All internal hard anal for british pornstar lucie love

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I found it very difficult to think about this film objectively since I must have seen it dozens of times growing up. Unlike Snow White, however, I couldn’t remember enjoying The Jungle Book or even understanding what the plot of the film was. I just liked the two catchy songs The Bare Necessities and I Wan’na Be Like You, and that was it.
Upon revisiting the film, I cannot understand why it was included on the 1001 Movies list - twice, gallingly if you count the 2016 “live action” remake - as it does not deserve to be here based on its very slim merits. In a broader historical context, The Jungle Book was the last film to be overseen by Disney himself before his death in December 1966, and apparently the first to use stars as the voices, though I didn’t recognise any of the names on the cast list. It also happened to be Disney’s last hit animation film for two decades until some clever clogs considered making the princess the central character once again in The Little Mermaid. It’s sometimes difficult to remember that Disney ever struggled with success.
Context aside, The Jungle Book is very thin on both plot and comedy (if you’re an adult, that is, my two-year-old absolutely loved the slapstick). Mowgli’s character feels completely underdeveloped. He is shuffled from place to place by the animals who either want to help him or kill him with hardly any agency. He seems friendly enough but also lacks common sense. It’s not made clear why he wants to stay in the jungle so badly and he just seems like a stick in the mud when he argues with Bagheera.
The characters of Baloo and Bagheera are better and work well together as Mowgli’s counterparts, Baloo the irresponsible oaf content to live off the bare necessities and Bagheera the more logical, practical, serious guardian. Together, they remind me of Spock and Bones, forever at odds with each other’s point of view but nonetheless friends. One of my favourite scenes from this rewatch, which would have completely flown over my head as a child, is when Bagheera and Baloo argue until morning about whether Mowgli should be allowed to stay in the jungle, both expressing their points clearly and without interruption until Baloo concedes that he wouldn’t be safe due to the threat. Although I’m sure it’s boring to kids, I really appreciated that it was allowed to run its course.
Not featuring Shere Khan until the second half of the film was also a good choice, allowing the audience to imagine the threat before we actually meet him. Sanders’ dry English accent is excellent for the role and dripping in malice. However, I found most of the other characters annoying. The elephant colonel and his incompetent rank were unfunny and unessential to the plot. Kaa was also a rather tiresome distraction though there was some creativity with how he used his tail to ensnare Mowgli over and over again. The girl at the end, whose name is revealed as Shanti in The Jungle Book 2, seems crudely sexualised for a pre-teen and also sings a rather foreboding song about how all she’ll do in the future is cook for her husband. Truthfully, I thought that this was what the “outdated cultural depictions” warning was about at the start of the film.
That brings us to King Louie, the real subject of those warnings. I was prepared for the worst, but I didn’t sense this part as being racist as it seemed like a fitting tribute to Louis Armstrong rather than a crude characterisation of him. I’m not African-American though, so it’s not really up to me if it’s offensive or not. I was surprised, however, to find out that Disney actually considered hiring Armstrong and then baulked at the racist connotations, hiring Italian-American Louis Prima for the part instead. Not being familiar with Prima, I can’t tell if King Louie’s mannerisms are his or whether he is trying to be more like Armstrong for the role. Strangely enough, Disney got it backwards: hiring Armstrong would have been far better because otherwise, you have a white man trying to imitate a black man. Plus, Armstrong is a musical legend whose music lives on while Prima seems to have been consigned to the history books. Sure, having an ape represent a black man might have some bad optics, but in a film where almost all the characters are animals, I think it would have been okay. I reckon Disney tried to play it too safe but their solution backfired. At any rate, this scene doesn’t ruin the movie and actively enhances it due to the catchy and essential I Wan’na Be Like You.
While I also found the story of Snow White to be rather thin for an 80-minute film, I could at least admit that it was a technical marvel for 1937 with gorgeous animation. The Jungle Book was released thirty years later and looks markedly worse, quite cheap in fact. Notoriously, the film copied animation from previous Disney films in several scenes. The jungle should be easy to animate as a colourful, vibrant space but here it looks rather flat and boring.
What struck me the most was that I couldn’t understand the point of The Jungle Book. Who cares if Mowgli stays or goes? He seems to want to stay but doesn’t really express why. Meanwhile, Bagheera makes very good points as to why he should go back to the man-village. And either way, what can any of us learn from that? I struggled to see how any comparisons could be made until I read an article about Rudyard Kipling’s original book which suggested that Mowgli was inherently better than the animals because he was man, not beast, which Kipling saw as an analogy to the British Empire and India. Yikes. I reckon Disney was wise to divorce the film from many of the book’s more troubling elements, but he was left with a barebones plot and little to keep it going. Most of the film feels like filler; I had completely forgotten the vultures who I guess are supposed to be based on the Beatles and other British Invasion groups of the time. It certainly hasn’t aged well, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone other than little children who might be delighted by the bright colours and slapstick.
4/10

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Commit to bettering yourself as an individual and partner. Attend counseling together proactively, not just reactively in crisis. Read relationship guides focused on empathy, boundaries and non-violent communication. Join a support group to stay accountable to your growth and each other through life's challenges together.
Plan how to handle coming out or being outed together or separately. Have honest conversations on how "out" each wants to be publicly and to families. Offer understanding and backup if relations with relatives cause stress or rejection. Know legal protections like power of attorney/living wills are vital.
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Decide if and when children factor into your future. Research responsibilities of co-parenting or other options. Discuss values to instill, priorities for health/home life balance and how to build an extended "chosen family" support system if families of origin are unsupportive or absent. Preparedness leads to less anxiety down the road.
Your relationship requires patience and perseverance like any to succeed long term. Face prejudice, distance from loved ones or life stresses as a united team. Celebrate traditions meaningful to you both while carving new paths for future generations. May your love and commitment to growth serve as an inspiration for acceptance, justice and happiness for all. With effort, understanding and compassion, loving partnerships of any kind can thrive.
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Idk. I dont wanna sound condesending but all the advices on videos ive heard by filipino bloggers, either life in general, love talk, or whatever, i find it kinda... shallow? Shallow as a puddle mirred with askal shit.
Even advice from friends about stuff like love and moving on? HOLY SHIT i find is sooooo clichè and shallow it mentally hurts. Still I listen in if Ive got nothing to do. Maybe theyll spew up something useful, giving it a banafit of a doubt but if nothing sound or, objective is given and mostly just a feel good advice, it bores me and wanna cover my ears or move outside the room.
When it comes to advice from friends or family members (dont wanna sound sexist but im still saying it) especially female members of the family or friend group its just revenge and stuff making them feel good convincing themselves thier the good guys and you shouldnt apologize.
When it comes to advice online I see like in FB and stuff it doesnt resonate with me cause I can see through it... This person isnt really giving advice, but just hyping up emotions. I'll still analize the context but the emotional try hard hyping things up act thier trying to do? I just look at it with a disgust faced expression.
If im looking for advice ill be looking for sound, and objective advice, based on context, stop the "mag revenge ka by moving on." Hype and your voice getting louder and louder. There are some points true but ive heard nothing new, its not even about the people's perspective its thiers. Thier notngiving advice half the time cause its advice to them on thier part and thier advice cant be applied generally cause it'll be based on thier experience.
I read a book called 12 Rules for life by Jordan B peterson and it was such a refreshing read cause it focuses on the psychological and logical part of getting through life, and not trying to hypr everything up.
I hate it how our culture has to feel good before they actually listen or pay attention. Its sad. Lets you know most people are impulse based. :(

Hi /NoContract Redditors,
What carriers/MVNOs should I look at for inexpensive international calling? Included texting would also be a bonus (I'd like to wire a few home automation tools to text me), but not required.
Background
I have been struggling with calling China reliably (due to recent government restrictions affecting nearly all non-cellular US providers) and have bit the bullet and gotten a VoLTE to SIP gateway, so I can just use cellular providers to call China and other hard to reach destinations reliably at a reasonable rate.
Carriers Considered
All include free calling to China (landline and mobile), if you have one of these plans or have a plan suggestion I would love your feedback on ability to call internationally and hidden costs!
Tracfone - $30 (now $35) 1500 minute, 1500 text & 1.5GB data, 365 day plan with a free Android (nabbed two to try out, spare unlocked Androids are always nice) seemed reasonable.
Hello Mobile - $5 monthly ($60 annual) unlimited talk & text, 500MB data plan
H2O Wireless - $60 annual plan, unlimited talk & text
ThreeHK/3HK - ~$35 annual 35GB USA/Canada/Australia/UK plan , unclear if talk or text is offered.
Feedback and insight is welcome, I don't expect to be placing a ton of calls, maybe 1 to 2 concurrent calls at a time, 500 to 2000 minutes a month for international calling across a few dozen calls a month, but at this point I'd like provider redundancy and enough minutes that I can call a test # or two in China bi-weekly to ensure things are working properly on said provider.

I was in South Korea a long time ago, and I didn't stay in South Korea very long, very long time ago.The Olympics were going to be held in South Korea, and before the Olympics started, there was an inspection team that went to South Korea.I was in a group of hundreds of people, and that's how I got to South Korea.I wasn't doing anything spectacular.There was a mix of people who weren't involved in the Olympics. My dad applied for the tourism inspection team, and my family was selected, and we got to go into Korea as normal tourists, visit the facilities related to the Olympics, and inspect the accommodations.In exchange, we were paid for the tourism, and there were very few allowances.
I was in middle school at the time, so I felt like I was just there for the fun of it, but my dad and mom were always checking things off on a sheet of paper, I think it was some sort of evaluation of Korea, and they were saying that the cost of living in Korea was very low, and that even though we were traveling for free, it wasn't like we were paying for it out of pocket, so it wasn't like we were getting a tremendous benefit, but they were saying that they were just happy to get a taste of what it was like to be there and experience the atmosphere.
I remember being so excited to see Korea because it was so different from the U.S. I had even traveled to Japan with my family the year before I came to Korea, so it was fun to compare Japan and Korea.Even though I was in middle school, I knew what I needed to know.I loved the mysterious and new atmosphere of Japan on my first trip abroad, and I really wanted to visit Japan again.It was a very lucky case that my family applied for and won a tourism inspection group to go to Korea.
Because of my good impressions and memories of Japan, which I visited a year ago, I would open a map and look for Japan, but I was also curious about Korea, which was right next to Japan, and I even asked my parents to go to Korea, but they weren't very interested in Korea.Inevitably, I had the idea of going to Korea later when I grew up.After winning the tourist inspection group, my family went to Korea very quickly, and I saw a lot of things in Korea.I remember that in the past, Korea had a lot of construction everywhere..In fact, compared to Japan, it didn't feel like a big step forward at all.Japan has a lot of traditional and historic sights, and the atmosphere is particularly quaint. Many things were destroyed in the war, and they are still trying to rebuild, so it's not easy for foreign tourists to visit the historical sites in Korea.Even in the sites that I did find, I felt like there was a lot of garbage and poor maintenance.It's been a while since I learned about Korea in history class at school, so I remembered it clearly.
I was told that Korea had no infrastructure just 30 years ago, and that everything was destroyed in the war, and there was an atmosphere of praise, saying that this development in 30 years is really remarkable. At the time, I didn't really understand how amazing it was and how much pride Koreans take in it, because from a middle school student's point of view, these things don't mean a lot.
Nevertheless, I still remember Korea as a really enjoyable trip, even though it wasn't as good as Japan to be honest, it was still a lot of fun to go to another country.
But I didn't travel abroad much after that, except for a trip to England, because my parents got divorced, and neither my father nor my mother would take me abroad. Whenever we had time to go, we would travel within the U.S. So I forgot how to go to other countries, and I didn't think about going to other countries. I got married, had children, and lived my life as an ordinary citizen in the U.S. Every now and then, I would see a story about Korea or Japan in the news, and it would trigger vague memories of my childhood, and I would just bury them as memories, and when the children I was raising grew up, I would reminisce about my childhood and think that I should travel to Korea or Japan, but I would just think about it in my head for a while, and then put aside my desire to travel abroad again.
In recent years, there has been a lot of great news about Korea, with many Korean restaurants opening in the U.S. and even the president mentioning Korea, and Korea's influence in the international community has become huge.
I was reminded of the Korea I had been to before, and how it was said that Korea had made amazing progress back then, but now, almost 40 years later, it has become an even greater country, and for some reason, I felt a sense of joy. There are very few Americans my age who have witnessed Korea the way it used to be, so it felt like a secret country that was only known to me was now known to everyone, and it gave me a strange, inexplicable feeling of goodness.
I've had friend get-togethers at Korean restaurants, and if I have a friend who wants to celebrate and treat me to dinner, I want to treat them to a nice, casual restaurant, and one of the restaurants I usually go to is a Korean restaurant, and when we traveled to New York as a family, we went to a Korean jjimjilbang to see the sights, to get pampered, and to have a different experience.In this way, before I knew it, Korean culture was deeply embedded in American society, and many people were becoming familiar with the country.
When my children were younger, just 10 to 15 years ago, Korea's presence here was almost non-existent, and now it has become a very influential country.
When I was looking for books on parenting, I came across a book called Teach Like a Korean Parent, which was at a time when former President Obama was making frequent references to Korean education in his speeches, and it was a lifesaver for me at a time when my children were struggling with their grades, which was frustrating for me because they were not doing well, they were a little disinterested in school, and their grades were not that great.
In Korea, they say that they have a bit of a negative view of what they call indoctrination, but the Korean way of education has been recognized dozens of times, because whenever there's a national assessment of student achievement, Korea always comes in first or second place, and it's with Finland, the absolute superpower of education, but the difference is, Finland has a very small population. It's a very different atmosphere because it's a special environment where every student can be educated thoroughly and well, without fail.Among American parents, there's a saying that the Finnish way of education makes your child stupid, because you have to think about a problem for two or three days, and if you ask them if they can solve the test, they can't.
However, the book's content was long, saying that you need to educate your child to solve the test directly like in Korea, and that the deep thinking and thinking skills needed in relation to the part where creativity grows need to be cultivated in other parts.There were many things that resonated with me.
I hired a Korean tutor and paid a lot of money to educate my children, and because of the sudden improvement in their grades, they became interested in studying on their own volition and studied hard, and now they are in college.I had a lot of connections with Korea in various ways.
And my daughter, who is studying at the university, even said that she wanted to go to Korea for a year as an exchange student.So when she said that she was going to study in Korea for a year, I was very happy.When I thought about it, if she had said that she was going to Japan, I would have paused a little, or I would have had to think about it because I had heard something out of the blue, but when she said Korea, I was very happy.As soon as I heard that, various things related to Korea from my childhood flashed through my head, and a pleasant smile came out.
She went to Korea because she really liked Korea, and no one stopped her from going to Korea, because nowadays, if you go to Korea, everyone will be happy for you and envious of you.Besides, there is a lot to learn in Korea.The Korea of today is very different from the Korea of decades ago, when I first went there. Today, Korea is one of the top 10 economies in the world, and when it comes to competing with Japan, Korea is a force to be reckoned with.Any other country in Europe would consider Japan to be an unimaginable and frightening opponent, but when Koreans are associated with Japan, they become very strong and want to beat them.From sports to competition in various industries, even the smallest things.It has become a great country in many ways.
When I sent my daughter to Korea, I had one regret: I wished I could have gone with her and seen a little bit of Korea.If I had gone with her, the long flight would have been less boring.So I talked to my husband and asked him to go to Korea.He said yes, and we sat side by side on the plane to Korea.
We were looking for a cheap plane ticket, so we had to take a layover, and we flew to Los Angeles, and from there, we changed to Asiana Airlines in Korea, and then we flew to Korea.We ended up flying to Korea on a Korean airline, unintentionally.And the flight attendants on the Korean flight were so stylish and cool.I've heard it said that on the street, you see cool Asian people, or pretty Asian people, and they're mostly Korean. I looked at their name tags, and they all had Korean last names, like Lee, Kim, Choi, Jin, all of these names, which means they're all Korean. The flight attendants were so nice to me, so friendly, and I was so grateful for that, and I was so proud of them.
On the plane to Korea, I regretted that I hadn't taken more interest in Korea and learned more about it in the past.On the plane to Korea, I was already curious about what Korea was like, and how much it had changed, and what surprises or shocks it would bring me.
When I arrived in Korea, I found that the airport was not what it used to be.Korea's new airport is not so new.For me, the new Korean airport was so well organized.You get off the plane, follow a straight line to immigration, and that's it.If you go to other airports, it's all a maze, and it's hard to figure out where you're supposed to go, and it's one of the things that makes traveling a little intimidating. I flew in on an A380, so there were over 400 passengers on the plane at once, and usually these big planes create the worst lines.Any airport that can handle 400+ passengers at once, no matter where you're going, is going to be overwhelmed, but I was surprised how flexible Korea was.20 The immigration lanes, which looked like more than a dozen, lit up one by one and processed 400 passengers very quickly, and the smiling faces of the Korean staff greeting us and saying welcome to Korea made us feel so good.
And for foreigners, the system for getting out of the airport and into Seoul or to your own destination was very well organized.Seoul and the surrounding areas are all connected by a subway system, and if you don't want to deal with all the complications, you can just use the subway.But if you don't want to use the subway, you can take the bus everywhere.Before you leave the first floor of the airport, there is a place that sells bus tickets.It's very easy and very cheap to get on the airport bus. We preferred to use the bus rather than the subway, so we bought a bus ticket.To be honest, we thought that the price was too low, so we thought that it couldn't be a good bus.But we were wrong, because we arrived at a luxury bus with only 3 rows per bus, and we had very spacious and comfortable seats.The departure driver briefly introduced himself, explained the operation, and the bus left.I was surprised at how different Korea was from Korea, which I had visited many years ago, with very low prices and excellent service.
Sitting in a window seat on the bus, I couldn't take my eyes off the country.The wide open roads were very pleasant, and the cars on the road were all clean.In the US, there are still many people driving old, backward cars. Of course, you can tell a lot about a driver's economic situation by the car they are driving, but in Korea, it is safe to say that there are no old cars.There were many clean cars.There was no car with a rotten body that made me think that someone would drive such a car.
Also, before entering the city, I could see the tall buildings from a distance, and when I entered the city, I saw the colorful Korean streets, the buildings, and the many people walking on the sidewalks, and it was not strange to see a well-organized city in any developed country. I couldn't wait to get off the bus and walk the streets of Korea.I arrived at my destination, was greeted by the still friendly Korean driver, and started walking the streets of Korea.I will never forget this first feeling of being so comfortable.
And then I met my daughter and we traveled around Korea together.When she was still in the middle of the semester and had to attend school, my husband and I explored Korea on our own.It was my first time in Korea, but the transportation system was so intuitive and easy to use, and it felt like a well-maintained, high-tech city everywhere we went.And of course, we went to a lot of traditional Korean houses, but it felt so sophisticated and old-fashioned.
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about where I went and what I did in Korea, but it was such an amazing experience to be in a building hundreds of meters high in the center of Seoul that I can't help but write about it.The view of Seoul from the observation deck at the top was spectacular, and you could really see the development of the city.The mall below, with its very well-decorated and comfortable interior furnishings, was by far the most comfortable and luxurious mall I've ever been in.
Often, friends who have traveled to both Korea and Japan while traveling in Asia will tell you that they recommend traveling to Korea more, and I can see why.
But many people have never seen Korea the way it used to be.I used this trip as a way to reflect on my own past, and to compare the growth of Korea.When my family used to walk down the streets of Korea, we used to get stares from people who thought we were foreigners.Now that there are so many foreigners visiting Korea, it's no longer something to stare at, it's just a normal street scene.
My advice to my daughter is to experience as much as possible and see as many sights as she can, so that when she returns to Korea in the future, she can reminisce about the past and be amazed at how far Korea has come.In my opinion, Korea has now surpassed Japan.I'm not an expert in every field, so I'm only speaking from a tourist's point of view.I'd like to conclude by wishing Korea, a country I love, all the best for the future.

