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A SFW media subreddit of women with Bob Cuts.
2014.01.29 16:12 CATALANOpunch A mobile personal theater with built-in premium audio
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2024.05.15 15:31 casefilesofVJ The Love Tunnel
-Jack
Every kid growing up in Gympie in the early 90- 2000s knew about the Love Tunnel.
The love tunnel was located over the hill from the skatepark on the Riverbank. It was a massive storm water drain filled with spray paint and lore unbound throughout the generations; the glowing dick, whose name is the furthest in, the people who live inside, the bull shark that lived under the bridge just outside, all that fun stuff.
It collapsed in the late 2000’s in a flood and was eventually rebuilt, but it was all fancy, modern, safe and not the same. Back in the day it had decades of graffiti, crumbling cement, jagged metal pole framing bent and jutting out from the sides. You know, real character.
I remember when I was just a kid at the skatepark and I spotted a bunch of other kids at the metal grating of a drain. I joined them and gazed down a few metres to some older teenagers, they had trekked through this “love tunnel” under the massive hill all this way. Badass I thought. LEGENDARY.
I talked about it at school, about this mysterious “love tunnel”. It was in view from the road when I crossed the bridge everyday on my daily commutes from the backseat of mums car.
I would gaze down at the weir and see the top of the love tunnel, sliightly hidden from view by a hill. It fascinated me.
I learned all these mysterious tales; this person slept with this person there, someone took a dump at the entrance and some other girl stood in it and now she had a nickname, someone found needles, another found a homeless woman and she screamed at them. I was pumped for the next weekend. I was going to go see it for myself.
I saw too much.
Early Saturday morning I was riding my push bike through town and toward destination adventure! I started out at the skatepark, met up with a few of the regulars, a mix of 5-19y/o everyone on the half pipes and ramps had a code of comrady that I've never found in a public place anywhere else and you always had someone to hang with.
My usual crew slowly arrived through the morning, a bunch of other 10/11 year old misfits like myself and we headed on our first place on our journey, Hungry Jacks. Now we never technically stole, we found a loophole…
One or two would order a stunner meal, then we'd take privilege of the free refills and fill up the empty plastic 4L juice jugs that we all had prepped in our backpacks. Coke and red Fanta for days.
So we got our supplies and headed behind HJ, past the volleyball courts and headed down a bush track down to the river.
We walked along the banks to loop back down to where the bridge was, we passed a few teenagers fishing and a couple other groups of kids swinging from rope swings into the water or huddled in groups smoking things they shouldn't.
We eventually arrived at the weir and the stormwater drain that I had been so intrigued by. The Love Tunnel.
Climbing up the hill and seeing it up close when you were just a tiny human. It was like staring into the dark abyss of hell.
There was a small stream of water flowing out of the big grey cylinder and it was covered in multicolored quotes and crude pictures that was very eye opening at the time.
Our voices echoed as one by one we climbed up the grassy, eroding clay edging that was the makeshift path into the mouth that probably changed each time it rained. Each of us had pulled out clumps of grass that we thought were handholds. If you fell, you fell down an embankment of slippery jagged rocks poking out from the fast flowing river.
So were inside and began to walk a couple of metres in then around us the light abruptly disappeared into complete darkness. And I remember the way the sounds traveled you could feel it through your chest it was mesmerizing.
I remember bravely stepping into the darkness and taking five or six steps in. That thick darkness was something else, I ran myself back to that entrance and light, heart pounding from the adrenaline.
This turned into a game of who could go in the furthest. This stopped when one of the boys screamed out from the darkness in pain.
He was back in the light teary eyed a few moments later wet on one side and feigning a laugh. He'd slipped down and cut open his knee, it was hilarious. We teased him saying he was going to get gangrene and leprosy and a myriad of other ailments we had no idea actually was.
We decided to bail, we forgot torches, we didn't plan that part out too well, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon being little menaces.
We met the next day with a game plan, we had an array of various sized torches, from small ones that didn't do anything, one of those giant rectangle ones that was our main light source, a couple of handheld ones, one which flickered and the other stopped working before we even got into the tunnel.
We got in safely and tested out our torches and began walking into the unknown. It was pretty much the same as before, but there were strange things, old makeshift bongs, shopping bags, random shoes, a shopping trolley, a mattress that was all moldy and rotted. I still to this day do not understand how people managed to get that shit in there.
We passed a section where someone had thrown a can of red paint all over the walls, the amount of those ‘S’ symbols was more terrifying.
We saw light up ahead, we were passing our first grate. It was kind of daunting looking up towards it. Even getting on each other's shoulders we couldn't reach. There was an array of broken beer bottles and glass was everywhere, under the grate was a dead snake amongst some debris.
We had a debate whether to go further, we ended up going on at least until the next grate, we came to a fork, one seemed like a smaller offshoot so we stuck to the bigger side.
There were more offshoots and we came to a part where the big pipes split off into three under another grate. We gazed up hoping to get an identifier of our location, but all we could see was blue. We called out to see if we could get anyone's attention.
“Cooooweeee” we shouted in unison, the sound echoing in all directions.
We were laughing and having a grand time until something shouted back, something that still shakes me to my core to this day.
Some yobbo crackhead chick in her fifties with this ratty pink tank top that was all stretched half showing her saggy titties. “What the fuck you think you little cunts doing down here.” This chick screeched at us through her few teeth or something along the lines of that. She just exploded at us with a barrage of threats.
We were shocked silenced moving together to make one mass.
One of the boys screamed when a skinny guy emerged from the darkness. He was covered in tattoos with scraggly hair and a beard, he was all crazy eyed and pantless.
Someone yelled out to run and it was all the motivation we needed.
We could hear them screaming and the guy ran after us, we heard glass shattering behind us, they must have thrown a bottle. We were legging it.
We got split up in our running, I fell down, tripping over some rubbish, one mate stayed back to help me, this left us without a torch. We came across the same kid who slipped over yesterday, he had slipped down again cutting open his other knee. He wore those with badges of honor at school, but he was blubbering like a baby at this point.
He had the flickering torch and it disoriented us more than helped, as it turned on and off every time he took a step. I thought we were lost but we found the other grate, then eventually the entrance.
The others were already climbed down, we were soon by their side panting in the grass and wiping away our tears so the others couldn't see.
We ran back over to the skatepark and immediately told every kid we saw.
That was the wildest shit we had ever experienced. Sure we’d seen crazy up on the street but to have it jump out at you from the shadows in a storm water drain was next level.
By that night one of the other boys had spilled to his parents about our escapades and a couple of other mums got phone calls, three got in trouble, two of us didn't, including me.
I never stepped foot back in that tunnel, I swam at the weir more times than I could count afterwards though and never encountered anyone else too sketchy.
I think only a year or two later I saw on the news people dying in storm water drains somewhere else in Aus, we never realized how dangerous they could be back then. Lol.
Every party or get together afterwards it was a crowd favorite to bring up. It was a good conversation starter and joined the tales amongst my friends of the weird shit that happens in ‘Helltown’.
Growing up and looking back they were probably just homeless drug addicts freaked out from a bunch of children's voices yelling out coooweee from the underground where they thought they were alone. That would have scared the shit outta me if I was them.
Good times.
.VJ - in 2012 two women tragically passed away when they were exploring the tunnels and got swept away when a wild storm cell hit. Pictures of the upgraded version of the 'love tunnel' can be found in corresponding news articles.
submitted by casefilesofVJ to TrueScaryStories [link] [comments]
Every kid growing up in Gympie in the early 90- 2000s knew about the Love Tunnel.
The love tunnel was located over the hill from the skatepark on the Riverbank. It was a massive storm water drain filled with spray paint and lore unbound throughout the generations; the glowing dick, whose name is the furthest in, the people who live inside, the bull shark that lived under the bridge just outside, all that fun stuff.
It collapsed in the late 2000’s in a flood and was eventually rebuilt, but it was all fancy, modern, safe and not the same. Back in the day it had decades of graffiti, crumbling cement, jagged metal pole framing bent and jutting out from the sides. You know, real character.
I remember when I was just a kid at the skatepark and I spotted a bunch of other kids at the metal grating of a drain. I joined them and gazed down a few metres to some older teenagers, they had trekked through this “love tunnel” under the massive hill all this way. Badass I thought. LEGENDARY.
I talked about it at school, about this mysterious “love tunnel”. It was in view from the road when I crossed the bridge everyday on my daily commutes from the backseat of mums car.
I would gaze down at the weir and see the top of the love tunnel, sliightly hidden from view by a hill. It fascinated me.
I learned all these mysterious tales; this person slept with this person there, someone took a dump at the entrance and some other girl stood in it and now she had a nickname, someone found needles, another found a homeless woman and she screamed at them. I was pumped for the next weekend. I was going to go see it for myself.
I saw too much.
Early Saturday morning I was riding my push bike through town and toward destination adventure! I started out at the skatepark, met up with a few of the regulars, a mix of 5-19y/o everyone on the half pipes and ramps had a code of comrady that I've never found in a public place anywhere else and you always had someone to hang with.
My usual crew slowly arrived through the morning, a bunch of other 10/11 year old misfits like myself and we headed on our first place on our journey, Hungry Jacks. Now we never technically stole, we found a loophole…
One or two would order a stunner meal, then we'd take privilege of the free refills and fill up the empty plastic 4L juice jugs that we all had prepped in our backpacks. Coke and red Fanta for days.
So we got our supplies and headed behind HJ, past the volleyball courts and headed down a bush track down to the river.
We walked along the banks to loop back down to where the bridge was, we passed a few teenagers fishing and a couple other groups of kids swinging from rope swings into the water or huddled in groups smoking things they shouldn't.
We eventually arrived at the weir and the stormwater drain that I had been so intrigued by. The Love Tunnel.
Climbing up the hill and seeing it up close when you were just a tiny human. It was like staring into the dark abyss of hell.
There was a small stream of water flowing out of the big grey cylinder and it was covered in multicolored quotes and crude pictures that was very eye opening at the time.
Our voices echoed as one by one we climbed up the grassy, eroding clay edging that was the makeshift path into the mouth that probably changed each time it rained. Each of us had pulled out clumps of grass that we thought were handholds. If you fell, you fell down an embankment of slippery jagged rocks poking out from the fast flowing river.
So were inside and began to walk a couple of metres in then around us the light abruptly disappeared into complete darkness. And I remember the way the sounds traveled you could feel it through your chest it was mesmerizing.
I remember bravely stepping into the darkness and taking five or six steps in. That thick darkness was something else, I ran myself back to that entrance and light, heart pounding from the adrenaline.
This turned into a game of who could go in the furthest. This stopped when one of the boys screamed out from the darkness in pain.
He was back in the light teary eyed a few moments later wet on one side and feigning a laugh. He'd slipped down and cut open his knee, it was hilarious. We teased him saying he was going to get gangrene and leprosy and a myriad of other ailments we had no idea actually was.
We decided to bail, we forgot torches, we didn't plan that part out too well, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon being little menaces.
We met the next day with a game plan, we had an array of various sized torches, from small ones that didn't do anything, one of those giant rectangle ones that was our main light source, a couple of handheld ones, one which flickered and the other stopped working before we even got into the tunnel.
We got in safely and tested out our torches and began walking into the unknown. It was pretty much the same as before, but there were strange things, old makeshift bongs, shopping bags, random shoes, a shopping trolley, a mattress that was all moldy and rotted. I still to this day do not understand how people managed to get that shit in there.
We passed a section where someone had thrown a can of red paint all over the walls, the amount of those ‘S’ symbols was more terrifying.
We saw light up ahead, we were passing our first grate. It was kind of daunting looking up towards it. Even getting on each other's shoulders we couldn't reach. There was an array of broken beer bottles and glass was everywhere, under the grate was a dead snake amongst some debris.
We had a debate whether to go further, we ended up going on at least until the next grate, we came to a fork, one seemed like a smaller offshoot so we stuck to the bigger side.
There were more offshoots and we came to a part where the big pipes split off into three under another grate. We gazed up hoping to get an identifier of our location, but all we could see was blue. We called out to see if we could get anyone's attention.
“Cooooweeee” we shouted in unison, the sound echoing in all directions.
We were laughing and having a grand time until something shouted back, something that still shakes me to my core to this day.
Some yobbo crackhead chick in her fifties with this ratty pink tank top that was all stretched half showing her saggy titties. “What the fuck you think you little cunts doing down here.” This chick screeched at us through her few teeth or something along the lines of that. She just exploded at us with a barrage of threats.
We were shocked silenced moving together to make one mass.
One of the boys screamed when a skinny guy emerged from the darkness. He was covered in tattoos with scraggly hair and a beard, he was all crazy eyed and pantless.
Someone yelled out to run and it was all the motivation we needed.
We could hear them screaming and the guy ran after us, we heard glass shattering behind us, they must have thrown a bottle. We were legging it.
We got split up in our running, I fell down, tripping over some rubbish, one mate stayed back to help me, this left us without a torch. We came across the same kid who slipped over yesterday, he had slipped down again cutting open his other knee. He wore those with badges of honor at school, but he was blubbering like a baby at this point.
He had the flickering torch and it disoriented us more than helped, as it turned on and off every time he took a step. I thought we were lost but we found the other grate, then eventually the entrance.
The others were already climbed down, we were soon by their side panting in the grass and wiping away our tears so the others couldn't see.
We ran back over to the skatepark and immediately told every kid we saw.
That was the wildest shit we had ever experienced. Sure we’d seen crazy up on the street but to have it jump out at you from the shadows in a storm water drain was next level.
By that night one of the other boys had spilled to his parents about our escapades and a couple of other mums got phone calls, three got in trouble, two of us didn't, including me.
I never stepped foot back in that tunnel, I swam at the weir more times than I could count afterwards though and never encountered anyone else too sketchy.
I think only a year or two later I saw on the news people dying in storm water drains somewhere else in Aus, we never realized how dangerous they could be back then. Lol.
Every party or get together afterwards it was a crowd favorite to bring up. It was a good conversation starter and joined the tales amongst my friends of the weird shit that happens in ‘Helltown’.
Growing up and looking back they were probably just homeless drug addicts freaked out from a bunch of children's voices yelling out coooweee from the underground where they thought they were alone. That would have scared the shit outta me if I was them.
Good times.
.VJ - in 2012 two women tragically passed away when they were exploring the tunnels and got swept away when a wild storm cell hit. Pictures of the upgraded version of the 'love tunnel' can be found in corresponding news articles.
2024.05.15 15:28 xfallenangelx95 [28/F] Seeking emotional support and highly empathetic people.I would love to find someone who doesn't judge others or make fun of them.It's very Important to have someone to rely on :) I'm here for conversations with emotionally mature people who don't have friends and need someone to talk to 🍀🌸
(Only Europe, Please) - short note - If you're not into reading or receiving long messages,don't read any further + Please If you don't want to read everything because of my post being too long for you & instead of reading It all - ..skip some parts - find another person to talk to.Let's respect each other and our free time. All people criticizing/making fun of me & other people - will be blocked.Pretty much as people questioning my post and giving me unsolicited advice.I'm not here for any conflicts and I know I can't please everyone - I know I never will.. However It's me who should feel comfortable in my new potential friendship & obviously someone who wants to be my friend - not the whole world.. which is why I don't need any advice from people who don't even want to be a part of my life. The amount of rude people on Reddit always criticizing others and making fun of them is unbelievably high but let me tell you something - NEVER let anyone make choices for you and criticize you only because you're different! Always fight for your dreams and never let anyone make you think you're worthless! It's your life and you're the one deciding what's best for you - If you want to judge me despite not even wanting to talk to me or give me advice better block me! I'm an adult woman and I make all decisions on my own.I'm not trying to "fit in" and be like everyone else - just to get more attention.Accept me for who I am or let go - is my motto.
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Hello guys! 🙂 (read everything before you decide to send me a message) Please send me a message ONLY If you're in the same situation and If your expectations are the same as mine.I want to find like minded people from Europe (Why Europe? Read my post to find out) I'm looking for something permanent (remember - you can feel lonely even If you're surrounded by others - If there's no emotional bond) I'm fed up of meeting people who never make time for me & only text me once or twice a week to ask me "what are you up to?" Out of boredom.I don't want to meet people asking others a million of questions like "what's your favorite movie?" Just to give them one word answer and ask them another question "and music? Your favorite song?" I'm looking for something "deeper" & different 🙂
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What kind of friend would I like to find? Someone to talk to on a daily basis - Someone who needs It & wants It just as much as me
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What are my expectations? I would like to meet someone in a similar situation – why? Because I honestly feel like only a person with the same expectations and a similar outlook on life would get along with me & because I feel more comfortable talking to people like me..Friendless people who need a strong bond - people without friends and partners.. Don't get me wrong…Most people deserve to be happy and It's good to have friends but people who have friends or families in real life are usually more focused on them (which is completely understandable) & have less time for others + I simply don't want to be replaced by anyone..I kind of envy people who can call others , true friends given I don't have an emotional bond with any of my acquaintances. Please send me a message only If you're not In a relationship and don't have friends for the same reasons I've already mentioned before
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Whenever I hear that others have friends I simply get sad because (believe it or not) If I had to choose between 20 people to talk to (acquaintances) and one special person - I'd choose that one special person without any hesitation .
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I also want to talk to others every day because..I want to see someone’s effort & be someone's first choice - not another person to have random conversations with..some people ask me "Why do you want to talk to people from Europe?" Well..Because I would like to see someone I'd get along with - In the far future - face to face :) + I don't want to wait any longer than 6 hours to receive a message - waiting 6 hours to receive a message is more than enough
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I'm by no means criticizing people who don't want to talk to others often / People who really are super busy & People who want to find someone to have unimportant conversations with - I'm aware that not everyone has the same expectations which is why everything you're reading now - is here for a reason :) All I'm suggesting is - I don't want anything temporary and I don't want to be the one always giving more than receiving.Listen people - I used to ignore being..ignored by others..always being just an option to talk to during tough times or moments of boredom.I was too young to realize that I was never important enough for most people that were a part of my life. I don't know who needs to hear this but..No one is too busy to make time for you! People make excuses to avoid others because they prioritize everything and (maybe) everyone..over them. It's true that most people are busy - but It takes only a few seconds to start a conversation (If you're into short messages) and a few minutes (1-10/15) to type a long message . Don't let anyone lie to you.
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Truth is that most people either don't like you enough to make time for you or just simply - feel no need to talk to others often but are they too busy? No..You don't need to send me a message just to ask me and tell me "Do you really want to talk every day? I like long messages but I can't promise to contact you often" If you really are unsure please don't send me a message.I don't need more acquaintances aka people to talk to - occasionally.
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I'm not trying to sound rude but conversations once or twice a week wouldn't be enough for me and I don't need them... Let me tell you one thing – A true friend would never just give up on you for no reason :) It’s always possible to find someone to have a random conversation with – someone willing to send you one message once or twice a week..but..It’s almost impossible to find people willing to make more time for you.
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I’m not asking a busy person to make time for me by changing some plans! Absolutely not! I’m here to find someone who wants to talk daily (throughout the day or maybe even night) of one’s own will.Someone looking for the same kind of connection.Strong friendships are based on mutual support. One of the best things you can do for a friend in need, is just to be there for them when they want to talk.I often see posts from people who always say how friendless they are because they don't feel loved or appreciated by their "friends" remember! A true friend - someone who truly likes you or someone who wants to get to know you - will always find time for you.
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I'm not interested in small talk/short messages - I love long and meaningful conversations. It's so easy to find someone who loves abbreviations and questions like "How are you?" How was your day? Or what are you interested in? But so hard/almost impossible to find a person who knows how to keep a conversation going & show others some effort.Building and maintaining friendships takes time and effort.Never allow pursuits or possessions to become bigger priorities than your relations with other people.Close friendships are so important to us because they are so difficult to form + Having friends can help you feel as if you belong to something that brings purpose and connection to your life
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• I do NOT respond to any „Hey,hmu” or „u want to talk?” type of messages (super short messages or messages full of abbreviations – I literally can’t stand abbreviations and acronyms in text messages) ALL messages full of abbreviations will immediately be ignored.I also don't like it when people ignore everything I say in private messages just to focus on a random question or? When they start talking only about themselves and don't ever ask me anything. I love conversations with people referring to everything I say...I want everything I say and do - to be reciprocated
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• No NSFW profiles (checking mental health subreddits NOT included as I'm a huge empath and always try to understand others) - Please! I'm not looking for anyone to flirt with and I'm not looking for a partner either. I always check people's profiles (even comment history) - To avoid guys, trying to get inappropriate pictures from adult women or? flirt with them + I don't want to see you with no clothes on so If you're on Reddit only because you want others to see what's underneath your clothes - I'm not for you! I just simply don't want to see any s e x related activity on your profile If you want to talk to me.
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• If both of us (you and I) are from the same country (I live in a non-English speaking country) - I want to communicate with you in our first language! No - Not because I don't understand English - because as you see - I do. Why then? English is simply overrated and people don't appreciate other languages as much as they should. So.. If we're from the same country and you want to talk only in English (which is quite common on reddit) - Talk to someone else. I just don't want to talk to a person from the same country as mine - in a foreign language as It's just something I don't understand even If all you want is to improve your language skills
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• Please only adult people 18-36 (age range) It doesn't matter to me If you're younger or older than me (as long as you're not underage) So.. don't worry! I just want to have discussions with emotionally mature people :)
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• I don’t respond to messages I don’t find interesting even If they're long - If after receiving and reading your message I don't feel comfortable or think "I wouldn't get along with him/her" I simply do not respond (what I’m suggesting is that I don’t always respond to someone’s first or second message because..sometimes you just know If you’d get along with someone or not- I’d never ignore anyone after days or weeks of daily conversations though) just because I don’t want to do anything forcefully & because I don’t want to lead anyone on. I read all messages but I definitely don't respond to all of them! I want to make it clear because I don't want to be accused of not responding and not reading people's messages! - Some people don't message me back as well and even If It's a bit disappointing I'm ok with that! - as long as there's no emotional bond - Not responding to someone's first or second message Is completely OK! If people think they wouldn't get along with a stranger - is there a reason to start a conversation? I don't think so. I can't stand being ignored after days or weeks of daily conversations and seeing people changing priorities over time.. but that's something different - something I don't want to go through ever again for real. If I'm really interested in someone's message it's impossible to hear from me "I'm too busy" because I know myself and If I had no time for others - I wouldn't be here. I don't want to pretend someone I'm not and always try to find some cheap excuses to avoid others. (unlike most people who don't want to talk to others)
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• Don’t ask me “Can you tell me something about yourself?” If you really want to get to know me - you can ask me questions :) I'm an open book.
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• It would be better If you guys were into emojis - like me - to describe your emotions In text messages. Two emojis - 🙂 and 🙁 are completely enough! I just don't like emotionless conversations.I also don't like it when people say "yeah" or yea"as it sounds dismissively. First impression Is everything to me! I want to see your kindness even in a text message - Emojis are very helpful to express your emotions.I don't want to meet people who say "crying Is a weakness" - It's OK to cry even If you're a guy!
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• I want to talk on reddit first (just to make sure If I'd get along with you) before moving to Discord or some other app
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• I would rather talk to a homebody - not another person who always has something to do as people who are very busy don't even have time for daily conversations
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• If you're another person interested only in "childish conversations" such as "HEYOOO! I'M BORED! Ya like Pizza or cheese? xDDDD 🤣" I'm begging you! Don't send me a message.I'm not a child anymore and such messages don't make me smile or laugh.I'm looking for someone interested In serious discussions - not another person just seeking some entertainment out of boredom . Conversations with sarcastic undertones (even when It comes to some emojis such as 🤣😂) are not for me. Your typing style matters to me! Why? when It comes to online conversations with someone new - It's not always possible to know If someone Is laughing at you.. or with you. Let me tell you something else! Jokes about cancer, disabilities and death are UNACCEPTABLE to me. If you find joy In someone else's misfortune you are not a person I want to know.
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• Time response matters to me a lot! I would never ask anyone to be online all day long and I'm NOT asking any of you for any instant messaging as I'm someone who would rather wait an hour or two to receive a proper response instead of some short and pointless messages but I'm interested only in daily conversations and I don't want to wait any longer than 6 hours to get a message from you.I don't need unbelievably long messages either! Messages as long as the second paragraph of my post - are completely enough. If you like longer messages? you can send me a longer message, but If you want to send me one word or one sentence as a response to my post - don't expect a reaction from me. I don't want to come across as rude - I just don't want to waste your time
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• I'm strongly AGAINST picking on people you don't even want to chat with - and making fun of them! I can't stand people who criticize others publicly or make fun of them! (only because they disagree with someone they don't even know) There's no place In my life for someone using Reddit, to hurt other people
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• I'm not into foul language and I definitely don't want to talk to people who swear a lot...
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• I want to meet assertive people who know what they want and always stand up for their friends
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• I want to meet someone willing to call me In the future, someone spontaneously sending me pictures of animals or food, et cetera. I want more than just text conversations.. 🌻
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Why can’t you see any of my hobbies listed down below? Because what really matters to me is..who you are (If you’re honest, talkative ,understanding, caring and trustworthy – for example) just simply – It matters to me what you’re like! not what you like.Don’t get me wrong – you can tell me what your hobbies are but from my point of view - people's hobbies are important - If you want to find a gaming buddy or If you want to meet someone to hang out with in real life and..go bowling for example.What most people seem to care about are other people's passions – I don’t. I get along with other people despite having completely different hobbies but I absolutely don’t get along with people way different than me (different expectations and outlook on life – way different sense of humor or personality traits – It’s just an example) It doesn't make ANY DIFFERENCE to me If you're a gamer or? Someone interested in photography! It doesn't make any difference - > as long as you're talkative and kind and If you also want to find someone willing to stay in your life..for good - But If you're into small talk and all you want is to...type and receive super short messages or If you're here only because you're bored and don't know what to do + If you're a very sarcastic person - I'm definitely not for you! I don't get along with overly sarcastic people turning everything into a joke. Friendships should be natural – not forced. I wouldn't get along with people who laugh at everything.. In my opinion most people are way too sarcastic.. It's quite sad... Sarcasm can also be another form of passive-aggressive behavior.
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People who want to be to friends should feel comfortable and have something in common. No - not necessarily a similar taste in music or movies but something else..Most friendships don't fizzle out because of people not having the same hobbies but..because they just simply have different expectations when It comes to something important.I'm not here out of boredom and trust me - I'm not here to meet as many people as possible.I choose quality over quantity.I highly value myself and my time & Sometimes one person but a person who makes you feel comfortable and understood - is more than enough :) We ALL can choose what kind of people we’d like to talk to and maybe even become really good friends with and I? I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.We all have some expectations after all.I know that people don't have to talk as often as possible in order to become friends but I'm interested only in daily conversations. If you really need someone to talk to due to loneliness and If you have time to talk to me daily (throughout the day and maybe even night) I always make time for others.I'm literally always available.I could even stay up all night long only to talk to someone important to me. I’m ready to commit but only If there’s some chemistry between me and someone else.I don’t do anything forcefully.
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If you want to talk to me tell me your story - tell me why you're here, what kind of friend would you like to meet :) Et cetera.Such messages are way more interesting to me than...someone's long list of hobbies. I know! It's unusual on reddit but I don't make friends based on hobbies..I want to meet someone with the same mindset as mine to finally feel understood and get close to someone new. You can share your problems with me - I absolutely don't mind "complaining" as I've been through a lot in my life.What do people usually tell you when you tell them that something's wrong? "Don't complain" or "Life's not over yet - one day you'll be happy" or "There are worse situations than yours" and..obviously "Find a therapist" Life's not a fairytale and sometimes things don't go as planned.Emotions shouldn't be bottled up.I'm sick of people always telling others "everything's gonna be ok" move on " & more..Trust me people - not everyone wants to hear "Just believe in yourself and everything's gonna be ok" Some people take it as reassurance - but others? They would rather hear something different 🙁Imagine being told that things will be okay, only for them to get worse..Do you guys know why telling someone "everything's gonna be ok" Is wrong? Because you can't see the future.
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You can't guarantee others that one day they'll finally be happy + when It comes to social interactions - We're responsible only for ourselves - not others & as you guys know people let us down quite often (sometimes even when there's no reason) so instead of telling people how they should move on, forget everything and be happy or asking them to find a therapist - be there for them! Always be willing to listen to them If you really like them or want to get to know them & don't suggest everyone in a tough situation to find a therapist because even the best therapist won't ever replace a true friend + It's quite normal to be disappointed If people always do something to hurt you. Sharing your hardships with other people in a very similar situation or exactly the same one - is VERY helpful If the other person understands you & wants to start all over by just letting it all out! Feeling emotional support instead of always hearing some "positive quotes" or someone saying "Stop complaining let's talk about something else - Is very important! "Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on. I appreciate sensitive people who always try to understand others. If after hearing a sad story all you want to say is "forget the past and move on" you're not for me. It's important to be a good listener and provide emotional support to others
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Please - If you're a completely different person than the described type of person I'm looking for (If you love abbreviations,If you don't need a stable friendship, If you're sarcastic and quiet) or If you simply disagree with my post - don't force yourself to send me a message.I want my new potential friendship to be natural which is why I want you to contact me only If your needs are the same - I don't want you to pretend someone you're not - only to please me - Pretending to be someone you're not - is the worst.I want to finally be happy again & find someone "always" wanting to talk - sending me random pictures throughout the day - food pictures or pictures of some animals. What is the most important to me? I want to find people who value online friendships as much as they would value real life ones as there's another human being on the other side
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No comments please.Only Private messages and chat requests 🌺
I know It's possible to meet people with exactly the same expectations as mine but It's just not easy because most people are Interested In temporary and entertaining conversations. People like me are just "different" I really want to finally find someone who loves emojis as much as I do.. someone who loves sweet, warm and serious discussions at the same time. Emojis really do - change conversations 😊
submitted by xfallenangelx95 to InternetFriends [link] [comments]
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Hello guys! 🙂 (read everything before you decide to send me a message) Please send me a message ONLY If you're in the same situation and If your expectations are the same as mine.I want to find like minded people from Europe (Why Europe? Read my post to find out) I'm looking for something permanent (remember - you can feel lonely even If you're surrounded by others - If there's no emotional bond) I'm fed up of meeting people who never make time for me & only text me once or twice a week to ask me "what are you up to?" Out of boredom.I don't want to meet people asking others a million of questions like "what's your favorite movie?" Just to give them one word answer and ask them another question "and music? Your favorite song?" I'm looking for something "deeper" & different 🙂
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What kind of friend would I like to find? Someone to talk to on a daily basis - Someone who needs It & wants It just as much as me
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What are my expectations? I would like to meet someone in a similar situation – why? Because I honestly feel like only a person with the same expectations and a similar outlook on life would get along with me & because I feel more comfortable talking to people like me..Friendless people who need a strong bond - people without friends and partners.. Don't get me wrong…Most people deserve to be happy and It's good to have friends but people who have friends or families in real life are usually more focused on them (which is completely understandable) & have less time for others + I simply don't want to be replaced by anyone..I kind of envy people who can call others , true friends given I don't have an emotional bond with any of my acquaintances. Please send me a message only If you're not In a relationship and don't have friends for the same reasons I've already mentioned before
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Whenever I hear that others have friends I simply get sad because (believe it or not) If I had to choose between 20 people to talk to (acquaintances) and one special person - I'd choose that one special person without any hesitation .
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I also want to talk to others every day because..I want to see someone’s effort & be someone's first choice - not another person to have random conversations with..some people ask me "Why do you want to talk to people from Europe?" Well..Because I would like to see someone I'd get along with - In the far future - face to face :) + I don't want to wait any longer than 6 hours to receive a message - waiting 6 hours to receive a message is more than enough
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I'm by no means criticizing people who don't want to talk to others often / People who really are super busy & People who want to find someone to have unimportant conversations with - I'm aware that not everyone has the same expectations which is why everything you're reading now - is here for a reason :) All I'm suggesting is - I don't want anything temporary and I don't want to be the one always giving more than receiving.Listen people - I used to ignore being..ignored by others..always being just an option to talk to during tough times or moments of boredom.I was too young to realize that I was never important enough for most people that were a part of my life. I don't know who needs to hear this but..No one is too busy to make time for you! People make excuses to avoid others because they prioritize everything and (maybe) everyone..over them. It's true that most people are busy - but It takes only a few seconds to start a conversation (If you're into short messages) and a few minutes (1-10/15) to type a long message . Don't let anyone lie to you.
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Truth is that most people either don't like you enough to make time for you or just simply - feel no need to talk to others often but are they too busy? No..You don't need to send me a message just to ask me and tell me "Do you really want to talk every day? I like long messages but I can't promise to contact you often" If you really are unsure please don't send me a message.I don't need more acquaintances aka people to talk to - occasionally.
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I'm not trying to sound rude but conversations once or twice a week wouldn't be enough for me and I don't need them... Let me tell you one thing – A true friend would never just give up on you for no reason :) It’s always possible to find someone to have a random conversation with – someone willing to send you one message once or twice a week..but..It’s almost impossible to find people willing to make more time for you.
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I’m not asking a busy person to make time for me by changing some plans! Absolutely not! I’m here to find someone who wants to talk daily (throughout the day or maybe even night) of one’s own will.Someone looking for the same kind of connection.Strong friendships are based on mutual support. One of the best things you can do for a friend in need, is just to be there for them when they want to talk.I often see posts from people who always say how friendless they are because they don't feel loved or appreciated by their "friends" remember! A true friend - someone who truly likes you or someone who wants to get to know you - will always find time for you.
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I'm not interested in small talk/short messages - I love long and meaningful conversations. It's so easy to find someone who loves abbreviations and questions like "How are you?" How was your day? Or what are you interested in? But so hard/almost impossible to find a person who knows how to keep a conversation going & show others some effort.Building and maintaining friendships takes time and effort.Never allow pursuits or possessions to become bigger priorities than your relations with other people.Close friendships are so important to us because they are so difficult to form + Having friends can help you feel as if you belong to something that brings purpose and connection to your life
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• I do NOT respond to any „Hey,hmu” or „u want to talk?” type of messages (super short messages or messages full of abbreviations – I literally can’t stand abbreviations and acronyms in text messages) ALL messages full of abbreviations will immediately be ignored.I also don't like it when people ignore everything I say in private messages just to focus on a random question or? When they start talking only about themselves and don't ever ask me anything. I love conversations with people referring to everything I say...I want everything I say and do - to be reciprocated
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• No NSFW profiles (checking mental health subreddits NOT included as I'm a huge empath and always try to understand others) - Please! I'm not looking for anyone to flirt with and I'm not looking for a partner either. I always check people's profiles (even comment history) - To avoid guys, trying to get inappropriate pictures from adult women or? flirt with them + I don't want to see you with no clothes on so If you're on Reddit only because you want others to see what's underneath your clothes - I'm not for you! I just simply don't want to see any s e x related activity on your profile If you want to talk to me.
