself it also fires off strong Hydro Pump of its own, and has a nasty surprise in Will-O-Wisp to really nail mons such as Ferrothorn on the switch. As a Scarf / Specs it can also leverage its bulk instead of sheer breaking power to position its team, and cripple walls with Trick. It’s by far the best Rotom form this gen, and one of the best defensive mons in general. On the flip side, Keldeo is the premier offensive Rain abuser. 129/108 offensive stats are amazing, and a STAB Fighting that calculates based on the opponent’s Def instead of SpD meant that it cuts right through the usual rain checks of Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, and Chansey. Its coverage moves are somewhat lacking, but the sheer strength and STAB rain-boosted Specs Hydro Pump coming off a base 129 SpA is so strong that non-bulky resists can’t stand up to it at all, and Secret Sword nails most of the bulky walls. It’s so strong and prominent that many mons get a viability boost just for checking it, such as Amoonguss, Jellicient, or Slowking. However, Keldeo can run a utility set with Toxic to really hammer these would-be checks on the switch (except Amoonguss of course). Recently, however, Keldeo has become more manageable. Even though it’s still one of the strongest threats in the metagame, the absolutely stunning usage of Latios has seriously hampers its ability to run through teams as most these days have natural checks to it. However, one could also say that a reason many of these mons received the spotlight is because they are Keldeo checks. If one were to pick another pokemon that really abuses the great gifts of gen 5 to Water types, it has to be Rain Dish Tentacruel. Rain Dish + Black Sludge recovery along with an excellent typing that resists both of the aforementioned Keldeo’s STABs (though Crit Modest Rain-Boosted Specs Hydro Pump can actually OHKO because Keldeo is stupid) makes for an excellent defensive pokemons, one who's also immune to Toxic and has excellent utility in Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes. If even more stalling power is desired, Substitute can be combined with Protect to frustrate most attackers. However, the key to Tenta’s true power level is Scald. Along with Toxic, it has the ability to sit on basically every threat and either Toxic or Burn them without a need to invest in offence. It does have serious issues with the Magic Guard Psychics in Alakazam and Reuniclus, but otherwise an excellent defensive pillar that can be run in any non-HO rain teams. Yet another Keldeo-beating Water type is Jellicient, a mainstay on many Sand teams due to its straight immunity to both of Keldeo’s STABs. Its access to instant recovery makes it a great utility wall, along with moves such as Taunt and Will-o-Wisp. While its offence is subpar, Scald and Night Shade makes for reliable options. The fact that it’s a Ghost gives it great utility as a Spin Blocker as well, as the only other Ghost in OU, Gengar, is very frail and can’t take repeated attacks from any of the prominent spinners (weak to Starmie’s Psychic, Mold Breaker Excadrill’s Earthquake, and loses 1v1 to Tentacruel under rain unless running Thunderbolt). Jellicient also has excellent typing synergy with Ferrothorn, resisting each other’s weaknesses and punishing spinning really hard. If desired, a Specs Water Spout set can be run since Jellicient actually has pretty nice coverage in Energy Ball and Ice Beam, but its lackluster speed makes this hard to pull off, and Trick Room support is recommended. Speaking of Starmie, this is yet another generation where it’s a great offensive spinner. Its access to Psyshock and speed that beats Keldeo meant that the starfish is an excellent offensive check to it. This generation also gave it Analytic, which activates quite often as Starmie threatens many pokemons out with its speed and coverage. While Latios can switch into Specs Keldeo at least once, the fact that it’s slower than Starmie means that it actually beats Latios under rain on the switch. In fact, it’s so strong that bulkier mons with resists like max HP Latias, Rotom-W, and SpD Celebi all get smashed by Hydro Pump on the switch, in Rain of course. Of course a Specs set can be run with Trick for yet even more power, but it’s often overkill. While Tentacruel is the defensive spinner of choice, a bulky Starmie can be run on offensive teams to not give away too many free switches in comparison, investing a lot in HP and having Natural Cure and Psyshock to beat Tentacruels. With the buff to Storm Drain making it immune to Water types attack altogether, Gastrodon became an instant hit. It has completely outclassed Swampert in OU at this point, as the latter can’t exactly take Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps and possesses no reliable recovery. Like all other bulky waters, it uses Scald and a secondary STAB in Earthquake or Earthpower to threaten threats that it walls such as Starmie, Thundurus-T, and Keldeo. It is, however, deathly afraid of Grass types, and requires team support to handle it. The lower tier offers up Seismitoad. It’s not the most impressive, especially compared to Gastrodon, but it offers 2 excellent utilities: Knock Off and Stealth Rock. It can switch into many attacks and set up Rocks to take advantage of the free turn, and Scald threatens offensive switch ins that hopes to abuse the passivity. Slowbro got yet another boost this generation. As yet another pokemon that resists Keldeo’s STABs, it can also pivot against the many dangerous Fighting types of the tier like Conkeldurr and Terrakion while threatening them out with STAB Psychic or nail the switchin with Thunder Wave. Of course as another bulky Water, it also abused Scald, but what doesn’t at this point. Unlike Jellicient, its ridiculously slow speed means that it can EV to always underspeed to take the least damage from Conkeldurr’s Payback, while also being able to tank Thunder Punch at least once. Its cousin Slowking also has Regenerator, but access to Dragon Tail means that it prefers to be a phazer that can threaten more setup pokemons, especially special attackers. Similar to last generation, either can run more offensive sets either under Trick Room support or with Specs using their own bulky to find switches, but this is few people’s first choice. Gyarados gained a new ability in Moxie this generation. It can run it on a DD set for late-game sweeping and breaking through bulkier walls, but Intimidate is still excellent as always to find more opportunities to set up. Its DD sets in general haven’t changed much since last generation, but it did get a new one. Aping Salamence, it can run a Choice Scarf set to abuse Moxie and turn a revenge kill into a sweep, though it can still be revenged by faster Scarfers. A bulky RestTalk similar to last generation is also still viable, though this time it’s more to counter the likes of Volcarona and Mamoswine. The list continues with Milotic. A very good utility it received this generation was Dragon Tail, which allows it to leverage its bulk to get rid of many setup sweepers. Compared to Slowking, it doesn’t have to deal with the myriad of weaknesses which Psychic brings such as Pursuit and U-Turn, allowing it to focus on pure tanking. It works very well against the threatening dragons of the tier like Salamence and Dragonite with Ice Beam, and can also be a status absorber with RestTalk, which also activates Marvel Scale and let it walls even more physical threats even without resistance. BW also introduced the new Wish