Starbuck s green tea lemonade
Everything to do with the greatest drink company in the world!
2013.06.13 20:11 jedimasterV Everything to do with the greatest drink company in the world!
This is place for people that seriously love anything that the AriZona drink company puts out, and wants to contribute their love of the product in their own way.
2013.06.02 00:42 cs12345 Everything Arizona
A subreddit dedicated to the variety of the popular beverage known as AriZona.
2015.09.17 15:23 okie78 A 501c3 Tax Exempt Charity
Purpose: Build and offer programs based upon the Principles established by "The Radix Endeavor" funded by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Gates Foundation. This project will introduce AltCoins as rewards for achievement that are readily transferrable into fiat. Thereby, giving the student a financial incentive to move forward in the learning process. The game will be funded with tokens (coins).
2024.06.07 22:05 kidforlife14 Interesting (or not, I’m bored)
So I was bored and I wondered “How many spells in 5th edition (according to the players handbook and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) do not have a vocal component?”
The answer is nine from the handbook, and two from Tasha’s.
Beast Sense (somatic) cantrip
Counter-spell (somatic)
Demiplane (somatic)
Friends (somatic and material) cantrip
Illusory Script (somatic and material)
Minor illusion (somatic and material) cantrip
Mislead (somatic)
True Strike (somatic) cantrip
Booming Blade (somatic and material) cantrip
Green Flame blade (somatic and material) cantrip.
It looks like (with the exemption of Beast Sense which only Rangers have, huh I would have thought druids could too) a Warlock, Sorcerer or Wizard could have these, with a bard surprisingly having possible access to five, more than half of the ones in the handbook.
For something often overlooked (in the games I’ve played/watched) the actual words of the spell should actually be much more important, at least by the books; To make these few that don’t have a vocal component feel special.
But I could also see how it could weigh down a game and/or become repetitive (BG3 fans, you know what I’m talking about “Ignis!/Eat This!” Haha)
submitted by kidforlife14 to DnD [link] [comments]
The answer is nine from the handbook, and two from Tasha’s.
Beast Sense (somatic) cantrip
Counter-spell (somatic)
Demiplane (somatic)
Friends (somatic and material) cantrip
Illusory Script (somatic and material)
Minor illusion (somatic and material) cantrip
Mislead (somatic)
True Strike (somatic) cantrip
Booming Blade (somatic and material) cantrip
Green Flame blade (somatic and material) cantrip.
It looks like (with the exemption of Beast Sense which only Rangers have, huh I would have thought druids could too) a Warlock, Sorcerer or Wizard could have these, with a bard surprisingly having possible access to five, more than half of the ones in the handbook.
For something often overlooked (in the games I’ve played/watched) the actual words of the spell should actually be much more important, at least by the books; To make these few that don’t have a vocal component feel special.
But I could also see how it could weigh down a game and/or become repetitive (BG3 fans, you know what I’m talking about “Ignis!/Eat This!” Haha)
2024.06.07 22:03 MoneyCloudOps The Canary in the Coal Mine: Money Market Funds and Why Equities are Poised to Drop
 | Hola fellow regards, submitted by MoneyCloudOps to wallstreetbets [link] [comments] Today I am going to dive into Money Market Funds, a topic that recently grasped my attention after a back and forth with one of our own, u/InterPeritura , compelled me to produce a write up of the current assumptions and overall misunderstandings involving this type of investment instrument as well as interest rates in general. Ultimately, this post is meant to elucidate why Money Market Fund Assets increasing during ATHs for equities is a harbinger of coming economic (both monetary and financial) distress. If you already know what these are, please feel free to skip to "Times when money market fund assets increased while equities increased" section of this post. What is A Money Market Fund? To begin, I want to talk about what a Money Market Fund is not. It is NOT a Money Market Account. The difference between the two is that a Money Market Account is insured by the FDIC up to $250K, offers rates that are typically higher than typical savings accounts, and is more accessible than funds kept in the MMF. Money Market Funds in contrast buy short term debt-based securities, cash or cash equivalents such as CDs and BAs (bank acceptances), and commercial paper. They can also participate in the repo market which adds another level of complexity to their composition structure and overall risk profile. They are NOT FDIC insured so there is no guarantee of principal. A MMF is also NOT a Mutual Fund. A Mutual Fund is NOT restricted to regulatory determinations to hold a large amount of low-risk fixed instruments like government or municipal bonds. Mutual Funds can buy equities and corporate bonds, making them higher risk with higher reward. Citation: https://www.investopedia.com/money-market-account-vs-money-market-fund-whats-the-difference-7557816#:\~:text=Money%20market%20accounts%20and%20money%20market%20funds%20are,in%20an%20MMF%20is%20insured%20by%20the%20SIPC. Who invests in Money Market Funds? Anyone can invest in the Money Market by directly buying the fund or indirectly through the securities that these funds buy which are primarily short term “liquid” assets with low risk of default. The typical MMF investor is likely buying into the fund in order to decrease risk in their portfolio during times of market uncertainty. However, many people overlook the glaring regulatory issues surrounding commercial paper being used as acceptable means of money market fund composition but that's a topic for another day. MMFs can buy commercial paper and other securities and use those as collateral for other borrowings in overseas and onshore monetary facilities. Individual investors cannot participate in buying Non asset backed commercial paper. (You shouldn't want to anyway). Meaning banks and high credit financial companies can use unsecured commercial paper in repo operations with MMF managers who themselves are typically part of a financial institution. (Not with the FED but in the private repo market between intermediary financial entities like offshore banks and financial corporations). Citation: Sec3(a)(3) of the Securities Act; FED1 Times when money market fund assets increased with equities (Hint: it's the opposite of “outgoing procession”) Now that the background information on what MMFs are and how they operate have been clarified somewhat, I will now present data showing why increases in money market participation alongside increasing equities is actually a sign of trouble to come. Current contemporary retail misconceptions:
Now ask yourself: “why would decreases in interest rates be linked to less participation in MMF and more money in equities?” The answer is....it doesn't. Interest rates in the short term (not long term), as we all already know, are influenced by FED policy. And by now we should know that the FED is primarily concerned with price stability and keeping unemployment low (how well they perform these duties is debatable). So, if central bankers are considering cutting rates, this means that current macroeconomic conditions are unfavorable for either one or both of the above-mentioned FED mandates. Poor economic future outlook is NOT a boon to equities, which should be obvious. Basically, MMFs exist as a facility for investors to use to park cash while they wait for better opportunities in the market. Their main pros are high liquidity and low risk. Liquidity and risk management are the reasons money market funds of this type are used. We only need to look at 3 graphs to show us that money market funds increase in their attractiveness as economic conditions become more volatile and uncertain and only begin to decrease after the equities market bottoms out which will be used as our proxy for sentiment changes. Exhibit A: Dot Com Bust Leading up to the dot com bust, the fed funds rate started at 6.5 % in Q3 of 2000 and ended at 1.7% by Q3 of 2002 after the end of the recession. Picture 1 (blue line is 6.5% while red is 1.7%) Picture 1 (blue circle is 6.5% while red is 1.7%) Despite interest rates lowering, Money Market Fund Assets continued to increase and did not begin to decrease.... until the recession was over. At the same time the S&P 500 went from $2592 in Sept of 2000 all the way to $1412 by Sept 2002 Arrows are color coded to correspond with fed funds rate during the period discussed. Arrows are color coded to correspond with fed funds rate during the period discussed. Exhibit B: Global The date is September 6th, 2004. The federal funds rate is sitting at 1.48% (green circle). Three years later, on September 10th, 2007, the fed funds rate was 5.25% (orange circle) pic#4 During this time, money market funds did, in fact, increase in net assets (See pic #5). However, in 2008 when the GFC was well underway, Bernanke slashed rates all the way to 0.15% by Sep 7th, 2009 (purple circle). Yet, despite the lower yield on money market funds during this time, net assets increased until they peaked in Q4 of 2008 and remained relatively level until Q2 of 2009 (See purple line in pic #5). #5: MMF assets INCREASED while rates were lowering in the recession (shaded region) This decrease in Money market fund net assets coincided with the bottom in equities that same year. Money remained “sidelined” until macroeconomic confidence was restored. (See pic #6). #6 Purple line in pic 5 and this pic show that sentiment change in the equities market corresponded with decreasing MMF utilization Are we seeing the pattern here? Money Market Fund utilization is not tied to interest rates. They are tied to macroeconomic conditions and sentiment. MMFs are increasingly used when macroeconomic sentiment and outlook begins to increase in uncertainty and typically reach highest net asset values when sentiment around equities change. They are NOT tied to interest rates. Exhibit C: Covid Lockdown Recession Many people forget that, prior to COVID, macroeconomic sentiment was leaning toward a weakening economy and a looming, but slightly obfuscated, recession. Again, same pattern with economic uncertainty increasing and Money Market Fund net asset values increasing while equities rise. In response to anticipated macro weaknesses, Powell began to cut rates halfway through the Q3 of 2019 starting from 2.41% in July of 2019 all the way to 1.55% by November of 2019(See picture #7). Pic #7. Red dot is 0% interest rates in March However, during the last half of 2019, MMF increased in net assets despite the decreasing interest rates(See picture # 8). Pic #8 :Increasing MMF utilization alongside decreasing interest rates All of this occurring while equities reached ATHs in December and would tread water until Covid in late february/early march caused mass selloffs (See picture #9). pic #9: Between black and green lines, S&p increased while MMF asset increased (See pic#8) The unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus policies and packages make this data series harder to interpret. However, we can infer that the V-shaped recovery in equities following the intervention from the FED that wiped out many veterans in this sub was indicative of a sentiment shift. Again, MMF net assets corroborate this relationship with sentiment being the deciding factor as net assets began to decrease and level off until late 2022 and early 2023 when they began rising again...the same year everyone was expecting a recession to occur. Conclusion In summary, if there was a causal and directly proportional relationship between interest rate levels and MMF net assets, there would not be so many instances of money market funds being over utilized during periods of interest rate cuts. MMFs are primarily utilized by private investors, institutions, and companies to manage risk while keeping capital in highly liquid assets in uncertain market climates. NOT for the enticing interest rate. TLDR?: There is no observable correlation with money market fund asset increases corresponding with rises in equities later. This means cash in those instruments are not used later on in equity markets but primarily to keep current cash liquid and earning interest to a relatively safe degree. Powell cutting interest rates is a sign that a recession is already underway and will be a time when market sentiment will be at their lowest and most uncertain, MMFs will actually be increasing in net assets while equities fall. Positions? I am currently building a QQQ short position in LEAPs with strike prices in the mid 300s. Will update once it is above $10k Thoughts? |
2024.06.07 22:02 Draconimur The Arxur Farmer IV
Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, the story is not abandoned, I just got a bit lost in other stuff and have fallen out with the world of NoP a bit. I will continue the story, through I can't promise a new chapter every month.
On another note, I am quite proud of this chapter, this is definetly my favourite one, and I enjoyed expanding on Velnils past and mental health. (And tormenting him, of course. Nah, just joking. xD)
Thank you for creating this beautiful universe!
Also thanks to for proofreading!
Criticism is very much welcome, let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
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First Previous Next
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Memory transcription subject: Velnil, Arxur deserter Date [standardized human time]: 25th of October, 2136, Middle of the night
CW: panic attack, hallucination, self harm
[Note: Dream state detected. Reliving memory. Proceed? (Y/N)]
[Y]
The cold seeped deep into Velnil’s scales as he trudged up the hidden path of the forest, up onto a small hill where a single, just barely alive tree stood still. There was no wind, no new smells and no sound. It was calm, eerily calm, forcing Velnil to periodically stop and look around, seeing if anyone had followed him.
Every time, there was nothing. It was just the empty forest, filled with dying trees and withered bushes. There were a few animal bones here and there sticking out of the ground, but he did not care enough to spare a glance at them.
As he ascended higher and higher on the small hill, he felt as his breathing slowly returned to normal from the usually used powerful intakes and blowouts. He took a slow, deep breath, as he arrived at the tree, letting the cold air run into his lungs, and calming down his beating heart. He was here again. The only question was if he was really alone or not.
“Frostbubble, are you there?” He asked, almost in a whisper as he looked around, moving towards the tree. It still felt strange to use this nickname, but if it kept her safe and happy, he was more than glad to use it.
“Aww, you did come, Velny.” The voice was almost sickeningly sweet for Velnil’s ears, but he knew it was because of everything he had been learning. The warmth in his chest was just another proof to it, as he noticed her lanky shadow climb down from the tree, keeping a small bag up with her tail as she did so. He felt a slight blush creep onto his face as she hopped down, and quickly approached him.
“How have you been? I hope they didn’t manage to rough you up too badly this time.” The care in her voice made Velnil shutter and relax at the same time, as her hand landed on his arm, caressing the scar he had first received for insubordination.
He was four back then.
“No. I’m okay, Zar… Frostbubble.” More warmth filled his chest at her wide toothed smile. “They didn’t get me this time. I managed to trick them.”
“So clever and cunning, Velny.” Her grating chuckle, while repulsive to his ears, was music to his heart. He felt a soft pressure on his hand as she took it, and began leading him to the other side of the tree, facing away from the facility, and out towards the dying wilderness. The view has always filled him with dread, seeing as nature had slowly withered away with his feelings, only to eventually be replaced by even more factories and facilities. It was truly as if the planet felt his pain, his suffering as he was slowly broken down, only to be replaced by the ideals and will of Betterment.
