2018 silverado single cab short bed

The unavoidable blunder - 3yrs after starting DJing it finally happened to me (guess what before you click)

2023.06.06 20:49 katentreter The unavoidable blunder - 3yrs after starting DJing it finally happened to me (guess what before you click)

Loaded the next track on the wrong deck
and pushed the load button.
Load load bla function was not active.
Music (techno) stopped for couple seconds, part of what was left alive of me died too, I yelled at my self, gave up (almost) all hope, said fk it and pressed play and "La Bouche - Be my Lover" started playing. And the DJ not in a good shape clear as day.
The conditions not OK. Lots of struggle. The plan THAT I close, WHEN I close was thrown back and forth and I was fked up and when I showed up in the booth with 1 and a half brain cell the message from the transition DJ was "ok thats my last song" - I look over to the player and see how much of song is left: 20 Seconds. Yeah man thank u!! My transition idea changed every 5 seconds and my short term memory was in the same range. But a decision to "What song??" never finallized. So I was in DJ limbo. kinda know what do to until i know what i do. what what do i do????
Some might have thought it was just a very theatralic transition but still intentional.
But no.
I completely destroyed my DJ plan with what transitioning from hard fast techno to slow smooth chill music within like 10 minutes. That was my job and everybody was still waiting and thinking "wasnt that dude supposed to slow down and play chill music? From where the showed up it until now it was nothing but pure shit"
And the 3rd track was the key building corner of that turnover and ment to suprise the crowd and having fun DJing.
I failed at so many levels with that move. But well yeah lets go on with plan B. Read below what was my plan A.
Plan A was: Take over the booth and go on with techno without a cut and make the music EVEN harder for 2 tracks. Then make a fun transition to disco, one to chilly psy/break tunes, then after its mainpart (energylevel VERY high but smooooth), loop a very small (1 beat!) quiet part and turn the music into a strange "wtf this shit now?" noise, slow it down, and bring up aphex twin - windowlicker into that mess, slower it even more, clear the mess up, get out of that shitty loops, fk people even more up with that drum intro and THEN finally land that space ship safe and smooth home into chill zone with fkin aphex twin man!!! what a fuiuuuuuukiung journey. but you know lots of steps.... step 1: load the wrong deck and fk yourself and everyone else better that way... step 0: realistic probabilty of pullling off that kinda mannouevre in state of mind: below zero. why noone telling me, dude your plan A is shit. haha cuz noone know what Im doing even myself.
Made a shitty mega low effort transition to chill music after 3 minutes of Disco.
My recovery rate was VERY low and conditions tough. Sleep? Drink? Eat? Long time ago. My best option should be eat a burger, drink a water and go to bed but I had to DJ for like 3h or so I was still the last hope for those people and who where still on the dancefloor dont wanna dissappoint them and relying on my closing set bringing back some last joy and fun like I did superp the last time I did the closing.
Well, I try my best and people knew I was in pain and usually rock solid behind the decks but kinda not in best shape this time. So they went very easy with me. Ok lets go on, I can still build a kickass closing.
Time to load the 5th track. On the wrong deck again. And press load again.
I turned this "everything still kinda fine" situation to the lowest point of my DJ carreeer - I did it to myself. All fault on me. All tracks on wrong decks.
I did many other mistakes then. One was very cruel.
Didn't remove the 2bar intro loop after the transition and agonized the crowd with that bullshit not recognizing anything because was already in CUE headphones. For how long? Dont know. Someone from the crowd noticed something must be wrong and yelled at me if I was still OK? Cuz the music isnt. That brought back my attention and now I saw the fkin loop still on LOL. Sorry guys. Everyone expecting chill mode but more like getting in the world of pain more and more thinking eitheir the dude DJing the first time in his life or doing all of this intentionally.
Then suddenly the left player stoppped working for like 30+ minutes and I had so go on DJing with a single deck lol. Kinda improvised this pretty ok and made the deck function again with some help in the meantime.
Long story short. The DJ and the technical devices recovered finally and regained their ability put the dancefloor into hypnostasis and send into different dimensions and realities. Kinda did what was to be done until party was over.
And hearing "dude, like all other times I heared u playing, by far the best set of the night, thanks man" many many times after I was done.
Many lessons learned and plans made for future djING - safety, recovery, fails, make sure some bs doensnt happen again and so on. (My imo best safety idea: Record a bombastic 3h closing set at home and bring it everywhere for megafail safety. So I can close every party even when I chill at home all the time lol).
Mistakes will be done sooner or later. But will you learn from them?
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2023.06.06 19:35 mythicls Is my dad an emotionally abusive narcissist?

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2023.06.06 19:31 NamelessNanashi [The Gods of Dragons: Beginning] Ch 18 - A Name

--- Table of Contents ---
Winter 4986, 22 Aoimoth
They never locked the door. She checked the handle just in case. Did they honestly expect Her to stay in this white room forever without locking Her in? She opened the door just a crack and peeked out. No one.
The Cleric coughed. She closed the door quickly and pretended to examine the altar of Hengist on a nearby shelf, Her neck itching. The kindly man finished straightening his papers, slipping them into a desk drawer and locking it. So they locked their documents away but not the door? Or did they think he alone would be enough to stop Her if She chose to go out?
She watched the Cleric out of the corner of Her eye as he stood and stretched, but looked quickly to the altar again when he walked Her way. He stopped beside Her, bringing his hands up in a short prayer. He seemed nice enough, and She found Herself wanting to trust him. But Archmage Morndancer had moments when he was nice too.
She scratched the scales on Her neck, still unaccustomed to having unimpeded access to the area. The collar had become so much a part of Her that She felt awkward without it, never mind that it had been used to keep Her in line. She wondered again how these Paladins planned on keeping Her under control and debated different ways to find out without going so far that She would end up tied to one of these beds and stuck full of needles.
“Do you pray, Miss?” the Cleric asked, eyes still closed.
She shrugged, “I don’t really like one-sided conversations.” She glanced at him, half hoping he would get angry, maybe punish Her just a little, so She would have a better idea what methods they might use.
He laughed, “Yes, I remember occasions, before I took my Oath, when I wondered if Hengist could hear me.” he reached down and held Her shoulder for a moment, as long as his heat tolerance would allow, before letting his hand fall back to his side, “It's hard to take the word of others sometimes, but I know he’s listening. He delivered you from the Warlocks...” he let the idea trail as if he expected Her to thank the god for his intervention. But if Hengist had really wanted Her free, then why not come sooner? Why not when they had isolated Her? Even just an hour sooner would have saved Her treasures…
“Perhaps, when you’re ready, I will take you to the chapel.” he continued to smile, “Or perhaps you will find a greater calling to one of the other gods,” the Cleric shrugged, “We are not ones to proselytize.” She could only return his shrug.
She moved back to the window, Her favorite place in the infirmary. Below, a group of boys, young men really, practiced with weapons too small for Her to see. One stood apart from the others and She wondered what he'd done to be ostracized from the rest. She hadn’t met any of them yet and wondered if they were being kept from Her intentionally. She'd met with the Major General, Selibra, as well as another high-ranking Paladin, a woman, and a handful of Mages. Seeing the Mages, She'd been sure they were about to take Her to another tower, to lock Her in the basement again. They'd assured Her that wasn’t the case, and explained the difference between Her Mages -Warlocks- and true Mages -Guild members- though She still had a hard time believing them.
She wasn’t afraid. She'd gone past fear. There wasn’t anything more they could take from Her that the Warlocks hadn’t already taken. Instead, She was curious, what would they do? And how would She work around it?
Behind Her, the Cleric cleared his throat, “I’m going to the chapel,” She nodded without looking at him. Brom and Ran would leave Her alone for most of the day. This was a new place, but some things would always be the same. The door opened, then clicked closed again.
She stood at the window for a while longer before turning around and tilting Her head at the door. He hadn’t locked it… It must have been a mistake. She moved for the door and cracked it open just in case… The hall beyond was empty.
She looked back into the room with all its white, then back into the hall. Well... She'd wanted to test Her limits. She slipped out of the infirmary.
No one stopped Her, and nothing happened. She walked slowly at first, glancing at each door as though She expected it to swing open and reveal one of the Mages, fingers ready to snap. In the distance, a set of Paladins rounded a corner, and She froze. They spoke to each other, one laughing at something the other said. She glanced around for somewhere to hide before remembering that this was exactly what She'd wanted. If they saw Her out of Her room, they would undoubtedly take Her back, and if She resisted, they would have to play their hand. She just hoped the friendly Cleric wouldn’t get in too much trouble for forgetting to lock the door.
The Paladins' steps faltered when they noticed Her. Exchanging glances, one stepped forward, “Are you lost, miss?”
“No,” She answered, looking over Her shoulder. For a heartbeat She expected Brom to be there. He wasn’t. He never would be again. She forced the thought away. Locking it somewhere it couldn’t interrupt Her exploration, focusing on the Paladins.
The knight exchanged another look with his companion, who shrugged, “Well, if you need any help, please don’t hesitate to ask.” they continued past Her.
Turning to watch them go, She tilted Her head to one side, then the other. Slowly, a grin began to spread over Her face. With a wicked giggle, She set off down the hall, ready to explore until someone stopped Her.
***
Shon stood well away from the others, his dagger clenched too tightly in his left hand. The first day back, Master Daunas had tried to include him in training as if nothing had changed. Then Shon had frozen the practice grounds, and no less than ten of the sixteen squires had fallen on their backsides, letting slip a variety of colorful curses that had them all doing pushups in full armor for at least five minutes straight. After that, he had been ordered to do drills alone while the others practiced. “Just until Ivelm finishes your item,” Master Daunas had assured him.
The little dragon that now followed Shon everywhere, whistled from the roof covering the weapons racks. Shon tried to loosen his grip on his dagger. He was getting sloppy, focusing too much on not extending the blade with an extra three inches of ice and not enough on the precision of his strikes. He tried to keep the power pulled in, but it made him tense, and he often found himself holding his breath unintentionally. Getting frustrated only made it worse. Instead of fighting his visualized opponent, he felt like he was fighting himself. And losing.
The pseudodragon swooped down and landed on Shon's extended arm, distracting him further. Growling, Shon tried to shoo it away, shaking his arm but only causing the tiny beast to dig its sharp claws deeper. "Not now," he hissed at the dragon, who hissed back, sending a wave of annoyance into Shon's mind to join his own. It walked up his arm to his shoulder, wrapping its tail around his neck to help keep itself balanced as Shon continued to try and finish his form.
He'd been confused but intrigued by the flying cat-like lizard on the night it had shown itself, but was quickly finding the thing to be as annoying as the Sorcerer magic it represented.
On the first day he'd resumed training, the little dragon had attached itself to his shoulder, as it did now, and wouldn't get off no matter how in the way it got. He'd asked, threatened, and begged, but at most, it would move from one shoulder to the other.
On the second day, he'd ordered it to stay in his room, closing the door quickly before it could slip out. Shon had been pulled out of drills for the first time since his arrival to clean and reclean his trashed room after the pseudodragon had dug through his uniform box and desk drawers.
On the third day, he had to physically resist the urge to grab the thing by the neck and throw it across the courtyard. Though to his surprise -and annoyance- Master Daunas had actually stepped in. Speaking to the pseudodragon kindly but firmly, the Weaponmaster ordered it to leave him alone during lessons at least. And for the most part, it obeyed. The fact that it was pestering him now meant the lesson had to be almost...
The bell for their break rang out from the tower high above the fortress. Shon snapped to attention with the others, the little dragon twittering happily and swaying with the motion. When dismissed, he was the first to return his dagger, then cleared off to give the others room to do the same.
No one said anything when he went to the water barrel instead of the fortress. His friends were still mostly supportive, but even they were growing annoyed by his occasional loss of control. Like freezing the running trail, so on the next pass, they had to dodge icy footprints.
Breaking the thin layer of ice that had formed over the top of the water barrel and splashing the back of his neck with it, Shon stared at his wavering reflection until the water stilled. Cold blue eyes stared back until the little dragon stuck its head in the way, smacking Shon's nose with its wing. He slapped the water, sending it splashing up into the pseudodragon's nose. The little dragon hissed, then scooped up a huge wing-full and splashed it over his face and chest. He could feel the little dragon's mirth as it chortled its clicking laugh.
Shon could only sigh, he'd come to cool off out of habit, not necessity. He didn't really feel hot in the same way as before. The exercise and exertion still made him sweat, but he only seemed to grow colder. Like even his body was acting out of habit...
He waited for the others to finish crowding into the fortress, most heading to the showers, some heading for their rooms, and a few to the library to play cards and socialize. Shon glanced towards the weapons storage -with the boxes of daggers and racks of various swords and polearms- but shook his head. He was in no mood to continue the fight with himself, and instead made for his rooms.
Squires laughed in the halls, and Shon stayed close to the wall to give them space as he walked. The pseudodragon draped itself over his shoulder like a scarf so it wouldn't hit the stone or passers-by. Apparently, sometimes, it was conscientious of Shon's desires. Once in his room, Shon retrieved his journal and opened it on the desk, but then focused out the window without sitting down. In early winter, the sun was already setting, painting the skies in colors he could never hope to match with simple pencils and white paper. He normally enjoyed this time of year, when the wind grew chill and snow occasionally fell as a promise for the deeper winter to come.
Now, he wanted to hate the cold. He wanted to toss it and everything like it to the wind. But not only could he not rid Clearhelm of winter, he also couldn’t convince himself to hate it. The little dragon sent a wave of concern over him, whistling quietly.
Closing his journal Shon scooped it up and left. Even if he opened the window, not much of a breeze would reach him from there, so he made for the stairs to the central tower.
Though now the tower was used only to house the hour bells, it was originally designed to be a lookout. It offered a complete view of the surrounding area through ten tall glassless windows around the perimeter.
He picked a window ledge facing west and sat with his journal closed, just enjoying the cool breeze. The knots in his stomach eased, and the power he could still feel swirling around him calmed. The pseudodragon purred, and he reached up to pet its side. It was okay to still enjoy the cold, wasn’t it? He just wished he didn’t inflict it on others who never seemed to like it as much as he did.
Someone hummed behind him, and Shon jumped, spinning in his seat. A girl with golden hair stepped up to his window. Her eyes were closed, and the wind blew her hair back, revealing three scarlet stripes across her right cheek. They merged together on her neck into a single line that disappeared below her white hospital dress.
She smiled, and Shon had to swallow, his mouth suddenly dry, “I was sure they wouldn’t let me up here,” she said, opening her eyes and looking at him, still smiling, “But I suppose if you’re up here, then I can come and enjoy the view too.” She perched herself on the sill next to him and tilted her head to the side, looking for all the world like a curious kitten. The pseudodragon mirrored the expression with an inquisitive chirp. Were her pupils slitted? "You have a pseudodragon... are you a Mage?" She asked.
Shon looked away, but the little dragon wrapped its tail around his neck and chirped again, "I'm a Squire," he stated, though if more to himself or the girl, he wasn't sure.
"Oh, so you're here to be a Paladin?" she accepted his answer without argument, and Shon looked her way again to find her still smiling, "I don't understand the appeal, but if it makes you happy," she shrugged, but then narrowed her eyes at him, leaning closer and squinting. Shon leaned back, keeping his distance. “Your eyes... You were there, weren’t you? At the tower?”
Shon blinked. She'd switched topics so suddenly. He nodded in answer, and she sighed, turning in her seat and bringing her knees up to her chest. She was probably annoyed he hadn't answered verbally...
As she wrapped her arms around her legs, he saw that her red stripe continued out her left sleeve to break apart into three again along the back of her hand. Looking down, he noticed three more pointed stripes on her bare right foot that merged at her ankle to twist around and disappear back into her dress. Did they all meet somewhere in the middle? He had to shake himself to banish the mental image and turned to follow her gaze out over the horizon.
“Thank you…” she whispered, and he turned back to her, arching an eyebrow. It took her a moment to look away from the view and see his expression, but when she did, she continued without further prompting, “I don’t remember everything that happened, but I’m glad I wasn’t alone,” she smirked and looked back out to the horizon, continuing, “The Cleric thinks I should thank Hengist, but I don’t remember seeing him there, so I’d rather thank you instead.” Shon didn’t know what to think about that, but the girl didn’t seem to expect an answer.
The pseudodragon dug its claws into Shon's shirt and climbed down his chest, pulling at the fabric and scratching the skin beneath. It walked across his legs then over to the girl gingerly. Her giggle was small and quiet, and she didn't hesitate to reach out and pet the flying lizard, though she did so carefully with brief pats, "Careful little one, I'm not the safest person to touch..." she whispered down to it. Shon furrowed his brow in confusion at her words, and predictably the pseudodragon ignored them completely. Crawling up her knees until she lowered them again so it could reach her lap, where curled up like a cat, complete with purring.
She giggled again and stroked its back all the way down to its tail, "It doesn't even care..." she sounded in awe of the little dragon, and Shon couldn't blame her. He'd only ever heard stories of the beasties before he'd seen this one. But the dragon wasn't nearly as interesting anymore, not compared to this girl.
“What’s your name?” he blurted before thinking. And silently cursed himself into oblivion. He sounded like an idiot. Those were the first words he said? She was obviously content just petting the pseudodragon. Couldn’t he have at least waited for her to address him? Or ask something? She was probably up here to think. You have no idea what she’s been through; she probably wants to be alone…
But hadn’t she chosen to sit next to him? And she'd already spoken first...
As if to confirm his fears, she sighed in obvious annoyance, her head falling back to hit the side of the pillar with a whine. When she looked at him, he could somehow tell that if she was annoyed, it was with herself, “I know I should know it by now, but I don’t. Do you think I’m going to have to explain every time I meet someone new? It’s really embarrassing…”
Shon could only stare, trying to understand. She didn’t say she couldn’t remember her name, just that she didn’t ‘know’ it yet. But that didn't make any sense. “You don’t have a name?” he tried to confirm.
She shrugged, exaggerating the motion by bringing her shoulders all the way to her ears then letting them drop limply, “They always said that I would know my own name. But every time I tried to guess or make one up, they got mad at me. What’s your name?”
“Shon,” he answered slowly, still confused.
“And when did you know your name?” she tilted her head again, confirming Shon’s mental comparison with a kitten.
He shook his head, “No one just knows their name. They're given one when they’re babies.”
Her mouth fell open for a full heartbeat before it snapped shut again, and she glared into the setting sun. The air had grown strangely warm, the pseudodragon chittered, and Shon fumbled for something to say, “What did they call you if you don’t have a name?” She'd said 'they' had told her she would know her own name, so that must mean 'they' had spoken to her. He could only assume she meant the people at the tower. The memory of burned corpses flashed through his mind, and once again Shon regretted speaking.
She didn’t look at him as she answered, “Ran called me ‘Red,’ for my scales,” she ran the fingers of her right hand over the stripes on her left, “Brom called me ‘Goldy,’ for my hair,” she brought a lock over her shoulder and stroked it absently, “But the Archmages didn’t like it when they did that…” the pseudodragon watched her dangling hair, swaying its neck back and forth to follow its motion.
Those sounded like nicknames someone gave a pet… He remembered Ivelm saying something about her being experimented on, like an animal. Shon brought his hand up to run through his hair, thinking fast. “You could pick one.” she looked at him, and he rushed to continue, “No one can stop you, and it could be temporary, just until you know your true name." whatever that meant, "Even the gods used to have different names depending on the province.”
“A name,” her eyes glazed over as she stared into the setting sun and absently started petting the dragon again. It tilted its head up at her and whistled, “I don’t even know where to start…” she whispered.
Shon searched the horizon for inspiration but saw only trees and birds. “What’s your favorite flower?” he blurted.
She focused on him again, “Flowers have names?” she asked. When he nodded, her cheeks puffed out, and she glared at him. Looking away again, she grumbled, “Even flowers get names, and I just have to sit around and wait for one to come to me?”
Shon opened his journal, turning it to the side and drawing quickly. The girl stopped mumbling to herself and looked over his shoulder, the pseudodragon crawling to the edge of her knees so it too could tilt its head at his drawing. He usually hated when people tried to watch him draw, but -for some reason- was able to continue without being distracted. It was a drawing for her after all, it made sense that she should see it. Never mind that she was so close... close enough for him to feel the warmth from her skin... or perhaps that was his imagination.
Finishing the final flower, Shon turned the book towards her. “Which one do you like most?”
She stared transfixed at the six flowers depicted, and Shon suddenly felt self-conscious. He'd only personally seen four of them, the other two he'd copied from memories of other drawings in books. She reached out, and her fingers hovered over the rose for a moment before she rested it on a six-petaled lily. The little dragon trilled in approval.
“Lily,” Shon said, then tried to explain, “I trained with a girl named Daisy,” he tapped the daisy flower on the page, “Daisies were also her favorite flower, so I thought…”
“It’s so beautiful…” she whispered, then grabbed his hand, desperately searching his face, “Can I really use it as a name?”
Shon’s heart skipped a beat. Her hand was hot, and he felt his power flow to where she touched, cooling his skin and making it tingle. Even before his power had awakened, everyone else had gotten colder the longer he touched them. As if he were pulling the warmth from them.
Her heat seemed unending.
Even more transfixing was the desperation in her eyes, which were dark blue and slit, like the pseudodragon's, who had crawled from her lap onto his journal and was studying the other flowers. Finally, Shon managed a nod, adding, “You can have whatever name you want. It’s yours.”
She looked at the flowers again and whispered, “Lily…” she seemed to chew it over for a moment, then smiled. And Shon realized all those before hadn't been in true happiness. This was her first real smile. “Lily.” her joy lit up the darkening sky and caused Shon’s heart to race, making up for its lost beats, “My name is Lily!” Lily pulled his hand closer to her and gripped it with both of hers, “Thank you. Oh wow, thank you, Shon!”
He could bask in that smile for hours. He stared at her, trying to memorize every line. Then she finally looked down at his fingers, and her brow furrowed. Oh no…
“It doesn’t hurt?” she asked.
Shon pulled away from her, looking away so he wouldn’t have to see her rub her palms on her dress, “No.” he answered shortly. She'd held his hand longer than anyone even before his awakening, but she'd been distracted by picking her name. She was probably freezing now…
He didn’t want to see her trying to warm her fingers after holding his, so instead, he focused on his journal, pushing the pseudodragon gently off so it wouldn't scratch the papers, then slowly working the page with the flowers out of it.
The breeze picked up, and Shon ran his hand through his hair, stealing a glance Lily's way. Her eyes were closed and she'd turned to face the wind again, “Refreshing…” she whispered.
He sighed. He could still feel her hands wrapped around his, a phantom memory he would just have to hope would last. Shon held out the drawings to her. She blinked at them, then at him, then back down to the page again. “You can have it,” he told her.
Lily hugged him.
Shon stiffened instantly. He'd never been hugged like this before. She smelled like cinnamon… Before he could fully register the sensation, Lily pulled away and took the page carefully with just her fingertips, “I will treasure it…” Shon felt himself blush, looking away to try and hide his face. Luckily Lily didn't seem to notice because she asked, "What's its name?"
Shon turned to look at her questioningly, only to see her tilting her head down at the pseudodragon. Shon's blush deepened. She was so happy to have a name, and now he had to tell her, "It doesn't have..." shame burned his cheeks, and he actually flinched when she looked at him in shock.
"You're not going to make it come up with its own, are you?"
"I... I just haven't..." Shon stuttered around for an excuse, but he really didn't have one, "I didn't think about it..." he finally finished, defeated.
He expected Lily to get upset, maybe chastise him, but instead, she just clapped her hands and smiled, "Well, we can fix that now." reaching down, she scratched the little dragon's chin, "Any ideas?" the pseudodragon purred, then climbed back over to her lap, wrapping its long tail around Lily's forearm so she couldn't pull away from the scratches.
"Pest," Shon mumbled.
Lily giggled, "That's not a name," she tried to stop scratching only to have it reach up and grab her fingers, forcing it back to its chin with both clawed hands. She giggled again, "Could be a nickname, though." the little dragon huffed but still wouldn't let her stop petting it.
"Pest..." Shon told it directly. Feeling jealous; the realization almost made him blush again. He was doing an awful lot of that all of a sudden.
"Well, it's a tiny dragon..." Lily mused, "So maybe something in draconic?"
Shon arched an eyebrow at her, but Lily just tilted her head at his unspoken question. "Draconic? Isn't that a dead language?" dead with the dragons who spoke it, he asked.
"You mean you don't speak it?" she answered with her own questions, "How do you read books written in it if you can't speak it?"
Shon shook his head, "I don't know of any books written in draconic..." he was becoming more confused by Lily every moment. The provinces all had their own ancient languages, but learning it these days was only an old tradition. No one actually used it. And yet the ones who'd held her, the ones who hadn't given her a name, had taught her a second language? A dead language?
"That's so weird..." Lily said, looking back out over the horizon. Just when Shon was sure she wasn't going to say anything else, she hopped a little in her seat, shaking the pseudodragon in her lap, "What about Ryuuko?"
Once again, Shon's eyebrow went up and Lily explained with a giggle, "It means 'little dragon.' Not very creative, I know, but if it likes it..." she dipped her head, lifting the pseudodragon's face to her nose, "Do you like it, little one? It's a bit feminine with the 'ko' at the end, but..." the little dragon licked her nose and Shon felt a wave of approval from the creature.
"I think it likes it." He told Lily as she laughed, pulling the pseudodragon in for a real hug, rubbing her cheek along its scaled neck.
Around them the bells sounded at full volume. Shon and Lily covered their ears, and Ryuuko took off, flying in circles around the bell tower, chittering angrily at being surprised. Lily laughed, but Shon could only hear the resonating rings shaking him from his head to his toes as the bells counted out the hour.
When the last bell faded, Lily dropped her hands, her laugh turning to a snicker, “I suppose that means it’s dinner time.” her smile faded, disappearing over the course of a few heartbeats, “I should probably get back to my room…” she clutched the page Shon had given her to her chest as if afraid it would be snatched from her fingers.
Ryuuko landed on Shon's shoulder as he stood, and Lily slowly lowered her feet back to the ground as if heading towards a hangman’s noose. It had been at least six days since the incident that brought her to Hamerfoss. Had she been eating in the infirmary all this time?
Shon arched an eyebrow at her, and Lily met his expression with a confused tilt of her head again. Shon asked, “Come to dinner with us?” and Lily’s smile lit up the night.
--- Table of Contents ---
Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP
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2023.06.06 19:27 LiseEclaire [Leveling up the World] - Academy Arc - Chapter 761

