Soft school reading passages

In this post I want to break down how I think about and how I build custom B2B lead gen eco-systems that are designed to engage a cold prospect, educate and help them to then turn into $XX,XXX deals.
I'll share the metrics and best practices from my own experiences from working with around 20 b2b companies with varying deal sizes, starting from $5k marketing packages, to $90k/yr fintech solutions and $200k software dev & IT deals. If you don't agree with my approach, that's fine, there's multiple ways to skin a cat.
Fundamentals are mostly the same and we can split it in 3 main parts.

1. Traffic acquisition
2. Nurture & education mechanism
3. Conversion mechanism.

Where most businesses go wrong is that they try to sell their expensive service to a cold prospect.
That might look like cold emailing and cold "linkedining" (new term) prospects an offer or asking if they're interested in this and that, on the spot.
This is not a good approach for one simple reason - no one want's to be sold to. Not to say that this direct approach doesn't work, for some it works good enough to stay afloat, but it's not something you can use to drive real, inbound interest in your services. Selling to prospects that you get on a sales call from 1 email or DM is extremely hard since you have to do the heavy lifting to educate them on the call and then you also have to sell them.
My goal is to turn this dynamic on it's head. Yes, we want to reach out to cold prospects. Yes, we want to run ads. But not to sell immediately. Rather, we're inviting and getting those prospects into our ecosystem where if they go through your educational materials like reports, case studies, how-to's AND have a real pain, they will come to you to solve it.
Let's break it down.
Traffic acquisition.
There's 2 channels I use to acquire traffic. Sometimes I use both, sometimes one or the other. For the most part that depends on the TAM and what we're selling.
1 - Paid ads (LI and META) are great if you need volume and your deal size varies between $5k - $20k. If you get it right, it's a system that scales easily so you can control demand and growth fairly easily too. It's also very quick and easy to troubleshoot since you can change a variable and see the result in next 3 days.
The ultimate goal of paid ads is to get as many people in your funnel as possible. The only logical way to do it is using lead magnets. Industry specific reports with unique insights that only your ICP would care about, easy-to-code tools that only your ICP would find useful (calculators work great for me), guides and courses made to solve a very specific problem, you get the picture.
We're giving away this free value in exchange for their email address. I can already hear people yelling "But giving away stuff for free only attracts freebie seekers" That's because you don't have a mechanism in place to convert that opt-in into a deal. (I'll go into in the next sections)
To make a great lead magnet I follow this mantra:

1. Has to be industry and role specific
2. Has to solve 1 painful problem for the lead
3. No surface-level, bait-and-switch teasing BS. (using lead magnet as a sales page is a big no-no)

Lead magnet is your chance to build rapport, show your competence and build good will by actually helping your prospects before you ever speak with them. USE IT WISELY. I see many businesses only tease the solution. My advice - give away all your secrets. If you're vague, your leads will think that your approach is basic and you won't capture the interest.
For us, around 20% of lead magnet leads opt-in into the next step of the funnel where we ask much more details. Company name, website, name, phone, etc, etc.
Do this step right and you'll get leads from your ICP opting into your funnel in droves, for cheap.
One little hack I do whenever I launch lead magnet campaigns is create 5-10 lead magnet ideas, create the ads and the landing pages, but don't create the lead magnet itself. Then run ads to those 5-10 lead magnets and see what your cost per lead is AND see what quality leads you attract. My baseline KPI's are sub $15 CPL on the initial launch and 3 out of 10 leads be real, actual companies that fit the ICP.
If you hit that initially, you can reiterate on the ads and the LP and get your CPL way lower.
2 - Cold outreach (LI and email) is great if you're after high ticket or enterprise level deals.
Cold outreach is great for huge target markets and/or very high value accounts. You won't reach Elon Mush through ads, but you could through cold outreach.
Instead of blanket-spamming 10k leads that might or might not need our service we do this.

1. Score companies based on fit (we use AI for this on scale by giving it bad fit examples, medium fit examples and great fit examples while also describing why each is bad, medium or great. Then we ask to output a score from 1-10)
2. For companies that score 7 or higher, look at buying signals. Recent hires, open positions, growth or decline, recent funding, featured in news (why featured in news?) and, of course, technographics.
3. Companies that display positive signals AND are a fit based on scoring, we send a personalized message automatically.

90% of this happens automatically at this point, but don't get confused - it's not AI copy that gets sent out. We have a general template and framework that we base our messages upon and AI fills in the blanks. All that is based on what information we find on the companies and what state they're currently in.
"Hey Adam, saw that Houberz is looking for an engineer with deep understanding of X. I know first hand how hard it is to fill such roles.
I have a case study on how we did Y using X technology, thought you might be interested in giving it a quick read before you pull someone onboard."
This is the general gist of it. Combine it with reaching out to leads that are likely in-market and you'll average 15% reply rates. Blast 10k emails to random list and you'll get 0.5% - 1% reply rates.
That is how we get qualified traffic on the front end.
This is how we convert it into deals.
1.1 - Paid
Once you have people claiming your lead magnet, the magic happens on the thank you page. I've seen many people just have a generic thank you page that does not prompt the next action.
Wasted digital real estate.
Instead of leaving it blank, we either have a call booking page where we pitch a non-sales call that would help fix the lead a specific problem or a signup page for a live workshop.
2nd has higher opt-in rate, but has longer time-to-deal, 1st gives you 1-1 time with high value prospects, but is more expensive..
Ideally, run both. Best of both worlds.
On top of that, when someone opts in and claims your lead magnets, you can then email them on a regular basis as part of your newsletter which gives you another channel to nurture leads and throw offers their way.
2.1 - Cold outreach
As soon as you receive a positive response to your lead magnet offer, you send it over, find that person on LI and connect (so you have another channel and they see that you're a real human) then ask if they're struggling with a specific problem that your service can fix.
If they do, great, share more case studies, share how they could solve the problem themselves and then soft-pitch a meeting in which you propose to "continue the conversation"
For cold, each convo will be different so you will have to come up with helpful and relevant email responses on the fly.
Remember speed-to-lead. The faster you answer, the higher the chance of you pushing the lead to the next step of your funnel.
So do you need both of these acquisition channels? Do you also need to post on Linkedin and dance on Tiktok?
Depends on your business. Generally, the more eyes you have on you, the more deals you'll close. These two channels are foundation for myself and any business I consult, but to supplement that and build credibility, we're also heavily investing in LI organic.
Why? People who watch your ads and engage with your emails will check out your LI eventually. If it's barren, you won't leave an impression. If it's packed with valuable, funny, insightful and humanizing posts, not only your leads will connect with you, but they'll feel compelled to engage.
So it's not one system or another - it's all of them working in cohesion.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Fantasy book based in a world without technology, where people live in villages and travel around on animals. Starts off in a village where the main character lives (I think it’s a young girl) and she uses some sort of power to stop a rock/boulder from crushing another villager. After the villagers see this, some people come to take her away to a mountain where people with these abilities go.
I also remember at some point later in the book the main character and another person go into a giant crevice in the ground and there’s a bunch of plants (possibly that they thought were poisonous but turned out not to be).
I’m also pretty sure they rode around on creatures like alpacas but made up.
My memory is really terrible but I’m really hoping someone sees this and remembers the book. I live in Australia and would have read it when I was either in primary school or high school, so probably about 10 or 15 years ago. I would have gotten it out from the library but I’m not sure which library now. I really would love to read it again!

