Yet another three months away from this sub... I swear if anyone of you know me, I'll be surprised at this point. Anyway, here ye go!
Also, to any of you that actually like my stuff and want more of it sooner, I'm happy to say that I have more time set to this more than ever before! So, buckle up cause I'm going to be posting as much as I can with the best quality I can provide!
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Notice: This story is about to humanity, but they are introduced much later into the narrative.
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First: Chains of The Veiled : humansarespaceorcs (reddit.com)
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Never has the light of hydrogen fusion felt so cold. Our orbit was all but a few thousand kilometers from the surface of an infernal furnace of the vacuum in which we trek. A star which functioned at the location for a galactic travel hub. Hundreds of Warp Gates, all orbiting the start so closely in order to provide themselves with the necessary power. Warp gates which were suspended in place by solar sails constantly utilizing the photons emitted to remain in their orbit so low to the star. It was a complex machine which could maintain a perfect orbit around a healthy star, all with the powers that such suns provided. A genius of engineering and physics that allowed all species of the Galactic Assembly easy travel and access to countless other worlds. These gates were the lifeblood as much as they were the backbone…
And so close to us was a Hubgate, crumbling at the seams. Torpedoes from the black craft struck at crucial hardpoints. The force causes the gate to collapse down into the gravity well of the Solar mass, no longer able to maintain its stable orbit. It was a rapid collapse due to the mass of the star itself, leading the structure and any left inside of it charing beyond the point of ashes. From the screens of the bridge, I watched from rear facing cameras as the very means of what provided our salvation crumbled. Any that might have been behind us either were left to the perverted mitts of those black fleet scum, or flew head first into the stars, incinerating almost immediately.
We were thousands of lightyears from the Fulkari territories, but despite the distance I could still hear the ongoing screams in the back of my mind as I knew chaos continued to boil in the distant void. The tension from our near death encounter began to slowly fade, as adrenaline began to lessen within the blood streams of everyone present on the bridge. There were several that collapsed from the built up stress from the previous engagement, sobbing and mumbling sighs of relief followed in tandem with the first one to collapse…
The first being Kazzi, in all of her tearful state. She collapsed onto her knees just off to my side, eyes glazed over with a sense of realization. Reality ramming down a mallet upon everything she had and lived for. Her life, her reputation, her home, any family that couldn’t have escaped in time, it was all ashes. Entombed behind lightyears of travel which we could no longer reach. We saw on the other end of the warp gates that Black fleet torpedo craft were sent to destroy each gate that connected to each hub star. Along with any allied gates, effectively isolating the remaining Fulkari colonies to a bitter end, and a shallow, yet radioactive grave.
She knew all of this, and even more that I couldn’t even begin to try and understand. I never knew who she was all that well, only basing my perception of her based on stereotypes. I could only envision her as a sort of rich snob who constantly needed to remind others of her worth in order to actually feel like it. However, for once I saw something that made her seem like much more of a person. Terror, and loss, emotions which swirled all throughout the visage of a woman who just lost everything to mechanical nightmares.
All she had was this ship, and whatever money she had left her bank saved up. Whilst it was likely a lot given her position as an executive, no amount of money could ever repair a broken life so extreme as that. That I know, a healthy family is a priceless artifact that’s difficult to part with when the inevitability of death claims them. A state of being wrought so soon by forces from a dark beyond. That Black Fleet, whatever it is, has caused so much unnecessary suffering. It’s just like the Foretold and how they were destined to ruin everything. Vile creatures that just refused to die, as if they were evil incarnate. A force of the natural world that just couldn’t die out despite all of their harmful tendencies.
I watched the emotion in her face amalgamate into something of pure sorrow. Tears poured from eyes which beamed despair… She was left a mumbling mess, struggling to compose what little she had of herself. I sighed, moving away from my terminal. I walked up to Kazzi and enveloped her in a hug. She showed no resistance at my advance, and actively moved to return my gesture in kind. However, Kazzi seemed to be doing so instinctively rather than consciously, as she remained in this state of glazed horror. I did my best to comfort her in what was clearly her darkest hour.
A transmission was received on our comms unit, and the closest person did their best to respond. Clicking on the accept button, a repeat message played on loop. An almost robotic tone flooded the bridge, “This is Admiral Gesvolt of the AGN. To any and all vessels who can hear this message, we have just received the alert regarding the collapse of the Fulkari warp network due to outside parties and malicious forces. Should you be refugees from this assault upon the Fulkari, redirect your course to the Core. Station 68 shall be awaiting you for processing and interrogation…”
The message seemed to repeat over and over, and it seemed that fleeing to the Core was indeed where we were fated to arrive. The Core, a Solar system that was discovered outside of any territories owned by other races, as neutral space, it functions as the Galactic assembly’s home system. A place of commerce and political power. A center of federal power unlike any other. The Core functioned as a headquarters and organizer of many things, one such included refugees from any kind of tragic incident. And this was no other. The message was broadcasted upon all channels, so it was impossible for anyone to not catch wind of the event. Information travels fast, quick like any travel through a warp gate…
As my mind wandered, Kazzi poked at me as I hugged her. With the general understanding that my physical contact wasn’t as comforting as it initially was. I let go of Kazzi, and let her get her bearings. She struggled to stand upright, “Please… take us to Core… I need to go lay down for a minute.” She kept her gaze away from me, turning from the bridge to go to her personal quarters. I didn’t want to take risks with her, but she likely needed some space. I didn’t lose a single person on this ship during the escape, and I don’t plan to now. Stay strong Kazzi, just a while longer…
Still, we had somewhere we had to be. People that we had to take to receive the care and assistance they properly needed. Walking back to the Helm controls, I began to drive the ship across the Hub star. Nearly one thousand warp gates were all present, each one leading to another Galactic Assembly member's homeworld. The Territory of the GA as an organization exceeded 100,000 star systems, and we were encroaching upon the system which functioned as its heart. The warps gates that we passed were all basic in their construction, but the one which we encroached upon was ornamented extremely, with an almost regal appearance. One that signified importance and power.
I had the ship orient itself to follow the recently reopened refugee lane. This was a section of the warp gate which was devoted to quick and easy access into the Core, following a space lane to station 68. These kinds of lanes were rarely ever opened, and were mainly active during tragedies or wartime. Given the context, this specialized lane was opened for both reasons. I brought the ship to follow others in a line. Each ship which found itself traveling through this lane was one which managed to escape the attack, with some worse for wear. I could see sections of other ships which were shot off, still active with doors leading to those blasted portions sealed shut… It was concerning to see how many of these ships suffered such blasts. How many people were sucked out into the void during the escape? A question that I didn’t want answered truthfully. We followed a route map which was sent to us, one which all of the refugee ships were meant to follow to station-68.
The station itself orbited the system’s second planet, one of the many ecumenopolis bodies of the Core. It was a large station, utilized as a sort of residence for Refugees until another unit of housing could be constructed to accommodate those that needed help. Agricultural bays were all over the massive pillar of a space station, this provided plenty of self sustainability to victims of all kinds. Which was very helpful for me. After all of the chaos unfolded behind us, I needed something to distract myself from all the traumatic stress, and a good hearty meal was definitely the way to go about it.
One aspect of the station was the sheer amount of docking bays or refugee vessels. This was a standard feature, as it made it easier and more effective at offloading massive amounts of people onto the station. I oriented the Yacht towards one of these docking bays and contacted the automated dockyard systems regarding entry. When the link is established I begin to request permission to dock. “Attention Dockyard, this is the private yacht Prestigious Vow requesting docking to offload refugees that we have on board…”
I waited for a response from the master computer, before receiving a confirmation almost immediately. “Prestigious Vow you are clear to dock. Please align with bay section-28 to begin offloading” spoke an automated response over the comms. It made sense why they were resorting to Automated directors, the influx of sudden refugees would warrant quite the reaction, and using the system to streamline the process would be most effective. Handling Numerous ships like they were as of now would be nightmarish for the standard operating tower to organize. Flying over to the designated section of the station, I found drone guides flying out to meet us.
Using drone guides to assist with docking ships was a common practice across all of GA space, and made it to where more organized dock movements occurred, resulting in little to nothing in terms of station related accidents. The disk-like drones blinked as they went about assisting the vessel latch into the drydock appropriately. With a shift in movement, I could feel the buckling of momentum as the magnetic locks kept us firm in place as the walkways began to fold out from the station bay. A few arms folded out of the section of drydock that we were parked in, and moved to attack itself to the ship side where the entrances to the yacht’s airlocks were. With everything in position, I received a notification from the station’s systems to open comms for their announcement to the crew and passengers. I pressed the confirm button to permit the station system access to the shipwide speakers,
“This is an informant message to notify all refugees, all civilians are steer clear of the airlock units. Station staff shall make they’re way to assist with retrieval of refugees and any critically injured state. We shall assist with offloading all passengers to a waiting area to receive lodging until further notice. Compliance is an order as we seek to help you in this unfortunate time.” spoke the automated communicator. I sighed, feeling a sense of relief washing over me as we seemed out of the storm. At least, for the little moment that we had. The people that were operating the bridge sighed with a similar disposition to my own. And went to take the lift down from the bridge to the lower decks with the airlocks. They all made their way onto the lift, but I made no such indication of following. I knew that I needed to check up on the Fulkari who rightfully owned this ship.
Kazzi was likely unstable, and needed someone to help her with the revelation, and the likely possibility of there being nothing left. I can’t imagine the struggle that the Fulkari are currently suffering. She and I aren’t so much of friends to mean that much, but as of now I’m all she has. I walked out of the bridge, through a small yet luxurious hallway leading behind the lift, Turning the corner, I walked up to one of two doors. One which led to the captain’s quarters, and the other which was designed to accommodate the VIP. I walked to the VIP room, as this was the room which Kazzi likely made her abode upon the vessel. I sighed, and lifted my hand to knock upon the door.
I received nothing in turn…
I knocked a little louder, yet still didn’t hear anything. Concerned, I opened the door to see Kazzi wallowing on her floor-bolted-bed, curled up as she looked out of her room’s viewport along the back of the bridgetower. She remained still, motionless in her fixture much like the star of the Core. From her view, she had a prime view of the city planet in which we orbited, and the star which peaked beyond its horizon. An ethereal sight to be sure, but something that did little to ease the Fulkari’s current condition.
Not once has an encounter with Kazzi ever gone so cold like now. In which I felt so sorry for the woman who had it all, only to lose it instantly… It was surreal, as everything seemed to be as of recent. The evacuation, the attack… the destruction not just upon the warp gates, but whatever devastation continued in the severed reaches of the Fulkari. And I had no doubt in my mind that Kazzi was trapped on her own. In that head of hers was swirling doubts and thoughts which plagued her subconscious.
Trauma was a gate that locked a victim deep within their minds, unable to pass due to not having a key at their disposal to open that impasse. It keeps them still, with unyielding strength in the bars which were cold to the touch. A lock so complex held her there, one which could take her time to break on her own. But too much time to make any significant progress. She was someone new in this new stage of vulnerability. And The Kazzi I knew seemed to die beyond that warp gate, with this new person taking her place. I knew that Kazzi, now matter who she was now, needed someone to break her out. I was the only one she currently had, and I needed to take the mantle of responsibility and give her the love and care she needed to brave through this nightmare.
I walked up and went about setting my four legs to loaf upon her bed, leaving me in a position where I was pointing directly at the window. I turned my forebody to look at her for a moment, before looking back out the window with her. Despite my homeworld being one covered in frigide oceans and stormy seas, breaking the ice was something of a challenge given the sophistication of our situation. The atmosphere hung heavy like the death tolls which were yet to be counted. Despite my attempts to do so, it was Kazzi to speak in this thickened atmosphere that permeated not just her room, but the entire ship itself.
“Why?” She uttered, almost eshaberated with that single word. That single word which seemed to draw so much strength to utter. “Why would those… things attack us?... wha-... What even were they?” She wasn’t expecting any answer, those abominations were all still a mystery after all. But at the same time my mind was made up on what I figured to be the truth. Whether that be the case or not. I took a moment to waver on whether or not I should tell, but even if it hurts, it’s best to rip off a band-aid while you still can. “Foretold,” I stated, confident that what those machines were was a culmination of effort from whatever surviving Foretold might exist. Her head lifted up to where it was level with the floor. She looked dead straight before turning to look at me like I was Insane.
“What?... wha-that’s not possible; That war wasn’t even over a decade ago. There’s no way that they could’ve survived, let alone build such a force within such a small amount of time.” Kazzi made a fair point, based on the average decade in the Galactic Assembly, there’s not enough time to build an armada of such magnitude. “But at the same time who else could it be?” I said, “The technology that the black fleet utilized was relatively primitive despite the prowess of those… horribly terrifying robotics. Their ships were flimsy when hit with the Fulkari main weapons, breaking apart nigh instantly. There are many ships in the GA, but not built like the ones used in that black fleet… Only the Foretold vessels fit those kinds of makes, swarms of steel meant to drown out anything in their path with sheer volume. I know you think I’m insane for thinking this, but who else in the galaxy could manage to travel through an FTL method that the GA has never developed?”
“I-... I don’t want to believe that’s true… It can’t be… It had to be someone else, powerful like the first of the GA, those who can master a realm of the Universe we don’t know of. After all, those religious Foretold didn’t have such advanced technology like that…” I listened to her, and could only sigh. “A lot can change in a single decade Kazzi…” I said, “Whether or not I’m right is up to you to decide, but at the same time it’s up to me to see to it that I help you.”
“Get to the point…” She muttered, throwing me for a loop all but for a single moment. I sighed, trying to ease into a more tender disposition. I wasn’t one for such buddy-buddy interactions. Such things weren’t common amongst my own kind. I simply scooted over and placed a paw upon her shoulder, a gesture she initially shivered at… “look, I’m not going to pretend I understand the feelings that are permeating all about you right now. But I’m here for you. I intend on providing however much support you need. I doubt you want to talk about it, but take your time. I’m willing to help you, it’s up to you if you’re willing to let me.”
Kazzi… spoke nothing in response, her head hanging low. I couldn’t see her face, with her keeping it hidden from me. I didn’t say much else after that, simply letting the atmosphere that seemed to radiate about the room, hoping that maybe the intensity would fade with time. Awkwardness was a radiation all in itself, one that you could never truly cure or forget. I knew that nothing could save her from the sorrow of losing her home, but I can do whatever I can to ease the wound that the blow caused into something manageable. Mentally, I knew she wouldn’t be able to recover. Frankly I’d be more concerned if she wasn’t like this…
Despite the silence, I could hear some sort of whimpering from the Fulkari woman… as she scooted closer to me. She simply moved to lean against my side, letting herself recollect herself mentally and physically. Kazzi… wasn’t a strong woman. Fulkari weren’t physically bulky, being very thin and lanky in their builds. Kazzi also wasn’t as mentally fortified as I was. She never had the unfortunate fate of being dragged into the military to serve. She never faced the grueling horrors of war like I had to.
But then again my people, the Hystravics, were a near polar opposite of the Fulkari in countless ways physically and culturally. It’s almost laughable how comedical our differences were, like brain versus brawn, pretentious versus proud… Night and day, we had little to nothing in common, but in the end we were all we had at the moment. At the lowest points, we’re all the same, and the walls we built from flawed societies crumble in turn. Presenting the true you, at your most vulnerable. I never considered Kazzi someone pleasing to associate with due to her lustrous and flaunting lifestyle. Evil, greedy corporations and all that stigmatism…
But seeing her in this way, in a light which shines only during the darkest hours, it presents a new way of viewing another. One which can lead to bonds forming no matter the divide. One which rarely ever shines, but surely does so brightly when it decides to. Kazzi was someone who hid behind her status, because she was afraid. I could see it in her eyes that she was beyond terrified. Implications were all but fact, and the truth was as easy to say as curses when near blackout drunk. Did her status provide her a comfort that she never had? What was her life before I met her? What was her fami-...
A question like that was best not asked so soon…
I held her close, staying silent and giving her all the time I was willing to provide. I was willing to stay as long as I needed to. I moved to wrap my arm around her, keeping her close and providing her the moment she needed to recollect herself into something relatively presentable. She breathed erratically as I felt tears flow against my fur. Everything that was happening felt so surreal. Everything that shouldn’t ever occur happened all at once. The last war occurred only to prevent everything that was happening… all those lives lost just to suffer another cruel fate wrought by those scumbag foretold… if everything that happened was to occur again, then I know for a fact that we of the GA shall crush them for this crime…
After a while of sulking and shivering at my side for what felt like several minutes, Kazzi began to recollect herself after a long and powerful session of crying, one which allowed her to release all the built up emotion bottled from the events. I was caught in the floodgates, being washed by a tsunami of pain from a woman who just lost everything worth more than any bank account… more than any credit could ever amount to her. Her home, in which she was raised and lived all her life. With family and friends alike… riding upon success and building a name for herself. Something that now meant nothing. But she seemed to start coming to terms with her new existence. For better or for worse…
“Kovvak?” She muttered, in a vocal range that I was just able to receive. I responded with a simple, “Yes, Kazzi?”
“Is fate the one we face, because of the actions we’ve taken? Was the last war… really worth it?”
…
“Believe me Kazzi, I’ve asked myself that very question for years now. I’ll tell you when I finally get the answer” I retorted. It was a thought which plagued my mind ever since the last of the enemy ships fell silent in their drifting through the void. I’ll never get my answers on whether or not it was worth it. Guilt tainted my mind due to the conflict, despite my hatred for those we fought. I wasn’t stubborn enough to deny that there were wrongs and rights to both sides of the war. But war was never about who was right, only who’s left.
I could hear a grumble, something which sounded like a roar. There was no beast where we were though, only a monstrous appetite of a hungry Fulkari. I shot up, surprised to hear such a rumble from the relatively skinny Fulkari. I chuckled seeing her flustered at her sudden show of hunger, as she went about blushing a flush purple of embarrassment at the sound. There were still some tears in her eyes as she turned to apologize directly. “I-I’m so sorry about that!” She loudly spoke in the aftermath of her little roar. I chuckled, finding it understandable and simply waving her down over the whole thing. Fulkari required plenty of energy considering their remarkable metabolism and usage of a wide amount of nutrients, and given the chase it was no doubt that Kazzi needed something to chew on. I decided to offer a suggestion to the Fulkari woman. “What do you say you and I go and get something to eat? Talk about where we go from here? We need a path to walk after all…”
…
“Sure thing” she said, with a soft and heartwarming smile.

