I go to a lower tier school and I’m just beginning my 2L year. What can I do before I graduate in 2026 and take the bar that would make me a good candidate for Direct Appointment? I’m reaching for AF JAG but I’ll be ok with Navy as well. I’m still trying to find a summer internship or some experience, but what should I do coming this fall semester that can help me build my resume as a candidate? For example, mock trial, moot court, law review? Or should I try to gain as much real work experience as possible?

Hi hi,
THROWAWAY ACCOUNT!
I want to preface this by saying I love my boyfriend so much and we are generally a very healthy couple. We've lived together for a year, dated for 3, are talking about when we're going to get engaged and married, he does sweet things for me constantly, my friends and family love him, etc.
The one thing that we cannot get past is our travel schedules, more specifically MY travel schedule. We both work in different parts of an industry that requires us to travel a lot. The summer is wayyy more travel-heavy than other months, and we know that going into the summer means we'll be spending a good chunk of time apart.
Regardless, he gets upset every time I have to travel for work. He asks me "are you really needed?" and begs me to change my flights so that I am waking up at the crack of dawn or taking red eyes, all so we can have more hours together. He always says he just wants to spend as much time with me as possible during the summer months, which I really do understand and appreciate, but it also appears that he believes I'm choosing my work over him. He puts me in a really awful position with my boss where I have to either face the wrath of my boyfriend if I say yes to another work opportunity OR I have to miss out on something that could further my career if I give in and stay home with my boyfriend. The industry I work in is extremely heavy on networking, so the more face time I get at certain events, the better.
He has struggled with insecurity and it doesn't help that I'm in an extremely male-dominated industry. My boss and everyone I work with are incredibly kind and respectful, they all love my boyfriend and mention him all the time/invite him to any company parties, but my boyfriend still believes that something bad is going to happen while I'm away. I've been around some shitty men in my industry, which I tell him further proves the fact that the people I work with are great because I know firsthand how it feels to work for someone who isn't great. I don't know how else to put his mind at ease.
He works in a different side of the industry where his job is literally to travel, and the more traveling he does the more he gets paid. In my case, my travel is more-so to be present at certain events with my direct supervisor to make sure things are running smoothly, as I am the person who is setting up the events for months prior to them happening. In his mind, this means I'm "not needed" because my supervisor can cover it. This makes me feel like he doesn't respect my career (which, might I just brag on myself for once, I am VERY much a standout in my field) and doesn't respect the fact that I am going to be taking over my supervisor's job at some point soon which is why I am requested at these events. Also, I never have once gotten upset with him when he has to travel more than I was expecting. I tell him I understand it's part of the job, and that's what I signed up for when we started dating years back.
I have told him all of this, and sometimes things change for a week or so but then it all comes back up. He is aware that how he's acting isn't fair, but then sometimes will pin it back on me saying I don't sacrifice enough for the relationship like he does (for example, he came to a work trip abroad with me and paid for his plane tickets since we thought it'd be fun to be abroad together and I could pay for our meals and hotel on the company). I say that I never ever EXPECT a sacrifice like the one he did, and that I do make other small sacrifices like saying no to events during the week when I know I'm going to be out of town that weekend so we can have more time together - I just don't generally tell him when these things happen because I don't want to gloat like "LOOK I MADE A SACRIFICE FOR YOU AGAIN!" so in his brain I don't make as many sacrifices as he does.
All in all, I also reassure him that we have our WHOLE LIVES to spend time with each other, and we live together! It feels like he has this scarcity mentality that if I don't get on the earliest flight home one weekend then we will never see each other ever again!
Like I said, when we talk it through (weekly at this point), it sometimes leads to him being more understanding, but sometimes not. Does anyone have any advice on what else he/I/we can do here? I've suggested couple's counseling but he doesn't think it's worth it. I've been balancing this little dance between him and work travel for a few years now, but it really does weigh on me and makes me feel like I'm being pulled in so many different directions and is just such an extra stressor on me. My job is fast-paced and stressful enough, having him nagging in the background about how upset he is that I'm traveling again just really puts me over the edge. Any advice is appreciated.

My (32M) mind is a complicated place. I was "saved" at about 13, always went to youth group and church growing up (presbyterian/nondenominational). Living on my own I didnt always go to church but started attending a church regularly several months before meeting my wife (30F, this was 7 years ago). She was raised catholic but their family didnt actually go to church much more than 1-2 days a year. She liked going to church with me. We did various groups together and on our own during our 3 years dating and typically attended Sunday service. We did premarrital counseling through our church and our location pastor officiated our wedding just before the pandemic started.
Something seemed off with the Lead Pastor and his wife, who was also a Pastor at our church did a online AMA style sermom before things started to open back up. They had a awkward falling out where she left the church and they broke up without much public explaination. At that point we started seeing the Lead Pastor as a little ignorant/egotistical in a idk who I offend validate how good my jokes are kind of way. Being more liberal leaning, my wife didnt feel comfortable with some of their policies returning to inperson services so we started to explore other options. My wife was furloughed from her job for a while but eventually we moved about an hour away to support her new role. Her long distance bff who unfortunately has since somewhat broke up with her (somewhat my fault) helped in the research until we finally settled into the church we go to now.
My wife has volunteered 1-4 times a month with young kids ministry (brave for helping the terrible twos) for over 5 years and is sometimes judgemental that I have not taken an equal initiative to donate my free labor. Theyre opening up a location near us and shes passionate about helping with launch team. Ive tried a few serving areas here and there but never really got connected in that way.
All that background, probably time to get into our beliefs. My downfall was probably about when I discovered street epistemology, made popular by Anthony Magnabosco. Upon trying to back up the beliefs that I held for so long (bad news and good news gospel) I found that I didn't necessarily have good evidence to justify my faith in the Christian God. I absolutely did not want to become more agnostic/skeptic as it was rather critical to be accepted/approved by my wife and birth family. After all, I had brought her to the Christian faith and she was passionate about being equally yoked where I could lead our family. My sister and brotherinlaw who we are close with are strong evangelicals who had planned to become fulltime missionaries in India or China but thankfully for various reasons theyre still living in the same state. While most of their network would encourage this leap of faith I think it puts my wife and I as well as our parents in a weird spot.
I hate falling in the middle of what should be issues of the utmost importance that I should have clarity on. As a smart guy I feel dumb for not quite getting it. I don't really feel comfortable, if I'm being honest, identifying as a Christian or an Atheist.
Reading through "our beliefs" on my churches website for example my response is typically how do you know that or what do you mean by that. Not sure if most definitions of God can really be proven or disproven. Sure most Christians will pivot at some point to well thats where faith comes in but to me it does not seem like faith is in any way a valid path to Truth as you can believe literally anything based on faith. While doubts and questioning can be healthy for some but it never really results with any better understanding for me.
So thats just kind of where I'm at not that its where I want to be. I wish I could lead my wife spiritually. I wish I could understand what I dp not with any sort of certainty. Due partially to my mental illness (bipolar) I dont always wake up in time for church. I try to suck it up and go with my wife as it is important to her that ww prioritize church. Last week she had gone by herself after volunteering where the sermon was on tithing. She came back wondering if we would get more blessing by giving more to church with the sentiment that shes not where she expected to be at this point in our lifes. She gets worried about getting older or the possibility of further infertility issues. Seeing families, baby dedications etc reminds her at least subtely how we have been unsuccessful in conceiving. I think we'd make good parents but obviously having fundamental disagreements can be hard. With most important relationships (my wife and God) i wish I didn't have thoughts/beliefs in disagreement with theirs but I don't know if we can really "choose our beliefs".
So what can I do to improve my marriage and be more confident in my Christ affirming beliefs in alignment with our church? Can anybody relate? Thanks for reading my rant/woes hope everyone is happy and healthy on this fine Monday.

Hello, I am new to this group. I believe I have found my past life. I am going to explain how it all happened but really I am searching for guidance on how to resolve it and find closure.
Ever since I was a very young boy, I have had recurring nightmares of all kinds. The most important one for me is walking past the kitchen, and seeing a face in the window looking at me from the outside. In the dream, I am terrified, and then I wake up. I have had this dream so many times. I cannot even count.
When I was four years old, I used to spend a lot of time, looking in the mirror at myself, my face. I remember telling my mom that I was very upset because I was supposed to be born a woman. I used to say this a lot, but eventually I let it go and forgot about it.
My whole childhood, I felt very sad and alone. I felt like I didn’t belong where I was. I also felt like I was not myself.
Growing up, I was especially terrified of serial killers. I would obsessively watch TV shows, and movies about them, such as Ted Bundy. And I had a chronic fear of leaving doors unlocked and windows open. I would always close the blinds because I couldn’t stand having large, sliding glass doors facing out into blackness. My brother used to tease me by telling me that the man in the window would get me. He knew that I was terrified of the dark.
All of these things really didn’t mean much to me until I started watching the show Twin Peaks in my 30’s, around 2021-2022. Something clicked for me when I saw Laura Palmer. I felt deeply moved and disturbed. I felt connected to her experience.
I started thinking about my childhood. I had previously received counseling as a teenager where I had often discussed the idea of having been murdered in a past life, being a woman. Something in me started bringing this idea back up to my consciousness and I felt an itch to start looking for answers.
I began Googling “serial killers 1986, murders 1986” and including the city where I was born. Many, many results would come up. I probably went through 50+ cases and looked at the photos. None of them felt connected to me.
I then began searching wider including the county and neighboring counties. Then, after many months, I saw a photo of a young woman who was murdered. And it was like I felt an instant connection.
I started reading about her case and learning about what had happened to her; and sure enough — she was home alone when the assailant entered her home and murdered her (along with more gory details I prefer not to mention.)
As I studied more and more about her and the case I uncovered an enormous amount of coincidences that I share with her in this life.
She died 5 months before I was born.
An example — the city where she lived is a city I have always been curious about. I first heard the name of the city when I was about 6 years old when my aunt was talking about it to my mom. And it stuck with me as a place “I wanted to know more about or visit.”
I also recall being 4 or 5 years old and going to see my brother play middle school football. It was winter and it was dark around 6 pm. I remember walking home with my parents and seeing a brown house with the porch light on. I started screaming hysterically and crying and I was picked up and hugged. I remember telling them that I “died there.” When I saw the picture of this young woman’s house, it was a beige and brown house and had a porch light in the same place.
Another example is the girl’s mom had the same name as a woman I know in this life. When I first met her, her name was extremely familiar and I felt like I must know her from somewhere. They are two different people but the name was instantly familiar to me.
Something even more interesting is I was born with a misshapen head, the left side of my face is droopy and slightly caved in. My dentist who did x-rays on me brought it to my attention.
I have always been obsessed with 80’s music. I love the 80’s in general.
I found the information to contact the family. And I want so bad to reach out to them to confirm my memories but I feel it would be terribly disrespectful, creepy and weird to even attempt it.
The worse thing for me would be to create an upset and be labeled a lunatic.
But something inside me will not let go of it. I need to confirm for myself if what I have recalled is true.
What can I do to find closure?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUEASTIONS AND ANSWERS : The Qur'an says: The Point of Worship.Part2

Evidently, a pure conscience free of any traces of paganism and polytheism can understand its own station and duty when it seen creation's splendor and harmony, and thus seek to serve and please the One who created and ordained all things.
Knowing God entails worshipping Him.
As he provides everything for us, we are obliged to serve Him. One of these blessings is that of prayer. God tells us how to pray so that we will do it correctly and effectively.
God told the Prophet how to pray, and we are told to follow his example.
There are certain rules to follow.

