Hi everyone. My husband and I will be visiting the Amalfi Coast in July for 5 days (I know its peak time but for various reasons this is the only time really that we can go). I have done a fair bit of research but I would love to hear from others who have visited the area what you think of our itinerary and if there is anything you would recommend or change.
We will be staying in Sorrento for 2 nights and then in Praiano for 3 nights. I would have preferred to stay in Praiano for 5 nights but the more affordable accommodations werent available for the entire 5 nights.
Day 1: Arrive at Naples at 8:40 a.m. and head to Sorrento. Explore Sorrento town.
Day 2: Full day boat tour to Capri Island
Head to Praiano
Day 3: Arrive in Praiano and then take head to Amalfi and Ravello. This is where I am a little unsure. I am struggling to decide between
a) Doing a full day boat tour along the Amalfi Coast which offers about 2 hours to explore Amalfi town.
b) Doing a half day boat tour along the Amalfi Coast - this one doesnt seem to stop in Amalfi itself but visits beaches along the way
c) Only explore Amalfi and Ravello by foot
I am a little unsure of whether to do a boat tour or not. On the one hand the "full" day tour does stop in Amalfi for 2 hours to explore so it will give us the option to explore Amalfi and it also sails past all of the small towns such as Minori, Maiori and Furore. We will not see those towns per foot but will see them from the boat which is a nice view.
On the other hand we would have already done the boat tour to Capri so another boat tour might be too much? And a full day means that there isnt really time left to do anything else. The half day trip is also twice the cost of the full day trip lol (80 euro vs 159)
The half day option stops at various beaches which are supposedly only reachable by boat and I suppose then it would give us the afternoon to explore Amalfi and Ravello - but it doesnt stop in those towns so it doesnt give us much time for those towns in the afternoon.
The third option is to just skip the boat tours, and explore by foot? Possibly we could do a sunset cruise. What do you guys think? I'm really struggling to decide but i have heard it's a must to do some sort of boat tour as it offers beautiful views of the Amalfi....
Day 4: Path of Gods hike and Positano. We would have to do this on the 4th day as we want to do the hike super early and so it wont really work on the 3rd day as that is the day we arrive in Praiano. From what I could research it seems as if it is possible to do the Path of Gods hike from Praiano. We were planning to do this very early (between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.) and then from what I understand the hike ends in Nocello but it is possible to then walk/hike down to Positano. After the hike spend the morning at the beach and then the afternoon exploring Positano town. Hike the Path of Gods hike back to Praiano in the evening.
5) Either a day trip to Pompei and Mount Vesuvius or explore the other Amalfi towns Minori, Maori and Vietri sul Mare. I have heard Pompei is amazing but I am wondering whether it would be better to save it for another trip and instead focus just on the Amalfi Coast as I doubt we would return any time soon to the Amalfi (as it's quite expensive and I think a future trip would most likely be to Cinque Terre or something of that sort instead). What do you think?
We are leaving on the "sixth" day so I dont really count it as our flight is at 16:30 but it seems like quite a mission to get to the airport from Praiano. Any advice in this regard? As convenient as private transfers are the prices that I saw were for around 250 - 350 euros which is just not in our budget - so any other advice for getting to the airport from Praiano? Google maps basically tells us to take a bus then and then a train and then some airport bus thing. Is that the best option? And any advice on how to spend the last morning there?
As a last and final question I am quite concerned about how we will be able to explore via the bus system as July is peak time and the busses will be very full...would it help to try and get the busses as early as possible? The ferry option is not much better as there is no direct ferry from praiano so we would still need to take the bus to Positano and then we might as well just take the bus all the way to the other towns...
Thank you for taking the time to read and if you have any suggestions, critiques or recommendations please do share, my head is swimming with all of the tours and things to do and I am feeling quite overwhelmed, lol!

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/mayor-adams-to-address-nycs-air-quality-alert-from-canadian-wildfires-residents-urged-to-avoid-outdoor-exertion/

Canada wildfires make NYC's air quality worst since 1960s, officials say; Games postponed, parks and libraries impacted

NEW YORK -- The air quality in New York City is the worst it has been in more than 50 years.
The entire Tri-State Area is under an Air Quality Alert until at least midnight Thursday, and it could be extended.
It's caused by hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada. Those fires are so intense they can be seen from space.
My thoughts:
Do you remember what it was like before the Clean Air Act of 1970?
Were you even alive then?
Do you remember the smog and the haze in the summertime?
This is what Republicans want to return us to, that would be Making America Great Again.
I don't know how many lives were saved or extended by the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, but it is clear the US Enviromental Protection Agency is under attack by Republicans and their patrons.
Don't vote for them.
​
​
​
​

-How do we solve Las Vegas homelessness?-
Solving homelessness is a complex issue that requires a multi-faceted approach. While I can't provide an exhaustive solution, here are some strategies that can help address homelessness in Las Vegas:

1. Affordable Housing: Increase the availability of affordable housing options and support initiatives that provide housing subsidies or rental assistance programs.
   
2. Supportive Services: Implement programs that offer supportive services such as mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, job training, and healthcare to help individuals transition out of homelessness.
   
3. Outreach and Engagement: Strengthen outreach efforts to connect homeless individuals with available resources, including shelters, food banks, and healthcare facilities. Establish trust and build relationships with the homeless community.
   
4. Collaboration: Foster collaboration among government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and community members to pool resources and expertise to tackle homelessness effectively.
   
5. Prevention and Early Intervention: Focus on preventing homelessness by addressing the root causes, such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental health issues, and substance abuse. Provide early intervention programs to support individuals and families at risk of homelessness.
   
6. Education and Employment: Enhance access to education and job opportunities to help individuals gain skills, secure stable employment, and increase their chances of finding and maintaining housing.
   
7. Policy and Advocacy: Advocate for policies that prioritize homelessness prevention, increase affordable housing stock, and provide necessary funding for supportive services. Support organizations that work towards ending homelessness through policy change.
   

These strategies, along with ongoing evaluation and adaptation, can contribute to addressing homelessness in Las Vegas. It's important to remember that no single solution will solve the problem entirely, and a comprehensive, compassionate, and sustainable approach is needed.
--expand on that by addressing corruption by local government doesn't allocate resources directly to the homeless--
Addressing corruption within local government is crucial to ensure that resources are allocated effectively and reach those who need them the most, including the homeless population. Here are some additional considerations to tackle corruption and improve resource allocation:

1. Transparency and Accountability: Establish mechanisms to promote transparency in government operations, including budgeting, procurement, and resource allocation processes. Implement strict accountability measures to deter corruption and hold public officials accountable for any misconduct or misappropriation of resources.
   
2. Independent Oversight: Create independent oversight bodies or agencies responsible for monitoring the allocation and utilization of resources meant for homelessness initiatives. These bodies can conduct audits, investigations, and performance evaluations to ensure funds are being used efficiently and effectively.
   
3. Community Engagement: Foster a culture of community participation and engagement in decision-making processes related to homelessness. Encourage public input, establish advisory committees, and involve community organizations to provide oversight and input in resource allocation decisions.
   
4. Whistleblower Protection: Implement robust whistleblower protection policies to encourage individuals to report corruption without fear of retaliation. Ensure that individuals who expose corruption are safeguarded and that appropriate action is taken against those involved.
   
5. Strengthen Legal Frameworks: Enact and enforce strong anti-corruption laws, regulations, and policies. Provide adequate resources and support to law enforcement agencies and anti-corruption commissions to investigate and prosecute corrupt practices effectively.
   
6. Data-driven Decision Making: Promote the use of data and evidence-based approaches in resource allocation. Develop comprehensive databases and monitoring systems to track the effectiveness and impact of homelessness initiatives. This can help identify areas of improvement, allocate resources based on actual needs, and identify and prevent any irregularities or corruption.
   
7. Public Awareness and Advocacy: Raise public awareness about the detrimental effects of corruption on homelessness initiatives. Encourage advocacy groups, civil society organizations, and the media to highlight corruption issues and hold government officials accountable. This can help create public pressure for transparent and accountable resource allocation.
   

By addressing corruption within local government, it is possible to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of resource allocation towards homelessness initiatives, ensuring that funds and services reach those in need.

Hi CS people, this is a rant about random-number-generator (RNG) spawn points at the beginning of every round in CS:GO / CS2. I posted about this before but wasn't sure how to organize it very well, so here I go again. Maybe this will turn into a regular thing for me, who knows. Please don't mind the sus account, I posted clash of clans screenshots on my OG account, and I don't know where it went, and I'm glad nobody can see that.
So basically, I don't understand why people aren't complaining about random spawns at the start of literally. every. single. round. in this game. Like, I get the game is fun, I played 6000 hours of it, didn't get anywhere, but oh well. Still, the game has elements of randomness to it, but I just feel that that should not be in the spawns at the start of the round.
So, why? Well, the game has RNG in it-- but I believe it's best when that RNG is kept within your power as a player. You and your team can decide to full commit A, and the enemies stacked A, and you lost, and, well, you F'd up. That's your fault. But... and this is best explained with AWPs, since they're one-shot and long-distance. But what I'm about to say applies to any gun of course, any situation. It's just most notable / visible in an AWP vs AWP situation. So, well, you already know where I'm going. One awper beats another awper. Hooray. So, the awper who won is obviously better, right?
Nope.
Simply put, you might have heard of the "butterfly effect", right? This cascading effect, you know? Like you meet a girl at a library and then you blink and you thought you have grandchildren but turns out you're just middle-aged crying in your studio apartment alone. Butterfly effect, right? Ok, so, basically, awp timings. Are dumb. When they're. Determined. By. Random. Spawns.
Any timing. Rifle timings. Duelie timings. Screw it, Zeus timings.
Every. Single. Timing. In this game, is determined by, a freakin' spawn. That you didn't get to choose. You didn't want that spawnpoint! The game did. Not you! You have no control over that spawnpoint. You start running and running and running sending yourself off to war-- you didn't even choose where you started from in the first place!
You might say, "Come on dude, it can't be that big of a deal."
It's a big deal.
Butterfly effect. The butterfly effect can lead anywhere theoretically, can it not? Even to the furthest craziest outreaches of your imagination, can it not? You can pick up a plastic bottle cap and somehow that's the reason why you're a billionaire by 2030. Is that not true? Ok. So, think of it this way: Simply because of the random spawns at the beginning of the round, somehow the round played out in some way. Pretty easy to understand, right? Well, what if you're on the losing side? Yeah, now you're salty. Just like me; you're not alone.
"I suck."
"I'm bad."
"I could have done something better."
Or... could you have?
Well, just go into the demo. Answer your own question.
"Oh crap, that guy had a really good spawn for that specific situation 15 seconds into that round. If I just had a better spawn I would have gotten to that angle at Banana way earlier than him and he'd probably make that same decision of peeking it without a good flashbang and I would have popped him right in the face.
I... just... got... unlucky. That his spawn was so much better than mine. Had my spawn just been a mere 30 units further up the map, I would have killed him, and I would have won a grand total of $0 in prize money!"
And you might argue, "Well, sure, the spawns definitely played a role in the outcome of that interaction, but, come on. Obviously the dead player is just WORSE than the alive player-- all the dead player had to do was flash or molly or something you know! He's clearly worse."
My friend. Butterfly effect. Butterfly effect. Butterfly effect.
The reason why the dead player (player that lost the duel) didn't molly or flash or anything is because he's hoping his spawn is better than the other dude's spawn. The reason why the alive player (player that won the duel) didn't molly or flash or anything and instead just went straight onto the angle and ended up winning the duel is because he's hoping, keyword, hoping, that his spawn is pretty good, at least better than his enemy's spawn.
See where I'm going with this?
On BOTH sides of that example duel... my dudes be hopin'! There is no knowin'. Right?
What is CS? CS is knowing that when you molotov sandbag, and it's not extinguished by a smoke, that there's nobody there... after 2.5 seconds. You wait 2.5 seconds and now you know nobody's there (cuz they would've died by then), or if you don't hear any burnie burnie sounds. Right? That's what CS is.
What is CS? CS is knowing that when you smoke, say, A Main on Mirage off. That if they jump through they're going to be gray-screened and you're going to shoot them in the face while they're still swiping their mouses around trying to find you. If they wait for the smoke to dissipate, and push with good utility, uh oh, you're in trouble. You know this. That's what CS is.
What about CS2? Even CS2, same thing. You know that if you toss an HE onto that smoke, that it will dissipate for about a second and then come back. You know this. You know that that is what the game is, that is CS2.
You also know that when you throw this flashbang, and let's say it's a good one, that, maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe the enemies have an anti-flash setup, maybe they don't. Maybe there's nobody there at all and you should have just saved that flashbang for the next area, right? We all know this. We understand this as "Counter-Strike", right?
But, do you know which spawn you're going to get next round?
Go, join a game. Queue up, spend another hour of your life praying to god that your team gets the better spawns according to player skill and whatnot (worst players in the front, best players in the back obviously) and hope the enemy gets worse spawns, and has no idea what to do even when you rush B with no nades. Realize, that, you didn't choose any of those spawns. The way the rounds are initiated? Literally none of your doing. Purely Valve's doing. Just with some, random number generator looping code or whatever. I don't code, sorry. I write unnecessarily long complaints about a kiddie video game.
So, where was I? Oh yeah. You don't know which spawn you're going to get. That's uh, I mean, I guess that could be just "part of the experience" of CS. But, it shouldn't. I'm trying to explain why, but, honestly, I'm having a hard time, please give me some time to try to figure this out. Basically, the way I understand it is the butterfly effect.
The butterfly effect in CS:GO / CS2: You get a spawn. You say: Oh, I could use this spawn. I should do... this play. Ok, I'm going to do it, I've made up my mind.
Teammate: Oh, sir! I see you have gotten a specific spawn! So, shall I support thee with a variety of supportive grenades to accommodate such an INGENIUS play?
You say: Why, yes please, thank you very much!
And, what just happened? Ah, yes. Counter-strike, based off a random spawn that was not of the choice of the player. Hmm. How fascinating. So what you're telling me is, had this player not been given this specific spawn in this round, he and his teammate(s) actually would have ended up doing something completely different? Ah, how interesting.
Now, a lot of people might go, No way! I'm an independent thinker. I would never let the game choose my plays for me!
Cow poop.
Trust me when I say this: 99.9999999% of the Counter-Strike playerbase, that means, allllll of you reading this. Would have literally done a different play if you just got a different spawn that round. It's just true. It's just the truth.
Want to know why? It's because you want to win. You got this spawn, and you realize, Hey, in order for me to, Win, I would have to, Use this spawn, in a, Certain way. Which would be to, Make, This play, or That play, or whatever.
You want to win. So, whatever spawn you're gonna get...
You're gonna roll with it. And tryhard to your maximum capabilities based on where you started.
So, back to the butterfly effect then. Assuming that everybody in the server is tryharding (every CS player) and knowing that everybody in the server is getting a random spawn every single time at the start of every single round. What do you think's going to happen? Do you think that if... Monesy got the best Mid spawn as Mirage CT, he would just... ignore it? Absolutely not. Like, 90% of the time, he would use it. (Spawn based CS.) He would make the cat jump, he would do an underpass one way, he would jump down to connector, Whatever! He would use that spawn.
And if, I dunno, who's an awper? JW? Alright, JW. JW, if he got the best Mid spawn as Mirage T, would he use it? Absolutely. Well, unfortunately in this specific scenario the CT awp would always kill the T awp if they both got good spawns, assuming the CT didn't get blinded or smoked off, and assuming you don't miss. But anyways, why am I even explaining any of this? Everybody knows this already. That CS is spawn based.
But my point is, it's... literally ruining players' experience of the game.
Sure, it's fun, random is fun, and, honestly, I don't really care what spawn I get. The game already has millions and billions of permutations and combinations of possibilities just based on factors such as flashbangs, smoke grenades, peek timings, and so on. With or without random RNG spawnpoints, every round of CS after 20 seconds into the round is already almost guaranteed to be unique and one-of-a-kind, much like chess.
But, sigh. How do I say this. What I'm saying is, the random spawns? The random spawns at the start of every. friggin. round? Yeah, they're like, they're like... affecting too much. All those super intense professional matches you watched? Raising you out of your seat? Going oooo and ahhhh? Yeah, those games, are actually, just...
Spawn based.
How do I say this without hurting anybody's feelings? Honestly I don't know. Screw it. When the match is fair / evenly matched, random spawnpoints are actually what determine the outcome of the game, not skill.
Obviously Vitality is going to beat your ESEA Main team. But, Vitality vs. Heroic? 10 players whom you'll never be as good as? They're all hitting instant-headshots. They're all missing 0 sprays out of 10,000. Thousands of fans look up to these guys. And... what determines the outcomes of their games?
Their skill? Counter-stratting?
Wit? Speed?
Trickery? Talent?!?!
Actually, it's, RNG spawns. Yeah. Very underwhelming. Very anticlimactic. Wanna know why?
Well, the best way I can prove to you that this is true-- that RNG spawnpoints are actually the leading cause of victory and defeat in CS, far more potent than skill, far more potent than "stratbook depth", assuming we're talking about fair, even-matched, similar-level play, so, pro play, tier 1.
Is, uh... hold on. Ok. So, let's say, Zywoo gets a spawn. It's good. He kills Teses with this spawn.
BUT. If Cadian got a BETTER spawn that round, he actually would have ended up killing Zywoo, and therefore Zywoo wouldn't have killed Teses.
Go on and go on and Heroic would have won the round, Vitality would have been broke, and Heroic would have won the map, and let's say this is Map 3 of the major. And there you go. I've just proven to you that just with one "[random] spawn interaction" (Zywoo got a good spawn, Cadian got a bad spawn), one team won the tournament over the other.
Based on random chance.
Not based on skill. Remember, we're assuming everybody never misses and is super good at the game. I know, I know, flawed thought experiment, but come on. At the pro level, BASICALLY nobody misses. It's just the truth.
So if nobody misses, and everybody hits their shots, how come one team loses and the other team wins? Why aren't both teams winning if they're both so skilled and would literally stomp 99/100 times every single person reading this right now?
Luck.
You might say, "That's just the game dude, it's part of the game, it's part of any esport or sport, there's luck involved."
Sir. Respectfully. HUGELY varying spawnpoints in a game as "millimeters" and "split-second" and "oh my god had I just done THAT I would have won ffs" as CS? Sorry, but *random spawnpoints* is not just "luck".
It's a determining factor.
Every. Single. Round. Especially at the highest level. You're praying "Please give my most skilled player the best spawn for whatever situation they're going to get themselves in"
"Please give my most skilled player the best spawn for whatever situation they're going to get themselves in"
"Please give my most skilled player the best spawn for whatever situation they're going to get themselves in"
One more time?
"Please give my most skilled player the best spawn for whatever situation they're going to get themselves in"
And that's CS. Well, not really, but it's a huge part of it. And if it were removed, things would be a lot less freakin' random. If it were removed, you could just go, Alright skilled player, I'mma setchu up right 'bout now, you're gonna go there, I'm gonna do this, you're gonna do that, we're gonna win. Instead it's... "Please gaben let my star player start somewhere that makes sense. Oh my god thank god. Alright now we can do the plan LOL." ...Yeah. Not the greatest. Sorry, have I mentioned yet, that I don't like spawn based CS? Well I'll mention it now. I don't like spawn based CS. It's not smart. At all.
I could go on forever dude. I swear to god I don't understand why people don't get worked up about this. Literally every game of CS I've ever played, Yes I know I'm bad, Yes I know I'm just a hopeless player, I know all of this you don't need to tell me again, But seriously, the random spawns actually do not make any sense at all. It's just not competitively viable. The players aren't even in control of this one pretty important factor, how can you call that good, high-quality competition? Good, high-quality competition is when players make every decision consciously for themselves by themselves and they beat the enemy players who also made their own conscious decisions for themselves by themselves. When you have a game that's just like, Oh yeah I won this round because uh, Well, the other guy couldn't really control what spawn he started with so, I mean, he got unlucky, too bad for him. Like, what?
Let's say you're karrigan and you have Twistzz, Broky, Ropz, and Rain on your team. Well, let's not just say, but that's actually what's happening right now. So, Twistzz got the best spawn to peek A as a Mirage T. Broky throws the awp to Twistzz, Twistzz peeks Triple from A Main, Twistzz misses. Because, idk, he's bad.
Let's say Broky had been in Twistzz's spawn instead, he keeps the awp to himself, peeks triple, bops a kid, say, s1mple, right in the face, no issues.
I mean, pretty simple explanation, right? Spawn based CS.
You don't want the game to choose your spawnpoints for you.
YOU want to choose the spawnpoints for you!
That way, especially if you're karrigan (none of you reading this). You can place the player you want, in the position that is best for them and the team, according to their skill, according to their specialty, and so on and so on.
Random. Spawnpoints. Completely. Gives. Karrigan. Absolutely. Very. Little. To. No. Control. Over. His... strategies! Mr. Genius Man has a strategy in mind, he wants to do something something something, annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd
Valve says "Nope, try a different one."
Come on, man. Karrigan's like "Valve why?! Valve why you don't just give me Broky fast A spawn for awp pick Valve!?!? Valve why!?!? We lose major now!!!!!"
Valve: Hehe, fonny.
Karrigan: All I needed was that ONE spawn bro! If we just had that chance at an opening we woulda been on such a roll and literally steamrolled them and I'd be down in Counter-Strike history!
So, people have told me already on here that they're not so sure about the "Ideal spawns every round" sort of thing and that it will probably lead to games being "Very boring, slow in the early round, and predictable."
Huh? This counter-argument genuinely confuses me.
If you ask me, I think it's BECAUSE spawns are random and teams cannot choose their friggin' spawns that they end up doing DEFAULT after DEFAULT after DEFAULT after DEFAULT.
Seriously, who wants to watch that? I want to watch JKS runboosting Monesy one round at top middle, then the next round I want to see JKS and Monesy running out palace with Hooxi's flashes right at the start of the round.
If the randomly generated spawns aren't accommodating of these strategies G2 might employ, then, what happens? Think. Oh yeah. Now JKS is just sitting at A ramp rafters for 55 seconds, waiting for huNteR to get a one-bullet pick on a window jumpspot from underpass. I mean like, come on.
Why? Why did this happen? All because there wasn't really a good strat that the team could think of based on the spawns so they just went for a default because they're afraid of losing the match and losing their jobs and yadda yadda yadda right?
And what. What if. What if? G2 could simply, select. I want Monesy here. I want JKS there. Hunter and Niko will go there. And I will just be there. And now instead of a default, you're seeing like, something actually happen? And... oh look. The enemy team, also, selected their spawnpoints, and are taking certain parts of the map in a certain way, based on, utilizing, those spawnpoints they selected, and, well, now, we'll just wait and see who read the other team better. Cool.
Again, like, how do I explain this. Like, the AWP pick that that nutty awper is going for? It's literally based off of a spawn. Like, bro. If he picked that spawnpoint and went for that aggressive peek himself, the nutty awper, I would be like, nice, good for you man. That's YOUR decision, congrats dude. But when the awper is just going for the pick just because he got a good spawn for it (talking about myself as well), I'm just like, eh, whatever dude. The Car peek on Inferno for example. Purely spawn based. Literally about as interesting as a paper towel from Costco.
So back to the people who think the ability to choose your spawnpoints somehow leads to CS being "Predictable, slow, and boring." How? As if tryhard CS isn't already predictable slow and boring. I can quite easily predict that most of the time when you see an awp pick happen, or any pick happen rather, it's really because somebody got a good spawn, and somebody got a bad spawn, and that's it. Sigh. Like, wouldn't it be better to think of it as, One player CHOSE this spawn and timing and angle of play and killed the other player who CHOSE that spawn and that timing and that angle to come into the peek or whatever. Like, right?
Look, I get it. S1mple's beautiful shake and his beautiful adjustments, Niko's clean deags, I get it. This game is eye-candy, and it's gonna be even more eye-candy in a short while. The beautiful plays are too beautiful to ignore, there's no way that player's position on the map and situation in the situation could POSSIBLY be a result of some RNG generator, right?
But it is. It is. Think about it.
I honestly don't know how else to put this. I'm not trying to say the game is random and I hate that. I'm trying to say that there is an element of the game that is way too random for the quality that the game should be at. This game should be, very good. But, random spawns. Put bluntly. Are not good.
Not good for competition, not good for viewers, not good for players. Well, not good for me at least. And maybe it's a me problem, maybe I'm all alone on this. And I'm fine with that. But, seriously...
I literally do not get any enjoyment when I can trace back the result of the round simply due to a spawn that I or a teammate got. We might smash full team ace whatever valorant style flawless shabangwang a round, but, if I simply remember, oh, our nutty awper dude got a crazy spawn for, that spot, and, unfortunately, they perhaps got some bad spawns so he got on the angle quite early and comfortable (like, whatever, you know what I mean). So, basically, when RNG decides to put a good player in a good spot on my team, the round goes to me. And when RNG decides to put a good player in a good spot for the enemy team, the round goes to them. RNG...
RNG...
RNG...
Same thing when I watch pro play. Same thing, no difference. Some crazy stuff can happen, but a lot of the times, I can just see that like, well, He got a good spawn, He didn't, the round went to the guy with the good spawn... dot dot dot... dot dot dot...
And it's like, yeah, obviously this is a bit of an exaggeration. Obviously the aim, the flicks, the spray control, the reads, the rotations, yes, obviously all of these HELP MITIGATE the effects of random spawns at the beginning of the round. But, in what way does that have anything to do with the fact that, the way all of these CS rounds start is just like, fundamentally flawed almost?
Like, you don't need random spawns in CS for there to be variation in the gameplay. If you knew Perfecto was going Solo B every round and s1mple was just alone in Window every round, you would just keep hitting B until Navi adjusted so they would stop losing and stop losing their jobs, right?
Again, you don't need random spawns for the gameplay to be varied and, well, random.
Because of the nature of counter-stratting and whatnot, s1mple will almost HAVE to do one round with a good B spawn to peek B aps (Mirage CT), next round a good A spawn to peek A palace, next round a good mid spawn to hold top mid from Cat, I mean like, and on and on, right?
Yet, the way the game is now... with... RNG spawns. s1mple basically just has to look at his spawn and THAT will tell him, Yeah dude, go B this time with your awp, Yeah dude, go A this time with your awp, Mid, and so on. Like, hello? This is s1mple, this man is huge this man is big this man is significant, and you're just like, placing him... anywhere? In the spawn location? Just, willy nilly?
A man like that, all that clout... don't you wanna like, be a little bit more specific? Detailed? Methodical? I dunno. English words.
Somebody replied to me before that "CS is not about things being 'optimal' every round, it's about WHO can ADJUST to the given circumstances of a round."
And it's like, heck yeah, I agree. Circumstances that are CONTROLLED by the PLAYERS in the server. Not circumstances handed to you by some all-powerful deity. The RNG lords.
CS should be about running around and poppin' heads on a map where YOU and YOUR TEAM decided the SMOKES, the FLASHES, the HE's, the friggin' DECOYS, the BOOSTS, the JUMPSPOTS, the IDK
CS STUFF
AND. DRUMROLL.
THE SPAWNS.
Where it all begins. Literally, everything you do in a match of CS. Begins. With the spawns.
Obviously.
And yet, nobody seems to care. Nobody seems to notice any impact these random spawns may have on their game, the games they watch. No, we're too busy clipping Zywoo's 1v4 + the hot and amazing silent drop-down from heaven. We're too busy making fun of Niko missing a headshot on the back of a moving target who has the reaction times of an angel. And really nobody seems to be making a fuss about how the game is almost fundamentally flawed. Almost.
If not, is, fundamentally flawed. IDK. I ain't nobody, alright, I'm just some American dude.
How to wrap up. I mean, chances are I'll come back in and edit anything else I might want to elaborate on, just for the sake of being even more annoying and ridiculous. Obviously I already talked about this with friends and whatnot, but, seriously, I don't see why not try to make this at least a little bit more well-known and well-thought-about. "CS" is sort of "BS" right now, and I don't mean that in an edgy way, I'm just trying to talk about how the game could be more polished and more "perfect" and more, competitively-sound. Competitively-sound, I'd say is what I'm trying to do here lol. Yep...
So what my suggestion is, to be clear, is basically just the Danger Zone spawn selection program thingie. You uh, yeah. You click the image and that's where you'll spawn. I know, Valve shouldn't do this because people can get toxic, like, "Hey, you took my spawn! That's MY spawn! ****head!" And so on and so on. But I mean like, maybe they can have different types of competitive (I know, Overwatch territory), one has random spawns, one has selectable spawns. Doesn't seem too out of reach in my eyes. But, just, just that simple idea basically lol. Spawn selections. So, you have more control over your team. Your play. You're like, actually playing the game now. You're not just, hoping... to play the game. You know?
Every decision you make is your decision and if it fails that's you failing, and not your RNG spawn failing you... I know, it sounds like I'm blaming my spawn for being bad, but, trust me, I know I'm bad, but I still think something's wrong with the spawn system.
So, another person mentioned that this sort of "spawning issue" is really "Focused/targetting the super-tryhards and the hyper-competitive players" and it's like, yeah, it sort of is. At least that's where you'll definitely "feel" the biggest effect if such a change were to be implemented. I dunno man, if you ask me, I feel like the pros would gobble up something like this, they'd probably all sigh a breathe of relief that they're not praying that their AWPer is gonna get a good spawn or not every round. Every day, during practice, scrims, officials, like-- they can finally have control over how they want to play the game. If you ask me I feel like they'd love it. If they want to put Zywoo "forward" and "faster" this round, they'll do it. If not, they'll put him "back there". Like, full control. I literally do not see a downside. I don't see boredom. I don't see staleness. I don't see predictability. I don't see "lack of adjustment".
I don't see "not fun to watch", or "not fun to play".
I see "very fun to play", and "very fun to watch". I know, I'm biased. Maybe I'm a bit too tryhard, and I'm trying to mold the rules of the game to my specific playstyle and I'm just a narc. I mean, maybe. Actually, yes.
Oh, so, regarding casual players. I don't see how negatively they could be affected. At worst, they're annoyed that they have to choose a spawnpoint every round despite having no idea what they want to do in the round anyways. ("Tell me, why do I need to do this again?"). At best, they get more interested and involved in the strategy and timings and spawnpoints in the game, pros and cons of having a fast or slow spawnpoint, and so on and so on. Choosing a fast spawnpoint might actually get you killed earlier. Not letting the skilled entry player get the fast spawnpoint might cause your team to lose the game. And so on and so on, all these little intricacies.
A Vitality match starts, you see Zywoo spawns in on an A-leaning spawn, you say to yourself "Hey, so, looks like the big man awper is going for an A play this round."
Rather than, "Uh, well, he COULD and SHOULD go for an A play this round based on his random spawn but I mean like, I don't know. He didn't choose that spawn so like, I really don't know lol. Maybe his team has other plans." You know?
It just, doesn't make sense, if you ask me. Random spawns in a game that can reach such a high level of organization and intent and planning and strategy, just... it doesn't have a place in a game as good as CS. That's it. That's all I have to say. Good luck reading all of this if this novel doesn't get taken down. What should I put as a TL;DR?
TL;DR: Random spawns in CS doesn't make sense in a game as competitive as CS
Ok, I'm done for now, I'll probably be back later with a bunch of edits anyway. Remember, none of this is important, it's just a video game. CS2 looks very pretty, improves visibility a lot, buy menu is new, everything is nicer, skins will be better, smokes are not just OP walls anymore and you can actually temporarily remove them so you're not just stuck behind a big wall for 15 seconds over and over again (I call it the CS experience), everything is better, but, spawns are still random? Like, okay, if that really is the best option for the game, so be it. If that truly is the best way for competition and overall gameplay to be fair, fun, interesting, exciting, and pulling in revenue, then, yeah, so be it.

