Cheesy taco infection picturesx

Hi all, my Taco girl has been getting constant infections and I am unsure why. Our vet just treats and doesn’t give me much info on why she is probably getting so many. I tried another vet but he said he needs to be her set vet for a while beforehand. Blood work was done and nothing out if the ordinary.
So here I am asking ya’ll if you’ve had any experience with this? First time dane owner and I am freaking out.

I’m at 0.5mg I feel great. Minimal Side effects (some GI stuff but its manageable). The last couple weeks I have zero appetite and food is completely unappealing which is leading to some poor choices. I’m a nurse and switching to the day shift soon which will help bc I won’t have to meal prep for a whole week at a time bc I’ll be home from work at a reasonable hour. Obviously eating the same thing all Week when food is already unappealing having the same thing for lunch every is a problem.
A friend who took Mounjaro said soups seemed to help her so I am going to try that.
What’s worked for all of you?? Cheesy Gordito crunches seem to be the only appetizing thing lately and I have had more Taco Bell in two weeks than I have had in my entire life. 😢😢

Does anyone take the $1 spicy potato soft taco and the $1 cheesy bean burrito and put the taco inside the burrito for a fat $2 burrito

I got a gift card from mistplay. I normally get the byo cravings box with a Crunch wrap, potato taco, cheesy fiesta potatoes, and a Baja blast but I'm looking for different options. I need to be able to feed 3 adults so any ideas would be great.

Anyone every have two of their items…combined? Just ordered a 3 cheese flatbread melt, and a cheesy Gordita crunch but when I got home I just had a single item in the bag, and it was a 3 cheesy Gordita crunch. Idk why they combined the items for me, but my god it was delicious. 10/10 would recommend. Was just the 3 cheese flatbread with a taco and extra cheese between the taco and 3 cheese.

Just had "The Outlaw" since I wanted to live the spicy life for a change.
"#2 The Outlaw®
Spicy, cheesy, smoky — this one’s got it all. Juicy steak meets double Pepper Jack cheese, with green peppers, red onions, and Baja Chipotle sauce toasted on Artisan Italian bread. Try not to fall head over heels"
Sounds good right?
What i got was chopped up shredded meat (like the Philly cheese. No "thick steak"), no cheese, just meat onions pickles and sauce.
The bun was soggy and I didn't even get the bacon I asked for and if I did it sure as hell wasn't crispy or noticeable.
The "Baja Chipotle sauce" is the SAME exact sauce I got in my fridge, Taco bell brand. Except more watery.
I dipped the sub in BBQ sauce to make it more palatable but this was such a disappointment.
Subway used to be so good. I miss the $5 footlong days. Thank God I had a coupon and didn't pay for this full price !

Welcome to The Oblivion Cycle universe, a vast setting spanning all of time and space and so much more. While many stories may shed perspective on this grand cosmic vista, there are also tales of adventure and sacrifice, romance and terror, grimdark corruption and scientific progress. To become immersed in the setting is to let the chaos of creativity flow through you, to let go of what is probable to discover what’s possible. I have created TOC for one reason, to inspire and entertain any who will listen. So please feel free to join me on this great adventure as I push the boundaries of what is possible and expand the limits of our creativity together. For more information on the setting and its lore there is a subreddit for TOC at TheOblivionCycle and a Discord server dedicated to it here [https://discord.gg/uGsYHfdjYf] called ‘The Oblivion Cycle Community Server’. I hope you find the following story entertaining and once more, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
+ E1:P1 + E3:P1 + Previous + Next +
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Continued From E3:P3
Balinski took a few steps down the hall towards the distant exit but stopped as he realised Daryon wasn’t following. He looked at her and the police woman seemed to shrink slightly. “What? What is it? We need to get moving, Daryon.”
He waited another second as she put her weapon away and compiled. She seemed strangely subdued now all of the sudden, as if she were embarrassed to be around him. They walked down the hall, thuds coming from behind them as the barred doors did their job. He reached out towards her but she flinched away slightly. “Okay, what is going on? What’s the issue?”
She walked a few more meters in silence and then spoke softly, “I jusst.. I didn't want you to have to ssee anything like that. Who I usssed to be.”
Balinski shook his head, he didn't care who she used to be in her past. He cared about who she was now. And who she was, was a friend. “Daryon, I don't give a znot’s ass about that asshole or what he said. You are my friend, and I promised that I would watch your back.” he had made the promise in order to calm her down, he didn't mention that he hadn't actually expected to have to cash in on it so soon.
She made a gesture of dejected misery, “I know you did. But you didn’t know who I used to be. What I did.. to ssurvive.” She looked at him and her tone became pleading. “Please don’t think less of me becausse I used to.. do things.”
Balinski shook his head. “Why would I think any less of you, Daryon?” She seemed to look at him in mild confusion, her faceplates cracking open to reveal the pink flesh of her lipless mouth. “I mean it. I have known you for a few months now, but we have been working together on this case for Siyel together for a few weeks now. I feel like we can trust each other with our secrets..” he trailed off, he was about to take a big step in trusting her.
He started hesitantly, now the large insectoid woman’s turn to hear something he didn’t like others to know. “Daryon..” he hesitated again and then took a deep breath. “I am not the hero that people make me out to be. I am simply the one that survived. And not even by being brave.” She looked at him, her head cocking slightly as he spoke. “I was placed on perimeter watch, I never even entered the complex before the destruction. Ima fraud, I never even fired a single shot at the rebels that day.” he stopped talking and slumped slightly himself.
It felt strangely liberating to get it off his chest, even if it was not the whole truth of what had happened in actuality. No, the whole truth was far too dangerous to share. “So now you know. I’m not the war hero who took out the enemies of the Union single handedly. I'm just the scared little boy that the commander of my unit did not trust enough to take into battle. And I have to live with that, the images still haunt me. My comrades shattered bodies, the blood.. The fire..”