mechanics, passing HP based on the user’s stat instead of the receiver, which gave Vaporeon and Alomomola niches in OU this generation. The former is less passive and has Water Absorb, while the later passes bigger Wishes and Regenerator. Both can also run a Hydration set that abuses Rest to full heal under Rain. It’s best to stick to Wish passing, however, as otherwise both face significant competition in Tentacruel. Despite the Drizzle + Swift Swim ban, Kingdra still functions as a manual rain sweeper. While this setup is significantly less reliable than the usual rain offence, Kingdra’s ability to set up for itself and boost its speed is lacking for most weather teams. Just like last generation, Choice Specs set still works with such excellent high BP STAB in Draco Meteor and Hydro Pump, or a DD set can instead utilise its good bulk to go physical. Kingdra’s biggest niche, however, is the ability to counter rain on top of all of these. Against opposing rain teams, few things have both the speed and power to really beat it. However, the general widespread usage of Ferrothorn on these teams limits Kingdra’s viability by a lot. Another setup threat is Cloyster. Having learnt Shell Smash this generation, Cloyster can be a good setup sweeper with Icicle Spear for strong STAB, Rock Blast for coverage, and either Ice Shard for priority or a Water STAB to really nail the Steel types switch ins. However, it has a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock and strong priority in the form of Conkeldurr’s Mach Punch, or even neutral ones like Banded Scizor’s BP (OHKO after Rocks at -2). It also has trouble getting past its own fellow Water types like Jellicient. A lot of games can be cheesed with King’s Rock and Skill Link, however, and it remains a threat regardless of team composition sometimes just due to dumb luck. Lastly, Azumarill returns as a physical threat. It works well under Rain that boosts its STAB Waterfall and Aqua Jet, the latter being the strongest priority in OU under Rain and decimates offensive threats like Terrakion, Volcarona etc. especially with Rocks. It uses Choice Band to maximise this niche, but it doesn’t do anything otherwise. ORAS With weather no longer permanent, rain usage dropped off a cliff. However, Keldeo rides high once again. Even in the face of mega evolutions, its speed, STABs, and power made it one of the shaping forces of the metagame. At this point, the Specs set was by far its most used and effective one, capable of blowing holes in walls as it did before. However, an underrated aspect of it was also its decent bulk (very good for an offensive pokemon) of 90/90/90 and defensive typing, which allows it to offensively check many threats like Heatran, Scizor, and Bisharp and threaten them out. However, this generation’s OU also has many pokemons that surpasses its speed tier like Tornadus-T, Serperior, and Mega-Lopunny. Scarf and Calm Mind sets were tried, but most stuck with the tried and true. Its strength and defensive utility meant that it was a very low risk pokemon for the kind of damage it dealt out, and therefore found a spot on very many teams. Continuing the return of gen 5 staples, Rotom-W was once again an excellent defensive pivot. The fact that it’s a reliable check to the strongest offensive threat in the metagame, Metagross-M, was excellent, even if it doesn’t take Zen Headbutt all that well. As a defensive mon, it’s also able to switch in to many more threats like Landorus-T and Talonflame and maintain momentum with the ever reliable Volt Switch. Its set was for the most part composed of the most reliable options: STABs in Volt Switch and Hydro Pump, Will-O-Wisp to beat physical attackers who it’s mostly EV-ed for, and Pain Split to leech life off of opposing bulky mons. It’s not known to be particularly varied in its role, but it does its role so well that it’s a first pick regardless. With the new wave of megas, Slowbro has received one. The buff to Knock Off made normal Slowbro very undesirable for the most part, but what carries its OU viability is how its mega stone resists item removal. Its base 180 Def is astounding, and coupled with Calm Mind it becomes an excellent wall that can sweep late game with a reliable healing move in Slack Off, Psyshock to beat other Calm Minders (especially opposing Slowbro-Ms), as well as Scald to threaten a burn even when uninvested. It’s also an excellent check to many of the same mons that Rotom-W did like Metagross-M, Charizard-M-X, while also resisting Keldeo’s Secret Sword and Lopunny’s Hi Jump Kick. One can even leave it unevolved while pivoting in the early game to retain Regenerator for free healing, and evolving to gain Shell Armour to protect itself from crits breaking through its Calm Ming boosts. ORAS was the gen when Azumarill got a huge break, pun somewhat intended. It gained an excellent Fairy typing and therefore a secondary STAB in Play Rough, making the traditional mainstay set of Choice Band more threatening than ever, especially now that it can switch into even more mons than before due to its decent bulk. Either Knock Off or Superpower is picked for the 4th move slot after the obligatory Aqua Jet to maximise utility or coverage respectively. However, its Belly Drum set also finally became truly viable this gen, boosting its Atk to insane levels, while Aqua Jet once again comes in clutch to defend against faster revenge killers, for which there were many. Unlike the CB set, which is more of an early / mid game wallbreaker, the Belly Drum set is a potent late-game sweeper, and keeps the opponents guessing. While neither is OU, Gastrodon and Jellicient have a good role in OU as bulky water types with reliable recovery. The former walls threats such as Thundurus, Metagross-M, Macnectric-M, and Rotom-W and either setup Curses for a sweep with Earthquake, or spread status with Toxic. Jellicent, on the other hand, handily counters the most common Keldeo sets and other dangerous fighting types that Gastrodon doesn’t resists like Lopunny-M and Medicham-M using the reliable Will-O-Wisp and maybe Taunt for set up sweepers trying to take advantage of it. These two don’t really have any variations in their sets, but are attractive choices should their qualities over Rotom-W be desired. Gastrodon has a strong competitor in Seismitoad, in RU this time. Not too different from last generation, it separates itself from Gastrodon by having Stealth Rock and Knock Off. It checks the same Macnetric-M, Metagross-M, and Charizard-Mega-X as Gastrodon, but lacks instant recovery. Suicune stays in UU once again, but up in OU it’s a fine pick for bulkier teams as either a defensive phazer with roar or a setup sweeper with Calm Mind. It has far better bulk than Rotom-W, and allows it to straight up walls threats better, though not having Volt Switch meant it’s usually a different role on a team. Compared to Gastrodon, it doesn’t have a crippling 4x weakness to Grass and Pressure allows it to straight up beat it 1 on 1, while not being weak to Knock Off and Pursuit like Jellicient is great. It only runs Scald as its sole attacking move for the most part, but Scald being Scald it’s viable. Yet another lower tier offering was Alomomola, doing exactly what it has done before and passing massive Wishes to its teammates. Its defenses may be mediocre, but Regenerator on a Wish mons meant that it doesn’t need to give opponents free turn to recover, and it can even run Rocky Helmet to punish U-Turn spam from the likes of Scizor and Tornadus-T. One might think that a