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• If both of us (you and I) are from the same country (I live in a non-English speaking country) - I want to communicate with you in our first language! No - Not because I don't understand English - because as you see - I do. Why then? English is simply overrated and people don't appreciate other languages as much as they should. So.. If we're from the same country and you want to talk only in English (which is quite common on reddit) - Talk to someone else. I just don't want to talk to a person from the same country as mine - in a foreign language as It's just something I don't understand even If all you want is to improve your language skills
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• Please only adult people 18-36 (age range) It doesn't matter to me If you're younger or older than me (as long as you're not underage) So.. don't worry! I just want to have discussions with emotionally mature people :)
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• I don’t respond to messages I don’t find interesting even If they're long - If after receiving and reading your message I don't feel comfortable or think "I wouldn't get along with him/her" I simply do not respond (what I’m suggesting is that I don’t always respond to someone’s first or second message because..sometimes you just know If you’d get along with someone or not- I’d never ignore anyone after days or weeks of daily conversations though) just because I don’t want to do anything forcefully & because I don’t want to lead anyone on. I read all messages but I definitely don't respond to all of them! I want to make it clear because I don't want to be accused of not responding and not reading people's messages! - Some people don't message me back as well and even If It's a bit disappointing I'm ok with that! - as long as there's no emotional bond - Not responding to someone's first or second message Is completely OK! If people think they wouldn't get along with a stranger - is there a reason to start a conversation? I don't think so. I can't stand being ignored after days or weeks of daily conversations and seeing people changing priorities over time.. but that's something different - something I don't want to go through ever again for real. If I'm really interested in someone's message it's impossible to hear from me "I'm too busy" because I know myself and If I had no time for others - I wouldn't be here. I don't want to pretend someone I'm not and always try to find some cheap excuses to avoid others. (unlike most people who don't want to talk to others)
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• Don’t ask me “Can you tell me something about yourself?” If you really want to get to know me - you can ask me questions :) I'm an open book.
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• It would be better If you guys were into emojis - like me - to describe your emotions In text messages. Two emojis - 🙂 and 🙁 are completely enough! I just don't like emotionless conversations.I also don't like it when people say "yeah" or yea"as it sounds dismissively. First impression Is everything to me! I want to see your kindness even in a text message - Emojis are very helpful to express your emotions.I don't want to meet people who say "crying Is a weakness" - It's OK to cry even If you're a guy!
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• I want to talk on reddit first (just to make sure If I'd get along with you) before moving to Discord or some other app
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• I would rather talk to a homebody - not another person who always has something to do as people who are very busy don't even have time for daily conversations
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• If you're another person interested only in "childish conversations" such as "HEYOOO! I'M BORED! Ya like Pizza or cheese? xDDDD 🤣" I'm begging you! Don't send me a message.I'm not a child anymore and such messages don't make me smile or laugh.I'm looking for someone interested In serious discussions - not another person just seeking some entertainment out of boredom . Conversations with sarcastic undertones (even when It comes to some emojis such as 🤣😂) are not for me. Your typing style matters to me! Why? when It comes to online conversations with someone new - It's not always possible to know If someone Is laughing at you.. or with you. Let me tell you something else! Jokes about cancer, disabilities and death are UNACCEPTABLE to me. If you find joy In someone else's misfortune you are not a person I want to know.
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• Time response matters to me a lot! I would never ask anyone to be online all day long and I'm NOT asking any of you for any instant messaging as I'm someone who would rather wait an hour or two to receive a proper response instead of some short and pointless messages but I'm interested only in daily conversations and I don't want to wait any longer than 6 hours to get a message from you.I don't need unbelievably long messages either! Messages as long as the second paragraph of my post - are completely enough. If you like longer messages? you can send me a longer message, but If you want to send me one word or one sentence as a response to my post - don't expect a reaction from me. I don't want to come across as rude - I just don't want to waste your time
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• I'm strongly AGAINST picking on people you don't even want to chat with - and making fun of them! I can't stand people who criticize others publicly or make fun of them! (only because they disagree with someone they don't even know) There's no place In my life for someone using Reddit, to hurt other people
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• I'm not into foul language and I definitely don't want to talk to people who swear a lot...
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• I want to meet assertive people who know what they want and always stand up for their friends
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• I want to meet someone willing to call me In the future, someone spontaneously sending me pictures of animals or food, et cetera. I want more than just text conversations.. 🌻
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Why can’t you see any of my hobbies listed down below? Because what really matters to me is..who you are (If you’re honest, talkative ,understanding, caring and trustworthy – for example) just simply – It matters to me what you’re like! not what you like.Don’t get me wrong – you can tell me what your hobbies are but from my point of view - people's hobbies are important - If you want to find a gaming buddy or If you want to meet someone to hang out with in real life and..go bowling for example.What most people seem to care about are other people's passions – I don’t. I get along with other people despite having completely different hobbies but I absolutely don’t get along with people way different than me (different expectations and outlook on life – way different sense of humor or personality traits – It’s just an example) It doesn't make ANY DIFFERENCE to me If you're a gamer or? Someone interested in photography! It doesn't make any difference - > as long as you're talkative and kind and If you also want to find someone willing to stay in your life..for good - But If you're into small talk and all you want is to...type and receive super short messages or If you're here only because you're bored and don't know what to do + If you're a very sarcastic person - I'm definitely not for you! I don't get along with overly sarcastic people turning everything into a joke. Friendships should be natural – not forced. I wouldn't get along with people who laugh at everything.. In my opinion most people are way too sarcastic.. It's quite sad... Sarcasm can also be another form of passive-aggressive behavior.
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People who want to be to friends should feel comfortable and have something in common. No - not necessarily a similar taste in music or movies but something else..Most friendships don't fizzle out because of people not having the same hobbies but..because they just simply have different expectations when It comes to something important.I'm not here out of boredom and trust me - I'm not here to meet as many people as possible.I choose quality over quantity.I highly value myself and my time & Sometimes one person but a person who makes you feel comfortable and understood - is more than enough :) We ALL can choose what kind of people we’d like to talk to and maybe even become really good friends with and I? I don’t want anyone to be disappointed.We all have some expectations after all.I know that people don't have to talk as often as possible in order to become friends but I'm interested only in daily conversations. If you really need someone to talk to due to loneliness and If you have time to talk to me daily (throughout the day and maybe even night) I always make time for others.I'm literally always available.I could even stay up all night long only to talk to someone important to me. I’m ready to commit but only If there’s some chemistry between me and someone else.I don’t do anything forcefully.
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If you want to talk to me tell me your story - tell me why you're here, what kind of friend would you like to meet :) Et cetera.Such messages are way more interesting to me than...someone's long list of hobbies. I know! It's unusual on reddit but I don't make friends based on hobbies..I want to meet someone with the same mindset as mine to finally feel understood and get close to someone new. You can share your problems with me - I absolutely don't mind "complaining" as I've been through a lot in my life.What do people usually tell you when you tell them that something's wrong? "Don't complain" or "Life's not over yet - one day you'll be happy" or "There are worse situations than yours" and..obviously "Find a therapist" Life's not a fairytale and sometimes things don't go as planned.Emotions shouldn't be bottled up.I'm sick of people always telling others "everything's gonna be ok" move on " & more..Trust me people - not everyone wants to hear "Just believe in yourself and everything's gonna be ok" Some people take it as reassurance - but others? They would rather hear something different 🙁Imagine being told that things will be okay, only for them to get worse..Do you guys know why telling someone "everything's gonna be ok" Is wrong? Because you can't see the future.
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You can't guarantee others that one day they'll finally be happy + when It comes to social interactions - We're responsible only for ourselves - not others & as you guys know people let us down quite often (sometimes even when there's no reason) so instead of telling people how they should move on, forget everything and be happy or asking them to find a therapist - be there for them! Always be willing to listen to them If you really like them or want to get to know them & don't suggest everyone in a tough situation to find a therapist because even the best therapist won't ever replace a true friend + It's quite normal to be disappointed If people always do something to hurt you. Sharing your hardships with other people in a very similar situation or exactly the same one - is VERY helpful If the other person understands you & wants to start all over by just letting it all out! Feeling emotional support instead of always hearing some "positive quotes" or someone saying "Stop complaining let's talk about something else - Is very important! "Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on. I appreciate sensitive people who always try to understand others. If after hearing a sad story all you want to say is "forget the past and move on" you're not for me. It's important to be a good listener and provide emotional support to others
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Please - If you're a completely different person than the described type of person I'm looking for (If you love abbreviations,If you don't need a stable friendship, If you're sarcastic and quiet) or If you simply disagree with my post - don't force yourself to send me a message.I want my new potential friendship to be natural which is why I want you to contact me only If your needs are the same - I don't want you to pretend someone you're not - only to please me - Pretending to be someone you're not - is the worst.I want to finally be happy again & find someone "always" wanting to talk - sending me random pictures throughout the day - food pictures or pictures of some animals. What is the most important to me? I want to find people who value online friendships as much as they would value real life ones as there's another human being on the other side
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No comments please.Only Private messages and chat requests 🌺
I know It's possible to meet people with exactly the same expectations as mine but It's just not easy because most people are Interested In temporary and entertaining conversations. People like me are just "different" I really want to finally find someone who loves emojis as much as I do.. someone who loves sweet, warm and serious discussions at the same time. Emojis really do - change conversations 😊
2024.05.15 15:19 M0nk3yb0y111 The Brilliance of Scott Cawthon: A Game Developer Who Revolutionized Horror
Scott Cawthon, a name that has become synonymous with innovative horror gaming, is the mastermind behind the wildly successful "Five Nights at Freddy's" (FNaF) franchise. His journey from an independent developer to a celebrated figure in the gaming world is a testament to his creativity, perseverance, and profound impact on the genre. Cawthon's work not only redefined horror games but also inspired a generation of gamers and creators. This essay explores why Scott Cawthon is so remarkable for his contributions to the gaming industry.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" was an instant hit, praised for its simplicity, atmosphere, and deep lore. The game's success can be attributed to Cawthon's innovative use of jump scares, tension-building mechanics, and a compelling narrative that kept players coming back for more. The minimalist approach, combined with an eerie ambiance, created an immersive experience that left a lasting impression on players.
In addition to the main games, Cawthon ventured into other media, including books and planned movies. The "Fazbear Frights" book series and graphic novels expanded the FNaF lore, providing fans with more content and deeper insights into the story's universe. This multi-platform approach demonstrated Cawthon's versatility and commitment to providing a rich, immersive experience for his audience.
Moreover, Cawthon's journey from an independent developer to a renowned figure serves as an inspiration to aspiring game developers. His story underscores the importance of perseverance, creativity, and the willingness to learn from failure. By sharing his experiences and remaining humble despite his success, Cawthon has become a role model for many in the gaming industry.
In conclusion, Scott Cawthon's contributions to the gaming world are nothing short of extraordinary. His innovative approach to horror, dedication to expanding the FNaF universe, and ability to inspire a global community of fans and creators highlight his brilliance. Cawthon's legacy will undoubtedly continue to influence the gaming industry for years to come, solidifying his place as a pioneering figure in the world of game development. Do you agree?
submitted by M0nk3yb0y111 to FNaF [link] [comments]
A Humble Beginning
Before achieving fame with FNaF, Scott Cawthon's career was marked by a series of lesser-known projects. He created numerous games, many of which struggled to find a wide audience. Titles like "Chipper & Sons Lumber Co." showcased his ability to develop engaging gameplay, but they did not receive significant attention. Despite facing setbacks and criticism, Cawthon remained undeterred, continuously honing his craft and pushing the boundaries of his creativity.The Birth of a Phenomenon
The turning point in Cawthon's career came in 2014 with the release of "Five Nights at Freddy's." This game was unlike anything the gaming world had seen before. Set in a fictional pizzeria, players took on the role of a night security guard who must survive against haunted animatronics. The game's unique mechanics, where players must manage limited resources to fend off terrifying enemies, introduced a new kind of psychological horror that captivated players."Five Nights at Freddy's" was an instant hit, praised for its simplicity, atmosphere, and deep lore. The game's success can be attributed to Cawthon's innovative use of jump scares, tension-building mechanics, and a compelling narrative that kept players coming back for more. The minimalist approach, combined with an eerie ambiance, created an immersive experience that left a lasting impression on players.
Expanding the Universe
Cawthon's ability to expand the FNaF universe is another testament to his genius. Rather than resting on his laurels, he continually developed sequels that built upon the original game's lore and mechanics. Each new installment added layers of complexity and depth, weaving an intricate narrative that spanned multiple games. This storytelling approach fostered a dedicated community of fans who eagerly deciphered the mysteries and theories surrounding the series.In addition to the main games, Cawthon ventured into other media, including books and planned movies. The "Fazbear Frights" book series and graphic novels expanded the FNaF lore, providing fans with more content and deeper insights into the story's universe. This multi-platform approach demonstrated Cawthon's versatility and commitment to providing a rich, immersive experience for his audience.
Inspiring a Community
One of the most remarkable aspects of Scott Cawthon's legacy is the community he has cultivated. The FNaF series has inspired countless fan theories, artworks, and even fan-made games. Platforms like YouTube saw an explosion of content from creators analyzing and playing the games, further boosting their popularity. Cawthon's engagement with his fanbase, often teasing new projects and acknowledging fan contributions, has fostered a loyal and enthusiastic community.Moreover, Cawthon's journey from an independent developer to a renowned figure serves as an inspiration to aspiring game developers. His story underscores the importance of perseverance, creativity, and the willingness to learn from failure. By sharing his experiences and remaining humble despite his success, Cawthon has become a role model for many in the gaming industry.
A Lasting Impact
Scott Cawthon's impact on the horror genre and the gaming industry at large cannot be overstated. He revolutionized how horror games are designed, shifting the focus from gratuitous violence to psychological tension and atmospheric storytelling. The success of FNaF paved the way for other indie horror games, proving that small developers could create impactful and commercially successful titles.In conclusion, Scott Cawthon's contributions to the gaming world are nothing short of extraordinary. His innovative approach to horror, dedication to expanding the FNaF universe, and ability to inspire a global community of fans and creators highlight his brilliance. Cawthon's legacy will undoubtedly continue to influence the gaming industry for years to come, solidifying his place as a pioneering figure in the world of game development. Do you agree?
2024.05.15 15:13 protagonist29 I (25M) feel that my girlfriend (26F) is mocking me by posting pictures of her and best friend from past with whom she was involved in a FWB arrangement.
I'm in a relationship that has seen its ups and downs. Currently, we are together,, but while we weren't together, she was seeing her best friend from college, with whom she had an FWB arrangement.
When we met, trying to get back together, she told me about it and my fears came to be true. She promised me that she would delete that person from her life, and she did that in the short run.
Cut to present, she has blocked him everywhere after my protests. But recently, she has started to post pictures with him, saying that she misses her friendship with him. I'm not sure whether she is doing it knowingly to hurt me or break up with me, as I have told her a zillion times I'm not comfortable with it. She would allege that she has already blocked that person, so my protest against pictures is unreasonable.
I don't understand why she is posting thier pictures, though. Sometimes I feel like an outsider in her life. I love her with all my heart and maybe I won't be able to move on from her but yeah, I feel shit when I see those pictures, it almost mocks me and my faith in this relationship. Am I reasonable to expect her to steer clear of that person? I understand that those are just pictures but it tears me apart from inside to see their pictures knowing they had a thing going on together.
What should I do?
submitted by protagonist29 to onexindia [link] [comments]
When we met, trying to get back together, she told me about it and my fears came to be true. She promised me that she would delete that person from her life, and she did that in the short run.
Cut to present, she has blocked him everywhere after my protests. But recently, she has started to post pictures with him, saying that she misses her friendship with him. I'm not sure whether she is doing it knowingly to hurt me or break up with me, as I have told her a zillion times I'm not comfortable with it. She would allege that she has already blocked that person, so my protest against pictures is unreasonable.
I don't understand why she is posting thier pictures, though. Sometimes I feel like an outsider in her life. I love her with all my heart and maybe I won't be able to move on from her but yeah, I feel shit when I see those pictures, it almost mocks me and my faith in this relationship. Am I reasonable to expect her to steer clear of that person? I understand that those are just pictures but it tears me apart from inside to see their pictures knowing they had a thing going on together.
What should I do?
2024.05.15 15:12 StipularEar7 Help looking for information on a friend
hello all this will probably be the one time ill make a post but I'm not sure I know any other group of people who would be better to help get what I need
a old supervisor and great friend of mine passed away within the last 2 years. I went to his funeral and was able to meet the rest of his family and through his brothers I was able to better learn more about his time in the US military. The issues is I cant find many records on him or anything talking about his service, his name Shane Smith. he was an sergeant and army ranger that served in ranger battalion starting in the late 80's through out the 90's than ended career in the early 2000's after some significant health problems. that prevented him from even being an instructor where he taught foreign weapons and tactics at fort Polk. I know a lot of what we talked about was hidden behind layers of black sharpie. and it made getting background at work hard due to gov't contracts wanting to see everything. My question is if anyone can find just some of the most basic stuff about him it would be great. I know that he participated in operation just cause, operation gothic serpent (black hawk down), operation desert storm/shield, worked doing recon and intel missions thought eastern Europe, and ended his combat career working with HIS words CIA and DEA in and throughout central and south America. Before suffering an injury during a combat jump with a failed parachute where he was drug by the plane after jumping Think "Rambo 2" and injured his back and then due to a bad landing messed up 2/3 vertebrae in his back. I know it seems like I know a bunch but I don't know his unit or much else. he never talked about the specifics during his time in conflict other than the funny stories but I would like to see if I can find any available records from his time in. I know he had some records from army shooting competitions in the 90's I would say I have a pictures but the ones I have are from his civilian life and he looks like he served in Vietnam due to how he aged definition of grey bush the wise. I thank any and all of you for your help it would just be great to put some more light on him and get some more stories about some of the things he did.
if you have any questions I will try to answer to the best of my ability's but he would only share so much and I never pressed him on it if I can find pictures I will try to post a part 2.
submitted by StipularEar7 to UNSUBSCRIBEpodcast [link] [comments]
a old supervisor and great friend of mine passed away within the last 2 years. I went to his funeral and was able to meet the rest of his family and through his brothers I was able to better learn more about his time in the US military. The issues is I cant find many records on him or anything talking about his service, his name Shane Smith. he was an sergeant and army ranger that served in ranger battalion starting in the late 80's through out the 90's than ended career in the early 2000's after some significant health problems. that prevented him from even being an instructor where he taught foreign weapons and tactics at fort Polk. I know a lot of what we talked about was hidden behind layers of black sharpie. and it made getting background at work hard due to gov't contracts wanting to see everything. My question is if anyone can find just some of the most basic stuff about him it would be great. I know that he participated in operation just cause, operation gothic serpent (black hawk down), operation desert storm/shield, worked doing recon and intel missions thought eastern Europe, and ended his combat career working with HIS words CIA and DEA in and throughout central and south America. Before suffering an injury during a combat jump with a failed parachute where he was drug by the plane after jumping Think "Rambo 2" and injured his back and then due to a bad landing messed up 2/3 vertebrae in his back. I know it seems like I know a bunch but I don't know his unit or much else. he never talked about the specifics during his time in conflict other than the funny stories but I would like to see if I can find any available records from his time in. I know he had some records from army shooting competitions in the 90's I would say I have a pictures but the ones I have are from his civilian life and he looks like he served in Vietnam due to how he aged definition of grey bush the wise. I thank any and all of you for your help it would just be great to put some more light on him and get some more stories about some of the things he did.
if you have any questions I will try to answer to the best of my ability's but he would only share so much and I never pressed him on it if I can find pictures I will try to post a part 2.
2024.05.15 15:08 WhatCanIMakeToday Operational Efficiency Shares: Rehypothecating 🐇🐇🐇🐇 And Breaking Free Of Chains [WalkThrough] (4/n)
![Operational Efficiency Shares: Rehypothecating 🐇🐇🐇🐇 And Breaking Free Of Chains [WalkThrough] (4/n)](https://external-preview.redd.it/S1npNPd9uCWh6ZS9ztHfqn8XoZIQP9fMPymVci5aNiM.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=33905fb683797e7f1f266633840ff90ea767e7c6 "Operational Efficiency Shares: Rehypothecating 🐇🐇🐇🐇 And Breaking Free Of Chains [WalkThrough] (4/n)") | From the prior DD in this series [1], we know that ComputerShare can “give” the DTC registered DSPP shares to hold onto for operational efficiency which are then “given back” as shares beneficially owned “for the benefit of” (“FBO”) DSPP Plan Participants at ComputerShare, as illustrated in this diagram: submitted by WhatCanIMakeToday to Superstonk [link] [comments] From The Prerequisite DD It’s time to explore what “operational efficiency” benefits may be gained by DSPP shares going around this roundabout. At first glance, shares are basically just going in a big circle from DSPP Plan Participants with registered ownership DSPP shares at ComputerShare heading to the DTC, who hands shares to ComputerShare’s broker who maintains those shares for the benefit of ComputerShare who holds those shares for the benefit of Plan Participants. While I think it’s unlikely that shares just go around in a big fat circle for no reason, I do remember people getting onto flights to literally go nowhere a few years ago [CNN, NYT]; so maybe these operational efficiency shares simply miss hanging out at the DTC? Let’s look more closely… While title is held by a registered DSPP Plan Participant, ComputerShare is giving the DTC possession [1] of registered DSPP shares to the DTC to hold for operational efficiency which then ultimately end back in the possession of ComputerShare’s broker (who isn’t lending out shares) for the benefit of ComputerShare for the benefit of Plan Participants. If we treat the DTC’s operations as a big black box, we see registered shares going into the DTC black box and beneficially owned shares coming out of the black box to ComputerShare for Plan Participants. DTCC Black Box: Inputs vs Outputs Investopedia says that shareholders have rights, with a list of 6 main rights including:
§ 240.13d-3 Determination of beneficial owner.ComputerShare basically confirms this list (except for the right to sue as that’s probably not one their issuer customers would emphasize) and adds that beneficially held shares may be lent by brokers generally (but not by ComputerShare’s broker). Registered Shareholder Rights vs Beneficial Owner Rights Maybe you’ve had different experiences from me, but I’ve never known Wall St to deliver more than the bare minimum they’re contractually obligated to. Which means the DTC black box is very likely watering down shareholder rights from the 6 that go in down to the 2 which come out. (And yet, we’re supposed to believe that all shares are equal. 🙄) Dividends (#4 on the list) [2] may be the clearest example of a watered down shareholder right. Registered shareholders have the right “to directly receive share dividends” [CS FAQ] which means if a company (e.g., GameStop or OverStock) issues a dividend, registered shareholders have the right to directly receive the dividend as issued. If the company issues a crypto dividend (as OverStock tried to do), registered shareholders have the right to directly receive the issued crypto dividend. Beneficial shareholders would get an issued dividend, if available, or a cash equivalent if not. Historically, stock and other dividends to beneficial shareholders could easily be delivered as a cash equivalent, a watered down form. Crypto dividends don’t scale well with shorts (both naked and legal via, for example, share lending and borrowing) because crypto tokens are unique which makes it abundantly clear why a crypto dividend was nixed for a heavily shorted idiosyncratic stock like GameStop; especially given GameStop’s particularly active shareholders. Ownership (#2 on the list) may be the second clearest example of a watered down shareholder right as more security interests to shares exist in the DTC’s beneficial ownership system than there are shares; with the SEC saying beneficial shares get a pro rata interest in the securities of that issue held by DTC. [See End Game Part Deux: Problems at the DTCC plus The Bigger Picture, particularly the section “The Pie Is Shrinking: Get Out (And DRS) While You Can”] Voting (#1 on the list) is also an example watered down shareholder right; this one having a long history on this sub with, for example, BroadRidge tossing 7B votes and bragging about it. (Beneficial owners only need to get shared voting rights per Rule 13d-3 above so those 7B “shared” votes just lost out to who they shared with.) Unlike other beneficially held shares, voting rights for DSPP shares are not watered down as ComputerShare sends registered holders their voting forms. Operational Efficiency Shares, Whatcha Doing In There?A big black box is a pretty good description of the DTC which does not want us to know the ins and outs of what’s going on. Black holes are a pretty good example of a big black box and, most importantly, we know a lot about black holes even though they can’t be directly observed. Just as we learned about black holes without direct observation, we can similarly learn a lot about the Operational Efficiency shares even though we can’t directly observe them in the DTC habitat.Even though we can’t look inside the DTC’s big black box, it turns out we don’t really have to in order to identify some benefits from these operational efficiency shares taking their roundabout trip to nowhere. Locates A few commenters have suggested that OE shares could be used for locates so I’ll address this first. Possible, yes. But I don’t view this as the most interesting use for OE shares. Brokers are supposed to “locate” securities available for borrowing before short selling. [Wikipedia)] Basically, before selling short a broker is supposed to find a source to borrow. The “locate” requirement does NOT require the security to be borrowed before short selling which can result in a legal naked short. You may be wondering why I don’t view “locates” as particularly interesting for OE shares if short sellers need to locate shares to borrow before shorting. Well, market makers are also exempt from this requirement as long as they’re market making. 🙄 On top of the market maker exemption, remember House Of Cards? In House Of Cards 3 [SuperStonk], we learned about the now 🤦♂️ hilarious F**3 key **- yeah, the one on a keyboard. Brokers like Goldman found the locate requirement simply too much work so they would press the F3 key and their system would auto-approve the locate requirement based only on the number of shares available to borrow at the beginning of the day; regardless of whether those shares were still available to borrow or not. House Of Cards 3 Meaning as long as there were some shares available to borrow at the beginning of the day for their share copying system, brokers could just smash the F3 key to make as many copies of shares as they need. Even if only 1 share was available to borrow at the beginning of the day, a broker could simply smash the F3 key 100 times to approve the locate requirement for 100 shares. So while OE shares could be used for locates, they wouldn’t need many shares each day to make an unlimited number of copies - even just 1 is enough. Lending shares on the other hand… Rehypothecation Rehypothecation is the reuse of customer collateral for lending. Per a 2010 IMF Working Paper, The (sizable) Role of Rehypothecation in the Shadow Banking System, Rehypothecation occurs when the collateral posted by a prime brokerage client (e.g., hedge fund) to its prime broker is used as collateral also by the prime broker for its own purposes.This IMF paper defined a “churning factor” to measure how many times an asset may be reused; and then estimated a churning factor of 4 noting that it could be higher because international banks (e.g., HSBC and Nomura) were not sampled. This IMF paper found a single asset may be lent and borrowed 4 times, or more; an average which could be higher globally. https://preview.redd.it/ymr3j03zri0d1.png?width=795&format=png&auto=webp&s=1555314cefd520658a4f78dc4745867063e3bf34 Churn Factor Could Be Higher Globally How much higher? We may have seen a churn factor as high as 10 for a less idiosyncratic meme stock per my prior post, Estimating Excess GME Share Liquidity From Borrow Data & Churn Factor. Presumably, the idiosyncratic meme stock would have a higher churn factor (but not that important for this post). More recently (2018), the Federal Reserve published this Fed Note on The Ins and Outs of Collateral Re-use studying how often collateral is reused (i.e., rehypothecated) for Treasury & non-Treasury securities [3] with a beautiful figure illustrating how “for any given moment in time, one security can be attributed to multiple financial transactions” where a share could be posted multiple times through Security Financing Transactions (SFTs) and sold short. [4] Sounds familiar, right? https://preview.redd.it/zsztmji4si0d1.png?width=1530&format=png&auto=webp&s=f222dfe50929f668af8f8f0b39514a7d862db9c9 Figure 6c of this Fed Note shows a Collateral Multiplier over time illustrating how “PDs [Primary Dealers] currently re-use about three times as many securities as they own for non-Treasury collateral and seven times as many securities as they own for U.S. Treasury securities”. AKA \"Money Multiplier\" The Fed Note describes their Collateral Multiplier as a “money multiplier” (Seriously, I couldn’t have made this up in a million years.), In a sense, our Collateral Multiplier is akin to a "money multiplier," as it compares private liabilities created by a firm with the amount of specific assets held to create those liabilities. [The Ins and Outs of Collateral Re-use]And, of course, the Collateral Multiplier aka “money multiplier” ratio goes up when there’s less collateral available and down when there’s more collateral available. (Can I get one of these multipliers?) Intuitively, we expect the ratio to increase when collateral is scarce and to decrease when collateral is more abundant.Which means Primary Dealers [Wikipedia has a list of familiar names including Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, BofA, Citigroup, TD, UBS, and Wells Fargo; amongst others] can simply kick securities around a few extra times (e.g., with SFTs and short sells) to effectively multiply the amount of money and/or collateral they have any time they need it. (Within limits, I hope…) Thus, rehypothecation is a very interesting use of Operational Efficiency shares from ComputerShare as various primary dealers can simply “multiply” the number of shares they have – a concept that we’re already quite familiar with. As rehypothecation, short sells, and securities financing transactions are all perfectly legal, rehypothecating more GameStop shares provided to the DTC via operational efficiency satisfies Ground Rule #2 [defined in (1/n) in this series], We can update our conceptual model to include rehypothecation to more clearly illustrate how Operational Efficiency shares held in the DTC can be rehypothecated (e.g., with SFTs and short sells) until a watered down share is delivered to ComputerShare’s broker to hold FBO ComputerShare, who holds the watered down share FBO DSPP Plan Participants. https://preview.redd.it/bt3gnx99si0d1.png?width=4764&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b0b72b935f740e8a3036f88e1a4e1dfb57dd46c You might notice from this illustration that ComputerShare has been telling the truth satisfying Ground Rule #1 [defined in (1/n) in this series]. Neither ComputerShare’s nor their broker lend or need to lend shares. All the rehypothecation happens “upstream” amongst other DTCC and NSCC Participants until shares are finally delivered to ComputerShare’s broker at the end of the “Churn Chain”. ComputerShare has made no representations about what the DTC can or can not do with the shares in their possession. And, realistically, ComputerShare is in no position to make any representations about what happens within the DTCC system – ComputerShare is only responsible for themselves and, to some extent, their broker. The Fed Note and IMF paper found assets may be churned and reused 3-4 times (overall market average) which means the end of the chain is typically around D3 or D4. (If my prior DD estimates are correct, there were signs a less idiosyncratic meme stock may be churned up to 10 times ending the chain at D10 which suggests a potentially longer chain for GME, the idiosyncratic meme stock.) If there is no collateral reuse for an asset, the chain would have zero length meaning Operational Efficiency shares go straight from the DTC directly to ComputerShare’s broker. (Programmers almost certainly understand zero length chains very well – go find one if you need an explanation.) GameStop is idiosyncratic, thus atypical. Per the IMF paper, collateral reuse increases when collateral is scarce and decreases when collateral is abundant (quoted above). If we consider GameStop investors have been direct registering shares (i.e., DRS) and registering shares (e.g., DSPP) thereby removing title and/or possession of shares from the DTC/DTCC/Cede & Co, then GameStop share availability has been becoming more scarce and the “Churn Chain” for GME should be longer than average representing a higher collateral multiplier and churn value. While we may not know the exact length of the Churn Chain for GameStop shares, we can pretty well surmise that it’s not a zero length Churn Chain where there is no collateral reuse based simply on scarcity. After all, a shortage of available shares is, by definition, required for any short squeeze (including MOASS). Requests by brokers to enable Share Lending [5] is another example indicator that GameStop shares are scarce. In addition, according to Investopedia [6], “Banks, brokers, or other financial institutions may navigate a liquidity crunch and access capital by rehypothecating client funds” and we’ve seen indicators showing us banks are in deep trouble:
There are also leverage considerations that increase that risk of default. Overleveraged investments often face covenants; when specific conditions are met, trading accounts may receive a margin call or face debt default. As a row of dominos fall after a single collapse, a single margin call may cause other debts to fail their account maintenance requirements, setting off a chain reaction that places the institution at higher risk of overall default. [6]This risk for rehypothecation sounds exactly like what the Options Clearing Corporation was complaining about to the SEC when the OCC Proposed Reducing Margin Requirements To Prevent A Cascade of Clearing Member Failures [SuperStonk] early 2024. If the OCC can eliminate margin calls, then no dominos get knocked down. (Thankfully, apes have done a phenomenal job in convincing the SEC that this OCC proposal is a very bad idea. Support the SEC’s rejection of this as Simians Smash SEC Rule Proposal To Reduce Margin Requirements To Prevent A Cascade of Clearing Member Failures!) Most importantly, it may be tough to regain possession of an asset when someone in the rehypothecation chain defaults. Remember from the prior DD the expression about possession: Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Clients must be aware of rehypothecation as it is technically their own assets that have been pledged for someone else's debt. This creates complicated creditor issues where an investors shares may longer be in their possession due to their custodian's default. [6]We know assets are rehypothecated 3-4 times on average, GameStop shares are scarce, banks are in trouble, stock loan volume is skyhigh, and the risks of rehypothecation are real. So it’s pretty clear that rehypothecation is happening generally with pretty darn good reason to expect GameStop’s Churn Chain is at least of non-zero length (i.e., GameStop stock is being rehypothecated). Breaking The ChainsWhile some may like chains and being tied up, I’m not one of those apes. Especially as a Churn Chain waters down my shareholder rights and may make regaining possession of DSPP stock difficult in the event of a cascade of defaults, as warned by the OCC. (If you like chains, feel free to skip this section.)As it turns out, we don’t need to know exactly how long the Churn Chain is for GameStop stock. Simply knowing a Churn Chain exists with non-zero length means there is a chain. Where there is a chain, it’s possible to break the chain. (Even if you don’t know how much health) your enemy has in a game, you still try to take your enemy out. Right?) A churn chain that starts from ComputerShare holding DSPP shares in DTC for operational efficiency can easily be broken as “[a]n investor can, at any time, withdraw all or part of their shares in DSPP book-entry form and have them added to their DRS holding”. [ComputerShare] See also [7]. Quite possibly one of the easiest chains in the world to break as the Churn Chain is weak to DRS. Simply DRS the DSPP shares to take away the head of the chain and the rest of the chain falls apart. (And, DRS-ing "street name" shares cuts chains into pieces too!) One side effect of breaking a Churn Chain is that all shares attributed to transactions in a broken chain (e.g., SFTs and short sells) need to be reallocated to other chains, effectively making other chains longer and increasing the risks from a default. Analogy: Think of the shares as a deck of cards. If you deal 52 cards to 4 players (A, B, C and D), each player gets 13 cards. Each stack of 13 cards is basically a Churn Chain. But if you take out a stack by removing the bottom card from A and distribute the remaining 12 cards from A to B, C and D then B, C and D each now have 17 cards. If at any given time a card can cause a player to lose the game, it's better to have fewer cards than more. And, the players who get out early won't lose. Any party in the Churn Chain who defaults will make it hard for the original owner to regain possession. Longer chains include more transactions and more parties so there’s more risk of default on longer chains than shorter chains. Thus we see another vicious cycle setup where incentives are aligned such that DSPP and beneficial shareholders may want to avoid the impending default and rehypothecation risk from their shares being held in DTC. In order to avoid the impending default and rehypothecation risks, shareholders are incentivized to Directly Register shares to ensure having both title and possession. (Shares held in “street name” have little or no protection from rehypothecation risk and simply registering shares in DSPP doesn’t guarantee possession [1].) As with the other vicious cycle, any remaining shareholders in DTC share a shrinking pie of diluted ownership so it is in their best interest to get out and DRS; thereby shrinking the diluted ownership pie even more which is more reason for remaining shareholders to get out. These vicious cycles will eventually leave few, if any, remaining shares at the DTC for beneficial shareholders. Nobody knows what will happen if this ♾️🏊 happens. Footnotes[1] If you haven’t already, please read the prerequisite DD in this WalkThrough Series to understand how ownership of property is separated into two concepts: title and possession. [See, e.g., StackExchange] Understanding the differences between title and possession are particularly important here where it’s worth being extra careful identifying how an entity is in control of an asset.