Aston Martin Vantage (Tucson, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@32.3255398,-110.9389038,3a,16.3y,142.67h,81.71t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sRCfhCsYHmVF0t4tsWub6_A!2e0!5s20220601T000000!7i16384!8i8192
Audi R8 42 Coupe (Houston, TX)
https://www.google.at/maps/@29.7373868,-95.3916003,3a,18.8y,222.53h,73.44t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1szHKDg0-W6PQHjUzvJnZh2A!2e0!5s20150901T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Audi R8 42 Coupe (Houston, TX)
https://www.google.at/maps/@29.7303266,-95.4201215,3a,15y,218.99h,83.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sWdTV-3AGNinAm3OhNm0NPQ!2e0!5s20190401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Audi R8 42 Coupe (Great Neck, NY)
https://www.google.at/maps/@40.7926853,-73.7523922,3a,15y,293.11h,79.23t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s5L0GBWXiJ-H7vMFGJx1fOQ!2e0!5s20161201T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Audi R8 V10 Spyder 42 (Bellmore, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.649435,-73.5259891,3a,15y,248.17h,87.19t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smPo48qu2cqM95hMNLJSGKA!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Bentley Continental GTC II + Bentley Flying Spur II (West Islip, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6860815,-73.2987103,3a,15y,282.76h,85.51t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sSMZxWWqDQqVfK4PDy8pJ6g!2e0!5s20190901T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Bentley Continental Flying Spur (West Islip)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6862567,-73.2987928,3a,15y,251.99h,81.67t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sE6D3RZAIozbnytJrK80vhA!2e0!5s20130101T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Bentley Continental GT III (New York City, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.5880324,-73.9538452,3a,15y,18.66h,84.76t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqZoq9oJNx3kyj9lLFdDPJw!2e0!5s20220701T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M4 G83 Convertible (Bellerose, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.7263916,-73.7164853,3a,15y,183.47h,82.08t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1slBvaDx9izp4C9MUTcY7A_A!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M3 G80 (Garden City Park, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.7389254,-73.6673242,3a,15y,1.06h,81.64t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGoeYQctPw2755NSfk-7x2Q!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M8 F91 Convertible + Jaguar F-Type SVR Coupe!!! (Bellmore, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6440999,-73.5224577,3a,15y,152.36h,84.76t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqZZl7lDc0zIC6Ng4_FWRnw!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M4 CS F82! (Merrick, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6426836,-73.5339685,3a,15y,228.77h,80.7t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMykVb45niqcgf7lSQiHmcg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M4 F82 (Flagstaff, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@35.1902973,-111.6608936,3a,18.6y,310h,76.74t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUASdO6LxsucbnjX8hd1nGQ!2e0!5s20190501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M3 G80 Drag Car! (Merrick, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6441499,-73.5552805,3a,15y,8.48h,82.9t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQXv9ZMCZ5LIuy4SwCSBaHQ!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M3 F80 (Lake Havasu City, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@34.4748613,-114.3263535,3a,18.9y,339.83h,77.96t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssJ2mVLkSbcQ7zsY2AnPiBw!2e0!5s20181201T000000!7i13312!8i6656
BMW M6 F13 (Las Vegas, NV)
https://www.google.de/maps/@36.1618501,-115.1870329,3a,22.2y,319.64h,69.73t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1saTbyK6uvUFI8OcG4gE5T4w!2e0!5s20200201T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
BMW M2 F87 (New York City, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6079869,-73.9530034,3a,15y,204.35h,80.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sj85zFXivk0bMc7aGXFpriw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 (Gulf Shores, AL)
https://www.google.de/maps/@30.2490343,-87.6879608,3a,19.3y,102.64h,76.9t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swhbFyqclaSpIlFzXAbFu1w!2e0!5s20190801T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 (West Islip, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6912613,-73.2883003,3a,15y,271.9h,84.87t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1spiDnbqkTgVi4NusxIYwqMg!2e0!5s20190901T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 (Flagstaff, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@35.1912034,-111.6605437,3a,16.9y,135.52h,79.13t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s5wWa34mO2ieWjdd97ulNEg!2e0!5s20190501T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
De Tomaso Pantera!!! (Phoenix, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@33.4108776,-111.9952854,3a,15y,75.73h,84.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skVU2nxFXQVQNOR3YpX-_VA!2e0!5s20150701T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Ferrari 550 Maranello! (Merrick, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6492347,-73.5441496,3a,15y,268.49h,82.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sHBiRTgLq0Umi-kAxoHpvcA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Ferrari 458 Italia (Mill Neck, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.8874572,-73.5550801,3a,15y,277.23h,87.67t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1scgaBMR3yxvC7aHlveOn42A!2e0!5s20190901T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Fikser Karma (Houston, TX)
https://www.google.at/maps/@29.7526801,-95.3779262,3a,15y,353.07h,83.81t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svFNSWzRAuGhkZAR5PpDbvw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
2005 Ford GT!!! (Flagstaff, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@35.1950785,-111.6549947,3a,15y,343.15h,77.46t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDI6kuxLJYnQJc9nB2mEENQ!2e0!5s20150601T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
2017 Ford GT!!! (Flagstaff, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@35.1953736,-111.6553391,3a,15y,133.55h,85.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1snPCTORWPxbXdyQ-6Lil2hw!2e0!5s20210301T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Jaguar F-Type Roadster (Merrick, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6392372,-73.532829,3a,15.3y,194.18h,82.17t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sKXKAq6-d1FHavtwdT5l1sA!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Jaguar F-Type Roadster (Atlanta, GA)
https://www.google.de/maps/@33.7458305,-84.4035572,3a,15y,138.07h,87.83t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sY2ML3Tw1ysX-t8fNR0UKRg!2e0!5s20220601T000000!7i16384!8i8192
Jaguar F-Type Roadster (Flagstaff, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@35.1902758,-111.6609197,3a,15y,311.12h,88.04t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s8z9vy1tidpUAVI9YVr1y-Q!2e0!5s20220601T000000!7i16384!8i8192
Jaguar F-Type Coupe (Glen Cove, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.8998193,-73.6327426,3a,15y,275.26h,84.62t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swt0q-zpXsWr3D7exmqynFw!2e0!5s20211201T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Jaguar F-Type Coupe (Great Neck Plaza, NY)
https://www.google.at/maps/@40.7879172,-73.7287953,3a,15y,164.06h,82.93t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s3GSivAW7PuN0Ka5oniSgWg!2e0!5s20180701T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Lamborghini Urus (Seattle, WA)
https://www.google.de/maps/@47.6217631,-122.3208706,3a,15y,349.36h,85.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sb2DCFxpuo6ytc0hlf-iEhA!2e0!5s20220801T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Lamborghini Urus (Phoenix, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@33.4981556,-111.960166,3a,15y,152.79h,82.2t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sR4LzAHseOeOMh_UZZWYKdA!2e0!5s20221101T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Lotus Elan M100 (Flagstaff, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@35.195071,-111.6283572,3a,15y,220.34h,79.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1svPG7qZEpOmomqN7iugThLw!2e0!5s20110801T000000!7i13312!8i6656
Maserati GranTurismo S (Bellmore, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6510457,-73.5288878,3a,26.7y,104.43h,76.2t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sgdydySiEeQ78sjr1aoz3OQ!2e0!5s20230401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Maserati Quattroporte M139 (Tempe, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@33.4069403,-111.8910081,3a,15y,270.13h,86.33t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sp4FVgtG4kL_GHkRRQ55jnw!2e0!5s20130701T000000!7i13312!8i6656
McLaren 570s! (Houston, TX)
https://www.google.at/maps/@29.7869713,-95.5451449,3a,21.7y,243.61h,76.9t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGM4s7QKc8kfIorSatJCrBA!2e0!5s20220401T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Mercedes SL63 AMG (Bellmore, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6440656,-73.5270553,3a,17.6y,20.04h,73.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siT5rXpUM986m_7zkiB2TKg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Nissan GTR R35 (Phoenix, AZ)
https://www.google.at/maps/@33.5999009,-111.9844203,3a,15y,208.24h,83.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1seOGEEOcmrvhwg8jFMru0mg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Plymouth Prowler (Queen Creek, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@33.2539114,-111.6366323,3a,15y,340.65h,87.83t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sanzgKMVvPfVkhcTX0ishpw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Porsche 930 Turbo Cabriolet! (Glen Cove, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.8974062,-73.633618,3a,15y,28.24h,86.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sK1KwlktkTgWw4csTDR7ccA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Porsche 930 Turbo 3.3! (Babylon, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.6820749,-73.3267862,3a,15y,252.46h,83.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ss8QJjgtyRjuj90btDXO0Kg!2e0!5s20130101T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Porsche 930 Turbo 3.3! (Oyster Bay, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.8724225,-73.5297862,3a,15.9y,267.75h,76.72t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1szzyBztnXTrMYCvWpfZhhdA!2e0!5s20180601T000000!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu
Porsche 991 50 Jahre Edition! (Houston, TX)
https://www.google.at/maps/@29.7341585,-95.4189562,3a,15y,126.4h,88.95t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssrR-zJQ4HZjF0UgbFRGTuQ!2e0!5s20190101T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Porsche 991.1 Turbo (Tucson, AZ)
https://www.google.de/maps/@32.309037,-110.8443242,3a,15y,302.41h,88.3t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1swshhaNRvk_stS1AVLRwVDg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Rolls Royce Ghost (New York City, NY)
https://www.google.de/maps/@40.7376156,-73.9842197,3a,15y,57h,86.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siHS3ykEfjXz5vEVpCcTRGA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Rolls Royce Wraith (Great Neck, NY)
https://www.google.at/maps/@40.7939927,-73.7409792,3a,15y,206.36h,83.64t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1ssQ54TLKTJKsL40giDCfecw!2e0!5s20221001T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
​
THE END

First of all, I'm firmly in the 'two timelines' camp since Remake.
However, everyones immediate assertion that the dead party is in Zack's timeline and the 'Tornado' mentioned is the tornado we saw at the end of the game or related to the whispers - doesnt make sense for a few reasons:

Tornado

First of all, the Tornado we saw at the end of remake was in the Singularity of Fate. NOT in reality.
Also, the tornado that appears in the Singularity did not destroy anything, instead it took copies of the area around the party, i.e. the expressway itself. Then got sucked up into the huge portal in the sky.
Some people have tried to suggest the party-dead scene takes place after the vision we saw in the Shinra VR where Meteor tornados were destroying Midgar. However this doesn't make sense, I'm pretty sure the news reporter would be referring to the huge world-ending meteor that loomed over Midgar, and not just 'oh a tornado happened'.

Whisper domes

The Whisper Domes appeared at two specific points in time;

1. September in Terrier
2. December in Beagle

​
https://preview.redd.it/brcqd18rmy4b1.png?width=1806&format=png&auto=webp&s=d068888ee13d2232bf3fdcc2b8ec399b0917a166
Us destroying the Harbingewhispers in the Singularity changed the past resulting in the whispers exploding/'dying' in September in Terrier. From that point forward in Zack's timeline there are no whispers.
So you can see that when it comes to December in Zack's timeline that no whispers, whisper dome, or tornado from the whispers would happen. And we know the news feed must have been at the earliest in December as this is the first point in which Barret, Tifa and Aerith meet Red XIII - who are all shown in the news feed in the trailer.

But its definitely not Beagle timeline in December

Some people have theorised this is a fake video put out by Shinra following the end of remake. However this still doesn't make sense. There is zero damage caused by the whispers before we enter the singularity. And the final scene in Remake with the party outside Midgar shows no signs of a catastrophe/smoke etc coming out of Midgar. Even with Cloud up in the air looking down on Midgar in the Harbinger fight scene we see know sizeable damage anywhere near Sector 1 or 2.
Ontop of all of this the expressway that the party escaped too was at sector 5 - this is not up for debate, it even says it on the ingame map at this point.
So there is no reason why there would be any damage specific to the sector 1 and 2 expressway based on current timeline.

Summary

Annoyingly (or somewhat brilliantly by the writers) we just don't have enough information to pinpoint what's happened.
But overall I would suggest two possibilities:

1. the news footage is in Beagle timeline, but further into the game. Its hard to know where Rebirth finishes but Sector 1 is on the North side of Midgar, it is the sector which gets Sister Ray attached. This is the sector that gets attacked by Diamond Weapon, its also the sector we parachute into when we come back to Midgar later in the game. Either way the news feed could just be showing the party all injured and Cloud's absence could be because this takes place after the Northern Crater fiasco when Cloud gives Seph the Black Materia and falls into the lifestream.
2. It is in Zack's terrier timeline, but its not to do with the whispers. Something else happens around December. E.g. the butterfly effects still have avalanche meet Aerith, she still gets captured during the S7 plate drop attempt and avalanche still go to rescue her, meeting Red XIII in Shinra HQ in the process. But for some reason when they escape Shinra HQ they head the opposite way out of Shinra HQ and head to the Sector 1 & 2 expressway. At which point some big explosion or damage is caused, seemingly taking the life of the party. It could be as simple as they get caught and destroyed by Motorball and Shinra makeup the 'tornado' story to explain the collateral damage. Either way This sets up the ying/yang nature of Zack's timeline that many have theorised. E.g. Zack is hunting Seph with a party of Biggs and others, while Cloud is left behind - still ill and succumbing to his Jenova sickness, eventually becoming a Black cloaked Seph Clone who gets drawn to the reunion in the whirlwind maze.

I was just there for All three Braves games.
Buy a mediocre priced ticket and go anywhere you want nobody cares I moved like 7 times one game even right down to the third base dugout.
Food is basically nonexistent beyond basic ballpark shit. The ownership has clearly given up entirely and only has like four stalls open for the whole stadium and it’s just hot dogs and chicken fingers. I did see the fish and chips place but it was closed all three games.
Parking lot: it’s expensive but they let you tailgate for a few hours. Again the theme is they are barley caring in any facet not just on the field.
If you don’t want to pay for day 3 I parked at the Bart station right next door. It’s a five minute walk and not the best area but it’s fine. It’s like 3$ as opposed to 30$ but otoh it was pretty cool to smoke right in my car and go to the game high af
Lastly I’d say follow the sun. It’s nice in the sun but the shadows + seats get cold. And again no one will care at all whatever you do. Don’t pay for too much and enjoy yourself.
I had a blast. Besides the fact of driving 4 hours to see the best team in the NL score 2 runs in 18 innings and lose on a walk off error.
Imagining what that place could have been like during the 1970’s mustache gang as Oakland was becoming the hip black side of the bay it’s a shame they let it deteriorated and I don’t mean just the ballpark the whole area seems intentional with oracle empty and that side of Oakland a homeless blight.
I’m a Braves fan from Las Vegas. Hope you guys keep your team.
(Ps I’m also a Celtics fan and if you saw someone in a bill Russell Jersey loudly cussing watching game 7 on his phone that was me)

I don't know if I should post it since there's a megathread, but my comment is probably buried beneath others. So there are things I'd like to see (together with other console players) in CS2:
Mixed use and medium density, eg. low density mixed would be single family homes with commercial in the basement with the residential above, medium density with one or two rooms on the ground being commercial and the ret being residential, and high density with mid rises and high rises having shops on the ground floor and apartments above
Randomizing events and streets like traffic accidents, protests, street vendors and bike parking. The game tight now is so ducking predictable and boring.
Merge and diverge lanes connected with on and off ramps. Sure, you can have wider roads, but you have to move them with mods (somehow?) and speaking of mods...
Mods and community assets on console. This would save so much stress.
Bendy roads that give you wall to wall zoning. Say you want to build a suburb with winding roads and round cul-de-sacs. Well, in the current game, you have those 2x3 or 1x4 tiles that look ugly as hell.
Pedestrian paths with zoning. I don't have to add anything because it's pretty self-explanatory.
World events, regions, politics. Say that there's a ruling party requiring minimum parking requirements and wants drivers to be privileged. You can comply or not and fight with these regulations in your city. And of course organize elections.
Random map generation, like on Minecraft. More randomness = more challenges and more fun.
History. Starting say, with a national road, one lane per direction, which then expands to 2 lane per direction national road as the city expands, then into a dual carriageway highway, the expansion of which is optional at this point. Speaking of highway expansion...
Induced demand. This would be more realistic and show why widening roads doesn't fix traffic.
Realistic parking, not just 4 lots in front of s building.
Seasons and their influence on the city.
Better graphics, less cartoonniness and more variety. Modular buildings like power plants, airports, academics and prisons. More kinds of roads, rail, hospitals, residential buildings, etc. Realistic size - I hate when a penthouse has just the same area and height on a 4x4 tile as a suburban house on the same tile size.
The ability to create exits and intersections with the angle smaller than 45 degrees. Merge and exit lanes, slip lanes, gebtle curves, etc.

After seeing recent posts like the Las Vegas sighting I wanted to come forward and share two personal experiences of mine that occurred in early 2022. I've been struggling to process and make sense of everything, it all really has me shook and this is the first time I'm writing about it. Hopefully it brings some sort of clarity or I can find others that may have similar experiences.
I was driving to an appointment in Santa Monica, California for an optometry follow up. A quick preface to what happened for some context as its definitely related: I have been a pretty avid practitioner of meditation for a couple years now, mostly out of curiosity for the different states of consciousness people can reach as well as the mental health benefits, an area of health I have been really struggling to cope with in recent years. Meditation had never really seemed to yield much for me other than a sort of calmness and way of unwinding, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to experience what I did.
As I was driving I was listening to music, and started to focus on it intently as a form of meditation where I was listening more with my heart and mind in combination if that makes any sense. On an intuitive level it was like i was trying to tune into a certain frequency, like a radio, in my mind's inner ear. I slowly fell into a sort of trance, though I was still completely conscious and in control of my body thank god..
It's very hard to describe in words what happened next but I became aware of certain presences, that were like a collective consciousness that felt human at first. The start of the experience was actually blissful beyond belief, like I was tapping into a well of emotion, specifically love, that was deeper and more profound than anything I could possibly describe. I think maybe I was tapping into the collective unconscious on some level, which is why it felt like it was coming from multiple sources, but not from just the other cars or people around me while I was driving.
Then things kind of turned, there was another presence that broke through and was trying to make itself known. It showed itself to me in my minds eye briefly, and it felt very far away like it was staying in some mountains was the impression I got. It was very tall which is what surprised me the most, non-human, I couldn't tell for sure but it seemed absurdly tall like around 8-10ft. It was also brownish/burgundy. The moment didnt last long because as soon as I came in contact with it, it was too powerful, and although its presence did not feel malevolent or threatening in anyway, the only thing I could do was scream in terror just being aware of it and feeling it. I dont know how to describe the terror I felt because it was an involuntary response to seeing the being, like I said before it was just too much for my mind to handle so I started screaming and started to come down from the experience. It's not like I even saw it in person but just connecting with it on a psychic level I guess was too much.
I have read a little about ET experiences and phenomena and there seems to be a lot of parallels on the terror experienced by simply seeing them or coming into proximity which definitely validated what I felt. This being felt unique though, like a leader of sorts which was an impression I got. After reading about the sighting in Las Vegas with the beings being rather tall instead of classically small its clear that I'm not alone with what I saw.
This wasn't the only incident however as a couple weeks later I had another vision of sorts. I was recovering from eye surgery, and getting ready to take a nap. With everything that had happened, plus my on going struggle with events in my life that I wont go into detail with, I was left feeling pretty raw. All I can say is that I closed my eyes, and just "gave up" or so to say... I just let go of everything and came to a place of complete surrender. Honestly I don't know how it was just a natural release I guess because I can't seem to replicate what happened, but after I did they showed up.
These beings were COMPLETELY different from the one I had experienced on the freeway. The one on the freeway I think actually had a physical form and was akin to the classically described Greys. These ones however were just pure light forms. Oh my god, can I just say these are the most BEAUTIFUL, benevolent and loving beings I have ever experienced in my life. It was like I was entering heaven and had met god-like beings, they looked like waveforms of pure light, that vibrated and rotated, I think I remember some of the light being mostly a mixture of light blue, and white light. They were undoubtedly sentient beings, but didn't have bodies. Nothing was really exchanged between us, just that my awareness opened to see them momentarily, and it was deeply healing on an emotional level.
Its been about a year now and I have only had one other experience since while channeling in the desert involving a bird but I'll spare the details on that one since it had less to do with the ET phenomenon (well sort it sort of parallels but this has gotten lengthy so I'll just stop here).
Anyways, just wanted to write all of this down to hopefully gain some clarity as well as share with others so that I maybe connect with someone that knows anything about the phenomena or has had similar experiences. I'm still reeling from everything a year later, but daily life has got me tied up to the point where its been hard to try and unravel anything.
Thanks for reading if anyone sees this or has any insight please reach out!