(reposted since yesterday I put on the wrong tag 😓)
Hello everyone! I’m here to ask for some insightful opinions about University of Manitoba.
I’m planning on getting my Master’s in Supply Chain Management (MSCM) here in Manitoba but I’m still considering the options. Until now, U of M remains my top favorite, yet I’m very confused about the school. I’m aware that U of M is in the top 20 (?) research universities but I would appreciate any further insights related to the school systems, facilities or the professors.
About the location, I notice that Winnipeg is quite far from other cities (?) so would it possible to travel to the nearest province by public transport? Also, I’m planning on taking public transportation to commute, is it still easy to travel during winter months?
Thank you for reading all my concerns, I would be grateful for any supportive comments of yours. ☺️

Hello! Please delete if not allowed - it was not relevant to asl or bsl, but I will also post in linguistics per the rules. Thought someone in this community could point me in the right direction.
I am a hearing parent of a deaf/Hoh 4 year old. We are Americans and speak English at home, but we live in Europe. The local sign language is DGS, which is taught at my son's school, but we do not speak German. I'll also say I am aware sign languages and oral languages are completely different with their own grammar structures and vocabulary (therefore I do not need to learn oral German in order to learn DGS). This question is more about resources and access to information that I can understand as an English speaker.
We (hearing parents and sibling) are learning DGS as a family through the school, but we need to step up our game because my son is learning way too fast and we need to catch up! So I am searching for classes/resources to learn DGS online that I can take as. non-German speaker. I've googled endlessly and (naturally) all the resources are in German. It is not that helpful to watch a video to learn a new sign with German subtitles, or a German search function, because I can't read it. I usually do an additional translation from German to English, but that is an additional step that is slowing me down. There's gotta be something better out there.
The question: can you point me in the direction of DGS learning resources that I can access in English? Perhaps a tutoprivate teacher that is fluent in both DGS and written English? It has to be online because I'm in Luxembourg, not Germany, and I already know the handful of DGS interpreters/teachers in the country - they can't tutor me! I'm not sure where to go, hoping you guys have some ideas.

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There’s a manga I used to read in the past that I do not remember the title of. I wad hoping to get back into it, but I just cannot remember the d title or names of the characters ctets. However, I do know bits of the actual plot.
Beginning plot: Mc is a young girl that finds out that her best friend (a young girl) is transferring to a different school. There’s a wall around this school in question. Mc tries to find a way to get in, and the principal of that school ends up accepting her in because all the students there have powers. Mc in question also has hidden powers that are currently weak. Her power was to deflect other powers? Basically neutralize in a way? Later on in the story, she later discovers that she can remove other people’s powers from the individual as well. Note that they are kept in the school and cannot leave bc bad ppl will try to kidnap and sell them.
That’s all i can remember for now :(

Just A femboy looking for a serious ltr , so I’ll get to the point 🤗. I’m not here for the games , or ghosting . I’m here for something long term. Dating apps don’t work for me sadly.
Located: Texas . Willing to move to another state or have my future partner live with me .
Appearance :
A thick black femboy who loves dressing up sometimes . Height : 5’3. I wear glasses to read manga . My style is mostly goth/casual clothes from mostly anime shirts and chokers.
💙My hobbies:

• Anime : Some of my favorites animes are Tokyo ghoul , Sword Art Online , Yuri on ice , Future Diary, JJK, MHA, Yaoi(Love stage , Sasaki and Miyano)
• Manga : I’ve completed so many mangas from yaoi , Ouran high school host club , berserk , ect .
• Cosplay : I’ve done Pokémon & a Tokyo Ghoul cosplay before .
• Anime cons: I’ve been to at least 11 anime/Comic cons.
• Dueling (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
• Pokémon
• Yaoi
• Pc gaming
• Overwatch. I love this game have over 500 hrs .
• Marvel/DC
• Tv drama : The Vampire Diaries , Supernatural, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The 100.
• Horror- big fan of tv shows , movies like AHS
• Consoles I have are : Ps5, Nintendo switch , psp, ps vita, Nintendo 3ds , wii, gameboy , ect .

🩷What im looking for in a Relationship🩷

• [ ] Monogamous
• [ ] Single
• [ ] Loyalty
• [ ] Communication
• [ ] No kids
• [ ] Open-minded
• [ ] Common interest : Nerdy (Anime, Games, Star Wars or anything nerdy)
• [ ] Sure on what you want
• [ ] Mature
• [ ] 21+ in age

▶️MY TYPE:
TALL (taller than my own height) , very communicative, masculine(mostly beards and body hair) gamers/anime nerds. These are just preferences not a deal breaker .
✅Ps: for compatibility reasons I’m a 100% bottom.
If you made it this far, please message me an introduction about yourself. This is extremely important as it tells me alot about you and for me to give you a well detailed response. Mostly a name to call you , hobbies, location (state wise) and what you’re looking for . You may send pics in the first message if you may like 😊

Never was able to complete high school due to a combination of laziness and nihilism. A sudden onset of severe and daily panic attacks last year resulting in a diagnosis of panic disorder and borderline personality disorder. I’ve never had a boyfriend or any sexual encounter (minus molestation as a child), and feel as though I’ve missed out on an important and fundamental period of my adolescence due to my lack of any intimate experiences. My bulimia has caused havoc on my body physically, my weight is a constant rollercoaster changing course all the time and I feel as though when strangers look at me in public they can read the disgusting greediness, that they can see all my binge eating and puking and just know how much of a cheat I am. I just want to be with my father, I imagine him in a place absent of the noise constantly occupying my mind. Absent of worry, away from the pressure of wanting to be seen as normal or liked or dying to feel loved but knowing you’re probably too selfish and conceited to ever be able to fully experience it. I just want quiet, I want a break from my own idiocy and the unrelenting thoughts circling the drain of insanity and anxiety 24/7 to the point of feeling as though I’m going to have a mental breakdown and end up some inconsolable maniac in an institution for the rest of my life, drugged out my mind and the failure I always believed I’d inevitably become if I let myself live too long. I plan to mix Valium, Seroquel and a bottle of whiskey.

Please don't leave a vote without reading the details below!
tl;dr of my question - Is it possible to increase my analytical reasoning (logic games score) dramatically in 2 weeks?
Situation/question details -

1. Why do I want to do this?: I'm on the waitlist for a law school I really want. I'm aware that chances are slim that I'll still be on the waitlist by the time I get my June LSAT score release, in late June. But my logic is that it doesn't hurt to try.
2. My performance/skill level: I have very little experience preparing for the LSAT exam. I started studying for it around 2 weeks ago. I scored 163 on a practice test today. My goal is a 171 (which I know is a huge increase to achieve in 2 weeks). The reason I believe this may be possible is because I have huge room for improvement in the logic games section. I'm getting about half the questions wrong in this section. Getting almost all questions right in logical reasoning; getting around 7 questions wrong in reading out of 27. Thus, I should also aim to increase my reading score by around 4 additional correct questions.
3. Logistical/financial circumstances: I've registered for the June LSAT on a fee waiver. I can cancel free of charge up until the test date. So right now, I'm debating on whether I should invest my energy and time on grinding on logic games and a bit on reading for the next 2 weeks to try to pull a 171.
4. Last factor of consideration: Logic games will be gone after June. So maybe I shouldn't waste my time on logic games and just go for the October LSAT, since my logical reasoning and reading comprehension scores are significantly stronger.

Thank you so much for reading to this point. If you have, please leave an opinion below. It'll help with my peace as mind (or not, ha..) as I cram for logic games for the next 2 weeks.
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I've been out of school for a while, haven't touched math and essay writing in a while, 9 years since math and 5 years since English essay writing. My job doesn't really use the any of these skills, mostly reading and Microsoft excel. I don't write at my job. Spent the past 3 months on Gregmat drilling quant foundation and memorising the vocab mountain (I'm 80% confident), using LSAT quizzes on Khan academy to train reading comprehension. Was pretty burnt out juggling this on top of work and covering colleagues that were away in March tbh but I think I've bounced back.
I took the PP1 and scored 311 (154V,157Q 4.0 AWA) as a diagnostic. I'm not a strong test taker, time isn't an issue, I just get crazy mental block at times. I've a good idea of where my weak points are in quant (mostly carelessness, exponents and triangles). I'm going to spend the next 2 weeks cramming and drilling ETS big book practices, revisiting the vocab mountain, and practice writing 2-3 essay outlines everyday. Wondering if there's anything I'm missing out on/forgetting. Hoping to hit mid 320s but I think that may be unrealistic.