Alex Renton April 12, 2015
It was the happiest time of the school year. Kate, which is not her real name, and her class of 12- and 13-year-olds would soon leave Aberlour House, their home for a third or more of their lives. Next term most of them would start at the senior school, Gordonstoun, a famously severe Scottish institution that Prince Charles had once described as "Colditz in kilts." Fifteen children, all boarders and fresh out of exams, set off into the Scottish mountains for a week's camping.
"Exped" is one of Gordonstoun's traditions, born of the unique vision of the school's founder, the educational innovator Kurt Hahn. A refugee from Nazi Germany, Hahn is most famous for founding the Outward Bound movement. But before that, in 1934, he set up a revolutionary new school in a dilapidated stately home in Moray, northeast Scotland. Schooling would include mountains, the sea, fresh air and soul-stiffening adventures.
Gordonstoun was a success, especially after Prince Philip of Greece, now the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived. Other royals followed: five of the Queen's children and grandchildren went there, despite Charles's complaints. By the 1970s it was touted as a place for spoilt or wealthy children who needed toughening up—Sean Connery and David Bowie's sons went, and so did Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter. Physical punishment, strict discipline and cold showers were key to Hahn's approach to keeping children in line.
The school was notorious not just for being tough, but for bullying. The novelist William Boyd, who started boarding there aged nine, described his nine-and-a-half years at Gordonstoun's junior and senior schools as "a type of penal servitude." Smaller children were at the mercy of older ones and violence, theft and extortion were common. As part of his initiation at Gordonstoun, Prince Charles, aged 13, is said to have been caged naked in a basket and left under a cold shower.
In 1936, Hahn founded a preparatory school for Gordonstoun, to cater for children as young as seven. The regime at Aberlour House was not much softer. In the 1970s there was no central heating. Windows were left open at night: in the winter, the children could wake up with snow on their blankets. The school was separate, situated half an hour away, though Gordonstoun helped manage it. The schools shared a uniform, school song and the motto Kurt Hahn had devised: "Plus est en vous," a contraction of a French phrase—there is more in you than you imagine.
Mutual respect, resilience and trust were the cornerstones of Hahn's notions of how to educate a child. His ideas have made Gordonstoun one of Britain's most famous public schools. But a series of complaints sent to me covering 40 years reveal a dark alternative history. Not all of the stories can be detailed here. But, too often to be excused, Gordonstoun and its junior school appear to have let down the trust of parents and failed to respect the rights and needs of children. [Sexual predators] are a part of the history of many celebrated schools in Britain. But Gordonstoun's story is particularly urgent because Scotland's archaic laws around proving sexual assault dissuade victims from coming forward. They can mean predators, who might be brought to trial, remain at large and free to offend.
Kate arrived at Aberlour House on a bursary in the 1980s. She was nine years old. Initially she was bullied by other pupils for being poor and having a Scottish accent. But by her last year at the junior school she was a prefect—a "colour bearer," in Hahn's militaristic system. She was, she says, a perfect, docile product of the educator's ethos. "I was a really good girl, I didn't misbehave, I got on with my work. I was a good citizen," she explains, a twist in her smile.
The lochside where the children camped saw the end of that Kate. What she says happened beside it has tarnished her life: an assault by a serial rapist, the trusted young teacher in charge of the expedition. Her most vivid memory of the subsequent summer days in the Highlands is of the moment when she went to a cliff-top, having decided to end her life. She was 12.
The exped was led by a male teacher. "He was young and everyone thought he was cool. We wanted to go," remembers Kate.
Mr X, as we must call him, was in sole charge of the trip. As the excited children got ready in their dormitories at Aberlour House, he supervised the packing. He told them—as other witnesses told the police—not to bother with bathing costumes. "As a kid, I suppose, you just think—skinny-dipping! As an adult, you go… What?"
The exped set off in high excitement. "We got there, the banks of a loch, somewhere in the middle of nowhere and he said there weren't enough tents. So, we were a tent short, which meant that somebody would have to sleep in his tent each night. We'd have to 'rotate.'"
"At dinner-time we all had coffee and, a few of the girls, he filled their mugs with alcohol. I think it was rum. I felt a bit giddy. In the tent, the first night, it was me and two other girls. I remember being cold, wearing a jumper. And he started touching me, when they were still in the tent. I didn't know what to do. I was totally frozen, scared. I pretended to be asleep thinking it might stop. They left the tent, they were embarrassed, they knew what was going on. So they went to sleep somewhere else and left me alone with him. They were just in another tent, they must have heard everything. So they all knew it had happened.
"I didn't know what to do. I didn't do anything. I was terrified. I don't remember much but the pain, on my cervix… He wore a condom. What kind of a man takes a packet of condoms on a school camping trip?"
She didn't confide in anyone. "It was awful. Five or six more nights. Nobody spoke to me. I didn't speak to anyone."
For the rest of the trip Mr X ignored her. One day, lonely and confused, Kate wandered away from the campsite, contemplating suicide. "I got to the edge of the cliff, completely on my own, in the middle of nowhere. I was going to do it, and then I just thought, 'No. Actually, maybe, I won't do this.'"
Kate then began to have an inkling that she was not the only girl targeted. "The girls who were bitchy to me already were more bitchy, led by Jane [which is not her real name]. She was, I realise now from what the police have told me, already in a relationship with him. And the other girls were her gang.
"Later on, X said he had to go down to the village for something. It was because one of the boys had to make a call to his parents. He said to this other girl, Jane, she had to come as well."
This boy remembers the event well. "He bought us two drinks each—half-pints or pints. I'd never had alcohol in my life. I remember giggling about it with Jane. I think now that I was there because it would have been weird for him to have gone just with her, in a pub buying a 13-year-old drinks. It's better if there are two of you."
The boy believes that X's relationship with Jane lasted a year or more. "Once I was with her in his bedsit in the school, chatting with him. I left the room, but I went back very quickly and the door was locked. When I knocked no one answered, but I knew they were in there." This was just one of several incidents when X and Jane were in rooms alone, often with doors locked. "You don't think much of it at the time, but something lodges, because you do remember them as something that wasn't right—an adult and a 13-year-old."
X continued for at least another year at Aberlour. He would occasionally see Kate in a corridor: "He was checking up on me. He used to say to me: 'You'll die before me.' I've no idea what he meant."
At Gordonstoun the following year, the bullying began. It was led by Jane and it was rooted in the rape at the campsite. Girls would sing a song in Kate's hearing about "That night in the tent." The rumours of what happened at the campsite spread. Both she and Jane subsequently changed their names by deed poll—not unusual for adults trying to rebuild themselves after childhood abuse.
Now, Kate can begin to understand the root of Jane's antagonism. "I always had a feeling there was something there—and now I realise the extent of what happened with her and the reason why she bullied me so much. In some ways, she had it worse than me. She considered herself in a relationship with him. I suppose she was in love with him."
When she was 16, Kate's father died in an accident. She had always been close to him. When she was 14 she had tried to tell him about X. "I started by saying a teacher made a pass at me and he freaked out. I didn't tell him any more, I didn't want to hurt him." His death hit her hard, and she ended up in hospital after overdosing on paracetamol.
"I was such a mess. Gordonstoun threatened to kick me out, after my father was killed, unless I had psychiatric help." After treatment, she returned to the school and found that one thing had changed. The bullying, the gossip and name-calling stopped. But now, in her 40s, with her own children, Kate is still dealing with X's assault.
"Just recently, I realised I've spent my whole life trying to prove I'm not his victim. I've always said it has not affected me. Not me, I'm absolutely fine. In actual fact it has given me some very unhealthy patterns of behaviour, and also feelings towards myself. I only realised this in the past year, on my own. I wanted to prove I wasn't scared, of men, of sex. All that stuff. I wasn't going to be the classic rape victim. I thought I had sorted it all out."
There are other stories, too. At the age of seven, John also started at the school one summer in the 1980s. Kate remembers him: "Just the sweetest little boy." He was following a family tradition: his father went to both Aberlour and Gordonstoun. John's father remains a believer in Kurt Hahn's philosophy of teaching trust and self-discipline. He is a member of the fundraising committee of the Kurt Hahn Foundation, which raises money for scholarships to the school.
Most of John's memories of Aberlour are of happiness and success. He wanted to board and did well. He excelled at sport and passed the exams to go on to the senior school with a commendation.
After a year or two, a new teacher arrived to take charge of English. "An eccentric," says another student from that time, "a know-it-all and a show off." Derek Jones was a keen photographer and ran the photography club. Pupils remember him wandering the school, a camera hanging down to his belly, his hands resting on top. His wanderings took him to the sports changing rooms. Supervision of this place was the matron's job. Nonetheless, "Jones would often spend prolonged periods around the changing rooms and in the shower room," says John.
John got to know Jones well after he was cast in the 1988 school panto. Late one night in his final year, 1990, John left the dormitory seeking help. Two of his toenails had been surgically removed after being broken in a rugby match that afternoon, and the painkillers had worn off. Jones found him, took him into his bedroom and said that he could provide some special, very strong painkillers so long as John promised to keep it secret. "He told me if I told anyone he would get into trouble, while he was only trying to do me a favour and help me."
Half an hour later, Jones assaulted John in his bed in the dormitory. After stroking and patting the boy, he reached under the covers, pulled down his boxer shorts and attempted to masturbate him. John, under the effect of the pills, tried to push the teacher off him. He found he could not speak. After minutes of panicky struggle, Jones stopped the fondling and put his head under the covers, turning on a torch. John heard a camera's shutter click and click again. He believes Jones took half a dozen photographs.
After Jones left the room, John struggled to get out of bed. It took a while, but eventually he woke his best friend, Michael. He told him what had happened and together the two 12-year-olds went to Jones's room to confront him.
The stand-off lasted an hour. Jones denied all. He said that John must have imagined it, as a result of the pills. John and Michael demanded the camera and the film rolls they could see on Jones's desk. If nothing had happened, then surely Jones wouldn't mind them getting the films developed. The teacher refused and eventually the boys, exhausted, went back to bed.
A few weeks after the assault, John was driving with his mother. They were both listening to a Radio 4 programme and a woman was talking of her abuse as a child. "I know just how she feels," said John.
The parents took their child to see the much-liked headmaster, David Hanson. "I went with John," his father told me. "It was obvious that the headmaster believed him. There was no reason not to. He referred the matter to Gordonstoun." The police were called and interviewed John and other pupils and members of staff. Jones was sacked. John's parents say that they were encouraged not to seek a prosecution. Going into a witness box might be damaging for their son.
The school promised that in return for co-operation over not insisting on prosecution, it would ensure that Jones never taught again. "We accepted that," says John's father. "It was adequate, because there was a categoric assurance, a cast-iron guarantee that under no circumstances would Jones ever again teach children in a school. He would be barred." He adds that this pledge was repeated in a letter from Gordonstoun's then bursar, George Barr.
When John returned to the school, Jones was gone, but things had changed. "There had naturally been a lot of gossip among the pupils. I felt eyes in the back of my head from other students. I remember being called a 'homo'. I suppose in the eyes of some children I must have been a 'homo' to have 'allowed' it to happen. There was a fight arranged in the senior boot-room during break time and after that I was no longer a 'homo'. The remaining time there was happy."
But as he went on to the senior school, the wider repercussions of Jones's assault became apparent. The head boy and sporting hero of the junior school now kept his head down. Crucially, his faith in adults was gone. "It changed me completely," he says today. "I was a model student until that evening. I became a nightmare. If I was bored, I made mischief. I left Gordonstoun having failed my A levels, I didn't go to university. My life since school has involved drug use, alcoholism and a distinct lack of belief and trust that those who say they will always be there, actually will."
John eventually got on with his life and became a successful businessman. But he was not at ease: his sense that justice was not done back in 1990 exacerbated with the worry that Jones might have preyed upon other children.
The stories told here are not the only ones to stain Aberlour House and Gordonstoun. A startling series of allegations, dating back to the 1960s, has emerged in recent years. They're not all ancient history. Kevin Lomas, a teacher at the senior school during Kate and John's time was jailed in 2008 for sexual offences against young girls at a tutoring school he ran in Oxfordshire.
During the 16 years Lomas worked at Gordonstoun he had a reputation for inappropriate sexual activity: he was known for his fumbling attempts to kiss the girl pupils—"with tongue." He, too, took children on exped. A Gordonstoun spokesperson told us: "There is no suggestion that Mr Lomas committed any criminal behaviour during his time at the school." If there were, then or now, the school would inform the police.
Such events and others, coupled with the stream of recent stories about sex scandals and cover-ups in celebrated public schools, sparked talk among Gordonstoun's ex-pupils. In 2013 some of them began a private Facebook group, discussing things that had happened at the school, "that you don't see in the brochures and the class photographs," as one of them put it. Rapes, of boys and girls, were mentioned. Kate started to receive messages from girls she had known, apologising for the gossip and rumours, for the bullying, and for not having done more to help.
The group eventually involved more than 100 ex-pupils. Acting in concert, they presented the school with a list of demands: it should do more to address bullying and sexual abuse, issue an apology to past victims and fund help for them and, notably, promise in future to report any incidents to the police.
John briefly joined the group, but left it, thinking the chatter was futile: "It was mainly about bullying, old classroom rows." But he had already decided that he had to act on Jones: "I had a duty to make sure this bastard was not still out there doing things to kids." So in February 2014 he went to the police. Their subsequent investigation stretched as far as New Zealand. Eventually, John was told Derek Jones could not be brought to trial or offend again. He had died in a car crash in Kenya, five years earlier.
But if that was any consolation for John, it was spoilt by the shock of the other information the officer—who has declined to comment—then handed over. Despite Gordonstoun's solemn assurances, Derek Jones had gone on to teach, and potentially abuse, elsewhere. He had been forced to leave a school in Essex and had then surfaced and taught in Kenya. It is unclear what happened in East Africa, but former colonies there have provided a home for several [sexual predators] sacked from English private schools—some of whom have gone on to offend again. Scottish police have identified both the Essex and Kenya school where Jones taught, but have refused to name them to the Observer.
John's parents were horrified at the news. John's father told me: "I trusted the school. They said they'd make absolutely sure he'd never teach again. They didn't. And, if he did teach, that tells me someone at Gordonstoun must have given him a reference."
The school told police that it could not find a copy of the letter the Gordonstoun bursar, George Barr, sent to John's father, promising Jones would not teach again, because paperwork had been lost. It says that during this period, Aberlour had separate ownership and management. But one ex-head teacher of Aberlour from the time says that Gordonstoun staff were often involved in the junior school and that the two shared governors. (Since 2002 Aberlour has been fully merged with Gordonstoun). The school says it has co-operated with the police in its investigations into Aberlour House, Jones and Mr X.
"When the Facebook thing kicked off, says Kate, "my daughter had just turned 12. And I thought: 'You know, she's still got gappy teeth!' And I actually started to see myself then differently, completely differently. For all these years I'd not seen myself really as a child. My daughter brought it home to me that that is what I was."
Kate made a formal complaint, which was dealt with by the same police team who addressed John's case. The subsequent investigation—again, Police Scotland won't discuss it—turned up impressive numbers of witnesses with evidence to support Kate's claim. Crucially, police also found Jane and interviewed her. She told Kate, indirectly, how grateful she was that Kate had come forward. An arrest was made and Mr X made his first appearance in court—a process which in Scotland is private—to face allegations spanning four years.
For nearly a year, Kate prepared herself for facing X in court. It was very hard: the prospect of seeing him again was anguishing. She'd already had to identify him in a police line-up. That had caused her near-collapse. A local policewoman was made her liaison officer and became an emotional support; one of the things she told her was that Jane had asked the police to pass on her thanks: "Getting X to justice was the best thing that ever happened to her."
"When [the Procurator Fiscal's office] rang me and said, 'It's all fallen apart," I could not believe it. They were so certain it was all going to happen, that it was a done deal. I'd hung my hopes on the fact that it was. I was looking forward to it even though it would be horrendous. I knew I'd be a blubbering mess in court, but I wanted it and now it was taken away. I thought, how do I move forward? I still don't know how to move forward. I'm angry I allowed the whole thing to dominate my life again. And now I know I haven't got anywhere." Unfortunately the case was dropped when it became clear that Jane would be unable to give evidence. Kate cannot help but feel bitter. "I want to have compassion for her and at times I do. I know she's been through an awful lot. But it's hard not to have dark thoughts."
In truth, what has dragged Kate back to the horrors of her school days is not Jane's inability to give evidence but an arcane piece of Scottish criminal law—the principle of corroboration. Under it two independent witnesses or pieces of evidence are needed to confirm the key facts of a crime—in this case the identity of the alleged rapist and the fact of the rape. This is far from easy with crimes that tend to take place in private, such as sexual assault and domestic violence—and as a result, Scotland's rates of reporting of rape and convictions are among the lowest in the world.
Without forensic or medical evidence, prosecuting Mr X demanded two victims—Kate and Jane. The loss of Jane's evidence was fatal to the case, because the offence was in Scotland. If the allegation against X had concerned an event in England, or almost anywhere else in the world, the case would, the Observer has been told, have gone ahead without the need for corroboration. In England, also, John, Kate and others who suffered at the school would be able to bring civil compensation cases if their allegations were proven.
No official is permitted to discuss the case of X, but we have established that a thorough investigation was carried out, involving many of the people who were present at the campsite as well as other teachers. Nothing other than the lack of a corroborating witness, after Jane's withdrawal, emerged that might have derailed the case coming to court. The only consolation for Kate and Jane is that there is no bar to the investigation being reopened.
There is a simpler question for Gordonstoun and the 160 or more private boarding schools currently facing allegations about sexual crimes committed against their pupils—can they protect their children properly now? The Observer passed Gordonstoun's lengthy manual of "Child Protection Policy and Procedures" to Mandate Now, a campaign group lobbying to make child-protection systems in British institutions effective.
It examined the document in the light of many others adopted by hospitals, schools, care homes and social services and gave it a score of 4 out of 10. "It is verbiage, containing a number of disturbing flaws, " Mandate Now says. Reflecting the point made by the Gordonstoun ex-pupils, the report fails, it says, to make it clear that abuse or allegations of abuse need to be reported to an outside authority. Without that safety net, in place now in most British schools, cover-up always remains a possibility.
Gordonstoun says this complaint is irrelevant because the analysis is based on English practice. Its policy is based on Scottish government guidelines. A spokesperson said: "Pastoral care at Gordonstoun is highly regulated and is at the heart of everything that we do… Child protection is something we take very seriously and we are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for all our students. We have rigorous child-protection policies that have been developed with guidance from expert agencies. The latest independent report into the school… made particular reference to 'the extremely positive health promotion and child-protection procedures' in place at Gordonstoun."
The response went on: "We want our students to take full advantage of all the opportunities available to them and they can only do that if they are happy." That seems an admirable ambition—and a change of philosophy for Gordonstoun. For all the talk of service, honour, compassion and self-sacrifice in Kurt Hahn's teachings, the great educationalist and his disciples seem to have put less weight on the notion that, to learn and grow, children need to be happy. And safe.
Some of the names in this article have been changed.

Vancouver has a thriving LGBTQ community and is considered one of the most gay-friendly cities in North America. With its stunning natural scenery and generally liberal attitudes, Vancouver attracts many gay singles and couples. Here is an overview of gay dating in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dating Culture and Apps:
Like other major cities, dating apps and online platforms have become very popular for connecting with potential partners. Grindr remains the largest gay dating app in Vancouver, with thousands of active users. Scruff and Tinder also have sizable LGBTQ audiences. These location-based apps make it easy to see who is nearby and looking to chat or meet up.
However, Vancouver's gay scene extends well beyond apps. The city has a long-established network of bars, cafes, events and organizations catering specifically to the gay community. Meeting someone organically through these real-world spaces is also very common.
Vancouverites tend to have a more casual approach to dating that blends the physical and emotional. There is less emphasis on rushing into commitment. Getting coffee or going for a hike on the first date sets a low-key tone to explore companionship and see if compatibility develops over time.
Popular Neighborhoods and Scenes:
The main hub of Vancouver's LGBTQ nightlife is the Commercial Drive area, just northeast of downtown. This vibrant neighborhood is home to iconic bars like The Village and Transformation, along with plenty of gay-friendly cafes and restaurants. On warm nights, the patio scene comes alive.
West End, right on English Bay, has long had a strong gay presence. This affluent waterfront community hosts major Pride events and parades. Denman Street in particular offers cafes, bookstores and casual bars where dates often begin.
Yaletown and Gastown, in and around downtown Vancouver, also see a lot of gay nightlife and culture. Clubs like Celebrities and PumpJack Pub popular with twentysomethings and club-goers on weekends.
Beyond the city core, neighborhoods like Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant and Granville Island cater to more laidback crowds. The university scene in Point Grey provides options for younger daters. And various suburbs like North Vancouver and Burnaby feature their own tighter-knit communities.
Common Date Ideas:
Since Vancouver enjoys remarkably mild winters and over 300 days of annual sunshine, outdoor dates are hugely popular year-round. Hiking one of the many trails through Stanley Park and along the North Shore mountains makes for scenic activity dates. Picnics in Queen Elizabeth Park overlooking the skyline also go over well.
Coffee shop hangs are a low-pressure classic. Many independent cafes like Elysian and Havanafeature cozy vibes perfect for conversation. Microbrewery tours of establishments like Brassneck, 33 Acres and Main Street Brewing provide a unique cultural experience.
Foodies will love exploring the diverse international cuisines available all over Vancouver. Date-night hotspots include trendy South Asian spots in Richmond, gluten-free delights in Kitsilano, and oceanfront Pacific Northwest restaurants like Guu Garden Izakaya.
Major cultural hubs like the Vancouver Art Gallery, Science World, and Queen Elizabeth Theatre offer stimulating indoor activities on rainy days. Gastown or Granville Island strolls allow for window shopping, people watching, and casual intimacy.
Events and Organizations:
Vancouver Pride celebrations in late July/early August bring out over 500,000 revelers to the West End. Other notable annual events include the Frontrunners Vancouver Pride 10K, Q-Film Fests, and various dance parties and circuit events catering to bear, leather and kink communities.
Ongoing activities through organizations like Qmunity, OUTevents, and Little Sister's Bookstore provide educational seminars, social meetups, and a sense of belonging within the LGBTQ structure. Support groups from PFLAG and Gender Journey Vancouver also enrich the community year-round.
The University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University campuses in particular work hard to foster inclusive environments for gay students through dedicated resource centers and ally networks.
For singles, Vancouver remains one of the most vibrant places in North America to meet potential partners. The natural scenery, thriving scene, and generally open-minded culture make it an ideal setting for forming meaningful connections. With various apps, neighborhoods, and events catering specifically to LGBTQ citizens, dating in Vancouver offers memorable experiences and relationships.
Find your perfect match on GAYDATING247 - the ultimate destination for gay love!

...and he hasn't told them I'm trans and he doesn't want to and my anxiety is super high because of it. He constantly reassures me that they will be accepting and loving but idk I just can't shake this anxiety that his family are going to clock me and ask when he turned gay and mock me for being a gigahon. He also thinks I'll be able to stealth just fine around them and that they won't think anything about it but idk I think he's just hugboxing me to try and help soothe my anxiety which just makes me more anxious that I won't pass and people will laugh at me for being a man in a dress.
The only people in his family who know are his dad and sister and his sister thinks people will be fine with it too. It's just hard to think that his family would be supportive when my own family wasn't and still misgenders me and deadnames me 4 years into transition and 3 years after coming out to them. Idk I just can't see a world where anyone's family is supportive of a trans person in their family (or in my case, dating their son/nephew/cousin). I'm also tempted to not bring any girl clothes with because I manmode all the time but I think he'll be mad at me if I don't at least bring a dress or two since he likes when I wear them, but again I'm scared that if I wear a dress around his family they will look at me weird and make comments about me being a man in a dress.
Also, to any tranners here who have gone places internationally, do I have to do anything to bring my estrogen across international boarders? I DIY but I have some prescription stuff that's a bit old but should be fine to bring I think? Idk I have never left the US before because I come from a lower-middle class family who couldn't afford to travel places.