cleric with no offensive presence will be a set-up bait for many dangerous threats in the tier, but once again Scald carries. It does have to worry about ones with Substitute or Poison Heal Gliscor, however. Alomomola provides healing for defensive mons without reliable healing on bulkier teams, such as Heatran, Aggron-M, and Ferrothorn. Like Azumarill, gen 6 was also when Crawdaunt came into its own. Having mostly been a lower tier threat before now, the gift of Aqua Jet has propelled its offensive stocks to the moon. It runs nothing but its STABs and either Swords Dance or Choice Band, absolutely running through defensive teams with extreme prejudice. Dragon Dance is also technically an option, but its speed is so bad that it requires too many boosts to be reliable, and most found success with the previous two options instead. Its main advantage is that it’s so strong that one needs a bulky resists to take hits, and they’ll also be losing their items to Knock Off. The prevalence of bulky Grass-types like Vensaur-M, Tangrowth, and Amoonguss hampers its viability somewhat, but it’s nevertheless a very fearsome wallbreaker that can be brought in through switch moves safely. Falling down to OU for the first time, Manaphy found itself running the exact same set it used to in Ubers generations prior. Tail Glow is its biggest selling point, allowing it the power to break through defensive teams through its coverage. It has everything it needs, HP Fire for Ferrothorn, Ice Beam for dragons, Energy Ball for bulky waters, Psychic for Toxicroak and Vensaur-M, while Scald allows it to beat Chansey with the burn 1v1. That said, it’ll never have enough coverage to beat everything, so team support is still required. This set can’t beat bulky Clefable who has Thunder Wave or Toxic however, but one can slot out a coverage move for Rain Dance to abuse Hydration and makes it immunity to status, while also passively boosting STAB. This option really lacks coverage however, but can set up multiple Tail Glows to blow through defensive teams. Starmie once again returns to OU. While the Defog buffs made it the more accessible choice, Rapid Spin is a more desirable utility on bulkier teams as they would much prefer to keep their own hazards. The years have not been too kind to Starmie as an offensive pokemon. It’s not really strong enough to power through walls from sheer coverage, especially without an Analytic boost. However, its utility as a fast Rapid Spinner which resists Keldeo’s STABs and random statuses was still sought after enough to use. Gyarados gained a mega evolution this generation, giving it a more reliable secondary Dark STAB instead of Flying. It doesn’t really work as a wall at this point, but the ol’ reliable Dragon Dance set still functions decently. It didn’t receive any Spe from Mega-Evolving however, and struggles a lot with revenge killers like Breloom and Keldeo. Physical walls like Skarmory and Tangrowth can also sit on it, and inflict it with status as it struggles to get multiple boosts. Still, its defensive typing grants it a good number of opportunities to switch against things like Volcarona and Heatran, and it can function fine if well-prepared. One can opt to run normal Gyarados still, taking advantage of its ability to hold Leftovers to run a Bulky Sub DD set instead that aims for multiple boosts. With this bulk it runs Bounce to really stick it to the bulky Grassses. Quagsire gained Unaware last generation, but didn’t match up too well against weather boosted STABs. This generation, however, it rose the ranks of viability once again. As Clefable mostly prefers to run Magic Guard, Unaware Quagsire helps the team stave off offensive threats like Azumarill and SD Scizor. Its secondary Ground STAB also let it smack Heatran and Charizard-M-X. It’s by no means a premier wall, but has an interesting niche for specific threats. An actual new pokemon this generation is Volcanion, who possesses the unique Fire Water typing. Defensively, this is a mixed bag, as being weak to Earthquake and Stealth Rock sucks despite a very interesting list of resistances along with Water Absorb. However, it’s on the offence where it really shines. Its signature move, Steam Eruption, is an upgraded Scald with actually good BP. It also possesses STAB Flamethrower, Earth Power to hit Heatran harder, Sludge Bomb for Fairy types, and HP Grass for the myriad of other water types in the tier. While Choice Specs is its most common set to wallbreak with, one can also use Leftovers in an ADV-esque fashion to leverage its good 80/120/130 bulk to switch in multiple times. An old but still unique defensive water type is Empoleon. It has lost resistances to Ghost and Dark, but gained a new one in Fairy, which meant that STAB Flash Cannon is now worth the occasional move slot. As a defensive Stealth Rock setter, it does have Roar to stop setup attempts, as well as the new buffed Defog to remove hazard itself if need be. It’s either seen with Leftovers or a Chople Berry to sponge Focus Blasts from special attackers like Gengar or Gardevoir-M. It doesn’t do much else, however, and is therefore very predictable. While rain teams this generation is mostly a gimmick, it’s still viable somewhat. Politoed is of course mandatory, but unlike last generation it no longer attempted to go on the offensive, as its longevity is more important than ever to reset the rain counter. As such, the defensive support set with Damp Rock is practically the only choice, even having to use Rest for longevity along with classic utility moves like Toxic and Encore, along with Hypnosis being legal this generation. Once the rain is up, you have your pick of the litter as to what Swift Swim mon to use. The classic choices would be Kabutops for physical and Kingdra for special offence, their movepool remained the same since last generation. Swampert-M is a new addition to this Swift Swim lineup, with its base Atk going up to an impressive 150, and base 70 Spe is fast enough under rain. Its excellent combination of STABs complemented by Ice Punch make it very effective, and it can even set Rain Dance itself if that’s desired. The ability to force switches with immense power also give it more abilities to set up Stealth Rock for its own team to dent defensive mons switchins in the future. Another gimped option reminiscent of BW was Tentacruel, whose claim to (albeit limited) fame was the ability to both set up Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin. It used to have a good niche of being able to 1v1 Sableye-M, but now that the latter is banned, Tentacruel seldom sees play. Lastly, another Mega, Sharpedo-M, takes stage. It only has one game plan: a late-game set up with Protect and Speed Boost before evolving into a sweep. Its STABs ape Crawdaunt, and gaining Strong Jaw on evolving does mean it hits quite hard with Crunch. Not having a Water STAB boosted by Strong Jaws hurt, however, and lack of priority means it’s very susceptible to revenge killers. USUM It’s time. Protean Greninja was banned last generation, but it has returned with the same ocean of movepool. Having STAB on every move, excellent coverage in Ice Beam, Gunk Shot,Rock Slide, or a select Hidden Power, U-Turn, and Z-Dig meant that it can check a very selective number of threats that your team requires, physical or special. While its 95/103 offensive stats aren’t the greatest, Protean gives it the damage needed to score crucial KOs against threats like Alakazam-M, Heatran, or Volcarona. It’s 122 base Spe was also top tier, and