He felt a wave of pain crashed through his mind, the memories once more causing the psychic anguish to overwhelm him. He raised his hands to his head and groaned quietly, he felt himself backslide towards that dark personal oblivion that was the pit of his past trauma. He stopped, or rather something stopped him.
He looked up as a voice brought him back to the present, “..can’t help you if I don’t know what’ss wrong, Balinski.”
He shook his head and stood. “I.. sorry. I have an.. a condition.” He finished lamely.
Daryon seemed to look him over without moving. Her bright blue compound eyes were able to see so much without her having to turn her head. She reached out and gave his shoulder a pat. “I get it. I think I do at leasst.”
He had a thousand things he could have said in response ranging from cruel to straight up flirtatious. But he never got to explore any of the options as just then a mighty crash echoed through the hall. This was soon followed up by the sound of distant screams and angry yelling.
He looked at Daryon briefly and then began running down the hall again. They skidded around the corner into the final stretch and up the slight incline towards the exit. Next to the door stood Dunmec and a slightly battered looking Terri, the yeown woman looked to be bleeding from several cuts across her forearms. They looked like they had been made by some manner of sharp objects.
Despite her oozing injuries the woman was beaming, her long pointed ears and wide predatory grin as gleeful as he had ever seen one of the big werewolf-like aliens. As they made their mad dash up towards the exit he also noticed that the tall umraghj was bandaging her wounds, the soft buzz of their synthetic voice echoing through the enclosed space.
“..andeged like this tightly or you may get infected. I don’t know why you had to go and do something like that Terri.” Balinski was able to pick up on the tail end of their muted conversation. “What’s that? Hey, it’s you two! You won’t believe what happened..”
Balinski skidded to a halt, breathing hard. Daryon was only centimeters behind. He saw Terri bristle, her mantle hair standing on end as she stood and whirled to face them. In her haste she scattered the small first aid kit that Dunmec had been using.
As she looked back and forth between them a gleam of recognition flashed in her eyes and she glanced at the umraghj who was busy trying to pick up the scattered debris of her suspicion. “This is the ones?” She seemed at once curious and skeptical.
He gave her a nod and a synthetic grunt as he stood with some difficulty despite the exosuit he wore. The gravity of the planet was nearly a perfect standard G, but the umraghj had evolved on a planet with much lower gravity and thusly had trouble standing unaided under standard gravity.
Balinski nodded to her as he reached them and then gestured towards the door. “We need to get out of here, like right now.”
“Too late, look out!” Daryon yelled as she dodged into the small alcove to the side of the chamber. Balinski twitched as he meant to follow, but in that second of hesitation he realised that Dunmec was entirely out in the open, and the approaching henchmen had drawn their guns.
The fool had gone for the exit, in a second he would likely be riddled with bullets and dead. Balinski stepped towards the man just as the thugs opened fire at him with an AP-6 submachine gun. He threw up an arm to shield his face as he felt a series of impacts against his chest and legs. He grunted in pain as he was thrown backwards by the force of the absorbed impacts. He swore internally as he slammed into the door right next to the cowering Dunmec, that was going to hurt like a bitch in the morning.
Dunmec lowed in fear, the electronic tone of the sound magnified by the distortion of his suit. Balinski coughed as he reached up and grabbed the man right as another flurry of shots flew their way. The umraghj jerked in either fear or pain as Balinski used his body to shield the man while simultaneously dragging him towards cover. He tried to send a mental alert to Caesar for backup but didn’t feel the transmission go. He couldn't be sure that the message had been sent, much less been received.
It looked like they were on their own. A bullet nicked his neck, causing him to jerk. With a last herculean effort he hauled the tall alien into the cover of the alcove while the other three tried to shelter in place. “Daryon, waste these fucks.” he shouted to her, unholstering his ThunderEagle and tossing it to her.
She grabbed it out of the air deftly and gave a grim looking nod, her antennae pressed down her back as she leaned out from cover and fired a shot off. He didn’t see if she hit anything as he was preoccupied with the whimpering Dunmec.
Terri was hovering nearby, her bloody wounds forgotten as the unfinished bandages hung from her arms. “Oh no! Oh-oh no.” the woman muttered as Balinski looked the suited man over. He had a small puncture in the shoulder of his suit, a thick green liquid seeped from the wound. The man’s chlorine based blood stained the fabric of the suit as Balinski checked him for patches.
He pointed to Terri, the woman still looking a little freaked out. “Hey, you.” Her chatoyant blue eyes snapped to his face. “First aid kit, now. I can help him if you help me!” He told her loudly as Daryon fired another two shots.
“Two down!” The vinarfel shouted. “I never sshould have let myssself get dragged in here.” He heard her mutter, as if anything he said or did would have stopped her from entering the building. She opened the revolver’s chamber and asked, “You got reloads?”
Balinski nodded and handed her a handful of bullets, AP, HE and others. He hadn’t looked, he had just grabbed some from his pockets as he lay on the ground wheezing slightly through the pain in his chest. Tarri had grabbed the first aid kit that Dunmec had been rummaging around in and he flung open the lid to see what he was working with. His own medkit he wore on his waist would come in handy if he couldn't find what he needed.
He looked through it as more gunfire erupted from down the hall, it sounded as if the gunmen in the hall had been reinforced. Balinski ignored it, instead focusing on the injured alien. Dunmec was breathing heavy, his eyes just visible through the HUD visor he wore. Balinski placed a hand on the man’s injured shoulder causing him to moan in pain.
“Hey, stay with me kid. This might hurt a bit, but I need to seal the wound. It looks like the bullet is still inside, I am going to have to get it out.” He watched as the man nodded, his breathing taking in a more fearful pitch.