Out there - Patreon (for all those curious or wanting to support :))
At the Beginning
Adventure Arc - Arc 2
Wilderness Arc - Arc 3
Academy Arc - Arc 4
Previously on Leveling up the World…
 
“This way, please.” The young apprentice flew to the side of the archduke’s palace. A cluster of several three-story mansions was there, surrounded by several well-kept layers of orange bushes. All the buildings were exquisite, even if nowhere as large as the palace itself. These had to be the guest residencies; either that or the staff quarters.
Casting a spell, the mage opened the large double doors. Before entering, though, he landed on the ground, patiently waiting for Dallion and Diroh to pass first. In contrast, Dallion remained an inch from the floor at all times. In the short time he’d been a battle mage, he had developed the habit of avoiding contact with unfamiliar surfaces.
“A tailor team is expecting you in your chamber,” the apprentice explained. “I wasn’t aware that there would be anyone accompanying you, so it will take a short while for the second one to arrive and tend to your novice.”
“Tend to me?” Diroh asked with a predatory smile. “That’s so thoughtful of you…” she looked at the boy, indicating she expected to get a name.
“Calpex,” he quickly said. “Apprentice Calpex Lyan.”
“Yes, how very thoughtful of you, Calpex. I can see why you were made an apprentice.”
The insult passed over the apprentice’s head, who mumbled something in thanks, then quickly flew off, likely to inform the mage and archduke of the guests’ arrival. Wasting no time, the fury closed the door.
“You’ve become vicious,” Dallion said, amused.
“I’ve always been. You just never noticed.” Diroh placed all of Dallion’s floating belongings in the corridor. “I know his type.”
No doubt she did.
“How are you with nobles? The banquet won’t be the same as a hunter’s tavern.”
“So you’re really planning to go?”
The fury made it sound as if she disapproved, but the emanations from her told a completely different story. She was eager to see the inside of an archduke’s palace. The more Dallion looked at her, the more he found the scruffy fury he’d met way back to be gone. Awakening had that effect on people, changing their perspective of the world, infusing them with curiosity, and helping them deal with deep-rooted flaws.
“Going yes,” he said, making his way through the corridor to the first ornate double door. “Staying, no.”
The room was his personal bedroom, as expected. Large and richly decorated, it had thick carpets woven out of gem cloth, massive paintings with such detail that only someone with a perception of forty could truly appreciate, as well as several large tables, chairs, a desk, and an impossibly large bed. Four people were there waiting for him, their appearance combined with the racks of cloth suggested they were the tailor team Calpex had mentioned.
“Greetings, mage.” All of them bowed. Interestingly, all of them were human. Given the city’s size, Dallion would have assumed there to be a gorgon, or at least a dwarf as well. “Will you allow us to take your measurements?”
Without a reply, Dallion floated to a spot in the room, a few steps away from the large window, then raised his arms sideways. Taking the hint, the tailors quickly started taking measurements. There were no conversations the entire time. Everyone knew precisely what they had to do, occasionally asking Dallion to move certain parts of his body so they could get a more accurate measurement.
“Do you have any specific preferences?” the head tailor—an old man well in his sixties—asked.
“Make sure it fits with my robe.”
The man froze. The tailors looked at one another as if Dallion had made a death threat.
“The archduke has… not allowed such an option,” the tailor said after a while. “Only mages are allowed to have robes, and although you are—”
“Fine.” Dallion had no intention of arguing. “Just make it clear that I am one.”
“Of course. And the young lady?”
Dallion was tempted to casually mention that she was a princess, more as a poke to her than anything else. In the end, he wasn’t able to keep himself from doing just that.
“Make sure to illustrate that my novice is a princess.”
Several of the tailers looked at the fury.
“A genuine fury princess,” Dallion added. The wave of anger emanating from Diroh’s calm surface let him know that he had done his job.
You’re getting your sense of humor back, the armadil shield said.
Did I ever lose it? Dallion asked mentally.
Do you really want me to give you an honest answer?
Dallion was just about to respond when the dryad guardian continued without giving him the chance.
Didn’t think so.
Watching the tailors perform their craft was both fascinating and pitiful. Able to see their stats, Dallion knew their level was well in the fifties, along with the skills to match. Each of them individually would have the strength to defeat armies, fight monsters, even take down a chainling if provided with the necessary equipment. Instead, they spent their time making clothes based on the archduke’s whim.
The colors chosen for Dallion combined blue, purple, and cyan, with a little bit of black here and there. The end result was formal, yet simple: a standard set of deep blue gem thread trousers and a vest to match, combined with a long-sleeved cyan shirt. The boots were dark purple, matching with his short cloak. Definitely not a combination he’d consider or even find suitable, but looking at the final result in the mirror, there could be no doubt that it was eye-catching.
By the time Diroh’s “group” arrived, Dallion’s tailors were finishing up the final touches, adding a few decorative elements here and there. It didn’t skip his attention that none of them had examined any of his weapons.
“No changes to my gear?” he asked.
The head tailor shook his head.
“Afraid not,” a new voice said from the far corner of the room.
Looking in the direction, Dallion saw a new person standing there: a tall male figure dressed in an expensive black outfit with a domino mask covering half of his face. Two things were notable about the newcomer: he was someone Dallion had met before, and his hair was platinum blond.
“The archduke prefers that the only weapons at the banquet are his.”
“Overseer.” Dallion wasn’t certain whether he was supposed to nod or not. In the end, he chose not to. “I would have thought that mages are exempt.”
“A logical assumption, thus completely wrong.”
Not to mention absurd, Dallion thought. Spellcasting allowed him to summon his weapons with ease, not to mention cause more devastation than he could with his harpsisword.
“I don’t make the rules. I just make sure they’re enforced.”
The tailors quickly finished with the final touches and left the room, leaving Dallion and the overseer alone. No sooner had they done so than the door vanished, transforming into another part of the wall.
“Champion, then hero, and now mage.” The overseer smiled. “You really have no limit.”
“I’d like to think so.” Dallion kept posing in front of the mirror, checking out the final design of his outfit. It was flawless, even if completely impractical. “Lux,” he said.
The bladebow rose up into the air, then carefully examined him with the kaleidovristo sight. Not finding any lingering echoes or anything else alarming, the weapon then descended onto one of the small tables.
“Any other warnings?” Dallion asked.
“I’m just here to escort you and your “novice.” Nothing more.”
“A-ha.” Dallion wasn’t convinced.
“You’ve been here before, so you know how things work. I’ll be outside when you’re ready.” The door to the room re-emerged. “One final thing. Itella’s also here.” The overseer vanished.
Itella? Dallion thought.
That was one of the archduke’s children, though not a particularly capable one. Dallion had clashed with him twice. Once he defeated him during the Nerosal Festival tournament, and the next right here in front of his father. There was no doubt that the noble held no warm feelings towards Dallion, but it was absurd to think he’d go against a mage.
“I’m not playing your games,” Dallion said, glancing at his weapons. Nothing stopped him from taking a dagger just in case. On the other hand, there was something better he could do.
“Keep an eye on each other,” Dallion folded his own clothes then arranged them on the bed. While doing so he took ruby and placed it on his shoulder. The shardfly’s new illusion powers helped him blend in perfectly, taking on the form of a shoulder button.
Gathering his thoughts one final time, Dallion left the room. To his surprise, Diroh was already there, dressed in a long gown that sparkled as if made of snow. White and cyan combined, creating the appearance of ice and crystals, but that was not all. The tailors had taken the pain to add some jewelry to the ensemble: rings, arm bracelets, as well as a tiara. Dallion also noticed that the fury had added an accessory of her own—a necklace composed of large, flawless pearls.
“Told you to keep her hidden,” he sighed, casting a masking spell on the cloud creature.
“Hey,” Diroh pulled away. “There’s no need for that. The pearls are just fine as they were.”
In all truth, they probably were, but Dallion didn’t want to risk there being a device or otherworlder that could see that the cloud fox wasn’t from this world.
“Put my things in the room, please,” he said.
“Why? I think they’re fine where they are?” Air currents took Dallion’s belongings one by one and stacked them neatly away, as requested.
With a nod of approval, Dallion proceeded to go outside.
The overseer accompanied the pair to the grand stairway leading to the palace. Three pairs of marble statues rose on both sides, an homage to the previous archdukes of the Lanitol family. And just as before, one of them remained half destroyed. The reason, from what Dallion had been told, was that those who didn’t have the power to prevent a civil war did not deserve to remain unpunished. It was interesting to see whether the same principle would be applied to the current archduke’s statue. Most probably not.
“It’s rather nice,” Diroh said, admiring the craftsmanship as they passed.
“It was better last time,” Dallion whispered.
“How many noble banquets have you been to?”
“Just one.”
During his previous visit with March and Eury, crystal shardflies had filled the air, directing the guests to the entrance. After what had happened at the Academy, it was understandable why Archduke Lanitol would prefer to avoid having them. Hopefully, he had only cast them out of the city and not killed them.
A few steps before the entrance, Dallion suddenly stopped.
“Anything the matter?” The overseer looked over his shoulder.
“No,” Dallion lied. “Didn’t expect the nostalgia to hit me.”
In reality, he had found what had been bothering him ever since arriving to the city. The place was too quiet. With the level of his empathy trait, there should have been thousands of guardians eager to have a chat. Some should have remembered him from last time. And yet, he couldn’t hear a single voice: neither creature, plant, nor guardian. If he didn’t know better, he’d almost think he was in the middle of the wilderness.
“The archduke is waiting,” the overseer reminded. “There’ll be more nostalgia inside.”
A dozen yellow-clad servants were present once Dallion entered the palace lobby. Last time, one of them had made sure to snobbishly tell Dallion the rules of proper etiquette. With Dallion being a mage now, all of them bowed without a word, letting him pass.
“Enjoying yourself?” the overseer asked, leading the way.
“A bit,” Dallion replied. “I take it I’m to be in the main hall this time?”
The overseer chuckled.
Dallion was just about to make some snarky comment when a voice sounded in his head.
Careful, an item guardian whispered. They’re out to get you.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, consider joining my patreon or check out my other stories on redditserials:
The Scuu Paradox (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Cassandrian Theory (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon (Dungeon Core Adventure Comedy)
Uncharted Waters (An Urban Fantasy Detective Noir)
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2023.06.06 18:30 tulpacat1 To Kill a Predator, Chapter 24

Hi everyone.
To Kill a Predator is a work of fan fiction set in the Nature of Predators universe originally created by SpacePaladin15 whose Patreon you should subscribe to.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Depiction does not equal endorsement.
Hope you enjoy it!
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Memory transcription subject: Thiva, Venlil Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: December 6th, 2136
​
Thank the Protector for Vilek.
She had stepped up in every possible way. She coached me on the right answers to give to the assessors. She worked with a Krakotl named Jarkim to keep the Exterminator’s office at bay. And she took care of answering questions from a reporter named Sharnet that reached out to me since both the humans who contacted her, mister Sinclair and Martin, had fallen prey to the Liberators.
This was the paw where I got to leave the hospital. My injuries were actually quite minor (or so they claimed), but they had kept me under observation for several paws to see if I’d display Predator Disease after everything that happened. There was a real risk that after all that, after what Martin sacrificed for me, I’d just end up in a Facility.
At first I thought I probably should be. I was happy that Renak was dead, and I wanted Vansi to die too. For the first couple of paws just thinking about being tied in that chair with Renak whistling and leaning over me with his knife and claws and teeth… it made me shake and scream, once even until I soiled myself.
Thinking about what Vansi had done to Martin made me shriek with anger and throw things and tear curtains. Vilek had stayed by my side though, and helped cover up the incidents each time. Without her I’d be in a Facility for sure.
Then she got me in contact with a human assessor over video calls, a man named doctor Johan Eriksson with ice-blue eyes and a lot of yellow fur all over his face. And just as Martin had promised, Johan was aghast at hearing about the Federation’s treatment of Predator Disease. Johan promised me that my feelings were entirely normal, and that he’d help me work through everything.
​
I’ve had three calls with him since then, and while every one of them ended with me in tears I always felt better afterwards. He was teaching me a system called ‘Mindfulness’. By examining my own emotions and surroundings in a neutral way, it was possible for me to significantly reduce the symptoms! And it was working, it really was. I was more able to manage my emotions. I could recognize when the world was fading into a furious orange or horrid gray, and pull myself back from the brink.
And he said there were other coping strategies to use too, that he’d be providing me with all the tools I needed to grow myself like a garden: Pruning the bad parts, watering the good, and planting the seeds of the sort of person I wanted to grow into.
The humans love their metaphors! But this one was rather beautiful, so I didn’t mind. I quite liked to imagine myself as a garden! But not the ones on Venlil Prime. One of the ones on Earth. Johan had showed me pictures. So full of different colors, dozens of types of insects, so many birds… an explosion of life and color and joy!
That’s the kind of garden I wanted to be. Someday.
​
Coming back home was tough. Not just because I had to pick between being woozy from painkillers or aching with all the little motions of daily life (I had settled on being woozy), but also because of all the little reminders.
Vilek had pressured the landlord into replacing the front door, but the new color reminded me of the break-in. The door to Martin’s room was entirely absent. Martin was entirely absent.
I didn’t feel safe sleeping in my bed. Vilek let me share hers. I woke up crying and feeling her claws stroking through my fur to comfort me.
I was grateful, truly grateful, for my friend. But she wasn’t the one I wanted to hold me.
A claw later I screamed when the pad rang for a phone call, and had to sit and do my mindfulness exercises while Vilek answered it.
She hung up in a hurry and rushed over to me and grasped my paw. “Thiva, we have to get to the hospital! Right now!”
​
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​
Memory transcription subject: Martin Russo, Human Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: December 11th, 2136
​
I am in more pain than at any other point in my entire life.
Every single part of my being hurts on a level so deep I can feel it in my soul, and I don’t even believe those exist.
My tears are flowing freely and shamelessly. My mouth is open and my drool tastes alkaline, my throat trying to shield itself from the vomit that’s threatening to flow forth.
Taking a single step requires more willpower than I can even wrap my head around. Every single muscle has to be tensed manually, my brain simply refuses to pass the ‘walk’ signal to the body. My shaking limbs move in slow motion, like wading through thick non-Newtonian fluid. Like an arthritic, decrepit old man.
And always that voice. That fucking voice. That fucking voice I need to shut it up I hate you I hate you so much I hate you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you
​
“Good job, Martin! One more step, c’mon, you can do it! Gold star!”
“fuck you… fuck you… fuck you… fuck you…” The mantra helps me manage the last step, before I collapse. First to my knees, then down to my hands. Then onto my face, on the soft and spongy floor.
Chasa, my Zurulian arch-nemesis, pads over to me fearlessly and sits down. She licks a paw before stroking it through my hair, giving me a cowlick. “Great job! I can tell you’ve been doing your exercises! Good boy!”
I can’t move my limbs right now. “hate you. hate you so much.”
She pads over to a small teddy bear-sized table and holds up my medical file. She’s had it printed out on actual paper with an actual manila folder, just for this purpose. “That’s fine! You don’t hate the gold star, though, do you?”
“…that’s for children…”
“Oh, so you don’t want it?”
I growl as menacingly as I can. It’s not particularly impressive. She holds up the little gold star sticker and wags it at me, before placing it on my file. She doesn’t seem particularly afraid of me. Though to be fair, even though she weighs maybe 20 kilos soaking wet she could probably take me in a fight.
Chasa looked up human physical therapy before taking on my case, and apparently learned about this incentive system… someplace. Each session she gives me a gold star if I manage to go above and beyond. I hate it. It’s infantilizing, condescending, and juvenile. And it works. I want the gold star. This is my fifth fucking physical therapy session and I want my fifth fucking gold star. It’s the least she can do after she makes me torture myself.
“Fantastic work! Alright, so after third-meal I want you to try and walk around your bed. Back and forth, as many times as you can. And remember to rotate your arm!”
“ah, i see. you hate me too.”
Chasa looks immensely happy and pleased as a couple of Venlil nurses get me onto a too-small gurney. She takes a little sugar and salt treat from a bowl for cubs or pups or whatever, and walks over to place it in my lap. “See you next paw, Martin!”
I will find a way to pay her back for this.
​
I woke up around five or six paws ago with tubes in every orifice on my body, and was very surprised to find myself alive.
The full story only came later. Slavik and Jarkim had taken out one of the Liberators, but Jarkim had gotten badly wounded as a result. As soon as they had dumped Jarkim back at the truck, Slavik double-timed it to the house. They passed Thiva and Mosun on the way, and managed to arrive in time to stop Vansi from setting me on fire. By shooting her.
Not that that would’ve mattered, considering my massive blood loss and organ damage and being stuck out in the middle of Fuckoff Nowheresota.
The fact that there was a UN army base about two dozen miles away saved me, as their helicopters showed up to take over the scene and haul all the injured to the hospital. The medics were able to get to me within the Golden Hour. Though considering the extent of my injuries it was apparently closer to the Golden Ten Minutes.
Since then I had been in a medically induced coma while the hospital grew replacements for just about every single one of my organs. To hear tell of it, I’d have had no chance long-term without the Zurulians’ almost unfathomably advanced technology. The alien teddy bears were able to salvage my broken body, even though it’s likely that my left leg, left arm, and right hand will never be the same again.
And now I get to torture myself back to health. Oh joy.
​
My lambchops have been showing up every day or paw or whatever for visiting hours, and staying each time until they’re chased out by the nurses.
Each time I see them enter my room it feels better than a shot of whatever the aliens use instead of morphine; the sight of them together and safe lifts my spirits and puts a smile on my face.
We spend most of our time watching movies or TV shows on the pad, while they take turns holding my hand or stroking my head. I pet them back as much as I can, but for now both that and talking for any length of time are too draining.
They’ve been showing me some of the classic works of the Venlil. I’ve been showing them classics of humanity.
“Hey Blondie! You know what you are?! Just a dirty sonofa-” Aaa-aa-aaaaa!
The lambchops whistle with joyful laughter, releasing the tension of the long finale of the finest Western of all time.
Thiva sighs with relief. “Oh Protector, I really thought he was going to kill Tuco!”
“No way, he’s ‘The good’ of the title! And it was a call-back to the first part of the film where he kept shooting him down, there’s no way they wouldn’t take the opportunity to tie it all together!”
“Yeah, I guess… Is that seriously what humans considered ‘good’ back then?”
I interject. “You could argue that Blondie is supposed to be ‘the good’, but he’s really more like the ‘least bad’. The people making the movie were living under a dictatorship, so a lot of films from the nation of Spain around that time were made from a very cynical point of view.”
Thiva leans against me and runs her claws through my hair, making me shiver. “You haven’t been showing us a lot of movies with war in them, but they’re apparently pretty common for humans?”
I give a nod. “Yes. We’ve always had a complex relationship with war and violence. You might’ve noticed that this movie took a very somber perspective, largely viewing the war as pointless. While it was a controversial conflict in the past, nowadays the common view of the US civil war is that it was a necessary conflict to end the evils of chattel slavery.”
Vilek is silent for a short bit. “So like Blondie, violence isn’t necessarily good, but sometimes it’s the least bad.”
“Oh, I like that. That’s clever.”
She wags her tail. “Alright, what’s next on the list?”
“Next… I do my exercises, before I get too tired. Can you girls help me get into the leg brace? Can’t walk at all without the damn thing.”
​
They help manhandle me into a standing position and latch the leg brace, and I can start my agonizingly slow and agonizingly agonizing journey around the bed and back again.
To keep my mind off of the pain, and because I can’t loudly curse my beloved lambchops out like I can my arch-nemesis Chasa, I try to talk instead. “S-So… I’ve been looking into… human universities… that’ll take both of you… and ideally… transfer your… credits…”
Vilek wags encouragingly, and helps support me on my slow journey. “That’s great! We can all head to Earth instead and I can become a human assess-no, therapist!”
Thiva sighs. “Honestly, I like the sound of that. I feel safer around humans than around Venlil at this point.”
“Great… I’ll let you know… once I hear back…” Shit that topic didn’t last long. Okay what else what else “How’s that… trial thing… coming along…?”
Thiva grumbles. “The Liberators plead guilty today… including Vansi, who was being tried as a member of the group.” She had survived, but Slavik’s plasma rifle had seared her arm off at the shoulder.
“No media’s being allowed in the courtroom, to ensure they don’t get an audience for their views. The sentence hasn’t come down yet but it looks like none of them are going to feel the free breeze again for as long as they live.”
“Can’t say… I feel bad…”
“It’s too good for them!”
“The state… shouldn’t get… to do worse… than imprison… fuck, I’m done, please help.” My leg gives out and I’m left to cling to the bed frame until the girls intervene.
They help me back onto the bed before Vilek speaks. “…Even someone like Kalsim?”
​
I nod, sweat covering my body in a thin sheen. I take a deep drink of water and wait a few moments before answering. “Yeah… Kalsim’s not a threat in a jail cell. The state has a monopoly on violence, and shouldn’t get to use it to kill people just because we’re upset at them.”
Thiva frowns. “What about justice, though? Don’t people deserve to see those that have hurt them get punished?”
I shake my head. “That’s not justice. See it like this… Why not eat him?”
The girls look disgusted. I press on. “See… If killing him as punishment is fine, then just beating him up has to be fine too. Right? That’s less bad than killing him. And torture, that’s still less bad than killing. And if killing is fine, how about killing him extra painfully like by setting him on fire? And at that point we might as well eat him. I mean, why not?”
Thiva protests. “Because… Because that’s barbaric! You humans don’t eat sapients, you all say so!”
I nod firmly. “Yeah, exactly. Because it is barbaric. State punishment is just barbarism, just sadism to make the worst part of us feel better. Once we agree that it’s acceptable to do that to anyone, all we’re doing is haggling over price. There was a human philosopher named Nietzsche. He said ‘Beware of those in whom the urge to punish is strong’, and I think that’s the sort of thing he meant. Not just to beware of people in power who seek out punishment for people they have power over, but… to beware that part of ourselves.”
The girls are silent for a moment. I take a slow drink of water and speak more, even though it’s really tiring by now. But this is important.
“Listen, Vilek… When you study to become a therapist, please keep something in mind. Predator Disease doesn’t exist. Not even Renak had Predator Disease.”
Vilek frowns confusedly and bursts out. “What?! But you said he was a ‘textbook psychopath’! You said he was a monster who didn’t feel empathy! You said so yourself!”
“Yes, I did. But in human society… the majority of people with that condition are not actually more dangerous than anyone else. Because they can be taught coping mechanisms, by therapists, to fit into society. Renak was a monster because Venlil society, and Vansi, failed him.”
Thiva protests. “But…”
I shake my head. “Nobody is born a monster. And even in cases where people are truly unsalvageable for whatever reason… what’s the point in punishing them for it? Thiva, I didn’t shoot your brother because he was a psychopath. I shot him to keep you safe. Slavik didn’t shoot your mother because she was an abuser, they shot her because she was about to set me on fire. If someone shot Kalsim at this point… how would that make anyone safer?”
I sigh and take another slow drink of water. “...Christ, I do not have the energy for this heavy stuff right now. Next film, girls, what’ll it be?”
They start bickering, apparently as happy to be distracted from the topic as I am. Every time it’s their turn to pick they end up fighting over it, you’d think they’d make a list ahead of time instead. “Flower-bird Red!” “Fainting for You!” “Garden in the Stars!” “Okay, yeah, that’s good. Remake or original?” “Original, obviously!” “But the remake-” “We can just show him both!” “Okay, deal!”
I don’t end up remembering a blessed thing about the film. With the girls cuddled up to me on the Mazic-size bed I’ve been given for use since they apparently lacked human-size ones, I fall asleep by the end of the opening credits.
​
Date [standardized human time]: December 14th, 2136
​
“Hey human, you got visitors.” The nurse informs me. I glance at the clock on my pad, which I had set to count down to the lambchops’ daily visit. Still half a claw out.
Instead of my cherished friends, I see two other people step into the room. A Venlil, and Robert McGinley.
“…Hey Bob. You’ll forgive me if I don’t get up.” I jest from the hospital bed. McGinley doesn’t seem to find it amusing.
“Russo.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to show up, to be honest. Who’s your friend?”
“District Magister Vaska. Russo, we need you to sign-”
“Fuck off, McGinley.”
“If you don’t sign these documents, your refugee status can be rescinded.”
“No it can’t. Literally, there’s a list of reasons I can have my refugee status taken away, and ‘not signing hush documents’ isn’t on the list.”
McGinley gives me a tiny smile. On his blank face that might as well be an ear-to-ear grin. “But it can be if you’ve been charged with a crime in the host sovereignty.”
I nod. “Yeah, that is true. I don’t even need to be convicted.”
“So-”
“So I haven’t been charged with anything yet. And if I had to guess, I’m not going to be.”
McGinley scowls. Vaska scowls beside him too.
​
I continue. Talking is a bit tiring, but not as bad as it was just a few days ago. “Because if I’m charged with a crime, I’ll need to take the witness stand. And I can have ex-officer Jarkim take the stand. And you don’t want that. Because the raid on the Liberators’ compound here in Greenmeadow was ‘a heroic joint operation between the UN and the Exterminators’ office, approved by Governor Tarva herself’.”
Now Vaska speaks up. His voice is trembling with anger. “A stunt that you forced us to engage in! I had to call the governor on the emergency line to get approval for it! A UN military operation on sovereign Venlil soil!”
“I’m not going to apologize for making you do your fucking job.”
McGinley takes a step forward. I don’t bother to flinch back, since I can’t exactly run anywhere anyway. Instead I just look up at him passively and wait for him to say something. “It’s in your best interests to play nice, Russo.”
“Because that worked out so well for both of us last time. Remember ‘An inferno of incredible horror’? Pretty great article, really. ‘The Liberators Unveiled: Terror and death in Greenmeadow’ was killer too. Do you really want to go for a third, about what really happened to VP’s little homegrown terrorist cell that was literally funded with the salaries of the Exterminators in it?”
The ‘Liberators Unveiled’ article had run while I was comatose, revealing the full truth of the shelter arson and the identities of the Liberators involved. However, it had neither contradicted nor reaffirmed the official government narrative about the ‘joint operation’ that took the bastards down.
McGinley is practically snarling now, putting both hands on my hospital bed and making it shake a bit. I wince with pain, while he raises his voice for the first time in either of my meetings with the man. “You can’t be allowed to just run around doing whatever you want. There have to be consequences for your actions, Russo!”
I nod solemnly. “I agree. That’s what the law is for. So charge me with a crime, or fuck off.”
He shakes the bed slightly. There’s a few beeps from some of the machinery monitoring me and making sure I’m still alive. Vaska looks a bit taken aback. “You nearly ruined the whole investigation; you almost destabilized the relationship between humanity and the Venlil!”
I take a steadying breath. He’s being overly dramatic. “So charge me with a crime, or fuck off.”
McGinley snarls and slams a bundle of papers down on the bedside table. “I’m offering you a chance to change your mind.”
I glance at the papers, then lift them up with more effort than I’d like to admit and drop them directly into the waste bin.
I wave my hand, tired of this pointless farce. “No, seriously. Fuck off, McGinley. Magister, a word of advice. If you want my silence, try offering some hush money next time. Us humans are a lot more partial to bribes than to threats.”
They storm out.
Guess I won’t be going to jail. The rest of the posse will be fine too, then.
I lean back and sigh and try to take a nap. I don’t want to still be pissed off when the lambchops show up. I have something important to show them.
Some of the universities I’ve reached out to have answered back.
---
Sharnet is of course the very same from u/Acceptable_Egg5560's inimitable The Nature of a Giant.
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submitted by tulpacat1 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 17:26 NazzerDawk My cat died a month ago. I just found out why I'm still hearing him at night.

