Hi all! Looking for tips on how to increase protein intake throughout the day. I’m a 40 y/o F trying to lose belly fat and build muscle. I try to intermittent fast until around 11am/noon. Then I try to eat lunch, a couple of snacks, supper, a couple of snacks, finish eating by 8pm and spend the rest of the night drinking tea. My issue is that I’m on medication that stunts my appetite so I have to force myself to eat. I want to optimize my protein when I do eat but usually end up grabbing fruits, pretzels, crackers etc. because they’re easy.
I’d love to see everyone’s favourite go-to protein snack and high protein meals! Thank you in advance!

I posted about this awhile back and did not get much response but I am gaslighting myself and need people who have gone through this or similar to help me be objective.
I will Try to keep this brief but it's a lot.
-long history of stricturing Crohn's of terminal ileum diagnosed in 2006. First resection Sept 2018, Last resection in April 2022. Surgeon told me he found Crohn's high up in small bowel, could not remove safely, hoped new biologic (Stelara) would take care of it.
-6 month delay in starting Stelara due to GI F up (forgot to send preauthorization)
-July 2022 began having severe upper gastric pain (under ribs and belly button) after even the smallest amount of food, followed by severe nausea and often vomiting. Within half hour multiple liquid BM's undigested food and insane amount of fluid. Began to eat less and less, moved to soft diet, and finally to complete liquids in August 2023
-July 2023-Oct 2023- Weight loss of 20 lbs over 3 month period. Many ER visits needed for rehydration and IV anti emetics and pain meds as could not keep down any oral meds. GI did colonoscopy but only found microscopic Crohn's in anastomosis site (he only took 2 biopsies from that area and nowhere else). CT's done in hospital showed thickening of wall of ascending colon, and collapsed bowel, free fluid in peritoneum. GI dismissed as "not reliable". Fecal Cal slightly elevated. Constant low grade anemia. After 4th ER visit in Oct 2023 they did a high res Ultrasound and I was admitted by surgery department. However, as I was urgent but not emergent, there were no beds available. Was given choice of staying in ER and receiving IV steroids, or going home and following up with GI. Chose home and was given Entocort. Entocort slowed down bowel from 30-50 bm's a day to ten. Did not help pain, nausea, vomiting, lack of ability to eat. After several desperate emails where I begged for help, said I wanted to die-GI ordered urgent MRI, would not change meds or give prednisone without "proof".
-November 2023-Began to experience fatigue like never before. Could hardly keep eyes open. This would be followed by severe upper gastric pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea that went on for days, followed by constipation for 1-2 days and severe bloating, only on the left side of belly which would be rock hard and hot to the touch. Then the diarrhea cycle woud begin again. Always pure liquid, sometimes black, always tons of mucous.
-Went to Mexico to visit my parents for the holidays where I usually feel better but still could not eat. Injecting myself with IM Gravol (anti emetic) just to keep fluids down. I lived off of chicken broth with rice. Saw GI in private hospital. Ordered full workup. Blood found in stool. 3 D CT ordered (could not find a vein for IV after 5 nurses, two doctors, and a radiologist with a vein finder so only had oral contrast) showed inflammation in small bowel, thickening of the ascending colon wall 11 mm, and inflammation of ileum. He wanted to send me to special IBD hospital in Mexico City for MRI but it would have cost 2500$ so I decided to wait till I got home to Canada where it would be free. Treated me with antibiotics for IBS (only available in Mexico and Germany) Zero improvement. I lived off of electrolyte drinks.
-Jan 29th 2024 returned to hospital because I could not keep any oral meds in (pills would be in toilet) also pain was 9/10, high fever, vomiting. Admitted again, but no beds. Left AMA with another prescription for Entocort.
-Feb 12 2024- High fever followed by two days of 40 plus liquid BM's, some of them bloody, all of them black. Husband insisted back to ER where I was admitted immediately. Cortisol levels 11 (close to adrenal failure) very low potassium. Doc said if we'd waited I likely would have died from heart event. Spent 8 + weeks in hospital having every kind of test imaginable. NOTHING showed on MRI, inflammation on CT, lower scope clear, upper endoscopy showed inflammation in esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. Negative for H Pylori, negative for celiac. Started on 150 mg of hydrocortisone for low cortisol to rescue my organs. MRI of brain showed small tumour on pituitary. Endocrinologist did ACTH test and was unhappy, kept me on 40 mg of hydrocortisone IV. PICC line insertion went awry when they Discovered I had complete stenosis of veins and needed port catheter surgically implanted. Was on TPN for 5 weeks. Needed pain meds and anti emetics every 4 hours or severe vomiting and diarrhea would ensue. 30-50 liquid bm's continued (they made me write down everything I ingested and every time I had a BM. They tested me for everything. No blood, NO CDiff, no parasites, no infection. High fever 104.5 plus delirium and CRP shot up to 50. Continued Anemia, blood work all over the place, even with TPN I needed potassium and sodium boluses 3 times a day.
-Requested pill endoscopy, GI said no Crohn's, no need for test. Suggested psych evaluation for a fucking eating disorder. Endocrinologist disagreed, said starvation and whatever disease process was causing symptoms was causing my cortisol issue. Psych diagnosed medical PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder (no shit) but NO eating disorder. Fired GI and hired IBD specialist from another city. Re ran all tests, CT showed huge diverticulum on duodenum otherwise clear. Was going to be moved to a ward from a private room. Had a panic attack because I could not share a bathroom and was not about to use a commode. Asked to be discharged after nearly 9 weeks. They were so overcrowded and basically did not know what else to do to help me, so they let me go even though I was still on TPN and NPO. Got a 5 minute instruction on how to insert a butterfly catheter for pain meds, and let go.
-Present-3 weeks later, still on liquid diet, (Boost drinks, blended oatmeal, yoghurt and soup) still on sub q and IM meds. Finally got new IBD doc to order capsule endoscopy and is treating me for SIBO (never been tested) plus set me up with nutritionist and psychologist for support. MRI repeated- totally clear.
I FEEL CRAZY. This is the sickest I have ever felt. It's been almost a year since I chewed food. The pain under my ribs just to the left of my belly button is now constant, whether I eat or not, pain meds barely take the edge off. Sometimes it's so intense I can hardly breathe. I keep passing out on the toilet. I projectile vomit daily, even using Gravol and Pantoprozole, the bile acid is awful. I've been doing tons of research and have learned that GDC and Jejunal Crohn's are extremely hard to diagnose. I have every single symptom and fit the criteria. Does this sound familiar to anyone????

Looking for very chill people. I mostly game later in the evening since I work retail and am a father so that is my quiet time. I have like 2 old buddies from high school that I usually play with but since they both got busy I've been pretty bored.
I have ADHD and will play Fallout 76, The Finals, Dead by daylight, and Red dead online all in the same night. I usually am not very picky, and use gaming as a social activity.
Recently I've been playing The Finals, League (Arena only), the division 2, fallout 76. But my steam catalog is pretty big. I also like to chill on some survival or cozy games too.
HMU if you wanna game sometime.