It's a long one. Grab snacks.
I used to get along with my MIL. I've been with my husband for over 6.5 years, married for almost 2 months, and we have a 10 month old baby boy. I used to see her regularly as I have a beauty business and she would get one of my services every fortnight. We would talk and talk and have many things in common. She would tell me about the drama with her oldest son (I've never met him) and how his SO didn't like her and the family and always had an "issue." He hasn't been in contact with them for 10 years now since he got married and has 3 children now that his mother and siblings (besides 1 who he shares a father with) haven't met. My MIL says she doesn't acknowledge he's her son anymore.
Since we started trying for a baby in mid 2021, I started noticing the little comments here and there. Maybe it was myself being sensitive, but she would say things such as "don't have kids, they ruin your life". She has 5 kids (4 technically since oldest isn't her son apparently anymore). I don't think she's a maternal person - she's not nurturing or kind or empathetic. We struggled to fall pregnant. It took 1.5 years with medical issues between. When we finally announced I was pregnant, I was met with "See, I told you to relax!!" It didn't sit well with me since this was never the issue of why I couldn't fall pregnant, but I never said anything because I pick my battles and always was conscious of her saying this other DIL of hers had an issue with things they said and "she always complained." My MIL also invalidated the longevity of us trying to conceive: "It wasn't that long".
There were a few things my FIL said here and there, such as implying a caesarean isn't giving birth and it's the "easy way out". I find his views on many things to be from the 1950's, but tbh they're both like that. If I'm not cleaning or cooking everyday, I feel incredibly judged by them.
They also have issues with my BIL's fiancée. We get along great, we have similar parenting styles and a lot of things in common. Since I came into the family, I always heard them making fun of her for her parenting which I always found odd since I always thought the way she did things was normal... which always made me feel that if I were to have a child with their son, I'd be their next target.
Examples of what they would mock her out would be if they could only come before or after their daughter's nap time, that would be mocked "wE cAn OnLy CoMe AfTeR nAp TiMe". Or when my BIL's fiancée was standing next to the spa watching her daughter, they would speak about it like she's being too much watching her daughter in water. Little things like that. Also my husband's ex-girlfriend told my BIL and his fiancée about all the things the family had said about them (after my husband broke up with her, she liked her so she obviously felt a sense of loyalty to let her know what had been happening), so they have always known from early on they've been bitched about.
Since we had our son:
- I gave birth in a private hospital and they made comments about that
- when they came to visit us in hospital to meet our son, my MIL commented about the windows that didn't open: "it's so women can't jump out after having a baby" and kept implying ?joking? a baby is awful
- I had a pretty traumatic birth and my husband was definitely affected by it as he had to press the emergency button for my OB. When he was retelling the story to his family, my MIL said "really? Birth is easy" .. she loves to invalidate me
- they don't like they weren't able to kiss him when he was a newborn up until recently when we let them know they had permission but they are not allowed to kiss him on the mouth (I'm sure they don't like this either)
- FIL complained to BIL and his fiancee "I can't even kiss my F'ing grandson".. these two words should never be in the same sentence and I'm grossed out by his attitude
- MIL likes to make comments such as "we didn't do this and my kids are fine" (ok but are they?), "we just let babies sleep", "we just put the baby in their room and walked out and listened for them" .. I have access to the baby camera I bring over for my MIL on my phone and she does not watch nor listen out for him as I've seen him crying and standing in the cot for ages while she's doing god knows what..
- SIL was holding our son and put his rude finger up, to which I told her off and she said "it's a rite of passage"
- SIL and her husband smoke and I let them know they can't hold our son after smoking and must put a new top on and basic hygiene to which my FIL called my husband up disagreeing with it and my SIL said it's "preposterous"
- in laws booked a trip to a different state the same weekend as our wedding, assuming the wedding was a month later. They just never bothered to check the date before booking. Lucky they had booked it the day after. MIL said she would've still gone (apparently joking?)
- I told my MIL my husband was sad his father refused to say a speech at our wedding. He finally ended up doing one, telling my husband I "bullied him into it" which I did not.... and then in the speech they have pen edits of adding me into it and my BIL's fiancée told me later that they were asking around for a pen during my parents speech
- we visited my BIL, his fiancée and daughter for Christmas under the notion that only my parent in laws were also attending. 2 x SIL's and kids also rocked up without saying anything, so my BIL's fiancée ran around quickly sorting their Christmas presents out. At this wonderful family visit, smoking SIL held our son after I had seen her plain as day smoke outside before coming inside, to which my husband asked her if she had smoked, she said no, I told her I saw it, she shoved my son at me saying "alright then" with attitude, and the family left the house 10 minutes later apparently "angry"
- my MIL takes care of our son weekly (at the time was looking after him at our house because her aircon wasn't working in the summer) and I saw on the cameras out the front of our house my SIL had stopped by and was holding him, so it was safe to assume she had smoked already that morning and disregarded our boundary once again. I asked my husband to say something to which he called my MIL??? and asked her if SIL smoked, she said "She didn't smell like it but she wouldn't be disrespectful"... YES she would?
- my family have been very nice to my in laws, but in laws still liked to mention to my BIL and his fiancée they "can't keep up with her family" ... not sure what this means but my family are normal and undramatic and kind so they're probably insecure my husband loves my family
- my sister invited them to her son's 1st birthday party as a gesture of "we are all family since we share a family member" and my FIL never said hello to her or her partner.. none of them said hello to my sister's partner which I think could be racism since he's of a different ethnicity and I always hear them saying racist "jokes" (not about him, in general, but I tell them off - I haven't heard one for a while so probably behind my back now)
- MIL looked after our son at our house. When I came home, she made a point of telling me "I changed his clothes because they were dirty from CRAWLING around on the floor"
- telling our son who was in his playroom that's fenced in and trying to escape "don't worry, at NANNY'S house you can go WHEREVER you want to"
- my in laws went on a small overseas trip the past week, I had to ask my MIL about a month ago when were the dates so I could sort my son out with someone else or daycare. Her response "Oh I didn't even think of that". I understand her life doesn't revolve around looking after her grandson but damn what about if the day before she still hadn't told me
The reason why they tell my BIL and his fiancée their issues and not me or my husband is because they avoid confrontation for the longest time until they decide to blow it all up. That is why they're telling my BIL and his fiancée these things because they've been holding back for YEARS and had a long conversation with them late last year. Nothing got fixed, they were nasty to my BIL's fiancée, such as my FIL yelling at her, both gaslighting her, bringing up irrelevant things, getting mad because she doesn't parent her child the way they like.
They got annoyed at her for "bringing up the past, stop dwelling on it", but then they would bring up the past? BIL's fiancée's past issues were "my family member overheard MIL and SIL speaking shit about me at our daughter's 2nd birthday party at my house" whilst my in laws past issues were "You took our son away to live in your hometown which is an hour away and frankly too far for us to drive and not worth to see our granddaughter who doesn't even know us because we only see her for birthdays/Christmas/Easter".
My sister is happy to have my son every fortnight so he can also spend time with his cousin whilst I'm at work, so my MIL will only have him every fortnight. I see MIL on Wednesday when I drop him off so I'm going to let her know and see if she complains to my FIL and then will see if he calls my husband up. If anything happens, I'll just put him in daycare because my sister can't take him weekly. I don't think they will say anything though because my husband is a lot more defensive than my BIL, he's their golden child and they wouldn't want to ruin their relationship with him. I don't want my FIL near my child unless I'm present. The way he spoke to BIL's fiancée disgusted me and if he can yell at her, he can yell at me and I don't know what he would do in front of my child.
My husband's stance on everything?
"She was just joking"
"You don't know my mother's humor"
"Why don't you say something?"
"I don't know what annoys you"
I'm very aware this is a husband issue. Working on it. BIL's fiancée said BIL used to be the exact same, until he realised what his family are really like. He is LC now. Older brother and his wife are NC. It's nice because BIL and older brother are now back in contact, but in laws hate this and feel betrayed. How dare BIL see his brother? Appalling. My husband refuses to get back into contact with his older brother because he doesn't want to hurt his parents feelings, and only will see him if they see him. Sigh. Enmeshed feels like an understatement.
​

