Slutty Sister Has Her Brother Locked For Life (non-con, forced chastity, bondage, punishment)
Part 1
The keyholder nurse gave me instructions and explained everything after it was all over. My family had told me that I was a sex pervert and I was "being dealt with". I knew I was in trouble, but I was a young man, only 18 and I didn't understand what was going on. No one had told me anything after the hearing.
Mom drove me to an odd building, led me to a secure room and left. A young nurse told me to undress. I was totally naked. An older woman in scrubs and a man entered. They strapped my arms and legs down to a cold steel table. The nurse offered the woman a syringe, but she declined and said "No, I want this creep to feel it".
It all started a month ago. I lived with my mom and sister, dad was gone. My sister was 19, with a tight body and medium sized, perky tits. Mom was thick, curvy, with giant tits. Both recently got their naval's pierced with matching studs. Neither had boyfriends, but they were very promiscuous. We lived in a mobile home with thin walls, so I could hear them getting fucked often.
I made some mistakes. First, my sister caught me peeping on her in the shower and told mom. Then, two of her "friends" came over for sex. They took turns on her. She got very loud. After they left, I went in her room. She covered herself, but I saw her pussy and stomach first. There were small puddles of cum around her pantyline, and some more of it leaking out of her. I told her I was still a virgin and asked if I could "go next" on her. She yelled "get out" and told mom when she got home from work.
The third incident was more serious they said. Mom would sometimes drink and pass out. I'd never felt tits before and hers were so enticing. She had some drinks and went to bed. I snuck in. She was asleep, uncovered, wearing a gown. I grabbed her heaving boobs. Then I took one of my hands off her chest and pulled the gown above her waist, exposing her. I slid my hand between her legs and rubbed her pussy. She woke up and caught me. She was pissed. The next day my sister told me they had turned me in and there would be a hearing.
So I knew why I was on the metal table, but I didn't know what was next. I couldn't see, there was a drape at my waist. It started with gloves and cold metal on my genitals, then clamping, pinching, pulling, and eventually a sharp puncturing pain near my balls. I begged them to stop, but they did it 2 more times, once on my cock. Finally a metal device was brought out. I could feel it being slid on, clamped down, tightened, then locked. "All done" they said and left. The young nurse stayed behind.
She removed the drape and released the straps. I inspected the "device". My cock and balls had been fed through a steel ring that tightly encircled them at the base. It was secured to a piercing just above my taint and another at the top. My penis was locked in a tight steel "cage" with a hole at the end for pissing. The head had been pierced and a metal bar went through me as extra security. It wasn't going anywhere. The whole thing was super tight.
"What is this?" I asked.
She explained. "It's your chastity device. Your genitals have been locked up. At the hearing, your mother and sister requested that you be put in chastity. The safety council asked them how long they thought would be appropriate and both wanted you locked forever. Since the incidents involved incest, the council agreed. Your penis is locked for life. I'm your keyholder nurse. I will help with adjustments, cleanings, draining your balls, and anything else needed for chastity".
"When do I get to take off?" I said.
She answered, "You're locked forever. So you wont get to take it off. They have to keep you locked so your sister is safe and to punish you for what you did to your mom. You wont be able to have sex or force anyone. Since you can't masturbate, your balls might swell, so you will see me every other month to drain them, do a deep cleaning, and tighten your cage, if necessary.
--------------------------------XXX--------------------------------

Part 2

The room was cold. My keyholder nurse was a cute twenty-something. A name tag with "Beverly" was pinned above her perky boobs. Her scrub top was tight around her chest. I could see the shape of her breasts and her hard nipples pressing againt the fabric. I stared and my cage got tighter. She noticed and grinned slightly.
I got back to business, "Can I appeal or get parole or something? What happens next?"
She answered, "Sorry, no appeals for chastity. There is parole, but not for incest cases. What you did is considered extremely disgusting, so they deemed you a "most extreme pervert". Incest offenders get more severe penalties and no parole. I'm not supposed to be judgemental, but you're my first incest case and it sounded really awful at your hearing. It's hard to believe creeps as bad as you even exist, who rubs their own mom's pussy? This case is really bad, so I'm gonna go harder on you than my other guys. I hope it was worth it. So here's what's next...your mother and sister are entitled to a final inspection of your genitals, then you'll go directly to prison to be processed and locked up in the chastity unit."
I was confused and responded with frustration, "I can't believe this is happening to me. I just got too horny seeing the girls dressed like sluts and listening to them getting fucked all the time. After seeing my sisters cum-filled pussy, I lost control and slipped up. If she just gave me sloppy seconds, I wouldn't have done all that to mom....What do you mean prison?!?!"
She responded, bursting with excitement, "Dont worry, you'll learn your lesson! OH! I see they didn't tell you about prison yet, since you were a rush case. Chastity is just an add-on to your prison sentence as an extra penalty and to keep everyone safe. Let me look at your file to see how much time you'll serve."
Looking at her tablet, she smiled big and replied, "I've never gotten to do this before! Most guys hear about their sentence before they get to me...Ok, so they actually got you taken care of pretty good here. It got split up into multiple counts, so fortunately, they were able to put you away for a long time."
She continued, "Your sister had you convicted on two charges, one for the shower incident and one for the bedroom incident. You got two more for mom, one for groping her tits and another for going between her legs. I'll read them off...
Count 1, Incestual peeping, sentence: 1 year special confinement
Count 2, Incestual peeping with propositioning, sentence: 1.5 years special confinement
Count 3, 2nd Degree Incestual Sexual Battery, 2 years special confinement
Ok and here's the big one! For touching mom's pussy...
Count 4, 1st Dregee Incestual Sexual Battery, 4.5 years RIGOROUS confinement in the SCU-I, (Special Chastity Unit, Incest wing), with intensive perversion correction."
So you'll do nine years total, with the first four-and-a-half in the incest wing."
I was completely shocked, "Nine years!? Are you serious? What's special confinement? Am I going to regular prison or what?
Beverely explained, "Special confinement means you'll be put in the chastity unit. It's a separate level for inmates that have their genitals locked, like rapists and other perverts. It's a little different. The cells are super small, you don't get any privileges like TV, and you stay locked in your cell for 23 hours a day. But don't worry. Most of my guys are in the chastity unit. They all want out really bad, but they're fine. Some eventually leave for regular population if their sentence allows, but you'll actually just be finishing up in the main chasity unit after you're done with rigororous confinement for the first four-and-a-half. You'll start off in the incest wing".
"What is all that? I asked
Beverly explained further, "It's a big deal. That's why I got so excited when I read your sentence on count 4. It wasn't just the amount of time you got, but what'll be happening to you that makes it a heavy one. I've heard it's very extreme. Since you're my first incest case, I'm not as familiar with it, but I've heard you're basically caged up 24/7 and pretty much treated like an animal. I'm not sure if you even get a toilet or a bed. You only leave your cage once every two weeks for perversion correction, which I might get to assist with, and you'll get another device I've heard about, called the "silver bullet". I think it's an anal device? You'll learn more about that when you get there. Oh! Looks like it's time to get you ready for inspection."
The door opened as she left and two female guards entered. One had a tazer. They led me to another table. This one had wheels. I sat on the edge. One grabbed my ankles and another tried to push me on my back. I resisted, trying to spin off the table. I was immediately tazed, then sedated, imobilizing me. "This will be easier for if you just comply" she said. I was on my back again. My ankles were lifted toward my head, folding my legs over me. Thick zip ties were placed around my ankles and calfs. My hands and forearms were looped through both, then "zzzzzzzztttt", it was all cinched down tight, securing my arms to my legs. A bar was secured between my knees, keeping me exposed. Beverly came back in. One of the guards said "He's all yours hon" as they left.
"Let's get you cleaned up" Beverly said. "Your mom and sister are on their way and they're excited to see your private parts all locked up for good.
She put gloves on, then approached the table, placing one hand over my nose. I opened my mouth and she shoved a gag in and secured it around my head. "This is just a temporary gag. Your sister didn't want you talking during inspection. I believe you'll get more securely gagged and muzzled when you get to processing. I've heard the guys don't get solid food in the incest wing, you get fed a liquid diet, like that soylent stuff, that you'll take through a drinking tube in your gag. It's really amazing how good they have you incest perverts locked up over there. I can't wait to see you like that.
She started the cleaning by soaping and lathering around my crotch, exposed parts were shaved. She walked away, coming back with a tube and a bag full of fluid that she hung from a pole. The label read "Enema". Beverly explained, "Gotta clean you inside and out. First I'll get you lubed up". She grabbed a metal syring, inserted the tip in my ass, and injected me with lube. At the end of enema tube, there was a detachable nozzle with two inflatable bulbs. One was forced in my ass and both were inflated, locking it in place. I could see the tube going from the bag to inside me. I felt like I was being treated like an animal already. She turned a valve, the fluid began flowing and filled me up. She set a timer for 35 minutes, and sat on her stool, reading cosmo. After an agonizing wait, she removed the nozzle plug, allowing me to release. Finally, thank goodness. I was soaped up again and rinsed. She cleaned up the enema nozzle plug, added more lube, and shoved it back1 inside me. "Putting this back in so we dont have any potential leaks" she said, as she inflated it. She disconnected the outside end of the inflatable nozzle where it attached to the longer enema tube, clamped it off, and let go of it. I felt it bounce around as it settled. "You're all set" she exclaimed.
I was wheeled on the cart-like table through a long, busy hallway to a different room for inspection. I could feel the protruding nozzle plug in my ass flop around as the cart moved. The other employees stared as I went by, a few smiled with satisfaction. How humiliating I thought. I heard murmuring. "Bitchtied pervert getting what he deserves!" one girl said angrily.
Finally in the inspection room, I waited. The door opened, Beverly entered with two blondes behind her, my mom and my sister. The two gorgeous sluts were dressed similar. My mom was wearing tight, denim, high waisted shorts that displayed her ass and curvy hips, they were pulled-up high in a way that you could see the denim tight against her twat. My sister came dressed in super short spandex yoga shorts, tight ones that lifted her already firm butt into perfection. Both wore crop tops with their stomachs and matching naval piercings exposed. Images of my sister's sloppy pussy flashed in my head, my cock and balls both swelled. I stared at their bodies and let out a loud, desperate moan as my cage grew excruciatingly tight.
Part 3 to follow...

I don't even know if anybody can help, or if I can even really describe what's going on coherently... but I guess let me preface by saying that when the "Next Gen" update originally released - I simply allowed my already installed Fallout to be updated. I then updated/installed CK to its newest release as well (I had last been playing clean vanilla with nothing installed).
For like 2 weeks I was having no issues except one - everytime I was opening the CK, it was telling me I was having a mismatch in expected versions. It was dismissable and I was able to mod anyway. But I got sick of it... so a few nights ago I completely deleted my entire Fallout 4 folder, the entire install, CK, everything. Clean slate.
Prior to doing this, I was able to open up FO4Edit (latest version) everything was great. All my mod is doing is adding misc forms to interiors and worldspaces. I like to look in Fo4Edit to make sure I didn't inadvertently move any vanilla references. Normally when I place objects it creates branches on the Cells labelled Temporary and shows all the individual placed items. For interiors, everything is great - for all the Worldspace edits prior to my clean slate, everything is fine.
Now, 2-3 days ago I reinstalled Fallout, CK, and even redownloaded FO4Edit (4.1.5f). I no longer get the version mismatch error and my CK opens fine - which leads me to believe the issue was originally not having a fully "new" install of Fallout. (My prior install of CK was also "Fresh" whereas Fallout was there for months).
Now the ISSUE. Ever since sorting all of this out, I have made more worldspace edits and saved the plugin. Now when I open the plugin FO4Edit, all of the new data is bungled.
Interiors = Temporary Branches are good, All misc objects show Exteriors (Pre) = Temporary Branches are good, All misc objects show
Exteriors (Post) = No Temporary Branches, all references are named [Error: Could not be Resolved]
ALL of the newly edited cells show yellow because of the RVIS and XPRI (Previs Reference Index). ONLY the newly edited cells have this problem. Nothing I edited prior to the updates shows this, all the XPRI in those is green and happy as a clam.
So all my newly edited cells have no Temporary Branch, show I edited XPRI, AND have all broken references.
The problem seems to be with FO4Edit or how CK is now saving... but I really don't know because its only started today after me reinstalling everything. (This is all independent of the fact the game also got updated yesterday, I was hoping that might fix it but no lol)
I don't really know what to do because well... all my new work doesn't show up in FO4Edit properly. The weird thing - in CK, and in-game everything is as I've edited it. I'm also now using CK platform extended but that hasn't done anything to alleviate the situation (not that I expected it to).
EDIT: all other new data seems fine - I.e. making new misc forms, placing items in interiors etc. still all behaves as expected when I open the mod after in Fo4Edit... its when I place references in Worldspaces that something is wrong.
EDIT: I have somewhat sourced the problem... somewhat. All new Previs reference edits that I'm not making are saving with IDs with a prefix of 01 instead of the proper ones... if I edit something in Nuka World it is changing prefixes from 06 to 01. Still only happening in worldspaces.

Just finished my third 100% play-through of Tears on the 1 year anniversary. It’s pretty brutal to 100% this game, but I enjoyed it. Here’s my 100% list:

• 1,000 Korok Seeds
• 100% map completion (includes all Named Locations, Cave Entrances, Shrines, Light Roots, Wells, Chasms, Towns, Settlements, Stables, Specialty Shops, Device Dispensers, Sky View Towers, Forge / Weapon Constructs and Refineries, Tears of the Dragon, Ancient Tablets, and Fairy Fountains)
• All chest icons on Shrines (appears when all chests in the shrines have been opened)
• 23 Main Quests
• 60 Side Adventures
• 31 Shrine Quests
• 139 Side Quests
• 18 Memories
• Completed Hyrule Compendium
• 228 Recipes
• Upgraded all Horses to the max
• All Clothing and Armor Pieces upgraded to the max
• 21 Energy Cells
• 27 Zonai Devices
• 51 Paraglider Fabric Skins
• 12 Schema Stones
• 34 Yiga Schematics
• 31 Old Maps
• 147 Bubbul Gems
• 11 Horse Gear (Towing Harness, Saddles, Bridles)
• Medals of Honor
• All’s Well Key Item
• Dispelling Darkness Medal
• Hestu’s Gift Key Item
• 81 Addison Signs Put Up

I compiled a list of things I found online that helped me farm material so hopefully it’ll help others. My apologies for no credit to those who contributed. I simply copied and pasted a lot of these - but some are my own contributions.
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Useful Links
Zelda Dungeon Interactive Map
Armor Upgrade List
Horse Upgrade List
100% Map Landmark Guide (Helped me find a few missed locations)
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Missed Locations (after collecting all Koroks, quests, shrines, caves, and wells)
Missed all 3 times
Kolomo Garrison Ruins
Missed Twice
Gatepost Town Ruins
Castle Town Watchtower
Lost Woods
Inogo Bridge
Dracozu Altar
East Passage
Water Reservoir
Kolomo Garrison Ruins
Missed Locations (2nd and 3rd run-though)
Desert Rift
Device Dispenser on Thunderhead Isles
Sargon Bridge
Drena Canyon Mine
Retsam Forest Cave (North Entrance)
Missed Locations (1st run-through)
Lutos Crossing
Lanayru Road - West Gate
Canyon of Awakening Mine
Abandoned Eldin Mine Forge Construct
Floret Sandbar
Faron Woods
West Passage
Dalite Grove
Grove of Time
Nabooru Canyon Mine
Walnot Canyon Mine
Madorna Canyon Mine
Hickaly Grove
Rozudo Canyon Mine
Daval Canyon Mine
Granajih Canyon Mine
Agaat Canyon Mine
Applean Grove
Rok Grove
Rhoam Canyon Mine
Ruto Canyon Mine
Akkala Bridges (all 3)
Stolock Bridge
Crystal Refinery in Lookout Landing
Faloraa Canyon Mine (last one)
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Final Koroks (2nd and 3rd time)

• Desert by Shrine (Climb Up)
• Hateno beach
• Wellspring Island underneath staircase by the waterfall, 3414 0618 1551
• Thims Bridge Korok
• Ceiling stump west of Ulria Grotto (4078 0821 0236)
• South of Flirly Plateau, dive into lily pads (3014 -2537 0129)

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Money Makers

• If you are going to 100% this game, don’t sell items you will need later unless you already have extra, especially gems. Crosscheck it with the Armor Upgrade link above.
• I regularly cycled through Moldugas and the Lynels in the Floating Coliseum every blood moon. Lynel Hooves and Molduga Guts are easy to collect and have extra to sell at a good price.
• Extra armor is great to sell and can be easily obtained with Amiibos (if you have them all - I have the cards). In my experience, armor didn’t have a high drop rate until after I finished 2/4 regional phenomena

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Rocket Shields
Oromuwak Shrine (east of Rito Village). I visit here regularly to stock up on Rocket Shields.
Zonaites and Crytalized Charges

• Save Zonaite for Autobuild only
• Save Large Zonaites for Armor Upgrades only
• Best Way to get Crystalized Charges is defeat all Flux Construct, Hinox, Stone Talus, Frox, and Gleeok in the depths. They will always give you 20 crystalized charges.
• After you beat each regional boss on the surface, 3 of them will respawn in the Depths and give you 100 crystalized charges each after the first kill.
• Floating Colieseum is an excellent place to stack up on strong weapons and get 100 crystalized Charges)
• Plenty of chests in the Depths that have 20 Crystalized Charges
• Every Frox location has a small cluster of Zonaite
• Large Zonaite Deposits are basically ripoffs, you get very little for the effort

Hudson Signs

• Hudson Signs can be dependent on time or weather or something
• My last 2 were Lodrum Headland and Gerudo Canyon Stable

Horses
4-4-5-3 Stat Horses Found Southeast of Bublinga Forest
Gems Info

• Sapphire and Opal are the hardest? In addition to the breaking Rare Ore Deposits, Frost Talus’ are a good source for Sapphire and Opal
• 4 Ruby’s at Simosiwak Shrine
• Dondons seemed like a waste of time for me.
• Turn your sensor on in Death Moutain to target Rare Ore Deposits and mark them on the map to visit every blood moon.
• Luminous stones: Sky Mine (northeast corner of Sky Map), West Necluda Sky Archipelago (north of Ukoojisi Shrine), South Hyrule Sky Archipelago (west of Jinodok Shrine), Maw of Death Mountain Lakes

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How to get Stars

• Fast travel to Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower
• Rest until Night.
• Walk up the ramp and launch yourself into the air.
• After being launched, point the camera down and begin diving. A star will eventually fall for you to claim.
• Descent back to the ground at Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower and rest until night again.
• Fast travel to Typhlo Ruins Skyview tower. Launch, look down, catch star. (Or Mayam Shrine above Thyphlo Ruins)
• As soon as you catch start, you can warp right back to Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower. Rest until Night. Rinse and Repeat.

Notes: You can do this with any of the other Skyview Towers below, but you must rest until night in between each star. Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower seems to be the most convenient because there is a cooking pot next to Pikango at the base of the tower.
Also works with (not confirmed on my end)

• Gerudo Canyon
• Gerudo Highlands
• Rabella Wetlands
• Mount Lanaryu
• Ulri Mountain
• Eldin Canyon
• Sahasra Slope

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Silent Princess and Blue Nightshade
(-2476, -0646, 0208)
Milk

• Dantz in Hateno Pasture (Trade 3 acorns for 1 milk)
• Hateno Village General Store

Acorns

• Sage Temple Ruins

Dragon Parts

• Dragon claws from each dragon for the Goddess Statues Side Quest
• Dragon parts respawn every 10 minutes so if you’re trying to farm any parts and want to be a little lazy, you can ride the dragon continuously and set a timer for 10 mins, collect part, then repeat. Be sure to save every now and then (One time I collected parts for 1.5 hours, stepped away from the game and died and lost everything). Also, with the exception of the Light Dragon, you will fall off the dragon unless you adjust yourself as they go in and out of the Depths.

Beetles

• Big tree at Rutile Lake has 3-4 of each Beetle Type (-2470, -0610, 0202)
• Bronas Forest for Beetles

Hinox

• Hinox guts come from Black Hinoxes (need 15)

Black Lizalfos

• Tall Circular Rock north of Gerudo Desert Gateway and west of Gerudo Canyon Stable (use sky tower)
• West of Tabahl Woods Cave (southwest of Zora’s Domain)
• Veiled Falls (west of Zora’s Domain)
• Northeast of Upland Zorana (northwest of Toto Lake)
• North of Luto’s Crossing (just west of Ruto Lake name on small island)
• South of Ralis Pond
• Southwest of ebon Mountin (closer to the water)
• North of Keya Pond (intersects with Hanu pond, southwest of Ebon mountain)
• West side of Riola Spring (southwest of Mount Floria)
• North of Mount Hylia (and south of River of the dead)
• Gohma like skeleton, east of Gerudo town, west of Palu Wasteland

Black Boss Bokoblin

• Mystathi’s Shelf (Gerudo Highlands)
• West end of Vatorsa Snowfield (Gerudo Highlands)
• NW of Eastern Abbey (Great Plateau)
• SE corner of Aquame Lake in a half skull encampment (Hyrule Field near Coliseum Ruins)
• Halfway between Lanayru Bay and the Spring of Wisdom/ Mt Lanayru Skyview Tower (Lanayru)
• Varies since the game seems to scale some of these for some but not others even though they have story completed and a lot of hours as well.
• West Passage of Hyrule castle. Coords -0450, 0909, 0012. The entrance is closer to the castle gates where you’ll find a minecart that takes you to the room they’re in (just north of name label Hyrule Caste Moat)
• Another Black Boss Bokoblin in the depths at (-2097, -1510, -0692) near a Flux Construct I, and is underneath Nephra Hill (west of Digdogg Suspension Bridge)
• Depths north of Dueling Canyons Mine at 1332, -1547, -0646 (fixed)

Red Boss Bokoblin

• Patrolling just south of Talonto Peak in the Hebra region, along the path you travel to find Tulin at the peak during Rito storyline. There are actually two boss bokoblins here, with one on a higher and slightly more eastern shelf and the other slightly lower and westward shelf just above an entrance to Hebra South Summit Cave; the first one is the non-scaling red one, and the second scales. Thought I’d mention it because I and another commenter found the scaling one first.)
  
• On the skull bridge west of Mount Gustaf (west of Lookout Landing), between the Hyrule Ridge and Hyrule Plains regions.
  
• Patrolling the Maritta Exchange Ruins north of Lindor’s Brow in the Hyrule Ridge region.
  
• Patrolling in the middle of Seresa Scablands in the Hyrule Ridge region.
  
• In the Royal Ancient Lab Ruins in North Hyrule Plain, just north of New Serenne Stable
  
• Southeast Lookout Landing and Mabe Village Ruins in Hyrule Field
  
• South of the East Deplian Badlands in the Eldin Mountains, on a landing to the northwest of the Isle of Rabac (east of Thyphlo Ruins)
  
• On Zauz Island in the Lanayru Wetlands, directly east of Wetland Stable
  
• South of Mount Daphnes in Hyrule Field, between the mountain and the Exchange Ruins
  

Blue Lizalfols

• Warp to Zakusu Shrine, in the Naydra Snowfield near Mount Lanayru. There are about 6 in this area going up around the mountain and around the edges of the snowfield.
• Warp to the Niuzimod Lightroot in the depths, in the Ancient Underground Fortress, this is underneath the Akkala Citadel Ruins on the surface. There are about 4-5 here as well
• Another location for one blue Lizalfos: 2991, - 0215, 0278. It's the blue water area between Zobodon Highlands and Ruto Mountain, just south southwest of Zora's Domain
• Found some in the Lanayru region here: ** 4023, - 1664, 0345 (Lanayru Range - A platform of about 3 blue Lizalfos)
• Madorna Mountain - Another platform with 2 blue (3808, - 1660, 0329)
• North of Nadrya Snowfield Chasm - 1 blue under a tent with an icy Lizalfos (3601, - 1128, 0263)

Captain Construct I locations

• (1) In-isa shrine on great sky island - captain I
• (1) Ijo-o Shrine West Hebra Sky Islands
• (1) Rasitakiwak Shrine, southeast of Tarrey Town. 4166 1323 0229
• (1) Yansamin Shrine, Zonaite Forge Island, in sky above Fort Hateno. Other bots wield weapons with a captain 1 horn and a captain 2 horn. (2350 - 1782 1475)
• (1) Simosiwak Shrine, Bravery Island, in sky above Korok Forest. (Also, three rubies and a ruby sword, for 420 rupees every blood moon) (0163 1972 0759)

Captain Construct II locations

• (1) Nouda Shrine, inside Kopeeki Drifts Cave, east of Rito Village. -2318 2201 0173
• (1) Zakusu Shrine, Naydra Snowfield, west side of Mount Lanayru. 3527 - 1482 0168
• (1) Sifumim Shrine, overlooking Lurelin Village. 2826 - 3271 0078
• At the east end of the Lake Siela supply river, east of Kakariko Bridge, south east of the Pilars of Levia. Basically the line formed by the Pilars of Levia point south east to a camp of Constructs, one of which is a Captain II. 2248, -1429, 0026.
• Where the old bowling game used to be south of snowfield stable, east of nouda shrine -1974, 2144,0253
• Kanalet ridge in akkala highlands, north east of shrine by south akkala stable (3244,2000,0160)
• East of proxim bridge, north of hills of baumer, north of popla foothills sky view tower
• Wellspring island, up and southwest of Igoshon Shrine 3340 0538 1353

Captain Construct III locations

• Two in Typhlo Ruins, north of Korok Forest + eventually (2) soldier construct IV + 1 Soldier Construct III
• Two in a sea fort between Clarnet Coast and Aris Beach, west of Lurelin Village. 2 Captain Construct III + 3 Soldiers Construct III + 1 Soldier Construct IV
• South of Tarry Town, north of Ulria Grotto

Horriblins
Desert Colosseum
Gibdo Wings
Gerudo Underground Cemetery
Sand pits
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Shopping
Restock Shops
To restock any shop in Tears of the Kingdom, here is what you will have to do.

1. Buy out the item in the shop until there are none left.
2. Take out wood and flint to make a fire.
3. Rest by the fire till the next day.
4. Manually save the game.
5. Load the game from the save you just made.