My cat was named Spiderman. He was a little cuddly jerk of a black cat, who hated everyone and everything except for me, my wife, my daughter, and my son. Even my son he was only just starting to warm up to.
Any cat owner knows that cats get up to all sorts of hi-jinks at night. Ours was no different: Spiderman would run around chasing imaginary mice, would jump onto high places just to leer at us, would rustle in any paper bags he found and would try to find cords to bite on if he could wake us up to tell us he was hungry or thirsty.
A few months back he started to "blep" constantly. By that, I mean he had his tongue sticking out all the time. We thought it was an issue breathing, but then found he had really bad periodontal disease that was hidden from view. The vet handled what they could, removing several teeth and amputating part of his jaw, but even after weeks of recovery, he only seemed to get worse.
By early May, he was spending most of his time just sitting still drooling into whatever surface he was laying on. It was clear he was in pain, but cats can't tell you what's going on, can they? The only time he ever seemed active was at night, when we'd find him suddenly energetic and back to his old habits, rustling things in the other room, even knocking over a plate onto the ground.
One day we found he just didn't want to eat anymore. After he went a full 24 hours not touching his food, we went back to the vet and they got him into an xray, finding a mass in his throat.
The mass would be more or less inoperable. While they could conceivably remove it, it would be expensive. And what's more, the operation could leave damage that they would need to address, but would need to talk to the patient to gather info about. Back to the problem of communication.
Ultimately, we had to take him to the vet to put him to rest. Now his ashes are in a little wooden box in his old cat house, up on a high place he liked to hang out.
The first few nights were the worst. I kept expecting to hear the sounds of him pitter-pattering around the hallway, maybe the sound of a glass of water being knocked over. Sometimes I could swear I was hearing those sounds again.
Last night was the worst. I just couldn't sleep. I kept on hearing those same old indications that he was around. A cardboard box being scooted around the floor. The sounds of scratching at our door.
I thought it must be just my imagination. I nudged my wife awake, she heard it too.
My next thought was that surely one of my kids must be up out of bed playing with stuff. I got up, ready to tell whichever kid to get back to bed.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. It wasn't one of my kids.
I got up just in time to see a short, thin old man rifling through a trashcan in the kitchen. I audibly gasped and it startled him. He looked at me, then ran, incredibly quickly, and escaped through the front door... locking the door behind him.
He had a key.
I have a single camera set up to record in my house. It's pointed at the sliding back door, but I can see the reflection of the entry way in the glass, just a little. I pulled up the footage and I found places where the camera detected motion and recorded, but I couldn't see what had triggered it. I had written these incidents off, but now I realize that the motion they saw was a small bit of reflection from the light outside my apartment spilling in as this man walked in and out almost every single night. For as far back as the recordings went.
Suddenly it hit me that I had various unexplained disappearances of household groceries for the past year. A can of corn here. A loaf of bread there.
This man had been entering my place with a key he had somehow acquired, wandering my home, where my kids sleep, and had been stealing food. Never anything valuable. Not my xbox. Not my laptop or tablet. Just food.
And all this time, I had assumed all the sounds I heard at night were my cat, running around and playing. All those times my cat woke me up meowing, and I would tell him to shut up, before eventually waking up cursing. All those times that he had food in his bowl, water in his dish, but was still meowing his head off.
I had assumed he was just an asshole of a cat. But cats can't tell you what's going on, can they?
submitted by NazzerDawk to nosleep [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 17:21 MjolnirPants Jerry and the Adoring Fans: Part 1

"This was supposed to be our time," I groused as the concierge coordinator left our cabin. Inanna shook her head slowly and patted her lap. I sat on the bed next to her and leaned over, resting my head on her thighs. I always loved this, especially because she would inevitably- Oh god.... Oh yeah, that's it...
The fingers running through my hair, gently rubbing my scalp were hypnotic. The tension immediately drained out of me and my whole body went limp. It sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? I mean, I'm married to the former goddess of sex, a woman whose sexual appetite could not be described without the use of the words 'insatiable' and 'bizarre'. I mean, it would be a struggle to not use the term 'sexual body horror-esque' as well. When I say she's imaginative, I mean imaginative. And yet for all the times she's turned off gravity, induced orgasms in organs that have no business having orgasms (liver orgasms are a trip, but heart orgasms are mind-blowing), growing new organs in random places on her body or doing any or all of those things to me, this was the thing she did that melted me.
Every time. Man, I could fall asleep right now, regardless of the stress the coordinator had re-introduced to my life. I've fallen asleep like this many times before, in fact.
"It's not so bad," she purred. "All you have to do is give a talk. You've done that many times before."
I sighed. I wasn't able to work up any indignation like this, but as long as she kept her fingers from the spots behind my ears, I could still think.
"And sign a bunch of autographs and pose for pictures," I said. "And the talk will be to a bunch of fans, not academics and students. It's a totally different crowd."
"It's really not that different," she said as she found the spots behind my ears and melted my brain.
"The whole thing will take two hours," she said while I was completely helpless. It was totally unfair. I couldn't even protest that it would raise my profile and result in the whole cruise being peppered with people asking for more autographs and wanting to take pictures and buy us drinks.
I sighed again. God, this felt so good...
At some point, one hand wandered off my head and dug into my pants. The hand that continued to rub my head and the sheer familiarity of her fondling me kept me locked in my fugue state as she got me unbuttoned. By the time her scalp-massaging hand slipped away, I was ready to do anything she wanted.
So that's what we did.
----
I'd already agreed to do it, mind. I had just been griping about it when Inanna suckered me with her wily hands, and then her wily hoohah. Yes, I said 'wily hoohah', and if you knew Inanna as well as I did, you'd know that not only does it have a mind of its own, it's a devious and cunning creature that we should all pray remains on the side of good.
I can't really blame the coordinator, either. The cruise Inanna and I had booked just so happened to have a Legend of Jimmy fan convention of sorts happening, which we had somehow overlooked. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if her hoohah was aware, and simply kept quiet about it, knowing that I'd require a lot of 'comforting' after exposing myself to that much attention.
When the coordinator discovered that the couple on whose lives the show was based was on the cruise, we'd had our middle-grade accommodations bumped up to the top tier, and been given the gold-star concierge service, as well as a free pass to eat at any of the restaurants aboard ship and free admission to countless activities taking place. And then, once that was done, the coordinator oh-so-politely asked if I'd be willing to give a little talk, do a little autograph signing and otherwise schmooze the crowd.
Much to my chagrin, I agreed.
So here I was, sweating under a bunch of stage lights, behind a podium, having recited my hastily-prepared speech about the importance of understanding cultural context when dealing with supernatural entities and specific magics, answering questions that mostly pertained to the show, and often got incredibly personal.
"Is anal your wife's favorite?" a young man asked. I rolled my eyes. "Next question."
A respectable looking young lady in a sweater raised her hand and the usher with the mic held it up to her.
"If she's not into anal... I am," she said with a sly smile. I sighed deeply and prayed for the strength to continue.
"I have plenty of anal sex," I said. "Thank you for the offer, but my sex life is really something I'd rather keep a personal matter." I glanced over at Inanna, occupying one of the chairs on the stage. She was whispering to the host and pointing at the young lady. A naive person might assume she was asking to have her expelled after disrupting the Q&A by making what was obviously a joking offer.
But I knew she was making sure she got the young lady's number. Because Inanna.
The usher found a muscular young man with a serious burn scar on his neck. Probably a veteran, I thought, noting the way he moved as he stood.
"Did the CIA teach you how to fight, or are you a vet, or did you learn it elsewhere?"
I pointed at him. This was a much better question.
"Umm, the Agency doesn't really expect its field agents to do a lot of fighting. I did have a week-long training course on pistol shooting and light tactical stuff, but the biggest takeaway from that was that I should save any gun I was carrying for emergencies and always do what my protection agents' tell me to.
"One of my protective agents was, at the time, Inspector Johnson, currently one of our investigators at the DCM Group. That was how we met. He taught me a lot, actually.
"Most of what I know was acquired through magical means. My wife constructed a type of avatar known as a homoculus. It's an avatar that is a sort of messenger being. In this case, the message was all of the magically-collected knowledge in the world about combat. Martial arts, strategy, tactics, etc. Not a whole lot of specific military knowledge, mind, just the direct fighting stuff.
"Now, with all that being said, the single most important thing I know about combat, I learned from Inspector Johnson. And that was two things. The first is specific to combat, and that is that you can't win a fight if you're not an... An asshole."
The crowd laughed. I waited for it to die down.
"That sounds pretty wrong, I know, but it's true. Aggression is the single most important factor in a fight. All things being equal, the more aggressive fighter will always win. And aggression can make up for a lot of other failings, in a pinch. Size, strength, training... Aggression is the real key. And as we all know, the most aggressive people are inevitably assholes. So if you want to be able to defeat a dangerous enemy, you've got to be a bit of an asshole yourself.
"The second thing was probably the single most valuable lesson I ever learned in my entire life. And that is that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in the face of fear. In fact, if you're not afraid, you can't be brave. Every act of bravery, throughout history, was performed by someone who was scared to death.
"I'm not going to lie to you; the first time I found myself in a fight, I peed my pants." The crowd tittered. "No joke, I literally peed my pants. More than once. I cried, too. I panicked. Inspector Johnson was there with me, and I was sooo jealous of how cool he was at the time. It was his actions that got us free of our bonds, and gave us the ability to summon help. After, I remember asking him how he kept from being scared, and I remember his exact words. 'I didn't,' he said.
"He told me that he was scared out of his mind, the same as me. The only difference was that he's been scared like that before. He got used to it. He knew that there were things he could do to mitigate the threat, so he did those things, even though he was still terrified. And as I found myself in more and more dangerous situations, I quickly realized what that meant. It's okay to be afraid. You just gotta be afraid and working."
The crowd erupted into applause as I finished. I blushed, because I hadn't planned on that becoming a rousing anecdote, but I'd take it. The host rose and walked to the podium, waiting for the cheering to stop before speaking.
"That's all the time we have for the Q&A, but Mister and Missus Williams will be available to sign autographs and take photos in the lounge in five minutes. Thank you all for coming out, and let's have a big round of applause for our guests!"
The crowd erupted again, this time even louder. Inanna and I waved to them as we walked off the stage, heading for the crew passageway between the backstage and the lounge. We were about halfway there when the ship lurched suddenly to one side and the sounds of screaming and crashing filled the air.
"What the hell was that?" I gasped as I bounced off the wall -excuse me, bulkhead- and grabbed Inanna's arm to held steady her.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Ever since she'd been murdered literally hundreds of times by Sarisa in order to produce the energies she needed for her plan to save the Sixteenth World, Inanna had been having a lot of difficulty pulling magical energy. She had been steadily training herself ever since, slowly increasing the amount of power she had access to. But the process was a long one.
During that long process, she'd been forced to work with tiny amounts of magic to get stuff done, much like a human wizard would. The end result was that her sensitivity to magic had grown by leaps and bounds. She might not be able to hurl around earth-shattering energies willy nilly any more, but there was nobody I knew, human, god or otherwise, who was as magically perceptive as she was.
"Something big and ancient is here," she said. "A creature."
"Great, another monster crossed over," I grumbled.
"This one didn't cross over, Jerry," she said. "This one is native to this world," she was staring off into space, feeling the creature rather than seeing it.
"It's definitely a fully material being. I feel like it's been to the spirit world, but it's from the material world. I don't think it's from this specific material world, though."
"Crap," I muttered. This was arguably worse than a spirit creature. Those, at least, generally had some kind of weakness. Be it a certain emotion, some variety of magic or some substance or material, spirit creatures almost inevitably had some kind of kryptonite. And I only say 'almost' because I can't be a hundred percent sure. Every single variety that I knew about had such a weakness. But a material being from another of the material worlds would be a flesh and blood creature that had evolved to fill its niche. And evolution is a heartless trainer, accepting no weakness.
The ship jolted again and a fresh round of screaming ensued. There was a definite direction to the screaming, coming from the direction we were heading in, so we began to run.
We came out into the lounge to find people packing themselves in. I grabbed a random person by the shoulder. "What did you see?" I demanded.
"I don't know, man! The ship started jerking, and I saw this shadow and I just grabbed my wife and we ran inside!"
"Stay here," I told him. I moved on, pushing through the crowds to the door. It was hard going, with everyone trying to get inside. Eventually, I got completely stopped by the press of bodies, and I looked up, to see if I could fly above them. The ceiling was too low, of course. If I did that, I'd be flinging people around with the force of my magic, which would get someone hurt. Crap.
"MAKE A FUCKING HOLE!!" Inanna roared.
People jerked in surprise at the volume of the shout, carrying even above the crying and screaming all around us. They quickly moved further into the room, clearing a path for us to the doors.
"Thank you," I said as she took advantage of the extra room to walk beside me instead of behind me. She smiled sweetly and goosed my butt as we moved through the doors, out onto the deck.
Tentacles rose into the air around the ship. People were still about, mostly running for the doors to get inside. I realized, looking at the grandiose size of those tentacles, that it wouldn't do any good. This ship was huge, one of the largest cruise ships on the ocean. It was over a thousand feet long and a quarter of a million tons in volume. There were over four thousand guests on board, and until now, I'd never seen a dense crowd. Wait times for everything were reasonable.
Yet, judging by the size of those tentacles, I worried about the ship sinking.
Inanna pulled up short as she saw it.
"Motherfucker...." she said, then turned to me.
"Jerry, I hope your magical muscles are nice and swole, because we need to start teleporting people to safety right fucking now."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a kraken," she said.
"I figured as much, but there's no way we can evacuate this ship in time. I could maybe teleport them a hundred at a time, but even assuming it only takes three minutes to get a hundred people to link hands, that's two hours to get just the passengers. It'll be another forty five minutes for the crew. Whatever this thing is gonna do to the ship, it'll be over by then."
She shook her head. "You don't understand, Jerry. Krakens are mostly legendary in this world. They're not native here, and have only come over through the occasional rift that pops up way down at pressure depth. Most of what you know is complete BS. This is how they hunt. Wales and dolphins are their primary food, but they evolved on a world where humans had large ships full of people sailing the seas twenty thousand years ago, and they've adapted."
The ship jerked again as I watched a massive tentacle wrap completely around it and began to tighten down.
"It's going to break the ship, and then its going to come after the lifeboats. That's its strategy here."
"Crap," I muttered. "You have any ideas?"
"I've never even heard of a ship that survived a kraken attack, Jerry. Ninety percent of the people on board won't, either, and that's the best case. Worst case, everybody dies."
My mind raced. The first thing that occurred to me was the trick I'd used to kill the primordials. But honestly, the primordials were probably smaller than the kraken, and its body was underwater. If I hit the surface of the ocean at those speeds, it would be like a bomb going off. I'd likely just break the ship even quicker.
"I think it's too dangerous for you to do the human bullet thing," she said, her thoughts echoing mine.
"Right," I said. "So, we've got to figure out a way to drive it off. Make it think that it's not worth going after this ship, right?"
"I mean, if you can think of something that might do that, and not destroy the ship, yeah."
I wracked my brain for ideas. Fire was an obvious choice, but the beast's size ruled that out. If I made enough fire to hurt it, I'd damage the ship and probably kill a bunch of people. I watched another tentacle curl around and tighten onto the ship. With the two that had been in place when we got out, that made four. We were running out of time.
"Shit," I swore, using up one of my limited supply for the month. "Baby, I don't know what to do."
"Start teleporting," she said. "We'll save as many as we can."
I winced. Leaving people to die was something I wasn't willing to accept until the last second. Of course, the longer I waited to take that route, the more people I'd have to leave to die. This was the worst sort of calculus I'd ever done, and I always hated math.
I immediately pictured the panic that would happen when I started teleporting people and the rest realized I wouldn't be able to get everyone. It would be chaos.
A younger couple made their way from one of the edges of the ship, heading for the lounge. As they passed us, they stopped.
"You're Jerry and Ishtar Williams, right?" the woman asked.
"Inanna," I said. "Ishtar is the character," I said.
"Right, sorry. Do you know what this thing is?"
Inanna answered for me. "It's a kraken. A real one."
"Why is it attacking the ship?" the man asked.
"It's hunting," I said. Inanna nodded. "It's going to break the ship, then go after the people in the lifeboats," she added.
"Holy shit," the woman gasped. "Can you stop it?"
"Trying to figure out how, right now."
"Can we help?" the man asked. I turned to them. "I don't think so, no."
I kept trying to think as Inanna approached them, realizing I wouldn't get any planning done while answering their questions.
I needed something that would drive the best off, or kill it quickly. Honestly, even if I could blink my eyes and stop its heart, which I didn't think I could, but would try as a backup plan, I think the bulk of the creature might drag the ship under. We needed to get it to let go of the ship. Which went back to what I'd just been thinking, about driving it off.
We needed to hurt it. But I didn't know how to do that without killing people on the ship.
"Shit," I said again. "I don't know how to drive it off without killing people on the ship."
"What do you mean?" the woman asked.
"Everything I can do that would cause it significant enough pain to rethink attacking us would also damage the ship. And I don't dare kill it with its tentacles wrapped around the ship like this, it'll pull us under."
Inanna rounded on me, and I could see she'd had an idea. "What?!" I asked.
"Oh Jerry," she said with a malicious gleam in her eyes. "You're gonna hate this."
submitted by MjolnirPants to JerryandtheGoddesses [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 17:03 RIPMiuraSensei Would love feedback of this first chapter

