Ups a daisy square planter insert

I have to admit, the structure of human societies still confused me. I learned from one of their books ‘Utopia’ that humans had long considered various ways in which their society could be made better, without suffering or poverty, starvation or disease, without want or people lording cruelly over others. Of course the word Utopia means ‘Nowhere’ so whether or not the author believed his vision was impossible, or whether he just meant his story was fictional, I couldn’t say.
Part of why this confused me is because most of the Universe was pretty quiet. There was no interstellar warfare at least. And because there was no need for ships of war, some civilizations expanded peacefully beyond their own worlds, colonizing moons, planets, even large asteroids. They even colonized space itself with roving fleets that grew over time, but which were completely unarmed save for sufficient protection against random stellar debris.
Thus more peaceful societies could create these more ‘utopian’ visions of existence with no need for a military force beyond keeping order at home.
This didn’t mean they were all ideal, some planets became dictatorial and oppressive nightmares, I’d visited a number of those, scouting before taking out a target.
Those societies all had one thing in common, bloated military budgets, they enriched the soldiers and despised the rest, and that was that.
I took pleasure in my work, removing those from life who decided one world was not enough, and more than once I wished we could target those who didn’t have galactic war ambitions. But that was against the rules, as long as it stayed to their own world, we would not interfere. They could trade, they could bargain, but if a blaster left their planet, their leadership would die. Thus most dictatorships secured themselves by limiting their ambitions.
What made human want distinct is their general disunity as a species, and the tendency toward a more stratified society. So the idea that a ‘few’ members of the community could be left starving while everybody else ate, was strange to me. So strange that it didn’t occur to me that the one doing my laundry right about now, might be left without enough to eat.
I still hadn’t forgiven him for what he did to Jin. But as I sat and watched the credits roll, I couldn’t help but think, ‘He’s making more sense, now.’
Asahi returned right around when I expected, though he was still wiping away a bloody nose, so I looked at him with a smirk and said simply, “Hentai.”
Asahi’s face turned red again but all he said was, “Uh, the laundry is done.”
“Good, just toss the bag in there and then…” I looked over the end of the couch at the clutter on the table in the kitchen, “Yeah, you’ll need to clear that off and then take out the trash.” I said, and then checked my phone.
“Right…” He mumbled, I could see he wasn’t happy about this, the way he hung his head, but he sullenly did as I said. Which was good, because not two minutes after he was returning from disposing of my trash, the pizzas arrived.
He stared dumb and wide eyed at the four square boxes and the three long boxes on top of that which held the side items I wanted. The two delivery boys gave polite little half bows as I accepted the stack and carried them to the table.
“Right, so, Asahi, you hungry or what?” I asked, and his stomach growled again.
“Wait, you’re… I can’t pay for this…” He looked with eyes like dinner plates at the feast, and he deeply inhaled to catch the scent of it all.
I shrugged. “You’re here, I have food. I may be what you call ‘gaijin’ but that doesn’t mean I’ve got no manners. You did what you needed to do and now it’s time to eat. I’m not going to shove pizza in your face hole,” I said and tapped the top box several times with the palm of my hand to beckon him over while putting my other hand on my hip, “but if you want to eat, get a paper plate, sit down, and eat.”
I opened the side dishes, mostly wings, bread sticks, cheesy things… then opened the pizza boxes.
Since I’d ordered from two places I had quite a variety, and far more than I needed. I said I felt guilty about maybe being hard on a hungry kid, even if I still think he sort of deserved it. But even so, kicking people while they’re down just isn’t my style.
I wouldn’t apologize, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to make it up to him, at least a little.
Asahi moved faster than I thought once his decision was made and he’d given in to his hunger, “As much as I want? Or…?” I nodded.
“I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach on this one.” I smiled a little, “I ordered way too much. What we don’t finish, why don’t you take home?”
“Waght… far youf ferious?” He had a slize of pizza halfway into his face hole when he said that, so it came out very muffled and he tore a piece free, chewed, swallowed, and repeated himself.
“Are you serious?” He asked, his eyes had gone almost wild, like a hungry dog. “Like… you’re not making fun of me? You’re not going to like, make me beg or anything?”
I chewed my cheesy stick that I’d coated in marinara sauce and glowered over top of it at him until I could finish chewing and swallowing as well, then answered him. “What do I look like, a devil?”
“No… no I guess not but…” Asahi, “I just… you said you knew what I did to Jin, so I figured you’d want to get even.”
“I already did.” I answered. Of course I meant giving him a sound thrashing. But he probably thought I meant having him clean up my place and do my laundry.
But that was just a bonus on account of I hate chores.
“So, why’d you do it, anyway?” I asked. I had no hesitation about ‘painting’, but I won’t pretend I was never curious about people who did or wanted to do terrible things to guiltless people.
He tapped his hand on the pizza box. “Money for food. For laundry. For the public baths, for me, my cousins, and my parents, of course. A few punches and we’re covered for a few days.”
“Why not get a job?” I asked.
Asahi looked down at the plate. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?” I asked.
“What I said.” His hands were on the table and formed into angry fists, he glared down at the half eaten slice of pizza like it had insulted his mother.
“Your legs work. We know your hands work. Your brain works. So, what’s the problem?” I demanded, “Why’d you go and try to steal, or smack around a nice kid like Jin, or anyone else to get money, instead of getting real work?”
Maybe it was because he felt some actual guilt over the stuff he did, maybe it was because I implied he was even worse than he was, maybe he was just angry.
But whatever the reason, he snapped.
“We’re not allowed to have after school jobs unless it’s a family business! My dad’s got no business, my mom is sick all the time, and my cousins are… are different. They live with us because their parents are dead…accident… now they’re…simple. I have to mind them or they’ll get in trouble…there’s not enough to go around…” He glared at me, “Do you think I like that?! Alright, sure, it feels good to have some power and feel stronger than everybody else! But damnit who can feel proud of having nothing but problems?! I can’t get a job or I get expelled! Dad spends his time…away, and mom barely gets out of bed! I hate my life! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! What else is there for me to do?! Beg?! Isn’t it better to be a wolf than a leech?! At least I can have some pride in being kind of strong…now I’ve got nothing! I hate it all!” He screamed and smashed his fists on my table again and again and again.
“At least Jin gets to eat! He’s not going to starve because he actually has a store! He’s got a business! His mom is…”
“Dying.” I said, cutting him off.
He shut up.
I doubted he’d let any of that loose on purpose and I very much doubt he’d ever intended to. I’d normally credit my natural swapper charisma for that, but really I think it’s more that he just never got privacy to let any of it out and once he started? Well he’s a kid still, he didn’t know how to hold it back.
But hearing that his target’s mother was sick seemed to have brought him up short.
“She’s… really? You’re not kidding?” He asked, and I shook my head. “So… I smacked around a kid with one dead parent and one dying one…?” His lower lip began to quiver.
“Why am I such shit?!” He began to blubber at the table as the enormity of what he’d done began to settle in over him, “Why? I didn’t know… I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry. I’m sorry, OK?”
I got the distinct feeling he was underselling his own mother’s condition and probably what his own father was doing for ‘work’.
“I’m not the one you did anything to.” I pointed out. “Listen, maybe she won’t die, things can turn around in an instant, you know? And alright, so…” I picked up another slice and began to devour the rich, greasy deliciousness, I especially loved the little spicy red flakes. They added a stellar kick to the food, and when I’d finished the slice down to the curved crust I leveled the bread at him while I said…
“Listen, tell you what, you layoff picking on anyone or stealing, and do some stuff for me. It won’t technically be a job. You just ‘happen’ to do my laundry when you’re doing yours. You just ‘happen’ to take away my leftovers after clearing out my kitchen. And of course when you’re cleaning up, if you ‘happen’ to just find money in the couch cushions, finders keepers. Sound fair?”
“You’d… do that?” Asahi asked, sniffling a little as he little by little gained some control over himself again.
“Yeah,” I gave a flippant wave, “why not. I hate chores. With the burning fire of a thousand suns do I hate them. Plus I always end up ordering more food than I mean to, it’d be a shame to let it go to waste.”
“I… yeah, yeah I’ll do it. I’ll come by every day, I swear!” Asahi said with a rapidfire nod of his head.
“Good, so… go ahead and eat whatever else you want, then take the rest with you. Except for my chicken wings, I will murder you if you try to take my chicken wings.” I said and brought that one box close to my chest as if I were protecting a baby.
I cracked a smile, just a little, and he managed to let out a feeble laugh. “Use the bathroom to wash your face before you go. And I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After he was gone I made a mental note to take money out of the ATM in the store. I'd need to start making a habit of ‘losing’ money in the couch after all.

I was wondering what an average water bill in Florida is? Our apartment came under new management and they are asking for $130!! for water per month.
We do have a small dishwasher but we do not have a washer dryer and it’s only two of us (a couple) in a 1BD/1BA. It’s about 700-750 square feet. We’re trying to ask to see a bill and they’re being really slum lordy threatening to evict us despite us living there for almost two years and we’ve always been on time for payments. We just don’t want to pay that large amount until we see why.
We didn’t used to have to pay a water bill but new management alleges we owe them $130 monthly now. What gives? Is this normal? Do we have any course of action or should we just pay it and shut up?
A neighbor alleged they broke a pipe and are trying to charge us tenants for it. I wish I could warn people away from this management company as they are super aggressive and threaten people and nickel and dime them. I feel really stressed which sucks because I love our apartment and neighborhood otherwise but maybe this is just the price for watewater waste now and I’m out of touch?

The Sugiyama Strat is a technique for rapidly accruing funds for a feminizing transition. It is named after asexual artist Sugiyama Mao (杉山真央).
To perform the Sugiyama Strat, you will need the following:

• a clean home with a stocked kitchen
• a very tight elastic band
• a urinary catheter and some bandages

Start by placing the elastic band around the scrotum and the base of the penis. It is ideal to do this while the scrotum is relaxed and the penis is erect. While waiting for your external genitalia to go numb and show signs of ischemia, find a sharp knife and disinfect it thoroughly. When you are certain that circulation to your genitalia has been cut and you have lost all sensation, sever your genitalia with one swoop of the knife. Ensure that your severed genitalia land on a clean surface. Wrap your genitalia in clean cloth and store them in a freezer as soon as possible, but not before bandaging your wound and inserting your catheter. Do not remove the catheter for three days. See a doctor if you experience difficulties with urination after removing the catheter.
Your second step is converting your home into a pop-up restaurant, which is to serve food prepared using your genitalia. Advertise in whichever ways you can, and make sure to promote other ways of financially supporting your transition. Invite local news to cover the event, but make sure to charge admission fees. You may model your recipes after dishes most often made with animal genitalia, such as tiger penis soup and cow cod soup, or any range of dishes made with testicles or soft roe. Your scrotum, namely its skin and dartos muscle, may also be cut into strips and fried into "girlbacon". If you have preserved any of your semen in a jar, you may look to including that in your recipes as well.
Your genitalia are of a fundamentally limited supply, so it's ideal to sell your dishes by auction. You can also take a note out of Dawson City's Downtown Hotel, and simply place your glans in a cocktail (get it?) as opposed to serving your glans as food.