coupled with a Scarf would allow it to outspeed every common setup mon at +1, making it a near universal revenge killer for setup sweepers. It also has access to the coveted Spikes, which helps it break walls coming in on attempted sponge. However, this was not even its most famous set. Generation 7 also gave it the worst lore but nevertheless insanely strong Ash-Greninja. Almost always seen with Specs, STABs, and Spikes, Ash Greninja sports absolute mind boggling 153/132 offensive stats with the same excellent Water Dark STAB combination that has made Crawdaunt so successful a generation earlier (sorry Sharpedo). Spikes with Specs might seem strange at first, but pre-evolution Greninja doesn’t have the required power to break through many bulky walls, and entry hazard is an integral part of breaking past defensive cores without having to coin flip on picking the correct coverage. Should it get the transformation off, its signature Water Shuriken becomes a crazy 90 BP priority move (after STAB) that absolutely maims would-be revenge killers, even ones with Focus Sashes due to its multi-hit nature, such as Alakazam-M or Scarfers. Greninja’s sets are so different yet it’s impossible to tell which it’s using from team preview alone, forcing opponents to having to make uncomfortable predictions early on in the game, one of which may be costly. It’s one of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, and demands every team to take it into account, similar to Keldeo of the previous 2 generations, and thus mons that resists its STABs gained significant prominence. One of which was the new Tapu Fini. Sporting an immense 70/115/130 bulk, it can switch into every variation of Greninja except on Gunk Shot and threaten it out with a STAB Moonblast. Its typing of Water Fairy means it’s not weak to Steel like other Fairy types, while also having a STAB Scald to hit Heatran with. The Misty Terrain which it brings on switch-ins also meant that offensive mons cannot Toxic or Thunder Wave it for later, a very desirable trait for a defensive mon. Furthermore, it possesses the excellent Defog that can help teams control hazards, while threatening switch ins with either STABs or Nature’s Madness against other walls that would like a free switch. It also has Taunt or Knock Off as utility options to act as a general stop gap to both offence and defence alike. Misty Terrain can also help protect its own teammates like Mawile-M and Volcarona from being statused by opposing walls, allowing them to potentially grab multiple boosts and straight up end games. Its lack of reliable recovery meant that it won’t stay healthy throughout the match, and requires timely play to get the most out of. However, it’s still an integral part of the metagame that glues many teams together against the overwhelming offensive threats of this generation. Rotom-W returns this generation as yet again a great defensive pivot for many teams. It can use the new Z-Electric to boost Thunder to skyhigh damage and blow past many mons which doesn’t expect that kind of damage coming from a defensive pokemon. It also gained access to Defog this generation, allowing it to protect many of its hazard weak teammates, and Volt Switch out of walls as it’s done for generations. Lastly, the existence of Wiki Berry gives Rotom-W a great source of burst healing that it has lacked for so long, and its bulk is good enough to activate it reliably. Threats it checks this generation are the likes of Gliscor, Mamoswine, Lando-T etc. The biggest winner of the generational shift has to be Pelipper, however. From a mediocre PU mon in ORAS, access to Drizzle propelled the bird into the centerpiece of OU rain teams. Compared to Politoed, it has Roosts for recovery, Defog for hazard control, and U-Turn for momentum. Rain teams almost couldn’t ask for a better setter. While Pelipper is often seen running a defensive Damp Rock set that aims to stay alive as long as possible, it can also dish out serious damage with Choice Specs and STAB Hydro Pump and Hurricane, absolutely crushing the myriad of Ground and Grass types in the tier. Of course, with Rain came Rain sweepers. The aforementioned Ash Greninja can abuse Rain to power up its own Hydro Pump and evolve faster, but it’s far from the only choice. The Kingdra of old was still as powerful a wallbreaker as ever, and while it lost most of its variety, its one and only Choice Specs set is so strong that one could hardly ask more from it, though Tapu FIni hardwalls it. On the physical side, Swampert-M finally comes into its own. It’s both an early game hazard setter and sweeper for Rain Team, it can be brought in on U-Turn to bring teams to their knees with its STABs and Ice Punch to nail Tangrowth (just not on Rotom-W’s Will-O-Wisp). If a special rain sweeper is desired, Manaphy is a great one. Tail Glow + 3 attacks were as good as ever, and access to the new Waterium-Z boosts its +3 Surf into a world-drowning Hydro Vortex that consumes most neutral walls. Ice Beam is important for Assault Vest Tangrowth and the dragons, while Psychic nails Toxapex and Venusaur-M. It’s only really viable on a rain team, as Hydration allows it to shrug off statuses and sweep safely, but it’s a strong option nevertheless. On the physical side, Azumarill is also a strong setup sweeper under Rain, the 50% boost for Aqua Jet and Waterfall coming in extremely clutch to nail many faster threats like Torn-T and Medicham-M. Furthermore, Normalium-Z gives Belly Drum the ability to reliably heal and guarantees a safe setup. Another Z-move abuser is Gyarados. Its normal form actually outclasses its mega form this generation, as a Flynium-Z boosted Bounce at +1 absolute crushes walls, and Moxie allows it to boost even further for a sweep. Its movepool didn’t change much, but it doesn’t really need anything else aside from STABs and either Earthquake for many bulky Steels or Taunt for the likes of Celesteela or Clefable. Its mega form is still viable, at least, mostly abusing bulk and Substitute to get multiple boosts and sweep through enemies with sheer power. Suicune’s place in the metagame fell a little bit further. It still only does one thing: Calm Mind. Whether it’s by RestTalk or SubProtect, it doesn’t do much else aside from trying to set up multiple boosts and sweep late game. There’s almost no changes from the last generation to this one. A similarly unchanged niche pokemon was Alomomola, and I don’t have much else to say. With all of these powerful Water attackers, Gastrodon once again acts as a great stop gap, even though it’s in PU this time. There isn’t much to say about it that hasn’t already been said before, except that this generation it runs SpD exclusively. Same as always, Seismitoad presents itself as an alternative. We’ve done this dance before. Crawdaunt does appreciate the addition of Waterium-Z as well, and no one can dismiss its sheer power. However, sharing offensive STABs with Ash Greninja means that many teams are specifically configured for it with mons like Kommo-O, Tapu Bulu, or Venusaur-M. Its speed was still as disappointing as ever, and Aqua Jet doesn’t help against faster priority or mons that resists it due to low BP. Slowbro returns this generation as a defensive pivot once again. It beats dangerous pokemon like Hawlucha, Medicham-M, and Garchomp. However, being a bulky water that’s weak to Ash Greninja’s Dark Pulse really, really sucks, and the eternal prevalence of Pursuit Trappers and U-Turn spammers gave it little change. I wonder if you thought I forgot, though. Toxapex is the best defensive pokemon in the OU metagame. 