I have a loose plan for this and want to see where it goes.
Chapter 1 - Stranger
When Daglan woke up that morning he didn't see anything unusual. He had awoken from a drop of water falling from the ceiling as he did many mornings. His best friend Rozere was in the kitchen with her father cooking what smelled of eggs. The sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains and holes in the walls as it always did. What felt different? Then he heard voices outside, voices that grew louder and louder. At this point Rozere and her father Koshu had heard the commotion as well and stepped outside to see what it was. Daglan hastily followed suit, after finding his tunic and boots.
Lying on the ground outside was a young man, no older than 25. He lay face up in the dirt wearing only baggy purple pants and a black conical hat covering his face. His long black hair seemed to be tied at the base of his head in a long spiky ponytail, his slender muscular body was covered in dozens of battle scars, and at his waist was a black katana with its sword tied firmly inside its sheath. Almost the entire town had crowded around him, murmuring and shifting anxiously. It wasn't often people arrived in town, mostly just traders on their way to and from Inoris, and that too was a rarity.
"Back now people, give this man some room! And for the love of Reza, quiet!" Barked Doc Silvis as she pushed through the crowd. She immediately knelt down and felt his neck with her fingers. She paused for a moment and gave a very annoyed sigh, slapping away his hat. "He's alive alright. This dumbass is sleeping in the street." She gave the stranger a hard slap across the face, one that would have probably knocked him out, had he been awake. The crowd watched in awe as he yawned and scratched his nose, barely affected by Silvis.
"What should we do?" Someone asked.
"Do you know who he is?" Asked another.
As the murmurs heighted Daglan could tell Silvis was getting fired up, over the years Daglan had gotten to know Silvis quite well, with all his escapades outside the town walls. Daglan knew better than anyone that Silvis hated when a patient ignored her, and more so when she had to repeat herself.
"I said quiet! Don't you lazy bums have more important things to do?! Livani! Koreso! Aren't you two on watch?! Scram the lot of you!" A wave of fear crashed down upon the crowd and everyone began to disperse. All but Daglan, as Rozere pulled on his sleeve.
"Come on Daglan," she hissed, keeping an eye on Silvis like she was some wild animal, "You don't want to make her angrier."
"I'll be fine," he whispered, without looking back, his eyes stuck on the sleeping man. What was this feeling? It was like the feeling he got when Silvis healed his wounds, but not as warm. Almost closer to the feeling he got when abominations were near, when he ventures past the walls, but not as malicious. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Silvis, watching her run her hand across his body, her hands glowing faintly, his curiosity bubbling.
"He isn't cursed or hypnotized, I can't feel a single thing wrong with him. I do believe this man is really just asleep, and slept through a slap in the face." Silvis sighed. After a few moments she looked at Daglan with a tired smile, then frowned. "Thanks for being quite Daglan, now since you're gonna bum around, get to work hauling this bastard back to my infirmary and don't let him out of your sight. I want to know as soon as he wakes up."
Daglan looked around to ask Rozere for help but she was already gone, how long had he been watching this stranger and Silvas? He looked down at the smiling, snoring face of the stranger, scooped under his arms, and with much difficulty began dragging the older, bigger boy to the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet today, there hadn't been a major abomination attack in quite a few weeks which didn't happen often. It wasn't long before Rozere came in with a grimace on her face and her fingers on her nose.
"Honestly," she said in that strange nasally voice when you hold your nose, "I hate how much time you make me spend here. Between you getting hurt and my dad making me help Silvas, I can't get away!" She plopped down next to him and sighed. "So what's with this guy? Why are you still here with him?"
"Silvas asked me to watch him and tell her when he wakes up. Apparently I can't let him leave till she talks to him." He shrugged, trying more to convince himself. She eyed him suspiciously, but immediately dropped the subject.
"Did you notice his sword was tied closed? I wonder what that's about?" She reached out and placed a hand on his sword, and just then the weird energy the stranger gave off changed from similar to those of the abominations , to even scarier than anything he'd ever felt from them. Rozere fell to her knees and screamed as the stranger stood over her. When had he stood up?! Daglan shot to his feet, a smile ripping across his face as excitement crackled through his body. He prepared to defend his friend, when just as quickly as the evil energy had manifested, it disappeared. In fact the feeling Daglan had been getting from the stranger had all but subsided completely.
He stared at Daglan and Rozere with a confused look. When Rozere had eventually stopped screaming, Daglan held out his hand to help her up. Daglan’s mind raced with questions but could he do nothing but stare at the stranger as he stared back.
“Uh, hello-” he began and just then Silvas and Koshu burst through the door with Livani and Koreso close behind. Koshu sprang in between Rozere and the stranger, towering over him.
"What did you do to my daughter!" He said through gritted teeth. The stranger scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth when Rozere spoke up,
"It was nothing dad, he just woke up and scared me! Look at me I'm fine, now would you stop!" But Koshu didn't flinch, not until Silvas spoke up.
"Back off Koshu, Rozere is right, she's fine, and this boy is obviously no danger at the moment." He mumbled something under his breath but did as he was told . "Yeah, listen to Silvas and not me." Rozere grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Now listen here young lady, you will show your aunt some resp–" Koshu began but Silvas smacked him in the back of the head.
"Now isn't the time, Koshu, take her and go," she glared at the stranger, who was still smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
“Everyone out, now.”
"Uh, where am I? He eventually stammered.
"Daglan, out." Silvas said forcefully, without taking her eyes off the stranger. As well as Daglan knew Silvas, he'd never seen her this worked up, not even about the abominations . She was so strong-willed, so much more than anyone else in town. He had heard stories about Silvas, but only bits and pieces around town, probably all made up. Still there was one he heard more than others, he had heard before she lived in Graybarrow she had fought in some kind of war.
Daglan sat outside the infirmary trying to hear as much as he could. Wondering what could have gotten Silvas so worried, and if that man was even human. He could barely hear anything, mostly Silvas's mumbled questioning and the nervous laughter of the stranger. As he sat and pondered, an extremely tall, wide shouldered man sat down next to him and lit a cigarette. He had a long thick mustache that covered his upper lip but came down on the sides past his chin, and scruffy brown hair that stuck up at weird angles.
"Oh, hi Mr.Lucio." Daglan said as he pretended to have not been eavesdropping.
"I haven't seen you in class," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "and I don't often see you hanging around here by choice." He continued to puff his cigarette as they sat in silence.
"Mr.Lucio… I can feel him like the abominations and Silvas's healing. What is he?"
"I'm not sure, from what I've heard he sounds human enough. What do you think?"
"I don't know… I think he's human? But why can I feel him?"
"There must be something similar between him, Silvas's healing, and the abominations from the mountains and forest, hmm?"
"I guess so…" They continued to sit in silence until Lucio had finished his cigarette.
"You can always talk to me if you need help, Daglan. You may like getting experience more, but a little book learning can go a long way." He stood up, pressing his cigarette out between his fingers and putting the butt in his pocket. "It's always good to see you, don't be a stranger." He said as he waved his hand walking away. Daglan thought about what Lucio had proposed, something similar. It didn't seem like Silvas or the stranger would be coming out soon so Daglan decided to go home and see what Rozere thought about all this.
When he did get home both Rozere and Koshu were in foul moods, having most likely fought since earlier. Deciding that he'd rather not be part of that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out the front door before Kusho had time to notice.
It's a short walk to the gate, the guards had patched up his last hole in the wall, but he had since come up with another, more thrilling way. Climbing up to the top of the traders hall, he'd be high enough to jump to the wall once the guards had passed. Then it was a quick jump down and a sprint out of their eyesight before he was able to relax. He walked along a path he knew quite well until he came up on a small ladder, it was built into a tree that led up to a small treehouse.
His exploration headquarters as he liked to call it. The inside was small and filled with trash, and his souvenirs from his adventures sat on a roughly made table. A small Salegitti skull, a broken dagger missing its tip, and a small crystal like rock that shown with faint yellow light. Next to them were three well worn books. He picked up the book titled journal and sat on the ground, scribbling furiously with a small piece of charcoal. He then began to study the other two, older, bigger books. One titled, Abominations of Hel’s Peaks, and the other, Creatures of South Shodun. Mr Lucio was right about book learning, but he liked his own books.
Back in town Rozere was wandering around with her hands behind her head, whistling to herself. “I wonder where Daglan is?” She pondered allowed, before realizing she had stopped in front of Silvas’s office. She stared at the large building with its off-white stone, and massive steel doors. There were various cracks and dents all along the wells and doors, as well as wooden planks over the windows, Silvas called them the clinic’s battlescars, there was nowhere safer to hide in the whole town.
She stared for a long time before realizing there was a man sitting in the grass, a large bottle of alcohol in one hand, and multiple empty bottles sitting neatly by his legs. His long spiky hair was a little cleaner, and the copious amounts of drool were now wiped away. His face was a bright red, and he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He stared at her with a slight wobble,
“Hey… You're that girl that touched my sword right?” He took another large gulp from his bottle.
“Yeah? What of it?” She asked with defiance, her hands on her hips. He smiled a sickening smile and shot to his feet faster than Rozere could see.
“Why don't you try it again? Or will you simply scream for help? Little girls shouldn’t play with monsters.” He said as he towered over her. “Go ahead.” He lifted his arm in the air so his katana was unblocked. Rozere’s knees began to shake and a lump formed in her throat but she did not look away. She was an ant, and this man was a giant. She wasn't going to back down, but he could stand faster than she could see. Surely dropping his arm even faster would be no problem right? He was right, she wanted to scream, but she stood firm.
“Maybe I will!” She returned his malicious smile and reached out for his sword as fast as she could, bracing for the impact and the horrible crunch of bones as he grabbed her arm and snapped it in half. She flinched as her nerves went off, electric sensations coursing through her fingertips. It's happened! But what she felt wasn't pain, but the hard yet somehow soft grip of a katana hilt. She opened her eyes to see her hand firmly gripping his katana and a much more playful smile somehow even wider across this strange man’s face. He began to laugh loudly as she stumbled backwards and fell. He held out his hand, still giggling a little. She eyed him hard then after a moment smacked his hand away. She stood up, and began to brush herself off, glaring at him all the while. He apologized in between giggles.
“My name is Noboru, you've got quite the spirit to face me down. What's your name kid?” He asked as he sat back onto the grass and took another long swig from his bottle. Rozere straightened up and looked at him with a fiery gaze.
“Rozere of Grayborrow.” She said, crossing her arms. “And you dont scare me!”
“What are you yelling about Rozere?” Silvas asked as she appeared behind her. “You!” she exclaimed as she saw Noboru “Where did you get all of that from!? Rozere give me a hand and throw away these bottles would you?”
“She's already gone.” Noboru giggled. Silvas spun around to see that Rozere had indeed disappeared, as Noboru began to laugh louder. Rozere could hear the slap from across town as she sat against the traders hall. As she pondered just how big a lump must be on the side of Noboru's face, a ball smacked her’s.
“Hey who did that!?” She demanded as she hoped to her feat, tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.
“Oh, sorry Rozere! I didn't mean to! Honest!” Said the boy as he ran up and grabbed his ball off the ground before the evil Rozere could kick it away, her foot swishing in the air. The boy was a few years younger than Rozere, had shaggy blonde hair, a tunic that was two sizes too big for him and a pair of round glasses broken in several spots.
“You better be sorry, pipsqueak!” she said, wiping her eyes and now running nose. “I'll have to beat you up if not!”
“Come on give Vilcus a break he said sorry. What are you doing over here by yourself anyways? Daglan run away again?” Said another girl with little blonde pigtails and red cheeks, as she came up behind Vilcus.
“Hi Meska and no he didn't run away again.” Rozere said, sticking her tongue out. “I just think he went for a walk is all… he'll be back… soon!” She crossed her arms and held her chin up. “Well why don't you come play with us until he gets back?” Meska asked, turning around and walking away, “We are playing dodgeball, maybe you can hit Vilcus in the face.”
“Hey nuh-uh! She won't hit me!” Vilcus persisted as he followed after her. Rozere sniffled, rubbed her nose with her sleeve, and smiled.
“Okay fine, but wait up!” She yelled.
As Daglan walked through the trees, he could feel the malicious energies from abominations all around him, it was making his blood boil. He remembered the stranger looking down at him and Rozere, overflowing with the most malicious intent he had ever felt. A smile began to creep across his face once more, as he could feel something close behind him. He spun around to see a creature he had only seen in books, the sight of which excited and terrified him.
A giant humanoid creature with a long smooth snake-like torso, and grotesquely elongated arms and legs stood before him. It had a small pair of arms on its hips that bounced as if boneless, and a strange human face. Smooth indents of skin sat where the eyes should be, and it had a beak lined with razor teeth that jutted out at multiple angles. It clicked its tongue and sniffed the air then began to lick its beak with what could only be called a smile.
“What should I call you big fella?” Daglan asked nervously as excitement shot through his body. This wasn't like anything he'd ever encountered in the forest, or during attacks. This creature was much more dangerous. He gritted his teeth and forced an equally disgusting smile, even though he was sure the abomination couldn't see him. He pulled out the dagger he had smithed in secret at Koshu’s forge and dropped his stance lower, lower, lower. The creator was clicking and sniffing in anticipation, no doubt it could feel Daglan’s bloodlust.
Daglan took a slow step forward, then another. The creature's head tilted and it sniffed harder, then in a flash that Daglan couldn’t even see, it lashed out, slashing his shoulder apart. Adrenaline had already made its way to Daglan’s brain and he didn't even feel the warm blood soaking into his tunic or notice his limp arm flailing behind him as he attacked. He rolled under the creature’s arm and slashed at its ribs ripping its open sending its guts pouring out. It screamed in pain and whirled around, but its tall body and long arms whizzed over Daglan’s head. He rolled again, this time in between its legs, slashing at its knee, cutting down to the bone. It screamed again and fell to its knees with a gross squishy thud from one. It twitched and spazzed as it began twisting its body around in a disgusting manner.
Daglan approached cautiously, but the adrenaline had worn off and he looked down at his arm. It was almost completely blue, and the little skin and bone that held his arm to his body squirted copious amounts of blood. There was a blur then he was flying through the brush stopping when he thudden into a tree. His eyes began to blur with red, then black. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice...
“You are by far the most interesting of the bunch. Hey, can you hear me?”
When Deglan awoke he was looking at a ceiling he knew all too well. In a bed he had awoken in many times. But this time he couldn't move. “Silvas! What's happening?! Silvas! Rozere!” Daglan began to thrash when he heard that same voice.
“Hey hey hey! You're going to hurt yourself more than you already have!” When standing over him, blocking the light with his conical hat, was the stranger. “That was a nasty creature you were tangling with out there. I heard you like to fight but I'm guessing you've never seen a lasari before? Ugly things, and not easy to kill with small weapons if you don't know how.”
“I do know how.” Daglan said matter of factly, “They have two brains located behind the eye sockets.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” the stranger smiled maliciously, “ but how do you stop them from reproducing after that?” Daglan went silent for a moment. “What do you mean?"
“Lasari have a fun ability to reproduce from their corpse. Specifically, their heart has two eggs inside that will hatch if it ever stops beating. So to properly kill one you must burn the heart.” He laughed and presumably sat back down, out of Daglan’s eyesight. There was a slight pause and Daglan was about to speak when he heard a gasp and the stranger continued.
“Anyway, you almost lost your arm. Luckily, your doctor and blacksmith were able to fix you up, those two are something else. It'll take some time for your bo-” Daglan cut him off.
“What do you mean I almost lost my arm?! What did they do to me?!” He exclaimed, thrashing, memories of his broken and bleeding arm flashing through his mind.
“If you don't calm down, I will calm you down.” He said forcefully. “I hate babies. I thought you were supposed to be a tough kid? Now anyways it's just me and you here, everyone else is asleep, so please. I know you've heard of the metal prosthetics of this country, Metics, I think they're called? I’ve seen people in town with them. Well your blacksmith had to help your doctor make you a new shoulder.”
“So why are you being so helpful? I don't know you, and you feel the same as an abomination.” “See it's things like that!” He shot back up his face noticeably red.
“You're so interesting! I don't remember how I got here…” He scratched his head for a second, “but boy have I had fun since I've shown up!” Your girlfriend Rozere-”
“She's not my girlfriend, and you leave her alone!” He shouted.
“Well she's fearsome! And you’re so interesting too! Definitely the best five year o-”
“I’m twelve. Rozere is thirteen.”
“Well twelve then. Point is, I like you and your little girly friend, so I thought I'd help out and not let you die.” Then it dawned on Daglan, there was no way a search party found him like when he normally gets in a scap and passes. He had thoroughly lost and was deep in the woods. By all accounts he should be dead. Daglan was so angry he hadn't even thought about what happened afterwards.
“It was you. So what do you want from me? Are you some abomination loo-” This time the stranger cut him off.
“My name is Noboru, the handyman.”
“I've never heard of that species.”
“Well I'm not an abomination, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. I travel from place to place making money doing odd jobs. Anyways, you remind me an awful lot of someone I used to know. So don't go throwing your life away against such low level trash as the abominations around here.” Daglan began to feel the intimidating malice from Noboru, almost that of when Rozere had touched his sword. “I know you can feel my energy. Unlike the people of this town, save a few, I think you're gifted.” Then it was gone just as quickly as before. “What do you want, Daglan.” Daglan’s blood was fire and his eyes daggers, piercing the ceiling with determination.
“I want to be remembered.”
“So get out of this town and maybe one day you can fight me, and I’m not even the strongest out there. Come… show this world what you're… made of because I for one… can't wait.” Just then Daglan heard a thud followed by an endless cascade of snores from Noboru.
“Would someone get me out of here!”
submitted by RIPMiuraSensei to KeepWriting [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 16:00 FlaxNorb A message to waywards

I often see waywards asking for advice on what to do to help their betrayed partner heal and as I'm currently going through whats looking like failed R, I said I'd give my 2cents worth.
Be honest with yourself first and foremost. Even before you're honest with your BS. Ask yourself, are you really willing to do the hard work?? Not the somewhat hard work, or the little bit uncomfortable work. Are you willing to go to the darkest parts of your mind and your character to discover why you did what you did. Because if you're not, then it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I say this as a BP whose wayward partner only kinda did the work. He's done a lot of good things and improved his behaviour in many ways but In my opinion he hasn't done any kind of soul searching or uncomfortable Introspection. In fact, he still runs from it like its the plague.
He didn't read any books or listen to any infidelity podcasts or anything like that. I doubt he knows the meaning of any of the words we're all so familiar with like limerance, PISD/PTSD, trickle truthing, disclosure, D-day etc etc. I don't want to totally critisise him but a lot of what he did was superficial, surface level work and that's not going to cut it unfortunately. Maybe in the short term but definitely not long term.
And it's because of these superficial gestures that I convinced myself for so long that R was going well. But deep down I knew it wasn't enough. And I can't wait forever for him to figure it out.
He did a lot right but not nearly enough. Im a mess right now, trying to accept that after 2 years of R, he didn't really care. I'm sure in his naivety, he probably thinks he has done everything in his power but realistically he hasn't a clue. How could he know when he never bothered to research anything, when he doesn't understand the process. I honestly feel like a fool. I feel like my good nature was used against me and once again I was pushed into second place, but not for the AP this time but for him. Rather than allow himself to be uncomfortable and vulnerable he'd rather rug sweep and allow me to suffer every single day. Its that kind of selfishness that allowed him to act out in the first place.
I'll stop ranting now but I just wanted to say this in the hope I might get through to some waywards that are reading.
My advice would be to research the topic of infidelity until you're blue in the face. It was my own research that made me consider R in the first place and it has opened my eyes up hugely to all the different kinds of relationship problems and issues there are out there. If I ever do find a new partner, I think I'll be much better equipped for that relationship because of what I learned through this experience. Use your cheating as an opportunity for growth because if you don't then your actions truly were destructive and of no benefit to anyone.
Follow the advice of the experts and allow yourself to be vulnerable. Nobody likes this feeling and it can even be embarrassing but I'm telling you now, the feeling of discomfort will never come close to what your BS is going through.
And just like I said at the start of this post, if you're not interested in going to a place of true honesty and self reflection then you're just deceiving your partner even more than you already have. Worst of all you're deceiving yourself and throwing away a valuable opportunity for growth. If you can't be vulnerable when your spouse or partner is about to leave you forever, then when will you be? When will the time be right?? On your death bed???
I hope this doesnt come across as an attack on waywards. I think all of us are complex and flawed human beings that make mistakes and treat others badly to varying degrees. I never cheated on anyone but id be lying if I said I'd never wronged another person In my life.. It's how you improve yourself in spite of these mistakes that matters in my opinion.
submitted by FlaxNorb to AsOneAfterInfidelity [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 14:48 WhidperOlk [Progress Post]F/34/5'6": An overview of 11 months of weightlifting 4-6days a week

Hi everyone,
I've been posting on the dedicated threads recently, about my recent sense of achievement on my results, and I thought that I could create a bigger post with an overview of my progress so far. Brace yourselves, it's probably going to be a long post. Sorry in advance.
The beginnings:
I actually started weightlifting at the beginning of 2018. I was fresh out of my PhD, where I had gained 10kgs thanks to a burnout and anti-depressant medication. This was followed by a bad breakup where I lost those 10kgs in one month as I just could not eat. I went from 55kgs to 65kgs at my heaviest, back to 55 kgs. While in the end, I was happy to be back at what I considered my regular weight, I was very much skinny fat: https://i.imgur.com/5dJPvCt.jpg
In April 2018, I enrolled in the gym next to my new job. Started with a short program for my back paired with a few cardio classes, then transitionned to weightlifting, following PHUL(power, hypertrophy, upper lower, 4 days a week). At the time, I had gone back to 58kgs after a month with my parents and wanted to go back to 55kgs, so I was cutting and eating 1600 cal a day.
I was kind of consistent, until mid 2019. Went back to 56kg at my lowest and looked like that:
https://imgur.com/N2eKGPn
https://imgur.com/UoJi2aD
https://imgur.com/Qtjfih5
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Then, I suffered an overuse injury in my hip, and everything went to hell. Combined with Covid, moving to a different country, doing online classes and project to try to shift carreers, I neglected a bit the gym.
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2022-2023: 11 months of treating the gym like a job
In July 2022, coming back from our holidays, I decided I wanted to focus again on weight lifting after weighing myself at 63 kgs, which was really close to my all time heaviest. At started back on a cut, aiming for 1500 cal a day and at least 100g proteins (but really aiming for 120g), going to the gym 4 days a week with my trusted PHUL, without being able to squats because of my old hip injury which never really healed and liked to flare up for no reason.
I tried to be cautious, but still injured my shoulders along the way, so I had periods where I focused more on legs, and others where I focused more on upper body, depending on which part of my body needed extra nursing. From july 2022 to end of september 2022, I went back to 58 kgs. At some point in the middle, I started to add stationary bike everyday and it really helped me shed the weigh faster.
In October, we moved to a different town. For one month, the kitchen was split in two apartments, so we ate out a lot of the time and I stopped tracking calories, still going to the gy, thinking that it would be a good opportunity to lean bulk.
It wasn't a lean bulk. It wasn't dramatic, but between this and the end of the year, I ended up taking a month out of the gym in December and went back to 61.5 kgs at the beginning of January 2023. I decided that to ease back into my routine, I would start by going back to the gym and count my calories, without restricting. Trying to go for 2 months of maintenance, before going for 3 months of cut for summer.
I was kind of disapointed at first as after 2 months of what should have been a recomp, I didn't really looked different, but I kept on going. Mid January, I invested in a fitbit watch, and it really helped me be more active in general by encouraging me to walk my 10 steps a day, logging my water and food consumption and be more mindful of my sleep hygiene.
I effectively maintained at 61.5kg in January and February, eating at 2100 cal a day. In March, I cut to 1500 cal a day, started doing 45 minutes of stationary bike after each gym session and the weight just dropped like a stone. I was thinking that it was a bit too quick, so Iauthorized myself to eat a bit more, upping at 1700 to 1800 most of the days for the 2 next months, and ended my cut a few days ago at 58 kgs:
Here is a summary of my appearance throughout the 11 months: https://i.imgur.com/2k7E3QS.jpg
I now have:
What I did:
I took a bit of time to find my preferred program and frequency for the gym, but ultimately, I settled down on a Pull/Push/Legs split, going to the gym 6 days a week. This one specifically.
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Now, I usually spend 30 minutes warming up and doing mobility exercises to minimize the risks of injuries, then for the first big lift of the day, I would make a pyramide to work up to ny working weight to the day and warm up the joints for the specific moves. Except for a few occasions where the ego lift got the better of me, it's worked pretty well to help me lift injury free since I started doing that. However, I end up spending at least 2 hours just for the lifting session, which is followed then by my 45min to 1h15min (depending on the series I watch during my bike session) of cardio. Definitely too much time and I need to find a way to cut a bit of time. Now that I am not cutting anymore, I am cutting the cardio: not everyday, and not for as long.
My lifts have progressed, even thought I was cutting and I am now at:
My squats are very weak compared to my other lifts, but because of old injuries from 2018, I had been unable to squat pain free for years, even with just my body weight, so I am actually very happy with this number. Now that I am eating more, I hope it will go up and catch up with the others.
Nothing really impressive, but I am quite proud and stronger than I've ever been.
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What I learned/Impact:
Tracking my weights, calories and heart rate in addition to my menstural cycle haa been eye opening to me on the impact my cycle has on me.
For example:
Weight loss and period
Resting heart rate and period
When I started doing cardio, my resting heart rate dropped dramatically. However, when it started rising again, I was worried and thought that I was overtraining or something. Turns out, not only do I have water retention around my ovulation and periods, my resting heart rate is also very much cycling and is at its lowest at the end of my period and at its highest a few days before them. And I don;t even know why I was surprised. A week before my period, I am always plagued by fatigue and spend just so much time in bed! Turns out it's not just in my head, or me being lazy. I actually have physical symptoms that explains it.
I have also learned to work around my injuries to keep training, while leaving my problematic joints/muscles resting, which helped me be more consistent and i think it really helped with the results I can see now. I have lost of little painful things that are slowly starting to disappear:
And finally, of course: My confidence is through the roof. I'm very happy with the way I llok right now and very happy with the sun allowing me to finally only wear minishorts and crop tops XD.
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Now what?
It's been a week since the end of the cut. I'm aiming to eat 2000 to 2100 calories a day, still going to the gym 6 days a week for 1h30/2h00 and scaling back on the stationary bike to only 35 minutes maybe everyother day. My weight is already up to 59kgs, but I'm guessing it's just the water retention of eating more carbs and more in general. If I maintain at 59kg for the next months, it will be good enough for me. At the end of summer, I'll try to bulk again until march of next year for a new cut and I hope bigger muscles for next summer :).
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I hope this was interesting for you. If you have questions, dont hesitate. And again, sorry for the length of the post!
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Edit: Struggles with others' perception:
I forgot to add a part that I also wanted to discuss: how people are perceiving my fitness journey.
For the most part, people have been supportive and why wouldn't they, right? It's always a good thing when you decide to tackle your lifestyle and decide to be healthy, right?
I have atually struggled with the reaction people have been having.
I've mentionned my mother on the subreddit who has been calling me to tell me to not defile my body because she doesn't wan ta muscular daughter with veins popping everywhere. I know she means well and have 0 idea of how hard putting on muscle is as a woman, so I'm not really mad at her, but oh boy! That's one of the most violent thing she's told me since I've been an adult. Fortunately, she's kind of the only one having had this reaction.
The ones that annoy me the most are the people that are taking my cut as an attack on them and how they eat somehow. Like people constently making notes of what I should or should not eat "since i'm on a diet". They're close family and I don't want to start a war, but it's okay: I'm an adult, I can take care of my diet on my own and it turns out, I have been budgeting my calories to be able to enjoy this nice family meal in peace. And even if it wasn't the case, I would still eat the nice family neal and enjoy the occasion. One day overboard is just that to me: one day. But well...
And finally, the most subtle of them all: my partner who probably doesn't even notice he's doing it. While he is very encouraging of me working out and putting on muscle, each time i mention maintenance or bulk, he always downplays the bulking part and "reminds me" that it's also okay to not eat too much. Which really infuriates me when I am negotiating with myself over adding half a tablespoon of oil on my salad when he is pouring half a bag of parmesan cheese on his pasta. I KNOW what he means. But he should also know by now that if I want to grow my glutes and hamstrings that he likes so much, I need to fuel the machine! And now that I have recomped a bit he has 0 filters to point out every part that used to look bigger and are now new insecurities that I didn't know I should have ( apparently, I am the reverse "fat girl with the nice face", I have a double chin before reaching the second half of the healthy BMI.
To finish on a positive note: Since eating more, I have been in a way better mood as I am not hangry anymore, so I really hope that this change will make him see that he doesn't need to micromanage my diet.
Edit 2: My approach to nutrition
I realised I could have been more detailed about how I approached nutrition. My absolute priority has been to reach at least 100g of proteins a day while staying under my calorie goals. My go to were protein bars in the morning, just before my gym session (I am guilty of using this as a carrot to drag my as to the gym some mornings when I have no motivation XD), cottage cheese with blueberries as afternoon snacks, scoop of proteins in my porridges (savory or sweet) and hard boiled eggs. It was easier for me to reach my calorie goals once it started to be warmer and I wasn't as tempted to go for the hot lasagnas in my supermarket on my way home.
I would say that I was loosely counting on the sense that I would weigh and count things that were calorie dense and not bother you for fruits and vegetables as I consider that the vitamins they provide is more important than the few calories over my limit. I was also counting on the daily cardio, mainly to be able to be more lax with my counting. Since starting on this journey I have almost completely cut alcohol. I wasn't a big drinker before (only binging during night outs) and after a few months of not drinking, I was really not enjoying neither the taste, nor the awful recovery the day after. Now I'm just not interested anymore. Nothing pleases me more than enjoying a night out with friends and still enjoy my morning the day after.
I had 4 cheat days during the last 3 months : my sister in law's baby shower, my birthday, our 10 years anniversary and a weekend at a friends in the mountains. My philosophy was to enjoy the days and company. Count everything. Try to overshoot when I estimate. Acknowledge and move on.
If I was injured and knew I had to dial back the training for a few days, I would eat 2000 calories for a few days to help my body heal. Not sure if it was really necessary, but it was a nice change of pace.
I think the worst part for me was the last few weeks of May. As seen on the graph, my weight shot up more than usual between my ovulation and my periods which were late. It was really frustrating to see the weight so high while still in a caloric deficit, but the flush after that was all the more satisfying.
submitted by WhidperOlk to xxfitness [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 13:19 xfallenangelx95 27/F seeking an emotional bond with emotionally mature and like minded people from Europe.I would love to meet someone talkative!Someone who wants to talk on a daily basis.It isn't easy to find a friend on reddit but I'm trying my best.I'm interested only in long term frienships.