They sat down on the ground, neither of them caring about the cold, as they leaned back a bit, looking up at the night sky. Everything was so calm, yet Velnil couldn’t keep himself from looking around, listening for any noise that could tell him they were not alone.His anxiety only grew, until he felt a soft touch on his chin. He let his head be turned back towards her.
Her smile was horrible(line through) beautiful. The shine of her eyes as she looked at him so calmly, like they weren’t in constant danger of being found out and killed. It angered him, but at the same time, it filled him with a strange feeling. It was still so alien to him, he never felt it before, only when he was with her.
“We are safe here, Veln. Don’t worry so much about it. I am always watching and also making sure that no one is following you. You don’t need to turn around that often. Let yourself relax a bit.” It didn’t make any sense. How could he relax? They were out and about without the knowledge of the masters, they were going against the rules.
She is not even supposed to be here. She was never in the facility.
He opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything as she closed it, playfully flicking one of her claws on his snout. He shook his head, incredulous about what just happened.
“I know that look, Velny. Relax, just for this once.” As she leaned forward, his heart rate spiked, the alien feeling shooting up like fire as warmth filled his face at the feeling of her nuzzling his snout. He leaned towards her, eyes half-lidded as he felt his muscles relax ever so slightly. Perhaps Zartha is right. He could relax with her, and not be on the lookout for any danger that may be around them.
“Maybe… maybe you are right, Frostbubble.” He mumbled, his eyes closing momentarily as his snout moved to rub at her throat, with a sharp intake of air coming from her.
“Veln, I…” Zartha stopped for a few seconds, prompting Velnil to lean back a bit to look at her. She looked… troubled? Unsure? No, it was something else. Her eyes fluttered while looking all around, as if searching for danger, but they always returned to him, at which point she flicked with her tailtip, until it snagged at her satchel.
“I made something for you.” Velnil cocked his head as he watched her pull out a thermos, quickly unscrewing its top. He watched as steam rose from the thermos, filling the air with a sweet scent, creating an even more serene atmosphere.
“It’s Trilltilla tea. It took a long time, but I wanted to make it for you.” Velnil watched as she presented the top part of the thermos for him. Slowly reaching out, he took hold of it, their hands touching as their eyes met. The shining in her eyes, the way her irises grew, her tail that wagged more and more. He was sure she felt the same strange feeling he felt, as his tail wagged as well, albeit slowly.
He then took hold of it properly, lifting it up to drink. There was no need to say thanks. She knew he was thankful for it.
“So, this is where you have been sneaking off.” Velnil jumped up and whipped around, the top of the thermos falling to the ground as its contents spilled. Next to the tree stood his master, with two burly arxur standing on either of his side. The scowl on his master's face told him everything. They saw everything, the two of them have been found out.
It was over for them.
Zartha slowly stood up, to which one of the arxur moves so quickly to her, it was almost a blur. A painful yelp came from her as she was punched in the gut, tumbling forward, but she wasn’t allowed to fall to the ground. The arxur kept her up, while his master and the other moved in.
“So, you must be Zartha. I have heard quite a lot of you. A disgrace to our kind, really.” His master’s voice was full of contempt. Velnil didn’t dare to speak, nor did he dare to move, lest he might lose his head.
Or worse…
“I’m no disgrace. The only disgrace here is how you trea-” She wasn’t allowed to finish. Master didn’t allow her. The arxur holding her punched her again, forcing the air out of her lungs.
“Tssk. Such a waste of resources. This one is unfixable.” As his master’s eyes landed on him, Velnil felt himself freeze under the glare. “But you will still be redeemed, boy. Oh, you will be. I will make sure of that. You are allowed to return to your dwelling, at this instant.” His heart didn’t want to, but his mind knew he must move. Velnil’s legs, almost like he was on auto-pilot, moved, one after the other, as he began making his way down. He heard as his master turned to address the other arxur.
“Find its father and wipe its disgrace off this world. Then find its mother, and make sure that woman brings a proper arxur into this world.” An acknowledging grunt was the only answer.
The cold seeped deep into Velnil’s scales as he made his way down the hill, the warmth escaping, leaving him with a cold, painful pressure on his rumbling stomach that yearned for her tea.
But it will never feel its warmth.
~~~
Growling, and pressure on his stomach was what woke Velnil up. On instinct, he striked with his right arm, his sharp claws swiping at nothing. His head swiveled around, with no need for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the night, trying to find whatever was threatening him.
There was nothing.
Velnil began to work on calming his breathing as he tried to listen, focusing on the nightly sounds of the forest, seeing if he can hear the soft running of paws, or the strong thumps of human legs.
Again, there was nothing.
With a grumble, he rolled onto all fours, sniffing around and looking for any clues on what might have growled and pawed at him.
The sound repeated itself, this time however, Velnil felt the painful clamps of his stomach as it rumbled loudly, seemingly discontent with the lack of food inside of it. With the realization that he is just hungry - very much so -, Velnil got into a bipedal stance, and began making his way towards the farm.
Looking around as much as he could see of the sky, it must have still been well into the night. He could have just checked it on his holopad, but then his eyes would have to adjust to the dark again, and he would possibly give away his location - after all, he could never know if something or someone was watching him.
The night was annoyingly cold, but it was nothing like what he had to survive during his training. It molded him, made him stronger, able to ignore the cold seeping into his bones and keep on going.
He always had to keep going.
He promised it.
Velnil didn’t know how long he was walking when another rumble left his stomach, this time however, his mouth began to water at the enticing smell his nostrils had caught. It was a familiar smell, divine even, and the bigger breath he took, the more it filled his being, as the picture practically smashed itself into his mind.
Krakotl.
Yumm.
Dropping onto all fours, he made his way towards the source of the smell, taking great care to avoid stepping on a branch, or making any noise that might give away his position. He froze, and silently cursed himself at another rumble of his stomach. Do you want to be filled or not?! If so, be silent!
His stomach did not respond. Good.
Continuing to stalk forward, the smell started to become stronger as the wind carried it to him. Reaching another, much smaller clearing, he hid inside one particularly big bush, easily seeing out of it.
There, in the gentle moonlight kneeled a young, healthy looking krakotl. Its feathers reflected the moonlight beautifully, and he could make out some kind of red pattern on the otherwise greenish plumage that covered it. From scent alone he could tell that it was a female, possibly the same age, or maybe older than he was.
It was just the right age. He could feel himself salivating as he watched it do something, it had its back to him, he could jump out and just get it!
His muscles tensed as he prepared himself, but a sudden thought of realization of where he was exactly forced him to stop, tensing up even more as to not jump. Just then, the krakotl leaned back up, revealing what it had been doing.
Velnil felt himself recoil a bit at the sight of the familiar flower. How did the krakotl get it here?! Who even allowed it to plant that? Why…?
The slits of his eyes slowly rounded out as he watched the light of the moon shine onto the flower, prompting it to slowly unfurl, revealing five sickly green colored petals, with a bright blue colored inside. Velnil felt himself lowering onto the ground, his eyes becoming blurry - but why?
Reaching up, he felt something wet in his eye - tears. He was… crying? Why was he…
It is what she used to make tea for you that day. The memory hit him like a plasma bolt. The flower - Triltilla, or Lover’s poison as some used to call it, was a rare flower from the krakotl turned arxur colony world. Interestingly, the prey was the one that came up with the nickname for the flower - it was said that when the lover made tea from the petals, it’s effect depended on the care that was put into it - the petals had to be cleaned from any pollen, then cured and dried for the right amount of time, which was then followed by making the tea. If the maker of the tea put the proper care to it, it worked as sort of a love potion - it helped with maternity and helped the mates bond.
But if even the slightest mistake was made, if the maker wasn’t careful enough, the pollen, or not drying it for the proper amount of time greatly changed its effect - causing severe pain for whoever drank the tea, and in some cases, even death.
It was dumb. Of course it was, it came from a prey infested world that was cleansed by his ancestors!
And yet, that single flower was one of her favorites. He never truly understood why, but of course, how could he.
He was well into his training back then. He saw it as her weakness. One of her oh so many flaws that plagued her ability to live as a proper arxur.
Oh, because you always lived as a proper arxur? Came the sudden response to his thoughts, feeling another pang of pain from his stomach as he once again wiped a tear from his face. He forced back down a slight growl as he looked back up at the prey, his tongue running over his lips as he kneaded the ground beneath his paws. He wanted to to jump out, to strike, to once again taste his favorite food.
Could he really kill through?
A third, this time much louder rumble had escaped his stomach, it seemed this time the prey had heard it.
“Hello?” The prey’s head whipped around, staring at his general direction, as her soft trilling voice rang out. “Is anyone there?” Another question rang out, it sounded so young, and yet, he watched as his prey’s eyes slowly went over her surroundings, forcing Velnil to slightly pull back, and close his eyes until there was only a slight line visible.
As he imagined how it would taste, his tongue running over his lips, the krakotl took a tentative step forward, eyes still scanning the treeline.
“Lia, is that you?” As Velnil finally got over the fight inside his head, his hunger slowly winning, he prepared to pounce, his eyes opening more ever so slightly as his claws dug into the dirt a bit.
“Aw, damn it. How did you know?” Once again, Velnil almost stumbled out of his hiding spot as a sudden voice came from somewhere to his right. He watched as the prey turned their head towards the voice, as Velnil barely held back an angry hiss at the appearance of a female human.
The woman, referred to as ‘Lia’ seemed to be around [180cm] in height, as she made her way over to the krakotl with surprising silence. Light brown hair flowed down her back, tied into a ponytail. Similarly to other humans, she was also wearing fake pelts, with surprisingly light colored blue jeans and light green shirt.
For a second, Velnil wondered how the human does not shiver from the cold, but his mind quickly wound up with another question: how in the twisted wriss does she hunt in such light clothes? What other thing could she do here at a time like this?
“I didn’t. You scared the… Why are you even here?” The krakotl puffed its feathers up as it turned its head to its side to glare at the predator in front of it. Albeit the body language of the prey showed slight alarm and trepidation, its voice was surprisingly calm, maybe even reproachful. The human seemed to also take note of its voice, putting up her hands as she looked at the prey.
“Oh, I’m sorry miss ‘I go for a walk into the forest in the middle of the night’”. At this, the krakotl seemed to deflate, lowering their head a bit, but not for long, as the human stepped up to them, and brought their head back up with what he assumed was a gentle touch. “I just woke up to being cold, and after waiting a bit, and looking and not finding you, I became worried. Besides, what do you expect if my living, breathing blanket suddenly disappears?” The human chuckled, which was soon joined by the prey's own chuckling, extending a wing to strike at the human.
“Oh, hush, you! It’s not my fault your only protection is your strange pelts! Plus, why are you not wearing anything else, aren’t you cold?” A slight worry in its tone was sickening to listen to, as Velnil continued to watch the two interact, until the human female suddenly stopped, snapping their head towards his direction, accommodated by a cracking sound, which was then followed by the woman groaning, and massaging their neck.
“Shit.. That hurt…” She mumbled. Both the prey and Velnil seemed to jump slightly at the sudden movement, albeit for different reasons. As the prey started worrying over the human, Velnil pulled back even more, laying completely flat on the cold ground as his heart beat even faster. Impossible, this is impossible! The wind is coming from their direction, I was as silent as a night stalker, how could she know I’m here?!
His question wasn’t left unanswered, which confused him greatly.
“Are you okay? What was that?” Asked the krakotl for the third time, thankfully silenced by the human.
“Nothing, nothing, I just… I thought someone was looking at me. I could feel whatever it was.” At the answer, the krakotl tilted its head in confusion, clicking its beak a few times in contemplation.
“You… felt something staring at you? But… how? Aren’t you humans… you know?” The meek thing shrunk a bit again, but was quickly calmed by the human, who ran their hand over their back.
“Eh, it’s hard to explain, and it’s quite late. Let’s just say that sometimes we just get this… feeling of being watched. I have to say, it wasn’t the best idea to come out here without a flashlight, now that I think about it. This place gives me the creeps.” The human seemingly shuddered as she looked around, while the prey looked even more confused.
Before it could say anything however, the human sighed, and turned back to the krakotl.
“Anyways, we should probably head back, Suyla. I heard that tomorrow we will have a… not so good surprise. So we should probably, at the very least, get well rested.” At this, the krakotl seemed to realize something, as they huddled closer to the human, looking around with fear.
“Do you think that it’s… here?” It asked, its voice quivering a bit as the human put their hands on its back, trying to calm the prey.
“Well, I saw Rich arrive, so he must be already here somewhere.” At this point Velnil realized they were talking about him, and he held back a growl once again. He watched as the human led his catch away, leaving him with an empty stomach and an even sourer mood.
“NoT sO gOod SuUrPRisE..” Velnil mimicked mockingly, growling to himself after the human and his food left, grabbing and squeezing a handful of earth as he sulked. This is so dumb, as if the humans would be any better! They are weak and pathetic predators! Even he could take on a few of them! Probably.
Yeah, and you would get yourself killed. And prove them right.
Whatever! He thought to himself with a rumble. It’s not like I care about what they think.
Of course you don’t. Otherwise you would have to accept you are a-
Silence! Growled Velnil as he shook his head. For a few moments, he waited for a reply, but when it didn’t arrive, he raised his chin smugly.