Hateno General Store
Hylian Rice x5 (need 38 + recipes)
Swift Carrot x10 (need 10 + horses + recipes)
Bird Egg x5 (need 12 + recipes)
Fresh Milk x3 (need 66 + recipes)
Goat Butter x5 (Need 84 + recipes)
Kakariko General Store
Aerocuda Eyeball x3 (need 42)
Aerocuda Wing x3 (need 48)
Kakariko General Store Trissa
Goat Butter x5 (need 84 + recipes)
Swift Carrot x12 (need 10 + horses + recipes)
Bird Egg x5 (need 12 + recipes)
Fortified Pumpkin x3
Lookout Landing General Store
Hylian Rice x3 (need 38 + recipes)
Fresh Milk x4 (need 66 + recipes)
East Akkala Stable
· 3 Sticky Frog (need 30)
· 3 Smotherwing Butterfly (need 15)
Lakeside Stable
· 2 Sticky Frog
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
· 2 Hightail Lizard (need 21)
South Akkala Stable
· 2 Sticky Lizard (need 24)
· 3 Hightail Lizard (need 21)
· 2 Fireproof Lizard (need 15)
Woodland Stable
· 3 Cold Darner (need 15)
· 3 Fireproof Lizard (need 15)
Kara Kara Bazaar General Store
Green Lizalfos Tail x3 (need 18)
Riverside Stable
· 5 Hylian Rice (need 38)
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
· 3 Electric Darner (need 15)
Tabantha Bridge Stable
· 4 Fire Fruit (need 9)
· 3 Summerwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 3 Winterwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
New Serenne Stable
· 4 Warm Darner (need 15)
· 4 Sunset Firefly (need 15 + 10 + 10)
Kara Kara Bazaar
· 5 Summerwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 5 Cold Darner (need 15)
Snowfield Stable
· 3 Summerwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 3 Warm Darner (need 15)
Kara Kara Bazaar
Summerwing Butterfly x5 (need 15)
Cold Darner x5 (need 15)
Foothill Stable
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
Wetland Stable
· 3 Smotherwing Butterfly (need 24)
Rito Village General Store
Goat Butter x5 (need 84 + recipes)
Cane Sugar x3 (need 24 + recipes)
Tabantha Wheat x3 (need 42 + recipes)
Sunshroom x4 (need 15)
Korok General Store
Tabantha Wheat x2 (need 42 + recipes)
Hylian Rice x3 (need 38 + recipes)
Cane Sugar x3 (need 24 + recipes)
Goron General Store
Cane Sugar x3 (need 24 + recipes)
Goron Spice x3 (need 12 + recipes)
Zora General Store
Hylian Rice x4 (need 38 + recipes)
Swift Violet x4 (need 90)

I have a fusion biopsy scheduled for Friday. I've been reflecting on how I got here. Something like this:
2015 - Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and sleep apnea.
2016 - Hypogonadism. Started TRT. PSA spiked. 1 of 12 samples mildly interesting. Started watchful waiting. Prostate measured 75 CC.
2017 - Excessive red blood cell production. Stop TRT.
2017 - 2022 - Focus on managing T2D and mental health issues.
2022 - Occasional ED. Treated with PDE5 inhibitors.
2023 - 6/23 Notice mild curve in erection. Curve not extreme, no painful erections.
2024 - 2/24 Best metabolic panel of my adult life - and a) wbc out of range on the high side and b) PSA spiked. Was 1.8 in 8/23, up to 8.4 in 2/24.
2024 - 3/24 Experiencing tiny urine leakage. No trouble using the bathroom otherwise.
2024 - 4/24 Prostate MRI. Results:

• Single PI-RADS 4 lesion in the anterior transition zone at the extreme base.
  
• Prostatomegaly with changes of benign prostatic hypertrophy.
  
• Findings:
  
  • 6.3 x 6.0 x 6.1 cm with a volume of 107.7 mL
  • PROSTATE CENTRAL GLAND: Changes of BPH. Within the mid anterior transition zone at the extreme aspect of the prostate gland base in an area where the urinary bladder base is elevated there is a T2 hypointense lesion with marked diffusion restriction and low signal on ADC sequences measuring 0.6 x 0.4 cm (0.1 mL). This was labeled as lesion #1 in DynaCAD and is classified as PI-RADS4.
  • PROSTATE PERIPHERAL ZONE: No suspicious focal lesions found.
  • PROSTATE CAPSULE: Capsule is intact.
  • SEMINAL VESICLES: Appear normal with no tumor involvement.
  • BLADDER: Trabeculation and mild thickening of the bladder wall.
  • LYMPH NODES: No evidence of pathologic lymphadenopathy in the pelvis.
  • BONES: There are no aggressive osseous lesions.
  • OTHER: No other significant findings.

2024 - 5/24 - Erection curve more noticable.
My thoughts: There always could be PC lurking around. My younger brother had RALP 10 years ago, when he was 48. He did not have BPH. That and co-morbidities are a real distraction. It is difficult to suss out multiple causes and effects.
Your thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

What is Looking-Glass Self? This is concept in sociology, discovered in 1902 by Cooley - and his theory states that we form our own identity based on what we think other people think who we are. In fact, the whole sociology is based on social anxiety- the very same social anxiety that psychiatry (CBT and DSM) are pathologizing and trying to cure and destroy and present as mental illness.
Without social anxiety, without ability to worry what other people think about us - we would lose social skills, empathy and civilization norms - such as not eating others.
"If it weren't for the nervous people in the world, we'd all still be eating each other." The Misfits (1961) https://youtu.be/h56iL7vK5Y0
When people consume chicken - they eat the flesh of animals because there is no ability to connect with the slaughtered animals as conscious beings who are able to think and perceive us. So when we destroy social anxiety- our ability to worry what other people think - we will become psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists. This also provide us with important information of self expression and holding toxic people accountable - by stating the facts and truth. Toxic people learn to suppress social anxiety - and this gives them ability to be cruel. And the only way to probe their delusions is to speak the truth to them. And that is why toxic people mock and go into hysteria mode - because their suppressed conscience and morality and ethics are eating them from inside.
Dolphins are not caught with smiles but cruelly with hooks, Michele. One day you will learn to be cruel. Caravaggio (1986) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF12uM_GK74
Sociology is based on social anxiety - that we form our own identity based on society. We need other people to provide us information who we are and how to express ourselves. The language is the very first thing that society gives us to define who we are - by using the very words that society is using.
Theories of the Self
William James (1890): A person has "as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry and image of him in their minds"
Charles Cooley (1902): Views of self reflect the standpoints of significant others in our lives ("looking-glass self")
George Herbert Mead (1934): We imagine the perspectives of others and incorporate these into our self views - and that this occurs continuously as we interact with others on an ongoing, moment to moment basis.

Having a distorted looking glass (incorrectly imagining others’ opinions of us) can cause bad feelings, or a negative self-image. https://wa01001786.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/WA01001786/Centricity/Domain/70/Socialization%20Notes.pdf
What happens when we are around toxic people - is that our identity is deformed as well. CBT claims, along with DSM, that our worry what other people think - is personality disorder, called Borderline:
Reality testing is ability to perceive reality properly. Without too much deviation from facts. Borderline refer to you if want to know anything about reality. “Do you think so too?” Narcissist will tell you "am I not genius". YT Richard Grannon & Prof. Sam Vaknin about Fantasy
Borderline personality disorder is a mental health condition that affects the way people feel about themselves and others, making it hard to function in everyday life. It includes a pattern of unstable, intense relationships, as well as impulsiveness and an unhealthy way of seeing themselves. (Mayo Clinic)
The truth is - if we are around toxic people, their criticism will affect our self worth. Their constant nagging, constant nitpicking, constant error finding and constant drama about anything that moves - will have an effect on our sense of stability and security in the world. This is not disorder. This is simply how society works. In order to heal our mental health issues - we need to repair connections with other people - which may include minimizing exposure to toxic people or cutting toxic people completely off from our lives.
We will never feel secure, confident, worthy - if there are toxic people around us who are criticizing us and others all the time.
Improving our relationships is improving our mental health. William Glasser
Interpersonal strife with those close to us leads to rifts and resentments that produce symptoms of mental illness; these problems are, in fact, the logical consequence of troubled relationships. Glasser emphasizes that lasting psychological problems are usually caused by problems in our personal relationships (rather than signifying a biochemical abnormality in the brain), and distress can be remedied through repairing these relationships without recourse to psych drugs. DK psychology book, WILLIAM GLASSER
Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
In another words: feel safe with other people = mental health
The single most important issue for traumatized people is to find a sense of safety in their own bodies. 🟦 Bessel A. van der Kolk
Toxic people cause social anxiety. That is why social anxiety is called social+anxiety. There is social element that is causing the anxiety. There is social factor contributing to anxiety. It is not called self-anxiety. We did not catch social anxiety by walking randomly in the street when it was rainy, so we caught a common cold. It is not like we felt bored in our lives so we invented neuroticism to keep us active and occupied. Social anxiety must start in childhood with ACE and ACoA where we learned from early on - that life is dangerous, that people are not safe, that we must worry to be hyper-vigilant and that we are unworthy if we make any kind of mistakes. We learned that our flaws, imperfections and mistakes are our core personality - abnormal and inept.
Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless. B. F. Skinner
This is how we end up with Broken Looking Glass Self. Distorted Looking Glass Self. We end up with operant conditioning - to worry what other people think in such way that we attempt to think for the other person ahead of time, so that they do not get mad of us - and then attempt, we try hard not to make other people mad. And how we execute this operant conditioning - depends on our background, people around us and punishments to which we were exposed as kids. Most socially anxious learn to keep quiet. To shut up. To self censor. And to self blame. If the other person is angry or hysterical - we will feel responsible for their mood swings and we will try hard to fix their emotions and their problems. Soon - we spread this fixing on other people, who are not angry - and we create fake social mask that is always pleasant and nice and helpful to anyone, especially if they are angry and rude and intrusive. We learned to interpret their anger as our fault and our abnormality. Looking glass self is broken - because it does not reflect any more - now we imagine how to please other people without using looking glass (mirror) - as all people use it.
Other people are there as information post. They broadcast who they are, many of them mask their true Self and present fake version of themselves, their social mask. Our brain will naturally form opinion about us through the words and opinions and non-verbal gestures from other people, strangers or our acquaintances. This part is totally normal. This is not disorder. This is not illness. The disorder starts when we try hard to fix other people's conclusions about us by making ourselves small and by changing our routine so that we soothe the other person. Instead of CBT techniques - all that we need to do here is to allow other people to think whatever they choose to think about us. Simply allow other people to hate us and leave it at that.
We really have to work very hard at changing our programming because we don't understand we're upset because someone else has a perception of us that we're uncomfortable with. And we challenge this person's perception of us. We're upset that people think this about us. Something amazing happens when you begin to accept that other people are allowed to have their own faulty perception of you. 🟥 Lisa A. Romano Breakthrough Life coach Inc.
For the next step, sociology will also help us. CBT and DSM, psychiatry is telling us concrete steps which we must take - and morally and ethically speaking - this is illegal. When someone orders us what we must do - this is called manipulation and coercive control. This way anyone who is psychopathic and narcissistic can climb, grab and push their way to powerful position of ordering others what to do - and then evil people can easily manipulate and control the masses. This is what happens with psychiatry. Psychology on the other hand explains concepts - psychology does not order us what to do in life and how to react. That is why Humanistic psychology is healthy.
It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried. Carl Rogers
In the same manner as Humanistic Psychology and IFS Model - sociology also has the similar term that allows clients freedom in own choices - which is called Thomas theorem.
The Thomas theorem is a theory of sociology which was formulated in 1928 by William Isaac Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas: If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. In other words, the interpretation of a situation causes the action. This interpretation is not objective. (wiki)
If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. - formulated in 1928 by William Isaac Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas
This means - that no other person can objectively tell us what is the best way to go in life. We need our inner GPS, our intuition, our common sense, other people as well - to form our reality and our construct of the future where we are headed. With CBT and DSM - we do not have this freedom. With CBT and DSM - we are pathologized instead - and all our focus is spent on fixing our symptoms - we are literally self consuming ourselves with CBT.
In real life- real life situations will not allow us to form rigid mindset. Any other person, any other situation in life - good or bad - is always unique and different. Sometimes it is great that we shut up and that we self censor ourselves - especially if we are tired and we don't want to harm other people with our nagging and complaints that will go off as soon as we get to sleep and rest. On the other hand - many situations in life that are triggering our social anxiety require from us to self express, that we talk out our truth - no matter how much manipulative people attempt to shut us up with mocking and shaming.
So when we allow other people to form toxic conclusions about us - we need to know that we can rely on our brain, on our intuition to tell us how to react and what to do and how to behave. We have this mechanism inside us. We do not need to pathologize ourselves with CBT. CBT will tell us that we must be assertive in order to handle toxic people. This is horrible advice because:
"If you have been the scapegoat in a narcissistic family system, the concept of setting a boundary is laughable. You would be telling them exactly how to hurt you, and they would happily oblige. Also, trying to set a boundary in a calm and tactful way would be met by resistance in the form of mocking and ridicule, attempting to bait the scapegoat into anger, which would prove you are the problem." YT kingbee9778
"I feel gaslighted by the therapy mantras of “ you have to teach people how to treat you “ ,(setting boundaries). No you don’t and no you can’t. First of all, it’s not my job to teach an adult how to behave like one and quite frankly, it’s a trap and a drain hole. Secondly, I DON’T CONTROL OTHER PEOPLE. They will do what they want, especially if they have the tiniest ounce of power over you." YT gertrudewest4535
When we follow CBT - we will repeat the broken Looking Glass Self when we exposure ourselves to social situations - and social anxiety will not go away - because we will continually process the same ways reality and other people in a manner that is toxic to us - through seeking approval from other people, through self flagellation, through harsh inner critic and internalized toxic shame.
To fix broken Looking-Glass Self means fixing social anxiety: when we are afraid of what other people think about us. With CBT we self pathologize our normal reaction to worry what other people think about us. This is not disorder, it is totally normal to have awareness that other people are thinking about us.
Many social anxiety coaches will use "Spotlight effect" as proof that other people do not worry about us:
"The spotlight effect is the psychological phenomenon by which people tend to believe they are being noticed more than they really are."
In toxic contact - toxic people - those same ones who trigger our social anxiety - do notice anything about us. In normal population - other people will think about us and we will define each other - through the process called The Michelangelo phenomenon - where we chisel each other into better version, where we change our toxic habits that hurt us as much as they hurt other people. In unhealthy, toxic social dynamics there will be the opposite: Golem Effect and Crab mentality. Where there is competition and where other person is perceived as threat and someone to pull down.
A lot of content on mental health in mainstream media does not cover the unique corner that survivors of narcissistic abuse live in. Not one mention of being in any kind of toxic relationship. “Avoid your triggers” is not easy in narcissistic relationships. When the discomfort is living in your house or down the street or in the next office. It was not even rumination, but reality. And the constant exposure means you don't get a break. 🟥 DoctorRamani https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uusKWmjUk6k
I'm not setting boundary with these people. “Don't do this with me”. “Don't say this with me”. It's all internal. Because if you try to set a boundary with someone who's narcissistic or antagonistic – it's never going to work. And I think it's unsafe guidance to give.
With this dangerous person no. But what are you willing to tolerate. How can you protect yourself emotionally. What access can you remove. Move these people from VIP section.
🟥 Dr. Ramani - Terri Cole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHI5N-w5sk
With broken Looking-Glass Self - we end up being trapped in toxic people's minds. Similar to horror movie / book The Cell from 2000. Even when we develop Who cares attitude, and when we consciously try to block and build walls away from toxic people, when we try hard to push down and suppress toxic people - we are still trapped in their reality of what they potentially might think about us. This is why CBT is not working - because CBT tries hard to convince us to use suppression as method to block social anxiety. And we cannot block other people - we need other people for our identity and our self worth - where there is healthy interaction called Interdependence. Toxic people behave in codependent way - they see other people as competition and this creates codependency. They need other people like vampires need blood - to exploit someone's attention, someone's focus, money, time and or resources of any kind. It is like give me, give me, give me - and provide nothing in return. With social anxiety we end up giving others without observing if the other person is emotionally invested in us at all. It ends up and one side interaction, exploitation really. Social anxiety means suppress anger as well. We learned to push our anger away - and this attracts toxic people who count on our silence and understanding and toxic empathy - knowing that they can cross boundaries of social interaction in their favor and we won't make any kind of protest. Then our own only protection - is avoidance. Therefore - social anxiety is natural defense mechanism against dangerous criminally insane psychopaths who are abusing their power position against ourselves.
In our teen years we experiences bully experience - after years of exposure to ACoA and ACE (constant criticism and constant drama at home) - so we generalized the belief that we cannot trust other people - and we learned that we process reality through broken Looking Glass Self - where we appease other people with our decisions - by being afraid what other people may think badly of us - since we were pressed and pushed into equating social rejection and our self worth as if they are one of the same. And psychiatry - instead of explaining us that it is totally normal to worry what other people think - CBT explains us that this is abnormality. This faulty explanation from medical industry is adding more trauma and more toxic shame and it gives our inner critic free reign to self abuse us - because we believe we are abnormal and ill if we worry what other people thin about us. In reality - all people worry about others. Even psychopaths worry what other people will think, along with narcissists - because they know that they need to form fake social mask of charm in order to seduce new victims into their agenda of exploiting and manipulating others.
Looking-Glass Self tells us - that we simply allow toxic people to form bad opinion about us in their heads - and that we absolutely do nothing to change this image that toxic people freely choose to believe about us in their heads.
You're no longer going to play the game of what can I do differently to get them to behave differently – because the answer is to that is nothing. That's radical acceptance. It takes long time. And it's not just accepting their behavior is not going to change, it's also the way it affects you is also not going to change. Just because you radically accept doesn't mean that somebody screaming at you is going to hurt any less- it does,it hurts a lot 🟥 Dr. Ramani - Terri Cole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHI5N-w5sk
Other people will hurt us. They will say mean and untrue things about us. They will attack us - this has nothing to do with who we are. Their choice to harm and hurt other person - is abnormality in their brain. Normal healthy sane people do not attack others. Normal healthy sane people have ability to emotionally regulate themselves. Person who does not have this ability - is sick and mentally ill. And this has nothing to do with us. We are not the ones who can cure them by changing our behavior.
Lundy Bancroft: "Abuse is NOT caused by bad relationship dynamics. You can't manage your partner's abusiveness by changing your behaviour. But he wants you to think you can."
The pain that we feel when toxic people attack us, verbally or physically - is normal pain, we need this pain as the instruction for us what to do with severely damaged people around us.
If you are not feeling pain, anger and sadness while you are taking in psychological abuse or something similar – you are going to end up in those situations over and over again –because you are not logging information that your body telling 🟥Heidi Priebe https://youtube.com/watch?v=GTQohPaGnSY
People say it bothers me when they say these things. I say, because they say bothersome things. I don't want you to lose that part of you. That part is good index what is okay, what's not. From that point – excavation. A person pulling their true self out of their relationships. If you grew up with narcissistic parent, it was a true self that never even got to develop. It's how much your identity got co-opted. What do I like, what do I stand for. 🟥 Dr. Ramani - Terri Cole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHI5N-w5sk
The core of narcissistic person is very fragile. That's why they lose it when you critique them. Or give them feedback. Or don't read their mind. Or don't do exactly what they want. And that's why they use all kinds of tactics like manipulation, gaslighting, invalidation, dismissiveness, competitiveness, betrayal. Some of them are tactics, some are unemphatic behavior. And it gives them the upper hand in relationship. Control, power gives them supply. 🟥 Dr. Ramani - Cole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHI5N-w5sk
With social anxiety - we do not need psychiatry. Socially anxious need sociology. It is after all social issue. Social anxiety is anxiety that is connected to society - the name itself reveals this crucial aspect: society, social, societal. Psychiatry will only leave us lacking and with belief that something is horribly wrong with us, when we are around toxic people:
DSM doesn't explain anything. So many therapies and particularly CBT and others are just so focused on extinguishing symptoms which were once strategies of survival. And it doesn't make sense that you want to extinguish – we want eventually to move away from these symptoms and these strategies but I certainly don't want to pathologize them or look at them as somehow defective because they have saved our lives. 🟥 Transforming Trauma Episode 21 IFS & NARM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRTHacVAwdk
When we stop self pathologizing our social anxiety - we will unburden ourselves with toxic idea that feeling pain is abnormal and sick. And it will give us energy to start looking what is causing this pain - instead of focusing ourselves on chasing the symptoms. Without the stigma and labels - we will have much more resources at our disposal to handle difficult people in life who are causing our social anxiety in the first place.
With social anxiety - we need to learn about the Cooley's concept Looking-Glass Self and other terms from sociology. Instead of pathologizing our social reactions - we simply need information to confirm us that we are not abnormal and inept as CBT paints the socially anxious. We need information to learn what our rights are.
Five themes of microaggression against people with mental illnesses
1. Invalidation
When other people dismiss their illness or symptoms through minimizing their experience, symptomizing their normal experiences, and patronizing
2. Assumption of inferiority
When other people assume that people with mental illness have lower intelligence, are incompetent, and that they do not have control
3. Fear of mental illness
When other people fear them because they believe that they may be dangerous or unpredictable
4. Shaming of mental illness
When other people tell them that they shouldn't let others know about their mental illness
5. Second class citizen attitudes
When other people treat them as if they don't have the same rights as the dominant group of society.
Mental Health Forum, 2016

Diagnosis is not an excuse to be selective about their rights. Autistic not weird
Healing the Broken Looking-Glass Self means learning about the mentality - which we never had chance to learn in our developmental years. Other children learned this concept via keeping connections with other people. We - started to avoid people. Even when we were around other people - we pulled our investment emotionally with other people - and this way we never learned that other people are safe. We developed the stump growth - that is being stuck in age 12, when we started to avoid people. Similar to the plant that cannot grow roots in small basin or tree/plant that is stumped in growing due to some kind of obstacle to grow upright. Our growth was shaped from the perspective of not trusting other people - because they harmed us. Other people learned to develop certain amount of trust. They learned to filter out the bad people. And they learned that they are safe to express themselves - without being punished for it. This is why their social anxiety is in normal threshold. They will experience stress and then behave in anti-social manner, they will express their anger without problems - because they were never pushed into forming their self worth through worry what their tormentors might think about them. So it is not like social anxiety is abnormality or sickness - it is simply that non-socially anxious people were lucky enough to grow in healthy ambient, and that is their secret. They were not stronger. They were not more competent. They were not better or superior to the socially anxious. They simply had privilege and entitlement that helped them over-pass developmental years without fearing other people. Their mechanisms how to handle triggers - are mostly unhealthy (lacking empathy) - but their Looking glass self was not broken. With interaction with other people, with other children, they learned naturally to allow difficult people to hate them. Instead of worry - that is found in social anxiety - they simply turned their focus onto other people. With social anxiety - we do not have other people, we have no one to turn to, since we learned that other people are painful and traumatic. We never learned that hanging around with other people is enjoyable experience - and if someone is rude, toxic and abnormal - that we are allowed to focus and place our attention to better, healthier people around us.
In shame culture ambient - we will learn that other people criticism is reflection of our worth - and that is Broken Looking-Glass Self. That we cannot feel good about ourselves until other person reflects positive words about us to us:
Young American explained why she left Croatia:
"In Croatia people constantly express intrusive opinion about matters which are none of their business. The most irritating things were rude people."
https://www.poslovni.hlifestyle/amerikanka-napusta-hrvatsku-neucinkovitost-i-birokracija-te-ljudi-koji-nemaju-motiva-za-napredovanjem-u-poslu-358422
Young American explained why she escaped from Croatia:
"Often I heard Croats intruding why am I eating something, or commenting about what I wore. There is no such thing in America, we allow people to be what they want to be. People here are strange as if I am inside toxic relationship."
https://www.vecernji.hshowbiz/amerikanka-u-hrvatskoj-iznenadila-objavom-ljudi-su-ovdje-cudni-kao-da-sam-u-losoj-vezi-1351757
Don't look to the approval of others for your mental stability. 🟦 Karl Lagerfeld
We will heal social anxiety trauma with healing our choice to stay stuck around toxic people. We can cut toxic people - even when we are unable to leave them physically - by severing the trauma bonding in our mind - that is broken Looking-Glass Self.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt
Yes, toxic people are pathological liars, They spread gossip. They create drama and hysteria. Toxic people do not have word toxic stuck on their forehead. Toxic people will not behave toxically in front of others - because they depend to look good in the eyes of other people - so they also have Looking-Glass Self no matter how much they said that they do not care what other people think about them. Therefore - social anxiety is clear indication that we are around toxic people. Toxic people do not allow us to express ourselves - and they use various methods of coercive control to manipulate their targets. The first step is to sever this trauma bonding - by allowing them to hate us.
That we basically stop impressing others.
Don't try to impress others. ✝️ Bible, Philippians 2-3
Cooley said our sense of Self comes from how we think other people see us. “I am not what I think I am. I am not what you think I am; I am what I think you think I am.” Other people's reflections of us and how we think about those images they have of us help create our sense of Self. Grades from teachers can reflect back to us an image of ourselves that we then internalize and becomes our self-perception. They effect self-image. 🟥 The Looking glass self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X1wwTCuZBo
We imagine we are seen by others. And that imagination forms our identity. Our identity is being shaped by others. Others is agent which influences who we are in society. You begin to believe that and you begin to see as your identity, what other people think of you. Intelligent, high self esteem, outgoing – you believe what people say about you, it becomes your identity. Our identity is formed through the way we imagine people see us.
🟥 Looking-glass Self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UWOflUXKUQ
That imagination comes from interaction with these people. In the process of interaction they tell you this is what we think about you. And then you go off believe in that. You don't control what people think about you. Front Stage Behavior: Familiarity breeds content-With front stage they behave nicely. It's in subconsciousness of individuals that they have to behave a certain way in public. At interview- they smile, but is this who they are?
🟥 Looking-glass Self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UWOflUXKUQ
It is often said that American Beauty is a film about identity. Each character seems to go through a very personal identity crisis. But I would argue that this crisis are not personal at all. They are products of wider social forces. We may define ourselves based on prevailing attitudes towards sexuality, beauty and material success. Sense of self strongly influences by social world.
🟥 American Beauty Film Analysis: The Sociology of Identity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6youJFbEgQ
Ricky shows Jane that he likes her as she is. Eventually this leads her abandoning the idea of surgery and gain enough confidence and self-esteem to tell Angela what she really thinks of her. Freed from idea that everyone looks down on he because of her physical appearance, Jane's sense of self is no longer defined how she looks, how she looks to others.
🟥 American Beauty Film Analysis: The Sociology of Identity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6youJFbEgQ
An individual realize its self by reflecting others' perceptions about him. They use social interactions as a mirror. A Person grows and develop due to interpersonal interactions of the Society. When one interacts socially, one completely considers how one looks in the eyes of others. Negative response leads to depression and anxiety.
🟥 Looking Glass Self Theory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAzsBj6yTpw
Looking Glass Self where you see yourself the way you think others see you. You can't see the way others truly see you. So you're seeing yourself they way you think others think they see you. You can see how much is lost in the translation. You're much more beautiful than you think. You attract so much more than you know. There's more going on with you than you care to acknowledge. Beauty is not about what you see. It's about what you reflect. 🟥 Looking Glass Self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFEkq8uDiJU
Mirror in front of you, and you are looking at yourself in the mirror, the way it is – is mirror in reality. As Masha labels you, tells you, comments on you, provides you all kinds of feedback, your self continues to develop. The way society perceives you and gives feedback about you. It is considered important to yourself and you have that impression that is how I should be. Their significance or importance makes you proud.
🟥 Looking Glass Self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa-PD1YVxj4
There is something you have never understood, Joe. These people at the top, they are the same as anybody else. But you had it inside of you to be so much bigger than any of them. You just had to be yourself. That was all. With me you were yourself. Only with me. Room at the Top (1958) https://youtu.be/Cs1C_Tu2crI

Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe.
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I'd also like to thank u/xskipy10 for their awesome fanart of the main cast as well as their recent Tohba meme and their fanart of Michael baysitting. You're work is a treasure!
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Thank you as well to u/Accomplished-Golf-59 for his take on Michael, Teylim, and Tohba in his submission for the Banner Art Contest, and u/Spacer_Catgirl4969 for their awesome music video featuring a pixel-art Dohkar in his bar. Be sure to give ALL of these awesome creators your love and support.
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And let's not forget u/Guywhoexists2812 who has been an awesome source of memes as well as sick pixel art, such as THIS and THIS!!!! And even THIS!!!!!! And how could I forget THIS!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!
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Today, we join Dohkar as he finally completes his mission and puts an end to the horrors of the Five Meadows Guild once and for all. Now all that's left...is to pick up the pieces...and prepare for whatever comes next... And finally...a family is made complete... LETTUCE...continue...
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First
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Previous
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Songs Mentioned/Used: N/A
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Memory Transcript Subject: Dohkar, Venlil Bartender Date:[Standardized Human Time] January 16, 2137
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I’m not sure what I expected to see or experience when I finally caught up to Albiel, but it wasn’t this. What I saw before me had me completely off-guard. Albiel, on the ground, with a plasma burn straight through his knee, and standing above him, was…
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“Jerrick…put…the gun…down…”
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I held my paws up, doing my best to talk him down. I hadn’t even SEEN Jerrick since the concert. Honestly, I hate him for what he tried to do to Mike, but looking at him now…all I felt as pity…
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His fur was stained from dirt, grime, and stars know what else. Just like Teylim, he had a collar around his neck, and his ears weren’t so much as pinned back, as they were just play glued back from all of the filth he’d no doubt been wallowing in this whole time. Albiel really did just lock him away in a cell the moment her was no longer useful.
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“HE DESERVES IT!!!”
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“I know. Believe me, I know. But this isn’t the answer.”
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Sure. I hated Albiel. I despised him. I detested him. And yes, I wanted to kill him, too. But for people like him, death alone isn’t enough. And it certainly wouldn’t help Jerrick in the long run.
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“Jerrick, listen to me. You’ve been through this exact situation before. At the concert, remember.”
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He flinched as soon as I mentioned that paw.
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“You could’ve hit that shit dead on. You and I both know it. But you missed on purpose, didn’t you?”
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Jerrick’s shaking got worse and worse. I could see the conflict happening behind his eyes. I could tell I was making progress when I saw the small twinkles building up in the corner of his eyes.
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Poor kid… Just a kid…
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“I…I-I just wanted a… j-just wanted him to-“
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“Be a father. I know… That’s what we all wanted. We were just pups, with no one to love us, to care for us, to help us grow.”
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At this point, I felt like I was talking to both of them now. I slowly took a step toward them, and then another, and another. I looked down at the pathetic monster at my feet. Bleeding…broken…and for the first time I think in his life…afraid…
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“We didn’t want some ‘grand purpose’. We didn’t want to inherit some empire. We just wanted a family.”
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I looked at Jerrick. I’d managed to get right next to him. I didn’t grab for the gun. I simply kneeled down beside him, and spoke calmly…
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“That’s why you missed, isn’t it? You saw what Mike had. You saw what you’d be taking away from them.”
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“It’s not fair… It’s just not fair…”
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“It never is…but you have to understand that you CAN still have that. I’m the proof. If I was able to walk away, and have a chance at a life and a family, then so are you.”
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For the first time, his eyes left his target and met mine. At that moment, I saw Jerrick for who he was, without any of the dogma, arrogance, or misplaced loyalty. He wasn’t an exterminator, PD patient, or a murderer. He was a child, just a child who lost his way.
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“You didn’t have to pull the trigger then, and you don’t now.”
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It was only then, that I held out my paw, and with more than a little hesitation, Jerrick handed it to me. Before I was tempted myself, I threw the thing down the hall. Before I could do anything else, I heard that same, smug, arrogant, if slightly choked up laughter coming from the absolute disgrace behind me. I turned to face my father, my abuser, my monster as his signature look of pride came back, his stupid horn glinting in the light of the building’s ceiling lamps.
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“So that’s it, then? Just like that? Where is all that rage and fire I saw in your eyes, when I held that sub-sapient primitive in my grasp, and threatened to find and kill that spawn of hers?”
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He’s baiting you.
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I know.
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“Even when you’re saving my life, you’re still a disappointment, Dohkar.”
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“I’m not saving your life, I’m just prolonging your death.”
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I held an arm out to shield Jerrick. I wasn’t going to let him bait me into attacking. Instead, I’d turn his stupid trick against him, and I wanted to make sure Jerrick was safe.
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“You don’t deserve to die, Albiel. You deserve to LIVE, to sit in a cell and rot just like all the others whose lives you’ve helped ruin, and watch as everything you built crumbles down around you. You’re no leader. You’re just a pathetic disgrace to weak to stand on your own if you aren’t stepping on someone else to feel taller. And I’m going to make you live with that fact for the rest of your miserable life.”
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And then, just a moment, the mask slips one last time…
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“I’LL KILL YO-“
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Whrp-prrrck!!!
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Before he can lunge at us with the last of his strength, my tail wraps around his neck, and before he can choke out another word, his head is slammed into the ground…at just the right angle…to snap that horn of his at the base.
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SLAM!!!
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CRACK!!!
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Just like that, it was over. Jerrick let out a shaky breath, staring down at our unconscious father figure. Before he broke down completely, I pulled him into an embrace. We just sat there, him crying, and me holding him in what was probably the first real hug he’d ever recieved.
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“It’s alright, son. It’s over… It’s over…”
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Eventually, he finally ran out of energy, and fell asleep. Once everything was calm, I placed a finger to my ear piece.
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“This is 1-2 Dohkar. VIP subdued. Objective complete. Patients evacuated. Hostages secured. All hostiles neutralized. Mission accomplished. Over and out…”
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Memory Transcript Subject: Teylim, Yotul Refugee Sponsor Date:[Standardized Human Time] January 16, 2137
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My head was slightly foggy. I was barely paying attention to what any of the medics around me were saying. All I knew was my leg hurt, my ribs hurt, my pretty-much-everything-else hurt…and I missed my joeys…
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“There you are! I was hoping I could catch you before they moved you.”
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I turned my head and saw a pleasant, familiar, face approaching the cot I was laid out on.
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Heeheehee. Handsome face…
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These painkillers must be really something…
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“Dohkar! You’re alright.”
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“Yeah… Mission accomplished. It’s finally over.”
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“Good. Wait. W-what about Tohba, Michael, and Khornel? I heard them over the loudspeakers but-”
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“Easy, Teylim. Don’t strain yourself. They’re fine. They’re already on the way here.”
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My mind was instantly put at ease for the most part. My body protested as I took in a long breath and let it out in a relieved sigh. They were alright. My joeys were alright.
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[Transcript Time Progression: 15 minutes…]
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“So I don’t think I’ve EVER seen YOU cry before.”
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“I’m never living that down, am I?”
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“Oh, absolutely not. The great, brave, oh so stoic Dohkar putting on the waterworks for Little Ol’ Me!”
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“Pfft. Please. I was just sobbing in despair over getting stuck with two pups to take care of.”
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“Ha Ha.”
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Before I could chuckle at our stupid banter, my body quickly reminded me why that was a bad idea.
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Ow! Ow. Yep. Still hurts to laugh.
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Dohkar looked up for a moment and looked off into the distance.
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“Huh. Speak of the devil.”
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“MAMAAAAA!!!!” “TEEEEEYYY!!!!!” “MS. TEYLIM!!!!”
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MY BABIES!!
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We need our joeys.
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YES!
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With some effort, I turned my head in the other direction, and almost broke down instantly at what I saw.
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My joeys…all three of them. I felt a paw on my shoulder before Dohkar left.
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“I’ll…leave you to it… I still have to visit Clem and a few others.”
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After a moment, the soldiers guarding the field hospital let them through, and they immediately sprinted to my side. I couldn’t have them in my arms fast enough. After a solid minute of their voices combining into a jumbled slurry of “Are you okay”s and “I’m so sorry”s, things finally calmed down enough for a full conversation.
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“Mama….”
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“My precious…”
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Michael slowly lowered my Tohba into my arms, and as soon as he clung onto me, it felt like a massive piece of my heart and soul had been restored. He was alive! He was safe! They found him! And now he was back in my arms!
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“MAMA!!! MAMAAAAAHAAAAA!!!”
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“I’m here, Precious. Mama’s here…”
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It hurt. My body protested against the weight of my joey. My arms burned and my breaths were still ragged, but I didn’t care. I held onto my Tohba like I hadn’t held him in cycles, placing lick after lick on the top of his head. Once I was content with my grooming, I held an arm out to bring my other two joeys in.
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“Michael… Khornel… Thank the stars, you two are alright…”
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“Tey…” “Ms. Teylim…”
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“I heard you two over the loudspeakers. You did so well. I’m so proud of you…”
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We stayed like that for a while. As much as holding them hurt, I just didn’t want to let go. We did finally break free of our group hug however, when one of the soldiers came along and gave Khornel a salute.
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“Are you Ms. Khornel?”
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“Y-yes… That’s me…”
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“One of the other patients is asking for you. Clem?”
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“YOU FOUND GRANDFATHER?!”
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“Yes. He’s currently receiving medical attention but he’s stable. I can take you to him if you like.”
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Khornel jumped to her feet and almost sped off right there, but hesitated after looking back at the rest of us. Michael simply gave her a nod.
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“Go. We’ll catch up.”
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Every single feather she had ruffled in excitement before she let the soldier lead her away. I tried to listen as she got further and further away. Eventually, I was able to hear her.
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“Grandfather!”
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“Little ‘Nel! My Little ‘Nel!”
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I couldn’t help but smile.
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I’m so happy for you, Dear.
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And speaking of dears, I looked back up at Michael. We were alone now, just the three of us. He’d been remarkably silent this whole time. Now though, once he was sure no one else could here, he broke down completely.
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“I’m sORrY, TeY. I aM so, SO, SorRY…”
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“Sssshhhh… It’s alright. Whatever for?”
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“I sHouLD’Ve bEEn tHeRE. I ShOUld’Ve BeEN aT tHe hOUse. I shOuLdN’T hAve-”
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“Hey… Hey… None of that… Michael, sweetie look at me…”
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Michael sniffled and wiped away his tears, doing his best to hold it together. His bright blue eyes were filled with regret, regret that was entirely undeserved. All I had to do to prove it was point out the joey in my arms, fast asleep.
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“You found Tohba. You kept him safe. You agreed to stay behind even if you didn’t want to. And when the time came, you all found a way to help without putting yourself or the others in danger. You could NOT have handled yourself better today.”
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I strained to raise up my free arm and cup the side of Michael’s face in my paw, wiping away another tear streak with my thumb. I looked into my son's beautiful eyes with all the love I could muster.
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“I am SO…proud of you.”
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Without another word, he held my paw in his hand, nuzzling into it with his cheek. I finally had my boys with me again. And for the first time in a long time…everything felt like it was going to be alright…
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Memory Transcript Subject: Tevis, Magistrate Intelligence Operative Date:[Standardized Human Time] January 16, 2137
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I walked around the grounds of the field hospital. All around me, human medics and professionals were tending to the patients and hostages. The raid had been a success.
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Albiel was in custody… UN Custody…
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Many of the other exterminators were deaf from WHATEVER THE HELL that human did over the intercom.
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I watched as a large Krakotl was led to one of the elderly patients by a soldier.
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“GRANDFATHER!!!”
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“Little ‘Nel!!!!”
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The two embraced, the smaller Venlil running his claws through her feathers.
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“My Little ‘Nel…”
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“I missed you so much, Grandfather. I’m so sorry I let you get-”
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“Don’t you dare blame yourself. I’m just glad you’re alright…”
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I shook my head and continued moving. So that’s another family that will need housing. Pretty much every patient here is going to be a personal settlement case all on their own, with, more than likely, PLENTY to say about the state in which they were held in…
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I watched a frantic looking Gojid enter the hospital constantly looking around.
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“Scolina?! Has anyone seen my daughter?! Scolina?!”
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The Gojid eventually made their way closer towards the Krakotl and old Venlil from before. One of the Gojid patients on a nearby bed seemed to hear his call.
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“D…Daddy…?”
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The two made I contact, and the younger Gojid was almost immediately tackle hugged by the elder.
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“‘LINA!!! My sweet little ‘Lina, I’m so sorry!!!!”
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“DADDY!!! DADDY!!!”
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They broke away from the hug for a moment as the older Gojid looked in horror at the burn scars covering the girl.
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“Oh, ‘Lina what did they do to you?”
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“They…said it would fix me… Am… Am I fixed now, Daddy?”
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Just hearing the words seemed to make the man break down entirely all over again.
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“There was never anything wrong with you… I should never have sent you to this place… It’s all my fault…”
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“Daddy…”
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Judging from the girl’s speech patterns, she must’ve been taken in while she was a pup, which meant lots of special education as well as whatever this human “therapy” was.
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What a load of sanctimonious-
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I calmed myself before I could go on a rant.
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After doing the rest of my rounds, watching more and more people reunite with their family members, I walked off and went make a call back to HQ. As far as I could tell, this was the rundown: The bar was now filled with dead and/or dying exterminators, the Guild Office was filled with dead and/or dying exterminators, Albiel was now in custody, there were still exterminators on the Guild roster that were MIA, pretty much all the patients were now out and able to give testimony, and I had a LOT more paperwork than usual to take care of.
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Yep! Just about NOTHING has gone to plan.
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Time to change that…
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[Warning!: You Are About To Access Restricted Files: Continue?: Y/N…]
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[The Following Is A Clip From A News Broadcast Archived By Magistrate Intelligence…]
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[The clip opens up on a well-groomed Venlil reporter behind a desk with the logo of “Prime News”...]
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“Tensions rise once more in the Soulroot District as events continue to heat up in their border village of Five Meadows. We here at Prime News have been following the events of what is now being labeled, ‘The Five Meadows Incident’ over this past month, starting with the failed assassination of a human refugee and seemingly ending with the temporary shutdown of the Five Meadows Extermination Guild as a whole. However, while the crisis with The Guild does seem to have passed, things are still not well in that small border town. We go now to our newest seeker, Rose McDermott, out in the field. Rose?”
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[The camera changes to view a female human reporter standing in front of what appears to be a border checkpoint…]
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“Thank you, Talen. As anyone who has been following this incident with us would know, just two weeks ago, I was just actually IN the town of Five Meadows, just outside the former Guild Office, watching as patients, hostages, and soldiers alike were treated for their injuries and traumas. However, before we could get any interviews, we were quickly escorted from the premises by Interim Guard officials. And while The Soulroot Magistrate HAS released a public statement regarding the situation, their actions have led many to question their intentions, this checkpoint behind me being one chief example. As said in their public announcement, The Magistrate is now enforcing a full lockdown of Five Meadows, stating their intent to track down any exterminators who escaped the raid on their office and are still considered, “at large”. However, after the events of the Five Meadows Incident, many incriminating recordings being leaked online, as well as the upcoming election, many are wondering if The Soulroot Magistrate truly had the people’s best interests at heart. Back to you, Talen…”
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[The camera changes once more to show the Venlil reporter. They seem to take a breath before reshuffling the papers on the desk…]
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“Now…you all watching are more than aware of my opinions on such things as Extermination Guilds and Predator Disease Facilities. But…this is a news station. We can’t just sit here blindly theorizing and getting lost in conjecture. My opinions aside, and leaving just the facts alone, it is clear that what has happened in this small town is nothing short of tragic. And we here at Prime News will continue to cover these events as they unfold. And to any who are in or even from Five Meadows, our hearts and minds go out to you, and we hope you remain strong in these uncertain times. This is Talen with Prime News…signing off…”
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[Clip ends…]
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Memory Transcript Subject: Teylim, Yotul Refugee Sponsor Date:[Standardized Human Time] January 24, 2137
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“I’d like to thank you for joining us today, Ms. Teylim. I do hope you’re healing well.”
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I gave a smile to the kind man on the monitor as I shifted on the motel room bed.
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“Thank you. It’ll still be a little while before my leg is able to be walked on normally, but otherwise, I’m healing well. Thank you, Dr. Jacobson.”
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“I’m glad to hear it. Now then, onto the reason why I asked for this group session. It appears there’s been a slight breakdown in communication between you and Michael…”
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I gave a confused look to Michael, sat on the other bed in the motel room. He shifted uncomfortably and simply looked down at his hands.
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“What kind of breakdown?”
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“It seems that ever since things have been…brought out in the open between you two, he’s stated that he’s been experiencing ‘guilty’ feelings whenever trying to express affection.”
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“Is this true, Michael?”
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“It’s just… I don’t know what it is. I felt like…like I was wasting your time…”
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“Wasting my time?”
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“Tey… Be honest… When…exactly…did you start thinking of me like your son?”
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I did my best to think back. Honestly, after the first time he sang for us was probably the first time I felt something like that, but at the time, I just thought it was leftover mom hormones from having Tohba.
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“Honestly, the first time I felt something akin to motherly love for you was after you sang for us the first time. You just…looked so sad, lost, confused, and scared, and I just…gravitated towards it. Afterwards, things calmed down somewhat, but when I really started feeling it was Thanksgiving.”
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“Oh. I wasn’t aware that you tried having Thanksgiving. It makes sense in a way, though. That holiday, along with Christmas the following month, have great emphasis on spending time with one’s family.”
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Suddenly, a horrifying realization popped into my head.
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“Oh no! Michael, we forgot to celebrate Christmas!!”
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“Tey, it’s fine. All the present deliveries got canceled, anyways.”
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“It is not ‘fine’! We are celebrating Christmas! I don’t care if I have to drag a tree into this room myself!”
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“Ugh… Fine…”
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After a moment of laughing at ourselves, Dr. Jacobson continued.
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Well, we’ve established that one end of these feelings truly began around Thanksgiving. What about you Michael? When would you say you truly started seeing Teylim as a mother figure in your life?”
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“Honestly…I don’t know… Not for sure, anyways. In some ways, it feels like she’s always been that way to me, but maybe that’s just because even after just meeting her, she was already treating me better than my own mom did.”
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Honestly, I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. A part of me was giddy that he’d apparently always thought of me as a mother to him, another part was completely shattered by just how much his birth mother had affected him. It was like hearing his tale of abuse all over again.
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“I think…once I got used to actually calling her that in my mind, that was when the idea actually became real. That’s when I really started thinking about her as my mom. Not A mom…My mom… But even then, I just…couldn’t say it, no matter how hard I tried. Like I said, in some ways it just…always felt like she was my mom. So when I think about how long it took me to actually start acknowledging it and expressing it… I just…feel guilty. I wasted so much time…”
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I turned and sat facing toward him. I couldn’t let him truly believe that.
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“Michael, it could’ve taken three days, three months, or three years. I would’ve accepted your love whenever you were ready.”
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“But you shouldn’t have had to! You shouldn’t have had to wait for me just to get over myself.”
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“Michael…”
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“The fact is…you were right. That egg donor that gave birth to me isn’t my mom…you are…”
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My heart skipped a beat as he looked straight at me, my mind filling with just those last two words.
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I…am…
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“You’ve done more to raise, love, and nurture me in three months than my birth mom did in TEN YEARS. And you DESERVE a son that’s actually capable of accepting your love and giving it back. And I just…wasn’t able to do that…”
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I felt my heart breaking more and more. I had no idea he’d been feeling this way, and I wanted nothing more than to help him through it.
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“But that’s over now. I’m done blaming myself for something that wasn’t my fault. I’m done letting the words of a monster dictate what I am. That’s why I want to keep having sessions with you and Dr. Jacobson. I want to get better. So that I CAN be the son you deserve.”
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Oh, Michael. If only you knew. You already are.
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With some mixed feelings, I pulled over my satchel. There was something I’d been meaning to give him for a while now.
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“Michael, you are already a wonderful son, one I wouldn’t trade for the world. I’ve already said that much. And I’m so happy you’re committed to getting better. There is nothing I want more than your happiness. When you were about to leave, before the concert, I was so scared I was about to lose you. The way you so easily gave up like that…it scared me. It felt like…like I failed.”
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“Tey, I-”
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That’s why…”
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I slowly opened up my satchel and pulled out a small packet of papers. They were a bit torn and faded after fishing them out of the wreck that was my office, but I managed to find them.
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“I got these for you.”
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I handed him the papers and watched intently as he read them. I won’t lie, most of it is legal mambo jumbo that even I can’t fully understand, but I could tell exactly when he got to the important bit. I’d memorized that one beautiful line:
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I, Teylim Andrews do hereby fully and officially acknowledge ________________ as my-
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“Tey… Are these…adoption papers?”
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“You’re only half right.”
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He looked up from the papers, his eyes full of shock and awe.
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“You ARE a full, legal, adult, by both human and Yotul standards, so I can’t technically ‘adopt’ you. BUT, what we CAN do, as legal, consenting adults, is BOTH agree to sign these papers, fully acknowledging each other as family, me as your mother, and you as my son. This does a LOT of weird, quirky things involving Venlil law, mostly involving inheritances and insurance. BUT the most important thing, is that by legally becoming a part of my family, the door is open to you for FULL. CITIZENSHIP. You won’t have to be a refugee anymore.”
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Michael was speechless, just looking back down at the papers.
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“Tey, I… I don’t know what to-”
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“You don’t…have to sign if you don’t want to…”
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He looked back at me, waiting to hear me out.
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“At the time, I’d only gotten these to show you as proof, proof that I really AM serious about this. I truly DO see you as my own, Michael. And paper or no paper, that much will never change. I truly, completely, and purely…love you. And I want nothing more than for you to be happy…”
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I looked down at my own paws. I knew that presenting him with this choice meant having to accept the fact that he might say no. So, I just curled in on myself and braced for it…just in case.
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“But…I know that you’re still healing. I was going to give these to you after the concert. But then you got shot, and even after that, you were still recovering. I wanted to make sure things were slightly calm again before going through with it. Now, I know it’s a big decision and I completely understand if you don’t feel comfortable-OOF!!!”
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Before I could even react, I was pushed backwards, fully wrapped up in a giant hug.
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“MIchael! What are you-”
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“I’ll do it… I’ll sign…”
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With just those five words, I found myself struggling to find a response. My heart was racing and I couldn’t even tell if I heard him right.
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“You… You mean-”
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“I want to sign! I want to be your son!”
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For a moment, I was still paralyzed. My rapidly wagging tail was the first part of me to move before I practically dove into him.
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My son! MY SON! MY SON!
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“OH, MICHAEL!!!!”
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I couldn’t contain myself. I hugged. I squeezed. I nuzzled. I licked. I kissed. I held…my son. MY! SON! And soon, not even a government official would be able to say otherwise.
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And then…as if I needed any more confirmation. He uttered four more words. Just four. Four words that I’d never heard him say before, at least not together, and not toward me. Still, hearing him say those four words…the last time I remember being that happy…was when my Tohba was born.
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“I love you, Mom…”
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Did he just call us…?
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Mom… Mom… MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM!!! HE CALLED US MOM!!!
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“I love you so much, my joey! Mama loves you so, so, so much! Never forget that.”
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“Mom…”
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Our lovely, perfect moment was then interrupted by the only thing that could’ve made it more perfect. A small, adorable yawn came from the small crib behind us.
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“Mama…? Whad goin’ on?”
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I turned to see Tohba peeking through the bars at us. It appeared our little moment had woken him from his nap.
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“Hmmm… Tell me, Michael. Now that things seem like they’re becoming official, is there anything you’d like to say to young Tohba as well?”
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“\sniff** Yeah… I think there is…”
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I watched with bated breath as Michael walked over and plucked Tohba from his crib, before sitting next to me. Tohba, for his part, looked really worried, probably because we were both complete sobbing messes.
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“Mikey zhad?”
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“No, Bud. I’m not sad. I’m happy, happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
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Tohba didn’t seem entirely convinced yet. He only seemed to get more worried when Michael composed himself and took on a somewhat serious tone.
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“Bud? There’s something REALLY important you need to know. So, I need you to listen real close, okay?”
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Tohba’s fear only seemed to grow. The last time Michael said something like that was when he left for Twilight Valley.
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“Tohba… You…are the BEST…baby brother a guy like me could ever ask for. You hear me? The BEST…”
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Tohba’s fear and worry seemed to go away for the most part, only to be replaced with partial confusion.
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“Mikey…bwudhew…?”
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We both almost broke again just from that one, adorable word. Michael was quick to confirm it, nodding frantically as he tried to hold it together.
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“That’s right… And your big brother, Mikey loves you SO much, Tohba. SO…much… More than you’ll ever know…”
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“Mikey…beeg bwudhew…”
​
Tohba seemed to take a moment to think, trying to truly comprehend the words he just said. Once he understood however, it was impossible to hide his excitement. His tiny tail became a blur behind him as his eyes lit up with glee. Before he could react, Tohba used his still developing hind legs to launch himself into Michael’s face.
​
“BEEG BWUDHEW!!!!”
​
“OH, JEEZ!”
​
In a flash, Michael was knocked onto his back, laughing as Tohba licked and nuzzled every inch of his face.
​
“MIKEY BEEG BWUDHEW! MAMA! MIKEY BEEG BWUDHEW!!!!”
​
That was it. That was what finally broke me. I sobbed openly and clapped as my Tohba shared the amazing news with me. Mikey IS beeg bwudhew.
​
Once his energy had wound down, Tohba saw fit to simply snuggle into Michael’s arms, letting out a long, contented sigh, as if anything that could’ve possibly been wrong in his tiny, perfect world had been made right again.
​
“Wuv you, Mikey… Wuv you Beeg Bwudhew…”
​
“I love you too, Bud. I love you so much.”
​
I couldn’t hold back any longer. I rushed forward…and held my boys in my arms. And in this one…perfect moment, I could only think one thing.
​
I love my boys. I love my family. I love my life.
​
Next

