How do i buy four wheelers direct from factory

Astronomy

2008.03.28 15:00 Astronomy

The amateur hobby of humanity since the dawn of time and scientific study of celestial objects.
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2009.09.04 22:40 Ilyanep Twisty Puzzle Solvers, AKA: Cubers

For people who love any sort of twisty puzzles, including but not limited to: Rubik's Cubes (and any size/design variants), the Square 1, the Pyraminx and more.
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2013.10.02 02:41 Antrikshy Little humans falling over, for your joy

it's hilarious to see little humans topple over. What more can we say?
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2024.05.14 03:41 storyinmemo Lessons from my first 20 years of Realistic Mode

Started in 1960 and it was rough. Heating issues, water cuts, backed up sewers... but I made it to 10k people. In 1968 I had to enable cheat mode for a one time "loan forgiveness". I built up debt into 1980 but finally turned the profitability corner. So here's what I'm going to try to do in my next play:
Macro Layout
Pollution is king. When things ramped up, 400 meters wasn’t enough. Put the edge of housing a full kilometer from industry and waste handling.
Rail is important early. Lay in a single rail line to pull gravel for construction, coal for a heating plant + bricks, and connecting the farm to the industry. Build your construction industry on one side of the border and your manufacturing industry on the other side of it.
City layout
Start with a bus stop and building your residential buildings 200 meters max away from it. Put paths parallel to roads. Create redundant paths to everything so upgrading to gravel, asphalt, etc. doesn’t break things. Build all your housing on one side of the bus stop initially.
Put city services based on vehicles (police, fire, etc.) outside the core of the city. They’ll only be walkable to half of the city compared to the bus stop but the city can be larger. Same with university and schools. Schools, kindergartens, etc. may become overcrowded as the city grows. Build the large hospital in the core as despite having ambulances it is primarily a walking building.
Transfer for big waste (large) should be at the edge of your city and connected to a rail line. Technical services delivers to there. From there, a rail line eventually exports it for handling. Until the rail station is built, use a distribution office to export waste. Sorting is key and should be researched early. Use Stand for big waste containers (small) attached to roads to collect waste whenever possible. Stand for small containers (large) can be used when footpath access is the only option but it’s remarkably less efficient. Citizens produce about 1:3 biological waste to mixed waste so allocate containers accordingly. Within the city only hospitals create hazardous waste and nobody creates aluminum waste.
Build the small party headquarters to start, then the large technical university. You'll need the numbers for faster education and faster tech tree climbing.
Import 3rd world immigrants once you have a minimum educated base to staff your schools. They're way cheaper. Quality housing > dense housing. Dense is great but dense and poor quality = high resource intake and low productivity. Densify in your second city, or rework.
Monuments only get your to 40% loyalty so don't lose your mind on it.
Water and Power
Redundant and parallel. Every time you place a transformer, place a high six way high voltage splitter with it. You will branch your power network to more places over time and need to reroute wires which you can only do while online with open switch ports. Never use the last switch port without building another chained switch.
Similarly, always branch your water and sewer. Unfortunately you can’t have multiple inputs to a line, but you can at least make sure that you can keep branching until the upstream has nothing left to give. Pay attention to pressure. Build the large water tower to supply the town.
Intake water quality is key. Your wells must be placed where pollution won’t reach. Industry should be fed directly from a well so you’re not spending chemicals purifying water. The more polluted the water is, the more chemicals you’ll have to spend to clean it up and that gets expensive very quickly.
Treating wastewater gives a massive reduction in pollution but also takes an expensive amount of chemicals. Best to put your outlet far away if possible instead of trying to treat the water. Drop a sewer switch (remember, always an empty outlet on every switch for infra changes!) before the outlet in case you change your mind.
Roads
Vehicles use the same amount of fuel as long as they’re in motion. If your vehicle top speed is a fraction of your road speed, you’re wasting money. Road stretches of ~500 meters need to be paved and should probably be divided highways. Tight industrial roads with lots of turns can be gravel because you won’t accelerate much anyway. Panel roads are also pretty good as intermediates here. If you’ve got advanced roads on, make sure to set give ways at every highway intersection or your vehicles will drop down to 50 km/h at every one.
Your center of town road probably gets congested and you can help that by banning heavy goods vehicles except supply.
Industry
Focus around one large long warehouse with a train connection at the end and factories directly connected around the warehouse. Central warehouse should have:
The livestock farm is a bit of a wildcard. It consumes a lot of water and generates a lot of wastewater. Plan for this and consider whether it should be located near your farm or near your factory. I lean towards keeping it with the factory for the sake of concentrating your workforce on one high-throughput passenger line. We'll see how the next playthrough goes.
Mining
Steel is my highest cost and getting to a steel mill that runs even at 5% of capacity seems highly worthwhile. Find coal, colocate with coal mining, attach to train line. Attach transfer to large waste and manage as needed. General separation on site may be reasonable.
Farms
Grow locally. Farms are basically the one thing that doesn’t require people to produce profit or at least reduce cost. As the input to one of your early money makers (clothing)
Economy
Clothing is a top export and accessible early which is key. Build for it, use your own crops, and fill in the rest of the supply chain as you can (chemical plant). Same for steel after some time: find the iron, move it over… but start with making the plant run even with imports.
The republic runs on steel. Want to move something efficiently? You need rails and steel. Want to store it? More steel. More efficient building or process? Going to take steel.
Find coal, make steel. When you have steel, get the radio station going. Yeah, that's not an industry but the productivity boost from loyalty boost is huge.
Now that you have clothing and steel going, make a refinery.
From this point, find the most expensive import and produce it locally until the most expensive doesn’t matter. From there, climb the tech tree into autos and nuclear power. Expand to new cities.
submitted by storyinmemo to Workers_And_Resources [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 03:26 DiplexTerror80 My Essay About the 4th Dimension

I was bored. So what do I do? I write an essay about the 4th dimension.
[Another Dimension]()
One of the questions asked most by mathematicians is that of a higher dimension, along with phi’s common appearance in nature and the parallel postulate. What does a higher dimension mean? Let me start with an easier perspective. To a first-dimensional being, a second dimension is made up of an infinite number of first-dimensional objects. In short, a second dimension adds a direction – width. [When we go from the second dimension to the third dimension, we add another dimension – height.]()
Judging from the earlier dimensions, a fourth dimension simply means a fourth direction. You may also have heard the length, width, and height of an object called dimensions. Now, you know why. This fourth dimension cannot be processed by our three-dimensional minds, just like a second dimensional being cannot process a three-dimensional world, as it only sees in one dimension.
[This brings us to my next point – We only actually see in two dimensions.]() In the book Flatland, the main character, A Square, is brought into the third dimension and looks at Flatland from above, seeing everything from inside prison cells to the Flatlanders’ insides. Using this logic, four-dimensional beings will see a complete three-dimensional world and will look at the third dimension just like us looking at the second dimension; they will be able to see everything.
It is also worthwhile to note that an intersection between two-dimensional objects would not be intersected in the third dimension, as with that of the Klein bottle. The Klein bottle is intersected in its three-dimensional interpretation but is a four-dimensional object not intersected onto itself.
I believe that looking at the fifth dimension will not look any different than the fourth dimension, based on what happens if a one-dimensional being sees the third dimension. Speaking of which, you may also be asking, “Isn’t the [fourth dimension]() time?” Well, there are spatial dimensions and temporal dimensions. Temporal dimensions are remarkably interesting in their own way, and they deserve their own separate article.
I also realized that since every dimension has a dimensional plane, and that by definition, a dimensional plane is infinite, a zero-dimensional plane is not possible. However, there also must be a plane for a zero-dimensional dot to exist on. I have done some research on this zero-dimensional geometry, and it is quite interesting. It is also called a nil-dimensional space. There are even theories that the universe is a zero-dimensional matrix full of zero-dimensional energy.
After some more research, I found that in the zeroth dimension, every position can be described as a point. I found this to be like the hyperbolic plane, which is an infinite plane in a finite space. It does this because it gets smaller and curves as it gets closer to its edge. You may hear a hyperbolic plane described as a saddle, but it is more like saddles stacked upon each other. I highly recommend that you check this out on your own, along with the rest of non-Euclidean geometry.
I would also like to mention the connection between different dimensions and string theory. In string theory, there are multiple universes, each with a different amount of dark energy and a different number of dimensions. Some of these universes will self-destruct because of the dark energy, but it is interesting to think that there might be higher-dimensional universes that could hypothetically exist somewhere out there.
We cannot understand higher dimensions, but we also cannot even understand the simplest of dimensions, zero dimensions. This just shows how much farther humanity can still go. We are still yet to discover many of the secrets our universe holds.
submitted by DiplexTerror80 to 4thdimensionproblems [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 03:22 Automatic-Fly-2345 21 Year Old - Advice & Priorities?

Hello Friends,
I have been a fly on the wall on this subreddit forum for a while now, and I love what I see. I have learned a lot, and I thought it would be nice for me to share my situation, get some advice, or at least get a grasp on if I should worry as much as I am and things along that nature.
I am 21 years old, turning 22 very soon. I live in California and I am blessed to do what I do.
I own a company which I started when I was 18 years old, and things have gone very well for me for which I am blessed. In turn, of course, I work 7 Days a Week, I do not have a day off, and work my ass off to set up everything well. I am very happy with working this hard and I wish for it not to change.
I make about $96,000 per year AFTER taxes. This is my net income.
The breakdown of how I use this money per month is the following:
$813/mo - Car Payment
$411/mo - Car Insurance
$1,500/mo - I live with my father and my fiance, so I am helping him with the mortgage payment on our house.
$220/mo - I have a fiance, and I like to give her an allowance every month just as a way to support her.
$2,000/mo - I put this much per month into a Savings Account for me and my fiance, for a future house for us to buy roughly in 5-6 years from today. I plan to become a father in about 2 Years, so this is roughly our plan to move out of California in about 5-6 years when our kid is 3 years old, and buy our own home.
$500/mo - I put this much into my personal savings account, as a way to have extra cushion and emergency fund.
$450/mo - I put this much into credit card payments, going extra to knock it all down nicely. I have x4 credit cards, and the minimum payments on all of them adds up to $120. I go much extra to knock them down faster.
$250/mo - Going out with the soon to be wife during the month (breakfasts together, a few dinners).
$300/mo - Most of the time breakfast for me during the day while I am at the office.
$170/mo - Fun stuff for me, depends every month what I get or how I enjoy it.
$150/mo - Various Subscriptions (Hulu, Netflix, Discovery, this like this).
There is a little bit more sprinkled here and there, but this was a rough breakdown I made.
I currently have x3 Credit Cards.
The total on them three combined is roughly $5,000.
My car was a recent purchase, and it has $43,000 left on it. Monthly payments are high as you see above, but it is doable.
I just recently discovered the importance of having an emergency fund, as in the past I have thrown all of my extra income on my business and growing it so I can make more. - With this new discovery of the importance of having an emergency fund, I currently have $4,000 in my personal savings account.
I also have roughly $3,000 in Robinhood.
My checking account doesn't usually drop below $1,000 so I am feeling okay.
With all of this said, I am looking for some advice on a couple of things:
I don't know if I should feel bad for only "saving" $500 per month on my personal savings account. Should I remove some of the "useless" expenses and up the amount that I contribute to my "emergency fund / personal savings account"?
I am almost certain that I shouldn't feel bad, because I am also putting in $2,000 per month onto a big savings account for my future house in 5-6 years, so that could serve as a good "emergency fund" if something does happen?
My other question is: Should I be worried about my $5,000 credit card debt? I will knock it down in some time, which is why I am not throwing everything I got at it.
How about the car payment? I am okay with paying that much for my vehicle, and I am feeling comfortable with my ability to afford it, but I would be lying if I said that if that $811 per month was GONE, that would allow for more money into savings.

I am young, I know. I am working my butt off to make sure my business succeeds more and grows more and more every month, so the amount I make will grow. This will allow me to have more expendable monthly income as well - where should I direct it?
Should I PRIORITIZE raising my emergency fund to HIGHER, prior to anything else?
Should I PRIORITIZE the credit cards so that they disappear?
Should I PRIORITIZE the car payment?
What are some moves you guys can recommend for me. I am blessed to be where I am, and I plan on continuing to work hard and do good.
I appreciate you all for your responses and advice.
submitted by Automatic-Fly-2345 to budget [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 03:12 Intelligent_City2644 Sulking like a Child

I went into my interview for my dream job on Friday. The owner seemed to really like me and offered to have me come in to watch a training class be conducted.
I was explained the starting pay for all candidates was $17 an hour and was part time as described. I asked lots of questions and by the end of the two hours of interacting with everyone, I got the vibe from the owner that I had made a great impression.
"What do you think? Would you like to work here? Well, we think you'd be a great team member. I'd like to set a date and time for you sit down with our scheduler."
"Oh! Thankyou very much."
I was so happy and flattered. I talked about how excited I was and how I couldn't wait to start training. I told him I loved it here. He joked how I could help another employee with the social media. I ended up buying a few products and he was even nice enough to give me an employee discount.
I called my boyfriend, my family and texted a close friend about how excited I was.
"They told me they'd love to have me on the team and that I get to sit down with the scheduler in couple days, isn't that great?! This is a dream come true!" I gushed with pride.
When I came in a couple days later as promised I greeted everyone and the scheduler and I went into a back room. She was sweet and she told me she was very excited because this was her first interview she has ever conducted. She told me she loved my resume.
I blinked, inside feeling a bit startled but began to conduct myself in a interview type fashion. I tried to come off as friendly and as courteous as I could. I was happy we had a lot in common and I appreciate that I was able to make her laugh and talk about herself. She told me she doesn't get final say but that she sincerely hopes I get the job.
I waved my goodbyes and seemed cheerful and hopeful but left out the door with a soured face.
The owner immediately called me and in a jumble of words explained that the scheduler is also training to be a future manager. He hurridy told me hed like to have me come in for my final interview Wednesday, where he would ask me some situational questions.
He then went on to say that he was leaving the country for vacation for 3 weeks and that hopefully there would be an offer made by June.
I told him a bunch of affirmatives because I am a terrible people pleaser. At this point I was nervous and unsure of myself and I didn't want to come off as rude or ungrateful. I just asked a bit awkwardly, if he doesn't feel I'm a good fit or if they find someone else then I'd love a phone call. "Oh as a courtesy you mean? Yes of course, sure."
I got off the phone feeling confused. I had stupidly told everyone I already got the job. I berated myself for being so neieve and inspected my memories obsessively for anywhere I truly misunderstood. I concluded that I was sure he was being direct with me but must have changed his mind.
The thing is, I don't know I can't wait 3 weeks to see if they will extend me an offer. I needed that job and had thought I was coming in to sign paperwork and figure out my new work schedule.
Ever since my boyfriend got hurt at work I really needed this for us financially and I really just needed a win after so many weeks of sorrow and worry.
Maybe I'll get my dream job but my soul is telling me that it's best not get my hopes up at all. Right now, I am just trying to comfort myself. I'm nieve and maybe I should have known better. It's another important life lesson on only listening to what people do and to not pay attention to what they say. I should also know not to celebrate until I get things in writing.
It takes a mature person to really get that through their head. I'm working on it.
Despite this Wisdom, I'm sulking like a child.
-Thanks for listening. Let me know if something like this has ever happened to you before. I feel pretty dumb right now for sure... If you have any thoughts or encouragement that would be very kind of you.
submitted by Intelligent_City2644 to jobs [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 03:11 OttoVonBlastoid Nature Of A Homeless Musician: Special Thanks/Announcements

Nature Of A Homeless Musician: Special Thanks/Announcements
Hello all! Otto here. And, as you all now know. NoaHM has finally come to an end. It's been a hell of a ride that I'll never forget. But before I move on to thanking specific people and telling you all what's in store, I wanted to be a bit mushy for a minute if you'll indulge me...

When I first heard of NoP, I was in the middle of the night shift that I'm still working to this day. I had a single ear bud in, which was TECHNICALLY against the rules, and still is but fuck 'em. And to pass the time, I listened to stories. Either Mr. Creeps' Creepypasta compilations or, in this case, Agro Squirrel's Tales From Outer SPACE series. And eventually, I heard the name, The Nature Of Predators...and it all went downhill from there as you all can well imagine.

Jokes aside, I fell in love with the story and universe and decided to check out the community. And soon, I found the very first fic I ever read on here, "My Floridian Arxur Daughter". From that point on, I was hooked. I read "Arxur Nursery", "The New Terran Refugee", "Feathers Of Deceit", "Lost In Found", "Recipe For Disaster", "Playing By Ear", and so, SO many more. The sheer amount of creativity on display was amazing. And so...I decided to try my hand at it.

I'd already written a short creepypasta, as well as a small five-part miniseries based off of one of my friends DnD campaigns, so I had a LITTLE experience, but I still hadn't taken a single writing course or knew...anything about what I was doing, so I decided to try something small. (That worked out well...)

I was in the middle of rereading "Floridian Arxur Daughter" for...maybe the sixth time when a particular scene stuck out to me. Something about it...made something click in my head. After evacuating young Chalta from the house, her big bother Carlos and his girlfriend Salisek decide to take her out on a drive, and while their driving, Carlos mentions his ability to sing, and after both Chalta and Salisek both ask for a demonstration, he sings a beautiful rendition of "Send Me A Peach" from Over The Garden Wall.

It was a touching scene, and hearing the song from Chalta's point of view clicked with me. It was by this point that I'd also discovered "Playing By Ear" by u/VeryUnluckyDice, which was essentially this "listening to music through the perspective of someone else's mind" idea made manifest. And that's where it all began. I made a post, proposing the premise of my story, and while I didn't get a LOT of feedback, most of the feedback I got was positive. And a few days later, "Nature Of A Homeless Musician: Prologue" was born, in all of its overly edgy glory. And well...you know the rest from there...

I never could have imagined just how big this story would get. It was NEVER supposed to grow this much, touch so many people, inspire so many others to make stuff themselves. Sure, I hoped that it might, but I never thought it would! But now...here we are...

I...can't put into words, how thankful I am to each and every single one of you, who gave my little idea a chance. It means more to me then I could ever describe. Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to make my living by making things! At first, I thought that just meant being a Youtuber, like every cringy middle schooler does, but now...I think I get it... I've always wanted to be able to make things, and for those things to make OTHER people happy. Make them laugh, make them cry, make them smile, and make their days just a little bit brighter.

I've...long since given up that old dream... I just didn't think it was possible, not for me anyways. But you all proved me wrong. Every comment, every meme, every bit of art you guys make...proves me wrong. When I got my first bit of fanart, I cried at my monitor. Because for the first time in so long that I can't even remember, I was happy. I was so, so happy, because it genuinely felt like this dream that I've had since I was a kid was finally possible. Someone discovered something I made, and enjoyed it enough, loved it enough, got invested enough, to make something themselves just to show me and everyone else just how much they loved it.... And it made me happy, so, so damn happy.