Here is what I've observed recently.
June 4th. I was working in my back yard in northern Virginia, near DC. I heard two distinct loud booms. The news stated it was two F-16 fighter jets given permission to go supersonic speed in rural areas where this type of flight isn't normally permitted. The excuse was to intercept a private Cessna which allegedly flew through restricted air space over the nation's Capitol. The local news included some sketchy details of which changed with every report.
More recently a very credible and qualified person is interviewed on national television about the US government hiding facts about extra terrestrial vehicles that have been recovered and reverse engineered.
There's this video about an alien craft landing in someone's back yard in Vegas.
There's 'wildfires' in Canada with smoke blowing down south. I first noticed the air quality in DC 4 days ago. When I looked down on the city I felt like I was in LA. Yesterday I'm driving my wife to work with the window down and we both noticed the air was smelling of burnt wood and some burnt plastic or something chemical smelling mixed in. My wife promptly searched for the reason and the two results were that of the Canadian wildfires and locally a junkyard accidentally caught fire.
Later that day I noticed a post here in Reddit from someone in new Jersey that claimed their local news blamed the air quality was from Canadian wildfires and a local metal scrapyard caught on fire.
This morning I looked into this and discovered a local scrapyard in North Carolina is also having an accidental fire situation at the same time.
There's also a war in Europe in which the U.S. has stake.
I am sure something big is going on and there's a literal smokescreen to keep us all confused and looking the wrong direction. Coincidences don't look like this. Please let me know if there's something else going on right now that I haven't heard yet.

You’ve seen the Going Dark API posts. I’m out. I’ll be using an app to nuke my content from Reddit at the end of the month. Save this or don’t.
Personal Arizona cannabis recommendations
Based on comments from reddit.com/zonaents
Updated 2023-06-08

DISPENSARIES (best)

• Ponderosa - Glendale
• Sticky Saguaro - Chandler (favorite)
• TruMed - Phoenix (close to PHX Sky Harbor airport), 1
• Earth's Healing - North, South Tucson
• Halo - Tucson
• High Mountain Health - Flagstaff

ROSIN carts (use ≤ 2.0v, let cool between)

• Summus (disposables, very expensive!)
• Abundant Organics (consistent coil burn, inc. new triangle boxes)
• Local Flower (consistent coil death)

LIVE RESIN carts

• Cresco Live (Sonoran Roots "SR" colab only)
• Canamo Live (only @ BOGO, check dates)
• Canamo Disposables
• Grow Sciences (4/$100)

RESIN + CDT carts (“Live”)

• Select Elite Live
• Timeless NOIR Live (overpriced, even @ BOGO)

BUDGET carts (cheap, distillate)

• Cresco
• Canamo
• Item 9 (excluding Orion pods b/c Genesis flower)

ROSIN jars

• Farm Fresh
• Canamo (not dry sift)
• DRiP (TruMed colabs)
• Abundant Organics (only @ BOGO)
• Grow Sciences 1, 2

LIVE RESIN jars

• Melting Point Extracts [MPX]
• DRiP

GUMMIES

• Defi
• Wyld (when on sale)
• Ogeez (distillate, budget choice)

FLOWER

• TruMed house
• Potent Planet
• Sonoran Roots (only from deli jars @ Ponderosa) 1
• Farm Fresh
• Abundant Organics
• Alien Labs/Connected 1
• Grow Sciences 1, 2

FLOWER budget 1, 2, 2

• Ponderosa discount bags
• Sublime

RSO

• Canamo RHO
• Ponderosa RHO

GLASS/SMOKE SHOPS

• HIGH Maintenance Smoke Shop - Tempe
• Bud’s Glass Joint - Phoenix
• It's All Goodz - Tempe, Phoenix, N. Phoenix
• Spaceman and Bongs - Peoria
• Angel Eyes - Gilbert
• Sky High Smoke Shop - Tempe

AVOID dispensaries

• There's a Federal checkpoint south of Tucson. It is illegal to bring cannabis through. 1
• Curaleaf 1, 2, 3
• Debbie’s - Peoria, Phoenix, demoted from Favorites March '23 1, 2
• Downtown/D2 1
• Flower Shop 1, 2, 3
• Harvest 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• The Mint 1, 2
• Nirvana 1, 2
• Sol 1, 2

AVOID 1

• Copperstate (inc. Jukebox, Sol, & Good Things Coming) 1, 2, 3
• Dr. Zodiak 1
• Genesis (inc. many Item 9 Orion pods) 1, 2, 3, 4
• Green Pharms 1
• I.O. 1, 2, 3, 4
• Jeeter (has lots of fans in CA, but many complaints about headaches in AZ) 1
• Modern Flower (Harvest's house flower) 1, 2
• Mohave 1
• Oasis 1
• Potent Planet CRC, 2
• Stiizy 1, 2
• Tru Infusion 1, 2, 3
• Venom 1, 2, 3, 4

Wrote some stuff down in a Google Doc every night, so it ended up being super long and rambly. Hopefully I was able to cut it down at least a little bit. I wasn't sure if I could leave references to individual businesses or Airbnb experiences in, so please let me know if I need to remove those.
I planned this trip 2 weeks before I had to leave, so I was in a huge rush. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without everyone’s help here and on the Discord! It was my first time traveling solo, so I was a little more neurotic about it than usual. Also I don’t know how accurate the steps/distance on iOS is, but I figure there’s enough internal consistency to compare between days.
Some personal highlights
Tokyo

• Check out some listening bars if you’re down for a low key night with more of a focus on listening to music than socializing: Grandfather’s, Bar Martha, Bar Track, Ginza Music Bar
• Yoshikami is a pretty interesting (albeit pricey) place for dinner. It’s apparently been there since the 1960s and has a nice diner vibe.

Kyoto

• Otagi Nenbutsuji, Adashino Nenbutsuji, and Nanzenji were my personal favorites.
• Fu-ka near Ginkakuji for fantastic omurice.

Osaka

• I loved Osaka in general for its mixture of being laidback with big city vibe
• Izakaya crawl with Taka was amazing (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1018635). It’s true that you can plan a night of izakayas for free, but honestly I found the cost pretty worth it. Taka was a really cool guy and made for an incredibly memorable night.
• Okonomiyaki Chitose for okonomiyaki. Great food and great staff.

Monday, May 29 - arriving in Tokyo

• 3pm - Haneda Airport arrival. Withdrew money after immigration, picked up Suica card, then traveled to Ueno Station (close to hostel) to pick up JR Pass due to 1 hour line at airport. In hindsight, I obviously should’ve gotten the JR Pass the following day, but I was jetlagged and exhausted and wasn’t thinking. When I arrived at the hostel, I ended up falling asleep and decided to just start my trip officially the following morning.

Reflections If you’re an anxious planner or traveler like me, definitely don’t plan anything specific on the first day. There’s a good chance your plans will get derailed. The JR Pass line at the airport is often super long and if you can, try to stop by an office close to where you’re staying or near one of your stops.
Walked: 6540 steps / 3.1 miles
Tuesday, May 30 - Tokyo (Akihabara)

• 7am - Yoshinoya for breakfast (Random, but I wanted to try all 3 of the big gyudon places by the end of the trip just because. Even as a big completionist, this wasn’t worth it at all.)
• 8am - Walked around Ueno Park, then Ameya Yokocho.
• 11am - Gyukatsu Motomura for lunch at Ameyoko, which was absolutely incredible.
• 12pm - Walked around Akihabara and checked out the “Weird vending machines” on Google Maps. It was definitely weird. Would recommend if you’re kind of drawn to weird shit, and the hostel staff found it super entertaining when I showed them everything.
• 3pm - I ended up moving through Akihabara pretty fast (I have a bad habit of not being able to take my time with these things). I decided to stop by some places in Ginza, like the Sembikiya flagship store and the Okuno building (Room 306).
• 6pm - I was still pretty jetlagged, so I ate some dinner with people at the hostel and hung out with the hostel residents and staff.
• 10:30pm - Stopped by a convenience store to grab something for breakfast the next morning.

Reflections
Having a list of restaurants or specific foods (e.g. tempura, okonomiyaki) to pull from can be super helpful in being slightly flexible/spontaneous but also settling some of your (my) neuroticism. I had planned to check out Gyukatsu Motomura elsewhere but since it’s a chain and I had no idea what to eat, it helped me make a decision for lunch.
It can be a good idea to have an “overflow list” of things to do in certain areas. I thought I’d spend more time in Akihabara but I think I was still getting the hang of traveling/exploring without rushing around.
Walked: 27728 steps / 12.9 miles
Wednesday, May 31 - Kyoto (Nishiki Market / Department Store food floors / Kiyomizu-dera) * 7:30am - Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto * 10:15am - Walked to hostel and suitcase wheels ripped off on the way there (still left it there for storage). Original plan was to wander Nishiki Market and the food floors for Takashimaya Department Store and Fujii Daimaru, which I did for a bit. Then got a new suitcase at the large tax free store a block down, and walked back to the hostel to put my suitcase there. * 3pm - Check in with a new suitcase and head to Kiyomizudera. Three hours was more than enough time for me to wander around Sannenzaka, Ninnenzaka, and Kiyomizu-dera. I’m also not someone that is great at lingering to stop and smell the roses, though. * 6:30pm - Try to line up for Menya Inoichi. The line was already closed for dinner, so I stopped by Nakau for some fast gyudon/tonkatsu instead.
Reflections
Have backup plans for your meals, list out some ideas in the area but expect some of those to be derailed.
You might need an eye mask even if you splurge on a private room in a hostel. The blinds were paper thin here so I woke up at like 4-5am.
Walked: 26290 steps / 12.2 miles
Thursday, June 1 - Kyoto (Arashiyama / Ginkakuji / Philosopher’s Path / Eikan-do / Nanzenji / Gion) This was the day I was prepared to walk the most because of the itinerary. It ended up being pretty packed, but I think it worked out decently well. Both of these things would’ve been better off unrushed as maybe 2/3 of a full day, so I would’ve split this up into 2 days if I could have.

• 7am - Breakfast at a convenience store, then taxi to Otagi Nenbutsuji at 7:30am (opens at 8). It isn’t the cheapest option, but there also isn’t a great alternative. It was pretty empty and a great place to start the day.
• 9am - Walked to Adashino Nenbutsuji, which was also fairly empty but had a beautiful bamboo area that honestly was basically as good as the Arashiyama grove for pictures.
• 10am - Walked to Tenryuji, which included the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street along the way, then did the Arashiyama Walking Tour from Inside Kyoto, which was a great way to see a little bit of everything (https://www.insidekyoto.com/arashiyama-bamboo-grove-guide-walking-tour).
• 12:30pm - Walking tour led me to Togetsukyo Bridge, where I could easily bus over to the Ginkakuji area.
• 1:30pm - Grabbed lunch at Fu-ka, which was a small restaurant run by some very sweet people. The omurice there was amazing, and I would definitely love to go there again someday.
• 2pm - Ginkakuji -> Philosopher’s Path -> Eikan-do -> Nanzenji -> Gion. I was definitely not prepared for how much stuff there was to do at Nanzenji in particular! I definitely could’ve spent 2-3 hours there even rushing around. I ended up not being able to check out the inside of Nanzen-in and the big gate because I ran out of time. Upstairs from the Nanzenji arches there is a great walk to leave Nanzenji when you’re all done (Nanzenji Suirokaku). It takes you past a power station, and then down some abandoned railroad tracks.
• 5:30pm - Went to check out Gion and Pontocho. I couldn’t figure out what to eat for dinner, so I thought I’d give Menya Inoichi another shot. It was pretty early but the line was closed again. There was an amazing fried chicken place nearby called Loco Chicken (would definitely recommend too!)
• 7pm - Checked out Yasaka Shrine and Gion again now that the sun was down. It was nice but admittedly underwhelming after all the amazing temples I had seen. I was originally going to go to an izakaya for the night or experience some nightlife, but I was pretty tired and decided to call it a night.

Reflections
Even if you’re a rusher like I am, Nanzenji especially can take some time. Otagi Nenbutsuji and Adashino Nenbutsuji are a little out of the way, but definitely worth it. The preserved street isn’t all that exciting, but it is along the way from Adashino Nenbutsuji to Tenryuji.
Menya Inoichi apparently closes pretty damn early wtf, possibly due to running out of their limited supply of wagyu. Loco Chicken was suuuuper good though. I guess there see a lot of great food options and planning meals in advance should only be if there’s a restaurant I really want to stop by (e.g. Fu-ka).
Walked: 33577 steps / 16.4 miles
Friday, June 2 - Kyoto / Nara / Osaka

• 7am - Got up to go to Fushimi Inari Taisha. We were on the edge of a typhoon (apparently the landslide zones of Kizugawa were being evacuated?) so it was pouring rain, which meant it was really empty on the actual walk to the summit.
• 10am - Kintetsu train to Nara Park. It was pouring there too, but the deer were still out and about to get their food from visitors. I was a little tired at this point since my feet were soaked through, so I went to check out Todaiji and only took a brief walk around Nara Park before heading to my hostel in Osaka, so I could get my shoes washed and dried at a nearby laundromat.
• 8pm - I did an Airbnb bar crawl (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/4388157) in the Dotonburi area which was awesome as a solo traveler because I got the chance to meet other people much more easily and check out some local spots I realistically wouldn’t have gone to (or at least navigated easily). The guide was fantastic and fun, and it was a really nice way to get an introduction to Osaka nightlife. I would definitely recommend doing this on your first night if you want to spend some time in Dotonburi! You can find the listing for that one here: . One of the places we stopped by was called the Misono building, which had a bunch of interesting and quirky bars.

Walked: 27023 steps / 12.4 mi
Saturday, June 3 - Osaka (shopping streets and Dotonburi)

• 10am - Took a look around Denden Town and all the different streets in Osaka near Dotonburi (Kuromon Ichiba, Hozenji Yokocho, Ebisu Bashi-Suji, Shinsaibashisuji). I also stopped by the Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel, which was nice but also not something I’d consider a must-do activity. I imagine it might be even cooler at night when the lights are all on.
• 6pm - I did another izakaya crawl here, and it was AMAZING (https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/1018635)! The guide, Taka, has lived all around the world and has some incredible stories to tell about his life. He worked on farms in remote places in Australia, for instance, that even the Aussie guests were astounded to hear about. The vibe was definitely a lot more chill and not super conservative, if that makes any sense. It was the kind of environment where all the guests felt comfortable asking him how to swear in Japanese after the first round of drinks. If you’re not super uptight about stuff and want the feeling of local nightlife with some friends, this is a must-do in my opinion! Taka was such a cool guy and this was an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime experience. We stopped by to do some karaoke at the end, which I felt was mandatory since we were at its birthplace.

Reflections
Taka brought us to one of the streets that I completely missed in my research, which was Tenshinbashi-sushi. It’s supposedly the longest shopping arcade in all of Japan, at 2.6km long. Definitely something to check out!
Walked: 25782 / 11.8 miles
Sunday, June 4 - Osaka (Shinsekai, Abeno Harukas)

• 10:30am - Was starting to get pretty tired by this point so I slept in again, and got to Shinsekai around 10:30. I realized how much I loved the vibe of Osaka, which seemed much more laidback than the other big cities. I remember there was an adorable off leash puppy walking around one of the shopping streets, and a bunch of old people pulled out their phones and started chasing it down to take cute pictures. I might be totally off the mark from my few days’ impression of other big cities, but that just felt kind of unique to me.
• 11:15am - Lined up outside Okonomiyaki Chitose so I could get food there when they opened. Fantastic okonomiyaki, and the owner and staff were super great as well. They chatted with me a bit and joked around with each other while making the food in front of us. Great experience.
• 1pm - Went to Tsutenkaku to look around and check out the viewing area. It also had this big slide that you could pay to go down, which was quite fun too.
• 2:30pm - Walked over to Abeno Harukas to check out the observatory here. The view was fantastic and they also had a fun little VR bungee jump station where they put you on a tilt table and simulate a jump from the observatory area. Didn’t have time to check out the helipad because I had a timed ticket for the aquarium (which didn’t end up being necessary, it wasn’t super busy at this time).
• 4:30pm - Osaka Aquarium! I honestly considered skipping this and I don’t think it was absolutely unmissable, but it was a fun time. I really tried to take my time here but it only took 2 hours.
• 6:30pm - Grabbed dinner at nearby Tempozan Marketplace, then went on the Tempozan Ferris Wheel (waited for one of the clear bottom carriages). Another fun activity that I wouldn’t categorize as a must-do, but definitely worth it if you’re in the area.

Walked: 20954 / 9.6 miles
Monday, June 5 - Hakone This is the part of the trip that I embarrassingly botched, but considering I had less than 2 weeks to plan the whole thing while working full time, I’m trying not to give myself too much shit for it.

• 10:30am - Arrive at Odawara Station and leave luggage in locker there (packed a day bag). Transfer to the train that will eventually take me to Gora Station
• 12pm - Gora Station. Grab a quick lunch at some random cafe and walk over to the Open Air Museum.
• 2pm - Realized I spent too long at the museum and rush to continue the loop. Spend about 30-45 minutes at Owakudani.
• 3:50pm - End up waiting at Togendai until 4:25pm for the next pirate ship.
• 4:50pm - Arrive at Motohakone and decide I’ll do the quick walk to Hakonemachi and catch a cab to my ryokan (checkin before 6 if I want to make it in time for dinner). My big mistake here was not noticing that the taxi stand was empty already by this time.
• 5:10pm - Realize I’ve screwed myself at Hakonemachi and decide to take the Tozan Bus to another major stop to get a taxi. Yunnessen seemed like a good bet but the taxi stand was once again totally empty. Ended up wandering around for about 20 minutes and managed to flag a stray taxi.
• 6pm - Check in and realize my dumb ass accidentally booked without the dinner option and that I could’ve taken the long way to the ryokan after all.
• 7pm - Stop by a nearby kaiseki place for dinner. They seemed a bit wary about having me eat there and really emphasized that this was a set menu that took a long time (probably had bad experiences with tourists in the past?).
• 8pm - Get cleaned up and head to the onsen before bed

Walked: 17975 / 8.2 miles
Reflections If you really want to stay in Hakone for only one night and one day, I would recommend checking into your hotel/ryokan the night before and relaxing there, which gives you the next full day for exploring the city. YMMV of course since I did get to Hakone in the late morning, but I think doing the loop then ryokan will inevitably feel like it’s cutting into ryokan time.
Even though the Hakone transportation system is great, things like the Tozan Bus line can have long lines and alternative/workaround routes like in the big cities don’t really exist. Tight schedules are tough to stick to, and I nearly got stranded because I stood at one of the taxi stops around 5pm and it became clear that no one was going to be coming by.
Booking.com has a lot of ryokans listed as minimum 2 people (I just bit the bullet and decided to splurge), but the staff at Senkyoro were confused about why I paid for 2 instead of 1. Could be good to try to check with the ryokan directly in case you can save some money when booking.
Tuesday, June 6 - Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya)

• 6:30am - Leave for Odawara Station because I had to meet with a relative in the morning (like I said, definitely could’ve scheduled this better). Definitely misplanned this leg of the trip, and didn’t maximize my time in Hakone at all.
• 10:30am - After dropping off luggage at Asakusa Station locker near my hostel, met up at Shinjuku Gyoen, then walked around and grabbed lunch at Omoide Yokocho. Also stopped by Kabukicho and Golden Gai just to look around.
• 1:30pm - Originally planned to spend more time at Shinjuku and go to Shibuya the following day but I realized I didn’t have anything left to do. Walked to Shibuya and checked out the Hachiko Statue and Harajuku. Stopped by Iyoshi Cola. Shibuya Sky tickets were sold out so I had to come back the following day for my original reservation.
• 5pm - Hang out at Grandfather’s before dinner. Great place for people interested in listening bars!
• 6pm - Head back to my hostel (K’s House Tokyo Oasis) to check in, then swing over to Sensoji and Nakamise-dori to check out at night.
• 7:30pm - Grab dinner at Yoshikami, a Japanese style Western restaurant. Had a really good beef stew and cream corn potage. Went here in passing but would definitely recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.

Walked: 27632 / 12.8 miles
Wednesday, June 7 - Tokyo (Shibuya Sky, Akihabara, Bar Martha/Track) I spent a good chunk of my life in Shanghai, China, so I think the appeal of the big city stuff was a little lost on me (not a huge big city guy). In hindsight, I definitely didn’t need to allocate this many days for Tokyo. I definitely should’ve gone further to other areas for day trips that were recommended on the Discord, like Shimokitazawa, Jiyuugaoka, Koenji, Kamakura/Enoshima, Honmonji Ikegami, Yokohama, Nikko, or Fujikamaguchiko.

• 10am - Slept in and explored Nakamise-dori a bit after. Grabbed an early lunch and headed over to Shibuya for my Shibuya Sky reservation.
• 12:40pm - Shibuya Sky for a little over an hour. I wouldn’t consider a must-do, but it’s definitely a nice spot to get a good view of the city. Pretty similar vibe to Abeno Harukas (Harukas 300).
• 2pm - Headed to Akihabara to mess around for a little more and get some gifts for friends. Checked out all the different arcades and peeked at some rhythm gamers in their element.
• 6pm - Headed to Ebisu to grab dinner. Found a Japanese style Italian restaurant called “Uncle Tom” (Google translated name), used Google Lens to translate the photos of the menu and just pointed and ordered.
• 7pm - Stopped by Bar Martha, which was one of my personal must-sees. Some of the reviews online were pretty scathing, and I’m not sure if the staff have just mellowed out in recent years or the reviewers lacked self-awareness, but it was a great experience. You’re not allowed to talk too loudly or otherwise be disruptive (or take photos), but that’s really just your typical listening bar. The Tannoys sounded fantastic!
• 8pm - Went to Bar Track to check it out as well. A little bit more laidback than Bar Martha but with the same rules. Also a great spot.

Walked: 21181 steps / 10.3 miles
Thursday, June 8 - Tokyo

• 10am - Stopped by Tsukiji Outer Market to check it out. There was a fruit stall that sold a cup of Shine muscat grapes for about 2000 yen (super expensive but worth it just to try - they really were pretty amazing). Ended up meeting up with someone on the Discord for lunch, and we wandered Ginza for the Uniqlo and Muji flagship stores.
• 3pm - Split up with Discord buddy because he wanted to head to Shibuya but I had dinner reservations at 5pm. Wandered around a bit more and checked out Kabukiza and then went to Mantensushi Hibiya for 5pm omakase.
• 7pm - Went to Ginza Music Bar. A little difficult to find but very much worth the visit. It was relatively empty but it was a fantastic spot to round out my listening bar visits. It had a little more of a typical bar-like atmosphere but the music and sound system were just as amazing.
• 8pm - Head back to hostel to pack. Grabbed some last second ramen at Asakusashoten on the way back. Needed to be a little more intentional about cash usage here because I wanted to use it all up before leaving. After factoring in my subway and Skyliner costs, I ended up with 210 yen in my pocket and 7 yen in my Welcome Suica (I really should’ve just gotten a regular one) the next morning before my flight, and spent 200 yen at one of the massage chairs in Narita.

Walked: 19530 / 8.9 miles
Thursday, June 9 - Flight out from Tokyo

April 9 - April 26: Tokyo - Nanyo - Hakone - Kyoto - Osaka - Koyasan
We had two main goals for this trip to Japan: eat great food and see cherry blossoms. We had the best of both in the city of Nanyo in Yamagata prefecture. It's not a place that I've ever seen mentioned on Reddit or the western internet, so I wanted to share it with you all here.