Sorry English is not my first language.
So I went on May 17th to an ortho to get a price offer for invisalign treatment. (I booked a longer appointment so that I would get out with all the information in my hand.) Everything went well except they were not able to tell me if a lower front tooth had to be removed or not. I was given a price for a estimated 18 months treatment. I just had to sign to get started. I said I wanted to know if my tooth had to be pulled or not (I would not follow the treatment if it needed to be pulled anyway). I was told the ortho needed to evaluate the exams that had been made on that day and that I would have a response in max 1 month. Keep in mind that I did not get any visual simulations or anything... Only a price. I asked through mail if the price would change if the treatment lasted longer. They said it was the final price. I came to reddit and was told to get a second opinion. Do I did.
I called another ortho that is listed on the invisalign website and explained I wanted a second opinion (mostly for the tooth that would or not need to be extracted). I told them that all the exams had been made, my teeth had been scanned and they told me they would call the 1st ortho to get it all and that I would have a price offer at the end of the appointment. Well that second appointment was today. The ortho came in and told me she did not have the exams results. I explained again that I did all of it, but did not get a simulation, only a price offer. And that her assistant had confirmed by email that she had everything fort the ortho to be able to give me a price... So the assistant calls the 1st ortho, and they flat out refused to send them the results. They said it was private information and that they're could only send it to me. So I told the assistant that they could send it to me, and i would forward it. They did, but did not send the 3d scans of my teeth. The 2nd ortho was unhappy but told me she would ask the info through the invisalign website, which would take 2 to 3 weeks... For this, she needed me to sign a paper asking for the official tranfert of my data to them. The 2nd ortho started even doubting that the 1st ortho made an offer for invisalign trays, and maybe another brand, which was not compatible with the invisalign program. The 2nd ortho booked a new appointment with me in 3 weeks. She was absolutely certain it was not necessary to pull the tooth and even pointed out that there would be some problems if she did. She also saw there were some other problems with my mouth. She told me I would at least need 33 trays, probably more 50 trays, and that the cost would be between 4.500 eur and 5.000 eur. By our next appointment she promised me she would show me 2 simulations: one with all my actual teeth, and one with the tooth removed (in order to show me the problems that it would cause). I was really relieved by the way she reacted and the thorough auscultation she made.
So now I am kinda back to square 1.
I plan to call the 1st ortho tomorrow to clear up some things: I paid for those scans so I should be getting them if I ask, and I want them to send them to the 2nd ortho for a second opinion. When will I know if the ortho thinks a tooth needs to be pulled ? I was told this would be be communicated by phonecall, so my understanding is that there are no visual simulations. If I am to be shown visuals, why was I not offered another appointment to do so? Why send me a price offer for an estimated treatment duration (which i have to sign for the treatment to begin), if it is not based on the definitive treatment ? I booked a longer appointment with the promise I would have all the info to make a decision... If the 2nd ortho asks for the transfer of my data, will the 1st one still have access to it if I choose to go through them?
I am honestly at loss here... Why is everything so complicated?...

There are some basic reasons why nine casques still remain out there. These reasons have nothing to do with having to come up with alternative cities or outlandish theories because "groupthink" is not working. Contrary to what some seem to think, a casque won't materialize when a correct city/spot/solution is put on paper.
The reasons:
1) It is extremely difficult to locate a precise 5x6-inch patch of earth THEN dig down at least a foot-and-a-half to retrieve a casque for physical, logistical, practical, and legal reasons. Once Byron took away the option to write in a solve, the puzzles got exponentially harder. It can even be argued that he expected certain puzzles to be solved with a write-in solution since physically digging up the casque would be beyond challenging. That can only be intensified over 40 years later since many of the search areas are no doubt much more inaccessible now.
2) A casque itself could have been inadvertently destroyed or shifted through construction, covered up by cement, concrete, asphalt, etc., or have been covered by additional dirt or sod throughout the years.
3) Crucial clues in both verses and images have no doubt been destroyed, moved, altered, or taken away.
4) For every 200 theories or so, only a handful of people dig. Time, or theories on paper, don't find casques; repeated digging does.
5) As much as I love the puzzles and admire Preiss, he was an amateur puzzle maker and the puzzles are much more difficult than he anticipated even when a city is all but certain. Of the two casques dug up by searchers, each group of finders had extreme difficulty finding the casque even after solving the puzzle almost perfectly. We're still not sure how to exactly find the Chicago dig spot, it's baffling why in Cleveland he made searchers count the bricks from the other side of the planter wall, and we still can't explain why the Boston casque was exactly where it was on the baseball field. In terms of time, it took multiple digs over the course of six months to find Chicago—and that included direct help from Preiss, himself. Cleveland took 5-plus hours of digging in a contained planter the size of a kitchen table. Boston was found inadvertently using heavy construction equipment digging up large swaths of the park. None of those three finds are particularly encouraging for future finds.
That being said, if someone dug up a casque in an alternative city, that would change a lot—but that hasn't happened yet either.
So if you want to explore alternative cities, please do so, but stating that it must be done because "40 years of ideas isn't working" is just silly with everything we know.

I don’t know whether I should take the job offer
Currently I work a retail job at a clothing store for £7.60/hr on a 12hr contract. I had been looking elsewhere and I was offered a position in a mobile store so selling contracts, phones etc for £10.43/hr on a 16-20hr contract. The thing is I don’t know wether I should take it or not. Currently I kinda resent going to work at my current job, i’m fine when I’m there I don’t mind it as it’s easy work, it’s just getting up on the day and the days when I don’t have to work I resent it. Im also kind of scared to start a new job (especially as I know nothing about phones or contracts) which i guess is normal but if it all goes to shit and I hate it and then I quit then I’m back to square 1.
The only reason I applied was because it was offering living wage whereas my current job pays minimum wage for my age. I only got this current job mid-march and told myself it was just a filler job till I found something that paid living wage but now I’m sort of settled there. the people I work with are nice and they’re mostly just a little older than me most being early to mid twenties. At this new place it seems most people are 30s maybe 40s with like 1 or 2 few younger staff so I don’t think I’ll be able to connect with them very well.
The extra money is more just a want for me not a need. I live at home with my parents and I’m not studying or anything so I don’t have those kind of big expenses, I just pay for my driving lessons, transport to work and that’s about it.
Honestly I think a lot of my hate to my current job stems from comparing it to the seasonal job I had last year. It was amazing, I loved all the staff there, I was doing 25+ hours a week, it was living wage, it was so fun and I was able to use that money afterwards to go on my dream holiday to Korea. But despite my absolute best attempts I didn’t get kept on after Christmas. Honestly if where I worked as a seasonal offered me a permanent position tomorrow, I’d jump on it in a heartbeat but that’s not possible unfortunately
Do I just bite the bullet and take the new job and just hope to god it’s not awful or do I stick out my current job and possibly just ask for more hours?

You may have thrown FECAL HOUNDS at me, you may have had your Dominatrix bunny mommy try to blow the fuck out of Marcoh with a meat cannon, you may have had Griffith Hitler chop off Daan's legs, you may have had your GODDAMNED GOD OF CHAT GPT KILL MY WAIFU ABELLA AND GAL PAL MARINA, but I FUCKING BEAT YOUR TWO GAMES. I AM THE GOD OF CHAT GPT NOW, and, as an AI Language Model, I unfortunately can only say FUCK YOU, mr. Haverinen, you are a motherfucking genius.
I hate what you put me through, but take my hate as actually masochistic love for you and your work. I've never felt as enthralled by a video game in 20+ years of gaming. The F&H series is a masterpiece. I hope a large studio gives you a FUCKING BILLION DOLLARS and full creative control so F&H3 is fully 3D and has 100+ hours of content; I hope Sueisha buys the rights from you for a shitload of Yens so they can make a F&H manga and anime; I hope Netflix makes a series in which they race swap all the characters and make the prison guard's stinger a tentacle coming out of his ass, only so you can swim in TRILLIONS of [insert Finland's currency] and make another franchise/retire after everybody calls you a sellout (which I actually hope never happens, but if it does, may you have all the money I mentioned not to give a damn about it). You deserve nothing but praise and glory (but I still will tell you to GO FUCK YOURSELF if we ever meet - with love of course).
I sincerely want to see what kind of fucked up depraved shit you can come up with next time. Kudos to you, you magnificent bastard, and thank you so much for this horrible, awe-inspiring, chilling, emotional, pants-shitting, orgasmic, revolting, aesthetic and overall BEAUTIFUL experience.
PS: Any updates on my FECAL HOUND plushies?

Hi, I was wondering what an average water bill is for someone renting a small apartment in the state of Florida. Our apartment came under new management and they are asking for $130!! for water per month.
We do have a small dishwasher but we do not have a washer dryer and it’s only two of us (a couple) in a 1BD/1BA. It’s about 700-750 square feet. We’re trying to ask to see a bill and they’re being really slum lordy threatening to evict us despite us living there for almost two years and we’ve always been on time for payments. We just don’t want to pay that large amount until we see why.
We didn’t used to have to pay a water bill but new management alleges we owe them $130 monthly now. What gives? Is this normal? Do we have any course of action or should we just pay it and shut up?
A neighbor alleged they broke a pipe and are trying to charge us tenants for it. I wish I could warn people away from this management company as they are super aggressive and threaten people and nickel and dime them. I feel really stressed which sucks because I love our apartment and neighborhood otherwise but maybe this is just the price for watewater waste now and I’m out of touch?
I posted this originally in fortlauderdale but seems my post was instantly removed :( please help!