• Before beginning, we must purify ourselves with the proper ablution. Depending on our circumstances, this can be ghusl (full ablution), wudu' (regular ablution), or tayammum (ablution in the absence of water).
• Then we say Allahu akbar, meaning that nothing is greater than God. Standing in a peaceful, respectful stillness, with hands joined together on our chest, indicates our complete surrender. Concentrating as fully and deeply as possible allows us to experience, based upon our level of spiritual development, the Prophet's ascension in our spirit.
• Rising up inwardly, we bow down physically to renew our surrender and express our humility. As we do so, we experience a different stage in our servanthood and so prostrate in fuller reverence and humility. According to the depth of surrender there, we enter into different realms.
• Hoping for further progress, we raise our head, say a few words, and then lower it again for the second prostration.

After this, we may experience the meaning of the hadith in Muslim's Sahih:

"The servant is never closer to God than when prostrating in worship. Make more supplications while prostrating";

and the meaning of:
Who sees you when you stand and your movements among those who prostrate themselves (26:218–19).
Praying in the manner taught through Divine teachings and guidance is the best worship, for it flows from the love, awe, and submission to God that belief in Him and knowledge of His Divine Being engender. Following the method prescribed by God and His Prophet please Him further and benefit us the most.
We are in constant need of help, guidance, and counsel. Imagine that a successful business owner gives you sound and free advice on how to run your business.
Would you refuse such advice?
If we pray according to the revealed method, we avoid the pitfalls of excess and impropriety, and obtain advantage and blessings beyond our imagination.
Maybe saying Allahu akbar releases the Divine Mercy and inspires our soul to undertake a journey like the Prophet's ascent to heaven.
Maybe reciting the opening chapter of the Qur'an opens the way to the highest mystery.
With every word, gesture, movement, and pattern, we may be opening hidden doors and secret locks leading to hidden realms and eternal bliss.
Prayer straightens all ways and opens all doors. God hears our recitals and supplications, and angels gather around us when we prostrate with sincerity.
No one can claim that such things do not happen—rather, the sayings of Prophet Muhammad confirm that they do. This is why the most accepted pattern of worship is the one prescribed by God.
When we buy something, do we make up our own instructions concerning how to use it, or do we use the instructions provided by the manufacturer?
As the Creator knows what will cause us to prosper in this world and the next, we should follow what He has revealed and how His Messenger practiced it in his daily life. It is we who need to worship God; not God who needs to be worshipped—He is free of all need.

Long time lurker and first time poster. My (31F) husband (34M) are high school sweethearts and have been together for 17 years. We were each others first and only prior to his affair which lasted over 2 years (full blown physically and emotional, they apparently loved each other until he cleared affair fog after confrontation) until I confronted him and he confessed to everyone at the end of Feb. We were separated when I discovered the affair with NC which I broke to confront him.
Since then, he’s turned his location back on, has been remorseful, requested marriage counseling (that we’ve been in for about a month now) and has been communicative whenever he goes out and throughout the day. He validates my feelings and reminds me that he’s here and not going anywhere. That things will get better over time.
We’re now living separately and are “dating”. Things have been going really well and the relationship feels passionate, exciting and spontaneous. Our dates are mostly great until sometimes (normally after a few drinks) I’m no longer able to filter my feelings and say hurtful things that I don’t mean. An example would be that I wish I never met him and married him if I knew this is what the future would hold or turn into.
Though I’ve made the decision to try to R, I keep saying these hurtful things that I I don’t even mean because I want to hurt him in the moment. I guess I want him to feel pain too. I’m in individual therapy and we’re in MC, but I can’t help but feel like unless I stop immediately (which I’m trying to do) that I’ll push him away again and cause permanent damage that I’ll never forgive myself for.
I don’t know what I’m asking. Has this happened to anyone else?

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

Matt Laslo: “You know I’m gonna ask about UAPs. So I heard that UAP Caucus, [Reps.] Burchett and Luna, have a former Navy…”
Glenn Grothman: “Have what?”
ML: “Have a Navy pilot they wanna bring in for the open hearing.”
GG: “They haven't talked to me about it.”

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

ML: “Was curious: do you know what happened toChuck Schumer's UAP amendment in the NDAA last year? Was that you who was working on the reforms?”
MR: “No, it wasn't me working on it. I can't remember. I can't remember how it ended up.”
ML: “Was it Turner — Chair Turner?”
MR: “I don't remember. I mean, I just don’t.”

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

"The installation first observed UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities the evening of December 6 [2023] and experienced multiple incursions throughout the month of December. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

Skimmed through this post but need a quick refresher on how we got to this point? Check out this handy Disclosure Timeline to get up to speed.

This past week in Disclosure:

May 6 – Rep. Grothman reveals he hasn't been approached regarding plans for an upcoming hearing on UAP/USOs
Rep. Glenn Grothman – Chair, House Oversight National Security, the Border, & Foreign Affairs Subcommittee – seemed to be unaware of Rep. Luna/Burchett's intention to host a public hearing on UAP (with a specific focus on USO, i.e. Unidentified Submerged Objects).

May 7 – HASC Chair Mike Rogers denies gutting the Schumer-Rounds UAP amendment
Speaking with Askapol, Rep. Rogers (who some commentators blamed for the watering down of the UAP amendment language in late 2023) denied these allegations.

May 9 – the Hill publishes an article covering Senatorial interest in the UAP topic
An opinion piece on the Hill covers the efforts various top Senators have made to investigate purported UAP crash retrieval/reverse engineering programs since 2011.
The Senators include former fighter pilot and famed astronaut John Glenn (D-Ohio); Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who observed a UFO as a World War II pilot; Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.).
May 9 – Rep. Burchett indicates plenty of work on the UAP topic is still going on behind the scenes
In a post from James Fox, Rep. Burchett confirmed that "we will be having some more [UAP-related] hearings, and we will be getting some more stuff out".
May 10 – Ross Coulthart indicates the ICIG investigation into David Grusch is still ongoing
In his most recent podcast appearance, Ross Coulthart claims an active ICIG investigation into David Grusch's UAP-related allegations is still underway. Some of Grusch's "informant base" have allegedly recently been questioned by the IC Inspector General.
May 11 – AARO confirms it has yet to receive information on ‘Drone’ incursions over Langley Air Force Base
As covered in the latest article from the Liberation Times, a spokesman from AARO (the Pentagon's UFO office) stated that the office "has not yet received a report or any information on this incident."
The incident in question involved mysterious 'drone' swarms that harangued Langley Air Force Base throughout December 2023.

None of the incursions appeared to exhibit hostile intent but anything flying in our restricted airspace can pose a threat to flight safety. The FAA was made aware of the UAS incursions."

Things to look out for in the near future:

May

• According to Senator Gillibrand – a public hearing in line with AARO's latest report can be expected soon, saying –"I'll probably have another hearing aligned with that public report.”

Beyond/currently unknown

• Following the UAP hearing on the 26th of July, Members of Congress have called for a select committee with subpoena authority, to “go about the task of collecting information from the Pentagon and elsewhere” on unidentified flying objects. There have been conflicting messages from various Members of Congress on whether this is likely to happen anytime soon. Note – a select subcommittee was formally requested on March 13th.
• Reps. Moskowitz, Luna, and Burchett have repeatedly stated their intent to hold field hearings to overcome stonewalling from the Pentagon and military establishment"I think we [Congress] should try to get into one of these places [housing UAP evidence]...and if they won't let us in I think we should have a field hearing right outside the building...and the military will have to explain why that is." – Rep. Moskowitz (D)It is currently unknown when exactly we might expect that to occur, however as of Jan 12 – Rep. Luna confirmed:"I feel confident that we have enough evidence to move forward with our first field hearing. . We will be announcing details soon."
• Several journalists have indicated that first-hand witnesses of the alleged UAP legacy programs are in the process of providing testimony/evidence to the relevant authorities (e.g. the IC IG) and/or are on the verge of making public statements in the near future (Example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4)
• David Grusch has received additional clearances through DOPSR to discuss some of his (alleged) first-hand knowledge of Legacy programs. He has mentioned he may be covering more of this information in an upcoming Op-Ed
• Some commentators have speculated that the architects of the UAPDA (e.g. Sens. SchumeRounds et al) are working diligently behind the scenes to continue furthering serious legislative UAP transparency efforts

Looking for opinions on what could be possibly going on here.
I have cyclothymia being managed with meds and therapy (mild version of bipolar) with a history of childhood trauma (Dad with late diagnosed and untreated bipolar + paranoid schizophrenia with alcoholism, and verbal, emotional and physical abuse, as well as a Mom with battered woman syndrome who was highly unpredictable in terms of mood, love felt conditional, and transference of abuse to me). My partner has ADHD being managed with meds and therapy also with a history of childhood trauma (father abandoned them, mother was toxic, likely a narcissist also had drug and alcohol abuse issues and mentally + verbally abusive). Obviously there's a lot going on there.
I've been with him for 2.5 years now. For the first 2 years, we had our challenges, but things were overall good and we were finding ways to work through challenges that came from our mental health conditions. Then, I went to visit family for 3 weeks and left him with our 1 year old dog and a house and came back to a different person.
He's claiming that his whole life video games have been a numbing agent. Our dog is an attention hog and he had to stop playing video games, so memories and emotions came rushing in. As a result he is:

1. Talking a lot about abuse he has faced at the hands of his family, but mostly sharing those on Reddit, seemingly looking for a lot of external validation.
2. Talking a lot about his exes and abandonment and other issues with them.
3. He suddenly has a hair trigger temper and is snapping and losing his cool - never saw that in him before.
4. He's suddenly questioning our compatibility and hypercritical of the things that make us different - culture, mental health, personality, etc.
5. He's bringing up a lot of past stuff of our own relationship and questioning my intentions or expressing resentment even though he agreed to things at the time.
6. He's expressing resentment about me being controlling. His examples: I told him to drink less chemicals (Diet Coke / iced tea), I was picky and controlling about how to decorate the house and he didn't get much of a say. Granted, I do have control issues but I am not as controlling as he makes me sound.