I know I'm not the only one here, I did some searching but advice seemed mostly focused on the routine rather than the person or tactics to avoid a face-off
So part of my annoyance is that we have PLENTY of time but somehow we're ALWAYS late. Daughter wakes around 7.15am. - Potty in room so she takes care of business. - School clothes are laid out which she is supposed to dress into and normally does - Downstairs for breakfast - Read over her school books - Eat + Read books to her while eating - Get her lunch/school snacks ready
Normally things are going okay but when my wife comes down, things tend to go awry. I guess my daughter is just excited to see her favourite person but then she descends into either being a little turd because 'I am being funny' or she acts like a baby. Generally annoying/frustrating everyone but her while we try to get her schoolbag etc sorted.
We try to accommodate where we can as she's a good kid and we want to choose our battles but I find inevitably this ends up in a face-off and me taking the brunt of it.
Should I ask my wife to be a bit more strict on her or something?
For example this morning, she was finished breakfast with 30 minutes until we needed to leave. She went into baby mode and would not listen. She was given tasks such as putting on her shoes etc but they took reminding and a lot of time in general.
We managed to get her in the car 5 minutes late and get the car to school. She had some bag she was holding as part of a car game she was doing and she just needed to close it. I said fine and let her do this only for her to close it and then just fiddle purposely for ten seconds and get a 'NO!' when I asked her to set it down to brush her teeth. Admittedly, I lost my cool and shouted at her.
It just always seems to require the threat of toys being taken away or something which I know sucks but why won't the kid just work with us? We've had these conversations SOOO many times and she doesn't suggest or want any changes.
I feel bad for shouting and feel like a piece of **** because it's like five minutes of school but for me it's the principle of it all. Why can she not work as part of the team and do her jobs like the rest of the family is?
Perhaps I'm the biggest issue here and should be more accepting of my 5/10minutes lateness (which I'm fine with at times if she is actually helping and not being a drag)

Hi
I have Swift rx, (and Razer Strider, Control, and textile with plastic coating Corsair pad) and I just ordered Hien Xsoft, my first Artisan pad, in red color. It's already sent so i can't change for soft version (i can return it though). I am a little bit afraid that mouse maybe can rub into the pad. I have read about that after i ordered pad. I have no problems with the Swift and its the softest pad i have, how does softness compare with Hien? I have Glorious model 0 mouse.
Thank you

I don’t know if this is the correct Reddit to post on. I’ve been trying to figure out for a while what the best one would be to ask this on. I know it’s kinda silly but I really don’t know what to do. I am planing to buzz my hair later today but I noticed I’ll have one issue, my hair is very comforting for me to touch and it’s going to be a big change without it. I was wondering if anyone has any alternatives to hair that is soft I could use as a comfort thing. I know this is a weird question, I just really want to buzz my hair but I’ve also never been without that much of it and I touch it when I get stressed because of how soft it is. If no one has any ideas could you direct me to another Reddit that might be better suited for this question? Thanks for reading and thanks for the help. 💕

I believe I heard it around 2015-16 on YouTube, but it could easily be older but is at the latest 6 years old. It was in the recommended links to Porter Robinson's Goodbye to a World, and has a similar vibe to it. I remember it made me feel the same type of sadness, like someone was dying or losing memories. It made a big impact on me but when I suddenly remembered it today, I couldn't remember anything else about it
I don't remember what the actual music was like other than it was mostly slow, melancholy instrumental until near the end. Somewhere in the second half, an old-school computer text-to-speech voice starts talking - no rhythm or rhyme, just over the music. It doesn't last long, but the only parts I remember are the start:
"Do you remember, when we went to the park...and you said"
and the end:
"How could I forget? H o w" (the final word is stretched)
I recreated it here, but the voice sounded more like a young boy. It could have been a vocaloid, but those seem more fluid and less robotic (and this was in unaccented American English). I'm pretty sure there were no other lyrics in the song up to that point or after, but that could be wrong.
.
I know it isn't any of these from my Googling:
Goodbye to a World by Porter Robinson (I know this is often the answer here but no. I'm fairly sure it's not by him at all, as his stuff is more high energy)
I Feel Fantastic
Paranoid Android or Fitter Happier by Radiohead
anything by Daft Punk
anything from Portal 1 or 2
Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap
Sign by VHS collection
O Superman by Laurie Anderson
I Need You by M83
Heaven by iMonster
How Does it Make You Feel by AIR
The Memory Could Not Be Read by Intruder Alert
Sun's Gone Dim by Johann Johannsson (I thought it could be this at first, but no)