Toruk Makto stood like a towering oak at the ledge of his floating fortress. The sides of his head were shaved, accentuating his alert ears. His braided hair was adorned in plumes the colour of fire, making his already regal countenance intense with righteous anger. It was the auroral hour, and the golden light gave hope to all as Jake raised his bow in salute to his arriving warriors. They were the ikran fliers of Kekunan and Tayrangi; the direhorse riders of Olangi and Ìponi; the Tipani, wielding their shields of viridescent carapace; and the Mawìtan, riding their steervanes dressed in knotted caparisons. Ikran riders by the hundreds flew around the mountain like black dots swarming the flaming welkin. U'imi (streamers) worn on the rider's backs flapped, snapped and cracked in the high winds, filling the sky with the vivid colours of war. Below, horns blared to greet the warriors, treating them with the deference their bravery warranted.
Thousands were bivouacked beneath the mountain, and the mood was electric. Na'vi took turns swinging on the gruelling pendulum drums so no player was overworked. They danced and skipped around the great fires to inspire others and to thank Eywa for giving them this life so they may lay it down for a worthy cause.
These civilized people would comport themselves with dignity even when preparing for battle, such as ceremoniously dousing their war hatchets with water, as fighting with an unclean axe was considered disrespectful or bestowing a blessing to their arrowheads that it would deal a quick and painless death. No matter the tribe, all peoples of Pandora were governed by this tenet of respecting life, which encompassed even that of their enemies.
It was midmorning when everyone regrouped at Vitrautral (Tree of Souls) for their most crucial of all pre-battle practices: the ritual communion with Eywa. It was an enigma to xenoanthropologists as to why the knowledge of warfare had not atrophied in a people that seldom experienced it, but the answer was simple. Pandora's global library housed centuries of knowledge dating back to the Time of the First Songs. When communing with Eywa, She would depart to the Na'vi, in subliminal ways, the wisdom they needed to fight. This allowed them to be pacifists without being weak, ferocious without being cruel—as hardened as soldiers but as innocent as babes.
Clans gathered at the steps and connected their queues to the roots. Some were chanting a rhapsody of prayers so complex in notes that it ascended the mortal vale and into the realm of the divine. In the firmament, an orbiting satellite spied the convocation and reported back to Bridgehead the amassing Na'vi numbers. A chagrined Ardmore frowned at a giant screen as she watched a green mass repeatedly enlarging over a series of orbital images. She stormed through the control tower and bellowed her orders to all within earshot.
"Roll out the Dragon. I want two dozen Wasps on escort. And someone get me Officer Quaritch on the line!"
———
The leader of the Deja Blus was patrolling outside Hometree when he was told to hurry inside. He stood before their communications unit and watched the screen power on to be greeted by a very irritable Ardmore. "Quaritch, get ready for some company. As of yesterday, Sully's amassed up to five thousand in the Hallelujah Mountains."
He was only a little surprised. "How 'bout that? Guess he's still Toruk Makto after all."
Ardmore replied with a grunt. "We're heading out to meet you to provide backup. Two thousand more hostiles will reach those mountains in approximately two hours. Expect an attack at fourteen hundred. We'll be there to swat the flies by then."
"Roger that. The excavator is visible at fifty yards. We'll give them the heads up."
"Don't let me down, recom," she growled before terminating the call.
"Alright, you heard her! I want HMGs primed at every loophole. Double time, everyone!" Quaritch gave order after order, and Hometree buzzed with activity as the Deja Blus ran about, reinforcing the walls with sandbags and prepping their weapons for war.
———
Within Txurseng, Spider jogged to keep up with Jake's long strides. "We're geared up and ready to go, Pops. Can't wait to make a kill with my bow."
Jake was confused. "Spider, you're staying here at High Camp."
"What?! I'm not fighting with the rest of you?"
"Be reasonable, kid. This is a battle, not a hunting trip."
"But I'm a warrior too. I'm supposed to fight!"
"You're too young."
"Too young? I'm older than Neteyam!" His scowl switched to desperation when he realized his mentor was unmoving. "Please, Jake! Don't leave me behind with the pregnant women and children. I'm a man now. Treat me like one."
"Being a man doesn't mean fighting whenever you want. You're to stay with Kiri."
"She'll be busy with Mo'at. She has no use for me. I'm useless if I stay here."
"Well, having a tantrum isn't going to change my mind," Jake rebuked. "You want to be treated as a man? Act like one. You're staying behind."
Restrained for the last time, the warrior swayed his head in anger. "I can't believe this. Hell, Jake, do you have any use for me?"
"Spider..."
"You're always teaching me the ways, but you never give me a chance to prove myself! I had enough of this s***. See you around." Backing away, with a frown targeted at his guardian, he turned heel and departed into the cavern.
———
The avatar party was on standby at the top of Txurseng and stationed in front of their banshees. The scruffy team of insurgents, painted like their Na'vi comrades, wore a collage of weather-beaten gear, dying for retirement. Any strip of cloth that attempted to desert was then promptly seized to be repurposed around their head, Rambo-style. They stood in a lineup to be drilled by their commander, Norman Spellman; as a rider of an ikran, he wore his raspu' (chaps) to protect his inner thighs, and his claret loincloth hung over his strong legs that were accented by his songcord. The right side of his hair was shaved, and the left was braided with many pale beads. His open traveller's shirt not only displayed his chest, streaked with white mud, but also his ta'lan (cummerbund), indicating his rank as an adult Omatikaya male.
Norman's voice was not deep, but he had a commanding tone. "This attack will have three phases. After Sully's team deploys the smoke shield, the cavalry will circle the HEM-OA. They will pick off any soldiers they spot and provide distraction for Neteyam and his delivery boys. Meanwhile, the banshee riders will fly past Hometree in waves and turn up the heat. Once the enemies are well-smoked, we meet Sully at the crown and move in to cook their gooses." The avatars were hungry for a fight and hooted in unison to show their readiness. Norman looked at his team with an approving nod when Jake came up behind him, and the two firmly grabbed arms in greeting. "Jake, the avatars are ready," Norm was proud to report, but he noticed a troubled look on his friend's face. "Pre-battle nerves?"
"It's Spider." He sighed. "He wants to join the fight, but I can't let him."
"Why not?"
"Norm, Spider's too young."
"He's eighteen, isn't he?"
"Yeah, but this is a battle we're talking about—Spider's half the size of us. He can't fly an ikran. He can only shoot so far—"
As Jake was reciting his points, Norman crossed his arms and flatly stared him down. "This is rich coming from the guy who arrived on Pandora in a wheelchair."
The ex-paraplegic blinked thrice. "You're saying I should let him fight?"
"Why not? He's a man."
"Norm, how would the Paras feel knowing I was sending their son into battle?"
"The Paras are gone, Jake. Spider's future now lies here in High Camp. You can't keep him like a pet."
"I know that, Norm! That wasn't why I took him under my wing. I wanted Spider to learn the peaceful ways of the Na'vi, not get caught up in war like..." When Jake hesitated, Norman understood.
"You're worried about him getting a taste of it?"
"I'm a Marine," he stated. "I enlisted when I was seventeen. I know what it does to you—what happens when you take a life. It— It changes you. I don't want that for Spider."
"And Neteyam?"
"Neteyam is different," Jake countered quickly.
"You're capping Spider by doing this. He's separated from his species and can't undergo the Na'vi rite of passage. At least let him do something for his people so he knows he belongs."
"By teaching him how to kill other humans?"
Norman was sympathetic as he patted his buddy's shoulder. "Jake, when Grace let you undergo your Dream Hunt, it wasn't just your avatar dying that she was afraid of. It was seeing you falling in love with a world she knew you couldn't be a part of. She was scared too."
"She was right."
"Yeah, but she still let you do it."
Jake reflected on his youthful obstinance with a chuckle. "I wasn't going to be stopped."
"Neither will Spider. Trying to prevent him will only make things worse."
He yielded with a half-smile while clasping the hand on his shoulder. "You know, in that instance, what drove me was Neytiri. Thank god, that's not the case with him."
"So, you going to let him join?"
"One problem—what would he do?"
"Why not have him deliver one of the packages with Neteyam?"
Jake's ears flicked. "Yeah, he could easily do that, couldn't he?"
"He's one of the best climbers in the whole village. His name is 'Spider' after all."
He couldn't argue with that. "Alright. I'll go find him. Oh, and how are we with our current numbers?"
Norman looked around. "We still have two thousand more on their way. They should be here in a couple hours."
"Good, send word out throughout the camp. We're heading to battle."
"What? But don't you want to wait till the others get here first?"
He shook his head. "Nothing doing. Max told me last time Quaritch used orbital images to predict our movements."
"So they won't expect us to attack beforehand?"
"Exactly."
"Jake, that's brilliant."
"You wait here. I'll be back with Spider," he called out as he took off.
Jake worked his way through the bustle of activity and walked down into the heart of High Camp; however, he failed to find Spider in his cabin. He knocked, but no one answered. When he entered, it was empty, and all the lights turned off. He stopped to ask Max, but the scientist relayed to him that he hadn't been seen for some time. Jake kicked himself for being too hard on his ward, but it was too late to rectify anything; he only had a few minutes before departure, and he couldn't waste time searching for him. With a heavy heart, the olo'eyktan returned to the top of the mountain.
———
Ready for departure, the ikran riders took the last few minutes to don their tsamopin (war paint). With a wooden bowl of paint in one hand, Kiri carefully drew yellow streaks across her brother's face. Neteyam thanked her upon completion, but before she would let him go, the sister had something else she wished to do. She plucked up her special tipi bag and drew from it a turquoise collar that bore the symbol of the Omatikaya at its centre: a tree.
"Kiri, is that the collar you've been working on for the last few weeks?"
She nodded, then lifted it over his head to place it on his chest. The Omatikaya were renowned weavers, and Kiri, trained by her mother, was regarded by her own clan as the most talented.
Neteyam admired the complex piece. "It is beautiful, sister. Thank you."
Rather than tear up, Kiri put on a brave face and threw her arms around Neteyam for a sudden hug. The brother patted her trembling frame and reminded her not to worry after donning his ionar (ikran riding visor).
"Grandmother and I will be praying for all of you," she signed emphatically.
"I know," Neteyam spoke with his hands, then kissed her cheek.
Further down the line of riders, their parents were performing the same routine. Jake could feel as he painted Neytiri's face how tense she was. This battle was not just them going up against a powerful enemy; it was to take place at Hometree, something his wife had not looked upon since that fateful day. Her worry lines ran deep across her face as she readied to speak. She took his cheeks in her hands and held firmly, giving herself a moment for her strong breathing to steady. "Ma Jake, before we go..." she began in English, and Jake knew it was serious. "I want you to know that my heart is filled with pride for you. Thank you for protecting this clan. For choosing me for a mate. For being my children's father. You are always beloved to me. And I need you to know that."
The man was struck silent as he gazed at his woman. Even her intense eyes declared how highly she regarded him. Rather than ruin the moment by speaking, he snatched her up in his arms and laid a full kiss on his incomparable princess. Whatever faced him beyond the safety of their Hallelujah Mountains, he knew he would be ready for it.
———
Quaritch stood atop a root stump to look upon the Bucket Wheel Excavator now towering over the virgin glade. The rusted green castle issued incessant billows of dust and smoke. At the end of its heavy cutting boom, suspended by many powerful hoist lines, were three revolving wheels of serrated scoops. The beast crawled towards Hometree with its jutted jaw, like a hungry Cerberus tugging on Hades' leash; it could smell the Unobtanium deposit ahead and wanted nothing more than to gobble it up. Its treads, the height of a cargo ship, rolled forward with an unrelenting metal whine that attacked Quaritch's ears. He pressed his collar to communicate with his teammates. "Johnny, what do you see?"
Alexander was perched at the highest peak of the excavator, surveying the skies through his binoculars. The coiled wire of his earpiece brushed his neck as he kept turning his head. "I got nothing, sir. Skies are empty."
"Walker, how 'bout you?"
Walker was positioned at the other end of Hometree. "Nothing here either, sir."
"Think the tail-heads will show?" asked Prager over the airwaves.
"Not if they know what's good for 'em," he answered.
"Too bad, my fingers are itchy."
"Put some cream on it, Fike. Sully won't attack for another hour, and Ardmore's coming to steal the show."
What the team did not know was that the enemy had already arrived. The ikran fliers were not to be found in the skies but in the jungle, hanging off tree trunks by the claws of their wings. Jake was perched with his squadron, watching the lumbering Yängomyu kllteyä; its entire upper half was visible past the emergent layer like an icebreaker ship penetrating leaves of pack ice. With his old machine gun in hand, Jake swooped down from his hiding spot to issue his signal for attack: a Na'vi war cry. Executing death-defying turns, Toruk Makto skirted the peaks of the indomitable beast, and in his wake fell a trail of orange smog.
"Na'vi!" Johnny shouted, setting off his recombinant M69, but the escaping devil evaded his fire by way of an aileron roll, creating loops of orange that drifted down the HEM-OA. Unable to see, Johnny nearly fell from his post when a sudden arrow zipped past his head.
Jake's squadron flew in fast behind him, also puncturing their tìkakrel'wll (blindness plant), so named by the alchemist clan, the Tawkami, who discovered they could inject these expandable pods with a special formula via quills for a unique weapon. Sweeping trails ranging from orange, green and purple began bathing the entire battlefield in colour as if it were a Holi festival.
The drivers were leaning in their seats to espy what was happening outside when both were startled back by a recombinant pounding on the window, trying to gain Mansk's attention. Upon seeing Johnny, Sasha seized his nearest weapon, then nodded to the men that he'd only be a minute before heading out.
Quaritch watched the action with dismay; Sully had, once again, outsmarted him. "Take cover! The Na'vi are flying in!" he broadcasted. He took up his Wasp revolver and, with his feet firmly planted, aimed at the oncoming rider twirling through the air. Time came to a crawl as the rider turned into view.
Their eyes locked.
Quaritch fired repeatedly at Sully as he sped away, not landing a single shot. Neytiri and the other riders came up from behind, and he leapt off the root spire to avoid their arrows. He ducked back into camp and charged down the log, commanding everyone to get into battle positions. Walker also arrived on the scene, having entered from the crown, and Quaritch gave orders to block all exits. He manned a heavy machine gun stationed before a narrow slit and started firing wildly. After a few seconds of chaos, there was a sudden lull. The recombinants were anticipating a second wave of fliers when the ground started to rumble.
Over the thunder of hooves and treads came the screeching direhorse riders charging up the excavator's lane. The muscular fighters burst through the obscuring cloud and took aim at the walking city. Mansk, Prager, Johnny and Warren leaned over the rails, trying to scope out their targets, but they could see nothing past the motley screen. HAF soldiers simply fired blindly at the ground, only to be impaled by the materializing arrows piercing the veil.
The circling horde was not without their own losses, but for every Na'vi rider slain, three more warriors came pouring in, filling the air with screams as the indifferent fortress lumbered forward.
Ikrans dove through the polluted sky, and new riders assailed Hometree. The recombinants, inside, sprayed an onslaught of rounds at the hundreds of blurs who were aiming for their slit windows. HMGs flashed in retaliation, but the colonel paused when he detected smoke. He jerked his head around to discover the bastards were using flaming arrows. Hurriedly, he shouted at Z team to "get on it," and the pair flew for the extinguishers.
Meanwhile, the assault on the Yängomyu kllteyä raged. Projectiles shattered against the steel, and the HAF soldiers, that still could, scoffed at the primitives' futile attempts to stop the HEM-OA when a certain arrow struck a beam and erupted into a fireball—the circuiting calvary had switched to those infamous explosive arrows.
Waves of heat rushed over the colossal body. Metal fragments struck random targets. Small fires began burning the internals, but still, the beast would not yield.
———
Back at High Camp, in Mo'at's pagoda, the tsahìk chanted an enthralling prayer that echoed throughout the winding cave system. The time of the eclipse drew near, and all three skylights ceased to issue rays, revealing the golden hues of the stimulated entwining roots that bathed the whole chamber. Kiri watched Mo'at with a studious gaze as the walls radiated with magic. Eager to do her part, she took her songcord, closed her eyes and began thumbing it around her curved palm, waving her other hand in a silent, esoteric hymn.
———
​
Amid the darkness and chaos, several Na'vi wearing yellow backpacks with the words "AVTR Program" printed on them jumped off their ikrans and landed on the excavator. Without the reassurance of netting or spotlights to guide them, the daring Na'vi swung with the skill of trapeze artists up the rusted non-tree. Balancing on the narrow beams of the boom, they stripped their backpacks to buckle them to the hoist cables, then escaped by jumping onto the backs of their getaway ikran riders. Two Na'vi, with different targets, moved further towards the pulley blocks, splitting off to either side of the excavator. A precarious climb with a sheer drop awaiting them if they failed, the daredevils reached the peak of the leaning tower to then strip their packs. They waved to their passing ikran sisters, and one jumped to safety, but as the other was about to leap, a bullet ripped through his side. Shouting in agony, he stumbled across the beam and tripped but caught a single support last minute; however, his grip was weak, and the demon who struck him was lining up for a second shot.
Having spent all his arrows, Neteyam leapt off White Flower and jabbed his bow in the demon's face before using it to thwack the M69 out of the hands. Warren staggered, wiped his bloody nose, then forcibly snagged the Na'vi weapon coming at him again, thrusting the small devil onto his rear. Neteyam eyed in horror when the enemy raised his bow high in preparation for snapping it across the knee, but when he brought down the shaft, Neteyam's craftsmanship withstood the test. Encouraged, the young warrior sprang back up to snatch it back. Blue arms twisted and wrestled for control in a deadly dance across a slim bridge. Warren had the upper strength, but he had underestimated how truly nimble the Na'vi were, and a lightning-speed kick at his heel threw him off balance. Another strike from the assaulting bow, and he was sent over the edge.
Johnny was moments away from shooting Neteyam, but when he saw his friend fall, he dropped his pistol and lunged to grab Warren's falling hand. The man swung with such force that it cracked Johnny's arm, but despite the sheer pain, the rescuer held on.
———
The tsahìk stopped her chanting when she sensed something strange and opened her eyes to a miraculous sight—the bioluminescence of the roots were moving in waves as if all the energy was being inhaled and softly exhaled. Mo'at nudged Kiri's knee, but the girl did not respond. She called her name, and then, all at once, the roots ceased to flicker and returned to their steady glow. Mo'at was bewildered and awed at the now dim cavern as Kiri stared at her grandmother, awaiting an explanation as to why she pulled her out of her meditation.
———
The weakening hand was slipping from its grip when gravity gave its final tug. The warrior fell with a scream, but an arm lassoed around him, and he was yanked onto an ikran. The beast pulled away from battle and into the jungle, where Norman of the Dreamwalkers set the Na'vi down.
"You okay, young warrior?"
His hand remained cupped over his bleeding wound. "I was grazed, but that's better than being dead. Thank you."
Norman did an American salute. "Any time, fellow cit—" His eyes rolled back, and suddenly, the giant collapsed.
"Au! Uniltìranyu Ngam'en!" he hollered in shock at the Dreamwalker now faceplanted in the dirt.
Elsewhere, waiting outside the battlefield, the avatar party was on standby.
"When is Norman going to show up?" a female driver complained. "Doesn't Jake need us to infiltrate Hometree?"
"It's already eclipse. He should've shown by now." Another blue face grimaced, setting down his rifle.
A third scanned the skies dotted with ikrans. "Should we con—" The avatar fainted—mouth stuck open on the unfinished sentence—and the audience along with it, not one before the other, but all at once, striking the ground as hollow shells.
———
The link beds burst open as the panicked drivers woke up in total blackness. Not only did the links terminate, but their cabins ceased filtering the air. Unable to see, they failed to find their emergency masks and fumbled helplessly in the dark. With their sealed homes fast becoming their tombs, the drivers used their depleting oxygen to cry for help.
———
When the electric hum of the human's instruments no longer filled Mo'at's ears, she prompted Kiri to follow her to the mouth of the cave, where they discovered, to their consternation, that the whole labyrinth was unlit.
"Kiri, you must go find Spider at once. Without power, the Dreamwalkers are in danger."
Kiri obeyed and set off to find him as her grandmother ran for the human camp.
"Tsahìk!"
The elder caught a form in the darkness as it approached her. "Sawnee, do you know what has happened?"
"No, I do not," Sawnee fretted. Around her legs was a clutch of children scared by the sudden blackout.
"Children, children. Come to me. Do not fear. Listen, you must hurry. Run to each cabin and help the Dreamwalkers. They have no air and cannot see in the dark like us. You must bring them their other faces, found on the wall by their beds."
With urgency, Sawnee and the children scurried to every cabin.
"Remember to pinch the middle part of the black frame after setting it firmly on their face! Do not stop till you hear the other face hiss!" Mo'at instructed. She prayed the children knew enough about the breathing visors to correctly activate the seal.
Meanwhile, Max had managed to put on his EXO pack and venture out of his cabin to help the drivers, but as he braved the darkness, calling out to the others in distress, his bad eyesight caused him to trip. He stumbled forward when timely blue dots scooped around his waist and carefully veered him away from the thousand-foot drop.
They did not have halos, but their bioluminescence sufficed as each little angel flew to the rescue. Through teamwork, toddlers turned the stubborn wheels of the vaulted doors and poured into the tombs. Drivers were semi-conscious by the time the children finally arrived. They scrambled to find the breathing visors and obeyed their tsahìk's instruction to the letter.
Resuscitating after seal activation, Norman found himself cradled in the arms of an eight-year-old, asking if he was okay.
———
Over the bedlam, Lyle recognized the crescendo of rapid fire and warned everyone to duck as a trail of bullets ran across their slit windows. Their instruments were perforated and spat out fireworks of sparks. Tongues of blue flames closed in around them with no more white agent to snuff the encroaching threat. Quaritch was the first to get back up and retaliated with his heavy machine gun. Gnashing his teeth, he bellowed orders, all the while keeping his eye out for Sully. Smoke now saturated the air both inside and out. With visibility rapidly becoming non-existent, Quaritch fired at anything. His eyes watered and burned, but he would have his revenge; he was determined to end that undeserving life while he still had the chance. As he surveyed the cloud, a teal blur suddenly manifested, followed by a woman's screech, and in that split second, a spinning shaft flew directly for his heart.
His eyes pinned.
The Marine's first life flashed before his eyes, ending on those last few seconds before his traumatic death. Spirits of slain Na'vi appeared before him as he collapsed backwards. They seized his neck in their vengeful grips, and he felt nothing but the icy touch of the undead.
Wainfleet and Brown alerted the others as the two rushed towards their suffocating colonel. Brown did chest compressions as Lyle hollered desperately, but the stretching mouth drew in no air; the man gaped like a fish on dry land. The medic came down harder; the corporal screamed louder, and outside the narrow window where they knelt was Neytiri's arrow, lodged into the bark, having missed its mark by less than an inch.
———
Jake stood on a root stump and stared down the excavator. On his orders, every Na'vi retreated from the HEM-OA. Once the site was cleared of his men, Toruk Makto pressed the detonator. Instantly, the planted backpacks blew off. Fireballs expanded into one giant inferno that swallowed the whole of the colossus. Limbs blew off their supports, and the beast yelled out in cries of warping metal. With its tendons destroyed, the boom snapped under its own impossible weight, and the great bucket wheels crashed deep into the soil. Fire and smoke surrounded the passengers as recombinants raced to help the humans, only to have their escape routes cut off by the tons of falling rubble.
Jake saw blue figures climbing down the superstructure, and through his scope, he targeted Mansk—the recombinant was scrambling to the mangled driver's cabin. Jake's crosshairs were right on the man's back, ready to fire, when he witnessed his enemy turn around, now holding an unconscious and badly injured human. It would've been a clean shot if Jake didn't lower his weapon.
High above, ikran riders spectated the HEM-OA, burning like their fallen Hometree; the site was now a graveyard of two giants. Neytiri gazed at the vanquished monster and, brandishing her bow, issued a roar that was echoed by her clan. The cries of the past were sounded again but for victory, not defeat. With their dead vindicated, the Omatikaya people finally had closure for what happened sixteen years ago.
​

Dedicated to Stephen Lang, this is the sequel to James Cameron's Avatar. This story does not follow the events of ‘The Way of Water' or any other continuation, only the 2009 movie, which serves as the foundation. Same characters but an alternate reality plot.
You can read for free on Google Docs, Wattpad, A03, Fanfiction.net

I just watched the leaked first episode and got say despite it's problems it's written pretty well I got go over what it did right and what I think it did wrong.
Warning this is pretty long.
Pros
For one the cast being more strategic. Axel and Scary Girl being well aware how they scare people lead to them got them kicked off yeah there not doing a great job hiding it they are but it's nice to see more player knowing what it takes to go far in TD. Nichelle trying to improve herself by trainings. Pyria trying to keep a low profile and surround herself with allies she knows she can get to help her in the votes Caleb trying to get Pyria former winner and a strong player with allies on his side is smart especially considering how Pyria is behind teens her age socially making her easier to manipulate than someone like Juila Millie etc despite her knowledge in TD gameplay.
Sidenote I disliked Scary Girl(Not much though) in season 1 since it felt like she was trying too hard to be quirky or funny she just came across as One note character still she didn't last long and didn't piss me off as much as they did I'll give her that. Over here I did like the direction there going with her though or trying to despite her early boot I hope she returns like Izzy.
The Problem with the previous casts is that 80 percent of characters on TD are terrible at the game and pretty dumb and/or unpopular the other 8 percent can't really strategize on how to win beyond winning challenges. Only 2 percent use alliances and try to use the social game to their advantage but even they are already distrusted by most people but does 2 percent players make people quickly distrust or give up on alliances. Then there is also when they come back into the season for a second try and most of them to do the same shit that got them eliminated the first time(Sierra Jo Eva Izzy) or the ones that did try to play the game just fizzle out Scott being the biggest example of this.
I get their teens on a kids show that's more comedy focused but it gets to the point where it feels like they forgot or just don't care their in a game for a Milloin Dollars. Which I think is problem in a show about million dollar coemption called Total Drama. The new cast felt more realistic in their decisions without being too OP.
Also Speaking of Villains Bowie facing some consequences for the stuff by losing the respect of the cast and being in danger for the stuff he did last season was also nice unlike someone like Duncan or Courtney where everything they did was conveniently forgotten and/or people just passed it off as no big deal and it's not overboard like with Scott and Alejandro. In fact it's nice to see that Juila and Bowie unlike almost every TD Major player or Villain doesn't fizzle out after their first season and still keep trying to play the game and instead of just waiting around to be kicked off and barely making any effort for alliances they try to adapt to the game despite the fact their nature was exposed.
Bowie picked his team pretty well with strong loyal allies like the Hockey Bros gullible people he can easily use for votes like Chase and Scary Girl who are also jerks and will go along with him if it means safety for them and very unpopular and can be discarded in case they turn on him like Emma Challenge Powerhouses/Meatshields like Juila and Scary Girl fits the bill as well for that and then MK who street smarts can be helpful in a challenge and is unpopular and Bowie could easily use her watching the confessionals to get her out.
The Challenge was pretty good it's not over the top and try hard to be epic as some of the ones in the previous seasons and it's not boring like Pahiktew Island challenges. Feels more grounded while still being fun like the Original Island challenges.
While I do see Chef having time to reflect over his mistakes in life especially with how he treated the Campers and Interns it's nice to see he hasn't gotten too soft this season even brining in his Grandma to body them.
The world outside of TD is getting expanded on usually outside of the TDA Special and some confessionals we don't have much idea of what goes on with the characters off the screen and how being on TD has impacted their lives outside the show negatively or positively. Nichelle acting career taking a plumet and Zee being a Mascot.
Concerns
Emma and Chase had a nice character arc last season. It feels like a real toxic relationship and Chase being one of the most nuanced versions of a prick. Emma is well written as someone who has toxic relationships. Emma does have trouble deciding whether she hates or loves Chase but that's the thing with toxic relationships she still has shown to deep down depend on him which makes her more real in my eyes.
She spent a lot of time with him making her get used to him and his poor treatment which she knows deep down she should leave his ass but at the same time there are just as many moments where he is funny nice helpful etc. She has gotten so used to him over the years being without him is worse than how he treats her in her eyes.
So it's good but it still felt like them and their plot needed to cut back a few episodes. While I do see Emma rightfully breaking up with Chase which I do want for her but at the same time it does feel like Chase and her are in danger of repeating the same plot. I'm glad their on different teams while their relationship plot still isn't resolved though I'm looking kinda forward to what the writers will do with them.
Cons
Millie and Raj depend way too much on Pyria and Bowie and Wayne depends on Raj a lot. I love both of them and think they had good arcs last season that ended well. However they desperately need more interactions and dynamics with other characters outside of each other.
Putting Raj/Wayne on the same team as Bowie and Millie on the same team as Pyria was not a good idea as it just reduces to them to same thing we seen with them last season kinda of like AS and Action
Nichelle being a alethic powerhouse now while I do like they are making characters improve their skills having her quickly be a good alethic player with just a few months of training even suppressing a comeptive sports player like Bowie or physical challenge beast like Scary Girl was not a right call in my eyes.
How I would try to improve things?
Swap Millie and Raj on teams.
A good plot twist would be having Pyria take Raj when she gets first pick in order to get rid of Bowie's best ally after all she is a strategic player it may seem a little spiteful but compared to what Bowie did in the finale it suits her to pull something back like that while also still benefiting her game. She is sure he won't pick Millie because she is guarantied vote against him the first chance she gets to take him out.
Bowie gets mad and takes Millie since he knows that's her best ally who she desperately needs now as being a former winner paints a huge target on her back he wants to not only insure she doesn't have her most reliable vote but he is also knows Millie can't keep up in most challenges against other players without her.
He intends to use that to use her as pre-merge meat shield while still pretending he is doing only out of spite. This forces Millie to learn how to do things on her own without her crutch.
I think having Nichelle shown as a cheater instead would work better. At the end of the episode instead of dock of shame we see Nichelle either using a steroid which is how she got so strong quickly or meeting up with a intern and Chef's grandma and paying them a little for telling her the challenge ahead of team and making sure she gets to be the one to win for the team and promises the intern more money once she wins the Milloin.
Sorry it took to long thanks for reading if you have any criticisms tell me in the comments.