He was about to get up to be on his way when he heard some rustling in front of him. Looking up, he noticed something that looked a lot like a sivkit, except it was wrong in almost every aspect, except for its eyes. He watched the animal approach the newly planted flower, and Velnil scoffed as the animal began to sniff at it.
Dumb prey. You don’t even know what that is, and you just approach it. As Velnil watched the animal, his eyes widened, and time seemed to slow down as he saw it open its mouth.
Oh no, you won’t. With a growl, he sprung from his hiding spot, his maw opening wide with razor sharp teeth as he caught the prey just before it could turn and run.
The metallic taste was a welcome sensation.
~~~
Velnil hummed a low tune for himself as he was walking back to his clearing, his hunger somewhat satiated as he let the cold air fill his lungs to their capacity. With his hunger sated for the foreseeable few hours, he could think a bit more clearly about his situation.
This place looked nothing like a farm. At least, not how a cattle farm would look like, but even those places had parts where they grew prey food to feed the cattle.
So if the humans are not going to keep cattle on this farm, apart from the alien one, why grow so much on such a big area? He knew humans can eat prey food, as revolting of a thought it was, they all could just eat more meat. Do they really care that much about the walking and talking prey that they don’t eat meat because of them?
Bah. Of course they care about their cattle. That way they won’t run away.
Though, the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Do they really not eat the alien cattle that are here? Albeit he only just arrived, the animals didn’t seem to be scared at all. That woman - Lia, was his name, if he remembered correctly - even went out into the cold night to find her feathered ‘friend’.
Growling softly, he shook his head, banishing the line of thought to the back of his mind. He didn’t need to think about this - it was useless when it came to his survival. He knew the humans would do anything to save cattle - even if said cattle bombed them. If it needs to be, he can always take one as a hostage, and on the other hand - he probably could still get at least one of the prey riled up enough to attack him.
That will be spectacular.
But what else could he do? There was one saying he saw on a human website that described his current position quite nicely - He was a wolf among sheep. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had to get them to lower their guards, to not view him as a threat, but rather, one of those weak useless arxur who cannot do anything right.
Oh, you have experience in that, don’t worry.
“Shut. Your. Mouth.” He hissed to himself, stopping in his tracks as he looked forward. His arms shook slightly, but he forced his hands into fists to stop it.
What’s the matter, Velnil? Forgot about me so quickly? You hurt my - sorry -, our feelings.
“I said shut up!” Growling filled the air as Velnil leaned forward, the shaking moving to his shoulders.
Why should I? We are no longer in the Dominion. Betterment can’t get a hold of us. We are free.
“We are not free… We will never be.” growled Velnil suddenly turning to swiftly strike at a tree. He winced from the pain shooting through his right hand, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to feel. He shouldn’t feel anything.
But we are. We ran away, fooled the humans, fooled their prey. We could go where we want. Or stay here. Live a new-
“This is NOT my home!” Velnil yelled. “This will never be. I am not free, just a damned prisoner of another species! I can never be as free as I want to be!”
And what would you call being free? Not like you would know it, of course. I can see it, after all. You know nothing about being free. You are just-
“Shut up! Shutupshutupshutup!” Velnil yelled as he began hitting his head against the tree, each time his body shaking in pain while the tree stood steadfast.
Unmoving.
Uncaring.
Emotionless.
With tears in his eyes, he slunk down against the tree, his breathing fast and uneven. The shadows danced around him, waiting in silence, waiting to pounce on his weak form. The sounds of the night sky became howls of predators, the ground further ahead opened up, the rotten, clawed hand of an arxur suddenly appearing at the edge of it, pulling it’s body up, revealing a set of familiar yellow eyes.
“V-veeeeelniiiilll” Groaned her corpse as she pulled herself up, taking a step closer. His breathing fastened as his eyes were trained not on her head, but her torn open neck.
“No… No… I- I didn’t…” His whines were left unanswered as her corpse took another step towards him, an arm reaching out as one of her eyes fell out, leaving the empty socket as a void to peer into and devour his weak soul.
“I didn’t want to!” He yelled, trying to crawl away, but the tree behind him didn’t let him. “I never wanted to! I-I-I wanted to keep you safe, but I-”
“Veeeeeel-” The corpse sighed out, before taking in a shallow breath - her torn open throat moving along with the action, opening to let air in, before she continued. ”-nyy.” Another step, then as he blinked, she was standing over him. A startled whine left him as he scooted back even more, pressing against the tree as she reached out.
“I’m sorry! I’m so fucking sorry, I wanted to save you, I did!” He screamed hiding away behind his arms as he shouted one last thing: “I loved you!”.
As he shrunk back even more, his breath slowed, his head became woozy as soon his consciousness began to slip away, hearing her speak one last time.
“Veeeeeelnnnyy.”
~~~
Velnil came back to consciousness with a start, head rapidly turning around as his breath hitched, until pain shot through his head. With a wince, he pulled himself up, gingerly touching his head - his scales were damaged, and blood was dried on his head. He winced slightly as pain shot through both his head and right hand.
Shit. They will definitely notice this… He thought to himself as he took a ragged breath. He looked where the hole had appeared - there was nothing, the ground was undisturbed. His gaze lingered on it, before he eventually turned, and continued to make his way towards his clearing, still in the darkness of the night, like nothing had happened.
It has been so long since the last one. Why now? Why is she tormenting me? His questions were left unanswered. He forced himself to stop, and after taking a deep breath, he looked around, listening for any nearby river or something. Sniffing around, he could feel the smell of water off in the distance, and so, he began making his way there.
I need to wash off the blood.
Within a few minutes, he had found a large river, the water flowing down with relative force. Kneeling down at its edge, he leaned forward, and began cleaning his head and hand with practiced, almost robotic movements. The proof of his weakness stinged and flared up at the cold touch of water, but he did not care. He watched as the water slowly took on a red hue, before disappearing down the river.
Within another few minutes, Velnil could easily make out the outline of the injury - it wasn’t too big, but it was most definitely noticeable, and will take days - if not a few weeks - to properly heal. He could hide it, since he was still somewhat bigger than everyone else - but then that would go against his plan on appearing meek and unsure about things.
Maybe I could use it. Play it off as having a bad night. Maybe I could get them to give me more food than they planned. The humans are very empathetic, I’m sure that after seeing this, they would feel bad enough for me to somewhat drop their guard. Maybe I can even fool some of the prey. Yes, that, being attacked by one should be enough for them to not view me as a threat.
Satisfied with the plan, Velnil got back up, and with a sigh and a few minutes of walking, he finally made his way back to the clearing. Lying down on the cold ground, he carefully rested his head atop his bag once again, looking at nothing in particular.
His next few minutes were filled with rolling around, unable to go back to sleep, as his thoughts were slowly but surely going back to the krakotl he saw. The green feathers, adorned by a red pattern, its yellow beak, and similarly yellow eyes.
Yellow eyes that stared deep into his soul.
The yellow eye that has fallen out of its socket, to leave an empty void to devour his soul.
Velnil forced his eyes shut, turning around again. Not again. He thought, forcing himself to think of other things - the taste of the prey animal he caught, his way towards Earth, the russif.
Eventually, within a gruesome few minutes, Velnil was finally granted the sweet release of sleep.
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submitted by Draconimur to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
On another note, I am quite proud of this chapter, this is definetly my favourite one, and I enjoyed expanding on Velnils past and mental health. (And tormenting him, of course. Nah, just joking. xD)
Thank you for creating this beautiful universe!
Also thanks to for proofreading!
Criticism is very much welcome, let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
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Memory transcription subject: Velnil, Arxur deserter Date [standardized human time]: 25th of October, 2136, Middle of the night
CW: panic attack, hallucination, self harm
[Note: Dream state detected. Reliving memory. Proceed? (Y/N)]
[Y]
The cold seeped deep into Velnil’s scales as he trudged up the hidden path of the forest, up onto a small hill where a single, just barely alive tree stood still. There was no wind, no new smells and no sound. It was calm, eerily calm, forcing Velnil to periodically stop and look around, seeing if anyone had followed him.
Every time, there was nothing. It was just the empty forest, filled with dying trees and withered bushes. There were a few animal bones here and there sticking out of the ground, but he did not care enough to spare a glance at them.
As he ascended higher and higher on the small hill, he felt as his breathing slowly returned to normal from the usually used powerful intakes and blowouts. He took a slow, deep breath, as he arrived at the tree, letting the cold air run into his lungs, and calming down his beating heart. He was here again. The only question was if he was really alone or not.
“Frostbubble, are you there?” He asked, almost in a whisper as he looked around, moving towards the tree. It still felt strange to use this nickname, but if it kept her safe and happy, he was more than glad to use it.
“Aww, you did come, Velny.” The voice was almost sickeningly sweet for Velnil’s ears, but he knew it was because of everything he had been learning. The warmth in his chest was just another proof to it, as he noticed her lanky shadow climb down from the tree, keeping a small bag up with her tail as she did so. He felt a slight blush creep onto his face as she hopped down, and quickly approached him.
“How have you been? I hope they didn’t manage to rough you up too badly this time.” The care in her voice made Velnil shutter and relax at the same time, as her hand landed on his arm, caressing the scar he had first received for insubordination.
He was four back then.
“No. I’m okay, Zar… Frostbubble.” More warmth filled his chest at her wide toothed smile. “They didn’t get me this time. I managed to trick them.”
“So clever and cunning, Velny.” Her grating chuckle, while repulsive to his ears, was music to his heart. He felt a soft pressure on his hand as she took it, and began leading him to the other side of the tree, facing away from the facility, and out towards the dying wilderness. The view has always filled him with dread, seeing as nature had slowly withered away with his feelings, only to eventually be replaced by even more factories and facilities. It was truly as if the planet felt his pain, his suffering as he was slowly broken down, only to be replaced by the ideals and will of Betterment.
They sat down on the ground, neither of them caring about the cold, as they leaned back a bit, looking up at the night sky. Everything was so calm, yet Velnil couldn’t keep himself from looking around, listening for any noise that could tell him they were not alone.His anxiety only grew, until he felt a soft touch on his chin. He let his head be turned back towards her.
Her smile was horrible(line through) beautiful. The shine of her eyes as she looked at him so calmly, like they weren’t in constant danger of being found out and killed. It angered him, but at the same time, it filled him with a strange feeling. It was still so alien to him, he never felt it before, only when he was with her.
“We are safe here, Veln. Don’t worry so much about it. I am always watching and also making sure that no one is following you. You don’t need to turn around that often. Let yourself relax a bit.” It didn’t make any sense. How could he relax? They were out and about without the knowledge of the masters, they were going against the rules.
She is not even supposed to be here. She was never in the facility.
He opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything as she closed it, playfully flicking one of her claws on his snout. He shook his head, incredulous about what just happened.
“I know that look, Velny. Relax, just for this once.” As she leaned forward, his heart rate spiked, the alien feeling shooting up like fire as warmth filled his face at the feeling of her nuzzling his snout. He leaned towards her, eyes half-lidded as he felt his muscles relax ever so slightly. Perhaps Zartha is right. He could relax with her, and not be on the lookout for any danger that may be around them.
“Maybe… maybe you are right, Frostbubble.” He mumbled, his eyes closing momentarily as his snout moved to rub at her throat, with a sharp intake of air coming from her.
“Veln, I…” Zartha stopped for a few seconds, prompting Velnil to lean back a bit to look at her. She looked… troubled? Unsure? No, it was something else. Her eyes fluttered while looking all around, as if searching for danger, but they always returned to him, at which point she flicked with her tailtip, until it snagged at her satchel.
“I made something for you.” Velnil cocked his head as he watched her pull out a thermos, quickly unscrewing its top. He watched as steam rose from the thermos, filling the air with a sweet scent, creating an even more serene atmosphere.
“It’s Trilltilla tea. It took a long time, but I wanted to make it for you.” Velnil watched as she presented the top part of the thermos for him. Slowly reaching out, he took hold of it, their hands touching as their eyes met. The shining in her eyes, the way her irises grew, her tail that wagged more and more. He was sure she felt the same strange feeling he felt, as his tail wagged as well, albeit slowly.
He then took hold of it properly, lifting it up to drink. There was no need to say thanks. She knew he was thankful for it.
“So, this is where you have been sneaking off.” Velnil jumped up and whipped around, the top of the thermos falling to the ground as its contents spilled. Next to the tree stood his master, with two burly arxur standing on either of his side. The scowl on his master's face told him everything. They saw everything, the two of them have been found out.
It was over for them.
Zartha slowly stood up, to which one of the arxur moves so quickly to her, it was almost a blur. A painful yelp came from her as she was punched in the gut, tumbling forward, but she wasn’t allowed to fall to the ground. The arxur kept her up, while his master and the other moved in.
“So, you must be Zartha. I have heard quite a lot of you. A disgrace to our kind, really.” His master’s voice was full of contempt. Velnil didn’t dare to speak, nor did he dare to move, lest he might lose his head.
Or worse…
“I’m no disgrace. The only disgrace here is how you trea-” She wasn’t allowed to finish. Master didn’t allow her. The arxur holding her punched her again, forcing the air out of her lungs.
“Tssk. Such a waste of resources. This one is unfixable.” As his master’s eyes landed on him, Velnil felt himself freeze under the glare. “But you will still be redeemed, boy. Oh, you will be. I will make sure of that. You are allowed to return to your dwelling, at this instant.” His heart didn’t want to, but his mind knew he must move. Velnil’s legs, almost like he was on auto-pilot, moved, one after the other, as he began making his way down. He heard as his master turned to address the other arxur.