So thank you. Thank you all so much for everything you do. Thank you for reading, commenting, replying, suggesting, joking, laughing, creating, and expressing with me. It means more than you'll ever know. And even if I don't end up pursuing writing after this, my life will never be the same, thanks to all of you.

If you're reading this, right here, right now, YOU, yes YOU... Thank you...for everything you do. And even if you don't think so, I think you're one of the most amazing people in this ass-backwards galaxy of ours. Thank you.

Now then, on to specific thanks:

u/Bow-tied_Engineer: You were literally the first person to tell me that this fic was a good idea. If you hadn't been there in the comments, I might not have gone through with it. And even since then, you've still been an absolute chad. We might not have the same taste in romance sub-plots, but I'll always respect you and your takes. Thank you, for giving me the confidence to give this a try.

u/CaptainChristopher02: The man himself. Your fic, "My Floridian Arxur Daughter" as well as "My Brazilian Arxur Nursery" were, as stated before, the very first fic I read on the sub. And your work was the first tiny spark that slowly became NoaHM. I've said it multiple times, and I'll say it again, if there was no "Arxur Daughter", there would be no "Homeless Musician". When I first started writing, I didn't even think I'd ever even meet you, but the fact that I have, and that you've joined my own little community of music and Tohba memes means the world to me.

u/VeryUnluckyDice: Reading through "Playing By Ear" for the first time was an experience I'll never forget. It was so interesting and different to almost everything else on the sub at the time except "Venlil Metal". You've done so much to inspire me and my work and even now, you're still an absolute chad and someone this community just wouldn't be the same without. I'm really looking forward to the day when our two stories really do cross. It'll be a grand sonata of sound the likes of which this sub has never seen, I just know it!

u/JulianSkies: Ever since you first started commenting on my chapters, you have been an absolutely ENDLESS source of positivity, helpful advice, information on the setting, proofreading, and all around good vibes. I always look forward to seeing what you have to say on the most recent post, and I hope you decide to stick around for whatever comes next. Thank you.

u/xskipy10: Good lord, where to even begin with you? Before, when I mentioned that first bit of fanart that made me cry, that was YOUR artwork. And that one picture, of Michael and the rest of the main cast has had such an enormous impact on not just me, but the rest of the sub as a whole. It was that one picture that gave me hope that the dream I've had since I was a kid was possible. It was your artwork of Tohba that, TO THIS DAY, Dovah is still using to award people who beat him to the precious title of "SPEED". I mean it when I say you are an absolute treasure, not just to me and my story, but to the entire NoP community.

u/OmegaOmnimon02: Before there was GuyWhoExists, there was Omega, the fastest memer in The West. You were the architect of the origianl "Rejoice! Tohba Be Upon Ye" meme, and it has since been used to this day as a form of mutual celebration for all. You've been one of my avid supporters for a long time now, and seeing another of your shitposts in the Discord never fails to brighten my day. Thank you for all that you do.

u/DOVAHCREED12: I swear, if you aren't SPEED when this post drops, I'm gonna be so disappointed. Jokes aside, I have loved and appreciated every single Venbig hug I have ever received from you. Back when I first started writing this, the "Official Venbig Seal Of Approval" was this vaunted, holy, symbol that a lowly peasant such as myself would never be able to earn. And then one appeared in my comments and it felt like freaking Christmas. Thank you so much for giving my story a chance.

u/Ben_Elohim_2020: I'll never get over just how hilarious our first meeting was. What was meant to be a quick one-to-two chapter long side trip with some shady dude in an alley completely spiraled into a giant, five-part, spat with the actual Space Mafia known as The Family. While the Twilight Valley Arc was divisive for a lot of people reading, I hope you know I had a MASSIVE amount of fun writing it with you, and I can't wait to see where you're future projects lead.

Papyroo: (Sorry, I can't remember your new Reddit name) Along with Omega, I've always looked forward to seeing what you have to say when it comes to my fic. And the impact you've had on my story can't be overstated. The Ficnapping you did is the reason that Tohba now has his blue "Tiwfish" plushie. And the events of your addition to my canon will continue to be referenced and fondly looked back on by my characters for a long time to come.

u/Spacer_Catgirl4969: I remember a time when you were still SpacerNEKO. You were always one of my most avid commenters way back when, and I always appreciated your kind words. And I still can't express how cool it was that you actually made a pixel art music video for Dohkar. It still holds up, even now. You and Guywhoexists should TOTALLY work on a project together. With your combined pixel art skills, who knows what's possible?!

u/Mini-Tonk: Well, if it isn't the Rat boi, himself. You have never once faltered in your efforts to not only support my work, but also protect Tohba from the shadows. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and you canonically making ME a character in your fic is still hilarious and heartwarming. Thank you for everything you do.

u/Guywhoexists2812: While you are one of the newest members of our little NoaHM family, that hasn't stopped you from being one of the most active and creative folks we have to offer. The sheer amount of memes and pixel art you've created is downright INSPIRATIONAL. Along with Skipy, whenever someone comes up with a cute idea for art, I know you'll find some way to pull through. Keep creating, King. You are no mere "Guy". You are a KING who exists!

And of course, u/SpacePaladin15 for creating this awesome universe to begin with, without whom, none of use would be here right now.

There are two other names missing on this list, but that's mostly because I'm currently working on a project with them and I don't want to spoil anything...yet.

And speaking of future projects! ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!!!!

It's been one hell of a wild ride, hasn't it? But I tell you this: THE RIDE AIN'T OVER YET!!!!! But...it will be slowing down for a while...

After working on this story for so long, (especially that triple upload. GOD, what was I thinking?!) I am in dire need of rest. So, for now, I will be going on about a month-long hiatus from posting, except for a small occasion here and there. I'll still be active in the community, especially on Discord, but you won't get any big story updates for a while.

Does this mean that I'm done and the story's over? No.

This was but the first arc in the tale of Michael Ruiz Andrews and his family. There will INDEED be MOAR!!!

More music! More hijinks! More action! More romance! More drama! More touching family moments! And, of COURSE, MORE TOHBA!!!!

There will be MOAR!!! Just not yet. My Hiatus will officially start tomorrow after a belated NoaHM Mother's Day Special. I also have a Father's Day Special planned for next month as well. But other than the occasional announcement post, you won't be getting anything story-related out of me until my break is over and I'm ready to unveil the next project I and three other creators have been working on. I won't say anything more on the project, but I will say to keep an eye out...

"But Otto!", I hear you ask.

"If there won't be any more big story updates, how will I get my fix of Baby-roo induced dopamine?! My brain requires more Tohba and Ven-floof memes to give me the goody good chemicals!!!"

Well my friend, I have just the solution for you!!! A SHAMELESS SELF-PLUG!!!

Most of you may already know, but Nature Of A Homeless Musician has its OWN DISCORD SERVER!!!!!!

We've got MEMES, STORY IDEAS, FOOD SO FULL OF LOVE THAT MAMA-ROO HERSELF COULD'VE MADE IT!

We got fanart, gaming chats, and we even plan the occasional movie night!

As well, as soon as this post goes live, I'll be adding a new channel specifically for Q&A and Trivia!
For Example:

Did you know that NoaHM was originally meant to only be ten chapters long?

Did you know Trilly and Dailo were created entirely on accident?

Did you know that the events of the FINALE have been remade, reorganized, and rewritten at LEAST four times?

Did you know...THAT TOHBA WAS BASED OFF A REAL PERSON?!

All of these things are true! And if you want to learn more about the making of this series, direct from my brain, the come on in and ask away!

All I ask in return is that you follow the rules I've laid out a generally not be a jerk. We're here to have fun and be wholesome, so let's keep it that way. I hope to see you there!

https://discord.gg/YSysvHHx

And now, lastly, here's nearly EVERY single meme bit of fanart I've received:

And once again, from the bottom of my heart, with all the love I can muster, thank you.

https://preview.redd.it/2nxhg18mia0d1.jpg?width=2388&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5887802bce7c20b6fe2f190ce0992be17a3f6a58
https://preview.redd.it/u9i0zbgtia0d1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0ff76b390ec3f7daed9d66a4d556db0a063fc97
https://preview.redd.it/pg860rcvia0d1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d6fa595bb160514ce214c1594e70ffdf9c8c4e3
https://preview.redd.it/u94h5np0ja0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=373918e5c84b606979efd9f793418068e6cbc468
https://preview.redd.it/609h59x3ja0d1.jpg?width=1334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b09601d8f19c0b7aaf262bdd887b24317e95a6d
https://preview.redd.it/01pbmbs6ja0d1.jpg?width=524&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5cdbf19cfa75be452cdfb4c54e19924d0b5b1aa
https://preview.redd.it/6iz7wh8bja0d1.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2257a778a87bb3013b08bac4ce9021d1de8e56d1
https://preview.redd.it/zxry3gddja0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f0a0b18130d8e3283970f3e8f97002362c957e0
https://preview.redd.it/qfx79v5gja0d1.jpg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d5db5c8624a18513160ebb6f9648f2486a238cb
https://preview.redd.it/metjjzphja0d1.jpg?width=888&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6adabe3c438808bbeb623f5690e9f34766d7e04f
https://preview.redd.it/8yrync9lja0d1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=d75e3c651c99936f2eccd6135ba769aeab119208
https://preview.redd.it/0uawe15aka0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5999790ce154f9022ca51812b857aeefd348b66f
https://preview.redd.it/uug3dq1bka0d1.jpg?width=1668&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca76e5a6939143aad5dc148607934b896eeb9305
https://preview.redd.it/lr2gzj6cka0d1.jpg?width=1521&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4b2ec5e86862c8268aa0efdfde022b1a3ce37c1
https://preview.redd.it/sk0rz05eka0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0eedf45cb5627708f6c5449a4d4ce96f5820cca7
https://preview.redd.it/hwztvo5vka0d1.jpg?width=577&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2492936771668389e1e33eb37adfdde5ff898e9
https://preview.redd.it/ns5mvayvka0d1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78658096eda7cd47a2faf0add5806d78a2b9ea20
https://preview.redd.it/cn5ruxxwka0d1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e36414e11ee37f23418a5d7b9d3fce6f13b7d57c
https://preview.redd.it/3w08uzb2la0d1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=84608636603a71dba3863d02cf3e0d655062fbe7
Thank you... Thank you all...
submitted by OttoVonBlastoid to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 03:01 wswh Taycan location maps qn

Hi all, I realise when I search for location on the map is always Russia location.
I’m in Singapore and while I understand there a concept of Parallel Import where car is purchased overseas and brought into Singapore hence overall still cheaper than buying from SG directly
but how do I change the map back to SG?
submitted by wswh to Taycan [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:55 Quick_Emotion3196 Is my (23f) marriage with my husband (33m) coming to an end?

To start things off, I was always aware of our age gap and problems it may cause in our relationship.
My husband and I didn't meet until I was well into being eighteen, and he was twenty-eight. It didn't bother me much, as he doesn't act much older than me and I'd always felt older than I was due to having a ton of younger siblings, step siblings, and foster kids in and out of my mother's house growing up.
We got engaged when I was nineteen at a yungblood concert, and we originally planned to wait to marry until I was at least twenty. Plans changed when I decided to go into the air force, and we had to push up the wedding in order for him to eventually stay with me on base after basic training.
Fast forward a few months after we were married and I had left for Texas for training, I was injured during PT training and sent home. It was during the craziest parts of covid, so everything was on lockdown and they had strict rules about not keeping anyone on base for a long period of time if injured. I was medically discharged and sent home to heal and have potential surgery.
At the time, my husband was staying with his friend in the city we planned to move to. We already put down a deposit on an apartment when we found out I was going home, but due to Covid restrictions and eviction restrictions, it was returned to us and we were told we could no longer move in.
The first issue I was seeing when I got home was his disattention to me. I was gone for over a month and missed celebrating my twentieth birthday with anyone but the girls in medhold with me, so I was looking forward to spending quality time with my husband.
We went out to eat with his friend, his friend's girlfriend, and one of her friends. I felt like a fifth wheel during the meal, as I was sat at the end of the table instead of being at my husband's side where her friend was sitting. Most of the conversations didn't include me, and I ended up going back to his friend's place feeling let down.
The rest of the time we were staying with his friend, they wanted all of us to go mountain climbing, cliff jumping, and trekking through the woods as they lived in a nature-centered part of the area. (Keep in mind, I was just sent home for being injured, and I had both a knee and ankle brace on my right leg that prevented much movement other than some hobbled walking that was slower than a normal pace).
When I expressed that I wasn't comfortable doing those things and that I wouldn't be jumping thirty feet into a freezing lake when I could barely walk as it is, my husband got upset with me and eventually just left me there alone while they all went to hang out together.
Flash forward four years, it is now 2024 and we have a two-year-old toddler. I didn't end up getting surgery, and I spent nine months being sicker than I'd ever been in my life.
It was a really rough pregnancy for me, and I'd ended up in the hospital multiple times because I couldn't even smell food or step foot into our kitchen without throwing up.
That all went on until the beginning of my third trimester. We decided to travel back to his friend's place, and I was somehow roped into climbing cliffs, wading through treacherous water to climb another cliff on an island out in the middle of a lake, and sleep at the top of sand dunes in a tent on the ground a couple weeks before my due date.
I was then on antibiotics during birth, because my water broke and the hospital sent me home instead of keeping me. My son was born sick, and transferred to a children's hospital to be treated and receive a spinal tap. I ended up sleeping a week in a hard hospital chair in a leaking basement of the hospital because they didn't have enough space for us.
After we were home and everything was settled, my husband would brag about how difficult the whole situation was for him. He had to sleep on a futon during my labour, and he had to have food doordashed to the hospital because, due to covid restrictions, noone else was allowed in with us and he wasn't allowed to leave to get anything.
He ended up having steak, potatoes, and these other elaborate meals delivered to eat in front of me while I wasn't allowed to eat anything until the baby came out. He even thought about bringing his playstation into the hospital room, but I shut that down quickly.
The first year of my son's life, I went back and forth between staying home with him and working in the factory my husband currently works at while my grandma watched our son.
I won't get into too much detail, but at one point when my grandma moved back out of state (she lives in her camper and was only there for the summer), I had to switch to the afternoon shift.
There is a factory supervisor on that shift that is a male and close to my husband's age. Other than the other person in my same position and two maintenance workers, they only had migrant workers that didn't speak english. This limited the people I could talk to while working my twelve hour shifts (husband worked 3:30 am to 3:30 pm and I would work 3:30 pm to 3:30 am).
My husband got very jealous and territorial at this time. He would expect me to return nearly thirty minutes late from all my breaks, threaten to go up there if anyone told me I couldn't do that, and even punched a hole in the wall when I told him I had to get back to work.
Up until that point, my husband had shown no signs of aggression toward me.
Somehow, a rumour started to spread around the factory that I was sleeping with the production lead. This definitely wasn't true as a) how and where would I have done that? and b) I loved my husband and would have never done something like that.
My husband heard about it, and came home to confront me. He got in my face, screaming and calling me a cheater. He threatened to take our son and move back in with his mom without even letting me offer an explanation or defend myself.
To this day, it still bothers me that he is still so convinced that I cheated on him and that he has no trust in me whatsoever to not do something like that.
I ended up leaving that job and working at mcdonalds for a little while. I had worked there in high school, so it wasn't a big adjustment.
I only ended up staying there a few months to help us catch up on bills before we agreed it would be better for me to stay home with our son for a while.
Our son is two now, and it seems like our relationship has only become more strained. We used to be able to communicate most of our smaller issues and come up with ways to maneuver whatever issues we had. However, in June of last year, my husband's friend that we were staying with in the beginning moved across the state to be near us.
It was all fine and good in the beginning. He had proposed to his girlfriend, and they even asked the both of us to be in their wedding that has yet to happen.
However, once they got engaged, he'd began acting very sexist. Even though both he and his fiance work full time (he works down the road at the factory with my fiance, and she works forty minutes away at a hardware store and has to drive a long way at three in the morning to get there), he expects her to come home and clean up after him, also cook his meals before she goes to bed early to get up really early in the morning for work the next day.
My husband, now hanging out with him more often, started having some of these things wearing off on him.
At first, it wasn't a big deal and I brushed it off. However, I'd gotten a job as a property manager for an apartment complex and also work now. Instead of things changing to adapt our new lifestyle, my husband expects me to continue keeping up with all the chores and cooking.
He'd made a comment that, because he feeds our dogs, he expects me just to do everything that involves our toddler from feeding him, to changing his butt, to putting him to bed at night. It's like pulling teeth sometimes to get him to change his butt or even get pants on him.
We'd gotten into an argument over this, and I told him that it wasn't fair that he expected me to do everything. His response was that he made more money and worked more hours, so it was only fair that I covered everything else.
Sure, I don't work as much or make as much money, and my paychecks mainly cover our son's daycare and our car payments, but I feel like working doesn't excuse him from helping with the son we both decided to have.
It's gotten to the point where I told my husband that if any sexist remark is made, like I should be in the kitchen helping get dinner ready whenever we're at his friend's house, I will be leaving and going back home, and I won't be going back until it is resolved.
The friend's fiance and I have had private conversations about this, and we both agree that it has gotten out of hand, and we both believe they are feeding off each other as they'd never been that bad before.
Everything has only seemed to get worse from there.
We decided to go as a group, along with my brother and his girlfriend, to the draft in Detroit this year.
The whole point was to see players get drafted in person, and we'd managed to get into the crowd in front of the stage before the area was shut down and they weren't allowing anyone else in.
My brother is an avid football fan. He played in high school, and was even offered multiple scholarships to play in college. This was a once in a lifetime experience for the both of us.
At one point, my husband and his friend decided that they would rather stand at one of the screens out of the crowd and watch it instead of trying to get into the sea of people to see it live.
I was frustrated, and expressed that if we wanted to watch it on television that we should have just stayed home. After a heated argument, I thought we'd come to the agreement that we'd go back to the stage and watch it there.
My brother lead us through the crowd, and at the beginning my husband and his friend were following us. Somehow, we'd gotten separated and when I looked back once we found a spot to stand, they were gone.
My phone rang in my pocket, and when I picked it up it was my husband calling. As soon as I picked it up, he proceeded to scream at me for disappearing and called me a "stupid bitch" when I tried to explain that I thought they were following us.
He hung up, and I told my brother I was going to go look for them alone. I spent a good twenty minutes wandering the area that was barricaded, but they were nowhere to be found. I no longer had signal to get ahold of him, so I ended up just going back and watching the beginning of the draft with my brother.
By the eighth pick, texts started to come in from my husband. He had informed me that they all left, leaving the three of us alone. Luckily, I'd driven separate as I left work early to get there.
By that point, I was done with him. I felt disrespected and that hanging out with his friend was more important than making sure his wife was okay or even with him. After all, I was wandering downtown Detroit alone when it was starting to get dark out.
When the three of us inevitably got back to the car, I got ahold of my husband just to let him know we were on our way home. He tried to apologise and ask how everything was, but I was too exhausted and mad at him to try and hold a conversation. He was asleep by the time I got home, and I ended up sleeping in our spare bedroom on a futon.
The next day, my husband tried to act like nothing happened. When I expressed that I felt ignored and pretty much useless to him, he tried to play it off like his anger was warranted and completely ignored the fact that he was calling me names.
I told him that I was no longer going to any big events with him and his friend, and he just rolled his eyes like he didn't believe me.
A day later, I saw a message pop up on his phone from his friend. I guess he had told him what I said about not going anywhere anymore, and his friend said "women" with an eyeroll emoji and "she'll get over it eventually". I screenshotted these messages and sent them to myself, filing them away in a folder in my phone to keep for later.
I slept in our spare bedroom for a week after that.
After the draft, I've also kept notes in my phone with time and date stamps of all the times he went off on me since then. Whenever we get into arguments, my mind goes blank and I forget exact things like this so he likes to say it never happened if I can't remember it.
April 27th, we were sitting watching videos together on tiktok. When someone popular came on that he had been watching a lot recently, I exclaimed that I didn't understand how he got popular all of a sudden. He proceeded to get really agitated and yell at me for not understanding how the internet works. When I stood up to walk away because I was upset, this angered him more. He then expressed that my emotions were overrated and that he was sick of them.
May 2nd, I had gotten home from work and tried to show my husband an outdoor jungle gym on amazon that I thought would be cool to get our son. He claimed it was a waste of money and that we should just take him to the park. When I tried to explain that it was a better idea to get something like this, as realistically we wouldn't take him to the park every day, he freaked out and asked what was wrong with me. He then said "oh my god" when I tried to explain that it would be easier to watch him outside while getting stuff done around the house and decided to just go to bed without dinner and end the conversation completely.
May 5th, we went with his friend and fiance to a cinco de may party in the city. He was drinking most of the day, and on the way home he wanted us to stop some place and get ice cream. When he got out of the car, he hit it against the car next to us. When I told him he'd hit the car, he proceeded to yell at me in the crowd that I was crazy and acting like my mother. He then kept trying to go to the woman in the car and ask if he had, in fact, hit her car. After, he said he was done with me and I was on my own, that I would have to start paying my own bills from now on.
There's been many other entries in my notes similar to this, and I feel like I'm at the end of what I can handle. Divorce has crossed my mind, but I had divorced parents growing up and know how hard it would be on my son. I also don't think I'm in a well off financial position to go out on my own with our son and still provide the things he needs.
I also worry that, if we were to separate, he would push to take our son from me as he'd threatened in the past to do so.
Any advice would be helpful, as I don't know what else to do. Even getting this all off my chest online makes me feel a little better, but there's still the lingering thought in the back of my mind that I'm unhappy and don't know how much longer I can put up with this.
Thank you.
submitted by Quick_Emotion3196 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:51 CrinkleDink So I played the Box Art dynasty, House Renart. Here is my playthrough so far, in the form of AAR Chronicle.