Hello All!
I'm looking for some advice on fitness and weight loss that might help me out with my various needs for modifications. Please be patient with me if you feel like some of these questions have been answered before, I just don't always feel like they take into account my circumstances. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and answer! Your kindness is much appreciated.
And now we get into it... Some backstory to begin. I'm a 30-year-old female who's been struggling with an unhealthy relationship with food (for many reasons) for 15-ish years now. I've struggled to lose weight on and off for maybe 10 years. I've lost weight, gained it back, lost it, and gained it back again. Nothing really seemed to stick. I tried WeightWatchers, Noom, My Fitness Pal, and a fitness program with a certified coach. I've lost weight quickly and unsustainably and then slowly. I've struggled with an addiction to sugar and had ravenous cravings. I've even taken Vyvanse prescribed for Binge Eating Disorder but had to stop taking it due to blood pressure concerns. I am 5'7" and am currently 221lb.
I joined a fitness program this year that had me start with a reverse diet where I ate my maintenance calories for 5 weeks or so and then slowly decreased my caloric intake for a steady deficit. The coach calculated my maintenance as 2,600 daily with a moderate activity level. I initially worked out 6x a week with her program, mostly strength training, but I have an entirely sedentary job. During this time, I gained 5lb. After this, I decreased my intake to 2,100 and then 1,900 and then 1,800. At this point, I also decreased my workouts to about 4x per week of weights/resistance bands. I lost the initial 5lb I gained and then another 4lb over the course of 2 months. But this has me losing maybe 1lb per week.
Now, I also have various joint problems. I have hypermobility in my joints and I have to be very careful when working out. And the more I exercised, the worse I felt. The problems in my right shoulder became aggravated and I have new problems on my left now too. My collarbones and shoulder joints crack and grind with pain. My knees have sharp pains now whenever I put weight on them when they're bent. My physical therapists and doctors basically told me I have to stop doing squats, lunges, or other weight-bearing exercises on my knees, and stop doing what I was doing for my arms/back (dumbbell back flies, chest flies, shoulder presses, arnold presses, etc.) I feel deeply discouraged by the fact that I had to cut out most of the things I was doing. I feel like I'm very limited in what I can do.
But I also desperately need to lose weight to reduce the weight on my joints and get in better shape (and self-esteem!) So it seems like I'm down to doing only cardio and exercises that have my arms close to my body (like tight bicep curls and tricep kickbacks) which sucks because I was loving the muscle gain (and I could feel it!)
I am feeling very confused by all of the activity levels on TDEE calculators and I feel like maybe I'm getting it wrong. I put in lightly active and got around 2,400 and then read numerous articles that said it was overestimating because I have a sedentary job. I then tried the adaptive TDEE spreadsheet and got an average of about 2,400 anyway over the course of 14 weeks. So it seems like the coach was wrong to say I was at 2,600 with my exercise levels and it seems like others were wrong to say lightly active was too high.
Now, what do you guys think about the 2,400 TDEE? The data seems to support it, but does it seem accurate? I try to exercise 3-4x per week (still some strength training) after work, but I am very sedentary at work and when relaxing. Some days I don't make it past 8,000 steps. Now I've been trying to kick that up a notch (made it up to 16,000 steps today!) and have been aiming for 10,000 steps daily.
And next, what might be a good deficit? I've been eating around 1,800 but I don't know if that's going to be very slow and I tend to plateau early. (And, yes, I've been tracking all of my calories and keeping track of protein as well. I use MFP for the calories and I weigh my food when needed.) I was also told that I should be in a deficit for maybe 8-12 weeks at most before going back to maintenance for 2 weeks in order for my body to not "fight" the weight loss and repeat this cycle. Can anyone weigh in on this? Some studies I've read seemed to support this as well.
And finally.. does anyone have recommendations for exercises that I could do that would be light on my knees and good for people with hypermobility? This means nothing that requires joint extension that could be dangerous or any rotating of the shoulders. So definitely no lunges or reverse lunges, for example.
I think that's the end of my spiel.. but if you guys have any other questions, let me know! Thank you, again, for any suggestions you might have!

Hi folks,
I live in the UK, and I'm looking for a new career - entertaining all sorts of options... (solar panels... teaching English abroad... solicitor...) ...and then I remembered HGV.
I kinda used to want to be a trucker when I was a kid. I do enjoy long motorway drives a lot, and I've done parcel delivery before with one of the big couriers (self employed). I don't think I'm a bad driver. I don't think I'm a super great driver either, but I've not made a mistake in a long time. Never crashed a car or anything, and I've got no points on my license. I drive about 10-11k miles per year.
I don't think the lifestyle will be a problem, I kinda want to get away from people for a while. If anything, it's kinda appealing. Just want to stack cash, chill out, and party/travel when I'm not working. I've even got hobbies I can bring on the road with me, and the vast majority of my friends live in different cities anyway.
So with all that in mind, is there anything I should know before I apply for a trainee position? The main thing that's holding me back, and the reason I made this post, is that it does feel like a lot of pressure. I've seen articulated lorry drivers pull off some really tight, complex maneuvers with traffic waiting. Is that as tricky as it looks?
The real reason I made this post, my main source of apprehension, is the fact it's actually pretty high stakes. The risk might be low, but there's serious potential for something to go badly wrong with something that heavy travelling at 70mph. How common are scares? Is it possible to drive defensively enough that you can guarantee nobody gets hurt? (Without them somehow driving into you).
Also, is now a good time to get into trucking? Or is it a time to get out?
Just hoping for some advice from people in the industry. It might be a good match for me, but I'm still very undecided.
Thanks :)

Context I'm 19m part time student and work part time as well.
Most of my days are school/college from 8am ~ 12pm then work from 1-6pm, if I have any hw do that around 7~9, then wind down.i will occasionally hang out with extended family every week/every other but I'm very close to my siblings and parents.
The reason I'm asking is because I notice I'm not nearly as social as others my age, but at the same time I feel like I don't really need to, like I feel completely fine. I mean I spend my free time doing other activities like listening to music(got into vinyl recently), learning to make my own music, reading, rarely game, and just chill drink some tea/matcha xD.
Although idk if this could be related to me previously being kind of socially anxious(NOT DIAGNOSED) but for lack of better description. This was up to maybe middle school -> sophomore yr of highschool, just being out eating lunch or a presentation would make my palms sweaty, voice shaky, my watch would literally notify of my heart rate being too high but, I kind of just got over it randomly junior ~senior year and made quite a lot of friends and stopped being scared, i just evolved and became confident? Now I feel fully confident and able to talk to people but I kind of just choose not to most of the time, id just rather chill or am I still anti social kind of just confused really because I don't have that same feaanxiety, now I choose be more alone not because I'm scared like I used to be.
Anyone relate or have any thoughts, thanks

Hello, reddit doctors, I need your advice on what I should do
Background: 41 years old, physically fit male, first got sick late april (27-28th with severe flu like symptoms. Around May 4, I went to urgent care, got covid flu test done (all negative), had conjunctivitis in eyes (got antibiotic cream) and also did throat swab. Doctor at urgent care wouldnt give me oral antibiotics until throat culture came back. Next few days i was running low grade fever and I wanted antibiotics so I called telehealth and convinced a doctor to give me amoxicillin (500mg x 3 x 10 days). The throat culture ended up negative but i continued on the amoxicillin anyways as my symptoms drastically improved.
So i screwed up. On friday May 10th i was feeling much better so I decided to go out and have a few drinks. Later that night, the Aurora borealis was out, and i made a poor life decision. So I have adhd and for years I was taking adderall and dexedrine. I completely quit these drugs 2.5 years ago, but still had some left. So on friday night, I took some dexedrine, and having no tolerance anymore, I ended up on a weekend bender not sleeping, being high, not eating well, and just not taking care of myself. I kept using until sunday afternoon
Sunday night I started coughing a bit again. Fast forward to today (monday), i managed to sleep 6.5 hours, but I feel shitty and I keep bringing up bright yellow phlegm or sputum, my throat is kinda sore (probably from dry mouth), and now Im worried i might have ruined my amoxicillin treatment. Im obviously in withdrawal from my adhd meds and im tired, but I also i have a weird tingly metallic taste in my mouth.
I have two days left of amoxicillin, and im worried my infection will come back with a vengeance and be resistant to antibiotics once it is done. What should I do? Stop worrying, or should i get more antibiotics?
Sorry this ran a bit long.

