Okay I literally finished the book a few minutes ago after spending 2 days binge reading it. I am going to mis a hilarous amount of details and important story bits, but I gotta stick with the vibe.
Here is the Dreadgod one Reddit - Dive into anything
You ready? No? Neither am I!
**SPACE ADVENTURES PART ONE**
Okay so we start in space again, and suriel and ozriel are like "yep we are def gonna die" and then eithan is like "Okay but hear me out...what if only one of us dies?" And suriel is like "You better not be up to some main character bullshit" and eithan then proceeds to pull a gandalf and fight the main baddy on his own while suriel goes back and goes to pick up something from Makiel, who would really like eithan to die please.
Makiel is looking for the ultimate killing tool everywhere and hopes to get it to kill ozriel, the mad king, and basically anyone who would fuck up the system. Suriel comes and is like "YOUR VIBES ARE ATROCIOUS AND YOU ARE UNDER ARREST" and makiel, having been a villian for a VERY long time, is like "bet. That makes sense."
Suriel, being the goodest girl, and not a hound, is super confused. Makiel explains, "Look I've seen like a billion villian stories. I knew after my final villianous act, I have to die to the hero or get diposed or something so I Was just gonna give up after I murdered your friend." Suriel who likes having friends, decides thats not okay and activates her trap card: Reaper's Gift!!!
By activating reapers gift, she can tap infinite black lands so long as she has the artifact equip. She then is like "Look...you've been a villian for a while." She then transfers the item to HIS character sheet "Wouldn't you rather go out like an anti-hero????" Makiel wasn't expecting someone to be nice to him, which might be a huge theme in this book.
So he says "fuck it we ball" and they go back to find eithan, SOMEHOW NOT DEAD YET, even though he has no super weapon, lost his mantle of ultimate protagonist power, and is literally fighting the solo boss with no equipment besides his pajamas. Makiel is like "Fuck dude I hate you." and ozriel is like "Feelings mutual buddy~" and the mad king tries to kill them both.
And then they realise that they both hate the same thing: Losing. Suddenly, united by the pettiness icon, Makiel and Ozriel trade weapons, and start wombo combing the Mad king like they are bros. They are both upset about the fact that they are actually doing really well. That said, its still a lot, and they are basically in a stalemate until eithan realises how to break it in a way that only he can.
By taunting the enemy in his final moments of life with a meme attack. He bops him on the head with the GOD SWORD OF AIM HAX and is like "Lmao get rektd" and then mcfucking dies, and then makiel super crits the mad king with the +100 sycthe of ultimate murder, and suriel jsut deletes him for good measure.
Then suriel is like "We gotta fix him, but he got mcfucking murdered, which is way worst than normal murder. What can we do?" And then makiel gives her his magic jacket and is like "One life...for another..." and suriel is like "WAIT YOU HATE HIM??? WHY WOULD YOU-"
"Because...nothing would piss him off more...than me going out like a hero...." and then he mcfucking dies to undo eithands death who comes back smiling, but on the inside, is morning the loss of his bro, the most petty man in existence. Truly and honor. Also everything has gone to shit.
**BABY BOX ADVENTURES** Back on baby box, Lindon and co go into the definitely not hyberbolic time chamber to super not go to super saiyan. Lindon is like 1/4 dreadgod and is ridiclously buff, and after having stolen everyones shit, makes sure to set up super training plans for everyone. But first, we gotta fix mercy, who got her ass kicked by her mom, because she's toxic. This will also be a theme for the book.
Mercy gets revived and is like "Fuck my mom IS the worst" and everyone side eyes because yeah, but shes having her time. After that, its time to get used to the weird training everyone has to do.
Orthos has to do cannibalism but not get feral or racist about it. He is very old, so its kinda hard to stop both of those things from happening, but he manages. Mostly. Drops a H slurr in there once.
Little Blue has to become a person. She makes a great mascot, but she has to get more substance to become a full fledged character with autonomy and shit.
Mercy has to deal with her mommy issues. No for real. Not a joke. She just has to deal with her mommy issues and get her own personality, outside of her mommy issues. This is a legitmate struggle for her, due to being the princess of the gaslight/gatekeep/girlboss empire.
Ziel needs to learn that he both has depression, and also, is a very angry person. Also to maybe not be so bloodthirsty. Also how to do time math. Also how to deal with the insanity caused by experiencing eternity....he has to deal with a lot.
Yerin is supposed to learn how to sword from her ghost dad, which lindon summons from a definitely not engagement ring box. Yerin pouts about this. Sword ghost dad says that she could probably get the sword icon if she just vibed correctly, and red faith agrees. She doesn't know WHAT vibe she is supposed to have though, until she thinks about eithan, and beating the shit out of red faith, and realises she REALLY wants to kill people. Like really bad. This is somehow ALSO a theme in this book.
Lindon...has to kill more dreadgods, each being a CR40 encounter. Also every time he does he has to make a will save or jsut straight up stop being a PC. This is fine he says. At least he still has the loot from the last one, right?
No one agrees with him.
Outside, Reigan shen decides to annoy lindon. Lindon responds by firing a **Death** arrow at reigan shen. He then runs the fuck a way because HOLY SHIT THE MAIN CHARACTER HAS A PROTAGONIST WEAPON NOW???? WTF GUYS WE GOTTA GET THEM!!!!
Malice + northsider agree, and decide to also annoy lindon. The more they annoy him, the less time he can spend digivolving his friends, and also prepping for the WEEPING DRAGON who is COMING TO FUCK EVERYONE UP. It is QUITE CROSS that SOMEHONE (hi lindon) MCFUCKING KILLED THEIR BRO!
Lindon uses his ghost dad jutsu to summon everyone has a ghost to fight...3 monarchs, 2 sages, a bunch of annoyances, and potentialyl a dreadgod. It is not a good day for him. Its not going to get better. Still, he has his protagonist weapon! And thats scary! Unforunately, being a protagonist weapon, he can only use as many times as the story allows...
Which is still enough to scare the shit out of reigan shin who just wants to end this all. So instead of using his usually gilgamesh bullshit, he instead uses his fusion ultimate doom attack of enkuidu + Enuma Ellish + Tiberian's Super Storm Beam of Triple Death. He is absolutely sure this combination of super attacks will wipe the protagonist off the face of the earth!
Unforunately, in his rage, he forgot that he was a villian that had just pulled out an ultimate weapon, which meant the hero HAD to pull out a hax option for the plot to continue. Said hax option, is literally just ghost eithan, who is like "bro, you sweep like this? Lemme show you how to clean house." He then proceeds to beat up all 3 monarchs in one attack and a dodge just to be a dick and is like "Oh btw that wasn't even like half my power, summon me when you have more juice homie."
Lindon, being tired of this bs, was like "Okay hear me out. How about 1v1s? You win, I stop being an asshole. I win, you fuck off." The monarchs, who had a lot more experience being assholes, accept this, and northstrider then proceeds to kick lindons ass. So much. So hard. His oracle codex is like "*He is weak. And dumb. And smelly. And he doesn't even sacred arts bro.*" and nothstrider is fine with that for a bit but then squints and reads the script again, and notices most of the lines were written over with sharpie.
Getting a copy of the ACTUAL script, he see's that lindon is drinking him, like a LOT and even stealing his icon and then slams him into the ground and points at Malice like "You want next?" malice, not giving a shit about men, says "Uhh nah im good." and fucks off back to her goth milf castle. Lindon then sighs because damn that was a long day. It'd be nice if he could get 5 minutes of-
Oh look shen found your hyperbolic time chamber, and is really mad that he's gotten his ass kicked twice today is going to take it out on all of your friends! Go lindon go! He does and shen is like "even if I am erased from the plot I am going to get ONE W IN THIS GOD DAMNED STORY!!!!" and lindon is like "Pls stop" and then shen does...but only after blowing up the door to the time chamber. Lindon is surprised that he was being so nice until he looked behind him and saw the weeping dragon charging up his forward smash.
Shen, being an asshole, decided that would have to due, and he'd have to rely on plan Q. He was...running low on plans. But at least he had more of them! Surely they couldnt all fail.
Back inside of the hyperbolic time chamber, yerin and co realise the door broke. Yerin is like "okay I...cut it open?" Breaking the fourth wall, and then, a door opened. Unforunately, she hadn't been specific when she wrote that and walked all the way to the rosegold continent. OOps.
Ziel and mercy also want to help, but are kinda weak. Ziel digivolves by learning how to harness the power of time, tbe universe, and everything, and mercy digivolves be realising that she honestly just wants to be a nice person and do nice things. She realises this by having a pity party about how she sucks and ziel being like "STFU you are a fucking main character. Act like it." and she realises, sHE IS!!!
So they go out to help lindon and he says "Okay uh no **GTFO**" because they will absolutely get stomped if they help. And they land...in the rosegold continent! How convient! Hey is that yerin using the death murder kill technique????
Anyway house eithan is fighting house shen and house shen is busted, with a herald who is a pixie, and a sage who is crazy, on team weeping dragon, and can regenerate from nothing. Which is absurd. Team eithan just has cladia, who is the best, but also an old lady. She has a thousand eyes, but could use more hands. Oh look, youths!
Mercy, being a nice young lady, helps her elder cross the battle field and annihilate threats. Cladia was sceptical about the girl until it slowly dawns on her that this girl is DEFINITELY a main character. In the super fight, yerin is learning how to murder death kill more effectively, but still doesn't have it down perfect. Ziel is trying to also murder death kill but it just isnt working, and instead, he's getting trolled by the calling storm sage, who seems to just like to see people suffer.
Ziel see's all his friends getting their asses kicked and decides "fuck man...that isnt cool" and unlocks the shield icon, as it turns out, he ALSO wants to be a protagonist, he just forgot. Together with mercy being nice, cladia being the best, and yerin using the art of murder death kill, they defeat house shen with style....but are also v tired. Cladia thanks the newly minted main characters and gives them the coveted mid story power up they will need to face the next boss: Weeping Dragon!
What is this powerup? Well a HUD of course! Turns out, very helpful to have. Also some of the weeping dragons stats. Turns out, its very good at lying and its dragons breath is *reads notes* THE MOST POWERFUL STRIKER TECHNIQUE ON THE PLANET. JUST. THE STRONGEST ONE. EVER. IT **CANNOT** Be blocked. In fact, as they get back to lindons side, the attack misses them entirely, firing mostly into the air....AND STILL NEARLY KILLS THEM. BY PROXIMITY!
luckily lindon kept them from being hyper murdered. Unforunately, as per the rules of cradle, in exchange he had to be hyper murded. So he just kinda falls over. Team main character take exception to this, and decide to beat the shit out of the dragon. The eight man empire is here and are trying to help, potentially in exchange for that SWEET SWEET LOOT...but also to not fucking die.
Also Orthos and Little blue got out of the time chamber and are now archlords! They go to find lindon to help him after super dying, and he says "Hey...you guys...are main characters...now..." And boom instantly, orthos becomes the black dragon sage, and little blue becomes a herald because, yeah he got that move from eithan in book 2. So now they can help fight! Also now everyone has a dross in them because reasons!
So they arent doing GREAT on that front because most of them are like broken and half and relying solely on hax to keep fighting. Few more than Laran, who got to use the protagonist bow for a little while!!! It felt good...like being significant....
ANYWAY, now its mercys turn to use it and WOOF that was scary...but oops that used up her protag powers.
Yerin, time to attack with the murder death kill move...which is great! But OOF that used up all of HER protag powers.
And so ziel is left with the s trongest monster who has like one bar of health left but hits for all of your HP. Can he do it? Its kick or carry time and...whats this? Is that ziel getting on the top ropes? With the DEATH ARROW? AND LOADING IT INTO HIS ALAPHABET ARRAY? AND INFUSING IT WITH TIME MAGIC! YO WATCH OUT **WATCH OUT**
And then THE MAN HIMSELF smites THE ULTIAMTE SUPER DRAGON with the INSTANT DEATH NO SCOPE HEADSHOT AIMBOT attack that kills god. Or almost kills god. He's got like...3 anime seconds to live.
Seeing that the fight was over, malice returns to be toxic and player kill all the exhausted PCs. She seems really eager about the idea for some reason and then right as she is about to kill lindon, she hears the weeping dragons timer about to run out. Quickly, she erases her own attack, because she is VERY genre savvy when it comes to romance, and if she kills yerin, the main male protagonist will DEFINITELY kill her.
Which he almost does anyway, because as soon as weeping dragon dies, lindon digivolveS AGAIN and nearly nukes her. She escapes, but FUCK man that was close. PHew. Live to gatekeep another day.
lindon and co return to their training fortress, and everyone is tired and sad. Lindon tries to cheer them up in the way he knows how: Advancement and new toys! They all groan.
lindon tries to cheer ziel up most of all, because he got the killing blow, and ziel is like "Bro I JUST got the chill icon, please no." and lindon smiles because that meant moRE LOOT FOR HIMSELF. Woo!
Mercy is fighting more of her mommy issues and is terrified that when she levels up to herald, itll kick her ass , because her mom's remnant was SUPER toxic and just started pking people to fuck with her. mercy prepares for the fight of her life...only to see that her spirit is a sweet bean and literally just wants to give hugs and encouragement. Mercy is very surprised that its being nice to her and everything goes perfectly fine because mercy is actually a very helpful and kind person. This is a small moment of celebration.
Taht is until he is YOINKED! GASP????? By what???Only reigan shen of course! He had taken sleeping ghosts binding and used it to summon lindon. Turns out, each time the dreadgods die, the rest of them get stronger...and smarter...and get more personalities. Like the bleeding phoniex deciding to be a she/they waifu apparently just to fuck with shen. Shen tries to convince her that he is a very important antagonist, and she responds with "You were." And this frightens him, given the page count. He tells her that she should get revenge on lindon and she is like "I dunno...I think I have a better plan for my otouto. ISn't that right Onii-chan?" She says to the wandering titan who was listening in over space discord. He agrees and shen realises that he has caught YET ANOTHER L.
Also where is emiriss? Wasn't she supposed to be helping??? Well she would be she got captured by northstrider who wanted to make sure that the protagonists had NO MORE ELDER MENTOR FIGURES! THEY HAD TO MANY! He is convinced that he can handle anything that happens...Which is why he is totally chill when lindon++ shows up and tells him to calm the fuck down and gives back tree grandma. Northstrider says fuck off, and lindon says "okay, but we are going to talk about this."
Northstrider thinks this is a threat. It was actually a promise, as he is pulled into lindons house and lindon is like "...So...I've been reading your character sheet...and it says you were...neutral good? And wanted to like...be a hero?" And northstrider squints because no one is supposed to read his cringe backstory. He tries to destroy it but lindon says "Ah ah ah...read it first." And then he relents because fuck this guy was a main character. What was the worst that could happen?
So he reads his character sheet and realises that he's been playing the character all wrong the whole time and was like "Fuck...I am kinda a dick now I...ya know what, I'ma drop before I get worse." And lindon is relieved that at least SOMEONE cared about being a dick. He also tells them how to get emiriss, who was happy to see that she only had to wait 5 dragon ballz minutes to get rescued. That was pretty short for an arc in her opinion.
Now back in the present lindon is dealing with 2 dreadgods, and regan shen at the time. Bleeding Waifu says, "Hey bro, we could just SHARE the planet and its fine!" and lindon says "mmm no sorry, kinda would be a shit ending to just change plot motivations here." The dreadgods nod and then try to kick his ass. Luckily he used the loot from his last 2 wins to summon his new god weapon Wavesplitter++, whose power is to fucking command super god lightning swords, and its companion Silent King.exe, that let dross be a pain in the ass, letting lindon temporarily digivolve to Dreadgod++
Which was JUST enough to survive a fight with 2 dreadgods...for a while....like about.....5 dragon ball z minutes.
So elsewhere, team friendship to go talk to malice, hoping she will be chill, Mercy, having realised the power of being nice, tries to be nice to malice. She is straight up like "Mom I know you are trying to be a protagonist but you are straight up Lawful evil rn. It's really fucked."
This goes very poorly. MAlice figures that being nice is a trap and only idiots are nice and if she has to kill her favorite person in the whole world, who is literally the embodiment of a good bean, she would rather be THE ABSOLUTE WORST. So she tries to kill all of the other people with hax abilities, constructs, powers, you name it, she has it.
Everyone is on the verge of death when dross is like "hey yerin, uh...if we want to live this, you are going to have to game out of control." And she is like "eh what else is new?" and is then overloaded with strats from every single sword artist in the entire series. In seconds, she almost manifests the sword icon, but then that would mean being a monarch. That was bad right? Thats what they were trying to get rid of.
And then Malice calls her a bitch, and yerin remembers that she REALLY wants to kill something. Like super bad. And then remembers wait...she wAS the fighty character...and she DID have a sword...and she DID love killing bad guys. Holy shit she could be the queen of killing. And so she does.
and then malice is like "Wait no what-" and then mcfucking dies to Yerin, monarch of murder death kill, apprentice of Eithan murder death kill. Charity, and mercy are very sad about this.
Back on the ship. Everyone is freaking out become lindon got yoinked and decide, alright we should all probably digivolve. Yerin points to ziel, "Okay time to fight your depression." He asks, "With like...meditation?" and then is immediately mauled by himself. He eventually realises he has a lot of self destructive tendencies and decides to keep the scars as a reminder to work on that. Dealing with his depression, for real this time, lets him be a monarch
Emriss then points to mercy and is like "You are a good person even if you are sad, and everyone actually likes you a lot." and she realises that omg, she doesnt have to be a gatekeeping,gaslighting,girlboss in order to succeed in the world. She could just be like...a good person. That revelation gives her so much relief that she actually becomes a monarch.
That said, this all took a while...like....4 dragon ball z minutes and 59 seconds.
Which is just enough time to save lindon! Hurray! The team works together and defeats wandering titan with a team attack, beat the shit out of the tiger boi, get sha miara on their side, and blow the fuck out of the bleeding waifu. Here's the problem. The second they do, lindon is going to go 100% Dreadgod x5 and...well thats less than ideal. Also means he can't finish the story....not yet.
So the crew all say their goodbyes really quick and decide OKAY WE CANNOT STAY ON BABYBOX! And so the like 7 monarchs leave and go to space.
**Space Adventures Part 2**
All of team babybox goes to space, including the rainbow baby monarch, and tree grandma. They decide they are done being characters and would like to leave the plot peacefully. The story allows that. The main characters ask where eithan is. Eithan, being a protagonist, appears and is very excited to see his squad. He is also excited to immediately get them back into trouble.
The Abidan is in DIRE need of protagonists. Actual DIRE NEED. If they don't get some more protagonists out there RIGHT NOW so many settings are going to collapse. But unforunately, they dont have a protagonist division, because every time they tried to make one, they kept getting ANTAGONISTS out of it. Something about raging against systemic injustice??? Anyway the new team become team protagonist and go do protagonist things which are so funny, I'll just list them out.
Yerin defeats an evil lich king in like 5 minutes and then leaves but not before becoming a legend...with the wrong name.
Mercy solves an ages old racism dispute by saying "I have fixed both of your systemic issues and if you do any more hate crimes, I am sorry, but I will have to kill you, please do not do any more hate crimes...or like any big obviously villianous plans like making an infiinite army of evil or making another sun to set everyone on fire. Okay? Again I fixed everything so just...be nice. Or you die."
Ziel writes a tax code and bill of rights for a planet likely destroyed by elon musk.
**Baby Box: Lindon Saga**
Lindon wakes up on baby box and is very upset that he couldn't go with his friends. So he does what anyone would do and bides his time until he can get everything back together. Has to take it easy ya know? he's on the path to recovery from his hunger addiction. So in order to chill out he-
Bribes the eight man empire with god weapons
Creates more god weapons
Establishes his sect more
Gets another icon
eats Reigan Shen's ghost and takes back his inheritence
meets li maruth, the wind god who killed him in book 1, who has all of the powers of every protagonist system, and smites the fuck out of him for daring to appear in the post credits scene
and generally just preps to leave baby box. Which is very hard considering everything has gone to fuck in space due to...a lot of people dying and being replaced.
**Space adventures part 3!**
So lindon finally gets to space! Woo! Orthos and Little blue are hyped! But oops...he landed on the bad guy side. And OOPS he had to fight a super bad guy like 5 minutes in. If only he had friends!
Akura fury, being trained to be a protagonist, could sense a good entry like a wolf, and thus came in as soon as there was a fight scene he could join in space. He was so happy. He then escorts lindon back to team protag, where lindon gives lindon 3 things she thinks she deserves.
A god killing sword of unspeakable power.
A wedding ring made out of one of the most powerful artifacts on their planet
And a mom...she's probably needed one of those for a while.
And then lindon and eithan hug. Its so pure.