50/152/142 bulk is absolutely nuts, yet it also has Regenerator, instant recovery, immunity to Toxic, and the ability to set up Toxic Spikes itself. Having a weakness to common attacking types like Ground and Electric doesn’t sound amazing, but it has 8 other resistances to make up for it. Other utility moves it has are also important: Haze to prevent it from being set up bait, and Baneful Bunker to punish the prevalence of U-Turn spam. It’s pointless to list the pokemon it walls, because it’s much faster to list those it doesn’t. Strong Psychic types like Tapu Lele and Electric types like Zapdos are the best bet, as the Ground types aren’t keen on switching into Scald. However, those 2 types don’t actually have the crazy 100+ BP move to really punish it like other types such as Fighting and Water does (which it conveniently resists). One may wonder where Keldeo was, until they remember that Toxapex single-handedly crushes one of the premier threats of the last two generations under its proverbial thumb and then eats it for breakfast. Psychic being a common coverage move on mons like Volcarona and Manaphy is almost entirely for Toxapex, along with half the reason Protean Greninja runs Z-Dig (the other being Magearna). It’s the ultimate defensive pivot to end all defensive pivots, but at least its weaknesses are hard to cover in one slot, meaning that at least a combination of 2 pokemons can’t wall the entire metagame. All of that said, it’s not impregnable, though it may feel so for those without a strong super effective attack, because coverage moves cannot reliably OHKO it. For example, SpD Pex lives a +3 Psychic from Manaphy after Rocks and can Haze away its boost, and no unSTABed Thunderbolts or Earthquake is ever going to break it. Magearna runs Electrium-Z on Calm Mind sets just for it, for the most part. That said, mons that do not fear Scald can Taunt it to prevent it from Toxic-ing them or Recover, such as Tapu Bulu or Gyarados, and can break from there. Just pray they don’t get Scald burnt. SWSH The generational shift hit Water types unexpectedly hard. Rilaboom’s dominance of the metagame alone makes life difficult for most of them, and few can claim to be an integral part of the metagame, with an obvious exception. A new move was introduced in the form of Flip Turn, which is yet another switch spam move that allows users to gain momentum, but at least it’s physical and contact so that it isn’t freely spammed. Crawdaunt finds itself well-positioned in the metagame. Without Ash Greninja to compete STABs with, it can break through many common walls like Hippowdon and Clefable. At worst, its Knock off will cripple Water-resistant ones like Tangrowth and Amoonguss. Its power has never been called to question, and the prevalence of VoltTurn spam this generation as a result of HDB both grants Crawdaunt more opportunities to switch in, as well as demand bulkier walls that it outspeeds and absolutely smashes through. Despite having no real buff, Crawdaunt very much enjoys the current flux of the bulky OU metagame. For the 4th generation in a row, Gastrodon and Seismitoad found themselves locked in the eternal ballad. Though Seismitoad got here first and was an excellent Dracovish check, the latter getting banned and Gastrodon returning with the DLC means that once again the two tango viability. However, HDB does make Seismitoad stocks drop a lot this time around. On the other hand, HDB meant that Mantine suddenly became a legitimate wall. Defog and Roost are excellent as ever, and its base SpD of 140 is absolutely massive, and Haze means it beats many bulky sweepers, especially Volcarona. So long as you avoid the random Thunderbolt (which not many carry with STAB this generation), it’s an excellent catch all SpD wall. The overall lower power level gave Primarina a decent spot in the metagame. Its SubCM set is the most prevalent, and catches many teams off guard while brandishing a STAB combination not often resisted. Azumarill shares it, and does the same gen 6 Belly Drum shtick it has always done. Having the Tapu Fini typing makes it hard to break Substitutes, and checks many offensive Dragapult variants. Another winner of this generation would be Slowbro, with Teleport being buffed to a negative priority switch move and its access to Regenerator, Slowbro is an excellent defensive pivot similar to the Rotom-W of old, especially important now that the latter has been handily outclassed by its Fire cousin. It’s weak to some very common attacking types, but the removal of Pursuit does make it easier to bounce between multiple walls, and providing safe switches is basically a prerequisite these days. Azumarill went back to the gen 6 Sitrus Berry Belly Drum set. It’s still very strong and threatens to break walls, but being a setup sweeper that can’t out priority Rilaboom’s Grassy Glide means it requires a good deal of team support to succeed. Quagsire still retains a small niche as an Unaware wall. However, due its lack of options against the bulkier parts of the metagame only stall teams can really afford to run it, and only when the electric immunity is really desired. In a vacuum, Urshifu-Rapid seems like a strong offensive option with a 225 BP multi-hit move (after STAB) and 130 base Atk. However, it finds itself unable to break past many bulky grass types of the tier like Amoonguss and Tangrowth, along with the aforementioned Mantine and Slowbro. It also possesses a crippling weakness to Rocky Helmet, an item many walls prefer at this point in the metagame to counter the prevalence of U-Turn spam. Compared to the last generation, rain teams have become significantly weaker. The loss of Greninja and Swampert-M as abusers stings, but it remains nevertheless viable. Pelipper is of course still the face of these teams, though few run the more offensive sets these days, instead more focused on Damp Rock support. As far as rain abusers go, the old standbys like Kingdra and Keldeo exist, along with the aforementioned Urshifu-R. Gen 8 also introduced 2 new notable Swift Swim users in Barraskewda and Drednaw, the former blazingly fast and strong, while the latter bulkier but weaker. Their usage is basically tied directly to rain teams, but Drednaw struggles to find much use even there, due to the fact that these teams suffer from underusage and inability to break through many common grass & water Regenerator cores. For the actual high-impact presence, Toxapex is still here, because of course it is. At the moment of writing, it’s the second most used defensive mon in the metagame. There have been hums and hos about its true viability. It still walls much of the metagame, but also folds to many common offensive threats like Kyurem, Alakzam, or Zeraora. Its most important role is to act as a general pivot to many dangerous attackers like Urshifu or Volcarona, then switch out or Haze them to provide its own teammates favourable switch ins while keeping healthy with Regenerator. In this job, it faces stiff competition from the likes of Slowbro, who has Teleport and actual offensive stats, and Amoonguss, who walls the Electrics and Grasses instead and has Spore. Nevertheless, do not let this fool you into thinking that it’s by no means not one of the metagame’s most watched defensive threats. Being a bulky water not weak to Grassy Glide is a huge selling point, and clear targeting of certain wallbreakers like the aforementioned Kyurem can lead to it walling the remaining of the team to death.