“Find its father and wipe its disgrace off this world. Then find its mother, and make sure that woman brings a proper arxur into this world.” An acknowledging grunt was the only answer.
The cold seeped deep into Velnil’s scales as he made his way down the hill, the warmth escaping, leaving him with a cold, painful pressure on his rumbling stomach that yearned for her tea.
But it will never feel its warmth.
~~~
Growling, and pressure on his stomach was what woke Velnil up. On instinct, he striked with his right arm, his sharp claws swiping at nothing. His head swiveled around, with no need for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the night, trying to find whatever was threatening him.
There was nothing.
Velnil began to work on calming his breathing as he tried to listen, focusing on the nightly sounds of the forest, seeing if he can hear the soft running of paws, or the strong thumps of human legs.
Again, there was nothing.
With a grumble, he rolled onto all fours, sniffing around and looking for any clues on what might have growled and pawed at him.
The sound repeated itself, this time however, Velnil felt the painful clamps of his stomach as it rumbled loudly, seemingly discontent with the lack of food inside of it. With the realization that he is just hungry - very much so -, Velnil got into a bipedal stance, and began making his way towards the farm.
Looking around as much as he could see of the sky, it must have still been well into the night. He could have just checked it on his holopad, but then his eyes would have to adjust to the dark again, and he would possibly give away his location - after all, he could never know if something or someone was watching him.
The night was annoyingly cold, but it was nothing like what he had to survive during his training. It molded him, made him stronger, able to ignore the cold seeping into his bones and keep on going.
He always had to keep going.
He promised it.
Velnil didn’t know how long he was walking when another rumble left his stomach, this time however, his mouth began to water at the enticing smell his nostrils had caught. It was a familiar smell, divine even, and the bigger breath he took, the more it filled his being, as the picture practically smashed itself into his mind.
Krakotl.
Yumm.
Dropping onto all fours, he made his way towards the source of the smell, taking great care to avoid stepping on a branch, or making any noise that might give away his position. He froze, and silently cursed himself at another rumble of his stomach. Do you want to be filled or not?! If so, be silent!
His stomach did not respond. Good.
Continuing to stalk forward, the smell started to become stronger as the wind carried it to him. Reaching another, much smaller clearing, he hid inside one particularly big bush, easily seeing out of it.
There, in the gentle moonlight kneeled a young, healthy looking krakotl. Its feathers reflected the moonlight beautifully, and he could make out some kind of red pattern on the otherwise greenish plumage that covered it. From scent alone he could tell that it was a female, possibly the same age, or maybe older than he was.
It was just the right age. He could feel himself salivating as he watched it do something, it had its back to him, he could jump out and just get it!
His muscles tensed as he prepared himself, but a sudden thought of realization of where he was exactly forced him to stop, tensing up even more as to not jump. Just then, the krakotl leaned back up, revealing what it had been doing.
Velnil felt himself recoil a bit at the sight of the familiar flower. How did the krakotl get it here?! Who even allowed it to plant that? Why…?
The slits of his eyes slowly rounded out as he watched the light of the moon shine onto the flower, prompting it to slowly unfurl, revealing five sickly green colored petals, with a bright blue colored inside. Velnil felt himself lowering onto the ground, his eyes becoming blurry - but why?
Reaching up, he felt something wet in his eye - tears. He was… crying? Why was he…
It is what she used to make tea for you that day. The memory hit him like a plasma bolt. The flower - Triltilla, or Lover’s poison as some used to call it, was a rare flower from the krakotl turned arxur colony world. Interestingly, the prey was the one that came up with the nickname for the flower - it was said that when the lover made tea from the petals, it’s effect depended on the care that was put into it - the petals had to be cleaned from any pollen, then cured and dried for the right amount of time, which was then followed by making the tea. If the maker of the tea put the proper care to it, it worked as sort of a love potion - it helped with maternity and helped the mates bond.
But if even the slightest mistake was made, if the maker wasn’t careful enough, the pollen, or not drying it for the proper amount of time greatly changed its effect - causing severe pain for whoever drank the tea, and in some cases, even death.
It was dumb. Of course it was, it came from a prey infested world that was cleansed by his ancestors!
And yet, that single flower was one of her favorites. He never truly understood why, but of course, how could he.
He was well into his training back then. He saw it as her weakness. One of her oh so many flaws that plagued her ability to live as a proper arxur.
Oh, because you always lived as a proper arxur? Came the sudden response to his thoughts, feeling another pang of pain from his stomach as he once again wiped a tear from his face. He forced back down a slight growl as he looked back up at the prey, his tongue running over his lips as he kneaded the ground beneath his paws. He wanted to to jump out, to strike, to once again taste his favorite food.
Could he really kill through?
A third, this time much louder rumble had escaped his stomach, it seemed this time the prey had heard it.
“Hello?” The prey’s head whipped around, staring at his general direction, as her soft trilling voice rang out. “Is anyone there?” Another question rang out, it sounded so young, and yet, he watched as his prey’s eyes slowly went over her surroundings, forcing Velnil to slightly pull back, and close his eyes until there was only a slight line visible.
As he imagined how it would taste, his tongue running over his lips, the krakotl took a tentative step forward, eyes still scanning the treeline.
“Lia, is that you?” As Velnil finally got over the fight inside his head, his hunger slowly winning, he prepared to pounce, his eyes opening more ever so slightly as his claws dug into the dirt a bit.
“Aw, damn it. How did you know?” Once again, Velnil almost stumbled out of his hiding spot as a sudden voice came from somewhere to his right. He watched as the prey turned their head towards the voice, as Velnil barely held back an angry hiss at the appearance of a female human.
The woman, referred to as ‘Lia’ seemed to be around [180cm] in height, as she made her way over to the krakotl with surprising silence. Light brown hair flowed down her back, tied into a ponytail. Similarly to other humans, she was also wearing fake pelts, with surprisingly light colored blue jeans and light green shirt.
For a second, Velnil wondered how the human does not shiver from the cold, but his mind quickly wound up with another question: how in the twisted wriss does she hunt in such light clothes? What other thing could she do here at a time like this?
“I didn’t. You scared the… Why are you even here?” The krakotl puffed its feathers up as it turned its head to its side to glare at the predator in front of it. Albeit the body language of the prey showed slight alarm and trepidation, its voice was surprisingly calm, maybe even reproachful. The human seemed to also take note of its voice, putting up her hands as she looked at the prey.
“Oh, I’m sorry miss ‘I go for a walk into the forest in the middle of the night’”. At this, the krakotl seemed to deflate, lowering their head a bit, but not for long, as the human stepped up to them, and brought their head back up with what he assumed was a gentle touch. “I just woke up to being cold, and after waiting a bit, and looking and not finding you, I became worried. Besides, what do you expect if my living, breathing blanket suddenly disappears?” The human chuckled, which was soon joined by the prey's own chuckling, extending a wing to strike at the human.
“Oh, hush, you! It’s not my fault your only protection is your strange pelts! Plus, why are you not wearing anything else, aren’t you cold?” A slight worry in its tone was sickening to listen to, as Velnil continued to watch the two interact, until the human female suddenly stopped, snapping their head towards his direction, accommodated by a cracking sound, which was then followed by the woman groaning, and massaging their neck.
“Shit.. That hurt…” She mumbled. Both the prey and Velnil seemed to jump slightly at the sudden movement, albeit for different reasons. As the prey started worrying over the human, Velnil pulled back even more, laying completely flat on the cold ground as his heart beat even faster. Impossible, this is impossible! The wind is coming from their direction, I was as silent as a night stalker, how could she know I’m here?!
His question wasn’t left unanswered, which confused him greatly.
“Are you okay? What was that?” Asked the krakotl for the third time, thankfully silenced by the human.
“Nothing, nothing, I just… I thought someone was looking at me. I could feel whatever it was.” At the answer, the krakotl tilted its head in confusion, clicking its beak a few times in contemplation.
“You… felt something staring at you? But… how? Aren’t you humans… you know?” The meek thing shrunk a bit again, but was quickly calmed by the human, who ran their hand over their back.
“Eh, it’s hard to explain, and it’s quite late. Let’s just say that sometimes we just get this… feeling of being watched. I have to say, it wasn’t the best idea to come out here without a flashlight, now that I think about it. This place gives me the creeps.” The human seemingly shuddered as she looked around, while the prey looked even more confused.
Before it could say anything however, the human sighed, and turned back to the krakotl.
“Anyways, we should probably head back, Suyla. I heard that tomorrow we will have a… not so good surprise. So we should probably, at the very least, get well rested.” At this, the krakotl seemed to realize something, as they huddled closer to the human, looking around with fear.
“Do you think that it’s… here?” It asked, its voice quivering a bit as the human put their hands on its back, trying to calm the prey.
“Well, I saw Rich arrive, so he must be already here somewhere.” At this point Velnil realized they were talking about him, and he held back a growl once again. He watched as the human led his catch away, leaving him with an empty stomach and an even sourer mood.
“NoT sO gOod SuUrPRisE..” Velnil mimicked mockingly, growling to himself after the human and his food left, grabbing and squeezing a handful of earth as he sulked. This is so dumb, as if the humans would be any better! They are weak and pathetic predators! Even he could take on a few of them! Probably.
Yeah, and you would get yourself killed. And prove them right.
Whatever! He thought to himself with a rumble. It’s not like I care about what they think.
Of course you don’t. Otherwise you would have to accept you are a-
Silence! Growled Velnil as he shook his head. For a few moments, he waited for a reply, but when it didn’t arrive, he raised his chin smugly.
He was about to get up to be on his way when he heard some rustling in front of him. Looking up, he noticed something that looked a lot like a sivkit, except it was wrong in almost every aspect, except for its eyes. He watched the animal approach the newly planted flower, and Velnil scoffed as the animal began to sniff at it.
Dumb prey. You don’t even know what that is, and you just approach it. As Velnil watched the animal, his eyes widened, and time seemed to slow down as he saw it open its mouth.
Oh no, you won’t. With a growl, he sprung from his hiding spot, his maw opening wide with razor sharp teeth as he caught the prey just before it could turn and run.
The metallic taste was a welcome sensation.
~~~
Velnil hummed a low tune for himself as he was walking back to his clearing, his hunger somewhat satiated as he let the cold air fill his lungs to their capacity. With his hunger sated for the foreseeable few hours, he could think a bit more clearly about his situation.
This place looked nothing like a farm. At least, not how a cattle farm would look like, but even those places had parts where they grew prey food to feed the cattle.
So if the humans are not going to keep cattle on this farm, apart from the alien one, why grow so much on such a big area? He knew humans can eat prey food, as revolting of a thought it was, they all could just eat more meat. Do they really care that much about the walking and talking prey that they don’t eat meat because of them?
Bah. Of course they care about their cattle. That way they won’t run away.
Though, the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Do they really not eat the alien cattle that are here? Albeit he only just arrived, the animals didn’t seem to be scared at all. That woman - Lia, was his name, if he remembered correctly - even went out into the cold night to find her feathered ‘friend’.
Growling softly, he shook his head, banishing the line of thought to the back of his mind. He didn’t need to think about this - it was useless when it came to his survival. He knew the humans would do anything to save cattle - even if said cattle bombed them. If it needs to be, he can always take one as a hostage, and on the other hand - he probably could still get at least one of the prey riled up enough to attack him.
That will be spectacular.
But what else could he do? There was one saying he saw on a human website that described his current position quite nicely - He was a wolf among sheep. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had to get them to lower their guards, to not view him as a threat, but rather, one of those weak useless arxur who cannot do anything right.
Oh, you have experience in that, don’t worry.
“Shut. Your. Mouth.” He hissed to himself, stopping in his tracks as he looked forward. His arms shook slightly, but he forced his hands into fists to stop it.
What’s the matter, Velnil? Forgot about me so quickly? You hurt my - sorry -, our feelings.
“I said shut up!” Growling filled the air as Velnil leaned forward, the shaking moving to his shoulders.
Why should I? We are no longer in the Dominion. Betterment can’t get a hold of us. We are free.
“We are not free… We will never be.” growled Velnil suddenly turning to swiftly strike at a tree. He winced from the pain shooting through his right hand, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to feel. He shouldn’t feel anything.
But we are. We ran away, fooled the humans, fooled their prey. We could go where we want. Or stay here. Live a new-
“This is NOT my home!” Velnil yelled. “This will never be. I am not free, just a damned prisoner of another species! I can never be as free as I want to be!”
And what would you call being free? Not like you would know it, of course. I can see it, after all. You know nothing about being free. You are just-
“Shut up! Shutupshutupshutup!” Velnil yelled as he began hitting his head against the tree, each time his body shaking in pain while the tree stood steadfast.
Unmoving.
Uncaring.
Emotionless.
With tears in his eyes, he slunk down against the tree, his breathing fast and uneven. The shadows danced around him, waiting in silence, waiting to pounce on his weak form. The sounds of the night sky became howls of predators, the ground further ahead opened up, the rotten, clawed hand of an arxur suddenly appearing at the edge of it, pulling it’s body up, revealing a set of familiar yellow eyes.
“V-veeeeelniiiilll” Groaned her corpse as she pulled herself up, taking a step closer. His breathing fastened as his eyes were trained not on her head, but her torn open neck.