"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and welcome to my Letsplay! Today I am back from my medically mandated break from playing human videogames after a rather... cathartic experience with a game called Teardown. Subnautica, even among humans, is labeled as a notorious experience with... mixed reception for its sequel. A survival crafting game apparently. I have experience with those so presumably the gameplay loop should be predictable enough. So... Let's go in!"
Spiffle starts the game, going for standard Survival Mode, with aspects of food and water mechanics alongside health and oxygen. The game loads very, very fast with Spiffles overpowered computer, and the introduction sequence begins. The camera pans to the panicked sight of the payer character moving down a ladder followed by a sight of a starship above exploding.
"Oh dear... oh dear! They weren't kidding about survival! Do I even survive this or am I a ghost or something..."
The pod rattles, the screen shakes, a fire extinguisher falls from its mounting. Velocity causes the pod to dislodge a panel from a wall and it flies around the cabin. The panel flies into the player's screen, making it go black.
"Oh... well okay then. I uh... well."
Spiffles' character awakens and panics at the buttons securing him to the seat. Spiffle quickly figures out that fire in this game is in fact bad, and grabs the fire extinguisher, putting the fire out. The game's introduction plays, showing his PDA, the game's inventory UI.
"Oh! I have seen these things in real life when visiting human stations! Do all humans have these?"
Spiffle starts exploring the escape pod, noting all of the damage to the radio beacon and the wiring panel.
"Hmm... craft the repair tool... Well... For later I suppose. Now how do i-AH, the ladder!"
Spiffle clicks on the ladder and goes through the animation. The character exits and dramatically stands. Spiffle looks around. His face visibly pales as he looks in every direction, finding the only thing nearby that looks 'safe’ or like 'land' is the destroyed ship in the distance.
"Water... it's... water... everywhere! How big is this game's map!? Structural hull failure... zero human lifesigns detected. That's.. not nice. Well... Here we go!"
Spiffle jumps into the water. His mood changes, the underwater environment significantly different than above ground. The water is absolutely teeming with life and color, as Spiff swims towards a reef to stare at some coral. Spiff gets distracted and starts chasing a fish, specifically a Peeper, and grabs it.
"Oh! Good god! THAT'S how humans catch fish!? That's very... inefficient! What is this thing? Can I eat it? I know I'm supposed to take care of my food and water, so how do I eat it?"
Spiffle wanders about for a while, gathering resources and exploring his general location, eventually getting back to the pod. He had gathered up a decent amount of stuff while he was swimming around and accessed the Fabricator to see what was available.
"Ah! I see, the fabricator cooks things too. Uhm... cooked fish thing and... these transparent fish give me water bottles? Okay then! Well. Sorted for food anyway. Let's see. Copper wire, batteries. A Scanner? Does that mean I can like, scan things and tell what they are? And... Oxygen tank? Oh hell yes. I'll build that then."
Spiffle goes through the process of building a few things, checking out how the game's crafting system works, and spending more time collecting resources. He quickly realizes how much work he has to do and finally finishes making a Scanner.
"Okay then well... I can see how much time is going to be spent collecting resources so i'm going to edit all of that out and keep you all in the loop on all the fun parts instead."
Spiffle continues playing, inserting a creative, albeit mildly annoying fanciful scene transition in between resource loops. He comes to a cave looking for salt to make more equipment, when he encounters the first hostile enemy of the game: The Crashfish. He does not notice it at first, the strange sloppy noise it makes as its pod opens, the beast makes a terrible gurgly noise and charges straight at him.
"What is that noi-AH! OY! OI! OIIII what are you what are-!"
Spiffle is cut off as the fish explodes, causing him to lose half his health. He quickly surfaces and takes a breath.
"Okay then... OKAY... THAT... makes absolutely no sense from an evolutionary perspective... but okay then. Avoid those. What even was that? I can't even scan it because it was moving so fast! Gods... exploding fish."
Spiffle shakes his head and resumes his hunt for resources, eventually finding enough for a repair tool. He makes the repair of the pods' broken wiring and looks around a bit more, noting some of the details in the game.
"Hard to believe these games are over eight hundred years old! I keep getting requests to play 'them gud ol' gamez' instead of any new releases. Maybe I'll get to those eventually. I have quite the backlog though."
Spiffle quickly tabs out and shows the huge list of human made games on his list that he has been gifted or purchased himself. The list includes Space Marine, Starship Troopers, Spyro Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot, and so... so many more.
"I am also told about this thing called 'anime', whatever that is. Maybe I should look into that. Anyway..."
Spiffle shrugs for now and resumes playing, swimming around for a bit before finally deciding to use his scanner. He gets the first scan - the Acid Mushroom - and painstakingly reads the supplied article. He then goes on a scanning frenzy, scanning each thing he can find, comically chasing after various fish and objects, trying to scan them then taking an irritatingly long time to read the article aloud.
He gets to the point where he encounters his first real hostile enemy and tries to scan it. The stalker, of course, doesn't appreciate that, and attacks.
"Oooh what's this thing? Oh lovely, it's a big one. Can I scan it? The... Stalker? Oh okay is it friend-OW! NONONONO go away!"
Spiffle panics and scans it while running away from it, trying to swim backwards. He's so focused on scanning it he can't run far enough away that he gets ambushed by another Stalker nearby and manages to scan it just as he gets hit with his first Death in the game.
"Oh.... o...kay. Well... it seems things aren't as friendly as expected. I'm going to guess there's more things like that around. So... I'm just going to finish working on repairs and equipment then I'll take those things on."
Spiffle reads the article on the Stalker he scanned and spends more time collecting resources, scanning local entities and building the rest of the gear he has. Fins, high capacity O2 tank, rebreather and some more food and water which he stores in floating containers for later. He starts to explore a bit farther in search of fragments to scan and finds a Sand Shark, as well as a biome resembling a desert-like area. He encounters his first piece of the wrecked ship here.
"Oh! Hello! Pieces of wreckage! What are these for now do you suppose? Can I disassemble these for resources or-Oh! Is that a door? Oh! I'm supposed to go in here and look for things? How do I get in? Oh I can't. I need a laser cutter. Is one of those here? Need more fragments I guess..."
Spiffle gives up trying to enter and goes up for air, then returns to the floor to hunt for fragments. He eventually unlocks the Bioreactor, pieces of the Scanner room, a couple fragments of the Seaglide and Seamoth. He comes across the first cave entrance to the Mushroom Caves Biome.
"Oh... oh my. That's... deep. Good thing I unlocked the Seamoth thing. Its a miniature submarine I think. I can use that. But that's... kinda scary. I can't see the bottom. I kinda see just... purple. Mostly purple. But it scares me that I can't see the bottom."
Spiffle hangs around the cave entrance for a bit before a call for Oxygen forces him to the surface. He swims back down to the cave entrance and then hangs around a bit longer before once again resurfacing, heading for some new things to scan. It is however at this point that Spiffles exploration is cut short.
"EMERGENCY - SEISMIC READINGS SUGGEST A QUANTUM DETONATION HAS OCCURRED IN THE AURORA'S DRIVE CORE. THE CENTRAL DARK MATTER REACTOR WILL REACH A SUPERCRITICAL STATE IN -"
The computer aboard the PDA shakes Spiff out of his daze and he quickly rushes to the surface and looks at the ship.
"Wait wait wait what's that!? What's going on!? I see the ship? The Aurora! That's what its name is? Whats a Dark Matter reactor and wha-"
The computer continues its countdown muffled by Spiffs panicked squealing and he has a front-row seat to one of the most spectacular explosions in the history of gaming - the Aurora's Reactor Detonation.
It happens. The world goes dead silent for a short moment, and one can see Spiffles heart visibly stop beating. Then explosion as the Aurora lets out its magnificent blast. As the shockwave expands outwards, Spiffs skin visibly turns a paler shade of blue, and his eyes go wide. The sound of a geiger counter follows, leaving him breathless and pale as the world suddenly goes dead quiet again. The sound of the geiger counter ominously leaving him shaken even more than he already is.
"FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE - THE RADIATION SUIT HAS BEEN ADDED TO YOUR BLUEPRINTS."
Spiffle stays completely silent, bobbing in the water for a solid few minutes, staring in shocked wonder at what he just witnessed. He regains his composure for a few short moments and returns to his scanning venture, but one can easily see he isn't in the right mind after that. He returns to the seabed, at the entrance to the mushroom caves and dives again. He does this several more times, popping up to the surface, looking at the shipwreck, then diving at the entrance again. Finally, after much hesitation, he dives one last time.
"Screw it. it's just a game right?"
He smiles at the camera with a shrug and swims far below the surface, into one of the caves. As he enters the cavern his jaw drops at the sight of a massive underwater cavern filled with gigantic glowing pink mushrooms. The Mushroom caves as they are known. He spots something in the distance, entranced, forgetting his oxygen situation. He cant get far however and a terrifying shriek of some unknown entity shakes him out of his stupor.
"What in the red dawn was that noise!?"
Spiff can't finish asking his invisible audience what's going on as he strays too close to a mushroom, occupied by a Crab Snake, a gigantic sea worm. He is grabbed from behind, spun around and he visibly panics as the giant worm digs its enormous tusks into Spiffles character. Spiffle immediately freaks out, a combination of both the terrifying shriek emitted by the creature and the shock of being attacked makes poor Spiffle jump out of his seat and duck under the table.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
The worm comes back and finishes Spiff off before his oxygen runs out. Spiff's character respawns but the footage continues, a slight whimper can be heard in the background as Spiff hides under the desk. This carries on for a few minutes, and his head very slowly appears above the desk. He gingerly puts himself back in his seat and breathes heavily for a bit. When he finally gains control, he tabs out of the game and takes a look at the wiki for Subnautica. He returns a few moments later and stares at the camera in that strange haunting glare he's become so famous for.
"WHY DO YOU STUPID DEVELOPERS NOT PUT GUNS IN THE GAME IF YOU HAVE SHIT LIKE THAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
He grabs the camera and shakes it violently as he rants at it, questioning why there are guns in every other human game he has played and not THIS specific game, especially considering how there are 'giant water snake monsters that eat your face' in a game with no guns. He rants for a good minute or two then plays his outro.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you absolutely sure after Teardown, Factorio and Project ZOMBOID, you should be playing Subnautica? I mean seriously, try something less... psychologically terrifying. It's known as Thalassophobia Simulator for a reason."
_______________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemonk and I still don't understand why we have giant worm monsters but we have no guns!"
Spiffle stares at the camera with an expression that can only be summarized as 'Seriously bruh?' and resumes his last playthrough. He becomes confused at the lack of stuff in his inventory.
"Why is my... Why do I not ha-Oh right... I was eaten. When you die your inventory is wiped... I need to build more tools then."
Spiffle starts some silly music, an alien version of Benny Hill to a montage of him collecting resources, occasionally ranting at various oddities and questioning game logic. He restores all of his tools then goes hunting for a Vehicle Bay fragment so he can build the Seamoth. He continues to scan what he can, developing something of an obsession with the task, then painstakingly reading every word about it to try and understand it. It is at this point Spiffle, during his explorations finds another derelict chunk of ship near the desert region, encountering his first Sand Shark.
"What... What is this? Oh... careful Spiff. This one looks angrier than the last one you found. Wh-What in oblivion!?"
Spiffles attention is once again diverted by the appearance of a Reefback Leviathan and its signature low drone. This one appears to be a fully grown adult.
"You-you... You've got to be... You gotta be fucking kidding me. A Juhara Eelfish!? WHAT IS THAT DOING IN A HUMAN VIDEOGAME!!!??"
Spiffle squeaks in shock as he sees a creature that is an absolute spitting image of a large oceanic dwelling sea creature, which is both the games and his native homeworlds version of a Whale. The Reefback has some dissimilarities, but its close enough to the real thing that Spiffle is genuinely shocked. He quickly pauses the game, opening various wikipedia articles, then displays a full picture of both Subnautica in game Reefback, and the Juhara-Kal-Rehar, colloquially known as a Juhara Eelfish, a shockingly similar creature that lives in his homeworlds oceans.
The only difference between them is the color of the exterior chitin shell. The Reefback has a blue/purple shell, the Juhara Eelfish's chitin has a red/green shell.
"WHEN was this game made!?"
Spiff checks, the current Earth-date is the year 2886. Humanity only entered the galactic community in 2752. Subnautica was released in 2018.
"HOW.... How is that even possible!? You didn't even know the galaxy existed until only a few decades ago, yet you almost PERFECTLY matched the appearance of one of our homeworlds native species! How is this even possible!? Okay. If the name matches then I have to call bullshit."
Spiffle approaches and scans it, then reads the data article.
"A... Reefback Leviathan? Oh thank God... Now let's see... A herbivorous creature that... that likely got so large due to the fact that its predators went extinct. Well... that's... okay... A hard chitinous shell of multiple layers, a microcosm of different creatures and flora growing from its back, hence the name. Hmmm..."
Spiffle gets that cold, empty stare on his face and glares menacingly at the camera. The screen goes black, then returns, seeing Spiffle nursing a beverage of some kind while wrapped in a blanket.
"I realized something... Call it a message from the Ancestors or a Divine revelation. But I have a funny feeling this isn't going to be the last time I see a creature from the galaxy represented in human media. I hope to the Gods that doesn't happen... the concept of this situation is nothing short of terrifying. In any case, I'm sorry about that. Lets.... let's continue."
Spiffle resumes where he left off, doing his usual routine of scanning, then obsessively reading. Eventually he unlocks the Vehicle Bay, and returns home to his pod where the situation with resources is growing obscene with at least fifty floating resource containers hovering around the area.
"Alright... A Vehicle Bay... This means I can build things like the Seamoth now. This will be nice. Right, I shall for the sake of my audience skip the resource collection mechanic that's here and focus on the actual result. I shan't waste my time either though. MONTAGE!"
Spiff yells excitedly and a montage to that same odd Benny Hill type music plays out, with him collecting the resources he needs to build both machines. Most of it is already in the floating containers strewn about. With a few visits to the fabricator, he compiles the Power Cell, Titanium Ingot and Lubricant he needs to make the Vehicle Bay. He deploys it and chases it to the surface just away from the pod in the deeper end of the shallows.
"Right... Not too hard. Let's see then, how do-Ah. Get on it and... The Seamoth. Cost of two glass, one titanium ingot, a powercell, lead and lubricant. Right."
He quickly gathers and makes everything he needs for the Seamoth, then stands on the platform ready to go. He chooses the Seamoths recipe and the sequence starts. His eyes light up as drones start flying around the platform, then begin assembling atom by atom, the small, adorable minisub known as the Seamoth. It finishes the process and flops into the water with a splash.
"My gods look at this thing! It's so cute!"
Spiffle explores the sub for a little while and hops inside it, testing the controls and playing around with it a bit to see what it can do.
"Hm... Maximum Depth, 200 meters? So if I go below that does it implode or something? I need to be careful of that. OH dammit I remember! I have to make that Radiation Suit don't I? I shall do so now!"
Spiffle seems to have found a new resolve, quickly gathering resources together and making both a Seaglide and radiation suit in short order.
"Does this thing have any weapons? How do I repair-Oh... Repair tool? That makes it easier I suppose. Now... Where do I go now? Is there anything I can do?"
Spiffle stumbles about in the blind for a few minutes, trying to figure out his next course of action beyond simply wandering aimlessly while scanning things. He gets back in the pod and fixes the radio beacon. His face visibly contorts into an expression of irritation when he hears his rescue is in 9999 hours. He resolves to come back every now and then to check the radio. He decides to gather more resources to make up for building the seamoth and comes back a bit later. He finds a radio transmission when he returns.
"RADIO: ▀▖┗▛Nine new biological subjects designated. Mode ▄▖▜▚┣: hunting/analyzing.
Sharing subject locations with other agents."
"What... in the Nine Hells was THAT!? Why was it in such an odd voice? What was that language? What were those letters!? Somethings going on here... SO now what? I have the radiation suit. i guess... go into the Aurora? Oh no, I'm not going in there unprepared! Lemme make some tools and spare batteries, then i'll go in. I need... Oh... I need more fragments is what I need."
Spiffle resumes his fragment hunt, looking around for fragments of various tools. He uses the Seamoth to traverse around.
"WHEEE!!!"
Spiff seems more than just a bit happy as he trundles around in the Seamoth, using his speed to launch himself out of the water. He splashes about a bit, testing the limits of the craft and trying to see what holes he can squeeze himself into or out of and how deep he can go.
"Okay okay. time to get to serious work. Now... I need to find... A Laser Cutter and a... STASIS RIFLE?! Wait... rifle? That means GUN! I NEED A GUN!!"
Spiffle charges forward towards the desert biome where he found the Reefback and resumes his search for things to scan. It is now he comes across a Reginald.
"What... IS this fish? Wait, let me just..."
He gets out of the Seamoth and scans it.
"Huh... Reginald. That's a... fish? It's so cute! Wait, come back friend!"
Spiffle spends an unreasonable amount of time trying to catch a Reginald. When he finally catches one he gets back in the Seamoth and heads towards the aurora, new friend in tow. He trundles over to the side of the crashed ship and scans some random stuff here and there, finding fragments to a few small items, including a few he needs such as a Powercell Charger for the Seamoth’s battery. He gets close to the front of the ship and the haunting, evil noise of Subnautica's most iconic killer suddenly echoes through the gloomy water.
"What... Was that? Is it another worm thing? Please don't let it be one of those..."
Spiffle wanders around the side for a bit longer. An ominous shadow looms in the background, catching his eye. He ignores it for the moment and simply carries on, eventually arriving at the entrance to the ship. Through the mangled steel and fire he squeezes into the front of the ship and looks around. The environment ominously rattles and his screen shakes as the ships structure isn't exactly stable. The howl of the creature in the shadows makes Spiff even more uncomfortable.
"I... Do NOT like this. I really dont."
Spiff parks the Seamoth where he can see a ramp leading up, and gets out. He is immediately accosted by Cave Crawlers and uses his knife to defend himself, poorly, but he gets rid of the three or four around him.
"WARNING: SCANS SHOW THE DIGESTIVE TRACTS OF INDIGENOUS LIFE FORMS CONTAIN HUMAN TISSUE."
Spiffs face turns an even paler shade of blue and he swallows visibly as if he's trying not to vomit.
"Yeuch... I can scan this thing and read it later. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."
Spiff scans and follows the path to the interior, uses his fire extinguisher to put out some fires in the area and gets inside. The ship rumbles as he wanders around and gets into one of the rooms. He finds the poster of the P.R.A.W.N. Suit.
"Ooh! A poster thing? Can I take it or? I can! PRAWN Suit eh? Can I actually use that thing?"
Spiff takes the poster, scans some furniture and collects a PDA. Spiff continues down the corridor and retrieves his Propulsion Cannon from his inventory and uses it to pick up some furniture in the way.
"I am SO glad I got this thing from scanning the area before I came here. This is super useful! I wonder if it has other uses..."
He gets to the door and looks at his databank.
"Hmm... Here it is! Code for the door is 1454. Right."
Spiff moves through, repairing a door to get the Seamoth Depth Upgrade Module. He continues and clears a fire to enter the main reactor. His inner loot goblin shines through and grabs the Cyclops engine efficiency module before he starts work on repairs, scanning the breach and starting work. It doesn't take him long, but he gets issues with a Bleeder that lives in the waters. He scans one then finishes repairs. Foolishly, he uses the propulsion cannon and shoots the bleeder at one of the reactors, undoing his work. He looks at the damage he caused and repairs it.
"Well... what was I expecting... Why did I do that? It's a CANNON... why did I aim it at the reactor exactly? So stupid..."
Spiff finishes and heads to the PRAWN Bay, and looks around at the damage. He spots the prawn suits and starts scanning, grabbing a storage module upgrade from a console and starts extinguishing flames so he can scan. He runs out of fire extinguisher juice though.
"Blast! Can I still scan these if they're on fire?"
Spiff walks around, finding cheeky angles he can use and scans the debris, finding all four fragments he needs. He heads upstairs and goes through the rooms and everything he can find. He gets into the Galley and sees the Kitty in a Space Helmet Poster.
"What the- 'Keep Calm'? What in the blue balls is this? It's.... cute! What is this creature!? Can I keep this? I can!"
Spiffle excitedly grabs the poster and moves on. He goes through cabins, picks up PDAs and collects the Natural Selection 2 poster, the Prawn suit in the sea poster and the collectible arcade toy in the locked cabin. Lacking the code to the Captain's cabin, he returns to the prawn bay and tries swimming around, eventually finding a passage in the hull debris to the rest of the ship. He moves through in silence, recovers the black box data and exits the ship. He removes debris, grabs the local wildlife with the cannon and tosses them into fires or the water with glee.
"BEGONE BEAST!!! Ha! Right... uhh... where did i park? Oh, there it is. Should I go home? I wonder if there are any fragments I can use around here?"
Spiff exits, finding Liefpod 4 floating upside down on the surface of the water. He collects the PDA data and a new blueprint. Then, as he gets in the seamoth, the horrifying roar of the Reaper Leviathan suddenly sounds. Spiff is thrown into a panic, screams in terror and tries desperately to get away. The beast appears with jaw chomping and claws clawing at the poor Seamoth. The entire time Spiffle is screeching like a bird with a broken leg, his entire body now an almost ghostly white out of absolute terror.
"GOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGOWAYGODNONNONOGOWAYGOWAY!!!"
Spiffle manages to get out of its grip and in a panic charges away towards his lifepod and continues to scream, breathing hard between screams. He gets to the pod and then hides under his desk, continuing to scream. His channel outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: (This has been translated from Eridani) "I am starting to believe this whole sojourn was a very BAD idea. Do you humans have those kinds of beasts on your homeworld? How did you ever survive them?!"
RESPONSE: LOL no we never had Reapers. The only Leviathan Class creatures we have on our planet are Whales. And they're mostly peaceful plankton eaters. Mostly.
RESPONSE: (Translated from Eridani) "Seriously? I think I find it more terrifying that these creatures are made up in your minds. What kind of nightmares do you people have to be able to create this level of fiction!?"
RESPONSE: Do. Not. Ask. This is only Subnautica - we have FAR worse.
Spiffles response: "You're going to make me play these 'far worse', aren't you?"
RESPONSE: "Damn right we are! :)"
________________________________________________________
"Great days and glorious victory! My name is Spifflemnonk and welcome back to Subnautica!"
Spiffle looks visibly stronger, his usual lanky appearance now looking like he's been working out like a Gym Bro. One can see muscles on muscles and Spiff seems to have an abnormal amount of energy.
"I am now relaxed. It is now time to get eaten by giant scary sea monsters. And yes, before you ask, I have successfully finished fully soundproofing my office. And also yes, I am indeed expecting a new addition to the brood... THANKS DAMN HUMANS! You and your damn musical magic nonsense..."
Spiffle starts the game and is swimming outside the pod next to the Seamoth. The first thing he does is repair the seamoth from the damage incurred by the Reaper, and recounts what hes been up to, checking inventory and equipment. He heads to the radio and gets a new transmission.
RADIO - "This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.'
'Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up.'
'Aurora, we're out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.'
'I'll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.'
'See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime."
"Oh? Oh lovely! There ARE people in this game! I wonder when they will be here? Meh, I have things to build, so I'll keep an eye."
Spiffle resolves himself to start building a base, trying to find a good spot. He finds the Mushroom Forest Biome and starts gathering resources to ferry them around. He installs the Depth Module and the Storage module to the Seamoth, then builds the Moon Pool. The Mushroom Biome becomes one of his favorite spots and a close encounter with a JellyRay cements it.
"Those creatures are beautiful! Look! JellyRay! Its glowing blue and pretty! I love that! Oh... I have a new radio message. I need to listen to that then."
Spiff returns to the pod and listens to the message.
RADIO - "Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location.'
'I didn't know how bad... How many of you... I didn't know.'
'We are now en route to your location. We're going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.'
'What else can I say? The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it'
'Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others."
Spiff smiles and carries on working, parking the Seamoth inside after powering everything up.
"So lovely! But... Is that a win condition? I know human games by now I have played enough of them. Is that a win condition? Get rescued? I dunno..."
Spiffle carries on building for a little and gets a storage system up, spending a few in-game days transporting resources to his new base. He returned to the pod and played a new radio message, again from the Sunbeam.
RADIO - "This is Sunbeam. Y'know, Aurora, we're from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there.'
'There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad.'
'Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you're overdue a whole lot of the latter.'
'Might just be we're it.'
'We're scanning for somewhere to park, we'll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out."
"Ohh... That... that's a lovely saying! What was that uh... There's no bad without the good, no good without the bad. I like that! I think i'll have that framed on my wall! Now lets see.. i ca- I CAN GIVE THE SEAMOTH A NAME? OOHHHhh okay, okay.. I can customize the color too! I think I'll just do this..."
Spiff leaves the name as 'Seamoth' for now, changing the color to a mix of purple for the main, and blue for the trim and name color. His two favorite colors. Spiffle does a little more work, acquiring the last fragments for the Cyclops and starts gathering together the resources necessary to build it.
"Hmmm.. Cyclops... Personal large scale submarine capable of carrying other vehicles! Ooohhh I want to build that! I need to fetch the Vehicle Bay though. Im almost done moving house!"
Spiff returns and packs up the last of his resources, then gets another radio message.
RADIO - "Aurora, we're approaching the planet now, and we have a landing site for you that's... well, it's better than the alternatives.'
'We've sent you the coordinates.'
'It'll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we're coming in to get you.'
'Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."
Spiffle gets a new beacon on his HUD. Sunbeam Landing Site.
"What!? Is this game over If I'm there!? Okay... well. At least it's no longer terrifying! I'll get the Seamoth and go for the beacon then. I hope it's okay... Strange... this... doesn't feel like the end, you know? But if it is then it is."
Spiff heads home, deploys the Vehicle Bay and deposits his gear and resources. He heads towards the location, occasionally squealing 'WHEEE!!' as he uses the Seamoth to jump out of the water like a dolphin. However, he miscalculates and the Seamoth jumps up, out and sustains a bit of damage as it hits a rock formation close to the surface. He gets out, repairs it and looks at the camera.
"Why no I didn't just damage my Seamoth by having too much fun. I don't know what you are talking about. Hehe."
Spiffle smirks at the camera with a glare and carries on. Eventually, he encounters the largest of the Islands in the world.
"Wh... WHAT. This has been here the whole time!? Is this an island? Who cares! LAND! Sweet land!"
Spiffle now notices the timer and hops onto the island from his Seamoth. He walks up to the landing zone and stops dead in his tracks at the sight of the massive al;ien structure known as the Quarantine Enforcement Platform. In essence, a giant alien cannon.
"What... the *beep* is THAT?"
Spiffles' editing has gotten better, his editor learning how to censor Spiffles foul language, in both English AND Eridani. He moves closer to the building, scanning the broken tablet and the Forcefield Controls.
"What is this? I mean it's clearly alien... What do the codex entries say... 'possible to reconstruct the device' Oh... hmm.. I can make more of these then. 'Matches no known technologies... functions like a lock'. Okay then so... Standard video game logic I guess. That's nice! So A purple tablet will unlock the gate there. What are those?"
Spiff moves towards the Cairns marking the way into the island, pathways leading up the mountainside. He follows them, finding a Purple Tablet in the process on one of the pathways.
"Oh! Lovely! That saves me resources and a trip I guess. This pathway keeps going though. hmm... Welp, we still have thirty minutes, so let's go."
Spiff explores the pathway, getting lost a bit before finally figuring that following the large cables is a good idea. He comes across the Teleportation Arch and scans it, in between dodging the Cave Crawlers.
"Right, let's see... Alien Arch... not much to speak of here. Maybe this thing will be useful later I guess. Likely.... Hmmm..."
Spiffle continues exploring and eventually finds himself back at the forcefield with another twenty minutes to go.
"Screw it, let's go."
Spiff activates the forcefield platform and the animation of the key being placed plays out. He moves into the building, activating both data platforms and acquiring two Ion Cubes for later, scanning everything he thinks he can scan. He enters the Moonpool in the bay and gets two more Ion Cubes, plus data on a rifle and a Doomsday Device. He ignores it for now, acquiring one more purple tablet and accessing the control room.
"Right... what's in here? Hmm... Energy Core, right. I shall scan that and... press button?"
Spiff presses the button. An animation plays where a device locks his characters hand in place, viciously stabs it with a pointy metal bit and then releases it.
"OH GODS what the hell! Why is that?! That's just nasty!"
"THE TERMINAL IS BROADCASTING A MESSAGE. TRANSLATION READS: 'Warning, infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.'"
"Quarantine! What? Infected? I-Hold on...."
Spiffle gets his scanner out and performs a self-scan. It is only now he notices something very bad has happened.
"I-infected!? Wait, what!?"
"SELF-SCAN COMPLETE - DETECTING STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT BACTERIAL LEVELS. NO ADVERSE EFFECTS DETECTED. BE VIGILANT FOR SYMPTOMS."
"Oh brilliant! Does that mean I can't leave? I KNEW IT! Wait... weapon!? This is a weapon!?"
Spiffle panics and runs out of the facility as fast as he can and waits the last few minutes for the Sunbeam to arrive. Sure enough, it does. In the last 30 seconds, the Sunbeam plays a message.
RADIO - "Survivor, we see you!
'Man, I don't know how you held out down there.'
The sunbeams message plays, and Spiffle gasps in terror from the sound of the gun platform starting up and starting to move around.
RADIO - "We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site.'
'Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it?"
The weapon powers up and turns, aiming itself high at the sky.
RADIO - "Hold on, no turning back now.'
'Positions everyone, touching down in 10, 9, 8-'
The weapon charges up and a loud vicious hum can be heard echoing through the valley.
RADIO - "It's coming from the building?! Change course, set thrusters to (full)-"
The radio goes to static, the weapon fires and the Sunbeam is vaporized instantly by a massive blast of bright green light. The sunbeam disappears, its hull structure completely disintegrated. Spiffle sits in stunned silence as the platform returns to a stable position, shuts down, and everything goes quiet.
"Well... Okay then... That was... horrifying. I guess thats all we have time for! Hehe! Oh dear..."
Spiffle looks a bit defeated as he sits back in his seat.
"S-see you next time! I guess... Holy shit..."
Channel Outro plays.
TOP COMMENT: "Are you okay? You seem a little bit too disturbed by that. Its fine though, compared to what happens in the Rise Of The Ancients Mod, this is tame! Lol! I love that mod!"
Spiffles Response: "Please don't make me play that mod..."
((Authors note - due to how bastardingly huge Subnautica is, this will be a multi part series. Other Spiff stories will come inbetween. Hope you enjoy!))