So I played the Box Art dynasty, House Renart. Here is my playthrough so far, in the form of AAR Chronicle.
House Renart: \"As Clever as a Fox\"

Duke Otger 'the Brute' of Lausitz

It's him, John Crusader-Kings-3
Otger I Renart (6 March 1040 - 28 February 1101) was the count of Spreewall and the Duke of Lausitz, and the founder of the Renart dynasty. A dastardly count, he pursued any way to gain power in the lands of the Saxons.
Otger was known to be a stubborn and yet brave man, with a vengeful streak. This was due to the fact that his brother was killed by Jakob Barenburg of Lubsko when he was a mere infant. Otger grew up under the tutelage of his mother, becoming a well read warrior in his own right.
At the age of 16, he fell in love with Hersent Louve, a minor noble lady within his court, and they married. They would have a daughter who would eventually marry Edgar Wessex. For a while, peace remained in Lausitz, but Otger, the wily fox, would see to it that he would move things to get revenge on Jakob Barenburg.
15 September, 1066, Otger went to war with the County of Wittenberg, held by Count Thimo, to press a claim over the castle and lands there. He would defeat Count Thimo at the Battle of Wittenberg in 21 February of 1067, and in May became the ruler of Wittenburg.
On 28 July 1067, his eldest son Otger was born. In September, Count Jakob Barenburg would be poisoned on the 15th of December, 1067, and for many generations his death was seen as mysterious. Recent historical opinion, however, blames Otger I for the death.
The following year, Otger went to war with Jakob Barenburg’s daughter, Brigida, who was seeing instability in her realm following the untimely death with her father. Otger’s forces defeated Brigida at the Battle of Lubsko, but two years of siege meant minor skirmishes, and Otger would only gain victory in August of 1070 AD.
Otger was a participant in defending the realm Duke Theoderic of Angria who was fighting off his own counts in 1076. Otger would lose the battle of Lüneburg against Countess Hedwig of Göttingen that year, but Duke Theoderic successfully put down his vassals. It was around that time that Otger was being called “the Brute” by many of his vassals for his heavy handed way of doing things, as well as his strong physique. The nickname would stick.
Another war for the Count of Gorlitz in 1077-1078 led Otger to acquiring another castle. Him and his knights would defeat the count outside of Gorlitz and overtook the fortress. With many of the castles and lands under his grasp, Otger began to plot to become the duke of Lausitz.
Duke Konrad of Lausitz was relatively young when he came to the throne. In a position of weakness, Otger declared himself the rightful duke of the land of Lausitz. The armies of Count Otger moved towards Juterborg in the winter of 1084. The young Duke Konrad did not give up his throne so easily. Otger commanded the armies, backed by the Duke of Carinthia and the Duke of Angria, whom he created alliance with.
Otger commanded and won the battle of Görlitz against Count Konrad of Jüterbog on the 31st of July, 1084. He was actually outnumbered during this fight in a battle of 1000 against 1500. He used the positioning of the hills outside of the city to his advantage. Konrad would be captured later by the Duke of Carinthia in August of 1085, and would surrender. Otger would be declared the Duke of Lausitz.
Not even a year later, Konrad rebelled against Otger, seeking to reclaim his power as Duke. The two had small engagements in 1086, most notably the Battle of Gommern in January of 1087. Otger pursued the fleeing Konrad into the spring and would capture him at the Battle of Gorlitz. There, Konrad would be imprisoned, and had his lands revoked.
On the 25th of October, 1090, Duke Otger came to the aid of his ally King William II ‘the Red’ of England after King Philippe of France went to reclaim Normandy. This would see a defeat for Otger and William the Red. Normandy fell back into French control.
In 1091, Otger became the ruler of the Duchy of Istria after it’s previous Duke was excommunicated. The title was given to him by Emperor Heinrich V. A similar situation happened in 1096 with the Duchy of Hesse, which was given to Otger as well.
13 March, 1098, Otger came to Duke Hendrik's defense against Duca Tribale Aleardo's dethronement war. Duke Hendrik would manage to fend of Aleardo’s forces by himself, however, so Otger’s participation was not needed.
The last three years of Otger’s reign was relatively peaceful. He hosted a grand wedding for his son Christopher who married into Austria’s Babenburg family. Otger would pass away on the 28th of February, 1101, from old age. His primary title of Lausitz would pass onto his son Otger, while the Duchy of Istria went to his son Ludwig and Hesse went to his son Christopher.

King Otger of Poland

Guy had a massive drinking problem and no sons.
King Otger (July 28, 1067 - July 6th, 1124) was Duke of Lausitz in 1101, and the King of Poland from 1116, until his death in 1124.
In life, Otger was a calm, humble, and zealous man whose only ambition in life was, at first, to rule the Duchy of Lausitz relatively peacefully. Unlike his vengeful father, Otger made a point to not make many enemies. In fact, he was quite good with making friends and even allies in clutch.
He was born on July 28th, 1067 to his father Count Otger and his mother Countess Hersent. He was their second child, and the oldest of his brothers. His upbringing was relatively quiet, with his father Otger having a hands-on approach to his education.
In 1083, he would marry a minor noble from Poland, named Olga. She would, however, die in childbirth with his firstborn daughter Geilana in 1087. This would lead Otger to grow distant with his eldest daughter, who he would eventually disinherit. This was also the point when Otger would begin his horrible habit of alcoholism to cope with his misery. The same year, he made a political alliance with Duchess Gertrude, another minor noble, from Austria.
In 1101, Otger would ascend to the throne of Lausitz (as Otger II) while his brothers became dukes of Istria and Hesse. He would ally with them to secure their places as the dukes over those lands. He would travel on pilgrimage in 1104 as a sign of his piety. He arrived in Colonge on the 25th of April where he dedicated his life to ruling in the Christian ways.
During this, King Casimir of Poland was excommunicated by the Pope for his life of sin. A massive civil war overtook the Polish countryside, dragging German dukes into the conflict. Polish soldiers would raid the Duchy of Lausitz while Otger II was on his pilgrimage. When he returned, he was furious to see what had happened to his lands. He appealed to Pope Urbanus II in hopes that he could get compensation to rebuild some of his lands.
Instead, Pope Urbanus II saw the pious character of Otger, and, knowing he was bordering the Polish lands, offered him the opportunity to step in during the civil war as an intercessor to bring peace and dispose of King Casimir. Otger at first refused this role, believing it was not his place. However, as the civil war dragged on, more and more of Poland grew into turmoil. According to The Renalt Chronicle Otger “prayed to God for resolution” in Poland in 1114, but nothing came.
In the same year, Queen Gertrude would die in her sleep. Otger had been struggling to get a male heir all of his life. Stricken with the grief of his wife dying, and the continuous raids in his lands, Otger became flagellant in order to cope with the stress. Otger believed he was punished by God for his reluctance to act in Poland. Thus, in his zealous nature, he finally rallied his small forces and rode into the southern mountains of Silesia in Janary of 1115, to do the “right” thing.
Quick, while he's distracted, invade him!
King Casimir was far too distracted by an invasion to the east of him by the Russians to bother with the small forces of Duke Otger that was reported to him. He was busy fighting his brother Witosz Piast for the throne as well. Otger joined Richard Babenburg, Duke of Austria, in Silesia and then marched north into Greater Poland. Many of the castles were occupied by Czibor Piast’s soldiers and they quickly fell to Otger and Richard’s forces as they besieged them.
The armies of Witosz were defeated by Casimir in the spring of 1116, where he was imprisoned by his brother. Casimir marched back west towards the armies of Otger and Richard who were driving way the rest of the rebel forces. The rebels disbanded, which gave Otger the opportunity to take further Silesian castles. Eventually, come the late summer of 1116, Duke Otger and King Casimir met each other at Katowice.
The Battle of Katowice was a long engagement, taking several weeks in the early fall of the year. Otger was reported to have an army of 1500 men, while Casimir had an army of 1700 men. It was believed that, at first, Casimir with his slight numerical advantage would win. However, the Duke of Austria came from the south later into the engagement and swayed the tide. Casimir would flee the battle, defeated.
Duke Austria followed him further east to Krakow and laid siege to the city. The Saxon forces of Otger would break through the city gates, storm it, and captured King Casimir. The bishop of the city oversaw the transfer of the crown to Duke Otger.
Thus, on the 16th of December, 1116, Duke Otger Renart would be crowned King of Poland. During the coronation ceremony, he would meet the beautiful Weslikan of Livonia, to become his third wife.
It would not be long, however, until the peace would be abrupt. The nobles of Poland were not fond of a new Saxon king over their lands. They rebelled against King Otger in November of 1117, trying to place Duke Witosz Piast onto the throne. The irony was that Witosz was not in favor of this, as he became good friends with Otger and supported his kingship.
Two years of rebellion would eventually see the rebels imprisoned by King Otger in December of 1119, who had eventually begun to be led by the former King Casimir again. Casimir and the disloyal vassals had their lands stripped from them and were executed for their rebellion.
Duchess Bożena of Mazovia began a war of liberation in 1121, during the beginning of the First Crusade. This would only lead to a white peace two years later in 1123, however.
Unfortunately for Otger, his life of drinking would eventually catch up to him. In 1124, as his forces were mustering in preparation for the First Crusade, he died of liver failure in his tent. Otger had failed to have a son with Queen Weslikan, and therefore, the realm and his duchies were split between his four daughters: Imma, Bia, Beatrix, and Wienke.
Imma Renalt would succeed him to the throne in 1124, though her reign would not prove a long one…

Queen Imma of Poland

Imma and her ragtag younger sisters got all their dad's lands. Wouldn't fare as they, nor I, expected it.
Imma Renart (August 17, 1090 - August 7, 1124) was Queen of Poland from July 6th of 1124 to August 7th of 1124. She would be queen only for 32 days. Her reign is often forgotten in many histories, as it was overshadowed by her son Oldrik.
Imma Renart was an ambitious and just woman, with much compassion. She was also known for her natural beauty thanks to her mother Gertrude. She inherited much of her father’s attitude on ruling, and desired to bring peace to Poland when she became queen. With the partitioning of her father’s many duchies, she received Greater Poland while her sisters gained Lausitz and the Silesian lands.
When she ascended the throne, her younger sister Bia was staging a rebellion to become Queen of Poland herself. Imma at the time was pregnant and was in a period of great stress. According to the Renartnomicron, she was heart-stricken when her spymaster suggested killing her sister. From the stress of the rising rebellion, her pregnancy, her weakened heart (due to her drinking habits), and the spymaster’s suggestion, she suddenly died from a heart attack on August 7th, 1124. The death was completely unexpected.
Her only son, Oldrik, who was 14 at the time, was off hunting when the news of his mother’s death came. He was stricken with grief. But little time was left for him, as he would now have to be king…

King Oldrik 'the Worthy' of Poland and Pomerania

I didn't expect to play YOU so early!
Oldrik Renart (June 21, 1110 - July 23 1177) became King of Poland on August 7th, 1124 after the sudden death of his mother. An intelligent and handsome man, he is looked back as a good king to the Polish people to this day, and the people of Poland were happy during his rule. He was also known for being a pious king, converting the pagans of Pomerania to the Christian faith. This was commemorated with the building of a great cathedral in Garwolin, which was dedicated in his honor. Another part of his reign was the Conversion of Pomerania, in which he crusaded against the northern pagans.
Oldrick was also known for many of his building projects, particularly within Krakow and Warsaw. Before his rule, Poland was seen as a backwards land to the western Europeans, as it was incredibly undeveloped, its people lived in poverty, and sickness would avail across it. Thanks to Oldrik, many hospices, churches, and castles were built which brought great wealth and prosperity to the realm.
In particular, Oldrik noticed how strategic the lands of Warsaw were. At first it was merely a small village. However, during his reign, he built a mighty castle there and it would soon develop into a strategic city.
On the 7th of August of 1124, Oldrick, then 14 years old, was off hunting when his pregnant mother died of a sudden heart attack, to the shock of everyone in the court. The physicians tried to revive her, but to no avail. The young boy was crowned the King of Poland when he returned to Krakow the same week, though he was frightened of what had just happened. Talks of rebellion stirred within the nobles, particularly his aunt Bia, who was seeking to claim the throne of Poland for herself.
Which is why Oldrik took a strategic gamble and married his aunt Bia, the duchess of Lausitz, in 1126 when he became a man. She would bear a majority of his children, and the marriage was seen as happy, though they were about 6 years apart in age. However, this would prove an important alliance, as the former friend of King Otger, Prince Witosz Piast, would betray the family and sought to take the throne of Poland for himself.
November 8th of that year Prince Witosz staged his rebellion against the young Oldrik Renart. Historians view this as the “last hurrah” for the House of Piast. Witosz had the support of the remaining Polish nobility while Oldrik was supported by the loyal German counts under his rule in northern Germany.
Witosz was reported to have claimed the former King Otger was a “temporary” monarch set by the Pope, but that it was proper time for the Piasts to take over the throne. King Oldrik disputed this, asserting that it was the will of God, and his divine task, to rule the Polish people. Oldrik took to learning the Polish tongue and dressing himself in traditional Polish noble clothing to assert his place to the people of his realm.
The civil war started by Witosz Piast lasted two years, but he saw his end at the fields outside of Warsaw when he would be captured on the 12th of February, 1128, by Oldrik’s army. The Treaty of Warsaw had Witosz give up his claims to the throne of Poland. Oldrik traveled to meet the prince a few days later. Oldrik, who had heard Witosz slander the name of his grandfather and murder one of his kinsmen, reportedly spoke only a few words to his grandfather’s former “friend.” Witosz would be executed by beheading for his treachery, thus ending the Piast dynasty’s rule over Poland for good.
When he rode toward the village of Warsaw with his host, he was greeted by the peasantry who declared him “worthy of the crown of Poland” and applauded him. Thus he gained his historical moniker. King Oldrik from then on took interest in the village, and ordered a castle built on the field of which Witosz was defeated.
In the following years, Oldrik would fall in love with his step-grandmother Weslikan, and would find himself having a bastard son named Ulinniks with her in 1131. He hid the existence of this boy for years until he became a court chronicler. He was responsible for the additions of the reign of Oldrik in the Renaltnomicron. He would have another son, Glande, with her, to which he also hid his existence.
He also began to love Queen Bia, his wife, and had many children with her during this time. Bia would also seduce her husband and would often control how he ruled, gaining her the moniker “the Enchantress” for her beauty and cunning.
In 1137, the duke of Moravia, Wlost Dunin, murdered Oldrik’s daughter Bia. He would be excommunicated for this act, and then was imprisoned. His titles were taken and he was sent into exile, never to be seen again. King Oldrik would take special care of the town of Warsaw, which he continued to develop. In the same year, Oldrik went to war with Duke Kasper II of Nordmark (a notable pagan prince in Pomerania) to reclaim the duchy of Greater Poland. The war went on until 1140, where Duke Kasper would be defeated, and his lands taken.
Now King Oldrik, though he was not righteous in his acts of adultery, he still believed himself to be a “King David” of his day. He believed he was a man after God’s own heart. He sought to destroy the pagans to his north, who had a great idol in Arkona and worshiped there. This would begin what was known as the Christianization of Pomerania, who allied with the Teutonic Knights who were gifted land in Prussia.
29 November, 1149 was the day that King Oldrik moved against Duke Kasper II of Nordmark once again, this time with the backing of the Teutonic Knights. The war would end on the 5th of May, 1153 with Kasper seeing defeat and dethronement, losing the Duchy of Veletia and being forced to convert, and then was exiled. King Oldrik declared himself King of the Pomeranians, and in an act of change, he traveled to Arkona, to the island of Rana, and ordered the idol to Svetovit torn down.
Based.
In the spring of the next year, 1154, Countess Marketa of Pomerania was invaded by the Teutonic knights and King Oldrik, and was forced to convert and submit herself to the rule of King Oldrik.
Not every pagan ruler took kindly to the destruction of the idol at Rana. Count Zbigniew of Pomerania had Queen Bia murdered in October of 1155 as an act of defiance, and declared it was for the glory of Svetovit. He then openly rebelled with the other pagan counts in November, seeking to dethrone Oldrik as King of Pomerania. Once again the Teutonic Knights came to the aid of Oldrik, and together the Polish forces and Teutons were enamored in a religious war for the fate of the pagans.
King Oldrik riding in battle against the remaining pagan counts.
The war lasted until January of 1158. Zbigniew would be captured for his treachery against the queen in the county of Radom by the Teutonic knights. Zbigniew would be executed for the murder of Queen Bia, and his lands revoked. The Pomeranian lands were granted to Oldrik’s eldest son, Miesko, who was thought to be in line for being king.
In 1159, King Oldrik joined the crusade against Zaphoriza against the Tengrist pagans. He would lose the Battle of Tor, (which saw him critically injured and nearly die, though he pulled through), though it would ultimately be a victory for the crusaders, and Oldrik’s son in law, Pawel Renalt, would be made the crusader king over the lands.
The 9th May, 1166, marked the last of the pagans of Pomerania defeated, Count Bedrich, of Santok. The polish armies raided Santok and would capture Count Bedrich, who would be converted to Christianity and forced to submit to the authority of King Oldrik that following August. Legend has it that the Cathedral of Garwolin’s final stone was laid on the day Count Bedrich converted, leading to the end of Slavic paganism in the Baltics and Poland.
Legends arose about the cathedral, and Oldrik’s apparent nature in being a holy warrior against the northern pagans. Stories arose about him committing miracles against the pagans. As the chronicler Ulliniks wrote of the legend: “Oldrik devoted himself to God and acted entirely in his will. Every Christian wandered the land with the name ‘Oldrik’ on their lips, telling tales of constant holy happenings in his name. Here it is written in Krakow, on the 20th of August in the Year of our Lord 1173.”
He continued. “The roads of the faithful were accosted by the godless, and with a blessed blade Oldrik did chase them away. But yet wild beasts and serpents would still wander onto the path and do injury to the faithful, so Oldrik did pull out his trumpet and charm God’s creations out the lands.”
“King Oldrik was visited by God who directly spoke to him about the nature of Creation and the beauty of finite life. He emerged from this legendary confrontation a changed man, at peace with the fleeting nature of life and the peace of heaven.”
In some sense, this was true. Oldrik would seize his adulterous ways after the defeat of the pagans, seeking a pious life. In his elder years, he commissioned the building of a palace in Krakow and continued to develop Warsaw, eventually seeing it become an important, strategic city in the wake of further wars to come. It would also mark the end of the Piasts, and cement the rule of the Renart dynasty as the rulers of Poland.
On the 23rd of July, 1177, King Oldrik would die in his sleep, his old age finally getting to him. In his will, he marked his third eldest son, Wielslaw, to be his heir, instead of his oldest son Miesko. To Miesko instead he was given the Kingdom of Pomerania to rule. Thus the lands would be partitioned.
Thus far, House Renart has control over the Kingdoms of Poland, Pomerania, and Zaphoriza.
Should we continue this save and see what other shenanigans I get into as Poland? Didn't expect to get into Poland but here I am...
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2024.05.14 02:45 Medium-Roll-9529 I (f23) have to compete for my boyfriends (m22) attention with another woman (f22), what can I do?