Terri hovered by his side, dancing from foot to foot as she mumbled in some manner of near incoherent babble. He gave her a look, pausing in his work. “Terri, I need space. Most importantly I need you to watch my partner’s back. Here, take this.” He undid his ammo belt, handing it to her he gave her a small smile, “I got this. Don’t worry. I'm a professional.”
The yeown rushed off to help Daryon, now alone with the injured man he reached for the kit and located a small vitatector. He switched the portable MRI detector on and scanned over the wound. The small device beeped and showed an interior scan of the man’s injury. The bullet had been slowed by his suit, it looked like and embedded itself in the bone just next to his shoulder joint. It would be a difficult fix, but he had done this before on the battlefield on several occasions when a designated medic wasn’t available.
Balinski grabbed a small pair of packaged forceps from his own medical pouch. They had been stored in antiseptic fluid that he used to sterilise the wound as he ripped the package open. Dunmec once more cried out in pain as the liquid seeped into the open wound but Balinski sat him up against the wall and held him still with his free hand.
He looked at the man and asked him, “This is going to hurt. I don’t have any anesthetic that will work on you, I recommend that you hold onto my arm and squeeze as hard as you feel the need to.”
The umraghj nodded, their long double jointed arms reached out and his suited hands gripped his free arm. Balinski breathed deep and then pushed the tool into the wound to where the vitatector had told him to. It took a few seconds to find the bullet, in that time the man’s hands tightened down hard enough on his arm to make the allow creak concerningly. He felt the tool slip of the bullet and he swore.
“Luck damned thing! Come one!” He fished for it again and succeeded in getting a grip on it the second time. He had to work it back and forth a few times to loosen the projectile from its death grip. As soon as the projectile was free he dropped the forceps to grab some sterile gauze, he needed to stop the bleeding and didn't have a QTube handy. He needed to requisition more from the precinct when he got the chance.
He checked the man’s waist pouches quickly and found a patch kit. He squirted some basic medical foam into the wound, it would swell and keep pressure on the wound internally. It didn’t have the healing properties of a QTube, but it would keep the man from bleeding out. Balinski used a sterile bandage to clean the suit as best he could before applying the patch to it. Oxygen wasn’t harmful to the man, but it might not be good if the pressurised chlorinated atmosphere from inside the suit got out.
He reached for the first aid kit and closed it before patting the man on his shoulder. He was still lucid, impressive as most non-combat oriented species of the Union would quickly succumb to shocksleep when injured. Dunmec must be tougher than his lanky frame looked at a glance.
Daryon shouted as he stood. “Alright, they just got rushed by club staff it looks like. They are laying down their arms!” She scuttled back into the cover of the alcove as shouting replaced the sound of gunfire in the distance. She handed him his .50 calibre revolver and he replaced it into his shoulder holster as Terri rushed to Dunmec’s side.
She spoke quickly, “Oh.. oh Dunmec.. I’m so sorry. Are you alright? You got shot!” She added, a bit obviously.
The downed alien just coughed lightly and shook his helmeted head while reaching up towards the muscular alien woman. “I feel bad. But not as bad as I did before I met you.” He said the lines in an almost practised way, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity to use them for a while.
Balinski snorted slightly under his breath at the cheesy line causing Daryon to punch him in the shoulder. He gave her a glance as Terri lifted the nearly three meter tall man to his feet. He leaned heavily on her much shorter frame, but she didn't seem to mind. Her powerful muscles easily compensated for the additional strain as she replied to him, “Well, that was before. Now you don’t have to feel bad or scared. I will protect you now. I won't let anyone else hurt you, I promise.” Dunmec just chuckled and then groaned in discomfort.
Balinski stood straight as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, his hand flashed inside of his trench coat. His fingers finding the handgrip of his gun as a quartet of heavily armed people rounded the corner with MR-12s raised.
Daryon automatically raised her hands and after a moment he did as well, relinquishing his grip on the gun reluctantly. A tattooed nerivith female stepped forwards, her face taken up on one side by a flowing vine-like pattern that disappeared into the collar of her suit. She wore a bullet resistant vest over the top of it, very much business-combat attire.
She nodded her horned head to them and shouted loudly, “You two, get on the ground! No funny business or you will find out just how much I care about problem brewers in my establishment.” She stopped as Terri rushed forwards.
The yeown woman’s arms were still wrapped up in the bandages from earlier and spots of bright red blood dripped slowly from at least one of the deep cuts. “Stop! These two saved us, literally. The human took some bullets to save Dunmec, he got shot by those packbreakers.” She spat the last word with considerable venom. Her disdain for the submachine gun wielding men was obvious.
The nerivith woman looked from Terri to Dunmec a few times before stepping closer to Balinski with a suspicious look. “Hands all the way up, move and I’ll give you another orifice to breathe through.” She stepped close and opened his coat, her hand feeling his ballistic vest that had stopped the first burst of automatic fire. She nodded and then stepped back before lowering her gun.
“Don't touch that hand cannon in your shoulder holster, but I think I trust you. Who are you two and what the smeg are you doing antagonising these jerkoffs?” The pink skinned alien demanded as she looked between him and Daryon.
Balinski gave Daryon a glance and she nodded before raising one of her middle arms. “I can ansswer that for you.” She pulled out a physical badge from her back pocket and handed it to the woman.
The club workers' tufted tail flicked as she took it and Balinski watched as her raven colored eyebrows rose. “CPD? What the hel are you doing here, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Daryon spoke again, the nerivith woman frowning as she laid out the tale in as accurate a fashion as she could without compromising their true agenda. “Well, we were following a lead to a persson of interessst when we were accossted by these men for ssome unfathomable reason. We tried to run and when that didn’t work we defended ourselves to the full legal extent of the law. You may notice that I didn't shoot to kill, at least not on purposse.” She added with a slightly guilty hiss.