I'm not going to talk about the epilogue but FUCK I LOVE CRADLE! This is easily my favorite magic system and series and OMG ITS SO GOOD AGGGGGHHHHHH

Def reads here and trolling hi Liss so happy you are in bed with your chi chis , hatch rain sound, her kindle stand on her headboards so she can just look at it . would like some warm milk maybe a toddler bed good lord grow up . She says she thinks it’s so funny no you don’t it bugs you anyone is talking about you here

Hi.
I do have a small problem with CS:GO on my Arch install. Game works just fine but many times when Polish characters are used (ą, ę, ź, ż, etc.) it stops on that particular sign. For example I tried to play Arms Race to check it out and instead of "Wyścig zbrojeń" it says "Wy" and stops there. Also in certain places it stops on diacritic character and display a diamond with a asking sign inside. Funny thing is that polish characters are visible through few seconds of loading but disappear when loading goes on. It's worth mentioning that main menu display most of them just fine (except ł around market window, there it shows some chinese characted instead of it).
I've tried: - that tip from Arch Wiki (something to do with fonts config) - installing Bitstream Vera Sans font mentioned in Arch Wiki troubleshooting guide - adding en_US to my KDE settings along with pl_PL
Of course I can deliver whatever is necessary, screenshots included.
Thanks in advance :).