[3] Footnote 16 of the Fed Note itemizes various classes of non-Treasury collateral which includes equity which, per Investopedia, is a synonym for stocks. [4] While short selling is pretty well known, Security Financing Transactions (SFTs) may be more obscure despite discussion of them in the past so here’s some historical SuperStonk links for you (where you may notice some well known OG DD apes):
[6] https://www.investopedia.com/ REMOVE_FOR_AUTOMOD terms/r REMOVE_FOR_AUTOMOD /rehypothecation.asp [7] Withdrawing whole DSPP shares into DRS seems to make a lot of sense as doing so guarantees possession. Selling fractionals, less so. If you intend to keep buying, I would think adding to the fractionals to later withdraw whole shares makes more sense. As for the concern about fractionals tainting the whole account, I’ll cover that in another post. For now, you do you. |
2024.05.15 15:04 ioana_radu @HatomProtocol beyond limits: boosting APY, minting stability, and Soul Protocol's genesis
 | The last few months have been incredibly active; we've been pushing boundaries, building, experimenting, fine-tuning, and deploying robust and secure products to create a unique DeFi ecosystem without limits. However, our journey is far from over, and it's time to provide you with a global update on our progress. submitted by ioana_radu to MultiversXOfficial [link] [comments] HatomProtocol beyond limits: boosting APY, minting stability, and Soul Protocol's genesis Our mission on #MultiversX began with kickstarting DeFi and increasing on-chain DeFi TVL. Now, we aim to address the final piece of the puzzle that is still causing issues for both #MultiversX and #Hatom. The lack of stablecoin liquidity hinders our growth. The absence of an EGLD-backed stablecoin forces users to forgo exposure to their $EGLD whenever they need liquidity, creating selling pressure on $EGLD. This is what we aim to tackle with this protocol update, which will primarily focus on two of the most impactful products in the Hatom Ecosystem: Hatom USD ($USH) and Booster V2. Without further ado, let’s delve into these two modules in more detail: Booster V2 While Booster V2 was initially designed to introduce additional features and improvements, we have further refined the model to enhance its utility. Let’s break down the new features and implementations: • Global Position Tracking: Optimizes boosting by monitoring a unified global position rather than individual positions, enhancing efficiency. • Rebalance at Protocol Level: Reduces gas fees for claiming rewards by integrating rebalances directly at the protocol level. • Multiple Deposit Options: Enables the deposit of HTM LPs and Metastaking tokens into the Booster Module, which will track only the $HTM token's weight. • Simplified LP/Metastaking Creation: Allows for direct creation of LP/Metastaking positions within the Booster Module itself, eliminating the need to use the xExchangeApp dashboard. • Reward Structure Adjustment: Shifts all rewards from $USDC to $EGLD, with claims exclusively in $HTM to boost demand and buying pressure for the $HTM token. One new key improvement in the upcoming version of the Booster that has been added is the elimination of the $HTM cap in the HTM Booster to achieve optimal boosting. Currently, users must deposit an equivalent of 10% of their collateral value in $HTM tokens within the booster to attain the maximum Boosted APY on their positions. With the launch of Booster V2, this cap will be removed, allowing users to increase their APY in proportion to the amount of $HTM they stake. With the new implementation of Booster V2, rewards will be split into two batches. In the first batch, users can achieve a certain APY by staking a specific ratio of HTM compared to the collateral they have supplied. In the second batch, this cap will be removed, allowing users to increase their APY in proportion to the amount of $HTM they stake. The more $HTM tokens you stake beyond the threshold set in the first batch, the higher the APY you can achieve. However, this metric still depends on the value of your collateral and the total amount of $HTM staked by other liquidity providers. For example: (Please note that all the metrics provided are hypothetical and are intended solely to illustrate the concept.) • In the current Booster implementation, there is a maximum APY (let's consider that the $EGLD Booster APY is 6%) that users can achieve by staking 10% of the value of their collateral in $HTM. Staking additional $HTM beyond this does not increase returns, and the rewards from users who do not reach the optimal boost level within the booster are recycled. • In the new implementation, we have opted for a dual-batch mechanism. The first batch is implemented to guarantee a threshold, maintaining the same rules as the old implementation. For instance, if users stake 5% of the value of their collateral in $HTM, they could achieve an optimal APY of 2%. The remaining rewards will be distributed in a second batch with no cap, allowing users to potentially generate a higher APY than the 6% achievable in the previous implementation. This model allows them to earn rewards from users who didn't fully boost their position or to out-earn other users by staking more $HTM. To put it simply, the first batch ensures that a threshold ratio of $HTM staked to collateral is met and maintained in the protocol. The second batch is where the majority of the rewards will be distributed and where strong competition will take place. Hatom has invented the concept of the Booster, setting itself apart from other liquidity protocols by placing the $HTM token at the heart of its ecosystem, thereby creating an entire financial economy around it. It's crucial for us to refine this model and iterate on it to maximize its impact while ensuring the best possible user experience. Hatom has already distributed millions of dollars in incentives, demonstrating the effectiveness of this model in attracting liquidity and sustaining a healthy ecosystem. As we move toward a sustainable state of incentivization, it is essential to ensure that the final implementation of the Booster is robust before integrating the governance module and allowing token holders to manage its parameters. The process and user interface will be very intuitive and easy to use. Users will have access to a gauge that allows them to estimate the APY they can achieve by staking more $HTM tokens, simply by adjusting it. Hatom USD (USH) From the start, we recognized the liquidity issue with stablecoins in the #MultiversX ecosystem. With under $30 million in stable liquidity, the growth of DeFi products is restricted. The ecosystem needs a native stablecoin that not only offers a hedge against volatility but also provides a straightforward way for users to earn passive yield. The low stable liquidity primarily affected the Hatom Lending Protocol, where high demand and positive market sentiment led users to leverage their positions for long strategies on chosen assets. Consequently, the utilization rates of both $USDC and $USDT exceeded optimal levels despite the constant increase in their respective TVL, driving interest rates to mid to high double digits during certain periods. Let’s discuss the innovative design and progress on $USH: Facilitators Different from $USDC and $USDT that must be brought into the ecosystem through the bridge, $USH will be minted natively through multiple methods, also called facilitators. These facilitators will ensure that users are able to access $USH in a simple and efficient manner. At launch, $USH will have two facilitators available:
Users will be able to mint $USH directly within the Hatom Lending Protocol, an experience similar to taking loans. However, it’s important to note that 'minting' $USH is different from 'borrowing' it. As a result, the rates for minting $USH through the Lending Protocol are fixed and not influenced by utilization rates, unlike when borrowing assets like $USDC or $USDT. These rates vary based on the discount factor of the collateral used; more liquid and stable assets yield better rates than less liquid ones. Note that $USH cannot be minted through the Lending Protocol using $EGLD or $sEGLD; instead, these assets must be used via a separate facilitator, known as Isolated Pools.
The Isolated Pools represent a crucial component of the USH Ecosystem, offering significant revenue potential through its innovative mechanism. Users can deposit $EGLD or $sEGLD to mint $USH under specific conditions: Minting USH with EGLD: Users can deposit $EGLD at a 0% Supply APY to mint USH with no minting fees. The deposited $EGLD is staked in Liquid Staking to obtain $sEGLD, which is then deposited in the Lending Protocol to earn a base supply APY. Minting USH with sEGLD: Similarly, users can deposit $sEGLD into the Isolated Pools to mint $USH without a minting fee. When using $sEGLD, the users’ exposure shifts entirely to EGLD, as all rewards from sEGLD are retained by the protocol to boost the Staking Module yield. The Isolated Pools provide a key advantage by allowing users to mint USH with no fee while maintaining exposure to potential price increases in EGLD. This setup enables users to leverage the stability of USH without the concern of interest rates that could lead to position liquidation. Moreover, this module is poised to become the top revenue generator within the protocol. Assets deposited in the Isolated Pools generate income through Liquid Staking and the Lending Protocol. In the future, we can explore the possibility of using a portion for Leverage Liquid Staking strategies when conditions are favorable, further optimizing the returns. USH Staking Module Establishing robust facilitators to enable the safe and reliable minting of USH was crucial; however, we also recognize that building a powerful stablecoin requires strong utility and significant benefits. While users will benefit from fixed or even zero minting fees, along with numerous integrations within the #MultiversX ecosystem, our goal is to ensure a robust mechanism for users to generate high yields on their stablecoins. Through the Staking Module, users can deposit $USH or USH LP tokens, such as USH/USDC, USH/USDT, USH/EGLD, and USH/HTM, to generate yield on their positions. We have designed the source of this yield to be as organic as possible, using the revenue generated by all the USH facilitators. Consider this example based only on the revenue from the Isolated Pools: Suppose $100M worth of EGLD and sEGLD are deposited in the Isolated Pools. Since it's an over-collateralized minting, let's assume $50M worth of USH will be minted to maintain a safe health factor. This collateral is minting at 0% interest and will generate a 7% APY through Liquid Staking and the Lending Protocol, equivalent to about $7 million annually or ~$580,000 monthly in rewards for USH stakers. Since the protocol earns rewards on $100 million but distributes them to just $50 million worth of USH, the APY for USH stakers effectively doubles, reaching 14%. With $EGLD's inherent volatility, any price increase in $EGLD further boosts the APY, motivating additional USH buying/minting and thus increasing liquidity for USH. To integrate HTM within the USH ecosystem effectively, we are excited to announce that all rewards in the Staking Module will be distributed in HTM tokens. The revenue generated from users minting USH through the Lending Protocol and Isolated Pools will be used to purchase HTM tokens from the open market and distribute them to stakers. USH will be the highest revenue-generating product on the #MultiversX Blockchain, with all that income redirected to the HTM token. This strategy will create millions of dollars in additional buying pressure on HTM, significantly boosting demand for the token without direct community involvement. The buyouts will happen on a daily basis and will constitute the largest buyback module of an ESDT to date. Please note that a portion of the rewards generated by the USH facilitators will be allocated to incentivize the Lending Protocol Markets, alongside other sources of revenue. This ensures that the protocol is driven by its utility and remains fully sustainable. This approach is designed to eliminate our reliance on the treasury for offering protocol incentives, promoting a more self-sustaining ecosystem. Booster V2 x USH Staking Module We went a step further in developing a strong utility for $HTM in the USH Staking Module; given the real success that Booster V1 had at launch, we have decided to offer a similar implementation for users in the USH Staking Module. We are pleased to announce that Booster V2 will now play a significant role not only in the Lending Protocol but also in the USH Staking Module. Here are a few of the benefits of the Booster V2 in the USH Staking Module: • Yield Optimization: Earn rewards for your USH LP & farm tokens in addition to the USH Staking Module yields. • Booster V2 Implementation: Users can access a base APY when staking USH in the Booster, with additional rewards earned when staking HTM tokens. Staking caps will be removed, allowing users to stake any amount they choose, with yields increasing proportionally to the amount of HTM staked. This implementation allows users to boost the APY on their USH-staked positions within the USH Staking Module by allocating a specific amount of HTM to the Booster Module, mirroring the design of the HTM Booster in the Lending Protocol. Peg Mechanisms The peg mechanism is the most important feature of a stablecoin, therefore we spent countless hours researching and adjusting our mechanisms: Soft Peg Mechanism: In the Lending Protocol, USH will consistently be valued at $1, regardless of its market price elsewhere. For instance, if USH is trading at $0.99 on a decentralized exchange like ash_swap, users can purchase USH at this lower rate and use it to repay loans valued at $1 within the protocol, thereby profiting from the difference. Hard Peg Mechanism: Through the Hard Peg Mechanism, if USH trades at a certain percentage below $1, Redemption Mode is activated. In this mode, anyone can seize users' collateral up to a specified "Borrow Limit Used" for the account. The process starts with the least solvent accounts and continues to the most solvent until the peg is restored. Unlike liquidation, redemption does not incur any penalty for users. This update aims to provide an overall view of the entire design without overwhelming you with technical jargon. More detailed definitions and explanations of the concepts will be available in our updated documentation on USH. Development Status We are pleased to announce that the peer code review of all USH modules has now been completed, and both the audits and front-end integration will commence this week. We recognize the importance of these next steps and acknowledge the complexities and potential challenges they may entail. Moving forward, our focus will be on ensuring that the audits are conducted to the highest standards of accuracy and security. USH is a complex protocol that aims to once again elevate the status quo of DeFi within the #MultiversX ecosystem by solving real problems and enhancing user experience like never before. As we make progress on both the front-end integration and audits, we will be able to estimate an exact release date. However, as specified in Protocol Update #7, we are still targeting a launch timeframe of late Q2 to early Q3. Go-To-Market Strategy First, it's important to emphasize that Booster V2 and USH will be released simultaneously. We are developing a robust Go-To-Market Strategy for the launch of USH, focusing on the design's impact on the HTM token. Initially, a Private Mainnet for USH will be launched, operating exclusively with our network of partners and co-led with the MultiversX Foundation. This Private Mainnet will operate for one month, using EGLD and sEGLD deposited by partners to generate our initial revenue. This revenue will be accumulated and used to buy back HTM tokens from the open market and distribute them as rewards. We anticipate a TVL in the seven-figure range during this phase, generating over $1.5 million in rewards for the first distribution. At the moment we announce the public launch of USH, all rewards generated in the first month will be immediately used to buy back HTM tokens and transferred to the USH Staking Module to kickstart the protocol and to establish the bootstrapping APY for staked USH. This strategy will create significant buying pressure on HTM, positively impacting the token’s market value. We are mindful of potential slippage impacts and will limit this aggressive buyback strategy to bootstrapping. Right after the launch, these continuous buyouts will occur on a daily basis, creating sustainable growth for HTM. Regarding the USH Airdrop, all participants will receive their allocations shortly after USH is publicly launched on the Mainnet and stabilized. Until then, users maintaining a 200% Booster Percentage in the HTM Booster during the daily random snapshot will share the daily allocation based on their liquidity weight. Accumulator The Accumulator was initially designed to allow users to claim rewards in either USDC or HTM, offering a 5% bonus for choosing HTM. However, with the new change of distributing rewards exclusively in HTM, the Accumulator will serve a better purpose. As an alternative, we are exploring an "Affiliate Program." This initiative will enable users to introduce others to the Hatom Ecosystem and earn a percentage of the rewards their referrals generate. For instance, if someone refers users who earn a total of $100,000 a month in rewards, the referrer would be entitled to claim $5,000 without affecting the earnings of the referred users. While this is still in the brainstorming phase, we believe this could attract many new users to the ecosystem. We will provide more details about its implementation in future updates. Soul As we near the launch of 0xSoulProtocol, we're excited to provide a brief update. Future updates will be shared via Soul’s official channels. The development of the 0xSoulProtocol has been a year-long journey marked by intense effort across all fronts, culminating in significant progress. We're thrilled to announce the official release of the website and documentation on Friday, May 24th. Concurrently, we will launch Soul’s official communication channels to foster direct engagement with the community. This milestone signifies the genesis of the 0xSoulProtocol. We're eager to demonstrate its potential to become a leading DeFi project, thanks to its innovative design and business model. Soul will serve as key infrastructure for all lending protocols, aiming to create a more cohesive and synergistic lending environment, unifying billions in liquidity across the entire space. The feedback from our network of partners has been overwhelmingly positive, underscoring the protocol's potential and the quality of our work. We're optimistic about a successful journey as we continue development and move toward future stages in the protocol's lifespan. We're excited for the months ahead, poised for growth given the rapid pace of our progress. We will continue to push for innovation, ready to transform the entire ecosystem. Your support is invaluable, and we want to thank you for being a pivotal part of this journey! Source: Twitter @HatomProtocol |
2024.05.15 15:02 Rangersop I got scammed $11,270 over a period of 4 months (long story).
This story starts with me being unemployed and having about $6-7,000 in savings while living with my parents, to getting employed, earning more than I ever had before, and yet being almost never so broke. Him requesting money is done through SMS unless otherwise stated. I don't think I'll be putting a TLDR in, it's sort of a lot regardless.
Why am I telling you this story? There's a strange phenomenon that concealing guilt or shame, or something, isn't good for you. That isn't necessarily what I'm feeling, I am only trying to move on as expediently as I can think of ways to do so. Rather than have my inner circle in the know, as I have had before, I have decided to post into the void.
*Not every transaction is detailed, some are recurring with the most noteworthy ones being bolded in chapter form. There are 82 transactions and this is sort of a long story, so I cut some fluff out by excluding a lot of them. *Note, for all the amounts borrowed and offered to pay back eventually, I repeatedly told them not to worry about it and that I didn't consider them my debtors, this is true to the end of the story, and I will not be seeking financial remuneration. After 4 months of working with nothing to show for it I am simply going to just enjoy knowing that I now get to keep the money I make.
The beginning:
It all started with picking up a tall young man walking by the side of the road in QLD (where I live). The man had been walking for hours in broad daylight and was all sweaty, trying to get to the nearest large rural town some 40 minutes away from where I live, which is also where I was going. We do the usual thing and try to make small talk to break the ice, sharing some personal information like if either of us is studying or working our age difference (which isn't that much, me being slightly older). he told me he was walking to see a mate in town about his car, if his friend had repaired it yet. Because he wasn't sure whether it would be fixed, we made an arrangement that I would also pick him up on my way out of town back home.
So, I do, and we do more small talk to the point of having an actual conversation, he also tells me he has a 2-year-old daughter. This is a significant detail because it is what drives a lot of the sympathy I had for his situation. There is also one thing about that conversation that stands out to me, and that was the impression that this guy was not very good with money because he said he frequently wants to buy something and then wants something else so he sells the first thing he bought to pay for the second, sort of like he couldn't help it or something. I couldn't relate. On the way home together I point out where my place was and drove past to drop him off at his. It was at this point or when I dropped him off in town that I gave him my phone number and said to text me if he needed a ride sometime.
Some days later he texts me asking me to lend him $50 for fuel because his place has no power (I would later learn that his property is not hooked up to the electrical grid and his family uses a generator for power). He wanted me to send it to his PayID number, which is something I had never used before. The next day he and his missus want a ride into town and back to check out a bus(?), he also wanted to borrow $100 which he said he would pay back in a couple of weeks. Before I left town, I got a call from a place I had sent my resume in to and they offered to start me on their employment process, to which I agreed. Yay! They stay in town overnight and made it to a pub, he called me later asking for something like $180+ for drinks and asked me to pick them up the next day, thanked me for funding their (apparently very fun) night out and informed me that the bus is very nice and will be getting delivered to their property in a few days (neither of them had the appropriate license to drive the bus, his father did except he did not come with us and I never met the man). He also asks for $200 to pay off a debt to his brother-in-law, would also pay that back to me as $300 in two weeks.
The next day, near dusk, he asks me for a lift into town to do some grocery shopping at a servo. I show up at his place and his mother wants to tag along, and she has an empty jerry can for fuel to use in the generator. So away we went, for a 90+ minute drive for the third day in a row, except near dark this time. I was beginning to get a little tired of the lack of forward thinking (why didn't you go shopping before I had to pick you up from town yesterday?), but there is so much more to come... I also gave him another $300 that night for some reason and $50 the next day to renew his Spotify subscription.
Two days later he asks me how much I'm actually willing to lend him, I said $500 but pleaded that he has to make it last a while, he agreed. He also informed me that he would now have to pay for the transportation of the bus to the property, and two days later told me that he was $300 short ($800) total to bring it 80kms. That's borrowing nearly $1,000 in two days, he also said this would be the last time he'd borrow.
It's at this point that he asks me what total he owes me, I was getting back to work at the time and told him to check his bank transactions, but I definitely took this as a sign of goodwill that he was keeping track to reimburse me even though I was telling him that he owes me nothing.
The worker's compensation claim:
A couple of days later he asks me for $170 to take his missus out for the night, winds up at the Gold Coast needing $500 for accommodation because he "didn't think things through". Good news is that his missus' car is now registered so I won't have to give them rides anymore, and more good news is that he's getting worker's comp in two weeks to the tune of $3,000 for his hand getting crushed on his last job (he stated this had left him unable to bend 2 or more fingers), he lastly states this money could pay back the $1,650 he owes me (his calculation). Next day $200 for fuel home, then $500, and he asks me to deny him any further transfer. He sends me a picture of the bus, a 1979 Albion Viking. I couldn't find the picture he sent me on Google, so I guess there really was a bus and I really did pay for the pricey transportation of a 55-year-old vehicle that had depreciated to nothing. He said he would send pics when he cleans up the inside, but they never came.
The very next day, he claims my very final $500 transfer did not go through (this may have actually been the case because I transferred the money between accounts for a faster transfer and then to him in less than a minute, so I suppose I just did it too fast or he was lying, but it was definitely gone from the account), to which I said give it a few days. Every day for the next 3 days he would tell me it still hasn't come through.
The nephew:
On day 4 of the final transfer, he stopped telling me it hadn't come through, however he stated that his missus had a nephew (14-15) who was going through some things and was about to be kicked out of his home, needed $200 for fuel to pick him up and bring him back to their place. Okay, well if I can prevent a minor (14-15) from being on the streets by lending a little more, so be it. I went over to physically hand him the money for fuel and he informed me in more detail what was going on, and it sounded believable. A couple days later and he's asking $150 for fuel to return the nephew to his parents, and his missus is requesting $200-$300 for accommodation to stay for a few days to resolve the situation. They stay a few more days down there for a total of about $1,410, spent on food, rent, and trying to calm the boy down.
He also got an update regarding his worker's comp, said it'd be payed out within 6 weeks for approximately $10k, then he asked me for a loan of $1,000 with an interest rate of 40% so I'd get $1,400 back. I, at this point, questioned why in the world would he need a loan of $1,000 after all I'd given him, and his response is... "car" - I asked him to elaborate further and he said there was a car he could buy down there for himself at that price. I informed him that money was actually getting very tight for me despite working now. He didn't get the car. I was also thinking that I would only have to go without having money while still working just until he got his worker's comp, my hope was that I could save and be content knowing his family would be looked after for a while.
I eventually called the bank to ask them if that final* $500 transfer had actually gone through on their end and they said it had, but to trace the transaction would incur a fee of $20, now knowing this and not really wanting to pay it I decided I would triple check if, after all these days, he had gotten that final* transaction: "Yeah, just came through today bro"
Considering this disregard for my time and neglecting to keep me updated on things to be just a quirk of my new friend, not wanting to claim he had been lying, I pressed on in good faith that this could just be water under the bridge.
His missus contacts me and says she needs $290 because she found accommodation for her nephew, and that he had forgot to pack anything including food. Another $100. Then fuel back while the nephew stays at this new place for a week. $70. I had concerns with leaving a minor renting alone so far away and his schooling, but they were met with it was "just for a week" until they could find some place to put him closer to them, their new primary caregivers, that apparently could not be at their house. I was, at this time, under the impression that the nephew was living alone, yet it would later be revealed that he was not.
The tyres:
3 days later after setting the nephew up somewhere close enough to his school, the missus went to visit him and got two tyres slashed, $190 to replace. She goes to the tyre place and is told that all of the tyres need to be replaced otherwise it is not legal, so it's actually $390 for all 4 (I was skeptical about this and was on a work break at the time, still have not looked into the validity of the claim). Some more time passes and general purpose transfers take place. I am informed that the nephew has sorted out an Aus Study payment from Centrelink, but that I would need to transfer $200 for the nephew's necessities until it's actually worked out, and I would no longer need to pay his rent. Cool. At this point in time, I was working but not keeping what I made. I paid board at home, but the rest minus my fuel between work and home is what I refer to as the 'x tax' ('x' being a stand-in for the name of the person who scammed me). The requests would mostly happen around the day I got paid, with a believable frequent expense of fuel for the generator being at least $160 a week, not to mention fuel for their car and the infrequent requests from his mother to "pay back her friends"
Sometime later, the missus got another flat tyre from driving over a piece of metal on the highway, $75 to replace and they managed to get towed to the tyre place (I did inform them that they would have a spare tyre in the back of the car, but they claimed it had already been used "the other day when we had another one slashed"). They got another spare but used that as well.
The funeral:
I get a text at work from the man saying that his grandfather was in palliative care with only one or two weeks left, and that his cousin was requesting he and his mother go down to see him, so he asks me if I can help. I decided I should be setting a weekly limit or something so this new friend doesn't drain my bank account each pay day, so I gave him $100 and let him know that it's a hard limit. 4 days later, he tells me that his grandfather had passed 2 days prior, needed $100 to get down to his funeral. I could only give him $85 and told him I would be unable to fund his return trip, to which he agreed would be fine. 2 days later, after the funeral, he tells me that he and his mother need $200+ to get home, get food & drinks on the way back and that the rest of their family would not help them and that they "have no other way back". Getting tired of the lack of forward thinking in this family's affairs, I reluctantly agreed to save them once again.
5 days later I ask him when he gets his worker's comp payout so I can begin to save up money from work knowing he and his family is taken care of for a while, he tells me "next week hopefully". This was in late March. Queue more travelling and fuel costs to now go and cremate the grandfather as his wishes were for him and his mother to be there when it happens. Now, I thought the funeral had already happened and that was the end of it, but it turns out that was just the funeral service, which is something I was not aware was a thing. Due to this misunderstanding, I was very suspicious at this point and exclaimed in a text "You already had the funeral!" while thinking "you can't bury someone twice, is this evidence you are scamming me?".
They also needed accommodation, except I was so suspicious of this man that I requested he find and tell me the name of the hotel they'll be staying at, just so I can verify that is the actual price per head. Also, his mum blew another tyre, but they happened to be right outside a tyre place... again. He claims to not be having very good luck anyway. A request is made for money to take his missus out for her Birthday. I tell him in a lengthy text I had been working for 2 months with nothing to show for it and that I am much more inclined to assist him only with essential spending like fuel or food, and he claimed to understand that, then stated he would use a bit of the money for a small cheap present anyway. The present turned out to be $200 on layby and he needed another $60 to fully acquire it. I was telling him to tone down his spending to emphasis that he needs to live at or below his own means and that he wouldn't need my help if he had just bought a much cheaper present.
It'd been about 9 weeks since he told me it would take 2 weeks for the worker's comp (which was later changed to 6 weeks) to be paid and I was wondering if he had heard back or followed up. He said he did and that they would "get back to him" about it. So, now that hope I had that this was just a temporary situation wasn't holding up so well. Despite all the money I was giving him he had bills "piling up" and one urgent one was for a storage unit where he claimed to have a shipping container's worth of stuff and the owner was threatening to throw it all out if they didn't pay his 6 weeks overdue fee. Apparently, if he had paid just most of the fee he would get to keep his stuff there, which is what happened.
There was a wedding for his brother-in-law and on the way back he asked me if I could help him buy phone data, except the amount he ended up paying wasn't an option for renewal, it was about $5-$10 off from the options available (this just fueled my suspicion even further that something just wasn't right). Thinking that a scammer wouldn't voluntarily give money back, I tested him by asking him for $40 back when I overpaid him and well, that's where it went to, that mobile plan. When they returned home from the wedding they found that their generator had not been fueled like he reminded his parents to do and so they lost all the food they had in the fridge. I questioned why his parents didn't notice the power had gone out and all of a sudden there was a second generator that was for them(?).
Their landlord had apparently stated he would be requiring $200 in rent a week early because he has bills and rates to pay. He informs me that he hasn't got a proper contract to even be on the property and could be kicked out at any moment and that he "needed to keep his landlord happy". I couldn't help him pay that much (nor did I really want to give in to his landlord's outrageous demand) so I sent him a link to QSTARS where he could learn his tenancy rights, except it was Saturday which means he wouldn't be able to call them. Then I suggested that he may be able to get a faster response over the weekend to his situation by making a Reddit account (he asked me what that was) and posting on the shitrentals sub.
A few days later he tells me he has been posting there and learning some things, meanwhile I had been intentionally avoiding the sub so as not to invade his personal privacy, however some days go by and I am suuuuper suspicious by this point I look around for some thread or comment relating to his situation in the timeframe it would have been possible for him to make one. I figured if the situation was so urgent that he would at least try to seek advice over the weekend, but I didn't see any evidence of that, he also never told me if he called the tenant's advisory and I never heard anything about his rental situation again.
6 Days from when he refreshed his mobile data, he had apparently used the 30GB limit. I was astounded at this and knew it was going to continue to be my problem if I didn't find this man a better subscription plan with his provider, so I did, for $10 more he could double his data. Only, I told him that he could have the 6-month plan for more money if he wasn't going to use so much data and because it would have been cheaper for me in the long run too, he agreed. I also thought that if he were really scamming me he would choose the option that makes me transfer more money, which is what happened. I guess that's test #2.
The ending:
Which brings me to today. The nephew was brought back into the story because he had apparently been kicked out of his mates place he was staying at(?) and they needed fuel to go and get him. Kicked out of 2 places? Okay. So I do the transfer and I decided that the only way I could subtly (that is, without compromising friendship or alerting this man that I don't trust him) find out the truth is to visit him face-to-face much further up his property. I wanted to confirm if A: the nephew was real or not B: if there was really a bus and C: if there was a second generator. The best way to do this, I thought, was to just show up and not ask if I could come over because if he was lying about the nephew's existence he would probably say a lot of things to make sure I'd not be able to visit him while the nephew is there. I bring a 6-pack to his gate and realise that he isn't home. Okay. I go home but there's a request in my phone for money for school uniforms and supplies for the nephew to transfer to a local school that I'm intentionally ignoring.
Queue the next day and I get prepared to go again, but I get a text saying that they're out again in town, still waiting for me to transfer money for these school supplies. I had done a bit of research and found that it was either unlikely or impossible for a student to transfer schools within one or two days, or to start in the middle of a term, so I felt pretty confident that this was a situation that didn't need addressing urgently. Also, remember when the nephew sorted something with Centrelink to get Aus Study payments, the one where I no longer had to pay some or all of his rent? Well, that was no longer the case. now he is too young to get them, casually forgotten about maybe? Oh yeah, and he had to start school that day. Anyway, I tell the man that it may be possible to get a uniform from the school's uniform storeroom as that is an option for families with financial difficulty, he says that due to Covid they are out of them and that they tried that already...
Right, so now I ask him how the nephew got kicked out (not important), I just wanted to know if it was planned or sudden, if there was enough time to start the process of transferring from his current school to the local one in town. There wasn't! SO, I called him out, told him what he was saying wasn't possible and that his story sounded like a scheme to get money out of me. I asked him for an easy proof, simply take a picture of yourself with the nephew in the car to prove he's real. He denied trying to scam me and said the nephew and the missus are in the school trying to resolve the situation and that he couldn't take the picture. Instead, he sent me a different picture on Facebook of him and his mates being pulled over for something by the police(?) which he claimed just happened before. I could barely identify anyone in that photo, but it looked like he was the one driving the car(?). I said that I've given him too many passes and the benefit of the doubt, but not this time and that whenever he wants to provide a picture with his nephew, like when he simply comes out of the school(?), to send it my way. Somewhat quickly they got out of the school and the excuse for not taking a picture became "We are driving in the car now"
He says that the picture before is the only one he's got, I said take another when you can, then he goes on about this being the last time he needs fuel money and to do it and then he'll send the picture. I told him no transfer would be happening and I would be blocking his number in a few hours if he doesn't do it (I really do like to give people the benefit of the doubt, it's almost certainly what has led to this going on for so long). He sends me another picture on Facebook except this time it's him upfront (passenger side), his missus behind him, and a child in the backseat.
This photo looked a lot more like what I was asking for, except neither him nor his missus looked the slightest bit worried about losing my charity and the child in the back didn't look 14-15 like the nephew is supposed to be aged. Rejecting this photo for these reasons and stating it was an old photo he had, he kept asking for fuel money just so he would be able to get home and so I told him that if he asks again, I would be blocking his number. I also told him his lack of forward thinking does not constitute an emergency for me and that there are at least 4 adults in his household and surely someone has thought that if they left to go to town, that they would be able to return home. He said that if I didn't provide the fuel money, they would be stuck. I said if his mum (the driver) had to pull over anyway, it would be a good time to take that picture (which I changed to him standing outside the car with his nephew).
He said providing another photo wouldn't do any good as he claims the two he sent were proof enough... the first one really isn't related to the second, it's strange he thought that would constitute the proof I was requesting, really it just raises further questions for me... and that's about when I block his number (after previously blocking him on Facebook).
submitted by Rangersop to australia [link] [comments]
Why am I telling you this story? There's a strange phenomenon that concealing guilt or shame, or something, isn't good for you. That isn't necessarily what I'm feeling, I am only trying to move on as expediently as I can think of ways to do so. Rather than have my inner circle in the know, as I have had before, I have decided to post into the void.
*Not every transaction is detailed, some are recurring with the most noteworthy ones being bolded in chapter form. There are 82 transactions and this is sort of a long story, so I cut some fluff out by excluding a lot of them. *Note, for all the amounts borrowed and offered to pay back eventually, I repeatedly told them not to worry about it and that I didn't consider them my debtors, this is true to the end of the story, and I will not be seeking financial remuneration. After 4 months of working with nothing to show for it I am simply going to just enjoy knowing that I now get to keep the money I make.
The beginning:
It all started with picking up a tall young man walking by the side of the road in QLD (where I live). The man had been walking for hours in broad daylight and was all sweaty, trying to get to the nearest large rural town some 40 minutes away from where I live, which is also where I was going. We do the usual thing and try to make small talk to break the ice, sharing some personal information like if either of us is studying or working our age difference (which isn't that much, me being slightly older). he told me he was walking to see a mate in town about his car, if his friend had repaired it yet. Because he wasn't sure whether it would be fixed, we made an arrangement that I would also pick him up on my way out of town back home.