The nice thing about maternity leave is the amount of time I have to binge 4 seasons of a show. — Season 4 I love this callback to the first episode with the musical number from South Pacific. I have many thoughts about this cell block tango bit. Nathaniel! Why are these men dumb? Why is going to Hawaii a good idea right now? It isn’t. Just be with her and support her. Big romantic gestures just aren’t necessary! Also! You could do shit with her to become a better person you dunce. Free legal advice sounds awesome! Also cats DOES suck. Loving Stacey being so kind to Darryl. Nathaniel is a man child. I’m kind of bummed about her not being a lawyer anymore. She’s so good at it she could use it for good. Well Hector is just the cutest thing. Yes! Let’s circle back to Greg! Nathaniel trying to be nice is super cute. I really thought I would hate his character and they dynamic between him and Rebecca but I actually really like him. “There is a shocking amount of unfairness in the legal system! Did you know that?” “No. No one did. Thank god you figured it out.” Paulas the best. GREG COMES BACK! As Skylar Astin? Well. Ok. Is this real? Okay. So I’m loving that me way they address this recast. Greg is my favorite though and even though I love Skylar Astin he doesn’t seem like... Greg. Maybe I’ll warm up. It’s Nice to Meet You is adorable. GEORGE. 😂 Oh my god. I love this dude. I’m dying to see Valencia’s love. OMG ITS FATHER BRAH. I get it. I’m super into him too. Starting episode 9 now and hoping that this show ends with either no man for Rebecca or Greg. Call me crazy. But now that Greg is also healthy it just makes sense for me. But also fine with no guy. What I don’t want is a totally new character to be introduced for her Okay okay so maybe they will introduce a new character? Whatevs. Nathaniel and Greg get to be buddies now! Hahaha Whi Jo’s reaction is my favorite. Oh my fucking god I am distraught at Jason asking if she made a tuna noodle casserole. Is this funky cat Todrick Hall! Love it. Father Brah and Maya. Girl is crazy. Yeah so I guess her and Greg won’t end up together. Which is fine I guess. As long as “Greg” is back. Have I mentioned that I love Greg? The nice thing about this season is that I haven’t cried as much This is a fun game night! Whatever is going on between Valencia and Hector is hilarious. Aww. Rebecca makes me so sad! I stan Mindy Kaling too, Hector! I’m not buying this Greg and Rebecca stuff. I’m just assuming it will end. I genuinely feel bad for Nathaniel. But so proud of him! Antidepressants are so not a big deal is my favorite song simply because I love that it normalizes them. 💜💜💜💜 I am in stitches during real life fighting is awkward. I don’t like that this show pretends Rachel Bloom isn’t a great singer lol I mean I get it but still she has such a great voice I want her character to, too. I’m thinking she won’t pick any of them. I feel like Whi Jo saying Greg and Rebecca have something special is a trick. Too many people have said something about them that I think it’s a trick. My prediction going into the last two episodes is she doesn’t pick any of them. But I will have a blast watching the dates. Oh yeah this whole three dates and bets means she definitely doesn’t pick any of them. Love this song BTW (Honestly I don’t even see Josh as actual competition) Ok Josh’s date is super cute but nah. Moving on. 😬 my face when I see Greg at paula’s No Greg hot air ballons are terrifying I would nope right out of there. Damn I want her to pick Greg 😭 who am I thinking she shouldn’t pick anyone?! Im a romantic who wants Rebecca to have a loving healthy relationship because she deserves it! Ugh I knew it. I knew she wasn’t going to pick any of them Wait a year? Is there a time jump? There’s a time jump! Love Nathaniel’s conversation with his dad. He loves the zoo! He’s a grown up man 😂 My oldest son came out during this episode and during the scene with Paula and Rebecca in her kitchen he goes “good job Rebecca!” Greg is still single!! It’s a been a year let her be happy. Oh my god let Rebecca be a good singer please. OMG IS THAT THE END?!?!?! 😭😭😭😭
I thought it would be fun to rank my favorite seasons of Hermitcraft. I’ve been watching for season 2, and the server has changed a lot since then. I know that some people will disagree with me, so I would like to see your list below. Anyways, here’s mine:
Season 3 - I’m really nostalgic for this season. It’s when two of my favorite hermits joined, Impulse and Etho. It’s also when they did their first gaming district, Hermit Thrills. And I also missed the amplified terrain.
Season 7 - Yes the Current Season. While it may not be over, it’s been amazing so far. Decked Out could be its own game. Also the mayoral race and button were really fun, and I bet there will be a few more events like this before the season ends. Also Etho is back on Hermitcraft.
Season 6 - This one is probably on Number one for most people. Yeah this Season was great. All the stuff with the Civil War and Area 77 was brilliant. Also the whole concept around Sahara Was really unique, and I think if Mumbo, Iskall and Grian tried to build Sahara 2.0, it probably wouldn’t take as long. The only thing I didn’t like about season 6 was the lack of TangoTek. Which was understandable, since he was developing a mod for most of it, but I still wonder how his fantasy base would of turned out.
Season 2 - I started watching Hermitcraft with this Season. I have fond memories of Mumbos base, the Wastelands, the Horse track that never got finished, and Gaurdfall. I was watching only Mumbo and X at this time, but they inspired me to start doing more stuff with redstone and automated farms in Minecraft.
Season 4 - I honestly don’t remember much of this season. It was when a bunch of new hermits like Scar joined, which was good. The whole LogFellas thing started the whole role play thing on Hermitcraft, at least in my opinion. Maybe I should go rewatch some of the season 4 videos.