I haven't seen a post here about this, and was wondering if anyone is having the same problem. On Mac I can add split view bookmarks and rename them freely. Those names never carry over to Windows, neither can I manually rename such bookmarks on Windows.
Thanks!

UPDATE: reordered the list a bit for better overview. Fixed issues will now appear at the bottom of a specific list for better readability.
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The list of these issues / topics is posted below and will be adjusted (when necessary) every week.
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Things that have been fixed or otherwise solves or addressed will be crossed out like this.
This also proved a good overview of which issues have already been adderesed / fixed / etc.
​
--- List of Feedback / Requests / Complaints that are frequently posted on the subreddit ---
​
UI

• fix Typos in Item Tooltips and Text Boxes
• more than 100% completion in the Codex (or similar things) being displayed
• Requirements not met on Paragon Nodes
• Pathfinding Issues on the Map
• an Overlay Map (similar to Diablo 2)
• improved Chat / more QoL Features for Chat [solution suggested by a redditor]
• option to hide UI
• additional infos displayed on Clan Members and Friends
• an UI Indicator for when Resource XYZ is above ## (based on certain effects, e.g. from Passives or Aspects)
• INDIRECTLY ADRESSED (Season 4 Patch): additional Visual Indicators for Uniques and Legendaries aside from the Color (e.g. a Star on the Item Image for Uniques) - Lategame Items with Greater Affixes now have Roman Numerals behind them as a Visual Indicator
• INDIRECTLY ADRESSED (Season 4 Patch): Lootfilter and/or Salvage Filter - Rare Items now only drop with up to 2 Affixes, while Legendaries drop with 3 Affixes + Items with Greater Affixes on them have Roman Numerals behind them)
• Add search to titles / Aspects / etc (added in Season 4 Patch to the New Codex System)
• a regular, consistent Order in which the Affixes on Item Tooltips are appearing / being displayed
• option to mark Items for 'Keep' instead of marking them as 'Junk'
• separate Gem Tab (instead of gems, Gem Shard will drop now, which are a Crafitng Material from which you can craft gems. These Gem Shards will be stored in the Crafting Materials Tab) [alternative solution suggested by a redditor]
• fix the issue of flickering item tooltips when comparing items

​
Stash

• A few Private Stash Tabs for each Character (in addition to the Shared Stash Tabs)
• Move all Aspects into the Codex to free up space in the Inventory and the Stash (Season 4 Patch)
• Search Function in the Stash
• Additional 'Sort Functions' in the Stash and Inventory, e.g.: HighestLowest Item Level, WhiteMagicRareLegendary... within the same Weapon/Armor Piece, etc
• Sort Function should group same Aspects together

​
Items

• additional Affixes for the 'Razorplate' Unique Chest Armor (people often think its bugged)
• an improved Icon for Affixes that were re-rolled / enchanted, so that it better stands out
• partially / indirectly addressed: Gems are not worth picking up anymore at a certain point EDIT: partially/indirectly addressed - has been somewhat addressed but not fixed by Gem Fragments now being picked up automatically)
• Gems not being interesting enough (Season 4 Patch with the Large Itemization Overhaul made the Bonuses on Gems less conditional, replaced a few Bonuses with others, and added Main Stat)
• Ancient Rare Items should not roll with only 3 Affixes (addressed in Season 4 Patch with the Itemization Overhaul, Rare Items)
• certain Affixes should not spawn as Normal Affixes on Items, but instead only on Passive Skills, Magic & Rare Paragon Nodes, or as a 5'th or 6'th Bonus Affixes on Uniques (addressed in Season 4 Patch with the Itemization Overhaul)
• too many different forms of '#% Damage Increased Affixes' on Items /// less of these Affixes overall /// move many of these Affixes to Paragon / Passives / Uniques /// only up to # of these should roll on a single item [Large Discussion about this on the subreddit] (addressed in Season 4 Patch with the Itemization Overhaul)
• Below-Sacred Items should no longer in WT3 once a certain Character Level has been reached + Below-Sacred Items should not drop in WT4 at all
• The amount of Sacred Items in WT4, should reduce the higher your Character Level gets.
• (increased) Minimum Item Power on higher Character Levels
• higher drop chance for Uber Uniques (one of the reasons people give is that these items are often not just powerful, but also build defining, and hence should be obtainable in a season + "real Grail Items" should be "less mandatory")

​
Legendary Aspects

• relocating some Legendary Aspects to the Skill Tree (as Passive Skills or Skill-specific Upgrades) and/or the Paragon Board (as Magic, Rare and/or Legendary Passives)
• Legendary Codex Aspects should be able to be upgraded over time (b/c it feels bad to hold on to good ones long periods of time) (Season 4 Patch)
• other Legendary Powers (that currently are not obtainable via Dungeons) should appear in the Codex once salvaged. (Season 4 Patch)
• some/many of the mid- and late game Legendary Aspects should appear in the Codex, once the Item / Aspects has been salvaged / found / extracted (Season 4 Patch)
• Resource Aspects (like the Aspect of Concentration, etc.) should occur more frequently (addressed in Season 4 Patch, since they are now stored forever in the Codex)
• certain Aspects should occur more frequently in general (addressed in Season 4 Patch, since they are now stored forever in the Codex)
• Sort Function in Stash should group same Aspects together

​
Artisans and Crafting

• Duplicate Affixes should not appear when Enchanting /// or +1 additional Roll when Enchanting.
• Increased Movement Speed in town (to more quickly maneuver between artisans)
• ​
• Salvaging "Glacial Fissure" Sigil should show a warning and could refund some materials
• "Salvage Filter", aka an option at the Blacksmith to salvage items that do not met individually assigned conditions (like 'Salvage all Items below Item Power ###' - where ### stands for a number the players can select themselves, and other conditions)
• some people want to keep the Gatehall from Season 3 (Season of the Construct) as a new (optional) HUB (a community discussion on that can be found here )
• Artisans, Vendors, Stash, Wardrobe, Townportal, Waypoint, Purveyors of Curiosities, etc should be closer together in towns (suggestion / illustration by a redditor) (Purveyors of Curiosities have been moved closer to other vendors and more Stashes have been added in each town) (plus, in the Season 4 Patch, all Artisans are now closer to the Waypoint / Town Portal)...
• Hair Color / Style should be able to be changed in the Wardrobe
• Enchanting Costs too high / Cap Enchanting Cost / slower ramp-up of re-crafting costs (Season 4 Patch improved this)
• list Elixiers in their own group (e.g. compile Weak Iron Bark, Strong Iron Bark, Heavy Iron Bark Elixir, etc into their own Drop Down Menu)
• a 'Sell All Button' / 'Sell All below-Sacred Items' / 'Sell All non-Ancestral Items Button' (with the upcoming changes this issue will no longer be relevant)
• option to mark Items for 'Keep' instead of marking them as 'Junk'
• option to 'Salvage all below-Sacred Items' + an option to 'Salvage all non-Ancestral Items' (with the upcoming changes this issue will no longer be relevant)

​
Balance (Combat)

• Skeletal Ballistas targeting Players from Off-Screen / dealing too much damage
• "fix" One-Shot-Mechanics
• Increased Base Movement Speed (at higher Character Levels / at Level 100 / +#% all ## Level)
• 2 Evade Charges from Level 1 (or at higher levels / or 2 from the start and +1 all ## Level)
• rework the Suppressor Elite Affix (is reworked: now no longer is active permanently on an Elites and also drops when the Elite is Hard CC'ed)
• Limit / reduce CC in higher dungeon difficulties (lets see how this will turn out)

​
Mount

• additional Charges for the Mount (at higher Character Levels, as rewards, etc)
• let us use Mount Charges in Town (to more quickly maneuver between artisans, etc)
• reduced Mount / Dismount Cooldowns
• Faster Mount / longer Spur
• Improve Mount Maneuverability / Smoothness / getting stuck on minor obstacles
• Mount should break through Barricades

​
Leveling / Campaign / Dungeons / Endgame / Uberbosses

• Event Tracker List / UI
• let us fight Campaign Bosses again outside of the Campaign (maybe as additional Uberbosses or Worldbosses)
• fix the bug of Enemies spawning behind closed doors / gates, which prevents to open the gate in the first place
• immediately port us into a Nightmare Dungeon directly after a Nightmare Sigil has been activated
• make Nightmare Dungeon Icons easier to see / easier to re-find on the map
• endgame tree of whispers quests
• increased Drop Rates for Summoning Materials (to summon Uber Duriel, etc) - (some even suggest that Uber Duriel should not require any materials to summon, b/c you still have to fight him to have a small chance to get a Uber Unique)
• Uber Lilith boss fight should be improved, the attacks should be better visible and visually line up.
• some people suggest that Uber Duriel should be harder, while at the same time also drop more rewarding items or drop Uber Uniques more frequently.
• some people suggest that Items dropped by Uber Duriel should always have maxed Affixes
• increased Mob Density during Helltides (Season 4 Patch)
• partially / indirectly addressed some people request Cinders to 1) be account wide, 2) have no Cinder Penalty on death, and 3) persist to next Helltide... EDIT: has been partially/indirectly addressed by increasing the frequency of Helltides, but some people reported that this is not enough
• some players suggest / request to no longer hide Helltide Chest Icon on the Map, because it just redirects player traffic to 3'rd party websites (additional update in Patch 1.3.0: icons for Helltide Chest of Mysteries and Living Steel Chest have been updated to make them more visually distinctive from the other chest icons)
• increased frequency of Helltides
• more XP / Rewards for Side Quests / Whispers / Overworld Events / Helltides / PvP
• Better Notifications (in Chat and or "Popup Notifications") for Worldbosses, Legion Events, etc.
• let us teleport directly into a Nightmare Dungeon
• "something to do" in the Endgame aside from Uber-Lilith (e.g. additional Uberbosses, Uber Events, Uber Challenges, etc) (lets see how this will work once implemented)
• Uber Lilith should have a (noticeable) increased Chance to drop Uber Uniques (Uber Bosses will now have higher chances for Uber Uniques)