Hi all, I (28 NB/AFAB) am going through a breakup with a fellow ADHD (27 NB/AFAB) person. We were both late diagnosed and we are both very different in how we regulate our emotions, and I’m just trying to understand what their mental headspace is like so I’m coming here to see if anyone else functions like they do and may be able to provide a bit of background so I can stop being so mad at my ex all the time.
They tend to get very overwhelmed by daily life and also seem to stretch themselves too thin, which only compounds their stress. I am a very sensitive and highly emotional person, and in a relationship I need an aspect of closeness, whereas they needed a bit more space. We talked about it and we had barely had a chance to work on things when they just shut down and ended the relationship.
When we got together, they said it was like a “switch flipped” and they just really wanted to be with me. Based on how it ended and what they’ve said, it’s like the same thing happened and the same “switch” turned off and then they suddenly didn’t have any romantic feelings for me. This is really messing with me and I don’t know how to move forward in future relationships if I’m just going to be extra afraid that I’ll wake up one day and the person next to me just won’t want me like that anymore. Now, I can’t stand to be near them and they want to be friends with me like RIGHT AWAY and even (insensitively) remarked “it’s funny, I wanted more space and you needed more closeness, but now I just wanna hang out with you and you want space”
I’m just a bit thrown by their ability to completely shut down and compartmentalize things and I’m wondering if this is an ADHD thing. Meanwhile I’m over here spiraling, ruminating, self-loathing, the whole rejection sensitivity nine yards. Any insight or advice is greatly appreciated.
TL;DR - my ADHD partner broke up with my ADHD self and they claim to have shut down romantically and immediately want to be my friend, and it’s really messing with me and I don’t know how to process it. Is that kind of compartmentalization a thing for ADHD people? I just want to understand.

Hi, I will be in Barcelona from Friday to Monday on the sole purpose of relaxing, having fun and experiencing great nightlife. I would like to go somewhere where I can dance the night away and meet nice crowd. I am looking forward to late night going out and it looks like BCN is the place for it. I am into different music genres and not novice to fresh r&b, pop etc. I do indulge in Jazz and Blues, but I guess I need something different this time. The issue is in the fact that I am, due to unfortunate circumstances, single, quite younger looking, 53 YO gay male. Since I do not want to stop living and waiting for something to come my way, I am a solo traveler. I do admire mixed ages crowd and have no problem blending in (when appropriate) but I am a bit intimidated going to clubs with very young crowd. I just do not want to be perceived as creepy old man. I do not dance funny too. Budget is not really an issue, but I do not want to go to gatherings of old posh gays...Heard and read about so many clubs but it looks like I have no idea what I can really expect ...So I thought it might be sensible to get some fresh, marketing free advice from someone who understands solo travelers. What might be the recommendation for clubs where someone of my description can feel free and might have fun weekend dancing?

Hi all, I (28 NB/AFAB) am going through a breakup with a fellow ADHD (27 NB/AFAB) person. We were both late diagnosed and we are both very different in how we regulate our emotions, and I’m just trying to understand what their mental headspace is like so I’m coming here to see if anyone else functions like they do and may be able to provide a bit of background so I can stop being so mad at my ex all the time.
They tend to get very overwhelmed by daily life and also seem to stretch themselves too thin, which only compounds their stress. I am a very sensitive and highly emotional person, and in a relationship I need an aspect of closeness, whereas they needed a bit more space. We talked about it and we had barely had a chance to work on things when they just shut down and ended the relationship.
When we got together, they said it was like a “switch flipped” and they just really wanted to be with me. Based on how it ended and what they’ve said, it’s like the same thing happened and the same “switch” turned off and then they suddenly didn’t have any romantic feelings for me. This is really messing with me and I don’t know how to move forward in future relationships if I’m just going to be extra afraid that I’ll wake up one day and the person next to me just won’t want me like that anymore. Now, I can’t stand to be near them and they want to be friends with me like RIGHT AWAY and even (insensitively) remarked “it’s funny, I wanted more space and you needed more closeness, but now I just wanna hang out with you and you want space”
I’m just a bit thrown by their ability to completely shut down and compartmentalize things and I’m wondering if this is an ADHD thing. Meanwhile I’m over here spiraling, ruminating, self-loathing, the whole rejection sensitivity nine yards. Any insight or advice is greatly appreciated.
TL;DR - my ADHD partner broke up with my ADHD self and they claim to have shut down romantically and immediately want to be my friend, and it’s really messing with me and I don’t know how to process it. Is that kind of compartmentalization a thing for ADHD people? I just want to understand.

Hi there! Its been a busy month and im just looking for some friends to chill with :)
Things about me:
My name is Jonathan
I work at Hobby Lobby I am 5’11
I love to be sarcastic and funny
I live in Texas
I have 3 dogs
I love to game and play stardew zelda, mario, halo, and a lot of other games. I am a gamer after all. If anyone wants to game! Let me know!
I love to go walking, going exploring in the woods and in general and i love nature in general.
I love to sing on my free time.
I draw and read young adult fantasy such as ACOTAR and the mortal instruments
I like Lorde, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Daft Punk, Green Day, Linkin Park.
I enjoy synthwave, rock, edm, etc
Just some things about me :)

Hi, I am a 14 year old from Lithuania, and i really need some advice for my friendship. So ive never really had many friends, but this year i joined this friend group with 4 other people. Basically we were good friends at the beginning, however later on our friendship really changed. I feel its just bullying against me at this point. They say its a joke and im fine with it every once in a while. So today at school we were hanging out and one of my friends said that i was speaking to loud and started basically yelling at me. Everyone was laughing, so i just laughed it off while i was about to cry. Later on i just got over it. Like 6 hours later, we were chatting and they started sharing embarassing photos of me (i didnt enjoy it but i am okay with it, since it happens often) and just once i sent a funny picture of the friend that yelled at me earlier. She got really mad and left the groupchat right away. I added her back and apologised multiple times but she wont reply. Am i the bad person here? I really dont want to loose my only friends so i just keep laughing it off but its really painful for me and they never listen when i talk about it. I also dont think i am that important to their group, since i wasnt there while they were already best friends. I really dont know how to change this, does anyone have any advice?

Hi, I am a 14 year old from Lithuania, and i really need some advice for my friendship. So ive never really had many friends, but this year i joined this friend group with 4 other people. Basically we were good friends at the beginning, however later on our friendship really changed. I feel its just bullying against me at this point. They say its a joke and im fine with it every once in a while. So today at school we were hanging out and one of my friends said that i was speaking to loud and started basically yelling at me. Everyone was laughing, so i just laughed it off while i was about to cry. Later on i just got over it. Like 6 hours later, we were chatting and they started sharing embarassing photos of me (i didnt enjoy it but i am okay with it, since it happens often) and just once i sent a funny picture of the friend that yelled at me earlier. She got really mad and left the groupchat right away. I added her back and apologised multiple times but she wont reply. Am i the bad person here? I really dont want to loose my only friends so i just keep laughing it off but its really painful for me and they never listen when i talk about it. I also dont think i am that important to their group, since i wasnt there while they were already best friends. I really dont know how to change this, does anyone have any advice?

Hi everyone! Last couple of days I’ve been looking for new people on Reddit to have fun and interesting chats with. A little about me I’m 5’5 brown hair, I’m originally from the East coast but am currently in the army (hence my name). Sometimes I tend to share a little too much about myself but overall I try to be very funny and outgoing. If you would like to be friends by DM’s are wide open!