Hi there everyone, I kind of curious, I have been writing a crossover fanfic in the style of Super Robot Wars storylines. One of the Franchises I want to add is RWBY, however, I never really got into the series until playing Blazblue Cross Tag Battle and during his time I started read up on the series on various wiki pages.
So, if I'm wrong on any details or something does seem to match the character's personalities, please tell me!
In this point of the fanfic, it took place after my idea of an ending to the series, so here goes nothing!
The white haired huntress explained why she feels this is the case, telling them the story of her younger brother and his road for redemption.
For the longest of times, Whitley had nothing but hatred for his older sisters and saw the hunters and huntresses as below him, mocking Weiss every moment he had while she was under house arrest. Escaping from this sham of a home, she swore the boy and their father were nothing but monsters and for their actions were things that she never could forgive. That is until it was after the arrest of their father and their manor being invaded by Grimms that cracks were showing in his facade of pettiness.
"During that fight, Whitley wanted nothing but to run off, until he saw our mother fighting against the Grimm before falling from the underuse of her Semblance when he knew he needed to help."
After saving Willow and learning from their mother that Whitley was as much of a victim as anyone else that the middle child chose to mend their damaged relationship. During the fall of their home Kingdom of Atlas, he continued to help by having all the SDC Saircrafts to save anyone and everyone to relocate the people to Vacuo. When the Team RWBY and Jaune return from Ever After, he became part of the attacking forces as a commander to help defeat Salem's forces.
In the final battle, He was present to witness Ruby Rose and Kairi sparing the now depowered and mortal Salem, who was told to simply live with reminders of her sins haunting her until the day she died, as this was her last life. "While we watch Salem leaving to parts unknown, I thought Whitley was going to say something foolish, but to my surprise, he only watched.
In the four weeks after Salem's defeat, Whitley began his new life but it was something to adjusted to as he worked a part time job and began to start classes in that first week The heir of whatever remained of the SDC let his hair grow out slightly, he may have been inspired by a picture of Jaune's appearance during his time in Mistral but still kept a very clean appearance.
It wasn't until a week ago that there were some Jacques' old associates from Vacuo wanted to give Whitley the position of CEO of a new company, one named Phoenix Ash.
"At first, I thought he just wanted to go back to his old ways of life when he agreed to the deal, Asked from me was to trust him about this..."
Out of the blue, The new CEO of the Phoenix Ash Group called for a Public Announcement. Weiss and Winter were watching on a monitor in an aircraft outside of the city. Fearing for the worst, that he would be making empty promises to make a postive public image, the boy spoke of ending the practices of abusing Fanuas workers. This was a lie that their father made to the press when he was alive, before the young CEO spoke of his new idea.
When questioned by the Press, Whitley told the world that he his idea was to start finding better sources than just Dust to rely on, so he would put his own Lien that he held on since childhood to fund this research. If this research was successful, then he would personally see to the closure of all Dust Mines under the Pheonix Ash banter but threaten that if any of the Fanuas workers were harmed during his time as CEO, that under his leadership that he personally see it that the abusers' paychecks would go to their victims and repeated offenders would be fired as quickly as possible. The two sisters begin to noticed that four of The Board Members who hired him were in shaking in their boots.
"Young Sir, please think of the words you speak..." one of Jacques' remaining associates on the board begged to hopefully conviced the boy to reconsider these ideas
"I am fully aware of the words coming from my mouth as much as you were aware of letting my father's actions slide so you can make more Lien. So, to be quite blunt, SHUT IT OR FIND NEW JOBS!" This wasn't like the boy they once knew while Jacques was thriving, he was a new Whitley Schnee that wouldn't be swayed by the idea of making Lien in dishonest ways and wouldn't allow anyone under his leadership to harm the Faunus workers.
"DAMNED BLEEDING HEART BRAT, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE JACQUES, THE REAL HEIR OF THE NAME OF SCHNEE!"
The oldest board member, a muscular bald man of over fourty who was still extremely loyal to the deceased CEO of SDC, charged at the youth with a knife! The youngest of the Schnee clan knew there would be risks, but didn't have any fighting experience to counter this attack.
"WHITLEY!" Weiss cried out as she knew she wouldn't be able to stop the would be killer's attempt of assassination, however, a certain green eyed Faunus, who's loyalites to Robyn Hill last to this day, arrived in enough time to stopped the youth's would be killer.
"You really think that Fiona Thyme would let you kill your new boss? As IF!"
Within a mere set of seconds, the man of three hundred and something pounds was on the ground, each insult that was aimed at the girl was countered with his former boss nodding for the girl to wack the creep across his bald head. This last for a couple of minutes until the police to take his sorry ass to jail as well as charging the Faunus with a minor crime. The girl knew that there would no way to escape but chose not to surrender as she put her hands behind her head much to the cheers of some in the crowd.
However, In those five seconds before the cuffs closed on her hands, The CEO jumped off of the platform and stood in between the messy haired Faunus girl and the arresting officer, slapping the cuff out of the man's hands to the shock of the world. When asked to step aside, the boy's answer to this was something everyone in Remnant, who were either in the crowd or watched from afar from their scrolls, never expected.
"You're really asking me to step aside, so you could take away a war hero's future? I choose to refuse for we all know these charges against her are nothing but baseless. She fought on the side of various heroes! Heroes ] from the Battle of Beacon, like the Teams: RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, FNKI, ABRN and CFVY, the heroes without teams like Lady Kairi, Qrow Branwen, and Taiyang Xiao Long, Heroes like Ilia Amitola and the Belladonna clan who were once White Fang members but left before the assassination of Sienna Khan and return to fight to stop the once peaceful group when they saw what it became under the command of Adam Taurus, heroes like the remaining members of the Ace Operatives, who fought their own feelings of sadness when they lost Clover Ebi and came together after they realized James Ironwood was in the wrong, after the man fell into despair because of how the upper class saw the innocent victims in Remnant and used Atlas as a ram to prevent the Grimm from gaining another advantage point. These groups of heroic and wonderful people came together to save the world from the forces of Salem, so why can't we, the civilains they protected, do the same?!"
There were some mutters from the civilians that watch on the ground level before one of the rich members of the crowd, a man named Harry Marigold, brought up that Weiss may have saved the world but of her crime of summoning the Grimm at the charity event at Schnee Manor should be held accountable before the youth counter with.
"The crime that night was one in justified anger when you, Harry Marigold, who ignored her sadness and only wanted my sister's attention for bragging rights, that damnable trophy wife, her weak minded shell of a husband, the former CEO of the SDC, myself and many others of the Upper Class chose to cruely mocked the recently deceased of Vale and proudly laughing about the deaths of the many innocents of the fallen Kingdom who had nothing to do with the fighting. fates we claimed that civilains deserved!? If anything, she didn't summoned the Grimm to harm anyone but wanted us demons to understand that life is not to be taken as a joke or anything to not to be take lightly. The real crime that night was that the Grimm didn't caused more damages to Schnee manor and not having the monster hurt any of us because of our cruelity to the dead! But because the CEO of SDC cared for nothing but his public image, when she confronted that scumbag for our actions and for using her as a prize toy for everyone to see, his only reaction was to slapped my sister across her face and denied her Birthright!
This made the rich members of the crowd uneasy, as they knew that they were being put in their places. They wanted the youth to be silenced but he continued, angry and filled with something that he should've had a long time ago, a frightful sense of Justice.
"For too damn long, I was blinded by my family's name, not knowing it was nothing but an evil curse and if it wasn't for my sister's actions that night and the night her team and the remaining members of team JNPR saved the lives of my poor mother and the sorry shell of a person. I, too, would've remained under the very same spell of ignorance that the old fool relished in to keep us in line. So, for you to order me around, to use my sister justified attempt on the upper class to see her honorable view on life so who could silence my words, and to force this maiden, who has fought harder than anyone here because fearful paranoia bigots using unjust hatred of every Faunus to make her life a living torture device, for her to rot in a prison cell without a fair trial, just for saving my life? That command is UNFORGIVABLE!" The boy screamed loudly and in pure rage so everyone could hear his plea.
Fiona was in shock, she heard from various communities of the Faunus that the SDC and clan of Schnee were nothing but monsters, worse than any of Salem's Grimms. Even after meeting the huntresses of Team RWBY, she believed Weiss was the only one of the family who wanted to set things right in the world.
Even through she hated the idea to keep an eye on the Schnee heir, even if it was a jobn from her trusted leader. His father and the fellow members of the Board in the SDC saw the Faunus and wanted nothing but for them to be trapped in cages without futures, But to see with her eyes, the very son made to follow in these footsteps of selfish desires, meaning every single word that left his mouth, these words that were filled with a justified desire to save the young girl from an unfair fate, was so unreal.
"If anything, it was the wicked ideas of greed that the deceased CEO held dear tt were one of the many factors that broke our world, Jacques Sc..." The boy stopped for less than a second before continuing in anger.
"....Actually no, I refuse to allow that bastard to my family's name any longer, even in death! Jacques Gélé was never a father, he was nothing but an unredeemable thief without a sense honor, who used dirty lies to trick my dying grandfather into his once humble life, the honorable man that should've had the right to lived long enough to prevent the future Gélé wanted, Nicholas Schnee!"
"Who used my recently deceased mother's, Willow Schnee, love and trust to steal a company he was never worthy to rule over from underneath her. When she learned of his deception and his lies in their sham of a relationship, the once loving and carring mother only means to escape from his wicked virus was to drink her sorrows away and seclude herself from the world!
"His sickness was something that their three children were not immuned to as he saw nothing from us but to be used as pawns so he could gain more power! It wasn't until we learned better ways to live by others, others who actually cared, that we actually became good people!"
"The first of us was to learn this lesson was The Soldier who proven herself time and time again, who enlisted in the Atlas military to get away from the sickness that Gélé took pleasure in, who leaders knocked the views of hatred for the Faunus and the usage of cheap tricks out of her, my oldest sister, Commander Winter Schnee!
"My second oldest sister, Huntress Weiss Schnee, who learn of the shame that her family name carried at her time in Beacon, who was forced to leave after the battle by Gélé for supposed safety only to be paraded around as a prize trophy daughter for his friends in the upper class, who felt the sting of venom when that man refused to accept her heroic heart, forcing her to escape his maddess so she could continued helping those who were suffering!"
"And then there's myself, Whitley Schnee, the boy who was so scared with the various changes to his home life that he chose to follow in that thief's footsteps, who once mocked the dead of Beacon along with the others in the Upper Class, who has never fought for anything and even in that last battle, was so powerless to prevent more tragedies for befall those he commanded to fight on his behalf! The boy who's heart is filled with so much regret because of his idiotic choices in life but is now filled a newly found sense of Justice, who only goal now is to find a cure for the poison, so he could, no! will make our world a better place than it was in the past!"
The crowd was stunned thar they couldn't help but to stay silent.
"Gélé has cause so much suffering to the Faunus and to many other communities. That suffering spread in the Kingdoms like wildfire. When my grandfather died, so did the fairness and honor that the Schnee name held on to....but not anymore! MY DREAM is to stop the suffering that Gélé relished in so he could live like a damn lazy king!
Whitley then put his hands behind his head and told the world.
"So if this girl goes to prison, so will I! All I asked of those listening is not to cheer no matter what the outcome is, not to cry for this foolish boy who has fought for nothing, but to simply think about his words and the weight they pull!" Whitley's blood was boiling as The puppet CEO's bight blue eyes widden to show everyone that his dream was one that the boy will work for through his pain.
After this decree was finished, everything was slient before the officer asked. "Would you die for that dream..?"
Whitley, answered with all seriousness. "If I die, then I would gladly die with a hundred stabs to my heart and soul to make damn sure that my dream becomes reality." The officer waved to another cop to bring in a second set of handcuffs, much to both cops dismay.
"Alright, I'm sorry. Whitley Schnee for disobeying a officer of the law, you have to come with us."
Whitley said not a word as the cuffs latched onto his hands. As if to respect the boy's wishes, There were no one in the crowd, maybe even in Remnant, cheering about the arrest of these two, even though the boy said he had nothing but hatred of those that surround Gélé mocking those that died in Beacon, none of the them wanted nor could cheer, for to celebrate this would be nothing but hallowed.
On route to the department to put the two in the holding cells until they could make bond, the two talked, mostly it was Whitley asking the girl a thousands questions of the culture of the Faunus, the life she lived before becoming a war hero and so on. The poor girl was shaking with overwhelmingness but snapped out of it when Whitley explained something to her.
"This is the second time you saved me from the door of death, thank you, Lady Thyme."
Fiona was slightly confused before slowly piecing together that in the final battle she rushed to the location of downed aircraft, where a gravely injured woman layed under some debris being protected by her white haired son with a mere wooded stick he found on the ground screaming. "GET AWAY! YOU GRIMMS!" before being knocked backwards and then being held by his throat.
"HEY FANG FACES, I'M MORE OF A CHALLENGE THAN THOSE TWO!" The Fanaus screamed while the Grimm let the boy go to blocked her attack.
"KID! TAKE YOUR MOM AND GET OUTTA HERE, I CAN'T HOLD THIS GUY OFF FOREVER!"The boy nodded as he grabbed his mother and ran off, not knowing that he would plan to thank the maiden the next time they meet.
"No freaking way, you're that boy?"
"Yeah...but I'm not proud to admit that I'm not one for fighting." Whitley smiled as this surprised the girl.
To think, the meek boy she saved that one time and the guy who wanted to help others despite his family's reputation were the same person? How would this day become more of a weird fever dream?
"Hey you two, I hate to burst this bubble but ready for a fight, there was another vehicle besides ours that was on their way to the department." A male's voice explained when they noticed a man in a grey cloak sitting in the darkest corner of the vehicle.
"Before you asked, I've been here for the entire trip."
"Why is that important?" The only woman of the three thought while the Schnee youth figured it out.
"That ghoul of a Board Member?"
"'Faid so, he was taken in sometime before your speech and there are only two holding cells in the department, one for men and the other for women." The man explained.
"I could use my semblance to hold him in a..." Fiona was stopped when the mystery man continued.
"...And to prevent any escapes, the cells and those cuffs on your hands are laced with anti-semblance tech."
Fiona screamed. "OH CRAP!"
Whitley was shaken but kept cool as he thought. "I guess as this is a smaller scale city, I should've figured as much."
"Are you actually prepared to die for your ideas?" The man asked the boy, but his answer was simple.
"I'm not planning to back down now, to betray those words I spoke earlier, would be a wicked sin."
Meanwhile in an aircraft a little ways off. Both Weiss and Winter were dumbfounded by their brother's speech and actions. "He has changed so much since weeks ago." The middle child thought before Winter demanded the pilot to land that at the port nearest to the city.
Yang, Kairi, Jaune, Ruby, and Blake were on the aircraft but was confused by the sudden change of directions, before the commander explained. "The Board member that tried to killed our brother was sent to the holding cell in the department before Whitley's speech."
"OH CRAP!" Ruby and Weiss screamed as they thought in dismay that the boy was going to be in an one sided fight against a heavier opponent.
"Please hold on for a bit longer, Younger Brother..." Winter quietly whispered as the Aircraft was going as fast as possible to their destination.
Upon arriving and being settle in the two holding cells, it was when the guards left the redeemer was being used as a punching bag for the man's humiliation.
"DAMN BRATTY ASSED PUNK!"
"UGHHH!" Whitley groaned, being punched for a hour, his clothing became ragged and bloody.
"LEAVE WHITLEY ALONE!" Fiona cried out at the tallest in the men's holding cell, she was in the womens' holding cell that was across the room, luckly for her, she was alone in the women's side but not for Whitley, making things worse is that the guards were sent out on an emergency call, as their thinning numbers were sent out because of a few bomb threats elsewhere in the city.
"SHUT IT, SHEEPIE! I GOING KEEP BEATING THIS BRAT UNTIL HE UNDERSTANDS HIS PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE!"