​
Season Specific

• Minor Bug: Season 2 Materials are still dropping in Season 3
• Season 3 (partially addressed, but overall noticeably improved) - requests for improving the Season Mechanics, Traps, Rewards, the Companion, etc - has been quickly addressed via numerous adjustments
• (Season 2 issue) fix the issue where Potent Blood is dropping within a fountain, making it impossible picking it up

​
Technical & Bugs

• general request: reduce Lag / Stutter
• keep an instance of a Nightmare Dungeon open for ~5 minutes after disconnect
• bug of characters getting stuck / floating in various ways under certain conditions
• the camera should be zoomed out more by default (or as an option) (Season 4 Patch)
• fix the GPU Memory Leak Issue
• improvements and Bug Fixes to Living Steel Chests (many users request less Cinders to open them and/or them dropping more Living Steel)

​
Other Quality of Life

• Respawn Point in Dungeon closer to the place of death
• the 'Scroll of Amnesia' should be able to be bought from a vendor for a reasonable price. Some additional suggestions: Scroll of Amnesia should be regularly granted when reaching certain levels. One Scroll for Paragon-only, one for Skill Points-only.
• Let us set the Townportal to a City of our choice.
• A way to save (a limited amount of) "Build Loadouts" (similar to D3's Wardrobe, but not as a replacement for D4's Wardrobe, but rather as an addition / extension)
• some ways to get at least smaller amounts of Platinum outside of purchasing something
• some people ask to keep the Gatehall from Season 3 (Season of the Construct) as a new (optional) HUB (a community discussion on that can be found here )
• the camera should be zoomed out more by default (or as an option) (Season 4)
• Nightmare Sigils: put the level of enemies from a Nightmare Dungeon on the Nightmare Sigil (in Patch 1.3.x)
• improvements for Gold Trading on Console (in Patch 1.3.0)
• WASD Movement (in Patch 1.3.0)
• Option to Refund All Paragon / a single board as a whole
• allow to disable Combat Text

​
Other

• some form of ingame Looking for Group Feature [suggestion by a redditor]
• additional gender-specific Transmogs (especially for Male Sorcerer)
• additional Hairstlyes
• Event Tracker List / UI
• Training Dummy - Training Dummy is there now, but some people also desire a DPS Meter on the Dummy
• Renown Rework (for Seasons) / let 100% of Renown carry over to Season

​
Recent additions to the list

• updated for Season 4 Patch, which included the Large Itemization Overhaul (Codex Update, all Aspects in the Codex, Tempering, Masterworking, Increased Camera Zoom, Helltide Updates, new Artisan Placements, adjusted Gem Bonuses, etc)

========================================
Tell us in the comments and discuss with other about which topics you think should be on this list to be highlighted, and why!
That helps us to update the list for next week.

Hi! To start, I have barely any computer knowledge. The games I have been very interested in playing are the Starshine Legacy CD games. I don't know what I could play them on, I have a MacBook and a DVD/possibly CD(?) player that plugs into the Mac. The games themselves are CD-ROM format from what I can understand. If anyone could tell me what I need to be able to play them on, l'd be eternally grateful.
I’d also like to add that I found this on the Jorvikipedia fandom forums for Starshine Legacy, it goes:
“Before I start, it's worth noting that I received these as part of the book club back in 2005, and was one of the original players of this franchise. Therefore, a lot of the below is sourced from the disks and my own memory, and may not have online documentation backing it up. I guarantee anything I posted below to be accurate. I can confirm that, if you have the disks, it will run on a modern computer. I have Episode One installed on my computer right now and it runs just fine. (Personal Tec Specs: Windows 10, 6-core, 12gb RAM, onboard graphics.) I have previously run the games on XP, Vista, and 7 without issues, though I have not run them on Windows 8 or 8.1. The CDs are marked for PC, not Mac, not sure if a Mac version was released but somewhat doubt it.“ Does this mean I need a Windows computer or some kind of PC? When they say Windows, do they mean an actual computer or just a Windows operating system? Please help

To start, I have barely any computer knowledge. The games I have been very interested in playing are the Starshine Legacy CD games. I don't know what I could play them on, I have a MacBook and a DVD/possibly CD(?) player that plugs into the Mac. The games themselves are CD-ROM format from what I can understand. If anyone could tell me what I need to be able to play them on, l'd be eternally grateful.
Below is something I found from a user on the Jorvikipedia fandom forums, but I still don’t understand what I’d need to run the games. It goes as follows: “Before I start, it's worth noting that I received these as part of the book club back in 2005, and was one of the original players of this franchise. Therefore, a lot of the below is sourced from the disks and my own memory, and may not have online documentation backing it up. I guarantee anything I posted below to be accurate. I can confirm that, if you have the disks, it will run on a modern computer. I have Episode One installed on my computer right now and it runs just fine. (Personal Tec Specs: Windows 10, 6-core, 12gb RAM, onboard graphics.) I have previously run the games on XP, Vista, and 7 without issues, though I have not run them on Windows 8 or 8.1. The CDs are marked for PC, not Mac, not sure if a Mac version was released but somewhat doubt it. Oh, and crank up the graphics if you see an option to. A modern PC can run the highest graphics on any game this age with ease! Best enjoy it while you can, because it is TRULY an artifact of the 2005 early 3D graphics.”

[First]
CHAPTER 30
Lumiea
Year -19 (L.D.)

The flight was a blur. The black-clad rebels blended into the black interior of the Aerolux, while the world outside the windows ripped across Aeryn's view like a stream of light.
Her head swam with dizziness from whatever they injected into her neck. Time felt as if it twisted in loops instead of running straight forward.
With the speed they likely traveled, they could make it halfway across the world in an hour. But when they landed, it felt as if ten hours had passed, and as if it had only been minutes. How could both feel so true? The disorienting contradiction swirled in her mind.
Hands seemed to come at her from all sides. She tried to draw energy into her palms to fight, only nothing happened. There wasn't even a spark of heat. Her vision swooped as she lowered her head to see her hands bare. When had they taken her mods and bound her wrists together?
Aeryn tried to kick at the blur of bodies surrounding her, only they'd tied her legs as well. Her body writhed like a fish plucked from the water and dropped on the deck of a boat. As pathetic as it was useless.
Even though they'd landed, the outside still looked how it had speeding past the window. The trees and empty space between them tangled together. Purple sky streaked down into the ground. Aeryn squeezed her eyes shut and mustered all the strength she possessed to rip free from her binds.
Pathetic. Useless. A total failure.
Her efforts only earned her a swift fist to her rib cage and a scream muffled by a gag she didn't realize was there before.
What the hell had they given her?
Her eyes closed and then she opened them to a dimly lit room. They'd instantly transported her here.
No. What a stupid thought. She'd obviously passed out and woken up here. And time seemed to be running in a straight line again. The drug had worn off enough for her to start to collect her thoughts.
Pain beat around the edges of her skull in a throbbing headache.
On its heels came the flood of anger, with fear buried too deeply within it for her to actually feel.
There were others in the room. She blinked to clear her vision as she looked to another girl lying on her side nearby, bound just like Aeryn. Thirteen others littered the room, most passed out, but a few awake like she was. Her eyes caught another man's stare. While most of them looked to be around Aeryn's age, a few were older. Perhaps, late twenties or early thirties. The one looking at her must have been that age.
Aeryn huffed and tried in vain to rip her arms free once more.
Her squad would be frantically searching for her now. The thought of them worrying about her made her feel sick. She wanted to find a way to comfort them, tell her she was okay, but even if she could do that, it would be a lie. Aeryn had no idea what these people planned to do.
So she couldn't waste her time and energy crying about what happened to her or how her friends might feel. What information did she have? The fellow captives were a good source, not that she could immediately identify many patterns. Only that they were all younger and everyone looked to be in good shape. It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to assume they were military like Aeryn. She didn't see any signs of surgical body modifications, like the faint blue of biofluid, but in this light, she doubted she'd make that out. Were they combat soldiers or specialists?
Aeryn searched her memory, trying to discern the fuzzy details. It was hard to remember anything from the Aerolux now, not even how many people had been inside. Before being taken, she'd been collecting samples to create fuel when she heard a hum behind her. By the time Aeryn had twisted to make out the Aerolux hovering behind her, the terrible pain had already shot through her body.
Immediately her hand mods stopped working. She knew how fast it had happened because the instant she saw the Aerolux, she'd drawn upon energy in her palms.
No one should have an Aerolux except for Commander Vehru and those she'd entrusted one to. So it had never occurred to her to view one as a threat. But seeing it directly behind her, she'd known something was wrong.
Everything happened so fast. Aeryn struggled to remember the few short seconds that passed between seeing the Aerolux, losing her hand mods, and feeling the needle slide into her neck.
Wait. Her eyes closed. That wasn't what she remembered. It was what she assumed. Aeryn couldn't actually recall anyone injecting her. Pain had bitten into the back of her neck and within seconds, she'd lost motor control. Her final rational thought had been that they'd used an EMP to disable her mods and drugs to sedate her.
A cold sweat dampened her neck as she opened her eyes. Who were these people to have these kinds of resources? Her hand mods should have been protected from an EMP, but there were those powerful enough to destroy her equipment. Not only did her captors possess powerful weapons and drugs, but they somehow had an Aerolux.
No one on her planet had ever taken control of an Aerolux as far as she knew.
Were these rebels or someone else? Something else?
Hours passed as she tried to string together the few facts she knew into a theory that made any sense. Why had they taken her and the others? Who were they? What did they want?
Aeryn was a private. She wasn't worth much.
Unless they knew she was a candidate for the Witness Program. Maybe they even knew what that meant.
She needed to ask the others if they were candidates too, but no one had been successful in attempts to remove their gags or bindings. One woman had persistently raked her mouth against the ground to try to break the gag free and managed only to rub the tip of her nose raw. The binding was made of something stronger than their skin and it wasn't going anywhere.
Aeryn didn't waste her energy or her emotional wherewithal on attempts certain to lead to failure–which would create discouragement. Instead, she planned. At first, it felt that she couldn't plan for anything. The room was empty. The windows had been boarded closed. No one had entered to say anything to them. For all she knew they'd been left here to starve to death.
But the little information she did have actually told her quite a bit. Unless this was a training exercise–a possibility she would not consider as it would only serve to give her false hope–then whoever had taken her opposed the Federation in a way that the normal resistance did not ordinarily manage. Either they were a threat Aeryn did not know existed, perhaps one from her home planet or even another, or the rebels were capable of far more than Aeryn knew.
As the hours passed, Aeryn felt desperate for water and sleep. She nodded off a few times, but tried to stay awake, afraid she would miss something.
Finally, a woman entered the room. She wore all black with hair tucked beneath a black cap. She offered no name and no introduction.
"As bioengineers, you're all smart people." The woman turned to look at each of them. "As Witness candidates, I'm confident you're also resilient. So forgive us for the uncomfortable arrangements, but we can't be too careful with any of you."
This focused the possibilities in her mind and confirmed her suspicions. First, her captor spoke General American English. Interesting. And she knew about the Witness Program. A wry smile might have twisted her lips if not for the gag. Maybe she'd at least finally learn something about what the hell a Witness even was.
"You're trying to figure out who we are and why we took you. What will happen to you." Clasping her hands, the woman breathed out deeply. "I want to show you the respect of being honest. We will decide which of you should live and which should die."
Aeryn's muscles tightened. Of course, she realized they had not kidnapped them with innocent intentions, but hearing it made it all feel real.
"Commander Vehru has told you little about the Witness program. You don't understand what you're being considered for and just how many people you could hurt." Her eyes landed on Aeryn for a moment before her gaze continued on to hesitate on each person. "Some of you probably deserve to die and some of you probably deserve to live. I can't worry about that. I have one mission that I've dedicated my life to." Her voice hardened. "That is my sole concern. I advise you to cooperate with us."
She walked out of the room and paused before leaving.
"We're moving you within the hour."
Everyone looked to each other after the woman left, their eyes saying what they couldn't speak.
Even with Aeryn's mind reeling from the information, a moment came where she no longer felt alone. The connection with these fellow bioanalyst and Witness candidates soothed her aching chest. At least for a few minutes. It quickly turned into longing for her own people.
What was her squad doing now? Lyon and Nikka would be holding one another together as they tried to find a way to help her. Trin would be investigating and analyzing. Alix…
Aeryn honestly had no idea what Alix would do. He'd care. He'd want to find her. But if he felt helpless enough, then he'd probably just start lashing out at everyone around him and make things worse.
And Jace.
Surprise nipped her at the pain that flooded her chest as she imagined him. Aeryn didn't have to wonder what Jace would be doing. Even though he spent so much time ignoring her, acting aloof, trying to run away, he also ferociously guarded her. She hadn't even realized the extent of it until now as memories turned through her mind. His worry about her flying over the lake, the protectiveness of her in battle, the fear in his eyes any time she was injured. What had annoyed Aeryn and made her feel like he looked down on her now appeared very different to her. It wasn't that Jace didn't trust her competence.
He cared about her.
He would be waging a war right now trying to find her.
Fear had been a constant hum in her mind since she first saw the Aerolux, but it consumed her now as she thought of the danger her squad could get into searching for her and fighting to free her. What if one of them got seriously hurt? Or worse. If anyone would do something crazy, it would be Jace. The thought of something happening to him made her body go rigid with dread and panic.
Aeryn had to find a way out of here and back to her squad.
[First] [Last] [Royal Road] [Discord]
Note: Book 1 of Witness is finished on Royal Road if you'd like to read ahead. Sorry for not updating here for a long time!