“No… No… I- I didn’t…” His whines were left unanswered as her corpse took another step towards him, an arm reaching out as one of her eyes fell out, leaving the empty socket as a void to peer into and devour his weak soul.
“I didn’t want to!” He yelled, trying to crawl away, but the tree behind him didn’t let him. “I never wanted to! I-I-I wanted to keep you safe, but I-”
“Veeeeeel-” The corpse sighed out, before taking in a shallow breath - her torn open throat moving along with the action, opening to let air in, before she continued. ”-nyy.” Another step, then as he blinked, she was standing over him. A startled whine left him as he scooted back even more, pressing against the tree as she reached out.
“I’m sorry! I’m so fucking sorry, I wanted to save you, I did!” He screamed hiding away behind his arms as he shouted one last thing: “I loved you!”.
As he shrunk back even more, his breath slowed, his head became woozy as soon his consciousness began to slip away, hearing her speak one last time.
“Veeeeeelnnnyy.”
~~~
Velnil came back to consciousness with a start, head rapidly turning around as his breath hitched, until pain shot through his head. With a wince, he pulled himself up, gingerly touching his head - his scales were damaged, and blood was dried on his head. He winced slightly as pain shot through both his head and right hand.
Shit. They will definitely notice this… He thought to himself as he took a ragged breath. He looked where the hole had appeared - there was nothing, the ground was undisturbed. His gaze lingered on it, before he eventually turned, and continued to make his way towards his clearing, still in the darkness of the night, like nothing had happened.
It has been so long since the last one. Why now? Why is she tormenting me? His questions were left unanswered. He forced himself to stop, and after taking a deep breath, he looked around, listening for any nearby river or something. Sniffing around, he could feel the smell of water off in the distance, and so, he began making his way there.
I need to wash off the blood.
Within a few minutes, he had found a large river, the water flowing down with relative force. Kneeling down at its edge, he leaned forward, and began cleaning his head and hand with practiced, almost robotic movements. The proof of his weakness stinged and flared up at the cold touch of water, but he did not care. He watched as the water slowly took on a red hue, before disappearing down the river.
Within another few minutes, Velnil could easily make out the outline of the injury - it wasn’t too big, but it was most definitely noticeable, and will take days - if not a few weeks - to properly heal. He could hide it, since he was still somewhat bigger than everyone else - but then that would go against his plan on appearing meek and unsure about things.
Maybe I could use it. Play it off as having a bad night. Maybe I could get them to give me more food than they planned. The humans are very empathetic, I’m sure that after seeing this, they would feel bad enough for me to somewhat drop their guard. Maybe I can even fool some of the prey. Yes, that, being attacked by one should be enough for them to not view me as a threat.
Satisfied with the plan, Velnil got back up, and with a sigh and a few minutes of walking, he finally made his way back to the clearing. Lying down on the cold ground, he carefully rested his head atop his bag once again, looking at nothing in particular.
His next few minutes were filled with rolling around, unable to go back to sleep, as his thoughts were slowly but surely going back to the krakotl he saw. The green feathers, adorned by a red pattern, its yellow beak, and similarly yellow eyes.
Yellow eyes that stared deep into his soul.
The yellow eye that has fallen out of its socket, to leave an empty void to devour his soul.
Velnil forced his eyes shut, turning around again. Not again. He thought, forcing himself to think of other things - the taste of the prey animal he caught, his way towards Earth, the russif.
Eventually, within a gruesome few minutes, Velnil was finally granted the sweet release of sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First Previous Next
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2024.06.07 21:58 PreparationTiny363 Whatever Podcast Exposed
 | I have some personal tea about the @whatever podcast. I’m graduating from UCSB but a year or two ago I was contacted to go on the podcast. I found out that the podcast location is in our college town Isla Vista and they pursue the UCSB girls to go on for $100. We all started realizing how degrading the content was so most stopped joining which is why they resorted to insta ad’s targeting the feed of UCSB students. He would DM me and text me multiple times to go on and even to try to take me out on a date. I saw in one of the last vids he said he “has to force girls off of him from wanting to get at him” 🙄boy my texts say otherwise lmfaooo submitted by PreparationTiny363 to h3h3productions [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 21:58 Disc0untBelichick Emulating Infinite Grass Draw Distance
 | Seen a few posts over the last month or so inquiring about increasing grass draw distance/increasing its rendering distance. I figured I’d share a setup I’ve used to emulate this effect without touching grass ini settings which is generally not recommended. submitted by Disc0untBelichick to SkyrimModsXbox [link] [comments] The below setup is meant for those wanting to use green grass in the tundra. I’d definitely welcome suggestions/recommendations on how to achieve this same type of transition with brown tundra grass(landscapes, lods, tints and grasses).
All mods shown in screenshots below.
|
2024.06.07 21:57 DefinitionOk2485 [UK] Is my employer setting the stage for constructive dismissal?
Hello,
So I have been (unjustly) put on a PIP three months in a work work permit-sponsored 32K job in England. I cleared multiple rounds in the interviews and also passed 3 month probation with the employer. However 3.5 months in they have put me in a PIP (PIP did not officially start yet but I have been informed of this and HR is involved). Being dismissed or resigning would mean I have to leave the UK, until I find another work permit sponsored job. The stakes are very high.
The issues started with budget over runs primarily, I kinda messed up and take accountability. However, I am also within my remit to say the budget over runs happened because I haven’t received sufficient training. I had pick things up on the job, which means client work getting delayed / budget over runs. They say I have prior experience and should know this stuff already however I am ‘green’ grade staff / lowest paid staff grade at the firm.
Now they have started to do somethings they haven’t done before. They email me everything / creating an evidence trail. In the emails, they allocate time for each task, 1hr or 2hr - basically if I don’t meet deadline for each specific task, that’s documented evidence of my perceived incompetence and could be used to dismiss me. I am 3.5 months into the job. I have requested for support instead of putting in any support they are putting me in a high pressure environment. They conducted a random review meeting and basically shredded me into pieces / insulted me saying I am ‘not even a green’ (green is least paid staff grade).
Also my contractual work base is in Liverpool but I am being asked (forced) to go to the firm’s offices in Manchester, Chester, Crewe, client sites etc, even though there is a hybrid work policy of wfh 2 days. I guess they are trying to monitor me. They are very small minded and micromanagers. One day I got feedback that I keep looking at computer screen (reviewing work files) instead of actually writing findings for client reports. In upcoming weeks, I have been scheduled to work from different offices in different cities, which makes travel so much harder for me, and the work is already cumbersome. Sometimes I go to these offices and the colleagues don’t even talk to me - I just do my own work- they just want me there in front of their eyes for oversight. I am also poc and on a visa - in my probation, the company fired three colleagues who were poc and on visa.
I think my employer is forcing unreasonable expectations on me, as someone on lowest staff grade and 3.5 months in, also having to go regional offices which are not my contractual work base. All under the banner of ‘support’ following performance issues relating to things I wasn’t trained for. Specially with the new emails of time allocation etc, in context of everything, are they setting the stage for constructive dismissal?
Can someone please help? I desperately want to leave and have been actively applying but the visa situation forces me to stay. I have a feeling they will dismiss me eventually anyway but the months I am in PIP they are making my life hell.
Thanks in advance.
submitted by DefinitionOk2485 to AskHR [link] [comments]
So I have been (unjustly) put on a PIP three months in a work work permit-sponsored 32K job in England. I cleared multiple rounds in the interviews and also passed 3 month probation with the employer. However 3.5 months in they have put me in a PIP (PIP did not officially start yet but I have been informed of this and HR is involved). Being dismissed or resigning would mean I have to leave the UK, until I find another work permit sponsored job. The stakes are very high.
The issues started with budget over runs primarily, I kinda messed up and take accountability. However, I am also within my remit to say the budget over runs happened because I haven’t received sufficient training. I had pick things up on the job, which means client work getting delayed / budget over runs. They say I have prior experience and should know this stuff already however I am ‘green’ grade staff / lowest paid staff grade at the firm.
Now they have started to do somethings they haven’t done before. They email me everything / creating an evidence trail. In the emails, they allocate time for each task, 1hr or 2hr - basically if I don’t meet deadline for each specific task, that’s documented evidence of my perceived incompetence and could be used to dismiss me. I am 3.5 months into the job. I have requested for support instead of putting in any support they are putting me in a high pressure environment. They conducted a random review meeting and basically shredded me into pieces / insulted me saying I am ‘not even a green’ (green is least paid staff grade).
Also my contractual work base is in Liverpool but I am being asked (forced) to go to the firm’s offices in Manchester, Chester, Crewe, client sites etc, even though there is a hybrid work policy of wfh 2 days. I guess they are trying to monitor me. They are very small minded and micromanagers. One day I got feedback that I keep looking at computer screen (reviewing work files) instead of actually writing findings for client reports. In upcoming weeks, I have been scheduled to work from different offices in different cities, which makes travel so much harder for me, and the work is already cumbersome. Sometimes I go to these offices and the colleagues don’t even talk to me - I just do my own work- they just want me there in front of their eyes for oversight. I am also poc and on a visa - in my probation, the company fired three colleagues who were poc and on visa.
I think my employer is forcing unreasonable expectations on me, as someone on lowest staff grade and 3.5 months in, also having to go regional offices which are not my contractual work base. All under the banner of ‘support’ following performance issues relating to things I wasn’t trained for. Specially with the new emails of time allocation etc, in context of everything, are they setting the stage for constructive dismissal?
Can someone please help? I desperately want to leave and have been actively applying but the visa situation forces me to stay. I have a feeling they will dismiss me eventually anyway but the months I am in PIP they are making my life hell.
Thanks in advance.
2024.06.07 21:56 Stonicat [WTS] Leonardo Golden Rule, Kilk Jade Green, Maiora Aventus, Pineider Avatar
Verifications
[A1] Leonardo Momento Magico LE Golden Rule - Rose Gold Trim- 14k F - This was a limited edition about 2 years ago, still brand new and not inked, with ebonite feed - $350
[A1] Kilk Orient Jade Green with sterling silver band and clip - EF - $200
[A1] Maiora Aventus Amore Red - Flex EF - $110
[A1] Maiora Aventus Perla White - Flex EF - $110
[A1] Pineider Avatar UR - EF - $130
Free tracked shipping to US or Canada. Paypal G&S
submitted by Stonicat to Pen_Swap [link] [comments]
[A1] Leonardo Momento Magico LE Golden Rule - Rose Gold Trim- 14k F - This was a limited edition about 2 years ago, still brand new and not inked, with ebonite feed - $350
[A1] Kilk Orient Jade Green with sterling silver band and clip - EF - $200
[A1] Maiora Aventus Amore Red - Flex EF - $110
[A1] Maiora Aventus Perla White - Flex EF - $110
[A1] Pineider Avatar UR - EF - $130
Free tracked shipping to US or Canada. Paypal G&S
2024.06.07 21:56 yung_nasa Found Green Bug on Elephant Bush
 | Found in plant leaves. They are green. They don’t move even when I pick them off. I don’t see many and have been spraying my plant with water and wiping when I see them. What are they and what’s a good way to rid them? Should probably isolate. Thanks for help submitted by yung_nasa to houseplants [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 21:55 Spledidlife What’s an example of characters who got a popularity power boost?
I feel like certain characters over the years have had comics where they get OP because of their popularity at a certain time. Thinking of instances like Deathstroke overpowering Green Lantern’s ring through will power, Harley Quinn facing the trinity in Heroes in Crisis, or the Punisher killing the Marvel Superheroes. Feels like these happened at the height of the character popularity so the writers gave them a power boost to get fans to read. Any other examples come to mind?
submitted by Spledidlife to comicbooks [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 21:55 INSAN_7428 Beyler acil yardım
 | Almak istediğim klavye indirime girmiş ben nerden borç alabilirim birş bana akıl versin eski klavyemi arkadaşa 600e satıcam submitted by INSAN_7428 to KGBTR [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 21:54 Independent-Guard-31 Lawn care newbie
 | We moved in about a year ago and are having trouble with our lawn staying green. All of our neighbors seem to have it under control but our house. For background: we live in central CT, house gets full direct sun all day, we have an irrigation system that we just switched to 2x/week watering, we have it fertilized by a company based on their recommended schedule (can’t recall what that is and when) and we have it mowed weekly. They do not bag the clippings but we’ve noticed there are TONS like a full blanket over the lawn, looking like hay scattered on the top. You can see along the edges of the lawn by the road and the rose bush it’s more green because thats the last pass the mower makes and blows the clippings into the lawn. We have to take a leaf blower to remove it all. Any thoughts what could be the main culprit for the lack of green? My husband thinks it’s the landscaper not bagging the clippings after it grows so fast and smothers our lawn. I feel like it’s deprived of some nutrient. Any other concerns or tips? submitted by Independent-Guard-31 to gardening [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 21:54 AfricaByToto3 [PC][20005] a classic brick breaker game where you have to use left and right arrow keys to move the ball to break all bricks without getting killed by spikey balls following you.
It was a pc game where the bricks were square shaped with a fruit icon on it. Yellow being banana, green being apple and so on. You were the ball that used arrow keys (left and right) on the keyboard to bounce around.