In a somber valley that cuts a scar through the Balinok mountains, clouds cover the land in a perpetual shroud against the warming light. Barovia is a thrice-cursed land, abandoned by her gods and the site of countless bloody battles. The soil is steeped in the blood of its people, and peculiar fruits grow from its barren fields. Decimated cultures slumber below the ground, while the burdened populace above is cowed and harried, forced to pay a tithe in blood. The conqueror Count's publicans haunt the roads, his dogs roam the woods, and in every home his name is whispered and cursed by the strongest epithets these withered souls can muster in their scared, quiet hearts.
The Devil Strahd. The Kinslayer.
By light of day, these people, the Barovians, turn their faces from the looming Castle Ravenloft and eke out what few joys they can find. They are determined, stony folk. They are broken, desperate folk. They are maddened, fragile folk. Can you blame them? Do you not feel your own soul flinching away from the distant facade of the castle? Do not your own eyes struggle to lift to its heights, where the Count watches all from his distant tower?
All under his gaze. All written in his image. This story is his story, and you are merely a footnote.
If you want to make it out alive, you'll have to steal the pen. Rewrite the narrative. Change the game. Seek the Vistana soothsayer, traveler. She has much to teach you about these lands. She knows the only way out.
She knows how the story ends. And you have such a part to play in it.
---
Do you love descriptive, literate roleplay? Do you enjoy navigating complex social situations, untangling webs of unreliable narrators, and rooting out the heart of matters where there is no clear right or wrong side? Do you enjoy battling against intelligent, enigmatic opponents that require subterfuge and political strategy to bring down, rather than barging straight into battle? Do you enjoy playing characters with dark secrets and inherent moral quandaries who find their worst traits reflected in the world around them? Do you embrace the monstrous within and without? Do you struggle with the certainty that the greatest evil in the world is merely the darkness in every person's heart? Do you love the macabre, the ruinous, the dilapidated, the living rot, the crumbling world and all its people who struggle, still, to survive amidst the blight?
Do you want to play Curse of Strahd with me?
If the answer is yes, please take a moment to read the following player primer: So You Want to Play Curse of Strahd: A Player's Primer on Enjoying the Game. Pay extra attention to the content warnings. If you're still interested after reading, please fill out the form linked at the bottom of this post.
I'm seeking mature adult roleplayers with a concise, literate style who have a talent for writing and strong character voice. Players who want to not only explore their own character's internality but also learn about the other player characters, be a fan of their stories, and create opportunities for everyone in the group to develop their personal narratives in pursuit of the main plot.
Ideal candidates are over 25 years old, have a strong background in text roleplay, and are LGBTQ+, though I may select others with impressive or interesting hooks and writing styles. Adult themes are unavoidable in Curse of Strahd, and I'm looking for players with the maturity to approach them with both serious care and delighted interest.
A few things to note:
This is a play-by-post game over Discord. The DM's time zone is EST, but given the asynchronous nature of the game, I don't expect this to matter much.
The system we will be using is D20 Go, not D&D 5e. D20 Go is a rules light system that is fully compatible with D&D 5e but greatly simplifies combat in a way that is friendly for asynchronous play and emphasizes narrative description of combat over strict rules. If you're a fan of "crunch" and turn-based combat strategy, this likely isn't the game for you. However, just because the combat is simplified doesn't mean that success is a given. Failure is still an option, especially when entering a fight blindly or underprepared.
Players are encouraged to buy their own copy of the rulebook, but it isn't required. Everyone will be provided with all the information needed to make a character and understand the modes of play.
Character sheets will be hosted on Google Docs, and dice rolls will be made in Discord using a dice bot. Most scenes will be resolved using theater of the mind, with maps provided sparingly. We will be using hard and soft limits as well as the X card for safety tools.
My table is LGBTQ+ friendly, POC friendly, and all-gender friendly. Bigotry of any kind will receive zero tolerance.
Players will be expected to commit to an activity minimum -- likely one post a day, four days out of each week -- with exceptions made for communicated absences. This is a serious and lengthy commitment, and players who cannot keep up with the requirement will be replaced.
Players will be expected to be proactive roleplayers whose posts consistently drive the story forward, either with dialogue, action, or both. Excessively passive players will be replaced.
If all of this sounds fun and exciting to you, please fill out the following form. If you have difficulty accessing the form or it appears to close before I've marked this post as closed, leave a message to let me know.
The form will close Thursday evening, after which I'll make final decisions. If you already applied from a previous post, you don't need to submit another response. I still have your application, don't worry.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1NoU1uk0ovE50wk-jD9cSKa436-gQh5lAQ_m1L_D2jfM/edit

Righto buds we are fully in act Two at this point. Time to trudge toward the second act low point. Today we got big bears tribe finding them and the outpost.
Lets get ready to rip our bread apart.
​
------
Moving Scarletra’s stuff into their home was calm and uneventful; no beasts of the world challenged them while camping, nor did any storm batter them during the trip through the alpine. It was a wonderful experience, letting them kindle their relationship a little more each day through small gestures of care and aid, cooking for one another, having items on hand the other needed, and, of course, cuddling to keep each other warm against the biting cold.
While Scarletra had the ideal images of life, Levaal had shown her in dreams swirling around her headspace the entire time. She had yet to bring it up to Samuel, not for any lack of desire or malicious attempt to force another family upon him, but because they were thrust waist-deep into tasks upon returning.
Samuel had to repair several solar panels damaged by a passing storm, while Scarletra focused on learning the repair process. None of it was too difficult, other than splicing wires. They were puny, and her thick fingers had trouble holding them and using the lighter. Thankfully, Samuel was patient and understanding about the issues with her anatomy. And let her try repeatedly until the work was to his standards.
Scarletra knelt before the totems of the gods. Having the representations of the gods close at hand was terrific, setting them up just off to the side of the outpost's main door, along with several metal bowls for offerings.
Samuel did not seem to mind her morning religious practices because she prayed first thing in the morning and did not hinder any of their daily duties. He had even joined her a few times, wanting additional lessons about the Varintol pantheon. But Scarletra was not able to tell him more than she already had. Her practices, stories, and understanding of each god and goddess were slightly better versed than most Varintol, but she could not hold a candle to the priestess.
They have every word of the stories flawlessly memorized. And could spend days speaking on any of the gods and what lessons can be gained from their tales. Scarletra could remember hearing them tell her stories of Hurot’s battles almost daily under their tutelage. A small part of her wondered what Suluna was doing nowadays.
Over the last week, Scarletra had prayed to two specific goddesses more than the others. The Great Mother for general guidance and protection over the outpost, Samuel and herself, hoping the Great Mother could keep their workload low and free time high.
She had also given libation to Levaal so the goddess would cherish the young couple. If it would not seem pathetic, Scarletra was fully prepared to beg the goddess of love and life to keep her and Samuel’s relationship safe and allow it to bear as much fruit as possible. This was her first chance at having a blissful life; coveting it was only natural, and she would take all the help possible.
Samuel left the outpost several hours ago to gather wood for the biodiesel generator, needing to restock after their long trip to and from her cave. Scarletra had tried to go along, but Samuel insisted he did not need her as all he would do was cut apart tree limbs before loading them onto a sled and returning. To her chagrin, her cute human companion would not budge on the matter no how much they argued that it was dangerous, so she acquiesced and let her warm fire go alone.
Without Samuel around, Scarletra planned to continue working on Sarah’s memorial after praying. The statue was almost entirely done. All that was left was refinement and final checks. The work will be done in a week or so with her available time. Thinking about how Samuel would react made her heart patter and chest ache with anticipation. Would he like it? Think it was nice? Or despise the idea? She was unsure but would finish the project and proudly present the gift to her warm fire.
The worst way he could react was crying in agony. While it was not a pleasant thought, Scarletra knew it was a possibility. She prayed before Levaal to guide him to a gentle grieve, not a baleful wail. While Scarletra would help, cuddle, and comfort him no matter what, she would rather not see the cute human crying.
As Scarletra prayed and burned pine before Levaal, a vile scent rolled in on the gentle breeze, combining honey, wine, and blood. She was intimately familiar with it but never wished to experience that foul odor or woman attached to it again. Her fur stood on end as the snow crunched and trees rustled behind her.
Looking around for the source, there was nothing but the trees gently swaying and the cold whistling of the winds traveling down the mountainside. Scarletra’s heart stammered momentarily, hoping she just had imagined it. Still, she took a deep whiff of the cold air and adjusted her head to face upwind to confirm the thought. Scarletra sighed, quickly pinpointing the region of the alpine slopes the violent scent was drifting from.
“I know you are out there, Finnula,” Scarletra challenged in Varintol, her voice echoing far and wide through the valley. “I also know you aren’t alone.”
The valley was silent for some time, long enough for Scarletra to wonder if an arrow would slam into her chest while waiting. Finnula generally did not enjoy ranged warfare, but it had been years, and a lot could have changed. Eventually, the interlopers began to make their move, slinking forward through the pines like ghosts.
Finnula breached the thicket, marching forward, confidence oozing off her and the posse of scouts spreading out into a reverse wedge in the open ground between the forest and the outpost.
“I thought the misbegotten third daughter had been long taken by Maruvak, but I guess we were wrong in that assumption,” Finnula leered, pulling an ax from her belt.
Scarletra knew Finnula well, having fought together in several campaigns before Scarletra was named or cursed by Hurot. That she and a scouting band were at the outpost was concerning. Mother did not waste assets of feckless acts; they had a purpose for being in Barut’s hunting grounds, and there was no way it was meant to be peaceful.
“What do you want?” Scarletra growled as Finnula stepped out from the center of the wedge toward Scarletra, stopping just out of arm's reach but at the edge of axe range.
“I was just sating a curiosity. We encountered a strange creature out there with a roaring tool cutting up trees. I swore I smelled you of all people on that thing, so—-,” Finnula started.
“What did you do to Sam?” Scarletra snapped, knowing very well the clan would have made no qualms with hurting, enslaving, or killing him, given a reason.
But Finnula was particularly cruel to the village men; she did not even need a reason other than that she felt like it. If she hurt Samuel, Scareltras desires to not be violent be damned; Finnula would not take a single step before Scareltra ripped her head off.
Finnula paused momentarily, not backing up and the outburst but looking Scarletra up and down curiously, paying keen attention to her attire and nylon rigging. She glanced back at the outpost before her cold cobalt eyes locked back on Scarletra.
“We didn’t touch that thing. I just wished to see if Hurot was blessing our campaign with the Guraen by bringing you to light after all these years,” Finnula sneered, patting her ax head against a shoulder. “Mother has been wondering when you would come crawling back to her, begging to be given another chance.”
“That’s not happening,” Scarletra replied. “I have a new home and clan.”
“What makes you think you have a choice?” Finnula said, gesturing at her scouts. “We have you outnumbered, and blessed by Hurot or not, you can still be taken down.”
Scarletra extended her claws, having no other weapons on her. She quickly assessed what was in front of her, taking stock of her tactical situation. She did not want this to devolve into a fight, not with Samuel close enough and likely to return any moment. If possible, Scarletra would end this peacefully and not fight at all, but she doubted Finnula would have any desire to be talkative, like usual.
The orange-furred Varintol was not blessed by Hurot, but she was still dangerous with an ax, just like the one taught in her grip. She was the closest to Scarletra and was fast, but not as quick as Scarletra. If peace could not be brokered, her jaw would be ripped off before the ax could move from her shoulder.
Scarletra carefully traced over the other five Varintol scouts; she did not know them by sight or smell, so they were an unknown factor. That did not make her feel any better about the situation at hand. For all Scarletra knew, they were cursed like she was, and this field could become a bloodbath.
They were armed with bows, spears, axes, and even javelins and wore subdued, hard leather armor. So, their being cursed was unlikely. Mother rarely sent out those guarded by Hurot on simple scouting missions.
Assuming the six were just regular scouts, with Hurot’s curse, Scareltra could not just take them in open combat but would slaughter them. She would not come out of it unscathed, and they could get a lucky hit and kill her. Her heartiness was one of the few things about Hurot's rage Scarletra appreciated; most strikes that would debilitate meant nothing in the blood rage. If an attack did not kill her instantly, her body would keep fighting while Hurot possessed her mind.
“Finnula, we both know you don’t want this fight as much as I do,” Scarletra snarled in a warning.
Finnula sighed and looked back at her troops. They were all greenhorns with little to no real experience. But they all knew the tales of Scareltra the bloody. They were nervous, unable to keep their weapons still or stop staring in awe at the living legend in front of them. If Finnula was being honest, she was horrified of trying to capture Scarletra; There was no way they all would make it out of this upcoming fight. Most would die, and the survivors, if there were any, would be walking wounded, unable to fight.
“Where is the honor in not fighting,” Finnula shrugged, accepting her duty and expectations as a unit leader and a warrior of the Ursana. “Mother would have my head if I did not even try,”
“Is there anything I can say to make you not do this?” Scarletra nearly pleaded.
Finnula was about to reply when a new voice broke through the tension between the two warriors.
“Scar, what is going on,” Samuel said, walking past the Varintol scouts, rifle slung across his chest, leaving a sled of branches behind him.
The scouts watched him in awe or morbid curiosity; no male in their village would dare to enter their formation. Mother or any commander would severely punish any so bold. They must have wanted to see what their commander did, or they just did not know what to do themselves to stop the strange-looking male.
Scarletra screamed internally; this was bad, no, it was horrendous. Samuel had just walked into what was about to become a slaughterhouse and was either unaware of the danger or simply did not care. She had to get Samuel out of there. He would not stand a chance if Finnulla attacked him in melee, even though Samuel likely weighed the same amount as Finnula. She was a warrior, and he was not a fighter.
“Did you not hear me?” Samuel asked, nearing the interloper commander.
“What do you want, you deformed male?” Finnula growled in Varintol.
Samuel paused for a moment, looking at Finnula. “Scar, what's her issue?” He questioned, diverting towards Scarletra.
“Are these people from one of the other tribes or—” Samuel started to say but was cut off when Finnula punched him in the jaw, knocking him to the snow.
Scareltra’s heart clenched and raced, seeing Samuel land limply in the snow, not moving. She growled loudly, and her vision flushed red.
“Can’t you see the women are talking to filthy little cur?” Finnula yelled at Samuel with authority, stepping closer, raising her ax, blunt side toward Samuel, readying to hammer a lesson into him.
Before Scarletra or Finnula realized it, the flag had been dropped. And Scarletra slammed full force into her former comrade. Scareltra dug her claws deep into Finnula’s shoulders, picking her up and slamming her into the frost like she weighed nothing. Scareltra bellowed her defiance, accepting her curse to defend their home.
Hurot roared in her ear, guiding her mind and body to hyper-violence. The last thoughts of consciousness, as Hurot took over, were simple: Protect Sam no matter the cost.
​
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SO time for the second act to hit it and hit it fast. Next chapter will be overflowing with Guts, blood and battle. The first time we learned of Scareltra's violence, it was from her POV, not much because it's kind of a trance. we will see it in detail from an outsider's view in the next post. I hope you are ready.
don't forget to updoot and comment. See you soon
-Pirate
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https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/165973n/iced_hearts_chapter_one/
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To preserve the unity of His Faith, maintain the integrity and flexibility of His teachings, and guarantee the progress of all humanity, Bahá’u’lláh established a Covenant with His followers that is unique in the annals of religious history for its authority and its explicit and comprehensive nature. In His Most Holy Book and in the Book of His Covenant, as well as in other Tablets, Bahá’u’lláh instructed that after His passing the friends should turn to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Centre of that Covenant, to guide the affairs of the Faith. In His Will and Testament, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá perpetuated the Covenant by laying down the provisions for the Administrative Order ordained in Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings, thereby ensuring the continuation of authority and leadership through the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, as well as a sound relationship between individuals and institutions within the Faith.
History has amply demonstrated that religion can serve either as a powerful instrument for cooperation to propel the advancement of civilization, or as a source of conflict that yields incalculable harm. The unifying and civilizing power of religion begins to decline as the followers come to disagree on the meaning and application of the divine teachings, and the community of the faithful eventually becomes divided into contending sects and denominations. The purpose of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation is to establish the oneness of humanity and unite all peoples, and this last and highest stage in the evolution of society cannot be achieved if the Bahá’í Faith succumbs to the malady of sectarianism and the dilution of the divine Message witnessed in the past. If Bahá’ís “cannot unite around one point”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observes, “how will they be able to bring about the unity of mankind?” And He affirms: “Today the dynamic power of the world of existence is the power of the Covenant which like unto an artery pulsateth in the body of the contingent world and protecteth Bahá’í unity.”
Foremost among the achievements of the past century is the victory of the Covenant, which both protected the Faith from division and propelled it to embrace and contribute to the empowerment of all peoples and nations. Bahá’u’lláh’s penetrating question that lies at the heart of religion—“Where shalt thou secure the cord of thy faith and fasten the tie of thine obedience?”—takes on a new and vital significance for those who recognize Him as the Manifestation of God for this Day. It is a call for firmness in the Covenant. The response of the Bahá’í community has been unyielding adherence to the provisions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament. Unlike relationships of worldly power in which a sovereign entity compels obedience, the relationship between the Manifestation of God and the believers, and between the authority designated by the Covenant and the community, is governed by conscious knowledge and love. In recognizing Bahá’u’lláh, a believer enters voluntarily into His Covenant as an act of free conscience and, out of love for Him, remains steadfast in adherence to its requirements. At the close of the first century of the Formative Age, the Bahá’í world has come to more fully understand and act upon the provisions of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, and a distinctive set of relationships has been established among the believers that unify and direct their energies in pursuit of their sacred mission. This achievement, like so many others, was the fruit of crises overcome.
The existence of the Covenant does not mean that no one will ever attempt to divide the Faith, cause damage to it, or retard its progress. But it does guarantee that every such attempt is foredoomed to fail. Following the passing of Bahá’u’lláh, some ambitious individuals, including the brothers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, tried to usurp the authority granted to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by Bahá’u’lláh and sowed seeds of doubt within the community, testing and at times misleading those who wavered. Shoghi Effendi, during his own ministry, was attacked not only by those who had broken the Covenant and opposed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but also by some within the community who rejected the validity of the Administrative Order and questioned the authority of the Guardianship. Years later, when Shoghi Effendi passed away, a new attack upon the Covenant emerged when one profoundly misguided individual, despite having served for many years as a Hand of the Cause of God, made an unfounded and futile attempt to claim the Guardianship for himself, in spite of the clear conditions set forth in the Will and Testament. After the election of the Universal House of Justice, it too became a target of the active opponents of the Cause. In more recent decades, a few from within the community, presenting themselves as more knowledgeable than others, fruitlessly sought to reinterpret the Bahá’í teachings pertaining to the provisions of the Covenant in order to cast doubt on the authority of the House of Justice and to claim certain prerogatives, in the absence of a living Guardian, that would enable them to drive the affairs of the Faith in a direction of their own choosing.
Over a century, then, the Covenant established by Bahá’u’lláh and perpetuated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was attacked in various ways by internal and external opponents, but ultimately to no avail. While, each time, some individuals were misled or became disaffected, the attacks failed to divert or redefine the Cause or to make a permanent breach in the community. In each instance, by turning to the designated centre of authority at the time—‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Guardian, or the Universal House of Justice—questions were answered and problems resolved. As the body of believers grew in its understanding of and firmness in the Covenant, it learned to become impervious to the types of attacks and misrepresentations that, in an earlier era, had threatened the Faith’s very existence and purpose. The integrity of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh remains ever secure.
Every generation of Bahá’ís, however great their spiritual perception, will inevitably have a circumscribed comprehension of the full implications of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings, owing to the limitations of their own historical circumstances and the particular stage of the Faith’s organic development. In the Heroic Age of the Faith, for example, the believers had to navigate what they surely experienced at times as a bewildering and revolutionary series of transitions from the Dispensation of the Báb to that of Bahá’u’lláh, and then to the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—all of which, with hindsight and the illumination provided by Shoghi Effendi, are now easily comprehended as sequential acts in a single, divinely unfolding drama. So too, today, after the tireless labours of the community over a full century, the first of the Formative Age, it is possible to grasp more completely the significance, purpose, and inviolability of the Covenant—that priceless bequest of Bahá’u’lláh to His followers. The hard-won understanding of the nature of the Covenant and the firmness that such insight engenders and sustains will continue to be essential for unity and progress over the course of the Dispensation.
It is now evident and firmly established that Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant provides for two authoritative centres. The first is the Book: the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, along with the body of works of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi that constitute authoritative interpretation and explication of the Creative Word. With the passing of Shoghi Effendi, more than a century of the extension of that authoritative centre came to a close. Yet the existence of the Book ensures that the Revelation is available to every believer, indeed to all humanity, unadulterated by human misinterpretations or accretions.
The second authoritative centre is the Universal House of Justice, which, as the Sacred Writings affirm, is under the care and unerring guidance of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb. “Let it not be imagined that the House of Justice will take any decision according to its own concepts and opinions”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains. “God forbid! The Supreme House of Justice will take decisions and establish laws through the inspiration and confirmation of the Holy Spirit, because it is in the safekeeping and under the shelter and protection of the Ancient Beauty”. “God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth,” Bahá’u’lláh proclaims. “They, and not the body of those who either directly or indirectly elect them,” Shoghi Effendi states, “have thus been made the recipients of the divine guidance which is at once the life-blood and ultimate safeguard of this Revelation.”
The powers and duties with which the House of Justice has been invested encompass all that is necessary to ensure the fulfilment of Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose for humanity. For more than a half century, the Bahá’í world has witnessed first-hand their range and expression, including the promulgation of the Law of God, the conservation and dissemination of the Bahá’í Sacred Writings, the raising of the Administrative Order and the creation of new institutions, the design of successive stages in the unfoldment of the Divine Plan, and the protection of the Faith and safeguarding of its unity, as well as efforts conducive to the preservation of human honour, the progress of the world, and the illumination of its peoples. The elucidations of the House of Justice resolve all difficult problems, questions that are obscure, problems that have caused difference, and matters not expressly recorded in the Book. The House of Justice will provide guidance throughout the Dispensation according to the exigencies of the time, thus ensuring that the Cause, even as a living organism, is able to adapt to the needs and requirements of an ever-changing society. And it guarantees that no one can alter the nature of Bahá’u’lláh’s message or change the essential characteristics of the Cause.
In the Kitáb-i-Íqán, Bahá’u’lláh asks, “What ‘oppression’ is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it?” A world largely oblivious to the light of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation finds itself increasingly divided and disoriented on matters of truth, morality, identity, and purpose, and bewildered by the accelerating and corrosive effect of the forces of disintegration. For the Bahá’í community, however, the Covenant offers a source of clarity and refuge, of freedom and strength. Every believer is free to explore the ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation, to come to personal conclusions, to humbly share insights with others, and to strive to apply the Teachings day by day. Collective endeavour is harmonized and focused through consultation and the guidance of the institutions, transforming bonds between individuals, within families, and among communities, and fostering social progress.
Out of love for Bahá’u’lláh and reassured by His explicit instructions, individuals, communities, and institutions find in the two authoritative centres of the Covenant the necessary guidance for the unfoldment of the Faith and the preservation of the integrity of the Teachings. In this way, the Covenant protects and preserves the process of dialogue and learning about the meaning of the Revelation and the implementation of its prescriptions for humankind over the course of the Dispensation, avoiding the detrimental effects of endless contention about meaning and practice. As a result, the balanced relationships among individuals, communities, and institutions are safeguarded and develop along their proper path, while all are enabled to attain to their full potential and exercise their agency and prerogatives. Thus, the Bahá’í community can unitedly advance and increasingly fulfil its vital purpose by investigating reality and generating knowledge, extending the reach of its endeavours, and contributing to the advancement of civilization. After more than a century, the truth of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s affirmation is ever more evident: “the axis of the oneness of the world of humanity is the power of the Covenant and nothing else”.