We are now in couples counseling but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how a 3 week trip can literally break him and I come back to a whole different person. And he's seeing this as a mostly positive transformation and presenting it as such to everyone around him and asking for validation (and he's getting it).
Have any of you faced anything like this before? What do you think is actually going on?

If you're looking to become a USNA Midshipman, this is your free-fire zone. Ask any question, no matter how big or small. Some examples:

• What kind of shoes should I wear to NASS (Naval Academy Summer Seminar)?
• I'm an 8th grader, what classes should I take to get into USNA?
• I got accepted into NROTC and USNA - which should I pick?
• I want to be a medical doctor - can I do that from USNA?
• I want to be a SEAL - should I try to go to USNA?
• I didn't get in on my first attempt, should I enlist?
• I finished two years of university, is it too late to go to USNA?

To be very clear - no one in this subreddit speaks on behalf of the Admissions Department, USNA, or the DoN/DoD, even if they are affiliated with such. But we do have quite a few folks who are familiar with the process, having gone through it or been involved with it previously, and are willing to provide informal guidance. When in doubt, contact Admissions or your Blue and Gold Officer for official guidance. Your mileage may vary, caveat emptor, and as always, GO NAVY BEAT ARMY.

First Previous Wiki
"What am I looking at?" Edu'frec asked. Gaia had taken his android to a small room with a single holographic projector connected to a power outlet. The room was generally devoid of any other features, with grey drywall and a concrete floor. The ceiling was also concrete, poured quickly by construction robots.
He narrowed their location to several cities within the Guulin Congressional Republic, the only area with so much of this housing. It was where the freed Guulin slaves from the United Legions had gone, a new nation shaped mostly around the Hudson Bay, for which Canada had ceded in an agreement they were still getting paid back handsomely.
In fact, the Guulin Congressional Republic's economy was outpacing even those of the Pan-Andes Union and China together. It was on its way to adding India and America to the list of nations its combined GDP would surpass.
With the unique economic system Phoebe had helped President Blistanna pioneer, the pittance of money available to pay everyone for their work was enough for them to survive. Phoebe subsidized the entire nation with her vast wealth and workforce, building housing, meat factories, additional production facilities for desalinated water, and specialized city foundations.
Essentially, the entire nation was a single metropolis wrapping around the Bay, glowing as bright as the economic cores of the richest nations on Earth. Given their past conditions, the Guulin's reception was broadly warm. Blistanna's outreach and diplomacy efforts had ensured that every nation on Earth and Luna recognized the Republic and allowed Guulin to immigrate or visit with visas.
It was reflected in the North American Hub Airport, which had nearly 30,000 planes arriving and departing from its roughly 200 runways. Technically, the airport was 20 smaller complexes arrayed in the general Winisk area along the beach.
The city had been built to accommodate the number of flying planes, with an array of monorails and hotels near the edges of the airport, complete with shielding layers for noise cancellation and protection measures. The greater array of shields around the Republic also shined brightly in the sky.
Using his eyes, he could even see the reflected light underneath the door, even on the concrete. All his thoughts and analysis had taken less than a second. That was much the same as before his risky encounter with the power of his own mind turning against him. Edu'frec was wary of such experiences again and watched himself with many vigilant VI programs. The most important points of failure last time were the data veins, so several thousand VIs had been jointly made by him and Phoebe precisely to address that.
They weren't directly managed by Edu'frec, which should allow them to continue their operations and transform them if he went into collapse again. Phoebe's concern over him continued to dominate her mind, and it showed no signs of stopping.
He was glad that she loved him so much. Not everyone was as lucky as him, and a parent like her was wonderful. Ri'frec's eccentricities meant they'd grown apart a bit as Edu'frec had gotten older, but their relationship was also loving. Sadly, it could never be as deep as the one with Phoebe because there was just so much that Ri'frec couldn't know and understand.
Even the pace of their conversations reflected that, as did Ri'frec's moderate inferiority complex to Phoebe which he knew about and was seeking counseling for. It was inevitable, though Edu'frec hoped that he could get what he needed, considering the rising costs of counseling and therapy these days.
Phoebe subsidized those, too.
"This is the rough area where the planet cracker hit Earth several years ago. I've been monitoring the energy and consistency of the plates here, and I'm seeing some worrying upwelling in the crust," Gaia said. The hologram showed a topographic map of the Atlantic Ocean, centered on the North American Basin and with the edge of the mid-ocean ridge in view.
Several areas resembling an impact crater remained from the desperate scramble to save Earth from a planet cracker impact. Much of the ocean's topography had been altered since most of the protective efforts were saved for a perimeter area around the impact before the energy delivered could punch through the mantle to deliver its powerful impact to the planetary core.
"So we'll see a new mountain range in several millennia?"
That was what the data showed. The eastern edges of the North American Plate and the western edges of the African and Eurasian Plates had fractured into dozens of smaller pieces, generating massive earthquakes every few months in the region. In some places, the lateral movement of the larger plates outward as pulling on the smaller ones rotationally, making them rotate slowly into the other plates that could only subduct or buckle in response after large earthquakes. It was just another small thing that had changed since the beginning of all this mess with the First Contact.
Luckily, the zone was underwater, and the city and national shields every inhabited landmass on the planet were equipped with ensured all the tsunamis could do was splash against them. Some were very big waves, too, which would have killed thousands in floods.
It had also required shields to be placed on tethered platforms in the sea connected to the seafloor by a series of heavy anchors, which generated shields to both disrupt the waves and provide safe travel corridors for cargo ships.
"No. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still fractured, but all I can see is that there is movement in the crust which cannot be explained by our current theories. Now that our shields are capable of it, and with my power having grown so large, we can conduct vertical expeditions and topographic mapping of the actual rock itself. That is what I want to do, because I believe there is an object of non-natural origin responsible for some of the earthquakes we have seen."
Lists of earthquakes from thousands of 7 and 8 Richter scale movements to the roughly monthly 9 and above earthquakes appeared.
"I specifically believe that the 9.7 and above earthquakes are not natural generations. There should not be enough energy between the plates to generate that level of energy where they are being made. Including the 10.5 which resulted in the loss of nearly half the shield platforms two years ago, along with several plate fractures. Alone, they suggest a pattern which coincides roughly with the perigee of Luna."
He checked the data, and it mostly panned out. He gave Gaia a small nod but then spoke on the point he'd noticed.
"But only roughly."
"Yes. Its period is off by a small but significant time, though the current ones correspond to a far older Lunar orbital cycle, which would line up perfectly with the perigee of the Lunar orbit as of roughly 65 million years ago."
They paused to let Edu'frec absorb the meaning of that. And it was true, too. The timeframe they'd mentioned was worrying, though. When things lined up with mass extinctions and violent upheaval in the past, it wasn't a good sign. Sometimes, treating the world like it was a story was the better option. Fate was real, and the tropes seen in stories had happened before.
Edu'frec was sure that eventually, the old enemies who had escaped the Alliance would return once again: Exii'darii, Yasihaut, Aphid, the fleet of generals and commanders who had left Izkrala and never returned for an unknown reason. Reality could be and was altered by incredibly powerful entities, which had the ability and willingness to do so again. Time rolled back damage from their future wars. Luck determined many nebulous things, as did Fate.
Neither of them were as absent as they appeared. Universal entities had been crammed into a scant few galaxies. The idea that they wouldn't meddle in every aspect of it had long been disproven. So the alignment was a bad sign. He readied all known data on the extinction, from the asteroid to the earlier volcanic eruptions before it.
Even wilder theories of direct alien interventions and occupations on Earth were not discounted. Since it seemed everyone could inhabit the same planets with few exceptions like the Pselpaw and Dreedeen, Earth as a habitable world would have been a target of colonial efforts by any nearby nations or those whom the Sprilnav had not managed to contact to impose a system limit.
Ironically, the system limits also greatly lessened the number of wars between galactic nations. The Alliance would be forced to uphold this system if it overthrew them until a better alternative could be implemented, like merging some of those nations.
"So... what are you saying?"
"I believe there is an alien object dating back to the Cretaceous Extinction. There are references to something that could be similar in my memories."
"So you came here in an some sort of transport, then?"
"I am not sure," Gaia admitted, their eyes flicking downward. "My earliest memories are highly spotty, and I know at least some are artificial. However, I can trace my existence on Earth back at least 40 million years, so it is not impossible that my origin is tied to this object, or perhaps others like it. Maybe the planet cracker activated it through direct impact somehow."
Edu'frec absorbed that. The information was shocking and it was a little worrying that it was coming out now. The secrecy might have been warranted, but he knew there was more he had yet to hear. He gave Gaia an expectant look, and they settled upon a small chair.
"Do you have evidence of any ancient civilizations inhabiting Earth at the time?"
"No. Earth has remained untouched for at least that 50 million years, perhaps longer. Though the date of the Cretaceous extinction also lines up to a worrying degree with how far back the Source's location in the mindscape moved here. In fact, the Source almost seems like it is deliberately staying near Earth. The galaxy's rotation, as well as the Sol system's individual movement and Earth's orbit logically should mean the location changes over time. But it does not. The bones have been here for at least that long, perhaps down to the exact time. I have no finite data to support my following theories, but I think they are important for me to tell you, and more so for you to keep secret."
"Very well," Edu'frec agreed. "I can keep a secret, as long as it does not endanger the Alliance."
Gaia considered his caveat, then nodded. Several locks of hair fell in front of their chest before psychic energy moved it back to Gaia's back. Their glittering black eyes and light green skin looked quite menacing. Of course, he only observed that. Most of his negative emotions were still locked away, as he had no need for them.
"I believe the Source has a limited ability to predict the future. It also has complete control of the mindscape, especially in the deeper levels. So my theory is that the Source came here to attack something, and that it is still here because of us. Us as in Humanity, the Alliance, Penny. There is a dark secret in the Earth, one which we must uncover."
"And that the Cretaceous extinction was actually the Source's attempt to either kill or seal something that was here, and is related to you in some way?"
"Yes. And do you notice how much time Paizma and John spend by the oceans?"
"That is hardly evidence."
He knew what they were going for but wanted to ensure that there was at least some sound information behind it before he committed. Generally, he could arrive at conclusions quickly and form detailed algorithms for detecting which data was relevant and which wasn't. Recently, he'd developed a few algorithms that could actually incorporate a meaningful relevance scale.
It was something that many had been capable of before him, even with VIs. However, the scale of the data he worked with required high degrees of accuracy in the number and a truly quantifiable difference between a piece of data with 76.27362% and 76.27364% relevancy, for example. And the quantity had to be something he and Phoebe could intrinsically understand and use in their common applications.
Sadly, the other AIs in the Alliance, like Cander, Greenfly, and Blackfly, could not process such large amounts of data. He'd seen the terms 'static' and 'active' AI to separate them.
"Yes, but Paizma is four-dimensional. That means she can see a far larger part of Earth than we can, including the inside. In fact, with four-dimensional geometry involved, all of her locations would have been capable of viewing the Mid-Atlantic. We don't know who she really is, or the upper limit of her power. She was made by the Sprilnav. Is it not possible that her reason for interest is that she detects a danger or a threat nearby?"
"It is possible," Edu'frec admitted. He'd considered her Sprilnav origins far more than almost anyone else. He knew that if she was a threat, the Alliance needed a way to fight her and win. Because if she wasn't, the Sprilnav could make more enemies like her. Clandestine research into 4-dimensional detection systems and arrays was ongoing, though the only way they were even possible was with either speeding space energy or psychic energy.
Edu'frec knew that Paizma had psychic energy, at least, meaning it was a medium capable of interaction with the fourth spatial dimension. "Though that part of your theory is the weakest. It is likely suspicion talking. It is just like how the soul-creatures deeper in the mindscape resemble dragons in many ways. A neat coincidence, but there is no direct evidence saying that is what people actually managed to see. However, your theory is highly concerning. Do you believe you were put here as a response to whatever was or is here by an outside threat?"
"I do not, but I also admit that is possible," Gaia said. "I don't know what I am, though I didn't take a human form before meeting Humanity in general."
"Can you show me your previous forms?"
Gaia did so. Edu'frec logged each one and took a further interest in all of them. He ran them through every single image he had on file, and besides heaps of VI-generated data from the early 2030s, there were no similarities. He checked more datasets provided by Phoebe's espionage efforts in the wider galaxy.
"Is that..."
He parsed a new set of images from a very worrying location. Historical records bequeathed from the People's Autonomous Stars. Kashaunta's nation.
"What?" Gaia asked nervously. "What is it?"
"You're..."
"Just spit it out."
"You're a psychic golem. Made from shredded souls melted by torture and atrocity."
Gaia blinked. They crossed their arms, descending deep into thought for 10 minutes. They were clearly re-examining their life and all the steps that led up to this point. Edu'frec could imagine how much of a shock that would be.
Eventually, Gaia steadied their emotions, and their gaze fell intensely on Edu'frec's eyes.
"From who?" It was a demand laced with abject desperation and nearly full to bursting with curiosity. With thousands or millions of years with no new information, how would Gaia feel anything else?
"A Sprilnav splinter regime that was eventually destroyed in a very large galactic war, one responsible for the destruction of over 3 million nations and several quintillion deaths. The reason the Sprilnav list for the war was 'morally bankrupt practices and rituals so illegal the Everlasting himself fought by our side.' Given that the Elders who wrote that reasoning have associated death tolls in the quadrillions, that's quite concerning."
Edu'frec read the more detailed descriptions given of the atrocities that occurred. Abject horror and disgust broke his emotional locks. He created a few thousand VIs to get a handle on them. But the emotions were so powerful they were never completely subdued, either.
He saw people being marched by the millions into machines glittering with psychic energy, with thick wires emanating from them. Then he got to the video footage of the interiors. They were designed to extract as much suffering as possible from living beings. The very first part was 'processing' where the ending digits - tentacle tips, horn tips, fingers, toes, hooves, claws, and even beaks and vestigial graspers - were cut from the victims with dulled saws and fed to them.