Im trying to boot gentoo liveCD on PPC64 (CELL), using petitboot bootloader. So I need it to mount squashfs as overlay and use it for /sysroot. Initramfs was generated using dracut, in catalyst, and initramfs works fine with normally installed gentoo, but not with squashfs livecd. Im ending up with error: `Failed to mount -t auto -o ro /dev/ram0 /sysroot` but I guess I have it configured incorrectly anyway, and should not even use /dev/ram0. Can you help me understand how to setup bootloader flags to boot liveCD with squashfs file on it? This is my current configuration, that used to work with older initramfs, generated with genkernel (new one is from dracut) image=/boot/PS3
label='Boot LiveCD (kernel: PS3)'
initrd=/boot/PS3.igz
append="root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc looptype=squashfs loop=/image.squashfs overlayfs cdroot config video=ps3fb"

Hi! I have a fixed, inside 9 year old male gray tabby. He currently weighs 17 pounds. He is starting to have issues grooming due to his gut. I had to wash him, he did fine but I know he can do it fully himself if he just loses some chonk. I adopted him from a friend 2 years ago.
His last vet visit was March 1st, 2024. The vet didn't mention anything regarding his weight. He was a little feisty (the cat not the Dr lol) so that's on me for not asking about it.
I don't currently have any set routines for him to remain active, any advice/tips on this as well is much appreciated!!!! He does get the zoomies about 4 times a day and they usually last for about 15 min. He likes playing with the laser too.
He eats an all wet diet. I have tried desperately to understand the labels on the cans but I'm gonna be honest I have maybe 1 brain cell so the math ain't mathin.
I really want him to lose some weight and I would like to help motivate him to be more active, especially since he doesn't have any health issues that I know of currently. Plus, I really never pictured myself buying wipes for cats or planning a diet for one either but here I am because I love him so much :)
Any helpful advice would be very appreciated. Like how many calories he should be eating, a goal weight and/or ideas for an active day for him.
Thank you so much for reading!!!!!! :)

DAY: DAY: MAY 11, 2024

• 5-11-2024WHY DANCING IN SYNC BRINGS US CLOSER TOGETHER Silent discos started back in the 1970s as a convenient way to get around noise restrictions. In those days that meant everyone bringing their own music loaded onto a Walkman. Later, DJs would set up their own radio channels to allow everyone to listen to the same playlist. These events gained popularity in the early 2000s, when music festivals began to host silent gigs with lots of artists streaming on different channels. At a regular disco or nightclub, everybody experiences dancing together in time to the same music.
• 5-11-2024HOW DO EMOTIONS HELP CONSTRUCT OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY IN MUSIC FESTIVALS? 2022 was a record year for music festivals in Spain, hitting historic highs just two years after the entire country was locked down due to the pandemic. Spain boasts close to a thousand music festivals and a live music industry that earned 459 million euros in ticket revenue alone in 2022. This is almost 200% more than the previous year,
• 5-11-2024WHY DO METAPHORS OF SPACE HELP US UNDERSTAND TIME? Space-time projections, ego-moving perspective. Expressions linking space to time are a common part of our day to day lives. You might say the morning “flew by,” or that school exams are “fast approaching.” Right now, you might say summer is “just around the corner,” while anyone with the vaguest awareness of Game of Thrones will have heard the phrase “winter is coming.”
• 5-11-2024THERE ARE NO GOOD OR BAD OIL CROPS, ONLY GOOD AND BAD PRACTICES There are no good or bad oil crops. Credit: Borneo Futures When shopping, have you considered the social and environmental impacts of your vegetable oil purchases? Most products offer limited information on these effects. Labels like “No Palm Oil”—linked to environmental damage and threats to orangutans—or “Fair-trade” are familiar, but many ingredients go unmentioned. How reliable are these claims, and what unseen impacts are we responsible for with our choices?
• 5-11-2024ART-BASED APPROACHES CAN ENCOURAGE FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURE Art can contribute to futures thinking in various ways, such as inspiring alternative futures through mediums like science fiction in films and literature, encapsulating future scenarios through artistic illustrations, and posing thought-provoking questions that challenge our perceptions and understanding of the future. As a multidisciplinary field, futures research borrows approaches from different disciplines. However, it often ignores the potential of the arts on a large scale, even though the arts embrace creativity and often depict and narrate imagined futures.
• 5-11-2024‘DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH’ CAN MAKE FAKE NEWS SEEM BELIEVABLE While it’s healthy to question what we see and hear in the media, those quick internet searches to fact-check news stories can unexpectedly backfire and lead people to believe false stories, according to the director of the University of Oregon’s undergraduate journalism program. As more people tune into the press for the upcoming election cycle
• 5-11-2024CONTRADICTORY THOUGHTS LEAD TO MORE MODERATE ATTITUDES, PSYCHOLOGISTS FIND Researchers present rhetorical tools that can help to reduce the polarization of discussions. When discussing controversial issues such as migration or measures against global warming, strongly opposing positions often clash and discussions become emotional. The polarization that can be found here is primarily driven by people with extreme attitudes.
• 5-11-2024CAN SCIENCE EXPLAIN WHY COUPLES BREAK UP? THE MATHEMATICAL ANATOMY OF A FALL French director Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” winner of the 2023 Oscar for best original script, reconstructs a fatal fall in order to dissect the collapse of the romantic relationship between the film’s leading couple, Sandra Voyter and Samuel Maleski. Far from an exception, breakups of the sort depicted in the film are commonplace: global data shows high levels of marriage failure, with a marked increase towards the end of the last century.
• 5-11-2024WHEN CHOOSING CO-FOUNDERS, ENTREPRENEURS HAVE A GENDER GAP One of the most important decisions an entrepreneur can make when launching a business is choosing the right co-founder. Should compatible personalities guide the choice? Or should the priority be someone who brings resources to the startup? How do entrepreneurs make this decision if they must choose between these two options? New research from Texas McCombs finds there’s a gender gap in making this choice.
• 5-11-2024COMPASSION DOESN’T HELP ALL COUPLES, FINDS STUDY More compassion = a better relationship. This is an obvious rule of thumb for couples. But it doesn’t apply to everyone, as a study shows. Some people prefer to do without it. Whether irrevocably estranged or merely bored with the daily routine: “Couples counseling can improve communication and the quality of the relationship. And it has a positive effect on mental health
• 5-11-2024WOMEN IN RICH COUNTRIES ARE HAVING FEWER KIDS, OR NONE AT ALL. WHAT’S GOING ON? A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in 2023. With the exception of a temporary increase in the fertility rate at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US fertility rate has been falling steadily since 1971. Australia exhibits a similar pattern. Fertility has declined since 2007 despite government attempts to invest in a “baby bonus” to encourage women to have more children. Taking a more global perspective, we can see similar patterns across other industrial nations: Japan,
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW AI TOOL FOR FAST AND PRECISE TISSUE ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT DRUG DISCOVERY AND DIAGNOSTICS A team of scientists from A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and Bioinformatics Institute (BII) has developed a new AI software tool called “BANKSY” that automatically recognizes the cell types present in a tissue, such as muscle cells, nerve cells, and fat cells. Going a step beyond conventional AI tools, which can group cells together into clusters if they contain similar molecules
• 5-11-2024STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON CANCER CELL ‘TUG-OF-WAR’ Two malignant mixed mullerian tumor explants on collagen network. Both tumor pieces adhered to the collagen network and started pulling on the collagen fibers, which prompted extensive collagen displacements and alignments, alongside cell escape of cells with a dominant stress fiber-based contractility. The sharp and smooth boundary structure of both pieces further indicates a strong tissue surface tension that hinders cell escape for cells with a dominant cortical contractility.
• 5-11-2024STUDY UNDERSCORES NEW STRATEGIES TO FIGHT DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA
• 5-11-2024BIG DATA HELPS DETERMINE WHAT DRIVES DISEASE RISK
• 5-11-2024NEW STUDY POINTS TO STOCHASTIC CHANGES IN CELLS
• 5-11-2024CHANGES IN PIG FARMING IN THE 20TH CENTURY SPREAD ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT SALMONELLA AROUND THE WORLD, FINDS STUDY
• 5-11-2024HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WILL AFFECT MALARIA TRANSMISSION
• 5-11-2024TEAM DEVELOPS TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCING BIOPLASTICS FROM AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD BYPRODUCTS
• 5-11-2024STUDY DISCOVERS CELLULAR ACTIVITY THAT HINTS RECYCLING IS IN OUR DNA
• 5-11-2024WANT TO SHOW TEACHERS APPRECIATION? THIS TOP SCHOOL GIVES THEM MORE FREEDOM
• 5-11-2024HOW LIKELY ARE ENGLISH LEARNERS TO GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL? STUDY SHOWS IT DEPENDS ON RACE, GENDER AND INCOME
• 5-11-2024SELF-CRITICAL PERFECTIONISM GNAWS ON STUDENTS’ WELL-BEING ALREADY IN LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL, SAYS STUDY
• 5-11-2024STUDY EXPLORES WHETHER PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL WILL HELP WITH WORK ENGAGEMENT IN TOUGH MOMENTS
• 5-11-2024NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS RAISE CONCERNS ABOUT CHILD ABUSE REPORTING
• 5-11-2024EXPELLING STUDENTS FOR BAD BEHAVIOR SEEMS LIKE THE OBVIOUS SOLUTION, BUT IS IT REALLY A GOOD IDEA?
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHER ANALYZES 3,356 SIGNS TO SEE HOW LANGUAGE USE IS CHANGING IN THREE LATINO NEIGHBORHOODS IN PHILLY
• 5-11-2024WHO ARE THE IMMIGRANTS COMING TO THE US ON HUMANITARIAN GROUNDS, AND HOW CAN THEY BE SUPPORTED?
• 5-11-2024STUDY SHOWS FEMALE GAMERS ONLY LABEL HALF OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT INCIDENTS THEY EXPERIENCE AS SUCH
• 5-11-2024RISING KNIFE CRIME IN LONDON IS LINKED TO AUSTERITY CUTS TO YOUTH SERVICES—HERE’S THE EVIDENCE
• 5-11-2024USING AI TO PREDICT GRADE POINT AVERAGE FROM COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAYS
• 5-11-2024DISADVANTAGED ENTREPRENEURS OFTEN FEAR SUCCESS, BUT NEW RESEARCH CAN HELP
• 5-11-2024FEW TENURE-TRACK JOBS FOR ENGINEERING PH.D.S, STUDY FINDS
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHERS SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS TO CONSTRUCT A COMPREHENSIVE WORKFORCE
• 5-11-2024HOW TO TELL IF A CONSPIRACY THEORY IS PROBABLY FALSE
• 5-11-2024AN ANALYSIS OF SECURITY IN RELATION TO THE VALUES OF WELL-BEING, FREEDOM AND EQUALITY
• 5-11-2024CONSUMERS REPORT SIGNIFICANT RISE IN DIET SATISFACTION SINCE JANUARY
• 5-11-2024THE SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION VARIES BY TOPIC AND BY COUNTRY IN EUROPE, STUDY FINDS
• 5-11-2024I INTERVIEWED MOMS WITH FIVE OR MORE KIDS—WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT WOMEN WHO ARE QUIETLY GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
• 5-11-2024ANALYSIS OF MILLIONS OF POSTS SHOWS THAT USERS SEEK OUT ECHO CHAMBERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
• 5-11-2024HONG KONG UNIVERSITY TESTS AI PROFESSORS
• 5-11-2024EXTREME VIEWS ABOUT WOMEN ARE INFILTRATING AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS—WE NEED A ZERO-TOLERANCE RESPONSE
• 5-11-2024GROWTH MINDSET TEACHING HELPS STUDENTS MAKE THE GRADE
• 5-11-2024WORKER RIGHTS ARE ONE OF THE LEAST PROTECTED HUMAN RIGHTS, NEW RESEARCH REVEALS
• 5-11-2024DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU BELONG AT WORK? HERE’S WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT FOR YOUR HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND PRODUCTIVITY
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHER EXPOSES CHILD LABOR TRAFFICKING AS A HIDDEN CRIME AFTER INVESTIGATING 132 VICTIMS
• 5-11-2024AI KNOWLEDGE GETS YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR FOR JOB INTERVIEWS, SAYS STUDY
• 5-11-2024STUDY EXPLORES EFFECTS OF OVERSEAS BUSINESS ACTIVITY THROUGH EXPERIENCES OF EXPATRIATES
• 5-11-2024STUDY IDENTIFIES LARGE INTEREST GAPS IN US LABOR MARKET
• 5-11-2024STUDY SHOWS AI CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS CAN HELP REDUCE INTERETHNIC PREJUDICE DURING ONLINE INTERACTIONS

MAY 11, 2024

• 5-11-2024WHY DANCING IN SYNC BRINGS US CLOSER TOGETHER
• 5-11-2024HOW DO EMOTIONS HELP CONSTRUCT OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY IN MUSIC FESTIVALS?
• 5-11-2024WHY DO METAPHORS OF SPACE HELP US UNDERSTAND TIME?
• 5-11-2024THERE ARE NO GOOD OR BAD OIL CROPS, ONLY GOOD AND BAD PRACTICES
• 5-11-2024ART-BASED APPROACHES CAN ENCOURAGE FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURE
• 5-11-2024‘DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH’ CAN MAKE FAKE NEWS SEEM BELIEVABLE
• 5-11-2024CONTRADICTORY THOUGHTS LEAD TO MORE MODERATE ATTITUDES, PSYCHOLOGISTS FIND
• 5-11-2024CAN SCIENCE EXPLAIN WHY COUPLES BREAK UP? THE MATHEMATICAL ANATOMY OF A FALL
• 5-11-2024WHEN CHOOSING CO-FOUNDERS, ENTREPRENEURS HAVE A GENDER GAP
• 5-11-2024COMPASSION DOESN’T HELP ALL COUPLES, FINDS STUDY
• 5-11-2024WOMEN IN RICH COUNTRIES ARE HAVING FEWER KIDS, OR NONE AT ALL. WHAT’S GOING ON?
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW AI TOOL FOR FAST AND PRECISE TISSUE ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT DRUG DISCOVERY AND DIAGNOSTICS
• 5-11-2024STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON CANCER CELL ‘TUG-OF-WAR’
• 5-11-2024STUDY UNDERSCORES NEW STRATEGIES TO FIGHT DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA
• 5-11-2024BIG DATA HELPS DETERMINE WHAT DRIVES DISEASE RISK
• 5-11-2024NEW STUDY POINTS TO STOCHASTIC CHANGES IN CELLS
• 5-11-2024CHANGES IN PIG FARMING IN THE 20TH CENTURY SPREAD ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT SALMONELLA AROUND THE WORLD, FINDS STUDY
• 5-11-2024HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WILL AFFECT MALARIA TRANSMISSION
• 5-11-2024TEAM DEVELOPS TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCING BIOPLASTICS FROM AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD BYPRODUCTS
• 5-11-2024STUDY DISCOVERS CELLULAR ACTIVITY THAT HINTS RECYCLING IS IN OUR DNA
• 5-11-2024WANT TO SHOW TEACHERS APPRECIATION? THIS TOP SCHOOL GIVES THEM MORE FREEDOM
• 5-11-2024HOW LIKELY ARE ENGLISH LEARNERS TO GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL? STUDY SHOWS IT DEPENDS ON RACE, GENDER AND INCOME
• 5-11-2024SELF-CRITICAL PERFECTIONISM GNAWS ON STUDENTS’ WELL-BEING ALREADY IN LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL, SAYS STUDY
• 5-11-2024STUDY EXPLORES WHETHER PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL WILL HELP WITH WORK ENGAGEMENT IN TOUGH MOMENTS
• 5-11-2024NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS RAISE CONCERNS ABOUT CHILD ABUSE REPORTING
• 5-11-2024EXPELLING STUDENTS FOR BAD BEHAVIOR SEEMS LIKE THE OBVIOUS SOLUTION, BUT IS IT REALLY A GOOD IDEA?
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHER ANALYZES 3,356 SIGNS TO SEE HOW LANGUAGE USE IS CHANGING IN THREE LATINO NEIGHBORHOODS IN PHILLY
• 5-11-2024WHO ARE THE IMMIGRANTS COMING TO THE US ON HUMANITARIAN GROUNDS, AND HOW CAN THEY BE SUPPORTED?
• 5-11-2024STUDY SHOWS FEMALE GAMERS ONLY LABEL HALF OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT INCIDENTS THEY EXPERIENCE AS SUCH
• 5-11-2024RISING KNIFE CRIME IN LONDON IS LINKED TO AUSTERITY CUTS TO YOUTH SERVICES—HERE’S THE EVIDENCE
• 5-11-2024USING AI TO PREDICT GRADE POINT AVERAGE FROM COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAYS
• 5-11-2024DISADVANTAGED ENTREPRENEURS OFTEN FEAR SUCCESS, BUT NEW RESEARCH CAN HELP
• 5-11-2024FEW TENURE-TRACK JOBS FOR ENGINEERING PH.D.S, STUDY FINDS
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHERS SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS TO CONSTRUCT A COMPREHENSIVE WORKFORCE
• 5-11-2024HOW TO TELL IF A CONSPIRACY THEORY IS PROBABLY FALSE
• 5-11-2024AN ANALYSIS OF SECURITY IN RELATION TO THE VALUES OF WELL-BEING, FREEDOM AND EQUALITY
• 5-11-2024CONSUMERS REPORT SIGNIFICANT RISE IN DIET SATISFACTION SINCE JANUARY
• 5-11-2024THE SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION VARIES BY TOPIC AND BY COUNTRY IN EUROPE, STUDY FINDS
• 5-11-2024I INTERVIEWED MOMS WITH FIVE OR MORE KIDS—WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT WOMEN WHO ARE QUIETLY GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
• 5-11-2024ANALYSIS OF MILLIONS OF POSTS SHOWS THAT USERS SEEK OUT ECHO CHAMBERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
• 5-11-2024HONG KONG UNIVERSITY TESTS AI PROFESSORS
• 5-11-2024EXTREME VIEWS ABOUT WOMEN ARE INFILTRATING AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS—WE NEED A ZERO-TOLERANCE RESPONSE
• 5-11-2024GROWTH MINDSET TEACHING HELPS STUDENTS MAKE THE GRADE
• 5-11-2024WORKER RIGHTS ARE ONE OF THE LEAST PROTECTED HUMAN RIGHTS, NEW RESEARCH REVEALS
• 5-11-2024DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU BELONG AT WORK? HERE’S WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT FOR YOUR HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND PRODUCTIVITY
• 5-11-2024RESEARCHER EXPOSES CHILD LABOR TRAFFICKING AS A HIDDEN CRIME AFTER INVESTIGATING 132 VICTIMS
• 5-11-2024AI KNOWLEDGE GETS YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR FOR JOB INTERVIEWS, SAYS STUDY
• 5-11-2024STUDY EXPLORES EFFECTS OF OVERSEAS BUSINESS ACTIVITY THROUGH EXPERIENCES OF EXPATRIATES
• 5-11-2024STUDY IDENTIFIES LARGE INTEREST GAPS IN US LABOR MARKET
• 5-11-2024STUDY SHOWS AI CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS CAN HELP REDUCE INTERETHNIC PREJUDICE DURING ONLINE INTERACTIONS