Only Europe Please - short note - If you're not into reading or receiving long messages,don't read any further + Please If you don't want to read everything because of my post being too long for you & instead of reading It all - ..skip some parts - find another person to talk to.Let's respect each other and our free time. All people criticizing/making fun of me & other people - will permanently be blocked.Pretty much as people questioning my post and giving me unsolicited advice.I'm not here for any conflicts and I know I can't please everyone - I know I never will.. However It's me who should feel comfortable in my new potential friendship & obviously someone interested in being my friend - not the whole world which is why I don't need any advice from people who don't even want to be a part of my life. The amount of rude people on Reddit always criticizing others and making fun of them is unbelievably high but let me tell you something - NEVER let anyone make choices for you and criticize you only because you're different! Always fight for your dreams and never let anyone make you think you're worthless! It's your life and you're the one deciding what's best for you - If you want to judge me despite not even wanting to talk to me or give me avice better block me
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Hello guys! 🙂 (read everything before you decide to send me a message) Please send me a message ONLY If you're in the same situation and If your expectations are the same as mine.I want to find like minded people from Europe (Why Europe? Read my post to find out) I'm looking for something permanent (remember - you can feel lonely even If you're surrounded by others - If there's no emotional bond) I'm fed up of meeting people who never make any time for me & only text me once or twice a week to ask me "what are you up to?" Out of boredom.I don't want to meet people asking others a million of questions like "what's your favorite movie?" Just to give you one word answer and ask you another question "and music? Your favorite song?" I'm looking for something "deeper" & different🙂What kind of friend would I like to find? Someone to talk to on a daily basis - Someone who needs It & wants It just as much as me
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What are my expectations? I would like to meet someone in a similar situation – why? Because I honestly feel like only a person with the same expectations and a similar outlook on life would get along with me & because I feel more comfortable talking to people like me..Friendless people who need a strong bond - people without friends and without partners..Don't get me wrong…Most people deserve to be happy and It's good to have friends but people who have friends or families in real life are usually more focused on them ( which is completely understandable) & have less time for others + I simply don't want to be replaced by anyone..I kind of envy people who can call others , true friends given I don't have an emotional bond with any of my acquaintances. Whenever I hear that others have friends I simply get sad because (believe it or not) If I had to choose between 20 people to talk to (Acquaintances) and one special person - I'd choose that one special person without any hesitation .
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I also want to talk to others on a daily basis mainly because..I want to see someone’s effort & be someone's first choice - not another person to have random conversations with..Why I'd rather talk to people from my continent? Well..Mainly because I would like to see someone I'd get along with - In the far future - face to face :) + I don't want to wait any longer than 6 hours to receive a message - Especially given most people are always available on social media sites & keep their phones in a pocket.Once you receive & open my message - get back to me (If you're as serious as I am & really need a true friend) waiting 6 hours to receive a message is more than enough
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I'm by no means criticising people who don't want to talk to others often / People who really are super busy & People who want to find someone to have non important conversations with - I'm aware that not everyone has the same expectations which is why everything you're reading now - is here for a reason.All I'm suggesting is - I don't want anything temporary and I don't want to be the one always giving more than receiving.Listen people - I used to ignore being..ignored by others..always being just an option to talk to during tough times or moments of boredom.I was too young to realize that I was never important enough for most people that were a part of my life I don't know who needs to hear this but..No one is too busy to make time for you! People make excuses to avoid others because they prioritize everything and (maybe) everyone..over them. It's true that most people really are busy - but It takes only a few seconds to start a conversation (If you're into short messages) and a few minutes (1-10/15) to type a long message Don't let anyone lie to you.
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Truth is that most people either don't like you enough to make time for you or just simply - feel no need to talk to others often but are they too busy? No..You don't need to send me a message just to ask me and tell me "Do you really want to talk daily? I like long messages but I can't promise to contact you often" If you really are unsure please don't send me a message.I don't need more acquaintances aka people to talk to - occasionallyI'm not trying to sound rude - I just don't want to meet new people and get emotionally attached - only to end up being left alone after weeks or months of daily conversations.I'm sick of that never ending story and always meeting people who ghost me without a single word (even if everything seems to be ok) or people who "change priorities" over time & become like strangers…I don't want to go through this ever again.Let me tell you one thing – A true friend would never just give up on you for no reason :)It’s always possible to find someone to have a random conversation with – someone willing to send you one message once or twice a week..but..It’s almost impossible to find people willing to make time for you.
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I’m not asking a busy person to make time for me by changing some plans! Absolutely not! I’m here to find someone who wants to talk daily (throughout the day or maybe even night) of one’s own will.Someone looking for the same kind of connection.Strong friendships are based on mutual support. One of the best things you can do for a friend in need, is just to be there for them when they want to talk.I often see posts from people who always say how friendless they are because they don't feel loved or appreciated by their "friends" remember! A true friend - someone who truly likes you or someone who wants to get to know you - will always find time for you. 🙂
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I'm not really interested in small talk/short messages - I love long and meaningful conversations. It's so easy to find someone who loves abbreviations and questions like "How are you?" How was your day? Or what are you interested in? But so hard/almost impossible to find a person who knows how to keep a conversation going & show others some effort.Building and maintaining friendships takes time and effort.Never allow pursuits or possessions to become bigger priorities than your relations with other people.Close friendships are so important to us because they are so difficult to form + Having friends can help you feel as if you belong to something that brings purpose and connection to your life
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• I do NOT respond to any „Hey,hmu” or „u want to talk” type of messages (super short messages or messages full of abbreviations – I literally can’t stand abbreviations and acronyms in text messages) ALL messages full of abbreviations will immediately be ignored.I also don't like it when people ignore everything I say in private messages just to focus on some question or? Start talking only about themselves.. I love conversations with people refering to every part of my messages - not just some question.
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• No dirty messages PLEASE.I'm not looking for anyone to flirt with and I'm not looking for a partner either. No NSWF profiles..I always check people's profiles (Even comment history) - To avoid guys,trying to get inappropriate photos from adult women or? flirt with them & If your comment history is full of rude comments - you and I wouldn't get along! I can't stand people who judge other people and use vulgar words to describe them or? Make fun of them.Respect is very important
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• If both (you and I) are from the same country (I live in a non-English speaking country ) - I want to communicate with you in our first language! No - Not because I don't understand English because as you see - I do. Why then? English is simply overrated and people don't appreciate other languages as much as they should. So.. If we're from the same country and you want to talk only in English (which is quite common on reddit) - Talk to someone else. I just simply don't want to talk to a person from the same country - in a foreign language as It's just something I don't understand even If all you want is to practice your english
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• Please only adult people 18-36 age range (I'm 27)
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• I don’t respond to messages I don’t find interesting even If they're long - If after receiving and reading your message I don't feel comfortable or think "I wouldn't get along with him/her" I simply do not respond (what I’m suggesting is that I don’t always respond to someone’s first or second message because..sometimes you just know If you’d get along with someone or not- I’d never ignore anyone after days or weeks of daily conversations though) just because I don’t want to do anything forcefully & because I don’t want to lead anyone on. I read all messages but I definitely don't respond to all of them! I want to make it clear because I don't want to be accused of not responding and not reading people's messages! - Some people don't message me back as well and even though It is a bit disappointing I'm ok with that! - as long as there's no emotional bond - I think it's ok to not respond to someone's first or second message If people think they wouldn't get along! I can't stand being ignored after days or weeks of daily conversation and seeing people changing priorities but that's something different - something I don't want to go through ever again for real If I'm really interested in someone's message - I respond within a matter of minutes - max 6 hours (If I'm in bed - just sleeping) you won't even hear from me "I'm too busy" because I know myself and If I really was too busy to make time for others - I wouldn't be here. I either want to talk to someone..or not.I don't want to pretend someone I'm not and always try to find some cheap excuses to avoid others. (unlike some people)
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• Don’t ask me “Can you tell me something about yourself?” If you really want to get to know me - you can ask me questions :) I'm an open book.
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• It would be better If you guys were into emojis - just like me - just to describe your emotions through text. Two emojis - 🙂 and 🙁 are completely enough I just don't like emotionless messages.I also don't like it when people say "yeah" or yea"as it sounds dismissively.
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• I want to talk on reddit first (just to make sure If I'd get along with you ) before moving to Discord or some other app
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• Time response matters to me a lot! It matters to me whether I get a message back after one hour,three hours,6 hours or..12 hours and even..after a couple of days..And If you're another person just looking for one day conversation and then? "Disappear" for some amount of time longer than one day to come back and apologize me for being busy - don't even leave me a message.I just want to be honest with you from the start.I'm interested only in daily conversations
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Why can’t you see any of my interests listed down below? Because what really matters to me is..who you are (If you’re honest,talkative,understanding,caring and trustworthy – for example) just simply – It matters to me what you’re like! not what you like.Don’t get me wrong – you can tell me what your hobbies are but in my personal opinion,common interests are important mainly when you want to find a gaming buddy (for example) or If you want to meet someone to hang out with in real life and..go bowling for example.What most people seem to care about are other people's interests – I don’t. I get along with other people despite having completely different hobbies but I absolutely don’t get along with people way different than me (different expectations and outlook on life– way different sense of humor or personality traits – It’s just an example) It doesn't make ANY DIFFERENCE to me If you're a gamer or? Someone interested in photography! It doesn't make any difference - > as long as you're talkative and kind and If you also want to find someone willing to stay in your life..for good - But If you're into small talk and all you want is to...type and receive super short messages or If you're here only because you're bored and don't know what to do + If you're a very sarcastic person - I'm definitely not for you!I don't get along with overly sarcastic people turning everything into a joke. Friendships should be natural – not forced.
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Both people wanting to be friends should feel comfortable and have something in common. No - not necessarily a similar taste in music or movies but something else..Most friendships don't fizzle out because of people not having the same hobbies but..because they just simply have different expectations when It comes to something important.I'm not here out of boredom and trust me - I'm not here to meet as many people as possible.I choose quality over quantity.I higly value myself and my time & Sometimes one person but a person who makes you feel comfortable and understood - is more than enough :) We ALL can choose what kind of people we’d like to talk to and maybe even become really good friends with and I? I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.We all have some expectations after all.I know that people don't have to talk everyday to be friends but I'm interested only in daily conversations with someone also interested in talking dailyIf you really need someone to talk to due to loneliness and If you have time to talk to me daily (throughout the day and maybe even night)I always make time for others.I'm literally always available.I could even stay up all night long only to talk to someone. I’m ready to commit but only If there’s some chemistry between me and someone else.I don’t do anything forcefully.
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If you want to talk to me tell me your story - tell me why you're here, what kind of friend would you like to meet :) Et cetera.Such messages are way more interesting to me than...someone's long list of hobbies. I know! It's unusual on reddit but I don't make friends based on hobbies..I want to meet someone with the same mindset as mine to finally feel understood and get close to someone new.You can share your problems with me - I absolutely don't mind "complaining" as I've been through a lot in my life.What do people usually tell you when you tell them that's something's wrong? "Don't complain" or "Life's not over yet - one day you'll be happy" or "There are worse situations than yours" and..obviously "Find a therapist" Life's not a fairytale and sometimes things don't go as planned.Emotions shouldn't be bottled up.I'm sick of people always telling others "everything's gonna be ok" move on " & more..Trust me people - not everyone wants to hear "Just believe in yourself and everything's gonna be ok" Some people take it as reassurance. But others see it as false hope. Imagine being told that things will be okay, only for them to get worse..Do you guys know why telling someone "everything's gonna be ok" Is wrong? Because you can't see the future.
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You can't guarantee others that one day they'll finally be happy + when It comes to social interactions - We're only responsible for ourselves - not for others & as you guys know people let us down quite often (sometimes even when there's no reason) so instead of telling people how they should move on,forget everything and be happy or asking them to find a therapist - be there for them! Always be willing to listen to them If you really like them or want to get to know them & don't suggest everyone in a tough situation to find a therapist because a therapist won't ever replace a true friend + It's quite normal to be disappointed If people always do something to hurt you.Sharing your hardships with other people in a very similar situation or exactly the same one - is VERY helpful If the other person understands you & wants to start all over by just letting it all out & feeling emotional support instead of always hearing some "positive quotes" or someone saying "Stop complaining let's talk about something else"Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on. I appreciate sensitive people who always try to understand others.Empathy is everything
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Our world needs more peace 🤗 I've seen a lot of rude comments on reddit.If you don't agree with me - OK but please don't criticize me + Not everyone is here to ask for advice.Listen people - I know how different my post is & I know It won't be easy for me to find what or rather who - I'm looking for BUT I always want to be myself instead of pretending someone I'm not and lying to others.I know It would be easier if (like others) I had less expectations but I I know what I want and honestly? If my post was different..I wouldn't be me.Even If I won't meet a person I'd get along with - that's ok! but don't give me any unsolicited advice because I wouldn't change for someone who doesn't even know me pretty much as I wouldn't want to change anyone else.I'm not trying to "fit in" and be like everyone else - just to get more attention.Accept me for who I am or let go - is my motto.I'm not here to argue with anyone and to make fun of others.
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Please - If you're a completely different person than the described type of person I'm looking for (If you love abrreviations,If you don't need an emotional connection,If you're sarcastic and quiet) or If you simply disagree with my post - don't force yourself to send me a message.I want my new potential friendship,to be natural which is why I want you to contact me If your needs are the same - I don't want you to try to change yourself only to please me - Pretending to be someone you're not - is the worst.I know It's possible to find what I'm looking for as I had conversations with people looking for exactly the same thing and being nice to me - I want to believe in my luck again as I had it a few times on reddit - I've recently lost someone I thought could be a friend of mine (such a perfect match) and I'm sad but I want to finally be happy again & find someone always wanting to talk - sending me random pictures throughout the day - food pictures or pictures of some animals and what is the most important to me? To find people who value online friendships as much as they would value real life ones as there's another human being on the other side
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No comments please.Only Private messages and chat requests.I don't really like public conversations and I also do not respond to comments so If you want to send me a message just do it without saying "You can DM me" + I'm online almost all the time and yes - I am very selective but If I had to choose between having another (new) acquaintance and being in the same situation as I currently am - I'd always choose second option.I don't need more people to talk to every now and then and any chit chat so please think twice before you decide to send me a message
submitted by xfallenangelx95 to InternetFriends [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 13:19 xfallenangelx95 [L] [O] 27/F Looking for someone in exactly the same situation as mine - Someone friendless,talkative and kind! Kindness is highly appreciated by me! I'm interested only in daily conversations and long term friendships! Let everyone on Reddit be happy! Let them find their happiness :) Never give up!

Only Europe Please - short note - If you're not into reading or receiving long messages,don't read any further + Please If you don't want to read everything because of my post being too long for you & instead of reading It all - ..skip some parts - find another person to talk to.Let's respect each other and our free time. All people criticizing/making fun of me & other people - will permanently be blocked.Pretty much as people questioning my post and giving me unsolicited advice.I'm not here for any conflicts and I know I can't please everyone - I know I never will.. However It's me who should feel comfortable in my new potential friendship & obviously someone interested in being my friend - not the whole world which is why I don't need any advice from people who don't even want to be a part of my life. The amount of rude people on Reddit always criticizing others and making fun of them is unbelievably high but let me tell you something - NEVER let anyone make choices for you and criticize you only because you're different! Always fight for your dreams and never let anyone make you think you're worthless! It's your life and you're the one deciding what's best for you - If you want to judge me despite not even wanting to talk to me or give me avice better block me
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Hello guys! 🙂 (read everything before you decide to send me a message) Please send me a message ONLY If you're in the same situation and If your expectations are the same as mine.I want to find like minded people from Europe (Why Europe? Read my post to find out) I'm looking for something permanent (remember - you can feel lonely even If you're surrounded by others - If there's no emotional bond) I'm fed up of meeting people who never make any time for me & only text me once or twice a week to ask me "what are you up to?" Out of boredom.I don't want to meet people asking others a million of questions like "what's your favorite movie?" Just to give you one word answer and ask you another question "and music? Your favorite song?" I'm looking for something "deeper" & different🙂What kind of friend would I like to find? Someone to talk to on a daily basis - Someone who needs It & wants It just as much as me
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What are my expectations? I would like to meet someone in a similar situation – why? Because I honestly feel like only a person with the same expectations and a similar outlook on life would get along with me & because I feel more comfortable talking to people like me..Friendless people who need a strong bond - people without friends and without partners..Don't get me wrong…Most people deserve to be happy and It's good to have friends but people who have friends or families in real life are usually more focused on them ( which is completely understandable) & have less time for others + I simply don't want to be replaced by anyone..I kind of envy people who can call others , true friends given I don't have an emotional bond with any of my acquaintances. Whenever I hear that others have friends I simply get sad because (believe it or not) If I had to choose between 20 people to talk to (Acquaintances) and one special person - I'd choose that one special person without any hesitation .
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I also want to talk to others on a daily basis mainly because..I want to see someone’s effort & be someone's first choice - not another person to have random conversations with..Why I'd rather talk to people from my continent? Well..Mainly because I would like to see someone I'd get along with - In the far future - face to face :) + I don't want to wait any longer than 6 hours to receive a message - Especially given most people are always available on social media sites & keep their phones in a pocket.Once you receive & open my message - get back to me (If you're as serious as I am & really need a true friend) waiting 6 hours to receive a message is more than enough
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I'm by no means criticising people who don't want to talk to others often / People who really are super busy & People who want to find someone to have non important conversations with - I'm aware that not everyone has the same expectations which is why everything you're reading now - is here for a reason.All I'm suggesting is - I don't want anything temporary and I don't want to be the one always giving more than receiving.Listen people - I used to ignore being..ignored by others..always being just an option to talk to during tough times or moments of boredom.I was too young to realize that I was never important enough for most people that were a part of my life I don't know who needs to hear this but..No one is too busy to make time for you! People make excuses to avoid others because they prioritize everything and (maybe) everyone..over them. It's true that most people really are busy - but It takes only a few seconds to start a conversation (If you're into short messages) and a few minutes (1-10/15) to type a long message Don't let anyone lie to you.
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Truth is that most people either don't like you enough to make time for you or just simply - feel no need to talk to others often but are they too busy? No..You don't need to send me a message just to ask me and tell me "Do you really want to talk daily? I like long messages but I can't promise to contact you often" If you really are unsure please don't send me a message.I don't need more acquaintances aka people to talk to - occasionallyI'm not trying to sound rude - I just don't want to meet new people and get emotionally attached - only to end up being left alone after weeks or months of daily conversations.I'm sick of that never ending story and always meeting people who ghost me without a single word (even if everything seems to be ok) or people who "change priorities" over time & become like strangers…I don't want to go through this ever again.Let me tell you one thing – A true friend would never just give up on you for no reason :)It’s always possible to find someone to have a random conversation with – someone willing to send you one message once or twice a week..but..It’s almost impossible to find people willing to make time for you.
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I’m not asking a busy person to make time for me by changing some plans! Absolutely not! I’m here to find someone who wants to talk daily (throughout the day or maybe even night) of one’s own will.Someone looking for the same kind of connection.Strong friendships are based on mutual support. One of the best things you can do for a friend in need, is just to be there for them when they want to talk.I often see posts from people who always say how friendless they are because they don't feel loved or appreciated by their "friends" remember! A true friend - someone who truly likes you or someone who wants to get to know you - will always find time for you. 🙂
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I'm not really interested in small talk/short messages - I love long and meaningful conversations. It's so easy to find someone who loves abbreviations and questions like "How are you?" How was your day? Or what are you interested in? But so hard/almost impossible to find a person who knows how to keep a conversation going & show others some effort.Building and maintaining friendships takes time and effort.Never allow pursuits or possessions to become bigger priorities than your relations with other people.Close friendships are so important to us because they are so difficult to form + Having friends can help you feel as if you belong to something that brings purpose and connection to your life
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• I do NOT respond to any „Hey,hmu” or „u want to talk” type of messages (super short messages or messages full of abbreviations – I literally can’t stand abbreviations and acronyms in text messages) ALL messages full of abbreviations will immediately be ignored.I also don't like it when people ignore everything I say in private messages just to focus on some question or? Start talking only about themselves.. I love conversations with people refering to every part of my messages - not just some question.
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• No dirty messages PLEASE.I'm not looking for anyone to flirt with and I'm not looking for a partner either. No NSWF profiles..I always check people's profiles (Even comment history) - To avoid guys,trying to get inappropriate photos from adult women or? flirt with them & If your comment history is full of rude comments - you and I wouldn't get along! I can't stand people who judge other people and use vulgar words to describe them or? Make fun of them.Respect is very important
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• If both (you and I) are from the same country (I live in a non-English speaking country ) - I want to communicate with you in our first language! No - Not because I don't understand English because as you see - I do. Why then? English is simply overrated and people don't appreciate other languages as much as they should. So.. If we're from the same country and you want to talk only in English (which is quite common on reddit) - Talk to someone else. I just simply don't want to talk to a person from the same country - in a foreign language as It's just something I don't understand even If all you want is to practice your english
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• Please only adult people 18-36 age range (I'm 27)
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• I don’t respond to messages I don’t find interesting even If they're long - If after receiving and reading your message I don't feel comfortable or think "I wouldn't get along with him/her" I simply do not respond (what I’m suggesting is that I don’t always respond to someone’s first or second message because..sometimes you just know If you’d get along with someone or not- I’d never ignore anyone after days or weeks of daily conversations though) just because I don’t want to do anything forcefully & because I don’t want to lead anyone on. I read all messages but I definitely don't respond to all of them! I want to make it clear because I don't want to be accused of not responding and not reading people's messages! - Some people don't message me back as well and even though It is a bit disappointing I'm ok with that! - as long as there's no emotional bond - I think it's ok to not respond to someone's first or second message If people think they wouldn't get along! I can't stand being ignored after days or weeks of daily conversation and seeing people changing priorities but that's something different - something I don't want to go through ever again for real If I'm really interested in someone's message - I respond within a matter of minutes - max 6 hours (If I'm in bed - just sleeping) you won't even hear from me "I'm too busy" because I know myself and If I really was too busy to make time for others - I wouldn't be here. I either want to talk to someone..or not.I don't want to pretend someone I'm not and always try to find some cheap excuses to avoid others. (unlike some people)
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• Don’t ask me “Can you tell me something about yourself?” If you really want to get to know me - you can ask me questions :) I'm an open book.
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• It would be better If you guys were into emojis - just like me - just to describe your emotions through text. Two emojis - 🙂 and 🙁 are completely enough I just don't like emotionless messages.I also don't like it when people say "yeah" or yea"as it sounds dismissively.
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• I want to talk on reddit first (just to make sure If I'd get along with you ) before moving to Discord or some other app
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• Time response matters to me a lot! It matters to me whether I get a message back after one hour,three hours,6 hours or..12 hours and even..after a couple of days..And If you're another person just looking for one day conversation and then? "Disappear" for some amount of time longer than one day to come back and apologize me for being busy - don't even leave me a message.I just want to be honest with you from the start.I'm interested only in daily conversations
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Why can’t you see any of my interests listed down below? Because what really matters to me is..who you are (If you’re honest,talkative,understanding,caring and trustworthy – for example) just simply – It matters to me what you’re like! not what you like.Don’t get me wrong – you can tell me what your hobbies are but in my personal opinion,common interests are important mainly when you want to find a gaming buddy (for example) or If you want to meet someone to hang out with in real life and..go bowling for example.What most people seem to care about are other people's interests – I don’t. I get along with other people despite having completely different hobbies but I absolutely don’t get along with people way different than me (different expectations and outlook on life– way different sense of humor or personality traits – It’s just an example) It doesn't make ANY DIFFERENCE to me If you're a gamer or? Someone interested in photography! It doesn't make any difference - > as long as you're talkative and kind and If you also want to find someone willing to stay in your life..for good - But If you're into small talk and all you want is to...type and receive super short messages or If you're here only because you're bored and don't know what to do + If you're a very sarcastic person - I'm definitely not for you!I don't get along with overly sarcastic people turning everything into a joke. Friendships should be natural – not forced.
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Both people wanting to be friends should feel comfortable and have something in common. No - not necessarily a similar taste in music or movies but something else..Most friendships don't fizzle out because of people not having the same hobbies but..because they just simply have different expectations when It comes to something important.I'm not here out of boredom and trust me - I'm not here to meet as many people as possible.I choose quality over quantity.I higly value myself and my time & Sometimes one person but a person who makes you feel comfortable and understood - is more than enough :) We ALL can choose what kind of people we’d like to talk to and maybe even become really good friends with and I? I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.We all have some expectations after all.I know that people don't have to talk everyday to be friends but I'm interested only in daily conversations with someone also interested in talking dailyIf you really need someone to talk to due to loneliness and If you have time to talk to me daily (throughout the day and maybe even night)I always make time for others.I'm literally always available.I could even stay up all night long only to talk to someone. I’m ready to commit but only If there’s some chemistry between me and someone else.I don’t do anything forcefully.
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If you want to talk to me tell me your story - tell me why you're here, what kind of friend would you like to meet :) Et cetera.Such messages are way more interesting to me than...someone's long list of hobbies. I know! It's unusual on reddit but I don't make friends based on hobbies..I want to meet someone with the same mindset as mine to finally feel understood and get close to someone new.You can share your problems with me - I absolutely don't mind "complaining" as I've been through a lot in my life.What do people usually tell you when you tell them that's something's wrong? "Don't complain" or "Life's not over yet - one day you'll be happy" or "There are worse situations than yours" and..obviously "Find a therapist" Life's not a fairytale and sometimes things don't go as planned.Emotions shouldn't be bottled up.I'm sick of people always telling others "everything's gonna be ok" move on " & more..Trust me people - not everyone wants to hear "Just believe in yourself and everything's gonna be ok" Some people take it as reassurance. But others see it as false hope. Imagine being told that things will be okay, only for them to get worse..Do you guys know why telling someone "everything's gonna be ok" Is wrong? Because you can't see the future.
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You can't guarantee others that one day they'll finally be happy + when It comes to social interactions - We're only responsible for ourselves - not for others & as you guys know people let us down quite often (sometimes even when there's no reason) so instead of telling people how they should move on,forget everything and be happy or asking them to find a therapist - be there for them! Always be willing to listen to them If you really like them or want to get to know them & don't suggest everyone in a tough situation to find a therapist because a therapist won't ever replace a true friend + It's quite normal to be disappointed If people always do something to hurt you.Sharing your hardships with other people in a very similar situation or exactly the same one - is VERY helpful If the other person understands you & wants to start all over by just letting it all out & feeling emotional support instead of always hearing some "positive quotes" or someone saying "Stop complaining let's talk about something else"Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on. I appreciate sensitive people who always try to understand others.Empathy is everything
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Our world needs more peace 🤗 I've seen a lot of rude comments on reddit.If you don't agree with me - OK but please don't criticize me + Not everyone is here to ask for advice.Listen people - I know how different my post is & I know It won't be easy for me to find what or rather who - I'm looking for BUT I always want to be myself instead of pretending someone I'm not and lying to others.I know It would be easier if (like others) I had less expectations but I I know what I want and honestly? If my post was different..I wouldn't be me.Even If I won't meet a person I'd get along with - that's ok! but don't give me any unsolicited advice because I wouldn't change for someone who doesn't even know me pretty much as I wouldn't want to change anyone else.I'm not trying to "fit in" and be like everyone else - just to get more attention.Accept me for who I am or let go - is my motto.I'm not here to argue with anyone and to make fun of others.
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Please - If you're a completely different person than the described type of person I'm looking for (If you love abrreviations,If you don't need an emotional connection,If you're sarcastic and quiet) or If you simply disagree with my post - don't force yourself to send me a message.I want my new potential friendship,to be natural which is why I want you to contact me If your needs are the same - I don't want you to try to change yourself only to please me - Pretending to be someone you're not - is the worst.I know It's possible to find what I'm looking for as I had conversations with people looking for exactly the same thing and being nice to me - I want to believe in my luck again as I had it a few times on reddit - I've recently lost someone I thought could be a friend of mine (such a perfect match) and I'm sad but I want to finally be happy again & find someone always wanting to talk - sending me random pictures throughout the day - food pictures or pictures of some animals and what is the most important to me? To find people who value online friendships as much as they would value real life ones as there's another human being on the other side
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No comments please.Only Private messages and chat requests.I don't really like public conversations and I also do not respond to comments so If you want to send me a message just do it without saying "You can DM me" + I'm online almost all the time and yes - I am very selective but If I had to choose between having another (new) acquaintance and being in the same situation as I currently am - I'd always choose second option.I don't need more people to talk to every now and then and any chit chat so please think twice before you decide to send me a message
submitted by xfallenangelx95 to KindVoice [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 11:32 lightingnations I've had a fursona named 'Darkwind Summerpaws' for about a year now. Lately he's been letting his intrusive thoughts win, and I can barely sleep at night...