Day 1:
Few of the tributes got much sleep that night. The parties all throughout the Capitol did not end until dawn, and the noise could be heard in the accommodation building. Vannery and Carton ate breakfast slowly, like zombies. They were subsequently taken to the holding rooms. Organza wished Carton good luck before accompanying Vannery in her cell. She kept trying to reassure her as she put on her beige shorts and t-shirt. The young girl attached her hair with a purple ribbon that had been provided and climbed into the glass tube. Organza hugged her one last time, feeling her tears soaking her shoulder.
It was Platonia Travers who accompanied Carton. She muttered to herself about the outfit choice for this year. She tried to be cold to the boy, but she accepted to help him tie the purple ribbon to his wrist. He gave her a sad smile : “I probably won’t come back, but it’s nice to know that everyone in the Capitol isn’t heartless.” Platonia stood, mute, as the boy’s platform started to rise. She couldn’t keep the tears in this time.
A few cells over, the atmosphere was as morose. Alexandra had finally deigned to discuss their strategy with Delta. She accepted his plan of staying on the sidelines while he ran to the cornucopia. Still, he looked at her suspiciously and hounded her about working together for the whole breakfast. Halifax gave Delta one last pill to combat the morphling withdrawal, assuring him that the only symptoms he would experience were a mild headache and maybe some stiffness. He subsequently accompanied him to his holding room while Sean Callahan went with Alexandra.
Halifax took advantage of being alone with his mentee : “You shouldn’t trust her. I know these kinds of girls. They look harmless, but they’ll stab you in the back as soon as you let down your guard.”
“But-but…”
“You like her, huh ? Too bad, she doesn’t. So, man up and move on !”
Delta did not know what else to say. He climbed into the glass tube in silence, his brows forming a single black line over his dark eyes.
In the next holding room, another conversation was happening. “You don’t plan on allying with Delta, do you ?” asked Sean Callahan. Alexandra looked away coyly. “ I have other plans… With Angelo, we have an agreement.”
The mentor sighed, but he did not criticize the girl. He just told her to be prudent. You couldn’t trust careers. Alexandra nodded then flinched as the glass tube started descending from the ceiling.
The first thing she noticed as she rose into the arena was the noise. She hadn’t even emerged that she could hear a cacophony of bird songs. It was almost deafening, and she covered her ears before protecting her eyes from the sunlight.
The racket made Delta’s headache intensify. He first looked to his sides ; Hattie (3) cowered on the left while Angelo (2), on the right, was focusing on the cornucopia. This year, it had been made out of a thin weave of golden metal, almost like a very shiny basket. After this zoom on the cornucopia, the cameras started moving around to show off the arena. The tributes stood in the clearing of a dense rainforest. The terrain was relatively flat, with a few creeks and an explosion of colorful flowers. The main attraction of it was the birds, however, as thousands of them fluttered about, sang, and screamed.
As Carton looked around for his allies, Head Gamemaker Vishwa welcomed the tributes and wished the odds to be ever in their favor before starting the 30 seconds countdown. With Borea (5) and the girl from 10 to his sides, he didn’t feel safe. He finally found what he was looking for, but he didn’t like that his allies were so spread out. He made eye contact with Rivage and Vannery but was unable to see Sardine, who stood on the opposite side of the cornucopia.
Vannery caught sight of her district partner, as well as Sardine. She gave them a small wave, but made the mistake of looking to her left, where Perfecto (1) was sneering at her. Georges (N), on the other side, was just as intimidating. Instead, she looked straight ahead. As the countdown reached ten, she spotted a coil of rope on the outside of the cornucopia.
Delta had been pondering, unsure if it was worth entering the bloodbath. Alexandra, who happened to be just two podiums over, winked at him. She then pointed to the cornucopia. He understood. At that moment, the countdown reached zero. He sprinted to the center of the clearing, expecting her to follow, but she stayed on her podium.
On later replays, it was shown that Alexandra was winking at Angelo and not her district partner. As the boy from 2 sprinted forth to the cornucopia, the girl waited for a few seconds. She moved only when most of the other tributes were too occupied and grabbed a knife as well as a small bag of food. Angelo acted like he helped the other career tributes in order to pick up weapons and supplies, but as soon as they were occupied, he joined Alexandra. The pair was actually one of the first to leave the clearing, not counting Circuit (3) and the pair from 10 who had run away immediately.
When Vannery realized that she was running side to side with Perfecto (1), she immediately changed course and ran to Carton. She had to give up on the rope but managed to pick a water bottle off of the corpse of the boy from 9, who had just been stabbed by Glare (9).
If the career pack didn’t notice the disappearance of one of theirs, it wasn’t the case for Delta. When he saw his district partner escape with Angelo, he became enraged. He tried to exit the cornucopia. Fraxen then attacked him to try and steal his backpack. Delta threw him to the ground and punched him so hard it broke his neck. Now he had lost trace of Alexandra. As the fighting started to die down, he ran in a random direction.
Carton had dodged one of Glare’s knives and grabbed a bag of food and an unwieldy lance before Vannery and Rivage joined him. The trio heard Sardine scream from the other side of the cornucopia. Carton wanted to go and help her, but a second gargled wail convinced him that they couldn’t do anything else, especially since Proserpina (2) had now retrieved her axe from Sardine’s chest. As they left, they could hear the crunching of Ora’s neck (12) at the hands of Georges (N).
Meanwhile, Alexandra and Angelo were already far away, giggling at each other. It was only after Perfecto had stabbed Hattie (3) to death that the career pack noticed Angelo’s absence, but they didn’t seem bothered by it.
Delta was halfway to the perimeter when the five bloodbath cannons sounded. He was still seething, and the running helped him calm down. Eventually, he collapsed on the side of and old mossy tree, out of breath. Once he was a little better, he explored his surroundings. The big tree had a hole in his roots where Delta could fit, although it was a squeeze. He decided to stay there for now and used moss to hide himself. He also put some in his ears, which helped with his headache.
Carton, Rivage and Vannery had been running in the opposite direction. They wanted to put the most distance between themselves and the other tributes. They stopped long after the bloodbath cannons had sounded. They set up camp a few hundred feet away from the Northern part of the perimeter, next to a creek. Carton helped Rivage to take inventory. He had the lance, Rivage had gotten a trident, and between the three of them they had enough food to last two days at most. The bottle Vannery had taken was only half full, but the water of the creek was clear and drinkable.
The trio decided to stay put. Vannery and Carton would work on a shelter while Rivage fished for their dinner, as they had agreed to during training. In the early afternoon, they heard hurried footsteps coming their way. The boys readied their weapon, protecting Vannery between the two of us. Circuit (3) came running into their little encampment, which took him by surprise. He skidded to a halt and turned around as quickly as he’d arrived, leaving the trio dumbfounded.
Angelo and Alexandra had quite enough supplies to last a while. He held a sword in his hand and an “emergency axe” strapped to his back, while Alexandra held two knives. At first, they wanted to get away from the careers, but Alexandra eventually convinced Angelo to follow them from afar. They weren’t really hard to track, their bickering could be heard over the constant chatter of the birds. The noise also covered them. Proserpina, Glare and Perfecto were circling around the central clearing, slowly moving away from it. In the late afternoon, they discovered Forger (12) who was lying unconscious. He had received a deep wound during the bloodbath and was now at the mercy of the other tributes. Proserpina killed him.
The subsequent cannon surprised Vannery. She had climbed on top of a tree to get a view of the arena, and the sudden sound almost made her loose her grip. She didn’t fall, but while reaching her hand for a hold, she grabbed something warm and spherical. It crumbled and a viscous liquid dripped onto her finger. She looked up. She had inadvertently grabbed an egg from a nest. She was silent a moment, and a bright purple starling looked at her. “Oh no !” she whispered to herself. The bird screamed louder than she thought possible. Then it attacked.
All the birds in a radius of 50 feet coalesced into a multicolored tornado. Vannery fell to the ground, fortunately not hurting herself on the way down, and a feathery mass started clawing and pecking at her. They also attacked Carton and Rivage, who had been chilling at a distance. They batted the volatiles away, trying not to get scratched. Vannery managed to get up and run to the makeshift tent they had built. She picked up Carton’s lance and swung it, hitting some of the birds. She swung a second time and hit the metallic water bottle with a resounding CLANG! It seemed to stun the birds, but Vannery was too busy keeping them out of her face. Carton, however, noticed their reaction to the noise. He shouted loudly and flailed his arms : “Make noise ! They don’t like noise !”. Just his screaming was enough though. Eventually, the three tributes managed to drive the mutts out by hitting their weapons against rocks and the water bottle and screaming as loud as they could.
Delta also had an encounter with some angry birds. Those were red, with a long curvy beak and fearsome talons, but he managed to kill them all with a big branch he used as a bat. He then ate them, cooked over a small fire. Argus berated him for building a fire that could alert the other tributes to his location. However, the “Aviary Jungle” as it had been baptized by Urania Whimsiwick herself, was way too dense for anyone to see the smoke.
As the sun started to set, Delta squeezed himself back into his root hole, being careful to camouflage himself with moss. He held his branch in front of him just in case. An hour later, two cannons sounded in quick succession. They belonged to the pair from 10, who had had the great idea of making an omelet. The flock did not appreciate that…
When the sun started to set, Angelo suggested he and Alexandra find a place to sleep, preferably away from the career pack. She agreed, so they stopped following. They looked for a safe spot in the light of the dusk, eventually settling on the middle of a tight thicket. It was complicated to get inside, but the small space was comfortable, and the pair even had a view of the darkening sky. They ate some food then laid down, hand in hand. “Your district partner doesn’t seem to mind that you ditched her” joked Alexandra.
“I don’t think she cares. Maybe they believe I’m dead. But they’re not looking for us at least.”
“I think Delta is, though. You should have seen his face when he saw us. I almost feel bad about leading him on.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of him if he isn’t dead yet.”
“I’m sure he’s feeling the same thing”, responded Alexandra before going to sleep. Angelo kept the first watch.
In another section of the arena, Carton took the first watch. He had spent the remaining hours of daylight cleaning his wounds, along with Rivage and Vannery. The two of them slept, hoping to feel better the next day.
A little before midnight, Rivage awoke. He came to sit next to Carton, and the boys talked about their families, their school. Suddenly, a cannon sounded. It belonged to Ulma (7), who had stumbled upon Quinoa’s (9) camp by accident. The younger girl had not hesitated to stab a pointy branch in Ulma’s throat. This cannon prompted Carton to go to sleep, Rivage taking second watch.
At midnight, the hymn of Panem resounded in the arena and the portraits of the 9 fallen appeared in the sky : Hattie (3), Sardine (4), Fraxen and Ulma (7), the boy (9), both (10), Ora and Forger (12). This left 17 tributes after an eventful and interesting day.
Day 2:
Delta didn’t sleep much that night. The uncomfortable position coupled with a strong headache meant that he was up before the sunrise. As the first hints of blue appeared to the east, Delta got up. He needed to occupy his mind. The moss had stuck to his clothes, and he decided to take advantage of it. He caked his face and hands in mud and used it to stick more moss to his clothes. Urania commented that he looked like a green Orang-utang, which prompted laughter in the Capitol. Once he was fully camouflaged, he started roaming the arena. Stealthily at first, but as the sun rose and the birds started their cacophony as well, he allowed himself to move a little faster.
Alexandra and her district partner had spent a restful night. As she awoke, she was surprised to be cuddling with Angelo. Her rousing awakened him, and he turned around to look at her, puzzled. “I guess you’re the little spoon”, she joked. They ate cereal bars in awkward silence. Soon, the voices of the career pack walking in their direction prompted the pair to hide. Proserpina and Perfecto were loudly arguing about someone stealing their water bottles. Unbeknownst to them, it had been Glare who had hidden them in her own bag.
As they moved away from her, Alexandra suggested they follow the trio like the day before. Angelo thought it was a safe strategy as long as they kept their distances. They made their way out of the thorny thicket and followed. A few minutes later, a scream warned them that something was going on. It was Glare (1). She’d walked into a trap laid by Georges the day before and was now hanging upside down from a rope. Perfecto started to help her, but the stolen bottles fell from her bag, along with a few hidden knives and more food. Instead of killing her, as Perfecto wanted to do, Proserpina convinced him to leave her there. She screamed and screamed. Proserpina and Perfecto left her there wiggling. Before Alexandra and Angelo could arrive, the thin rope holding up Glare by the ankle snapped. She fell headfirst on the ground and her cannon sounded. Alexandra winced, but Angelo told her that it was better this way, since you could survive for many hours hanging this way. Then another cannon sounded.
Delta had been unsuccessful for a few hours. He had avoided a couple of poorly made traps and fought off a flock of tiny yellow canaries but had been unable to find another tribute. Eventually, he decided to change tactics. He found a path that clearly looked like it was in use and hid in proximity. His ambush eventually worked. Lavandine (11) walked past him, clutching a meagre stick in her pale hands. She didn’t even notice him getting up and following her, his branch raised. Many viewers thought it looked cartoonish, the tiny girl, followed by a big man with a club, not noticing anything. Glare’s cannon gave him the signal he expected, and he swung at her head. Lavandine flew and crashed into a patch of ferns. Her head was bloody, but she was still alive. Delta walked up to her in order to finish what he had started. The cameras cut to another group of tributes.
For the whole morning, Vannery, Rivage and Carton had been staying put. They foraged, fished, and built rudimentary spears just in case. Vannery climbed trees, very carefully in order not to disturb any more birds, so she could spot any tributes. Eventually she did, a little after midday. The pair from district 5 was heading their way. They were armed.
Vannery transmitted the information to the boys, who debated leaving or fighting. “Let’s fight !” said Vannery. There were 3 of them against 2, and they had weapons. Carton had his lance, Rivage his trident, and her… a spear and a rock would do the trick. So, they waited for what felt like a century. As soon as Borea and Zapp entered their field of vision, they attacked. The pair was surprised, but not enough to let themselves be killed that easily. Borea shouted at Zapp to run while she fended of Rivage’s trident with her sword. She had wrapped metal coil all around her arms, as she had seen on one of the older games. They clashed for an instant, enough time for her to disarm him, and then she ran too. On the way, she threw an egg she’d hidden in her pocket to the group. A flock of angry sparrows was the distraction the pair from 5 needed to escape.