"..." The man in the hood remained quiet as he watched this uneven fight. "You should stay down..."
"...As if I would..." The Schnee boy rose back to his feet through he knew nothing of throwing punches he refused to surrender just to spite the former Board Member of Phoenix Ash.
"HEH, for a skinny brat, you're stubborn, be a good little boy and admit that you're nothing but a puppet then I'll quit your rightly deserved beatings!"
Whitley regained his balance before flipping a bird claiming. "You...really...think this..puppet would let some smug ass with no respect for anyone but those in the Upper Class to order me around? SCREW....YOU!" The boy yelled spiting blood onto the man's ghoulish face to annoy the monster in human flesh.
"...WHY YOU LITTLE MAGGOT!" The man was even more enraged now, as he punched the stomach of the younger male causing the boy fall onto the cold floor.
Fiona was horrified as she witness the former spoiled prince rose back to his feet.
"Still standing boy?"
The youth was still standing to a point, until the man pulled a dirty shiv he found in the holding cell while waiting for this very moment. The two youths' eyes widden when they saw the makeshift weapon of sharpen hard plastic.
"...A weapon!?" Fiona cried out in dismay.
"Some poor sap must have made this sometime ago, makes me wonder where he could be now, anywho while I am slicing into your flesh, Whitley, I'm going tell what I thought of those pretty little ideas of yours."
The Faunus was in a state of fear for the young puppet CEO as the shiv user quickly sliced into the white haired youth's shoulder, with this the first time being cut, Whitley scream in pain.
"AHHHHGNN!"
"FIRST, YOU WANT TO FREE THE ANIMALS FROM OUR CAGES, THEY HAVE NO RIGHTS TO A FUTURE IN OUR SOCIETY!
The next was a stab on his left upper leg, luckly not hitting anything vitals as makeshift blade of sharp hard plastic was pulled out and blood dripped onto the flooring The boy's screams of pain echoing through the empty department.
"NEXT, WE CAN'T MAKE ANY LIEN IF BLEEDING HEARTS, LIKE WHAT YOU'VE BECOME, ARE IN CHARGE OF THINGS!"
The attacker then sliced the right side of Whitley's face leaving a scar under his eye.
"THE FACE OF THE BOY WITH A NAME THAT NOWS MEANS NOTHING TOTHE WORLD, USING TRUTHS TO PISS ON THE LEGACY THAT JACQUES BUILT, JUST SO HIS SON COULD REBUILD THE HONOR THAT IT HELD WHEN THAT WINDBAG WAS STILL KICKING! WHAT FREAKIN DRIVEL!"
then a slash across his chest.
"THAT BLEEDING HEART OF YOURS WANTING REDEMPTION SO HE COULD HAVE SOME ATTENTION BUT GUESS WHAT THERE'S NO SUCH THING IN THE BUSINESS WORLD OR IN THE REMAINING KINGDOMS OF REMNANT AS REDEMPTION!"
Then the right hand of the boy, the one Whitley pull in front of his body in an poor attempt to grabbed the makeshift Shiv.
"THESE HANDS OF A SOFT SPOILED LITTLE BOY WHO, EVEN IN THE LAST BATTLE AGAINST THE GRIMM FORCES, NEVER THREW A PUNCH OR SLAP ANYONE, ARE SUPPOSED TO CHANGE THE WORLD, ALL YOU HAVE DONE IN THAT BATTLE WERE ORDERING SOLDIERS TO FIGHT FOR YOU, SOLDIERS WHO SHOULD HAVE SEEN WHAT YOU'VE BECOME!"
Finishing this rant with a punch to the gut, and mocking his braverly. "TELL ME THIS, BOY? WHEN THIS SPINE OF YOURS GREW, DID YOUR STUPIDITY DOUBLED, BECAUSE COMPARED TO YOUR DAD, YOU'RE SUCH AN DOLT TO BELIEVE YOUR OWN CRAP!"
"WHITLEY! STOP, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Fiona screamed as the man got on top of the boy's body and punch the white haired youth's face twice before the monster yelled at the girl.
"I SAID SHUT IT SHEEP! YOU MAYBE A WAR HERO THAT I CAN'T PUT MY HANDS ON BUT YOU'RE GOING TO WATCH AS THE HOPES OF THIS BOY DIES ALONG WITH HIS BODY!"
Getting off of the beaten body of the Schnee, the man let Whitley try to get up before the boy fell on his stomach and the man grabbed the white hairs of his his head and pulled his face up, so the redeemer would look into Fiona's green eyes for a last time, one filled with tears.
"ACTUALLY, IT'S FUNNY, BECAUSE OF HER STATUS AS A WAR HERO, THE SHEEP WILL GET OUT IN THE END OF THE DAY AND BE ON HER WAY HOME, BUT YOU JUST HAD TO PLAY HERO AND FOR WHAT, WHITLEY SCHNEE?! FOR YOUR REMAINS TO BE MY PUNCHING BAG UNTIL I TRANSFER TO PRISON?....IT'S SO FREAKING SAD THAT I'M LAUGHING MY ASS OFF!"
The redeemer, who's face full of buises, forgotten that this is the case for minor first time offenders but didn't care at all. Ever since Fiona saved his and his mother's lives that day, he would've happily be arrested and be beaten, time after time, so he could thank her. He wanted to smile, to show his savior that he was happy with this outcome, even this meant that his life ended today, but could barely move his face but the only could wheezingly chuckled as tears as swell from his eyes
Before the man could finished Whitley off, a small blackout happened as the doors of the cells opened, Fiona ran to the boy who risked his life just so he could to talk to her. "WHY?!" Fiona cried she held the youth in her arms. "WHY CAN'T MONSTERS LIKE YOU SEE THAT THIS A NEW WORLD, THAT WE CAN BECOME BETTER THAN WE ONCE WERE." The green eyed girl demanded anwers but the man just mocked to anwered the Fuanus.
"Do you think animals like you could understand that only the strong and the Upper Cass are the only ones who have the right to control Remnant. He could have been one of those in control and still have enough Lien to be someone important but he chose to ally with the lower class, and for little lamb he paying for it, dearly."
Putting the boy's head gently on the floor wiping the tears on her sleeve, to hopefully keep friend she made safe for a bit longer, she attempted to use Pocket Demisions to rid the world of this demon, only to realize in the middle of her attack, the power returned and because she ran to help the youth, that she was in the men's holding cell with the real beast.
"....No!" She wimpered.
"Looks like there's some of my fellow board members of Phoenix Ash are still on my side." He smiled wickening as he began to explain their plans. "You see, little Sheep, we figured the boy has a bleeding heart, so to get rid of those childish wishes to loosen our hold, we decided yesterday to make up a plan, the one that you had to prevent. So during that little speech of his, we made a second one on the fly." He continued as he put his hand on an earpiece. "...That one being the threats to distract the guards and that little blackout. Plus thanks to this little device, my semblance to increase my strength with every attack I give, still remains."
"This can't be...." She was scared, as this man that she could taken down a few mere hours ago, was telling the truth when every step he made while approaching Fiona made small cracks in the flooring.
"Damn it, We going need to cause another..." A voice explained though the earpiece before he turned off the equipment's sound option.
"Now, since you annoyed me so much, you're going be my replacement, lamb chops!" The upsuper yelled in bliss as he pulled his fist to punch her small body. She dodged the attack but his second punch connected and sent her flying into the force field door.
"AUHHGGG!" She cried out, recoiling in the pain from her back before noticing the man was coming for her, managing to get up but unable to dodge it completely in this cramped arena. She felt the punch connected with her left arm, braking the bones in the limb, Then a kick to her gut. Knocking her a few inches near Whitley's body.
"....No...."
The youngest of the Schnee clan could only watch in despair through one eye, the two were being broken by a scummy excuse of a human, and the young redeemer of his name could do nothing but watched as his attempt to prove to the world his words were real go down in flames.
"...Leave...her...alone..." These words spit out ignoring the pain as much as he could while rising back to his feet and limping to get in between the Faunus woman and her attacker.
"So, the boy still has some fighting spirit...The boy that has never fought for anything in his life, I am certain that you're doing this for everyone's attention."
The man was right on a few things, Whitley was never a fighter or some ground troop, and it may have been that he wanted attention when he first started to go down this road but Winter quickly knocked that idea out of his head, but the man is wrong on others, for Whitley realize that all he wanted to do in life is to help in anyway, even he'll be happy as a sideliner act to the main heroes.
But one can't always stay in that role and hoped to change the world, for a long time he stood by as a witness to to his father's crimes, for longer his thoughts of heroism being dismissed by that bogus excuse of a father and as far as he remembered, Whitley had others fight for him. But no more!
"In this world, money and power pull the strings, and yet you choose death for a flithy animal? How more times are you going to PISS M-!" The man was interrupted while talking by, to the surprise of all, the white haired boy headbutting his taller foe, knocking the man onto his ass!
"...WHAT!?" The man screamed in horror as he started to bleed from his now broken nose, this was the first time the business man has ever seen his own blood.
"...I've...told...the world...I...would die for my dream....even if I die today....I'll be happy to die...hundred times over again..." The boy's body was mostly broken, each word he spoke caused more pain than his body could stand but the young man still had one part of his body to fight with, his hard head!
The next thing they all knew, Whitley continued headbutting his enemy, causing the man to gain a reality check, his ability were increasing his attacks but at a certain cost, The sole major weak point on his body, the one that held the brain to think of ways to screwed others over, the one with the eyes that saw everyone else as beneath him and the one with the mouth with a booming voice he used to make threats and promises to ruin his foes, his face weaken over time with every punch or kick he gave to the two.
"NONONONONO!" The man screamed with a bloodied and bruised face, before feeling the same despair he installed into his two victims just mere minutes ago. In a desperate attempt to stop these attacks, he grabbed the man in the cloak as a hostage, with the shiv he used on the boy still in his possession.
"You-ou wouldn't w-wan...me to stab some r-random person that had nuthing to do with this, uh?!" These ragged words were like the man himself, desperate and scummy, but was enough to stop the boy from getting closer.
The foe laughed thinking he has the upper hand. "I admired your old man's talent in making a profit, but he was just like you to a certain point, he was no killer, so now I advise we wait until they let us out or I'll be plunging..."
"Tsk...This old fart really been pissing me off since we got here!"
The cloaked man yelled as he stepped on the foot of his captor along with a gunshot ringing though the air. "W-WHAT!?" The man screamed in pain as he released his hold to grabbed his now bleeding foot. "DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!" The larger man screamed before realizing why his leg strength wasn't up to snuff. While being headbutted by his Whitley, the earpiece fell out and was behind his two victims!
"No way this is happening...." He groaned in pain before the cloaked male took off his hood, just to make things worse for the would be assassin.
"...and here I thought I would have a peaceful life in prison..." The man sighed as he revealed himself to be a fomer ally of Salem, one who wanted nothing more but to rot in prisons for the remaining of his life.
"M-Mercury B-B-Black, why is a war criminal here?!" The man screamed, fearing for his life even more than before.
"I was supposed to transfer into the next city, mostly for some good behavior BS..." Mercury turned his attention to the white haired boy.
"Hey kid, you're the brother to that girl Weiss, right?"
"....." Whitley wanted to say something but really couldn't, with those last few headbutts, if he tried to speak now, he will surely faint.
"Man, the geezer really did a number on you, huh?" Mercury asked before = one of the guards and Whitley's sisters ran in.
"Holy...CRAP! WHITLEY!!"
"Why is our brother and Miss Thyme in the same cell as these two?!" Winter demanded answers before Mercury explained for panicing guard while pulling the earpiece from the ground.
"Whitley was being used by lord lard ass as a punching bag until few people from Pheonix Ash caused a short blackout, the girl ran in to stopped the beatings but was attacked as well until your little bro figuring out the buzzard's weakness by headbutting the man in his freakin' face. After that, The creep tried to use me as levelage but yeah, you can see how that worked out."
"DAMNED BRATS...." The man groaned as the two Schnee women got Whitley and Fiona out of this cell but froze in fear when he saw Winter staring down at the man.
"I figured that your group would pulled something like this when Whitley told me of the CEO position, so I looked into yours and the rest of the board's backgrounds...It was just as Black said, You and your three friends in the board of eight have more than just attempted assassination to worry about now."
This decree was worrying enough before Mercury Black turned his attention back to the older man."I guess I'm going to have a kicking dummy for a roommate now!"
"Please have mercy!" The man turned deathly pale before Fiona yelled.
"Like the mercy you shown to me and Whitley because he called out your sorry butt, I would think not!"
Weiss was next to insult the man for his behavior. "...If anything you deserve nothing but a fate in a cage, like the various futures you took away!"
"Looks like you're going to rot in a cell for the rest of your sad existence." Winter finished before the guards were told by the military commander to take her younger brother out of the room and to take his would be assassin to the other cell.
Before leaving, Winter asked the former ally of Salem.
"Mercury Black...Your sentence for your war crimes have been over with for a couple of months now, yet, you still choose to remain in prison, may I ask why?"
"Since Cinder died in the fight against our former partner and Salem's redemption attempt, I really don't have much else left. Besides it's like I've said during that battle with the hammerhead and her pretty boy lover, I have been forced to fight since I was born by a drunk abusive excuse of a dad, so even if I could be let back into society, I don't think I could be happy."
"You could've joined the military..." The eldest member of the Schnee replied before the younger male countered
"Yeah, but I hate following and giving orders, besides you've seen what this old bastard done to your brother, creeps like him and worse are everywhere in prison. So as long as I can beat them senseless, I'm freaking happy to serve more time for each brawl I get my ass into."
This silenced Winter for a couple of seconds before asking for two simple demands. "Just tell Em that I'm okay with how things ended between us, and tell her just to be happy with her new life, if she can do that, then that would give me some sort of peace."
A couple of hours later at the medical bay on the airship.
Kairi used the healing spell Curaga on both the boy and Fiona. "Thank you, Lady Kairi." Fiona bowed while still having her arm in a cast after Whitley opened his eyes, being healed.
"Hey, it's not a problem, but please, just call me Kairi for now on, okay, Fiona?"
"Ughh, what...Fiona..are you alright?" The redeemer asked his friend.
"Yes, but you took the blunt of the beating, please relax, Whitley." The Fanuas explained before the boy asked.
"Who payed for our bails? I doubt it was my sisters, our situation isn't as it once was."
At that moment, Weiss and Blake came in, the disowned heiress of the destroyed SDC was proud at the fact that her former enemy of a brother fought for what's right, explaining. "It those three you poined out from that charity that payed for your and Fiona's bonds."
"Huh?!" Fiona was taken back in surprise by this before the middle child of the Schnee family theorized
"My guess is, either your speech or being outed as horrible people that made those three pay with their own Lien to post bond. I only wished we got there quicker but the airport was on the other side of the city."
"That's good but I can only hope that the others in the crowd took my words to heart and none of the people recording that day alter the video."
...We can check for video or audio interferances later on today but something tells me those who heard your speech that they're going be thinking about it for a long time." Blake's words made the youngest member of the Schnee children a little more eased.
"If only mother lived to see her son became someone to be proud of." Weiss thought to herself that day before their last mission in Remnant before her universe was wiped from existence.
In the Hangar of the doomed Wunder, Weiss had a thought of what could've been the futures of the new CEO of Pheonix Ash and his loyal bodyguard could have been if their universe just lasted a little bit longer.
"Hey, Bozos I'm about to take the Eva-unit 02 F off of the ship, before figuring out a plan to stop Misato."
"Alright.." Aqua answered as the red-head walked towards the console before seeing something strange.
"You guys were here for the last hour right?"
"Yeah?" Duo answered before Asuka added.
"And no one else came in or tried anything funny right?"
"We've been here the entire time, what's with the questions, Langley?" Viral countered.
"...There's two signals of heat in the cockpit...."
"Umm what?" Jaune exclaimed as the console showing the statistics of the bulky armored version of Unit 02, showing two bodies of heat in the entry plug.
Before anything else was said in the group. A young male's voice came through the console. "Umm Hello? Can someone get us out of this thing?"
No one but the Schnee huntress recognize the youth's voice. "Whitley!?"
"Sis, can you hear me?"
Asuka spoke next, "How long were you two in the Evangelion for?"
"I think for three hours, oh right, Fi wanted to asked if there's any males in the area."
"Fiona's in there too?!" Wiess inner thoughts were of panic that were made worse after Jaune's answer.
"Yeah, there's four guys here, why?" Jaunne asked before Fiona screamed in embrassament.
"PLEASE GO TO THE OTHER ROOM OR SOMETHING, I CAN'T GO OUT LIKE THIS!"
"Fi, please relax..."
"RELAX!? YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE IN THIS THING WITH CLOTHES ON!" The girl whined while crying from embarrassment.
"Umm, could anyone bring clothing for Miss Thyme."
Duo began to smirked before being dragged by Viral into the next room. "Keep your dirty thoughts to yourself, Duo Maxwell..."
"Killjoy!" Duo screamed as Jonathan conviced Jaune to followed.
"Sir Arc, we should leave as well, as it is knights' honor to..."
"Already way ahead of you, Mr. Joestar. We'll see you all later when we come up with that plan!"
As this was all happening, an snore echoed out from behind the crates. "Is someone sleeping over there?" Aqua asked while checking to see who it might be.
There, Chibodee Crocket, of all people was in deep slumber, much to everyone's surprise.
"...We should wake him up..." Asuka sighed while Weiss went looking for any of the female members of the crew for some clothing.
But to the surprise of the two, he just walked into the next room while sleeping the entire time. "That...worked out way to well..."