So, I do, and we do more small talk to the point of having an actual conversation, he also tells me he has a 2-year-old daughter. This is a significant detail because it is what drives a lot of the sympathy I had for his situation. There is also one thing about that conversation that stands out to me, and that was the impression that this guy was not very good with money because he said he frequently wants to buy something and then wants something else so he sells the first thing he bought to pay for the second, sort of like he couldn't help it or something. I couldn't relate. On the way home together I point out where my place was and drove past to drop him off at his. It was at this point or when I dropped him off in town that I gave him my phone number and said to text me if he needed a ride sometime.
Some days later he texts me asking me to lend him $50 for fuel because his place has no power (I would later learn that his property is not hooked up to the electrical grid and his family uses a generator for power). He wanted me to send it to his PayID number, which is something I had never used before. The next day he and his missus want a ride into town and back to check out a bus(?), he also wanted to borrow $100 which he said he would pay back in a couple of weeks. Before I left town, I got a call from a place I had sent my resume in to and they offered to start me on their employment process, to which I agreed. Yay! They stay in town overnight and made it to a pub, he called me later asking for something like $180+ for drinks and asked me to pick them up the next day, thanked me for funding their (apparently very fun) night out and informed me that the bus is very nice and will be getting delivered to their property in a few days (neither of them had the appropriate license to drive the bus, his father did except he did not come with us and I never met the man). He also asks for $200 to pay off a debt to his brother-in-law, would also pay that back to me as $300 in two weeks.
The next day, near dusk, he asks me for a lift into town to do some grocery shopping at a servo. I show up at his place and his mother wants to tag along, and she has an empty jerry can for fuel to use in the generator. So away we went, for a 90+ minute drive for the third day in a row, except near dark this time. I was beginning to get a little tired of the lack of forward thinking (why didn't you go shopping before I had to pick you up from town yesterday?), but there is so much more to come... I also gave him another $300 that night for some reason and $50 the next day to renew his Spotify subscription.
Two days later he asks me how much I'm actually willing to lend him, I said $500 but pleaded that he has to make it last a while, he agreed. He also informed me that he would now have to pay for the transportation of the bus to the property, and two days later told me that he was $300 short ($800) total to bring it 80kms. That's borrowing nearly $1,000 in two days, he also said this would be the last time he'd borrow.
It's at this point that he asks me what total he owes me, I was getting back to work at the time and told him to check his bank transactions, but I definitely took this as a sign of goodwill that he was keeping track to reimburse me even though I was telling him that he owes me nothing.
The worker's compensation claim:
A couple of days later he asks me for $170 to take his missus out for the night, winds up at the Gold Coast needing $500 for accommodation because he "didn't think things through". Good news is that his missus' car is now registered so I won't have to give them rides anymore, and more good news is that he's getting worker's comp in two weeks to the tune of $3,000 for his hand getting crushed on his last job (he stated this had left him unable to bend 2 or more fingers), he lastly states this money could pay back the $1,650 he owes me (his calculation). Next day $200 for fuel home, then $500, and he asks me to deny him any further transfer. He sends me a picture of the bus, a 1979 Albion Viking. I couldn't find the picture he sent me on Google, so I guess there really was a bus and I really did pay for the pricey transportation of a 55-year-old vehicle that had depreciated to nothing. He said he would send pics when he cleans up the inside, but they never came.
The very next day, he claims my very final $500 transfer did not go through (this may have actually been the case because I transferred the money between accounts for a faster transfer and then to him in less than a minute, so I suppose I just did it too fast or he was lying, but it was definitely gone from the account), to which I said give it a few days. Every day for the next 3 days he would tell me it still hasn't come through.
The nephew:
On day 4 of the final transfer, he stopped telling me it hadn't come through, however he stated that his missus had a nephew (14-15) who was going through some things and was about to be kicked out of his home, needed $200 for fuel to pick him up and bring him back to their place. Okay, well if I can prevent a minor (14-15) from being on the streets by lending a little more, so be it. I went over to physically hand him the money for fuel and he informed me in more detail what was going on, and it sounded believable. A couple days later and he's asking $150 for fuel to return the nephew to his parents, and his missus is requesting $200-$300 for accommodation to stay for a few days to resolve the situation. They stay a few more days down there for a total of about $1,410, spent on food, rent, and trying to calm the boy down.
He also got an update regarding his worker's comp, said it'd be payed out within 6 weeks for approximately $10k, then he asked me for a loan of $1,000 with an interest rate of 40% so I'd get $1,400 back. I, at this point, questioned why in the world would he need a loan of $1,000 after all I'd given him, and his response is... "car" - I asked him to elaborate further and he said there was a car he could buy down there for himself at that price. I informed him that money was actually getting very tight for me despite working now. He didn't get the car. I was also thinking that I would only have to go without having money while still working just until he got his worker's comp, my hope was that I could save and be content knowing his family would be looked after for a while.
I eventually called the bank to ask them if that final* $500 transfer had actually gone through on their end and they said it had, but to trace the transaction would incur a fee of $20, now knowing this and not really wanting to pay it I decided I would triple check if, after all these days, he had gotten that final* transaction: "Yeah, just came through today bro"
Considering this disregard for my time and neglecting to keep me updated on things to be just a quirk of my new friend, not wanting to claim he had been lying, I pressed on in good faith that this could just be water under the bridge.
His missus contacts me and says she needs $290 because she found accommodation for her nephew, and that he had forgot to pack anything including food. Another $100. Then fuel back while the nephew stays at this new place for a week. $70. I had concerns with leaving a minor renting alone so far away and his schooling, but they were met with it was "just for a week" until they could find some place to put him closer to them, their new primary caregivers, that apparently could not be at their house. I was, at this time, under the impression that the nephew was living alone, yet it would later be revealed that he was not.
The tyres:
3 days later after setting the nephew up somewhere close enough to his school, the missus went to visit him and got two tyres slashed, $190 to replace. She goes to the tyre place and is told that all of the tyres need to be replaced otherwise it is not legal, so it's actually $390 for all 4 (I was skeptical about this and was on a work break at the time, still have not looked into the validity of the claim). Some more time passes and general purpose transfers take place. I am informed that the nephew has sorted out an Aus Study payment from Centrelink, but that I would need to transfer $200 for the nephew's necessities until it's actually worked out, and I would no longer need to pay his rent. Cool. At this point in time, I was working but not keeping what I made. I paid board at home, but the rest minus my fuel between work and home is what I refer to as the 'x tax' ('x' being a stand-in for the name of the person who scammed me). The requests would mostly happen around the day I got paid, with a believable frequent expense of fuel for the generator being at least $160 a week, not to mention fuel for their car and the infrequent requests from his mother to "pay back her friends"
Sometime later, the missus got another flat tyre from driving over a piece of metal on the highway, $75 to replace and they managed to get towed to the tyre place (I did inform them that they would have a spare tyre in the back of the car, but they claimed it had already been used "the other day when we had another one slashed"). They got another spare but used that as well.
The funeral:
I get a text at work from the man saying that his grandfather was in palliative care with only one or two weeks left, and that his cousin was requesting he and his mother go down to see him, so he asks me if I can help. I decided I should be setting a weekly limit or something so this new friend doesn't drain my bank account each pay day, so I gave him $100 and let him know that it's a hard limit. 4 days later, he tells me that his grandfather had passed 2 days prior, needed $100 to get down to his funeral. I could only give him $85 and told him I would be unable to fund his return trip, to which he agreed would be fine. 2 days later, after the funeral, he tells me that he and his mother need $200+ to get home, get food & drinks on the way back and that the rest of their family would not help them and that they "have no other way back". Getting tired of the lack of forward thinking in this family's affairs, I reluctantly agreed to save them once again.
5 days later I ask him when he gets his worker's comp payout so I can begin to save up money from work knowing he and his family is taken care of for a while, he tells me "next week hopefully". This was in late March. Queue more travelling and fuel costs to now go and cremate the grandfather as his wishes were for him and his mother to be there when it happens. Now, I thought the funeral had already happened and that was the end of it, but it turns out that was just the funeral service, which is something I was not aware was a thing. Due to this misunderstanding, I was very suspicious at this point and exclaimed in a text "You already had the funeral!" while thinking "you can't bury someone twice, is this evidence you are scamming me?".
They also needed accommodation, except I was so suspicious of this man that I requested he find and tell me the name of the hotel they'll be staying at, just so I can verify that is the actual price per head. Also, his mum blew another tyre, but they happened to be right outside a tyre place... again. He claims to not be having very good luck anyway. A request is made for money to take his missus out for her Birthday. I tell him in a lengthy text I had been working for 2 months with nothing to show for it and that I am much more inclined to assist him only with essential spending like fuel or food, and he claimed to understand that, then stated he would use a bit of the money for a small cheap present anyway. The present turned out to be $200 on layby and he needed another $60 to fully acquire it. I was telling him to tone down his spending to emphasis that he needs to live at or below his own means and that he wouldn't need my help if he had just bought a much cheaper present.
It'd been about 9 weeks since he told me it would take 2 weeks for the worker's comp (which was later changed to 6 weeks) to be paid and I was wondering if he had heard back or followed up. He said he did and that they would "get back to him" about it. So, now that hope I had that this was just a temporary situation wasn't holding up so well. Despite all the money I was giving him he had bills "piling up" and one urgent one was for a storage unit where he claimed to have a shipping container's worth of stuff and the owner was threatening to throw it all out if they didn't pay his 6 weeks overdue fee. Apparently, if he had paid just most of the fee he would get to keep his stuff there, which is what happened.
There was a wedding for his brother-in-law and on the way back he asked me if I could help him buy phone data, except the amount he ended up paying wasn't an option for renewal, it was about $5-$10 off from the options available (this just fueled my suspicion even further that something just wasn't right). Thinking that a scammer wouldn't voluntarily give money back, I tested him by asking him for $40 back when I overpaid him and well, that's where it went to, that mobile plan. When they returned home from the wedding they found that their generator had not been fueled like he reminded his parents to do and so they lost all the food they had in the fridge. I questioned why his parents didn't notice the power had gone out and all of a sudden there was a second generator that was for them(?).
Their landlord had apparently stated he would be requiring $200 in rent a week early because he has bills and rates to pay. He informs me that he hasn't got a proper contract to even be on the property and could be kicked out at any moment and that he "needed to keep his landlord happy". I couldn't help him pay that much (nor did I really want to give in to his landlord's outrageous demand) so I sent him a link to QSTARS where he could learn his tenancy rights, except it was Saturday which means he wouldn't be able to call them. Then I suggested that he may be able to get a faster response over the weekend to his situation by making a Reddit account (he asked me what that was) and posting on the shitrentals sub.
A few days later he tells me he has been posting there and learning some things, meanwhile I had been intentionally avoiding the sub so as not to invade his personal privacy, however some days go by and I am suuuuper suspicious by this point I look around for some thread or comment relating to his situation in the timeframe it would have been possible for him to make one. I figured if the situation was so urgent that he would at least try to seek advice over the weekend, but I didn't see any evidence of that, he also never told me if he called the tenant's advisory and I never heard anything about his rental situation again.
6 Days from when he refreshed his mobile data, he had apparently used the 30GB limit. I was astounded at this and knew it was going to continue to be my problem if I didn't find this man a better subscription plan with his provider, so I did, for $10 more he could double his data. Only, I told him that he could have the 6-month plan for more money if he wasn't going to use so much data and because it would have been cheaper for me in the long run too, he agreed. I also thought that if he were really scamming me he would choose the option that makes me transfer more money, which is what happened. I guess that's test #2.
The ending:
Which brings me to today. The nephew was brought back into the story because he had apparently been kicked out of his mates place he was staying at(?) and they needed fuel to go and get him. Kicked out of 2 places? Okay. So I do the transfer and I decided that the only way I could subtly (that is, without compromising friendship or alerting this man that I don't trust him) find out the truth is to visit him face-to-face much further up his property. I wanted to confirm if A: the nephew was real or not B: if there was really a bus and C: if there was a second generator. The best way to do this, I thought, was to just show up and not ask if I could come over because if he was lying about the nephew's existence he would probably say a lot of things to make sure I'd not be able to visit him while the nephew is there. I bring a 6-pack to his gate and realise that he isn't home. Okay. I go home but there's a request in my phone for money for school uniforms and supplies for the nephew to transfer to a local school that I'm intentionally ignoring.
Queue the next day and I get prepared to go again, but I get a text saying that they're out again in town, still waiting for me to transfer money for these school supplies. I had done a bit of research and found that it was either unlikely or impossible for a student to transfer schools within one or two days, or to start in the middle of a term, so I felt pretty confident that this was a situation that didn't need addressing urgently. Also, remember when the nephew sorted something with Centrelink to get Aus Study payments, the one where I no longer had to pay some or all of his rent? Well, that was no longer the case. now he is too young to get them, casually forgotten about maybe? Oh yeah, and he had to start school that day. Anyway, I tell the man that it may be possible to get a uniform from the school's uniform storeroom as that is an option for families with financial difficulty, he says that due to Covid they are out of them and that they tried that already...
Right, so now I ask him how the nephew got kicked out (not important), I just wanted to know if it was planned or sudden, if there was enough time to start the process of transferring from his current school to the local one in town. There wasn't! SO, I called him out, told him what he was saying wasn't possible and that his story sounded like a scheme to get money out of me. I asked him for an easy proof, simply take a picture of yourself with the nephew in the car to prove he's real. He denied trying to scam me and said the nephew and the missus are in the school trying to resolve the situation and that he couldn't take the picture. Instead, he sent me a different picture on Facebook of him and his mates being pulled over for something by the police(?) which he claimed just happened before. I could barely identify anyone in that photo, but it looked like he was the one driving the car(?). I said that I've given him too many passes and the benefit of the doubt, but not this time and that whenever he wants to provide a picture with his nephew, like when he simply comes out of the school(?), to send it my way. Somewhat quickly they got out of the school and the excuse for not taking a picture became "We are driving in the car now"
He says that the picture before is the only one he's got, I said take another when you can, then he goes on about this being the last time he needs fuel money and to do it and then he'll send the picture. I told him no transfer would be happening and I would be blocking his number in a few hours if he doesn't do it (I really do like to give people the benefit of the doubt, it's almost certainly what has led to this going on for so long). He sends me another picture on Facebook except this time it's him upfront (passenger side), his missus behind him, and a child in the backseat.
This photo looked a lot more like what I was asking for, except neither him nor his missus looked the slightest bit worried about losing my charity and the child in the back didn't look 14-15 like the nephew is supposed to be aged. Rejecting this photo for these reasons and stating it was an old photo he had, he kept asking for fuel money just so he would be able to get home and so I told him that if he asks again, I would be blocking his number. I also told him his lack of forward thinking does not constitute an emergency for me and that there are at least 4 adults in his household and surely someone has thought that if they left to go to town, that they would be able to return home. He said that if I didn't provide the fuel money, they would be stuck. I said if his mum (the driver) had to pull over anyway, it would be a good time to take that picture (which I changed to him standing outside the car with his nephew).
He said providing another photo wouldn't do any good as he claims the two he sent were proof enough... the first one really isn't related to the second, it's strange he thought that would constitute the proof I was requesting, really it just raises further questions for me... and that's about when I block his number (after previously blocking him on Facebook).
2024.05.15 15:01 ibid-11962 More Murtagh Questions [Post Murtagh Christopher Paolini Q&A Wrap Up #5]
As discussed in the first post, this is my ongoing compilation of the remaining questions Christopher has answered online between August 1st 2023 and April 30th 2024 which I've not already covered in other compilations.
As always, questions are sorted by topic, and each Q&A is annotated with a bracketed source number. Links to every source used and to the other parts of this compilation will be provided in a comment below.
The previous post focused on the essence of the Murtagh book and character. This installment will cover additional Murtagh-related questions, such as about specific elements of the writing process. The next post will cover the writing and publication of Eragon.
submitted by ibid-11962 to Eragon [link] [comments]
As always, questions are sorted by topic, and each Q&A is annotated with a bracketed source number. Links to every source used and to the other parts of this compilation will be provided in a comment below.
The previous post focused on the essence of the Murtagh book and character. This installment will cover additional Murtagh-related questions, such as about specific elements of the writing process. The next post will cover the writing and publication of Eragon.
Further Details about Writing Murtagh
Creating the MapsFor Murtagh I did all the maps after writing the book, but that's because I already knew all the locations and was familiar with them from writing the series. So I didn't need to do the maps before writing the book. [12]Favorite Parts
What is your system for drawing maps? I usually start by thinking of what I want a location to look like. And that has nothing to do with a map. That's usually just thinking about how it will serve the story. And then the map will be based off of that. The biggest decision is usually what the style of the map should be, whether I want to do like a top-down city map for a place, or if I want it to be a more of a realistic image. So more of, let's say, a landscape painting, one could say, or if I want to do something that's more allegorical and evocative or symbolic, which there's actually one of those in Murtagh that really isn't a map, but it's a symbolic map, let's put it that way. And all of that is governed by what is the effect I hope to achieve with the reader. Because if it doesn't achieve the effect I want, then what's the point of doing it. I do try to avoid maps where I have to draw every single building if it's a city map because that's just annoying. I'd rather draw mountains than cities. [12]
I love the sort of top-down look, which is why I drew the the original map for Eragon in this style. [12]
Maps are an awesome thing, and they add so much to a world. And that's why I love drawing them, and I love finding them in books I'm reading. And it's also why I make such an effort to draw and paint maps for my own books. [12]
What kind of scenes do you enjoy writing most? I really empathize with the characters, so I find it difficult to write scenes where they experience difficulties. I like to write scenes where people wonder about the world, or where the story reaches a climax. With Murtagh, for example, this is the confrontation at the end of the book. Or the fight with the big fish, Muckmaw. There are also quiet moments that I enjoy writing. Again in Murtagh, when Silna – the werecat child – kisses Murtagh's head, that was a very special moment. I like to write things that have meaning and that requires context, so you have to build up to moments that are meaningful, both for myself as a writer and for the reader. [23]Providing Context
Do you have a favorite moment in the book between Thorn and Murtagh? I have a couple of them. There's a moment after the encounter with Muckmaw when they exchange true names that I quite liked. The end of the Gil'ead sequence. Thorn has an appearance at the end of that sequence, which was rather dramatic. And then right near the end of the book, Thorn gets a crowning moment of awesome, one might say, to use internet speak. But Thorn really, he comes through in a pinch, and I just loved writing that. [32]
What was your favorite scene or moment that you wrote for Murtagh? I'd say the last chapter, and I'm not gonna say why, but I think it's obvious. There's a scene with a creature named Muckmaw, which I quite enjoy. Not just the confrontation with Muckmaw, the aftermath in the water. I was reading Blood Meridian at the time, and I think that influenced my descriptions. And there is a point in the story where something is renamed. And that was a very meaningful scene for me. Also, there's a werecat in the book and I love werecats. They're so much fun to write. [34]
What is your favorite line you've written? The first line I wrote for Murtagh before I had anything really for the book, I thought it was going to be the first line of the book and it ended up being partway through the first chapter, and it was "A man with a dragon is never truly alone." Which since he's an outcast the whole theme of being alone or not alone is kind of relevant. [33]
My favorite good/bad line from Murtagh is: “The water was like liquid ice.”.. . . Yeah, yeah. I know. But you understand what I meant! And that’s the point of writing. Ahahaha!* I didn't notice! just imagined really cold water Can’t tell you how many times I stepped into the Yellowstone River and thought: “This feels like ice! But liquid.” [T]
In the acknowledgments section you said you owe your agent some sushi? Yes! I bet him a sushi dinner, an expensive new York sushi dinner, that I could keep Murtagh under the length of Eragon. And I got close. The first draft was one hundred and sixty eight thousand words long. Eragon is one hundred and fifty six thousand words long. And I figured well I usually drop about ten percent of length in editing, so I thought I'd do that. The problem is I hate over explaining things. I know that sounds incredibly hypocritical based off what I've actually written, but because of my experiences of over explaining things, I've really tried to not do that as much, and so I wrote the book assuming that someone had read the Inheritance Cycle and remembered it. So I didn't explain what a lot of things were because I assumed the reader knew. And my editor came back and said "Christopher, I know what you're doing, but you can't do that. Because someone might pick this up without having read the Inheritance Cycle. And even if someone read the Inheritance Cycle, it's been twelve years. So provide a little context." Well, that ended up being thirty-three thousand words, give or take. So now we're at one hundred and ninety eight thousand words, so I owe my agent a sushi dinner. [17]Gil'ead Sequence
It's always interesting to me to see how people do their first chapters in a series. Because I always feel like chapter one is like "previously on..." It's funny. I wrote my latest book with basically no callbacks or explanations of established information. After four books and a million published words, you kind of think people have it under their belt. And my editor came back and she was like, "It's been eleven years since the last book, even if people are fans of the series, you got to give them a little more." So usually when I write a first draft, it drops by about 10% in editing. And with that book, it went up by 33,000 words, which all of it was basically context, which was interesting. So that was a first for me. I'm a kitchen sink author, so I throw everything in and then I usually cut back during editing. [33]
I would love to write books that are more around the length of 100,000 to 150,000 words. Like that's a good, solid length. That's where I was shooting for with Murtagh, but for some reason my editor kept asking me to add more and more stuff so we ended up close to 200,000 words. [1]
Final word count of Murtagh is 198,983 words. So my editor had me ADD about 34,000 words to the book over the course of editing/revising. Ha! That's a first. [T]
Interesting choice to break it up into the sections of each city. Just the section in Gil'ead is basically a novel on its own. There's a full arc in Gil'ead that would be a normal size novel for any other writer. I nearly split it into two volumes, actually, there. But my editor said, "no, don't do that". The funny thing about Gil'ead is that actually was not in my original outline. The whole sequence. And the reason is that, for me, I was envisioning a much shorter book. And the whole thing was going to be them going to the village and dealing with Bachel. So let's get to the village as quickly as possible. So we'll just have a chapter or two at the beginning of getting the information. Well, storytelling 101, you can't make it easy for the character. So having Murtagh just be able to go get that information somewhere, find it out, just felt too easy. Also, I kind of locked myself into a little path because the first chunk of the book is reworking the short story from The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm. And at the end of that, Murtagh does not have the information he needs. So he can't get it from the people he interacts with in that chapter, which if I were writing Murtagh as a complete standalone, I could have considered that. So then I thought, "well, he'll go to Gil'ead and we'll have a really quick thing there. And he'll get his information." I started writing it the way I originally envisioned. But again it was too easy. So it was like, "OK. There needs to be a challenge here. What else is going on? How does it tie into my larger world and story?" And it does. There's some unresolved storylines there, but it does tie into the larger stuff I'm going to later. And then it was half the book. Seriously. At the end of the following chapter, right after Gil'ead, is almost perfectly 50% through the book. I'm sure everyone's heard of the three act play, but there's a competing theory of storytelling, which I'm actually very fond of, which is the five act play. So you have two acts at the beginning, two acts at the end, and then your middle act, and then you have an act in the middle. And in that middle act, you have a tipping point where your character sort of sees what they need, or sees what they can become. They ultimately see their own solution to their problems, but then the rest of the back half of the story is them grappling with that solution, coming to terms with it. And that actually worked, it was not intentional, but it worked out perfectly with the structure of this book. The structure of this book is also directly inspired by some of the structuring that I did in my sci-fi novels and I carried some of it back into Alagaësia. [11]Thorn
In regard of Murtagh or any other part of your work, what's the most intense moment for you during the creative process when you are in the midst of writing a novel? A lot of it is intense. I'm gonna divide it into two sections. The creative process itself, in the sense that where I'm creating the story and the characters and the world. In this case, of course, the world was pretty much in place, but in the outlining phase, I should say, that's a lot of fun. There's some pressure in the sense that I know if I don't get it right in that stage, that no matter how well I write the book, it won't hang together particularly well for the reader. So there's strain in that sense that I really want to get it right. But I wouldn't say there's any real pressure, because there's no deadlines at that point. I'm not actually writing the book. During the writing itself, there's definitely strain and intensity in wanting to get it right and do a good job of writing each individual scene and chapter and storyline. And sometimes that can get difficult, especially if I feel like I'm not really getting where I need to get in terms of the effect on the reader. I had that in a couple places in the first draft with Murtagh. One was with the character Bachel herself, who was quite different in the first draft. And then another one actually was the whole Gil'ead sequence, where my original idea for that sequence is actually what happens now in terms of the werecat kittens and all of that. And then I second guessed myself and thought, "well, maybe that's a little cheesy. Maybe I won't have a ticking clock element to that sequence. So I'm just gonna not have that, but he'll still have these various adventures in order to earn this information from the werecat Carabel." And the problem is it removed any sense of tension from that sequence. So I ended up having to rework a lot of the Gil'ead sequence to reintroduce that element, bring in the tension and make it all work. But both of those things happened in the second chunk, which I was gonna say is revision. And revision and editing tends to be the most intense part of the process, because at that point we're usually under deadline. We've committed to a release date and things are happening on the business side of things, that are sort of like unstoppable forces. The ticking clock in the real world. And that tends to be the most intense part because it's not that I can't do the work, I always can and I always am able to get where I wanna go. I'm not stressed about that, it's just instead of having two months to do something, now you got to do it in two weeks, and oh hey, you got a new baby you got to take care of at the same time. And that's what makes it really intense. [19]
One of the things that I loved about the very first half of this novel is that it is a quintessential RPG action adventure. Because poor Murtagh gets pushed and pulled willingly and unwillingly in the strangest directions. Yeah, he's on the series of fetch quests. It's funny. I've had a bunch of people react differently to that. I've seen people who kind of hate it and really love it, and a lot of people who say, "Well, Christopher's just writing out his D&D session". I literally have never played D&D except for my recent trip down to the Authors in the Dungeon down in Utah. So I don't play D&D. I have no one here to play it with. The only RPGs I've ever played are Skyrim and the Mass Effect series. My logic with that sequence was there was a whole lot we needed to see about Murtagh's back history without rehashing the Inheritance Cycle, without actually going back and rewriting scenes from his point of view. And just doing it all in flashbacks and dreams gets a bit tedious. On top of that, originally that sequence wasn't in the book I was going to write. I was going to start with essentially the opening. And then we were going to go to Nal Gorgoth fairly quickly in the book. But it just made it too easy. No one's going to give them the information for free. There's always a price attached to information. There had to be difficulty in getting it. And then once I was digging into that, I was like, okay, how can I use this to show some aspects of Murtagh's character, and then how will that then get reflected in the second half of the book? And how will that let me inform what happens in the second half of the book? And I really enjoyed that stuff. Muckmaw was a particular favorite of mine. [32]
One of the things that we get a lot of in this book that was really wonderful after reading Inheritance, was Thorn's-- we don't really get his POV, but we get some POV through Murtagh of him. I think he only has one line in the entire Inheritance Cycle. In the last book. And we get a lot of him here. And we get a very different Rider-Dragon relationship between him and Murtagh versus Saphira and Eragon. What was the process of crafting that relationship to be similar in its like magical quality, but also different in the fact that they had a very trying kind of hatching? Well that was the key right there. I wanted it to feel different while still maintaining the sense that they'll back each other up no matter what, which they have in the past. That's an important part of that. But Murtagh is kind of a difficult personality himself. Thorn, as we see in the book, of course, had a very, very difficult upbringing under Galbatorix and then later on. And that leaves scars. That leaves marks. So trying to find a way to reflect that in the relationship without having them also just be at each other's throats, because they're not. They are being supportive. But at the same time, it's perhaps an overused word these days, but they have trauma that they are having to battle. [11]Claustrophobia
One of my favorite things is the relationship between Murtagh and Thorn--they’re such a lonely duo, but it allows the book to kind of delve into that dragon/rider bond in a new way. What sets their relationship apart do you think? Murtagh and Thorn were joined under the most difficult of circumstances, and that shapes their interactions in a thousand different ways. Their relationship is more, ah, thorny than Eragon and Saphira’s, but they also still love each other and would lay down their lives for one another, should the occasion demand it. I found their interactions really interesting to write. Also, it felt important that I didn’t directly replicate Eragon and Saphira’s relationship. Murtagh and Thorn are very different beings, and readers should see that. [15]
What is the relationship between Murtagh and his dragon Thorn? Thorn's egg hatched when they were imprisoned by King Galbatorix. The two friends have been tortured and manipulated. They retain many traumas. They care deeply for each other and are closely bonded. But their relationship is more difficult than that of Eragon and his dragon Saphira. [4]
I definitely got choked up with just Thorn and his claustrophobia and how it was written, how it was handled, everything surrounding it. Out of pure curiosity, do you or do someone you know have that kind of claustrophobia that you were able to speak to about? No. A large part of the act of writing is the act of imagination, just like with acting. But even though there's no one in my life who suffers from that, when I'm writing Thorn or anyone who might feel that, I do my best to feel what they're feeling, which is why when writing scenes or a large chunk of a book where perhaps things are difficult for the characters, I have a bad time. Yeah, I hope you take breaks. Yeah, that's where it's good to go play with the kids and take a load off one's mind. But some of the battle scenes in Inheritance really got to me at times, because I'm thinking actually especially in Inheritance, but also in Brisingr, there were some large set pieces, battles. And it just takes a couple of weeks to write sometimes. And that's a long time to have your head in blood and guts. [11]Bachel
You write so many diverse women in your books that we really enjoy. Between Arya, Angela, Nasuada, Queen Islanzadi, you write fantasy with women in positions of power, with agency and with action. And then we get to this book and we meet this villain, Bachel, and she's basically like, "what if Angela was evil?" I hadn't thought of it that way. I was reading the book. I was like, "Did Christopher Paolini and his sister have a fight? What changed in that relationship?" Because she's awful. So I've watched a lot of movies in my life, and a lot of old movies too. I was thinking of some of the classic actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood who would come on the screen with a very imperious feel, like Sunset Boulevard or All About Eve or some of those films. And Bachel is sort of in that category of presence. And I think it's exactly what was needed to put Murtagh off balance. I was also thinking of Kai Winn from Deep Space Nine. I've always said that Kai Winn and from Harry Potter the headmistress Umbridge, and Hyacinth Bouquet from the British show Keeping Up Appearances. The three of them in a room together will be like a nuclear explosion. When you were approaching bringing this book from the short story about The Fork into a full novel, at what point did you create this character and where did she come from? I had a general idea before writing Murtagh, of course. I did a lot of plotting and preparatory work, but you never know how a character is going to come across until you write the first draft. And in the first draft, Bachel was not as successful as she is now, I think. I was writing the first draft quickly, and I was thinking of the stories a little bit more of like a Edgar Rice Burroughs style adventures. You go off into the jungle, and you find a hidden temple and lost civilization sort of thing. And as a result, in the first draft, Bachel was much more vampy. I really went hard on that angle. And then looking back over, it's like it didn't work. And it was so cliche and obvious. It was like, yeah, I needed to find another approach. So I kept reworking Bachel with each cycle of revision and it was getting better. The character was getting better and better, but I wasn't fully committing to the change. And it was right at the end of revisions. I mean, we were down to the wire and my editor said, we're still not quite there. And even though I hated to have to have any more work at that point, I knew she was right. So I went in. We're talking with a week to spare before we went to the printers. And I rewrote the first four chapters or so when he gets to the village. I rewrote pretty much every line of dialogue of hers and every description of her to bring it to where we are. And then I was like, "OK, now it works", and my editor agreed. She is terrifying and one of those characters that's not mustache twirly evil, but has so much evil within her. She thinks she can do no wrong, that she is always doing the right thing and that she knows what's best for all the people around her. And as a result is capable of anything. So all of which is to answer your question, her character was an iterative process to get where she needed to go. [11]Puce
I try to imagine what it is to create characters and if some of them have the purpose to be a particular message or stand as a parable for a message or an idea and if yes, what does Bachel mean to you in a deeper way? I think the Bachel to me represents unquestioning belief and also the tyranny of unchecked power and control over people's lives. I think what differentiates Bachel from a real world cult leader, for example, and this actually kind of made it interesting to me, is that the Dreamers and Bachel are rational in the sense that they are believing in something that actually exists. The power that they are in awe of and that they are afraid of and that they worship actually exists. And the same is true of the priests of Helgrind. So in a sense they are not irrational to have that reaction. You might argue it's the wrong reaction. I would argue that they're overdoing it and the reaction is wrong and perhaps even evil, but they have more reason for their belief than a lot of people sometimes do because they have physical evidence on an ongoing basis of their object of worship. But again, Bachel would to me represent unchecked fanatical belief as well as personal exploitation of one's power over others. [19]
The cult experience in the pages of Murtagh eerily echoed in some ways certain experiences I've had with religion. Could you talk about where that part of your writing came from or how you went about writing it? I understand why that comment's anonymous, and I'm going to kind of adhere to that philosophy of anonymity here. Without going into details, I've had some family members who were in a cult at one point. And that occasioned quite a bit of discussion in my life growing up. Although the cult might seem, and probably is, completely over the top and cartoony in some ways, you would be astounded by how much of that was essentially true to life. Let's put it this way, playing Far Cry 5, if anyone's familiar with that, was a distinctly uncomfortable experience for me. So I did whatever I do when I encounter something uncomfortable. I played the game like four times in a row. [34]
No matter how outlandish a belief seems, it can be completely realistic in your world. Especially if you have people committed to it. I've had family members who've been in a cult at one point. That was interesting. So I've had firsthand experience seeing a lot of this stuff in person, and I used some of that in my latest book. [25]
How come Bachel is pronounced like that when it’s only one little line away from Rachel? The English language hurts my head. Because it’s not from English, and I wanted it to sound different from every other name in the series. [T]
In Murtagh I have a dragon who's not supposed to be a very nice dragon. I gave him the worst color I could. I have a puce dragon. And mind you, I don't necessarily mind the color itself. It's just for those who don't know, the original definition of the word puce is the color of dried flea blood. So it's a puce dragon. [33]Traumatic Sequences
What was it like cranking up the anxieties of it, the horrors of it? It feels more mature this time around. Well, good. Murtagh is a more mature character, and he's always had a harder road to walk than Eragon. So, going easy on him was never an option, but it was hard to write. It's hard to put my mind in difficult situations for days on end, weeks on end, months on end when writing and editing. It takes a toll on you emotionally. At least, that's my experience because I empathize with the characters and the world. But at the same time, it's so interesting dramatically that I can't avoid it. Actually [the reason] why I wrote the book was that last chunk of the book. That's what everything leading up to was building and hopefully supporting so that when that hits, you're there going, “Oh my god.” [6]Uvek
There is a extended period of this book uh that is very traumatic. That is the darkest I think the series ever gets. Where did you find the line? Were there any drafts where you felt like you went too far with that section or where you had to pull it back? Yes. Not a huge amount though. First of all, I throw everything in in my first drafts, kitchen sink, because you can always dial it back, whatever it is. Even if it's a funny scene, it's like I push it as far as I can and then see how it hits the audience. So in the sequence you're talking about, there was one thing in particular I did that I actually don't want to talk about, that I cut out during editing at my editor's very wise advice, and I'm really glad I did. But that was a thing. Because I was like how far can I take this, and that was too far. [11]
Hopefully this is not scaring anyone off from reading Murtagh. No, it's fantastic. And I think just because it is darker doesn't mean it's bad. I think that it's honestly a perfect natural progression from the Inheritance Cycle to this character. I think it's what the character needed. I also don't think it's depressing, ultimately. [11]
Tell me a little about how you see Murtagh’s journey in this book. He’s certainly on a much darker road than his half-brother, how was it getting to write a story that has more mature themes? I found it enormously rewarding to write about a character who is both more mature and more complicated than Eragon was for the majority of the Cycle. Especially now that I’m older myself. Dramatically, Murtagh (and Thorn!) presented all sorts of interesting opportunities, and I did my best to take advantage of them in this book. Also, since a lot of my readers have grown up with the series, even as I did, I wanted to give them a book that would satisfy them as much as it will also hopefully satisfy younger readers. [15]
As a fifteen-year-old boy I would never have been able to imagine such a flawed character as a central figure, but I now view life very differently. And you notice that my readers who have grown along with me also see these extra shades of gray. [18]
Murtagh is indeed a more mature book than Eragon. Did you write it that way on purpose? Yes, Murtagh is an older character in the story than he or Eragon were in the first books. He is also a complicated person. And my readers have grown up with me in the meantime. So I felt it was important to write a book where my oldest readers would see my progression as writing, and read about characters they could once again identify with. At the same time, new readers should not be forgotten. That's why I wrote Murtagh in such a way that you can also read it without knowing the previous four books. I wanted to write a book that revolved around the difficult history of Murtagh and Thorn, but was still a fun adventure to read. [23]
If you love this fandom, why are you making us suffer so much with this book? I mean the ending redeems you a little bit but oh my god. I'm sure it's been an emotional rollercoaster for you too. There are parts of the story that are definitely very difficult for Murtagh and Thorn and part of that may be my own predilection for writing that sort of stuff but mostly it was that Murtagh has done some very unpleasant things in the Inheritance Cycle, especially to Nasuada. And he needed to come to terms with that, he needed to grapple that, he needed to face it. And there was no easy path forward for him. If I had done easy on Murtagh I feel like readers would have decided that I was cheating, going easy, and that Murtagh didn't actually have to face the consequences of his actions. Even if he wasn't a hundred per cent responsible for them at the time. I can assure you that, and I'll say this to other fans as well, after this story Murtagh is going to have an easier time of it. This book resolves his personal journey and Thorn's on a really fundamental level, and so life's going to be a little bit easier for Murtagh moving forward. [17]
So going to Uvek, you've introduced another Urgal. I think that for a lot of readers, the twist on the Urgals in Eldest. They are not just beastial orcs or Uruk-hai or whatever other franchise does with them, Trollocs for Wheel of Time. They are this sentient race that wants to join the fight on the side of good. I think that that shook me when I first read it. How was it bringing another lead character really from that race into the book? And one of the things I really loved about the book is the scene where they're flying to the village, and they see the village of Urgals. And they're just playing with bows. They're just having a normal day. And he has this moment internally where he's like, "oh, maybe I need to be more inquisitive?" Uvek is one of my favorite characters from the book. I like the Urgal culture. I find it interesting. I wouldn't want to live next to an Urgal village, necessarily, especially since I have kids. But dramatically, creatively, they're really interesting to write about. And trying to balance them in the sense that they're a warrior culture like, we could say, the Klingons. But the Klingons take it to such a degree that realistically, you start asking the question of, how have they survived? How do they build a space-frame civilization when it seems like they tear each other apart super quickly? So with the Urgals, I wanted to show more. And in fact, in The Fork of the Witch and the Worm, the largest of the stories in that is The Worm, which is an Urgal story. And since I was looking at ways of exploring the idea of Murtagh and Thorn's relationship with society, being an outcast, all of that. The Urgals are outcasts in the land also. The other races aren't particularly fond of them. That was a nice connection to bring in and reflect off of Murtagh, so to speak. [11]Typos
I just got off a very fresh reread of Murtagh. I just sent in typo corrections and a couple little tweaks here and there for the reprints. [32]Divers
You mention in Murtagh that Murtagh's Gedwëy ignasia is on his right hand, but I think the community assumed it was on his left from Eldest. We're we all wrong or is that a continuity error I found? Typo. Getting fixed in reprints. [T]
I've seen a couple of questions about this, so -- for the record, "divers" is not a typo of "diverse". (Probably got too clever for my own good, but there you go.) Archaic language in fantasy books?!?! Say it ain't so! The language is half the fun. :D [T]Reading Order
Not a typo. :D Archaic word. [T]
If this hypothetical typo is “divers” … that’s actually the correct word and not a typo. If it’s something else, just send a pic and we’ll get it fixed in reprints. [T]
CHRIS WHAT IS THIS? An excellent and archaic word. [T]
*sigh* . . . “divers” is a real word. Not a typo (and it doesn’t mean those who dive in the water) [T]
I mean, "divers" isn't a typo, so . . . That said, if you do find typos in Murtagh, feel free to tweet them at me. We'll get 'em fixed in reprints. Happens with every book. [T]
Heh. Good thing “divers” is actually a word (and it doesn’t mean someone diving into water). [T]
The thing I want to talk to you about today is Twitter drama. You've been getting in tons of fights with readers lately on Twitter. You've been saying some really awful and hateful things to them just because they're pointing out typos in your book. What's the deal with this "divers" typo? Yes, on the first page of Murtagh there's a word "divers", which is an archaic word that means many or a multitude or different things. And too many people think that I'm referring to scuba divers. So it is a fight worth having. You make up fake words all the time. You're a fantasy author. I think the difference here is that you've made up a fake word which also has a real world definition, a person who dives as a sport, and you've put it on the front page of Murtagh without any context clues provided as to how we should interpret this. This is a book that's part of a world that no one has read in more than 10 years. So don't you think that maybe you should apologize to your readers who have waited all this time for a quality product only to be let down by an "archaic" word, aka a typo, on the first page? Absolutely. In fact, I had a conversation with my editor about this before heading out on book tour and we'll be reprinting the books but we're going to translate it all into Pig Latin which should make it more understandable for readers. [31]
I didn't read FWW,should I read it before read Murtagh? I Thought it was a spin-off book. You don't have to read it ... but I would. It acts as a direct lead-in to Murtagh Honestly I'm finding it shocking the number of people who haven't read FWW. There's a solution to that. . . . (Why does that sound mildly threatening?) [T]
Even if you haven't read the other books I think you can certainly enjoy Murtagh as much or even more. [12]
Is Murtagh Book 5 in the story about Eragon/Alagaësia? Yes [R]
Murtagh is a direct inline full-length sequel to the series, even though it has a different main character. [1]
I just finished Fractal Noise last night, and when you mentioned in the afterward about another book for a certain Eragon character, I was hoping it would be him. Yeah, I wanted to mention Murtagh on the "Also By" page in Fractal Noise, but we weren't sure if Murtagh was getting announced before Fractal Noise got released to early readers. [T]
2024.05.15 15:00 aznpersuazion Why Vancouver has THE BEST FOOD IN NORTH AMERICA
Alright, buckle up because we're diving into why Vancouver's food scene is straight-up legendary. Forget the regular city vibes; Vancouver is a melting pot of flavors, a culinary carnival that beats anything else in North America. Join me on this personal quest to unravel why the combo of Asian influence, Pacific Northwest goodness, and chill dining vibes makes Vancouver the top pick for foodies.