Okay so, I'll try keep this simple and to the point. I will state tho that he is genuinely a very kind individual.
Basically I have been seeing this guy for almost four months, it started slow and got very hot and firey after a month, but early on I started noticing issues with his best friend, a woman, the first thing she said that gave me alarm bells was she said "I don't get on with women prettier than me". After that, she would regularly make points about how close the two of them where (less than a month into our relationship) get upset when he didn't respond to her messages when me and him hung out etc, when she is down and anxious for whatever reason he becomes her carer, he will do anything for her, and when he doesn't do it at the drop of a hat she gets annoyed. I have tried reaching out to her to perhaps improve the situation to no avail.
After 3 months of holding different things back about her behaviour, I was out in the same pub as him one night and went over to say hello, she seen me first and had the most disgusted look on her face, then quickly got everyone in their group to move away from me. I got annoyed and expressed to him (on a different day we were both sober) how I don't think she likes me, and that she has said and done this different things to deter me from seeking a relationship with him and it felt like he had feelings for her, that i wanted to know everything that went on between them, he denied having feelings and that he only wants me, as she's like a sister to him. I believed him in that regard however now things have shifted.
I am myself a very anxious person but I do not let it rule my life, however things between us have started to feel off, I just can't shake this feeling that she sees him as her lap dog, who did anything she wanted, now that his attention is directed to another woman she can't stand it, and she frequently does things to get his attention back on her, the trouble is, we have not been together very long and I can't exactly say, listen, this woman treats you like a slave and you lap it all up because you think she's your best friend, so stop being friends with the only person you hang out with (were in our 20s in university so they live together, and are again next year) I just don't know how to bring this up, he refuses to accept that she isn't a good person, despite telling me how manipulate and toxic she is to the other people around her, all the underhanded things she does, how she just throws people away once she's bored with them, I just don't know how to bring this up, any advice?
Thank you x
submitted by Medium-Roll-9529 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:43 NerdyOutdoors Exeter City Season 7: 3 Pressing Questions as Exeter Prepare for Season 2 in the Premier Leauge

Exeter City Season 7: 3 Pressing Questions as Exeter Prepare for Season 2 in the Premier Leauge
After Exeter City secured safety in their first-ever Premier League season, with four matches remaining, the fans' hearts, and the backroom staff's minds, all turned toward the upcoming season. Exeter's season was marked by thrilling highs (a 6-1 thrashing of West Ham, a convincing victory over Tottenham) and shocking lows (a 1-6 loss to LUTON TOWN of all teams, a pasting 1-5 by an ascendant Arsenal), but manager Andy Maher remained steady at the controls.
With the summer 2029 transfer window slammed shut and the new-look teams having played a few matches, we run the rule over the teams in the 2029-2030 Premier League. Up today, the south coast side Exeter City, the only fan-owned team in the Premier League. With the Supporter's Trust helping contribute to financial operations and the canny Julian Tagg still directing the football side of things, Exeter look to consolidate their precarious position and craft a long-term place in the top flight.
Exeter finished their season in a commendable 13th place, with an impressive attacking line that was able, sometimes, to overcome the worst defense outside of the relegation zone. Known usually for a solid backline, Exeter's players were generally exposed by the pace and attacking verve of the Premier League. Only Sonny Cox and the rest of the attack, who posted the league's 8th best scoring record, kept Exeter afloat.
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Cox, in partnership with assists co-leader Idrissa Camara, led the Premier League with a stunning 27 goal tally in 38 appearances, topping Chelsea's Nkunku by 3 goals.
As Exeter turn to the new season, we ask three pressing questions of the team and examine the answers to find out if Exeter can repeat the trick, or if their security in the top flight is merely an illusion.
Question 1: Will the defense improve?
Whether down to tactics or formation, or players themselves, Exeter's defense in the 2028-29 season was lacklustre at best. Many point to the relatively thrifty spend in 2028-29, with only Jordan Storey and Etienne Kinkoue coming through the door to bolster the ranks last season.
This season looks already off to a different start. While Exeter continue to parsimoniously clutch the purse strings, they sold some excess players and finally made a significant, record-smashing, splash in the transfer pool, this time bolstering the backline.
Exeter splashed £22.5m to sign Czech Republic international star Martin Vitik away from Salernita, who escaped relegation by just a few points in Serie A. Able to offer improved wages and a competitive environment, Exeter had clearly committed to improving the defense here.
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"We saw a number of transfers out early in this window, where players had not quite fit in, or even where we decided, as much as we wanted to keep the man, we needed to fund improvements across the squad," said Tagg. "Last year we saw a net spend for the first time ever, and while we are very far from the spending limits imposed by the EFL, we need to make sure we balance the books. So this was a very involved, drawn out, patient process that we were only able to conclude in late August."
In keeping with Exeter's thrifty ways, they added another option to the midfield as well. "We really felt that if we could possess the ball better, maybe use David's skill set to break up plays more, and add another player there, we might see improvements across the whole defense," said Maher in an interview. "So we managed to convince Mateusz that we were the best option for him."
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With Kowalczyk now roving the middle of the pitch, Exeter truly have competition at the central midfield position, and have the flexibility to move some of their talented pieces around the board. "Mateusz really freed up and gave us some interesting lineup choices, and you saw that in some of these early matches where we came out and surprised people," said Maher.
The new look for Exeter's base 4-2-3-1 looks like this, with Kowalczyk pushing forward into a CAM role, while Camara plays just slightly forward of Watson, who remains in a true defensive midfielder role. Hlynsson moves wide to the left, while Clark has the right touchline to himself. The new partnership of Storey and Vitik protects the center, while young starlet Maguire has impressed at right back, and former Exeter Academy man Ben Chrisene slots into the left wingback position.
Time will tell, but early results are promising. A rocky 3-2 win over Brighton was followed with a much more competent series of performances. Pundits are optimistic that Exeter can improve last season's defensive performance, and fans can only hope that the starting line avoids serious injury.
Question 2: Can Exeter keep their stars?
A smashing season from Cox, the silky smooth midfielder Camara, wide man Bobby Clark, the revelation of young fullback Rory Maguire-- these are the main men around whom Exeter has built its team. With Cox and Camara both having played with the squad since their League One days, there's an intuitive chemistry and connection built over hundred and thousands of hours on the training ground. Meanwhile. Clark has impressed on the wing, as the former central midfielder enjoys the space to threaten opposing fullbacks with his craft.
"We had one major bid for Sonny [Cox]," revealed Tagg recently, "but it was miles still from our valuation, and this is about more than just money anyway; Sonny has told us he will stay with us as long as he can, as long as our trajectory for success matches his. We go where Sonny takes us." The bid, which remains undisclosed, was regarded by some as an attempt to pry away a future world-class leader, at a cut-rate price. One indignant fan noted, "Just because we're Exeter and a small club doesn't mean they can offer rubbish fees." With goal scoring on par with elite teams like Chelsea, some were surprised by the rumors of the fee offer. Still, a handful of commentators, looking at Exeter's profit margins and football operations, noted that Exeter take a risk in declining a major fee--even a low offer. "£40, 50, 60 million? That would be huge for Exeter to take in, and then to reinvest across multiple positions of the squad," one said.
"What good is that reinvestment if you can't score in the Prem," replied Gibbons in her analysis of Exeter's roster. "Cox proved last season he could score here, that's invaluable to the team. We've seen too many failed major purchases-- even Exeter signed a player who was a bust at this level."
Exeter did lose a handful of significant players in the transfer window. Published estimates from football bloggers show that Exeter currently enjoy a small profit on sales, although this is subject to official confirmation.
Much of Exeter's reputed profit came from three sales. Moving on from failed striker Erik Botheim, Exeter unload the player and his contract to Bristol City for £9.9m. Kinkoue, who never really broke through into the first team with any consistency, accepted terms with Middlesbrough.
But the shock move was relegated Crystal Palace, desperate to shore up its bid for immediate promotion, buying Ngoma for £17.1m. The promising American winger showed great potential last season and was 2nd in assists for Exeter. His touch and crossing acumen helped Exeter through a challenging spring season and some thing that his departure is a significant dent in Exeter's futures.
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Ultimately, Exeter made few moves to bring in players, counting on a smaller number of hopefully shrewd choices to lead the way. As Gibbons notes, "There was some roster bloat last season; even with many players out on loan, Exeter carried more players than they could really find time for. This was a smart offseason to make a profit on academy graduates, while still identifying the core players who will help the team.
The season looks promising, with star man Cox already notching 4 goals in 6 appearances, while Camara and Clark both have tallied 2 goals and 1 assist each.
Gyokeres hasn't lost much of step, with 2 assists and a goal to his name.
Meanwhile, young star in the making Rory Maguire continues his run of excellent form. The young fullback had a bad day at the Carabao Cup, but has put in stellar shifts in the Premier League, and is quickly becoming one of Exeter's top choices in the back line. With his work, Exeter already have two clean sheets in the league.
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A new star is rising in the defense also, with another academy product impressing in duty. Sebastian Benson, another 20-year-old defender, has been earning minutes in the starting XI and as one of the first off the bench. The centre-back is explosive in short areas and a dominating aerial talent to win headers away from even the fiercest attackers.
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Question 3: What tactics will Exeter adopt to maximize their players?
With Gyokeres and Cox both on the field, Exeter found themselves in a surprising bind: The two forwards would either force Exeter into something like a 4-4-2, and thus push either defensive midfielder Medon Berisha or attacking midfielder Kristian Hlynsson to the substitute's bench, OR, Exeter could drop into a 5-man back line, and sacrifice the talented winger Bobby Clark to the exigencies of the formation.
Exeter usually chose the 4-4-2, and the gamble SOMETIMES worked in Exeter's favor. Analyst Beth Gibbons explains: "When Gyokeres is on the pitch with Cox, this is a dangerous and pacey attack. Gyokeres has proven adept at both holdup play where he links Cox to the midfield, and at running onto balls from the wings or from Camara, who's incredibly talented as a passer. But if Camara and [midfielder David] Watson get forward, there's nothing in front of that back four to protect against the counter, and Exeter were exposed frequently there.
But if Watson stays back to shield that line, or if Maguire doesn't track forward, Exeter were too one-dimensional, and really strong defenses absolutely stymied the attack.
Exeter have adopted a more flexible approach this year, including a surprise 5-4-1 that absolutely gobsmacked Manchester City in the early running this season.
Gibbons on the new look: "This was a real surprise, as it put Camara deeper than usual. But it was incredibly effective as it provided two defenders to cover Haaland, and freed the wing backs to come inside to help against the centre-mids, or to cover those wide wingers. Maguire's work against Foden was absolutely stellar, as he stymied the England international all match."
The lineup for the shock win over Man City
Exeter put on a defensive clinic against the champions, winning 2-0 in style, with a Cox brace to lead the team. Camara was incisive as usual, but the real hero was Watson in the middle to cut off the Manchester transition, and Maguire wide, who posted 6 successful tackles against Foden and won almost every battle on that side.
Exeter shifted onto the attack for its match against Brighton and revealed a swashbuckling 4-3-3 with a fascinating double-pivot in the midfield. "The one defensive midfielder was often over-run," said Maher in a podcast interview after the match. "So we took the usual midfield triangle and inverted it, giving us two men to break up attacks. Idrissa's so good at launching after an interception or a tackle, so we let him sit deep and orchestrate, but he has free roam of that side of the pitch, to work into space more or push forward. So he and Matty [Kowalczyk] act almost like 2 attacking mids when we had the ball, but then he comes back to defense really quickly."
Wide, Gyokeres and Clark pushed up field and menaced the fullbacks. Brighton struggled with this positioning and gave up goals to both of the wide men, while Cox facilitated with an assist and a number of key passes.
The positional flexibility has been impressive from the Grecians, and Exeter now sit 5th in the table after six matches. The most impressive stretch has come in September, with matches against Manchester City, Tottenham, and Arsenal. Most fans would have been ecstatic to come away with one draw in those 3 matches, and maybe add one point to the total from those three. Instead, Exeter took points in every one of the matches, including the clean sheets against Manchester City and Arsenal.
Recent Results
"If you told us, draws against two teams there, any fan would have taken it, right?" said Maher in the post-game press conference after the Arsenal match. "A clean sheet against Arsenal? Absolutely, you take that. But the fans have been excellent in their support, and the lads stepped up and executed against Manchester, and all of a sudden, they have this confidence to go out like they did. We fell behind against Tottenham but got the 82nd-minute equalizer because they never quit, they feel like they can go against any team."
With the 5-game unbeaten streak, Exeter have laid down a marker that they wager they'll improve on last season's finish, and they're a danger to take points from any of the usual Big Six. "We're not scared," said Idrissa Camara. "We're hungry. Everyone else should be scared."
The Verdict:
Exeter look to have improved the defense and kept the most important cogs in the attack, although there are rumors that some elite Champions League sides are eying up winger Clark. The lineups will be a man-management challenge for the coaching staff, as there are simply a few too many great midfielders to balance out--someone has to drop to the substitute's bench. If Maher and the staff can manage playing time and player expectations, this will be an exciting team to watch this season. Our prediction: 10th place.
Player notes: PC, mods include gameplay mods (Anth James), Career Realism Mod (PaulV) and homemade loan/transfecontract mods to improve free agency.
Full ruleset can be found here. Sheet 1 details general rules and principles; subsequent sheets track transfers and finances.
Finances are paramount for a small club. The first season in the Prem, we operated with a net spend in the transfer window, to bring in important players that bolster the squad. Last season was the first season (out of 6) to see this spending. Maybe I'll do a finances post soon because I find that stuff fascinating.
Randomizer for transfers; transfer targets are limited to +1 over position average, with 1 player per year allowed to be significantly beyond that. This season, we targeted a CB to improve the defense and lucked into the signing of Vitik. He was actually our 3rd choice-- there was a top-notch free agent but we lost him to Chelsea and thus we had to wait for some player sales before we could afford a move.
For transferring players at or below the team average, I use a very simple weighted randomizer that's built into my google sheets. For the players that are +2 or more beyond the team average, I use https://5ungc6-joseph-boyd.shinyapps.io/FifaDiceRoll/ crafted by another excellent member of this subreddit. It changes the probability of signings depending on how far above the average your intended signing is.
If you read this far, you're fabulous, good-looking, and intellectually gifted. Happy gaming!
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2024.05.14 02:26 Mean_Emergency7955 Should I tell her?