At school in the mid-eighties I began reading a book about a nuclear war. A boy shelters from a storm in a hillside bunker while walking his dog. He’s listening to the thunder crashes and there’s one particularly loud one that shakes the hill. On leaving he sees nuclear devastation and guesses that the loud thunder crash must’ve been a nuclear explosion.
I never finished it but remember a friend talking to our English teacher about being shocked that the town poisoned a well reserved for people with radiation sickness.

I am an American citizen and my fiance is currently on a visitor B1/B2 visa and is a Turkish citizen. We both finished medical school here in Turkey and want to do our residency in the US. Applications for residency start in mid September 2024.
Normally he’d work under the H1b visa sponsored by residency, which isn’t an issue, but not all the programs sponsor that. So, with a spouse sponsored visa he would basically be eligible to apply to every program.
We are planning on getting married in the upcoming weeks, and from my understanding I need to apply for the I-130 form and wait for its approval. I've seen from many posts that it takes a really long time to get approved. Ive also read about expediting the approval. If that happens in time he’ll apply for a green card, and be in the US, and then file for an employment authorization document (EAD) which allows him to work in the US without need for sponsorship from residency programs.
So the main concern is how legally feasible the EAD option is, and if we should chase that. If we decide to do that we need to do the marriage paperwork asap here, and the other main concern is I read about is that getting a form-130 nullifies visitor visa. I am not sure if that is true if it is just for when application pending or after you get approval? Is there anyone from Turkey that had success with this process, or could give some advice?

