<Witty Name>

Ben "Huff" Huff

Eh maybe not the best choice for me.
 
Ben Huff, Washington, America

That's why.

I'm a loose cannon, what can I say.
 
 
Yeah well I don't approve of llama people.

I can't say that I like this abuse of maids

With John Caveson kicking off his very cool SPUF in Space revival idea, I went ahead and asked the other writers for The Business End if anyone wanted to join his Eternal Adventures project, which would probably mean splitting up the crew. Overall, no one seemed to keen on giving up The Business End just yet, even though SiS is inactive and most of us don't have the time to invest in RPing as we did on the old story thread. With that in mind, I figured the best way to continue our story would be to create our own solo offshoot based around The Business End and its crew.
 
Rather than have it written by a single author I'm hoping to make this a collaborative effort, with each writer contributing (or just approving) whatever they can as far as characters and story lines go. Currently it looks like Witty and myself may be doing the bulk of the actual writing, but other TBE people can jump in at any time to contribute to the project (we have a PM discussion set up). The story will be taking place in the same universe as SiS/Eternal Adventures, so we'll also be collaborating across our respective stories to some degree.
 
So far I have a few ideas planned as I'm sure others do, so hopefully we'll be able to start introducing some new story material soon. In the meantime, I've collected all our previous posts here. (I'm not sure we'll be sticking with the "Fenria I" / "Sun II" format later on, but it works for how the old thread was set up, and seemed like it would be easier to read it this way than stitching it all together in one big block.)
 
Anyway, without further whatever:
 
Tales From The Business End
 
Previously..
 
Avalon Part One
 
Chapter One - Alex
TL;DR:  The Business End just got back from a rather disastrous mission, good thing they got paid upfront.  Now they're done with repairs and supply loading, and ready to get back out there.
Author - alexgndl
  Chapter Two - Fenria   TL;DR: Fenria is still getting over the convoy's destruction. She gets a chance to inspect her newly modified spacecraft.
Author - <Witty Name>
 
Chapter Three - Bine
TL;DR: Bine Rides a train to the Buisness End's hangar. 
Author - Binary
 
Chapter Four - Sun
TL;DR: Sun heads back to the ship, plots some kind of "initiation" for Bine Arey. 
Author - Rynjin
 
Chapter Five - Fenria
TL;DR: Fenria steps outside for a bit of sunlight and runs into Sun.
Author - <Witty Name> & Rynjin
 
Chapter Six - Al
TL;DR: Al and Hourai heads to the business end.
Author - Doopliss2008
 
Chapter Seven - Bine
TL;DR: Bine gets to the Business End, is "greeted" by Sun. They are interrupted by another arrival. 
Author - Binary
 
Chapter Eight - Senn
TL;DR: Desperate to get off world, Senn approaches Alex looking for a job, with mixed results. 
Author - Kayohgee
 
Chapter Nine - Sun
TL;DR: Sun talks to Alex about the new recruit.
Author - Rynjin
 
Chapter Ten - Senn
TL;DR Senn takes on a pair of assassins and reads one of their minds. Realizing he was last seen talking to Alex, he races to find the crew of the Business End before they're all killed.
Author - Kayohgee
 
Chapter Eleven - Fenria
TL;DR: Fenria bumps into Senn after his fight in the bar.
Author - <Witty Name>
 
Chapter Twelve - Senn
TL;DR Senn and Fenria head to the spaceport together.
Author - Kayohgee & <Witty Name>
 

I suggest to just do a simple condolences message explaining who we are and where we knew XYTWO from, with all our names (maybe nationalities to show how he had friends all over the world)
 
Dear Mr and Ms Lebowitz,
 
We heard of James' passing through his roommate. We are all part of a small gaming community James was part of, and his passing was a great shock to all of us. He was a great guy, and had friends all over the world.
 