The Unity script has a game mode that allows a map maker to hide specific parts of the image either instantly or after a number of seconds. These rounds are hard to make so these maps are probably the only ones that will be made unless there is further interest.
Some of the rounds are broken because Google updated the street view since the map was made a few months ago. Most rounds work though.
 
Even though you will get the best experience with the Unity script installed you can still play them as normal games if you want, but these maps might not ever be made again.
 
Unity Nerd:
(These locations would be easy if necessary clues were not blocked from view) https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/bua7CoCN0Krsckmr
https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/ZiRX0K9xzGxl0ZMf (one repeat round)
 
Unity Nerd Timed :
(Part of the image will be blocked after a number of seconds, so look around quickly for clues)
Each of these challenges took about an hour to make and they were for a "pro" that said they would play them but then flaked out, so I passed them to another "pro" who also flaked out, so I gave up and decided to post them here because it's a shame for them to go waste.
15s -> https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/DrlCAhwXpYGIpJXs
13s -> https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/ulWmfkQRj0XgQTYQ
11s -> https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/qqRNLlDfwF8JmhxT
9s -> https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/V3x2kRmI9xvWntcn
7s -> https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/r1wJkcGmXiCswNFi
5s -> https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/a8kRJmfgYMUBNeOQ
 
How to play:

• Download the script from a reputable source such as GeoPeter's youtube channel: search for "How to add Satellite Mode" and use the Unity script link in the description, which is not the old Unity script found in the video (which is currently very broken). You can also find links to the script in recent videos, in the last few months, from Chicago Geographer, Geography Challenges, and probably others.
• Make sure no other scripts are interfering with that script!
• If there is an error, reloading the page will probably fix it.
• The chances that the compass is accurate is slim.
• This is novel technology and there will probably be bugs and gradual improvements over time.

Folks:
I just helped a team with a small conference where we had in-person presentations that were also recorded for later viewing on Youtube. The conference was held at a local junior college whose classrooms had built in projectors and instructor consoles with projector controls.
The presentors used a wide variety of laptops for their slides.
The way we did things was:

1. Presentors plugs their computer's HDMI output into an HDMI splitter (one input and two outputs). Splitter is powered.
2. Output 1 of the HDMI splitter is fed into an HDMI -> USB capture device and connected to a Linux computer running OBS. That USB connection is on the computer itself
3. Output 2 of the HDMI splitter is fed into the HDMI input of the projector.
4. A USB webcam is connected to another USB connector on the OBS computer itself. That USB webcam is for the puspose of videoing the person doing the presentation.
5. A table top USB microphone, along with keyboard, and mouse, is connected to a 4/1 USB combiner that's connected to the third remaining USB connection to the OBS computer.
6. The OBS takes in input from the HDMI -> USB; the USB Webcam; and the USB microphone to a video mix and sound to the OBS recording (we are not live streaming over the network).
7. The OBS computer running Linux is an Intel NUC computer.

Normally things work okay with Windows and Linux computers and their HDMI outputs. That's not an issue.
We have had much frustration, however, with Apple laptops. We had to do considerable fiddling with the configuration with all of them to get anything going. With two labopes, we could not get anything running at all. We had to resort to capturing the projector's screen itself with the USB camera, which made things awkward for the presentation. Our management is now debating whether or not to go ahead and put those presentations on Youtube. They were not completely happy with the results.
I don't want to mention the event nor the staff. I am doing this posting on my own for my own curiosity, not under the direction of management.
I did have conversations with the management and they told me some interesting things that I want to 'bounce' with you and see you think they make sense based on your own experiences.
Our team did express very much frustration with Apple for all of their conferences and not just this conference that I was involved with. Further, they tell me of other conference organizers who have had technical frustration with Apple products and that Apple had been the poorest as far as using for presentation via projector and other HDMI devices.
One team member suggests that Apple products are more strict about hendling the HDMI and HDCP due to some pressure by Hollywood and that the HDMI splitters that we used may have been put on Apple's HDCP 'bad' list and causing the Apple products to refuse to share the encryption keys, which bars the video.
What have your experiences been with Apple and projector presentation where you do use HDMI splitters? Is the assessment of Apple being more strict with HDCP than other vendors and whether or not the HDMI splitters are frowned upon by Hollywood and thereby causing trouble with Apple, which wants to toe the line with Hollywood?
Thank you!
Mark Allyn
Bellingham, Washington

Recently, u/TheAngryObserver's argued against the recent TikTok ban, passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Biden. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, or PAFACA, was signed into law earlier this week, which ban TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, does not sell the company to an owner not associated with a 'foreign adversary.' While TikTok is mentioned specifically in the bill, the law provides for similar bans to be enacted against foreign-adversary-controlled apps in the future.
Banning TikTok is a prudent and forward-thinking idea, for two reasons that are, by themselves, each sufficient to justify a ban, but together demand one, such is the risk. I find Angry's well-meaning legal and ethical objections to the law unconvincing, and in his post I don't think he fully acknowledged the threat posed by continued operation of TikTok in the U.S. under CCP control.

Note on the CCP's relationship with private business

Before diving into the potential threats posed by TikTok in its current state, it is crucial to understand the nature of the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and private businesses based in China. This 2023 article by the East Asia Forum gives an overview of the changing nature of party-corporate relations under the Party leadership of Xi Jinping. The CCP has always had a presence in China's private sector, but, in recent years, "the private sector is still seen as a frontier for party-building, with Chinese President Xi Jinping making it a priority." While party cells within private corporations used to be focused more on organizing "study sessions or social gatherings" for members, Xi has "called on the private sector to 'unite around the party,'" a directive to deepen party-corporation relationships and direct corporate funding towards Party functions.
Perhaps most emblematic of the Party's ongoing power grab in the private sector is how deeply the Party is becoming involved in everyday corporate functions, with the following passage referring to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a rough analogue to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce under control by the CCP:

The ACFIC also calls for the CCP to ‘exercise leadership over personnel management’, aiming to avoid ‘professional managers promoting whomever they like’. It also recommends that firms establish a monitoring structure under CCP leadership to surveil employees, detect ‘abnormal behaviour’ and deal with disciplinary violations.

This is not simply a matter of Chinese investors owning a company, rather than American ones; it is a fundamentally different relationship between private and public actors. Opposing the accumulation of power by such incestuous unions in the U.S. is not xenophobia. Angry's assertion that "TikTok itself remains adamant that it would refuse requests from ByteDance, its Chinese parent, or the Chinese government, for data. We, again, have no evidence to the contrary," in my view, misunderstands the relationship between Chinese private enterprise and the CCP. Xi clearly views the kind of independence Angry describes as an obstacle, and private investors who come to be seen as obstacles by Xi have a nasty habit of disappearing.

Data security

Angry describes the law as being driven by the fear of "potential risk that its sister, by being located in an enemy nation, could hypothetically take American data (such as emails), give it to said enemy, and then there's the possibility that that enemy could use these emails and whatnot against us."
The fear of data abuse is not based in hypotheticals. It is based in distrust of a political entity that has no credibility on the issue of respect for data privacy due to a series of conscious and deliberate actions:

• In 2017, China passed the National Intelligence Act, which contains the following requirements, placing no limit on the amount of cooperation the government can demand of 'all organizations and citizens' of China

Article 7: All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.
Article 10: As necessary for their work, national intelligence work institutions are to use the necessary means, tactics, and channels to carry out intelligence efforts, domestically and abroad.

• In 2021, TikTok's head of public policy for the Americas, Michael Beckerman, testified that 'we don't share information with the Chinese government' and that American user data is stored in the U.S. and in Singapore.
• In 2022, leaked recordings of TikTok employees confirmed that, despite TikTok's public protests to the contrary, 'everything is seen in China,' and that there exists a Beijing-based executive 'Master Admin' who 'has access to everything.' While TikTok publicly insisted on the soundness of their 'Project Texas' strategy to store data in the U.S, a consultant working with TikTok said he felt that "with these tools, there’s some backdoor to access user data in almost all of them, which is exhausting.”
• In 2022, in response to those recordings obtained by Buzzfeed, the TikTok user data of two journalists, one from Buzzfeed, "was accessed while ByteDance employees were investigating potential employee leaks to the press, according to the company."
• In 2023, TikTok backtracked on its assertion that U.S. data is stored in the U.S, saying that American content creators' data, including tax forms and social security numbers, are indeed stored in China.
• in 2024, TikTok insists that 'we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation,' conveniently ignoring that the greatest threat to Americans' data security are not 'outside influencers' but people within TikTok and ByteDance itself.

Maybe you believe TikTok's denials when they say that they're working really hard to protect data security, and this time they really mean it. But I sometimes step back and marvel at what TikTok is asserting it has the right to do. A subsidiary of a larger company is attempting to convince us that it has no obligations to follow the directives of the authorities it answers to; they are insisting that, when the time comes, they can be trusted to disobey the requests of their investors, their owners at ByteDance, and the Party agents embedded throughout the company. I know everyone likes to fantasize about telling their boss 'no.' But I do not think the security of Americans' location data and social security numbers should depend on such a fantasy, especially when the boss in question runs what is likely the most comprehensive surveillance state in the history of the world.

Information

While data security concerns have taken up the lion's share of the discourse surrounding the law, I find the concerns for the future of discourse itself even more concerning. Our decisions -- political, social, financial -- are only as good as the information we base them on. In Democracy in America, one of the first major studies of American political culture in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that

What best explains to me the enormous circulation of the daily press in the United States, is that amongst the Americans I find the utmost national freedom combined with local freedom of every kind.