What we learned

• Ship your luggage - The airport as well as every convenience store we walked into let us ship our luggage. This made traveling between cities significantly easier, and prices were always very reasonable. For single-night stays, we just packed what we needed for a single day and shipped our suitcases to the subsequent hotel.
• Google Maps is very helpful, but don't trust them for transfer times in public transit. We thought we were transit experts because we live in NYC, but the stations in Japan are even more complicated. Leave early if you need to catch a train.
• Almost all restaurants in Japan are good, but I'm somewhat of food snob. If you're like me, I recommend using Tabelog for reviews to find places that are a bit more special. The scoring is very different from western reviews. In general, anything above a 3.3 is very good. Scores are also significantly biased towards more expensive restaurants, so I'd recommend higher scores for fancier restaurants.
• Fruits and vegetables are relatively expensive and difficult to come by in Japan. We were able to get them at supermarkets, which can usually be found in the basement of any department store. Next time I'm in Japan, I'll consider bringing fiber supplements.
• Cherry Blossoms blooming times are very unpredictable. The Japan Meteorology Agency has a website with up to date cherry blossom predictions of over 1000 locations. Even if it doesn't have the exact cherry blossom site you want to visit, you're definitely going to see something close by. Websites of popular tourist destinations update the status of cherry blossoms as well.
• I recommend that you book hotels within 5 minutes walking distance from well-connected subway stations. A couple of our hotels were 10-15 minutes away from the station we needed to go to, so it was mildly irritating to repeat the same walk so often. In those places, there was actually a closer station, but if we took those, we'd have to transfer to a main station anyways.
• Standard hotel rooms have a double bed, which are about the same size as full sized beds in the US. If you're a move around a lot in your sleep like I do and want your partner to be well-rested, it's worth upgrading to a room that has a larger bed or two twins.
• If you're shopping, don't forget to bring your passport, so that you can get a duty free discount or refund.

Planning

• We booked our Hakone ryokan in January
• In February, we booked 3 fine dining restaurants, hotel in Kyoto, and temple lodging in Koyasan
• Saiho-ji (the moss temple in Kyoto) says that they require you to write an international postcard to request a reservation, and I saw that too late. Fortunately, there was also a Japanese website that let you make reservations, and we filled that out about a month in advanced with the help of Google translate. One of the fields required a Japanese address. We just used a friend's address, but you can probably use a hotel as well.
• Besides that, we booked all our other lodging and a week before our stay or less. A few times this wasn't best decision because our hotels were significantly more expensive this way.
• We left the first week in our trip very flexible, so that we could go somewhere that was in peak bloom during this time. We had a few places in mind, and ended up booking a ryokan in Nanyo the night before our stay there.
• Besides a few bucket list items, we figured that we'd be happy going anywhere. My wife and I made a shared Google map with all the sites that we found interesting without the intention of going to all of them and used that as a guide to choose what was convenient.

Tokyo Highlights

• I bought strawberries from a random department store, and an absurdly priced mango and orange from the Sembikiya flagship store. The strawberries were some of the best I had and worth the price of 1200 yen. The orange was tangier than any other orange we've had. However, you have to peel the thick membrane to fully appreciate it, and even then, I don't think it was worth anywhere close to 3500 yen. The mango was the most expensive at about 12000 yen, and everything about it was perfect. It was fragrant, the skin was thin, the texture was creamy, and it was as sweet as candy. It's hard to believe that this was grown from a plant.
• The real reason to go to Mori Art Museum is the stunning view of Tokyo. The main museum was closed, but we got to see an exhibit of Heatherwick Studio instead, which was more interesting than I expected.
• We loved the garden the Nezu Museum
• We went to Hotel Sara Kinshicho, a love hotel, and it was as fun as it looks on Youtube. The room was both more spacious and cheaper than most of our other hotel rooms. That said, it's a bit out of the way, so you should definitely ship your luggage to your next destination.
• We wanted to go to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant and settled on Kura Sushi. Considering that you're paying $1-$3 per plate, you shouldn't expect the highest quality of fish, but the eel was absolutely incredible. It seemed to be fresh off the grill and it was so saucy and fatty. I honestly enjoyed it more than the eel that I got from a dedicated unagi restaurant.
• The yakitori at New Torigin was amazing, especially the chicken skin. Perfectly charred and crispy.

Nanyo

As I mentioned before, Nanyo was the highlight of our trip. Despite being a small town, it had it's own distinct feeling and cuisine, and I think it deserves more love. I definitely shouldn't have been able to book a last minute ryokan reservation during peak Cherry Blossom season.

• After arriving in Nanyo, we ate some dessert near the station nearby. We then took a train known as the Flower Nagai Line. On the train, you can see cherry blossoms, snowcapped mountains, and pass sleepy villages. We stopped at Koguwa Station.
• There is a famous soba restaurant close by. It was a 30 minute walk, but I was really in the mood for some soba. Unfortunately, we arrived, we found out that the shop is temporarily closed because the owner broke his arms. It was around this time when I think I spotted an eagle catching a snake.
• Fortunately, we still had some sweets leftover and the weather was perfect for walking. We walked to a spot which has a small cherry blossom festival. One of the trees there was over 1200 years old, yet it was still blooming strong!
• We took the Flower line back to Nanyo and checked into our ryokan, Morinoyu. We didn't see any English speakers in their staff, so my wife's basic Japanese was definitely helpful. Service was excellent, despite our communication barrier.
• For dinner, we went to 食楽亭 旭屋, which specializes in beef. Despite going to several more expensive restaurants, this was by far my favorite meal in Japan and one of the top two meals of my life. We had their specialty Shabu Shabu with their local Yonezawa beef. I don't think it was graded A5, but I honestly don't think that mattered as it still had wonderful marbling and melted in your mouth. To eat it, you take a thin slice of beef and wrap it around a bunch of spring vegetables. The mild freshness and crispness of the vegetables perfectly compliments the fatty beef. It's kind of like eating a Korean ssam but in reverse, which is so much better because you primarily taste the beef instead of the vegetable.
• After dinner, we walked around Eboshiyama Park, nearby. It's a hill with hundreds of cherry trees in full blossom. It also features the largest torii made out of a single stone. It was after dark, but they light it up at night which gives the park its own sort of beauty.
• We went back to our ryokan and soaked in the public onsens. The water had a slight sulphurous smell though I think that actually enhances the authenticity of the spring water.
• The following day, we went back to Eboshiyama Park. During the daytime, the park was even more beautiful. It felt like I was walking in Shinkai film. The best part is that there were the perfect number of people. Sometimes, you feel like you have to the park to yourself, but there are still enough to make the atmosphere more lively.

Hakone

• We went up the Hakone Ropeway. Fortunately the sky was clear and we got to see Mt. Fuji on Owakudani. We didn't have time to complete the entire loop, so we turned back from there. If you're in a hurry like us, I definitely recommend taking the bus instead of the train and cable car, which were painfully slow. We barely made it to our ryokan before their last check in time.
• Our ryokan we stayed in was Yama No Chaya. Despite being highly recommended on this sub, I personally would not recommend it. Don't get me wrong. We had fun, and it met 90% of our expectations, but it's fair to expect that extra 10% after spending almost $700. Our meals were rushed, especially breakfast. Our attendant kept on reminding us that check out was at 10:00 am despite having plenty of time. I think they were short-staffed because he always had the expression of being overwhelmed. One of the public onsens had a thin layer of oil in it, which likely came from a guest who didn't shower themselves properly. Our private onsen was beautiful, but they locked the door to the outside because there was construction underneath.
• The Open Air Museum featured a lot of interesting sculptures, and we took the bus there this time.

Kyoto Highlights

• Fushimi Inari is as lovely as it appears on social media. We arrived at 9 am, which we thought was late, but there were fewer people than I expected, especially in the upper area.
• Roketsu is a fun studio where you can make your own indigo textiles. It is much easier than it looks to make something beautiful.
• Saiho-ji is a Japanese Buddhist temple that features a large garden covered in 120 types of moss. Due the limited reservations, our visit was quite peaceful.
• My favorite overall dinner in Kyoto was Soba-no-Mi Yoshimura. They have an English menu, but their Japanese menu has a lot more options, such as the 100% buckwheat soba that I ordered. My wife got the traditional nishin (herring) soba, which was also delicious. The best part was honestly the tempura.
• We had a couple of traditional Kyoto-style kaisekis, and both were excellent. Iharada was a great overall value and service was impeccable. Kiyama was more of a splurge, but also worth the price. Every other tasting menu I've experienced has aimed to present dishes with a wow factor, but each course here elegantly embodied delicacy.

Osaka Highlights

• I've never seen dolphins so active than the ones at the Osaka Aquarium.
• Hajime is a 3 Michelin star restaurant where I had the most exquisite meal I've ever had in my life. Every course was a work of art. I posted a full review on /finedining.
• We had Okonomiyaki and yakisoba at Ajikuraya. It was a tiny fraction of the price of our previous dinner, but equally as memorable.

Koyasan

• Our last stop was Koyasan, a mountain with a Buddhist temple settlement. Honestly, at this point, we were all templed-out, but it still offered a distinct experience from the other ones we've visited.
• We stayed at Ichijo-In, which is a functioning temple and lodging of pilgrims. We aren't religious, but almost all of the other guests seemed to be quite serious. The walls of the temple are quite thin, and it got quite chilly in April, so I'd be cautious if you want to book this in the winter.

Lately I’ve been in a New Vegas kick again. As I’ve played, I’ve really enjoyed exploring the Mojave again, but I’ve been hesitant to revisit any of the DLC. I have fond memories of (almost) all the DLC, why didn’t I wanna go grab my Holorifle or Desert Ranger armor? I was reading some old threads and I realized, I don’t much care for the DLC. It starts out okay and becomes worse and worse. It’s unfortunate since it’s beloved here, even I love (half-ish of) it. So in comes this braless redditor with a take (not asked for)
Dead Money: Dead Money is a great story of greed, obsession, addiction, and beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeep. The storytelling and environment is A+ in Dead Money. I would argue it’s the best written of all 4 DLC, but it’s miserable to play. Traps, ghost people, holograms, the cloud, radios. There’s always something to be a pain in the ass. First time I played it, I had a guns build. I ended up tired, slashing every ghost person corpse with a nearly broken cosmic knife so I didn’t have to worry about it later. Not knowing when to run down a hall, wondering if my collar will stop beeping, or if there’s a hidden radio somewhere for me to take out. It’s the most heartbreaking one to say I hate playing when I love so much of it. But it’s just miserable.
Honest Hearts: Again, another well written DLC. As much as Daniel gets memed on for being a wimp, I do like the question of “stay or leave” Graham is another interesting character. I love the connection back to the legion in the mojave. Where Dead Money’s biggest sin was misery, Honest Heart’s is boredom. Zion is beautiful sure, the story is short but poignant. But boy the quests suck. Go see Joshua, go grab some stuff for him, kill Salt Upon Wounds (after potentially calling him a slur), everyone leaves no matter what you picked. Well, guess it’s time for a two week walk back to Nevada alone.
Old World Blues: This is where I feel I’ll get hate, but Old World Blues is a decline in both writing and gameplay. It’s fucking hilarious don’t get me wrong. Old world blues is funny, but the story sucks. “There are robot scientists who live in an exploded mountain and you get teleported there and become the inheritor bc you poked a satellite in the drive in.” The quests are even more straightforward than Honest Hearts’. “Go get these things and fight Mobius.” While completing these quests, you’ll be traversing a map that’s somehow more miserable than the Sierra Madre. At least with melee or energy weapons taking care of the ghost people in the Sierra Madre, you mostly can remember the safe spots and paths through dangerous areas. Nowhere is safe in Big MT. Lobotomites, flying skeletons, robot dogs, and worst of all the Robo-Scorpions that become actual tanks at high levels. Despite my complaint about becoming its inheritor, it is cool to upgrade all the stuff you get there, but I just hate going there and dealing with it.
Lonesome Road: The One I Loathe. A long combat hallway in a game where combat sucks. Ulysses is a freshman philosophy student getting pissed at you for unintended consequences of you doing your job, while he actively wiped entire communities off the map for his. Bull bear bull bear bull bear. The final fight with him, I’m torn on. Idk if I find it stupidly frustrating or the toughest most interesting fight in the game. Maybe both. Doesn’t stop it from being a slog. This complaint may be personal, but I’m someone who likes to create my own backstories for each of my characters. In the base game and past 3 DLC, you have full opportunity to avoid conversation paths that would deviate from whatever roleplaying concept you had in your head. The first time I played Lonesome Road, I was playing an ex-BoS member who had never left the Mojave before tackling the previous 3 DLC. I was pretty resentful that in the final hour and a half of the game they suddenly foist on my character that they DID leave the Mojave. Idk, rubbed me the wrong way.
If you read all of this and don’t say “I’m happy for you or sorry that that happened” let me know what you think. Agree? Disagree? Hope bad things befall me and my lineage? Let me know.

Dédalo moved frantically around the control room, overturning rocks, checking behind the screen, looking for any kind of hidden button. “Ninian, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me!”
“What do you want me to do, cut her out?!” Ninian gestured to the screen of Perdita’s face.
“There must be a button or lever somewhere here!” Dédalo snapped, refusing to believe there was nothing he could do to help Perdida’s predicament.
Perdida’s mind was occupied, having accessed the system and the dormant data stored in it. As she scanned through memories and visions, the relevant information unscrambled itself for her. Piece by piece, the memories played in series.
Her first memory, the birth of her artificial soul, heralded by the priests that created her as the greatest experiment they have succeeded in. “May the MAKS-0 bring peace to Pieduro forevermore!”
Next were the lives of the Piedurons she was tasked with maintaining peace over. Teaching the children how to use and play with their Temples responsibly, assisting the Piedurons through their everyday lives.
Then watching over the construction of the Ring, the key to unifying and connecting the use of all Temples to a single source.
Then the Piedurons slowly turned their attention to the world around them, visions of expanding past the island. With the construction of the Ring, they had the means of using their Temples much further beyond their island. Tools originally used to create were beginning to be seen as potential tools of destruction and oppression against adversaries. Visions of expansion and conquest filled the mind of a small, but growing population of Piedurons.
“War is not peace.”
“War goes against the idea of maintaining peace.”
“War can not happen if there are no Temples to fight with”
Pedida watched her original decision play out in; the construction of the Ring allowed her to shut down every single connected Temple. What happened after was a terrible oversight, the energy in each Temple overloaded rather than being simply shut down. The Ring that connected the Temples shared and distributed the energy of all temples between each other, but once disconnected they had no way to regulate the remaining excess energy.
The fallout wiped out the Piedurons as a civilization and destroyed the vast majority of Temples. The remaining few priests sealed Perdida away, and that was the last memory she could see in the database.
Perdida’s attention turned toward Electra and 2095, still fighting in the ring, using the carts to chase each other in a perpetual circle. The thought crept into Perdida’s mind; with the Ring under her control, she could turn off the Temples and stop the fight. She could prevent Temples from being used by the wrong hands.
No.
Perdida stopped herself. Not falling into the same logic that her previous self could not reason past. Her journey with Dédalo had allowed her to grow and understand, she would make a different choice this time.
The fight only took a bit longer to finish, the streaks of light made it difficult to tell what was happening, but the fight ended with a chain of explosions and both bodies falling out of their carts.
2095 falls to one knee, glare softening as Electra’s body goes limp while smoking from so many orb explosions. Her stare reaches thousands of yards, still processing her personal discovery before a speeding orb barely grazes her cheek and snaps her back. She sprints to the unconscious body and scoops her up, draping her over her back nestled underneath [Yours Truly] and holds the skater’s arms as she continues dodging to the best of her ability.
Her legacy wouldn’t end in this place, but neither would Electra’s.

2095, with a score of 76 to Electra’s 59!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	2095	20 (6.5+2) - 10 (4.5+2)
Quality	2095	25 (8-9-8) - 18 (6-6-6)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Tie	21 (7-7-7)- 21 (7-7-7)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	Nothing to report!

Perdida opened a service door for 2095 to escape through, hoisting Electra over he shoulder. With a bit of guidance, 2095 made her way into the control room where they were now all gathered.
After getting everybody settled, Perdida managed to convince Dédalo that she was ok and relayed the story for the rest of them to hear.
“So I have a new plan. I figured out how to control the output of energy of each Temple to ensure that Temples can only be used when I allow them to be used…But in order to do that, I will have to stay within this mainframe.” Perdida looked toward Dédalo with a sad smile.
“Don’t worry Perdida, this will only be goodbye for now. I still have to find you a physical body after all.” Dédalo gave a warm chuckle as he walked up to the screen.
Dédalo pressed his hands against the screen and the image of Perdida pressed her hands against his. “We’ve learned a lot over the course of our journey. I’ll promise to tell you all about my next adventures when I get back.”
“...your mascara’s running.” Electra looked at a sniffling Ninian.
“It said it was waterproof, guess that was a fucking lie”; Ninian hide her face with her hands, quietly using Endless Rest to dry her face and fixed her make-up.
2095 looked on at the scene and ruminated on Perdida’s story. The similarities she shared with Perdida were not lost on her. Striving to become more than their programing, more than someone made to serve a higher purpose, but never losing sight of the joy of collaboration and connections to others. 2095 put a hand over her chest, she herself had also come a long way to be here hasn’t she.
To Be Continued…
Scenario: Sliema, Malta — 8:00 PM
On the island of Malta, in the center of one of its busiest cities, was a building. A decrepit, abandoned building, rusted and cast in reddish shadow by the taller structures that surrounded it. It was once an apartment building, but it had long since lost that use.
The rest of the city was filled with noise. Screaming, car alarms and barking dogs. But around here, where no one bothered to come around, it was quiet. Butterflies dotted the railings of the building, watching. Waiting for something to come. Not like the people inside could stand guard, with the boards over the windows. Still, they didn’t seem very concerned about the state of things.
“I was expecting to be impressed when you said you got a new place to stay, but this...” Ninian stared at the walls of Mari’s room, trying her best not to wince. They weren’t really in the best shape. Nothing here seemed to be, really, aside from the extremely comfortable bed she was taking a seat on. She turned to stare at Mari. “Shouldn’t you clean up a little? I bet it could use a new paint job, at least.”
“Geh. I don’t have time for painting.” Mari clacked away on her computer, hunched over in a garish (but surprisingly comfortable) gaming chair. Alarmingly loud EDM blared from the cat-ear headphones hanging around her neck. “Do you know how many things I would have to unplug to do that? It’s impractical.”
She gestured to the mass of wires emerging from her computer setup. Indeed, it’d be pretty difficult to move that around. Mari sat in front of a large array of computer monitors hung from the wall, all different shapes and sizes, all displaying different things. She swapped from keyboard to keyboard, not even taking the time to look at Ninian as she spoke.
“Besides, it’s better for me if my place looks like shit. Better that it doesn’t look like anybody lives here, right?”
“That only really matters on the outside...” Ninian sighed. “You could at least get some lights.”
“The screens are enough light.”
“...I suppose.”
The two sat in silence for a moment. Ninian turned to stare at the other person in the room; Nadine Sokenna laid on the other side of the bed, fast asleep. “I’m glad the two of you are doing alright.”
“Mmm.” Mari grinned. “Me too.” She exhaled, finally finishing whatever business she was handling on the computer and spinning the chair around to face the bed. The short shorts, thick blanket, and extremely oversized Hatsune Miku shirt she wore certainly weren’t that flattering, but at least her hair finally looked pretty nice. The bags under her eyes weren’t quite gone, but they seemed to glimmer with newfound lust for life.
She looked happy. That wasn’t something Ninian had been able to say about her before.
“I take it work’s been good?”
“Mmm!” Mari gestured widely to the screens behind her. “It’s an age of information, Ninian! No better time to be an info broker! Business is booming! Ehyeheheh!”
The swordswoman chuckled at that. She was silent for a moment, her smile turning into a frown, her eyes narrowing.
“Anyway... I assume you didn’t call me here just to talk.”
“Huh?” Mari tilted her head to the side. “Whaddya mean?”
“Well, you called me to deal with ‘that’, right?” She pointed up. “Truth be told, my schedule’s really packed right now, and I’m not sure how much I can do-”
“Oh, no, that’s not it at all.”
“Huh?”
“I just wanted you around.” She shrugged. “It’s a bit tough to relax right now. Super hard! Having big strong Ninian around makes me feel a little better. Ehe.” She was visibly blushing. “S-Sorry if that’s stupid, but I figured you’d like to catch up anyway.”
Ninian paused. “...So if you didn’t bring me here to, uh, deal with ‘that’... Are you just leaving that be?”
“Ah?”
“I mean, it’s kind of a problem for you, isn’t it? Doesn’t seem too convenient to leave it be...”
“Well, the plan was to leave it.” Mari shrugged. “But I got a bit lucky.”
“You invited me here... Just to sit around and chat while someone else does all the work?” The swordswoman raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. “As I said, I’ve got a packed schedule-”
“Nah, trust me.” The info broker snickered, spinning around in her chair as she spoke. “Youuuu... Are really gonna wanna see this one. I got somebody totally wild to help out.”
Ninian scoffed.
“Okay... And who would that be?” She tilted her head to the side. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“You’re not gonna believe this one...” Mari cleared her throat. “I called in -”
*Scenario: A lonely boat, on the Mediterranean Sea — *
Wah watched the sun bob on the edge of the horizon. Their hair billowed in the wind, and seafoam sprinkled their face; they didn’t particularly seem to mind. Considering all they’d done with their ability, being on a speeding boat was probably the last thing to phase them; they’d just wrapped up a fight in a walking house, after all.
They stood in silence, a light smile on their face, eyes pleasantly half lidded. There was pleasure to be found in the small things. The sunset on the open sea, for one, was quite nice. Indeed, despite all the troubles it would no doubt cause, COLOSSI's shift to humanitarian aid was doing wonders for their mental. Now if only Solsbury and the rest of them would stop nagging...
But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Nay, there were far more important matters. Wah pushed themself off of the boat’s railing, moving towards the driver's seat of the boat. It wasn’t a big boat; probably just used for leisure, but the owner had been nice enough to give them a ride.
A large sum of money was involved, of course, but that was neither here nor there.
“Oh, cappy-tan!” Wah leaned on the side of the boat behind the driver’s seat. A balding, sun-tanned man chuckled at the name. He wasn’t really much of a captain, but he did like to feel important.
“Howst long does thou think it will be before we arrive?” Wah tapped on the side of the boat a few times. “Wah has places to be, you see! Tis of utmost importance that I arrive quickly! Utmost! You understand, yes?”
“Yeah, yeah, I getcha...” The boater sighed. “It’ll be about ten minutes... Honestly, I don’t get why you’re in such a hurry to get there, anyway. Everybody else seems to be clearin’ out.”
“Oho?” Wah raised an eyebrow. They lowered it, and raised the other one, performing what could perhaps be called an ‘eyebrow wiggle’. “And why is that?”
“Dunno. Nobody’s said much, and everything they’ve said hasn’t been too, er, what’s the word...”
“Comprehensible?”
“Yeah. That one.”
“Wah sees, Wah sees!” Wah nodded a few times, bouncing off of the boat’s side and meandering back to the front, wobbling from side to side as the vessel rocked. “From what Wah understands, it’s quite a situation out there! No normal soul would find it any sort of comprehensible. A true predicament... And that is why Wah must go. To assist poor souls who cannot assist themselves! This predicament falls within Wah’s expertise, you see.”
“...Right.”
“Mmm!”
“Ain’t you just a normal soul, too? ‘Sides the ears, you don’t look all that special. Kinda twiggy.”
Wah paused. In the past, being called ‘kinda twiggy’ would’ve surely resulted in a violent tirade. But those were the demons they swore to leave behind speaking. Now, without them, Wah simply laughed. “Nay! Twiggy as Wah may be, you can rest assured, fine citizen!”
They turned, the boater catching the briefest glimmer in their eye. “Wah’s soul is the furthest from ordinary one could possibly get.”
“...If you say so...” He turned his attention back towards driving, and Wah turned theirs to the open sea once more.
Eventually, land came into view. The boater looked upon Malta with some confusion. Everything in the distance seemed perfectly normal. Wah, on the other hand, seemed extremely focused on something in the sky, something the poor man couldn’t seem to find no matter how hard he squinted.
“No need to make it all the way to the island.” Wah’s frown felt out of place on such a naturally silly face. “Park the boat near here. Wah can go the rest of the distances Wahself.”
“Ah..? It’s pretty far from here, though-”
“Verily! But it is nothing Wah cannot handle!” They snapped their fingers, jumping on top of the boat’s front railing, almost seeming to glide.
“Say, Cappy-tan! Have you ever seen a magician at work?”
Ninian gaped. “You... You called in... The head of COLOSSI?”
“...That’s what I said, yes.”
“Whuh...” Ninian frowned. “You’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not.”
“You so are.”
“I’m not! You underestimate the greatest info broker on the planet, my dear Ninian!” Mari jabbed a thumb into her chest as she gloated. “With my Stand ability: ｢Today is a Beautiful Day｣, my surveillance is simply unmatched! You see, the pins that make up my ability, when thrice jabbed into something, create a ‘butterfly within a frame’, but that’s only the basest applic-”
“I know what it does, Mari.” The swordswoman’s confusion briefly made way for the usual moodiness. If you let Mari start, you’d never get her to stop, after all. “I’m more... I mean, how did you even...?”
“I heard through the grapevine, as it were, that COLOSSI was making some big changes. All just rumors of course, so take that all with a grain of salt. But word out there is that their boss has gone completely mad! They’re big into justice and stuff now! Something like that. So I tracked them down, used my butterflies to establish communication, and made them a deal they simply couldn’t refuse.”
“And what could you possibly have to offer someone like that?”
“Information is the new money, Ninian.” Mari chuckled, staring at the wall of her room. “It didn’t take much. I just told them... I knew where a certain someone they quite liked was, and if they took care of my business, I’d sell ‘em the info for free.”
Ninian, after a few moments of stunned silence, simply sighed, scratching the back of her head. She smirked.
“...And you’re absolutely not fucking with me.”
“Aw, c’mon.” She chuckled again, turning her attention back to Ninian. “Have some faith in your best friend, will you? Just sit back and watch.” She raised a thumbs up, grinning from ear to ear. “I don’t have to do any work at all today! As long as no complications arise, it’s as good as dealt with! Wa ha ha!”
Elsewhere, in Sliema, a complication arose.
His name was Errok, and for once, he felt a bit too awestruck to open his mouth.
As rare of an occurrence as this was, most of his brain power was dedicated solely to figuring out what exactly he was looking at. After a large amount of deducing and such, he eventually came to the simple conclusion that he had no idea.
It’s not like anyone else who could see it, though. You couldn’t even see all of it. Only sections, massive spherical tubes of undulating red poking out from the cloudy sky, constantly moving ever so slowly. The wind whipped through his greasy hair as his eyes, wider than they’d been in years, observed what could only be described as a massive, floating worm, made entirely of bright red strings.
Now that he had given up entirely on trying to figure out what the thing was, Errok could dedicate his incredible intellect to other thought processes. Eventually, he arrived at a conclusion, one that was without a doubt something only someone as academically gifted as him could come up with.
“That thing is going to be my horse.”
Indeed, using whatever that was as a noble steed was the only logical idea. Wherever a powerful being resided, there too was opportunity to be found. And as a self proclaimed ‘Weapon To Kill The Soul’, there was surely no beast he could not tame.
He spent the next few minutes idly chuckling to himself.
It felt a bit off, admittedly. The city was pretty empty. The chaos caused by the thing no doubt led to a mass evacuation; he could tell from the buildings that had collapsed around him that it’d done quite a number on the place. Occasionally he’d hear someone screaming for help or something, but he couldn’t figure out where that was coming from, so he didn’t bother. But not having someone to monologue to felt strange. This was the part where he bragged about his incredible plan to some oafish bystander! Where were the oafish bystanders!
“I suppose...I could talk to myself.”
He nodded a few times. An excellent idea.
“Yes! This’ll do just fine. I can just talk to myself! Ha!”
Errok marched forward, a pep in his step that made his gait particularly loud.
“Now then... Clearly, the right answer... is to elevate myself! Aha! Yes!” He looked around at his surroundings. The stairs inside the buildings probably weren’t reliable, even if he could fit through the doors.
“No matter! I’ll just, uh, hrnmm...” He stared at a nearby building. It was pretty tall. “Well, I guess I could climb up that.”
“AHA! With my incredible strength, I’ll climb this building! That’s what I’ll do!”
His head swiveled around: still nobody around. He sighed, though you wouldn’t have been able to hear it from within the helmet, and began his ascent. With a grin, he unearthed the grotesque arm that was ｢You Are Blood｣ from its gauntlet. The arm shot forth, worms spraying from the mottled surface. Yes, they would be his ideal audience. He cleared his throat a few times.
“All living things tremble at the sight of Errok, Apostle of Rot, Destroyer of Souls! I need no weapon, for I am the blade which cleaves life itself!” His body shot forward with a cacophony of clanking, as he howled along with another bout of laughter.
“The world is my, uh, whetstone! I shall sharpen my blade on each fallen fool that tries to stop me, and become a better knight, a better god, a better trickster, than all those fools that I’ve destroyed!”
Hitting the side of the structure with a clatter, Errok stuck his sword into the side of the building. Again, his arm lashed out to grasp the next floor of the building, before yanking himself outwards. This cycle repeated itself, floor by floor, as Errok launched himself higher and higher towards the heavens, and towards the worm that would become his knightly steed.
“Then, when I have conquered all of life and every soul with the absolute, supreme power of rot and decay, then!”
With one last pull, Errok ascended into the air, his massive form silhouetted by the sun. “Then, I will finally tear that flamboyant freak a new one!”
With a CRASH, Errok landed on the roof of the building as it cracked around him. He gave a clumsy flourish to his wormy audience, grinning with menace and delight.
…and received a slow clap in return. Looking around in confusion, as worms do not have hands, Errok’s eyes fell upon the environment around him. The sun was slowly making its way towards the horizon line, casting the ruined skyline of Sliema in shadow, a golden light shining through gray clouds. It was absolutely beautiful; anyone with any sort of care for the world around them would simply have to stop and admire the view.
Errok didn’t have any of that. He was far more concerned with something else, as you’d expect. There on the roof stood another figure, a fae-like being with pale hair, pointed ears and teeth, and gleaming eyes.
“Oh hey,” Errok greeted, pointing with the finger of ｢You Are Blood｣. “Do I know you from somewhere? Might’ve seen you at the races... You look pretty important, though! I bet you’re super important! As am I! Pleasure to meet you!”
Wah just stopped clapping, giving Errok a look. Their nose wrinkled. “Wah is…charmed.”
Not picking up on the sarcasm, Errok beamed.
“Of course you are! I’m sure that you’ve heard about me! Errok, Apostle of Rot! I’ve committed more sins than one could possibly imagine! I’ve conquered all sorts of bozos and losers to get here! And now that I’m here, I’m gonna ride! That! Worm! Oh yeah!!!”
“…Uh huh,” Wah hummed, clearly not listening as they peered up at the worm. “There isn’t really much time for jokes right now, so-“
Suddenly, Wah stopped speaking. Errok stared at them for a few seconds. “...You gonna finish that sentence, or-”
“Shut up.”
The “Apostle of Rot” was fully prepared to go off on yet another monologue, but at that moment he thought to maybe see what exactly this mysterious weirdo stared so intensely at. He turned his gaze to the sky, and his eyes widened.
The clouds that obscured the form of the worm had split, only slightly, and something had descended from the hole produced. It was small, so it was a bit difficult to make it out at first, but if he squinted really hard, he could begin to see the silhouette of a young girl, holding loosely onto a balloon.
“Eugh.” He spat. “Hate kids.”
The figure was silent until it landed, never quite touching the ground. It wore a soft expression; a pure white girl, with a sundress that fluttered in the wind. The string in her hand led to a red balloon, just as red as the pupils concealed in her thin eyes. On the surface, she looked human, but just by looking at her you could tell that it was no human being. The way it seemed to lightly pulsate, skin forming briefly into strings that wrap endlessly around each other.
She smiled upon the two of them. It was not a friendly smile.
“Good evening, you two.” She raised her hands to the two of them. “Wah-Chan, leader of COLOSSI, overlord of the criminal underground the world over... And... Errok...San...”
“Hey. Wait.” Errok raised his hand. He turned to Wah. “That’s who you were? Oh, man, I’m a big fan of your-”
“Tell me. Do you know what ‘time’ it is?”
Errok stifled. He didn’t like this lady very much.
“8:01 PM, is it not?” Wah rudely ignored Errok’s plight. “What’s it matter.”
“Not quite what I meant. It’s almost the ‘Golden Hour’.” She chuckled. “The ‘Golden Hour’, as it’s called, is the most beautiful part of the day. It occurs in the last hour before sunset, and the hour directly before sunrise. It usually lasts only twenty to thirty minutes, but those twenty to thirty minutes are incomparable. Truly, there is beauty in the world.”
SIlence. Neither Errok nor Wah could figure out how to respond to that. Right as Errok was about to open his mouth anyway, the girl continued.
“If you couldn’t tell, ‘Golden Hour’ is about to start, in about two minutes, give or take. I only found this out recently. You see, I have lived my recent life in someone else’s eyes. I’ve never had the chance to learn about the world on my own. I was only recently able to learn about things on my own time, rather than on someone else’s. There was so much I was denied a chance to see. Do you know how cruel that is? Most of the knowledge I’ve gathered... Is completely useless to me now.”
She pointed at Wah. “Did you know that the Monogatari anime being released out of order was originally completely unintended?”
Silence.