Hi everyone!
I am 25F, Caucasian, 127 lbs, 5’2”, non-smoking. I am currently on levothyroxine for suspected subclinical hypothyroidism. Previous blood tests did reveal that I have high lipoprotein a.
I recently contracted a bug and started having symptoms on May 9, 2024. It consisted of a fever for the first few days, extreme fatigue, sore throat and cough. Jump to today, May 13, 2024, I still have the fatigue, and wet cough. I had to return to work today, and I actually felt ok this morning, so I wore a mask and I was good for about 2 hours, then I began to have what my doctor has described in the past as a Vasovagal reaction (without losing consciousness, as I know it’s coming and can sit down ASAP). The past reaction was completely unrelated and random. I had 3 “reactions” in the span of 5-10 minutes today, and ultimately left work. I have never had this when healing from sickness prior. I have been taking cold meds and muscle and joint pills to help aid my symptoms since the 9th.
I am likely going to take tomorrow off as well, however, I’m not sure what to do so this does not happen again. My job requires you to be on your feet. My doctor is hard to get into on such short notice! Any help is appreciated!

I don’t want to invite my cousin and his wife to my graduation so much has happened in the past here that made me hate them and they obviously are just so fake. People are just gonna be a long story but just to give a background of why I don’t want to invite them last year in August my uncle is my cousins dad passed away, in a little while later, like less than a month later, my grandma passed away I thought that after the passing of his father, and then also my grandmother, that they would be more closer to us and treat us like family, but they are just stupid morons first we my family help them move into their house help them paint, takeoff the wallpaper‘s and do it and basically everything. Wow they didn’t have their “friends” to help them out at all yet when they decided to call people over to have dinner they did not invite us and we also knew those people to so it’s honestly so stupid. They have us do the hard work and then party with other people. What the fuck they did whatever after that they called us for cultural festival but honestly my parents didn’t like that they were celebrating too early because it hasn’t been 45 days since my grandma died but it’s been long enough since dad died and they said it’s celebrating all other people and they lied and said that they were only calling us, I feel like after that, they started to things behind our backs and started being big fat liars, especially my cousin his wife, already giving some looks at us whenever we go to their house and pretending to be busy. My cousin lies a lot now he’s also been the biggest liar of all. His wife freaking stayed in our house for like 2 weeks, twice because of the passing of her father-in-law and then my grandma and yet she treats us like shit it looks like she never wants to actually like make dinner whatever for us specifically because we’re re too much or whatever that’s why like five people even though now she’s pregnant with freaking twins soon gonna be a family of four and they eat way more than us anyways, there’s been quite a few instances where they had parties at their house with a lot of other people and then don’t even call us at least me and my siblings because we’re cousins like they didn’t call us for one of them. One time my mom and my brother went to her house and walked into a party that we were not invited to really embarrassing. What’s even more stupid is that my cousin’s wife didn’t even care to say that food in the kitchen it during lunch nor offer, no, she just gave apples lmfao. I am really mad at them all the stuff they’re doing and they’re not changing OK fine but I don’t want to be with them. I blocked both of their phone numbers. Now my parents are saying that I have to invite them to my graduation or else it’s gonna be an embarrassment to the family and we’re gonna look stupid. Even my siblings are saying that so I don’t know I don’t want to come to my graduation, especially since my cousin didn’t even come to my high school graduation, which is ultimately more significant since I’m just graduating from community college and transferring to a university this fall. I didn’t even feel like having a graduation this year. I just wanted to chill but after I got a notice that I got a very prestigious, recognition or or whatever you would call it now I have to go to the graduation for that and I would only be saying this and I want to invite them because of all the stuff the shit they did last year and this year. So am I being stupid 😭 Those people are just toxic!

So im on a cut (24 f been on gym for 1year+) and its efficiently targeting fat but somehow I can see that im tapping on my muscle mass as well, despite keeping a high protein low carbs diet. Any explanation and advice I can apply here?

So this friend of mine for many years has multiple pets. About 10 years ago I took care of them for a while when I was jobless. However since then she has slacked off on house-cleaning, and increased the number of pets. She currently has 5 cats and a dog.
She doesn't have many friends so if she has to go out of town on a weekend, she will ask if I will pet-sit.
Unfortunately for the last several years, and worse since I had Covid, I've had allergic reactions every time I pet-sit at her house. Originally I felt it was just changing the litter so I told her I could pet-sit but wouldn't clean litter boxes.
I would get flu-like symptoms every time I stayed at her place overnight. Often congestion, but also headache, fever, etc. A couple of times last year it was so bad I was convinced I had caught Covid again, though I tested negative.
So this past weekend she had to leave town suddenly due to a death in her family, and I agreed to pet-sit Friday & Saturday night. No litterboxes to be cleaned, she has automated litterboxes now, that can go for longer between cleanings...
So ... Saturday morning, I wake up with a pounding headache.... It seemed to get slightly better so I went about my day, but it was nagging me the whole day. I had to leave for a few hours as well. I had noticed my heartrate was up higher than normal, but just noted that to the side. I wasn't having any congestion so hadn't realized it was the allergies again. Thought I lucked out.
By late evening I had to cancel my plans, I had a high fever, much higher than normal heartrate, etc. My plans involved a lot of activity and the extra activity pushed my heartrate out of a safe range and I was starting to get lightheaded and feel faint, so I immediately cancelled the plans and went to a family member's house for a few hours. Heartrate went down but was still elevated. I do take a single medication, which lowers my blood pressure and heartrate normally, so having it up is something I watch closely. I connected it to the allergies at this point.
I was feeling a little better, but still lousy, and went back to my friend's house for the second night of pet-sitting. Ended up having chills when I went outside even though the temps were only in the upper 60s. Slept terribly, and basically had no energy all day Sunday. Heartrate was down but still higher than my normal base heart rate. Ended up sleeping most of Sunday. Managed the drive home. Back at my own place, I slept great and felt perfectly normal this morning.
The reaction this time was so strong, that I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell my friend I can't ever stay at her place again. I know part of the issue is she does not keep a clean house, so it smells strongly of her pets. That's never going to change.
Would it be worth trying an allergy medication? I know most of the allergy meds on the market are basically placebos. At this point though it has moved beyond simply congestion to something that actually is a health risk.
Opinions?

Last updated 5/13/24
About a month ago I literally went through every single community server, empty/full/whatever, and added any that sounded interesting, and didn't have crazy ping to Favorites (I'm in North east US- NJ, US FYI). There are still a bunch of good ones out there (I've also had many solid ones in my favs for quite some time).

Scroll down a few lines to my "To keep it simple.." header for the best ones but the following is a full list I will update when I have time:

(The green line ones are my seal of approval, pink line ones I haven't checked out as much but seem to be ok.)
Server page 1: https://i.imgur.com/NQujz3H.png
Page 2: https://i.imgur.com/c7GkvGm.png