Our deepest condolences,
 
[names]

8:18 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: YOUR SKILL BUILD IS TERRIBLE
8:18 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: jesus christ
8:18 AM - Guy923: It's the
8:18 AM - Guy923: NEW
8:18 AM - Guy923: and improved
8:18 AM - Guy923: juggernaut build
8:18 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: MAX HEALING WARD AT LEAST JESUS CHRIST
8:18 AM - Guy923: nah
8:21 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: it's terirble
8:21 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: please kill yourself
8:21 AM - Guy923: it gets results
8:21 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: don't do it
8:21 AM - [LDT] Spy is a Spy™: please
 

 

Personally, I'll think a donation from the group, along with a short note like cmdr's, then have all our names at the end. Its simple and classy, without being overbearing, but still shows we care.

I realize that, not having interacted with him, this is probably not my place, but I'm going to go ahead and say this since it's on my mind
I really am not sure about the whole video thing
I don't think that his family would appreciate a bunch of internet strangers saying things about their dead son, even if they're nice things
They even asked for donations to that fund in lieu of any cards or flowers
I believe that it would be disrespectful to their wishes, as well as presumptuous and dishonest to act like any of us has experienced anywhere near the pain and loss that his family has

I feel like such a tragic event deserves more than a simple acknowledgement, so here goes.
 
For as long as I've been on the Internet, it's been natural to see people come and go, some quietly and some very loudly, but that's just how everything in life goes. Even I myself didn't expect to be a part of this community as long as I have, knowing my own history, but I've been around long enough to see plenty of members come and go.
 
For all that I've been a part of, I've never had to confront the possibility that someone would so suddenly depart, permanently and with no chance to return. Of course, nobody ever does because of the nature of the Internet, where nothing ever truly dies, but is simply forgotten to most. It feels even more surreal because of how separated the Internet is from real life, leading most of us to believe in them as two completely separate realms.
 
That brings us to now, where one of our own has had to depart life suddenly and at a relatively young age. I can't claim to have known XYTWO too well beyond the server I once ran and the forums I still run, but from the times I did have with him he was always a great friend to have, committed, active, and fun. He made more than enough of an impact here to make the members of this forum acutely aware when he disappeared during this tragic course of events.
 
It's no understatement to say that he's made his mark, and his presence will be sorely missed. His passing reminds us that at the end of the day, all we can hope to do is have made enough of a good impact when it is time for us to finally move on.
 
Thus, we bid farewell to you, James "XYTWO" Lebowitz. Your impact on the people here will never be forgotten and will continue with us to the end of time, and when it is time for us to join you beyond the mortal coil, all that we can hope for is to have measured up to you.
 
Rest in peace, dear friend.

This is terrifying man. I can't even imagine how his family must feel.
 
In 2012 my mother collapsed in the middle of a hallway and was rushed to the hospital. Turned out she had a heart defect and a weak heart in general (She lived, don't worry). That also turned out to be genetic and I share the same heart defect. I was told at the time that dying in my forties was a real possibility if I didn't take care of myself. It's something that lingers in the back of my consciousness at all times and in the days following those news, I was pretty down about things. I thought shit was fucking unfair actually. Today it doesn't really bother me, it only really pops back into my thoughts when I'm having a really bad day, or when something like this happens to remind me of my own mortality.
 
Reading this thread, I initially thought it was some sort of joke in poor taste, but I've come to understand that it is genuine. I cannot claim to have been close to XYTWO, but he definitely deserved better than this. All human beings do. God rest his soul.
 
I was upset with the prospects of dying a middle-aged man, but XYTWO died in the hospital at age 18. Talk about not fair.