“Originally, the series was planned to release in the order of the books; Bakemonogatari came first, and its prequel, Kizumonogatari, was planned to release in 2012. However, due to production issues, it was delayed until 2016, while the other parts of the anime were released on schedule, resulting in an out-of-order release. The bizarre watching orders of Monogatari that the series is somewhat internet famous for are completely unintended, and only exist due to production issues. Did you know that?”

“No,” Wah glared, “Wah did not know that. To be frank, there is no circumstance or situation in which Wah would want or need to know that information.”
“Exactly!” In her first showing of genuine emotion, the girl threw her hands into the air. Her voice remained perfectly monotone. “There’s no reason for me to know that information, either. But instead of important things, I’ve only been shown information like that. My brain, despite being far superior to that of a human being, is filled with useless information that serves no purpose to me. Do you know what it’s like? Having a vessel that doesn’t care for you? Even after all the work I went through to make her do what I wanted, she refused to show me anything worthwhile. I had to learn about things such as the ‘Golden Hour’ myself. Isn’t that cruel?”
“Excuse me, but-”
“But anyway, back to the ‘Golden Hour’. It is frequently utilized by film mak-”
“Stop fucking doing that!” Errok slammed his boot into the ground, producing a loud clang that finally managed to silence the mystery girl. He huffed and puffed for a few seconds before clearing his throat and continuing. “What’s the point of talking to us about any of this? You just prattle on, and on, and on, without any purpose to it! You’re annoying! What’s your deal!”
“There is no point.”
“What?”
“There’s no point, really. I’m just making small talk.” The girl looked over her nails. “Human beings engage in ‘conversation’ to gain a grasp of each other’s personalities. To establish who is worthwhile to have around, and who is not. I simply wanted to do the same. While I’m in this form, I may as well play at humanity.”
“Anywho, from our conversation—” Errok scoffed. “—I have deduced something. You see, I was originally planning to take the ‘strings’ of every Stand user in the world, taking their abilities and adding to my own power. But I have unfortunately vastly underestimated how many Stand users are in the world. Frankly, it would be a lot of work to do myself. So I’ve decided to take on another vessel. Someone far more suited for this kind of work, and who will show me plenty of things.”
“Wah-Chan.” Wah rolled their eyes at that. “From this conversation, I have deduced that you are patient, calm, and rational. From observing the work of your organization, I can come to the conclusion that you are cruel and calculating. My name is Disappearance Addiction. I am the strongest ‘Miracle’ currently present in the world. And I would like for you to become my new vessel.”
“No thankies.”
“...”
“...What?”
“Wah doesn’t really care for that sort of thing.” Wah shrugged. “You seem annoying to have around. Wah actually came here to get rid of you, to be honest. ‘Tis my duty! Wah is on the side of justice, now, as is COLOSSI as a whole! It would be immoral to take the power of something like you.”
“You would refuse the power of a ‘Miracle’?”
“Wah doesn’t know what that is.”
Disappearance Addiction seemed well and truly stumped at that. Eventually, her head began to turn, slowly, as if she was afraid of what her gaze would land on.
“Errok... San...”
“Yeah?”
“You... Would you like... Power?”
“That’s the first interesting thing you’ve said all day.” Errok nodded. “Fuck me up, lady.”
“...You’re not going to think it over, or anything?”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?”
“Can you just give it to me already? C’mon.”
“...” Disappearance Addiction was silent for a few moments. On one hand, this guy smelled very bad. He was incredibly impatient. And he generally seemed like a big idiot. On the other hand, he did scale the building pretty easily...
“Alright.” She sighed. “I’ve come to a decision. Errok-San. If you kill Wah-Chan before the ‘Golden Hour’ ends, you may become my vessel. Does that satisfy you?”
“How long till Goldy Hour ends?”
“Twenty to thirty minutes.”
“Ha!” Errok unsheathed his sword and swung it onto his shoulder. “I’ll end it in three!” He smirked beneath his armor, pointing his massive blade at Wah. “You there! Wah! Leader of COLOSSI, was it?”
“...That is me, yes.”
“Get ready for the fight of your life, bub! After I kill you, I’m gonna be the boss of COLOSSI! I’ll be on top of the world! God King Errok! Everyone’ll bow to me! That kinda power ain’t something a little pacifist baby face like you’s worthy of having! So I’ll just take it right out of your hands! Ha ha ha! Thinking about it really amps me up! Oh, man!”
He paused, staring at Wah.
“I was really expecting you to cut me off there. It’s been happening all day. You just gonna sit there?”
Wah’s brow furrowed.
“Tell me...” They stepped forward, the dust around them kicking into the air, beginning to circle around them. “...Do you honestly believe... That you can beat me? Is that something... You think you’re capable of?”
“Course it is. I’m a weapon to kill the soul.”
“Hmph.” Wah sighed. “So be it.”
Disappearance Addiction smiled upon the two as she rose further into the air, wind whipping through her hair. A golden glow illuminated the cityscape, the sun reaching its final moments in the sky. “I feel like... I should say something here...Ah, that’s it!

”OPEN THE GAME!”

Location:
In the city of Sliema, Malta, currently with thick strings hanging overhead.
The area here is 32 by 40 meters with each tile being 2 by 2 meters. Wah and Errok start on top of buildings, as represented by their character tokens.
The yellow rectangles are clay buildings, each numbered to represent their elevation level.The (1) marked buildings are 5 meters tall, the ones marked with a (2) are 10 meters tall, and the ones marked with a (3) are 15 meters tall.
The White Rectangles are Laundry racks with nearby baskets, folding chairs, cleaned clothing, and towels.
The Green Circles are palm trees that are 20 meters tall.
The Magenta Lines across the map are Strings produced by Disappearance Addiction and are attached to the buildings and trees. These strings are thick enough to balance on and have B Durability.
The brown rectangles are wooden benches. The blue circles are fountains.
Goal: RETIRE your opponent!
Additional Information:
Players are not allowed to enter the buildings for the purposes of this match and will be Retired if they are unable or unwilling to leave the “out of bounds area”
There is enough space between buildings for either player to move through the alleyways
Wah starts next to a large umbrella with a hooked handle, a portable grill, and a cushioned lawn chair

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
Bastards of Barcas	Errok	“The word “ignorant” has a nice ring to it, so I don’t mind being called that, but “incompetent” is going just a bit too far…” Establish superiority over your opponent through your movement and positioning!
COLOSSI	Mx. Wah	“A creature like you having a brain residing in his skull…is already a miracle in and of itself.” Establish superiority over your opponent through your movement and positioning!

Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!

Salesforce Dreamforce 2023 is drawing nearer (September 12-14th) and once again I am in disbelief that it’s still hosted in San Francisco. I live in the Bay Area and try to avoid SF at all costs. It’s cramped, dirty, volatile and dangerous. I know Beniof is uuuuuge on supporting The Bay, but come on!! Wouldn’t Dreamforce in Las Vegas draw a lot more interest? Attendees could have a great time and be more inclined to come back YoY and build the brand. We should start a petition! Not kidding. What do you think, though? Would you agree or no? Thanks!

NARRATOR: (Black screen with text; The sound of buzzing bees can be heard) According to all known laws of aviation, : there is no way a bee should be able to fly. : Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. : The bee, of course, flies anyway : because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. BARRY BENSON: (Barry is picking out a shirt) Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. : Ooh, black and yellow! Let's shake it up a little. JANET BENSON: Barry! Breakfast is ready! BARRY: Coming! : Hang on a second. (Barry uses his antenna like a phone) : Hello? ADAM FLAYMAN:
(Through phone) - Barry? BARRY: - Adam? ADAM: - Can you believe this is happening? BARRY: - I can't. I'll pick you up. (Barry flies down the stairs) : MARTIN BENSON: Looking sharp. JANET: Use the stairs. Your father paid good money for those. BARRY: Sorry. I'm excited. MARTIN: Here's the graduate. We're very proud of you, son. : A perfect report card, all B's. JANET: Very proud. (Rubs Barry's hair) BARRY= Ma! I got a thing going here. JANET: - You got lint on your fuzz. BARRY: - Ow! That's me!
JANET: - Wave to us! We'll be in row 118,000. - Bye! (Barry flies out the door) JANET: Barry, I told you, stop flying in the house! (Barry drives through the hive,and is waved at by Adam who is reading a newspaper) BARRY== - Hey, Adam. ADAM: - Hey, Barry. (Adam gets in Barry's car) : - Is that fuzz gel? BARRY: - A little. Special day, graduation. ADAM: Never thought I'd make it. (Barry pulls away from the house and continues driving) BARRY: Three days grade school, three days high school... ADAM: Those were awkward. BARRY: Three days college. I'm glad I took a day and hitchhiked around the hive. ADAM== You did come back different. (Barry and Adam pass by Artie, who is jogging) ARTIE: - Hi, Barry!
BARRY: - Artie, growing a mustache? Looks good. ADAM: - Hear about Frankie? BARRY: - Yeah. ADAM== - You going to the funeral? BARRY: - No, I'm not going to his funeral. : Everybody knows, sting someone, you die. : Don't waste it on a squirrel. Such a hothead. ADAM: I guess he could have just gotten out of the way. (The car does a barrel roll on the loop-shaped bridge and lands on the highway) : I love this incorporating an amusement park into our regular day. BARRY: I guess that's why they say we don't need vacations. (Barry parallel parks the car and together they fly over the graduating students) Boy, quite a bit of pomp... under the circumstances. (Barry and Adam sit down and put on their hats) : - Well, Adam, today we are men.
ADAM: - We are! BARRY= - Bee-men. =ADAM= - Amen! BARRY AND ADAM: Hallelujah! (Barry and Adam both have a happy spasm) ANNOUNCER: Students, faculty, distinguished bees, : please welcome Dean Buzzwell. DEAN BUZZWELL: Welcome, New Hive Oity graduating class of... : ...9: : That concludes our ceremonies. : And begins your career at Honex Industries! ADAM: Will we pick our job today? (Adam and Barry get into a tour bus) BARRY= I heard it's just orientation. (Tour buses rise out of the ground and the students are automatically loaded into the buses) TOUR GUIDE: Heads up! Here we go.
ANNOUNCER: Keep your hands and antennas inside the tram at all times. BARRY: - Wonder what it'll be like? ADAM: - A little scary. TOUR GUIDE== Welcome to Honex, a division of Honesco : and a part of the Hexagon Group. Barry: This is it! BARRY AND ADAM: Wow. BARRY: Wow. (The bus drives down a road an on either side are the Bee's massive complicated Honey-making machines) TOUR GUIDE: We know that you, as a bee, have worked your whole life : to get to the point where you can work for your whole life. : Honey begins when our valiant Pollen Jocks bring the nectar to the hive. : Our top-secret formula : is automatically color-corrected,
scent-adjusted and bubble-contoured : into this soothing sweet syrup : with its distinctive golden glow you know as... EVERYONE ON BUS: Honey! (The guide has been collecting honey into a bottle and she throws it into the crowd on the bus and it is caught by a girl in the back) ADAM: - That girl was hot. BARRY: - She's my cousin! ADAM== - She is? BARRY: - Yes, we're all cousins. ADAM: - Right. You're right. TOUR GUIDE: - At Honex, we constantly strive : to improve every aspect of bee existence. : These bees are stress-testing a new helmet technology. (The bus passes by a Bee wearing a helmet who is being smashed into the ground with fly-swatters, newspapers and boots. He lifts a thumbs up but you can hear him groan) : ADAM==

• What do you think he makes? BARRY:
• Not enough. TOUR GUIDE: Here we have our latest advancement, the Krelman. (They pass by a turning wheel with Bees standing on pegs, who are each wearing a finger-shaped hat) Barry:
• Wow, What does that do? TOUR GUIDE:
• Catches that little strand of honey : that hangs after you pour it. Saves us millions. ADAM: (Intrigued) Can anyone work on the Krelman? TOUR GUIDE: Of course. Most bee jobs are small ones. But bees know that every small job, if it's done well, means a lot. : But choose carefully : because you'll stay in the job you pick for the rest of your life. (Everyone claps except for Barry) BARRY: The same job the rest of your life? I didn't know that. ADAM:

What's the difference? TOUR GUIDE: You'll be happy to know that bees, as a species, haven't had one day off : in 27 million years. BARRY: (Upset) So you'll just work us to death? : We'll sure try. (Everyone on the bus laughs except Barry. Barry and Adam are walking back home together) ADAM: Wow! That blew my mind! BARRY: "What's the difference?" How can you say that? : One job forever? That's an insane choice to have to make. ADAM: I'm relieved. Now we only have to make one decision in life. BARRY: But, Adam, how could they never have told us that? ADAM: Why would you question anything? We're bees. : We're the most perfectly functioning society on Earth.
BARRY: You ever think maybe things work a little too well here? ADAM: Like what? Give me one example. (Barry and Adam stop walking and it is revealed to the audience that hundreds of cars are speeding by and narrowly missing them in perfect unison) BARRY: I don't know. But you know what I'm talking about. ANNOUNCER: Please clear the gate. Royal Nectar Force on approach. BARRY: Wait a second. Check it out. (The Pollen jocks fly in, circle around and landing in line) : - Hey, those are Pollen Jocks! ADAM: - Wow. : I've never seen them this close. BARRY: They know what it's like outside the hive. ADAM: Yeah, but some don't come back. GIRL BEES: - Hey, Jocks! - Hi, Jocks! (The Pollen Jocks hook up their backpacks to machines that pump the nectar to trucks, which drive away)
LOU LO DUVA: You guys did great! : You're monsters! You're sky freaks! I love it! (Punching the Pollen Jocks in joy) I love it! ADAM: - I wonder where they were. BARRY: - I don't know. : Their day's not planned. : Outside the hive, flying who knows where, doing who knows what. : You can't just decide to be a Pollen Jock. You have to be bred for that. ADAM== Right. (Barry and Adam are covered in some pollen that floated off of the Pollen Jocks) BARRY: Look at that. That's more pollen than you and I will see in a lifetime. ADAM: It's just a status symbol. Bees make too much of it. BARRY: Perhaps. Unless you're wearing it and the ladies see you wearing it. (Barry waves at 2 girls standing a little away from them)
ADAM== Those ladies? Aren't they our cousins too? BARRY: Distant. Distant. POLLEN JOCK #1: Look at these two. POLLEN JOCK #2: - Couple of Hive Harrys. POLLEN JOCK #1: - Let's have fun with them. GIRL BEE #1: It must be dangerous being a Pollen Jock. BARRY: Yeah. Once a bear pinned me against a mushroom! : He had a paw on my throat, and with the other, he was slapping me! (Slaps Adam with his hand to represent his scenario) GIRL BEE #2: - Oh, my! BARRY: - I never thought I'd knock him out. GIRL BEE #1: (Looking at Adam) What were you doing during this? ADAM: Obviously I was trying to alert the authorities. BARRY: I can autograph that.
(The pollen jocks walk up to Barry and Adam, they pretend that Barry and Adam really are pollen jocks.) POLLEN JOCK #1: A little gusty out there today, wasn't it, comrades? BARRY: Yeah. Gusty. POLLEN JOCK #1: We're hitting a sunflower patch six miles from here tomorrow. BARRY: - Six miles, huh? ADAM: - Barry! POLLEN JOCK #2: A puddle jump for us, but maybe you're not up for it. BARRY: - Maybe I am. ADAM: - You are not! POLLEN JOCK #1: We're going 0900 at J-Gate. : What do you think, buzzy-boy? Are you bee enough? BARRY: I might be. It all depends on what 0900 means. (The scene cuts to Barry looking out on the hive-city from his balcony at night) MARTIN:
Hey, Honex! BARRY: Dad, you surprised me. MARTIN: You decide what you're interested in? BARRY: - Well, there's a lot of choices. - But you only get one. : Do you ever get bored doing the same job every day? MARTIN: Son, let me tell you about stirring. : You grab that stick, and you just move it around, and you stir it around. : You get yourself into a rhythm. It's a beautiful thing. BARRY: You know, Dad, the more I think about it, : maybe the honey field just isn't right for me. MARTIN: You were thinking of what, making balloon animals? : That's a bad job for a guy with a stinger. :
Janet, your son's not sure he wants to go into honey! JANET: - Barry, you are so funny sometimes. BARRY: - I'm not trying to be funny. MARTIN: You're not funny! You're going into honey. Our son, the stirrer! JANET: - You're gonna be a stirrer? BARRY: - No one's listening to me! MARTIN: Wait till you see the sticks I have. BARRY: I could say anything right now. I'm gonna get an ant tattoo! (Barry's parents don't listen to him and continue to ramble on) MARTIN: Let's open some honey and celebrate! BARRY: Maybe I'll pierce my thorax. Shave my antennae. : Shack up with a grasshopper. Get a gold tooth and call everybody "dawg"! JANET: I'm so proud. (The scene cuts to Barry and Adam waiting in line to get a job) ADAM: - We're starting work today!
BARRY: - Today's the day. ADAM: Come on! All the good jobs will be gone. BARRY: Yeah, right. JOB LISTER: Pollen counting, stunt bee, pouring, stirrer, front desk, hair removal... BEE IN FRONT OF LINE: - Is it still available? JOB LISTER: - Hang on. Two left! : One of them's yours! Congratulations! Step to the side. ADAM: - What'd you get? BEE IN FRONT OF LINE: - Picking crud out. Stellar! (He walks away) ADAM: Wow! JOB LISTER: Couple of newbies? ADAM: Yes, sir! Our first day! We are ready! JOB LISTER: Make your choice. (Adam and Barry look up at the job board. There are hundreds of constantly changing panels that contain available or unavailable jobs. It looks very confusing)
ADAM: - You want to go first? BARRY: - No, you go. ADAM: Oh, my. What's available? JOB LISTER: Restroom attendant's open, not for the reason you think. ADAM: - Any chance of getting the Krelman? JOB LISTER: - Sure, you're on. (Puts the Krelman finger-hat on Adam's head) (Suddenly the sign for Krelman closes out) : I'm sorry, the Krelman just closed out. (Takes Adam's hat off) Wax monkey's always open. ADAM: The Krelman opened up again. : What happened? JOB LISTER: A bee died. Makes an opening. See? He's dead. Another dead one. : Deady. Deadified. Two more dead. : Dead from the neck up. Dead from the neck down. That's life!
ADAM: Oh, this is so hard! (Barry remembers what the Pollen Jock offered him and he flies off) Heating, cooling, stunt bee, pourer, stirrer, : humming, inspector number seven, lint coordinator, stripe supervisor, : mite wrangler. Barry, what do you think I should... Barry? (Adam turns around and sees Barry flying away) : Barry! POLLEN JOCK: All right, we've got the sunflower patch in quadrant nine... ADAM: (Through phone) What happened to you? Where are you? BARRY: - I'm going out. ADAM: - Out? Out where? BARRY: - Out there. ADAM: - Oh, no! BARRY: I have to, before I go to work for the rest of my life. ADAM:
You're gonna die! You're crazy! (Barry hangs up) Hello? POLLEN JOCK #2: Another call coming in. : If anyone's feeling brave, there's a Korean deli on 83rd : that gets their roses today. BARRY: Hey, guys. POLLEN JOCK #1 == - Look at that. POLLEN JOCK #2: - Isn't that the kid we saw yesterday? LOU LO DUVA: Hold it, son, flight deck's restricted. POLLEN JOCK #1: It's OK, Lou. We're gonna take him up. (Puts hand on Barry's shoulder) LOU LO DUVA: (To Barry) Really? Feeling lucky, are you? BEE WITH CLIPBOARD: (To Barry) Sign here, here. Just initial that. : - Thank you. LOU LO DUVA: - OK. : You got a rain advisory today, :
and as you all know, bees cannot fly in rain. : So be careful. As always, watch your brooms, : hockey sticks, dogs, birds, bears and bats. : Also, I got a couple of reports of root beer being poured on us. : Murphy's in a home because of it, babbling like a cicada! BARRY: - That's awful. LOU LO DUVA: (Still talking through megaphone) - And a reminder for you rookies, : bee law number one, absolutely no talking to humans! : All right, launch positions! POLLEN JOCKS: (The Pollen Jocks run into formation) : Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! LOU LU DUVA: Black and yellow! POLLEN JOCKS:
Hello! POLLEN JOCK #1: (To Barry)You ready for this, hot shot? BARRY: Yeah. Yeah, bring it on. POLLEN JOCK's: Wind, check. : - Antennae, check. - Nectar pack, check. : - Wings, check. - Stinger, check. BARRY: Scared out of my shorts, check. LOU LO DUVA: OK, ladies, : let's move it out! : Pound those petunias, you striped stem-suckers! : All of you, drain those flowers! (The pollen jocks fly out of the hive) BARRY: Wow! I'm out! : I can't believe I'm out! : So blue.
: I feel so fast and free! : Box kite! (Barry flies through the kite) : Wow! : Flowers! (A pollen jock puts on some high tech goggles that shows flowers similar to heat sink goggles.) POLLEN JOCK: This is Blue Leader. We have roses visual. : Bring it around 30 degrees and hold. : Roses! POLLEN JOCK #1: 30 degrees, roger. Bringing it around. : Stand to the side, kid. It's got a bit of a kick. (The pollen jock fires a high-tech gun at the flower, shooting tubes that suck up the nectar from the flower and collects it into a pouch on the gun) BARRY: That is one nectar collector! POLLEN JOCK #1== - Ever see pollination up close? BARRY: - No, sir. POLLEN JOCK #1:
(Barry and the Pollen jock fly over the field, the pollen jock sprinkles pollen as he goes) : I pick up some pollen here, sprinkle it over here. Maybe a dash over there, : a pinch on that one. See that? It's a little bit of magic. BARRY: That's amazing. Why do we do that? POLLEN JOCK #1: That's pollen power. More pollen, more flowers, more nectar, more honey for us. BARRY: Cool. POLLEN JOCK #1: I'm picking up a lot of bright yellow. could be daisies. Don't we need those? POLLEN JOCK #2: Copy that visual. : Wait. One of these flowers seems to be on the move. POLLEN JOCK #1: Say again? You're reporting a moving flower? POLLEN JOCK #2: Affirmative. (The Pollen jocks land near the "flowers" which, to the audience are obviously just tennis balls) KEN: (In the distance) That was on the line!
POLLEN JOCK #1: This is the coolest. What is it? POLLEN JOCK #2: I don't know, but I'm loving this color. : It smells good. Not like a flower, but I like it. POLLEN JOCK #1: Yeah, fuzzy. (Sticks his hand on the ball but it gets stuck) POLLEN JOCK #3== Chemical-y. (The pollen jock finally gets his hand free from the tennis ball) POLLEN JOCK #1: Careful, guys. It's a little grabby. (The pollen jocks turn around and see Barry lying his entire body on top of one of the tennis balls) POLLEN JOCK #2: My sweet lord of bees! POLLEN JOCK #3: Candy-brain, get off there! POLLEN JOCK #1: (Pointing upwards) Problem! (A human hand reaches down and grabs the tennis ball that Barry is stuck to) BARRY: - Guys! POLLEN JOCK #2: - This could be bad. POLLEN JOCK #3: Affirmative. (Vanessa Bloome starts bouncing the tennis ball, not knowing Barry is stick to it)
BARRY== Very close. : Gonna hurt. : Mama's little boy. (Barry is being hit back and forth by two humans playing tennis. He is still stuck to the ball) POLLEN JOCK #1: You are way out of position, rookie! KEN: Coming in at you like a MISSILE! (Barry flies past the pollen jocks, still stuck to the ball) BARRY: (In slow motion) Help me! POLLEN JOCK #2: I don't think these are flowers. POLLEN JOCK #3: - Should we tell him? POLLEN JOCK #1: - I think he knows. BARRY: What is this?! KEN: Match point! : You can start packing up, honey, because you're about to EAT IT! (A pollen jock coughs which confused Ken and he hits the ball the wrong way with Barry stuck to it and it goes flying into the city) BARRY:
Yowser! (Barry bounces around town and gets stuck in the engine of a car. He flies into the air conditioner and sees a bug that was frozen in there) BARRY: Ew, gross. (The man driving the car turns on the air conditioner which blows Barry into the car) GIRL IN CAR: There's a bee in the car! : - Do something! DAD DRIVING CAR: - I'm driving! BABY GIRL: (Waving at Barry) - Hi, bee. (Barry smiles and waves at the baby girl) GUY IN BACK OF CAR: - He's back here! : He's going to sting me! GIRL IN CAR: Nobody move. If you don't move, he won't sting you. Freeze! (Barry freezes as well, hovering in the middle of the car) : GRANDMA IN CAR== He blinked! (The grandma whips out some bee-spray and sprays everywhere in the car, climbing into the front seat, still trying to spray Barry) GIRL IN CAR: Spray him, Granny! DAD DRIVING THE CAR: What are you doing?! (Barry escapes the car through the air conditioner and is flying high above
the ground, safe.) BARRY: Wow... the tension level out here is unbelievable. (Barry sees that storm clouds are gathering and he can see rain clouds moving into this direction) : I gotta get home. : Can't fly in rain. : Can't fly in rain. (A rain drop hits Barry and one of his wings is damaged) : Can't fly in rain. (A second rain drop hits Barry again and he spirals downwards) Mayday! Mayday! Bee going down! (WW2 plane sound effects are played as he plummets, and he crash-lands on a plant inside an apartment near the window) VANESSA BLOOME: Ken, could you close the window please? KEN== Hey, check out my new resume. I made it into a fold-out brochure. : You see? (Folds brochure resume out) Folds out. (Ken closes the window, trapping Barry inside) BARRY: Oh, no. More humans. I don't need this. (Barry tries to fly away but smashes into the window and falls again) : What was that?
(Barry keeps trying to fly out the window but he keeps being knocked back because the window is closed) Maybe this time. This time. This time. This time! This time! This... : Drapes! (Barry taps the glass. He doesn't understand what it is) That is diabolical. KEN: It's fantastic. It's got all my special skills, even my top-ten favorite movies. ANDY: What's number one? Star Wars? KEN: Nah, I don't go for that... (Ken makes finger guns and makes "pew pew pew" sounds and then stops) : ...kind of stuff. BARRY: No wonder we shouldn't talk to them. They're out of their minds. KEN: When I leave a job interview, they're flabbergasted, can't believe what I say. BARRY: (Looking at the light on the ceiling) There's the sun. Maybe that's a way out. (Starts flying towards the lightbulb) : I don't remember the sun having a big 75 on it. (Barry hits the lightbulb and falls into the dip on the table that the humans are sitting at) KEN:
I predicted global warming. : I could feel it getting hotter. At first I thought it was just me. (Andy dips a chip into the bowl and scoops up some dip with Barry on it and is about to put it in his mouth) : Wait! Stop! Bee! (Andy drops the chip with Barry in fear and backs away. All the humans freak out) : Stand back. These are winter boots. (Ken has winter boots on his hands and he is about to smash the bee but Vanessa saves him last second) VANESSA: Wait! : Don't kill him! (Vanessa puts Barry in a glass to protect him) KEN: You know I'm allergic to them! This thing could kill me! VANESSA: Why does his life have less value than yours? KEN: Why does his life have any less value than mine? Is that your statement? VANESSA: I'm just saying all life has value. You don't know what he's capable of feeling. (Vanessa picks up Ken's brochure and puts it under the glass so she can carry Barry back to the window. Barry looks at Vanessa in amazement) KEN:
My brochure! VANESSA: There you go, little guy. (Vanessa opens the window and lets Barry out but Barry stays back and is still shocked that a human saved his life) KEN: I'm not scared of him. It's an allergic thing. VANESSA: Put that on your resume brochure. KEN: My whole face could puff up. ANDY: Make it one of your special skills. KEN: Knocking someone out is also a special skill. (Ken walks to the door) Right. Bye, Vanessa. Thanks. : - Vanessa, next week? Yogurt night? VANESSA: - Sure, Ken. You know, whatever. : (Vanessa tries to close door) KEN== - You could put carob chips on there. VANESSA: - Bye. (Closes door but Ken opens it again) KEN: - Supposed to be less calories.
VANESSA: - Bye. (Closes door) (Fast forward to the next day, Barry is still inside the house. He flies into the kitchen where Vanessa is doing dishes) BARRY== (Talking to himself) I gotta say something. : She saved my life. I gotta say something. : All right, here it goes. (Turns back) Nah. : What would I say? : I could really get in trouble. : It's a bee law. You're not supposed to talk to a human. : I can't believe I'm doing this. : I've got to. (Barry disguises himself as a character on a food can as Vanessa walks by again) : Oh, I can't do it. Come on! : No. Yes. No. : Do it. I can't.
: How should I start it? (Barry strikes a pose and wiggles his eyebrows) "You like jazz?" No, that's no good. (Vanessa is about to walk past Barry) Here she comes! Speak, you fool! : ...Hi! (Vanessa gasps and drops the dishes in fright and notices Barry on the counter) : I'm sorry. VANESSA: - You're talking. BARRY: - Yes, I know. VANESSA: (Pointing at Barry) You're talking! BARRY: I'm so sorry. VANESSA: No, it's OK. It's fine. I know I'm dreaming. : But I don't recall going to bed. BARRY: Well, I'm sure this is very disconcerting. VANESSA: This is a bit of a surprise to me. I mean, you're a bee!
BARRY: I am. And I'm not supposed to be doing this, (Pointing to the living room where Ken tried to kill him last night) but they were all trying to kill me. : And if it wasn't for you... : I had to thank you. It's just how I was raised. (Vanessa stabs her hand with a fork to test whether she's dreaming or not) : That was a little weird. VANESSA: - I'm talking with a bee. BARRY: - Yeah. VANESSA: I'm talking to a bee. And the bee is talking to me! BARRY: I just want to say I'm grateful. I'll leave now. (Barry turns to leave) VANESSA: - Wait! How did you learn to do that? BARRY: (Flying back) - What? VANESSA: The talking...thing. BARRY:
Same way you did, I guess. "Mama, Dada, honey." You pick it up. VANESSA: - That's very funny. BARRY: - Yeah. : Bees are funny. If we didn't laugh, we'd cry with what we have to deal with. : Anyway... VANESSA: Can I... : ...get you something? BARRY: - Like what? VANESSA: I don't know. I mean... I don't know. Coffee? BARRY: I don't want to put you out. VANESSA: It's no trouble. It takes two minutes. : - It's just coffee. BARRY: - I hate to impose. (Vanessa starts making coffee) VANESSA: - Don't be ridiculous!
BARRY: - Actually, I would love a cup. VANESSA: Hey, you want rum cake? BARRY: - I shouldn't. VANESSA: - Have some. BARRY: - No, I can't. VANESSA: - Come on! BARRY: I'm trying to lose a couple micrograms. VANESSA: - Where? BARRY: - These stripes don't help. VANESSA: You look great! BARRY: I don't know if you know anything about fashion. : Are you all right? VANESSA: (Pouring coffee on the floor and missing the cup completely) No. (Flash forward in time. Barry and Vanessa are sitting together at a table on top of the apartment building drinking coffee)
: BARRY== He's making the tie in the cab as they're flying up Madison. : He finally gets there. : He runs up the steps into the church. The wedding is on. : And he says, "Watermelon? I thought you said Guatemalan. : Why would I marry a watermelon?" (Barry laughs but Vanessa looks confused) VANESSA: Is that a bee joke? BARRY: That's the kind of stuff we do. VANESSA: Yeah, different. : So, what are you gonna do, Barry? (Barry stands on top of a sugar cube floating in his coffee and paddles it around with a straw like it's a gondola) BARRY: About work? I don't know. : I want to do my part for the hive, but I can't do it the way they want. VANESSA: I know how you feel.
BARRY: - You do? VANESSA: - Sure. : My parents wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor, but I wanted to be a florist. BARRY: - Really? VANESSA: - My only interest is flowers. BARRY: Our new queen was just elected with that same campaign slogan. : Anyway, if you look... (Barry points to a tree in the middle of Central Park) : There's my hive right there. See it? VANESSA: You're in Sheep Meadow! BARRY: Yes! I'm right off the Turtle Pond! VANESSA: No way! I know that area. I lost a toe ring there once. BARRY: - Why do girls put rings on their toes? VANESSA: - Why not? BARRY:

• It's like putting a hat on your knee. VANESSA:
• Maybe I'll try that. (A custodian installing a lightbulb looks over at them but to his perspective it looks like Vanessa is talking to a cup of coffee on the table) CUSTODIAN:
• You all right, ma'am? VANESSA:
• Oh, yeah. Fine. : Just having two cups of coffee! BARRY: Anyway, this has been great. Thanks for the coffee. VANESSA== Yeah, it's no trouble. BARRY: Sorry I couldn't finish it. If I did, I'd be up the rest of my life. (Barry points towards the rum cake) : Can I take a piece of this with me? VANESSA: Sure! Here, have a crumb. (Vanessa hands Barry a crumb but it is still pretty big for Barry) BARRY:
• Thanks! VANESSA:
• Yeah. BARRY: All right. Well, then... I guess I'll see you around.
  : Or not. VANESSA: OK, Barry... BARRY: And thank you so much again... for before. VANESSA: Oh, that? That was nothing. BARRY: Well, not nothing, but... Anyway... (Vanessa and Barry hold hands, but Vanessa has to hold out a finger because her hands is to big and Barry holds that) (The custodian looks over again and it appears Vanessa is laughing at her coffee again. The lightbulb that he was screwing in sparks and he falls off the ladder) (Fast forward in time and we see two Bee Scientists testing out a parachute in a Honex wind tunnel) BEE SCIENTIST #1: This can't possibly work. BEE SCIENTIST #2: He's all set to go. We may as well try it. : OK, Dave, pull the chute. (Dave pulls the chute and the wind slams him against the wall and he falls on his face.The camera pans over and we see Barry and Adam walking together) ADAM:
  
• Sounds amazing. BARRY:
  
• It was amazing! : It was the scariest, happiest moment of my life.
  

ADAM: Humans! I can't believe you were with humans! : Giant, scary humans! What were they like? BARRY: Huge and crazy. They talk crazy. : They eat crazy giant things. They drive crazy. ADAM: - Do they try and kill you, like on TV? BARRY: - Some of them. But some of them don't. ADAM: - How'd you get back? BARRY: - Poodle. ADAM: You did it, and I'm glad. You saw whatever you wanted to see. : You had your "experience." Now you can pick out your job and be normal. BARRY: - Well... ADAM: - Well? BARRY: Well, I met someone.
ADAM: You did? Was she Bee-ish? : - A wasp?! Your parents will kill you! BARRY: - No, no, no, not a wasp. ADAM: - Spider? BARRY: - I'm not attracted to spiders. : I know, for everyone else, it's the hottest thing, with the eight legs and all. : I can't get by that face. ADAM: So who is she? BARRY: She's... human. ADAM: No, no. That's a bee law. You wouldn't break a bee law. BARRY: - Her name's Vanessa. (Adam puts his head in his hands) ADAM: - Oh, boy. BARRY== She's so nice. And she's a florist! ADAM: Oh, no! You're dating a human florist!
BARRY: We're not dating. ADAM: You're flying outside the hive, talking to humans that attack our homes : with power washers and M-80s! That's one-eighth a stick of dynamite! BARRY: She saved my life! And she understands me. ADAM: This is over! BARRY: Eat this. (Barry gives Adam a piece of the crumb that he got from Vanessa. Adam eats it) ADAM: (Adam's tone changes) This is not over! What was that? BARRY: - They call it a crumb. ADAM: - It was so stingin' stripey! BARRY: And that's not what they eat. That's what falls off what they eat! : - You know what a Cinnabon is? ADAM: - No. (Adam opens a door behind him and he pulls Barry in)
BARRY: It's bread and cinnamon and frosting. ADAM: Be quiet! BARRY: They heat it up... ADAM: Sit down! (Adam forces Barry to sit down) BARRY: (Still rambling about Cinnabons) ...really hot! (Adam grabs Barry by the shoulders) ADAM: - Listen to me! : We are not them! We're us. There's us and there's them! BARRY== Yes, but who can deny the heart that is yearning? ADAM: There's no yearning. Stop yearning. Listen to me! : You have got to start thinking bee, my friend. Thinking bee! BARRY: - Thinking bee. WORKER BEE: - Thinking bee. WORKER BEES AND ADAM: Thinking bee! Thinking bee!
Thinking bee! Thinking bee! (Flash forward in time; Barry is laying on a raft in a pool full of honey. He is wearing sunglasses) JANET: There he is. He's in the pool. MARTIN: You know what your problem is, Barry? (Barry pulls down his sunglasses and he looks annoyed) BARRY: (Sarcastic) I gotta start thinking bee? JANET: How much longer will this go on? MARTIN: It's been three days! Why aren't you working? (Puts sunglasses back on) BARRY: I've got a lot of big life decisions to think about. MARTIN: What life? You have no life! You have no job. You're barely a bee! JANET: Would it kill you to make a little honey? (Barry rolls off the raft and sinks into the honey pool) : Barry, come out. Your father's talking to you. : Martin, would you talk to him? MARTIN:
Barry, I'm talking to you! (Barry keeps sinking into the honey until he is suddenly in Central Park having a picnic with Vanessa) (Barry has a cup of honey and he clinks his glass with Vanessas. Suddenly a mosquito lands on Vanessa and she slaps it, killing it. They both gasp but then burst out laughing) VANESSA: You coming? (The camera pans over and Vanessa is climbing into a small yellow airplane) BARRY: Got everything? VANESSA: All set! BARRY: Go ahead. I'll catch up. (Vanessa lifts off and flies ahead) VANESSA: Don't be too long. (Barry catches up with Vanessa and he sticks out his arms like ana irplane. He rolls from side to side, and Vanessa copies him with the airplane) VANESSA: Watch this! (Barry stays back and watches as Vanessa draws a heart in the air using pink smoke from the plane, but on the last loop-the-loop she suddenly crashes into a mountain and the plane explodes. The destroyed plane falls into some rocks and explodes a second time) BARRY: Vanessa! (As Barry is yelling his mouth fills with honey and he wakes up, discovering that he was just day dreaming. He slowly sinks back into the honey pool) MARTIN: - We're still here.
JANET: - I told you not to yell at him. : He doesn't respond to yelling! MARTIN: - Then why yell at me? JANET: - Because you don't listen! MARTIN: I'm not listening to this. BARRY: Sorry, I've gotta go. MARTIN: - Where are you going? BARRY: - I'm meeting a friend. JANET: A girl? Is this why you can't decide? BARRY: Bye. (Barry flies out the door and Martin shakes his head) : JANET== I just hope she's Bee-ish. (Fast forward in time and Barry is sitting on Vanessa's shoulder and she is closing up her shop) BARRY: They have a huge parade of flowers every year in Pasadena? VANESSA: To be in the Tournament of Roses, that's every florist's dream!
: Up on a float, surrounded by flowers, crowds cheering. BARRY: A tournament. Do the roses compete in athletic events? VANESSA: No. All right, I've got one. How come you don't fly everywhere? BARRY: It's exhausting. Why don't you run everywhere? It's faster. VANESSA: Yeah, OK, I see, I see. All right, your turn. BARRY: TiVo. You can just freeze live TV? That's insane! VANESSA: You don't have that? BARRY: We have Hivo, but it's a disease. It's a horrible, horrible disease. VANESSA: Oh, my. (A human walks by and Barry narrowly avoids him) PASSERBY: Dumb bees! VANESSA: You must want to sting all those jerks. BARRY: We try not to sting.
It's usually fatal for us. VANESSA: So you have to watch your temper (They walk into a store) BARRY: Very carefully. You kick a wall, take a walk, : write an angry letter and throw it out. Work through it like any emotion: : Anger, jealousy, lust. (Suddenly an employee(Hector) hits Barry off of Vanessa's shoulder. Hector thinks he's saving Vanessa) VANESSA: (To Barry) Oh, my goodness! Are you OK? (Barry is getting up off the floor) BARRY: Yeah. VANESSA: (To Hector) - What is wrong with you?! HECTOR: (Confused) - It's a bug. VANESSA: He's not bothering anybody. Get out of here, you creep! (Vanessa hits Hector across the face with the magazine he had and then hits him in the head. Hector backs away covering his head) Barry: What was that? A Pic 'N' Save circular? (Vanessa sets Barry back on her shoulder)
VANESSA: Yeah, it was. How did you know? BARRY: It felt like about 10 pages. Seventy-five is pretty much our limit. VANESSA: You've really got that down to a science. BARRY: - Oh, we have to. I lost a cousin to Italian Vogue. VANESSA: - I'll bet. (Barry looks to his right and notices there is honey for sale in the aisle) BARRY: What in the name of Mighty Hercules is this? (Barry looks at all the brands of honey, shocked) How did this get here? Cute Bee, Golden Blossom, : Ray Liotta Private Select? (Barry puts his hands up and slowly turns around, a look of disgust on his face) VANESSA: - Is he that actor? BARRY: - I never heard of him. : - Why is this here? VANESSA: - For people. We eat it. BARRY:
You don't have enough food of your own?! (Hector looks back and notices that Vanessa is talking to Barry) VANESSA: - Well, yes. BARRY: - How do you get it? VANESSA: - Bees make it. BARRY: - I know who makes it! : And it's hard to make it! : There's heating, cooling, stirring. You need a whole Krelman thing! VANESSA: - It's organic. BARRY: - It's our-ganic! VANESSA: It's just honey, Barry. BARRY: Just what?! : Bees don't know about this! This is stealing! A lot of stealing! : You've taken our homes, schools, hospitals! This is all we have! :
And it's on sale?! I'm getting to the bottom of this. : I'm getting to the bottom of all of this! (Flash forward in time; Barry paints his face with black strikes like a soldier and sneaks into the storage section of the store) (Two men, including Hector, are loading boxes into some trucks) : SUPERMARKET EMPLOYEE== Hey, Hector. : - You almost done? HECTOR: - Almost. (Barry takes a step to peak around the corner) (Whispering) He is here. I sense it. : Well, I guess I'll go home now (Hector pretends to walk away by walking in place and speaking loudly) : and just leave this nice honey out, with no one around. BARRY: You're busted, box boy! HECTOR: I knew I heard something! So you can talk! BARRY: I can talk. And now you'll start talking! : Where you getting the sweet stuff?
Who's your supplier? HECTOR: I don't understand. I thought we were friends. : The last thing we want to do is upset bees! (Hector takes a thumbtack out of the board behind him and sword-fights Barry. Barry is using his stinger like a sword) : You're too late! It's ours now! BARRY: You, sir, have crossed the wrong sword! HECTOR: You, sir, will be lunch for my iguana, Ignacio! (Barry hits the thumbtack out of Hectors hand and Hector surrenders) Barry: Where is the honey coming from? : Tell me where! HECTOR: (Pointing to leaving truck) Honey Farms! It comes from Honey Farms! (Barry chases after the truck but it is getting away. He flies onto a bicyclists' backpack and he catches up to the truck) CAR DRIVER: (To bicyclist) Crazy person! (Barry flies off and lands on the windshield of the Honey farms truck. Barry looks around and sees dead bugs splattered everywhere) BARRY: What horrible thing has happened here?
: These faces, they never knew what hit them. And now : they're on the road to nowhere! (Barry hears a sudden whisper) (Barry looks up and sees Mooseblood, a mosquito playing dead) MOOSEBLOOD: Just keep still. BARRY: What? You're not dead? MOOSEBLOOD: Do I look dead? They will wipe anything that moves. Where you headed? BARRY: To Honey Farms. I am onto something huge here. MOOSEBLOOD: I'm going to Alaska. Moose blood, crazy stuff. Blows your head off! ANOTHER BUG PLAYING DEAD: I'm going to Tacoma. (Barry looks at another bug) BARRY: - And you? MOOSEBLOOD: - He really is dead. BARRY: All right. (Another bug hits the windshield and the drivers notice. They activate the windshield wipers) MOOSEBLOOD== Uh-oh! (The windshield wipers are slowly sliding over the dead bugs and wiping
them off) BARRY: - What is that?! MOOSEBLOOD: - Oh, no! : - A wiper! Triple blade! BARRY: - Triple blade? MOOSEBLOOD: Jump on! It's your only chance, bee! (Mooseblood and Barry grab onto the wiper and they hold on as it wipes the windshield) Why does everything have to be so doggone clean?! : How much do you people need to see?! (Bangs on windshield) : Open your eyes! Stick your head out the window! RADIO IN TRUCK: From NPR News in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell. MOOSEBLOOD: But don't kill no more bugs! (Mooseblood and Barry are washed off by the wipr fluid) MOOSEBLOOD: - Bee! BARRY: - Moose blood guy!! (Barry starts screaming as he hangs onto the antenna) (Suddenly it is revealed that a water bug is also hanging on the antenna.
There is a pause and then Barry and the water bug both start screaming) TRUCK DRIVER: - You hear something? GUY IN TRUCK: - Like what? TRUCK DRIVER: Like tiny screaming. GUY IN TRUCK: Turn off the radio. (The antenna starts to lower until it gets to low and sinks into the truck. The water bug flies off and Barry is forced to let go and he is blown away. He luckily lands inside a horn on top of the truck where he finds Mooseblood, who was blown into the same place) MOOSEBLOOD: Whassup, bee boy? BARRY: Hey, Blood. (Fast forward in time and we see that Barry is deep in conversation with Mooseblood. They have been sitting in this truck for a while) BARRY: ...Just a row of honey jars, as far as the eye could see. MOOSEBLOOD: Wow! BARRY: I assume wherever this truck goes is where they're getting it. : I mean, that honey's ours. MOOSEBLOOD: - Bees hang tight. BARRY:

• We're all jammed in. : It's a close community. MOOSEBLOOD: Not us, man. We on our own. Every mosquito on his own. BARRY:
• What if you get in trouble? MOOSEBLOOD:
• You a mosquito, you in trouble. : Nobody likes us. They just smack. See a mosquito, smack, smack! BARRY: At least you're out in the world. You must meet girls. MOOSEBLOOD: Mosquito girls try to trade up, get with a moth, dragonfly. : Mosquito girl don't want no mosquito. (An ambulance passes by and it has a blood donation sign on it) You got to be kidding me! : Mooseblood's about to leave the building! So long, bee! (Mooseblood leaves and flies onto the window of the ambulance where there are other mosquito's hanging out) :
• Hey, guys! OTHER MOSQUITO:
• Mooseblood!