To keep it simple, I think the best ones right now (for me are):

tiny kitty's girl pound- friendly community, runs really solid, nice-looking custom maps, meme maps wednesday is a blast (played 3 hrs last night without loadouts), always has people in it, just be wary of nsfw furry sprays (yeah I know...put cl_spraydisable 1 in console to disable)
1st server: 74.91.115.12:27015
2nd server: 74.91.113.115:27015
OPRAH's PETROL STATION - Friendly community, always has people in it, no goofy instant respawn which has no place in payload yet half of all community server owners see fit to do that, pre-round scramble
108.181.63.51:27015
-EOTL- Payload - same deal
74.91.114.223:27015
redsun.tf - This community is the poster child for tastefully modded custom game modes, and is very active. It's very well maintained & polished and even though I may not enjoy every game mode I've been very impressed by this server network (esp. as a former highly modded community server owner). The EU one fills up most of the time, and I deal with the ping because it's a cool community (it even runs a battle royale mode that is surprisingly well-made). I'd recommend downloading their asset pack here as it's fairly sizeable (but worth it):
EU (actually gets players) 141.95.28.56:27015
US - 66.206.13.139:27015
Trigger Happy Gamers (EU) - Trigger Happy Gamers have been around forever and even though they are in the UK I deal with the ping to play with them because they are a solid community. Their 28-pl server gets reliably full from around 1 PM - 3 PM EST every day, and on the weekends a little longer. Their Nocrits server also gets full Saturday
main: 87.98.254.85:27015
Nocrits (gets full Saturdays @ 1 PM - 2 PM)
Fucked in the Head - Another community that has been around forever. To be honest, they have equal respawn on red & blu, even for payload, which I hate with a searing passion, HOWEVER, the regulars are entertaining af and give off vibes of drunk buddies goofing off and not giving a fuck that it almost offsets it. It's also decently populated.
216.52.148.223:27015
Skial Payload & Casual servers- I never got the hate for this server network, decent spawn times, Halloween mode year round, no power tripping admins, feels like a bunch of randoms having a good time. The Payload+ EU in particular has some really chill/cool regulars, Dustbowl+ US some interesting/funny peeps. Payload US generally decent also. Casual is solid too:
Payload+ EU 91.216.250.226:27015
Payload+ US 91.216.250.11:27015
Dustbowl+ US 91.216.250.12:27015
~~~~~

Casual NY 91.216.250.34:27015

Casual US 91.216.250.40:27015
Casual LA 91.216.250.21:27015
Uncletopia - Pretty standard Casual experience except the skill level is generally higher, though it seems to be evening out honestly. And tbh from my experience people in these servers seem pretty cool. If you're looking for Vanilla I'd say this is your best bet.
https://uncletopia.com/servers
Southern Cross Gaming (Rainbow Swirl in particular) - Stumbled across this & played 1 round with these guys running a cool custom mode but apparently they run stock maps as well as custom maps/game modes. Their rules had a huge emphasis on keeping it fun & being respectful and everyone seemed really cool & laidback. It was full at peak time on the weekend. They also have other servers, even in other games & seem to have been around awhile:
IP: furfortress.com:27016
Site: https://www.scg.wtf/servers#team_fortress_2
ciggyland 18+ LGBT+ Furry server run by puppygirls
Funny, chill vibes, lots of custom maps. Seems to get full around peak time. Another diamond in the rough I discovered recently.
74.91.115.82:27015
The Furry Pound - Some people list this one as one of the best non-UT for Vanilla TF2, however the one time I decided to give it a try I was met with some weird overly dramatic BS happening in Voice chat, and I heard someone else give a similar criticism the other day here. BUT, I've also seen people swear by them. It might depend on the day, IDK:
Main server: thefurrypound.org:27015
Bad Weapon Rehabilitation (Vanilla US)
A really solid rebalancing of all weapons in-game. Nothing really feels overpowered or underpowered anymore, also fun things like flames stay on surfaces & I think spy or engy can radar enemies within a few feet or something to his team? It's really fun and gets full. Here's the site with IPs and stuff (The US server gets full around peak time, esp. on weekends)
74.91.126.159:27015
redstar.gg - Arena server, the owner ComradeYazoo seems pretty dedicated to starting it up and I hop in whenever I can. Believe it or not it's still very fun with little people but it's gotten pretty packed a couple times. It also has like every good custom arena map, and scrambles if a team wins 3 in a row. North America I believe.
204.12.240.186:27015
UGC High Tower servers - They run no carts, so it's the TDM High Tower everyone's always dreamed of. They also run Instant Respawn and on any other map I hate that setting with a searing passion but because it's reworked as TDM I feel it actually improves the gameplay (put "high tower" including the space, and without quotes in the search box for a list of 'em in the following link):
https://www.ugc-gaming.net/servers/tf2/
UGC also runs other servers which I cannot vouch for but might be worth looking into.
GFL Clan (maybe???) - Someone said these guys are chill too, though I hate 2fort with a passion:
https://gflclan.com/forum/26-team-fortress-2/
Kogasatopia if you're desperate. They run some really fun mods, and solid (especially good gimmicky) custom maps, but their community is 4chan edgelords that like to say racial slurs. Just mute chat & voice I guess- hud_saytext_time 0;voice_enable 0
Custom Weapons servers (including a guide to the best one via TF2Classic)
More Arena Servers
pic of a dog

Hi y'all, I've been seeing a rheumatologist for a couple months. It started with gastro symptoms, and then continued to arthritis, itching but no rash, fatigue, muscle weakness, swollen tender lymphnodes in neck arm pit and groin, cheat pain, pain with deep breaths, rolling low grade fevers (37.4 to 38.2) and weight loss. I have a 320 ANA, 320 speckled and 320 homogeneous ANA. I was diagnosed yesterday with Adult Stills disease but I'm having a hard know if stomach issues are involved.

• Species: Cat
• Age: 10
• Sex/Neuter status: Male Neutered
• Breed: Domestic Shorthair
• Body weight: 10 lbs
• History: Diagnosed with Small Cell Lymphoma of GI two years ago. On Prednisolone and Chlorambucil. Multiple ultrasounds (including recent) and blood test shows no reoccurance of cancer in body. Recently brought to vet for unrelated symptoms. Lethargy, unable to really meow, excessive drooling, eye dischange, possible mouth pain, squinting
• Clinical signs: Extreme Lethargy, usually chatty cat doesnt really meow anymore, squinting eyes and a ton of discharge, nose running and recently been droollng alot. keeps making mouth smacking noises. been on and off going on a few weeks now. Seems to have hit a high point of fatigue today after his ER visit yesterday. One thing that caused me to bring him to ER was I was giving him his usual medicine and he kind of cried when I tried to open his mouth.
• Duration: 3 weeks
• Your general location: Northeast USA
• Links to any test results, X-rays, vet reports etc. that you have: Results attached. Blood tests came back OK. Platelet count confirmed OK. Ultrasound came back fine. Cat had fever of 104 going into vet and leaving it 6 hours later. Given sub fluids.

Here is a summary of the last couple visits:
4/29/24 AFAST: negative peritoneal effusion, no obvious abnormalities TFAST: La:Ao ~1:1, intermittent B-lines, negative pericardial/pleural effusion CBC: HCT 33%, WBC 11.96K, Neut 10K, Lymph 1.15K, Plt 220K Chem17/lytes: Glu 205, BUN 9, Creat 1.3, Phos 3.1, Ca 9.4, Na 156, K 3.5, Cl 118, TP 8.1, Alb 3.5, Glob 4.6, ALT 13, ALP 41, GGT 0, Tbili 0.1 PCV/TS: 32%/7.6, serum clear CXAXR: 1. The appearance of the stomach, small intestine and colon can be compatible with a nonspecific generalized functional ileus (e.g. gastroenterocolitis or infiltrative bowel disease such as IBD or the clinically reported gastrointestinal lymphoma). There is no evidence of small intestinal foreign material or mechanical obstruction. Consider initiation of therapy for generalized functional ileus and if clinically indicated, abdominal ultrasound might be pursued for further investigation. 2. Mild constipation. 3. Normal thorax. 4. Incidental small defect in the cranial endplate of L5 of uncertain etiology, likely a schmorl's node.
5/12/24 PCV/TS: 30/7.8 CBC: RBC 6.02 (L), HCT 29 (L), PLT 31 (L), bands suspected, rest unremarkable Blood smear: Majority of neutrophils appear toxic. Platelet clumping noted, suspect that platelet number is adequate. Chem17/lytes: Glu 177, rest unremarkable BP (doppler): 100mmHg FUO standard panel submitted to idexx Respiratory PCR panel submitted to idexx AUS with Radiologist: Conclusions/recommendations: 1) Mild gastritis. This is suspected to represent a secondary rather than primary condition however a flare up of small cell LSA cannot be completely excluded. Cursory evaluation of the cervical soft tissues did not reveal any abnormalities as well. Recommendations: Pending results of other testing, consider a GI panel if not recently performed, empirical treatment for gastritis and complete the work up for FUO
Treatments/Plan:
LRS 100ml SQ Ondansetron 0.5mg/kg SQ Convenia 8mg/kg SQ Rx mirtazapine TGH Rx famciclovir x 14d to pick up at pharmacy Rec to follow-up with pDVM in 1-2 days if CS not improving/worsening