Terri let out a small noise as she said it. The woman likely still in some manner of mild shock, despite her species violent natures, death was not always so easy to grasp. The gun-wielding woman turned to the few other club workers that had come with her and commanded, “Tell the boss what happened, call the police. I want this wrapped up as soon as possible. I’m not taking the fall for this one.” She turned back to Balinski and punched him in the chest, not hard enough to be aggressive but still with considerable force. “I think I like you, big man. You got some horns on you, I guess I don't have to ask you to wait for the police to arrive to give a statement do I?”
Balinski chuckled and glanced towards Terri and Dunmec. “No, you don't have to worry. I will be submitting a full report of the events..” He wasn't able to finish as a loud thud echoed from the main door followed by a series of loud percussive noises. Everyone immediately went on high alert but Balinski raised a hand. “No, it's okay, that’s my backup. Fashionably late as usual. Here, let me get the door so she knows it alright.” He looked towards Terri who nodded.
The nerivith woman’s gun was still raised but she nodded too. “Be my guest.” She gestured for him to go ahead. He walked to the door and unlatched it before swinging it open slightly. Before he could say anything, Caesar burst through it as she pushed it out of his grip. He grunted in mild discomfort as she slammed into his legs and landed in a stunned heap.
Chuckling as the embarrassed looking dog stood to her feet, he watched as she shook her triangular head. “You big oaf. Everything is fine now girl, thanks for coming though.” he reached down and gave her head a scrub that made her grumble in annoyance like a put upon teenager.
Daryon scuttled over on her short, pointed legs and Caesar perked up a little. “Oh you brave warrior, you would have ssaved usss for ssure if Balinsski had just taken you with uss.” She gave him a look, her faceplates cracked in her version of a grin. He could only shake his head as the nerivith woman walked up to him once more.
“Alright, I need to get this mess cleaned up. I beg your pardon if I ask you not to come back here on official business again?” He nodded.
He pointed to the door. “It wasn’t my plan to cause such a disruption when I came in here.”
She shook her raven haired head. “It’s all over now. No sense worrying about what did and didn't happen. It just so happens that we have had trouble with these individuals before. So as far as I see it you did us a favour because we now have cause to bar them from ever coming back.” She nodded again as she said it, her smile flashing at him. As she did he noticed that she had several gold teeth.
She turned and stalked away, her tail lashing behind her. Balinski rubbed his chest and then glanced down at Caesar. “Yeah, you did good in coming. If we hadn’t been able to make it out your backup would have been the thing we needed.” She just gave him a little bark and then headbutted his thigh affectionately.
Daryon was talking to Terri and the still slouching Dunmec. Balinski got the feeling he didn’t need the support as much as he was simply enjoying being physically close to the brawny furred alien.
Balinski decided to walk over to them to hear what they were whispering about. He picked up on the conversation as he neared. Terri was speaking, “Yes. She likely will keep trying to force her ideas on me, but I already beat her once and she won't ever be able to forget that. It is an exploitable weakness if we should ever lock claws again. Thank you for your concern.”
The woman looked over at him as he approached, her eyes settling on Caesar. “Oh, what’s that?” She exclaimed.
Caesar tossed her little head and gave him a look as if to say, ‘What? Another one?’ He chuckled and gave her a pat on the head. “This is my erstwhile companion and oldest living friend, Caesar. She is a cybernetically enhanced dog, a Jureillion husky to be precise. She’s got cognitive implants, you can talk to her if you want.” He prompted.
The yeown woman gave him a look that seemed as if she was unsure of herself. Finally she reached out and spoke softly, “Wow, look at you. You kind of look a little like my grandmother, it's uncanny.” Caesar snorted at the comment and then walked over for free head scritches, grumbling contentedly as she received them. “Ok she is so.. I mean, you are so soft. I love her.”
Caesar seemed to be enjoying the attention. Dunmec spoke now, the suited alien’s robotic sounding voice wheezing out from his helmet’s speakers. “I just wanted to thank you again for saving my life, man. Here, take this.” the man handed him something, it was a datachip card. An old style one too. “If you ever want to get a hold of me..” he glanced at Terri and she nodded, “..or Terri. Just call me with the number on that card.”
Balinski had to nod as he heard the faint sound of sirens coming from the still open door. “I will do that. You two take care of each other.”
Terry gave a wide grin, her teeth clinting in the light. “Oh, we will.” Daryon gave her a pat on the back as she followed Balinski out the door. Caesar hot on her tail.
He took a few steps out into the night and then patted his pockets. He grunted in mild delight as he found what he was looking for. It was a small shiny package of pibbles, the small candies one of his favorites. He poured a few out into his open mouth and jerked as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced over, it was Daryon.
“Pibble?” he asked her with his mouth full. She seemed to smile slightly and offered a hand into which he poured a few of the colorful candies.
He chewed vigorously on the fruity sugar orbs as he contemplated the massive shitstorm they had just managed to walk out of. Daryon must have been thinking the same thing as she gave a loud sigh, “Wow.. that was. Well, it wassn't good.”
He just nodded silently. They stayed that way for another few seconds before he turned to her. “What did we actually get out of that old skorp? Anything that we can use to track down the one’s behind the attack?”
Daryon walked a few paces away and then returned quickly, the side-to-side scuttling motion of her pacing threw him off a little. “I really don’t know. The trail hasss gone cold, without another major lead I am fearful that we will losse them. That ssimply isn't acceptable to me.” He nodded, she was right.
He would have liked to respond but it was about that time that a series of screeching vehicles covered in flashing lights skidded into view at the end of the alley. He sighed and fished around in his trench coat for his credentials. “Here we go..” He muttered to which Daryon gave an amused hiss.