None of this is gonna make much sense if you’re not familiar with the concept of a furry, so here’s a quick summary:
A furry is an enthusiast for animal characters with human characteristics, in particular a person who dresses up in costume as such a character or uses one as an avatar online.
With that out of the way, let’s get on with the story…
Last year, my boss sent me to Vegas for the CES tech conference and—inadvertently—booked me into the Bellagio the same weekend it hosted FURCATION. After checking-in, still drowsy from the 10-hour flight, I stepped onto the elevator just as two men dressed in full-body wolf costumes stepped out.
My pulse got set racing.
Despite the jetlag, I dumped my suitcase in the room, hurried back downstairs, and followed more furries into a convention hall crammed with anthropomorphic animal characters of all shapes and sizes: tall, short, ginger, grey.
Friends, for the first time in my thirty-two years on this earth, I was alive. Truly alive. I didn’t even realize I’d missed the ‘Bold Solutions for a Changing world’ keynote speech until the Bellagio staff started stacking up chairs, long after midnight.
Back home, I supressed this newly discovered part of myself. My engagement with the community remained confined to browsing fan art and the occasional Discord roleplay, all while my wife was asleep. But little by little, Andrew McCann receded into the gloom, and my fursona, Darkwind Summerpaws, stepped into the light.
To her eternal credit, my wife made every effort to accommodate this new lifestyle. But finding me—or, more specifically, Darkwind—in bed with another woman—again, a fursona—all but pushed her out the door, leaving me in the small house with a big mortgage.
At first, I sought comfort within the community. I neglected my family, my friends, and yes, even my health. Empty whiskey bottles piled up around the lounge while the written warnings piled up at work.
However, this was merely background noise. A hiss of static. Because Darkwind dogged my every step, unshakable. Unstoppable.
Yet still I felt constrained. Like a caged beast. I wanted more more more. Complete and total immersion.
Unfortunately, even my furiends couldn’t placate these inexhaustible appetites, and any complaints about their lack of furmitment fell on deaf ears. After a group member broke character mid-session by removing her mask because of a measly asthma attack, I got ousted from the group over my ‘volatile’ reaction.
This plunged me into a deep depression. Stuck without a release, I ended my engagement with the furmunity. Poor Darkwind got crammed into an old hamper and stuffed inside the attic.
Over the next six weeks, without my outlet, I became a balloon inflated to bursting point. Would this deep longing simply swell and swell until I popped?
But then, at the post office, a bulletin board flyer caught my attention. It said:
Attention all wolfkin! Are you struggling? Feeling alone? Does nobody understand your pain? Don’t fret! Join a group of like-minded individuals as we explore ways to celebrate our primal urges.
For more information, call Jacob on XXXXXX.
These folks sure sounded serious about roleplay. Finally, a place where I could unleash my true self.
Over the phone, Jacob gave me the details. Their clan gathered once a month, and wouldn’t you know it, their next meeting was scheduled for later that very same day, just before sundown. The leader passed on the location and said they couldn’t wait for “a new member to join the pack.”
Following his directions, I drove West out of town and along a dirt trail that broke from the highway,. It spat me out in a remote clearing in the middle of the forest.
Beyond the wall of trees, a grassy mound sloped upward. Pinched between the boughs there was a flickering, orange light.
A small group, twenty or so members strong, sat around a firepit on downed logs, not a fursuit in sight. My heart sunk.
There was no reason to panic, though. Not yet. Maybe, just maybe, rather than break immersion once the fun began, they gathered out of costume for refreshments? Either way, I’d travelled too far to turn back now, so I slipped off my costume, folded it into my pack, and then pushed through a nestle of ferns.
Several individuals roasted marshmallows while others conversed in groups of two or three. One man even strummed a soulful rendition of Moonage Daydream on an acoustic guitar.
“Andrew, I presume?” said a deep voice from behind me.
The first thing I noticed about Jacob was his immense height; he stood nearly seven feet tall, and thicker than a barge pole. “We spoke on the phone.” My hand looked like a child’s encased within his, and that powerful grip was tighter like vice.
“You’ve arrived just in time, we’re about to get started.” He guided me forward by placing a hand against the small of my back. “So, is this your first time?”
“Oh no, I’ve been to tons of these things.”
Those green eyes cut a quizzical glance in my direction. “Really? What clans?”
Clan? Did he mean convention? “Well, there was DragonCon over the summer. And last month I flew down to Furry Fiesta.”
“I’ve never heard of—”
An approaching elderly lady said, “Sorry to interrupt Jacob, but we should really get started.” She jabbed a thumb at the sky, barely visible above the canopy. The chief acknowledged her with a nod.
“Glad to have you with us,” he said to me, and then went and stood before the campfire.
“Good evening, everyone,” he said, drowning out the gentle murmur.
A chorus of, “Good evening, Jacob,” went up.
“I hope everybody’s doing well. I’m delighted to see such a great turn out tonight. Now before we get started, I have a couple of announcements. First, congratulations to Paul”—he gestured at a red-haired man in a denim jacket—“and his wife Donna on the birth of their first child, Damian.”
The group applauded as the new father received several hearty pats on the back.
Once the fanfare tapered off, Jacob added, “Paul told me the new baby has been a blessing…paternity leave means he’s been able to sneak in a few long sessions on the PlayStation while Donna does all the work.”
He waited until the chuckles died off. “And secondly, can everyone please give a warm welcome to Andrew.” He nodded in my direction. “Tonight’s Andrew’s first time with the clan, so I want to see plenty of butt sniffing.”
I laughed, realized nobody else joined in, and then cleared my throat and stared at the ground.
“So let’s make sure—”
“It’s starting.” The elderly lady interrupted, pointing at the sky. High above us, the full moon drifted out from behind a wisp of cloud.
Jacob said, “Here we go everyone, get ready.”
Around me, belts were unhitched, shirts unbuttoned. Finally! Delighted we could now change into our fursuits, I grabbed mine from my pack, stepped into the leg holes, and shimmied it up past my ankles, over the shoulders.
As I hopped around on one foot, negoating the suit on, Jacob shouted, “Andrew, what the hell are you doing? You’re gonna tear right through that thing.”
I paused and looked up.
Bare flesh surrounded me on all sides; large and thin, male and female. Everybody was naked except me.
Before I could ask what was going on, all that exposed skin got illuminated by a stray beam of moonlight that pierced the canopy, bright and shining.
Jacob coughed harshly, a desperate growl, while others snarled. Beside me, the elderly lady contorted her limbs, her head jerking from side to side. She moved in an awkward, staggered manner, almost despite herself. Was this a stroke?
Her neck arced forward, her top half bending at an extreme angle until she dropped onto all fours. Her chest and arms expanded rapidly as coarse, grey hairs grew all over her body. Her ribcage got teased to breaking point, her face now hideously elongated, capped by a long snout. Bones cracked in her hands as the nails shot out and became long, curved claws, same with her feet.
Paralyzed by fear, I could only look on, my feet rooted to the tangled ground. Snarls and barks went up around me. I ripped my eyes away from the lady and saw more limbs swell while knotted hairs engulfed every inch of skin. Mouths snapped open and closed, each now crammed with razor-sharp teeth.
My heart pounded so violently it almost made me pass out.
At last, the beast that had been a lady moments earlier threw its head back and howled. That lone voice soon became a symphony. Then, one by one, the creature’s turned their attention towards me. The only human within in the vicinity.
With my wolf mask tucked under my arm, I backstepped on unsteady legs, my free hand raised in a submissive gesture. Nice and slow, no sudden movements or startling noises. Countless wildlife documentaries taught me that’s how you survived those deadly encounters.
Out of nowhere, a black furred wolf snarled, which made David Attenborough’s calm voice completely melt out of my head. I spun on my heels and bolted off into the forest.
Low, criss-crossed branches sliced my legs and arms as I barrelled along, all but blind. In the narrow gaps between skeletal trunks, bestial blurs cut through the shadows, appearing and disappearing amidst the thick undergrowth.
Just as I reached the slope, half-running half-falling, a cavernous mouth filled with sharp teeth burst from the gloom, on a collision course with my throat.
Without meaning to, I stepped into the loop of an exposed tree root, bent my right leg at a painful angle, and performed an unplanned somersault.
As my back collided with the ground, hard, all air fled my lungs. The head of my fursuit fell alongside me.
A ferocious werewolf whizzed by overhead, snapping at my skull on its way past, and then collided with another that had mounted a surprise attack from behind.
Still dazed, I stagged to my feet while the two beasts righted themselves and then growled at one another, fangs beared.
Blood dripped from a deep cut beneath my chin and a labyrinth of gashes along my forearms. It was like ringing the dinner bell. Soon bright eyes emerged from the gloom and surrounded me on every side.
Werewolves circled my position, drawing closer with every rotation, gradually strangling any hope of escape until I had only a few metres of space to move around in. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
But then a roar cut through the forest, so low and so resonate that the ground itself shook. Those other werewolves lowered their heads, their ears pinned back.
Silhouetted against the moonlight, a single wolf—almost double the height of the rest with intense green eyes—stepped forward. Unlike the others, this one carried itself with unquestionable authority.
I choked out a feeble, “Jacob?”
Six slow strides brought the leader so close that its repulsive carrion breaths blasted my face in hot waves. Thick, white foam dripped from blackened gums, getting gobbled up by the dry, hungry dirt. Whichever direction I looked more wolves stood ready to feast on my grizzled remains, to do battle over the leftovers. This was the end.
But there, by my feet, lay the wolf mask. Out of nowhere a strange calm filled my veins. My inhales became steady. Controlled. And suddenly I knew what I needed to do.
With my free hand facing outward, I reached forward and picked up the mask. Although Jacob growled, he did not attack. Not yet.
In one smooth motion, I slipped the wolf head on. Goodbye Andrew McCann, hello Darkwind Summerpaws.
Jacob’s jaw opened and his back arched up, ready to pounce. Before the attack came, however, I growled. It sounded raw and visceral, issued from a place deep inside me. A place I didn’t even realize existed.
My aggressor and I stood nose to nose, face to face, man to man. No, scratch that last one—wolf to wolf.
Jacob hesitated. As I snarled again, tendons in my jaw creaked. I dropped onto all fours and pressed my shoulder blades together as though pinching an apple between them. For good measure, I even belted out another growl, so fierce my vocal cords became vibrating guitar strings tuned too far.
At first, Jacob only stared. Then, slowly, his head lowered, and he fell into line with the group, whimpering.
For a moment, the wolves only stared. Guided by pure instinct, I threw my head back and howled. Jacob followed, then the others, and within seconds the pack sang in perfect harmony. Afterwards, they all looked on, awaiting my next move.
In a playful manner, I rolled onto my back and kicked both legs in the air. Straight away the group rushed forward to lick my face and sniff my crotch, the tension now gone.
Back at the campsite, some wolves slept, others ate, and several fornicated. It wasn’t entirely dissimilar to the after-parties at a regular convention. And once the festivities ended and the group became exhausted, we curled up by the fire and slept in one giant mound.
I woke surrounded by a ring of human flesh, the sun creeping over the horizon. I sat up and ripped off my mask.
Jacob stepped forward, crouched low, and then offered me his hand.
He hauled me up by the arm, turned to face the group, and said, “Three cheers for Andrew, the new leader of the clan!”
The guild whooped and cheered and punched the air. Two burly men, still bollock naked, even grabbed me by the waist and hoisted me up onto their shoulders for a victory lap.
And at that moment, as I basked in their adulation, I knew my life had changed forever. I no longer needed to squander my wages flying to conventions and commissioning personalized fan art in a futile attempt to satisfy my desires. That was a world I could leave behind. Forever.
But don’t fret my friends. Because my journey into furdom wasn’t coming to an end. Oh no.
It was just getting started…
submitted by lightingnations to nosleep [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 11:24 webuyequipment Construction Dump Trucks - Interstate Heavy Equipment

Construction Dump Trucks - Interstate Heavy Equipment
Many of our initiatives will necessitate construction dump trucks to complete the operation. Dump trucks transport aggregates from one location to another by lifting the rear contents with hydraulic components and allowing them to fall to the ground.
These trucks come in various layouts and sizes, so we’ve compiled a list of the most standard dump truck equipment utilized in the construction business. When choosing a dump truck, keep in mind any federal or state weight restrictions or frost prohibitions.

Off-Road Dump Trucks

Off-road trucks, also known as articulated trucks, are enormous trucks primarily employed in mining activities or in situations where they transport significant volumes of aggregate. Because of their large size and high load, they are best suited in off-road circumstances (rugged terrain) and should not be used on roadways or in developed regions. They’re also among the greatest when it comes to transporting long distances. They can transport cargoes of up to 60 tons. A hinge is between the cab and the bed box on articulated dump trucks.

Transfer Dump Trucks

Transfer dump trucks have different trailers, and you can distinguish them by the movable cargo container. This setup will increase load capacity while preserving maneuverability.
The truck has an electric engine on the tractor that moves on wheels rolling into the trailer frame of the leading dump truck powers. A transfer dump truck variant allows you to add additional cargo containers to the leading truck. However, this arrangement is not permitted in all states due to weight limits.

Side Dump Trucks

Side dump trucks are among the most efficient dump trucks for unloading. They have one of the largest cargo capacities of these trucks, and they have the unique feature of tilting to the side to drop the stuff to the ground.
They provide stability against toppling over, but their length limits their mobility. However, you can’t always use this truck because of this feature. Thus these trucks are best used on jobs with plenty of room to maneuver. In addition, side dump vehicles will handle a smaller load volume than regular dump trucks.
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https://preview.redd.it/nmdzl9ow8d4b1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=66892a7d1422cc5e99db10b250ffe3e23d7cd33a

Typical Dump Truck

The most popular dump truck in the construction business is the standard dump truck. A hydraulic ram positioned between the cab and the truck body lifts the dump chassis. One front axle and one or more rear axles are present. The six-wheeler and ten-wheeler are the most frequent dump truck configurations. They have a lot of maneuverability, but you can’t utilize them on soft ground.

Dump Trucks from Other Companies

Other dump truck configurations exist, but they aren’t as frequent as those listed above. Here are a few more dump truck types:
Truck and Pup: This vehicle is quite similar to a transfer dump truck, but it has its hydraulic ram. It can dump on its own.
Super Dump Truck: A one-of-a-kind dump truck that can transport enormous loads. The Superdump truck is convenient for paving asphalt and concrete.
Semi-trailer end dump truck: This type of truck is a side dump truck with a hydraulic hoist for the two-axle trailer.
Semi-trailer bottom dump truck: This truck is similar to a semi-trailer end dump truck, but it has a clamshell dump gate in the trailer’s center-bottom. The capacity to lay material in a specified spot and tight regions is the most significant advantage of a semi-bottom dump truck.
A two-axle tractor pulls a single-axle semi-trailer plus one or two full trailers in a double or triple trailer bottom dump truck. The most significant disadvantage is the difficulty of traveling backward.
These options and the previously described ones will differ from country to country, based on legislation and limits. There are a variety of dump trucks available, but these four are the most popular among professional drivers and construction workers.
submitted by webuyequipment to equipmentbuyandsell [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 11:08 Cercules Poker Story - The biggest character you'll ever meet

Folding my office job
I raise my glass and thank Mark and Marjolein, my managers, for everything. Meanwhile I could only think about the online poker tournament that I was playing while having dinner. What were the odds of me actually advancing to day 2 of a big online tournament? Around 400 players out of 30.000 advanced, so mathematically around 1.33%.
I had realized that advancing would mean someone else had to play the first part, as I not just had a goodbye dinner of work, it was my own goodbye dinner.
After coming in as an intern, I got a job offered at a rapidly developing high tech auction platform that was doing really well.
I took the challenge and liked it, especially at the start.
However after around two and a half years I found myself looking outside the window a few times a day too much.
More than once I felt myself being captured between the office walls, especially after 14:30.
Most people would tell you; that’s life.
This seemed the right moment to find out if that statement was true. Recently I had bought a house, I knew I could rent it out for a good amount of money.
This would be a bit of stable income, aside from the money I already had.
After doing some calculations I realized that I could take a gap year with relative financial risk. I am Dutch after all.
On my way home I was following the tournament while traveling by train. One of my good friends took over on my behalf.
Officially not legal, neither is renting out my place without paying taxes. But I’ve never had any trouble with working in gray areas.
Before I could reach home, the misfortune had come and I busted out of the tournament at 350th place for 1,100$.
Not a bad result but definitely not what I would’ve hoped for at the start of the day. It feels kinda cruel to play for 14 hours, advance to day 2 and not be able to play yourself. Hence, I knew this could happen.
I will leave for Vegas in two days, my first trip to Sin City.
Viva las Vegas
I’m not sure if I did it because it just was that way or because I thought it would make a good story, but within 36 hours after the goodbye office job dinner I found myself sitting on a plane to Vegas.
A nice 10 day journey, which I had booked at the start of the year. I can still remember telling my (ex) girlfriend I booked Vegas. I expected her to be happy for me, but that was probably naive. Women, especially (ex) girlfriends, are not happy when impulsive young men leave for Vegas.
Once in the plane I felt this feeling of excitement, this was exactly what I should do; live life the fullest.
Once I arrived I would take a cab, the driver kept asking me if he should pull over somewhere to buy some booze or cannabis. Cannabis was recently legalized, but coming from Holland I was not too impressed with that. I wouldn’t be the type to go on a mad one by myself the first night and friendly instructed him to drive me to the hotel. It was around midnight by the time I could check in and there was my first surprise. 350$ added resort fees per room. Well that’s a nice welcome to Vegas I thought by myself. However the room was nice and I was buzzing to be in this city.
Two days later I was joined by two good friends who I’d always go on poker trips with.
We mostly had been to Dublin, but Vegas was new for everyone.
On the second day I’m playing day 1 of a 500$ event, it was literally the softest event I’ve ever played. Some people barely knew how to hold their cards, yet paid 500 dollars to play. Poker is a crazy world.
After advancing to day 2 with an under average stack I got a text from Gary.
Now Gary is the biggest character you will ever meet. Brings me back to the story of how I met him.
I’m in Dublin and it’s my first big poker event, there’s this kid who literally looks like a 15 year old. I figure he must be good at poker to put up this kind of money at his age. We happen to be at the same table within 30 minutes. He makes a crazy kamikaza bluff, it was literally a suicidal play.
24 hours later I walked into him in the Regency hotel in Dublin where the tournament back then was held, he’s all sweating and looking exhausted. I ask him: ‘How are you doing man? Did you advance yesterday in the tournament?’
‘Awh no bro, I busted out of the tournament (I was not surprised). I have been playing here ever since, but I haven't slept yet. I’m down 2 grand for fuck sake.
I wish Gary the best of luck and recommend him to go to sleep, at that time I wouldn’t know I would tell him the exact same thing at least another 300 times in the five years after.
Anyways back to Vegas, Gary lets me know he just arrived in town and we should go for a drink. He’s with a friend of his, Patrick a.k.a. Clicki.
I knew Clicki, I once transferred him 1000$ online, a short term loan. I’d only see the guy once and never spoke to him, yet was giving him a 1k loan. Gary said he was good for it. That’s the poker world.
Gary and Clicki seem to have a hell lot of fun at the craps table in a video they send me. I advanced in the tournament and am off the next day, so I decided to pay them a visit in the Flamingo casino.
There was one other guy, his name was Matt. Despite being white he talked like some American rapper and he kept telling me that he could have me sign an NBA contract first thing in the morning because of my height.
One thing was immediately clear, this group was here to party.
We are getting strong mixers for 10$ a drink, this would go a bit against my normal standards but it was Vegas after all.
Gary, not surprisingly already in fairly drunk shape after arriving 2 hours in Vegas, tells me there was this woman who wanted to sleep with him.
I told him he should totally go for it and after not seeing him for one hour he came back. I will never forget him telling me he just fucked a whale, she was so fat he thought he was riding her legs.
Matt, Clicki and I were all dying of laughter, especially after seeing his face when he realized he didn’t use a condom.
Another two hours later, it must be around 3am, we find ourselves at the hotel room of Clicki, there’s plenty of booze, and illegal substances, around. Gary, who is staying there as well, tells us we should leave the room. He has a tournament the next morning at 11 and according to him this was the opportunity of a lifetime for him. You could ask yourself how serious you could take a man, who just drank all night (and fucked a whale), talking about the opportunity of a lifetime the next morning. Matt, Clicki and I go on looking for a bit more trouble and end up at a random hotel room in Planet Hollywood.
I wake up the next day around 1 in the afternoon and am wondering if Gary has shown up for his so-called opportunity of a lifetime.
By this time Rien and Gertjan, two close Dutch friends, had arrived in Vegas. While having pancakes together I receive a text from Gary.
He tells me that he doesn’t feel too well, yet the poker tournament is going the right direction and he doubled his stack. I tell him it’s just a bad hangover; hang in there and drink enough water you’ll be fine.
At this time I’m texting Clicki to see how bad his hangover is, he tells me it’s pretty rough, he hasn’t slept at all yet he’s playing a 1000$ tournament. I can’t believe my ears and realize that he just jumped into a tournament that could easily go on for 12 hours without a single minute of sleep and probably still being fairly intoxicated. A quick text back from Clicki: ‘Keep the backer happy’ I doubt if the backer would be happy when he would know in which state he’s currently playing, but Clicki wouldn’t be Clicki if he didn't end up cashing the tourney nonetheless. At that time I didn’t know Clicki and I would have our fair share of adventures in Thailand, Taiwan and Cambodia 6 months later.
Apparently Gary kept feeling very bad, to make things worse he took an unknown substance offered by a total stranger that was at his table.
This resulted in him telling me he thought he was going to have a heart attack, should he call an ambulance he was asking me? I told him that he would be better off taking a cab to the hospital if he insisted on going, especially the way American healthcare is set up.
Around half an hour later I receive a ‘selfie’ of Gary, on a stretcher, in an ambulance. He’s heading straight to the hospital, his stack worth around 1000$ still being in play were least of his concerns.
Later that night I’m picking up Gary from the hospital with Rien and Gertjan, he turned out to have an anxiety attack. We’re in the cab to drop Gary off at the Palms hotel and it’s dead silent. Suddenly Gary says; Lad’s, lads I’m still in the tournament. I advanced! YES! The fact that the estimated value of his stack dropped from approximately 1000$ to around 290$ didn’t seem to bother him too much.
None of us cashed the tournament eventually and Vegas turned out to be a cool, yet expensive experience. The total trip had cost me around 5000 dollars, definitely not the dream start just after quitting your job.
Gary, who had planned a three week trip, eventually got his mom to book a ticket home after eight days. His time in Vegas must have been turbulent including the hospital, getting robbed by a hooker and losing all his money.
submitted by Cercules to poker [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 07:19 RIPMiuraSensei I have a loose plan for this and want to see where it goes. (Reupload)