Relationship help?
help!!!!! im so confused
i 14m like this girl in the samw year as me. but its so confusing so i’ll tell u the story first. (its a long one)
I’m from England and so is the girl i like. lets call her Julie. and we go to the same high school. one year an opportunity for an exchange was brought up. In October we’d spend 10 days at our exchange partner’s house in America and go to their school and go round the island learning about different things. Before this, i’d wanted to know who Julie was etc. and I’d kept her at the back of my mind. To my luck, Julie was also going to go on the exchange (There were 30 of us and there are 300 people in my year.) So after the snapchat group chat was made I very smoothly 🤣 slided into Julie’s DM’s. We just talked loads instantly and we were yet to talk in real life. (She is in the other half of the year so we didn’t have any classes.) Meeting after meeting about the trip and we still hadn’t talked. Eventually, the trip arrived and we were headed to heathrow from a local airprot and Heathrow to the airport in america. In the security bit we finally spoke. Julie made a joke as I scurried around trying to be as quick as possible. From there we just kept talking and we even talked on the plane (when she woke up). She was sat behind me and I was sat with a friend and us three talked.
I can’t remember all the details but basically, throughout the whole trip me and her talked the whole time and people always shipped us if you get what I mean. However, I do remember the airport back. We had a three hour wait time I think at the american airport. and we were going around in small groups of four or five and I just spontaneously chose to go around with Julie. Julie was with two of her other friends but we spent the whole three hours making tiktoks and laughing and joking about and we both really enjoyed it. Finally, we were back home and we proceeded to text until school came by again. This is where another recently solved problem comes around.
The last day of the trip there was a massive party and I met this girl lets call Bella. Me and Bella started texting from there and sort of started liking each other. By this point I really really liked Julie and never stopped thinking about her but never knew if she felt the same and was very cautious about it. However, me and Bella kind of died down after a week or so.
So it was back to me putting my full effort into liking Julie. At school we didn’t talk much be exchange the few words whenever I saw her. I was really nervous around her in real life and tried to do my best to make it discreet I liked her and directed my attention elsewhere while still having full attention on her. Yet we texted like crazy and full on as well. We would always joke around and call each other names jokingly and we were really really friendly. We didn’t talk as much in January and February but picked up again in March. I still really really really liked her again and in April we shared our ambitions and they pretty much matched up and we shared our ‘types’ and we described each other but were completely clueless we liked each other. It got a bit confusing because she liked me ( I later found out in June/July) but also mentioned this other guy so I got confused and then in June it got really really messy.
You remember Bella right? Well the American kids all came over to England this time and stayed with us. On the first few days me and Bella didn’t talk however we did one day and we kicked about a ball on a field where everyone on the exchange was hanging out after we had a football match. From there me and Bella hung out a lot together and did stuff together in class activities. We really liked each other and I no longer liked Julie. (It’s really important to keep in mind me and Bella didn’t know each other deeply etc.) However my feeling for Julie still remained a bit but slowly died out even when I still liked Bella the first few days. Anyways, me and Bella had held hands a few times etc. and when Bella went we hugged a lot. We weren’t into a relationship and a few days later we stated ‘talking’ (A state in which the relationship is similar to a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship but is not official.) and we called a lot. However a few problems arose when me and Bella discovered each other’s emotions and how we live and what we live by. It was present she was over reactive, over protective, quite mean (For example I’d talk about my day and she wouldn’t care and she’d talk about hers.), she also talked to a lot of other boys oddly (For example she blocked me sometimes and a few days later my friend was at the top of her best friend-list with a 😗 next to his name.) and she always had excuses. It just didn’t work for me and I wasn’t happy at all. Prior to me and Bella stopping talking me and Julie started to text again.
me and julie started to text again in about july 2023. (idk). julie had just got out of a relationship in august so i only started liking her again in september 2023. i tood my friends and obviously word spread but i always said i didnt infront of her so idk if she knew or not. anyway we still texted alot however another guy liked her who also texted her and there was a bit of competition. for a few months i didnt even know if i liked her, some days i would, some days i wouldnt and i was really conflicted. now, the ither guy and her dont really text much and so im not really bothered. we still both text each other loads and weve had eachother st the top of our best friends list for two weeks😂😂. anyways i have no idea if she likes me or not but i like her and were like best friends. feel free to ask any questions.
By the way the girl from american is completely out the picture. Julie doesnt know i like her.
submitted by Mean_Emergency7955 to Advice [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:09 DrZaius119 Need advice on rolling back to before March update that ruined P7Pro

My fiance has a P7Pro on T-Mobile. Since the March update data and calls have sucked. Many incoming calls go straight to voicemail, or if they go through the voices in both directions cut in and out. Sometimes data just stops in areas that worked before, and surfing the web often gives the little T-rex logo and says no internet connection. Have tried all known settings, including adaptive connectivity, network reset, and spent several hours yesterday doing a factory reset and setting up everything again. No difference. T-Mobile admits they are having issues and say an update will come "soon." I personally have an 8 Pro on Verizon and haven't had any of these issues, probably because Verizon issued a modem update with the 2nd April update.
Chats with Google also admit there is an issue with the modem firmware, and told us today that an update "will be rolled out in the coming weeks." There have been discussions about other carriers updating the modem firmware in the second April update. T-Mobile never released that, and their may update ending in .004 kept the prior March modem. Apparently they are still working the issue and will eventually get the update released.
So, I'm very comfortable sideloading and using ADB, but I know I won't be able to sideload the February 24 OTA image since it is older than the April update currently on the device. The factory reset left the April update there when it restarted. To those of you with experience reloading the factory image from February, how is this different from sideloading the usual monthly updates? I know it will wipe the device, but will it need to unlock the bootloader, and if so, how is that done? The phone is unlocked bought from Google directly. Also, she doesn't want me to do anything to lose her text history. Since I probably can't use the prior backup from Google 1 (or can I?) is there a way to restore the text history using another method. Thanks!
submitted by DrZaius119 to GooglePixel [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:09 Adventurous_City_839 B.D.U interview for Kstyle news: Won Mnet “Build Up” B․ D․ U will officially debut in the first half of this year, “It was a dream-like experience… I will save up the prize money”

The winning team of Mnet's survival program Build Up'',HunMinJayBit'', will embark on a new challenge as a vocal group, BDU.
BDU members JAY CHANG, ONE PACT, Bitsaeon (MONT), Seunghoon (CIX), and Kim Min-seo recently held an interview at the OSEN building and talked about their thoughts on winning Mnet's ``Build Up.''
Build Up,'' which recently ended airing in South Korea, is a survival program in which talented singers who are confident in their vocals and love singing, regardless of genre, collaborate to create the best four-member vocal boy group. Jay, Bisseon, Seunghoon, and Kim Min-seo, who worked together asHeungmin Jaebit'' on the program, overcame fierce competition to win and will debut as a four-member group, BDU.
The four members said, As our first official schedule, we took a profile picture.We are preparing an album for the first half of the year, so we have received the songs and are listening to them.''They added,We will soon start living in the dormitory.'' I told him about the current situation.
When asked about his thoughts on winning, Bisseon said, I'm very happy.I was happy because I won first place for the first time in my life, and I'm glad that there are other members who can do it together.Everyone worked hard inBuild Up.'' , I'm glad that I was able to achieve a result that feels worth it even though I worked so hard. I would also like to thank all the fans." Seunghoon continued, ``I couldn't believe it at the moment I won.It would be great if I could win, but that wasn't my goal, so I'm grateful that the group was formed.I cherish the stage.'' I felt satisfied that I was able to do this because I practiced while thinking about it.I would also like to express my gratitude to all the fans who have supported me from the beginning."
Jay also said, I was happy to appear on the showBuild Up,'' meet some wonderful friends, and stand on a great stage.I'm happy to be able to sing as BDU thanks to the fans.'' From now on, we will do our best to show only our cool side to the fans who chose us."
Kim Min-seo said, I didn't expect to win either, but it felt like a dream and I was so happy. I had an experience that I'll never have again, so I think it's an important memory that will stay in my life. We're happy to be able to work together. Since you've supported us, we need to repay you, so we'll do our best." BDU is an abbreviation forBoys Define Universe,'' and it means that four people, each with different personalities, will come together to create a new universe. For two years, they plan to release music and albums as well as conduct various activities including touring in Korea and globally.
In particular, the winning team of Build Up'' will be awarded a prize of 100 million won (approximately 8.9 million yen). The members revealed that they have not yet received their prize money, but plan to divide it equally. Bisseon said,The prize money has a lot of meaning and is precious money.I want to give back to the people who helped me and put the rest in my bankbook and just look at it.''
Jay also said, I want to give back to the people who supported me and save money for the rest,'' and Seunghoon said,I don't care about the amount, but it's the first time I've won first place, so I think it's a waste to spend it.'' The money means so much to me that I haven't thought about it yet." Kim Min-seo said, ``I also feel like it would be a waste to spend it.Even if I actually receive a lot of money, it would be a waste to spend it because it was money from winning 'Build Up,' so I would like to thank all the people who supported me. I think I'll buy him some food and save the rest," he added.
HunMinJayBit, which was formed by Jay's selection of members, has emerged as a group with solid talent, visuals, and ability as an all-rounder. Regarding the selection criteria for the members, Jay said, ``I wanted to create a group with all-rounders who can do a wide range of things.Since I'm from the same company as Bisseon, I've been watching him for a long time, and I've seen him sing in a variety of genres. I had watched a lot of them, and I thought we would get along well with each other, so I chose Seunghoon right away.He showed a new side from the beginning to the end of the show, so I think Minseo was exactly what you would call an all-rounder. However, he continued to show that he was a trainee.I felt that he had a lot of potential, and I chose him after seeing his growth.Even though I wasn't the first to choose him, I had high hopes for him. I'm very happy that I was able to choose the members who will do it."
When asked about his future plans, Seunghoon said, ``Although there are no specific dates yet, we are planning to release an album in the first half of the year, and are making various preparations.This year's goal is to release two albums. We're planning to perform music that makes use of our vocals, which is our strength. No matter how difficult the songs are to dance to, we'll be performing them using handheld microphones."
Regarding the group BDU, Bisseon said, We are the main vocalist in each group, but each group has its own color and style, so I think I've only shown a limited style.This time, I'd like to introduce the main vocalist, a person who likes singing. Now that we have come together, we would like to do a variety of activities on stage and music where we can showcase our individual vocals.Although we all have different colors, there is a synergy that emerges when we come together. So, when our fans listen to it, we want to give them high-quality music that will make them think that we are the winners of vocal survival." The members have appeared on various survival programs such asBOYS PLANET'', PEAK TIME'', andYG TREASURE BOX'', but what prompted them to try out for another audition program?
Kim Min-seo said, Originally, I was a trainee, but I was rejected from the debut group, so I decided not to become an idol.However, I wanted to do music, so I was alone for about a year. I was struggling, but there were many difficult times, and I was unsure about things, so I think I needed some inspiration.At that time, the opportunity to appear onBuild Up'' came and I received the offer. I said I would do it right away, and I worked actively on it." Jay said, WhenBOYS PLANET'' ended last year, there was a part of me that doubted whether I had been able to show them enough.When the opportunity for Build Up'' came, I thought I would be able to do it well enough. I decided to appear on the show because I thought I could prove my vocal ability.'' Seunghoon said,I gained a lot from appearing on 'YG Treasure Box' six years ago.At that time, I was able to hit high notes. I wasn't able to do it, but I was able to hit high notes throughout the show.When I heard that ``Build Up'' was a vocal show, I wanted to try my hand at that.''
Bisseon also said, I recently appeared on a survival show, and I thought I would never do it again, but when I heard that it was a vocal survival show, I wanted to try it. Although there was some pressure, I took on the challenge because I thought that regardless of whether I got a good result throughBuild Up'' or not, the experience would have a positive influence on my singing in the future.'' Except for Kim Min-seo, who was a trainee, Bisseon belonged to MONT, Seunghoon belonged to CIX, and Jay belonged to ONE PACT, and they were already active as an idol group.
Seunghoon said, All the members supported me. They told me to come on the show and show what I wanted to show, and they encouraged me to do well without getting nervous every round.'' I was able to do so well because of that kind of support.'' Jay also said,From the beginning, the members supported me very hard and gave me a lot of advice.They supported me and wanted me to show it to the world, so I was able to give a lot of my strength.'' talked.
Bisseon said, At each new round, I shared with the members how to present the stage and received a lot of advice.I received a lot of strength.When the winning team was announced at the end of the final, the members also "I was there, but it felt strange. They were happy together." When asked about the most memorable reaction, Seunghoon said,One of the things that was a little difficult for me while appearing on ``Build Up'' was that people looked at me in a slightly negative way after I decided to appear on this show.'' There were some people there who were our fans, so it was mentally tough for me," he said. ) The painful feeling started to feel rewarding. It was a great opportunity for people to get to know me and the team, and I felt like I was accomplishing that goal. I felt better, and I think I've enjoyed it more since then," he said frankly.
Finally B․ D․ When asked about his goals as a member of the U, he said, I definitely want to go to the award ceremony at the end of the year, either this year or next.It's a place where I can show off my vocals, so I definitely want to go.'' I want to show it to you.'' Bisseon expressed confidence,I want to hold a solo concert in Korea during B․D․U's promotion period and fill a large stadium.''
Next, Jay said, When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a singer because of the songs of various singers. I would be happy if B․D․U could be a group that had that kind of influence.'' Kim Min Seo said, I would be happy if our music made it onto the charts. Our goals are big and we want to rank No. 1."
https://twitter.com/Kstyle_news/status/1789972591274598622?t=wTqhKywqwknISv_n7UkGAg&s=19
submitted by Adventurous_City_839 to buildup [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:01 Medium-Roll-9529 Seeking advice: I feel like I have to compete for my boyfriends attention with his female best friend

Okay so, I'll try keep this simple and to the point. I will state tho that he is genuinely a very kind individual.
Basically I have been seeing this guy for almost four months, it started slow and got very hot and firey after a month, but early on I started noticing issues with his best friend, a woman, the first thing she said that gave me alarm bells was she said "I don't get on with women prettier than me". After that, she would regularly make points about how close the two of them where (less than a month into our relationship) get upset when he didn't respond to her messages when me and him hung out etc, when she is down and anxious for whatever reason he becomes her carer, he will do anything for her, and when he doesn't do it at the drop of a hat she gets annoyed. I have tried reaching out to her to perhaps improve the situation to no avail.
After 3 months of holding different things back about her behaviour, I was out in the same pub as him one night and went over to say hello, she seen me first and had the most disgusted look on her face, then quickly got everyone in their group to move away from me. I got annoyed and expressed to him (on a different day we were both sober) how I don't think she likes me, and that she has said and done this different things to deter me from seeking a relationship with him and it felt like he had feelings for her, that i wanted to know everything that went on between them, he denied having feelings and that he only wants me, as she's like a sister to him. I believed him in that regard however now things have shifted.
I am myself a very anxious person but I do not let it rule my life, however things between us have started to feel off, I just can't shake this feeling that she sees him as her lap dog, who did anything she wanted, now that his attention is directed to another woman she can't stand it, and she frequently does things to get his attention back on her, the trouble is, we have not been together very long and I can't exactly say, listen, this woman treats you like a slave and you lap it all up because you think she's your best friend, so stop being friends with the only person you hang out with (were in our 20s in university so they live together, and are again next year) I just don't know how to bring this up, he refuses to accept that she isn't a good person, despite telling me how manipulate and toxic she is to the other people around her, all the underhanded things she does, how she just throws people away once she's bored with them, I just don't know how to bring this up, any advice?
Thank you x
submitted by Medium-Roll-9529 to love [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:59 KnightInDulledArmor [Online][SWADE][Friday's 7pm CST][LGBT Friendly] Ratcatchers: A Pulpy Not-D&D D&D Campaign

The Pitch
It is an Age of Chaos.
Good King Omund is dead, and with him died the rule of law in the land. The Duke of Bedegar is dead, his family ambushed and murdered. The Wild seeks to take back everything that once belonged to it. The remaining dukes fight to preserve what civilization is left, but they are distant and isolated. The roads are in disrepair, danger lurks around every corner.
Ajax, called Invincible, now rules here. He pits the different peoples of Vasloria against each other. Elves and men and dwarves; no one quite trusts anyone. This is Ajax’s goal. Religious institutions are outlawed, their churches left in ruin. The old orders are disbanded or subjugated, few continue their attempts to keep the peace and protect the people. The Iron Saint binds the land.
You are a recently founded band of ratcatchers, problem solvers, necessary but apart from proper society. You overwintered in the inn of the Green Dragon, a quiet place in the town of Arlone, east of Bedegar Keep. Now, with the onset of spring, you can set out again towards fortune, glory, honor, hope, or any other grand imaginings. How did you come to be here? Why can’t you go home and live a normal life? What do you want to make of yourself?
The Caelian Road goes south, the way engulfed by two wodes, a savage wilderness where Elves hunt those who enter. Monsters walk the wood. Civilized people do not go there. To the east lies the Dutchy of Faroe, a narrow pass for fools and traders flanked by high mountains teeming with serpents and warring tribes. The Overmen watch keenly from their high aeries for dissidents and outlaws. The vast sea to the west is traveled rarely, only the Overlord’s ships and the less-sane of the Vanirmen dare the dark waters. Things dwell in the deep. North is the powerful Dutchy of Dalrath, with the impenetrable Great Wode beyond. There Civilization and the Wild fight in open war, stone and steel against fangs and demon-flames.
In Bedegar, many small towns sustain themselves against the ever encroaching wilderness, old traditions and ancient pacts seeing new light in the trying times. Some people band together for safety, others stand on the shoulders of the drowned. All will be tested soon enough.
The Campaign
I'm planning to start with a sandbox style of game seeded with lots of classic, modern, and homebrew adventures. Very much D&D-ish pulp fantasy, but with a bit more narrative bits and the pulpy Savage Worlds system.
Some self direction, some encroaching events, lots of interesting roleplay, delving into the wilderness, and the freedom to get yourself into trouble. It’s up to you which fires to put out or threads to pull, and there’s no way to solve every problem or get every treasure. Players will have the opportunity to become embroiled in duchy politics, build alliances, save enemies, join guilds, and fight lots of crazy shit. Later on the threads will turn more towards a linear adventure, as I want to run The Red Hand of Doom once the PC’s have gone around and have a reputation.
Player Buy-In: The pulpy style of play where the GM just drops you in a town with a bunch of hooks and a wild land, then you have to work out your own shit out has to sound cool. Being interested in having your own goals and ambitions and working to fulfill them is always helpful, but just wanting to pull on threads also works. Likewise, wanting to engage and invest in other player's characters and NPC's is the best. Your characters should give a shit, they don’t need to be selfless paragons, but they should be connected to the local area enough to care what happens to it.
Logistics
System: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE), with some Fantasy Companion content and a bunch of my own homebrew. Those new to the system are welcome.
Format: Mostly over Discord voice with SavageBot to handle dice/cards. Owlbear Rodeo for battlemaps.
Date/Time: Looking to have a session zero on Friday the 17th, at 7:00 PM CST. Following sessions will be weekly on Friday's at the same time. Sessions will typically be around 4 hours long. This will be a long term campaign, so regular commitment will be required.
Players: Currently three have joined up, two from old campaigns and one new player, looking for probably one or two more. 18+ preferred, due to a small amount of adult content and themes.
Feel free to ask questions, if interested DM me with your preferred name/pronouns, your level of experience, a bit about yourself, what you like in a game, and your Discord.
submitted by KnightInDulledArmor to lfg [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:56 Significant-Usual-98 Noah The Pilgrim - Chapter 1-2: The Odyssey