CHAPTER ONE
I saw a light in the sky and he came down from it
That was a courtesy
What was ?
The light
What do you mean ? Who are you ?
Look I hate to be rude but we kinda need you, are you in ?
Are you God ?
If I say yes would you be more or less likely to help me ?
I don’t know.
Then, yes, I’m God, and I need your help
If you’re God, why do you need my help ?
I’m not God, I just said that to get you to help me. I’m sorry but I’m in a rush, are you in or are you out ?
I don’t even know what you’re asking
I’ll tell you on the way
We were in a big house. There was one of those double stairs that led up to one landing, then split again and met at the next landing. They went on and on, I couldn’t see where they ended.
You do not wanna know where that stairway goes
Where does it go ?
He gave me a look that made me feel stupid.
Every landing seemed to go on forever, just rows of heavy wooden doors as far as the eye could see. I turned 90 degrees and felt a bit funny, but couldn’t quite place why. Just rows of doors forever, same as before. I turned again. Now I was facing the opposite way to when I came in. There was what looked like a front door, twice my height, with a gold doorknob on it. But above that door I could still the landings. And the doors. They still went on forever. I turned again, expecting to see it but still unable to comprehend it when I actually saw it. The doors, going on forever. Again.
Oh yeah, I forget sometimes that you people are three dimensional, I swear it makes sense when I look at it. Come on, we don’t have much time.
We turned, and where I was sure there was a blank wall was now a golden arch. There was some fog coming through it, and lights flashing red and blue in an otherwise darkened room.
It’s a rave from your world, frozen in time. It’s along the shortest path to where we’re going.
We walked through the rave. I was trying to nudge past people. He floated up and delicately walked across their heads.
Spend some time here and you’ll figure out how to do this, the rules don’t apply here like they do in your world.
I believed him.
I looked around. The very silent disco went on forever in every direction.
When we reached the back, there was another golden arch. This one led to a room with a counter in the middle of the floor. There were pens on the counter, and pieces of paper, and a large sheet of glass. There was a woman on one side of the counter, and two men on the other. They were wearing masks. One of them had a gun drawn. There was a bullet between the end of the gun and the woman’s head
Uh oh, I wonder how she’ll get out of this one
She gets out of this ?
I mean, I can’t see what happens beyond the moment we're in any more than you can, but I highly doubt it. Come on we’re not there yet.
Somehow, the counter stretched on forever
The final room certainly did not stretch on forever. It was barely two metres in any direction. There was a table and a chair, the only problem was the table went from one wall to the other, and I would have to gracelessly clamber across the table in order to sit in the chair. But then I was in the chair. Another guy walked in.
Apologies for the suspense, do you have any questions ?
I don’t know
Nothing ? Not even a why am I here ? Not even a why me ?
Why am I here ? Why me ?
You were right, they really do ask the worst questions. Glad you asked ! First things first, do you know what a universe is ?
Everything ?
That’ll do, but what if I told you that there were even more everythings ? And they were everywhere, all at once ?
I don’t follow.
Imagine you decided not to come with us today, your life would have taken a different turn, you wouldn’t be sitting at that table right now. Following so far ?
Sure
Great ! So you making a different choice results in something being different, something is a part of everything, so everything is different. Your choices change everything, which is real neato, as the kids are saying. So let’s say there was a way to explore all these different possibilities, let’s say you could look at what you life would be like if you had made those different choices, all those everythings would be different, and you would have a different…?
Universe ?
That’s right ! You are very clever ! So if we have multiple universes, we can map out what we call a -
Multiverse ?
How did you know ? Wow I actually was impressed that time
I saw 2 movies that mentioned it in 2 weeks.
Ha-ha, maybe this version of you did. Anyway, I'm having too much fun, imagine you said “I am going to interact with every multiversal version of me except the one that smells like fish all the time”, and somehow, against all the odds, you succeeded. That'd be cool, wouldn't it ?
Ok
But, you may be thinking to yourself, what about the timeline where you say to yourself “I am going to visit every version of myself except the one where I have a big forehead ? Or have acne ? Or live in a pineapple under the sea ? Or any other number of things ? Assuming you could succeed at any of these things, it’d be impossible to succeed at all of them. That's where we get the omniverse from. Think of it as being above the multiverses. And it lets us keep track of all of them simultaneously
Is there more ?
More ?
More layers ? Are there infinite omniverses and infinite somethings above them ?
Would you be capable of caring about it if I told you there were ?
I don’t know
Basically what we want is a bit of a laundry list done. Its gonna look like random jobs, just checking up on people from time to time. But it is integral to the structure of the omniverse itself that you do this. The reasons why are beyond your comprehension.
Am I going to get to go home ?
Eventually, maybe
CHAPTER TWO
Do you have a name
Yeah
Cool
Yeah
I'm going to show you your chores now
Ok
He concentrated for a few moments. He raised his hand and made a motion like he was typing on a keyboard. The floor fell away, revealing an infinite void, like space, all around us. There was a commotion behind me, and I turned tot see a corridor being made. The sounds of commotion were still somehow coming from behind me, so I turned again to see the same corridor, this time it stretched even further into the distance
Sorry this will take a while, were constructing it one dimension at a time, just about to start adding the sixth. Give it a second and well have it finished.
We were still floating, but now the corridor was all around us. The sound of commotion was all around now, it sounded like lots of materials being smashed together; stones, metal, wood, clay, water, flesh.
And done
We drooped to the floor. This part of the corridor looked like an ancient Roman street, complete with a market, although there were no people to man them.
Like I said, this is just the shortest distance between the points we need.
Ok
We’ll get going and I’ll explain everything on the way. He handed me what looked like a small stone, but it lit up and created a screen, it looked remarkably like a tablet computer when it was turned on. A lot of things I didn’t understand or frankly care about lit up. I looked away and it powered down.
That will help you keep track of everything
I figured.
This is our first subject. Her name is Maria
Can she see us ?
No. she's just sitting here playing with her fruit.
She's not moving
She's frozen in time until you start
Will she be able to see us then
Yes. She's going to be doing something with her fruit. Recently she had a wedding for her oranges.
Ha-ha
Yeah. When the time comes, you just write it down on you tablet, can you do that ?
I opened the tablet. It anticipated what I was thinking and made the correct page for me.
Great. Moving on.
We closed the door, leaving Maria for now. We continued down the street. Quite suddenly, although not immediately, it became the interior of what looked like a space ship.
This is a universe where the entire...left side of the universe declared war on the right side. I really don’t want to get into it, all you need to know is the teams are the Yingits and the Yangits. You have no idea how much it pains me to say, but earth actually is the centre of the universe here, so earth’s politics are, needless to say, divided. The pilot of this ship was born coincidentally on the same day as the version of you from this universe, but he fell into a cryogenic chamber for almost a thousand years, got out, began what would have been one of the greatest empires the world had ever known, had he not fallen into another cryogenic chamber for another thousand years. When he got out, the war had started, and none cared enough to follow him anymore. His names Fornot, you just need to find out what side he’s fighting on.
This is weird
Yeah.
We closed the door and went on. The spaceship corridor gave way to some cold, stone steps. There was water dripping from the walls, and mould growing, the whole place stank and it was far too cramped. There was a rough wooden door with an ornate golden handle. He opened it. Three people were inside the cave, with about 500 people crowded around the entrance, trying to get a glance in.
This guy here, his name is Su-lan. He comes from an island off the coast of...it’s a different planet you wouldn't know it anyway. Member of the La tribe, cool guys and gals. Ah I may as well say it, this is a universe where humans have attempted to colonise every planet they’ve come to, and they’ve had a 100% success rate. Believe it or not, we are currently in the orbit of a gas giant called...you wouldn't remember, call it 2piter.
Ok
So Su-lan’s wife, do you see her there ? Her name is Su-fo, she took part of his name when she married, according to a custom that goes back 420 years
Ok
So they painted all these symbols along the walls and on the floor and they drew that big circle, not easy to do when you've got arthritis like they do, let me tell you. Anyway, you may be wondering how humanity has been able to conquer every known planet in the universe, it was quite easy you see. Firstly, they changed the definition of planet to “that which can be conquered by humanity” and the second was that in the 20th century, they discovered a ritual which, when performed on the right people, would grant them godlike powers. After that it was actually quite easy. One in every roughly million people gains powers this way, and if they do, they become custodians of a planet or two, or even a whole solar system ! Isn't that neat ? Anyway, the girl in the middle, her name is Su-ner, and she’ll be doing the ritual today to see if she can get these powers. You see how she takes the first part of her father's name ? Well when she gets married
I get it
They said you were smart. You're just confirming whether or not she gets these powers, sound easy enough for you ?
Yes
Then lets keep going.
He overturned a stone, revealing a portal on the underside. The portal kind of dripped off the bottom of the stone until it landed on the wall opposite us. We walked through. Now we were in what looked to be the foyer of a hotel.
This is your parents’ house in the universe where they never had you.
What ? They got rich without me ?
'fraid so. They bought a really lucky lottery ticket.
Oh
then they used to money to buy a few sweatshops in China.
Oh.
anyway, we are looking for the game room, it’s...this way I think.
He led me down a series of corridors, containing great works of art, statues, suits of armour, I thought I saw Eric Clapton by a swimming pool. We found the game room. It was bigger than my house. It had arcade machines, a screen bigger than any cinema I’d ever been in, there were people in uniforms milling around, a huge crowd in the centre of the floor, a room of computers and people with headsets, it looked like mission control at NASA. At the centre of it all was a guy who looked a lot like me, he had a trolley in front of him with a row of suits. They looked like those green suits that covered people from head to toe, except they were black. He had a furrowed brow, he was deciding something. The suits had little white balls on them.
Remember when I said your parents didn’t have you ? Well this is the kid they had instead. Thanks to the money, he’s hosting and competing in the world video game championships. These are his haptic suits, they do motion capture and let him interact with the game world and give him feedback and stuff, kind of like a controller that you wear
Ok.
Tell us which one he picks.
There was another door on the far side of the room. We went through it. It opened onto a waterfall. He grabbed me and we stepped off together. The waterfall was frozen in time. We rotated 90 degrees, and gravity moved with us, so we ended up just walking down it a little bit. There was a metal hatch at the bottom. He opened it up and let me inside. Gravity shifted again, so we were not standing on the roof, staring down at a lab. There were two scientists inside, one a rotund man with a bushy beard, the other thin and small, with an equally thin and small moustache. There was a birdcage in the middle, and a bird was suspended in the air within the cage. There were what looked like two circular windows in the end of the room. Or at least, a different version of me would have thought they were windows. Having seen what I had seen, I knew they were portals of some kind. One opened to a golden meadow, accentuated by the setting sun. The other was a nigh time setting of a colourful forest, with glow in the dark foliage accentuating the fruits and flowers which were present. They looked equally inviting.
This lab has been experimenting with multiversal travel, we love to see it. See that clipboard ? They've taken the same bird from hundreds of different universes and are setting it free in the lab and seeing which of the two portals it goes through. Their theory currently is; same bird, same portal. I rememberer when we were at that stage, fun times. You just need to tell us which portal this bird flies through. see that fat guy ? He once won a hot dog eating contest by lining them up and having his friend push them into his mouth while he swallowed with his mouth open on the other end of the table. The friend was the small guy, who got a splinter from the table and had to be rushed to the emergency department and spent 20 hours on a trolley and by the time he got seen to he had taken the splinter out himself but he got charged for the time on the trolley and now he’s here to pay off the medical bill.