Chapter 1 - Stranger
When Daglan woke up that morning he didn't see anything unusual. He had awoken from a drop of water falling from the ceiling as he did many mornings. His best friend Rozere was in the kitchen with her father cooking what smelled of eggs. The sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains and holes in the walls as it always did. What felt different? Then he heard voices outside, voices that grew louder and louder. At this point Rozere and her father Koshu had heard the commotion as well and stepped outside to see what it was. Daglan hastily followed suit, after finding his tunic and boots.
Lying on the ground outside was a young man, no older than 25. He lay face up in the dirt wearing only baggy purple pants and a black conical hat covering his face. His long black hair seemed to be tied at the base of his head in a long spiky ponytail, his slender muscular body was covered in dozens of battle scars, and at his waist was a black katana with its sword tied firmly inside its sheath. Almost the entire town had crowded around him, murmuring and shifting anxiously. It wasn't often people arrived in town, mostly just traders on their way to and from Inoris, and that too was a rarity.
"Back now people, give this man some room! And for the love of Reza, quiet!" Barked Doc Silvis as she pushed through the crowd. She immediately knelt down and felt his neck with her fingers. She paused for a moment and gave a very annoyed sigh, slapping away his hat. "He's alive alright. This dumbass is sleeping in the street." She gave the stranger a hard slap across the face, one that would have probably knocked him out, had he been awake. The crowd watched in awe as he yawned and scratched his nose, barely affected by Silvis.
"What should we do?" Someone asked.
"Do you know who he is?" Asked another.
As the murmurs heighted Daglan could tell Silvis was getting fired up, over the years Daglan had gotten to know Silvis quite well, with all his escapades outside the town walls. Daglan knew better than anyone that Silvis hated when a patient ignored her, and more so when she had to repeat herself.
"I said quiet! Don't you lazy bums have more important things to do?! Livani! Koreso! Aren't you two on watch?! Scram the lot of you!" A wave of fear crashed down upon the crowd and everyone began to disperse. All but Daglan, as Rozere pulled on his sleeve.
"Come on Daglan," she hissed, keeping an eye on Silvis like she was some wild animal, "You don't want to make her angrier."
"I'll be fine," he whispered, without looking back, his eyes stuck on the sleeping man. What was this feeling? It was like the feeling he got when Silvis healed his wounds, but not as warm. Almost closer to the feeling he got when abominations were near, when he ventures past the walls, but not as malicious. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Silvis, watching her run her hand across his body, her hands glowing faintly, his curiosity bubbling.
"He isn't cursed or hypnotized, I can't feel a single thing wrong with him. I do believe this man is really just asleep, and slept through a slap in the face." Silvis sighed. After a few moments she looked at Daglan with a tired smile, then frowned. "Thanks for being quite Daglan, now since you're gonna bum around, get to work hauling this bastard back to my infirmary and don't let him out of your sight. I want to know as soon as he wakes up."
Daglan looked around to ask Rozere for help but she was already gone, how long had he been watching this stranger and Silvas? He looked down at the smiling, snoring face of the stranger, scooped under his arms, and with much difficulty began dragging the older, bigger boy to the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet today, there hadn't been a major abomination attack in quite a few weeks which didn't happen often. It wasn't long before Rozere came in with a grimace on her face and her fingers on her nose.
"Honestly," she said in that strange nasally voice when you hold your nose, "I hate how much time you make me spend here. Between you getting hurt and my dad making me help Silvas, I can't get away!" She plopped down next to him and sighed. "So what's with this guy? Why are you still here with him?"
"Silvas asked me to watch him and tell her when he wakes up. Apparently I can't let him leave till she talks to him." He shrugged, trying more to convince himself. She eyed him suspiciously, but immediately dropped the subject.
"Did you notice his sword was tied closed? I wonder what that's about?" She reached out and placed a hand on his sword, and just then the weird energy the stranger gave off changed from similar to those of the abominations , to even scarier than anything he'd ever felt from them. Rozere fell to her knees and screamed as the stranger stood over her. When had he stood up?! Daglan shot to his feet, a smile ripping across his face as excitement crackled through his body. He prepared to defend his friend, when just as quickly as the evil energy had manifested, it disappeared. In fact the feeling Daglan had been getting from the stranger had all but subsided completely.
He stared at Daglan and Rozere with a confused look. When Rozere had eventually stopped screaming, Daglan held out his hand to help her up. Daglan’s mind raced with questions but could he do nothing but stare at the stranger as he stared back.
“Uh, hello-” he began and just then Silvas and Koshu burst through the door with Livani and Koreso close behind. Koshu sprang in between Rozere and the stranger, towering over him.
"What did you do to my daughter!" He said through gritted teeth. The stranger scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth when Rozere spoke up,
"It was nothing dad, he just woke up and scared me! Look at me I'm fine, now would you stop!" But Koshu didn't flinch, not until Silvas spoke up.
"Back off Koshu, Rozere is right, she's fine, and this boy is obviously no danger at the moment." He mumbled something under his breath but did as he was told . "Yeah, listen to Silvas and not me." Rozere grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Now listen here young lady, you will show your aunt some resp–" Koshu began but Silvas smacked him in the back of the head.
"Now isn't the time, Koshu, take her and go," she glared at the stranger, who was still smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
“Everyone out, now.”
"Uh, where am I? He eventually stammered.
"Daglan, out." Silvas said forcefully, without taking her eyes off the stranger. As well as Daglan knew Silvas, he'd never seen her this worked up, not even about the abominations . She was so strong-willed, so much more than anyone else in town. He had heard stories about Silvas, but only bits and pieces around town, probably all made up. Still there was one he heard more than others, he had heard before she lived in Graybarrow she had fought in some kind of war.
Daglan sat outside the infirmary trying to hear as much as he could. Wondering what could have gotten Silvas so worried, and if that man was even human. He could barely hear anything, mostly Silvas's mumbled questioning and the nervous laughter of the stranger. As he sat and pondered, an extremely tall, wide shouldered man sat down next to him and lit a cigarette. He had a long thick mustache that covered his upper lip but came down on the sides past his chin, and scruffy brown hair that stuck up at weird angles.
"Oh, hi Mr.Lucio." Daglan said as he pretended to have not been eavesdropping.
"I haven't seen you in class," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "and I don't often see you hanging around here by choice." He continued to puff his cigarette as they sat in silence.
"Mr.Lucio… I can feel him like the abominations and Silvas's healing. What is he?"
"I'm not sure, from what I've heard he sounds human enough. What do you think?"
"I don't know… I think he's human? But why can I feel him?"
"There must be something similar between him, Silvas's healing, and the abominations from the mountains and forest, hmm?"
"I guess so…" They continued to sit in silence until Lucio had finished his cigarette.
"You can always talk to me if you need help, Daglan. You may like getting experience more, but a little book learning can go a long way." He stood up, pressing his cigarette out between his fingers and putting the butt in his pocket. "It's always good to see you, don't be a stranger." He said as he waved his hand walking away. Daglan thought about what Lucio had proposed, something similar. It didn't seem like Silvas or the stranger would be coming out soon so Daglan decided to go home and see what Rozere thought about all this.
When he did get home both Rozere and Koshu were in foul moods, having most likely fought since earlier. Deciding that he'd rather not be part of that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out the front door before Kusho had time to notice.
It's a short walk to the gate, the guards had patched up his last hole in the wall, but he had since come up with another, more thrilling way. Climbing up to the top of the traders hall, he'd be high enough to jump to the wall once the guards had passed. Then it was a quick jump down and a sprint out of their eyesight before he was able to relax. He walked along a path he knew quite well until he came up on a small ladder, it was built into a tree that led up to a small treehouse.
His exploration headquarters as he liked to call it. The inside was small and filled with trash, and his souvenirs from his adventures sat on a roughly made table. A small Salegitti skull, a broken dagger missing its tip, and a small crystal like rock that shown with faint yellow light. Next to them were three well worn books. He picked up the book titled journal and sat on the ground, scribbling furiously with a small piece of charcoal. He then began to study the other two, older, bigger books. One titled, Abominations of Hel’s Peaks, and the other, Creatures of South Shodun. Mr Lucio was right about book learning, but he liked his own books.
Back in town Rozere was wandering around with her hands behind her head, whistling to herself. “I wonder where Daglan is?” She pondered allowed, before realizing she had stopped in front of Silvas’s office. She stared at the large building with its off-white stone, and massive steel doors. There were various cracks and dents all along the wells and doors, as well as wooden planks over the windows, Silvas called them the clinic’s battlescars, there was nowhere safer to hide in the whole town.
She stared for a long time before realizing there was a man sitting in the grass, a large bottle of alcohol in one hand, and multiple empty bottles sitting neatly by his legs. His long spiky hair was a little cleaner, and the copious amounts of drool were now wiped away. His face was a bright red, and he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He stared at her with a slight wobble,
“Hey… You're that girl that touched my sword right?” He took another large gulp from his bottle.
“Yeah? What of it?” She asked with defiance, her hands on her hips. He smiled a sickening smile and shot to his feet faster than Rozere could see.
“Why don't you try it again? Or will you simply scream for help? Little girls shouldn’t play with monsters.” He said as he towered over her. “Go ahead.” He lifted his arm in the air so his katana was unblocked. Rozere’s knees began to shake and a lump formed in her throat but she did not look away. She was an ant, and this man was a giant. She wasn't going to back down, but he could stand faster than she could see. Surely dropping his arm even faster would be no problem right? He was right, she wanted to scream, but she stood firm.
“Maybe I will!” She returned his malicious smile and reached out for his sword as fast as she could, bracing for the impact and the horrible crunch of bones as he grabbed her arm and snapped it in half. She flinched as her nerves went off, electric sensations coursing through her fingertips. It's happened! But what she felt wasn't pain, but the hard yet somehow soft grip of a katana hilt. She opened her eyes to see her hand firmly gripping his katana and a much more playful smile somehow even wider across this strange man’s face. He began to laugh loudly as she stumbled backwards and fell. He held out his hand, still giggling a little. She eyed him hard then after a moment smacked his hand away. She stood up, and began to brush herself off, glaring at him all the while. He apologized in between giggles.
“My name is Noboru, you've got quite the spirit to face me down. What's your name kid?” He asked as he sat back onto the grass and took another long swig from his bottle. Rozere straightened up and looked at him with a fiery gaze.
“Rozere of Grayborrow.” She said, crossing her arms. “And you dont scare me!”
“What are you yelling about Rozere?” Silvas asked as she appeared behind her. “You!” she exclaimed as she saw Noboru “Where did you get all of that from!? Rozere give me a hand and throw away these bottles would you?”
“She's already gone.” Noboru giggled. Silvas spun around to see that Rozere had indeed disappeared, as Noboru began to laugh louder. Rozere could hear the slap from across town as she sat against the traders hall. As she pondered just how big a lump must be on the side of Noboru's face, a ball smacked her’s.
“Hey who did that!?” She demanded as she hoped to her feat, tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.
“Oh, sorry Rozere! I didn't mean to! Honest!” Said the boy as he ran up and grabbed his ball off the ground before the evil Rozere could kick it away, her foot swishing in the air. The boy was a few years younger than Rozere, had shaggy blonde hair, a tunic that was two sizes too big for him and a pair of round glasses broken in several spots.
“You better be sorry, pipsqueak!” she said, wiping her eyes and now running nose. “I'll have to beat you up if not!”
“Come on give Vilcus a break he said sorry. What are you doing over here by yourself anyways? Daglan run away again?” Said another girl with little blonde pigtails and red cheeks, as she came up behind Vilcus.
“Hi Meska and no he didn't run away again.” Rozere said, sticking her tongue out. “I just think he went for a walk is all… he'll be back… soon!” She crossed her arms and held her chin up. “Well why don't you come play with us until he gets back?” Meska asked, turning around and walking away, “We are playing dodgeball, maybe you can hit Vilcus in the face.”
“Hey nuh-uh! She won't hit me!” Vilcus persisted as he followed after her. Rozere sniffled, rubbed her nose with her sleeve, and smiled.
“Okay fine, but wait up!” She yelled.
As Daglan walked through the trees, he could feel the malicious energies from abominations all around him, it was making his blood boil. He remembered the stranger looking down at him and Rozere, overflowing with the most malicious intent he had ever felt. A smile began to creep across his face once more, as he could feel something close behind him. He spun around to see a creature he had only seen in books, the sight of which excited and terrified him.
A giant humanoid creature with a long smooth snake-like torso, and grotesquely elongated arms and legs stood before him. It had a small pair of arms on its hips that bounced as if boneless, and a strange human face. Smooth indents of skin sat where the eyes should be, and it had a beak lined with razor teeth that jutted out at multiple angles. It clicked its tongue and sniffed the air then began to lick its beak with what could only be called a smile.
“What should I call you big fella?” Daglan asked nervously as excitement shot through his body. This wasn't like anything he'd ever encountered in the forest, or during attacks. This creature was much more dangerous. He gritted his teeth and forced an equally disgusting smile, even though he was sure the abomination couldn't see him. He pulled out the dagger he had smithed in secret at Koshu’s forge and dropped his stance lower, lower, lower. The creator was clicking and sniffing in anticipation, no doubt it could feel Daglan’s bloodlust.
Daglan took a slow step forward, then another. The creature's head tilted and it sniffed harder, then in a flash that Daglan couldn’t even see, it lashed out, slashing his shoulder apart. Adrenaline had already made its way to Daglan’s brain and he didn't even feel the warm blood soaking into his tunic or notice his limp arm flailing behind him as he attacked. He rolled under the creature’s arm and slashed at its ribs ripping its open sending its guts pouring out. It screamed in pain and whirled around, but its tall body and long arms whizzed over Daglan’s head. He rolled again, this time in between its legs, slashing at its knee, cutting down to the bone. It screamed again and fell to its knees with a gross squishy thud from one. It twitched and spazzed as it began twisting its body around in a disgusting manner.
Daglan approached cautiously, but the adrenaline had worn off and he looked down at his arm. It was almost completely blue, and the little skin and bone that held his arm to his body squirted copious amounts of blood. There was a blur then he was flying through the brush stopping when he thudden into a tree. His eyes began to blur with red, then black. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice...
“You are by far the most interesting of the bunch. Hey, can you hear me?”
When Deglan awoke he was looking at a ceiling he knew all too well. In a bed he had awoken in many times. But this time he couldn't move. “Silvas! What's happening?! Silvas! Rozere!” Daglan began to thrash when he heard that same voice.
“Hey hey hey! You're going to hurt yourself more than you already have!” When standing over him, blocking the light with his conical hat, was the stranger. “That was a nasty creature you were tangling with out there. I heard you like to fight but I'm guessing you've never seen a lasari before? Ugly things, and not easy to kill with small weapons if you don't know how.”
“I do know how.” Daglan said matter of factly, “They have two brains located behind the eye sockets.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” the stranger smiled maliciously, “ but how do you stop them from reproducing after that?” Daglan went silent for a moment. “What do you mean?"
“Lasari have a fun ability to reproduce from their corpse. Specifically, their heart has two eggs inside that will hatch if it ever stops beating. So to properly kill one you must burn the heart.” He laughed and presumably sat back down, out of Daglan’s eyesight. There was a slight pause and Daglan was about to speak when he heard a gasp and the stranger continued.
“Anyway, you almost lost your arm. Luckily, your doctor and blacksmith were able to fix you up, those two are something else. It'll take some time for your bo-” Daglan cut him off.
“What do you mean I almost lost my arm?! What did they do to me?!” He exclaimed, thrashing, memories of his broken and bleeding arm flashing through his mind.
“If you don't calm down, I will calm you down.” He said forcefully. “I hate babies. I thought you were supposed to be a tough kid? Now anyways it's just me and you here, everyone else is asleep, so please. I know you've heard of the metal prosthetics of this country, Metics, I think they're called? I’ve seen people in town with them. Well your blacksmith had to help your doctor make you a new shoulder.”
“So why are you being so helpful? I don't know you, and you feel the same as an abomination.” “See it's things like that!” He shot back up his face noticeably red.
“You're so interesting! I don't remember how I got here…” He scratched his head for a second, “but boy have I had fun since I've shown up!” Your girlfriend Rozere-”
“She's not my girlfriend, and you leave her alone!” He shouted.
“Well she's fearsome! And you’re so interesting too! Definitely the best five year o-”
“I’m twelve. Rozere is thirteen.”
“Well twelve then. Point is, I like you and your little girly friend, so I thought I'd help out and not let you die.” Then it dawned on Daglan, there was no way a search party found him like when he normally gets in a scap and passes. He had thoroughly lost and was deep in the woods. By all accounts he should be dead. Daglan was so angry he hadn't even thought about what happened afterwards.
“It was you. So what do you want from me? Are you some abomination loo-” This time the stranger cut him off.
“My name is Noboru, the handyman.”
“I've never heard of that species.”
“Well I'm not an abomination, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. I travel from place to place making money doing odd jobs. Anyways, you remind me an awful lot of someone I used to know. So don't go throwing your life away against such low level trash as the abominations around here.” Daglan began to feel the intimidating malice from Noboru, almost that of when Rozere had touched his sword. “I know you can feel my energy. Unlike the people of this town, save a few, I think you're gifted.” Then it was gone just as quickly as before. “What do you want, Daglan.” Daglan’s blood was fire and his eyes daggers, piercing the ceiling with determination.
“I want to be remembered.”
“So get out of this town and maybe one day you can fight me, and I’m not even the strongest out there. Come… show this world what you're… made of because I for one… can't wait.” Just then Daglan heard a thud followed by an endless cascade of snores from Noboru.
“Would someone get me out of here!”
submitted by RIPMiuraSensei to fantasywriters [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 05:00 luckytron New Terran Refugee (Pt - 20) : An NOP fanfic