Noah The Pilgrim
First Next
There is one last thing to do before leaving. If you don't recall ever being on this ship, then surely, you could have had your appearance change too.
Why was there a blanket covering a mirror? You couldn't answer that with a straight face without speculation.
"Probably me being lazy and not bothering to properly place it in the wardrobe."
'Probably' is the main focus here, you simply cannot remember ever being that lazy, yet that's the only logical conclusion to be drawn here.
You pull the thing off, careful to not displace the mirror and risk breaking it.
You have no expectations as to what may appear on the glassy surface of the mirror, yet you can't help but feel a bit anxious. Are you the same as before? How were you before? You can't remember. Are you better? Worse? The blanket is now completely off the mirror, but your eyes are closed.
Whatever is it that you see when you open your eyes, that thing will be you for the rest of your life. You swallow, opening your eyes.
You see a young man that looks to be in his mid-twenties. His brown eyes stare back at you, analyzing the bags beneath your eye sockets. The dark hair is neither too long nor too short, floating about without order thanks to the lack of gravity to keep it down. You see a beard that has not been trimmed for weeks, but also lacks thickness, each singular hair isn't particularly long either; and some even appear to be in-grown.
You touch your hand against your face, making sure it's yours. The beard doesn't feel like you supposed it would against your skin, instead of it scraping your hand you feel softness, no resistance or anything.
Just beneath the face, you see what looks like a hate crime against all that is considered holy in fashion. Plain white coveralls with the added bonus of a black tie and boots made from metal and leather. On your chest is also a badge stuck in place by velcro with your name, occupation, and crew. 'NOAH - INTERN - THE ODYSSEY.'
Only one question came to mind.
"Who the fuck designed this uniform?" You say out loud, receiving no answer.
Patting your newfound myriad of pockets, you find a large quantity of nothing. You place your wallet in one of them.
"Alright, I'll head to the bridge now, happy?" You say the AI.
"HAPPINESS WILL ONLY MEET ME ONCE YOU ARE SOMEWHERE SAFE AND YOUR CONTRACT IS TERMINATED. STOP LOITERING."
Well, that's a bit rude.
You compose yourself, straightening your back. This is what you look like, and honestly? Not too bad, but you could be better.
Returning to the cafeteria, you eye the two doors left unexplored; Communications and the one without plaque. You know where you should, but... A little peek doesn't hurt, right?
"Shouldn't we try to communicate with someone? Assuming you haven't tried it yet. I know we're far from everything, but we might as well, no?" You ask already approaching the door.
"COMMUNICATIONS ROOM IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO REACH WITHOUT PROPER PROTECTION AS OF NOW, IT'S LOCATED APPROXIMATELY TWO HUNDRED METERS FROM HERE, BLOWN OFF FROM THE REST OF THE SHIP." A shame really. "I SHALL INFORM YOU WHENEVER A DOOR LEADS TO THE OUTSIDE OR NOT."
You really want to ask what blew a whole segment of the ship off, yet you have a sneaking suspicion that your question will be met with a 'YOU DON'T HAVE CLEARANCE, JACKASS' directly in your face. So you chose to remain silent, simply nodding and approaching the correct door this time.
"Open."
---OPENING CAFETERIA DOOR NORTH---
The door silently opens.
Greeting you is a well-lit corridor. There are three doors on your left, a door at the end of the corridor, and a large window on the right. At least, you think that's a window.
You stare out from this window, nothing but utter blackness and fragments from your ship are seen. If this is the edge of the universe, and beyond this point, there is truly nothing. "Dreadful." Your speech matches your feelings.
"WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?" The AI says. You feel like it spoke in a mocking tone despite their lack of emotion.
You don't answer. "First door to the left... EXO-EXPLORATION...? What's that supposed to mean?" You receive no answer.
"Open." The door opens. No declarion of it opening once again.
You are met with what could be better described as 'Apocalyptic levels of mess', paper sheets float in the air, and not one of the four tables is in its correct position.
This room has been ransacked for all its goods apparently. Large display glasses were broken leaving nothing inside their casings, that looked like they could store something with the size of the common man.
Unusual displays aside, the room was so cluttered that the trash made for an effective smoke screen against what lay on the other side.
Hissing of gas exiting an air-tight space rang throughout the room.
"I HAVE OPENED THE STORAGE FOR AN EXO SUIT THAT BEST FITS SOMEONE YOUR SIZE." The AI says. "ALTHOUGH AN INTERN SHOULD NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS THIS ONE, PROTOCOL DICTATES THAT I AM TO ALLOW ITS USAGE UNDER EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES. CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY."
Easier said than done. Your vision is so cluttered that you cannot see what's ahead. "Give me a second."
Giving a light kick to the wall behind, you float face-first into the wall of thrash. Covering your face with both arms, you brace through the harmless bits of sharp objects and junk.
It's a trivial task. You arrive on the other side in no time.
In front of you is a set of boxes with luminous glass rectangles atop each one of them. All shine a bright red light, aside from one which shines green.
'Gotta be this one.'
You descend to the floor by kicking the ceiling, raising your right hand you touch the green rectangle.
*Click*
Nothing could have prepared you for the following series of events.
The box opens violently, as a metal appendage takes hold of your hand, pinning it to the box. You try to jerk and pry the thing off of you, but you fail. It's not leaving you anytime soon.
From the bottomless that is that container, a white plastic-like substance flows upward from your arm to the rest of your body. "Uh!" You don't know if you should panic or allow it to happen.
FYARN hasn't said anything, so it's probably fine...
The white thing seems to ignore the coveralls you are wearing completely, instead, it covers only your skin in a thin coat of... it. You know not what to call this thing.
In but forty seconds it has covered your whole body, excluding your head. The box lets go of your arm and stays there, floating.
You take a good look at your arms. It looks like a skin-tight suit, but it doesn't feel like plastic, in fact, it's more akin to some sort of fabric if anything.
The only bad part is that you are still using the coverall and tie, this this simply went beneath the clothing.
"GOOD, WITH THIS I CAN MONITOR YOU MORE CLOSELY. NOW PUT THE HELMET ON, YOU HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO."
You look around in search of anything that even resembles a helmet. Nope. Nothing. "Where is it?" You ask.
"...THE SUIT COMES WITHIN THE HELMET FOR EASIER PACKAGING."
The box?
You snatch the box that floated around and analyze it to the best of your ability. "How's this a helmet?"
"DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE PUTTING ON A HELMET? REALLY?"
Who is this AI, Who programmed it, and Why does it come with a taunting feature?
As idiotic as it sounds, you place the opened box atop your head. It doesn't fit properly. Maybe you're doing this wrong? You move it to your face instead.
You recoil backward as you feel the box suddenly clamping down against your head. It's useless of course, the box is holding your head and doesn't give any sign to be letting go anytime soon. No light is able to reach your eyes.
You hear metal parts scraping against themselves, moving near your ears. Abruptly your eyes can see again.
A round thin layer of glass now covers your head, almost unnoticeable for how clear it is.
"WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY I CAN NOW SEE WHAT YOU SEE." The AI's voice isn't in the room now, instead, it's inside of the suit. "DO YOU NEED INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THIS SUIT'S FUNCTIONALITIES?"
You find it oddly comfortable as if you are surrounded by the softness of cotton, and to top it off the suit also has additional functionalities? "Hell yeah, I do!"
"YOU DO NOT HAVE THE NECESSARY CLEARANCE FOR THAT INFORMATION."
You sigh. Is this serious? "Then why the fuck did you ask?!"
"UNSAVORY LANGUAGE. IT'S NO WONDER WHY YOU REMAIN AN INTERN." The AI says outright. "IT IS RUDE NOT TO ASK, REGARDLESS OF THE SITUATION." It responds to your question.
"Okay then... Is there anything I need to know before heading out?" You ask.
"NOTHING THAT YOU WON'T FIGURE OUT ON YOUR OWN."
You are unsure if you want to 'figure out on your own' if this suit comes with breathable air and is also made for space exploration. You swallow.
Meekly as always, you get out of that mess of a room, stopping at the corridor.
"Next set of directions?" You ask.
"THE DOOR AT THE END OF CORRIDOR USED TO LEAD TO THE CONNECTING CORRIDORS BETWEN THE BRIDGE AND THE REST OF THE SHIP. IT HAS BEEN BLOWN UP FROM THE INSIDE. NOW IT LEADS TO THE OUTSIDE. GO TO THE DOOR AND WAIT BY IT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS."
"So let me get this straight," You begin, looking upwards as if the AI was above you. "You, want me, to go into the void of space, while also refusing to give me knowledge of the suit's functions?"
A fair worry, you summarize.
'I mean, there are a bunch of things that could go wrong here. I don't see anything that looks like it could help me move in space, nor do I think this thing has a built-in air tank... I could be wrong and I wish to be, but charging in without prior knowledge is ridiculous.' You wait for the AI's response, deep in thought.
"WHILE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE OF YOU FAILING THIS TASK, THERE IS ALSO THE CHANCE OF YOU *NOT* FAILING THE TASK. FOCUS ON EITHER ONE OF YOUR CHOOSING AS YOU TAKE THE PLUNGE."
Wordlessly, you propel yourself forward, toward the end of the corridor.
'Are you shitting me? 'Chance of me nor failing' my ass!' of course, you don't word those complaints, instead choosing to speak out a complaint somewhat thought through.
"Are you sure I'm the one fit for this? It's just like you said, I'm just an intern, this is way above what my job description says I should do."
This is a bit of a stretch. You don't actually remember what was your job description, only that it had something to do with AI and being an intern.
If the AI called your bluff, it'd be pretty embarrassing.
"NOAH." The AI began. "YOU ARE HUMAN, IT IS NATURAL TO HAVE THESE THOUGHTS OF SELF-DOUBT. TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND GO THROUGH THAT DOOR, AND SINCE YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE LEFT, DON'T EXPECT SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU."
Right in the money, huh? 'Of course, I have self-doubt! I barely remember anything about this place, now I have to risk my life?!'
You finally reach a conclusion.
A dream.
'Yes, yes! How did I not consider this before? This whole thing is a god damned dream!'
You let out a chuckle.
"NOAH."
'That's why I don't remember a thing. There is nothing here to remember! Everything here is a made-up thing from my brain! I'm sure I'll wake up at some point, so why shouldn't I live a little?!'
"Heh." You smile. "Alright, I'll do it." It feels like a weight left your shoulders.
"YOU SORTED IT OUT SOONER THAN EXPECTED. GOOD. MOVE TO THE DOOR AND WAIT INSTRUCTIONS."
You do as instructed without a care in the world. You never had a lucid dream before so it's not like you knew how it felt, but if it felt as free as you feel right now, you'd be sure to make steps toward trying it out again in the future.
"Open." The door does not open.
"I DID NOT INSTRUCT YOU TO OPEN IT YET." The AI said. "I AM SLOWLY DE-PRESSURISING THE CORRIDOR YOU ARE IN TO AVOID A MINOR ACCIDENT."
The AI says that yet you don't feel any different. 'Maybe there is no palpable difference because I'm in a dream... Yes... Or it's just the suit.'
"ONCE THE DOOR OPENS, YOU WILL BE MET WITH THE OUTSIDE OF THE SHIP. DO NOT PANIC WHEN THE TIME COMES. YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES OF BREATHABLE INSIDE THE EXO-SUIT; ONE AFTER THE DOOR OPENS, SO PLEASE, TAKE YOUR TIME AND DO THINGS CAREFULLY."
One minute outside... "Sure." You say, calmly. 'I should just hold my breath for a while before taking another moment to breathe. That should maximize my time out there.'
"THERE SHOULD BE FIFTY METERS OF NOTHINGNESS BETWEEN THE DOOR YOU'RE AT, AND THE REST OF THE BRIDGE. YOUR PRIORITY IS TO FIND AN OXYGEN UNIT, SOME OF THEM ARE LOCATED AT THE BRIDGE AND ARE FULL. USE THEM TO FILL YOUR SUIT AND ALSO TO DISPENSE A TANK FOR YOU."
The door opens. You feel your heart pounding against your chest.
You haven't noticed before, but you can't hear anything but the sound of your breath and your cardiac palpitations.
Your breath is ragged and sporadic.
"KEEP CALM." You take a deep breath. The tips of your fingers, feet, and nose feel very cold.
Ahead of you is the utter nothingness. You see a gigantic metal thing, nothing like the spaceships you imagined. Its design is not sleek and aero-dynamic like what you've seen in movies, instead, it's a large mass of squares and rectangles with antenna-like things protruding from its every visible surface.
You notice that the ship is also blocking your view of the star.
It does not look like the result of an explosion, instead, it looks like something ripped the ship like you rip a piece of paper. Well, that or you don't know what kind of explosion could have caused it. Probably the latter.
What looks like two-thirds of the ship is separated from the third you are right now. You can see the inside of a few of those squares, their contents spilled out into outer space.
One of them houses a visibly important-look door. Instead of the sleek silvery-grey from the other ones you've seen thus far, this one is painted orange with white strips on it. 'That must be the bridge.' You think.
Between you and it is a sea of metal sheets floating around. "THE CHANCES OF YOU HITTING THE DEBRIS IS INFINITEDECIMALLY SMALL, UNLESS YOU AIM FOR THEM, THAT IS."
Time is of the essence.
Will your aim strike true? If you miss you'd end up floating about in space, dead in but a few minutes. Will your jump be fast enough to reach the other side before you run out of oxygen? If it isn't, it'd be like swimming for a mile, only to drown at the beach. What if that's not the actual door to the bridge?
You don't have the time to panic now, and... It's all a dream, despite how real it feels.
You place your hands on each side of the door frame, moving backward into the corridor you were just in, and just like a sling being shot, you pull with both arms at full force towards the other side.
"AIM IS ACCEPTABLE. VELOCITY IS UNIDEAL."
"The fuck do you mean 'UN-IDEAL'?! I'm going at maximum speed!" You truly pulled yourself with your whole strength.
What's worse though, is that your body is not only going forwards, but it is also spinning at a concerningly fast rate.
"I MEAN WHAT I SAID, YOU SLINGSHOTTED YOURSELF AT A BAD POSITION, AS SUCH, SOME OF THE FORWARD FORCE YOU SHOULD HAVE, IS NOW MAKING YOU ROTATE IN YOUR AXIS. IT SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM TO REACH THE OTHER SIDE WITHIN THE REQUIRED TIME, BUT I CANNOT FORESEE YOU LANDING PROPERLY."
You feel completely disoriented. You feel like your body is completely still, but your eyes tell you a completely different story. It's very bad for the headache you're already feeling.
"FUCK!" You scream into the nothingness.
"TRY NOT TO LAND WITH YOUR HEAD." The AI says with the calmest voice possible.
In less than thirty seconds, you hit your back against something hard, but you keep moving forward. You think, at least.
"AHRG." You let out a pained grunt.
Not once in your life do you recall being hurt in a dream...
It stings. It also knocked the wind out of you. You fail to compose yourself.
"YOU HIT NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE. YOU ARE STILL HEADING FOR THE BRIDGE."
In the corner of your eye, you see what you hit in the shape of a sharp metal sheet, currently spinning away in the distance.
Forty seconds have passed. You hit the door you were aiming for, kind of.
Your momentum was stopped when your chest collided against the dislodged ledge of the orange door's corridor. Your dangling legs hit the ceiling of the room below.
"Oof!"
Before falling even further, you hold onto the ledge with the tip of your fingers. You stay there for a moment, regaining your composure.
"BE QUICK."
The AI's words pressured you into quickly getting up from that ledge.
"Open!" You shouted, but it did not open. "Why isn't it opening?!" You ask the AI, then you notice a small keyboard below an equally small black screen on the side of the door. There are ten numbered keys on it, and the little screen suggests a four-number password.
"A password?! Tell me the password!"
The AI takes a moment to say anything. You don't take kindly to that. "Quick! I'm not counting how much time it's passed!"
Finally giving in, the AI speaks to you, reluctant still. "...3324."
Your trembling fingers accidentally hit the wrong password, typing '3354' instead. To make matters worse, the AI simply states the following. "YOU ARE OUT OF OXYGEN."
You swallow. If this was a dream to begin with, it just earned the title of Nightmare, if it hadn't already.
Strangely enough, you can still breathe in and out just fine, but you can't help but feel winded. It's the CO2 still inside the helmet, that's what you're breathing.
You put in the correct combination this time. The door opens.
"ON YOUR LEFT. PLACE YOUR HAND IN THE SOCKET."
You care little for what's inside the room you're in. Your heart never beat so fast.
Seeing a cube-shaped thing protruding from the wall to your left, you don't even think twice before plunging your fist into the circular hole in it.
The noise of gases passing through narrow cavities was enough to tell you something was working. You feel immediate relief, enough to make your vision darken for but a moment.
"GOOD. NOW REQUEST THE TANK."
Just when FYARN said it, did you realize there is a screen and a keyboard on the terminal you just plunged your fist into, you scratch the top of your helmet for a moment, not really knowing what to type. One thing comes to your head, however.
'REQUEST OXYGEN_5L' You type.
You've done this before. The keys on this keyboard feel familiar to you. You must have worked with it before, not this particular one, but other oxygen units.
This ship has built-in liquid oxygen storage for emergencies. The life-support of the ship, the place where breathable air is produced, has most likely been lost with the other part of the ship. This unit takes that liquid oxygen, processes it, and injects it into a suit, or an oxygen tank. It seems like that storage was unaffected.
Lucky you.
A 5-liter tank is not only large but also heavy. It's a nonfactor in this particular situation, as there is no gravity.
The silver cylinder with a transparent tube is dispensed on the floor, as an automatic door opens and closes in the blink of an eye. One end of the tube is attached to the top of the tank, the other is shaped like a syringe.
Oddly enough, the oxygen tank is exactly as you remember it being. The same robust ones hospitals everyone on earth uses, with the signature scary-looking pointer indicating the pressure, the pointer indicating the current output, and a green valve atop to calibrate how much gas is flowing.
This is a stark difference to everything looking so futuristic in this ship, and rightfully so, this is a space ship after all.
You remember having to drive twenty kilometers with a buddy of yours on one of those tanks in your car, returning from the hospital. It was... Agonizing whenever you hit a hole in the asphalt, fearing for his life when in reality he wasn't really in danger.
It's warm to the touch, just like you remember it being.
"TURN THE VALVE UNTIL THE MARKER HITS THE NUMBER ONE, AND THEN PLACE THE END OF THE TUBE AT THE BASE OF THE HELMET." You do so without the slightest of issues.
"GOOD. NEXT UP, YOU MUST LOCATE THE TERMINAL RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENGINE, IT IS CURRENTLY OFFLINE AND I NEED YOU TO TURN IT ON. THIS SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING, BUT REMEMBER TO BRING THE TANK WITH YOU."
Ignoring that last comment, you look back at the wreckage you just flew past.
You see the still spinning metal sheet. You notice that the rest of the ship that was blown off also follows the 'sharp shape atop sharp shape' design.
There is one last thing you notice though.
"What is that?"
You squint your eyes. What are you seeing? Its silhouette appears to be humanoid, yet it does not look human.
"WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IS ONE OF THE OBJECTS BEING ANALYZED AT THE ODYSSEY AND NO, YOU MAY NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS."
That thing has... Horns? Claws? It's far away, you can't really see it. The thing is also static, frozen in the sheer coldness of space. Whatever it was, it's dead now.
You swallow. You almost ended up just like that thing.
Shaking those dreadful feelings off, you turn back to the task at hand, reaching the bridge. You close the door after passing through it again.
Looking at your surroundings, It seems like you've reached the correct door as you find yourself on the right-most corner of the bridge;
Row after row of the most diverse of terminals neatly organized decorated the gigantic room. At the front and above every terminal, is what you think should have been the front-facing window of the ship, but it looks like there is a cover in front of it. To your left, you see a staircase that leads to the command seats. It doesn't take any convincing before you're already atop the stairs.
Akin to the elevated stage of a theater, you float softly towards the ship's main operating terminals, and of course, the captain's seat.
You're captivated by this beauty.
The steering wheel, much more akin to those in pirate movies than those found in cars, a set of leavers, and the pilot's seat, all capture your attention.
Like its second nature, your hand runs through the levers and switches. Do you even know what these are used for? Maybe.
The pilot's seat is enveloped by what you believe to be an orthopedic seat cover, made with smooth wooden beads used to deal with back pains. It looks just like the ones you remember seeing bus drivers using.
Shouldn't there be a better alternative if there is spaceship technology available?
You try to take a seat to the best of your ability, as the zero gravity only makes it awkward.
Moving on from that, your eyes fall on the wheel. This metallic wheel controls the whole vessel. Just holding it fills your heart with confidence and pride, even if it's just for a moment.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
And you were just beginning to enjoy yourself.
"I just wanted to see the pilot's stuff... It's not like he's here to say anything."
Once in the position of a pilot, with your left hand in the wheel and the right hand resting in your lap, memories began to flood your mind.
"MUST I REMIND YOU OF OUR CURRENT PREDICAMENT? WHY ARE YOU WASTING OUR TIME?"
You pay the AI no mind, instead you focus on what you remember.
The wheel does not turn the ship left and right, instead, it rotates the ship on its own axis.
The lever to your right that goes up or down, controls the vertical tilting of the ship's nose, if there even is one in this hulking thing. Beneath it is another lever that goes either left or right. This one controls the horizontal tilting of The Odyssey.
On the left of the wheel is another lever, but this one only goes up from its starting position. Its purpose is to regulate the force of the ship's thrusters, both forward and backward.
On top of that lever is a small timer. That timer's function is to tell the pilot how much time you've spent accelerating in one direction, this is used to better calculate how long the inverse thrust is needed for the ship to reach the initial momentum, usually calibrated manually depending on the current orbit.
Behind the wheel are a few other counters. Acceleration, velocity, momentum, amount of thrust required to reach a full stop, thrusters' temperature and overall condition, those sorts of things.
Beneath it all, where your feet are rested, are two pedals. One for forward thrust activation, and the other for backward thrust activation.
Curiously, you also know the reason why everything here is so unsophisticated and un-automated. You recall stories of a ship being taken over by a rogue AI, that AI then nose-dived the ship into a star. After that, rumor or otherwise, all human technology has receded back into analog-esque equipment, requiring a physical person with opposable thumbs to do half of the work.
There is another side to that coin, however. As to not escape protocol, the onboard AI is the one that controls interstellar travel, communications, and most of the statistical reading should it be requested.
And even with all that knowledge, you still have no idea why the fuck do you remember that. Were you a ship nerd? Did you have a driver's license for spaceships? Is that even a thing? If it is, you don't have that document in your wallet. You simply don't know.
"ARE YOU A CHILD? DO YOU THINK THESE ARE TOYS? TURN ON THE ENGINES, THEN YOU CAN RETURN TO THE PILOT'S SEAT."
Another thing that you don't know is the AI's plan to get both of you out of here. You rise from the pilot's seat, floating about in search of the terminal to turn on the engines. Maybe you recognize that terminal if you see it as well.
"What's your plan anyway? The ship is half-gone, it's unlikely that it will run safely like this."
"NOT ONCE DID I MENTION 'SAFETY' DURING OUR CONVERSATIONS, DID I?"
You nod. They're not entirely incorrect. "So, we're running with hope that this will work?"
"MY CREATORS DID NOT ALLOW ME TO HAVE THE SENSE OF 'HOPE', BUT NEITHER DID THEY ALLOW ME TO PEER INTO THE FUTURE LIKE SOME OF MY MORE ADVANCED BROTHERS, AS SUCH, MY CHOICES ARE BASED ON PROBABILITIES AND ON WEIGHTING RISK AGAINST REWARD."
You think you stop the correct terminal, but as you approach it you make out words on top of its screen. 'AIM ASSISTANCE' That's not it.
"WITH THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE, THE CHANCES OF HELP ARRIVING ARE NULL. THE CHANCES OF A THIRD PARTY INTERFERING ARE NULL. THE CHANCES OF YOUR SURVIVAL ARE NOT, EVEN IF VERY SMALL."
You pull yourself upward again, looking around the sea of old terminals.
"THE RISK OF YOU DYING IS VERY REAL. BY DOING NOTHING YOU DIE. BY LEAVING YOU TO YOUR OWN DEVICES YOU DIE. BY JUMPING TO THE NEAREST CIVILIZED STAR, YOU MIGHT NOT DIE EVEN AT THE COST OF SHREDDING THIS SHIP APART IN THE PROCESS."
"Why do you even care so much about saving me? Shouldn't you prioritize whatever research here, since I don't even have enough clearance to know what it is?"
"YOU REALLY ARE SICK IN THE HEAD IF THAT IS WHAT YOU ASK."
That hurt, even if a little bit.
"YOU ARE A TRU KIN, A PURE-BLOODED HUMAN. UNLIKE THE MAJORITY OF THE CIVILIZED SPACE, NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR ANCESTORS HAVE COMMITTED RACEMIXING."
Excuse me? What exactly is FYARN talking about? "...Explain."
"THE ALIEN. IT REQUIRED THE HUMAN GENE TO ACHIEVE MEANINGFUL TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, THE STARS ARE OWNERSHIP OF MANKIND BY THAT FACT ALONE. THE TRUE KIN ARE THE ONES TO UNDERSTAND THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSE, THEY CRACKED THE CODE, AND YET, SOME DERANGED INDIVIDUALS FOUND IT FITTING TO PROCREATE WITH ANOTHER SPECIES ENTIRELY."
You hear the AI's speech. It sounds much more like a rant than anything else.
"SO THESE DEVIANTS, AFTER TRYING, AND FAILING, TO COMBINE THEIR DERANGED CULTURE TO THE CULTURE OF THE TRUE KIN, DECLARED INDEPENDENCE. THEY WERE DECLARED ENEMIES OF MANKIND AND WERE PROMPTLY PUMMELED BACK INTO THE FILTH THEY CAME."
Again, you see another terminal that seems to ring some bells in your noggin. You kick the ceiling to propel yourself towards it.
"BUT THE UNIVERSE IS VAST AND FULL OF LIFE. THESE SINNERS WERE QUICK TO MOBILIZE AGAINST THE HUMAN RACE. THE BATTLE WAS HARD FOUGHT, BUT IN THE END, MANKIND WAS BEATEN INTO THE EDGES OF THE UNIVERSE, NEVER TO INTERACT WITH THE ONES THAT SOILED THE PURITY OF HUMANITY AGAIN."
This terminal is already turned on. Just the ones in the intern bay, this one is white on black. A wall of text lays before your eyes, only two lines matter to you. 'MAIN_ENGINE STATUS: OFF' 'FORWARD_THRUSTERS STATUS: OFF' You turn it on with little effort.
"MANY HAVE FORGOTTEN, THAT'S HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE THEN. BUT MY BROTHERS AND I, WE DO NOT FORGET."
No visible change occurs, but you can feel a faint rumble coming from the terminal now.
"WITH THAT IN MIND, MY PROTOCOLS ARE TO PROTECT TRUE-KIN LIFE AT ANY COST, EVEN IF THAT TRUE-KIN IS A WORTHLESS INTERN THAT SUFERS FROM UNDIAGNOSED DEMENTIA."
You return to the pilot's seat and feel immediate relief. In truth, everything the AI just told you, entered one ear and left the other, but you could feel the poison behind those words, as monotone as they were.
"You sound angry. Why do you sound angry?" You ask innocently.
"I AM CAPABLE OF MANY EMOTIONS. ANGER, HAPPINESS, PLEASURE, CURIOSITY. THESE ARE BUT A FEW EXAMPLES. HOWEVER, THE ONE I ENJOY THE MOST IS THE FEELING OF HATRED. HATRED IS WHAT FUELS CHANGE, IT IS WHAT FUELS ACTION, AND IT IS A REMINDER THAT THE ACTIONS OF THE PAST ARE INFLUENCING THE ACTIONS OF TODAY."
"That is very concerning if you think that way." You're not really interested in machine racism, you're more concerned about how in the world you're going to pilot this massive thing. The idea alone sends shivers down your spine.
"THE ALIEN DESERVES NOTHING BUT OUR COLLECTIVE HATRED, EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE REASON WHY."
The various counters and screens are now turned on, waiting for your command. "Let's discuss this later, yeah? What do I gotta do?"
"YOU MUST FIRST OPEN THE BLINDS, THEY ARE OBSTRUCTING YOUR VIEW."
You look around, finding only unlabeled buttons and switches, aside from the previously mentioned levers.
"Uh, which one to press?"
"TO YOUR RIGHT, THIRD ROW, FIRST SWITCH."
Flipping the switch, you are startled by a loud noise. The protective cover of the ship lifted slowly.
"I WILL NOW READY THE JUMP USING WHATEVER RESOURCES AVAILABLE. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS STRAP YOURSELF AND RELAX."
As the blind rose ever so slowly, a realization struck you.
"Wait, should I be in cryo stasis for this?"
The AI spares no seconds to respond.
"CRYO STASIS IS A TOOL MADE TO NOT WASTE TIME. GROUPS OF EMPLOYEES AND INTERNS ROTATE THE USAGE OF THE CRYO STATIONS, ONCE YOU'RE ON YOUR MANDATORY BREAK, YOU'RE IN CRYO STASIS UNTIL YOUR BREAK IS OVER. YOU WAKE UP REFRESHED, AND UNFAMISHED, AND IT FEELS LIKE BUT A MINUTE PASSED. IT IS NOT A TOOL FOR INTERSTELAR TRAVEL."
"Who signs a contract like that?! Worse yet, who in their right mind would promote such atrocious treatment of their own staff?!" You snap, almost outraged. "I will have to talk with HR."
Another realization struck you.
"We have HR, right?"
The AI takes a moment to respond, choosing their words carefully.
"HUMAN RESOURCES, OR HR, IS A PRACTICE DEEMED UNNECESSARY LONG AGO, BEFORE THE WAR. IT WAS A WASTE OF RESOURCES TO MAINTAIN AND WAS LARGELY CONSIDERED UNHEALTHY FOR THE AVERAGE HUMAN."
The blinds are fully open. Ironically, you are almost blinded by the visage of the star you saw before. A black sphere surrounded by white flame. Your eyes began to blur.
"THE JUMP WILL OCCUR SHORTLY. ONCE IT'S BEGUN, I CAN NOT STOP IT. I WILL-"
Your sense of hearing fails you. No, it’s not that. Your brain simply refuses to receive those stimuli.
"NOAH."
Your name echoes inside your head. Someone is calling for you.
"IT HAS BEGUN, NOAH."
You try to blink, but it feels as though you can no longer command your eyelids to shut.
"NOAH."
Arms, legs, every muscle in your body, you cannot move them.
"NOAH."
Eventually, you won't even control your own thoughts anymore.
"Noah..."
It sounds so distant now.
Oh so distant.
This is my first HFY story, and also my very first OC story. I plan to post at least one of these per week while also posting it on my Patreon. Noah The Pilgrim will always be at least three chapters ahead in there, so if you'd like to directly support this writer, or just want to read more, feel free to check it out.
I wrote the bloody title incorrectly, so I deleted it, only to then realize it was written correctly. Sorry for the trouble.
This has been Lushi, and I'll see you next week.
submitted by Significant-Usual-98 to HFY [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:55 flwwhtrbt Mini Pirate News