Key features I remember was that you had to hit a certain block in order to change the color of your ball to hit the corresponding brick. There were a few spikey balls that were bouncing around chasing you in order to kill you. There was also a brick you could hit which made you cycle through all colors (sort of like the effect a star gives you in mario) which let you break any color bricks for a brief period. The game also had a sort of free roam style where you roam around and go through a tube/pipe (similar to the ones in Mario) in order to start the new level
The art style was like DX ball
Platform(s): as far as I know PC
Genre: arcade?
Estimated year of release: early 2000s
Graphics/art style: similar to DX ball
Notable characters: just a regular ball (you) and what I believe to be spikey balls (the enemies you need to stay away from)
Notable gameplay mechanics: arrow keys (left and right) to move while bouncing in order to break all bricks in the levels.
Unfortunately this is all I remember. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer
Edit: i wanted to add that there was no base plate at the bottom to bounce the ball off of. All four corners of the screen had barriers so you would just bounce off of them.
submitted by AfricaByToto3 to tipofmyjoystick [link] [comments]
Key features I remember was that you had to hit a certain block in order to change the color of your ball to hit the corresponding brick. There were a few spikey balls that were bouncing around chasing you in order to kill you. There was also a brick you could hit which made you cycle through all colors (sort of like the effect a star gives you in mario) which let you break any color bricks for a brief period. The game also had a sort of free roam style where you roam around and go through a tube/pipe (similar to the ones in Mario) in order to start the new level
The art style was like DX ball
Platform(s): as far as I know PC
Genre: arcade?
Estimated year of release: early 2000s
Graphics/art style: similar to DX ball
Notable characters: just a regular ball (you) and what I believe to be spikey balls (the enemies you need to stay away from)
Notable gameplay mechanics: arrow keys (left and right) to move while bouncing in order to break all bricks in the levels.
Unfortunately this is all I remember. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer
Edit: i wanted to add that there was no base plate at the bottom to bounce the ball off of. All four corners of the screen had barriers so you would just bounce off of them.
2024.06.07 21:53 MalSket Family issues help pls
Hi all,
I’ve never posted on Reddit but I have read numerous posts when I have been super high and trying to figure how to not die or like how to tell if a frog is friends with you (weird).
Basically my dad treats my younger brother different to me. If there is an argument where I am blatantly in the right I will still be made to be the victim enemy. I’m 21 and my brother is 19 and we are on holiday so this sort of sh*t happens all the time, but I’m sick of it and I want to know why I am treated like this. He looks a lot different to me my brother, I am white, blonde hair, green eyes, he is Olived skinned and brown eyes. We look nothing alike and we’ve done tests to check our birth nation and he matches my grandmas dna tests so he is definitely part of the family. But I am come back 99.1% English. So we have different dnas. So it’s weird. My mum and dad are white, I am very confused. Please someone offer Advice.
submitted by MalSket to family [link] [comments]
I’ve never posted on Reddit but I have read numerous posts when I have been super high and trying to figure how to not die or like how to tell if a frog is friends with you (weird).
Basically my dad treats my younger brother different to me. If there is an argument where I am blatantly in the right I will still be made to be the victim enemy. I’m 21 and my brother is 19 and we are on holiday so this sort of sh*t happens all the time, but I’m sick of it and I want to know why I am treated like this. He looks a lot different to me my brother, I am white, blonde hair, green eyes, he is Olived skinned and brown eyes. We look nothing alike and we’ve done tests to check our birth nation and he matches my grandmas dna tests so he is definitely part of the family. But I am come back 99.1% English. So we have different dnas. So it’s weird. My mum and dad are white, I am very confused. Please someone offer Advice.
2024.06.07 21:52 Grimmy77 Sore Throat Problem
Good Day! White Male 28yo here. 1.70cm. 72Kg. No Medications. Non Smoker. Rarely/Never Alcohol consumption. Austrian. As you can see on the Pictures i posted: I get this blisters / sore throath every 6 - 8 weeks. It starts by having slight pain swallowing and gets worse the next 24-48 hours. Then all these blisters and my throath start having this nice and strong red color. It burns and swallowing and speaking does hurt and i feel pretty weak for the next 2 - 3 days. After that it stops burning though the blisters remain a week longer or something like that but my nose gets all stuffy and running for a few days. The like after a week im finally all good for said 6 - 8 weeks and then it starts all over again. I have this Problem since summer 2017 and im slowly gettin depressed because all Docs around me are just taking a look for 2 seconds and say "aah thats normal go home drink tea and stay in bed". I almost never get sick. This is the only thing i get over and over. Today it start again after just 4 weeks.. 6 months ago i had it non stop for a whole month. (other nice things to know are the white coating on my tongue - the constant tough mucus / slime that runs from my nasal cavity in my throat (that have to swallow almost constanly)
Maybe one or some of ya all know something about this, what helps or even could cure this? (whatever it is)
[ Sorry for some bad grammar or other mistakes :) ]
Here 4 Pictures of my Problem. https://imgur.com/a/vqosYdS
submitted by Grimmy77 to AskDocs [link] [comments]
Maybe one or some of ya all know something about this, what helps or even could cure this? (whatever it is)
[ Sorry for some bad grammar or other mistakes :) ]
Here 4 Pictures of my Problem. https://imgur.com/a/vqosYdS
2024.06.07 21:51 Outside-Forever-4817 Greening standing 3’s but off dribble or anything moving I get slight late or early
Help
submitted by Outside-Forever-4817 to NBA2k [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 21:50 kz_spec [WTS] Trijicon TA11 ACOG, DD Mk18 RISII FDE, KVP Mach 3 1/2-28, RS Regulate AK-302M, Arsenal Krink poly furniture
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/bCHgkHc
All prices are shipped with F&F, G&S add 3.5%
$900 - Trijicon TA11H-308G ACOG .308 reticle, green horseshoe dot. In excellent shape, just wasn't for me
$400 - Daniel Defense RISII for Mk18. Light salt, removed because I swapped out for a black one. No barrel nut wrench since neither of my RISII came with one. WIll come with 2 FDE rail covers
$65 - Kaw Valley Precision MACH3 modular linear comp. 1/2-28 threads. Comes with an extra spacer. Brand new, just removed from packaging to mock up, ended up not going with this set up.
$95 - RS Regulate AK-302M rear bias lower optic mount
$45 - Arsenal Krink handguard and grip. Taken off SAM7K
submitted by kz_spec to GunAccessoriesForSale [link] [comments]
All prices are shipped with F&F, G&S add 3.5%
$900 - Trijicon TA11H-308G ACOG .308 reticle, green horseshoe dot. In excellent shape, just wasn't for me
$400 - Daniel Defense RISII for Mk18. Light salt, removed because I swapped out for a black one. No barrel nut wrench since neither of my RISII came with one. WIll come with 2 FDE rail covers
$65 - Kaw Valley Precision MACH3 modular linear comp. 1/2-28 threads. Comes with an extra spacer. Brand new, just removed from packaging to mock up, ended up not going with this set up.
$95 - RS Regulate AK-302M rear bias lower optic mount
$45 - Arsenal Krink handguard and grip. Taken off SAM7K
2024.06.07 21:50 Powerful_Letter6012 Looking for recommendations of a sweet green tea
My budget is about $50 sorry for the short
submitted by Powerful_Letter6012 to puer [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 21:48 DefinitionOk2485 Is my employer setting the stage for constructive dismissal?
Hello,
So I have been (unjustly) put on a PIP three months in a work work permit-sponsored 32K job in England. I cleared multiple rounds in the interviews and also passed 3 month probation with the employer. However 3.5 months in they have put me in a PIP (PIP did not officially start yet but I have been informed of this and HR is involved). Being dismissed or resigning would mean I have to leave the UK, until I find another work permit sponsored job. The stakes are very high.
The issues started with budget over runs primarily, I kinda messed up and take accountability. However, I am also within my remit to say the budget over runs happened because I haven’t received sufficient training. I had pick things up on the job, which means client work getting delayed / budget over runs. They say I have prior experience and should know this stuff already however I am ‘green’ grade staff / lowest paid staff grade at the firm.
Now they have started to do somethings they haven’t done before. They email me everything / creating an audit trail. They allocate time for each task, 1hr or 2hr - basically if I don’t meet deadline for each specific task, that’s documented evidence of my perceived incompetence and could be used to dismiss me. I am 3.5 months into the job. I have requested for support instead of putting in any support they are putting me in a high pressure environment. They conducted a random review meeting and basically shredded me into pieces / insulted me saying I am ‘not even a green’ (green is least paid staff grade).
Also my contractual work base is in Liverpool but I am being asked (forced) to go to the firm’s offices in Manchester, Chester, Crewe, client sites etc, even though there is a hybrid work policy of wfh 2 days. I guess they are trying to monitor me. They are very small minded and micromanagers. One day I got feedback that I keep looking at computer screen (reviewing work files) instead of actually writing findings for client reports. In upcoming weeks, I have been scheduled to work from different offices in different cities, which makes travel so much harder for me, and the work is already cumbersome. Sometimes I go to these offices and the colleagues don’t even talk to me - I just do my own work- they just want me there in front of their eyes for oversight. I am also poc and on a visa - in my probation, the company fired three colleagues who were poc and on visa.
I think my employer is forcing unreasonable expectations on me, as someone on lowest staff grade and 3.5 months in, also having to go regional offices which are not my contractual work base. All under the banner of ‘support’ following performance issues relating to things I wasn’t trained for. Specially with the new emails of time allocation etc, in context of everything, are they setting the stage for constructive dismissal?
Can someone please help? I desperately want to leave and have been actively applying but the visa situation forces me to stay. I have a feeling they will dismiss me eventually anyway but the months I am in PIP they are making my life hell.
Thanks in advance.
submitted by DefinitionOk2485 to LegalAdviceUK [link] [comments]
So I have been (unjustly) put on a PIP three months in a work work permit-sponsored 32K job in England. I cleared multiple rounds in the interviews and also passed 3 month probation with the employer. However 3.5 months in they have put me in a PIP (PIP did not officially start yet but I have been informed of this and HR is involved). Being dismissed or resigning would mean I have to leave the UK, until I find another work permit sponsored job. The stakes are very high.
The issues started with budget over runs primarily, I kinda messed up and take accountability. However, I am also within my remit to say the budget over runs happened because I haven’t received sufficient training. I had pick things up on the job, which means client work getting delayed / budget over runs. They say I have prior experience and should know this stuff already however I am ‘green’ grade staff / lowest paid staff grade at the firm.
Now they have started to do somethings they haven’t done before. They email me everything / creating an audit trail. They allocate time for each task, 1hr or 2hr - basically if I don’t meet deadline for each specific task, that’s documented evidence of my perceived incompetence and could be used to dismiss me. I am 3.5 months into the job. I have requested for support instead of putting in any support they are putting me in a high pressure environment. They conducted a random review meeting and basically shredded me into pieces / insulted me saying I am ‘not even a green’ (green is least paid staff grade).
Also my contractual work base is in Liverpool but I am being asked (forced) to go to the firm’s offices in Manchester, Chester, Crewe, client sites etc, even though there is a hybrid work policy of wfh 2 days. I guess they are trying to monitor me. They are very small minded and micromanagers. One day I got feedback that I keep looking at computer screen (reviewing work files) instead of actually writing findings for client reports. In upcoming weeks, I have been scheduled to work from different offices in different cities, which makes travel so much harder for me, and the work is already cumbersome. Sometimes I go to these offices and the colleagues don’t even talk to me - I just do my own work- they just want me there in front of their eyes for oversight. I am also poc and on a visa - in my probation, the company fired three colleagues who were poc and on visa.
I think my employer is forcing unreasonable expectations on me, as someone on lowest staff grade and 3.5 months in, also having to go regional offices which are not my contractual work base. All under the banner of ‘support’ following performance issues relating to things I wasn’t trained for. Specially with the new emails of time allocation etc, in context of everything, are they setting the stage for constructive dismissal?
Can someone please help? I desperately want to leave and have been actively applying but the visa situation forces me to stay. I have a feeling they will dismiss me eventually anyway but the months I am in PIP they are making my life hell.
Thanks in advance.
2024.06.07 21:48 EatThemReindeer A “Vegas Experience” Post
June 3rd to 6th, 2024 Leading up to our Vegas trip, one of the things I enjoyed most was visiting this subreddit and reading the experiences others shared about their time in the city. It was consistently insightful, helpful, and quite entertaining to read.
While this post may be none of those things, I still wanted to share on the off chance it provides a bit of relief for those planning and struggling to piece their own trips together.
As a brief background, both my wife and I have spent time in Vegas before, but, for reasons I won’t get into on this post, we never had a “Vegas experience.” We agreed that this would be that trip.
For context, we have been together for 15 years. We are both 35 and have two kids. Most vacations are family-oriented - lots of planning, budgeting, and sniping the best deals and the cheapest things to do. We agreed to do a little of that for this trip, but to mostly roll with the punches and see what would happen. Outside of booking the hotel, the only other thing I did to prepare for this trip was make two lists of food. Food list number one were places that sounded unique or different and were within a 5 to 10 minute walk. Food list number two was the same concept, except 20+ minute walk or bus ride away. My wife and I also agreed that if we couldn’t walk somewhere by staying in hotels, we weren’t going to walk there.
I’ll get the total cost out of the way. We spent about $370 on food, drinks, transportation, and entertainment. Our flight was $80 round trip ($40 each through Frontier). The hotel was $350 total for 3 nights. Thats about $800 for 3ish days and 3 nights in Vegas.