Hey, first time posting here, looking for advice or experiences. I’ve had BDD pretty mildly for many years, but in the last couple of months it has spiralled madly into near constant intrusive thoughts about my appearance. My weight (but I do also have an ED), my face, my forehead, my hair, my mouth, my shoulders and neck; I can’t stand any aspect of my appearance and even my Big Black Hoodie (tm) isn’t really helping anymore. It’s not like I’m factually conventionally attractive either. I’m pretty objectively ugly. My positive affirmations really just consist of “I look like a person” lmao.
But it’s started to have a pretty significant impact on my school life. Being in the library/study area makes me so anxious and worked up, feeling like everybody’s looking at me all the time even if it’s basically empty. I struggle in class too but there’s not much to do about that. I struggle to focus on schoolwork (meant to be working right now lol) and it’s not impacted my recorded grades yet, but I have mock exams really soon and I’m scared as hell. Attending is getting more anxiety-causing by the day and I have to hype myself up just to walk down corridors in case anyone sees me. I want to ask the receptionists if I can be excused to a separate room during study periods (usually in the library) by default rather than going in, trying, and having to leave. Maybe getting permission to skip assemblies too (too many people) and extra freedom to step out of lessons if it gets too much.
I don’t want in-school counselling. Been there, done that, I don’t think it would benefit me. And I don’t want my parents to be contacted about it (for context I’m in year 12 in the UK). If any of you have any similar experiences, other accommodations, or know if they’ll need to contact my parents please let me know. Thanks for reading :)