It's about time I made my desktop into technicolor hell

Well, they're fun, regardless of whether you win or lose, which is one of my biggest factors in favorite heroes (see 'How I Learnt to Stop Supporting and Love the Axe.') But for further discussion, there's a number of things:
A gem is your Achilles' heel, but requires a 900 gold investment, and it is rarely the carry or a high-earning player who buys it, but usually a support. Gems remove your ability to place mines in plain sight, which is a shame, but there are several spots where an enemy cannot have vision without more assistance. This includes most uphill areas, the Roshan pit, and several spots in the jungles (such as the thin 'tree tunnel' in the Radiant camp near the middle tower.) However, gems are not bad, and if anything, there are two major advantages to an enemy team who buys one. Firstly, your mere presence has forced the enemy team to shell out 900 gold, which is one of Techies' strengths - his ability to starve an enemy of their economy. Secondly, if they do buy a gem, in my experience, 75% of the time, it will go on a support, and supports are usually quite squishy. Get a friend, suicide on top of them, and would you look at that? There's a free gem right here! Some would prefer it to stay in the fountain, but it's honestly more useful for your team to carry one as opposed to leaving it be (unless you have invisible-dependent teammates.) Basically the gem does counter Techies quite well, but there are usually ways around it, and the gem itself forces the enemy to make an investment and paint a big "Eat Me" sign on a support of theirs. Wards are a shorter-term solution to your mining antics, usually seen in the early game. Easy way to get around them? Play support. Think of the usual ward spots - rune spots, mid lane river bank, enemy jungle, uphill areas, etc. Don't put mines there - it's not a problem, there's a lot of space in the map to work with. Alternatively, if you feel you can't work around it (such as a rune spot overlooking Roshan and your buddy Ursa wants to go Aegis hunting soon) just deward them. Okay, Techies has enough trouble with gold in the early game to begin with, but one of two things will occur - they will ignore it, and you can mine to your heart's content - or they will deward and ward again, which requires another 350 gold from their pockets. Once again, just going out and doing things makes their wallets lighter, and is the key factor in how Techies can snowball. Map awareness is a general skill that most players will have. You can't really have tips or tricks to get around, other than not being seen. The only relevant advice I can think of is if your team isn't investing in smokes, you can buy one every now and then to get into enemy lines. I found this particularly effective in a game with an enemy jungling early on. Smoke up, run past the wards unseen, plant mines on those camps, head back out. Again, you have a win/win scenario - if they saw you, they'll usually panic and invest more gold into dewarding your mines or have to painfully remove them by hand (which takes them time and health) or they didn't and Chen is in for a nasty shock when all of his camps are empty and his Centaurs just exploded. Honestly, map awareness and detection is not the biggest problem as Techies, but it's time. In most of my games, the enemy team has been intelligent enough to just start pushing as early as possible. The sooner they start pushing, the weaker your mines are (lacking levels in remote mines or an Aghs in particular, but not having stasis traps is also a big problem) and the less effective you can be. Modus operandi is to be so elusive, so distracting, and so fucking frustrating, so that they focus on you and forget about the rest of the game. 
 
tl;dr: Enemies buying gems and wards and being clever hurts you, but their investment and focus on you is also a boon (and hurts their wallets.) Use tricks to get around it, or use it to your advantage (taking that gem off their hands, or just being fucking irritating and keeping their attention on you and not your teammates.) Teams pushing quickly and removing your map control is a bigger problem.
 
Haven't proof read this, sorry for typos.

[audible pain]

If you like that genre, try some stuff from Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Carrying on the tradition till the end ;_;7

I never met the guy, but damn if that isn't sobering.
Mortality is something I've been contemplating of late, and I've decided that it scares the hell out of me.
For something like this to happen so suddenly to someone so young is stoking that internal flame once again.
 
I guess he found out what's on the other side before any of us did.
 
Good luck, man. I hope it's exactly what you wanted it to be.

My mom found this, seems to be him

https://www.wonews.com/blog.aspx?ID=2982

Fucking, im remembering the games he gifted me now, the generous bastard.

:bread:

Uh, I never found Slacks funny, but what happened?

True.
 
I want to beat up ghosts as a knightgirl with confidence issues AND have light yuri moments with other magical girls.

Welcome to Payday hell

Any community that has access to a comment section is cancer.

It's weird doing free form stuff again.  Preliminary base character whiteboxing. I'm probably going to be adding some polys to work with the head, and the indents will be emmissive to help differentiate players from a distance. Also rocket launcher