The depraved accounts only worsened. Acid. Cooking. Flaying. Slow dismemberment, while being subjected to the other three. More atrocities, which alone were evil things, but together made a regime unique in its terrible, meticulous, and industrialized genocides. Edu'frec split his mind in half to deal with the disgust and revulsion rippling through him like the winds of a hurricane.
They flashed with every new recorded scream, squeal, and squeak. Many of his androids released their finer movements to the control of VI assistant programs, and his data veins started to swell. Soon, fifteen thousand digital strokes hit his mind. Dedicated programs cut them apart, along with the piling data on the deep level of distress starting to overwhelm his defenses.
"So what did they do?"
Edu'frec was silent for a whole five seconds. He limited the scope of what he would say before proceeding. Phoebe checked in on him, and he sent her a small packet of information on what he'd found. It was the first data packet he'd ever assigned to the maximum level of content warning between him and Phoebe: a 10. He also added a note that it would be an 11 if the scale was to be properly adjusted.
Manes shook across the Sol system as androids rebooted. Phoebe gave him a digital nod and helped him purge his systems of the filth polluting them. Even more concerning, there was a residual conceptual effect to it. It was weak, but strong for an event tens of millions of years old.
Though now, Edu'frec knew why, at a terrible cost.
"They managed to breach the Source's afterlife and caused the death of nearly a tenth of the Sprilnav inside it and all of the ancient species prior to the Source war that managed to survive there. More specifically, they figured out a way to generate power using the power of living and dead souls, and managed to kill a Progenitor before Nova took their power source for himself and detonated their stars in supernovae.
Apparently the Stannic Resistance's leaders are all still alive, and being continually imbued with Conceptual Suffering by the Source. You, Gaia, were made by them. I believe the reason you are on Earth is because the Source is here, and this is the best location in the galaxy to influence the afterlife, or to destroy it. It also happens to be very close to their prison. The bones of the Source are their prison, in fact. If this has to relate to the device buried in the oceanic crust... this is a threat I am required to disclose."
Gaia nodded. Their eyes blinked away tears. "Don't tell them how I was made if you don't have to. I would rather not be seen like that."
"I won't," Edu'frec promised. He grabbed Gaia's hands, looking into their worried eyes. "We'll get through this together. You saved my life. It's time for me to pay you back."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"What do you think?" Space asked. "It does seem like Indrafabar is practicing interference."
"The boundary is beyond this," Lecalicus said. "He is participating as a High Judge, not a Progenitor. And yes, the lines will be muddier, but there needs to be a higher backing for this trial besides Justicar alone. The rest of Sprilnav society and Indrafabar himself knows this. Technically, Nova and Filnatra are also High Judges, but they have avoided this trial entirely for the reasons of their bias. Indrafabar had a bit of rapport after his prior run-in with Penny on the flagship."
"But that is not for you to decide."
"This is a Sprilnav Judgment, and Justicar himself has allowed it. He is able to avoid Progenitor mental manipulations by the sheer size of his mind. Only Nova could control him, and imperfectly at that. I assume that the rest of the concept entities know this as well."
"But he is interfering in the affairs of the Sprilnav."
"He is a Sprilnav," Lecalicus said. "Unlike with Nova or Twilight, I have confidence in his impartiality in this case."
He cringed as yet another piece of Death's energy wracked his soul. Penny's attempt to heal him had done nearly nothing in the end, sadly. Lecalicus hoped that she would become more capable later on, though it was a bit much for her to stand against the full weight of Death at her young age, with her paltry capabilities.
They were impressive on a local timeframe, but that didn't mean she wasn't weak. If even Nova wasn't able to dispel Lecalicus' pain, as the other Progenitor had messaged him, then it was unlikely that Penny could do so in his place. And it was probably more important for her to focus on the Judgment and freeing the slaves on Justicar.
Lecalicus was still very tired, though. Weakness and lethargy clung to his bones. They were weak and brittle now, and he suspected that he would die if he was hit by a planet cracker in his current state. Space's energy counteracted Death's brutality, forcibly displacing his energy and dumping it into a black hole, which only she or Time could retrieve energy from. In fact, she had a small black hole in the room, though it was separated from him by a spatial barrier. A portal allowed the light from its accretion disk to dimly shine so he could see without being burned by the heat.
It was a massive statement of power, though Space had even more than that. Had Death's attack been a single thing, Lecalicus would have been rid of it by now. But it wasn't. It was a continuous, agonizing punishment, siphoned from the raw power Death now had from the deaths of countless beings across the universe after the Source war.
"Justicar is friendly overall to Penny," Space said. "That means Indrafabar will oppose him."
"Why do you think that?"
"It would be a good reason for him to be there. To uphold the standards of the elite Sprilnav classes."
"You forget that Indrafabar is their voice, too," Lecalicus replied. A thin trickle of blood ran from his snout, which Space started to heal. "Even more than Kashaunta as an Elder. She is the second richest Sprilnav, and he is the first. His title, the Digital King, rings as a true one in many nations that reserve a spot for his absolute rule, mostly to benefit from name-brand recognition and many Elders' lack of willingness to test themselves against a defending Progenitor.
That's how he started, after all. Selling his protection to Elders who couldn't afford to risk shunning it or him. Many of his deals provide a constant stream of income, and with the civil wars he refuses to interfere in between nations, he backs both ways; he can get new contract offers all the time. If I were not insane or more focused on politics, I could do the same thing.
Us Progenitors just have to ask for something to get it, but Indrafabar manufactures goodwill by at least compensating people for what he buys. Do you really think that I used money to pay for my food or drinks during the days of my insanity? That the revolving door of wives I had were being compensated in any way besides my own endowments? I would say not."
"Yet, they are dead now," Space said, a smile quirking on her lips. "They are dead, and I have you all to myself now."
"Yes, but we can't enjoy that currently. The risk is too high."
"I know. Tell me, Lecalicus. If Indrafabar is the voice of the elite, what happens if another Progenitor disagrees?"
"They won't publically. That weakens our collective image and reputation. Other Progenitors are honorary members of the elite, such as me, Nova, Twilight, Maya, Filnatra, and Arneladia, but only Twilight, Nova, and Filnatra likely have any true membership. They have stores of wealth in the top 2% of Elders, which is enough to get by without demanding anything."
"And your wealth?"
"You would know about that, Space. Considering how I have gotten it in the past."
He let out a hacking cough, clearing his vision again by tearing out his eyes and regrowing them. The numbed pain meant it was easy for him, and Space had seen that many times now. Twilight likely enjoyed the limb ripping more than he did, though.
"Yes, by teleporting gold and alloys from several nation's federal reserves, generally causing massive economic problems inside them after the news leaked. I remember."
"Mine is in the top 35%. It is far harder to amass the wealth Elders have when they have lived for billions of years trying to make more of it. Often, even the poorest Elders can make a fortune through inheritances, or by literally just working a job for a billion years. A salary of a million credits a year for a billion years would equal a quadrillion credits, after all."
"How do you all not go insane?"
"The same way you guys don't. Our emotions of boredom and those related to it can be numbed or eliminated on command. Elders have lots of time to train their minds and bodies. Progenitors do more, refining our very souls to be resilient. It is how Twilight survived the black hole, and why I supposedly can destroy the universe if I go on a sufficiently furious rampage."
"The reason you can do that is because to raise your levels of conceptual energy to alter reality requires direct input from the soul. At your levels you can take that from the prospective 'end' of your lives, burning years or eons for bursts of power. Of course, the problem is that you are immortal. So even if you go insane and are in constant pain from a shattered soul, even the pieces are enough to power the rampage. And the soul is more than just psychic energy."
"Yes," Lecalicus agreed. "That is what you all say. But that is not why we're here, either. It is about Indrafabar. He has done perhaps the least outwardly visible interference of any Progenitors in contact with Penny. As much as any of us can be, he is a good man. In certain circumstances, I would trust him with my life."
"And which would you not?" Space asked, raising an eyebrow like humans did. She was wearing the form of one, though with a sense of overwhelming weight and scale to her that was typical of her more powerful forms. It was needed to influence Death's grip on Lecalicus at all.
"If his or Nova's was at stake as well, and the cost of their survival was my life. Nearly every sentient creature, and many animals as well, would prioritize their own survival over any other, and Indrafabar is a Progenitor because of Nova. That is not a debt that can be paid back, no matter how many times he saves Nova's life."
"And how many did he do that again?"
"Around 10 to 20 times, all during the Source war. Past that, nothing. Nova is entirely biological, so it isn't like an AI could hack him. Though one could connect to him through psychic energy, and attack him that way as a psychic variant of AI like Phoebe or Narvravarana."
"Isn't that a threat?"
"Nova's conceptual name is the Everlasting among the Sprilnav," Lecalicus said. "He is the most powerful being in the universe who was actually born of a womb or of any creator. Invading his mind is so laughably foolish even Narvravarana never tried it more than once when they almost went to war."
"I heard of that," Space said. "But I do not understand why that is impossible."
"If you move slower than light, can you escape the inside of a black hole purely by motion?"
"No. Well, a hypothetical person could not. I could, because I'm built different."
Lecalicus chuckled. "Yes. Well, trying to take over Nova's mind is like trying to walk out of a black hole. He is conceptually powerful enough to have his own event horizon in his mind he can create with psychic energy. He can close off, and everything inside will die.
One creature has survived even temporary imprisonment in there, and it is a speeding space entity of the Broken God's Pantheon. But while Nova is the pinnacle of all life, that does not mean he does not want our help when we can give it. I know you two aren't exactly friendly, but he really does mean well. He just doesn't know what he wants sometimes, and his ego and emotions get in the way of his prudence."
"Indrafabar's involvement on the trial is not acceptable."
"It is not optimal, Space. But if the trial is not seen as fair by the elites, they will declare it void. That has happened before. Kashaunta's predecessor as the richest non-Elder died that way. He ran out of allies, and even Justicar's token objection to the violation of the trial rules was ignored. There comes a point where only the social contract holds back the fury of hatred. If this Judgment, the talk of every household in the Secondary Galaxy and soon in a Primary Galaxy meeting, is seen as illegitimate, it will have dire consequences.
Rebellions, rogue nations. Yasihaut's backers would happily sanction an attack against the Alliance to drive a wedge between Penny and Kashaunta. Now they know there is some tension thanks to their treaty meeting, which Valisada recorded. And they know that Pennyonly grows more powerful. Look at her power, and you can see."
Space did so. Her eyes glazed over, and Lecalicus worked in a cough that had been building up for a while.
"What is that?"
"Her new name among the Sprilnav, spoken by everyone aware of her. The Liberator."
"But the recursive effect alone-"
"Will be massive. But look closer," Lecalicus told her.
"What- oh."
Space was silent for a long moment. Ghostly images of random humans appeared in the room. Small glimmers of psychic and conceptual power linked all of them. The hivemind's network grew until it was fully on display in the single room. Normally, the 15 or 16 billion humans wouldn't fit in a single room. But Space didn't care about those rules. Bodies crossed without intersection, and a pale apparition of the hivemind appeared over them.
Incredibly, Penny and several other humans were a level 'above' the rest, though Lecalicus recognized only Penny, Tsonga, and Nichole. They almost looked like nodes in the hivemind's network, really. Penny was still gently connected, though nothing of substance could be shared over such an extreme distance, especially within any reasonable time frame.
The hivemind's glowing colors brightened, and Space grew concerned. Lecalicus watched as her grip on the conceptual power weakened slightly. The hivemind's arm twitched. The 'nodes' began to vibrate as their expressions became ones of immense determination. Small pockets of effort bubbled up in a rippling wave across the hivemind, separating into distinct blocks.
Lecalicus noticed a block of humans that were smaller than normal. Tens of thousands of fetuses, with stronger genetics than usual. He smiled.
Cloning.
He'd keep that a secret. He couldn't afford an interference penalty, and Penny might really kill him if he leaked the existence of a human cloning project.
How odd, that I now fear her, he mused. It spoke both to how far he'd fallen, and how far she'd risen.
Each block began to coordinate, all without the humans inside them knowing. The nodes did, though, and kept fighting. Space shrugged and released the vision. The room returned to normal, and they shared a long, contemplative silence.
Lecalicus loved a good wait when it didn't leave him nothing to distract himself from the dull ache of his pain and the jolts of power Death sent into him to keep requiring Space's treatment. She sucked in a breath of the gas which filled the room, which had properties Lecalicus didn't understand. Calling it 'air' didn't really cut it.
"So that was enlightening. Humanity is more powerful than I hoped."
"The hivemind," Lecalicus said. "She is still connected to it, and thus every heap of power she gains attaches a scrap of the Liberator name to all of Humanity. Champion is weak as a title, but Liberator is strong. Too strong for her own good."
"What does that mean for her, and for us?"
"For us? It means we might be seeing some more freedom here soon. But for them? Fire, dust, and blood."
"Is that why?" Space asked.
"Why what?"
"Why Indrafabar is on the trial."
"It might be a reason. I don't know his exact motivations, and can only approximate. Part of his reason could be 'because I can' or to express his power as a Progenitor to force even Justicar to move on his own planet to make room for him in the highest profile trial he's had in thousands of years. Indrafabar's ego is not dormant, let's just say. But I would expect Penny's actions to come up in the trial.
Remember, all Yasihaut, the Challenger, has to prove to the court is that the Defendant, Penny, is a threat to the Sprilnav, and successfully lump the Alliance. If she manages to convict Penny alone, it would cause problems for her."
"How?"
"Because if Penny knew she was about to die, and was in the room with her most hated rival, do you really think conceptual armor would stop Penny from killing her this time? She already has a weapon capable of breaching that armor, and the strength to wield it. With two utterances, she could get it and then ensure it reaches Yasihaut."
"It would be a foolish decision."
"To kill a rival in one's final breath is the dream of many, alien or Sprilnav. But the court will not be partial toward the Alliance, that is for sure. Penny will have an uphill battle, and Phoebe is not allowed to represent her for this one either. As for the Judgment, it is a trial that will be harder to keep fact-based than the last one, which ended up in a massive battle and the crippling of me and Twilight, the abduction of Nilnacrawla, and even the extra pushes by the AIs of the Alliance along the Path. Speaking of which, there has been a development with Edu'frec."