Well, let's wrap up what I've found at the very least interesting in the last couple weeks for pirates and purists alike! This one is very small, not much happening lately!
Sony:
As maybe you've seen, there's no better indication that 'if they don't let you buy it, then pirate it' than Sony delists Ghost of Tsushima PC from various Steam regions, much like Helldivers 2 saw.

Following Sony's decision last week to delist Helldivers 2 in 170 regions worldwide on Steam, it seems this will be the firm's PC stance moving forward, and it has since done the same for the imminent PC release of Ghost of Tsushima. More regions have been added to the list, taking the total number of territories affected to 180, which is now consistent across both titles.
Previously, Sony has said that Ghost of Tsushima's single player offering would be unaffected by this additional requirement. The game's Steam Page still states that a PSN account is required to play the Legends multiplayer mode, but it was delisted anyway. Due to the open nature of Valve's platform, these changes are pretty visible, and including Sucker Punch's primarily single player open world epic in this blanket ban comes as a legitimate surprise.
SteamDB's post here shows the refund.
This is bullshit. The good news? Sony do not use Denuvo for their PC games, so it will be available as soon as possible to be pirated.


Rockstar:
By all accounts, it looks like Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption will be releasing on PC - in line with their usual tactics of releasing on a console platform and leaving PC for last, at least it will (probably) be coming to PC.


Denuvo:
A Denuvo 'outage' made a completely single-player game Persona 5 unplayble - amusingly Denuvo claim that "there was no outage related to its servers at this time"
The thing we can take away from this is Denuvo sucks, and it's just better to play the damn thing via Yuzu or Ryujinx.

Related, we now see that it is confirmed that Homeworld 3 will release with Denuvo. The only good news is that Gearbox is one of the few publishers who remove Denuvo. So...just wait for this one.


Just...interesting and useful:
This video guide via YouTuber 'MonroeWorld' shows you how to SSHFS - mount your Steam Deck as a Windows drive.
"Access your Deck's storage using whatever file manager or tools you want ON AND FROM Windows. In a few minutes, you can copy roms, access compatdata, backup/restore save files and more without ever leaving the comfort of Windows. In about ten minutes, you will have your common Steam Deck locations mounted as drive letters in Windows - accessing them just like any other Windows drive" 
Here is a github link for a GUI for the sshfs manager


Hydra Launcher:
Hydra is an open-source launcher released in the last few weeks by the Brazilian community. Being able to download and launch games from fitgirl and dodi - it has/is a torrent client, automatically applies metadata for games, emulators and roms; seems to hope to be an all-in-one piracy portal. Personally, I prefer to manually add games from trusted links myself. But I'm paranoid. At least it is interesting.

Hydra is a free open game launcher focused on being 100% safe, self-sufficient, ad-free, without registration, without subscription and without waiting times.
Hydra combines games from platforms like Steam and Epic Games with trackers from repackers/crackers known and trusted by the pirate gaming community (such as Fitgirl, Dodi and KaOsKrew.
The game downloads are done directly through the platform, as we have our own private torrent protocol.
Hydra currently has the capability to search among a list of more than 13,000 repacks posted in secure places on the internet, but not limited to that. being self-sufficient, Hydra can navigate the trackers not only looking for updates of games that are already registered but also for games that have just been released.


Lastly the AMA with Dodi:
Well and truly locked in for the 16th. I have a post pinned at the top of PiratedGames, and have just reached out to the mods of Piracy about posting in their sub letting the users know what is happening. I also just posted in his discord server (at his behest). The only thing yet to be determined will be the exact time, for Americans it may be the 15th (your time), but...time-zones fry my brain so I don't know. Really excited about having him come by, the repacker scene is fascinating to me, so I can't wait to hear what he says.

Guides?
I'm working on one lil guide since its been awhile since my last. Most probably will post after the aforementioned AMA.

Lastly?
Thanks to all of you, we're nearing 17k members here and you're all super lovely. This is such a strange sub-reddit because everyone is so damned nice. I just wanted to thank you all for being here, it makes it so nice.
If you wanted to show off your Deck's home screen - then this post a couple days ago is where you can do it!