A series of officers rushed down the alley with guns drawn, shouts directed their way. It took only a few minutes of back and forth with them to convince them that they were in fact officers, or in Balinski’s case, employed by the CPD.
When it was over he gave a statement and almost a whole hour after they had walked down the alley he found himself leaving it. A bit the worse for wear but secure in the knowledge that they had at least put down a dangerous criminal for their trouble.
Daryon scuttled along beside him, “Gee, I ssure hope the club doesn't get into any ssort of trouble for thisss.”
The comment caught him off guard and he chuckled. “Yeah, they seemed like downright decent folk for running a burlesque underground club.” She gave him a pointed look, her antennae shooting up as she looked like she was about to rebuke him. He raised his arms in mock surrender before she could though, “Oh hey, not saying I didn’t like the place. Just that they likely were not excited to see the boys in blue.”
It was a fair point and she conceded. “Yeah, I ssuppose. But I think we sstill got out of there with a halfway decent lead.”
Now it was his turn to look shocked as they crossed the street, weaving between emergency vehicles to get to the opposite side of the gloomy street. The flashing of emergency lights was behind her and it made her eyes glitter like gemstones, he frowned. “What do you mean? That crusty old skorp didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already suspect.”
She raised an arm and pointed to the wall. He looked and noticed the graffiti for the first time. The one in particular she was gesturing to was a gang affiliated symbol for the Sunstarters. “I can ssay with sssome measure of certainty that we might be able to look around for ssome additional cluesss.”
The Sunstarters were known distributors for the Psychosis Division. It stood to reason that if the Pit Vipers had gotten involved with the Psychs then they were likely also involved with the Sunstarters. Balinski clapped his hands together and smiled, they might just have a lead indeed. What had the old skorp said? To follow the source?
They walked into the large parking garage and to his big blue truck, as they climbed back inside he leaned his head back. “That was a bit of a fuckfest. Are you hungry, I’m hungry.” Indeed almost as he said it he felt a small grumble from his middle.
Daryon made an affirmative gesture, her antennae moving excitedly. “Oh yess, where do you want to go for lunch? Ullnek’ss Hut maybe? McDoinkss?”
He folded his arms. He wasn’t really in the mood for greasy burgers or razah’voolian seafood. No, he would have to think about it. “Why don’t we just drive around till we find something interesting? We need to keep an eye out for any good leads too.”
He started the truck as the large insectoid woman gave Caesar a head pat while nodding. “Okay. But if you see a TFDs then we are sstopping immediately, isss that fair?”
Balinski shrugged. He liked fried drebble as much as anything else. Caesar however seemed very excited by the idea of crispy breaded arthropod as she woofed happily. He shook his head and looked back out the window. He would have to keep his eyes peeled for one of the yellow and black spotted stores.
**********
Balinski smacked his lips happily as he took another great bite out of the steaming fried drebbleloaf sandwich. The snallke was fresh and the pickles were crispy, just the way he liked them. Glancing over at the other two revealed similar scenes of personal enjoyment. Caesar was snacking on some popcorn drebble and Daryon was cleaning out a six-piece bucket of BBQ drebble graspers. Her long radula snaked from her lipless mouth between her opened faceplates as he watched, mildly intrigued to watch the alien woman eat.
He took another bite of his sandwich as Daryon sucked the meat off another fried and breaded grasper. Lacking a jaw she was unable to chew but her radula and powerful cheek muscles made up for her lack as she deftly disassembled the meat with the skill of a surgeon.
She waved the de-meated shell and gave a small hissing sigh as another of her ten arms reached out for the Smarkus grape soda sitting in the dash drink-holder. “Ahhh… Yeah, that'ss the sstuff. How’sss your ssandwich?” She looked at him without moving her head, her compound eyes making her constantly aware of her surroundings in a manner that some might describe as unsettling.
He got the feeling she was watching him eat too, his mastication of the sandwich as inherently alien to him as her own strange method of ingestion was to him. As he took another bite her curiosity seemed to get the better of her. He saw her head cock a little as she asked, “Sso, can you feel with your teeth? I know that you can’t tasste with them. I read that much on the hyperweb at leassst.”
He finished chewing and swallowed before giving her a wide smile. She froze, her fascination with his teeth obvious. “Yeah, kind of. I was lucky that I didn't lose them. It's not uncommon for people who go through.. what I did, to have their teeth shatter. And when they go they don’t come back.”
She nodded slightly as she took a loud slurp of her soda. “Yeah, I read that humanss only get a sssingle sset of adult teeth in their life. No wonder they are so hard, you have to keep using them for a hundred yearss.”
He looked out the window, they were driving slowly around the entertainment district looking for anything that might point them in the right direction. He wasn’t really too sure what he was looking for to be honest, but Daryon insisted that she knew what to look for. He nodded towards a distant structure, it rose so high it went out of sight. “What’s that there?”
Daryon made a loud noise as she cleared her throat. “That’ss one of the upper-city sspires. It connectss the people up there to the ones down here, think of it as a vertical metro..” She trailed off before pointing to something in the near distance. Her BBQ bucket forgotten. “Hey.. hey right there.. Sstop. Pull over.” She tapped him on the shoulder with one of her lower arms rapidly and he obliged.
He looked forwards and saw nothing out of the ordinary, a few people walking along the edge of the street. There was a tall human woman leaning against one of the street signs at the corner, she was dressed in some tight fitting dress and high heels but other than that looked as normal as the rest of them.
Daryon put her yellow and black spotted grasper bucket on the dash and cleaned her hands at the same time she undid her seatbelt and straightened her clothing. She stopped fussing after a moment and then pulled a soft cloth out of one of the inner pockets of her overcoat and used it to polish her eyes. She replaced it and then held out her arms, “Well, how do I look?”