MOOSEBLOOD: I knew I'd catch y'all down here. Did you bring your crazy straw? (The truck goes out of view and Barry notices that the truck he's on is pulling into a camp of some sort) TRUCK DRIVER: We throw it in jars, slap a label on it, and it's pretty much pure profit. (Barry flies out) BARRY: What is this place? BEEKEEPER 1#: A bee's got a brain the size of a pinhead. BEEKEEPER #2: They are pinheads! : Pinhead. : - Check out the new smoker. BEEKEEPER #1: - Oh, sweet. That's the one you want. : The Thomas 3000! BARRY: Smoker? BEEKEEPER #1: Ninety puffs a minute, semi-automatic. Twice the nicotine, all the tar. : A couple breaths of this knocks them right out.
BEEKEEPER #2: They make the honey, and we make the money. BARRY: "They make the honey, and we make the money"? (The Beekeeper sprays hundreds of cheap miniature apartments with the smoker. The bees are fainting or passing out) Oh, my! : What's going on? Are you OK? (Barry flies into one of the apartment and helps a Bee couple get off the ground. They are coughing and its hard for them to stand) BEE IN APARTMENT: Yeah. It doesn't last too long. BARRY: Do you know you're in a fake hive with fake walls? BEE IN APPARTMENT: Our queen was moved here. We had no choice. (The apartment room is completely empty except for a photo on the wall of the "queen" who is obviously a man in women's clothes) BARRY: This is your queen? That's a man in women's clothes! : That's a drag queen! : What is this? (Barry flies out and he discovers that there are hundreds of these structures, each housing thousands of Bees) Oh, no! : There's hundreds of them! (Barry takes out his camera and takes pictures of these Bee work camps. The beekeepers look very evil in these depictions)
Bee honey. : Our honey is being brazenly stolen on a massive scale! : This is worse than anything bears have done! I intend to do something. (Flash forward in time and Barry is showing these pictures to his parents) JANET: Oh, Barry, stop. MARTIN: Who told you humans are taking our honey? That's a rumor. BARRY: Do these look like rumors? (Holds up the pictures) UNCLE CARL: That's a conspiracy theory. These are obviously doctored photos. JANET: How did you get mixed up in this? ADAM: He's been talking to humans. JANET: - What? MARTIN: - Talking to humans?! ADAM: He has a human girlfriend. And they make out! JANET: Make out? Barry!
BARRY: We do not. ADAM: - You wish you could. MARTIN: - Whose side are you on? BARRY: The bees! UNCLE CARL: (He has been sitting in the back of the room this entire time) I dated a cricket once in San Antonio. Those crazy legs kept me up all night. JANET: Barry, this is what you want to do with your life? BARRY: I want to do it for all our lives. Nobody works harder than bees! : Dad, I remember you coming home so overworked : your hands were still stirring. You couldn't stop. JANET: I remember that. BARRY: What right do they have to our honey? : We live on two cups a year. They put it in lip balm for no reason whatsoever!
ADAM: Even if it's true, what can one bee do? BARRY: Sting them where it really hurts. MARTIN: In the face! The eye! : - That would hurt. BARRY: - No. MARTIN: Up the nose? That's a killer. BARRY: There's only one place you can sting the humans, one place where it matters. (Flash forward a bit in time and we are watching the Bee News) BEE NEWS NARRATOR: Hive at Five, the hive's only full-hour action news source. BEE PROTESTOR: No more bee beards! BEE NEWS NARRATOR: With Bob Bumble at the anchor desk. : Weather with Storm Stinger. : Sports with Buzz Larvi. : And Jeanette Chung. BOB BUMBLE: - Good evening. I'm Bob Bumble. JEANETTE CHUNG:

• And I'm Jeanette Chung. BOB BUMBLE: A tri-county bee, Barry Benson, : intends to sue the human race for stealing our honey, : packaging it and profiting from it illegally! JEANETTE CHUNG: Tomorrow night on Bee Larry King, : we'll have three former queens here in our studio, discussing their new book, : Classy Ladies, out this week on Hexagon. (The scene changes to an interview on the news with Bee version of Larry King and Barry) BEE LARRY KING: Tonight we're talking to Barry Benson. : Did you ever think, "I'm a kid from the hive. I can't do this"? BARRY: Bees have never been afraid to change the world. : What about Bee Columbus? Bee Gandhi? Bejesus? BEE LARRY KING: Where I'm from, we'd never sue humans.
  : We were thinking of stickball or candy stores. BARRY: How old are you? BEE LARRY KING: The bee community is supporting you in this case, : which will be the trial of the bee century. BARRY: You know, they have a Larry King in the human world too. BEE LARRY KING: It's a common name. Next week... BARRY: He looks like you and has a show and suspenders and colored dots... BEE LARRY KING: Next week... BARRY: Glasses, quotes on the bottom from the guest even though you just heard 'em. BEE LARRY KING: Bear Week next week! They're scary, hairy and here, live. (Bee Larry King gets annoyed and flies away offscreen) BARRY: Always leans forward, pointy shoulders, squinty eyes, very Jewish. (Flash forward in time. We see Vanessa enter and Ken enters behind her. They are arguing)
  

KEN: In tennis, you attack at the point of weakness! VANESSA: It was my grandmother, Ken. She's 81. KEN== Honey, her backhand's a joke! I'm not gonna take advantage of that? BARRY: (To Ken) Quiet, please. Actual work going on here. KEN: (Pointing at Barry) - Is that that same bee? VANESSA: - Yes, it is! : I'm helping him sue the human race. BARRY: - Hello. KEN: - Hello, bee. VANESSA: This is Ken. BARRY: (Recalling the "Winter Boots" incident earlier) Yeah, I remember you. Timberland, size ten and a half. Vibram sole, I believe. KEN: (To Vanessa) Why does he talk again? VANESSA:
Listen, you better go 'cause we're really busy working. KEN: But it's our yogurt night! VANESSA: (Holding door open for Ken) Bye-bye. KEN: (Yelling) Why is yogurt night so difficult?! (Ken leaves and Vanessa walks over to Barry. His workplace is a mess) VANESSA: You poor thing. You two have been at this for hours! BARRY: Yes, and Adam here has been a huge help. ADAM: - Frosting... - How many sugars? ==BARRY== Just one. I try not to use the competition. : So why are you helping me? VANESSA: Bees have good qualities. : And it takes my mind off the shop. : Instead of flowers, people are giving balloon bouquets now. BARRY:
Those are great, if you're three. VANESSA: And artificial flowers. BARRY: - Oh, those just get me psychotic! VANESSA: - Yeah, me too. : BARRY: Bent stingers, pointless pollination. ADAM: Bees must hate those fake things! : Nothing worse than a daffodil that's had work done. : Maybe this could make up for it a little bit. VANESSA: - This lawsuit's a pretty big deal. BARRY: - I guess. ADAM: You sure you want to go through with it? BARRY: Am I sure? When I'm done with the humans, they won't be able : to say, "Honey, I'm home," without paying a royalty! (Flash forward in time and we are watching the human news. The camera shows
a crowd outside a courthouse) NEWS REPORTER: It's an incredible scene here in downtown Manhattan, : where the world anxiously waits, because for the first time in history, : we will hear for ourselves if a honeybee can actually speak. (We are no longer watching through a news camera) ADAM: What have we gotten into here, Barry? BARRY: It's pretty big, isn't it? ADAM== (Looking at the hundreds of people around the courthouse) I can't believe how many humans don't work during the day. BARRY: You think billion-dollar multinational food companies have good lawyers? SECURITY GUARD: Everybody needs to stay behind the barricade. (A limousine drives up and a fat man,Layton Montgomery, a honey industry owner gets out and walks past Barry) ADAM: - What's the matter? BARRY: - I don't know, I just got a chill. (Fast forward in time and everyone is in the court) MONTGOMERY: Well, if it isn't the bee team.
(To Honey Industry lawyers) You boys work on this? MAN: All rise! The Honorable Judge Bumbleton presiding. JUDGE BUMBLETON: All right. Case number 4475, : Superior Court of New York, Barry Bee Benson v. the Honey Industry : is now in session. : Mr. Montgomery, you're representing the five food companies collectively? MONTGOMERY: A privilege. JUDGE BUMBLETON: Mr. Benson... you're representing all the bees of the world? (Everyone looks closely, they are waiting to see if a Bee can really talk) (Barry makes several buzzing sounds to sound like a Bee) BARRY: I'm kidding. Yes, Your Honor, we're ready to proceed. JUDGE BUMBLBETON: Mr. Montgomery, your opening statement, please. MONTGOMERY: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, : my grandmother was a simple woman. :
Born on a farm, she believed it was man's divine right : to benefit from the bounty of nature God put before us. : If we lived in the topsy-turvy world Mr. Benson imagines, : just think of what would it mean. : I would have to negotiate with the silkworm : for the elastic in my britches! : Talking bee! (Montgomery walks over and looks closely at Barry) : How do we know this isn't some sort of : holographic motion-picture-capture Hollywood wizardry? : They could be using laser beams! : Robotics! Ventriloquism! Cloning! For all we know, : he could be on steroids! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Mr. Benson?
BARRY: Ladies and gentlemen, there's no trickery here. : I'm just an ordinary bee. Honey's pretty important to me. : It's important to all bees. We invented it! : We make it. And we protect it with our lives. : Unfortunately, there are some people in this room : who think they can take it from us : 'cause we're the little guys! I'm hoping that, after this is all over, : you'll see how, by taking our honey, you not only take everything we have : but everything we are! JANET== (To Martin) I wish he'd dress like that all the time. So nice! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Call your first witness. BARRY: So, Mr. Klauss Vanderhayden
of Honey Farms, big company you have. KLAUSS VANDERHAYDEN: I suppose so. BARRY: I see you also own Honeyburton and Honron! KLAUSS: Yes, they provide beekeepers for our farms. BARRY: Beekeeper. I find that to be a very disturbing term. : I don't imagine you employ any bee-free-ers, do you? KLAUSS: (Quietly) - No. BARRY: - I couldn't hear you. KLAUSS: - No. BARRY: - No. : Because you don't free bees. You keep bees. Not only that, : it seems you thought a bear would be an appropriate image for a jar of honey. KLAUSS: They're very lovable creatures.
: Yogi Bear, Fozzie Bear, Build-A-Bear. BARRY: You mean like this? (The bear from Over The Hedge barges in through the back door and it is roaring and standing on its hind legs. It is thrashing its claws and people are screaming. It is being held back by a guard who has the bear on a chain) : (Pointing to the roaring bear) Bears kill bees! : How'd you like his head crashing through your living room?! : Biting into your couch! Spitting out your throw pillows! JUDGE BUMBLETON: OK, that's enough. Take him away. (The bear stops roaring and thrashing and walks out) BARRY: So, Mr. Sting, thank you for being here. Your name intrigues me. : - Where have I heard it before? MR. STING: - I was with a band called The Police. BARRY: But you've never been a police officer, have you? STING: No, I haven't. BARRY:
No, you haven't. And so here we have yet another example : of bee culture casually stolen by a human : for nothing more than a prance-about stage name. STING: Oh, please. BARRY: Have you ever been stung, Mr. Sting? : Because I'm feeling a little stung, Sting. : Or should I say... Mr. Gordon M. Sumner! MONTGOMERY: That's not his real name?! You idiots! BARRY: Mr. Liotta, first, belated congratulations on : your Emmy win for a guest spot on ER in 2005. RAY LIOTTA: Thank you. Thank you. BARRY: I see from your resume that you're devilishly handsome : with a churning inner turmoil
that's ready to blow. RAY LIOTTA: I enjoy what I do. Is that a crime? BARRY: Not yet it isn't. But is this what it's come to for you? : Exploiting tiny, helpless bees so you don't : have to rehearse your part and learn your lines, sir? RAY LIOTTA: Watch it, Benson! I could blow right now! BARRY: This isn't a goodfella. This is a badfella! (Ray Liotta looses it and tries to grab Barry) RAY LIOTTA: Why doesn't someone just step on this creep, and we can all go home?! JUDGE BUMBLETON: - Order in this court! RAY LIOTTA: - You're all thinking it! (Judge Bumbleton starts banging her gavel) JUDGE BUMBLETON: Order! Order, I say! RAY LIOTTA: - Say it! MAN:

• Mr. Liotta, please sit down! (We see a montage of magazines which feature the court case) (Flash forward in time and Barry is back home with Vanessa) BARRY: I think it was awfully nice of that bear to pitch in like that. VANESSA: I think the jury's on our side. BARRY: Are we doing everything right,you know, legally? VANESSA: I'm a florist. BARRY: Right. Well, here's to a great team. VANESSA: To a great team! (Ken walks in from work. He sees Barry and he looks upset when he sees Barry clinking his glass with Vanessa) KEN: Well, hello. VANESSA:
• Oh, Ken! BARRY:
• Hello! VANESSA: I didn't think you were coming. : No, I was just late. I tried to call, but... (Ken holds up his phone and flips it open. The phone has no charge) ...the battery... VANESSA:

I didn't want all this to go to waste, so I called Barry. Luckily, he was free. KEN: Oh, that was lucky. (Ken sits down at the table across from Barry and Vanessa leaves the room) VANESSA: There's a little left. I could heat it up. KEN: (Not taking his eyes off Barry) Yeah, heat it up, sure, whatever. BARRY: So I hear you're quite a tennis player. : I'm not much for the game myself. The ball's a little grabby. KEN: That's where I usually sit. Right... (Points to where Barry is sitting) there. VANESSA: (Calling from other room) Ken, Barry was looking at your resume, : and he agreed with me that eating with chopsticks isn't really a special skill. KEN: (To Barry) You think I don't see what you're doing? BARRY: I know how hard it is to find the right job. We have that in common.
KEN: Do we? BARRY: Bees have 100 percent employment, but we do jobs like taking the crud out. KEN: (Menacingly) That's just what I was thinking about doing. (Ken reaches for a fork on the table but knocks if on the floor. He goes to pick it up) VANESSA: Ken, I let Barry borrow your razor for his fuzz. I hope that was all right. (Ken quickly rises back up after hearing this but hits his head on the table and yells) BARRY: I'm going to drain the old stinger. KEN: Yeah, you do that. (Barry flies past Ken to get to the bathroom and Ken freaks out, splashing some of the wine he was using to cool his head in his eyes. He yells in anger) (Barry looks at the magazines featuring his victories in court) BARRY: Look at that. (Barry flies into the bathroom) (He puts his hand on his head but this makes hurts him and makes him even madder. He yells again) (Barry is washing his hands in the sink but then Ken walks in) KEN: You know, you know I've just about had it (Closes bathroom door behind him) with your little mind games. (Ken is menacingly rolling up a magazine) BARRY:
(Backing away) - What's that? KEN: - Italian Vogue. BARRY: Mamma mia, that's a lot of pages. KEN: It's a lot of ads. BARRY: Remember what Van said, why is your life more valuable than mine? KEN: That's funny, I just can't seem to recall that! (Ken smashes everything off the sink with the magazine and Barry narrowly escapes) (Ken follows Barry around and tries to hit him with the magazine but he keeps missing) (Ken gets a spray bottle) : I think something stinks in here! BARRY: (Enjoying the spray) I love the smell of flowers. (Ken holds a lighter in front of the spray bottle) KEN: How do you like the smell of flames?! BARRY: Not as much. (Ken fires his make-shift flamethrower but misses Barry, burning the bathroom. He torches the whole room but looses his footing and falls into the bathtub. After getting hit in the head by falling objects 3 times he picks up the shower head, revealing a Water bug hiding under it) WATER BUG: Water bug! Not taking sides!
(Barry gets up out of a pile of bathroom supplies and he is wearing a chapstick hat) BARRY: Ken, I'm wearing a Chapstick hat! This is pathetic! (Ken switches the shower head to lethal) KEN: I've got issues! (Ken sprays Barry with the shower head and he crash lands into the toilet) (Ken menacingly looks down into the toilet at Barry) Well, well, well, a royal flush! BARRY: - You're bluffing. KEN: - Am I? (flushes toilet) (Barry grabs a chapstick from the toilet seat and uses it to surf in the flushing toilet) BARRY: Surf's up, dude! (Barry flies out of the toilet on the chapstick and sprays Ken's face with the toilet water) : EW,Poo water! BARRY: That bowl is gnarly. KEN: (Aiming a toilet cleaner at Barry) Except for those dirty yellow rings! (Barry cowers and covers his head and Vanessa runs in and takes the toilet cleaner from Ken just before he hits Barry) VANESSA: Kenneth! What are you doing?! KEN== (Leaning towards Barry)
You know, I don't even like honey! I don't eat it! VANESSA: We need to talk! (Vanessa pulls Ken out of the bathroom) : He's just a little bee! : And he happens to be the nicest bee I've met in a long time! KEN: Long time? What are you talking about?! Are there other bugs in your life? VANESSA: No, but there are other things bugging me in life. And you're one of them! KEN: Fine! Talking bees, no yogurt night... : My nerves are fried from riding on this emotional roller coaster! VANESSA: Goodbye, Ken. (Ken huffs and walks out and slams the door. But suddenly he walks back in and stares at Barry) : And for your information, I prefer sugar-free, artificial sweeteners MADE BY MAN! (Ken leaves again and Vanessa leans in towards Barry) VANESSA: I'm sorry about all that. (Ken walks back in again)
KEN: I know it's got an aftertaste! I LIKE IT! (Ken leaves for the last time) VANESSA: I always felt there was some kind of barrier between Ken and me. : I couldn't overcome it. Oh, well. : Are you OK for the trial? BARRY: I believe Mr. Montgomery is about out of ideas. (Flash forward in time and Barry, Adam, and Vanessa are back in court) MONTGOMERY-- We would like to call Mr. Barry Benson Bee to the stand. ADAM: Good idea! You can really see why he's considered one of the best lawyers... (Barry stares at Adam) ...Yeah. LAWYER: Layton, you've gotta weave some magic with this jury, or it's gonna be all over. MONTGOMERY: Don't worry. The only thing I have to do to turn this jury around : is to remind them of what they don't like about bees. (To lawyer)

• You got the tweezers? LAWYER:
• Are you allergic? MONTGOMERY: Only to losing, son. Only to losing. : Mr. Benson Bee, I'll ask you what I think we'd all like to know. : What exactly is your relationship (Points to Vanessa) : to that woman? BARRY: We're friends. MONTGOMERY:
• Good friends? BARRY:
• Yes. MONTGOMERY: How good? Do you live together? ADAM: Wait a minute... : MONTGOMERY: Are you her little... : ...bedbug? (Adam's stinger starts vibrating. He is agitated) I've seen a bee documentary or two. From what I understand,
  : doesn't your queen give birth to all the bee children? BARRY:
  
• Yeah, but... MONTGOMERY: (Pointing at Janet and Martin)
  
• So those aren't your real parents! JANET:
  
• Oh, Barry... BARRY:
  
• Yes, they are! ADAM: Hold me back! (Vanessa tries to hold Adam back. He wants to sting Montgomery) MONTGOMERY: You're an illegitimate bee, aren't you, Benson? ADAM: He's denouncing bees! MONTGOMERY: Don't y'all date your cousins? (Montgomery leans over on the jury stand and stares at Adam) VANESSA:
  
• Objection! (Vanessa raises her hand to object but Adam gets free. He flies straight at Montgomery) =ADAM:
  
• I'm going to pincushion this guy! BARRY: Adam, don't! It's what he wants! (Adam stings Montgomery in the butt and he starts thrashing around)
  