Ok
Let's keep going.
He opened another hatch in the roof and stepped through. It opened not to the waterfall, but to a city. It was grey and the buildings were big.
Ok this is about two years after you went away
I'm not going home, am I ?
Not with that attitude. It doesn’t matter where we are...humans have colonised a planet that is more or less identical to earth and are making the exact same mistakes all over again. We are in New York 2, although I would prefer if you called it 2 York.
Ok
There's a guy called Killer Lenny. We need you to tail him for the next few months and find out what job he gets.
Months ?
It’ll fly, well make sure your needs are met during that time.
Ok.
One final thing.
He opened a manhole cover, and jumped in. I didn’t hear him hit the bottom, but I jumped in too. I landed on...the street I had just jumped off.
Different universe, same setup, multiverse fun ! There are some gangs, the Rabble, the Rapple, the Raggle, the Rattle, the Raddle, the Raxxle, the Razzle, the Rassle, and the Raffle. They all wear different colours and I think they carry weapons corresponding to the gang they're in. They've been having problems for the last few years and its all coming to a head tonight and we need you to tell us who comes out on top. I’d say take a secure position and wait it out, we’re not expecting it to take any more than about an hour once it starts.
Ok. when do I start ?
Well take some time and you can start more or less immediately. We need to do some stuff back at base but that wont take long.
CHAPTER 2.5
OK step on through. The fact that I wont be with you means the shortest path between these places might be different to the ones we took originally, just check your device regularly and you should be fine. Any questions ?
Yeah, why am I doing this ?
It's recently been discovered that there is an omniverse where you do this, you report certain things to us, and then totally unrelated circumstances in a trillion years means we gain a bonus of sorts. Consider yourself the litmus test
Oh
Oh and we’re giving you like a billion dollars or something
Cool
Ok let's go
He pushed me through the portal. It closed behind me. I was on the street in Rome.
CHAPTER 3
I walked around a bit before I went to her. This had been my first chance to get any my bearings since this whole thing started. I noticed a bird in the air. It wasn't moving. I realised I would need to open the door to Maria's house before time would start in this universe again. I grew bored, and opened the door. Maria was sitting on the floor, on her own.
Hello
Hi
Are you alright ? I was sent to check up on you.
I'm fine, thank you.
What are you doing ?
I am playing with my fruit. I like to play with my fruit. My legs don’t work good so I can’t go outside with my friends. Well. I wouldn't be able to go out with my friends if I had any. My mother gives me fruit to play with and when I finish playing with it I eat it.
Oh. That's nice. What are you doing now ?
Last week my oranges got married. They love eachother very much.
That's nice. Where are they now ?
They are over here, well some of them are. I ate some and I fed a few more to the pigs, but I have some apples and a pear and some grapes now. They are making music together.
Music ?
Yes ! Their names are Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, and then we have another Do, I think she is the mother of all the others.
Very nice, what else do they do ?
They can do all sorts of things !
She showed me to a lute that was hanging on the wall. She played an open string on it.
See, if we call that note Do, then the one here
she played it at the second fret
would be called Re.
Lovely
And something I learned recently, if you push the note up one more, you can change its name ! So I can turn Re into Ri !
Amazing. Can you turn Fa into Fi and La into Li ?
Yep !
She showed me what they sounded like.
You can also push notes down to turn and that changes their name too, so Re becomes Ra, and Mi becomes Ma, and So becomes Sa, and Ti becomes Ta. I think some of my fruits want to change their names, I think Ti definitely would prefer to be Ta, and I think Re would love to become Ri.
I bet they would, what are you going to do now ?
I think I will eat them !
She spent a few minutes looking for her fathers knife, but when she couldn’t find it, she went out to the shed and got out a saw. As she took it to he apple, the scene stopped. I knew it was time to go.
I recorded it all and went on my way. Kids sure are stupid, I said to myself.
There were a few people on the street now. They were clearly minding their own business, but time had stopped again so I couldn’t have spoken to them if I had wanted to. Beyond the market, I could see the stones giving way to the steel beams and electrical cables of the spaceship. I continued my journey.
The spaceship was as cold as it had been, although this time there was at least the whirring of the engines to provide some life. There were flashing buttons on the wall, and a magnificent vista of the earth. Actually, it probably wasn't the earth. The earth only has one moon.
I knocked on the door
Woah
I fell backwards. The inertia had caught me off guard.
What are you doing here ?
What are you doing here ?
I'm fighting these dirty Yangit scum, why, what side are you on ?
I was already gone
The beams and cables gave way to the cave where the ritual was taking place. Su-ner was exactly as I had left her, as were Su-lan and Su-fo. The whole ceremony consisted of Su-ner drinking a purple liquid from an ornate jug, then lying down in the firepit in the centre of the room. She seemed to be asleep. Su-fo lit a fire in the pit, and Su-ner didn’t move. From my vantage point at the back of the cave, I knew noone could see me, I doubted it would end well if they did. After a few minutes, Su-lan started convulsing on the floor, after another few minutes, Su-fo followed suit. I assumed they had inhaled too much smoke; they were between the firepit and the cave mouth. When they had stopped moving, noone dared breath. Noone looked at them, they were so fixated on Su-ner, who still hadn't moved. Some of them started clutching beads, closing their eyes, and offering prayers. It was obvious that Su-ner's parents were dead, the ritual had clearly gone disastrously wrong.
Until.
There was a creaking sound, like large amounts of earth and clay moving. The symbols on the wall started glowing, and somehow detached themselves from the wall, floating through the air and settling on Su-ner. A hole opened in the roof. Su-ner's eyes opened, they now glowed purple. She floated out of the hole. She touched parents’ hands, they awoke, and they climbed to their feet without a hint of their arthritis. Now the crowd was silent again. Su-ner said
I must fulfil my duty
And flew away. There was the sound of thunder crashing and trees falling and mountains colliding and winds howling and volcanoes erupting and rivers flowing, all for the greater good of humanity. The crowd erupted into cheers, the scene stopped. I overturned the stone and let the portal drip onto the wall.
I was back in my “parents” house. I got lost, it took me a while to get back to to where I had been before, there was some activity, the staff were friendly and pointed me in the right direction. It turned out to be Eric Clapton at the pool, he was humming his worst song, Wonderful Tonight, to himself.
I found my...brother in the game room, exactly where I had left him. He was still deciding what to wear. All the hap suits looked exactly the same to me so I dot k ow why he was taking such a long time figuring it out. I looked up at the screen and couldn’t believe my eyes. The world video game championship was a 1v1 in Fortnite. The UI and characters looked a bit different, but only marginally compared to that of my own universe. The game was even called Fortnite, except it was written in comic sans. He looked at me, gave me an up and down glance, there was a flicker of confusion on his face, then went back to picking his suit. He picked the 5th one in the lineup. I recorded it and left.
The two scientists were idiots. They tried like 100 times and every bird flew into the portal on the left. What kind of bird would ever fly into the night sky ?
Killer Lenny was a homeless bum. He walked up and down the same street every day, begging for change, not getting any, then going back to sleep on his little corner. I kept tabs on him, somehow never getting hungry, tired, or overly bored, for about 6 months. I never saw any reason to talk to him, nor did I have any interest in getting close enough to smell him. I suppose in a way I was the same as him, just walking up and down the street with no idea why, and no idea what I would do next. I got accosted a few times, but this universe seemed to have my back, it always sent a kind stranger or some blue lights to my aid, and I never got rained on in the time I was there. One day, Killer took a different path, he walked way out of town. He walked onto the bridge, edged over to the edge of the bridge. His toes were dangling off the edge. He heard a scream. There was a girl in the lake below. She was drowning. He sighed, took himself down from the edge, and took off running down to her. I didn’t bother following him, I watched him go out of view, I watched him come back into view, I watched him rush into the water and pull the girl out. I watched a man come racing down to the bank of the lake in a Bentley. He was wearing an exquisite suit. He exchanged words with Killer, they shook hands, and he drove off. Killer never said a word about it, he never looked back, he just walked back to his corner and resumed business as usual. Another 6 months after this, the Bentley drove up to him, the rich man got out, shook hands with Killer again, and they exchanged words. Killer pointed towards me, and the rich man beckoned me over. I walked over.
Boys, I've got a job for both of you. Killer here says you’ve been his constant companion, always by his side for the last year, and he told me about you and him having certain...abilities that I would find very useful. Now as I've said to Killer here, I am the CEO of the Deep Atlantic Research group, we've been drilling for oil and minerals for the last few years and we've run into some problems. Apparently, millions of years ago, alien spacecrafts landed in the ocean. They are hundreds of kilometres across, they are covering up some of the most valuable mineral deposits in he history of the world. Only problem in, we lack the technology to move them, we lack the technology to operate them, and we lack the technology to get into them. You probably understand already, but the real treasure is the alien tech we found along the way, the oil and gold and silicone and platinum and palladium are just the cherries on the cake. Now, we have taken a very strange request from Mr. Lenny on board, and we have built a big boat with a big diving board, which he says he can use to breach the hull of the alien ships at the bottom of the ocean. Would you like to become agents of our company ? We can assure you the salaries are...agreeable, and the benefits are even better.
I looked at Killer. He looked at me. He spoke first
We’ll take it
Time stopped. I didn’t know what his job title was. The door of the car opened all on its own. I stepped out. I was back on the same corner, but this time I knew there would be gang warfare instead of a sad homeless man. What would happen to him now ? Will he still get his job, now that I had disappeared ? would time ever unfreeze without me there ? I will admit, I was worried for him. The spell that had kept me content and only half-human was already beginning to wear off.
There was a loud scream. About 1000 men, all wearing their gang’s colours and brandishing their gang’s weapons, charged at eachother. Grenades were thrown, guns were fired, spears were used to impale, swords were slashed, shivs were shanked, rockets were launched, farts were smelled, portals to hell were opened, men died, were reanimated, then were killed again. It was over in about 45 seconds. One group, wearing nothing but green speedos, ran into the night, the only group to not have lost a single member. They were singing a song by the highly underrated Creedence Clearwater Revival. I had no idea who they were, and they were moving faster than I could follow. I had an idea. I climbed down from my hidey hole. I checked the name tags of the fallen members of the other gangs. The guys in red leather trench coats were the Rassle, the guys in surgical scrubs were the Rabble, the guys who wore a pirate hat on top of their cowboy hats were the Razzle, the guys who were tattooed head to toe with Spongebob were the Raxxle, the guys who had fluffy coats like sheep were the Raddle, guys who had cybernetic implants were the Rapple, and the guys who carried small pieces of brightly coloured paper were the Raffle. I figured out who the winners were, then I activated my tablet to bring me home.
CHAPTER 4
I found myself back in the room with seat and the table. The two guys were staring down at me
You've probably figured it out at this stage, haven't you ?
I nodded
We tried to keep it kinda cryptic for you for a while, but a smart guy like you ? There was no way you weren't gonna figure it out for yourself. Some of those references were just a bit on the nose, we know that. After 5000 words you kinda stop caring as much, may as well get it over with.
I handed over the tablet.
The guys took turns reading the sequence of events as I had written them
Saw Ri. Fornot’s a Yingit. Las cheer. Hap E. Bird; day. DAR. Raggle