Balinski took the opportunity to give her a completely unabashed once over. He shrugged, “You look like you. What can I say?”
She seemed to smirk. “Alright, good enough. You know you have a way with words Balinski, any girl would just swoon to hear such things.” He frowned but didn't get to reply as she continued, “I’ll be right back. Sstay there and try not to look too harmlesss. This will only take a ssecond.
She slithered out of the truck and he kept his eyes firmly forwards this time as she closed it and sauntered off, well as much as the fifty-two legged alien was able too. He noticed that she had once more adopted that somewhat provocative side to side sway in her stride as she walked away from him. He just shook his head, she was doing it again.
Continued In E3:P5
==End of transmission==

This is such an L take. While true a minimum wage worker isn’t likely to spend an hour of their time on a quesadilla, they can still afford things on the “value” menu. The KEY difference here is the quality of the food you’re getting for the price is not equivalent. There is no reason a chips and cheese should be $3. No reason a cheesy Gordita crunch should be over $5. Affordability isn’t the issue. If I were the richest man on earth I would eat literally anywhere else, intentionally, because why on earth is a damn Taco Bell taco supreme $3????? At that point why wouldn’t I get actual Mexican food for equal or cheaper price?

In 2018 we still had shredded chicken and a ton of stuff on the DOLLAR menu. That’s right, this wasn’t the 1970’s, or the early 2000’s, this was literally less than 6 years ago. Now the only thing that’s $1 is a cheesy roll up and for a lot of locations there isn’t even a dollar menu. There’s no “value” in paying $2.50 for a $1 burrito. Even the beloved $3 nachos is just a glorified nacho supreme with guac added.
So here’s the deal, by the time we get to 2030, we’re going to see the “less than $5 value menu”, where tacos are around $3 a piece, the CB&R will be $2.50, and a nachos and cheese will be $5. So enjoy it while you can because we WILL continue to see annual price hikes until we get to these absurd prices.

Nature of Humanity Ch 65
Destination; Wriss part 18
A Fanfic of u/SpacePaladin15’s work “The Nature of Predators.” Thank you for the story!
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Excerpt of Dr. Elva's Journal recovered from the wreck of the Dauntless Victory
Many people suffer from motion sickness on space-faring ships. Normally, this comes from the disjoint of the body’s means of understanding how its actually moving and the mind's perception of how it is moving, but with the invention of inertial dampeners, one would think standing in what feels like a stationary room with no windows wouldn't cause motion sickness.
Yet, that's precisely what's been happening to me. I've never felt this way before. Dr. Wiesera believes the sudden onset of motion sickness is caused by the stress of our current situation. I am given to believe her as I have noticed ticks in the rest of the crew. For example, Crevan has begun pacing in circles but seems confused when someone tries to get his attention. The only person who seems calm and unbothered is Barmlin, but given his disorder, I am confident in dismissing this abnormal behavior. To be truthful, I am a little glad to see the Arxur just as nervous as us.
____
Memory transcription subject: Elva, Morvim Charter Soldier
Date [standardized human time]: November 3rd, 2136
Our ship was hovering listlessly in the void of space just past the small astrological body known as Pluto. My digits tightened around the trigger of my gun as the five of us kept our weapons trained on the door. Crevan was unable to stop Isif from inspecting the “gifts” Humanity was giving to the Arxur as “thanks” for their intervention.
Wiesera let out a sigh as she lowered her firearm and grabbed the pad displaying the security feed, “Alright… we are in the clear. Isif has just departed the ship.”
We let out a collective sigh. The first hurdle for getting to Wriss had just been cleared without so much as a scratch. We lowered our guns as Hrallak opened the door, “We are safe for now. Crevan doubts we will get boarded again. Isif is apparently a bit of an outlier among the Chief Hunters.”
Caulnek stood up and stretched, “Hey, it's not like we didn't expect to get boarded leaving here and upon entering Dominion space.”
Rivera rubbed the sleep from his eyes, “Still couldn't we have done something better than just sit in a cattle pen with our guns pointed at the door?”
Hrallak thumped her tail no, “This is the Dominion we are speaking about. The great purge taught them everything about how stuff is hidden. I watched an Auditor enter a friend's house and in half a second open their hidden door. If they actually had anything stored in there, they would have all been executed via…”
As she trailed off, Wiesera changed the subject, “I never thought I'd willingly experience what it's like to lift off inside an Arxur ship. This is… unsettling.”
Hrallak wagged her tail, “It's sort of the opposite for me. For the first time in my life, I've come for the people in this room without that horrid knot in my guts. It feels like I'm free.”
It finally dawned on me as we grabbed our limited possessions and left the cattle pen behind for good, that every time she has come to this room before it’s been to drag some unfortunate soul to their death. Even if Crevan stated that she tried to be merciful, her paws were personally stained with a rainbow of blood that I doubt she would ever be able to wash out.
Yet, there was a slight spring in her step as she led the way to the galley with us in tow. Before she probably had to drag screaming victims to their fate, and now she is leading us to one of many meetings. I suppose in a sense, she is finally free. Whether this mission is successful or not, she will never butcher another sapient for as long as she lives.
My tail had the slightest wag to it as we entered the galley. The smell of disinfectant and bleach was strong enough to hit my blunt sense of smell but helped to wipe away any thought of the horrors that happened in this area. Lesh, Ishveil, and Ivan were waiting for us with cloths draped over their snouts.
For a moment, I thought they were trying to mimic what the humans do with their face coverings before they handed a cloth to both Hrallak and Wiesera. Wiesera took in a deep breath through the cloth, “Thank you, this smells a lot stronger than the hospital., Oh! This is a rather strange scent! I wouldn't think the Arxur would approve of scented laundry detergent!”