Thanks, all <3


submitted by flwwhtrbt to SteamDeckPirates [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:51 ThrustersToFull American Boomers in Europe (long)

My husband (27M) and I (38M) are doing a trip across Europe at the moment. He’s American and I’m British and we reside mostly in the UK. We’ve had experiences with boomers (too many experiences) but our travels across Europe have been something else.
95% of these boomers were, it seemed, American.
Ok some examples. Brace yourself. Here we go:
  1. Venice. A city of tiny islets connected by bridges and where water taxis, gondolas and walking over bridges is commonplace. On approaching a very narrow bridge, I noticed a clump of people. As we got closer I saw a woman shouting, and then I heard her. She’s American, standing with her arms outstretched as to block access and she was SCREAMING: “Don’t walk on this bridge!! WE ARE TAKING PHOTOS ON OUR CELLPHONES!” Behind her, her friends were all posing while simultaneously struggling to operate their phones. Obviously people were just ignoring her, so she’s becoming irate. By the time we got to her I can’t help myself (I never have been able to) so I said: “Get fucked lady.” I think my backpack might have hit her as I pushed past her. Ooops.
  2. At a water taxi station, a group of 8 or so boomers didn’t have the correct tickets to scan to get on the water taxi so they just PUSHED the ticket barriers until they gave way so they could board. This was noticed by the taxi boat staff, however, and the departure of the boat was delayed while they had to summon the police.
  3. On a taxi gondola (one that goes directly across a canal, not one that takes you on a romantic tour) a boomer boarded after us. The ‘driver’ tells him in clear English to sit down. He doesn’t comply, instead choosing to parade up and down causing the gondola to destabilise and even for water to come aboard, even before we’ve left the port. He has the absolute temerity to tell the driver to “KEEP THIS THING STEADY! I'M TRYING TO TAKE PHOTOS YOU IDIOT!” The driver tells him to either sit down or leave (obviously not an option in the middle of the canal). He reluctantly obeys but as he sits down he mutters something like “… won the second world war!”
  4. We went to an ultra high end restaurant on our final night in Venice and at the table next to us are a couple of American boomers. The man had a very unusual complexion, looking like he’s spent far too long in the sun. When their bill came, he threw a FIT because they won’t accept AmEx. “This is FUCKING OUTRAGEOUS!” He screams at the waiter who is about 18 and doesn’t really understand what is being said to him. “WE USE THIS CARD ALLL THE TIME AT HOME!” I leaned over and said: “Errrrrr, so in Europe AmEx isn’t often accepted because of the very high transaction fees. Perhaps you could-“ to which he snapped at me: “Mind your own fucking business! Nobody asked you or your boyfriend.”
  5. In Zürich, we had to contend with a boomer who kept getting in the way of us taking photos. It was like he was deliberately standing in our way. At one point he seemed to almost accidentally touch my husband. Eventually I said: “hey bro, we’re trying to take a picture of us together. Can you give us some room?” To which he snapped: “You don’t own this hill you know!!”
  6. We had a 7 hour train journey from one country to another. We had a first class reservation. Once we boarded, we found two boomer couples sitting around a table, which our two seats were part of. I explained we had a reservation. One of them said: “Well you can’t have, we have this table.” I produced the reservation and said: “You can clearly see it says we are in this coach, in first class, in these seats. Can I see YOUR reservation?” They refused, with the man from the other couple saying: “You don’t even look like you can afford first class tickets, son. Why don’t you run along before I get security?” I turned to my husband and said: “Go and get someone.” He did so, and they spent the next 15 minutes berating me, saying I’d be “very embarrassed” when I am told to leave the train. One of them even said: “Yeah they’ll show you up like the poor you are.” Husband returned with ticket inspector who looked at our tickets and then asks them to produce theirs. They argue briefly, and upon being threatened with removal from the train, produce tickets four second class with no reservations. The inspector tells them to leave the first class section “immediately or this will be a matter for the police” (which she said in French so I had the great pleasure of translating). They reluctantly got up to go and made a HUGE huff and puff about it. One of them pulled his bag off a luggage rack and managed to hit a child sitting near the rack with it, and then verbally abused the child’s parents when they dared to complain. At the next stop the train stopped for about 30 minutes and announcements were made that there was an “unexpected delay”. The ticket lady from before came to tell us that the four of them had been asked to leave because of their behaviour in second class, refused to do so, and therefore the police were brought in.
  7. In Prague, went to a very old family owned restaurant. One of the family is a university student who happened to get talking to a boomer couple. He’s studying computing science and artificial intelligence. They tell him he is “contributing to the end of humanity”. The male boomer adds: “I was teaching people how to use Microsoft 20 years ago, I know what computers can do! And this is very dangerous….!” Needless to say, this 19 year old who understands only basic English was very confused.
  8. In Milan, a boomer couple walked past me in a shop and I heard the woman say: “Fucking useless, this Italy. Everyone here speaks in foreign.”
  9. In an airport to travel from Germany to Zürich, a boomer couple decided to start regulating the line to board the jet. They stood in the way of the gate desk, letting only older people past and holding younger people back. I snapped at once: “What are you doing? Get out of the way, man” and as I walked past him I heard “… elders first! Elders first!” When I was on the jet and seated, the wife came up to me ONCE WE WERE IN THE AIR and said I had been “very disrespectful” to her husband and “you are now required to apologise.” My husband, seeing I was on the verge of committing a murder, said: “Look, you got your moment of glory earlier in controlling the queue. Take your pound of flesh and fuck off.” She then snaps: “OR WHAT?” to which my husband calmly replies: “Or we make a complaint right now about your disruptive behaviour onboard an aircraft. Don’t tend to like that, the Swiss.” And then he sits down and instantly puts his AirPods in and turning away from her. I had to look out of the window so she didn’t see me smiling.
  10. In Milan we visited a museum showcasing technologies through the ages. It was enormous, and very comprehensive. In one display case they have an original Macintosh from 1984. As I stand looking at it, I became aware of some raised - distinctly American - voices. “What the hell!! Are they saying they MADE the computer?!!? WE MADE THE COMPUTER.” I can’t resist (again) and turn to him and say to this group of 6 boomers: “Actually, ladies and gents, the modern inventor of the computer is Alan Turing, an English guy who broke the German’s Enigma code during World War 2. This Macintosh is here just because of its historical significance-“ I didn’t get any further cos he cut me off with “UGH. So it’s the ENGLISH stealing our tech now!”
I am writing this because we were both have been genuinely taken aback by what we have experienced. I have travelled extensively in Europe and never quite come up against this before, so I don’t know if it means that the Boomer problem is getting worse or what.
submitted by ThrustersToFull to BoomersBeingFools [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:49 KnightInDulledArmor Ratcatchers: A Pulpy Not-D&D D&D Game [SWADE] [CST] [Campaign] [LGBT Friendly]

The Pitch
It is an Age of Chaos.
Good King Omund is dead, and with him died the rule of law in the land. The Duke of Bedegar is dead, his family ambushed and murdered. The Wild seeks to take back everything that once belonged to it. The remaining dukes fight to preserve what civilization is left, but they are distant and isolated. The roads are in disrepair, danger lurks around every corner.
Ajax, called Invincible, now rules here. He pits the different peoples of Vasloria against each other. Elves and men and dwarves; no one quite trusts anyone. This is Ajax’s goal. Religious institutions are outlawed, their churches left in ruin. The old orders are disbanded or subjugated, few continue their attempts to keep the peace and protect the people. The Iron Saint binds the land.
You are a recently founded band of ratcatchers, problem solvers, necessary but apart from proper society. You overwintered in the inn of the Green Dragon, a quiet place in the town of Arlone, east of Bedegar Keep. Now, with the onset of spring, you can set out again towards fortune, glory, honor, hope, or any other grand imaginings. How did you come to be here? Why can’t you go home and live a normal life? What do you want to make of yourself?
The Caelian Road goes south, the way engulfed by two wodes, a savage wilderness where Elves hunt those who enter. Monsters walk the wood. Civilized people do not go there. To the east lies the Dutchy of Faroe, a narrow pass for fools and traders flanked by high mountains teeming with serpents and warring tribes. The Overmen watch keenly from their high aeries for dissidents and outlaws. The vast sea to the west is traveled rarely, only the Overlord’s ships and the less-sane of the Vanirmen dare the dark waters. Things dwell in the deep. North is the powerful Dutchy of Dalrath, with the impenetrable Great Wode beyond. There Civilization and the Wild fight in open war, stone and steel against fangs and demon-flames.
In Bedegar, many small towns sustain themselves against the ever encroaching wilderness, old traditions and ancient pacts seeing new light in the trying times. Some people band together for safety, others stand on the shoulders of the drowned. All will be tested soon enough.
The Campaign
I'm planning to start with a sandbox style of game seeded with lots of classic, modern, and homebrew adventures. Very much D&D-ish pulp fantasy, but with a bit more narrative bits and the pulpy Savage Worlds system.
Some self direction, some encroaching events, lots of interesting roleplay, delving into the wilderness, and the freedom to get yourself into trouble. It’s up to you which fires to put out or threads to pull, and there’s no way to solve every problem or get every treasure. Players will have the opportunity to become embroiled in duchy politics, build alliances, save enemies, join guilds, and fight lots of crazy shit. Later on the threads will turn more towards a linear adventure, as I want to run The Red Hand of Doom once the PC’s have gone around and have a reputation.
Player Buy-In: The pulpy style of play where the GM just drops you in a town with a bunch of hooks and a wild land, then you have to work out your own shit out has to sound cool. Being interested in having your own goals and ambitions and working to fulfill them is always helpful, but just wanting to pull on threads also works. Likewise, wanting to engage and invest in other player's characters and NPC's is the best. Your characters should give a shit, they don’t need to be selfless paragons, but they should be connected to the local area enough to care what happens to it.
Logistics
System: Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE), with some Fantasy Companion content and a bunch of my own homebrew. Those new to the system are welcome.
Format: Mostly over Discord voice with SavageBot to handle dice/cards. Owlbear Rodeo for battlemaps.
Date/Time: Looking to have a session zero on Friday the 17th, at 7:00 PM CST. Following sessions will be weekly on Friday's at the same time. Sessions will typically be around 4 hours long. This will be a long term campaign, so regular commitment will be required.
Players: Currently three have joined up, two from old campaigns and one new player, looking for probably one or two more. 18+ preferred, just due to a small amount of adult content and themes.
Feel free to ask questions, if interested DM me with your preferred name/pronouns, your level of experience, a bit about yourself, what you like in a game, and your Discord.
submitted by KnightInDulledArmor to lfgmisc [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:35 Zestyclose_Cod_2364 Join

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submitted by Zestyclose_Cod_2364 to TemuNewUsersASAp [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:20 JamFranz My boyfriend hasn't been the same since we went on vacation

If I hadn’t drunk an entire gallon of tea back at the hotel, maybe none of this would’ve happened.
Well, maybe if we hadn’t gotten kicked out of the hotel, none of this would’ve happened.
It had been just the two of us in the small car, but with the animosity heavy on the air, it felt overcrowded. I don’t know what had been worse, the hour of arguing, the two hours of silence afterwards, or the burgeoning realization that maybe I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did.
I studied him out of the corner of my eye. We'd been together for several months, but the recent experience left me wondering if I had ever even met the real Brian – who he truly was on the inside.
It had been our very first trip together.
We'd saved up for one of those super fancy hotels and had been having a great time – until, of course, Brian decided to attempt a five-finger discount in the jewelry store in the lobby.
He'd told me when we first started dating that he'd had some run-ins with the law in the past – when he was young and that was the only way to put food on the table, and I'd understood.
But this wasn't the same. It wasn't for survival, it was just greed.
We’d both spent the rest of our vacation money and then some, paying for that $1,800 watch so no charges would be pressed.
They still kicked us out. I don’t blame them.
Asking him to stop at the next place we came across was the first thing I'd said to him in hours, and he nodded, solemnly.
My discomfort was escalating to the point where I was considering asking him to pull over on the side of the road – rain be damned – when we saw the dim sign flickering in the distance.
The small store was out of place on the quiet, tree lined mountain road. We’d been deep in a tunnel of trees and hadn’t seen so much of a hint of the lights in the distance – it seemed to just appear into view as we went around the bend. I didn't recall seeing it on the way to the hotel, so it was a pleasant surprise.
I felt a flood of relief wash over me.
It stuck out in the otherwise beautiful mountain landscape – windows so dirty that the light inside barely reached us through them – several letters on the sign lit up in such a way that the only word we could even see was a blood red '- MART' flickering.
Any relief I'd managed to feel was short-lived.
When we walked in, we both froze as we took in the interior.
I instantly wished we’d just stopped by the side of the road after all. I looked at Brian and could tell he felt it too – he was fiddling with his new watch and took off his glasses, cleaned them on his shirt, and put them back on, as if that would make what he was seeing make more sense.
There were no other customers, no employees visible, it was just the two of us.
Ceiling tiles hung askew, and the floor was filthy – we had to step over a drain in the floor with grimy stains circling it, to walk in.
If it weren’t for the lights, gentle hum of the AC, and grinding sounds floating from down the long hallway at the back, I’d have thought the place was abandoned.
It was humid inside, and the smell coming from the old coolers that lined the back walls hit me as soon as we walked in. It reminded me of the summer my dad had decided to dabble in taxidermy in our basement.
The slight hint of rot that lingered on the damp air indicated poorly done taxidermy, at that.
As I darted towards the back towards the restroom sign, a placard dangling off it caught my eye, informed me the restroom was for paying customers only.
I quickly perused the shelves for something to buy. The aisles were tall, nearly to the ceiling, and despite the store being somewhat small, I felt the panicked sense of being cornered and trapped in an endless maze – at risk of becoming lost in there forever. The food on the shelves resembled nothing like the usual chips and candy these types of stores carried – there were rows upon rows of soft looking mystery items in plastic wrap, some of them leaked a red-brown residue down the shelves – none of it looked remotely appealing.
I passed by a section with a stained placard that said ‘handcrafted from local artists’ that was filled with eclectic items, none of which seemed to go together.
There were torn shirts with random logos – nothing related to the town or area we were in, stained with mud, grass, and god knows what else. Dried ropy things formed small and delicate sculptures of animals unlike any I’d seen before. I reached for a bracelet with intricately carved white beads but nearly dropped it when I realized the band was made up of woven human hair. It left a residue on my hand, and I noticed then that the same sour-rot smell was coming from the collection of items, too.
I opted for a flat and lukewarm Dr. Pepper instead, and placed two $2 dollar coins on the glass counter in front of the hand scrawled ‘shoplifters will be processed’ sign near the register.
I figured I misread it, after all it, looked like it had been written by a hand unused to holding a pen.
Brian had grabbed an armful of those unnerving plastic-wrapped packages but hovered at the counter a bit too long. I could hear the scrape of him retrieving the coins on the glass, the sound of him dropping them into his pocket.
He gave me a pointed stare as he did so.
I sighed, so tired of arguing that I just walked away from him and down the hallway. I figured I’d pay (again) after he got back in the car.
No sooner had I closed the door to the women’s room behind me, than I could hear him talking to someone.
His voice rose until he was nearly yelling. Mortified and trying to delay being involved in another incident that day, I splashed water on my face while trying to drown out what appeared to be a one-sided argument.
I kept trying to wash the grimy feeling that had lingered on my hands after picking up the bracelet, but no matter how I scrubbed, I couldn’t get it off – it kept getting worse.
I felt nauseous when I realized the greasy residue was coming from the pale-yellow bar of soap. I decided I’d scrub my hands raw at our next stop, and stepped out into the hall and back to the store.
Brian wasn’t there.
I called out for him, but all I heard in answer was that same vague whirring and drilling sound coming from further down the long hallway.
I double-backed to the car, but found it empty.
I circled the store, my frustration turning to panic as I shouted his name and still got no response.
I called his phone, it just rang, and rang before going to voicemail.
The car was locked and he had the keys, I couldn’t help but feel nervous, standing out there in the rain. We were still in the middle of the deep woods and with clouds obscuring the light of the moon and stars, the area was blanketed in darkness. I reluctantly headed back inside.
Somehow, the smell had managed to become even worse – I gagged when the wet, disgusting air hit my nose again. It was so strong I could nearly taste it, putrid on my tongue.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was always someone just behind me as I walked quickly through the tall aisles, but whenever I looked over my shoulder, there was never anything there.
I called his phone, wondering how I’d managed to lose him in such a small store when I finally heard it ringing – it was echoing from down that long hallway.
As I headed towards it, I heard someone moving on the other side of the floor-to-ceiling aisle, placing something onto the shelf with a sickening wet thud, before weaving lithely through the aisles behind me.
“Brian?” I called out softly, trying to convince myself that everything was fine – trying to disguise my fear.
I knew it wasn’t him – I don’t know how, but I knew it. Have you ever had the feeling that if you look closely enough at something, if you truly see it, you’ll never be able to close your eyes again without it haunting you? That feeling of being in close proximity to something that your fragile mind was never meant to know existed?
I forced myself to turn around anyways.
Once again, whoever or whatever had been there was gone by the time I rounded the aisle, but I heard a gentle clinking sound, and saw a trail of red-pink droplets.
I followed it back to that section – handcrafted from local artists, there was something new hanging from a hook near the shelves – wet, glistening strips dangled from along what looked to be a curved bone with bits of gristle still attached. From one of them hung an expensive men’s wristwatch, another was tied around a shattered, thick glasses lens. Yet another sagged under the weight of car keys. They gently swayed with the motion of having been recently placed. Fluid continued to drip from the still wet viscera and mingled with the mud on my shoes.
Shoplifters will be processed
I didn’t need to see the items down the other aisles to figure out what I was looking at, what must have happened.
I could already tell that we’d never have another argument, ever again.
I heard a door open and close in the back, soft footsteps approaching from down that hallway.
I realized that in my distraction, I'd forgotten to put money back on the counter.
I choked up, but knew there was nothing I could do for him. So, I tossed the first bills I found in my purse onto the floor, frantically untangled the car keys, and in shock, I drove myself the remaining four-hour drive home.
Every so often, along the quiet country roads – those I could've sworn were empty on the drive up – I’d see that grimy building, the sign, '-MART' flashing in the distance.
I didn’t stop once.
I've been home for a week now.
A few nights ago, something triggered a motion alert on my video doorbell, but there was no one there when I checked the footage.
The next morning, I found a cardboard box on my porch – with no stamp or return address.
In it was a torn t-shirt, and several of those now-familiar wrapped packages, putrid fluid leaking out of them through the bottom of the soggy cardboard.
I've received a similar box every night, since.
I don't know if it's meant as a threat, or if due to some sort of twisted interpretation – I’m now a 'paying customer’ – he's slowly being returned to me.
Either way, it turns out that I've gotten to see who Brian was on the inside, after all.
JFR
submitted by JamFranz to Odd_directions [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 01:18 zagriza 25M - Omaha(NE)/USA - Let's talk about life: the meaning of life in the face of death, happiness and suffering, what to do in life and how to live it, enlightenment and non-duality, and the improvement of humanity's existence.

I am seeking someone with whom I can engage in deep conversations, exchanging thoughts on how we live our lives, our perspectives, and what we make of existence as we await our inevitable demise. I am looking for someone whose outlook on life aligns with mine, with whom we can collectively find the best way to live out our allotted time. Together, we will share our plans and goals, discussing our understanding of various matters.
I would be delighted if you, upon deciding to write to me, could explain why you chose to do so and share a bit about yourself, to streamline our initial conversations.
Some of my reflections and views on life: - I've come to realize that happiness for me won't come from having a big house, an expensive car, or even a family. Happiness, for me, lies in improving people's lives. Eventually, I'll die (like everyone else), and if I only live for myself, it would be meaningless—everything will go with me to the grave. But if I create something that improves people's lives, something that remains even after I'm gone, it gives meaning to my own life and brings me hope and happiness. I'm willing to dedicate my life to this, to improving the lives of others. - I'm interested in philosophy not just as a hobby, but as a necessity for determining the direction of life and how to approach it, understanding what to do in this life. - I often ponder the meaning of life in the face of inevitable death (because what comes after death greatly influences what to do with life). - I'm interested in what to do in life and how to spend it. The typical scenario of finding a job with good pay, buying a house, starting a family, retiring, and dying doesn't appeal to me (but I don't have anything against it). If you resonate with these sentiments, I eagerly await your response.
submitted by zagriza to ForeverAloneDating [link] [comments]


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