Season 1 - I did not watch this season at the time videos were coming out, but I’ve gone back and watched some of the old videos, and it was almost a different server. However, it offers a look back into what older Minecraft looked like and how people use to play the game.
Season 5 - I didn’t watch much of this Season. Part of it was because I was burnt out of Minecraft at the time, and the stuff I did watch was boring. Although the NHO stuff was pretty good. If this is your favorite season, that’s fine, please don’t kill me.
If you disagreed with my list, that’s fine. The good thing about the Internet is that everyone can have their own opinion. Let’s just try and be nice to each other okay?
Some background so you guys will better understand why I'm upset. My uncle is extremely selfish/entitled, right down to how he ended up living with us. One day, without telling us he was coming, he just drives across the country and shows up, basically expecting to stay with us (though supposedly with the intention of eventually getting his own place). He has nowhere to go, so my mom being the decent older sister she is, just lets him stay. Why did he drive across the country? He no longer wants to live with his mom, and he wants to live in a place with legal weed. :\ There's problems right from the start. The immediate next day after arriving, he gets into a fight with me, after teasing me incessantly, and is shocked when I get upset and lash out. He then places all the blame on me. Even though, he, the grown man in his 40s, started sh*t. Yet he played the victim. My mom, who didn't actually see or hear what happened, gets upset with me after I admit I did lash out. She doesn't put any of it on him at all, and they both sh*t on me so badly that I cried and said it would be better that I wasn't born or something to that effect. They had me feeling awful, like I was the scum of the Earth. His part in the matter was completely ignored, even though it takes two to tango. And yes, like then, I still admit I shouldn't have lashed out. Still, I wasn't the only one in the wrong, right? This was basically the first sign of things to come. So, at first he helps buy food. But apparently he's so upset by sharing the food he bought, he starts buying only for himself, and hides all his food in the bedroom he's using. Then, one day, he buys himself a MASSIVE flat screen TV. It can't even fit on the dresser, it's that huge. You might say, what's wrong with that? It's his money. Normally, you'd be right, but my mom and I are super poor. So poor in fact, that despite living in the US (a supposedly developed nation), we didn't at that time own the very essential (especially since we live in a desert) REFRIGERATOR. He had the gall to buy a television costing over 1000 dollars, when for a few 100 he could have got us a FRIDGE. We're having trouble feeding ourselves here, and he buys himself an expensive television, and he's no longer helping buy food! Also, it's a television only HE can use. Admittedly, there's nothing much we could do with a TV. We don't have any service set up, it's hard enough paying for an internet connection, but we actually NEED that. Almost all the bills are payed online. Anyways, even when we finally got a fridge, it wasn't because we finally came into a little cash. It was because mom's work knew she didn't have one, and actually GIFTED a refrigerator to us. I think it was either free, or more likely they let her make payments. Either way, after several months without a fridge, we finally got one. Could have been sooner, but entitled uncle gotta have his fancy big TV. One time, I believe this was still when we didn't have a fridge, he (probably) stole the grocery money. When mom couldn't find it, she of course asked us about it. I was just surprised because a lot of money seemingly walked away, and I helped her look for it, but nothing came up. My mom asked my uncle, and apparently he immediately tried to set me up. Suggesting I might have stole it. Thankfully my mom didn't buy his bull this time, and actually told me what he tried to do, and told me that she believes he took it. She suggested that he probably spent our grocery money on weed. There's also the thing with his dog, but I won't fully go into that. Short of it, he didn't let us know how dangerous an animal it was, and even brought it into our HOUSE. It attacked both my cat and our dog. My uncle refused so much to get rid of the dog (even though it attacked him too), my mom eventually started the process of eviction before he finally caved. There's probably other things that I'm not thinking of right now. Incidentally, my mom's told me different stories from when they were kids. Example, one time she fell down the basement stairs and really hurt herself. She couldn't get up, and it was just her and my uncle at home. She called for help for a long time before he finally showed up at the top of the stairs. He apparently looked at her, and told her she'd manage or something like that, and then left her there. So, finally to the present (heh). Yesterday was my birthday, we're still poor so I didn't really get anything like a wrapped gift, but my mom bought me birthday pizza from Dominoes. We almost never get Dominoes, because for us it's pretty expensive. This is the only present I received. Like, I don't even have birthday socks, just Dominoes. I, of course, am not about to eat all that by myself, so I shared it with mom. Cool, no prob. Today, I come out to get some more of my birthday pizza, and low and behold half the pizza is missing. I'm surprised, mom usually doesn't eat so much nor so quickly, and I express this surprise to my mom. "Wow, you must have been really hungry, mom. Half the pizza is gone!" My mom shows confusion. She DIDN'T eat that pizza. So~ has to be my uncle. I'm immediately pissed. I'm not anti-sharing, okay? It's the principle of the matter! This man NEVER shares. He brings pizza back all the time, we never get any. He eats the entire box/es by himself. Yet, he comes and steals away half of the ONLY birthday present I've gotten! He didn't get me a damn thing! Not even a card! He didn't even tell me happy birthday! Add on top of all the stuff over time, omg, it's no wonder I'm pissed! My mom doesn't want an argument or anything to start, and I consider myself a fairly decent and filial child, so I'm just stewing a bit. I haven't said anything to my uncle about his inconsiderate bs. He could have at least ASKED. I probably would have let him have a slice, even though he'd never do the same. It's just pizza after all. Still, my only present. No consideration, utter entitled selfishness. You can bet if I brought it up to him he wouldn't even see that he did anything wrong, he's that kind of person. Anyway~ I just wanted to vent a little. Hopefully this was an acceptable subreddit to post this. If you read this far, thanks, and I wish you a pleasant day/night.