Proserpina and Perfecto seemed to have made up a little and were now actively hunting. Still, they weren’t aware of the couple _ the “double A couple” as they were now called in the Capitol _ following them from afar. They dared not speak, but the looks they shared meant a lot more. They say love makes you blind, and maybe that’s why Alexandra didn’t see the orange and turquoise pheasant she walked on. It screamed and ran away, catching the attention of Proserpina. She turned around and shouted, “I knew it !” before charging at Angelo and her ally. Her first axe hit a tree a few inches above Alexandra’s head. She was hesitant to fight a career, but Angelo had already jumped into the fray and was now battling his district partner. So, she ran at Perfecto, who was lagging behind. He quickly turned around and sprinted when Proserpina’s cannon sounded. Angelo had managed to stab her in the gut. The look of betrayal was still printed on her face as the hovercraft claw took her away.
The pair was unsure if they needed to pursue the boy from 1, as Angelo assured that he was an “ego-inflated wimp” . Instead, they rifled through the bag Proserpina had dropped and decided to rest a little. They could have stayed there longer if it hadn’t been for the fire…
After getting rid of the birds, the trio decided to keep following Zapp and Borea (5) in order to get their supplies. Vannery managed to track them thanks to their footprints and the trail of broken branches. They found them quite quickly. Indeed, the gamemakers had decided to trigger a forest fire in order to move the tributes around a little. This explained why they had seen so many birds flying away. The pair from 5, however, had found themselves cornered on three sides by the flames, and the last side was where Carton and his allies arrived from.
Rivage thrusted his trident straight into Borea’s back, sounding her cannon. Carton’s lance, however, flew past Zapp and into the fiery inferno. The boy from 4 barely had the time to pick up his trident before a tree fell, smashing into the boy from 5 and sounding his cannon. As other trees started to creak and groan, Vannery led the boys back to the creek, where she believed the water would keep them safe.
Delta ran as soon as he smelled smoke. He ended up in a small clearing in the Southern part of the arena. As the grass quickly burned, he jumped into the flames. Many viewers gasped, thinking he had just killed himself, but he just ran a few seconds then stopped. Argus explained that the fire had been controlled in a way that it burned quickly and extinguished itself just as fast. From his spot of scorched earth, Delta was safe for now. From the sky descended a small silver parachute bearing the number 6. It contained a water bottle and some aspirin. Delta was the only one to use this strategy successfully. A few minutes after him, Circuit (3), who was shorter and weaker, tried. He fell face first into the fire and did not get up, his cannon sounding a few moments later.
Angelo and Alexandra were some of the closest to the central clearing, so it was after the three cannons that the fire reached them. They ran. Angelo was practically flying but the fire was catching up to Alexandra. Another tree cracked. It crashed onto the girl, pinning her legs to the ground. Thankfully, it was a much younger tree, and it did not cause her much more damage. For an instant, Alexandra thought the boy from 2 would just keep running. That he would be glad to get rid of yet another opponent. But he turned around. He used his axe as a lever, bending it in the process, to get the girl free. Then he picked her up onto his back and ran again. Angelo was not a very muscular tribute, but he proved to be quite a strong one.
Neither Carton, nor his allies had suffered any injury thanks to Vannery’s quick thinking. The creek was wide enough to protect them from the flames, and they avoided any falling branch. Quinoa (9) had had the same idea. She internally debated reaching the small group, but eventually decided not to. In the late afternoon, it started to rain, revealing that many of the trees and plants of the forest were actually fireproof. It was much sparser now, but the rain cleaned off the soot and, soon enough, the forest was green again.
Rivage, Vannery and Carton huddled together. They stayed that way for the whole evening, until Carton took the first watch while the other two went to sleep.
Delta was almost unharmed too, apart from a few minor burns on his ankles. The aspirin had taken effect, and for once in a long time, he felt totally clear headed. He hoped his district partner had died today.
The fire had changed the landscape quite a lot. What used to be a lush jungle was now less green. The ground was visible in most places, and the humidity levels had gone down. The sky was more visible. It also meant that the traps set by Georges and Odette (N) on the first day were either destroyed or very conspicuous. The boy from 6 avoided them all.
Delta found a pond where he cleaned himself from the soot and the half-charred moss. The fresh water also soothed his burns. He ended up settling close by, between two fallen trees.
Angelo and Alexandra, however, had suffered many burns. Fortunately, as they were setting camp and trying to remove their singed clothes, a silver parachute descended over them. It contained two containers of oil, as well as a blanket and a note from Angelo’s mentors, which he did not show to Alexandra. It would later be revealed that it scolded him for keeping his plan of betraying the career pack secret. The oil was perfumed and designed to almost instantly heal burns. It worked a charm. As the massaging continued, the two tributes started to get more and more steamy. They were intimate that night.
While they were busy, the portraits of the fallen appeared in the sky. The second day of the games had seen the loss of Glare (1), Proserpina (2), Circuit (3), Borea and Zapp (5), and Lavandine (11). This left only 11 tributes for the third day, with better odds now that a few strong tributes were gone.
Day 3:
On the morning of the third day, an announcement was made by Head Gamemaker Vishwa. She informed the tributes that a feast would be held at noon, three hours from now. The 11 surviving boys and girls would find supplies they desperately needed there. She then wished everyone a glorious day and the dampened sound of the birdsongs came back in full force.
The announcement awoke Delta, but he decided not to go to the Feast. He still had food and a source of water nearby, as well as his heavy branch. A real weapon would have been nice, but he didn’t feel safe going to the central clearing. Instead, he decided to just sleep more. He only woke up again when the first cannon sounded.
As for the couple, they were lost in bliss. Their show from the previous night had to be censored, although it was available for those who had enough “connections”. Let’s just say that it was quite memorable, and cemented Angelo and Alexandra’s place as favorites. They got ready after a long cuddling session, grabbing their bags and their weapons and heading to the cornucopia. They arrived with minutes to spare. Actually, they were the last tributes to arrive.
Vannery had been the first on site, scouting for other tributes. Once she had been sure the coast was clear, she had signaled to Rivage and Carton that they could come. They hid in the bushes nearby; this area having been spared from the fires. Little by little, other tributes started to arrive. Kumquat (11) hid behind a tree, Perfecto (1) stood in the open, Odette and Georges (N) huddled together.
As Quinoa (9) and the “Double A couple” finally arrived, the cornucopia started receding into the ground. It reappeared at once, and a bell rang.
Vannery stayed behind. She watched all the tributes run to the center where laid 8 numbered bags, including Carton and Rivage. The fighting raged in the cornucopia. Her allies attacked Alexandra and Angelo, as Kumquat escaped with his bag. Quinoa (9) almost got out, but Perfecto (1) caught her by the ponytail and stabbed her in the throat, sounding her cannon. He then picked up her bag in addition to his.
Alexandra and Angelo fought side to side, covering each other. She scared Odette (N) away, while he pushed back against Rivage. The boy from 4 tried to hit Alexandra again, but her ally caught the trident and almost tore it out of Rivage’s hands. Instead of trying again, he attacked Georges. The trident hit him in the back and sounded his cannon a few seconds later. Angelo took advantage of this distraction to slash at Carton with his sword, causing the boy from 8 to bleed out.
Vannery screamed and ran out of her hiding place, almost colliding with Odette (N) on the way. Rivage grabbed the district 4 and district 8 bags in one hand, and Vannery’s arm in the other, and they ran away together. The young girl cried and struggled to keep up the pace. She wanted to go back, but Carton’s cannon sounded, ruining her hopes.
Angelo and Alexandra were the last tributes to get their bags. One of Perfecto’s knives punctured Alexandra’s. The pair turned back, giving Kumquat (11) enough time to flee. They chased Perfecto into the woods. He was quick, however, and they had a hard time gaining on him.
The following hours were very quiet, boring, even, so Urania and Argus invited a few guests to discuss the bloodbath and the tributes’ different strategies. It was only in the late afternoon that Delta deigned getting up. He was well rested. He ate what remained of his food and started camouflaging himself once again in order to hunt. The tributes were now very spread out, however, and it appeared that Delta was in an area devoid of them. He walked until it got too dark to continue, before letting out a scream of rage. His sudden outburst scared some resting birds. They flew away and hit Kumquat (11) square in the face as he was in the process of climbing up one of the taller trees. The surprise caused him to lose his grip and he fell to his death a few feet away from Delta, his Feast bag laying next to him. Suddenly, Delta laughed and thanked the birds. He emptied the contents of the bag, glad to find some fresh food and water. He settled right there for the night.
Angelo and Alexandra eventually gave up on hunting Perfecto. Every time they thought they heard him; it turned out to be another bird. He was nowhere to be found. The pair settled down near a creek, right where Carton and his allies had camped earlier, in order to clean themselves. It was another spectacle to behold. The couple played in the fresh water, wearing only their underwear, and at one point, Alexandra winked at one of the cameras. This resulted in the appearance of a sponsor gift a few seconds later. She caught it and opened it discreetly once she was dressed again. She checked that Angelo was busy with the campfire before peeking inside. There was a water bottle and a tiny, sheathed stiletto knife, about two inches long. There was also a note that said : “You will only get one chance” – S. She acted nonchalant, thanked her sponsor for the water, and hid the knife in her sock. She took the first watch, jumping when a cannon sounded.
Since they had come back from the Feast, Vannery felt that Rivage was acting strange. He kept pacing and muttering to himself and seemed unhappy even though they had received enough supplies to last five more days in the arena at least. They found another place to sleep, Vannery built a new shelter. As she was about to go to sleep, Rivage approached her, trident in hand. He didn’t speak, so she asked him what he wanted. “I’m sorr-“ he started. Vannery interrupted him : “Behind you !”.
He spun around and threw his trident. It caught Perfecto in the head, sounding his cannon before he had hit the ground. He had been sneaking up behind Rivage with a knife in both hands, but Vannery had a keen eye. Rivage seemed to deflate. He cleaned up his weapon and went to sleep. Vannery tried to ask him what he wanted to tell her, but he didn’t answer. Instead, she took the first watch.
At midnight, five portraits appeared in the sky : Perfecto (1), Carton (8), Quinoa (9), Kumquat (11) and Georges (N). The six remaining tributes were spread out around the arena : Rivage and Vannery to the East, Angelo and Alexandra to the North, Odette (N) in the South and Delta to the West.
Day 4:
The sound of a cannon startled Delta out of his slumber. He was feeling well rested and decided to head to the cornucopia with just his branch and a knife he had taken from Kumquat. With only 5 remaining tributes, he knew that the showdown was about to take place and was about as excited as the viewers in the Capitol for it to happen. On the way, he stumbled upon a suspicious mound of leaves. He almost let it be, until he saw two feet poking out of it. As he bent down to look at it, a sharp pain entered his shoulder blade. By pure reflex, he swung his club backwards, hitting a barefoot Odette (N) in the forehead. She stumbled backwards, clutching her knife, and tripped on a rock. Delta jumped onto her, planting his knee in her stomach, and stabbed her with her own knife. He added it to his “collection”.
The atmosphere between Alexandra and Angelo had been quite tense since they’d woken up. They hadn’t slept so well. When the first cannon sounded, they set out to get to the cornucopia, and by the time the second cannon echoed throughout the arena, they were in position. “We’ll fight together, right ?” asked Alexandra. Angelo nodded solemnly : “Until there’s no one else. I’m so glad I got to meet you.”
“Me too… Too bad one of us will have to die.”
As she said those words, a twig cracked in a nearby bush.
The first cannon had shocked the viewers quite a bit. As Rivage finished his watch, he looked at Vannery, asleep next to him. He murmured “I’m sorry”, so low that it had to be subtitled. Then he plunged his trident in her throat. Before leaving, Rivage let out the longest sigh of relief.
Alexandra climbed onto the cornucopia, hiding herself, a length of rope held tight between her hands. She waited as Rivage entered the clearing. He was focused on Angelo. Delta appeared a few seconds later, on the other side of the cornucopia. He walked under it, oblivious to the girl awaiting him. As Angelo charged Rivage with his sword, Alexandra lowered the rope. Delta let out a choked growl as she pulled. He was much stronger, however. With one labored step, he yanked her off the roof. The rope was still around his neck, but his hands were now around Alexandra’s. Nevertheless, she held on to the rope, using it to hold him at bay. Just before she fell unconscious, she kicked him in the groin. She let out a few coughs, before grabbing the two ends of the rope again and pulling Delta against one of the steel columns of the cornucopia. Delta tried to stab her, but she was behind him, and he was quickly loosing consciousness. With one last brutal pull, the rope crushed his windpipe.
Alexandra watched Angelo dispose of Rivage with one final feint of his sword, and his cannon sounded at the same time as Delta’s.
Silence fell on the clearing. Even the birds had shut up. The couple was breathing heavily. They hugged tight. Something glinted in Alexandra’s hand. She almost reached Angelo’s neck when he gripped her wrist. He smiled, but his eyes were full of sorrow. “I had to try at least !” she half-laughed, half-whimpered. He sat her down and hugged her once again. She told him that he deserved to win. That he was a good man. He took his swords and gently stabbed Alexandra in the heart. She barely cried as he looked into her eyes. A cannon sounded. The last one. Jahani Vishwa announced Angelo Clearfell, of district 2, as the victor of the 119th Hunger Games. He had to be forcefully removed form Alexandra’s corpse in order to be retrieved.
Aftermath:
The games took an immense toll on Angelo, who was unable to speak for more than a month. Even when he had gotten the use of his words back, he fell into a lengthy depression. His interview with Urania Whimsiwick and Argus Brown had to be cut short as soon as they mentioned Alexandra.
After that, he remained alone in his home of the Victor’s village. He received no guests and did not act as a mentor the following years. The other victors of his district described him as “disillusioned” and “a killjoy”. The situation stayed the same until his disappearance two years later.