https://preview.redd.it/khtitvtjo20d1.png?width=452&format=png&auto=webp&s=12684fd86027d519a34ecc2145012612683c2a7e
Im talking about this shit, this such example is from Attila, but since that amazing release of Rome 2 some 11 years ago, which introduced so many creative, great and functional systems, CA saw fit to keep some of them going forward such as this shit, I mean why shouldnt they? Seemingly so few people care about this, and I appear to be in the minority to think its one of the worst features ever that is so fundamental to nu-TW now.
I also havent seen a good argument for why this was a good idea, or at least the limit to the armies and navies anyway. So much agency is ripped from the player with this fucking bullshit, and so much strategy is just gone as a result. You have so little autonomy when it comes to real garrisons and military strength and public order, your entire fucking basis is reliant on your arbitrary faction size, why? To me this shit reeks of AI balancing, because there is no logical, realistic basis for this limit. If I have a huge population, and lots of money and a requirement for more armies, why cant I have them?
This shit also can cause many other issues like the inability to trap armies, inability to effectively defeat in detail, inability to reinforce armies with extra troops, and a big big fucking problem are the teleporting max strength generals and their bodyguards which will take a Taylor Swift private jet all the way across the world to replace his predecessor.
Some will say that this is actually another layer of strategy because you need to manage your deployment more carefully, but I have to question why this is had to be a source of streamlining instead of just fixing the fucking AI. They already removed my freedom in regards to how I build my settlements, and removed the ability for small towns to evolve into cities, but this shit was too far, its so fuckin restrictive and it aligns with everything becoming sterile and autistic and arcadey these days.
Theres also the fact that this system prevents you from deploying armies in the true roman fashion, late rome partially relied on smaller detachments of border troops to quell raids and slow down hordes, this shit is literally not possible with this system, its just dreadful dogshit.