So I adopted a 9 year old foster about week ago. He’s a chow chow mix and is very sweet and chill. To give some back story I am moving to a different city at the end of June to attend graduate school. I currently live at home and my parents have 2 chihuahuas and a GSD. Before adopting him I wanted to make sure he’d be ok being left alone and if he got along with other dogs. Foster said he was good with other dogs and did fine being left home alone. Well I decided to adopt and he’s great, very sweet, but he’s very clingy and although it’s not a big issue for me he is showing signs of separation anxiety. I’ll leave to go to work In the mornings and he’ll start howling and whining until he sees someone starts getting up to check up on him. This is a small issue considering I work at 5 am before anyone else gets up. But the biggest issue is that our other dogs don’t seem to get along with the idea of him being here. Our GSD is very high energy and he is 9 so he doesn’t like playing as much as she does. I started slow introductions like taking them on walks and letting them around one another to get to know each other and it seemed to work but they have gotten into two fights already which weren’t that bad but still a little scary. Our female chihuahua doesn’t seem to like him and has bit him once resulting in him grabbing her by the neck and shaking her. Again it seemed it was her fault to begin with. Would I be wrong to give him back to the foster because I think he deserves better. Although I am planning to move I do plan to come back home often. And parents believe it’s best to keep him isolated from all the other dogs when I’m here and he just looks sad most of the time. I feel bad keeping him from living a great life in a non stress home. I’m not sure what to do. He’s isolated to just my room and hallway area and doesn’t have much space.

Been around the city for a while now, life’s been so busy and haven’t gotten much time to socialise. Now that I’ve taken a break from everything I’m looking to get back into having some fun. I’m looking for a girl who’s above 18 (please don’t get me in trouble), with whome I could be a friend, a best friend, a friends with benefits, or anything that’s casual but deep and meaningful. This will be our little secret and nobody has to know.
On the outside we’re just another, besties, we are hanging out, watching movies, getting coffee, chilling in the park but on the inside we are laying it down like there’s no tomorrow. I am looking for someone to make good memories with and to go pound town when the sun goes down. But for the sake of safety let’s make this exclusive.
As a person I’m just a 6ft dude, a southie, I like football, TT, anime, and Spotify. I like coffee, cola, and thick shake, and quite possibly… you. I like to talk about basically anything, “meaning of life”, “Barbie and Ken”, or “dirtiest kink”. Life is too short gotta make the most of it, with someone you can vibe on some deep level it will be complete.
I’m not gonna type a lot and annoy you but, I’d say I’m a very high libido guy so I might need someone similar. I’m looking to get naughty when we’re home together or away or even during office hours. Some organic kinky friendship and a cosy, genuine companionship.
So I’m looking for someone from around here, because the nature of this relationship calls for proximity but then if we vibe I don’t mind the distance. Your experience or anything, doesn’t matter, a respectful and non judgemental connection is what matters. So whether it’s dancing in pubs or temples let’s do it, I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.
!lock

Started feeling my body get achey around Tuesday 4/30.
Thursday-Saturday had a fever that got as high as 103. Also had night sweats, shivers, and general fatigue/bodyaches.
Fever went away Sunday that week around 5/5. However, I still get really cold shivers. Had one today where my eyes felt fatigued and I just wanted to crawl under a blanket.
I def feel better than at its peak but part of me thinks it super wierd I've been sick this long? Wondering what it could be. My doc said it was viral. I suspected HIV due an encounter a month prior but tested negative.
No respiratory symptoms. I'm 23 and have never really been sick this long. Dont usually get wiped out for more than a day or two

Sorry for the long post but I really want to see if anyone relates and how to deal with it.
All my life I've had vasovagal syncope (not sure if that's what it is, but I'll call it that because I think it's what it is). Usually it would happen as a kid at the doctors when I would get shots. Didn't happen every time but it did happen. They always told me it was because I got myself so worked up over it that once it was over I felt so much sudden relief I had that reaction because it all happened faster than my body could keep up with. Also one time when I was 10 I got sick on a cruise. I experienced intractable vomiting, high fever and other things. I was given an injection at the medical center on the ship (I have no idea what they injected me with, I assume antiemetics, I just remember it was particularly painful) and I collapsed when I tried to walk out of the room afterward.
Nowadays some of my triggers are weird. I get the main ones like blood draws and injections, but also simply reading about procedures such as nasogastric tubes, colonoscopies, spinal taps and things like that are also triggers. I remember nearly fainting in high school health class when we were learning about epidurals. Then years after that I also nearly fainted when I found out what the initial COVID test entailed (the nasopharyngeal swab...ugh). When I am exposed to those bizarre triggers, it's very weird. I'll get all squeamish and weird. I'll start squirming, holding my breath, moving around and grimacing. I can't explain why I do this, it just kinda happens as a response to information about invasive procedures.
The actual experience is horrible. I don't know how to explain how bad it is, it's something you really have to experience to know what it's like. I don't JUST pass out. There's a period of misery before that. I'll start feeling off, then the room seems bright but dark at the same time if that makes any sense. Then my vision gets all weird, tunnel vision and sometimes I'll see a bunch of colors. Then comes the intense nausea and malaise, and I'll think I'm about to vomit. At this point I'll usually be asking for water and to lay down, but all I wanna do is curl up on the floor. I'll want someone to hold me. I'll feel really hot and I'll be dripping with sweat. I'll feel dizzy and won't be able to see straight. I'll go super pale. I'll always have this frantic terrified look on my face. Not sure what it looks like, but I know I make it and it's to kind of express that I'm not feeling well at all and I don't know how to verbally express it. Kind of like a "help me, I feel terrible and I don't know how to express how it feels at this moment" kind of look. Eventually my hearing becomes muffled as if I'm underwater. It happened recently when I was getting a skin abscess treated and they were taking swabs to check the bacteria. It was a particularly bad episode though. Not even drinking water and laying down could help much. It did help but didn't solve it. Eventually I leaned forward and hugged my legs to my chest and I recovered from the episode doing that.
The nurse that witnessed it told me it was a vasovagal response. Then I was told it might've been a panic attack. Having a lifelong history of anxiety, I know my panic attacks and they're different depending on the trigger, but I know this was not simply a panic attack. Due to having health anxiety I guess the vasovagal episodes happen and maybe panic attacks happen at the same time as a reaction, so maybe that's why it's so miserable but I don't know. Then I'll typically get a bad headache on one side of my head but it'll usually resolve within 15 or so minutes.
I know this sounds dramatic (I mean, the episodes ARE dramatic and I have no idea why my body goes that far) but I'm not trying to exaggerate. They feel HORRIBLE. Having anxiety on top of it is even worse. Usually I don't actually end up technically becoming unconscious, but sometimes I do. It's mainly presyncope. When I get blood tests they will have me keep my eyes open and keep my head up (despite it being very difficult) and by that point I'm wanting to beg them to just let me pass out so the feeling goes away.
Any idea what this is? When I first feel an episode coming on I get so frustrated with myself and I usually roll my eyes and think "oh come on...great, another episode, why am I so squeamish over everything and why am I having such an overreaction and why does nobody else have this?"
If anyone has anything similar to this, please share. Any differential diagnoses? Someone mentioned dysautonomia to me but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, I'm sure my anxiety exacerbates it but I know for sure it's not just anxiety.

I have finished basebuilding for 8 weeks (5 weeks SE/ 3 weeks Strength) and it has been rough, but I am definitely seeing progress in SE and fat loss. I am 5'9" and 180lbs and would like to get down to 165lbs, so I am in a slight calorie deficit. . Being 62, I no longer have gaining much muscle mass as a goal. I am focused on muscular endurance with 1 set max goals of: high rep push-ups - goal is 80. Currently 29 max. Pull-ups -goal is 15. Currently 0, but 2 chin ups. Lol Sit-ups- goal is 80. Currently 35. and Pistols (for leg strength. Due to scoliosis, I do not do weighted squats). Goal is 10. Currently 1 poorly executed rep due to balance. I may substitute high-rep Hindu Squats to build more endurance.
My question to members is, are there others who have repeated Basebuilding cycles for longer periods to focus more on endurance, rather than strength and mass?