A few days ago, I received a file from a journalist friend who teaches at a private university in Montevideo. I known this person for years now and the exchange with her on our countless bar nights basically made me want to try to study journalism. After I started my career we became even closer and we shared concerns about the evolution of information, social media and the infamous cerebral callosity we acquired to endure the tragedy.
My friend, let's call her Valeria, was part of a public competition to accompany a minor scientific expedition to the Uruguayan Antarctic base. Her thesis was about investigating how information reception behaves in remote and isolated areas.
I barely read it , but basically tries to show that information circulates and is received in a particular way in these circumstances by a group of unfamiliar people living under extreme climatic and isolation conditions, having as an example, life in submarines and in military bases in Siberia. The Antarctic base gave her the chance to observe some of her postulates up close.
Finally, she was chosen and traveled with this scientific group in a commercial flight Montevideo - Santiago de Chile to later arrive at Punta Arenas and fly to the Antarctic base.
The last communication I had with her before she sent me the almost 90 photographic captures of the Journal, was on March 15, 2024.
We talked over the phone about how the weather was in Montevideo, that it does not stop raining and the cars are practically floating on the streets. She told me that the transport that was going to take them back was having mechanical problems and they would probably have to order spare parts for the plane from Punta Arenas. Then She told me that it is freaking cold down there and his colleagues are all very boring. Nobody has whisky for the evenings. We laughed about that part because I told her to bring at least one bottle of Grappa in her purse.
Before saying goodbye, she told me they had spotted some old metal structures south of the base. The soldiers told her that it was safe to go near that part so she was going to explore them. It wasn't there when they first arrived and that the recent and atypical heat wave probably must have exposed it. I told her to be careful and we said goodbyes.
Three days later I received an email. “Valeria shared a file with you.” As I start to see what it was about she calls me.
“Mauro? MAURO!, can you hear me?” She said in a nervous and excited voice.
“I can barely hear you, what happened?”I asked half asleep, while still lying on my bed.
“Listen to me carefully, don't talk, just listen” I could tell by her agitation that she was walking fast or maybe running. The creaking footsteps in the snow could be heard in the background. in the distance, a catastrophe-type siren was blaring.
“Are you alright? What happened? What's that noise?” I said, now sitting on the edge of my bed.
“I sent you a file. Transfer it to a flash drive, delete history and reset your cell phone, the computer and your email address. I'll explain everything later, it'll be worth it.”
“What? What are you talking about Vale?, what for? Tell me what's going on - I started to yell at her, in slide panic.
“Listen, I found something that is not supposed to exist. In the diary he explains everything. I'm going back to the base, I think someone is following me, I set off an alarm or something. Save that file for me until I get there and remember that... “
There were two loud booms and the sound of water invading the transmission. A choked bubbling and cracking sound reminded me of ice collapsing. My friend had fallen into the water, in Antarctica.
“HEY, are you OK?! What happened?!” - I kept screaming hysterically until the call was cut off.
I looked at my cell phone for a second. My hands were shaking, I tried calling several times but the phone went dead. I looked at the compressed file. I jumped up and ran to the dining room furniture, frantically looking for a white flash drive that had to be in a drawer somewhere. I couldn't find it, so I went back to my desk. I pulled the drawer so hard that it came off the rail and fell to the floor. I started to dig through my belongings on the floor, coins, papers, cards, nothing.
I thought, I struggled to remember where I had fucking put it. Finally I saw my backpack peeking out from behind the desk chair, I jumped on it and in the second small pocket from the inside, there was a cheap white 16G flash drive. I put it in the pc, downloaded the file directly there, took it out and fabric restored the entire system on the computer. I do the same with my cell phone as Valeria said.
At the time I didn't even question if those measures really prevented me from being tracked, and the idea that that was the reason made panic run through my body like lightning. Sitting on the floor of my room next to the mess, my body was numb with tension. After a few seconds, I rebooted my cell phone to try to call Lucia, her sister.
“Hello?”
“Lucia, it's that you? I think something bad happened to Vale, I hear her over the phone as if she fell into the water, and some rumbling. I don't know what I heard, I think she got into some trouble or some place she shouldn't have been - I realized that I was mumble and not saying anything clear. For some reason, I didn't mention the file.
“It can't be Mauro, I just spoke to her on the phone. She was at the airport in Santiago de Chile at the boarding lounge, we talked for about half an hour, she told me she was bringing a fancy bourbon to share and…”
I stopped listening, it didn't make sense, how could it be? what the fuck is going on!
“Mauro, are you ok? Is something wrong? it's too early, are you sure you didn't dream it?”
“Did you talk to her? half an hour ago? But...,” I exclaimed without being able to hide my confusion.
“Are you... sure it was her?”
“Yes, of course you moron, it's my sister! Did you smoke pot again on an empty stomach?”
“No, you're right, nevermind, thanks Lucia, talk to you soon.” I ended the call without letting her say goodbye.
Had I dreamt about it? I erased everything now, how will I know if I dreamt it? I hesitated absurdly.
This is surreal, I thought to myself as I looked at the flash drive in my hand. I refocused my attention and went to the attic looking for my brother's old laptop he left me before going to live in Spain. It was practically useless, but it was enough to see the file. I turned it on, waited for the decrepit Windows XP to load, and put the flashdisk in, opened the compressed folder and found two files.
“LabNotes.pdf”
“PersonalDiary.pdf”
I decided to open the journal first. From what I interpreted from the loading order of the screenshots, after reading it, I opened the image of the last page.
I transcribe as is.
Day 243 of the 2nd mission 10: 40 am. March 12, 2019.
I am the head researcher of the Psychological Area at the UN Antarctic base; I'm currently assigned to Project Sisyphus categorized as the highest classified rank.
This is going to sound crazy, but the person living with my family is my clone.
It still surprises me when I say it out loud, but after being able to replicate the brain-muscular history (a perfect copy of our memory) of any person and having mastered replicating every cell of our bodies at any age, it was only a matter of time before the development of social biotechnology would emerge. Now and by worldwide agreement, as a complete secret.
There is absolutely no shame or a shred of ethics in what we do, there is no longer any constraint on what we can do to the subjects for the sake of research. That haunts me every day.
It all went to shit so fast, I doubt anyone will come to our rescue. The protocol says so, the base in the face of an imminent security risk will erase itself. The structure was designed to collapse methodically following a protocol of incineration and sinking. The immediate perimeter has underwater mines that make the ice collapse almost imperceptibly, but deadly to anyone who tries to leave.
No one can escape from the base, neither the research staff nor the subjects. Our place in the world is already taken.
I only hope that this journal along with my lab notes will be found at some point. I managed to construct a small insulating gasket for it so I trust it will survive in case this part of the building collapses as well.
Please use this data to let the world know what happened here and don't let perversity define us once again.
To my family: I love you and miss you every minute.
B.
At the exact moment I ended the reading I received a video call that made me jump with fright, it is...
Valeria.
With my pulse shaking, I answered the call.
“Hi you! The flight was delayed, can you believe it? This one is absolutely in my top three, worst trips of my life. I'm really hungry and everything is so expensive here. What are you up to? Tell me something, please, I'm soooo bored!”
I looked at her with confusion and I couldn't manage to pronounce words. When I was about to modulate an answer she interrupted me.
“What's the matter Mauro?, are you on pause? Is the signal OK? HELLO! Can you hear me? Can you see me?” She started to walk through the boarding lounge looking for better signal
“Yes yes, Valeria I can hear you.”
She laughed and looked at me with a face between sensual and serious, and continued.
“Do you miss me?” while raising the phone jokingly as she typically does in her selfie pose.
“Valeria, don't you remember calling me earlier today?”
“I? called you? Nop. Why? Ah! By the way, did you know there are penguins in Tierra del Fuego? I would have liked to go and see them.” She continued his verbose conversation in a carefree tone, with her typical hand gestures and playing with his hair.
“Well, at last!” She interrupted herself and shouted, jumping up from her chair.
“We are being called to board, see you in a couple hours!” She said goodbye with a smiling sonority, and began to walk towards the boarding gate.
But at the last second, before ending the call, her gesture changed. She looked directly at the camera with a hardened and emotionless face and almost mechanically, she whispered.
“(I'm going to retrieve that diary).”
My stomach dropped to the floor and I could feel as if my blood was running cold with fear. I could not shake the awful and eerie feeling that this person, who was returning, whom I had never in my life called by her full name, was not my friend.
So, the next couple of hours I put everything in to transcribe the rest of important passages of the diary. Something was compelling me to do it, i can't explain it, Some mix between moral duty, and morbid curiosity. Here is my selection of it.
Lab notes. day 96 of 1st mission 08:00 am December 22, 2016.
Subject JON X012:
First physical assessments: Normal, alert and inquisitive, exhibits some alteration to screens.
We place 100 cc of sedative in room air. The subject attentively follows the narrative of scenario B5 “The last mission”.
The subject responds positively to the premises of the story, where he is asked to address an audience threatened by a natural disaster, convincing them to choose a certain path out of the city.
He offers to collaborate but fails to articulate the message with the power to overcome the simulation.
We resort to pouring 125cc of concentrated Psilocybin into the air as stipulated in the protocol sheet.
The vocal frequency and body language reading receptors in the observation room are activated. The subject manages to formulate a series of premises articulately and with discursive power, circulating around the observation room.
Successful reaction.
We move on to the next stage.
Case is filed under the label “Jobs Project.”
Diary entry: Day 96 of the 1st mission 21:30 pm. December 22, 2016.
Today they transferred subject JON X0012 for psychological evaluation, several in the lab were very anxious about this arrival. I was never the religious type, but I can understand why. Truth be told,
I always imagined Jesus would be taller.
*********
Day 106 of the 1st mission 08:00 am January 02, 2017
Today we received a new lab assistant for the night shift. Much needed as I was covering these shifts myself and am really burned out. The underground operates at full power at those hours, the hum of the machinery becomes unbearable. This must be why the rooms have an insulating structure.
********
Day 112 of the 1st mission 19:00 pm January 08, 2017.
The new integration is not very bright. He labeled the transcripts wrong again yesterday and doesn't seem to fully understand the importance of these. I'm going to have to go through the whole method with him again. I don't have much patience lately, it's not his fault, he seems like a nice guy and it's real that I need a second of confidence. Better train him from now on. Maybe start a sketch of a short explanatory document.
*******
Small introductory guide.
When the subjects conclude the incubation and breeding process (pages 19 to 52 of the manual), that is to say, that they have at least remembered speech and with it, depending on the time in which they lived, reading and writing, they generally begin to perceive themselves. Just before situational curiosity is when the psychology department comes into action. Either to run the “stand by” simulation or the main tests.
In each subject's file is the target of their cloning, the era in which they lived, and the recommended scenarios to trigger the desired response. If the file has X amount on the cover, this corresponds to the generation of the subject, whether it is the first or 10th time it is incubated.
Generally, it takes between 2 and 5 attempts to generate the correct simulation, and administer the appropriate drugs.
It took 5 attempts to come up with the correct amount of methamphetamine that subject AH X005 (Hitler) needed to function in the scenario, as the correct amount bordered on overdose.
Simulations are much easier since the implementation of multisensor AI. We managed to generate almost any scenario including temperature, smells, lights and sounds. We tried not to use familiar ones, as human smells are impossible to replicate. We found this out in a complicated way. We tried to recreate a conversation between RR subject X003 (Reagan) and his mother, but he recognized the fakery by the absence of body odor. His mind collapsed and we had to move him to the Underground. The people in Area C (Private Clients) almost lost a very large Chinese account.
After calibrating the subject, we ran both psychological and behavioral tests, scanned retinas, analyzed blood, as well as vocal and body language. But what has really yielded surprising results are the free interviews. It is amazing what some minds are capable of with the right environmental and chemical stimulation. That's why transcription is vital (!!)
Our area develops BC (Behavioral Algorithms) which are then bought by the private sector, and some government agencies.
To give you some examples: Twitter was an idea of subject JO X008 (Orwell).
Bots in social media and the use of big data was an idea of JG X002 (Goebbels) and KM X014`s worst nightmare (Marx) was bought by Amazon.
It is an arduous process and the success rate is low, but when we achieve the goal per subject, well, these results are a mein part of the latest revolutions of mankind.
So follow the lab rules, never refer to subjects by their actual historical name, and always remember, they are assets, not people.
***********
Day 117 of the 1st mission 16:30 am January 12, 2017.
Today is a rest day all over area D. I miss many things from the old world that I thought I would never miss, taking a bus, standing in line with strangers, and today I miss Sundays. We only have one on the month. So as usual we gather in the rest area to listen to a liberated jukebox that tries to lighten the mood. I know, right? Why I wrote about this “Saturday” photocopy, well besides the same nostalgic drunks, I was approached by a person I didn't recognize.
From what I understood he was a rehabilitated alcoholic, maybe that's why I didn't see him on “Saturdays”. He must be in his 50's, he was portly and wore thick black-rimmed glasses, he seemed to have a slight limp, I noticed it when he went to refill my beer.
I am a very reserved person and find it hard to talk to people. Truth be told, I've lost the desire to talk to people here. What can you actualy fucking talk about here, if it's not about the same thing. Everything revolves around work and some inter-area gossip, which never escalates much.
But yesterday was Clara's birthday and to hide the remorse and sadness of only having shared with her the first 3 years of her life, I had a few too many beers.
We chatted about banal aspects of life in isolation, and the things we miss. For him it was going to the stadium to watch soccer with his grandchildren. I think it was loneliness and nostalgia that brought us together that night.
His name was Sigfried, I don't know if I spelled it right, but it was clearly Nordic, i notice because of some of the words he mixed up with English. He works as the underground level security manager. We all know that it is one of the most restricted areas and what we have learned in these almost 10 years in the project, is that the more restricted, the less questions you should ask.
But that day, I think I felt the urge to hurt myself, to go off the rails, so I asked what we all suspected but no one knew for sure. I asked about the blenders. I wish I hadn't.
************
Day 126 of the 1st mission 08:00 am January 21, 2017.
I almost can't express how furious I am today, but I'm going to try because if I don't, I'm going to punch the new assistant in the face. He has nothing to do with this, he's just mildly irritating.
Anyway, in Genetic Mapping or area A, they approved the incubation of another Anomaly. It seems to be an express request from a major shareholder and there is not much to say. Anomalies are very risky to reproduce, nature is wise, and for some reason it placed them in history moments where they had their limitations.
It seems that after the crisis of 2010 with “The Russian Devil” it is no longer scary enough. New school morons... If they had been there they wouldn't even dare to think about it. I AM FURIOUS.
The arguments are that this case lived longer, that the clone would be in his 70s, and that he possessed noticeably more “civilized” traits. As if the court of the last Zar had not been somewhat civilized.
Personally I think this is a big mistake. Since the discovery that some people possess unknown DNA components and with the 2010 background, they should draw the line. There are certain things, still beyond our ability to understand. But it is delusional of me to think that there are limits, someday the absence of them will consume us all.
************
Lab notes day 142 of 1st mission 08:00 am February 06, 2017.
Final free interview with JON subject X012
Scenario B-24 or “The Dinner Party” Result: Normal.
Notes: Subject is grateful, positive, docile and hopeful for the future. Offers to cook next time by asking for spices and ingredients of typical Hindu dishes.
The subject is directed to the Underground area.
Attached audio for transcription.
Case is filed under the label “Jobs Project”.
**********
Day 142 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 06, 2017.
Today was the last session with subject JON X012, I managed to extract the last retinal and body language readings, as usual before sending them to Underground level. We ran the dinner scenario, the truth is that is one of the best simulations we have achieved. The subjects are relaxed resulting in the best free interview environment. This one was no exception, I must say I understand the charm of the “messiah” turned out to be quite an entertaining subject. I hope his next generation will be similar.
**********
Day 152 of the 1st mission 19:00 pm February 16, 2017.
I was tasked with the continuous monitoring of subject NT X004. I am not at all happy with this transfer. First of all, I know nothing about area B of engineering and technology. Secondly, I still think this is a really bad idea.
One of the laboratories has been set up with the essential simulation equipment and personnel. Tomorrow we start with the calibration.
**********
Lab notes day 153 of the 1st mission 08:00 am February 17, 2017.
First interview with subject NT X004, we run simulation scenario 54-A, “Signal from another planet.”
Subject is observed to be receptive at first but quickly changes to paranoid. We administer 300cc of MDMA via air, according to protocol.
We introduce the reconstructed figure of a colleague in a cry for help speech.
The Subject laughs and doesn't believe a word, we move to a physical approach plane,
I volunteer myself with a room operator from the engineering area, we show him unfinished plans of an experimental vacuum propulsion engine.
He laughs again and tells us that we are not who we say we are.
We administer 50cc of DMT and move on to the next scenario.
From the screen an astronaut with non-human features sends a distress signal and intergalactic coordinates.
The subject looks thoughtful, reassesses, picks up the blueprints and begins to shout out values and what appears to be mathematical and physical formulas.
Air is charged with percentages of absolute sedation.
Audio recording is attached.
It is filed under the name “Project SpaceX.”
**********
Day 153 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 17, 2017.
I'm not sure what happened today, this is the first time in 10 years that a subject overcame the deception of 3 simulations. We had to place absolute sedation in the air, as risky as we know it is. I recommended that we restart the process from scratch, but it was a resounding no, the client is in a hurry.
I need to get more involved in this case to recalibrate the subject. I don't know if I want to. The words before full sedation still resonate with me. “are you still using DC current? interesting...”
**********
Day 154 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 18, 2017.
Something happened, I don't quite know what. The rooms have an emergency lockdown active. Outside hear security personnel mobilizing. I tried the intercom but it didn't work. The insulation prevents my screams from being heard from the outside. If this goes on another day I'm going to break the lock. I'm going to set my backpack to the bare minimum.
**********
Day 157 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 21, 2017.
Yesterday I heard explosions in the B area. I couldn't take it anymore and broke the lock. Whatever it was I had to go out and see. The corridors were dark, and the underground buzzer went on, at least that worked.
I went right to the north staircase, down the 4 floors in near darkness, the power was failing. The entrance to the underground area was barricaded but I managed to see a figure peeking out from inside as they felt me making noises.
It was Sigfried, he pointed me in the doors direction and I entered through a heavily armored side door. I was surprised by the immensity of this section, it encompassed a large hall below almost all the sectors of the base. In front of us there were 4 large industrial pipes with switches and multiple smaller pipes coming out of their bases. These were repeated like mosaics throughout the area until they disappeared into the distance in the darkness.
Leaning against one of them were 3 officers in formerly white coats and a nearly dead guard bloodied on the floor. Poor guy, his legs were crushed with his flesh in the open. He was lying in a pool of his own blood.
He had a blank stare and was panting, it seemed from the pale of his skin, that his fate was imminent. My asthma began to pound in my chest sharply, so I reached into my bag looking for my inhaler. I told them between visible gasps of bad breath to please tell me what's happened.
One of the doctors had a badge from area B and another from area E which corresponds to bio-armamentistics. The latter burst into tears and said “We deserve it, every one of us, we deserve it”.
I knew the other guy, he is an engineer in area B. I could hear him babbling almost nonsensically about, as why they never thought about it, an issue with electrical power.
He looked at me carefully as if recognizing me and grabbed me tightly by my jacket pulling me close to his face transformed for the panic.
“He let them out, all of them!” but not only that, no no no no... he told them the truth. Nikola fucking Tesla hacked us and told them the truth.”
He began to laugh frantically with a face of absurdity until he burst into a choked cry. At that moment everything went dark. The emergency lights activated, and from far away and getting closer, along with the emergency sirens that began to sound, we heard a large mass of people screaming and running through the corridors outside.
Sigfried looked at me as they started to pound on the shielded door and said.
“We're fucked.”
**************
Day xx of the second mission, month xx of 2017
“()The industrial sounds of spinning blades, the cries for mercy followed by the thunderous, liquid crack, down that big pipe, into the green barrels, with the Monsanto logo, dripped down one side an elongated drop of pink paste ending in the letter E on the chemical label. FERTILIZER.”
**********
After finishing the transcription, my whole body began to want to flee, the walls of my house were tinged with a faint blue light as the cloudy dusk came through the window, the lights turned off by my abstraction at the computer gave way to the dark corridors that began to feel alien. As I gently closed the pc my ears began to ring as if under pressure, my breathing became more present and the vibration of my cell phone interrupted my trance.
A call from the office. It was to tell me that I had a vacation week pending, that by schedule, I had to take it starting today.
Sons of bitches, now they even choose your time off - I thought at first, but at the same time I found the voice on the phone very strange, and to tell the truth, the procedure itself.
The anger turned into confusion that only added to the paranoia. The sounds in the street began to seem erratic, a chaotic and strangely familiar feeling came over me. My senses seemed increasingly acute, and they screamed:
Go away.
I grabbed the old laptop, the flash drive and headed for the bus station. The short trip from my house seemed like a long journey. People on the street looked at me with strange faces, the cell phone kept ringing with unknown numbers on the screen and a strange idea began to formulate in my head that whispered “Them, Valeria is one of Them”.
Already on the platforms I rummaged through my backpack where I confirmed that I had the key to the family beach house in San Luis, 60 km to the east of Montevideo. I turned off my cell phone, got on a bus heading to another and much far away town called Treinta y Tres. Sat near the last seat and slipped my cell phone in my front pocket of the seat in front of me, got off and commented to the driver with a clueless face, “I got confused, I'm going to the coast”.
I almost jumped onto the steps of the correct bus to where I was heading, unable to avoid the gazes of the passengers questioning me for the last minute drop in. I sat in my numbered seat and defragmented in dissociation, trying to understand what I was doing, I was running away, but from what?
The images of the last transcriptions were engraved in my mind, the last paragraph was repeated over and over again making me shake my head from time to time trying to get them away from my thoughts. The road was dark and I lost track of time, the digital clock within sight of the passengers jingling since we left, reading 10:40.
“San Luis Station!” - I heard the guard's shout in low volume.
I staggered to my feet, hurried to get off and with the same impulse I entered the dirt roads.
I zig-zagged through the dark, cold and silent beach town. The moonless night and the smell of the sea calmed me.
When I turned the corner to the gabled beach house of my family, on the steps of the front door lit by a white light, was her. Sitting, waiting for me. I stopped dead in my tracks and a chilling vertigo ran down my torso to my throat. We looked at each other for a short two seconds, until she stopped and started walking in sliding steps towards me, smiling and playing with her hands, crossing and uncrossing her arms. The growing sound of the wind through the trees covered us.
“Darling, how are you? How nice is the summer house, I don't think we ever came here, did we? Is it the one your grandmother left you?”
I felt the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstream, how could such a familiar attitude from such a familiar person transmit such panic to me? I had to answer something.
“Yes, this is it. I came to clear my head for a while, they gave me a few days at work and I wanted to take advantage of it.” I tried to excuse myself with failed dissimulation, since I stuttered in the middle of the words.
“Yes, I know! We arranged it with them, so you can be more relaxed and as a gesture for taking care of the file. Ah! and another thing. I think someone stole your cell phone at the bus station.” She looked at me with a smart-ass smile.
“Anyway, don't worry, they already found it on a bus on the way to “Treinta y tres”. You can get it back later.”
At this point I opened my mouth to ask for explanations, but as terrified as I was I only mumbled a “thank you”.
All this dialogue let us half a body length away, Valeria looked at me now a little more serious and stood at my side. She took my arm petrified and I could feel how a strong smell of neutral soap invaded me, as if she had rubbed herself in it too much.
“Shall we go inside? it's getting cold,” She said, finishing the sentence with a sweet gesture of pleading.
“Emm, shure.” I said.
My trembling hands managed to hit the lock on the 3rd attempt, we entered, turned on the lights and from his backpack she took out a red wine. Our favorite.
“Bring me some glasses, Mauro”. - She said to me as she sat down on the armchair against the window overlooking the gentle hills outside.
She poured wine until he almost filled the ex-cottage cheese glass, looked at me and in a toast gesture said.
“To... Dr. B?”
I slid a little smile and raised my eyebrows. Then I took half a glass in one sip.
“Well!” - She exclaimed, leaning over and resting the glass on the coffee table, and continued.
"You must be very confused, I understand, I saw it many times, the mind trying to adapt to a new, unsuspected reality and in your case all at once. It is not easy. First, make sure that no one is going to hurt you or anyone you know, second, what you read in that file, as you may have noticed, is not intended for public knowledge. Also to tell you”. I couldn't take the stress anymore, I exploded.
“You're not Vale. Who are you?! You're almost identical, but....”
“Ah yes, that one it's a tricky one to explain. Let's try, let's see:
“I'm a version of Valeria that she accidentally gendered when entered the lab. In one of the incubation rooms she touched a scan button that photographs her mind for 48 hours. It contains a micro needle that took her blood and thus generated me.”
“The thing is that we were in a situation of self-destruction of the systems, and that part of the programming code of the protocol was also copied in Valeria's mind.”
“And Valeria? She 's... dead?”
“Well, yes and no. If she tried to leave the base she's probably dead. if she's still there, she's probably frozen to death or killed by the cleanup command, but basically, if I'm here, she's not anymore.”
the coldness with which she answered me made me lose the little calm I had, I got up from the armchair and started to back away with my hands on my head, I couldn't stop repeating,
“this can't be happening, this can't be happening”.
“Hey! Mauro, calm down, it's going to be alright. I'm Valeria too. In every way, I'm still your friend, I know who you are and everything we went through, really, it's me, and when I finish managing the leak, the code, it won't work anymore, it will be erased from my mind and I'll be me. So don't worry. You only have to give me the flash disc and this issue ends here. We go back to normal life and nobody will know about anything.
“I'm not going to pretend that my friend didn't die! Alone, fucking freezing to death, I'm not going to let you take her place, I'm not going to let you!” - She interrupted me.
“Mauro, listen to me” - She came closer to me and grabbed my hands, her big, lined eyes looking at me with sweetness, like so many times before.
“I AM Valeria, I have the same fingerprints, the same blood, the same DNA, the same memories, the same scars, absolutely everything. Are you going to tell my mother that I died? to my sister? Are you going to report me? Nobody is going to believe you at all. If anyone even wants to believe you, how would you prove it? I am an exact copy”. - she told me, smiling with real sweetness and empathy.
I could only cry, for my friend, for the helplessness of the conclusion that she was right. I collapsed on the couch, and watched as the hills swayed in the night.
“Let's have the last glass and I'm leaving.”- she said to me.
“After I give you this, and that part of you disappears, will you remember that you are not... really Valeria?
“No, there is already a simulation on pause about Valeria's last week, she won't remember anything about this situation when she wakes up, because the memory is simply overwritten.”
“So I'm going to be the only one to know about this?”
“Take it as a gift Mauro, a glimpse behind the veil. And if you keep it that way, everything will be fine” - The threatening tone was soft but evident.
“Okay, hand me your PC and the flash drive.”
I looked at her evaluating all possible actions and if this decision was the right one, she stretched out her hand and smiled sympathetically. I gave her the old computer and the black 16G flash drive with the file. She inserted it, typed mechanically fast until the screen went black.
“Perfect, That would be all - She took out the flash drive, threw it on the floor and stepped on it violently with the heel of her shoe, put on his backpack and headed for the door.
“Stop,” I said.
“The things that Dr. B wrote... about the underground…
“Yes, they are true, it was the only way to be self-sustainable and to be able to isolate the complex from the rest of the world. Even the most morally flexible scientists would question the work if they knew where the subjects ended up, and what we were doing with their bodies... Anyway, I'm going home, Lucia called me 5 times already. Talk to you tomorrow.
“Love you,.” - She smiled at me and closed the door behind her. I felt a car slowly drive away from the house.
From my pocket I took out the white flash drive and looked at it. Now I had a decision to make.