--UHJ letter, November 28 2023
I wonder if it was just random that they decided to emphasize "The Covenant", or if they are doing this in response to some kind of surge in "Covenant Breaker" activity.

From the New York Times (Please click the link for the full article)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-death-toll.html
Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace
Even a conservative assessment of the reported Gaza casualty figures shows that the rate of death during Israel’s assault has few precedents in this century, experts say.
Israel has cast the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip as a regrettable but unavoidable part of modern conflict, pointing to the heavy human toll from military campaigns the United States itself once waged in Iraq and Syria.
But a review of past conflicts and interviews with casualty and weapons experts suggest that Israel’s assault is different.
While wartime death tolls will never be exact, experts say that even a conservative reading of the casualty figures reported from Gaza shows that the pace of death during Israel’s campaign has few precedents in this century.
People are being killed in Gaza more quickly, they say, than in even the deadliest moments of U.S.-led attacks in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, which were themselves widely criticized by human rights groups.
Precise comparisons of war dead are impossible, but conflict-casualty experts have been taken aback at just how many people have been reported killed in Gaza — most of them women and children — and how rapidly.
It is not just the scale of the strikes — Israel said it had engaged more than 15,000 targets before reaching a brief cease-fire in recent days. It is also the nature of the weaponry itself.
Israel’s liberal use of very large weapons in dense urban areas, including U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs that can flatten an apartment tower, is surprising, some experts say.
“It’s beyond anything that I’ve seen in my career,” said Marc Garlasco, a military adviser for the Dutch organization PAX and a former senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon. To find a historical comparison for so many large bombs in such a small area, he said, we may “have to go back to Vietnam, or the Second World War.”
In fighting during this century, by contrast, U.S. military officials often believed that the most common American aerial bomb — a 500-pound weapon — was far too large for most targets when battling the Islamic State in urban areas like Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria.
The Israeli military points out that Gaza presents a battlefield like few others. It is small and dense, with civilians living next to, and even on top of, Hamas combatants who rely on tunnel networks to shield themselves and their weapons, putting residents directly in the line of fire, the military says.
Given these underground networks — which the military says enabled Hamas to wage its deadly attacks on Oct. 7 — Israeli forces say they use the “smallest available ordnance” to achieve their strategic objectives in order to cause the “minimal adverse effect on civilians.”
Civilian casualties are notoriously hard to calculate, and officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip do not separate the deaths of civilians and combatants.
Researchers point instead to the roughly 10,000 women and children reported killed in Gaza as an approximate — though conservative — measure of civilian deaths in the territory. International officials and experts familiar with the way figures are compiled by health officials in Gaza say the overall numbers are generally reliable.
The Israeli military acknowledged that children, women and older people have been killed in Gaza, but said the death toll reported in Gaza could not be trusted because the territory is run by Hamas. The military did not provide a count of its own, but said that civilians “are not the target” of its campaign.
“We do a lot in order to prevent and, where possible, minimize the killing or wounding of civilians,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman. “We focus on Hamas.”
Still, researchers say the pace of deaths reported in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment has been exceptionally high.
More women and children have been reported killed in Gaza in less than two months than the roughly 7,700 civilians documented as killed by U.S. forces and their international allies in the entire first year of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to estimates from Iraq Body Count, an independent British research group.
And the number of women and children reported killed in Gaza since the Israeli campaign began last month has already started to approach the roughly 12,400 civilians documented to have been killed by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan during nearly 20 years of war, according to Neta C. Crawford, a University of Oxford professor who is co-director of Brown University’s Costs of War Project.
These comparisons are based on the thousands of deaths directly attributed to U.S. coalition forces over decades in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Far more people — hundreds of thousands in total — are estimated to have been killed in these conflicts by other groups, including the Syrian government and its allies, local militias, the Islamic State and the Iraqi security forces.
But while the overall death tolls in those wars were larger, the number of people killed in Gaza “in a very short period of time is higher than in other conflicts,” said Professor Crawford, who has extensively researched modern wars.
In the nine-month battle of Mosul, which Israeli officials have cited as a comparison, an estimated total of 9,000 to 11,000 civilians were killed by all sides in the conflict, including many thousands killed by the Islamic State, The Associated Press found.
A similar number of women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza in less than two months.
The bombs being used in Gaza are larger than what the United States used when it was fighting ISIS in cities like Mosul and Raqqa, and are more consistent with targeting underground infrastructure like tunnels, said Brian Castner, a weapons investigator for Amnesty International and a former explosive ordnance disposal officer in the U.S. Air Force.
More than twice as many women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza than have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, according to United Nations figures, after almost two years of Russian attacks. (The United Nations believes the true toll in Ukraine is considerably higher, however, and Ukrainian officials have estimated that more than 20,000 civilians died in the port city of Mariupol.)
Not only is Gaza tiny when compared with conflict zones like Ukraine, Afghanistan or Iraq, but the territory’s borders have also been closed by Israel and Egypt, giving civilians few, if any, safe places to flee.
More than 60,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the Gaza Strip, satellite analysis indicates, including about half of the buildings in northern Gaza.

The 7th century is the time when the Arabs began to expand their Lebensraum and colonize the world.
634–38 CE:
The Arabs and Muslims invaded and colonized the land, which later became Mandatory Palestine. They not only colonized the future territory of Mandatory Palestine but also millions of square kilometers of land that belonged to other cultures. They gradually Arabized and Islamized the conquered populations.
The Arabs and Muslims ruled over that region until 1918.
During this period, Jews and Christians had dhimmi status. Dhimmis were second- or even third-class citizens with limited rights. Dhimmis had to pay a special tax (Jizya) for their protection. It is similar to what mobsters ask their victims, like small shop owners, to protect them from unexpected accidents and deaths. (So, no, they did not live in harmony or peaceful coexistence.)
A geographical entity called Palestine did not exist during the period of Arab and Muslim rule (634-1918).
There were plenty of signs, incl. statements, made by Arab leaders shortly after WWI and up until the 47 UN partition proposal, where Arabs declared that if the effort to establish a Jewish majority state continues, it will end in unrest and wars.
Part of the territory of the British Mandate for Palestine (do not confuse it with Mandatory Palestine) was the territory of modern-day Jordan.
In 1922, the British gave the Arabs 75% of the British Mandate for Palestine. (Hint: the modern-day Jordan)
On July 24, 1922, the League of Nations issued a formal recognition of the Jewish nation's connection to the Land of Israel and approved the decision to establish a Jewish national homeland in the territory of Mandatory Palestine.
In 1937–38, the British offered them 83% of the rest of the British Mandate for Palestine, which became officially known as Mandatory Palestine. All together, if the Arabs hadn’t refused the 37–38 proposals, they could have ended up with c. 96% of British Palestine under their control.
In 1947, the UN proposed a plan for the partition of Mandatory Palestine into an Arab-majority state and a Jewish-majority state. The Arabs rejected it.
Side note: The boundaries presented in this partition proposal never became official.
May 1948:
According to the principle of international law known as Uti Possidetis Juris, the whole territory of Mandatory Palestine became Israel at the moment of the declaration of independence in May 1948. (In other words, Israel is not an occupying power.)
The Arabs invaded Israel’s territory almost immediately after the declaration of Israel's independence because they wanted to erase it from the map.
Israelis failed to fully liberate their territory from the invading armies, so Judea-Samaria and the territory that later became known as the Gaza Strip remained under illegal Jordanian and Egyptian occupation until 1967.
Side note: between 1948 and 1967, the Arabs expressed zero intention to establish an Arab majority state called Palestine in Judea-Samaria and the Gaza Strip. (e.g., see the Article 24 of the PLO Charter from 1964)
Side note: The Arabs of that time didn't self-identify as "Palestinians."
Side note: The so-called Palestinian ethnicity and the myth about the stolen Arab land of Palestine were invented by a handful of Arab leaders with some help from the USSR during the early 1960s. In other words, there's no scientific or historical evidence that supports this myth. For example, there's no archeological evidence that an ethnic group called Palestinians or a geopolitical entity (e.g., kingdom or state) with the name Palestine existed before the invention of this myth in the 1960s.
In the 1948 war, Israel acquired c. 6480 km2 of land allocated for the Arab state in the UN's partition proposal. Neither the UN nor other organizations label those territories as occupied.
Side note: The 1949 armistice lines (aka "the 1967 lines," aka "the Green Line") were neither political nor territorial boundaries (aka official borders between Israel and its neighbors).
Yes, some Arabs were expelled, while others left because their leaders promised them that after they crushed the Jews and their state, the Arabs could return.
After the Arab defeat in the 1948 war, the Arabs expelled almost 100% of Jews (c.850k) from Arab controlled territories (e.g., North Africa and Judea-Samaria).
Between 1949 and the early 2000s, Israel offered the chance to return to over 100k Arab refugees multiple times (e.g., during the 1949 Lausanne Conference). The Arabs rejected those offers.
In 1967, during the Six-Day war Israel legally captured territories from the Arabs.
Now,
Take a look at the logos of Fatah and Hamas.
Both of them show the silhouette map of "Palestine" (which they want to liberate). It is quite odd that it resembles the silhouette map of Mandatory Palestine. In other words, both Fatah and Hamas would love to erase Israel from the map and replace it with an Arab and Muslim majority state.
As I said before, the Arabs had many opportunities for establishing an Arab state called Palestine. Instead of focusing their efforts to hinder the Jews from establishing and maintaining the only Jewish-majority state, the Arabs could have turned that energy into creating a peaceful Arab state, something like Singapore 2.0.
Conclusion:
The Arab/Muslim-Israeli/Jewish conflict exists because the Arab/Muslim ego cannot accept the reality that they lost to Jews (their former Dhimmis) a tiny piece (c.0.22%) of their colonized territories.
The Arabs and Muslims rejected even the idea of an independent Jewish majority state.
Between 1937 and the first two decades of the 2000s, the Arabs and Muslims rejected every offer to establish an independent Arab state called, e.g., "Palestine." (Here's an example: Check out the YouTube video with the title "Olmert offered Abbas 20 sq.km more than size of West Bank, according to PLO Chief Negotiator.")
In other words, the goal of the Jews is to have a state, while the goal of the Arabs is not to allow the existence of that Jewish state.
Historical facts prove that the only ones that make the lives of the Arab people miserable are those (e.g., Arab leaders, Arab states, the EU and its members, the UN, and various NGOs that made a lucrative business model out of it) who perpetuate this conflict, those (e.g., UNRWA) who teach hatred towards Israel and Jews to Arab people, not Israel. Again, the Arabs could have built a Singapore 2.0 if they truly wanted a better life.
Fun fact:
According to an Arab (pcpsr.org/en/node/926) survey from 2022, 51% of Arabs in Arab-controlled territories in Judea and Samaria and in the Gaza Strip (61% Gazans) want to wage war with Israel, while 21% support negotiations.
(Text by u/t77szilagyi, 2023)

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Charlotte sat at a large conference table in the primary conference room located at 12345 Luggage Combination St., Some Cool City, Not A Cool State, USA 00000-0000. This office building was rather nicer than the last one she’d been at. They had to move recently because of needing more room for their new teams.
These new taskforces that were added were liaison officer agents to the Terran Government. At present, Charlotte and Laesha were still working for the US Government, but recent events and the fact that Laesha was in the mix, even if she wasn’t actually an instigator had Charlotte nervous about the future. They may get sidelined or fired or their department could decide to try and do worse by black-filing them.
That last one made Charlotte smile because that was probably not even an option for them simply because even if Charlotte hadn’t known who Laesha’s wife was until recently, she bet her Black Blooded soul that the higher ups in the department they worked for were well aware. She was pretty sure they didn’t want a war on their hands that they were likely to lose even if they actually could assassinate her new mother.
She didn’t like doing it, but Charlotte wore her favorite blue business skirt suit today to conform to the outdated dress code. However, it did give her the chance to wear the 3-inch black real leather heels that Jessica had purchased for her as well as the new sultry negligee that Laesha had bought her. She did feel damn good about herself in terms of both professionalism and naughtiness. However, she never liked the formality of these meetings when they were essentially team-building or more like team show-and-tells than anything. It was her first handler meeting since her change into Seth and Laesha’s Black Blood vampire and she was wondering if any of these men and one woman would notice she was much much different than before. While she pondered that, Charlotte popped her briefcase open and pulled out her new mission prepared notebooks and file copies she’d just received from Stuart’s aide.
One good bonus about being a live-in girlfriend to one of the most enigmatic and powerful beings that no one really understood was that he provided excellent chauffeur services. One moment Charlotte was sitting in her Tahoe out in front of Seth’s house, the next she was in the parking garage across from the office building. No airfare, no three-hour drive, not even a parking garage ticket because she was just to text Jessica later and then… poof… she’d be back at her new home. Another smirk lit across her face at the perks that seemed to pop up every day since she told Allessandra that she submitted and then told Laesha her truth… that she liked being her vampire child. It fucking rocked.
She wasn’t the first to arrive but that was okay. Stuart the Office Manager slash Department Supervisor was usually first only because he liked to snag that chocolate-on-chocolate donut from the assorted mix box that sat in the middle of the hardwood conference table. With that in his mouth, he started fiddling with the new 75-inch wall mounted TV to get the Teams call going. Stuart was their organizer and intel distribution guru. His body was pure office sedentary life, but his mind was pure Tetris compartmentalization in terms of organization of their projects and timelines.
A few more of her colleagues filed in while Charlotte sipped on the cheap breakroom coffee. These three guys were the ones who usually tackled international issues that had made it to their shore. Miguel Ballachino, Roy Matherson, and Tony “Coyote” Sampson were typical agents who knew their stuff and how to take care of business before things got too sideways to deal with. These guys led teams of sixteen each since their jobs usually got complicated and always needed the manpower. They had been respectful towards Charlotte and Laesha from the beginning and especially ever since she and Laesha had helped them track down some of the more slippery people that had been excellent at blending in.
Next came big John ‘Stud’ Henderson waltzing in. A cowboy from Texas in almost every way. Charlotte didn’t care for him, especially since he was one of the guys that got put in his place when he arrived a year ago with regards to Charlotte and Laesha. Mike O’Malley yelled so loudly and forcefully that he literally put that six-foot eight man into a chair like a small child. To this day, he wouldn’t say anything but maybe three words to her. Suited Charlotte fine since he led a team of twenty dedicated to ferrying criminal witnesses around the country along with various WITSEC programs and agents. She did have to give him the respect for his position though because the witnesses he dealt with usually were Awakened in some way and those on his team regularly worked with the Black Academy to contract out help to counter or further protect them until the mission was done.
Another five agents came in and sat down after grabbing a donut or two. Tabitha Conway was the only other woman in this position at this office. Charlotte liked the big butch brawler of a woman. Tabitha was a hard-core former prison guard turned imprisonment specialist for their division. She had a crew of thirty under her currently and they were working with various agencies dealing with incarceration of individuals who weren’t normally able to be incarcerated. That big Czech woman knew her shit, but always had Laesha back her up as a tester. That’s where Tabitha had been smart and excelled in her position. Laesha always got bribed with some new European delicacy because Tabitha knew how to bake extremely well.
The other four guys that came in with her were specialists like Charlotte who worked with… let’s say people of talent. These talents either filled in gaps in other agents’ missions, retrieved intel or witnesses for those missions, acted as back up enforcers, or many times just made some issues disappear. Derek Cooper was a decent black guy who dressed to the nines and usually ran clockwork intelligence theft missions until needed. Matthew Peterson was the surfer dude of the table, but his demeanor was a pure mask for one of the most intelligent people Charlotte had ever met. He liked eliminations as much as Laesha did and so did his serial killer on a leash that he ran with. Victor Stepanov had two on his team that focused primarily on technical or cyber warfare disruption cases to hit back at the shadow hacker groups. They were experts at ‘accidents’ otherwise. Last but not least was Jim Jones. Nondescript brown hair, brown eyes, and a forgettable face. Average man in every way that made him the perfect spy for their division. He and his team of ten were all infiltrators and profilers that usually primed the rest of them and their files.
And then Charlotte got nervous because a new guy entered the room last and closed the door. He snagged a donut and sat at the last chair right beside Charlotte. He smiled at her winningly before taking a bite of the pink glazed donut with rainbow sprinkles. Italian, dark eyes, full head of black hair, full beard, and full of himself. Charlotte had a bad feeling about this guy. Looking around, the eyes of the others said they knew something she didn’t and that wasn’t a good sign either. She probably would be in the know had she not had to take that emergency PTO. The guy’s badge read ‘Marco Lombardi’ but his face read ‘punch me.’
Charlotte smiled at him and introduced herself instead of punching him. “Hi. I’m Charlotte Danvers. Code name, Huntress.”
Shaking her hand, he smiled again and even winked at her. He said, “Good to meet you. I’m Marco Lombardi aka Lambo. That’s short for Lamborghini, of which I plan to have in less than two years,” he said a little too smugly.
“What kind of team are you taking charge of?”
Marco shook his head and said even more smugly. “Surprise for the meeting.” He pointed behind her when their Boss, Michael O’Mally or Mike as Charlotte called him popped up on the screen with five other department heads plus fifteen more meeting rooms like this one that were located across the country.
“Greetings and good morning to you. Are we all here?”
Stuart looked around and gave him a thumbs up. A few of the others named off agents and their teams that weren’t because of various reasons, most of which were running assignments. Which was acceptable. Charlotte was looking forward to being unavailable for these meetings for a few weeks for that reason too.
“All right. Let’s get started.”
And with that introduction, the boring began. At least to Charlotte’s thoughts. The other rooms listed off current assignments that were being run plus any issues they needed to address that only the department heads like Mike had to help with. Then there was some morale boosting and in one case, an agent that fell in the line of duty was remembered. That sucked and there was a moment of silence that Charlotte didn’t have any issue observing.
When it came to their turn, Mike announced, “So, I’m sorry I’m not there in person, but I’m currently in Pennsylvania working at a Terran Liaison office. So far, we’ve accomplished some good progress towards cooperating on some issues that we were way overdue in needing to be addressed. One such is…”
Pennsylvania. Charlotte’s eyes got a little wider at that because Laesha would be interested in that if he perhaps was collaborating with a certain agent by the name of Alex Krueger. Other than Mike’s teams all taking on new assignments that at current staffing and funding levels would be of no issue, he didn’t have much else to chat about. Except one item. Then came the bomb.
“Last but not least. I want to welcome Agent Marco Lombardi, our newest Specialist Handler in charge of our own home grown Awakened, code named: Psyfer. With a ‘P’.”
Charlotte turned to the grinning Marco and quirked a questioning eye at him. He whispered, “Your monster is no longer the only one working here. Good luck.”
Frowning, she turned back to the screen and noticed that Mike had noticed that interaction and now he wouldn’t look at her again. He knows something. If he doesn’t have good news, then he is gonna get an earful even if I have to… oh no. I bet he’s looking to replace us because of the mole hunts. That’s why he’s in Pennsylvania. To ground Laesha and now me. Shit, she thought in a panic.
“Psyfer was a field operative for Homeland Security. When he manifested, he rejected the overtures from the Black Academy and Avalon. He is now proud to serve with us. Marco is a former FBI investigator and has experience in working with Awakened during his tenure. He and his teammate finished their training with flying colors, and we are going to be that much better having them in our ranks. Please welcome them and let us start our day.”
After some clapping and welcoming comments, Stuart stood back up and took the front. “You have your assignment briefs as usual. If you need any additional assistance or manpower, please see me after lunch to request it. Charlotte, please stay after the meeting.”
Charlotte felt the pit drop in her stomach. Instead of looking at anyone, especially the smug smile behind her, she took a quick glance at her briefings. There were three separate missions to accomplish in a row that would take them at least two weeks to complete if all went well. If the agency were going to get rid of them now, she wouldn’t have these kinds of tasks. So, she felt a little better at that, but something told her that the bomb wasn’t done dropping yet.
Looking back up, she frowned again because Tabitha looked back at her in sympathy while Marco winked at her in satisfaction. The rest didn’t seem to care one way or the other, which didn’t hurt Charlotte’s feelings.
Stuart closed the door. Only Mike and his broad rose-colored face and black combover was on the screen.
“What’s going on Mike?” Charlotte demanded.
“Laesha has become a liability. She’s mixed up with the Mongolian on Pandora somehow and you know she’s our mole.”
“No I don’t. Besides, no one has ever proven that. You’ve never seen her purchase a burner, her issued phone is clean, she performs her missions flawlessly, and she goes home after and is under twenty-four-hour scrutiny there. You’ve got nothing and you know it. She’s being used as smokescreen because of who and what she is, like I’ve told you guys many times.”
“What about you? Here I have in front of me is a report that says you’re now living there. In the house of Seth Al’Thaoal of all people. Explain that and why you didn’t report your address change beforehand.”
Charlotte shook her head and sighed. It was inevitable that the Terran agents would have to inform the DOD of that little fact. “It’s true. I moved there. I had no choice because… well… sir, I fell in love. I met someone there and we hit it off.”
“Who?”
Charlotte looked Mike square in the eyes and said, “Seth. Jessica. Sara. Saral. Laesha’s family… Allessandra. Inanna. Jed.”
Stuart looked apoplectic. “What the hell, Charlotte?! What does that fucking mean!?!”
Charlotte shrugged. “It means what you think it means. I was accepted by them, and I fell in love with all of them. I moved there because at some point, I will marry one of them probably and be part of that family of monsters. I’m good for them and they are good for me.”
Mike squinted his dark brown eyes at her, “Did you Awaken Charlotte? Is that what you’re telling us?”
Charlotte shook her head and said honestly, “No, I didn’t. Seriously, I just didn’t. Laesha had an emergency, called me, and I came running because she’s my partner. When I got there, I helped handle the problem that she couldn’t and while I was there… I fell in love. It’s just that simple guys.”
Stuart sat down across from her and folded his arms. “Okay. Say we believe you. Fine. You moved there and are not in the same house as Laesha. That has been confirmed. Which is the only point in your favor. However, you’re now under investigation too in our new mole hunt. We are going to be watching you two closely.”
Charlotte sat back and stared at him, then up at Mike. “Mike. How many times have Laesha and I failed our assignments?”
Mike took a sigh then said, “None, but that’s not…”
“It is the point. We have never failed a mission and we have saved countless lives. We’ve come through for this agency and this country every time. What no one has ever told me… in anything said or reported, is what is being leaked. Want me to help, tell me what is getting out that you keep thinking Laesha is your mole.”
Mike shook his head, sipped his coffee to give him a moment, then said, “Any time there is an infiltration mission that involves De’Nari or Awakened… there are ripples that happen. There are activities by an organization that we’ve started to hear about… The Army of Bone. It’s not a terrorist organization from the best that we can determine, but it’s not above eliminating people. So far that we’ve been able to gather, it’s also dead set on incorporating the De’Nari into our world.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“It’s not that, it’s their methods. It’s the fact that they get ahold of intel that seems to come from areas where Laesha is. We keep getting blindsided by the Ring and Avalon because they fucking know… they just know when we’ve made a move every time in those two specific areas.”
“That is not Laesha’s or my problem, sir. I can confirm that every time we get your information, I’m the one who handles it as soon as Laesha or I obtain it. It’s me. She’s my weapon and we make those missions happen. I’m even more clean than she is, so you need to back up think about this more. It may look like us, but it isn’t.”
“We aren’t satisfied. That’s why we have Marco and Psyfer. We’re going to use a different tactic tomorrow when he gets here.”
“What’s that?”
Stuart smiled at her and in a not so friendly way. “If you didn’t already guess, he’s a telepath strong enough to make others do what we want. We've already negotiated with the Terran agency and Avalon for the cool telepath control headbands. Tomorrow, we are gonna give him a little test. You and Laesha.”
Charlotte schooled her emotions and put up her best acting skills for that. “Fine. I’ll be back tomorrow and I’ll get Laesha here for it. We’ve got nothing to hide. If we pass this Psyfer test… we get to keep our jobs, right?”
Mike nodded. “If you two pass… then yeah. I do have to admit that you two have done top notch work out there. But if you two don’t pass, then we are preparing to leave you both in Pennsylvania and keep you there.”
“Mike. I look forward to screaming at you on the phone again when you fuck up Laesha’s rations in the future.”
Stuart looked at Mike and asked puzzled, “What does that mean?”
Completely ignoring Stuart, Mike half grinned and said, “I do hope you pass, Charlotte. I really do. Rations won’t be an issue this coming cycle because for the next year, if you pass, you two are going to be on technical innovation monitoring duty or criminal cleanup duty since the next election cycle is also coming up and our man wants to be truly tough on crime.”
Charlotte checked her briefings and glanced at the summaries real quick and that was exactly what was in there. Two hits plus a tech grab at a government contractor’s office. She smiled at those, not at what they were, but at where they were. Seattle had some interesting people there. Including two who had moved there five years prior that happened to be on a certain kill list.
“What time should we be here?”
Mike checked a paper then said with a shrug, “Around one pm.”
Charlotte stood and closed up her briefcase. She chugged the last of her coffee and tossed the cup into the bin behind her. “Stuart. Mike. I know you want to replace us, but we are better than any other team out there and you both know it. I can’t wait to sit there beside Laesha when Marco has to tell you that we’re clean.”
Mike glanced at Stuart who shook his head. Mike nodded at Charlotte and said, “Honestly, I hope you do too, but please. In the future, don’t scream at me at two am. I about had a heart attack.”
Chuckling and heading out, Charlotte half saluted him and didn’t even give Stuart the time of day. She hated his brown suit and ugly purple tie too much to even give him some fashion advice.
When she hit her cubicle and got settled, that’s when she got to work. Vampiric work.