I wanted to share my experience...
- during almost my entire life I was self-isolating, playing video games to the point of it becoming addictive, they degraded me mentally and physically...
- I was growing up with my abusive alcoholic father, at one point I was taken along with my Sisters by social services from him and we were fostered by our grandparents in another city.
- It was hard living in there, because we shared apartment with my cousins, mostly women, our cousins were going through hardship as well, my uncle was an alcoholic, he didn't beat my aunt like my father beat my mother but his alcoholism caused my cousins grief either way.
- I was bullied at school, when I came back "home" I lashed out, I was put to the ground hard BY MY COUSINS. My cousin's partners were also treating me badly, I didn't feel like a man there - I just wanted to feel respected at home, I craved that to HAVE SOME GLIMPSE OF SELF-WORTH... It was always my fault that I was weak...
I escaped from there back to my alcoholic father, my Sisters stayed.
- Back then in my Eastern European country there was a stage of education between primary school and high school, I was bullied through that stage too. I didn't have any chance to form any connection nor attachment with others, I was the odd one, an outcast, everyone's punching bag, I was weak physically and mentally, felt unattractive, couldn't differentiate between affection and attraction, some girls were nice to me humane, friendly - due to my OBSESSION WITH LACK OF MY OWN SELF-WORTH, I told myself that ANYONE TRYING TO HELP ME ONLY TOOK PITY ON ME, I saw pity as debilitating because IT MADE ME FOCUS ON MY BROKEN STATE EVEN MORE, that I can't handle life myself...
- In high school, being around my male friends was crippling me too, I felt INFERIOR and INSECURE around them, they went to the club I stayed, I was afraid that someone would pick on me and start bullying me and that I will ... JUST GET HUMILIATED WHILE EVERYONE WATCHES AND LAUGHS, I am sure my friends would defend me but what if they go somewhere, be busy... I HAD NOTHING TO DO AT THE CLUB EITHER WAY, NO GIRL WOULD TALK TO ME THERE, EVEN IF SHE DID SOME GUY COULD JUST COME OVER AND PUSH ME ASIDE... At the parties I only felt I don't belong there, that I have nothing interesting to say,that I will just look awkward or humiliate myself ...
It hurts like hell after reminiscing it. I thank anyone who reads it, I am gratefull for subreddits like this where I am FREE TO BE VULNERABLE IN SAFE ENVIRONMENT, where I can let my "guard" (maladaptive coping mechanism's that are mandatory for me IRL) down.
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I’m reading Vasari’s lives of the artists for the first time and really enjoying it. I have a good idea of the artists and their styles he is referencing as I studied renaissance art in school and college, but would really love if there was a website or PDF that compiles photos of the works he is talking about that I could look at while reading. Does anyone know of any such document or website? Can’t find anything like it from searching on google.
Thanks!

I’m reading Vasari’s lives of the artists for the first time and really enjoying it. I have a good idea of the artists and their styles he is referencing as I studied renaissance art in school and college, but would really love if there was a website or PDF that compiles photos of the works he is talking about that I could look at while reading. Does anyone know of any such document or website? Can’t find anything like it from searching on google.
Thanks!

Hi! Just wanted to thank everyone for all of the support on my last post, the days have been passing by easier since then. 🥹🫶🏻
Day 14 today, my counts started going up a few days ago! Neutrophils pranked me a little (0,00→0,05→0,00→0,02→0,04 today) but otherwise, everything else has been going up pretty well, hemoglobin and platelets especially! Still got pain obviously, and god awful issues with my bowel movements, but I'm managing! Optimistic for once in my life.
I realized that the only people who know my story are my doctors and part of my family. I love reading other people's stories, it makes me feel less alone (feel free to share yours if you want!), so I figured I'd share. I'll keep it brief.
Everything started with a cold that took a suspiciously long time to heal which left me with a really bad cough (that took 3 months to go away, my doctors tried everything 😭). Tiredness (5h naps during the day wouldn't cut it) turned into faiting episodes. Wounds wouldn't heal, bruises would appear. Swollen lymph nodes and gums. My last memory before getting the blood tests that changed my life was helping kindergartners (Vocational HS section where I'm basically learning to be a daycare teacher) explore a forest. In heels, without water and with no food in my stomach... Man, I really thought I could do anything. Sweet memory I cherish though.
After I got a few blood tests (I only remember my iron being 4x the amount it should've been, WBC 24k + 60% blasts) done we got a call from the lab to go to the hospital and re-do them. The hospital wouldn't re-do them because they said the results are clear, I've leukemia. The poor doctor started crying. I remember my reaction, “Leukemia? But I'm only 16.” (And now I'm turning 17 at the end of the month, how time flies) Saw a pediatric onco-hematologist on Monday. Said it looked like AML (later on found out it's "high risk, M4" but I don't exactly know what that entails) there's treatment available, said my dad can't stay as my caretaker (which I didn't understand then but I thank her for now), and then she left. She's not exactly very talkative...
Next day I got a portacath, and started investigations pre-chemo. Thankfully everything looked fine, hadn't spread to my brain, my lungs and heart were fine, basically everything was okay otherwise. Started chemo. Didn't go into remission after induction (I think I was at around 11% blasts) but went into full remission after second round. Two more rounds of chemo, then a SCT with my mom as the donor.
Now I'm looking forward to the future (although I'm also terrified of it and of the long term effects that I know I'll have to deal with). If everything goes well, my doctors have said I could maybe return to school at the start of September, which would be perfect for me since that's when the school year starts. It's genuinely my only wish. I value school so much, I know it seems ridiculous, but I studied a lot, got pretty good grades, even went to the national English olympics in 9th grade. My teachers have been very understanding too. I hope I'll be able to return, but I'll do whatever my doctors say. I don't want to set my expectations too high. I miss my teachers a lot. Also my cat, but she's having fun on the countryside! Meet Șoarec
The only thing I haven't been able to cope with is the less understanding people, haha. It really be your own family sometimes. Mom is my caretaker and although she's super sweet, she can be very rude about my pain, and pressuring me to eat/drink. Dad told me “God punished me and that's why I got leukemia” which left me stunned, I've been thinking about that for a month. Also the occasional “Oh, what's leukemia? Is it like, gamer over for you?” or “RIP” reaction when I tell someone my diagnosis. I'm gonna work these issues out in therapy though...
Hope this isn't too long or trauma-dumpy haha! Just wanted to share, this community has been very kind & helpful and I definitely wish I would've joined sooner.