For those who are unaware, there was a very recent change (January 1, 2024) in the residency requirements for foreign Taiwanese nationals - people with Taiwanese parent(s). For these people, Taiwan has what is called a National Without Household Registration (NWOHR) Passport. It is green and looks like a normal Taiwan passport, but it doesn’t convey full citizenship rights as it didn’t include residency and household registration. (I posted mine here in the passport sub).
Prior to this year, in order for someone with a NWOHR passport to qualify as a full citizen, they had to first live in Taiwan for 366 days in a row without leaving the country (there were some other options that allowed you to leave for short times involving 2 and 5 years, but also quite impossible for most, unless you were in Covid lockdown or found a job in Taiwan.)
But earlier this year, Taiwan’s government removed this requirement for NWOHR passport holders who had at least one parent with household registration at the time of their birth. Hence, to get your own household residency and full citizenship, you no longer have to live in Taiwan for a year without leaving. You can just go to Taiwan, spend a few weeks there and complete the application process to obtain residency and a National ID, and become a full citizen of Taiwan. Taiwan will also allow you to keep your other citizenship (as long as they allow dual citizenship with Taiwan, which the U.S. does).
I kept really detailed notes and will post below some tips from my experience. The most important one is that what was formerly known as the TARC is now folded into the 定居證 (permanent resident certificate). So you just skip having to live in Taiwan for a year but provide almost the exact same documents as the old TARC for your 定居證.
There is a process listed here which says that you can start the permanent residency certificate from outside Taiwan to shorten your time in Taiwan by just exchanging your permit in 3 days. However, when I spoke to people at TECO a few months ago, and then more recently immigration in Taipei, they said I had to start the process in Taiwan. A friend’s parents in Taiwan also called immigration the other day and they told them the same thing. So not sure how one would go about the shortened process that is in on their website. But if anyone has successfully done the shortened process themselves, please post and let us know how you were able to get it done since it would cut the process by 1.5 weeks and help out a lot of folks who can’t spend 2-3 weeks in Taiwan.
This older post in this sub covers military conscription and also has many previous links about what to do if you are male and 18-36 written by FewSandwich6. (This was not applicable for me).
This very helpful post here contains a list of definitions for commonly used terms in Chinese and English that are often used in this process, written by HongKonger85. There is also an image of a 定居證 (Permanent Residency Certificate) after immigration has issued it to you, and this is what you need to swap for household registration (covered in Part 2 below).
My detailed notes for folks are as follows. Part 1 based on my experience getting my NWOHR passport, and Part 2 getting residency, my National ID, and full citizenship in Taiwan. Some info repeats what has already been mentioned in previous threads, with the difference being the new 2024 rule change. There are probably other ways to get this process done, but just sharing my own recent experience to help others looking to do this now.
In all, I am so glad I did this. I travel a lot to Taiwan to see friends and family but do not work there, so there were minor inconveniences in not having residency. My NWOHR passport was fairly useless in Taiwan, but once I got my 身分證, I can now do things like open a bank account, get a permanent cell phone number, qualify for health insurance (after waiting 6 months), and vote in Taiwan elections. I also have a second passport to travel with if there is a country more hostile to the U.S.. Doing this will also allow any future children of mine to qualify for Taiwanese citizenship if they choose to at some point in their lives. I could also consider retiring in Taiwan or taking a gap year from work in the U.S. and still have health insurance. The total costs from start to finish ran me about $550 (excluding the costs for my trip to Taiwan).
Happy to answer any questions for folks about the process. Cheers! Hopefully my notes below are helpful.
Please note that this was written in May 2024, so things may change over time. Also, there are parts where different forms, documents, or processes may be acceptable instead of what I did, so what I outline here might not be the only possible process.
********

Part 1. Getting the NWOHR Passport:

If you do not have any Taiwanese passport start here. If you already have the NWOHR passport then skip to Part 2 (converting the passport to residency under the new 2024 laws).
The first step is to get what they call a NWOHR (National Without Household Registration) passport. This part is actually not done in Taiwan at all, and are issued by what are de-facto embassies, which in the U.S. are called the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). There are 12 in the US and the U.S. National Office TECRO based in DC. (Other countries have a similar versions of this like the TRO in the UK).
I was told to use the TECO office closest to where you were born and/or where your parents were married. Luckily, this was the same office - the LA branch. If it happens that you were born closer to a different one than where your parents were married, call them and ask what they recommend. One reason for this is that it makes it easier to authenticate documents that the office is familiar with, which tend to be in the areas around it.
So what is authentication? This is a process that involves notarization where someone essentially authenticates your documents and verifies that they are real. For example, you bring a copy of your official birth certificate to TECO, then the TECO office will go through the process of contacting the relevant authorities where you were born to verify that this document is indeed real. Once TECO deems it authentic, they authenticate and notarize that document for you. You need to have this done for your passport application documents.
Here is what you need to submit to your local TECO for the NWOHR passport (these guidelines are from the TECO LA Office). TECO needs to first authenticate your birth certificate and parent’s marriage license. Then they use these for the NWOHR passport application. Documents cost $15 each to authenticate. The passport application for a 10-year passport is $45.
I highly advise you make an appointment with TECO. They even advise you to book two back-to-back appointments if you need both authentication and passport services done - which is what you need to do anyway. They cut off the number of walks ins per day (in LA it was 35 max walk ins).
The authentication of documents are usually done in a few weeks and your passport around 8-10 weeks. LA TECO gave me a pick up date and a receipt (save this to give them when you pick things up). If all goes well, you should have your NWOHR passport in about 2 months! If there are any issues, like inconsistent spelling of names between documents, and something is rejected, TECO will let you know and you will have to get the docs amended before your passport can be issued.
This whole process is done outside of Taiwan. Once you get your NWOHR passport, there is no time limit to complete Part 2 in Taiwan (though if your NWOHR passport expires after 10 years, you do need to renew it).
Congrats! You now have your NWOHR passport and can continue to Part 2 whenever you are ready.

Part 2. Getting household registration, your National ID with full citizenship rights, and converting your NWOHR Passport to a NWHR Passport to finish the process.

There are now two more things you need. A health check and an FBI background check (or other relevant agency of your country; apologies that this is U.S. focused). You will also need to figure out your household registration in Taiwan (more on that later). The FBI background check took about 4-6 weeks to get, and you need to have this authenticated and notarized by TECRO. This was done outside of Taiwan while I was still in the U.S. The FBI check result is valid for one year, while the health check is only valid for 3 months, so plan accordingly.
(I chose to get the health check later in Taiwan since I did not know how to go about getting an acceptable health check done in the U.S. and also did not want to bother having the results translated into Chinese. Doing it in Taiwan also ensured my health check wouldn’t be rejected, delaying my application.)
FBI Background Check
For the FBI check, there are two steps here and it’s kind of confusing.
The first is initiating an FBI background check for yourself through the online request form on the FBI site and getting a secure link and pin. (FBI emails this to you). Get your fingerprints done at a verified USPS, it's super quick and easy. Once your background check is complete and you get your electronic results, you forward that email with the PDF directly to TECRO. The website is not super clear so I emailed them for clarification and they wrote back to me more detailed instructions after I had received the completed PDF of my background check. What they said in their email:
***
For authentication of electronic FBI Report, there are 2 steps:
Step 1:
Please forward the digital FBI Report (.pdf format) and the email of pin number (under FBI email account) to our consular email at [consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw](mailto:consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw) directly.
Step 2:
Meanwhile, please prepare and mail the relevant documents listed below to our office for further proceeding:
* fill out the application form for authentication as attached
* a copy of the applicant's passport (including Taiwan passport if have)
* print out the FBI Report and the email of pin number for crossing reference
** For overseas Applicants:
* a US bank draft (美金匯票) $15 in Taiwan local banks with payable to TECRO
* a prepaid shipping label from FedEx or USL or DHL (for mailing the authenticated document back to you)
** For domestic Applicants:
* authentication fee: USD 15 (either money order or casher's check with payable to TECRO)
* a stamped self-addressed return envelope (to mail the authenticated documents back to you)
Also, please allow additional time for mail delivery. Thanks
***
In about 4 weeks or so, TECRO will mail you back a physical copy of your TECRO authenticated FBI background check using the self-addressed stamped envelope you sent them. Now that you have your FBI background check, you have one year to get your citizenship done in Taiwan before it expires.
Chinese Translation and Authentication/Notarization of your documents:
For this next part of the process, you need to get all your docs that were submitted for your NWOHR passport and the FBI background check translated and authenticated into Chinese. People on the internet mention that you can do this yourself. I recommend hiring professionals here who know what they are doing and also do the notarizing since you don’t want the translation of your documents to be rejected by immigration, wasting time and money. The docs also need to be formatted in a certain way. Given this, I went with a place in Taipei that charged about 6200 NT (~$200 US) for doing all my docs (background check, birth certificate, and parents marriage license, with notary). I used: 口藝國際有限公司(翻譯/公證代辦) and they took a little over a week to get these translated and notarized for me. (TECO actually told me to save money and do the translation in Taiwan, since places in the LA area were quoted as more, maybe in the $300-400 range, but if others have found cheaper US or Taiwan options please let us know who you used and how much they charged).
Plan a 2-3 week vacation in Taiwan (possibly with your parent(s) whose household registration you will be joining). 2 weeks if your health check is done already and all your docs are translated and notarized, 3 weeks if you need to do a health check in Taiwan. Less than a week might be possible but unclear if anyone has successfully done the 3-day exchange version mentioned here.
Enter Taiwan with your NWOHR passport on the Taiwan resident/citizen side and make sure to get your NWOHR passport physically stamped with your entry date.
Health Check in Taiwan
For my health check, I went to MacKay Memorial Hospital, 16th floor (No.92, Sec.2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City). I called all the Taipei hospitals on this approved list of health check hospitals, and MacKay was the shortest guaranteed turnaround at 7 days. Walk-ins only, no appointments, - 8am-11am, 1:30-4pm M-F, and Saturday but only in the morning. Exam fee was 2050 NT, an additional 750 NT if you need a booster shot. The turnaround was 1 week and there was no way to speed this up. Bring passport, face mask (maybe not required now), and money. You can use your U.S. passport for the application and might actually be easier as they don't need stool samples for U.S. applicants. They draw some blood and take a chest x-ray.
After getting all your documents translated and authenticated, the health check, and entering Taiwan on your NWOHR passport, you can begin the 3-step process of getting your full citizenship and new NWHR passport in this order:

1. 定居證 (permanent residency certificate) ->
2. 戶口名簿 (household registration) and 身分證 (National ID) ->
3. New NWHR Passport (and leaving Taiwan on it).

1) 定居證 (Permanent Residency Certificate)
For your 定居證 (permanent residency certificate), go to a National Immigration Agency office in Taiwan with all the necessary documents that have been authenticated and translated. (I used the one in Taipei on 15 Guangzhou Rd). Once you start this part, you cannot leave Taiwan until you get your new passport, and when you next leave Taiwan, you must do so on your new NWHR passport. In your application, you need to show that you have the ability to establish household residency (easier to do if joining your parents), along with the original and one set of copies of all of your translated/notarized documents and yours and your parents' Taiwan passports. They will also ask for a photocopy of the dated entry stamp in your NWOHR passport. You will also need pictures, and the basement of the Immigration Agency has a booth where you can get 6 photos for 120 NT. Those 6 pictures should be enough for the rest of the process - just keep them with you for each step.
The permanent residency certificate process takes 7 working days, so essentially 10 days. This is the longest part. If someone has successfully done the shorter 3 day exchange, please let us know how you did this, since it would likely help out a lot of people given that this was the longest part necessary in Taiwan.
2) 戶口名簿 (Household Registration) and 身分證 (National ID)
In 10 days, once you get your 定居證 permanent residency certificate, to get your household registration you must go to the household registration office in the district you plan to register in. The easiest is to have a parent add you to theirs, but their household registration has to be current and not expired for you to be able to do this, and best updated within the past 3 months (what TECO told us). If you can’t do this, then you need to register a household yourself using a lease/other steps that you should look up how to do.
At the household registration office, you give them the 定居證 (permanent residency certificate) and other documents they need to establish your residency (parent’s household info or lease etc). Don't forget your picture. Then you get your 戶口名簿 (household registration). Also remember to get a copy of your 戶籍謄本（transcript of household registration) since you will need it in 6 months to apply for health care if you plan to do that.
Right after this, they will print out your 身分證 (National ID). You get your household registration and 身分證 the same day at the same place (took me about 1-2 hours).
At this point, you are actually considered a citizen of Taiwan. However, when you choose to leave Taiwan, you must get a NWHR Passport and leave on that passport.
3) Getting your NWHR Passport
You now need to go to BOCA to apply for the new passport. I did my household registration and national ID in the late morning, so I still had time to go to BOCA before they closed at 5pm.
Their Taipei office is near the Shandao MRT stop. Bring your national ID, NWOHR passport, 2 pictures, and cash for payment. Normally for a passport there is a 10-day turnaround at 1300 NTD. Expedited next business day service is available for an additional 900 NTD. So I paid 2200 NTD for my passport since I needed mine the next day as my trip to Taiwan was planned for exactly 3 weeks and by now, I had only 2 days left in Taiwan.
Pick up your passport the next day (and they give you your previous NWOHR passport back with the corner clipped off)! Don’t forget, when you eventually leave Taiwan, you must leave Taiwan with your new NWHR Taiwan passport but there is no deadline to leave (and I got mine stamped in case that was required, but not sure if it was or not).
CONGRATS on finishing the entire process, getting full Taiwan Citizenship/Household Residency with your National ID, and your new NWHR passport to allow you to leave Taiwan!
Health Insurance: 6 months after doing this you can qualify for NHI (and is technically mandatory). To apply, go to any district office and bring your 戶籍謄本 (transcript of household registration), National ID, and a chop stamp. (Yeah, they still use those lol). I found a chop stamp place near my household registration office that did a wood stamp for 100 NTD, and had them do multiple in case I lost one, since any duplicates have to be done at the same time for them to match. Someone else can even apply for you if you are not in Taiwan as long as they have a copy of your ID, 戶籍謄本 (transcript of household registration), and chop stamp.
If all your income is outside of Taiwan, health insurance payments should be about $25 a month. If you pay monthly, you qualify for full health benefits in Taiwan. You can also suspend your payments if you plan to leave Taiwan for more than 6 months and do not plan on using their health care system. You can also keep coverage and continue to pay into the system even when gone for long periods of time. However, don't forget that your household registration will be suspended if you are gone from Taiwan for more than 2 years, and while you can easily renew it when you come back, this will pause your health coverage.
Total Cost for Taiwan Citizenship
The total cost, was about US $75-100 for the NWOHR passport, depending on if you have to get new copies of your original birth/parental records. The cost for the Part 2 were roughly: FBI check ($32), U.S.P.S. fingerprinting ($50), Health Check ($85, mine was more than the usual $63 because I needed a booster shot for one of my MMR vaccinations), Translations and notarizations ($200), residency permit (~$30), National ID ($5), expedited passport next day ($68). So my out of pocket costs for the residency conversion in Taiwan was roughly $465 or so.
So the entire citizenship process from start to finish was about $550 USD.
You only have to do this once, and now you are a full citizen with all the rights to live and work in Taiwan and can vote! I would have never been able to do this without the new rule change, so really thankful that the process is so much easier now.
Let me know if there are any questions!
(Edits for clarification.)

My name is not important. I was born January 2nd, 1993 with Cerebral Palsy. My mother and father were loving in raising me at an early age. So loving in fact, that my five year old sister became resentful of me and mistreated me for the next 15 years of my life. She would often treat me like I was useless, or ignore what I needed. I remember being 6 in the Santa Claus Day Parade with skin tight pajamas on in -15 weather. The doctor said I could've had hypothermia. I remember being 7 and watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with her saying "see, that's you!" as my mother bought me the Quasimodo doll. I remember being told that I would "Never make it" in highschool because I was a loser in her eyes.
This is where the problems started.
I can forgive my sister, for what happened, and have since move past it, but the self deprecation started there. It did not help that for a lot of my childhood, my father was clinically depressed and rarely talked about my life or needs or concerns. I still remember in February, 14, 2001 when Dale Earnhardt died him curled up into a ball on the couch. He became depressed for many years. I also got molested by my cousin around this time (which was a fun memory to remember)
With a Depressed father and antagonistic sister. My growing up life was less then ideal. Of course it didn't help that when my friends would come over for a sleepover, my sister would make fun of me. It taught them how to use my own insecurities and vulnerabilities against me, and it was pretty easy. Getting a word in edge wise while having a physical disability is pretty tough, and its even tougher when everyone labels you the goofy dumbass of the group.
This kept getting worse and worse until high school, where my friends would simply demean me. I felt like I couldn't compare to them, and they just wanted to see me do funny things. I quickly taught myself to be the court jester in order to crave attention: constantly demeaning myself in order to achieve the goals I needed to achieve. Demeaning myself was the only way I had control in a body that I couldn't control.
By Grade 12, I truly did hate myself. I got all the attention I ever wanted. Heck I even won Prom King. But still, people did not treat me as their equal. I was always the stupid one. This coupled with the fact that no girl was interested in me was very frustrating.
I went into University with the hopes of dating. I met a girl who was super Christian. Like the whole "I don't drink and have premarital sex" schpiel. She said if I became religous like her she would "definetely" fall madly in love with her. So I went to her church, did everything I asked, all for her to say at the end of it "No I can't date you. And I can't do it because your disability would be a burden on me". Might as well just killed me right there and then. But I moved forward
By the end of university I had graduated and become a school teacher. I soon then met my ex Girlfriend Christine. Christine also had Cerebral Palsy and lived in British Columbia. I fell for her. She fell for me. We would talk virtually for hours and we were both happy.
Until one day that happiness turned to abuse. Every weekend I would spend 4-6 hours helping her with her schoolwork, only for her to say that I was "selfish" and "not trying hard enough". Due to my depreciation of myself by most in my life, I believed her. And so I was now in a cycle of being with someone who would only show me love when I did things for her. Sometimes I would get emails that said "I wish I could hit you". And somehow, I kept going
She pressured me to move to British Columbia to be with her 3 years later. There was no way she could move to me. Her mother (who I believe now is a narcissist), would always get involved in our conversations and the two would gang up on me, beating down any kind of backbone I could have. As her mother said to me once, "Remember Darrell, I always get my way"
I moved to BC. in July 2022 I felt relief at first as I thought I would never have to fear Christine again. I mistook my elation for freedom, when in actuality it is submission. As soon as I got to BC, I began to be heavily abused by her mother and her. Her mother for example, called me the nickname "boy". Like "Hey boy, go get something out of the fridge". She also once yelled at me for saying "Hi" to her in a text, because that was disrespectful and I am "Not like one of your students".
It just kept getting worse. Every day I would trudge over to Christine's house (a 1.5 km walk), and I woud sit with her and help her with feeding, or video games, or art, or schoolwork. I became enmeshed in her life, considered myself co-dependent. I didn't think about my needs or wants anymore, only hers. After all, that's what I thought being a good boyfriend was. I went home in September for a week. Christine was angry with me, calling me not dedicated enough. She would call me a piece of shit when she was mad at me.
I started thinking I was co-dependent. I even made A reddit post about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/AmItheAsshole/comments/xaesky/aita_for_going_home_and_seeing_my_parents_instead/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
This should've been the biggest hint looking back, but I kept thinking that I was the problem. So I went back home and I read a book about Codepedency. Eventually I contacted the author and sat with her for a session. I wrote the following in my Explanation to her:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1alWZHZW8oCY3qJrQCLZ86Me1K_vuQqTM/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100060198783867941141&rtpof=true&sd=true
And you want to know what she said when I asked for a solution? "I don't know". Because if someone is codependent on you (as I realize now my girlfriend was with me), the whole point is to make them do thing independently. Except you can't do that with someone with a disability. So, I'm now entering a territory where solutions to my problems DON'T EVEN EXIST.
September and October go by. Christine and I talk about me being more independent. She says she agrees but then goes back to her old ways. I ask her in November, "Can I go home to see my parents?" she responds with "I guess you're not committed to me". And accuses me of being a Mama's boy. Her mother gets in on this, and when I say my sacrafices should prove my dedication to her, she responds with "she's sacraficed by waiting for you". So I am convinced and I tell my parents I am not coming home. My parents get even more worried that I am getting controlled (and I am). My sister gets involved. She tells me I'm no longer part of the family because I keep going back and forth between going and not going. She thinks I am being abused. She's totally right, but at this point I am being brainwashed to think that I am not enough and need to prove it to Christine and her mother. She tells me to "not bother coming home". So I now have 3 people constantly calling me a shitty person: My sister hates me because I am not coming home. Christine hates me because I am not good enough for her, and her mother, Nansey is reinforcing all of this heavily.
To make matters worse, Nansey is constantly age regressing me. If I want to go to a movie with Christine, I must schedule it with her mother. If I want to stay over and cuddle Christine, she must call her mother in approval. I can only take the route home she approves walking home, otherwise she will get angry at me. I must keep my apartment tidy at all times. She wants me to buy certain foods. She will tell me if I am being fair to Christine or not. Lots of Triangulation between the 3 of us: some in my favor, some not, but always with her mother in control. If I get mad, her mother says that I have anger issues.
With these three forces constantly pulling me, I begin to develop CPTSD. It is a 4-way psychological abuse, where I must pick between my family (with a member who hates me), and my best friend (who Ashley has gotten involved) or my partner (who also hates me). Either way I am screwed. A paradox. So the tug of war begins for the next few months. My body is storing all of this trauma, not knowing what to do with it. I begin to experience dissociation, and derealization. I remember putting my hand on a stove to see if I could feel it (Thanks Kanye for that idea). My cerebral palsy is already brain damage, so we are now adding brain damage on top of brain damage.
My cerebral Palsy coupled with CPTSD begins to destroy my body. I am constantly tight due to CP, and now the PTSD gets added to the mix and I need the hardest dopamine hits imaginable to stay alive. I turn to pornography and masturbation as an outlet, acting like a feral animal in order to stay afloat. Every Saturday, I begin my night after seeing Christine by getting an edible, wearing a diaper (which I found self soothing however fucked up it is), and I masturbate.
But as the pressure begins to get to be too much, I start getting addicted to crazier and crazier pornography in order to keep myself alive. I am fully dissociating when I do this, because I don't want to feel anything. I basically become suicidal and think to myself "what's the point of even existing" and start doing anything to get that hit. It is at this point I begin to turn to CP (yes that kind) in order to fulfill my urges.
I go home at Christmas. My sister is still angry at me and I am scared of being around her too. She gets my best friend to yell at me and they both make me feel like shit. On New Years Eve, I write a suicide letter. I have full intentions to end it.
But I go back to BC and the trauma bonding continues. I keep telling Ashley that I know Christine is bad for me, but I can't have the confidence to end it. Of course, now I know that it is trauma bonding. This continues for another few months, as I try to make both sides happy.
In March, my sister wanted me to go to a MUSE concert, and so I secretly flew out to Ontario to see the concert, all while faking a background in my room to make it appear to my girlfriend like I was back home (this is how scared I was). After the concert, I get on a plane back to BC just so I can see my girlfriend for 2 DAYS, then fly back to Ontario for a week. Essentially I did 2 round trips from Ontario to BC in a 72 hour span, just to make other people happy while lying to both sides.
By April, Summer was fast approaching and I had very little money left. Nansey suggested at the age of 31 that I work at Red Seals Summer Camp, a job usually designed for teenagers. I realize I have to get out or I will be age regressed to forever.I decide to commit to my old job late April.
At the beginning of May, Christine yells at me from 10 AM, to 8 PM over texting because her mother wouldn't allow her to make a video call. When her mother leaves, she turns on video and yells at me until her worker forces her camera off No matter what I do, I can not make her happy. I know the end is approaching. I want to go over to her house to end it the next day, but she won't let me.
I leave to go see my parents on May 24 weekend. When I come back, Nansey will quarantine me for 2 weeks at my house. I need to break up with her face to face. And after a week, I get that chance
I meet them in public, in the park. Nansey comes over to me with a written list of demands and "stop signs" for the both of us. She demands that if either one of us get mad we hold up the stop signs. As soon as she leaves I listen to Christine talk and read her demands, On it? "When I am angry, please don't respond to me"
These aren't written by Christine, they're by her mother. I tell Christine that I cannot tell the difference between her and her mother. I tell her its over, and walk away with the stop sign and list of demands in hand. Nansey eventually finds me and rips these out of my hands. I am terrified. I run home and lock my doors. I type an account of everything that happens. I go to the police, but no crime has been committed according to them,
I am all alone in BC now with very few allies. I am terrified as Nansey could come any time she wants, I block her on everything so she cannot speak to me. But back in September, I gave my copy of the apartment contract to her to make photocopies. She keeps these and starts harassing my landlord. She says that whenever I drop items off at the house (to give Christine back her stuff) I am harassing them. I want to die, but as long as I stay in my house I am okay. I start selling my stuff hoping to go back home by July. I even start to heal a bit, but I am so terrified that I am constantly in a Freeze because of the looming threat of Nansey
And then the cops came and seized my house 2 weeks later. Throughout all of this time while being totally traumatized, totally terrified, and completely abused, I had used CP. They take me out in handcuffs and seize most of my electronics. I had used CP because while being abused I was suicidal and hated myself. An act of self destruction, taken to the max by a brain that had both Cerebral Palsy and CPTSD to manage. Also a way to masturbate and still get the cortisol out of my system.
I am in a cell for 6 hours. The police talk to me but I am barely in sane mind. The lawyer I talk to says that they'll just search my stuff. They find CP in a few areas. When they ask why, I only respond with the word "Innocence".
I am back in ontario now, its been 6 months and they're still doing the investigation. My life is over, and I don't think I had any control over any of it. And it was due to CP, CPTSD, and CP
I am pretty sure I will end my life, as after doing extensive research its nearly impossible to prove in Canadian court that Psychological Abuse caused either mental illness or automatism.
So this is how my life ends. I will be ending my life in just a few days. I have no idea whether I am a good person or not. Perhaps this is up for you to decide. But I am happy that my life is coming to an end. Nobody should have to go through what I have been through
Good night

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Side Effects:
Read reviews!
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I was working my shift at a car rental company at our local airport, and was helping a customer with swapping a vehicle that he was having an issue with, when a group of 3 boomers, 2 men and one woman, walks past the customer service booth and out onto our parking lot.
There are 2 rental brands owned by the same company on the lot. One that is more of a hand holding experience, while the other is more of a self service concept, so generally you don't have to stop if you know where you're going So I assumed, wrongly of course, that this was the latter group of clientele.
Another group did what you do when you are unsure of what to do, and approached the nearest and only employee working on the lot at the moment to ask for directions. The customer I was originally helping graciously told me he was in no rush and to help this other group. Awesome. Easy. It will only take a second, so I get them moving.
Sure enough, as I point the way over to the lanes where they can pick vehicles from, the lady boomer comes storming up to me with a wad of papers in her hand. "Hey, did you need help with something?" Waving the papers at me, "our reservation says 'skip the counter' and go out to the lot, but there are no cars parked on the brand b side only on brand a." "Yes, ma'am, generally we try to consolidate during lower volume days so you don't have to walk as far to get the vehicle. Do you mind if I look at your reservation so I can get y'all pointed in the right direction?" She begrudgingly hands me the confirmation papers, and sure enough, as is typical with this method of doing things, the pages they printed lists everything except for what size vehicle they booked. She continues to tell me about how our business is supposed to be run like I don't have 3 years of experience doing it, and as I finish flipping through the pages after finding a reservation number, I say, "Alright, if you let me--" which is interrupted by her angrily snatching the papers out of my hand.
While you might not think it, some of these places are very corporate environments, and there is very little room for aggressive behavior. This is strike one.
I very quickly drop my higher pitched, quirky customer service voice for my serious boy voice saying, "ma'am, I need you to relax." This is when she started swearing at me while talking about, again, how cars are not where she wanted them to be. At this point, I start waving my hands side to side and tell her, "yeah, at this point, we will not be renting you a vehicle. I will go ahead and cancel your reservation for you." "You can tell that to my husband." "Okay." Her husband arrives shortly after her and asks, "okay, what's happening?" "Sir, your wife has been aggressive and swearing at me, you will not be renting a car with us this evening, I'm going have to ask you to leave my lot." "Wait wait wait, come on, there has to be something we can do." "You can head back inside, because you will not be renting a car with brand a, b, or c this evening." While the men headed inside, the wife stayed behind to ask, "what's your name? I'm going to leave you a bad review." "I'll do you one better, here is my business card." "Thanks, I'll make sure to tell everyone you're a fucking asshole." Nice. Double down. I think I'll do the same. As she snatches the card from me, I begin to walk past her to get the reservation sheet from her husband, she shouts "Don't touch me!" "No one is trying to touch you. Sir! I need to borrow that sheet of paper from you. Y'all will be going on our do not rent list." He ignored me while the three of them walked away. I decide not to further escalate the situation and let them thinking, well, at least that's over.
Now here's where it gets outrageously stupid. The cell towers near the airport have been down the past week, and normally I would send a text message notifying my staff if there was anyone we would not be able to rent to for whatever reason, but I couldn't. And I couldn't leave my spot because there was no one to guide the fresh new batch of renters the next shuttle dropped off. The other manager came back from his lunch break, and I was able to quickly tell him I got cussed out, before getting back to guiding people to their cars, and while I was about 30 feet away, I turn around, and who do I see? The three people I just turned away for their behavioral issues.
I jog over to the other manager, and let him know, those were the people I had turned down and the lady who chose violence. So I turn and jog after them, "Hey! We just had this conversation. Y'all are not renting here." The husband replies, "I already paid at the counter, you have my money, we're taking this SUV and leaving." "I'll gladly refund your money, but you are not leaving here in one of our cars. Get your belongings, and get out."
The entire time, the wife sat in the back seat glaring at me like it was my fault she cannot control herself. While the 3rd man, short but broad, bald with a mustache looked just sad.
He ended up approaching me in a last ditch effort. And I really felt for him. He had cancer and wanted to go to his niece's graduation, and they would be back in 2 days, but to help him. And I wanted to. I really did. But like I said. It's a corporate environment. You cannot be aggressive, and you cannot cuss out me or my staff before you even actually become my customer, and still get into a vehicle.
What that gets you is reported to our risk department, which is pretty rough, because being labeled as an "adverse risk" means you cannot rent with car rental brand c, which is, for many insurance carriers, the number one choice for insurance replacement when you're in an accident, and many insurance companies do not have a second option.
Also unfortunately for the first man and woman who narrowly avoided being added to that list when they walked out the first time, I now had access to their reservation with their complete drivers license attached. Oops.
TL;DR: Boomer cussed out car rental manager ruining trip for her entire party. Boomers then attempt to sneak by, and are permanently banned from those brands nationwide.
Edited-- formatting