Asian Culinary Delights: Tradition and Creativity Unleashed
Vancouver's streets resonate with the aromas of traditional Asian dishes, prepared with a touch of authenticity that transports you across borders. Picture slurping savory ramen in Chinatown or savoring hand-pulled noodles in a cozy corner of East Van. But what makes Vancouver's Asian food scene truly exceptional is its fusion of tradition with modern creativity.
In this city, innovation meets tradition on a plate. Take, for instance, squid ink brioche with sea urchin pâté – a daring yet harmonious blend of flavors that pushes the boundaries of culinary expectations. Vancouver's chefs are culinary artists, creating dishes that not only pay homage to traditional recipes but also elevate them into extraordinary, palate-pleasing experiences.
And let's not forget the matcha mochi croissants that have taken the city by storm. A fusion of Japanese mochi and French croissants, these delectable pastries are a testament to Vancouver's culinary diversity. Each bite is a dance of textures and tastes, showcasing the city's flair for seamlessly blending cultures and cuisines.
Pacific Northwest's Grocery List: Seafood Galore and More
Living next to the Pacific Ocean is like having a seafood aisle in your backyard. Fresh salmon, sweet Dungeness crab, and chubby spot prawns – Vancouver's seafood game is on point. And let's not forget the local veggies and meats, straight from the region's green landscapes. It's like nature’s way of saying, "Hey, enjoy the good stuff!"
Nature Vibes: Dining with a View
Vancouver's layout is like a dating app for food and nature; they're a match made in heaven. Whether you're brunching in a leafy neighborhood or devouring seafood with an ocean panorama, the city serves up an Instagrammable backdrop for every meal. Picture this: a patio, a breeze, and the scent of fir trees – eating out just got a whole lot cooler.
Neighborhood Chronicles: Culinary Adventures Off the Beaten Path
Downtown is cool, but venture out, and you'll hit foodie gold. Commercial Drive's eclectic spots or Richmond's legit Asian flavors – Vancouver's neighborhoods are like culinary treasure maps. Each area has its own flavor story, tempting you to be the food explorer you were born to be.
Conclusion
Vancouver isn't just a city with good food; it's a food fiesta waiting to happen. The Asian vibes, the Pacific Northwest's goodies, and the city's chill connection with nature make dining here a full-blown experience. Vancouver isn't just North America's food champion; it's a vibe, a journey through flavors, and a big, fat stamp on your foodie passport. So, next time you're craving a culinary adventure, Vancouver's got your back, fork, and knife.
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submitted by aznpersuazion to travelfooddiaries [link] [comments]
Asian Culinary Delights: Tradition and Creativity Unleashed
Vancouver's streets resonate with the aromas of traditional Asian dishes, prepared with a touch of authenticity that transports you across borders. Picture slurping savory ramen in Chinatown or savoring hand-pulled noodles in a cozy corner of East Van. But what makes Vancouver's Asian food scene truly exceptional is its fusion of tradition with modern creativity.
In this city, innovation meets tradition on a plate. Take, for instance, squid ink brioche with sea urchin pâté – a daring yet harmonious blend of flavors that pushes the boundaries of culinary expectations. Vancouver's chefs are culinary artists, creating dishes that not only pay homage to traditional recipes but also elevate them into extraordinary, palate-pleasing experiences.
And let's not forget the matcha mochi croissants that have taken the city by storm. A fusion of Japanese mochi and French croissants, these delectable pastries are a testament to Vancouver's culinary diversity. Each bite is a dance of textures and tastes, showcasing the city's flair for seamlessly blending cultures and cuisines.
Pacific Northwest's Grocery List: Seafood Galore and More
Living next to the Pacific Ocean is like having a seafood aisle in your backyard. Fresh salmon, sweet Dungeness crab, and chubby spot prawns – Vancouver's seafood game is on point. And let's not forget the local veggies and meats, straight from the region's green landscapes. It's like nature’s way of saying, "Hey, enjoy the good stuff!"
Nature Vibes: Dining with a View
Vancouver's layout is like a dating app for food and nature; they're a match made in heaven. Whether you're brunching in a leafy neighborhood or devouring seafood with an ocean panorama, the city serves up an Instagrammable backdrop for every meal. Picture this: a patio, a breeze, and the scent of fir trees – eating out just got a whole lot cooler.
Neighborhood Chronicles: Culinary Adventures Off the Beaten Path
Downtown is cool, but venture out, and you'll hit foodie gold. Commercial Drive's eclectic spots or Richmond's legit Asian flavors – Vancouver's neighborhoods are like culinary treasure maps. Each area has its own flavor story, tempting you to be the food explorer you were born to be.
Conclusion
Vancouver isn't just a city with good food; it's a food fiesta waiting to happen. The Asian vibes, the Pacific Northwest's goodies, and the city's chill connection with nature make dining here a full-blown experience. Vancouver isn't just North America's food champion; it's a vibe, a journey through flavors, and a big, fat stamp on your foodie passport. So, next time you're craving a culinary adventure, Vancouver's got your back, fork, and knife.
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2024.05.15 14:57 Sweet-Count2557 Menno House in New York City, USA
 | Menno House in New York City, USA submitted by Sweet-Count2557 to worldkidstravel [link] [comments] Affordable Community Housing in the Heart of NYC: Welcome to Menno House in Gramercy Park, Manhattan! Price Level: $ Hotel Class: 0.0 Welcome to Menno House, your affordable community housing option in the heart of New York City! Located in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, our brownstone residence offers three private rooms as guest accommodations. Whether you're planning a short stay of just one night or a longer visit of up to four weeks, we are here to welcome you. Situated close to the Union Square subway stop, Menno House is surrounded by charming townhouses, delightful restaurants, and trendy shops. With Soho, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and Midtown within walking distance, you'll have easy access to explore the vibrant neighborhoods of NYC. In addition to providing short-term lodging, we are proud to offer housing for church volunteers, students, and nonprofit workers. Come experience the warmth and convenience of Menno House during your stay in the Big Apple! Amenities of Menno House in New York City, USA Menno House in New York City, USA offers a range of amenities to ensure a comfortable and convenient stay for its guests. One of the standout features is the complimentary internet access provided throughout the property, allowing guests to stay connected and browse the web at their convenience. The free wifi service ensures that guests can easily connect their devices and stay in touch with loved ones or catch up on work. Additionally, Menno House is a non-smoking hotel, guaranteeing a clean and fresh environment for all guests. The non-smoking rooms further enhance the comfort of the stay, providing a peaceful and healthy atmosphere for relaxation. Contact of Menno House in New York City, USA 15056144950 314 E 19th St (just east of 2nd Avenue), New York City, NY 10003-2804 manager@mennohouse.org http://www.mennohouse.org Location of Menno House in New York City, USA Pictures of Menno House in New York City, USA Tips for Staying in Menno House
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2024.05.15 14:51 Velinoir Cosplay festival experience and rude tourists...
I've been living in Osaka for about a year now and recently there was a huge cosplay event (Nippombashi Street Festa). Prior to this I have never cosplayed before and this was the first time post Covid they organised this festival. I was really excited for it and put a lot of effort into my cosplay (Frieren). I live in the city center and walked to the location instead of using the crowded changing rooms after confirming it would be okay for me to do so with some friends. On my way, I got stopped a few times by teenagers, children and also some young adults asking to take pictures with me, which I gladly did. Everyone was super respectful and not a single person seemed to take any pictures without permission or offended. Just the usual side eyes from a few elderly people.
Now fast forward to the actual event, I bought a wristband to officially participate in the photo taking activities and get access to a designated area they put up where you could go take pictures with other cosplayers or have your pictures taken. Again, no issues. Everyone was patient and asked respectfully. The problem began after the official event ended (post 17:00). I rested at a cafe for a while and the festival was over, there were a few other cosplayerd left and I mostly walked around and talked to people about their cosplays. While I was in conversation, an older (American judging by his accent and entourage) rudely grabbed my arm and then with his finger tried to tell me to come closer. I was really shocked and just ignored it, said "no, sorry", and turned back to my conversation. Him and his group then pulled out their phones and started taking pictures of ALL of us without our permission. I told him to stop it because we did not want our pictures taken (by them). Fortunately, there was some staff left and they helped us get rid of those people.
Afterwards, I was still in the Namba area where the event was held in a side alley (to not disturb the main area) and on my phone talking to my family. Someone from across the street yelled "FRIEREN" and tried to get my attention. I just mindlessly waved at them but didn't have time to engage otherwise as the conversation was important. Again, a group of (male Western looking) foreigners approached me and interrupted my call, asking to take pictures. The official event ended a long time ago and while I do not mind having my pictures taken anyways, why is it too much to ask to wait until I'm finished with my call? I signalled them to please wait a few minutes and ended my phone call shortly after, with them attempting to talk to me throughout. To be honest, I wanted to say no but as a female alone in a side alley in that situation I just let them take the pictures and left.
Similar situations happened about 2 more times after that and I just don't understand how people can behave so rudely?! I am European myself but I speak Japanese and trying my best to be respectful as to not ruin the reputation of foreingers further. Then, I encounter these people (who 100% couldn't always tell I wasn't Japanese in the cosplay) and have them behave like this toward me and other cosplayers (even during the event, which had strict photo taking rules). PLEASE IF YOU ARE A TOURIST and you come to Japan learn about basic manners, THIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE behaviour even in the west and all you need is some common sense to understand that. I know it's probably too much to read the event rules, but it's not too much to at least ASK POLITELY if you want to take pictures with/of someone and not grabbing them or interrupting them.
I did not want to hop on the "ew all the tourists in Japan are so problematic" train like this, but it really was such a big issue this time and it reflects badly on all of us.... Sorry, I needed to rant and wanted to ask if anyone had similar or other experiences to this or any suggestions about how to handle these situations.
submitted by Velinoir to japanlife [link] [comments]
Now fast forward to the actual event, I bought a wristband to officially participate in the photo taking activities and get access to a designated area they put up where you could go take pictures with other cosplayers or have your pictures taken. Again, no issues. Everyone was patient and asked respectfully. The problem began after the official event ended (post 17:00). I rested at a cafe for a while and the festival was over, there were a few other cosplayerd left and I mostly walked around and talked to people about their cosplays. While I was in conversation, an older (American judging by his accent and entourage) rudely grabbed my arm and then with his finger tried to tell me to come closer. I was really shocked and just ignored it, said "no, sorry", and turned back to my conversation. Him and his group then pulled out their phones and started taking pictures of ALL of us without our permission. I told him to stop it because we did not want our pictures taken (by them). Fortunately, there was some staff left and they helped us get rid of those people.
Afterwards, I was still in the Namba area where the event was held in a side alley (to not disturb the main area) and on my phone talking to my family. Someone from across the street yelled "FRIEREN" and tried to get my attention. I just mindlessly waved at them but didn't have time to engage otherwise as the conversation was important. Again, a group of (male Western looking) foreigners approached me and interrupted my call, asking to take pictures. The official event ended a long time ago and while I do not mind having my pictures taken anyways, why is it too much to ask to wait until I'm finished with my call? I signalled them to please wait a few minutes and ended my phone call shortly after, with them attempting to talk to me throughout. To be honest, I wanted to say no but as a female alone in a side alley in that situation I just let them take the pictures and left.
Similar situations happened about 2 more times after that and I just don't understand how people can behave so rudely?! I am European myself but I speak Japanese and trying my best to be respectful as to not ruin the reputation of foreingers further. Then, I encounter these people (who 100% couldn't always tell I wasn't Japanese in the cosplay) and have them behave like this toward me and other cosplayers (even during the event, which had strict photo taking rules). PLEASE IF YOU ARE A TOURIST and you come to Japan learn about basic manners, THIS IS NOT APPROPRIATE behaviour even in the west and all you need is some common sense to understand that. I know it's probably too much to read the event rules, but it's not too much to at least ASK POLITELY if you want to take pictures with/of someone and not grabbing them or interrupting them.
I did not want to hop on the "ew all the tourists in Japan are so problematic" train like this, but it really was such a big issue this time and it reflects badly on all of us.... Sorry, I needed to rant and wanted to ask if anyone had similar or other experiences to this or any suggestions about how to handle these situations.
2024.05.15 14:48 angmil1982 Home Loan for Mom
Trying to make a long story short. My estranged mother who suffers from mental illness and drug abuse recently received an inheritance. This came right in time as she currently is facing eviction.
I’m trying to help her focus on buying a home i order to have a roof over her head. This is challenging as she is already talking about buying a second car and diamonds. After much back and forth, I can usually get her on board for a home.
She has agreed to put 60-80k towards a 100-115k home. Which means she will need to get a lender to approve her for a certain amount before she can even start viewing homes.
With her spending habits and irresponsibility I know that this must be done quickly.
The lender is not going to approve her since she has no income and I really don’t know if this is something I want to get involved with and/or be responsible for. My other siblings wouldn’t be able to help and I have a family of my own.
I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way for me to get involved and not lose out on any money I put in. Ultimately she would put 60-80k down and I would be covering the rest to include future home insurance, repairs and tax payments.
How can I do this while protecting myself and my investment? How can I keep from cutting my siblings out of the money mom agrees to put down?
submitted by angmil1982 to Mortgages [link] [comments]
I’m trying to help her focus on buying a home i order to have a roof over her head. This is challenging as she is already talking about buying a second car and diamonds. After much back and forth, I can usually get her on board for a home.
She has agreed to put 60-80k towards a 100-115k home. Which means she will need to get a lender to approve her for a certain amount before she can even start viewing homes.
With her spending habits and irresponsibility I know that this must be done quickly.
The lender is not going to approve her since she has no income and I really don’t know if this is something I want to get involved with and/or be responsible for. My other siblings wouldn’t be able to help and I have a family of my own.
I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way for me to get involved and not lose out on any money I put in. Ultimately she would put 60-80k down and I would be covering the rest to include future home insurance, repairs and tax payments.
How can I do this while protecting myself and my investment? How can I keep from cutting my siblings out of the money mom agrees to put down?
2024.05.15 14:45 kittycatcuddles666 AITAH for not wanting my stepdaughter to wear a particular shirt?
My husband (early 30s) had a kid when he was a teenager, my SD (14f). He was a single parent until I (early 30s) came into the picture about 7 years ago. I stepped up and filled a "mom" role, and my SD now calls me one of her parents. I'm listed with the school as a parent and do everything a blood-related parent would do. SD's bio-mom only visits about once per year, if that, and occasionally talks to SD through text message.
My husband and I are generally on the same page when it comes to parenting. We give SD $50/week for an allowance, have chore expectations that include cleaning the cat litter and taking out the trash, and expect her home after school by 5pm unless she arranges for a later time with us. The main point of contention in our relationship is the clothes SD wears to school. For context, we have no rules about what she wears inside the house, but outside of the house she has to look like she's wearing bottoms (she was into a style where shirts were longer than the shorts/skirt worn underneath), she has to dress appropriately for the weather (coats in the winter, etc.), and she can't have visible underwear. Everything else is free game.
SD doesn't often wear clothes that I think are inappropriate. However, there is one shirt I bought for her that has become a huge source of argument between my husband and I. It's a black, backless, crop top t-shirt almost identical to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Coloquin-Women-Sleeve-Ribbed-Backless/dp/B0CFVJXH36 . When I bought it, I didn't realize that it was backless. I discussed the shirt with her after it arrived and told her that I wasn't comfortable with her wearing it outside of the house unless she layered it with a cami so that her bra wasn't showing. She agreed, and my husband also had subsequent conversations with her about the shirt when she wanted to wear it out the house.
This year SD started high school and has been wearing the shirt to school with nothing but a black lace bra underneath. Because the shirt is backless, the entire back side of the bra is visible. My stance has remained the same - she can wear the shirt at home any way she wants or she can wear it out of the house if she wears it in a way that does not expose her bra. My husband's stance seems to have evolved, though. He now believes that limiting SD's style will lead to resentment and a poor relationship, and that it's not a big deal because that's the style these days. He had a similar stance when SD wanted to start wearing corsets to school as an accessory.
I have a few concerns with SD wearing this shirt. First, I think that my husband and I should be teaching SD the importance of dressing for different contexts. Regardless of how ridiculous it is, people treat others differently based on their appearance and whether that appearance aligns with societal expectations for the given situation. For example, there's technically nothing wrong with wearing ripped jeans, Docs, and a Metallica shirt to visit grandparents but that doesn't mean it's the right time and place for them (speaking from experience). I think that SD should be learning how to dress in a way that expresses her sense of style in different contexts during a time in her life where the consequences for not doing so are minor. She's not risking losing a job, for example.
Second, having been a teenage girl, I know that adult men see teenagers dressed in certain ways as an invitation. I don't want to put SD at risk simply because of the clothes she wears. While it's true that men being creepy is never a kid's fault, and that those situations can arise regardless of what someone is wearing, I also know society is incredibly patriarchal and gives a lot of leeway to men - especially if their targets are dressed in a way they perceive as provocative. SD has already experienced some trauma in this department (we have had her in therapy already) and I don't want her to have heightened chances of experiencing this again. The risk v. reward balancing test leans too heavy towards risk, in my opinion, when wearing backless shirts that expose half of the lace bra she's wearing.
Finally, and somewhat related to my first concern, just because the school doesn't say anything does not mean the shirt is appropriate. SD's school has *no* dress code, and so students are free to wear whatever they want. I'm generally in favor of this, as I think schools overpolice girls while giving boys next-to-no rules about what to wear. However, just because there is no dress code does not mean that all clothes are equal. For example, I've worked at jobs without dress codes but I still would not have been able to wear a leather harness over my clothes without risking a write-up (something that SD has expressed an interest in). There's a value in learning how to operate when there aren't clearly defined boundaries that cannot be crossed. Not every situation is suitable for taking fashion risks, and school is, unfortunately, one of those places where it's best to err on the side of caution.
AMITAH here for not wanting SD to wear this shirt to school with a lace bra?
submitted by kittycatcuddles666 to AITAH [link] [comments]
My husband and I are generally on the same page when it comes to parenting. We give SD $50/week for an allowance, have chore expectations that include cleaning the cat litter and taking out the trash, and expect her home after school by 5pm unless she arranges for a later time with us. The main point of contention in our relationship is the clothes SD wears to school. For context, we have no rules about what she wears inside the house, but outside of the house she has to look like she's wearing bottoms (she was into a style where shirts were longer than the shorts/skirt worn underneath), she has to dress appropriately for the weather (coats in the winter, etc.), and she can't have visible underwear. Everything else is free game.
SD doesn't often wear clothes that I think are inappropriate. However, there is one shirt I bought for her that has become a huge source of argument between my husband and I. It's a black, backless, crop top t-shirt almost identical to this one: https://www.amazon.com/Coloquin-Women-Sleeve-Ribbed-Backless/dp/B0CFVJXH36 . When I bought it, I didn't realize that it was backless. I discussed the shirt with her after it arrived and told her that I wasn't comfortable with her wearing it outside of the house unless she layered it with a cami so that her bra wasn't showing. She agreed, and my husband also had subsequent conversations with her about the shirt when she wanted to wear it out the house.
This year SD started high school and has been wearing the shirt to school with nothing but a black lace bra underneath. Because the shirt is backless, the entire back side of the bra is visible. My stance has remained the same - she can wear the shirt at home any way she wants or she can wear it out of the house if she wears it in a way that does not expose her bra. My husband's stance seems to have evolved, though. He now believes that limiting SD's style will lead to resentment and a poor relationship, and that it's not a big deal because that's the style these days. He had a similar stance when SD wanted to start wearing corsets to school as an accessory.
I have a few concerns with SD wearing this shirt. First, I think that my husband and I should be teaching SD the importance of dressing for different contexts. Regardless of how ridiculous it is, people treat others differently based on their appearance and whether that appearance aligns with societal expectations for the given situation. For example, there's technically nothing wrong with wearing ripped jeans, Docs, and a Metallica shirt to visit grandparents but that doesn't mean it's the right time and place for them (speaking from experience). I think that SD should be learning how to dress in a way that expresses her sense of style in different contexts during a time in her life where the consequences for not doing so are minor. She's not risking losing a job, for example.
Second, having been a teenage girl, I know that adult men see teenagers dressed in certain ways as an invitation. I don't want to put SD at risk simply because of the clothes she wears. While it's true that men being creepy is never a kid's fault, and that those situations can arise regardless of what someone is wearing, I also know society is incredibly patriarchal and gives a lot of leeway to men - especially if their targets are dressed in a way they perceive as provocative. SD has already experienced some trauma in this department (we have had her in therapy already) and I don't want her to have heightened chances of experiencing this again. The risk v. reward balancing test leans too heavy towards risk, in my opinion, when wearing backless shirts that expose half of the lace bra she's wearing.
Finally, and somewhat related to my first concern, just because the school doesn't say anything does not mean the shirt is appropriate. SD's school has *no* dress code, and so students are free to wear whatever they want. I'm generally in favor of this, as I think schools overpolice girls while giving boys next-to-no rules about what to wear. However, just because there is no dress code does not mean that all clothes are equal. For example, I've worked at jobs without dress codes but I still would not have been able to wear a leather harness over my clothes without risking a write-up (something that SD has expressed an interest in). There's a value in learning how to operate when there aren't clearly defined boundaries that cannot be crossed. Not every situation is suitable for taking fashion risks, and school is, unfortunately, one of those places where it's best to err on the side of caution.
AMITAH here for not wanting SD to wear this shirt to school with a lace bra?
2024.05.15 14:43 ManufacturerBrief137 AITAH for considering banning my children's sperm donor from having contact with them until they are 18, and then, have them make the decision on whether they wish to persue a relationship with him?
For context, I (42) F, have 4 children; (21) M, (19) M, (16) M and (7) F. My ex-partner (42) M and I ended our relationship after 18 years together. These years were extremely difficult, filled with his wide range of substance abuse, gambling addiction and domestic abuse/violence of EVERY kind. The man has been arrested and charged with assault on a family member and again arrested and charged with domestic violence while I was pregnant with my daughter. My sons and I even moved out once before I was pregnant with my daughter, and he then followed after he had found himself homeless. My 3 sons have severe traumas from the years of instability in our home.
When my daughter was approximately 18 months old, he spent 6 months in prison for violating his bond conditions. I had called the police after coming home from work, as my middle child had called, alerting me that his father was verbally and emotionally abusing my eldest.
After coming out of prison, it took him 1 week to come and see my children, and then came to visit them once a month, on average (we lived 5 mins away from his location).
Wanting for my children and I to start a new chapter in our lives, I had made the decision to move several hours away. This would allow us to depart from the cycle of despair and find a way to repair ourselves. This decision was made after witnessing his lack of interest in making amends ve to my children or make a connection with my daughter. I had received no push back from the decision.
Ex-partner continued to have access to my children anytime he wished. He could visit them, spend time with them or speak to them over the phone, and he did so on occasions.
As time passed, communication decreased. My daughter would ask to speak with him on the phone. He was not always accessible. I was then asked by him to if he was available, prior to simply calling. The reply would at times, take days. When successful at making a phone call, they will generally speak for approximately 15 minutes and then he will want to end the call. He would emotionally blackmail her by suggesting that if she cries everytime he wants to end the call then he will stop calling (although he is never the one initiating contact).
The last time she had asked to speak with him was February, he had never responded. She has not asked if she could call him again.
Approximately 2 weeks later, he contact my children, letting them know he was overseas. At no point in time had he bothered to oet them know he would not be reachable for some time. I was so angry (still am), as a parent, I could never consider leaving the country without informing my children, it just would not happen. The continuous disrespect my children are shown by the person who has the audacity to call themselves their parent astounds me. Not to mention that this person does not pay any form of child support, provide regularly to their children has the funds to travel overseas.
After returning from overseas, he had asked what I was doing for Easter so he could come and spend the day with my daughter and give easter presents as well as the gifts he had brought for my youngest. Not wanting my children to miss out, he was invited for Easter. Knowing that I was going to start considering putting restrictions on coming to my home as his lack of communication with my daughter was starting to really affect her.
Easter came and went without drama, my children were invited to celebrate their grandfather birthday at a lovely restaurant with the rest of their family. After deliberation and confirmation that their father would not be in attendance, my 2 eldest sons chose to attend the festivities. The day before the party, their father informed them that the party was colour themed, and to wear certain colours. My oldest had asked if this meant that he was now going, he confirmed that he would not be going, he was not allowed inside the premises.
My 2nd left shortly after this as he had made plans with friends to go out that night before attending the party the next evening.
The next day, my eldest left early, as it would give him time to shop for appropriate clothing and match the theme.
At around 2pm, he received a message from his father asking (not really asking) if it would be ok with him if he came to the party, as he and my son are his grandfather's only real family coming tonight and wants to celebrate his father's birthday (his father's actual birthday was days before. He lives with him and was not there). He had told my son that he did not have to tell me or my 2nd oldest that he was coming. My son told him that he didn't care and to leave him alone if he was going to be drinking.
My 2nd oldest was already at his grandparents house as my eldest finally arrived.
While at the restaurant, their father arrived (to the shock of my 2nd oldest, who had no idea his father was going to be present), not alone (another big shock, this time to both of my sons who has no idea, and no warned that their father had someone in their lives). My sons, kept collected, went along with the evening, although obviously incredibly uncomfortable, and said nothing, not bringing attention to themselves, to ensure they would not ruin their grandfather's birthday. Although their father was drinking (moderately, that is a miracle) did not harrass during the evening. He did ask for a picture with my sons, their grandparents, himself and gf. Not wanting to cause a scene (they were not confortable doing this), got the picture done.
The rest of the night was quiet, my sons went home with their grandparents. Their grand-mother gossiped to my sons all about their father and gf (information they really didn't want to know about). Letting my sons know she was the reason why he was overseas, to meet her family and her children, who she is trying to bring to the country.
When my youngest son came home from work that evening, I did let him know what happened (I had yet to be informed as to the reason behind the overseas visit) that his father was in fact in attendance at the party, not alone. He told me that he knew that his dad was there as all the pictures from the party was already circulating social media, but had not seen a picture of someone he did not know until he scrolled and daw the picture of my oldest sons, grandparents, father and her. This is something he wished he had not seen, and although we had a discussion about this topic weeks ago (having had my suspicions for quite some time), he was not ready to have this thrown in his face.
We discussed his feelings and what I was thinking of doing after I spoke with my 2 sons the next day. He felt more settled.
After my sons came home, recounted their days snd night, I has told them that their father would no longer be welcome in this home, and considering going absolutely no contact with anyone under 18.
The continuous disrespect shown to my sons, the boundaries created and simply ignored by their father, only considering his own feelings and expectations, the feeling of rejection my daughter has now started feeling at such a young age is not healthy. I worry for my daughter, I know the feeling of being rejected by a parent is worse than simply not knowing them. It hurts less, causes less damage.
So am I the asshole for considering banning the sperm donor from having contact with my children?
P.S: My sons dont like their father, at all. They are aware that he is a terrible human being. My eldest just ignores him, to keep the peace. My youngest son is of the believe that he might aswell get something out of the relationship (I dont begrudge him)
My 2nd oldest, there are no word to truly describe just how much he despises that man, he stays in his room when he visits, for the sake of my daughter (I cry as I write this, for the pain my son feels, as that man broke my once happy son).
I have told my sons that if they wish to have contact with their father, then I will support them. I will encourage them to build boundaries, and communicate them clearly and what the repercussions would be. That their relationship should be on their terms, and that nobody elses feelings or expectations should be put above theirs including my own or other family members who always feel entitled.