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New Terran Refugee (Pt - 20) : An NOP fanfic
Thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for letting people write fanfics.
This is just a fanfic of course.
This chapter went through several iterations, I might have let myself think I could release it 1 week late (and failed). Also, I might have gotten sidetracked with other non-writing thing, oops.
TL;DR:
“OOPS! All Rewrites! And side projects!” – Me
In any case, here’s the chapter:
Memory transcription subject: Tayla, Venlil Widow
Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136
The first thing I became aware of was that I had awoken enveloping a richly warm pillow with a soft surface from above, and that not only was it hot but that it was also soft and squishy but without too much give, in fact it was somehow firmer below the surface, I snuggled closer to the material that was emanating heat below me and drove off my mind’s attempts at waking me up, this was too blissful an experience to stop suddenly.
The second thing I became aware of was that I didn’t remember replacing my heated pillow as the cold wind season was still expected to be a good deal of time away and that I had much more important things to spend my limited budget on.
The third thing I became aware of was that I wasn’t hugging a pillow, this only happened when I noticed that it wasn’t moving because I was snuggling into it, but rather moving in a steady motion against me, like when someone breathes while asleep.
The fourth thing I became aware of, were the memories of what led me into this situation ‘Just gonna close my eyes for a moment’; Why did I lie to myself like that?
The final thing I became aware of snapped me out of my musings, it was the reason I woke up, and the reason I had crashed so hard into sleepiness.
The consequence of drinking copious amounts of [shade root] tea to keep watch over Jorge until I could call the number in the email during the schedule it had included beneath itself, this was made worse by the cans of ‘Twilight Energy’ I had drank at the end when more drastic measures had to be taken.
I couldn’t ignore it I couldn’t help but feel the pressure mounting inside my bladder as I peeled myself off from on top of Jorge. Why did I move so much while asleep?
Oh Protector, I missed his warmth already…
I made a mental note to look into repairing my heated pillow for cheap due to a sudden urge to sleep with something warm more frequently, the abrupt thought jogging loose some memories about contact information of some local repairvenlil I’d called before for one reason or another, along with the memory of the number I called before… napping with Jorge…
A great feeling of chagrin manifested along with my bloom while closing Jorge’s bathroom door behind me as I remembered the text beneath the schedule, ‘Extended working hours during emergency situations’, the aftermath of antimatter bombing definitely applied… especially since that Mrs. Bennet sounded so exhausted so soon after the supposed start of her work claw.
I decided to chalk up my lapse in judgement to have been due to how Jorge’s expression before he sealed himself in had left my thoughts racing and heart pounding in worry over him.
With my thoughts somewhat settled, I examined the strange toilet that had been installed, before throwing caution to the winds when the urgency I felt reasserted itself with force.
…
After closing the lid and washing my paws, I finally found what had to be the equivalent of the pulley and chain, a small, recessed button parted into 2 asymmetric parts on the top middle part behind the seat.
I pressed both parts at the same time just in case.
FWOOOSH
A small eep escaped me but was drowned out by the noises that were still coming from the strange toilet!
Finally, the ruckus ended, letting me calm down from the unexpected loudness. Wait, did that noise wak-
THUNK THUNK THUNK
A bigger eep escaped me as I jumped a little into the air; However this time it wasn’t drowned out by another noise.
“¿you ok in there?” I could barely make out Jorge’s voice through the door, like he was putting in the barest effort needed to speak.
“Y-yeah, j-just startled…” I opened the door as I trailed off, a sudden realization had me asking him a question, “I guess I know how It felt w-when I s-startled you h-huh?”
His normally expressive face remained still, the only reaction to my attempt at lightening the mood a brief exhale from his nose; He simply slipped past me as I left the bathroom and muttered something I didn’t quite hear just before shutting the door softly.
I went back to the bed and turned on his pad, after a few seconds of waiting for it to turn on, and a few more waiting for my translator to parse the strange [date and time] format the humans used (Honestly, who separated the [hours] and the [days/months] like that?) I felt a bit of relief as I sank a bit into the still warm bed.
According to the pad, I’d just taken a short nap, I still had plenty of time until my children came back home, hopefully I had enough time to actually have some kind of talk with Jorge.
I’d have to somehow get him to talk about last Paw’s… reaction of his, and find a way to convince him to talk about his family, It’d be good for him to recognize that pain, maybe he’d even hold onto it like me…
FWOOOSH
That thing that the humans called a toilet interrupted my train of thought before I could do more than think of the barest of ways I could breeze into such heavy topics, the small delay between the toilet’s sound, the groaning of water travelling to the faucet, and the door opening wasn’t even enough to get back on my mind’s [zephyr].
A quick focus on Jorge’s face made my determination start to breeze away a bit, it was much easier to think of how to talk to him when I couldn’t see just how heavily everything [to wear down like a long strong gale would] on him.
Jorge deflated slightly but visibly at how I apparently froze up at the sight of him.
“well, thanks, i… feel better, you can just… leave me be for now”
Jorge stood still, averting his eyes from me until he shrugged strangely after turning to look at the barricade, he then shuffled over and started to shift it to the side a bit, evidently wishing to put it back in place after I left.
“ah” he cleared his throat, “sorry, you can leave now” he returned to averting his eyes from looking at me and awkwardly motioned towards the wide opening he had made after dragging the barricade as he stepped away morosely.
“Jorge.” I paused to breathe; I’d managed to huff out his name just as I needed to exhale.
Jorge stood still for a moment before tentatively focusing on me, a strangely vulnerable expression sat on his face.
I patted the bed (an appropriate and proper distance away from me) with my tail before curling it away from the spot, he seemed to get the message and soon he had sat down beside me, brief moment of hesitation notwithstanding.
I turned my head towards him as I’d seen him do when talking, he flinched a little when his eyes met mine, closing them and averting his face, I reached out for his nearby claw with my tail and put it down gently on top.
I waited patiently for him to start talking; Thankfully the wait was short.
“this… ¿is this about… my reaction yesterday?”
“Yes,” I squeezed down on his claw softly with my tail in a comforting gesture, “I wanted to speak with you about that sooner, but for now…” another gentle squeeze, “I’m just glad you seem to be doing a little bit better.”
Silence enveloped us as Jorge seemed to mull over what I’d just said.
A small hint of a hunch had me examining him more closely, it seemed he was anxiously waiting for me to talk some more.
I chastised myself internally, ‘Of course he wasn’t going to be feeling very talkative…’, how could someone jump straight into talking about such a topic? It’d probably be better to start with other stuff and gauge things from there; With that my mind sifted through possible topics until one stood out.
“S-so, I kind of… used up a lot of your powdered ingredients… heh…” I took in his features, he seemed halfway here and halfway far away.
Maybe… Maybe if I somehow mentioned the call to remind him that there were more humans he could try talking to? Just in case he was getting tired of my clumsy attempts at talking with him…
“I, uh, didn’t think of asking Mrs. Bennet about their availability when I called her this Paw, s-sorry about that… b-but I’m sure they’ll get some more that you can use soon, right?”
That got a reaction, a small one, out of him; His eyes widened. It… felt wrong.
“o-oh, well, i’d better get started packing then…”
An impossibly heavy weight settled deep inside my stomach as he moved his claw out from under my frozen tail tip, my throat clenched up as Jorge got up and limply started wading to his bag.
I stared in mute horror as he dumped his clean body coverings into it, trying to communicate anything to him, and failing miserably as the sheer disbelief of just how horribly I had miscommunicated kept me frozen, while the pain and betrayal I could imagine him feeling kept my mind reeling.
He stopped just as he reached his bag, his claws clenched for a moment before he unclenched them slowly and turned around to look directly at me.
He’d shed more tears, his eyes were an ugly and fresher shade of red.
“y-you were waiting down here for me to wake up again just to have this conversation as soon as possible. ¿am i right?”
Th-this wasn’t supposed to go like this!
“I… I was-”
“I!” interrupted Jorge with an elevated tone of voice, “…Earlier, I woke up and went back to sleep a few times, I could see you sitting on the stairs, sometimes you and your pad would be missing, I kept thinking that maybe you were worried about me ¿you know?”
“I-” An intense look from him kept the rest of my response in my head; ‘I was!’ I wanted to plead.
“I guess you didn’t plan for me falling asleep after crying…” He trailed off and seemed to go into deep thought for a moment, before his eyes narrowed dangerously. “¿Did you just bring me that Atole to soften the blow?” He held up one of his claws towards me while making a stabbing motion with it, his voice came out as a much lower growl than normal from him. “¿Or was putting me to sleep part of the plan?”
My face felt as if I’d been hit by an icy gale. ‘Did he just insinua-?’
“You’re fucking heartless.” That last sentence from him was punctuated by a fresh set of tears from his eyes, though no sobbing came from him as he let himself fall backwards down onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.
My heart was beating wildly, and my eyes stung from the horrible accusations that he was making, and from how I’d probably be doing just what he had said if this had happened a few days ago…
I gave myself a moment to recollect myself, I’d thought similar enough things when I was alone in the hospital after losing my family, not nearly as extreme but… my circumstances back then and his right now weren’t comparable.
I shuddered internally at how much worse I’d have fared if it had been Venlil Prime that had been attacked; I’d probably… I’d have tried to do what he tried last night…
With a sigh I focused consciously on Jorge, who was breathing a bit more steadily now, as I picked up the bottle and moved steadily towards his alert gaze.
I sat down in front of him and opened the bottle, he narrowed his eyes even further in response, making the redness and glistening more pronounced, the patches of fur above his eyes changed position as well; I didn’t quite know what it meant, but it couldn’t possibly have been from him feeling happy or at peace.
I pushed through the sense of fear that was starting to form from being under his stare and took in the rest of his body language… I readjusted my position and observed as he flinched away from me…
I slowly raised the bottle and drank; The patches of fur over his eyes returned to their normal position, overshot and stayed raised while the intensity of his stare diminished. Finally, he tilted his head ever so slightly.
After a few gulps more I stopped drinking and offered him the bottle, he still wasn’t accepting it; I wiped my lips and prepared to speak.
“…I wouldn’t do that to you…” A small quiver at the end made me trail off until I was certain my voice wouldn’t fail me. I wouldn’t do that now. “None of those things, I mean… Even after all I did… You gave me a chance…”
“When you put it like that…” Jorge wiped his eyes. “I mean, I don’t know what came over me…” He looked to the side and deflated a little.
“I understand… I was like this too…” A small shiver traveled through my spine, thinking about it always did… I ignored the shiver by standing up and offering him the bottle again, this time he grabbed it and drank deeply.
He trailed behind me, we sat down on opposite sides of the bed, him hugging his legs as he sat against the wall, and me with one leg over the edge of the bed with the other one crossed over it.
Dozens of starting points were flurrying in my head, I couldn’t decide on one, so I cleared my throat and let myself say whatever came out first.
“I’m married.” Jorge became extremely visibly confused. “I-I’m a Widow, I meant to say…” The familiar sting of pain grounded me as his expression changed into one I could recognize even from him, pity.
“He-” died “…It happened 11 years ago, I… I lost my family at the same time…”
Jorge’s expression softened even more, no longer out of pity, but out of understanding… of the pain we shared…
“It was my dad’s idea, he’s always wanted to have a big family homestead… when the latest batch of colonies were finally cleared for habitation he bought a plot immediately, my sister and her husband went with them first, then my brother and his wife, and finally me and…”
This whole talking thing was much harder than I thought… I cleared my throat; I couldn’t go on just omitting any names in my retelling…
“Krayla, that’s my mother’s name.” I paused, waiting for his reaction, he ‘nodded’ slowly, solemnly. “Tavk’io, my dad; Talnum, my b-brother; Tahyiya, m-my sister; …a-and Glim, m-my husband…”
I buried my head in my paws, this was too much…
A moment passed, I felt something brush against my tail; Opening my eyes I saw that it was Jorge’s claw, he patted the tip gently until his eyes met mine.
“Emiliano José Cauich Ayala, t-that’s my father’s name.” He paused to breathe and wiped his eyes. “Ixchel Paola Rojas Canul, that’s my mother’s name.”
We stayed in silence for a while longer, at least in my case recovering from the emotional toll that I had just gone through.
“S-shortly after we arrived at the colony,” I began. “I l-learned I was p-pregnant, G-Glim and I celebrated it with my family, we were going to name our baby after my brother and his wife, Kiyomi. It… It was something we had all come up with [years] before, everything was going just like we had dreamed and talked so much about…”
I squeezed my tail against myself, all those nights at the colony laughing and joking with each other about increasingly outlandish names (ones that we’d never use of course), gone just like that…
“G-Glim and Talnum were busy helping the colony expand by clearing new plots for development and as buffer zones, I helped around with Taylee and Talim when needed but I helped dad with the house most of the time; There were always things that needed to be taken care of after all. Th-then one day in the colony, I f-fainted while picking up Taylee and Talim from school, a f-few [weeks] after that… I had to be sent back here since the colony’s hospital had lost their last equipment shipment to an Arxur raid.” I paused and lowered my voice. “G-Glim stayed behind to take extra assignments, t-to cover expenses, h-he… he was… he was on his last pawful of shifts b-before leave wh-when…”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“…D-dad was at home looking after the kids, he’d sprained his leg while doing some maintenance, he called me early in the morning there, Talnum and Glim were in some kind of assignment together, and my mother had taken everyone else to get stuff from the market to prepare a farewell meal f-for Glim…” And after that… “The call disconnected abruptly, it had happened before so I… I j-joked to m-myself a-and the nurse that it was p-probably j-just the signal failing because I wasn’t there to maintain things p-properly…”
Tears started forming in my eyes again, Jorge shuffled closer, put his soft claw on my shoulder and gave a light squeeze, his warmth spread throughout me.
“…A few claws later I learnt the truth, that the colony had been raided and that the shelter had been breached, shortly after that, I… I lost my…” I did my best to look him directly in his eyes. “After that… I started planning how to get to the hospital’s roof…” There, a glint of recognition and pain in his eyes. “I was just waiting for the rescue fleet to finish up there, just in case, thankfully… my dad hid Taylee and Talim in one of the [Kitchen] cabinets after taking down the family pictures, since he couldn’t take them to the shelter, he… Taylee told me that he… he begged her to keep quiet before closing the cabinet. She stayed in there with Talim for I don’t even know how long… She… She hasn’t talked about it ever again.”
Another squeeze, then silence and cold as he retracted his claw back towards him, his face turning to another side while taking on some kind of thoughtful intensity.
“S-So… What I’ve been trying to say was… I kind of understand what you’re going through… A-and if you want to talk… I-I’m here?”
A small ‘nod’, and more silence. My eyes were beginning to feel heavy again, that nap hadn’t been enough it seemed.
Jorge harrumphed, causing a bolt of wakefulness to course through me as he began speaking, filling in the silence that had fallen on the room.
“…I don’t think I’m ready yet…” His face turned towards me once more. “But… thank you, for sharing, and for worrying about me, I… If you hadn’t been there when I drifted into and out of sleep…” His eyes widened in a flash. “Wait. ¿You haven’t slept right? ¿Are you feeling OK?”
“I-I t-took a nap after you f-fell asleep…” B-beneath him… “Y-you left a lot of space…” He did, but I couldn’t get to it from under his legs…
“Good, good…” His eyes flicked between me and the door. “Well… I suppose you’ve got stuff to do now. ¿Am I right?” Somehow, the expression that sat now on his face felt forced in a way. I kept quiet as I rummaged through my memories of The Aftermath.
Of course, he was trying to get me out to wallow in peace, just as I did…
That was the last thing he needed right now.
I needed to find a way to get him out of this room…
“Actually… I’m free until my kids get back, I’m used to taking care of chores quickly.”
“Right…” Jorge seemed to slowly steel himself, if I didn’t interrupt me, he’d just ask me to leave directly…
I tried to think faster, but the drowsiness was returning in force, it was no use… Unless…
“H-Hey!” My exclamation startled him, I pressed on to keep the momentum strong. “I uh, I kind of went through my whole supply of [shade root] tea to stay awake…” I didn’t. “And… I don’t really want to drink more energy drinks this Paw, I don’t suppose you have something to stay awake with you?”
Jorge blinked, again, once more, and again one last time before responding.
“¿I… think I have some coffee I could make?” He tilted his head adorably to one side as he scratched his head with one claw.
“Sounds perfect! Would you please make me some?” I stood up before he could even answer, reached for his idle claw and tugged at it towards me; He stood up in what seemed like a daze out of reflex.
We spent the next few [minutes] browsing the intact shelf, whatever this coffee was, it wasn’t there, the tentatively positive mood that had formed cracked a little as Jorge looked at the shelf barricade before he trudged over to it, stopping beside it where he gestured at vaguely with his claw.
We stepped past the barricade, tried not to look at each other, failed, shuffled in place for a moment and began sifting through the items strewn about the floor in an unspoken agreement.
It wasn’t long until I found myself holding a container that my translator insisted was labeled ‘Instant Coffee’. “Hey,” I started while turning, “is this the ri-” Jorge was looking intensely at something on the floor, I followed his gaze and saw it, the broken remains of the flame projector.
“J-Jorge?” I extended my tail cautiously towards his arm, his claws ceased to strain against themselves following the subtle flinch he had when the tip of my tail made contact with him.
I gave him the ‘Instant Coffee’ I was holding and scooped up the remains to dispose of them properly this time; Jorge held up the container and murmured an affirmation at me, I gestured for him to lead the way and proceeded to follow him to the [kitchen].
I raced my way directly to the trash container, separated the single-use fuel cannister from the remains I was holding, and dumped the inert bits inside; I’d have to take this last part to a proper disposal collection point in town some other time. For now, I glanced at Jorge and tucked it into a discreet spot in the cabinets when he wasn’t looking. Only after that did I notice what a mess I’d made up here despite my best efforts at cleaning up…
Jorge’s eyes were scanning all over the [kitchen], taking in every splotch, every spill and every crusted over utensil I’d used, he lingered noticeably longer on the open and haphazardly arranged containers of his that I had used, finally he stared at the Vanilla Extract bottle with a soft expression, it was the only container that had remained completely spotless and didn’t have a significant amount of its contents drained.
Yet another unreadable expression had settled on his face as he took a big pot and barely put any water in it, the other more reasonably sized ones just too dirty to deal with quickly, before putting it to boil on the [stove top].
“Uh…” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other a few times. “I… never did thank you for the drink earlier ¿Didn’t I?”
“N-no but there’s no ne-”
The patches of fur above his eyes furrowed together.
“You… mentioned before that you entered the program for money…” He looked confused. “¿Why didn’t you just… ask for me to be picked up? You’d have gotten someone else in no time… Hell, I’d still understand if you did it now. You don’t have to go through all this trouble for me.” The confused expression deepened as he gestured at the messy remains around us.
“…”
He was waiting for an answer.
“I… w-well I d-did enter for the money… b-but… I don’t want to just replace you… I like being around you. I d-don’t know if we’re there yet… But I’d like to be… f-friends! W-with you someday…” Oh Protector, I couldn’t be more obvious unless I just came out and said it…
“Well for what it’s worth… Thank you Tayla, you don’t know what that means to me right now.” He was looking directly at me, with raw emotion and palpable aliveness, my face started to feel as if I was standing under sunlight…
“I-It was the l-least I could d-do…” It was worth it even though he didn’t seem to understand quite what I accidentally meant before…
I was spared from further embarrassment by the pot of water sizzling violently behind Jorge who turned around in a blur to turn the heat off, while he did that I grabbed two (clean) mugs and set them down near him, though I didn’t move my paws quite fast enough as his claw brushed against me while he moved the mugs closer to him to pour the water on them.
He let the water cool down a little as he put his sugar and ‘Instant Coffee’ containers close to the mugs; He poured the less-than-boiling water into the mugs, stirred in a measure of ‘Instant Coffee’ and a measure of sugar as well.
He passed me a mug with a cryptic warning. “If it’s not to your taste, let me know.” Then he grabbed the other one, sipped a little and waited.
The mischievous glint in his eyes left me no choice, I’d have to play along for now; I raised the mug and sipped…
SPEH
WHY WAS EVERYTHING THESE HUMANS HAD SO BITTER?
I futilely attempted to remove the grimace from my face; Strangely, the roar of laughter I expected was nowhere to be heard, I found myself looking at Jorge with some amount of concern, though the clear, if understated, smile he sported calmed me down somewhat.
Wordlessly, Jorge reached for my mug and the can of powdered coconut milk, he then proceeded to mix in a little of it in both mugs, turning the liquid from a dark oily brown to a much lighter tone. Finally he mixed in a single drop of his Vanilla Extract in each mug and gave me back mine.
I gave him the best glare I could manage as I pouted at him, he took a deep drink from his own mug and held it up for me to examine.
With a sigh I tried mine again.
Warm. Flowery. Smooth. Bitter but not too much, like a perfectly harvested root. But most importantly of all, I could feel myself waking slightly more already, whether it was just self-suggestion or the drink having an effect so soon I couldn’t tell.
Once more, the reaction I expected from Jorge was missing, this time he seemed to be lost in thought, staring at a distant point in the air.
I took a moment to examine him, whatever he was thinking, it was starting to fester. It’d be better to get him talking “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s no-” He shook his head. “It’s just… I… my dad… he liked to drink his without adding anything, no sugar, no… coconut milk…, and… me and mom used to tease him about it…” He was retreating into himself once more.
I kept drinking my coffee; There had to be something else I could talk with him about…
Jorge straightened up, something about his posture, about the way he held himself had changed.
“Say… Tayla… ¿Can I ask you for a favor?” Despite the confidence he exuded he was running one of his claws over the back of his mug repeatedly.
“W-what kind of favor?”
“There’s something I want, no, something I need to make for the end of the [month], and… I’m going to need your help getting the stuff, I’d just ask you to get it all for me, but honestly that wouldn’t be right.”
“O-ok, but you still haven’t told me what the favor is?”
“I need to buy flowers, candles, a good tablecloth, and see what dishes I can actually make here that’d be good enough.”
“W-What for?” W-Was he? My heart was beating wildly in a peculiar mix of elation, nervousness and apprehension.
“I’m going to make an Altar for Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos), it’s the least I can do for my family all the way over here.”
W-
Wh-
WHAT?
submitted by luckytron to HFY [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 04:52 throwaway1344597 We’re about to get married but our bedroom is dead

I 25F have been with my partner 25M for just under 4 years, we’re due to be married in October. Our libido’s are the same, one is not higher than the others. We haven’t had sex in months….
It’s hard to pin point where it all started, but to keep things brief I’d say 2 years ago. I broke the bombshell to him by saying I don’t come from penetration and I actually never have, he took this well because I think he already suspected. I told him I need to be stimulated by my clit and he did try.
He’s never one to shy away from eating me out or genuinely trying to get me off, it just never happens. I feel as though even after showing him what to do he’s clueless, I have to constantly direct and guide him which is a complete mood killer for me. So in the end I just give up, accept I’m not going to cum and roll over and let him finish. I’m surprised he can even finish with how defeated and dead I am.
Even though he tries his best he’s always the one cumming, and I never am. I resort to finishing myself off after he falls asleep. What’s worse is he knows this. If it were the other way around, I couldn’t imagine being so bad in bed that he had to resort to masturbation. This whole situation is leading to built up resentment on my part which is spilling into our otherwise perfect relationship. I am so sexually frustrated I have fantasies about having sex with him and then saying I’m too tired before he gets the chance to finish. Just to he can have A TASTE of what I go through Every. Single. Time.
You men wanna know why we women don’t want to have sex with you? What is the point if you don’t get to finish. Women fake it and we’ve been doing it since the dawn of time to satisfy your precious egos. And that’s exactly what I said to my partner, why on earth would I want to have sex if I never get to finish? That’s what I’ve been doing for the past 2 years and I’m fucking miserable. Just lying there while he pounds away.
Not to mention I was ALWAYS the one initiating! Always. Now I like a dominant man who takes what he wants and my fiancé, although I love him is a complete doormat. I’m not asking for him to be King Kong all of the time but just sometimes I’d like to be the one pursued. I gave up initiating and guess what? We just don’t have sex at all.
We have had 100 conversations about this and I have been VERY clear about what I need/expect. Each time he says he understands and tries to do better but nothing changes. I cannot have another tear filled conversation, do not suggest therapy as he is very shy and will never open up to a stranger.
It’s so bad now, I masturbate before going over to his house because I know we’re not going to do anything. That reality hit me and got me down. He picked up on my defeated mood last night when I came over to his house and I ended up leaving shortly after a while with an excuse that I had work.
He sends a message saying “I feel like I've upset you somehow” I reply with “You’ve always been perceptive”
He responds with “I've been trying to ask, you've barely said a word to me all night.” And I text “Because it’s nothing we haven’t talked about a million times before.” Since then, nothing. No response, no reply. Zilch. And that right there sums up the entirety of our failing sex life.
look for something a little deeper than: just don’t marry him that’s the generic response to everything on this sub*
submitted by throwaway1344597 to DeadBedrooms [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 04:06 HereComesTheSunny_13 Overtired v. Couped up v. Normal puppy behavior

This is equal parts question and vent. I’m a single puppy mom and work full time. I get home at 5pm and take my puppy out. I exercise him, give him mental stimulation and play with him. At 7pm he gets crazy and bites. I thought he was overtired but my mom says he is couped up from being in his crate all day and need more exercise. I don’t know whether to give him a short nap in the crate or take him on another walk. Also as single dog mom it’s exhausting to play him and walk him for four hours straight before bed without taking my eye off of him. I also have to make dinner and eat during that time. I got an exercise pen but he just stares at me and barks when I leave him in there by himself. I need help or reassurance that it gets better.
submitted by HereComesTheSunny_13 to puppy101 [link] [comments]

2023.06.06 04:03 Nomyad777 [PI] The Monster Kingdom (1/2)

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
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The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
-----
When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
-----
When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.
Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.
Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
-----
When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2
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2023.06.06 03:01 ThriftStoreWhores You can only be prepared yourself. You can't convince others to be prepared or evacuate. My story about today:

I woke up to a major hiking trail a fourth of a mile away from me fully engulfed in flames. My city has 2 emergency service organizations that relay information and organize maps and evacuations. I immediately looked at their apps because I smelled smoke and the neighborhood was smoky. Thats how I found out about our trail fire. I contacted my parents who live just 15 houses from me about the current situation & not a single fuck was given. Their reply? "Oh, well. We were just on our way to the grocery store" It wasn't even 5 minutes later, I got 2 notifications stating 2 short streets over were on Level 2 evacuation and 12 homes were evacuated, 2 were on fire We were on Level 1. We have 3 levels here. It goes as the following: L1: GET READY, L2: GET SET, L3: GO!.
I call my parents to say "Hey, we're on Level 1 but just a few houses away, we're on Level 2! Get back home immediately because it looks like we'll be needing to leave quick!" Their reply? "We just got to Safeway & don't see anything. You need to calm down."
So they say to check in on your elderly and disabled neighbors at times like this? So I walk across the street to my 75 year old neighbor's house stating the same thing. I get another notification our level was raised to Level 2. I ask my neighbor if she needs help getting what she needs (and her big ass dog) into her vehicle and she told me "Don't be fucking ridiculous! No!".
I'm pissy at this point and walk to my paraplegic neighbors house who lives with his mom alone. I relayed the same damn story, showed them the same damn maps and levels, etc. His mom can't pick him up. Often they call me to lift him back in his chair or bed. I told him "Hey I'm going to need to lift you in your mom's van if this gets any worse. Do you want me to throw your things in your car?" I GOT THE SAME GODDAMN REPLY FROM HIS MOTHER'S MOUTH AS EVERYONE ELSE.
My shit had been in my truck in my driveway for hours at this point just waiting for level 3 to pop up. Long story short, it took 16 firetrucks from 2 different counties, 3 tankers and a DNR helicopter to put out this fire. Some are still there spraying water making damn sure at this moment.
One would think being almost evacuated last year and have been choking on wildfire smoke the past 8 years during this time, people would be prepared.
MORAL TO MY STORY: You cannot ask people to be prepared or active; even during emergency situations. You can only prepare yourself & help yourself. Oh, and also fuck thy neighbor. They won't care. I'm jaded now.
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2023.06.06 02:52 TinaOnEarth 2 Rooms Available - Chicago

Short-term rentals AVAILABLE for 2 guest bedrooms in a single family 4 bed/2 bath home. This is an all-genders living situation. Common areas are shared with myself (female US-IMG, ambassador for Project IMG Chicago), my boyfriend and his brother. Non smoking, 2 cat friendly home.
ABOUT THE LOCATION: Clean remodeled place near beautiful Garfield Park Conservatory. 6 to 10 min walk to CTA Green Line. This neighborhood overall doesn't have much in terms of dining and entertainment, but with the CTA Green Line/short Uber drive/Divvy bike rental you can easily access great entertainment in Oak Park, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Wicker Park, and downtown.
VERY close to some of the IMG friendly hospitals in the city. Closest hospitals to my home would be:
  1. Loretto
  2. Medical District: UIC/Rush/Cook County
  3. AMITA St. Elizabeth, St. Mary's
  4. St. Anthony's
If you are looking for a budget-friendly option and don't mind sharing common living areas with other tenants, this could be the match for you. Rent includes utilities, Hi-Speed wifi, air conditioning and laundry.
​
Send me a private message for booking confirmation details.
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