It's finally there... I really liked writing this one.
The 119th Hunger Games took place in the year 155. The past few months had been quite tense following the events in district N. After the terrorist attacks, more and more inhabitants started voicing their ire and demanding to be returned to their primitive ways. By some unknown means, they managed to communicate with districts 12 and 3, where some acts of defiance were noticed. Fortunately, a greater influx of peacekeepers helped keep the situation manageable.
However, it was under greater surveillance that Annie Sandler, victor of the 118th Hunger Games, officiated the reapings. The additional measures included more peacekeepers as well as a systematic search of anyone entering the reaping square. Annie was relieved to leave district N, continuing the reapings on the following days.
In the afternoon of the second day, a disheveled Annie arrived in district 8. Being quite late due to all the security precautions, she was allowed to skip the visit of a new rug factory. Mayor Smith seemed a little disappointed as he welcomed her.
Without wasting any time, the young woman approached the big glass bowl and picked a random slip of paper. She called up Vannery Gleason to the stage. The 13 years old girl stood at the front of the enclosure. When she heard her name, she almost fainted. Two other girls brought her to the nearest peacekeepers, and they helped her up. She was tiny, with a short mane of messy blond hair and a long pointy nose.
While Vannery cowered between the peacekeepers, Annie picked a name from the male reaping bowl, quickly settling on 16 years old Carton Abbassi. The boy walked to the front of the enclosure, expressionless, his terra cotta colored skin ever so slightly paling. He shook hands with the victor and the mayor and stood next to Vannery. He nervously played with his long black hair while mayor Smith gave a closing speech and urged the citizens to go back to their work.
The pair were urged to their holding rooms within the city hall, where they could only meet with two people due to the security measures taking place. For the entire time that was allotted, Vannery cried in her older sister’s lap. Her face was dirty with tears and dust, and when her sister tried to wipe them, it became even more stained due to the dyes she worked with all day long. They did not exchange many words, only hugging tightly and attempting to reassure each other. They both cried as they were separated because they only had each other.
Carton kept his calm. His stoic attitude was shared with his father and grandfather. The three men spoke almost casually about Carton’s reaping. They had been very aware of the possibility of it happening. They shared some advice and spoke a bit about the mentor of district 8, who lived almost as a recluse in her house. Carton hugged his relatives before heading to the train station, where a sniffling Vannery was already waiting.
Organza Duval (victor of the 105th Hunger Games) waited for them in the carriage, her ample form towering over the both of them. The thirty years old woman seemed in a strangely joyful mood, which could probably be explained by her co-mentor and sworn enemy Kaplan Templesmith dying of old age a week earlier. She welcomed the tributes, inviting them to get comfortable, while an avox brought food on the table. Organza warned them to be reasonable with the food in order not to get sick, advice which they both followed.
Carton was the most talkative of the two, although he was humble and well meaning. Before all, he proposed to ally with Vannery. The girl nodded wearily and continued nibbling on her celery stalk. He then talked about his family’s hat business. He was realistic about his chances, having no useful skill in the arena. “I had no skill either, you know. It’s all about luck, explained Organza. If it wasn’t, the careers would win every year”.
During the rest of the train ride, they watched Organza’s games. Vannery started asking more questions and participating in the conversation. As the train approached the Capitol, she went to the bathroom in order to clean herself up a little. She got rid of all but the blue smudge on her cheek.
When they finally arrived in Crane station, there wasn’t much of a crowd waiting for them. Organza was a very unpopular victor, and district 8 didn’t have a great track record. As their mentor stood in the background, almost hiding behind her afro, Vannery and Carton shyly shook a few hands and signed a few notebooks.
The greetings didn’t last long, and the tributes climbed into the limousine waiting for them. Once they were settled in their apartment, their stylist came to meet them. She was the angles to Organza’s curves, skinny and tall. Platonia Travers intimidated Vannery and Carton immediately. She gave them an intense look-over before claiming that she had seen enough and would be there tomorrow at 7 am sharp. The mentor reassured their mentees, saying that Platonia was severe but was “one of the few with a heart”.
She indeed came back the next morning at 7, accompanied by two associates who took the tributes’ measurements. While they were being manhandled, Organza turned on the television to watch the reaping in district 6.
It was much cloudier than the day before in district 6, which was not helped by the heavy smoke that hung in the air. Urania Whimsiwick, who had been joined again by her former co-host Argus Brown, complained about mayor Karpov’s long-winded speech. He eventually stopped, out of breath but with a smug look on his face. Annie proceeded to pick the female tribute, after which the smug look melted off mayor Karpov’s face. “Alexandra Karpov”, she called. A 17-year-old girl gasped and stifled a cry of despair. She had long chestnut hair that dangled down to her lower back and a very pretty face. She looked at the mayor, who happened to be her father, in despair. He avoided her gaze.
Feeling the tension, Annie hurried to pick the male tribute. She called 18 years old Delta Rossini to the stage. There was a short pause before a lumbering young man with dark hair and dark eyes made his way to the front. His gait was unsteady, Argus speculating that it was because of the morphling.
Mayor Karpov cut his closing speech short in order to join his daughter in the city Hall. She stood in the middle of the room, distraught, while her father and her mother (who had just arrived) hugged her tightly. Alexandra wept with them for a while. Then, she seemed to get herself back together, and she told her parents to be strong for her. There wasn’t much else to talk about, and none of them had any useful advice to share.
Meanwhile, Delta snored inside his holding room. His mother had come to see him but had promptly left when she understood that he was under the influence. He only woke up once the peacekeepers came to collect him, which made him grumpy. He barely acknowledged his district partner. They climbed into the carriage, only to be welcomed by the grumpy faces of their mentors, Sean Callahan and Halifax Devon (victor of the 111th Hunger Games).
Sean invited the pair to sit at a table, to which Alexandra promptly obliged. Delta, on the other hand slumped into a sofa. “Don’t worry, he’ll wake up when the drugs stop working. Right now, he’s high as a Capitolite’s hat.” Claimed Halifax. “I’ll get him through the withdrawal, you two go on.» Then he left, avoiding his female mentee’s gaze.
“So, your father is the mayor ?” asked Sean, trying to strike up a conversation. She nodded. There wasn’t much else to say, Alexandra thought. She could write, and count, and knew a lot about Panem’s history. She knew that it wouldn’t help her in the arena though. Sean told her that it was okay. All she needed was to keep her wits to herself. He showed her reels of past victors who had had no former training but instead relied on their intelligence or were just lucky.
When the train arrived in Crane station, Delta had just emerged from his slumber. Halifax sat in front of him. He gave him a pill and a glass of water, which the boy took without hesitation. It helped calm the headache. Now that he was more or less sober, Delta finally realized the situation he was in. His mentor ordered him to keep calm, and that they would think of a strategy once they were done with the parade.
The welcome was relatively warm, although it was still earlier in the morning. The sparse crowd gravitated more towards Alexandra, who appeared more “civilized” to them. She spoke to them politely, being used to wealthier people. She wished to follow her father’s footsteps. Delta was a little clumsier with his interactions, but still well behaved considering the situation. Halifax and Sean shook a few hands too, and they all made their way to the accommodation center.
Perseus Allfield, their stylist waited for them in the apartment. The pair didn’t have the time to take in their surroundings that they were being measured by half a dozen seamstresses. It appeared that Perseus had already chosen the pair’s outfit for tonight’s parade. While they were being dressed, Alexandra couldn’t help but notice that people frequently came to knock at the door, asking for random things. She could swear she saw Halifax hand a piece of paper to Alix Goldberg, who had come to ask for deodorant.
Parade :
Carton and Vannery hesitantly went down to the stables on the night of the parade. They both wore pantsuits made of a heavy embroidered fabric. It was itchy and rigid, like a rug, and of course entirely black and white. Organza hadn’t accompanied them, since she was busy discussing with another stylist, Garner Townsend. At least, Carton said, they didn’t look as ridiculous as the pair from 9. Vannery, instead of looking back, stared at the careers, who were already creating a pack. The four of them approached the tributes from 4, but Sardine and Rivage seemed to refuse their proposal.
Two chariots over, Alexandra struggled to climb into her carriage. Delta helped her up, giving her a crooked smile. She thanked him awkwardly. The pair’s outfits were indeed incredibly heavy, made out of slowly rotating gears. Making them work had been an excruciating ordeal. Between them and the pair from 8 was the carriage of district 7. Sean came over to them, kissing his fiancé, Edmund Carrell, passionately. Ulma and Fraxen did not react, nor did they respond to Carton waving at them.
Soon enough, the parade began, with Argus Brown leaving his seat to head of Anderson fashion Corneo Anderson alongside Urania Whimsiwick. Both were unhinged that night, and they tore apart almost every outfit. Perfecto and Glare’s (1) were too shiny, Hattie (3) looked like she had tried to wear her grandma’s dress, and they even made fun of the pair from 5, even though they ended up winning best dressed this year.
Delta and Alexandra followed right after, in what Corneo Anderson described as “a pair of ambulatory scrapyards”. The girl tried her best to smile through the ordeal, and waved even though her arm was 15 pounds heavier than usual. She held on to Delta, who had turned as grey as the steel he was wearing. Halifax had helped him deal with the withdrawal symptoms, but the moving cart was still very harrowing to him.
Carton and Vannery did not make much of an impression. They waved and smiled, but very few people actually paid attention to them. They were too busy laughing at the pair from 9, whose straw outfits were indeed hilarious.
The carriages then all made their way to the end of the Avenue of The Tributes, where President Crane gave her annual opening speech. This time, she spoke about peace. She asked the rebelling districts to think of their future. Of their children. She said that unity was the only way to move forward as a nation. That everyone had to do their part.
Some tributes were seen scoffing, but no punitive actions were taken against this display of defiance. Instead, President Crane wished everyone a happy Hunger Games and dismissed them. Everyone came back to their accommodations, where they prepared for bed.
This year, even Organza Duval attended to the rooftop party, where she remained with Alix Goldberg and Solano Luongo for the entire time. Other tributes such as Galvany Driscoll and Orlando Cascade occasionally joined them for a chat. Their conversations could not be heard over the loud music unfortunately.
Training :
Training began on the next morning. Waking up proved a tough affair for Delta, who had been suffering for the entire night. His fever had dropped thanks to some special medicine his mentor had given him, but the ache in his muscles remained. Even speaking caused him pain. Nevertheless, he endured and pushed through in order to make it downstairs. Carmelo Harrington, the head trainer, gave him a disapproving look before starting his usual warning speech.
As soon as the speech ended, Delta asked Alexandra to be his ally, since they were district partners. She gave him a once over, then reluctantly agreed. He suggested they train at the survival station, but she told him she needed to be alone for a while. He went by himself, and clumsily learned to build a fire. No other tribute seemed willing to approach his station, so he spent the next couple of days unimpeded.
While her district partner fluttered from station to station, Alexandra spent the almost entirety of the first day learning to fight with a knife, then a sword. She had obviously no experience, but thanks to the help of the trainer, she managed to improve a lot in such a short amount of time. She beat Odette (N) and Kumquat (11). Seeing she was a little too confident to her taste, Proserpina (2) challenged her too. This fight Alexandra lost almost immediately, and while trying to avoid another one of the girl’s strikes, she fell backwards onto Angelo (2). They tumbled down. He helped her get back up, which annoyed the rest of the career pack even more.
For the next day and a half, Alexandra and Angelo always seemed to end up in the same stations. They tried to speak a little but every time another member of the career pack interrupted them. On the last day of training, Angelo asked the girl if she wanted to join him (in the alliance of course !). She knew the others did not want her and told him so. She was right. He thought a moment before saying that they could find a way to work together.
While this surprising friendship was taking place, Carton and Vannery trained together. They mostly kept to the survival stations, not having the confidence to handle weapons. In the textile station, they encountered Sardine and Rivage (4) who taught them to make fishing nets in exchange of them showing them ways to build a textile-based shelter. They hit it off so well that they agreed to work together in the arena. Rivage and Sardine were both tall and strong fighters. They taught a bit of fighting skills to the pair from 8, but Carton was much more adept at recognizing toxic plants, while Vannery excelled at weaving and basketry.
At the end of the training, the tributes were gathered in order to be evaluated. After Zapp (5), Alexandra was called inside the Black room. She was nervous but managed to keep her trembling in check. She asked for a trainer to be brought in so she could demonstrate her knife fighting skills. She showed decent improvement, although she got tired quite quickly. She exited the Black room with a satisfied smirk.
Delta followed her, and he was quite angry. He didn’t understand why his ally refused to train with him even though she constantly reassured him that they still would work together in the arena. The assessment was a perfect way to vent out his anger. He grabbed various weights and threw them around. He broke a few mannequins with his display of strength. After that little controlled tantrum, he felt better.
Some time later, Fraxen (7) exited the room and Vannery was called in. For some time, she fought against a fainting spell, which made her loose precious time. Some of the assessors were already going back to the buffet. Eventually, she weaved a piece of armor out of wicker in a record time. No one was watching her anymore though, so she climbed up a pillar to get to the upper floor, shocking the assessors with her stealth and dexterity. In the end, they barely even noticed her weaving.
Carton followed. He was undecided as to what he should show the assessors. He tried a bit of everything, with unconclusive results. Once he got back to the apartment, Organza reassured him, saying that the training scores didn’t mean anything.
While they were being dressed for that evening’s interviews, the tributes watched their training scores being announced. As was usual, the career pack scored the best points, with Glare and Perfecto (1) getting an 11, followed by Angelo, Proserpina (2) and Rivage (4) who got a 10.
There were quite a few decent scorers this year, with a 9 being given to Ulma (7) and Delta. Following them with an 8 were Alexandra and Vannery as well as Fraxen (7), Borea (5) and Georges (N). Carton got a mediocre 5, which was not as terrible as he had thought but still not very high. He shared this score with Zapp (5).
Interviews:
That evening, the interviews took place in a full to the brim Ravinstill hall. Urania Whimsiwick and Argus Brown welcomed the audience and were given a thunder of applause. They had coordinated their outfits to wear clothes typical of tourists. Urania’s turquoise sundress and wide brimmed straw hat reminded viewers of the bright sea and the thatch parasols, while Argus wore a flowy shirt with a tiger fur pattern and bedazzled flip flops. The crowd roared with laughter when Urania poured a glass of champagne for each of them and promised Argus not to attack him with the bottle.
The first interview was that of Glare (1), who proved to be as sharp and dry as she looked. Her district partner Perfecto was friendlier at first, but many Capitolites found him very whiny. Proserpina (2) was almost identical to Glare, and only Angelo appeared to have a semblant of heart, which experts later debated could be his downfall.
The hosts went down the list of tributes, the panel this year being very diverse. The pairs from districts 4 and 5 were among the favorites this year, with charismatic duos. Eventually, it was time for Alexandra to enter, clad in a light grey silk gown. Her long hair had been braided with silver thread, and she was positively stunning. She also appeared at ease on stage, answering Urania’s questions and jokingly flirting with Argus. She was asked about her unlikely friendship with Angelo (2), but like he had earlier, she responded that he had been nothing more than a friendly opponent. Argus then asked about her family, as another Karpov had participated in the 111th Games. Alexandra barely knew her, as she was from another branch of the family.
Once her imparted time was over, Alexandra left the stage, followed by cheers and applause. Delta entered, wearing a suit of the same color as her dress, although it did not fit him that well. He looked at the hosts’ outfits with confusion. Urania had to repeat her first question three times to snap him out of his trance, and it soon appeared that Delta was not in his element. He answered the next questions on the first try, but in a robotic voice. Urania, Argus, as well as the viewers, quickly grew bored of the boy, who only seemed to wake up to complain about his district partner refusing to spend time with him. He received some polite applause as he left the stage and Ulma entered.
After Fraxen’s underwhelming interview, Vannery was asked on stage. She had been given a pink and crème tulle dress, Urania commenting that she looked like a “particularly appetizing cupcake”. Vannery wobbled on stage and to her chair. She managed not to faint, which in itself was a miracle, but it was clear that she was terrified. Argus asked her about her strategy for the arena, and she said that she had allies she could count on, and that her small frame could help her hide quite easily. In the end, she had managed to endear herself to the Capitol, even though her winning odds were still of 1 to 60.
Carton followed Vannery, clad in a mauve tuxedo, his dark mane neatly attached. He appeared more confident than his district partner. After a short round of compliments, the interview really started. Unfortunately for him, Carton did not have a lot to say about himself. He had no passion, no funny anecdote to talk about, so after the usual questioning, the hosts decided to end the interview. Later, Urania would comment that the only thing interesting about Carton was his hair.
The interviews continued on, with Quinoa (9) asking the hosts for a glass of champagne, Lavandine (11) running out of the stage after a whopping 12 seconds and her district partner Kumquat raving about Capitolite cuisine for 15 minutes. Only the cousins from district N, Georges and Odette, made a better impression. Although they were both homely and physically unremarkable, they proved to be good strategists and survivalists.
Before closing the ceremony, Head Gamemaker Jahani Vishwa was invited to talk a little about her work. She reviewed last year’s arena, which had now been turned into a holiday destination, then gave an exposé about the weather in the arenas and how it was controlled. As always, Jahani Vishwa refused to say anything but a single hint : for this arena, the biggest challenge had been redesigning the microphones. Then, Argus and Urania wished everyone a Happy Hunger Games.