Ivan chuckled, “The dominion doesn't, but when I got a whiff of what the humans did to clean this ship, I nearly hurled. Thankfully, they had a handy solution ready. The smell should lighten up soon. And we also have more towels if you want them for any reason.”
Lesh thumped his tail against the ground, “Crevan and Mico are piloting the ship. You know the crew rotation. It should be quiet for the next few days… at least before we arrive.”
Ivan thumped his tail in agreement, “Normally, I'd suggest using downtime to train, but that is not exactly something we can do on this ship. So whatever you can do to keep ready for the attack without blowing the ship up or ruining our cover will be essential.”
Rivera stuck his paw in the air, “Does that include doing anything to distract us from the fact we are on a cattle ship?”
Lesh's eyes opened wide, almost as if he hadn’t considered what being on board would be like for us. He thumped his tail, “Y-yeah. It wouldn't do to have you freaking out… but it would be better for you to come to terms with the situation instead.”
Hrallak held herself with her own arms, “If the horrid things that have happened on this ship are getting to you, then you aren't ready for Wriss. Here… people were tortured, killed and eaten… on Wriss it was entire species…”
Rivera was starting to shake when Caulnek slapped a paw on his back, “It'll be fine. We've turned this ship from one of death to salvation, we can do it again. I got a projector and some human movies from a friend. What do you say about turning the lights down and watching them?”
“Y-yeah sure.”
Ivan tilted his head, “Movies? As in video media for entertainment instead of education? Can I watch? I've never seen anything like that before.”
Caulnek flicked his ears yes, then Lesh rolled his eyes and walked out of the room as Caulnek set up his projector. While Ivan, Ishveil and Hrallak sat separated from us, we all sat in a close-knit ball.
With the already dim lights off, our only source of illumination was the projector's light bouncing off the wall. A series of short clips began to play, depicting a series of quarries and mines. For the most part, it was heavy machines moving vast amounts of earth and stone.
Stupidly large dump trucks practically carried mountains on their backs. A gargantuan chain saw cut into the earth, making an artificial valley in a matter of hours. A drill comparable to a skyscraper began to drill a tunnel down into the earth.
I could only begin to imagine this movie was about mining and the stresses that it brings. Several humans began to carefully set up explosives in a tunnel and ran cables to a safe place. The lot of them were smiling at each other and were practically bouncing from excitement. Two humans standing several feet apart nodded at each other and flipped the plastic safety covers on two red switches before flipping them.
As the light turned green, every human ducked and covered in their makeshift bunkers as the detonation sent a shockwave down the tunnel. As the dust settled, I noticed the music that was playing in the background was now silent.
Two people walked off into the settling dust cloud and began to scream. A man who for the entire time he has been on the screen has had a blank emotionless face picked up a radio, “Report.”
“WE HIT THE FUCKING MOTHERLOAD! THE ENTIRE CAVE IS MADE OF THIS NEEAHRITE SHIT! HELL THERE ARE FLOATING COLUMNS OF THIS STUFF”
The description of the made up material caught me off guard. It wasn't until a serious dude walked forward that I realized why they said that. A floating hexagonal pillar of pearlescent green and orange stone floated weightlessly in the middle of a large chamber. As the miners walked through the chamber, what I had assumed to be just the minerals lining the walls twinkling in the light were pushed away like leaves floating on water.
The illusion broke as I realized that the air was filled with small floating particles. They almost gave the impression of being submerged underwater. A miner swept a bag through the air and closed it, “Hey, let's get out of here. Pretty sure breathing in minerals causes cancer. We can come back with respirat-” BANG!
We all jumped as a red puff came from the man's chest. The miners began to scream and run, but each one fell over after their own personal gunshot went off. Soon the only person standing was the emotionless human who wiped some blood off his face.
Several armed soldiers came into the cave wearing full combat gear and respirators, “Sir. Site secured. All potential leaks have been neutralized.”
Their leader fell to his knees and held his hands up to the floating monolith, “Excellent. Begin phase 2.”
Caulnek threw his paws into the air, “What?! Why did they do that? All those people worked together!”
Ishveil snorted, “I doubt that. That one human in charge was using the miners. When he was done using them, he threw them away. I've seen dominion officers do that to countless runts.”
“I- I just never imagined that as something humans would think of…”
“Then you need to read up on Humanity's past. Especially about their most hated foe, the Nazis.”
The camera cut to a man nearby a primitive cabin in the woods. He looked grizzled and old as he was nervously picking at his beard. A truck rolling up caught his attention and he waved at it. I couldn't read the words on it, but the woodsman addressed the man who stepped out of the truck, “Evening, Warden. Thanks for coming out here.”
“Hey, thank you! If there's aA new disease going around affecting the wildlife, I want to get on top of it now and not later. So tell me what happened.”
“Well sir. I got my permit to harvest yesterday when I noticed my stores were getting low.”
“Thank ya for doing that!”
“Welcome. I went to go harvest my first deer and… well, when I shot it, my round ricocheted off. Like I hit a piece of wrought-iron.”
They walked over to the deer and my little herd flinched as he showed the flayed corpse of a prey animal hanging upside down.
“It didn't run off so I shot it again but in the head this time. I brought it back here to dress it, but…”
I suppressed a gag as the man stuck his hand into the corpse and- pulled out a huge chuck of the mineral we had just seen, “Well… this!?”
The warden opened up a bag and took the stone from him, “Go wash your hands now. I- fuck! I got no clue what this is or if it can jump the species barrier. Also, I am taking the deer too, I'll have you compensated and get ya a new tag.”
Ivan spoke up, “Did those rocks… infect that animal?”