Monday: Both my wife and I had a bout of food poisoning a couple of days prior to leaving. We nearly canceled our trip, but on Sunday, made the decision to carry through, as the sitter arrangement was already made and figured that even if we just spent the time in our hotel room, it would still be fun. By Monday morning, I felt okay, but my wife was still a little ill.
The plane into Vegas landed at 11am. We decided to take an Uber from the airport to Total Wine and Whole Foods in Town Square. At Whole Foods, we bought emergency snacks (breakfast bars, nuts, chips, etc) and 3 gallons of water. At Total Wine, we bought our favorite rum, mostly in fear that we wouldn’t find it on the strip - one 750ml bottle of Kraken ($20) - and a 10 pack of mini Coke Zeroes.
From there, we took another Uber to the hotel - the Flamingo - mostly because we were carrying a lot of stuff (the bus was the original option). We arrived early, tried checking in early using a kiosk, but refused to pay the extra $20. Instead, we walked over to the food court, got comfy in a booth, and made a strong drink to sip on while we waited. I should mention that we stopped at the Starbucks in the hotel and paid $2 for two waters (ridiculous!). We used those cups to make our drinks.
By 3:30, we were two drinks in and decided to try checking in again. The lines were longer now, too, but the kiosk line moved quickly. This time we were given our keys to the room. Having never stayed on the Vegas strip before, we opted for the strip view (more on this later).
We rested, showered, changed, made another drink, bought a 24 hour bus pass, and headed out. We caught the bus in front of Harrah’s and went to Cookies for edibles. Their selection was meager compared to what we’re used to in New Mexico, but made the best of it. Ate an edible then hopped back on the bus, south this time, and took it aaaallll the waaaayyy down to the Mandalay Bay stop. We did not go to Mandalay Bay, though. Instead, we walked down a bit more and got some carne asada fries at a little place called Sayulitas. We consider ourselves carne asada fries experts because it is our go to when we drink and NM offers tons of delicious options. Sayulitas did an exceptional job - crispy fries, perfectly seasoned meat, tons of cheese and sour cream. Their salsa bar was stocked with some delicious and spicy salsas, as well.
From here, we caught the bus back North and decided to grab a dessert at Eataly - a place I had on one of my food lists, specifically for desserts. There, we spent $15 on an exceptionally delicious cream puff and chocolate square thing. Took them back to the room, ate them, and fell asleep.
Tuesday: The Vegas strip is loud. Even from the 11th floor of a hotel. The view was also kind of meh. I’m a light sleeper and that view wasn’t worth the terrible night of sleep. Before getting ready for the day, I went downstairs to inquire about a different room. The hotel staff was accommodating and friendly, but said that we would need to come back after 11am to see what was available.
With about 2 and a half hours to kill, we decided a breakfast adventure was the way to go. Eggslut is an often mentioned (and very popular) restaurant that can be found in the Cosmopolitan. Somehow, we missed the bus stop to go south (we walked south instead of north) and ended up walking to Eggslut by going through Bellagio. When we got there, the line was sufficiently long - about 20 minutes. Hungry and not wanting to walk, we decided to wait.
It was worth it for two reasons: 1. The food was delicious. The sauce, specifically, used on the sausage, egg, and cheese made my heart sing. 2. When we reached the front of the line, a dude who did not want to wait in line offered to buy our breakfast if we allowed him to add his order to ours. We agreed because who wouldn’t? Free breakfast? Absolutely.
With happy stomachs, we caught the bus and went back to the hotel. As mentioned earlier, the hotel staff was accommodating and switched our rooms without issue. Our new room had a view of the garden, the Sphere, and that big Ferris wheel thing - a MUCH nicer view. The room was also cleaner and so much quieter.
We rested, took another shower (NM is hot, but not like Vegas), got ready again, and decided it was time to start drinking. I should mention that we brought flasks with us, too. After taking a couple of shots each, we filled up our flasks and made a rum and coke to go (same Starbucks cups from the day before!).
Feeling rejuvenated from the new room and rest, a decent Kraken buzz in tow, we headed off without any specific plans. By the time we made it through The LINQ and to Harrah’s, we decided Fremont was the place to be. We downed our drinks, stored our cups in my drawstring backpack, and hopped on the bus. By the time we got off, we were feeling great and our time there became a little blurry, so here’s a quick rundown.
Went into a hotel to use the restroom, stumbled around until we found a Starbucks to get ice, took our 4th and 5th shots of the day in some alleys out of public view (drunk logic), saw a deal at Binion’s for a $6 burger and coke, watched some street performers, and by 4:30, we hopped back on the bus.
Craving a donut, we got off at Circus Circus to find the Krispy Kreme. After they rejected our free coupon, we headed up to the midway. The arcade games were expensive, so instead we talked with the game operators and waited for the 5:30 foot juggling show. The show, a whole 6 minutes in length, was AWESOME!
We stumbled around some more and at some point, we took another drink. Our 24 hour bus pass expired by 6:30, so we got on the bus again before then. Feeling tired, drunk, and hungry, we stayed on the bus all the way down the strip to enjoy the sights. By the time we made it to Town Square, we decided to get off, grab a bite, buy another bottle of Kraken, and go to the movies. We ate a $2 slice of Whole Foods pizza and watched Furiosa in IMAX.
It was after 10pm by the time the movie ended. We bought another 24 hour bus pass and went back to the hotel for a night of quiet and restful sleep.
Wednesday: We had a very slow morning. Which was nice because with kids, slow mornings don’t exist. We also spent much of our morning trying to decide whether we wanted to drink again or not. Inevitably, the Vegas logic set in, but it took some “pumping each other up” before it happened. Prior to that, however, we decided it was time to get a meal. As you could see, Monday and Tuesday involved a lot of snacking, so we wanted to sit down in a restaurant.
After much debate, Nacho Daddy was the winner. Our slow morning kept us in the hotel room until about 11am. We got ready, and refused to make the same mistake about the bus stop, so we walked north and crossed in front of The Linq to catch the bus down to the Cosmopolitan. Nacho Daddy was a short walk from there.
We did an order of the spicy grilled wings and fajita nachos. Both were yummy and exactly what we needed. As we were still in the “do we even want to drink again” phase, we stuck with water and our brunch, excluding tip, was $55.
Feeling full, we walked our food off in the Miracle Miles shops. It was quite empty and relaxing to walk through.
Walgreens was nearby, so on the way back to the hotel, we picked up more Coke Zero and another gallon of water. We grabbed the bus and went back to the hotel to rest.
It was around 4pm when we decided to start pumping each other up, and by 4:30pm, we had had another two shots each, a flask full of rum, and a couple mixed drinks in our Starbucks cups ready to go.
We left the hotel, heading north, and walking through The Linq again, Harrah’s and the Casino Royale. Feeling good, the moving walkways that lead into the Grand Canal Shoppes were calling our names.
While there, we did a ton of people watching. After some commentary on how a lot of the people look like replicas of Sims characters, we challenged each other to see who could complement more people the rest of the day. The only rule was that the compliment had to be genuine. Being together for 15 years, we know what the other person likes - cheating would take the fun out of the game.
As we left the Shoppes, we needed ice for another drink and Treasure Island was calling our names. On our way there, my wife complimented a person wearing a Seattle Krakens shirt - not because we’re fans…simply because we were drunk on Kraken (1-0).
Why are people so weird about filling up cups with ice in Vegas? Once in Treasure Island, I asked at Senior Frogs for ice. Rejected. Panda Express. Rejected. The lady that worked at Popeyes gave me ice, but I won’t lie…I had to turn on the charm. My wife socked me in the arm and we laughed as we took another shot and chewed those amazing ice cubes together.
As we left TI, I saw a dude wearing a Linkin Park Hybrid Theory shirt. The score was officially 1 to 1.
Sufficiently drunk at this point, we decided to catch the bus back to Fremont because we overheard people talking about the Neon Museum and our interest was piqued. On the walk to the bus, my wife complimented a guy with a lizard-shaped fanny pack (2-1).
Fremont was BUMPING by the time we got up there and the vibe was exactly what we wanted. We stumbled around, looked for ice, took pictures, and watched street performers. I spotted a gentleman with an incredible beard and tied up our score (2-2).
My wife chatted with a few ladies dressed as dominatrix, inquiring as to why they couldn’t leave their circle to take pictures with people and how difficult it was to get hours. She tipped them, we took some pictures, and, of course, she complimented them (3-2).
Afterwards, we saw an older man drinking McDonald’s coffee so my wife and I made a bet - was it coffee or something else? My wife said coffee. I said he was doing some secret drinking. A quick game of rock, paper, scissors, and my wife walked over to ask. It was coffee. I had to pay for the Neon Museum tickets. Fair enough.
We drank our last drink and headed off.
The Neon Museum is about a 10 minute walk from Fremont. If you go, I HIGHLY recommend a guided tour. Our tour guide, Steve, was INCREDIBLE and I made sure to tell him so…multiple times (3-3).
After the museum, we were fiercely hungry and decided that pizza, yes, again, was the best choice. My food list came in handy and Secret Pizza became our mission. A bus ride later, and we were back at the Cosmopolitan. It was fun, not having researched much about the pizza place but knowing it was meant to be hidden, to simply stumble around and find it.
By this time, my wife and I were incredibly drunk and making easy two-minute friends. We lost track of how many compliments we were throwing out. I tried engaging a dude wearing a Goku shirt about Dragon Ball Z, but he wanted to talk about his flight and the pizza he was waiting for, so I lost interest.
We got two slices of meat lovers and went on an adventure to find water.
We called it a night after this - it was close to 1am.
Thursday: Hungover and tired, we stayed in bed until it was time to check out. Grabbed a burger at Sickies Garage on the way to the airport and called it a trip.
We had plans to do more before leaving, but the best laid plans, amIright? Either way, it was a fun trip.
Was it a full “Vegas experience”? Maybe not to everyone that bothers to read this…We didn’t see any shows. We didn’t gamble a penny. We didn’t buy a single drink from a bar or a hotel and the latest we stayed up was 1am on Wednesday. Were we day drunk the entire time, though? Yep. Did we eat some good food? Yep. Did we talk to random people and see weird stuff? Yep.
What really defines a “Vegas experience,” after all? Tell me.
TLDR; We drank a lot and had a great time. Thanks, Vegas. :)
submitted by EatThemReindeer to vegas [link] [comments]
While this post may be none of those things, I still wanted to share on the off chance it provides a bit of relief for those planning and struggling to piece their own trips together.
As a brief background, both my wife and I have spent time in Vegas before, but, for reasons I won’t get into on this post, we never had a “Vegas experience.” We agreed that this would be that trip.
For context, we have been together for 15 years. We are both 35 and have two kids. Most vacations are family-oriented - lots of planning, budgeting, and sniping the best deals and the cheapest things to do. We agreed to do a little of that for this trip, but to mostly roll with the punches and see what would happen. Outside of booking the hotel, the only other thing I did to prepare for this trip was make two lists of food. Food list number one were places that sounded unique or different and were within a 5 to 10 minute walk. Food list number two was the same concept, except 20+ minute walk or bus ride away. My wife and I also agreed that if we couldn’t walk somewhere by staying in hotels, we weren’t going to walk there.
I’ll get the total cost out of the way. We spent about $370 on food, drinks, transportation, and entertainment. Our flight was $80 round trip ($40 each through Frontier). The hotel was $350 total for 3 nights. Thats about $800 for 3ish days and 3 nights in Vegas.
Monday: Both my wife and I had a bout of food poisoning a couple of days prior to leaving. We nearly canceled our trip, but on Sunday, made the decision to carry through, as the sitter arrangement was already made and figured that even if we just spent the time in our hotel room, it would still be fun. By Monday morning, I felt okay, but my wife was still a little ill.
The plane into Vegas landed at 11am. We decided to take an Uber from the airport to Total Wine and Whole Foods in Town Square. At Whole Foods, we bought emergency snacks (breakfast bars, nuts, chips, etc) and 3 gallons of water. At Total Wine, we bought our favorite rum, mostly in fear that we wouldn’t find it on the strip - one 750ml bottle of Kraken ($20) - and a 10 pack of mini Coke Zeroes.
From there, we took another Uber to the hotel - the Flamingo - mostly because we were carrying a lot of stuff (the bus was the original option). We arrived early, tried checking in early using a kiosk, but refused to pay the extra $20. Instead, we walked over to the food court, got comfy in a booth, and made a strong drink to sip on while we waited. I should mention that we stopped at the Starbucks in the hotel and paid $2 for two waters (ridiculous!). We used those cups to make our drinks.
By 3:30, we were two drinks in and decided to try checking in again. The lines were longer now, too, but the kiosk line moved quickly. This time we were given our keys to the room. Having never stayed on the Vegas strip before, we opted for the strip view (more on this later).
We rested, showered, changed, made another drink, bought a 24 hour bus pass, and headed out. We caught the bus in front of Harrah’s and went to Cookies for edibles. Their selection was meager compared to what we’re used to in New Mexico, but made the best of it. Ate an edible then hopped back on the bus, south this time, and took it aaaallll the waaaayyy down to the Mandalay Bay stop. We did not go to Mandalay Bay, though. Instead, we walked down a bit more and got some carne asada fries at a little place called Sayulitas. We consider ourselves carne asada fries experts because it is our go to when we drink and NM offers tons of delicious options. Sayulitas did an exceptional job - crispy fries, perfectly seasoned meat, tons of cheese and sour cream. Their salsa bar was stocked with some delicious and spicy salsas, as well.