January 29, 2384 - the day of the last total eclipse is when the raid began. “The day of the sun's false shadow” as people call it now. We, humans, were an unsuspecting victims in a universe habited by multiple vastly stronger existences. When it happened the world had been thrown into utter chaos and shock. The sun had been completely covered by the moon and this event was supposed to last only a short while however after two hours sunlight had still not shown its face upon the earth's surface. This was the beginning of humanity's greatest tribulation. After days of the sun's light not being shown the planet's temperature began to drop and to compensate for this people began to create massive fires but this did not stop the problem. Photosynthesis in plants began to stop, making it harder for humans to breathe. This made humans build labs and create artificial oxygen, which took care of that problem but humans still began to die from hypothermia, frozen oceans, and forced stoppage of blood flow. After two weeks, the sun finally revealed itself and all hope had been restored in humanity collectively only for half the population to be massacred in an instant. “The watchers” had been slowly waiting with armies to colonize our planet and technology beyond our wild comprehension. Technology we can only dream of had been shown and used right before our very eyes and for the first time in all of human history, we had been united as one in our mutual fear and horror. 2 months later, 90% of humanity has been wiped out and the few who remained were used as slaves to cultivate energy. With the use of a Dyson shell, nearly 80% of the sun's energy and heat had been directed into maintaining their energy. Amongst all this time, humanity had collectively agreed to fight back. This began the creation of the liberation group, “the Plague”. These groups of people were the last hope of humanity and carried an extremely large ambition and dream on their shoulders. While “the watchers” were extremely advanced this doesn't change the fact that they were fallible and this group of people were their scourge. They didn't have the military might nor the advanced brain to even keep up against “the watchers” but through slavery and forced labor, the human body began to develop into something stronger. They began to surpass their limits and break the barriers that the human mind had once placed on themselves. Through the selective farming of “the watchers” a new plant had developed that was essentially a stimulant to the human body and a limit breaker for their physical capabilities. At first, they began by using strong levels of acid to corrode the buildings and structures and then stopping their heartbeat to give the impression of suicide so they could not be caught, however, they did not die due to a new system developed from the human's newfound evolution. Due to the strict regimen that we had to follow, we knew all of the places where they would and wouldn't be, all the blind spots of the planet, all the places where they were in close proximity to a chasm, and all the places where we were at a disadvantage. We used the blindspots as bases and hideouts where we could plan our vengeance. After a year of just observing their behavior, habits, bodily functions, and even their schedules we developed a hypothesis that 24 seconds after 7:39 PM we have approximately 19 minutes and 53 seconds in Greenland where we are not being watched nor located. We used this small window of time to gather the fundamental items we needed to fight back and build the foundation for our organization. We gathered food, plants, water, armor, and weapons. We realized that they were immune to cutting/slicing damage and could only be hurt through blunt attacks. With this knowledge, we developed a specific fighting style and used that small time frame to train others in it. We adapted to the harsh conditions and created clothes using spare pieces from “the watchers” specially made for insulating heat, weighing less, and being less penetrable by outside attacks. After a year every person on the planet was a master at this martial arts and had fully developed a counter to all technology that “the watchers” had. However, we could not initiate immediate war on them so we needed a plan. We came up with the idea to have one of our strongest members report to the watchers about our activity and give away one of our bases. This created the false notion that not only did they have someone working as a double agent on their side but also they knew where we would be so they could catch us off guard. We were all there like they expected and they attacked like planned. We had all moved our weapons, armor, and vital items into a different base but kept some things where they attacked to make them think we had not gotten far but this was a dud. Eventually, we had all “died” and had our bodies left at that place as a sign of victory on their side. However, because of this, their ego had grown and they began to underestimate us. The surveillance had gotten weaker as they assumed their “double agent” would tell them everything as a trade for luxury living. We knew that physical power would not be enough so our smartest man collaborated to develop a virus specifically made for their genetic makeup which took about 5 years to extract small strands of DNA without them realizing. Once the virus had been created the incidence began and eliminated more than 60 percent of “the watchers” because of how they were too distracted trying to develop a cure and the vast amount of them dying, we had gained more time to develop our forces and we began to ingest various harmful substances but in small doses in order to gain resistance to any harmful poisons and acids. After new children start to be born this began the origin of a new human species. One massively stronger, smarter, more durable, and with all the immunities and benefits without the downsides. With the birth of this new generation, all of the human race had experienced a collective euphoria. We had begun to secretly train these kids for years and strengthen them in a way the human race had never been before. Due to the circumstances of their birth, they had also developed a strong ability for adaptation and healing factor which ultimately led to humans finally being able to physically compete with “the watchers”. However, we were still lacking in numbers despite the virus taking a vast majority of “the watchers” away. Some of us grew confident and because we were now physically capable some believed we could win the war while others believed we couldn’t yet. This created division within our ranks but did not necessarily break our ranks but that was all depending on your interpretation. We gathered our smartest men and women to make a plan to initiate war, and for 14 days they were stuck in ruminative thought. 2 years passed and we had finally built up the numbers, technology, and physical capabilities to contend with the watchers. Now on the day of the war, all of our strongest soldiers imitated the attack. But this time they were an unsuspecting victim on a planet habited by a stronger species. During the war we had counters for nearly everything the watchers could dish out but one thing we were not aware of was the fact that the watchers could transform into a smaller but faster, stronger, and more durable form. This form took the shape of humankind. So closely related that it struck fear into the hearts of many. Not only was this extremely off-putting but the revelation that came along with it had altered the perception of humanity as we know it. The war had been put to a halt, and all forced fighting in the war had directed their attention to one watcher and one watcher alone. All forces had been completely immobilized and fighting back was no longer capable. With this, the words that had been spoken out of the watcher were a revelation that humanity had not even considered possible. “We are not your enemies. We are you but from the future. In our original timeline, we have been attacked by a species even higher than us. We had been pushed to the brink of extinction and our last hope was only to go back in time in hopes that if we returned to our past selves we could help evolve even more to contend with the world-ending threats from the future. This siege we had laid on this planet and the forced evolution, progression, and tragedy among humankind also brought extreme progression in human capabilities. All of you are vastly superior to your previous forms because of our arrival. While we acknowledge our methods were not the ideal we had no other option. This was the fastest and most effective method to progress the human species although we could not allow the human race to have this win. It would boost the ego of your race and our all of you in a state of comfort and stagnation. With this being said we resign from our participation in this war and would greatly appreciate it if you allowed us to help humanity rebuild and donate technology.” Speechless as to what humanity has just heard we just stood there in utter shock and disbelief. Not a single soul knew what to say and all of humanity had stood in confusion. One man spoke “how do we know this is true” the watcher proceeded to show pictures and videos of them being massacred while some stood in human form and others did not. They showed is this along with the words, “we initiated this war as a way to put the human race through natural selection and eliminate all the weak human being who would not be able to contribute to our growth and success in any upcoming battle. So with that being said what is your decision?” Our leader, and the smartest woman among us had stated, “We humbly decline this offer as we would prefer to evolve by our capabilities and we have already surpassed you so what can you possibly teach us.” After this being stated the war had been started again and the watchers had been for the first time since the “great cleansing” began utterly defeated and annihilated. With the war being won, humanity being victorious, and newfound abilities being discovered humanity had been thrown into an era of peace and prosperity. All tragedies had been blamed on the watchers and for the first time humanity had an ever lasting peace and a perfect utopia where everyone agreed and benefited from each other. With this, we have been vastly improving and slowly but steadily rebuilding our planet and all of humankind. Our members started family’s and genuinely enjoyed the life they were living once again. Everyone acting coyly and with one another was a beautiful side to behold. Everything was perfect until the same monsters who killed the watchers, showed up to eliminate us due to fear of what we could evolve into this time we had no way to fight back and our ranks were already diminished or severely weakened. How