Hi-diddly-ho, neighborinos!
As you may know, I recently started watching the Simpsons and my favourite character is Ned Flanders! He is so funny and is like me a lot.
I have some questions about which episodes the scenes come from that I describe. I tried searching on YouTube, but I can find the clip but not the episode number and season they are from. ChatGPT isn't helping a dang-diddly bit either! Maybe I could ask you for help neighborinos?

1. Ned annoys Reverend Lovejoy by phoning him too much.
2. Ned babysits the Simpson kids.
3. Ned meets a Canadian version of himself.
4. Flanders sings "They're not perfect but the Lord says love thy neighbour"
5. Rodd/Todd (forgot which kid) gets angry at eating vegetables.
6. Time for church. "We aren't going!" "It's Saturday!"
7. Which episodes do we see Ned praying in?
8. Ned and Homer have a fight with Bible verses

Okily dokily, hopefully you all can help me out!

Hi everyone! Last couple of days I’ve been looking for new people on Reddit to have fun and interesting chats with. A little about me I’m 5’5 brown hair, I’m originally from the East coast but am currently in the army (hence my name). Sometimes I tend to share a little too much about myself but overall I try to be very funny and outgoing. If you would like to be friends by DM’s are wide open!

Starsector is fun. This story is slightly less fun than usual: it contains an incident of self-harm, and requires a little audience participation at the end (if you're so inclined). I hope you still find it enjoyable all the same.
A murmur of wind whispers through perfectly straight streets. It ruffles perfectly manicured hedges, row after row, terrace after terrace. It freezes tears on the perfectly beautiful face of a woman leaning on her apartment balcony as she looks at the perfectly arranged pictures of her perfect family. Her sad, perfect smile is not private. She might make it into the next edition of the migration brochure, perfectly touched up beneath a heading perfectly designed for maximum customer impact. The holo-drones are always watching - she signed her privacy away with a perfect signature.
Her fall is a perfect parabola. Her velocity is perfectly terminal.
The second her heartbeat stops registering, a corporate cleaner is contacted and dispatched. A waiting list is consulted. A profile is scrutinised. And someone’s personal assistant chimes with good news: one of the prized upper-city domiciles has become available. Act fast, or this opportunity will pass you by. Ascend to Xanadu. Take your next step up the pyramid scheme.

Remade from tundra world to an awe-inspiring paradise of fjords and dales, Eochu Bres shines day and night with the best of pre-Collapse comfort and modern genius. Instant communication via global hypernet means keeping in touch with friends and family while you relax in one of our modern apartment complexes between flexible, friendly shifts at a Tri-Tachyon corporate facility. At Xanadu, we invest in your future with us: comprehensive partnership packages and twenty-four-hour childcare and education in specially-tailored community creches ensure your own legacy is secure as you work with us to lay the foundations of tomorrow.
TT-XANADU-WELCOME-PACKAGE-206.1.5

What went wrong?
A technician at Sidhe Human Resources scratches their head at the data. None of it makes sense. This isn’t within the furthest tolerances, the most epileptic model. He takes another sip of synthetic cola - made right here at home - and the chemicals work their mimic magic on his tongue. Just like the real thing, he thinks, and that’s the rub, that’s the root of the problem: the simulations are preferable to reality, and so the reality is discarded.
The company made that mistake before, when they marched on the Hegemony, when they put aside the old Director.

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is a woody perennial that has beautiful silvery grey foliage. That is the primary reason it is planted. All parts of the plant should be considered poisonous.
TT-FOLIAGE-OF-THE-FALL-A-TREATISE-ON-OLD-EARTH-ECOLOGY

Not everything plays out as planned. One must never forget the human element.
He digs deeper. Here we have the husband, assessed at an excellent 97.4 per cent compatibility on the PartneGenetic/Stability matrix that feeds the intra-company relationship application. A happy courtship, a stable relationship, a near-equal position in a similar-but-not-too-similar subsidiary. A handsome face. An earnest smile. He made all the right noises in the inevitable exit interview. ‘What about the children?’ he asked.
Dig, dig, dig. These files are surprisingly sticky. This is by design - not the personal joke of one of the many Gargoyles, inter-department sabotage, or a cull coming down the line. Tri-Tachyon hedges their bets. They hold their cards close. Every possible advantage must be protected. Even a hydra can be taught to fear the loss of another head.
What about the children?

The message of Spread Your Wings Life Learning is simple: take flight!
We are dedicated not just to preparing young minds for their life journey, but finding what makes your little one truly special, how they stand out from the crowd. Possibility isn’t just in the towers of Tri-Tachyon or Sector spacers, but within: every child is different, learning in different ways, and even seeing the world differently.
Where some might say ‘troubled’, ‘wayward’ or ‘delinquent’, we say ‘gifted’. We see potential, and we know that you do, too.
Give your child the opportunity to spread their wings and fly with our specialist programs and initiatives. Conveniently located in Lugh, we offer an initial, intensive intake free of charge to determine if we’re right for you. We’re confident that the change you’ll see will make us your first choice in youth education.
(SMALLTEXT: Initial intake is a seven-week residential stay and assessment, with further boarding to follow dependent on initial integration.)
SYW-ENTERPRISE-AGREEMENT(WAIVER-AND-CONSENT-ATTACHED)

The right noises. The right question. It satisfies the models. The algorithmic assessment rang no alarm. But the technician isn’t satisfied. He quarantines that section of the interview. He plays it back, once, twice. Fingers drum the beat of curiosity. Activity warnings go unheeded. The case-action metric drops.
What about the children?
There are two, similarly aged, early teens, the most difficult age. Sticky files ease open to spill circuitous citations. You have to read between the lines - you have to know the lines are there, to begin with - to see the frowning language. Negative phrasing is not in the educational handbook. No child truly fails in this system. The system simply works around them, little bezoars, undigested grits in the corporate stomach. What happens afterwards? A stomach leads inevitably to the bowels. What the body cannot make use of, it discards, and the slums and shanties below Xanadu do not feature in any migration material.
Security chimes. The technician waves them away. He wishes to proceed. The children were shuffled from one early learning centre to another. There isn’t the usual association with violence or disturbance that precipitates such a decision, nor the stellar ascent to the ‘fast-track’ schools that deal with the uncommon genius. But at Spread Your Wings, they stopped, they stuck - they are, according to the records, still there.
The father’s question becomes stranger with context that the datasets cannot assimilate. There is no suggestion of familial breakdown. There are no domestic reports, not even the subtle ones - the little midnight arguments after a long day at work, the blankets that occasionally appear on a couch. The children appear well-loved and well-contacted.
Look: here are electronic letters home, regular as clockwork.

Hi Mum and Dad!
We know you’re sad not to have us home all the time, but the Wings are great! Between classes, we play board games and they have the latest Nebula Blaster in the rec! Movie nights are our favourite. They have all the classics here.
We’re doing so much better. We’re learning how to get rid of all the weights that used to hold us down. They tell us that we just have to spread our wings, and it’s so easy! Concentrating was so difficult in the old schools. Now we can really focus on what’s important.
Much love! Sorry, we couldn’t see you last visit! The curate said you were here and Mum was crying.
Please don’t cry any more.

Eyebrows rise. The language is correct, perhaps. The words, too. But there is a wrongness to it that doesn’t match the increasing urgency of the parent’s responses. The technician tap-tap-taps through a series of communications that have begun to border on desperation. Always the same replies from the children. No need to worry. Do not be alarmed. That isn’t right. None of it is right.
Information accumulates like stagnant water. It smells wrong. It contradicts previously established patterns.
The charter of the educational institution is examined more closely. There are certain similarities there to something half-remembered, something read and mentally discarded long ago. But memory is a funny thing. You can erase databanks. You can purge all the files, wipe the disks, and leave not a trace. The human brain is not so wonderfully simple.
What was it? An introduction to the Luddic faith for unbelievers, some half-cred garbage on the TriMedia store. Some ridiculous screed about the one-who-would-become-Ludd - an impersonal creation, a mantling, a persona that can be adopted by anyone. Spiritualist rot that suggests anyone can become great - that the prophet could be among them, undiscovered, unknowable. Such a synthesis between corporate loyalty language and some cargo cult is impossible. Something so absurd would never be allowed here, not in blessed Xanadu, not in the very shadow of Tri-Tachyon tech supremacy. It’s too incongruous. Too incompatible.
Isn’t it?
Another sip of cola, another wash of chemicals, and it all suddenly becomes too much like hard work. Suddenly, the progress alerts and metrics come into sharp relief. Just how far behind on today’s work the technician is. All the other things that require his attention. All the other more important details. Almost reluctantly, he marks off the whole affair as random factors outside the model.
We weren’t wrong. The simulations were correct. It was the human element that failed. And if he isn’t completely comfortable with that final assessment, the sweet ping of ‘job complete’ - so perfectly calibrated to release dopamine - reassures him that he’s done the right thing. On to the next, then home to hold his delighted daughter tight, though he can’t say why.
That night, he dreams of enormous, beating wings and tiny motes of light. He never mentions this to his psychologist, and he passes his upcoming performance review with only today’s small blemish on his record.
What about the children? Did they ever learn to fly?
All knowledge is a cypher.
The code word is ETEMENNIGURU.

Hi! There's just something about summer that gets everyone in good vibes. I'm a late bloomer, but looking to get my summer fun in now.
I'd like to share my first time experience with a single woman that I can kind of get to know and chat with a bit first.
I'm open to you being a virgin too, or experienced. I would be into both scenarios. Let's just know a bit about each other before we have fun.
About me: Professional and discreet, busy with work usually. I am super easy going and funny, talk mad shit, enjoy sports and hiking. I also enjoy watching movies, some anime, TV shows, and exploring.
I respect boundaries, and chances are that I'll be slow and patient with the build up. DDF, 6ft tall, clean, and in good shape.
All I ask is that you are honest, single, respectful, and clean as well.
DM me if you are interested in having a fun summer fling :)