In other words, not only did the great amount of important political questions presented to the American people at the not just the national and state but also the local levels necessitate a large industry dedicated to the spread of information, but that such freedom to decide depended on newspapers; or, as de Tocqueville says of newspapers, "to suppose that they only serve to protect freedom would be to diminish their importance: they maintain civilization."
Social media is often the vehicle for news today; when you click a CNN tweet to read the full story or see the headlines on news, the content you're reading is written by journalists, but the mechanism by which it reaches you is social media; thus, it is impossible to talk of news without talking of social media. Furthermore, 58% of Americans prefer to get their news on digital devices, a number that has been on a steady rise as TV and radio news fade.
According to its own data, TikTok has about 150 million users in the U.S. alone (more conservative estimates still place the figure above 100 million). That's nearly half of the entire U.S. population getting news from TikTok; having their worldview shaped on TikTok; trusting TikTok's algorithm to steer high-quality stories to them and misleading or dishonest stories away from them. I don't think we fully acknowledge how much power that is.
Consider a hypothetical. The PRC has, for years, insisted that 'reunification' with Taiwan is inevitable, and a high-priority goal of the CCP. The line used to stress 'peaceful reunification,' but no longer. On some day in the not-too-distant future, America may wake up to a world in chaos -- yet another 21st-century imperialist invasion, certain to lead to mass devastation and pushing the world closer to war. But how will we learn of this development? The first thing I, and most Americans, do upon waking up is to roll over, pick up my phone, and check social media.
But for many on that fateful day, the first thing they see will be exactly what the CCP wants them to see. Before you watch the news; before you read the headlines; before you speak to your family or your friends; the people who will have the most power to shape your perception of the unfolding conflict will be the organization that was once exposed for explictly ordering moderators to ban mentions of Tiananmen Square and Tibetan independence. TikTok insists that it has loosened these restrictions, but even if that is true, do you trust them to maintain that 'freedom of expression' during a time of war? In war, information is yet another good that must be mass-produced. Consider how Russia flooded TikTok itself with misinformation in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, seeking to control the narrative from the start, demoralize Ukraine and its Western supporters, and thus dissuade any potential white knights from riding to their victim's rescue.
It is not difficult to imagine what the CCP, in effective control of a platform that reaches three hundred million American eyeballs, could do with that power. Angry brings up a good point -- he says 'Americans have, with some very specific and limited exceptions, the right to lie.' This is true. But the CCP is not an American citizen. It is a foreign adversary, who largely sees American power as a threat to its own interests and its democratic institutions as threats to its own legitimacy. It conducts industrial espionage on Americans, stealing trade secrets and sowing distrust. It launched an information campaign in 2022 to "discourage Americans from voting while highlighting U.S. political polarization" and has honed their info-op tactics for this year. It threatens global stability by its imperialistic bullying of its weaker neighbors in Asia. It launches hacking attacks on Americans critical of the regime. These are not the acts of a friendly competitor or a rival. These are the actions of a party that believes that our loss is their gain.
If you think the state of our public discourse is in a bad state now, I urge you to use your imagination as to what the controllers of a platform with an opaque recommendation algorithm and an opaque report system that resides at all times in the pocket of half of America can do. Detoxifying our murky political discourse will be difficult, but it will become impossible if the United States' greatest geopolitical adversary is allowed a pipeline into it through which to pump raw sewage. Even if they're not using it now, I'd prefer that pipeline not exist in the first place.

Legality

Angry presents several reasons he believes the . I do not find these convincing.

• "Obviously, it prevents the 100 million American TikTok users from expressing themselves, a violation of the First Amendment."

Is the government banning a certain content of speech? No. As established, you can parrot Chinese propaganda as an individual in public all you want.
Is the government banning a certain kind of speech? No. You can make short-form videos saying whatever you want on other platforms, and indeed several other companies have moved into the short-form video space for this purpose, and doubtless more will if TikTok is indeed banned. It can hardly be argued that moving from TikTok to YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels places an undue burden on TikTok's users in their exercise of free speech.
So the government is neither telling people what they can say, nor telling them how they can say it, nor placing an illegal burden on those who want to speak. Corporations cannot indefinitely forestall any legal consequence for their otherwise harmful behavior by declaring their place of business to be a 'free speech zone,' and thus declare anyone who interferes with it as a violator of the First Amendment. Saying that banning TikTok violates the First Amendment rights of its users is like saying the health inspector can't shut down an Olive Garden with a rat infestation because Olive Gardens are places where people can theoretically discuss contentious issues.

• "The bill is probably unconstitutional, as the state of Montana discovered when it tried a similar scheme while ago."

The preliminary injunction issued in the Montana case cites First Amendment concerns that I addressed above. The case is currently being appealed, and as such the Montana ruling should not be seen as the court system's final opinion on this matter.

• "It is also a piece of legislation sanctioning a specific person/company, a bill of attainder, which is illegal under Article 1, Section 9."

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service evaluated this concern and others and noted that

In two recent judicial challenges, courts held that legislation restricting transactions with PRC-based Huawei and Russia-based Kaspersky Lab did not violate the Bill of Attainder Clause because the laws sought to protect U.S. security, not punish a private actor. Proposals that would provide for a judicial trial or agency action before imposing applicable sanctions, such as H.R. 7521, would not violate the Bill of Attainder Clause.

As established before, there is an existing national security concern, and the fact that the bill provides a window of time to offload the company before any sanctions would come into place undermines the legal notion that ByteDance is being explicitly being punished for past actions without trial.

• "It also directly infringes on the property rights of TikTok's owners without due process, which raises Fifth Amendment concerns-- read, TikTok is having its property seized even though it hasn't been found guilty of a crime."

The CRS evaluated this concern as well, noting that,

In one relevant example, a federal court of appeals held that, before the President could order a PRC-based company to divest an acquisition under the CFIUS process, the government needed to provide the affected company with the unclassified information on which it based its decision and the chance to respond.

TikTok has been presented with the American concerns over data privacy and information, and has been given a chance to respond. Furthermore, the CRS argues that Congress may have even fewer legal obligations in this case, unless the law is 'palpably arbitrary' -- a description that cannot be applied to the myriad reasons the U.S. has to be suspicious of increasing CCP power in the U.S.

Conclusion

Continued Chinese ownership of TikTok poses a serious threat to American data security, to its free and open discourse, and to its national security. As you follow the proceedings, I urge you to consider philosopher Karl Popper's famous Paradox of Tolerance, which holds that an infinitely tolerant society will inevitably be infiltrated by intolerant ideas, having no mechanism with which to stunt their growth. In history, free societies that protect human rights are the exception, not the rule, and, in a time of rising authoritarianism around the world, free societies cannot afford to become paralyzed in the phase of such a threat. For an entity whose reign has been characterized by nothing so much as the constant crushing of human freedom to demand protection under the same aegis of civil liberties the American government extends over its own citizens is like a pack of wolves trying to squeeze their way through a doggy-door designed for the owner's pet spaniel.
I was supportive of the bill before it passed, and the events since the signing of the bill have only served to further convince me of its necessity. Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, posted a greasy statement of defiance in which he insists that he cares about 'YOUR voice' on a platform that has been accused, He talks about how the 'freedom of expression on TikTok reflects the same American values that make the United States a beacon of freedom' just weeks after the site limited researcher access to data on politically-charged hashtags like 'UyghurGenocide' and 'TiananmenSquare' in response to a Rutgers study which found that 'there was a “strong possibility” TikTok content was being amplified or underrepresented based on how it aligns with the Chinese government’s interests.' It seems that, for TikTok, patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_start.launch.py 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_cartographer.launch.py 

ros2 run nav2_map_server map_saver_cli -f map 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_start.launch.py 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_nav2.launch.py 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_navigation_ackerman.launch 

ros2 launch astra_camera dabai.launch.py 

ros2 run rqt_image_view rqt_image_view 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_start.launch.py 

ros2 launch astra_camera dabai.launch.py 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_rtab_rgbd.launch.py 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_start.launch.py 

ros2 launch astra_camera dabai.launch.py 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_rtab_rgbd.launch.py localization:=true 

ros2 launch limo_bringup limo_rtab_nav2.launch.py 

Can anyone explain what might be going on with my Todoist "Today" view? I completed some tasks while my phone was handy and checked them off in the Todoist app (iOS). Later this evening, I switched to my desktop and opened Todoist in Chrome. It shows 21 tasks completed (accurate to what I've done today), but there are several incomplete tasks in my "Today" view that should be... well, complete!
I've refreshed the iOS app and it seems to be synced just fine. I've refreshed my browser (even updated Chrome) and see no sync errors. The strangest bit is that when I use the Todoist search bar on web browser to "Go to Completed," it correctly shows alllllll the completed tasks, and they are even logged with the right timestamp to indicate when they would have been checked off via my phone! When I click on the hyperlinked task name, it takes me to the task but it is not complete.
I can't figure this out. I am nervous to re-check the items on the web browser because some of them are recurring and I can't afford to have the system mistake these double-checks for me having done next week's iteration... I need those reminders haha.
Thanks!

Hello, Good People of the Ao3 forum.
I am here because I am in a bit of dilemma and I really need help figuring this situation out.
I have been working on a story for the better part of a year and I have 6 parts of it already uploaded to Ao3.
Part 7 is where I seem to be having a gigantic problem. Part 7 as it currently stands is 123 pages and 33,678 words....and it only consists of dialogue. Yes, you read that right. It is 123 pages of dialogue, yup.
I am literally someone who gets to the point where I feel like the dialogue portion of this chapter is done and then I start to rethink the whole chapter and get it in my mind where I am going to possibly rewrite all of the dialogue, which thankfully I have not done yet.
I even had a moment last week where I looked at the draft in it's current form and deleted it and then went into my google trashbox thingie 2 minutes later and retrieved it.
I started on this story as a labor of love and it takes up my every thought and I am literally not exaggerating when I say that.
I need this next chapter to be the one that not only gets me to 1,000 views(because I am almost there! :) ) but I want it to be sexy and wild and a little crazy and extremely controversial but I don't feel like I am talented enough to write that, so I stick with my gunky gunk.
I am so mad at myself because I have not updated this story since before Christmas and I was really hoping that I would be farther along in my writing process than I am and I am NOT.
I don't know what to do with this chapter and it's essentially one big 123 page mess.
Do I keep working on the chapter? Do I delete the chapter? Do I take my laptop and throw it out of my 1 story window? Do I get a big bottle of cotton candy faygo and chug it as I work the midnight oil on this chapter? Do I scurry away like the giant black pug like I am and forget that I ever started writing?
I am at a loss on how to fix this chapter and what to do with this story in general. Please help me!

I'm sourcing all the wine for my own summer wedding. Someone shared the Zev Ravine portfolio. I've had a few of their wines, but not super familiar with a lot of the producers on the list. I am targeting case recommendations for zippy, light and refreshing whites, ideally in the $12-15 bottle cost range.
Link to PDF attached. Thanks!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o-JHWTcDiui1vo8I-D7y7vtftNtOjdBy/view?usp=drive_link

Whenever I play, there's this "drag the edge to resize the window" icon that's blocking a bit of the view. It only shows up on landscape and not portrait and has been stuck there for days. Funtouch OS 14, vivo.

Drinking five liters of Fizzy Faz is a bad idea. Think of your kidneys and liver!
Previous part: 5.
Nothing to say really, let's just keep on keeping on!
For those new to this series or who have lost which part or place they're on, check out The Jonsie Burrows: Help Wanted 2: Tables of contents to find where you want to go! If you haven't seen any of my stuff before then...
Hello, this is something you might have missed in Help Wanted 2.
Previously Post Interesting things:

1. Our main character, HW Jeremy, Cassie's dad, is already wearing the Security Mask before we even start the game. This means Glitchtrap has access to his mind and body. As for what that entails...
2. Help Wanted 2's AMask-on version of the FNAF6 Pizzaria might be based on Micheal's canonical look for it near the end of Pizzaria Simulator.
3. After completing each minigame, a party hat, plate, and cup will appear on the table next to you. Whose party are we attending as a guest?
4. The protagonist of Help Wanted 2 is HW Jeremy, discovered through the color blue items which are prominent in the game and used for his name and shirt in Ruin. Jeremy was a former employee of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental and may have been present during the events of Sister Location.
5. In the First Aid minigame of Help Wanted 2, the "GET WELL SOON!" drawings depict Baby's life as seen through Vanny's eyes, hinting towards the game's secret ending. These drawings also reveal that Baby's data card from Sister Location was inside Helpy in Pizzeria Simulator and survived the fire. As a result, her programming was eventually absorbed into the Pizzaplex's Network, leading to her appearance in Help Wanted 2.
6. Glitchtrap may have collected the souls and memories of the original dead kids into the Pizzaplex's Network and in this game, Jeremy is going is his memories.
7. Help Wanted 2's Fizz Faz minigame's location is the same but different location in Security Breach. They both have identical objects placed in the exact place as each other, giving evidence to the fact that Jeremy is physically moving to certain locations in the Pizzaplex when clicking on the minigames.