would humanity be able to survive this time???Most people had been massacre and captures to be experimented on. Very few of us had actually managed to get away from them and we had only been able to do this through shadow banishment. It was a skill that we had acquired through the technology of the watchers. Living in the void was not the ideal lifestyle as it was ruthless, dirty, and unsafe but the chances of surviving here were massively higher than surviving on earth. Only a hundred of us remained and the human species were basically extinct. With this small group left we had resorted to instead of trying to repopulate and exact revenge immediately we would take the short route. In the void monsters had no sort of civilization and the only rule amongst these creatures were the strongest prevail. There was no sort of rule, order, or even a sense of respect between these monsters. The weak were prey for the strongest, and the strong were killed by the stronger. We took this as an opportunity to not only increase our strength by training and battling but also amassing an empire. The remind of humanity collectively agree that we would bring order and peace to the void. The best way to go through this was by entering the tournament. The monsters held tournaments to watch the strongest fight and kill each other for pure fun. We joined this colosseum and while at first we easily overwhelmed our opponents we had slowly been facing harder and harder opponents as we rose through the ranks. By the time even a single one of us was defeated we had made a name and gained the attention of multiple monsters within the void. We were not necessarily respected or followed but we were feared and simultaneously an opponent that monsters wished to fight. After this we had developed our own fighting ring in which monster could fight and battle against us and only us. We implied a set of rules in this ring. Rule 1; no killing Rule 2; reservations must be made to fight Rule 3; both parties must consent Rule 4; do not make the fight personal Rule 5; it must be between a human and monster. These rules created a sense of security amongst the monsters and while driven by their desire of battle they also abided by the rules. Eventually after fighting throughout the tournament and gaining more traction with the monsters in it. Eventually even the most high ranked demons had begun to make reservations in for our fights. Our strongest soldiers had been the ones to fight them as nobody else can really compete. The first fight had been with a demon who had the ability of immunity. This ability did not only revolve around internal status effects but also could be applied to his physical body. The fight had been the biggest one the ring had ever experienced and it did not disappoint. Eventually we had won and this through the whole entire void and everyone in it into an uproar. Monsters who never even bothered to fight had shown up to battle. The strongest monster in the void and the only monster with a sense of order, self, and purpose had shown up to fight all humans by himself. He agreed that if we win he would pledge allegiance to us all and work under our rule however if we lose we will be killed. This monster bore an extreme resemblance humans. The structure of his body and the contents of it were all human like however he claimed not to be. This monsters name was angel and he possessed the ability to manipulate and control all matter with the sole exception of any other organic material that resided outside of his own body. Our commander and strongest member amongst us was the person to fight him. His name was Alexander and despite the fact that we didn't have any singular special powers like him however our physical bodies were honed greater than any other species in existence. They were evenly matched in speed and strength and even in our capabilities to rapidly heal from damage. They had been evenly matched in all physical ability and the fight had ultimately come to hand to hand combat and who could last longer. Angel was unmatched in combat and had barely even been hit due to how experienced in martial arts he had been; however throughout the fight Alexander had been naturally adapting to his fighting style and developing counters to everything. Our natural ability to adapt to all attacks and effects placed upon us had given a clear win condition; however time was needed to actually see and fully understand how to possibly adapt to everything. The longer the fight took the higher the chance of Angel losing. Alexander had slowly but steadily been adapting and developing new combat styles to counter everything angle could do and even had grown to use his own severed limbs as projectiles and use his blood as a coat over all other objects to cancel his ability to use his field. Angel's main ability had been to control the air around him to increase speed, power, and even get a sense of what his opponent would be doing before it happened. After finally adapting to this his body had begun to heat itself in an attempt to turn it into vapor and due to blood being organic matter of another life form he would no longer have control of the air and the surrounding area. After this the fight had come down to solely base physical capabilities and for 10 minutes they had been mindlessly brawling and instantaneously healing through the damage taken. After a long period of time their healing began to slow down due to bodily fatigue. Biting, punching, scratching, kicking, anything you can think of, they did it. That fight was a bloodbath unlike anything else and in the end they both passed out on the floor with nothing left besides their bodies soaked and bathed in each other's blood. After they had both been knocked unconscious their bodies had been left there in anticipation for them to awaken. The ring filled beyond capacity as people argued and fought about who would awaken first. In anticipation for this once in a lifetime event the whole void had stopped with all its attention. Angel was the first to awaken and he had been exhausted and utterly stunned as to how he actually had gotten knocked out. He had the opportunity to kill his opponent as he had technically won the battle but out of respect for his opponents strength and capabilities he possessed. After the fight had finished Angel had left and was never to be seen again. After 2 weeks Alexander had awoken in a small shack being guarded by one other human and confused after everything had been explained to him he had went around looking for angel but he was not to be found. After awakening Alexander had been massively stronger than before. Due to the physical state his body was put in and all the damage that he had taken from Angel his body had adapted and become more dense in order to take all the attacks while sustaining the least amount of damage possible. After his awakening this began our political revolution. We had now implemented the ring with rules and gotten multiple monsters to follow by these rules and with them being accurate to filling orders more now we had decided to initiate a leadedictator in a sense. The top 5 strongest creatures in the void had been the leaders and this had consisted of Alexander at 1, 2 other demons at 2 and 3, and humans to fill the final spots. We began to implement laws and rules in order to stop the mass murder and destruction happening and within a small time frame we had created structures similar to the ones of the earth. Houses and gyms in order to train in hopes of becoming stronger and even professional combat sports. After 2 months time had passed we had developed a military with our best members in it and humbly had began to repopulate. All this had been done in hopes of regaining the earth and defeated our oppressors. Fast forward 1 months the and the siege of the home planet had begun. They had not been suspecting us however took the preparations in case we had come. Based and soldiers set up in every corner of the world to fight back when the time came we did come back. With this an all out war for the fate of humanity had began and the extinction of either race lay in the balance between life and death.
After the war had began all forces had been deployed to different areas of the planet. Groups that had worked together best being deployed to one part while our strongest being deployed to another. At first we had been nearly even in everything besides technology. They had everything that we lacked and this gave them the combative edge. However despite lacking in technology we made up for it in numbers. Most fights had consisted of large groups of monsters fighting against one or two of our enemy and this has convoluted till their forces had been somewhat deployed. The one on one fights had been more dragged out and heavily impacted the war. Our strongest soldiers fighting against their strongest soldiers in a one on one fight. Everyone has put their all into this battle and left nothing to spare. Our second and third strongest soldiers had the most impact in this war not because of who they fought but because of what they could do. They didn’t actually have abilities specific to them but instead they were born with a type of energy within their bodies in which they called “synergy”. This synergy could be used to amp all their physical abilities but also be used to crate and use techniques or even use techniques that are specific to the traits of the individuals soul. The strength and physical stats of the individual depended on how much synergy they had at their disposal and while some of them were able to gather strength from other life forms it was not a very common occurrence. Alexander fought someone with the ability to control and manipulate momentum. They used synergy and funneled it through all objects of their choice to increase or decrease of momentum of that. This didn’t do much on a wide scale and was a very basic ability but in a solo battle this made it extremely hard to land attacks and even when they were landed they did little to no damage. The most important one to kill had the ability to manipulate all