Before I start this, I want to say that this is not me trying to get attention for telling this story. This happened very recently and it still affects a lot of people in my community very deeply. I went to high school with one of the victims. I am friends with her close friends. My dad works at the school where two of the girls went to high school at. This case is very, very close to home for me. Tik Tok true crime creators use this story as a way to get money and views and are so disconnected and robotic about what happened. I will tell the story of how I found out and then what the news has released about the situation on the Moscow, Idaho Murders.
My boyfriend used to go to Washington State University, WSU. WSU is located in Pullman about 10 miles from the University of Idaho in Moscow. Him and I were on a trip to Seattle and had just woken up when my boyfriend turns to me and says,
"Two people were just found dead in Moscow."
I was shocked and looked up anything the local news had released. I texted a friend of mine who was going to college down there and he said he was fine. News articles revealed that someone had been found dead, face down on their lawn. Then the death toll was at 2. Then there was no further information. Alex (my boyfriend) had texted his friends at WSU asking if they were all okay and they said they were. We awaited more information, but the last thing we expected was for the story to happen the way it did.
In the early morning of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho college students were stabbed to death in a shared rental home close to campus. Two female victims. Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle lived in the house. They worked at the same local restaurant. The third, Kaylee Goncalves, had recently moved out of the house but returned to attend a nearby party. The fourth victim, Ethan Chapin, was Kernodle's boyfriend who was sleeping over on the night of the attacks. Two other female roommates also lived at the house; they were not attacked.
Earlier on the evening of November 12, two of the four victims, Chapin and Kernodle, were reportedly at an on-campus party at the nearby frat house from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. They returned home at 1:45 a.m. That evening, the other two victims, Mogen and Goncalves, had gone to The Corner Club, a downtown sports bar at 10 p.m., from which they departed at 1:30 a.m. A livestream video on by The Grub Truck, a food truck four blocks south at Friendship Square (Main and Fourth Streets), showed Mogen and Goncalves at 1:41 a.m., chatting and smiling, getting their food ten minutes later, and leaving to take what the police initially said was an Uber ride home, a trip of about one mile (1.6 km). The police later rephrased their statement to say the ride was provided by a "private party," arriving home at 1:56 a.m.
According to the surviving roommates the four students were home by 2:00 a.m. Seven unanswered phone calls were made from the phone of Goncalves to her former long-time boyfriend, a fellow student, from 2:26 to 2:52 a.m. and three unanswered calls were made from Mogen’s phone to the same person, from 2:44 to 2:52 a.m. These calls were investigated with the police concluding they did not believe the recipient of those missed calls was involved in the crime. A doordash order labeled for Xana was delivered to the house around 4 a.m.
The two surviving roommates had allegedly returned home by 1 a.m. Original reports stated both surviving roommates were in their beds on the ground floor at the time of the killings, were not attacked or held hostage, and that neither woke during the killings. However, the probable cause affidavit for the case said that one surviving roommate stated she was sleeping on the second floor, the same floor as Kernodle and Chapin, before she was awakened by what sounded like Goncalves and her dog. She stated she later heard a roommate saying something to the effect of "there's someone here." The roommate stated she believed this was said by Goncalves, although investigators also believe this might have been Kernodle speaking, as a forensic download of her cell phone showed that she was TikTok at 4:12 a.m. The surviving roommate stated she opened her door twice within a short span of time, and the second time, heard what sounded like crying coming from Kernodle's room and a male voice saying "it's okay, I'm going to help you." Security cameras near the home picked up the sound of whimpering, a loud thud, and a dog barking numerous times starting around 4:17 a.m. The surviving roommate allegedly opened her door a third time and saw a figure in black clothing and a mask that covered his mouth and nose walking towards her. The man, whom the roommate stated she did not recognize, walked past her and used the sliding glass door to exit. The roommate stated she stood in a "frozen shock phase" and then locked herself in her room.
The four victims were stabbed to death on the second and third floors in the home, where they had been in bed. The victims were not gagged or restrained and the walls at the scene were spattered with blood. Mogen and Goncalves were found in Mogen's bedroom, and Kernodle and Chapin were found in Kernodle's room.
No calls to 9 1 1 were made until 11:58 a.m., many hours after the early morning killings. The call made at that time requested aid for an "unconscious" person, and was placed from within the residence using the cell phone of one of the surviving roommates. When police arrived, the door to the home was open, there was no sign of forced entry or damage inside the home, and nothing appeared to be missing. The two surviving roommates were in the residence when police arrived, as were other friends of the victims. The surviving roommates had allegedly called friends over to the home because they believed one of the second-floor victims was unconscious and was not waking up.
All four victims were pronounced dead at noon. Detectives stated they believe the killings occurred sometime between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. That morning, officers came upon Goncalves's dog, which she shared with her ex-boyfriend, alive and unharmed at the house.
The police initially left open the possibility that there could be more than one perpetrator. Police stated that they believe it was "a targeted attack but have not concluded if the target was the residence or its occupants."
In a November 23rd press conference, the Moscow police chief said that authorities had received a number of tips including that Goncalves allegedly had a stalker, but were unable to verify that claim or identify any such individual at that time.
After receiving hundreds of tips from the public, on December 15 police announced they were searching records of approximately 22,000 Hyundai Elantras made between 2011 and 2013. A camera in the area captured video of a white or light colored Elantra around the time of the murders, which investigators noticed had made multiple passes along the same route near the residence. Another recording also showed an Elantra passing by the victims' home three times, beginning around 3:29 a.m. At 4:04 a.m., the Elantra returned to the home for a fourth time. At 4:20 a.m., the car was seen speeding away from the victims' neighborhood.
Investigators in neighboring Pullman, Washington, began an investigation into a white Elantra belonging to a 28-year-old PhD candidate named Bryan Christopher Kohberger, who drove it with his father home to Pennsylvania for the holidays, Kohberger's Elantra was of a later year than the original police description. Kohberger was pulled over twice within a nearly five-mile radius by Indiana State Police for tailgaiting other cars. Investigators obtained cell phone data that showed that Kohberger's phone stopped connecting to the network around 2:47 a.m. in Pullman on November 13 before reconnecting around 4:48 a.m.
Cell phone data also show that his phone utilized a cell tower near the victims' residence around 9 a.m. on November 13, approximately five hours after the killings. Police also obtained data that indicated that his phone pinged from the cell phone tower nearest the residence at least twelve times between June 2022 and November 13. Investigators had obtained three unidentified male DNA samples from the crime scene including DNA found on a tan leather knife sheath on Mogen's bed.
Using a public genealogy database, authorities reportedly identified a partial match to an individual with a familial connection to Kohberger. Investigators recovered trash from outside Kohberger’s family's home in Pennsylvania for DNA, which they stated was consistent with being the father of the DNA from the sheath.
Before the arrest, investigators monitored Kohberger outside of his parents' Pennsylvania home. He was allegedly seen multiple times wearing surgical gloves and observed putting trash bags inside of the garbage can of a neighbor. The items were sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing. Authorities also said Kohberger had "cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch according to authorities, a search of the home where Kohberger was arrested revealed a knife, a pistol, and a black face mask, as well as ID cards inside a glove inside a box.
Kohberger was taken into custody by a SWAT team and Pennsylvania Police on December 30th at the home of his parents in Pennsylvania At the time of his arrest, authorities allegedly found Kohberger in the kitchen dressed in a shirt and shorts, while wearing examination gloves and putting trash into separate zip-lock baggies.
On May 17, 2023, the court announced that Kohberger was indicted by a jury on five charges: four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary. A preliminary probable cause hearing scheduled for June 26 was canceled after the indictment. In May 2023, Kohberger refused to enter a plea during his arraignment. His attorney said that he was "standing silent" on the charges. The judge entered a 'not guilty' plea for him.
My best friends Dad works for a funeral home and he picked up Xana's body, He said it was the most horrible thing he has ever seen. Looking at the photos from the crime scene makes my stomach churn. Especially the one of the bag of Jack In the Box that had Xana's name on it. It was just something so human in a scene where there was no humanity. Seeing the pictures national news outlets used where Xana can be seen in her cap and gown standing in from of my High School makes me queasy. I hope Brian Kohberger rots in prison.

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Memory transcription subject: Jakiv, arxur scientist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
I woke up on the couch swaddled in a soft blanket. The light filtering through the windows illuminated and highlighted the red in Nuri’s fur. She was sleeping soundly on a pillow on the carpet. We were up late last night watching more movies and just talking about anything and everything.
For once I wasn’t feeling held down by sleep as I stood up from the couch. The yotul barely stirred. I went to the kitchen to make some coffee and eat breakfast. She’d ordered some food last night that I finished quickly because the time was 10 am and I was late for work.
I hastily swept up the folder with my report in it and headed for the door, my claws loudly clicking on the floor.
As I gripped the door handle, I heard Nuri call out, “Jaki?”
I turned around to see the yotul, draped in her blanket and smiling warmly. She approached and hugged me, “Have a good day at work,” she patted my back.
“Thank you, Nuri. I’ll see you later, okay?”
She nodded and waved as I stepped out into the warm sunlight. Today was going to be a good day.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
Jakiv should’ve been in by now. I figured it didn’t matter too much, today we were going to be testing the vaccine and seeing how it interacted with the venlil body. He’d have loved to take notes, but a man like him would have a reason to call out of work, so I didn’t bother dwelling on it.
I stayed by Silvon’s side as we worked. I knew she still wasn’t feeling great after the email, and I was pretty on edge at the thought of Humanity First tracking us down. I promised her nonstop last night that I’d keep her safe.
“Danny?” she spoke softly.
“What’s up?”
“Can you pass me that sample there?” I handed her a vial of spliced cells and watched her drip them onto a slide with a myriad of other venlil cells. Various tissue cells, brain cells, and a couple of miscellaneous things like bone marrow and a tuft of fur. “Thanks, hon,” she smiled.
I felt giddy watching the cells harmlessly coexist. Then, she dripped a sample of the rhinovirus. Immediately the spliced cells got to work destroying the virus and protecting the other samples in the dish. “That’s looking really promising,” I observed.
She nodded, “I think it’s ready for the real test.”
“Got it. I’ll run these to the infirmary then. Be back in a sec, hon,” I promised, blowing a kiss since I was still suited in PPE.
I went through the decontamination cycle feeling like I was on cloud nine. Today was going to be a good day! As I started for the infirmary, sounds right out of my worst nightmares echoed down the corridor. Gunshots and screaming.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Aaron Clemont, Humanity First rallier
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
Today was going to be a good day. Jatsen Labs was almost completely unguarded. The UN only sent two armed guards to stand outside the door, which were dispatched so easily, that they might as well have sent nobody at all.
While the peacekeepers were staining the sidewalk outside, I entered the building flanked by Landen and Vernon. We were immediately met with a pencil pushing yotul manning the front desk. Before she could even look up, a bullet blasted through her skull from my rifle. Landen and Vernon only had handguns, unfortunately. The local HF branch was rather poor. But they made do by squeezing off rounds into the panicked scientists who desperately ran down the halls to escape us.
Sprays of green soaked the walls and floors. I reloaded my rifle after eviscerating a Xeno and motioned forward. There was a map of the building on the wall that I scanned. We were pretty close to the virus lab, just a few short turns and Stat was at our mercy.
As I finished registering the info, the lights overhead dimmed and flashed red. “Good mood lighting,” I mused. As a trio we moved down the hall, leaving no survivors in our wake. We got to the door labeled ‘virus lab’ and used a keycard ripped from a corpse to unlock it.
“Let’s fucking do this,” I growled.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
The gunshots were growing louder outside as the decontamination cycle came to an end. I threw myself inside the lab. Silvon looked panicked and was pressed against the far wall. Those plexiglass windows wouldn’t survive a bullet, and my love wasn’t making herself less of a target.
“Silvvy,” I spat hastily, “C’mere!” she hustled toward me as I threw open a cabinet beneath the lab and moved aside enough equipment for her to squeeze inside. “Get in here. Don’t even think of coming out. Whatever you hear, whatever you see, keep quiet,” I breathed.
“Danny-?”
“Now!” I roared.
“I love you,” she said. I could see her goggles fogging.
“I love you too,” I said, closing the cabinet door. I ducked beneath the wall under the plexiglass. The other yotul seemed to have run out. I was thankful Tinasi wasn’t at work today. I heard the sound of the decontamination cycle going on and steeled myself for the worst.
The door swished open slowly. The barrel of a rifle extended through the doorway first, followed by 3 humans. The one with the rifle scanned the room, finding me immediately. “Dr. Stat,” he smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” I stood, ready to fight for me and Silvon’s life. Then, for whatever reason, the man set down his rifle. “Where’s your Xeno, Danny?” he growled.
“Her name is Silvon,” I spat, “And she’s far, far away from her.”
I cracked my knuckles. “Y’know Doc, you’re pretty infamous among Humanity First. Killing one of our own, undermining all our efforts at every turn, fucking the locals, it’s awful,” his voice was suave and matter-of-fact, but filled with the kind of vitriol only a terrorist could muster.
“Is that so?” He asked, then chuckled. “Guess she won’t know she’s a widow for a while.”
I raised my fists, and one of the other humans chimed in, “Aaron, what are you doing?”
“Quiet!” he barked, reaching into his pocket and procuring a switchblade. “I’m doing good on Stephan’s name.”
He clicked the blade and lunged toward me. I quickly grabbed his wrist and tried to wrestle the blade from his hand. He slammed his fist into my face and I lost my grip on him. He fell to his knees on my chest, putting his full weight on my ribcage, and tried to slam the knife down on me. I took both his wrists in my hands, desperately pushing him back as the blade got nearer and nearer to my throat.
I simultaneously released on hand and moved my head aside, the knife clattered next to my ear as I punched him in the stomach and pushed him off of me.
“Do you need help?” The other human called.
“No!” He barked as I crushed his nose with my fist. “Watch the fuckin’ doors!”
He grabbed the knife and slammed it into my arm. I howled in pain as blood spurted from the wound. He laughed maniacally, his crushed nose seeping crimson. He ripped the knife from my arm and swung again, cutting me up further. I got a grasp on his wrist again, continuing to pummel him. We rolled over, he was once again on top, each punch made me see stars.
“It’s the end of the fucking line, Stat,” he coughed. Aaron punched full force into my throat, and I struggled to breathe. He got up, towering over me with a sadistic grin.
“DANNY!” a shrill voice screeched. There was a flash of auburn fur and a scream as Silvon jammed a partially shattered test tube deep into Aaron’s back. He whipped around, catching the venlil across the snout. Under the PPE I could see blood.
“Silvon,” I gasped, “What- are… you- doing?”
Aaron stamped down on my hand as I reached for her, the bones snapped beneath his heavy footfall and I cried out.
“I knew she wouldn’t be far,” the human growled.
“No-” I wheezed as he ripped the mask off Silvon’s face. We locked eyes. “I’m sorry, Danny,” she whispered.
“Boys,” Aaron chuckled heartily. “Grab me one of the samples.”
One of the humans by the door reached into a handheld cooler, withdrawing a small orange vial I knew all too well. “NO!” I screamed as Aaron knelt by Silvon. I tried to stand. One of the humans by the door swiftly raised his handgun and fired into my leg. The hot lead seared my flesh and my pantleg grew warm and wet.
“Sweet dreams, Xeno,” he laughed, forcing open her mouth and forcing the sample’s contents down her throat. He threw her aside while she tried fruitlessly to cough out the blood, then returned to me.
“There’s no way out for any of us now, Stat,” the knife gleamed, covered in my blood. He held it to my throat, I could feel the blade cutting in, then-
“HOLY SHIT!” The other Humanity First members screamed in unison. The plexiglass shattered, there was a blurry gray mass that landed with a heavy thud. The human who shot me turned his gun on the imposing figure of the arxur and popped off several shots.
Jakiv staggered, clutching his chest, but no blood pooled around the holes in his hoodie. “Stupid human,” he growled, slashing his throat in one smooth motion. He turned to the other terrorist, shakily holding his handgun out. He fired, striking Jakiv on the arm, but the arxur literally shrugged it off, clawing the human’s face.
Aaron was pale and stood, knife in hand, to face the arxur. “B-back off, gray!” he spat. He dove for his rifle, but Jakiv was faster, grabbing the gun and chucking it through the broken window. He stomped Aaron’s hand, his claws impaling the appendage. The terrorist groaned in pain as the arxur slowly bent over and slammed his jaws shut around Aaron’s windpipe. The human’s movements halted with the sickening crunch of bone.
I caught my breath, and leaned against the wall, pain shooting through every limb. “Silvon,” I reached my non-broken hand toward the venlil, who ran over to me.
“Danny, oh stars,” she examined the wounds on my leg and arm.
“Are you two okay?” Jakiv asked, catching his breath and wiping the blood from his lips. He approached slowly, I could tell he was worried about scaring Silvon, but she ran to him and threw her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she sobbed, “Thank you, Jakiv.”
He awkwardly patted her back, “You’re welcome?”
She broke away, getting back to me, “Help me lift him, we need to get out of here.”
“On the count of 3,” the arxur said. “1, 2, 3!”
“Aaaugh! God!” I cried out as they helped me up.
“We’re getting you out of here, Danny. You’re gonna be just fine,” the venlil said half pleading. The edges of my vision began to blur and distort as my legs threatened to give out. Jakiv steadied me with his tail as we began walking toward the decontamination hall.
“Silvon,” I groaned, suddenly remembering the sample. “Silvon,” I tugged her arm.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“You’re sick,” I wheezed, stumbling slightly. “You need the- the-” I pointed frantically toward the container full of the vaccine I was supposed to run to the infirmary.
Silvon left my side only long enough to secure the case. “We need to leave now, Danny,” she told me.
I pressed myself against the wall as the decontamination cycle completed, then Jakiv helped me down the main hall. My legs were getting weaker with each step, and I could no longer feel my injuries. I felt lightheaded, and put more and more of my weight on the arxur, who eventually just threw me over his shoulders.
I heard voices up ahead, but the world around faded to black before I could see their sources. My last conscious thoughts were Silvon.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Jakiv, arxur scientist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
Dr. Silvon was great at keeping pace as we raced down the bloody corridors. At the entrance, there were several yotul police officers and zurulian doctors filing in.
“HELP!” I screamed at them, rushing toward one of the stretchers.
“Stand down, gray!” An officer barked, pointing his gun at me.
“Help me, please, get these two to safety. The venlil is infected with the flu, the human is critically injured. Please,” I urged.
The yotul eyed me suspiciously, I figured it was 50/50 whether or not he’d pull the trigger. “Listen to him officer,” Silvon begged, “He saved our lives.”
Two zurulians rushed over, I carefully lowered Dr. Stat into a stretcher. My claws and hoodie were soaked in blood, hardly any of it mine. “Please help him,” I begged. The zurulians exchanged nervous glances before hurriedly hauling the human off.
“You say you were… saved by this arxur?” The officer asked Silvon as another pair of medics rushed to her aid.
She coughed a bit, “Yes sir. He’s a hero…” she trailed off, noticeably growing weaker. “Where’s… my husband?” she groaned, falling into the stretcher and knocking out cold. Poor venlil overexerted herself running. Before they could wheel her off, I stopped one of the zurulians.
“Please, take this,” I said, handing the doctor the case we recovered. “It’s for the flu,” I explained as the zurulian took the vaccines and escorted Stat and Silvon through the lab doors. I registered my burning lungs at last, and leaned up against a wall for support, suddenly feeling weak in the legs.
I sighed heavily and let myself slip down to the floor where I could more easily catch my breath. The six shots to my chest stung badly, but a quick glance over told me they didn’t break the skin. Suddenly, the door swung open, and someone far off shouted “You can’t be here!”
In a flash of red fur, Nuri was at my side. “Jaki?!” she cried, her voice wrought with concern.
“Hey, Nuri,” I waved a claw, “What’re you doing-?” She wordlessly began running her paws along my chest, unzipping my hoodie and feeling the dents in my scales. “Nuri?” she looked up at me, there was fear in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked frantically.
“Yeah, I’m just fine,” I answered. She threw her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug that almost hurt. I didn’t know how to react besides returning the gesture, leaning into the marsupial.
“I thought-” Nuri’s voice broke, “I thought I-”
“Hey, hey,” I cooed, “Everything’s fine, I’m okay, Nuri,” I reassured the yotul. She sniffled, but said nothing, just pulled me tighter. We stayed like that for a while before she finally broke away. She sat down next to me and leaned her head against my arm.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” she confessed.
“Oh please, have some faith,” I smiled. “I’m a big strong arxur, I can handle a little tussle.”
The marsupial perked up slightly at my words. “You know you’re a hero now, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I dismissed.
“You saved a bunch of people today,” Nuri said. “What about that isn’t heroic?”
“I guess that’s true. Fuck,” I chuckled, “I need a drink.”
Nuri stood and extended a paw to help me up. “Let’s get outta here, Jaki,” she smiled.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: September 1st, 2148
[Day 25]
My head spun as I came to. I was in a hospital bed, hooked up to all those wires, with a cast on my shattered hand and nose. Directly across from me was Silvon, typing away on her holopad. The second she saw I was awake, a smile crossed her features.
“Good morning, Danny,” she greeted.
“Hey,” I groaned. Speaking hurt. I rubbed my eyes, and yawned, then instantly snapped up, “Holy shit, Silvon,” I cried, “Aaron he- you’re sick!”
Silvon seemed unbothered, I couldn’t keep the confusion off my face. “I was,” she smiled.
“What?”
“I was sick, Danny. But they administered the vaccine, and it worked,” she explained.
“It did?!” I laughed in disbelief, clutching my sides as the pain hit, but smiled regardless. “Oh thank god,” I cried. “I was so scared,” I breathed.
“You’re not losing me that easily,” Silvon giggled.
“Good,” I sighed, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. “Good,” I muttered. A tear rolled down my cheek that I hastily wiped away.
“Danny?” My breathing hastened, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. “Danny, are you okay?”
Silvon’s words echoed, drowned out by the beeping heart monitor. I failed to hide the torrent of sobs that escaped me as I buried my face in my hands. “I thought it was over for us-” I choked out, “I don’t want to lose you.”
A paw found its way around my neck. I ran my fingers through Silvon’s soft fur. “You won’t,” she promised.
“I’ve been having so many nightmares,” I sobbed, “I’m so afraid,” I confessed. She sat on the edge of the bed next to me and wiped the tears from my eyes.
“Nothing can tear us apart,” she said, “Nothing.”
“I-” I gesticulated, every emotion possible swirled in my chest.
“Shhh,” she cooed, “You don’t have to speak.” Silvon hugged me, and planted a kiss on my cheek.

Hi! I have a fixed, inside 9 year old male gray tabby. He currently weighs 17 pounds. He is starting to have issues grooming due to his gut. I had to wash him, he did fine but I know he can do it fully himself if he just loses some chonk.
His last vet visit was March 1st, 2024. The vet didn't mention anything regarding his weight. He was a little feisty (the cat not the Dr lol) so that's on me for not asking about it.
I don't currently have any set routines for him to remain active, any advice/tips on this as well is much appreciated!!!! He does get the zoomies about 4 times a day and they usually last for about 15 min. He likes playing with the laser too.
He eats an all wet diet. I have tried desperately to understand the labels on the cans but I'm gonna be honest I have maybe 1 brain cell so the math ain't mathin.
I really want him to lose some weight and I would like to help motivate him to be more active, especially since he doesn't have any health issues that I know of currently. Plus, I really never pictured myself buying wipes for cats or planning a diet for one either but here I am because I love him so much :)
Any helpful advice would be very appreciated. Like how many calories he should be eating, a goal weight and/or ideas for an active day for him.
Thank you so much for reading!!!!!! :)

I've learnt about how polysaccharides are broken down in the digestive system using amylase, and proteins using pepsin and trypsin. Also the main macronutrient categories on food labels tend to be proteins carbohydrates fats and fibre.
Food that we eat consists of animal and plant cells, which all contain DNA and RNA as well as mononucleotides performing other properties such as ATP molecules. Why do we not learn anything about DNA digestion in introductory courses?
Do we have digestive enzymes that cleave polymer bonds in DNA and RNA down to mononucleotide subunits to be digested?
I think that 'macronutrient' is defined as categories of nutrients in foods that are consumed in large quantities. My intuition is that we probably consume DNA, RNA and mononucleotides in large quantities, is this true? If so, why is this not listed as a nutrient category on food labels?

Hello. I’m on iOS 17.4.1. In preparation for an upcoming trip to the US, I downloaded an eSIM provider app (Airalo) and with help from their customer service, manually set up an eSIM for use on their networks while I travel.
After I did that, I noticed some changes under settings > cellular. The line that was labelled as my personal physical SIM was now labelled as “business”. Instead of connecting to my network provider (Fido), it connects to a different one (Rogers). Although there is signal, I am unable to send/receive texts or activate cellular data.
The eSIM that I installed then renamed itself to the label I had for my personal line. It connects to the Fido network but similar to the other, I cannot send/receive texts or activate cellular data.
What I’ve tried: - restarting phone multiple times - resetting all network settings to factory settings - deleting all eSIMs under general > transfer or reset iPhone - removed and reinserted my physical SIM card
After all those interventions, I cannot activate my physical SIM line. I have attached screenshots of what the cellular page looks like on settings. All I get is SOS on the top right corner of my phone.
Questions: - How can I restore access to my physical SIM network? I can worry about the eSIM another time but I need access to my cell services now - Is this an issue with iOS, or an issue with my cellular network provider? - As much as I don’t want to, will factory resetting my phone solve this issue?
Thanks in advance!