My youngest and oldest sons are the only 2 I had spoken about the possibility of their father having someone in their lives, as their father was brought up in discussion after his Easter visit on those 2 occasions. I had not told my 2nd oldest because his father is not a topic of conversation ever brought up with him. So he was completely blind sided by first his presence and then the fact that he had company.
submitted by ManufacturerBrief137 to AITAH [link] [comments]
When my daughter was approximately 18 months old, he spent 6 months in prison for violating his bond conditions. I had called the police after coming home from work, as my middle child had called, alerting me that his father was verbally and emotionally abusing my eldest.
After coming out of prison, it took him 1 week to come and see my children, and then came to visit them once a month, on average (we lived 5 mins away from his location).
Wanting for my children and I to start a new chapter in our lives, I had made the decision to move several hours away. This would allow us to depart from the cycle of despair and find a way to repair ourselves. This decision was made after witnessing his lack of interest in making amends ve to my children or make a connection with my daughter. I had received no push back from the decision.
Ex-partner continued to have access to my children anytime he wished. He could visit them, spend time with them or speak to them over the phone, and he did so on occasions.
As time passed, communication decreased. My daughter would ask to speak with him on the phone. He was not always accessible. I was then asked by him to if he was available, prior to simply calling. The reply would at times, take days. When successful at making a phone call, they will generally speak for approximately 15 minutes and then he will want to end the call. He would emotionally blackmail her by suggesting that if she cries everytime he wants to end the call then he will stop calling (although he is never the one initiating contact).
The last time she had asked to speak with him was February, he had never responded. She has not asked if she could call him again.
Approximately 2 weeks later, he contact my children, letting them know he was overseas. At no point in time had he bothered to oet them know he would not be reachable for some time. I was so angry (still am), as a parent, I could never consider leaving the country without informing my children, it just would not happen. The continuous disrespect my children are shown by the person who has the audacity to call themselves their parent astounds me. Not to mention that this person does not pay any form of child support, provide regularly to their children has the funds to travel overseas.
After returning from overseas, he had asked what I was doing for Easter so he could come and spend the day with my daughter and give easter presents as well as the gifts he had brought for my youngest. Not wanting my children to miss out, he was invited for Easter. Knowing that I was going to start considering putting restrictions on coming to my home as his lack of communication with my daughter was starting to really affect her.
Easter came and went without drama, my children were invited to celebrate their grandfather birthday at a lovely restaurant with the rest of their family. After deliberation and confirmation that their father would not be in attendance, my 2 eldest sons chose to attend the festivities. The day before the party, their father informed them that the party was colour themed, and to wear certain colours. My oldest had asked if this meant that he was now going, he confirmed that he would not be going, he was not allowed inside the premises.
My 2nd left shortly after this as he had made plans with friends to go out that night before attending the party the next evening.
The next day, my eldest left early, as it would give him time to shop for appropriate clothing and match the theme.
At around 2pm, he received a message from his father asking (not really asking) if it would be ok with him if he came to the party, as he and my son are his grandfather's only real family coming tonight and wants to celebrate his father's birthday (his father's actual birthday was days before. He lives with him and was not there). He had told my son that he did not have to tell me or my 2nd oldest that he was coming. My son told him that he didn't care and to leave him alone if he was going to be drinking.
My 2nd oldest was already at his grandparents house as my eldest finally arrived.
While at the restaurant, their father arrived (to the shock of my 2nd oldest, who had no idea his father was going to be present), not alone (another big shock, this time to both of my sons who has no idea, and no warned that their father had someone in their lives). My sons, kept collected, went along with the evening, although obviously incredibly uncomfortable, and said nothing, not bringing attention to themselves, to ensure they would not ruin their grandfather's birthday. Although their father was drinking (moderately, that is a miracle) did not harrass during the evening. He did ask for a picture with my sons, their grandparents, himself and gf. Not wanting to cause a scene (they were not confortable doing this), got the picture done.
The rest of the night was quiet, my sons went home with their grandparents. Their grand-mother gossiped to my sons all about their father and gf (information they really didn't want to know about). Letting my sons know she was the reason why he was overseas, to meet her family and her children, who she is trying to bring to the country.
When my youngest son came home from work that evening, I did let him know what happened (I had yet to be informed as to the reason behind the overseas visit) that his father was in fact in attendance at the party, not alone. He told me that he knew that his dad was there as all the pictures from the party was already circulating social media, but had not seen a picture of someone he did not know until he scrolled and daw the picture of my oldest sons, grandparents, father and her. This is something he wished he had not seen, and although we had a discussion about this topic weeks ago (having had my suspicions for quite some time), he was not ready to have this thrown in his face.
We discussed his feelings and what I was thinking of doing after I spoke with my 2 sons the next day. He felt more settled.
After my sons came home, recounted their days snd night, I has told them that their father would no longer be welcome in this home, and considering going absolutely no contact with anyone under 18.
The continuous disrespect shown to my sons, the boundaries created and simply ignored by their father, only considering his own feelings and expectations, the feeling of rejection my daughter has now started feeling at such a young age is not healthy. I worry for my daughter, I know the feeling of being rejected by a parent is worse than simply not knowing them. It hurts less, causes less damage.
So am I the asshole for considering banning the sperm donor from having contact with my children?
P.S: My sons dont like their father, at all. They are aware that he is a terrible human being. My eldest just ignores him, to keep the peace. My youngest son is of the believe that he might aswell get something out of the relationship (I dont begrudge him)
My 2nd oldest, there are no word to truly describe just how much he despises that man, he stays in his room when he visits, for the sake of my daughter (I cry as I write this, for the pain my son feels, as that man broke my once happy son).
I have told my sons that if they wish to have contact with their father, then I will support them. I will encourage them to build boundaries, and communicate them clearly and what the repercussions would be. That their relationship should be on their terms, and that nobody elses feelings or expectations should be put above theirs including my own or other family members who always feel entitled.
My youngest and oldest sons are the only 2 I had spoken about the possibility of their father having someone in their lives, as their father was brought up in discussion after his Easter visit on those 2 occasions. I had not told my 2nd oldest because his father is not a topic of conversation ever brought up with him. So he was completely blind sided by first his presence and then the fact that he had company.
2024.05.15 14:43 LazySnake7 From Under the Ice - Chapter 2
(Thanks to SpacePaladin for creating NOP)
[Previous] [First] [Next]
Memory Transcription Subject: Elder Researcher Slira of the Vyr Exploration Initiative
Date [standardised Vyr time]: Day 102/321, Year 110
I remembered when they drilled to the top of Rime.I had been studying to be a computer engineer at the time, only a single course away from graduating. My home city of Frozen Perch had been chosen for the project, something that no local really paid any mind to. Almost no one believed there was anything to find within Rime’s depths, for she didn’t have any of the gifts her Sisters did. There was no ore or soil like Stone had, no warmth or light like Glow’s magma. Even Abyss held corrupted treasures of Tide’s life which members of her Second and Third Church used with enthusiasm to survive and thrive in places were the very water would crush you to nothing.
We all knew they’d give up after drilling up for a few kilometres and Vyrkind would be content that nothing lay above our heads up Rime’s endless ice, that reality was only so big and that we had explored almost everything that exists besides for some patches within the dark deeps.
I admit, I didn’t have much passion for my career of choice. I’d likely end up as a system admin somewhere, managing networks and improving what we already had, never creating anything new because we already built everything we needed.Born too late to explore the world…
When the engineers working on the drill reported that the ice was thinning, that they were getting faint signals from beyond… curiosity and passion ignited in my soul, in the soul of nearly every vyr that lived and breathed.The drilling project went from a boring little science project only a choice few geologists and industrialists held any hope for to a global event which caught the eye of all vyrkind.
I remember lying in my nest, surrounded by pillows and swaddled in blankets while my eyes were glued to a livestream of drill’s progress. My tail was playing with a tassel of a stuffed toy, which if I remembered rightly was modelled after my first pet, a grumpy but sweet crab named Admiral Cookpot.I remember the smell of burnt squid, because my father had been cooking a meal at the time and got distracted by world events, same as me. The only sound in my room was the tideheater’s propeller whirring softly.
I was too scared to breathe, worried that if I was too loud I’d scare away the most interesting thing that had ever happened in my entire life.And when the drill finally pierced the top layer of Rime I and every Vyr caught our first sight of a world beyond our little planet. The sky a black void so unlike that of Abyss, my eyes filled with the light of thousands, millions of…
Stars.
A luminous field as beautiful as any glittering reef or magma vent, uncountable jewels and embers. I stared at them for over an hour, until the blazing personification of Glow herself arose from beneath the horizon, which I’d later learn… no, discover was our own personal star.
I knew what I’d dedicate my life to then and there. My life’s mission would be to uncover the secrets of this strange new realm beyond Rime, which scientists named and priests baptised as Space.
-][-
It has been many rotations around our star (now named Beacon) since I was a young college student. I got a degree in physics and with my computer simulations I managed to not only chart the movement of celestial bodies, but predict their movements as surely as the currents. I hadn’t intended to become one of the founding mothers of the field of Astrophysics but I was more than happy to lead the charge, to explore this new frontier as thoroughly as possible.
Now I was being invited to a meeting of some of the most important people in my country, perhaps of vyrkind. Sure, I had spoken to some of them before, but only over text or video chat. Only ever about theories and possibilities.
Now it would be in a physical location, all in one big room, still about theories but now much more tangible, life altering things. And I wasn’t going to be an advisor or a consultant. Just as some people were seen as leaders of armies, planners of cities or managing agricultural regions, I was being invited as our foremost expert on… Space.
It was funny and terrifying how one can wake up one morning and suddenly realise you are a world leader, responsible for guiding the fates of every creature you or anyone else had ever met.
As scared and nervous as I was, this was no time for imposter syndrome. I was one of the oldest, most experienced astrophysicists on the planet. Of course I was, I helped invent it dammit! I was still as passionate about Space as the day I started, because it was the first time we realised what a day was. I had worked with members of fields related to mine for so long I was practically an expert at those too, including engineering.There is no one more qualified to do this than I, Elder Researcher Slira! Vyrkind needed me!
…
Great, now I also feel nervous about being too arrogant. Still, I managed to clear some of my self-doubt and packed my bags. I had an elevator to catch.
-][-
Castle Yarshu was absolutely filled with people, busier than I’ve ever seen it before. Normally it’s just a museum, filled with old relics from the time of the last Forge Lords. Technically it’s owned by the Ka’lai Militia though and their leader has made sure to keep it well renovated. It is that very leader, General Taraksus, that has invited us all to the Castle’s massive Roundhall, filled with trophies and spoils of conquests that exist only in memory.The hall’s centre stage was covered in posts, perches and seats for the over one hundred representatives the General had invited, with boxy camera drones jetting here and there to capture the discussion for all to see.Around the hall Vyr crowded and swarmed to get a look at us, even clinging to the pillars and ceiling to see the “action”. The castle and our meeting was open to the public after all, and anyone could enter as long as occupancy allowed and they brought nothing dangerous with them besides their claws and fangs.
From my perch I spy Taraksus sitting atop the old Forge Lord’s throne, on its headrest to be precise, discussing something with a fellow general curled up on the armrest and an aide lying at the foot. The seat itself was filled with a sponge-stuffed dummy dressed to fit any monarch, albeit with a sign around its neck with a slur word written on it in a language few speak anymore.
Taraksus themself wasn’t too impressive a sight, well below the size average for females and decently above it for males. Their only ornamentation was a black stripe painted over his head to create a striking contrast as it went over their eyes, and a chain which held a few dozen metal strips, each with the name of a fallen comrade written on it. Or so I hear.
Taraksus ends his conversation and takes up a spear from a guard, the rear of which he uses to stamp the ground.
“Pipe down you lot! I’m calling this meeting to order!” Their voice pierced through the cacophony with a clarity that surprised me.
“As ridiculous as it feels to say, we’ve been contacted by aliens. You all saw the translation broadcasted live from our friends over at the VEI. Suffice to say the contents of their message to us is… concerning. I’ve already forwarded recommendations to our R&D sectors to start working on designs for military spacecraft. Certainly not something I or most anyone else here thought or hoped would ever be needed. I’m hoping that the consensus we reach here will keep that true. Before any of that however I call upon one of the most prominent members of the aforementioned VEI, Elder Slira, to clue us in on the nature of what we face and go over her team’s conclusions.”
I quickly check the notes on my portable computer which my assistant Neeran had so kindly organised for me before erecting myself on my perch.
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, coupled with the near oppressive silence. I took a steady breath, trying to gather my courage. “You can do it Slira!” echoed a voice from the back of the hall. The chuckles that followed was evidence enough that I hadn’t imagined it, and I felt some of my fears dissipate.
“Greetings, vyr from across the world. I’ll jump right to the meat of the issue and start with an analysis of the ‘Sivkit’ that spoke to us. One of the most startling discoveries we uncovered in our investigation was the incredibly high possibility of them breathing… gas.”
I spotted the ears of more than a few vyr shoot up in shock, including those of the stout administrator of the Vrental Commune’s heartlands, Ireni.
“Gasbreathers? Surely such a thing is not possible?”
“The footage clearly indicates a lack of liquid, and the sivkit’s chest is clearly contracting and expanding in a manner that indicates breathing. We could be wrong, but likely we are looking at an organism that defies our current understanding of how complex life can develop.”
I typed away at my computer, bringing up my second point.
“Next we have their next statement, something about us being Arxur…”
A delegate I do not recognise raises a claw.
“Do we know who these Arxur are? The Sivkit seemed ready to bolt at the idea of them.”
“We currently have no information on the Arxur. All we can extrapolate is that they are another sapient alien species, that we resemble them somewhat except for our eyes and that they represent a clear threat to the Sivkit. Also, for whatever reason, the sivkit mistook us for a prey species because our eyes are on the side of our heads…”
…
“That’s… no, I don't have a way to soften that, that’s stupid as shit.”
“It’s… not scientifically correct, no. But it made them mistake us for fellow kindred among the stars, their captain even going so far to gift us translator technology.”
“Was it a mistake?” Taraksus asks, seemingly in thought. “I mean clearly they mistook us for something we are not, but is it impossible for us to be kindred?”
I understood his question, and sadly had no real answer.
“I don’t know General. The kind of friendship you describe is a two-way street, and if they are not willing then there is nothing we can do. But that does not mean we can’t do anything about it. Diplomat Zhara, your turn.”
A vyr across the stage from me straightens herself. Her body is wrapped in colourful fabrics and her various bits of jewellery show a clear love of ornamentation and precious stones.
“Thank you Elder. The Sivkit Captain promised to return at a time less than [3 weeks] away. Irrelevant of any bigger picture, he seems to care mostly about establishing relations with us and getting access to the deposits on our planetary neighbour Turqo. Whether for personal wealth or aiding his kin, who’s to say. He seems to assume we are part of a larger civilisation, likely unable to sense us underneath all the ice and mistaking our surface city for some kind of local outpost. Whatever the case may be, our diplomatic strategy is simple: lie through our fangs and trade metal.”
An uneasy murmur fills the hall.
“I know, lying may come back to bite us. But we need to be cautious, we know nothing about these aliens and if pretending to be a larger civilisation of peaceful herbivores will put them at ease then so be it. In addition my friends in the industrial sector tell me we don’t have any need for such a vast amount of heavy metals, so mining the deposit and trading the resources to the Sivkit for what they have in abundance seems good business. It will also help further the ‘small mining outpost’ facade and aid us in getting more information about who these ‘meat-eating humans’ are.”
“Excellent! We’re right on time!”
A gasp passes through the crowd. My eyes dart around and my ears swivel every which way, trying to identify the source of the shout. The crowd of onlookers to my left were making way, clearly shocked at… some new arrivals? What under Rime…?
Two vyr had entered the hall.
The first was a small male, their body wiry and covered in scars. Even the tip of their flat tale had a V-shaped chunk cut out of it. A sash of black cloth covered in white pictograms was wrapped around his chest, and attached to the sash was a broad, bladed weapon almost comically large for him. The second was a rather average female, still almost twice the size of the male. Black robes and a hood hid her form, though I noticed a pair of silver reading glasses sitting on her snout and a… by Glow, was that a fucking tome? An actual book, with thick kelp-fibre pages and bound in Nesis bark.
My brain almost refused to recognise the two, but finally sense overruled logic. The male was Krattron, and the female was Kahltrak. The highest authorities of the Second and Third Churches of the Abyss respectively.
Krattron swam up to the stage, eyes brimming with what I could only describe as maniacal glee.
“Greetings, children of Vyrkind! When do we set out to hunt the demons of Void?”
Kahltrak follows shortly behind. I would have been able to hear her sigh from the surface.
“Hello delegates. We’ve come to pledge our aid, and to discuss how we shall be dealing with our enemies.”
[Previous] [First] [Next]
submitted by LazySnake7 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
Date [standardised Vyr time]: Day 102/321, Year 110
I remembered when they drilled to the top of Rime.I had been studying to be a computer engineer at the time, only a single course away from graduating. My home city of Frozen Perch had been chosen for the project, something that no local really paid any mind to. Almost no one believed there was anything to find within Rime’s depths, for she didn’t have any of the gifts her Sisters did. There was no ore or soil like Stone had, no warmth or light like Glow’s magma. Even Abyss held corrupted treasures of Tide’s life which members of her Second and Third Church used with enthusiasm to survive and thrive in places were the very water would crush you to nothing.
We all knew they’d give up after drilling up for a few kilometres and Vyrkind would be content that nothing lay above our heads up Rime’s endless ice, that reality was only so big and that we had explored almost everything that exists besides for some patches within the dark deeps.
I admit, I didn’t have much passion for my career of choice. I’d likely end up as a system admin somewhere, managing networks and improving what we already had, never creating anything new because we already built everything we needed.Born too late to explore the world…
When the engineers working on the drill reported that the ice was thinning, that they were getting faint signals from beyond… curiosity and passion ignited in my soul, in the soul of nearly every vyr that lived and breathed.The drilling project went from a boring little science project only a choice few geologists and industrialists held any hope for to a global event which caught the eye of all vyrkind.
I remember lying in my nest, surrounded by pillows and swaddled in blankets while my eyes were glued to a livestream of drill’s progress. My tail was playing with a tassel of a stuffed toy, which if I remembered rightly was modelled after my first pet, a grumpy but sweet crab named Admiral Cookpot.I remember the smell of burnt squid, because my father had been cooking a meal at the time and got distracted by world events, same as me. The only sound in my room was the tideheater’s propeller whirring softly.
I was too scared to breathe, worried that if I was too loud I’d scare away the most interesting thing that had ever happened in my entire life.And when the drill finally pierced the top layer of Rime I and every Vyr caught our first sight of a world beyond our little planet. The sky a black void so unlike that of Abyss, my eyes filled with the light of thousands, millions of…
Stars.
A luminous field as beautiful as any glittering reef or magma vent, uncountable jewels and embers. I stared at them for over an hour, until the blazing personification of Glow herself arose from beneath the horizon, which I’d later learn… no, discover was our own personal star.
I knew what I’d dedicate my life to then and there. My life’s mission would be to uncover the secrets of this strange new realm beyond Rime, which scientists named and priests baptised as Space.
-][-
It has been many rotations around our star (now named Beacon) since I was a young college student. I got a degree in physics and with my computer simulations I managed to not only chart the movement of celestial bodies, but predict their movements as surely as the currents. I hadn’t intended to become one of the founding mothers of the field of Astrophysics but I was more than happy to lead the charge, to explore this new frontier as thoroughly as possible.
Now I was being invited to a meeting of some of the most important people in my country, perhaps of vyrkind. Sure, I had spoken to some of them before, but only over text or video chat. Only ever about theories and possibilities.
Now it would be in a physical location, all in one big room, still about theories but now much more tangible, life altering things. And I wasn’t going to be an advisor or a consultant. Just as some people were seen as leaders of armies, planners of cities or managing agricultural regions, I was being invited as our foremost expert on… Space.
It was funny and terrifying how one can wake up one morning and suddenly realise you are a world leader, responsible for guiding the fates of every creature you or anyone else had ever met.
As scared and nervous as I was, this was no time for imposter syndrome. I was one of the oldest, most experienced astrophysicists on the planet. Of course I was, I helped invent it dammit! I was still as passionate about Space as the day I started, because it was the first time we realised what a day was. I had worked with members of fields related to mine for so long I was practically an expert at those too, including engineering.There is no one more qualified to do this than I, Elder Researcher Slira! Vyrkind needed me!
…
Great, now I also feel nervous about being too arrogant. Still, I managed to clear some of my self-doubt and packed my bags. I had an elevator to catch.
-][-
Castle Yarshu was absolutely filled with people, busier than I’ve ever seen it before. Normally it’s just a museum, filled with old relics from the time of the last Forge Lords. Technically it’s owned by the Ka’lai Militia though and their leader has made sure to keep it well renovated. It is that very leader, General Taraksus, that has invited us all to the Castle’s massive Roundhall, filled with trophies and spoils of conquests that exist only in memory.The hall’s centre stage was covered in posts, perches and seats for the over one hundred representatives the General had invited, with boxy camera drones jetting here and there to capture the discussion for all to see.Around the hall Vyr crowded and swarmed to get a look at us, even clinging to the pillars and ceiling to see the “action”. The castle and our meeting was open to the public after all, and anyone could enter as long as occupancy allowed and they brought nothing dangerous with them besides their claws and fangs.
From my perch I spy Taraksus sitting atop the old Forge Lord’s throne, on its headrest to be precise, discussing something with a fellow general curled up on the armrest and an aide lying at the foot. The seat itself was filled with a sponge-stuffed dummy dressed to fit any monarch, albeit with a sign around its neck with a slur word written on it in a language few speak anymore.
Taraksus themself wasn’t too impressive a sight, well below the size average for females and decently above it for males. Their only ornamentation was a black stripe painted over his head to create a striking contrast as it went over their eyes, and a chain which held a few dozen metal strips, each with the name of a fallen comrade written on it. Or so I hear.
Taraksus ends his conversation and takes up a spear from a guard, the rear of which he uses to stamp the ground.
“Pipe down you lot! I’m calling this meeting to order!” Their voice pierced through the cacophony with a clarity that surprised me.
“As ridiculous as it feels to say, we’ve been contacted by aliens. You all saw the translation broadcasted live from our friends over at the VEI. Suffice to say the contents of their message to us is… concerning. I’ve already forwarded recommendations to our R&D sectors to start working on designs for military spacecraft. Certainly not something I or most anyone else here thought or hoped would ever be needed. I’m hoping that the consensus we reach here will keep that true. Before any of that however I call upon one of the most prominent members of the aforementioned VEI, Elder Slira, to clue us in on the nature of what we face and go over her team’s conclusions.”
I quickly check the notes on my portable computer which my assistant Neeran had so kindly organised for me before erecting myself on my perch.
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, coupled with the near oppressive silence. I took a steady breath, trying to gather my courage. “You can do it Slira!” echoed a voice from the back of the hall. The chuckles that followed was evidence enough that I hadn’t imagined it, and I felt some of my fears dissipate.
“Greetings, vyr from across the world. I’ll jump right to the meat of the issue and start with an analysis of the ‘Sivkit’ that spoke to us. One of the most startling discoveries we uncovered in our investigation was the incredibly high possibility of them breathing… gas.”
I spotted the ears of more than a few vyr shoot up in shock, including those of the stout administrator of the Vrental Commune’s heartlands, Ireni.
“Gasbreathers? Surely such a thing is not possible?”
“The footage clearly indicates a lack of liquid, and the sivkit’s chest is clearly contracting and expanding in a manner that indicates breathing. We could be wrong, but likely we are looking at an organism that defies our current understanding of how complex life can develop.”
I typed away at my computer, bringing up my second point.
“Next we have their next statement, something about us being Arxur…”
A delegate I do not recognise raises a claw.
“Do we know who these Arxur are? The Sivkit seemed ready to bolt at the idea of them.”
“We currently have no information on the Arxur. All we can extrapolate is that they are another sapient alien species, that we resemble them somewhat except for our eyes and that they represent a clear threat to the Sivkit. Also, for whatever reason, the sivkit mistook us for a prey species because our eyes are on the side of our heads…”
…
“That’s… no, I don't have a way to soften that, that’s stupid as shit.”
“It’s… not scientifically correct, no. But it made them mistake us for fellow kindred among the stars, their captain even going so far to gift us translator technology.”
“Was it a mistake?” Taraksus asks, seemingly in thought. “I mean clearly they mistook us for something we are not, but is it impossible for us to be kindred?”
I understood his question, and sadly had no real answer.
“I don’t know General. The kind of friendship you describe is a two-way street, and if they are not willing then there is nothing we can do. But that does not mean we can’t do anything about it. Diplomat Zhara, your turn.”
A vyr across the stage from me straightens herself. Her body is wrapped in colourful fabrics and her various bits of jewellery show a clear love of ornamentation and precious stones.
“Thank you Elder. The Sivkit Captain promised to return at a time less than [3 weeks] away. Irrelevant of any bigger picture, he seems to care mostly about establishing relations with us and getting access to the deposits on our planetary neighbour Turqo. Whether for personal wealth or aiding his kin, who’s to say. He seems to assume we are part of a larger civilisation, likely unable to sense us underneath all the ice and mistaking our surface city for some kind of local outpost. Whatever the case may be, our diplomatic strategy is simple: lie through our fangs and trade metal.”
An uneasy murmur fills the hall.
“I know, lying may come back to bite us. But we need to be cautious, we know nothing about these aliens and if pretending to be a larger civilisation of peaceful herbivores will put them at ease then so be it. In addition my friends in the industrial sector tell me we don’t have any need for such a vast amount of heavy metals, so mining the deposit and trading the resources to the Sivkit for what they have in abundance seems good business. It will also help further the ‘small mining outpost’ facade and aid us in getting more information about who these ‘meat-eating humans’ are.”
“Excellent! We’re right on time!”
A gasp passes through the crowd. My eyes dart around and my ears swivel every which way, trying to identify the source of the shout. The crowd of onlookers to my left were making way, clearly shocked at… some new arrivals? What under Rime…?
Two vyr had entered the hall.
The first was a small male, their body wiry and covered in scars. Even the tip of their flat tale had a V-shaped chunk cut out of it. A sash of black cloth covered in white pictograms was wrapped around his chest, and attached to the sash was a broad, bladed weapon almost comically large for him. The second was a rather average female, still almost twice the size of the male. Black robes and a hood hid her form, though I noticed a pair of silver reading glasses sitting on her snout and a… by Glow, was that a fucking tome? An actual book, with thick kelp-fibre pages and bound in Nesis bark.
My brain almost refused to recognise the two, but finally sense overruled logic. The male was Krattron, and the female was Kahltrak. The highest authorities of the Second and Third Churches of the Abyss respectively.
Krattron swam up to the stage, eyes brimming with what I could only describe as maniacal glee.
“Greetings, children of Vyrkind! When do we set out to hunt the demons of Void?”
Kahltrak follows shortly behind. I would have been able to hear her sigh from the surface.
“Hello delegates. We’ve come to pledge our aid, and to discuss how we shall be dealing with our enemies.”
2024.05.15 14:41 Lazy_Candle2585 23 [M4F]-US/anywhere/online: looking for my girl💕 let’s make it official⬇️
JOKES JOKES ALL JOKES HA HA’s and HEE HEE’s ya know Anyways…
AHH YOURE HERE! FINALLY!!🥰
Hi! I’m a college student tryna find someone to spend his day with and talk about it. I’m an extroverted introvert wanting to find a new connection. I’m a flirty guy looking for someone who can MATCH MY ENERGY. Won’t ghost if you help carry a conversation, I will be your biggest supporter, and (hopefully) your best friend.
‼️Pls don’t just say “hey.”‼️
Let’s skip the small talk and tell me a secret, tell me your interests, tell me what makes you smile, tell me what makes you cry; I want to know you inside and out ;) I want to find someone I can talk to as if we’ve know eachother for a while, someone who wants to keep me interested (and of course I’ll will as well), someone I can flirt with and can reciprocated back to. I have a lot of love and no one to give it to, and I hope I can give it to you!
About me: average height, Hispanic, wavy brown hair (almost black), beard, brown eyes, a few piercings, a couple tattoos, and average body type.
NOT looking for something SHORT TERM, so if you’re gonna ghost after a few days PLEASE DO NOT HMU‼️‼️
‼️If this is something that sounds interesting to you pls don’t be scared to DM me a brief introduction and a picture of what you look like :)‼️
Bonus if you’re in the central FL area, but distance doesn’t matter to me
(If you’ve made it this far include a 🫡 emoji)
submitted by Lazy_Candle2585 to ForeverAloneDating [link] [comments]
AHH YOURE HERE! FINALLY!!🥰
Hi! I’m a college student tryna find someone to spend his day with and talk about it. I’m an extroverted introvert wanting to find a new connection. I’m a flirty guy looking for someone who can MATCH MY ENERGY. Won’t ghost if you help carry a conversation, I will be your biggest supporter, and (hopefully) your best friend.
‼️Pls don’t just say “hey.”‼️
Let’s skip the small talk and tell me a secret, tell me your interests, tell me what makes you smile, tell me what makes you cry; I want to know you inside and out ;) I want to find someone I can talk to as if we’ve know eachother for a while, someone who wants to keep me interested (and of course I’ll will as well), someone I can flirt with and can reciprocated back to. I have a lot of love and no one to give it to, and I hope I can give it to you!
About me: average height, Hispanic, wavy brown hair (almost black), beard, brown eyes, a few piercings, a couple tattoos, and average body type.
NOT looking for something SHORT TERM, so if you’re gonna ghost after a few days PLEASE DO NOT HMU‼️‼️
‼️If this is something that sounds interesting to you pls don’t be scared to DM me a brief introduction and a picture of what you look like :)‼️
Bonus if you’re in the central FL area, but distance doesn’t matter to me
(If you’ve made it this far include a 🫡 emoji)
2024.05.15 14:39 Unable-Inevitable710 A Castle wedding for 15k €
 | I found these breakdowns + tips and tricks very useful when planning, so I thought I would finally get around to sharing our wedding. Feel free to ask any and all questions about our mainly DIY wedding! What can I say. It was an incredible day full of so much emotion. Our guests had an incredible time as their experiences were our largest focus. This meant that they all showed us so much joy, love and warmth on the day and I could not have asked for a better day! submitted by Unable-Inevitable710 to weddingplanning [link] [comments] We got married on May 12 last year, and I understand that the money we spent then would have slightly changed. I know our venue has increased by a couple of hundred. We had guests from three continents and our families are based on opposite sides of the planet (England and Australia, while we are in Germany). In the end we decided on a local destination wedding. I say this because the wedding was a max 2 hour flight from where most of us were based. We are also incredibly fortunate that our friends like to travel as much as we do, and they had the financial means to do so. For those on much lower budgets, we worked with them to organise cheap hostel accommodation and taxis in a nearby town and car-pooling with other guests. The venue surprised us. On the day we got married they had a super car display of 10-12 super cars for a different event. Theres cars were displayed at the entrance to the hall we got married in. Total luck! Basic Logistics Friday Wedding 40 Guests (no children) Ceremony Start: 2:30 pm, Afterparty end: 11:45pm The afterparty was dancing and board games for those that didn’t want to dance Bridal Party: 2 Bridesmen/Flower Men, 1 Best Man General costs: Venues: 4150€ Celebrant: 460€ Photography/Videography: 2235€ DJ: 550€ Insurance: 75€ Food: 1211€ Drinks. 2064€ Décor: 1085€ Bridal attire + hair and make-up: 1725€ Groom’s attire: 1400€ Stationary: 115€ Favours: 50€ Misc: 170€ Total: 15190€ I will break down the costs further and my DIYs in the comments! Things I really liked: 1) Choosing a ceremony location that needed absolutely NO decorations. 2) First dance directly after our ceremony 3) No MC, I did this all myself. The event was small and this worked 4) Private photoshoot of just my husband and I at the beach. Lovely moment just to us. We took some champagne 5) Using local foods and trying to minimise waste with items that could be recycled or re-used 6) Toast drinks being a representation of us 7) Adding in a welcome event and breakfast the next day made the wedding feel longer and gave us much more time to talk to and hang out with everyone. 8) A small number of guests means that I have beautiful memories with every single one of them 9) Venue provided a day of coordinator for the ceremony- it was a nice and stress- free morning. 10) A box of rave accessories for the afterparty, glasses, light up scrunchies, glowsticks etc 11) My bridal party doubling as my flower men What didn’t work so well: 1) Set up of the venue. I set up everything the evening before and a friend of my MIL was meant to just move the things into place on the day. The venue had previously said they would not do this. Then on the day they got excited and took over. This led to my cake being displayed incorrectly. It was meant to be 4 etagere levels of cupcakes and the top the cake. They put them in different spots and by the time we came back from photos all the cupcakes were gone. This was pretty funny and I am happy they were eaten. It also led to great photos of my husband walking around with our top cake in his hand, cutting off chunks and handing them to people. But the lesson for future brides: maybe draw a picture of where things go :P 2) The first look. It’s not a big thing in the North of England. My Husband just disappeared and we were meant to do it (nerves perhaps- he likes to walk). And so we had around 1 minute for this before we had to hurry back to our rooms so guests could seat themselves. 3) Our timeline- yeah that went out the window pretty fast and it wasn’t even unrealistic. Oops. 4) Almost forgot family photos and had to do them after dinner. Some family members look a little “happier” than others 5) Favours and guest book were not heavily used/taken. Definitely put them in the wrong spot and really did not need them 6) I made my aisle song WAY too short. It finished before I even started walking (they took forever to fluff my dress). Led to happy photos though. In the silence I cracked a joke. Everyone laughed. I walked to very happy faces! Additional events: Welcome drinks on the Thursday evening (guests paid themselves, it was a local, cheap country pub). The idea was that we had many guests we hadn’t seen in a while as we all live in different countries. We used the time to introduce all our guests to one another and this was such a good idea. Come wedding day everyone was already friends. Day after breakfast: the main hotel that all our guests stayed in offered complimentary English breakfast, so we had a big table and all had breakfast together Beach walk: for those that didn’t want to leave, we went on a beach walk after breakfast If you’ve made it this far. Thank you! I have enjoyed being part of these subs and have loved reading everyone’s stories, input and ideas! It has really helped! |
2024.05.15 14:37 Friendly-Airline2426 Regarding the proposed comment-to-vote reward system - An opposing argument
As a long time contributor, member, and an investor in the Donut ecosystem, I believe I have the right to express my opinion, regarding the proposed comment2vote program. Please note that it is not my intention to manipulate the public opinion, nor to incentive brigading parties against the concept. This is just a (very much necessary) con-argument, as it seems everyone's just jumping on board without considering all the variables.
I believe we are focusing on the wrong thing.
The new program aims to fight manipulation. Let me say that nothing will change in that regard, as there will always be upvote manipulation. This will still happen, could be on a smaller scale, or not.
Commands such as !tip [X] are still being abused, even though it's on a much smaller scale, with alt accounts engaging in tipping manipulation for the receivers' bonus. Sometimes "evidence" is presented to the moderation team, and allegedly nothing happens. What guarantees the governance that it will be any different with comment-to-vote?