Now back to our unregularly scheduled series!
​
Once in the restaurant again, Helpy as always when you completed a minigame, informed you that a new task was available to you. Checking the Staff Only folder revealed that it was the next night of Fizzy Faz, which you clicked on to open its pop-up window.
​
You know I've been meaning to get into the Helpi of this game. That's right not even a second paragraph into the next part and we're already deep diving into another subject!
So lets start with the interesting thing about Helpi in Help Wanted 2, is he actually Glitchtrap? Yes, no, and maybe. Let's think it through.
Unlike his Ruin variant, Help Wanted 2's Helpi only appears in one place, the projector screen in the hub world. Also unlike Ruin's this Helpi has a completely different design.
Although those two points about this Helpi don't give us much to work on to figure out why he the way he is in this game at first glance. It actually gives us a ton of information!
For one, his design and singular placement in the game tell us that this Helpi is not a part of the V.A.N.N.I. network like Ruin Helpi was. How can I know this? Simple. The V.A.N.N.I. network does not cover the FNAF 6 pizzeria.
You see something that I didn't cover in my Ruin deep dive is its Brazil ending. In that ending, Cassie puts on the Security Mask and integrates into the network one last time as she hides from the Mimic behind a Fredbear's cutout. But how could this be when Helpi explicitly tells us that the V.A.N.N.I. network ends at the door to the underground?
Something that I learned when I started my quest to prove stuff, especially when it comes to the endings of these games, is that each of the alternate endings we're given, no matter if they're the canon ending or not, provides us with valuable information about the ongoings of the game. Including stuff that's happening in the background sort of speak.
Take my "One ending leads to Ruin" post for example. Some of Security Breach's endings give us a pretty clear picture of what Vanny was doing when Gregory and Freddy went underground for the Burn It All Down ending.
The Alley ending for instance has Vanny tracking down Gregory into its namesake. But how Vanny knows that Gregory has left the building so quickly and managed to follow him right after he leaves is only hinted at in the To the Rooftop ending. During that ending we're are shown that Vanny is on the rooftop before Gregory gets there, much to his shock.
You see when deciding to escape the Pizzaplex rather than confront Vanny, Gregory falls right into one of her traps. Vanny knows that Gregory is going to try and escape the building once it hits 6:00 a.m. because she made almost every exit to the Pizzaplex unavailable and inaccessible to him until that time.
The front entrance, of course, opens at 6:00 a.m., and The loading dock requires at least a level seven clearance, which would take literally hours for Gregory to get. This leaves only one possible exit for him to leave through and the one place she can ambush him and catch him by surprise, the Pizzaplex's rooftop.
So when 6:00 a.m. hits and she still doesn't have him, Vanny waits on the roof as it provides her with a vantage point to catch him or spot which way he leaves the Pizzaplex. Unfortunately for her, but not too unfortunate considering all the possible endings, Gregory had decided to confront not her, but the true source of evil and attempt to Burn it All Down.
Though funnily enough, The Getaway ending, in which Greg and Fred steal a van, was the best possible escape plan, because the van provides Gregory the advantage of speed to outrun Vanny when she spots him from the rooftop.
All of this is information that could only be gained by looking at what the other endings tell us about what could possibly happen if different choices are made.
So what does the Brazil ending of Ruin inform us?
It can tell us that the Vanny Mask can connect to the Pizzaplex's network outside of the V.A.N.N.I network. If you are confused by my wording, let me explain as I haven't talked about it in a while. But the Pizzaplex has a main network and subnetworks. The main network is basically the foundation for every other network in the Pizzaplex, like the security system, the wet floor bots, and Glamrock Bonnie network, the various attractions' network, and the V.A.N.N.I network.
So the V.A.N.N.I network is not actually required for the Security Mask to be used, just the main network of the Pizzaplex, and as the hidden cameras of Ruin show us, at least one subnetwork connects all the down to where the Mimic was sealed. Way past where Jeremy is in the FNAF6 pizzeria.
But you don't really need the Brazil ending to find this out as the sequence leading up to it helps tease that out. No, what the Brazil ending tells us, or rather shows us and relates to Help Wanted 2, is that Helpi can appear outside of the V.A.N.N.I network.
How can I know this is Helpi? If you're referring to this Helpi, our little helper from the Security Mask, then no, I'm not talking about that Helpi. Whom I'm referring too is a variant I've come to call Helpmi. In Ruin, this corrupted version of Helpi is defined by his slight change in appearance and personality.
But more than that as I talked about in my "Helpi is a victim Prove it!" post. The source of our corrupted Helper in Ruin and is using him as a puppet is other than Glitchtrap. Our malhare has quite the fondness of using other known characters in the franchise as a trojan horse with which to interact and manipulate things. A quirk developed from his Mimic and Aftons origins, no doubt.
So when I say that Helpi can appear outside of the V.A.N.N.I network. What I'm actually saying is that Glitchtrap's Helpmi decoy can appear outside of that network. And that decoy can appear as any variant of Helpi, including Glamrock Helpy who makes an appearance in the Brazil ending instead of V.A.N.N.I. Helpi.
As to why it's Glamrock Helpy and not V.A.N.N.I Helpi who appears in that final image of that ending, I'm not totally sure. It could be that Cassie would be more familiar with that variant of Helpy as that one is the current standard design in the Pizzaplex, it may be because V.A.N.N.I Helpi is actually an entity compared to the other Helpys, or could be because Glamrock Helpy was the first version of him to be controlled by Glitchtrap.
Each possibility is likely, but no way to know the truth of it. At least for now.
But what's important here is that Glitchtrap is capable of showing those who wear the Security Mask a Helpi decoy that can direct them to do what he wants while he hides in the shadows. And that decoy can shift its appearance to fit any occasion.
Say a certain pizzeria that's deep under the Pizzaplex.
Is this Helpi actually Glitchtrap? Yes. Unlike Ruin's Helpi, this one is entirely Glitchtrap in disguise with no alter ego.
Wow, I just clocked in on that! Glitchtrap actually shows another trait of his Mimic predecessor by having a habit of putting on disguises! That is interesting...
Helpi, Nightmarrione plushie, and even Burntrap to an extent. I've been wondering why in this game, Glitchtrap seemed so intent on being hidden from our view. Especially since this is the type of situation that we should expect to see him since our mind is in the network.
We never see him up close, have a direct view of his full body, or face him directly. It can't be because he's stuck somewhere and has to communicate through a proxy as he personally hands us the memory dolls and even personally plays with us directly with his hand puppet in the Bonk-a-Bon minigame.
Maybe Glitchtrap being so hidden from us in these games after Help Wanted is not because he was cut from the games, but because he's deliberately hiding from the protagonists of these games' point of view and uses disguise to interact with them. Hmm...
Okay, we're getting off-topic now. But we will talk about this at a later date.
As for this Helpi retro appearance, I believe it has to do with being inside the pizzeria. This restaurant although is the location where FNAF 6 took place, may also be the place where a carnival happened to be. And if that giant Freddy we find near this restaurant is any indication, a Freddy 's-themed carnival that coincides with a certain annual festival that we've been hinted about in these new-era games.
Anyway, that about wraps it up about Helpi in this game. But I want to get further along in the deep dive to see if there's any else I can glean from this decoy.
Let's get back to the Help Wanted 2!
​
"Fizzy Faz fun! Meet production quotas and protect the bottom line." this was what the pop window for Fizzy Faz Night 2 read before pressed the TUTORIAL button and was transported by darkness into the void again.
"Make the correct order and send it up to the delivery unit. " "Give S.T.A.F.F. Bots a break occasionally or you may regret it." "Use the
Emergency Shut Down if things get out of hand."
Were what the ominous instructions floating in the void greeted you with. It looks like things aren't going to be so easy this night if that third one was any indication. With a press of the start button and a blink of darkness later, you find yourself back in the Mixing Room once again.
"You are back." was FIZZ Bot welcoming on your return.
"S.T.A.F.F may become hostile." Another warning about the dangers of the S.T.A.F.F bots. Looks like you are really going to need to start paying attention to them and how much of each ingredient you have.
"Give forced break." Nothing about your surroundings changed from what you've seen. Even that half-empty Sodaroni can that was between the tall monitor and the button control panel in front of you last time, was still there. So you decided to take these next few moments to prepare yourself for what's to come.
"If S.T.A.F.F strike, use SHUTDOWN button. Force reboot." Was the end of Fizz Bot's short and clip instructions for the night before the tall monitor let up, implying the shift had started and the work had begun.
(Oooh, that's what that button does, reboot the S.T.A.F.F bots. I thought it was just a lockdown button. I should've probably paid more attention to Fizz Bot's explanation on my first watch-through of this game.)
It was all going well enough for you, you followed the list of ingredients, placed the container in the delivery unit, and kept an eye on the S.T.A.F.F bots as quickly and as best as you could. Rinse and repeat.
To your misfortune though.
A loud metallic screeching noise echoed throughout the Mixing Room, throwing you off your rhythm and causing you to stare out your window and into the warehouse itself. You didn't see anything, so you checked the cameras for the source of the noise.
Your best wasn't good enough.
A whirring sound pulled your gaze off the monitor and back to our front window as something that wasn't there before had pulled up to the window and was now standing there.
It was a S.T.A.F.F bot but not one that you've seen before. It was covered in dirt like someone had pulled it out of some old dusty dirt pile left in some forgotten part of the warehouse. But more than that, someone had decided to give it strange markings made by a black marker.
Its eyes were blacked out and tear marks were given to its face along with a drawn gaping mouth designed in a way to give the impression of teeth and three stripes were made around its forearms. But the strangest thing about this bot besides the fact that it was made to look like Nightmarionne, was that there was writing on its chest and what it read.
"In your Dreams."
What? But before you could think another thought, the bot slammed its hands against the glass window before rolling itself towards your right. Right to the open exit door.
In a moment of panic and quick thinking, you slammed the emergency SHUT DOWN button in front of you before you lost sight of it in the front window. Immediately, sparks shot up from various areas in the room as a metal wall came down from above and blocked the front window and a metal door came down in the doorway. Shielding you inside the room that was currently letting off an alarm sound and blinking a red light.
With the metal shield blocking the front window and your right short monitor displaying a black screen preventing you from seeing the cameras, you were totally isolated from the ongoing outside of the room you were in.
Luckily, your other monitor was on and still gave you the current order, so using this time wisely, you finished up the next few orders before the shutdown was over.
Which was soon enough as the metal shields went back up, the red lights turned off, and the alarm became silent. The Nightmarionne bot that was once in your front view has disappeared, but you had no time to be more thorough in your search for it as you still had orders to complete and S.T.A.F.F. bots to manage.
​
I find it really odd and curious that the Nightmarione bots in this minigame don't have their glowing white eyes like in Security Breach. Is this implying that the minigame's version of these bots is just a recreation rather than being the real ones?
I just went and checked out the normal ending for this game because I remembered that the Nightmarione bots appear there too and the same goes for them. No white eyes...
At first, I was going to brush this whole thing off as just an ordinary appearance of that special S.T.A.F.F. bot. But the missing eyes thing is starting to make me believe that something else is going on here with those bots in particular.
But what?
I know that the S.T.A.F.F. bots, or at least some of them, have the souls of Fazbear employees or other victims trapped within them due to Security Breach voice lines for them. Is this telling us that the souls within them are no longer there? Or is it telling us that the souls aren't in the network that we are in?
What I mean by that last line, is that both in this minigame and the ending, we are integrated into the network through the Security Mask. But unlike Ruin, we are integrated into a different network, not the V.A.N.N.I. network.
Still, there's got to be a reason why Steel Wool decided not to give them their signature white eyes in Help Wanted 2. I can't think of anything so I'll just stick a mental pin on this for later.
​
Before long, the ending shift alarm rang throughout the warehouse letting you know that your shift has ended and your work was completed. "Return and work. Save time tomorrow." Was the last thing you heard before you were transported back to "GAME WON!" void to claim your reward from the claw machine.
Which turned out to be something surprising compared to the other prizes you've gotten from the machine. It was a red gumball machine with arms and googly eyes, aptly named Gumball Swivelhands.
Pressing the "RETURN TO HUB" button had you transported back to the restaurant. Once there, it was the same as usual. Helpy notifying you, that there was another task available and huh?
You spotted something in the left side corner of the restaurant that wasn't there before. What was weird was that it was something that you've become recently familiar with. Like, a couple of seconds ago.
Standing before you, right next to a bill-to-change machine, with an open smile, extended eyelashes, and a propeller hat was Gumball Swivelhands. How did it get here? Did someone place it here? Could you get a gumball?
No matter the question asked, the answer remained unknown to you. But this goofy gumball machine made you wonder if other prizes you receive will show up here too.
There was only one way to find out.
Back at the computer station, you clicked on the Staff Only folder to presumingly start Fizzy Faz Night 3 but you were shocked to find that the next unlocked file was another corrupted file. In fact, you had another file that was corrupted in addition to that.
This meant there were no more tasks that you could complete in the Staff Only folder until you figured out how to fix these corrupted files.
You stood there, staring at the screen wondering how were you supposed to fix them, until you sighed and closed the Staff Only folder window. There was absolutely nothing you could do, so the only logical choice you had was to pick a different folder to complete for now. Who knows, maybe one prize you will receive from one of these other folders holds the key to the corrupted files.
But which folder should you do next?
(By using a random letter generator and picking the starting letter of a YouTuber's name, we decide what to do next! So the honor of picking the next folder goes to... Huh, I guess there's not a YouTuber that played Help Wanted 2 with L as the first letter in their name.
Alright then, next letter! It's A! Which means Astralspiff!)
You decided to do Ticket Both next as you were curious as to what exactly that entailed. Clicking on the folder caused its popup window to be displayed and revealed what the folder contains. And surprisingly, there were only three things in it. Needless to say, that was much less than what the other folder had.
There were two locked folders and a file that was named Carousel with an icon of its namesake. Looks like this is going to be a little bit more interesting than the other ones too, going by just its name alone.
(Oh joy! It's the Moon minigame!)
Another click brought up the Carousel pop window which stated, "Enjoy a ride on the classical Fazbear antique carousel. May require technical support." Alright, it was time for you to see what this was all about and see what this folder had in store for you. And so with one more click, your vision was covered in black.
​
Not gonna lie, I was pumped to finish Night 3 of Fizzy Faz in this part. This is the second time where I'm ready to do a two-in-one special within one part! But I guess the Ticket Both minigames are going to have the honor of fulfilling that.
And oh joy, am I excited to get into this carousel minigame as my mind has given me an interesting thought which we'll explore more™ in the next part!