Wiesera shook her head, “No. Rocks can't infect anything. What likely happened is this mineral was absorbed by vegetation, which the animal ate and absorbed. That stone chunk the Game Warden pulled out was its intestines. The mineral is probably also contaminating the entire body of it.”
We quieted down again as the show carried on. The warden had put out an alert to the town about the mineralization of local animals, as well as a notice to not drink the groundwater. The Game Warden was standing with his brother, a police officer, as a doctor explained that several people were already showing signs of mineralization.
The pair of them discussed what they could do to try and solve this epidemic. Apparently, all means of communicating with the outside world were gone and both of the major roads coming into the area had collapsed into sinkholes.
Finally, the brother's decided that the Police would help the few Doctors help patients and keep a quarantine enforced while the Warden would go ask the miner's if there was an expert on call who could help.
As the brothers left the coroner's office, they both froze, like spotted prey. One of the miners who was visibly missing part of his head was standing in front of them. The warden took a half step towards him before the miner let out a star’s awful wail. I heard the sound of Hrallak skittering back as we watched the miner rush, lift and throw the warden ten feet onto the hood of his own truck. His brother quickly whipped out a taser and shot the man with it but started to backpedal as he just kept walking despite the electricity flowing through his body.
As the Police brother screamed in fear at the mineralized miner, the Warden managed to scramble off his truck and grab a shotgun from his cab. He fired a round into the miner's head, causing it to explode like a dropped ceramic plate. The body made another step forward and slowly started to crumble.
The brothers stared at the dust laying on the road as sirens began to grow in intensity. The screen smash cut to a dozen law enforcement cruisers ripping through mountain roads on their way to the quarry. As they approached the locked gates, the first cruiser flew through it, smashing it open for the others. While the officers climbing out didn’t look like they were anything special, they still moved in a coordinated effort.
Ishviel thumped his tail, “Are we going to see human strike teams at work?”
Caulnek snorted, “Yeah, no. From what I’ve seen of human media, their entertainment industry cares very little for accuracy. Expect these guys to do some nonsensical stuff.”
The Brother officer stepped out of his truck and loaded some shells into his shotgun. Another officer berated him for taking a lethal weapon into this quarantine operation when he stopped and stared them down, “I watched someone already mineralized chuck my older brother like a gawdamn can of beans. I will try to save as many people as possible, but I ain’t gonna die for this.”
With the defiant statement made, we proceeded to watch some surprisingly boring action. Or perhaps the actual action we had all seen took any entertainment out of it for us. From police officers ignoring all sense of danger and the lack of any competency of the bad guys who were still holding the mines hostage, I couldn’t tell who was worse. We’d watch three officers walk into a clear ambush, only for the bad guys to reveal themselves and then proceed to miss every shot.
Whenever the cops had to deal with those that had been mineralized, the victims suddenly moved five times slower and had absolutely none of their previous magical strength. It was starting to get so bad that we were all laughing by the time the warden and his brother confronted the mine’s manager. Yet, we all froze for a moment when we saw him. He stood there with his back turned to them and his hands held in the air, worshiping the floating monolith. He slowly turned around to reveal… some sort of pink goop thing piloting a robot human?
Wiesera just let out a “What the FUCK is this show?!” while Ivan doubled over in pain from laughing so hard.
Ishviel gave a confused look to Caulnek, “What is the plot of this thing?!”
Caulnek held his paws in the air, “It's a B movie. Guys had no budget to make a movie but wanted to anyways for some reason. My friend and I spent quite some time during the exchange watching these silly things.”
Hrallak was holding the tip or her snout as tears rolled down her eyes, “Oh my gosh, so this isn’t even good Human entertainment?”
“NOPE! Bottom of the barrel right here! Now shush! We are getting to the good part! The villain's monologue!”
“No you stupid apes. We Takakapalta have always been around. We were and have always been. Since your planet's life was barely strands of DNA swimming around in hot mud, we have planned. We have worked and strived and bled for this day. The day the Neahrite is ready for harvest. The full-”
The Warden rolled his eyes, “OH, SHUT THE FUCK UP!” before the brothers fired shell after shell into the alien, killing it.
The Police officer placed his hand on the warden’s shoulder, “Hey… should we have brought it in alive for the feds?”
He and the warden laughed as they walked off and the credits rolled.
Wiesera had buried her head in her paws, “I’m sorry but… WHAT!? Just WHAT?! THEY AREN’T GOING TO ADDRESS THE DISEASE RUNNING RAMPANT THROUGH THE TOWN?! THROUGH THE ECOSYSTEM?!”
Ishviel rolled onto his back and splayed himself across the floor, “What about those tactics? I thought those humans in masks defending the mines were professional soldiers! Those ambushes! They practically screamed, ‘this is an ambush’ before jumping out of cover and getting shot!”
Caulnek was laughing even harder, “Oh yeah! Or the fact that the whole explanation we got was, ‘Aliens did it.’ Like that wraps up anything nicely at all!”
Ivan was still chuckling to himself, “Are all the movies that you have these… B movies?”
“YUP!”
“Put another one on. I’ve never laughed like this before.”
___/\___
Movie night with the more friendly gator bois! And gal. Caulnek was introduced to cheesy B movies and now the whole gang is too! Looks like they might have a pleasant time en-route to Wriss!
Also this week SUCKED. Monday my car hit some deep water early in the morning and popped my water belt off causing my car to overheat. That led to a 4 hour trip home when it should have been 35 minutes. Bought a new belt and it’s fixed. THEN on friday our parking lot floods and the floor of my car gets flooded. Any higher and it would have poured into my car when I opened the door. It’s been three days and I will likely have to pull the seats, center console and some other things out to remove the carpet. Maybe I can find someone to pay to fix this problem. But hey… Ford should start building my truck this week.
___/\___
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