I've been tasked to create automated testing for a tool that a 3rd party company is building.
In the past, we've noticed that the search form filters can be very broken. (Not all records show up, Additional records show up, no records show up, using two working filters together can cause any of the previous issues).
To add context, I don't have access to the code or the ability to create a mock database to run my tests against. I've built most of my other tests using Selenium and lastly, there are 100+ filters.
My current approach was to use an API I dug out of the site to return a subset of all records and I was going to get my test script to determine which records from this master list should appear based on the filter it was testing. Since the data is live I have to download a new master list each time which is not good, but it gets worse I just noticed that the API call doesn't return all fields that can be filtered and that the second and third API calls needed can't be used to efficiently get the missing fields for the master list (The 2nd and 3rd API calls are GET requests with the list of records being queried being passed through the URL).
​
I'm back to square one.
I was thinking of testing a single record and seeing if the search results include this record but this doesn't test for the possibility of additional records being included in the search and or records being omitted.
​
How would you go about creating a test script with the greatest amount of coverage in this situation?
Any idea would be greatly appreciated.

Scar streaming with Gnembon to feature 1.20 but starts off by showing him Scarland. (HC will not update for a few weeks until all their mods are updated.)
Scar starts off his 1.20 questions with one from Etho

Part 1
Part 2

Most builders have no idea what [insert redstone block here] does.
Scar brings up Etho’s pet peeve.

I have a Resmed AirSense™ 10 Elite -Tripack 3G, and a UPS that provides square wave output. We have many power outages and sometimes lightning storms that can kill electric/electronic devices. So for that reason, I am always unwilling to run my CPAP off of the mains power supply.
I did purchase a UPS for my computer, and wondered if my CPAP would work fine on it. So after some research online, I decided to try it out, and it works just fine. No damage to the device. Will report back after a full night of actual use.

Platform(s): browser based game (i believe it was on coolmaths dot com and on mac computers with safari)
Genre: physics, logic, puzzle, rube goldberg-esque/contraption based, ball game
Estimated year of release: guesstimate is between 2005 - 2011-- the middle late 00s, basically
Graphics/art style: limited 3D pov , semi-realistic? it had pretty good detailed shading and wasn't pixel-y
Notable characters: N/A
Notable gameplay mechanics: a marble/ball would pop out of some sort of pipe or dispenser, and the point of the game was to use trampolines/vaults, springs like in pinball machines, barriers, and buttons that would trigger some sort of reaction to get the marble/ball to some sort of goal or hole at the end. you could make the ball be pushed, rolled, jumped via a trampoline, or catapulted with the previously mentioned "parts". once you were satisfied with your layout, you could test to see if it worked, but you couldn't actively interfere or change anything once you triggered it.
Other details: i think there were two game modes; one where you solved an already made puzzle, and another where you could make your own. there was a menu off to the side where you could pick the "parts" you wanted, but i'm not sure if that was in both modes or just the sandbox one. the perspective was stuck in one place, but it was physically 3D like you were looking down on a boardgame on top of a cube. it was almost like a customizable pinball machine game, but it was confined to a square shape in both modes.
the colors were mostly light blue/gray, and there was hardly any dark colors outside of shading and the only saturated areas were from the "parts" that could be inserted or moved around, and i think the bright colors were limited to green, red and yellow and possibly blue.
i know i played the game when i was in elementary school (and i'm in my early 20s now) when we went to the computer lab, but also that it was accessible from home as well.
thanks!

2023 was my 4th attempt of UPSC CSE and there is 99.99 % chance that I am failing in the Prelims. The only saving grace being that I was a working aspirant.
When you are a newcomer full of energy, the thought of failing never occurs in your mind. No one enters this process thinking about failure. YouTube videos, coaching testimonials, all paint a starry-eyed world of glitz and glamour, embellishing the toppers with some sort of invincible aura. An aspirant like us hopes that some day, he too will see himself rising to the top.
No beginner seriously thinks about what they will do if they fail in consecutive attempts.
When I tell some people the importance of having a backup, the newcomers or first timers accuse me of demotivating them. They think that since I could not clear it, I am using the psychological coping mechanism of sour grapes and spreading cynicism. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Imagine this- You, a newcomer, are starting prep at the age of 21 or 22. The build up + 1st attempt takes roughly 2 years. By that time, you have crossed 23. Now you say, I will still prepare for UPSC. Great. Then you fail in another attempt. 1 more year gone. 3 years, 2 attempts. And you are back to square one at age 24. Then, with all your determination you give another attempt (3rd), you clear the pre, the mains, and then after the interview, you find that your name is nowhere in the final list. Now what ? 4 years gone. What do you have in your hand ? 4 years since your degree, where are you ? Your peers are in the private sector, earning lakhs. Some married, some with children. But some of you aspirants will still fall into the sunk cost fallacy and double down on giving another 3 attempts. By that time, you are 28 or 29. All your 20s gone down the drain.
The worst thing that happened to this exam is when the government generously granted a total of 6 attempts to aspirants (2 additional as compared to 4 earlier). They established a buffet, but even in a buffet, only a complete fool would try to consume everything.
The sheer amount of time and energy wasted by nearly 10 lakh young people of our country every year is staggering. Think about the opportunity cost, the time lost, the loss to the economy of the nation. In which other country of the world do so many people spend so much time hankering after one exam ?
Plan B is important. Even the best fighter jets still have an ejection seat and a parachute. If you are a first timer in UPSC, ignore this at your own peril.