Part 24 Working Towards Peace (Part 1) (Part 23)
​
“I still don’t understand how the hell you, of all people, were able to score the first live interview with a Nishnabe and I didn’t get anything!” Shelby West’s perfectly choreographed hair, make up, and outfit looked absolutely pristine despite the scowl on her face as she watched the much more simply dressed woman set up a consumer-grade camera system. “I even demanded that my First Amendment Rights to the free press be respected, and they just looked at me like I was stupid!”
​
“I mean, did you try asking them nicely?” Cherry turned from the equipment she was setting with a sarcastic smirk on her face, her floof of rainbow hair bouncing as she did so. “That’s what I did, and they were really cool with me.”
​
“Oh, hardy har har. You’re so funny, Cherry.” Shelby rolled her eyes so hard it almost looked like they would get stuck like that. “But seriously though, I’m pissed! That should have been my interview! I got there first!”
​
As much as Cherry didn’t want to be a sounding board for her ex-girlfriend's childish complaints, she also didn’t want to give Shelby any excuse to cause a scene right before a press conference, especially with other people around. Even though the tight-fitting pin-stripe pants suit, precisely paired by a sharply detailed blazer with a popped up collar, and the completely over the top curled pompadour certainly looked good, the person wearing it could become quite loud quite quickly. When Cherry had initially shown up at the entrance to the Pinkerton facility where a battle had just taken place, she was one of the first to do so, had been recognized by a guard near the gate, and ushered into a tent-like structure for safety. As a few more journalists began to arrive just as she had, they were all informed there would be a press conference soon where they would be given an update on the current situation and have the opportunity to ask questions. As nerve racking and exciting as the past half hour or so had been for the rainbow haired woman, suddenly seeing her ex be ushered into the tent, immediately making eye contact with her, and then just starting to talk to her, had completely ruined this experience.
​
“I’m surprised they even let you in here." Cherry shot back while returning to her camera to properly align the focus. “I heard STAR Net was implicated in the First Contact Kidnapping Plot.”
​
“Oh, and where’d you hear that?” The brunette pomp atop the finely dressed woman’s head bobbed as pulled her head back and chin down, crossed her arms, and took up a much more defensive stance.
​
“I saw the names of the STAR Net board of directors on the list of people the Nishnabe have detained." Cherry nonchalantly replied. "And the charges against them."
​
“The what?!?” The shout drew the eyes of a few of the other reporters and guards nearby, though none gave the pair of bickering women a second glance.
​
“You know what a board of directors is.” Cherry had finally gotten her camera just right and started giggling at her own joke.
​
“The list, god damn it!” Shelby lightly stomped her wedge-heel in indignation.
​
“Look, Shelbs.” Cherry turned so that she could lock eyes with the other woman. “I told you 5 years ago, I’m not doing your homework anymore. If you want to call yourself a journalist, you need to do your own research.”
​
“Ahmahgah, no! I have a team for that!” The immaculately dressed woman scoffed with a valley girl accent so thick it made Cherry’s eyes roll in response. "You'd know what that's like if you worked for people who actually had a budget."
​
"And look how well informed you are." The sarcasm in that statement was palpable as the rainbow haired woman turned her attention to her laptop to finish her broadcasting and recording set up. "You get what you pay for and if you want something done right, you should be able to do it yourself."
​
"They get paid well!" Shelby shot back, more annoyed that her former lover wasn't giving her more attention than at the fact she wasn't aware of information she should have been reporting on. “But seriously though, what list?”
​
Rather than continuing with the back and forth, Cherry simply focused on her task and clicked through a few options on her computer to get all of the settings just right. Unlike Shelby and the few other reporters brave or stupid enough to approach the site of a recent battle which included high altitude atomic detonations, the rainbow haired woman from Mars preferred this more hands-on approach to reporting. Where all the others simply trusted their drone-based, AI-operated broadcasting systems to work without any real interaction, Cherry knew better than that. Despite how far simple AI, particularly image-recognition AI, had come over the years, nothing could compare to that human touch which transcended any attempt at emulation. Though she might never consider herself among the legends like Hunter S. Thompson or Bob Woodward, Cherry would rather spend time perfecting her craft than arguing with her ex.
​
"Ah, come on CareBear, don't be like that." Seeing as her sass was getting her nowhere in a hurry, Shelby tried to change tactics and was now using her sweetest tone of voice. "Pwitty pwease!"
​
"Oh my god!” Cherry burst out with the most annoyed tone she could muster before pressing in a few commands into her laptop and bringing up a blank internet browser tab. “I swear to God, if it weren’t for me you would never have gotten your degree!”
​
“So, you’ll tell me?”
​
“I’m not telling you shit, I’m showing you how to look it up yourself.” The bombastic side eye Cherry shot Shelby’s way did little to hinder the giddy expression on the other woman's prim and proper face. “You just open a new tab on your browser, go to the Nishnabe Web portal, and then it’ll bring a search page that looks like every over search page I’ve ever seen. From there, you can search anything you want, and you can probably find it.” As she was describing the incredibly simple process, she was also giving a live demonstration.
​
“And if I wanted to search that list you mentioned?” With the prodding this obvious, the demonstration and explanation halted.
​
“I swear, if you write a report on this and I’m not cre-” Cherry was about to demand she be properly recognized for her work before something particularly hurtful crossed her mind. “Ah, who am I kidding, it’s not like you ever actually write any of your reports yourself. Probably just paying some minimum wage intern to do that for you. And it shows.”
​
“Harsh…” Shelby faked an offended tone even though she knew it was true. “But… as you were saying…”
​
“Fine… I looked up military engagements…” The term was quickly typed into the keyboard and the homepage was suddenly replaced by a simplistic though highly informative search results page. “And, you can see the first link is to the Nishnabe Militia War Chief’s Council page. When yah click that, it brings you to the most boring yet transparent government website I’ve ever seen. Here’s a list of active and resolved military actions that goes from the most recent strike on ConSec and the Pinkertons, all the way back to their very first official military engagement just under 1100 years ago.”
​
“There is no way they just…” Without meaning to, Shelby had suddenly found herself actually reading the information on the screen instead of waiting for it to be told to her.
​
“Yeup.” Cherry clicked to the link to the most recent, and still unresolved, engagement at the top of the list. “You can see the number killed, wounded, or captured, the total resource expenditure, and even their tactical plans.”
​
“That has to be bullshit.” The utter disbelief was written all across the overdressed woman’s face. “There is absolutely no way a military, or any government body, would be this transparent. Look! They have a list of everyone who’s supposedly deployed right now. This has to be misinformation or something.”
​
“I mean…” Cherry clicked the link as she had done earlier and began scrolling down the list of names, some with pictures, until she came to a face that was standing in the room at that moment. “Zab-sh-pak-i-wen?” She attempted to pronounce the name while turning to a nearby guard who was clad in advanced armor, but with his helmet down and face exposed.
​
“Ehe? Ni je na, ngwabjegen-nankwe?” The Zabshpakiwen turned and looked at the women with a stoic expression and tone.
​
“Oh my god, he can’t be the same person, no way!” Though Shelby’s make up and hair weren’t disturbed in the least, she now had a look of utter shock on her face. “What did he say?”
​
“If you put the translator they gave you into your ear, you could understand him just fine.” Cherry began rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration, the Nishnabe man had started lightly chuckling, and Shelby fumbled with the small translation device she had been given early before wedging it into her ear.
​
“I said, ‘Yes? What’s up, rainbow-hair?’” Zab repeated himself after he saw the elaborately dressed woman had placed in her translator.
​
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bug you.” Cherry answered for herself and Shelby while nodding politely towards the man and putting on a friendly smile. “She just doesn’t believe that your military or government would be this open with information like who is currently deployed and where."
​
“There is no way-!” Cherry half shouted before quickly calming after realizing how easy it was going to be to have a conversation with this Nishnabe man. “Do you guys really just have personal information like this available to anyone?”
​
“What? Has Earth not developed social media yet?” Sarcasm oozed from the man as he let a light smirk form on his face.
​
“Of course!” There was just a bit too much sass in Shelby's response. “I have 30 million followers on-”
​
“And do y’all ever put links between your social media profiles and your places of employment?”
​
"I mean…When you put it like that.." Shelby couldn't help but feel embarrassed after realizing she had multiple links between her profile on the company website and her personal social media accounts. "So, like, if I made a profile on your…"
​
"We just call it the Web. Like a spiderweb." Zab was trying his best not to look at the woman like she was dumb, especially considering he had overheard she had a degree, but he was failing. "And a few randoms have already sent me connection requests. But I haven't responded to any of them yet because I've never actually met any of those people."
​
"One of those was probably from me." Cherry interjected quietly and drew looks from both of the others. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself when I was doing my research."
​
"Eee, it's all good." The man chuckled with an almost flirtatious tone. "I think I overheard your name is Cherry, right?"
​
"Yeup! Cherry Sanchez." There was a hesitant excitement in the rainbow haired woman's voice while the man pulled what looked like a hand-sized panel from his chest armor which was revealed to be a small data-tablet. As the man began typing into his device, Cherry added a bit of clarification. "There's a cherry emoji between the first and last name."
​
"Huh… I was wondering what that was." Zab commented before pressing in a few commands then placing the panel-like tablet back on his armor. "But, if I'm being completely honest, my profile is pretty boring. You're mostly just gonna see pictures of my family and places I've been."
​
Before anything else could be said, Cherry’s laptop made a ding sound and a small pop-up notification indicated the request had been accepted. Instinctually, the woman clicked on the notification and was brought to a list of her current and pending connections which revealed that Zab was not the first Nishnabe Cherry had connected with. Seeing how her ex was already far more popular among the Nishnabe than she was, Shelby couldn't help but feel the sting of jealousy hit her soul.
​
"Shit, how many followers do you already have?" Shelby nearly scoffed at seeing her normally shy and reserved former lover being so outgoing with these Native Americans from space.
​
"It's just some of the people I met when I interviewed Wish. And a few people like Zabship…" Cherry's relatively shy nature was starting to come out as she struggled to pronounce Zab's full name.
​
"Just Zab." The flirtiness, though now quite obvious, was still fairly professional. "It can also be hard for the Hi-Koth in my Clan to pronounce Nishnabemwin fully, so I'm use to it."
​
"What's a Hi-Koth?" Shelby's question, which could have been answered in under a minute if she had just looked it up herself, prompted Zab to nod towards Cherry's laptop.
​
"Click on my profile, the second picture is me with my clanmate Arichacon." The nonchalant way the man casually mentioned he had a picture with an alien, who was a member of his extended family no less, caused the finely dressed woman’s eyes to grow wide. "He's a Hi-Koth and one of the best forestry specialists I've ever met. The man really gets what it means to be one with nature, if you know what I'm talkin' about."
​
By the time Shelby had turned from the Nishnabe warrior and back to the laptop, Cherry had already brought up Zab's profile, clicked to the second picture, and enlarged the image so it's contents would be clear. On the screen was the man the women were talking to, wearing a far more ornate, feathered outfit as opposed to his combat armor, standing next to what Shelby could have sworn was a slightly orange-tinted brown bear. At first, she almost thought that this was an AI generated image of a bear dressed like a viking. However, upon realizing the mountain of fur had 4 arms, slightly elongated limb proportions, and entirely unique details on their clothing, she realized this was an actual alien. Where Shelby's mouth was slightly agape, her jaw was now almost on the floor.
​
"That's an alien?!?" This outburst was both loud enough and interesting enough to catch and keep the attention of a few of the other reporters who were nearby and now trying to catch a glimpse of the laptop's screen without making their efforts obvious.
​
"Well… we just think of them as people, not… aliens. Especially people like Ari.” Zab tried to explain in the most compassionate way he could despite being mildly annoyed at the over-the-top reporter. “He was born on Shkegpewen, same as me, and only about a week before me. And he’s a member of my Clan so, in my opinion, he’s family.”
​
“I am so sorry.” Shelby quickly apologized in an accent that was surprisingly neutral and tone that was incredibly honest compared to how she had been speaking up until that point. “I didn’t mean to offend and I promise I won’t make that mistake again. But, if you don't mind me asking what do you mean by Clan? I heard you say 'Dodem', then the translator thingy said 'Clan' and kinda whispered 'extended, community-based family unit' in my ear."
​
“Um… that sounds about right...” Zab searched the finely dressed woman’s eyes to see if she was messing with him. However, he didn't have long to look before his attention was suddenly taken and he looked off to the side as if listening to someone speaking into his ear. "Sorry but questions are gonna have to wait a bit. I just got word that the conference is going to start in five minutes, so make sure you're ready.”
​
"Oh shit!" Cherry blurted before returning to her laptop and resuming her set up.
​
"I guess I should make sure my equipment is working too." Shelby muttered while pulling out her smartphone and scrolling to the app that controlled her camera drone.
​
Despite not having done any research herself, or even really knowing what to ask in this news conference beyond the script her bosses had already sent her, the overly dressed woman was quite proficient with her own broadcasting and recording equipment. With just a few clicks of her long acrylic nails on her phone screen, the four-legged camera and microphone platform had made all of the necessary adjustments to do its job perfectly. While Cherry had just finished inputting commands into her computer after spending nearly half an hour setting up the camera and mic, Shelby's system was ready to go in just a few moments. Even though her research team may have failed to give her the amount of information necessary to do her job independently, they had uploaded the necessary translation software updates to her drone systems. However, as she stood there for a moment in silence, Shelby couldn’t shake the strange feeling she got whenever she was nervous but not directly interacting with someone.
​
Before she could try to restart the conversation between herself, her ex-girlfriend, and the Nishnabe warrior who had actually, willingly exchanged more than a few short words with her, a few more Nishnabe entered the tent carrying a fold out table, a couple similarly compacted chairs, a pair of panel-like objects, and something that almost looked like a large perch. As the armored warriors quickly set up the accommodations, the chairs and table were like any other Shelby had seen at dozens of other press conferences. However, the pair of strange technological devices were set up in such a way as to create a sort of a structure with one panel about two meters above the other, and the perch placed in the space between them. Though she heard a slight hum coming from the panels, and she could see that Cherry was now staring at them as well, Shelby had absolutely no idea what they were for. With less than a minute before the conference started, both women knew they would have to ask soon if they wanted any reasonable explanation.
​
“What’re those?” The pair of women spoke and looked towards Zab in almost perfect synchronization.
​
“Grav-panels. Have you not developed those yet?” The completely casual tone in Zab’s voice which matched his expression caused both women to stare at him like he was cracking a joke at their expense. “What? Those are super common everywhere on Shkegpewen. Non-humans usually can’t handle deathworld gravity for extended periods without some kind of accommodations.”
​
Though Zab knew he had just unintentionally let slip was supposed to be a surprise for these reporters who have taken the time, and risked their own safety, to come here in hopes of a story, the reveal was just a moment or two away. In the second it took the women to realize the implications of what the man had just said, it was already too late. The respectful murmur that had filled the tent for well over an hour fell completely silent and broadcasting systems immediately activated. For a few seconds the only sounds that could be heard in the tent were the tapping of high-dollar military dress shoes, the soft thuds of advanced combat boots, and the clicking of talons across the ground. As Cherry and Shelby joined the rest of the reports in the stunned stares towards the front of the long tent, they saw a US Army General they were all familiar with, a Nishnabe warrior in particularly ornate and advanced armor they didn’t recognize, and a non-terrestrial golden avian wearing a beautifully styled red and black vest-like top. With this being the first time any of the reporters in the room had seen an alien in person, all of them were unable to do anything besides stare as the group took their seats and the press conference began.
​
"Good afternoon, everyone. Please, take a seat and let's get this started." General Andrews addressed the reporters with the tone of a hardened military commander. "As you all likely already know, my name is General Robert Andrews of the United States Army. I arrived at this location a few hours ago at the request of President Carnegie and I just finished briefing him on the Nishnabe presence in American sovereign territory. I have positively assured him, and now I would like to assure the American people, that we have nothing to fear from the Nishnabe Confederacy. Though their actions over the past week may seem aggressive, within their own context they have been quite reserved with their capabilities. Most importantly, they have no intent of undermining or threatening the United States, any of the United Nations of the Earth Sphere of Influence, or any governmental body in the solar system."
​
The General paused for a moment to allow what he had just said to fully sink in for all those who were now watching all across the Earth and beyond.
​
"Now, I would like to introduce War Chief Msko-Pkwenech of the Nishnabe Militia, the acting commander of all Nishnabe forces in this system, and Royal Ambassador Viscountess Tarki Gebron Shlin of House Dreyuk, who is currently acting as a neutral diplomat and expert in galactic laws." Despite having only been able to practice the pronunciation of the unfamiliar names a few times, Andrews was able to get them out perfectly as he respectfully indicated towards them. "I will allow them to give more details in a moment but first, I would like to make a request to the American people. As we move past this difficult beginning between ourselves and the Nishnabe, and into a more cooperative phase of this relationship, please take into consideration the fact that the Nishnabe are human beings who have been separated from Earth for nearly 1200 years. We should be welcoming back these stolen members of humanity, not treating them as hostile invaders. Ambassador Shlin, if you would please, explain the legal context surrounding the military actions that have taken place on American soil."
​
There was a genuinely friendly smile that had formed on the War Chief's face as he nodded his head slightly in agreement with what the General had said while the General motioned for Tarki to speak.
​
"Thank you, General.” Tarki was speaking in the best English she could muster, much to the shock of reporters who were sitting silently. “To get straight to the important parts, the initial strike against the United Heavy Industries Headquarters was carried out by elements of the First Fleet of the Third Qui’ztar Matriarchy because that was the location where the family members of a member of the human first contact team were held against their will. We have been able to collect irrefutable evidence showing that the board of directors of both UHI and STAR Net conspired together to kidnap a pair of disabled individuals as a means of asserting leverage over the first contact team. However, upon investigating further, it was discovered that both UHI and STAR Net have been engaging in the production of autonomous, non-sentient combat-AI and technologies with which to enslave Awakened AI, both of which are very serious crimes in the eyes of the Galactic Community Council. The investigation into the site will conclude soon and control of the site will be returned to the United States government within the next few days.”
​
A collective sigh of relief could be felt not just from the reporters in the tent but from every single person watching the live broadcast. Though more and more Nishnabe had been responding to various calls for peaceful forms of aid from people across the Solar System, the major of Earth’s population were still concerned over the potential for a full on invasion despite how limited the military actions so far had been. With a direct announcement from an alien that there was no intent on expanding, or even continuing, military operations alleviated quite a few worried souls.
​
“As for the military action here at Red Lake…” The golden avian was slightly less confident with herself as she continued and looked towards the Nishnabe warrior who was seated next to her. “I feel it may be better for the War Chief to give proper context.”
​
"First of all, I would like to apologize for not yet knowing the common language of this land." In contrast to the other two who had spoken before him, Msko made no attempt to speak in English. "And second, I would like to extend my condolences to the families of those slain here today. Up until the moment of those atomic weapons detonated, I truly hoped this would end without bloodshed. Even though the Constellis-Securitas Corporation ordered an assault on a group of Nishnabe aid workers and attempted to murder not only my people, but also the innocent people they were assisting, I hoped we could simply scare them into submission. However, they simply left us no other choice than to end the threat."
​
Despite the remorseful expression on Msko's face, it was clear he didn't regret his actions. Rather, he simply wished there had been a better alternative than to shed the blood of his own species. As the War Chief continued, his dower expression began to grow brighter as he tried to focus on the future he wanted to see for his whole species.
​
"When the nuclear fire was absorbed by the shielding of my mechanized walker as I dropped on this facility my worst fear was that those would be the opening volleys of an extended and painful conflict." The War Chief glanced over towards the General with a slight but genuinely friendly smile on his face. "However, after a quite pleasant conversation with General Andrews here, I have real hope that this battle will be the final time weapons will be used in anger between members of our. Moving forward, the Nishnabe Militia is pledging to act strictly in concert with local governments, and to not initiate any military actions without express permission from the local government. We are not here as invaders, nor do we have any intention of forcing your governments to do anything they would not willingly do on their own. All we ask is that if you see a Nishnabe in your local community on an aid or environmental restoration mission, please do not accost or harass them. We are your cousins and we just want to see the home we were stolen from again."
​
Msko let his plea hang in the air for a long few seconds to ensure that the translation was completed and the people of Earth and the Sol System would be able to absorb what he had just said. Regardless of the technological gap between the Nishnabe and the rest of humanity, the explicit pledge of peace was so sincere that many people watching the press conference at home were beginning to cheer. However, Msko knew that wouldn't be enough for some, especially those most paranoid and scared of change.
​
"Over the past few days, and especially over the past few hours, Nishnabe diplomatic teams have been reaching out to the various governmental bodies across the Sol System in an attempt to arrange a grand meeting between all of the various political and economic groups in this system to discuss a peaceful and voluntary transition towards Galactic Standards." This revelation by the War Chief, though already known to those who had done sufficient research, was not something that the majority of humanity was aware of. "Aside from particular military technologies and clandestine corporate actions, which are already mostly illegal under your own laws, your diverse governments are largely in compliance with galactic laws and thus will be granted access to all of the technologies my people have access to. In order to better facilitate that transition, and to promote a mutual sense of compassion and understanding, Fleet Admiral Atxika of the First Fleet of the Third Matriarchy has agreed to host a convention on The Hammer. We are now publicly extending an invitation to all government, corporate, and media representatives to join us in the Council of Peace in order to lay the groundwork for a long and prosperous future for humanity. We will now be fielding questions."