Additionally, I firmly believe this will limit the sub to insiders (as in EthTrader active members; also approved users), at least in terms of tokenized rewards. Only insiders will know about this program, thus limiting outsider users who do not know how the system works.
Plus, the fact that only approved users would be able to upvote, kind of puts away new users or not so active users who casually enjoy to participate in EthTrader.
There is another thing the governance needs to keep in mind. The people who actually upvote in this sub are not the participants, it's the outsiders. When certain keywords are used in threads, the algorithm picks the post up and recommends it to external users. These are the ones who often genuinely engage and upvote. And we'd be penalizing OPs, by not including their upvotes in the distribution score.
I believe every project, individual, or company should focus on finding solutions. But such solutions must not be made "in a hurry".
The comment-to-vote is a rushed mechanism. I have a feeling this is something that is now being actively worked on in a rush, even though it has been under discussion for quite some time. Such a big change for the sub, and its way of functioning, should be, must be, carefully worked on, and in due time. It should not be something that must happen right away, because of external attacks.
I believe this new program will clog comment sections... again! We recently managed to tackle down the tip spamming, by removing incentives to send tips.
Lately, as you can see, comment sections are a lot more cleaner and not full of tips with ridiculous amounts, as little as under 1 single Donut. By implementing this, we would get right back to where we started.
On a not so engaging topic, I guarantee we will see comment sections full of: "[Top comment] !upvote / !uv / !up / !tip -> [Reply] Thank you bronut!".
Outside users, and even EthTrader contributors, found the tip spamming frustrating, because it degraded comment sections. Myself included.
This will happen again, if the program goes live.
One of the pro-arguments is that this will increase visibility, by taking away the financial incentive to downvote. Once more, I disagree.
Downvotes will exist any way, they always did, and always will. This is how Reddit operates. We do not know who downvotes. So even though we remove the financial incentive to downvote, people will do it either way.
No matter if it's EthTrader users or outsiders, the visibility would not be increased. I would say that visibility would be higher, if we had more GENUINE users, and actually expand the content and topic of discussion, not restricting it to a single thing, like we just did.
Look at CryptoCurrency's example. They have been dealing with upvote manipulation on a far larger scale than ethtrader, and it was a lot worse in comments. High quality comments would sit at -2 score. This isn't something that happens in ethtrader.
They always had downvotes, and yet the average mid-quality thread used to have hundreds of upvotes. ethtrader's high quality threads can barely get past 10.
The main suspects are the manipulators who have a financial reason to do the downvoting. I would argue that if the moderation team concentrated some of their efforts to tackle down these users, (PERMA) banning them from the subreddit, the mass downvoting would drastically decrease. Some users understand what I'm talking about here. EthTrader does not have more than 100 genuine, active users. You can bet on that.
Then there's the privacy aspect of the subject. Voting SHOULD BE anonymous. That's how Reddit works.
Even though I'm in favor of a transparent voting mechanism, which would allow us to see who is upvoting who, we are removing a small layer of privacy from users.
Whether it's upvoting or downvoting, (non-malicious) users have the right to keep their votes to themselves. I understand this may sound controversial, believe me I do. But in the event of having a public voting system, there are absolutely no guarantees that manipulators would be taken down.
Plus, what evidence would we have that we don't already have? Our regular users can already identify activity patterns and anomalies in the data.
Another question to address is, if two different users constantly upvote each other, assuming they're both known within the DAO and are obviously two different people who sympathize with each other, would this be manipulation? Manipulation, in this case, would be subject to the moderators' / governance's interpretation.
From a contributor's point of view, I will say this is just extra work. What I mean is people are already super stingy with their upvotes, and the (current) process is as simple as tapping a button.
Adding an extra layer of effort, such as having to type a command, will reduce the changes of OPs getting upvotes. And since the average number of upvotes per thread is already low enough, this would decrease drastically, making it not worth it to spend time creating threads (assuming they're not link submissions).
Most people would not be upvoting, which brings me to the next topic.
As a meme artist, memes are my strong point in this subreddit. It is what I post the most, and it is what earned me my fair share of DONUT-CONTRIB throughout the years as a contributor.
Implementing this system would hurt people like me the most. People who spend hours in a day on photoshop creating a meme, only to me subject to a penalized flair.
I can confirm you that my memes already earn me between 10 to 50 Donuts, rarely more than 50. Under the new system, along with the drastic reduction of upvotes due to the command requirement, I / we would earn a lot less.
Remember, Comedy flairs have a 0.10 multiplier, and according to the (new) Pay2Post fee, we need 25 upvotes to break even. I am willing to bet that we would definitely not be getting 25 upvotes under this new program. I would argue that the highest quality "Hot" thread would get probably a max of 10.
So where does that leave us meme creators? We rely on external interactions to succeed. Most of the upvotes on memes are given by outside users, users that would be out of EthTrader's system, under this new program. Not only that, but this would also drastically decrease earnings for all genuine, active contributors, and would probably make them leave.
This is getting perhaps a bit too long, I'm sorry but there's no short way of sharing this.
I believe this is just a detour in our path, or taking the long road as one would say. Cheaters will stop at nothing, some of them have been farming RCPs for YEARS, possibly relying on it in terms of income. Nothing will stop them and they will always find a way to circumvent any new rule or program.
So this would only really add an extra layer of difficulty for outsiders or new users to participate, whilst benefiting those with "groups of friends".
I want to flush out manipulators as much as the next guy, but this is not the way to do it. This would drastically reduce contributors' earnings, the subreddit's accessibility, and wouldn't be user-friendly at all.
This wouldn't be required if moderation took a more proactive approach towards trying to detect, monitor and PERMABAN manipulators, as these are the ones who have more incentive to downvote, more than any other user. By getting straight to the root of the problem, the mass-downvoting would be largely reduced. Not completely stopped, as it is a natural, organic part of Reddit and they will always exist, but reduced nevertheless.
So what am I trying to achieve with this thread? What do I want?
One simple thing: Time.
I would like to ask the governance for time, before rushing into implementing this new mechanism. We recently passed proposals to reduce spam, and have some on the way to reduce the incentive to cheat as well. Proposals such as a cap of 3 threads per day, per user, removing the tipping bonus for senders. On the way we have the reduction for the Daily's comment rewards, and finally a comment cap per day, per user.
I believe THIS is the way to address foul play, proposal by proposal. Not through some major change that alters the entire way of operating.
I would like to ask the governance for 3 to 6 months, to evaluate how the distribution scores perform, how the ratios fluctuate with these new proposals, before doing this. I am confident that with these new proposals, the general status of the sub will improve, and organic, active users will earn more.
submitted by Friendly-Airline2426 to ethtrader [link] [comments]
The new program aims to fight manipulation. Let me say that nothing will change in that regard, as there will always be upvote manipulation. This will still happen, could be on a smaller scale, or not.
Commands such as !tip [X] are still being abused, even though it's on a much smaller scale, with alt accounts engaging in tipping manipulation for the receivers' bonus. Sometimes "evidence" is presented to the moderation team, and allegedly nothing happens. What guarantees the governance that it will be any different with comment-to-vote?
Additionally, I firmly believe this will limit the sub to insiders (as in EthTrader active members; also approved users), at least in terms of tokenized rewards. Only insiders will know about this program, thus limiting outsider users who do not know how the system works.
Plus, the fact that only approved users would be able to upvote, kind of puts away new users or not so active users who casually enjoy to participate in EthTrader.
There is another thing the governance needs to keep in mind. The people who actually upvote in this sub are not the participants, it's the outsiders. When certain keywords are used in threads, the algorithm picks the post up and recommends it to external users. These are the ones who often genuinely engage and upvote. And we'd be penalizing OPs, by not including their upvotes in the distribution score.
I believe every project, individual, or company should focus on finding solutions. But such solutions must not be made "in a hurry".
The comment-to-vote is a rushed mechanism. I have a feeling this is something that is now being actively worked on in a rush, even though it has been under discussion for quite some time. Such a big change for the sub, and its way of functioning, should be, must be, carefully worked on, and in due time. It should not be something that must happen right away, because of external attacks.
I believe this new program will clog comment sections... again! We recently managed to tackle down the tip spamming, by removing incentives to send tips.
Lately, as you can see, comment sections are a lot more cleaner and not full of tips with ridiculous amounts, as little as under 1 single Donut. By implementing this, we would get right back to where we started.
On a not so engaging topic, I guarantee we will see comment sections full of: "[Top comment] !upvote / !uv / !up / !tip -> [Reply] Thank you bronut!".
Outside users, and even EthTrader contributors, found the tip spamming frustrating, because it degraded comment sections. Myself included.
This will happen again, if the program goes live.
One of the pro-arguments is that this will increase visibility, by taking away the financial incentive to downvote. Once more, I disagree.
Downvotes will exist any way, they always did, and always will. This is how Reddit operates. We do not know who downvotes. So even though we remove the financial incentive to downvote, people will do it either way.
No matter if it's EthTrader users or outsiders, the visibility would not be increased. I would say that visibility would be higher, if we had more GENUINE users, and actually expand the content and topic of discussion, not restricting it to a single thing, like we just did.
Look at CryptoCurrency's example. They have been dealing with upvote manipulation on a far larger scale than ethtrader, and it was a lot worse in comments. High quality comments would sit at -2 score. This isn't something that happens in ethtrader.
They always had downvotes, and yet the average mid-quality thread used to have hundreds of upvotes. ethtrader's high quality threads can barely get past 10.
The main suspects are the manipulators who have a financial reason to do the downvoting. I would argue that if the moderation team concentrated some of their efforts to tackle down these users, (PERMA) banning them from the subreddit, the mass downvoting would drastically decrease. Some users understand what I'm talking about here. EthTrader does not have more than 100 genuine, active users. You can bet on that.
Then there's the privacy aspect of the subject. Voting SHOULD BE anonymous. That's how Reddit works.
Even though I'm in favor of a transparent voting mechanism, which would allow us to see who is upvoting who, we are removing a small layer of privacy from users.
Whether it's upvoting or downvoting, (non-malicious) users have the right to keep their votes to themselves. I understand this may sound controversial, believe me I do. But in the event of having a public voting system, there are absolutely no guarantees that manipulators would be taken down.
Plus, what evidence would we have that we don't already have? Our regular users can already identify activity patterns and anomalies in the data.
Another question to address is, if two different users constantly upvote each other, assuming they're both known within the DAO and are obviously two different people who sympathize with each other, would this be manipulation? Manipulation, in this case, would be subject to the moderators' / governance's interpretation.
From a contributor's point of view, I will say this is just extra work. What I mean is people are already super stingy with their upvotes, and the (current) process is as simple as tapping a button.
Adding an extra layer of effort, such as having to type a command, will reduce the changes of OPs getting upvotes. And since the average number of upvotes per thread is already low enough, this would decrease drastically, making it not worth it to spend time creating threads (assuming they're not link submissions).
Most people would not be upvoting, which brings me to the next topic.
As a meme artist, memes are my strong point in this subreddit. It is what I post the most, and it is what earned me my fair share of DONUT-CONTRIB throughout the years as a contributor.
Implementing this system would hurt people like me the most. People who spend hours in a day on photoshop creating a meme, only to me subject to a penalized flair.
I can confirm you that my memes already earn me between 10 to 50 Donuts, rarely more than 50. Under the new system, along with the drastic reduction of upvotes due to the command requirement, I / we would earn a lot less.
Remember, Comedy flairs have a 0.10 multiplier, and according to the (new) Pay2Post fee, we need 25 upvotes to break even. I am willing to bet that we would definitely not be getting 25 upvotes under this new program. I would argue that the highest quality "Hot" thread would get probably a max of 10.
So where does that leave us meme creators? We rely on external interactions to succeed. Most of the upvotes on memes are given by outside users, users that would be out of EthTrader's system, under this new program. Not only that, but this would also drastically decrease earnings for all genuine, active contributors, and would probably make them leave.
This is getting perhaps a bit too long, I'm sorry but there's no short way of sharing this.
I believe this is just a detour in our path, or taking the long road as one would say. Cheaters will stop at nothing, some of them have been farming RCPs for YEARS, possibly relying on it in terms of income. Nothing will stop them and they will always find a way to circumvent any new rule or program.
So this would only really add an extra layer of difficulty for outsiders or new users to participate, whilst benefiting those with "groups of friends".
I want to flush out manipulators as much as the next guy, but this is not the way to do it. This would drastically reduce contributors' earnings, the subreddit's accessibility, and wouldn't be user-friendly at all.
This wouldn't be required if moderation took a more proactive approach towards trying to detect, monitor and PERMABAN manipulators, as these are the ones who have more incentive to downvote, more than any other user. By getting straight to the root of the problem, the mass-downvoting would be largely reduced. Not completely stopped, as it is a natural, organic part of Reddit and they will always exist, but reduced nevertheless.
So what am I trying to achieve with this thread? What do I want?
One simple thing: Time.
I would like to ask the governance for time, before rushing into implementing this new mechanism. We recently passed proposals to reduce spam, and have some on the way to reduce the incentive to cheat as well. Proposals such as a cap of 3 threads per day, per user, removing the tipping bonus for senders. On the way we have the reduction for the Daily's comment rewards, and finally a comment cap per day, per user.
I believe THIS is the way to address foul play, proposal by proposal. Not through some major change that alters the entire way of operating.
I would like to ask the governance for 3 to 6 months, to evaluate how the distribution scores perform, how the ratios fluctuate with these new proposals, before doing this. I am confident that with these new proposals, the general status of the sub will improve, and organic, active users will earn more.
2024.05.15 14:36 Angel466 [Bob the hobo] A Celestial Wars Spin-Off Part 1012
PART ONE THOUSAND AND TWELVE
[Previous Chapter] [The Beginning] [Patreon+2]
Sunday
Lucas stretched and yawned in bed, taking a moment to enjoy the complete lack of needing to rise before his hand stretched out in search of Boyd.
And once again, that side of the bed was empty.
Biting back a whine of dismay, Lucas rolled until he was face down on Boyd’s pillow, breathing in the cologne they both now wore. The detective in him quickly deduced that Boyd had been gone a while based on the chill in the sheets. He curled his hands around the pillow and hugged it tight, wishing it was the big mountain of a man himself instead of this weak substitute.
As thrilled as he was about Boyd finding a new career that he was so passionately driven about, he was equally happy that his fiancé took his responsibility to his clients seriously. Still, would it have killed him to sleep in just one morning instead of abandoning their wrecked bed the morning after their engagement party?
After several minutes of wallowing, he finally accepted the inevitable that no amount of wishful thinking was going to make Boyd appear and climbed out of bed. He removed his snore rings and took a quick shower.
Once he was dressed, he felt a little better.
The next thing he had to do was strip down the bed and remake it. They’d been very busy last night, which was why he’d only just woken up at—his gaze fell upon the clock— DAMN! It’s nearly lunchtime!
“I’m gonna kill him for letting me sleep in so long,” he muttered under his breath, carrying the linen through the apartment and into the kitchen, which doubled as a laundry on their end. After nine years of living in this layout, he didn’t need to see over the pile in his arms to know precisely where he was, and with the load balanced on one arm, he turned at the right moment, opened the massive frontloading washing machine and stuffed it all in.
“Hey, Unca Luke!” Maddy’s shrill voice had him leaping into the air, slamming the door shut and swivelling around in front of it to hide the evidence. “Didja pee the bed?”
His brother and his niece were sitting at the island, Maddy with her breakfast of honey-and-cream-covered waffles, which were only half-eaten, and Levi patiently waited for her to finish since the plate in front of him was empty. The latter was grinning at him as only a brother could.
He’d forgotten all about them staying over.
It took a hot second for what Maddy asked to register with him, and when it did, his mouth dropped, and he glanced at his brother, who was twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid laughing out loud. Asshole. “No, Peaches,” he said, glaring daggers at Levi for not even trying to help him out. “Boyd and I like clean sheets every day, and it’s not fair to make somebody else wash them for us, is it?”
Bright red ringlets of hair swayed as the little girl shook her head. “Daddy makes me fix stuff too.”
Lucas moved the three feet between the washing machine to his brother sitting in Mason’s seat at the corner. “That’s because Daddies always know what’s best.” He wrapped an arm around his brother’s neck in a loose chokehold and gave him a noisy morning kiss on the cheek. “Ain’t that right, Daddy?” He said that last word in a sultry purr the way Robbie would, and the reaction from Levi was priceless.
“Fuck off with that shit, you prick!” his brother swore, shoving Lucas away with all his might.
“DADDY!” Maddy squealed in horror, and Lucas clapped his hands together once behind Maddy’s chair and raised his clenched fists in victory. He’d been angling for one swear word, maybe two to distract young Maddy from his not-so-discreet linen run. Three was a veritable home run.
Snickering quietly to himself, he went back to the washing machine, loaded it up with soap and softener and turned it on. Then, he walked over to the wooden box under the window. ‘Just think what you want,’ Charlie had told him at the party. ‘It’s a Nascerdios box that Robbie fills up throughout the night.’
He stared hard at the box while he considered his options, settling on a plate of breakfast tacos with seasoned mince, fried eggs, tomatillos, shredded lettuce, and cheese wrapped in soft tortillas buttered with a thin spread of mashed avocado.
After the last month, it didn’t surprise him in the least when he opened the lid and found that exact meal sitting there, waiting for him. Maybe the quantity, since they were piled three high, but not the meal itself.
The same could not be said for Levi when Lucas turned around with the plate in his hand. “Robbie had that ready for you too?” he asked, as Lucas grabbed a glass from the cupboard and placed it and the plate in his regular sitting place adjacent to his brother before sliding into his seat. He knew Levi wasn’t questioning Viola since the box itself was made and gifted by someone with the last name Nascerdios.
The veil was an ass.
“I told you; he did most of the catering yesterday, too,” Lucas said, reaching for the jug of juice. He was curious what it would be today. Yesterday, it had been orange and mango juice, with apple the day before.
A quick sniff made it most likely grapefruit.
He tightened the roll on the first taco and lifted it to his lips, enjoying the flavours that exploded in his mouth. Because Levi had finished whatever had been on his plate, he was watching him eat as if he’d never seen it before. It finally clicked why. “You want to try one?” Lucas asked, nudging his plate towards his brother. “There’s plenty here if you want one. Too many, if anything.”
Levi didn’t need to be told twice and reached over, using his fingers just as Lucas had. “How did he learn to cook so well?” Levi demanded, almost fitting the whole thing in his mouth.
“He’s always cooked,” Lucas answered, fudging things slightly. “When he was growing up, cooking was his chore while his mom was at work. He only stopped because Mom refused to let him help in the kitchen.”
“I would’ve fought that a lot harder if I’d have known he could produce this.”
“Yeah, you and me both, bro. Even when we were upstairs, he was forever watching the cooking channels for new ideas.” Lucas didn’t want to mention that these days, Robbie only did so to critique the so-called experts. “Have you seen Boyd?”
Levi shook his head. “I was assuming he was still in with you. If I’d known you were in there alone, I’d have sicc’d Maddy onto you.”
“I can wake Daddy and Unca’ Austin good!” Maddy said proudly. “I gets me a dolla’.”
“Ssshhh, Peaches. That’s out secr—wait. Does Uncle Austin pay you, too?”
Maddy was adorable the way she looked at Lucas like he would intervene for her. “Sorry, baby girl,” he laughed, eating another taco. “You’re on your own.”
The two brothers bantered as Lucas ate, with Levi stealing another taco, bringing Lucas’ total number down to five. Maddy told them both about wanting to be a vet, and Lucas knew precisely who to blame for that. Still, it was better than her previous choice of ‘stripping’ the way Robbie and Angelo used to. Levi’s meltdown over that revelation had been priceless, even if he, too, was firmly in the ‘fuck that noise’ camp.
When he polished them and half the juice off, he poured the last into Maddy’s cup and put his things and the jug in the dishwasher. “You can hang out here if you want,” Lucas said. “The guys and I are heading out this afternoon to play some ball over at Angus’ place, but if you call Austin and find out Pepper’s roommate is still with him, the TV over there has…”
“Every cable channel imaginable, I know. Charlotte—”
“Charlie.”
“Charlie told us last night.” Levi sat back in his seat and stared at his brother. “What do you make of Larry, Luke? Does he have kids?”
“Why?”
“He watched Maddy for me last night while I was having a shower, and Maddy loves him. You know how picky she is about people she doesn’t know.”
“I know he’s married to a career soldier and was one too before being assigned to us. I’m not sure about his past, but he’s a good guy and ridiculously protective of those either in his charge or that he happens to care about.”
Levi grunted. “Charl—lie said so too. He certainly knows his Spongebob.”
Lucas squinted. “Why all the questions?”
“Just thinking out loud. If he’s going to be here all the time with Robbie, and Austin and I get called into the house together, it’s always been a struggle figuring out where we can leave Maddy on short notice. We don’t exactly have time to drive all the way over to Queens to drop her off at either Mav’s or Mom and Dad’s. I mean, so far, we haven’t needed to, but it’s a constant concern.”
Lucas frowned at him. “We’ve been here for years. Why didn’t you ask before now?”
Levi seemed suddenly uncomfortable. “You know…” he said, gesturing to the ceiling without finishing that sentence.
And just like that, Lucas did understand.
Six men, all sharing one shoebox-sized apartment with two of them being sex workers, was not where anyone would want to drop off a little girl. Even if Lucas did vouch for all of them and swore they’d all be protective as hell over little Maddy. “Look, I can’t speak for them specifically, but Charlie’s here under house arrest for the next ten months, and Boyd now works out of his studio, so technically, someone will be here all the time. There’s not a chance in hell we’ll turn you away.”
“I’ll ask her and Miss W before we go.”
Lucas looked at what the two of them were wearing. “You know, I could duck out and grab you and Maddy some clothes just as soon as I check in with Boyd, if you like.”
He watched Levi look down at the shirt and boxers that were a little big on him width-wise and across at Maddy, who still wore Charlie’s favourite Giants’ shirt.
“That’d be good, thanks,” he admitted.
“I’ll get extras, and that way, she can have a few changes of clothes here. Actually, do you want me to grab you some spare stuff too?”
Levi stiffened in his seat. “I don’t need you to buy me clothes.”
Lucas wanted to slap him in the back of the head (and would’ve if Maddy wasn’t there). “Stop,” he commanded instead. “I’m already going to a clothes shop. It’s not going to be anything fancy, and if you hate it, you can swap it out with your own stuff later.”
Knowing his brother was still uncomfortable, Lucas waved his hand at the kitchen. “Seriously, Levi, look around. Look at how I’m living, and I’m not paying a dime in rent. Llyr won’t let me since we’ve been looking out for Sam for years. Let me do this for you, so you’ll always know you and Maddy have somewhere safe to go.”
Levi glanced around, his lips tightening before he finally nodded, unwilling to say the words out loud, and Lucas clapped him on the shoulder. “We’re family, dumb-ar—dumb,” he amended, with little ears sitting on the other side of his brother. “Dumb-dumb. I meant Dumb-dumb.”
Levi chuckled and patted his brother’s hand. “I appreciate it, bro. We’ll chill here until you get back. Don’t rush … apparently, you have a gazillion cable channels to choose from, and Maddy doesn’t want to leave until she’s seen them all.”
“I don’t think you’ll live that long,” Lucas laughed and headed back to his room to grab his gear since he was now leaving the apartment. As he clipped and slid everything from sunglasses to his wallet, keys, phone, badge bifold, and ankle-holstered BUG, he almost envied women with carryall handbags that could be grabbed on their way out the door.
Almost.
* * *
((Author's note: going out tonight, so I put this out before I left. Enjoy!! 🥰😘💕 ))
((All comments welcome. Good or bad, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🥰🤗))
I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here
For more of my work, including WPs: Angel466 or an index of previous WPS here.
FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!
submitted by Angel466 to redditserials [link] [comments]
[Previous Chapter] [The Beginning] [Patreon+2]
Sunday
Lucas stretched and yawned in bed, taking a moment to enjoy the complete lack of needing to rise before his hand stretched out in search of Boyd.
And once again, that side of the bed was empty.
Biting back a whine of dismay, Lucas rolled until he was face down on Boyd’s pillow, breathing in the cologne they both now wore. The detective in him quickly deduced that Boyd had been gone a while based on the chill in the sheets. He curled his hands around the pillow and hugged it tight, wishing it was the big mountain of a man himself instead of this weak substitute.
As thrilled as he was about Boyd finding a new career that he was so passionately driven about, he was equally happy that his fiancé took his responsibility to his clients seriously. Still, would it have killed him to sleep in just one morning instead of abandoning their wrecked bed the morning after their engagement party?
After several minutes of wallowing, he finally accepted the inevitable that no amount of wishful thinking was going to make Boyd appear and climbed out of bed. He removed his snore rings and took a quick shower.
Once he was dressed, he felt a little better.
The next thing he had to do was strip down the bed and remake it. They’d been very busy last night, which was why he’d only just woken up at—his gaze fell upon the clock— DAMN! It’s nearly lunchtime!
“I’m gonna kill him for letting me sleep in so long,” he muttered under his breath, carrying the linen through the apartment and into the kitchen, which doubled as a laundry on their end. After nine years of living in this layout, he didn’t need to see over the pile in his arms to know precisely where he was, and with the load balanced on one arm, he turned at the right moment, opened the massive frontloading washing machine and stuffed it all in.
“Hey, Unca Luke!” Maddy’s shrill voice had him leaping into the air, slamming the door shut and swivelling around in front of it to hide the evidence. “Didja pee the bed?”
His brother and his niece were sitting at the island, Maddy with her breakfast of honey-and-cream-covered waffles, which were only half-eaten, and Levi patiently waited for her to finish since the plate in front of him was empty. The latter was grinning at him as only a brother could.
He’d forgotten all about them staying over.
It took a hot second for what Maddy asked to register with him, and when it did, his mouth dropped, and he glanced at his brother, who was twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid laughing out loud. Asshole. “No, Peaches,” he said, glaring daggers at Levi for not even trying to help him out. “Boyd and I like clean sheets every day, and it’s not fair to make somebody else wash them for us, is it?”
Bright red ringlets of hair swayed as the little girl shook her head. “Daddy makes me fix stuff too.”
Lucas moved the three feet between the washing machine to his brother sitting in Mason’s seat at the corner. “That’s because Daddies always know what’s best.” He wrapped an arm around his brother’s neck in a loose chokehold and gave him a noisy morning kiss on the cheek. “Ain’t that right, Daddy?” He said that last word in a sultry purr the way Robbie would, and the reaction from Levi was priceless.
“Fuck off with that shit, you prick!” his brother swore, shoving Lucas away with all his might.
“DADDY!” Maddy squealed in horror, and Lucas clapped his hands together once behind Maddy’s chair and raised his clenched fists in victory. He’d been angling for one swear word, maybe two to distract young Maddy from his not-so-discreet linen run. Three was a veritable home run.
Snickering quietly to himself, he went back to the washing machine, loaded it up with soap and softener and turned it on. Then, he walked over to the wooden box under the window. ‘Just think what you want,’ Charlie had told him at the party. ‘It’s a Nascerdios box that Robbie fills up throughout the night.’
He stared hard at the box while he considered his options, settling on a plate of breakfast tacos with seasoned mince, fried eggs, tomatillos, shredded lettuce, and cheese wrapped in soft tortillas buttered with a thin spread of mashed avocado.
After the last month, it didn’t surprise him in the least when he opened the lid and found that exact meal sitting there, waiting for him. Maybe the quantity, since they were piled three high, but not the meal itself.
The same could not be said for Levi when Lucas turned around with the plate in his hand. “Robbie had that ready for you too?” he asked, as Lucas grabbed a glass from the cupboard and placed it and the plate in his regular sitting place adjacent to his brother before sliding into his seat. He knew Levi wasn’t questioning Viola since the box itself was made and gifted by someone with the last name Nascerdios.
The veil was an ass.
“I told you; he did most of the catering yesterday, too,” Lucas said, reaching for the jug of juice. He was curious what it would be today. Yesterday, it had been orange and mango juice, with apple the day before.
A quick sniff made it most likely grapefruit.
He tightened the roll on the first taco and lifted it to his lips, enjoying the flavours that exploded in his mouth. Because Levi had finished whatever had been on his plate, he was watching him eat as if he’d never seen it before. It finally clicked why. “You want to try one?” Lucas asked, nudging his plate towards his brother. “There’s plenty here if you want one. Too many, if anything.”
Levi didn’t need to be told twice and reached over, using his fingers just as Lucas had. “How did he learn to cook so well?” Levi demanded, almost fitting the whole thing in his mouth.
“He’s always cooked,” Lucas answered, fudging things slightly. “When he was growing up, cooking was his chore while his mom was at work. He only stopped because Mom refused to let him help in the kitchen.”
“I would’ve fought that a lot harder if I’d have known he could produce this.”
“Yeah, you and me both, bro. Even when we were upstairs, he was forever watching the cooking channels for new ideas.” Lucas didn’t want to mention that these days, Robbie only did so to critique the so-called experts. “Have you seen Boyd?”
Levi shook his head. “I was assuming he was still in with you. If I’d known you were in there alone, I’d have sicc’d Maddy onto you.”
“I can wake Daddy and Unca’ Austin good!” Maddy said proudly. “I gets me a dolla’.”
“Ssshhh, Peaches. That’s out secr—wait. Does Uncle Austin pay you, too?”
Maddy was adorable the way she looked at Lucas like he would intervene for her. “Sorry, baby girl,” he laughed, eating another taco. “You’re on your own.”
The two brothers bantered as Lucas ate, with Levi stealing another taco, bringing Lucas’ total number down to five. Maddy told them both about wanting to be a vet, and Lucas knew precisely who to blame for that. Still, it was better than her previous choice of ‘stripping’ the way Robbie and Angelo used to. Levi’s meltdown over that revelation had been priceless, even if he, too, was firmly in the ‘fuck that noise’ camp.
When he polished them and half the juice off, he poured the last into Maddy’s cup and put his things and the jug in the dishwasher. “You can hang out here if you want,” Lucas said. “The guys and I are heading out this afternoon to play some ball over at Angus’ place, but if you call Austin and find out Pepper’s roommate is still with him, the TV over there has…”
“Every cable channel imaginable, I know. Charlotte—”
“Charlie.”
“Charlie told us last night.” Levi sat back in his seat and stared at his brother. “What do you make of Larry, Luke? Does he have kids?”
“Why?”
“He watched Maddy for me last night while I was having a shower, and Maddy loves him. You know how picky she is about people she doesn’t know.”
“I know he’s married to a career soldier and was one too before being assigned to us. I’m not sure about his past, but he’s a good guy and ridiculously protective of those either in his charge or that he happens to care about.”
Levi grunted. “Charl—lie said so too. He certainly knows his Spongebob.”
Lucas squinted. “Why all the questions?”
“Just thinking out loud. If he’s going to be here all the time with Robbie, and Austin and I get called into the house together, it’s always been a struggle figuring out where we can leave Maddy on short notice. We don’t exactly have time to drive all the way over to Queens to drop her off at either Mav’s or Mom and Dad’s. I mean, so far, we haven’t needed to, but it’s a constant concern.”
Lucas frowned at him. “We’ve been here for years. Why didn’t you ask before now?”
Levi seemed suddenly uncomfortable. “You know…” he said, gesturing to the ceiling without finishing that sentence.
And just like that, Lucas did understand.
Six men, all sharing one shoebox-sized apartment with two of them being sex workers, was not where anyone would want to drop off a little girl. Even if Lucas did vouch for all of them and swore they’d all be protective as hell over little Maddy. “Look, I can’t speak for them specifically, but Charlie’s here under house arrest for the next ten months, and Boyd now works out of his studio, so technically, someone will be here all the time. There’s not a chance in hell we’ll turn you away.”
“I’ll ask her and Miss W before we go.”
Lucas looked at what the two of them were wearing. “You know, I could duck out and grab you and Maddy some clothes just as soon as I check in with Boyd, if you like.”
He watched Levi look down at the shirt and boxers that were a little big on him width-wise and across at Maddy, who still wore Charlie’s favourite Giants’ shirt.
“That’d be good, thanks,” he admitted.
“I’ll get extras, and that way, she can have a few changes of clothes here. Actually, do you want me to grab you some spare stuff too?”
Levi stiffened in his seat. “I don’t need you to buy me clothes.”
Lucas wanted to slap him in the back of the head (and would’ve if Maddy wasn’t there). “Stop,” he commanded instead. “I’m already going to a clothes shop. It’s not going to be anything fancy, and if you hate it, you can swap it out with your own stuff later.”
Knowing his brother was still uncomfortable, Lucas waved his hand at the kitchen. “Seriously, Levi, look around. Look at how I’m living, and I’m not paying a dime in rent. Llyr won’t let me since we’ve been looking out for Sam for years. Let me do this for you, so you’ll always know you and Maddy have somewhere safe to go.”
Levi glanced around, his lips tightening before he finally nodded, unwilling to say the words out loud, and Lucas clapped him on the shoulder. “We’re family, dumb-ar—dumb,” he amended, with little ears sitting on the other side of his brother. “Dumb-dumb. I meant Dumb-dumb.”
Levi chuckled and patted his brother’s hand. “I appreciate it, bro. We’ll chill here until you get back. Don’t rush … apparently, you have a gazillion cable channels to choose from, and Maddy doesn’t want to leave until she’s seen them all.”
“I don’t think you’ll live that long,” Lucas laughed and headed back to his room to grab his gear since he was now leaving the apartment. As he clipped and slid everything from sunglasses to his wallet, keys, phone, badge bifold, and ankle-holstered BUG, he almost envied women with carryall handbags that could be grabbed on their way out the door.
Almost.
* * *
((Author's note: going out tonight, so I put this out before I left. Enjoy!! 🥰😘💕 ))
((All comments welcome. Good or bad, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🥰🤗))
I made a family tree/diagram of the Mystallian family that can be found here
For more of my work, including WPs: Angel466 or an index of previous WPS here.
FULL INDEX OF BOB THE HOBO TO DATE CAN BE FOUND HERE!
2024.05.15 14:27 alkisawnik 23 (M) - I feel like I lost it in a second. Please give me any opinion!
Hi Guys,
I would really appreciate any kind of opinion on my problem!
This is my first ever post on reddit but I am so overwhelmed by the emotions in the last couple of days:
A little back story about me: I am 23 years old male, perfectly stable life with many good friends and very loving and rich family. I never experienced any kind of trauma in my life. I am generally very positive and social person and also before this "incident" I was looking forward to many good events in next couple of weeks in my life.