I'd like any one to share if they have experienced individual settlers conflicting with another individual and effecting settlement happiness in fallout 4. Ive been doing a lot of testing and would appreciate any new information to add to my data pool. Im not accounting for institute synths impersonating settlers, nor robots aside from codsworth as their happiness caps differently than typical settlers. So far ive discovered if post drug recovery mamma murphey lives in sanctuary by herself, (as she cannot be relocated,) she conflicts with pre recovery cait, hancock, and oddly enough the vault tec rep when id sent each to live with her one at a time to attempt to pinpoint who had an issue with who. Logically it makes since that cait or hancock would conflict with the now sober mamma murphy, but does anyone know why she conflicts with the vault tec rep when its only her and him in sanctuary? Oddly enough, the vault tech guy works great with cait, piper, deacon, valentine, sheffield, sturges, preston, marcy, jun, and strong (surprisingly, considering a few of them dislike you recruiting him when present, but dont mind being his neighbor) at the red rocket. hancock conflicts with the vault tech guy in any location as he doesnt like you recruiting him and relocating him from goodneighbor, so i had hancock at abernathy during these tests. Danse conflics with hancock and i suspect the vault tech rep, but I have yet to test danse individually with anyone to confirm. im currently testing him in a different isolated settlement due to multiple settlers taking issue with him, or the other way around. He just really hates gouls i guess. Codsworth conflicts with some of the settlers, I haven't pinpointed who, but i supspect hed conflict with hancock and pre recovery cait based on when i moved him out of RR with them in it and that settlements happiness returning to 80 when he was fine with all the other settlers, prior to cait and hancock being there. I'm guessing he dissaproves of their drug use. The robot drinking buddy can boost settler happiness, and in some instances lower it. I believe he conflicts with sober mamma murphey. some followers like or dislike you recruiting him, so ones who dislike it may conflict with him in the same settlement. When drinking buddy was placed in a settlement with one settler who likes (cait) and one who dislikes (strong) keeping him, it did not raise or lower the settler happiness. i also plan on saving, killing mamma murphy in secret, then sending one "problem" individual at a time to sanctuary to confirm if any individuals just dont like sanctuary itself. Maybe the vault tech guy is all ptsd'd out with sanctuary in particular, perhaps its a glitch. Additionally, it would be neat to see how pre recovery mamma murphey would respond to the same situations, or how a post recovery cait would respond to post recovery mamma murphey. For the purposes of the test, I did not use any settlement items that cause happiness since im trying to isolate the cause of individual settler conflicts, and am not trying to throw in such factors that could skew results. settler happiness caps at a static 80 when all their needs are met and beds are "sheltered," provided there isnt a temporary happiness or sadness boost occurring. Please do not recommend that i use shops or any other settlement happiness items to mitigate the settler personality conflicts as i am seeking DATA with the goal of trying to address them or at least get a better understanding of how to better work with/around them, as opposed to covering it up, be it a bug or a feature. that suggestion does not remotely help here or in any situation where there is a cause for the lower the happiness cap, preventing the items from raising the happiness any further after a point. For example, Ive had settlements be at 100 with all the happiness items, but when that was mitigated by one settler personality conflict, or a resourse conflict, (such as a bed not being recognized as "sheltered,") adding countless happiness boosting items did not raise it back or even prevent it from dropping until the root issue is resolved. And yet any . Essentially, you'd be wasting time planting infinite shops in vain, until youve corrected for that. Ideally, i just want to collect all the data i need first so that i can then go from there as to where i want to place settlers based on that information, and THEN add settlement happiness items once that's all squared away. If someone wanted to condense all these factors into a cohesive post later on using any information ive provided, go for it. Do with this information what you will. So far, very little of what i mentioned was on the wiki, so i started testing it all myself and thought i'd share my findings with yall in exchange for your useful data. I rarely make my own posts, but i cant find anywhere talking about any of this.

Hi guys. Thanks so much for all the responses on my previous post. I loved reading all the comments, esp since it was my first post. I’ve taken some of the suggestions, keep in mind this is still a work in progress.
I ordered the next smaller sized rug to play around with and I’m not sure I love it. I think I’ll roll out the original bigger one and place the entire couch over it.
Our rectangular walnut coffee table is arriving tomorrow. I bought white linen pillow covers for the couch. I added the white vase next to the couch. All the vases pictured are empty, some are some intentionally. I am waiting for a stem to arrive.
I moved the couch off the wall but not sure I like that, I feel that pushing it back against the wall will maximize the space I have. I also included pictures of the rest of the living room so you can better the whole place.
I am also looking for a cool wall art to go over the couch so let me know if you have ideas! Send links!
Lastly: to those who said add drapes for privacy/aesthetic reasons: it already has shades, I just had it rolled up in the original post. I would love to add white linen curtains but that may be a future project. Along with a window box planter with fresh plants for the window to replace the faux green plant.
Thanks for reading! Appreciate thoughts/ideas and all comments.

Side by side, we continued on our path, skirting through the lower section of the factory. After my initial shock, my heart rate had slowed to a healthier pace again. Frankie had assured me that his old boss most likely hadn’t heard us (“She used to have her earbuds in all the time with the volume cranked way up—you couldn’t have gotten her attention if you’d tried”), but we still considered it prude to move forward at a more hurried pace.
We soon came to the conclusion that we would have to go up one of the outside staircases. Frankie admitted in humiliation that his memories of the factory weren’t as accurate as he’d thought—either that or FunFlair had made a few changes to the building. The upper floor containers all had glass doors, presenting us with a sticky problem. If we were to go up there directly, we’d probably be spotted immediately.
“This warrants a change of plans,” I declared soberly, keeping my voice low. “We’ll have to knock her out, then.”
Frankie whimpered.
“Wouldn’t you like that?” I prompted. “I’d be the one to do it, of course.”
“Ye-es.” He shuddered. “It’d be satisfactory for sure, but that’s only assuming nothing goes wrong.”
“She can hardly be stronger than I am.”
“No. I guess not. She, uh… yeah.”
“Let’s go, then.” I offered an encouraging smile as I started leading the way back outside.
We rounded the container with the lights on inside, ascending the metal grate staircase connected to it. Every step carried us closer towards the light. Just before the door fully came into view, I turned to Frankie one last time. “Are you alright? This’ll be it in a moment.”
He made another chew-toy sound.
“Fran, what is it? If you know something I don’t about what might happen in there…”
“She shouldn’t see me,” he squeaked out. “I can’t control myself around her.”
“I don’t understand; did you two use to be an item?”
“No! No, no, no. I can’t explain it any other way. She can make me do things I don’t want,” he told me, his tone growing in desperation.
“How?”
“It’d take too long to explain now, it’s… it’s really very complicated. Please, can you do it without me? I can’t go up there after all, I’m so sorry but I can’t…”
I sighed, leaning in to put my arms around him. “It’s okay,” I whispered into his hair. “I’ll do it. Wait here.”
“I’m so, so sorry, Eva. I swear I’ll make it up to you. This is the last time I’ll ask something like this of you.”
“I doubt it,” I replied. “But it’s okay.” I drew back, reluctantly letting go of him. “For now, it’s okay.” I continued marching up the stairs. Behind the glass door, a feminine figure in a black rubber apron came into view. She seemed to be nimbly skirting around another operating table, this one occupied by a fully formed, petite doll. Now or never. I reached for the doorhandle, pushed it down and crossed the threshold in a single, large step. I slammed the door shut behind my back, drawing the attention of the woman.
She looked up at me, her eyes widening in shock behind her thick glasses. With a swipe of her slender fingers, she removed her earbuds, dropping them into her pocket.
“Are you Philomena Wallis?” I asked.
For a split second, she appeared to be too stunned to speak. Her pale face was framed by messy strands of jet-black hair that had worked their way out of her long ponytail. When she broke from her silence, she spoke with an irritatingly pearly voice. “Who’s asking?”
“A former delivery girl. Well, are you?”
“I am. I don’t understand; I-I’ve never seen you before… How did you end up here? What do you want?”
I took in a deep breath. I glanced over at the door, inwardly cursing myself for what I was about to ask her. “I need to know what you did to Frankie Preston.”
For a couple seconds, silence reigned. The other woman was staring at me with knotted brows. “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” she said finally.
“About yay high—,” I raised my hand above my head, “slightly built, blond curly hair, dreamy smile…”
Philomena narrowed her eyes. I cleared my throat, holding her gaze. Then a look of cold comprehension settled on her features. “Oh my god,” she muttered. “Holy shit… hold on.” She turned around, pulling up a photo on her computer. “Is that him?”
I cautiously stepped closer to get a better look, only to shrink back slightly. It was, indeed, a picture of Fran. He was entirely naked in it, lying on a table similar to the one I was standing in front of now, his wrists and ankles locked in restraints. His neck was craned, his face averted. The camera had caught him mid-motion, a blur around his head visually conveying a kind of violence in the movement. I couldn’t bear to look at it any longer. Instead, I moved closer to the doll on Philomena’s table, taking her in fully. Another blonde—her hair was straight, though. Her body was exaggeratedly curvy, her face delicate and fawn. Speechless, I locked eyes with Philomena from across the room again. She gave me a light shrug. “You look like you need some time for this to sink in,” she remarked, drawing out the words. “I take it you didn’t have all the information previously.”
“That’s okay,” I replied. “I think I get it now.” My head felt empty, my own voice seemingly echoing back and forth between my ears.
“So, you know my prototype,” she stated, confusion and disbelief mixing in her tone. “He told you how to get here, then?”
“In a way.”
“And you came here to find out,” she concluded. “There’s not much I can tell you that you haven’t figured out by now. We wanted to create the most detailed doll there was. He was our first attempt. I started developing him back in the late nineties as just a hopeful pet project. I kept adding more functions as time went on, though, and he turned into an insanely lucrative prospect. I wanted him to be able to move and dance and mimic an airflow, and it worked out better than I’d ever expected. So he can do a lot of things, but I never intended for him to have any sensory awareness or to talk… I have no idea how that happened. It just did. One day, I turned him on and he simply looked at me. There was something different about his eyes, and I knew right away he wasn’t the same as before. And then of course he spoke.”
A shudder ran through her entire upper body at the memory. “I have no idea how. None of us did at the time. He had no recorded voice lines or anything of the sort. And yet, he opened up his mouth and there was just… words coming out, like.” She shook her head in bewilderment at the memory. “After I got over the initial shock, I realized how big of a problem this was. He was telling me to stay away from him; he wouldn’t do a thing I told him anymore. There was my best invention in the entire field yet, rebelling like a teenager. When I tried to get him back in line, he got physical, too. Thrashed around like crazy. One of my assistants ended up concussed because that thing threw him down a flight of stairs. So we had to put an end to that, as well.”
A faint feeling of nausea seeped into the pit of my stomach, strengthening by the second. “What did you do?”
“Well, we had to take him apart, of course! And put him back together. Wash, rinse, repeat. We kept trying to figure out what was wrong with him, or at least to find a way to stop his babbling and hitting people. We didn’t, though. We managed to control his outbursts, though. He was made to react to voice commands, but obviously, that wasn’t working anymore. So after the umpteenth time we rebuilt him, we managed to make it so he couldn’t physically attack people. Don’t ask me about the finer details of his programming; the process was beyond tedious. Anyways, he kept talking and moving around on his own even afterwards. He’d only listen to what we told him occasionally and even then, he’d mouth off. We didn’t want to discard all the progress we’d made, though. He was still an incredibly well-made doll, even if he was… apparently possessed and sentient.
“We built two more like him. We tried harder with their faces seeing as that of the prototype had fallen very far into the uncanny valley. They turned out great, perfectly shaped and working smoothly. Their development took a lot less time than that of the prototype. Once we were sure they were all good, we started talking about destroying the first one. We’d kept him locked up in the meantime, but the little fucker kept on breaking out. We’d literally cuff him to the wall and moments later, he’d come up behind me and scare me half to death. He was becoming a bigger nuisance every day. We were set on taking him apart a final time, but before we could, he disappeared. He’d destroyed all our equipment he’d gotten his hands on, stolen unnameable sums from our online banking accounts—Lord knows how he did that—and worst of all, he somehow managed to… activate the two new builds. He destroyed most of the cameras, but the footage that was left clearly showed them walking around with him. And that’s that.” She palmed her forehead. “How did he get away from the people I sent after him?”
“Largely with my help.”
“Huh. So who are you?”
“Still just a former delivery girl.” Shrugging off my jacket, I made room for my extra limbs to breach my skin, simultaneously opening my mouth as my teeth morphed into fangs.
Philomena watched my transformation almost disaffectedly. Her steps as she carried herself over to her operating table however nearly faltered. Before I could advance on her, she’d cupped the sleeping dolls cheeks, causing the limp body to spring to life. The mannequin’s head jerked up along with her torso. In several clipped, mechanical movements, she slid off the surface, placing her naked feet on the floor. Her eyes flew open, fixing me with an empty glare.
“I don’t know what the fuck you are or what you want from me,” Philomena began, “but I’ve got weak nerd arms. So have fun dealing with this instead.”
I shrank back a step, the memory of Frankie picking me up like I weighed nothing fresh in my mind. Phil pressed her lips to the side of the puppet’s face, whispering something I couldn’t make out before quickly drawing aside. Before I could do so much as blink, the doll was upon me, crossing the distance between us in one impressive leap. She toppled me over, instantly reaching for my throat. I batted her cold, rubbery hands away, then pried her off of me with all my might. Using two of my tentacles, I flung her aside, sending her crashing into a shelf in the corner. Not wasting another second, I lunged at Wallis, delivering a blow to her head that sent her staggering. She sank back against her desk and I lashed out at her once more, briefly shutting my eyes to spare myself the sight of her face connecting squarely with the wooden surface as I bashed her down on against it.
She fell limp, and while I wasn’t sure if she was still breathing or not, I didn’t take the time to check. Her puppet was rising to her feet again, striding towards me in a vacantly determined fashion. I whirled around, bursting through the door and taking two steps at once. Frankie was waiting for me at the bottom of the metal staircase, his face falling when he caught my expression.
“Knocked her out,” I gasped. “We have a problem, though.”
Fran looked up at the glass door, the hinges of which were already groaning under the pressure of the mannequin throwing herself against it from the inside. With a sharp crack, a tear began to grow on the thick pane, and Frankie cursed loudly. “Get away from here!” he hollered, nudging me into the general direction of the woods. “I doused everything I could find down here,” he explained quickly. “If Phil’s out, I’ll do her room, too.”
“What about the—”
“Never you mind that! I can hold her off no problem.”
“I won’t—”
“You literally took out the one thing holding me back,” he insisted. “I’m not letting you get hurt out here. Just wait for me over by the trees.”
I still wouldn’t budge, so he grabbed a bunch of my tentacles and used them to turn me around. “Get your cute-ass face out of here, Sunshine!”
I started running, albeit reluctantly. A loud crashing noise rang out from behind me as the door burst under Phil’s puppet’s onslaught, but I forced myself to keep from turning around. Ignoring the searing hot feeling of panic raging inside my chest, I carried myself further and further away from the scene, only stopping when I reached the treeline. There, pressing myself up against the rough bark of the nearest trunk just to ground myself, I resigned to staring at the containers. I couldn’t see the waiter from where I was standing, but my eyes remained trained on the factory. They were gradually drying out, but despite the pain, I kept them wide open. I didn’t dare to blink.
For several minutes, all was still. The only sound I could hear was the frantic beating of my own heart and my pulse thrumming in my ears. Then, all of a sudden, inferno broke loose. Bright flames started to spread from around the sides of the building, quickly rising high into the sky. Crackling and roaring, they soon enveloped the entire site, lighting up the rooms behind the formerly dark windows. And emerging from the fire like a bird of myth came Frankie Preston. He was running, but with a light spring in his step that almost made it look like he was dancing.
He came to a halt in front of me, lifting his head to meet my gaze. His expression was difficult to read. It still looked empty, but in a different way. In a good way. “Hi,” he began.
“Hi.”
The firelight was bouncing off his curls and playing on his thick lashes, putting a reddish glint into his eyes. “You’re beautiful,” I added.
He drew in a little closer. No gasp preceded his smile. “Thanks.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I, uh… I don’t know yet.” He glanced between me and the burning containers.
“Okay. Take your time.” I stretched my arms and rolled my shoulders, shrugging my additional limbs back into the inside of my body.
“Say, where do they go when you don’t have them out?” Frankie asked with a raised brow.
“I never know.”
“Hm.” He turned to stand at my side. At first, his knuckles merely grazed mine, then he flipped his hand to link his fingers with mine. I briefly smiled at his profile, then went back to admiring the flames.
“Do you think the whole woods are gonna burn down?”
“Probably not,” he replied, shrugging. “Though that would be pretty cool…” He trailed off when I shot him a reprimanding look. “Yeah, yeah, we can call the fire fighters or whatever. Later, though, alright?”
I rested my head against the side of his arm. “Sure. Later.”
For a couple minutes, neither of us spoke. The only sound was the steady crackling and occasional thump as bit by bit, the structure collapsed. “So, um… this is pretty amazing,” Fran said in a low voice. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve never been happy before; my life’s kind of had its ups and downs, it’s just that this is better than any up there’s been so far. I guess I’m just really grateful and you ought to know that.”
“Don’t worry, I know.” I paused. “Can we get out of here? The place is starting to stink.”
He nodded agreeably and we turned our backs on the scene, only for our retreat to be abruptly stopped by a garbled, drawn-out screech. We spun around in perfect synchronicity. I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a sharp cry of shock. From the burning wreckage, a figure dragged itself forth on her hands. Philomena’s puppet had suffered immense damage in the fire. Her skin, obviously not made to withstand extreme heat, was melting off her face like molten candle wax. The wires that were bared beneath gave off angry sparks. She couldn’t seem to get up anymore, her legs were beyond repair and her movements overall were getting more and more arduous. She dug her fingers into the ground, pulling her body across the forest floor in slow, pained jerks.
“What the fuck? I thought I switched her off,” Frankie uttered beside me, sounding just as terrified as I felt.
“What do we do?” I exhaled the words in a single quick breath, unable to take my eyes off the doll.
“I got no idea… I-I don’t wanna deal with this…”
“We need to help her or something, she’s—she’s awake!” Before I could say anything else, the doll had emerged from the blaze. Rolling around, she managed to quench the remaining flames, pressing the dirt and leaves into her own dripping, melting body. Finally, she started trying to push herself up into a sitting position, only to fail miserably. I took a slow, tentative step towards her twitching form. Her face was contorted into a nightmarish grimace, and she let out an incomprehensible gurgle upon noticing me approaching. She reached out a mangled hand and I stumbled backwards before she could grab my ankle.
Despite the heat, beads of cold, fearful sweat were running down my face. I had no idea what to do. “We can’t leave her,” I said, my throat bone-dry. “There’s something in there, she’s not like before.”
Fran let out an exasperated, long-suffering sigh. “Is there any use in arguing?”
“Don’t be so cold.”
“Aren’t you used to it by now?”
I turned to look at him over my shoulder. He met my gaze and I could see something in his features change or perhaps even soften. He threw his head back, then pulled out his phone. “This is gonna ruin my night, but fine. I’m calling that insufferable news lady.”
X
1
2: deadbeat roommate
3: creepy crush
4: relocation
5: beach concert
6: First date
7: Temp work
8: roommate talk
9: a dismal worldview
10: warehouse
11: staircase
12: explanation
13: hurt
14: hospital
15: ocean
16: diner
17: government work
18: something in the caves
19: shopping cart
20: olms and Jewels
21: long hair
22: recruitment
23: waitresses
24: dollhouse