From here, we caught the bus back North and decided to grab a dessert at Eataly - a place I had on one of my food lists, specifically for desserts. There, we spent $15 on an exceptionally delicious cream puff and chocolate square thing. Took them back to the room, ate them, and fell asleep.
Tuesday: The Vegas strip is loud. Even from the 11th floor of a hotel. The view was also kind of meh. I’m a light sleeper and that view wasn’t worth the terrible night of sleep. Before getting ready for the day, I went downstairs to inquire about a different room. The hotel staff was accommodating and friendly, but said that we would need to come back after 11am to see what was available.
With about 2 and a half hours to kill, we decided a breakfast adventure was the way to go. Eggslut is an often mentioned (and very popular) restaurant that can be found in the Cosmopolitan. Somehow, we missed the bus stop to go south (we walked south instead of north) and ended up walking to Eggslut by going through Bellagio. When we got there, the line was sufficiently long - about 20 minutes. Hungry and not wanting to walk, we decided to wait.
It was worth it for two reasons: 1. The food was delicious. The sauce, specifically, used on the sausage, egg, and cheese made my heart sing. 2. When we reached the front of the line, a dude who did not want to wait in line offered to buy our breakfast if we allowed him to add his order to ours. We agreed because who wouldn’t? Free breakfast? Absolutely.
With happy stomachs, we caught the bus and went back to the hotel. As mentioned earlier, the hotel staff was accommodating and switched our rooms without issue. Our new room had a view of the garden, the Sphere, and that big Ferris wheel thing - a MUCH nicer view. The room was also cleaner and so much quieter.
We rested, took another shower (NM is hot, but not like Vegas), got ready again, and decided it was time to start drinking. I should mention that we brought flasks with us, too. After taking a couple of shots each, we filled up our flasks and made a rum and coke to go (same Starbucks cups from the day before!).
Feeling rejuvenated from the new room and rest, a decent Kraken buzz in tow, we headed off without any specific plans. By the time we made it through The LINQ and to Harrah’s, we decided Fremont was the place to be. We downed our drinks, stored our cups in my drawstring backpack, and hopped on the bus. By the time we got off, we were feeling great and our time there became a little blurry, so here’s a quick rundown.
Went into a hotel to use the restroom, stumbled around until we found a Starbucks to get ice, took our 4th and 5th shots of the day in some alleys out of public view (drunk logic), saw a deal at Binion’s for a $6 burger and coke, watched some street performers, and by 4:30, we hopped back on the bus.
Craving a donut, we got off at Circus Circus to find the Krispy Kreme. After they rejected our free coupon, we headed up to the midway. The arcade games were expensive, so instead we talked with the game operators and waited for the 5:30 foot juggling show. The show, a whole 6 minutes in length, was AWESOME!
We stumbled around some more and at some point, we took another drink. Our 24 hour bus pass expired by 6:30, so we got on the bus again before then. Feeling tired, drunk, and hungry, we stayed on the bus all the way down the strip to enjoy the sights. By the time we made it to Town Square, we decided to get off, grab a bite, buy another bottle of Kraken, and go to the movies. We ate a $2 slice of Whole Foods pizza and watched Furiosa in IMAX.
It was after 10pm by the time the movie ended. We bought another 24 hour bus pass and went back to the hotel for a night of quiet and restful sleep.
Wednesday: We had a very slow morning. Which was nice because with kids, slow mornings don’t exist. We also spent much of our morning trying to decide whether we wanted to drink again or not. Inevitably, the Vegas logic set in, but it took some “pumping each other up” before it happened. Prior to that, however, we decided it was time to get a meal. As you could see, Monday and Tuesday involved a lot of snacking, so we wanted to sit down in a restaurant.
After much debate, Nacho Daddy was the winner. Our slow morning kept us in the hotel room until about 11am. We got ready, and refused to make the same mistake about the bus stop, so we walked north and crossed in front of The Linq to catch the bus down to the Cosmopolitan. Nacho Daddy was a short walk from there.
We did an order of the spicy grilled wings and fajita nachos. Both were yummy and exactly what we needed. As we were still in the “do we even want to drink again” phase, we stuck with water and our brunch, excluding tip, was $55.
Feeling full, we walked our food off in the Miracle Miles shops. It was quite empty and relaxing to walk through.
Walgreens was nearby, so on the way back to the hotel, we picked up more Coke Zero and another gallon of water. We grabbed the bus and went back to the hotel to rest.
It was around 4pm when we decided to start pumping each other up, and by 4:30pm, we had had another two shots each, a flask full of rum, and a couple mixed drinks in our Starbucks cups ready to go.
We left the hotel, heading north, and walking through The Linq again, Harrah’s and the Casino Royale. Feeling good, the moving walkways that lead into the Grand Canal Shoppes were calling our names.
While there, we did a ton of people watching. After some commentary on how a lot of the people look like replicas of Sims characters, we challenged each other to see who could complement more people the rest of the day. The only rule was that the compliment had to be genuine. Being together for 15 years, we know what the other person likes - cheating would take the fun out of the game.
As we left the Shoppes, we needed ice for another drink and Treasure Island was calling our names. On our way there, my wife complimented a person wearing a Seattle Krakens shirt - not because we’re fans…simply because we were drunk on Kraken (1-0).
Why are people so weird about filling up cups with ice in Vegas? Once in Treasure Island, I asked at Senior Frogs for ice. Rejected. Panda Express. Rejected. The lady that worked at Popeyes gave me ice, but I won’t lie…I had to turn on the charm. My wife socked me in the arm and we laughed as we took another shot and chewed those amazing ice cubes together.
As we left TI, I saw a dude wearing a Linkin Park Hybrid Theory shirt. The score was officially 1 to 1.
Sufficiently drunk at this point, we decided to catch the bus back to Fremont because we overheard people talking about the Neon Museum and our interest was piqued. On the walk to the bus, my wife complimented a guy with a lizard-shaped fanny pack (2-1).
Fremont was BUMPING by the time we got up there and the vibe was exactly what we wanted. We stumbled around, looked for ice, took pictures, and watched street performers. I spotted a gentleman with an incredible beard and tied up our score (2-2).
My wife chatted with a few ladies dressed as dominatrix, inquiring as to why they couldn’t leave their circle to take pictures with people and how difficult it was to get hours. She tipped them, we took some pictures, and, of course, she complimented them (3-2).
Afterwards, we saw an older man drinking McDonald’s coffee so my wife and I made a bet - was it coffee or something else? My wife said coffee. I said he was doing some secret drinking. A quick game of rock, paper, scissors, and my wife walked over to ask. It was coffee. I had to pay for the Neon Museum tickets. Fair enough.
We drank our last drink and headed off.
The Neon Museum is about a 10 minute walk from Fremont. If you go, I HIGHLY recommend a guided tour. Our tour guide, Steve, was INCREDIBLE and I made sure to tell him so…multiple times (3-3).
After the museum, we were fiercely hungry and decided that pizza, yes, again, was the best choice. My food list came in handy and Secret Pizza became our mission. A bus ride later, and we were back at the Cosmopolitan. It was fun, not having researched much about the pizza place but knowing it was meant to be hidden, to simply stumble around and find it.
By this time, my wife and I were incredibly drunk and making easy two-minute friends. We lost track of how many compliments we were throwing out. I tried engaging a dude wearing a Goku shirt about Dragon Ball Z, but he wanted to talk about his flight and the pizza he was waiting for, so I lost interest.
We got two slices of meat lovers and went on an adventure to find water.
We called it a night after this - it was close to 1am.
Thursday: Hungover and tired, we stayed in bed until it was time to check out. Grabbed a burger at Sickies Garage on the way to the airport and called it a trip.
We had plans to do more before leaving, but the best laid plans, amIright? Either way, it was a fun trip.
Was it a full “Vegas experience”? Maybe not to everyone that bothers to read this…We didn’t see any shows. We didn’t gamble a penny. We didn’t buy a single drink from a bar or a hotel and the latest we stayed up was 1am on Wednesday. Were we day drunk the entire time, though? Yep. Did we eat some good food? Yep. Did we talk to random people and see weird stuff? Yep.
What really defines a “Vegas experience,” after all? Tell me.
TLDR; We drank a lot and had a great time. Thanks, Vegas. :)
2024.06.07 21:47 mattahorn Burger Part 2
 | My last burger got booted off for being too good. I think this one is shittier. It has onion, red and green pepper rings, and pepper jack cheese… oh and chipotle mayo. submitted by mattahorn to shittyfoodporn [link] [comments] The burger itself is looks good but I’m considering it shitty because I didn’t melt the cheese properly. If this one is booted, I give up cause it’s the worst looking one. |
2024.06.07 21:46 kobayashi_maru_fail TS is great, when you read it as a sequel.
Someone recently posted about whether it makes sense to read Fall before Reamde. Consensus was no, with a few pointing out that Crypto is also a prequel to Fall. And while the second half was not thrilling, it’s a much better book when you’ve read the prequel works.
Mutatis mutandis, Interface and Termination Shock. I decided to do a re-read of both in that order, and TS is so much better when you read it in the same light as Interface. Spoilers for both from here on.
You all may have seen me comment here that Mohinder Singh and The Radhakrishan Institute tie both books to the same universe, which seems to have split from ours late in the Clinton Administration. If anyone who reads searchable digital copies can find the shipping company GODS instead of FedEx in any other books (did Eliza get a fancy package? Did Y.T.?), I’d love to hear it, cause I swear I’ve seen it come up somewhere other than Interface, but turns out it’s not TS. But, many thematic similarities between these two as well as the worldbuilding ties:
I think NS wanted to revisit the idea of media and corporations having an outsized impact on politics in near-future scifi: blatantly with Cy Ogle published 30 years ago, more subtle with Pippa and Bo published 3 years ago. Both written during highly performative US presidencies.
Both books feature a POV character who succumbs to a brain injury caused by a political rival. Both are famous patriotic heroes. Both are whisked away to the brain institute to get chips planted in their heads which make them something more and something less than they once were, then sent on shady missions that they wouldn’t have accepted before the injury, but come back to themselves to be redeemed just before dying. Reading Interface first puts a more sinister spin on what happened to Laks: the thing is physically dragging his limbs against his will, where Cozzano just said untrue stuff. And maybe Ogle’s gambit worked: the US is portrayed as a laughingstock failed state where private enterprise can run amok in TS.
Sure, one is 100% about US politics, and the other is entirely geopolitical. But give a good author more than two decades to think about politics, global seems more interesting than domestic.
He also uses both books to explore the bounds of what a white American man who buddies around with billionaires can do in terms of writing relatable minority characters. I think he succeeds in both.
But Interface feels like a current thriller, all the tech he predicted holds true, except for land line phones, and even William Gibson was mortified that he missed the tech cue on cell phones. I think we ought to take Bezos’ former futurist seriously when he talks about drones, airspace, AI, performative green-ness by oil states, deepfakes still resonating in spite of being debunked because of fast media turnover. It’s really quite chilling if you read Interface as well and see how closely he predicted our now then.
submitted by kobayashi_maru_fail to nealstephenson [link] [comments]
Mutatis mutandis, Interface and Termination Shock. I decided to do a re-read of both in that order, and TS is so much better when you read it in the same light as Interface. Spoilers for both from here on.
You all may have seen me comment here that Mohinder Singh and The Radhakrishan Institute tie both books to the same universe, which seems to have split from ours late in the Clinton Administration. If anyone who reads searchable digital copies can find the shipping company GODS instead of FedEx in any other books (did Eliza get a fancy package? Did Y.T.?), I’d love to hear it, cause I swear I’ve seen it come up somewhere other than Interface, but turns out it’s not TS. But, many thematic similarities between these two as well as the worldbuilding ties:
I think NS wanted to revisit the idea of media and corporations having an outsized impact on politics in near-future scifi: blatantly with Cy Ogle published 30 years ago, more subtle with Pippa and Bo published 3 years ago. Both written during highly performative US presidencies.
Both books feature a POV character who succumbs to a brain injury caused by a political rival. Both are famous patriotic heroes. Both are whisked away to the brain institute to get chips planted in their heads which make them something more and something less than they once were, then sent on shady missions that they wouldn’t have accepted before the injury, but come back to themselves to be redeemed just before dying. Reading Interface first puts a more sinister spin on what happened to Laks: the thing is physically dragging his limbs against his will, where Cozzano just said untrue stuff. And maybe Ogle’s gambit worked: the US is portrayed as a laughingstock failed state where private enterprise can run amok in TS.
Sure, one is 100% about US politics, and the other is entirely geopolitical. But give a good author more than two decades to think about politics, global seems more interesting than domestic.
He also uses both books to explore the bounds of what a white American man who buddies around with billionaires can do in terms of writing relatable minority characters. I think he succeeds in both.
But Interface feels like a current thriller, all the tech he predicted holds true, except for land line phones, and even William Gibson was mortified that he missed the tech cue on cell phones. I think we ought to take Bezos’ former futurist seriously when he talks about drones, airspace, AI, performative green-ness by oil states, deepfakes still resonating in spite of being debunked because of fast media turnover. It’s really quite chilling if you read Interface as well and see how closely he predicted our now then.
2024.06.07 21:45 PDessi Our boy’s eyes are turning green
 | submitted by PDessi to korats [link] [comments] |