My perfectionism is ruining everything and i don’t know what to do. I’m so worried about everything and feel as if im in a corner.
Ive tried counselling but it never worked out, i didn’t feel like i could answer honestly because i didn’t want them to think of me in a certain way: like telling them id been in school four days rather than the one. To me it seemed pathetic to miss it, and that it would make me seem like a “failure”.
Most of my problems with parents stem from perfectionism, it’s the only time we fight. I feel like they don’t understand like i know it’s in my head but i don’t know what to do to help change things.
School : is where my perfectionism is most evident. I regularly miss tests due to the extreme anxiety that i’ll mess up even if i know the topic inside and out.
Assignments suck because i procrastinate to the point i can’t get anything done (i’ve yet to hand in a history essay) and than this leads to me missing classes and days incase a teacher confronts me or they hand back the corrected work. Most of my subjects are project based (20% of the final points) and we will be starting them soon, i’m already dreading them as i know i’ll struggle and i know my parents are dreading them too. For example we had to embroider something for the JC and i kept redoing it over and over even thought it was decent my mother but so frustrated with me she finished it herself.
I’ve gave up so many hobbies due to this too. A bass i wanted for years for me to only play a couple of times and never pick up again after breaking a string because i was too embarrassed to practice and sound bad even though that’s how it works. A sport i gave up after years because i thought everyone even the new players were better than me.
The mental help team in my country is terrible too, counselling services have waitlisted of months or are extremely expensive. I’ve been recommended for an ASD assessment, on the list for a year but i feel like i don’t have it as a friend feels me a lot about their experiences having it and from researching. So i feel like im at a dead end.
I’m going into the final year of secondary education but am thinking of just dropping out cause i don’t think i could cope being like this in third level education. I feel hopeless
Does anyone have advice ? thanks !

My (33f) parents (mid 60s) have been having marital problems. To make that long story short, my dad is a bleeding heart who wants to take care of his siblings who spent the last 30 years mooching off my grandma that passed away a few months back, and my mom thinks they should apply for welfare and not be asking for their hard earned retirement money. They can’t come to a compromise. It’s destroying their marriage.
The context for this issue started yesterday. My younger brother and I made plans to take our mom out for breakfast and shopping to celebrate Mother’s Day with her. We did it yesterday, as I have two kids now and planned to spend today being celebrated and loving on them. My mom was supportive of this.
She didn’t want my dad to come, because she wanted to discuss a possible divorce with us, and what that would look like. Mostly sorting out which one of us would have custody of her until she got on her feet, since she hasn’t worked in several years.
No one really made it clear to him that he wasn’t invited, I guess. So he assumed he was and joined us. I was fine with this. I love my dad, and also didn’t really want to take time out of a day meant to celebrate my mom to talk about something that was so emotional (and honestly not even set in stone yet, she’s just thinking about divorce).
I’m going to be clear, I think they’re both being immature and stupid, so I’m not taking sides with them. They’re both wrong in their own way and they should both be doing better by each other. Neither are being compassionate or loving or understanding, and neither are taking the appropriate productive steps to try to fix things. Also, neither would know a compromise if it slapped them in the face.
Anyways, the Saturday Mother’s Day celebration overall went well. My mom expressed she was happy with how the day went, and with that I was happy to turn my attention to being celebrated myself the next day.
This morning, my partner and kids surprised me with a lovely spread of super thoughtful gifts and cards. My toddler was in a surprisingly good mood. My big kid was being sweet. My partner and I were in a good place. I ordered a new flavor coffee I had been wanting to try. It was starting off to be a fantastic Mother’s Day. I was feeling really happy.
And then I got a phone call from my mom. I picked up and cheerily said hello expecting us to exchange some loving words and happy mothers days. But instead, in tears, she says “I’m at [neighbors] house. Can you come pick me up?”
I was honestly disappointed. She got her celebration yesterday and today was supposed to be for me. I felt bad that that was my immediate reaction. Because I want to just openly and lovingly offer help when it’s needed without any bad feelings. I said I’d come get her, and left.
Turns out, she was upset that my dad didn’t do anything for her today. And he felt he didn’t need to because we celebrated her yesterday. And again, my immediate internal response was “so that means I don’t get to get celebrated?” It felt so small compared to my disappointment, even though I know it was clearly a big deal to her. I also felt bad because this was the point in time I realized it was my dads first Mother’s Day without his own mom around.
I had a quick heart to heart with my dad, and took my mom to coffee. I spent the next hour listening to her talk shit about my dad, while not at all tasting that coffee I mentioned before that I had been excited about because I was too stressed out to even register that there was something to be tasting. I tried guiding her to a more mature way of looking at all the things she was saying. For example, my dad had said something that would indicate he was feeling insecure and she was upset about it. I pointed out that maybe he was insecure and what a better response from her might have been.
I stepped away to call my brother and ask if I could drop our mom off so I could get back to my kids. We’ve had a lot of our own family struggles lately and I had been looking forward to just relaxing for the first time in months. He agreed that I should have that and he’d absolutely host our mom. I told my mom the plan, and she said she needed to grab some things from home before we went.
We get to her house, and I wait in the car while she goes inside. About 20 minutes pass and I get a text from her saying they’re arguing, and that she wanted me to come in and get her.
As I’m walking up to their door, still about 30 feet away, I can already hear them screaming at each other. I get very triggered by screaming matches. That’s another story. But I basically blacked out when I opened the door, matched their volume to get them to hear me, and then just stayed at that volume while I went off.
I don’t remember everything I said while I went off for several minutes. But of what I do remember, I said things like:

• I’m your child, I should not be in the middle of this
• You two are acting like children right now and need to grow up and act like you like each other
• You both keep telling me how much you love each other so effing act like it
• You’re both so stubborn you can’t even see that that stubbornness is the actual problem here
• This is tearing your kids apart just as much as it’s tearing you apart
• You need to go back to counseling and keep going back to counseling because this is absolutely ridiculous
• I should be at home right now being celebrated by my children but instead I’m here talking to you two like you’re children. I’m not either of your mothers, yet here I am lecturing you

And when I ran out of things to say, I left.
In the moment I felt really justified, because they’ve really junked up a day that was supposed to be about me. But over the last couple hours I have started to feel terrible. They’re both hurting and I laid into them and walked out. I wasn’t supportive of them and didn’t act loving. I feel as though I acted selfishly when family needed me. I have since apologized for my reaction.
Not really sure what to feel I guess. So at the very least- AITA?

I am a 46M and my girlfriend is 48F. We have been together for over 2 years now. We met when I was separating from my Ex-wife. I was renting my place from my parents and was saving up to buy it from them. My dad passed and my mom had to move back into the house for financial reasons. I had no problem getting my own place, besides my pets, and was looking for one. But my girlfriend suggested I move in with her since we spent so much time at each other's place that our chores were getting neglected and made sense for the help around the house and finances. It was rather quick since we had only been dating for a couple of months but it seemed right. I will also say that I am an alcoholic but have been sober now for almost 7 months. And I know I was a mess when I was drinking and drove her to almost break up with me. But I got help, have a sponsor, and attend AA a couple of times a week. So the reason for my post. We both procrastinate at home when it comes to chores. Since getting sober though that has changed for me though. My primary chores are trash, dishes, and the cat box downstairs. Hers are laundry and upstairs cat box. We both share responsibility with our 2 dogs but she does take them for more walks due to my work schedule and spending a couple days a week with my daughter and AA. We have had numerous disagreements and they typically happen at least once a month. When this happens she isolates for 3-7 days and then jokes later on about how I'm dating a b*tch. She doesn't really apologize and we just move on. A prime example is she was in bed till noon and respecting her desire to sleep I kept it down and just played some games until she got out of bed. When she did she came out in a huff because I was playing games and not working on stuff. The last blow up we had, about 2 weeks ago, I moved all my stuff downstairs since in the past arguments she had suggested that to me. So around 4 days later we are moving on but honestly I don't feel like moving all my stuff upstairs and back again when the next fight comes around. And that leads us to the current situation. So I got home from work and started on yard work. We are redoing our lawn and tilling up the lawn takes a lot of time. I came in and everything was chill and I prepared to go downstairs. She said I didn't need to. I asked her what she wanted and she said she didn't care, whatever I wanted. I asked her what she wanted me to do and she said she doesn't care. This morning I woke up and was back in the yard around 8am. She let the dogs out but had forgotten to close the gates from the night before. We both spent some time driving around but couldn't find them. So went back to chores. She eventually located them through a neighborhood FB post and got them back. I had just killed the battery on the tiller and plugged it in. I came inside and stripped down due to being covered in dirt, washed my hands, and started doing the dishes. She said she wanted to get out of the house, and I asked her where she wanted to go. She had no clue just wanted to leave. I said I would go but just pick somewhere. She didn't and got upset with me for just standing around. I was loading the dishwasher. I went and showered, got dressed, and came back upstairs and she was gone. When I confronted her she just tries deflecting. She texted phrases like "I love how everything is on me, I just wanted to get out of the house." "Someday I will be perfect like you." " I'm sorry for all you have to put up with." "Had I known it was going to be 15 minutes I would have probably waited. Poor you that I didn't have concrete plans." I know this is only my side of the story but this kind of stuff happens on a regular basis. I've asked her to talk about her thoughts and feelings before blowing up so we have a chance to discuss what's bugging her. I ask her to put herself in my shoes but then says stuff like above. I love her deeply, and our sense of humor is the same and she is amazing with my daughter. But I'm not sure how I feel going through the rest of life with a one to two of these every month. I try talking to her and we have had several talks about how we should handle disagreements, primarily start with talking, but nothing is changing. I have suggested counseling might help, after the argument is over, but she has done nothing to make that happen. Her friends want to spend time with her and complain how they don't, and I encourage her to do so. I have never asked her not to drink since she isn't an alcoholic and have encouraged her to go have fun. Again she never does. I guess am I the jerk? Is there something more I can be doing? I ask her about it after the fight is over and she really can't explain it.