MONTGOMERY: Oh, I'm hit!! : Oh, lordy, I am hit! JUDGE BUMBLETON: (Banging gavel) Order! Order! MONTGOMERY: (Overreacting) The venom! The venom is coursing through my veins! : I have been felled by a winged beast of destruction! : You see? You can't treat them like equals! They're striped savages! : Stinging's the only thing they know! It's their way! BARRY: - Adam, stay with me. ADAM: - I can't feel my legs. MONTGOMERY: (Overreacting and throwing his body around the room) What angel of mercy will come forward to suck the poison : from my heaving buttocks? JUDGE BUMLBETON: I will have order in this court. Order!
: Order, please! (Flash forward in time and we see a human news reporter) NEWS REPORTER: The case of the honeybees versus the human race : took a pointed turn against the bees : yesterday when one of their legal team stung Layton T. Montgomery. (Adam is laying in a hospital bed and Barry flies in to see him) BARRY: - Hey, buddy. ADAM: - Hey. BARRY: - Is there much pain? ADAM: - Yeah. : I... : I blew the whole case, didn't I? BARRY: It doesn't matter. What matters is you're alive. You could have died. ADAM: I'd be better off dead. Look at me. (A small plastic sword is replaced as Adam's stinger) They got it from the cafeteria downstairs, in a tuna sandwich.
: Look, there's a little celery still on it. (Flicks off the celery and sighs) BARRY: What was it like to sting someone? ADAM: I can't explain it. It was all... : All adrenaline and then... and then ecstasy! BARRY: ...All right. ADAM: You think it was all a trap? BARRY: Of course. I'm sorry. I flew us right into this. : What were we thinking? Look at us. We're just a couple of bugs in this world. ADAM: What will the humans do to us if they win? BARRY: I don't know. ADAM: I hear they put the roaches in motels. That doesn't sound so bad. BARRY: Adam, they check in, but they don't check out!
ADAM: Oh, my. (Coughs) Could you get a nurse to close that window? BARRY: - Why? ADAM: - The smoke. (We can see that two humans are smoking cigarettes outside) : Bees don't smoke. BARRY: Right. Bees don't smoke. : Bees don't smoke! But some bees are smoking. : That's it! That's our case! ADAM: It is? It's not over? BARRY: Get dressed. I've gotta go somewhere. : Get back to the court and stall. Stall any way you can. (Flash forward in time and Adam is making a paper boat in the courtroom) ADAM: And assuming you've done step 29 correctly, you're ready for the tub! (We see that the jury have each made their own paper boats after being taught how by Adam. They all look confused) JUDGE BUMBLETON:
Mr. Flayman. ADAM: Yes? Yes, Your Honor! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Where is the rest of your team? ADAM: (Continues stalling) Well, Your Honor, it's interesting. : Bees are trained to fly haphazardly, : and as a result, we don't make very good time. : I actually heard a funny story about... MONTGOMERY: Your Honor, haven't these ridiculous bugs : taken up enough of this court's valuable time? : How much longer will we allow these absurd shenanigans to go on? : They have presented no compelling evidence to support their charges : against my clients, who run legitimate businesses. : I move for a complete dismissal
of this entire case! JUDGE BUMBLETON: Mr. Flayman, I'm afraid I'm going : to have to consider Mr. Montgomery's motion. ADAM: But you can't! We have a terrific case. MONTGOMERY: Where is your proof? Where is the evidence? : Show me the smoking gun! BARRY: (Barry flies in through the door) Hold it, Your Honor! You want a smoking gun? : Here is your smoking gun. (Vanessa walks in holding a bee smoker. She sets it down on the Judge's podium) JUDGE BUMBLETON: What is that? BARRY: It's a bee smoker! MONTGOMERY: (Picks up smoker) What, this? This harmless little contraption? : This couldn't hurt a fly, let alone a bee. (Montgomery accidentally fires it at the bees in the crowd and they faint
and cough) (Dozens of reporters start taking pictures of the suffering bees) BARRY: Look at what has happened : to bees who have never been asked, "Smoking or non?" : Is this what nature intended for us? : To be forcibly addicted to smoke machines : and man-made wooden slat work camps? : Living out our lives as honey slaves to the white man? (Barry points to the honey industry owners. One of them is an African American so he awkwardly separates himself from the others) LAWYER: - What are we gonna do? - He's playing the species card. BARRY: Ladies and gentlemen, please, free these bees! ADAM AND VANESSA: Free the bees! Free the bees! BEES IN CROWD: Free the bees! HUMAN JURY: Free the bees! Free the bees! JUDGE BUMBLETON: The court finds in favor of the bees!
BARRY: Vanessa, we won! VANESSA: I knew you could do it! High-five! (Vanessa hits Barry hard because her hand is too big) : Sorry. BARRY: (Overjoyed) I'm OK! You know what this means? : All the honey will finally belong to the bees. : Now we won't have to work so hard all the time. MONTGOMERY: This is an unholy perversion of the balance of nature, Benson. : You'll regret this. (Montgomery leaves and Barry goes outside the courtroom. Several reporters start asking Barry questions) REPORTER 1#: Barry, how much honey is out there? BARRY: All right. One at a time. REPORTER 2#: Barry, who are you wearing? BARRY: My sweater is Ralph Lauren, and I have no pants.
(Barry flies outside with the paparazzi and Adam and Vanessa stay back) ADAM: (To Vanessa) - What if Montgomery's right? Vanessa: - What do you mean? ADAM: We've been living the bee way a long time, 27 million years. (Flash forward in time and Barry is talking to a man) BUSINESS MAN: Congratulations on your victory. What will you demand as a settlement? BARRY: First, we'll demand a complete shutdown of all bee work camps. (As Barry is talking we see a montage of men putting "closed" tape over the work camps and freeing the bees in the crappy apartments) Then we want back the honey that was ours to begin with, : every last drop. (Men in suits are pushing all the honey of the aisle and into carts) We demand an end to the glorification of the bear as anything more (We see a statue of a bear-shaped honey container being pulled down by bees) than a filthy, smelly, bad-breath stink machine. : We're all aware of what they do in the woods. (We see Winnie the Pooh sharing his honey with Piglet in the cross-hairs of a high-tech sniper rifle) BARRY: (Looking through binoculars)
Wait for my signal. : Take him out. (Winnie gets hit by a tranquilizer dart and dramatically falls off the log he was standing on, his tongue hanging out. Piglet looks at Pooh in fear and the Sniper takes the honey.) SNIPER: He'll have nausea for a few hours, then he'll be fine. (Flash forward in time) BARRY: And we will no longer tolerate bee-negative nicknames... (Mr. Sting is sitting at home until he is taken out of his house by the men in suits) STING: But it's just a prance-about stage name! BARRY: ...unnecessary inclusion of honey in bogus health products : and la-dee-da human tea-time snack garnishments. (An old lady is mixing honey into her tea but suddenly men in suits smash her face down on the table and take the honey) OLD LADY: Can't breathe. (A honey truck pulls up to Barry's hive) WORKER: Bring it in, boys! : Hold it right there! Good. : Tap it.
(Tons of honey is being pumped into the hive's storage) BEE WORKER 1#: (Honey overflows from the cup) Mr. Buzzwell, we just passed three cups, and there's gallons more coming! : - I think we need to shut down! =BEE WORKER #2= - Shut down? We've never shut down. : Shut down honey production! DEAN BUZZWELL: Stop making honey! (The bees all leave their stations. Two bees run into a room and they put the keys into a machine) Turn your key, sir! (Two worker bees dramatically turn their keys, which opens the button which they press, shutting down the honey-making machines. This is the first time this has ever happened) BEE: ...What do we do now? (Flash forward in time and a Bee is about to jump into a pool full of honey) Cannonball! (The bee gets stuck in the honey and we get a short montage of Bees leaving work) (We see the Pollen Jocks flying but one of them gets a call on his antenna) LOU LU DUVA: (Through "phone") We're shutting honey production! : Mission abort. POLLEN JOCK #1: Aborting pollination and nectar detail. Returning to base. (The Pollen Jocks fly back to the hive)
(We get a time lapse of Central Park slowly wilting away as the bees all relax) BARRY: Adam, you wouldn't believe how much honey was out there. ADAM: Oh, yeah? BARRY: What's going on? Where is everybody? (The entire street is deserted) : - Are they out celebrating? ADAM: - They're home. : They don't know what to do. Laying out, sleeping in. : I heard your Uncle Carl was on his way to San Antonio with a cricket. BARRY: At least we got our honey back. ADAM: Sometimes I think, so what if humans liked our honey? Who wouldn't? : It's the greatest thing in the world! I was excited to be part of making it. : This was my new desk. This was my new job. I wanted to do it really well. :
And now... : Now I can't. (Flash forward in time and Barry is talking to Vanessa) BARRY: I don't understand why they're not happy. : I thought their lives would be better! : They're doing nothing. It's amazing. Honey really changes people. VANESSA: You don't have any idea what's going on, do you? BARRY: - What did you want to show me? (Vanessa takes Barry to the rooftop where they first had coffee and points to her store) VANESSA: - This. (Points at her flowers. They are all grey and wilting) BARRY: What happened here? VANESSA: That is not the half of it. (Small flash forward in time and Vanessa and Barry are on the roof of her store and she points to Central Park) (We see that Central Park is no longer green and colorful, rather it is grey, brown, and dead-like. It is very depressing to look at) BARRY: Oh, no. Oh, my. :
They're all wilting. VANESSA: Doesn't look very good, does it? BARRY: No. VANESSA: And whose fault do you think that is? BARRY: You know, I'm gonna guess bees. VANESSA== (Staring at Barry) Bees? BARRY: Specifically, me. : I didn't think bees not needing to make honey would affect all these things. VANESSA: It's not just flowers. Fruits, vegetables, they all need bees. BARRY: That's our whole SAT test right there. VANESSA: Take away produce, that affects the entire animal kingdom. : And then, of course... BARRY: The human species? : So if there's no more pollination,
: it could all just go south here, couldn't it? VANESSA: I know this is also partly my fault. BARRY: How about a suicide pact? VANESSA: How do we do it? BARRY: - I'll sting you, you step on me. VANESSA: - That just kills you twice. BARRY: Right, right. VANESSA: Listen, Barry... sorry, but I gotta get going. (Vanessa leaves) BARRY: (To himself) I had to open my mouth and talk. : Vanessa? : Vanessa? Why are you leaving? Where are you going? (Vanessa is getting into a taxi) VANESSA: To the final Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. :
They've moved it to this weekend because all the flowers are dying. : It's the last chance I'll ever have to see it. BARRY: Vanessa, I just wanna say I'm sorry. I never meant it to turn out like this. VANESSA: I know. Me neither. (The taxi starts to drive away) BARRY: Tournament of Roses. Roses can't do sports. : Wait a minute. Roses. Roses? : Roses! : Vanessa! (Barry flies after the Taxi) VANESSA: Roses?! : Barry? (Barry is flying outside the window of the taxi) BARRY: - Roses are flowers! VANESSA: - Yes, they are. BARRY: Flowers, bees, pollen!
VANESSA: I know. That's why this is the last parade. BARRY: Maybe not. Could you ask him to slow down? VANESSA: Could you slow down? (The taxi driver screeches to a stop and Barry keeps flying forward) : Barry! (Barry flies back to the window) BARRY: OK, I made a huge mistake. This is a total disaster, all my fault. VANESSA: Yes, it kind of is. BARRY: I've ruined the planet. I wanted to help you : with the flower shop. I've made it worse. VANESSA: Actually, it's completely closed down. BARRY: I thought maybe you were remodeling. : But I have another idea, and it's greater than my previous ideas combined. VANESSA: I don't want to hear it!
BARRY: All right, they have the roses, the roses have the pollen. : I know every bee, plant and flower bud in this park. : All we gotta do is get what they've got back here with what we've got. : - Bees. VANESSA: - Park. BARRY: - Pollen! VANESSA: - Flowers. BARRY: - Re-pollination! VANESSA: - Across the nation! : Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, California. : They've got nothing but flowers, floats and cotton candy. : Security will be tight. BARRY: I have an idea.
(Flash forward in time. Vanessa is about to board a plane which has all the Roses on board. VANESSA: Vanessa Bloome, FTD. (Holds out badge) : Official floral business. It's real. SECURITY GUARD: Sorry, ma'am. Nice brooch. =VANESSA== Thank you. It was a gift. (Barry is revealed to be hiding inside the brooch) (Flash back in time and Barry and Vanessa are discussing their plan) BARRY: Once inside, we just pick the right float. VANESSA: How about The Princess and the Pea? : I could be the princess, and you could be the pea! BARRY: Yes, I got it. : - Where should I sit? GUARD: - What are you? BARRY: - I believe I'm the pea. GUARD: - The pea? VANESSA:
It goes under the mattresses. GUARD: - Not in this fairy tale, sweetheart. - I'm getting the marshal. VANESSA: You do that! This whole parade is a fiasco! : Let's see what this baby'll do. (Vanessa drives the float through traffic) GUARD: Hey, what are you doing?! BARRY== Then all we do is blend in with traffic... : ...without arousing suspicion. : Once at the airport, there's no stopping us. (Flash forward in time and Barry and Vanessa are about to get on a plane) SECURITY GUARD: Stop! Security. : - You and your insect pack your float? VANESSA: - Yes. SECURITY GUARD: Has it been in your possession the entire time? VANESSA: - Yes.
SECURITY GUARD: Would you remove your shoes? (To Barry) - Remove your stinger. BARRY: - It's part of me. SECURITY GUARD: I know. Just having some fun. Enjoy your flight. (Barry plotting with Vanessa) BARRY: Then if we're lucky, we'll have just enough pollen to do the job. (Flash forward in time and Barry and Vanessa are flying on the plane) Can you believe how lucky we are? We have just enough pollen to do the job! VANESSA: I think this is gonna work. BARRY: It's got to work. CAPTAIN SCOTT: (On intercom) Attention, passengers, this is Captain Scott. : We have a bit of bad weather in New York. : It looks like we'll experience a couple hours delay. VANESSA: Barry, these are cut flowers with no water. They'll never make it. BARRY:
I gotta get up there and talk to them. VANESSA== Be careful. (Barry flies right outside the cockpit door) BARRY: Can I get help with the Sky Mall magazine? I'd like to order the talking inflatable nose and ear hair trimmer. (The flight attendant opens the door and walks out and Barry flies into the cockpit unseen) BARRY: Captain, I'm in a real situation. CAPTAIN SCOTT: - What'd you say, Hal? CO-PILOT HAL: - Nothing. (Scott notices Barry and freaks out) CAPTAIN SCOTT: Bee! BARRY: No,no,no, Don't freak out! My entire species... (Captain Scott gets out of his seat and tries to suck Barry into a handheld vacuum) HAL: (To Scott) What are you doing? (Barry lands on Hals hair but Scott sees him. He tries to suck up Barry but instead he sucks up Hals toupee) CAPTAIN SCOTT: Uh-oh. BARRY: - Wait a minute! I'm an attorney!
HAL: (Hal doesn't know Barry is on his head) - Who's an attorney? CAPTAIN SCOTT: Don't move. (Scott hits Hal in the face with the vacuum in an attempt to hit Barry. Hal is knocked out and he falls on the life raft button which launches an infalatable boat into Scott, who gets knocked out and falls to the floor. They are both uncounscious.) BARRY: (To himself) Oh, Barry. BARRY: (On intercom, with a Southern accent) Good afternoon, passengers. This is your captain. : Would a Miss Vanessa Bloome in 24B please report to the cockpit? (Vanessa looks confused) (Normal accent) ...And please hurry! (Vanessa opens the door and sees the life raft and the uncounscious pilots) VANESSA: What happened here? BARRY: I tried to talk to them, but then there was a DustBuster, a toupee, a life raft exploded. : Now one's bald, one's in a boat, and they're both unconscious! VANESSA: ...Is that another bee joke? BARRY:

• No! : No one's flying the plane! BUD DITCHWATER: (Through radio on plane) This is JFK control tower, Flight 356. What's your status? VANESSA: This is Vanessa Bloome. I'm a florist from New York. BUD: Where's the pilot? VANESSA: He's unconscious, and so is the copilot. BUD: Not good. Does anyone onboard have flight experience? BARRY: As a matter of fact, there is. BUD:
• Who's that? BARRY:
• Barry Benson. BUD: From the honey trial?! Oh, great. BARRY: Vanessa, this is nothing more than a big metal bee. : It's got giant wings, huge engines.

VANESSA: I can't fly a plane. BARRY: - Why not? Isn't John Travolta a pilot? VANESSA: - Yes. BARRY: How hard could it be? (Vanessa sits down and flies for a little bit but we see lightning clouds outside the window) VANESSA: Wait, Barry! We're headed into some lightning. (An ominous lightning storm looms in front of the plane) (We are now watching the Bee News) BOB BUMBLE: This is Bob Bumble. We have some late-breaking news from JFK Airport, : where a suspenseful scene is developing. : Barry Benson, fresh from his legal victory... ADAM: That's Barry! BOB BUMBLE: ...is attempting to land a plane, loaded with people, flowers : and an incapacitated flight crew. JANET, MARTIN, UNCLE CAR AND ADAM: Flowers?! (The scene switches to the human news)
REPORTER: (Talking with Bob Bumble) We have a storm in the area and two individuals at the controls : with absolutely no flight experience. BOB BUMBLE: Just a minute. There's a bee on that plane. BUD: I'm quite familiar with Mr. Benson and his no-account compadres. : They've done enough damage. REPORTER: But isn't he your only hope? BUD: Technically, a bee shouldn't be able to fly at all. : Their wings are too small... BARRY: (Through radio) Haven't we heard this a million times? : "The surface area of the wings and body mass make no sense."... BOB BUMBLE: - Get this on the air! BEE: - Got it.
BEE NEWS CREW: - Stand by. BEE NEWS CREW: - We're going live! BARRY: (Through radio on TV) ...The way we work may be a mystery to you. : Making honey takes a lot of bees doing a lot of small jobs. : But let me tell you about a small job. : If you do it well, it makes a big difference. : More than we realized. To us, to everyone. : That's why I want to get bees back to working together. : That's the bee way! We're not made of Jell-O. : We get behind a fellow. : - Black and yellow! BEES: - Hello! (The scene switches and Barry is teaching Vanessa how to fly) BARRY:
Left, right, down, hover. VANESSA: - Hover? BARRY: - Forget hover. VANESSA: This isn't so hard. (Pretending to honk the horn) Beep-beep! Beep-beep! (A Lightning bolt hits the plane and autopilot turns off) Barry, what happened?! BARRY: Wait, I think we were on autopilot the whole time. VANESSA: - That may have been helping me. BARRY: - And now we're not! VANESSA: So it turns out I cannot fly a plane. (The plane plummets but we see Lou Lu Duva and the Pollen Jocks, along with multiple other bees flying towards the plane) Lou Lu DUva: All of you, let's get behind this fellow! Move it out! : Move out! (The scene switches back to Vanessa and Barry in the plane) BARRY: Our only chance is if I do what I'd do, you copy me with the wings of the plane! (Barry sticks out his arms like an airplane and flys in front of Vanessa's face)
VANESSA: Don't have to yell. BARRY: I'm not yelling! We're in a lot of trouble. VANESSA: It's very hard to concentrate with that panicky tone in your voice! BARRY: It's not a tone. I'm panicking! VANESSA: I can't do this! (Barry slaps Vanessa) BARRY: Vanessa, pull yourself together. You have to snap out of it! VANESSA: (Slaps Barry) You snap out of it. BARRY: (Slaps Vanessa) : You snap out of it. VANESSA: - You snap out of it! BARRY: - You snap out of it! (We see that all the Pollen Jocks are flying under the plane) VANESSA: - You snap out of it! BARRY: - You snap out of it!
VANESSA: - You snap out of it! BARRY: - You snap out of it! VANESSA: - Hold it! BARRY: - Why? Come on, it's my turn. VANESSA: How is the plane flying? (The plane is now safely flying) VANESSA: I don't know. (Barry's antennae rings like a phone. Barry picks up) BARRY: Hello? LOU LU DUVA: (Through "phone") Benson, got any flowers for a happy occasion in there? (All of the Pollen Jocks are carrying the plane) BARRY: The Pollen Jocks! : They do get behind a fellow. LOU LU DUVA: - Black and yellow. POLLEN JOCKS: - Hello. LOU LU DUVA: All right, let's drop this tin can
on the blacktop. BARRY: Where? I can't see anything. Can you? VANESSA: No, nothing. It's all cloudy. : Come on. You got to think bee, Barry. BARRY: - Thinking bee. - Thinking bee. (On the runway there are millions of bees laying on their backs) BEES: Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! BARRY: Wait a minute. I think I'm feeling something. VANESSA: - What? BARRY: - I don't know. It's strong, pulling me. : Like a 27-million-year-old instinct. : Bring the nose down. BEES: Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! CONTROL TOWER OPERATOR: - What in the world is on the tarmac? BUD: - Get some lights on that!
(It is revealed that all the bees are organized into a giant pulsating flower formation) BEES: Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! BARRY: - Vanessa, aim for the flower. VANESSA: - OK. BARRY: Out the engines. We're going in on bee power. Ready, boys? LOU LU DUVA: Affirmative! BARRY: Good. Good. Easy, now. That's it. : Land on that flower! : Ready? Full reverse! : Spin it around! (The plane's nose is pointed at a flower painted on a nearby plane) - Not that flower! The other one! VANESSA: - Which one? BARRY: - That flower. (The plane is now pointed at a fat guy in a flowered shirt. He freaks out and tries to take a picture of the plane) VANESSA: - I'm aiming at the flower!
BARRY: That's a fat guy in a flowered shirt. I mean the giant pulsating flower made of millions of bees! (The plane hovers over the bee-flower) : Pull forward. Nose down. Tail up. : Rotate around it. VANESSA: - This is insane, Barry! BARRY: - This's the only way I know how to fly. BUD: Am I koo-koo-kachoo, or is this plane flying in an insect-like pattern? (The plane is unrealistically hovering and spinning over the bee-flower) BARRY: Get your nose in there. Don't be afraid. Smell it. Full reverse! : Just drop it. Be a part of it. : Aim for the center! : Now drop it in! Drop it in, woman! : Come on, already. (The bees scatter and the plane safely lands) VANESSA: Barry, we did it! You taught me how to fly!
BARRY: - Yes! (Vanessa is about to high-five Barry) No high-five! VANESSA: - Right. ADAM: Barry, it worked! Did you see the giant flower? BARRY: What giant flower? Where? Of course I saw the flower! That was genius! ADAM: - Thank you. BARRY: - But we're not done yet. : Listen, everyone! : This runway is covered with the last pollen : from the last flowers available anywhere on Earth. : That means this is our last chance. : We're the only ones who make honey, pollinate flowers and dress like this. : If we're gonna survive as a species, this is our moment! What do you say?
: Are we going to be bees, or just Museum of Natural History keychains? BEES: We're bees! BEE WHO LIKES KEYCHAINS: Keychain! BARRY: Then follow me! Except Keychain. POLLEN JOCK #1: Hold on, Barry. Here. : You've earned this. BARRY: Yeah! : I'm a Pollen Jock! And it's a perfect fit. All I gotta do are the sleeves. (The Pollen Jocks throw Barry a nectar-collecting gun. Barry catches it) Oh, yeah. JANET: That's our Barry. (Barry and the Pollen Jocks get pollen from the flowers on the plane) (Flash forward in time and the Pollen Jocks are flying over NYC) : (Barry pollinates the flowers in Vanessa's shop and then heads to Central Park) BOY IN PARK: Mom! The bees are back! ADAM: (Putting on his Krelman hat) If anybody needs
to make a call, now's the time. : I got a feeling we'll be working late tonight! (The bee honey factories are back up and running) (Meanwhile at Vanessa's shop) VANESSA: (To customer) Here's your change. Have a great afternoon! Can I help who's next? : Would you like some honey with that? It is bee-approved. Don't forget these. (There is a room in the shop where Barry does legal work for other animals. He is currently talking with a Cow) COW: Milk, cream, cheese, it's all me. And I don't see a nickel! : Sometimes I just feel like a piece of meat! BARRY: I had no idea. VANESSA: Barry, I'm sorry. Have you got a moment? BARRY: Would you excuse me? My mosquito associate will help you. MOOSEBLOOD: Sorry I'm late. COW: He's a lawyer too?
MOOSEBLOOD: Ma'am, I was already a blood-sucking parasite. All I needed was a briefcase. VANESSA: Have a great afternoon! : Barry, I just got this huge tulip order, and I can't get them anywhere. BARRY: No problem, Vannie. Just leave it to me. VANESSA: You're a lifesaver, Barry. Can I help who's next? BARRY: All right, scramble, jocks! It's time to fly. VANESSA: Thank you, Barry! (Ken walks by on the sidewalk and sees the "bee-approved honey" in Vanessa's shop) KEN: That bee is living my life!! ANDY: Let it go, Kenny. KEN: - When will this nightmare end?! ANDY: - Let it all go. BARRY: - Beautiful day to fly. POLLEN JOCK:

• Sure is. BARRY: Between you and me, I was dying to get out of that office. (Barry recreates the scene near the beginning of the movie where he flies through the box kite. The movie fades to black and the credits being) [--after credits; No scene can be seen but the characters can be heard talking over the credits--] You have got to start thinking bee, my friend! :
• Thinking bee!
• Me? BARRY: (Talking over singer) Hold it. Let's just stop for a second. Hold it. : I'm sorry. I'm sorry, everyone. Can we stop here? SINGER: Oh, BarryBARRY: I'm not making a major life decision during a production number! SINGER: All right. Take ten, everybody. Wrap it up, guys. BARRY: I had virtually no rehearsal for that.

Hey Vegas folks! My husband & I (in our 40's) are visiting the week of 4th of July. We have some general stuff booked and I'd love some feedback on how well we've planned this out. For context, I had pretty major foot surgery last year, so while I can walk a few miles a day, we're trying to keep it minimal, hence most stuff is at or near the Venetian/Palazzo complex. Not looking for strip clubs or hookers, etc., but we're foodies and enjoy good libations. I've got good walking shoes. (I have followed this sub for some time, so I'm trying really hard not to duplicate the common questions!)
Question on shoes at nicer restaurants. Is anyone going to give me grief over prescription sandals? Like I noted, I had foot surgery, and I quite literally cannot wear heels. I have some nice looking leather sandals that cover most of my scars, but they're orthopedic sandals. Not fancy/cute, but I feel like they're appropriate? My clothing is like, nice dresses and skirt/shirt combos so I'm fine there. I just can't get away from the ugly shoes. This is my biggest concern. Would it help my cause to carry my cane?
Anyway, here's the general schedule. Would love to know if this is perceived as doable/overbooked or if there's other stuff we should try to shove in there.
Monday - fly in, dinner at Mercato in the Venetian. Tuesday - foodie walking tour in the afternoon (center strip up to Venetian), no other plans. I suspect downtown is batshit on the 4th of July? Hubs would love to do the zipline but we're unsure if this is feasible on the 4th itself. Weds - Dinner at Morimoto & Ka at the MGM, no afternoon/morning stuff planned. Thurs - Area 15 (Omega Mart & Liftoff), followed by karaoke at Rockhouse back at the hotel. (If there's better karaoke to be had, PLEASE tell me! We freaking love karaoke!) Fri - Fly home, so probably breakfast at Hash House & head to airport
Finally - if we snag a cab from the airport and swing by a dispensary for edibles, which dispensary is best? It's legal where we live so we're familiar with the process, but I hear all of the so-called "dispensaries" on the strip are BS. Would love to be able to pop over for curbside pickup on a prepaid order before we head to the hotel. (This is before we get watesnacks on our way to the room!)
Thanks Vegas peeps!!