probability. Meaning the likelihood of us even winning this war was less then .0001 percent with them being alive. Whether it was because of a collection of small losses or one major loss did not make a difference. All odds were stacked against us as long as this person remained on the battlefield. In simple terms the whole war relied on the defeat of that person. Our second in command and smartest soldier, “Cassandra” decided to take this upon herself. She was the only one among us who possessed an innate ability and was viewed as the most special soldier but this came at a cost. She gained a talent no other human possessed but in return she no longer had the natural ability to adapt to all circumstances. Her ability was to take the form and attributes of any and all creature she knew to exist. Mythical or not she could take the shape and ability of these creatures and use it as long as she desired. However she could only use one at a time and had to wait 30 seconds in between shifting. Our third in command, “Vladimir” had took the roll of fighting their head technologist. While his opponent had not specialized in battle he still was one of the most dangerous and this was because of his ability to create machines as small as molecular level that shared his thoughts and emotions. These machines were used to repair his body in case on injury, transport information, invade any opponents body and restrict movement, anything that he deemed possible could be done with the use of those machines. But he chose to mainly use them as sort of technological tools to help him further advance his society. The rest of our battles were not nearly as important and were mostly group battles. Afro the beginning portion of Alexander’s fight he had been losing severely and could barely land any attacks at all. After a few minutes of getting beat down and not being able to fight back the adaptation process began. The first adaptation was only a temporary solution to the problem but his body had been explosively shooting out sharpened pieces of his bones and even using tiny droplets of blood as weapons. However this was only a temporary solution because eventually those bones and blood just started being slowed also. The final adaptation and most effective one happened when his body created a function in which he can store kinetic energy and then release it at any given time. This allowed him to rapidly boost his speed whenever his momentum had been slowed and basically cancel out his opponent power. However this still did not stop how his opponent made himself significantly faster. After this the fight had been more tipped into Alexander’s favor but still not enough to actually win. Throughout the progression of the fight Alexander had been gathering more and make friction between the clothes he had and his feet running against the floor. After gathering as much friction and kinetic energy as possible he let it all explode and release all over his body. This altered the form of his body. His body and skin began to form cracks and let off steam. He began to turn dark red and his eyes became shot with blood. His body was slowly crumbling and deteriorating. He had 5 minutes left to defeat his opponent and if he did not then his body would crumble and he would die. Due to his rapid healing factor he had a chance of living if he was able to end the fight within 5 minutes and give himself some time to rest but this all depended on how much he could get done. The battle had been tilted all the way in Alexander’s favor and had no longer been a battle. It had turned into if his opponent could outlast him in those 5 minutes. Brutally beating his opponent and taking full advantage of the situation Alexander did not relent on his rampage. Stopping his momentum no longer mattered and it seemed like the more he tried the faster Alexander got. Steam had been blowing off him. In the end he had managed to kill his opponent within those 5 minutes and had been at deaths door. Cassandra had began her battle and had been absolutely obliterating her opponent. The ability to shape shift from dragons, unicorns, hydras, centaurs, and any mythical creature you can think of. At first she had taken the abilities of a dragon but throughout the fight she had been developing into stronger and more complex creatures. After a while her opponent had been decreasing the probability of her even landing attacks. This made it extremely hard for her to fight and maintain the advantage. She took the appearance and abilities of the mythical deity sun wukong. Due to sun wukong being a monkey that ascended into a higher power he is one of the only gods that she can transform into. After this she gained the ability to not only make clones out of every hair on her body but also multiply the power of each clone. While she does not possess every power sun wukong has she possesses some of them and the most prominent ones. This fight had been a one sided beatdown and only lasted longer than 2 minutes because the probability of each clone attacking each other had been raised to its maximum percentage. Despite this every 1000 punches that had been thrown at least 1 hit her opponent and this was more than he could handle from millions of clones. Vladimir had no special capabilities; he only possessed an extremely honed body and battle experience. At first they had been near equal but the battle began to take a turn when the tiny bugs began to infest his body and eat him from the inside. Due to his advanced healing factor he had been able to stop any significant damage and fight with mild discomfort but this did not change that if he continued in for a longer period of time then he would inevitably be defeated by these bugs and killed. This made the battle a race against time. Expending everything his body had to offer and leaving not a single drop of energy left. Pushing his body to the absolute peak and physical limit. Even going beyond the known capabilities of his body he began to evolve into a higher form. He did not develop any new type of power or gain a newfound power but he did increase and rapidly evolve his physical capabilities. He began to punch with such speed and strength that he created shockwaves from breaking the sound barrier. With this his punches became far more explosive and with every punch thrown he was exploding giant parts of his opponents body and everything within the perimeter. With no regard to his surroundings the battle had destroyed everything in sight and left them fighting in a bare wasteland. Basically erasing everything within line of his punches he began to annihilate his opponent with speed and strength unmatched. Due to all the tiny machines within his body he regrow limbs and was able to counter attack with near no fatigue or even lag in his action. While pushing his body to its absolute limit his body had given up on him. Rapidly healing from constant damage, pushing muscles to their utmost limit, moving, attacking at his highest speed, and even understanding/ perception of all attacks massively faster then he could ever before. Due to all this his body began to give out and in the midst of battle he fell and was unable to recover. No longer able to fight back and maintain the performance he had, he was defeated. Being eaten from the inside, limbs being torn from his body, and being damaged so much that not even his regeneration could keep up. His head had been ripped off his body and with this humanity had suffered its first major loss. After this all other forces began to gain support from all his other bugs and humanities forces had been rapidly depleting. With loss in sight humanity had lost hope and accepted defeat. Right when humanity had accepted defeat and all hope had been lost the king had shown himself once again. Like an Angel coming to bless all of humanity he had run through and obliterated all enemies of humanity. Destroying everything in sight and bringing all enemies to his feet he had saved humanity and restored hope and just like that he had disappeared into the void once again. There was no explanation as to how or why but in that moment all of humanity knew who we would be forever grateful and indebted to. Not many opponents had been left standing but the few who were, were extremely weakened and overwhelmed by numbers. After this decisive battle humanity had been in a state of joy and excitement out of their new victory. Once all the excitement and happiness from winning had worn off all the sorrow and remorse from the losses had come rushing in. All the lost family members, dead soldiers, limbs lost, and mental trauma had taken a toll on humanity. After we had gotten our planet back we did not spend our time rebuilding and trying to repopulate. We spent months mourning the loss of our loved ones and all our soldiers. We laid in depression and sorrow for our mutual loss and mental trauma. This brought humanity closer as a whole and we bonded over our suffering. Humanity had been one but at what cost. After years of processing humanity had finally been able to rebuild all of our structures, population, and even expand to different planets. After all these trials and tribulations we had finally evolved completely and after ages of loss we had finally entered a golden age of humanity. After all this we had begun to explore the deep parts of our planet and while exploring we discovered something far beyond our comprehension. Humanity had only been a small part of a vastly bigger world and a whole new world had now been exposed to us. We had breached through the ice caps of the north pole and had been greeted with hostility from a race on our planet we did not even know existed. After entering this “new world” humanity had found out the truth of our existence and creation. After finding out the truth of our creation and the prophecy of our faith we had all collectively regretted winning that war. Beyond our world laid horrors and truths we were not yet prepared for. After all this we had once again been thrown into a dark age with no will to fight. In the end this was the beginning of the end for humanity…