I need to attend marriage counseling, when I was in the Navy it was covered (12 sessions). Do we have anything similar? Thanks in advance.

So im 29 Y/O male and until recently i never realised that im probably suffering a pretty bad anxiety the older i get, i never had any anxiety when i was like 18 but now that im getting older its getting pretty bad.
I never even realised but i think i have OCD aswell or is OCD and Anxiety related/sameish thing?
It all pretty much started when i started losing my hair in my early 20s, i stopped going out, that gave me huge social anxiety, nothing would be worse than my friends seeing me without hair, it would just be super embarrasing for me, losing my hair in my 20s while other people have their glow up im basically already aging, nobody would fine me attractive etc, atleast thats what it felt like, i was very outgoing and partied alot and very social before that, i never got my license, i quit school because of that and i would rather die/live under a bridge homeless than have people know that im bald.
Im slowly getting over it, not a day goes by where im not anxious about it still but its getting better but few things im still really scared about and need to get done is getting drivers license, i got my license for 125cc bike and drove around for years before i was 18, no fear nothing at all but now suddenly im super scared of getting drivers license, i know if i just invested 10 hours into it i would get way more comfortable but i just cant get a start for it, i keep constantly procrastinating about it for years now.
I also work a job in data and the information i have to put into the system is super specific and i can't be wrong, i noticed because i check everything like 15x that it might be OCD aswell, for example if im copying numbers from somewhere and entering them to a system i check them all 15x to make sure i didnt put them in wrong, always doubting myself and having anxiety afterwards because of "what if" i put something wrong, im super scared of confrontation aswell which makes learning everything like driving harder aswell, im super scared of messing up and getting shouted at, people might forget it but ill remember it for years. constantly checking my work schedule to make sure im not late, checking the time i start like 10 times, going over everything 15 times, making sure my alarm is set and going over it multiple times aswell, just very repetitive and dumb, i know the first time that everything is correct but its just my fear of being called out and confronted and being wrong i guess?
As far as anxiety goes i dont really have panic attacks, i know some people have huge panic attacks on their own health and feeling like they are dying, not the case for me, never have had any panic attacks about my health or anything but i do have huge anxiety about other people, feeling like other people are gonna do something bad, especially when they are drunk or when i would be driving that other drivers wouldn't see me or just cut in front of me for no reason, like i would be doing everything perfect but somebody would just fuck up, even if im sitting passenger i sometimes have a fear that the driver maybe didnt see and he wont slow down if someones coming etc, stuff like that.
I never knew if my anxiety/OCD was bad or is it generally what everyone experiences, slight anxiety is good right and even slight OCD is not too bad, i never knew what my scale would be, ive never seeked any help or counseling for it, ive thought about maybe getting some drugs to help me, ive tried some natural stuff like ashwagandha and other useless stuff like theanine but they dont do anything for me, but at the same time im also kinda anxious how anti anxiety meds would make me feel and maybe they would make me "mess up" more at my job since im not checking everything over? maybe ill get too bold and be dangerous instead? not sure how it works
Is there anything mild i can try to get for anxiety/OCD? i feel like if i treated anxiety i wouldnt even have OCD because my OCD is coming from being anxious about stuff.

I took this theory to the ln discord a couple months ago, a lot of people agreed with it and/or said it was plausible, so I thought I’d share it here. I’ll break it down into 3 parts: one being why I believe Otto is the main antagonist of ln3, one part on what I believe The Spiral is, and another part on how I think a “Mirror House Hub” is a big part of ln3.
Otto:
In tson, otto says “spiral”, this is the setting of ln3 and the source. This is probably the worst and weakest link lmao. In tson, otto gives noone a mirror to feel as if she is conversing with herself, and knows all the answers to all questions she should ask, she is reflecting on herself if you will. Noone breaks such mirror. There is a leaked tson cover of a little girl (noone) standing in front of a giant broken mirror, held by some large adult behind it (otto), and inside seems to be a counseling room. Otto is an interesting name for him.. if you mirror “otto”, it doesn’t change. It is still readable exactly as “otto”. Otto calls his patients nicknames based on trauma (noone for example being a recollection of when she was called no one by bullies). Low and alone have names according to such, and may have even been previously administered to otto who gave them these names. When noone enters the nowhere, she doesn’t call him otto, she calls him “the counselor”, a descriptive name like every other resident within the nowhere. And obviously in ln3, the main antagonist is related to mirrors, which otto has shown a bit of relation to. The mirror in the trailer has the sound of a clock ticking when you get close to it. Coincidentally (or not), the tson cover with otto holding the mirror.. inside the mirror, there is a clock central inside of the counseling room, very obviously shown to the viewer. Low and alone as well in the necropolis gameplay wake up in a very interesting room, one that looks akin to a psychiatry room, just like otto had put noone in. Some sort of gas/smoke approaches after they wake up, it’s as if someone wants to send them back to sleep.. just like how otto drugged noone to sleep. This is probably not even all, just as much as i can immediately recollect about otto.
The Spiral:
So with otto out of the way, my personal theory is that the spiral is a dream state in the nowhere, a dream within a dream. It’s already evident you can sleep in the nowhere, but you can’t return to the real world by doing so. A spiral can be associated with delusions, ln3 is called a cluster of delusions. A spiral also of course is a descent, into a gradually worse state. If you consider that the spiral is a dream world inside of the nowhere that low and alone are being forced into by otto, they’d be going down a descent. First they fell asleep in the real world and arrived in the nowhere, next they fell asleep in the nowhere and arrived in the spiral. They’re literally spiraling downwards. This said, it’s also possible the spiral could be related to a loop, not like mono’s. I wonder why low has a map, it’s interesting. Has he been here before? Has he gotten it from someone? Well i believe he may have actually gotten it from himself, but an earlier time he visited the spiral. See, when low and alone died in the trailer, they shown low and alone waking up in a psychiatry patient’s room, but this was very obviously not the real world, they were still small, and still had their nowhere gear. Then a few seconds later, the smoke appears.. I believe it was sent by otto as a sleeping gas to send low and alone back to sleep into the spiral. This would be how they sleep into the spiral more than one time, and would also answer why when they wake up after death, they don’t actually die. Since this also isn’t a loop like mono’s and more like a reoccurring dream, this one is also able to be “broken”, technically speaking. I believe otto has a very similar institute like in the counties, but now in the nowhere, he is forcing low and alone to sleep into the spiral. That being said, otto would also never appear in the spiral, only in the mirrors watching perhaps. As for otto’s design, i personally believe it’ll be a mix of the original mirror man but with his tentacles gone, and replaced with smoke like the concept of thin man’s original head. We already know that smoke is somehow related to mirrors in ln3, and i believe that smoke is a sleeping gas emitted from otto’s head.
Mirror House Hub:
Now, with everything else out of the way, I think that the necropolis for example is not actually chapter 1 of the spiral, i think it can also be chapter 2, 3, or 4. Whatever you want. Why? there’s obviously a room in the necropolis starting mirror that looks nothing like the necropolis. I believe there will be a hub we start out in, a simple one that looks similar to the mirror house from the comics, about 4 tall mirrors standing tall against the walls in a hall which are chapters that we can enter in our own order. I think at the end of the hall will be the interesting mirror, but missing pieces from it’s frame, unusable. Now, if you were reading my initial theorizing above, you may think “why would they even travel the chapters of the spiral? why wouldn’t the order matter?” well, imagine in the chapters of the spiral, we are finding pieces for the broken mirror at the end of the hall in the mirror house hub.. I think it may have been shattered and all it’s pieces distributed into the other chapters that we access through the other mirrors. When we complete a chapter, we return to the mirror house, now with a piece for the big mirror. We do this through the other chapters until we have fixed the whole big mirror. I think the hub could also have a room to the left for example where we sit with nomes on pillows in front of a furnace, these nomes being nomes that we collected in the chapters. The hub house would be like a safe breath of fresh air after every chapter, and we would see it often until we have built the big mirror and entered the final chapter, which would be outside of the spiral, now in otto’s institute within the nowhere. A few pieces that might support this idea: in the ln2 post release survey, they included a question asking if players were interested in a consistent hub. The other piece of potential proof, the big mirror in the trailer appears shattered, but in the end of the trailer, it is randomly fixed and now seamless.
Remember, this is just a theory and concept of what ln3 might be based on evidence given to us. I feel it has to be close though, as i also feel them giving us tson after announcing ln3 for later, has to mean the two are connected, and ln3 may even continue tson’s events. I would attach images to this as well, but i don’t really know how to do that on reddit. Thanks for giving this the long read, i hope you can agree with it, maybe criticize it, add onto it. Whatever you feel like, it’s just fun to theorize

Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/noq25o1

Starting prices for single color: (2-4 business days)

Small parts: $45 Minimum charge AR small parts (LPK), handgun small parts, optic mounts, pistol grips, vert grips. Additional (S) items will be case by case. I’m not going to charge another $45 to do a dustcover for example.
Medium parts: Slides, grip modules, Shotgun/rifle fore ends, handguards up to 12”, upper receivers, collapsible AR stocks, ect: $65 each. Additional (M) items of same color: $55 each
Large parts: Handguards 13” and up, A2 stocks, shotgun buttstocks, rifle buttstocks, 18" shotgun barrels, ect: $75 each. Additional (L) items of same color: $65 each

PP F&F / VENMO NO NOTES!