---
Marco Lombardi sipped his beer and sighed in satisfaction. The flight had been delayed till near ten, but that was okay. It’d still gotten there and brought his new partner with him. His new partner was walking towards him even now from the airport terminal’s baggage claim with a big smile on his face. The skinny buzz cut guy in a green flannel shirt and jeans just didn’t look like much, but he was a highly skilled martial artist and a damned good agent. Then he Awakened and Marco was especially proud of the guy for turning down Avalon and that mess of monsters. This country needed more patriots like him. Especially ones who despised said monsters who thought they were above the law. Like Laesha Hiwalker.
Alexi Demeter tossed his suitcase into the trunk of Marco’s black BMW and quickly got in. Marco handed him a small case while saying, “Hey there. Flight good?”
Alexi nodded and smiled before opening the case. “Yeah. No issues. This is… my headband, huh?”
“’Fraid so. Sorry. It’s protocol, mainly for looks. Don’t sweat it. We need you and you won’t wear it on missions. Just accept this one small inconvenience for the cause and all the rest will be smooth sailing.”
Alexi took a deep breath and slipped the white band with the De’Nari writing on his head. A few lights lit up and Alexi frowned. “I don’t like it. I can’t hear anything now. it’s… garbled. I have to concentrate to filter that noise out.”
“Yeah. That’s what the manual said would happen. Do your best. Now, you hungry?”
“I can eat. Can we just go for some wings and beer?”
Marco clapped him on the shoulder and then held the back of his head, smiling broadly at his new partner who was gonna work out well, he just knew it. “Sure! Let’s go. I know the perfect place and it happens to be open late tonight. In the trunk was a small black case for you too. That’s your new ID, keys to your new car, and packets of information. After dinner, we’ll swing you by your new apartment to get you settled. Tomorrow is a big day for us.”
“What’s tomorrow?”
Marco cranked the car and began making his way out of the airport’s parking deck. “Nothing to worry about. You’re gonna nail two bitches to the wall and help me clear them out of our department. The info on them is also in that case. After that, you’re gonna be the golden boy and we are gonna be untouchable.”
Alexi chuckled a little. “That sounds awesome. I appreciate all your help, Marco. You’ve been a good partner.”
“Naaaahhhh! I haven’t done anything yet. All you, my friend. All you. I’ll show you what I can do on our first mission.”
“Looking forward to it.”
Marco drove out of the airport’s parking area and out onto the highway. He gunned it up to eighty and left a few cars in the dust. Making his way to the local wing bar that he’d been dying to try for a week, he kept up a light conversation with the normally quiet Alexi. Alexi was nervous and was probably starting to feel the effects of the thought dampener. He just had to get Alexi through the initial twenty four hours using it to get him used to the effect of losing his newfound ability to read minds and control people. After that, his partner would be good.
Their dinner was fun because a decent football match was on and it got Alexi engaged. Marco liked Crickett or Handball better, but this was an Alexi night, not his. His attention was on the tight shorts, tight shirts, and the deep cleavages on the waitresses that showed just about all their goods while they jiggled their way around the bar. He was hoping to get back there soon and see who might be interested in meeting the newest big deal at the DOD for drinks after hours.
When they reached Alexi’s apartment a couple of hours later, Marco turned to look around the parking lot and stared all over the complex. Something was off, he could feel it. Someone moved who shouldn’t have been there.
“Hang on,” he whispered to Alexi who also took his turn to study their surroundings. But nothing and no one out of place was there.
Then it happened. A big floofy black dog ran out from behind the car chasing a cat while yelling at the entire place with a lot of deep woofs and growls. The cat made it to a tall wood fence that the dog couldn’t get over which frustrated it immensely until an older white man in a black bathrobe ran out cussing up a storm. A lot of lights lit up that showed more of the complex and both Alexi and Marco turned to look at each other, laugh a little, shrug at the sight, continue up to the second floor, and enter into an upscale pre-furnished condo. Upscale especially for someone who had come from a po-dunk backwater town that he’d gotten tossed into to waste away in obscurity. Marco didn’t like that not one bit and thought Alexi would be in his own home within a year if they played it right. Marco was going to make sure he played it right because he was shooting for a trophy wife of some sort for himself in that time.
“What do you think?” Marco asked after tossing the apartment’s keys to Alexi.
“Much better than the shitty one I was staying in two months ago. I didn’t miss it while training at the military base. What about my stuff?”
“All taken care of. The moving company will be by your old place tomorrow and you’ll have it in two days after that. Text me in a little while on any furniture you want here instead of left there and I’ll let them know to grab it.”
“Meh. The lazyboy and my chest of drawers is all I cared for. Rest of it was all second hand junk. This is much much nicer,” he said as he left his suitcase by the stairs leading up to a small second floor balcony that had the bedroom and a bathroom at the top. The rest was open and was essentially a large living area that a kitchen island separated from the kitchen and a small dining table spot. It was furnished with standard white or beige furnishings and plush carpeting. Marco had gotten him a full entertainment package plus a grocery allowance for two months. He was a smooth talker, after all. Which made him a damned sight better than Charlotte. That sniper girl needed to go too. She was in Marco’s way.
“Okay, my friend. I’ll pick you up at around ten and we’ll snag a lunch before we make a splash. Sound good?”
Alexi walked over and held out his hand, “It does. It does. I won’t disappoint you.”
“I know. I’m counting on it. See you in the morning.”
Marco couldn’t stop his whistling after shaking Alexi’s hand and leaving. He walked out and did another once over around the condo complex, just in case. But he just didn’t sense anything out of place and pretty much chalked his prior stalking sense up to the dog stalking that orange cat.
Alexi Demeter took off the headband to let his mind free again. Feeling better, he used his gift to sweep his immediate area. He immediately found the minds of the family next door. A mother and father of one very young girl. Delving in lightly, he found them to be mundane and pretty uninteresting. He smiled gratefully at that because that meant they wouldn’t tempt him. If they were boring, he would be able to ignore them. If they were interesting, he just wouldn’t be able to stop himself from learning everything about them which led to other… unsavory… and prohibited urges that Alexi had worked hard to control since his Awakening.
He found that Marco had been thoughtful enough to stock his white refrigerator with some waters and a small selection of sodas. He popped the cap of a water and made his way up to the bedroom. It was boring. It was perfect. A queen bed, a standard set of wood furniture painted white, and a small TV. Nothing to trigger him. His handler really had paid attention which felt wonderful.
After doing some due diligence and looking through the materials Marco left him, he decided he just didn’t have the brainpower to go any further tonight. So, Alexi went ahead and got ready for bed. When he found a movie he’d seen before on the subscription streaming channel for the noise, Alexi walked back through his new home and shut all the lights off. He turned the lamp down low and pulled out his clothes for tomorrow and set them out neatly. He put his meds he’d need on the nightstand next to the last of his water bottle then got comfortable on the bed. Crossing his legs and setting his hands out on his knees, Alexi closed his eyes and concentrated. He concentrated on his rote mantras to calm his mind, block it all out, and find his inner peace. All this so he could stop his enhanced mind from wandering. His training with the Avalon instructor had been a godsend. Why the DOD didn’t want to work with them further was out of Alexi’s paygrade, but he did feel like they were losing out on some needed opportunities.
After his mind was cleansed, he hit the restroom again and refreshed his body. The bed wasn’t as soft as he hoped, but it would do. Cutting off the lamp, Alexi yawned and settled to sleep.
He checked the small clock with red numbers shining in the dark. Only twenty minutes had passed, but something was off. He’d sensed something. No. He sensed someone.
Getting back up, he walked carefully over to his suitcase and pulled out the guncase within. Being DOD had its perks. He popped in the clip and held it up, popped the safety off, ready to go. Slowly and silently, he glanced out into the black of the upper balcony. He slowly sidled around the wall and checked, but the upper hall bathroom was small and empty.
Across that, he crouched down and did a quick peek from the floor out through the balcony’s banister rods. The window in the kitchen didn’t have its drapes closed and a street light outside beamed in giving him dim, but ample enough light to see. Not seeing anything, he cast his mind out and found nothing there either. But the hairs on the back of neck were still up. Something was there. That’s when he cranked up his perceptions even more by reversing his telepathy. Instead of trying to sense a mind, he tried to sense everything that didn’t have a mind… all surfaces in his vicinity was a more accurate description. That’s when his internal alarms lit up. There was a hole. It was at the foot of the steps, blocking his exit.
Inching forward, he aimed at that hole, then called out. “I can tell you’re there. I can tell that you’ve shielded yourself. I’m going to start firing if you don’t drop it and tell me why you’re here.”
Alexi blinked and there they were. Three women. One he knew from pictures that he’d glanced through just after Marco left and two that he didn’t.
Alexi stayed exactly where he was and held the gun steady pointing to Laesha Hiwalker’s center of mass. “Mrs. Hiwalker. That’s a neat trick one of you pulled… making it where I couldn’t see you. Why are you here?”
Laesha, dressed in nothing but a black leather skin-tight bodysuit grinned up at him brightly. “Well, I have to say, I’m damned impressed. Calm. Cool. Talking. Thinking. No fear either. You’re a good agent, Mr. Demeter. Welcome to the team!”
“Why are you three here?”
A very beautiful and athletic brunette also dressed in something tight, a pair of black yoga pants and very tight black workout top with long sleeves also smiled up at him. That woman was standing just ahead of a third, much younger woman with wild orange purple hair and inhuman eyes. Those eyes were in a very exotic face that looked like she had metal for eyebrows which ran down round and under them. That girl was grinning up at him too plus had her hands clasped behind her back. For some reason, the young woman was wearing a super hero spandex suit complete with a pink eye mask and cape.
The brunette spoke calmly up at Alexi. “Greetings Mr. Demeter. I’m Kathy. I’m here because we have a problem. You’re an Awakened who is not part of either the Black Academy, Pandora’s Dragon, or under another honest cause that I approve of. I’m here to remedy that.”
Alexi shook his head and grinned back a little. “This is a free country, Kathy. Which means I’m also free to shoot you three since you’re clearly trespassing and threatening me. I will also make sure that the handler for Mrs. Hiwalker is tossed into a deep prison cell somewhere as a co-conspirator to this assassination attempt.”
Kathy shook her head. “You misunderstand, sir. We aren’t here to kill you. I’m here to convince you to side with me and my cause. You have a unique situation and are valuable to me and my efforts for this world to be ready when the stars come calling. Will you listen to what I have to say?”
“No. I’m already committed to a cause.” After those words, he let loose mind spears at all three of them. Nothing happened. They didn’t even jerk. He sent a wave of paralysis at them and that did nothing. Then he used the full force of his mind on them to claw into them to take their wills away. The young woman smiled at him very very smugly when that too failed. He refocused to the inhuman eyes of the young woman and understood the dilemma he was in now. He shifted his aim towards the bigger threat to him then.
“Seems the young lady is psychic too. Well, what are we to do about that, Mrs. Kathy? If you move, I shoot. I’m not moving from where I am. My suggestion is for you three to leave.”
The girl spoke then and Alexi did NOT like what she said. “Uhhh… but Mr. Demeter. You only sent three mental attacks at us. Don’t I get a turn?”
Alexi prepared for this as best as he could by envisioning every shield and mental block he’d been trained to use and a couple he trained himself to create to wrap around his mind. He didn’t like that young woman’s sentence because he felt her flex when she talked and it almost broke his control then.
“I’m ready. Take your turn and let’s see if you’re that good,” he said while he adjusted to aim for her head. He was going to shoot her first when he felt her hit his shielding. However, he didn’t get that chance. Her face came for him and he lost control of his body. All he could see was her eye… that multifaceted white eye that came for him faster than the rest of her face. It opened up and swallowed him. He screamed when he fell down the jagged rocks of a tunnel and landed in a frigid twilight swamp’s gunky black water. He tried to shoot, but the gun wasn’t there in his hand. He tried to scream and snakes shot out of his mouth. He tried to run, but his legs were made of bricks. He tried to crawl, but his arms didn’t end in hands anymore, but rubber duckies instead. He did curl in on himself and whimper in despair.
Then Alexi jolted in a chair. Looking around he found the three women sitting at his small round white wood dining room table with him. His mental shielding was still in place while his gun was in the middle of the table. However, the clip and bullets were sitting neatly around it. The women were smiling at him now and he did not like that.
“Fine. I’m listening.”
The Kathy woman was across from him with Laesha on his right and the young mental monster on his left. She was still smiling sweetly at him. Laesha was smiling at him, but that smile had a hunger in it. He didn’t want her smiling at him anymore. Kathy wasn’t smiling anymore. She was serious. He focused on that serious expression now.
“Mr. Demeter. Here’s the choice. Swear loyalty to me. There is power in the words of that vow when I’m present. So, you and I both will know if you do it with sincerity or not. Don’t do it, and you will simply not be here tomorrow when your handler arrives. You can either play the game or I will remove you from the field. I’m not going to kill you, but you won’t be a threat to my people either. Especially Mrs. Hiwalker.”
Alexi sighed heavily and sat back. “If I’m not dead, the what will I be?”
“A Sous chef in the French Quarter of New Orleans,” said the young woman brightly.
He turned to her to study that face again. One he would never forget no matter what happened. “You wipe minds, I take it?”
She nodded, never losing that grin. “Your defenses are good… but you only have one mind. I have many and I know how to pull your shielding up like a Tupperware lid. I will rewrite you, Mr. Demeter. You will either help us or you will be creating exquisite Jambalaya. Or whatever a Sous chef likes to cook. Ooohhhh, just forgive me cause I was in a hurry and only just have the recipes in my head as a list, I haven’t actually studied them yet.”
Alexi grinned at her. “I like you.” Turning back to Kathy, he asked, “Why do I have to swear this loyalty to you? I mean really? My assumption is tomorrow’s interrogation of Mrs. Hiwalker since she’s under the microscope and Marco wants both her and her handler gone. Yes?”
Kathy nodded. “It’s what brought me here, yes. However, you’ve got skill. You’re brave too. I’d rather have you on my side than behind a cooktop. Please. Help me make this world better.”
“What’s in it for me?”
Laesha giggled. “Close. So close now. Sure, honeycakes. There’s something in it for you. Backup, baby. Backup in the form of me and my family. Kathy here has resources too. But to tell you the truth, I’d bet you’d rather have something even better. How about a few lessons from someone leaps and bounds ahead of you.”
“Very perceptive,” Alexi said as he crossed his arms.
The young woman looked at him and Alexi didn’t flinch from her look. “I see it now. You’re too controlled. You’re fighting yourself even now, aren’t you? You’ve got a problem, don’t you? A mental problem?”
Alexi nodded. “I do. I fight it. I have rigid control, but I can never truly relax. I have destructive impulses now that I didn’t have before I Awakened. It’s maddening. You want my loyalty, help me stop myself.”
The young woman with alien eyes stood up and stepped over to him to bend down and get a little closer. She said softly, “Kathy? Do you mind if I do this?”
“No. If he swears to our cause and helps Laesha tomorrow, then by all means, help him.”
Alexi liked how the girl, the inhuman girl smelled. He liked her touch on his temple. He let his defenses down and closed his eyes.

So I (31M) have been on a journey over the last decade of rediscovering who I am. I totally lost myself in college, ended up where I am now, and want to get back on track to live the life I had always imagined.
I graduated high school eager to become an elementary school teacher. Once I was out of school I got a position as a substitute teacher , and did that on all of my college breaks. I Spent my freshmen year acing my school's education program.
Then Sophomore year I spiraled into a deep depression (struggled with sexual orientation and coming out in a conservative circle). Instead of embracing myself, I caved to others expectations of me and eventually left education for a more 'masculine' field. I graduated with a BS in Kinesiology. I hated it. But I needed a degree by the end so I stuck it out.
When I graduated, I got a job as a teaching assistant for a special needs classroom. It paid minimum wage and had a 45 minute commute each way..in California. It was a great job, I loved my coworkers, loved the kids and the environment, hated the commute and financial hardship.
Eventually I took a job in sales account management thanks to some old connections. I've been at it for 8 years, making money others dream of. Last year I net a bit over 200k. But the grind is killing me, I am depressed and anxious, and going to therapy for it.
Anyways, recently I've been considering going for my Masters in education online, leaving California with my partner of 7 years, and becoming the teacher I always wanted to be.
But simply put, the thought is terrifying. Mostly because I still follow education close enough to hear the nightmares and know of the struggle. I also know teachers don't make jack and the lifestyle adjustment will be extremely difficult. My current job pays a boat load. It's extremely high stress since it's 100% commission, but it's also manageable. I just hate it. Every day I wake up and I hate my life, and that's really stemming from the job. It's just not me.
2 years ago I trusted my heart and became a private pilot on the side. Checked off a childhood dream and loved it.
Now I am thinking of trusting my heart again. My heart says do this, follow my passion and I will.be happier. You can imagine my brain completely disagrees. As I would be trading incredible success and stability at a young age, a rapidly building 401k, international vacations, nice restaurants, clothes, apartment, all of it...for basically a shot at living my dreams.
Still kinda want to do it. Friends and family are encouraging. They tell me they always thought I'd make an amazing teacher. And I think coming from a really high stress corporate job with big clients will have set me up with the necessary work ethic and communication skills needed to work well with students, parents, and administration alike. I also feel I'll be pretty well equipped tp handle massive amounts of stress.
What are your thoughts? Be honest, but don't shoot me down too hard. I understand the logical choice is to stick it out in my current career. But I don't think I can. I have 1 miraculous life. I think if I stay on my current path I will one day lie on my death bed and regret it.

How about a tl;dr from the get-go:
Yaz (combination of drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol pill) made me feel like ABSOLUTE SHIT for the first 2 months. Far worse than my PMDD was on any given month both mentally and physically. I had thoughts of death, definitely. So many thoughts of worthlessness and despair. Extreme fatigue, nausea and like I was generally an ill and disgusting little ogre. My partner started calling me "the sad gazelle" after I'd lament I felt like a wounded one as I'd flop lifelessly on to the bed for the hundredth time that day. Despite this really terrible adjustment period, I did notice my anger levels and overall rage dissipated almost immediately. I was more tender, and more open, whereas previously I was a block of ice in a constant state of thaw and refreeze. Thaw, refreeze. Each month. You know the drill. I wanted to stop taking Yaz and told my partner this. I couldn't imagine feeling like I did for one more day. He reminded me that it takes awhile to adjust to hormonal changes (duh) and that I should keep going. After month 2, the fog cleared and a new found peace began rollin' over me... so if you can/want to and IT IS SAFE FOR YOU TO, don't give up!!! It might just be "the thing" that turns this crazy train around.
Disclaimer: S-ideation can be very real and very intense with any hormonal changes, and so please proceed with the most caution and care as is possible. Hormonal fluctuations are no joke, as we all know too well.
tl;dr: tl;dr: If you are going to try any therapeutic interventions for PMDD, you've gotta give them time to work. My biggest mistake in this whole PMDD shithole, whirlwind has been a lack of consistency and patience on my behalf. Whether it's meditation, yoga, Vitamin A through Z, chaste berry, antidepressants, weight loss, diet changes, goddamn pumpkin seeds, or full on exercise.
Alrighty. On to the stuff.
Hello everyone! First of all, what in the ever-living-hell?! This PMDD experience is a truly awful one and I have so much empathy for all of you here struggling with this. Even when the good days of the month resurface, there is that constant knowing that the pain (emotional/physical) will inevitably return. True, consistent relief and the lightness that comes with that often feels out of reach.
I have been hesitant to write this post, for fear of sounding self-righteous or for encouraging something that could potentially be harmful to another body/mind even though it has been helpful to mine. Everyone has differences biologically (and environmentally) that affect the way ANY medication works in their body. I do not want to discount the bad experiences of those who have tried Yaz for a long time or had to go off of it due to side effects. I have been on Yaz for 3 months with marked improvement, but there is nothing to confirm I will be able to carry this on long term. I sure hope that I will. (I try the best I can to educate myself about *all the things* - but like any good human, I fall short. So take what I have to say with a grain of sand. Salt? Sand? Which one is it?)
A little bit about myself so perhaps you can relate (or not) and also a healthy dose of me checking my privilege:
Me: I am a mid-thirties woman in America with access to health care, with financial stability, a loving partner, kids from 2 failed marriages, the ability to stay home and not have to go to a job outside of the house, taker of fluoxetine, lamotrigine, and lithium for misdiagnosed bipolar disorder, a history of intense drug and alcohol abuse although I've been clean 6 years, sexual abuse as a child and adult, self-harm including cutting, multiple life ending attempts, a career as a sex worker, a career as a drug dealer, a skilled chef, humble (haha), esthetician who picks at their face when stressed, a spender of time in jail aka a criminal, an experimenter of alternative therapies that often do nothing, chronic leaver of my healthy relationship only to come back time and time again. And overall, who I am now is a fucking exhausted person who just wants to get on with life and not feel like shit all the time. Is that time now? It just might be. I want to believe this will last, but time will tell.
Phew. I hope you're still here. It was all of the "positive Yaz experience" reddit posts (and the gentle pushing of a supportive partner) that kept me going and I am so glad that I did. The pill is the only thing that l have tried up until now that has made me feel HOPEFUL for the future and my ability to consistently function in this world. AND IT WAS THE ABSOLUTE LAST THING IN THE WORLD I WANTED TO TRY BECAUSE... cue character flaw: I often (subconsciously) think I know everything when I reality I know very little, because the world is complex and full of nuance that I am not fully awake to. Also, the miracle that is science that I am not formally educated in.
Taking Yaz has validated that this miserable, soul sucking illness is indeed a biological failing and not a moral one on my behalf. All of the willing myself to "just be better" and beating myself up because I'm not were absolutely obscene and not OK to do to myself. Shit's hard enough.
I do not feel that internal shit feeling building up on my inevitable monthly visit to Shitsville. I don't feel like I'm going to pop off and explode all over the place or fall in to a pit of despair. It's all softened now. Focus has improved. There's light at the end of that tunnel and I'm gonna keep heading towards it.
Feel free to ask me anything and I'll offer what I can. A community of women is powerful, knowledge about this debilitating disorder is imperative, hope is fucking important. Much love.
edit: Some important details I should have included. A commenter helped me realize I was missing them!
I am taking Yaz continuously with no placebo days.
I have never had irregular or painful periods and all hormonal testing over the years has been unremarkable, no issues on paper. My brain's reaction to those normal hormonal fluctuations however... hahaaaaaa!
I do feel hungrier and like I need to eat more frequently to avoid drops in blood sugar. I've always had borderline-hypoglycemic tendencies although never diagnosed with any official blood sugar issues. As I am (hopefully) evolving as a person, I am also trying to take note of all the other factors in my life that could be contributing to any particular symptom I am experiencing. The season is changing, I am colder, less sun, I exercise not at all currently (which seems to help my blood sugar levels when I do), stress, etc. I have always been so quick to blame xyz on an issue when in reality, it could be any of the other xyz things I am doing or *not doing* that could be the root.
As far as sex drive, I've been feeling like overall garbage for many months up until now and just not like a foxy lady due to weight gain from a life that revolves around daily baking and cooking with not much exercise beyond housework. I've been more detached from sex in general and don't yet feel like I can weigh-in on the true cause of that. In the past month, I have begun taking better care of myself as I have been feeling more able to. We'll see how the hunger situation goes, I lean more towards keto (although not too intensely as I can quickly enter eating disorder territory.)
edit 2: My skin had reached 95% clarity and homeostasis before I started Yaz, however I did experience some jawline and neck breakouts in the 2 weeks prior to menstruating. My skin now? About the same.
​
​