In last couple of weeks I started talking with my friends a lot about philosophy and religion (I am agnostic but I was very close to Christianity since I was born). Last wednesday when I was lying in my bed before sleep I started visualising certain scenarios about how we (humans) got here and all of a sudden I got this idea that maybe the whole world is just a projection of my own conciosness and I am all alone. Although I heard this theory before I never actually thought about it more seriously so as soon as I visualised it even for a second my anxiety skyrocketed and it felt like I had a panic attack. My life in a second lost all its meaning and I felt all alone. Next couple of days everything seemed like some kind of dream, I couldn't concentrate on anything and felt horrible, although I did get certain periods of the day when I didn't think about it and I felt a little better.
Since then I tried to really rationalise my beliefs and felt a little bit better (not completely). But now my anxiety is soo high that I started questioning everything about my life and reality. I occasionally get the feeling that maybe my whole life is a lie and I know this sounds weird because there is all physical evidence in front of me (pictures with memories, family, phone calls from friends), but I just get this feeling that maybe I am delusional and I don't even know it. Although this feeling lasts only for a short period of time when I consciously think about it and it is getting better every day, for some reason I stopped going out completely and just lay in my bed whole day and rest. I also eat much much less then I used to before - this is the only good thing because I will loose some kgs and get shredded :-). This is really having an impact on my life since I was very social and happy before this and now I lost motivation and goals in life. The best explanation about my state is that I am very confused about subjects that cannot be proven or I dont 100% trust the proof that is in front of me (weird).
My worst fear is that this is a start of serious mental illness and that my whole life will be just me doubting all my beliefs and that I will never go back to that happy state that I was one week ago. I don't know if this feeling can ever go away, I am so scared that I will loose my friends, stop loving my family for some reason and give misery to all people around me. I had very bright future ahead of me, everyone that knew me thought I will be very successful and my parents thought I will give them beautiful grandchildren in the future.
What are some of your advices I should do. Do you guys really think I snapped under pressure due to anxiety and I will be like this forever? Should I visit psychiatrist or go to psychotherapy?
In advance thank you for all your replies and perspectives!
submitted by alkisawnik to mentalhealth [link] [comments]
I would really appreciate any kind of opinion on my problem!
This is my first ever post on reddit but I am so overwhelmed by the emotions in the last couple of days:
A little back story about me: I am 23 years old male, perfectly stable life with many good friends and very loving and rich family. I never experienced any kind of trauma in my life. I am generally very positive and social person and also before this "incident" I was looking forward to many good events in next couple of weeks in my life.
In last couple of weeks I started talking with my friends a lot about philosophy and religion (I am agnostic but I was very close to Christianity since I was born). Last wednesday when I was lying in my bed before sleep I started visualising certain scenarios about how we (humans) got here and all of a sudden I got this idea that maybe the whole world is just a projection of my own conciosness and I am all alone. Although I heard this theory before I never actually thought about it more seriously so as soon as I visualised it even for a second my anxiety skyrocketed and it felt like I had a panic attack. My life in a second lost all its meaning and I felt all alone. Next couple of days everything seemed like some kind of dream, I couldn't concentrate on anything and felt horrible, although I did get certain periods of the day when I didn't think about it and I felt a little better.
Since then I tried to really rationalise my beliefs and felt a little bit better (not completely). But now my anxiety is soo high that I started questioning everything about my life and reality. I occasionally get the feeling that maybe my whole life is a lie and I know this sounds weird because there is all physical evidence in front of me (pictures with memories, family, phone calls from friends), but I just get this feeling that maybe I am delusional and I don't even know it. Although this feeling lasts only for a short period of time when I consciously think about it and it is getting better every day, for some reason I stopped going out completely and just lay in my bed whole day and rest. I also eat much much less then I used to before - this is the only good thing because I will loose some kgs and get shredded :-). This is really having an impact on my life since I was very social and happy before this and now I lost motivation and goals in life. The best explanation about my state is that I am very confused about subjects that cannot be proven or I dont 100% trust the proof that is in front of me (weird).
My worst fear is that this is a start of serious mental illness and that my whole life will be just me doubting all my beliefs and that I will never go back to that happy state that I was one week ago. I don't know if this feeling can ever go away, I am so scared that I will loose my friends, stop loving my family for some reason and give misery to all people around me. I had very bright future ahead of me, everyone that knew me thought I will be very successful and my parents thought I will give them beautiful grandchildren in the future.
What are some of your advices I should do. Do you guys really think I snapped under pressure due to anxiety and I will be like this forever? Should I visit psychiatrist or go to psychotherapy?
In advance thank you for all your replies and perspectives!
2024.05.15 14:26 OttoVonBlastoid Teylim's Reasons: An NoaHM / ALS:SOTP One-Shot (Mother's Day Special)
DISCLAIMER: Sorry this is a day late. I ended up having to rewrite half of this. Still, I hope you enjoy. After this, I'll be going on my hiatus. So I hope you like this last little bit of Roo-family cuteness. Thank you all and keep on keepin' on!
Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe.
I'd also like to thank u/xskipy10 for their awesome fanart of the main cast as well as their recent Tohba meme and their fanart of Michael baysitting. You're work is a treasure!
Thank you as well to u/Accomplished-Golf-59 for his take on Michael, Teylim, and Tohba in his submission for the Banner Art Contest, and u/Spacer_Catgirl4969 for their awesome music video featuring a pixel-art Dohkar in his bar. Be sure to give ALL of these awesome creators your love and support.
And let's not forget u/Guywhoexists2812 who has been an awesome source of memes as well as sick pixel art, such as THIS and THIS!!!! And even THIS!!!!!! And how could I forget THIS!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!
Today, we see all the reasons Teylim has to keep going in the face of adversity. For when all is said and done, love truly does conquer all. LETTUCE...begin...
Original Story
[Accessing Camera Function…]
[Accessing Saved Recordings Function…]
[Play Selected Recording?: Y/N…]
[Playing Recording!]
[The camera opens up on a female Yotul with a satchel over her shoulder. She is walking backwards down a paved walkway while looking up at the person holding the camera…]
“Alright! Soooo…here we are in… Michael tell us where we are!”
[The person holding the camera gives an audible sigh…]
“Do I have to, Tey?”
“Yes! Come on, it’ll be fun!”
[Another audible sigh is heard before the person begins panning the camera around the surrounding cityscape…]
“We are in the beautiful, literally ALWAYS sunny capital of Dayside City!”
“And what would you say we’re doing here in Dayside City?”
“We were just at the Public Records building getting our paperwork verified.”
[The Yotul woman is seen reaching into her satchel and pulling out a leaflet of documents…]
“Oh! You mean THIS paperwork? Hmmm… I wonder what these might say… Mind helping me here?”
“Seriously?”
[The Yotul doesn’t answer, instead shoving the documents directly into the camera. Another, more amused-sounding sigh is heard…]
“It says that your name has been officially changed to ‘Teylim Andrews.’”
“Mmmmhmmm. And what about this one?”
“That one says that Tohba’s name has been officially changed to ‘Tohba Andrews.’”
“Aaaand why do you suppose that is?”
[A shuffling sound is heard and the camera shifts as the person holding it pulls out their own papers…]
“Probably because according to MY paperwork, while we’re still waiting for my Application of Citizenship to go through, I, Michael Ruiz Andrews, am now the full, legal, son of one, Teylim Andrews-”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!”
[The Yotul woman darts forward, wrapping the person holding the camera in a hug. The camera is set on the ground and the face of the person is now visible. The two hold their embrace, rocking back and forth…]
“I love you so much, my joey…”
“Love you too, Ma…”
[Recording Ceases…]
[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
[Playing Recording!]
[The camera opens on a small kitchen area where two beings are sat eating. On the left, a male Yotul infant in a high chair is munching away at a human food identified as “Cheerios” spread across his tray. On the right, a male human idly stirs at a bowl of cereal while tapping away at a datapad…]
[Eventually, after munching down another “Cheerio”, the infant catches a glimpse at the human and stares for approximately one second before his tail begins wagging…]
“Mikey?”
[The humans attention is broken away from their datapad and immediately focuses on the infant…]
“Yeah, Bud?”
“I WUV YOOOUUU.”
[The infant’s sing-song voice seems to make the human smile before he leans forward, planting a “kiss” on top of the infant’s head…]
“MmmMUAH! Te amo, mi hermanito.”
“Whaz dat mean?”
“It means, ‘I love you, Little Brother’. Want me to teach you?”
“Hmmmmm… OKAY!”
“Okay.”
[The human chuckles slightly before scooting his chair in…]
“Okay, so when you want to tell someone you love them, you say, ‘Te amo.’ Okay?”
[The infant gives a curious ear flick…]
“Teeeh…Mo?”
“Close! Here. Repeat after me. Te…”
“Teeh…”
“Ah…”
“Aaahh…”
“Mo…”
“Moh!”
“Te…ah…mo…”
“Teeh…aaahh…mo!”
“Okay! All together now. Te amo.”
“¡TE AMO!”
[The human excitedly gets up from his seat and embraces the infant…]
“YES!!! You did it! Awesome job, Bud!”
“YAAAAYYY!!!! ¡TE AMO, MIKEY!”
“MMMUAH!! ¡Te amo, precioso hermanito!”
[The camera jitters slightly and a muffled giggling is heard. The human turns to face the camera…]
“Ma? What are you- Have you been recording this whole time?”
“Just a little!”
“Must you record everything?”
“As a matter of fact, yes!”
“MAMA!!”
[The camera zooms in on the excited infant…]
“Hello, Precious! Is your big brother teaching you Spanish?”
“UH-HUH!! ¡TE AMO, MAMA!”
“Ooooh, that is just ADORABLE! Can you teach him to say ‘Mama’ in Spanish, too?”
[The camera pans over to the human, who raises an eyebrow. After a moment, the human smirks and gives an exaggerated shrug while shaking his head…]
“No tengo que hacerlo. Él ya lo sabe, mamá.”
“Pffft! Smart aleck.”
[Recording Ceases…]
[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
[Playing Recording!]
[The camera opens up facing a pair of beds in a small room. On one bed, a female Yotul is sat with her infant in her lap as a male human walks into frame carrying a brightly wrapped gift box…]
“Merry Late Christmas, guys!”
“Merry Christmas, Michael!”
“Mewwy Kwizmuz, Mikey!”
[The human kneels down and hands the infant the gift box…]
“Sorry this gift is a bit last minute, but I managed to grab it while I was out with ‘Nel the other day.”
“I’m sure it’ll be perfect, Michael.”
“I hope so. Go on, Bud. Open it! It’s for you!”
“OKAY!!!”
[The infant rips away at the brightly-colored paper, and with help from his mother, lifts off the lid. The infant then excitedly starts bouncing up and down and reaches into the box, pulling out a bright-red plush…]
“WED TIWFISH!!!!!!”
“Oh, Michael! How? When?”
“I had to ask around online if anyone else had plushies from the aquarium ship, and I managed to find a guy here in Dayside. There’s…still a lot of things we lost at the house that need to be replaced, but I figured this would be a good start…”
“It’s perfect.”
[The three embrace and hold it for several seconds before pulling back…]
“BUT! I’m not done with gifts just yet.”
“What?”
“Here. Mind handing me your pad?”
“Sure?”
[The Yotul hands the human her datapad as he pulls a small drive from his pocket and plugs it in. After a moment, he smiles and sits down on the bed next to the Yotul. She is then seen gasping and covering her mouth with her paws…]
“Michael…”
“I overheard you on the phone with Aunty Triv, talking about how you wish you had some pictures of me when I was younger…”
“How on Liern-”
“It’s…a long story. When I was first taken into foster care after getting rescued, I was assigned a social worker to help me adjust. And after I got situated with Dad, he stayed and helped us out from time to time. He basically became like an uncle to me after a while. And since Dad didn’t really have any other family, whenever he wanted to share pictures of me growing up, he’d send a copy to my social worker. I’ve…been back in contact with him for a little while now, and it turns out he kept them.”
“Oh, Michael…”
[The Yotul and human lean against each other and embrace…]
“I love you, Ma.”
“I love you too, my joey.
[Still leaning against each other, they begin to swipe at the pad, presumably looking through pictures. After a few swipes, The Yotul begins chuckling hysterically…]
“Aaaawwweee…”
“Crap, I forgot about that one!”
“Who’z dat?”
“That’s…me, Bud.”
[The infant looks at the image for a while, still holding the bright red plush…]
“Teeheehee!! Fuzzy Mikey!”
“Can we please just swipe to the next one?”
“Wait. I’ve seen those kinds of human garments before! Aren’t those for…LITTLE…little joeys?”
“Look, I was a very emotionally stunted kid and I just thought they were comfy, alright?”
“This is SO going on the desk.”
“Please no. Any of them but that one.”
“Nope! It’s already decided!”
“YAAYYY! FUZZY MIKEY!”
“God, ‘Nel’s never gonna let me live this down…”
[Recording Ceases…]
Memory Transcript Subject: Teylim Andrews, Yotul Accountant And Loving Mother Of Two
Date:[Standardized Human Time] February 1, 2137
[Warning: REM Sleep Detected: Transcript May Be Fragmented Or Incomplete…]
Crrreeeeaak…
My eyes slowly squint open as the noise rouses me from sleep. I let out a yawn before looking for the source of the noise. I’m…back in my house… Sitting upright, I see that my door’s been opened, beaming The Dayside’s permanent daylight into my room. I was confused for a moment. The only other person here that would be here is-
“Uuuuhhmm… M-Mrs. Teylim?”
I looked down, and spotted the culprit.
Standing in the doorway was a small human child, cradling my Tohba in his arms. He was silhouetted from the daylight behind him, the light beaming past his adorable onesie pajamas creating a small blue outline around him, matching his eyes.
Strange. For some reason, I thought he was taller…
“Michael, sweetie? What’s the matter?”
Still carrying Tohba, Michael made his way over to the bed.
“Uuuhhhmmm… Tohba h-had a n-nightmare…”
“Ooohh, is that so?”
Something definitely didn’t add up. As he gently handed Tohba over to me, he certainly didn’t seem to be having a nightmare. In fact, even now he was still sleeping peacefully.
Michael, on the other paw, was DEFINITELY out of sorts. He was nervous, fidgeting, wrapped up in a self-hug, and even now, refused to even look at me. Whether that was because of his nervousness or if he was still convinced I was afraid of him had yet to be seen.
Stupid, ridiculous, Federation dogma…
I could tell he wasn’t being honest with me. Ordinarily, I would’ve been upset about him lying, and even more so about him disturbing Tohba, but looking at him now, I knew what he needed now wasn’t a scolding.
“Michael, you know you can be honest with me. Was it really Tohba who had the nightmare?”
I heard him nervously gulp as he tightened the self-hug around himself. After a moment, he shook his head.
“Mm’mm…”
I gave a tired, but loving sigh before holding out my free arm.
“Come here.”
With some hesitation, he stepped closer, allowing me to pull him into a hug. Michael had a lot of issues. From what I learned from his social worker, he’d been terribly abused by his previous mother and he’d lost his father only a few years after moving in with him. And now, with Earth under attack, he simply didn’t have anywhere else to go.
It will take a long time before he’s fully comfortable living here, I know that. I’m still not even entirely sure if I’m what he needs. I still wonder if I know what I’m doing when it comes to just raising Tohba. Even so, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try. He deserves a home, and a mother who loves him. All children do.
“I'm sorry for lying…”
“Ssshhh… It’s alright. Do you want to talk about it?”
“It was…the one with the scary fire people…”
Oh…THAT dream…
Exterminators.
“I don’t want them to come… I don’t want them to-“
“It’s okay, joey. They won’t get you here.”
“No! That’s not… That’s not what I’m scared of…”
I pulled back slightly, allowing myself to look directly at him. He sniffles and sobbed while trying to wipe away tears.
“You’re all so nice to me… \sniff** I…I-I don’t want the fire people to hurt you… I sh-shouldn’t be here…”
My heart broke in two. This poor child had already lost so much. It only made sense that he’d be afraid of losing us too.
I cupped his face in my paw, wiping away his tears.
“Michael Ruiz Andrews, I don’t care what you might have heard, but you have every RIGHT to be here. And if those scary people out there think they can come and take us away from you, they’re wrong. I will never let us be separated. You hear me?”
“. . .P-promise?”
“With all my heart. You’re MY joey now, and I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”
At last, Michael finally unwrapped himself from his self-hug and instead wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my fur.
After a while of holding him, he’d finally calmed down enough to speak again.
“C-can I…sleep here tonight?”
Your joey needs you.
Yes.
“Of course.”
With some effort, he climbed up onto the bed and curled up next to me. I knew I most likely wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep, but that was fine. Just laying here, holding my boys in my arms. That was enough.
One after the other, I gave both my joeys a lick on the forehead.
“Goodnight my joeys. I love you.”
“Wuv…you…Ma…ma…”
“. . .Love you too...Mom…”
I love my boys. I love my family. I love…my life…
[Transcript Time Progression: 4 hours…]
Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep!
[Warning: Subject Regaining Consciousness…]
My entire body protested as I twisted and turned over to tap the alarm on my nightstand. My claw slapped blindly at it until finally, the agitating alarm was silenced. My eyes squinted open, revealing…I was back in our motel room…
Well…a girl can dream, can’t she?
It was a pleasant dream, I’ll give it that. As I sat up, I let my legs dangle off the side of the bed as I stretched myself out and let out a yawn. Once my eyes had fully opened, and the fog had been blinked away, I was immediately met with a sight that warmed my heart to no end. My still fast asleep, and back to being tall, new son, curled up with his baby brother on the other bed.
Precious boys. MY precious boys.
I did my best to remember if Michael had anything scheduled with Khornel for this paw, but nothing came to mind. He’d been working so hard lately, helping to keep us above water. Now that he wasn’t a refugee anymore, we were no longer receiving stipends from the program, which meant from here on out, keeping the bills paid was much more difficult. And that’s not even mentioning having to put aside anything we can to be able to eventually have the house rebuilt.
I kept trying for a while, I still couldn’t remember anything. For the first time in a decent while, he had a paw off.
Good. I’ll leave him be then. He’s earned some rest.
I let out one more yawn, before getting up. Unfortunately, while Michael didn’t have to work this paw, I wasn’t so fortunate. Thankfully, my recent injuries allowed me to continue to work from home instead of going out to the physical office. After one last stretch, I let myself slide off the bed.
I had to give myself a moment once I was upright. While my previously broken leg had healed for the most part, I still needed to be careful of how much weight I put on it. Once I was ready, I began walking to our small kitchen area. The fridge was nearly empty. I’d need to go to the store soon.
Thank goodness we’re staying in Soulroot, where literally EVERYTHING is expensive…
After cutting up some leftover fruit and strayu for myself, I went back to my desk. It was impossible to not notice the small stack of colorful books on the ground next to it. They were human kid’s books donated from the embassy here in Soulroot. Tohba would be ready to start going to school in just a few short cycles…
Will we be able to get out of here and back into our house before then?
Sitting down at my desk and booting up my pad, I found it hard to stay focused. There was still so much to do, so much to worry about. Before, when I was feeling overwhelmed, I’d have Loh, Dohkar, or Trivah there for me. With them around, it always helped things feel more manageable. But now…now I was alone again. Loh was gone. Dohkar and Trivah were stuck on the other side of that damned fence…
What are we going to do?
My head lowered. I stared blankly at the desk, partly wishing I could look through it at ANYTHING other than my work.
But then, there was a glint, just out of the corner of my eye…
I looked up, and saw something that I couldn’t help but smile at, something that even when I’m feeling low, reminds me why I have to keep going.
I reach out…and grab the two small frames off the corner of my desk and hold them in front of me. In my left paw, wass a framed picture of Tohba, the paw he was born. So small. So precious. So perfect. And in my right, was another picture. It was my new favorite picture.
A small, human child…in fuzzy, blue, onesie pajamas that matched his eyes.
My Michael. Still so small.
These two pictures. My boys. The villains outside could take everything else. So long as I have my boys, I will always have a reason to keep going.
I love my boys… I love my family… I love my life…
The End
submitted by OttoVonBlastoid to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe.
I'd also like to thank u/xskipy10 for their awesome fanart of the main cast as well as their recent Tohba meme and their fanart of Michael baysitting. You're work is a treasure!
Thank you as well to u/Accomplished-Golf-59 for his take on Michael, Teylim, and Tohba in his submission for the Banner Art Contest, and u/Spacer_Catgirl4969 for their awesome music video featuring a pixel-art Dohkar in his bar. Be sure to give ALL of these awesome creators your love and support.
And let's not forget u/Guywhoexists2812 who has been an awesome source of memes as well as sick pixel art, such as THIS and THIS!!!! And even THIS!!!!!! And how could I forget THIS!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!
Today, we see all the reasons Teylim has to keep going in the face of adversity. For when all is said and done, love truly does conquer all. LETTUCE...begin...
Original Story
[Accessing Camera Function…]
[Accessing Saved Recordings Function…]
[Play Selected Recording?: Y/N…]
[Playing Recording!]
[The camera opens up on a female Yotul with a satchel over her shoulder. She is walking backwards down a paved walkway while looking up at the person holding the camera…]
“Alright! Soooo…here we are in… Michael tell us where we are!”
[The person holding the camera gives an audible sigh…]
“Do I have to, Tey?”
“Yes! Come on, it’ll be fun!”
[Another audible sigh is heard before the person begins panning the camera around the surrounding cityscape…]
“We are in the beautiful, literally ALWAYS sunny capital of Dayside City!”
“And what would you say we’re doing here in Dayside City?”
“We were just at the Public Records building getting our paperwork verified.”
[The Yotul woman is seen reaching into her satchel and pulling out a leaflet of documents…]
“Oh! You mean THIS paperwork? Hmmm… I wonder what these might say… Mind helping me here?”
“Seriously?”
[The Yotul doesn’t answer, instead shoving the documents directly into the camera. Another, more amused-sounding sigh is heard…]
“It says that your name has been officially changed to ‘Teylim Andrews.’”
“Mmmmhmmm. And what about this one?”
“That one says that Tohba’s name has been officially changed to ‘Tohba Andrews.’”
“Aaaand why do you suppose that is?”
[A shuffling sound is heard and the camera shifts as the person holding it pulls out their own papers…]
“Probably because according to MY paperwork, while we’re still waiting for my Application of Citizenship to go through, I, Michael Ruiz Andrews, am now the full, legal, son of one, Teylim Andrews-”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!”
[The Yotul woman darts forward, wrapping the person holding the camera in a hug. The camera is set on the ground and the face of the person is now visible. The two hold their embrace, rocking back and forth…]
“I love you so much, my joey…”
“Love you too, Ma…”
[Recording Ceases…]
[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
[Playing Recording!]
[The camera opens on a small kitchen area where two beings are sat eating. On the left, a male Yotul infant in a high chair is munching away at a human food identified as “Cheerios” spread across his tray. On the right, a male human idly stirs at a bowl of cereal while tapping away at a datapad…]
[Eventually, after munching down another “Cheerio”, the infant catches a glimpse at the human and stares for approximately one second before his tail begins wagging…]
“Mikey?”
[The humans attention is broken away from their datapad and immediately focuses on the infant…]
“Yeah, Bud?”
“I WUV YOOOUUU.”
[The infant’s sing-song voice seems to make the human smile before he leans forward, planting a “kiss” on top of the infant’s head…]
“MmmMUAH! Te amo, mi hermanito.”
“Whaz dat mean?”
“It means, ‘I love you, Little Brother’. Want me to teach you?”
“Hmmmmm… OKAY!”
“Okay.”
[The human chuckles slightly before scooting his chair in…]
“Okay, so when you want to tell someone you love them, you say, ‘Te amo.’ Okay?”
[The infant gives a curious ear flick…]
“Teeeh…Mo?”
“Close! Here. Repeat after me. Te…”
“Teeh…”
“Ah…”
“Aaahh…”
“Mo…”
“Moh!”
“Te…ah…mo…”
“Teeh…aaahh…mo!”
“Okay! All together now. Te amo.”
“¡TE AMO!”
[The human excitedly gets up from his seat and embraces the infant…]
“YES!!! You did it! Awesome job, Bud!”
“YAAAAYYY!!!! ¡TE AMO, MIKEY!”
“MMMUAH!! ¡Te amo, precioso hermanito!”
[The camera jitters slightly and a muffled giggling is heard. The human turns to face the camera…]
“Ma? What are you- Have you been recording this whole time?”
“Just a little!”
“Must you record everything?”
“As a matter of fact, yes!”
“MAMA!!”
[The camera zooms in on the excited infant…]
“Hello, Precious! Is your big brother teaching you Spanish?”
“UH-HUH!! ¡TE AMO, MAMA!”
“Ooooh, that is just ADORABLE! Can you teach him to say ‘Mama’ in Spanish, too?”
[The camera pans over to the human, who raises an eyebrow. After a moment, the human smirks and gives an exaggerated shrug while shaking his head…]
“No tengo que hacerlo. Él ya lo sabe, mamá.”
“Pffft! Smart aleck.”
[Recording Ceases…]
[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
[Playing Recording!]
[The camera opens up facing a pair of beds in a small room. On one bed, a female Yotul is sat with her infant in her lap as a male human walks into frame carrying a brightly wrapped gift box…]
“Merry Late Christmas, guys!”
“Merry Christmas, Michael!”
“Mewwy Kwizmuz, Mikey!”
[The human kneels down and hands the infant the gift box…]
“Sorry this gift is a bit last minute, but I managed to grab it while I was out with ‘Nel the other day.”
“I’m sure it’ll be perfect, Michael.”
“I hope so. Go on, Bud. Open it! It’s for you!”
“OKAY!!!”
[The infant rips away at the brightly-colored paper, and with help from his mother, lifts off the lid. The infant then excitedly starts bouncing up and down and reaches into the box, pulling out a bright-red plush…]
“WED TIWFISH!!!!!!”
“Oh, Michael! How? When?”
“I had to ask around online if anyone else had plushies from the aquarium ship, and I managed to find a guy here in Dayside. There’s…still a lot of things we lost at the house that need to be replaced, but I figured this would be a good start…”
“It’s perfect.”
[The three embrace and hold it for several seconds before pulling back…]
“BUT! I’m not done with gifts just yet.”
“What?”
“Here. Mind handing me your pad?”
“Sure?”
[The Yotul hands the human her datapad as he pulls a small drive from his pocket and plugs it in. After a moment, he smiles and sits down on the bed next to the Yotul. She is then seen gasping and covering her mouth with her paws…]
“Michael…”
“I overheard you on the phone with Aunty Triv, talking about how you wish you had some pictures of me when I was younger…”
“How on Liern-”
“It’s…a long story. When I was first taken into foster care after getting rescued, I was assigned a social worker to help me adjust. And after I got situated with Dad, he stayed and helped us out from time to time. He basically became like an uncle to me after a while. And since Dad didn’t really have any other family, whenever he wanted to share pictures of me growing up, he’d send a copy to my social worker. I’ve…been back in contact with him for a little while now, and it turns out he kept them.”
“Oh, Michael…”
[The Yotul and human lean against each other and embrace…]
“I love you, Ma.”
“I love you too, my joey.
[Still leaning against each other, they begin to swipe at the pad, presumably looking through pictures. After a few swipes, The Yotul begins chuckling hysterically…]
“Aaaawwweee…”
“Crap, I forgot about that one!”
“Who’z dat?”
“That’s…me, Bud.”
[The infant looks at the image for a while, still holding the bright red plush…]
“Teeheehee!! Fuzzy Mikey!”
“Can we please just swipe to the next one?”
“Wait. I’ve seen those kinds of human garments before! Aren’t those for…LITTLE…little joeys?”
“Look, I was a very emotionally stunted kid and I just thought they were comfy, alright?”
“This is SO going on the desk.”
“Please no. Any of them but that one.”
“Nope! It’s already decided!”
“YAAYYY! FUZZY MIKEY!”
“God, ‘Nel’s never gonna let me live this down…”
[Recording Ceases…]
Memory Transcript Subject: Teylim Andrews, Yotul Accountant And Loving Mother Of Two
Date:[Standardized Human Time] February 1, 2137
[Warning: REM Sleep Detected: Transcript May Be Fragmented Or Incomplete…]
Crrreeeeaak…
My eyes slowly squint open as the noise rouses me from sleep. I let out a yawn before looking for the source of the noise. I’m…back in my house… Sitting upright, I see that my door’s been opened, beaming The Dayside’s permanent daylight into my room. I was confused for a moment. The only other person here that would be here is-
“Uuuuhhmm… M-Mrs. Teylim?”
I looked down, and spotted the culprit.
Standing in the doorway was a small human child, cradling my Tohba in his arms. He was silhouetted from the daylight behind him, the light beaming past his adorable onesie pajamas creating a small blue outline around him, matching his eyes.
Strange. For some reason, I thought he was taller…
“Michael, sweetie? What’s the matter?”
Still carrying Tohba, Michael made his way over to the bed.
“Uuuhhhmmm… Tohba h-had a n-nightmare…”
“Ooohh, is that so?”
Something definitely didn’t add up. As he gently handed Tohba over to me, he certainly didn’t seem to be having a nightmare. In fact, even now he was still sleeping peacefully.
Michael, on the other paw, was DEFINITELY out of sorts. He was nervous, fidgeting, wrapped up in a self-hug, and even now, refused to even look at me. Whether that was because of his nervousness or if he was still convinced I was afraid of him had yet to be seen.
Stupid, ridiculous, Federation dogma…
I could tell he wasn’t being honest with me. Ordinarily, I would’ve been upset about him lying, and even more so about him disturbing Tohba, but looking at him now, I knew what he needed now wasn’t a scolding.
“Michael, you know you can be honest with me. Was it really Tohba who had the nightmare?”
I heard him nervously gulp as he tightened the self-hug around himself. After a moment, he shook his head.
“Mm’mm…”
I gave a tired, but loving sigh before holding out my free arm.
“Come here.”
With some hesitation, he stepped closer, allowing me to pull him into a hug. Michael had a lot of issues. From what I learned from his social worker, he’d been terribly abused by his previous mother and he’d lost his father only a few years after moving in with him. And now, with Earth under attack, he simply didn’t have anywhere else to go.
It will take a long time before he’s fully comfortable living here, I know that. I’m still not even entirely sure if I’m what he needs. I still wonder if I know what I’m doing when it comes to just raising Tohba. Even so, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try. He deserves a home, and a mother who loves him. All children do.
“I'm sorry for lying…”
“Ssshhh… It’s alright. Do you want to talk about it?”
“It was…the one with the scary fire people…”
Oh…THAT dream…
Exterminators.
“I don’t want them to come… I don’t want them to-“
“It’s okay, joey. They won’t get you here.”
“No! That’s not… That’s not what I’m scared of…”
I pulled back slightly, allowing myself to look directly at him. He sniffles and sobbed while trying to wipe away tears.
“You’re all so nice to me… \sniff** I…I-I don’t want the fire people to hurt you… I sh-shouldn’t be here…”
My heart broke in two. This poor child had already lost so much. It only made sense that he’d be afraid of losing us too.
I cupped his face in my paw, wiping away his tears.
“Michael Ruiz Andrews, I don’t care what you might have heard, but you have every RIGHT to be here. And if those scary people out there think they can come and take us away from you, they’re wrong. I will never let us be separated. You hear me?”
“. . .P-promise?”
“With all my heart. You’re MY joey now, and I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”
At last, Michael finally unwrapped himself from his self-hug and instead wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my fur.
After a while of holding him, he’d finally calmed down enough to speak again.
“C-can I…sleep here tonight?”
Your joey needs you.
Yes.
“Of course.”
With some effort, he climbed up onto the bed and curled up next to me. I knew I most likely wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep, but that was fine. Just laying here, holding my boys in my arms. That was enough.
One after the other, I gave both my joeys a lick on the forehead.
“Goodnight my joeys. I love you.”
“Wuv…you…Ma…ma…”
“. . .Love you too...Mom…”
I love my boys. I love my family. I love…my life…
[Transcript Time Progression: 4 hours…]
Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep!
[Warning: Subject Regaining Consciousness…]
My entire body protested as I twisted and turned over to tap the alarm on my nightstand. My claw slapped blindly at it until finally, the agitating alarm was silenced. My eyes squinted open, revealing…I was back in our motel room…
Well…a girl can dream, can’t she?
It was a pleasant dream, I’ll give it that. As I sat up, I let my legs dangle off the side of the bed as I stretched myself out and let out a yawn. Once my eyes had fully opened, and the fog had been blinked away, I was immediately met with a sight that warmed my heart to no end. My still fast asleep, and back to being tall, new son, curled up with his baby brother on the other bed.
Precious boys. MY precious boys.
I did my best to remember if Michael had anything scheduled with Khornel for this paw, but nothing came to mind. He’d been working so hard lately, helping to keep us above water. Now that he wasn’t a refugee anymore, we were no longer receiving stipends from the program, which meant from here on out, keeping the bills paid was much more difficult. And that’s not even mentioning having to put aside anything we can to be able to eventually have the house rebuilt.
I kept trying for a while, I still couldn’t remember anything. For the first time in a decent while, he had a paw off.
Good. I’ll leave him be then. He’s earned some rest.
I let out one more yawn, before getting up. Unfortunately, while Michael didn’t have to work this paw, I wasn’t so fortunate. Thankfully, my recent injuries allowed me to continue to work from home instead of going out to the physical office. After one last stretch, I let myself slide off the bed.
I had to give myself a moment once I was upright. While my previously broken leg had healed for the most part, I still needed to be careful of how much weight I put on it. Once I was ready, I began walking to our small kitchen area. The fridge was nearly empty. I’d need to go to the store soon.
Thank goodness we’re staying in Soulroot, where literally EVERYTHING is expensive…
After cutting up some leftover fruit and strayu for myself, I went back to my desk. It was impossible to not notice the small stack of colorful books on the ground next to it. They were human kid’s books donated from the embassy here in Soulroot. Tohba would be ready to start going to school in just a few short cycles…
Will we be able to get out of here and back into our house before then?
Sitting down at my desk and booting up my pad, I found it hard to stay focused. There was still so much to do, so much to worry about. Before, when I was feeling overwhelmed, I’d have Loh, Dohkar, or Trivah there for me. With them around, it always helped things feel more manageable. But now…now I was alone again. Loh was gone. Dohkar and Trivah were stuck on the other side of that damned fence…
What are we going to do?
My head lowered. I stared blankly at the desk, partly wishing I could look through it at ANYTHING other than my work.
But then, there was a glint, just out of the corner of my eye…
I looked up, and saw something that I couldn’t help but smile at, something that even when I’m feeling low, reminds me why I have to keep going.
I reach out…and grab the two small frames off the corner of my desk and hold them in front of me. In my left paw, wass a framed picture of Tohba, the paw he was born. So small. So precious. So perfect. And in my right, was another picture. It was my new favorite picture.
A small, human child…in fuzzy, blue, onesie pajamas that matched his eyes.
My Michael. Still so small.
These two pictures. My boys. The villains outside could take everything else. So long as I have my boys, I will always have a reason to keep going.
I love my boys… I love my family… I love my life…
The End