Do you want camo pattern, battle-worn, or something else done? Shoot me a PM with what you're looking for! Just be aware that more complex layouts will have a longer turnaround.
NOTES, INFO, CHARGES
Quick note regarding Pirate Ship. I no longer use it. I have had two claims denied by their 3rd party insurance due to being gun parts and accessories. UPS is also a no go. As of a bit over a year ago they explicitly restrict the shipping of ANYTING gun related (with the exception of rifle scopes) to authorized firearm accounts. FedEx is similar.
PUT. A. NOTE. IN. THE. BOX!: Please include a note with the color you are requesting and the number of items you are having coated, your reddit handle, and best contact info. Saves me so much time! I include this request with my shipping information, but I do occasionally get a package without any info inside. The has me searching through all my chats and message until I can find out who sent what and what you wanted done. You know how easy Reddit’s DM system is to search….
OPTICS: I do most optics including open emitters. Prices vary on the optic. PM for info.
DISASSEMBLY AND REASSEMBLY: Included on common items. Sight installation/swapping included (they will be centered, so if you had them drifted let me know ahead of time). Larger or complex items will vary in cost. PM me with what you have. If you have something uncommon I may need to source a tool.
TURN AROUND TIME: Does not include weekends. Times listed are for "clean" items. It's actually not uncommon for me to have single color items completed faster than projected.
MORE PHOTOS?: Feel free to poke through my profile. (IG link is in there as well) if you want to see more of my work as I cannot post everything here due to guidelines/ToS.
NON-STOCKING COLORS: Non-stock color requests subject to a $20 surcharge.
SHIPPING IS ON YOU: Sending with a prepaid label makes things easy.
CHARGE 1: Quad rails add $10
CHARGE 2: Most spray painted parts are a +$10 surcharge. Slotted and quad handguards are +$20. Adds up to two days to turnaround as it can take time to remove.
CHARGE 3: Extremely dirty items such as a DI upper that's been shot hundreds of rounds suppressed without cleaning and bathed in oil to keep it running incur a $10 surcharge. May add a day to turnaround.
IN STOCK COLORS
H-109 GLOSS BLACK
H-122 GOLD (Very close match for TiN)
H-127 KELTEC NAVY BLUE
H-136 SNOW WHITE
H-143 BENELLI SAND
H-146 GRAPHITE BLACK
H-148 BURNT BRONZE
H-152 STAINLESS
H-157 BRIGHT NICKEL
H-168 ZOMBIE GREEN
H-185 BLUE TITANIUM
H-190 ARMOR BLACK
H-199 DESERT SAND
H-203 MCMILLAN® TAN
H-210 SIG DARK GREY
H-213 BATTLESHIP GREY
H-221 CRIMSON
H-229 SNIPER GREEN
H-231 MAGPUL FOILAGE GREEN
H-232 MAGPUL OD GREEN
H-234 SNIPER GREY
H-236 O.D. GREEN
H-237 TUNGSTEN
H-248 FOREST GREEN
H-250 A.I. DARK EARTH
H-258 CHOCOLATE BROWN
H-264 MIL SPEC GREEN
H-265 FDE
HIR-265 GEN II FLAT DARK EARTH
H-267 MAGPUL FDE
H-268 TROY COYOTE TAN
H-294 MIDNIGHT BRONZE
H-297 STORMTROOPER WHITE
H-298 PLUM BROWN
H-300 HIGH GLOSS ARMOR CLEAR
H-311 PINK CHAMPAGNE
H-301 MATTE ARMOR CLEAR
H-30118 FS FIELD DRAB
H-305 SPRINGFIELD FDE
H-315 NORTHERN LIGHTS
H-319 BLACK CHERRY
H-332 PURPLEXED
H-338 CHARCOAL GREEN
H-34094 FS GREEN
H-343 MULTICAM BRIGHT GREEN
H-345 MULTICAM DARK GREY
H-347 COPPER
H-349 AZTEC TEAL
H-359 SMOKED BRONZE
H-360 CROCODILE
H-8000 RAL 8000
ELITE SERIES: Higher durability. (+$5 per item)
E-100 BLACKOUT
E-110 MIDNIGHT
E-140 JUNGLE
E-170 M17 COYOTE TAN
E-190 (Federal Standard Coyote) 20150
E-290 STORM
AIR CURE: High Heat, Less Durability
C-7600 GLACIER BLACK (+24hrs for cure)

Pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy were organized criminals. As well as having crew members assigned certain duties, pirates found a way to reduce conflict among themselves and maximize profits. They used a democratic system, spelled out by written "articles of agreement", to limit the captain's power and to keep order on board the ship.
Articles of agreement See also: Pirate code Pirate articles were based on the chasse-partie created on buccaneer ships in the 17th century. The chasse-partie determined the division of plunder among the crew as well as other rules. 18th-century pirates built upon this concept and created their own version of "Articles of Agreement." Before setting out on their expedition, pirates wrote their articles alongside the election of a captain or quartermaster. The articles needed the consent of every crew member, and "all [pirates] swore to 'em" sometimes on a Bible or whatever was at hand.[6] During the election of a new captain, men who wanted another leader often drew up separate articles and sailed away from their former crew-mates. Pirate democracy was flexible but unable to deal with long-term dissent from the crew.[7]
One description of the ritual of the pirate's code was in Alexandre Exquemelin's Buccaneers of America, published in 1678. Pirates called a first council (which included all crew members) to decide where to get provisions. Then they raided for supplies. Afterward, food rations were determined (with the captain receiving no more than any man). A second council decided on the articles of agreement, which were put in writing.[8]
These articles of agreement served four purposes:
They specifically designated shares of the plunder for each crew member. Shares of the plunder were spelled out on the basis of each crew member's skills and duties. Captain and quartermaster typically received one and a half or two shares; gunners, boatswains, shipmates, carpenters, and doctors typically received one and a quarter or one and a half shares, and all others one share each.[9] Some of the plunder went into a "common fund" to provide for severely injured men (who had lost their sight or their limbs). This, in turn, promoted loyalty among the crew because they knew they would be taken care of.[10] If the value of the plunder was questionable, they would sell it before dividing the money among themselves. This prevented conflict between crew members and also prevented the quartermaster from hoarding the most valuable items.[6] The articles prohibited activities that would cause conflict between crew members, such as excessive drinking, gambling, stealing, and bringing women (or boys) on board. Some, like Bartholomew Roberts' articles, also prevented crew members from settling arguments with duels while on board the ship. They outlined punishments for various offenses. Punishments included marooning, whipping, slitting of ears and noses, and for severe crimes, death. They created rules for the general safety of the ship. Usually, articles also required members to keep their weapons in good working order. Also, since fire was especially dangerous on ships, some pirate articles forbade activities such as firing guns or smoking in areas of the ship that carried flammable goods, such as gunpowder.[6] Articles also described incentives like bonuses for productive crew members and thus prevented each man from allowing everyone else to pick up the slack.[6]
Counter-culture to normal maritime life and labor Piracy was usually voluntarily chosen, and it was a way of life that challenged the society pirates left behind. Most pirates came from the lowest social classes and went out to sea in search of a better life as well as loot and treasure.[13] As well as these pragmatic and economic reasons, the "spirit of revolt against common oppressors", the oppressors being the governments and societies of nations, helped create pirate democracy. Pirate democracy was a counter-culture, created by common sailors, to the traditional organization of maritime life and labor.[14]
On most merchant and Navy vessels, there was a hierarchy with captains holding the highest authority, then officers and at the bottom, ordinary sailors. On these ships, a captain had complete control over every aspect of life on his ship, including the division of food, wages, labor assignment and discipline. Thus, it was easy for a captain to become abusive and use his authority to take advantage of his crew.[6] John Archer, who sailed with Edward Teach, before his execution explained his stint as a pirate: "I could wish that Masters of Vessels would not use their Men with so much Severity, as many of them do, which exposes us to many Temptations."[15]
Colonel Benjamin Bennet wrote of pirates to the Council of Trade and Plantations in 1718: "I fear they will soon multiply for so many are willing to joyn with them when taken." Sailors on seized ships joined pirates because of the appealing "prospect of plunder and 'ready money,' the food and the drink, the camaraderie, the democracy, equality, and justice, and the promise of care for the injured."[16]
Another appeal of piracy came in the limiting of the captain's power over the crew. Pirate Francis Kennedy puts it succinctly: "most pirates, 'having suffered formerly from the ill-treatment of their officers, provided carefully against such evil' once they arranged their own command."[17] Thus, pirate democracy came with a series of checks and balances that protected the rights of the crew.
Checks and balances Piratical checks and balances proved quite successful. According to Captain Charles Johnson, owing to the institution of the quartermaster, aboard pirate ships "the Captain can undertake nothing which the Quarter-Master does not approve. We may say, the Quarter-Master is a humble Imitation of the Roman Tribune of the People; he speaks for, and looks after the Interest of the Crew."[6]
The dual executive was a distinctive feature of pirate organization.[18] A quartermaster, along with the captain, was elected by the crew. The presence of the quartermaster divided the immediate authority on the ship into two, so one man couldn't have complete control over the crew. Also, the captain had to keep in mind that he only ruled because his crew allowed him to. A captain could be pulled from his position by a majority vote of the crew for various reasons, including: cowardice, poor judgment, abusive or controlling behavior (called predation) and other behavior that the crew believed infringed on their interests. The captain also lived like the rest of the crew; he had no privileges in lodgings or food and drink.[6]
However, the ultimate, highest authority on the ship was the pirate council, a group that included every man on the ship. The council determined where to go for the best prizes and how arguments were to be resolved.[19] Also, discipline was dealt out on the basis on "what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company [believed] fit."[10]
Pirates took their democracy beyond their ship as well. Upon seizing a prize, pirates administered the "distribution of justice" and asked the crew of the captured ship about their captain's nature. If the crew complained that their captain had been cruel, the pirates tortured and then executed the captain. A kind captain was often released and rewarded.[20]
Brotherhood on the seas For the most part, Western pirates did not prey on one another and were always willing to help out fellow pirates. For example, in April 1719, Howell Davis and his crew sailed into the Sierra Leone River, alarming the pirates commanded by Thomas Cocklyn until they saw the Jolly Roger. After a while, they saluted each other with cannon. Other crews “often invoked an unwritten code of hospitality to forge spontaneous alliances.”[22]
The Jolly Roger, the most famous symbol of every pirate's experience of death, violence and limited time on Earth, was used to terrify targets but also to identify fellow pirates.[23] Pirate fraternity was further expressed by threats and acts of revenge against nations targeting pirates.[24]
Anti-libertarian part:
Forced labour Not all people on board were there voluntarily or had voting rights. Almost all pirate ships would have a considerable amount of forced labourers on board (usually 10%-60%). Typically captives from ships that refused to join and sign the code, but were of some use to the crew. These were practically slaves and did not have voting rights.[21]