Starting your first gay relationship can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. Navigating intimacy, communication, and other relationship dynamics may feel unfamiliar compared to straight relationships. However, with open communication and understanding between partners, gay couples can build loving and fulfilling connections. This extensive guide provides tips for successfully starting your first same-sex relationship based on research and the shared experiences of many gay men.
Communication is Key
Open, honest communication is essential for any healthy relationship to thrive. Make it a priority to talk through desires, boundaries, concerns, and needs with your partner. Really listen to understand each other's perspectives as well. Schedule regular check-ins to discuss how you're both feeling and address any issues that arise before resentment builds. Communicating freely and respectfully leads to greater intimacy and trust over time.
Addressing Internalized Homophobia
Internalized homophobia developed over years may unconsciously influence behaviour even after coming out. Address any fears or insecurities with your partner and a therapist if needed. Realize you both deserve love and do not have to feel ashamed of who you are. With understanding and support, internalized homophobia loses its power over the relationship. Focus on celebrating your identities as gay men and the gift of finding each other.
Discuss Testing and Safer Sex
Have caring, thoughtful discussions around STI testing and safer sex practices before becoming physically intimate. Getting tested together can be a bonding experience and provide peace of mind. Regular testing and condom use protects your health and shows care for your partner. Communicate honestly about past risks without judgment. Make safety and health a priority with commitment to each other's well-being. This responsible approach fosters trust essential for intimacy to deepen between you.
Handle Disagreements Respectfully
All couples disagree at times, so have a respectful process in place. When tensions rise, take a break, then discuss issues calmly and constructively. Focus on the problem, not attacking each other. Compromise when you can, but if at an impasse agree to revisit it later. Do not bring up past conflicts, yell, name call, or disrespect your partner in any way. Treat each other, even in disputes, with the kindness, care and empathy you hope for yourselves. Handling arguments respectfully protects the relationship.
Balance Independence and Togetherness
Establish a balance of independence and togetherness that works for you both. Spend quality time together but also give space for individual interests, friends and alone time to recharge. Do some shared activities and some separately to avoid codependency and resentments forming. Support each other's independence for growth while nurturing intimacy through quality time focused just on one another. This balance protects individuality within the relationship.
Acknowledge Differences and Compromise
Every couple is unique with its own preferences and personalities. Be curious, sensitive and respectful about differences in opinions, communication styles, goals, hobbies or family beliefs. Compromise reasonably when you disagree but do not diminish who you each are. Celebrate qualities in one another while addressing issues lovingly to find solutions honoring you both. Appreciating and working with strengths and weaknesses as a team binds you closer over time.
Learn to Express Affection Regularly
Find ways of showing affection, physically and verbally, that feel genuine and comfortable. Compliments, gifts, acts of service, thoughtful notes and quality time together nourish emotional and physical intimacy when expressed sincerely and received with appreciation. Cuddling, holding hands, kissing and non-sexual touching maintain a caring bond daily. Learn each other's love languages to meet needs for affection. Freely sharing and receiving care, tenderness and desire strengthens the relationship.
Seek Emotional Support
Managing emotions constructively is key for any lasting union. Talk to each other openly about feelings without judgment. Be there as safe outlets when partners are stressed, anxious or down. Seek counselling if needed from a therapist experienced with LGBTQ couples. A support network of caring friends, relatives or groups also provides perspective during hard times. Your relationship acts as a protective barrier against life's challenges when you support each other emotionally as well as physically.
Nurture Friendship Within Romance
Beyond passion and romance, develop a genuine friendship based in caring, respect, common interests and laughter. Share jokes, escapades, daily happenings and deep conversations to cultivate understanding and a sense of true companionship. Make time to be silly, relax and have fun together in ordinary, simple ways. This rich friendship foundation enables intimate connections and partnership to deepen and adapt through life's ups and downs together.
Establish Goals and Dreams Together
Taking time together to establish your shared relationship values, priorities, dreams and goals provides important guidance. Discuss what matters most such as commitment, priorities like careers or family, living situations, savings and financial security. Compromise reasonably when individual aspirations differ. Having clarity and alignment on future hopes cultivates excitement, dedication and perseverance needed to build a long-term union together. It also guards against codependency forming when you each maintain your own interests and direction.
Manage Extended Family Dynamics
Deal with coming out and homophobia sensitively if needed within families or cultural situations. Build your chosen family of accepting allies. Set boundaries if in-laws are hurtful but stay open if attitudes change. Show understanding of challenges facing different perspectives while proudly being true to yourselves. Consider counseling with extended family too if willingness exists to work toward respect. Your relationship is most important - stand united as a couple through difficulties or celebrate acceptance together.
Prioritize Personal Growth and Independence
While dedicated to one another, it is healthy and necessary to nurture independence, interests and personal growth individually too. Maintain supportive friendships outside the relationship and explore hobbies, skills or career paths independently. Each partner should feel empowered to change and evolve without losing their bond. You bring more richness, depth and new experiences back to share together when maintaining individual interests, autonomy and space for privacy in balance with couplehood.
Seek Relationship Education and Guidance
Attend couple events offering workshops, counseling or support groups for new and established LGBTQ partners. Build on insights gained to resolve future issues constructively together. Resources confirm healthy habits and address concerns wisely with facilitated guidance. Counselors help navigate coming out, family opposition, commitment phobias or other challenges compassionately. By pursuing relationship wellness together through counseling and education, you continuously invest in your union's happiness and longevity.
Love, Understanding and Commitment above All
At the core, love with care, empathy, patience and respect for one another will see you through challenges. Love is kind - do small thoughtful deeds without condition. Love understands imperfections - be willing to forgive shortcomings and learn continually. Love is dedicated - through life's joys and difficulties, make a compassionate commitment to stand by each other. With this foundation, your relationship can grow into a profound source of strength, purpose and fulfillment for many nurturing years.
Find your perfect match on GAYDATING247 - the ultimate destination for gay love!

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Music is incorporated at the perfect times, allowing for it to enhance what is happening on screen. There are also some fun references to the other films within the franchise, such as the inclusion of mockingjays and the katniss plant. The presence of “The Hanging Tree” is a great callback for fans, as well, a main antagonist of the franchise, as he becomes a villain. It’s fascinating to look at the story through his eyes, and see who he was prior to becoming President of Panem.
In a surprising turn of events over the Thanksgiving weekend, Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" outshone expectations, dominating the box office for the second consecutive week. Despite the highly anticipated release of Disney's "Wish" and Ridley Scott's epic "Napoleon," it was the return to Panem that captured the hearts of holiday moviegoers.
Based on the Suzanne Collins book of the same name, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” a prequel to the other “The Hunger Games” films, was released in theaters on Nov. 17. The film takes place during the 10th annual Hunger Games, following Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as he mentors District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in an attempt to win a scholarship. Prior to the events of the film, the scholarship, known as the Plinth Prize, was awarded to the academy student with the highest grades. In an attempt to get more viewers to tune into the 10th Hunger Games, the scholarship’s rules are changed to implement a mentorship program.!
How to Watch The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakesfor Free?release on a platform that offers a free trial Our readers to always pay for the content they wish to consume online and refrain from using illegal means
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There are currently no platforms that have the rights to Watch The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & SnakesMovie Online MAPPA has decided to air the movie only in theaters because it has been a huge successThe studio on the other hand does not wish to divert revenue the movie would only slash the profits not increase them
As a result no services are authorized to offer The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & SnakesMovie for free The film would however very definitely be acquired by services like Funimation Netflix and Crunchyroll As a last consideration which of these outlets will likely distribute the film worldwide?
Is The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakeson Netflix?
The giant has a massive catalog of television shows and movies but it does not include ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ We recommend our readers Watch other dark fantasy films like ‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’
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Crunchyroll along with Funimation has acquired the rights to the film and will be responsible for its distribution in North AmericaTherefore we recommend our readers to look for the movie on the er in the coming months subscribers can also Watch dark fantasy shows like ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’
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No ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ is unavailable on Hulu People who have a subscription to the platform can enjoy ‘Afro Samurai Resurrection’ or ‘Ninja Scroll’
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Amazon Prime’s current catalog does not include ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ However the film may eventually release on the platform as video-on-demand in the coming monthsfantasy movies on Amazon Prime’s official website Viewers who are looking for something similar can Watch the original show ‘Dororo’
When Will The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Be on Disney+?
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes the latest installment in the The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakesfranchise is coming to Disney+ on July 8th! This new movie promises to be just as exciting as the previous ones with plenty of action and adventure to keep viewers entertained you’re looking forward to Watching it you may be wondering when it will be available for your Disney+ subscription Here’s an answer to that question!
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Crunchyroll its official website may include the movie in its catalog in the near future Meanwhile people who wish to Watch something similar can ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train’
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What is The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes About?
It features an ensemble cast that includes Florence Pugh Harry Styles Wilde Gemma Chan KiKi Layne Nick Kroll and Chris Pine In the film a young wife living in a 2250s company town begins to believe there is a sinister secret being kept from her by the man who runs it
What is the story of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes?
In the 2250s Alice and Jack live in the idealized community of Victory an experimental company town that houses the men who work on a top- While the husbands toil away the wives get to enjoy the beauty luxury and debauchery of their seemingly perfect paradise However when cracks in her idyllic life begin to appear exposing flashes of something sinister lurking below the surface Alice can’t help but question exactly what she’s doing in Victory
In ancient Kahndaq Teth Adam bestowed the almighty powers of the gods After using these powers for vengeance he was imprisoned becoming The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Nearly 5 000 years have passed and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakeshas gone from man to myth to legend Now free his unique form of justice born out of rage is challenged by modern-day heroes who form the Justice Society: Hawkman Dr Fate Atom Smasher and Cyclone
Production companies: Warner Bros Pictures
At San Diego Comic-Con in July Dwayne The Rock Johnson had other people raising eyebrows when he said that his long-awaited superhero debut in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakeswould be the beginning of a new era for the DC Extended Universe naturally followed: What did he mean? And what would that kind of reset mean for the remainder of DCEU’s roster including Superman Batman Wonder Woman the rest of the Justice League Suicide Squad Shazam and so on As
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes neared theaters though Johnson clarified that statement in a recent sit-down with Yahoo Entertainment (Watch above)
I feel like this is our opportunity now to expand the DC Universe and what we have in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes which I think is really cool just as a fan is we introduce five new superheroes to the world Johnson tells us Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate who together comprise the Justice Society) One anti-hero (That would be DJ’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes)
And what an opportunity The Justice Society pre-dated the Justice League So opportunity expand out the universe in my mind… all these characters interact That’s why you see in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes we acknowledge everyone: Batman Superman Wonder Woman Flash we acknowledge everybody There’s also some Easter eggs in there too So that’s what I meant by the resetting Maybe resetting’ wasn’t a good termonly
In addition to being Johnson’s DC Universe debut The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is also notable for marking the return of Henry Cavill’s Superman The cameo is likely to set up future showdowns between the two characters but Hodge was completely unaware of it until he saw the film
They kept that all the way under wraps and I didn’t know until maybe a day or two before the premiere he recently said The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes(2023) FULLMOVIE ONLINE
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Unfortunately The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakesis not currently available to on Disney Plus and it’s not expected that the film will release on Disney Plus until late December at the absolute earliest
While Disney eventually releases its various studios’ films on Disney Plus for subscribers to Watch via its platform most major releases don’t arrive on Disney Plus until at least 45-60 days after the film’s theatrical release
The sequel opened to $150 million internationally which Disney reports is 4% ahead of the first film when comparing like for likes at current exchange rates Overall the global cume comes to $330 million Can it become the year’s third film to make it past $1 billion worldwide despite China and Russia which made up around $124 million of the first film’s $682 million international box office being out of play? It may be tough but it’s not impossible Legging out past $500 million is plausible on the domestic front (that would be a multiplier of at least 27) and another $500 million abroad would be a drop of around $58 million from the original after excluding the two MIA markets It’d be another story if audiences didn’t love the film but the positive reception suggests that Wakanda Forever will outperform the legs on this year’s earlier MCU titles (Multiverse of Madness and Love and Thunder had multipliers of 22 and 23 respectively)
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As for the rest of the box office there’s little to get excited about with nothing else grossing above $10 million as Hollywood shied away from releasing anything significant not just this weekend but also over the previous two weekends When Black Panther opened in 2018 there was no counterprogramming that opened the same weekend but Peter Rabbit and Fifty Shades Freed were in their second weekends and took second and third with $175 million and $173 million respectively That weekend had an overall cume of $287 million compared to $208 million this weekend Take away the $22 million gap between the two Black Panther films and there’s still a $57 million gap between the two weekends The difference may not feel that large when a mega blockbuster is propping up the grosses but the contrast is harsher when the mid-level films are the entire box office as we saw in recent months
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes which is the biggest grosser of the rough post-summer pre-Wakanda Forever season came in second with just $86 million Despite the blockbuster competition that arrived in its fourth weekend the numbers didn’t totally collapse dropping 53 % for a cume of $151 million Worldwide it is at $352 million which isn’t a great cume as the grosses start to wind down considering its $200 million budget Still it’s the biggest of any film since The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes though Wakanda Forever will overtake it any day now
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakescame in third place in its fourth weekend down 29% with $61 million emerging as one of the season’s most durable grossers and one of the year’s few bright spots when it comes to films for adults The domestic cume is $565 million Fourth place went to Lyle Lyle Crocodile which had a negligible drop of 5% for a $32 million sixth weekend and $408 million cume in fact)
which isn’t surprising considering it’s the only family film on the market and it’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakesto grossing four times its $114 million opening Still the $726 million worldwide cume is soft given the $50 million budget though a number of international markets have yet to open
Finishing up the top five is The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes which had its biggest weekend drop yet falling 42% for a $23 million seventh weekend Of course that’s no reason to frown for the horror film which has a domestic cume of $103 million and global cume of $ 210 million from a budget of just $20 million
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'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' is playing now in theaters worldwide Thanks Index no.7120."

A New Wave of Gay Reality Dating Shows
The rise in popularity and mainstream acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in recent years has brought with it a new wave of gay reality dating shows featuring same-sex couples. While in the past there were only a handful of dating programs specifically geared towards the gay community, in 2022 there are now several high-profile shows being produced by major networks and streaming services. This reflects the growing demand from LGBTQ+ viewers for representation in mainstream media.
Pioneering gay dating shows of the past like Boy Meets Boy on Bravo in 2003 helped pave the way but were limited in their scale and adoption rates. Shows today have much larger production budgets, casting calls across the country, and international distribution on major platforms. Producers are able to thoughtfully craft entire seasons around the experiences, challenges, and nuances of gay relationships in modern society. This level of representation has been empowering for LGBTQ+ youth and opened many people's eyes to the diversity of queer stories and identities.
Queer Cupid (Netflix)
One of the most buzzworthy new gay dating reality shows is Queer Cupid on Netflix. Each episode follows a different single gay man as he is set up on three blind dates by a "Queer Cupid" - a more experienced gay friend who acts as matchmaker and advisor. The Cupid gets to know the datee's preferences, dealbreakers, and what they're looking for in a potential partner. Then, the Cupid handpicks three suitable blind date options and styles each date based on a specific scenario or activity like dinner at a favorite restaurant, game night with friends, or a picnic in the park.
After each date, the Cupid and datee discuss how it went in candid conversations. Viewers get a fly-on-the-wall look at the dates and real-time reactions from both parties. At the end of the three dates, the datee must decide which potential partner, if any, they'd like to see again. For dates that don't result in a second match, the Cupid offers feedback on how to improve their dating approach. This show gives a refreshingly realistic portrayal of what the messy process of modern gay dating can look and feel like.
Heartthrob (Hulu)
A major twist on the traditional gay dating format comes from Heartthrob on Hulu. In this show, ten eligible gay bachelors live together in a luxury beach house for several weeks while getting to know each other on group dates and activities. They forge both friendships and sparks of romance as the cameras capture their natural interactions and dynamic alliances and rivalries that develop within the house.
Periodically throughout the season, dramatic rose ceremonies are held where the men in the house each get to give a rose to one of their peers to keep them in the competition. Those left roseless must pack their bags and leave the beach house. Over weeks of dating gambits, cocktail parties, and candid confessionals about their feelings, top contenders emerge while others see their chances of finding love fade away.
In a refreshing departure from many heterosexual bachelor formats of the past, Heartthrob doesn't focus so much on manufactured drama but lets natural chemistry and connection unfold organically between the men without interference from producers or manipulative editing. It proves there is interest for a sensitive, sex-positive portrayal of gay romance on major platforms. The finale sees the top two bachelors visit each other's hometowns before making a final commitment decision.
Looking for Love (Amazon Prime Video)
A new format twisting the constraints of location comes from Amazon Prime video's Looking for Love. Each episode follows two gay singles who have never met before as they explore a new city together over the course of a weekend looking to spark a connection. From scenic getaways like Joshua Tree to cosmopolitan destinations like New York City, the matches immerse themselves in curated date experiences tailored to the locale.
To break the ice on their first date, the matches get clues to adventure together like visiting underground jazz clubs or taking a pottery class. Throughout the weekend their organic chemistry is observed as they tour landmarks, sample local cuisine, and open up more about themselves while getting to know each other away from their daily routines. By Sunday night, after experiencing the highlighted highlights of their destination together, they must mutually decide if they want to pursue a long distance relationship or remain forever online friends from their different homes.
This show proves meaningful connections can develop anywhere given the right environment and allows people from all corners of the country a chance at finding love beyond their usual social circles. It also normalizes the idea of long distance gay relationships which were once rare but are now common thanks to expanded dating options online and the normalization of remote work situations. Overall it brings a fresh dynamic to the increasingly globalized world of modern dating.
First Dates Hotel (Discovery+)
Taking a familiar international format and adapting it for queer singles comes the latest Discovery+ original series First Dates Hotel. Similar to the long-running British First Dates restaurant reality show, First Dates Hotel places hopeful daters in an idyllic setting - this time a charming boutique hotel in California wine country - rather than a busy restaurant.
Here, gay men and lesbians from all walks of life check in separately to the hotel for a weekend of dates fully subsidized by the show. Each night at the hotel, new matches are revealed to guests who then get to know each other over a romantic meal in the on-site Mediterranean style restaurant. Conversations are candid yet feel more natural compared to contrived dinner dates thanks to the relaxed luxury hotel vibe.
After their meal, matches can choose to spend more time together or retire to their separate rooms for the evening as singles once more. In the morning, they meet with the show's host to reflect on their experience and connections made. While some matches don't result in romance, others hit it off so well that they extend their stay together at the hotel. This format allows for deep honest conversations in a comfortable environment away from the constraints of time that often rush traditional first dates.
Overall these reality dating shows are evidence of the ever-growing appetite from mainstream viewers for sensitive, thoughtful portrayals of LGBTQ+ relationships and experiences that go beyond stereotypes. They offer nuanced windows into what it means to embrace sexuality while seeking fulfilling partnerships in today's world. As their popularity rises, they normalize queer narratives and bring more diverse stories of modern gay dating and love to the forefront of pop culture conversation. Their impact will hopefully only continue pushing representation forward and broadening societal views of healthy same-sex relationships.
Find your perfect match on GAYDATING247 - the ultimate destination for gay love!