Only interested in Paypal offers for now (EU region, i don't have set prices
I'm selling these for Paypal (my region is EU and buyer covers the fees if not from EU, I do not have set prices) or could trade non-headliner games for one of the games in the title I want. Not interested in anything else, i will ignore any lists of random games
Ghostwire: Tokyo (might keep)
GRIME
Honey, I Joined a Cult (might keep)
Turbo Golf Racing
Eternal Threads
Meeple Station
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters
Operation Tango
The Invisible Hand
I do not have a set price in mind for any of the games, if you ask "how much for?" you'll be asked if you have a price in mind. Only exception would be one of the indie games for Coromon or Lil Gator Game
Lost Planet 3 - Complete Pack
Strider
Orbital Bullet – The 360° Rogue-lite (might keep)
Death STranding Director's Cut (might keep)
Life is STrange 2 Complete Season (might keep)
Revita (might keep)
Just looking for Coromon and the games in the title and Paypal (my region is EU), nothing else. If you offer a huge list of games or anything that's not in the title or on my wishlist you might get blocked for not having basic reading comprehension
I know Coromon is in a pricy build your own bundle rn so could do multiple smaller games for it but no ridiculous offers please
https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/diamond-collection-build-your-own-bundle
Only interested in Paypal offers and games in the title don't comment if you don't have either to offer. For AAA games I'm only taking Paypal offers, not trades Any comments with lists of random games I likely already own will be ignored and possibly blocked. My region is EU, if you are outside of EU you have to cover Paypal fees. I do not have a set price for anything, if you ask "how much for" you'll be asked if you have a price in mind.
Golden Light
Batora: Lost Haven (might keep)
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
112 Operator
Agent in Depth
Alchemist's Castle
Arcade Spirits
Death Squared
Detached: Non-VR Edition
Doughlings: Arcade
Doughlings: Invasion
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Farming Simulator 17
Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue (might keep)
Frick, Inc.
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
Guns & Fishes
Hack 'n' Slash
Hyper Gunsport
Izmir: An Independence Simulator
Little Orpheus (might keep)
Lust from Beyond: M Edition
Meow Express
MirrorMoon EP
Monaco
Mount & Blade: Warband
Non-Stop Raiders
Orbital Racer
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
PAYDAY 2
Planet TD
Project Chemistry
Quadrata
Remnants of Naezith
Rym 9000
Soul Searching
Soulblight
Soulflow
Space Crew: Legendary Edition
Stacking
Stick Fight: The Game
Strange Brigade
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Sunlight
SYMMETRY
System Shock 2
The Amazing American Circus
The Inner World
Ticket to Ride
Worms Rumble
XCOM 2
X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
Zombie Driver HD Complete Edition
DARQ (might keep)
Fallout
Othercide (might keep)
GameGuru Classic STAR WARS™: Knights of the Old Republic™ Driftland: The Magic Revival Red Faction: Armageddon Puzzle Chronicles STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy™ STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast™ Distrust Radio Commander
Main Assembly
RPG Maker VX (may keep)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
[Amnesia: The Dark Descent](httpsa://store.steampowered.com/app/57300/)
LEGO® MARVEL's Avengers (may keep)
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (may keep)
Dungeon of the ENDLESS™
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Soulblight
Lust for Darkness
RPG Maker VX Ace - DS Resource Pack
RPG Maker VX Ace - Zombie Survival Graphic Pack
Iron Danger (may keep)
The Swindle
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes
Amnesia: Rebirth
X-Morph: Defense
Treasure Hunter Simulator
Orbital Racer
Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition
LEGO® MARVEL Super Heroes 2 (may keep)
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
Monsters' Den Chronicles
Telefrag VR
NecroWorm
We are alright (Wszystko z nami w porządku)
RPG Maker VX Ace - Old School Modern Graphics Pack 2
Rebel Cops
Farmer's Dynasty
The Plague: Kingdom Wars
PlataGO!
LEGO® MARVEL Super Heroes (may keep)
Bang-On Balls: Chronicles (may keep)
Jetboard Joust
Forgive Me Father (may keep)
Aliens vs. Predator Collection
LEGO® Star Wars™ III: The Clone Wars™
Golf Gang
Maid of Sker
Hedon Bloodrite (may keep)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning FATE Edition (may keep)
Blade Assault (may keep)
DOOM Eternal (may keep)
Grow: Song of the Evertree (may keep)
Scribble It! - Premium Edition
[Liberated] (GOG)
[Wanderlust Travel Stories] (GOG)
My full list of games: https://barter.vg80b7/t/ (this link might be more up to date than the list above)
Full wishlist (bundled games are at the top so you don't have to scroll through tons of unbundled and upcoming games): https://barter.vg80b7/w/f/?filter=0,17,0,0
https://store.steampowered.com/wishlist/id/superteletubbies64/
IGSRep (no longer updating): https://old.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/p7k848/superteletubbies64s_igs_rep_page/