Hi, however you want to define midcore but I'm looking for a focused team that can do the tier in 1 - 2 months. I'm currently on bonds 3 in P10S. New to the high end of high end and looking to push my logs this tier and really get that job mastery down.
Me: https://www.fflogs.com/characteid/19194547
(Previous healing was in Asphodelos, last tier I was a DNC in PF so take that as you will. Check the deaths on the 67 run if you're wondering, it was constant catch up.)
Avail:
Mon: 4pm MST - 9pm MST
Tue: 4pm MST - 9pm MST
Wed: 4pm MST - 9pm MST
Thur: 4pm MST - 9pm MST
Sun: 4pm MST - 9pm MST
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What you get from me:
- Willing to DC travel
- Looking for a team that will check damage logs rather than blame healers automatically. I'll take full fault for not mitting something enough but it doesn't help team morale or prog if we're not sure why someone died to 100k overkill.
- Need a team that actively plans mitigations together.
- I talk to my cohealers, I'm too old for that passive aggressive shit.
- Looking for a team that is CHILL and can RELAX. I don't care at the end of the day if I don't funny number. It's just a game. I'd literally rather play with grey barsing casuals than an angry sweaty team of big pp numbers.
- Not interested in getting yelled at. I come here prepared, on time, with food and pots, I know what I'm doing, I just need time to get the dance down with healing & movement in prog.
- Infinite patience. I don't get sassy or have meltdowns when people are making mistakes. It's the healer life.
- Shitposting in chat when I'm comfortable with the group.
- I'm an egalitarian, I can behave myself around minority groups.
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Contact: #rayanra on discord.
Ty for reading, have a gamer day.