Post here and/or PM me with any questions. Shipping is $5. International is available, please discuss. Free samples with every purchase! Payment is by Venmo, CashApp or Zelle, PayPal must inquire.
Only swapping for 200mL Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait at this time.
All of my contact info as well as all of my bottles for sale, are available in my spreadsheet which you should bookmark and look at for a more updated inventory
Spreadsheet

	HOUSE	FRAGRANCE	SIZE	REMAINING	Notes/Condition	Price	Type
1	Amouage	Amber Sogara	12mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$335	Niche
2	Amouage	Crimson Rocks	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$149	Niche
3	Amouage	Incense Rori Attar	12mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$299	Niche
4	Amouage	Material (Woman)	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box; Tester Cap	$145	Niche
5	Amouage	Opus XIII - Silver Oud	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$260	Niche
6	Amouage	Orris Wakan Attar	12mL	99% Full	Full Presentation	$299	Niche
7	Amouage	Rose Aqor Attar	12mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$299	Niche
8	Amouage	Saffron Hamra Attar	12mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$299	Niche
9	Amouage	Santal Sohar Attar	12mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$299	Niche
10	Amouage	Oud Ulya	100mL	100% Full	BNIB Sealed	$299	Niche
11	Andy Tauer	Cologne du Maghreb	50mL	99% Full	First Release, Rectangular Clear Bottle; With box	$95	Niche
12	Bond No. 9	Madison Square Park	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$135	Niche
13	Bond No. 9	Nomad	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$165	Niche
14	Bond No. 9	Wall Street	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$135	Niche
15	By Kilian	Bamboo Harmony	100mL	100% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$199	Niche
16	By Kilian	Black Phantom	100mL	100% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$199	Niche
17	By Kilian	Can't Stop Loving You	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$185	Niche
18	By Kilian	Forbidden Games	50mL	98% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$125	Niche
19	By Kilian	Gold Knight	100mL	100% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$199	Niche
20	By Kilian	Gold Knight	50mL	98% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$145	Niche
21	By Kilian	Good Girl Gone Bad	250mL	99% Full	Decanter; No Box	$650	Niche
22	By Kilian	Good Girl Gone Bad	50mL	98% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$135	Niche
23	By Kilian	Good Girl Gone Bad Eau Fraiche	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$180	Niche
24	By Kilian	Good Girl Gone Bad Extreme	50mL	98% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$155	Niche
25	By Kilian	Intoxicated	100mL	100% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$199	Niche
26	By Kilian	Intoxicated	100mL	99% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$199	Niche
27	By Kilian	L'Heure Verte	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$135	Niche
28	By Kilian	Moonlight In Heaven	100mL	99% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$199	Niche
29	By Kilian	Roses on Ice	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$135	Niche
30	By Kilian	Straight to Heaven	50mL	70% Full	Tester Refill (No Spray, No Box)	$115	Niche
31	Byredo	Eyes Closed	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$135	Niche
32	Byredo	Infloresence	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$135	Niche
33	Byredo	Lil Fleur	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$135	Niche
34	Byredo	Sunday Cologne	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$135	Niche
35	Chanel	Bleu de Chanel EdP	150mL	98% Full	No Box	$140	Niche
36	Chanel Exclusif	Misia EdT	200mL	90% Full	Tester; No Box	$299	Niche
37	Chanel Exclusif	No. 22 EdT	200mL	95% Full	No Box	$425	Niche
38	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Bois D'Argent	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 0V01 (2010 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$35	Niche
39	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Cologne Royale	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 1X01 (2011 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$30	Niche
40	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Diorissima	7.5mL	100% Full	Official Mini; No Cannister - Price includes shipping	$30	Niche
41	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Eau Noire	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 1R01 (2011 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$35	Niche
42	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Eden Roc	7.5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Price includes shipping	$30	Niche
43	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Granville	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 0V01 (2010 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$35	Niche
44	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Milly-La-Foret	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 0W01 (2010 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$30	Niche
45	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	Mitzah	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 1W01 (2011 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$35	Niche
46	Christian Dior / Dior Privee	New Look 1947	5mL	100% Full	Official Mini - Batch Code 1R01 (2011 Production Date) - Price includes shipping	$30	Niche
47	Clive Christian	C for Men	50mL	95% Full	Tester (No Box)	$169	Niche
48	Clive Christian	Crab Apple Blossom	50mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$199	Niche
49	Clive Christian	I Pour Femme (Woody Floral with Vintage Rose)	50mL	99% Full	Tester (No Box)	$169	Niche
50	Clive Christian	Rock Rose	50mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$229	Niche
51	Clive Christian	Town and Country	50mL	100% Full	Sealed, Brand New	$229	Niche
52	Creed	Acqua Florentina - F Batch	75mL	95% Full	Full Presentation	$160	Niche
53	Creed	Aventus - 19P21 (Decant)	50mL	100% Full	Magnetic Cap Decant	$169	Niche
54	Creed	Aventus Cologne - (F468, 21V01E)	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Cap)	$180	Niche
55	Creed	Aventus for Her	75mL	100% Full	Tester with Plastic Cap (No Box)	$170	Niche
56	Creed	Carmina - F1386	75mL	100% Full	Brand New, Full Presentation	$235	Niche
57	Creed	Erolfa - F508	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Gold Plastic Cap	$180	Niche
58	Creed	Millesime Imperial - Recent Batch	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Gold Plastic Cap	$180	Niche
59	Creed	Neroli Sauvage - Recent Batch	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Gold Plastic Cap	$170	Niche
60	Creed	Original Santal - F511	100mL	99% Full	Tester with Silver Plastic Cap (No Box)	$170	Niche
61	Creed	Refillable Atomizer (5mL Leather Wrapped) Grey	5mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$129	Niche
62	Creed	Royal Oud - F Batch	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Cap or Box)	$245	Niche
63	Creed	Royal Water - 2P07 (2007)	120mL	50% Full	(No Cap or Box)	$150	Niche
64	Creed	Royal Water - F238	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Silver Plastic Cap (No Box)	$170	Niche
65	Creed	Silver Mountain Water - 21V01A	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Silver Plastic Cap (No Box)	$180	Niche
66	Creed	Spice and Wood - 21Z01A	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$239	Niche
67	Creed	Viking - F512	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap (Red Top) (No Box)	$180	Niche
68	Creed	Viking Cologne - F994	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Silver Plastic Cap (No Box)	$175	Niche
69	Creed	Wind Flowers - 22C01B	75mL	100% Full	Tester with Plastic Cap (No Box)	$160	Niche
70	Fragrance Du Bois	Brume du Matin	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
71	Fragrance Du Bois	Cannabis Blue	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
72	Fragrance Du Bois	Cannabis Intense	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
73	Fragrance Du Bois	Cavort	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
74	Fragrance Du Bois	HERITAGE	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$330	Niche
75	Fragrance Du Bois	London Spice	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
76	Fragrance Du Bois	New York Fifth Avenue	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
77	Fragrance Du Bois	New York Intense	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
78	Fragrance Du Bois	Oud Bleu Intense	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$289	Niche
79	Fragrance Du Bois	Oud Jaune Intense	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$289	Niche
80	Fragrance Du Bois	Oud Rose Intense	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$289	Niche
81	Fragrance Du Bois	Siberian Rose	100mL	100% Full	New, No Box	$180	Niche
82	Frederic Malle	Cologne Indellible	100mL	85% Full	Full presentation with Box	$175	Niche
83	Frederic Malle	Eau de Magnolia	10mL	100% Full	Official Travel Spray	$55	Niche
84	Frederic Malle	Monsieur	10mL	95% Full	Official Travel Spray	$55	Niche
85	Frederic Malle	Musc Ravageur	100mL	100% Full	Brand New (Not Sealed)	$200	Niche
86	Frederic Malle	Promise	100mL	100% Full	Brand New (Not Sealed)	$315	Niche
87	Gallagher	Bergamot Silk	100mL	99% Full		$79	Niche
88	Giorgio Armani / Armani Prive	Gardenia Antigua	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$155	Niche
89	Giorgio Armani / Armani Prive	Pierre de Lune	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$155	Niche
90	Giorgio Armani / Armani Prive	Rose Alexandrie	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$155	Niche
91	Guerlain	Angelique Noire	30mL	100% Full	Mini Bee Bottle Decant	$215	Niche
92	Guerlain	Angelique Noire	10mL	100% Full	Tall Glass Decant	$55	Niche
93	Guerlain	Cherry Oud	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$290	Niche
94	Guerlain	Frenchy Lavende	200mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$399	Niche
95	Guerlain	Herbes Troublantes	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$349	Niche
96	Guerlain	Musc Outreblanc	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$350	Niche
97	Guerlain	Neroli Outrenoir	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$349	Niche
98	Guerlain	Oud Nude	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$349	Niche
99	Guerlain	Rose Barbare	200mL	90% Full	DECANTED - NO ORIGINAL BOTTLE	$250	Niche
100	Guerlain	Santal Pao Rosa	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$349	Niche
101	Guerlain	Tonka Imperiale	30mL	100% Full	Mini Bee Bottle Decant	$199	Niche
102	Guerlain	Tonka Imperiale	10mL	100% Full	Tall Glass Decant	$55	Niche
103	Hermes / Hermessence	Agar Ebene	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$150	Niche
104	Hermes / Hermessence	Cedre Sambac	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$165	Niche
105	Hermes / Hermessence	Epice Marine	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$170	Niche
106	Hermes / Hermessence	Iris Ukiyoe	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$150	Niche
107	Hermes / Hermessence	Myrrhe Eglantine	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$185	Niche
108	Hermes / Hermessence	Osmanthe Yunnan	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$150	Niche
109	Hermes / Hermessence	Poivre Samarcade	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$170	Niche
110	Hermes / Hermessence	Santal Massoia	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$170	Niche
111	Hermes / Hermessence	Violette Volynka	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$185	Niche
112	House of Sillage	Nouez Moi	75mL	99% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$120	Niche
113	I Profumi di Firenze	Caterina De Medici	50mL	99% Full	No Box	$35	Niche
114	Imaginary Authors	Every Storm a Serenade	60mL	99% Full	Full presentation with Box	$85	Niche
115	Initio	Blessed Baraka	90mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$179	Niche
116	Initio	Oud for Greatness	90mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$215	Niche
117	Initio	Oud for Happiness	90mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$189	Niche
118	Initio	Side Effect	10mL	100% Full	Official Travel Atomizer	$69	Niche
119	Le Labo	Bigarade 18 - Hong Kong Exclusive	50mL	100% Full	Full Bottle, Retail Label	$299	Niche
120	Le Labo	Cedrat 37 – Berlin City Exclusive	100mL	99% Full	Sprayed Once to Test / Brand New; No Box	$269	Niche
121	Le Labo	Mousse de Chene 30 - Amsterdam City Exclusive	50mL	99% Full	Sprayed Once to Test / Brand New; No Box	$259	Niche
122	Le Labo	Musc 25 – Los Angeles City Exclusive	50mL	99% Full	Sprayed Once to Test / Brand New; No Box	$239	Niche
123	Le Labo	Oud 27	50mL	99% Full	Full presentation with Box	$169	Niche
124	Le Labo	Rose 31	50mL	99% Full	Sprayed Once to Test / Brand New; No Box	$160	Niche
125	Le Labo	Santal 26 CANDLE	8.6oz	100% Full	CANDLE	$55	Niche
126	Le Labo	Santal 33	50mL	100% Full	Full Bottle, Retail Label	$135	Niche
127	Liquides Imaginaires	Bloody Wood	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box, No Cap	$85	Niche
128	Liquides Imaginaires	Desert Sauve	100mL	99% Full	Tester; No Cap, No Box	$85	Niche
129	Liquides Imaginaires	Fleur de Sable	100mL	99% Full	Tester; No Cap, No Box	$85	Niche
130	Liquides Imaginaires	Fleuve Tendre	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box, No Cap)	$85	Niche
131	Liquides Imaginaires	Sancti	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box, No Cap	$85	Niche
132	Louis Vuitton	Contre Moi	100mL	98% Full	Bottle may have scratches, Cap has no paint, No Box	$450	Niche
133	Louis Vuitton	Sun Song	100mL	98% Full	Bottle may have scratches, Cap has no paint, No Box	$499	Niche
134	Maison Crivelli	Bois Datchai	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$169	Niche
135	Maison Crivelli	Rose Saltifolia	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$159	Niche
136	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	724	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$365	Niche
137	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	A la Rose	200mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$315	Niche
138	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	A la Rose	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$145	Niche
139	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	A la Rose	35mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$90	Niche
140	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Amyris Femme	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$139	Niche
141	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Amyris Homme	35mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$100	Niche
142	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Celestia Cologne Forte	200mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$215	Niche
143	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Celestia Cologne Forte	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$145	Niche
144	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Media Cologne Forte	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$145	Niche
145	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Media Cologne Forte	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$250	Niche
146	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Universalis Cologne Forte	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$115	Niche
147	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Universalis Forte	70mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap	$160	Niche
148	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Universalis Forte	35mL	99% Full	Tester (No Box)	$95	Niche
149	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Vitae	200mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$205	Niche
150	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Vitae Cologne Forte	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$115	Niche
151	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Aqua Vitae Forte EdP	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
152	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Feminine Pluriel Special Edition Extrait	70mL	100% Full	Full presentation with mirror box presentation	$499	Niche
153	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Gentle Fluidity Gold	200mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$365	Niche
154	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Gentle Fluidity Gold	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$170	Niche
155	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Gentle Fluidity Silver	200mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$365	Niche
156	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Gentle Fluidity Silver	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$170	Niche
157	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	L'eau a La Rose	35mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$90	Niche
158	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	L'eau a La Rose	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$145	Niche
159	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	L'Homme a la Rose	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$165	Niche
160	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Oud EdP	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$175	Niche
161	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Oud Silk Mood EdP	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$180	Niche
162	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Oud Silk Mood Extrait	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$210	Niche
163	Maison Francis Kurkdjian	Petit Matin	70mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$145	Niche
164	Maison Lancome	Orange Bigarades	100mL	100% Full	Full presentation with Box	$229	Niche
165	Mark Birley	Charles Street	75mL	97% Full	Travel Version	$90	Niche
166	Memo Paris	French Leather	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
167	Memo Paris	Inle	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
168	Memo Paris	Italian Leather	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
169	Memo Paris	Lailabella	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
170	Memo Paris	Marfa	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
171	Memo Paris	Moon Fever	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
172	Memo Paris	Oriental Leather	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box or Cap)	$115	Niche
173	Mind Games	Al-Suli's Diamond	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$265	Niche
174	Mind Games	Blockade	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$270	Niche
175	Mind Games	Castling	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$250	Niche
176	Mind Games	Checkmate	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$270	Niche
177	Mind Games	Scholar's Mate	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$250	Niche
178	Mizensir	Blue Gin	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$175	Niche
179	Mizensir	Bois de Mysore	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
180	Mizensir	Cologne de Matte	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$145	Niche
181	Mizensir	For Your Love	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
182	Mizensir	Ideal Oud	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
183	Mizensir	Mythique Vetiver	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
184	Mizensir	Perfect Oud	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$165	Niche
185	Mizensir	Rose Exaltante	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
186	Mizensir	Tonic Water	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$165	Niche
187	Mizensir	Vert Empire	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$155	Niche
188	Oliver and Co.	M.O.U.S.S.E.	50mL	99% Full	Limited Edition 87/133	$110	Niche
189	Oman Luxury	Wanderlust	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Tester Box	$169	Niche
190	Parfums de Marley	Delina	75mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$160	Niche
191	Penhaligon's	Elixir	100mL	90% Full	No Box	$250	Niche
192	Perris Monte Carlo	Tuberuese Absolue	100mL	99% Full	No Box	$99	Niche
193	Pomare's Stolen Perfume	Angel's Share	9mL	70% Full	No Box	$40	Niche
194	Precious Liquid	Iced Juniper	75mL	95% Full	Full presentation with Box (Limited Edition)	$135	Niche
195	Roja Dove	Creation-E Essence de Parfum	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$165	Niche
196	Roja Dove	Creation-E Parfum Cologne	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$155	Niche
197	Roja Dove	Danger Parfum Cologne	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$155	Niche
198	Roja Dove	Danger Pour Femme	50mL	100% Full	99% Full with Box	$275	Niche
199	Roja Dove	Elixir Essence Pour Femme	100mL	100% Full	No Box	$175	Niche
200	Roja Dove	Qatar	50mL	99% Full	Full Presentation	$339	Niche
201	Roja Dove	Scandal Essence de Parfum	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$165	Niche
202	Roja Dove	United Arab Emirates (UAE)	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$329	Niche
203	Roman Monegal	L'eau de Rose	50mL	97% Full		$70	Niche
204	Santa Maria Novella	Sandalo	100mL	95% Full	No Box	$80	Niche
205	Sospiro	Deep Amber Ocean	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$239	Niche
206	Sospiro	Dolce Melodia	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$239	Niche
207	Sospiro	Vibrato	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$239	Niche
208	Spirit of Dubai	Bahar	50mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap and Travel Case	$175	Niche
209	Spirit of Dubai	Majalis	100mL	99% Full	Full presentation with Box	$435	Niche
210	Spirit of Dubai	Meydan	50mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap and Travel Case	$175	Niche
211	Spirit of Dubai	Rimal	50mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap and Travel Case	$175	Niche
212	Tiziana Terenzi	Attar Cas	13mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$225	Niche
213	Tiziana Terenzi	Chiron	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$165	Niche
214	Tiziana Terenzi	Cubia	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$225	Niche
215	Tiziana Terenzi	Draconis	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$135	Niche
216	Tom Ford	Azure Lime - A71	50mL	99% Full	Original Formula	$349	Niche
217	Tom Ford	Beau de Jour	100mL	99% Full	Original Private Blend Bottle	$180	Niche
218	Tom Ford	Beau de Jour	1000mL	100% Full	Sealed Dramming Bottle	$700	Niche
219	Tom Ford	Ebene Fume	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$165	Niche
220	Tom Ford	Fleur de Portofino	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$135	Niche
221	Tom Ford	Fougere Platine	1000mL	100% Full	Sealed Dramming Bottle	$700	Niche
222	Tom Ford	Fucking Fabulous	50mL	100% Full	Open, Sprayed to test	$175	Niche
223	Tom Ford	Noir de Noir	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$165	Niche
224	Tom Ford	Oud Wood	250mL	99% Full	Decanter; No Box	$549	Niche
225	Tom Ford	Oud Wood	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$175	Niche
226	Tom Ford	Plum Japonais	50mL	100% Full	Decant (No Box)	$215	Niche
227	Tom Ford	Rive Ambre - A63	50mL	99% Full	Original Formula	$225	Niche
228	Tom Ford	Rose D'Amalfi	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$135	Niche
229	Tom Ford	Rose de Chine	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$135	Niche
230	Tom Ford	Rose Prick	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$249	Niche
231	Tom Ford	Soleil Brulant	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$145	Niche
232	Tom Ford	Soleil Neige	1000mL	100% Full	Sealed Dramming Bottle	$700	Niche
233	Tom Ford	Tuscan Leather	50mL	100% Full	Magnetic Cap Decant	$119	Niche
234	Tom Ford	White Suede	1000mL	100% Full	Sealed Dramming Bottle	$700	Niche
235	Washington Tremlett	Black Tie	100mL	95% Full		$125	Niche
236	Widian	II Black	50mL	99% Full	Tester; No Box	$149	Niche
237	Xerjoff	Naxos	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$187	Niche
238	Yves Saint Laurent	Babycat	125mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$335	Niche
239	Yves Saint Laurent	Tuxedo	250mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$399	Niche
240	Acqua di Parma	Arancia Di Capri	150mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$65	Designer
241	Acqua di Parma	Magnolia Nobile	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$95	Designer
242	Caron	Pour un Homme de Caron Le Matin	125mL	100% Full	Opened to test, sprayed once	$69	Designer
243	Caron	Pour un Homme de Caron Le Soir	125mL	100% Full	Opened to test, sprayed once	$69	Designer
244	Caron	Pour Un Homme Impact Parfum	75mL	97% Full	No Box	$175	Designer
245	Chanel	Allure Homme Sport - Aftershave Balm	100mL	99% Full	No Box	$65	Designer
246	Chanel	Allure Pour Femme EdT	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$65	Designer
247	Chanel	Bleu de Chanel - Aftershave Balm	100mL	99% Full	No Box, Minor Cosmetic Damage	$55	Designer
248	Chanel	Bleu de Chanel - Aftershave Lotion	100mL	99% Full	No Box, Minor Cosmetic Damage	$55	Designer
249	Chanel	Bleu de Chanel EdT	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$85	Designer
250	Chanel	Bleu de Chanel EdT	150mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$125	Designer
251	Chanel	Chance Eau Tendre EdP	150mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$130	Designer
252	Chanel	Chance Eau Tendre EdP	50mL	90% Full	Tester; No Box	$90	Designer
253	Chanel	Chance Eau Tendre EdT	150mL	99% Full	Tester; No Box	$120	Designer
254	Chanel	Coco EdP	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$85	Designer
255	Chanel	Coco Mademoiselle - Moisturizing Body Lotion	200mL	99% Full	No Box	$55	Designer
256	Chanel	Coco Mademoiselle EdP	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$95	Designer
257	Chanel	Coco Mademoiselle EdP Intense	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$100	Designer
258	Chanel	Coco Mademoiselle EdT	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$65	Designer
259	Chanel	Cristalle Eau Vert EdT Concentree	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$135	Designer
260	Chanel	Cristalle EdP	50mL	95% Full	Tester; No Box	$135	Designer
261	Chanel	Gabrielle Essence	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$100	Designer
262	Chanel	No. 19	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$115	Designer
263	Chanel	No. 5 Eau Premiere	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$85	Designer
264	Chanel	No. 5 EdP	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$85	Designer
265	Chanel	Platinum Egoiste	75mL	99% Full	SPLASH, NOT SPRAY Older Formulation	$125	Designer
266	Christian Dior	Dior Homme Parfum	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed (Packaging may be slightly damaged)	$190	Designer
267	Christian Dior	Dior Homme Sport - 2017 Version	125mL	99% Full	Tester; No Box Batch Code is 6Y02	$89	Designer
268	Christian Dior	J'adore in Joy EdT	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap, No Box	$60	Designer
269	Christian Dior	Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet EdT	100mL	100% Full	No Box	$69	Designer
270	Floris	A Rose For...	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box.	$65	Designer
271	Floris	Cefiro	100mL	100% Full	Tester with Cap, No Box	$59	Designer
272	Floris	Lily of the Valley	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box.	$65	Designer
273	Giorgio Armani	Acqua di Gio Profumo Special Blend	75mL	95% Full	No Box	$399	Designer
274	Gucci	Gucci Guilty Absolute	90mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$70	Designer
275	Guerlain	L'instant de Guerlain Pour Homme EXTREME	10mL	100% Full	VINTAGE BLACK RIM - DECANT	$50	Designer
276	Hermes	Twilly	80mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$65	Designer
277	Jo Malone	Amber & Lavender	30mL	90% Full	No Box	$52	Designer
278	Jo Malone	English Oak & Redcurrant	30mL	80% Full	No Box	$49	Designer
279	Jo Malone	English Pear & Freesia	100mL	100% Full	Brand New with Gift Box and Gift Set (Body Wash, Body Lotion)	$180	Designer
280	Jo Malone	Rose & White Musk Absolu	100mL	100% Full	No Box	$180	Designer
281	Jo Malone	Scarlett Poppy Cologne Intense	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Box	$130	Designer
282	Lalique	Ombre Noire	100mL	100% Full	Sealed	$100	Designer
283	Maison Martin Margiela	Replica - Jazz Club	100mL	100% Full	Tester (No Box)	$89	Designer
284	Molton Brown	Delicious Rhubarb and Rose EdT	100mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$75	Designer
285	Thierry Mugler	A*MEN	100mL	99% Full	Rubber Flask; No Box	$75	Designer
286	Tom Ford	Costa Azzura Parfum	50mL	100% Full	Brand New, Sealed	$130	Designer
287	Amouage	Cristal and Gold Ladies	50mL	95% Full	Vintage, Incredibly hard to find. Full presentation in nice condition	$399	Vintage
288	Cartier	Santos EdT	100mL	100% Full	Spray; Refill.	$299	Vintage
289	Chanel	Gardenia EdT	100mL	100% Full	Vintage; Sealed	$390	Vintage
290	Crabtree & Evelyn	Crabtree & Evelyn Extract of West Indian and Sicilian Limes	125mL	100% Full	Full presentation with Box	$209	Vintage
291	Dunhill	Cologne	125mL	99% Full	Vintage; Splash	$100	Vintage
292	Escada	Pour Homme Aftershave	75mL	100% Full	BNIB Sealed	$165	Vintage
293	Escada	Pour Homme Aftershave	125mL	100% Full	BNIB Sealed	$240	Vintage
294	Floris	Special 127	100mL	98% Full	Vintage; Dark Blue Box., 2 Royal Warrants, Vintage Version	$70	Vintage
295	Fragonard	Zizanie	240mL	80% Full	Shaker bottle (Splash, not spray) no box. At least 80% Full.	$240	Vintage
296	Geo F Trumper	Ajaccio Violets	100mL	99% Full		$40	Vintage
297	Gucci	Envy Aftershave	50mL	100% Full	BNIB Sealed	$140	Vintage
298	Gucci	Envy Aftershave	100mL	100% Full	BNIB Sealed	$215	Vintage
299	Gucci	Rush for Men	50mL	100% Full	Full Presentation; These do not come fully filled	$190	Vintage
300	Gucci	Rush for Men Aftershave	100mL	100% Full	BNIB Sealed	$140	Vintage
301	Guerlain	Heritage EdT	200mL	100% Full	New; Vintage; Splash. 1991 Bottle.	$225	Vintage
302	Guerlain	Samrasa EdP	50mL	100% Full	No Box	$109	Vintage
303	Guerlain	Samsara EdT 1992-1993 Formulation	100mL	100% Full	Tester; No Cap; No Box	$109	Vintage
304	Jean Desprez	Bal a Versailles	9 Oz	70% Full	Vintage; Splash; No Box Open to offers on this enormous bottle.	$135	Vintage
305	Lacoste	Eau de Sport Vivifiante	100mL	99% Full	No Box	$110	Vintage
306	Lacoste	Land	100mL	99% Full		$130	Vintage
307	Nino Cerruti	Fair Play Pour Homme	100mL	99% Full	Full presentation with Box	$275	Vintage
308	Paco Rabanne	Eau de Metal	20mL	100% Full	Vintage; Mini	$15	Vintage
309	Revillon	Pour Homme Eau de Toilette Super Concentrate	60mL	99% Full	Atomizer	$190	Vintage
310	Revillon	Pour Homme Eau de Toilette Super Concentrate	90mL	99% Full	Atomizer	$290	Vintage​