The short of it is, if you use a VPN and your account gets locked for any reason - be it a compromised account, they simply think the account activity is "suspicious", or otherwise - you will have a hell of a time getting that account back if you don't take the necessary steps. TL;DR: Go to your account profile and download a couple of your oldest receipts. These emails are your lifeline should your account ever be locked. Furthermore, disable your VPN and relogin to Epic Games before contacting Epic Games support. Your account doesn't have to be compromised to be locked! Simply using a VPN (even just to browse their webstore or run their client in the background) is grounds for them to lock your account. Password security, while important, may not help you here. Good luck. ⟣--------⟢ Pour some tea. Here's my story. Can't say it's too interesting though. My Epic Games account was locked three weeks ago after I contacted an Epic Games customer support for completely unrelated reason. I wanted to reset my Fortnite's PvE progress and start fresh with the Save The World content coming out and all. For the years I've used my account, even back when it was compromised during the data breaches back in 2018, it wasn't until that very moment (July 2020), when I've contacted their customer support representative, that they "noticed suspicious activity" and locked it. A minor setback, surely. I'll just answer their security questions and be on my way, even if it's an annoyance. Spoiler, it didn't work with either of the two representatives I've talked to... The first rep, Alpha Charlie, I was very cordial with. The second, Juliet Tango, I raised as much fuss as I could to try and gain attention from the higher-up staff after they produced the same result. I was unable to get anyone to help me, as their stance in both cases is "We refuse to even talk to you unless you have the correct information.", even when I was asking for alternative verification methods. Here are the questions they've asked me:
Screenshot of my oldest available receipt made on my Epic Games Account.
My public IPv4 address(es) used on the account.
Date when my account was created.
Locations (city, province/state) where purchases were made on the account.
Original display name for the account.
Last four digits of the first payment card on the account.
Date of last login.
Names of any connected accounts (such as TwitchTV, PlayStation/Switch/Xbox, etc.).
Invoice IDs or transaction numbers from Xsolla reciepts.
Some of these are pretty standard fare. I can obviously say with complete confidence I've gotten most of them correct to the letter. Some, such as my display name, I could give a comprehensive history of. Regurgitated my embarrassing username history and how it's changed in chronological order. While I have records such as bank statements to give me most of what I need, the only thing I lacked were the Xsolla receipts. Mind you, before I purchased Rogue Company a month ago, the last things I purchased where founders packs for Fortnite and Paragon, at their respective launch weeks years ago. I did not have those receipts on hand anymore. Yet "the details [I] provided do not match the ones stored on [my] account and insufficient." How can this be? Notice how they use words like "first" and "original". Here's where you should be worried. This is my assumption, but I do not believe Epic Games keeps any information on hand except for the information entered at account creation and the very last login instance. Nothing in-between. A win for privacy-minded people, but ironically a nail in the coffin for privacy-minded VPN users. So if you were using a VPN during your last login, I bet my left nut you'd need to provide the city/province/state of your VPN server, which even then could've been routed somewhere else. You'll probably need the IPv4 of the VPN server you were using at that moment too. This has to be what they're comparing against the information with your "date of last login". Man, I even sent them my bank statements... with the same last four digits of my credit card that were used to make those purchases years ago. Somehow, magically, even that was insufficient. So I initiated a chargeback on my most recent purchase with my bank, to prove that the person who used that card that has been on file for years is still in control of his same bank account. They still refused to believe it was me. I thought them losing money would've made them crack for sure. Unfortunately, I can't chargeback purchases as old as Fortnite, so that's too bad. I'm warning you, they will absolutely not budge on these questions and will die on that hill. There is almost no sense talking them out of it. They'll just ghost you or type empty words until you answer them "correctly". It's almost like it takes a lawsuit to even so much as get their attention these days. ⟣--------⟢ TL;DR: Go to your account profile and download a couple of your oldest receipts. These emails are your lifeline should your account ever be locked. Furthermore, disable your VPN and relogin to Epic Games before contacting Epic Games support. Your account doesn't have to be compromised to be locked! Simply using a VPN (even just to browse their webstore or run their client in the background) is grounds for them to lock your account. Password security, while important, may not help you here. Good luck. ⟣--------⟢ Thanks for reading. I'll edit the formatting as I go if it ends up a problem. This post was more for my own therapy as I've lost hundreds of dollars worth of games. But, I hope that someone else might be able to avoid my situation should they take the steps I advised. Gods, I still can't believe my bank statements and a chargeback didn't prove my identity. It's the same credit card... ＡＢＳＯＬＵＴＥＬＹ mind-boggling. Completely ＤＩＳＧＵＳＴＩＮＧ. I didn't want to play Fortnite anyways. Baby game for diaper poopers. Hmph.
/u/TangoFoxtr0t on If Republicans should pick a replacement for Ruth Bater Ginsburg because they have the power to do so, why shouldn’t democrats expand the size of the SCOTUS bench if they end up having the power to do also?
In peak offseason form, I decided to anagram all the draft picks. I did have two rules, I could not use the original player's name (Example: Brian Burns, could not be Brain Burns), and I couldn't add a suffix to the name. There could definitely be better ones, I used this website. I also, did this last year!
26 [M4F] PA - I accidentally ran over a chipmunk the other day and still feel kinda bad
Hi, here are my stats: 26 5’10 160lb White/Hispanic (light tan skin, brown eyes, black hair) I know this is probably a waste of time. I bet I’m going to get nothing but some bot spamming a thot’s premium SC, but I’m sick of dating apps and the plague has screwed my other irl chances so here’s my shot in the dark. Let’s start with what I’m not. I’m not some depressed alcoholic coomer looking for a quaternary in a polyamorous quasigender furry fluffle. I’m just an introverted guy who wants to spend forever with a cool girl. I’ve spent an ungodly amount of my youth playing vidya games and watching Chinese cartoons; enough to last me for a lifetime. Nowadays I try to be outside as much as possible. I like to garden, wrench on cars, hike, cycle, and snowboard. I still love doing nerdy shit, but in moderation. I graduated uni last year and work full-time in IT, but I think about quitting and doing vandwellers constantly. I’m looking for a girl who wants a serious relationship, is a bit clingy, and willing to go on countless adventures with me. Camping, sailing, tango dancing anything and everything we can think of until we’re too old to walk and have to shit in adult diapers in our nice cabin in Alaska. My only requirement is no drugs and to be close enough to where we can actually hangout irl feasibly. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to tell xxxJuicyKimmi<3 in my DM’s to get lost.
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Tango ? You Bet ! rabble.ca News for the rest of us. Loading... Unsubscribe from rabble.ca News for the rest of us? Cancel Unsubscribe. Working... Subscribe Subscribed Unsubscribe 1.41K. Les 3 disciplines du bal argentin ou milonga 🇬🇧 A step-by-step VIDEO TUTORIAL available at https://www.zatanczmy.pl 👣 Film instruktażowy krok po kroku dostępny na http://www.zatanczmy.pl A może Tango ... Cell Block Tango from the Miramax Motion Picture Chicago. No CopyRight Intended Hello everyone, it's your favorite crossdresser/drag queen, Yoya Fabulosa, going out in Public and passing as a real woman doing some Argentinian Tango on Wa...