This is the story about how me and my best friend were held at gunpoint. 4 years ago, me and my friend, who we will call Bob, were in high school at the time and were on the bowling team. We had just got done with practice and decided we were hungry for some food. it was around 6 pm barely light outside, so we placed a mobile order pickup for McDonalds.
We arrived at the McDonalds and pulled into the mobile parking lot to wait for our food, while me and Bob chatted to pass the time. Bob, who was the driver, decided to turn the truck off and roll the windows down to save some gas. While we continued to wait, all of a sudden we heard someone yelling behind us. Me and Bob looked at each other, and then behind us, trying to find out who this distraught person was. We then saw an African American man walking around menacingly in the parking lot and approaching random people. Finally we heard him yell again, this time understanding that he needs a type C phone charger. Me and Bob start laughing because why is this dude screaming at the top of his lungs: “I NEED A TYPE C CHARGER” It wasn’t funny anymore when we saw him walking towards our truck. He started yelling at me and Bob, getting closer and closer. “Hey you guys in the white truck” I looked at bob and said “do you think he is talking about us” Bob said uh yeah, he was very specific, he is definitely yelling at us. So Bob yells back at this dude to say we don’t have a charger for him. Apparently he didn’t hear us, because then this guy starts sprinting towards our truck from across the parking lot. I told Bob that he better roll up the window before we get mugged. Of course Bob's truck has manual crank up windows, so before he even tries to roll them up, this guy is already standing right by his window.
Now we have a better look at this guy who is bald and tatted up, and is obviously on some sort of drug. His words were spazzing out all over the place, but he looked at Bob and asked him if he was trying to roll up his window. Bob at this point had just given up on the window and had accepted his fate. Now he has to talk to this guy. Bob then replied, no, I was just cranking it up a little bit. Then this guy starts asking for a type c charger again, and i told him that we have iPhones so we don’t have a type c charger. Then he asked us if we could look around in our truck for one. This guy has now asked us 4 times if we had a charger for him, so Bob said, look dude we don’t have one. You will need to ask someone else. And as soon as he said that this guy reaches into the truck through the window and grabs Bob by the chain with one hand, and with his other hand, lifts up his shirt revealing a gun. In a very stern voice he said “Don’t play with me, I have been to prison 2 times - you don’t know who I am” Bob trying not to show fear said, "hey man let’s calm down I don’t want no beef.”
I was sitting in the passenger seat and I didn’t know what to do because there was nothing I could do. Me and Bob have been caught in one of the most vulnerable situations. We knew we were on the bad side of town, but never expected something like this to happen to 2 teenage kids. So I just asked the dude what he needed a charger for in hopes to calm him down. He said that he needed to make a phone call, but his phone was dead. I was thinking to myself why would someone go so far to make a phone call. This guy wasn’t even there to rob us, so Bob said you can use my phone if you need to make a quick call. The guy finally let his shirt down and released Bob's chain to use his phone.This guy then proceeded to make his first phone call, while me and Bob just sat there listening in. We can then hear him talking on the phone saying that he was stuck at McDonald’s and was looking for a ride. This is when me and Bob realized how dangerous of a guy this was. He then said “We are going to rob that bitch Matt tonight and kill him,” Me and Bob at the time were thinking “Why hasn’t our McDonald’s come out yet!” He then hung up the call, only to make a second call to his girlfriend. In this call he tells his girlfriend the plan to rob some guy named Matt, and that it is going down tonight. He then tells her that she needs to pick him up to pursue this plan into action. After minutes of deliberating and arguing with her, he then proclaimed, “Well I'm with these two kids at Mcdonalds and they are going to take me.” Bob and I turned to each other in absolute panic. “How did we get in this situation?”
He hung up the phone with her, turned back to the open truck window and said “can you guys give me a ride” That’s when I pulled the mom card and told him that my mom is expecting me at home right now, it is getting late, and we are just kids. So of course this guy lifted up his shirt yet again and asked again “I said can you guys give me a ride?” Bob then finally gave in. The guy attempted to try to hop inside of our single cab truck, when Bob said, “We do not have room in here.” In which the guy said, whatever, I will lay down in the bed. Unexpectedly he then throws a gallon size ziploc bag filled with ounces of weed and other illegal items into the cabin of my truck which spilled and exploded everywhere like a flower bomb, “And oh yeah, if you guys try to leave, I took a picture of your license plate.” he stated.
We were getting framed. We were two innocent kids only looking to get our Mcdonalds and go home for the night to play video games. Finally our McDonalds food arrived, but obviously too late. This guy really had the audacity to grab the food from the McDonald’s employee while proceeding to chow down on the food that we had paid for. I guess he wanted a pre-robbery snack. The guy then takes Bob’s phone to type in the address to the location, the place where we are going to rob some guy named matt. He then hopped in the bed of the truck with my phone and the McDonalds food. Bob rolled his window up all the way and looked at me asking what we should do next. I said well, if we want to live, we should probably do as he says. Bob suggested we call the cops, but I told him it wouldn’t look good if the cops found the one pound of illegal subtances in our truck. There was no other option. Bob then backs out of the parking space after hearing his bluetooth radio begin instructing the location. “Your destination is 15 minutes away,” It said. Here we go. We can not believe this is actually happening. Today we are officially criminals. On the way to the robbery, me and bob began praying out loud for a miracle to happen. We genuinely believed we were going to die. I could see Bob visiblly shaking while gripping the steering wheel. We even made remarks to each other saying that this was the end. During the drive, we were stopped at a red light, and lo and behold, a police officer right next to us.
This was our way out. All we had to do was signal to the cop of our dangerous situation. Only thing is, we believed that the guy in the back of our truck was so unhinged, that if we were to get stopped, our situation would only worsen. Would the cops believe us? If not, our lives were ruined. Or even worse, would the guy shoot at the cop? Our thoughts spiraled through a million different outcomes while we were still in a state of shock. As we get closer and closer to the destination, the guy in the back of my truck yells for me to roll my window down to give me closer directions. We began slowly coasting through probably the most ghetto location in my city. It was a one way street with cars jam packed on each side of the road.
He tells us to slow down, as we don’t want to miss the spot. He is on the phone at this very moment with his friend, who was meeting us here. I look in my rear view mirror and see his friend, who was in a dark low rider trailing behind us. We tell him that we are going to let him hop out now, and the guy said no, I want you to pull into this parking lot right here. I looked at bob and was like man we are going to die. This really is the end. So bob pulled up into the parking lot connected to these worn down apartments. I noticed that there was an empty parking spot that was close to the main road, and suggested to Bob to park in that one. This parking spot was several feet above the road, with a huge dip off. Bob finally parks the truck so the guy can hop out. He came to my side of the truck which was the passenger side, opened the door and says - “Okay guys here is the plan. I’m going to rob this person real quick and y’all are my getaway. If you try to leave, well I will find you, and I will kill you, as he stuck a handful of my McDonalds fries into his mouth.
He then said to us that we will be lucky to leave with our lives tonight, as this could get messy. At least we didn’t have to go inside with him, as I think he even suggested that we go with him. I have never been so scared in my life. We did not know how this was going to go, as we have never been in such a situation before. The guy then pulled out his gun, and started heading towards the apartments. As soon as he made it only 5 feet away from us, I swiftly slammed my door and told Bob, “GO GO GO!” with no second thought. Pedal to the floor, he ramped the 2 foot curb with his lifted truck and big tires, bounced onto the road, and peeled out of there. We didn’t even look back, not even once. The adrenaline rush we felt in that moment made us hit 70 miles per hour for a good 5 blocks, as we had no clue where we were even going. What we did know is we were free. Finally free. We were screaming out in joy together.
Now we had to worry about this weed that was spilled in nearly every corner and crack of the interior of my vehicle, and not getting caught before we did so. But we just kept driving. We were still worried about that guy finding us. We considered reporting him to the police, as we had a picture of him from when he previously logged into Facebook to make his phone calls. It then finally hit us. Remember when he said he snapped a picture of our license plate? We finally realized after thinking more clearly, that there was no way for him to track us because his phone was dead. How were we so stupid to not think of that. Anyways, we finally found a dumpster in a dark alleyway to dispose of the illegal items. That is when everything really kicked in. That is how fast a normal day can go to a life threatening situation. We finally made it home and swore to never tell our parents. To this day, we don’t know wether or not he is still looking for us, but you can bet for a week straight we didn’t leave the house.

For more context, I am looking to upgrade from my leased Honda HRV to a Highlander - the HRV is just fine but I’m looking for a vehicle that has a functioning second row, room for a large Ruffland dog crate, and still has trunk space. The Highlander is at the top of my list. I test drove both the Highlander and 4Runner yesterday. I wanted to like the 4Runner but my 6’1” husband barely fit in it, it definitely rides more like a truck, I have to jump in and out, and I don’t love the price/gas mileage. What I did like was that it fit the crate and I had no issues seeing out the back window.
I loved the smooth ride of the Highlander and it was very comfortable. It felt very natural to drive and my husband and I both like it over our 2014 Subaru Forester. My only hang up is that while the trunk/3rd row down fits the crate with room to spare, I can’t see over it on that half of the trunk. It doesn’t need to be in the car all the time but it has to be strapped in so it’s easier to leave it. I figure I can use my side mirrors, the other half of the back window, etc. but I came across the digital rear view mirror option which sounds like the perfect solution.
However, it seems like it’s only available on higher trims and I would prefer to have a bench seat second row. Seems to make more sense to me for sitting next to a potential kid, short dog trips if he’s not crated, and for seating since the 3rd row would mostly be down. And then the higher trims don’t seem to have the bench option. I also started going down the rabbit hole of removing the 3rd row and building a lower platform but wanted to look into the digital rear view options first.
Thank you for any insight, especially those with dog crates or trunks full of stuff!

There's a little bit of talk with getting RV ready for desktop PC usage. However, I'm not sure if this is going to be viable at least within the next 10 years. The prerequisite to getting RV to replace x86 is Linux replacing Windows, and there's only tiny bits of progress on that front. Windows is only just now ready for ARM and it barely exists. Apple is doing its own thing with ARM. Therefore, is it actually a reasonable outcome that RV Linux becomes a desktop standard? By the way, RV is already "desktop ready" depending on how you view it (I know because I did the foundation's DevBoard program) but I want it to fully replace Windows.